spiritual zeal, the Lute of the Holy Ghost, whose veins ran fire instead of blood.  One born to command, to domineer; the other to believe, to worship, and to obey.  For the younger man it was a winter of limitless aspiration and chastening discipline.  In spite of the great sorrows that weighed upon him, the sudden sweeping away of those he had held most dear and the blasting of his love hopes, he remembered it through all the eventful years that followed as a time of strange happiness.  Memories of it came gratefully to him even on the awful day when at last his Witness came; when, as he lay fainting in the desert, driven thence by his sin, the heavens unfolded and a vision was vouchsafed him;—­when the foundations of his world were shattered, the tables of the law destroyed, and but one little feather saved to his famished soul from the wings of the dove of truth.  After all these years, the memory of this winter was a spot of joy that never failed to glow when he recalled it.

At night he went to his bunk in the little straw-roofed hut and fell asleep to the howling of the wolves, his mind cradled in the thought of his mission.  He had a part in the great work of bringing into harmony the labours of the prophets and apostles of all ages.  In due time, by the especial favour of Heaven, he would be wrapped in a sea of vision, shown an eternity of knowledge, and be intrusted with singular powers.  And he was content to wait out the days in which he must school, chasten, and prove himself.

“You have built me up,” he confided to Brigham, one day.  “I feel to rejoice in my strength.”  And Brigham was highly pleased.

“That’s good, Brother Joel.  The host of Israel will soon be on the move, and I shouldn’t wonder if the Lord had a great work for you.  I can see places where you’ll be just the tool he needs.  I mistrust we sha’n’t have everything peaceful even now.  The priest in the pulpit is thorning the politician against us, gouging him from underneath—­he’d never dare do it openly, for our Elders could crimson his face with shame—­and the minions of the mob may be after us again.  If they do, I can see where you will be a tower of strength in your own way.”

“It’s all of my life, Brother Brigham.”

“I believe it.  I guess the time has come to make you an Elder.”

And so on a late winter afternoon in the quiet of the Council-House, Joel Rae was ordained an Elder after the order of Melchisedek; with power to preach and administer in all the ordinances of the Church, to lay on hands, to confirm all baptised persons, to anoint the afflicted with oil, and to seal upon them the blessings of health.

In his hard, narrow bed that night, where the cold came through the unchinked logs and the wind brought him the wailing of the wolves, he prayed that he might not be too much elated by this extraordinary distinction.

CHAPTER VIII.