Directly below him, half-way between the ranges of hills, was a circle of covered wagons wheel to wheel.  In the center of this a pit had been dug, and here the besieged were finding such protection as they could from the rifle-fire that came down from the hills on either side.  Even now he could see Indians lying in watch for any who might attempt to escape.  The camp had been attacked on Monday morning after the wagons had moved a hundred yards away from the spring.  It was now Friday.  For four days, therefore, with only what water they could bring by dashes to the spring under fire, they had held their own in the pit.

When it grew still lighter he descried, out on his left near the spring, two spots of white close together, and remembered Lee’s tale the night before of the two little girls sent for water.

At that instant, the chanting and the beat of the drum stopped, and in the silence a flood of light seemed to shine in upon his mind, showing him in something of its true aspect the thing they were about to do.  Not clearly did he see it, for he was still torn and dazed—­and not in its real proportions, moreover; for he saw it against the background of his teaching from the cradle; the murder of their Prophet, the persecution of the Saints, the outrages put upon his own family, the fate of his sister, the murder of his father, and the death of his mother; the coming of an army upon them now to repeat these persecutions; the reported offenses of this particular lot of Gentiles.  And then, too, he saw it against his own flawless faith in the authority of the priesthood, his implicit belief that whatsoever they ordered was to be obeyed as the literal command of God, his unshaken conviction that to disobey the priesthood was to commit the unforgivable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost.  “If you trifle with the commands of any of the priesthood,” he himself had preached but a few days before, “you are trifling with Brigham; if you trifle with Brigham, you are trifling with God; and if you do that, you will trifle yourselves down to hell.”

Yet as he looked upon the doomed camp, lying still and quiet in the gray light,—­in spite of breeding, training, habit of thought, and passionate belief, he felt the horror of it, and a hope came to him out of that horror.  He hurried down the hill and searched among the groups of Indians until he found Lee.

“Major, isn’t there a chance that Brother Brigham didn’t order this?”

“Brother Rae, no one has said he did—­it wouldn’t be just wise.”

“But did he—­has any one seen the written order or heard who brought the oral order?”

“Brother Rae, look here, now—­you know Brother Brigham.  You know his authority, and you know Dame and Haight.  You know they wouldn’t either of them dare do as much as take another wife without asking Brigham first.  Well, then, do you reckon they’d dare order this militia around in this reckless way to cut off a hundred and thirty people unless they had mighty good reason to know he wanted it?”