MONSIEUR VIOLET (FISCLE PART-IV) by FREDERICK MARRYAT (leveled readers txt) 📕

The House In considerable Numbers.

The Mormon Elders Commenced their Task By Kneeling and Praying Before

The Body With Uplifted hands And Eyes, And With Most Stentorian Lungs.

Before They Had Proceeded far With Their Prayer, A Sudden Idea Struck

The Farmer, Who Quietly Quitted the House For A Few Minutes, And Then

Returned, And Waited patiently By The Bedside, Until The Prayer Was

Finished, And The Elders Ready To Perform Their Miracle. Before They

Began, He Respectfully Said To Them, That, With Their Permission, He

Wished to Ask Them A Few Questions Upon The Subject Of This Miracle.

They Replied that They Had No Objection. The Farmer Then Asked,--

"You Are Quite Certain That You Can Bring This Man To Life Again?"

"We Are."

"How Do You Know That You Can?"

"We Have Just Received a Revelation From The Lord, Informing Us That We

Can."

"Are You Quite Sure That The Revelation Was From The Lord?"

"Yes; We Cannot Be Mistaken About It."

"Does Your Power To Raise This Man To Life Again Depend Upon The

Particular Nature Of His Disease? Or Could You Now Bring any Dead Man

To Life?"

"It Makes No Difference To Us; We Could Bring any Corpse To Life."

"Well, If This Man Had Been Killed, And One Of His Arms Cut Off, Could

You Bring Him To Life, And Also Restore To Him His Arm?"

"Certainly! There Is No Limit To The Power Given Us By The Lord. It

Would Make No Difference, Even If Both His Arms And Legs Were Cut Off."

"Could You Restore Him, If His Head Had Been Cut Off?"

"Certainly We Could!"

"Well," Said The Farmer, With A Quiet Smile Upon His Features "I Do Not

Doubt The Truth Of What Such Holy Men Assert; But I Am Desirous That My

Neighbours Here Should Be Fully Converted, By Having The Miracle

Performed in the Completest Manner Possible. So, By Your Leave, If It

Makes No Difference Whatever, I Will Proceed to Cut Off The Head Of

This Corpse."

Accordingly, He Produced a Huge And Well-Sharpened broad Axe From

Beneath His Coat, Which He Swung Above His Head, And Was, Apparently,

About To Bring It Down Upon The Neck Of The Corpse, When, Lo And Behold!

To The Amazement Of All Present, The Dead Man Started up In great

Agitation, And Swore That, "By Hell And Jingo," He Would Not Have His

Head Cut Off, In any Consideration Whatever!

The Company Immediately Seized the Mormons, And Soon Made Them Confess

That The Pretended dead Man Was Also A Mormon Elder, And That They Had

Sent Him To The Farmer'S House, With Directions To Die There At A

Particular Hour, When They Would Drop In, As If By Accident, And Perform

A Miracle That Would Astonish Everybody. The Farmer, After Giving The

Impostors A Severe Chastisement, Let Them Depart To Practise Their

_Humbug_ In some Other Quarter.

These Two "_Elders Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints_",

Were Honest Joe And His Worthy _Compeer_ And Coadjutor, Sidney Rigdon.

The Day Of The Fishing at Length Arrived; Our Party Of Ladies And

Gentlemen, With The Black Cooks And Twenty Slaves, Started two Hours

Before Sunrise, And, After A Smart Ride Of Some Twelve Miles, We Halted

Before A Long Row Of Tents, Which Had Been Erected for The Occasion, On

The Shores Of One Of These Numerous And Beautiful Western Lakes. Fifty

Negroes Were Already On The Spot, Some Cutting Wood For Fuel, Some

Preparing Breakfast, While Others Made Ready The Baits And Lines, Or

Cleaned empty Barrels, In which Our Intended victims Were To Be Salted.

We Scarcely Had Had Time To Look Around Us, When, From Twenty Different

Quarters, We Beheld The Approach Of As Many Parties, Who Had Been

Invited to Share The Sport. We Greeted them Planter Fashion;--"Are You

Hungry, Eh, Eh?--Sam, Napoleon, Washington, Caesar--Quick--The

Breakfast."

For Several Days Previous, All The Creeks Of The Neighbourhood Had Been

Drained of Their Cray-Fish, Minnows, And Shell-Fish. All The Dug-Outs

And Canoes From Every Stream Thirty Miles Round Had Also Been Dragged to

The Lake, And It Was Very Amusing To See A Fleet Of Eighty Boats And

Canoes Of Every Variety, In which We Were About To Embark To Prosecute

Our Intentions Against The Unsuspecting Inhabitants Of The Water.

After A Hearty, Though Somewhat Hasty Meal, We Proceeded to Business;

Every White Man Taking With Him A Negro, To Bait His Line And Unhook The

Fish; The Paddles Were Soon Put In motion, And The Canoes, Keeping a

Distance Of Fifty Yards From Each Other, Having Now Reached the Deepest

Part Of The Lake, Bets Were Made As To Who Would Pull Up The First Fish,

The Ladies On Shore Watching The Sport, And The Caldrons Upon The Fire

Ready To Receive The First Victims. I Must Not Omit To Mention, That Two

Of The Larger Canoes, Manned only By Negroes, Were Ordered to Pull Up

And Down The Line Of Fishing-Boats And Canoes, To Take Out The Fish As

They Were Captured.

At A Signal Given By The Ladies, The Lines Were Thrown Into The Lake,

And, Almost At The Same Moment, A Deafening Hurrah Of A Hundred voices

Announced that All The Baits Had Been Taken Before Reaching The Bottom,

Every Fisherman Imagining That He Had Won His Bet. The Winner, However,

Could Never Be Ascertained, And Nobody Gave It A Second Thought All

Being Now Too Much Excited with The Sport. The Variety Of The Fish Was

Equal To The Rapidity With Which They Were Taken: Basses, Perch,

Sun-Fish, Buffaloes, Trouts, And Twenty Other Sorts. In less Than Half

An Hour My Canoe Was Full To Sinking: And I Should Certainly Have Sunk

With My Cargo, Had It Not Been Most Opportunely Taken Out By One Of The

Spare Boats. All Was High Glee On Shore And On The Lake, And The Scene

Was Now And Then Still Diversified by Comic Accidents, Causing The More

Mirth, As There Was No Possibility Of Danger.

The Canoe Next To Me Was Full To The Gunwale, Which Was Not Two Inches

Above Water: It Contained the English Traveller And A Negro, Who Was

Quite An Original In his Way. As Fish Succeeded to Fish, Their Position

Became Exceedingly Ludicrous: The Canoe Was Positively Sinking, And They

Were Lustily Calling For Assistance. The Spare Boat Approached rapidly,

And Had Neared them To Within Five Yards, When The Englishman'S Line Was

Suddenly Jerked by A Very Heavy Fish, And So Unexpectedly, That The

Sportsman Lost His Equilibrium And Fell Upon The Larboard Side Of

The Canoe.

The Negro, Wishing To Restore The Equilibrium, Threw His Weight On The

Opposite Side; Unluckily, This Had Been The Simultaneous Idea Of His

White Companion, Who Also Rolled over The Fish To Starboard. The Canoe

Turned the Turtle With Them, And Away Went Minnows, Crawfish, Lines,

Men, And All. Everybody Laughed most Outrageously, As The Occupants Of

The Canoe Reappeared upon The Surface Of The Water, And Made Straight

For The Shore, Not Daring To Trust To Another Canoe After Their Ducking.

The Others Continued fishing Till About Half-Past Nine, When The Rays

Of The Sun Were Becoming So Powerful As To Compel Us To Seek Shelter In

The Tents.

If The Scene On The Lake Had Been Exciting, It Became Not Less So

On-Shore, When All The Negroes, Male And Female, Crowding Together,

Began To Scale, Strip, And Salt The Fish. Each Of Them Had An Account To

Give Of Some Grand Fishery, Where A Monstrous Fish, A Mile In length,

Had Been Taken By Some Fortunate "Sambo" Of The South. The Girls Gaped

With Terror And Astonishment, The Men Winking and Trying To Look Grave,

While Spinning These Yarns, Which Certainly Beat All The Wonders Of The

Veracious Baron Munchausen.

The Call To Renew The Sport Broke Off Their Ludicrous Inventions. Our

Fortune Was As Great As In the Forenoon, And At Sunset We Returned home,

Leaving The Negroes To Salt And Pack The Fish In barrels, For The Supply

Of The Plantation.

A Few Days Afterwards, I Bade Adieu To Mr. Courtenay And His Delightful

Family, And Embarked myself And Horse On Board Of One Of The Steamers

Bound To St. Louis, Which Place I Reached on The Following Morning.

St. Louis Has Been Described by So Many Travellers, That It Is Quite

Useless To Mention Anything about This "Queen City Of The Mississippi."

I Will Only Observe, That My Arrival Produced a Great Sensation Among

The Inhabitants, To Whom The Traders In the Far West Had Often Told

Stories About The Wealth Of The Shoshones. In two Or Three Days, I

Received a Hundred or More Applications From Various Speculators, "To Go

And Kill The Indians In the West, And Take Away Their Treasures;" And I

Should Have Undoubtedly Received ten Thousand More, Had I Not Hit Upon A

Good Plan To Rid Myself Of All Their Importunities. I Merely Sent All

The Notes To The Newspapers As Fast As I Received them; And It Excited a

Hearty Laugh Amongst The Traders, When Thirty Letters Appeared in the

Columns, All Of Them Written In the Same Tenour And Style.

One Evening I Found At The Post-Office A Letter From Joseph Smith

Himself, In which He Invited me To Go To Him Without Any Loss Of Time,

As The State Of Affairs Having Now Assumed a Certain Degree Of

Importance, It Was Highly Necessary That We Should At Once Come To A

Common Understanding. Nothing Could Have Pleased me More Than This

Communication, And The Next Morning I Started from St. Louis, Arriving

Before Noon At St. Charles, A Small Town Upon The Missouri, Inhabited

Almost Entirely By French Creoles, Fur-Traders, And Trappers. There,

For The First Time, I Saw A Steam-Ferry, And, To Say The Truth, I Do Not

Understand Well How Horses And Waggons Could Have Been Transported over

Before The Existence Of Steamboats, As, In that Particular Spot, The

Mighty Stream Rolls Its Muddy Waters With An Incredible Velocity,

Forming Whirlpools, Which Seem Strong Enough To Engulf Anything That May

Come Into Them.

From St. Charles I Crossed a Hilly Land, Till I Arrived once More Upon

The Mississippi; But There "The Father Of The Waters," (As The Indians

Call It) Presented an Aspect Entirely New: Its Waters, Not Having Yet

Mixed with Those Of The Missouri, Were Quite Transparent; The Banks,

Too, Were Several Hundred feet High, And Recalled to My Mind The

Countries Watered by The Buona Ventura River. For Two Days I Continued

My Road Almost Always In sight Of The Stream, Till At Last, The Ground

Becoming Too Broken And Hilly, I Embarked upon Another Steam Ferry At

Louisiana, A Rising and Promising Village, And Landed upon The Shores Of

Illinois, Where The Level Prairies Would Allow Of More Rapid Travelling.

The State Of Missouri, In point Of Dimensions, Is The Second State Of

The Union, Being Inferior In extent Only To Virginia. It Extends From

36 Deg. To 40 Deg. 35' N. Lat, And From 89 Deg. 20' To 95 Deg. W. Long., Having an Area

Of About 68,500 Square Miles. Its Boundaries, As Fixed by The

Constitution, Are A Line Drawn From A Point In the Middle Of The

Mississippi, In 36 Deg. N. Lat., And Along That Parallel, West To Its

Intersection, A Meridian Line Passing Through The Mouth Of The Kansas.

Thence, The Western Boundary Was Originally At That Meridian: But, By

Act Of Congress In 1836, The Triangular Tract Between It And The

Missouri, Above The Mouth Of The Kansas, Was Annexed to The State. On

The North, The Parallel Of Latitude Which Passes Through The Rapids Of

The River Desmoines, Forms The Boundary Between That River And

The Missouri.

The Surface Of That Portion Of The State Which Lies North Of The

Missouri Is, In general, Moderately Undulating, Consisting Of An

Agreeable Interchange Of Gentle Swells And Broad Valleys, And Rarely,

Though Occasionally, Rugged, Or Rising Into Hills Of Much Elevation.

With The Exception Of Narrow Strips Of Woodland Along The Water-Courses,

Almost The Whole Of This Region Is Prairie, At Least Nine-Tenths Being

Wholly Destitute Of Trees. The Alluvial Patches Or River-Bottoms Are

Extensive, Particularly On The