Another Miracle and a Temptation in the Wilderness

The floor of the valley was an arid waste, flat and treeless, a far sweep of gray and gold, of sage-brush spangled with sunflowers, patched here and there with glistening beds of salt and soda, or pools of the deadly alkali.  Here crawled the lizard and the rattlesnake; and there was no music to the desolation save the petulant chirp of the cricket.  At the sides an occasional stream tumbled out of the mountains to be all but drunk away at once by the thirsty sands.  Along the banks of these was the only green to be found, sparse fringes of willow and wild rose.  On the borders of the valley, where the steeps arose, were little patches of purple and dusty brown, oak-bush, squaw-berry, a few dwarfed cedars, and other scant growths.  At long intervals could be found a marsh of wire-grass, or a few acres of withered bunch-grass.  But these served only to emphasise the prevailing desert tones.

The sun-baked earth was so hard that it broke their ploughs when they tried to turn it.  Not until they had spread water upon it from the river they had named Jordan could the ploughs be used.  Such was the new Canaan, the land held in reserve by the Lord for His chosen people since the foundations of the world were laid.

Dreary though it was, they were elated.  Had not a Moses led them out of bondage up into this chamber of the mountains against the day of wrath that was to consume the Gentile world?  And would he not smite the rocks for water?  Would he not also be a Joshua to sit in judgment and divide to Israel his inheritance?

They waited not nor demurred, but fell to work.  Within a week they had explored the valley and its canons, made a road to the timber eight miles away, built a saw-pit, sawed lumber for a skiff, ploughed, planted, and irrigated half a hundred acres of the parched soil, and begun the erection of many dwellings, some of logs, some of adobes.  Ground had also been chosen and consecrated by Brigham, whereon, in due time, they would build up their temple to the God of Jacob.

Meantime, they would continue to gather out of Babylon.  During the late summer and fall many wagons arrived from the Missouri, so that by the beginning of winter their number was nearly two thousand.  They lived rudely, a lucky few in the huts they had built; more in tents and wagon-boxes.  Nor did they fail to thank Providence for the mild winter vouchsafed to them during this unprotected period, permitting them not only to survive, but to continue their labours - of logging, home-building, the making of rough furniture, and the repairing of wagons and tools.

When the early spring came they were again quickly at the land with their seeds.  Over five thousand acres were sown to needful produce.  When this began to sprout with every promise of a full harvest, their joy was boundless; for their stock of breadstuffs and provisions had fallen low during the winter, and could not last later than harvest-time, even with rigid economy.

But early in June, in the full flush of this springtide of promise, it appeared that the Lord was minded to chasten them.  For into their broad, green fields came the ravenous crickets in wide, black streams down the mountain sides.  Over the growing grain they spread as a pall, and the tender sprouts were consumed to the ground.  In their track they left no stalk nor growing blade.

Starvation now faced the Saints.  In their panic they sought to fight the all-devouring pest.  While some went wildly through the fields killing the crickets, others ran trenches and tried to drown them.  Still others beat them back with sticks and brooms, or burned them by fires set in the fields.  But against the oncoming horde these efforts were unavailing.  Where hundreds were destroyed hundreds of thousands appeared.

Despair seized the Saints, the bitter despair of a cheated, famished people - deluded even by their God.  In their shorn fields they wept and cursed, knowing at last they could not stay the pest.

Then into the fields came Joel Rae, rebuking the frenzied men and women.  The light of a high faith was upon him as he called out to them: 

“Have I not preached to you all winter the way to salvation in times like this?  Does faith mean one thing in my mouth and another thing here?  Why waste yourselves with those foolish tricks of fire and water?  They only make you forget Jéhovah - you fools - you poor, blind fools - to palter so!”

He raised his voice, and the wondering group about him grew large.

“Down, down on your knees and pray - pray - pray!  I tell you the Lord shall not suffer you to perish!”

Then, as but one or two obeyed him -

“So your hearts have been hardened?  Then my own prayer shall save you!”

Down he knelt in the midst of the group, while they instinctively drew back from him on all sides.  But as his voice rose, a voice that had never failed to move them, they, too, began to kneel, at first those near him, then others back of them, until a hundred knelt about him.

He had not observed them, but with eyes closed he prayed on, pouring out his heart in penitent supplication.

“These people are but little children, after all, seeing not, groping blindly, attempting weakly, blundering always, yet never faltering in love for Thee.  Now I, Thy servant, humble and lowly, from whom Thou hast already taken in hardest ways all that his heart held dear, who will to-day give his body to be crucified, if need be, for this people - I implore Thee to save these blundering children now, in this very moment.  I ask nothing for myself but that -

As his words rang out, there had been quick, low, startled murmurs from the kneeling group about him; and now loud shouts interrupted his prayer.  He opened his eyes.  From off toward the lake great flocks of gulls had appeared, whitening the sky, and now dulling all other sounds with the beating of their wings and their high, plaintive cries.  Quickly they settled upon the fields in swirling drifts, so that the land all about lay white as with snow.

A groan went up, - “They will finish what the crickets have left.”

He had risen to his feet, looking intently.  Then he gave an exultant shout.

“No!  No! - they are eating only the crickets! - the white birds are devouring the black pests; the hosts of heaven and hell have met, and the powers of light have triumphed once more over darkness! Pray - pray now with all your hearts in thanksgiving for this mercy!”

And again they knelt, many with streaming eyes, while he led them in a prayer of gratitude for this wondrous miracle.

All day long the white birds fed upon the crickets, and when they left at night the harvest had been saved.  Thus had Heaven vouchsafed a second miracle to the Lute of the Holy Ghost.  It is small wonder then if his views of the esteem in which he was held by that power were now greatly enlarged.

In August, thanks to the Heaven-sent gulls, they were able to celebrate with a feast their first “Harvest Home.”  In the centre of the big stockade a bowery was built, and under its shade tables were spread and richly laden with the first fruits their labours had won from the desert, - white bread and golden butter, green corn, watermelons, and many varieties of vegetables.  Hoisted on poles for exhibition were immense sheaves of wheat, rye, barley, and oats, coaxed from the arid level with the water they had cunningly spread upon it.

There were prayers and public thanksgiving, songs and speeches and dancing.  It was the flush of their first triumph over the desert.  Until nightfall the festival lasted, and at its close Elder Rae stood up to address them on the subject of their past trials and present blessings.  The silence was instant, and the faces were all turned eagerly upon him, for it was beginning to be suspected that he had more than even priestly power.

“To-day,” he said, “the favour and blessing of God have been manifest upon us.  But let us not forget our debts and duties in this feasting of the flesh.  Afflictions are necessary to humble and prove us, and we shall have them as often as they are needed.  Oh, never doubt it!  I have, indeed, but one fear concerning this people in the valleys of the mountains - but one trembling fear in the nerves of my spirit - and that is lest we do not live the religion we profess.  If we will only cleave to that faith in our practise, I tell you we are at the defiance of all hell.  But if we transgress the law God has given us, and trample His mercies, blessings, and ordinances under our feet, treating them with the indifference I have thought some occasionally do, not realising their sins, I tell you that in consequence we shall be overcome, and the Lord will let us be again smitten and scattered.  Take it to heart.  May the God of heaven fill you with the Holy Ghost and give you light and joy in His Kingdom.”

When he was done many pressed forward to take his hand, the young and the old, for they had both learned to reverence him.

Near the outer edge of the throng was a red-lipped Juno, superbly rounded, who had gleaned in the fields until she was all a Gipsy brown, and her movements of a Gipsy grace in their freeness.  She did not greet the young Elder as did the others, seeming, indeed, to be unconscious of his presence.  Yet she lingered near as they scattered off into the dusk, in little groups or one by one; and still she stood there when all were gone, now venturing just a glance at him from deep gray eyes set under black brows, turning her splendid head a little to bring him into view.  He saw the figure and came forward, peeringly.

“Mara Cavan - yes, yes, so it is!” He took her hand, somewhat timidly, an observer would have said.  “Your father is not able to be out?  I shall walk down with you to see him - if you’re ready now.”

She had been standing much like a statue, in guarded restraint, but at his words and the touch of his hand she seemed to melt and flow into eager acquiescence, murmuring some hurried little words of thanks for her father, and stepping by his side with eyes down.

They went out into the soft summer night, past the open doors where rejoicing groups still lingered, the young standing, the old sitting in chairs by the doors of their huts.  Then they were out of the stockade and off toward the southern end of the settlement.  A big, golden moon had come up over the jagged edge of the eastern hills, - a moon that left the valley in a mystic sheen of gold and blue, and threw their shadows madly into one as they walked.  They heard the drowsy chirp of the cricket, now harmless, and the low cry of an owl.  They felt the languorous warmth of the night, spiced with a hint of chilliness, and they felt each other near.  They had felt this nearness before.  One of them had learned to fear it, to tremble for himself at the thought of it.  The other had learned to dream of it, and to long for it, and to wonder why it should be denied.

Now, as they stepped side by side, their hands brushed together, and he caught hers in his grasp, turning to look full upon her.  Her ecstasy was poignant; she trembled in her walk.  But she looked straight ahead, - waiting.  To both of them it seemed that the earth rocked under their feet.  He looked long at her profile, softened in the magic light.  She felt his eyes upon her, and still she waited, in a trembling ecstasy, stepping closely by his side.  She felt him draw a long breath, and then another, quickly, - and then he spoke.

In words that were well-chosen but somewhat hurried, he proceeded to instruct her in the threefold character of the Godhead.  The voice at first was not like his own, but as he went on it grew steadier.  After she drew her hand gently out of his, which she presently did, it seemed to regain its normal pitch and calmness.

He saw her to the door of the cabin on the outskirts of the settlement, and there he spoke a few words of cheer to her ailing father.

Then he was off into the desert, pacing swiftly into the grim, sandy solitude beyond the farthest cabin light and the bark of the outmost watch-dog.  Feverishly he walked, and far, until at last, as if naught in himself could avail, he threw himself to the ground and prayed.

“Keep me good!  Keep me to my vows!  Help me till my own strength grows, for I am weak and wanting.  Let me endure the pain until this wicked fire within me hath burned itself out.  Keep me for her!”

Back where the houses were, in the shadow of one of them, was the flushed, full-breathing woman, hurt but dumb, wondering, in her bruised tenderness, why it must be so.

Still farther back, inside the stockade, where the gossiping groups yet lingered, they were saying it was strange that Elder Rae waited so long to take him a wife or two.