abandoned their evil designs for fear of signal punishment; but the supposed pistol which caused their alarm and my protection, was my pocket Bible, a precious gift to me from the dearly beloved Patriarch, Father Joseph Smith.
On another occasion, while addressing a congregation in a dwelling house, in fulfilment of a previous arrangement by a lawless set, to throw a rope over my head and then drag me to the river and duck me through a hole in the ice, one of the fellows who was in front of me was in the act of throwing his lariat, when he was discovered by the mistress of the house, who instantly gave the alarm, and he sneaked out of the congregation like a whipped dog.
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CHAPTER VII.
Leaves Kentucky.—Travels on foot five hundred miles.—Reaches his friends
in Ohio.—Through fatigue and exposure, is very sick.—Receives kind
attention.—Traveled and preached.—Taught school.—Great effort, and
great success.—A thrilling narrative.—Arrives in Nauvoo.—The Father
and Family in LaHarpe.
ON the last of February, 1839, I left the State of Kentucky with one dollar and twenty-five cents in my pocket, to visit my former home in Ohio, and to settle up some unfinished business, having received, by letter from my sister Eliza, the news of the expulsion of our people from Missouri. The distance of the journey before me was about five hundred miles, and in the worst season of the year for traveling, and at a time when very little interest was felt by the people for Gospel truths, and few opportunities afforded for public preaching. The trip was a tedious one—on foot and in the midst of snow and rain storms—sometimes hard, frozen ground—sometimes mud and water soaking through
