But their counsel seemed only to inflame him to fresh absurdities.
In the very days of their greatest scarcity that winter, when almost every man was dressed in skins, and the daily fare was thistle roots, he declared to them at a Sunday service: "A time of plenty is at hand--of great plenty.

I cannot tell you how I know these things.

I do not know how they come to me.

I pray--and they come to life in my spirit; that is how I have found this fact: in less than a year States-goods of all needed kinds will be sold here cheaper than they can be bought in Eastern cities.

You shall have an abundance at prices that will amaze you." And the people thrilled to hear him, partaking of his faith, remembering the gulls that ate the crickets, and the rain and wind that came to save the pioneer train from fire.