They came with every gasp for breath.

Too late! Too late! His heart pumped like an engine as he strained to keep up his speed.

He passed a man and a boy hurrying with their rifles to St.James and made no answer to their shout; a galloping horse forged ahead of him and he tried to keep up with it; and then, at the top of the long hill that sloped down to the stronghold of the Mormon kingdom something seemed to sweep his legs from under him, and he fell panting on the ground.

For a few moments he lay there looking down upon the city.

The great bell at the temple was now silent.
He saw huge fires burning for a mile along the coast, hundreds of lights were twinkling in the harbor, there came up to him softly, subdued by distance, the sound of commotion and excitement far below.
His eyes rested on the beacon above the prophet's home, burning like a ball of fire over the black canopy of tree-tops.