These two "_Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints_",
were honest Joe and his worthy _compeer_ and coadjutor, Sidney Rigdon.
CHAPTER XLI.
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.
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