What passed between Joe Smith and myself I feel not at liberty to disclose; in fact, publicity would interfere with any future plans.  I will only say, that the prophet received me with the greatest cordiality, and confirmed the offers which his agents had made to me when I was among the Comanches.  When, however, I came to the point, and wished to ascertain whether the Mormons would act up to the promises of their leaders, I perceived, to my great disappointment, that the “means” at least for the present—­the operative means—­were not yet ready to be put in motion.  According to him, the Foxes, Osages, Winnebegoes, Sioux, and Mennonionie Indians would act for him at a moment’s notice; and, on my visiting the Foxes to ascertain the truth of these assertions, I discovered that they had indeed promised to do so, provided that, previously, the Mormons should have fulfilled certain promises to them, the performance of which I knew was not yet in the power of the Mormons.

In the meanwhile, I heard from Joe Smith himself how God had selected him to obtain and be the keeper of the divine bible; and the reader will form his own idea of Joe Smith by the narrative.  The day appointed was the 22nd of September, and Joe told me that on that day—­

“He arose early in the morning, took a one-horse waggon of some one that had stayed overnight at his house, and, accompanied by his wife, repaired to the hill which contained the book.  He left his wife in the waggon by the road, and went alone to the hill, a distance of thirty or forty rods.  He then took the book out of the ground, hid it in a tree top, and returned home.  The next day he went to work for some time in the town of Macedon, but about ten days afterwards, it having been suggested that some one had got his book, his wife gave him notice of it; upon which, hiring a horse, he returned home in the afternoon, stayed just time enough to drink a cup of tea, went in search of his book, found it safe, took off his frock, wrapt it round his treasure, put it under his arm, and ran all the way home, a distance of about two miles.  He said he should think that, being written on plates of gold, if weighed sixty pounds, but, at all events, was sure it was not less than forty.  On his return he was attacked by two men in the woods, knocked them both down, made his escape, and arrived safe at home with his burden.”

The above were the exact words of Smith, to which he adds, somewhere in his translation of the book, that had it not been for the supernatural virtues of the stone he carried with him, virtues which endowed him with divine strength and courage, he would never have been able to undergo the fatigues and conquer the obstacles he encountered during that frightful night.

Thus Smith gets possession of his precious manuscript.  But, alas! ’tis written in Egyptian hieroglyphics.  Joe calls to his assistance the wonderful stone, “the gift of God,” and peeping hastily through it, he sees an angel pointing somewhere towards a miraculous pair of spectacles!!! Yes, two polished pieces of crystal were the humble means by which the golden plates were to be rendered comprehensible.  By the bye, the said spectacles are a heavy, ugly piece of workmanship of the last century; they are silver-mounted, and bear the maker’s name, plainly engraved, “Schneider, Zurich.”