The Prophet and his brother Hyrum at once crossed the river and their friends were instructed to procure horses for them and make all necessary preparations to start for "the Great Basin of the Rocky Mountains."
The next morning a Mrs. Thompson entered Elder Taylor's house about seven o'clock.
"What, you here!" she exclaimed, very much surprised, "the brethren have crossed the river some time since."
"Brother Joseph and Hyrum, and Brother Richards."
Elder Taylor at once concluded that those brethren had determined finally to leave for the East for a season, as had been talked of the night before, instead of going to Carthage. He knew what a storm of rage and disappointment that would arouse in the breasts of the mob militia at Carthage, who were waiting with ill-concealed impatience for the coming of their prey. Being satisfied that if the mob forces which Governor Ford had exalted to the dignity of "state militia" should come to Nauvoo, and find their victims gone, the first thing they would do would be to destroy the printing office. He therefore called to his assistance a few brethren in whom he had confidence and removed the type, the stereotyped plates of the Book of Mormon and the fixtures that were the most valuable.
This done he made arrangements for the adjustment of his accounts, having determined, in the event of not finding Joseph and his companions, to go to Upper Canada for a season. In caring for the valuables in the printing office, and in making his preparations to leave Nauvoo, he had been materially assisted by Cyrus H. Wheelock. He was an active, enterprising man, just such a man as Elder Taylor would need if he went to Canada, so he said to him:
"Brother Wheelock, can you go with me ten or fifteen hundred miles?
Those were times and circumstances that required prompt action, and Brother Wheelock had evidently drunk deeply into the spirit of the times. Brother Wheelock lived on the Montrose side of the river; and Elder Taylor told him to go and visit his family, procure horses and the necessary equipage for the journey, and if they heard nothing from Joseph they would start by night fall. He also arranged for Brother Wheelock and a Brother Bell to row him across the river during the afternoon. That he might not be recognized while leaving Nauvoo, he went to the house of a Brother Eddy on the banks of the river, and there disguised himself as an old man. He went down to the boat while the brethren were sauntering along on the banks just below it. Brother Bell did not recognize him and at last remarked to Brother Wheelock--"I wish that old gentleman would go away; he has been pottering around that boat for some time, and I am afraid that Elder Taylor will be coming." His mistake, when discovered, afforded them considerable merriment.