I asked him if the Apaches had any knowledge of their fathers, counting back many counts. He answered that they had lost that, and did not know anything about them. I showed him one of our books, and informed him that it told about their old fathers. At this he got up and called to a lot of other Indians that were loafing around. Some thirty or forty soon gathered around me. I commenced and explained considerable to them. They were growing quite interested when the agent was seen approaching. They seemed to understand that my words were not for the agent's ears, and manifested as much by their remarks, so I changed the subject and said that the Mormons had also sent us to look for country to settle, as we were growing and wished new country; that we would perhaps settle near them; that we were friends to the red man and hoped the Apaches would be friendly with us. The agent had approached near enough to hear this talk. He stayed around, giving me no further chance to explain the Book of Mormon to them. He made some remarks to call their attention away from me. I could see plainly that he wished me to stop talking, so I told the Indians we would meet again sometime. I felt that I had made a little impression for good upon them. Sometime after this I had a good long talk with the Apaches, which I will give an account of in the proper place. We had a vague idea of the western portion of Chihuahua, where the Mormons are now settling, but could get no definite directions, as we met no one who seemed to know much about the country. So we concluded to continue on the main road to El Paso. Nothing of interest occurred on the way. All went well with us. We drove into Franklin, a small town on the American side of the line, opposite El Paso. The main question now was, how will we be able to pass the custom house and get our books and outfit over the line into Mexico. Many persons had told us that we would never be allowed to pass, as Catholicism ruled in that country and they would never permit us to enter with Mormon publications. Our hopes were in the overruling Power to help us. None of us pretended to have wisdom for the occasion. We were standing in the street about noon. I was talking to a gentleman, telling him that we wished to pass over the line at once with our outfit. Our mission was to Mexico, and we felt like going ahead and getting in. We intended to remain there until spring. It was now January. While talking with the stranger he said, pointing toward three men passing: "There go the custom officer and post master; the other man is a good interpreter. The post master is an American, but is a great friend of the custom officer. They are going into the post office now. They have just been to dinner and will be in a good humor. You had better go at once and see them."