Gideon now sent men to search for Noah that he might be delivered up to the Lamanites. They found that the men who were with Noah, being ashamed of their cowardly flight, swore that they would return; and, if their wives and children had been killed, they would have revenge. The king commanded that they should not return, at which they grew angry with him, and burned him to death as he had done Abinadi. His priests saved themselves from a like terrible fate by flight. When the men who put Noah to death were about to return to the land of Nephi, they met Gideon and his party, and informed them of the end of Noah and the escape of the priests; then, when they heard the news that Gideon brought, they rejoiced much that their wives and children had been spared by the Lamanites. Noah being dead, one of his sons, Limhi by name, was made king. It was almost an empty honor, for his people were in bondage to the Lamanites. Still he made a treaty of peace with the king of the Lamanites, and because he could do no better he agreed to pay a yearly tribute of one-half of the increase of the products of his subjects. The Lamanites set guards all around the land, for they were now most anxious that the Nephites should not escape. The latter were to all intents and purposes bond-servants, and the Lamanites obtained all the advantages of their labor without any of the responsibilities that generally fall upon the slave owner. Out of the tribute the guards that held them in bondage were paid. This state of things continued without an outbreak for two years. In these times there was a romantic spot in the Land of Shemlon, on the Nephite borders, where the Lamanite maidens were in the habit of gathering on pleasure bent. Here they sang, danced and made merry with all the gaiety of youthful innocence and overflowing spirits. One day when a few were thus gathered they were suddenly surprised, and twenty-four of their number were carried off by strange men, who, from their appearance, were unmistakably Nephites. On learning of this act of treachery the Lamanites were stirred to uncontrollable anger, and without seeking an explanation they made a sudden incursion into the territory held by king Limhi. This attack, however, was not successful, for their movements, though not understood, had been discovered, and their intended victims poured forth to meet them.