In the fifth year of the Nephite Judges (B. C. 87) the Lamanites invaded Zarahemla and were disastrously defeated, about which time we suggest Aaron and his fellows were confined in prison in the land of Middoni, and the results of the war would measurably account for the great cruelty with which they were treated by the exasperated Lamanites, as well as for the ferocity of the old king when he found his son in the company of the hated Nephite. After the incidents of that eventful meeting the king was not in a frame of mind to go to war with the Nephites; the generous words and magnanimous conduct of Ammon had produced such a deep influence, that though not yet converted, his heart had experienced a great change. Probably a year or two passed before Aaron and his fellow-laborers brought him to a full knowledge of the true plan of redemption. For these reasons we consider the meeting of Lamoni and his father did not take place earlier than B. C. 87. The old king's conversion was followed by the issuance of his proclamation of protection and unqualified religious liberty to the Nephite missionaries and to all his subjects; of which proclamation Aaron and his co-laborers took the fullest benefit by preaching from city to city throughout the wide Lamanite territory, establishing churches and ordaining officers therein. This labor occupied some years. As the church grew the spirit of rebellion developed amongst the unconverted, until they declared open war against the king, and massacred their gospel-believing brethren. Immediately after the massacre of the 1005 Anti-Nephi-Lehies the angry Lamanites broke out in war with the Nephites, under the idea that the latter were the cause of their internal troubles. They made a sudden incursion into the land of Zarahemla and destroyed the city of Ammonihah, which event took place in the eleventh year of the Judges (B. C. 81), and after that they had many battles with the Nephites, in which they were driven and slain. After their return from this inglorious campaign they wreaked their vengeance on their unoffending brethren, and again commenced to massacre them, which murders, we suggest, took place during the thirteenth year of the reign of the Judges (B. C. 79), as in the year following the whole of the believing Lamanites migrated to the land of Jershon, as before narrated (B. C. 78). These dates are simply suggestive as far as the history of the mission is concerned, but those that relate to the Nephites are distinctly stated in the annals of that people. CHAPTER XXIII. THE DAYS OF THE JUDGES--THEIR NAMES AND REIGNS--THE HERESY OF NEHOR--HE SLAYS GIDEON AND IS EXECUTED--AMLICI'S REBELLION--THE BATTLE OF AMNIHU--THE CONFLICT AT THE CROSSING OF THE SIDON--A THIRD BATTLE. (ALMA CHAP. 1 TO 3.)