The laying of the foundation of the City of Zion was next in order. Rigdon delivered an address in consecrating the ground, in which he enjoined them to obey all of Smith's commands. A small scrub oak tree was then cut down and trimmed, and twelve men, representing the Apostles, conveyed it to a designated place. Cowdery sought out the best stone he could find for a corner-stone, removed a little earth, and placed the stone in the excavation, delivering an address. One end of the oak tree was laid on this stone, "and there," says Booth, "was laid down the first stone and stick which are to form an essential part of the splendid City of Zion." The next day the site of the Temple was consecrated, Smith laying the cornerstone. When the ceremonies were over, the spot was merely marked by a sapling, from two sides of which the bark was stripped, one side being marked with a "T" for Temple, and the other with "ZOM," which Smith stated stood for "Zomas," the original of Zion. At the foot of this sapling lay the corner-stone--"a small stone, covered over with bushes." Such ceremonies might have been viewed with indulgence if conducted in some suburb of Kirtland. But when men had travelled hundreds of miles at Smith's command, suffering personal privations as well as submitting to pecuniary sacrifices, it was a severe test of their faith to have two small trees and t wo round stones in the wilderness offered to them as the only tangible indications of a land of plenty. Rigdon expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome, as we have seen; Booth left the church as soon as he got back to Ohio; members of the party called Cowdery and Smith imperious, and the prophet and Rigdon incurred the charge of "excessive cowardice" on the way. Smith made a second trip to Independence, leaving Ohio on April 2, 1832, and arriving there on his return the following June. His stay in Missouri this time was marked by nothing more important than his acknowledgment as President of the high priesthood by a council of the church there, and a "revelation" which declared that Zion's "borders must be enlarged, her Stakes must be strengthened." CHAPTER III. -- THE EXPULSION FROM JACKSON COUNTY--THE ARMY OF ZION