Another insightful story about Brother Barlow and his devotion to the
Prophet was recorded by his grandson Joseph S. Barlow:

  Upon another occasion my grandfather was assisting in the building of
  the Temple at Nauvoo and was driving a pair of beautiful high-spirited
  black mares.  One day while backing his wagon in at the quarry which
  was down by the river's edge, the Prophet came over to him and said:
  "Israel, on your next trip, stop and buy yourself a buggy whip," to
  which grandfather assented.  On his next trip up town he bought a buggy
  whip and returned for another load of rock.  Backing the team in this
  time, he attempted to stop them as usual by saying, "Whoa," to which
  they paid no attention, but kept backing until Israel, in excitement,
  was compelled to use the whip which the Prophet had told him to buy.
  The horses jumped forward and the wagon stopped right at the edge of
  the quarry, beyond which they would have plunged below.

  Grandfather frequently told this story as an illustration of what
  obedience meant.  Grandfather accepted everything the Prophet Joseph
  Smith told him and never questioned "why?"  Some would call this blind
  obedience, but not so.  Israel Barlow knew full well the divine calling
  of the Prophet and bore that testimony to the day of his death.
 

(Ora H. Barlow,  The Israel Barlow Story,  (1968), pp. 195-6)