This verse is difficult to place in context. If it serves as a conclusion to the previous verses, then Mormon is commenting on Limhi’s mixed feelings about replacing his father as ruler. If, however, Mormon meant it as the prelude to Gideon’s actions, then it suggests that Limhi asked Gideon and his men to find his father and bring him back to the city; but in light of Gideon’s determined attempt to kill Noah, this possibility seems unlikely. Even if Limhi did not know that Gideon had attacked Noah, it seems likely, given Gideon’s character, that he would have filled Limhi in on the details of the coup. Even if Limhi, an honorable man himself, had trusted Gideon to carry out this assignment honorably, it hardly seems like that Noah would have surrendered to Gideon, whose intentions he had so recently experienced.
It seems easier to view this expedition as having been sent from the city after the return of Limhi’s people. Gideon would have been in the city and therefore would have initiated the search party as a continuation of his attempt to overthrow Noah. It is therefore quite probable that, when the party began hunting those who fled, their goal was killing Noah. At this point, Limhi had not been formally recognized as king by Gideon or his men. A restabilization of the government must have come afterward, when events had settled and the city’s safety was assured.