We knowed very well who they were.

They were a band of outlaws an' robbers, that had been in the county ever since I could remember, an', bein' too lazy to make an honest livin' by trappin', they went around plunderin' an' stealin' from every one they come across.

They had stole three or four horses from us, an' had often come to our cabin an' called for whisky; but that was an article father never kept on hand.

Although he was an ole trapper, an' had lived in the woods all his life, he never used it, an' didn't believe in sellin' it to the red-skins.

The captain of the outlaws was a feller they called "Mountain Tom," an' he was meaner than the meanest Injun I ever see.