It was fortunate, the Secretary wrote, that it was winter.

This was the time to maul the wretches.

The nights were so long, the mountain tops so cold and stormy, that even the hardiest men could not long bear exposure to the open air without a roof or a spark of fire.

That the women and the children could find shelter in the desert was quite impossible.

While he wrote thus, no thought that he was committing a great wickedness crossed his mind.