have every reason to believe that the eldest and the second
were entangled in the meshes of The Secret Band of Brothers, in a manner
from which there was no escape. They are ever on the look-out for any
individual who has forfeited his character, and who promises by his
ingenuity or dexterity to be a fit tool for their purposes. Their agents
are to be found in all the professions, in the magistracy, and in the
prisons and penitentiaries; sometimes, under the vail of hypocrisy,
assuming a fair exterior at the time they are engaged in all manner of
villany; at other times, when their influence in any place is in the
ascendency, openly showing their real character. Men can be found in
many of our towns so notoriously profligate, that not one individual in
the place could be found that would say they were honest men, yet
through solicitation, party spirit, and sometimes through fear, they are
elected to official stations. It is one of the leading objects of the
Secret Band, to have as many of the brotherhood in the magistracy as
possible, and neither money nor importunity are spared to effect their
object. They know what they are about: they are too sagacious to suppose
that a thief will catch a thief; that a gambler will suppress gambling,
or a drunkard promote temperance; and it would be well that those who
really desire any of these objects, were equally "wise in their
generation."

CHAPTER XIV.

The spring of 1833 found me travelling through the Choctaw nation,
which, at that time, with the exception of the government posts, was a
wilderness. Fort Towson, Duxborough, Jonesborough, Lost Prairie, Horse
Prairie, Pecan Point, and several other places throughout this wild and
newly settled country, were crowded with every kind and description of
people from the states, from, the government agents and contractors to
the wild and mysterious refugee--the latter being very numerous, and
having settled upon the south side of Red river, to evade the pursuit of
the United States' officer of justice, that portion then being
considered within the boundaries of Texas. The whole region was one of
peculiar debasement in all respects. As might be suspected, seasoned as
it was with such a population, drunkenness, debauchery, and murder
walked abroad, hand in hand, day and night. Human life was valued no
higher than the life of an ox or a hog, and the heart of the settlement
was cold, and palsied to the most remote touch of feelin