Now,we,ll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer 's Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath
We were willing so Tom got out a sheet of paper with the oath written on it. It swore every boy to stick to the gang and never tell any of its secrets.
If anybody ever did anything wrong to any boy in the band, one of the other boys would be ordered to get even with that person and his family and he would have to do it.
Everybody said it was a great oath and asked Tom if he made it up himself. He said some of it but the rest was out of pirate-books and robber-book. He told us that every important gang had an oath like it.