"Now," says Ben Rogers, "what's the line of business of this Gang?"

     "Nothing only robbery and murder," Tom said.

     "But who are we going to rob?--houses, or cattle, or--"

     "Stuff! stealing cattle and such things ain't robbery; it's burglary," says Tom Sawyer. "We ain't burglars. That ain't no sort of style. We are highwaymen. We stop stages and carriages on the road, with masks on, and kill the people and take their watches and money."

     "Must we always kill the people?"

     "Oh, certainly. It's best. Some authorities think different, but mostly it's considered best to kill them--except some that you bring to the cave here, and keep them till they're ransomed."

     "Ransomed? What's that?"

     "I don't know. But that's what they do. I've seen it in books; and so of course that's what we've got to do."

     "But how can we do it if we don't know what it is?"

     "Why, blame it all, we've GOT to do it. Don't I tell you it's in the books? Do you want to go to doing different from what's in the books, and get things all muddled up?"