Young Hamlet F. Kuhl feels trapped on his hilltop goatfarm in California's Gold Country 1853. He pines for adventure and riches. So he runs off to seek his fortune in the gold fields. But on the way something happens to him that will change his life.

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In this passage from Bandits! young Hamlet Kuhl at last takes an opportunity to escape:

   Now is my chance to go home, I thought. Since the fire had died down to embers, it was dark as could be, and everyone else was sawing wood, as Private Murphy would say, making a reference to the sound of their snores.
   So, quiet as a church mouse I got up, pulled Lobo by the mane out from among the horses, and hiked myself on top of the old fellow. Lobo didn't have his packs on or his bridle, so my weight alone was a lot less than he was used to carrying. I just grabbed hold of his mane and twisted, digging my heels into his flanks, trying to get him to go in the direction of home.
   He finally did move, with a lot of the kind of groaning and moaning only an old mule will make. But his noise was not loud enough to wake up my captors.
   We two got out of the woods and onto the trail, easy as pie, and I thought to myself, Here we go. We were moving quietly up the trail toward the direction I thought was home. I started thinking about Pola’s pone and my own bed and some boiled chicken and some apples that Papa had traded for. My jaws were dripping in anticipation. I wasn't thinking about Jack or Chino or Jefe or danger from the gang behind me.
   But all at once a coyote yipped close by...

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