I wash my hands of him at the start. I can not father his tales, nor will I be rasponsible for them . I make these preliminary reservations, observe, as a guard upon my own integrity. I possess a certain definite position in a small way, also a wife; and for the good name of the community that honours my existence with its approval, and for the sake of her posterity and mine, I cannot take the chances I once did, nor foster probabilities with the careless improvidence of youth. So , I repeat, I wash my hands of him . this nomrod, this mighty hunter, this homely, blue-eyed, freckle-faced thomas stevens….