At any rate, good or evil powers smote Sampson Gundry heavily.
First he lost his wife, which was a "great denial" to him.

She fell from a cliff while she was pegging out the linen, and the substance of her frame prevented her from ever getting over it.

And after that he lost his son, his only son--for all the Gundries were particular as to quality; and the way in which he lost his son made it still more sad for him.
A reputable and valued woman had disappeared in a hasty way from a cattle-place down the same side of the hills.

The desire of the Indians was to enlarge her value and get it.

There were very few white men as yet within any distance to do good; but Sampson Gundry vowed that, if the will of the Lord went with him, that woman should come back to her family without robbing them of sixpence.