reached the borders of the Lamanites. Commending themselves to God they there separated, each one trusting to the Lord to guide him to the place where he could best accomplish the purposes of Heaven.
Ammon entered the Lamanite territory at a land called Ishmael. Here Lamoni was the chief ruler, under his father, who was king of all the Lamanites. Ammon was no sooner discovered than he was taken, bound with cords and conducted into the presence of Lamoni. It was the custom of the Lamanites to so use every Nephite they captured, and it rested with the whim of the king whether the captive be slain, imprisoned or sent out of the country. The king's will and pleasure appear to have been the only law on such matters.
Through God's grace, Ammon found favor in the eyes of Lamoni, and, learning that it was his desire to reside among the Lamanites, the king offered him one of his daughters to wife. Ammon courteously declined this intended honor and begged to be accepted as one of the king's servants, which arrangement pleased Lamoni, and Ammon was placed in that part of the royal household that had charge of the monarch's flocks and herds. Lamoni was rich in livestock, probably the result of the taxation of the people, but even the king's property was not secure from theft. Marauding bands would watch for his numerous cattle as they approached their watering places. Then with yell and prolonged shout they would stampede the herds and drive away all they could, beyond the reach of the king's servants. These would gather up what few animals, if any, they found, and return to the king in the full expectancy of being made to pay for the loss by the forfeit of their lives. They were seldom disappointed, for Lamoni or some of his predecessors had established a somewhat unique criminal code with
