The narrator, Homer P. Figg, declares that the story he’s about to tell is true—mostly. He and his older brother, Harold, were sent to live with their mean-spirited uncle, Squinton Leach, after their parents died. “Squint” hates nearly everything, the boys included, “but I think he just flat out enjoyed being hateful” (3-4).

Harold tries to protect Homer and often gets punished for it. One day in 1863, Squint catches half-starved Homer eating a piece of bread meant for the hogs and tries to strike the lad, but Harold grabs Squint’s fist; a scuffle ensues, and Squint stumbles and falls into the muddy pig sty. The boys run to the barn and hide there while the enraged Squint grabs his musket, but instead of shooting the boys he rides off and soon returns “with a crew of men to lynch us” (6). 

The men enter the barn to search for the boys. Whiskey seller Cornelius “Corny” Witham climbs up to the loft with a pitchfork and stabs at the pile of hay until the boys stand up and surrender. Corny leads them outside, where Squint waits with county magistrate JT Marston and a drunken Union sergeant. Marston owns most of the local town of Pine Swamp, Maine, and he gets his way with town officials through bribery and payoffs.