The German Friedrich Gerstäcker (1818–1872) is known as a traveler and novelist. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. his writings were as popular as the books of Gustav Aimard, Thomas Myne Reid or Fenimore Cooper. Gerstäcker did not set himself the task of introducing readers in an entertaining way to the customs and morals of places that were distant to Europeans. He simply, with his characteristic sense of humor, talked about what he saw, heard, and experienced. And if you don’t know that Gerstäcker is German, you might think that the novels he created are more likely to belong to American literature. The novel “The Meadow Robbers” published here contains intonations that are very rare for adventure books. The book has a slightly ironic attitude towards what is happening, somewhat reminiscent of American folklore. Moreover, this novel - an undoubted success of the author - does not divide the world into black and white. The relationship between bandits-horse thieves, their irreconcilable enemies - the regulators, that is, vigilantes, and the farmers of the Far West is not at all as clear-cut as is usually described in such literature.