Textual: Mormon is quite aware that he has left the basic line of his narrative. At the end of chapter 2 he looked ahead to his own time, then detailed connections with the land northward, and ended this section with a reference to his own time. This was an intentional insertion that will become very important when we discuss the Gadianton robbers of Mormon’s day. At this point, however, Mormon recognizes that the information has been intrusive, and he must explicitly return to his narrative of the events of Helaman’s time.