xt7xgx44rh7s https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt7xgx44rh7s/data/mets.xml Wood, Henry Cleveland, 1855- 1908 books b92-152-29698798 English Laird & Lee, : Chicago : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. McComb, M. L. Night riders : a thrilling story of love, hate and adventure, graphically depicting the tobacco uprising in Kentucky / by Henry C. Wood. text Night riders : a thrilling story of love, hate and adventure, graphically depicting the tobacco uprising in Kentucky / by Henry C. Wood. 1908 2002 true xt7xgx44rh7s section xt7xgx44rh7s Y O U F t UNCLE SAM OWNS A GREAT NAVY A very important adjunct of Government.-You and everybody mnst be interested in it A Submarine Boat. A new "wrinkle" in warfare. THE AMERICAN BATTLESHIP AND LIFE IN THE NAVY By THOS. BEYER, a Bluejacket Is the most authoritative as well as the most readable book published on the subject. Also Humorous Man-o'-War Yarns. 40 fuell-page half-tones, including Rear-Admiral Evans' flagship "Con- necticut," and a lithographed map, In four colors. of the erime around the world by the U. S. fleet, 1907-1906. EXTRA SILK CLOTH, GOLD TITLE, 1.25 At all bookstores and book supply houses, or sent postpaid, on receipt of price, by LAIRD LEE, Publishers, WabaaZ enue, CHICAGO I I 1, I I4 I I DRESSED IN HER HUSBAND'S CLOTHES, SHE LED THEM TO THE TOBACCO BARN. -A fence between makes love more keen."' THEE NIGHT RIDERS A Thrilling Story of Love, Hate and Adventure, graphically depicting the Tobacco Uprising in Kentucky BY HENRY C. WOOD "Who warms in his bosom the eggs of a nest of snakes." hatred hatches CHICAGO LAIRD LE.E, PUBLISHERS Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1908, BY WILLIAM H. LEE, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. DRAMATIC RIGHTS RESERVED BY THE AUTHOR. Preface The author has cleverly interwoven a tale of absorbing heart interest with a graphically depicted view of the present Tobacco Troubles in Kentucky and the exciting times when the people formed into bands known as THE NIGHT RIDERS, to protest against what they considered the unjust tax of the Toll Gale System. These protests were of a strenuous nature, not unlike those of the tobacco-growing section today, and as the characters in the story are real, live beings, who did things, the reader's interest never flags. THE PUBLISHERS. p eA This page in the original text is blank. BRACING HIMSELF IN HIS STIRRUPS, MILT CRIED HURRIEDLY TO JUDSON: "LEAP UP BEHIND ME ! "-Page 130. CHAPTER I. The early morning sunlight entered boldly through the small panes of glass into the kitchen of the toll-house and fell in a check- ered band across the breakfast table set against the sill of the one long, low window. The meal was a simple one, plainly served, but a touch of gold and purple-royal colors of the season-was given it by a bunch of autumn flowers, golden-rod and wild aster, stuck in a glass jar set on the window sill. A glance at the two seated at each end of the narrow table would have enabled one to decide quickly to whom was due this desire for orna- mentation, for the mother was a sharp-fea- tured, rather untidy-looking woman, on whom the burden of hard work and poverty had laid 7 The Night Riders certain harsh lines not easily eradicated, while the daughter's youth and comeliness had over- come them as a fine jewel may assert its beauty despite a cheap setting. The sun's lambent rays, falling across the girl's shapely head and shoulders, touched to deeper richness the auburn hair, gathered in a large, loose coil, that rested low upon her neck, and also accentuated the clear, delicately- tinted complexion like a semi-transparency that is given rare old china when the light il- lumines it. The meal was eaten almost in silence, but to- ward the end of the breakfast Mrs. Brown looked up suddenly, her cup of coffee raised partly to her lips, and said, in her querulous treble: "Sally, Foster Crain says aigs air fetchin' fo'hteen an' a half cents in town. Count what's stored away in the big gourd, when you git through eatin', an' take 'em in this mornin'." "How am I to go" asked her daughter, looking up from her plate. "Joe's limping from that nail he picked up yesterday." "Likely somebody'll be passin' the gate 8 The Night Riders that'll give you a seat. The Squire may be along soon." A certain inflection crept into the speaker's voice. "I'll walk," announced Sally, with sudden determination. "It's cool and pleasant, and I'd as soon walk as ride." The mother looked across furtively to where her daughter sat. "I don't see what makes you so set ag'in the Squire," she said, plaintively, a few moments later, as if she had divined her daughter's un- uttered thoughts. "He's an old fool !" declared Sally, prompt- ly. "An' it strikes me that you're somethin' of a young one I" retorted her mother sharply. The girl made no answer, save a perceptible shrug of her pretty shoulders, and soon after- ward got up and began to clear away the break- fast dishes. Mrs. Brown sighed deeply. "Most girls would be powerful vain to have the Squire even notice 'em," the mother contin- ued, in a more persuasive tone, as a sort of balm offering to the girl's wounded feelings. She placed her cup and saucer in her plate and put back a small piece of unused butter on the side 9 The Night Riders of the butter dish, then slowly arose from the table. "It's seldom a po' gyurl has such a good chance to better her condition, if she was only willin' to do so," she continued argumenta- tively, for the subject was a favorite theme with her, and she had rung its changes for the listen- er's benefit on more than one occasion. She gave her daughter a sidelong glance-partly of inquiry, partly of reproach-and turned to her work. Sally, with something like an impatient jerk, lifted from the stove the .steaming kettle and poured a part of the hot contents into the dish- pan on the table, but she made no answer, though soon the clatter of tins and dishes-per- haps they rattled a little louder than usual- mingled as a sort of accompaniment to the reminiscent monologue that Mrs. Brown car- ried on at intervals during her work. "It's all owin' to the Squire's kindness an' interest in us that we're fixed this comfortable, for, dear knows I'd never got the tollgate in the first place if it hadn't been for his influence, an' now, if you'd only give him any encouragement at all, you might be a grand sight better off. so The Night Riders Such chances don't grow as thick as black- berries in sumnmer, I can tell you." The dishes and tins rattled angrily, but Sally said not a word. "About the only good showin' a poor gyurl has in this world is to marry as well as she can, an' when she neglects to do this, she's got no- body to blame but herself-not a soul." Sally had the dishes all washed and laid in a row on the table to drain, and now she caught them up, one by one, and began to polish away vigorously, as if the effort afforded a certain re- lief to her feelings, since she had chosen to take refuge in silence. "S'posin' he is old an' ugly," soliloquized Mrs. Brown, abruptly breaking into speech again, and seemingly addressing her remarks to the skillet she was then cleaning, and which she held up before her and gazed into intently, as a lady of fashion might do a hand glass at her toilet. "What o' that Beauty's only skin deep, an' old age is likely to come to us all sooner or later. It's all the better if he is along in years," she added, with a sudden chuckle and a second furtive glance over the top of the skillet toward the girl, to see if she was listen- I I The Night Riders ing. "Then he ain't so likely to live forever, an' a trim young widow, with property of her own an' money in bank, can mighty soon find a chance to marry ag'in, if she's a mind to." A cloud of anger swept over the listener's face, which the mother failed to see, as the skillet again intervened. "There ain't nothin' like havin' a home of your own, an' knowin' you've got a shelter for your old age-no, indeed, they ain'tl The Squire's mighty well fixed; he's got a real good farm, an' turnpike stock, an' cash, an' a nice, comfortable house besides." "Comfortable I" exclaimed Sally, with a toss of her head, and breaking her resolve to keep silent. "It looks like a ha'nted barn stuck back amongst them cedar trees down in the hollow. No wonder his first wife went crazy an' hung herself up in the attic, poor thing! They say he treated her shameful mean." Sally had looked upon this house many times and with conflicting thoughts as she passed it now and then. An air of neglect and loneliness hung about the spot. The house, hopelessly ugly and angular, was set far back from the road in the midst of a large yard given over to 12 The Night Riders weeds and untrimmed shrubbery, while a clump of gloomy-looking cedars defied even the brightness of sun and sky. "You. can't put credit into everything you hear," admonished Mrs. Brown, breaking ruthlessly into her daughter's musings. "Be- sides, a spry young girl can pretty much have her own way when she marries a man so much older than herself. "There's Serena Lowe, that use' to be," she continued, reminiscently. "She an' her fam'ly was about as poor as Job's turkey when we went to school together, an' many's the time I've di- vided my dinner with her because she didn't seem to have any too much of her own. "But she had a downright pretty face-all white an' pink, like a doll's-an' it helped her to ketch old Bartholomew Rice, an' now she rides around in her own kerridge an' pair, mind you, an' no prouder woman ever lived this minute. You'd think from the airs she gives herself that she was born in the best front room on a Sunday. "The Squire's as good as hinted to me that if he could marry the one he wants, he wouldn't in the least mind goin' to the expense of 13 The Night Riders paintin' an' fixin' up the place till you wouldn't know it," insinuated Mrs. Brown, dropping her voice to a more confidential tone. "He'd have to paint an' fix hisself up, too, till you wouldn't know him, either, before I'd even so much as look at him," tartly asserted Sally. "A tidy young wife could change his looks an' the looks of the house in a mighty little while, if she only had a mind to do so," sug- gested Mrs. Brown, in subtly persuasive tones. "It must be dreadful lonesome livin' as he does, with nobody to look after things." "He might have kept his nephew for com- pany," insisted Sally, with a sudden ring of re- sentment in her voice. "He drove him away." "Which likely he wouldn't have done if Milt hadn't been so headstrong an' wild. You know the Squire's goin' to have his own way about things." "About some things," corrected Sally. "Mebbe about all, sooner or later," said Mrs. Brown, in hopeful prediction. "He ain't a man to give up easy when he sets his mind in a certain direction." "Perhaps his nephew isn't, either," sug- 14 The Night Riders gested her daughter, with a little tinge of color deepening in each cheek. "No, an' that's just the cause an' upshot of the whole trouble 1" cried the mother, in a sud- den flash of vehemence, dropping the persua- sive tones she had heretofore employed for re- sentful chiding. "His nephew's at the bottom of it all, an' you seem ready an' willin' to throw away a good chance of a nice, comfortable home an' deprive me of a shelter in my old age just for the sake of that no-account Milt Derr, who happens to have smooth ways an' a nimble tongue. It looks like he's fairly bewitched you." CHAPTER II. A little later in the morning Sally tied on her sunbonnet, whose pale blue lining made a charming framing for. her fresh complexion and pretty face, concealing it just sufficiently to make one keenly inquisitive to take a second longer glance beneath the ruffled rim. With the basket of eggs swung coquettishly on her plump arm, and a stray wisp or two of wavy hair escaping from its confines down her shapely, curving neck and throat, in protest at imprisonment, the girl set out walking toward the town, a mile away. Mrs. Brown had ingeniously delayed her daughter's going by finding several little duties for her to perform, hoping the while that be- fore the girl should be ready to start the Squire would make his appearance and leave her no alternative but to accept a ride with him. The, morning grew apace, however, and fin- ally Sally set out alone, quite grateful for the i6 The Night Riders Squire's tardiness, and partly amused, partly vexed, by her mother's thinly-veiled excuses for delay. As the girl walked along the road with the springing, elastic step of youth and perfect health, and the freedom of the far-stretching fields as a heritage, the fresh morning air cares- sing her cheeks brought forth a bloom as soft and delicate as the rose of a summer dawn, while her spirits, which had become somewhat dampened under her mother's recent bicker- ings, gradually grew soothed and calmed un- der the tranquil charm of the new-born day. Now and then a bird, startled at her ap- proach, flew from hedge to hedge across the road, piping loudly in affected alarm as it went, while in a softer strain came the gentle lowing of cattle from a pasture near at hand, and in the tall grass and dusty weeds along the way the autumnal chorus of insects had begun, conducted by the shrill-toned cricket. At the top of the first hill that arose between the gate and town Sally paused a moment-not that she was tired, or even spent of breath-and looked back. The picture that she saw was one of serene beauty, with wide stretches of fal- 17 The Night Riders low fields, bathed in the golden tranquility of a perfect October day, and dumb with the spell of restfulness and mystic brooding that this season brings. In the far distance a long, ragged line of hills melted into the soft blue sky-line, and over these shadowy sentinels, standing a-row, the purplish haze of autumn hung like a diapha- nous curtain stretching between the lowlands and the hill country. From her elevated vantage ground the girl could see the tollhouse very distinctly, though she herself was partly hidden by a small clump of young locusts under which she had paused. As she looked toward her home the Squire's old buggy came in sight around a curve of the road and stopped at the gate. Her mother came out and presently pointed in the direction of town, while the Squire gave his horse a cut of the whip and started up the road at a much brisker pace, it seemed to Sally, than before the gate was reached. "Mother's told him that he might overtake me," she muttered, grimly smiling at the thought. "I'll see that he don't," She added, resolutely. I 8 The Night Riders She stood for a few moments debating the situation, then looked toward the town. The distance was but half traveled, and the Squire must certainly overtake her before her destina- tion was reached. There was a smaller hill beyond, and toward this she now set out briskly, fully determined to cover as much of the way as possible, so that, if finally overtaken, the ride would prove but a short one at best. When she reached the brow of the second hill the Squire was lost to sight behind the first one, and just then a plan of escape happily suggested itself as she reached a low stone wall running for some distance along one side of the road.- She lightly climbed the moss-covered stones and crouched down behind them in a clump of golden-rod, waiting in covert until the Squire should pass. Soon she heard an approaching vehicle, which she knew to be the Squire's from the fa- miliar joggle of loose bolts, and close upon its coming another sound fell on her alert ear, as if a horseman were riding from the direction of the town. The person on horseback and Squire BixIer met and came to a halt in the middle of the road, almost in front of that por- I9 The Night Riders tion of the stone wall behind which the girl had taken refuge. After the exchange of a brief greeting, the Squire said, abruptly: "Well, what progress have you made Any" "Well, Squire, I think he's goin' to jine," answered the horseman, in the peculiar draw- ling tones suggestive of the hill country, whose boundary lay purple and hazy along the dis- tant horizon. "You think he is" cried the Squire impa- tiently, with a ripping oath. "What do you know about it" "That when I see him again he is to tell me if he's made up his mind to come to the next meetin' place. If he does, of course, he'll jine the band." "And what does the band propose doing" asked the Squire. "To git free roads." "How" "Not by waitin' on the courts; the people have tried that long enough. They're goin' to take things into their own hands a bit. They mean business." 20 The Night Riders "Yes, and damn 'em, they'll find that others mean business, tool" retorted the Squire, im- petuously. "However, keep your eyes and ears open, and you'll soon hear the jingle of money in your pockets." "I'll try to keep you posted, but it's risky business for me." "You're all safe," insisted the Squire, "and you're sure of good pay. I'd like to get the young rascal in the clutches of the law," added the speaker, with sudden vindictiveness, "and if ever I do, I'll promise to make it hot for him." "You can trap him before a great while, I think, or at least get him in so tight a place that it will be safer for him to leave this part of the country." "Well, if I can't run him to ground, I'd at least like to run him away," admitted the Squire, frankly. "It's your best chance for winnin' the gal," said the horseman, with a meaning laugh. "You keep an eye on his movements, and I'll attend to winning the girl," answered the other with a touch of resentment manifest in 2 I The Night Riders his tone. "Did you meet anybody between here and town" "No. Was you expectin' to overtake some one" questioned the horseman. "Well, nobody in particular," answered the Squire, evasively. "I was just thinking that there wasn't much travel over the road this morning." "Not as much as there will be when there's no toll to pay," said the other, with a meaning laugh, as he rode away. The girl, crouching amid the tall weeds, waited until the rattling vehicle was well over the intervening hill before she ventured from her hiding place. When she gained the road once more her face wore a grave and thought- ful look. It was evident that mischief was brewing in this quarter for somebody. Who was it the Squire was so eager to get into the clutches of the law, and what band was this person about to join It seemed to be some secret and ille- gal organization. No names had been called, yet a sudden subtle intuition warned Sally that she was, in point of fact, one of the interested parties to the conversation just overheard, and 22 The Night Riders 23 that the other person who had gained the Squire's avowed enmity, and for whose speedy undoing he was even now planning, was none other than his own nephew and her sweetheart -Milton Derr. CHAPTER III. When the pretty toll-taker reached town she disposed of her basket of eggs at even a higher price than Foster Crain, the poultry vendor, had quoted-she was a famous hand at bar- gaining and a shrewd trader-then set about making some purchases. She saw the Squire's horse and buggy stand- ing at a hitching post near the courthouse, and determined that she would wait until the vehi- cle had disappeared before she started back home. Therefore she dallied over her shopping in a truly feminine way, and dropped in to have a friendly chat with an acquaintance or two; then, noting the horse and buggy had gone, she finally started homeward. The day was now hastening toward noon, the sun had grown oppressive, and, with sev- eral bundles to carry, Sally felt that the re- turn would not be so pleasant as the coming had been. She looked about her, hoping to 24 The Night Riders find some one-that is, some one besides the Squire-who might be going in the direction of the new pike gate, and with a seat to offer, but no one seemed to be in town from her neighborhood on this morning, and so she set out alone. Just as Sally reached the edge of the town, where two streets intersected, who should drive up the other street but the Squire The meet- ing was wholly an accidental one, but after her persistent efforts to avoid him all the morning, the encounter seemed like the especial work- ings of a perverse fate. The Squire was close upon her before she even saw him. There was no chance for escape or subterfuge. "Ah, Miss Sally! Good morning to you!" he cried, with one of his amatory ogles that al- ways sent a cold chill over her and strongly aroused within her bosom a spirit of deter- mined opposition. "I have been looking for you all the morning. Where have you been hiding yourself" he asked, as he drove up to where she had reluctantly stopped on hearing her name called. "Behind the stone wall," Sally was half tempted to answer, wishing, at the moment, 25 The Night Riders that she could have availed herself of its pro- tection in the present instance; but she only nodded gravely, and said that she had been making a few purchases for her mother. "I tried to overtake you early this morn- ing," continued the Squire, glibly. "Your mother said you had been gone but a little while when I passed the gate. You must have walked pretty fast." "I did," acknowledged Sally, with a covert smile. "It was cool and pleasant walking." "Well, come! Put your bundles down in front and jump in," said her companion. "Rid- ing's better than walking any day, and good company's better than either," he added, with a tender leer at her, which Sally pretended not to see. There was nothing for it but to accept the proffered seat. She did not dare openly to of- fend the Squire by a refusal to ride with him, though she would-willingly have chosen the long, warm walk, even with the additional bur- den of her bundles, in preference to his com- pany. As her mother had said only that morn- ing, it was through his influence that she had been appointed keeper of the New Pike Gate, 26 The Night Riders and it was due to him she now kept it, so Sally civilly thanked him and got into the buggy. "If I had counted on such good company, I would have had this old rattletrap cleaned up a bit," said the Squire, apologetically, as they drove off. "But, never mind!" he added, jocosely. "When we start out on our wedding trip, I'll buy a brand-new, shiny rig, out an' out." "We" echoed Sally, with a certain sharp- ness of tone. "You don't suppose I'd care to go on a bri- dal trip alone, do you" inquired the Squire, laconically, and with a wink of one watery eye. "I'm afraid you will, if you depend on me to go along with you," answered Sally, dryly. "Now, my dear, you surely wouldn't be that cruel " said the Squire, edging a little closer to Sally, who as promptly moved away. "Haven't I been depending on your going all the while, and haven't I said that I wouldn't have any other girl but you, though there's plenty would be only too glad to go for the ask- ing" "An' there's one that wouldn't," announced Sally, coolly. 27 "WHEN WE START ON OUR WEDDING TRIP I'LL BUY A BRAND NEW, SHINY RIG." The Night Riders "Then I can show her where she stands mightily in her own light," said the Squire, suddenly dropping into a more serious tone. "How so" "By giving her some very good reasons why she should act differently." "What reasons" asked Sally, arousing to some slight show of interest. "Well, now, we'll suppose, for instance, the girl to be you," began the Squire, argumenta- tively. "You and your mother are depending on the toll-gate for a living, and it makes you a comfortable one, at any rate. Did you know the toll-gate raiders were at work" asked the Squire, abruptly. The girl caught her breath with a quick start. "No," she answered, quickly. "Where" "Right here in this very county. They burned a toll-house just on the boundary line only the other night, and cut down the pole of one gate in the edge of this county last night, so I was told today," said the Squire, impres- sively. "I'm afraid we're going to have a deal of trouble over the matter before it's ended," he :29 30 The Night Riders continued, thoughtfully, shrewdly following the impression he had evidently made on the mind of his hearer. "The spirit of lawlessness seems to be widely spreading." "Do you think there's any danger of the raiders payin' a visit to the New Pike Gate" questioned Sally, anxiously. "I shouldn't be the least surprised," an- swered her companion, with a dubious shake of the head. "The night-riders seem deter- mined to make way with all the toll-gates in this part of the country if they can." "I can't think they would harm us," insisted Sally, "two poor, helpless women." "Likely not, but if the raiders have made up their minds to have free roads, as they appear to have done, they would not hesitate to burn the toll-house over your heads, which would leave you and your mother without a shelter, don't you see" The Squire paused, and the girl sat buried in deep thought for some moments. "In that case, what could you do or where could you go" asked the Squire, at last break- ing the silence that had fallen between them. The Night Aiders "Heaven only knows!" cried the girl, earn- estly. "Now, affairs stand just in this way," con- tinued the Squire, craftily. "If the raiders should burn the toll-house-and it is a most probable thing, I fear-it would leave you two women in rather a bad plight. But if you'll only agree to marry me, why, there's a nice home waiting for you, and your mother will also have a comfortable shelter in her old age, and neither of you will have cause to worry about the future." The Squire paused, but Sally made no an- swer. She knew full well that his words were quite true concerning the dependence of her mother and herself on the toll-gate for a living. She also knew that as long as the Squire enter- tained the faintest hope of ultimately winning her the gate was secured to her mother, and therefore she had not felt troubled on this score; but now that a new and unlooked-for danger threatened in the unusual and unex- pected presence of the raiders, she tremulously asked herself, "What, indeed, if the toll-houses were destroyed, would become of her and her mother" 3 I 32 The Night Riders The girl felt no fears for herself regarding the future-she was energetic and had been fa- miliar with work all her life; it held no terrors for her; she could hire out-wash, cook, sew -perhaps some day marry the man of her choice when he should be in a position to take unto himself a wife; but, with her mother's welfare also to be considered, the matter grew far more complex. "Don't you see just how matters stand"' asked the Squire, persuasively, almost ten- derly, breaking the long silence. Sally gravely nodded her head. "I see," she answered, in a low tone. CHAPTER IV. It was close upon io o'clock at night-a late hour for a lonely traveler in this remote local- ity amid the hills-and Milton Derr was homeward bound. As he neared the vicinity of Alder Creek meeting-house, up in the hill country, another horseman came out of a lane into the public road just as he was passing. Hailing a fellow voyager, as was the custom of the neighborhood, Derr recognized an ac- quaintance and promptly checked his horse until the other came alongside. "Hello, Steve! Isn't it a little late for an honest man to be abroad" Milton asked, after friendly greeting from his companion. "Well, yes, and it seems I'm not the only one in that plight," retorted the other, with the quick repartee belonging to these people. His companion laughed good-naturedly at the thrust, and the two rode on together for some little distance, when Milton Derr, sud- denly changing the drift of the talk said: 33 The Night Riders "Well, I've been thinking over that matter we were speaking about the other day." "To what purpose" asked the other. "I'm in half a notion to become a member of the band." "The other half's needed before you can get in, you know," answered Steve, laconically. "Well, I'm nearing that point now," admit- ted Derr, after a thoughtful pause. "I think I should like to have some voice in this ques- tion of free roads myself, as it promises to be an important one." "In that case I can easily arrange it for you. There'll be but few men around here who won't belong to the band before toll-gate raid- ing is over," said the other, impressively. "Folks have been bled by fat corporations long enough." "When could I join" asked Derr, after some moments of meditative silence. "When" echoed his companion. "Tonight, if your mind's made up." "Well, then, it is,' said Derr, decisively. "How am I to go about it" "Just follow me. If you really mean busi- 34 The Night Riders ness, I can take you straight to where the band is holding a meeting this very night." "All right," answered the prospective can- didate. "Lead the way!" The two turned into a dirt lane beyond the meeting-house, Derr keeping close by the side of his guide, while the hoofbeats of the two horses suddenly grew muffled by the softer bed of the lane in exchange for the macadamized pike. There was no moon to light the way, and the faint starlight that had made easily traceable the white, dust-covered surface of the highway was now absorbed and lost in the dull clay of the lane. Where the trees and bushes over- hung the path a dense obscurity prevailed. Both man and beast were familiar with night riding along country byways, however, so the two travelers rode rapidly on, unmindful of the darkness or the twisting road. A mile farther on they quitted the lane, pass- ing through a gate into a fallow field adjoin- ing, which they crossed, and finally came to the outer fringe of a dense thicket. Here they halted, while Steve, placing his fingers to his lips in a certain manner, blew a 35 The Night Riders low, peculiar whistle, like the call of some som- bre night bird, which was answered later from somewhere amid the bushes. Close upon the answering call a dark form emerged from the shadowy copse near at hand, and a voice asked gruffly: "Who goes there" "Friends." "What are you seeking" "Free roads." "Dismount !" Steve dropped from his horse and went for- ward to where the dark form stood, while Derr, with his ears alert and lively interest aroused, heard him announce that he had brought one who craved membership with the band. After learning the name of the candidate for initiation, the figure seemed to melt into dark- ness again, while Steve came back to his horse and companion to await the return of the mes- senger. "It's all right; come along!" said Steve at another signal from amidst the bushes. The two men quickly hitched their horses to some saplings growing near, and found a narrow 36 The Night Riders path leading down between the underbrush. Steve led the way, Milton following close upon his footsteps, while the mysterious messenger, who wore a half-mask over the upper part of his face, brought up the rear. There was a tinge of romantic adventure about the whole affair that strongly appealed to the new candi- date. The path led down to a secluded hollow in the midst of the thicket-a remote and lonely spot, far removed from human habitation, it seemed, and little liable to intrusion-a spot well chosen for a secret midnight rendezvous. In the midst of the copse lay a small clear-