attracted towards this scene, their
gaze had not once been removed from the form of the pale watcher, who
suddenly, and as if wrought upon by the conditions of some outward wonder,
developed a strong twitching of the facial muscles, and a dilatation of
the pupils of the eye, which took in the landscape in the direction of the
public road; then a nervousness of manner, betokening strong inward
excitement; then an expansion of frame, whose lineaments, clear cut
against the bas-relief of starlight, took on Titanic proportions; and
instantly, as if in keeping with this strange pantomime, a hush, deep,
all-pervading, filled the apartment, broken at length by an audible sigh
from the couch of the invalid, followed by the frightened whisper,
"Mother!" The reply, exploded in clear, ringing tones, was addressed to
nobody, transfixed everybody, and started waves of sound that chased each
other through every nook and angle of the large building--"Ku Klux!"

Six hours before the occurrence narrated here, a solitary horseman,
mounted on a strong charger, might have been seen galloping along the
highways, and thridding the bridle-paths of the voting precinct, since
famous as Crow Hide township. Except a brace of pistols attached to the
pommel of his saddle, and a something in his deportment which said as
plainly as words, "stand out of the way," there was nothing in the
appearance of the cavalier to excite special wonder; yet he succeeded so
well in drawing upon himself the attention of mortality thereabouts that
there was scarce an inhabitant in all Crow Hide who had not obtained a
glimpse of himself, or his foam-flecked steed, as they flashed by,
convoyed by clouds of dust, and imprecated by all the choristers of the
farm-yard. The windows of habitations along the route were thrown open ere
the apparition was fairly in sight; children at play were attracted by the
strange cynosure, and hurried to obtain counsel of parents regarding it;
horsemen, who were met under whip and spur, drew rein suddenly, and gazed
anxiously after their strange counterpart, and anon, as if slow in making
up their minds at the object which hid him from view; and in fact it was
as clearly apparent, to even such of the hogs and chickens as were not
frightened out of their wits, that a seven days' wonder was being enacted
in Crow Hide, as it was to more sentient creatures that the intangible
something in the wind was not lawful subject for gossip. But if the
m