ligible to persons not
versed in their strange drill, they wheeled rapidly into line, and
instantly broke off from the right of the column in double files, the
leaders pushing their horses to a gallop. No word was spoken as the
command moved, and so completely had that ghostly spell that attended all
the movements of the night-riders fallen upon the weird column, that even
the horses trod warily, and beasts of the forest, startled by a glimpse of
the dim procession, in vain consulted their organs of hearing for
confirmatory sounds.

This body of raiders was that viewed from the sick chamber in the Thorburn
mansion, described in the opening of this chapter; and we shall seek at
this juncture to present to the reader a pen-picture of the formidable
apparition as it passed along the highway, in full view, and within fifty
paces of the groups of excited observers who looked out from its windows.

Perhaps the feature of the pageant that would have been soonest apparent
to the beholder was that representing its means of locomotion. The horses
of the raid were powerful specimens of their race, and furnished with all
those _cap-a-pie_ appointments of K. K. K. regalia that were prominent in
other departments of the expedition. Their bodies were completely
enveloped in curtains of black cloth, worn under the saddle, and fastened
at the neck to a corselet of the same material, the skirts of the former
extending below their knees. Over their heads were masks, much of the same
description as those worn by their riders, the material being of a dark
color, and openings of suitable width having been contrived for the eyes
and nostrils. Each steed was decorated also with a white plume, carried
vertically above the head; and on the right and left of the housings of
black cloth which enveloped their bodies, appeared the mystical letters K.
K. K. Their trappings otherwise were army saddles of uniform pattern, and
bridles supplied with the regulation bit, used in both armies at the close
of the war.

The riders who bestrode these steeds were even more fantastically arrayed,
and in the uniforms which they wore the same sacrifice of taste to
picturesqueness was to be observed. The most prominent feature of their
ghostly toilet was a long black robe, extending from the head to the feet,
and decorated with innumerable tin buttons, an inch and a half in
diameter, which, under the influence of the starlight, shone like
miniature moons. These ro