ate repeating it, as follows:

"By southern homes despoiled and broken, by southern women outraged, by
the lingering torments of northern prisons, by all the desolation
brought on our people by famine, pestilence and sword, I swear that
DESOLATION SHALL ANSWER DESOLATION, PESTILENCE SHALL PAY FOR PESTILENCE,
UNTIL THE SOUTHERN CRESCENT SPAN THE CONTINENT, AND CARRY OVER THE NORTH
THE FURIES THAT HAVE DESOLATED THE SOUTH."

The Captain then declares again:

"WELCOME THE NEW BROTHER OF THE SOUTHERN CRESCENT!"

And the band respond as before.

Then comes the third and final oath, as follows:

"By all that is sacred, I swear to remember Jackson, and Johnston, and
the thousands dead; the humiliation of Davis, and Lee, and Bragg, and
Beauregard; the noble deeds of Southrons on many a gory field; and by
the memory of all these, I swear to be TRUE TO THE LONE STAR OF THE
SOUTH, TILL THESE AND ALL OUR WOES ARE A THOUSAND TIMES AVENGED!"

The Captain again declares:

"WELCOME THE NEW BROTHER OF THE LONE STAR OF THE SOUTH!"

And the band respond as before.

The Captain then spoke the following adjuration:

"Let the heavens be lit with the lurid flames of worse than fratricidal
war! Let the dagger, the bullet, the flames and the pestilence, smite
every vulnerable point! Let the desolation of death reign in the
Northern homes enriched by plunder of the South! Let the audacious
minions of the tyrants in our country be met in silence and darkness,
struck down by a power they see not! Remember the oath! The Crescent is
broad enough to include all the enemies of the South! The Lone Star
shines brightest in the darkness! The Dagger is the emblem of the silent
work! Remember the oath! Bring the consecrating bowl."

The last sentence was responded to by one of the band, and something
like a bowl was put into my hands.

"Dip your finger in the consecrating drink!" said the Captain.

I did as directed, and the Captain then continued:

"Now drink it to the dregs, to the enemies of the South!"

I raised the bowl to my lips, and drank its contents. It was like
nothing I had ever tasted before. It was sickening, yet I could not tell
what it was! Instantly the band closed around us, standing two or three
deep, and the Captain struck a match. Holding the little blazing stick
to the hand I had dipped in the bowl, he bid me look.

THE FINGER WAS STAINED AS WITH BLOOD!

He then bid me look at the bowl.

IT WAS A HUMAN SKULL!