The Night Riders

he hills-and Milton Derr was homeward bound. As he neared the vicinity of Alder Creek meeting-house, u

ighborhood, Derr recognized an acquaintance and promp

an honest man to be abroad?" Milton asked,

e in that plight," retorted the other, with

the two rode on together for some little distance, when

ver that matter we were spe

rpose?" ask

ion to become a me

re you can get in, you know,"

tful pause. "I think I should like to have some voice in this que

here who won't belong to the band before toll-gate raiding is over," said th

ed Derr, after some mome

mpanion. "Tonight, if

id Derr, decisively. "H

ss, I can take you straight to where the b

the prospective cand

by the side of his guide, while the hoofbeats of the two horses suddenly gr

absorbed and lost in the dull clay of the lane. Where the trees and bushes overhung the path a dense obscurity prevailed. Both man and beast wer

a gate into a fallow field adjoining, which they crossed,

stle, like the call of some sombre night bird, which was answered later from somewhere amid the bushes. Clos

goes

ien

re you

e ro

smo

od, while Derr, with his ears alert and lively interest aroused, heard h

gure seemed to melt into darkness again, while Steve came back

a narrow path leading down between the underbrush. Steve led the way, Milton following close upon his footsteps, while the mysterious messenger, who wore a half-ma

e and lonely spot, far removed from human habitation, it seemed, and littl

enter the three men came suddenly upon a group gathered arou

utlined against the darker bushes surrounding them, while the faces of the members of this secret band were partly concealed under soft slo

r of weird mystery to the secret conclave-a touch o

ing given him at meeting the Sunday before, that perhaps he had been led into a trap, of whose setting

ould die unheeded upon the still night air. Yet, as these disturbing thoughts darted through his excited brain, he stood erect and motionless, and his calm face gave

he uncertain, flickering blaze of the fire but dimly lighted the gloomy depths of foliage beyond, rising like a mysterious barrier to shut out freedom and the outer world. The grim silence of the group surrounding him still fur

rotherhood, that among these masked faces, whose fantastically concealed features were turned darkly

, aided and fed by the remoteness of the spot and the gloom of the night, after Derr had taken the solemn oath o

members of the band were acquaintances of his, one or two were more inti

w raider recognized in him the one man, of all others dwelling amid