"Hold, your Honor!" he cried again. "Stay the proceedings of the Court! An innocent man is on trial! I have here a sworn confession from the one who killed Squire Bixler. It was Steve Judson. Steve was shot about noon to-day by Jade Beddow, who was also killed in the fight. Steve sent for me to come an' bring a notary public along.
"Here is Steve's dyin' statement. Squire Bixler owed him some money and refused to pay it. Steve went to his house that night to collect it, and in a quarrel that followed, he stabbed the Squire. Milton Derr had nothin' to do with the crime. He's innocent!"
The excited messenger strode forward and thrust the paper he carried into the outstretched hand of the Judge. A wave of surprise swept over the courtroom, and the murmur of voices grew louder until it finally broke into a loud cheer of victory for the prisoner.
After the introduction of this new testimony, the jury promptly retired, and in a few moments brought in a verdict of "Not guilty."
In all the confusion that arose with theclamor of many voices around him, Milton Derr seemed to hear but one faint voice close to his ear, to feel the pressure of one gentle hand alone, to look into but one pair of tender, truthful eyes—all the rest was but a blurred and indistinct memory.
Ten Years After
"Sally, those awful Night Riders are around again."
"No, Milt, you don't really mean it?"
Sally looked up quickly from her sewing across the hearth to where her stalwart husband sat with crossed legs, making of his swinging right foot a make-believe skittish horse for Milton, junior, age three.
"Father, what does Night Riders mean?" asked a young girl of nine or ten standing near, who had her mother's fair complexion and richly tinted hair, but her father's dark and expressive eyes.
"They are men who band together and ride through the country at night for the purpose of forcing people to do certain things that the band demands. The members usually go masked so that they may not be recognized."
"Then they must be wicked men," continued Alice frankly, "if they are so afraid they will be seen. Did you ever see a Night Rider, father?"
"A long time ago," answered Milt soberly, but with a mischievous twinkle in his eye as he glanced across at his wife, "and he was a pretty sorry sight, I must say."
"Has ma seen one, too?" persisted Alice, with the insistence of childhood.
"Yes, dear, when I was a girl and lived with your grandma before she died, at a toll-gate just down the road apiece, I saw a Night Rider then."
"What was he like?" questioned Alice, deeply interested, "Was he scary looking?"
"No," said her mother hesitatingly, "I thought him rather good-looking at the time," and she smiled over at her husband.
"Was he as good-looking as father?" asked Alice, following the glance with her keen young eyes.
"Nothing like," affirmed Sally emphatically, and then she and Milt both laughed.
"What are the Night Riders after now?" sheinquired some time later, after the children had gone to bed, and the two sat talking by the fire. "There are no more toll-gates to be raided."
"It's the tobacco question now, instead of free roads, and it's becoming a very serious one."
"I knew that in some parts of the old Blue Grass State the tobacco growers were having considerable trouble, but I hadn't heard that mischief was brewing in this quarter."
"Yes, the trouble is spreading generally throughout the tobacco growing regions of the State. Successful raids have been made on several cities and towns, and the large independent warehouses burned; buyers for some of these houses have been severely whipped, and in some cases ordered to leave the State. Troops have been ordered to several points to protect property and maintain order, and the Governor has been called upon to suppress the lawlessness that is abroad."
"Why, this is worse than during the toll-gate troubles," said Sally.
"Much worse," assented her husband. "Theloss of property is very much greater. Barns have been burned filled with tobacco, and hundreds of plant beds scraped, and a promise is being exacted from the growers not to produce a crop this present season. It's a sort of triangular war in which the grasping Trust—the pooled Tobacco Association and the Independent growers, all figure," added Milt.
"And have you agreed to pool your tobacco?" asked Sally, when the serious situation had been more fully discussed.
"No, I think I have the right to dispose of it as I see fit. I am a free man, and live in a free country, and I don't intend to be coerced. I have sold my last year's crop to an independent buyer, and will begin delivering it sometime within the next few days."
"I hope there'll be no trouble over it if you do," said his wife earnestly. "I have had quite enough experience along the line of night riding to last me for several years to come."
"I scarcely think any attempt will be made to intimidateme" asserted Milt confidently. "In some places threatening letters and warningshave been sent to persons who have fallen under the displeasure of the band, but nothing of the kind has occurred about here."
"Don't you think it would have been a wise plan to let the growing of tobacco alone until these troubles are settled?" inquired his wife.
"No, I do not. They are trying to force the farmer to cut out his crop of tobacco this year, but—as I have said before—this is a free country, and it seems to me a man should be allowed to grow what he chooses on his own land."
"It would seem so, and yet when to do this is to invite trouble, it appears to me that the wisest thing would be to leave the matter alone."
"I hate to be driven against my will," argued Milt. "I have set out to raise a crop of tobacco this season, and I don't want to back down. That is why I have put my plant bed in the garden near the house, so I can protect it, if necessary. I think, though, there need be no uneasiness along this line."
The next morning on going to his barn, Milton Derr found tied to the barn-door a bundle of switches and a crudely written note to which was fastened some matches and a cartridge.
Derr found a bundle of switches and a crude note on his tobacco barn door.Derr found a bundle of switches and a crude note on his tobacco barn door.
Thenote ran as follows:
"Milt derr, you'r bein watched, we have an eye on you, we hear you air goin' to turn dumper an' sell yore crop to independents, also air fixin' to raise another crop. Better not, these three things air for sech as you. Yore weed may go up in smoke before it's ready for the pipe. Go slow.
N. R."
Milton Derr slowly read over this illiterate note some two or three times before he seemed to gather its full meaning, then he carefully folded it up and put it in his pocket. Surely someone must be trying to play a practical joke on him by sending such a communication as this, and yet, taking into consideration the numerous rumors of happenings in other localities, this ill-spelled epistle possessed all the ear marks of a genuine note of warning from the terrible Night Riders.
"I must keep this from Sally," he muttered, "at least until I can get my tobacco safely delivered, and it's up to me to deliver it at once, before the Night Riders conclude to pay me a visit, as this note intimates they may do in the near future."
"Sally was not so far from wrong after all, when she said trouble would come of this," he added. "When once I can get my crop safely delivered and out of my barn, there is little further danger to apprehend."
Acting on this supposition, Milt immediately after breakfast began preparations for removing his crop, and with the aid of two hired men was ready by noon to start for the point of delivery some miles distant, telling his wife that he would return sometime during the night.
After supper Sally sat down to do some mending, and among other things to fix the pocket-linings of the coat her husband had laid aside for a heavier one during his long drive, and this note of warning, which he intended to keep from her knowledge for the present was the first thing she came across during her self-imposed task.
On reading the threatening anonymous missive which her husband had put in his pocket and forgot to change to his other coat, Sally quickly found food for disquieting thoughts. What if the Night Riders should learn that he was away delivering his tobacco, and were to come during his absence? Still, if they intended coming, she hoped that it might be on this special night while her husband was away from home. She did not fear for herself but only on his account.
Then she fell to wondering when her husband had received this warning—there was no date on the note from which to learn. Milt had made no mention of its receipt, even when he was talking about the Riders to her the night before. This silence on his part, and the fact that he had so suddenly decided on delivering his tobacco at once, won her to thebelief that the threat was a thing of very recent occurrence, perhaps of the past few hours, and that to it was due his present haste to get his barn empty before any unwelcome nocturnal visit should be made.
Suppose the Riders had spies out, and were aware of the fact that her husband was even then delivering his crop to independent buyers, and should try to capture him on his way home. A great uneasiness took possession of her at this thought, and after several futile attempts at sewing, she finally let the garment drop to the floor, and with clasped hands sat staring intently into the fire, and listening anxiously for some sound betokening her husband's return. Every now and then she went to the front door, and looked anxiously out. The early spring night was crisp and cool and the stars shone brightly. Each time there was no disturbing sound to mar the deep stillness that greeted her, and after listening awhile, she went again within doors and sat down by the fire.
The night slowly wore on as she sat there listening, almost in the same spot where theSquire had sat ten or twelve years before, as he, too, listened anxiously to hear the approaching hoofbeats that would advise him the Night Riders were on their way to attack the New Pike Gate, and that the desired capture of his nephew was but a matter of brief delay.
On the third or fourth trip to the front door, Sally heard the sound of approaching horses, not the ones that Milton and his men had used for the hauling of the tobacco, but a small cavalcade, coming rapidly down the road. There was a certain familiar ring of the iron shoe on the hard surface of the pike, that struck a sudden key-note of fear in her bosom as she listened. She remembered that ominous sound as she rode alone to the old stone quarry the night that Milt was put on trial as a traitor. Perhaps the band was still inclined to look upon him as one, although the evil influence of Jade Beddow was no longer to be feared.
Sally found herself mentally tracing the approach of the cavalcade along the public highway from the direction of the hill country whence it came. Now the horsemen were gallopingalong a level stretch of road some distance away, then there was a curve and the sound diminished, and presently almost died away as a deep cut in a hillside was reached.
Again it grew clearly distinct, increasing as the horsemen drew nearer the avenue gate. Would they pass on by? The listener fervently hoped that this might be the case, but no, close upon the hope, there was a brief cessation of hoofbeats, then she heard the click of the avenue gate-latch as the cavalcade came through. The Night Riders were again a thing of actual reality. Her first thought was one of thankfulness that Milt with his rash impetuous nature was not there to defy or enrage them, her second a regret at her own utter helplessness. She closed the door softly, locking it, and went into the room where she had been sitting. She remembered also to close the door between this room and the smaller one beyond, in which the children were soundly sleeping, then she stood still waiting.
The subdued sound of horsemen coming down the avenue and circling around the house reached her acute ears, and soon upon this came a clear sharp "Hello!"
The tobacco Night-Riders call on Milt Derr.The tobacco Night-Riders call on Milt Derr.
Shewent slowly to the window, and raising it, partly opened a shutter and looked out.
"What is wanted?" she asked.
"We want Milt Derr. Tell him to come out."
Sally was on the point of saying that her husband was not at home, when suddenly there flashed into her mind the thought that perhaps she might be able to pacify them and send they away before Milt should return.
"What do you want of him?" she asked.
"We want to talk over the tobacco question."
As Sally glanced back into the room and saw Milt's coat lying on the floor where it had dropped from her idle fingers, a scheme quickly popped into her head that she resolved to put into execution.
"All right!" she answered, "I will call him and have him dress and come out."
Some minutes later the front door opened and the muffled figure of a young man in a large overcoat, and with a hat slouched over his face, stepped out into the starlight.
"Show us your tobacco beds," a voice demanded.
The figure nodded assent and went slowly in the direction of the garden, while several of the masked horsemen followed close upon its footsteps.
When the garden-gate was opened, the figure silently pointed to a long white stretch of canvas running the length of the north boundary fence, and protected by it.
"Tear off that canvas!" demanded the leader, and as the covering of thin cotton was stripped from the bed, two or three of the horsemen rode up and down it, crushing the young plants and grinding them into the yielding soil, then a portion of the frame of the bed was dragged the entire length of the bed, scraping from its surface whatever plants had escaped the trampling iron hoofs.
When this had been accomplished, the torn canvas was gathered up by the horsemen, and the silent guide ordered to lead the way to the tobacco barn.
On reaching it, two of the riders dismounted and went within, carrying the cloth with them, but soon they reappeared.
Dressed in her husband's clothes, she led them to the tobacco barn.Dressed in her husband's clothes, she led them to the tobacco barn.
"Thebarn is empty, the tobacco has been removed," they announced to the leader.
"Empty, is it?" he answered with an oath, "then fix it so it will not shelter another crop."
The men went inside again, and soon a dull light began to glimmer through the cracks between the boards, rapidly growing in brightness as the flames began to fasten over the dry surface of the wooden framework, aided and fed by the tobacco sticks that were being piled like fagots high upon the spreading blaze. Short tongues of flame leaped upward, and crept out here and there along the blazing walls, while spirals of copper-colored smoke began to uncoil into the night like fiery serpents, scattering myriads of sparks in their trail.
The scene began to light up weirdly, throwing a ruddy glow against the sky, and bringing into sharp relief the surrounding objects. The horses and their masked riders stood boldly out like statues of ebony from the background of bright light.
"Boys, give the dumper twenty-five lashes!" cried the leader.
The two men afoot, who had fired the barn, started toward the motionless figure that had looked on helplessly and silently, keeping as much in the shadow as possible. Almost at this moment a slight commotion was heard in the direction of the barn-lot gate, and several masked men came through the gateway, bringing with them a prisoner.
"Here is the dumper who has sold his tobacco!" they cried. "He is just getting in from delivering it. We took him off the wagon just now."
"What fellow is this?" demanded the leader looking in the direction of the shrinking figure the two riders were about to lay hold upon.
Sally, throwing back the heavy coat and pulling the slouch hat from her head, answered:
"It is I. A woman."
For a brief while only the crackle of the flames, eating their way through the dry oak framework of the barn, disturbed the silence that followed this unexpected declaration, then a murmur of surprise ran from horseman to horseman, while Milt broke into astonished speech:
"Why, Sally, what are you doing dressed up in my clothes?"
"My fear for you made me bold. I didn't want them to know you were away delivering your tobacco, for fear they would follow you, and so I tried to make them think I was you," she answered falteringly, and then, her courage ebbing low, woman-like she began to cry.
Whether the sight of her tears, or the pluckiness of her attempt at passing off for her husband appealed the stronger to the leader of the Night Riders I cannot say, but the captain ofthe band turned suddenly to Milton Derr and said:
"I think we have shown you in strong enough terms that we do not approve of the stand you have taken on this tobacco question, and have made it perfectly clear that there must be no more tobacco crop grown by you this coming season.
"The crisis in the tobacco situation is near at hand. If all the growers will agree to control the production and pool their crops they can soon control the prices as well. It is such dumpers and renegades as you that have delayed the victory this long, but despite your stubbornness and the many difficulties you have helped to throw in the way, the victory will surely come, and the long down-trodden grower will conquer.
"For the sake of your wife here, we are going to omit a part of the punishment you deserve, but I cannot promise as much if we have to pay you a future visit. To your horses boys!"
The men afoot quickly vaulted into their saddles, the little cavalcade wheeled about and like shadows, horses and riders soon faded into the night, red-tinged with the glow of the burning building.
"Revenge is sweet!" said Derr. "No, no, Milt! You are unharmed, that is all I ask.""Revenge is sweet!" said Derr. "No, no, Milt! You are unharmed, that is all I ask."
Asthe ring of hoofbeats grew fainter and fainter along the highway, Milton and Sally, hand in hand, stood watching the fire gradually die down, and the swarms of sparks grow less and less as they floated off into the darkness, then the two slowly went to the house.
"The villains! I'd like to hang the last one of them!" cried Milt in a sudden outburst of wrath as the full extent of his losses dawned upon him.
"Hush! Milt, I am more than satisfied that things are no worse," answered his wife gratefully.
"But my barn is burned and my plant bed destroyed!" exclaimed Milt.
"You are unharmed, and that is all I ask."
"I'd like to get even with them for this night's work, and I will," he announced vindictively.
"No! no! Milt, you must do nothing of the kind," declared Sally. "Let the matter rest just where it is. Remember, you are lookingfrom just the opposite standpoint from which you looked a few years back. It is nowyourproperty that is being destroyed, and not other people's. This makes all the difference in the world. You must not be too severe on these Night Riders, for my sake, if for nothing else. You see," she added coyly, "I married one of them myself."
The End.
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Transcriber's Notes:A table of contents has been added at the beginning of the book.Obvious punctuation errors repaired.The following words are spelled both with and without hyphens and have not been changed: "blood[-]thirsty", "fire[-]light", "half[-]tones", "hoof[-]beats", "look[-]out", "mid[-]hour", "to[-]day", "to-morrow", "to[-]night".Hyphens added: "toll[-]gate" (page 10), "toll[-]house" (page 18).Hyphens removed: "over[-]heard" (page 162).Page 55: "he" changed to "the" (the host suggested).Page 140: "chargin" changed to "chagrin" (The Squire's chagrin).Page 158: "Sophonia" changed to "Sophronia" (declared Sophronia frankly).Page 191: "latters'" changed to "latter's" (the latter's outstretched palm).Page 237: added "of" (worthy of your love).Page 242: "him" changed to "his" (she heard his retreating footsteps).Page 245: "vengence" changed to "vengeance" (to wreak his vengeance).Page 254: "dartardly" changed to "dastardly" (so dastardly deed).Page 255: "aserted" changed to "asserted" (persistently asserted Milton Derr's innocence).Page 290: "horsmen" changed to "horsemen" (subdued sound of horsemen).Page 293: "horseman" changed to "horsement" (several of the masked horsemen).
A table of contents has been added at the beginning of the book.
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
The following words are spelled both with and without hyphens and have not been changed: "blood[-]thirsty", "fire[-]light", "half[-]tones", "hoof[-]beats", "look[-]out", "mid[-]hour", "to[-]day", "to-morrow", "to[-]night".
Hyphens added: "toll[-]gate" (page 10), "toll[-]house" (page 18).
Hyphens removed: "over[-]heard" (page 162).
Page 55: "he" changed to "the" (the host suggested).
Page 140: "chargin" changed to "chagrin" (The Squire's chagrin).
Page 158: "Sophonia" changed to "Sophronia" (declared Sophronia frankly).
Page 191: "latters'" changed to "latter's" (the latter's outstretched palm).
Page 237: added "of" (worthy of your love).
Page 242: "him" changed to "his" (she heard his retreating footsteps).
Page 245: "vengence" changed to "vengeance" (to wreak his vengeance).
Page 254: "dartardly" changed to "dastardly" (so dastardly deed).
Page 255: "aserted" changed to "asserted" (persistently asserted Milton Derr's innocence).
Page 290: "horsmen" changed to "horsemen" (subdued sound of horsemen).
Page 293: "horseman" changed to "horsement" (several of the masked horsemen).