They reach a small house hard by the road-side, pause before it, and
with a heavy riding whip the leader thunders at the door.

The frightened inmates, startled from their sleep, cry out in alarm,
and a man's voice asks, "Who's there?"

"Open the door," commands the leader in a strange sepulchral voice.

"I must know first who is there and what's wanted," returns the other,
hurrying on his clothes.

A shot is fired, and penetrating the door, strikes the opposite wall.

"Open instantly, or we'll break in, and it'll be the worse for you,"
thunders the leader; and with trembling hands, amid the cries of wife
and children, the man removes the bars, draws back the bolts, and looks
out, repeating his question, "What's wanted?"

"Nothing, this time, Jim White, but to warn you that if you vote the
Republican ticket, we'll call again, take you to the woods, and flog you
within an inch of your life--Beware! Forward, men!" and the troop sweeps
onward, while White closes and bars the door again, and creeps back to
bed.

"Ku Klux!" says the wife shuddering. "Jim, we'll have to hide o' nights
now, like the rest. Hush, hush, children, they're gone now; so go to
sleep; nothing'll hurt ye. Jim, ye'll mind?"

"Yes, yes, Betsy, though it galls me to be ordered round like a nigger;