success—how they crept along the shadows of the hedgerow of the lawn to avoid the moonlight, stood under the cedar, and through the open windows watched the mother and daughter laughing and talking within
"Min' what I tells you now—Tie de ole one, when I gib you de rope," said Gus in a whisper.
"My God!" cried the agonised voice of the figure with the double cross—"that's what the piece of burnt rope in the fireplace meant!"
Doctor Cameron again lifted his hand for silence.
Now they burst into the room, and with the light of hell in his beady, yellow-splotched eyes, Gus gripped his imaginary revolver and growled:
"Scream, an' I blow yer brains out!"
In spite of Doctor Cameron's warning, the white-robed figures jostled and pressed closer
Gus rose to his feet and started across the cave as if to spring on the shivering figure of the girl, the clansmen with muttered groans, sobs and curses falling back as he advanced. He still wore his full Captain's uniform, its heavy epaulets flashing their gold in the unearthly light, his beastly jaws half covering the gold braid on the collar. His thick lips were drawn upward in an ugly leer and his sinister bead-eyes gleamed like a gorilla's. A single fierce leap and the black claws clutched the air slowly as if sinking into the soft white throat.
Strong men began to cry like children.
"Stop him! Stop him!" screamed a clansman, springing on the negro and grinding his heel into his big thick
