by Thomas Dixon
CHAPTER IX
"VENGEANCE IS MINE"
It was dark long before Margaret and Stoneman reached Piedmont. A mile outof town a horse neighed in the woods, and, tired as she was, Queen threwher head high and answered the call.
The old man did not notice it, but Margaret knew a squadron ofwhite-and-scarlet horsemen stood in those woods, and her heart gave abound of joy.
As they passed the Presbyterian church, she saw through the open windowher father standing at his Elder's seat leading in prayer. They wereholding a watch service, asking God for victory in the eventful struggleof the day.
Margaret attempted to drive straight to the jail, and a sentinel stoppedthem.
"I am Stoneman, sir--the real commander of these troops," said the oldman, with authority.
"Orders is orders, and I don't take 'em from you," was the answer.
"Then tell your commander that Mr. Stoneman has just arrived fromSpartanburg and asks to see him at the hotel immediately."
He hobbled into the parlour and waited in agony while Margaret tied themare. Ben, her mother and father, and every servant were gone.
In a few moments the second officer hurried to Stoneman, saluted, andsaid:
"We've pulled it off in good shape, sir. They've tried to fool us with adozen tricks, and a whole regiment has been lying in wait for us all day.But at dark the Captain outwitted them, took his prisoner with a squad ofpicked cavalry, and escaped their pickets. They've been gone an hour, andought to be back with the body----"
Old Stoneman sprang on him with the sudden fury of a madman, clutching athis throat.
"If you've killed my son," he gasped--"go--go! Follow them with a swiftmessenger and stop them! It's a mistake--you're killing the wrongman--you're killing my boy--quick--my God, quick--don't stand therestaring at me!"
The officer rushed to obey his order as Margaret entered.
The old man seized her arm, and said with laboured breath:
"Your father, my child, ask him to come to me quickly."
Margaret hurried to the church, and an usher called the doctor to thedoor.
He read the question trembling on the girl's lips.
"Nothing has happened yet, my daughter. Your brother has held a regimentof his men in readiness every moment of the day."
"Mr. Stoneman is at the hotel and asks to see you immediately," shewhispered.
"God grant he may prevent bloodshed," said the father. "Go inside and staywith your mother."
When Doctor Cameron entered the parlour Stoneman hobbled painfully to meethim, his face ashen, and his breath rattling in his throat as if his soulwere being strangled.
"You are my enemy, Doctor," he said, taking his hand, "but you are a piousman. I have been called an infidel--I am only a wilful sinner--I haveslain my own son, unless God Almighty, who can raise the dead, shall savehim! You are the man at whom I aimed the blow that has fallen on my head.I wish to confess to you and set myself right before God. He may hear mycry, and have mercy on me."
He gasped for breath, sank into his seat, looked around, and said:
"Will you close the door?"
The doctor complied with his request and returned.
"We all wear masks, Doctor," began the trembling voice. "Beneath lie thesecrets of love and hate from which actions move. My will alone forged thechains of negro rule. Three forces moved me--party success, a viciouswoman, and the quenchless desire for personal vengeance. When I first fella victim to the wiles of the yellow vampire who kept my house, I dreamedof lifting her to my level. And when I felt myself sinking into the blackabyss of animalism, I, whose soul had learned the pathway of the stars andheld high converse with the great spirits of the ages----"
He paused, looked up in terror, and whispered:
"What's that noise? Isn't it the distant beat of horses' hoofs?"
"No," said the doctor, listening; "it's the roar of the falls we hear,from a sudden change of the wind."
"I'm done now," Stoneman went on, slowly fumbling his hands. "My life hasbeen a failure. The dice of God are always loaded."
His great head drooped lower, and he continued:
"Mightiest of all was my motive of revenge. Fierce business and politicalfeuds wrecked my iron mills. I shouldered their vast debts, and paid thelast mortgage of a hundred thousand dollars the week before Lee invaded myState. I stood on the hill in the darkness, cried, raved, cursed, while Iwatched the troops lay those mills in ashes. Then and there I swore thatI'd live until I ground the South beneath my heel! When I got back to myhouse they had buried a Confederate soldier in the field. I dug his bodyup, carted it to the woods, and threw it into a ditch----"
The hand of the white-haired Southerner suddenly gripped old Stoneman'sthroat--and then relaxed. His head sank on his breast, and he cried inanguish:
"God be merciful to me a sinner! Would I, too, seek revenge!"
Stoneman looked at the doctor, dazed by his sudden onslaught andcollapse.
"Yes, he was somebody's boy down here," he went on, "who was loved perhapseven as I love--I don't blame you. See, in the inside pocket next to myheart I carry the pictures of Phil and Elsie taken from babyhood up, allset in a little book. They don't know this--nor does the world dream I'vebeen so soft-hearted----"
He drew a miniature album from his pocket and fumbled it aimlessly:
"You know Phil was my first-born----"
His voice broke, and he looked at the doctor helplessly.
The Southerner slipped his arm around the old man's shoulders and began atender and reverent prayer.
The sudden thunder of a squad of cavalry with clanking sabres swept by thehotel toward the jail.
Stoneman scrambled to his feet, staggered, and caught a chair.
"It's no use," he groaned, "--they've come with his body--I'm slippingdown--the lights are going out--I haven't a friend! It's dark andcold--I'm alone, and lost--God--has--hidden--His--face--from--me!"
Voices were heard without, and the tramp of heavy feet on the steps.
Stoneman clutched the doctor's arm in agony:
"Stop them!--Stop them! Don't let them bring him in here!"
He sank limp into the chair and stared at the door as it swung open andPhil walked in, with Ben and Elsie by his side, in full clansmandisguise.
The old man leaped to his feet and gasped:
"The Klan!--The Klan! No? Yes! It's true--glory to God, they've saved myboy--Phil--Phil!"
"How did you rescue him?" Doctor Cameron asked Ben.
"Had a squadron lying in wait on every road that led from town. TheCaptain thought a thousand men were on him, and surrendered without ashot."
* * * * *
At twelve o'clock Ben stood at the gate with Elsie.
"Your fate hangs in the balance of this election to-night," she said."I'll share it with you, success or failure, life or death."
"Success, not failure," he answered firmly. "The Grand Dragons of sixStates have already wired victory. Look at our lights on the mountains!They are ablaze--range on range our signals gleam until the Fiery Cross islost among the stars!"
"What does it mean?" she whispered.
"That I am a successful revolutionist--that Civilization has been saved,and the South redeemed from shame."
THE END