Page:The traitor; a story of the fall of the invisible empire (IA traitorstoryoffa00dixo).pdf/311

 who could ride well at night but sometimes fainted in the daylight.

The Attorney General had ordered Steve's arrest on a shrewd guess which Ackerman had made on hearing of the strange fight between two groups of horsemen in the country at dusk the night before. The detective had seen the doctor leaving Hoyle's house and learned at once that Steve was wounded.

In attempting to serve the warrant on John Graham he had found that he had ridden into the country alone in the direction taken by Steve Hoyle. Ackerman had long suspected Steve of complicity in the movements of the Klan, and knowing the deadly enmity between the two men had at once reached the conclusion that a feud within the ranks of its members could alone account for the situation.

"Arrest Hoyle," he urged on Champion; "threaten him with immediate conviction for conspiracy and murder and see what happens."

The Attorney General had taken his advice, and on receiving the report of Steve's "illness" from the sergeant, went immediately to see him.

Steve was profuse in his expressions of cordiality.

"I'm sorry, General Champion," he said, with loud friendliness, "that my father and mother are in the North at present. They spend a great deal