Page:The traitor; a story of the fall of the invisible empire (IA traitorstoryoffa00dixo).pdf/65

 "I'm not so sure they will not parade, Mr. Suggs," Stella replied.

"Don't be alarmed, Miss Stella!" he urged soothingly. "I've taken ample means to protect you and your father from any attack of these assassins and desperadoes if they dare enter the town."

"I'm not afraid of them, Captain, she answered lightly.

"Of course not—we're here and ready for them. The very audacity of their manner is an insult to the Government."

"I like audacity. It stirs your blood," Stella cried, her brown eyes twinkling.

Suggs leaned nearer and said in his deepest voice:

"Let them dare this insult to authority to-night and you'll see audacity come to sudden grief in front of your father's house."

"Have you prepared an ambush?" Stella asked eagerly.

"Better. We've an extra hundred loyal policemen on the spot. Each of them is sworn to capture dead or alive any Ku Klux raider who shows his head. I hope they'll come—but it's too good to be true. With a dozen prisoners safe in jail, before to-morrow dawns I'll have the secrets of the Klan in my pocket. I'll make things hum