But "the longest lane has its turn," at one or both ends, and when the shadows slept, and the gray messengers of morn tripped along the eastern hills, the enchanter's wand was lifted from its hills and valleys, and Crow Hide, unclosing its eyes, gave thanks. Now a breath of peacefulness had come upon its affairs, and so radiant seemed the morning skies, and so innocent of evil the sweet landscapes lying bathed in dew-sparkles, that there were few who looked abroad without being inspired with doubts of the existence of the latter, even as an abstraction. Even those who had been controlled by the most abject emotions while the terrors of the night lasted, when morning came, stood up boldly for a common sense solution of the mystery. Those who had all their lives been troubled with superstitious fears, and were in danger of becoming imbued with the error in its grosser forms, by the aid of such experiences as that through which they had recently passed, admitted the possibility of this. If, therefore, it did not come as a positive revelation, it was a relief to all to be informed, as they were at an early hour, that the initials of the monster haunt who during the night had managed to reflect as many individualities as there were farm-houses in the district were K. K. K. But though this was accepted as a fact by all, seeing that no other theory was advanced, yet the question remained, did it furnish a satisfactory solution of the mystery, or, indeed, any solution whatever? According to the neighborhood version, the Ku-Klux themselves were about as intangible examples of ghostliness as were ever wrapped in loose-fitting bombazine; and if so, wherein was gossip made the wiser? The very difficulty which the most scholarly person would experience in seeking out the words indexed by the famous K(u) K(lu) K(lan), was enough to evince to the world that there was something radically wrong with its genealogy. On the morning in question, the chore emissaries (boys and negroes) of the farms for miles around had assembled at the neighborhood mill, awaiting their turns of grinding, and when rumor brought the subject into the mill council, the conflict of opinion, involving original arguments advanced and the weight of authorities adduced, became truly Brobdignagian. The night raiders had been seen by some of the party, and of this number all had crossed the boundaries of persuasion, and were absolutely convinced regarding some physical (if the term may be used) peculiarity of the ghostly phalanx.