The two sentinels had but a short time to wait. They had not been there long before the tramp of horses was heard, and in a little while from the woods opposite them emerged a cavalcade of, perhaps, a dozen horsemen. Mrs. Stamper clutched Blair with a grip of terror, for men and horses were heavily shrouded and looked ghostly enough. Blair was trembling, but not from fear, only from excitement. The presence of the enemy suddenly strung her up, and she put her hand on her companion encouragingly. Just then one of the men burst into a loud laugh. Mrs. Delia’s grip relaxed. “I know that laugh,” she said, with a sigh of deep relief. “Jest let him ride up here and try some of his shenanigan!” She began to pull at her pistol, but Blair seized her. “For heaven’s sake, don’t,” she whispered; and Mrs. Stamper let the pistol go, and they squeezed back into the shadow. Just then the men rode up to the school-house door. They were discussing what they should do. “Burn the house down,” declared the leader. “Drive the old hag away.” But this met with fierce opposition. “I didn’t come out here to burn any house down,” said one of the men, “and I’m not going to do it. You can put your notice up and come along.” “Ah! you’re afraid,” sneered the other. There was a movement among the horsemen, and the man so charged rode up to the head of the column and pulled his horse in front of the leader. There was a gleam of steel in the light of the moon. “Take that back, or I’ll make you prove it,” he said, angrily. “Ride out there and draw your pistol; we’ll let Jim here give the word, and we’ll see who’s afraid.” Their companions crowded around them to make peace. The leader apologized. The sentiment of the crowd was evidently against him. “Now get down and fix up your notice to Leech, and let’s be going,” said one of the peacemakers. The leader dismounted and started up to the door. As he did so, one of the two young women stepped forward. [Illustration: SHE GAVE A STEP FORWARD AND WITH A QUICK MOVEMENT PULLED THE MASK FROM HIS FACE.] “What do you want?” asked Mrs. Stamper. The man positively staggered from surprise, and a murmur of astonishment broke from the horsemen. Mrs. Stamper did not give them time to recover. With true soldierly instinct she pressed her advantage. “I know what you want,” she said, with scorn. “You want to scare a poor woman who ain’t got anybody to defend her. You ain’t so much against niggers and carpet-baggers as you make out. I know you.” “You know nothing of the kind,” growled the man, angrily, in a deep voice. He had recovered himself. “What business have you here? Go home, wherever that may be, and leave the Invisible Empire to execute its dread decrees.”