"Yes, dear, when I was a girl and lived with your grandma before she died, at a toll-gate just down the road apiece, I saw a Night Rider then." "What was he like?" questioned Alice, deeply interested, "Was he scary looking?" "No," said her mother hesitatingly, "I thought him rather good-looking at the time," and she smiled over at her husband. "Was he as good-looking as father?" asked Alice, following the glance with her keen young eyes. "Nothing like," affirmed Sally emphatically, and then she and Milt both laughed. "What are the Night Riders after now?" she inquired some time later, after the children had gone to bed, and the two sat talking by the fire. "There are no more toll-gates to be raided." "It's the tobacco question now, instead of free roads, and it's becoming a very serious one." "I knew that in some parts of the old Blue Grass State the tobacco growers were having considerable trouble, but I hadn't heard that mischief was brewing in this quarter." "Yes, the trouble is spreading generally throughout the tobacco growing regions of the State. Successful raids have been made on several cities and towns, and the large independent warehouses burned; buyers for some of these houses have been severely whipped, and in some cases ordered to leave the State. Troops have been ordered to several points to protect property and maintain order, and the Governor has been called upon to suppress the lawlessness that is abroad." "Why, this is worse than during the toll-gate troubles," said Sally. "Much worse," assented her husband. "The loss of property is very much greater. Barns have been burned filled with tobacco, and hundreds of plant beds scraped, and a promise is being exacted from the growers not to produce a crop this present season. It's a sort of triangular war in which the grasping Trust--the pooled Tobacco Association and the Independent growers, all figure," added Milt. "And have you agreed to pool your tobacco?" asked Sally, when the serious situation had been more fully discussed. "No, I think I have the right to dispose of it as I see fit. I am a free man, and live in a free country, and I don't intend to be coerced. I have sold my last year's crop to an independent buyer, and will begin delivering it sometime within the next few days." "I hope there'll be no trouble over it if you do," said his wife earnestly. "I have had quite enough experience along the line of night riding to last me for several years to come." "I scarcely think any attempt will be made to intimidate _me_" asserted Milt confidently. "In some places threatening letters and warnings have been sent to persons who have fallen under the displeasure of the band, but nothing of the kind has occurred about here." "Don't you think it would have been a wise plan to let the growing of tobacco alone until these troubles are settled?" inquired his wife.