“One that will give you an opportunity to prove yourself a patriot and a hero--a patriot because you will render your country a great service--a hero because you must brave the scorn of every white man and woman whose opinion is worth anything to you. Will you consider it?” “Yes,” Steve answered. “Give me the information needed to destroy the Invisible Empire and I will not only release you from custody; I will make you my assistant and ultimately secure your promotion to a judgeship. Your answer?” “I’ll do it, General, I’ll do it!” Steve cried, while the maudlin tears of a coward’s relief from mortal fear coursed down his fat cheeks. “I’ll stand by you and help save our country by restoring law and order.” The General thanked and congratulated him, again called him a patriot and hero and sent for his stenographer. For four hours he was closeted with Steve. At dusk the soldiers moved with sure tread in every county in Piedmont Carolina, and before the sun rose the blow had fallen swift, relentless, terrible! The Klan leaders in every county were behind the bars. More than five hundred arrests were made in the county of Independence. Around the jail, and half a dozen improvised prisons, throngs of sadfaced wives, mothers, sisters and sweethearts stood silently weeping. The next morning Champion wired the President asking that the Honourable Stephen Hoyle be appointed acting Assistant United States District Attorney, and his request was granted. CHAPTER V--ACKERMAN CORNERED THE arrest of John Graham precipitated a crisis between Ackerman and Susie Wilson which was as unexpected as it was embarrassing to the handsome young detective. From the moment she had seen his letter on Stella’s bed she had watched the young Northerner with the keenest suspicions. The following day he pressed his love with straightforward earnestness. She answered with an evasive smile. “I appreciate the honour you pay me, Mr. Ackerman, but I’m not in love with you. I hope we shall always be friends. If your love endures it may win mine in the end--if you persist.” “I have your permission to persist?” “Certainly,” she answered frankly. “I love to be loved.” “All right,” he said with a boyish laugh. “I’m going to build my house in the fall.” On the day following John Graham’s arrest she saw Ackerman emerge from the hotel in earnest consultation with the Attorney General. To her the prosecuting officer of the United States at that moment meant all that was vile and hateful in the tyranny under which the South had groaned since the dawn of her memory. The moment she saw Ackerman with this man, his very name became to her accursed. Her keen intuition at once linked the letter to Stella with the murder of the Judge and the prosecution of the Klan. She was sure that Ackerman had been playing the hypocrite and was at heart an enemy of the South. She determined not only to cut his acquaintance but put him out of her mother’s house.