hen they reached the Oaks.

Rose and Elsie were in the veranda awaiting their coming in some
anxiety.

"Oh," they cried, "we are so rejoiced to see you! so thankful that you
are safe. We feared you had met some of those dreadful Ku Klux."

"Yes, little wife, we are safe, thanks to the protecting care which is
over us all in every place," Mr. Travilla said, embracing her as though
they had been long parted.

"Ah yes," she sighed, "how I have been forgetting to-day the lessons of
faith and trust I have tried to impress upon Mrs. Leland. It is far
easier to preach than to practice."

Little feet came running in from the grounds, little voices
shouted, "Papa has come! Papa and grandpa too," and a merry scene
ensued--hugging, kissing, romping--presently interrupted by the call
to tea.

There was nothing unusual in the manner of either gentleman and the
wives had no suspicion that they had been in peril of their lives.

"I think it would be well to return home early to-night," Mr. Travilla
remarked to Elsie.

"Yes," she said, "on account of the children."

So the carriage was ordered at once, and shortly after leaving the table
they were on their way--Elsie, children and nurses in the carriage, with
Mr. Travilla, Mr. Dinsmore and son, all well armed, as their mounted
escort.

Horace had been taken aside by his father and told of the afternoon's
adventure, and in his indignation was almost eager for "a brush with the
insolent ruffians."

None appeared, however; Ion was reached in safety, they tarried there an
hour or more, then returned without perceiving any traces of the foe.

The hush of midnight has fallen upon the Oaks, Ion, Fairview and all the
surrounding region; the blinking stars and young moon, hanging a golden
crescent just above the horizon, look down upon a sleeping world; yet
not all asleep, for far down the road skirting yonder wood, a strange
procession approaches;--goblin-like figures, hideous with enormous
horns, glaring eye-balls and lolling red tongues, a

Martha Finley (1828 - 1909) was a teacher and author of numerous works, the most well known being the 28 volume Elsie Dinsmore series which was published over a span of 38 years. The daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and his wife and cousin Maria Theresa Brown Finley, she was born on April 26th, 1828 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Finley wrote many of her books under the psodonym Martha Farquharson. She died in 1909 in Elkton, Maryland, where she moved in 1876.

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