LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS "Do you not fear my betrayal of your secret?"" Frontispiece FACING PAGB "The South is conquered soil. I mean to blot it "He leaned toward her in impulsive tenderness.". 130 "I hurl the everlasting curse of a Nation- "Take dat f'um yo' equal-›” "On the brink of the precipice, the mother trembled." "The Fiery Cross of old Scotland's hills!'" 172 232 306 326 THE CLANSMAN THE Book I-The Assassination CHAPTER I THE BRUISED REED HE fair girl who was playing a banjo and singing to the wounded soldiers suddenly stopped, and, turning to the surgeon, whispered : "What's that?" "It sounds like a mob-_" With a common impulse they moved to the open window of the hospital and listened. On the soft spring air came the roar of excited thousands sweeping down the avenue from the Capitol toward the White House. Above all rang the cries of struggling newsboys screaming an "Extra." One of them darted around the corner, his shrill voice quivering with excitement: "Extra! Extra! Peace! Victory!" Windows were suddenly raised, women thrust their heads out, and others rushed into the street and crowded around the boy, struggling to get his papers. He threw them right and left and snatched the money-no one asked for change. Without ceasing rose his cry: |