LVII
The grand-opera voice raised again its silver chant: "Give way, all
mobs! Yield! Retire! Abdicate!--Bow down-n-n-n-n! Make way for the
Mob of Mobs, the irresistible, imperial, superior super-mob! Hearken
to the Lord High Chief Commanding Dragon of the Esoteric Cohorts,
the Exalted Immortal Grand Imperial Kleagle of the Ku Klux Klan!"
Then the Grand Imperial Kleagle turned and addressed the white-robed
throng in a voice of sharp command: "Klansmen! Remember your oath!
The hour of Judgment is here! The guilty wretch cowers! The grand
insuperable sentence has been spoken! Coelum animum imperiabilis
senescat! Similia similibus per quantum imperator. Inexorabilis
ingenium parasimilibua esperantur! Saeva itnparatus ignotum
indignatio! Salvo! Suppositio! Indurato! Klansmen, kneel!"
As one man, the host fell upon its knees.
"Klansmen, swear! Si fractus illibatur orbis, impavidum ferient
ruinae! You have heard the sentence. What is the penalty? Is it
death?"
And a voice in the crowd cried "Death!" And the others took it up;
there was a roar: "Death! Death!"
Said the Grand Imperial Kleagle: "Arma virumque cano, tou
poluphlesboiou thalasses!" Then, facing the staring ex-servicemen:
"Tetlathi mater erne kai anaskeo ko-omeneper!"
Finally the Grand Imperial Kleagle pointed her shrouded white arm at
Carpenter, who stood, as pale as death, but unflinchingly. "Death to
all traitors!" she cried. "Death to all agitators! Death to all
enemies of the Ku Klux Klan! Condemnatus! Incomparabilis!
Ingenientis exequatur! Let the Loyal High Inexorable Guardians and
the Grand Holy Seneschals of the Klan advance!"
Six shrouded figures stepped out from the crowd. Said the Grand
Imperial Kleagle: "Possess yourselves of the body of this guilty
wretch!" And to the ex-servicemen: "Yield up this varlet to the High
Secret Court-martial of the Klan, which alone has power to punish
such as he."
What the bewildered members of the Brigade made of all this
hocus-pocus I had no idea. Afterwards, when the adventure was over,
I asked Mary, "Where in the world did you get that stuff?" And she
told me how she had once acted in a children's comedy, in which
there was an old magician who spent his time putting spells on
people. She had had to witness his incantations eight or ten times a
week for nearly a year, so of course the phrases had got fixed in
her memory, and they had served just as well to impress these
grown-up children.
Or perhaps the ex-servicemen thought this might be a further plan of
those who had employed them. Whatever they thought, it was obvious
that they were hopelessly outnumbered. There could be nothing for a
mob to do but yield to a Super-mob; and they yielded. Those who were
in front of Carpenter stepped back, and the Loyal High Inexorable
Guardians and the Grand Holy Seneschals took Carpenter by the arms
and led him away. Apparently they were going to overlook the rest of
us; but Old Joe and Lynch and myself took Abell and Moneta by the
shoulders and shoved them along, past the ex-service men and into
the midst of the "Klansmen."
There was no need to consider dignity after that. We hustled
Carpenter to the nearest of the busses, and put him in; the Grand
Imperial Kleagle followed, and the rest of us clambered in after
her. Sitting up beside the driver, watching the scene, was T-S,
beaming with delight; he got me by the hand and wrung it. I could
not speak, my teeth were literally chattering with excitement.
Carpenter, sitting in the seat behind us, must have realized by now
the meaning of this scandalous adventure; but he said not a word,
and the white-gowned Klansmen piled in behind him, and the siren
shrieked out into the night, and the bus backed to the corner, and
turned and sped off; and all the way to Eternal City, T-S and I and
Old Joe slapped one another on the back and roared with laughter,
and the rest of the Klansmen roared with laughter--all save the
Grand Imperial Kleagle, who sat by Carpenter's side, and was
discovered to be weeping.
