ng it at that time, but which has since
become familiar by attendance at the initiations of others:

CAPTAIN.--(Addressing me, the candidate for initiation.) "When a noble
people are crushed by the servile minions of a tyrant, will they submit
tamely and basely?"

CANDIDATE.--"No."

CAPTAIN.--"When a noble cause is lost in the field, when its spotless
banners are trailed in the dust by the base hordes of the oppressor,
when appeal to the God of Battles is no longer possible, should the
friends of that cause fold their arms in abject submission?"

CANDIDATE.--"No."

CAPTAIN.--"When the homes of a noble people are devastated by fire and
pillage, when their women are violated by a brutal soldiery, should that
people mete out the same to the destroyers?"

CANDIDATE.--"Yes."

CAPTAIN.--"When a brave people are trampled in the dust by tyrants, what
is their remedy?"

[The whole band answer this by cocking their pieces and snapping the
hammers, and the Captain then interprets as follows:]

"Silence, Darkness, and Cold Lead! Do you agree?"

CANDIDATE.--"Yes!"

CAPTAIN.--"To be of us and not with us, is Treason, and the reward of
Treason is DEATH! Every Southron belongs to us, by birth, by education,
by the love of liberty inhaled with the balmy breezes of the sunny
South, by the hatred of the northern clans imbibed with his mother's
milk, by the inherent detestation of hypocrisy and the myriad social and
political abominations of the North! You are of us, you must be with us!
THE REWARD OF TREASON IS DEATH! You are prepared to take the oath."

[The Captain here recites the following oath, the candidate repeating it
after him:]

"By all the loved memories of my native land, by all the hallowed
associations of home and family, by the memory of friends and brothers
slain, by the lurid flames of war and desolation spread over our happy
homes by the Lincoln hordes, I swear that by day-light and darkness, at
all times and on all occasions, THE STEEL SHALL PAY THE DEBT OF STEEL,
THE LEAD SHALL RECOMPENSE FOR LEAD, THE SOUTHERN CROSS SHALL YET DEFY
THE WORLD!"

The Southern Cross in the order has a double significance. It represents
the dagger of the assassin as well as the cross.

The Captain then declares:

"WELCOME THE NEW BROTHER OF THE SOUTHERN CROSS!"

And thereupon the band make the challenging sign of the order, by
cocking and snapping their gun-locks. The Captain then proposes the
second oath, the candid