"All citizens of the State of Ventura are ordered to immediately surrender their arms. By order of "HERMAN WOLF, "_Regent_." Norman looked at the revolvers in the holsters of the guards and dryly remarked: "But the State will kindly continue their use, I see!" Norman surrendered his revolver, and his room was searched in every nook and corner for weapons he might have concealed. "Why this insult?" he demanded. The guardsman saluted. "Special orders of the regent, sir. We are to take no man's word for it." Norman sat in silence while the men opened his trunks, ransacked his drawers, and searched in every conceivable spot where a weapon of any kind might be hid. "I could have told you at first that I had no other guns. The entire colony is being disarmed this morning?" "Yes, sir, the work will be completed by two o'clock." "Indeed!" The man fumbled in his pocket and drew out another order. "And this one for you personally, sir." "Oh--after the disarming?" "Yes, sir!" Norman read the second order and the lines of his mouth tightened suddenly. The note was brief but to the point: "Comrade Norman Worth will report to the regent at ten o'clock for orders. "HERMAN WOLF, "_Regent_." For five minutes after the guards had gone Norman stood in silence staring at this order. It was the first he had ever received in his life except the one from his own father which he had disobeyed. To be driven into another man's presence to take orders as from a master to a servant was an idea that had never entered his imagination. He had seen such things. He had given orders, but he had never, somehow, counted himself in the class of men who took them. For the first time he began to realize the meaning of the work he had been doing, and began to see how deftly and unconsciously he had been forging the chains of a system of irresponsible slavery on his fellow men. While the motive which impelled him was one of unselfish love, and he had thought only of their best interest, he saw now in a flash with what crushing cruelty this power could be used. It all seemed simple enough when he regarded his own will as the centre and source of power. Now that another man had grasped the lever and applied this power, the whole scheme of artificial life which he had created took on a new and darker meaning. What should he do? His first impulse was to walk into Wolf's presence, denounce him as a scheming scoundrel, and defy his power. That Wolf would fight was not to be questioned for a minute. His first act of disarming the colony was a master-stroke, and the longer the young leader thought of it the more hopeless his present situation became.