I saw the committee leader smile, and there came upon his face a very affecting look. An elderly man, a member of the privileged caste, he had voluntarily laid aside the white robes of his order and taken to the forests, to organize the beginnings of the Revolution. As he spoke, the detailed scheme began to be clear to me, and I understood that the rulers of the world were matched by no mean antagonists. First he alluded to the belief, already current among all the revolutionary bands, that the Federation’s troops had been overwhelmed before Tula, and that the Tsar’s forces were already pouring through Skandogermania to seize the battleplanes from the disaffected airscouts in Hamburg and Stockholm and launch them against London. It was believed that the Council must be in desperate straits to have had recourse to the moving picture lie, as worthless as the falsehood that the escaped defectives had been retaken. What seemed to me a psychological confirmation of this report was the circumstance asserted by him, that the torture of heretics, the activities of the vivisectionists, and the weeding out of morons were proceeding with unexampled rigor. For tyranny always becomes most cruel when it approaches its downfall, by inspiring terror, to create submission. “You have heard,” continued the old man, “how Lembken lured Arnold to the People’s House. Lembken knows who he is. Then he must be aware of Sanson’s plans and is plotting to use Arnold in a counterstroke. “He is old and obese and pleasure-loving. But you must not forget that he rose to power by the most cunning craft, inspiring, as he undoubtedly did, the murder of Boss Rose, and buying over the airscouts. Sanson underrates the old fox, but Lembken has his ear to the ground all the while he is supposed to be roystering in his devil’s palace. Now, friends, we can despise no weapon that will aid our cause. If we have to use Lembken, as the lesser evil, in order to unite the airscouts under Hancock against Sanson—” “Never!” shouted the black-bearded leader of the traffic guild. “He has taken—taken—taken—” The giant broke down and covered his face with his hands. “My daughter,” he raved, raising his face with the tears streaming down his cheeks, and clenching his enormous hands. “Only today—today—I would not desert the cause, or I should have forced my way into the People’s House and killed him—” I thanked God, the father did not know that I had seen her in the Council Hall. The old leader got up and put his arm about the giant’s shoulder. “But for the sake of freedom you will consent,” he said. The other threw back his head. “Yes—for the cause, yes,” he answered quietly, and moved away. He stood with head drooping upon his breast, like some huge statue. I understood then the strength of the enmity to the government. No Ray artillery could withstand such a wild passion as the deviltries of Science had awakened.