He held the meeting in the hollow of his hand. Cries of “No. Away with them. No spongers,” and the like were heard on all sides. Nordenholt held up his hand, and silence came at once. The meeting hung on his words. “Those in favour of allowing this inefficiency to continue, stand up.” No one rose. “Very good, men. I will carry out your decision. This meeting is at an end.” The morning papers contained a full report of his speech; but before they were in the hands of the populace, Nordenholt had acted. All the ca’ canny workmen had been arrested during the night, along with their families, and removed to the southern boundary, where they were placed on trains and motors ready for transport to the Border. The thing was done with absolute silence and with such efficiency that it seemed more like kidnapping than an ordinary process of arrest. Nordenholt knew the advantage of mystery; and he proposed to make these disappearances strike home on the public mind. The inefficients vanished without leaving a clue behind. At the Border, each of them was supplied with provisions exactly equivalent to the rations remaining in the outer world; and they were then abandoned as they stood. Nothing was ever known of their fate. When the works opened again in the morning, their fellows missed them from the gangs and time enough was allowed for their disappearance to sink in; after which a redistribution took place which closed up the gaps. But the very mystery served to heighten the effect of the lesson. For the first time, Fear in more than one form had entered the Nitrogen Area. I remembered what Nordenholt had said to me some weeks earlier: “I shall deal with them--and I shall do it by the hand of their own fellows.” So you can understand the roaring tide of industry which mounted day by day in the Area. This sudden stroke had done more than anything else to convince the people of the seriousness of the situation. Ten thousand men had been condemned and had vanished on an instant--Nordenholt made no secret of the number; and the remainder realised that things must indeed be grave when a step of this kind had been necessary. He had given no time for amendment: condemnation had been followed by the execution of the sentence: and it was they themselves who had pronounced the decree. They could not lay it upon his shoulders. And the veil of mystery which enwrapped the fate of the convicted ones had its value in more than one direction. Had Nordenholt caused them to be shot, public sympathy would have been aroused. But this impenetrable secrecy baffled speculation and prevented men from forming any concrete picture which might arouse compassion.