to you after hearing your stories, will
require stout hearts to carry it into execution.

"It cannot be accomplished by fanatics. It requires the concerted
efforts of men of sound judgment; men of courage. The assassin is a
coward at heart--the political martyr must be valiant."

The novelty of the suggestion that has just been made is the first thing
that appeals to the minds of the committee. They begin to realize the
horrid character of the proposition. Much discussion follows. Men want
to know what Nevins means by a Syndicate of Annihilation. Whom does he
intend to murder? Annihilation and murder are considered synonymous.

To all questions Nevins replies that the details will be given as soon
as the men recite their grievances.

Professor Talbot and Hendrick Stahl, the two men who are in the secret
with Nevins, advise the members of the committee to comply with the
demands.

Then begins the strange, startling recital of the stories of human
distress. Of the forty men of varying professions and trades, there are
those who tell of their efforts to stand up under the weight of the yoke
of commercial despotism. Each man is of impressing character and strong
individuality.

The chairman, Albert Chadwick, is the first to tell his story. It is the
prelude to the concerted cry of the oppressed--the cry which has sounded
through the ages as the one never varying note in the music of the
universe; the dread inharmonic monotone that marks the limitation of
humanity, exhibiting man's inability to convert the world into a
paradise.

CHAPTER IX.

ARRAIGNMENT OF THE TRANSGRESSORS.

Standing upon the little platform which serves as a rostrum, Chadwick, a
man of fifty, seared and bent, lifts his hand to command the attention
of the committee.

He is a figure that would do credit to the brush of a great artist. His
appearance is that of a man who has been deprived of the power of
looking at the world as a place of rest; he is a bundle of nerves, and
at the slightest provocation bursts into a storm of irascibility. A
tortured spirit lurks in his soul and is visible in his stern, tense
features.

As he begins the recital of his grievances against the Trust, it is
apparent that he means to give the audience an embittered story. So the
attention of all is centered upon him.

"Human liberty is the boon which man has sought since the dawn of
creation; it has furnished the incentive for his struggle to reclaim the