its semi-monthly conference the committee meets at Drover's hall.
The deliberations are not open to the public; still, no attempt is made
to conceal the fact that there is a meeting.

Nevins and the other leading members decide that the secret meeting at
which he is to develop his plan shall be held in a place where there
will be no possible way for a spy to creep in.

They select a deserted rolling mill on the edge of the river in North
Chicago. This mill was one of the most prosperous in the city prior to
the consolidation of the iron industries. Immediately following the
combine the mill had been closed and the work that should have gone to
it was transferred to the Trust's great plant in Pittsburg.

For eight years the fires in the furnaces have been extinguished; the
incompleted iron work that lies about the ground has been given over to
the ravages of rust; desolation is the master of the mill.

The spot is an ideal one for a secret meeting place. The police never
enter the grounds except at long intervals, when the inspector of the
precinct is on his rounds. This official makes a perfunctory survey of
the mausoleum of dead industry. In his report the entry, "Iron works
vacant," sufficiently describes the place.

On the night of the secret meeting the members arrive at the mill by
various routes. There are three entrances on land and a wharf extends
along the eastern limit of the enclosure. Five of the delegates cross
the river in a skiff.

At nine o'clock all the men are present. They gather on the second floor
of the storage shed, a brick structure one hundred by one hundred and
fifty feet in area, and three stories high. There are no windows in its
bleak walls. On each floor in the wall that faces the interior court of
the mill enclosure are two corrugated iron doors. These doors are
closed, and effectually exclude the light from without, as well as any
light that might be made within. On the floor where the committee meet
there is a rough plank table that was used by the machinists of the
mill.

At this improvised tribunal the Forty meet to discuss the regeneration
of the nation.

Two candles at either end of the ten foot table serve to reveal the
dense darkness rather than to dispel it. The flickering-lights fall on
the faces of the men as they sit on the floor in a semi-circle. Their
eyes are alone perceptible, and the several members are unable to
distinguish one another.

The voice of one speake