At nine o'clock next morning two armed guards, whom he had never seen in the house before, entered Norman's room and handed him the first official order of the new regents. The deposed1 young leader read it with amusement at first, but as his eyes rested on its brief words of command, something of their sinister2 meaning began to dawn in his mind.
"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 kindly3 continue their use, I see!"
Norman surrendered his revolver, and his room was searched in every nook and corner for weapons he might have concealed4.
"Why this insult?" he demanded.
[258]The guardsman saluted5.
"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, ransacked6 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 disarmed7 this morning?"
"Yes, sir, the work will be completed by two o'clock."
"Indeed!"
The man fumbled8 in his pocket and drew out another order.
"And this one for you personally, sir."
"Oh—after the disarming9?"
"Yes, sir!"
Norman read the second order and the lines of his mouth tightened10 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. [259]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 deftly11 and unconsciously he had been forging the chains of a system of irresponsible slavery on his fellow men. While the motive12 which impelled13 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 applied14 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 [260]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.
Beyond a doubt Wolf had been selecting the new regent's guard with the same patience and skill with which he had executed his political coup15. This guard was composed now only of his tried and trusted henchmen. A single false step on Norman's part would simply play into the wily brute's hands, and he would destroy himself at a single stroke.
He must use his brain. He must fight the devil with fire. He must submit for the moment, plan and work and wait with infinite patience, and when the work of patience was complete, then strike and strike to kill.
And yet the blood rushed to his heart and strangled with the thought of submission16 to such a man. But there was no other way. He had himself set the trap of steel he now felt crash into his own flesh.
To appeal to his father was unthinkable—his pride forbade it, even if it were possible.
To escape was out of the question. Every way had been cut and that by his own order. The mail was inspected. The steamer held no communication with the people of the island. [261]No boat was allowed to land, and no boat, even the smallest sail or row boat, was permitted to a member of the Brotherhood17 on any pretext18.
Besides, resignation or flight could not be thought of for another reason. To retreat now and leave thousands of people behind whom he had led into this enterprise would be the act of a coward.
There was nothing left except to fight it out on the lines he had himself laid down.
The one thing that hurt him most was the ugly suspicion that Barbara must have known something of this deeply laid scheme by which the Wolfs had gained control of the Brotherhood. And yet her surprise had been genuine, her anger real. He couldn't be mistaken about it. To believe her capable of such treachery and double-dealing was to doubt the very existence of truth and purity.
And yet, when he recalled how little he really knew of her past life, what dark secrets might lurk19 in the story of the years she had spent under the same roof with these people, he grew sick at the thought.
He knew now that the blond beast with the red scar on his neck and the slender, dark-eyed madonna-like mate who had always been his shadow were capable of anything. Two people [262]who could smile in treacherous20 silence for a year and suddenly grip the throat of the man who had been their best friend, needed no written biography to tell their past. It was luminous21. And in the glare in which he read it he shuddered22 at the sinister light it threw on the beautiful girl whom they had reared as their own.
He took from his mantel a little picture made one day in San Francisco by a tintype man. It was a singularly beautiful likeness23 of Barbara, taken on a sudden impulse without a moment's thought or preparation. Her laughing face looked out at him, wreathed in a garland of wayward ringlets of dark brown hair. Truth, sincerity24, beauty, intelligence, and a childlike innocence25 were stamped in every line.
A thousand times since he had seen her just like that. And from the moment of their advent26 on the island this impression of girlish innocence and sincerity had grown rather than decreased. The more he saw of her in the simpler, quieter moments of their association, the stronger, deeper, and more tender his love became, and the deeper grew his utter faith in the purity of her soul and body.
"I'll sooner doubt an angel of God!" he said at last, as he placed it back on the mantel.
He would see Wolf at once, learn his plans, and then carefully make his own.
[263]He dressed with care and at the appointed hour rapped for admission at the executive office where the day before he sat as master.
He was told the regent was busy with others and ordered to wait his turn. He flushed with anger, recovered himself, waited a half hour, and was ushered27 into the presence of the new ruler.
Wolf sat in the big revolving28 chair at his desk with conscious dignity and power. Two of his guards stood outside the door, grim reminders29 of the substantial character of the new administration.
Norman seated himself with careless ease without invitation and waited for the older man to speak.
Wolf smiled grimly, stroked his thick, coarse reddish beard, and looked at Norman thoughtfully a moment.
"Well, my boy," the regent began, with friendly patronage30, "we'd as well come to the point without ceremony. You are down and out. The new board of governors will do what I wish. I am in supreme31 command of the ship of state. Do you want to fight or work?"
"It's a poor doctor, Wolf," Norman said, coolly, "who can't take his own medicine. I came here to work."
"Congratulations on your good sense!" the regent replied. "I've no desire to make trouble [264]for you. I have nothing against you personally. I had to put you out and take command to save the colony from ruin. You meant well, but you were a bungling32 amateur, and you can be of greater service in the ranks than in command. I know you don't like me after what has happened, but you don't have to. I'll be generous. What sort of work would you like to have assigned you?"
"Thanks, that's very kind of you, Wolf, I'm sure. I believe the warden33 of every penitentiary34 is equally generous to all convicts. However, that's a minor35 detail, seeing that I assisted in the creation of this ideal world."
Wolf smashed the desk top with his big fist and suddenly glared at Norman, his cold eyes gleaming angrily.
"Come to the point! I've no time to waste! Have you any choice as to the kind of work to which you wish to be assigned?"
"I have a decided36 choice. Our mines have all failed. I'll redeem37 the failure by perfecting and completing the big dredge for mining gold from the low-grade sands on the beach."
"A waste of time and money," Wolf snapped. "I can't afford to spare the men on any more fool inventions. Such things must stop."
"You mean to stop all progress by stopping inventions?" Norman asked.
[265]"So far as the State is concerned, yes," said the regent, with emphasis. "Under your slipshod administration we spent nearly two hundred thousand dollars during the past year on so-called inventions. Every fool in the colony has invented something. Not one in a hundred has produced an idea that is practicable. We cannot afford to waste the capital of the State in such idiocy38."
"Give me twenty men and I'll complete the dredge."
"Labour is capital in the Socialist39 State. I can't afford to waste it."
"But you are not wasting it," Norman pleaded. "I've spent sixty thousand already on this invention. Unless the machine is completed the capital will be lost to the colony."
"It will be lost anyhow," Wolf answered, impatiently. "Your whole conception is a piece of childish folly40. You can't make a profit operating a dredge in sand containing only twenty cents' worth of gold to a ton of dirt."
"I can do better," Norman urged with enthusiasm. "I can make a hundred per cent. on the investment if the dirt pans out ten cents to the ton. If it pans twenty cents a ton I can make millions."
"So every crank has claimed for his particular piece of idiocy. I'll not permit another dollar or [266]another day's labour to be thrown away on any such crazy experiment."
Norman's face reddened with a rush of uncontrollable anger.
"Look here, Wolf, you can't be serious in this."
"I was never more serious in my life," the big jaws41 snapped. "I am going to issue an order to-day that hereafter any man or woman who conceives an invention can work it out himself without aid from the State. They must do this at odd hours after working the required time each day. They must put their own money into their machine."
"As the State only has capital," Norman protested, "this means the practical prohibition42 of all invention. No man can with his own hands make the machinery43 needed in the progress of humanity. We have abolished private capital by abolishing rent, interest, and profit. Do you propose thus to stop the progress of the world?"
"No," Wolf cried with a wave of his heavy hand. "Let the ambitious inventor work at night and build his own machine. I will grant, in my order on the subject, to each successful inventor the right to operate his own machine for ten years before it becomes the property of the State."
"Suppose he succeeds," said Norman, "under such hard conditions with his own hands and without capital in perfecting an invention of enormous [267]value, such as the dredge I have begun, of what use will the results be if he cannot invest them in rent or interest, and all gifts and exchanges are prohibited?"
"He may build a home and lavish44 them on his wife and children, or he may become a great public benefactor45 and win the love and gratitude46 of the people by enriching the State and shortening the hours of labour. If your dredge can make a million, for example, as you claim—go ahead, work at night, perfect it, put it to work, build yourself a palace to live in, give millions to the Brotherhood. Shorten their hours from eight to four, and I'll guarantee you'll oust47 me from my position of power."
Norman's eye suddenly flashed with resolution.
"You will not grant me the labour to complete the dredge?" Norman asked.
"Not one man for one minute," was the curt48 reply.
"Then I'll finish it myself," Norman said, with determination.
"After you've worked eight full hours a day, under my direction—you understand!" the regent responded sullenly49.
Norman sprang to his feet and the two men faced each other a moment, the big scar on Wolf's neck flashing red, his enormous fists instinctively50 closing.
[268]"Wolf, this is an infamous51 outrage52!"
"I'll teach you not to speak to me in that manner again, sir!" the regent slowly said, as he tapped his bell.
The guards sprang to his side.
"Show this gentleman to the barnyard—he is a good farmer. Put him at work with old Methodist John cleaning out the stables for the new cantaloup crop. He is very fond of cantaloups. If he makes any trouble tell the sergeant53 of your guard to give him thirty-nine lashes54 without consulting me."
Norman stepped closer, and, trembling from head to foot, said to Wolf:
"If ever one of your men lays the weight of his hand on me——"
"And yet we both agreed that under our system discipline must be enforced—the discipline of an army?" the regent interrupted.
Norman held his gaze fixed55 without moving a muscle, and slowly continued:
"If you ever try it, you'd better finish your job."
"I'll remember your advice," Wolf answered with a sneer56. "Show him to his work."
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1
deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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2
sinister
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| adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的 | |
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3
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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4
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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5
saluted
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| v.欢迎，致敬( salute的过去式和过去分词 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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6
ransacked
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| v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺 | |
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7
disarmed
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| v.裁军( disarm的过去式和过去分词 )；使息怒 | |
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8
fumbled
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| （笨拙地）摸索或处理（某事物）( fumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 乱摸，笨拙地弄； 使落下 | |
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9
disarming
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| adj.消除敌意的，使人消气的v.裁军( disarm的现在分词 )；使息怒 | |
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10
tightened
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| 收紧( tighten的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）变紧； （使）绷紧； 加紧 | |
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11
deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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12
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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13
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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14
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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15
coup
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| n.政变；突然而成功的行动 | |
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16
submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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17
brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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18
pretext
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| n.借口，托词 | |
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19
lurk
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| n.潜伏，潜行；v.潜藏，潜伏，埋伏 | |
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20
treacherous
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| adj.不可靠的，有暗藏的危险的；adj.背叛的，背信弃义的 | |
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21
luminous
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| adj.发光的，发亮的；光明的；明白易懂的；有启发的 | |
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22
shuddered
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| v.战栗( shudder的过去式和过去分词 )；发抖；（机器、车辆等）突然震动；颤动 | |
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23
likeness
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| n.相像，相似（之处） | |
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24
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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25
innocence
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| n.无罪；天真；无害 | |
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26
advent
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| n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临 | |
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27
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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28
revolving
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| adj.旋转的，轮转式的；循环的v.（使）旋转( revolve的现在分词 )；细想 | |
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29
reminders
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| n.令人回忆起…的东西( reminder的名词复数 )；提醒…的东西；（告知该做某事的）通知单；提示信 | |
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30
patronage
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| n.赞助，支援，援助；光顾，捧场 | |
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31
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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32
bungling
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| adj.笨拙的，粗劣的v.搞糟，完不成( bungle的现在分词 )；笨手笨脚地做；失败；完不成 | |
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33
warden
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| n.监察员，监狱长，看守人，监护人 | |
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34
penitentiary
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| n.感化院；监狱 | |
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35
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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36
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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37
redeem
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| v.买回，赎回，挽回，恢复，履行（诺言等） | |
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38
idiocy
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| n.愚蠢 | |
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39
socialist
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| n.社会主义者；adj.社会主义的 | |
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40
folly
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| n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话 | |
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41
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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42
prohibition
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| n.禁止；禁令，禁律 | |
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43
machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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44
lavish
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| adj.无节制的；浪费的；vt.慷慨地给予，挥霍 | |
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45
benefactor
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| n. 恩人，行善的人，捐助人 | |
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46
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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47
oust
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| vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐 | |
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48
curt
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| adj.简短的，草率的 | |
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49
sullenly
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| 不高兴地，绷着脸，忧郁地 | |
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50
instinctively
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| adv.本能地 | |
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51
infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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52
outrage
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| n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒 | |
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53
sergeant
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| n.警官，中士 | |
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54
lashes
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| n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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55
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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56
sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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