CHAPTER XXXIII.
"NOW COMES THE HOUR SUPREME."
Hardly had the secret-service man taken his leave, slinking away like awhipped cur, yet with an ugly snarl that presaged evil, when Herzogappeared.
"Come here," said Flint, curtly, heated with his burst of passion.
"Yes, sir," the scientist replied, approaching. "What is it, sir?"
Still shifty and cringing was he, in presence of the masters; thoughwith the men beneath him, at the vast plant--and now his importance hadgrown till he controlled more than eight thousand--rumor declared him anintolerable tyrant.
"Tell me, Herzog, what's the condition of the plant, at this presentmoment?"
"Just how do you mean, sir?"
"Suppose there were to be trouble, of any kind, how are we fixed for it?How's the oxygen supply, and--and everything? Good God, man, unlimber!You're paid to know things and tell 'em. Now, talk."
Thus adjured, Herzog washed his hands with imaginary soap and in adeprecating voice began:
"Trouble, sir? What trouble could there be? There's not the faintestsign of any organization among the men. They're submissive as so manyrabbits, sir, and--"
"Damn you, shut up!" roared Flint. "I didn't summon you to come up hereand give me a lecture on labor conditions at the works! The trouble Irefer to is possible outside interference. Maybe some kind of wild-eyedSocialist upheaval, or attack, or what not. In case it comes, what's ourcondition? Tell me, in a few words, and for God's sake keep to thepoint! The way you wander, and always have, gives me the creeps!"
Herzog ventured nothing in reply to this outburst, save a conciliatoryleer. Then, collecting his thoughts, he began:
"Well, sir, in a general way, our condition is perfect. We've got tworegiments of rifle and machine gunmen, half of them equipped with theoxygen bullets. I guarantee that I could have them away from theirbenches and machines, and on the fortifications, inside of fifteenminutes. Slade's armed guards, 2,500 or so, are all ready, too.
"Then, beside that, there are eight 'planes in the hangars, and plentyof men to take them up. If you wish, sir, I can have others brought in.The aerial-bomb guns are ready. As for the oxygen supply, Tanks F and Lare full, K is half filled, and N and Q each have about 6,000 gallons,making a total of--let's see, sir--a total of just about 755,000gallons."
"How protected? Have you got those bomb-proof overhead nets on, yet?"
"Not yet, sir. That is, not over all the lines of tanks. We ran short ofsteel wire, last week, and have only got eight of the tanks undernetting. But the work is going on fast, sir, and--"
"Rush it! At all hazards, get nets over the rest of the tanks. Ifanything happens, through this delay, remember, Herzog, I shall holdyou personally responsible, and it will go hard with you!"
"Yes, sir; thank you, sir," murmured the servile wretch. "Anything else,sir?"
Flint thought a moment, glaring at Herzog with angry eyes, then shookhis head in negation.
"Very well, sir," said Herzog, withdrawing. "I'll go to work at once. Bytomorrow, everything will be safe, I guarantee."
He closed the door softly--as softly as he had spoken--as softly as healways did everything.
Flint glared at the door.
"The sneaking whelp!" he murmured. "He makes my very flesh crawl. I wishto heaven he weren't so essential to us; we'd let him go, damned quick!"
"You forget," put in Tiger, "that he knows too much to be let go, ever.No, he's a fixture. And now, dismiss him from your mind, and let's goover those telegrams and radiograms again. If there _is_ a new Socialistrevolt under way--and I admit it certainly begins to look like it--we'vegot to understand the situation. Slade will have some more reports forus, in an hour or so. Till then, these must suffice."
Flint, curbing his agitation, sat down at the big table and turned onthe vacuum-glow light, for the October afternoon was foggy--a fog thatmingled with the spray of the vast Falls and hung heavy over theworld--and already daylight was beginning to fail.
"Fools!" he muttered to himself. "Fools, to think they can rebel against_us_! Ants would have just as much show of success, charging elephants,as _they_ have against the Air Trust! By tomorrow they'll be wiped out,smeared out, shattered and annihilated, whoever and wherever they are.By tomorrow, at the latest. Again I say, blind, suicidal fools!"
"Right you are," assented Waldron, drawing up his chair. "They don'tseem to realize, even yet, that we own the whole round earth and allthat is in it. They don't understand that their rebelling is like atribe of naked savages going against a modern army with explosivebullets. Ah, well, let them learn, let them learn! It takes a whip toteach a cur. Let them feel the lash, and learn!..."
At this same hour, in the last retreat, near Port Colborne, in the Stateof Ontario--once a province of Canada--half a dozen grim and determinedmen were gathered together. We already recognize Craig, Grantham andGabriel. The other three, like them, all wore the Socialist button andthe little tab of red ribbon that marked them as members of the FightingSections.
"Tonight," Gabriel was saying, as he stood there in the gatheringdusk--they dared not show a light, even behind the drawn curtains oftheir refuge--"tonight, comrades, the final die is cast. Everything isready, or as nearly ready as we shall ever be able to make it. Ourreports already show that every line of communication has been broken byone swift, sharp blow. True, in a few hours all these avenues can beopened up again. By morning, the Niagara works will be in receipt ofmessages; trains will be running; the troop-planes will be carryingtheir hordes at the command of Flint. By morning, yes. But in themeantime--"
He spread his fingers, upward, with an expressive gesture.
"By morning," Craig mumbled, "what will there be left to protect?"
A little silence followed. Each was busy with his own thoughts.
All at once, one of the three newcomers spoke--a tall, light-hairedfellow, he seemed, in that dim light, with a strong Southern accent.
"Pardon me for asking, Gabriel," said he, removing a pipe from hismouth, "or for discussing details familiar to you all. But, coming as I_have_ come direct from the New Orleans refuge--they blew it up, lastweek, you know--of course I haven't got things as clearly in mind yet,as you-all have. Now, as I understand it, while we manoeuvre over theplant, blow up the barricades and, if possible, 'get' the oxygen-tanks,our men on the ground will pour in through the gaps and storm the place,under the command of Edward Hargreaves. Is that the idea?"
"Exactly, Comrade Marion," answered Gabriel. "You've hit it to a T."
Craig laughed grimly, as he drew at his pipe.
"Just as we're going to hit those big tanks!" said he. "It's tonight ornever, comrades. They're putting steel nets over them, already. Bytomorrow the whole place will be protected by huge grill-work fully ahundred feet above the tops of the tanks. Oh, they seem to have thoughtof everything, those plutes! But they'll be just a shade too late, thistime; just a shade too late!"
Another silence, broken again by the tall Southerner.
"Just let me get this thing quite clear," said he. "We're to start at5:30, you say, walk past the Welland Canal Feeder out to the MonckAviation Grounds, and find everything ready there?"
"Correct," said Gabriel. "All six of us. That's our part of the program.Comrades you don't know, out there--comrades in the employ of the AirTrust itself--will have six machines ready. One of them will be the verymachine that they tried to get us with, in the Great Smokies! So yousee, we're going to use the Air Trust equipment, their field and eventheir own telenite, to put them out of business forever and to free theworld!"
"Poetic justice, all right enough!" laughed Marion. "At the same timethat we're attacking from an elevation of perhaps three thousand feet,the lateral attack will be delivered. About how many men do you count,on, for that?"
"Well," judged Gabriel, "within a ten-mile radius of the plant, at leasta hundred thousand men are waiting, this very instant, with every nervekeyed up to fighting tension. Scattered in a vast variety o
f ingeniousand cleverly-devised hiding places, with their chlorine grenades andtheir revolvers shooting little hydrocyanic acid gas bullets, they'rewaiting the signal--a rocket in mid-heaven."
"Hydrocyanic acid gas!" exclaimed Marion, forgetting to smoke. "Why, onewhiff of that is death!"
"It is," agreed Gabriel. "Remember, this is a war of extermination. It'sa case of _them_ or _us_! And if we're worsted, the whole world loses;while if they are, then liberty is born! That's why this gas isjustifiable. They'll try to use oxygen-bullets on us, never fear. Butwhere they can kill ten, with those, we can annihilate a hundred withour kind. Swine, they have called us, and fools and apes. Well, weshall see, we shall see, when it comes to an out-and-out fight betweenPlutocrat and Proletarian, who is the better man!"
Again came silence. And this time it was Grantham who broke it.
"Comrades," said he, "after you've seen as many Socialists shot down as_I_ have--shot down and burned, as Brevard was--you'll lose anylingering ideas of civilized warfare you may still retain. They hunt uslike beasts, prison us in foul traps, ride us down, crush us, break andtear us, and burn us alive, because we struggle to be free men andwomen, not slaves. Now that our hour has struck, now that their lines ofcommunication and defense are breached, and they--though they stilldon't fully understand it--are penned there in their heaven-offending,monstrous, horrible plant at the Falls, no true man can hesitate tosmash them down with no more compunction than as though they were somany rattlesnakes or scorpions!
"This isn't 1915, when political and civil rights still existed, and weweren't hunted outlaws. This is 1925, and conditions are all different.It's war, war, war to the death, now; and if war is Hell, then _they_are going to get Hell this time, not we."
Nobody spoke, for a little while; but Marion and Craig smokedcontemplatively, and the others sat there in the dusk, sunk in thought.
All at once a door opened, and the vague form of a woman became visible.
"Comrades, you must go," said she. "It's nearly half past five. By thetime you've got everything in readiness, you'll have no time to lose."
"Right, Catherine," answered Gabriel. "Come, comrades! Up and at it!"
Ten minutes later they all issued forth into the soft gloom. All were inaviator's dress, and each carried a parcel by a handle held with stoutstraps. Had you seen them, you would have noticed they took particularpains not to jar or shake these parcels, or approach unduly near eachother.
At the door of the refuge, Catherine said good-bye to each, and addedsome brave word of cheer. Her farewell to Gabriel was longer than to theothers; and for a moment their hands met and clung.
"Go," she whispered, "go, and God bless you! Go even though it be todeath! Their airmen will take toll of some of the attackers, Gabriel.Not all the Comrades will return. Oh, may _you_--may _you_!"
"What is written on the Book of Fate, will be," he answered. "Our pettyhopes and fears are nothing, Catherine. If death awaits me, it will besweet; for it will come, tonight, in the supreme service of the humanrace! Good-bye!"
With a sudden motion, the girl took his face between her hands, andkissed his forehead. For all her courage and strength, he sensed herheart wildly beating and he felt her tears.
"Good-bye, Gabriel," she breathed. "Would I might go with you! Wouldthat my duty did not hold me here! Good-bye!"
Then he was gone, gone with the others, into the thickening obscurity ofthe fog-shrouded evening. Now Catherine stood there alone, head bowedand wet face hidden in both hands.
As the little fighting band disappeared, back to the girl drifted a fewwords of song, soft-hummed through the dusk--the deathless chorus of theInternational:
"Now comes the hour supreme! To arms, each in his place! The new dawn's International Shall be the human race!..."
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