art out of others. It will be an ill day for you, Brother Morris,
when your own name comes on our agenda paper, and I'm thinking that
it's just there that I ought to place it."

Morris had turned deadly pale, and his knees seemed to give way under
him as he fell back into his chair. He raised his glass in his
trembling hand and drank before he could answer. "I apologize, Eminent
Bodymaster, to you and to every brother in this lodge if I have said
more than I should. I am a faithful member--you all know that--and it
is my fear lest evil come to the lodge which makes me speak in anxious
words. But I have greater trust in your judgment than in my own,
Eminent Bodymaster, and I promise you that I will not offend again."

The Bodymaster's scowl relaxed as he listened to the humble words.
"Very good, Brother Morris. It's myself that would be sorry if it were
needful to give you a lesson. But so long as I am in this chair we
shall be a united lodge in word and in deed. And now, boys," he
continued, looking round at the company, "I'll say this much, that if
Stanger got his full deserts there would be more trouble than we need
ask for. These editors hang together, and every journal in the state
would be crying out for police and troops. But I guess you can give him
a pretty severe warning. Will you fix it, Brother Baldwin?"

"Sure!" said the young man eagerly.

"How many will you take?"

"Half a dozen, and two to guard the door. You'll come, Gower, and you,
Mansel, and you, Scanlan, and the two Willabys."

"I promised the new brother he should go," said the chairman.

Ted Baldwin looked at McMurdo with eyes which showed that he had not
forgotten nor forgiven. "Well, he can come if he wants," he said in a
surly voice. "That's enough. The sooner we get to work the better."

The company broke up with shouts and yells and snatches of drunken
song. The bar was still crowded with revellers, and many of the
brethren remained there. The little band who had been told off for duty
passed out into the street, proceeding in twos and threes along the
sidewalk so as not to provoke attention. It was a bitterly cold night,
with a half-moon shining brilliantly in a frosty, star-spangled sky.
The men stopped and gathered in a yard which faced a high building. The
words "Vermissa Herald" were printed in gold lettering between the
brightly lit windows. From within came the clanking of the printing
press.

"Here, you," said Baldwin to McMu