since to be true to every higher aspiration of his
people, and he would die a death however horrible rather than stand
by and see aspiring souls slaughtered for organizing to secure their
rights at all hazards. He muttered a prayer to God, closed his eyes,
gritted his teeth and nerved himself for the ordeal, refusing to
answer Belton's last appeal.

Belton gave command to spring the trap door after he had counted
three. In order to give Bernard a chance to weaken he put one minute
between each count. "One----Two----Three----" he called out.

Bernard felt the floor give way beneath his feet and he shot down with
terrific speed. He nerved himself for the shock that was to tear his
limbs from his body, but, strange to say, he felt the speed lessening
as he fell and his feet eventually struck a floor with not sufficient
force to even jar him severely. "Was this death? Was he dead or
alive?" he was thinking within himself, when suddenly the mask was
snatched from his face and he found himself in a large room containing
desks arranged in a semi-circular form. There were one hundred and
forty-five desks, and at each a person was seated.

"Where was he? What did that assemblage mean? What did his strange
experiences mean?" he asked himself. He stood there, his hands tied,
his eye wandering from face to face.

Within a few minutes Belton entered and the assemblage broke forth
into cheers. Bernard had alighted on a platform directly facing the
assemblage. Belton walked to his side and spread out his hands and
said: "Behold the Chiefs of the conspirators whom you would not
betray. Behold me, whom they have called the arch conspirator. You
have nobly stood the test. Come, your reward awaits you. You are
worthy of it and I assure you it is worthy of you."

Bernard had not been killed in his fall because of a parachute which
had been so arranged, unknown to him, to save him in the descent.

CHAPTER XVI.

UNWRITTEN HISTORY.

Belton, smiling, locked his arm in Bernard's and said: "Come with me.
I will explain it all to you." They walked down the aisle together.

At the sight of these two most conspicuous representatives of all that
was good and great in the race, moving down the aisle side by side,
the audience began to cheer wildly and a band of musicians began
playing "Hail to the Chief."

All of this was inexplicable to Bernard; but he was soon to learn what
and how much it meant. Belton escorted him across the