nd tens of
thousands of serfs, willy-nilly, were transported to the scene of
operations. Great armies of them are toiling now at the building of
Ardis, housed in wretched barracks where family life cannot exist, and
where decency is displaced by dull bestiality. In all truth, there in
the labor-ghettos is the roaring abysmal beast the oligarchs fear so
dreadfully--but it is the beast of their own making. In it they will not
let the ape and tiger die.

And just now the word has gone forth that new levies are being imposed
for the building of Asgard, the projected wonder-city that will far
exceed Ardis when the latter is completed.* We of the Revolution will go
on with that great work, but it will not be done by the miserable serfs.
The walls and towers and shafts of that fair city will arise to the
sound of singing, and into its beauty and wonder will be woven, not
sighs and groans, but music and laughter.

* Ardis was completed in 1942 A.D., Asgard was not completed
until 1984 A.D. It was fifty-two years in the building,
during which time a permanent army of half a million serfs
was employed. At times these numbers swelled to over a
million--without any account being taken of the hundreds of
thousands of the labor castes and the artists.

Ernest was madly impatient to be out in the world and doing, for our
ill-fated First Revolt, that had miscarried in the Chicago Commune, was
ripening fast. Yet he possessed his soul with patience, and during this
time of his torment, when Hadly, who had been brought for the purpose
from Illinois, made him over into another man* he revolved great plans
in his head for the organization of the learned proletariat, and for the
maintenance of at least the rudiments of education amongst the people of
the abyss--all this of course in the event of the First Revolt being a
failure.

* Among the Revolutionists were many surgeons, and in
vivisection they attained marvellous proficiency. In Avis
Everhard's words, they could literally make a man over. To
them the elimination of scars and disfigurements was a
trivial detail. They changed the features with such
microscopic care that no traces were left of their
handiwork. The nose was a favorite organ to work upon.
Skin-grafting and hair-transplanting were among their
commonest devices. The changes in expression they
accomplished were wizard-like. Eyes and e