rebellious. He despised these people as a class. In his
estimation, all creatures who worked for a living were branded with the
obnoxious iron of socialism; he even went so far as to believe that they
were, after a fashion, anarchists! His conception of anarchy was rather
far-reaching; it took in everything that was contrary to his notion of
a satisfactory distribution of wealth. He believed that every man who
worked for a wage was at heart an enemy to law and order. He regarded
the wage-earner as one whose hand is eternally against the employer,
absolutely without honour, justice or reason. The workingman was for
self, always for self,--and to Landover that was anarchy.

The thought that people,--men and women,--of the lower classes possessed
physical and mental qualities similar to those possessed by himself,
even in a modified form, was not only repugnant to him but incredible.
They had none of the finer emotions,--such as love, for instance. He
could not conceive of a labouring man loving his wife and children;
it wasn't natural! He pictured the home-life of the lower classes as
nothing short of indecent; there couldn't be anything fine or noble or
enduring in the processes of birth, existence and death as related to
them. Nature took its course with them, and society,--as represented by
the class to which he belonged,--provided for the litters they cast
upon the world. In a word, Abel Landover's father and grandfather and
great-grandfather had been rich men before him.

He despised Captain Trigger for the simple reason that that faithful,
gallant sailor was an employee of the company in which he was a
director. It meant nothing to him that Captain Trigger came of fine,
hardy, valiant stock; it meant less to him that he was a law unto
himself aboard the Doraine. For, when all was said and done, Captain
Trigger worked for just so much money per month and doubtless hated the
men who paid him his wage. On board the Doraine,--as was the case with
all other vessels on which he chose to sail,--the banker sat at the
Captain's table. But he did not consider that to be a distinction or an
honour; it was his due. As a matter of fact, he looked upon himself as
the real head of the Captain's table!

Half a dozen persons in all that company comprised Landover's circle of
desirables. Of the rest, most of them were impossible, three-fourths
of them were "anarchists," all of them were beneath notice,--except
as listeners. As for