perhaps one hundred yards wide and
thrice as long. An exploring party had visited it shortly after the
wreck of the Doraine, but since then no one had set foot upon its
shores. Its steep slopes, densely wooded, viewed from afar, suggested a
mountain top sticking up out of the sea. By boat, skirting the coast, it
was a good ten miles distant from the town.

Three men were seized that night and put through a rigid examination.
Early the next morning twelve more were taken, Manuel Crust among them.
Half of them, in their terror, "squealed." Crust himself was one of
these. Almost before the people of the town knew what was afoot, the
fifteen had been tried, convicted, and were on their way to the landing
where boats were waiting to take them and their belongings off into
exile. As for the conspirators themselves, the blow was so swift, so
sudden, that they were dazed. It was like a bolt out of a clear sky.

Judge Malone sent them to "the Island" for indeterminate periods. At
stated intervals they were to be released, one by one, and restored
to citizenship. The shortest term of exile, however, was one year. The
releases were to be decided by lot, except in the case of three
men: Crust, Fernandez and an Irish sailor named Clark. They were the
ringleaders and they were to remain on "the Island" until the time came
for them to go aboard the relief ship with all the other citizens of
Trigger. At the end of the first year, and once a month thereafter for
twelve months, drawings were to be held, and the man whose name was
drawn would be released.

"You are prisoners of state," said Judge Malone, in passing sentence.
"The state is obliged to feed you, and clothe you, and sustain you if
you fall ill, no matter how bitterly it goes against the grain. You will
not be obliged to work, or wash, or observe a single law. You may rob
each other to your hearts' content, you may murder each other with
perfect impunity, you may do just as you like. We started out to conduct
the affairs of this island along lines laid down by the Golden Rule. I
have come to the conclusion that the Golden Rule would be all right if
it were not for the human race. I am beginning to believe that the Rule
of Iron is the only one for the people of this earth to live under,--and
that is a pretty hard thing for an Irishman to say. You men ought to be
lined up against a wall and shot. We do not feel that we have the right
to take your lives. It is not in our hearts