“This reformation will measure its sacrificial blood in drops.  It will have as many martyrs as it had tyrants.”

It is the preponderance of reasons in favor of their adhering to their oaths that prevents the members of the Committee of Annihilation from faltering.

At forty points through the world these unheralded crusaders are silently arranging their campaigns against the enemies of the common weal.  For the most part the men who have been named on the proscribed list are residents of the chief city of their respective states; they are men who have walked the path of life rough-shod and have stepped to their exalted positions over the prostrate forms of their fellowmen.  They are what the world is pleased to call the “Princes of Commerce.”

To become acquainted with the habits of his quarry; to fix upon a plan for inflicting death upon him, which will be certain, and to be prepared to carry this programme out at the appointed time, these are matters that each of the forty has to arrange.

They call into requisition all of their talents, all of the skill that has made them men of mark in their respective professions and vocations.

When Hendrick Stahl became sponsor for Nevins he felt that he had not misplaced his confidence, yet it was impossible for him to be unacquainted with the movements of the originator of the Committee of Forty.  He so arranges his affairs as to be in New York at the end of the month to meet him.  On his visits he seeks Nevins and spends the night with him.

“I have perfected my plans,” Stahl tells his friend.  “At first it looked as though I could not get acquainted with my man, but I finally struck upon a course that led me directly to him.  I perfected the details of a mechanism to do away with manual labor on a machine which he employs in his factory.  When I suggested the adoption of it and proved that I could make the improvement, he became interested.  I meet him every day.  On the thirteenth of October we will examine the model.”

Nevins opens a letter bearing a postmark, “Edinburgh, Scotland.”  The letter simply states: 

“I am enjoying the hospitality of one of the Transgressors.  He and I are great friends.  We are arranging to substitute a counterfeit substance for the new armor plate ordered by the government.

“By our plan the government will be defrauded of thirty million dollars.  The armor plate will not stand the test of heavy projectiles.  But we can ‘fix’ the inspectors.  My friend is delighted at the prospect of giving the United States Government another batch of worthless armor plate.”

This particular Transgressor is Ephraim Barnaby, the Pennsylvania iron king.  He is the master of the greatest iron and steel concern in the world.  His wealth is counted by scores of millions; he has palaces in this country and abroad.  His domination over the lives of the thousands who slave in his foundries is kept unshaken by reason of the fact that he coats the bitter acts of oppression of which he is constantly guilty, with ostentatious gifts in the name of benevolence.  He presents the cities of the country with public libraries.