The men were mostly middle-aged, or advanced in years.  They were generally large men, with finely developed brows—­natural selection had brought the great heads to the top of affairs.  Some were cleancut in feature, looking merely like successful business men; others, like the Prince, showed signs of sensuality and dissipation, in the baggy, haggard features.  They were unquestionably an able assembly.  There were no orators among them; they possessed none of the arts of the rostrum or the platform.  They spoke sitting, in an awkward, hesitating manner; but what they said was shrewd and always to the point.  They had no secretaries or reporters.  They could trust no one with their secrets.  Their conclusions were conveyed by the president—­Prince Cabano—­to one man, who at once communicated what was needful to their greater agents, and these in turn to the lesser agents; and so the streams of authority flowed, with lightninglike speed, to the remotest parts of the so-called Republic; and many a man was struck down, ruined, crushed, destroyed, who had little suspicion that the soundless bolt which slew him came from that faraway chamber.

The Prince welcomed each newcomer pleasantly, and assigned him to his place.  When all were seated he spoke: 

“I have called you together, gentlemen,” he said “because we have very important business to transact.  The evidences multiply that we are probably on the eve of another outbreak of the restless canaille; it may be upon a larger scale than any we have yet encountered.  The filthy wretches seem to grow more desperate every year; otherwise they would not rush upon certain death, as they seem disposed to do.

“I have two men in this house whom I thought it better that you should see and hear face to face.  The first is General Jacob Quincy, commander of the forces which man our ten thousand air-ships, or Demons, as they are popularly called.  I think it is understood by all of us that, in these men, and the deadly bombs of poisonous gas with which their vessels are equipped, we must find our chief dependence for safety and continued power.  We must not forget that we are outnumbered a thousand to one, and the world grows very restive under our domination.  If it were not for the Demons and the poison-bombs, I should fear the results of the coming contest—­with these, victory is certain.

“Quincy, on behalf of his men, demands another increase of pay.  We have already several times yielded to similar applications.  We are somewhat in the condition of ancient Rome, when the praetorians murdered the emperor Pertinax, and sold the imperial crown to Didius Julianus.  These men hold the control of the continent in their hands.  Fortunately for us, they are not yet fully aware of their own power, and are content to merely demand an increase of pay.  We cannot quarrel with them at this time, with a great insurrection pending.  A refusal might drive them over to the enemy.  I mention these facts so that, whatever demands General Quincy may make, however extravagant they may be, you will express no dissatisfaction.  When he is gone we can talk over our plans for the future, and decide what course we will take as to these troublesome men when the outbreak is over.  I shall have something to propose after he leaves us.”