CHAPTER XXV.

THE TERRORISTS

It was not until Ernest and I were back in New York, and after weeks

had elapsed, that we were able to comprehend thoroughly the full sweep

of the disaster that had befallen the Cause. The situation was bitter

and bloody. In many places, scattered over the country, slave revolts

and massacres had occurred. The roll of the martyrs increased mightily.

Countless executions took place everywhere. The mountains and waste

regions were filled with outlaws and refugees who were being hunted

down mercilessly. Our own refuges were packed with comrades who had

prices on their heads. Through information furnished by its spies,

scores of our refuges were raided by the soldiers of the Iron Heel.

Many of the comrades were disheartened, and they retaliated with

terroristic tactics. The set-back to their hopes made them despairing

and desperate. Many terrorist organizations unaffiliated with us sprang

into existence and caused us much trouble.[1] These misguided people

sacrificed their own lives wantonly, very often made our own plans go

astray, and retarded our organization.

[1] The annals of this short-lived era of despair make bloody reading.

Revenge was the ruling motive, and the members of the terroristic

organizations were careless of their own lives and hopeless about the

future. The Danites, taking their name from the avenging angels of the

Mormon mythology, sprang up in the mountains of the Great West and

spread over the Pacific Coast from Panama to Alaska. The Valkyries

were women. They were the most terrible of all. No woman was eligible

for membership who had not lost near relatives at the hands of the

Oligarchy. They were guilty of torturing their prisoners to death.

Another famous organization of women was The Widows of War. A

companion organization to the Valkyries was the Berserkers. These men

placed no value whatever upon their own lives, and it was they who

totally destroyed the great Mercenary city of Bellona along with its

population of over a hundred thousand souls. The Bedlamites and the

Helldamites were twin slave organizations, while a new religious sect

that did not flourish long was called The Wrath of God. Among others,

to show the whimsicality of their deadly seriousness, may be mentioned

the following: The Bleeding Hearts, Sons of the Morning, the Morning

Stars, The Flamingoes, The Triple Triangles, The Three Bars, The

Rubonics, The Vindicators, The Comanches, and the Erebusites.

And through it all moved the Iron Heel, impassive and deliberate,

shaking up the whole fabric of the social structure in its search for

the comrades, combing out the Mercenaries, the labor castes, and all

its secret services, punishing without mercy and without malice,

suffering in silence all retaliations that were made upon it, and

filling the gaps in its fighting line as fast as they appeared. And

hand in hand with this, Ernest and the other leaders were hard at work

reorganizing the forces of the Revolution. The magnitude of the task

may be understood when it is taken into.[2]

[2] This is the end of the Everhard Manuscript. It breaks off abruptly

in the middle of a sentence. She must have received warning of the

coming of the Mercenaries, for she had time safely to hide the

Manuscript before she fled or was captured. It is to be regretted that

she did not live to complete her narrative, for then, undoubtedly,

would have been cleared away the mystery that has shrouded for seven

centuries the execution of Ernest Everhard.