"The other card reads: 'And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.'"
Here is a matter which sets Trueman thinking. He knows every member of the Committee of Forty; they are men who would not take part in a dastardly crime.
But is this terrible annihilation to be looked at in the light of an ordinary crime?
"Metz is a member of the committee." Trueman resolves this thought for several minutes.
The train rolls on at a rapid rate; the towns of Jersey are entered and passed so quickly that no idea of the excitement that is stirring them can be formed. It is not until Trenton is reached that Trueman hears the news of the deaths of still other prominent men.
He buys a paper and returns to his seat. This extra contains the details
of the threatened uprising in Wilkes-Barre, and the statement that the
Committee of Forty has converted itself into a Syndicate of
Annihilation.
When the train reaches Philadelphia a battalion of the State Militia goes on board. The Major in command has instructions to report to the Sheriff of Luzerne County. This means that the militia is to be handed over to the Magnates.
As the train is about to leave the depot a telegram is received at the dispatcher's office, which causes a delay. A freight on the Wilkes-Barre division has jumped the track. The wrecking train is called for. After the departure of the wrecking train the express pulls out. The accident has occurred thirty miles east of Wilkes-Barre. It causes the Keystone to be two hours late.
During his enforced wait, Trueman improves the time by telegraphing to New York. He gets from Benson the latest details of the news; the full import of the terrible atonement dawns upon him. The Committee of Forty had come to the conclusion that it must meet force with force. This was a step which Trueman would never have sanctioned. He realizes that the opprobrium for the act of the committee will be placed on him. He has been associated with the committee; has been the one candidate which it indorsed. And for all that he has known absolutely nothing of its intention to carry out a wholesale annihilation.
"Who will believe that I am not an accomplice?" he asks himself.