Endor might well despair of his country. A sort of blind fury swept him as the thought of its impotence flooded his mind. Sheer force of will was needed to choke back that tide of rage. The man opposite, reading his heart like a page of news tensed his muscles, held himself ready. Even if the true cause of Endor’s violence was not yet revealed to Saul Hartz, he knew that he had goaded to the breaking point one whose nerves were overstrung.
The Colossus, however, was not afraid. He was ready for Endor’s expected onset. Of powerful physique, in the prime of manhood, he neither smoked nor drank too much; he rode two hours daily and in youth he had studied the arts of self-defense under the best masters.
Let this mad fool come on! He would find waiting for him a pretty old-fashioned customer.
XXIV
HAPPILY for the credit of two distinguished men, the train began at once to slow up and Dowling Junction came in view. This chanced to be the station for Doe Hill. Saul Hartz opened the carriage door promptly and got out. Endor got out too.
Outside, in the station yard, three private motors awaited the train’s arrival. Others of the week-end party were clearly expected. One man, in point of fact, was already in conversation with the chauffeur of the first vehicle by the time Hartz and Endor arrived on the scene. This man, tall and arresting, with the open, alert look of the best type of American, would have been a striking figure anywhere. George Hierons by name, his reputation had spread already through two hemispheres as that of an audaciously progressive thinker; one of a chosen band of pioneers in the world of mind whom many conceived likely to revolutionize modern conditions, social, economic and industrial.
As soon as Endor saw the dominant figure of George Hierons he went straight up to him and with an impulsiveness delightfully frank, grasped his hand.
“My dear fellow,” he said, “how good—how very good to see you! When did you reach this country?”
“Ten days ago,” said Hierons, shaking hands cordially.
Saul Hartz, who had met Hierons more than once in New York, came up also with a salutation. The proffered hand, however, was declined by the American, who significantly turned aside to greet a remarkable personage who at that moment, with slow dignity, was approaching the little group round the first motor. A grave and reverend Celestial, gorgeous in a jacket of yellow brocade, and the regalia of a high and exclusive order of his race, exchanged a low bow with George Hierons. The American at once presented John Endor to this dignitary, but the controller of the U. P., although he pressed forward for the obvious purpose of being included in this ceremony, was left out in the cold. There could be no mistaking the icy antagonism with which both men regarded him; there could be no mistaking that such an emotion was fully shared by John Endor. The manner in which all three moved towards the door of the second motor, leaving Saul Hartz stranded high and dry in sole possession of the first, seemed to drive the fact home.