Page:Life in a thousand worlds.djvu/268

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THE DIAMOND WORLD.
263

tions consult again and spake among themselves in this fashion:

"For our protection let us gather, from the laborers, the youthful and the strong, have them taught in tactics of war, and make it unlawful for any to carry deadly weapons, except these trained men, whom we will call our Soil Defenders, and if any of the laborers should ask: 'Wherefore are we called to do this work?' we will say to them, 'For the defense of the soil and the defense of our families are ye called, therefore quit yourselves nobly.'

"And it shall come to pass that when the laborers commence a foolish struggle for their own selfish gain, we can use these trained soldiers to keep them in peace, and thus we need not spend so much of our breath by way of persuasion."

Behold this thing seemed reasonable and seasonable in the eyes of the Trust. They did according to these suggestions and gathered unto themselves, in the name of the civil law, the strongest of the youth and trained them in all the ways of war. Thus did these workmen lose all their liberties