He stopped in utter perplexity though, when he saw a group of golden men attempting to lift an enormous stone block into place by the sheer strength of their bodies. They seemed totally ignorant of the enormous saving in strength and labor that might have been enacted by the building of a simple pulley arrangement.
It was becoming increasingly evident that this race's knowledge of even the most fundamental laws of mechanics was practically nil.
But as if in compensation, he noted too, that these people seemed to get along with each other without the slightest friction. Nothing seemed sufficient to arouse anger. He wondered if they were incapable of the emotion.
The people moved about the streets tending entirely to their own business. There were no doors to any of the dwellings—simply arched openings. Numerous valuable objects such as painstakingly carved chairs, and richly sculptured busts, were present in front of many of the homes. Yet they remained untouched.
Nowhere, so far, had he seen even one person who might have passed as a peace officer. The golden people seemed to need no enforcement to maintain the effective carrying out of whatever laws they were governed by. Each and every one of them seemed to take it for granted that he must do what was required as a duty to himself as well as to the community and that's all there was to it.
Persum had stopped in front of a grand edifice of such beauty and brilliance that it faded into insignificance the surrounding buildings, fine as they were.
He followed Persum into the building. Through upward sloping halls that wound around and around up into the vitals of the building and served in lieu of stairways, and into a glistening hall of gold and crystal. The hall was partially filled with others of the golden people.
Drawers watched in bewilderment as Persum approached the group of little people—apparently officials of the city—and without opening his lips informed them of all that had transpired.
And now others of Persum's strange race came forward to greet him. Drawers marveled at the perfection of these golden people. At the unsurpassed, delicate beauty and construction of their forms; the charm and adorableness of their women. Here indeed was a tiny race of perfection, soul-satisfying to the extreme.
One of the welcoming party bowed low before him.