It was heart warming to watch the jubilation upon the faces of the workers as he arranged a simple pulley for them, and showed them how their lifting could be done with comparative ease. He shuddered to think of the work that must have gone into building some of those high, glistening towers, with the utilization of only crude man-power.
He watched the eyes of the scientific men pop with incredulity as he showed them the principle of the wheel. They were chagrined that they could have overlooked so simple a principle, but Drawers knew that the discovery of the wheel on Earth had been nothing but a lucky accident. If man had not discovered it by accident, it might never have been known at all. Then, too, he began to understand the utter lack of mechanical equipment. The wheel was one of the fundamental and most vital of parts in all moving machinery. Without the wheel, it would be difficult to construct a usable pulley, or a feasible vehicle.
There was another thing he accomplished. He constructed the first wagon these people had ever seen. They viewed it with insatiable curiosity.
But the sight of the golden men happily pulling their loads through the streets on wagons irked him. These people were not made for hard physical tabor. It took a heavy toll. He questioned Persum as to the absence of beasts of burden.
Persum thought a moment and then said, "There has never been anything but very small animals on our planet as far as we know. Nothing we might use for beasts of burden. Anyway," he concluded, "why should the animals perform our tasks for us? Why place any poor beast in bondage?"
"And why not?" asked Drawers. "It would be poetic justice to place the Griffs in bondage and force them to pull your wagons for you."
"The Griffs!" thought Persum with a note of astonishment. "Surely you are joking. Who could subdue those savage beasts so that they would labor peaceably? And even then, who would care to drive them and tend to them? It would be sheer suicide."
Drawers ignored the last statement. "Have you some strong rope that I might use?" he asked. "Some tough vegetable fiber—perhaps the material you use for pulling those blocks through the street."
"Why certainly," Persum replied. "You are welcome to all you need."
"Thank you," said Drawers. "I have a crazy sort of an idea."