‘Twenty-two,’ said his Chief of Police.

’Likely.  Anyway, we’d forgot such things.  So, from talking in the houses and on the streets, our Serviles go to calling a meeting at the Old Market yonder.’  He nodded across the square where the wrecked buildings heaved up grey in the dawn-glimmer behind the square-cased statue of The Negro in Flames.  ’There’s nothing to prevent any one calling meetings except that it’s against human nature to stand in a Crowd, besides being bad for the health.  I ought to have known by the way our men and women attended that first meeting that trouble was brewing.  There were as many as a thousand in the market-place, touching each other.  Touching!  Then the Serviles turned in all tongue-switches and talked, and we—­’

‘What did they talk about?’ said Takahira.

’First, how badly things were managed in the city.  That pleased us Four—­we were on the platform—­because we hoped to catch one or two good men for City work.  You know how rare executive capacity is.  Even if we didn’t it’s—­it’s refreshing to find any one interested enough in our job to damn our eyes.  You don’t know what it means to work, year in, year out, without a spark of difference with a living soul.’

‘Oh, don’t we!’ said De Forest.  ’There are times on the Board when we’d give our positions if any one would kick us out and take hold of things themselves.’

‘But they won’t,’ said the Mayor ruefully.  ’I assure you, sir, we Four have done things in Chicago, in the hope of rousing people, that would have discredited Nero.  But what do they say?  “Very good, Andy.  Have it your own way.  Anything’s better than a Crowd.  I’ll go back to my land.”  You can’t do anything with folk who can go where they please, and don’t want anything on God’s earth except their own way.  There isn’t a kick or a kicker left on the Planet.’

‘Then I suppose that little shed yonder fell down by itself?’ said De Forest.  We could see the bare and still smoking ruins, and hear the slag-pools crackle as they hardened and set.

’Oh, that’s only amusement.  ’Tell you later.  As I was saying, our Serviles held the meeting, and pretty soon we had to ground-circuit the platform to save ’em from being killed.  And that didn’t make our people any more pacific.’

‘How d’you mean?’ I ventured to ask.

‘If you’ve ever been ground-circuited,’ said the Mayor, ’you’ll know it don’t improve any man’s temper to be held up straining against nothing.  No, sir!  Eight or nine hundred folk kept pawing and buzzing like flies in treacle for two hours, while a pack of perfectly safe Serviles invades their mental and spiritual privacy, may be amusing to watch, but they are not pleasant to handle afterwards.’

Pirolo chuckled.