records of the details of that war, that is, the precise conditions
under which it was fought, and the tactics employed. We forgot many
things during the Han terror, and--well, I think you might have a lot of
ideas worth thinking over for our raid masters. By the way, now that
you're here, and can't go back to your own century, so to speak, what do
you want to do? You're welcome to become one of us. Or perhaps you'd
just like to visit with us for a while, and then look around among the
other gangs. Maybe you'd like some of the others better. Don't make up
your mind now. We'll put you down as an exchange for a while. Let's see.
You and Bill Hearn ought to get along well together. He's Camp Boss of
Number 34 when he isn't acting as Raid Boss or Scout Boss. There's a
vacancy in his camp. Stay with him and think things over as long as you
want to. As soon as you make up your mind to anything, let me know."

We all shook hands, for that was one custom that had not died out in
five hundred years, and I set out with Bill Hearn.

Bill, like all the others, was clad in green. He was a big man. That is,
he was about my own height, five feet eleven. This was considerably
above the average now, for the race had lost something in stature, it
seemed, through the vicissitudes of five centuries. Most of the women
were a bit below five feet, and the men only a trifle above this height.

For a period of two weeks Bill was to confine himself to camp duties, so
I had a good chance to familiarize myself with the community life. It
was not easy. There were so many marvels to absorb. I never ceased to
wonder at the strange combination of rustic social life and feverish
industrial activity. At least, it was strange to me. For in my
experience, industrial development meant crowded cities, tenements,
paved streets, profusion of vehicles, noise, hurrying men and women with
strained or dull faces, vast structures and ornate public works.

Here, however, was rustic simplicity, apparently isolated families and
groups, living in the heart of the forest, with a quarter of a mile or
more between households, a total absence of crowds, no means of
conveyance other than the belts called jumpers, almost constantly worn
by everybody, and an occasional rocket ship, used only for longer
journeys, and underground plants or factories that were to my mind more
like laboratories and engine rooms; many of them were excavations as
deep as mines, with well finishe