ike their own Utopias, are insipid with
perfect goodness and boresome with joy. What pleasure could there be in
hoping to go to an eternal sunparlor without knowing that one's neighbor
was going to hell?"

"Yes, yes, I grant that argument, but this virgin world of yours is
hardly plausible."

"Holy comets!" exclaimed the Devil, springing up angrily, "do you doubt
my observation or my veracity?"

"Both," said Gud.

"We are wasting words. If you will step this way you can see for
yourself."

"Just a moment," said Gud, who then arose and set the pot back on the
hot rocks, and commanded Fidu to tend the fire and not to spill the
beans.

"Watch your step," called back the Devil. "There are some ugly holes in
the void beyond the seventh plane."

"How is that for a sphere?" spoke the Devil as he pointed out his find.

"Not half bad," admitted Gud, "but it's a little flat at the poles.
Strictly speaking, it is a spheroid."

"Don't quibble over details. And now, if you don't mind, I'll
materialize as a prosperous gentleman and you can be my cane-bearer."

"Not on your smoke," retorted Gud, "you advertised for a partner. We
materialize as equals or we stop right here."

"Have it your way. I'll be a king in exile, and you can be a bricklayer
on strike."

So in that guise they stepped aboard, taking care to alight on the north
pole to avoid the chance of an ugly fall.

"Which way, now?" asked Gud.

"South. We must obey their natural laws."

So they traveled south to the equator, passing along the seashore where
the thriving cities were. As Gud walked along between the Devil and the
deep blue sea he saw many things that were never intended for him to
see.

"Now," said the Devil, "we have seen the northern hemisphere, and the
southern one is just like it."

"I am quite interested," admitted Gud.

"Then let us step up the side of this volcano where we can both be
comfortable while we close our deal."

So they climbed the volcano and the Devil found a seat on a heap of
freshly crusted lava, and Gud sat down on a nearby glacier.

"First," began the Devil, "I would ask you if they had any souls?"

"Not a soul," admitted Gud. "One could see it in their eyes."

"And what about evidence of proprietorship?"

Gud picked up a rock and examined it critically. "I see no evidence of
design," he confessed.

"And how about their rationality?"

"That's what worries me. They are entirely too rational. If we try to
g