What Ayari Thought He Saw In The Forest
Ayari returned to the campfire.
Suddenly he seemed startled. 'Janice is here,' he said.
'Yes,' I said. Janice looked up at him, and Alice.
'What is it?' asked Kisu.
'I thought I saw her in the forest, a moment ago,' he said. 'Was she not gathering wood?'
'No,' I said. I leaped to my feet. 'Take me to where you think you saw her.'
'It was there,' said Ayari, a moment later, pointing to a space between trees.
We investigated the area. I crouched down and studied the ground in the moonlight. 'I see no tracks,' I said.
'Doubtless it was a trick of the lights and shadows,' said Ayari.
'Doubtless,' I said.
'Let us return to camp,' he said.
'Yes,' I said.
39
We Are Not Pursued
'There is a village on the right,' said Ayari.
We had, in the past six days, passed two other villages. In these two other villages the men, with shields and spears, had rushed out to the, shore to threaten us. We had kept to the center of the river and had continued on.
'There are women and children on the bank,' said Ayari.
'They are waving for us to come in.'
'It is pleasant to see a friendly village,' said Alice.
'Let us take the canoe in,' said Ayari. 'We can perhaps trade for fruit and vegetables and you can obtain information on he whom you seek, he called Shaba.'
'It will be pleasant to sleep in a hut,' said Janice. There is often a night rain in the jungle, occurring before the twentieth Ahn.
We moved the canoe in toward the shore.
'Where are the men?' I asked.
'Yes,' said Kisu. 'Where are the men?'
The canoe was now about forty yards from the shore. 'Hold the paddles,' said Ayari. 'Stop paddling.'
'They are behind the women!' I said.
'Turn the canoe,' said Kisu, fiercely. 'Hurry! Paddle!' Suddenly, seeing us turning about, the crowd of women and children parted. Streaming out from behind them, brandishing spears and shields, knives and pangas. crying out, plunging toward us in the water, were dozens of men.
Spears splashed in the water about us, bobbing under, then floating.
One man reached us, swimming, but I struck him back with the paddle.
'Paddle! Hurry!' said Kisu.
We looked behind us. But we did not see the men putting canoes into the river.
'They are not pursuing us,' said Ayari.
'Perhaps they only wished to drive us away,' said Alice.
'Perhaps,' said Ayari, 'they know the river better than us, and do not desire to travel further eastward upon it.'
'Perhaps,' I said.
'What shall we do?' asked Ayari.
'Continue on,' said Kisu.
Tende Speaks To Kisu
I looked up at the stars.
I listened to the jungle noises, and the small, quiet crackle of the burning wood in the campfire.
Tende knelt beside Kisu, bending over him. I could hear her licking and kissing softly at his body. Her hands were tied behind her, a line running to the small tree which served us in the camp as slave post. Her ankles, too, were crossed and tied.
Both Janice and Alice, now asleep, lay near me. Neither was secured.
'Ah, excellent, Slave,' said Kisu. He then took her by the hair. 'Excellent,' he said.
He then released her hair, and she put her head down on his belly. 'Find me pleasing, Master,' she begged.
'I do,' he said.
'I love you, Master,' she said.
'You are the daughter of my hated enemy, Aibu,' he said.
'No, Master,' she said. 'I am now only your conquered love slave.'
'Perhaps,' he said.
'Do you think me any the less conquered than Janice and Alice, my white sisters in bondage?' she asked.
'Perhaps not,' said Kisu. 'It is not easy to tell about such matters.'
'I, too,' she said, 'am only a slave, lovingly and helplessly a slave.'
'But you are black,' he said.
'It makes no difference,' she said. 'I, too, am a woman. And you have made yourself my master, fully.'
He did not speak.
'Do you hate me, Master?' she asked.
'No,' he said.
'Do you not like me, just a little?' she asked.
'Perhaps,' he said.
'I love you,' she said.
'Perhaps,' he said.
'Can you not trust me, just a little?' she asked.
'I do not choose to do so,' he said.
'It is strange,' she said. 'The other girls sleep free beside their master and I, who am so helplessly yours, surely as much a slave as they, am kept in severe constraints.'
He did not speak.
'Why, my master?' she asked.
'It pleases me,' he said.
'How can I convince you of my love?' she asked. 'How can I earn your trust?'
'Do you wish to be whipped?' he asked.
'No, Master,' she said.
He rolled over and took her by the arms, and put her to her back.
'It seems a small thing,' she said, 'that a girl beg to be permitted to sleep at her master's feet.' She lifted her lips and kissed him. Then she lay back. 'Do you think me less than the white slaves?' she asked.
'No,' he said. 'You are neither more nor less than they. You are all alike in being slaves.'
