slave of myyoung master I was not even given a name. I was referred to only as Wicincala,or 'Girl. I was later called 'Wihinpaspa', which means lodge-pin or tent-pin,probably because I was little and thin. Then later, as I have mentioned, I wascalled 'Pimples', 'Wasnapohdi', which name, partly because of habit, and partlybecause it amused my masters, was kept on me.'
'You are neither little nor thin,' I said, 'and, as I have earlier remarked, youdo not have pimples.'
'Perhaps I might bring four hides,' she laughed.
'It is not impossible,' I said. 'Do you think your first master would recognizeyou now?' I asked.
'I do not know,' she said. 'I would suppose so.'
'Do you remember him?' I asked.
'Yes,' she said. 'It is difficult to forget the first man who tied you.'
'Do you love him? I asked. I laid the brush aside.
'I do not know,' she said. 'It was long ago. He sold me.'
'Oh,' she said, her hands now thonged behind her back. She tensed.
'Did your red masters teach you well what it is to be a slave?' I asked.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I tightened the knots on her wrists.
'Do you think your lot will be easier with us?' I asked.
'I do not know, Master,' she winced.
'It will not be,' I assured her.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I bent down and kissed her on the side, on one of the long welts raised by thewhip stroke, one of the blows in virtue of which she was assessed.
'You struck me with great force,' she said.
'No, I did not,' I said.
She shuddered. 'You are then very strong,' she whispered.
I turned her about, and put her on her back, before me. I knelt beside her andsniffed her belly. 'Again,' I said, 'you are womnaka.'
'I am only a slave,' she said. 'Does it please you, or displease you, that I amunable to resist you?'
'It does not displease me,' I said. I then touched her.
'Oh,' she cried, eyes closed, squirming helplessly, rearing half upward,trussed, then falling back. She looked at me, wildly.
'You are indeed a slave,' I told her.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Do you beg to be had?' I asked.
'Yes, Master,' she said. 'Yes, Master!'
'First,' I said, 'You will earn your keep. You will be put to work.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I then pulled her to her knees and lay then on one elbow, indolently, watchingher. She then, on her knees, her hands bound behind her, with her hair, hermouth and body, need fully and desperately, began to please me. In a short whileI took her and threw her beneath me.
Aiii!' she sobbed. 'I yield me your slave, my Master!' She was superb. Iwondered if the lad who had been her former master, and who now must be a man,and had sold her, had any idea as to the wonder, the surrendered, curvaceous,obedient, orgasmic triumph, which his little Lodge-Pin or Pimples, now aravishing, helpless beauty, had become. Had he any notion of this it wasdifficult to imagine that he would be able to rest until he had once againfastened his beaded collar on her throat. Clearly she was now the sort of womanfor whom men might kill.
'Am I worth four hides, Master?' she asked, gasping.
'Five,' I assured her.
She laughed, and kissed me happily.
'This is Wagmezahu, Corn Stalks,' said Grunt. 'He is Fleer.'
'Hou,' said Corn Stalks.
'Hou,' said I to him.
'Is the new slave satisfactory?' asked Grunt.
'Quite,' I said.
'Good,' he said.
I sat back, cross-legged, away from the fire. I now understood why Grunt hadbeen scanning the plains. I now understood why he had wished to remain at thetrading point. He had, doubtless, been waiting for this Fleer. This was also,doubtless, the reason he had encouraged me to take my time with the new girl,which I had, that they not be disturbed. Although the Fleer speak a languageclearly akin to Kaiila and Dust Leg there bad often been strife among them.
Thusly the Fleer had waited before coming to the camp. If the Dust Legs knew ofhis presence in their country they had not chosen to do anything about it,perhaps in deference to Grunt.
Grunt and the Fleer spoke largely in sign, this being easier for them than theattempt to communicate verbally.
I sat back from the fire, watching them closely. It was now late at night. Grunthad shortened the coffle by two collars and chain lengths. I had put the newgirl in Margaret's place, after Priscilla and before the Hobarts. This was theposition of 'Last Girl,' which, fittingly, not counting the Hobarts, she wouldoccupy, being the newest girl on the coffle. Coffle arrangements, incidentally,are seldom arbitrary. One common principle of arrangements is in order ofheight, with the tallest girls coming first; this makes a lovely coffle.
Sometimes, too, coffles are arranged in order of beauty or preference, the mostbeautiful or the most preferred girls coming first. Coloring and body type canalso be important. It is for such reasons, perhaps, that the coffle is sometimesspoken of as the slaver's necklace. Sales strategies, too, can enter into theformation of a coffle, as, for example, when a girl is put between two plainergirls to accentuate her beauty, or a superb girl is saved for last, and manyother considerations, as well, can enter into the formation of a coffle. Whenone sees a chain of beauties, fastened together, say, by the neck, or the leftwrist or left ankle, it is well to remember that their locations on that sturdy,metallic bond, keeping them precisely where the master wishes, are seldom likelyto be merely fortuitous. After I had carried the new girl to the chain and puther on the grass, locking the collar on her, I went to the red-haired girl and,as I had earlier promised her, bound her hand and foot. She had asked a stupidquestion, one pertaining to respect. She would spend the night tied.
'Is the new girl pleasing?' she had asked me, reproachfully.
'Yes,' I said.
'More pleasing than I?' she asked, lying at my feet, her hands tied behind her,her ankles crossed and bound, her neck in the coffle collar.
'Yes,' I said. 'She is an experienced slave. You are only a new slave. You havemuch to learn.'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
I then, for good measure, gagged her. She must learn that she was a slave.
Corn Stalks, after a time, took his leave. Before he left Grunt gave him somehard candy and a fine steel knife.
'You seem moody,' I said to Grunt. He had returned to the fire, and sat beforeit, not speaking.
'It is nothing,' he said.
'I should like to learn some Dust Leg,' I said.
'I will teach you some, as we ride,' he said.
'If I learn some Dust Leg, I should be able, to some extent, to communicate withKaiila,' I said.
'Very easily,' said Grunt, 'for they are much the same, and, too, you would beable to make yourself understood to the Kailiauk, and, to some extent, to theFleer.'
'I have heard little of the Kailiauk,' I said.
'They are not well known west of the perimeter,' he said. 'Their country lies tothe south and east of that of the Kaiila.'
'Mostly,' I said, 'you spoke to Corn Stalks in sign.'
