'Good,' I said. 'And what does this mean?' I drew an imaginary line across mythroat with my right index finger. I had seen Corn Stalks make this sign in histalk with Grunt.
Grunt's eyes clouded. 'It is the sign for the Kaiila,' he said, 'the CutthroatTribe.'
'Oh,' I said.
'You may have seen this sign,' said Grunt. 'It is an interesting one.' He thenheld his fists in front of his chest, his thumbs almost touching, and thenspread his fingers out, horizontally.
'I have no idea what it means,' I said.
'Does it remind you of nothing?' be asked. He repeated the sign.
Suddenly the hair on the back of my neck rose. 'It is like men breaking out ofcolumns,' I said, 'fanning out, to take up positions for battle.'
'Yes,' said Grunt. 'It is the sign for soldiers.' He then added to it the signfor riding, that of the kaiila in motion.
'Kaiila soldiers,' I said. 'Cavalry.'
'Yes,' said Grunt, soberly. He then held both fists close to his chest, with thebacks of his hands down and the index fingers curved. He then made a forward,circular motion.
'Wheels?' I said. 'Wagons.'
'Yes,' said Grunt.
These last signs had been used by Corn Stalks. Grunt knew that I had seen them.
'I do not mean to pry,' I said.
'It is all right,' said Grunt.
'We need not continue,' I said.
'It is all right,' said Grunt.
I held my hands near the ground, with my fingers curved upward and slightlyapart. I then swung my bands out in a small, upward curve.
'Grass,' said Grunt.
I held my right hand, palm down, even with my shoulder, and lowered it, until itwas about eighteen inches from the ground.
'Height,' said Grunt. 'High. High grass. Summer.'
The Summer solstice had taken place a few days ago.
I folded my arms, the right arm resting on top of the left. I then raised bothhands until my fingers pointed skyward.
'The spreading of light,' said Grunt. 'Day. Light.'
I repeated the gesture twice more.
'Three days,' said Grunt. 'Three days ago, we may suppose.'
I raised my hands in front of my body, my fingers slightly curved. I then sweptmy hands together in a looping curve.
'Many,' said Grunt. 'Much. Plenty.'
I rubbed the back of my left hand from the wrist to the knuckle with my rightindex finger.
'Red savages,' smiled Grunt. 'Fleer,' he then said. 'Kaiila, Sleen, YellowKnives, Kailiauk.'
I had smote my hands slowly together three times. It was like the beating ofwings. It now stood, I saw, for the Fleer tribe. The fleer is a large, yellow,long-billed, gregarious, voracious bird of the Barrens. It is sometimes alsocalled the Corn Bird or the Maize Bird. I had then drawn my finger across mythroat. That stood for the Kaiila, the Cutthroat tribes. The sign for the Sleentribe had been the same as that for the sleen, the resting of the middle fingersof the right hand on the right thumb, extending the index and little finger,this suggesting the animal's pointed snout and ears. The sign for the YellowKnives had been the sign for knife, followed by the sign for fleer. I laterlearned the sign for knife alone would suffice for this tribe. In the compoundsign fleer presumably occurs as a modifier in virtue of the bird's coloration.
Adjectives in sign commonly, though not always, follow the noun, so to speak.
This arrangement is doubtless to be expected, for it reflects a commongrammatical feature of the spoken languages of the red savages. The word' mazasapa', for example, literally means 'black metal'. 'Maza' is the word for' metal' and 'sapa' is the word for 'black'. We would translate the expression,of course, as 'iron'. The sign for Kailiauk, as I had expected, was to hold upthree fingers, suggesting the trident of horns adorning the shaggy head of thislarge, short-tempered, small-eyed, lumbering ruminant.
'You have an excellent memory,' said Grunt. I had been, of course, as best Icould, reconstructing portions of the conversation which I had earlier seen takeplace between Corn Stalks and Grunt.
I held my hands in front of my body, with the palms facing one another, with theleft hand a bit ahead of the right. I quickly brushed the right palm pass, theloft palm.
'Fast,' said Grunt. 'Quick. Hurry.'
I held my left hand before my body, palm out, with my index and second fingersspread, forming a 'V.' I held my right band at my fight shoulder, the indexfinger pointing up. I then, quickly, brought my right index finger down,striking into the space between the index finger and second finger of my lefthand.
'Kill,' said Grunt, soberly. 'Hit. Strike.'
I followed this with the sign for many, and then the signs for white man andwhite woman, and for soldiers, and kaiila soldiers, or cavalry.
'Yes,' said Grunt 'What is this sign?' I asked. I cupped my right hand close to the ground, myfingers partly closed. I then raised it a few inches from the ground, with ashort, wavy motion.
'It is the sign for fire,' said Grunt. 'Flames.'
'It preceded this sign,' I said. I then held my fists close to my chest, withthe backs of my own hands down, my index fingers curved. I then made theforward, circular motion, indicative of turning wheels. 'This latter sign, as Irecall,' I said, 'Signifies wagons.'
'It does,' said Grunt. 'Yes.'
I was then silent. I did not feel much like speaking. I listened to the crackleof the fire.
'A wagon, or wagons, of course,' said Grunt. 'The specific meaning depends onthe context. It is the same with my signs.'
'I understand,' I said.
'Three days ago, or some three days ago,' said Grunt, 'a party of red savages,consisting of Kaiila, Yellow Knives, Sleen, Fleer and Kailiauk fell suddenlyupon a wagon train and a column of soldiers, both infantry and cavalry. Wagonswere burned. There was a massacre.'
'I think I know the parties,' I said. 'The first left Kailiauk sometime before Ireached it. They were settlers. The second must have been the mercenaries ofAlfred, a captain, from Port Olni. He left Kailiauk shortly before we did.'
Alfred, not stopping to trade, and moving swiftly, not slowed by a coffle ofslaves, had, it seemed, made contact with the settlers. Doubtless they wouldhave welcomed his presence. I wondered as to the fate of the settlers andsoldiers, and if any survived. Alfred had seemed to me as though he might be agood commander. He would not have been familiar, however, I speculated, with thewarfare of the Barrens. He had perhaps rated his red foes too lightly. He hadperhaps discounted their possible numbers or skills.
I thought of the squarish wagons, which had been with the soldiers, doubtlessconcealing the beasts of Sardak and Kog. There had been seventeen such wagons.
If these beasts had been destroyed I might, perhaps, consider leaving theBarrens. Zarendargar, then, would be safe, at least until another such forcemight be sent against him. Perhaps Priest-Kings, through their agents, mightmonitor towns such as Fort Haskins and Kailiauk.
I thought, too, briefly, of the red-savage youth, Urt, the red slave, supposedlya Dust Leg, who had been with the soldiers. If the red savages had found him inhis chains, fastened to a white man's wagon, they might have chosen, withamusement, to leave him there, to die. I thought, too, of the lofty, veiled LadyMira of Venna. No doubt now, she no longer wore her veils. I did not think thered savages would have killed her. There are better things to do with suchwomen. Doubtless she would have been stripped, a thong perhaps on her neck, andassessed as casually as a tethered kaiila. If her captors found her of interest,perhaps they would give her a chance, albeit perhaps only a slim one, to striveto save her life, by absolute and total submission, and pleasingness, as aslave.
