herself from being candidly viewed.
'Please,' she said.
'Your body seems not unsuitable for that of a slave,' said Hci.
'I will never be a slave!' she said. 'I will never be a man's slave!'
'Surely such a woman should be a slave,' said Hci.
'Perhaps,' said Cuwignaka.
'Never!' cried Iwoso.
'She squirms nicely in the ropes,' said Hci.
'Like a slave,' said Cuwignaka.
'Perhaps she might be found of interest by some low man,' said Hci.
'Perhaps,' said Cuwignaka.
Iwoso regarded them with fury. Obviously they had overheard her conversation with Bloketu in the lodge.
'Don't you think you would make a good slave?' asked Hci.
'No, no!' said Iwoso.
'Perhaps you are right.' said hci.
She looked at him, startled.
'You would probably make a poor slave,' he said.
'Oh?' she said.
'Yes,' he said.
'If I wanted to,' she said, 'I could be a superb slave.'
'I doubt it,' he said.
'Why?' she asked.
'Because you are fridid, like a free woman,' he said.
'if I were made a slave,' she said, 'i would not be frigid. I could not be frigid. I would not be permitted to be frigid.'
'I doubt that any man would find you of intrest,' said Hci.
'That is not true,' she said. 'Man men would find me of intrest. They would be eager to buy me. I would bring many kaiila.'
'Oh?' he asked.
'You yourself, but moments ago,' she said, triumphantly, 'were wondering if you might not find me of intrest!'
'Was I?' he asked.
'Yes!' she said.
'I was only wondering,' he said.
'Imagine me as your slave,' challenged Iwoso. 'Do you not find that of intrest?'
'Perhaps,' said Hci.
'At your feet, begging to serve and be touched.'
'An interesting picture,' admitted Hci.
'See!' she said.
'Would you like to be my slave?' asked Hci.
'You have tricked me,' she said, suddenly, 'making me speak like this!'
'Would you like to be my slave?' asked Hci.
'You are hideous,' she said. 'No woman could love you.'
'Would you like to be my slave?' he asked.
'No!' she said.
'Truly?' he asked.
'Never,' she said, 'I would never be your slave! I would rather die!'
He reached his hand toward the side of her face.
'Don't touch me!' she hissed, drawing back.
'Before,' said Hci, 'I di dnot have time for you. Perhaps, now, I have time for you.'
'Don't touch me!' she cried.
His hand puased, but an inch from her face.
She was drawn back, her head turned to the side, her eyes closed, tensed.
Then he lightly touched her cheek.
She shuddered, a movement that affected her entire body, moving suddenly within its ropes, from her head to her toes.
Outraged, she opened her eyes. She looked at Hci in fury. She then spat viciously into his face.
She then shrank back against the post, terrified, awed at the enormity of what she had done.
'Lick the spittle from my face, and swallow it,' said Hci, quietly.
'Yes, my captor,' she said, in a small voice.
She then, delicately and carefully, licked the spittle from Hci's face and, as she had been bidden, swallowed it.
'It is time to feed the women,' said Hci.
Cuwignaka brought some pemmican and a small water bag from a nearby lodge.
'Do you beg food, Slave Girl?' he asked Bloketu.
She looked at him. If she did not beg, she would not be fed. 'Yes, Master,' she said.
He then thrust pieces of pemmican at once, her meal, into her mouth, to save time.
'Chew and swallow, Slave,' he said.
Bloketu obeyed.
'Do you beg drink, Slave?' asked Cuwignaka.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
He then gave her a draught from the water bag.
'Do you beg food, Free Woman,' asked Hci.
'Yes, my captor,' said Iwoso, humbly.
He then thrust pemmican into her mouth, as Cuwignaka had with Bloketu.
'Chew and swallow, Free Woman,' he said.
Iwoso obeyed.
'Do you beg drink, Free Woman,' asked Hci.
'Yes, my captor,' whispered Iwoso.
In a moment, when Iwoso had finished, Hci stoppered the water bag. 'You may now thank us for our food and drink,' he said.
'Thank you for my food and drink, Master,' said Bloketu to Cuwignaka.
'Thank you for my food and drink, my captor,' said Iwoso to Hci. If a girl's thanks, in such circumstances, are not deemed sufficiently sincere, or profuse, it is not clear if, or when, she will again be fed.
Cuwignaka, Hci and I then sat cross-legged at the edge of the escarpment.
We divided the balance of the pemmican and water between us.
'Do you think the Yellow Knives will attack again, today?' asked Cuwignaka.
'I do not think so,' I said.
From time to time I glanced back at Iwoso. It seemed she could not take her eyes from Hci. I had seen how she had shuddered at his touch. Too, it was by him that she had found herself dominated, and so effectively and suitably, at the post. I saw that she was his slave. I wondered if she knew that yet.
'There is the white officer,' said Cuwignaka. 'He has apparently completed his circuit of our position.'
Far below we saw Alfred, and his party, returning to the Yellow-Knife camp.
'Has he found weaknesses in our position?' asked Cuwignaka.
'He will think that he has,' I said. I myself, at close range and with impunity, had scouted our position. I had also souted it from a distance, from the presumed perspective of an enemy, from the grasslands below. From the surface of the prairie certain things, cleavages and fissures, certain irregularites in the rock face, appeared to be weaknesses. They were not.
