taller than she. She stepped back a bit. 'Yes, Bloketu,' he said. 'You are beautiful.'
'Now you speak the truth!' she said.
'And I shall speak further truths,' he said. 'You are beautiful as a free woman, and you would be even more beautiful as a slave, stripped and kneeling before me, in my collar, in my lodge, waiting to be commanded.'
'I am the daughter of a chief!' she said.
'You would look well, crawling to me,' he said, 'with a quirt in your teeth.'
'Beware!' she said.
'It is well that you are of the kaiila,' he said. 'Else I might take the warpath, to take you, to bring you back to my lodge as a naked slave.'
'Oh!' she cried.
'I desire you, Bloketu,' said Cuwignaka. 'I desire you with the greatest ferocity with which a man can desire a woman, that he would have her at his feet, as his owned slave.'
The girl turned and feld away. She was terrified. Never, hitherto, had she dreamed she could be the object of such passion.
She was swiftly followed by Iwoso, her maiden.
Cuwignaka, standing up, looked after the two girls. They are pretty, aren't they?' he asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'Do you think they would make good slaves?' he asked.
'Yes,' I said.
'Who do you think is the most beauitful, Iwoso or Bloketu?' he asked.
'Bloketu,' I said.
'I do, too,' said Cuwignaka.
'I was somewhat distrubed by portions of the conversation between you, and Bloketu and Iwoso,' I said, 'in particular, the business about the enlargement of Watonka's importance.'
Cuwignaka grinned. 'I am afraid,' he said, 'that Bloketu and Iwoso were not entirely candid with us about that matter.'
'How is that?' I asked.
'It seems they would have us believe that Watonka's enhancement would be largely one of presitige.'
'Would it not be so?' I asked.
'There would be much prestige, to be sure,' smiled Cuwignaka, 'but, too, doubtless, in the giving of gifts, many kaiila would change hands.'
'I see,' I said.
'Already Watonka is the richest of all the Kaiila,' said Cuwignaka. 'Should he be successful in bringing about this peace, as we shall hope he shall be, he will doubtless be the recipient of many kaiila, perhaps even a thousand, gifts from both the Yellow Knives and the Kaiila themselves.'
'I see,' I said.
'Over his herds the sky will be dark with fleer,' said Cuwignaka.
I smiled. The location of large herds of kaiila is sometimes marked by the presence of circling, swarming fleer. They come to feed on the insects stirred up in the grass, activated by the movements of the beasts' paws.
'Thus,' said Cuwignaka, 'Bloketu would be important, being the daughter of such a man, and even Iwoso, only a slave, would become celebrated among several tribes, serving as a maiden in so rich a household.'
I laughed. 'It is easy to see why Bloketu and Iwoso might have been hesitant to speak of this aspect of the matter,' I said, 'seeing what profits might accure to them.'
'Particularly,' smiled Cuwignaka, 'since matters, at this time, are, I gather, so uncertain and tentative.'
'Do you think that there will be peace between the Yellow Knives and the Kaiila?' I asked.
'I do not know,' said Cuwignaka. 'I hope so.'
'There is a pretty slave,' I said.
'Yes,' said Cuwignaka.
The blond-haired girl, stripped, collared, regarded me with contempt, tossed her head, and passed on. She ws the property of a red master.
'I remember her,' I said.
'She came in with the Isanna,' said Cuwignaka. 'We saw her then.'
'Yes,' I said. She had been part of the loot display of the Isanna, a trinket in the procession of their splendor. She had been at someone's stirrup, naked, her hands bound behind her back, a quirt hung about her neck.
'Sheis arrogant,' said Cuwignaka.
'Yes,' I said. I remembered that she had, then, to, looked upon me with contempt. She was owned by a red master. I was only a white slave.
'She is probably kept in one of the Isanna's girl herds,' said Cuwingaka.
I nodded. These herds, usually consisting of from forty to fifty white females, stripped, are usually kept a pasang or so from camp, with the kaiila herds. The Isanna women, on the whole, object to such women being kept in the private lodges.
Before the winter such herds are usually sold off. Those girls who are not sold off must be clothed and brought indoors. They are usually kept in the lodges of warrior societies or in private lodges. Some are kept in girl lodges, in the charge of a warrior who, for the trnure of his governance over them, acts as their master. Some, to their horror, are put in the keeping of a red female. Usually, after a day or two of this, they beg to kneel again, head down, at the feet of men. In the summer most such girls, and others, too, being added to them, are put out again, with the kaiila. The Isanna is only the third largest band of the Kaiila. It is, however, indisputably, the richest. Its wealth, for example, in both kaiila and white females is well known on the plains. Boys, with ropes and whips, watch over the women. They may, of course, cut any women they wish out of the herd and use her.
'I myself,' said Cuwignaka,' would prefer to keep slaves in my own lodge.'
'There would be too many of them for the Isanna to do that,' I said.
'They are pertentious, and vain,' said Cuwignaka. 'They do not need that many women.'
'They sell off the herds in the winter,' I said.
'But only to increase them again, in the spring,' he said.
'That white females are herded by the Isanna, more so than with other bands, or tribes,' I said, 'has, I gather, something to do with the Isanna women.'
'Yes,' said Cuwignaka. 'They do not want them in lodges.'
'That is understandable,' I said.
'But, in such things, the men should be the masters, fully,' said Cuwignaka.
'That is true,' I said.
'It is well known that Isanna women are insufficiently disciplined,' said Cuwignaka.
'Bloketu is insufficiently disciplined, for example?' I asked.
'Yes,' said Cuwignaka, 'Bloketu is insufficietnly disciplined. Bloketu needs discipline, severe discipline.'
'It might be pleasant to administer it to her,' I said.
'yes,' said Cuwignaka, grimly.
I smiled. Fortunately for the lovely Bloketu she stood high among the Kaiila. If she were a foreign woman who had fallen into Cuwignaka's hands, I did not doubt but what she would learn discipline, well and swiftly.
I watched the rear of the blond girl moving away, between the lodges. It moved well.
'You are hot,' smiled Cuwignaka.
I did not respond. I was in misery.
'Winyela sleeps within the lodge,' said Cuwignaka. 'Why do you not whip her awake, and use her? She is only a slave. Too, she was sent to you to be disciplined.'
'No,' I said.
'One should not be too soft with female slaves,' said Cuwignaka.
'I know,' I said.
'It is Canka's will that you use her, and well,' he said.
'Do you think so?' I asked.
'Of course,' said Cuwignaka. 'He is a red savage. Do not be culturally confused.'
