you.'
'I grow instantly suspicious,' said Petrucchio to the crowd. 'But,' said he to Chino, 'what of returning them to their masters for rewards?'
'But what if there are no rewards?' said Chino.
'That is a sobering thought,' said Petruccio to the audience. 'Well then,' said he to Chino, 'let me take them down the road and see how at these shops of which you speak go this day's pudding prices.'
'Return us to Pseudopolis!' begged Rowena.
'To weak masters who did not even have you collared and branded!' scoffed Chino. 'No! You will be sold to strong men who will well teach you your womanhood.'
Rowena groaned.
'Did you ask permission to speak?' inquired Lecchio.
'No,' se said, '-Master.'
She was then, to the amusement of the crowd, given another stripe.
'May I speak, Master!' begged Rowena.
'No,' said Lecchio.
'I thought,' said Petrucchio, 'that you two were going toward Pseudopolis, not back the other way.'
'We were,' said Chino, 'but Lecchio here forgot a ball of yarn, having left it in a Cal-da shop.'
'I did?' asked Lecchio.
'Surely you remember?' asked Chino.
'No,' said Lecchio.
'I remember it quite clearly,' said Chino.
'That is good enough for me,' said Lecchio. 'It was probably not an important ball of yarn.'
'And we are going back for it, anyway,' said Chino.
'All that way?' asked Lecchio, 'for only a ball of yarn?'
'Yes,' said Chino, irritably.
'It must have been an important ball of yarn,' said Lecchio.
'It was,' said Chino, angrily.
'Then it seems I should remember it,' said Lecchio.
At this point Chino delivered to Lecchio one of the numerous kicks in the shins, and such, which the crowds had come to expect in these diversions.
'That ball of yarn!' cried Lecchio.
'Yes, that one,' said Chino.
'I remember it clearly,' said Lecchio. 'It was red.'
'Yellow,' said Chino.
'Well, I remembered it fairly clearly,' said Lecchio.
'Very well, my friends,' said Petrucchio, indicating the direction from whence Chino and Lecchio had come, 'we shall all go this way. WE can travel together.'
'We welcome your company,' said Chino. 'There is little to fear in that direction, as long as one is not from Turia. By the way, where did you say you were from?'
'Turia,' said Petrucchio, puzzled.
'That could be very unfortunate,' said Chino, apprehensively.
'How is that?' asked Petrucchio.
'But it probably does not matter,' speculated Chino, 'given your prowess in combat.'
'I do not understand,' said Petrucchio.
'It is only that we have recently come from that way,' he said, gesturing with his head back down the road.
'Yes?' said Petrucchio.
'You have probably not yet heard the news,' said Chino. 'Yet perhaps you have. It is spreading like wildfire.'
'What news?' asked Petrucchio.
'The war,' said Chino.
'What war? asked Petruccio.
'The war with Turia,' said Chino.
'What war with Turia?' asked Petrucchio.
'Ten downs down the road,' he said, 'have jsut declared war on Turia. A great hunt is on. They are looking for fellows from Turia.'
'What for?' asked Petrucchio, alarmed.
'I am not sure,' said Chino. 'It was hard to make out, for all the shouting and the clashing of weapons. I think it was something about frying them in tarsk grease or boiling them alive in tharlarion oil, I am not really sure.'
Petrucchio began to quake in terror.
'I see that you are trembling with military ardor,' said Chino.
'Yes,' Petrucchio assured him.
'You are welcome to come with us, of course,' said Chino. 'The warding off of bloodthirsty troops and maddened, hostile mobs, with bulging eyes, would be nothing for you.'
'True,' asserted Petrucchio, 'but I am in spite of my fierce appearance sometimes a gentle fellow, one who is often hesitant to wreak broadcast massacre too impulsively, particularly on so balmy a day. Too, only this morning, as luck would have it, I cleansed my sword from my most recent slaughters and I am accordingly loath to immerse it so soon once more in baths of blood.'
'You may actually spare, then, the maddened mobs and the town militias, the assembled soldiery of the district?'
'Perhaps,' said Petrucchio.
'It is a lucky day for these lands then,' said Chino.
'Dispose of the puddings,' said Petrucchio. 'I shall wait here.'
'It may be difficult to make it back through the war zone,' said Chino. 'Too, it may be dangerous to remain here.'
'Dangerous?' asked Petrucchio.
'Yes, for the mobs and soldiers,' said Chino. 'They are scouring the countryside, looking for Turians. If they should find you here, it would be too bad for them, even in all their numbers.'
'Certainly, certainly,' said Petrucchio, looking anxiously about himself. 'What do you suggest?'
'I wonder what all that dust is over there,' said Chino, looking off in one direction.
'I do not see any dust,' said Petrucchio, anxiously.
'It was probably just my imagination,' said Chino.
'Perhaps you could give me something now,' said Petrucchio.
'We are very short on cash,' said Chino.
'But you have the gold,' said Petrucchio.
'You do not wish to be paid in false gold, or stolen gold, do you?' asked Chino, disbelievingly.
'No, of course not,' said Petrucchio.
'Perhaps we could have a wager,' said Chino, drawing out a coin. 'Do you wish top or bottom?'
'Top,' said Petrucchio.
Chino flipped the coin, looked at it, and tucked it back in his wallet. 'Bottom,' he said.
'I did not see the coin!' said Petrucchio.
'There,' said Chino, fishing out the coin, and pointing to it. 'Bottom,' he said, indicating the coin's reverse.
'You're right,' said Petrucchio, dismayed.
'Would you care for another wager?' asked Chino.
'Yes,' said Petrucchio.
'I am thinking of a number between one and three,' said Chino.
'Two!' cried Petrucchio.
