'She is a free woman now,' I said. 'Perhaps that is worth some consideration.' 'Not at all,' said Hurtha.
'Oh?' I asked, interested.
'Come now,' said Hurtha. 'Be realistic. Free women are often sold. No one expects you to give them away.'
'That is true,' I said.
'Where do slaves come from?' asked Hurtha. 'Surely only a small percentage of them are bred.'
'That is true,' I granted him.
'If it were not for the bringing of free females into the toils of bondage, capturing them, getting them properly marked, seeing to the legal details, putting them up for sale, and so forth, there would be few slaves.'
'True,' I said.
'I shall not listen to such things!' said Boabissia. 'Oh!' Hurtha's hand was on her ankle.
'What are you doing?' she demanded.
'I am tying your ankles together,' he said.
'Untie me!' she said.
'Do not touch the cords,' he said.
I observed her ankles. They looked well, lashed tightly together.
'Why have you done this?' she asked.
'I do not want you running away, while we are thinking about such things,' he said.
'I am an Alar woman!' she said.
'No,' he said. 'You are only a woman who has been with the Alar wagons.' She cried out in rage, her fists clenched.
'But she might not bring much,' said Hurtha, disconsolately. 'She is only a free female, and is not trained.'
'True,' I said.
'I gather,' said Hurtha, 'that you do not wish for me to accept spontaneous gifts from total strangers, or apply to them for loans.'
I recalled the portly little fellow from Tabor. 'I think I would prefer that you do not do so,' I said. That time we had narrowly missed tangling with guardsmen. 'How then can we make some money?' asked Hurtha.
'I suppose we could do some work' I said.
'Work?' asked Hurtha, in horror. He was an Alar warrior. To be sure, manual labor was not exactly prescribed by my own caste codes either.
'It is a possibility,' I said. After all, desperate men will resort to desperate measures.
'Rule it out,' said Hurtha.
'How then do you propose, within the limits of legality, that we obtain our supper?' I asked.
'You may sup with me,' said Mincon.
'Thank you,' I said. 'But imposing on your hospitality could be at best a temporary expedient.'
'I, personally, on the other hand,' said Hurtha, 'would not consider one or two meals thrust as a wedge between myself and starvation to be beneath contempt.' 'Besides, in the morning,' I said, 'I expect you will be returning to Brundisium.'
'Yes,' admitted Mincon.
'That would clear supper and breakfast,' said Hurtha.
'I have a few coins left,' I informed Hurtha.
'I thought you were merely being noble,' said Hurtha.
'I am,' I said. 'It is always easier to be noble when one has the price of supper.'
'That is almost poetic,' said Hurtha, impressed.
'Thank you,' I said. I had forgotten that Hurtha was a poet. This came then, I conjectured, as high praise. To be sure, he had hedged his declaration with the modification, 'almost'. Still, when all was said and done, what could that matter?
'Aha!' said Hurtha.
'What is it?' I asked.
'I have an idea!' said Hurtha.
My blood turned momentarily cold.
'Selling Boabissia?' asked Mincon. Boabissia's ankles squirmed in the thongs. She could probably not stand upright as she had been bound. We would probably have to help her down from the wagon box, and carry her to where we decided to put her.
'No,' said Hurtha. 'It is a different idea.'
'I am glad to hear that,' said Boabissia.
'But it may be every bit as good, or better, than that one,' said Hurtha. 'I am eager to hear it, I assure you,' said Boabissia.
'Would you like to hear it?' asked Hurtha of me.
'Certainly,' I said, uncertainly. I felt a pang of anxiety.
'Surely you would have no objection to our selling a few things,' said Hurtha. 'What?' asked Boabissia. 'Me?'
'Not yet, at least,' said Hurtha.
'What could you sell?' I asked. 'You do not have much clothing with you, or many possessions, it seems.'
'True,' he said, his eyes shining with excitement.
'Would you sell your ax?' I asked. It was an excellent one.
'Of course not,' he said.
'What then?' I asked.
'Trust me,' he said.
'Must I?' I asked.
'All I wish from you,' he said, 'as you are more experienced in the strange ways of civilization than I, is that you would have no objection to my selling a few things to raise money.'
'No one could have any possible objection to that,' I said. 'Wonderful,' he said, warmly. 'I will then see you at the wagon yards!' He then turned about and disappeared.
'He is a good fellow,' I said.
'Yes,' said Mincon. 'I wonder what it is that he intends to sell.' 'I do not know,' I said.
'As far as I could tell,' said Mincon, 'he did not take anything with him,' 'That is true,' I said. Hurtha's bag was still in the wagon.
'Maybe he will sell the ax,' said Mincon. 'He took that.'
'I doubt that he would sell that,' I said.
'What then?' asked Mincon.
'Perhaps he has precious stones, rare gems, sewn in his clothing, for an emergency,' I said.
'That must be it,' said Mincon.
'Yes,' I said.
'At any rate,' said Mincon. 'Hurtha is a clever, splendid fellow. Doubtless he knows exactly what he is doing.'
'Doubtless,' I said.
'I have great confidence in him,' said Mincon.
'So do I,' I said.
'Untie me,' said Boabissia.
'Not yet,' I said.
'Ho!' called Mincon to his tharlarion. 'Ho! Move!' We then drew again into the street and began to follow the rough signs painted on the sides of buildings to the wagon yards.
