'Too,' she said, 'we would not want anything to stand between you and your use master when he presses you in his arms.'
'No,' I whispered, frightened.
'Now you are as nude as any slut,' said Tupita, jerking down on the ribbon on my collar, ascertaining that its fixture there was suitably snug.
I saw Mirus, near the front of the floor, draw a red ribbon from his wallet. It was identical in size and shape to the white ribbon I wore on my collar. My use master, I gathered, when he was finished with me, would change the ribbons. This would be significatory of the alteration of my status, informing anyone who might look upon it that I had not been 'opened.' He also had in one hand the attestation paper. There was a place at the bottom of the paper where a streak of blood, mine, might be smeared.
'Who shall choose the lucky ostrakon?' called Hendow.
'The slave!' cried a man.
'The slave!' 'The slave!' cried others.
'Very well!' said Hendow.
I moaned.
Hendow approached me.
'Please, Master,' I begged him.
But I saw him draw forth from his belt a half hood. This covers the head to the upper lip.
It was put over my head and drawn back, tightly, and buckled shut. I then heard a lock snapped through rings. It was locked on me, in place. I could not see under the device, at all. In this respect it differed from imperfect blindfolds and resembled the full slave hood. Similarly, although it is usually regarded as inferior to the full slave hood in its security, it tends to be more secure than many blindfolds, particularly makeshift ones, seized up from materials at hand. For example, unlike many blindfolds, it, and in this respect it is similar to the full slave hood, is not likely to become dislodged or loose, even if the girl is handled with great roughness. It does, however, of course, possess certain of the rich and attractive advantages of the blindfold, such as allowing its fair captive to speak, to use her tongue, to lick, to kiss, and so on. 'Please, Master,' I begged. 'Do not make me choose!'
'Do you question me?' he inquired.
'No, Master!' I said, I moaned. I must choose my own rapist.
I felt myself drawn to my feet, and, by the upper left arm, pulled forward, half dragged, to the copper bowl. There I was knelt, and my hands were placed on the ostraka.
'Mix them further, slut,' said Hendow.
Obediently, doubtless as the men watched intently, I stirred them about. I felt them in my hands. They had numbers on them, I knew.
'Dig about,' said Hendow. 'Sift through them. Pick some up, then let them fall through your fingers.'
I obeyed.
'Now,' said he, 'choose one.'
I lifted my head in half hood to him, piteously, my lip trembling.
I heard nothing, no reprieve, no rescue. This was not such a world. Here I was a slave, ineradicably, and truly.
I held my head level, although I could see nothing. I thrust my hand into the ostraka, and closed my fingers on one. I lifted it before me. I felt someone, doubtless Hendow, pull it from my hand.
'One hundred and seventy-seven!' he called.
There were cries of good-natured protest, sounds of disappointment. 'No!' cried more than one man.
'One hundred and seventy-seven,' he repeated.
'There!' called Mirus. 'There!'
Someone must have been getting up.
'Hold up the ostrakon!' called Mirus. 'Let us all see it!'
'He has it, all right!' called a man, from somewhere out there in the front. There were groans of mock anguish in the house, and laughter, and applause. 'Come forward, Sir,' invited Mirus. 'Claim your prize.'
'Take her well, for me!' called a fellow several yards away.
'Make her jump, for me!' laughed another, closer.
I sensed someone coming forward, others perhaps about him, slapping him about the shoulders and back.
There was applause.
'Here, Sir,' said Mirus, at my side, 'is your prize.'
In the hood I could see nothing. I was frightened.
I then gasped, surprised. I felt myself being lifted to the shoulder of a man. He was very strong.
'Use the Ubar' s alcove,' said Mirus. 'I will bring the attestation and ribbon.' I was helpless on his shoulder.
'Lucky sleen!' called a man.
The Ubar' s alcove, I knew, was well fitted with a variety of chains and whips. I felt myself being carried toward it.
'Make her squeak and yell!' called a man.
I was being carried as a slave is often carried, my head to the rear.
'There is only one who is first,' called Hendow, 'but we will draw forth fourteen more ostraka!'
There was a cheer.
I did not understand this. I was helpless on the man' s shoulder.
'Then there will be a free round of paga for all!' he said.
This generosity was greeted with another cheer.
I felt the man step up, over the high threshold of the alcove. He, then put me down on soft furs, on my back, within the alcove.
'Here is the paper, and the ribbon,' said Mirus.
I heard the movement of paper. Then Mirus, I gathered, withdrew. I heard a paper being put to one side. I then heard the leather curtains of the alcove being drawn closed, and buckled shut. Within the alcove I supposed there would be some light, probably from the small, tharlarion-oil lamp on its bracketed shelf, on the wall to the left, as one enters. I heard his garment being cast aside. I supposed the lamp would be lit, that there would be light for him. Men usually like to have some light in such a place, that in its soft glow they may see how beautiful are the slaves. Such alcoves, incidentally, are quite comfortable. They are not close, or stuffy. In them there is a subtle but efficient circulation of air. Air, for example, can enter at the threshold, in the vicinity of the curtain, rise, and exit through various inconspicuous vent holes, generally high in the walls. I wondered, if there were light, if I looked pleasing to him, lying on the furs. I gasped, as he knelt across my body. I had never had a man do this before. I could not move. I felt my hands pulled up and snapped into manacles, apart, at the sides of my head. His knees were on either side of my body. I pulled a little at the manacles and chains. I was chained! I felt terrified, and trapped, as indeed I was. I had been chained before, many times, of course, in my training. But this was not training! Then to my surprise he drew back from me, crouching then, or kneeling, I think, beside me. He was on my right. I shuddered. I had felt his body. I turned to my left side, away from him, as I could, and drew my knees up, as closely as I could, to my belly. I whimpered, as I understood that this, too, exposed me as a slave to him, but I did not know what to do! It seemed, suddenly, that all my training had fled from me, that it had gone from me, that I could remember nothing. I felt his hands take my ankles, one in each hand, and, by means of them, not gently, he turned me again to my back, and then flung apart my legs. I lay there then, in this attitude before him, helpless in the chains, and the darkness of the hood. He had not spoken to me, not I to him. I did not realize this at the time but he would not do so either, nor would the others, unsuspected by me at this time, who would him this night. By custom my initial ravishings as a paga slave in Brundisium would be performed in anonymity. This custom is dictated by considerations similar to those involved in the hooding of mating slaves, considerations having to do with the preclusion of interpersonal complications. I heard a whip being removed from the wall. I lay there, trembling. I grasped the chains, above the manacles. I did not want to be lashed! But the whip was thrust to my lips. Eagerly, lifting my head, I licked and kissed the whip. I did not want it used on me. My ardor in this matter, and this may, I suspect, have mollified him to some extent. For he then, delicately, gently, tested me. He grunted, surprised.
