Players of Gor

9 Two Women, One Free, One Bond; I Join the Company of Boots Tarsk-Bit

"Here," I said. "See?"

We were in a small clearing in the woods, not far from the road.

"Yes!" said Boots, appreciatively.

"Lower the torch," I said. "Look more closely."

The two women whimpered, looking up, blinking against the light. The torch, Boots crouching down, was passed slowly over their bodies. One were a long gown, sleeveless and white. It was all she wore, however, and it was thin. I did not think it was what she would have chosen to wear. It had apparently been picked out for her. The fullness of her beauty, at any rate, in its delicious amplitudes, was not difficult to conjecture beneath it. The other was excitingly curvaceous, too. About her beauty, however, there could be no possible mistake. She was absolutely naked. Both were bound tightly, helplessly, hand and foot.

"Pretty," said Boots.

"Yes," said Chino.

"Yes," said Lecchio.

Petrucchio and Publius Andronicus, too, voiced their assent. The surly, hooded player was not with us. After he had finished freeing himself from the ropes on his ankles, he had hurried to recover the cup which had been of such interest to the brigands. It seemed he did not wish others to see it, or understand its meaning. He had then, taking the cup, gone into his wagon. It seemed then that he had chosen, at least for the time, to remain there. He had not, at any rate, come with us. It seemed he was not particularly appreciative of what had been done for him. Perhaps he was too proud a man. Perhaps he resented fiercely the thought that he might owe anything to another. Perhaps, on the other hand, given his hatred, and the shame in which he seemed to live, he might not have found the cruelty of a brigand's knife that unwelcome.

I looked down at the woman in the long, thin white gown. "Have you been branded?" I asked.

"No!" she said, tensely. "I am free!" This seemed to me probably true, as she had been put in the gown, doubtless, at least for the time, to protect her modesty.

"You must understand," I said, "that we must make a determination on that matter."

"Of course," she said. The results of this determination could make an important difference in how she was treated and what might be, as a matter of course, expected of her. A free woman in one thing, and a female slave is quite another.

I put her on her side and thrust up her gown, and turned her about, from one side to the other. In a moment or two I had checked the normal brand sites for a Gorean female. The most typical brand site is high on the left thigh, high enough, under the hip, to be covered even by the brevity of a typical slave tunic. In this way one often does not know what brand the girl wears. IN this way a bit of mystery, I suppose, might be thought to be added to her.

The mystery in most cases, however, if one is truly interested, is usually no more than temporary. It is only necessary to lift her skirt. Sometimes bets are mad on this matter. In such bets, of course, the odds are with he who wagers on the graceful, cursive, Kef. This is the most common Kajira brand. «Kef» is the first letter in "Kajira," the most common expression in Gorean for a female slave. It is sometimes, too, spoken of as the "Staff and fronds." This is doubtless because of a fancied resemblance to such objects. Also, of course, this involves an allusion to beauty under discipline, indeed, to helpless beauty under absolutely uncompromising discipline. I also checked certain less common brand sites, such as the lower left abdomen, the interior of the left forearm and the high instep area of the left foot. If there is such a mark on a girl, it would not be well to miss it. Imagine the embarrassment of relating to a woman as though she were free and then discovering only later that she had been a legally imbonded slave all the time! Too, how dreadfully perilous would such a deception be for the female! I would surely not wish to be the female who might be found out in such a deception.

"Her body seems clear of brands," I said. "Apparently she is free."

"Yes," she said. "Yes!"

I pulled her gown down from where I had thrust it up, above her breasts, for my convenience in examining her body for brands, and then I worked it down, inching it, carefully, over her body and hips. It was thin and fit her closely. I did not wish to tear it. I then pulled its hem down to where it was supposed to be, at about her ankles. I then made my final adjustments of the gown, that her modesty might be as well protected, or about as well protected, as such a flimsy garment permitted. To be sure, I did, here and there, pull it a bit more snugly about her body than was perhaps necessary. This was excusable, of course. She was beautiful and bound.

I had made a stop at my own camp, incidentally, before coming to this place in the woods.

"As she seems to be free," I said, "I will claim her, she in the modality of the free captive."

"No!" she cried.

"Very well," said Boots.

"No, no!" she wept, struggling in the ropes.

I knew this female.

I pulled her to a seated position. I looked into her eyes. "You are my captive."

"Please, no!" she said.

"It is up to you, at least for the time," I said, "to decided what sort of captive you will be."

She looked at me, frightened.

I removed some metal from my pouch, that which I had brought from my camp, but moments ago, to this clearing in the woods. I dangled it, in its small, sturdy rings and four heavy, close-set links, before her eyes. "Do you desire it?" I asked.

"Yes," she whispered. "Close-chains."

I put the shackles on her ankles. Her ankles were now shackled only some four inches apart. She had decided that she wished to be kept in honor and modesty. To be sure, aside from the obvious consideration of the inflexible efficiency of the shackling itself, given the large number of ways in which a woman may be used for a man's pleasure, the matter was primarily symbolic. then ankle rings snug on her I removed the bonds of the brigands from her ankles. Her ankles parted, to the brief extent permitted by the chain linkage of my shackles. her wrists were still tied behind her. "How did you come to be captured by the brigands?" I asked.

"My superiors were dissatisfied with me," she said. "My lackeys were removed from me. I was put in a brief tunic, almost as though I might be a slave. I was forbidden even to wear a veil. I was given a small purse of coins, one sufficient for my projected expenses, and instructed to report back to my headquarters, alone and on foot."

"Alone, and on foot?" I asked.

"Yes," she said, bitterly.

"It is my conjecture," I said, "that they did not expect you to complete your journey successfully."

"It seems they were right," she said, bitterly.

I smiled. I did not think that her superiors were likely to be any more unaware of the dangers of Gorean highways than anyone else. A lovely woman, scantily clad, not even veiled, alone, on foot, did not seem a likely candidate to travel the Gorean wilderness with impunity. Their instructions, it seemed, had been, for most practical purposes, tantamount to an enslavement sentence. I did not think they expected to see her again, unless it might be in the rag of a slave and a collar.

"I was caught by the brigands last night," she said.

"You do not appear to be clad as might be a slave," I said.

"The garments in which my superiors had placed me," she said, "were removed by the brigands. They regarded them as inappropriate for a free woman. They put me, instead, in the gown in which you now see me."

"That was thoughtful of them," I said.

"But it is so thin and flimsy!" she protested.

"Of course," I said.

"I suppose it does mark me as a free woman," she said, "and in that sense might perhaps raise my price somewhat in case they were readying me for sale to a slave merchant."

"Too," I said, "with all due respect it is, in spite of its length and nature, rather flattering and revealing. Doubtless, too, it would give the merchant pleasure to remove it from you in your assessment, thereby revealing your beauty, that then of a potential slave."

"Yes," she said, bitterly.

"Have no fear," I said. "I will find you something else to wear."

"Thank you," she said.

"Is there another camp about, or somewhere," I asked, "used by the brigands?"

"No," she said. "There was one, but they broke it this morning. This afternoon they surreptitiously met a fellow in the woods. He had a wagon. They sold most of their loot to him."

"Apparently they did not sell all of it to him," I said, regarding her, glancing, too, at the other bound woman, she naked in the dirt.

"No," she said. "He was not a slaver. Too, I do not think he wanted any obvious connection to be noted between himself and the brigands, such as might be furnished by handling their slaves."

"Where were you enroute?" I asked.

"I do not know," she said. "I was told only that we were being taken somewhere where we could be sold to a proper slaver."

"Besnit, Esalinus or Harfax," suggested Boots.

I shrugged. "Perhaps," I said. These towns were all within a hundred pasangs of our present location. Such women could be disposed of almost anywhere, of course. Slave markets, like slaves, are common on Gor. Given the large number of slaves on Gore it is only natural that there should be an abundance of outlets for their handling and processing.

"You apparently made camp here," I said, "several Ahn ago."

"We stopped early, I think," she said. "I think they had discovered another camp, one on which they intended to perpetrate a raid."

"That is correct," I said.

"We were left here, helplessly trussed, females, to await their return," she said.

"They will not be coming back," I said.

"I see," she said, shuddering.

"Where are the other valuables, the moneys, in the camp," I asked, "their accruals from the fellow with the wagon, or otherwise?"

"It is all there," she said, indicating it with her head, "in those packs. The gold is in a small coffer, one bound with bands of iron, one studded with silver, that closed with a heavy golden-plated lock, in the first pack."

"It is all yours," I told Boots.

"All of it?" asked Boots, incredulously.

"All of it," I said.

"Thank you!" said Boots, fervently. "It will be put to good use."

"Perhaps you could use it in support of the arts," I suggested.

"My intention exactly," admitted Boots.

"It might be used, for example," I suggested, "in support of some worthy but struggling theatrical company."

"That is a sound and brilliant suggestion," Boots congratulated me.

"Perhaps you have some company in mind," I said.

"I have just the company in mind," he said.

"Us," said Lecchio.

"A bit abruptly and crassly put," said Boots, reprovingly, to Lecchio, "but that would indeed seem to capture the gist of the matter."

"Are you grateful," I asked.

"yes," said Boots.

"Eternally, undyingly?" I asked.

"Surely," said Boots.

"There is something you can do for me," I said.

"Name it, brother," said Boots.

"I am still interested in joining your company," I said.

"Out of the question," said Boots. "Impossible."

"Come now," I said.

"Come now," said Chino.

"Come now," said Lecchio.

"Come now," said Petrucchio.

"Come, come now!" insisted Andronicus.

"My mind is made up," said Boots.

"Perhaps you could unmake it, and start in, all over again," I suggested, reaching to the multiple sheath of saddle knives slung at my hip.

Boots eyed me, closely.

"By dear Boots, do not be an ungrateful dolt," scolded the ponderous Andronicus.

"I have spoken," announced Boots, grandly.

I drew one of the blades, and turned it in my hand. "Perhaps you could speak again," I suggested.

"Never," said Boots.

"Oh?" I asked. I turned the knife again, now holding it by the handle. The point idly seemed to focus on Boots's throat.

"What could you do?" asked Boots, uneasily, watching the knife point.

I flipped the blade in my hand, holding it now again by the blade. I looked at Boots, evenly. "I do a knife throwing act," I said. "Remember?"

"And a good one, too," admitted Boots.

"Let him join the company," pressed Chino.

"Yes," urged Lecchio.

"By all means," urged Petrucchio.

"It is little enough for all he has done," said Andronicus.

"We cannot take in every stray sleen who comes whining about the wagons," said Boots. "Are we a refuge for homeless waifs, a food wagon for improvident wayfarers, a training grounds for amateurs, a nomadic inn for stage-struck aspirants, an itinerant shelter for every awed, hopeful bumpkin desirous of donning the thespic mantle, and on our stage, that of the theater's titans, of sharing our riches, tangible and intangible, our glory and largesse, that of Gor's finest theatrical aggregation? What of our professional standards? What of our reputation?"

"Urt droppings," said Chino.

"Urt droppings?" inquired Boots.

"Yes," said Chino.

"Perhaps you are ready to reconsider your position on this matter," I said. I flipped the knife meaningfully about. The point now, again, was looking at Boots.

"You are skillful," said Boots. "There is no doubt about it. You are not an experienced, professional actor, of course."

"That is true," I granted him. The point was now an inch or so from his neck.

"There are, of course, many other things y9ou might do, simple work, heavy work, say, unsuitable for more skilled personnel."

"True," I said.

"Perhaps you could help the monster," he mused.

"Yes," I said.

"The stage must be set up," he said, "the tents put up, and so on."

"Yes," I encouraged him.

"Do not be ungrateful, Boots," said Andronicus. "We owe him our very lives."

"And you still could," I pointed out.

Boots swallowed, hard. "I am not a stern, inflexible fellow," he said. "It is well known that I am resilient and supple, as well as complex, subtle and talented. That Boots is a broad-minded fellow, I have often heard it said. He is easy-going and tolerant, as it is said, and, indeed, perhaps sometimes too much so for his own good, as it is also said. Yes, that Boots is a good fellow, one always ready to listen to arguments, to consider carefully the claims of reason, as they say."

"I take it you are reconsidering your position," I said.

"I am taking its reconsideration under consideration," said Boots.

"Let him join the company," said Andronicus.

"I am weakening," said Boots. "The arguments of Andronicus are swaying me."

"If you do not permit him to join us," said Andronicus, "I shall resign from the company."

Boots regarded him, aghast.

"Yes," said Andronicus, firmly.

"We would be devastated!" objected Boots.

Andronicus regarded him, his arms folded adamantly.

"I am swayed," said Boots.

Swiftly I reversed the blade I held and tucked it under my arm that I not wound Publius Andronicus who, victorious, was heartily reaching for my hand. Chino, Lecchio and Petrucchio, too, moved about me, slapping me on the back and congratulating me. Lastly Boots himself seized my hand warmly. "Welcome to the company of Boots Tarsk-Bit," he said. "Remember, however, this is no ordinary troupe. In joining us you have undertaken a grave responsibility and a most serious charge. See that you struggle to live up to our high standards."

"I will try," I assured him.

"We do have a problem, however," said Boots to the others in the troupe.

"What is that?" asked lanky Petrucchio.

"Where will he stay?" asked Boots. "I have no intention of sharing my wagon with someone who can handle a knife like that."

"He can use my wagon," said Petrucchio. "I myself, if he be amenable, will lodge with my friend, Andronicus, with whom I have lengthy discussions on the craft of the actor."

"On the art of the actor," said Andronicus.

"Craft," said Petrucchio.

"Art," said Andronicus.

"Is it all right?" asked Petrucchio.

"Of course, and welcome," said Andronicus. "It will give me an opportunity to train you in the one hundred and seventy-three movements of the head."

"I thought it was one hundred and seventy-one," said Petrucchio.

"In a text by Alamanius, I have discovered two new movements," said Andronicus, "each with its several variations."

"Fascinating," said Petrucchio.

"It is settled then," said Boots.

"Yes," said Petrucchio.

"Yes," said Andronicus.

"Thank you," I said to Petrucchio and Andronicus.

"It is nothing," they assured me.

"Do you wish to share my w2agon?" I asked my captive.

"No!" she said.

"You may lock her in the girl wagon, chained in her place, with Rowena and Bina," said Boots, generously.

"No," I said. "Do not bother. I will simply chain her by the neck under my own wagon."

"Very well," said Boots.

She regarded me angrily, and squirmed in her bonds.

"Gather up those boxes and packs, and that which might seem to be of any value here," said Boots to his fellows. "In particular do not neglect a small coffer, bound with iron, studded with silver, closed with a golden-plated lock, reputed to be in the first pack. These things we shall transport back to our own camp. Victory has been ours. The loot, thus, in its various items, of which I shall keep a careful list, in its various natures, quantities and qualities, is also ours."

"No!" protested the other woman, she who lay in the dirt, absolutely naked, helplessly bound, hand and foot, next to my own captive.

"Did you speak, my dear?" asked Boots Tarsk-Bit.

"Yes!" she said. "Free me!"

"Why should I do that?" asked Boots.

"I am a free woman!" she cried.

"Chino, bring a torch closer," said Boots.

Chino came from the area of boxes and packs, with one of the torches.

"As you are perfect gentlemen, you will free me," she said. "I can count on that as a free woman."

I smiled. Goreans tend to be less gentlemen, than owners and masters of females. IN the order of nature they tend to acquire and dominate them, making them uncompromisingly their own.

"Who are you?" asked Boots.

"I am the Lady Telitsia of Asperiche," she said.

"Ho, ho, ho!" cried Boots, gleefully, triumphantly, rubbing his hand together.

"I do not understand," said the woman.

"Hold the torch closer," said Boots to Chino.

"Oh!" cried the woman, as I turned her roughly to her right side in the dirt, this exposing her left thigh.

"Aha!" cried Boots, triumphantly.

"I have never been collared!" she cried. "I have never worn a collar!"

"That can be remedied," Boots informed her.

"I am not a slave!" she cried.

Her thigh, however, belied her protestation. It bore, clearly, indisputably, unmistakably, a brand, the common Kajira brand. It was as clear on her body as on that of any other slave. The brigands, it seemed, had, or had had her, reduced to slavery.

"It is only a mark!" she cried.

"I think it is a little bit more than that," said Boots. "It is a slave brand."

"It means nothing!" she cried.

"It means a great deal, as I am sure, sooner or later, you will agree," said Boots.

"No!" she cried.

"You are a slave," said Boots.

"Free me!" she begged. "I beg you to free me!"

"You will be the first item on my loot list, Lady Telitsia, as I may choose to call you for a time," said Boots.

"Surely you jest! Surely you will free me!" she said.

"Do I seem a fool to you?" asked Boots.

"No!" she said, hastily.

"Only fools free female slaves," said Boots. "Surely you are familiar with the saying."

"I am of high caste, and am rich!" she said.

"Once perhaps," said Boots, "but neither is true any longer. With your branding you became only an animal, a property. With the iron's first touch you ceased to be a legal person. You are now casteless. You now own nothing. Rather it is n now you yourself, slave, who are subject to being owned, as much as any other object or property."

"No, no!" she cried, squirming in the thongs that bound her. She was attractive, doing so. She could not free herself, of course. She was absolutely helpless. She had been bound by Gorean men.

"I think we can find some chains for you in the girl wagon," said Boots. "Perhaps, on occasion, I will have you come to my own wagon."

"No, no, no!" she wept, struggling.

Boots looked down upon her, beaming.

"Surely you have no intention of keeping me!" she cried.

"Your body, as I now see," said Boots, "now that you are naked, now that the pesky, interfering, obscuring robes of the scribe have been totally removed from it, not inconceivably might be of interest to a male."

She regarded him with horror. Too, he had surely understood the case. I had little doubt but what she would bring a fine price in a slave market. Indeed, those slaved curves of hers, even routinely put up for salve on a block, would be almost certain to elicit active and serious bidding.

"Too," said Boots, "I think you are highly intelligent, and, if I am not mistaken, you have also, at the fair, earlier, given to some subtle indications of possessing a great deal of talent."

"I do not understand," she stammered.

"Gather around, everybody," called Boots.

Petrucchio, Andronicus, and Lecchio joined Boots, myself and Chino near the bound woman.

"On your knees, my dear," said Boots to the bound woman.

She, moaning, struggled to her knees.

"Gentlemen," said Boots, "may I present Lady Telitsia, as, for the time, as it pleases me, I shall refer to her."

"Greetings," said Lecchio.

"Greetings," she whispered.

"Perhaps you remember her from the fair," said Boots.

"Yes," said Chino. "We remember her-well."

The slave shuddered.

"Behold her," said Boots, cheerfully. He took her by the hair and pulled her head back. Yes, I thought, she would bring a high price.

"Pretty," said Chino.

"Pretty," agreed Lecchio.

"That we have acquired her," said Boots, "we may account a stroke of great good fortune."

"How is that?" asked Lecchio.

"She comes to us, does she not," asked Boots, "at a peculiarly opportune time, at an instant when we are struggling in desperate straits, at a time when we find ourselves in agonizing and desperate need."

"She does?" asked Lecchio, a golden necklace draped about his neck, taken from he loot of the brigands.

"Yes!" said Boots.

"Ah, yes!" mused Chino.

"I have consented to Lady Telitsia's joining our company," announced Boots.

"No!" she cried, her head back, wincing, her hair in Boots's grasp.

"Yes!" reaffirmed Boots. "Too, she comes to us just in time to solve one of our most pressing problems."

"Yes, indeed," agreed Andronicus.

"I do not understand," said Lecchio.

"Is the matter not clear?" asked Boots.

"No," said Lecchio.

"Behold, Gentlemen," said Boots, pulling her head back a bit more and indicating her, displaying her, expansively with the palm of his left hand, "we have found our Brigella!"

"No!" cried the girl.

The fellows applauded Boots, admiringly, striking their left shoulders in Gorean applause.

"No!" she cried. "Never!"

"She is even prettier than the last," said Lecchio.

"I think she will do very nicely," said Chino.

"An excellent choice," said Andronicus.

"I refuse!" she cried. "The very thought of it! The outrage! The indignity! How dare you even think of such a thing! I am of high caste! I am of the scribes! Wait until I bring this matter to the attention of magistrates!"

"As I may remind you, my dear," said Boots, patiently, "you are no longer of high caste nor of the scribes. Similarly, as I am sure you will recognize, at least upon reflection, you now have no standing before the law. You are now of no more interest to magistrates, in their official capacities, as opposed to their private capacities, than would be an urt or a sleen."

She regarded him, frightened.

"Your days of making a nuisance of yourself are now over," said Boots. "Indeed, I speculate that those very same magistrates whom you have so often inconvenienced would be quite pleased to learn that you are now, at last, no longer capable of pestering them with your inane, time-consuming nonsense. I doubt that they would wish to see you again, unless perhaps it would be to return you naked and bound to your master, with the blows of a whip on your body, or perhaps, say, to have you serve them in a tavern, helpless in the modality that would then be yours, that of the total female slave."

"Please!" she begged.

"Hitherto you have sought to use men for your purposes," said Boots. "That is now changed. It is now you who will be used for their purposes, fully. In the past you have made many demands on men. Henceforth it will be your hope rather that they will find you pleasing, in all respects."

"I am a free woman!" she cried.

"You will soon learn differently," said Boots.

"I am free!" she wept.

"That is not true," said Boots, "as you will soon come to understand."

"I am not a slave," she wept. "I cannot be a slave!"

"Silence, Slave," said Boots.

"Please!" she wept.

"It has been a busy day," said Boots. "Chino, would you please untie the slave's ankles?"

"Surely," he said.

Boots then drew her to her feet and held her head, bent down, by the hair, at his waist, in leading position. Her hands were still tied behind her. "Lecchio, Chino, Andronicus, Petrucchio, if you would," said Boots, "bring along these other things, whatever seems of value."

"Very well," they assented.

"It is growing late, and I am weary," said Boots to Lady Telitsia. "It will be time enough in the morning to whip you."

"Whip me?" she gasped.

"I will then be fresher and can lay the lash to you more roundly," he said.

"The lash?" she queried.

"Yes," he said.

"You're joking!" she said.

"You may ponder that tonight, while chained in the girl wagon," he said.

"But why?" she asked.

"You have not been pleasing," he said, "not that that matters that much. As you know, no excuse, explanation, defense or reason is required to justify the whipping of a female slave. She may be beaten for any reason, or for no reason, whenever the master wishes. She may be whipped even, if he wishes, on the outcome of the spinning of a wheel or the cast of a die."

I crouched down beside my own prisoner, the free female, she whom I had shackled, she whose beauty seemed to strain protestingly against the long, thin gown put upon her by the brigands, as though calling for a man to tear it from her.

"You look upon me boldly," she said.

"You are a captive," I reminded her.

"But I am to be kept in honor!" she said.

"Of course," I said, "or at least for a time."

"I wear your gyves," she reminded me.

I regarded her fair ankles, snug in their metal fastenings, linked by the short chain. They could not now be parted, unless I chose to do so.

"Perhaps it is your intention to remove them?" she asked, apprehensively.

"Perhaps I shall occasionally remove them," I said, "perhaps for the purposes of exercise."

"Exercise?" she asked.

"Yes," I said. "For example, I might wish to take you-"

"Take me?" she asked.

"Say, for a run on a leash," I said.

"I see," she said.

"We must soon return to our camp," said Boots, his fist in the bent-over Lady Telitsia's hair.

"Surely you will remove my fetters at least to permit me to walk to your camp," suggested my captive.

I saw that she wanted the fetters off. I wondered if this was because she desired to escape, or if she wished to be caressed.

"Otherwise," she said, "I fear the journey will be both lengthy and painful. I do not even know if I can stand in them."

"You can stand in them," I said. "It is only that it would be difficult to move in them without falling."

"I see," she said.

"You could always crawl," I said, "dragging yourself forward, say, on your hands or elbows."

"Perhaps if your camp is close, I might, dragging myself through the underbrush, arrive there by morning."

"Perhaps," I said.

"If I did not get lost, or fall to sleen," she said.

"Perhaps," I speculated.

"Doubtless you will now, for your convenience, remove them," she said.

"No," I said.

"I do not understand," she said.

"They were not put on you to be removed so soon," I said.

"How then shall I get to your camp?" she asked, apprehensively.

"I have another mode of transportation in mind for you," I said, "a mode which I trust you will find instructive."

"No!" she begged.

"Yes," I said.

"Head forward," she pleaded.

"No," I said, "you shall be carried to the camp on my shoulder, your hands tied, your ankles helpless in their fetters."

"My head forward," she begged.

"No," I said, "to the rear."

"As a slave!" she cried, angrily.

"Yes," I said.

"Even she there, she who is naked and bound, she who is a true slave, is permitted to walk!"

"I do not think you will long envy her," I said.

Lady Telitsia, now a slave, whimpered, frightened.

"You treat me as a slave," said my captive. "Perhaps you will soon make me a slave!"

"Perhaps," I said.

"Your eyes rove me brazenly, I note," she said, angrily, "as though I might be a slave."

"Yes," I admitted. To be sure, she was quite beautiful. I had no doubt but what she might, if collared and trained, and brought into touch with her feelings, prove to be not only an adequate slave, but perhaps even a quite marvelous one.

"You said," she said, "that you would get me something else to wear."

"Have no fear," I said. "I shall."

"Let us be on our way," said Boots.

I scooped up the woman and threw her over my shoulder, her head to the rear. She was not heavy. I looked out, into the shadows of the woods. I did not think she would be likely to forget this nocturnal journey, being carried helplessly through the darkness into captivity.

"Back at the fair," said Boots to me, "as I recall, you expressed your eagerness to join our company."

"yes," I said.

"As I recall, as well," said he, "you were willing to work without pay."

"True," I grinned.

"That seems a suitable arrangement from my point of view." said Boots.

"Boots," warned Andronicus, sternly.

"But, of course, even though it might be difficult, we shall struggle to manage some small remuneration-somehow," Boots assured me.

"Thank you," I said.

"It is nothing," said Boots, generously.

"And if you are not careful, it will be," said Chino, cheerfully.

Boots then set off confidently through the woods.

"Your camp," I said to him, "is more to the right. That's it."

Boots led the way, Lady Telitsia stumbling along, bent over, held, beside him, in approximately the right direction. He was followed by his fellows, carrying various articles taken from the brigands' camp. I then brought up the rear, on my shoulder the Lady Yanina.