"She is not the leader," Cabbage assured me. "It is only that we do whatever she says."

"Is this true, Pumpkin?" I asked.

"We do whatever Radish tells u," he said, again not meeting my eyes.

"We have a man here," I said, indicating Hci, "who is grievously, sorely, wounded. We need food and shelter."

"Find it elsewhere," said Radish.

"Pumpkin?" I asked.

He did not respond, but put down his head. This hurt me, for I had hoped that in Pumpkin, somewhere, perhaps deeply buried, was a man.

"Carrot?" I asked. "Cabbage?"

"I am sorry," said Carrot.

"It is not just you," said Cabbage. "Yesterday Radish even put two young people out of the compound, a young man and woman. She found them touching one another."

"Terrible!" said one of the Waniyanpi women, though I do not think she believed it.

"Go away!" said Radish, pointing out over the prairie. "Go!"

"No, Tatankasa, Mitakola," said Cuwignaka, "do not kill them!"

Radish drew back. My hand, in anger, had gone to the hilt of my sword.

"They banish even their own people," said Cuwignaka.

"I am a woman," said Radish, uncertainly.

"I thought you were a Same," I said.

"Their blood is not worthy of your sword," said Cuwignaka.

"Kill us if you wish," said Pumpkin.

"We will not resist," said Carrot.

"Resistance is violence, and violence is wrong," said Cabbage.

"Aggresion must be met with love," said Carrot.

"Conquerors have often found that a useful philosphy to encourage in subject peoples," I said. I took my hand from the hilt of my sword.

"We need your aid," I said to Radish.

"You may not have it," she said, emboldened. "Go away."

I looked at the men. "You are vile hypocries," I said.

"No," said Pumpkin, "not really. It is only that we are Waniyanpi."

"We do whatever Radish tells us," said Carrot.

"Yes," said Cabbage.

"You have surrendered your manhood," I said. "You are spineless weaklings."

The men hung their heads.

"Let us go, Tatankasa," said Cuwignaka, "Mitakola."

I looked at Pumpkin. He, of all of them, I had had hopes for.

"Pumpkin," I said.

He lifted his head but then, again, put it down, not meeting my eyes.

"Come along, Mitakola," said Cuwignaka.

"Get up, Turnip," said Radish, angrily. "You shame the Waniyanpi!"

"I have not yet been given permission to rise," said Turnip.

"You are kneeling before a man!" screamed Radish. "Get up!" I wondered what it was in Turnip's deferential attitude, in her postrue of submission, which so inflamed Radish.

"Yes," said Turnip. "I am kneeling before a man!"

"Get up!" screamed Radish.

Turnip turned to me, facing me. "I kneel before you, Master," she said. "I incline my head to you, as a woman, and a slave."

"Get up!" screamed Radish, beside herself with rage.

"I kiss and lick your feet, Master," said Turnip.

There coursed through the women present, other than RAdish, a thrill of horor and pleasure. I heard several of them gasp.

Turnip knelt before me, the palms of her hands on the grass, her head down. I felt her lips and tongue, sweetly and softly, delicately, kissing and caressing my feet.

"You are cast out!" screamed Radish. "You are out of the compound!"

Turnip paid Radish no attention. She lifted her head to me, and smiled.

"Take off the garb of Waniyanpi!" screamed Radish. "You are not worthy of it!"

"You may rise," I told Turnip.

Turnip rose to her feet and, over her head, drew off the dismal, gray dress he had worn.

Underneath the dress she was stark naked. She then stood before us, very straight and very beautiful. The women with the exception of Radish, looked upon her admiringly, thrilled that she was so beautiful. The men averted their eyes, frightened and shamed.

"Exercising the prerogative of any Kaiila warrior, over nay slave in a compound of the Kaiila," said Cuwignaka, clearly and loudly, "I now claim this woman as my personal slave." He then regarded her. "You are now my slave," he said.

"Yes, Master," she said. She knelt down swiftly and inclined her head to him. I was pleased to see that she did this quickly. She now understood that she was no longer a Waniyanpi slave but was under a man's discipline.

"And your use," said Cuwignaka, pointing to me, "is his."

"Yes, Master," she said, happily. As a slave myself, of course, I could own nothing, not even the collar I wore. On the other hand I could certainly have the use of a slave, who would then be to me as my own lsave, in all things.

"It will be up to him, of course," said Cuwignaka, "as to whether or not he chooses to accept your use."

"Accept my use, Master," she begged. "Please."

"What if I do not accept her use?" I asked Cuwignaka.

"Then we will leave her behind, cast out of the Waniyanpi compound to die," said Cuwignaka.

"Please accept my use, Master," she begged.

I looked down upon her.

"I learned long ago, at the paws of a master's kaiila, that I was a slave," she said. "I learned it, too, in receiving the blow of a quirt, of a stong man." This was a blow I had administered to her sometime ago, preparatory to questioning her in the matter of the attacked wagon train and column. "I learned it, too," she said, "naked, in a yoke which had been fastened on me by red savages, when I was marched to the compound. Mostly I have learned it here, in the long hours I have had to think, in the fields and in the compound. No longer am I in doubt as to what I am. I am a slave."

A thrill passed through the Waniyanpi women present, with the exception of Radish.

"Long ago," she said, "when you were free, and I had just been sentenced to a Waniyanpi compound, you refused to carry me off, making me your own slave. Perhaps, then, regarding me as a mere encumbrance, I having been so recently free, and did not take me with you. Perhaps on the other hand, it amused you, as it seemed ot, that I, someone you seemed to regard, somehow, as a foe of some sort, of lovely enemy, was to be sent to a Waniyanpi compound, you have now had your wish. I will never forget the horrors of my esceriences there. You may now, if it pleases you, take me from it, as I beg you. Too, now you, too, have fallen slave. You, now, are no more than I. Perhaps a salve, then, may see fit to accede to the pleas of another slave, rather than dismiss her petition as causally, as thoughtlessly, as cruelly, as might a free man. Also, you being a slave, too, perhaps you have been denied the use of women or deprived of their caresses, or perhaps, not being free, you have not been permitted to use them with the same liberal audacity as a free man, or as frequently as you might desire. If that is so, I might be of somewhat greater intrest to you now than I was before. Lastly I would no longer be an encumbrance to you for I am, obviously, no longer a free woman. No longer am I an inconvenience and a bother, something to be concerned about and watched out for. Now I am only a property that begs to love and serve you."

"You seem a different woman than before," I said.

"I now realize that I am a slave, Master," she said.

"If I accept your use," I said, "you must understand that I do so-unconditionally."

"No strong man accepts a woman on any other terms," she said. "I would not have it any other way."

"Do you understand what it is to be a man's total slave?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"Speak," I said.

"The slave is totally subject to the master in all ways, and in all things. She is his to do with as he pleases. She depends on him for her food and the merest scrap of her clothing, if any. She is subject, completely, to his discipline, to his abuse and his whip. She is owned, like a sandal or saddle. She may be slain even on a whim, if her master wishes."