Their wrists were now in steel cuffs behind their backs. No longer would they be able to conceal themselves if their tunics were opened.

"Nor I," said the girl on the end. "What is being done with us?" she asked.

"I don't know," said the third girl. "I don't know!"

A man walked by, slowly, appraising them.

They shrank back.

Their ankles were confined in loose, steel ankle loops, but they could not slip them. A common chain ran though rings on the loops. No longer were their ankles confined with a foot of chain between them. Their ankles, now, for the chain running through the loop-rings was long, could be moved as closely together or as widely apart as they, or their masters, might wish. There were round, pierced metal balls at each end of the ankle chain, to prevent its slipping through the rings entirely. One such ball was to the right of the blond's right ankle and the other was to the left of the left ankle of the last girl on the chain. This ankle-chain arrangement, permitting much plasticity of movement, makes it easier to display a girl.

"We have rights!" whispered the blond girl.

"Do you think so?" asked the dark-haired girl, who had worn the black slacks and the soft, torn red pull-over.

"Yes!" said the blond girl.

"Look at their eyes," said the dark-haired girl.

The blond girl shrank back in the chains.

"Do you still think we have rights?" asked the dark-haired girl.

The blond was silent.

"Do you think a woman could have rights with such men?" asked the dark-haired girl. "Do you think we are still on Earth?" she asked.

"What has become of us?" asked the girl on the end.

"Is it not obvious?" asked the dark-haired girl. Her face was narrow, but delicate and very beautiful. Her figure was slight. but exquisite. Her hair was short, and very dark. She had lovely legs, marvelously revealed by the brevity of the platform tunic. I thought her the most beautiful of all. I also thought her the most intelligent The next most valuable meat in the coffle was, in my opinion, the blond, who was sweetly slung and exciting.

"No!" said the girl on the end. "No! It is not obvious!"

The slender dark-haired girl shrugged, and, with a rustle of chain, turned away.

Then all the girls suddenly shrank back, frightened, for another fellow was passing by, slowly, examining them.

"I do not wish to be dressed like this," said the third girl on the chain.

"Be pleased," said the first girl on the chain, the blond, "that they have given you anything to wear."

Within sight of them, on other platforms, there were numerous, naked chained beauties.

"You will note, of course," said the dark-haired girl, second on the chain, who had worn the torn, pull-over, "the nature of the garments in which we have been placed."

The left side of the brief tunic overlapped the right side of the tunic. It was held in place by a light, white cord, which passed through two loops and was loosely knotted at the right hip. If the cord were jerked loose the garment would fall open and could be. easily brushed aside, to fall back, loose, behind them, on their cuffed, chained wrists.

"What about it?" asked the girl at the end of the chain, belligerently.

"Do you think it would be difficult to open?" asked the dark-haired girl.

"They wouldn't dare!" said the blond girl.

The dark-haired girl did not respond to her.

"You think you are so clever because you are rich!" hissed the blond.

"Do you think any of us have anything now?" demanded the dark-haired girl, angrily. "Do you think we own even the chains we wear?"

"I do not understand what you are saying!" said the girl, angrily, at the end of the line.

The dark-haired girl did not respond to her.

"What sort of place is this!" cried out the girl on the end. She jerked her cuffed wrists futilely. She could bring one of them to a position behind her left hip or her right hip, but could not bring either before her body.

"Struggle if you will," said the dark-haired girl. "It is not the intention of the men that you escape." She smiled. "Therefore you will not escape." The dark-haired girl looked out, over the crowds. "Besides, where would you escape to?" she asked. 'There is nowhere to escape to," she said.

"I hate you!" said the girl who had struggled. The dark-haired girl shrugged.

Two more men walked by, casually casting a glance upon the confined goods.

The girls were silent, and knelt back, small.

The men saw nothing of interest in them. There were many beauties on display.

"I cannot stand the way they look at us," said the blond.

"What does it mean?" asked the third girl on the chain.

"Masters!" called a girl, in Gorean, some yards down the platform, accosting the two men who were passing. She knelt on one knee, and flexed and extended her other leg, beautifully, touching the boards of the platform with her toes. She lifted her body and thrust forth her lovely breasts to them. "Masters," she whimpered, "take me home with you!"

"Do you beg to be purchased?" asked one of the men.

"Yes, Master!" she said.

"Slave," said he, scornfully.

"Yes, Master!" she said.

"Do you find her of interest?" asked the first man, he who had questioned her, to his fellow.

"Stand, Slave," said the second man.

She stood before them, beautifully, almost nude in the platform tunic.

A slaver's man, seeing their interest, came to where they stood.

"Would you care to see the pretty little slut?" he asked.

The four Earth girls, though they could not speak Gorean, watched, horrified, the enactment of a common Gorean episode, the attempt on the part of a slave to interest masters in her purchase.

The blond girl gasped and shrank back when the slaver's man, joining the girl on the platform, jerked loose the cord at her right hip and, with two hands, standing behind the girl, held back the tunic, well displaying her to the gaze of the inquirers.

They could not, of course follow the conversation, but it was clearly one of appraisal, and of commerce.

Then the Earth girls, with the exception of the dark-haired girl, who watched, fascinated, eyes shining, turned their eyes away, shuddering. One of the men had joined the slaver's man and the girl on the platform. The girl cried out, startled, being ruthlessly appraised. Then she writhed on the platform, obedient to the touch of the masters.

"Look!" said the dark-haired girl.

The other three girls then looked too, in horror and fascination.

They saw the beauty being swiftly put through slave paces.

Then they saw her sold. There was a clear exchange of money. The girl was released from her chains and braceleted by one of the men. She was put in a collar and leash and led from the platform. Behind then was left only the discarded chains and a discarded, crumpled tunic. The girl was gone.

"Do you still ask what manner of place this is?" asked the dark-haired girl bitterly of the girl at the chain's end.

That girl, dark-haired, too, shook her head with horror. "It cannot be," she whispered.

The dark-haired girl, who had worn the pull-over, turned angrily to the blond, at the other end of the chain. "Do you still think," she asked, "they will not 'dare' to look at your precious body?"

The blond shrank back, terrified in the chains.

"Do you truly think now," pressed the dark-haired girl, furiously, "that you have rights, you foolish little thing? Do you think before such men you would have rights? These are not men of Earth!"

The blond girl looked at her with horror.

"These men will have their way with women," she said. "Can you not see it in their eyes? They will have what they want from women." And she laughed bitterly, "And we are women," she said.

"This place then-" stammered the girl at the end of the chain.