I had not taken vengeance on her. I had simply treated her exactly as what she was.

In my use of her I had, of course, addressed her only as Tana. That was the name of the slave.

She looked at me, in her chains. I sat cross-legged, was buckling my belt. “What are you going to do now?” she asked.

“I am going to seek Talena,” I said. “I will hunt for her in the forests.” She lay back, in the chains. Then she rose to one elbow.

“You are different,” she said, suddenly. “You are different, from when I knew you.” “How is that?” I asked, curious.

“You seem harder now,” she said, “less soft, less gentle hearted.”

“Oh?” I asked.

“Yes,” she whispered. “You have become more-“

“Yes?” I asked.

“More Gorean,” she whispered. “You are now like a Gorean man.” She looked at me, frightened. “That is it,” she said. “You have become a Gorean man.” I shrugged. “It is not impossible,” I said.

She shrank back, in the chains, against the low, curved wall of the alcove. I smiled at her.

I fastened the sword, with the sheath straps, to my belt. I began to tie on my sandals.

When I had finished tieing my sandals, she spoke. “You said that you were rich,” she said.

“Yes,” I said.

“That you were rich enough to boy me.”

“Yes,” I said. I smiled. “More than ten thousand times over,” I said. She smiled. “Now that you have found me,” she said, “you will not return me to Earth, will you?” “No,” I said. “I will not return you to Earth.” She had fled the Sardar. She had made her decision. It had been a brave act. I admired her for it. But it had been an act not without its risks.

“Sarpedon,” she said, “does not know that I was trained in Ar. He will not charge more than twenty pieces of gold for me.” “No,” I said, “I do not think he would.” “It will be good,” she said, “to again be free.” I could recall that once, it now seemed long ago, this girl, in a marvelously staged sale, with all the skills of the great auction house, the Curulean, in Ar, had, with two other girls, Virginia Kent and Phyllis Robertson, brought fifteen hundred gold pieces. Virginia Kent had become the free companion of the warrior, Relius of Ar. Ho-Sorl, another warrior of Ar, had obtained Phyllis Robertson. I expected he still kept her in collar and silk, liking her that way. Now this girl, once Elizabeth Cardwell, of Earth, now a paga slave in Lydius, would bring only fifteen or twenty-five pieces of gold. Contexts, and markets, were interesting.

She was surely as beautiful as she had been, when she had been sold in Ar. But now, comparatively, she was cheap.

It did not seem to me impossible that I might be able to obtain her for ten. “Perhaps,” I suggested, “ I could get you for as little as ten,” She looked at me, angrily. “Perhaps,” she said.

“If I wished,” I added.

“What do you mean?” she whispered.

“I seek Talena,” I told her.

“Buy me,” she whispered. “Buy me. Free me!”

“In the Sardar,” I said, “you made your decision. That decision was not without risks.” She looked at me in horror.

“You gambled,” I said. “You lost.”

She shook her head, no! “Do not think that I do not admire you,” I said. “I do. You performed a brave act. I admire you greatly for it. But, as I have told you, such acts are not without their risks. You have made your decision. Not there are consequences to be paid. You gambled. You lost.” “Do you know what it is to be a paga slave?” she whispered.

“Yes,” I told her.

“Buy me!” she begged. “Buy me! You are rich! You can buy me!”

“Is that how a slave begs?” I asked.

“Buy Tana!” she wept. “Buy Tana!”

She extended her chained wrists to me. I took her by the arms, and kissed her, long. I tasted the slave rouge in my mouth.

Then I thrust her back from me.

“What are you going to do?” she begged.

“I am going to leave you here,” I said, “-as a paga slave.”

“No,” she wept. “No!”

I left the alcove, not speaking further to the slave girl. Tana.

Rim and Thurnock were waiting below. It was a bit late now in the afternoon. We could begin the purchase of supplies in the morning.

I noted that Tendite now, again, served in the tavern. I noticed, too, that, clad in yellow silk, belled on the left ankle, as another paga girl, the dancer, she whom Thurnock had sported with, too, carried a vessel of paga about. When she was not dancing, Sarpedon, I gathered, used her as a common paga slave, not unlike the others. It was more economical, I supposed, to do so.

“Greetings, Captain,” said Thurnock.

“Greetings, Captain,” said Rim.

Both men seemed well relaxed.

I nodded with my head toward the dancer, now serving as a common paga slave. I did not wish my men to be cheated. “How much did she cost you?” I asked Thurnock.

“Since, when not dancing, she serves with the common slaves,” said Thurnock, “she same, like the others, for the price of a cup of paga.” “Good,” I said. Thurnock had not been cheated.

The girl looked angrily over her shoulder at Thurnock, and then poured paga. We were standing near the counter of the proprietor, which is to the left of the door, as one leaves.

“All my girls,” said Sarpedon, “come with the cup. Even the dancers.” He grinned. “It is house policy,” he said proudly. He looked at us. “Did masters enjoy themselves?” “Yes!” boomed Thurnock.

“How was Tendite?” asked the proprietor.

“Exquisite,” said Rim. “She taught me a couple of things. I must now, when I return to the ship, teach them to my own slave, Cara.” I recalled the slender, beautiful Cara, on the Tesephone, Rim’s slave, clad in the brief slave tunic of white wool, her hair bound back with the woolen fillet. “How was Tana,” inquired the proprietor.

“Quite good,” I told him.

“She is one of my most popular girls,” said the proprietor. “A little beauty.” “Incidentally,” I said, that Sarpedon not be cheated of his dues. “I have seen this Tana before, in Ar. She is an exquisitely trained pleasure slave and, an a most stimulating performer of slave dances,” “The she-sleen!” laughed the proprietor. “I did not know. My thanks to you, Captain! This very night she will dance in the sand for my customers!” I turned to leave.

“Will you return to see her?” asked the proprietor.

“No,” I said, “I have many matters of business to attend to.”

It was now four days following my arrival, the master of the Tesephone, in the harbor of Lydius, near the mouth of the broad, winding Laurius River. We had taken on supplies, and my men, on shore, in the paga taverns, had rested, and had muchly pleasured themselves with the lovely recreations of the port. I stood at the rail of my ship.

The urt shields were still fastened to the mooring ropes, circular plates, preventing small port urts from boarding the ship. The urts which had been placed in the lower hold, before making landfall in Lydius, those which had figured in my interrogation of the panther girls, Tana and Ela, had been removed the following morning. Thurnock and Rim, with snares and nets, and by the light of the tharlarion oil lamps, had captured them. As we coasted the shores pasangs above Lydius, we had thrown them overboard. They had splashed beneath the water and then, in a moment, their snouts and sleek heads had poked upward, shining and dripping, and then, they, all six of them, noses like compass needles, smelling the land, had turned in the water and tails whipping, leaving snakelike curves in the water, had sped toward the distant forests.

We laughed.

They had been useful.

The girls, Tana and Ela, by my order, had not known that the urts had been thrown from the ship. They had been, by my orders, sanding the deck before the stern castle. As far as the girls knew there were still urts in the lower hold. As far as they knew, they might be again bound, and placed there. They worked well.