"These benches are uncomfortable," I said to Samos. My legs were cramped.

"They are designed for women," said Samos.

There was room for five women on each bench. With my heel I kicked some light,siriklike slave chains back under the bench. Such chains are too light for aman, but they are fully adequate for a woman. The primary holding arrangementsfor women on the benches, however, are not chains. Each place on the bench isfitted with ankle and wrist stocks, and for each bench there is a plank collar,a plank which opens horizontally, each half of which contains five matching,semicircular openings, which, when it is set on pinions, closed, and chained inplace, provides thusly five sturdy, wooden inserts for the small, lovely throatsof women. The plank is thick and thus the girls' chins are held high. The plankis further reinforced between each girl with a narrowly curved iron band, theopen ends of which are pierced; this is slid tight in its slots, in its metalretainers, about the boards, and secured in place with a four-inch metal pin,which may or may not be locked in place. Each girl is held well in her place,thusly, not only by the ankle and wrist stocks, which hold her ankles back andher wrists beside her, but by the plank collar as well.

"We are passing a market," said Samos. "You had better close the window slats."

I glanced outside. The smell of fruit and vegetables, and verr milk, was strong.

I also heard the chatter of women. Dozens of women were spreading theirblankets, and their wares, on the cement. There are many such markets in PortKar. Men and women come to them in small boats. Also, of course, sometimes thevendors, too, will merely tie up their boats near the side of the canal,particularly when the space on the cement is crowded. The markets, thus, tend toextend into the canal itself. The only fully floating market authorized by theCouncil of Captains occurs in a lakelike area near the arsenal. It is called thePlace of the Twenty-Fifth of Se'Kara, because of the monument there, rising fromthe water. On the twenty-fifth of Se'Kara in Year One of the Sovereignty of theCouncil of Captains, the year 10,12 °C.A. Contasta Ar, from the Founding of Ar,a sea battle took place in which the fleet of Port Kar defeated the fleets ofCos and Tyros. The monument, of course, commemorates this victory. The marketforms itself about the monument. That year, incidentally is also regarded assignificant in the history of Port Kar, because it was in that year that, as itis said, a Home Stone consented to reside within the city.

"Please," said Samos.

I looked at the benches. Most of them were smooth, and, on many, the darkvarnish was all but worn off. Slave girls are normally transported nude.

"Please," said Samos.

"I'm sorry," I said. I closed the window slats by moving one of the slats. Theycan be most easily closed, of course, by moving the narrow, vertically mounted,central wooden lever, but this lever, as would be expected, is on the outside.

The window is designed to be opened and shut from the outside. Too, it can belocked shut, and normally is, from the outside, when cargo is within. As I haveearlier indicated the slave girl is normally transported in total ignorance ofher destination. Keeping a girl in ignorance is commonly thought useful in hercontrol and management. Too, it helps her keep clearly in mind that she is aslave. Curiosity is not becoming in a Kajira is a common Gorean saying. The girllearns quickly that it is not her business to meddle in the affairs of hermaster but, rather, to be beautiful, and serve him, abjectly and totally.

"I do not wish too many to know of our early morning journey," said Samos.

I nodded. We were well known in Port Kar. There was little point in provokingthe populace to idle speculations.

"We are passing another market," I said.

"Verr milk, Masters! ' I heard called. "Verr milk, Masters!"

I opened the slats a tiny crack. I wished to see if she were pretty. She was, inher tunic and collar, kneeling on a white blanket, spread on the cement, withthe brass container of verr milk, with its strap, near her, and the tiny brasscups. She was extremely lightly complexioned and had very red hair.

"Verr milk, Masters," she called. Slaves may buy and sell in the name of theirmasters, but they cannot, of course, buy and sell for themselves because theyare only animals. It is rather for them to be themselves bought and sold, as themasters might please.

"Will you make a report of this morning's business to the Sardar?" I asked.

"A routine report of all such contacts is to be made," said Samos.

"Do you expect the Sardar to take action?" I asked.

"No," said Samos.

"That, too, is my speculation," I said.

It is their custom in most such matters to let matters take their course.

"True," I said.

"Are you interested?" asked Samos.

"I was curious to hear your view," I said. "It coincides with mine, as I hadthought it would."

"Why do you ask?" asked Samos.

"I was curious," I said.

"Oh," said Samos.

We rode together for a time in silence, toward my holding, through the canals.

"I met Zarendargar, in the north," I said.

"That is known to me," said Samos.

"He impressed me as a fine commander, and a good soldier," I said.

"He is a terrifying and dangerous enemy," said Samos. "Men and Priest-Kingswould be well rid of him. Let us hope that the beasts we met this morning willbe successful in their quest."

I looked again through the tiny crack in the slats. It was near the sixth Ahn.

Small boats now moved about on the canal. Most were propelled by the swayingmovement of a steering oar. Some, larger boats and light galleys, such as mightbe used in the Tamber Gulf or, abroad, on Thassa, were being rowed from thwarts.

These vessels were singly or doubly ruddered. In negotiating the canals theirlong, sloping yards were lowered, being then fully or partially inboard, ineither case being aligned with the keel. This was in accord with an ordnance ofPort Kar.

"The Council of Captains must meet in two days," said Samos. "It is proposedthat the Sa-Tarna quay in the south harbor be extended. What division of thiswill be borne by public expense remains moot. Too, if this license be granted,an exploitable precedent may be set. Already there is talk among the merchantsin rep-cloth and the lumber and stone merchants."

We were now passing an open slave market. The merchant was chaining his girls onthe broad, tiered, cement display shelves. One girl lay on her stomach, on herelbows, her head down, the heavy iron collar on her neck visible beneath herhair; a short, weighty chain of thick dark links connected this collar, by itscollar ring, to a wide, stout ring, anchored deeply in the cement, almostbeneath her chin; the chain was no more than six inches long; I gathered thatshe was being disciplined; another girl, a blonde, sat on her shelf with herknees drawn up, her ankles crossed, her arms about her knees; I saw her chaindescend from her collar, disappear behind her right leg, and then reemerge frombehind her right thigh, thence running to the ring to which she was attached;another girl, a long-haired brunet, on all fours, faced me, with glazed eyes,seemingly uncomprehendingly regarding the enclosed barge as it passed by in thecanal; she had just been chained; it is common to put a woman on all fours forneck chaining; the slaver stepped away from her; neck chaining, incidentally, iscommon in a market for female slaves, as it is for she-sleen; several girls,standing, awaited their chaining, in turn, on the tiers; I could see the small,incisive brand marks on their left thighs, high, just below their left hips,they were in ankle coffle, their left ankles chained together; more than one ofthem shaded her eyes against the morning sun; it would be a long day for most ofthem, chained in the sun, on the hard, granular surfaces of the hot cementshelves.