"These issues," said Samos, "are subtle and complex."

The women were chained nude, of course, for that is the way that slave girls arecommonly displayed for their sale, particularly in low markets, and, indeed,even in a private sale from one of the purple booths in the courtyard of a richslaver there will come a time when the slave, even an exquisite, high slave,must put aside her silks and be examined raw, as though she were a common girl.

The Gorean male is a practiced and wary buyer. He wishes to see, fully andclearly, and preferably at his own pace, and leisure, what it is for which he isconsidering putting out his hard-earned money.

"I think that I would favor granting the license," said Samos, "but that I wouldalso insist on the restriction of the subsidy to such an amount that an attackby every mercantile sub caste in Port Kar on the public coffers will not beencouraged. That seems to me reasonable. The various sub castes, it seems to me,should be expected, on the whole, to rely on their own resources. Direct councilsupport, for example, has never been petitioned by the Slavers."

I considered the Barrens. They are not, truly, as barren as the name wouldsuggest. They are barren only in contrast, say, with the northern forests or thelush land in river valleys, or the peasant fields or meadows of the southernrain belts. They are, in fact, substantially, vast tracts of rolling grasslands,lying east of the Thentis Mountains. I have suspected that they are spoken of asthe Barrens not so much in an attempt to appraise them with geographicalaccuracy as to discourage their penetration, exploration and settlement. Thename, then, is perhaps not best regarded as an item of purely scientificnomenclature but rather as something else, perhaps a warning. Also, calling thearea the Barrens gives men a good excuse, if they should desire such, for notentering upon them. To be sure, the expression "Barrens' is not altogether amisnomer. They would be, on the whole, much less arable than much of the otherland of known Gor. Their climate is significantly influenced by the ThentisMountains and the absence of large bodies of water. Prevailing winds in thenorthern hemisphere of Gor are from the north and West. Accordingly asignificant percentage of moisture-laden air borne by westerly winds is forcedby the Thentis Mountains to cooler, less-heated air strata, where itprecipitates, substantially on the eastern slopes of the mountains and thefringes of the Barrens. Similarly the absence of large bodies of water in theBarrens reduces rainfall which might be connected with large-scale evaporationand subsequent precipitation of this moisture over land areas, the moisturebeing carried inland on what are, in effect, sea breezes, flowing into lowpressure areas caused by the warmer land surfaces, a given amount of radiantenergy raising the temperature of soil or rock significantly more than it wouldraise the temperature of an equivalent extent of water.

The absence of large bodies of water adjacent to or within the Barrens also hasanother significant effect on their climate. It precludes the Barrens fromexperiencing the moderating effects of such bodies of water on atmospherictemperatures. Areas in the vicinity of large bodies of water, because of thedifferential heating ratios of land and water usually have warmer winters andcooler summers than areas, which are not so situated. The Barrens, accordingly,tend to be afflicted with great extremes of temperature, often experiencingbitterly cold winters and long, hot, dry summers.

"Another possibility," Samos was saying, "would be a loan to the Sa-Tarnamerchants, at a reduced rate of interest. Thus we might avoid the precedent of adirect subsidy to a sub caste. To be sure, we might then encounter resistancefrom the Street of Coins. Tax credits would be another possible incentive."

At the edge of the Thentis Mountains, in the driest areas, the grass is short.

As one moves in an easterly direction it becomes taller, ranging generally fromten to eighteen inches in height; as one moves even further east it can attain aheight of several feet, reaching as high as the knees of a man riding a kaiila.

On foot, it is easier to become lost in such grass than in the northern forests.

No white man, incidentally, at least as far as I know, has ever penetrated tothe eastern edge of the Barrens. Certainly, as far as I know, none has everreturned from that area. Their extent, accordingly, is not known.

"The issues are complicated," said Samos. "I do not know, truly, how I shouldcast my vote."

Tornadoes and booming, crashing thunder can characterize the Barrens. In thewinter there can be blizzards, probably the worst on Gor, in which snows candrift as high as the mast of the light galley. The summers can be characterizedby a searing sun and seemingly interminable droughts. It is common for many ofthe shallow, meandering rivers of the area to run dry in the summer. Rapidtemperature shifts are not unusual. A pond may unexpectedly freeze in En'Karalate in Se'Var, a foot or two of snow may be melted in a matter of hours. Suddenstorms, too, are not unprecedented. Sometimes as much as twelve inches of rain,borne by a southern wind, can be deposited in less than an hour. To be sure,this rain usually runs off rapidly, cutting crevices and gullies in the land. Adry river bed may, in a matter of minutes, become a raging torrent. Hail storms,too, are not infrequent. Occasionally the chunks of ice are larger than the eggsof vulos. Many times such storms have destroyed flights of migrating birds.

"What do you think?" asked Samos.

I once shared paga with Zarendargar," I said.

"I do not understand," said Samos.

We felt the barge turn slowly in the canal. Then we heard oars being drawninboard on the starboard side. The barge, then, gently, struck against alanding, moving against the leather coils tied there.

"We are at my holding," I said.

I rose from the low bench and went to the door and opened it, emerging near thestern of the barge. Two of my men were holding mooring ropes, one from the bowof the barge and one from the stern. I climbed to the rail of the barge andascended from thence to the surface of the landing.

Samos, below me, came to the interior threshold of the cabin door.

"It has been an interesting morning," he said.

"Yes," I said.

"I shall see you at the meeting of the Council in two days," he said.

"No," I said.

"I do not understand," said Samos.

"Zarendargar is in great danger," I said.

"We may rejoice in that," said Samos.

"The Death Squad is already on Gor," I said.

"It would seem so," said Samos.

"How many do you think there are?" I asked.

"Two," said Samos.

"Surely," I said, "there would be more." I did not think only two Kurii would besent to dispatch one such as Zarendargar.

"Perhaps," said Samos.

"I once shared paga with Zarendargar," I said.

Samos stepped forth onto the deck of the barge, at the stern. He looked up atme, startled. It seemed no longer was he concerned that our camaraderie of themorning might be noted. "What madness do you contemplate?" he whispered.

"Surely Zarendargar must be warned," I said.

"No!" said Samos. "Let him be slain as expeditiously as possible!"

"I do not think, in such a case, Kurii are inclined to slay expeditiously," Isaid.

"It is none of your affair," said Samos.

"Those affairs are mine which I choose to make mine," I said.

"White men are not even allowed in the Barrens," said Samos.

"Surely some must be," I said, "if only to effect the graces and utilities oftrade."

I looked over the low roof of the barge's cabin to the canal beyond. A hundredor so feet away there was the small boat of an urt hunter. His girl, the rope onher neck, crouched in the bow. This rope is about twenty feet long. One end ofit is tied on her neck and the other end is fastened on the boat, to the bowring. The hunter stood behind her with his pronged urt spear. These men serve animportant function in Port Kar, which is to keep down the urt population in thecanals. At a word from the man the girl, the rope trailing behind her, dove intothe canal. Behind the man, in the stern, lay the bloody, white-furred bodies oftwo canal urts. One would have weighed about sixty pounds, and the other, Ispeculate, about seventy-five or eighty pounds. I saw the girl swimming in thecanal, the rope on her neck, amidst the garbage. It is less expensive and moreefficient to use a girl for this type of work than, say, a side of tarsk. Thegirl moves in the water, which tends to attract the urts and, if no mishapoccurs, may be used again and again. Some hunters use a live verr but this isless effective as the animal, squealing, and terrified, is difficult to drivefrom the side of the boat. The slave girl, on the other hand, can be reasonedwith. She knows that if she is not cooperative she will be simply bound hand andfoot and thrown alive to the urts. This modality of hunting, incidentally, isnot as dangerous to the girl as it might sound, for very few urts make theirstrike from beneath the surface. The urt, being an air-breathing mammal,commonly makes its strike at the surface itself, approaching the quarry with itssnout and eyes above the water, its ears laid back against the sides of itslong, triangular head. To be sure, sometimes the urt surfaces near the girl andapproaches her with great rapidity. Thus, in such a situation, she may not havetime to return to the boat. In such a case, of course, the girl must depend forher life on the steady hand and keen eye, the swiftness, the strength andtiming, the skill, of the urt hunter, her master. Sometimes, incidentally, amaster will rent his girl to an urt hunter, this being regarded as useful in herdiscipline.