He let her hair fall back, down her back.

"She would bring a high price," I said, "in almost any market with which I amfamiliar."

"I will be able to get five hides of the yellow kailiauk for her," said the man,"Oh, no, Master!" cried Ginger, suddenly, dismally. "No. Master! ' protestedEvelyn. "Please, no! Please, no'

The man in the broad-brimmed hat bent down and, one after the other, untied thewrists of Evelyn, Ginger and the red-haired girl. Ginger and Evelyn weretrembling, half in hysteria. Yet they had presence of mind enough to place theirhands, palms down, on their thighs. The palms of the red-haired girl, forcibly,her wrists in his grasp, were placed on her thighs. When her left hand wished tostray to her brand he took it and placed it again, firmly, palm down, on herthigh.

"Yes, Master," whispered the girl, in English. I was pleased to see that she wasintelligent. A fresh brand is not to be disturbed, of course.

The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat then removed the blindfolds from Ginger andEvelyn. "Oh, no!" wept Ginger. "No, no!" wept Evelyn. "Not you, please!" Theyregarded who it was who owned them, in dismay, and with horror. Yet, I think,but moments before, surely they had sensed, and surely feared, who he might be.

Their worst fears had now seemed confirmed. I did not understand their terror.

He seemed to me a genial enough fellow. "Sell us, beloved Master!" beggedGinger. "Please, Master," begged Evelyn, "we are only poor slaves. Take pity onus! Sell us to another! ' "Make us pot girls!" begged Ginger. "Shackle us! Sendus to the farms!" "We are only poor slaves," wept Evelyn. "Please, please,Master, sell us to another! We beg you, Beloved Master. Sell us to another!"

"The house of Ram Seibar," said the fellow, amused, "wishes you both taken fromKailiauk."

Several of the other girls now, I noted, were frightened and apprehensive. Thered-haired girl, too, seemed frightened. They could not understand Gorean butthe terror of the other slaves was patent to them. None of them, I noted, to mysatisfaction, had dared to break position. Already, I conjectured, they hadbegun to suspect what might be the nature of Gorean discipline.

"Master!" wept Ginger.

"Please, Master!" wept Evelyn.

"Position," snapped the man in the broad-brimmed hat.

Immediately the girls knelt back in the coffle, back on their heels, their kneeswide, their hands on their thighs, their backs straight and heads lifted. Seeingthis, the other girls, too, behind them, hurriedly sought to improve theirposture. The red-haired girl, who could not see behind her, from the sound ofthe command, and the movements in the chain, reaching her through the backcollar ring, fearfully sensing what was going on, straightened herself as well.

"These two girls, the second and third," I said, indicating Ginger and Evelyn,"seem quite disturbed to discover that you are their master."

"It surely seems so," granted the fellow in the broad brimmed hat.

"Why should they regard you with such terror," I asked, "more than seemsnecessary on the part of a slave girl with respect to her master?" It is naturalfor a slave girl, of course, to regard her master with a certain trepidation.

She is, after all, an animal, who is owned by him, over whom he has total power.

The rational slave girl will almost never intentionally displease her master.

First, it is just too costly to do so. Secondly, for reasons that are sometimesobscure to men, these having to do with her being a female, she seldom desiresto do so.

"I do not think that it is I, personally, whom they regard with such terror," hegrinned.

"What then could be the source of such terror?" I asked.

"Who knows what goes on in the heads of pretty little slaves," he said.

"You seem evasive," I observed.

"Perhaps," he admitted.

"Your coffle," I said, "is striking, an assemblage of chained beauties. Yet Ithink there seems a rather clear distinction between the first three girls andthe last seven, and, if I may say so, between the first and the second two."

"Yes," he said, "that is true. Observe the last seven girls. Do you know theirnature? Do you know what they are?"

"What?" I asked.

"Pack animals," he said. "They are pack animals."

"I thought they might be," I said. The fellow's itinerary now seemed clear tome. No more than two kaiila, I remembered he had said, may be brought in by anygiven white man.

"And the first girl," I asked, "is she, too, to be a pack animal?"

"She, too, will serve as a pack animal," he said, "as will they all, but,ultimately, I have a different disposition in mind for her."

"I see," I said.

"She will be worth five hides of the yellow kailiauk to me," he said.

"Then you will make a splendid profit on her," I said.

"Yes," said he. A robe of yellow kailiauk, even in average condition, can bringas much as five silver tarsks.

I looked at the red-haired girl in the coffle, the former MillicentAubrey-Welles. She did not even know she was the subject of our conversation.

"And what of these other two?" I asked, indicating Ginger and Evelyn.

"By means of them I can communicate with the red-haired girl," he said. "Intheir barbarous tongue they can make clear to her, and quickly, the nature ofher condition, and the efficiency, intimacy and totality of the services thatwill be required of her. Too, they can teach her some Gorean, which will keepthem all busy, and help me train her."

"I see," I said.

He adjusted the remainder of the chains and collars on his shoulder. He had notcome to the sales barn, apparently, knowing exactly how many girls he wouldpurchase. It is difficult to anticipate such things accurately, of course,particularly when buying in lots. Much depends on what is available and whatturns out to be the going prices, on a given night. "The treks can be long," hesaid.

"Treks?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"I note," I said, "that all of these girls are barbarians, even the second andthird girl. Why have you not purchased some Gorean girls for your pack train?"

"For pack animals it is surely more appropriate to use meaningless barbariansthan Gorean girls," he said.

"Of course," I granted him.

"But there is, of course," he grinned, "another reason, as well."

"What is that?" I asked.

"These barbarian girls will march along in their coffle as ignorant and innocentas kaiila," he said.

"Whereas?" I asked.

"Whereas," he grinned, "Gorean girls might die of fear."

Ginger and Evelyn moaned.

"These slaves," I said, indicating the two former tavern girls, "seem nottotally ignorant."

"Even these slaves," he said, indicating Ginger and Evelyn, ",who seem sotransfixed with terror, do not even begin, I assure you, to have any idea as towhat might lie before them."

The two girls shuddered. Their will, of course, was nothing. They, like theanimals they were, must go where their masters pleased.

"I take it that you, with your pack train, intend to enter the Barrens," I said.

"Yes," said he.

"Tomorrow morning?" I asked.

"Yes," said he.

"You are, then, a trader?" I asked.

"Yes," he said.

"I have sought along the perimeter for one named "Grunt'," I said.

"That is known to me," he said.

"None seemed to know of his whereabouts, or clearly", I said.

"Oh? ' he said.

"I found that unusual," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"This fellow, Grunt," I said, "is presumably a well-known trader. Does it notseem strange, then, that no one would have a clear idea as to his location?"

"That does seem a bit strange," agreed the fellow.

"It is my thought," I said, "that this fellow, Grunt, has many friends, that heinspires loyalty, that these friends desire to protect him."

"If that is so," he said, "then this Grunt, in at least some respects, must be alucky man."