Then she, too, gasping, tears in her eyes, stood ready in the coffle, the burdenbalanced on her head. "On!" said Grunt, with a gesture of his whip, wheelingabout on his kaiila. "On!" With the sound of chains and collars, and somefrightened sobbing, the neck-shackled beauties again took up the march.

I drew my kaiila alongside that of Grunt. "I think we must either run," I said,"abandoning the girls and the goods, or stop, and make a stand."

"I do not think we should make a stand," said Grunt. "We could kill the kaiilaand use them, in effect, as a fort and shelter, but, even so, we would beseverely outnumbered."

I said nothing. I feared his assessment of the situation was only too sound.

"If we were red savages," said Grunt, "we would run. Then, hopefully, when thepursuers were strung out, over pasangs, we would turn back on them and, two toone, one engaging, the other striking, finish them off. If this did not seempractical we might separate, dividing our pursuers, and meet later at aprearranged rendezvous, thence to return under the cover of darkness to recover,if possible, what we had lost."

"That is interesting," I said. "Indeed, that seems a sensible plan. Let us putit immediately into effect.

"No," said Grunt.

"Why not?" I asked.

"It is pointless," he said.

"Why is it pointless?" I asked.

"It is pointless," he said, "because we are in no danger."

I looked back at the approaching dust. "We are not in danger?" I asked.

"No," said Grunt, not looking back. "It is they, rather who are in danger, gravedanger."

"I think," I said, angrily, "that we are fools."

"No," said Grunt, quietly. "It is they who are the fools."

"You seem apprehensive," said Grunt.

"They should have caught up to us by now," I said.

I stood at the edge of our small camp, in a few trees, nestled beside a smallstream. It was the late afternoon.

"No," said Grunt. "Put it from your mind."

I turned back to the camp.

Ginger and Evelyn had been freed from the coffle, to gather wood and cook, andattend to the chores of the camp. The collars and chains had been rearranged onthe other girls, in such a way that, by an alternation of the position of snaplocks and chain segments, a free collar was now at each end of the coffle. Thesecollars had then been fastened about two small trees, thus confining the girls,other than Ginger and Evelyn, to the line between the two trees. Last night thecoffle had been taken four times about a small, sturdy tree and then the collarof the first girl had been fastened to the collar of the last girl. That, too,would be, I supposed, the procedure tonight. There are many ways to keep a lineof girls in place overnight, of course. A common way is to bind their wristsbehind their backs and then place them on the ground, supine, the head of one tothe feet of the other. A given girl, then, by thongs on her collar, is tied tothe left ankle of the girl on her left, and to the right ankle of the girl onher right; similarly, the girl on her left is thonged, by thongs passing abouther collar, to the given girl's left ankle, and the girl on the given girl'sright is thonged, by thongs passing about her collar, to the right ankle of thegiven girl.

"I am first girl," said Ginger, walking back and forth before the line of girls,kneeling before her, a switch in her small hand, "and Evelyn is second girl."

She indicated Evelyn. She spoke in English, a language held in common by the newbarbarian slaves. Five spoke English natively; three were American, includingthe red-haired girl, and two were British; two of the other girls were Swedish,and the last girl, with the short, dark hair, was French. "You will addressmyself, and Evelyn, as Mistress," she said. "You will learn your lessons well,both those of the language and of service."

The girls looked at one another.

"This is a switch," said Ginger, lifting the supple switch. She then struck oneof the girls, one of the Swedish girls, with a stinging, slashing blow at theside of the neck.

"This is a switch," repeated Ginger.

"Yes, Mistress," said the red-haired girl, swiftly. I was pleased to see thatshe was quite intelligent. "Yes, Mistress," said the other girls. "Yes,Mistress!" said the Swedish girl, tears in her eyes.

"Evelyn and I," said Ginger, "do not intend to do all the work of the campalone. In time, some of you, at least, will be freed to assist in our labors.

The girls, quickly, glanced at one another.

"Little fools!" laughed Ginger. "You are all little fools! Kneel straighter,little fools!"

Quickly the girls complied.

"Do not think of escape," she said. "There is no escape for you."

Several of the girls reddened.

"Consider your garb," said Ginger. "It is distinctive. It is that of a slave."

Several of the girls looked down at the scanty, revealing cloth in which theybad been placed.

"Similarly, you are barbarians," said Ginger. "Even as you learn the language ofmasters, your accent will continue to betray you. Similarly, even should youlearn to speak flawlessly such things as the fillings in your teeth and thevaccination marks on your arms will continue to mark you as barbarian. So, too,will such things as the fact that you have no Home Stone and no caste, and willbe ignorant of a thousand things known to any Gorean. No, do not think that youcan easily shed your barbarian origin."

Some of the girls looked at her, angrily.

"Too," said Ginger, "thrust up your tunics. Examine your left thighs!

The girls did so.

"You are marked," said Ginger. "You are branded."

The girls smoothed down their tunics, some of them with tears in their eyes.

"So," said Ginger, "put all hopes of escape from your mind. It is a meaningless,foolish dream, inappropriate in a Gorean slave girl. There is no one here tosave you. There is no place to go, nowhere to run. If you should seem to escape,you will be picked up by the first man who finds you, who will then return youto your master, for punishment, or keep you for his own slave. You, there! Onyour belly!"

The Swedish girl, frightened, she who had been struck previously, twisted in thecoffle chain and put herself on her belly. The girls on her left and rightknelt, frightened, heads low, collar chains taut, looking at her.

Ginger went to the girl and thrust up the tunic. "See these tendons," she asked,"at the back of each knee?"

"Yes, Mistress," said more than one, girl.

She laid the switch, cool and green, across the tendons. The Swedish girlshuddered.

"It is a common punishment for a runaway girl," said Ginger, "that these tendonsare severed. The girl, then, can never stand again, but must, if she ispermitted to live, drag herself about by her hands. Sometimes such girls aregathered up by masters and used as beggars, on street corners."

Several of the girls cried out with fear.

Ginger then rose to her feet and stepped away from the Swedish girl, who then,frightened, smoothing down her tunic, together with the girls on her left andright, resumed her original kneeling position.

"You are barbarians," said Ginger. "You have been brought to Gor to be slaves,and that is what you are, and it is all that you are. Do not forget it!"

"No, Mistress," said more than one girl.

"In most cities and towns," said Ginger, "you would even find your pretty necksfastened in locked, steel collars."

"Like animals! ' protested a girl.

"You are animals," said Ginger, "and the sooner you understand that, the easierit will be for you. You are beautiful, owned animals."

Several of the girls shuddered.

"And he who owns you," said Ginger, "he to whom you belong, is your master."