On one of these lines, number six, there knelt, one behind the other, in tandemfashion, seven girls. They were barbarians, but they had been knelt in theposition of pleasure slaves, back on their heels knees wide, hands on theirthighs, backs straight, heads up.

You handled yourself well in the hall," said the fellow to me. "It is mysuspicion that you are no stranger to war."

"I have fought," I admitted.

"Are you a mercenary?" he asked.

"Of sorts," I said.

"Why are you in Kailiauk?" he asked.

"I am here on business," I said, warily.

"Are your pursuers numerous?" he asked.

"Pursuers?" I asked.

"You are doubtless in flight," be said. "Would you give me a hand with thesechains?" He then bent down and, from some things, his, I gathered, near onewall, he had picked up several loops of light chain, with spaced, attachedcollars. He slung these loops over his left shoulder and joined me, near thelast girl kneeling on the line.

He handed me a collar, at the chain's termination. I clasped it about the neckof the last girl on the line. It closed, locking, with a heavy metallic click.

"I am not in flight," I said.

The girl whimpered, collared and on the chain.

"I see," grinned the fellow.

"Why should you think I am in flight?" I asked.

"Skills such as yours," he said, "do not bring their highest prices in thevicinity of the perimeter." He handed me another length of chain, with itscollar.

"Oh," I said. I added the next girl to the chain. The collars had front and backrings, were hinged on the right and locked on the left. This is a familiar formof coffle collar. The lengths of chain between the collars were about three tofour feet long. Some were attached to the collar rings by the links themselves,opened and then reclosed about the rings, and some of them were fastened to thecollar rings by snap rings. Another common form of coffle collar has its hingein the front and closes behind the back of the neck, like the common slavecollar. It has a single collar ring usually on the right, through which,usually, a single chain is strung. Girls are spaced on such a chain, usually, bysnap rings. An advantage of the first sort of coffle arrangement is that thechain may, as girls are added or subtracted, be shortened or lengthened. Achain, which has been borne by fifty girls, would, of course, be impracticablyheavy for five or six. An advantage of the second arrangement is that girls canbe easily spaced on the chain, more or less closely together, and can beconveniently removed from, and added to, the chain. Which chaining arrangementis best for a given set of girls depends, of course, on the particularintentions and purposes of their master. The fellow in the broad-brimmed hat hadopted, of course, for the first arrangement. This suggested to me that heexpected girls, for one reason or another, to be subtracted from the chain.

"If you are not now in flight," he said, "I suggest that you consider itsadvisability."

I looked at him. He handed me another length of chain and a collar.

"You should leave town, and soon," he said.

I put another girl on the chain.

"Why?" I asked.

"The vanity of the Hobarts, a proud folk," he said, "was much stung this night,and before female slaves. They will come with their men, with crossbows andswords. They will want their revenge."

"I do not fear them," I said.

"When do you intend to leave Kailiauk?" he asked.

"In the morning," I said.

"Good," said he. "I would not alter my plans."

"I have no intention of doing so," I said. Martial dalliance was not germane tomy mission.

"Put her on the chain," said the fellow, handing me another collar and length ofchain.

I added a blonde to the chain. He then handed me another chain segment andcollar, unlooping it from his shoulder.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I have purchased some trade goods," I said. "It is my intention to enter theBarrens."

"That is dangerous," said he.

"That is what I have heard," I said.

"Do you know any of the languages? Do you know even "No," I said.

"Avoid them, then," he said.

I then added another girl to the coffle, a shorthaired, sturdy-legged brunet.

"I am determined," I said.

The fellow lifted the girl's short, dark hair. "It will be difficult to braidthis hair," he said, "but it will grow."

I then, taking a collar and a length of chain from him, added the next girl tothe coffle. She was also a brunet.

"I am curious," I said, "as to the nature of the girls you have purchased. Theseseven, though surely outstandingly attractive, seem to me to have been ratherexceeded in beauty by several of the others, whom you did not choose to buy."

"Perhaps," he grinned. He handed me another collar, and length of chain,unloosing it from his shoulder.

"Please don't put me in a collar," said the seventh girl, looking up, tears inher eyes. She had spoken in English. She had light-brown hair. I put the collaron her throat, and locked it. She was then naught but another lovely componentin the coffle. She put back her head, and choked back a sob.

"Are you truly determined to enter the Barrens?" asked the fellow.

"Yes," I said.

"How many kaiila do you have? ' he asked.

"Two," I said, "one to ride, another for the trade goods."

"That is fortunate," said the fellow. "No more than two kaiila are to be broughtby any single white man into the Barrens. Too, no party of white men in theBarrens is permitted to bring in more than ten kaiila."

"These are rules in Kailiauk?" I asked.

"They are the rules of the red savages," he said.

"Then," said I, "only small groups of white men enter the Barrens, or else theywould be on foot, at the mercy of the inhabitants of the area."

"Precisely," said the fellow.

Two slave girls, blindfolded, their hands tied behind them, were then thrustinto the room. An attendant, holding them by the arms, brought them forward, andthen, at the indication of the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat, knelt them downover the yellow line, in front of the hitherto first girl in the coffle. Bothwere frightened. They were Ginger and Evelyn. "To whom have we been sold?" begged Ginger. "Where are we being taken?" begged Evelyn. The attendant then,with his booted foot, kicked Ginger to her side on the floor. Then he tookEvelyn's hair in his left hand and with his right hand lashed her face twice,with the palm and then the back of his hand, snapping it from side to side. Hethen knelt them again, on the line. "Forgive us, Masters," begged Ginger.

"Forgive us, Masters," begged Evelyn, blood at the side of her mouth.

I then, with materials supplied by the fellow in the broad brimmed hat, addedGinger and Evelyn to the coffle.

"The three of them, together," said the attendant, "come to ten nine. The otherwill be brought forward in a moment."

I saw the coins change hands.

The small wrists of Ginger and Evelyn pulled futilely at their bonds.

In a moment, as the attendant had suggested, the red-haired girl was introducedinto the room.

"She is a beauty," I said to the fellow in the broad brimmed hat.

"That she is," he said, "and, beyond that, it is the sort of girl she is. Shewill make a superb slave."

The girl, then, half stumbling, was brought forward. Rudely she was thrust downto her knees, where the fellow in the broad-brimmed hat indicated, at the headof the coffle. To her horror her knees were kicked apart. Her chin was thenpushed up. In a moment she was fastened with the others.

I looked down at the red-haired girl. The man in the broad-brimmed hat liftedher hair, displaying it to me. "It is long enough to braid," he said.

"If one wished it," I said. I myself tended to prefer, on the whole, long, loosehair on a slave, tied back, if at all, with a headband or, behind the head, witha cloth or string.