The girl's neck is thus held closely to the yoke. This, too, of course, is aneffective way of securing a girl. Indeed, there is, in my opinion, normallylittle to choose from between these two yoke ties. Which is preferred may welldepend on matters so trivial as the nature and lengths of the binding materialavailable, for example, ropes, cordage, binding fiber, twisted silk, thongs or,straps. If there is a preference, perhaps it would be for the single-bond tie.

It is stout, and, in its unity, aesthetically attractive. Second only to theabsolute helplessness of the female in her ties, in the Gorean mind, is theattractiveness of her bonds. They should be used to enhance her beauty as wellas to imprison it with absolute perfection.

These yoke ties, incidentally, are not to be confused with a stock tie, or astock yoke. This is normally a pair of hinged planks, with matched, semicircularopenings in the planks. The girl's wrists and neck are placed appropriatelybetween the planks, aligned with the semicircular openings. The planks are thenclosed and-tied or locked shut. Her neck and wrists, then, of course,helplessly, are fixed in place. They find themselves enclosed in effective andperfect constraints. is yoke is sometimes placed on a girl while she is on herback. If the planks are sufficiently wide the girl cannot see at the man isdoing to her. She can only feel it. Similar sensations may be induced in a womanby putting her in a slave hood. She may then either be bound or not, as themaster pleases.

"Nonetheless," she said, "I am free!"

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I am not branded," she said uncertainly.

"You do not need to be branded to be a slave," I said. "Surely you know that"

"Rescue me," she said. "Free met I will pay you much!"

I smiled. Did this lovely agent of Kurii really think that I might even considerfreeing her?

"Free me!" she said. "I will pay you much!" "Did you enjoy being struck?" Iasked.

"No!" she said.

"You will then answer my questions truthfully, directly and early," I told her.

"What do you wish to know?" she asked. "You are beautiful in the yoke," I said.

"Thank you," she said, uncertainly.

"It becomes you," I said.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"You might have been born a slave," I said. She looked at me. "thank you," shesaid…"Describe to me, in brief compass, the course of the battle," I said.

I turned about for I had heard a small noise behind me. Several of the Waniyanpihad now come to the vicinity of the wagon.

"I see you have found her'," said' Pumpkin.

"Yes," 1 said. I noted that neither he, nor the other Waniyanpi, lookedobviously and directly on the woman, though she was beautiful and bound. "Was ityou," I asked, tripped this beauty?"

"No, no," said Pumpkin, hastily. "That was done by the masters."

"It must have been you, then," I said, "who yoked her, and prettily and well."

"No, not" said Pumpkin, hastily. "That, too, was done by the red masters."

"I see," I said. I had surmised, Of course, that it would not have been theWaniyanpi who had removed the woman's clothing, or who had secured her, sosimply, yet so efficiently and brilliantly.

"We did, however," said Pumpkin, "tether her behind the wagon, looking away fromher as much as possible, that we would not have to look at her."

"The red masters permitted this?" I asked.

"Yes," said Pumpkin. "In amusement, they acceded to our pleas."

"That was kind of them," I said.

"Yes," said Pumpkin.

"Describe to me the course of the battle, as you understand it," I said to thestripped, blond captive, giving her once again my attention.

"Please," she said, "who are these people? They do not even look at me. Am I sougly or repulsive?"

"You are neither ugly nor repulsive," I said. "In a common Gorean market youwould bring a good price for a medium grade slave girl. Accordingly, you arequite beautiful."

"Who are they?" she whispered. "Are they men?"

"They are called Waniyanpi," I said, "which in Dust Leg and Kaiila means "tamecattle. "

"Are they men?" she asked.

"That is an interesting question," I said. "I do not know."

The girl shuddered. Of Gorean birth, she was unfamiliar, in numbers, at least,with such organisms. Had she been of Earth origin, of course, she would havebeen far less I startled, for then creatures would have been much more familiarto her. In the polluted meadows of Earth graze numerous Waniyanpi.

"Begin," I told her.

"We feared nothing," she said. "Our forces, we believed, were invincible. We didnot anticipate trouble. Surely it would be insanity to attack us. Insufficientpickets were put out. Watches were not well kept."

"Go on," I said.

"Ten days ago, today, as I have counted this," she said, "the attack took place.

It began near the eighth Ahn. The wagons had been aligned. The tharlarion wereharnessed. A small group of red savages, mounted, was seen to the southeast.

Alfred, captain of Port Olni, commanding two hundred riders, for sport as muchas anything, rode forth to frighten them away. We climbed on the wagons towatch."

Alfred, of course, should not have personally commanded the excursion. Thatexpedition, if it had been mounted at all, should have been led by a juniorofficer.

"In a moment, then, behind us, suddenly, rising from the grass, on foot,screaming, brandishing weapons, there arose, it seemed, hundreds of savages.

They had crawled to these positions through the grass. The grass seemed alivewith them. They swept through the wagons. The most fearful things, I think,happened with the larger wagons, those with the families, to the west. They werealmost defenseless. My own wagon was with the soldiers. In the southeast, then,rising from the gullies and draws, there suddenly seemed hundreds of riders.

Alfred had been lured into a trap. He, suddenly finding himself disastrouslyoutnumbered, wheeled about and, pursued, fled back to the wagons. I think helost many men. When he reached our camp the wagons to the west were alreadyaflame. He would not rush to their relief. He rallied his men and ordered aretreat to the north. It had been from this direction that the savages hadattacked on foot."

"What of the infantry?" I asked.

"It must fend for itself," she said.

I nodded. it was not difficult to follow Alfred's thinking. The savages on footwould not be able to stop the cavalry, and the pursuers from the south orsoutheast might be detained at the wagons. It was there, of course, that theywould encounter the unsupported infantry.

"Drivers leaped from the wagon boxes, fleeing for their lives," she said. "Icried out. My own driver was nowhere to be seen. The tharlarion, frightened inthe turmoil, hitched up, moved this way and that with the wagons, mostly towardthe east, away from the smoke and noise. I lost my footing. I regained it, inthe wagon. I could not stop the tharlarion. The reins were not in my grasp. Iwas dragged a quarter of a pasang before the wagon stopped, through soldiers,through wagons and other men. I saw one of the infantrymen kill a cavalryman,striking him from behind with his pike, and take his kaiila. Alfred turned hismounted forces to the north, but, to his dismay, he saw that his plan had beenanticipated. From the north, now, and the west, came new swarms of mounted redsavages."

I nodded. Certainly the savages would have anticipated an attempted escape inthe sector where they had appeared to position what, in effect, was theirtemporary infantry. The planning that had gone into the attack revealedintelligent and careful thought. In particular the placement and timing theattacks showed a fine sense for what might be the likely directions and phasesof a battle's development. Tactical instructions in a melee, incidentally, arenormally administered to the red savages, in their units, commonly warriorsocieties, or divisions of such societies, by blasts on a whistle, formed fromthe wing bone of the taloned Herlit, or movements of a long, feathered battlestaff.