"But it puts me so much at the mercy of men!" she said.

"True," I said.

"But what if I were cold?" she said.

"You would not long be permitted to be so in a collar," I said. "Slaves must become hot, and learn to beg."

"I suppose slaves are proud of their responsiveness," she said, angrily, but with a note of keen interest in her voice.

"Well," I said, "they are not free women." "But are they proud of their responsiveness?" she asked. "Yes," I said, "and attempt to improve it even further." "Disgusting!" she cried.

"They are not free women," I said.

"I suppose they have no choice," she said.

"It is part of what being a slave is," I said.

"Doubtless they have no choice," she said, seemingly as though distressed, but with an undercurrent of tenseness and excitement.

"They wish to improve themselves, and attempt zealously to do so," I said.

"But they have no choice!" she insisted, determinedly.

"True," I said. "They are given no choice, it is commanded of them. They must obey."

"They must become sexual?"

"Yes," I said, "whether they wish to or not. Indeed, they may be grievously punished, even slain, if they do not."

"Yes!" she said, eagerly.

"Surely you object, and feel grief for them, such piteous creatures, so abused, so forced, so helpless, so rightless, who must unquestioningly bend their collared necks, and wills, to the lust of imperious masters?" I asked.

"No," she said. "They are slaves. It serves them right, it is fitting for them. Anything may be done to slaves."

"But if you were a slave," I said, "such heat, such sexuality, too, could be commanded of you."

"I am not a slave," she said.

"But, if you were," I said.

"Well," she said, "yes, in such a case, I suppose I, too, would have to obey."

"And perform," I said.

"Yes," she said, "and perform."

I moved the raft south, through the rence, under the moons. I had decided to go in this direction after acquiring my fair captive. She reminded me, in a sense, of the war, and the things at stake. Too, it was in the south that my truer concerns of the moment lay, and I had determined to neglect them no further. It was in the south that Dietrich of Tarnburg stood at bay in Torcadino. And it was in Ar I had been betrayed. She reminded me, too, of a woman, a woman whose name was Talena, said once to have been the daughter of Marlenus of Ar.

"Captor," she called.

"Yes," I said.

"You were jesting, were you not," she asked, "about the possible fates that might befall me?"

"No," I said.

"I am a woman of Ar," she said. "What might I do in Cos?"

"Many things," I said. "You are pretty. Perhaps you could be chained to a ring in a Cosian brothel"

"That might do for a time," she said, "but I think I would prefer a private master."

"Perhaps you might meet one in the brothel," I said, "among the patrons, and attract him, perhaps influencing him in virtue of the excellence your services, to make an acceptable offer on you to the brothel master."

"Perhaps," she said.

"It would be interesting to see you desperately attempting to render yourself worthy of his considerations."

"Doubtless," she said.

"Perhaps you might even win him away from his patronage of such places," I said.

"How?" she asked.

"By making his own compartments, in virtue of the diligence, delicacy and imagination of your services, more exciting than any public brothel."

"By making his home his own brothel?" she said.

"Yes," I said.

"His private brothel?"

"Yes," I said.

"I see," she said.

"There is also a thing called "love"," I said.

"Yes!" she said.

"But if this occurred, as is not infrequent, the slave being nothing, the master all," I said, "do you think you would no longer have to fear his whip?"

"Of course not," she said.

"You understand that you would still be held under perfect discipline?"

"Of course," she said. "I would be a slave."

"But then, on the other hand," I said, "aside from such possibilities, and still considering the question of a private master, you might find yourself under the tutelage of a whipmaster in a rich man's pleasure gardens."

"But I would be only one of many women there?" she said.

"Undoubtedly," I said. "Perhaps one of fifty, or a hundred."

"I think I would prefer to be the single slave of a single master," she said.

"Such things" I said, "would not be up to you."

"You are joking about these things, are you not?" she asked.

"No," I said.

"I am a free woman!" she said.

"I know," I said.

"What are you going to do with me?" she asked.

"First," I said, "I would like to get out of the delta."

"But if we are successful in that," she said, "what will you do with me?"

"We shall see," I said. "We shall see."

"Then I am totally at your mercy?" she said.

"Yes," I said.

"And you will do with me as you please, won't you?"

"Yes," I said.

She moaned, and followed behind, on her strap.

20 I Decide to Impose Discipline

She suddenly screamed, and I spun about.

"Get it off me!" she cried, hysterically. "Get it off me!"

"Be silent!" I said.

"Get it off me!" she screamed.

I put the pole down on the raft, leaped into the water, angrily, and waded to her.

"Get it off me!" she screamed.

I struck her with the flat of my hand.

She looked up at me, startled, blood about her mouth.

"Be silent," I said.

"Please take it off me!" she whispered.

"Such things often attach themselves to rence stems," I said. "Apparently you bent down, to drink. The front of your collar is wet, and the strap, near the throat. Your hair, too, is damp. Perhaps you brushed against rence in doing this. Too, however, such things can float free in the water."

"Please!" she said, shuddering. "Please!"

"It has not had time to affix itself," I said.

It was about four inches long, rubbery, glistening in the moonlight.

"Please!" she whispered. I picked it off.

"Do you want it?" I asked. "No!" she said.

"The marsh leech is edible," I said. "At one time I did not know that."

I tossed it away.

She regarded me with horror.

"What is wrong?" I asked.

"I could never eat such a thing," she said.

"If you are sufficiently hungry," I said, "you will eat even less likely things."

"Never," she said.

"To be sure," I said, "men have occasionally starved in the midst of many things which might most adequately have sustained life. One assumes, of course, that this was the result less of fastidiousness than ignorance."

She looked at me.

"Would you prefer to starve in the midst of plenty?" I asked.

"No," she said, uncertainly.

"Such things, upon occasion," I said, "might be the difference between life and death."

"I understand," she said, trembling.

"And if I tell you to eat them," I said, "you will do so immediately and unquestioningly."

She shuddered.

"Do you understand?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"And you will do so even if there is no nutritive need," I said, "even if it is merely at my caprice, or for my amusement."

"Yes," she whispered.

I regarded her.

"Yes-captor," she whispered.

"Perhaps you understand better now," I said, "the discipline to which you are subject?"

"Yes, captor," she said. The diet of the captive, as had now been made clear to her, is subject to the selection and regulation of the captor, as is that of the slave to the master.

We stood in the marsh, under the moons.

She looked at her left breast, fearfully, from which I had removed the creature.

"It is gone," I said. She shuddered.