"Perhaps," I said.

"I have one for sale," said Appanius.

"No, Appanius!" said the first retainer.

"He is cheap," said Appanius, bitterly.

"How much?" I asked.

"He is the cheapest of the cheap," said Appanius, bitterly.

"Do not sell him, Appanius!" said the first retainer.

"He is the most valuable slave in all Ar!" said another.

"To me," said Appanius, "he is worth less than the lowest pot girl."

"How much do you want," I asked, warily. I had some forty-five pieces of gold with me.

"He is worthless," said Appanius. "He should be cast away."

"Throw him to the eels, Appanius," whispered the first retainer.

"No," said Appanius, "rather let him know my estimate of his worth."

"How much do you want?" I asked.

"A tarsk bit," said Appanius.

The retainers cried out with horror. The slave looked up, startled, trembling. Lavinia gasped.

"A tarsk bit," repeated Appanius.

The slave wept in shame, and jerked at the manacles in frustration. But he could not free himself. Well were his hands confined behind him.

"I think I can afford that," I said.

"That is the most valuable slave in Ar!" said one of the retainers.

"No," said Appanius. "It is the most worthless slave in Ar."

I removed a tarsk bit from my wallet and gave it to Appanius.

"He is yours," said Appanius.

The tarsk bit is the smallest denomination coin in common circulation in most Gorean cities.

"You do not mind filling out certain pertinent papers, do you? I asked. I had brought some sets of such papers with me.

"Common slave papers?" he asked.

"Yes," I said.

"It is not necessary," said one of the retainers.

"Not at all," said Appanius. "You do not have an appropriate collar at hand, I gather."

"No," I said.

"If I am not mistaken," said Marcus, "ink and a pen are in the back."

"Interesting," I said. To be sure, they had been here when he had scouted the compartments. Doubtless they had been used before, in the course of Appanius' acquiring new slaves. Slave papers, too, were in the back, although I had brought my own. Hoods, gags, ropes, and such, were in the back, too.

"Give me the papers," said Appanius.

I handed him a set.

"I will fill these out in the back, and you, Lucian, will witness them."

"Yes, Appanius," said one of the retainers, dismally.

"You will wish to bind him," said Appanius.

"No," I said. "If he attempts to escape, his throat will be cut."

"Remove his slave bracelet, and his chains," said Appanius.

"Yes, Appanius," said the fellow.

"I foolishly neglected to have him branded," said Appanius.

"I have noted it," I said.

"As he is a cheap and common slave," said Appanius, "I would have him put under the iron before nightfall."

"I shall consider the suggestion," I said.

Appanius went to the back, to complete the papers.

The slave looked up at me while the retainers removed his chains, and the identificatory slave bracelet, of silver, which he had worn on his left wrist. The retainer also gathered up his clothing, the golden sandals, the purple tunic, the robe, with the hood. Such things I had not purchased. I had, however, anticipated such things, and had brought, among several other things, some suitable garments with me, from the insula of Torbon.

"To whom do you belong?" I asked.

"To you, Master," he said.

"Remain on your knees, slave," I said.

"Yes, Master," he said.

Lavinia looked wildly at me, and then at the slave. And he looked at her, and at me. They both knew that they were now of the same household. They both knew that they not belonged to the same master.

In a few moments Appanius and I had concluded our business. The papers had been signed, and witnessed.

Appanius, returned to the front room, looked down at the male slave. "Do you wish to beg the forgiveness of your former master for what you have done?" he asked.

"No, Master," said the slave. "Not for what I have done."

"I see," said Appanius.

"But I beg your forgiveness, if I have hurt you," he said. "That was not my intention."

"As I have not been hurt," said Appanius, "no forgiveness is necessary."

"Yes, Master," said the slave.

"I see that you are at last learning deference," said Appanius.

"Yes, Master," said the slave. "Thank you, Master."

Appanius then turned toward Lavinia. "You are a pretty slut," he said.

She threw herself to her belly before him, in terror. She looked well there, on the tiles, naked, the collar on her neck.

Appanius, then, with a swirl of his robes, exited. He was followed by two of his retainers. The other two lingered, momentarily. Among them was the first retainer. "We have spoken among ourselves, the four of us," he said. "We will give you a silver tarsk for Milo."

"You are very generous," I said. "That is a considerable profit for me."

"You accept?" he asked.

"No," I said.

"Why not?" he asked.

"There are free women in Ar," I said, "who would pay a thousand pieces of gold for him."

The two retainers exchanged glances. It seemed I knew more of this fellow then they had understood.

"Could you have afforded that much, Lavinia?" I asked.

"No, Master," she said. "I could not have afforded that much."

"Position," I snapped.

Instantly Lavinia rose from her belly to her knees, placing herself in a position common among Gorean pleasure slaves, kneeling back on heels, back straight, head up, palms down on thighs, knees spread.

The male slave, gasped, seeing how beautiful she was, and how she obeyed. Perhaps then he sensed something of the pleasures of the mastery, what it can be to own a woman.

"Do you dare to look at a female slave?" I asked him.

"Forgive me, Master!" he said, lowering his head. Much had it doubtless cost him to avert his eyes from the beauty.

"What of ten thousand pieces of gold?" asked the first retainer.

"You have so much?" I asked.

"I think we can raise it, forming a company to do so," he said.

"I do not think you could raise it in Ar today," I said. "Perhaps a year ago, or two years ago."

"We have in mind contacting men in several cities," he said, "even in Tyros and Cos."

"So much money would pay the mercenaries of Cos for a year," I said.

"Perhaps," he said. "I do not know."

"Not even Talena, in a golden collar, would bring so much," I said.

"But she is a female," he said.

Actually I thought Talena might bring that much, not as a common slave, of course, but perhaps in some situation of great dignity, as, say, a stripped, chained Ubara, being bid on in a private sale, perhaps by the agents of Chenbar, the Sea Sleen, Ubar of Tyros, and Lurius of Jad, Ubar of Cos. It was my intention, of course, to see to it that she would become such that it would be unfitting for her to be accorded this dignity.

"That is your price then?" asked the other retainer.

"He is not for sale," I said.

"I see," said the first retainer.

"You will not get more," said the other.

"I do not expect to," I said.

"Appanius would not sell him either," said the first retainer to the other. "But he did," I reminded him, "for a tarsk bit."

The two retainers then, angrily, left. They left in the same fashion as had Appanius, and the other two, by the front entrance.

"What time do you think it is?" I asked Marcus.

"It is surely past the sixth Ahn," he said. The fifth Ahn marks the midpoint of the morning, betwixt the Gorean midnight and noon, as the fifteenth Ahn marks the midpoint of the evening, between noon and midnight. There are twenty Ahn in the Gorean day, as time is figured in the high cities. These Ahn, in the high cities, are of equal length. In certain cities, interestingly, the length of the Ahn depends on the time of year. In these cities, there are ten Ahn in the day, and ten Ahn in the night, and, as the days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter, so, too, are the Ahn. Correspondingly, of course, the Ahn are shorter in the summer night, and longer in the winter night. The day as a whole, of course, including both day Ahn and night Ahn, comes out to the same overall length as it would in one of the high cities.