"Yes," I said.

"I thought you were trying to protect me, like a gentleman," she laughed. "I was protecting you," I said.

"But you used me!" she laughed.

"Yes," I said.

"For behind!" she said.

"That was natural," I said, "as we were lying, as I was protecting you." "I was so surprised," she said.

"You were only a naA?ve free woman then," I said.

"But I was a free woman!" she said.

"True," I said.

"Yet you used me so, in spite of the fact that I was a free woman!" "Of course," I said.

"How could you dare to do so?" she asked.

"It was easy," I said.

"Undoubtedly," she said.

"Also you were convenient, in that position," I said.

"I see," she said.

I lay back, looking up at the stars. The sail was furled. We were using the current to proceed downstream. "I think you used me to relieve your tensions," she said.

"Oh?" I said.

"Yes," she said, chidingly, cuddling up to me. "I have heard men talking about such things. Some use their slave girls, before battle, to relieve their tensions. I think you used me merely to relax yourself before the door to the cell was opened."

"Merely?" I asked.

"Yes!" she pouted.

"Do not underestimate yourself," I said.

"Master!" she laughed, kissing me.

"On your stomach," I said.

She obeyed immediately, unquestionly. "I love being a slave," she said, "and serving!"

We heard a fellow stirring about, on the deck.

"It is my keeper," she said, clinging to me. "He will put me below, in the hold!"

"Yes," I said.

"Can you not keep me a little longer in your arms?" she asked, anxiously. "A moment longer," I said.

"Oh!" she said, softly.

Then I stood up, drawing my tunic about me.

She then half sat, half knelt, the chain depending from her collar, her head down.

I buckled the sword belt about me.

She looked up at me, reproachfully.

"Do you object?" I asked.

"No, Master," she said, quickly, kneeling. But her hands were on the chain depending from her collar. She drew on it a little. It was on her.

"How is she?" asked the fellow, coming up on us.

Immediately, before her keeper, she put her head down to the deck.

"Excellent," I said.

"Master," she said, timidly, not daring to raise her head, "may I speak?" "Yes," he said.

"Publia, slave, has told Claudia, slave, that we are to be put at the prow. May Claudia inquire of master if it be true?"

"It is true," he said. She raised her head a little, timidly. "May Claudia inquire how it is to be done?"

"We use a harness of chains and leather," he said. "The female is absolutely helpless, but is beautifully displayed."

"Does it hurt?" she asked.

"No," he said.

"I do not know hot to be displayed at the prow," she said.

"Do you not think the chains and leather will take care of that matter?" he asked.

"But I mean with respect to my own appearance," she said.

"You will be naked, of course," he said.

"Yes, Master," she said, in misery, teased.

The fellow laughed. "There are many different ways," he said. "Free captures are often encouraged to volubly bemoan their fate, to appear tragically sorrowful, to beg mercy and lenience, to cover their bodies with tears, and so on, as they are carried helplessly into bondage. This is amusing to the crowds at the piers. They are then marched through the streets, to the house of one slaver or another."

"Much depends," she said, "on who has contracted for captures in advance?" "Usually," he said.

"Seasoned slaves, on the other hand," he said, "usually appear pleased, even elated and joyful, and, if they do not appear so readily, they usually soon do so, once again encouraged. Sometimes the woman is required to appear proud, even contemptuous, for there are then fellows who will, so to speak, lie in wait for her at her sale, and bid high for her, hoping to bring her within the scope of their power, to get her, who was proud and contemptuous, into their collar. She will not remain proud and contemptuous for long. Other women are encouraged to appear terrified, or fearful. Fear in a woman is stimulating to a male and also to the female, making her more desperate to please, more eager to feel, more zealous to yield satisfactorily. These, and various other attitudes, may be required of women at the prow."

"And if they are not properly exhibited, or exhibited to the satisfaction of masters." She said, "then the women receive encouragement?" "Yes," he said.

"And may I inquire the nature of this encouragement?" she asked.

"The women at the prow," he said, "are suspended within reach of a slave whip." "I see," she said. The chain trembled, moving in the staple welded to the collar.

Usually, as far as I knew, the placing of women at the prow was not attended by such considerations. For example, when I had put women at my own prow, from time to time, I had usually let them behave or appear in any fashion they pleased. It was enough for me, and, I suppose, for them, that they were at the prow, displayed and helpless. Still, it was an intriguing idea, instructing them in the behavior they were to exhibit at the prow. In such a manner one might, rather as if decorating the ship in a certain way, say, with bunting and garlands, exercise more control over the impression one created in entering the harbor.

Too, of course, one might by such a device ready the crowds for bidding on a certain female, raise up her price, and so on. Certainly it was no secret that slavers, particularly in the more expensive houses, occasionally planned the sale of women in great detail, carefully regulating the order, arrangement, style, pacing and presentation of the goods, sometimes, in effect, even choreographing or staging the sale. But even without special attentions the behavior of women at prows varied considerably, from such things as free women hysterically writhing and screaming in their bonds to saucy slave girls exchanging quips with the crowd. Sometimes, indeed, a girl would single out a desirable male in the crowd and signal to him in no uncertain manner that she begs to wear his collar, and that she wants only the opportunity to become for him a dream of love and pleasure.

"And may Claudia inquire as to what behaviors may be required of herself and Publia?" she asked.

"I do not know what the captain will decide," he said. "I suppose that perhaps, as you are slaves, but new slaves, it might be required that you adopt an attitude of apprehensive ambiguity, of informed trepidation, of fearful uncertainty, as you have some concept of what it is to be a slave, and are being carried into a new bondage." "Yes, Master," she said.

I supposed that even the most seasoned of slave girls must have some apprehension every time she finds herself in a new bondage. After all, what does she know of her new master? Very little, except that she is completely his, and that he has total power over her.

"On your stomach, head down, over the ropes," said the fellow to Claudia. She turned about, instantly, an obedient slave. He then braceleted her hands behind her back. He then thrust the heavy key he carried into the lock at the back of her hinged collar, and dropped it to the side, near the ring, with the coil of chain, on the deck. He then looked at her, braceleted and helpless. I left them alone and went to the rail, on the starboard side, amidships. In a few Ihn he brought her to the hatch, holding her by the arm. She looked at me, and then lowered her eyes. He knelt her there and unfastened the lock on the hatch. He opened the hatch, unbraceleted her, and indicated that she should descend into the hold. She did so, carefully, holding to the sides of the ladderlike stairs. She looked at me once more. Then she descended and he swung the heavy wooden grating back in place and padlocked it shut.