Blood Brothers of Gor Read Free Page B

beaded collar had been tied on my neck. I had become his slave.
    "Slave," sneered Hci.
    I did not respond to him.
    "White men," said Hci, scornfully, gesturing to myself and Grunt.
    "Yes," said Grunt, pleasantly.
    "How is it that a slave," asked Hci of Cuwignaka, "wears moccasins and rides a kaiila?"
    "It is permitted by Canka," said Cuwignaka.
    "Dismount," said Hci to me. "Remove your moccasins and your garments, completely."
    "He is not your slave," said Cuwignaka.
    "Nor is he yours," said Hci.
    I dismounted and stripped, removing also the moccasins which Canka had given me. I haded the clothing, and the moccasins, to Grunt. I then stood before Hci's kaiila. I wore now only the beaded leather collar which had been placed on me some two weeks ago. It was about an inch and a half high. It had a distinctive pattern of beading. The colors and design of the beading marked it as Canka's. It is common among red savages to use such designs, such devices, to mark their possessions. A collar of identical designs, back in the village, was worn by the lovely, red-haired girl, the former Miss Millicent Aubrey-Wells, who had so taken the fancy of the ount warrior. Both of our collars were tied shut. The knots on them had been retied personally by Canka after our arrival at his camp. This is done, in effect, with a signature knot, in a given tribal style, known only to the tier. This gives him a way of telling if the knot has been untied and retied in his absence. It is death, incidentally, for a slave to remove such a collar without permission. It can be understood then
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    that slaves of the red savages do not tamper with their collars. They keep them on.
    "Slave," said Hci, contemptuously.
    One difference, of course, was clear between the collars of the girl and myself. Hers was the collar of a true slave, in the fulness of that meaning, whereas mine, ineffect, though identical, functioned almost as a badge of protection. In being Canka's slave I had a status and place in the Isbu camp which, in its way, sheltered me from the type of sportive attack to which a lone, free white man might be otherwise exposed. In another way, Grunt's familiarity to the Kaiila, for he had visited them last year, and was close to Mahpiyasapa, Black Clouds, the civil chieftain of the Isbu, and his knowledge of their language, which closely resembles Dust Leg, garnered him a similar protection. His value as a trader, too, was clear to the Kaiila. They prized many of the things of value which he might bring into the Barrens, the men relishing trinkets such as trade points and knife blades, and the women welcoming trade cloth, chemical dyes and drilled glass beads. Too, Grunt was an honest man, and likeable. This pleased the Kaiila, as it also did the Dust Legs and the Fleer.
    The collar of Canka which I wore, as I had come to realize in the past several days, was, all things considered, as he did not intend to enforce its significance upon me, a valuable accouterment. Canka was a respected and important young warrior; indeed, in the recent action to the west, he had even served as Blotanhunka of the All Comrades. This gave me, as hisproperty, a certain prestige, particularly as Canka himself treated me with obvious respect. He called me Tatankasa, or Red Bull, which was a noble name from the point of view of the Kaiila. He gave me noccasins. He permitted me my clothing. He let me have, even, the use of my former kaiila. I did not even stay in his lodge, or have to sleep near it. I stayed with Cuwignaka in a tattered lodge, donated by Akihoka, One-Who-Is-Skillful, a close friend of Canka. For most practical purposes I was free in the village.
    "Kneel," said Hci.
    I knelt, naked, save for the collar of Canka, in teh tall, dry grass.
    "Put your head down," said Hci.
    I did so.
    "This is not necessary," said Cuwignaka.
    "Be quiet, Siptopto," said Hci, "lest I consign you to the pleasure of wariors."
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