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.Janice then crawled back to my side."He did not forget to tie me," said Alice.She knelt a few feet from us, herhands bound behind her, a line running from her bound wrists to the same treeto which Tende was tethered."Oh, be quiet, Bound Slave," said Janice."Untie me, Master," begged Alice."Let me serve you.""I will serve him," said Janice, not pleasantly."Let me serve you, Master," begged Alice."Be quiet," said Janice, "or I will scratch your eyes out!""If I were not bound," said Alice, "I would claw you to pieces!"One of the aspects of the mastery, inconvenient at times, though it can beborne, is the competition among girls for the attentions of the master.Indeed, some masters keep more than one girl, just for this purpose, notmerely to lessen the labors of each, but that each may, in the intensity oftheir rivalry, strive to please him more than the other.Each wishes, ofcourse, to undermine the position of the other and to become the favorite.From the girl's point of view there are few slaves who would not rather dodouble the labor and be the only wench in the master's compartments.To besure, the loser in such a competition generally becomes the master's workslave and the winner his pleasure slave.My own view on the matter, for whatit is worth, is that a pleasure slave becomes even more marvelous when she isforced to function also as a work slave.The girl who launders, cleans andcooks for a master knows well she is owned.In my own house I see that myfavorite pleasure slaves, girls such as lovely, dark-haired Vella, performtheir full share or, if I please, much more than their full share of servilePage 224 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmllabors.It is not unusual to see her in a brief work tunic, sleeveless andwhite, sweating over the laundry tubs or, on her hands and knees, naked,scrubbing the corridors in chains.I recalled that she had upon occasiondispleased me.Once a guest at first refused to believe that the lovely wenchin pleasure silk, a chain on her slave bracelets run to a ring on her servingcollar, who served his viands at a feast was the same girl whom he had spurnedto one side with his foot that afternoon in a corridor.I stripped her and puther on her hands and knees and he saw then that it was she.Even moreastonished was he when I had her dance for him and the other guests."You letsuch a superb slave scrub in your corridors," he asked."Yes," I said."Why?"he asked."Because it pleases me," I told him."Master!" begged Alice."Be quiet!" said Janice.Whereas rivalries among men can be serious and dangerous, the most thatrivalries among slave girls can be is petty and vicious; that is to beexpected; they are, after all, only small, lovely animals."I can please you more than she," said Alice."No, you cannot," said Janice."I can!" insisted Alice."No!" said Janice.Then she smiled."If you are so pleasing," she said, "thenwhy is it that it is you who are trussed and tethered like a domestic tarsk atthe slave post and it is I who lie free by my master's side?"Alice fought her bonds, and wept.Janice laughed."Do you think you are better than she?" I asked Janice."Am I not, Master?" she inquired."No," I said.I then took a line and tied Janice's hands behind her back and threw her toher side at the slave post.By the free end of the line I tethered her, likeAlice, to the post."Now see what you have done!" said Janice to Alice."Now you have had us bothtied!"Alice did not seem displeased."Go to sleep now, Slaves," I told them."Yes, Master," said Alice."Yes, Master," said Janice, angrily."Are you angry?" I asked."No, Master," she said, quickly."Please do not beat me.""Slave," said Alice."Yes, slave," said Janice."I am a better slave than you," said Alice."No, you are not!" said Janice."Go to sleep," I said."Yes, Master," said Alice."Yes, Master," said Janice.36Wreckage; Again We Move Upriver"There," said Ayari, pointing.We put down the canoe we were carrying past the hurtling cataract.We saw, shattered on rocks, the stern quarter of a river galley.Jaggedplanks, dry and hot, thrust up in the sunlight, and, lower, wedged in, pressedbetween rocks, wet and black, water foaming about it, was the stern itselfwith its splintered, side-hung rudder.I waded out to it.There was nothing left in the wreckage."It could have been washed downriver for pasangs," said Ayari.I nodded.Once before, long ago, we had recovered evidence of what had seemedto be another mishap on the river, a chest or crate of trade goods.We hadmanaged to put them to good use.We had not seen wreckage, however.The chest,not lashed down properly, might have been jolted or washed overboard.Too,Page 225 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlthere might have been a capsizing.We had not seen wreckage, however.Shabahad not, at that time, as far as we knew, lost a galley.I put my shoulder against the wreckage.I then put my back against it.I freedit, and, twisting, it plunged away, westward, downriver.I returned to the rocks of the shore.Shaba now had but two galleys."It was wise of you to free it," said Kisu.He looked about."The lessevidence there is of strangers on the river the safer we shall all be."I looked about, too, at the jungles.They seemed quiet, "Yes," I said."But Iwould have freed it anyway.""Why?" asked Kisu."It is what is left of a ship," I said."It should be free."How could I tell Kisu, who was of the land, of the feeling, of those who hadknown the waves of Thassa?"You will not free me, will you, Master?" asked Janice."Kneel," I said.She knelt."You are a woman," I said."You will be kept as a slave." "Yes, Master," shesaid."Now pick up your burden," I said.She picked up her burden and held it on herhead, with her two hands."Straighten your back," I said."Yes, Master," she said.I then, with Ayari and Kisu, lifted the canoe again, and again we movedupriver.37We Do Not Trade TendeThe chief, on his small stool, pointed at Tende.Kisu lifted beads before him,of purple glass, strung on wire.The chief shook his head, vigorously.Hepointed again at Tende.Tende knelt beside Kisu, her hands tied behind her back.In the weeks sinceher conversation with Janice she had become to him a superb love slave.Thisis hard for a woman to conceal
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