"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."
"I do not fear you," said Cuwignaka.
"You speak boldly for a female," said Hci.
"I am a man," said Cuwignaka. Bold speech, incidentally, is commonly accepted from free females of their own people by the red savages. If she grows too irritating, of course, she may, like any other woman, be beaten. Bold speech on the other hand, is not accepted from female slaves among the red savages. Female slaves among such peoples quickly learn their place, a place in which they are kept with perfection.
"I did not know that," said Hci, as though interested.
"Yes," said Cuwignaka.
"On your belly," said Hci to me.
"Do not do this," said Cuwignaka.
"Crawl to the paws of my kaiila," said Hci to me.
"No," said Cuwignaka.
"Is he not a slave?" asked Hci.
"Yes," said Cuwignaka, uncertainly.
I moved to the paws of the kaiila, on my belly, my head down.
"Kiss the paws of my kaiila," said Hci to me, imperiously.
I did so. I had been commanded, as though I might have been a girl.
"Canka will hear of this," said Cuwignaka.
"See that he does," said Hci, angrily, and then pulled the kaiila away. The dust from the paws of the kaiila was in my mouth. "And now, get away from here! Return to the camp!" Little love was lost, I gathered, between Hci and Canka. Hci doubtless held Canka responsible, in some fashion, for Cuwignaka's freedom, and his presence among the Isbu, a presence which many among the Isbu, including Hci, found infuriating and shameful. In humiliating me, whom Canka treated with respect and honor, he was, in effect, demeaning Canka. On Canka's part, similarly, there was little affection borne toward Hci, largely because of the latter's hostility towards his brother, Cuwignaka. In Canka's view Hci's contempt for Cuwignaka was moe unbending, more extreme and rigid, than was called for. Cuwignaka lived and dressed as a woman; he was referred to as a woman and performed the labors of a woman. He was not permitted to mate among the Kaiila. What more did Hci want?
I myself suspected that the matter went deeper than Hci's tribal pride and sense of propriety. Alread Canka was a rising young warrior in teh tribe. Already, once, he had served as Blotanhunka, or the leader of the war party. Hci, in spite of his skills and courage, had not yet received such an honor. This may have stung Hci even more as he was the son of Mahpiyasapa, the civil chief of the Isbu. Such leadershipmight have seemed almost owed to one in his position. Yet it had been denied him. I suspected that the reason that Hci had never been given the command of the raiding party was not because he was not admired and liked among the Isbu, nor because his trail and war skills were not respected, by because his judgment was not trusted. The reclessness with which he conducted hismelf and his insouciant disregard of personal danger did not augur well for his capacity to discharge the duties of a responsible leadership.
I did not think, incidentally, that Hci's hostility toward Canka had anything to do with Canka's acquistion of, and ownership of, Winyela, the lovely, white, red-haired female slave, the former Miss Millicent Aubrey-Welles, of Pennsylvania, whom Grunt had brought into the Barrens for Mahpiyasapa, his father. Hci had little use for such slaves, except occasionally to rape and quirt them. Mahpiyasapa, on the other hand, had been extremely displeased that Canka, despite being informed of the intended disposition of the white female, had asserted his war rights of the slave capture, and, desiring her mightily, had taken her for himself. Mahpiyasapa, incidentally, as I have mentioned, was the civil chief of the Isbu.
Among the red savages there are various sorts of chief. The primary types of chief are the war chief, the medicine chief and the civil chief. One may be, interestingly, only one sort of chief at a time. This, like the rotation of police powers among warrior societies, is a portion of the checks and balance. Other checks and blaances are such things as traditon and custom, the closeness of the governed and the governors, multiple-family interrelatednessess, the election of chiefs, the submission of significant matters to a council, and, ultimately, the feasibility of simply leaving the group, in greater or lesser numbers. Despotism, then, in virtue of the insitutions of the red savages, is impractical for them; this impracticality is a much surer guarantee of its absence in a society than the must fervid of negative rhetorics.
"Go," ordered Hci.
"Do you command me as Hci, or as a Sleen Soldier?" asked Cuwignaka, angrily.
"Go," said Hci, menacingly.
"I obey you as a Sleen Soldier," said Cuwignaka. "I will go."
"When the hunt is mounted," said Hci to Cuwignaka, "you may not hunt. You will cut meat with the women."
"That is known to me," said Cuwignaka.
"For you are a woman," said Hci, sneeringly.
"No," said Cuwignaka. "I am a man."
"She is pretty, isn't she?" aske Hci of Grunt.
Grunt did not respond.
"If she does not please you," said Hci to Grunt, "beat her, as you would any other woman." He then turned his mount abruptly about. I heard its paws, suddenly, striking the turf, the sound rapidly diminishing.
"Do not pursue him," said Grunt to Cuwignaka.
"I am a man," said Cuwignaka, angrily.
"That is known to me," said Grunt.
"I must fight him," said Cuwignaka.
"No," said Grunt. "That would not be wise. He is one of the finest of the warriors of the Isbu."
"Rise up, Mitakola, my friend," said Cuwignaka to me. "He is gone."
I rose to my feet, whiping my face with my right forearms. Grunt handed me my clothing and moccasins. I donned them. I again mounted my kaiila.
Hci was now better than two pasangs away, at the finge of the kailiauk.