She was indeed beautiful. I thought she would look well naked, on a slave block.
Swiftly I knelt across her body, pinning her down, pinning her arms to her sides. Almost instantly, frightened, she wakened. The trapped girl's first impulse is to scream. This may be depended upon. As her mouth opened I, with my thumb, thrust the rolled-cloth wadding deep into it. In a moment I had lashed it in place. I then threw her to her stomach and tied her hands behind her back. I then put her again on her back. Her eyes were wild, terrified, over the gag. With my knife I cut the skins from her. "You will not be needing these," I told her. I regarded her. Such women bring high prices. I took her in my arms. Her eyes were frightened. She shook her head fiercely, negatively. But her body, as though in sudden relief, desperately clasped me. She twisted her head to the side, and then, again, looked at me. She shook her head, negatively. But her body thrust itself against me, asking no quarter, piteously and helplessly soliciting its full impalement. "Very well," I told her. She looked at me in fury. "Your eyes say, 'No, " I told her "but your body says 'Yes. " Her hips and thighs then began to move. She put back her head in misery on the mat. Then, in a moment, there were tears in her eyes, and she tried to lift her head and gagged mouth to touch me. When later I crouched over her she sat up, shuddering, and put her cheek to my left shoulder. I felt the lashings of the gag against my shoulder.
I thrust her to her back on the mat. "You are only bait," I told her. I then tied her ankles together and, putting her over my shoulders, her head hanging down over my back, left the hut. I left by way of the stockade gate. I would leave an obvious trail.
46
The Balance Of The Talunas Have Now Been Captured; I Hear Of The Marchers
"There they are! We have them now!" cried the slender-legged, dark-haired girl.
I plunged through brush, dragging the bound, gagged blond girl, running and stumbling, bent over, by the hair at my side.
The talunas, more than forty of them, plunged after us, brandishing their weapons, in hot pursuit.
I turned when I heard their sudden cries of surprise, and then of rage, and then of fear.
I tied the blond girl by her hair to a slender palm and strode back to the nets.
Some of the talunas lay upon the ground, tangled in nets, the spear blades of the small men at their throats and bellies. More than twenty of them struggled, impeding one another's movement, in a long vine net about them.
The first girl I pulled from a net was the slender-legged, dark-haired girl. I cuffed her, and then threw her on her belly and bound her hand and foot. I then drew forth another girl and treated her similarly. Then, in a row, lying on the jungle floor, there were forty-two captives. I then released the blond girl from the palm tree and, tying her ankles, threw her with the rest. I did not bother to ungag her.
"Release us," said the dark-haired girl, squirming in her bonds.
"Be silent," said the leader of the little men, jabbing his spear blade below her left shoulder blade.
The girl gritted her teeth, frightened, and was quiet.
"Remove their clothing and ornaments," I told the little men.
This was done. The little men then tied a vine collar on the throat of each girl and, by the arms, dragged them, one by one, to a long-trunked, fallen tree. About this tree, encircling it, were a number of vine loopings. The little men then knelt each girl at one of the vine loopings. Pushing down their heads, they then, with pieces of vine rope, fastened both under the vine collars on the girls, tied down their heads, close to the trunk. The forty-three girls then knelt, naked, hands tied behind them, ankles crossed and bound, at the trunk of the fallen tree, their heads tied down over it. They could not slide themselves free sideways, moving the vine loopings, because of the roots of the tree at one end and its spreading branches at the other. They were well secured in place, their heads over the tree trunk. One of the little men then, with a heavy, rusted panga, probably obtained in a trade long ago, walked up and down near them. They shuddered. They knew that, if the little men wished, their heads might be swiftly cut from them.
"There are the mighty talunas," I said.
Many of the little men leaped up and down, brandishing their spears and singing.
"At the stockade of the talunas," I said, "there was a prison hut. Within it I heard the chains of a prisoner. The chains were heavy. It is probably a male. Women such as talunas sometimes keep a male slave or two. They are useful, for example, in performing draft labors. I would keep him chained until a determination can be made of his nature. He may be a brigand. I then suggest that the stockade be examined for any other slaves, or objects of interest or value. Then I would, if I were you, burn the stockade."
"We will do these things," grinned the leader of the small men.
"I now," I said, "must address myself to the attempt to rescue those of my party."
"We must move quickly," said the leader of the small men, "for there is going to be war on the river."
"War?" I asked.
"Yes," he said, "a great force of men is coming up the river, and the peoples of the river are joining, that they may be stopped." He looked up at me. "There will be great fighting," he said, "like never before on the river."
I nodded. I had thought that it would be only a matter of time until the peoples of the river would mass in an attempt to stop the advance of Bila Huruma. Apparently they were now on the brink of doing so.
"How many men may I have?" I asked.
"Two or three will be sufficient," said the leader of the small men, "but because we are so fond of you, I, and nine others, will accompany you."
"That is perhaps generous," I said, "but how do you propose that the camp of the Mamba people be stormed with so few men?"
"We shall recruit allies," said the small man. "'They are nearby even now."
"How many do you think you can recruit?" I asked.
"So high I cannot count," he said.
"Can you not give me some impression?" I asked. I knew that the mathematics of these men, who had no written tradition, who had no complex cultural accumulation of intricate tallyings and abstract inventions, would be severely limited.
"They will be like the leaves on the trees, like the bits of sand at the shore," he said.
"Many?" I asked.
"Yes," he said.
"Do you jest with me?" I asked.
"No," he said. "This is the time of the marchers."
"I do not understand," I said.
"Come with me," he said.
47
The Attack Of The Marchers; We Conclude Our Business In The Village Of The Mamba People
Within the stockade of the Mamba people there was much light and noise. I could hear the sounds of their musical instruments, and the pounding of their drums. Within the stockade, too, we could hear the chanting of the people and the beating of sticks, carried in the hands of dancers.
I knew the stockade, for it was the same from which we had, earlier, stolen away in the night.
Two days ago the leader of the small people had led me into the jungle, leaving behind the clearing where we had secured the lovely talunas, their necks at the mercy of the panga.
We had trekked but a short way into the jungle when the leader of the small men held up his hand for silence. I had then heard, as I had once before, but had been unable to place the noise, the sound, that strange sound, as of a small wind moving leaves. I had heard it before on the edge of the lagoon, but had not understood it.
Soon, as we approached more closely, quietly, the sound became much louder. It was now clearly distinguishable as a quite audible rustling or stirring. But there was no wind.