A moment later the man, about forty, stocky and dark-bearded, edged his way between the benches and sat down next to Occula. His clothes were of good quality and he had the self-confident air of a prosperous man.
"Good evening, young ladies," he said, speaking Beklan with a marked Ortelgan accent. "Are you dining by yourselves? Will you let me buy you some wine, you and your pretty friend?"
"No, sir," answered Occula, looking fixedly at the table in front of her. "We're expectin' our patron at any moment. I must beg you to leave us. We're respectable girls and our patron will-"
"Well, I'm respectable myself," returned the man. "My friends here and I, we're dealers in rope, from Ortelga. Just been to Bekla, you know." He settled himself more comfortably, putting his elbows on the table and leaning forward to smile past Occula at Maia-"arid now we're going back by way of Thettit and Kabin. I've done pretty well this trip and I enjoy spending money on nice girls. In fact, you could call me a generous man."
Occula said nothing.
"I've never seen a girl like you in my life," went on the man, quite unperturbed. "Now I'd say the chief advantage of such a striking appearance as yours is that you can't blush. Your friend's blushing, though. It suits her very well, too."
At this, poor Maia colored still more deeply: and she was on the point of bursting into nervous giggling when Occula, no doubt anticipating the danger, trod painfully on her toe.
"I saw you arrive this evening," said the man, laying a plump forefinger in the bend of Occula's elbow, "and I saw the fellow you call your patron riding and you walking. Your patron-he keeps pussy-cats, doesn't he? Does he ever sell them? Do you ever sell pussy-cats, eh?"
A voice from the far end of the room called out, "How you getting on, Tephil? Want any help?"
The man, ignoring the interruption, pulled a leather scrip out of his pocket, drew the strings and dropped it on the table. Some of the contents spilled out; several twenty-and fifty-meld pieces, a sparkling pupil-diamond, a heavy silver ring and a little figure, rather smaller than a man's thumb, in the likeness of a bear, modelled in gold, with dark-red garnets for eyes.
"You see?" said the man complacently. "I'm well setup. In fact, in my own country, I may tell you, I'm personally acquainted with the young High Baron, Bel-ka-Trazet-the famous hunter, you know. I'll be perfectly honest with you. I've taken a great fancy to your pretty friend, and I'm in a position to put a lot of money in both your pockets-"
At this moment Zuno walked hurriedly into the room, looked round, saw the girls and stood weighing the situation with obvious distaste. Occula at once rose, turned towards him and, putting her head on one side and slightly opening her mouth, spread out her hands in a gesture implying "What could I do?"
Zuno, approaching to within ten paces-which he evidently thought close enougli-said quietly, "A word with you, sir, if you please."
After a moment's hesitation the man stood up and went across to him, while two of the other Ortelgans, scenting trouble, left their corner and joined their friend. Occula also took a few steps in their direction, but remained a little apart, letting it be seen that she was ready to speak if Zuno should call upon her. Maia remained where she was.
At first the conversation reached her only in fragments. "Quite out of the question, my good man-" "-no, no; certainly not; not molesting at all, sir. Perfectly civil, I assure you." "-entirely inappropriate. You must see for yourself-"
"But, sir," said the Ortelgan, raising his voice, which now reached Maia clearly, "these girls are slaves, surely?
I saw them arrive this evening at your cart-tail. Aren't you a man of business? I'll pay you three hundred meld to spend the night with the younger girl. Upon my word, I never saw such a-"
"The matter is not within my power," answered Zuno firmly. "The girls are the property of the noted dealer U-Lalloc, in Bekla. For all I know they have already been promised to some important client in the upper city. If you were taking a consignment of rope to Bekla for which you already had a customer, I would not-would I?- expect you to let me hire it or make use of it."
At length the man, shrugging, turned away and picked up his scrip from the table, quickly and carelessly shovelling in the spilled contents with his free hand; after which he and his friends strolled away up the length of the room. Zuno sat down.
"That was no fault of yours," he said to Occula. "I should have been here before you. Er-" he hesitated slightly-"it might perhaps be better not to mention this matter to Lalloc. Ah! Here's supper at last. I expect we should all enjoy some wine with it."
An hour later Maia, slightly tipsy, was helping Occula to undress and fold her clothes.
"See what I mean, banzi?" said the black girl.
"About authority? Oh, yes, Occula, you were wonderful! I couldn't never have-"
"No, you dimwit; I meant youl That Ortelgan bastard offered-great gods!-he offered three hundred meld to spend the night with you! That's more than old Domris used to charge for a night with any girl in the place, d'you realize that? You've got a great future, my lass, so cheer up. Better than wearin' sackin' and herdin' cattle on the Tonildan Waste, believe you me."
"I believe you. Oh, Occula, I feel real safe with you, that I do!"
"Safe? You're never safe, banzi, in this game."
"Well, I reckon I've made at least three hundred meld, anyway, and no more work to it than's needed to shut the door." Maia held out her closed fist. "Kiss and don't tell goes halves."
"Three hundred meld? What d'you-oh-Maia!"
Maia, smiling broadly, was displaying on her palm the golden bear with garnet eyes.
Occula stared at it speechlessly. Then she sat down on her box, looking up at Maia in bewilderment.
"I doan' understand, banzi. Why on earth did he give you that?"
"He didn't," answered Maia complacently. "He opened his purse-on the table-remember? Then when Zuno came in he went over to talk to him, and so did you. That was when I took it, when no one was looking."
Occula, without replying, sat staring fixedly at the floor. After a few moments Maia realized that her silence was due to fear. Her hands were trembling and beads of sweat were standing on her forehead. At last she whispered, "Banzi, do you realize we can both hang upside-down for this? O gods, what's to be done? You blasted little fool-"
"But-but why?" stammered Maia. "You said we was to be tough-stand on our own feet. What's wrong?"
"Every damn' thing's wrong!" cried the black girl desperately. "Can' you see? You're not a banzi stealin' apples now! This is the real world, where slaves are thieves and thieves are hanged! O Cran and Airtha, why did I ever get mixed up with a little goat like you! That's an Ortelgan, Maia, for pity's sake! They worship a bear; didn' you know? They believe the sun shines out of its damn' venda! They believe it's goin' to return from God-knows-where and lead them all to Buggery-in-the-Sky or somewhere. That man probably prays to this! Once he's missed it he's liable to raise the damn' roof! And the first people he'll suspect is us-that's for sure. He'll go to Zuno; he's bound to. And if they find it-"
She bit her lip, breathing hard and beating her fist into her palm.
"What's to be done? What's to be done? I suppose there's just a chance he may not have missed it yet. We might have given it back to him and told him some damn' nonsense or other. But we're locked in! And they may be here any moment!"