As Julie sat waiting for whatever was going to happen next, she noticed some of the articles on other shelves around the hut. They all seemed to be carvings, apparently in wood. They were beautiful, often delicate and lacy. Someone appeared to be an excellent craftsman, and she couldn't help wonder if it could be one of these very men. Yet not one of them seemed capable of the kind of sensitivity necessary to produce what she saw. Not knowing whether she risked anything or not, Julie finally got to her feet. The temptation to look at them more closely was too great. She glanced at the men. Enhar and Dawak seemed occupied with the preparation of food. Balloo was carrying another bowl of svench to the table. Kubby was probing around among the many articles stored on the mats against a far wall. No one was watching her, and so she made her way stealthily to the nearest carving.
She soon discovered that it was perfectly permissible to walk around and look at the wooden pieces. She found that the lace effect was meant to represent the leaves of trees or maybe it was just bare branches and fruit. The only figures were gigantic animal totems and bird masks with the single exception of one human figure that was dressed the same in three places. Since the natives she knew never wore anything but trousers or loin clothes and the figure wore a drape from the neck to the ground, she guessed that it might be a representation of the local deity although it was possibly King Daranje Kawat. She didn't know. Neither she nor her father nor anyone else except his own people had ever seen the native king. She decided against asking. These people had a strange and uncertain set of taboos. She was afraid of losing her head over the wrong question!
Suddenly she noticed Balloo smiling at her, and she dropped back down to the mat on the floor without even thinking of it, as though her legs collapsed through some understanding of their own. She leaned more heavily against the rush wall where he had left her and was surprised to feel how sturdy it was. Since the black man kept staring at her, she drew her arm around her tits. They hung loose and were partly exposed from a large tear in the upper part of her nightgown, caused by their struggles in the car. The cotton panties that were a part of her nightgown were gone, and she felt naked and vulnerable to his staring.
"You weel be good to the others, too, until tomorrow, hey you?" Balloo finally spoke to her.
She remained silent. She could not answer.
"I ask good question. You give good answer," he suddenly spat at her and walked to her side.
Still Julie did not move or make a sound. Her heart was lodged tightly in her throat in fear. Suddenly she heard before she felt, the loud sound of a hard slap echoing through the grass-walled room as the native man who had just so brutally raped her, swung his arm in a wide arc and brought the palm of his hand down hard across her face.
"I can hit badder," he warned ominously. "I give good question."
"W… what do you want from me?" she managed to stammer finally as the sting on her face brought a thin stream of tears to her eyes.
"You weel be good to the others, too," he said. He was no longer asking a question. He was demanding.
"Y… yes," she finally said quietly. She could see the cold cruel glint in his dark eyes and knew that any sign of resistance right now would only bring further pain and indignities from him. He was obviously the leader of this band and could not under any circumstances run the risk of being stood up against in front of them, at least not successfully. He would strike back just as he had warned… badder! The natives worshipped strength among other things. She sensed that if he lost his prestige in this matter with them, he would lose all. Who could tell what such repercussions would take place. She knew little about the native habits and rituals. Therefore, she was afraid. Perhaps his behavior was only the law of the wild, of the jungle, the male lion fighting for leadership of the pride as well as the women that went with it, or should she say lionesses. She didn't feel very much like a lioness.
Upon hearing her agreement, Balloo smiled arrogantly down at her and tweaked her cheek with his thumb and forefinger.
"She ees a woman to grind," Enhar suggested.
"Good," Balloo commented, and Julie was frightened. She didn't know what "grind" meant, but they had just been talking about her taking care of the men, and her imagination was limited by the desperate images Balloo had planted.
Balloo then grabbed her arm and pulled her up, shoving her toward the tall thin Dawak, who chortled, then pushed her in his turn toward the fat Enhar. They were all indulging in their usual chuckling and giggling. There was no longer any sense in the hopeless resistance she had put up at first. Her only chance for even staying alive, she suspected, was to keep close to Balloo. She was certain that his hard outward approach to her was an act to show the others that he could be cold and cruel, for he seemed to have developed a sense of protectiveness toward her that might keep the others away… for a little while anyway.
Enhar sat her down on another mat and handed her a very large wooden bowl of seeds and a stone for a pestle. She understood and relieved, started to grind the kernels. She hoped and prayed that she would be forced to grind them all night long! She showed her obedience by setting assiduously to work under the eyes of Balloo whom she knew she must take special pains to please. She dared not alienate him or he might be forced to show his control over her by letting the others take advantage of her as he had done. The missionary's young daughter vowed to herself that she would rather die and would do all in her power to avoid being used in that way again.
Julie bent to the grinding with as much energy as she could muster after the horrible beating her muscles had taken. She was surprised, though, that the soreness between her legs was not more acute, considering the ravishment she had undergone. Of course, she did a lot of horseback riding between the mission and town. Perhaps that had loosened her for the final assault that Enhar had submitted her to, followed by Balloo. She didn't know which was worse! This was the first time since leaving the car that she thought about those things. She had been in a complete state of shock since the natives had first grabbed her, and now, even though her consciousness was beginning to clear, she still could not recall all the bitter details of what had happened or why it had happened.
Why had they used her like this? Sheer lust couldn't be the answer unless they were absolute animals, and the thought was gradually sinking into her mind that perhaps they were. Her father claimed that they had human souls to save. She would have preferred to let those souls live their own lives and allow her and her family to return to normal civilization, but she had never questioned that they were human beings. She had never questioned it before! But if they were not driven by animal lust alone, what did they hope to accomplish with all their brutality? What intelligent plan could account for this?