"Perhaps," said Bloketu.
"But how could one be more important than being a chief of the Isanna?" asked Cuwignaka, genuinely puzzled.
"May I speak, Mistress?" asked Iwoso.
"Yes," said Bloketu.
"If one can bring about peace between our peoples, the Kaiila and the Yellow Knives," she said, "one would surely, in the prestige of this, be very important."
"That is true," said Cuwignaka.
"In doing this," said Iwoso, "it would be like counting a hundred coups, almost like being a high chief of the Kaiila."
"That is very true," said Cuwignaka, kneeling back on the dirt, near the pegged-down hide.
Bloketu seemed relieved. Iwoso, I gathered, subtly, not quite sure of it, was a very clever young woman.
"It is my hope," Iwoso said, "to be of some small help in this business, the bringing about of peace between our peoples."
"You are a noble girl," said Cuwignaka. "I hope that you will be successful."
"Thank you," said Iwoso.
Something about this conversation disturbed me. I was not sure, however, what it was.
Cuwignaka picked up his bone scraper and, once again, began to give his attention to the hide on which he was working.
"Let us return now, Mistress," said Iwoso, "to the lodges of the Isanna." Iwoso, I noted, seemed in a hurry to take her departure.
"But did we not come here to visit with this pretty girl?" asked Bloketu. "Then we were interrupted by Hci."
Iwoso was silent.
"We will tarry a moment," said Bloketu. I saw that she had not fulfilled, to her satisfaction, her desire to have sport with Cuwignaka. I did not know why she hated him so.
"Do not wait on my account," said Cuwignaka, not looking up from his work.
"She seems very diligent," said Bloketu.
"Yes, Mistress," said Iwoso.
"What are you doing, pretty girl?" asked Bloketu.
"Scraping a hide," said Cuwignaka. "Probably what you should be doing."
"Saucy girl," chided Bloketu.
"I do not care to be mocked," said Cuwignaka.
"You are very famous," said Bloketu. "All the Kaiila know of you. The Dust Legs, too, with whom we trade, know of you."
Cuwignaka grunted, irritably. It was only too likely that, through trade chains, his story had widely circulated in the Barrens. The Dust Legs, for example, who do a great deal of trading, have dealings with several tribes which, in their turn, have dealings with others. For example, although the Dust Legs and the Fleer are enemies, as are the Kaiila and the Fleer, the Dust Legs have dealings with the Sleen, and the Sleen, in turn, trade with tribes such as the Yellow Knives and the Fleer. Thus, indirectly, even tribes hostile to the Kaiila, or normally so, such as the Fleer and the Yellow Knives might, quite possibly, have heard of Cuwignaka.
"But what they probably do not know," said Bloketu, "is how pretty you are, and what a marvelous worker you are." Cuwignaka, to be sure, was a very hard worker. I did not doubt but what he was one of the hardest workers in the camp.
"It is too bad you lost all that meat," said Bloketu. "But such things can happen."
Cuwignaka did not respond to her.
"Doubtless you will not let it happen again," she said.
Cuwignaka did not respond.
"You are doing a nice job with that hide," she said.
Cuwignaka did not respond.
"All in all, I think you would be a very valuable girl to have in a lodge, Cuwignaka," said Bloketu. "If you are not careful, the young men will come courting you."
Cuwignaka worked steadily, angrily. He did not speak. I was afraid he would cut the skin.
"Can you cook, and sew?" asked Bloketu.
"I can cook," said Cuwignaka. "I am not much good at sewing."
"The young men will not mind," said Bloketu. "You are so pretty."
"Maybe not," said Cuwignaka. "You manage very well, it seems."
"Let us go, Mistress," said Iwoso.
"Be quiet," snapped Bloketu to Iwoso.
"Yes, Mistress," said Iwoso.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Bloketu, angrily, of Cuwignaka.
"It is well known among the Kaiila," said Cuwignaka, kneeling back on his heels, putting aside the bone scraper and looking up at Bloketu, "that you are not good for much."
"Oh?" said Bloketu. She was taken aback, a bit, I think, by finding herself, ultimately only a woman, suddenly, unexpectedly, the object of so challenging and frank a gaze.
"Yes," said Cuwignaka.
"The young men do not seem to mind," said Bloketu, collecting herself, loftily.
"That is because you are the daughter of a chief," said Cuwignaka.
"No," said Bloketu, angrily. "It is because I am beautiful."
"Who has told you that?" asked Cuwignaka.
"Many men," she said.
"It was dark outside," said Cuwignaka.
"No!" said Bloketu.
"They tell you that because you are the daughter of a chief," said Cuwignaka.
"No!" said Bloketu.
"They want a kaiila from Watonka," said Cuwignaka.
"No!" said Bloketu.
Cuwignaka shrugged. I smiled. Swiftly had the tables been turned on the beauty, putting her on the defensive. I saw, too, in so simple an exchange, that Cuwignaka was intellectually dominant over Bloketu.
"Everyone tells me I am beautiful," said Bloketu, angrily.
"Have I ever told you that?" asked Cuwignaka.
"In a way," said Bloketu, warily. "Out on the prairie you told me that it was not enough to be merely beautiful."
"Oh?" asked Cuwignaka.
"Yes!" she said.
"Well," said Cuwignaka, "that may be true. It is possible. It may be that it is not enough, at least among the Kaiila, where there is much work to be done, to be merely beautiful."
"Thus," she said, triumphantly, "you think that I am beautiful!"
"Did I say I was talking about you?" asked Cuwignaka.
"No," she said.
"Well, maybe I was not talking about you," he said.
"Oh!" she cried, angrily.
"That is something to think about," he said.
"Do you think I am beautiful?" she asked.
Cuwignaka looked up at her.
"Do you think I am beautiful?" she asked.
"Maybe," he said.
"Maybe?" she asked.
Cuwignaka then rose to his feet. He went to stand before Bloketu. He looked down upon her. He was a head taller than she. She stepped back a bit. "Yes, Bloketu," he said. "You are beautiful."
"Now you speak the truth!" she said.
"And I shall speak further truths," he said. "You are beautiful as a free woman, and you would be even more beautiful as a slave, stripped and kneeling before me, in my collar, in my lodge, waiting to be commanded."
"I am the daughter of a chief!" she said.
"You would look well, crawling to me," he said, "with a quirt in your teeth."
"Beware!" she said.
"It is well that you are of the Kaiila," he said. "Else I might take the warpath, to take you, to bring you back to my lodge as a naked slave."
"Oh!" she cried.
"I desire you, Bloketu," said Cuwignaka. "I desire you with the greatest ferocity with which a man can desire a woman, that he would have her at his feet, as his owned slave."
The girl then turned and fled away. She was terrified. Never, hitherto, had she dreamed she could be the object of such passion.
She was swiftly followed by Iwoso, her maiden.
Cuwignaka, standing, looked after the two girls. "They are pretty, are they not?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Do you think they would make good slaves?" he asked.
"Yes," I said.
"Who do you think is the most beautiful, Iwoso or Bloketu?" he asked.
"Bloketu," I said.
"I do, too," said Cuwignaka.
"I was somewhat disturbed by portions of the conversati
on between you, and Bloketu and Iwoso," I said, "in particular, the business about the enlargement of Watonka's importance."
Cuwignaka grinned. "I am afraid," he said, "that Bloketu and Iwoso were not entirely candid with us about that matter."
"How is that?" I asked.
"It seems they would have us believe that Watonka's enhancement would be largely one of prestige."
"Would it not be so?" I asked.
"There would be much prestige, to be sure," smiled Cuwignaka, "but, too, doubtless, in the giving of gifts, many kaiila would change hands."
"I see," I said.
"Already Watonka is the richest of all the Kaiila," said Cuwignaka. "Should he be successful in bringing about this peace, as we shall hope he shall be, he will doubtless be the recipient of many kaiila, perhaps even a thousand, gifts from both the Yellow Knives and the Kaiila themselves."
"I see," I said.
"Over his herds the sky will be dark with fleer," said Cuwignaka.
I smiled. The location of large herds of kaiila is sometimes marked by the presence of circling, swarming fleer. They come to feed on the insects stirred up in the grass, activated by the movements of the beasts' paws.
"Thus," said Cuwignaka, "Bloketu would be important, being the daughter of such a man, and even Iwoso, only a slave, would become celebrated amongst several tribes, serving as a maiden in so rich a household."
I laughed. "It is easy to see why Bloketu and Iwoso might have been hesitant to speak of this aspect of the matter," I said, "seeing what profits might accrue to them."
"Particularly," smiled Cuwignaka, "since matters, at this time, are, I gather, so uncertain and tentative."
"Do you think that there will be peace between the Yellow Knives and the Kaiila?" I asked.
"I do not know," said Cuwignaka. "I hope so."
"There is a pretty slave," I said.
"Yes," said Cuwignaka.
The blond-haired girl, stripped, collared, regarded me with contempt, tossed her head, and passed on. She was the property of a red master.
"I remember her," I said.
"She came in with the Isanna," said Cuwignaka. "We saw her then."
"Yes," I said. She had been part of the loot display of the Isanna, a trinket in the procession of their splendor. She had been at someone's stirrup, naked, her hands bound behind her back, a quirt hung about her neck.
"She is arrogant," said Cuwignaka.
"Yes," I said. I remembered that she had, then, too, looked upon me with contempt. She was owned by a red master. I was only a white slave.
"She is probably kept in one of the Isanna's girl herds," said Cuwignaka.
I nodded. These herds, usually consisting of from forty to fifty white females, stripped, are usually kept a pasang or so from camp, with the kaiila herds. The Isanna women, on the whole, object to such women being kept in the private lodges. Before the winter such herds are usually sold off. Those girls who are not sold off must be clothed and brought indoors. They are usually kept in the lodges of warrior societies or in private lodges. Some are kept in girl lodges, in the charge of a warrior who, for the tenure of his governance over them, acts as their master. Some, to their horror, are put in the keeping of a red female. Usually, after a day or two of this, they beg to kneel again, head down, at the feet of the men. In the summer most such girls, and others, too, being added to them, are put out again, with the kaiila. The Isanna is only the third largest band of the Kaiila. It is, however, indisputably, the richest. Its wealth, for example, in both kaiila and white females is well known on the plains. Boys, with ropes and whips, watch over the women. They may, of course, cut any woman they wish out of the herd and use her.
"I myself," said Cuwignaka, "would prefer to keep slaves in my own lodge."
"There would be too many of them for the Isanna to do that," I said.
"They are pretentious, and vain," said Cuwignaka. "They do not need that many women."
"They sell off the herds in the winter," I said.
"But only to increase them again, in the spring," he said.
"That white females are herded by the Isanna, more so than with other bands, or tribes," I said, "has, I gather, something to do with the Isanna women."
"Yes," said Cuwignaka. "They do not want them in the lodges."
"That is understandable," I said.
"But, in such things, the men should be the masters, fully," said Cuwignaka.
"That is true," I said.
"It is well known that the Isanna women are insufficiently disciplined," said Cuwignaka.
"Bloketu is insufficiently disciplined, for example?" I asked.
"Yes," said Cuwignaka, "Bloketu is insufficiently disciplined. Bloketu needs discipline, severe discipline."
"It might be pleasant to administer it to her," I said.
"Yes," said Cuwignaka, grimly.
I smiled. Fortunately for the lovely Bloketu she stood high among the Kaiila. If she were a foreign woman who had fallen into Cuwignaka's hands, I did not doubt but what she would learn discipline, well and swiftly.
I watched the blond girl moving away, between the lodges. She moved well.
"You are hot," smiled Cuwignaka.
I did not respond. I was in misery.
"Winyela sleeps within the lodge," said Cuwignaka. "Why do you not whip her awake, and use her? She is only a slave. Too, she was sent to you to be disciplined."
"No," I said.
"One should not be too soft with female slaves," said Cuwignaka.
"I know," I said.
"It is Canka's will that you use her, and well," he said.
"Do you think so?" I asked.
"Of course," said Cuwignaka. "He is a red savage. Do not be culturally confused."
I shrugged.
"He will wish for her to be returned to his lodge a better slave than she left it," said Cuwignaka.
"Perhaps," I said.
"Lash her awake," said Cuwignaka. "Set her, without mercy, about her duties. Let her be in no doubt that it is men who are her masters."
"I think I shall let her sleep," I smiled.
"As you wish," said Cuwignaka.
"She has suffered enough for one day, I think," I said.
"As you wish," said Cuwignaka.
"But," I said, "I think I shall go to see Grunt."
"And look for Wasnapohdi," laughed Cuwignaka.
"Maybe," I said.
"Poor Wasnapohdi!" laughed Cuwignaka.
8
I Take my Leave from Grunt's Lodge
"I am sorry," said Grunt. "Wasnapohdi is not here. She is out picking berries. I do not know when she will be back. After that she is supposed to help some of the other women."
"Oh," I said.
"If I had known you might want her," said Grunt, "I could have kept her here for you, naked, tied hand and foot, at the side of the lodge."
"That is all right," I said. "It is nothing."
"You made a mistake with Winyela," he said.
"Oh?" I said.
"She was sent to you to be punished," he said. "You should have done so."
"Do you think so?" I asked.
"I know red savages," he said. "Yes."
"I did not do so," I said. Indeed, I had even let her rest, and then sleep.
"That was a mistake," said Grunt.
"Perhaps," I said.
We spoke within Grunt's lodge, one put at his disposal by his friend, Mahpiyasapa, civil chief of the Isbu Kaiila.
"I spoke to Cuwignaka earlier today," I said. "He told me that you seemed troubled."
"Oh?" he asked.
"Yes," I said. Grunt wore the broad-brimmed hat, that one with which I was so familiar. It was interesting to me that he wore it even within the lodge. I had never seen him without it.
"Is anything wrong?" I asked.
"I do not think so," he said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Have you heard the rumors?" he asked. "About the Yellow Knives? That they are
going to send a delegation even into the camp?"
"I have heard rumors, even today," I said, "about the possibility of a peace being arranged with the Yellow Knives. I had not realized, however, that things had proceeded so far, that a delegation was to be welcomed into the camp."
"Yes," said Grunt.
"Negotiations are much more advanced than I realized, then," I said. "It seems, now, that there may be a real possibility for peace."
"I do not like it," said Grunt.
"Why?" I asked. "Surely you welcome the prospect of peace."
"I do not trust the Yellow Knives," he said.
"Why?" I asked.
"I have never had good relations with the Yellow Knives," he said.
I smiled. Grunt divided the tribes of red savages into those with whom he had had good relations and those with whom he had not had good relations. He had had good relations, for example, with the Dust Legs, the Kaiila and the Fleer. He had not, on the other hand, had good relations with the Yellow Knives. Grunt pulled down his hat farther on his head, an interesting gesture, one about which he was apparently not really thinking.
"Are they any worse, really," I asked, "than the Kaiila, or the Kailiauk or the Fleer?"
"I suppose not," admitted Grunt.
"If peace comes about," I said, "this might even open up new possibilities for trade."
"Let others, then, exploit them," said Grunt, irritably.
"You do not seem overly fond of Yellow Knives," I observed.
"No," said Grunt.
"Do they hate you?" I asked.
"I would not suppose so," he said.
"You seem to dislike them," I said.
"Do I?" asked Grunt.
"Yes," I said.
"Perhaps," he said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Never mind," said Grunt. "It is not important."
I rose to my feet. "It is getting late in the afternoon," I said. "It is time for me to awaken Winyela and return her to the lodge of Canka."
"I wish you well," said Grunt.
"I wish you well, too," I said.
I then took my leave from Grunt's lodge.
9
This Occurred in the Lodge of Cuwignaka
Gently I put my hand on the girl's small, soft shoulder, it under the hide blanket. I shook her twice, gently.
"No," she said, "no. Surely it is not time already to go to the office."
"Awaken," I said.
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