37
We Do Not Trade Tende

The chief, on his small stool, pointed at Tende. Kisu lifted beads before him, of purple glass, strung on wire. The chief shook his head, vigorously. He pointed again at Tende.

Tende knelt beside Kisu, her hands tied behind her back. In the weeks since her conversation with Janice she had become to him a superb love slave. This is hard for a woman to conceal. The chief's eyes glistened as he looked upon her.

Kisu shook his head, negatively.

In spite of the fact that Tende had now become to Kisu a superb love slave, he still kept her under the strictest security. Often she cried about this, but he was unrelenting. "I love you, Master," she would weep. "I love you!" But he continued to treat her unremittingly with the discipline and harshness commonly accorded a fresh capture, not with the authority and rough affection commonly given to a girl who is so enamored of her master that she can scarcely be beaten from his feet with whips. She would cry alone at night, secured to the slave post, until Kisu, by a word, or kick or blow, would silence her.

The chief again pointed at Tende.

Kisu again shook his head negatively.

"Let us go," said Ayari, nervously. "Yes," I said.

We rose to our feet and pushed through the villagers. The chief called out behind us. but we continued on. I thrust a man away.

We hurried to the canoe and, quickly, thrust it into the river.

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