"Let me be a woman," she begged. "Let me be a woman!"
I considered the Waniyanpi. "It is against the law," I said.
I then lifted her up and threw her, she helpless and hooded, over my shoulder.
"I hate you, I hate you," she wept. "I hate you!"
I then carried her back to the shelter and put her, again, with her sisters, her harness mates, other females of the Waniyanpi.
Chapter 15
HCI'S TRICK
"Behold!" said Hci. "In good faith do I greet you! In the time of the festivals, now, let us make good feelings between us."
"Greetings," said Canka, standing before his lodge.
Behind Hci were two of his fellows, of the Sleen Soldiers. One held a string of twenty kaiila.
"Denonstrating the warmth that is in my heart for you," said Hci, "I give you twenty kaiila!" He motioned for the fellow with the kaiila to come forward.
"Do not!" said Canka.
"They are yours!" cried Hci, with an expansive wave of his hand.
"I do not have twenty kaiila," said Canka. "I am not the son of a chief."
"You need not return me kaiila," said Hci, concernedly. "You will not lose honor, as yu know, if you return to me, in magnanimous reciprocity, something of comparable value."
"But what might I have of comparable value?" protested Canka, angrily. It seemed clear that he was to be outdone in the giving of gifts, in the display of generosity. Technically, of couse, Hci should not have offered gifts to Canka of a value which Canka could not repay. Such might shame or embarrass the recipient.
"Her," said Hci, pointing to Winyela, standing near the lodge entrance. "I will take her!"
Winyela turned white.
"No!" cried Canka. "I will not give her up! She is mine!"
"I have given you a gift of great value," said Hci, as though puzzled. "You will give me nothing in return?"
"You may not have her!" said Canka.
"Very well, my friend," said Hci. He looked about at his fellows, and the others, too, of which there were now several, about. He smiled broadly. "The kaiila, however, having been given, are yours. I do not regret my generosity. I regret only that yuo have taken so surly an attitude in this matter."
One of the Sleen Soldiers with Hci slapped his thigh with amusement. There was laughter, too, from others gathered about. More red savages, as if from nowhere, the word of Hic's visit to the lodge of Canka apparently having rapidly spread, appeared. There was now a crowd in front of the lodge.
"I have given Canka twenty kaiila," said Hci to the crowd. "In return he does not give me one she-kaiila." He pointed to Winyela.
There was laughter from the crowd.
"Take back your kaiila!" said Canka, angrily.
"How can that be done?" said Hci. "They have already been given."
"I give them back to you!" said Canka, in fury.
"Very well," said Hci, smiling. His fellow of the Sleen Soldiers tightened his grip on the lead rope.
"Hci is very clever," said Cuwignaka to me. "He knows Canka does not wish to surrender winyela. His caring for her is now well known in the camp. Even so, he did not put his plan into effect until after Canka had refused to give her to hsi father, Mahpiyasapa, for the Yellow Knives. If Canka would not surrender her to Mahpiyasapa he would not, of course, surrender her to Hci in an exchange of gifts."
"Hci, then," I said, "did not expect to obtain Winyela."
"Of course not," said Cuwignaka. "I do not even think he wants her. Sheis pretty but there are many pretty girls in camp. The Isanna have more than two hundred. Too, he may be the son of a chief, but he is still only a young man. He would not want to pay twenty kaiila for such a woman. For a young man that would be a crazy price to pay. She is only a white slave. A young man would not wnt to pay more than four or five kaiila for such a woman. Most white slaves go for a hide or less. Besides, after the cutting of his face, Hci has, for the most part, avoided the company of women, even slaves. Hci, I think, would rather kill Fleer and Yellow Knives than master slaves."
"He is then, risking nothing," I said.
"And, in shaming Canka, gaining a great deal," said Cuwignaka. "He is a clever fellow. I like him."
"I am sorry, my friend, Canka," said Hci, grinning, "that you have lost honor in this matter. I hope that you will forgive me. In a way it is surely my fault. It did not occur to me that, in making peace between us, I should not offer you splendid gifts. I never conceived of it being possible that you lacked the nobility and generosity of the Kaiila warrior. It is well that you are only of the All Comrades. Such as you would never be accepted in the Sleen Soldiers."
I tensed, for I feared that Canka would draw his knife and rush upon Hci. Hci, too, I think, was prepared for such an eventuality, and, I suspect, would have welcomed it. His knees were slightly flexed. His hand was near his knife sheath. Only too ready, I suspected, was Hci to submit the differences between himself and Canka to the arbitration of steel.
"Ho, ho!" suddenly laughed Cuwignaka, slapping at his leg. "Hci does not see the joke!"
Both young men looked at Cuwignaka as though he might have taken leave of his senses.
"It is a good joke, Canka," said Cuwignaka. "You have fooled him well. For a momnet even I was fooled!"
"What are you talking about?" said Canka.
"Did you truly think, Hci," laughed Cuwignaka, "that my brother, Canka, who has served as Blotanhunka, and who is of the All Comrades, not merely of the Sleen Soldiers, would not take your twenty kaiila for a mere slave?"
"I will never surrender her," said Canka.
"May I speak to my brother?" asked Cuwignaka, laughing.
"Certainly," said Hci. He then turned to the crowd. "It is lovely Siptopto, Canka's sister. Why should a sister not be permitted to speak to her brother? It is not a sister's privilege to speak to her broher?"
"Cinto!" said several in the crowd. "Surely! Certainly!"
"Thank you," said Cuwignaka.
"Do not stand between us," said Canka.
Cuwignaka placed himself directly between the two young savages, facing Canka, his back to Hci. He placed his hands fraternally upon Canka's shoulders, an action which also, of course, had the consequence of assuring himself that Canka remained where he was. He spoke softly to Canka for a moment, and then stepped back. "The joke has really gone far enough, my brother, I feel," said Cuwignaka, rather loudly.
"You are right, Cuwignaka," said Canka. "Forgive me, Hci," he said. "I did not really mean to make sport of you.
Hci regarded him, puzzled.
"She is yours," said Canka, indicating Winyela. Winyela looked agonized. I thought for a moment she might fall.
"She is mine?" asked Hci.
"Of course," said Canka. "Put a rope on her neck. Lead her away." He then, firmly, took the lead rope of the kaiila string from the Sleen Soldier who led it.
"Mine?" asked Hci.
"Yes," said Canka. "You said that you would take her. Take her."
"It is twenty kaiila!" sadi Hci.
"The terms of he exchange were yours," said Canka. "I find thempeculiar. But I certainly acept them. Take her."
"Please, Master," wept Winyela, piteously throwing herself to her knees at the feet of Canka, "do not let me go! Do not give me to him! I love you! I love you!"
"Silence, mere slave," said Canka, sternly.
Winyela put her head down. Her body was shaken with wild sobs.
"Do you think you are more than a mere object," he asked, "to be done with as I please?"
"No, Master," she wept. "No, Master."
Hci was standing there, stunned.
"What are you going to do with her?" asked Canka, pleasantly.
Hci, I saw, had not planned on getting the girl, as Cuwignaka had speculated. He had not really thought about doing anything with her.