"That is Cancega," whispered Cuwignaka to me.
A man was now riding slowly forward, alone, toward some trees a few hundred yards away. Lines of such trees, in the Barrens, and low, sloping geodesics, watersheds, tend to mark, often, the location of the tiny stream which occur in the country. Such streams, in this area, would be tributary to the Lower, or Southern, Kaiila. At this time of year, of course, they would be little more than trickles of water.
Indeed, at this time of year, a man could wade the Southern Kaiila. Later in the year, in Kantasawi, many small streams would be dry altogether and even major rivers, like the Southern Kaiila itself, would seem little more than pools of water in a riverbed. The body of Cancega, clad in little more than a breechclout and a roach of feathers, was covered with medicine paint. In his hand he carried a long, feathered medicine wand.
"The five high coups have already been taken," said Cuwignaka.
"What are they?" I asked.
"They young men, more than a hundred of them, selected from the bands, sent ahead days ago, as soon as the Pte were sighted, have ridden for the tree."
"I do not understand," I said.
"It is a race," said Cuwignaka. "They are lined up. The first five men who strike the tree, with thier hand, or with a canhpi, a lance or coup stick, obtain high coups."
"Did Canka or Hci participate in this race?" I asked.
"No," said Cuwignaka. "Both of them, in former years, have obtained such a coup."
"The group is advancing," I said.
"We shall accompany them," said Cuwignaka.
We then walked along with the group, some mounted and some, like ourselves, on foot, who, in effect, were following Cancega.
"Cancega seems to be a very important fellow," I said.
"He is more importatnt than you understand," said Cuwignaka. "At this time, during the festivals, he is in charge of the whole camp. We listen to him. We do what he says."
"He is, then," I said, "at this time, in effect, the chief of all the Kaiila."
"I do not think I would put it just that way," said Cuwignaka, somwhat defensively. "The civil chiefs, in deferring to him, are not really relinquishing their power."
"I see the distnction," I said. "Do all the Kaiila ever have but one chief?"
"Sometimes a war chief is elected," said Cuwignaka. "In a sense, then, he is the high chief."
"But a war chief cannot be a civil chief," I said.
"No," said Cuwignaka. "It is better, we think, to keep those things apart."
"That is interesting," I said.
"One may, of course, at different times, be a war chief and a civil chief," said Cuwignaka.
"I understand," I said.
"Sometimes a man is good at both," said Cuwignaka, "but they are still different things."
"I understand," I said.
"And, generally, I think," said Cuwignaka, "that it would be only a very unusual man who would be good at both."
"Perhaps," I said.
"They are very different sorts of things," said Cuwignaka.
"That seems to me right," I said.
In moments we, with the others, were splashing across a narrow, shallow stream. I could see pebbles in the bottom of this stream. The Southern, or Lower, Kaiila, like the other larger rivers in the Barrens, however, bearing witness to the accumulation of silts, would be brown and muddy.
On the other side of the stream Canega, and most of his fellows, dismounted, their kaiila being held to the side.
Cancega, then, began a slow, shuffling dance. Two others, near him, also with roaches of feathers, shaking rattles, joined him. The focal point of this dance, which wove back and forth, in a fanlike motion, before it, was a high, white-barked tree. Cancega repeated, over and over, carrying the medicine wand, and dancing, "It is the tree." The other two fellows, who had joined him, with the rattles, would add a refrain, "It is tall and straight." This refrain, too, was sometimes echoed by those about us.
Winyela, her hands bound behind her, and her neck in the tethers, in her finery, watched.
I could see the marks of varios weapons in the bark of the tree where, perhaps two or three days ago, the young men had charged to it, to be the first to reach it, in their race for coups.
"It is the tree!" suddenly cried Cancega, rushing to the tree and striking it with the medicine wand.
"It is tall and straight!" shouted the two seconds, in the dance, and most of the others, as well, including my friend, Cuwignaka.
Two men rushed to Winyela and untied her hands. She was pushed forward, the tethers still on her neck, but now rather behind her.
A long-handled, single-balded ax was pressed into her hands. It was a trade ax. Its back was blunted, for the driving of pegs, stakes and wedges. It was heavy for her.
"You should not be here," said a man to Cuwignaka. "This is no place for free women."
"I am a man," said Cuwignaka.
The man shrugged.
I looked about. To be sure, there were no women present, with the exception of the lovely Winyela.
She began, under the direction of Cancega, and others, to strike at the lower portions of the tree.
I wondered why there were no free women present. Could it be that something was to occur which was regarded as not being suitable, perhaps, for the sensibilities of free women?
Winyela continued to chop at the tree.
It was some twenty-five to thirty feet in height, but it was not, really, a large tree. Its trunk was slim and polelike, and surely only some eight to ten inches in width. A man, working with such a tool, would have felled it in a matter of moments. Winyela, of course, was neither a man nor a woodsman. She was only a lovely slave. Her hands were widely spaced on the ax handle, and her blows were short. Cancega and the others, interestingly, in spite of the fact that she was a slave, were patient with her. To be sure, she had enough sense not to beg to rest. The necklaces and ornaments she wore rustled and shimmered, making tiny sounds, as she labored. I supposed it was the first time in her life she had had such an implement in her hands. They are seldom used by debutantes from Pennsylvania nor, of course, by Gorean slave girls.
I saw Canka ride up, on his kaiila. He had come, apparently, from the camp. She looked at him, the tethers on her neck. He indicated that she should continue to work.
In a moment there was a cracking noise, and then, after a few more blows, a splintering, rending sound as the tree tipped, and then, its branches striking the earth, fell. Five last blows were struck, cutting the last fibers and wood, and the trunk, freed, laid level, a yard above the ground, held in place by branches and foliage.
The men grunted with approval. The ax was removed from Winyela's hands and she was dragged back and knelt, her knees closely together, on the ground. The two men who held her tethers now stood beside her, the slack in the tethers, looped, now taken up, the rawhide loops in their fists.
"What occurs now?" I asked Cuwignaka.
"Watch," said he to me.
Several of the men, now, under the direction of Cancega, began to remove the branches and bark from the felled tree. Two forks were left, one about eighteen feet high and the other about twenty-three feet high. This was to allow for the pole later being set in the earth, within the enclouser of the dance, set among its supporting stakes, to a depth of some seven or eight feet. These forks would then be, respectively, about ten and fifteen feet high.