"In following his daughter, you follow him," said the officer.
"Never would his footsteps have led to Cos unless there were an army at his back," said another.
"Hail Talena, Ubara of Ar," I said.
"Well said," said the Captain.
"Glory to Ar," said on the men.
This sentiment was echoed by those present with the exception, I think, of the captain, myself and, if I am not mistaken, Marcus.
"Search the shop," said the officer.
Three guardsmen then went into the back of the shop, and one climbed the ladder to the second floor.
"Two many things of this sort have occurred," said the captain to me, looking about himself.
"Captain?" I asked.
"Yes," he said. "More than the men know of."
There was at that moment a girl's scream, coming from the back room.
The shopkeeper cried out in misery.
"Captain!" called a man.
The captain then strode to the rear room. The shopkeeper, Marcus and myself followed him.
In the back there were many ceramic articles about, vessels of numerous sorts, on tiers, and stacks of shallow bowls. The ruffians who had assaulted the shop had not reached the rear room. Further it seemed likely the merchant was not as poorly off as might have been supposed.
"See, Captain?" said one of the men, lifting up the lid of a narrow, oblong chest. Within it, huddled there, looking up, over her right shoulder, terrified, there crouched a girl. Her veil had become somewhat disarranged, and in such a way that one could see her lips and mouth.
"Cover yourself, immodest girl!" scolded the shopkeeper. She pulled the veil more closely about her features. "She is my daughter," said the shopkeeper. She was probably not more than sixteen or seventeen years old.
"Do you always keep her in a chest?" asked the captain, angrily. Keeping female slaves in small confines, of course, in properly ventilated chests, in slave boxes, and such, is not that unusual, but this girl, as far as we knew, was free. Apparently the chest had not been locked, and, too, of course, she was clothed, rather than naked, as slaves are usually kept in such places. To be sure, they are sometimes granted a sheet or blanket for comfort or warmth. "Of course not," said the shopkeeper, frightened. "But when the ruffians came to the shop she was in the back and I told her to hide in the chest."
"Ruffians?" asked the officer.
"Yes, Captain," said the man.
"And yet you did not have her emerge from the chest when the danger was past," observed the officer.
"It slipped my mind," said the shopkeeper.
"Of course," said the captain, ironically.
The shopkeeper was silent.
"You feared us, your defenders, your neighbors and allies," said the captain.
"Forgive me, Captain," said the shopkeeper, "but there are the levies, and such."
"And have you concealed your daughter from the authorities, in such matters?" asked the captain.
"Of course not, Captain," he said. "I am a law-abiding man. She is on the registries."
"There is nothing upstairs," said the man who had come down the ladder from the second floor.
The girl made no attempt to leave the chest. I did not know if this was because she was mature enough, and female enough, to understand that she had not yet been given permission to do so, or if there were a deeper reason.
"Turus, Banius," said the captain, addressing two of the men, "clear the front of the shop, remove the bodies, put them on the street."
"May I submit, Captain," I said, "that it might be preferable to leave the bodies in the shop until they can be properly disposed of. If they are displayed on the street, the power of those of the delta might be too manifestly displayed."
"Excellent," said the officer. "Desist," he said to the men.
"I am considering my report," said the officer to the merchant. "It seems that some good fellows of Cos, esteemed mercenaries, in the service of her Ubar, with all good will and innocence, entered this shop, to purchase wares for loved ones, and were treacherously set upon by assailants, some twenty in number."
"They came pretending to be collectors," said the merchant, "to rob me under this pretense, and dissatisfied with my inability to fill their purses, set out to destroy the shop and goods, and then two fellows whom I did not know, their features concealed in wind scarves, entered and did what you see in the front of the shop."
"I like my version better," said the captain.
"As you will," said the merchant.
"I do not care for what occurred here," said the captain, "and I find you uncooperative."
"I will cooperate in any way I can," said the merchant.
The captain then went to the sides of the back room and suddenly, angrily, kicked and struck goods about, shattering countless articles.
"Stop!" cried the merchant.
The captain swept kraters from a shelf.
In futility did the merchant wring his hands.
"I suspect," said the captain, overturning a stack of bowls, treading upon several of them, "you are in league with the brigands, that your shop served as a trap!"
"No!" cried the shopkeeper, anguished. "Would I have myself ruined. Stop! I beg you, stop!"
"Impalement would be too good for you, traitor of Ar!" said the officer. "No!" wailed the merchant.
"If your story is true," said the officer, thrusting over a rack of ceramics, and a cabinet, "why were these goods, not destroyed, as well?" He hurled a kylix to the wall. In his anger, his destructive fury, doubtless the belated eruption of precedent frustrations, he kicked articles about, and trod even on bowls. Even his ankles and legs were bloodied.
"They did not come so far," said the merchant. "But you, it seems, are determined to complete their work."
"Do you have rope, or hammers and nails?" asked the officer.
"Of course, Captain," said the man.
"Strip her," said the captain to one of the men.
"No!" cried the merchant. He was restrained by two guardsmen.
The girl, crying out, shrieking, pulled half from the chest, had her veil and clothing torn from her.
She was then thrust down again, now naked, trembling, in the chest.
"No!" wept the shopkeeper, throwing himself to his knees before the officer. "This will teach you to put her on the registries," said the officer.
"She is on the registries!" wept the merchant.
"I have found hammers, and nails," said the other of the guardsmen.
"Please, no!" cried the merchant.
"Is this where free men of Ar belong, asked the captain, "at the feet of Cos?"
"Get off your knees!" said one of the guardsmen.
The merchant could not move, but sobbed helplessly.
"Nail shut the chest," said the officer.
"I will say anything you want," said the shopkeeper, looking up piteously at the officer, "anything! I will render whatever testimony you desire. I will sign anything, anything!"
The room rang with the blow of the hammers.
"It will not be necessary," said the officer. The merchant collapsed.
The lid was no hammered shut on the chest.
The officer left the fellow on the floor of the rear room, and signaled for two of his men to pick up the chest and follow him.
He then, followed by the rest of us, including the two fellows with the chest, threaded his way through the front of the shop and to the street outside.
"Captain!" said one of the men outside, pointing to the exterior wall of the building.
There, on the wall, scratched on the stone, was a delka.
The captain cried out with rage.
"I am sure that was not there when we entered, Captain," said one of the guardsmen.
"No, it was not," said the captain.
That was true. As it might be recalled, Marcus and I had entered the shop after the captain and his men, having been on our rounds in the neighborhood.
Some men were about, but seeing the captain and his men, and Marcus and myself, hurried away, perhaps fearing that the delka might be blamed on them.
I did not doubt but what some of these folks had peeped within the shop and seen the bodies about. That would have been easy enough to do when we were in the back of the shop.