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"Look," said Grunt, pointing to the right.
A rider, a red savage, was approaching rapidly. He wore a breechclout and moccasins. About his neck was a string of sleen claws. There were no feathers in his hair and neither he nor his animal wore paint. Too, he did not carry lance and shild. He was not on the business of war. He did have a bow case and quiver, and at the thong of his waist was a beaded sheath, from which protruded the hilt of a trade knife.
"It is Hci," said Cuwingaka. There is no exact translation of the expression 'Hci' from Kaiila, into either Gorean or English. This is ot all that unusual, incidentally. One ca
Hci reined in his kaiila, squealing, kicking dust, before us.
The disfigurement was indeed prominent. The blow of the canhpi had slashed through to the jawbone.
"What are you doing here?" demanded Hci, speaking in Kaiila. I could not, given my time with Grunt and Cuwignaka, and my time in the Isbu camp, follow much of what was said. I could now, too, to some extent, communicate in that expressive, sibilant language.
"We have come to see the Pte," said Cuwignaka. The expression 'Pte', literally stands for the kailiauk cow, as 'Ta-tanka' stands for the kailiauk bull, but it is commonly used colloquially, more generally, to stand for the kailiauk in general. In a sense, the «Pte» may be considered the mother of the tribes, as it is through her that their nomadic life, in its tichness and variety, becomes possible. More formally, of course, one speaks of the kailiauk. The expression 'kailiauk' is a Gorean word and, as far as I know, does not have an Earth origin.
I looked beyond Hci to the beasts, some two to three pasangs away. The kailiauk is a large, lumbering, shaggy trident-horned ruminant. I has four stomachs and an eight-valved heart. It is dangerous, gregarious, small-eyed and short-tempered. Adult males can stand as high as twenty or twenty-five hands at the shoulder and weigh as much as four thousand pounds.
"You have no right here," said Hci, angrily.
"We are causing no harm," said Cuwignaka.
"No one will hunt until the great hunt," said Hci. "Then we will hunt. The Isbu will hunt. The Casmu will hunt! The Isa
The Isbu, or Little-Stones band; the Casmu, or Sand, band; the Isa
"We are here to see the Pte," said Cuwignaka, "not to hunt."
"It is well for you," said Hci, angrily. "You well know the penalties for illcit hunting."
Cuwignaka did not even deign to respond. To be sure, the penalties were not light. One might be publicly denounced and abuse, even beaten, in the village. One's weapons could be broken. One's lodge, and robes, and possessions could be taken away or cut to pieces with knives and scattered to the winds. In the beliefs of the red savages the welfare of the whole, that of the tribe, takes precedence over the welfare of the individual. In the thinking of the red savages the right to diminish and jeopordize the community does not lie within the prerogatives of the individual.
"Go away!" said Hci, with an angry wave of his arm.
Cuwignaka stiffened on the back of his kaiila.
Hci was angrily gestured to the string of sleen claws about his neck, the sign of the Sleen Soldiers.
"It is an order," said Grunt to Cuwignaka, in Gorean. "He is well within his authority, as you know. He is a Sleen Soldier, and it is among his duties to track and protect the kailiauk. Do not think of it as a personal thing. He is a Sleen Soldier, doing his work. In his place you would doubtless do much the same."
Cuwignaka nodded, recognizing the justice of this view. It was not Hci, so to speak, who was being obeyed, but rather a duly constituted authority, an officer, a constable or warden in such matters.
We turned our kaiila about, to take our way from the place.
"Women, slaves, and white men are not to ride forth to look upon the Pte," called Hci after us.