Necklaces of lion and
tiger-teeth, bits of dried meat, finely tanned hides and earthen
pots, beautifully decorated, they thrust upon us until we were
loaded down, and all the while Al-tan glared balefully upon us,
seemingly jealous of the attentions heaped upon us because we had
served Chal-az.
At last we reached a hut that they set apart for us, and there we
cooked our meat and some vegetables the women brought us, and had
milk from cows--the first I had had in Caspak--and cheese from
the milk of wild goats, with honey and thin bread made from wheat
flour of their own grinding, and grapes and the fermented juice
of grapes. It was quite the most wonderful meal I had eaten since
I quit the Toreador and Bowen J. Tyler's colored chef, who could
make pork-chops taste like chicken, and chicken taste like heaven.
Chapter 6
After dinner I rolled a cigaret and stretched myself at ease upon
a pile of furs before the doorway, with Ajor's head pillowed in my
lap and a feeling of great content pervading me. It was the first
time since my plane had topped the barrier-cliffs of Caspak that I
had felt any sense of peace or security. My hand wandered to the
velvet cheek of the girl I had claimed as mine, and to her luxuriant
hair and the golden fillet which bound it close to her shapely
head. Her slender fingers groping upward sought mine and drew them
to her lips, and then I gathered her in my arms and crushed her to
me, smothering her mouth with a long, long kiss.
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