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others."

The first slaves, hobbled and joined by ankle chains, staggered and clanked down the gangplank, then headed straight for the water. There was a great deal of spilling and quiet cursing from the waterboy. Calvin used his doodlebug to get a closer view. Sure enough, each slave was handing over some small item, made of scraps of cloth and splinters of wood and bits of iron.

"He's our man," said Calvin. "But what made you think those were dolls they were handing over?" asked Calvin.

"I got a good look at only one. It was larger than the others. It was a doll."

"Well the others aren't."

"But they are something, am I right?"

"Oh, they're something all right. Wish I could ask them what it is. How they get powers into those things."

"What are they, if they aren't dolls?"

"They're nothing. I mean they don't look like anything. Knotted cloth, strings, threads, iron, wood, bits of this and that. No two alike."

"Ah, for the knack of your brother's wife."

"We'll find out soon enough."

"But is it not ironic that we spend all day watching and waiting, and now that we have found this man, we still have no idea what he's doing, but she already knows?"

"What makes you think she knows anything?" demanded Calvin.

"Because she can see into that man's heartfire. She has watched us all day, and the moment we saw him, she could hop over and look inside him and know it all."

"Damn," said Calvin, looking at Honor‚ with annoyance. "Don't go telling me you can feel when she's looking at you?"

"I didn't have to feel anything," said Honor‚. "I knew she would because she was curious. She would see in our heartfires that we were going to search for this man, so she would watch us. Obvious."

"To you."

"Of course to me. I am the world's leading authority on the behavior of human beings."

"In your opinion."

"But you see, I am the kind of man who always thinks he is the best in the world at whatever he does. So are you. It is one of the ways we are alike."

Calvin grinned. "Damn right."

"The difference between us is that I am correct in that opinion."

Calvin's eyes squinted again. "Someday I'm not going to pretend I think you're joking when you say things like that."

"What will you do to punish me, make me wake up under a hedge with a terrible headache and my clothing covered with urine?"

The women were coming down now, naked to the waist and roped, not chained together, though the ropes had chafed their wrists and ankles enough to draw blood.

"Your brother's wife already knows the name of this bringer of water, and where he lives, and what he had for breakfast," said Honor‚.

"Yeah, well, we'll know soon enough."

"Do you think he won't notice two White men following him?"

Calvin grinned wickedly. "Like I said, I can do everything that needs doing. I can follow him without him seeing us or knowing he was followed."

"Using your doodoobug?"

"Doodlebug."

"But you do not know all the hidden powers this Black man might have. How do you know he won't catch your doodlebug and hold it captive?"

Calvin started to scoff at this idea, but then grew solemn. "You know, I'd be a fool to think he's not dangerous just cause he acts dumb around the foreman."

"You are learning to be suspicious! I am proud of you!"

"But my doodlebug doesn't have to ride inside him or anything like that."

"Good," said Honor‚. But he could see that Calvin was worried now.

Every single one of the newly arrived slaves had something to give the man. The women were not as trusting as the men. They didn't have them in their hands or the scant clothing they wore - they spat these things from their mouths into the dipper. "Some of them have two," said Calvin. "Two thingamajigs." When there was something in the dipper, the waterboy always put it into the right-hand bucket. He was building up quite a collection in there.

Last in line were a dozen or so good-sized children, looking far more terrified and weak than the adults. None of them had anything for the waterboy.

"The women who had two," said Honor‚.

"Yes," said Calvin. "For the children."

In the midst of serving them, the waterboy clumsily knocked over the right-hand bucket, spilling water over the hot boards of the dock. He served the rest of the children from the other one. When the last was served, they saw why he had spilled the important pail, for one of