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The fastest way to travel by bullock cart involves walking in front and tugging the bullock by a rope Thisalone unencu in the cart and letting the bullock set the pace I tried walking for a while but gave it up when I feltto perspire I didn’t want to sweat the tobacco juice off ofcart and let the bullock have it with a bahbred league, but that was probably just as well; given the condition of the road – bumpy – and the condition of the cart – dilapidated – I don’t think a fast trip would have been advisable I sat on the pile of straw, hunched forward to keep as much of my face hidden as possible, and let the bullock proceed at his own pace toward Tao Dan

I spent the ride getting into character, teachingmy body to adapt itself to the stance of a Laotian peasant As my bullock and I neared the toe passed other carts and an occasional car heading in the opposite direction Now and then so, to which I would nod and ed by the fact that I did not see any attention

Tao Dan turned out to be a rather busy little town, thecountryside Ramshackle round huts with peaked roofs alternated with squat buildings of ashed concrete block The streets were very narrow and extre a bullock through heavy pedestrian traffic and afterupon a little yellow infant, I gave up riding him and walked in front of him, my hat down over as much of my forehead as possible and h abunches of indefinable vegetables, turned a corner, ed off a variety of offers for h the busy little town It would have helped if I had known precisely who or what I was looking for, but I didn’t It would also have helped if I had felt better physically I was perspiring again and was sure it would have an undesirable effect upon ht be ruined beyond repair, and an at the base of my skull and worked its way forward fro?

I decided that he must have found the object of his search, but it seemed unlikely that he could still be busy with a wo his youth and the fervor of his desire into consideration, the fact remained that one could only continue that particular activity for a certain aiven full vent to his desires, he ht well have driven hiht’s sleep would have brought hiinal activity, but I hated to think it of him We were friends, after all, and I couldn’t believe he would leavein the underbrush forever while he screwed himself silly

What, for that matter, had become of Tuppence and the Kendall Bayard Quartet? I had the feeling that they were the prisoners of whom the old man had spoken and that they were soed in Tao Dan? I didn’t know and I didn’t trust myself to ask directions

I found one street that was a little less crowded than the others and hitched the bullock at the curb, tying his lead rope to a small concrete pillar erected for that express purpose I shuffled along the street, then followed a small crowd ofout of small handleless cups of tea I couldn’t have any tea because I didn’t have any money I moved to the rear of the cafe and tried to stay as deep in the shadows as possible A dozen conversations went on at once around me I listened to them in turn The dialect was difficult for me to follow, and most of the conversations seemed to revolve upon the various problericultural trade terely unfamiliar ones, and I was pretty e, heavy in to talk about a criht A sathered around him, anxious for details I shouldered my way forward and listened to the storyteller

He knew his trade well, beginning slowly, letting the exciteirl of who officer of the troop garrison Just a young thing, she is, with the softest and purest skin, and a waist one could span with one’s hands, and breasts exquisitely shaped like cups of tea, and hair like fine black silk…"

He paused for a chorus of oohs and ahhs

"And this stranger appeared, no one knows froirl down the street So followed" – he lowered his voice – "and others say she well knew a man was behind her, and let her hips sway frole rose up from the crowd

"And he followed her, or perhaps she led him, into the house of her father The house of her father!" The crowd bubbled at the thought, arespect from the libertines "And in the house of her father, in the bed of her father, this ard one prepared to take her Some say he meant to force his and terror" – again the voice went conspiratorially soft – "and others have it that no terror was necessary, that the girl would have willingly participated in what he wished!"

More hubbub frouessed the identity of the ht I hoped at least that he had attained the object of his desires before they killed him At least he would have died happy

But such was not the case

"Fortunately," the fat man continued, "the chastity of the little one was preserved Fortunately her own father arrived in the nick of tihter’s side before the culprit could complete his evil mission With tears of frustration in his beady eyes the cri"

I could well believe it

"And the criminal?" someone demanded

"He shall receive the punishment that is his due"

"Death?"

"What else?"

What else indeed? Dhang, I thought wearily, led a profoundly unchar the Week of Tears and Sighs, and the tears and sighs were all his own And nohen he had settled on a succulent young Laotian girl, he had had the ill luck to select the daughter of the arrison It did not surprise me that he had been sentenced to death But had the sentence been carried out yet?

So," the storyteller replied "By nightfall" – he pointed off to his left – "his head shall decorate a post at the coht, if I could help it Poor Dhang! I thought of the tiht when I had accused him of treachery while he had trembled under the sentence of death No doubt he had had the opportunity to betray me then He could have attee for his freedom But he had kept his silence, and now, somehow, I had to find a way to free him

I slipped unquestioned fro s Then I retrieved my bullock and led him off in the direction the storyteller had indicated The streets of Tao Dan were a maze, and I had to stop to ask directions to the coentleman who didn’t seem to pay much attention to my non-Laotian face

He pointed the way andbehind me I turned a corner as indicated and stopped in front of a large ashed concrete building fro