Chapter Seven
The Shores of the Sea of the South
With the great dugout which he had received from the dwellers of the lake village in trade for the moistly sucking comfort of Mara’s smooth, hungrily sliding mouth, Kalesh and his two wives went upon the river. By day they traveled with the current, laughingly amazed to be on their backsides instead of their plodding feet. They had used the water only briefly until then, and this stout boat was to the smalls rafts they had made before as a heavy thatched hut is to a half-rotten cloak thrown over the head in a rainstorm. After so much hard, slow progress by land, they did not tire of marveling to one another of this new comfort and ease.
Sometimes, when the current was gentle and the way easy, it was possible for two of them to enjoy thems
