"Not so. The booking clerk at the hotel apparently misunderstood
you. Tours cannot be pieced together, a bit of this with some of that. You must apply to the booking clerk for your refund."
Shugart gave a snort of derision.
"Do you really take us for fools? This was Tour 112 from the start, and please don't try any more tricks on us."
Fader tendered a sheet of paper.
"How is that possible, sir?
Tour 112, you will notice, is limited to eight persons.
There are nine aboard the boat."
"What's all this?" demanded Aries.
Kirdy made an irritated gesture.
"Aries, be good enough to control yourself! You are like a mad dog!"
Shugart demanded of Fader: "Let me see the brochure."
"I cannot do that, sir. This is my only copy."
"Then hold it where I can read it."
Reluctantly Fader complied with the request. Shugart read aloud:
""Tours 111, 112 and 113 are similar: 111 is for folk who may be offended by nudity; 112 passes through the female residences; 113, which is slightly longer, avoids the female residences and visits the sanitary rotundas. The charge for all tours will be thirty-two sols, for up to a total of eight persons. Extra persons may be accommodated at the discretion of the tour captain, but each must pay a charge of four sols. A ten percent gratuity will be expected." Just so. We have paid thirty-six sols, and here is the receipt to prove it!"
Fader said without accent: "You should have shown this in the first place; it would have saved trouble. Nevertheless, in my opinion, the boat is overloaded for Tour 112."
Shugart spoke crisply: "Enough of your pettifogging! Take us either on Tour 112, or back to the hotel at once, where we will make a furious complaint!"
Fader shrugged wearily.
"Everyone wants something for nothing, and we must comply to maintain goodwill. So let it be. Give us our gratuities now and we shall once again bend our backs to the task."
"In no mode, manner, way, shape, intimation, hint or form!
You will pine for your lost gratuities forever, unless you instantly mend your ways!"
"Ah, you rich Araminta workers are hard to deal with. Tour 112 it is, by your insistence." He called to the paddlers.
"We are in luck! They want to take the shortcut past the dormitories rather than through the bathing rotundas."
Jardine called out: "Bathing rotundas! The brochure said something about sanitation!"
"It is all one," said Fader.
"The die is cast."
The Bold Lions fell glumly silent. The boat threaded a set of canals, under built-over areas, beside a strip of land densely planted with bamboo and salpiceta, and tended, so it seemed, by almost as many workers as there were plants.
Beyond, the canal turned sharply seaward, and passed between a pair of tall structures. Seven levels of balconies overlooked the canal, with plaited frond doors opening into cubicles. As the Bold Lions scrutinized the balconies, they occasionally glimpsed a Yip girl as she came out to hang a bit of cloth to dry or tend a potted plant, but these were few; the residences seemed almost comatose.
Kiper's disappointment was extreme. He spoke to Fader in bewilderment.
"This is truly rather dull. Where are all the girls?"
"Many are bathing in the rotundas," said Fader.
"Others are out on the water tending mussel racks and beds of sea lettuce. Here, however, are the residences. The morning girls are sleeping. At midnight they will be off about their duties and the afternoon girls will sleep. Each habitancy by this means serves two people. Eventually we will move to the land and there will be space for all; this is our destiny, and it cannot come too soon. In any case, you have now seen the residences. Some folk find it more amusing to watch the girls as they bathe; I prefer it myself."
"Yes, Fader," muttered Shugart.
"You are the clever one, no doubt about it, and you can bid your gratuity a tearful goodbye."
"I beg your pardon?" inquired Fader.
"Were you addressing me?"
"No matter. Let us get on with the tour."
"Just so. We will go ashore at yonder dock."
The boat eased up to the dock and the Bold Lions alighted, with Fader assisting them so that they would not fall. As Shugart climbed ashore, Fader's attention was distracted; he looked away just as the boat gave a sudden lurch and Shugart fell with a great splash into the canal.
Fader and others helped Shugan to the dock.
"You should have been more careful," said Fader.
"I realize this," said Shugart.
"I spoke a trifle too loudly."
"One learns by his mistakes. Well, no doubt you will dry off soon. We cannot waste time in commiseration. This way, then.
Stay together and do not get lost, as a substantial fee is charged if we must find a missing person."
The Bold Lions walked along a trestle, climbed steps, passed through a narrow doorway into a corridor which after ten yards gave upon a balcony overlooking a murmurous murk so large that the far wall could only be sensed. A dozen dingy skylights provided
illumination; as their eyes adapted to the gloom, the Bold Lions saw below a multitude of Yips. They stood in small groups, or squatted around tiny fire pots where they toasted morsels of skewered fish. Some sat spraddle-legged in circles playing at cards, or dice, or other games; some cut hair or clipped toenails; others played soft breathy music on bamboo pipes, evidently for their private amusement, since no one troubled to listen. Others stood alone, lost in their thoughts, or lay supine staring at nothing. The sound of so many folk came to the balcony as a great soft whisper with no definable source.
Glawen unobtrusively studied the faces of the Bold Lions.
Each, predictably, wore a different expression. The brash Kiper would have given voice to facetious jokes, had he dared. Aries maintained a supercilious impassivity, while Kirdy seemed awed and thoughtful. Shugart, still damp from his immersion, clearly found : he conditions deplorable.
