"But fear not, Drgon," spoke Cagu. "A Chief Piper ain't but a five-stroke man. Only a tutor is lower down among freemen. And anyway, the good Soup-master had promised to take the lash for you." There was a bellow from the door, and I grabbed my clarinet and scrambled after the page. Owner Gope didn't like to wait around for piper-slaves. I saw him looming up at his place, as I darted through to my assigned position within the huge circle of the viand-loaded table. The Chief Piper had just squeezed his bagpipe-like instrument and released a windy blast of discordant sound. He was a lean, squint-eyed creature, fond of ordering the slave-pipers about. He pranced in an intricate pattern, pumping away at his vari-colored bladders, until I winced at the screech of it. Owner Gope noticed him about the same time. He picked up a heavy brass mug and half-rose to peg it at the Chief Piper, who saw it just in time to duck. The mug hit a swollen air-bag; a yellow one with green tassels; it burst with a sour bleat. "As sweet a note as has been played tonight," roared Owner Gope. "Begone, lest you call up the hill devils----" His eye fell on me. "Here's Dugon, or Digen," he cried. "Now here's a true piper. Summon up a fair melody, Dgron, to clear the fumes of the last performer from the air before the wine sours." I bowed low, wet my lips, and launched into the _One O' Clock Jump_. To judge from the roar that went up when I finished, they liked it. I followed with _Little Brown Jug_ and _String of Pearls_. Gope pounded and the table quieted down. "The rarest slave in all Rath-Gallion, I swear it," he bellowed. "Were he not a slave, I'd drink his health." "By your leave, Owner?" I said. Gope stared, then nodded indulgently. "Speak then, Dugong," he said. "I claim the place of Chief Piper. I----" Yells rang out; Gope grinned widely. "So be it," he said. "Shall the vote be taken now, or must we submit to more of the vile bladderings ere we proclaim our good Dagron Chief Piper?" "Proclaim him!" somebody shouted. "There must be a Trial," another offered dubiously. Gope slammed a huge hand against the table. "Bring Lylk, the Chief Piper, before me," he yelled. "He of the wretched air-skins." The Piper reappeared, fingering his bladders nervously. "The place of the Chief Piper is declared vacant," Gope said loudly. The piper pinched a pink bladder, which emitted a thin squeak. "----since the former Chief Piper has been advanced in degree to a new office," continued Gope. A blue bladder moaned, lost amid yells and cheers.