`` well , '' ferris said , `` it is hard on the fellows , when there are no ladies on the town , as it were ; and i gather , sir , it is hard on the women hereabouts , also , for they can not get married outside their own ayllu without a great deal of trouble , in negotiations- '' crickton had evidently been trying several nights to sneak away , to visit the lady-on the basis of little more encouragement than smiles , from the doorway of the great hall where she lived-and had been caught in the act by ferris .