Science Fiction story ID help -- servant alien race with population growth on its side

Cafe Society
1

(Getting old – I remember asking a “help me ID this story” question in rec.arts.sf some 15 years ago…)

So… back before I vowed that I would never again check SF out of the library (and risk losing access to stories that I would forget the details of)… well, I read a story from the library and forgot some of the key details: author! title!

I don’t remember much, but I believe there was a reptilian servant (or slave) race being pushed around by humans. Maybe in the swamps of Louisiana? Maybe in the swamps of Venus? I believe our protagonist reptilian was chained up for the part of the tale.

The punchline was that humans had underestimate the power of geometric (or was it exponential) growth. The aliens were going to win the numbers battle before long.

Is this enough to go on? Can one of you masters help me out!

WJ

2

I don’t know about that story, but if you liked it you may be interested in a good translation of Karel Čapek’s “War with the Newts,” which examines the idea of a slave-race outbreeding their human masters.

Being a Czech, Čapek has a very cynical viewpoint on the trustworthiness and value of most political leaders.

3

I love that story! I read it for the first time last year. Really holds up.

4

Thanks, guys, for this pointer. Not the story I was looking for, but definitely one I will now check out. The search goes on…

I married into a Czech family – that totally jibes.