enseless on the floor. But with a lithe twist of
her torso, Tascela avoided the blow and caught the pirate's wrist. The
next instant Valeria's left hand was imprisoned, and holding her wrists
together with one hand, Tascela calmly bound them with a cord she drew
from her girdle. Valeria thought she had tasted the ultimate in
humiliation already that night, but her shame at being manhandled by
Olmec was nothing to the sensations that now shook her supple frame.
Valeria had always been inclined to despise the other members of her
sex; and it was overwhelming to encounter another woman who could handle
her like a child. She scarcely resisted at all when Tascela forced her
into a chair and drawing her bound wrists down between her knees,
fastened them to the chair.

Casually stepping over Olmec, Tascela walked to the bronze door and shot
the bolt and threw it open, revealing a hallway without.

"Opening upon this hall," she remarked, speaking to her feminine captive
for the first time, "there is a chamber which in old times was used as a
torture room. When we retired into Tecuhltli, we brought most of the
apparatus with us, but there was one piece too heavy to move. It is
still in working order. I think it will be quite convenient now."

An understanding flame of terror rose in Olmec's eyes. Tascela strode
back to him, bent and gripped him by the hair.

"He is only paralyzed temporarily," she remarked conversationally. "He
can hear, think, and feel--aye, he can feel very well indeed!"

With which sinister observation she started toward the door, dragging
the giant bulk with an ease that made the pirate's eyes dilate. She
passed into the hall and moved down it without hesitation, presently
disappearing with her captive into a chamber that opened into it, and
whence shortly thereafter issued the clank of iron.

Valeria swore softly and tugged vainly, with her legs braced against the
chair. The cords that confined her were apparently unbreakable.

Tascela presently returned alone; behind her a muffled groaning issued
from the chamber. She closed the door but did not bolt it. Tascela was
beyond the grip of habit, as she was beyond the touch of other human
instincts and emotions.

Valeria sat dumbly, watching the woman in whose slim hands, the pirate
realized, her destiny now rested.

Tascela grasped her yellow locks and forced back her head, looking
impersonally down into her face. But the glitter in her dark eyes was