In spite of Solomon's recently implemented orders concerning her removal from the compound, none of the other guards questioned him as Gabriel hurried her toward the compound gate. On the contrary, one of them even held it open for him. As he locked it again behind them, the other guard took the opportunity to grope her charms as she passed through.

With her hands still tied behind her back, he shepherded her right under the gazes of other guards and those of the trackers present, some of who were enjoying the delights of the slavegirls who, unlike Ginge, were not affected by the new rule regarding removal. At last they reached the huge, buttressed tree a short distance away and he stood her at its base. Slightly behind the compound and right on the border of the forest, it was the tree in which the wooden structure known as the tree house was built. Constructed from timber, the roof was traditionally thatched using branches and shiny palm-like leaves. On the face of it, perched precariously among the tree tops, the little shack looked from the ground to be rather a flimsy, impractical structure. Reached by several flights of wooden steps and small, wooden platforms, there were handrails, though these were of no earthly use to slavegirls who invariably had their hands tied; a slave's ascent was far less amenable, courtesy of a block and tackle system.

Originally built without a door, a portcullis-type arrangement, also made of wood, had been added later. This enabled Solomon to utilise the building as a secure cage during the rainy season when a number of girls were taken from the compound and crushed together inside, some twenty feet from the ground. Of course, they were still widely unprotected from the elements but their close proximity to one another, coupled with the foliage, offered more shelter than the compound. The portcullis was fixed to the highest branches of the enormous tree in which the tree house perched, though it was unnecessary during the dry season since there was no need for a door because there were several rings to which one could hitch a slave securely. The structure's original purpose was simply to be an extra location in which Solomon could practice his perversions, though he had never really taken to it. There was speculation among the girls that Solomon had lost interest in the building on account of it having initially been Niconari's idea. It was apparent to anyone unfortunate enough to be incarcerated there that it had now been taken over entirely for use by guards and trackers because the floor was strewn with beer cans, cigarette butts and other accumulated rubbish, despite having been officially proclaimed "off limits".

Ginge felt Gabriel's foul breath fanning her ear. "Legs apart!" he hissed in slurred, heavily accented English as he seized her breasts. "Fucking nice tits you've got."

Ginge obeyed at once, wishing it was almost any other guard but this one and her fear was palpable as, for no apparent reason, she recalled that he had been the guard most hated by Jo and fleetingly she found herself wondering what had happened to the feisty English girl. But her recollections were suddenly cut short.

"The fun starts here."

She cried out as he attached a nasty, hand-crafted weight first to one nipple, then the other. The fiendish devices were shaped like teardrops and were almost three inches in length. Made by old Kaburi to his own design, each was skilfully carved from a single piece of hollowed-out bone, enabling them to be filled with varying amounts of shot, the actual amount depending on the predilection of the individual who fixed them in place. Unfortunately for Ginge, Gabriel was feeling particularly malevolent and used rather more ballast than she had experienced up until then. Kaburi's clever design also incorporated a little flap that one could swivel across the top to act as a lid so that no shot could fall out.

Laughing unpleasantly, Gabriel fixed a second pair to her outer cunt lips. When the last one was in place, he stepped back a couple of paces to view his handiwork.

"Your udders will scrape the floor and your lips'll be thin enough to blow holes through by the time someone removes those fucking weights!"

Dropping suddenly to his knees, Gabriel seized one weight in each hand and used them to part her pinkening pussy lips. Closing her eyes to try and lessen the vile experience, she felt his warm breath once again fouling her skin, this time her vulva. She heard the chewing noises and the sound of his saliva-filled mouth manipulating the masticated weed to one side. Without spitting it out, his long, slime-coated tongue suddenly invaded her honeyed warmth and prowled around her sweet cavern.

Her heart sank as she heard Kaburi addressing the girls in the compound as the guards filled the trough with slop. "Come and get it, my little forest she-dogs. The table is set."

All at once Gabriel withdrew his tongue. Relinquishing his hold on the weights, he stood upright and, as he resumed his chewing, he told her in a malevolent undertone, "The boss thinks he's got you, the last of his 'specials,' so well protected! But just to prove him wrong, you and me are going to have some real fun! I'm going take you up there......." he pointed upward, "then I'm going to use a whip to remove the skin from....." he circled her and come back to stand in front of her again, "your thighs. And you'd better not make a sound or I'll leave you up there to rot! When I'm satisfied that your tender thighs are all nice and skinless, I'm going to shag that no-good, whoring cunt of yours until you can't stand. But don't worry, you won't have to!"

He made a sudden grab for the back of her head and roughly drew her towards him. Then, still chewing the obnoxious weed, he kissed her full on the lips and his tongue explored her mouth just as it had done with her cunt. He trapped her tongue between his teeth and closed them, making her yelp and bringing tears to her eyes. With a snigger he opened his jaws again and resumed his violation of her sweet mouth. For a moment he lost control of the weed and it passed from his tongue to hers. Sniggering once more he withdrew and, using finger and thumb, held her lips closed so that she was unable to expel it.

"Swallow!" Again he sniggered. "Don't worry, I've got plenty more." With his free hand he rooted around in his pocket, withdrew a few fresh leaves and crammed them into his mouth. "I said 'swallow.'"

She swallowed. As her stomach churned in revulsion and then rumbled with hunger, Gabriel released her head. As he began chewing, he slurred his commands.

"Sit!"

She sat.

"Spread your legs......wide."

Once again she did as he instructed.

"Stay there!"

She stayed put while Gabriel retrieved a log which lay in readiness at the base of the tree. With twine loops at either end, it was about three feet in length. He placed it between her ankles then, lifting one foot at a time, he slipped her feet through the loops and proceeded to tighten them around her slender ankles. When he had finished, without speaking to her he untied her hands then retied them in front. With his hand on the back of her head he shoved her forward and attached her small hands to the centre of the rough log-cum-spreader bar. Next, he reached up among the low hanging branches, into a hole in the tree trunk, and extracted the huge, iron hook which was attached to the block part of the block and tackle, a device which enabled one man working alone to raise several girls in a single operation. Working quickly, Gabriel attached the hook around the log, in the centre where her hands were tied. Obliged to remain leaning forward due to the method in which he had restrained her, she eyed the huge hook with consternation as its sharp point was directed forward, between her breasts.

"Please......" she breathed, "don't hurt me."