During the voyage to Marsa the two black eunuchs had kept the women yoked and muzzled, feeding them through the little strapped holes in their muzzles and allowing them only to quench their thirst through the much smaller breathing holes.

They had, however, eased the muzzles one by one and used their whips to extract information from the women about their husbands or betrothed and about how they regarded them - information that could well increase their value.

The black eunuchs knew well that a woman, known to be still in love with her now lost Christian husband or betrothed, would specially appeal, in a very cruel way, to her future Arab or Turkish Master. Indeed, forcing a young woman who was pining for her husband or lover to submit to her new Master's desires, or perhaps to the amusement of a Forced Breeding, mating her with a black slave, would greatly increase the mental satisfaction of her Master and his feeling of power. It was indeed one of the principal joys that came from owning a well-stocked harem.

Every day the black eunuchs had also applied generous dollops of special burning ointment to the mounds and beauty lips of the women who, as a result, were now perfectly depilated.

The slave ship was now lying stern-on to one the principal busy wharfs of Marsa. The precious gold, jewels, tools and other valuables seized during the successful Corso had already been dispatched under the guard of the Janissaries for safekeeping.

Now half a dozen of the leading members of the Guild of Slave Dealers were coming onboard to inspect the women that the Rais had captured. The slave dealers had been, at first, very hesitant at adding to their existent stock of white slave women, which they were having difficulty in shifting, in the existing difficult market conditions. However the Rais had assured the Guild that they were of exceptional quality.

The hatches covering the hold, in which the women had been kept, had been opened to allow in light and fresh air. The soiled straw had been disposed of to local farmers eager to buy good fertiliser, the women having all been dosed by the black eunuchs the day before, to empty their bellies and thus prevent any unfortunate incident taking place whilst the dealers were inspecting them.

Above all the black eunuchs had scrubbed the women themselves, and brushed their hair until it shone. Then they had cleverly made up their eyes so that, despite the despair of the women, each looked an eager and attractive over her still tight black leather muzzle. Still yoked and chained to the walls of the hold, they all made an erotic sight - something that was heightened by the very thickness and size of the planks that formed their which almost made the women's heads look like served ones, being served on a platter.

Each woman was subjected to a humiliatingly intimate examination, by the skilled black eunuch slave-handlers who formed part of the entourage of each of the slave dealers. But it soon became clear that each of the turbaned dealers was primarily interested in a particular type of woman.

The President of the Guild was, for instance, much taken by the two virgins. Lucia and Teresa, and by Maria the newly married young woman, whose honeymoon had been so rudely interrupted by French.

Another dealer was instantly attracted by the beauty and close family resemblance of Marguarita and Dora and instructed his black eunuchs to check them out carefully.

Meanwhile, another dealer had made a beeline for the blond Contessa, asking the two ship's black eunuchs about what they had learnt about her penniless aristocratic husband during their questioning of the women during the short journey back to Marsa.

Another leading dealer, Faisal Effendi, was more interested in Nina and the fact that her own child was crawling at her feet, proof for her fertility, and in Paula's nicely curved belly.

Another one, Tufik Effendi, was more interested in Nicoletta and the fact that she was still feeding her child. It wasn't the child that caught his attention but her full milk laden breasts, hanging down below her as she knelt on down on all fours in front of him.

Another dealer was following Faisal and Tufik and seeing how interested they were in the two young mothers, expressed an interest in relieving them of the responsibility of the slaves' rather valueless children - much to much to the evident anxiety shown in the anguished looks of their still muzzled mothers.

It was now for the bargaining to begin with the slave dealers complaining about the down-turn in the market and the Rais, on behalf of the local merchants who had invested in the Corso, extolling the uniqueness of the successful raid on a nunnery in which so many beautiful and superior type women had taken shelter. He even offered to thrown the yokes and muzzles in with the price.

Finally the dealers concluded their deals and instructed their black eunuchs to take possession of the still yoked and muzzled women they had bought. The women were led down onto the wharf and hustled into closed gharries - drawn by mules - and taken through the narrow twisting streets of Marsa, with it's oriental smells and cries.

Not until each was safely behind bars in the slave-dealing emporium of her new owner, were her yoke and muzzle removed.