Cal Neville had been lashed to the base of the giant wooden totem which soared a hundred feet above the jungle clearing-a fantastic native symbol of male sexuality. The stunningly beautiful blonde, who had a smaller replica of the totem strapped to her naked waist, began to fondle her captive while everyone present watched in awed fascination. Each one knew what was going to happen next-an act so depraved that only a creature like Adelle Crandell would attempt it.
Cal too sensed what she intended to do to him, and he began to struggle more fiercely than ever. But there was no escaping Adelle's evil scheme, for even if he had not already been weakened by the vicious lash of her whip, his bound wrists left him defenseless.
Clamping her arms around his chest, Adelle made a sudden lunge with her lower body. Cal's pained scream split the night stillness. The voodoo drums commenced to boom loudly. Cal's legs stiffened and his body arched away from her rotating hips, trying to escape the humiliating torment.
But Adelle clung to him like a demon, twisting her thighs, plunging with manic fury. The blood from Cal's flogged back smeared upon her chest, turning her meaty breasts into crimson, fleshy globes. While she continued her demented dance of lust, Adelle reached around Cal's pain-racked body and teased him with her grasping fingers.
CHAPTER ONE
Seven people were aboard the Aereo Intrepido's DC-3, five thousand feet above the Bolivian jungle when the right engine sputtered and died. A minute before the sudden intrusion of danger into their fives, each of the seven people had been lulled into silent personal reveries by the steady rumble of the motors and the constant shuddering of the rickety old war surplus airplane...
Doug Watson, the pilot, had flown over the vast jungles and mountains of South America for seven years. To him it was a job, the means of making a pretty good living. Lucky for him that there was a shortage of good pilots who were willing to take the risks of such a run, hopping between the isolated camps and villages of the Matto Grosso, then shuttling back to La Paz with the mail and the few passengers who were leaving the hot, steamy interior.
Whoever had named this part of the earth had known it well, for it was an endless area of thickly matted trees and vines. Flying over it was no problem, but if a man had to walk through it on the ground. Brother!
Still, the flying was not such a snap either. The nerve-grinding pressure of herding a bucket of bolts over the blazing heat that rose up from the jungle made it essential for a man to let off steam whenever the opportunity allowed.
And that was just what Doug Watson planned to do, but good. The moment he landed in La Paz, he would head at once to Madam Domino's, where every convenience was provided for the parched and hot-blooded bachelor returning from three strenuous days of flying.
Madam Domino even furnished a shower with a giggling female to scrub his back, and another to keep him well supplied with gin slings.
All of which was only a prelude to the goodies that came later with Antonia or Juanita or Carmen, whichever one of the fiery little Latin lovers he chose for tonight. He had not yet made up his mind, though it was not that important. Every one of the girls at Madam Domino's was a little jungle cat-an untamed animal that had been brought from the Bolivian wilds, given a Christian name and enough clothing to cover their hot, wanton bodies. The girls could be taken out of the jungle, but the jungle could not be taken out of the girls.
They were irrepressible, all of them. The moment the fuse was lit, they went off like a rocket. They became wild and primitive seducers of men.
The kind of tantalizing little beast that a man often dreamed of but seldom experienced.
A night with one of Madam Domino's girls was an experience to write home about. Doug's father, the old goat, would get a bang out of reading such a letter, and would probably head for the nearest whorehouse, which was fifty miles away in Omaha. But if his mother should happen to get hold of the letter-she was still capable of blushing and gasping and fuming with righteous indignation. Which was just the reason his father would head for a whorehouse.
There was no percentage for him in trying to make out at home.
Remembering his last blowout at Madam Domino's, Doug smiled and relaxed with his hands resting lightly on the controls. Just three more hours and he would be ready to start living it up like a man ought to live...
Cal Neville, the co-pilot, stared out at the green tangled sea that rolled endlessly beneath the plane. It would be the last time he ever made this damned trip, and he contemplated it without the least regret. With the money he had saved, he could return to the states now and start that flying service he had always dreamed of. He had served his time aboard this rotten jungle buggy-which was so worn out that it was a miracle it could still fly-and now he was ready to reap the rewards...
Lady Adelle Crandell, a cool statuesque blonde with a melancholy mouth, sat numbly staring out the window at the never-ending sea of green below the wing of the plane. She was wishing now that she had thought to bring along a three day's supply of martinis in a gallon thermos jug.
Better yet, she should have remained in La Paz, where she could get them made fresh at the bar of the Hotel Bolivar.
This trip into the interior had seemed like a good idea when she had first thought of it-something fresh and exciting, an adventure. But like all of Adelle Crandell's sudden adventures, it quickly became tiring.
What the hell was Lady Crandell doing on an airplane, flying over this Godforsaken corner of the world?
'Lady', she thought with a smirk. That was a real piece of humor. The crowning irony in a tiresome world that was bursting with ironies.
It was a title you could buy if you had the money to afford an Englishman of noble birth and the patience to put up with him. She had possessed the necessary money, but she had finally run out of patience.
Anyhow, who the hell wanted to be a lady?
If she were a lady, she would never dare be so bold as to make a play for one of those two handsome brutes who were flying the plane-which was what she was planning to do the instant they touched the ground. She had already laid the groundwork. Now all she had to do was lift an eyebrow, and either one of them would follow her to hell like a dog with its tongue hanging out.
Any port in a storm.
She had been without a man for two sleepless nights, ever since she had paid off the last gigolo when he refused to accompany her on this stupid trip. He had been right, of course. It had turned sour, like everything else she did, a few hours after they flew away from La Paz, leaving her with a bitch of a hangover and three weary days to kill. . .
Rachel Dunn sat primly behind the two dark-haired Bolivian girls, listening to their giggling, catching now and then a snatch of their conversation. She had learned enough Spanish during her year's stay at the Patron
Saint's Mission to know that what they were talking about was not proper.
But when had any of these Bolivians behaved properly?
Rachel Dunn blushed at the memory of the night when she herself had been seized by some inner compulsion and had descended to the pagan level that existed everywhere around her like the jungle-a steaming cauldron of temptation.
The drums in the night, the native dances which were so crude and openly suggestive, the muscular half-naked bodies of the men, all excited her in a way she had never thought possible before she came to this place.
She had been so full of vision-a saint come to nurse the sick and bring the sinners salvation. All she had actually done was to discover a weakness in her own nature which had brought her to wallow in the very sin she had come to destroy.
She was still numb from the terrible experience, and frightened as well, for she had responded with an impetuous violence which she had never believed possible in a civilized woman who had been taught shame and been given a religious education.
But she had done the right thing. It was impossible for her to remain at the mission after that. She would only be tempted again, and there was no telling where that would lead. So she had requested a transfer back to the United States. Luckily the Reverend Pepperdine was returning also, and she was to accompany him on a fund raising drive through the New England bishopric. She would keep herself busy, and once back in civilization she might be able to forget her horrible experience.
And yet that night of the jungle drums it had not seemed so horrible. For a long time she had noticed Paco, a handsome native helper at the mission. She had been drawn to him in fact, so uncontrollably that at times she would take a half dozen cold showers in one night to calm her nerves.
But the incessant beating of the drums and the chants of the dancing natives had been too much for her on that evening when she had slipped out of the mission house and gone to Paco's hut. He had kissed her at once, as if he had known all along she were coming and had been waiting for her.
She remembered the look of rapture on Paco's face after he had loosened her hair, which she always wore in a bun, and saw it flowing in a bright red cascade about her shoulders.
"Why do you hide such beauty?" he asked her in amazement. And then he kissed her.
Rachel Dunn tightened her hands as they lay in her lap. She had tried to forget, but it was so difficult not to remember the intoxicating sensations she had experienced. She could still feel the heavy pressure of his body on hers, the thrusting flame of his lance, the lilting way she had actually been lifted out of herself, and the beautiful calm afterwards, as if she had been born again.
God forgive her-she was almost sorry she was going away...
The Reverend Elder Pepperdine sat grimly in the seat beside Sister Dunn and sniffed at the heavy scent of perfume that had a suffocating effect on him. The heady smell had started a pulsation in his body and filled his brain with all kinds of wanton images, despite the fact that he struggled to put down such a shameless reaction.
The trouble was, he seldom was subjected to such odors as perfume because Mrs. Pepper-dine had never applied the Devil's lure to her body. She would never have considered it, and he would not have permitted it. So when he traveled in public, such a smell upset him more than it should.
Most--likely the scent came from the two native hussies who sat in front of him, yet some of it seemed to drift over from the bodice of Sister Dunn. He wondered if she might possibly have applied a touch of the evil lure to herself.
He would not put it past her, if what he suspected were true. She had been so withdrawn lately, since that night he had seen her wandering around outside her room. And she had requested her transfer only a day or two afterward. He had noticed the way she often stared at that heathen Paco. There was a very good chance that something had actually happened between the two of them. Considering the constant temptation the Devil put before us all, he would not have been surprised.
Even he had been tempted now and then. The annoying odor of perfume right now made him think of sweaty female bodies, dark native bodies dancing naked in the light of a campfire.
Glancing over at Sister Dunn, he saw the gray dress she wore, which properly covered her body. And yet one day at the mission he had unconsciously walked into her room by mistake and caught a glimpse of her blooming young breasts before she managed to cover herself.
Sister Dunn had a charming body, so much more alluring than the body of his wife, who had ceased to interest him in any way within a few days after their marriage. Sister Dunn's skin was a pale white, with small areas of pink where the sun had seeped through her garments.
Elder Pepperdine clamped his jaws tightly, realizing the unworthy direction his thoughts had taken him. He must always remain alert, for temptation was everywhere...
Lupe Castillo squirmed restlessly in her seat, wishing that the airplane would hurry and land her in La Paz. She was afraid of flying through the air, and she would never have left La Paz at all if the manager of the mining camp had not offered to pay her and Belita so well for living with him.
It had been a good and profitable six months for her. Too bad he had finally grown tired of them both and replaced them with two other girls. But that was one of his peculiarities, along with a taste for making love to two girls at once.
Anything the manager had wanted her to do was all right with Lupe, for her sex needs came upon her with the regularity of hunger pangs, and she always satisfied them by any means at hand. If no man was around, there was always Belita. She looked lovingly at the girl sitting beside her, then reached over and squeezed her hand.
Belita's smile was tender as she returned the pressure. They had been girlfriends and lovers during the whole stay at the mining camp, for the manager had liked to watch them put on a sexual display when he was not indulging himself. If he wanted to watch while she made love to Belita she did not care. It even added a certain spice to the fun.
But she was not partial to girls only. She liked to be ravished by a man as well, one whose body was hard and quivering from the fires of passion.
She liked the looks of the man who was flying the airplane. In fact he seemed familiar to her. It was possible that he had visited Madam Domino's. They might even have made love. But so many Americanos came to Madam Domino's that it was difficult to remember them all.
Smiling contentedly from a dozen mingled memories which stirred a warm glow in her stomach, Lupe Castillo took a deep breath. Instead of a sigh-it came out a scream. For the motor on her side of the airplane coughed and exploded with a bright orange flame, then stopped dead.
When the right engine conked out, the wing shuddered and the nose dipped ten degrees. Doug Watson tightened his hands on the controls and leaned back, knowing that the plane would respond sluggishly if at all. The one wornout motor that was left would never carry the load.
Glancing at the altimeter, he saw that they were nearing four thousand feet and falling rapidly. He scanned the expanse of green that reached to the horizon. A small silver ribbon wound off to the left-probably the Magdalena River. But it would be no safer for a landing than the jungle. If they didn't all drown, they would be eaten by crocodiles or piranhas.
They were losing altitude fast. If he did not level out soon they would not even reach the river.
Then he saw a high plateau to the right and just beyond the edge of it a paler shade of green than the surrounding dark green of the jungle. Sunlight on grass? It was possible, Doug thought as he banked around, aiming for the small rectangle that began to look like a clearing as they drew nearer.
Cal Neville, who had run aft the moment the engine misfired, returned and climbed into the seat.
"Safety belts fastened."
"How are the passengers?"
"The two dames are screaming their heads off. A couple of them are praying, and the blonde asked me if I had a drink-"
"Get set," Doug muttered. "I think I can make that open space."
The dipping right wing grazed the limbs of a balsa tree as Doug dropped toward the clearing. Tall grass tore at the landing gears. Then they were rolling, skidding toward the trees that loomed up at the far end of the clearing. The left wing crashed into a clump of brush, spun them half around. And then they were stopped against a small stand of saplings covered with jungle vines.
Doug Watson heaved a sigh of relief. He looked down at his arm, which was numb because of a deep cut he had received from a limb that had crashed through the window.
"You all right?" Doug asked.
"Soon as I swallow my heart," Cal replied.
Walking back to the cabin, Doug saw that all the passengers were unharmed. Taking the first aid kit from the wall, he opened it on an empty seat.
"No smoking," he said to the five people who were just beginning to stir out of their shock. "There may be leaking gas. You'd better all get outside."
"I don't smoke," said the pious-faced man indignantly.
The girl with the bright red hair came up to him.
"I'm a nurse. I'll take care of your arm for you. It's going to require some stitches."
"If there's any brandy in that kit-" said the blonde, "I'll take a slug of it now. If I'd known we were going to be stopping here, I'd have brought a case of gin."
The pious man heaved a sigh of disgust, wrinkled his thin face in a scowl, and walked out the door followed by the two dark-haired native girls.
CHAPTER TWO
The nurse was applying the bandage to Doug Watson's injured arm when Cal Neville returned to report after making a hurried survey of their situation.
"The radio's busted," Cal said. "That limb that got you, knocked it out. There's a path across the clearing which is bound to lead somewhere. I'm going to check it out."
"Better take the pistol," Doug said. "But don't fire it unless you have to. It's the only gun we've got, and we might need every round of ammunition."
Adelle Crandell stood up from one of the seats where she had been watching the nurse sew up Doug Watson's arm. Throwing her shoulders back, she inhaled deeply to display the proud mounds of her breasts which quivered beneath the thin silk of the blouse she wore.
"I'll go with you," she said to Cal. "It'll give me a chance to stretch my legs."
Rachel Dunn returned everything to the first aid kit. All at once her body began to tremble and her face grew warm, for everyone had left the plane and she was alone with the pilot. The same warm, shivering sensations flashed through her stomach as she had experienced when she had found herself alone with Paco. She knew the weakness was coming back to torment her again, and she fought against it.
She did not want to give in. She dreaded to think what would happen to her if she gave in once more to the carnal lust that was burning inside her brighter than it had ever burned before. She would be ruined completely. She would be lost, with no hope of salvation.
Yet it was happening to her, and already she knew that she could not resist.
When she turned around, Doug was watching her. He looked at her face, her trembling lips, her green eyes, the red knot of her hair tied behind her neck.
His eyes were hypnotic, drawing her to him.
Her face burned with a blush and a painful feeling came over her at the thought of what she was about to do. But she. walked up to him without hesitation, her nostrils flaring with sudden desire.
While he watched with warm, appraising eyes, she unfastened the knot and let her hair fall down. The bright red locks curled upon the milky smoothness of her neck.
She liked his looks, even more than Paco's. His handsomeness was of another kind more familiar to her. She had thrilled at the muscular power of his arm when she had dressed the wound. He had a masculine chest, a flat belly and narrow hips. He was an animal designed by nature to dominate a woman, to subdue her and impale her with his manhood.
The breath caught short in her throat, for she was choking with anticipation.
Reaching up, he grasped her waist and drew her down upon his lap. The touch of his mouth on hers sent electric sparks shooting along her spine. She did not object when he held her breast. She liked it. She loved it. Her insides began to melt as she clung to him with her arms circling his neck.
"There's a bunk at the rear of the plane," he murmured huskily, still squeezing her breast.
"All right-" she replied without hesitation.
They walked back quickly to the small room which had probably been built for the two pilots when the plane lay overnight at some outpost.
Doug kissed her again and began fumbling with the buttons of her dress. It fell away quickly. She clung to him, nibbling his mouth with her hungering lips while his fingers tugged at the clasp on the back of her bra.
It fell away, exposing her bare breasts, which stood up firm and lush, quivering before his eager eyes, awaiting the caress of his lips.
In only a moment he was undressed. They stood kissing, their nude bodies pressed together. Then he pushed her gently onto the lower bunk.
Her breasts were throbbing with the desire that had flooded over her whole body, leaving her hot and weak as though she had just stepped out of a warm tub of water.
While his lips pressed against hers, his tongue snaked slowly into her mouth, startling her. It was a kind of kiss she had never experienced before. And yet it was so intimate and so wanton that she could not get enough of it.
Without even realizing it, Rachel had been whimpering, grinding her hips against his nakedness. She was suddenly aware of the hard lance of his manhood, which pressed against her thighs, seeking entrance. At the same time his hands caressed her breasts, massaging delightfully, teasing the nipples until they felt like spurting jets of flame.
"Please be easy with me, Doug," she whispered. "This is only my second time-"
He smiled down at her as he moved his body, gently spreading her legs with his knee. She felt the bulk of his body sliding between her expectant thighs. She felt the stab of his firmness, then the sudden thrust as he fell upon her.
She responded at once, lifting up, twisting her hips to drive herself deeper upon the plunging barb. Suddenly she was beside herself with lust, forcing the rhythm, taking everything he could give her and sobbing for more. She had become an animal once more, a lusting jungle wench with an insatiable appetite for the searing pleasure-pain that was being plunged into her depths.
"Oh, harder-" she cried, clawing at his back. "You don't have to be gentle, Doug. I don't want you to be gentle. Take me like a stallion. Rip me apart! Oh, yes! like that-stab me! Stab me! Stab me!"
Doug plunged his body faster, splitting her thighs with his weight. He was twisting and groaning above her, driving at her with a fury that she had inspired with her words.
He was tearing her up, inside, plunging a flaming torch into her innermost depths. She clung to him, squeezing his neck with her circling arms, scissoring her legs around his waist. Then with one final plunge she felt him explode and it ignited the fuse deep within her.
Screaming with pained delight, she arched up from the bunk, seeking to make his hard body a part of hers, thrusting him deeper while the flaming fulfillment engulfed her, lifted her up, carried her away on wings.
At last she fell back with the weight of him still upon her. She trembled and clung to him and groaned from the rapture she had experienced. She felt lowdown and wanton and soiled. She was a fallen woman, but she did not care. This feverish excitement was better than salvation. This was something you could feel in every tingling atom of your body.
She was not sorry she had given in to him now. She only regretted that she had not known such heaven existed before-a paradise that was so easy to obtain. It only required that she fall upon her back and open her legs for a man.
Just as she had done. Just as she was going to do again and again, as surely as she breathed.
She wanted more.
She wanted it right now.
With a knowledge that she had not known she possessed-a female instinct that came from out of the primitive past-she flexed certain muscles and felt his hardness within her. Awkwardly at first she clenched the muscles in a slow, spasmodic rhythm until she forced a groan from him.
At once he was on fire, throbbing within her with renewed vigor. The tempo began once more, a tempo of lust and delight. She sighed, digging her nails into the flesh of his shoulders. Then rocking back, she clamped her legs as high around his body as she could reach. And she received him once more, burning with a delirium of intoxicating pleasure.
CHAPTER THREE
As Adelle Crandell and Cal Neville walked along the path that led from the edge of the clearing into the jungle, they indulged in casual conversation, becoming better acquainted, at least to the point of learning each other's names. Adelle liked Cal's looks. But then she liked any handsome man because they were an integral part of sex, and sex was the only ruling passion in her life.
She lived and breathed sex. Without it she was lost, for it was the only true pleasure she still received from life. Too bad it could not go on forever. Yet Adelle managed to indulge herself to a point that verged on nymphomania.
Maybe she was a nympho. She had often considered the possibility. Although nymphos, according to the psychologists, were not supposed to enjoy sex. Which definitely left Adelle out of that classification.
It did not matter what she was, so long as she was able to relieve the beautiful agony that gripped her so often.
There were many ways of reheving the agony, many methods of getting your kicksand Adelle had tried every exotic recipe in the books. She had a hunch that she had even invented a couple herself.
She watched Cal Neville walking along the path ahead of her and she liked what she saw. For he was a lean, hard-muscled man. Probably a very tough man, because no softie could survive for long flying junk airplanes in this wild bush country.
She liked her men to be rugged, because they presented more of a challenge to her that way.
She loved to dominate anybody around her, and especially men. She felt a peculiar pleasure in wielding power over a man. She loved to call the tune and make them dance. And above all she loved to reduce a man to quivering jelly by taunting him with the promise of her fantastically sensual body.
She always gave them their reward-like throwing scraps to a caged lion. A wild beast that was captive and at her mercy. She always devoured them with her flaming thighs, but only after she made them crawl to her, begging on their knees.
She knew the seductive power of her beauty, for she had seen it demonstrated hundreds of times.
She had made up her mind she was going to captivate this handsome bush pilot, to bend him to her will, then use him in the only way a man was made to be used-as an instrument to satisfy her burning lust.
All that was required was a suitable place.
This jungle undergrowth was hardly fit for a session of lovemaking. Yet if the spirit seized her violently, she might he down with him in a bed of thorns or a pit of snakes. That might even add a certain stimulus to the ecstatic madness which often seized her.
She smiled with grim humor at the thought of indulging in such erotic abandon. If anyone in the world should dare-she would be the one.
With a sudden pulsing of excitement she remembered that time in Haiti when she had joined in the voodoo rites and been possessed by Erszulie, the goddess of love. In a hypnotic trance induced by the drugs and the beating of drums she had coupled with every jungle spirit with whom it was physically possible.
Whether they had been only spirits or the flesh and blood reality, she never knew. For the experience had seemed like a fantastic dream in which she could not distinguish visions from truth. Possibly it had happened only in her mind.
Yet another time she had watched a voodoo priestess perform with a goat and a donkey, and even a snake screaming in sensual ecstasy before the altar of Erszulie.
A hot flood of passion suddenly swept over her and she ran along the path to catch up with the man. At that moment the jungle undergrowth parted, and they were standing at the edge of a circular clearing where a dozen thatched huts stood in a ring around a tall pole which rose up thirty feet into the sky.
Adelle caught her breath, for the pole had been carved to represent an unmistakable erotic symbol. The pole and the circling thatched huts crudely but powerfully symbolized pagan, primitive lust.
Never in her life had she seen such a huge and overpowering totem. The circle and the lance-the form and the shape which could represent only one thing. The physical act of love.
The only reality in an otherwise tedious existence.
Adelle's lips parted in an amused smile as she realized how close she was in nature to the primitive people who had erected this symbol of male fertility. They were obsessed by the very thing which obsessed her as well.
She was a primitive, like them.
She felt at home in the jungle.
Civilization was a thing which seemed so far away that it hardly existed for her. It was a thing she could shed as easily as she could remove her clothes.
Naked before this towering altar she would feel as pagan as the first aboriginal man.
"There's nobody here," Cal said curiously.
His words startled her out of her reverie. Looking around, she saw that it was true. The village was deserted, and judging from the intrusion of jungle growth, it had been deserted for weeks, maybe months.
Walking away from her, Cal stepped through the entrance of the nearest hut. Adelle followed him, squinting her eyes until she was able to see in the dimly lit interior. The hut was empty except for a mat which lay on the dirt floor.
She walked behind Cal as he went from one hut to the next. Each one was like the first, except for a woven mat.
Then they came to a hut that was much larger than the rest. This hut stood directly in front of the large center pole, the wide entrance facing it. In the back was a platform that had been built a foot above the ground. The entire floor was covered with thick mats, and in the very center, rising up from a raised platform was a small replica of the mammoth totem which stood outside.
"Must be a kind of ceremonial place," Cal said, then uttered a nervous laugh.
Adelle smiled contemplatively, remembering what she had read of the ancient statues of Priapus upon whose erect manhood virgins sacrificed their maidenly charms. It did not take much imagination to picture the type of orgiastic rites which had taken place in this room.
There was nothing new under the sun.
Cal had discovered a series of connected beams which ran around the wall at eye level. Stepping closer, Adelle saw that the length of the beam was covered with carvings of men and women in the whole gamut of erotic positions.
With a touch of regret, Adelle discovered that she had not invented anything new after all, for the orgiastic tricks she thought she had discovered were vividly illustrated by real pros who made her feel like a bumbling amateur.
While Cal Neville continued to stare in wonder at the carvings, Adelle unbuttoned her blouse and slipped it off. Then she unzipped her skirt and threw it carelessly down on the mat that covered the floor. Quickly she removed the rest of her clothing and stood waiting for Cal to turn around and discover her nakedness.
At last he looked around and caught his breath.
"Well-" she said, smiling at him.
He stood as if stunned, looking at the swell of her breasts and the curving temptation of her thighs. Still he did not make a move. She heaved an impatient sigh.
"Take off your clothes," she said fiercely. "Don't you know this is a sacred place?"
Stirring out of his stupor, Cal began to unbutton his shirt mechanically, never taking his eyes from her body. Despite his trembling fingers, he managed to remove everything and leave it in a heap upon the floor.
The atmosphere of the room had begun to excite Adelle beyond belief. Weaving drunkenly, she walked over and stood beside the small totem, then she clasped it possessively with her hand.
A strange sensation warmed her blood as she imagined the hundreds of maidens who had been initiated into the great mystery of life by piercing themselves with this object, which seemed to quiver like a live thing as she held it clutched in her hand.
Impatiently Cal caught her by the shoulders and pressed his hungry mouth to hers, but she shoved him away.
"No-" she cried angrily. "I'm not some common, eager little slut you can take whenever you want. You'll do as I say. Get down on your knees-"
Cal stared at her in amazement. She saw by the granite hardness of his manhood that he was already excited, so excited that he stood before her quivering.
"What kind of a game are you trying to play?" he muttered.
"Down on your knees-" she commanded.
He continued to stare at her, but in a moment his eyes wavered under her steady gaze. Then slowly he dropped to his knees in front of her.
Burning with anticipation, Adelle moved her legs apart and tilted her pelvis. Her hands slid down across her belly and framed the gold-trimmed entrance to the dark recesses, the vessel of Aphrodite.
"I am the goddess of love," she said in a voice thick with passion. "I am Erszulie. Your golden goddess. You are kneeling before the altar. Now, worship, slave-"
Cal's face moved very close to her, so close that she could feel the warmth of his breath upon her loins. Reverently his hands caressed her thighs, his fingers stroked the golden strands slowly, deliberately.
His mouth pressed upon the smooth rounded portion of her belly, then moved down. At last his lips reached the very center of her and began to caress the softness.
Adelle gave a gasping sob in the depths of her throat, which was dry with emotion. Her legs felt weak. She began to sway drunkenly and caught him behind the head to support herself. She pressed his face harder against her and ground her thighs.
Cal slid his hands up behind her, gripping her round, fleshy buttocks, digging his fingers into their softness.
She felt the presence of his tongue like a hot, darting flame seeking entrance to the hidden mystery of her cave of Venus. And then he plunged.
A violent shock went through her body, shooting electric sparks, jangling her nerves. She cried out like a wounded animal and writhed her hips, clutching his head with a fierce grip, seeking the tiny flame which burned with a white heat within her.
"Oh, yes-" she cried. "Worship me."
When she heard the whimper of his excitement, she knew that he too was caught up in the spell cast by this pagan ceremonial room. She had dominated him completely. She had forced him to fall upon his knees before her, to do as she demanded, and this added to the delirium which swept through her in hot, flashing waves of violent intensity.
He plunged deeper and deeper, turning her knees to water. She gasped raggedly and the sound of her breath hissed through her clenched teeth.
Looking down, she saw that his face was buried. She could only see the top of his head, the dark tangle of hair which contrasted to the shimmering whiteness of her thighs.
She clung to him and twisted her body, rolling her hips vibrantly as the searing waves pulsed through her with increasing frequency. His sharp, stabbing tongue drove her closer and closer to the edge of madness.
Her whole body was bathed in sweat, and she could no longer control her movements. She squirmed distractedly, pumping her hips, tearing at his hair and holding him as close to her as he could possibly be.
His hot gaping mouth and fluttering tongue continued to torture her, but it was an exquisite torture which created a fiery, melting sensation in her belly.
"Oh-good!" she cried. "It's beautiful. I'm on fire." And then she was screaming. "I'm burning up! I'm hot all over! I've never been so hot! You've got to keep that up until you finish me off! Don't stop! Don't stop!"
But he had no intention of stopping, for he clutched her bottom with squeezing fingers and rolled his head, seeking to drive her to the limit and beyond.
The wave of fire leaped through her body, burning like hot lava in her thighs. And then it was happening to her with explosive suddenness, sending her into a paroxysm of tingling delirium. Plunging with her hips, she rode through the violent climax and then slowly leaned her weight against him as the last tiny ripple went through her loins.
She was breathing heavily, slick with sweat.
Instead of bringing her relief, the convulsion had only heightened her passion. The hungry, burning sensation was still there, still filling her with insatiable lust.
This had only been the beginning, she knew. There was going to be more. Much more. This room had filled her with wild, primitive desires. Strange cravings that were close to depravity. She groaned in anticipation of the tempestuous delights to come.
Cal looked up at her and his face was feverish from his still unsatisfied passion.
Forcing him onto his back, Adelle seized him as she had seized the wooden totem. Then she lowered her head. She began to caress him warmly, engulfing him with her trembling lips, driving a cry of ecstasy from his throat.
His body began to thrash as she clung to the throbbing lance, torturing him, enchanting him, sending wave after wave of sensation through his tossing thighs. Frantically his hands caught at her head, his fingers tangled in her hair. Strange gurgling sounds came from deep within him.
He whined and rolled on the floor, clinging to her desperately yet seeming to want to escape from her agonizing mouth. Adelle continued to offer her sacrifice to his maleness, thinking all the while of the giant symbol of manhood which stood outside so high that its shadow could fall upon this hut where they were lying.
She was Erszulie, the goddess of love. She was possessed by the spirit of Erszulie, doing the things Erszulie commanded her to do. Nothing was forbidden, nothing was held back in the worship of love.
She felt Cal's hands grip her tighter, and she knew that he was shiveringly close to the pinnacle. Suddenly she drew away. She could have brought him to a glorious culmination, but she wanted to withhold it from him.
It gave her breathless pleasure to torture men beyond endurance, to make them beg for deliverance.
Rolling onto her back, she held her arms out to him. Quickly he fell upon her. She arched her body up as the sudden intrusion pierced her to the depths of her being.
She felt the hugeness of him swelling within her, filling her, burning with a fiery incandescence.
As he plunged at her with driving fury, she screamed hysterically, slashing his back with her nails. She ground her hips while she clamped her legs tightly, holding him prisoner against her, within her.
She closed her eyes as the pleasure built up within her. She writhed from the delicious torture he was inflicting upon her portal of passion. And then her peak came with sudden, unbearable intensity. Her body shook and quivered in a violent spasm of completion.
Sensing that it was happening to her, Cal let himself go. His body stiffened, then began to tremble as wave after wave shot through him with explosive force.
At last Adelle fell back. She stopped moving her hips and lay still while low, throaty moans of contentment escaped through her parted lips.
She was gasping, enjoying the wonderful sense of release. But it would only last for a few minutes at the most, and then she would be a raving, hungering female beast again.
For as long as she lived, she could never be able to get enough. It was too good, too intoxicating. God, how she loved to do it....
CHAPTER FOUR
Elder Pepperdine followed the two native girls at a distance, hiding behind trees and jungle undergrowth so they could not see him. They were laughing and shouting gaily. By listening to their constant chatter, Reverend Pepperdine had learned their names-the taller one was Lupe, and the shorter one Belita.
Both girls had the high Indian cheekbones and the wary, jungle eyes. But Lupe probably had Spanish blood mixed with the Indian, for besides being tall, she had a paler shade of skin, a very light golden bronze.
Both girls were the devil's own temptation, and Elder Pepperdine had given up trying, to ignore the lure of their wanton young bodies. His curiousity was stronger than his conscience. He did not know exactly why he was following them, although vague, frightening thoughts were beginning to spin around in his brain, sinful thoughts of utter degradation.
The Reverend Pepperdine was not surprised that such thoughts should come to him, like the mad visions of a man suffering from fever. It was the Devil's work. He was aware of that. Always before, when the Devil tempted him, he had been able to muster the strength to resist.
This time he was not so sure....
Perhaps he did not even care. So many years of his life had been spent in fighting his own carnal desires, that he had begun to tire of the battle. Part of his difficulty no doubt arose from the fact that he was a tall, striking man, in some ways even handsome. He had often been tempted by romantically inclined females in his congregation, but he had always avoided making a fatal mistake.
Still, lately he had shown signs of weakening. Sister Dunn was one of the causes for the slow crumbling of his will to resist the lure of female flesh. If he were completely honest, he would have to admit that walking into Sister Dunn's room that night had not been an accident at all. He had not consciously gone there, but the Devil had led him. Satan had taken him by the hand and led him into her room--just as he was leading him now.
Elder stopped walking. Panic tightened in his chest as he realized that the girls had disappeared from sight. He ran ahead on the path, which ended suddenly at a large clearing surrounded by a number of grass huts.
He looked in awe at the huge wooden pole which stood in the very center of the village. Then he saw the two girls, Lupe and Belita. They were standing in the door of one of the small huts, looking inside. After a moment they walked on to another hut and stopped to examine something that was fastened above the entrance. Lupe, the taller girl, reached up and pulled the object from the thatch of the roof. It was a long wooden shaft, a replica of the larger pole which dominated the whole village.
Elder Pepperdine felt his face redden as he realized that both objects had been carved to represent a portion of the male anatomy.
Evidently this village had once been occupied by natives who indulged in a cult of sinful sex-worship. The very thought of it was utterly pagan. And yet Elder Pepperdine could not contemplate the kind of orgiastic rites the natives must had indulged in without experiencing a violent beating of his heart.
Chattering happily, the two girls went into the hut, carrying the wooden object with them.
Elder stood for a moment, knowing that he should return to the plane. Yet he did not want to leave this primitive place, which had begun to cast a kind of spell upon him. His imagination ran away with itself as he tried to picture what the two girls were doing inside the hut.
All at once he was walking across the clearing, propelled by a force against which he had no power. He circled behind the row of huts until he came to the one where the two girls were. He heard their shrill laughter inside.
The thatched walls were dry and brittle. He was able to make a hole with his fingers, but he had to work cautiously so that he would not be heard.
The interior of the hut was so much dimmer that Elder could see nothing at all for a minute. Then gradually the darkness faded away and little by little he began to see. The two girls were dim bulky shapes, but slowly they came into focus so that he was able to make out details.
They were naked, both of them. They had removed their clothing, and they were standing together in the center of the hut, giggling and talking excitedly as they examined the long wooden object.
Then, as Elder Pepperdine watched, Lupe put the object behind her back and shoved it forward between her slim legs until it stood out before her, hard and solid.
In that dim light she had created an illusion-she seemed to have suddenly changed her sex. She appeared to be a man, aroused and throbbing with sensual desire.
Lupe pushed the object further forward until it stood out at least a foot from her body. The monstrous sight caused Belita to scream shrilly, then burst into excited laughter. Slowly Lupe began to worm her hips, thrusting and retreating, adding further to the illusion.
Belita's body also began to writhe as if she had been cast into a hypnotic trance. Her breathing grew heavy, her tawny breasts swayed with the movement of her body.
Then, on a sudden impulse, Belita dropped to her knees before Lupe and began to kiss the strange object, lovingly at first, then feverishly. At the same time, grunting, squealing sounds of delight poured from her throat.
Elder watched in amazement. A slow burning had started in his stomach and begun to spread through his whole body. He was so affected by what he was seeing that his breath caught short, inflating his lungs until it seemed that they would burst apart.
Belita was charmed by the object she was caressing, bewitched by it. Her delirium grew until her whole body began to shiver and quake. And all the while Lupe continued to weave her thighs hypnotically.
All at once Belita jumped to her feet and seized the wooden pole with both her hands. Then, lashing forward with her hungering thighs, she impaled herself.
A piercing scream split the air.
Seething with voluptuous excitement, Belita thrust time after time with her surging thighs while the object penetrated deeper, driving cries of pain and shrieks of delight from her babbling lips.
The girls stood facing each other, their feet apart, their bodies pressed together, performing a wild pagan dance-a ritual of primitive lust.
Their black hair fell about their faces, giving them a demented look. Elder Pepperdine could hardly believe what he saw, and yet here it was happening before his eyes. He knew it was not a dream, although the utter wantonness of their act made him think of the dream-fantasies he often indulged in-in the privacy of his own mind.
This was real. It was ghastly yet fascinating. He could not have turned away to save his soul from damnation.
He stood there motionless, his face pressed against the thatch of the wall, watching the two girls who were lost in their own private world of carnality. And as he watched, his whole body seemed to be aflame. His stomach burned with an inner fire. His pulse throbbed through his bloodstream, driven by the violent pounding of his heart.
Belita's passion was volcanic. With a sudden, impulsive movement she twisted the wooden object from Lupe's grasp. Then, holding it in her hands, she pierced herself deeper in a frenzy of self-torture and delight.
With her legs spread wide apart and her body bent backwards until her long hair swept the floor, she made love to the wooden device with the same fiery urgency as if it had been a man. Her swelling breasts rolled and tossed with the motion of her thighs. The muscles of her abdomen rippled. Her whole body swayed hypnotically. Her hands worked the object, stabbing it into her squirming thighs.
Then Elder discovered an amazing thing. He saw that the wooden device was shaped the same at both ends. Some native craftsman had carved it to represent more than just the human appendage. It was a two-headed symbol of male sexuality.
Lupe's excitement mounted as she watched the other girl indulge in this weird rite of self-gratification. Grasping the wooden object, she thrust until it entered the depths of her womanhood. And then both girls were joined by the strange grafting of their bodies to the wooden, two-headed phallus.
They swung their hips with manic fury, driving the hard torture deeper into the target of their passion. Both girls were slick with sweat, their bodies glistening in the pale light of the hut.
The burning violence ended at the same instant for both of them. Belita gave a frenzied cry as completion surged through her. At the same time Lupe threw back her head and screamed to the rafters, her body arching, her haunches surging through the jolting shocks of her climax.
Whimpering and spent, the two girls disengaged the wooden staff which had roused them to such wantonness. They fell to the floor and lay, locked in each other's arms, their mouths crushed together.
Elder expected the girls to be totally exhausted, and yet the strange ritual they had performed before him seemed to have increased their excitement.
Lupe put her hand up and grasped one of her own breasts, squeezing the soft flesh into the shape of a cone. Then she arched her back and touched the pointed nipple against the nipple of Belita's soft breast. Both small brown nipples grew harder from the intimate friction.
Then, leaning above her female companion, Lupe swayed her torso, causing her breasts to swing heavily. Expertly she guided the pendulous globes while Belita clasped her own feverish breasts and held them up. The nipples touched-all four. The girls appeared to be joined together by the small hard points. With incredible agility, Lupe rubbed so that the tips of her breasts stroked the other girl's nipples with a feather-like touch.
Then, as if unable to control her passion, Lupe fell upon her companion, caught one of her breasts and covered it with her soft red lips. She drew inward, swallowing a portion of the fleshy globe, holding in her mouth as much as she could. A slight, circular movement of her head indicated that her tongue was at work.
And Belita's response showed that Lupe's caress was having its effect. Moaning and writhing, Belita tossed her head upon the mat. Her long dark hair lashed about her face.
Lupe moved to the other breast and gave it the same attention. Then, as if she could contain herself no longer, she began a slow descent on Belita's lusty body, stroking and kissing with her eager lips. Her open mouth left a faint trace of moisture as it trailed down across Belita's belly.
Then she was at the girl's thighs. At the first contact of Lupe's tormenting mouth, Belita lifted up from the floor, arching her back, spreading her legs wide. As Lupe's engulfing mouth clung tenaciously, Belita squirmed in shivering ecstasy.
Elder Pepperdine drew in his breath sharply, then let a blasphemy escape through his lips-for the two girls had rolled toward the wall where he stood. He could no longer see the whole scene, only Lupe's legs and rump, which squirmed rhythmically as she continued to torment the other girl with her hot, seeking mouth.
Elder circled the hut until he came to the entrance. For a moment he paused uncertainly. But he was no longer in control of himself. He stepped inside and crouched in a dark corner. The girls had not seen him enter, for they were lost in the pulsing emotion that had seized them.
Belita raised up on her arms to look down at her female lover, whose face was buried between her open legs. Lupe's long hair lay like a black coil about Belita's thighs. With a sudden, strong movement, Belita caught hold of Lupe's arms and lifted her up, at the same time turning her own body so that the two of them were facing in opposite directions.
Belita's mouth began seeking hungrily. Lupe's legs came open, then clamped down, circling Belita's head. Lupe's slim body began to heave with excitement as she gave and received at the-same time.
Belita's face pressed down upon the agitated thighs. Her head wove back and forth as her tongue darted into the sensitive depths, forcing a groan of delight from Lupe's throat.
As the force of their passion increased, the writhing of the two girls became frantic. They lunged at each other, devouring with their mouths like two animals gone completely wild.
Lupe tossed and churned excitedly, her tawny buttocks quivering as Belita's clasping fingers dented their soft, pliant flesh. And Belita rolled frantically too, while Lupe's impetuous lips and tongue drove her to the edge of distraction.
Both women raised their heads for an instant and screamed together, but the screams were muffled by soft flesh as they sought to drive each other through the shattering, explosive paroxysm of mutual fulfillment.
Elder Pepperdine sat stunned as he watched the two girls slowly return to reality, their bodies still twitching, their breathing still harsh.
Although he knew there was danger for him, he could not force himself to move. He knew that the two girls would soon begin to notice their surroundings again, having returned from their soaring, dream-world of carnality. Soon they would see him sitting there, they would know that he had watched the sensual exhibition they had performed.
And what would they do?
He did not know. He was only aware that he no longer had the will to move from that spot. This strange village with its pagan lust, the wanton lovemaking of the two girls-all had cast a spell upon him.
He was bedeviled. He was at a turning point in his life-at the edge of his own destruction. And yet he could not stand up and walk away.
The fierce hunger that burned in his loins was like nothing he had ever experienced before. His brain was feverish, his skin felt flushed, the very marrow of his bones seemed to have turned into molten lava.
Clasping his hands together until the knuckles ached, he made one last feeble attempt to control his impetuous craving, to subdue the spine-tingling desire that threatened to overwhelm him.
He gave up the struggle with a sigh and a whimper.
His breathing grew harsh as he jumped suddenly to his feet and began removing his clothes. He could stand it no longer. He had to join this erotic celebration, to feel their flesh against his flesh, to seek soft female secrets with his exploring mouth.
Rushing naked across the room, he flung himself down upon the two startled girls.
With wild shrieks, they pulled away from him, as though he were a demon who had suddenly materialized out of thin air. Then they laughed gleefully as they recognized him and saw that he had removed his clothes.
"It's the preacher-" Lupe cried. Her laughter trailed away. "Did you come to pray with us, preacher?"
"Ain't you afraid you'll go to hell, preacher?" said Belita cynically. "Playing with girls like us-"
Elder could not reply because the words were choked off in his throat. He was crazed by his animal lust. Every sinew of his body was strung as tight as a bowstring, thrumming with expectancy.
He had to touch these two exotic creatures, to merge his body with theirs. He had to stroke their delicate flesh with his searching fingers. He had to possess them completely, to feel their feline warmth, to caress with his lips, to taste and smell....
Blinded by his need, he reached out and caught one of the girls, buried his hand in the soft, warm center of her body. His questing fingers discovered the moisture which remained as a result of the loving kisses she had received from the other girl-kisses which had triggered the convulsion he had witnessed only a moment ago.
While her hips rotated slowly, the girl submitted for a moment to his teasing fingers. But his excitement grew unbearable. Roughly he grasped the soft, furry nest, causing her to cry out in pain.
"You're hurting me-"
A stinging slap caused the room to dim before his eyes. She escaped his clinging hands, rolling away from him on the floor. Then, before he could defend himself, both girls were swarming all over him, slapping him, kicking him with their knees, pounding him with their hard little fists.
He could not understand why they were suddenly attacking him, unless it was a part of the sensual game they played.
Standing five feet away, Belita dove at him, driving her compact little body against his chest, slamming him to the floor. His head bounced hard on the unyielding mat. For several seconds he lay dazed.
Before he could move to defend himself, the two girls had pinned him down with the weight of their bodies. Belita sat upon his legs, while Lupe straddled his chest. He felt the scissoring clutch of Lupe thighs, the intimate warmth of her crotch. He was even aware of a wetness which flowed from her body-a dewy, musky emanation which felt slick as it smeared upon his skin.
Lupe's dark eyes stared down at him with wild animation. Her breasts were streaked with sweat. He stared in fascination at the two quivering globes which dangled within inches of his face. The two large circlets were a darker brown than the burnished bronze of the flesh which surrounded them. The nipples jutted out, hard and throbbing.
Elder tried to push her off of him, but she scooted forward and pinned his arms with her knees. The portal of her passion was so close that he felt a faint tickling on his chin. He stared with trembling awe at her secret charms. What he saw made his whole body tingle with excitement-a furry little beast between her legs.
It was torture to be so close, to feel the weight and the heat of the two girls, to feel the coiling of their haunches, and yet not be able to possess them as he longed to, as they should be possessed.
They talked together in a language he did not know. He would have understood Spanish, but this was an Indian dialect which was strange-to him.
Then he felt Belita shifting her position on the lower part of his body. Her hand touched his groin, her fingers questing, feeling. She went to work on him with deadly seriousness, squeezing and stroking. One hand thrust between his legs while the other hand held him captive. Her cupping fingers caused an agonizing torment.
Then a sudden pain tore through his loins as her hands closed cruelly. He lifted his hips and twisted, but she would not release her grip.
Elder freed one hand and caught Lupe by the hair. He jerked and pulled unmercifully, but she fought back, raking her nrils across his cheek. Meanwhile Belita clung to his mid-section with inexorable force.
Elder arched his back, kicked wildly, flailed with his free arm. The three of them rolled upon the floor, a thrashing tangle of arms and legs.
Elder ended up on his stomach with both girls astride him, their sweat-oily arms and legs clinging desperately. Their skin was so slippery that he thought he must surely be able to wriggle out of their grasp. But they rode him through every contortion, holding on with their biting fingers and muscular, scissoring legs.
Pressing her full weight upon him, Lupe got her legs clamped around his waist, her feet locked, squeezing the breath from him.
Elder gasped and grunted, trying to break free.
And then he flinched as a stinging blow landed on his buttocks. His tender flesh burned painfully. The tingling sensation dulled slowly into numbness.
Glancing back, he saw Belita holding a flat-soled slipper above her head, wielding it like a paddle. She gave him a few taps, probing to find the most sensitive spot. And then she came down with all the force of her arms.
Elder let out a yell of pain.
She continued to beat him, raining blows with the flat of the shoe. Each time he was struck, Elder gave a hoarse cry. His whole body flinched from the searing pain.
And then something strange happened to him. He discovered that the stinging bite of the slipper was not so unbearable as it had seemed at first. There was an exquisite pleasure mixed up in the sharp, burning pain.
He was amazed to hear himself crying, "More! More!"
And Belita obliged by increasing the fury of her attack. She beat a tattoo on every inch of his flaming buttocks until it seemed that his flesh would be torn to shreds.
Inch by inch, Belita flogged him, while he writhed his hips, seeking the ecstatic torment. He was surprised to discover suddenly that
Lupe had moved away from him, freeing him, but still he lay on the floor permitting Belita to beat upon him. The truth was, he did not want her to stop.
Drawing his knees up and leaning forward on stiffened arms, Elder raised his rump to afford a more perfect target for the descending slipper.
"Owwww-" he cried, shuddering from the sharp, needle-like stabs of pain.
Looking down, he saw Lupe beneath him, crawling between his outspread arms, squirming snake-like on her back. As she maneuvered herself toward his loins and the upright, straining lance, he realized that she was going to enter into this intoxicating game.
Circling his waist with her arms, she lifted herself up from the floor. He sensed the warmth of her breath on his stomach as she panted heavily. Then he felt the cool touch of her lips against his feverish skin.
He gasped. The fierce pounding of her heart sent a throbbing pulse into his temples. Her long hair swayed beneath him, delicately stroking his legs like the tickling of a feather. He could not see her face now, but he could feel her mouth moving downward, drawing closer. And Belita continued to spank him.
Lupe's breasts trailed across the feverish flesh of his chest. He felt the firm stab of her projecting nipples.
Her hips were weaving their magic as she squirmed upon the floor, so very close to him-so close that he had only to lower his head a few inches and his lips would come into contact with the dark crowning glory of her femininity.
The weaving of her thighs, the hypnotic rise and fall of her pelvis enchanted him.
Never had he been so close to the inscrutable mystery of womanhood. He stared transfixed at the tangled nest of her passion, so enraptured that he was not at once aware of the thing she was doing to him.
And then he felt it with a numbing shock that sent high-voltage flashing along his spine. He felt the warm, moist softness envelope his straining lance. Next he felt a stroking, fluttering sensation-a clinging of tender flesh that drove him close to madness.
He reacted immediately with explosive force. He writhed and tossed beneath the delicious cruelty of the descending slipper, and he shuddered convulsively from Lupe's tenacious lips and her agonizing tongue.
Demented cries of delight poured from his gaping mouth. While Belita continued to flog his bottom, Lupe explored every secret of his body with intimate, teasing fingers. And never once did she release him from the flaming embrace.
The way Lupe was kissing him left him breathless and quivering. His heart beat a violent tattoo behind his ribs-hammering through his bloodstream, into his brain.
He was so fired up that he could not control the cries and groans that emitted from his mouth in a continuous babble. And still she continued to kiss him, holding him captive with her grasping lips.
A sudden violent eruption rocked his body, and at the same instant an electric flash burst like a million suns, blinding him momentarily. The tremors of his orgiastic release surged out from his loins, and all the while Lupe clung to him greedily, devouring him, drawing every last ounce of strength from his burning, shivering body.
Uncontrollable spasms shook his frame. Hot flames spread from the pit of his stomach, enveloped his throbbing manhood, searing his flesh.
Elder was bathed in sweat. Numb and weak from the final explosive convulsion, he wanted to fall upon the floor and give himself up to the strange, wonderful serenity that engulfed him. He wanted a chance to pump the breath of life back into his lungs and revive himself.
But they would not release him.
Belita had thrown away the slipper, but she attacked him now with renewed ferocity--biting and tearing at his exposed nakedness with gnashing teeth and sharp nails.
He was petrified by a sudden terror. For a moment he wondered if they meant to tear his flesh mercilessly, to eat him alive like two savage jungle cats.
But the violence did not last more than a few moments. For a reason he could not understand, their hunger had changed from a blood lust to a clinging, almost submissive tenderness. He would have sworn that he heard Belita purring as she rubbed her face along his side.
In this state of exhaustion which had come over him, he was helpless to struggle against the two girls. He knew that they were not finished with him, that they had other erotic surprises in store for him.
Both girls tugged at him, pulling his supporting arms from beneath him. He was upended. He rolled helplessly, then found himself lying on his back.
Belita quickly straddled his midsection and lowered her thighs. Her soft clinging warmth aroused him once more. She enveloped him with her body, rolling her torso, caressing him, stroking him delicately.
Then Lupe parted her legs and sat astride of his chest. Her dusky breasts heaved and swayed with the agitation of her labored breathing.
Slowly writhing her hips, she moved forward an inch at a time. She pressed so close to him that he could smell the exciting, musky fragrance that eminated from her loins.
This woman-smell was a powerful force which drew him magnetically toward the dark, secret cavern.
Catching her breasts in both hands, Lupe squeezed them until the nipples became two elongated tips of flame. She bared her teeth and uttered a wild, primitive cry. Then, tilting her hips, she pressed even closer.
There was no mistaking what she wanted him to do.
And Belita was inflicting such delightful agony upon him with her bewitching thighs that he had ho choice but to join in this fascinating game-to make love with two women at once.
Closing his eyes, he pressed forward with his searching mouth. The warm trembling flesh touched his lips. Lupe shoved her body eagerly forward, imprisoning him with her haunches. Her fingers caught at his hair, her hands slipped beneath his head and pressed his face deeper.
He gave her a breath-taking thrill with his flickering tongue, felt the response in her surging pelvis. She uttered a moan of sheer pleasure.
While he made love to Lupe in one way, he arched his body and thrust rhythmically at Belita who wormed her hips in heated response. He was a fallen man, and he knew it. He was wallowing in the slime of carnal degradation. He had been conquered by Satan and led into a life of sin. But so long as he was lost, he had made up his mind to give in to every craven desire-to enjoy his destruction to the fullest. The dam had burst, releasing all the wild hungers that had been trapped inside him during a lifetime of self-denial.
He thrilled with satisfaction at the unendurable pleasure he was giving Lupe with his lips and tongue. He lunged deeper, thrusting to the very depths, and felt Lupe grow rigid. She wavered for an instant, then soared upward like a rocket, spasming as her body writhed in torment.
Belita was caught up in the same frantic ardor. With a series of grinding thrusts she drove herself to a burning fulfillment. The excitement of the two women was infectious. He responded with a sudden bursting within-a pounding, throbbing eruption. He cried out in delirium while his nerve-ends jangled and his body withered in the flames of passion.
At last the girls disengaged themselves and crawled away, while he fell back, limp with total exhaustion.
CHAPTER FIVE
Doug Watson awoke from a restless midday nap and stared up at the thatched roof of the hut. He lay on the mattress that had been brought from the plane two days ago when it was decided that they should move to the abandoned village. The plane was too cramped for all seven survivors of the crash; while there were enough huts in the village to provide them each with separate living quarters.
It had not exactly worked out that way, for something in the atmosphere had broken down inhibitions to the extent that everyone was more or less paired off according to his tastes and inclinations.
Doug and Rachel shared the same bed. Cal had a hut of his own, although he and Adelle Crandell seemed to hit it off pretty good. And apparently the Reverend Pepperdine had come to some kind of three-way understanding with the two native girls.
Well, Doug thought, let everyone have his fun. As soon as he had whipped the fever, which had been caused by his injured arm, they would be leaving this place. After studying a map of the area, Doug had come to the conclusion that the Magdalena River was only a two-day hike from the village. Once they reached the river they could build a raft and float downstream on it until they reached civilization.
Rachel Dunn came through the door of the hut carrying an aluminum mess kit and a spoon. Doug leaned on his elbow as she sat down beside him.
"Have a good nap?" she asked.
"That's all I seem to be doing," Doug complained.
"You've had a lot of fever."
"From one puny little scratch-"
"It was more than a scratch, and you know it. I brought you some broth. It's jaguar-the one Cal shot yesterday."
She forced a spoonful into his mouth.
"Not bad," Doug said. "A little gamy, but not bad."
Rachel fed him until the metal bowl was empty. Then she set it on the floor and leaned down. A bright reddish cascade of hair fell about his face as she pressed her mouth hotly to his. Instinctively he reached up and fondled her breasts, which were becoming familiar to him.
Rachel's eyes sparkled with desire.
"You're awfully fresh," she said huskily. "But I kind of like it when you get fresh with me."
"I'll have to admit that I like it too."
"I'm such a novice, Doug. I'm afraid ... maybe I don't please you."
"You please me," he said, unbuttoning the front of her blouse.
She had stopped wearing bras, so the moment the blouse was open her breasts swung free. They were large creamy breasts with pale pink centers the size of silver dollars. She leaned closer and offered them for him to kiss.
At the first touch of his lips, he felt her tremble with aroused excitement. He seized one of the nipples between his lips and prodded it with his tongue, feeling it stiffen.
"There's so little I know about-". She hesitated. "-making love. So much I have to learn. You'll teach me everything there is to know, won't you, Doug?"
"There's a couple of things I haven't touched on yet. I wasn't sure you were ready for them."
"Yes, I know-" she whispered. "Like-well, I saw some carvings in one of the huts. People doing things I never even dreamed of-"
"And it roused your curiosity?" Doug said, smiling.
"Yes." A blush reddened her face. "I thought I'd like to try them-with you."
"You really have gone native, haven't you, sugar?"
"It's this place," she said. "The jungle, and those erotic carvings, and that huge thing that stands in the center of the village. I get all kinds of crazy urges."
She pressed her lips to his and boldly thrust her tongue into his mouth. Her body flowed against his. He felt the soft pressure of her breasts. His hands slid along her back and tightened on the round, taut globes of her buttocks.
Pulling away suddenly, she unzipped her skirt and stepped out of it. Then she removed her blouse and tossed it away carelessly. Suddenly he felt the same urgency, and he pulled off his shorts, which was all that he wore.
She lowered herself to the mattress and kissed him again. Brazenly her tongue stroked inside his mouth, curling and fluttering. He put his hands on her breasts and squeezed the warm flesh, felt the pounding of her pulse.
With the tips of his fingers he rolled the nipples, teasing them into throbbing erectness. Her hips moved sensuously, her naked flesh intimately upon his quivering manhood. Reaching down, he put his hand on her thighs, found her moist and tingling and ready.
But she had asked him to introduce her to new, erotic delights. It would be a pleasure to make love in every imaginable way to a woman with such a flawless body.
Rachel leaned above him, moving her body so that her lush, heavy breasts swayed an inch or two from his face. He could see the stiff nipples, rosy and quivering with desire.
She fell beside him on the mattress and stretched her body languidly. Her embarrassment had passed, and now she smiled at him, her eyes bright with amusement.
Glancing down at her thighs, he was drawn by the bright fiery crown of her glory. Her naked beauty beckoned to him. Sitting up, he turned around, so that they were facing in opposite directions. Rachel sensed what he was about to do, and she gave an excited gasp.
She let him open her thighs. He kissed the round dome of her stomach, then moved lower, trembling with sexual need, charmed by the nearness of her warm, sweaty body and the faint, tangy odor of her arousal.
Reaching behind her, he clasped her bare buttocks. Uttering a throaty whimper, she lifted her hips, offering herself to him. With eager lips he caressed the sweetness of her thighs. Rachel arched up to receive him and began to gasp.
"How nice-" she cried. "I know I'm going to like it this way. Don't stop, Doug-"
She moaned with delight. Her hands clung possessively while his lips worked with feverish activity. And then her mouth found him. He gave a cry which was muffled by soft, quivering female flesh.
Rachel's mouth was moist and eager. She clung with her lips while her tongue stroked and curled. She adjusted her body, twisting her hips, opening her thighs wider. Then she began to wriggle with shivering ecstasy as his tongue drove deep into the sensitive core of her womanhood.
While he clung to her with his relentless mouth, he squeezed the ripe hillocks of her bottom. She rolled her hips, receiving his caresses with quick, excited thrusts.
From very close, he was aware of the contrasting colors of her body-the milky white of her flesh and the flaming red crown of her femininity.
His lips moved more insistently as he sought to drive her toward the final destination. His mouth was hot and ravenous. He could feel her respond to his fervent kisses. Her majestic body tossed and churned in an agony of delight. As he felt the thrills shooting through her, it aroused his own excitement until it was a burning fire in his guts, molten lava flowing through his veins.
He felt her body trembling, and he knew that she was racing swiftly toward the ultimate moment.
Then a sudden spasm hit her.
She uttered a muted cry and began to gyrate her hips with frantic, pulsating delirium.
Doug felt the inner quivering of her loins, the frenzied throbbing of her completion. She rose beneath him, her thighs bucking wildly, but he held onto her. He stayed with her through the volcanic fury of her final paroxysm.
And all the while she kept up the maddening torment with her mouth, carrying him along with her through peak after peak of sensation. A seething, boiling tremor racked him, jangling his nervous system. It was as though a bolt of lightening had shot along his spine.
Still she continued to caress him with her possessive mouth, engulfing him, gripping him while his body fused and melted like wax in a flame. He soared weightlessly, blasted through space by the burning jets of his culmination.
When it was over at last, he lay exhausted, unable to move. Rachel came to him, whimpering, sobbing, trembling with ecstasy. She pressed her hot, gaping mouth to his lips and kissed him passionately.
"It was so good, Doug," she whispered. "It was everything I thought it would be and so much more. This won't be the last time, will it? Tell me it won't be the last time. I think I like it this way the best."
"It won't be the last time," he said and fell back weakly, only vaguely conscious of the warm touch of her thighs on his leg.
CHAPTER SIX
Adelle Crandell had not taken a drink in several days-for the simple reason that here in the jungle there was nothing to drink. But strangely, she was learning to get along without her daily intake of alcohol. The jungle had offered her a substitute. It came in the form of wild hemp, which she had discovered growing in a thicket at the edge of the village.
The smaller leaves and flowers of the wild hemp plant, when properly dried, produced a narcotic that was commonly known around the world as hashish. When smoked, hashish created the same effects as marijuana, to which it was closely related.
Adelle had learned many exotic things during her stay in Haiti-not only the secret voodoo rites, but the real cause of their effectiveness. There were various drugs which induced the state of mind that worked hand-in-hand with voodoo. There were narcotics and drugs which induced hallucinations, and there were a number of aphrodisiacs.
Hashish had given her control over two of the passengers who had gone down with the plane. Although with hashish alone, Adelle would not be able to carry out the plan which she had slowly evolved since the plane crash. She had often dreamed of being a voodoo priestess, for she was fascinated by the idea of dominating a group of foUowers through a knowledge of magic and secret rituals.
Lupe and Belita had become her vassels. They would continue to serve her devotedly so long as she provided them with drugs and capitalized on their superstitious fear of black magic.
There were others Adelle knew she could dominate, though with some it would take a little time. Those who refused to smoke her narcotic cigarettes, she would have to bring around by the use of other drugs.
The preacher, Elder Pepperdine, would be no problem. Even Rachel Dunn, the virgin who was just discovering the enchantment of sex, seemed to be in no hurry to return to the bloodless existence she had known before the plane came down in the jungle.
The only real hitch in her plans was the eagerness of the pilot and the co-pilot to return to civilization. But Adelle was not concerned, for there was still time to bring them under her spell. They would be staying here for a few more days, at least until Doug Watson was well enough to travel. Meanwhile, she had much work to do.
"Your Highness-"
Adelle turned and saw Lupe standing meekly in the door of the hut. Belita was behind her, holding the jaguar skin on which both had been working.
"You may enter," Adelle said imperiously.
The two girls walked through the entrance, fell upon their knees before her and bowed their heads.
"Rise-" Adelle said, waving her hand.
Both girls stood up. Their long black hair lay in wild tangles about their faces. Their eyes were glassy, for they were high from the hashish they had been smoking. The girls were stark naked except for a necklace of voodoo charms which each wore around her neck.
"Are you finished with the robe?" Adelle asked.
"Yes, your highness."
Belita quickly unfolded the jaguar skin. Adelle felt a stirring of excitement as she looked at the brilliant, black and gold spotted pelt.
"I want to try it on-but first, bring me the boots."
Lupe nodded and opened a trunk which lay on the floor, a trunk containing Adelle's belongings which had been salvaged from the wrecked plane. Adelle sat on the platform in the center of the room and waited impatiently, her hand grasping the wooden phallus as a queen would hold a scepter.
Adelle had chosen the largest hut in the village for herself, the hut that had been used by the former inhabitants as a ceremonial chamber for their orgiastic rites. She was determined to put it to its original use once again.
Lupe kneeled before her, holding a pair of black leather boots. They were a special pair of boots which had been made to Adelle's specifications by an Italian craftsman during her stay in Rome. The leather had been cut to fit snugly around her calves and ankles, so snugly in fact that she needed someone's help to put them on.
The surface of the leather was polished so finely that it reflected an image like black onyx. The heels were long spikes-a symbol of domination, which could be deadly if thrust at a victim in the proper manner.
Having the boots made had been only a whim at the time, but Adelle was pleased that she had them now. The boots and the jaguar robe would compliment each other beautifully. A voodoo priestess had to look the part.
Still seated on the platform, Adelle crossed her legs and held out one foot. Grasping one of the boots by the top, Lupe began to struggle, working it over Adelle's ankle.
"You fool!" Leaning down, Adelle slashed the girl viciously across the face, leaving red welts. "Don't you know the right from the left?"
The Indian girl clasped her hands together and bowed her head. Her naked body began to tremble.
"Forgive me, your Highness," Lupe pleaded.
"Do you want me to call down the spirit of the night air? He will make you dance until you fall dead."
"No-please," she cried fearfully. "Mercy."
"Then humble yourself at my feet," Adelle demanded. "Kiss them. Wash them with your tears."
"Yes, your Highness," Lupe whimpered.
Kneeling on the mat, she began to kiss Adelle's right foot. She covered it with loving caresses, touching each toe with her trembling lips, drawing each one into her mouth while she made mewling sounds of submission in her throat.
Adelle trembled responsively. A flush of warmth spread from the foot, which was the object of the Indian girl's worship, upward through her whole body. Adelle's breathing quickened. She tingled with excitement.
Shifting slightly, Lupe turned her attentions to the other foot. Her ravenous mouth wandered feverishly over the instep and the sole of
Adelle's delicate foot. Adelle gasped as she felt the wet tongue wriggling between her toes. But soon the bizarre sensations became less intense. She tired of this game of fetishistic devotion.
"Enough-" Adelle said. "Now wipe my feet with your hair and put on the boots."
Humbly the native girl did as she was ordered. With the long black coils of her hair she dried the moistness that had been left by her kisses. She dabbed each foot tenderly, then with great care encased it in a boot.
When Adelle arose she stood unsteadily for a moment while she became accustomed to the high spiked heels. With a quick movement, she removed the flimsy dress she wore and stood naked before the two submissive Indian girls.
"Now," Adelle murmured, feeling a catch of excitement in her throat. "The robe-"
The two girls approached with the animal pelt and draped it around her shoulders. They had done a remarkable job, following every detail of the design she had given them. Adelle shuddered with quickening emotion as she felt the skin of the jaguar envelop her body.
The upper legs of the skin fastened together by a clasp upon the magnificent swell of her breasts. The round, pink fleshy centers of her thrusting breasts peeked out from the frame of black and yellow fleece.
The lower legs formed a girdle about her loins. The long tail hung down in back, dragging on the floor.
Adelle called for a mirror and examined herself. She was infatuated by the image she saw. The animal's head fit snugly on the crown of her golden hair. Two pointed ears stood up like the horns of a devil.
The claws had been removed. That part of the animal's skin had been made into gloves, which Belita now held up for her mistress to don.
Adelle slipped her hands into the spotted gloves, her heart fluttering with quickened pleasure. The two native girls had constructed the gloves so that the claws curved around the backs of her fingers. When she made a fist, the claws extended, sharp and deadly.
Adelle was exalted, tingling with rapture. For she had become the beast whose skin she wore. By a strange transformation, the jaguar had entered into her soul. Their spirits had merged to become one.
A warm glow spread through her haunches, upward to the throbbing points of her breasts. She felt a diabolic change taking place in her body. She was suffused with the cruelty of a jungle beast.
She ruled now, as this animal once had ruled. She was vicious and heartless and all-powerful. The spirit of the jaguar was in her breast.
She hungered to lash out with the sharp claws, to feel them tear into the tender flesh of a human.
The two girls must have read her thoughts and seen the blood lust in her eyes, for they began to back away from her, trembling with fear.
"Stop!" Adelle cried.
She rushed toward Belita, who was standing nearest to the door of the hut. With a lethal swipe of her hand, she raked at the girl's arm.
The sharp claws tore through flesh, leaving a mark of the jungle cat. Four livid scratches ran from Belita's shoulder to her elbow. Blood began to flow at once, dripping onto the floor.
Both girls fell cowering at her feet, pleading shrilly. Begging her not to attack them.
For a moment at least, her craving to inflict pain had passed. She trembled breathlessly, contemplating the power which she now possessed. Both girls remained prostrate upon the floor, kissing the toes of her boots, whimpering and begging for mercy. Turning from them, she walked to the open trunk. There was one more object which she had brought with her. It was this object which would complete her costume.
Searching beneath her clothes, she found the long, braided leather whip. Slowly she uncoiled it until it lay upon the floor. It measured seven feet tip to handle. With a flip of her wrist she caused it to writhe like a snake.
"Bring the preacher," she demanded.
Both girls arose at once, keeping their faces averted while their bodies trembled in fear.
"Yes-your Highness."
Adelle was admiring herself in the mirror when the girls returned with the preacher. Elder Pepperdine stopped in mid-stride when he saw her clothed in the jaguar skin. There was a sharp hissing as he drew in his breath. He was a lean, ruggedly handsome man who must be approaching forty, for there were traces of gray at his temples. He would never have been taken for a preacher if it were not for his pious mouth and his haunted eyes.
"I am Erszulie-Goddess of Love," said Adelle. "Fall to your knees and worship."
Elder Pepperdine hesitated for an instant-long enough to displease her. With a fierce scowl, she lashed out. The whip circled his neck, coiled tightly like a boa constrictor. Adelle leaned back with all her weight.
Elder's eyes bulged and his face became livid, for the whip was choking the breath from him. He reached up and caught hold of the leather, but Adelle gave a sudden jerk. Elder lost his balance and fell to his knees.
For a moment Elder had defied her, but now she saw the defiance fade from his face to be replaced by terror. She had frightened him into submission, now she must break his will completely so she could control him as unquestionably as she did Lupe and Belita. She released the pressure of the whip.
"Crawl-" she demanded. "Come to me. You are going to learn to obey me when I give an order."
Elder nodded uncertainly.
"Call me 'your Highness', " she said fiercely.
"Yes, your Highness," Elder mumbled.
"That's better. Now come to me. Do as I say, or you will be flogged until you beg for mercy."
Elder crawled across the floor and lay at her feet. His eyes stared in fascination at her partially exposed body. His gaze took in the slope of her tantalizing breasts, her tilting stomach, the golden mystery of her thighs which were only partly covered by the girdle of spotted pelt.
Adelle saw how much the magnificence of her body affected him, and it gave her great satisfaction.
It seemed almost as if she could feel his staring eyes, like warm spots heating her flesh. Elder's adoring looks, combined with the jaguar skin which clung to her, fitting the contours of her body, filled her with a glowing excitement.
There was no question that the strangeness of her attire stimulated her. She felt passion--great burning passion that burst into sudden flames within her.
Slowly she began to roll her hips while her hands reached down and stroked her thighs. She rubbed and worked her extended fingers upon the portal of her desire. All the while she realized how close the deadly claws were to her tender flesh. A quick movement of her hands, and they would open gaping wounds.
Her fingers stroked delicately as she toyed with herself. Elder's eyes were fastened hypnotically upon this center of her being. His breath came in quick, short gasps. She felt the warmth of it on her loins.
"Kiss me " she demanded suddenly. "There-"
And she formed a frame with her hands, circling the soft quivering mound.
Elder leaned forward. His mouth gaped open, trembling in eager anticipation. She caught her breath and waited. Then he plunged, driving a plaintive sigh from deep within her throat, sending shock waves through her body.
She threw back her head and screamed, at the same time revolving her hips, thrusting and churning her thighs in a pagan dance of lust.
He was kissing her, driving his lips into her with a compulsive fever. His hands reached up and slid beneath the loose pelt, grasped her buttocks. He clung to her with his hands gripping the soft flesh, and all the while his lips and tongue sought to plunge deeper and deeper.
Adelle caught the back of his head and pressed him closer to her scented flesh. She was amazed at the sensations that were rocketing through her.
She had known desire, she had submitted to it in every possible form and shape that existed. And yet she had never been so overwhelmed with feverish excitement. It was as though her own dark magic had cast a speU upon her.
She was a throbbing, blazing flame of ecstasy. A buzzing began in her brain, which was reeling dizzily.
Relentlessly he kept after her, the frenzy of his own lust turning him into a man who had lost his senses. His fingers dug sharply into her fleshy buttocks, his tongue shot into her like a series of fiery darts.
She screamed and jerked wildly under the suctioning of his lips, the voracious clinging of his mouth. Wherever there was a contact, it seemed that her flesh was being scalded. She was paralyzed by the violence of her response.
Her buttocks felt bruised and swollen from the continuous kneading of his excited fingers. Her thighs were maddeningly sensitive, as though her nerve-ends were laid bare.
And still he continued to devour her hungrily, at the same time uttering sharp, barking sounds which attested to his own delirium. His babbling mouth was wet and slippery, slimed with her body fluids.
His hard darting tongue stroked and plunged, driving into her. It touched her off suddenly as though a match had been put to a short fuse. She burned with a glorious light as she went soaring into the sky. Her brain reeled. She held onto his head for support as her knees weakened. As the last spasm of her crises faded away, she fell back weakly and sat upon the small platform in the center of the room. Instinctively her hand grasped the wooden object, the scepter which symbolized the love cult-of which she had become the ruler.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Elder Pepperdine sat on the floor and held the pipe which Lupe had just handed him. It was a hand-carved wooden pipe which the girls had probably found in one of the huts. The dried, greenish leaves that smoldered in the bowl was not tobacco, it did not even smell like tobacco. But the girls refused to tell him what it was until he had tried a few puffs.
Adelle had gone off into the jungle to gather herbs, leaving the three of them in the hut. Elder was pleased to spend his time with the two girls. Since his first sexual contact with them, his life had changed totally. He could no longer even think of himself as a pious man of the cloth.
He was one of the lost, and he knew it.
He was damned eternally by his sins, and yet the things he had experienced the last two days had been so thrilling that he was willing to suffer damnation-just so he could go on enjoying such fascinating pleasures of the flesh.
Everything surrounding him was evil, yet he was fascinated by wickedness, drawn to it as he had never been drawn to virtue. Even the stuff he was smoking in the pipe was evil. He did not have to be told that it was some kind of drug. He did not care what it was. He was eager to sample every corruption and depravity. Once he had eaten of the forbidden fruit, there was no turning back.
Whatever he was smoking, it seemed to have no effect on him at all. He held the pipe stem between his lips and inhaled deeply, drawing the smoke into his lungs. Then with his lungs filled, he held his breath as long as he could, just as the girls had shown him how to do.
He exhaled and took another puff on the pipe.
The only effects from smoking the strange drug seemed to be on Lupe and Belita. Their eyes were glazed, and there was a far away look to them, a lazy expression of contentment.
Lupe crawled across the floor and pressed her bare bosom against his arm. Her breath was warm upon his face as she leaned close to kiss him.
"Aren't you feeling anything, baby?" she asked in a dreamy voice.
"Nothing-" he replied, shaking his head.
"You will in a minute. Take another puff and hold it. Close your eyes. You'll start to float away."
Elder did as she told him, filling his lungs with the acrid smoke. He closed his eyes. At first he only felt dizzy. Then upon his eyelids he saw strange objects whirling. He began to feel the warm flow of blood through his veins. He felt each individual hair on his head, felt the air pressing upon his sweaty flesh. It was a strange new experience, an eerie, unworldly sensation.
"Now do you see what I mean?" Lupe said. "Yes. Now I see."
He opened his eyes. Lupe stood above him, smiling. She was as beautiful as a vision. When he reached out to take hold of her hand, she darted away.
But it did not really matter. He only wanted to stroke the delicately feminine curve of her hip, to caress her hair and her tawny flesh. His fingertips were so sensitive that the mere act of touching her would be a revelation.
He stood up and walked slowly across the room, following Lupe as she ran from him. She giggled like a playful child. He reached for her through an infinite space, his hands searching in the void. But she was not there.
He tripped and fell, landing on top of the open trunk which contained Adelle's clothing. He had struck headfirst, and now he seemed to be swimming in a luxurious sea of soft, feminine under things.
He sat up, still clinging to a wad of silk panties. They were so cool and pink and fragrant. He ran his fingers lightly across the fabric.
"What are you doing?" Lupe asked curiously.
"It's delightful-" Elder murmured to himself, giving the thought substance by speaking it aloud.
Pressing the small bit of cloth to his face, he experienced a voluptuous excitement. The merest contact with the dainty under things sent a tingling through his nervous system.
He closed his eyes and touched the silk to his lips. At once, from somewhere out of the depths of his past, came the knowledge that he had always longed to wear female things, to feel their delicate friction upon his flesh.
And now it was possible, he thought, with breathless anticipation. He was free to indulge himself in any way that pleased him. That was the reward he received in return for giving up any hope of eternal salvation.
Which was better after all? This world was so filled with delights-a person should enjoy them to the fullest and not worry about the consequences.
His face warmed with sudden fervor. Digging through the contents of the trunk, he found every item of female attire that would be needed to dress him completely-to transform him for a few delirious moments into a woman.
Only now, when he was faced with the possibility of it, did he realize how much he had longed for such an experience. The freeing of his inhibitions had released many wild and fantastic hungers which he would never have believed existed.
Elder stood up and, while the two girls watched in amazement, stripped off his clothes.
First of all he picked up the silk panties which were trimmed delicately in lace. Balancing himself on one leg, he arched his foot and stuck it through the elastic top which he spread with his hands.
Then he inserted the other foot and pulled the small bit of cloth up his legs, worming his hips. At his thighs, the panties clung tightly, but at last he managed to fit them into place.
The cool, silky cloth arched against his groin, clinging as tightly as skin. He felt the panties pinch his buttocks shaping them like an inverted heart.
The two girls were giggling with amazement, but he did not care. Everything was too delightful. He felt an electric thrill as he ran his hands down across his thighs, drawing the cloth taut against him.
The delicious friction sent a tingling sensation through his loins-a sensation that was magnified a thousand times by the drug which he had smoked.
He experienced a momentary disappointment when he realized that there was no full-length mirror in which he could see himself after he was fully dressed. He would have to be content to feel the clothes, which in itself was an acute and vivid pleasure.
The next item was a flimsy brassiere, which he padded with wads of cloth in order to fill out the cups.
Then he looped a garter belt around his waist, fastened it in front, slipped it around until it was in place. There was something very exciting about the tightness that drew in around his waist, the pressure against the soft flesh of his back and stomach.
Next came the nylon stockings. Elder sat down upon the platform to put them on. He crossed his legs and drew the long, sheer sheath over his ankle. His fingers trembled as he slid the stockings up, smoothing it over his thighs. He pulled at the top to draw it tight.
Then he put on the other stocking in the same manner. He stood up and fastened the clasps of the garter belt, drawing them so tight that he felt strangely constricted.
Among Adelle's clothes he had found a pair of high-heeled slippers. Although they cramped his feet painfully, he was able to hobble around in them.
At last he came to the dress, a fluffy little thing made of pale blue linen. By now the two girls had entered into the game. They helped him slip the dress carefully over his head and down his shoulders. It was a tight fit. One of the seams gave with a rip.
But he managed to wriggle into it. Lupe and Belita smoothed the cloth over his flanks and tugged at the bottom.
He walked slowly across the room and came back, taking languid steps. The binding cloth and the friction of the under things excited him keenly.
Eagerly the two girls pushed him down upon the platform, making him sit there while they applied make-up to his face. Since their tastes were garish, they used a lot of everything. They even rouged his cheeks with a dab of lipstick, rubbing in with their fingers in a widening circle.
Lupe penciled his eyebrows and dabbed mascara on his eyes, while Belita painted a cupid's bow on his lips.
Then Lupe wound a white turban around his head, tucking it in at the back. They stepped away to admire their handywork, so fascinated by the change in him that they did not even smile.
Belita produced a small hand mirror. Peering into it, Elder felt a thrill of excitement. He was truly transformed. Not only did he look feminine, but he felt it as well. There was even a tingling in his nipples as though his breasts had become swollen and full, as the breasts of the two naked girls in front of him.
He trembled with delight as he continued to stare at his image. Never in his life had he felt so light and happy.
Adelle Crandell had removed the jaguar robe and put on a cotton dress before she walked into the jungle. Much as she loved the clinging feel of the robe, it was too hot to wear in the blazing sun of mid-afternoon.
She carried a cloth sack with her and a small hatchet which she used for digging roots. Among all the plants which grew in the surrounding jungle, she had found at least a half dozen species which she recognized. All of them played an important part in voodoo ritual.
Besides the wild hemp, which gave her hashish, there was the root of the niloo plant, which was an amazingly powerful aphrodisiac. She had collected and put into her sack enough roots to produce a dozen orgies.
Now she was returning to a damp, marshy area where she had noticed a variety of mushrooms that would create wild hallucinations in anyone who ate them.
Rachel Dunn, who seemed to have accepted the job of preparing the food, had a pot of stew boiling over a low fire back at the village. Adelle planned to chop up enough mushrooms and roots for the desired effect, and slip them into the stew. Then tonight, she would lead them in a wild voodoo orgy.
Adelle was following a jungle path through the trees, when she stopped suddenly. Kneeling down, she examined the black berries on a small plant which had broad green leaves. The poisonous berries of the black nightshade. Quickly she picked a handful of these and threw them into her sack. There was no telling when she might be able to put them to use. If someone should dare to defy her...
Cal Neville switched on the battery and twisted the dials for the hundredth time. He listened intently with the headphone pressed to his ear. There was not a goddam sound, not a squawk out of the battered radio. It had received too much damage in the crash landing, and no amount of adjusting or experimenting could make it work again.
Cal cursed in disgust and pounded his fist against the metal casing. Then he threw down the headset and stood up. There was just no chance of contacting anybody on the radio, so he might as well give it up.
His mood was not helped by the heat in the airplane. With the sun beating down on the aluminum fuselage it was like the inside of a boiler.
Walking back along the aisle, he dropped to the ground and moved to the shade of a tree. A faint breeze dried the sweat from his face. He lit a cigarette, drew the smoke into his lungs, then let it out with a burst of air. That helped to calm his nerves a little.
He had not really expected to make the radio work, but it had to be tried. Now the only thing left was to wait until Doug was well enough to travel through the jungle, then head for the Magdalena River.
He hoped like hell that was the Magdalena they had seen from the air, moments before they came belly-busting down into the clearing. If it was, there were a number of villages along its banks. If it was another river, there was no telling where it might take them.
But either way, they had to get down to the river and build a raft, then see where the river led. He and Doug had decided it was their best chance of coming out of the jungle alive. It might even be their only chance.
Tossing the cigarette stub to the ground, Cal started back along the path to the camp.
His temper was bad, because of his failure with the radio. This hellish jungle heat did many things to him-among others, it stirred up the desire in his guts, keeping it in a constant turmoil, close to the surface, ready to burst out without a moment's warning.
He kept remembering the statuesque body of Adelle Crandell, the fiery clutch of her thighs, the fullness of her breasts, the demanding of her hips when she was in heat.
It was that kind of thoughts that could drive him close to madness. But there was no reason why he should allow himself to go mad-for Adelle was an insatiable wench. She was always ready for lovemaking. Probably she was ready at this very moment, wondering where he had been keeping himself all day.
By the time he reached the village clearing, he was in such a turmoil of expectation that he went directly to the large hut where Adelle stayed.
Pushing through the entrance, he stood for a moment while his eyes adjusted to the light. What he saw, when he was finally able to distinguish objects in the dimly lit room, was not Adelle but the two Indian girls and a goddam clown.
Cal stared curiously at the person dressed in female clothes with a turban around his head. The clothes and the paint gave him some resemblance to a woman. But the broad shoulders and narrow hips, the flatness of the chest, certainly did not belong to a woman.
This had to be Reverend Pepperdine, yet it took Cal nearly a minute to convince himself that it was.
This person was tilting a perfume bottle and touching the cork to his ears. Cal remained motionless, watching. It was Elder Pepperdine, without a doubt. When Lupe held up a mirror, he fluttered his eyes and sighed delightedly.
Then he began to writhe his hips, slowly, shamelessly. His eyes were half closed, a dreamy smile was on his lips as he danced to music which only he could hear.
All at once Lupe saw Cal standing there and slunk up to him. She was completely naked except for some hand-carved charms which hung on a string around her neck.
She smiled up at him. Her eyes were bright and shiny. And then Cal smelled the funny odor of burning leaves that hung in the air. This dame was high on pot. And any dame who was high on pot was therefore a lusting animal ready to pounce. With the slightest touch of his hand, he could turn her on full blast.
Just looking at her dusky, perspiring body made Cal's nerves jangle, made his glands scream out for sexual release.
He pulled her roughly against him. This was no time for tender preliminaries. His shirt was unbuttoned down the front. Her breasts, bulky and flushed with heat, scorched the flesh of his bare chest.
He crushed his mouth to hers, felt the soft fullness of her lips. Her tongue flickered to life, stroking and taunting him. Her hands crawled up his back, her thighs ground against his leg with fierce urgency.
Reaching down, Cal took a breast in his hand. It was high and firm and ripe. The nipple throbbed against his fingers as though it contained a tiny beating pulse. He cupped the breast and rolled the stiff nipple upon his palm.
Lupe began to moan.
He let his hands drop down her sides, then he clasped the lush roundness of her buttocks and shoved her worming hips harder against him.
She discovered his throbbing manhood, reached down and clamped tightly with her fingers. Their hands met at the buckle of his belt. He got it loose, stepped out of his pants. She released him for a moment while he stepped out of the rest of his clothes.
Quickly she led him to the low platform against the wall on which lay one of the mattresses from the plane. He tried to grasp her bewitching body, but she shoved him away. Then she began to dance. Her breasts swayed before him, round and shimmering. Her hips moved in voluptuous circles, her supple thighs beckoned to him, teased him. He could feel the temperature building in his body.
Desire came to life in him like a blazing torch. He leaped toward her, caught her with his arms squeezing her narrow waist. She fell backward under the weight of him, landing on her back upon the mattress.
Her need was even more violent than his. She received him with an upward thrust of her hips, drew him inward with a muscular control that took his breath away. Then she locked her legs and completed the fiery grafting of their bodies.
"Give it to me!" she screamed against his ear. "Oh, honey-give it to me good!"
At once she began to buck and squirm beneath him, arching her back, lifting the full weight of him with her ramming thighs. He could only hold on and hope he stayed with her as she drove at him with the fury of a demon.
Her searing flesh was slick with sweat, making it even more difficult to cling to her. Cal put his hands under her buttocks, pressed his fingers into the bulbous flesh.
She shrieked her delirium to the sky, and the animal cry was answered from across the room. Cal glanced up and saw a sight that made him gape in amazement.
The other girl, Belita, had been roused by watching them. So sudden and violent was her need that she had leaped upon the small platform in the center of the room and squatted over the upright wooden phallus.
Thrusting and grinding her hips, she plunged the wooden object deep within her. She was using it as a substitute for a man, bouncing up and down, falling upon it with the full weight of her body, impahng herself with such torturous frenzy that she must be tearing up her in-sides.
Cal was still watching her when the artificial object brought her to flaming completion. She erupted with an ear-splitting scream. Her body surged up and down, her knees bent as her thighs plunged with stallion-like fury. Every muscle of her body seemed to stand out in relief. The veins in her neck bulged until it seemed they would burst.
At last she stood up, releasing herself from the stabbing torment. With a whimpering sigh which heaved up from deep inside her, she fell exhausted upon the platform. She lay, pumping breath into her lungs, while her hand delicately, lovingly stroked the gleaming piece of carved wood-the object of her torture and her delight.
Cal felt sharp claws dig into his back. Looking down, he saw Lupe staring at him with feverish eyes. He realized that he had been so entranced by the masochistic display, the coupling of the girl with the hard wooden prod, that he had forgotten that he had a wanton jungle cat pinned beneath him-a lusting creature who was screaming now for her own release.
He let her take the lead, for she was almost more than he had bargained for. Lying flat on her back, she demanded the same driving violence the other girl had received from the wooden device. She carried him along on the wings of her passion. Lifting him up, grinding her thighs against him as she forced him deeper and deeper.
She arched and churned with rising fury. Then she was wailing, sobbing against his face. He held on with all his strength and followed her through spasm after spasm. Sparks shot along his spine as though he had plugged into an electric socket.
Her body lifted up from the mattress and went rigid while she quivered in frozen ecstasy. Still he discovered a tiny grasping deep within her body which stroked and caressed him, drove him up to the very summit and then sent him flying through a great, bottomless void.
At last he could take no more. He fell away from her, too weak to free himself from the tangle of arms and legs and clutching thighs.
CHAPTER EIGHT
With a sigh of regret, Doug Watson looked for a long time at his last cigarette before he stuck it between his lips and lit it with a glowing stick from the fire Adelle Crandell had built in front of the huge totem. It would be his last cigarette for a long time, days or even weeks. Until they returned once more to civilization.
But after a delicious dinner, he was too contented to lament over such a thing as a lack of tobacco. The stew had been amazingly good considering the fact that it had contained only ingredients which they had been able to find in the jungle. Rachel had discovered an old garden plot which had been abandoned by the departing natives who had once occupied this village.
So the stew had contained wild onions and potatoes as well as some mushrooms that were very tasty.
Another thing which put Doug in a light-hearted mood was the fact that his fever had broken. For the first time in two days, he felt good enough to walk around the village.
At the edge of the clearing, he turned around and looked back at the village while dusk descended into darkness. The blazing fire at the foot of the huge pole created a strange effect. Dancing patterns of light and shadow leaped nearly halfway up the pole, but still left the rounded top shrouded in darkness.
Doug was startled when a drum suddenly began beating. He looked at the base of the totem and saw figures there, standing on the circular platform which was much like a stage completely surrounding the bottom of the huge pole.
Another drum joined in. This one had a deeper, booming tone. The two drums beat out a slow rhythm together which rose and fell in intensity. In the jungle night, the sound of the drums had a strange suggestibility. The drums and the leaping fire created a kind of excitement in him that was a little unsettling.
He did not want to respond in such a way to the primitive power of jungle drums. He was a civilized man. It was nonsense to react like some superstitious native-and yet there was definitely a noticeable chill at the base of his spine which began to work its way slowly into his brain.
Walking back toward the center of the village, Doug saw that the drummers were Lupe and Belita, the two Indian girls. Most--likely they had made the drums themselves, using a knowledge of native craftsmanship.
The two girls sat on the platform, which stood two feet above the ground. Each girl had a small drum the size of a nail keg clamped between her naked legs.
Doug was surprised to see that both girls were naked, except for a woven wreath of flowers and vines which hung around their necks. The light of the fire shimmered on their bare skin. Small beads of sweat glistened on their faces.
Cal Neville and Rachel Dunn came from their huts to see what was going on. Just then Reverend Pepperdine appeared, carrying an armload of bright crimson flowers which he must have picked in the jungle.
Elder Pepperdine wore a strange costume that consisted mostly of a loincloth of animal skin. Crude, primitive designs had been painted on his face and arms. Dancing to the steady beat of the drums, he circled the huge pole, scattering the red flowers at its base.
At that moment a bizarre figure walked out of the darkness toward the fire. Doug saw at once that the person was Adelle. She was naked except for the skin of a jaguar which she wore. The head of the beast fitted over her head, the legs crossed upon her breasts and loins, the pelt clung to her back, ending in a long tail which dragged upon the ground.
In one hand Adelle carried a coiled leather whip, in the other she held upright before her a wooden replica of the great totem toward which she continued to walk.
Standing before the fire, she raised her arms slowly, displaying the magnificent sweep of her body. Her breasts were two quivering domes of flesh rising up to hard-tipped jutting nipples. Her seething thighs, partially hidden by the spotted stripes of jaguar skin, had a hypnotic effect upon Doug. He felt a sudden aching desire to rush up and take her with violence--even in the presence of all these people.
The beat of the drums diminished in volume, but the spine-tingling tempo continued. The hands of the two Indian girls wove a magic spell as they struck the taut skins of the drumheads one beat after another-slow, steady, pulsing rhythm that wormed under a person's skin, throbbed in his bloodstream, spread through his whole body.
With her arms still raised, Adelle looked into the sky above the bright, leaping flames.
"Oh, Erszulie-" she cried in a high, clear voice. "I invoke you, Erszulie-the goddess of love. Listen to our prayer drums. Send down your love to possess us. Let us ah feel their presence-"
Adelle threw a handful of powder into the fire, which immediately erupted in brilliant green flames. The bright flash caused a hush to fall upon everyone. Even the drums stopped their beating for a moment.
Doug was tempted to laugh. But his amusement soon faded, and a shudder passed along his spine.
Adelle continued to stare into the sky. She was deadly serious. There was no question that the firelight and the drums and the eerie power of her jaguar costume had an effect on all the people present.
"Send us Tagu, the monkey spirit," Adelle cried.
The she turned and pointed the wooden phallus at Elder Pepperdine, who began chattering at once as though he were possessed by a spirit. Swinging his arms limply, he walked around like a monkey.
Once more Adelle threw powder into the fire. The green flames shot up toward the sky, a brilliant flash that remained as an after-image floating before Doug's eyes.
"Descend, Erszulie," Adelle called toward the night sky. "I feel your presence. I feel your blood in my blood. I know you are here inside me. I am Erszulie!"
Bathed in flickering firelight, Adelle's statuesque body stood out in shining relief against the black void of the sky. There was not a whisper of breathing as all eyes looked upon her. Doug waited expectantly, knowing that something unusual was going to happen.
Lupe and Belita lifted their hands, brought them down on the taut hide of the drums. The throbbing of drumbeats began once more, a slow tempo that gradually became louder, echoing from the surrounding huts with a ghostly resonance.
The pagan rhythm transmitted itself into Adelle's bewitchingly beautiful body. Her thighs began to churn languorously, following the tempo of the tom-toms. The beat of the drums, the bumping of her hips was like the pulse of a heart, the heart of Erszulie beating inside them all.
Adelle's dance was a dance of love.
Her torso arched and thrust in a shameless act of love. She held the wooden object before her, the object which represented male sexuality. She held it up like a holy image, then pressed it against her loins.
With the wooden device aimed at her thighs like an arrow, she circled the stage, worming her hips in unmistakable wantonness. The long jaguar tail of her costume swished back and forth with the movements of her body.
The beating of the drums continued. It throbbed inside Doug like his own pulse-beat pounding through his aroused body.
Adelle bent her legs at the knees, spreading her bare feet wide. She flexed her thighs, bunted and pushed her haunches against the hard wooden phallus.
Sweat poured down from beneath the clinging jaguar skin, ran across her breasts, glittered on her belly.
Doug found it hard not to believe that a spirit had actually taken possession of Adelle's body. He watched the slow thrusting of her thighs and the ripple of muscle beneath her sleek flesh, feeling what she was feeling, experiencing the tremors of desire that coursed through her.
Suddenly she began a frenzied dance, thrusting the wooden shaft between her legs.
Her belly quivered as she threw her head back and caressed her loins with the hard wooden object. Her voluptuous breasts rolled with the swaying motion of her body.
She strained with every hungering atom of her being to possess the phallus completely--but her hands held it away, only tantalizing her with the delicate stroke of it on the yearning mouth of her cave of Venus.
She gave a shriek of frenzy.
Erszulie had possessed her, but the goddess of love continued to torment her by withholding fulfillment.
Sobbing in a delirium of need, Adelle twisted the shaft between her rounded thighs.
And then she plunged it deep within her body. A shudder racked her frame as she began to make love to the wooden totem which symbolized the male sex organ.
Impelling her body forward, spiking herself upon the object, she arched and thrust with her eyes closed, swaying to the beat of the drums.
She displayed every art she possessed, caressed the thing with her clinging thighs, with the same craving devotion she would have given a male lover.
The wooden device was merely a representation, a symbol of male virility. And yet to Adelle, who had now become possessed by a demon, the reality and the symbol were one and the same. The phallus had filled her with the same pulsing excitement she would receive from a man.
It was incredible to Doug, to see her so totally lost in a dream-world of her own mind. She was overwhelmed by the fire of her passion, entranced by the beating tom-toms, thrilled by the physical contact of the wooden lance as it pierced her agitated thighs, striking deep and true.
One hand pressed against her naked belly, rolled in a circular motion while the other hand continued to grasp the phallus, thrusting and withdrawing, an inch at a time at first, then deeper. Plunging and retreating, the wooden object tore into her excited body, deeper and deeper. Each push was more vicious, striking home.
Still she continued her delirious dance. Her hips revolved. Her buttocks rolled, the round flesh bouncing. Her breasts swayed heavily.
She strained and arched her body, lifting upward and upward, giving herself to her imaginary lover.
The drums beat in a mad frenzy.
Adelle clutched her stomach with clawing fingers while her thighs continued to toss. Her head snapped back and she uttered a wild cry of release.
Still clutching the wooden lance, she fell backward, her whole body thrashing as she lay prostrate upon the stage. She gave herself up with a wail of ecstasy mingled with breathless sobs of pain.
Then at last she lay quivering and motionless.
Doug's mouth gaped open. He was aware of the flesh crawling on his scalp. Never in his life had he witnessed such a wanton display of pure sexuality.
Perhaps it was possible that she had been possessed by a spirit. He could think of no other way to explain how she could give herself up to such total abandonment.
But of course that was foolish-to believe in the power of voodoo. It was not only foolish, it was dangerous. For here in the jungle, someone had to maintain some form of sanity. He had seen already how quickly a person's morals and will power disintegrated under the primitive spell of the Matto Grosso.
This voodoo rite, and the sexual abandon it involved, was just the kind of influence that might turn them into savages. Once something like this had started, there was no telling where it would end for them all-in madness, destruction, murder, or even cannibalism.
The jungle did strange things to men's souls.
So Doug knew he must not become involved in this saturnalia. He had to keep his head about him, although he had been powerfully shaken by what he had seen. It had been a spectacular and fascinating display of lust.
It tore a man's guts apart with desire.
He could not look upon Adelle's still-quivering body without experiencing a craving that was almost unbearable.
Slowly she sat up and seemed to rouse from a stupor. She climbed to her feet and lifted her head. Once more she was a magnificent creature clad in the skin of a jaguar. A creature with a flawless and stunning body.
Proudly she strode across the stage, as though the orgy of self-abuse in which she had just indulged was as natural an act as combing her hair.
Stopping before Lupe, she raised the phallus over the Indian girl's head and waved it like a wand. At once Lupe jumped to her feet and stood trembling before Adelle, her eyes staring wildly, her whole body bathed in sweat.
Belita continued to beat on the drum that was clasped between her legs with a slow, insistent rhythm.
Cupping her hands over the naked V of her thighs, Lupe began to weave her hips, tossing and bumping while her mature bronze breasts swayed rhythmically.
As Lupe danced around the stage, she paused before Elder Pepperdine, who stared at her snaking thighs in undisguised fascination. He was so affected by the girl's naked charms that he smiled dreamily while his lips worked open and shut.
Whirling the long leather whip over her head, Adelle cracked it with explosive force in front of Elder's face, an inch or two from his staring eyes.
At once, as though ,in a trance, he moved toward the dancing Indian girl. He fell to his knees and reached up to grasp her pear-shaped breasts, which were glossy and slick with sweat. His fingers dented the soft flesh while she continued to writhe her torso only a few inches from his face.
Lupe permitted him to fondle her breasts. She seemed to enjoy it, for slowly she danced closer to him. Bending her legs at the knees, arching her back, she lowered one plump breast and touched his quivering lips.
At once he caught her by the buttocks, drawing her against him. His mouth sought the tawny mound of flesh. He drew it inward and began nursing, sucking it deep between his lips, stroking with his tongue.
Lupe gave an excited gasp and continued to worm her hips. Elder moved from one breast to the other, giving each his devoted attention.
Then slowly he began to kiss her body, moving downward across her belly, which glistened with perspiration.
No longer able to contain himself, Elder lunged at the girl and buried his face in the damp hollow of love.
With a pained cry of delight, Lupe caught the back of his head and pressed him to her. She tossed and rolled her excited hips, slapping against his face as he continued to torment her with his hungering mouth.
Tilting his head, he moved his lips against the gate of her passion with slow, tender strokes. And then his tongue was there, stretching out ardently, seeking the dark moist depths of her palpitating body.
With a shrill cry, Lupe fell upon him, forcing him down to the floor and at the same time upending her own body.
Turning away from him, she presented her thighs to his caressing mouth once more. Then she lowered her head to seize the shivering lance of his virility.
Lupe's pretty Indian face became a mask of lust as she made love to him. His body twitched and lurched in response to her torturing mouth. His hands slid along her back, his fingers dented the small globes of her buttocks as he imprisoned her in an impassioned embrace.
They clung together, giving and receiving their unbearable joy. Impetuously their hips rotated while their legs wrapped around one another. They lay in the inverted position of love, their mouths holding and stroking, hovering over sensitive flesh while tongues curled and thrust.
Lupe's head lifted and bobbed excitedly as she reduced him to a taut, quivering mass of sensual delirium.
She appeared to receive her own pleasure, not only from the warm envelopment of his mouth, but from the animal delight she felt in drawing his nerves taut like thrumming wires by the teasing manipulation of her tender lips. Her eyes fluttered with each rhythmic movement of her head. Her face glowed with ecstasy as she sought to engorge him completely. And all the while he kept shivering with frantic delight.
The tempo increased until they both writhed in hysterical feverish desperation.
Doug tried not to be impelled by the wanton scene, knowing that if he continued to watch, the results could be deadly. He had to maintain some sanity. He had to avoid participating in such frenzied sexuality.
Somebody had to get them all back to civilization. If he lost his head and descended to this level of primitive carnality, every one of them might be lost. As pilot of the plane, if for no other reason, it was his duty to keep himself under control and maintain some kind of order.
But as hard as he tried, he could not turn away from the sight of two sensually distracted people, a male and a female, rutting upon the stage beneath a giant replica of the male organ, bathed in the eerie light of a blazing fire.
It was more than, any man could be expected to ignore.
He was fascinated and repelled at the same time by the complete debauchery of the scene.
His own body was betraying him. His animal instincts were destroying his reason. His own fierce craving gathered deep in his guts, threatening to burst outward with a sudden explosion, sweeping him along with the tide on infectious hedonism.
Lupe was a little jungle spitfire, attacking the man's virility like a famished animal would devour a freshly-killed carcass. Her slavering lips were moist with the juices of desire. Her eyes were burning coals of feverish madness. Her face was a portrait of flaming rapture.
As she drew back her head and plunged time after time, her cheeks worked like a bellows, fanning the flame of Doug's desire until it was a raging inferno.
A violent fever seized him.
As much as he realized that this was dangerous and destructive for them all, he could not overcome the wild excitement which filled him.
He felt his resolve breaking.
He was on the point of leaping upon the stage and taking Adelle, or any one of the lusting women, with all the violence and urgency that his body demanded.
Adelle Crandell was demonstrating her power over men, reveling in it. Who could deny the fact that she was able to drive a man to madness, to reduce him to trembling desperation, to make him want to fall at her feet and worship at the altar of her tempestuous body?
Suddenly the entangled couple on the stage grew rigid-frozen in the instant of electric shock. They were struck together by the same fiery bolt of lightning. They soared for a moment of glowing delight.
And then they attacked each other with even more ardour, giving and receiving, brushed by the wing of insanity as they rocketed through the climax.
As Doug watched, entranced, a flaming surge of passion slammed into his guts. He went out of his head with the need to relieve his own aching hunger.
He took two steps toward the stage, then stopped as a panic seized him. He closed his eyes, clenched his jaws, ground his teeth together. He thought his brain would erupt from the hard pounding of his pulse. He tightened his hands into fists as the need to scream came over him.
"We can't let it go on-"
Doug looked at Cal, who was standing beside him, his face streaming sweat, his eyes glazed with his own excitement.
"It would be the end of us all," Doug replied. "We've got to get away."
But the words sounded meaningless to him. He was rooted to the spot, still staring at the lewd spectacle unfolding before him. He could not even make the first move to turn away.
CHAPTER NINE
Rachel Dunn stood trembling before the stage, her passion mounting unbearably as she stared in fascination at the deliriously sinful scene. Her heart beat in mad panic. She was filled with an obsessive yearning to become a part of such debauchery, such total abandon.
Yet one tiny spark of reason remained in her head to hold her back. Where could such a wild sensuality end? Only in some kind of personal destruction.
Yet the longer she stood there and watched, the deeper she sank into a limbo of animal craving.
A dark world opened before her, a world of luxurious delights where every vulgar passion could be indulged. It was a dream-world of brutish physical enjoyment, a slimy hell of sensuality which contained pleasures as thrilling as they were defiling.
Rachel still felt a strange shock when she realized to what depths of evil Reverend Pepperdine had descended. He had gone from pole to pole, from saint to sinner, in a matter of a few short days.
And she too was heading along the same path. Was it the ones who fought so violently against the lure of the flesh who were the first to surrender when the pressure became unbearable? She did not want to think so.
As Elder Pepperdine unwound himself from the clinging arms and legs of the Indian girl, Rachel felt new seductive urges stir to life inside her. She had a burning desire to give herself up completely, to behave in a grossly sluttish manner as the Indian girl had done.
Indulging in obscene, exhibitionist sex must reward the participants with new and delirious thrills-unclean sensations which most people would never dream of. She was certain it was true, and she longed to find out for herself.
A chill ran along Rachel's spine as Adelle strolled across the stage in her weird jaguar costume. She stopped right in front of Rachel and fixed her with her piercing blue eyes. Rachel trembled at the sight of the long leather whip.
A grim smile played upon Adelle's lips.
Slowly she coiled the whip, then cracked it above Rachel's head. Rachel responded at once as a savage shudder pounded through her body, signaling the breakdown of all resistance. She moved as if in a trance toward the wooden stage and climbed up to stand before Adelle.
It was as though Adelle were an animal trainer, controlling them all with the diabolic whip.
No command was given, but none was needed. Rachel understood instinctively what was demanded of her. Pulling at the buttons on the front of her dress, she removed it quickly, then stepped out of her panties and bra.
Rachel stood in shimmering nakedness, her pale body bathed by the light of the burning fire. She felt the eyes of everyone staring at her beauty, and she gloried in it. She was proud of the round sweeping slope of her breasts with their jutting pink nipples. She was proud of her narrow waist and soft belly and tempting thighs.
Seductively she rolled her hips, feeling the buoyant twitch of her buttocks. Many new and strange sensations danced like sparks, jangling her nerves, warming her blood until it pumped through her veins like liquid fire.
Adelle's eyes told her what to do, for Adelle was breathing rapidly, trembling with sexual frenzy.
This was to be another discovery for Rachel, an experience never before tried. She felt the last vestige of restraint leave her as she stared with hungry fascination at Adelle's lush body, the full-blown majesty of her breasts, the lithe torso and the radiant thighs. Every delightful part of Adelle was enhanced by the exotic jaguar robe which imparted to her an aura of fierce animality.
Rachel fell to her knees before Adelle, seized by a temptation which left her breathless.
She saw Adelle's flesh cringe as her warm breath poured over the bared thighs. With trembling lips, Rachel approached the softly feminine center of Adelle's passion. For an instant she paused at the threshold before she plunged into the dark tunnel that led to the very center of the lovely blonde woman's being.
Adelle responded with a shiver of excitement.
Rachel sighed wistfully and leaned forward to the delightful task. Her head wove a magic spell, twisting and lunging as she deep-kissed the lovely thighs.
Then, with an excess of emotion, Rachel grasped Adelle by the buttocks and clung tightly. Her thirsting lips continued to explore the warmth and velvety softness, which grew moist as Adelle's passion soared.
Rachel felt excited fingers clutching at the top of her head, driving her deeper into the churning thighs.
A cry burst from Adelle's throat, splitting the air-the night cry of a jungle beast, shrill and quivering with dark, ravenous greed.
Adelle's ecstasy was infectious. Rachel thrilled at the pleasure she was giving the woman; and in her eagerness to learn, she was discovering new techniques, new ways to manipulate her lips and tongue, even her teeth, to gratify Adelle with a thousand and one exquisite delights.
Still clinging to the voluptuous globes of Adelle's buttocks, Rachel poured over the golden nest of passion, coiling her tongue, inflicting tiny little thrusts of pain.
But the pain Adelle was feeling was not truly pain. It was one of the most thrilling tortures one person could practice upon another.
Adelle bent her knees and writhed beneath the relentless, torturing mouth. Her body was aflame with a heat which Rachel felt on her own cheeks.
Knowing that many eyes were fastened on her, watching every subtle movement of her attacking mouth and the pulsing agony it produced, Rachel swooned with a feeling of utter wickedness. Yet there was a sense of release as she gave vent to every unmentionable craving that welled up from the dark, unplumbed depths of her soul.
She trembled with sheer rapture at the staggering emotion she was bringing to this lovely creature. She had Adelle tossing and raving with feverish pleasure. Her thighs arched upward, her body rolled and tossed while with imprisoning hands she held Rachel tightly against her.
With a sudden violent lurch, Adelle reached the limit of her endurance. She uttered a shrill, broken cry that echoed back from the dark jungle. Gasping and sobbing, Adelle rode through the fiery tempest of her completion as shock after shock tore through her body.
When it was over, Adelle pushed Rachel away from her and looked upon her with cruel, thankless eyes.
What had she expected as a reward for bringing this lovely blonde creature release from her sexual torment? Rachel was stunned that she should be so violently rejected. She had expected, if nothing else, a tender expression of gratitude. She had hoped for more.
She had hoped that Adelle would repay her with the same devouring caresses. But Adelle was too selfish a creature to concern herself with anyone. She had received her satisfaction, now she was leaving Rachel to suffer in torment.
Rachel rose weakly to her feet, staggering under the hot agitation that swamped her whole body. She needed release from her own volcanic craving. But she could not conceive of receiving without giving of herself in return.
Her thighs were inflamed, the tips of her throbbing breasts were like white-hot coals. Her breathing stopped momentarily as a scream built up in her throat.
Her sin-lust had only been whetted. Strange hungers controlled her will, made her a slave to the dark powers which Adelle had invoked with her voodoo magic.
Rachel was a ravening beast inside-a quivering, hungering she-animal of unfulfilled lusts.
She staggered drunkenly across the platform, searching, seeking relief from this con-summing hunger. The beating of the drums increased in loudness, pulsing through her bloodstream like the beat of her heart.
Her brain was dizzy. Through the dimness of her vision, she saw Elder Pepperdine standing before her. He stared at her naked body with yearning eyes. The naked lance of his maleness throbbed with the virility of a stallion.
For one hypnotic moment they stared at each other, measuring each other. Rachel looked at his quivering manhood while wanton hungers burned through her body, igniting her thighs with a sudden white-hot flame.
Breathlessly she weaved from side to side, and then she lunged. Her arms went around his waist, the weight of her body pulled him down.
Pressing her face downward, she seized him and began to caress him with her trembling mouth. At once Elder shifted his body so that he could reach her as he had done with the Indian girl. This time Rachel was not an observer, but was indulging in the frenzied act herself.
Her thighs tightened instinctively, trapping him so that his feasting mouth was grafted to her. All at once she discovered his stabbing tongue, and uncontrollably she began to twist her hips. Electric jolts of pleasure-pain went rocketing up from her loins and tingled along her spine.
Although in the back of her mind she still felt a repulsion for such a hcentious act, she was at the same time drawn to it as though she had been put into a hypnotic trance.
The long red locks of her flowing hair covered his nakedness, coiled around the base of his lance-strangely similar to the red flowers that lay at the base of the giant totem.
The nibbling of his lips, the darting of his tongue drove her perilously close to the final ecstasy. She was so feverish with need for release that it would come in only a matter of moments. There was no holding back. She had gone beyond the point of return, and now she was poised on the very edge of the precipice, tremblingly expectant, awaiting the ignition of the fuse that would send her soaring through the dark void.
His mouth was slowly driving her mad.
His hot breath fanned the flames of her passion, turning her body to molten lava.
She was lost in a sexual trance, aware that her hips were tossing and grinding, yet not aware of controlling them. Her body acted and reacted to every ecstatic stimulation with a response that was as natural as life itself.
She let out a muffled scream as a hot flood of passion swept over her. Burning fires ignited her haunches, leaped upward, scorching her brain. The shattering climax crashed over her, shaking her, driving her through spasm after spasm of delicious fulfillment.
She was only dimly aware that Elder had rolled away from her, trembling from the rapture of his own release.
She lay on her back on the platform, staring up at the night sky and the gigantic wooden phallus which lifted toward the heavens. So large was it that the upper end of it was obscured in darkness.
Staring at this mammoth symbol, she felt a primitive awe, a strange new reverence for a force which was the most powerful and compelling she had ever known.
The raw naked force of sexuality had lifted her up in a flight of ecstasy, had twisted her body with torment, then brought her soul-stirring relief.
But such was the power of this strangely beautiful and agonizing force that her relief lasted only an instant.
She was tremblingly aware that the hunger was on her again. Her breasts felt swollen as though they were balloons ready to burst. Her nipples ached with hardness. Her thighs surged and tossed with the boiling torment of new demands.
Here in the jungle she had found freedom of one kind-freedom from her puritanical fears and inhibitions. Yet she was not truly free because her aroused body demanded more and more. She had become a slave to her own unbearable lust.
She craved to be wicked, for it made her so vitally alive. It made her burn with a new light, an intense glow.
Evil was in her blood like a disease.
Before this evening was over she intended to sample every depravity known to man-if there were any remaining which she had not already tried...
Doug Watson had the frightening sensation of being choked on the sulphurous air which surrounded him. He was reacting to this voodoo spell with such an inner turmoil that he feared at any moment he might go stark raving mad.
Watching Elder Pepperdine making love to the Indian girl had been unsettling enough. But then Rachel had gone onto the stage and offered up her body in one of the most gut-tearing display of wantonness he had ever witnessed.
How could a man not throw himself headlong into such primitive , orgiastic rites?
What was this strange power which Adelle was able to wield over everyone, himself included? The practitioners of voodoo claimed that they were able to invoke deities of the other world and induce them to take possession of living creatures.
Doug wondered if this were really possible, if there were something to voodoo after all. Until this evening he had been skeptical, but now he was not so sure.
He had always considered himself a rational man, and yet he could not deny a vulnerability in himself which he had never suspected. The supernatural rhythm of the drums and the wild, abandoned passion he had witnessed had most certainly had an effect on him.
At first he had wanted to run away in order to resist the unholy attraction of voodoo. But he had stayed in defiance, trying to oppose this powerful compulsion.
Now he was not sure he had been wise.
The fact was, he did not dare to make a move for fear he would discover he was no longer in control of himself. It was a struggle of mind over body-and for all his exertion of willpower, the body appeared to be winning.
The drums continued to beat until it seemed they were throbbing inside his skull. His nerves were becoming mangled by the incessant beating. His body had started to jerk uncontrollably, as though a spirit were trying to take possession of him.
With wild reverberations the drums continued to pulsate in the jungle night like a giant beating heart. Adelle moved across the stage, weaving her body to the intoxicating tempo. Leaning out from the platform, she fixed Cal Neville with her piercing eyes and uncoiled the whip.
"No!" Cal cried defiantly, in response to her unspoken command.
Adelle said nothing. Her face was impassive as she circled the whip over her head and then snapped her arm. like a pistol shot the whip exploded an inch from Cal's cheek.
His jaw clenched tightly. He was calling up every ounce of self-control to resist Adelle's power.
"You must obey Erszulie!" Adelle cried fiercely. "Obey, or you shall be punished."
"To hell with you and your mumbo-jumbo," Cal answered, sneering scornfully.
Turning around, Adelle lifted her hand in a sudden gesture. At once the two Indian girls jumped to their feet and leaped off the platform. Cal Neville was staggered by the sudden attack. Before he could defend himself, Elder Pepperdine had joined the assault.
The three of them dragged Cal to the edge of the platform. Doug rushed in to help him. Doug's arm circled Elder's neck. He was choking him viciously, when he saw a movement from the corner of his eye. Adelle raised the heavy handle of her whip. It lashed down at Doug's temple.
The ground lifted beneath him, swallowed him up while a pain like a driven spike burst inside his skull. Slowly he floated through a black void, drifting helplessly until he came to rest on something that was solid and hard against his back. The world was all darkness and peace and surrender...
The drums were beating. The firelight danced upon Doug's eyelids, which felt heavy and tired. Slowly he forced them open and stared up at the huge wooden totem to which Cal Neville had been lashed. Cal's arms were stretched high above his head, circling halfway around the pole.
Cal's clothing had been removed. Muscles rippled across his back as he strained to free himself.
In a sudden rage Doug struggled to rise. It was then that he discovered that he too had been bound. He was seated on the ground with his back against a post, his arms tied behind him, surrounding the post. Once more he fought to get free, but the pain in his shoulders stopped him.
Adelle Crandell was in full command. Whatever she planned to do, she would do, and Doug was helpless to prevent it.
With a twisting movement of her wrist, Adelle caused the whip to wrap around Cal's leg. Then with sinister delight she made the long leather thong crawl across his feet like a snake. Obviously she was a master in the art of handling a whip, and she was using this art to add to Cal's torture by taunting him before she commenced.
Cal was aware of what she intended to do, for he yanked at the bonds which held his wrists. His muscular legs strained, his thighs grew taunt.
Streams of sweat poured out of his hair and down his magnificent body. His lean, narrow hips writhed in anticipation of the fierce bite of the whip. His broad back, which was flawless now, would soon be marked by the lash which Adelle Crandell was preparing to wield.
Standing five feet back and to the side, Adelle studied the bound man for a moment. Her glowing eyes examined the bulge of his shoulders, the firmness of his buttocks, as if she were planning each blow in advance.
Then she slowly circled her arm, drawing the long coil of braided leather behind her. She flicked her wrist lightly and it darted forward like a striking snake. It wrapped gently, almost caressingly around his waist, leaving not a mark when she drew it away.
Although he had not yet been hurt, Cal flinched involuntarily. Adelle was adept at torture, for she knew how to increase Cal's fear and mental anguish by playing with him like a cat with a mouse.
Drawing back her arm, she struck again. This time Cal jerked in pain and clenched his teeth in order not to cry out. The whip withdrew, revealing a thin red stripe across his back. The mark ran beneath his arm and ended at the edge of his chest.
Adelle threw back her head and gave an evil laugh, a chilling sound in the jungle night.
Her arm began to work like a piston then, slowly at first, but with increasing momentum. A series of parallel marks appeared on Cal's back, nearly perfect in their placement, each an inch below the one before.
Cal arched his body, but there was no escape from the fiery scourge. The muscles of his back began to twitch, and blood oozed, forming drops which rolled down the channel of his spine and across his buttocks.
The whip sailed through the air with a singing noise. It slashed just below his ribs, leaving another mark.
Adelle was leaning into every stroke now with demented fury, applying every ounce of her strength, exacting the most unbearable pain. But Cal still refused to cry out.
He suffered in silence, although his mouth opened with each blow of the whip, forming a soundless scream. His shrieking, quivering flesh flinched as muscular spasms rippled under the mangled skin of his back.
Sweat continued to seep from his pores. Doug knew the salt must surely be stinging the livid gashes, adding to the pain.
The lash moved lower and lower until it was reddening Cal's buttocks, leaving its mark each time it struck. Still Adelle continued to punish him with sadistic fury, while Cal turned and twisted, writhing his body in frantic contortions in an effort to escape the vicious bite of the whip.
He twisted himself half around, struggling with his bonds. Adelle's own excitement was frightening to see. She had turned into a beast from hell. Her eyes stared wildly, her breathing was harsh.
She swung the whip with increasing fury, opening deep cuts across his back. No longer was she forming a pattern with the sharp stripes. Her blows were now too violent to land with accuracy.
She was carving him up with the cruel leather thong, tearing his body to pieces. Flecks of blood flew. His shoulders and back had become a bleeding pulp that no longer resembled human flesh.
And still she struck, while a sharp, demented wail poured from her gaping mouth.
"Stop!" Cal cried, breaking his silence at last. "For God's sake stop!"
Adelle let the whip fall to her side and threw back her head. A piercing scream of lunatic laughter gushed from her throat.
"So now you know what to expect if you disobey Erszulie-" she cried. "This is just a sample of the punishment-"
Throwing the whip aside, Adelle walked to the back of the platform. While all eyes turned to watch her, she threw off the jaguar robe and revealed her nakedness-her majestic body glowed in the firelight.
Picking up a strange object, she lashed it around her loins with leather straps. Doug stared in amazement at the elongated wooden device which stuck out from her body, transforming her into a he-stallion quivering with erectness. At least that one portion of her anatomy was that of a man.
Walking up to Cal Neville, she made it plain to everyone that his torture was not finished yet.
As Cal trembled before the sight of this strange new apparition which had appeared before him, Adelle grasped him by the waist and turned him to the side, revealing to everyone that her whipping had produced an erotic effect. Cal's manhood quivered with sexual urgency.
Adelle laughed grossly.
Then she reached around Cal Neville's body and began to manipulate his hardness, rousing him against his will to a pitch of thrumming excitement.
"No-" Cal cried, the pain that was etched on his face turning to humiliation.
But Adelle continued to fondle him while everyone present watched in awed fascination. Each one suspected what was going to happen next-an act so depraved that only a creature like Adelle Crandell would attempt it.
Cal too sensed what was going to happen to him, and he began to struggle more fiercely than ever with his bonds. But there was no escaping Adelle's evil scheme. The terrible beating he had received had left him weak. Yet even if he had not been drained of his strength by the lash of the whip, his bound arms left him defenseless.
Clamping her arms around his chest, Adelle made a sudden lunge with her lower body. Cal screamed from the pain of the torturing penetration.
His legs stiffened and his body arched away from her, trying to escape the humiliating torment.
But Adelle clung to him like a demon, twisting her thighs, plunging with manic fury. The blood from Cal's back smeared upon her chest, turning her meaty breasts into crimson, fleshy globes.
While she continued her demented dance of lust, rotating her hips, ramming her thighs, Adelle reached around Cal's pain-racked body and teased him with her grasping fingers.
Despite his violent objection, Cal became roused to a fever pitch of emotion. Every muscle in his body writhed as he fought to prevent the terrible thing from happening. But he was no match for Adelle's diabolic vulgarity.
Despite himself, Cal soared to the heights of sensual endurance. Then with a piercing cry he found relief in the final consummation. He arched up on his toes while his body shivered through the explosive shocks.
When he sagged at last, limp and exhausted, Adelle withdrew from his back. She had enjoyed every moment of the licentious pleasure. Her face was bright with a brutish smile. Turning to Elder Pepperdine and the two Indian girls, her faithful zealots, she ordered Cal Neville cut free.
CHAPTER TEN
Doug sat stunned by the orgiastic scene which continued to unfold before his eyes. Never had he witnessed such a shocking exhibition of depravity, and yet he knew instinctively that it was only beginning.
This terrible ritual would probably go on all night, for the drums were beating in increasing tempo, and everyone on the platform had been whipped into a frenzy of lustful delirium. Adelle Crandell was not about to let this voodoo ceremony end until it had run its full course.
Only when all the participants dropped from physical exhaustion would it be over.
Now that Cal Neville's spirit had been broken and Adelle had disposed of him as a menace to her demoniac rule, Doug knew that her attention would turn to him.
It was not long in coming. Adelle quickly disposed of the wooden object strapped to her waist. Then she walked to the edge of the platform and stood looking down at Doug. Her lush naked body gleamed in the dancing light of the fire, her golden mane flared about her face, brilliant against the night sky. Her eyes glowed with an inner madness as she stared at Doug. There was an obscene curl to her taunting lips.
Spreading her legs apart, she began to squeeze her projecting breasts, manipulating her own twisted desires to a feverish intensity.
Her hips rolled lewdly, her thighs pumped and ground with demanding urgency. Her own passion seethed within her, feeding on the libidinous turmoil which had been released by her participation in the bestial voodoo revels.
She was a shameless, craven bitch-and yet she was stunningly beautiful. Her loveliness was voluptuous and obscene. It was enhanced in some peculiar way by the total depravity of her actions, by the dirt which defiled her soul.
Slowly her long fingers stroked her breasts, pressing the nipples out in tingling hardness.
A dreamy, erotic smile flitted across her lips. Her wandering fingers stroked the pillowy spheres, feeling and caressing while her body wove to the rhythm of the beating drums.
Suddenly she turned away from Doug and made a sign. The drums were silent. With a shrill war-cry, the two Indian girls leaped from the platform and ran toward Doug.
He felt them pulling at the ropes which bound his wrists behind him. He jumped up the instant his arms were freed. He nearly escaped, but the two girls held on with wiry strength, each clinging to one of his arms.
Shoving him forward, they doubled him over the edge of the platform. At once Adelle dropped upon his back and held him captive while Lupe and Belita retied his wrists.
It was too late. He had lost his chance to get away from them. He was still a prisoner.
He continued to struggle, but they dragged him onto the platform. With his hands bound behind his back, he was helpless to defend himself.
At a command from Adelle, the two girls ripped open his shirt, then tore it off his back. They unfastened his belt, shoved him roughly to the floor, and removed his pants. They tore off his shorts and then his shoes.
When they had finished with him, he was naked, just as everyone else on the stage. He was stunned from the blow of his head upon the floor, but he struggled to his feet.
Adelle stood before him, her eyes glazed, her breasts rising and falling as a new rush of passion surged through her. She looked truly pagan, standing before him in shameless nakedness, her face twisted with debauchery, the forest of her bright yellow hair tangled about her face and neck.
"Down on your knees," she ordered.
For a moment Doug remained standing. He set his jaws in a last futile show of defiance.
Yet he knew that there was nothing he could do but obey her. She was in command. He had seen how she controlled Elder Pepperdine and the Indian girls. He had seen the way she had tortured Cal because he rebelled.
It would be senseless to give her a reason to turn on him with the whip. Doug knew that he had to submit, at least for tonight. But in the morning he would find a way to deal with her, when she no longer controlled the others with her iron will and her voodoo tricks.
Yet he hesitated, feeling a surge of self-disgust twisting in his guts.
He clenched his hands into knots. He was not convinced of his own reasoning. Maybe he was rationalizing his willingness to submit to her power. Maybe he wanted to give in and become a part of the wild, orgiastic ritual. His throbbing glands cried out for release, his body ached with unfulfilled desires.
"Down!" Adelle screamed fiercely.
She dashed away and returned with the whip, brandishing it over her head.
At once Doug fell to his knees.
But he saw from the merciless glare of her eyes that he had waited too long. He was the only one who had not yet been broken, and he had defied her will. This she would not permit. She intended to dominate them all.
A cold fear numbed his chest as she coiled the whip, raised it over her head, and brought it down. The leather thong struck like the slash of a knife, tearing the flesh of his back and his bound arms.
Doug lurched under the biting pain. His biceps bulged as he sought to free himself from the rope that bound him. But it was useless to struggle. The knot seemed to tighten and cut into his wrists.
Adelle raised her arm and brought it down. An electric shock numbed his back. He flinched from the pain. A cry formed in his throat, but he held it back. The leather whispered once again, then descended with a brilliant flash that ripped into his brain.
Doug closed his eyes and bit his hp. He held his breath, waiting for the next blow to descend. This time the lash struck lower down on his body, biting into the soft exposed flesh of his buttocks.
The blows continued to fall. At first they were like burning brands pressed against his flesh, and then slowly the pain faded away, becoming like cold ice water on his aching body. He began to grow numb all over. His brain reeled, and he knew he was close to passing out.
Then suddenly the whipping stopped.
After several seconds, Doug opened his eyes. Adelle stared down at him, a strange rapture aglow on her face.
Placing her hands on her graceful hips, she wormed her body, inching toward his face with her straining thighs. Although Doug was stunned from the beating he had received, he could not take his eyes from the tempting golden nest which crowned the dark mystery of her womanhood.
"Kiss-" she demanded in a husky voice that trembled with passion. "Make love to me--there-"
Doug nodded, for he was swept by a strange emotion, a lustful hunger to submit to her will. At least for the moment she had subdued him. She had conquered him with her whip and with the lure of her charming beauty.
His whole body trembled as he leaned forward, seeking with his lips until he touched the alabaster flesh of her thighs. She arched her back and thrust against him at the moment of contact, grasping his head in her hands.
Doug opened his mouth and kissed softly while a fierce craving gnawed at his guts. He was amazed at the violence of his compulsion.
Adelle swayed her body ecstatically as his eager lips sought the gateway of her desire. The sharp, musky odor of her passion filled his nostrils, increasing his own excitement, quickening his wanton tongue.
Adelle whimpered.
Spreading her legs wider apart, she took a solid stance to allow him access to the very core of her.
Doug shivered with emotion as he rubbed his cheeks upon the soft, satin flesh of her inner legs. His lips moved fervently on the tender hollow, while Adelle swayed deliriously and revolved her hips.
Doug's pain was forgotten as he knelt before this voluptuous creature in a dazed stupor of excitement. Adelle uttered a high, shrill cry as Doug possessed her with his darting tongue, stabbing her repeatedly.
The fire of his own lust burned in his stomach.
Adelle's demanding body began to flinch under the relentless attack of his devouring lips. He fastened his mouth to her and clung tenaciously. Adelle's hips twisted and thrust as she sought deliverance.
And then she seemed to leap up.
A pained cry split the air. She began to whimper and sob her delight as fiery spasms burst within her. She drove her pelvis with amazing rapidity, plunging against his agonizing mouth, arching her body, clinging to him with scissoring thighs. Doug felt her stagger as bursting rockets of completion ripped through her.
Her fingers tore at his hair.
Her body leaped up, enveloping him, clinging to him in the thunderous violence of her need. Her responding hips churned faster and faster.
Her belly slapped against him while her volcanic release carried her higher and higher.
She threw back her head and shrieked in orgiastic lunacy. And then she sighed as the last shivering paroxysm pulsed through her loins.
Adelle turned away from him. Doug lurched to his feet, shuddering from the intensity of his own unfulfilled passion. He felt hands working at the knotted rope which bound him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Lupe untying him.
And then at last he was free. But he did not run to escape Adelle's devilish power. She had ordered him released because she knew he was hopelessly ensnared by his own sexual craving. His stomach churned with his need. His body was feverish, his nerves were like raw wires.
Leaping out, he grabbed the first female body that came within his reach. His arms encircled Lupe's neck and he pulled her violently against him.
His legs gave way, and he fell upon the floor, still clinging to the taut nude body of the Indian girl. She began to fight him, clawing at his face, but her struggles were not an attempt to escape. This was her primitive way of increasing the excitement for both of them.
He knew from his own experience that this was the way native girls liked to be taken, girls raised in the Bolivian wilds.
Love was a battle. Sexual surrender was a reward to the conqueror. She was demanding that he conquer her and earn the right to her body.
His face pressed against the hot, slick surface of her bosom. His open mouth caught one of her breasts. He tightened his lips and drew it inward. The rock-hard nipple touched his tongue. He clung to it with his teeth while she arched her body and tossed her thighs wantonly.
Lupe dug her fingers into the back of his head and pushed her body tightly against him. Her hunching thighs beat a tattoo against his chest.
"Bay-beeee!" she cried.
Seized by a sudden madness, he lunged with her clasped in his arms, driving her onto the floor. She lay on her back with her thighs parted, awaiting him. He took her with impetuous fury, pounding her unmercifully, penetrating to the depths of her with stallion-like strokes.
Lupe moaned in delirium. She clamped her taut little body to him, tightened her legs around his waist. Writhing from side to side, she loved him with her hot, liquid thighs while her soft little mouth smeared his face with kisses.
Her hair was a wild black cloud floating around her face. The rhythm increased with frantic urgency. He reached beneath her and lifted her to him with his hands clawing painfully into the soft fleshy buttocks.
She gasped and panted beneath his weight, blowing her hot breath on his face. She had turned into a primordial little beast who loved to wallow in slime, loved to have a man caught between her churning legs and received the torturing thrust of his hardness.
She tore at his hair, bit his neck screamed and pounded her fists against him savagely.
Her legs drew upward, farther and farther, climbing along his back. Her feet were locked high around him, almost to his neck. And still he beat at her with a ferocity he had never before known. She returned each violent surge of his body with one of her own, receiving all the punishment he could deal out and begging for more.
With his bare toes digging into the wooden platform, he drove at her with a fury, bumping her firm little bottom across the floor.
They crashed into another pair of coupling bodies. Adelle rolled on her back with Cal driving furiously between her lean, supple legs. Everyone was caught up in the frenzied excitement. Elder and Rachel were rutting, locked in each other's arms, their bodies turned in opposite directions, their mouths fastened lewdly to sensitive flesh.
Doug felt a sudden weight descend upon him. A squirming body nestled frantically against him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Belita, the other Indian girl. Belita rode his back, her hot thighs pressing warmly, while he continued to lunge at Lupe.
"You're killing me, baby," Lupe cried. "You are tearing me up! You're ripping me apart! Don't stop-don't stop!"
Suddenly the climax shattered them both, driving them through the unbearable anguish of completion. All power drained from his body, into her dark thighs while she continued to flail her legs.
Weak with exhaustion, Doug lay on his back, gasping for air, trying to clear his muddled brain. The frenzied sexual activity around him was like an obscene nightmare. Such carnality could not be real-it happened only in dreams. Yet he knew that it was happening, and that he was a part of it.
For only a short moment, he was allowed to he there unmolested. The perverse orgy went on, driven by the voodoo spell Adelle Crandell had cast upon them. The lust hunger of the two Indian girls had only been whetted. They were frenzied female animals demanding fulfillment.
Lupe was the first to attack him. like a stalking hellcat, she dove upon his prostrate body. Doug felt the sudden seizure as her groping mouth descended. Looking down, he saw a cascade of jet black hair covering his loins.
Lupe was on her hands and knees, twisting and pumping her haunches while her face was buried against his aroused, sensitive flesh.
Pulsations of shock jolted along his spine. Doug dropped his head upon the floor, closed his eyes in delirium while the hot flame continued to lick at him.
Lowering his hands, he caught a bunch of coarse hair, felt the bobbing action of Lupe's head.
His body tossed involuntarily from the exquisite torture. He was afraid that if he did not escape the devouring lips he might lose his sanity. For a moment he resisted, pushing at Lupe's head. But Lupe clung to his middle, increasing the fury of her attack.
Doug gave up and let it happen, for he was powerless against such spine-shattering bliss. He gasped while his body trembled from the seething torment.
Suddenly from out of nowhere, Belita joined the attack on his aching body and shattered nerves. He felt her hot nakedness as she fell upon his chest. Trying to push her away, he reached up and grasped her abundant breasts. He tightened his fingers, denting the bulbous flesh. The nipples were like hard little points against his palms.
Belita threw back her head, flinging the dark mass of hair away from her face. With a throaty laugh, she began to worm her hips, pressing her thighs upon his chest, inching forward slowly, slowly-until she was over him.
He felt the sudden warmth of her. And when he inhaled, there was a powerful odor of female excitation.
Hypnotically he was drawn to the vortex of her tortured body. She began to wriggle above him. He was entranced by the whirlpool of lust that was descending upon him. Raising his head an inch, he caressed the softness.
Belita responded as if an electric wire had been touched to her body. Her hips pivoted as she adjusted her position. She began to gasp and moan. Her snug little thighs lifted up, swiveling, gyrating with demented fury while the large meaty bulbs of her breasts slewed round and round.
She screamed her pleasure, smothering him with her body while his lips made love to her with furious activity.
And down below Lupe continued to devour him with bubbling ebullience. The manipulation of her fiery mouth was almost driving him out of his mind.
All at once a spasm tore through Belita. He felt the quivering and throbbing of her frantic urgency, felt the tremors which overwhelmed her, rocketing through her nervous system. He grasped her swirling hips and stayed with her, his body aching now for the consuming finish of his own volcanic passion.
Lupe continued her maddening assault until his agony ended in a blazing, explosive flash that seemed to tear his body limb from limb.
For a while he lost consciousness. When he again became aware of his surroundings, he saw that the orgy was still going on. And Adelle Crandell was the guiding genius. She was in the center of all activities. Her fantastically beautiful yet totally wanton body surged with passion as she gave herself up to every depravity known to man.
There were times when all seven of them rolled together in a tangle of arms and legs, hands and lips seeking tender flesh, dispensing mutual thrills in an unbelievable variety of ways.
Doug found himself making love to Rachel Dunn, driving strangled cries of ecstasy from her with the unrelenting force of his plunging body.
Then he was with both Rachel and Adelle, reveling in the lush sensuality as their bodies tossed and contorted, giving and receiving the most rapturous sensations. There was an exotic high point for Doug when he found himself rutting with all four of the women, staggering weakly under the combined attack of their hands and mouths. The four of them caressed him at once, until his body trembled on the edge of raving hysteria.
Finally the mad carnival began to dim before his eyes as all strength drained from his body and senses. He fell into a restless sleep while fantastic nightmares crowded his brain.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Bright sunlight streaming through the door of the hut, harsh light which caused his eyes to water, brought Doug Watson out of his deep slumber.
He was aware of the aching pains which suffused his whole body. He moved his shoulders in an attempt to sit up, and at once his back was aflame. It felt as if the flesh were being ripped from his body. Blood had oozed from the wounds left by Adelle's lash, and as he slept his skin had stuck to the cover of the mattress.
Doug fell back and held his breath, dreading to make even the slightest movement for fear it would stir up the almost unbearable pain.
He was surprised to discover that he was in his own hut. He did not remember returning there last night. His last recollection was the writhing mass of naked flesh upon the platform, the unbelievable orgy which Adelle had induced by her powers of voodoo magic.
The fantastic night had passed, and now Doug was fully awake. His stomach was cold with nervous apprehension. How could he have willingly become a part of such violent depravity? Never in his life had he gone beyond the limit and indulged in such total dissipation.
He could not understand how he had permitted it to happen. He felt wretched. His stomach knotted with pangs of self-loathing. Something unnatural had driven him, had whetted his lust for such wild sensations.
Yet at the time he had wanted it to happen. He had given in to the lure of naked female flesh, had been swept along by the tingling excitement and the gut-tearing urgency. Each contact with hot woman-flesh had driven him to further acts of wild debauchery.
There must be something wrong with him. Just as there was something wrong with everyone else. For all seven of them had indulged eagerly. Nobody had held back. They had all been turned into shameless, lust-crazed animals.
Yet even from the beginning, Doug knew how serious such a total breakdown of decency and order could be. It was not going to be an easy job to fight their way through the jungle and return to civilization.
If the kind of thing that went on last night were allowed to continue, it could be fatal for all of them. He had to see that it did not happen again.
When he had first opened his eyes, he had hoped that his memory of last night's orgiastic excesses were only a nightmare. But he had not been dreaming. The continuous aching in his back assured him of that.
He knew that the staggering pain would return the moment he tried to sit up. But he could not lie there in bed all day. He had to get up and try to reorganize the passengers into some kind of cohesive unit. He had to reestablish discipline, though he was not sure how to go about it.
For one thing, Adelle Crandell had to be prevented from indulging in her crazy voodoo rituals. She had actually started them all on the road to destruction, and it was up to him to see that they turned back before it was too late.
Once more he tried to sit up, this time with great care. But the tearing pain ripped along his back. He gritted his teeth and slowly pulled his scabbed flesh away from the mattress.
He cursed the bitch who had lashed him with her damned leather whip. What kind of a sadistic maniac was she anyhow? When he got her back to civilization he would damn well make a complaint to the authorities.
She belonged in a lunatic asylum. As strikingly beautiful as she was, she was out of her goddam mind. And strangely enough, she had transmitted some of her madness to the others, himself included.
How had she done it? What was the strange power she wielded? He could understand how the superstitious Indian girls might be taken in by her voodoo crap. But the rest of them were supposedly intelhgent people.
Supposedly.
But Doug was beginning to wonder, even about himself. Maybe their so-called culture was only a very thin veneer. Scratch the surface, and you found a raving beast underneath.
The beast in all of them had certainly betrayed itself last night.
At last the dried blood on his back came unstuck from the mattress cover. He sat on the edge of the bed sucking air through his clenched teeth while the burning pain in his torn flesh slowly subsided.
His eyes were like lead weights and his head pounded as though he had a massive hangover.
After resting a moment, he stood up. His brain began to reel, and bright dots whirled before his eyes. He leaned against the center post of the hut until the dizziness passed. And then he dressed, moving slowly and deliberately. The moment he made a sudden motion, the pain returned.
He sat down to tie his shoes, then stood up again. When he walked through the door, the brilliance of the sun burst upon him, nearly blinding him.
He walked through the village to the giant pole and the platform which had been the center of last night's orgy. Evidently he was the only one who had struggled away and made it to his bed. The six people lay sleeping on the wooden platform, all of them still stark naked.
Lupe and Belita lay in each other's arms, their cheeks pressed together, their full Indian lips fluttering as they snored with lazy contentment.
Cal and Rachel lay together, their bodies still locked in an intimate embrace. Cal's back was covered with a crisscross of ugly welts. Rachel's red hair, bright in the sunshine, surrounded her face.
Adelle Crandell slept alone. The curves of her stunning body were seductive even in repose. Her swollen breasts glistened with little beads of sweat. Doug had to struggle against an urge to fall upon her and bury his face in the tempting, pillowy softness.
She lay with her head on one arm, her golden yellow hair bunched around her face. Doug felt a tightness in his chest as he stared at her bewitching beauty. Yet there was something about her slack mouth that gave her the look of a degenerate. A lovely degenerate. A lustful Jezebel who could drive a man out of his mind.
Doug turned away quickly before he fell once more under her power. Overcoming her hold on them was not going to be an easy matter. His own worst enemy would be himself. She had already shown how she could wrap him around her finger. And if he were not careful, she would do it again.
Elder Pepperdine lay asleep with his head resting against the tall wooden totem. Some of the designs which he had painted on his chest and arms still remained, giving him the appearance of a savage.
As Doug watched him, Elder stirred, rolling his head. And then he began to mumble.
"Get more mushrooms..." he said thickly. " ... celebrate ... voodoo ... Erszulie ... the virgin goddess ... mushrooms..."
Doug moved closer with sudden interest. He listened, but Elder Pepperdine began to snore once more. Doug shook him. Elder jerked, blinked his eyes sleepily, then pulled away from Doug's hand.
"What did you say about mushrooms?" Doug asked.
Elder looked up at him, then yawned. "We all ate mushrooms for supper."
"What about it?" Doug insisted. "Visions..."
A sudden chill passed along Doug's spine as he remembered that the stew they had eaten last night had contained mushrooms. And Elder said they caused visions. Doug remembered reading somewhere that a certain variety of mushrooms did actually induce hallucinations.
Elder had fallen asleep again. Doug grabbed both shoulders and shook him vigorously.
"Tell me more-" he demanded. "Did someone put the mushrooms in the stew?"
"Adelle," Elder muttered.
"What else did she put in the stew?"
"Roots and herbs." Elder smiled contentedly. "The kind that turn your blood to fire. Make you want to fly. Make you chase pretty girls..."
"I'll be damned!" Doug said.
He saw it all in a flash. Adelle had brought them all under her sway by doping the food. It had not been the magic of voodoo after all, but a powerful aphrodisiac she had fed them. That explained his own lack of control over his will. He had been so fired up that nothing could have kept him from joining the orgy. What amazed him most was the fact that he had been able to hold out for so long.
He had not realized how dangerous she really was. But if she would resort to a trick like m that, there was no telling what else she might do.
None of them were safe. She had to be stopped at once, kept under control. She could not even be allowed to run free, because she might slip something into their food again.
Doug crossed the platform and caught Cal Neville by the arm. Cal stared up at him through half-closed eyes.
"What do you want?"
"Get up," Doug said, keeping his voice low. "That bitch doped us last night. She put something into the food that turned us all into a bunch of sex-maniacs."
"You'll have to admit, it was fun," Cal said with a sly grin.
Rachel stirred in his arms. Cal kissed her, and she returned the kiss with passion, nestling her thighs against him, rubbing his chest with the soft pillows of her breasts.
"Come on," Doug insisted. "This is serious. We've got to do something..."
Rachel snuggled her head against Cal's face. Her arms clamped tighter around him, imprisoning him against the lush curves of her body.
"Don't go, Cal," she whispered. "I want more of you-"
Doug took a deep breath and let it out slowly between his clenched teeth. Then he shook Cal again.
"Get up, Cal-"
"All right. If you insist."
Cal untangled himself from Rachel's body and stood up. Doug walked ahead toward his hut, not looking back. He heard Cal coming close behind. From a suitcase that was open on the floor, he took pants and a shirt. He threw them at Cal when he came through the door.
"Put these on."
Cal flinched as he pulled the shirt gingerly over his mangled back.
"What's this about doping the food?"
"Adelle fed us an aphrodisiac. That's why we all went off the deep end last night. If we don't stop her now, she's hable to destroy us all."
"How are we going to stop her?" Cal asked.
"There's only one way I can think of. We've got to keep her a prisoner until we leave this place. And we'd better start traveling as soon as we can."
"How soon?"
"Tomorrow," Doug said. "We both took a hell of a beating from that whip. It's going to be painful, but we can't stay here any longer."
"We'll have to tie her up," Cal said, growing suddenly serious. "I'm damned if I want to go through another night like last night."
"We'll need a guard on her until we leave. She's made believers out of the preacher and the two Indian gals. They might try to set her free."
"Looks like it figures three against four."
"We've got nothing to worry about," Doug said. "So long as we have the gun."
"We haven't got her tied up yet. I'll bet she'll be as mean as a wildcat."
"Let's get started," Doug said. "We've got plenty of work to do. After we get Adelle taken care of, we'll have to get ready for traveling. Food, water, equipment-everything we'll need on the trip, and the tools to build a raft when we get to the Magdalena River."
Cal followed Doug out of the hut. They went first to the big hut where Adelle was staying. Doug went at once to the trunk which lay open on the floor. He dug around in the clothes, but found nothing. He knew she had the herbs somewhere which she had used to dope them with. If they weren't destroyed, she might get a chance to try again.
"What are you looking for?" Cal asked curiously.
"Mushrooms. Roots. The stuff she put in our food last night."
"I think I've found it."
Cal reached into a cloth sack he had found in the corner and pulled out a handful of mushrooms. There were also some white roots and leaves and small black berries.
"That's it-" Doug said.
"What do you suppose the berries are for?"
"Nothing good." Doug took the sack and walked outside. "We'll get rid of all this stuff. Whatever it is, it kicks like a mule."
He walked a hundred yards into the jungle, away from the trail, and turned over a rotting stump. Then he emptied the sack on the ground and rolled the stump on top of it.
When he got back to the village, he went to his hut and strapped the pistol to his waist. A ten foot coil of rope lay on the ground among other items which they had salvaged from the airplane. Doug took the rope and motioned to Cal.
They found Adelle still asleep on the platform. When they caught hold of her wrists, she opened her eyes wide. At once she realized what they intended to do.
She tensed her body, then commenced to twist violently, tossing her shoulders. Her knee came up as she aimed a vicious kick at Cal's groin.
"Damn you!" she shrieked.
She was seething inside, and her anger caused her round, flawless breasts to rise and fall. She hissed and spat and tried to claw Doug's eyes.
It took them nearly five minutes to subdue her. And then they led her to a post on the shady side of one of the huts and tied her to it with her hands behind her back. Doug checked the knot, then smiled grimly.
"That ought to hold her-"
"What are you going to do to me?" she demanded fiercely.
"Just a little safety measure," Doug said. "Tomorrow we'll set you free, just before we head back to civilization."
"Do you think a rope will hold me?" she said, her eyes glaring defiance. "I'll get away. And when I do-you'll be sorry. I'll get my revenge-"
CHAPTER TWELVE
The sun was dropping behind the distant jungle trees when Rachel Dunn was awakened by the pressure of a hand on her arm. Cal Neville smiled down at her, and there was a bright look in his eyes.
She had opened her blouse because of the heat, so her ripe young breasts were presented to Cal's appreciative gaze. Rachel did not attempt to cover herself. She was proud of her body and of the promise it offered a man. Since last night, she had lost all vestiges of shame.
As she remembered the feel of Cal's body on hers, the hot driving thrust of his manhood, she could not keep from pursing her lips for a kiss.
The moment his mouth touched hers, his tongue darted brazenly and his hand closed around a breast. At once her arms wound around his neck. She pulled him down upon her tossing thighs, plunging her tongue deep into his mouth.
His hand continued to fondle her breast, filling her with intoxicating sensations. All the excitement of last night returned to engulf her in a fiery wave of lust.
"Do it to me now-" she whispered.
But Cal pulled away from her. He shook his head, although his breathing was ragged.
"We can't get carried away," he said hoarsely. "It's time for you to go on watch. I just came to wake you. I've been gone too long already. If Adelle escapes..."
"Please, Cal," Rachel begged. "It won't take long. I'm so hot I could burst into flames."
He shook his head. At the door he turned quickly.
"Come and relieve me."
Then he was gone. Rachel stood up and lifted her long hair from her face. She was trembling all over, her body was flushed with sexual desire. It was not that important to guard Adelle. What harm could she cause, after all? If only Cal had stayed, they would have tasted a moment of unforgettable bliss.
Cal was standing beside the post where Adelle was tied. The blonde woman stood proudly displaying her nakedness, her hands tied behind her back. She was a gorgeous, majestic creature, there was no denying it. Rachel felt a strange stirring of warmth as she looked at the flawless breasts thrusting conspicuously and the supple feminine curves of her thighs.
At the side of a nearby hut, the two Indian girls, Lupe and Belita, squatted as they watched with fierce resentment. No doubt they would have attempted to free their voodoo priestess if it were not for the gun.
"You can prepare dinner while you stand guard," Cal said. Unstrapping the gun and holster, he handed them to Rachel. "I'm going to catch a nap. After dinner, Doug will stand the first night watch."
Cal returned to his hut. Before Rachel started the fire under the big kettle, she examined Adelle's bound hands. Adelle glared at her silently.
Tonight's menu would be the same as always. Stew. It was just about the only thing she could prepare with the ingredients at hand. Rachel struck a match and lit the pile of dried wood. Flames leaped up at once, and soon there was a roaring fire.
She peeled potatoes and onions and threw them into the boiling water with a large chunk of jaguar meat. As soon as the stew was cooking she had nothing left to do but guard Adelle.
"Rachel-" the blonde woman called to her sweetly.
Adjusting the heavy weight of the gun belt which pinched her waist, Rachel walked over to the post where Adelle was tied. She remembered last night when she had made love to Adelle, sent her through peak after peak of ecstasy. And then Adelle had rejected her, made her seek relief somewhere else. This memory filled her with a sudden resentment.
Why hadn't Adelle returned her gentle caresses? She had an attractive body, almost as attractive as Adelle's.
"You're very pretty," Adelle said with a smile, as though speaking Rachel's thoughts aloud. "You have such lovely, smooth skin. And your breasts are divine-"
Adelle's eyes were actually glowing with excitement. She continued to look Rachel up and down. Rachel felt the warmth rising inside her, felt a sudden hungering to have this charming woman make love to her.
"You're beautiful," Rachel said breathlessly. "Last night it was so nice-when I caressed you. It was my first time-for something like that."
"You brought me such happiness, dear," Adelle murmured. Her eyelids fluttered, her lips appeared swollen. "I feel that I should repay you-"
"Oh, yes. I wish-"
Rachel caught her breath. She realized that this could possibly be a trick. The two Indian girls still remained beside the hut, staring at her with their dark, primitive eyes.
"Untie me, Rachel," Adelle said in a low, pleading voice. "I only want to make another night possible for ah of us. What is there to fear? You saw it was harmless. And yet so exciting. Everyone was caught up in the thrill of it." Slowly she wormed her naked body. "Untie me-"
"I-I-just can't," Rachel replied.
Adelle stared at her silently with bright blue eyes that were filled with longing. The blonde woman's breath was coming in quick, short pants. Her towering, flame-tipped breasts rose and fell.
"Lean closer-" Adelle whispered.
Hypnotically Rachel was drawn to the woman. It would not matter if she submitted to the tender caress of those lovely lips. She longed to have them touch everywhere on her feverish body, explore every curve and indentation.
She began to tingle the moment Adelle's mouth touched hers. She stood very still and let Adelle take the lead. The warm, adorable tongue touched her lips, then probed inside, filling her mouth.
After a moment Adelle leaned down and nuzzled her face inside the open blouse, seeking Rachel's breasts.
The soft lips and tormenting tongue stroked her rounded flesh. Both women were breathing hard now. Adelle turned her head and caught one of the breasts with her gaping mouth. The caressing tongue curled around a nipple, causing it to swell up in throbbing stiffness.
Rachel moved her body slowly, swaying in rhythm with the tossing of Adelle's head. She arched her back, thrusting the breast deeper into Adelle's hungering mouth to increase the sensation.
Suddenly the blonde woman pulled away and gazed at her with tender, loving eyes.
"They're so lovely, Rachel." Her voice was a worshipful whisper. "Let me touch them, darling. Untie just one hand so I can caress you-"
Tears formed in Rachel's eyes as she shook her head uncertainly. She knew she was weakening, and yet there was nothing really to fear.
"I don't know. I just don't know. What is it you want to do with me?"
"Only touch you, my dear. You want it to happen, don't you?" Adelle's voice was soft and seductive. "I just want to touch your soft skin, very gently. I want to stroke your lovely body, let my hands feel you all over-"
"Please stop-oh, please-"
Rachel was trembling with intense excitement. She could resist no longer. She was on the verge of giving in. What would it really matter, if she should submit to this lovely woman, feel her lips on the most intimate parts of her body?
Stepping quickly behind the post, Rachel loosened the knot which bound Adelle's right hand at the wrist. The rope had pinched the lovely flesh, leaving a vivid red welt. Rachel rubbed it tenderly to bring back the circulation. Then, unable to control her ardor, she kissed Adelle's hand and placed it upon her own breast.
She swooned as the fingers dented her flesh, teased the nipple until it felt as if it would burst. With a circular motion, Adelle massaged her breast, pressing with her palm. Rachel closed her eyes in ecstasy.
And then the hand was gone.
Feeling a sudden lightness at her waist, Rachel jumped back. But she was too late. Adelle had pulled the gun from the holster, and she was pointing it at Rachel's head.
"You have a low threshold of sexual response, my dear," Adelle said coldly.
"You tricked me-" Rachel gasped.
"Did I really?" Adelle laughed. Her eyes were contemptuous now. "Untie me-quickly."
But before Rachel could release Adelle's other hand, the two Indian girls ran up and tore at the knotted rope. As soon as Adelle was free, they caught Rachel by the arms and held her prisoner.
"You know what to do-" Adelle said. "Yes, your Highness."
"I warn you not to cry out Rachel," Adelle said grimly. "We have the gun now, so if you do anything foolish-it could be fatal for you and the two pilots."
Rachel lowered her head, ashamed of what she had done. Once more Adelle had cheated her out of the final ecstasy. She had roused her to an unbearable pitch of sexual craving, then left her hanging.
Rachel was suddenly very sober as she was led across the clearing to Adelle's hut. The two Indian girls clung to her arms, dragging her along. Glancing back, Rachel saw Adelle walking into the jungle.
Elder Pepperdine sat cross-legged on the floor, smoking a long stemmed pipe. A strange, acid smell filled the hut. Lupe took the pipe from Elder's hand and held it to Rachel's lips.
"Smoke-" she ordered.
"What is it?" Rachel asked.
Belita wound her fingers in Rachel's long hair and jerked, snapping her head. Lupe forced the pipe stem between Rachel's resisting lips.
"Smoke-" she said fiercely. "Inhale deeply and hold the smoke in your lungs."
Belita pulled her hair again, driving a sharp pain into her scalp. Rachel knew she must obey. She inhaled, nearly choking on the harsh smoke. But she managed to hold it in her lungs for several seconds before she had to exhale.
Surprisingly, nothing happened at once. But Rachel continued to puff while Lupe held the pipe to her lips. Then, like a tiny worm, she felt something crawling in her brain. Her body became fighter, until it seemed that she was floating like a balloon, her feet several inches above the floor.
It was a strange new sensation, an exalted feeling as though she were in another world, a world where everything was light and airy and intensely exciting.
Her head began to weave. Her eyes glowed as she drifted rapturously on a cloud of nothingness. And then, when it seemed that she was entering a state of relaxing peace, a sudden hot longing tore into her body.
Lupe was smoking the pipe, smiling at Rachel. Her dark Indian eyes glowed like coals, reflecting the fire of her own inner turmoil. Lupe began to breath with quick, excited gasps.
"Such lovely white skin." Lupe's hand touched Rachel's bared breasts, gently stroked the valley between the two jutting mounds. "You're so nice, honey-"
Rachel gave herself up to the delightful dream, making no objections when Lupe began to remove her clothes. In a minute she was naked. Both of them were naked, their bodies steaming from the heat of their passion. They faced each other, Rachel trembling and passive, the Indian girl looking like a jungle cat ready to pounce.
Rachel was aware of the other two people in the room. Elder and Belita were watching with greedy eyes. But it did not matter. She had performed last night in front of more people than this, and it had added a special kind of spice to the lovemaking. She welcomed the approving glances of her audience.
Standing with her legs apart to brace her, she presented her nude body to the bright-eyed Indian girl.
At once Lupe fell on her knees in a worshipful attitude. Rachel felt the warm stroke of Lupe's breath as she moved closer to the throbbing cup of her passion.
Closing her eyes, Rachel waited expectantly. Her breath was frenzied, causing the flushed globes of her breasts to jiggle and sway.
She flinched at the first contact. Lupe's small hand moved across the calf of her leg, upward to the soft flesh between her thighs. Rachel felt the fingers stroking gently, caressing her bare flesh.
A little gasp caught in Lupe's throat as she plunged her gaping mouth. Rachel looked down at the dark tangled mass of Lupe's hair, and she spread her legs wider, tilting her hips, offering herself to the adoring lips.
Lupe's hands slid around behind her and gripped her fleshy buttocks, squeezing and forcing her closer while the excited mouth and tongue started a glowing fire in her loins.
Rachel lowered her hands, placed them on Lupe's small shoulder. She felt the Indian girl tremble, felt the tremor pass into her own body at the point where the lips were touching.
"It's lovely-" Rachel cried.
She threw her head back and began to move her legs, twisting her body, pumping her haunches as the ecstasy became almost unbearable.
Clenching the Indian girl's hair, she looked down at her, saw the glow of tenderness that suffused her lovely bronze face. She watched as the thirsting mouth continued to caress, then thrust inward with a plunge, seeking the very depths of her passion-fired body.
"Oh, so good-so wonderful," Rachel sobbed.
The muscles of her belly and thighs began to flinch as the final moment drew near. She began to moan-a babble of words that meant nothing. The convulsions increased in frequency until they became one continuing spasm. Tightening her hold on Lupe's head, she clung to her with desperation. The two of them moved together through the blazing peak of her completion. And still the leach-like mouth kissed fervently, drawing from her thighs the last heaving ripples.
Rachel shuddered and fell to the floor weakly, unable to support herself. The eruption had left her exhausted. AU of her passion had been drained out of her, bringing her a momentary relief.
Adelle Crandell walked along the jungle path untU she came to the place where she had gathered the roots of the niloo plant. Already she had collected enough mushrooms to put in the stew. And she had a handful of poisonous berries from the black nightshade. More than she would need for her purpose.
Dropping to her knees, she began digging with a stick until she had unearthed several of the pale roots. She broke them off and carried them back to the village, along with the rest of her collection of herbs.
The large kettle was bubbling over the coals of the fire. Adelle chopped up the roots and mushrooms into very fine pieces so they would not be recognized when they were eaten. She doubled the amount of the aphrodisiac root, throwing in twice as much as she had put into the stew the night before.
Then she ground up some cassava roots she had also collected, mixing in water to form a thick paste. She divided the mass of ground roots into seven equal portions. She formed six of the lumps into small round cakes. The seventh she spread apart. In the center she placed three berries from the black nightshade plant, then shaped it into a cake just like the others.
Placing the seven cakes in a pie pan, she covered the pan with another. With a stick she scattered the coals of the fire, forming a small bed. She laid the pans on the coals and covered the top.
While she waited, she stirred the stew. The ingredients she had added were blended in nicely. Even the two pilots would not realize what they were eating.
Her plan was working perfectly. Rachel Dunn had been a gullible fool. It had been so easy to trick her. Now Adelle was in command again. Already she began to thrill with excitement at the thought of the orgy she would conduct tonight. It would be momentous. Those who survived would never forget. They might even praise her for bringing them so vitally alive. Only during the ecstasies of sexual indulgence did a person really experience life to the fullest.
Raking the pans from the bed of coals, Adelle saw that the seven cakes were done. Seven small cakes with a tempting brown crust. Only one of them contained enough poison to bring slow lingering death to them all.
Using a rag, Adelle carried the hot pans to the totem and placed them under the platform. Then she returned to the post, removed the bullets from the pistol, and hid them beside the post by covering them with a handful of dirt.
The two Indian girls appeared, leading Rachel Dunn between them. Rachel was so stoned on hashish that she would be easy to control.
Adelle returned the gun to the holster strapped to Rachel's waist.
"Now, Rachel," said Adelle in a soothing voice, the tone of voice a hypnotist would use on his subject. "I want you to take two plates of stew to the pilots. Wake them up so they can eat. Then return at once to me."
Rachel nodded. While she dished up two servings of the stew, Adelle returned to the post. Lupe and Belita retied the rope around her wrists. Adelle's lips formed a satisfied smile. She had set the trap. Now it was only a matter of time...
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Rachel Dunn returned from the hut at once, having left the plates with the food for the two pilots. Then everyone helped themselves to the stew-everyone but Adelle, who was still tied to the post.
Ten minutes later, Doug Watson and Cal Neville walked up to the simmering kettle and refilled their empty plates. They sat down with the others to eat.
"I'm hungry too-" Adelle muttered sullenly.
"Of course," Doug said. His eyes were still puffy from sleep. "Untie her, Rachel. But keep a close watch."
As soon as Adelle's hands were free, she filled a plate and began to eat. She could almost feel the powerful aphrodisiac begin to ignite her blood. But of course it was purely imagination, for the drugs would not take effect for perhaps a half hour or more.
The sun had dropped from sight behind the horizon. Dusk was descending on the village. Putting down her empty plate, Adelle searched at the base of the pole until she found the bullets she had hidden. Then she edged closer to Rachel, who was still dazed from the narcotic effects of the hashish they had forced her to smoke.
Rachel was not even aware when Adelle removed the gun from the holster. Quickly Adelle broke it open and inserted the shells. Then she stood up with a victorious cry, brandishing the pistol.
Doug leaped to his feet, but she pointed the gun at his chest. Sudden excitement knotted her stomach. She felt a low-down, rutting sensation-hot blood pumping into her thighs-and she knew that the aphrodisiac had began to take effect. Not only on her, but on everyone else.
Soon they would all be writhing in lust-crazed delirium, seeking release from their erotic need.
"What are you going to do?" Doug demanded.
"You'll know soon enough," she replied. Throwing back her head, she uttered a shrill, mocking laugh. "You could never begin to guess. There are thrills in store for all of you tonight that you have never even dreamed of."
"Put down the gun, Adelle," Doug ordered. "We refuse to join in another of your goddam orgies."
"You're too late-" she replied. "You've already eaten the aphrodisiac-enough to make you crawl on your knees just to be allowed the pleasure of kissing my feet. You'll be begging for release. And you shall have it. Everyone at the same time ... in every way you desire. . . "
"You're mad," Doug said, knotting his hands into fists.
She laughed, because already his sexual craving had begun to show in the fierce glare of his eyes.
"Come with me," she ordered. "Everyone walk to the totem. And don't try to rush me. I won't hesitate to shoot."
Reluctantly the two pilots walked ahead of her, while the rest followed eagerly. Removing the pan from its hiding place, Adelle held it above Doug Watson's head while she kept him covered with the gun.
"Take a cake and eat it."
Doug hesitated.
"What are you going to feed us now? It might be better to let you shoot me-"
"Are you afraid?" Adelle cried scornfully. "Then I'll eat first. You'll see there's nothing to fear."
Handing the pan to Belita, she motioned for her to hold it high over her head. Then Adelle reached up and selected a cake. She popped it into her mouth, chewed quickly and swallowed.
He stared at the muzzle of the gun which was aimed at his head, hesitated for only a moment, then took a cake from the pan. Adelle moved along while, one by one, the rest of them chose a cake and ate it.
When the pan was empty, she threw it away. A sinister smile played upon her lips.
"Now I will tell you-" She paused while they all listened breathlessly. This was the kind of torture she enjoyed most. "In one of the cakes was a deadly poison. But it will work very slowly. So whoever is destined to die tonight will have a chance to give himself up completely to the pleasures of the flesh. Whoever it is-he or she will make a sacrifice on the altar of Erszulie. The goddess of love."
She looked at all the faces before her. They were stunned into silence, everyone of them. Never had Adelle known such a flaming, turbulent excitement. Her body seethed with burning rapture. Her nerves tingled like wires charged with electricity. She did not even know herself which was the fatal cake. Even she could have eaten it. This was the point of the whole game, the thing which added an unbearable element of suspense.
"Well-" she cried. "Someone speak! Have you lost your tongues? How does it feel to know that soon you may die? This may be your last night on earth-your last chance to experience the madness of passion!"
The silence was shattered suddenly by a piercing wail. Lupe tore her hair, then clawed her breast, leaving long vivid scratches. Belita responded in the same way a moment later. Then the two girls leaped upon the platform and commenced tearing at each other like two angry beasts.
Almost at once the frenzy was transmitted to the others. One by one they climbed onto the platform until all seven people were there, standing beneath the huge totem, maddened by the fear of death, driven by a sensual need to indulge in every imaginable excess.
This night might be their last.
One of them had taken the fatal poison.
Erszulie, Goddess of Love-we who are about to die salute you...
The orgy began uncertainly, without direction. But soon all of the seven people responded, each in his own way, driven by a desperate urge to taste life to the fullest. The stage soon became the scene of a violent sexual mania.
The fierce struggles of the two Indian girls became a primitive dance of lust. With sweat streaming down their bronze bodies, they arched their backs and rubbed against each other, undulating their tawny hips.
Their high, proud breasts tilted upward. The dusky globes, with the centers as large and succulent as strawberries, flattened into fleshy cushions as the two girls pressed their bodies together.
Rachel Dunn had caught the same fever.
With caressing fingers she began stroking her thighs, rousing herself to sexual hysteria with autoerotic stimulation. All the while she looked about her frantically as though hungering for a man.
Her lovely pale body swayed while her fingers slithered across the moist threshold to her womanhood. Muscles rippled across her stomach as she tightened and released, demonstrating a remarkable inner control.
The movements of her body swayed her large breasts, smooth velvety breasts capped with two round bright splashes of pink. Her stomach convulsed as she sought to relieve the raging hunger with her manipulating fingers.
But only a man could give her release.
Cal Neville rushed toward her, seized her feverish body in his arms, crushed his mouth to hers. His own craving was so roused that his breath came in sharp barks from his throat. His mouth covered one of the flushed mounds, his lips drew on the hardened nipples, while his hands groped and explored other parts of her heaving body.
Rachel parted her legs, then she uttered a cry of sheer delight as his fingers crept into the warm, moist depths.
She was floating again, just as she had floated last night, drifting on a sea of wantonness. Somehow she found herself on her back, pressed against the hard floor of the platform. She felt Cal's weight on her, the plunging of his body, the hard clutch of his hand on her breast.
A pulsing fever caught hold of her. Passion drove her hips, tightened her thighs. She scissored Cal's body between her legs and lunged at him, seeking to draw him deeper and increase the thrills that jolted along her spine like high-voltage electric shocks.
She was being ravished by a he-stallion. Her body was being mauled, ignited in a flaming inferno of lust.
But this was not enough. She wanted to defile herself with every sluttish act imaginable. She had to cram a lifetime of experiences into one hour. She wanted to wallow in the slime of sensuality.
By morning she might be dead!
The hot surge of Cal's body was like a firebrand driven into the core of her being. She shuddered as a surge of hot passion slammed through her.
She raised her hands, dug her nails in the flesh of Cal's shoulders, gnashed at him with her teeth like a crazed animal. And all the while her squirming body arched and tossed. Her legs clung to the man whose thrusting body was filling her with wanton delight.
Still she wanted more. There had to be other violations of her purity, other debaucheries. In one night she must live a life of total depravity to make up for all the weary nights she had spent alone in her virginal bed.
Other bodies were writhing in ecstasy upon the floor. No one was holding back now. Doug and Adelle were so intimately entwined that their bodies seemed to have merged into one. Hands clawed at tortured flesh; fingers pinched, felt with cruel urgency.
Soon the activities of Doug and Adelle degenerated to the level of pure lust. Each was kissing the other, yet their lips were far apart. Adelle was a lovely female beast with golden hair, writhing on the floor in shameless ecstasy, receiving Doug's flaming kisses and returning them with fierceness, her head weaving and bobbing with each surging motion sent shock waves coursing through his body.
Rachel stared at the entangled couple, and the sight of such total wantonness increased her own sensitivity, filling her with voluptuous excitement.
She saw the familiar glaze of passion in Adelle's eyes as she forced her partner tighter against her body. And Rachel knew that her own eyes were glazed. Her own hungers, like Adelle's, included every physical contact, every note that could be played on the scale of sexuality.
While Cal's body continued to move above her, on her, thrusting and hammering, Rachel began to pant deep in her throat. Her stomach ached from the pleasure-pain of Cal's violence. Her body was bathed in flames, her head was spinning.
In her delirium she thrashed and twisted on the floor. Her arms lifted above her head, her hands closed around a slick, perspiring waist.
Tilting her head, she saw Elder Pepperdine on his knees, giving worshipful attention to a prostrate Indian girl while the other girl, Lupe, was feverishly caressing her breasts. Belita was receiving attentions from two people at the same time, her body weaving with ecstatic yearning.
Tightening her arms, Rachel drew Elder toward her and, with her trembling lips, inflicted upon him a flaming, agonizing torture.
The streaming cauldron of sensuality continued to boil. Naked men and women rolled upon the floor, some of them sobbing with delirium, some of them screaming at the top of their lungs for deliverance. The tide of passion swept over them ah, bringing them perilously close to insanity.
Bodies clung and fumed with burning lust, grappling with blind fury, welding together in every possible manner-natural and unnatural, divine and grotesque.
Their moans and cries were like the sound of the dying, for one of them was at that moment approaching death.
The interminable orgy went on to the slithering, tossing accompaniment of seven agonized bodies. The lust-crazed travesty continued long after the campfire had burned out. Bodies continued to meld and grope and seek fresh thrills-all in the eerie light of the full moon which floated overhead, casting its pale illumination down upon the pagan scene.
Each of the seven persons had divested himself of all trappings of civilization. Each one had descended into his own private nightmare of sexuality, releasing every hidden craving that had lain dormant within the depths of his libido.
For the two Indian girls, the transition had been easy, requiring only a slight change in their normal pattern of behavior.
For Adelle Crandell, the experience was merely a high point that was repetitiously similar to many other experiences in her life. Yet it was also a confirmation of the depravity that lay in her warped mind.
There were others involved as well. The higher the person's original moral standards-the more binding his repressions-the lower he descended along the path to total degradation. For some it was a release, a cleansing, a freshening of the soul. For others it was a horrible dream that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Suddenly, above the lusting animal grunts and mutterings in the jungle night, a shrill cry of utter terror sounded.
"My legs! Oh, my God-they're cold! They are getting numb! I can't feel them!"
All activity stopped. Lips that had clung a moment before trailed away from moist, shivering flesh. Bodies twisted out of sensuous embraces.
"Quick!" Adelle Crandell screamed excitedly. "A torch! Bring a torch!"
There was a pounding of feet upon the floor, the sound of someone running. The voice continued to scream, so shrill from fear and dread that it was impossible to tell whether it came from a man or a woman.
Soon a bright flame lit up the night. Lupe had lighted a torch and came running toward them. At the same time Belita began throwing dry wood upon the coals of the campfire, which was soon blazing anew.
Elder Pepperdine knelt on the floor, rubbing his legs excitedly, screaming and babbling incoherently. Adelle looked down at him, a maniac smile on her lips.
With tears streaming down their faces, the two Indian girls hugged each other. They could not contain their joy, for they had not been the ones to eat the poisoned cake. They were safe.
"Help me!" Elder screamed. "Do something."
"Nothing can be done," Adelle replied coldly.
And then the expression on her face changed. Her eyes glowed with a fierce light. Standing within inches of Elder's bowed head, she caught him by the hair and tilted his face up.
"Make love to me-" she demanded. "Kiss me there. What a thrill it would be. To have a man die making love. To feel the kiss of death on my flesh..."
"No-no," he sobbed. "It's too late. Leave me in peace."
"Do as I say!" Adelle shouted fiercely.
"Don't you understand?" Elder pleaded. "I'm dying--"
Adelle did not appear to hear him or to understand anything but her own twisted craving. Suddenly she dashed across the stage and came back with the pistol. Flaunting her thighs, she pressed the barrel of the gun to his head.
"Do as I say!" she screamed, her body trembling from the violence of her emotion. "Hurry! Make love to me. You haven't much time-"
The preacher shook his head sadly. There was a resigned expression on his lean, handsome face. He was beyond hysteria now. The poison was slowly creeping through his body, and he knew the end was approaching.
"Do you think your gun frightens me?" he muttered.
"I'll kill you-I'll kill you!" Adelle cried.
"You've already done that-"
With a sudden lurch, Elder Pepperdine caught Adelle's arm and pulled her hard. She lost her balance, her feet went out from under her. She landed upon the floor, and at once Elder caught her wrist, trying to force the gun from her hand. Their naked bodies thrashed.
Adelle screamed and kicked and tried to scratch Elder's eyes. But his concentration was on one thing only-to get the gun from her.
His hands clung tenaciously to her wrist, bending it inward. The muzzle slowly descended until it was pointed at one of her heaving breasts.
A flash lit up the night. A sharp explosion shattered the breathless quiet. Adelle slumped forward. A gaping hole had been torn in her chest. Blood flowed, covering her and Elder Pepperdine.
The preacher released his hold on her arm. The gun clattered to the floor. Elder fell back with a blissful smile on his face. His eyes were staring up at the night sky.
"I've killed the beast-" he murmured. "She's dead. Now I can die in peace."
His breathing stopped. The five who remained knew they were both dead-Elder and Adelle. For a long time the two men and three women who had survived stared at the corpses, each thinking his own thoughts, each struggling to escape the nightmare into which he had descended.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Doug Watson awoke at noon, still partially drugged from the herbs which Adelle Crandell had fed them. Walking over to the water bucket, he splashed his face. The tepid water brought him fully awake, but still his brain was dulled by all that had happened.
It would probably be a long time before he could again function normally, but in the meantime there was work to be done. He must go through the mechanical process of organizing the small party of five people for the trek back to civilization. It could be done with little conscious thought.
The real problem was to get started.
He dressed quickly and shook Cal awake. When he was convinced that Cal would roll out of bed, he walked outside. The two bodies still lay on the platform. Burying them would be the first order of business.
When Cal joined him, he marked off an acre at the edge of the village where the ground was soft, then started to dig. They took turns with the shovel until a hole large enough took shape. Then they carried the two bodies, one at a time, to the shallow grave and covered them with dirt.
After that, they woke the three women. Rachel prepared breakfast while the two Indian girls cooked the remaining jaguar meat and wrapped it in banana leaves to carry with them.
Everyone ate silently, still overwhelmed by the events of last night. Then all the equipment they would need was gathered and divided into five separate bundles. The two men shouldered the largest packs. Doug moved ahead, following the path to the edge of the clearing. With a little luck, he was certain they would be back in civilization within a week.
They could return to a civilized life, but would they ever get the stench of the jungle from their souls?
Cal Neville was glad to be moving at last. His return to the states had been delayed for a week or two, but he was still in one piece after surviving the crash in the jungle. He was not sure yet what influence the orgiastic excesses would have on him. Right now it all seemed pretty horrible, because of the violence of the climax. But maybe some day he could look back upon it with pleasure, contemplating the heady excitement that had been a part of the adventure.
Lupe Castillo's trim little body was still flushed with the fire of sensuality. She had known many delights, tasted sex in an amazing variety of ways. But the big blonde woman had given a new dimension to the animal lust which glowed inside her, always so close to the surface.
The voodoo spell had made her soul tremble in fear, and yet it had brought unbearable happiness. She and Belita would have many things to talk about when they returned to La Paz. And the very first night they slept together, they would revive the old excitement by making love to each other in so many glorious ways. Lupe smiled as she reached for Belita's hand. She saw Belita's tender smile and felt the responsive pressure.
Yes, Lupe thought with a sigh, the crazy blonde woman had taught her things she had never even dreamed of. And all the while she had thought she knew everything there was to know...
Rachel Dunn looked back from the clearing at the huge wooden totem towering over the village-towering over everyone and everything. Of course the great pole which soared to the sky was only a symbol-a symbol of a vital new force which had entered into her being.
Rachel had discovered so many things about herself, about life and love and the delights of the flesh-all during her brief stay here in this village. In some ways, she almost regretted leaving.
But she did not have to remain here in order to give herself up to this new thing in her life. There were men wherever she might go. And women too, she thought with a faint blush. But especially men, who could rouse her to shimmering heights of ecstasy and then release her with the most exquisite of all pleasures. She smiled and thought of delights to come....
