The soles of her feet were a mass of lacerations. Each blow sent shock-waves of torment to her reeling brain. Fra Ortiz began touching a hot iron to her defenseless breasts.

Suddenly a loud voice boomed in the horror chamber, "Stop! Stop in the name of the Pope!"

Silence fell. The only sound that could be heard was the weird stucatto

cries from Rasha..

"Release this woman and tend her

wounds,

"the tall bearded man in the red robes of a Cardinal

ordered.

Fra Ortiz and the two Blacks fell to their knees. Ortiz spoke softly, reverantly, "Your Holiness, I was only doing

my duty. We seek the whereabouts of this girl's father, the heathen, Ali Arizza."

"We know that you torture prisoners here, and we do not care. But this woman is a special case. We want Ali Arizza as much as you do. She is to be taken to the Vatican as soon as she is able to

travel."

This was all a hoax, of course. The man in the papal robes was in reality the man they all sought, Ali Arizza, Rasha's father. And in a few short days Rasha and he were fleeing for their lives.

Not long after the escape, Fra Ortiz realized that he had been duped. A search was immediately organized. While his men searched the countryside, Ortiz