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by Dingbat
This story is a work of fiction, all characters and plot lines are fictional. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
Mark Turns 11 remains the property of the author. The story or characters may not be reproduced or republished elsewhere without the expressed written consent of the author.
"Hey, ten minutes are up!" Red Jeff declared. "Where's Packy?"
"I dunno," Doug said. "Somebody go out and see if you can see if he's coming."
"I'll go!" Big Chris said, and headed for the door.
Since Packy had not announced his presence, Big Chris was not looking for him right there, and since Packy had not mentioned bringing any help, Chris did not expect to be tackled. Obviously, he was not paying attention to his immediate surroundings, and it came as quite a surprise when Packy grabbed him around the lower legs, and Little Beaver grabbed him around the arms. Chris went down like a sack of bricks, and before he could shout a warning, Wild Horse clamped a hand over his mouth.
"I think it'd be a good idea for you to give up," Packy whispered in Chris's ear, and Chris nodded. Then, Packy said "OK, Wild Horse is gonna take his hand away from your mouth, but only if you promise not to yell." Again, Chris nodded, and Wild Horse released his hand from Chris's mouth, pulled a length of rawhide from a pouch, and tied Chris's hands together behind his back.
"I like your buckskins," Packy said. Chris mumbled a thanks, and asked what they were going to do with him.
"Use you for bait," Little Beaver said, and Chris immediately asked how come he wasn't talking like an Indian. "Go to white eyes school," Little Beaver said. "Learn-um English heap good. But if it makes you feel any better, me and Red Horse and Wild Horse will do the Indian talk thing for you."
"That's OK," Chris said, and watched helplessly as Red Horse wound about 15 feet of rope around his arms.
"Now, call out Ronnie and Charlie!" Packy demanded.
Chris did as he was told, and yelled that he had captured Packy. "I think he might have some help!" Chris shouted. "I'll get him back to the cabin, and you two see if anybody came with him!"
Charlie and Ronnie lost no time in rushing out, and falling right into the ambush set up by Packy, Little Beaver, Red Horse, and Wild Horse.
After getting their captives tied and gagged, Little Beaver asked "Now what?"
"We wait," Packy said. "Chances are, the rest will come out one or two at a time. The only way we'll have a problem, is if all four of them come out at once, and I don't think that's gonna happen."
Packy was right. First, Red Jeff and Allen came out, and Wild Horse ungagged Charlie, and had him call the two boys over. As a tied captive, Charlie had to do what his captors demanded, and he reluctantly lured his two friends into captivity. Once they were captured and tied, Allen was told to call Doug and Scott, and a few minutes later, all seven older kids had been tied and gagged, and were marched back to Israel's cabin.
Inside the cabin, the seven captives had their ankles re-tied, and Packy went into the back room where Israel, Mark, and Kevin were still tied up. The first words out of Israel's mouth after Packy ungagged him, were "What took you so long?"
Packy just grinned, and re-gagged Israel. "You're lucky I came at all!" Packy growled. "Now, do you wanna be untied, or do you wanna stay tied and gagged?" Israel turned and presented his tied hands to Packy, indicating that he wanted to be let loose.
"Thanks, Packy!" Israel said, after pulling down his gag. "You know, this is gonna work out real well. There's seven of them, and seven of us."
"Wrong, Israel," Packy said. "Me and my friends have got Joey, Pee Wee, Davy, Mark, Andy, Tagg, and Rusty tied up at Joey's place, and Little Beaver and the twins got Keena, Nishko, Wacopi, Attuma, Swift Arrow, Walking Horse, and Spotted Elk tied up at their village."
"So that means there's seven of us, and 21 others out to get us," said Mark.
"You add pretty good, Mark," Packy said.
"He ties pretty good, too," Wild Horse said. "Last time he was here, he had me and my brothers hog tied, and it was Little Elk and Spotted Elk that got us loose."
"What he didn't tell you, was that Mark had 'em wearing pajamas instead of their buckskins, and they spent a week paying the price for it," Little Beaver cut in. "Maybe Mark'll get some payback, and the twins and their big brother will tie him up in his pajamas," Israel, Kevin, and the rest, all snickered.
"Better check on our prisoners," Red Horse said, and they trooped back to the front room, only to find their captives gone. The only things that even hinted that there were captives, were a few pieces of rawhide, and two knotted bandanas. "We're in trouble!" Israel declared.
"Yeah, especially if they go over to Joey's, and hook up with Joey, Pee Wee, and them," replied Packy. "We better get our little butts outta here before we find ourselves outnumbered two or three to one, and we all wind up tied in pajamas again."
"Kevin grinned at Packy, and said the same thing he had said earlier; that Packy said that as if it were a bad thing.
"I guess it's not, if it's the other guy getting tied up," Packy replied.
Red Horse grinned, and said, "Let's make it happen!"
"Yeah!" chimed in his twin brother, Wild Horse. "But let's make sure it doesn't happen to us!"
The others laughed, found their horses, and mounted up. "We can hole up at Pee Wee's house," Packy said. "They won't think of looking for us there, and there's no one around."
"Good idea," Israel said, and they all rode in the direction of Pee Wee's house.
When the boys arrived, they hid their horses in the barn, and went inside. "Pee Wee'll be pissed that we broke in to his house," Kevin declared. "By the way, where did you say he was?"
"Over at Joey's house," Packy replied. When me and the twins and Little Beaver left, he was hog tied real good,"
"Not good enough!" came Pee Wee's voice from the top of the stairs. And before they could move or run, they were surrounded by Rusty, Tagg, Mark, Andy, Joey, and Davy. "I brought some other friends along, too," Pee Wee said, and seven more boys appeared from behind couches and out of closets and alcoves. Ronnie, Charlie, Scott, Allen, Doug, Big Chris, and Red Jeff appeared. They were back in their regular clothes, they all had big grins on their faces, and all of them were carrying a length of rope.
Kevin looked at Mark, then at Israel, then back to Mark again. "I think we're in deep doo-doo!" he said.
The others seemed surprised, and even taken aback a bit by Kevin's semi-profane comment, but his assessment of their situation was spot on. Even more so, when Rusty made the comment about Israel and Indians. "Israel likes to hog tie Indians," Rusty said. "So we're gonna put the shoe on the other foot, and hog tie him as an Indian."
"What about the other one?" Tagg asked.
"We'll hog tie him as an Indian, too!" declared Rusty, looking at Mark. To that end, Mark and Israel were given Indian buckskins, and were told to change. By the time they returned, Little Beaver, Red Horse, Wild Horse, Kevin, and Packy, were quite nicely hog tied, and gagged with double rolled and knotted bandanas.
"Your turn, birthday boy!" Ronnie growled at Mark, and the new 11 year old had little choice. Ronnie pulled Mark's hands behind him, crossed them, then made several wraps both horizontally and vertically, effectively securing his wrists. Mark watched helplessly as Doug did the same to Israel, and while Ronnie tied his ankles together. Like the others, Mark's and Israel's ankles and wrists were tied together in a hog tie, and thick, double rolled, and knotted bandanas filled their mouths.
"That ought to keep them out of the way for a while!" declared Red Jeff. "You guys did a good job on these little Indians."
"Only doin' to Israel what he did to me," Doug laughed, while Ronnie gloated about how much fun it was to tie and gag his little brother.
"No doubt, he thinks the same about tying and gagging you," Charlie laughed. "I know, I know!" Ronnie agreed.
"Ya think we can catch them Indians?" Allen asked.
"Yeah, I think so," Scott replied. All in favor?"
Scott's hand went up, followed by the hands of Charlie, Red Jeff, and Big Chris. "That's it, four of us agree!" he announced, while Allen looked at Ronnie and Doug, and said something about making it unanimous, and raised his hand. Ronnie and Doug followed suit.
Unfortunately, he did not have time to express his thoughts about his initial disagreement, as Little Beaver popped in, and demanded that the seven of them surrender. "We got loose from your tie ups, and now, we get the right to tie you guys!" he loudly insisted.
"How'd they get loose so quick?" Red Jeff asked aloud, and was roundly criticized by Charlie, who made disparaging comments about Red Jeff's ability to tie up a captive. Big Chris caught some of it, too, as both he and Red Jeff were notorious for having their captives get free. That, added to Mark's new ability to escape as well as Scott, added up to the seven older kids returning to their former status as captives of the 10-11 year olds. This time, they had a surprise coming.
"Where's Pee Wee, Rusty, and the rest?" Packy asked. The others looked around, and sure enough, Pee Wee, Joey, Mark, Davy, Rusty, Tagg, and Andy were gone, obviously having snuck out while Mark, Kevin, and the others were celebrating their getting free, and earning the right to tie and gag Ronnie, Charlie, and the others.
"Them weasels ran out on us!" Little Beaver snarled. "They owe us some payback, and we're gonna collect!"
Mark and his friends made Charlie, Ronnie, and the others ride back to Israel's cabin. "Should we tie 'em up all the same, or different?" Mark asked. Immediately, Kevin shouted "All the same! All in Charlie's blue pajamas!"
Mark looked around, expecting to get some objections, but Little Beaver, Red Horse, and Wild Horse were all nodding, and grinning like Chessire cats. So were Kevin, Packy, and Israel. Not grinning, were their seven captives, who, with their hands and arms bound, and their mouths gagged, could say and do nothing, other than make loud "Mmmppfff's" of protest.
Israel started to untie Doug, while Mark went to work on Ronnie. Kevin went toward Charlie, but was stopped by Israel. "We don't want 'em all loose at once; just one or two of them," he explained. That way, if they try anything funny, we outnumber 'em, and can wrestle 'em down." The others agreed, and while Allen, Scott, Charlie, Red Jeff, and Big Chris were kept tied and gagged in the front room, Doug and Ronnie were untied, ungagged, and dispatched to the back bedroom, to change into sets of pajamas identical to the light blue "ski" pajamas belonging to Charlie.
When they returned, both were re-tied and re-gagged, this time with double rolled and knotted scout neckerchiefs, while Allen and Charlie were released, and told to go in the back and change.
Last, it was Red Jeff, Big Chris, and Scott, and once they had been tied and gagged with the others, it was Packy who laughed, pointed, and giggled "Hey, look! Septuplets!"
"Two sets of twins and a set of triplets," snickered Israel. "Whatever," replied Mark.
"Get their moccasins and shoes!" Kevin ordered. "We're gonna go after some Injuns, and if these guys get loose, they'll be stuck here without something for their feet!"
"I like that idea," Red Horse said. "Me, too," echoed his twin, Wild Horse.
Uh oh, looks like Doug, Scott, Allen, Charlie, and the others have stepped it in this time. Will they get their footwear back? Will they get loose, or will someone find them before they get loose, and make them "permanant prisoners?" If they do get loose, what revenge will they extract on Israel, Mark, Packy, Kevin, and the three Indians?
Tune in next time for a continuation of Mark's birthday adventure.
© Copyright Dingbat 2007
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