Doug's and Scott's Excellent Adventure - Part 2

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.
Doug's and Scott's Excellent Adventure 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.

Chapter 6: Doug's Debt

Scott had slipped through the secret passages, and was standing behind the panel in the closet. "Damn, I can't believe they're going out looking for me, and not leaving anyone to guard Doug!" he thought, but it was true. And it was confirmed, when Scott eased into the closet, and cracked the door. All he could see was Doug, laying hogtied and gagged on the bed.

Scott waited until he was sure Israel and Packy had gone, then slipped out of the closet, went past his hogtied friend to the window. Looking down, he saw the three boys discussing something, then split up. Satisfied that none of them were coming back into the hotel, he went back to Doug, and started to loosen his hands. Doug responded with a couple of loud "Mmmppfff's," and Scott stopped, and pulled away Doug's gag.

"What?" he asked.

"Leave me alone!" Doug growled. "I came here to test myself against Israel, and it ain't much of a test if you turn me loose, so put my gag back in, and get gone!"

Well, if Doug wanted to lay there all tied up, Scott wasn't going to argue with him. But just to be annoying, Scott said that he should leave the gag hanging around Doug's neck.

"If they come back before you get loose, they'll tie you up some more 'cause they'll believe you pushed your gag out with your tongue." Scott grinned. "Give me four freebies when we get home, and I'll re-gag you! Otherwise, you take your chances!"

Doug nodded, and said, "You know I'm gonna get your skinny little mmmppfff!" Scott smiled at the sentence cut off by replacing Doug's gag, then went to the closet, and spotted a bag. He opened it up, and saw the buckskins and pajamas that Israel had hidden. He pulled out one of each, and tossed them toward Doug.

"Maybe if they see these, they'll get some ideas!" Scott said, as he slipped back into the closet, and behind the panel.

"I don't care if he is my best friend, and I don't care what I owe him!" Doug thought. "I'm gonna feed his gall bladder to Big Kevin's pet iguana when we get home!"

Scott had come along to keep Doug company, but he wasn't inclined to let himself get tied and gagged by Israel, or anybody else for that matter. If it happened, it happened, and Scott wouldn't fight it. At least, not too hard. But he wasn't going to go looking for it like Doug did. Still, Israel and his friends were looking for him, so now it became a game of wits and wills. And, since Doug's three captors had split up, maybe Scott could use that to his advantage, and capture them all. Then, again, he just might walk in to the wrong place at the wrong time, and wind up joining Doug, hog tied on a bed back at the hotel.

One advantage Scott had, was the fact he was wearing sneakers. Israel wore "Apache boots," over the calf moccasins, which were just as quiet, but Tagg and Packy wore boots, and on any kind of hard surface, boots were noisy. Scott could hear them coming two blocks away.

Meanwhile, Doug was having his problems. Not only could Israel tie well, the little 10-year- old was smart. Doug discovered that his hands had been tied above his wrists, making it harder for him to slide his hands under his butt. Doug was sure he could get loose; it would just take longer.

But he had wanted a challenge, and Israel had given him one. If Scott, Allen, or Charlie had tied him, he would have been out ten minutes ago, but he was still face down on the hotel bed, wrists and ankles still securely tied, his ankles drawn up toward his hands in a hog tie, and on top of that, Israel had gagged him Indian style, by rolling two bandanas together.

"This kid could give Little Kevin some competition!" Doug thought. "Or Little Kevin could give some to him!"

Doug resumed trying to inch the rope down to his wrists, and struggling to loosen his feet.

"Damn!" he thought. "If I'd'a known it would'a taken this long, I'd'a let Scott untie me, and gone with him!" Then he thought "I hope I can get Israel to tie me up again!"

Chapter 7: A New Player

Down below, Scott heard the sound of boots on the wooden sidewalk, and crouched down at the edge of the general store. He had no idea who was coming, and at the first sign of a boot, Scott stuck his hand out, and the boy wearing the boots went down in a heap. Scott was about to jump on him, but stopped when he recognized that he had tripped up Mark McCain.

"Sorry, Mark!" Scott said. "I thought you were Tagg or Packy!"

 "Oh, yeah, and I'm sure I look like Packy or Tagg!" Mark growled. "I'm 5' 7"! Packy ain't even five feet, and Tagg is barely five feet! What part of that equation don't you understand?"

Scott apologized again, then told Mark what was going on; that Doug had come, wanting to challenge his escape skills against Israel, and that he had come along to keep Doug company, and make sure he didn't get himself into too much trouble.

Mark laughed. "Hell!" he said, "If Israel tied him up, he's gonna be a while gettin' loose! That kid can tie almost as good as the Indians!"

"That's what I heard!" Scott said.

Mark cut back in, and said "But I'm better! Swift Arrow, Walking Horse, and Spotted Elk captured me, then decided I'd make a good Indian. Part of my initiation, was that I had to capture and tie up Keena. If he stayed tied for half an hour, I was in. I had to do it four times before I got him, and twice, Keena captured and tied me! I thought I'd blown it when Walking Horse got captured with me, but I got back to back with him, and got his hands untied, and that just impressed him more!"

Scott thought he ought to nickname Mark "Motor Mouth," but decided not to annoy him. Besides, he might need Mark's help in rounding up Tagg, Packy, and Israel, and Pee Wee and Rusty if they chose to get involved. Besides, Mark wanted to help, and Scott had learned long ago, not to turn down help. Especially here. And especially since Mark would be a huge influence in getting help from Joey, Andy, and Davy, if it was necessary.

The two of them set off looking for Israel, Tagg, and Packy. They kept to the shadows and alleys of town, and their stealth paid off. They spotted Israel running toward the general store, about a block away.

 "There's the first one on my hit list!" Scott said.

Mark nodded and grinned. "Can I tie him up?" he asked. "I owe him from a week or so back."

Scott said, "Sure! Just make sure you do a good job on him!"

Chapter 8: Tweens for Bait??

They were surprised when they got up to a back window of the general store. Looking in, they saw Rusty, Tagg, and Pee Wee, all tied and gagged in the back room.

"Now what?" Scott asked Mark.

Mark said that Rusty, Tagg, and Pee Wee were "tweens" - bigger than the little kids, like Packy and Israel, but smaller than the big kids, like Mark, Davy, and Joey. "Pee Wee's 13, but he's small for his age!" Mark said. "Rusty and Tagg are 12!"

"But that don't explain why they are tied up!" Scott said.

Mark said, "Probably because Israel and Packy thought they could not be trusted! Pee Wee and Joey are real good friends, and in the same boy scout troop, and he's also the informal leader of the tweens since he's the oldest!"

"That makes sense!" Scott mused, "But they could be decoys! You know, tied up in the hopes that I'd see them, and try to rescue them, and then, while I'm getting them loose, they'd jump me and call their friends!"

"Scott, they are 11, 12 and 13!" Mark said. "Do you really think they are capable of concocting such a scheme?"

"I wouldn't put it past them!" Scott said. "Not when I think about some of the schemes that we come up with! You know the other Mark - the little one?"

"Yeah, what about him?" Mark asked.

"Me and my brother found him tied up one time, and when we went to untie him, all his 10 and 11 year old friends jumped us!"

"So, what's the plan?" Mark asked.

"Simple!" Scott answered. "We capture Packy and Israel first, then we get to the other three, and find out if they are really captives, or if they're being used for bait!"

"And you think they're just gonna tell us?" Mark asked.

"Yep!" Scott replied. "We'll just un- gag one of 'em, and since we'll be their captors, and they have to do what we say, and answer our questions, they'll tell us!"

"Yeah, right!" Mark snorted. "They'll lie through their teeth, and the minute we let our guard down, we'll be the ones tied and gagged!"

Scott laughed. "That's OK!" he said. "Israel's the only one that can tie worth a damn, and chances are, if we do get caught, Israel will only tie one of us, and the other will have an easy escape!"

Mark shook his head, and asked Scott if he had ever heard of a guy named Murphy. "There's a kid in school named Donnie Murphy!" Scott answered.

"Wrong one!" Mark said. "The Murphy I know, has laws, and his first law, is 'If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong, usually at the worst possible moment!'"

"Well, we better just make sure nothing goes wrong!" Scott said. "C'mon, let's go get Packy and Israel!"

Fortunately for Mark and Scott, Israel and Packy were not hard to capture, and the two older boys soon had their younger counterparts caught and tied. They were walked to the room where Pee Wee, Tagg, and Rusty were still held captive, where their ankles were tied. After Scott and Mark checked the gags on their two captives, they turned their attention to the other three, previously captured by Israel and Packy.

Rusty's ankles were untied, and he was taken to another room, where Mark questioned him. When he was done, he grinned as he held out the long white bandage in his hands. "Sorry, Rusty, but I gotta confirm what you said with Tagg and Pee Wee!"

"Yeah, I know!" Rusty said. "But you're gonna owe me one!"

Scott, who was listening by the door, while watching the other two, laughed, and said, "If it was me, it wouldn't be just one! It'd be two or three!"

Rusty was re-gagged, then walked back out, and his feet were re-tied. Next, Mark repeated the process with Pee Wee, and finally, with Tagg. They all told essentially the same story, with only a few minor differences; not enough to arouse any suspicion, so after the questioning, Mark and Scott were satisfied that they had really been tied by Packy and Israel, and were not being used as "bait," even though, since they had Israel and Packy, it was a moot point.

The three were forced to promise not to try to capture and tie up Mark and Scott. Once they agreed, they were untied and joined Scott and Mark as captors of Packy and Israel. Tagg, having been with Packy and Israel earlier, was vocal about wanting to be in in whatever Mark and Scott were doing, especially if it meant tying and gagging Israel and Packy.

"Them double-crossing weasels got it comming!" he grumbled. "Four or five times. Each!"

Chapter 9: Re-enter Doug!

Meanwhile, Doug had finally managed to get his hands under his butt, and get himself loose.

"Wow, that was great!" he thought. "It took better than a half hour to get loose! I need more ties like that, and with the practice, I'll get even better than Allen!"

Doug cleared the ropes and the gag, and raced down to the town street. "Now to find Scott, and let him know I got loose all by myself!"

The only problem with that, was that Doug didn't have a clue about where Scott was, and it was compounded by nobody being around. But there was a visual clue. Scott's horse was still in front of the hotel, so he couldn't have gone too far. And, since it was dusk, the obvious thing would be to look in places where lights were on.

Doug peeked through the front window of the general store, and saw light and movement in the back, He snuck around to the back, but there were no windows, save for one up near the top, and a good three feet over Doug's head. If he was going to look inside, he'd need to find something to stand on. He looked around, and saw an empty rain barrel, and thought that it would do. As quietly as he could, he moved it under the window, turned it bottom side up, then climbed on top of it.

Doug could barely see over the ledge of the window, even on tiptoe. He'd need to get another 4-6 inches, and he again scanned the alley in back, to see if there was something that would add the height he needed. He spotted a couple of 4 x 6's about a foot long, and stacked them on top of the barrel. They added almost four inches, and when Doug climbed back on top of the barrel, he had the extra height he needed to look through the window, but just barely. There, he saw Israel and Packy, still bound and gagged. Doug smiled, and thought that Israel may be able to tie good, but he sucked as an escape artist.

"The only kid I know, that's good as both an escape artist, and as a captor, is Wayne Sommers!" Doug thought. "Maybe I can get him and Israel to team up one day!"

Doug lost his daydream when he felt a tug on the leg of his pants. He looked down, and saw Rusty, in his blue uniform.

Doug jumped down, and Rusty said, "Me and Scott and Tagg and Mark are looking for you! Whoever finds you, is supposed to take you to your room, and wait for the others to show up!"

Doug said that it wouldn't be a problem, then asked for one more look before they went.

"Make it quick!" Rusty said, and Doug climbed back up on the barrel, and looked in.

"They're working together to untie each other!" Doug said.

Rusty laughed. "Yeah, we figured they would!" he said. "I'm just surprised they didn't think of it sooner! If they had, they'd've been loose a half hour ago! Now, let's get out of here, and back to the hotel, before they get all the way loose and find us out here!"

Chapter 10: Indians!

Rusty and Doug scrambled back to the hotel. Surprisingly, they were the first ones into the room, and Rusty commented that he thought Tagg, Scott, and Mark would have been there by now. Then, he heard a soft "Mmmppfff!" coming from the closet. He opened the door, and there sat Mark, his hands and feet tied, and his mouth gagged with a red bandana.

Rusty pulled down his gag, and asked, "What happened to you?"

"The Indian twins and their big brother happened to me!" Mark sputtered. They're gonna come back for me later, after they catch two more, and my guess, is that they're after Israel and Packy!"

"What makes you think that?" Doug asked.

"Because I'm about the same size as Walking Horse, and Packy and Israel are about the same size as the twins!" Mark replied. "I think they want to adopt us into their tribe, just like Pokewah's tribe adopted Rusty!"

"You better lay low, Rusty!" Doug said. "Those two-named Injuns find you've been adopted into the one-named Injun tribe, they'll hogtie you, stake you out, tie you to a pole, tie you in a teepee, and spread eagle you, and that's before they break for lunch!"

Mark agreed. "Keena, Nishko, and Wacopi adopted me and Andy into their tribe, too, and Attuma adopted Israel! A week later, Swift Arrow, Walking Horse, and them captured me just before I got to town, and they staked me out, spread eagled me, hog tied me, and tied me to a pole! All of them took a turn, and I had never been tied up so many times in my life!"

"They left me tied up in a teepee!" Mark continued, "And they gagged me real good, with two bandanas rolled together, and a big knot in the middle! Then they did it all over again, after making me wear a pair of their buckskins. After dinner, they did it one more time, and made me wear Charlie's red pajama pants. And I never got out once!"

"How'd you get away from them?" Doug asked.

"Those two friends of yours, Mike Houghton and Mike Hayworth, spotted me, and helped me get loose!" Mark said. "That was the most fun! We made them wear Charlie's pajama pants, then tied 'em up good, and used the knotted and double rolled bandanas to gag them! Then we found Little Beaver and the twins, and untied them. They were real happy to see Nishko, Wacopi, and Keena all tied up in Charlie's pajamas.

"What's so great about that?" Doug asked.

"Things have changed since you were here last!" Mark said. Now, if an Indian finds anyone tied up in pajamas, the one that finds the one tied, gets to keep him as a 'permanent prisoner' for the rest of the day, and all of the next day! Nishko, Keena, and Wacopi were found by those three ten-year-olds, and my guess, is that the twins and Little Beaver got a whole bunch of practice tying and gagging captives!"

"Which explains why Keena wants you so bad!" laughed Doug. "But I tell you what! You change clothes with me, and Walking Horse and his buddies will think I'm you, and won't realize they got the wrong kid until they catch me!"

What's Doug got up his sleeve now? And where are the others? Captured by Indians, or just late? To find out, come back in 2-7 days, and learn more, as Doug and Scott continue their excellent adventure."

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