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Evasion In The Woods - Part 1 I have been following the stories on this site [Canuck's board] now for some time and thought it was time to make a contribution. The events took place in the mid sixties when I was twelve or thirteen years old and are true. The situations are as accurate as my memory will permit. My father was serving in the army, which took him and our family to Cyprus - a veritable heaven for a young boy with the Mediterranean climate enabling us to enjoy the outdoors all the year round. Many of my friends and I were Scouts and our meetings were held in an area of about twenty acres of woodland and rocky scrub of which we had the exclusive use. Much of the woods was covered in dense undergrowth providing superb cover for our activities. As there was always a turnover of boys through parents being posted, there was always a proportion of our number who knew the hiding places well while others less so. Each patrol of six to eight boys had their own small hut to keep their equipment and generally hang out and our meetings were otherwise held outdoors. In addition to the weekly troop meeting patrols often held their own meetings either on their own or jointly with another patrol at weekends, sometimes camping together in the woods. It was at these informal gatherings that our "games" took place. Over a period of time a set of general rules had been established. No one was compelled to participate but doing so meant acceptance of "The Rules". To prevent physical struggles any participant had to immediately surrender if shot by an opposing team member, our "arms" being the trusty water pistol. It was common to fill these with the vilest stagnant water to be found so most of us were prepared to capitulate as soon as we were challenged. Any boy being captured by the opposing side might be tied up in any way his captors saw fit. Gags could be used at the discretion of the captors and prisoners might be "tortured" (invariably by tickling) to extract information. The rules naturally prohibited the use of any physical pain other than the usual discomfort of being tightly bound. The rules were rigidly adhered to since failure to observe them would result in exclusion from future games. Although some of us enjoyed being held captive more than others the games were sufficiently popular to ensure the rules were strictly observed. The games took various forms but the basic objective (and outcome) was invariably similar. On this particular occasion two of the patrols totaling thirteen boys were camping together for the weekend. The game was to be one of search and evasion, a small group of boys representing "evaders" intent on remaining free while attempting to reach the safety of the "home base" (the clearing in front of one of our huts) while the second larger group (the defenders) tried to prevent them from doing so. A boy reaching "freedom" was prohibited from taking further part in the game and was therefore unable to attempt to rescue any team mates unfortunate enough to have been captured so it was a matter of careful consideration as to when to cross the "border" which could only be defended by a maximum of two "border guards" The better your knowledge of the area the greater were your chances of success. Any boy taken prisoner by the defenders was likely to be taken to their own base (the other patrol hut) for "interrogation" while any captives taken by the "evaders" would either be left bound, gagged and hidden or taken along as hostages. It was decided that four boys - two from each patrol - would be evaders leaving the other nine to hunt them out (we never considered it particularly important to have balanced numbers in opposing teams since we considered that success by stealth and wiliness was more important than brute force). Each member of the defending team would carry two lengths of rope and a couple of cloths that could be used to either supplement the rope or as gags for their prisoners and we were all dressed the same, in shorts and tee shirts in view of the Mediterranean summer heat. My group drew lots and I was chosen along with a newcomer, James, who was twelve. We were rejoined after a few minutes by the remaining boys, to be told that Paul and Mathew would be with us. They were brothers, thirteen and fourteen respectively and well versed in these activities. Mathew, particularly, seemed to know all the places to hide within our boundaries but was always most secretive with his knowledge, and Paul could climb like a monkey and would invariably take to the treetops. The defenders would be led by Mike and Peter, both fourteen, and my heart sank when I heard this since not only were they both well skilled at knot work (an ability we all shared) but Mike also had a well deserved reputation for his inventiveness when securing his prisoners. This did not bode well for us in the event of our capture. The game was to commence at 3.00pm and would end when all members of a team had been captured, or the "evaders" all reached safety, any combination of the foregoing or 8.00pm (suppertime). My group was wise enough to realize that we were unlikely to be able to capture the whole of the larger group, which would be an added incentive to complete our “home runs”, but we might be able to negotiate a draw given a little luck. As a further incentive, the rules provided that any member of the losing team taken prisoner before the end of the game could be kept tied at the discretion of the victors for up to one hour after completion of the game. The rest of the group withdrew to the defender's base leaving the four of us alone for fifteen minutes to make our plans and then escape into hiding. Matthew (not surprisingly) and Paul both wished to split up and we generally felt there was more chance either alone or in pairs since it was impossible to move around silently in larger numbers. On the other hand, James was a newcomer and was clearly becoming increasingly nervous, not only of the game but its probable outcome! I agreed to take him with me since I had recently discovered a new hideout, which I suspected even Matthew didn't know of. We all agreed that our best chance of success was to remain hidden until it started to get dark around 6.45 pm. The Home Base was surrounded by dense undergrowth affording excellent cover and if we were able to gather there unobserved at about that time we could make an all out assault for freedom. Because of being unable to assist our colleagues once the border was crossed we all agreed to delay our "escape" as long as possible. Additionally we hoped that we would be able to shorten the odds a little by perhaps taking some of the opposition by surprise. We did not need to carry any supplies for this purpose since each of the opposition was equipped with rope etc. Matthew and Paul quickly disappeared into the undergrowth and I led James away in the opposite direction. One corner of the woods was crossed by a narrow dirt road and I had discovered that a culvert or drain ran under this, each end being screened by bushes. The concrete pipe was large enough to crawl into (although one was unable to turn round) and was quite clean apart from a few dead leaves and fine sand. I set out my plan as we jogged off to find the culvert, explaining that if we could remain hidden until the light started to fail we should be able to make our way back carefully through the undergrowth, evading any patrols, and so reach "freedom". The "border guards" (if any) were unlikely to be much of a threat if we could get close enough before making our break for freedom. If we were able to trap any of the opposition in the meanwhile we would do so. The road was situated in the furthest corner of the wood and on arrival it took several minutes to locate the culvert, hidden as it was by the undergrowth. Having done so, I crawled in feet first followed by James. We settled ourselves comfortably for what might be a long wait. It was clear that James was a little apprehensive at what might happen before the end of the game and I tried to put him at his ease, talking in whispers. I assured him that all the players strictly obeyed our code and he told me that he had been tied on a couple of occasions. He was more worried about "making a fool of himself and being unable to get free without assistance!" It did his confidence no good at all when I made it clear that, if he was tied up by Mike he was most unlikely to be able to free himself (none of us ever had!). I explained that Mike's favourite methods were to stand his prisoners with their backs against a tree, their arms around the trunk and then tie their wrists behind them. Alternatively, he was a past master at staking his victims out, tying their ankles and wrists to 18-inch long metal tent pegs hammered deep into the rocky soil. James looked back at me with a grin but at the same time gave an involuntary shudder. I felt I had better keep Mike's more inventive ideas to myself! |