|
The Last War Of Summer - Part 5 We all began at once to clamor for explanations but Robert held up his hand to silence us. "No time for chatter now. We must get away from here with these two before someone else returns. We'll go to the "foxhole". Blindfold these two and move on." The "foxhole" was our pride and joy. A narrow ditch led beneath dense shrubbery where it broadened out into a wide pit approximately four feet deep. James and I had discovered it before the summer vacation began and we only revealed it to Robert and his brother David. The pit was completely invisible from beyond the dense bushes and the ditch, itself well concealed, was the only entrance. During the past two months we had further improved it by covering part with discarded corrugated iron. It lay just beyond our own camp but would be much safer than our base now. Clearly, our secret would be out after today but I realized the blindfolds would be a worthwhile safeguard for now and we applied ourselves enthusiastically to the task. On completion, we were certain our prisoners could see nothing. I took control now and knelt by our prisoners. "It's your turn to go for a walk now. We have no intention of letting you see where we are going. We will guide you carefully provided you give us no trouble but if you don't co-operate we will have to be less gentle with you!" I added sinisterly. The two bound figures nodded their agreement. They had both seen my treatment at the hands of my captors and had no reason to believe I might be less ingenious. They also had every reason to believe (mistakenly) that I might bear a grudge. Mark's ankles were freed; he was helped to his feet and led away by Robert and Colin carefully making use of every bit of available cover. Once they were clear Stuart did the same with Simon. Once on his feet, we each grasped one of his arms and lead him away carefully under my directions. Ten minutes later, we reached the entrance "tunnel". I pointed it out silently to Stuart who climbed in first. Then we pushed Simon to his knees and made him shuffle forward (not easy with his hands tied behind his back) until we reached the safety of our "den". Stuart gasped with admiration - we were completely hidden from outside - but he didn't forget our captives. He pushed Simon down on his face and within a few moments the boy's ankles had been tied again. Now we rolled him over, sat him up and propped him against one of the dirt walls of the pit. Within a few moments we heard scrabbling from outside and expected Robert to appear with Colin and Mark. Instead we were surprised to see David's grinning face appear. "Matthew is outside with more company," he grinned. Before we could answer, there was more scrabbling and two more gagged and blindfolded figures were dragged into the lair, their hands tied behind them. Like Stuart they were both shirtless and these had been rolled up and used to gag the boys. Like Chris earlier, we were beginning to run out of material for gags and the tee shirts made an excellent alternative. The new arrivals had their ankles bound and were sat next to Simon, just as a further disturbance outside announced the arrival of Robert and Colin. With Mark trussed and placed next to the others, I turned to wondering who David had brought us, the gathering gloom making identification impossible earlier. We kept a torch in the den and I shone it quickly in the faces of the two strangers. One was Geoff, one of our occasional "guest players" but I was staggered when I shone the light on the second face and realized it was Peter, Mike's "right hand man"! Despite his rough treatment earlier, Stuart was essentially a gentle and considerate boy. He felt we should provide the prisoners with water as they had done with us. Water bottles were produced and our captives were ungagged one by one to enable them to drink and then regagged. At the same time, we decided to deal with Simon and Mark in the same way as the other two. While their gags were off, one by one they were pushed forward, their hands untied and their shirts pulled off. Mark must have thought he was about to be tickle tortured and began to remonstrate but was silenced by David with a hand over his mouth. I took great delight in retying their hands behind them, taking considerable care with the lashings and when I had finished their shirts were rolled up, forced between their teeth and tied off at the back of their necks. We heard Mark breathe a sigh of relief and we all giggled. David now recounted how James had come out of hiding when I failed to return, tracked him down along with Matthew and explained how we suspected Chris of treachery (we were now able to confirm the full extent of this). They had found Robert who offered to reconnaître the enemy base and was thus able to rescue the three of us. Meanwhile, Peter and Geoff had blundered into them and outgunned, had been taken prisoners. David had realized the risks involved in keeping our prisoners at our "compromised" base and suggested our present alternative. It was agreed that all prisoners should be blindfolded - our secret would be out when the game was over but they wanted to keep it until then. James remained in the field to search for Paul (Matthew's younger brother) while David and Matthew brought their prisoners in. Stuart briefly explained how he had been caught by Chris, who had approached as a friend and then "shot" him. When he was made to remove his shirt he thought he was going to be tortured for information, but Chris seemed to change his mind, leaving him shirtless but tightly trussed, gagged and hidden until he was brought in by Andrew. Colin and Ken described how they had been surprised by Mark and Andrew and overpowered. Then they described Chris's arrival and my capture and somewhat to my embarrassment, gave a graphic description of the fight I put up with my brother and the way he dealt with me. Their audience listened in awed silence as they told how I had been carried on the pole all the way to the enemy base following my refusal to walk there. We now turned to discussing what action we should take. Time had been passing, it was now 7.00 pm and the time limit was 8.30. We had four prisoners (including Peter - a valuable captive) but had no news of James and Paul, our only team members currently in the field. We decided to send out two scouts, first to check on the enemy base and then to try to find James and Paul. Only the former knew the whereabouts of this hideout but with time now at a premium we were certain the opposition would go to any lengths to extract information if our gallant friends were caught. I volunteered immediately and so did Matthew, anxious for his younger brother. David warned me, in particular, to take care. He was sure that Chris would be far harder on me than any of the others if I was re-captured and we all knew he would be particularly cross at our escape. We would return in half an hour to report...
|