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An Autumn Camp Matthew looked at me and asked if I was prepared to tell them what they wanted to know. This was a poser - I wasn't certain what it was they were after. They had surmised that we knew something of their team-mates but without any corroborative evidence. On the other hand, we knew nothing of the whereabouts of Stuart and James and I doubted if they were interested, in any case. Another worrying thought passed through my mind - Matthew (and any of his buddies who happened to be around) was going to be one furious boy when he discovered we did not have our packages. Freedom for us would remain an illusion unless we were taken back to the woods and either Stuart or James managed to penetrate the enemy camp. This looked like being one long afternoon! I made as if I was giving Matthew's question some serious thought and then, with a wicked grin, shook my head vigorously. I would put my trust in Paul to get us out of this. I must have been mad - Paul took his cue from me and shook his head too. "Oh my god, no!" I thought, "The boy wants to be a martyr!" Without putting our gags back the attack was renewed with as much vigour as before, this time with us suffering simultaneously. When at last the tickling stopped, I was wet with perspiration and gasping for breath from laughing. I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn't actually wet myself. I looked at Paul and he was no better off. His head was drooping, his face wet with tears and his hair hung down lank from the sweat. Clearly I would have to end this. Before either of our tormentors could speak I raised my head, begged them to stop and told them what they wanted to know. Paul looked up in shocked surprise - maybe he wasn't as ticklish as me! As soon as I had finished telling them about Roger and David, Andrew and Matthew dashed off to search for them, not even bothering to replace our gags, which left us with a few minutes to discuss our predicament. I tried to stretch to ease my aching arms and legs - it was useless. We had both been tied in such a way that we had no freedom of movement at all. Until our captors deigned to release us we would remain exactly as we were. I looked at Paul and grinned - he was obviously attempting to do exactly the same and having the same amount of success. After a moment he spoke and said, "Our situation is going to be a whole lot worse when they find Andrew and Roger." Never was a truer word spoken - Roger certainly wasn't going to welcome us as long lost cousins after leaving him tied to a tree. With Matthew already on the warpath, we were in for a bad time! After asking him if he was all right and being assured that apart from his aching arms and legs he was fine, I asked Paul, "Why did you hold out so long?" He grinned, looked a little sheepish and replied, "I think I forgot to tell you, but I am not nearly as ticklish as you! Even so, that last attack really got me going. If you hadn't given in I couldn't have faced another session". I looked at the boy again and understood rather better than perhaps he had intended what he meant - with only a thin pair of cotton shorts on and arched backwards to his stake the bulge was obvious for all to see. I grinned inwardly but couldn't embarrass him by drawing attention to it. Instead I said, "As for me, a few moments longer and I would have wet myself! I think they will take us back to their base rather than leave us here," Paul tried to stretch again to bring some relief to his limbs, "but you realise we are really for it when they find out we haven't got our packages?" Paul looked shocked, "Do you know, I had completely forgotten about them. Well, Matthew intends to make me suffer as much as possible for my rejecting him and there is nothing I can do about it now. I suggest we do all we can to keep these four occupied, which will give Stuart and James a better chance. If we are taken back to the woods and Stuart and James make it that far, they may even get an opportunity to set us free. In any case, all the time this lot have to look after us, there are only four of them out there to catch our mates and no one is better at moving over rough country secretly than those two!" All he said was true but further discussion was out of the question as we heard movements in the bushes and Andrew and Matthew reappeared, closely followed by our two erstwhile prisoners. Roger and David congratulated our captors on the way they had trussed us up and then - horror of horrors - proceeded to search us. It didn't take long. Dressed only in our shorts they had minimal pockets to examine and in a moment realised we did not have the all-important packages (remember, they would need 75% of the contraband as well as several bodies to win!). It was clear that, if we had thought they were mad before we had seen nothing. We listened to a short discussion, the result of which was that it was decided to take us back to the woods. Matthew and Andrew had clearly had some discussion on this topic before rescuing their buddies and the former made it clear that his brother had not yet paid his penance. He looked at Paul with a sickly grin and said, "We can't have you exhausting yourself so we are going to carry you." Paul looked a little blank but I felt myself shiver involuntarily - I had a premonition of what was to follow. Sure enough, Andrew began to explain how I had been carried slung to a pole by my bound hands and feet, following my capture by my own brother during our last game in the summer (of the present company, Andrew was the only one present apart from the reluctant victim - me - and I wasn't given a say in the matter). Paul looked mystified by the explanation while I thought to myself, "You really don't want to find out about this!" Our mouths were still free but Paul made no comment. Instead, he glared truculently at his brother and I found myself thinking, not for the first time, "Boy, you really do know how to wind someone up. I guess you do deserve what's coming!" I shrugged my shoulders - no that's a lie; I would have liked to shrug my shoulders but given the way we were bound that was impossible - if Paul was determined upon self destruction the least I could do was bear it manfully without complaining, because it was quite clear I would be sharing his fate. Matthew disappeared in the direction whence we had first been apprehended. When he returned he was carrying two small back packs and two staves (six-foot long ash poles about 1 inches in diameter). The thought went through my mind that these lads were ready for any eventuality. I now watched as the four boys set about freeing Paul's hands and saw him briefly stretch luxuriously. Alas, he wasn't given long to enjoy his freedom as David stepped forward and deftly bound his wrists in front of him, palm to palm. This done his ankles were freed briefly, he was dragged away from the tree, stretched out on the ground face down, his arms above his head, his ankles were retied and finally a rope was tied between his wrists and ankles, pulling the former behind his head and the latter well up behind his butt, and rolled over onto his side. Paul's eyes were blank - he still had no notion of what was about to happen. Now it was my turn. My hands were untied and like Paul before me, I reveled in the brief moment of freedom, as my muscles were able to relax. Again, the moment was all too short, but to my surprise I was pushed forward and my hands were retied behind my back before my ankles were freed from the tree. Without any assistance from the others, I sank forward thankfully, bending my knees as I lay full stretch on the ground and let out a deep sigh. At the same time, I was puzzled by my treatment and looked up into Matthew's grinning face. He must have understood my enquiring look because he said, "No need to carry you, Richard. You can walk!" My mind raced. I was only too well aware of what Paul was about to experience (thankfully, he was still blissfully unaware). That I was being let off meant one of two things. First, that our captors were still anxious for me after my recent experiences or second, that by making me walk, one of them would be released to join the search for our chums. It would take four to carry us both. For The benefit of Stuart and James, if for no other reason I couldn't let these guys get away with this. Furthermore, Paul had brought much of this down on his own head but we had all told him earlier we were in this together and I wasn't going to let him suffer on his own now. Finally, if the truth were known, I was fed up with being treated like an invalid too. I glared at Matthew and said, "If you think I am walking back with you, you can forget it." (Thank heaven our mouths were still free!). Poor Matthew was completely devastated by my unexpected response. He almost whined, "but you've got to!" but this was met with a vigorous shaking of my head. Finally, he accepted the inevitable and told his colleagues to bind my ankles and then retie me as Paul was already. I let out a sigh and relaxed as the other boys reworked my bonds, all the while thinking, "Well, you can hardly blame Paul for the mess you're in now!" Matthew had just one last card to play. He approached his younger brother, trussed on the floor, crouched down and said, "We don't need to do this, littl'un. You only have to apologise, you know." He could hardly have made a worse attempt at reconciliation. Paul raised his head and almost spat out the words, "Apologise to you? You must be out of your tree. I have nothing to apologise for!" Matthew turned away nonplussed - he had backed himself into a corner with his silly argument, although I still suspected his motives were not entirely altruistic but aimed at getting an extra team member back in the field. Paul, on the other hand, was clearly so headstrong that nothing would make him climb down - he was determined to accept anything that was done to him without a murmur.
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