LONGHOLME ISLAND
JONAH’S JOURNEY
Part 10
Jonah Settles In
Jonah and his new friends retired to predate on the proceeds of Stewart’s raid on the campsite shop while the younger boys recovered (As best they could because, even after the tickle assault, they could still hardly move). The Pirates congratulated Jonah on his tying skill and he had to admit that the games his Scout troop played had something to do with that. He had, however, started to feel sorry for Dave as he remembered that friendly guy who had given him that game of table tennis and treated him to an ice cream, even if he didn’t pay for it, when he arrived. Stewart was more interested in deciding what forfeit his brother would have to pay for being let off the final tickle assault. The kangaroo court soon came up with a fair decision – sort of. They did agree, though, that there was no urgency in the need to free the defaulters.
While there was nothing else going on, Rob suggested that they, “Do the bit about Jonah’s challenge.” Jonah collected his instamatic camera and he set off with Rob for the gun that, although it’s undercarriage had disintegrated long ago, still stood atop the emplacement. He posed, Rob took a photo, and they headed off for the landing stage where our hero posed for another photo that would show the state of the tide. Another photo of Jonah by the gun at night followed by another tide photo in the morning would prove that Jonah had spent the night on Longholme because of the numbers on the slides. So far, points one, two and three of the settlement seemed to have been satisfied. Jonah thought he would not detail all the adventures he had enjoyed with his new friends when he got home.
The companions returned to camp and Jonah started to consider the domestic arrangements. Rob told him that he needn’t lift a finger because he knew some certain somebodies who would be delighted to help. For some strange reason, they were.
Stewart and Rob headed off towards the torture tree and shouted to Jonah that he should, “Bring Caarrpet-‘Ead’s knoife wiv yer.” Stewart put it to the captives that, IF they were prepared to wait on Jonah hand and foot, he MIGHT let them all off being betrayed to their parents. Jonah was giving nothing away.
Stewart suggested just cutting the rope cuffs and leaving the worms to finish freeing themselves. Jonah was shocked: only a Pirate could possibly suggest ruining a perfectly good rope. He extended the marlin spike from Koff’s knife and suggested that, if Stewart would be so kind as to give him a boost, he would rescue their ropes for them. Not that they deserved it. Yes, there was still a game to be played in front of the littlies.
Stewart agreed and hoisted Jonah onto his shoulders. They went and stood in front of Koff who was threatened with a fate worse than death (Stewart was fond of hyperbole) if he didn’t reach as high as he could to take the tension off the reef-knot that was keeping him stretched out quite strictly already. Jonah made short work of untying the knot and instructed his mount to move round one place. Before doing so, Rob asked Koff how much he wanted to be naked. Koff shook his head frantically and Rob said that, in that case, he’d better not start pulling on the rope until he was told that he could. Koff nodded several times.
Once Dave and Roy had been treated similarly, Rob gave a lecture about acceptable and unacceptable behaviour which was followed by much nodding from the three captives. “Alright, worms, free your arms, just pulling should do that and then you can remove the tape from your eyes.”
“But don’t try even touching your gags”, reinforced Stewart. More nodding followed. There was hardly any friction to impeded the first manoeuvre and bound hands reached for the tape that was sealing their eyes shut. By then, the older boys had regained their chairs and enjoyed the barely stifled squeals as six eyebrows were partially pruned.
“Good job you told them not to remove those gags, I don’t approve of strong language.” Jonah was feeling more at home with every passing second.
“You’re not related to Koff’s mum, are you?” More of Stewart’s loot was given good homes while the lads laughed.
“Let’s see what they do now.” Much muffled, and completely useless communication ensued until it dawned on Roy that he could reach Koff’s knife where Jonah had dropped it – just! Having his ankles tied to both the other boys made things far from easy but he did manage to kneel down and reach out for it. Rob congratulated Jonah on the careful positioning of the spike. “Well judged, “Grockle Boy”.
Roy could just reach the knot that completed his cuff with the marlin spike but it took over five minutes before he could free his wrists completely. At least he could pass the knife to Dave. No, it didn’t dawn on the ‘worms’ that it would have been easier for all concerned if Roy had untied one of his ankle cuffs first so that they could have helped each other. In all, it must have taken a good half-hour until all ropes had been removed, but only about another five minutes after Stewart had threatened the newly untied prisoners before they had tidied them up and come to kneel in front of Jonah.
Domestic tasks were allocated, none of which seemed to require any effort from Jonah, Rob or Stewart and soon camp had been established and dinner was under way courtesy of the stores. The domestic slaves were starting to wonder whether they would be allowed any.
Dinner was served and, once more, the servants came to their knees.
“Well, what have you got to say for yourselves?” The ensuing chaotic replies were completely incomprehensible but were, in fact, a mixture of pleas, apologies and promises of perfect behaviour from then on. Rob let the chaos go on for as long as he found it entertaining. “RIGHT! Shut the **** up!”
Stewart took over. “Who wants some dinner?” Three hands were raised. “Who needs the bog?” Only one hand went down. “Who’s got anything to say to the Grockle?” There was much embarrassed shuffling and mumbling and three heads hung as, once more, three hands were raised.
“OK Jonah, who do you think should get first go?” To cut a long story short, first Koff, then Dave and finally Roy got to strip the tape off their faces and mumble apologies, explanations and pleas for mercy, some of which were actually sincerely meant. Jonah gracefully (or smugly, depending on your point of view) accepted the apologies and even believed some of the explanations of the Pirates’ behaviour. He was still giving no indication of how likely he was to extend mercy to the supplicants.
All that was left was the washing up and the matter of the evening’s entertainment.
Jonah Joins In Properly
“What you think, Mate? How about a worm hunt?” Stewart was addressing Rob.
“Sounds good to me, mush. Worms, Jonah seems to have finished his drink.” Three Pirates got up and ran for the gun emplacement. Dave made it to the stores first and returned with a warm Coke. Jonah raised an eyebrow before accepting it. Three swim-suited Pirates took to their knees. Jonah nodded approvingly and took the can.
“What’s a ‘worm hunt’?” Look, by now you know and I know that Jonah could have made a good guess, but it’s always wise to come up to speed on the local rules. Even if it was under duress the ‘worms’ agreed to take part and even agreed on the prize awards and, rather more reluctantly, with the penalties.
Each worm then retrieved the rope that had recently bound his wrists and returned to face the latest in ‘justice’. If they weren’t still so shit-scared that Jonah might dob them in and what their brothers would do to them if they lost their privileged access to Longholme, their situation would have been no worse than a normal evening in the Summer Holidays. As it was, though, they had some decisions to make: should they play the game hard or should they allow Jonah to win?
The ropes were prepared as ‘negotiations’ continued. Centres were located easily because the worms made sure that they wound the ropes properly, bights were returned and loops opened and slipped over the arms of the quarry. The loops were tightened leaving the free ends hanging behind the subjects. Simple knots secured the captors’ work so far. There followed much ostentatious (and completely unnecessary) adjustments as those knots were grabbed and the victims pulled around until their tormentors declared themselves satisfied. Simple knots in the doubled ropes about six inches below the initial knots provided further pairs of loops which drew the worms’ upper arms towards each other once they had been inserted. Roy found that less demanding than his fellow-sufferers and his elbows nearly touched. He thought he could handle that.
“Oh, come on, man, not so close, please.” Dave, being more muscular than flexible, was really suffering at his brother’s hands.
“Did your brother say something, Stewart?”
“You know, Rob: I believe he did.”
“OK, Muscle Monkey, want to beg?” That was too much to ask, Dave thought he would rather not lose face again; after all, he wouldn’t have to stay like that for long - would he? Almost imperceptibly, Stewart did ease off on the tension slightly but not so that Dave would notice. Once more, the free ends were simply tied-off round the vertical cords. All three worms raised their forearms behind them on orders and, at least, with their arms pulled together, the older boys did not need to tie their forearms too tightly. Jonah had seen that tie before somewhere. Perhaps it was when he was captured by Hawk Patrol in that wide game recently. But at that time the members of his patrol only got tied up after they had been captured.
“Are we going to gag them?” Jonah assumed they were.
“Nah, not safe; if they hide too well and have an accident, they need to be able to shout for help.”
“Although, - - - perhaps we could gag my brother - - -“ Dave thought it would be better to keep schtum.
A brief recap of the rules and it was time to release the worms. They had ten minutes to hide before the hunters would try to find them. After that, the last one captured would be untied. The last hunter to be without a captive would obviously have to suffer in a manner not yet specified but the decision of the Court would form part of the evening’s entertainment. Jonah was now feeling very much at home.
The hunters repaired to the gun emplacement so that they couldn’t see in which direction the worms fled and, of course, the Pirates’ Code of Honour demanded that they had to stay there until the ten minutes had elapsed. It was decided that Jonah was at a disadvantage in not knowing either the Island or the habits of the quarry as well as Stewart and Rob so they said they wouldn’t start the search until Jonah had had a five-minute start. So, the game was on.
All three hunters slipped some of the fabric strips into the waist-bands of their swimmers and waited for the start time. To cut a short story even shorter, Jonah soon located Dave who was trying to change his hiding place as he passed the concealed visitor who took him down with a rugby tackle. By the time he could react, Dave found himself blindfolded and effectively defenceless. It was probably redundant of Jonah to ask whether his prize was going to cooperate but, nevertheless, he did so before tying another strip, knotted this time, into Dave’s mouth. He contemplated bringing the ends round and tying them into another knot in Dave’s mouth. It certainly wasn’t necessary – so he did it. Dave objected.
Jonah marched his captive back to the gun emplacement, took him into the innermost compartment and made him sit cross-legged. He used another of the discarded (but neatly hanked) ropes to secure Dave’s ankles and just pulled his head forwards. By the time he had tied the rope off, he would not be able to straighten up. Dave couldn’t help thinking that Jonah was quite good at that sort of thing. He had been tied, there was no feeling of constriction round his neck but he was completely unable to slip the rope free and he simply could not straighten up.
The two of them had only a couple of minutes to wait before Stewart dragged a blindfolded and volubly complaining Roy into the chamber. Before Roy could have his ankles bound completely, Rob brought a compliant, but also blindfolded and gagged Koff to join the party. It was then decided to delay any decisions until refreshments had been taken – well, at least by three of the participants. Once Koff had been secured, Roy had been gagged, and threats made about escape attempts, the hunters withdrew.
TBC