THE group met again on the following day, at the same time. in the same room.
The Tuppenham twins , allocated to take Fraulein by the arms in the initial attack, were shown by Mary the best way to undertake this dangerous assignment.
For the first lesson Mary gave the part of Fraulein to Evelyn, telling her to resist as much as she could. "Now !" said Mary to the twins. "One of you take the right arm - the other the left. Come up behind her, and grab hold of her arm by the wrist with your right hand, and at the same time put your hand at the back of her elbow joint. Now stiffen her arm, and force her down to her knees, at the same time pulling her arms up. !"
To the delight of the twins they found that this worked perfectly, time after time Evelyn ended up on her knees, with her stiffened and extended arms up behind her, however much she tried to resist.
"After half-term, we'll try that with the cuffs." promised Mary. "Oh," she turned to Ayesha," and the fetters too, of course. You'll take care of those, and I'll look after the gagging and blindfolding. Now -" she turned again to the twins. "June and Sally, you will practise what you've just learned, won't you ? Provided nobody sees you, you can use any of us for models at any time. Oh, there's something else - once you've got the arms extended behind her, if she won't go down quietly to her knees, just put your foot behind her leg, just behind the knee, and push. You'll find the legs fold up beautifully! All of you - it's the first few seconds that are the most important. I promise you it will take Fraulein only an instant to get over the shock and start fighting back. And - above
all - no talking ,whatever happens.. She must not be able to describe us - any of us - in any way. Understand ?"
In answer to the query as to why not one, but two, gags were required, Mary had quite a bit to say.
"In the first place, whatever you may have seen on the pictures, it's not at all easy to stop your prisoner from being heard. The muscles of the tongue - all thirty of them - are quite incredibly strong, and will push almost anything out of the mouth, unless whatever is holding it between the jaws is very securely fastened. You may not believe it, but it's perfectly true. It's no good just shoving a crumpled-up handkerchief in someone's mouth. They'll only keep quiet like that if they want to keep quiet. Now, the first gag is a hard rubber ball, with a strap running through it, which is buckled at the back of the neck - tightly - after the ball has been pushed in as far as it will go. This isn't a very nice gag, because you immediately start dribbling. Fraulein will have this gag twice - when we first take her, because it's quick and easy to apply - and at the end of her session with us, when we start to punish her.
Now, we're going to hurt her quite a bit - at least, I am - I don't know about all of you - so she'll be full of tears, and this kind of gag, because her mouth is open, will see that she doesn't choke and suffocate, which we don't want to happen, Now. the other kind of gag is a big sponge crammed between her teeth, and held in place by a long crepe bandage wrapped round and round her head. It's called a cleave gag and is very efficient as a gag - and there's no dribbling, Buy you see that using the ball gag might lead to a tragic accident while she's being flogged. Got it ? You can quite safely leave the silencing of our little German friend to me !"
Ayesha shyly raised her hand.
"In the country my mother came from". she said. "They used to be very keen on what they called "hove" as a form of punishment. What it means is, I suppose - oh, yours is such a difficult language ! - It means, I suppose, "disappointed hope". It is very cruel. What happens is that the person to be punished is led to believe that he is escaping, or that something of which he is afraid is not going to happen after all - and of course, he doesn't escape, and it does happen! I think it would be nice to have lovely Fraulein enjoy a little " hove !"
Everybody agreed, and it was decided that at the next meeting of the 'Banbury Crossers" those who could were to come up with an idea - or ideas - for a good dose of "hove" for their victim-to-be.
"LISTEN, everybody !" said Mary, as she called the next meeting of the Sisterhood to order.
"Ayesha's thought up with a brilliant idea. But before she tells you about it, we'll have to try an experimen.Everybody take their shoes off !" The girls complied. Mary continued :"Right ! Now, we'll stand up with our eyes closed, and put our hands behind our backs and hold them together, then raise the left leg up behind us, and see how long we can stand quite still before having to move. Ready ?" asked Mary as she stepped off the dais to join the others :"Right ! Begin !" There was a little giggling as the girls stood in a semi-circle but very soon they found that it was not at all easy to keep their balance on the one foot, quite apart from the muscular strain. The most that any of them managed - the champion was Evelyn - was just over seven minutes, and she was very glad at last to be able to put her leg down and relax.
"Yes, well, there it is," said Mary. "Fraulein will probably manage quite a bit more. But - Ayesha - tell us what you think we should do !"
Ayesha blushed, and then got to her feet.
"Well," she started. "I remembered something that used to be done in my part of the world - long, long ago. They used to make a bad person think that he was going to be executed - they set everything up with the sword and all that, and then at the last moment he would find that he wasn't going to be killed after all. (Of course he was, but he didn't know that.) So what I think we might do with our enemy is, after we've taken her, set her up for a hanging, arranging it so that she's quite sure that when she gets tired of standing on one leg, she'll die. You see, if we make her perch one-leggedly on a stool or something like that, with a rope round her neck to the ceiling, eventually -after a quarter of an hour or so, she'll have to fall down. Only what she won't know is that the rope won't take her weight 'cos we'll fix it so that it breaks when she topples over - and she can fall on some of those jumping mattresses in the gym.
The ones she won't let us use because they're 'babyish'.Then we can gently undo some of the straps so that she thinks she's going to be freed. Only of course what we'll really be doing is tieing her up again ready for the next thing."
This was accepted as a brilliant idea. Sally immediately volunteered to get from the College Library a book on knots and learn how to make a "real hangman's noose", and one of the other girls volunteered to provide a ten foot length of thick rope for that laudable purpose.
"Good !" said Mary. "It's all coming along very well. When we put her on the Execution Block what we'll do is to strap her legs together above the knees, and then undo the fetter round her right ankle, and use the chain to pull her left leg right up behind her. It'll work beautifully, I'm sure !"
All was going well, and Mary thought that the time was ripe to pass out to all concerned the paper she had carefully written out the previous evening and had as carefully 'run-off' sufficient copies on one of the College's duplicators. Of course she warned all concerned to take the greatest possible care to ensure that they - and only they - were the only people to see the papers.
. 1) The taking of the Subject. To be carried out by the whole team, swiftly and with no hesitation. All concerned to be masked. No talking whatsoever. It is vital that the Subject cannot at any time identify any of the Team.
In this order :Subject's arms to be gripped, straightened and forced up, at the same time she will be pressed to her knees., and the handcuffs applied.
She will be gagged with the ball gag, and immediately hooded. Arms to be strapped - elbows together - to upper body with long strap. Ankle fetters to be strapped on. Dog Collar to be fitted. The whole Team will take her through the arch and into the Gym.
It is important that during this stage The Subject is not hurt or insulted in any deliberate way. Any pain inflicted will ultimately deter the full appreciation of what pain and humiliation are really like. Rest assured that we will inflict real pain and humiliation on the Subject at later stages.
Once in the Gym she will be gently but firmly led to the Equipment Room to the left of the stage. She will very carefully be taken along the path which will have been left through the jumping mattresses on the floor in the middle of which stands the Hanging Stool. The Noose will be fitted round her neck, and she will be lifted up by the Team so that she can stand on the Stool. The end of the rope will then be tied round the beam above the stool (using the step-ladder which will have been placed ready. It is important that the rope should be tight enough to help her keep herself upright, but not so tight that it will strangle her. Final touch will be to unstrap the right foot anklet of her fetters, bend her left leg up at the knee so that she is standing on one foot, and use the chain and empty strap from the right ankle to keep her left leg bent well-up.
Everybody will wait inside the room (after closing and locking the door loudly) very very quietly so that she doesn't know she is not alone, until she topples off the stool. Of course the prepared Hangman's Rope will snap, and she will crash to the ground - but on the mattresses.
It won't take her very long to realise that she hasn't been hung, after all, and she'll probably experience a strong sense of relief when she suddenly hears that the door has been unlocked and flung open, and that kind hands are unstrapping her arms and freeing her ankles - and that someone has taken her head in his or her arms and is rather slowly taking out her gag.
What won't be very pleasant for her is the realisation that she is being gagged and thoroughly tied-up again. This time we'll use the bandages -not straps. In this order, then :
Unstrap her arms. and using two bandages, wrap her arms together just above the elbows and then to her body below her breasts, and then round the upper part of her body above the breasts. Only when this is complete should the cuffs be unlocked, and her wrists
crossed and wrapped together - palms outwards. Make sure the ends of the bandages are well tucked-in where no fingers can reach them !
Make her clench her fists with the thumb inside the fingers so that each hand can be tightly bandaged up. If she won't go along with this, just take one of her little fingers and bend it backwards. She'll very soon agree to let you fix her hand ! But don't overdo it - we don't want her really hurt - yet
Legs bandaged above and below the knees and at the ankles, of course. Her big toes should be tied together with a piece of string.
Take a six foot length of thin cord, and tie one end to the two wrappings round her body. Then pass the end of the cord through her ankle wrappings, and pull her legs up behind her so that her ankles touch her hands and she is in the 'hog -tie" position, and tie the cord down in the small of her back.
That completed, we'll leave her to her thoughts, until about five o'clock in the morning. That'll give us a couple of hours or so to get her on the horse and have some games with her."
Mary gave each of the team her individual copy, and they studied the document in silence broken only by a few stifled giggles.
"That all seems clear enough", commented one of the twins."But what we want to know - " here she looked at her sister, who nodded - "what we want to know is what will we do to her while she's on the horse ?"
There followed a heated discussion and at length a programme was thrashed out which pleased everyone although, come to think of it, it might not have been very satisfactory for the intended victim of the Sisterhood of Banbury Cross !
SEVERAL matters still remained to be decided, of course. There was the important question of the nose ring. The leather punch would most satisfactorily make the necessary hole in the septum (Mary
had to explain to the twins that the 'septum' was the' gristly bit in the middle') but it was the question of finding a ring of the right size which could be opened to be inserted in the hole, and then closed. Key rings ? A thick wire loop ? A bull's nose-ring from the farm owned by Evelyn's father ? Eventually they decided that a pair of long-nosed pliers would have to be added to the 'tool-kit' and that the pull-ring from one of the drawers of a chest in one of the girls' bedroom would serve very well.
"You twist the ring open with the pliers - one at each end -insert one end through the nose, and then close thems up again - tight !"
"That should be O.K. but someone will have to hold Fraulein's head very,very still, surely ?"
"No problem !" said Evelyn. "I'll take care of that - be glad to !"
"Well, that seems to cover everything". Mary said. "Now, we all know what we've to bring back after this week-end., don't we ? I have to stress that if you have to buy anything, go as far afield from your home as you can - we'll destroy almost everything after the Banbury Cross Ride is over -except for what we leave on our little friend, of course, but there mustn't be anything that can be traced to any of us ! Not that there's any reason why we in particular should be suspected, but there could be some pretty probing police inquiries.. There won't be another meeting here for a while, but if there's anything you want to talk about, I'll always be available. Meeting closed !"
And with that the girls went their separate ways
In fact, there was something someone wanted to talk about.
That someone was the attractive Ayesha At the first meeting of the Circle after the week-end. when it had been determined that all the necessary equipment was prepared and ready, the girl caught Mary's eye and , rather tentatively, said to her ::
"I didn't make a very good job of tying you up last time, I know. Do you think I could have another go ? I've been thinking about what you said, and I would like to try again - if you don't mind ?"
Mary looked at her and smiled. "O.K. !" she said. "If you really
want to ! It'll have to be this evening in the gym, though - we don't want anyone to come in unexpectedly and see you torturing a helpless victim, do we ?"
So the arrangements were made for the two of them - and also, Ayesha asked, June - that one of the twins who had 'volunteered' her services as a a model when they had first discussed ways and means. Mary agreed, of course - why not ? - and the girls went their separate ways.
That evening, the gymnasium being out of use, Mary went in to it, finding that some of the lights were on and that Ayesha and June were waiting for her, with a fairly large coil of rope at their feet.
"All right, Ayesha !" said Mary brightly. "I hope you make a better job of it than you did last time ! Now, how do you want me ? Hands in front or behind ?" and Mary crossed her wrists and proffered them to the other girl.
Ayesha shook her head. "No, Mary !" she said. "I've been thinking about this, and I'm sure there must be a better way. So, would you please just stand against the wall, with your back to the climbing bars ?" Mary did as she was asked.
The climbing bars ran thewhole length of the wall, They were wooden rods, two inches in diameter, set at distances of six inches from the floor up to ten feet.At regular six foot intervals they were supported by vertical battens.
Mary's eyes were caught by the long rope that Ayesha was carrying. "I did tell you," she said, "that lots of short ropes were better that a long one. Still, you try and tie me up, and then when I get free I'll show you both what you should have done !"
Neither of the girls said a word. Mary was made to stand with her back to the wall, and one end of the rope was used by Ayesha to lash her waist to one of the bars.
Then Ayesha doubled the rope, and used it to tie first Mary's right ankle, and then her left. to the bottom bar, her legs being well stretched apart
She was able to use the doubled up length of rope to tie Mary's wrists to the bar, extended above her head so that willy-nilly she adopted the classic spread-eagled position. There was enough of the coil left for Ayesha to tie single loops tightly round Mary's arms at the elbows, and her legs just above the knees. This was an extremely efficient method of bondage, as Mary soon found. She realised very quickly that there was no way in which she was going to be able to free herself. The two girls stood in front of her, smiling as they watched her pulling vainly at the ropes,
Ayesha was speaking again. "I tell you what. Mary, we'll give you until to-morrow to wriggle free. I'm sure you can manage it. And then you'll be able to teach us how to tie someone up, won't you ? Meanwhile, has our little captive anything to say before we leave her ?"
Of course Mary opened her mouth to expostulate. June had been waiting for this to happen. Before Mary realised what was being done the younger girl had crammed a thin folded-up scarf between her jaws, and then had tightly wrapped another thin scarf round and round the lower part of her face, most efficiently gagging her.
She spluttered incoherently as both the girls systematically, and with great enjoyment, slipped off her shoes and began to tickle the soles of her feet - something which the unfortunate Mary found it almost impossible to bear -except that she had to.
Came a similar treatment to her ribs, and the bars to which she was tied actually creaked as she strove uselessly to escape the probing teasing fingers.
At last her tormentors felt that she had received enough treatment and, giggling, they made their farewells, both ironically curtsying to her as they left the gymnasium.
Mary rested in her bonds, gradually recovering her composure. Now at last she could turn her full attention to the task of freeing herself. She was forced to admit that despite her inexperience, Ayesha had made an excellent job of fastening her to the wall bars It took her only a few moments to expel the sodden gag from between her jaws, using all the strength of her tongue to roll the folded pad of cloth. over
the top of her head wrappings and out of her mouth. Not that this was of much help to her - she realised that to call for help would inevitably lead to her discovery and the consequent questioning by Authority as to who had done this dreadful deed.
At the conclusion of about half-an-hour's twisting and tugging at the tightly bound ropes holding her all Mary had achieved was the loosening ever so lightly of the cords securing her right ankle. So much, she thought, for her ability as an escapologist !
She was forced to the realisation that all she could do now was to wait, as patiently and as comfortably as was possible, for Ayesha to return and free her.