The Ingram-Lewis Chronicles Pt. 05

"You will remember the maple rods I made for you last term, sir," said Patterson, "Well I was walking around the grounds when I saw that huge weeping willow tree down by the pond; you know the one sir, it droops right over the water. Well sir, looking at the twigs, I saw that they were very flexible and although really rather thin were capable of giving a really stinging cut to any deserving boy's bottom sir. I know exactly what it would feel like if they were brought down very sharply as I tried hitting myself with some of them - gently of course - and I can tell you, sir, they are really very painful. Anyway sir, to cut a long story short, I experimented a bit with making a bundle of them into what we call a birch; I shortened them back a bit to take off the really wispy ends and well sir, here is the result, sir: it's a new sort of birch." And with this, Patterson pulled his latest creation out from under the bench where it had been lying.

The birch consisted of a good number of slender green twigs cut from the weeping willow tree, bound together with heavy string to form a handle; about three feet long, it was a formidable implement of punishment. Patrick took it into his hand, felt its weight and balance and then, brought it down in a gentle stroke onto the surface of the workbench, where the twigs spread out and covered an area about six of seven inches wide. "Three good strokes of that across a boy are naked arse," said Mr, Patterson, "And I reckon you'd have more or less covered is entire backside. Give an errant boy six or so strokes, sir, and the pain will build up to such a level that he'll be begging you to stop; the pain will be really bad, sir but the great advantage is that with this new birch you will not break the skin; there will be no permanent damage; just a very, very painful experience for the unfortunate lad being beaten and that I think is what you want sir."

"It's not for me to tell you, Mr. Patrick, how to discipline the boys, but I know that since I gave my own two lads a dose of that maple birch last term, they have been as good as gold. So I wonder if this new willow birch let's call it, might not be an effective way of teaching the younger boys a really serious lesson: more painful than the cane, I suspect, but not damaging at all."

"But while I was at it, making the birch, I thought to myself sir, that if the young gentlemen need to be corrected, then it should be done properly, in a style, reflecting their status in life. So just look over there and see what else I have made, sir; it's a proper beating stool. you see sir; it's made of wood and has adjustable steps to suit different age groups, but the novel idea is the way the desk part slopes steeply away, sir. You see when a boy is stretched over the stool he more or less makes an upside down letter V, with his backside across the top of the stool, in perfect position to apply the rod. And, sir, with his hands and legs held fast in the straps, he will not be able to move or resist so that you can really give him a thorough beating without any resistance; he will be in the perfect position for the application of the cane or birch, sir. Oh and there is another thing, sir; unlike the maple wands which are not in plentiful supply, there are as many willow twigs as you could wish for and I can make you up a fresh couple of rods every week with no problem, That way, sir, you will always have a proper fresh rod to hand to deal with any problem boy."

Patrick listened in amazement to Mr. Patterson's exposition. He failed to see the connection between the Rigby boys' social standing and the special beating stool, but clearly the gardener thought that putting a boy naked arse across a chair was for the hoi-polloi and not for those whom he considered to be "young gentlemen". Mr Patterson was also clearly devoted to the corporal punishment of the Rigby boys, which he saw as an integral, regular and necessary part of their education. But Mr. Patterson's ideas of what was suitable for young gentlemen aside, the new birch he had invented and the beating stool looked very promising. So Patrick asked him to deliver the stool and the birch to his study as soon as possible, with a promise to try out both the rod and the stool at the very earliest opportunity. Mr. Patterson was delighted and said that the delivery would be made later that day. Already when he had seen the new implements of punishment he had a boy in mind on which to test their efficacy: that veteran trouble maker, Tomlinson major. However, as we shall shortly see, things did not quite work out like that.

It was now late afternoon and before the shops closed Patrick made a quick sortie into the town centre and purchased an additional four bath brushes, which he had decided would be needed for that evening's Court of Prefects "entertainment". He tried in is head not invoke that word, but he knew full well that after supper he and his fellow prefects would have a very entertaining time thrashing the arses of the twelve or so lads who had been told to present themselves to the Court for punishment. Like senior boys and prefects throughout the English public school system. Rigbyans were no different; given the power to beat their younger schoolmates, they did so with vigour, as often as possible and enjoyed every minute of it.

As he emerged from the hardware shop, carrying his purchases Patrick happened to see three first form boys window shopping; not one of them was wearing his school cap, which was a mandatory requirement for all boys outside the school grounds; even Patrick was wearing his Head Boys' black mortar board with its gold tassel, for that rule applied equally to him, in spite of his elevated position in the school hierarchy. Moreover, junior boys were not allowed down town in term time except for two hours on Saturday afternoon. So here was another god-given opportunity to beat another group of young arses.

How could things have turned out so very lucky for Patrick on the day before term officially started? The gods were truly with him that day as he was accumulating backsides to beat at an unprecedented rate. The boys knew they were in for a thrashing as soon as they saw Patrick, who quickly helped them crystallise their worst fears as he said: "You three; my study at five o'clock today and don't be late; I shall have pleasure in giving you a lesson in what happens to first formers who break the rules; and make no mistake gentlemen, you three are in deep trouble."

To Patrick's great surprise, when he returned with his purchases to his study, he found that Mr. Patterson had already delivered the beating stool and two freshly made willow birches; so he was already in business, so to speak. Of course, as he had three boys to beat immediately after supper, he decided, and who could blame him, that he would try out new implement of punishment on their tender backsides. It was a prospect which made him harden just thinking about it and five o'clock, the fatidic hour of reckoning for the three lads was only a short wait away. So he picked up one of the two birches and tried a few forceful strokes on the padded arm of his easy chair. The twigs landed and splayed themselves out with a very satisfying dull thwack, raising quite a cloud of dust.

He thought with anticipative pleasure of the sound the birch would make as it mated with a boy's bare buttocks. The pleasure was just too exquisite to bear, so arousingly homoerotic, that he had to retire quickly to his bathroom and relieve his throbbing cock by jerking off. It was hard to believe that just thinking about the pain he was about to inflict on the boys' arses was so utterly homoerotic: but it was.

Five o'clock arrived and a knock on his closed study door announced the arrival of the three suppliants. The three young lads entered Patrick's study looking extremely nervous, trembling at the thought of what was in store for them. Patrick knew all of the boys by sight but only one of them, a boy called Parker, by name. During the previous term when Patrick and the Court had been endeavouring to meet Mr. Godber's goal, to beat at least at least half the new intake before the end of term, these three boys had escaped hitherto unscathed.

Addressing Parker by name, Patrick said: "Well Parker, what do you three have to say for yourselves? Here we are, the day before the start of the new term and the three of you are already breaking the rules; going into town without either your caps or an exeat authorising you to leave the school precincts; that my lads is a double infraction."

Parker replied very timidly: "Please Ingram-Lewis sir, we didn't realise that we needed either your caps or an exeat to go into town today. After all, sir, it is before the official start of term, (echoes of Tomlinson's logic here) so surely school rules do not apply until tomorrow when the term officially starts. So perhaps, Ingram-Lewis sir, you could be lenient with us on this one occasion and overlook our mistakes, which are just due to a misunderstanding. And sir, none of us has ever broken rule before, sir, and we have never been beaten since our arrival at school last term." Parker ended his little speech for clemency, by painting a penitent look on his face.

Of course, we all know that Patrick had no intention of letting slip such a tasty catch of whackable arses; and before supper into the bargain. So he explained, as he had done earlier to Tomlinson and von Staufen, the ramifications of the in loco parentis position in which the school staff and prefects found themselves. So no; there was no possibility of any clemency; the boys had broken two cardinal rules (cardinal as defined by Patrick himself, of course) and so they had to pay the painful price for their delinquency. By the time Patrick had finished berating the three lads, they were trembling with fear of what was about to happen to them and were already practically in tears; tears which would flow copiously once Patrick started on their arses with the birch.

"So, gentlemen, there you have it; you have broken the rules and you have to be punished and it unfortunately falls to me to have to carry out this unpleasant task." He really should have said "fortunately" and "pleasant", but in this as in many things, a decent sense of hypocrisy of doing his duty was maintained at all times. He then went on: "Well, gentlemen, as this is to be your first beating at Rigby, you will learn what is meant by the expression, Rigby Rigour: it's the way we maintain order and punish misdeeds here at Rigby. So the three of you; take of your trousers and underpants and put them neatly on the side over there. Then bend over and hold your ankles and present me with your naked bums so that I can apply the necessary correction. And let me warn all of you now, if you do not want extra strokes, as I beat you, must remain quite still and keep hold of your ankles until I tell you that I am finished, when you may stand up and replace your clothes."

Patrick watched as the three lads adopted the position, spacing themselves well apart in a line one behind the other. Patrick surveyed with eager anticipation, the three white, virgin arses he was about to roast and then said: "Gentlemen, for your first beating at Rigby, which may well be the first of many, I suspect, I have the honour to tell you that you are to be the first boys to experience the newly introduced junior birch, which will be known as the willow birch. This will doubtless give you something to recount to your classmates when you show them your arses in the showers this evening. So, you will remain quite still whilst I give each of you nine cuts of the rod."

Patrick picked up the birch, swished it through the air a few times for effect, and then brought it down with a resounding crack on Parker's arse. Parker let out a howl of pain. Patrick then passed on to the other two waiting backsides and gave each its first stroke of the birch, eliciting much the same response; And then, in his steady methodical, way stroke by stroke, he applied a further eight cuts to each awaiting arse. The boys were soon in tears and yelped at each stroke; but Patrick, as was his custom, ploughed on in total disregard of the obvious distress of the boys.

When the last strokes had been delivered, Patrick inspected his handiwork and saw, as Mr. Patterson had said, that this new lightweight birch had clearly imparted great pain but there was no visible damage; the boys were clearly in agony but nothing more; it seemed to be the ideal new implement with which to beat younger boys - or any boy for that matter. Patrick felt very satisfied with his handiwork so far that day as he went along to supper and made a mental note to tell Mr. Patterson of the success of his new product and to thank him for his inventive diligence.

CHAPTER 6

Supper passed uneventfully but Patrick had the satisfaction to see that Tomlinson and von Staufen still preferred to eat standing up and that three boys he had just beaten had also chosen to remain standing. Things were going absolutely swimmingly and Patrick could hardly wait for what he thought, wrongly as it turned out, and would be the grand finale to the fight as the onlookers presented themselves that evening to the Court of Prefects to be thrashed for their part in the affair. So, supper over, Patrick went immediately to the Prefects Common Room to check that everything was in order for what he thought of as a bloodbath of arse beating.

All the prefects were now back at school so there were thirteen of them present at the first meeting of the Court that evening as Patrick recounted how he had come upon the fight, how he had thrashed the two combatants, Tomlinson and von Staufen that morning and how he now proposed that the Court should beat the twelve onlookers together, in what he described as a sort of blood-bath. As he outlined he scenario he had in mind for the evenings's event, one of the senior prefects whistled and told him that he had a vivid imagination.

Patrick then said: "Well then, gentlemen as we are all agreed, I suggest that we proceed to arrange the chairs in the appropriate way so that we are ready to receive this evening's punishment detail. Ideally I would have liked to have arranged the chairs in a large circle, but as there are twelve of them I think two rows of six each is perhaps more practical."

So the chairs were lined up back-to-seat with a good space between them as a boy had to bend across each of them and present his arse for punishment, with his hands flat on the seat of the chair. The backs were arranged to be on the right facing the row, so that each boy's arse was offered up for punishment on the right. That was the way that most of the prefects habitually applied the cane. Any left handed prefect would have to beat his target arse backhand.

Promptly at eight, the boys who had been caught watching the fight trooped into the the room, wearing only their gym strips as Patrick had ordered. A quick visual count of the group showed Patrick that one boy seemed to be missing, He glanced at the list of names which Tomlinson had made for him and saw that there were indeed twelve names on the list; so who had not turned up?

Patrick said: "Gentlemen, there were twelve of you watching the fight this morning and there are only eleven of you here now; so who is missing?" As might well be expected this question was met with a blank silence, so Patrick went on: "Very well then; I shall take a roll call and each of you will answer present as your name is called out."

By chance the absent boy was the second on the list: a boy called Cromarty. Cromarty was not yet aware of it but he was now in deep trouble, for to defy an order from the Head Boy was tempting fate; to ignore an order form the Head Boy in loco dominii was suicidal; Cromarty's arse was condemned to a very special roasting. Atkins, one of the six senior prefects and House Captain, looked at Patrick and said that Cromarty was in his house and suggested that once the Court was over and the evening's business finished, Patrick and he seek out Cromarty together and deal with him there and then. To this Patrick agreed as he was not prepared to let the boy off the hook; indeed not, for he had every intention of punishing Cromarty very severely for having disregarded his order to attend the Court.

Patrick began the evening's proceedings: "Gentlemen, you all know why you are here but in case you need reminding, you were all part of the group egging Tomlinson and von Staufen on this morning as they attempted to to beat each other's brains out. And for that reason, which is a breach of school rules, you are now going to do penance: you will now be beaten. And no, gentlemen, appearances are deceptive and we are not going to play a game of musical chairs. Gentlemen, take off your shorts completely, select any chair, and bend across the back of it to present your bare arse for punishment. I will then check that each of you has adopted the optimum position and after that, until we have completely finished correcting you, you will all remain quite still. And let no one even think of putting his hand to his arse or he will receive extra strokes."

By now the tension was palpable; you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. The boys were all in a very frightened state and trembling at the thought of the undefined punishment which was now imminent. All was now to be revealed to the eleven suppliant lads, each bent over the back of a chair, naked arse twitching, awaiting the first stroke.

Patrick now informed them of the programme that evening: "Gentlemen, the six junior prefects are now going to pre-condition your backsides ready for the subsequent application of the cane. They will give each of your arses six swats with the back of a bath brush, a technique which is designed to warm you up and render your buns more receptive to the caning which will follow. We have found that a well conditioned warm pair of buttocks, benefit enormously from the subsequent application of the cane; and we would not wish to deprive any of you of the full dose of Rigby Rigour as the cane mates with your arses, would we?"

We have no record of what the boys thought about this idea; but we can but surmise that they were not particularly enamoured by what they had so far learned. But they could do nothing to avoid what was about to happen to them; and it was truly very unpleasant, for Rigby Rigour, in any of its forms was a concept designed to be very, very painful. As Mr. Godber had said, boys should be beaten as severely as possible without breaking the skin and this is exactly what was now about to happen; Patrick had really taken this to heart and imparted Mr. Godber's thoughts to his co-prefects.

What Patrick had now planned was that each of the six junior prefects, armed with a bath brush, would now beat the arses of the boys bending over before them; But to add drama to the action, the six strokes would be synchronised so that each boy experienced the agonising pain of the brush simultaneously; and well applied, let it be noted that the back of a bath brush is a very painful implement in its own right. It may not produce the well defined welts which the cane does, but nevertheless, applied with vigour, a beating with the back of the brush was an unpleasant experience, which few ever wished to repeat.

So the first six boys received one stroke each, applied simultaneously by the six prefects who then turned their attention to the remaining five. And so stroke followed stroke, given individually, until all eleven boys had received six good hard swats of the brush, three to each buttock. The boys were in agony already as the brush, well wielded as it had been by the junior prefects, intent as ever, on imparting the maximum pain possible, had laid on their strokes great force. By the time they had finished this warm-up phase, the so-called preconditioned arses were already on fire. But worse was still to come for Rigby Rigour as conceived on this occasion by the imaginative Patrick, was a relentless process which was always taken to the bitter end once it had been started.