(Author Note: This is the eleventh story in a series. The characters and situations were introduced in the episode:
Camp Torowa Falls 1964 - 01: A Fair To Remember
Read that episode first!) Then read episodes 2 thru 10 before reading this one.
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The next few days were a blur to Corey. At least he remembered them as a mostly pleasant blur.

Jerry finally managed to fly his new model rocket on Saturday morning and had a great time. He didn't break anything until the third flight - when a fin broke on his Astron Sky Hook during landing. Corey managed to crash his Astron Ranger on its second flight of the day - the parachute simply failed to deploy. In fact it had been one of those days - none of the rockets emerged from their flights that morning totally unscathed. But that's just the way it went sometimes with model rocketry. It was why Estes Industries and hobby shops like Tony's did a big business in spare parts.

Corey's Dad played a round of golf on Saturday afteroon. He rode to the course with a friend, leaving Corey's Mom with the car. She took the boys and Becky shopping for birthday presents for Dad.

On Sunday after church the family drove to Bethlehem. About once a month they ate Sunday brunch at the Hotel Bethlehem. Jerry was impressed with both the decor and the food at the Hotel Bethlehem. He hadn't expected to find such a fancy eatery in Pennsylvania, at least outside of Philadelphia. Mom patiently pointed out that although the Lehigh Valley wasn't New York City, it wasn't exactly Bugtussle - the rustic hometown of the Beverly Hillbillies. Dad pointed out - somewhat less patiently - that Jerry's family didn't live in Manhattan either. In fact Dad was fairly certain that the Elmira area was both smaller in population and further from New York City than the Allentown area. Jerry didn't respond to these comments, other than politely acknowledging them, but their points were apparently taken.

When the family went out again Tuesday night for Dad's birthday dinner, Jerry confined his comments to the fine quality of the food at the Schoenersville Inn, and the vintage aeronautical decorations on the walls of that establishment.

Jerry did comment on the colorful symbols he saw painted on the sides of barns as they drove to dinner on Tuesday. Jerry hadn't seen the Lehigh Valley countryside yet, so he had never seen a Hex Sign. Despite their ominous sounding name, Hex Signs were colorful circular symbols painted on barns by Pennsylvania Dutch farmers to bring good luck. Jerry said that sounded like something they'd have in Bugtussle, which got a laugh from everyone in the car.

A council of war had been held on Sunday afternoon. It was decided that the camp out would be on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Doug Kleckner would be the sergeant and squad leader for the campers. Jerry would be the corporal, leaving the other four boys with the rank of private. This didn't sit well with Arnold Hess, Walt Eckert's skinny 12-year-old cousin who thought he knew everything. Arnold was quite vocal about who he thought should be in charge. Mike Huijsa, Walt and Corey all knew better, and drove the effort to elect Doug as commander. They also convinced Doug to appoint Jerry as corporal.

On Monday the group met with Dave Detweiler and Dale Yeager at the M&N Luncheonette. Parental or guardian permission had been secured by all parties and the camping trip was all set. All they had to worry about now was the weather. The cast had just been removed from Dale's arm that morning, and he was eager to get to the swimming pool. But first some ground rules for the opposing force operation were hammered out over milkshakes and french fries. The main points agreed upon were:

Timing: The attack could only occur during daylight. Walt and Mike had campaigned for a narrow time frame, but Dave and Dale objected that such a limitation would make it too easy on the defenders. Plus the raiding force didn't know exactly where the encampment was - only that it was somewhere near the Hockendaqua Creek. They finally settled on limiting the attack to between 6 o'clock in the morning (0600 military time) and 6 o'clock in the evening (1800 military time).

Armaments: Cap guns, water pistols and non-functioning toy guns were preferred. Pellet or BB rifles were allowed, but must not be loaded! In fact ammo for such weapons should not even be carried. Walt had a Big Bang Cannon he wanted to bring along as artillery. Dave agreed, but insisted that the cannon could only "kill" one guy at a time. No fireworks of any kind were to be used or carried.

Prisoners: When a guy was "shot" or surrendered, he had to lay down and allow himself to be bound, gagged and blindfolded. He was only considered a prisoner as long as his team was still in the game. Teams could free prisoners from their own side. Prisoners were not to be stripped of their clothing, although they could be searched for weapons, which would be confiscated, of course. Prisoners could be bound to trees, or their shoelaces could be tied together, to make it harder for them to escape. Prisoners were not to be tortured, or even spanked unless they were caught trying to escape.

Penalties: Once all the members of a particular team had been captured, that team had lost the game. Then the penalty phase would begin. The losing team could be stripped naked by the winners. Any spanking would be done with paddle ball paddles. Bare bottom paddling was okay - at least once the game was over. Prisoners who were caught trying to escape could be paddled on their trousers or underwear only. A bit of humiliation was okay, too, although permanent markers were not to be used to write things on the bodies of the losers. After the winners got tired of paddling and humiliating the losers, the losers would be released and everyone would enjoy some skinny dipping.

Dave refused to reveal the members of his team other than Dale. All Dave would say was that his team did not have more than six members. They all ended up at the pool on Monday afternoon, and it was pretty clear to Corey that Clint Beers and Jeff Moyer (who had just been released after his two-week grounding) were on Dave's team as well. The younger boys weren't very subtle about it, acting all mysterious when they spoke to Dave or Dale.

Corey discussed the whole setup with Jerry in their room on Monday night. They concluded that there was little to worry about, provided that they could keep Arnold from screwing things up too badly for their side. And provided that they could get Mike and Walt to take the whole "standing watches" deal seriously. The obvious solution seemed to be pairing one of the more "serious" soldiers with each of the three potential troublemakers.

On Tuesday morning the six campers met at Doug's house and the squad went on a reconnaissance mission to explore the proposed camp site. Jerry and Corey led the way, since they were the ones who had found the site. They easily found the trail markings they had left behind and the others agreed that the clearing near the creek would work well for their camp site. Before heading back they "tested" the nearby deep area of the creek for skinny dipping purposes, although the only ones who hadn't skinny dipped there before were Jerry and Arnold.

The skinny dipping was interrupted by thunderstorms that moved into the area around lunch time. Jerry and Corey were soaked by the time they got home, but at least they managed to stay relatively mud-free for a change.

Jerry and Corey spent the afternoon in the garage or up in their room preparing all their gear for the campout. They had previously discussed obtaining some army surplus C-rations for the trip, but had forgotten to do anything about it. The closest place Corey knew of that probably had them was Nestor's sporting goods store, but that was about three miles away across the river in Whitehall - far out of bounds.

In any event the thunderstorms didn't clear out of the area until late afternoon. At that point it would have been impossible for the boys to drive their bikes over to Nestor's and back before they had to be ready to leave for Dad's birthday dinner, even if they had permission. They would have to settle for the standard camping food - s'mores, canned franks and beans, and whatever fish they might catch from the creek.

The squad mustered at Doug's house on Wednesday morning at 0900 as planned. Sergeant Kleckner inspected his troops - Jerry first. Then Corporal Farnham helped the sergeant inspect the four privates in the squad. Doug ordered Jerry to verify that all the BB rifles (including his own) were indeed empty of ammunition. Each trooper was asked if he had any BBs or pellets on him, and they all replied in the negative. Doug actually owned two BB rifles, so he lent the oldest one to Jerry for the duration of the camping trip.

The group had not bothered with actual military uniform replicas. After the M&N meeting on Monday the six boys had crossed the steet to Miller's department store, where they found matching dark green t-shirts in their sizes. These were paired with khaki shorts or trousers the boys already owned. Jerry and Corey were wearing khaki camp shorts with their t-shirts.

The squad hadn't even reached the Northampton & Bath switching yard before Arnold started complaining about all the gear he was carrying. Corey glanced at Jerry - who rolled his eyes. Arnold wouldn't last a day at Camp Torowa Falls - particularly on those camp outs, which covered two or three miles of steep mountainous terrain, compared to the half-mile of shallow foothills they were looking at that morning.

Doug wasn't taking any chances on Dave being clever enough to be waiting to bushwack them as they set up camp. As soon as they reached the camp site, Doug ordered a search of the area. After they were sure the woods were clear along the south side of the creek, the camp was established. As each pair of boys set up their tent, the other four stood guard.

Mike, Walt and Arnold chafed under the military discipline, complaining and grumbling - although the complaining was mostly from Arnold. Doug quickly had a belly full of this nonsense and lined up the three unhappy troopers. Doug made them brace at attention, and then he read them the riot act. Corey and Jerry were on watch while this went on, but they could hear it all, of course.

"So you men - and I use the term loosely - don't want to play army here in the woods, it that it?" said Doug. "Maybe you'd rather go back home and play with your sister's dolls?"

"No, sir!" said Mike.

Doug strode up to Mike and got right in the younger boy's face. "Do you see officer's insignia on my uniform?"

"No, sir?" said Mike, clearly uncertain as to where this was going.

"I work for a living, private!" said Doug. "You will address me as 'sergeant' - do you think you can handle that?"

"Yes, sergeant!" said Mike.

"Good!" said Doug. He moved back to his spot in front of the three boys and resumed his harangue. "I know you three aren't happy about all the watch standing and military discipline. Well, that's just too fuckin' bad! If you didn't want to do this, you should have spoken up on Monday. You're all in this now - up to your necks."

"You will pay attention when on watch. Any man caught goofing off while on watch will be paddled - on the bare. And if your failure to pay attention causes us to lose this game and get paddled by Dave and his commandos, then God help you. Because after they leave we will beat you so bad that you'll wish you had died at birth. Is my message getting through those thick skulls?"

"Yes, sergeant!" replied the three boys.

"Right," said Doug, "we will have two hour watches. That means that each team of two guys will be on watch twice a day - a total of four hours. Plus we don't have to stand watches at night, which is a whole lot better deal than real life soldiers get. Corporal Farnham and Private Lane will take the first watch. Privates Eckert and Hess will take the second watch, and Private Huijsa and I will take the third watch."

Wednesday afternoon passed uneventfully. Jerry and Corey handed out pieces of rope and clean rags to every trooper, then they taught the others how to bind, gag and blindfold a prisoner. By the end of the day all six boys had tied someone up, and experienced being tied up. Of course Jerry and Corey had been practicing on each other at home for days.

After 1800 on Wednesday evening everybody was able to relax. All six boys went skinny dipping for an hour or so before getting ready to make dinner. They feasted on canned franks and beans, with s'mores for dessert.

Walt pointed out that Filetti's was only a little over half a mile away if they ran out of food before the end of the camp out. Arnold suggested that they could make two of the commandos retrieve pizza as part of their punishment if they lose.

"Whattya mean, 'if' they lose?" said Doug. "You planning to help them win?"

"No, sarge! I'd never turn on my comrades in arms," said Arnold. "Okay, I wasn't in favor of this whole combat deal, but you were right today. We showed up, so we're in this now - all the way. Either we get paddled, or Dave's crew does. I'd rather be paddling somebody than getting paddled myself."

"Okay," said Doug. "Well said, Arnold."

Corey looked at Jerry, who shrugged his shoulders. Maybe they stood a better chance of winning this thing than they had thought.

After dinner the boys sat around the campfire telling jokes and stories, and discussing the pending commando attack. They decided to call their encampment Fort Hockendaqua. Mike said that three tents didn't make for much of a fort, but he was teased for his lack of imagination and outvoted.

Doug proposed the theory that Dave's team would be likely to attack either first thing on Thursday morning or the last thing in the late afternoon before the 1800 deadline.

Corey agreed with this theory, and reminded them that Dave had heard the story of how he and Jerry had found the campsite, coming up from downstream. Corey suspected that Dave would bring his team in from upstream. There was some discussion, but the others finally agreed that it might be worth putting everyone on alert from 6 to 8 in the morning, and to dispatch a scouting team upstream along the creek to try and get advanced warning of the attack, or maybe even pick off one of the commando groups if they split their forces.

Eventually the campers retired to their tents, after having extingished the campfire. Jerry and Corey tried the masturbation technique recommended by Corey's father, and Corey was startled by the intensity of the experience when he finally finished. The effect was incredible! The fact that his father knew about this - and what that implied - made Corey feel slightly nauseous as he drifted off to sleep.

Corey awoke around dawn on Thursday morning. He checked his watch - 0547 - just minutes to go until the attack could come. Corey didn't really believe that Dave's team would be in place to attack at 0600, but he did agree with Doug that the attack might come before 0800 that morning. Still, when your ass was on the line it payed to be cautious. Corey woke up Jerry and they began their day.

After everyone was awakened, the campers ate a quick breakfast of Rice Krispies squares, which had been made by Walt's mother and wrapped in wax paper for the trip. Then Sergeant Kleckner issued his orders for the early morning watch.

Corporal Farnham and Private Lane would scout through the woods along the near side of the creek to the east - no further than a quarter mile. They were to observe any enemy activity in their scouting zone and report back to camp. The scouting party was to avoid contact with the enemy unless they saw an opportunity to capture a small enemy recon force. The other four troopers would be posted in the woods around the camp site.

By 0615 Jerry and Corey set out through the woods to the east, moving carefully and quietly. Each boy was armed with a Daisy Model 1894 BB rifle - a near replica of the classic Winchester lever action rifle that helped to "win the West" in the 19th century. Corey had owned his for three years, and Jerry's was borrowed from Doug. They were each armed with a cap pistol as well. Of course they wouldn't use the cap pistols until open battle had broken out and the noise no longer mattered.

Alternately moving and listening, within twenty minutes Jerry and Corey had advanced about 300 yards to the east, staying about 20 yards from the creek. The idea was to make it impossible for any commando unit to get past them on the near side of the creek without being spotted. The two friends had a whispered discussion about the possiblity of allowing the enemy force to get past them unchallenged, and then trailing their opponents as they closed on the camp. Coming up behind the enemy when combat broke out could easily turn the tide of battle in their favor.

They found a comfortable thicket which gave them excellent cover while allowing them a good view of the surrounding terrain. It was about 0640 when they settled in. They decided to wait a bit more than an hour, and head back to camp if no sign of the enemy was seen by 0800.

The two friends didn't speak, but continuously scanned the area and listened. There were plenty of sounds to hear. The faint buzz of insects could be heard here and there, and birds chirped and squawked from the trees above, which made their own noises as their leaves were disturbed by a warm summer breeze. Corey felt comfortable except for his lower back, which was a bit stiff for some reason. Corey suspected that there had been a rock or something under his sleeping bag the previous night. The insects which insisted on crawling over them periodically began to get annoying after a while.

After about a half hour Jerry touched Corey's shoulder to get his attention. Jerry pointed out a squirrel which had climbed most of the way down a neighboring tree, and was clutching the side of the tree, head towards the ground, silenty watching to two humans who had invaded its territory. Corey could see the squirrel's nose twitch as it tried to decide if the two boys posed a threat. The answer must have been yes, since eventually the squirrel turned and scampered back up the tree, disappearing from view. The two friends looked at each other and shared a grin.

Corey had just about given up hope of anything happening on the early watch when he heard voices in the distance. He checked his watch - 0738. They had been waiting nearly an hour. Jerry signaled that he heard the voices too. The voices got closer and they could hear people moving through the forest to the east, from the upstream direction, just as Corey had predicted.

Corey eventually recognized the voice of Clint Beers, who seemed to be chatting with... Dale Yeager. Clint was complaining about Dave having divided their forces. Dale told him not to worry, and to keep his stupid voice down.

As the two boys drew nearer, Corey realized that they would pass quite close to the spot where he and Jerry were concealed. He looked at Jerry, who used hand signals to indicate that he wanted to wait until the two commandos had passed, and then jump them from behind. Corey nodded his agreement. The two friends crouched down as low as possible behind their concealment to avoid being seen by the passing enemy.

Dale and Clint were just about to pass the thicket where Jerry and Corey were concealed. Corey was crouched as low as possible, trying not to be seen and waiting for Jerry's signal to jump out and bushwack the commandos from behind. "I need a piss call!" said Clint rather loudly.

"Will you keep you voice down, for fuck sake!" ordered Dale urgently, in a stage whisper. "We have to be close to the enemy encampment by now - if it really is on this side of the creek. Okay, we'll take a leak here."

Incredibly the two commandos chose to relieve themselves on the very thicket in which Jerry and Corey were hiding. Corey turned to Jerry, who rolled his eyes in exasperation. Dale was pissing on the side of the thicket facing the creek, where Jerry was hiding. Meanwhile Clint was relieving himself on the other side of the thicket, where Corey was hiding.

Corey couldn't believe it. If he had a real gun, he could have shot Clint's needle dick right out of his hand. At least Clint's stream wasn't landing on Corey, who was thankful for small favors at that point. "Hand signals only from now on," whispered Dale. "We're so close to the enemy camp that talking now might give us away."

Corey felt a tap from Jerry - he glanced at his friend, who signaled that they should move now. "Too late!" said Jerry with a quiet shout, as he jumped up and leveled his rifle at Dale's chest. Corey jumped up also, and soon had the very shocked Clint looking down the barrel of his Daisy 1894.

It was a priceless moment that Corey would remember for the rest of his life. Dale and Clint standing there under the gun, dicks in hand, mouths agape, coming to terms with the fact that they were well and truly screwed. Clint had stopped peeing as soon as Corey emerged from the thicket and pointed his rifle at him. "You done yet?" said Corey. Clint shook his head. "Then you'd better finish up - we don't know how long it will take to round up your comrades. Wouldn't want to wet your pants while you're waiting for your paddling, would you?" Clint blushed furiously, but finally continued peeing.

Eventually Clint and Dale were finished with their business and had been forced to lie face down, hands behind their heads. Their hands were quickly bound behind their backs and they were gagged and blindfolded. They were disarmed - Clint had a Daisy cap rifle, which weren't all that common, and Dale had a Sears air rifle (made by Crosman, according to information engraved on the side) which Corey verified was not loaded. Then the two prisoners were stood back up on their feet, bound together with rope and slowly marched back towards the camp.

Corey led the prisoners slowly back to camp while Jerry watched the rear for any sign of a rescue attempt. They made it back to camp by 0805 and were welcomed by Doug, who was quite pleased that they had already captured two members of the opposing force. Clint and Dale soon found themselves laying face down in Jerry's tent and hogtied.

Less than 30 minutes later Arnold came out of the woods with two bound, gagged and blindfolded prisoners of his own. Corey was flabbergasted that Arnold had managed to capture two enemy commandos on his own. But sure enough, two kids that Corey didn't know very well - 12-year-old Rick Serfass and 11-year-old Ed Dreisbach had been caught by Arnold sneaking up on the camp armed with BB rifles.

Corey couldn't remember these two kids ever hanging around with Dave before. But maybe Dave had trouble finding guys willing to be commandos and had settled for these two squirts to even the numbers. They sure didn't work out very well if Arnold had been able to capture them on his own. Rick and Ed seemed quite agitated - in contrast to Dale and Clint who seemed too much in shock from their sudden capture to make any fuss. In any event, Rick and Ed were quickly hogtied inside Walt and Arnold's tent to keep them from causing trouble until the final two commandos had been captured.

Jerry and Corey discussed the situation with Doug. It wasn't even 0900 yet and they already had captured two-thirds of the enemy force. Only Dave Detweiler and one other commando - probably Jeff Moyer - were still at large. This was going a lot better and faster than any of them had believed possible. But there was some disagreement on how to proceed.

Apparently Dave had split his force up into three separate elements. Dale and Clint had been captured while approaching from the east, while Rick and Ed had been captured approaching from the south.

Corey thought that it was obvious that Dave and Jeff would be approaching from the west - from downstream. Doug was certain that they would be reinforcing one of the elements already captured, or they were on the far side of the creek and could actually be approaching from the north.

The one thing they all agreed on was that Dave and Jeff were unlikely to realize how much trouble they were in. No audible shots had been fired when capturing the four prisoners. This meant that the two remaining commandos probably didn't know that their comrades had already been captured, and they might not even know where the camp was located.

The big question to be answered was whether to keep all six troopers back at the camp to make a rescue attempt more difficult, or should they continue to send out patrols? Doug finally decided to play it safe and make the final commando team come to them.

Corey and Jerry had been assigned to guard the western approach to the camp. Corey had been stationed about 10 yards from the creek, and Jerry was stationed 30 or 40 yards to the south - further away from the creek. Corey was bored and had to force himself not to glance at his watch five or six times per minute.

The last time Corey had checked his watch it had been 1012 - more than an hour since the second group of enemies had been captured. So far no audible shots had been fired. Corey hoped that somebody would come and get him and Jerry if the last group was captured elsewhere without a big fight. Come to think of it, this had been boringly easy so far.

Crack! Crack! Corey turned and listened - cap gun fire was coming from behind him - in the distance. A firefight had broken out back at the camp! So much for the final group approaching from the west. Corey immediately got to his feet and began moving quickly back towards the camp. He glanced at his watch - 1016. He counted about eight cap gun shots before silence descended on the woods again. He heard someone moving in the trees off to the south - presumably it was Jerry also moving back towards the camp and the sounds of battle.

Within a minute Corey had covered the 20 or so yards back to the edge of the clearing. He stopped and scanned the campsite. Corey could see only one person: Walt at his post near the tents - he was guarding the prisoners. Walt had his Bangsite cannon pointed towards the woods on the east side of the clearing. Obviously that was where the combat had occured.

Corey completed a second scan of the campsite and stepped out into the clearing - headed for the tents. He hoped Walt could give him a better idea of what was happening. As Corey moved towards the tents he scanned the area for any activity - Jerry emerged from the treeline about 30 yards to his right and began heading for Walt's position as well.

"What's going on, Walt?" said Jerry as he and Corey arrived back at the encampment.

"The shots came from that direction, Jerry," said Walt - pointing in the direction he had his cannon pointed. "I heard a couple of shouts too, but couldn't tell who it was or what they were saying."

"Alright," said Jerry. "Corey, check on the prisoners. We'll keep watch."

"Okay, Jerry," said Corey. He walked over to the tent he shared with Jerry and peered inside. Clint and Dale were still securely gagged, blindfolded and hogtied.

Corey walked over to Walt and Arnold's tent and looked inside - Rick and Ed were caught like deer in headlights, unblindfolded but still gagged, their hands untied, trying to untie their feet. "Hold it right there, boys," said Corey, pointing his rifle at the escaping prisoners. The two boys put their hands on their heads without being asked. "Jerry! Get over here!"

"Did Arnold tie these guys up?" said Jerry a few minutes later as he put the finishing touches on Ed's hogtie.

"I suppose so," said Corey.

"He didn't do a very good job of it."

"He usually doesn't do much right," said Corey. "He just thinks he knows everything."

"Great!" said Jerry. "He's just about useless. I don't know how he managed to capture these guys. Were you guys asleep?" Jerry tapped Rick on the back of the head to get his attention as he finished retying the prisoner. The two gagged prisoners shook their heads to indicate the negative. They started mumbling excitedly through their gags, almost as if they were eager to tell the tale of how they had been captured.

"Hmm..." said Jerry, "Maybe we should..."

Crack! Crack! Cap gun fire could be heard off in the woods again. Corey counted four or five shots before it stopped again. He and Jerry rushed over to join Walt by the cannon.

"It's over that way," said Walt. He had his cannon pointing mostly south this time.

"They moved since the last burst," said Jerry.

"So did you guys," said Walt.

"Good point," said Jerry.

They waited in silence for several minutes. Corey was bursting with curiosity. He finally said, "Do you think we should go and check on them?"

"Absolutely not," said Jerry. "There are three of us here, and at most two commandos out there. Even if they've captured the other three guys we still have the advantage. They have no chance of overrunning our camp and releasing their comrades if we all stay here. But they might be able to take out Walt if we leave him alone."

"I'm not totally useless!" said Walt indignantly.

"Nobody said you are, Walt," said Jerry. "It's a simple matter of mathematics. If we stick together we outnumber them three to two. If we leave any one of us alone here that guy would be outnumbered two to one. Not to mention the fact that we have four prisoners to guard here - prisoners who have already shown they'll try to escape if we give them the chance."

"He's right, Walt," said Corey. "We have to stick together. At least until we have some idea of what's going on out there."

"Okay," said Walt. "I agree that holding the camp, and guarding the prisoners, is the most important thing we can do at this point."

"Alright, then," said Jerry. "Everybody keep your eyes peeled. Corey, I want you to check on the prisoners at five minute intervals."

"You got it, Jerry," said Corey. He checked his watch - 1045. He went to check on the prisoners, who were all secure this time. He double checked the hog-ties on all four boys and they seemed secure. Unless one of those kids was Houdini reborn, there was no way they were getting out of those ropes in under five minutes.

Corey had just finished double-checking the bonds of the last prisoner - Rick Serfass - during his 1055 rounds when he heard Jerry cry out, "Heads up, troops! Here comes somebody!" Corey immediately dashed out of the tent and kept low, trying to remain out of sight in case they were about to be attacked.

Corey peeked between two tents and saw three people walking out of the treeline to the southeast. It was Mike Huijsa, who was leading two bound, gagged and blindfolded commandos. Dave Detweiler and a smaller boy - it probably was Jeff Moyer - had been captured. The game was over! It almost seemed like an anti-climax, particularly since Corey hadn't even been called on to fire a shot. Of course Corey didn't see any sign of Arnold or Doug, so there were still an awful lot of questions to be answered.

"Is it over?" yelled Jerry, as Mike and his two prisoners made their way back to camp.

"Yeah, it's over!" yelled Mike in reply. "These guys captured Arnold before we bagged them - Doug went to set him loose."

"You need any help?" said Jerry.

"Nope, I can handle these two," said Mike as he continued escorting the prisoners back to camp.

"Did you manage to hang on to the other guys?" asked Mike as he reached the camp.

"Yep," said Jerry. "They didn't escape, though not for lack of trying. Speaking of which... Corey, go and tell the other prisoners that it's over, they can stop trying to escape, and start looking forward to getting paddled."

"Okay!" said Corey. As he moved to obey orders, Corey contemplated how easy this victory had been. He had known this was a good idea as soon as he heard about Dave's plans. Corey wondered if Dave still thought it was a good idea.

Corey woke with a start. There was bright light streaming in through the windows of his loft bedroom - it must be afternoon. Corey felt really groggy - he often felt that way after taking a nap. Why was he taking a nap, anyway? He sat up in bed and tried to clear the fog from his brain. He didn't make much progress.

Was the whole camping expedition a dream? Hmm. Was the whole summer with Jerry a dream? Thankfully, no - as Corey scanned the room he saw Jerry lounging on his bed at the far end of the room, reading a book.

Corey swung his legs out of bed and groaned - his back still ached from that rock he slept on the previous night. He supposed that meant that the camping expedition had really happened.

"Feeling better?" asked Jerry, who had apparently heard Corey's groan and looked up from his reading, clearly concerned.

"Not really," said Corey. He rubbed his lower back. He looked at the alarm clock on his dresser, which indicated it was 4:55 in the afternoon. Finally he said, "I guess this morning wasn't a dream."

"No way!" said Jerry. "It was a damned nightmare. Now I know why you were so down on the idea of Arnold joining the campout. Does he always screw things up that badly?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Corey was often amazed at how quickly things could change from wonderful to terrible. Just six hours ago he and Jerry had been on top of the world, their team having easily captured the commando force that tried to invade their camp at Fort Hockendaqua. Now here they were, doomed, "waiting until Corey's father got home", whereupon he would no doubt be applying some painful stripes to their bare backsides with his brand new cane.

"How could Arnold be that dumb?" said Jerry.

"I dunno," said Corey. "Just natural talent, I guess."

"But how could he not believe Rick and Ed when they told him they weren't part of any commando team?" said Jerry.

"I don't know," said Corey. "What are the odds that those two guys just happened to be walking through the woods near our camp this morning - with BB guns?"

"I wish they could have been more reasonable about the situation." said Jerry.

"That would have been nice, I agree," said Corey. "But we did tie them up for hours, and then paddle their bare asses for no reason at all - as far as they're concerned. I know I'd be really pissed if I was in their shoes."

"Yeah," said Jerry. "I guess I'd be really pissed, too. Damn that Arnold! It's still mostly his fault."

"It was all our faults, really," said Corey. "We should have made Dave tell us who was on his commando team when we met at the M&N on Monday - that way this mistake couldn't have happened."

"Too bad Dave wanted to conceal the fact that he only had four commandos on his team," said Jerry. "We're all in for it now, in any case."

"Yep," said Corey. "I just hope we're not also grounded until we leave for camp next week."

"There's a happy thought," said Jerry. The two friends lapsed back into silence.

"So let me get this straight," said Corey's father. "You idiots captured two boys who were just walking through the woods minding their own business. You tied them up and held them prisoner for hours. Then you gave them painful wedgies right before you stripped them naked and paddled them?"

"Yes sir," said Corey. He and Jerry were standing at attention in their bedroom as Dad sat on one of Corey's desk chairs, trying to determine what went wrong during the camping expedition. Corey knew that what had happened was bad, but the whole situation sounded even worse the way Dad described it.

"You guys paddled those innocent boys not just once," said Dad, "but twice?

"Yes, sir," said Corey. He was having a hard time looking his father in the eye.

"We had a rule that any BB guns had to be unloaded during the game," said Jerry, "so that nobody would get shot by accident. We found out their guns were loaded, so we....um...."

"Oh, that's wonderful," said Dad sarcastically, "at least you were taking precautions so that nothing could go wrong!"

"We really thought that Rick and Ed were part of the game, Uncle Will," said Jerry.

"It was an incredibly stupid game!" said Dad. "I played army plenty of times when I was your age. The tied up prisoners I can understand. I can even understand the wedgies. But we didn't strip the losers naked and paddle them! What the hell is wrong with you kids today?"

Corey gulped in fear. His father almost never swore - he must really be pissed. Corey was glad that his Dad didn't know that technically speaking they had paddled Rick and Ed three times. Once on their underpants for trying to escape, then twice on the bare - the extra time for having been found with loaded BB guns. Even with the incomplete information, this looked like it was gonna be an unpleasant evening for Jerry and himself.

And Corey was correct - his father had decided that the boys should get a taste of their own medicine. The two culprits quickly found themselves stripped to their underpants, laying face down on their beds. They were then gagged, blindfolded, and hogtied.

As he lay on his bed waiting for his punishment, Corey thought back to the morning's events that landed them in this predicament. If only the winners had decided to take the gags off of the losers before they were paddled. Then Dave and the others could have corrected the mistake when they heard Rick and Ed protest. As it turned out all six boys had been paddled, Rick and Ed a total of three times, before the mistake was discovered.

Corey had hoped that they might convince Rick and Ed not to squeal on them, but it didn't work out. The two victims of mistaken identity didn't even go for the offer to paddle the "winners" in return. They insisted that the others report the incident to their parents - otherwise Rick and Ed would report it to the police.

Corey wasn't certain whether the two incensed boys really would have gone to the cops, but it was clear that the triple paddling had made both boys cry - they were humiliated and very angry.

Corey was certain that he couldn't afford to have a police record - even as a juvenile. Corey wanted to attend the U.S. Naval Academy someday, and he knew you had to have a spotless record, both legally and academically, to get into one of the service academies.

Doug and Arnold had been in favor of just telling Rick and Ed to go suck eggs. They could deny everything - it was the word of two boys versus the word of ten boys. It was Dale and Mike who pointed out that several of the kids involved - not just Rick and Ed - had rather obvious rope burns from being tied up. Even the Northampton cops would be smart enough to realize there was at least some truth to the story Rick and Ed were telling them.

Doug said it would never stand up in court. Corey pointed out that it would probably never get to court. All Rick and Ed really had to do was to convince the other boy's parents that they were guilty. Their best bet might be to confess and throw themselves on the mercy of their parents. Corey was immediately supported in this plan by Walt and Jerry. After some discussion, that was the path chosen.

As Corey lay hogtied on his bed, comtemplating the certain pain he was about to experience, he wondered if they had made the right choice. Probably, he thought. Their chances of getting out of this mess scott free had not been good at all. As pissed off as his Dad was now, it would be a lot worse if they hadn't confessed.

Corey had learned from long experience that time seemed to drag even more if he spent the minutes waiting for a spanking thinking about the upcoming punishment and the details surrounding the offense. He tried to think of other things, but it was difficult - particularly when he really felt he hadn't done anything wrong.

It was one thing to get punished when he did something he knew he shouldn't do and got caught. But this was just a silly game that got screwed up by an idiot. Corey lay there and stewed, thinking about the unfairness of the world as he waited.

The wait seemed to go on forever, but eventually Corey heard footsteps on the stairs leading to his loft bedroom. He also heard voices - it sounded like several people were entering the room. He thought he heard Ed and Rick's voices. Apparently the original victims in this farce had been allowed to come and witness his and Jerry's punishment. Great!

Corey heard the footsteps of several people approaching his bed. "Go ahead, Edward," said Corey's Dad.

"Hey, doofus," said Ed Driesbach. Corey felt a pat on the back of his head. "Remember me?"

Corey certainly did remember Ed. He remembered the 11-year-old runt squirming on his lap that very morning as Corey applied a paddle ball paddle to the seat of Ed's white briefs. That was the spanking for trying to escape. Jerry had Rick across his lap at the same time for that one.

Corey also remembered taking his turn paddling Ed's cherry red bare bottom cheeks with the paddle during his other two spankings that morning. As Corey reminisced about the happier times experienced a few hours earlier, he could feel Ed undoing the hogtie. Soon Corey's legs were free, although his hands were still tied behind his back.

"Here ya go, son," said somebody - a strange man's voice. Corey suddenly wondered how many people were in his room to witness this event.

"Thanks, Dad!" said Ed. Apparently the little runt's father was there too. This just gets better and better.

"It everybody ready?" said Corey's mother. It sounded to Corey like she was over near the center of the bedroom. Apparently they were synchonizing the spankings...

"Go!" yelled Mom.

Cracckk!  Corey felt the burn as the paddle ball paddle connected sharply with the seat of his briefs.

Cracckk!  Hmm... this hurt, but he'd had a lot worse.

"Hit him harder, Edward!" said Mr. Dreisbach.

"Okay, Dad!" said Ed.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Those were a lot worse. Corey fervently wished that Ed's father would mind his own damned business.

"That's better, son," said Mr. Dreisbach. "Don't you agree, Will?"

Craacckk! Craacckk!  It would nice if that idiot would shut up.

"Yes," said Dad. "Corey certainly deserves it."

Craacckk! Craacckk!  It's always great to have your father on your side.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Between the sounds of the paddle swats landing on his own rump, Corey could hear the cracks of the paddle that was working over his best friend's backside.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Presumably Rick Serfass was paddling Jerry. But the people at the far end of the the room weren't talking loud enough for Corey to recognize their voices.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Plus Corey had more urgent matters on his mind.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Like trying not to cry. The pain was getting pretty bad.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Corey was starting to wish he wasn't gagged so he could protest. This must be like two dozen whacks so far, and they only gave the little brats a dozen per round that morning.

Craacckk! Craacckk!

"Okay, stop," said Dad. "That's twenty, Frank."

Whew! Corey was glad that was over with. At least he had managed to keep from crying.

"That's good enough for the first round, Will," said Mr. Driesbach.

"Agreed," said Dad. "Get his underwear off, Edward."

Oh, no! This wasn't over yet. Now Ed the little runt was gonna bare Corey's ass.

"Okay, Mr. Lane!" said Ed. Corey felt hands on the waistband of his briefs. "Lift yourself up, Corey."

It was impossible to comply with this order, with his hands bound behind his back and laying on his belly on the soft mattress. All Corey could manage was to flail his legs around uselessly.

"Roll him over on his back," said Dad helpfully.

Great, more support from his own father. Plus this raised another issue, as Ed rolled Corey over on his back.

"He's got a boner!" said Ed, giggling, reacting to the obvious tenting at the front of Corey's briefs.

Corey wanted to shout, 'At least I've got something to have a boner with, ya little runt!' But it would have been a waste of breath, gagged as he was. This was so humiliating. Well, might as well get it over with. He flexed his knees, lifting his mid-section off the bed so Ed could strip his briefs down and off.

Corey was about to roll back over on his belly to hide his rampant boyhood from view when - Ouch! - somebody tweaked his penis rather roughly. Corey groaned through his gag.

"Oww!" yelled Ed. "Leggo my ear, Dad!"

"Did Corey do that to you this morning?" said Mr. Driesbach.

"No," said Ed. "Oww! My ear!"

"No, what?" said Mr. Driesbach.

"No, sir," said Ed.

"That's better," said Mr. Driesbach. "Would you want another boy to do that to you?"

"No, sir," said Ed.

"Then don't ever do it to another boy!" said Mr. Driesbach.  Smacck!

"Owww!" squealed Ed. It sounded to Corey like Ed had just got his face slapped pretty hard. "Yes, sir," Ed said finally.

"Are you okay, Corey?" said Dad.

Corey nodded his head.

"Then let's continue," said Dad. "Roll him back over on his belly, Edward, and give him another dose of the paddle."

Ed rolled Corey back so he was face down on the bed. As he waited for the spanking to continue, Corey thought about how weird it was, hearing all this activity but not being able to see it. Corey had never been spanked while he was blindfolded before.

They dispensed with the coordination this time. Corey heard the paddle hitting Jerry's naked rump at the far end of the room several times before....

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Hoo boy! That paddle hurt a lot more on the bare.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Plus his ass was already very sore to begin with this time.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Musn't cry or make any noise.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Can't let a little runt like Ed get the best of him.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Wow! That's really starting to sting.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  Yikes! Try to hang on.

Craacckk! Craacckk!  "Owww!" Corey knew that he had groaned audibly, even through his gag.

"Finally getting the boy's attention," said Mr. Driesbach.

"Yes indeed," said Corey's Dad.

Craaaccckk!  "Uhhh" Corey was unable to keep from making noise.

Craaaccckk!  "Aahh!" The cumulative pain was just too much for him.

"I wanna make him cry," said Ed.

"Well, you only have four more whacks to get the job done," said Dad.

Craaaccckkkk!  "Oowwww!" howled Corey through his gag. Damn it! The little runt was really laying them on heavy.

Craaaccckkkk!  "Sssssss!" Corey hissed in agony. Christ! His butt was just so damned sore - his eyes were tearing up now.

Craaacccckkkk!  "OOOOWWWW!" howled Corey. This was getting unbearable. Damn it! He was starting to sob.

"He's feelin' it now!" said Ed triumphantly.

Crraaaacccckkkk!  "OOOOccchhh!" howled Corey into his gag. He lay there, spent - sobbing into his gag and wetting the blindfold with his tears.

"Good job, son," said Mr. Driesbach.

"Yes," said Dad, "very well done, Edward.

"Thanks Dad!" said Ed. "Thanks, Mr. Lane!"

"No problem," said Dad. "Well, Frank. Is that good enough for you?"

"Yes indeed," said Mr. Driesbach. "All I need to hear is an apology from both boys and we can be on our way."

"Fair enough," said Dad. "Would you untie him please, Edward?"

"Yes, sir!" said Ed eagerly.

Corey soon found himself standing next to his bed, completely naked. He was red faced and red assed, still sniffling from the pain of his double paddling. He had to shake hands with Ed Driesbach and apologize for spanking him and humiliating him that morning.

The worst part was when Ed and his father crossed to room so Jerry could apologize to Ed. And Rick Serfass and his mother crossed the room so that Corey could apologize to Rick. Corey tried to cover his genitals, but his father told him, "Hands at your sides, boy!"

Mrs. Serfass was a nasty piece of work as far as Corey was concerned. She made him turn around and show them his red, well paddled bottom before he shook hands with Rick and apologized. Come to think of it, Rick was a nasty piece of work himself.

"But Mom, I want to spank Corey, too!" said Rick.

"He's already been spanked twice," said Dad.

"No Richard," said Mrs. Serfass. "You've had enough fun here. We have a lot of other people to visit and boys to spank tonight."

"But they spanked us three times!" said Rick.

"They did?" said Mrs. Serfass and Corey's Dad simultaneously.

"Yes!" said Rick. "Corey and Jerry spanked us for 'trying to escape' first - that was on our underpants. Then all six of them spanked us on the bare twice. Once for losing their stupid game, and once for being caught with loaded BB guns."

"Is this true, Corey?" said Dad.

"Yes, sir," said Corey, hanging his head sheepishly.

"Maybe a third spanking would be in order," said Dad.

"No Dad!" said Corey. He looked up at his father seriously, ungagged at last and able to defend himself verbally for the first time since the punishment session began. "We only gave them 12 whacks for each round - 36 whacks in all. We've already had forty whacks!"

"Hmm," said Dad.

"No!" said Mrs. Serfass decisively. "You're not spanking these boys anymore, Richard."

"But, Mom!" Rick whined.

"No!" said Mrs. Serfass. "Like I said, we have a lot of other families we have to visit tonight - a lot of other boys to spank. If we give these boys a third spanking, in all fairness we'd have to go back to the Eckert's house and give Walter and Arnold a third spanking each. And frankly, Richard, I'm starting to wonder how much of this is your fault... and Edward's."

"Our fault?" protested Rick.

"Yes," said Mrs. Serfass, "How could two active young men like you and Edward allow yourselves to be captured by a little crybaby like that Arnold Hess?"

Corey was liking Mrs. Serfass more and more every second. She was actually arguing against him and Jerry being spanked some more, plus she had just asked the question that had been nagging at Corey ever since Arnold turned up with his prisoners that morning.

"He had a gun pointed at us!" said Rick.

"He sure did!" said Ed. He and his father and Corey's mother and the naked Jerry had moved across the room to join in the conversation.

"It was an unloaded BB gun," said Mrs. Serfass.

"We didn't know it wasn't loaded!" said Rick.

"Still," said Mrs. Serfass, "you boys meekly let that little brat tie you up and blindfold you and gag you. What were you thinking?"

"That is actually a good question, now that you mention it," said Mr. Driesbach. "That Arnold is a little coward."

"Really?" said Corey's Dad.

"Oh yes!" said Mrs. Serfass. "Arnold carried on disgracefully while he was being paddled by Edward this evening. The little brat howled from the first whack like he was being branded. Walter's mother actually had to hold him down to keep him still for his punishment."

Corey and Jerry exchanged knowing glances as the full description of Arnold's cowardice was related. At least they were off the hook from getting a third paddling. As the story progressed Rick and Ed were looking more and more embarrassed at having allowed themselves to be captured by such a cowardly little sneak.

Eventually the visitors left and the sore, beaten but unbowed boys were left in their room to get dressed for dinner. Corey's mother had saved them something to eat.

As Jerry and Corey sat on throbbing bottoms in the kitchen eating their leftovers (they had been denied the use of pillows to sit on), they were informed that they wouldn't be grounded. On the downside they were both scheduled for doctor's appointments on Friday afternoon. With less than a week to go before leaving for Camp Torowa Falls, it was time for their camp physicals.

Technical note: Definition of S'mores, taken from the web.
How Girls Make S'Mores -- (1) Place Hershey bars on graham crackers. (2) Toast marshmallows over campfire. (3) Place toasted marshmallows on Hershey bars to melt chocolate.
How Boys Make S'Mores -- (1) Eat Hershey bars. (2) Eat marshmallows. (3) Throw graham crackers at other boys.