(Author Note: This story is the fifth in a series about the life and times of a young printer's apprentice living in the Colony of Virginia in the 1740s. The characters and situations were introduced in the story, "Zachary Malvern - The Printer's Devil". It can be read independently, but you might want to read the earlier stories first for best results.)

Who hast deceived thee so oft as thy self? - Benjamin Franklin, 1738

"It's a really bad idea, Jere."

"You already told me that, Zach."

"Yeah, well, just so you know..."

"I'm well aware of your opinion, little boy."

"Quit calling me that! My name is Zachary."

"Okay, Zachary... you don't have to do it if you don't want to."

"I don't want to do it. You shouldn't do it. It's a bad idea!"

"So you've said... many times," said Jeremy. As the 16-year-old senior printer's apprentice looked down at his brother apprentice, an evil smirk blossomed on his face. "If you and your little buddies want to go swimming instead, I know a really great place down on Halfway Creek. Make sure you leave all your clothes on the north bank of the creek."

"Very funny, Jere," said Zachary. The 12-year-old junior printer's apprentice was not laughing. "We'll be going to the fair all right, but we won't be gambling."

"It's not gambling if you know what's going to happen ahead of time,"

"You're right, Jere. That's called cheating."

"It's only cheating if you get caught, Zach."

"Right," said Zachary sarcastically, a smirk on his face. "You and your grown up buddies are far too smart to ever get caught."

"Yeah, we are," said Jeremy confidently. He was finishing getting dressed. "So you're definitely not going to bet your three shillings?"

"Not a chance!" said Zachary, who was also finishing getting dressed for the fair.

"It's your loss."

"I'll find some way to cope with it," said Zachary. "Just make sure Mr. Parks doesn't catch you gambling again. Even your apprentice contract says you're not supposed to do that."

"I'll be careful," said Jeremy, ruffling Zachary's hair as the two boys left their small bedroom and headed downstairs. "Just you make sure you don't go out and get married again - that's forbidden by your apprentice contract."

"Ha, ha, very funny!" said Zachary, who was still not laughing.

Zachary and his best friend, Davey Landis, a 12-year-old cooper's apprentice, were walking west along Nicholson Street towards the Market Square. The two boys, like most people in the area, were going to spend the day attending the special fair commemorating the 20th anniversary of the founding of the city of Williamsburg. The print shop and the cooperage, like most businesses in town, were closed for this special holiday celebration.

The two young apprentices were enjoying that rarest of gifts in eighteenth century America, an entire day free from chores and responsibilities. They didn't even have to spend the morning in church! It was all thanks to good old King George I, who on that day twenty years ago issued a royal charter for the new city of Williamsburg in the Virginia colony. Even the weather promised to be a bit cooler than usual for that time of year. Wednesday, July 28, 1742 was promising to be a great day.

"So how much money do you have saved?" asked Davey.

"Three shillings, eight pence," said Zachary. Some of that had been saved before he became an apprentice, but he still received an occasional 'tip' - usually a penny or half-penny - from European customers when he made a delivery. This 'tipping' thing was a custom that Zachary hoped would become more popular in the colonies.

"Wow! That's really good. I only have two shillings, six and a half pence."

"Hey! It's still enough to have fun."

"You bet."

"No, I don't," said Zachary smuggly. "That's why I still have three shillings, eight pence."

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing. Jeremy was trying to get me to bet three shillings on another one of his 'sure things'."

"Sweet Jesus! What is it this time?"

"A fighting cock named Satan's Spur. Jeremy thinks the fight has been fixed and the bird is sure to win."

"How the devil do you fix a cockfight?"

"Good question," said Zachary, shrugging his shoulders. "I have no idea.... neither does Jeremy, I'm sure."

"Wait a minute!" said Davey. "Didn't your master already whip Jeremy for gambling?"

"Yeah. Jere got thrashed on his bare arse with the razor strop for gambling back in May."

"And he still hasn't learned his lesson?"

"Apparently not."

"What an idiot!"

"You said it."

The two boys walked on in silence for a bit. Davey stopped just before they reached the Market Square and said, "Does this have anything to do with that Stapleton fellow?"

"It might, Jeremy didn't say," said Zachary. Edgar Stapleton was a rather shady character that Jeremy sometimes hung around with. "It's just the kind of lame-brained scheme that Stapleton is fond of, so it could be his idea."

"We should probably avoid the cockfights today," said Davey. It was clear from the look on his best friend's face that Davey didn't trust Stapleton any more than Zachary did.

"Suits me just fine," said Zachary. "I've never been that fond of cockfights anyway."

"Good!" said Davey, obviously glad that issue was settled.

The two boys resumed walking and entered the Market Square, which was serving as the main fairgrounds. The square was already crowded, despite the fact that it was not even nine o'clock in the morning.

Zachary looked around in amazement at all the people. "I can't believe so many people made it to the fair with all the flooding and wrecked bridges in the area."

"It has been eleven days since the tropical storm ended," said Davey. Then he laughed, "Mr. Cooper said that people would find a way to get to the fair, come hell or high water."

"Well, I don't know about the other thing," said Zachary, grinning broadly at the colorful language used by Davey's master, "but we sure did have high water!"

"We sure enough did!" said Davey, sharing a laugh with his friend.

The two boys continued on in silence, taking in all the sights, sounds and smells of the fair.

"I want something to eat!" said Davey at last, licking his lips in response to the delightful smells wafting though the square from the various food stalls.

"You're always hungry!" said Zachary, chuckling. "Didn't you just have breakfast?"

"Yeah, but that was over an hour ago!" said Davey. "And it was just corn porridge. I want something good for a change!"

"There's nothing wrong with corn porridge," said Zachary. Then he spotted a stall selling rock candy, his favorite food in the world. "But there's even less wrong with rock candy!"

The two boys rushed over to the rock candy stall and began spending their money.

"Yes.... yes..... yes..... NOOOO!!" yelled Davey. "He missed one!"

Davey and Zachary were in a group of people of varying ages and classes watching a game of Closh being played on the lawn of Palace Green. The two boys were rooting for George Peterson, the 16-year-old cooper's apprentice who was Davey's apprentice brother. George was playing against Benjamin Harrison V, the 16-year-old eldest son of the famous Harrison family of planters who lived on Berkeley Plantation up in Charles City. Despite being the heir to one of the largest tobacco plantations in Virginia, Benjamin enjoyed playing games with other youths, even commoners like George.

George had just rolled his second ball, and knocked down only two of the remaining three pins. The nine barrel shaped wooden pins were being set up again in a diamond pattern at the far end of the grassy alley for Benjamin's next turn.

"Don't worry, George," said Davey. "You can still catch him!"

"I don't know about that," said George, doubtfully.

"You can do it!" insisted Davey. He tried to get Zachary to join in the enthusiasm.

"Don't give up yet, George," said Zachary, quietly. He didn't really expect his encouragement to help. George was eight pins behind with just two rounds left to go. Benjamin would have to miss a lot of pins for George to stand any kind of chance to catch up.

Benjamin rolled the first ball of his next turn, knocking down five pins. This elicited cheers from Benjamin's supporters, and boos and moans from George's supporters. Zachary knew that Benjamin would have to miss completely on the next roll to give George any chance at all.

Unfortunately Benjamin's second ball knocked down half of the four remaining pins. George managed to knock down all nine pins on his penultimate turn, closing the gap to six pins.

But Benjamin knocked down five pins on his first ball of the final turn, clinching the victory. George remained cheery in defeat, congratulating his opponent. In fact George was celebrating his 17th birthday, which technically would happen on Friday, July 30th. So he was quite cheerful throughout the fair.

Davey wasn't nearly as cheerful as his apprentice brother, having spent all his money by lunch time. Zachary was trying not to spend all of his own money, so the two friends had decided to spend the rest of the day playing games. They had served some time helping set up pins at the far end of the Closh court and running balls back to the competitors before they were allowed to get in line for their own turns at playing the game.

Now finally it was Davey's turn to play a game of Closh. His opponent was Don Perry, the 13-year-old son of the local grammar school master. Davey cheered right up as he took an early lead against Don.

Zachary was rooting for Davey, needless to say. His best friend was up by five pins half way through the match when Zachary spotted Sarah Dawson, his family's housekeeper, striding across the green, walking directly towards him. She was obviously trying to get Zachary's attention. He wondered what Sarah wanted. From the look on her face, it wasn't likely to be good news.

"Come along, Zachary," said Sarah breathlessly as she drew near. "You need to come home immediately."

Zachary knew something must be very wrong at home. Still, he had been waiting nearly an hour for his turn to play a game of Closh. He said, "Can't it wait a few minutes, Sarah? I'm up next to play Closh."

"Sorry, sweet cakes," said Sarah. "Mr. Parks wants to see you in his study. He said 'immediately.'"

"What's happened, Sarah?" said Davey, who was splitting his attention between Don, who was taking his turn in the Closh game, and Zachary's conversation with Sarah.

"Jeremy got himself arrested by the sheriff," said Sarah, rolling her eyes.

"What? But.....why does Mr. Parks want to see me?" protested Zachary. "I didn't do anything!"

"Then you have nothing to worry about, dear heart," said Sarah.

"Do you have to go?" complained Davey. "I'm winning!"

"Yeah, I guess I do have to go," said Zachary. "Good luck, buddy! I'll be back as soon as I can."

"Okay," said Davey, grumpily. He turned his full attention back to the game.

Zachary turned and followed Sarah back towards their home. He was more than a little frightened by this sudden summons. Sarah didn't have any information about why Jeremy had been arrested. Of course Zachary had a shrewd guess about that, which he kept to himself.

"I want the truth, Zachary," said Mr. Parks. The tall master printer stood in front of the desk in his study, looking down at the young apprentice, who stood at attention in front of him.

"It is the truth, sir!" protested Zachary. "Jeremy didn't say anything to me about cockfighting. I thought he had given up gambling."

Mr. Parks turned and picked up the razor strop from his desk. "If I take this to your backside, will it change your story?"

"No, sir!" said Zachary, gulping at this threat. "I'm telling the truth."

"You know what I think?" said Mr. Parks. Zachary shook his head. "I think you are a horrible little liar."

"But sir!"

"Hush boy!" said Mr. Parks. He suddenly had a strange smile on his face. "I'm trying to compliment you."

"Huh?"

"I'm actually quite glad that you're so bad at telling lies," said Mr. Parks. "Jeremy is a championship quality liar, and look at all the trouble he is in."

"Will Jeremy go to gaol?" said Zachary, glad for any change of topic away from himself and that razor strop.

"Well, he's in gaol now, certainly," said Mr. Parks. "But if you mean will he get a long gaol sentence, I doubt it."

"That's good."

"Possibly," said Mr. Parks. "Jeremy is still likely to be publicly whipped. Even if he isn't, he will have me to deal with."

"Oh, yeah..."

"One way or another, Jeremy is in for an uncomfortable day tomorrow," said Mr. Parks. "But right now I have to decide how to deal with your lies."

"I don't know anything, sir," said Zachary, stiffly. It really irritated him that Mr. Parks always seemed to know when he was lying.

"That's clearly a lie," said Mr. Parks. "Still, I suppose that Jeremy didn't tell you any details about the scheme to fix that cockfight, did he?."

"No, sir, he didn't," said Zachary. That much was the absolute truth.

"I can't say that I'm happy about you lying to me, Zachary. But I do understand and sympathize with your desire to be loyal to your fellow apprentice," said Mr. Parks. "Can you at least assure me that you had no personal involvement in this scheme?"

"Oh, yes, sir!" said Zachary, "Davey and I were playing Closh over on Palace Green. We didn't go anywhere near the cockfights."

"Keeping a safe distance away, eh?"

"Yes, sir!"

"I see," said Mr. Parks. He stared at Zachary, who blushed beet red when he realized what he had just said. The tall man finally turned and placed the razor strop back on the desk. "I do believe that you had no direct involvement in this disaster. So I won't whip you."

"Yes, sir," said Zachary, sighing with relief.

"But that does not mean you are completely off the hook, Zachary. Can you look me square in the eye and say that you didn't have any information that could have prevented Jeremy from getting into such serious trouble today?"

Zachary attempted to look his master directly in the eyes, but couldn't manage it. Eventually he shook his head.

"As I suspected," said Mr. Parks. "Zachary, I want you to stay in the house the rest of the day."

"But sir!" protested Zachary. "I'll miss the rest of the fair!"

"Do you even have any money left?"

"Yes, sir! I have 1 shilling, 9 pence left."

"Save it for another time."

"But sir! They're gonna play rounders later!"

"Zachary, I said 'no'! Do you want another dose of the razor strop?" said Mr. Parks. He started to reach for the strop on his desk.

"No sir!" said Zachary quickly. "I'm sorry, sir!"

"You better be! I'm being lenient with you, Zachary. Don't make me regret it."

Zachary gulped in fear, but found the courage to look his master in the eye. "I know you're being lenient, sir. Thank you."

"You're welcome, son," said Mr. Parks. He strode around the back of his desk and sat down in the leather armchair. "Tell me, Zachary, do you think that Jeremy would take a whipping to spare you from one?"

"Probably not, sir," admitted Zachary. Jeremy had told him as much just a couple of weeks ago.

"I don't think he would, either," said Mr. Parks. "That's something to think about when you're deciding just how loyal you should be to Jeremy."

"Yes, sir."

"Loyalty is a fine thing, and very noble. But it is possible to take loyalty too far. Do you understand?"

"I'm trying to, sir," said Zachary, noncommittally.

"Very well," said Mr. Parks, "that will do for now. We'll discuss the matter again in the future."

"Yes, sir."

"Why don't go up to your room and work on your new essay? Sarah will call you when dinner is ready."

"Yes, sir. Thank you... for understanding."

"Don't mention it, Zachary," said Mr. Parks, smiling. "I was an apprentice once myself, you know."

Zachary and Mr. Parks were part of the small crowd emerging from the Williamsburg Courthouse. Several trials had been held on Thursday, July 29, 1742 to deal with crimes that had been committed during the Anniversary Fair on the previous day. Most of the trials were brief, simple affairs for mundane crimes, such as public profanity.

The major trial, and the one that drew the biggest audience, was the trial of the three miscreants who had tried to fix a cockfight. All three were quickly found guilty of attempted fraud - there were far too many witnesses for any other result. The two underage boys, 16-year-old printer's apprentice Jeremy Topper, and 17-year-old carpenter's apprentice Michael Eaton, were each making their first appearance before a criminal court.

The defendants were fortunate to have been found guilty of attempted fraud, a misdemeanor. Because anyone over the age of thirteen convicted of a felony in Colonial Virginia was, with few exceptions, executed by hanging. It generally didn't matter how clean the felon's previous record was. With a misdemeanor conviction, a great deal of lattitude was afforded the judge in deciding the penalties to be applied.

The two youths were sentenced to spend the remainder of the day in the stocks outside the public gaol. The justice of the peace presiding over the case expressed his sincere hope that the masters of the two boys would see fit to "take the skin off their backsides" in addition to the official punishment. Both Mr. Parks and Randolph Graves, the master carpenter to whom Michael Eaton was apprenticed, had stood in court and assured the justice that they intended to do precisely that. Finally, both masters were ordered to pay a fine of £5 to the court on behalf of their apprentices.

Edgar Stapleton, the 22-year-old ringleader, was technically a journeyman carpenter, having been formerly apprenticed to Mr. Graves. Nobody could remember Stapleton doing an honest day of work since his apprenticeship ended more than a year ago. The young layabout had a criminal record "as long as a country mile", according to the presiding justice. They were mostly petty crimes, but this time the justice decided to make an example of Stapleton, who was sentenced to a public flogging of 25 lashes, 10 days in gaol, and a £5 fine.

Justice was swift in Virginia in 1742, and within an hour of the sentence being passed, the three convicts had been led in shackles to the Williamsburg Public Gaol, which was located at the far east end of Nicholson Street, just north of the Capitol.

Jeremy Topper and Michael Eaton were quickly installed in the double stocks, each fastened tightly by the neck and wrists on either side of a large square wooden central pillar. There they would be left to the tender mercies of the jeering crowd, who were free to throw rotten fruit and vegetables in their faces. It was barely 11 o'clock in the morning when the two boys were placed in the stocks, and they would not be released until dusk. So the crowd had all day to torment them.

Their immediate attention was focused on Edgar Stapleton, who had been made to remove his shirt and was tied to the whipping post located near the stocks. Stapleton was not a tall man, barely over five feet tall, but he was powerfully built and fairly muscular, particularly for someone who was not fond of manual labor.

Zachary stood where he could get a side view of the whipping. On his master's orders, the young artist had brought along his new sketch book and two pencils. He had already made a drawing of the proceedings in the court room. Now he was sketching Stapleton tied to the whipping post, leaving room on the right side of the page to draw the constable and his whip.

Sure enough, the chief constable soon appeared from the gaol with a bullwhip and proceeded to give Stapleton his twenty-five lashes. Whatever else you could say about Edgar Stapleton - and few people in Williamsburg had anything good to say about him - the man was not a coward.

As the bullwhip lashed Stapleton's back, the man flinched and groaned a bit, obviously in agony. But he never shouted out or begged for mercy. After the twelfth lash, there was some blood running down Stapleton's back from a few spots where the whiplashes had crossed.

By the end of his flogging, Stapleton's back was a bloody mess, and the man was obviously struggling not to cry out. Zachary noticed some blood tricking from Stapleton's mouth after the flogging - he wondered if the stubborn criminal had bitten his own tongue in his determination to not give voice to his agony.

Stapleton was left tied to the whipping post for an hour, his bloody, lacerated back serving as an example of what happens to criminals. For his own part, Zachary was horrified. He though the whippings he had received throughout his childhood had been painful. He wondered how painful 25 lashes with a bullwhip on the bare back could be? On second thought, Zachary sincerely hoped that he would never learn the answer to that question.

After the flogging, Mr. Parks made Zachary draw the two apprentices secured in the stocks. He also ordered the boy to make a close up drawing of Jeremy in the stocks. Mr. Parks told Jeremy that he was thinking of putting that drawing up on the wall of the print shop. Then Zachary accompanied his master home for lunch, after which they both returned to work in the print shop.

It was a long, hot summer day, and Mr. Parks ordered Zachary to take a cup of water to Jeremy on two separate occasions. The senior apprentice was grateful for the water, but during the second visit he had a request for the junior apprentice. Zachary went over to the deputy constable who was on duty guarding the prisoners to pass on the request.

"Excuse me, sir," said Zachary. "Jeremy Topper is my brother apprentice at the print shop."

"So?" said the constable, annoyed at the interruption. "What does he want now?"

"Jeremy would like me to undo his trousers and drawers so he can relieve himself. Would that be alright?"

"No!" said the constable loudly. "You can't expose his private parts in public. Let him piss himself. Most of them do it during these all day things. Helps teach them a good lesson in humility."

Zachary looked around and saw that there were no observers currently gathered around the stocks. "Please sir, there is nobody even here to see his willy."

"Get away, you little brat!" yelled the constable. "Unless you want me to put my boot up your arse!"

Zachary scrambled away, dodging the kick the big man aimed at him. He quickly went back over to the stocks to give Jeremy the bad news. "Sorry, Jere."

"I heard him," said Jeremy, disgusted. "It's not your fault."

"I really gotta go," said Zachary. "Mr. Parks is very upset, and he ordered me not to dawdle."

"Go ahead, Zach. And thanks for trying."

"You're welcome, Jere. I'll be back," said Zachary. He turned and sprinted back towards the print shop.

It was well after half-past-eight that evening when the two convicted apprentices were released. Both boys had soiled themselves during their long confinement in the stocks. The constables and a few onlookers teased the unfortunate youths very unkindly about being babies who still soiled their swaddling clothes.

Mr. Parks led Zachary and the throughly humiliated Jeremy home through the gathering darkness. The senior apprentice was ordered to strip off his soiled clothes in the back yard and then bathe in the kitchen. Zachary drew the buckets of water from the well that were used to rinse Jeremy off during his bath. Their master was not an unkind man and he allowed Jeremy, who had been too upset to eat anything in jail and was starving, to eat dinner with just a towel wrapped around his waist.

After dinner Mr. Parks ordered Zachary to accompany Jeremy and himself to his study, where the youngster was forced to witness Jeremy's whipping. As Jeremy placed himself over the pillow in the middle of the bench, Zachary noticed a few faint blue marks on the older boy's posterior left over from his last razor stropping on Saturday night.

As Mr. Parks draped the razor strop over Jeremy's bottom to get his aim for the first whack, Zachary thought how lucky Jeremy was that he had written an acceptable essay the previous Sunday - as had Zachary. So they both avoided another dose of the razor strop on Monday night. Zachary just couldn't imagine how much it would have hurt Jeremy to get three hidings with the razor strop within a week's time.

Thwwaaccckkk. Mr. Parks was furious with Jeremy, and he lashed the 16-year-old's muscular backside with gusto.

Thwwaaccckkk. "Ooowww!" Jeremy normally tried to be brave, particularly when being beaten in front of another boy.

Thwwaaccckkk. "Oooowwww!" But the senior apprentice was emotionally fragile after the shock of his arrest and spending a night in gaol.

Thwwaaccckkk. "Oooowwwch!" The trial and day-long, humiliating punishment Jeremy had experienced did not help his state of mind, either.

After twelve powerful licks from the razor strop, Jeremy had been reduced to a sobbing, hysterical little boy in a young man's body. That was when Mr. Parks began the questioning phase.

Mr. Parks questioned Jeremy closely about Zachary's participation in the cockfight fixing scheme. Zachary's bottom cheeks clenched and tingled at the mention of his own name. If Jeremy decided to say that Zachary was involved, the junior apprentice would surely be next over the bench, getting his very own dose of the razor strop.

Fortunately Jeremy told the truth. He told Mr. Parks that not only was Zachary not involved with the scheme, but that the younger apprentice had actually tried to talk Jeremy out of it.

Zachary was grateful that his brother apprentice had been honest. He flinched when the whipping finally resumed, wrenching screams of agony from Jeremy's lips before the twentieth lick of the razor strop added a few final blisters and welts to the senior apprentice's tortured seat.

After giving Jeremy a few minutes to settle down, Mr. Parks once again had the two apprentices standing at attention in his study as he gave them a stern lecture.

"First of all, I absolutely forbid either of you to associate with Edgar Stapleton in any way. That young man will end up dead very soon if he keeps going the way he is going. He might try to swindle the wrong people and be found dead in an gutter somewhere - or simply disappear. The other possibility is that he will eventually commit a felony and end his days dancing at the end of a rope. I would purely hate to see either of you boys going the same way."

Zachary gulped. He had witnessed the public hanging of seven criminals in Williamsburg back in 1739 when he was nine-years-old. He shuddered to think of Jeremy - or himself - dying in such a horribly public way.

"Your apprentice contracts specifically prohibit you from gambling," continued Mr. Parks. "You are aware of that, Jeremy?"

"Yes, sir," said Jeremy, still sniffling.

"Then why is this the second time I've had to whip you for it?"

"I... I don't know, sir."

"Well, you better figure it out, young man!" said Mr. Parks. "If you are caught gambling again while apprenticed to me, I will give serious consideration to cancelling your contract and throwing you out into the world half-trained."

"Yes, sir," said Jeremy, looking horrified at the prospect of his apprentice contract being terminated.

Zachary didn't blame him. A half-trained apprentice could rarely if ever find another master who would consider taking him on after his first master cancelled his contract. Jeremy could end up having to enlist in the military, find work as a servant, or else end up going down the same road to oblivion as Edgar Stapleton.

"Listen, you two!" said Mr. Parks. "I can't tell you how disappointed I am that we will have to report in the Virginia Gazette that a member of the newspaper's staff was convicted in court. I certainly hope that nothing like this ever happens again. How can people be expected to believe what they read in newspapers if the people printing the papers go around committing crimes themselves?"

Neither apprentice could look his master in the eye. Mr. Parks continued, "I want you both to work together on writing the article on the fair, and on the trial, that will run in the paper. Consider it an extra essay assignment."

"Yes, sir," said both boys.

Zachary tried to console his apprentice brother that night in their bedroom. The naked Jeremy, who was lying face down on his bed, thanked him for his kindness, but convinced Zachary that he just wanted to be left alone.

So Zachary took a long look at the horrific damage the razor strop had done to his brother apprentice's buttocks. Then he simply blew out the candle, said his prayers (with an extra prayer thrown in for God to cure Jeremy of his fascination with gambling) and climbed into bed.

As he waited for sleep to come he heard the occasional gasps and sobs from Jeremy as the senior apprentice dealt with the waves of agony coming from his freshly scorched backside. The Anniversary Fair hadn't been nearly as pleasant, over all, as Zachary had expected.