The Hide, bondage story | scarves, gag, victim

I've always loved observing wildlife. During the early part of WWII we were evacuated and spent nearly three years living as "evacuees" in a small Somerset village; that was almost a joke because a dog-fighting Spitfire took one in the wrong place and made an engineless forced landing only just outside the village. SENSATION. But it was there that I first learned to rove along footpaths, across fields and streams and to find ways to cross a river. Later, on a bicycle, I gained even more freedom in wild and lonely places.

I left school and returned home to a job in the thick of the German doodlebug raids during one of which a near miss blew the end off our laboratory. It filled all the gear with dust - and us with an unholy fear of bangs. But electronic gear, especially the valve-operated high-impedance high-voltage stuff of those days, takes unkindly to dust and we evacuated to a large country house right back into my beloved country.

The delights of that place were many but for me it was the extensive woodland that came right up to the boundary of our grounds. Once more I spent my spare time wandering and watching. I found a fairly secluded glade which was frequented by hungry bunnies which, at first, I watched by the simple process of standing still. Then, with the discovery of a natural and near-perfect hide, I began to make myself more comfortable.

All of which meandering explains how I came to be sitting in hiding one beautiful day in July with rabbits a gogo, squirrels scooting through the canopy and, greatest thrill of all, a sighting of the red squirrel - now almost certainly extinct in southern England.

Then came the interruption. I cursed as three young maidens came trooping into my glade with much hilarity and chatter. Cursed? Aye! My true purpose at that moment was to watch wildlife not wild women. I waited in hope but in vain; then I became intent on an entirely new line of bird-watching. In other words - I was about to grow up!

Each girl was carrying a bag of some sort, which seemed to be filled with nobbly stuff which, on being emptied out on to the grass, proved to be collections of rope, scarves and other interesting items which today I classify as general bondage gear. Two of them had short lengths of chain with locks - I identified them as bicycle chains of the anti-theft type - but these maidens had other ideas in mind.

I watched in pure disbelief as one of them stripped down to a bra top and very short shorts - disgracefully avant garde in those days - and then the other two began to tie her into a state of complete helplessness. It was definitely NOT an attack; it was being undertaken in all seriousness and all three were clearly enjoying themselves. Me? Don't ask silly questions.

Satisfied with the result they changed tactics and one of the remaining girls began to tie the third. She pulled the captive's arms behind her with the forearms parallel and then joined her wrists with a tight cord across the tummy. Simple but very inescapable as long as the knots are of the non-slip type. And they were.

She was a great girl for the simple things in life but then they were expert in neither bondage nor escape. With her captive sitting on the ground she bound her ankles with a single turn of that-bicycle's-mine chain and a simple padlock. Then, clearly to the surprise of both the other girls, she flipped her victim over on to her stomach, bent up those helplessly flapping legs and passed a length of rope around her thighs and tied it off to the chain thus achieving a crude but effective hog-tie.

I was too inexperienced to know whether the sounds coming from the two girls flopping about on the grass were of pleasure, surprise or objection but the captor cared not at all. She pounced on a canvas bag, which she had dropped near to the entrance of my hide and tipped out a collection of head-squares and other similar scarves of all sorts, shapes and sizes. Casting aside the bag she began sorting the scarves; some she scrunched up into balls which she then wrapped into other larger ones; perhaps you have guessed it quicker than did I in my naivety but she was preparing to gag her two victims.

There was no doubt at all that this time the two helpless ones were surprised and - perhaps - dismayed at this turn of events but their protests went unheeded. Soon they were rolling about in frantic escape attempts uttering sounds that I can only describe as 'Wuffles'.

In those days the word bondage did not enter into the normal vocabulary and the only forms of entertainment were the radio and the cinema. I had become aware of excitement when bondage scenes occurred in films; for example there was a Moment when the teen-age newcomer Maureen O'Hara in 'Jamaica Inn' found herself in trouble with the wicked squire which I remember to this day. But the scene, being enacted for real right there before my eyes, caused an excitement which soared to a pitch where I was beginning to fuse reality with fantasy. The budding dominatrix before me was standing with hands on hips admiring her prizes and evidently in a state of excitement herself. She stepped backward toward my hide and I became nigh insane.

Stretching out close to the ground I retrieved the discarded bag from which she had emptied her bondage gear. In that secluded place I spread it to better judge its size and found it to be perfect for the contemplated job. Moreover it still contained a long silk scarf - an item of gentleman's evening wear. There was sufficient noise in the clearing to mask my action as I stepped forth and snapped the bag down over the young lady's head.

The funny little noise which she emitted was almost certainly one of surprise and it sounded very feminine. But to muffle any screaming which was due to follow, I wrapped the scarf twice round her neck and secured it behind. She brought her hands up in an effort to untie it and I used the loose ends to tie one wrist into the knot. On the ground in front of her lay a last length of rope - a piece of broken wash-line apparently. Down on my knees I seized it and, turning, wrapped it around her ankles and pulled it up in a quick - and crude - knot. She toppled over but, fortunately, landed on top of me. I reversed our positions and copied her own trick of tying the ankles back to the thighs. Now, in a last effort, I used one of the large scarves to secure her wrists together thus leaving her in a sort-of hogtie with her hands trapped behind her head.

It was now my privilege to look upon three bound damsels struggling uselessly in the grass. My victim rolled over and said menacingly, if somewhat muffled: "You'll get into trouble for this."

I picked up one of her remaining scarves and ran it through my hands to pull it into rope form: "Not if I strangle you first."

Pure horror or fright or a mixture of both - I know not - but it silenced her on the spot and I pulled the scarf into her mouth and knotted it at her nape. "Now," I said, cheerfully: "with peace and quiet restored ... perhaps I can get back to watching rabbits and squirrels."

The strange looks which I received I suppose were expressions of disbelief. I hid myself once again but now I was watching different birds. I don't think that the American slang use of 'bird' had crossed the Ocean at that time but the exact combination of letters has little to do with it. The wildlife had long been frightened away and, after about ten or fifteen minutes, I decided that I had better turn them loose.

I could have gone on watching the show for much much longer but there is a strong element of prudence in my make-up. I selected the girl who had been tied up for the longest period - it wasn't difficult for, in the language of the time, she was all but naked - and I unwrapped enough of her bindings to release her hands. I left her to finish the job and remove the gag while I started on girl number two. With her in self-help mode I turned my attention to my own victim but then insanity returned once more.

This one had betrayed her companions; I more than suspected that she had tied them much more thoroughly than had been expected and, without doubt, the gags had not been part of the game as agreed. I had enjoyed tying her - especially the gag - and I could imagine gazing down at her blazing eyes when the hood came off: "I think I will leave your friends to deal with you. You were very mean, you know."

She erupted in strenuous objection but, crude though my early bondage may have been, it more than matched her inexperienced efforts at escape. As I stood again I saw her companions gathering materials and advancing on us. I didn't want to fight-off two girls and so didn't wait to see if they were after me or the one that still lay on the ground. But I did circle back to enjoy the sight of my victim, still 'mmmphing' inside her bag and its external gag, steadily disappearing under wrap after wrap of rope, scarves and odd bits of chain.

I never saw them again but my future leisure pursuits had been determined.