The fugitive Golden Guard had several adventures after leaving the Bandits’ Cave where Philippa had divined her innocence by a mystic appraisal of her warm and freshly shed blood. This is the second.


ADVENTURE THE SECOND - Part One



ROBERTA AND PAULA



"I wonder how these people will react to your nudity, Roberta?" asked Paula. "I hope you don't
collect another whipping just yet! A really satisfactory and aesthetically pleasing lashing needs to be done on a nice  fresh back! Or so I think! And, thanks mainly to you, I’ve seen enough to have a right to form a judgment in such matters!

You need at the very least, a couple of weeks to recover before the next one. Your scars are still fresh and weeping from the last. So let’s hope they at least allow you time to heal before they punish you. Of course, you might be lucky this time! Doubt it, though! I think the store is over there!"

Paula and Roberta were in a small village looking for a nice swishy stick for Paula's backside. They needed one in order that Roberta might subject her to a fun caning. The couple were also hoping to purchase food for the continuing journey. Roberta decided that they must stay here for a while.

"I'll see if they have any work for me, Paula. From the look of the place, there seems a lot to be done around here and a pair of strong arms and shoulders will be useful. We'll buy your nice stick and ask to be introduced to the head man!"

Roberta was told the mayor was also the owner of the store. This dignitary, full of self importance,   came out and looked angrily at Roberta. It was clear that if the Golden Guard hoped that her nudity would be more welcome here than in the last village, she was in for a major and possible very painful disappointment.

"What have we here? A shameless strumpet who thinks her great strength allows her to behave as she pleases! I see you have been whipped recently, my good woman! They gave you quite a going over! I can guess why! I suggest you complete your purchases and move on. We won't add to those wounds today - not while they are so fresh. We are not that cruel."

"Do you have work for me, Sir?” said Roberta in a placatory voice. “My friend and I are short of money and we have a very long journey ahead of us."

"I’m not so sure about your little friend but we certainly have plenty of hard work for you. You are obviously very strong and can start at once if you wish. But please! I beg you to put some clothes on! We are respectable folk around here. There is a very strong Ladies League for Truth and Decency around here and elections are due. I daren‘t let something as blatant as this pass. I must make an example of you."

"I have my reasons for refusing to wear clothes.” said Roberta firmly, but politely. “ I understand your feelings and those of the worthy citizenry and you may punish me as you see fit. I will accept whatever you decide and not resist. I am happy to pay the penalty for being naked, whatever it might be.  I will always be naked. My body is as a blazing beacon of truth never to be hid from people’s eyes.”

Paula blinked at this last remark! She had never seen it like that before! Roberta continued.

“What is the work I am to do? There are still a few hours of daylight! All I ask is that my friend be given shelter and rewarded when we finally leave. I will sleep wherever you wish as long as she is given food and comfortable lodgings."

Roberta was shown to a grove of trees. It consisted of about thirty in all. Some were big and with trunks that two or three people could stand around with arms outstretched. Others were hardly more than saplings.

"We want all these trees felled and the roots taken out. We intend to cultivate this area. The timber must be cut up into suitable lengths for our craftsmen to use. You have three weeks to complete this task. We have axes, saws and shovels. Digging out the roots will be the hardest part. If you complete the job on time your friend will be given twelve gold pieces, enough with care to last her for several months. Because you are a naked whore, you will receive nothing and you must promise that she will keep it all. We will regard you as her property. If she wishes to feed you on it, that is her affair, but the money is all hers and you are merely her slave as far as we are concerned. You must give your solemn word to us."

Roberta nodded her agreement. Paula looked after these financial things, such as they were, in any case. Roberta was a warrior, not a coin counter.

"What if I take longer than three weeks?"

"In that unhappy event, your friend here will get nothing. Not only that but you will be publicly branded as a whore. You will be branded with hot irons on each buttock and on your back.  Do you agree or do you wish to go on your way?"

"I agree. The land will be cleared inside three weeks."

"Get to work! I see from the scars on your chest and stomach that you have already been branded! Or was that the Chief Torturer's work? Golden Guard Roberta!"

"If you know who I am, then you must also know that I was tortured last year. Tortured unjustly, I might add! Please believe me when I say that I am innocent of any wrongdoing, save that of having been wild and undisciplined for a while for which I was well punished many times. I am a loyal servant of the King and always will be!"

“You may be innocent but you have no right to be naked now that you are disgraced and suspended from the Golden Guard. I understand that you wish to stay unclothed but, if you persist, you must be punished for it. We will not attempt to force you to wear clothes, but we will enforce a severe chastisement before you are allowed to leave. I will make only one concession. Complete the work on time and your branding will be reduced to a whipping. “

He looked at the two girls’ purchases. His eyes lighted on the swishy stick.

“Why have you bought this cane?”

“My friend likes to be caned on her bottom. It is for me to use on her, but only when she asks me to do it. I love her desperately and would never hurt her badly.”

“We do not allow these carnal relations between women. If Paula wishes to avoid great punishment, she will keep away from you until you have finished your duties here. You  will work as long as it is light and I have decided that you should spend the nights in a cellar, chained to the wall.”

“But Paula will be treated well? That’s all I ask. Do what you like to me. How will my whipping be delivered. I see that I am not going to escape that, even if I am not to be branded with hot irons.”

The Mayor looked at Roberta’s raw and weeping wounds. He guessed that she had received them at the neighbouring town, whose recent difficulties with Lord Gerald he was aware of, as well as Roberta’s assistance. Like Paula he thought their ingratitude somewhat of a disgrace. Not that he intended to deal any more gently with this defiant whore himself!

“I see that you have very recently been given about two hundred lashes, although mostly they were not laid on all that well. It was a very incompetent piece of work as I am sure you realise. We will tie you to the side of a barn and give you one hundred and fifty, well laid on so that you howl for mercy long before we have done with you.”

Roberta reflected that the wretched mayor would be disappointed when she took her lashes in silence! But you can’t please everyone! The mayor then promised that Paula would have comfortable lodgings.  Roberta made to go and start work but the mayor told her to stop.  He was full of bad news for our heroine this afternoon!

“I think you will have to wear something while you are with us. Two metal bands around your ankles and a long chain to link them together and stop you running away before your work is done. We don’t want our strong slave absconding before we decide to free her! Let us go to the blacksmith’s.”

This was a new one for Roberta! Even during her trial and imprisonment she had not been treated like this. Her leg irons as a prisoner had been the sort that could be locked and unlocked. But these would be permanent, at least until they were cut away by the blacksmith. A strange excitement came over her as she realised that she was on the verge of a totally new experience in degradation and bondage!

Paula heard the sounds of hammering coming from the smithy and, like her Mistress, she was excited at the prospect of seeing a permanently shackled Roberta! Finally her friend was led out, with iron bands around both ankles and a chain linking them.

Her chain was long enough for Roberta to walk fairly easily, but her stride was less that its usual length and the heavy chain rattled and clanked as she made her way to the grove.

The first tree came crashing to the ground after a mere twenty minutes. Roberta was totally untrained as a woodsman but she was strong and a quick learner! She found herself hampered to some extent by not being able to get her feet far enough apart to get the best rhythm.  And the iron hurt her legs. The metal had still been pretty hot when the blacksmith had not ungently fixed the shackles, making her fear for her legs being crushed as he hammered the rivets into place. Her ankles would most likely bear the scars for ever. Roberta did not mind this. She collected scars and took great pride in the large number that she could sport on all parts of her body.

Roberta had not started on the trees until two hours before nightfall and she managed to fell a third of them, mostly the smaller ones, leaving the big ones for the next few days. The thought of the hard work that lay ahead did not frighten her. She was strong enough to complete this task with days to spare!

The cell they locked her in was deep below the prison building and stank from a mixture of the damp and the rotting corpses of dead rats and other filth. Her chain was fixed to the wall and she was left crouching on the floor with her supper, which made her feel sick to look at and smell, let alone eat. But she forced herself. She would need to keep her strength up if she were to get through the coming twenty one days!

They fed her in the morning after a poor night’s sleep and led her to the grove. From time to time during the long hot and  dusty day she would drink from the large jug of water they had given her. On the Hell Island she had been used to go for  five hours at a time without drinking and this ready availability of liquid sustenance was a great blessing. She found herself working three times as hard as when she had been a convict labourer.

Roberta spent most of this first full day cutting up the trees she had felled yesterday into the kind of dimensions that would make them, good for firewood. It was the larger trees that would provide the building material. By the time they came to take back to her cell she had achieved all she had set herself to do. Roberta was well pleased at her progress.  This was the first really hard work since her escape and it felt pretty good.  Her body ached all over and she slept like a log that night.

*************

PAULA

“I’d like to look at my slave working, if that is alright with you, Mr Mayor” said Paula as she welcomed the Head of the Community into her comfortable cottage, lent to her for the duration. “I know she is rented out to you, but it pleases me to see her working hard and earning her keep - and my fortune!”

“We are well pleased with her work so far, Paula. In five days she has felled all the trees. The smaller ones have all been cut into logs for firewood and she is stripping the bark off the larger ones and sawing them into sections for the carpenters to work on in due course after they have been seasoned. In years to come the village will have several fine buildings as a result of your generosity and your slave’s hard work.. And you may go and inspect your property. But we would ask that you not keep her long from her work.”

“Of course I will not hold up the work for more than a few minutes. I merely wish to see that you are maintaining my property in good condition. She may be strong but she needs feeding well. In that sense at least sense, she is as human as you and I!”

Paula didn’t know what to think or feel of this new situation where her adored Mistress was being regarded as her Slave. On the whole she disliked the arrangement and felt bitterly for the wounded pride of the bravest of the brave. But there was an element of excitement at the idea!

Roberta was sawing the trunk of one of the larger trees into lengthwise sections. She was covered in sweat and dust. It was clear to Paula’s eyes and, more distastefully, her nose that Roberta had not bathed for six days. She guessed that this unwashed state of affairs was destined to continue for over two weeks until the couple could continue their journey. Yuck!

“Making good progress, darling?” she asked.

Roberta started at the sound of that beloved voice which she had missed terribly this last few days. She continued sawing.

“I think I’m ahead of schedule, Paula. From tomorrow I will be digging out the roots. That will make the previous five days seem like a picnic, The hardest work is all ahead of me! I won’t let you down, Paula! You’ll get your ten gold pieces!”

“Our gold pieces, darling!”

“Yours, Mistress Paula! I made a promise to the worthy Mayor!”

“I don’t want to be your mistress. I was happier in the old days when you were the King’s trusted Guard and I was your plaything. I wish those times were back.”

“They are gone for ever, Paula. You will never be my toy again and I don’t wish it. You know yourself that you grow as a person all the time. It is thanks to you that I am here and not still slaving away on Hell Island.”

Paula looked at her friend’s toiling back and smoothly working muscles as she reduced the tree trunks to workable timber.

“It doesn’t seem much of an improvement. You are still hard at work - work that is so far beneath you. And you still get unjustly flogged for no more than wearing the uniform of  a Golden Guard. I don’t seem to have been too much help so far!”

“Yes, you have, Paula. This is a million times better than that desolate piece of rock. I have the fresh air and the greenery of the countryside to enjoy and my muscles need this exercise. I am happy enough, Paula. During the day at least!”

“Is it terrible where you are chained up at night, Roberta? Tell me how it is. I command you!”

“It stinks. I am given foul tasting muck to eat. For the first few days my stomach revolted and I suffered from diarrhoea and vomiting. But my insides are used to it now. I hate having to sleep covered in my own filth, though and to be unwashed and foul smelling all the time. But I’m a Slave now.”

“I will ask the Mayor to improve your conditions. I doubt that he will agree, the bastard! But I will do what I can. Keep up the good work, darling! The sooner you are finished the sooner we can get away from here - from this hateful place.”

As Paula had feared, her request that Roberta  be given a more sanitary place to spend the night was refused.

“A Slave should sleep in her own shit, Paula. Let her learn her place! It will be good for her in the long run to forget her proud past. She is the lowest of the low these days, Paula. And now to pleasanter matters! My wife and I would be glad if you would join us for dinner tonight. We are having a few friends around and they are all anxious to meet you and hear about life at Court.”

“I was only a humble maid and later an auxiliary Golden guard. I was hardly in the King’s inner circle. And I am on the run as well as Roberta. You could hand us both in and get a rich reward. But Roberta is innocent. The seer, Philippa, established her innocence. She examined her blood after it had been ritually shed and said it is the blood of a wild and wilful woman who is also loyal and true to her King!”

“I respect Philippa, Paula. And I admire you. So I shall not give you over to the King’s men when they next visit these parts.  Now forget your slave! Leave her to rot in the cells! Come to our house and  have a good time. I have asked a couple of really nice young men whom I am sure you will like.”

Paula very much doubted that she would like either of the two young men. Most of the men she had seen around here sucked! And there was only one man she would ever look at. And he was married and unattainable. No man in this village would be able to give her the riches and happiness promised by Philippa all those weeks ago. Paula was keen on getting to enjoy this good life and knew she would before too long.

But she did have a good time that evening! The wine flowed freely and the food was excellent. The two young men were a bit of a bore, but nice enough. They both escorted her home afterwards and invited her for a ride in the country followed by a picnic. It sounded a pleasant change from walking everywhere and she accepted, especially when assured there would be another girl as well as herself on the outing. It had been years since she had last rode a horse.
 
She fell asleep easily that night, unlike Roberta far below ground who was in as much squalor as ever. Clearly Paula’s request had not been heeded.  She hated this time chained to a cell wall and prayed every night  for morning to come quickly. She loved her work in the wood, gruelling though it might be, but hated the stinking confinement at night. And she longed to be clean again.

******************************

The excursion to the country proved to be something of a disaster. It all went pleasantly enough to start with. The four young people left at an hour or so after dawn, and Paula heard the sound of sawing coming from the direction of the grove.

James, the boy who seemed more interested in her, mentioned Roberta as they rode past the now felled grove.

“You slave is certainly a remarkable individual. We all admire her strength and her beauty , but she will be whipped for her nakedness when she has finished clearing that ground. Why do you insist on keeping her like that, Paula?”

“She is an animal, James. Animals don’t wear clothes. And her whippings are nothing to her. Animals don’t feel pain! You mustn‘t feel sorry for her.”

“I don’t!” replied James. “Slaves are only meant for work and pain. But she is very exciting to watch at work. I’ve never seen a body like that before. Can she fight? I heard a rumour that she had been a Golden Guard before being sold into slavery.”

“I don’t know what she was before I bought her.” lied Paula. “But she can fight and fight well. I guess she might have been a soldier once before she became an animal and my property.”

The four young people reached the field where they were to have their picnic. James and Paula had ridden separate horses and the other couple had ridden in a small cart drawn by one horse. The cart contained the food and wine for the outdoor meal as well as two increasingly amorous young people.

Frieda and William soon disappeared together behind a bush. Soon the sounds of giggling could be heard.

“Let’s go and spy on them!” said Paula with a mischievous smile. She could feel James getting more and more anxious to do to Paula what William was doing to Frieda. No matter what, she was not being screwed by this silly boy! She had a dagger concealed beneath her dress and would use it if needed.

James agreed and the two stole quietly towards the shrubbery behind which Frieda was being shagged by William. Paula looked curiously at the writhing pair. It was the first time she had seen a naked man and she wished to miss nothing. Because of the movement of the two naked bodies she wasn’t able to make out as much as she would like of what was going on. It all looked very messy, that was for sure, but both seemed to be happy enough. There was a look in Frieda’s eyes that spoke of great ecstasy. Maybe she might allow James to do the same to her, despite her reservations of a few seconds ago! It would be nice to feel the same pleasure so obviously being experienced by the moaning Frieda. Then the rain started!

Paula and James ran to the two horses and a still nude couple emerged from behind the hedge, clutching their clothing and running for their lives towards the horse and cart. Paula’s father had once told her that one way to cool the ardour of copulating dogs was to throw water over them The same principle seemed to apply to the human species. But she doubted a few drops of rain would stop her and Roberta finishing what they had started!  These three were wimps!

By the time they had returned to the village all four were drenched. The rain which had started falling so suddenly showed no signs of stopping. Far from easing up the downpour intensified. At least Roberta’s stinking hide would get cleaned by this, thought a shivering Paula as she dried herself off in the comfort of her nice warm little cottage and watched the rain beat against the windows streaming down the glass and making it almost impossible to see across the road. Soon flashes of lightning appeared and thunder followed within seconds. The noise was deafening and the flashes of lightning hurt her eyes.

Then the rain turned to hail and its rattling against the house was even more dramatic than the rain had been. Paula saw the large stones dancing on the ground, bouncing inches into the air with the impact These stones would no doubt be bouncing off Roberta and stinging every inch of her tough young body. Sooner Roberta than her, she heartlessly thought! At least her hair was growing well by now and her head would be shielded.

***********************

ROBERTA

Roberta kept on working all through the downpour. She had been out in worse than this before now. As a trainee at the age of fourteen she and her fellows had been sent on a three week route march across the wildest part of the country, with no shelter in all that time. And the weather had been diabolical every single day. The hail did sting, as Paula had thought back in the village in the warmth and comfort of her pleasant lodgings, but Roberta ignored it and kept digging at the massive tree roots. She had never before realised that so much of a tree lay underground!

She had good cause to be grateful for the rain. With the ground softened by this providential downpour, her task became much easier and she was pulling, hacking and digging  one root after another out of the ground, cutting into them and accumulating a pile of them for disposal later.

The weather stayed cold and wet for four days and at the end of that time Roberta had completed her task. She wondered what she would be given to do next. It was quite a nasty shock when the Mayor ordered her to be brought before him and told her her future for the remaining twelve days before her servitude was over and she was returned to Paula’s charge.

“We have no more work suitable for you, Slave Roberta. So you will go down to the cellar and stay there until we bring you up for your whipping and hand you back to your Mistress.  Take the Slave away.”

It would be a gross understatement to say that Roberta was disappointed at this! She had been bracing herself for her one hundred and fifty lashes, after which she had hoped to be on her way. Now she was to be kept locked in that appalling little room with no respite either by day or by night from the horrors of confinement. Shit!

They dragged her, struggling, protesting and cursing back to the cellar. It took seven of them to get her down into the cell and chain her up. She was told she could go without food for a day and be fed only on bread and water for the rest of her confinement. As the heavy metal door clanged to she almost wept.

*****************************

PAULA

Two days after Roberta had been locked up, the weather improved. The four young people decided on another expedition to the same field. As before, James and Roberta rode separately, racing each other from time to time while the other pair came in the cart with the food and wine.

Although it was October by this rime the sun was warm. Warm enough for clothes to be shed for greater comfort - and greater ease of access for William and James to the girls’ sweet young bodies. Once again Frieda disappeared with William. This time Paula did not suggest they follow and spy on them. She was far more interested in doing than watching!

She was not a slut, was Paula. Merely possessed of a healthy curiosity! Being a modest little thing, she allowed James to undress her. Judging by his less than deft removal of piece after exciting piece of clothing, her was hardly an expert. If Paula had known that she was the first girl that James had ever got this close to - or anything like - she would have been less eager to be deflowered.

But Paula’s honour, purity and unspoilt sweetness were to be preserved on this occasion.  She swore as James drew back, his penis poised to enter her craving tunnel of love.

“Quick, Paula! Get dressed and hurry! I’ll be flayed alive if they catch me. I might even join your Slave in the cellars!”

Shocked at the sudden change of mood from masterful masculinity to scared young boy, Paula obeyed. She looked in the same direction that James had aimed his fearful glance. A group of riders was approaching. One of them was a big man. A very big man. About the same size as the imprisoned and chained Roberta in fact. James looked puny by comparison and James was hardly frail and undersized himself!

Paula, having replaced her clothes with a great deal more speed than James had managed in removing them, ran over to the other two. William was about to penetrate Frieda for the third time. He was behind her and she was crouching as he took her. Interesting! But this was no time to hang around.

“People coming. You’ll both be caught if you aren’t quick and get dressed pronto! You’re lucky! James and I were doing it right out in the open. Both of us bare ass naked and him with a real hard on! He beats you by a good inch, William! I just hope we weren’t spotted. Apparently he’d get a real hiding if they knew!”

Whether or not the riders had seen the alfresco quasi copulation, Paula was never to know. But nothing was ever said for the rest of her stay in the village.

“Who is that big man, darling James?” asked Paula as they rode side by side back home. Both were very disappointed not to have known each other!

“He’s Rodrigo, Paula my sweet! We have a rivalry between ourselves and the nearest village. Every year they send a champion to fight one of out best young men. He always wins. He’s been their champion for two years. Last year he killed out best man. The poor guy never stood a chance. Rodrigo is unbeatable but honour requires that we put up a man to fight him. I am among the strongest, Paula. I may have to be the one this year. But he is far bigger and he knows how to fight. We are just ordinary people. If only we had a champion to match him!

“Is it a fight to the death my love?”

Paula was a bit disappointed to be losing James so soon after getting to know him and before he had been given a chance to fuck her. The fight would be fun to watch, though, and there were plenty of young studs to replace this one!

“Not to the death, Paula. But the injuries can be terrible. Broken limbs, cracked ribs. I’ll be unconscious, bleeding and crippled by the time he‘s done with me, but most likely I’ll live. I’m a bit scared, frankly. Mind you - they may choose one of the others.”

“Maybe they won’t choose any of you. My slave is a wonderful fighter. I don’t say she would win against Rodrigo, but he’d get a run for his money! And it would be a chance for Roberta to get a bit of fresh air!”

As soon as they were back in the village Paula sought out the Mayor.

“If you like, Mr Mayor, my slave can be the challenger this year. She is a good fighter. Although she has only been fed bread and water these past two and a half days she will still be strong.”

“There are two days of feasting, Paula, before the contest. We will feed your slave up in that time. There are some rocks we need carrying out of the village. She can carry them and that will restore her muscles to fighting trim. I must warn you that Rodrigo is a dangerous fighter. He may hurt her badly, even though she is as big as he. And if she loses, her whipping will be doubled.”

****************

ROBERTA

Slave Roberta sipped at the filthy water and nibbled the stale crust of bread. This meagre supply of food and drink had been thrust under the door a couple of hours ago and would be all she got until the next day. On her first day here she had consumed all her bread and water quickly - and regretted it. It was better to eke out her meagre allowance and keep the hunger pangs to a minimum.

It had been foolish of her to resist being put here. Horrible though her normal food had been, it was a whole lot better than this near starvation diet!

It seemed to the chained Roberta that there had never been a time when she had had a full belly! Rumblings kept disturbing the still quiet of the tiny, stinking cell. At least she wouldn’t be shitting much in the next nine days!

When she got to be whipped, she would be weaker than she had ever been before when being punished. Maybe they would let her eat and drink first. And then again, maybe they wouldn’t! Knowing that cruel bastard of a mayor, more likely they wouldn’t!

As she was occupied with these rather gloomy reflections the door opened. She had not expected to see the light of day, even subterranean day, for well over a week. She blinked for some seconds before getting accustomed to the light after so long in near total darkness.

“The Mayor wishes to see you. Come along.”

She reasoned that anything that got her out of this Stygian horror had just got to be an improvement! Her chained was unlocked from the ring on the wall and she was taken, clanking and rattling to the Mayor’s office. To her surprise, Paula was standing with the Chief Citizen!

“Are we going, Mistress?” she asked Paula.

“No, Slave. We have more hard and dangerous work for you! Mr Mayor! Please let my Slave and I be alone for a few minutes.”

The Mayor left and Paula put her hand on Roberta’s strong arm.

“Would you fight a strong man for the honour of the village, Roberta? If you don’t, James will be put up against him and maybe killed. He’s a sweet boy, Roberta! I’d hate to see him killed or badly hurt! We sort of made love earlier today. Not quite, though  - thanks be to heaven! You will fight Rodrigo, won’t you!”

“If my Mistress commands it, then I have no choice, as her slave, obedient in all things even to the death!”

“You won’t die. You’ll whip his ass, Roberta. It’s in the bag!”

“If it’s the Rodrigo I’m thinking about, Paula, it’s anything but in the bag!  He was one of our trainers when I first joined the Golden Guard as a child. As a seventeen year old, just about to graduate, I was obliged to fight him! We all had to fight him and a very bruising business it was - for us, not him!”

Paula looked crestfallen and Roberta went on.

“We were considered to have graduated when we could last five minutes before getting knocked out! Some of the girls never made it and went back to their homes and families in disgrace. It took me five attempts! When I succeeded at long last, those were the longest and most painful five minutes of my life!”

“You only lasted five minutes?” This really sounded bad! Paula had been selling her slave as a sure fire winner!

“More like eight, actually. I did better than anyone else and he congratulated me, fifteen minutes later, after I had come round!”

“But that was years ago, Roberta! You’ve grown since then and your muscles are wonderful. You were seventeen than and almost twenty one now. That year on the island did wonders for you and the work on the wood has only made you better than ever. The mayor has arranged good feeding for you and plenty of exercise for you to get your body in trim. You have two days. You won’t let me and James down, will you?”

“Do you love this James, darling Mistress Paula?”

“Don’t be silly! He’s dirt poor like all these arseholes around here. And I’m due to be rich and happy! But I feel a bit of sentimental concern for him. You can do it, Roberta! Be positive! And your whipping is doubled if you lose. I should have thought that was quite an incentive!”

“You argue a powerful case, Paula! In two days we shall see whether your confidence in me is justified.”

***********************

Adventure No 2 will be continued later.