Chapter 11
"Hey! Julie-Lala-wake up!"
Julia stirred lazily, her head pillowed on the soft cushions of Sylvia's breasts. She kissed one of them and looked up.
"What? Oh, Lord-daylight already?"
"Better get back to your own bed, now honey-they'll be belting the table with their darn canes any minute."
Sylvia reached across to the other bed and poked at the huddled forms under the blankets.
"Lala-wakey-wakey!"
Two heads appeared above the blankets and blinked at her sleepily. Lala's lovely dusky body came into view as she sat up, rubbing her eyes. Reluctantly, she climbed from the bed, still half asleep. Sylvia watched the girl's golden jiggling buttocks as she started to walk across to her own bed. She grinned.
"Lala-come back here."
Lala turned and looked at her somnolently, then started back again. She stopped by the bed and Sylvia peered at her body closely. She examined her breasts made her open her legs, then put a hand to her shoulder and turned her round to examine her back and bottom. She slapped the light brown cheeks playfully.
"Okay-you'll do. No bites, no scratches." Still not quite awake, Lala went back to her own bed, climbed in and pulled the blankets up. "How about you, Maggie?"
Margaret had been sitting up watching the inspection of her recent bed-mate. She grinned and turned over, getting her head down again.
"Clean-no scratches and she didn't bite me."
"I wasn't hungry!" came Lala's muffled voice, showing she hadn't missed anything.
"Well, I know you're all right, Julie-I wasn't hungry either! G'wan-scat!"
There was a long enough interval for them to doze off again, to be wakened by the usual banging of the cane on the table. Then came the hosing and the trot round the compound.
Instead of going back to the hut for breakfast that morning, they were taken straight past it towards the kitchens.
"Of course-there are so few of us left, now," said Julia. "We fend for ourselves."
"Only us and four in the next hut-well be getting our own food from now on." Lala told them. "I heard the guard telling them last night that they'd be helping in the kitchens."
"Oh, well, at least it breaks the monot... Oh, no! Not in the kitchen as well?"
Even as they entered the kitchen, they were greeted by the vicious thump of a cane on bare flesh and the cry of pain from the recipient.
The kitchen was a long, low building of wood, the roof supported by roughly-planed beams. Pressed against one of them, her arms wrapped tightly about it, was a girl from the Island, her panties down around her knees. Her bared bottom, already bearing several dark weals, was still wriggling and clenching from the previous blow, as the cane belted into her again. She gave a shout of pain and one shapely leg kicked back as another welt was raised low down on the fleshiest part of her bottom.
"And just look at the doll who's caning her!" whispered Sylvia. "No wonder the grub's so hot!"
A massive negress, dwarfing their own guards, who stood grinning as they watched the punishment being inflicted, was wielding the can. She wore a khaki skirt similar to the guards, but there the similarity ended, except for the colour of her skin. She was naked to the waist, her huge breasts shaking and juddering like two black jellies as she flogged the unfortunate girl at the post. To complete her "ensemble," she had a snow white chef's hat perched precariously on top of her head.
The slim malacca thrummed viciously again and splatted against the soft, golden buttocks. The girl couldn't stand it any longer. Her arms left the pillar and she hopped up and down, her hands at her scalding bottom, face twisted with pain.
"Get back to that pillar or I'll get you a flogging that'll make the blood run down your legs!"
The girl turned and almost fell against the post, her arms going round it. She didn't even have time ot steel herself for the next cut; it smacked into her agonized bottom, sinking into the soft flesh with a dull thump. She somehow clung to the post while she received another two strokes, then she sank to her knees, sobbing brokenly, the livid weals on her buttocks mute evidence of the brutal savagery of their captors.
"Get to your feet and pull your drawers up-you have work to do." The "cook" looked down with something like pride at the state of the woman's bottom.
There was silence as the girl slimbed slowly to her feet, hands trembling as she pulled her panties up. She gasped with pain as the stretch nylon snapped against her soft buttocks, holding in the intense heat of the weals. Then, on shaky legs, she went back to washing dishes, her breasts shaking with her sobs.
Their "entertainment" over, the guards ushered the four girls over to a trestle table, where they were obliged to stand while they ate the usual fruit and drank the black coffee.
All four girls from the other huts were working in the kitchen, the looks of hatred they cast at the cook almost a tangible substance.
Back in the hut, the four friends dressed in silence, Lala in panties and high-heeled shoes and the other three in full underwear. The guards watched them avidly until they started to pull on their dresses.
"That's enough-no dresses, you whites. You're going to work for your keep now."
They were taken across the compound to the hospital, where they were handed over to the nurses.
"Don't be afraid to lash the cane into their backsides if they get lazy."
When the guards went out, the three white girls had to suffer the two negress nurses' excited inspection of their bodies. Standing in their panties and bras, suspendered stockings and high heels, htey were pawed and felt at, Sylvia having to lower her panties while they bent and squinted at her red-haired mount, felt between her legs and pinched her thrusting white bottom.
Lust flared in the eyes of one of them as she roughly fingered the delicate tissue between the hps of Sylvia's vulva. She kept stroking it and she put an arm about her waist, holding her close. Sylvia balled her fists and clenched her teeth in revulsion, knowing she dared not protest.
Julia bit her lip and turned her head away, not wanting to look at her friend's humiliation. She turned back quickly, though, as she heard Sylvia's snorting breath and saw the thick lips of the negress clamp on Sylvia's delicately curved mouth. And all the time, the blunt fingers kept probing between Sylvia's parted thighs.
"I think I'll take this one into the ward and have her in one of the empty beds. I've never had any white cunt before-and I like her red hair."
Sylvia looked at her in horror and shuddered and Julia seriously contemplated making a fight of it, hopeless though it might be.
"Let her go-we have work to do," said the other. "And if the doctor comes in and catches you, you'll be in trouble -you'll find yourself working out in the plantation again."
All four breathed freely again as Sylvia was released and allowed to pull her knickers up again. They were given brooms and dusters and taken into the ward to clean it up.
"We'll be looking in on you, so no tricks-there's no way out of here, anyway!"
On closer inspection, the two "nurses" looked about as much at home in the hospital as the "cook" had in the kitchen. One of them snapped her fingers to a mulatto girl sitting on the side of the bed. She got up and came towards them, completely naked.
"Yes, sister?" she asked docilely.
"There isn't much wrong with you, now-help them clean this place up. I want the beds tidied as well."
"Very well, sister."
"You call them sisters? They couldn't tell a scalpel from a toothpick!"
"They're experts with a cane, though! So-we have to call them sisters." She took a duster from Sylvia. I'll show you round the ward while we clean up if you like. You may find it interesting -you haven't been her long, have you?"
"Three or four days," said Sylvia. "Lose track of time. What were you in hospital for?"
Silently, the girl turned her back and all three gasped. The skin was practically healed, but it was evident that she had been brutally flogged on the buttocks, though with neither whip nor cane. The marks were more like dozens of thin scratches, with the flesh scored here and there. She turned to face them again.
"I was birched," she told them emotionlessly.
"Birched! They have that as well?"
"They have just about everything in that line. I had twenty strokes of it."
"You poor thing," murmured Julia. "Why birching, though-we're only seen the whip and the cane since we came here."
"He runs this place like a military camp and he's the commanding officer. When you go before him for punishment or sentencing, it's like a court martial."
"Has anyone ever got off?"
The girl smiled without any trace of humour.
"Not that I know of-that's why I said 'when you go before him for punishment,' because that's all it means. He gets his fancies-mostly it's the whip, but sometimes he orders a woman to be beaten with the birch. They bring out the 'flogging stool,' then, and bolt it to the platform the triangle is on. It's something like a seat without legs. The woman has to kneel on the seat part and lean over the back; they strap her wrists to the back and her legs to the seat, then she gets her birching. I wasn't able to stand up after my twenty strokes-they had to carry me over here."
"I suppose you're waiting to be sold like us?"
"No-I'm what you might call 'permanent staff"! Now I think we'd better look like we're working-if they look in and see us talking like this, those canes will be out quicker than they ever got bandages out." The girl started to dust the long table in the middle of the ward, on which were set out covered trays of bandage and antisceptics. Looking over her shoulder, she said softly, "By the way, my name is Ricky."
The newcomers looked round the ward as they swept and tidied. There were only four other occupants besides the pretty mulatto, but these were all in bed and appeared to take no interest in them.
"Are these four girls all recovering from some form of punishmen?" asked Margaret.
"They are. We can tidy the beds up now, and I'll show you."
They moved from bed to bed, making the empty ones up first, before attending to those occupied by the four unfortunate women.
The first, a mulatto like their guide, was lying on her stomach, the bedclothes down to her thighs. She had been flogged on back and buttocks, the skin half healed.
"Twenty-five lashes they gave her nearly a week ago. How are you feeling, Leela?" The young woman looked up at them and grimaced. "Very sore!"
They moved on to the next bed where a young negress also lay on her stomach, though with the covers up to her shoulders. There was a hump just about where her bottom would be.
She took no notice as the clothes were pulled right down, to show an iron frame which kept the bedclothes from touching her bottom, which was swathed in bandages.
"This one doesn't understand English. One of the guards caned her and broke the skin-it turned sceptic."
"What happened to the guard?"
"What should happen?" The girl looked surprised as she drew the clothes up again. Then she shook her head and smiled sadly. "No-I'm afraid they don't whip the guards-I think the worst thing they fear is being sent back to work in the plantation."
She drew the clothes down at the next occupied bed revealing another woman whose back was bandaged as far as her waist and who also had an iron frame over her striped buttocks, the wels still an angry red.
"She mus thave been whipped the day before you came," said Ricky. "It was what Hakim calls 'a public whipping' at the triangle in the compound. Maybe you saw it? She got twenty-five lashes, too."
"No-we only saw one whipping. The girl got ten strokes-she was sold at the auction last night."
"I wish I could be sold-it couldn't be any worse than this. As soon as I get out of here, I have six strokes of the cane coming."
"How did you manage that?"
"As they were carrying me away, I called the woman who flogged me a rude name. Hakim was all for having me strapped down again and given a few more strokes of the birch, but the doctor examnied my behind and sounded my heart and told him he might damage me too much. So he promised me six srtokes of the cane as soon as I came out of hospital-I should think that will be tomorrow."
They moved to the last patient. This was a young woman with very dark skin, but pretty, almost European features and a very beautiful, firm-breasted body. She was lying on her side with the bed covers down to her hips, one arm under her head. She was sleeping, though her face had none of the peaceful repose of sleep.
Sylvia leaned over her and looked at her back. It was smooth and innocent of any stripes or other signs of chastisement."
"What's the matter with her?" she whispered.
"They birched her, the same as me, though only ten strokes. In a way, you might say she is still under punishment. She's sleeping now, because the doctor gave her a sedative-come round the other side of the bed."
They followed Ricky round and she gently drew the clothes down from the woman's bottom. She showed the scratches and tiny score marks of the birch, but faintly. Then Ricky mutely pointed to the deep cleft dividing the dark, velvety skin. Then bent and Margaret put her hands to her face with a little sob.
"Oh, no-they couldn't!"
"They could, F afraid."
Low down the cleft, the flesh was forced outwards by a thick rubber plug jutting from the anus and strapped across her hips.
"That goes about four inches or so up into her rectum."
"And that's another form of punishment they dish out here?" Julia was aghast.
"No really. There's a friend of Hakim's who comes here quite often-he took a fancy to her, so Hakim made her sleep with him. Apparently, he prefers to have intercourse with women by way of their bottoms, which must be agony for the woman, because she tells me he has a monster for a penis. She couldn't take it and came running out screaming. She was caught and Hakim himself held her while his friend tried to get into her bottom. He wasn't able to, so Hakim had her birched and promised his friend he would be able to use her bottom the next time he came. After the birching, she was brought here and that awful plug thing inserted in her rectum by die doctor."
"I can't understand a doctor-especially a womandoing the things she does, even if she was struck off."
"Shes' a strange woman-I've never seen her show any emotion whatever. You just can't tell whether she approves or disapproves."
"She never says anything against the diabolical things they do to women here."
"True-but she's very thorough about testing a girl's heart and so forth and rubbing that stuff on her back before she's whipped. And she's just as thorough in treating their weals after the punishment has been carried out."
"She put a plug in that poor girl's backside, though, didn't she?"
"Yes-after stopping Hakim from shoving a rough piece of wood in. There's something else, too-she has a record of every whipping or birching that's been inflicted, dates and all-even the name of the girl who was punished. I had to clean up her surgery a couple of days ago and I found the book."
The girl on the bed stirred and groaned. Her eyes opened and she looked up at them.
"Is it hurting?" Ricky bent over her and dabbed her handkerchief across the sweat-beaded forehead.
The girl nodded. "Terribly,' she whispered.
"I'll ease it for you again." She looked up at Sylvia and co. "If you'll stand between me and the door, I'll give her a little relief. One of you keep an eye on the glass panel for me."
She swiftly undid the buckle of the strap at the girl's hip, then, as gently as she could, she eased the rubber plug out of her bottom. The sufferer gave a deep sigh of relief and Ricky went over to the table with the plug to smear it liberally with vaseline. She came back and sat on the side of the bed for a while, holding the plug, while the girl moved her bottom and hips in their temporary freedom.
"Thanks, Ricky. Oooh-it's such a relief. The doctor came in very late last night and took it out for mecame back early this morning to put it back, but I was able to get some sleep. Then she gave me that sedative."
"She took is out?" exclaimed Julia.
"I told you she was a strange woman," smiled Ricky. "I'm going to have to put it back again, now, dear."
"All right," sighed the girl. "Thanks-it was wonderful while it lasted." She turned on to her stomach and parted her legs a little, relaxing her bottom.
"I've greased it well." Ricky bent over her and Sylvia gently opened the girl's buttocks, exposing her anus.
Her breath hissed as the plug slid back into her rectum. Ricky buckled the strap round her hips and the girl turned on to her side again. She smiled wanly up at Sylvia.
"You've never seen a hospital like this before, have you?"
"No, honey, I haven't-I only wish I could do something for you. As it is, I guess it won't be long before I'm in here myself-if I'm not sold first." Sylvia turned to Ricky. "So the doctor helped her out last night. How long has she been here?"
"Not all that long-few months, perhaps. She started off by running a sort of first-aid centre out on the plantation. Apart from that, I don't know anything about her-except that she was struck off."
Shortly after that, one of the "nurses" came in with their negress guard.
"Come on-you have an appointment with the Sheik after lunch and you've got to make yourselves look respectable. You're up for sale!"
The nurse was still eyeing Sylvia hungrily as they went out in their flimsy undies.