Golding wrote of a group of British teenage boys who survived an air crash on an uninhabited tropical island without any adults, and of their decline into savagery. In this version of the story one of the accompanying housemasters also survived. Mr Brown was of the old school and an earlier time. He enjoyed his job. He genuinely liked boys and was concerned for their welfare and safety. He was also a believer in strict discipline and was well aware that the savage was just beneath the skin of every high spirited teenage lad. A keen interest in the outdoors, a sound knowledge of the natural world, and a strong right arm were among his other attributes.
For the purpose of this tale we will assume that the island has a benign climate, permanent water, a good supply of tropical fruits and useful plants, fish in its lagoon, and is free from tropical diseases. We will also assume that flotsam provided the usual adequate supply of items essential to castaways. ______________________
The boys and Mr Brown found themselves on the sandy shore of their strange new home as dawn broke. They were all still in a state of shock and disbelieve but fortunately Mr Brown had sufficient of his wits about him to recognised the need for some element of normality to be reintroduced into the lives of his charges as soon as practical. It was going to be a tough job for a single master to keep over fifty lads in check. "Line up in your forms. I will cane the last boy in line!" Force of habit made the boys obey even in their disoriented state. It was difficult judging who was last in line but Mr Brown decided to make an example of young Goodwin, a known trouble maker in the fifth. It was at this point Mr Brown realised he was without his trusty stinging stick. It had been lost in the crash. But quick wits saved him. "I will have time for you later, lad." The roll call had to be from memory, each boy knowing who proceeded him in the alphabet. Remarkably, none were missing. Mr Brown surveyed his charges. They wouldn't pass the dress code, but there were extenuating circumstances.
Action was necessary if morale and order were to be maintained. The head prefect and some of the senior boys were sent to comb the area for useful debris from the still smoking crash. A second group of younger boys was left in the charge of another prefect. Mr Brown took some of the more responsible fifth formers along the beach towards a high rocky point with a view to spying out the land. More than once he had to call one or more of his charges to order as their attention wavered from the task in hand. He regretted the absence of his rattan cane.
The high point lay a little back from the beach and it was necessary to enter the jungle to reach it. A thin veneer of palms was backed by a tangle of vines with sharp leaves. No, not vines but jointed palms of the genus Calamus, the source of rattan canes! "Who has got a pocket knife?" Several boys offered theirs and Mr Brown chose the one that looked the sharpest. He selected a palm of appropriate thickness and straightness and cut himself a three foot length. He removed the leaves and rounded the ends. The boys looked on in amazement as a dreaded cane appeared before their eyes. First, a lesson in botany and a discussion of how so many tropical plants were so useful. Then a demonstration of the usefulness of the species Calamus.
Now, an enthusiastic flick across the tail with the school master's rattan cane brings most boys to their senses, especially when they are clad only in thin tropical-weight shorts. But the school cane is of dry rattan, cut long before use. Green rattan, freshly cut, is a much more pliable and heavier material and with a decidedly sharper bite. Those guilty of inattention were forced to pay very great attention to their rear parts after only one single playful flick.
The view from the summit revealed little. The sandy shore curved out of sight in either direction. Waves broke on outer coral reef. The jungle continued inland has far as the eye could see, which wasn't far as the high point was near level with the tree tops. There was no sign habitation or of any shipping, or of any human life save for the groups of boys on the beach. On the way back they made some important discoveries. A seep of water was followed inland for 10 meters and a stream of sweet fresh water found. Most of the water disappeared into the sand before it reached the open beach so it was a lucky find. Then, one of the lads with a red welt across his smarting bottom called out "Look Sir! Up-side-down bananas!" They weren't up-side-down of course, but they were bananas, and good ones too, growing in there normal upward pointing way.
It was a cheerful band that arrived back at the landing point and the boys there soon cheered up when offered food. And this applied even to Goodwin who got his delayed reward for being last in role call line.
So far the canings had been playful, single stroke affairs with Mr. Brown's lenient mood being only partially cancelled by the greenness of his rattan stick. But, with the return of the seniors from their beach patrol there was a need for serious deterrent punishment. The crime was not one of bringing the school's name into disrepute, nor of insolence, but one which might threaten the survival of the whole group. Two of the seventh formers had found food, apparently throw from the wreckage, and had selfishly consumed it. If this pattern of every boy for himself was to continue it would lead to disorder, savagery, and even death. Fortunately, a cane was to hand and Mr Brown used it with a will directly on the contrite young male flesh in front of the whole assembly. Neither lad was able to sit after for nearly a week, and no lad every stole food again from their mates. Rather than being cruel, the bare bottom public six of the best saved the two lads from the wrath and resentment of their mates. Also, their considerable discomfort occasioned by the application of fast moving rattan brought home to every lad the penalty awaiting other delinquents.
As the days passed the boys established themselves in ever greater comfort. Thatched roofs saved them from the occasional afternoon thunderstorm. In the cool predawn morning hours the near naked boys cuddled together for mutual warmth and the favoured few cuddled their master. A fire was established and kept burning night and day with only the infrequent lad feeling the bite of the stick for letting it burn low. A cache of useful items - wood with nails in it, bits of rope, plastic bottles and other flotsam was established. A diet of coconut, jungle fruits and fresh shellfish proved healthy, as did the swimming, beach games and work of collecting food and wood. Clothes were carefully put aside, not so much for a rainy day but as a reserve against their eventual return to civilisation. The standard dress was a wide brimmed hat woven from grass from the jungle for protection from the sun. First efforts were crude but soon it became a fine art. Anaemic white city bodies browned, leaned and became muscular. Adolescent pimples disappeared. Puny third formers who once would have been embarrassed to have been seen in the showers frolicked in the warm tropical ocean in total comfort.
The absence of books and paper hindered but did not prevent schooling. However, the syllabus was greatly changed. Senior boys taught juniors and learnt in the process. Science, particularly botany, zoology and geology took on new meaning as did the crafts of carpentry without saws or nails, thatching, fishing, coconut tree climbing and the like.
It was mainly a happy group. There was plenty to eat and to do. Boys felt homesick but probably no more than when the were at boarding school. There were canings most days but mostly for minor offences. The soft white bottoms of England showed livid stripes when caned but tight tanned manly rear ends of the always naked inhabitants of the island were of tougher stuff. Only when Mr Brown dealt particularly harshly with youths who risked injury or harm to the whole group did conspicuous marks appear. His great fear was that one of his charges might break a bone or suffer a serious injury beyond their meagre means to treat. So he caned and he caned hard.
The weeks passed into months. The exploration of the island was completed and its resources identified. Camps were established in different parts. And the boys grew, and matured.
Jason Flynn was a finely made young man and a natural athlete of eighteen years when he came to the island. He now stood on the beach looking out over the ocean. A particularly wide-brimmed hat toped his head. His fair, sun bleached hair hung down to his shoulders, definitely a caneable offence in England but excusable here. His sun tan was dark and very even. His complexion quite clear. Straight back, square shoulders, deep chest, flat stomach, narrow hips, tight bum, lightly muscled but very well defined. His pubic hair was also bleached and fair. Young manhood at its very and most natural best. Not a boy, not a mature man but that delightful stage in between. But the lad would have to be punished as he had let the signal fire go.
Something special was called for so Mr Brown prepared carefully. He chose thin Calamus stems that were stretched violin-string tight and cut four 4 foot lengths. He carefully removed all the leaves and smoothed all the sharp edges. Then he bound the stems at one end, forming a bundle. By passing the string between the stems he caused the free ends to spread forming a very good imitation of the Isle of Man judicial birch.
A fallen palm tree formed the punishment stool. Flynn took up his position willingly enough, and draped his hard body over the trunk. Two eager third formers fasten his wrists and his ankles to stakes hammered into the ground. A homily, pronouncement of sentence, then its execution. Now, Flynn had been caned before, lots. And he had felt more than one leather strap on his backside on more than one occasion. He wasn't embarrassed by nudity even before he began his present involuntary state of total disrobement many months before. He didn't find his present bound state too uncomfortable or too alarming. Indeed, the scalloped bark felt good against his privates. He was aware of his health and his body and the beauty of the curved male buttocks when offered for punishment, and pleased to be the centre of attention.
Mr Brown took the device and positioned himself carefully, legs apart, rattan teasing the soon to be tormented delinquent male flesh. The crowd stilled, conscious of a special event, their very first birching. Mr. Brown, stepped back and wound up. Not only had the boys benefited from their enforced healthy life style but so had Mr Brown. Never in his life had he been so fit and strong and more determined to hurt a boy. As he stepped forward he unwound, bringing each of the thin rattan tails to full stinging speed. They landed square on target with a resounding CRACK! The pain was equal to four simultaneous strokes of the thin cane. Mr Brown paused to let the stroke take effect, to rest his arm and to deliver another homily. The second stroke did not register the same shock as the first as young Flynn's whole bottom was already hurting about as much as it could. The subsequent strokes had even less immediate effect on Flynn but did continue to excite the silent crowd. It was the very best hiding of Flynn's entire life and he was very sore after. He bore no resentment for his well deserved punishment and greatly cherished that feel of Mr Brown's hands all over his shoulder after. Birching at its best.
Rescue eventually came after a rare passing ship saw smoke from the beacon fires. The ship's officer who stepped ashore was most amazed to be greeted so politely and formally by the first boys he met. These lads were stark naked and had all the appearances of the wildest of savages. The boys found the return to civilisation, the damp grey climate, the need to wear clothes for both warmth and modesty, very trying. Mr Brown found similarly.