Three weeks seemed to fly by. Steve still faithfully kept his journal, being careful to be absolutely honest. He knew those piercing eyes too well to think he could pull a fast one on Professor Andrews. Besides, he wanted to be honest and to be chastised for genuine faults. The beatings he had endured so far had had a beneficial effect on him. He was much less of a cheeky brat, he was more thoughtful and respectful and his personal life was much more organised. He was careful about how he spent his time and money and how much effort he put into his course work. In short, he was becoming a delightful young man and his popularity was increasing by the day. He also discovered that he had become more and more attractive to female students. There were few evenings when he did not have one as company.
Once more he made his way up the garden path which led to the professor's house. There was another figure at the doorway, clad like himself in an ankle-length coat to hide his short trousers. It was another 'pupil', a short stocky lad from Glasgow, who introduced himself as Alex. The door opened and the towering figure of the professor appeared. He immediately ushered them into the 'school-room', where four other young men (Pete, Chris, Jack and Eric) all in their late teens or very early twenties, were sitting at the desks. They were all students at Oxford, either in their first or second years.
In one corner of the room there were two large buckets of disinfected water in which half a dozen or more bushy, spray-ended birch-rods were soaking. There must have been at least twelve switches in each rod. Steve glanced at them with apprehension. From his times of self-flagellation he knew how much the birch stung. The feeble strokes he was able to inflict on himself were bad enough. He dreaded to think how hard the professor could make a birch land on his bare bottom.
"Thank you, gentlemen, for all arriving on time - Alexander and Steven only just, but never mind. You have all been my pupils, some of you for well over a year now, some of you just a few weeks. It has been my pleasure to provide you all with a bit of guidance and through a judicious use of corporal punishment to help you improve. Of course, there has been _s_e_x_ual pleasure for you as you have received your thrashings, as there has been for me, though I hasten to say that I am not homo_s_e_x_ual and therefore harbour no designs on any of you. My pleasure is not simply in seeing those bottoms of yours redden, but observing how your characters are being moulded in the process of receiving real discipline. It is interesting, is it not, to realise that we cannot become mature adults unless we have first been properly disciplined as children. Regretfully, none of you seems to have received that discipline in his childhood. That is why I have had to make you children again and put you in shorts. We can only command respect if we have first learned to show others respect. We can only exercise authority if we have first learned to be obedient to authority. We can only demand efficiency from others if we have first learned to organise our own lives properly. And we can only learn these things through strict, consistent discipline.
"I think I can honestly say that the three second-year men here - Eric, Jack and Pete - have stayed the course and have now graduated in the school of discipline. They have explored their weaknesses and bared their souls. They came initially because they were turned on _s_e_x_ually by the thought of being spanked. But they have discovered that being submissive and obedient to my authority has brought them far greater benefits than mere _s_e_x_ual gratification. It has enabled them to reach the point where they can be men of authority themselves. As a symbol of this I want all three of you to come up front. Remove your school uniforms, except for your white shirts and underpants, then put on these ordinary adult ties and these long trousers over here."
Eric, Jack and Pete were somewhat bemused, but complied with the professor's demands. They stood in a row waiting for the professor to speak again.
"It's no use coming to me every three weeks or so to be thrashed right through your lives. I'm 52. Do you want to keep coming to me when I'm 82 and you yourselves are in your fifties? How pathetic that would be! No lads, I've no interest in being some sort of control freak keeping you indefinitely under my thumb. I've taught you - I hope - how to exercise authority by lovingly humiliating those who need taking down a peg or two. You have now come to the end of the first term of your second year. It is up to you to share in training these first-year students. You are therefore appointed as prefects and it will be your duty to help keep an eye on the other three. Jack, you will look after Christopher. Peter, you will look after Alexander. And Eric, you will take responsibility for Steven - a job I know you have already begun. Once a month you will all report to me, so that I can see how you are getting on. It may be that once or twice some of you prefects will regress and require spanking again, but that will be exceptional. More often you will feel the need to send your pupil to me for further correction. But essentially from now on you yourselves must take over the discipline of your charges. In time, hopefully, you will all become masters.
"So then, let me see you prefects in action. Look through your pupil's journal with him. Is it detailed and meticulous enough? What faults does it reveal which require correction? How submissive and obedient are they to your authority? How willing are they to submit to your discipline? Let me see you in action. Here in the corner are the birch-rods which you will use to correct your pupils. When you have all finished your investigations, discipline will then be meted out on the three pupils simultaneously."
A buzz of conversation filled the school-room as the three 'pupils' gave account of the way they were spending their lives to the 'prefects'. Finally, the room fell silent and Professor Andrews spoke again: "Now the time has come for you three prefects to administer discipline. Peter and Alexander, how many strokes have you agreed on?"
"Four dozen, sir."
"And Jack and Christopher?"
"Five dozen, sir."
"And what about you, Eric and Steven?"
"Six dozen, sir."
"Splendid. Now I want the three prefects to order their pupils to assume the position. The pupils will remove all clothing and kneel with their foreheads on the floor and buttocks in the air. Prefects will grip their pupils' heads with their legs and bring the birch down on each buttock alternately. Pupils should be careful to keep their legs together unless they want a birch stroke to land on their tender spots! Pupils, you are to count the strokes and thank your prefect for each one."
The prefects stood in a row and ordered their charges to get up and strip off all their clothing. The three naked pupils obediently came up front and stood to attention before their prefects. They were then ordered to assume the position, which they did without murmur or dissent. A row of youthful buttocks - a beautiful sight! - waited for their chastisement. The three prefects looked at each other and nodded, then simultaneously brought the first stroke down on their pupil's bottom. SWIIISHSHSH! A slight gasp came out of each pupil's mouth, followed by a "One! Thank you, Pete Jack Eric!"
The pain from the birch seemed at first less than that from the cane, but by the fifth or sixth stroke Steve realised that six dozen was going to be a most severe punishment! By the twelfth stroke the fire in his buttocks was agonising and he seriously thought of jumping up and refusing to take any more. But he knew this would be a catastrophic mistake. He had to learn to submit to Eric's authority and take the punishment he had agreed on. Otherwise he would never learn the lessons the professor had spoken of. So he gritted his teeth and held firm. Tears streamed down his face as he barely controlled himself. His body began to tremble. However, by about the fortieth stroke the endorphins had kicked in and Steve was confident he could take all six dozen. His bottom was now bright red with purple patches and there were flecks of blood where the birch had broken the skin. The prefects had built up a rhythm and were landing their strokes simultaneously, producing a lovely full-bloodied swishing sound. The pupils, for their part, had also achieved unison in their response. There were no longer any yells or gasps, just a hearty "thank you!" and an enthusiastic desire for the next stroke, buttocks stuck out longing to connect with the birch. Only when the birch occasionally landed on the tender skin of the inner thighs or, worse still, on the anus or scrotum was there a much louder and more agonised response!
"Forty-eight. Thank you, Pete!" Alex's chastisement had come to an end. But he did not get up from his position. Pete kept him there until the others' punishment was over. Alex was flushed and elated with the joy of accepting such a severe beating so well.
Meanwhile Chris and Steve's punishment continued. "Sixty. Thank you, Jack!" said Chris as the last stroke landed on his buttocks, now completely purple from the onslaught they had endured and bleeding freely in places. He waited in position as Steve received his last dozen strokes. Eric made sure they were just as hard, if not harder, than the previous five dozen. Steve was in agony, but he would not have missed his full six dozen for the world. His erection was simply enormous and on about the sixty-sixth stroke he came, sending a fountain of spunk onto the floor underneath his stomach. His buttocks bucked into each of the final birch strokes. As the last one landed, he yelled "Seventy-two. Thank you, Eric! Oh, thank you! Thank you!"
Professor Andrew interrupted: "Now, prefects. You must serve your pupils. Disinfect their wounds and put plasters on any places which are bleeding. Apply soothing cream to their bottoms." The prefects hastened to obey.
Steve felt an indescribable bliss and Eric too was flushed and elated with his exertions. They laughed and spontaneously hugged each other. The other two pairs reacted similarly. What joy there was in administering and receiving such discipline! This was a day which none of them would ever forget.
From then on it was not only to play the piano that Eric came to Steve's room. A strong bond of friendship developed between them. Eric became an excellent mentor to Steve, administering discipline, when necessary, in just the right measure. Steve, in turn, learned to submit to authority, though in his case it took rather longer than some of the others. There was still a lot of cheeky brat left in him.