Pueros

Wrecked

Chapters 16-30

Chapter Sixteen - Cockring

(Northern Mozambique, summer 1850)

James had never previously known such agony, or personally shedding so many tears. However, the naked 11 year-old was unsure whether the greatest causal suffering was induced by the clamps excruciatingly squeezing his nipples or by his loss, probably forever, of his beloved identical twin, John. The boys had rarely been separated and were as much intimate best friends as brothers.

James' acute distress was also intensified by three other factors. First was his, for him, unprecedented public nudity, worsened by being disgracefully naked in front of people whom, having naively absorbed common contemporary European attitudes, he considered inferior to his own English race. Second was his recent forcibly compliant immensely shameful subjection to being one of the slaves of this black tribe. Third was the clearly imminent conclusion to this process, namely the tight humiliating ringing of his genitals and the undoubtedly very painful branding of his body.

James was also unable to decide the cause of the current visible quaking of his nude spreadeagled form within the tight confines permitted by the manacles firmly attaching his lithe limbs to the wooden posts. The boy was unsure whether such quivering was due to the excruciation on his bare chest or the mental anguish created by shock and sorrow at what had already happened or fear about what was about to occur.

The charcoal in the crude brazier in front of James was already emitting a lot of smoke, suggesting that the wooden- handled irons, which would shortly brand him, were heating up nicely in the now probably red-hot interior. The boy's only consolation at the sight was that a light breeze blew the black fumes away from him.

James eventually began to experience a gradual lessening of the pain inflicting his once rosy but now white nipples, as they became more accustomed to being squeezed and expelled of blood by the little clamps. As the agony declined, the boy also became aware of the return of a strange sensation in his groin and he looked down to try to identify the cause, although he already believed that he knew what one visible symptom of the peculiar phenomenon would humiliatingly be.

James' belief was not to be disappointed. On glancing downwards, the boy noticed that his slender cock was again debasingly fulsomely erect, pointing horizontally towards his new slavemaster, namely the still enthroned tribal chieftain.

James' sensuous blue eyes, which were slowly clearing of tears in line with the gradual decline of the agony on his chest, subsequently finally managed also to see that many of those looking at him were smirking. Some were additionally pointing at him and commenting to others, presumably in relation to his penile hardness. However, on this occasion, such observation of public interest in the young white's genital embarrassment did not induce an instant ashamed return to flaccidity. To the further acute abashment of the deeply degraded boy, his unruly cock impudently declined to soften but instead boldly became even more defiantly rigid.

James' contemplation of possible reasons for his previously rather innocent penis' unprecedented bad behaviour was, however, interrupted when Gambo now again approached, this time with the thin flanged cockring of black iron in his hands, which had just been given to him by the chieftain. With little formal ado, the young slave then knelt before the vertically spreadeagled white boy's completely smooth genitalia, which he subsequently carefully encircled with the metal and snapped the open ends shut.

The cockring was cleverly designed to ensure that a reversal of this fitting was impossible. The only way the adornment, expertly judged for size, could now be removed was by cutting or trying to squeeze the genitals through the small aperture, which was so restricted that the process would undoubtedly be very awkward and painful and would probably damage, perhaps seriously, James' balls.

James' body immediately shuddered even more visibly on receipt of his latest adornment, although in shame rather than pain. The tight ringing of his genitals by the cockring had not hurt anything other than his pride. However, the feel of the cool metal now tightly encircling and constricting his sexual organs had been another sensual sign of his disgrace.

James' genitals were now made to stand out more in both the physical and visual sense. This phenomenon was aided by the enforced greater concentration of blood-flow to the sexual organs and the sight of black metal ringing contrasting white flesh.

Further cheering arose from the watching crowds as James suffered this latest humiliation, which his unruly penis, now aided by the concentrated blood, embarrassingly celebrated by beginning to rise upwards from the horizontal. A little clear fluid simultaneously appeared at the boy's red cockhead, which was beginning to be revealed by his slightly retreating foreskin.

Chapter Seventeen - Bestiality

(Northern Mozambique, summer 1850)

James' abashment at this further debasing development was, however, short-lived because his thoughts were quickly diverted towards other matters when, having been satisfied with his ringing of the white boy's genitals, Gambo next went to inspect the branding irons. The young black used the wooden handles to withdraw each implement in turn, and was soon able to confirm to the chieftain that the metal ends, in the shape of the leaping cheetah, were red-hot.

The chieftain, in turn, gestured to the same senior grandson who had earlier flogged the black boy previously positioned between the wooden posts. James had so far not sought to discover to where this comprehensively flagellated young victim had next been despatched, as the young white had been too absorbed with his own distressing preoccupations.

Nevertheless, whilst looking in dread at the branding irons temporarily withdrawn for inspection from the charcoal by Gambo, James had now finally noticed the nature of the next punishment to which the black boy was being subjected. The awful scene was on the same line of sight as that of the brazier, albeit at a greater distance.

James saw in horror that the black boy had been thrown into a stockade inhabited by one of the chieftain's hounds. The young white, of course, did not yet know that this large dog had been the particular animal that had first cornered the attempted escapee when he had been hunted and the beast was now receiving its due reward.

The black boy had compliantly but undoubtedly reluctantly lowered himself onto his hands and knees, with his legs wide apart. The eager well-trained hound had mounted him and was currently penetrating him with his own very large and keenly fully erect canine reproductive shaft.

The rear of the young black's body already displayed a mishmash of bloody stripes resulting from his earlier fulsome flogging. Given that the large hound also possessed ferociously sharp long claws and a long broad canine phallus, which was eagerly active in thrusting forwards and backwards as the dog energetically sodomised his victim, the boy's resumed agony must have been intense. Further ripping of his damaged flesh was additionally inevitable, both to his back from the animal's talons and to the entrance and walls of his rectum from the invading penile intruder.

Despite James' own unhappy predicament, the young white became momentarily intrigued by the scene in the stockade. The rather immature and innocent 11 year-old middle-class English schoolboy had previously led a rather sheltered life and had never before witnessed a sexual act of any kind, although he was sufficiently astute to appreciate that he was now doing so.

James, like his twin brother, John, had not yet been appraised of the facts of life and so was currently unaware as to how humans reproduced. The topic had not even been privately discussed between them and their friends whilst attending boarding school, such was the boys' relative immaturity and the prevailing rather suppressed English Victorian middle-class attitudes to sex.

In fact, although the current exhibition of bestial sodomy was to confuse James for a long time about the orifice that should be impregnated for reproductive purposes, both twins were soon to be deprived of much of their sexual naivety.

Chapter Eighteen - Attachments

(Northern Mozambique, summer 1850)

Meanwhile, not far away but hidden from the view of James, the similarly naked John had literally been attached to the Arab trader's caravan, which was resting in a different open space within the tribal village. The white boy's hands were still manacled together behind his back, whilst his ankles also remained shacked to each other. However, his heavy iron collar was additionally now attached by about 2 yards of chain to a 17 year-old black youth, who had previously formed the rear of the long line of captives destined, if they survived, for the distant slave markets on the island of Zanzibar.

John, like the others in his situation, had been encouraged to adopt a sitting position on the hard compacted soil that formed the ground underneath, facing the back of the captive in front. Meanwhile, other parts of the Arab trader's caravan, in the form of the well-laden ox-drawn wagon, camels and mules, rested around them, protected by the merchant's retinue of loincloth-clad black African guards.

Only a few nosy villagers had yet gathered to inspect the scene because most of the settlement's inhabitants currently preferred to watch what was being perpetrated nearby on James. However, this situation would eventually change, with John becoming the main focus of interest.

Whilst sitting naked in this humiliating setting, John was naturally rather shocked when one of the Arab trader's guards, acting on the orders of his employer, approached the young white, knelt next to him and then inflicted on this boy's nipples what had already been perpetrated on his twin. This second set of small peg-like clamps also immediately induced the same sort of acute agony that James had experienced.

John was already quietly sobbing because of his distressing circumstances, especially his separation from James. However, this latest painful calamity to befall him produced increased tears and agonised moaning until the excruciation engendered by the clamps finally began to dull, with the boy's grief intensified because, unlike his twin brother, he had been given no explanation as to why he was being punished.

Despite the gradual dulling of the pain on John's chest, his deep distress was eventually suddenly re-intensified when he heard a loud scream emanating from nearby. Despite the almost feral nature of the agonised shriek, the horrified boy immediately recognised the source.

James had screamed.

Chapter Nineteen - Branding

(Northern Mozambique, summer 1850)

James had watched in horror as the chieftain's senior grandson approached him, whilst the black man held one of the red-hot branding irons. The boy had then not been able to control his bladder, which caused his still incongruously hard cock to erupt with a voluminous flow of golden urine.

Given that James' cock was now almost vertically erect, the initial strong flow of urine shot upwards before finally descending to the ground in a wide arc, which eventually became less pronounced and then ultimately non-existent after the boy's bladder had finally emptied. Meanwhile, the young white's fearful reaction to the black man's approach naturally temporarily terminated the latter's advance. However, whilst carefully avoiding treading his sandals in the freshly created little puddle on the ground, the now happily smirking chieftain's senior grandson was soon able to resume his progression to present the little glowing silhouette of the leaping cheetah to his intended branding victim's petrified blue eyes.

As the red-hot end of the branding iron was now only inches away, James could feel the heat bathing his once more tearful face. "Please don't do this," the young white could not help but then beg, despite the proscription against speaking without permission and the black man's undoubted inability to interpret the words of his entreaty. The boy added a continuous desperate energetic negative shaking of his head in order to try also to convey a silent plea of 'No', whilst suddenly politely remembering to affix the title of "Master" to his earlier verbal petition.

Gambo then appeared at the black man's side and again admonished James for speaking without permission. "However," the black boy added in his broken English, "mighty chieftain content you just suffer this as punishment because of greater pain to come!"

What the word 'this' in Gambo's admonishment represented rapidly became evident to James when the young black next removed the clamps from the white boy's nipples. The consequent sudden rush of blood back into the previously squashed tits immediately caused as much agony as when the cruel implement had first been applied, although fortunately this experience was only momentary. Nevertheless, the 11 year-old's sweet rosy lips emitted a loud pained but shortened gasp.

The gasp was speedily quietened when James next noticed that the black man had begun to aim his branding iron at the centre of the young white's chest, midway between his hurting nipples. However, the boy's sudden quiescence was soon shattered when the glowing end was then pressed against the target creamy-pink flesh.

James' sweet rosy lips now emitted a much more vociferous and prolonged scream, whilst his sensuous blue eyes widened in horror and excruciation and his nostrils detected the odour of his own burning flesh. Fortunately, the boy's senses then overloaded and he fainted.

Chapter Twenty - Runaway

(New York, winter 1850)

Simultaneously, albeit in a different time zone and hemisphere, and therefore season, an 11 year-old boy named Jack was walking along the crowded wharves of New York's harbour. The child wore scruffy tattered clothes with no socks and dirty shoes with so many holes that it was a miracle that they had not yet disintegrated to leave him barefoot.

Given the freezing winter weather, this footwear miracle was most fortunate. Jack's feet were already very cold, a situation exacerbated by the holes in his shoes, but without the remaining leather covering he would otherwise undoubtedly have contracted frostbite.

Jack's face and hands were also very cold and filthy, which was not surprising because he had been living rough on the streets for several days, ever since he had run away from his abusive alcoholic father. The widower had turned to drink after his wife had died unsuccessfully trying to present him with his second child and his fortunes had consequently subsequently deteriorated precipitously.

From being a relatively prosperous New York shop-owner, who lived comfortably above his business with a happy wife and son, excess drink had led him and his child to virtual destitution. Jack had also regularly become the focus of the man's rage at his change in fortunes until the boy, who had been withdrawn from school to beg on the streets instead, could take no more and ran away.

Jack had once loved a caring father but he could do nothing but despise the drunken abusive man his parent had now become. The boy also realised that he could do nothing to help him, as the adult was genuinely beyond redemption. He lived only for his next drink, paid for by his son's begging, for which the 11 year-old would be badly beaten if he did not produce enough for the required bottle of cheap whiskey.

Jack had eventually concluded that enough was enough and that he should fend for himself. He had often dreamt of becoming a ship's captain so that he could adventurously see the world. He had therefore decided that he should attempt to secure a position on the bottom rung of an occupational ladder that might ultimately lead to such a post.

Jack was consequently scouring the Port of New York for a ship with a vacancy for a cabinboy.

Chapter Twenty One - Markings

(Northern Mozambique, summer 1850)

A pail of cold water from the nearby river, thrown over the briefly unconscious James by Gambo, quickly brought the white boy back into the realms of the awake. The tribal chieftain was intent on allowing his new English slave to experience the full anguish of his body's adornment with five brandmarks.

James naturally would have preferred to remain in his faint, especially as the excruciation being experienced by his chest was now far greater than when clamps had been attached to his nipples. The cause was, of course, the little black emblem of a leaping cheetah now permanently burnt into the boy's white flesh. This logo would soon be followed by similar motifs on both of his upper legs, adjacent to his still amazingly aroused genitals, and in the middle of each of his buttocks.

In fact, after replacing the used branding iron back in the charcoal brazier to re-heat, the chieftain's senior grandson was already returning with the red-hot second tool. This cruel implement soon induced another vociferous and prolonged scream to be uttered from James' rosy lips, as the black man next branded the boy's front upper left thigh with speedy efficiency and accuracy.

James did not faint on this occasion. Consequently, the boy had to endure the complete uninterrupted agony of his latest branding, whilst hearing renewed cheering from the watching crowds and as blood oozed out of his mouth and down his chin after he had bit his tongue. However, another pail of water was needed after a matching emblem was soon afterwards accurately burnt onto his front upper right thigh.

As well as the leaping cheetah adorning the centre of his chest, James' genitals, nicely dangling between his compulsorily splayed legs, were now flanked by similar insignia. Amidst these freshly burnt motifs, the boy's erection still miraculously pointed outwards.

Despite James' comprehensive tears, resulting from the acute agony of the three brandmarks now decorating his naked body, the intensely suffering boy was now able to notice the black man return again with a re-heated iron. However, on this occasion, the adult disappeared to the young white's rear.

Two clues subsequently provided James with the evidence that the first of his smooth curvaceous buttocks to be branded was about to experience the searing heat of the iron. First was the renewed clear excitement of the watching crowds. Second was the feel of intense warmth hovering just above the flesh of his cute bottom.

Proof was then provided that James' assumption was correct when the middle of the boy's left buttock was agonisingly adorned with the tribal chieftain's emblem. However, the 11 year-old was later mercifully permitted to remain unconscious after he fainted again in response to the imposition of the next and final matching bodily marking.

Chapter Twenty Two - Humiliations

(Northern Mozambique, summer 1850)

African nights, even at the height of summer, can be very cold. John was therefore grateful that the Arab trader had organised several fires to warm the young fettered humans whom he intended to sell in the slave markets of Zanzibar.

The Arab trader, of course, did not seek to warm his young captives overnight out of compassion. He regarded them merely as merchandise. However, profit incentive made him want to protect his human investments.

For the same motive on the part of the Arab trader, immediately after dawn of this African morning, John and the other captives fettered together were afforded some water and food. The latter was in the form of a kind of cold gruel that was very basic, cheap and tasteless but nevertheless filling and therefore welcome. However, as this fare was provided in pottery bowls placed on the ground before them, they were compelled to consume the sustenance like animals without the aid of their hands, which remained manacled behind them. The white boy's wrists, like those of the young black merchandise, were now linked by further chain to his heavy iron collar to prevent him manoeuvring his upper limbs round his shackled feet to the front of his body.

Drinking and eating in such a manner was naturally humiliating, especially for John, who was currently unaccustomed to this indignity. However, avid thirst and hunger proved a fervid motivator and easily overcame pride. The relevant pottery bowls were soon not only emptied but also completely licked dry and clean.

Other desperate needs of the fettered bodies of the sorry young captives were also catered for, as they were allowed to toilet communally into one of the village's long wide cesspits. Afterwards, one of their black guards issued their hands, still fettered behind their backs, with large damp rubbery leaves so that they could attempt to wipe their bottoms clean.

John's actions in urinating and defecating in such a gross and public manner were, however, by now only one more of the many humiliations already suffered by the boy, who was so traumatised by his experiences that he approached the next in an almost zombie-like way. His tormented mind even took little notice of the fact that completely naked and pretty black girls comprised almost half of his fellow captives.

John had recently seen topless females for the first time, in the form of the villagers of that gender. Observing completely naked feminine bodies soon afterwards should have similarly intrigued him, especially in the area of his groin. However, the boy's mental processes were currently simply too engrossed with his own sad predicament to pay much attention to the nude girls in his vicinity.

Chapter Twenty Three - Consciousness

(Northern Mozambique, summer 1850)

At about the same time that John had awoken to the dawn chorus from the birds and other creatures in the forest surrounding the African village, the same cacophony of noise had roused James for the first time since last fainting on the previous day. However, the latter twin regained consciousness in much more painful circumstances.

Despite the application of efficient herbal salves to James' brandmarks whilst the boy had been unconscious, the five freshly burnt areas of his skin were still excruciatingly sore. The young white was therefore forced to remain resting on his sides to prevent lying on any of his new bodily markings.

James awoke to find himself in the same small hut to which Gambo had taken him and John on the previous afternoon, recall of which event instantly brought fresh anguish to his mind after remembering that he might never again see his beloved twin. The still naked boy, aware from the dawn chorus and rapidly brightening daylight that another morning was beginning, was also amazed that he could have slept so long and soundly despite the traumas of the previous day.

James was never to learn that his lengthy recuperative sleep had been partly induced by a herbal sleeping potion gently force-fed to him whilst he had been unconscious. Such consideration had, of course, not been granted to reduce the boy's distress in any way but had instead been provided to aid his rapid physical restoration so that he could be introduced as quickly as possible to the full rigours of personal servitude for the tribal chieftain.

Complete physical recovery would still take days, during which James would remain alone in the hut, apart from the occasions on which Gambo visited. The black boy had been charged with overseeing the new young white slave's recuperation.

Not wanting to incur the tribal chieftain's displeasure, Gambo naturally went about his duties with efficiency. Relevant chores included providing James with water and food, the latter being the same gruel provided to John. The boy also had to consume the fare similarly, as his hands had again been manacled behind his back, as well as now linked to the rear of his heavy iron collar. His feet were additionally shackled, although the fetters allowed him to walk in short steps.

Gambo also provided James with a chamberpot, which the young black would dutifully take out, empty and clean whenever necessary. He also regularly washed the white boy and applied fresh dollops of salve to his new brandmarks.

Gambo additionally applied herbal ointment to the skin under James' iron collar, wrist and ankle fetters and cockring, which the encircling metal had begun to chafe and make sore and even raw. The biggest discomfort induced in this way on the white boy's delectable body was actually around his tightly ringed genitals, which began to cause him the greatest distress, as the pain from his brandmarks gradually faded.

Fortunately, after several days, Gambo's ointment eventually proved effective in not only curing the James' soreness but also invisibly hardening the flesh to enable the skin to become painlessly but not shamelessly accustomed to the iron slave regalia.

Chapter Twenty Four – Departure

(Northern Mozambique, summer 1850)

Several days were also required for the Arab trader to rest and conclude his business in the black African village before venturing northwards to visit other tribes and then ultimately, once he had bartered all of his goods, head for Zanzibar. James was therefore almost ready to serve the chieftain when John departed the settlement in the mercantile caravan.

James was, however, still ensconced in the small windowless hut when the Arab trader's caravan did depart. The still naked John, freshly oiled by the merchant himself to prevent sunburn and the unwanted attention of flies and other insects affecting his most valuable acquisition, formed the rear of the convoy heading north.

As John departed to meet his own as yet unknown ultimate fate, James was oblivious by virtue of his confinement to the fact that slowly increasing distance was now beginning to separate him from his beloved twin brother.

This increasing distance would eventually become vast.

Chapter Twenty Five – Cleansing

(New York, winter 1850)

Jack had been forced to sleep rough for several more nights in the environs of the port of New York, having been so far unable to secure work as a cabinboy. Consequently, his dishevelled state worsened. However, he was able to sate hunger because there were sufficient supplies of spilt imported fruit and raw vegetables littering the wharves to feed him adequately if not luxuriously.

Jack eventually began to wonder whether his scruffy appearance was discouraging the hiring of his services and so he finally cleaned his hands and face. The boy realised that there was little that he could do about his attire, especially in the wintry weather, which discouraged the shedding of clothing for washing when there were no replacements, but he could at least wipe the grime from those parts of his skin that were uncovered.

The cleansing of Jack's face in an icy water butt unveiled the fact that, beneath the surface grime, the underlying boy was exceedingly pretty. However, this revelation was almost to prove the 11 year-old's instant undoing.

Chapter Twenty Six – Recruitment

(New York, USA, winter 1850)

Jack advanced up the gangplank from the quayside to board a sailing ship that was in its own way as dishevelled and dirty as he was. The 11 year-old had originally concentrated on attempting to secure a job as a cabinboy on better looking vessels but, after being informed, truthfully or not, that there were no such vacancies on any of them, he had become desperate.

Despite Jack's uneasiness at the state of the ship and the rather aged and ugly and apparently equally filthy crew, he therefore embarked upon the vessel to seek work. The boy was greeted at the top of the gangplank by a crooked old man, who grabbed hold of him and asked in an American accent "What do you want, brat?"

Jack's nostrils were immediately nauseated by the man's stench, which permeated from both his breath and clothes. Nevertheless, the 11 year-old somehow managed politely to answer, in a manner that indicated that he had once enjoyed good schooling, "I'm seeking work, Sir, and wish to enquire whether you have a vacancy for a cabinboy."

"More like you've come to steal from us," the man grumpily retorted, "and so need a good flogging." "No, no, Sir," a suddenly frightened Jack nervously replied, "I'm genuinely looking for work!"

"I don't believe you, you thieving brat," the man responded, whilst raising one hand in the air in readiness to hit Jack for impudence, whilst still firmly grasping the boy with the other with remarkable strength given his apparent age. However, the adult was then thwarted in his imminent intent by a shouted command from behind of "Stop!"

Both Jack and the man looked to see who had shouted the order. They saw another rather dirty and dishevelled old man standing at a doorway that apparently led below decks. This adult wore a tatty peaked cap.

"But Captain," the man holding Jack protested, "I've just caught this brat trying to steal from us. He therefore deserves a good beating!"

"I wasn't trying to steal anything," Jack protested in turn, "but was instead just seeking a job as a cabinboy." "He's lying," the man holding him retorted, "so let me beat him and throw him overboard!"

Jack was, however, saved from this threat but not because of any compassion for him on the part of the ship's captain. The latter had noticed the boy's recently cleaned face and immediately appreciated the inherent beauty, despite normally preferring blue-eyed blondes.

Jack possessed straight dark, almost black, hair and eyes of a similar shade. However, these features seemed to fit his gorgeous face perfectly. The captain also judged that, underneath the tatty clothing and surface grime, there would be a lovely body to match.

"I do have a vacancy for a cabinboy," the ship's captain therefore advised Jack, "and it's yours if you want it!" However, the boy did not immediately accept the proffered post, as he was seeking international adventure as much as work and therefore did not want to be lumbered with a job on just a coastal vessel.

"Where are you sailing for next?" Jack consequently asked. "North Africa," the captain truthfully answered.

"Then I accept your job!" Jack excitedly replied, not realising that by allowing himself to be recruited meant committing himself to international adventures of a kind about which he had never dreamed, even in his worst nightmares.

Chapter Twenty Seven – Squiggles

(Northern Mozambique, Africa, summer 1850)

James, whose brandmarks now only hurt his pride, was therefore more intrigued than abashed when Gambo now proposed to mark his white flesh with the same type of peculiar narrow squiggles that decorated the black boy's own rear. These strange small symbols were centred just above his bumcrack, which was fully exposed to view because his minuscule loincloth only possessed a front flap.

James was naturally pleased that the little markings were not to be branded onto his white flesh. His earlier guess, from viewing the squiggles borne by Gambo, that the symbols appeared to be of different substance and therefore application to the little cheetah emblems had happily proved correct.

For the purpose of application, Gambo had produced what resembled a few small wooden printing blocks on which the little squiggles had been carved. The black boy also brought a miniature tray packed with compacted goats' hair soaked in a natural black dye, indicating that the squiggles were to be stamped onto James' white flesh.

James' continuing distress at his present situation, including the recent grievous separation from his beloved twin, John, was now temporarily forgotten whilst Gambo went about his task of carefully stamping the squiggles onto the English boy's creamy-pink skin. Despite the prevailing heat, even inside the shade of the hut, the white 11 year-old instinctively shivered and exhibited some goosepimples when the first of the cool black dye initially touched his flesh.

Nevertheless, the naturally intrigued James still managed to ask of Gambo "Why are you doing this, and why are these squiggles being stamped on and not branded?" The white boy was, of course, not complaining about the latter circumstance. He was instead simply curious.

"First," Gambo answered in his broken English, which was actually improving because of his now regular contact with James, "these not squiggles but Arabic lettering. This tribe has no writing and so no need for alphabet or reading. However, mighty chieftain wanted to mark his most precious property with warning for others to leave alone and so trader gifted him this. Although villagers can't read, all understand meaning."

James briefly contemplated the inference in Gambo's answer that he, like the similarly marked young black, was now considered to be amongst the chieftain's most precious property. He also wondered whether such status might confer an easier life ahead than the one he had feared, which basically consisted of menial but heavy toil. However, the white boy's bright mind then turned to pondering the exact meaning of the stamped warning.

Meanwhile, Gambo was carefully stamping onto James' bare rear more of the Arab lettering, which, of course, was read from right to left by anyone literate in the language. As had frequently happened previously, the close proximity of the immaculate curves of the white boy's lustrous bottom, now neatly decorated by the little healed cheetah emblems in the centre of each smooth buttock, caused the front flap of the young black's loincloth to balloon outwards.

In the privacy of the small hut, which was now furnished with some reed bedding for the sole occupant, Gambo had long given up attempting to hide his cock's excitement from James, which was now a regular feature during his ministrations for the beautiful white boy. As the latter had also begun routinely to exhibit similar embarrassing penile unruliness in response to the frequent gentle manhandling of his manacled naked body by young black fingers, both slaves tried their best simply to ignore the phenomena.

Gambo, being two years older than James and therefore more mature, especially in terms of sexual development, although his genitals remained hairless, was aware of the reason for his cock's excitement. The young black realised that he fancied the white boy tremendously, and personal experience had given him the knowledge as to how he would like to consummate such passion. However, he also recognised that present circumstances would prevent him from doing so because the repercussions of being caught would be extremely severe.

Gambo had therefore instead reluctantly decided to be patient and to await the times when the chieftain desired to be entertained by watching his two young personal slaves of contrasting bodily hues performing certain acts on each other in front of him. The black boy was sure that such occasions would arise given precedents, although none previously had involved a participant with white skin.

James, being much more innocent and immature, was, however, unaccustomed to penile hardness and the accompanying peculiar tingling in his groin, which he privately had to confess guiltily was also somehow thrilling. The normally very clever but still naïve child could not work out the cause of such increasingly frequent embarrassment and shameful simultaneous strange stimulus. However, he was slowly finally beginning to link the phenomena to Gambo's ministrations and the sight that he had seen a few days previously of a hound performing a certain act on a 12 year- old black boy.

On that occasion the huge phallus of the hound and, despite what was being perpetrated on him, the much smaller cock of the black boy had both been erect. At the time, James' young mind wondered why and he had finally concluded that the, for him, unprecedented action he was observing involved the mysterious and previously taboo subject of sex.

Consequently, further aided by Gambo's current revelations, James' mind and body were now starting to learn some of the causes of penile hardness and consequently the realities of certain aspects of sex, which would be a process that would soon accelerate considerably.

Chapter Twenty Eight – Stumbles

(Northern Mozambique, Africa, summer 1850)

John's main preoccupation was therefore to avoid falling over. The white boy was, of course, totally unused to being forcibly marched whilst naked and unshod, with a heavy iron collar round his neck, manacles retraining his hands behind his back and shackles on his ankles, which prevented him from stepping more than about two feet at a time. In contrast, most of the black captives in front of him were by now more accustomed to such an uncomfortable predicament.

Consequently, whenever John tired and slowed in comparison to the similarly naked and fettered black youth in front, to whose iron collar his own was linked, the uniting chain would become taut and forcefully and most disconcertingly yank the younger white boy forward. The results of a fall in such circumstances might have been very painful and damaging, given that the line of interconnected manacled young humans would probably have been incapable of stopping for at least several paces. Meanwhile, tender creamy-pink flesh would have been dragged along the hard ground, undoubtedly causing bruising and grazing, which might then be compounded by a beating for his incompetence from the canes and whips carried by the Arab trader's guards to discourage malingering.

John was therefore most grateful that, when his wandering mind had occasionally inadvertently allowed him to tire and he was consequently caused to stumble precariously forwards, he had somehow so far managed rapidly to regain his balance and so avoid a potentially calamitous fall. However, the white boy was also astute enough to appreciate that, unless he swiftly gained enough energy and expertise to improve his mental alertness and marching ability and so avoid such dangers, he was unlikely to remain so lucky for long.

Chapter Twenty Nine – Arabic

(Northern Mozambique, Africa, summer 1850)

"What is the meaning of the words?" James next asked, in rather natural conclusion to his questioning about this latest embellishment to his naked body. "Warning!" was Gambo's initial one-word answer.

"I know that," James informed, "because you've already told me but about what does the Arabic warn?" Gambo compliantly replied "Words roughly translate as `Exclusive property of chieftain'. Unwritten threat is anyone who ignores the fact will suffer!"

"The Arabic therefore means," James excitedly sought to clarify, "that I'm the chieftain's exclusive property and shouldn't be interfered with by anyone else." The white boy's hopes of a better than anticipated future were beginning to increase.

"Partly," Gambo responded with initial but only momentary mystery, which was subsequently instantly dissipated when he added "because `exclusive property' refers more to your bottom, which is why Arabic displayed just above! Unmarked bums of other male slaves are available at any time for entertainment of tribal warriors."

If James had not witnessed the flagellated black boy being sodomised by a hound, he might have remained mystified by Gambo's latest answer to one of his questions. However, the white boy's bright mind now correctly connected the two.

The startled James finally recognised in shock where the probably big black cock of the tribal chieftain would eventually seek to venture. Nevertheless, the previously sexually innocent white boy's own much smaller penis, which had hardened again because of Gambo's delicate attentions to his rear, somehow did not shrivel in fright but instead visibly quivered in incongruous and demeaning excited anticipation.

Despite currently kneeling behind James' rear, Gambo noticed the white boy's penile reaction to his answer. The young black was also perceptive enough to understand the cause, for he had also once experienced a peculiar mixture of both acute abhorrence and strange shameful excitement at the prospect of being deflowered and losing his virginity and sexual innocence.

Chapter Thirty – Cabinboy

(New York, USA, winter 1850)

Jack's first duty on board ship was conducted in the privacy of the captain's cabin. Some of the elderly sailors had happily set up a small wooden tub full of clean but cold water on the floorboards for the boy but the anticipative smiles on their faces had then been wiped away when their boss then ordered them to leave.

The captain had selfishly reserved the right to inspect Jack's naked body for himself, after ordering the boy to divest himself of his grubby attire and wash himself in the tub. The shy 11 year-old was naturally initially reluctant to remove his clothing in front of the man. However, his unspoken objections were diffused when the adult gave the appearance of taking no interest in the disrobing and instead busied himself with the ship's logs.

Jack, who was fully aware of, and ashamed about, his dishevelled state, therefore took the opportunity of the man's apparent nonchalance and literally took the plunge by quickly stripping and diving into the tub, despite the coldness of the liquid inside. The captain was not the type of person to go to the unnecessary expense of warming water for the bath of even the prettiest cabinboy he had ever employed, which the new young incumbent of the post now proved to be.

Jack began to shiver and develop his own goosepimples in reaction to the cold water but nevertheless picked up the bar of crude soap and scrubbing-brush made available to him and began comprehensively but quickly to bathe himself. The boy's speed was dictated by his wish not to spend too much time naked in the captain's cabin or in the chilling liquid environment of the tub, which was so small that he had to sit with his knees close to his gorgeous face.

Jack soon completed his bathing, without giving any thought to why only him amongst the crew appeared to be required to have a clean body and attire. Evidence of the latter was provided by the little bundle of laundered clothes gifted by the captain, which was now waiting on the floor for the new young owner.

"The clothes belonged to an earlier similarly aged and sized cabinboy," the captain had advised Jack when the man had given the 11 year-old the attire, "but he quickly outgrew the stuff!" The recipient of the decent clean second-hand garments immediately incorrectly assumed that the explanation referred to the fact that the previous owner had become too big for the items.

In fact, the captain was deviously referring to the fact that this earlier cabinboy had outgrown his clothes not in terms of size but in social appropriateness.

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