Chapter 3

"Stanly, I know how much you enjoy living in San Francisco, but my doctor has said that I am close to developing consumption and I must move to a dryer climate. Can you bear to leave our home and friends here in San Francisco and take me somewhere that is dryer?"

"Of course, my dearest Elizabeth. I'll do whatever you need. Do you have a specific place in mind?"

"My doctor has suggested some place in southern California, such as Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, or San Diego. Do you think that Santa Barbara will do, or do we need to go further south?"

"I know that you have relatives in Santa Barbara, but I wonder if that will really be dry enough. Perhaps we should go all the way to San Diego to insure that you will be in a dry enough climate. Your father has some business contacts in San Diego; perhaps, he can have one of them find us a suitable place to live. I'll ask him, today."

"Oh, thank you, Stanly! I love you so much! How will you feel about having to abandon you trips into Sydney-Town? Oh, yes, I know about you adventures there. On many occasions, I have seen you leave after midnight. The coughing often keeps me awake at night, so I know what is going on in this house after you think that I am asleep. No, I'm not upset; after all, I did suggest it. Though I do worry about your safety, sometimes."

"I can give up any excursion for your sake, my darling. There are a couple of things I would like to clear up before we leave, but that shouldn't take more than a few days."

"My dear husband, I am feeling better than I have felt in days. Might we adjourn to my bedroom for a few hours before you leave?"

"Of course, my dear. I am at your disposal."

A few hours later, an invigorated Stanly Bromly left for his nightly trip to Sydney-Town. This night he was looking for a certain Mr. Henry Jones, who was particularly interested in kidnapping children, mostly for his own amusement, though he did sell those that were still alive after he was through with them. Stan had managed to purchase the information on the location of his den, which was located at the fringe of Sydney-Town.

Stan made for Jones' house/torture chamber as fast as he could move, considering the density of the fog. He arrived and began his survey of the structure. It was a two-story building with living quarters on the ground floor and a loft with a ceiling of about 12 feet. There were no conventional windows in the loft walls, but there was a multitude of skylights. This produced a weird plume of lights shining through into the fog.

The grappling hook provided a ready access to the roof, and Stan made his way to a skylight to see what might be going on inside the loft. He saw a line of 12 cages lining one wall; these cages were about 5 feet wide and deep and about 6 feet high. Each cage held a child, some boys, some girls, ranging in apparent age from 8 to 12 years old. They all looked reasonably healthy, but scared to death.

A man dressed in a black leather, skin-tight outfit strode into the room as Stan watched; he could hear everything that was said. "Hello, children. Ain't you glad to see me? It's play time!" At this, all of the children started to cry.

"Now, now, don't let your joy carry you away. We only have time for one of you to play tonight. Who shall it be?" The man began to swing his arm and pointing finger up and down the line of cages as the children were quivering and crying in fear. Finally he stopped; pointing at a boy of about 10. The boy let out a scream and ran to the back of his cage. "You! You shall play with me, tonight."

The man walked over to the indicated cage and opened the door. This put him right under the skylight Stan was using for his viewing. Stan used his sap to break the window and dropped down behind the man. Before the man could move, Stan poked him in the kidney area with the sap, causing the man to collapse onto the floor, writhing in pain.

Stan dragged the man over to an x-frame made of iron bars and fastened the man to it, using the leather straps that were provided there. Various other supports and racks were scattered about the room, but this was the only one large enough to hold an adult. Once the man was held securely in place, Stan used one of his throwing knives to cut away the mans clothes, even his boots; there was no underwear, so the man was naked.

Stan looked at the assortment of torture devices racked at convenient places around the room and noticed some long spikes and needles. He selected one of the needles and stuck it crosswise through Henry Jones cock. Jones started to scream in pain as the needle was inserted and continued to scream until he ran out of air and strength. Stan just looked at him. "Get used to it. We've just started!"

Stan then opened the door of each cage and invited the children to come out. "I won't hurt you and this creature will never hurt anyone else again. Would you like some revenge by hurting him?"

One of the older boys held up his hand and Stan waved him over. "Take on of those whips and whale away the him all you want. I'll stop you when it's somebody else's turn."

The boy selected a buggy whip and began to strike Jones all over his body as hard as he could swing the whip. The boy was crying all the time he was lashing out. He kept this up for about 10 minutes and then just dropped the whip and walked away, still crying.

Jones body was a mass of bright red welts with some blood showing. He had fainted from the pain, so Stan threw some water in his face to bring him around.

Stan looked around and found some wire which he cut to about 18 inches long. He made a loop around Jones' scrotum above his balls and twisted the wire so that the loop would stay in place. He tied the other end of the wire to something he could not identify, but which he estimated to weigh about ten pounds. Stan eased the weight down until it put a load on Jones' balls and let it hang; Jones let out a howl of pain and tried to squat to relieve the weight. Of course he couldn't, because his hands were fastened above his head.

Stan invited another child to whip or otherwise punish Jones, but the children just stared at him and Jones in open-mouthed wonder. After waiting for several minutes, it became obvious to Stan that the children were not going to torture Jones the way he had done to them so Stan decided that this was enough.

He told the children to wait until he came back. Stan went downstairs and found the house to be empty, so he went back upstairs and gathered the children together and led them down to the kitchen. "See what you can find to eat if you are hungry. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Stan particularly hated adults who abused children, so he wanted to do something special for Mr. Henry Jones. Then he remembered a special torture he had heard about being used by the Vikings on their most despised enemies. Perfect!

Stan found a brazier and started a fire. Once it was going, he found a flat plate about 4 inches in diameter and having a long handle. He started this to heating; he wanted to get it to red heat. While this was heating, he went downstairs to check on the children. They were all lying on the floor, asleep, so he left them and went back to the loft.