Like most hikers in the Columbia gorge, we three Subs, a man and two women, were wearing tennis shoes and socks. But unlike most other hikers, we were wearing nothing else. We each carried, bunched up in our hands, a long T-shirt. If we were allowed to put it on the shirt would reach to mid-thigh, thus restoring modesty.
Several yards ahead and several yards behind us was a Master. They, in contrast to us, looked like ordinary hikers carrying typical backpacks. Except for one oddity: the rear Master had a riding crop hanging from a hook at the left side of his belt. He had only to move to the left of the path and it would be hidden from any passerby against the rocks or bushes.
The leading Master would shout back sentences which seemed innocent enough, but had special meaning for us. "Move to the left!" meant that we should quickly put on our T-shirts, because other hikers would be passing us on the path. "Let's take a rest stop!" meant that we should bunch up around the leading Master, but unfortunately not for a rest. In fact, this phrase meant that the Master had found a suitable branch, rock, or log which we could be bent over while the other Master used his ridting crop to beat and stripe our bottoms. The leading Master had an altimeter; he would read out the last number from his altimeter. Any number below 6 was doubled until a figure of six or more was reached. Zero was read as 10. I suspected that he chose the stopping place partly based on the altimeter reading because the number 10 seemed to come up more often than expected from random.
Once we had been beaten, the Masters changed places, the riding crop going with the one in the rear.