The lads of 11 and nine who were savaged by two young thugs played dead in a desperate effort to scare off their attackers.
As the terrified pair, who were on a fishing trip, were battered and slashed the older boy managed to whisper to his friend: “Pretend you’re dead.”
Police were yesterday granted more time to question two suspects aged 10 and 11.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith yesterday summed up the nation’s revulsion, saying: “This is clearly a very serious and tragic case and my thoughts go out to these two young victims.
“While a case like this is shocking it is also thankfully extremely rare. It will also not be tolerated.”
Police were yesterday granted more time to question two boys aged 10 and 11, who were arrested in an allotment not far from the stream in the pit village of Edlington, South Yorks.
The two young victims suffered horrific injuries. The 11-year-old’s head wounds were so severe doctors initially said his condition was critical.
Fortunately, it was downgraded to stable yesterday and he was taken off a ventilator. A family member said: “He’s awake now, he’s doing well.”
A neighbour added: “He’s really cute, bubbly and gorgeous, a lovely lad who is always polite. He’s one of the good ones.”
The nine-year-old had surgery on his face yesterday. Surgeons had already operated on a gaping arm wound.
The two lads, who had their bikes with them, were forced to hand over their mobile phones, trainers and £3 pocket money to the thugs.
The 11-year-old was made to strip to his boxer shorts and socks. As the blows rained down on them the elder boy told his young friend: “Pretend you’re dead.”
The ploy did make the attackers leave but not until they had thrown the nine-year-old into the stream on Saturday.
They left the 11-year-old boy lying face down, his head swathed in blood from a deep gash across the back of his neck.
The nine-year-old managed to stagger to get help. He was found dazed and covered in blood in a street a few hundred yards from the pond.
Derek Wright, 70, took the shaken lad into his house while they waited for an ambulance. He yesterday said the brave boy had gone to get help because his friend could not see. Derek added: “That little lad is a true hero. He saved the other boy’s life.
“The young lad was told to go and get some help because the other boy could not see.
“That is all the little lad kept saying – ‘He can’t see, he can’t see.”
His friend, who is also his uncle, was discovered three hours later lying semi-conscious, half in the stream. It is thought a knife or blade was found next to him that had been used to slash him across the back of the neck from ear to ear.
A family friend yesterday said the two lads were inseparable. The woman added: “They’re always out here. They’re always together.”
A male friend added: “They’re just regular lads. They’re not brothers but they are like brothers.”
Europe Minister Caroline Flint is MP for the area. She said: “I am shocked by the reports. Edlington is a safe village with a strong sense of community spirit.”