DEAD MAN’S CANYON – PART 5
Little
Joe Cartwright was slightly confused as he was currently walking down the main
street of
The
sunshine together with the effects of the medicine that Paul had administered were making his eyes feel very sore at the moment. Joe now sought somewhere more
shady to get out of the direct light and get some relief for
himself. His wrist wasn’t hurting as
much now but the swelling of the tissue around the area was quite
noticeable.
Joe
sought refuse inside the nearest building away from the sunshine. It wasn’t until he let his mind adjust to the
darkness and the surroundings that he recognized the livery stable. The smell of horses and hay now invaded his
senses. His eyes were growing heavier
and heavier and he didn’t quite have the energy to keep going at the moment.
It
was to Joe’s relief that he saw nobody in the livery stable. Normally the place was a hive of activity
with people coming and going with their animals. But today for some reason there was an eerie
silence within. He couldn’t even see
Charlie, the stable keep who looked after the animals for people.
Joe
looked in each of the stalls and was happy to see that the last one was
vacant. It looked like it had just had
fresh straw forked into it and the fresh hay told Joe just how tired he was. Because it was the last stall in the
building, there was no window above to shine bright light in through the
roof.
Joe
sank gratefully onto the soft bed of fresh hay near the corner. The shadows hid his small frame from the
front of the stall. With a tired sigh
the boy lay his
head
back onto the soft material underneath him and with just a few brief flutters,
his eyelids closed and he drifted off into an exhausted sleep.
Joe
would remain undetected in his place of rest for quite some time.
******************************************************
Ben
and his two boys had ridden at a quick pace to
Richard
Scott and his son Johnny were a few steps behind on their own mounts, ready to
assist the Cartwright family where they could.
Ben
pulled Buck to a halt outside the school house and strode purposefully towards
the front door before anybody else had even dismounted from their horses. Adam and Hoss didn’t take long though to
follow their father to the classroom.
As
they got to the front door, not only did they hear the distinct crying of
children, but in front of their eyes, they were able to see Joe’s school
friends huddled together on the opposite wall.
They were distressed and cowering away from the man in front of them
wielding a ruler in his hand.
Ben
assumed the man with the ruler must have been this Mr Watson who had been Joe’s
teacher for the past three days. Watson
had yet to note the presence of others. He spun around startled when he felt
another hand grab at the ruler in his hand. At first he thought it must have
been one of the class until he came face to face with
the angry face of Ben Cartwright.
“You
will release the ruler Sir, or I will break your hand,” Ben threatened, without
knowledge that Watson had already done as much to his youngest son. Adam was now standing behind his father
ready to add his muscle against the teacher if necessary.
Hoss
went towards the frightened and distressed children and tried his best to
console them. A few of the kids
recognized the big boy immediately and sought comfort and protection from their
attacker.
Johnny
Scott was now in the classroom and could scarcely believe what torment Mr Watson
had forced his friends to endure while he was away. His eyes were immediately scanning the
children in front of him for Little Joe.
“Where’s
Little Joe?” Johnny asked one of the little girls from the group.
“You
heard him, what have you done with my son?” Ben demanded of the teacher. It
wasn’t until now that Watson even suspected who the man was. He had initially thought that the strangers
had been brought to the school by the sounds of the children crying.
Watson
now realised that this must be Joe’s father and he swallowed slightly as he
looked back at the silvery-haired man.
He could see that Ben was in no mood
for
any delaying tactics or idle chit chat of any kind.
“I
don’t know,” Watson found himself saying, not really knowing why he answered
the way he did.
“He
hurt Little Joe Mr Cartwright,” one of the boys said on Watson’s behalf.
“Yes
I know he did,” Ben answered, looking directly at the teacher as he replied.
“No
you don’t understand Sir,” the youngster continued. “He hurt him with the ruler. He ran out a while ago. I think he might have a broken hand.”
Ben
now realised that the child was trying to say that the teacher had hurt his son
again this morning.
“How
did the man hurt Joe, Timmy?” Hoss asked the boy.
“Joe
was trying to do his lessons when Mr Watson just came up and hit him with the
ruler,” the boy said, barely able to contain his emotions. “He hit him
hard
Hoss, I heard it.”
“Johnny
you said that the teacher hit his legs with the ruler yesterday,” Richard Scott
now asked his son. “Are you sure it
wasn’t his hand?” he
added, making
sure
that the abuse they were hearing of was only new.
Before
Johnny could answer his father, hurried footsteps could be heard behind the Cartwrights,
coming into the school house. Everybody
turned to see the
worried and concerned faces of Sheriff Roy Coffee and Doctor
Paul Martin.
“Ben,
I am so glad I found you,” the doctor commented, almost out of breath from the
running he had done from his own office.
He had seen Ben and his boys
approaching the school on horseback. He had stopped briefly to tell
“What
are you doing here Paul and Roy?” Ben asked genuinely. He hadn’t been to the Sheriff to tell him
about Joe’s assault by the teacher yet and he didn’t think
that
Paul had been informed of any mistreatment yet.
“Paul
came to tell me what happened after Joe ran away,”
“Ran
away, what are you talking about?” Ben asked out of confusion.
Paul
could see that Ben had come into the conversation at the tail end and decided
it best to tell him what had happened from the start. He proceeded to tell the family as fast as
he dared about the hurt and injured Little Joe coming to his office in great
distress.
The
Doctor went on to tell Ben about how he had tried to get the youngster to calm
down and the swelling and bruising that he had been able to see on Joe’s
left
hand.
The
description they were being given seemed to fit in with what Timmy had told
them about the teacher hitting Joe’s hand hard with the ruler. If they had been
concerned about his safety before arriving, they were now close
to out of their minds with this new piece of information about fresh injuries
and pain that Joe
had
been feeling.
“I
managed to get him to swallow a small amount of medicine for the pain Ben, but
when I went to get the splints for his wrists, by the time I came back into
the
treatment room, he was gone,” Paul explained.
“I wasn’t gone more than twenty seconds or so, but by the time I reached
the front door of my office, I
couldn’t even see him down the street.”
“What
effect is that medicine likely to have on him and his frame of mind now Paul,”
Adam asked, concerned that his brother was already wandering around
with
a considerable amount of pain for a small boy.
Now
it seemed that his senses may be somewhat hazy from the pain killer that he had
been given by the doctor. Joe might not
even know where he was let alone what direction to head in. And where was he intending to go anyway?
“Well
Adam, he was pretty distressed as I said when he came into my office. The medicine was already working before I
left to get the splints I needed. If
he
has
gone, I wouldn’t have thought he would get very far before tiredness would
overtake him. The medicine should help
with some of the pain, but it won’t go
away
all together and that hand looked very badly swollen when he was holding it against
his chest,” Paul answered.
Watson
had heard all the details as it was told by the doctor. His face never showed any feeling of
remorse when they spoke about his striking the boy with the ruler.
“And
what have you got to say for yourself?” Ben said, shaking the man by the front
of his shirt slightly to make him answer the question.
“I
tried to voice my concerns to you Mr Cartwright in a letter the day before
yesterday, but that son of yours was a troublemaker from the outset and was
determined to do exactly the opposite of what I thought was best for him.”
Watson said without any emotion in his voice.
“What
was best for him?” Ben said in a low angry voice. “WHAT WAS BEST FOR HIM?” he repeated,
shouting the words fully into the teacher’s face.
“He
wouldn’t write with his right hand Mr Cartwright. The boy’s education would have suffered if I
hadn’t tried to intervene and stop such a ridiculous practice. You as a parent should understand such
matters,” Watson now said, voicing his strong-willed opinions about his methods
of teaching.
“Mr
Watson, you listen and you listen well,” Ben warned. “My son writes with his left hand because his
is left-handed. His writing does not
need correcting so far
as
I am concerned. As for suffering, you
have struck my son with a ruler on two occasions. Because of you my son is hurt and in
pain.”
“Because
of you my son had to seek medical attention from which he has now run away from
in fright. Mark my words Mr Watson, if I don’t find my son within a very short
period of time from now, you will begin to understand the true meaning of the
word suffering.” Ben now released the man’s shirt but never
took his eyes away from him.
“Pa
we need to start searching for Joe,” Adam now said trying to get a search party
organized as soon as possible. Hopefully
if the medicine was working like the doctor said, they might be able to find
Joe before he got too lost.
“
“But
I have a stage to catch this afternoon,” Watson said indignant that these people
thought they were going to stop him leaving this town.
“Mr,
the only stage you are going to be catching is the prison wagon when it leaves
“Don’t
worry Ben, I will take him over to the cells right now and get the search party
underway,”
“If
you like Ben, I will make sure my medical equipment is all ready for when you
bring Joe back to my office,” Paul Martin now suggested. It was no secret that the doctor was not a
competent rider and he would only slow any search party down.
“Thanks
Paul, I appreciate it,” Ben said but his mind was already on the whereabouts of
his youngest son. “Where would he go
Paul?” he asked without even realising it.
It
was now that Johnny Scott decided to tell Joe’s family about his secret. “Mr Cartwright, I don’t know if I should be
telling you this or not but Joe told me of a place he might like to
visit.”
“Where Johnny?” Hoss now asked anxiously, kneeling in front of Joe’s
friend and hoping he knew the answer to everyone’s burning question.
“Well,
I don’t know if he would really go there.
It is only a little way away but if he is hurt, then maybe he couldn’t
make it that far,” Johnny started to say.
He could see the faces of the adults around him and their real need to
find Joe quickly.
“But
for the last couple of weeks, Joe has been talking about your happy place
Hoss,” the boy now said. “Dead Man’s Canyon.
Joe’s was saying how much he would like to go there.”
“Even
that place seems a little bit out of the way Ben,” Paul Martin now
interjected. He rather thought that the
search for Little Joe would find him laying down somewhere for a rest in
town. “He could have gone in any number
of directions.”
“Maybe
Paul, we can’t be sure and can’t afford to take risks,” Ben now said as he
thought where to start searching first.
“We can start having a look around the areas of town that we think
Little Joe might have gone. Then after
an hour or so if we can’t find him we can head out of town a little and up
towards Dead Man’s Canyon.”
“It’s
a long walk from here for a little boy but he might get part of the way by dark
if he has truly gone in that direction,” Adam now added to the
conversation.
He
too hoped like his father that Joe would be found in
“I
would be glad to help out with the search Ben, but I would like to take my son
home first,” Richard Scott now stated.
The emotions of the day were clearing
playing out across the young boy’s face as well as his
classmates.
“By
all means Richard,” Ben agreed. “Hoss
why don’t you take the smaller children home to their parents and tell them
that school has been let out early.
When
your finished, you can help us look for your brother,”
Hoss
nodded his head at his father’s request and started taking a couple of the
children by the hand and leading them out of the classroom. A few of them
still
shrank back behind Hoss’s larger frame until they were far enough out of the reach
of Mr Watson.
While
they waited for Roy to return, Ben, Adam and Paul now set to work about making
plans for the search for Little Joe.
When
Ben
told the Sheriff that he had done as much as he could and although small in
number, they
would manage as best as they could and cover as many areas as thoroughly as
possible within the shortest possible time.
No
matter what, Ben Cartwright and his son Adam resolved themselves to doing
everything they possibly could to finding Joe. They wouldn’t rest until he was
safely tucked away in his own bed and had been seen to by Paul.
*************************************************
At
about the time that his friends and family were making efforts to try and find
him, Little Joe awoke from the short sleep he had fallen into at the livery
stable.
He
had been awoken mainly by the pain in his wrist that seemed to be now as bad as
when it had first happened. The
medicine that Doc Martin had made him swallow was no longer working it’s magic.
Joe
sat on the straw for a few minutes trying to get his bearings. There was enough residual effect from the
pain killer to make his head still a little fuzzy. His eyes still felt gritty and sore and he
still felt incredibly tired.
Joe
was suddenly startled by the sound of voices inside the livery stable. He didn’t know who they were and he didn’t
recognize them immediately. He was
worried about what they might say or do if they found him there in the stable
without a reason. He curled himself up
against the wall of the stable as much as possible and used the darkness as his
shield against being seen or noticed.
“Hear
that Ben Cartwright is still out looking for his youngster,” came one of the
voices.
“Yeah,
that’s what Sheriff Coffee said when he was here a while ago. Said Ben was angrier than he had even seen,”
the second voice responded.
“I’d
hate to be in his shoes right about now,” the first voice stated, meaning the
fate of Mr Watson the teacher.
For
a very confused seven year old though, the words he heard seemed to tumble all
together somehow until he was sure that they were talking about his family
being angry about him missing from the school house.
Joe
didn’t know why his father had come looking for him in the middle of the
day. Part of him sagged in relief that
his Pa had come to town. If only he
weren’t angry at him he would be able to tell Pa what Mr Watson had done to
him.
But
the man had just said that Ben was angry about his missing boy. And somehow the Sheriff was now involved
which made Joe think he was in trouble even more. He didn’t know if he could face whatever was
in store for him.
Maybe
he could go away for a little while until things calmed down at home. If they began to miss him then maybe they
wouldn’t be so angry anymore and he could come home. But where could he go? He didn’t have any food or even a horse to
go anywhere. To add to his worries,
his wrist began throbbing in earnest again.
Then
he suddenly remembered where he was. The Livery Stable. Of
course, there were horses here. None
of them belonged to him but if he just borrowed one for a little while it would
surely be okay, Joe persuaded his inner self.
His arm was sore but by morning maybe it wouldn’t be so sore
anymore. Hopefully he wouldn’t need to
be away from his family for much more than a night before he was missed.
As
if in protest at his thoughts, Joe’s empty stomach grumbled badly at the
thought of an entire night without food.
He hadn’t had much today at all.
Before
he could change his mind again, Joe waited for a few minutes to make sure that
the two men he had heard were now gone.
He peeked out around the stall and began looking at the other stalls and
what mounts they had that he might be able to use.
The
first stall had a great big white horse that was snorting and stamping his feet
about as though frustrated at being kept in such as place. The stall next to that one
had
another horse that seemed very big.
Upon
looking into the third stall, Joe began to think that he just might be able to
ride that particular horse. It was
smaller than the first two but big enough to be ridden by an adult. It’s coat was
almost chestnut in colour.
Joe
looked to check the coast was clear and then tiptoed across the straw floor of
the livery stable and held out his uninjured hand to the horse. The horse was a little bit wary of the
strange hand at first but put it’s soft pink nose
against the boy’s palm.
Joe
had to stifle back a giggle at the tickling that the soft nose made on his hand. He looked around worriedly, knowing he
couldn’t let himself be found or he would be in serious trouble.
Little
Joe looked down at his injured hand and winced at the pain that was still
coming from the swollen wrist. He knew that
he would not be able to saddle the horse on his own. He normally needed a little help to saddle
his own pony back at the Ponderosa, even if he didn’t like to admit it. Today he would have to ride without a
saddle.
Joe
now started to untie the halter rope that was tied to a hook on the pole
between the two stalls. Being
one-handed, it took a few seconds for the loops to loosen
enough for him.
The
smaller horse didn’t seem to be worried by the fact that a strange little boy
was untying and attempting to lead him out of the stall. With relative ease and a small gentle pull
on the rope, Joe found the horse following his command and now standing beside
him outside of the stall.
The
next tricky part about this whole thing Joe realised was how to mount the horse
with only one hand. He looked down at
his left hand and the pain he was still feeling was enough to convince him that
he would have to try with his right.
Joe
now led the smaller chestnut coloured horse to the rear door of the
stable. Most horses and riders left via
the bigger and wider doors near the front of the building.
Hopefully,
if he used this particular door, nobody would see him or the horse he was
borrowing for a while. He was sure
that they would understood he would bring the horse
back safely. Or at least that’s what
his tired mind told him the person who owned the horse would think.
Little
Joe now tucked a tuft of the horse’s mane in between the fingers of his right
hand to give him more leverage and assistance to mount. Even doing this though it was much more
difficult trying to climb onto the animal’s back with only one hand.
After
much effort and a few winces from the pain in his left hand as it made contact,
Joe managed to sit straddled on the horse’s back. It had taken much more out of him to get onto
the animal and the boy now took some long deep breaths in order to stop himself falling off again.
With
his mind slowly turning over with the words he had overheard, Joe was sure that
his family would not be happy about how late he was. He persuaded himself once again that the
way to get his father forgive him for his lateness was to wait until his family
missed him.
If
they were worried about him and he finally came home with his injured hand,
they would soon forget all about his tardiness and all about him leaving school
early without permission.
Little
Joe now nudged the horse forward into a slow walk away from the livery stable
and towards the end of the town. For
the next half an hour he didn’t think of anything very much at all. His body was beginning to slowly relax due to
the soft rocking motion that the walking horse provided. It was very difficult for the still
tired
and injured boy to stop from falling asleep over his mount’s neck.
After
an hour, he found his mind thinking again which he was slightly grateful
for. The alertness of his mind would
stop him from drifting off to sleep again.
Now
Joe found himself wondering about what he was going to do for the rest of the
night. He had no supplies with him or
the horse, not even a canteen of water to share between them. There was not a bite to eat and his stomach
had already put in another round of protests a few miles back about feeling so
empty.
The
sun would soon be setting and with the darkness, the night temperature would
soon begin to drop also. Joe didn’t
even have a match that he could use to start
a
campfire with.
He
knew how. Hoss had shown him a couple of
times how to light a small fire. But now
that didn’t really make much of a difference because there wasn’t anything to
light it with.
Joe
tried to think of somewhere that maybe slightly sheltered and where there might
be a waterhole nearby so that he and the horse could at least get a drink of
water. That’s when the place that he and
Hoss had visited came to him: Dead Man’s Canyon.
Little
Joe didn’t quite remember how many miles it was to the “
Joe
looked around the landscape that he was currently travelling in and although he
could scarcely keep from falling asleep, he tried to remember if any of the
rocks or trees seemed familiar to him.
After another mile of trying to watch the things around him, Joe was satisfied that he was at least
travelling in the right direction
to
Dead Man’s Canyon.
****************************************************
Back
in
no
sign of the youngster had been found anywhere.
Together,
each of them had searched every nook and cranny they could think would harbour
a small frightened boy. Until now they
had come up empty handed each time.
The
more they searched, the more frustrated and worried
they all became, especially with the knowledge that Joe was hurt and in need of
doctoring. That made the need to find
him even more urgent.
The
family had talked to many citizens on the streets of
A
couple had agreed that they had seen him but they hadn’t noticed that he was
hurting at all or even that it was unusual for him to be wandering the streets
alone
when
he should have been in school. They
had not seen any need to keep track of what direction he had travelled in.
Ben
now thought back to the conversation that he and the rest of the family had had
with Johnny Scott. Maybe he had to
start facing the fact that maybe in his
haze
of pain and fright from what the teacher had done, Joe may have sought comfort
and solace somewhere he felt he was safe.
Somewhere like Dead Man’s
Canyon.
The
search party had now gathered back at the front of the jailhouse to determine
what direction to take next. It was Ben
who took charge of the situation.
“Boys,
Roy, Paul,” he began, “I think we have to face the fact that Joe isn’t in town
anymore. I think we have to start
putting things together to look further a field for Joe.”
“You
mean like heading up to Dead Man’s Canyon?” Hoss now asked his father.
“Yes
Hoss,” Ben replied. “I don’t know if he
has gone there or not but he have to expand our search and we can’t rule such
an idea out at the moment. It’s almost
on sunset now. He probably doesn’t have
any supplies with him. He is alone,
frightened, scared, hurt and probably not thinking very straight at the
moment. We have to keep searching for
him as long as it takes to bring him home safely.”
All
of them nodded their heads in agreement at Ben’s words knowing by now that the
search for Joe must start becoming more determined in its efforts.
“Adam,
you arrange for some food and water supplies, Hoss you try and get some warm
blankets and bed rolls together for us.
I will get some medical supplies of
you
Paul and hopefully we can be on the trail very soon,” Ben explained.
“But
how do we know what direction to head in Pa,” Hoss asked honestly. Just because they thought Little Joe may have
gone to Dead Man’s Canyon didn’t mean that he had. Maybe he had tried to make his way home.
The
search party now turned around at the sound of a voice shouting to them from
behind. As they all turned, they could
see Charlie, the man who ran the livery stable running up to them as fast as he
could. They weren’t quite able to make
out what he was trying to say to them.
“Slow
down Charlie,” Ben said as he stopped the man as he approached the group.“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“You
been looking for that boy of yours Ben,” the man said as he tried to regain his
breath after running so hard. He could see
the looks of fatigue of the group suddenly change to ones of hope and
anticipation as he spoke.
“Have
you seen Little Joe Charlie?” Ben asked immediately. He could feel his heart thumping inside his
chest at the thought that somebody might have some useful
information about his missing child.
“No
I ain’t seen him, just like I told Adam when he came by searching a while ago,
but I just noticed that one of the horses is missing from the stable.” Charlie
explained.
“Do
you think Joe might have had something to do with taking the horse?” Adam now asked, not worried that his brother was stealing the animal
but rather probably trying to find a method of finding his way home.
“Well
the horse that is missing Mr Cartwright is smaller in size than the other ones
in the livery stable at the moment. If
it was Joe that needed to take the horse, it
might
just be the clue you have been looking for.” Charlie replied.
“It
still doesn’t tell us which direction the boy might have travelled in,” Roy
Coffee now said as he tried to put himself in Joe’s shoes. What would an injured and
frightened boy on a strange horse do? Where would he go?
“No
Sheriff, but the horse’s feet should tell us,” Charlie said, and immediately
saw the confused looks on those around him.
“You see that horse got reshoed only this morning. And Mr Withers, his owner makes sure that I
put particular shoes on that animal.
They have a distinctive pattern gouged into the edges of the shoe that
would make a pattern on the ground.”
“Hot
Diggerty Charlie, that means once we find that
particular pattern on the road, we can follow it to Little Joe,” Hoss said with
hope in his voice.
“Let’s
get those supplies together boys and then meet at the livery stable in a few
minutes and see if we can’t find those horse shoe prints,” Ben said finding it
hard
not
to go racing to the stable right now.
He knew that they needed to be prepared for the night ahead in case they
didn’t find Little Joe right away.
About
twenty minutes later, each of the Cartwright family had attended to his
assigned task of water, food and bed rolls.
Paul had given Ben a makeshift kit with bandages and some medicine. The doctor gave Ben careful instructions
about what dose to give Joe in case they came across the boy and he needed
attention before they could get him back to
Sheriff
Roy Coffee had already offered to join the Cartwright’s in the search for the
youngest member of the family. His
deputy Clem would be adept at handling any problems that may arise in the town
whilst they were gone.
Paul
Martin said that he would be waiting at his office when the search party
returned and Joe was to be taken straight to him to have his wrist attended
to. He didn’t want to mention or add
the prospect of any further injuries the young boy might incur.
The
party now moved back to the livery stable to see Charlie waiting for them. The stable keep had already been scowering the ground around the stable in search of the
distinctive pattern.
“I
found one right away Ben, just outside the rear door. There should have been others but they seem
to have been covered over by other horses in the mean time,” Charlie said
hoping the news would dash any hopes that the search party had built up for
themselves.
Hoss
had walked away from the party for a few minutes, trying to look at the horse
shoe prints on the ground. Trouble was
that they all looked remarkably the same to him. He just had to find his little
brother. He just had to he told himself.
“Is
this one Charlie?” Hoss suddenly shouted in triumph as he noted one set of
prints quite a few metres from the livery stable. The print looked to have a funny squiggly
mark along the edges of the shoe. Was
it the distinct pattern that the stable keep had been talking about.
Ben
and the other quickly came running over to the area on the ground that Hoss was
pointing to. It took a few seconds for
them to see the differences in the pattern.
“That’s
it my boy,” Charlie said excitedly.
“Reckon you could recognize it again Hoss?” he now asked.
Hoss
grabbed the reins of his horse and slowly walked with his mount behind him,
trying to locate a second same print.
It didn’t take long to find one and then a third and fourth. His heart swelled as he thought they were
finally on the right trail to finding the way Little Joe had gone in.
Ben
and the rest of the search party quickly mounted their horses and travelled
behind Hoss. They noted the
concentration on Hoss’s face to follow the correct
trail. A few times he seemed to loose sight of
the right trail when other horse prints covered over the one he was looking
for. But his patient nature paid out
and
he quickly was able to find another print again not too far ahead.
Just
as the sun gave the sky a orange hue across the horizon, signalling almost the
end of the day, the search party walked slowly out of Virginia City following
Hoss who was still walking a good deal of the way.
After
walking about a mile or so out of time, Joe’s horse seem
to be easier to spot without the competition from other prints. Hoss found even though he mounted his
horse, he could still locate the right trail fairly easily and continue on
their way at a slightly faster pace.
*************************************************
While
Joe’s family had been making the preparation to try and find him, the youngest
member of the Cartwright family was still working his way towards Dead Man’s
Canyon.
The
night sky was now getting darker and darker and Joe was a little worried that
the little chestnut horse may not be able to find his way through the shadows.
By
now the young boy had travelled about fifteen miles on the horse. He wasn’t aware of the distance
however. At first he had tried to talk
to himself and the horse to keep himself awake. He told his horse all about his family and
about his recent troubles with the teacher that found him travelling along this
road.
Tiredness,
fatigue and pain however soon overcome Joe and he had fallen over the horse’s
neck in a restless doze for about the last two miles or so.
Joe
was quickly brought out of his doze by the sharp snap of a breaking stick awoke
him. The horse was also startled at the
noise and tried to shy away from whatever had made the sound.
Joe
had to use most of the waning strength he had left to say on the horse’s
back. There was no saddle to prevent
him falling off the smooth coat and there was no reins
to grip onto either. He cried out
into the darkness in pain as his injured wrist was inadvertently used with his
good hand to stop him falling off.
The
horse came to a halt at Joe’s cry of pain and the boy now brought his
tear-stained face up slightly to look at his surroundings. He had to let his eyes adjust to the
darkness for a few seconds, but he could then make out the shapes of large
rocks and a few large trees.
Joe
now down very gingerly from the horse, afraid his rubbery legs would betray
him. He didn’t think he had the strength
to keep getting back onto his feet.
He told himself and the little horse that he needed to rest of a few
minutes. The other thing he needed
right now was a drink of water. He was
feeling slightly light headed at the moment and he felt a little hot despite
the cool breeze ruffling his hair.
Joe
now began walking over to the large rocks he had seen a few moments ago. He beckoned for the horse to follow and was
happy to see the soft nickers from the animal as the horse followed his smaller
master.
The
area around the large rocks was slightly even darker due to the canopy of the
trees. Joe could see a few twinkling
stars in the sky above him but the moonlight that had given him a little light
to travel over the last few miles was now hidden from sight.
The
cool breeze blew again and Joe shivered at the chill his body felt. His head felt hot still though. He was unaware that his injured hand had
caused a slight fever to begin.
Joe
looked to his right and was delighted to see a small trickle of a stream very
nearby. He walked unsteadily towards
the water and knelt beside it, cupping his hands into the cool liquid and
affording himself a drink of the thirst quenching wetness. The little horse had followed his rider to
the stream and now bent his head down to take a drink as well.
Once
he had drank his fill, Joe sat down on the edge of the
stream, trying to get his thoughts together.
He didn’t think his tiredness would allow him to ride any further
tonight. Even though they hadn’t
travelled an excessively long way, he didn’t want to put the little horse at
risk of injury by riding by the moonlight.
The
only thing left to do until morning was to rest his weary head for a little
while. It might stop the dizziness he felt and when the sun came up the next
morning, he
would
be able to travel the rest of the way to Dead Man’s Canyon in the daylight.
Once
there, hopefully he would be able to find some berries or fruit to eat and some
fresh grass for the horse as well. For
tonight his belly would have to be
satisfied with the cool drink of water.
Joe
now got to his feet, his gait still unsteady as his legs begged for him to lay down and sleep for a while. He didn’t have any blanket with him for
warmth
and
he couldn’t light a fire. It was going
to be a rather cool night for him.
Joe
sat with his back resting against one of the large rocks. He used his right hand to gather a few dried
leaves in a pile. That would have to
suffice for a
rough
pillow tonight.
Joe
now swallowed slightly and wondered if his plan of waiting until his family was
worried about him was such a good idea after all. He was cold, tired, hurt and hungry and his
family was far away.
The
little chestnut horse now stood under the canopy of the trees as if a lookout
for his young charge. He nickered
softly at a few night-time sounds as an owl made his presence known in the tree
above. There was also
crickets chirping their nightly song.
Joe
now lay down wearily on the cold hard ground.
After removing a few uncomfortable stones from underneath him, the young
boy lay his head on the pillow
of
leaves.
He
briefly thought the ground might be a little softer at first, but the idea
slowly fell away as his eyes grew incredibly heavy and he could no longer keep
them open. His injured wrist tucked up
closely to his body, the tissue around the bones now very swollen and
bruised. A few grunts of pain and a few
whimpers escaped the boy’s lips as sleep stole him away.
Over
him, the stars still twinkled and the cool night air still blew into the
trees. Joe’s mind didn’t note the cold
or the pain, he
was just too worn out. The boy’s body
began shivering slightly despite the fever that burned in his cheeks.
From
a little nook created by a few of the large rocks not too far away, Joe and the
the little horse were unaware that they were being
watched. The niche provided the
perfect hiding place for the creature and it’s scent
was masked from the horse. Two bright eyes now watched the sleeping figure of
the young boy.
**************************************************************
The
progress of the search party had been slowed somewhat due to the same reason as
Joe: the darkness. Even by the
moonlight that was above, it was now almost impossible for Hoss to make out the
horse prints on the roadway.
Reluctantly,
Ben suggested that they stop for the night and make a campfire. There was a few
words of argument from his two sons about stopping the search
for
their lost brother. But when Ben had
explained the risks to their horses being injured in the darkness if they
continued, common sense prevailed in the end and
they
too agreed to stop for the night.
While
Hoss and Adam took the saddles off the horses and tethered them to nearby
trees, Sheriff Roy Coffee and Ben cleared an area on the side of the road to
make a fire. Once the flames were
happily dancing in the cool breeze, they prepared to cook some food and make some
coffee for everyone.
The
group now wore warmer coats against the coolness of the breeze. But as they felt the warmth of the folds of
fabric of their coats and they tasted the food in their plates, they were
reminded that Joe had so such luxuries with him. The boy had no food that they were aware of
and no warm clothes against the night chill.
Ben
was found to be staring into the flames, deep in thought, whilst sipping at the
hot cup of coffee in his hand.
“Don’t
worry Ben, we’ll find him quicker in the morning with the break of day,”
at
a time when they all felt useless.
“You
know it’s funny,” Ben found himself saying to the group, “We were angry at the
way that teacher Mr Watson treated Little Joe over the last couple of days. But
you know we haven’t treated him much different you know.” he added, the words
meant for his two sons rather than the Sheriff listening in.
Together
they might not have caused any physical scars on Little Joe, but what about the
emotional ones. Ben had heard his
little boy’s hope of having someone
to
play with and still he put his own needs and those of the ranch in front of his
youngest son.
“Yeah
I know what you mean Pa,” Adam said as he looked guiltily into his own coffee that
had grown cold. “I have made all the
excuses in the world over the
last
few days of why I couldn’t spend time with Little Joe. Now all I want to do is tell him how sorry
I am and just find him safely and bring him home.”
“I
could have played with him a little more too Adam,” Hoss admitted.
“In
our own way, each of us has been pushing him away without even realising it,”
Ben now said as he tried to justify his time away from his family at the timber
yard. Joe knew that there was a great deal of
work to be done on a ranch, but somehow his simplest of needs such as
companionship and someone to
be
there for him when he needed it were put aside.
“Forgive me Marie my love. I will bring him home, I promise.” Ben said
to himself. When he found his little lost boy tomorrow and took him home to his
own bed, he vowed he would find more time to spend with all of his boys .
The
search party all turned into their bedrolls early, knowing that they wanted to
make an early start as soon as the sun was visible in the sky in the morning.
******************************************
OKAY
TO BE CONTINUED ………… But I promise not very much more and it’s all finished
………. now your wondering what the critter is in the rocks
is ?????????
I
have already started the last section and am quite a way through it for you.
Keep
reading and reviewing please and thanks to everybody that already has. I really appreciate all the wonderful
comments about people liking the story so far.
Helps me to write better next time.
JULES