THE LION CUB
by Krystyna Woollon
A story dedicated to Little Joe fans everywhere.
Summary: Joe’s determination to ‘grow up and prove to the world
he’s a man’ provides his brothers’ with a full time job on their hands trying
to keep him out of trouble!
Chapter 1
It is a fact that the Lion is accorded the title of King of the Jungle and
were anyone in Neveda to ask who exactly the Lion was who roared and ruled
over the Ponderosa, the immediate answer would have been quite naturally,
Ben Cartwright. His very stature of a man implied immediate authority,
his whole demeanour dictated immediate respect. No one could ever doubt
in any way possible that the very first impressions of this Lionlike king,
were that he was just that….a ruler over a mighty domain.
A thousand square miles of land rich with silver and gold and timber, along
with cattle and horses were proof of his ruthless tenacity and ambition.
His three sons were evidence of a man of power, authority and high moral disciplines.
It is, therefore, only natural to assume that the King of an empire is the
most powerful person within it, however, is it not more correct to assume
that the one who controls the King, who has the King in the palm of his hand,
is the true power behind the throne!
As Joseph Cartwright sauntered out of the big house and across the yard
he carried with him an air of one who had suddenly acquired the mantle of
supreme power on the Ponderosa. The tilt of his chin, and the gleam
in his eye, not to mention the slightly smug smile on his handsome face,
were such obvious evidences of something afoot that not even Hoss, the most
innocent of youths, could miss the signs. He eyed his youngest brother
with anxious suspicion but chose to say nothing.
“Hi, Hoss!” Joe smiled, a patronising, brotherly smile to which Hoss responded
with an acute feeling of distrust and misgiving, Hoss swallowed a gulp and
mustered up a smile
“Joe!”
“How’re things?”
“Fine, Joe, jest fine!” Hoss narrowed his eyes and glanced over at
his brother who continued to saunter along with his head high and when Adam
walked out from the stables Hoss whistled and beckoned him over “What’s going
on?” he whispered
“How’d ya mean?” Adam frowned, and gave Hoss an intense look, before following
the blue gaze towards his little brother who was leaning against the corral
fence, smiling to himself and looking over at them and nodding in an unusually
friendly manner
“Thet thar is what I mean!” Hoss mumbled, bending down to bring up Pal’s
left hind leg and to check the animals shoe , Adam leaned down too as though
inspecting the hoof and Hoss brought his head closer to that of his brothers
“Somethings wrong!”
“Yeah, you need to get that shoe changed before we leave tomorrow, or you’ll
be riding back here and wasting more time!” Adam replied curtly
“I mean – him – over there! Notice how smug he’s looking jest
now?”
Adam glanced up, and caught Joe looking straight at him, they smiled at
one another before Adam ducked back down again
“Yep, he’s looking smug alright!”
“When Joe gets that look on his face, you and I know that means trouble,
and usually, for us!” Hoss emphasised the last two words with a sharp nod
of the head and narrowing of the eyes.
“Could be right!” Adam replied, looking up and over at Joe who happened
to be watching them with suspicion on his own features, but catching Adams
eye he now smiled and nodded in that singularly ‘pleased with himself’ expression
on his face. Adam smiled and nodded back and ducked down to Hoss’ level
“Somethings certainly going on and….”
“Adam! Hoss!”
Ben’s deep voice resonated over the yard and both brothers looked at one
another and raised their eyebrows as though in confirmation of their thoughts
and previous comments
“Didn’t I jest tell ya?” Hoss whispered and he glanced uneasily over at
Joe who was now standing with his back to the corral fence and his elbows
propped onto one of the bars and smiling smugly over at them both as they
walked towards the house
As the door closed Joseph Cartwright gave a chuckle and rubbed his hands
together with glee. It had taken time, weeks in fact, to wear
Ben down to his way of thinking, but Joe was a master at the art of getting
his father to bend to his way of thinking, after all, he had been working
at it for nigh on fourteen years. He strolled nonchalently to
the stable and saddled up his horse, knowing that the best manouvre now was
to leave the deck clear…then by the time he returned home his brothers would
be in a far calmer frame of mind and there would be less chance of tempers
exploding into recrimatory words and actions. As he trotted out
of the yard he was whistling to himself!
“Anything wrong, pa?” Adam looked thoughtfully at his father as he settled
down into the chair on the other side of the desk, whilst Hoss waited by his
side with the growing suspicion that what he was about to hear was something
he would not like.
Ben rubbed his face with one large hand, and then he stroked his chin and
looked at them both with his near black eyes piercing into their own.
Hoss gulped and tried to think of all the things he could possibly have done
wrong that Joe may have found out about and reported back to their father,
whilst Adam sat still, tense as a coiled spring, his own brown eyes looking
back into his fathers, unwavering, whilst inside he waited for the sword to
fall!
“Boys….” Ben cleared his throat, Hoss looked anxiously down at Adam
who continued to stare into his fathers face “You know – er – how I’ve felt
about Joseph going along with you in the past ..” he paused, trying to think
of some other way of putting what he wanted to say without them both erupting.
Hoss frowned and looked at his father and then at Adam. Adam merely
narrowed his eyes but said nothing, he now knew exactly what was about to
be said, no matter how it was said, and was preparing his defences.
“I guess in a way I’ve tended to be overly protective of Joseph, him being
so young and impetuous…” Ben chewed on his bottom lip and tapped the
desk with the pencil he held in his fingers
“Go on, pa…spit it out…what’s on yer mind?” Hoss asked, impatient to know
the worse.
“Well, when I think back to the things the two of you have had to put up
with over the years, and at far younger ages as well…..”
“You want us to take Joe with us this trip, huh?” Adam said slowly, not
a feature on his face changing
“You ain’t, are ya, Pa?” Hoss’ blue eyes opened wider than usual before
he narrowed them and looked at his father again “You ain’t, are ya?” he repeated
“Well, Hoss, he is fourteen now” Ben stared at the paper that lay on the
desk, anything rather than look into the dark eyes of his eldest son and see
the sardonic gleam in them “Adam, you were facing things far worse than
you’ll encounter on this trip at a much younger age….and Hoss, you were the
same…”
“But, pa, times were different back then. I was different..I mean..different
from Joe!” Hoss frowned and looked at Ben anxiously “Pa, I don’t think you
should let him come with us, I think…”
“Hoss, I’ve already thought a lot about this, I really don’t want to know
what you think….the fact is that it’s about time Joe learned what life was
really all about. Riding range and branding calves is one
thing, but going on a cattle run, well, it’s about time he learned his way
around these things. He can’t be cocooned in cotton wool all his life!”
“Huh?” Hoss exclaimed, his eyes widening again
“Well, haven’t you anything to say about it?” Ben barked at Adam
“No”
“Then why are you sitting there looking at me like that?”
“Like what?” Adam crossed one leg over the other, and folded his arms across
his chest and looked at his parent over the desk with his brown eyes expressionless
and barely a smile on his lips
“Like you’d like to object but…”
“Exactly…but…what point would there be…I could say he’s too young, but you’ve
already reminded us that we were much younger and doing far more dangerous
things than he’s ever done….I could point out that he’s rash, impetuous, insolent,
arrogant, too sure of himself, wet behind the ears and a hundred other things
besides…but he’s a Cartwright, and you’re right, he has to learn how to handle
himself on a cattle drive sooner or later.
“Yep, that’s what I’d say too…” Hoss frowned, trying to remember exactly
what had been said.
“So long as he knows that while he’s working he’ll be treated like any other
hand, no special treatment…I think I’ll put him in drag…” he frowned as though
he had decided to give his little brother the very best position a man could
wish for, whilst Bens face registered horror at the thought “That’ll teach
him more than anything else, I reckon!”
“Drag? But, Adam, he’s….” Ben choked back on what he was about to
say, whilst Adam continued to stare at a spot over Bens shoulder as he imagined
the scene of his little brother riding drag behind their herd of cattle…Hoss
grinned and then raised his eyes to the ceiling as he, too, began to picture
the scene.
The worse position anyone could wish for….riding drag!
All day long the only view would be through a cloud of dust and grit that
got down your throat and into your clothes and made your eyes smart and run
tears that would streak through the dust on your face. When the way
was clear to see anything, it was only the rear ends of countless cows…!
Then you had to pick your way through mounds of cow dung, chase any mavericks
that run loose and make sure not one got away to mess up or foul any water
holes along the journey.
By the end of the day your throat would be sore and as rough as anything
could be, your body ached from having to be on the move all the time, and
your eyes…phew, if you could see clear out of them then you were obviously
not doing the job right!
“Adam, don’t be too hard on him….” Ben cautioned
“Pa, you said he had to learn and riding drag is the best way to learn.
Start from the bottom…” he paused at the mental picture of a hundred rear
ends…! “and work your way up!” he smiled and stood up “Pity you couldn’t come
along, pa….” He added sympathetically
“Yeah…pity!” Ben growled
Adam smiled and stood up and looked over at his brother, who smiled and
looked at his father. Ben chewed his bottom lip and stared glumly at
the papers on the desk
“If there wasn’t this business deal to sort out with Connors….” He muttered.
“Yeah, pity about that…never mind…” Adam placed a consoling hand on his
parents shoulder and smiled, rather like a wolf thinking about the lamb he
was about to have for supper.
“Pa, don’t you worry, we’ll take care of Little Joe!” Hoss smirked in a
manner that did not go a long way to reassuring his father.
Ben now began to chew on his thumb, thinking of his youngest son and the
indignities he was about to encounter, apart from the hardships and dangers.
He frowned and glanced once more over at his sons who seemed in no particular
hurry to leave.
“Look, couldn’t you make it a little easier on him…”
“Pa!” Hoss exclaimed as though he had just heard his father blaspheme “Everyone
has to start some place and when you’re starting out on driving cattle, the
obvious place is at the rear. The men would never respect Joe or us
if’n we treated him soft!”
“That’s right” Adams deep voice said smoothly and he gave his father a reassuring
look, which did little to placate the older man, who stared at them and then
shook his head
“I don’t know…I’m not so sure if this is a good idea…” he muttered
“Well, pa…you always said you didn’t want Joe riding out with the horses
or the cattle until he was at least 16, so what changed your mind?”
Adam folded his arms across his chest whilst leaning against the book case
and surveyed his father thoughtfully, knowing only too well what – or rather
– who – had changed his mind!
“I know I said that, but Joe’s restless, he wants to be treated like an
adult …”
“Pa, he’s only 13!” Adam growled
“14 !….” Hoss muttered, and received a dark glare from his brother for his
pains.
“He’s been listening to you two yarn away about what you did when you were
much younger than he is now…he wants the chance to prove himself and I’ve
no right to withhold that chance considering all that you two have done…”
“There’s a big difference though, pa” Adam said quietly, resuming his seat
at the desk “I had little choice in what happened when I was younger, and
I went where you took me…” he looked evenly into his fathers face and saw
a momentary flash of guilt in his parents eyes “And as for Hoss, well, it
was different for him too, because of his size and strength and the circumstances
we lived in, he had to rough it out. But Joe…”
“What Joe wants to do now, he chooses to do voluntarily…and I respect him
for that, young though he is…” Ben growled, realising that his son was trying
to corral him into a corner.
“Wal, so do I..” Adam drawled, looking thoughtfully down at the papers in
front of his father.
“Yeah, me too…” Hoss mumbled, watching his fathers face beginning to redden
and wondering whether or not was the best time to disappear
“It’s going to be difficult for him though…” Adam glanced up again and looked
at Ben who nodded
“He knows that “ Ben struck out his chin, just as Joe had struck out his
chin earlier that day when insisting he be allowed to ride along with his
brothers on the cattle drive to the Fort in Yuma.
“So long as he does…” Adam said quietly and without another word he pushed
himself away from the desk and walked away, with Hoss following along behind
him.
In the barn where they did the farrier’s work, Hoss heated up the hot coals
while his brother pulled out the nails from Pals shoe and with a small claw
hammer pulled away the split metal from the hard hoof. Working
the bellows until the coals were red hot, Hoss struck into the fire a new
shoe, whilst Adam filed down the hard horny hoof for it to be ready for the
new shoe
“You’re pretty quiet, what’s eating at ya?” he finally asked, letting the
horse settle by his stall until Hoss needed him
“Jest thinkin’ about Joe” Hoss frowned, heat from the fire was causing little
beads of sweat to gather in the creases in his brow. He pulled
the red hot metal from the fire with the pincers and took it to the anvil,
“Do you think he’ll be safe riding drag? I heard of a kid his age getting
killed when the cattle stampeded…” he plunged the shoe into water which hissed
and bubbled until he brought it back out and returned it to the anvil
“Hoss, it’s not that long ago when we were novices at taking cattle from
here to the forts…”
“I knows thet…shucks, we didn’t have no cattle until six year ago!” he began
to beat the shoe into shape “Well, not enough to move on out anyplace!”
“And how did we learn?” Adam frowned and leaned against the door of the
barn, whilst he stared out over the horizon and seeing as he did so the grand
view of the rolling grasslands where the cattle, Ponderosa cattle, now grazed
in their hundreds. “I’ll tell you, Hoss, we learned the hard way!”
“Yeah, I know…” Hoss hammered hard at the shoe and wiped sweat from his
brow before plunging it back into the fire “Bring Pal over will ya…”
The smell of burning hair and horn stung their nostrils as Hoss placed the
hot metal against the animals hoof, then he returned to hammer a little more,
before plunging it once again into the water…he knew Pals ‘shoe size’ better
than he knew his own after so many years tending for the beast and he picked
out the nails and stuck them in his mouth ready to hammer the shoe into place.
“Remember that time you rode drag first off? You were only 10 and
we rode along with old man Thyssens herd to get the experience …you nearly
got killed the first week when the herd stampeded during an electric storm!”
he looked over at his brother who nodded, the frown still on his face “Fact
is, if Thyssen hadn’t placed you in the care of Charlie Andrews you would
have been dead meat!”
“Thanks, brother, as though I need reminding …” Hoss grumbled, hammering
in the last nail and then reaching for a file to smooth out the edges of the
rough metal.
“Your size and strength were to your advantage then, Hoss…..but Joe hasn’t
got them on his side!”
“Guess you’re worried about him, huh?” Hoss glanced over at his brother
who sighed heavily and stared out once more over the horizon, leaving Hoss
to smile to himself and nod assent to his own question. He knew his
older brother well enough to know just how worried he was about Joe coming
along, even if he didn’t want to acknowledge it himself.
Adam listened to the rasp of the file and pondered over what Hoss had said,
and then quietly detached himself from the barn door and walked thoughtfully
over to where Beauty was pulling hay from his feed bag, he stroked his horses
nose gently and shook his head, knowing that no matter how much he worried,
it was not going to change a thing. Joe had such a way with Ben
and had obviously used every weapon he possessed in his vast armoury of charm
offensives to get his own way. Now the die was well and truly
cast!
Chapter 2
“Pa?” Joe dismounted from Paint before the horse had stopped, and
as a result found himself losing his footing, only Bens grip tightening around
his arm prevented him falling flat on his face, but that did not stop the
boy from grinning hugely up at his father “Pa. Did you tell ‘em?”
“I asked them” Ben said quietly
“And what did they say, pa? Were they surprised?” Joe grinned,
his eyes sparkling up at his father who was looking affectionately down at
his son, and Ben smiled, and put his arm around the boys shoulders and drew
him close as they walked together towards the house
“They were” he replied gently
“Were they pleased?”
“Yes and no ..”
A slight frown creased the boys smooth brow and he looked a little
perturbed, now they walked together to the house in silence as the boy thought
over his fathers rather enigmatic comment. Of course, it was probably
Adam, putting his lumbering big feet into the situation and trying to persuade
Ben from letting him come. He glanced at his father who looked down
at him and smiled
“Was it Adam?” he asked, his voice, as yet still unbroken, squeaking on
a high note
“No…no, it wasn’t Adam, nor Hoss…they agreed but they were concerned.
And rightly so, young man, after all, you’re only a boy and the risks of a
cattle drive are considerable. Niether of your brothers want you to
go to any unnecessary risks.”
“I know that, but they……”
“Things were different for them, Joe. Adam had no choice in
his life. He had no childhood such as the one you’ve enjoyed.
From the time he was an infant I was dragging him across the continent and
exposing him to dangers that when I think about them now make me shudder.
And Hoss, well, he has had to work hard from an early age to help get the
Ponderosa established and….”
“But that’s just it, pa, dontcha see…” the boy cried eagerly, pausing now
at the porch and gripping his fathers arm tightly with his hand in his earnestness
to explain “Compared to them I’ve had it soft, too soft. I don’t want
folk around here to look at us three brothers and say that I was just babied
along, that I had it easy compared to them……”
“But, Joe, compared to them you have…” Ben placed a gentle hand under his
sons chin and raised the childs face upwards to look up at him and he smiled,
and sighed “Joe, you can’t escape from the facts, nor from what people will
say.”
“I can prove them wrong though…I can prove that I’m no baby!” Joe
pouted, his face draining of colour and the freckles that chased over his
nose stood out like gold dust and Ben felt his heart twist inside him as
he saw the eagerness in the boys eyes and the light shining therefrom, so
much like Marie’s that he had to swallow the emotion that tightened around
his throat
“You don’t have to prove anything, son. You’re a Cartwright,
and you’ve all the time in the world to prove that to any manjack who comes
along to prove different!”
“But, pa, I want to prove it now…to Adam, and Hoss and to you…”
Ben took a deep breath and tried to force away the pain the boys words brought
to him, that a child of his should want to prove anything to him and he drew
the boy closer towards him, so that Joe found himself resisting, very slightly,
the embrace into which he was drawn
“Joe, you’ve nothing to prove to me…that you’ve not proved a hundred times
already!”
“You don’t understand, pa –“ Joe pushed himself away and stepped back and
with a sigh walked into the house, and Ben watched him go and shook his head
thoughtfully.
He understood only too well. Watching his son drag himself into
the house as though the weight of the world rested upon his young shoulders
reminded him of the time years ago when he begged to go to sea, just to prove
to his father and his brothers that he was a man, even though he were only
twelve at the time. They had humoured him along, teased
him a little, told him that when he was old enough …sometime…someday…until
the day came when he could wait no longer and had packed his old canvas bag
and ran away and signed on as a cabin boy.
Thankfully the captain of the ship he had fled to was a man with a gentle
heart and a sensible head and he had returned the boy home with a sound scolding.
But had the man been less than kind, and even less sensible, and he had gone
to sea with them what good use would he have been to a ships crew at that
age? As it was he had returned to a house of mourning, for his
running away had nearly broken his mothers heart.
He understood too, that his youngest son would never respond to the tight
rein he had used over Adam. This child of his, his last born, would
do just as he had done years ago…pack his bag and slip away to prove to them,
to the world, that he was as good as any of them. A courageous little
lion cub ready to take on the jungle about him.
“How much are they worth?” Adams dark voice sounded close behind him and
Ben started, and turned, his anxious face creased into a smile and he watched
as his eldest son approached him, a bridle and bit hanging loose in his hands
“Not much!” Ben replied, looking affectionately at the young man as Adam
finally reached his side.
Together they leaned against the bars of the corral and for a few minutes
they were silent. They both knew that words were not always needed between
them, they were comfortable with the silence, sometimes it spoke louder than
any word said between them. Finally Ben sighed and looked at
his son
“Joe really does need to go on this cattle drive”
“So you said, pa” Adam frowned, his dark brows formed arches over the deep
set brown eyes and he pursed his lips and looked with decided concentration
at the contraption in his hands.
“If we don’t give him this chance, he’ll only run away and join up with
some other outfit who won’t treat him with as much consideration as family
….” He glanced at Adam again, his dark eyes darkening as Adam only frowned
more deeply
“What are you saying, pa? Did he threaten to run away?”
“No, but he reminds me of a boy just like him who did….and could have lived
to regret it!”
“Not you by any chance?” Adams lips twitched into a half smile, although
he did not look up at his father but continued to work on the equipment in
his hands
“Joseph reminds me a lot of when I was young.”
“Well, I thought it was all decided that he was coming along with us – have
you had second thoughts about it?”
“No, well, yes, but I’ve not said anything to him. He IS too
young, but he’s chaffing at the bit, Adam, he’s longing to prove to himself
that he’s able to do what he wants…and at the moment, it’s going on that cattle
drive.” He smiled slowly “He says he wants to prove to people that
he’s not a baby any longer, but it’s himself he wants to prove it to most
of all!”
Adam sighed, and said nothing but glanced over at the house and then back
at his father. He nodded and sighed
“Well, pa, as I told you before, I ain’t intending to baby him on this trip.
You do realise that, don’t you?”
“I know, but, Adam, I want you to make me a promise here –“ Ben looked into
Adams eyes, and Adam composed himself ready to listen and to deal with any
conditions imposed upon himself and Hoss “Promise me that no matter what –
you’ll take care of Joe. I know how irritating he’s going to be over
the coming weeks, but be patient with him and make sure he takes no unnecessary
risks. Don’t let him come to any harm –“
“Do you think I would? Or Hoss for that matter?” Adams voice hardened
and became brittle, as though the thought of endangering his brothers life
could ever have entered their heads.
“I know – but – I’ve treated Joseph so differently from either of you, when
Marie was killed I wanted to protect Joe from all the pains and dangers that
could ever come his way, and now, for the first time, he’ll be out of my –
“
“Control?” Adam said, a hint of tension in his voice
“Well, no – not control – just that I won’t be there to keep him safe” Bens
voice deepened as emotion caught in his throat “Promise me that…”
“Sure, pa, I promise you, I’ll keep him safe.” Adam said quickly,
and then he smiled, and placed a hand on his fathers arm “He’ll still ride
drag, but I’ll make sure he’s kept safe”
“And don’t let him take unnecessary risks, you know how impetuous he is…”
“He’ll take the risks, pa, just to prove he is what he wants to prove himself
to be….but I’ll do my best to make sure he comes to no harm at the time!”
Adam grinned
“Just promise me that he’ll come home safe..” and Ben turned abruptly and
walked hurridly into the house.
Adam watched his father disappear into the building and sighed.
For a moment he thought about the relationship Joe had with his father, and
with them, and then, shaking his head, he walked back into the stable.
Chapter 3
“Drag? You mean, I’m going to have to ride drag?”
Hoss frowned and pulled his hat a little further forward, shading his eyes
from the sun and staring into his brothers face
“That’s what we said, ain’t it?”
“But riding drag stinks, Hoss!”
“I knows that…but it’s the position all green horns have to take up on their
first cattle drive, Joe.”
“Greenhorn? I ain’t no greenhorn! I’ve bin cutting out
calves and branding and…”
“Hush there, little brother, I knows you kin do all of them things, and
shaping up to be one of the best in the territory too.
But the fact is, when it comes to a REAL cattle drive, you’re jest a novice.”
Joe scowled, and the handsome face flushed a mutinous red, and Hoss shook
his head and placed a gentle hand on the boys shoulder to steady him down
a little
“Look, Joe, I’ve bin riding on these things for some years yet, but I ain’t
even got to being ram rod, have I?”
“Adams trail boss, you could be if he wanted you to ….” Joe pouted
“Nah, Adams trail boss sure, but this is the first time for him, and old
Charley Atkinson’s ram rodding becos he’s allust bin trail boss afore…that
way if Adams stuck he’s got Charleys expertise to fall back on…”
“But, Hoss, riding drag?” Joe opened his eyes in appeal to his
‘big’ brother but Hoss only shook his head
“You’ve a lot to learn, buddy, and riding drag is jest about the safest
place to learn it! If the herd stampedes for any reason, ya never
hear of ‘em stampeding backwards, do ya?” and Hoss chuckled and slapped Joe
on the shoulder, expecting to get at least a half hearted grin, but Joe just
shook his head in despair, refusing to be mollified.
“What’s going on?” Adam walked towards them, buckling on the heavy leather
chaps some gauchos and cowboys preferred to wear over their trouser legs to
protect them getting torn about by cactii or the horns of the animals
or, should they fall, they could protect them from the rocks and stones.
He glanced up and over at Hoss who raised his eyebrows and jerked his head
at Joe
“Little brother here doesn’t want to ride drag?” Hoss muttered
“Oh!” Adam raised HIS eyebrows and lowered his eyelids in that rather
superior kind of look that Joe recognised as a signal for some cynical
comment to be levelled in his direction “Why’s that?”
“I don’t want to ride drag, is all!” Joe mumbled
“Well” Adam frowned and his face softened, and he even put his arm over
Joe’s shoulder just as Ben would have done, which made Hoss open his eyes
wider than ever, and Joe shift uncomfortably and gulp “I know it’s not the
most pleasant of positions to ride, Joe. I appreciate how you feel.
Which position would you prefer?”
Joe darted a nervous look over in Hoss’ direction, and Hoss just shook his
head, totally nonplussed by Adams gentle handling of the situation
“I er I don’t rightly know, Adam. Mebbe up front, nearer to you two….”
Joe’s eyes looked pleadingly up into his brothers face and he forced a rather
wobbly smile “It’s just that, riding drag….you know…it kinda ..” he suddenly
felt as though his shirt was getting too tight, and he found himself breathing
heavily “I jest kinda thought…”
“Joe, riding drag is the worse position anyone could be given, which is
why we decided you’d be the best person to ride there, along with Jake Atkins
and Tom Riley”
“Tom Riley? You mean, Tom Riley’s riding drag too?” Joe’s eyes
brightened, for Tom Riley was a good friend of his from school, and just two
years older than himself.
“Thought you’d like company your own age coming along too, Joe” Adam smiled,
his dark eyes twinkling at the sight of Joe’s pleasure. “Jake’s
an experienced old hander and he wants to train you both up to be the best
cowboys in Neveda, and I reckon, the two of you being so keen and eager, he’ll
do it…what do you reckon, Hoss?”
“Too right!” Hoss nodded his head sagely, as though he had masterminded
the whole plan, which had come as a complete surprise to him.
“Without men riding drag –“ Adam said quietly, stepping back a few paces
now to check his gunbelt, “we could lose a lot, they’re the rear guard, so
to speak, and have a lot of responsibility. Knowing how much you wanted
to prove to everyone that you’re – “ he paused and looked thoughtfully at
his little brother “growing up, we knew you’d be just right to handle the
job, and –“ he lowered his voice a tone “keep young Tom in check. I
doubt if he’d take too kindly from taking orders from us….”
“Shucks, I never thought of that.” Hoss declared, grinning hugely and looking
at Joe with his blue eyes wide in admiration “That’s darn good!”
“I thought so!” Adam smiled and gave Hoss a wink
“Tom’s alright, once you get to know how to handle him!” Joe said smugly,
feeling that he was probably going to be promoted to trail boss by the end
of the drive.
“I knew I could rely on you!” Adam smiled and gave Joe a playful punch on
the shoulder “Now, Joe, you know that you’ll have to stand your shifts, don’t
you…and no gripes…you’ll be responsible for your section of the herd and to
keep it running smooth…”
“Sure, Adam, pa told me all about it.”
“Night shifts too?”
“Yep, I know”
“We could be in for some bad weather, I don’t want you running up and grumbling
about how cold it is, or how wet you are…”
“I – I won’t, Adam”
“And no trying to get the night shifts changed….we all have to take a turn,
and a man has to be ready to take it on again in the morning…it’ll be hard,
Joe, do you reckon you and Tom can handle it?”
“Sure we can, Adam”
“You won’t let us down, boy, will you?”
“I’m a Cartwright, ain’t I?” Joe frowned and looked over at Hoss who
grinned and winked at him and Adam smiled and slapped him gently on the back.
“I’ll just go and tell pa we’re on our way!”
His brothers stood side by side and watched as he ran to where Ben sat astride
Buck, watching them, his face even sterner than usual, but it softened as
Joe ran up and he dismounted in time to catch Joe in his arms and hug him
“Long time since he did that to us, huh?” Hoss grinned down at Adam and
his elder brother nodded, and smiled, thinking back to the times when they
had been younger and there had been such hugs in an abundance for them
“Right, let’s saddle up” Adam said slowly and he turned away from the scene
of the father and child saying their farewells further afield, and looked
over at the men who were riding into their positions, he nodded as though
to himself, and mounted Beauty and galloped to the head of the herd, where
Charley Atkinson sat in the saddle of his horse, waiting for the trail boss
to take the lead.
Ben Cartwright watched as his youngest son rode down and took up his position
at the rear of the herd. The sight of the boys bright eager face,
the shining eyes and the wide smile of the handsome mouth was a sight Ben
would never forget. How happy the boy was, as he turned in the
saddle now and waved at his father, how alight with excitement he appeared
to be and Ben smiled and raised a hand in farewell to them all.
He watched his eldest son lead them out, followed by Charley close by his
side. The herd began to move, rippling muscle, horn and hoof, suddenly
convulsing into a forward movement, protesting voluably as they were forced
to move away from the lush green pasture upon which they had been grazing.
Hoss rode on the left hand flank, his lariat in his hand, and Pal, his coat
gleaming white, as firm as any bastion could be…and then Joe, with Paint as
nervously excited as his master, his feet constantly on the move and his eyes
rolling as he smelt the sweat, heat and the fear and excitement of the cattle.
It was a journey that, at the most, would take six weeks to complete.
Ben lowered his hat and watched as the whole mass of cattle, horses and men
became enveloped with dust and then, eventually, the dust settled and there
was nothing to be seen.
Chapter 4
“Are you alright, shortshanks?”
Joe peered through the slits between his eyelids at where Hoss stood and
nodded slowly. For a few minutes he sat in the saddle and watched
as Hoss talked, and as he talked he ladled spoonfuls of beans into his mouth,
and Joe felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier.
He was sure Hoss was saying something important, but his voice seemed to be
coming from a long way off, and not just because his mouth was constantly
being filled with beans. Joe didn’t even realise he was falling
out of the saddle until he looked up and saw Hoss looking down at him.
“Wha-what happened?” he mumbled
“Hey, fella, you near nough fell asleep in the saddle –“Hoss said very gently,
as though talking to a baby whom he had disturbed in sleep.
“I feel kinda odd, Hoss!” Joe sighed and within an instant was asleep
in his brothers arms.
Tom Riley slid out of his saddle and walked, stiff legged and as though
sleep walking, towards them. He could barely move his mouth, for he
had clenched his teeth together for so long that day, and so often, that
they seemed to be locked together. When Adam pushed a mug of
hot coffee into his hands he barely registered the fact and stood there staring
down at it.
Very gently Adam steered the boy towards an upturned barrel and helped him
to sit down. Then he looked into the boys face and then took the
mug away from him. Like his friend, Tom Riley was asleep on his feet
and had Adam not caught him in time he would have fallen flat on his face
from the barrel.
“It’s been a long day for them!” Charley said, washing his mouth out with
the coffee and spitting into the ground “They’ve done well though.”
“They have, both of them” Adam replied quietly and he smiled softly, and
looked over at the two dark mounds close to the chuck wagon. Tom and
Joe, snuggled in their blankets, snoring loudly and still covered in the dirt
and dust of the days labours. He shook his head and smiled
again and slowly walked over to where Hoss sat, playing checkers with Hank.
“Wal, whaddya think, Adam?” Hoss muttered, nodding over to where Joe slept
“I think the two of them did pretty well today, but they’re going to ache
like thunder tomorrow!” Adam grinned, taking a gulp from the coffee.
“Are you going to put them on night shift this week?”
“Nah, I reckon we’ve enough men to cover the shifts until next week…by then
the two of them should be in better shape”
He stood with the mug of coffee in his hands, leaning against the wagon,
watching his brother and Hank, whilst he thought about Joe, and indirectly,
by association, his young friend, Tom. They had done well, really
well. They had worked their horses like two experts, dodging here and
there, plying their lariats, edging close to the cows and calves that attempted
to break away from the herd. He had ridden back more
than was usual for the trial boss, just to make sure that the two boys were
safe, and that they were handling their positions comfortably.
Comfortably! He shook his head, there were no comforts in this
job, none at all. The dust and grit got down one’s throat and into every
crevice a human body possessed. The yelling and shouting above the
racket of the animals rasped one’s throat and made it as dry as a tinder box.
The din of the animals, constantly every minute of every hour, made one’s
ears ring and the horrible thing was that there was no escape from it.
The smell of the beeves, the stink of their excrement, the resulting flies,
the discomfort of one’s own sweat – he drank down the last drop of the coffee
and shook his head and wondered about the perversity of youth.
Joseph Francis Cartwright, born early, as though impatient to arrive, was
now impatient to prove himself a man. As a result he had returned to
the camp that day covered from head to foot in dust, resembling one of the
bodies covered by the ash at Pompeii, and falling from the saddle much as
though he were a corpse! Joseph, Joseph….so quick to fire up,
so eager to live, so slow to recognise the dangers, so impetuous…
Adam walked over to where his youngest brother slept and looked down at
the boy. Then he walked over to the chuck wagon and took one
of the canteens and a towel and returned to the blanketed form and squatted
onto his haunches by his brothers side. With the tenderness of a woman
he gently wiped the dust and dirt from the handsome face, poured water over
the filthy blistered hands and cleaned them and checked them over and chided
himself for not reminding the boy to wear gloves. For minutes he stayed
by his brothers side, and Joe, so sound asleep that had Adam thrown him into
a river he would not have known, merely snored on.
A gentle smile passed over the older youths lips, as he looked down upon
the sleeping youth. He remembered the time when he had first set eyes
on Joseph Cartwright…a squalling small red faced baby, with clenched fists
wavering above his face and eyes tight shut, and mouth wide open, as he bellowed
out his fury at such an undignified entry into the world. Not
much had changed, Adam shook his head, no, not much had changed, Joe still
seemed to be furious at something, still ready to clench those fists and strike
at the first thing –
How proud Marie had been of her son. Adam recalled the tender look
on the womans face, the way her eyes had devoured her infant son and then
sought her husbands look of approval and pride. Then she had looked
over at him, at Adam himself, and her eyes had said what she could not say
– just “Love him, for my sake, love him”.
Adam rose to his feet and walked over to Tom Riley, and gently cleaned the
boys face and hands and yet still thought about that morning when he and Hoss
had first seen their little brother. That look on Marie’s face had
often haunted him, for Joe had never been an easy child for Adam to understand.
Josephs mercurial temperment was directly opposite to Hoss’ placidity and
Adams own steadiness. At times when Joe had pushed him to the
limits of endurance and patience, that look on Marie’s face slipped into his
memory, plunging him into guilt ridden angst which would send him hurrying
over to his little brother, hugging him and apologising….and Joe, triumphant,
would go running away with a merry chuckle, having achieved whatever it was
he had desired at the time.
And yet whereas with some children it would have been to their detriment,
for Joe, it had merely been one facet of his personality. He was endearing
and gentle, caring and generous, and like a summers day, after the clouds
had appeared and drifted on, the day remained as beautiful as ever, and so
it was with him, no matter how moody or angry he could get, the loving person
he was shone through.
Thus and so easily, he captured the hearts of all who knew him. Including
that of his stubborn, hard headed eldest brother.
Darby, the cook in charge of the chuck wagon, nudged Hoss and directed his
attention over to Adam, who lingered still near his youngest brothers sleeping
form. They had watched as he had washed the boys’ face and hands, and
then cleaned Tom and returned to Joe, and Hoss, with a sigh, concluded his
game of checkers and stood up and wandered over to his elder brother
“You alright, Adam?”
“Sure” Adam stood up and gave his brother a smile, “Are you?”
“Yep” Hoss stretched and yawned “Glad to get into my bedroll though…”
“Go ahead.. sleep well!”
“Adam?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t worry, he’ll be alright!”
“Yeah, sure he will!”
They shared a brief smile and then Hoss strolled over to his saddle and
bed roll and settled down for the night, boots still on, gun and hat close
at hand, for no one knew just how quickly a man had to mount up shold the
herd get spooked at any time.
For a while Hoss lay awake and listened to the sound of the camp settling
down for the night. Mens voices murmering, Darby clattering about in
clearing away the last of the supper dishes, the fires hissing against the
sap of the wood dripping into the flames, and in the distance the lowing of
the cows, the occasional tuneless whistle of the cowboy on watch, and then
the snores and grunts of sleeping men.
The end of the first day and Hoss Cartwright was tired. Just as Adam
had ridden back to the rear of the herd more often than usual to ensure the
safety of his youngest brother, so also had Hoss. It had been
hot and being bigger built than most men, Hoss felt the heat.
He lay there now, his head upon the saddle and struggling to sleep.
At twenty years of age Hoss was a distinctive looking youth. Stronger
than most, for sure he could wrestle any man there out of the ring, and he
could beat two men at one time in an arm wrestling. He had at times
hated being so big, and, to his eyes, ugly. There were very few
men built like himself, and at an age when most wished to conform to the average,
and be at least as handsome as the next, he had felt truly at odds with himself.
The love of his father and brothers had helped him get the true perspective
of what he was, and who he was, and now he probably knew and liked himself
more than most.
Yes, at twenty Hoss was more mature than many other men at forty.
He knew his strengths and his weaknesses, he was confident in his abilities,
and aware of his limitations. He was respected and accepted that respect
by giving respect back tenfold, he lived by the adage to return evil to no
one, to love his neighbour as himself…and that included any four footed creature
in the vicinity as well.
Because of his size and strength more had been expected from him at an earlier
age than most, and therefore he had grown older sooner than many.
Just as Joe was struggling for people to accept him as being ‘grown up’, and
would, because of his size and nature struggle with that for many more years
to come, so Hoss had had to struggle with the fact that most just did not
see him as young..not even when he had been Joe’s age of 14!
He yawned and turned over and stared at where Joe’s dark form lay shrouded
in his blanket. He was aware of Adam mounting his horse and very
quietly riding out of camp. His eyes closed, and he drifted into sleep
at last.
Chapter 5
The clatter of tins and the rattle of cutlery, the smell of bacon, coffee
and beans sifted into his unconsciousness and alerted him to the fact that
he should be on his feet and eating. Stiffly Joe struggled out
of his blanket and with half closed eyes viewed the campsite. Cowboys
were already saddling up and moving out. Darby was pouring out
coffee for the last of the stragglers and Hoss was walking towards him with
a smile on his face and two tin mugs of coffee in one hand and platters of
food in the other. Joe turned and realised that Tom Riley had
had just the same problem in rousing himself from sleep and was now scratching
his head and yawning and struggling to appear alert but failing dismally.
“Breakfast…” Hoss grinned and the boys grabbed at the coffee and the food
and set to with an eagerness that Hoss understood and appreciated
“Are we late, Hoss?” Tom mumbled
“Some. Adam thought you could both do with a mite longer….”
“We don’t want special treatment” Joe scowled “I told ya, Hoss, I don’t
want to be wet nursed along this drive….”
“You ain’t being wet nursed…” Hoss sighed
“Then what do you call this then?” Joe scowled “Most of the men are
already at work and we’re hardly up….”
“Wal, we reckon’d you save time not having to shave!” Hoss grinned
“That ain’t funny, either!” Joe grumbled
Adam rode by and paused and looked down at his little brother with a slight
frown. The day had just begun for most of them, but for him it had started
several hours earlier, now he appeared before them, clean shaven because
he was a man disciplined to regular habits, but already dust covered and
heavy eyed from lack of sleep.
“What’s wrong?”
“L’il bro. here is complaining about being allowed to lie in….”
Adam looked down at the two youths and their mutinuous glares and then jerked
his thumb over to Darby
“In that case get your things cleaned up and get yourselves in line..we
move out in half an hour!”
“Half an hour, but……”
“If we make good enough time you can wash and bathe when we reach the river,
otherwise you’ll have to give it a miss….tomorrow morning you get up with
the others!”
“But, Adam…”
“If you can’t appreciate a favour then quit grumbling now and get to work….Tom,
your horse has a loose shoe, take one of the others.”
Tom Riley looked at Joe and raised his eyebrows, before downing the last
of the bacon and hurrying with his plate and mug over to Darby and slipping
the soiled implements into the greasy water. Joe did likewise, glaring
over at his eldest brothers retreating back as Adam rode away.
“One minute he’s nannying us and the next minute it’s all blood and thunder…”
Tom growled.
“I guess we should have been grateful, instead of complaining….after all,
yesterday was our first day,and it wasn’t easy!” Joe said in defence of his
brother.
“I feel as stiff as a board…” Tom muttered
“I can hardly move my legs….” Joe said quietly.
The day passed as the previous had, enveloped in clouds of grit and dust
and chasing calves who insisted on running loose from their mothers, then
confronting mothers who wouldn’t give way to their horses but stamped their
forelegs in aggressive defence of their young…by the time the mid day break
came the two boys were exhausted.
They ate their meal gratefully, swallowing down the grit between their teeth
along with the beef and bean stew. Like sleepwalkers they had their
mugs refilled and refilled again, drinking down the thick dark coffee which
brought some semblance of life back to their dulled brains.
“Are you alright, Joe?” Adam touched his brothers arm to get his attention
and was greeted with a tight lipped smile “Not too much for you, is it, Joe?”
Joe immediately bristled, too sensitive to appreciate the concern in his
brothers voice, only attributing to it sarcasm and deference.
“Of course we’re alright!” he snapped “Why shouldn’t we be?”
“Anytime you want to, or feel the need to do so, you can hitch a few hours
up on the wagon with Darby.”
“Why’d I want to do that?”
“Because..” Adam smiled gently and for an instant Joe was able to see the
kindness in his brothers eyes and tried not to weaken his resolution by doing
so “because you’re not a man yet, even though you want to be , and you want
to prove to us that you are, the fact is that you aren’t, and nothing you
do or say is going to change that….grown men starting out on their first cattle
drive are only too glad to have a turn in helping Darby do some shifts, and
travel aboard the wagon instead of riding nursemaid to a bunch of ornery cows…”
he placed a gentle hand on his brothers shoulder and smiled again “I did,
and so did Hoss.”
“I’m alright, Adam” Joe said quietly, softening his attitude and voice and
appreciating for once Adams generousity towards him “Honestly, I can do this…..”
“Don’t push yourself too hard, Joe.”
“I won’t!” Joe smiled, a pang of guilt for his lack of appreciation for
the kind thoughts extended to them. He watched as his brother walked
away, and felt a surge of admiration for him that made his heart beat faster.
…………..
The days settled into a regular pattern, one of monotoneous routine that
was as frustrating and irritating to the two boys as the amount of dust and
dirt they swallowed in a day. It was fine when travelling parallel to
the river, when one could swim off the days dirt in the evening before bedding
down, but once they left the river and greenery, and struck out for the drier
lands then the dust and dirt became more than an irritation, for it gathered
into the creases of ones skin and after a while rubbed places raw.
“Dangblast the boy!” Zeke exclaimed volubly and started his horse forward
to check Tom as the lad galloped by at a fast pace towards some cows that
Zeke had already gathered in to return to the main herd.
“I’ll git ‘im!” Hoss yelled above the noise and urged Pal forward so that
the big white horse was soon galloping towards Tom and at an angle that would
cut him off and bring him to a halt before he came upon the cows and sent
them scattering again.
Joe turned as he saw the flash of Pals white form from the corner of his
eye, and he turned Paint around, ready to move, only to see Tom and Hoss’
animals collide together and all of them fell in a cloud of dust as they tangled
together.
Tom lept to his feet, frightened out of his wits. His pony was struggling
to get back onto her feet, staggering a little, panting, but holding her own.
He reached out for the bridle and held her head as he stood aside a little
to watch Hoss
“Hoss? Hoss?” Joe dismounted from Paint and ran frenziedly towards
his brother who was just beginning to show signs of life. As Hoss brought
up a hand to rub his head so Joe ran up to him and threw himself at him
“It’s okay, short shanks, I’m fine, I’m okay…” Hoss muttered and pushed
the boy away with a kindly gentleness to the gesture that soothed Joe enough
for the boy to step back “What happened?”
“I’m sorry, Hoss…” Tom Riley stepped forward, the tears welling up in his
eyes as he saw the blood beginning to trickle from Hoss’ head “I’m real sorry,
Hoss…” he stammered again
“It’s okay, fella. These kind of things tend to happen on a cattle
drive, all part of the days work” Hoss said quietly, placing a gentle hand
on the youths shoulder and feeling the tremble of the boys body beneath his
hand he frowned and looked into the lads face “Are you alright, Tom?”
“I feel kinda sick…” Tom replied
“Joe, you’d best take him back to camp, get Darby to see him” Hoss took
a deep breath and exhaled, relieved when he felt so pains in his own body,
only the annoyance of the cut on his head.
“What’s happened here?” Adams terse clipped voice reached their ears, and
Tom and Joe exchanged a look before they looked at Adam as he strode towards
them, his face registering, not so much anger, but anxiety and fear “Hoss?
Are you alright?” his fingers clutched at his brothers arm and Hoss nodded
and smiled
“Sure, I’m jest fine, I jest kinda – “ he paused and his blue eyes widened
and then filled with dismay “Pal?” he breathed and pushing them aside he hurried
to where the white horse lay on his side, breathing heavily, a trickle of
blood beginning to flow from its nostril “Pal, old gal…?” Hoss fell onto his
knees and looked at the horses heaving flanks and gulped back the thick well
of tears that now caught at his throat “Shucks, Pal…what’s happened to ya?”
Adam was kneeling by his brothers side, and while Hoss seemed incapable
of action, unable to think apart from stroking the horses sleek perspiring
neck, Adam ran his hands over the horses body and then looked up at his brother
and placed a gentle, but firm, hand on his brothers shoulder
“I’m sorry, Hoss” he said very quietly
“What do ya mean?” Hoss winced, his face contorting with grief before he
turned to look down at his horse and with a deep groan low in his throat he
pushed his brother to one side and hurried towards her.
“Hoss, I’m so sorry…” Tom whispered, stepping forward “If I could change
a thing….”
“Joe, take Tom to the chuck wagon…go on…” Adam snapped, and he gave his
youngest brother a glowering frown that sent Joe away with his friend with
a niggle of annoyance at his eldest brothers’ high handedness.
“Hoss?” Adam put his hand once more upon Hoss broad back and leaned forward
“Do you want me to …”
“No,no…” Hoss put his hand up to arrest any movement of his brothers towards
his gun, “No, Adam, I’ll see to her. I jest want to sit here with her
for jest a minute or two, if’n thet’s okay with you?”
“You know it is!”
“Alone?”
“Sure!”
Adam swallowed the lump in his own throat, and walked away, mounting Beauty
and riding back to where he had to work. Occasionally he turned his
head to glance in his brothers direction, but could only see the dark shape
of the young man outlined against the bare dry land with the prone horse lying
on the ground.
“Pal?” Hoss whispered softly, caressing the sweating white neck gently and
then raising her head to settle it upon his lap “Pal..shucks, gal, you were
jest about the best friend a fella could wish to hev….why’d ya hev to go and
do a fool clumsy stunt like thet fer? After all these years I’d
have thought you’d ha known better’n thet?” he sighed and wondered what
he should do, feeling clumsy and useless, and unable to understand why his
horse should be dying now…and why it was that he was so impotent to help her.
“You were the first hoss I ever had of my own…jest a little white filly
looking lost and forlorn thar amongst all them others who were pushing ya
around as though ya didn’t matter none. Remember how you came soon
as I called out to ya? All I said was “Hey?” and you pricked
up them ears of yourn and came right on over. ‘Course Adam said I had
to hev ya because you and me had summat in common, and I said “What was thet,
Adam?” and he said “Food!” Course I didn’t understand what he meant,
which ain;t nuthin’ unusual, so I said “Hey” agin, and he said “Yeah, thet’s
right!” and grinned, and I knew then he meant Hay…shucks, anyhows, who cared
what he meant, I only know that I thought there and then you were the horse
fer me…sure felt proud when pa said I could hev ya to train up all my own!”
Hoss bowed his head and slowly, the tears trickled down his face as he recalled
times he had spent with the little filly, watching her grow just as his family
watched him grow. She was a loyal friend, always ready to listen
when he came to the stable to talk to her about some problem or other, never
interupting like the members of his family were prone to do….she would nibble
at his hair, her soft muzzle moving over his face, and sometimes, to tease
him, she would nip his ear, or any other part of his anatomy that offered
itself to her when she fancied…..he used to say that one of the things he
loved about her was her sense of humour! For some reason
that used to make everyone laugh!!
………………….
“How’s Hoss?” Joe asked Adam when he saw his brother walking into
the camp an hour later “It was an accident, you know” he added defensively
“I know!” Adam replied quietly and glanced over his shoulder to where the
young man and the horse were still together “She seems to be taking
a long time..dying”
“I – I guess – Hoss – do you think I should go down and sit with him?”
“No, not yet. He wants to spend some time with her…later may be.”
Adam sighed and walked wearily to the chuck wagon and took the coffee with
his shoulders heavy with weariness.
Joe was about to say something when there was a single shot of a rifle,
it rolled a little in the air and all the men in the camp turned in its direction.
Joe glanced over at Adam, who was staring at the sight of the tall man with
the rifle in his hand, and for some reason, Joe felt the most urgent need
to sit down and weep.
Chapter 6
“Adam?”
“Yeah?”
“Kin I have a word?”
“Sure, Hoss…” Adam edged Beauty closer to his brother and squinted
at him in an attempt to get him in focas as the rain drove against his face
and stung his eyes so much that it was near to impossible to see anyone close
to.
“Are you gonna leave Joe and Tom out there on night shift?” Hoss hunched
his shoulders sending a cascade of water sluicing down his waterproof slicker
and splashing down upon his boots before joining the puddles on the ground
“Why not?”
“But Adam, they’re exhausted, they’re jest boys…” Hoss wiped the rain from
his face with his free hand, a useless exercise for the rain was driving down
too hard to be removed for long
“They want to prove they’re men, don’t they?” Adam narrowed his eyes and
raised his chin, as though preparing to take on anybody
“But with this storm…if those cows stampede and anything happens to them?”
he left the question hanging in the air and Adam darted a look at his brother
that spoke volumes. He took a deep breath “Adam, I reckon they should
be backalong with Darby….they’ll be safer there…”
Adam raised a hand to his face and wiped away the rain
“Alright, Hoss, if you insist….” He muttered and rode away, back to his
position at the front of the herd.
It was now three weeks into the cattle drive. They had encountered
various obstacles along the way, but Charley had been pleased with the resolute
manner in which Adam had acted as the trail boss and driven the cattle onwards.
They were exactly a week ahead of schedule but now the heavens had opened
and a storm was scudding over head and every man there was tense as a coiled
spring, dreading the worse thing that could happen to a herd of cattle apart
from desease….a stampede.
Tom Riley looked over at Hoss as the big man approached him. The youth
was cold and shivering with a certain amount of fear. When Hoss
suggested that he rode back to camp and stayed with Darby he was more than
grateful and without a second offer he sent his horse galloping back through
the treacly mud to the camp, ignoring Joe’s yell as he passed the younger
boy.
“Joe?” Hoss bellowed over the sound of thunder that rolled overhead
of them
“What d’you want?” Joe yelled back, his white face speaking for itself of
fear, anger, and stubborn pride.
“You gotta go back to the wagon….”
“Why?”
“Git summat hot inside of yer….and it’ll be safer…”
Joe’s face flushed red and he edged Paint closer to Hoss and glared up at
him, his green hazel eyes sparked clearly even through the darkness of the
night made even darker by the rain.
“What? You now? For pete’s sake, Hoss, tell Adam
I ain’t gonna quit! And tell him to get off my case…..I’m tired
of him sending men along to tell me to get back to Darby….”
“Y’mean, Adams told you to get back before now?”
“Everytime I go on night shift he sends for me to get back to camp earlier
than I should…and tonight he’s sent someone practically every hour!
How can I prove to you all that I’m a man now if’n you keep on babying me
like this?” his voice screeched above the sound of lightning scudding across
the black sky, sending it purple, blue then electric white before sinking
back into blackness once more.
“Joe…I’d really prefer it if…”
“NO!” Joe yelled back and he sent Paint galloping forwards and away from
his brother who sat astride his horse and watched him with a perplexed expression
on his face.
Then Hoss frowned a little and realised how unfairly he had judged his elder
brother who, along with all his responsibilites as trail boss, had not once
forgotten nor neglected his youngest brothers safety. He was riding
back to his position when the lightning streaked across the sky once more,
crackling like a firework as it forked left, right, and beyond…and above
the sound of the lightning came a single yell from over a dozen throats “STAMPEDE”
Now it was every man for himself as they fought to control the maddened
herd of cattle which surged forward as a mass of rippling muscle and
sinew, an undulating picture of black and white surging with thundrous hooves
away from the sounds they dreaded. Horns gleamed evilly white and eerie
at each streak of lightning, mens faces appeared like ghostly wraiths floating
over the mass of bone and flesh and horn that flooded en masse all around
them.
Joe urged Paint in every direction he could, avoiding a horn that slashed
down towards him, sidestepping a terrified calf that threatened to unseat
him, leaping over deep puddles of water that could send both horse and rider
falling and upon falling, being crushed to their deaths beneath the milling
grinding hooves of so many massively frenzied animals. He yelled and
screamed at the top of his voice, his throat became red hot from the effort
of his shouts as he sought to hold his corner against the herd. He wielded
his lariet, striking out against a too close steer, now here, now there…
Not one man could have told another what the other had done that night,
but each and everyone of them had some part in bringing the mass of sinew
and muscle, bone and horn, to a standstill.
Men, horses, and steers paused, catching at their breaths, gasping and retching
…Little Joe steered Paint away, heaving to get his breath again, feeling his
body shaking, his head spinning and without even realising he began to slip
sideways from the saddle, falling into the mud and the rain pouring down
on him, forming puddles all around his huddled form.
……………
“Joe? Joe?”
The sound of voices calling his name seemed to come from a long way off,
hollow as though coming through a long tunnel and when he finally managed
to open his eyes it was to look up into the white faces of his two brothers
who were leaning over him, their eyes overlarge from fear and anxiety
“I’m alright!” he mumbled through a mouth that seemed stuffed full of cotton
wool and the words burned his throat as they passed through his wind pipe.
“I’m alright….”
“Drink this, Joe” whispered Adam, and he supported the boys head in his
lap, and carefully poured something liquid into his mouth, something that
was sweet and hot and syrupy. Joe swallowed, gulped, and closed his
eyes.
“He’s asleep” Adam whispered to Hoss, and he very tenderly settled the boy
under the blankets and then stood up and passed a hand over his face, turning
away from Hoss’ scrutiny as he did so.
“You should’ve stopped him going on night shift, Adam” Hoss said quietly
“I tried to….” Adam replied, walking away from the campsite and longing
for the privacy of somewhere to think and remove the huge burden of guilt
and remorse that wieghed his heart down like a stone.
“You should’ve forced him …” Hoss grabbed at Adams arm, only to have it
shrugged off and Adam turned, red rimmed weary eyes glared into Hoss’s pale
frightened face
“I tried to…..” he said once again
“Thet ain’t good enough, Adam, what if something had happened to him?”
“Don’t you think I hadn’t thought about that?” Adam growled, his eyes widening
with anger. Then he turned away and bit his bottom lip to prevent angry
words pouring out because he had been so scared that his little brother would
not survive the nights ordeal.
Charley stepped towards them, hot steaming mugs of coffee in both hands,
he pushed them into their hands and nodded towards Joe
“Gittin’ to be a reg’lar little lion cub, ain’t he?” he muttered
Adam nodded and glanced over towards the incumbent form of his little brother
and smiled. Yes, he thought to himself, that was Joe all right, a regular
little lion cub!
Chapter 7
“We’ve got problems!” Charley informed Adam ten days later as they were
encamped and preparing for the final push to their destination. This
would take them through a lush valley where Adam was hoping the cattle could
travel at a slow grazing pace and put on extra pounds while doing so, at
the same time affording all of them a chance to travel more easily.
“Why?” Adam frowned and watched as Charley walked towards him, his
lined weathered old face looking grim. Hoss and Joe immediately joined
him, so that the four of them were bunched together.
“That valley we were intending to take the herd now belongs to a homesteader
called Garvey. He’s threatened to stop us by force if necessary.”
“How many men has he got?” Adam asked, glancing sideways over at the valley
“Didn’t see any, but he was well armed and another guy, his brother, was
close by with enough guns to cause a problem or two….”
Adam sighed and chewed on his bottom lip. He had an immense
admiration for the men and women who travelled west to make their homes in
such desolate and isolated areas. He knew the hardships and the difficulties
they would all face, having faced them himself with his father and brothers.
He looked down at the ground and sighed again.
“Why not just send the cattle through, Adam? What can two men
do against a herd of cattle and all of us?” Joe cried, his hazel eyes flashing
fire
“No, that’s not right” Adam said quietly and he looked over at Charley “Did
you tell them we could drive the cattle through anyway, without their permission
if needs be?”
“Yep, seeing as how we had no ways of knowing they were there….he just said
that if we tried it we’d be mighty sorry!”
“Well, if we make a detour we’ll lose the advantage of time that we’ve accumulated
so far…and the cattle will lose any excess poundage they’ve gained as well!”
“S’right” Charley muttered “I reckon the young’un here has the right idea…we
should just ride straight in…”
“Could ruin him if we do” Hoss said quietly “Our cattle will eat everything
they come upon and more besides….”
Adam nodded and looked about him…the cattle were grazing contentedly, there
was a river flowing close by and some of the men were washing their clothes,
and themselves in the water. Darby was preparing a meal and looking
reasonably happy for once.
“Let’s go and talk to this Mr Garvey” he said to his brothers “Perhaps we
can reason ourselves up a deal…”
Charley shook his head, intimating that he had tried his best and if he
had failed, then they were wasting their time.
“Charley, while we are gone, see if you can work out an alternative route
that won’t lose us our time…” Adam secured his gunbelt around his waist and
tied the holster down,by his side Hoss was doing the same whilst Joe watched,
irritated that he was going along with them, unarmed.
……….
Garvey watched as the three riders approached his homestead. It was
a decent sized house, and showed evidence of a lot of hard work and time being
spent on it as well as the out buildings and barns. He stepped
forwards with a rifle nestling in the crook of his arm, as he advanced so
the door opened and another man, similar in features and clearly his brother,
stepped out, he also was heavily armed.
“Mr Garvey?” Adam dismounted, and took off his hat, and walked towards
the first man, a smile on his face and his hand outstretched to take that
of the other mans “I’m Adam Cartwright”
“So I hear tell……” the other man replied, ignoring the outstretched hand.
Hoss and Joe looked at one another and raised their eye brows
“Look, I need your help and without beating around the bush, I have to tell
you that we really do need to pass through here. We didn’t know
that you had settled here otherwise we would have made a detour further along
down there, but it ain;t possible for us to do that now without losing time
…”
“……and money”
“That as well!” Adam replied honestly
“Look, mister, we’re about due to face our first winter here. We need
all that we’ve got here…” he swept a hand in a semi circular movement and
Adam glanced around at the land the movement indicated “Your cattle will come
in and devour the lot, and what it don’t eat, it’ll trample on and ruin.”
“Mr Garvey, legally we have every right to go over your land, whether or
not you have fenced off your winter feed….but I was wondering if we could
strike a deal?”
“What kind of deal?”
“Well, we’ve ridden hard to get as much time under our belts as we can….we
can afford three days respite just below your valley, will that give you enough
time to put up your fences and protect your grass?”
“Three days?” Garvey frowned and glanced over at his brother “I don’t have
the man power to do that in that amount of time…”
“Shucks!” Hoss exclaimed “Reckon we could loan you the man power, mister,
if’n you’d be willing…”
Garvey glanced up at the young man and smiled
“If’n they all come in your shape and size, mister…..” then he looked over
at Joe “The runt you can leave back at the camp!”
Joe immediately bristled, but had the sense to bite his tongue and keep
quiet. Adam smiled and stepped closer to Garvey
“Is it a deal then, Mr Garvey?”
“It is!” Garvey shook hands and smiled again, a look of relief
on his face as he did so. “I couldn’t have stopped you anyhows, I jest
ain’t got the men….”
“I realised that, Mr Garvey” Adam said slyly and grinned “But I know what
it is to have a dream, and I don’t intend to trample on anyone else’s…..”
he looked over at the house, noticing now a woman with a little one on her
hip and her free hand resting on the shoulder of a young girl, close to them
stood a boy of about ten. “Your family?” he nodded over to them and
Garvey smiled again
“Yeah, my wife and kids, and my brother, Matt.”
“Mr Garvey, I’ll make sure folk know you’re here, and in future they will
have to give you a weeks notice of their coming here…that should give you
time to fence off your winter feed for your stock. Will that be alright
by you?”
“Can’t see why you need to come on over…..” Matt Garvey spoke up from close
by, his hands still tightly holding on to his rifle
“Legally we still have the Governments permission to take our cattle anywhere
and over anything….” Adam said gently “Out of politeness though, I reckon
a weeks notice is fair notice!”
Garvey looked over at his brother and signalled to him to calm down, he
smiled at Adam and Hoss and Joe and turned back to his house, indicating
to them that they follow him. Hoss raised his face and snuffed the
air and grinned
“Hey, Joe….kin you smell what I kin smell? Apple pie for sure………!”
“My wife bakes the best apple pie and doughnuts this side of the sierras”
Garvey chuckled which brought just about the biggest grin to Hoss’ face that
his brothers had seen in weeks!
…………..
The days passed pleasantly enough. Most of the men were more than
willing to dig some holes and sink in fence posts for the Garveys, rather
than play nursemaid to a herd of restless steers. Hoss worked with the energy
of two men and Joe found that Susie and George were great fun to be around
as they swam and fished together in the river and for those three days Joe
returned to being just the boy that he was, and forgot that he was trying
to prove to the world that he was a man.
Mrs Garvey was indeed the best cook that side of the Sierra’s and even Darby
was found to linger around the homestead when her baking was done….Hoss was
in his element!
Adam stayed at the camp and kept watch over the herd with a skeleton crew,
which changed each shift. It was not until the men were recalled
and bedding down for the night before they were to move through Garveys land
that Joe and Hoss met up with their elder brother to eat the evening meal
…
“Enjoyed your time out, Joe?” Adam asked kindly, forking food into his mouth
and chewing on it slowly
“Sure thing, Adam” Joe enthused, “Say, I caught me some fish the size of
which you’d never believe….”
“I’m sure you did!” Adam smiled
“And Susie, what a gal she is, climbs trees better’n her brother!”
he paused and looked at his brother as though seeing him for the first time,
and perhaps, in all honesty, during those weeks on the trail, perhaps it was
the first time for he saw his brother more weary, more worn and haggard than
he had ever seen him before and felt ashamed of the fact that he had enjoyed
his few days of fun whilst Adam had worked so hard. He stopped
to think and realised how often during the nights he had seen his brother
return from the herd late, when he and Tom and Hoss were bedded down and
snoring fit to bust, and then, in the mornings Adam had already been up for
how many hours? “Huh, Adam,thanks for letting me…you know…have some
fun…” he mumbled
“That’s fine by me, Joe…” Adam replied, forking more food into his mouth
“And I know Hoss enjoyed his few days at the Garveys….” He smiled over at
Hoss who laughed aloud
“Shucks, I should say so……..I’m gonna miss them thar doughnuts….” Hoss grinned
and shovelled some food into his mouth “And Garvey sure is good at arm wrasslin’”
Adam smiled and stood up, he slapped Hoss amicably on the shoulder and smiled
again at Joe and walked over to the chuck wagon, slipping his eating utensils
into the greasy water. Joe watched him as he walked to his horse and
mounted into the saddle, and felt a pang of admiration and pride as the weary
young man turned his horse and trotted out of the camp.
Chapter 8
Three steaming tubs of hot water .
The pleasant smell of pine scented soap.
Three Cartwrights soaking up to their chins in a froth of hot sudsy water.
Heaven on earth!!!
Adam’s eyes had closed almost involuntarily as soon as his body realised
it had the opportunity to relax and allow the hot pine scented water to caress
his body and seep into his aching bones and muscles. His brothers
voices twirled round and round his head and then in some strange manner drifted
somewhere else, just occasionally the odd word siphoned through, in a weird
echoing manner.
They had delivered the cattle a week ahead of schedule and had lost only
20 head! Charley had said it was excellent and everyone at the Fort
had seemed to echo the sentiment.
He had been paid in full and having paid off the men had been able to bank
the profits in the hotel safe in the town that had mushroomed up just fifteen
miles south of the Fort. He had wired his father and received
his fathers ‘well done’ cable in return.
Not one man had been killed nor injured during the drive, and the only loss
of any subsequence had been that of Pal, Hoss’ faithful retainer and mount.
And Joseph Francis was safe and well – Adam allowed the merest twitch of
a smile to touch his lips as he thought of his little brother who had grown
an inch and whose voice had ‘broken’ at last!
Now he could really relax and look forward to the evening before they set
off for home.
Hoss yawned as loudly as he possibly could and he stretched out his arms
and sank a little deeper into the hot water. The water lapped
up to his chin and he smiled and closed his eyes and sighed contentedly.
“Hush up, Joe..I gotta do some meditating” he mumbled over to Joe, before
folding his arms behind his head and with a smile on his face of sheer bliss,
began to think over the past few weeks.
By hickory, those doughnuts at the Garveys had been good, and the way she
had cooked the fish that Joe, Susie and George had caught was nothing short
of heaven . No way was he surprised to have learned that the Garveys
had owned a restaurant in Kansas the way she could turn her hand to cooking.
What a memory to ponder on …
Everything had gone so swell, and Adam had succeeded in running a close
tight crew and coming out of it really well, even Charley had commended him
and told Hoss that next trip round HE could be ram rod!
But then he had lost Pal and for an instant his smile faded and he swallowed
the lump in his throat. Who would have thought Pal could have died so
quickly due to such a stupid error of judgement. His mind trickled
back, once again, to the day he had first seen the little white filly prancing
about so daintily in the corral, being pushed around by the other horses
that they had caught. Marie had commented to Ben how pretty the
little filly was and suggested that they kept her, and then, within a few
weeks Marie had died…and the little white horse had become something more
precious to Hoss as a result.
It had taken three years for her to grow and develop into the beauty she
had become….white like snow, with a pink velvet nose and a silken tail and
mane. She had one splash of velvety soft brown just under
her left ear and Ben had said that every beauty used to wear a black patch
to attract attention to their best feature and they had laughed and yet it
had stuck in Hoss’ mind.
Even during those last minutes with her, as her head rested upon his knees
as he sat by her side, he had stroked just under her left ear and her
eyes had brightened just momentarily and he had told her how much she had
meant to him, and he had told her thanks…thanks for long years of service,
friendship, companionship and so much more…after all, what could any man expect
from a horse?
He sniffed several times now at the memory of her death, of having to take
his rifle and shoot her before her pain became too agonising for her to bear,
and for him to watch. How would he ever find another to take her
place…?
Joe ducked beneath the water and splashed back up and splattered out the
water. He washed his hair again, and ducked down again, a procedure
he repeated several times before he seemed satisfied that he had at last removed
every vestige of trail dust and dirt from his head. He sniffed
and inhaled the tang of pine soap and sighed contentedly, that was much better!
What a strange few weeks! So many memories all trickling into
one another….the smells and the discomfort, the way the smell of cattle excrement
clung to ones clothes and body so that that seemed to be all one could smell!
The way the dust and grit crept down through ones clothes and rubbed the creases
of ones skin, leaving them raw and sore. The greasy half cooked half
cold food and the strong black coffee.
He recalled the fight he and Tom Riley had one evening, because Tom had
complained about Adam making them do the night shift and treating them like
regular cowhands…and how he had whopped Tom for shooting off his mouth about
Adam, even though he had himself been feeling hard done by and not considered
sufficiently by his elder brother. And yet, what else could
he have expected when everytime Adam extended a kindness to them, went out
of the way to ensure their safety and comfort, he had snapped and snarled
and shouted in protest .
Still, he had proven to himself and to them that he was no longer a baby,
no longer just the little boy tagging along. He had done his share and
Adam had praised him to the skies before sending him off to do another mansize
task….yes, Adam had made him work to prove his boast, but he had achieved
it, and he could respect himself as a result.
He glanced over at his brothers and smiled….both appeared to be sound asleep
with the bath water cooling around them. Adam with his black hair curling
over his brow and ears, and Hoss with his thinning hair sticking up
in tufts.
Joe ducked under the suds again and came up smiling and spitting out the
now not so pleasant to the taste water. He stretched and like
his brothers settled back to relax, just for a brief moment or two….
Maybe three or four………………….
…………
“Hey, dangburn it, whar’s the steak?” Hoss queried as he forked through
the food on his plate in search of the meat
“We’re not on the Ponderosa now, Hoss, you shouldn’t expect Ponderosa sized
steaks….” Adam grinned over at Joe and winked
“I think you’ll find it under that layer of onions and sauce…” Joe chuckled,
leaning over and stabbing at Hoss’ food with his own fork “Hey, here
it is..you nearly missed it!” and he held aloft the steak, speared to the
tines of his fork
“You ain’t gonna tell me that that little bitsy things a steak?” Hoss roared,
glaring at it so hard that both his brothers began to chuckle “HEY!”
Hoss stood up and banged the table with his fist, and then beckoning to the
waiter “Hey you, yeah you…..bring me another four of these little here things…..”
“Four, sir?” the waiter opened his eyes wide
“Yeah, four!”
“With everything else? Do you mean FOUR more dinners?”
“Four more of them mouthful sized bits of meat….in fact…make that six”
“SIX?”
“Yeah…six…and some more of them onions and bits and bobs ….” Hoss shook
his head and glared at the waiters retreating back and then at his brothers
who were struggling not to laugh out loud “Shucks, Adam, I reckon we should
have brought them in a few head of beef and showed ‘em what a real steak
should look like…..”
“Well,. I guess most folk are quite content with steaks the size they are,
Hoss” Adam said with a smile
“Wal, I ain’t most folks!” Hoss declared with a nod of the head as though
to emphasise the point which made Joe gurgle with laughter.
…………
“What now?” Joe asked, glancing at his two brothers and looking pleased
with himself, with life in general, and with his new gruff voice.
“Now WE go to the saloon and get ourselves a reeaaaaaaal nice cooooooool
beer!” Adam smiled over at Hoss, who rubbed his hands together and licked
his lips in anticipation.
“Now that’s what I call a real good idea..” Hoss said
“And YOU ..” Adam smiled down at Joe “go upstairs to your room and get to
bed.”
“WHAT?” Joe’s eyes opened wide and his mouth fell open “You don’t seriously
mean that, do you?”
“Naturally I mean it!” Adam said, looking severely down at his brother and
placing both hands on his hips, which meant serious business
“But I thought I was going to spend the evening with you two guys…”
“You thought wrong!” Adam said sharply
“Yeah, Joe, you gotta realise that you’re still only a little shaver….we
two men cain’t possibly take you to the saloon….what would pa think if he
got to hear?”
“Leave pa out of this” Adam said smoothly “The fact is, Joe, you’re too
young to go into the saloon!”
“Hey, that ain’t right…if I’m old enough to ride that herd alongside you
all, then I’m sure as like old enough to go over there and have a drink with
you….” And Joe pushed Adam to one side and stepped forward only to find himself
prevented from moving any further forward as Hoss and Adam hauled him back
“Dang it, Adam, Hoss…leggo…”
“Now, Joe –“ Adam pushed his little brother against the wall and glanced
over his shoulder to make sure no one was around to witness the scene. He
lowered his head so that he and Joe were nearly nose to nose “You don’t want
me and Hoss to take you up to your room by force, do you?”
“No!” Joe squeaked, his new gruff voice momentarily deserting him
“Right, so I suggest that you get yourself upstairs to your room, and get
into bed and have a good nights sleep.” He opened his eyes wide to emphasise
the point “Understand what I’m saying…?”
“Yeah, sure, but…..”
“Joe?”Adam raised his eye brows and jabbed Joe in the shoulder with his
forefinger “What did I just say to you?”
“Shucks, sure, but…”
“Another one of them ‘buts’ and…”
“Okay,okay, Adam,Hoss…I’m going…” Joe turned and headed quickly for
the stairs and scampered up the first four before turning “I still reckon..”
“JOE!”
“Alright, alright…I’m going…I’m going….”
Adam and Hoss smiled at one another and winked and without another word
turned towards the door, and side by side, their steps practically synchronising,
they left the hotel and walked quickly over to the saloon.
“Two large cold beers, bar tender…” Hoss declared, slapping down his money
upon the counter as Adam headed for a table
“I didn’t think Joe would give in so easily…” Adam grinned over at Hoss
as his big brother pulled out a chair and sat down, pushing Adams drink over
to him as he did so. They both raised their glasses and took a long, slow,
lingering draught of the cool beer and then placed the glasses back onto the
table with a slight thud, before wiping their mouths with the back of the
hand “That was good….”
“That was more than good, Adam, that was…..”
“And a cold lemonade….” A voice demanded from behind them
Joe turned and smiled a beaming cherubic smile at his brothers and took
the lemonade from the bartender without a word.
“I knew you guys wouldn’t really want to be without my company this evening..”
he said with far more confidence in his voice than he felt.
“Is he with you?” the bartender yelled over to Adam and Hoss who both nodded,
the smiles on their faces having long faded at the sight of their brother
lounging against the counter with the glass in his hand and a twinkle in his
eye “Make sure he don’t drink nuthin’ stronger and git him outa here before
9!”
Adam and Hoss exchanged furtive, irritated glances and narrowed their lips.
With a smile on HIS lips Joe sauntered over to their table, pausing half way
when a young woman with bleached golden hair, far too much powder and
paint on her face, and a scarlet and black very very short dress stopped him,
placing a hand with garish red paint on the nails onto his chest
“Why, little man, what bit of heaven did you just drop in from?” she whispered
in a sultry manner, and Joe’s smile of confidence faltered somewhat, and he
raised his hand to his chest to push her hand away, “Ain’t you jest about
the best looking fella in the place….”
“He’s too young for that…” Hoss growled, grabbing at Joe’s arm and pulling
him towards the table
“No,he ain’t” she remarked, grabbing at Joe’s other arm and pulling him
towards her so sharply that Joe lost his footing and slipped, falling so
heavily against her that she toppled against the cowboy who was sitting at
the next table and about to take a long swallow from his beer, most of which
now slopped down the front of his shirt
“HEY! WHADDYA THUNK YA DOIN’?” he yelled, pushing back the table and standing
up and grabbing hold of Joe by the front of his shirt
“I – I – just an accident..” Joe stuttered, finding that his gruff voice
had apparently gone altogether, leaving him with barely a squeak left!
Adam buried his face in his hands and stared very intently at what remained
of his beer, whilst Hoss stood up, undecided as to whether or not to intervene.
The girl had disappeared with a promptness reminiscient of the genie in
Aladdins lamp….
The cowboys fist clenched and his arm was raised high and Joe shrunk back
as he saw it approaching him. He felt himself yanked back and tossed
aside, so that he rolled along the edge of one table before falling flat on
his back onto the floor.
Hoss had grabbed the cowboy by the wrist and was succeeding in forcing the
mans arm behind his back when the cowboys friend decided it was time for him
to get in on the act and picked up a chair which he brought down heavily across
Hoss’ back.
Joe gave a yell and got to his feet and lunged forward, only to be stopped
by Adam who picked him up bodily and carried him, over his shoulder, to the
counter. Wriggling as much as he could did not prevent Joe being dropped
unceremoniously behind the counter with Adams stern voice advising him to
keep his head down…..this wise counsel was endorsed immediately when he peeked
up and part of a chair flew in his direction, he ducked, the chair continued
onwards and smashed into a mirror that splintered, sending shards of glass
falling everywhere. Joe ducked down and put his hands over his
head and closed his eyes……
Adam stood at the far end of the counter and watched the proceedings for
some minutes. Three to one against were fair enough odds for Hoss and
he was really handling everything well. Tables were being tossed about
quite a bit, and chairs broke with alarming ease, but Hoss seemed to be enjoying
himself.
Adam leaned against the bar and caught the bartenders attention
“Another two beers….and make sure the little runt under the counter stays
put….”
He was halfway through his beer when Hoss decided enough was enough and
laid the last cowboy out for the count. He was brushing his hands together
and wiping the mess of spit, teeth and blood from them when the doors of the
saloon burst open and as a horde of men flung themselves into the saloon so
the yell of “FIGHT. FIGHT” rang out, summoning every available man to
the free for all at the Silver Bullet Saloon.
Just occasionally Joe raised his head above the counter to watch what was
going on…it invariably meant a bottle, glass, keg, chair leg or something
would be hurled in his direction as a result. Within ten minutes of
the fight the bar tender joined him, cringing as far as he could into the
recesses under the counter in the forlorn hope that he would be spared!
Shots were fired at random.
There came screams from the girls who were huddled beneath the stairs.
There came the shrill whinney of a horse as a cowboy galloped his way into
the saloon in order to join the fray
Joe was about to throw up in a bucket when someone grabbed him by the scruff
of the neck and hauled him aloft, threw him over their shoulders and ran ….
The cool night air kissed his face as he was set down upon his feet and
he found himself looking up into Hoss’ cheerful, smiling face. He turned
to see Adam walking towards them, a smile on his lips, one hand wiping the
blood from his cheek.
“Alright, little brother?” he said with a twinkle in his eyes
“I – er – yeah, I reckon so.” Joe replied, his voice gruff again.
“Good fight, weren’t it?” Hoss commented, glancing over his shoulder as
the sounds of the mayhem continued to resound through the evening air, and
the thud of feet on the sidewalks as men continued to run to the saloon,
reached their ears.
“Let’s get inside….” Adam suggested as it became obvious that the fight
was about to spill over into the street, and he grabbed at Hoss’ arm to restrain
his younger brother from any further involvement.
Joe glanced over at his brothers, Hoss had a lump on his forehead the size
of a small egg, and his mouth was bleeding and his clothes were ripped here
and there, and Adam had a cut beneath one eye which was bleeding and a bruise
beginning to purple on his cheekbone. They were smiling, as though the
evening had ended on the perfect high note for them both.
“I’m sorry about causing that fight…” Joe murmered as they entered the hotel
“Bound to happen whether you were there or not, short shanks” Hoss muttered,
rubbing the grazed knuckles of his left hand with his right.
“Oh….” Joe glanced over at Adam,who nodded
“Yeah, bound to have happened!” Adam repeated and without flinching strode
confidently into the hotel.
Warm soft mattresses on sturdy beds.
Soft breezes fluttering through the windows of their rooms through which
could still be heard the ruckus of the brawl.
Soft and not so soft snores could be heard as a gentle accompaniment to
the medley of sound from without.
Joe lay on his bed with his arms folded behind his head, staring up at the
ceiling and contemplating the evening. His eyes were heavy and he felt
the tug of sleep upon his body. He yawned, grateful to have a
room to himself and not to have to share a bed with Hoss!
Hoss was sprawled all over his bed, legs sticking out and arms flung all
over and the covers wrapped round him and tangled up so that he resembled
a half wrapped corpse. His head hung over the edge of the bed and his
snoring was loud, rumbling, whistling, snorting.
Adam lay on his side, one arm flung out to the side and hanging over the
edge of the bed, the covers up high to his chin, the other arm tucked under
the pillow.
Joe yawned and considered closing the window of his room to shut out the
noise….he yawned again..the noises were fading away now….he was tired, really
tired…he yawned once more and slipped effortlessly into sleep.
Chapter 9
Somewhere a clock chimed some hour past mid night and Joe opened one bleary
eye and then the other and yawned. He could hear gun shots and
there was the vague realisation at the back of his mind that there was glass
breaking, something big, something that could well have been a window – or
two.
He yawned again and sat up and scratched his head and then he scratched
his chest and stretched. He looked around him and tried to remember
exactly where he was and when he recalled that he was in a hotel room he then
recalled the reason, or possible reason, for all the ruckus outside.
……………
Adam Cartwright woke up coughing. He lay on his back for a moment
or two wondering why he was finding it so hard to breathe. He took
one deep breath and started coughing involuntarily and at the same time he
could smell the cause. He rolled out of bed faster than he had
done for a long time, pulling on pants and boots, stumbling against the bed
posts and stubbing his toe, yelling all the time at the top of his voice
“HOSS! JOE! FIRE! FIRE!”
He grabbed a shirt and ran to the door and paused…..he glanced downwards
at the floor and saw the slick curl of smoke writhing up towards him and knew
that were he to open the door it could well be to an inferno.
He tried to think, tried to remember whereabouts Hoss and Joe slept.
Did they have communicating walls? He thumped on the walls and yelled
his brothers names. Then he returned to the door and gingerly touched
the wooden panels. They were scorching hot now and beginning to blacken.
It was a mere matter of time before they would erupt into flames and he stepped
back as the smoke thickened and blackened about him, making his head spin
as the smoke filled his lungs and made breathing and clean oxygen impossible
to attain.
Hoss Cartwright dragged himself from the bed and to the wall that intercommunicated
with Joe’s. Thudding as loud as he could on the wall to be heard, he
yelled his brothers name whilst pulling on boots and buckling on his belt.
He was about to step to the door when he saw the first curl of flame burst
through one of the panels.
“ADAM?”
“Hoss? Get out of here, Hoss?”
“I cain’t, Adam…the doors afire…”
“Try the window, hurry…”
“What about you?”
“Just get moving, Hoss….”
Adam knelt on the floor and held a towel to his face, there was so much
going on in his head that he could have screamed…should he run for the window?
What about Hoss? What about Joe? Where was Joe? Should
he try for the landing? What about the other guests in the hotel?
Tentatively he reached out for the door and touched the handle, still on
his knees he reached out with the towel now wrapped round his hand and carefully
turned the handle and as the door billowed open he fell flat onto his stomache
on the landing floor. He could see Hoss’s door well and truly
ablaze now which meant that the flames were well along at that end of the
landing. If so, then Joe’s room was already on fire.
He crawled his way beneath the smoke towards Joe’s room, moving as fast
as he could upon all fours, but before he had reached Joe’s door the flames
were so intense that he was forced to lay flat on his stomache and consider
turning round and retreating as fast as he could to where the flames had yet
to reach.
He could barely breathe now. Every breath was laboured.
He closed his eyes and saw his fathers face looking over at him and he heard
Ben saying very firmly “Promise me you’ll bring Joe home safely, that’s all
I ask, Adam…”
He brought the towel closer to his mouth and nostrils, and charged full
pelt through the flames and into the room where his little brother had only
hours before bade them a cheery good night. He had run so fast
that he fell across the bed, landing flat on his back on the other side.
He saw a wardrobe teeter back and forth and without a seconds thought he lunged
through the glass window.
He rolled and was stopped from falling by the balustrade that encircled
the upper outer floors of the hotel. Beneath him were the windows of
the lower floor and then the verandah and the street…without hesitation he
stepped over the balustrade railings and dropped.
A water chain was already in progress. The dust of the
street was being churned over into mud as water slopped from the buckets that
were being passed from hand to hand to be flung over the burning building.
Men and women and adolescents were all taking part in rescuing the hotel and
preventing it from spreading to the other buildings close by. People
slipped in the mud, spilling water clumsily over themselves and others, water
was slopped indicrimately everywhere. Men shouted orders to men who
took no notice and women shrieked and carried out their assigned tasks without
hesitation or query.
But all the while he could only think of one thing…Joe’s bed was empty,
so where was Joe?
Someone was hauling at his arm, helping him to his feet, mumbling some incoherent
words of comfort and urging him towards a building, but he shrugged them away
and ran towards the hotel, all the time yelling “Hoss. Joe. Hoss. Joe”
Two men ran from the chain and grabbed at him, pulling him back, forcing
him to retreat from the blaze
“My brothers are in there…” he shouted at them and then he saw Hoss’s face,
streaked with soot and blood, and just as he saw Hoss and saw the relief on
his brothers face so he yelled “Where’s Joe?”
“I ain’t seen him, Adam”
Adam shrugged off the other man, who returned hurridly to his water chain.
Adam grabbed at Hoss’ arms and felt the bigger man flinch back with pain
“You’re hurt?”
“My arm..gashed it on the window, dadburn it!” Hoss muttered “I ain’t
seen Joe anywhere, Adam.”
“He must be here somewhere…” Adams grip tightened and Hoss flinched
somemore, it seemed as though Adam was not able to absorb one simple fact
and that was that his brother was in pain, the only fact that was uppermost
in Adams mind now was that Joe was missing and had to be found.
“Adam…I’ll I’ll go and and look over there….could be he’s helping
with the water chain”
“If he got out!”
“Sure, he’ll have got out, Adam, he’ll have had more sense than to have
stayed….”
Adam stepped back and to Hoss’ relief let go of his arms, he turned around
and looked at the hotel and then at Hoss
“Go and see if he’s on the water chain over there, Hoss…”
“Sure, but where are you going?”
“I’m going back in …”
“Are you crazy..”
“Are you?” Adam spun round on his brother, behind them the hotel burned
vermillion flames, the heat of the flames was peeling the paint on the buildings
closest to it, and all around them people were running with buckets, slopping
and sliding and yelling and shouting….”Are you crazy, Hoss, Joe could
still be in there…”
“If he is what good are you going to do getting back in there? You
won’t be able to find him…not in that…” and Hoss gestured towards the burning
inferno “Adam, like it or not, if Joe is in there…”
“No, no…he’s got to be safe, Hoss…. I promised pa…I promised pa I would
bring him home safe….I can’t stay out here without knowing for sure that
he’s safe.”
Now it was Hoss’ turn to grab his brother by the arms and hold him tightly,
and even give him a shake to try and rattle some sense into his head
“Adam, listen to me! If Joe’s in there, if he’s in there…then
you ain’t going to be able to find him nor git him out safely.
If you go in there you’ll be killed as well…”
“What do you mean, ‘as well’?” Adam struggled to get out of Hoss’ grip “Let
me go, Hoss, let me go…”
“No, dadburn it, Adam, do you really want me to lose both my brothers tonight?
Ain’t it enough to have lost one?” Hoss bellowed, and his eyes spilled over
with tears, with formed white runnels against the blackness of his face.
“No, Hoss…I’ve got to go back in … I promised pa…you don’t understand, you
don’t…can’t …understand…” and clenching his fist into a ball he swung it towards
his brothers jaw with all the force he could muster.
Hoss staggered back, weakened already by shock and exhaustion and the pain
of his burns he released his hold on his brother and was forced to stagger
some steps back which gave Adam sufficient momentum to run forwards and back
to the burning building.
He was some feet from the building when the full force of the heat hit him
like a wall. He paused, then raised an arm in an effort to shield himself
from the blazing flames. Another step forward and Joe’s name burst from
his lips ….there was a rending, tearing sound as the hotels name board exploded
into flame and fell like a fiery ball plummeting earthwards
“JOOOOOE!”
Chapter 10
“Wake up, Adam, wake up!”
He forced open sore swollen eyelids and gazed up at his brothers face and
blinked rapidly. Then he closed his eyes again and told himself to keep
them shut as long as possible. He could feel the slow course of a tear
trickling from the corner of his eyes down to his hair as he lay on his back
on the floor of the hardware store.
“Give him some water” a woman said, thrusting a mug of the liquid into Hoss’s
hands and the gentle man raised Adams head and forced the rim of the mug against
the semi conscious mans lips
“C’mon, Adam drink this…it’s alright, brother, c’mon”
The cool liquid was soothing to his throat but even so he did not want to
open his eyes. It were as though his brain told him that once he opened
his eyes he would have to come face to face with the reality of what had happened.
“Adam? Adam?” Hoss’ voice was gentle, but it trembled somewhat, indicating
the fact that the other man was suffering too and for a moment Adam could
only see that as proof positive of his failure and that his brother Hoss was
in pain due to him.
He opened his eyes finally and looked up into his brothers face and saw
relief there, momentary that was true, but it was there and for a brief instant
he felt lucid enough to be grateful. Then the relief was replaced
by the agony of loss, the misery and pain of distress and anguish.
“You didn’t find him?” Adam whispered, reaching up and clutching hold of
Hoss’ shirt with one soot blackened hand
“No, no, I couldn’t find him, Adam…I looked everywhere I could ..but…” Hoss’
eyes filled with tears and he bit down heavily on a trembling lower lip.
Adams eyes glanced furtively around the room, noticing that the hardware
store had become a temporary emergency room where a doctor and several women
were taking care of the injured and exhausted to the best of their ability.
He put a hand to his face and felt the evidence of tears on his skin and hastily
wiped them away, whilst his eyes darted from face to face, searching vainly
for the face he longed most to see.
“You could have killed yourself, Adam” Hoss said softly, his voice trembling
with tears.
“I have to go and find him” Adam muttered, pushing his brother aside
The doctor approached as Adam turned to get to his feet, and with steely
fingers pushed him back down, and gripped hold of Adam by the jaw and raised
his face to the light. Without a word he looked carefully at Adams eyes
and felt his pulse and then with a frown released him
“Your brother here has been hurt, he needs to be taken somewhere and made
to rest.”
Adam blinked, and then looked at Hoss and felt ashamed, as the eldest brother
he had as much responsibilty over Hoss’ welfare as Joe’s and he realised that
he had failed there, as well. Hoss shrugged and shook his head
“Ain’t nuthin’, Adam, nuthin’ for you to worry about” he muttered, as though
he could see the shame Adam felt as clearly as though it had been branded
on Adams forehead.
“And you’re suffering from shock, exhaustion, smoke inhalation and burns
to the arms and hands and …”
“I’m alright.” Adam said thickly and forced the little man away from him,
whilst he struggled to his feet. “Hoss, go and get some rest.
I’ll be back in a little while…”
“Adam, no, wait for me…”
“Stay here, Hoss…..please” he turned and looked at the gentle
man and placed a hand on his brothers’ arm “Please stay here, Hoss, so I know
for sure you’ll be okay”
“Are you going to look for Joe?”
“I promised Pa I’d look after him, Hoss…I said I’d bring him home safe…”
he gulped, struggled to maintain his dignity, and put a hand to his face again
to stem back the tears.
“No one can blame you for what happened tonight, Adam…” Hoss whispered,
“Maybe not… but how can I convince pa of that? I can’t even convince
myself…Hoss, I should have done more…”
“You did all you could…what else could you do? You went back
for him, didn’t you?”
“I should never have left the building, I should have stayed where I was..I
should have checked the other side of the hotel…Hoss, how can I tell pa?”
his face crumpled, and he clenched his teeth together hard to force the tears
not to rise above his throat and disgrace him again by falling from his eyes
“Adam……let me come too…..” Hoss cried as his brother turned and hurried
away and out of the building.
“No, Hoss…leave me alone, leave me be….”
“But you can’t go alone…”
“You don’t understand do you..” Adam whipped round, his eyes wide and the
colour drained from his face, “You don’t understand…I failed, Hoss, I let
pa down, and I let Joe down. It was my fault we came here, my
fault that we had single rooms, my fault that – that I – I – “ he put his
hand to his eyes and lowered his head “I promised pa to bring Joe home, Hoss,
so let me be…” and without another word he turned upon his heels and almost
ran from the building.
…………….
“Four dead so’s I heardsay!”
“Four? Did they find the bodies?”
“Jest two of ‘em”
Adam listened to the two old men as they stood in front of the smoking ruins,
and then he slumped back against the wall of the building that had withstood
the previous nights fire. He put a hand to his face and closed
his eyes and felt the tears trickle down his face and through his fingers
“Any idea who they were?”
“Wal, the bodies they found were that of a young couple, newly weds…”
“Not that Jed Lynch and young Cathy?”
“Yep”
“That’s a doggone shame….who were the other two?”
“Strangers in town…”
The voices trailed off and Adam opened his eyes and forced himself to stare
once more at the building. For a moment so many emotions whirled
through his head that he thought he would lose complete control and collapse
there and then in the street. He turned towards the wall of the building
and leaned his brow against the blistered paintwork, and beat his hands against
the burnt wood until he could no longer feel any pain, only a numb tingling
burning and then he began to sob, broken sounds of guilt and regret and anger.
“Oh pa..pa…oh pa..” he cried through tortured lungs and a throat so
tight that the words can through his lips like a howling pain. “I can’t
bring him home, pa….I can’t…I promised..oh pa..I’m sorry, I’m so sorry….”
He slithered down onto his haunches and buried his face in his hands and
let the tears fall hot and unheeded and wet down his cheeks. A
man approached him and touched his shoulder gently
“You need help, boy?”
“Leave me alone” was the only response the heart broken man could growl.
“Do you want to talk about it?” the same conciliatory voice murmered
“I said…leave me alone…” Adam punched the mans hand away angrily, and then
turned his face towards the smouldering remains of the hotel.
He walked towards it slowly, wiping his face with the sleeve of his
shirt as he walked. The remains of the building were stark. Some of
it still remained intact, blackened with soot and smoking slightly in the
early morning sunlight. It was as though the front of a giant childs
doll house had been ripped away exposing to the world what remained in its
little sectioned off rooms. How strange to see parts of a bed balanced half
way in emptiness, and curtains billowing out to nothing. The wreakage
of what once had been, still smouldered, sending spirals of black smoke skywards
and blackened beams and rafters pointed like dead fingers towards the clouds.
He squatted onto his haunches and bowed his head and once again covered his
face with his hand
“Hi, Adam”
Adam froze. Ice seemed to trickle like little pellets down his back
and around his neck and his hair seemed to stand on end. He slowly rose
to his feet, wiped his face clean of tears, and took a very deep breath and
yet dared not turn around
“Where have you been?” the words were uttered with cold slow deliberateness.
“I –er – I went for a ride on Paint. There was so much noise
going on in town and I just wanted to get away and think….” Joe whisked
off his hat and turned it round and round in his hands, nervously. He
knew his brother well enough to know that when he was like this, so cold,
so distant, there was no predicting what he could or would do! He licked
his lips “I saw Hoss just now, he said you were looking for me!”
he waited but there was no response and he glanced at the hotel and gulped
“I saw the fire from where I was…but didn’t realise I’d ridden so far out….there’s
a nice lake out there, reminded me of home!” he licked his lips “So
I jest kinda stayed there too long, and then I saw the fire…then I thought
best get back and help, but didn’t realise how far I’d gone..” he paused as
he realised that he was now repeating himself, he forced a smile, one of
those half hearted fleeting smiles he threw out when he knew he was onto a
loser “I’m sorry, Adam, guess you were wondering where I was, huh?”
Adam turned slowly to face his brother. Any evidence of his
previous emotion was buried now under a cold, expressionless face, with dark
eyes that bore into the boys hazel orbs. He took a deep breath
and his nostrils flared, his lips tightened. He clenched his
fists and swallowed hard.
Then he opened his mouth but nothing came out…he wanted to punch the boy
in the face and get the pent up emotion released, but he could not bring himself
to do that, he could only feel his heart welling up with relief, so much
relief
“I’m sorry, Adam, guess you’re real mad at me, huh?” Joe tried another
little fleeting smile and tried to twinkle his eyes at his brother, but Adam
continued to just stare at him “You really are mad at me, aintcha?”
“Yeah, I really am mad at you, Joe.” Adam said finally, coldly. He
looked back at the fire and frowned, then he turned and smiled and pulled
his brother close to his side “Let’s go home, Joseph. Pa will be waiting!”
……………….
So a lion roars over his kingdom….Ben Cartwright, King of all he surveys,
Lord of the Ponderosa.
And a lion cub returns home, proving to himself and his brothers and to
the world, that he could roar as loudly as any of them, and, no doubt
about it, just that bit more often!
The End……………..Author Krystyna Woollon……….1st October 2002.
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