This story relates to a time and situation that is a turning point in the relationship between Adam and Little Joe Cartwright. As Joe faces death he has things to consider and correct, and Adam has to face his own fears for the future without his little brother.
‘AND AMEN TO ALL THAT’
BY
KRYSTYNA WOOLLON
Chapter 1
“Just put it down and leave it alone.”
Joseph Cartwright spun round as though a whip had
lashed him. His face screwed into a
tight ball of mixed emotions that flashed across his features with the clarity
of words written on the pages of a book.
Rage, irritation, contempt slipped across the handsome features. The nostrils flared. The lips thinned and curled from his
teeth. The green in the hazel eyes
positively blazed. His hands balled
into fists that now swung in the direction of his brother.
“I said –“
“I know what you said.” Joe hissed between clenched
teeth “I heard you. Do you think I’m
deaf as well as stupid?”
Adam allowed a slight smile to grace his lips and he
folded his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrows
“Well now, that wasn’t exactly what I was saying,
brother, but if that is your opinion of yourself.” he shrugged “Stupid,
huh? They say from the mouth of babes –“
“That does it” Joe howled and with fury etched on
his face he leapt towards his brother, his fists flailing as he did so.
Adam neatly side stepped and grabbed Joe’s arm as he
passed, twisting him round to face him and then grabbing hold of him by the
upper arms in order to restrain him as best he could. He moved his legs back as far as practicality
allowed, for he knew his brother would not hesitate to kick out as hard as he
could in order to gain his freedom.
“Now just you calm down, Joe, and you listen to
me….”
“I ain’t gonna listen to anything you have to
say. I’ve been listening to you all my
life long and I’ve just about had a bellyful of it.”
“I said, listen to me and listen good.” Adam gave
his younger brother a shake, which only gave Joe the added impetus to wrench
himself free and swing his fist in a perfect uppercut that caught his brother
square on the chin.
It also caught Adam by surprise for he staggered
back some paces before regaining control of his balance. “All right” he growled, and he narrowed his
eyes and clenched his fists and walked towards Joe.
Joseph gulped.
Fights between Adam and himself were not unknown. They had fought at times to a standstill,
but always came out of it with some mutual respect, a handshake, a smile and a
wink. There just happened to be some
times when both knew that they were skating on thin ice and that there would
come a day when they would fight such a fight that any bonds between them would
be totally severed.
It was an instinct.
A something that made them both aware of a border beyond which neither
could, or would, go beyond. On this
particular day, Joe had a sudden, terrible feeling that they were both about to
go over the edge and what had been said in anger, would never be easily erased.
“You want to fight, huh?” Adam advanced a step
closer. His dark eyes were nearly total
black now and his cheeks were heightened in colour due to the rage he was
feeling at that moment. He clenched his
teeth and his lips snarled back and then he launched himself forwards and
caught Joe squarely in the midriff.
Both went down.
They rolled first oneway and then the other. The thud of punches landing on flesh could
be heard in echo to the grunts and gasps of the two opponents. Through the haze of dust that the fight
created Adam stood up, only to be pulled back down as his brother kicked his
legs from beneath him and sent him toppling onto his back.
Adam rolled, free from his brothers writhing
wriggling body he struggled to get to his feet, but before he could do so
Joseph had landed squarely on top of him, and had struck him a blow in the face
with such force that he could taste blood in his mouth.
He grabbed blindly for some handhold and his fingers
curled upon Joe’s hair and tightened.
With a yelp of pain Joe was tossed to one side and fell heavily against
some rocks. For some seconds he lay
there, his head hang down, his chest heaved and burned within his ribs, and
perspiration dripped from his face.
Only yards away, Adam struggled to his feet and swayed
too and fro as he wiped a hand across his mouth and face. He looked through narrowed eyes at the sight
of blood on his hand and then looked over at his brother.
“Are you done now?” he gasped
“No”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes”
Both of them remained where they were for some
seconds. Adam swayed back and forth,
gasping and puffing. Joe on the ground,
head down, grunting and wheezing.
Cochise and Sport continued to graze some yards away
as though such scenes were as commonplace as watching rabbits hopping from
burrow to burrow, or young calves frolicking from daisy decked grassland to
daisy decked hillock. They were saddled
and ready for the journey home to the Ponderosa, but having been given the time
and opportunity to dally, they did so, in a manner any sensible horse would
enjoy.
Adam flexed his shoulders, and took a deep
breath. Warily he watched as Joe
regained his feet. He put his head to
one side, wondering whether or not Joe were really serious about continuing
with the fight. Like his brother, Adam
was always cautious about allowing any fight to go beyond the borders of what
both would consider an honorable end.
He cleared his throat and extended his hand in order to help the lad to
his feet more quickly, but Joe slapped it aside angrily. Hostilities were obviously still waging. Adam withdrew his hand and stepped back and
clenched his fist and as Joe sprung at him he threw a punch that sent Joe
staggering backwards and falling back into the dirt.
Adam walked over to him and looked down at him
“Finished?” he asked
“No” Joe said in a muffled tone of voice
“Don’t be so obstinate, Joe, you know you can’t
win!”
“Who says?”
“I say”
“Oh yeah, of course, you say. Like you say this, you say that, you who
knows everything there is about everything…”
Adam sighed and stepped back and rubbed his knuckles
into the palm of his other hand. It was
always the same thing with Joe, always the same refrain. He cleared his throat and spat blood and
dust
“Look, Joe, let’s stop now before we do any real
damage. Pa won’t be too happy if we go
home looking like we’ve been in a war”
“I didn’t start it” Joe said sulkily, still lying
flat on his stomach in the dust.
“I beg your pardon, little brother, but if I recall
rightly, it was certainly not me who started it.”
Joe rolled over onto his back and scrambled up onto
his feet and glowered over at his brother.
He swallowed dust and grit and a bit of his back tooth.
“Why’d you have to come anyways? Why’d you have to come and check up on me?”
“I wasn’t checking up on you, Joe.” Adam said in a
conciliatory tone of voice “I told you
once already, pa wanted me to come on over and give you a hand to finish the
job. I’d already finished my stretch of
fencing and pa –“
“I was alright, I was nearly finished, another day
and I’d have been done” Joe snapped
“Another day?
You mean another two days!” Adam
snapped abruptly “What I’d like to know is exactly what you’ve been doing over
the past few days. You had the shortest
stretch of fencing to do and you’ve taken longer to do it than a green horn
rookie cowboy could.”
“Why do you always have to come and interfere
anyway” and before another word could be spoken Joe launched himself forwards
and flew at his brother once again.
Adam raised his hand and swiped him away with a
swing of the fist that would have made even Hoss stagger some paces. Before Joe fell back Adam grabbed at his
shirt and held on to him, and shook him a little for good measure.
“Now you listen here, little brother, I don’t come
interfering with your work, as you put it.
I came here because pa was concerned about you. I came here because I had finished my work
and we thought I could help you finish yours.
I thought if we finished in time before the week ends we could go into
town Saturday and enjoy ourselves. But
if you want to stay here for another two days on your own, so be it………….” He
gave his brother another angry shake and released his hold on the shirt.
Joe landed with a thud amongst some shrubs, which
somehow softened the landing. He rubbed
his face, his chin, his brow, and finally his head. He watched as his brother walked, stiff
legged, straight backed, towards Sport.
Adam stooped on the way to pick up his black hat, which he whacked
several times against his leg before sliding it slowly over his disheveled
hair. As he put his foot into the
stirrup he glanced over his shoulder at his brother
“What do I tell pa?” he said quietly
“Tell him what you usually say” Joe snapped back
“What? That
you were too lazy and too stupid to get the job down?”
Joe snorted with anger. Had it been possible fire would have streaked
from his nostrils and steam from his ears.
As it was his face reddened and he rose to his feet quicker than Adam
had anticipated. In a trice Adam swung
himself into the saddle and turned Sport round so that Joe bounced rather
unceremoniously into Sports rump and was sent sprawling into the dust again.
“C’mon, Joe, let’s call it quits and be done with
it” Adam said quietly, wishing more than anything that he had left it to Hoss
to come and help Joe with his section of the fencing.
“Just go away and leave me alone” came the snapped
off reply.
“As you wish” Adam replied and turned the horse in the
direction of home.
The retort of a rifle that sent ripples of sound
echo-ing eerily across the vast vista of land made them both pause. They glanced around them and peered, narrow
eyed, at the high ridges about them.
Adam inclined his head to measure sound and distance and frowned
“That came from the way station” he said quietly
“Maybe they’re hunting” Joe said quietly, picking up
his hat and dusting it down.
Another retort.
Before the echo had died away, still another.
“They need help” Adam said quickly and looked over
at his brother who, perhaps gratefully, was putting his hat on and running
towards Cochise.
Three shots. It was the plainsman’s plea for
help. As swiftly as they could both
brothers turned their horses round and galloped towards the little relay
station from where the signal had been sent.
Chapter 2
When Adam raised his hand and pulled Sport to a
rearing standstill, Joe was so close upon his heels that it was with some
difficulty that he pulled Cochise away from a collision. As it was the abrupt halt did nothing to cool
his temper, for he edged Cochise so close to Sport that
“Why are you stopping?” he demanded, his eyes
blazing into his brothers’ face “This is not time to stop. Those people need our help”
“We’ve been pushing our horses hard for the past I
don’t know how long, Joe, but in all that time I’ve not heard a single thing –“
“How’d you mean?
What are we supposed to have heard?”
“Gun shots – “ Adam frowned, his face turned towards
the way they were headed “I don’t know –“
“YOU don’t know!
And we’re supposed to just sit here while they could be in desperate
need of our help?”
“No, I didn’t mean that, I –“
“Well, I ain’t gonna waste anymore time. You can do what you like, Adam, but I’m going
on right now –“ and putting words into action the younger man spurred his horse
forwards. Cochise sprung forwards and
within seconds had left the other horseman looking after them as the dust
settled around them.
With a sigh of exasperation Adam spurred Sport into
a gallop. It took no time at all to
catch up with Joe and together they galloped onwards to the relay station.
There are times when riding, and particularly in
situations of this kind, when both brothers felt that no matter how fast they
rode their horses, distance remained at a standstill. No matter how low in the saddle they sat, no
matter how they urged their horses onwards, no matter how the wind streamed
into their faces and made their eyes sting and weep, the miles and the time
remained static. How Joe wished he could
spring from one area, or situation, immediately into the other with no wastage
of time. How Adam longed to will away
the miles so that riding from A to B was like walking from one room to another.
It seemed to no account that their horses stretched
their legs to leap over boulders, swerve around obstacles, gallop so hard that
their withers began to tremble and sweat began to streak white upon their
coats. Still miles to go and both
horses were beginning to labour and pant, and their eyes began to roll wildly
as they struggled to fulfill their masters’ determined will to stretch them to
the limits of their power and endurance.
At last the relay station hove into sight and both
men hauled on the reins to bring their horses to a trembling laboured
halt. As Sport and Cochise snorted and
panted, so their two riders struggled to gain their own breath as they looked
down upon the peaceful scene that lay serenely stretched out beneath them.
In the corral the horses grazed undisturbed and
unperturbed. Chickens clucked about,
scratching up dust into tiny dust devils with their claws. The relay station appeared to be basking in
the mid-day sun with all the appearance of blissful ignorance of the onlookers
concern. Washing hung limp upon the line
begging for a breeze to sift away the collected dust that clung upon it.
Joe and Adam scanned the scene with narrowed eyes
and then looked at one another. Both
wore slight frowns of puzzled concern upon their brows. Joe pushed his hat to the back of his head
and scratched through his thatch of hair
“Odd”
“Tom must have been hunting” Adam leaned upon his
pommel and stared thoughtfully at the house.
“He may be a bit of a green horn out here but even
so, he knows better than to fire off three shots at random”
“Sometimes it’s easy to forget when there’s so much
else new to learn.”
The two brothers said nothing more for some
seconds. Adam caressed Sports’ smooth
neck and inwardly cursed himself for putting his horse to such pains for
nothing. He could feel the horse sweat
wet to his fingers and sighed heavily.
He glanced over at Joe and cleared his throat noisily to gain his
brothers attention.
“One thing I do know” he said quietly “Mary’s still
enough of a lady not to want us tramping into her home looking like two no
account cow pokes rolling home from a saloon bar fracas. If I look as bad as you look, we’d scare her
and the kids to death –“
Joe scowled and nodded and reached for his
canteen. There was no denying that Mary
Murphy was prim and dainty, just as there was no denying that Adam looked
bloodied and bruised and he fully realised he would be looking equally as
bad. Both of them soaked their
handkerchiefs in water and wiped around their faces and necks.
“She can be a mite starchy about etticky-kett” Joe
admitted as he raised the canteen to his lips and swallowed down several
mouthfuls
“Well, she’s a well brought up gal from
Some minutes ticked past and he was thinking of
nothing more urgent than getting Sport to the trough for the animal to slurp up
as much fresh water as he could, when a disturbing anxiety niggled its way
through and to the surface of his mind and he turned to Joe who was trailing
some distance behind
“Joe? Do you
know when the next stage is due?”
“Not for some hours yet.”
“Even so –“ Adam paused and looked at the house, now
coming closer into view as they reached the track
“Even so what?”
“Well, granted it’s hot enough to fry an egg on
these stones, but that never has stopped a woman from having a stove alight”
“So? What’re
you thinking?” Joe frowned and narrowed
his eyes and turned to look at the house again
“No smoke”
“No smoke?”
“From the chimney.
No smoke, no stove alight, no cooking – “
“Or boiling water for washing”
They looked at one another anxiously and Joe bit his
bottom lip thoughtfully before urging Cochise into a leap and a gallop.
“Joe!”
He cast an anxious look over at Adam and saw his
brother unclip the catch on his holster and seeing his brother’s stern features
the younger man nodded and followed his example. It was better to be prepared, just in case.
But just in case of what? Seeing
Dogs barked frantically. They strained at their leashes and whined
and snapped before retreating back to settle on their haunches and watch, with
dark brown anxious eyes as the two men approached the hitching rail.
“It feels all wrong” Joe said involuntarily “Too
quiet”
One of the dogs whined plaintively and settled onto
its belly. It’s eyes twitched from one
rider to the other. The other dog began
to bark, its hackles were raised, slathering from its jaws.
Adam was about to mention the possibility of the
family having ridden into town. It would
have been a journey that necessitated an overnight stop en route so the wagon
would have been essential. However, the
wagon, collecting several chickens who were perched around about it, stood
basking in the heat of the mid day sun.
He eased himself in his saddle and looked over to the horses.
The horses had moved towards them. As though at a given signal every horse in
the corral had abandoned their close cropping of the sparse greenery to stand
at the fence and nod in silence over at them.
One of them lifted what seemed a weary head and snortled down his
nostrils at them, and received an answering whicker from Cochise.
The brothers edged their horses to the trough, and
then glanced at one another. The water trough was empty. Not only empty, bone dry. Adam nudged Sport towards the water trough
that stood within the confines of the corral and then looked over at Joe and
shrugged. It was not good. No man, woman
or child would abandon their stock with insufficient water. When the sun could burn up moisture within
minutes it was a criminal act of inhumanity to treat dumb animals in such a
way.
“No water in any of the troughs. Nor has been for over a day I would say”
Adam said quietly
“I guess that goes for the stock in the byre as
well?” Joe indicated the barn and Adam
glanced over his shoulder over at it and frowned “I’ll go and check it out.”
“I’ll get some water to these creatures.”
Adam dismounted and hitched Sport to the rail. At the well he threw down the bucket and
heard the satisfying splash of water.
The two dogs stood up immediately, their tongues lolling from
heat-starved mouths, their eyes moist and expectant as they watched the man
turn the winch and bring the water to the surface.
How it gleamed and glistened and bedazzled the
eyes. Diamond sparks and spangles as
the sun gleamed upon its surface and caught the splashes in gleaming prisms of
light. They yelped excitedly and when
Adam poured the water into their bowls they came near to choking in their
efforts to gorge on the life enhancing liquid.
The horses shifted restlessly. Adam glanced up from his labours to see Joe
walking towards him, leading Cochise on his rein. He could see the thin line of Joe’s
mouth. Obviously what was in the barn
had not impressed his little brother. He
winched up another bucket load of water and walked to the trough and emptied it
out. He could hear Joe working the
handle of the sluice that would send water gushing into the other troughs. Best to deal with onething at a time. A man cared for his beasts before anything,
anyone else.
The horses pushed and shoved one another. There was a pecking order to be
observed. Their thirst had to be
constrained by discipline but they pushed their big heads forward as water
splashed into the trough and time and time again Adam lowered the bucket and
winched it back upwards. Once he stopped
and poured a ladle of the cold fresh water over his face. He saw Joe dipping his own head under the
sluice as the water flushed through….
The troughs filled and re-filled. The dogs’ bowls filled and re-filled. They lay bloated and satisfied. Their tails twitched and they closed their
eyes and slept knowing their bowls had plenty in them. Adam bit his lip and wondered how much
longer they could have survived.
However, there was still a mystery to be
solved. Dogs may be mad with thirst and
horses and cattle dazed and lethargic from heat exhaustion and lack of
water. But none of them could have
pulled the trigger of a rifle three times…
He walked slowly towards Joe, wiping the back of his
neck with his kerchief. Joe was
stroking Cochise’s neck, as his horse slurped water by his side.
“What about the cattle?”
“One dead calf.
It’s mother looked half dead but livened up after a drink. There’s another milk cow in there. Another looks like giving birth
anytime.” Joe sighed. “The other stock
must be grazing down below”
“Thank goodness for that, I’d hate to think of more
beasts suffering unnecessary.” Adam glanced over at the house “They must have
just up sticks and gone”
“No. I can’t believe that Tom and Mary would do
that, Adam. It may not have been the
ideal as far as Mary was concerned, but Tom was happy with the work and the
location. He was enjoying his life here
and he was a conscientious man.”
“He left the animals without food and water for who
knows how long?” Adam replied coldly by way of reminder
“There must be a reason. Perhaps an accident – someone fired those
shots.”
Adam glanced around the yard. His eyes flickered to
the house and he nodded. “Let’s go and
see what there is inside “ he suggested. “If there ain’t no sign of them, we
had better go looking further afield.”
“They’d have known we were here by now, Adam. They must be absent for some reason.”
“Let’s make sure first” and Adam withdrew his gun
slowly from its holster and looked over at Joe “Just in case –“ he said quietly
Joe nodded and took his gun into his hand. Slowly they approached the house. Their heels made staccato raps onto the
wooden planks of the verandah. The
wooden rocking chair witnessed their approach.
From the house there was nothing.
They paused at the door and looked about them. Adam took a deep breath and glanced at the
window of what would have been the Murphy’s kitchen. He frowned slightly as he saw something the
significance of which his brain could not yet register. He nudged Joe and indicated the window and
looked at his brother with a question in his eyes. Joe shrugged and shook his head.
It was hot.
It had been stiflingly hot for days.
When it got hot there were flies.
Sometimes when food was left unattended there would be more flies than
normal. There were more flies around
the window than normal.
The window on the other side of the door crawled
with flies. Maggots inched against the
framework or lay fat and creamy sluggish as flies walked over them.
Involuntarily both brothers stepped back and licked
their dry lips. Adam felt the hair on
the back of his neck stand on end and Joe felt sweat prickle his scalp and make
him itch.
Carefully, tentatively, Adam stretched out a hand
and touched the door handle. He pushed
it open and stepped forward. He held his
gun ready. Behind him Joe stepped
forward.
“Oh, sheeesh!”
The exclamation slipped like a gasp from
“What – what is it?” Joe whispered, his large eyes
widening in fright.
“It stinks in here!”
Adam replied
Joe suddenly realised he had not needed to have been
told. The stench touched his own
nostrils and he turned his head away.
The dogs, secure on their chains at the far corner of the house,
instinctively sat up, their forefeet paddled the dry ground nervously. They whimpered and whined as they raised
their noses to the air and snuffled at the smell that drifted into the clean
air.
“Come –.” Adam said quietly “I’ve a bad feeling
about this, Joe.”
Joe nodded. He pulled out his kerchief and held it
to his face, against his nose and mouth.
As they walked into the room, Adam put away his gun and pulled out his
handkerchief and followed his brother’s example.
He had smelt this stench before, this cloying,
sickening stench of death. He turned his
head to one side as though the smell would be less if he did so. He brushed aside flies that buzzed angrily towards
him. Behind him Joe did likewise as he
hurried to the windows and threw them open.
The flies lingered. Bloated,
lazed and dazed by heat and too much to gorge upon. Joe stepped back to avoid maggots and dead
flies cocooned by webs from opportunistic spiders.
“Adam? What’s
going on here?” he whispered and his voice wobbled slightly as he glanced
around the room.
Rotting food upon the plates. Meat heaved as maggots crawled over their
banquet. Wilting flowers that shed their
leaves like a wreath upon a meal of death.
He held his kerchief closer to his mouth and fought back nausea
that hit his throat and burned with an
acidic scorching.
Adam pushed open another door, paused a moment and
went ashen faced. Hastily he stepped
back and slammed it behind him.
“Don’t go in there.”
He whispered hoarsely
“No?” Joe
whispered back, his over large eyes asking a hundred questions that could all
have been answered by the horror on his brother’s face.
Adam now inched forwards to another door. There was no enemy. No man crouched there
awaiting anyone arriving with rifle or gun.
But the sight he anticipated was one more fearsome. No one would want to rush in upon the sight
he expected to see and he swallowed hard, Joe could see the jerk of his
brothers Adam’s apple, and felt the sweat break out down his spine.
Adam put his hand on the door and pushed it slowly
open. He paused for an instant and
looked into the room, upon the bed, and then turned to Joe.
“Is it – is it Tom?” Joe whispered
“No, it’s the boy.
Joshua.” Adam said with a voice thick with misery and the phlegm that
rose in the throat when emotion signalled to the body to rush in with its
defenses…adrenalin, endomorphines….They squeezed his throat and made his heart
beat so fast that he wanted to vomit there and then. He closed the door and wiped his face and
shivered.
“Is he – is he dead?”
“Probably the first” Adam muttered and then he
glanced about him “The little girl? She
must be here somewhere. She must have
been the one to have fired the gun”
“Not Tom?”
“No, he’s been dead too long.” Adam’s voice trailed away and he glanced
fearfully at the closed door where Tom and Mary lay together on their marital
bed. “And Mary –“
Joe felt the colour drain from his face. He swallowed bile. His lips went even drier than they had been
already. He could only stare into his
brother’s face and see the horrified misery he felt reflected back at him.
“Then where’s Martha?” he whispered
“Perhaps she’s still alive,” Adam said, and he
looked at the door behind Joe. It was
the door that led to the back storeroom that Tom and Mary used as an
office. “Open it, Joe, unless you want
me to?”
Joe said nothing.
He knew that whatever his brother had already seen had been so miserably
sad that
“Martha?” he whispered as he saw the child sitting
hunched in the corner of the room “She’s here, Adam, she’s alive”
Exultant joy!
They hurried into the room and Joe, having reached her first, went onto
his knees and took her into his arms and smiled down at the child’s face. Adam, so close, watched the young mans smile
fade and the relief disappear from his eyes.
He placed a gentle hand on the younger mans shoulder and knelt down
beside them.
“Martha?” Joe whispered hoarsely. “Martha, can you
hear me?”
The child’s eyes flickered and opened. Already death was waiting to claim its latest
victim. The once blue eyes were already
mud coloured and opaque. The once fresh
rosebud lips were dry and withered as an old crone’s. Joe stroked back the golden blond hair and
his own lips trembled and he looked over at his brother and shook his
head. Martha sighed and whispered a
few words that begged for him to lean down closer to her. Her words brushed his cheek as warm soft air
as soft as a kiss. Then she shuddered in
his arms.
They stayed there for some minutes. It presented a
silent tableau of misery, grief and despair before them. Then Adam placed a hand on Joe’s shoulder
and rose to his feet.
“Joe, leave her be for the present, we have to bury
them”
“Yes, yes, of course we must.”
He didn’t want to leave her. It was as though they were about to abandon
her. How she must have suffered? How alone she must have felt? He shivered, and shivered again. It was though his body could not stop from
reacting to what its eyes had witnessed.
He finally lay her down and looked at her as he did so. She was such a little child with her golden
hair. He could remember her running towards him with smile on her lips and her
cheeks bright from her exertions.
Laughter had tumbled from her mouth and her eyes had been bright with
the excitement of life. He could recall
her tumbling down the hillside with the dogs running by her side and her
brother, Joshua, his feet pounding the ground as he raced to reach him first.
That had only been a few days ago -. He
wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
He wanted to go somewhere private and throw up.
“Are you alright?”
“Adam? “
“Yeah?” Adam
turned his attention back to his brother and frowned “You alright?”
“I feel a bit better now. Sorry –“ he took the canteen of water his
brother handed him and took several long refreshing gulps. As he screwed the lid back onto them he
looked once more at Adam “Do we have to bury them? Can’t we take them into town for a decent
Christian burial?”
“Nope”
“We could put them in the wagon and I’d drive them
there if you’d rather?”
“I said ‘no’.” Adam frowned, his brow furrowed and
Joe could see where the perspiration had settled into the creases of his
brother’s skin. He could see his
brother’s lips had formed a resolute line in preparation for resistance. Joe swallowed and prepared to give him some
“Tom and Mary were good living people, Adam. You
can’t just dig a hole and bury them in this – this place”
“I can. We
can “ Adam corrected himself.
“But, Adam, it isn’t decent –“
“Dying as they did isn’t decent. Not having a doctor to care for them. That
isn’t decent. Being alone – dying alone
– that isn’t decent either. But the fact
is that they’re all dead and –“ his voice faltered and he lowered his eyes “And
we don’t know what they died from, do we?”
“No” Joe’s voice, along with his resistance, slipped
away
“A whole family doesn’t die without any reason,
Joe. There’s no gunshot wounds, there’s
no evidence of any other person having been here for days. All the evidence points to Joshua dying
first, then Tom. Maybe two days, three
days ago” he put his fingers to his head as though trying to sort out the
thoughts that crammed into his brain “Look, Joe, Mary couldn’t bury them. She must have been too weak herself. She left little Martha alone while she went
into that room to die with her husband.
Everything was just left. They
died from some sickness that – “
“Hang on” Joe put his hand on his brothers arm “What
exactly are you saying, Adam?”
“I’m saying – “ Adam stood up, straightened his
shoulders “I’m saying you had better dig one big hole while I go and get the
bodies ready for burial” he glanced back at the house “Or do you think we
should just burn the lot down?”
“With them in it?
Are you crazy?” Joe’s fingers
tightened around his brother’s wrist “You can’t do that.”
“I could, I can.”
“No, they deserve better than that, Adam”
“They deserved better than what they’ve had, they deserved
to have had proper doctoring, medicine, care and attention. Now they’ve died and – and we have to take
care of them.” He took a deep breath and
looked at Joe and then pointed over to the shovel “Dig it really deep”
“Yes, sir.” Joe said quietly and without a word more
he walked over to the shovel and walked away to where he thought they would
have liked to be sleeping altogether.
It was a daisy-decked hillside with views over the
lake that glistened on the horizon. As
his shovel cut into the first sod of soil, he felt the tears mount into his
eyes and fall unheeded down his face.
Martha, little Martha, had died asking for water, for her mama and
papa. He could still feel the soft
breath warm to his cheek. He could still
feel the lightness of her body in his arms.
She was just a little girl, barely six years old.
Chapter 3
Adam stood awhile in the bedroom of the couple and
looked down upon them. They lay close
together, and she, who had lived longer, had slipped into her husband’s arms and
entwined her own arms upon his neck and laid her head upon his shoulder. He wondered if the smells of death that
stunk in his nostrils were of his imagination.
Or was the stench real, conjured up by the intense heat of the room with
its closed window and the flies.
He stepped forward and wished that this task could
have been given to another, and not to him.
Yet it was self designated, after all, who else could he delegate the
task but to his brother. How could he
have done so? He had taken fresh linen
from an ottoman and hastily he covered her with a sheet and drew her away from
the last embrace of her dead love.
He had buried bodies before. There had been those who had been victims of
disease or victims of Indian attacks. Of
accidents and gun fights. But there was
something terribly awful about these deaths for it touched his own heart with a
frightening foreboding. He forced his
mind to face the immediate task and not wander down paths that, at present, he
had barely allowed himself to consider.
Now she was wound in a shroud and he lifted her into his arms and
carried her out to the wagon whereupon he lay her down.
He returned to the room. Flies hovered and buzzed about his
perspiring face and he brushed them away.
He realised now that he was more aware than ever of the heat. He could feel sweat prickling his armpits,
his scalp and running down his spine.
He rolled Toms body into the sheets, and bundled
them close and tightly together as quickly as he possibly could, knowing that
if he hesitated then he would see things that would fill his brain and be food
for nightmares for weeks to come. The
fetid smell of death clung in his nostrils and seeped down his throat and he
longed for the opportunity to run outside, throw him-self into the saddle and
ride home.
As he carried the body to the wagon, he could hear
the scrape of the shovel on the soil. He
placed Tom next to Mary and listened.
Joe was working industriously at his task. He bowed his head, and a shiver trickled up and
down his spine.
He collected little Martha next. He held her close for a moment and looked at
the child’s face and stroked back the blonde hair and felt emotion tighten into
a lump at his throat. Carefully and
gently he placed her in a quilt and wrapped her tightly as though she were that
infant from long ago who had been settled in a manger in swaddling bands.
How he dreaded the next room. The child lay on the bed and he waved aside
the flies and threw open the window, knowing that it was impossible to work in
the claustrophobic heat and stench of the room. His heart was thudding against his ribs as
he pulled the boy up – and then dropped him back into the sheets on the bed. It was no good. He couldn’t bear to touch the child’s corpse
like this and he hurriedly pulled over the soiled linen and bundled it together
all the while with his brain screaming ‘sorry, sorry, Josh, sorry’
Joe glanced up as he heard the wagon approach and he
lowered his head and looked into the hole he had dug. It was certainly big and wide enough. He had
had a task of his own to clamber out of it.
The dogs had sensed their own loss in the way only
the canine species could explain. Now
they sat side by side and raised their muzzles to the sky and whined that
plaintive low warble of distress one associated with wolverines and full
moons. It added an air of eeriness and
unreality to the situation that made Joe feel sick to the pit of his
stomach. As the wagon passed them the
dogs stood and began to pad the ground, yipping and whining, and falling into
miserable uncanny silence once it had rumbled out of their sight.
Adam narrowed his eyes as he approached his
brother. Then, hurriedly, he bowed his head
knowing that his brother would not want him to have witnessed the shed tears
that streaked his cheeks. Without
looking up he put a brake to the vehicle, and clambered down.
Now he paused and placed a hand on the tailgate and
felt tears well up into his own eyes. He
pressed his fingers against his eye lids and stood there awhile until he had
mastered the desire to weep and could get down to the grisly business of taking
the bodies from the wagon floor.
“I’ll help.” whispered Joe and their eyes met, and
very hastily they both turned away for recognising the sorrow and weakness in
the other, weakened their own resolve.
Carefully and as gently as they could they took the
bodies, and lowered them into the gaping wound in the soils surface. When little Martha was settled down to rest
upon the body of her mother, Joe’s restraint faltered and a sob escaped his
lips. When Adam placed a reassuring,
comforting hand on the younger mans shoulders, Joe turned away. He straightened his back and took a deep
breath.
“Are you – are you going to say anything – for – for
them?” he muttered hoarsely.
“Do you want to say anything first?” Adam asked
“No – I mean – I – I can’t – not just yet”
Adam nodded.
Side by side they stood, shoulder to shoulder, and with their hats held
to their chests. Adam took a deep breath
and began to speak the familiar words
“Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and
full of trouble. He cometh forth like a
flower, and is cut down. He fleeth also
as a shadow, and continueth not. So man
lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake,
nor be raised out of their sleep. “
A bird called out in the silence as the two men
stood by the graveside. A breeze drifted
by and the daisies nodded to the rhythm of its passing. Another bird answered the call of the
first. Butterflies drifted in a lazy arc
and faded from their vision
“And the Lord said “ Marvel not at this; for the
hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and
shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life and
they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” he stooped and
picked up a handful of the dry soil and held it over the grave “Dust to dust,
ashes to ashes – may God bless you all and remember you all, Tom, Mary, Joshua,
Mar – Martha” and he let the dust fall, sifting down upon the quilt that
covered the child. He blinked back tears
and pressed his fingers against his eyelids “Amen” he whispered hollowly.
“Amen” Joe echoed and bowed his head and tears
slowly slid down his cheeks forming runnels through the dust that had coated
his skin as a result of his labours.
They stood in silence for some more time. The birds were singing now and both of them
heard the sound of the birds’ song, and pondered over the irony of beauty
continuing on through a macabre moment of time. Adam shivered and turned to look at
Joe. He placed a gentle hand on his
brother’s arm
“Look, Joe, you had best take the wagon back and see
to the stock. They’ll need some feed and
more water. The stage will be here in
less than an hour, and we have to talk”
“Why must I –“ Joe’s protest faded from his lips,
and he took a deep breath and nodded “Sure, we have to talk. I’ll see to the stock and we’ll talk later.”
“Sure, we’ll talk later.” Adam watched as his brother walked away and
mounted the wagon.
Joe had just loosened the brake on the wagon and
flicked the reins when he heard the sound of the shovel biting into the
soil. He turned hurriedly and bit his
bottom lip. As the wagon rolled slowly
back to the yard of the relay station, Joe struggled to shut out the mental
image of his brother shoveling back the mound of soil into the grave.
Chapter 4
Billy hauled on the lead reins and drew the horses
up in a cloud of dust close to the corral where the fresh horses milled
around. The heavy vehicle rocked
slightly on its suspension, as the dust enveloped it in a filmy gray sheen.
“All right, folks, time to git out and git some food
and drink – stop over time just two hours and –“ he paused in mid-sentence and
turned as the recognisable click of a trigger being pulled back sounded eerily
through all the other noises “What in tarnations going on here?” he cussed as
his feet reached the hard packed soil and he turned to face the relay cabin and
saw, with gun pointed directly at him, the tall sombre looking eldest son of
Ben Cartwright “What’s going on, Adam?” Billy said, stepping forward to the
cabin
“Not another step, Billy”
“You must be joshin’” Billy grinned, then stopped as
he recognised something in the young mans face that indicated that he was very
far from joshing. Even as he stood
there the makeshift cabin door opened and Joseph Cartwright stepped outside
into the glaring sun. His own pistol
pointed directly at the stagecoach and his face was a replica of his brothers.
“Tell your passengers to stay on board. Change the horses if you must, but get moving
as soon as you can” Adam Cartwright said in a tone of voice that brooked no
argument and he swung round slowly, his gun carving an arc in the air as he
turned to aim it at one of the passengers
The perspiring form of one of the leading citizens
of Virginia City thrust open the door and peered out, glowered at Adam, and
Joe, and then at Billy.
“I thought you said there was food and drink here.”
he growled, pulling out a kerchief and mopping frantically at the beads of
sweat that rolled down his face.
“You stay right where you are, Mr Jackson” Joe suggested
“You Cartwright’s taking over the relay business as
well is it? Think you can tell us –“
“Some way to run a stage coach business” a woman
whined as she tried to stifle the sounds of crying from her two year old child.
“Adam?
Joe? What’s going on here? Where are the Murphys?” Billy demanded,
thrusting out his gray bristled chin stubbornly
Adam beckoned him to step forwards, and then raised
a hand to stop him after several paces
“That’s far enough, Billy”
Billy looked at one and then the other of the two
brothers. Both of them bore signs of
stress. Their eyes were strained, sad,
and wistful. Dirt and grime clung to
their clothes, and he could see marks on the face of the younger that looked
like the course of tears. He frowned and
glanced over his shoulder as the sound of a baby crying added to that of the
two year olds bawling.
“What happened?
Summat bad?”
“As bad as you can imagine” Adam said quietly “We
just buried Tom and his wife and children”
“What? What
happened?”
“We rode in a few hours ago. Martha died in Joe’s arms. Billy, I don’t know what killed them, but
I’m pretty much convinced that –“ Adam paused and glanced sideways at his
brother and Billy saw there the look of tenderness that fell over the older
mans face as he looked at Joe. The fear
in his eyes, and Billy knew that it was the fear for his brother more than
anything else that now haunted the older man, for when he next looked at Billy
his eyes were haunted and wild “Billy, don’t let anyone come any closer just in
case.”
“In case?” Billy pushed his hat to the back of his
head and surveyed them both.
“Joshua died first, several days ago, then Tom, they
must have been too weak to bury the boy, and then Mary died…Billy, it wasn’t
pleasant finding them like that and – and we don’t know what they died from,
but it was sure something unpleasant.”
“Do you want me to send Dr Martin back to you boys?”
They looked at one another. Joe, his face showed his trust and love for
his older brother, respect for whatever he decided upon, and the confidence
that he would be right. It was the older
man who showed lack of conviction, and that was only due to the love he had for
his brother, his fear that the boy could become sick to the death with the
illness that had been in the cabin. His
responsibility to protect and care for the boy lay upon his heart like a stone. Joe turned away and looked at Billy and shook
his head
“There’s a lot of folk out there, and only two
doctors to see to them. Best you just
leave it to them to decide what to do.”
Adam gave his brother a long look of pride and
respect and then turned to Billy and nodded
“It’ll take another 22 hours to get to town and
another 22 hours for them to come back plus time spent finding them, by which
time –“ he licked his lips, they were dry and he coughed to clear his throat
“Billy, when you see Pa and Hoss, tell them – tell them we did what we thought
to be right and tell them we’ll see them when the next stage comes through” he
paused and frowned and bit his lip and looked over at Joe, who inclined his
head.
“That’s not for another week.” Billy said quietly
“Yes, a weeks time.
Tell them that, and tell them not to do anything without the doctor’s
approval. Tell them –“ Adam paused and
took a deep breath “Tell them we will be thinking of them” he stepped back into
the shadows of the cabin, his hand on his brothers shoulder and Joe, looking at
the frightened faces peering out of the open windows, and then at Billy, nodded
his farewell and stepped with his brother into the cabin.
The door closed quietly.
Within ten minutes the stagecoach rocked back into
motion and sent a cloud of dust and dirt and grit billowing skywards across the
yard towards the gray clapboard building.
Chapter 5
The sounds of the stagecoach finally drifted
away. The two brothers exchanged
glances and reholstered their guns. Adam
nodded curtly to Joe and indicated the table and chairs with a gesture of the
hand. It was obvious it was now time to talk.
Both brothers sat down and looked warily at the other.
“Well?” Adam asked first, raising his eyebrows
“Well what?” Joe replied, with a sinking feeling in
his stomach
“What have you got to tell me?”
“Nuthin’” and the hazel eyes glared defiantly into
his brothers’ face.
Adam nodded thoughtfully for a second or two and
then sat back, his arms folded across his chest and scanning the sad and
anxious face of his youngest brother with a cynical twist to his lips.
“What?” snapped Joe eventually “What are you looking
at me like that for?”
“Because I’m waiting for you to tell me what’s been
going on this past week that I need to know about…”
“Need to know about? What are you getting at, Adam?”
“All right.
This is how I see it. You left
home on Friday with two ranch hands to assist you on fencing the smallest
section and you were expected back, with your two ranch hands, by Wednesday at
the latest…”
“Judd Clancy and Dave Jackson were the two worse
hands you could have given me. They hate
each other –“
“I didn’t give them to you, you chose them yourself”
“Chose them myself? Are you crazy? Those two idiots never work on the same job
to gether, everybody knows that!”
Adam looked coolly at his brother and raised one
eyebrow. He sighed and shrugged “So, what happened to them? Where are they now?”
“I don’t know!”
Joe shrugged and then sagged a little in his chair. Then he looked quizzically up at his brother,
his hazel eyes large in appeal as he leaned forward, and placed his elbows on
the table. “Look, David decided to go
into town Saturday evening. They had
been arguing at each other all day and it was driving me crazy. When he said he was going into town I
reminded him that it would take him at least 24 hours to get there and another
24 hours to get back. He said it didn’t
matter, so long as he was out of Judd’s way.
He saddled up and left us to the job!”
“Mmmm, didn’t you try and stop him?”
“You kidding?
I was glad to see the back of him.
Between the two of them I spent so much time trying to keep the peace
that hardly any work got done. At least
with Dave gone I had hopes of Judd and myself getting the section finished in
time to get home by Wednesday.”
“Go on?”
“I’m thirsty.
Can’t we have something to drink, Adam, we’ve had nothing since we got
here?”
“Use the water in the canteens. The stove hasn’t been lit for some days but
once I get it started we’ll get something to drink and eat.” Adam frowned and
glanced around the room and shivered “We’ll have to scrub this place out”
“WHAT?”
“Yeah, give it a thorough scrubbing with boiling
water, soap, salt, vinegar, you name it, we’ll have to use it….” He sighed
again and then looked back at his brother “Go on, what happened to Judd?”
“Tom came along next morning and said he was going
hunting. Judd suggested we go along
with him –“ Joe’s voice faltered and he went rather red around the face
“YOU went as well?”
“Sure, I didn’t see any harm in it. Tom bagged a good sized deer and said how it
would be a good idea for us to go back to his place for a meal. We rather liked the idea of some venison
steaks so we went back with him.” Joe
took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide at the expression on his brothers’
face “Look, Adam, I had no idea anyone was going to be sick at the time. It was hot, and I was in need of some decent
company. Judd is not my idea of decent
company!”
“But, Joe –“ Adam scratched his neck slowly, as he
pondered over his brothers’ revelations “Joe, don’t you see what’s happened?”
“Look, Adam, I’m not a prophet. I’m not a doctor either!” Joe replied tersely.
Adam raised a hand and took a deep breath in order
to control his emotions. It had not
been Joe’s fault but oh, the avenues of anxiety and fear that now opened up
before them! He nodded slowly “What happened next?”
“Halfway through the meal two wagons pulled up. They were Quakers en route to
“And?” Adam prompted as his brothers’ narrative
suddenly ran dry.
Joe licked his lips and took another deep
breath. He stared at the table and
several flies that were doing some kind of waltz around some crumbs scattered
from some past meal seemed suddenly overlarge.
He gulped noisily.
“Well, a lady came to the door and asked for some
water and food. She asked for someone to
help guide them to
The silence dropped around them like a shroud. Adam leaned back in his chair and surveyed
his brother as though he had suddenly sprouted two heads. Joe just stared at the flies but jumped
slightly when some portion of the bread moved involuntarily of its own
accord. He glanced up at Adam who was
obviously waiting for more damning disclosures.
The bread heaved over, disclosing a fat maggot and Joe’s stomach heaved.
“Mary gave them some food and water. She went to help the sick man and came in
later saying she thought he was dying.
Josh and Martha went to play in the yard with the children whilst we
talked over who could help them. Anyway
Judd said he would take them into town.
Tom said he would come over and give me a hand with the fencing the next
day, but he never came. That’s why the
work wasn’t finished by the time you got there” his voice trailed away
miserably and he ran his fingers through his dark hair “Anyway, what do you
think it is – this sickness?”
“I don’t know.
How would I know? I’m no more a
doctor than you are!” Adam retorted angrily “One thing I do know for sure, it’s
obviously very contagious and if you didn’t have it before, it’s more than
likely both of us could have it by now.”
“How’d you make that out?” Joe asked, his eyes
sliding back to view the fat maggot and the flies that were attacking another
crumb of discarded food.
“You held Martha as she was dying, she coughed and
breathed all over you, didn’t she? And
I’ve – I’ve been clearing away the mess in their rooms, and on their bodies.”
His voice faltered and he looked at his brother’s face and felt contrition
touch his heart “Look, Joe –“
“Okay, I know, I know what you’re about to say. It
was my fault. I should have kept my nose
out of their business and stayed at my job.
If it had been Hoss he would have done just that, and no one would have
been any the wiser –“
“That’s not what I was going to say” Adam replied
gently. He rubbed his hands over his
face and realised he was tired, very tired, and there was still a lot to
do. He looked about the room once again
“Look, there’s no point in worrying about things that may never happen. If we
take sensible precautions neither of us need be ill.”
“And what precautions do you suggest, brother?”
“Well, for a start – why don’t you go and bury that
dead calf and check the mother? It’s
hot and we know enough about heat and dead bodies and flies to know that they
spread disease, whatever the disease may have been…”
“And what will you be doing?”
“I’ll get the stove alight and boil some water. There should be enough salt or vinegar to
use with it…I’ll start cleaning out the rooms…I’ve no wish to stay anywhere
with maggots and flies as my bedside companions”
“Adam?” Joe frowned and pulled away the table “Do
you think we could get this sickness?”
“I can’t pretend that there isn’t a possibility,
Joe. We’ve both been – “ he brushed some
flies away from his face “too close for comfort. It could be either one of us, both of us or
neither. Time will tell, I guess”
“And, you don’t know what it could be?”
“I know it isn’t diphtheria, nor smallpox nor
scarlet fever. I’d have burnt the place
down had it been any of them, and it wasn’t poison of any kind, because had it
been they would have all died at the same time, within hours of one another.”
“Dysentery?” Joe suggested
“Could be!
My guess is that it started with that wagonload of Quakers. In which case –“
“In which case, Judd will have it and so will the
town”
Adam chewed on his thumb for some seconds and then
glanced over at Joe and shook his head “Joe, there’s no point in worrying about
them now. We can’t change that situation
and, thankfully, there are doctors in town.
We need to care for ourselves.”
“Sure, you’re right.” Joe put out a hand and took a deep breath
“Adam, I’m sorry I fought with you earlier.
I’m sorry I raised my hand against you.”
“I know.” Adam took the hand and shook it warmly and
then, in a rare gesture of warmth, he gave his brother a hug “Let’s get on now,
huh?”
“Sure, Adam.
And then I’ll come in and give you a hand.” He smiled at his brother and
quickly left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.
Adam watched him go with no answering smile on his
face. The tasks ahead were unpleasant and
could even be in the realms of unnecessary if they were already contaminated
with the disease. He forced himself to
get the stove alight and began to fill pans with water and as they boiled he
went in search of salt and vinegar and any other herbs that he could find that
were the plainsman’s only defenses any disease at that time.
Chapter 7
One room scrubbed clean. He closed the door and wiped his brow. There had been dried faeces on the
floor. It had turned his stomach to see
maggots on the linen and mattress. Flies
everywhere. It was cleaner now. He had used the old seaman’s trick of
scattering the floorboards with salt and then sluicing them with boiling water
and then scouring them with the hard bristled brush. Outside in the yard the fire devoured the
soiled linen and bedding. Smoke like
incense coiled from the corner of the room from the dried bunches of herbs he
had found in Mary’s cold store. Hop
Sing had told him how effective they could be as a preventive against disease.
The stove was burning hot, and water bubbled in
their pans and he picked up more salt.
He fumbled and dropped some and paused to think – was it a sign of mere
fatigue and hunger, or of the sickness?
Joe came into the room as Adam closed the door on
the other room. The two brothers looked
at one another and Joe sighed
“You look a mess.”
He observed
“So do you” Adam responded with a smile.
“I saw the fire.
What are you burning?”
“Anything that’s been soiled. I found some clean untouched linen in a closet. Look, Joe, any chance of getting some milk
from those cows? We could do with some,
and best feed those dogs. Once we’ve
eaten, we’ll no doubt sleep for hours!”
“I could sleep on my feet right now –“ Joe yawned
and stretched, “I’ll go and see about that milk –“
Joe made his way slowly to the barn and to the
cattle byre where the milk cow stood in her stall, chomping at the hay. She turned liquid brown eyes to view him and
continued to chew the cud as she watched him pull out a stool and bucket.
He had gentle hands and she was quite happy to let
him strip her of the milk that would have been her calfs. The white liquid frothed in the bucket, rich
and creamy. She was a good yielder and
Joe felt some peace of mind steal over him as he sat with his hands doing their
work, and the warmth of her body reminding him of days gone by when he had been
a child and one of his chores had been to bring in the early morning milk.
When he left the barn he stood for a moment or two
and surveyed the scene about him. It was
daylights ending, the sky was darkening and the first star was already
twinkling high overhead. In the yard he
saw Adam throw something onto the flames that licked hungrily upwards and he
wondered just how bad things could have been in those rooms. He realised then that his brother had
protected him from seeing the worse and for that he was truly grateful. He leaned down and picked up the bucket.
Strange. His
head was spinning round and he felt dizzy.
Don’t be stupid, he told him-self. Don’t let your imagination run away
with itself. You have had nothing to eat
since morning and little to drink. You’re bound to be dizzy. He took a deep breath and walked down to the
house. Adam was already going inside,
the door swung open and closed behind him.
When he pushed his way into the house Adam glanced
up and smiled. Joe looked around the
room and frowned thoughtfully. It looked
so much cleaner, and smelt – he raised his face and inhaled the aroma – it
smelt of sweet pleasant things instead of vomit, excrement and death.
Adam jerked his thumb over to the stove where the
coffee pot was steaming on the hot plate.
Then he threw some boiling water over the table and began to scrub at
it. He was now stripped to the waist
for his shirt had become so wet with sweat that it had been more of a nuisance
and had to be discarded. He scrubbed so
hard at the table that Joe wondered if he would wear the brush down to the stub
of the bristles. He picked up a cloth
and began to dry away the excess water.
They worked together without a word.
“Pa told me once “ Adam suddenly broke the silence
by speaking out “how he was on board a ship when typhus broke out. The men were falling like - like flies, he said. Gran’pa Stoddard ordered the men who were
able, to get out and keel haul the deck.
Then everything had to be scrubbed inside. Scrubbed and scoured with boiling salted
water and strong soap. They kept away
from other ships for a week to ten days.
Every day the deck and everything inside and out was scrubbed and
scoured.” He wiped sweat from his brow
with the back of his arm and straightened his back “Perhaps it’ll help here
too….”
“What? We
gotta clean this place out every day?” Joe protested, his eyes widening
“Gran’pa Stoddard saved most of his men. And Hop Sing told me how burning herbs in a
sick room could purify it. I’m not sure
of what, but I think we need all the help we can get.”
“Do you really think it’ll be that bad, Adam?” Joe said quietly
“I don’t want it to be, Joe, but if we don’t protect
ourselves in whatever way we can, then we have only ourselves to blame if it
does come to the very worse thing.”
“I guess you’re right.” Joe forced a smile “Coffee? I brought the milk”
“Good, but first of all –“ Adam heaved some pans
back onto the stove “we’ll wash ourselves down. And before we use that milk, Joe, pour it
through that cloth”
Joe opened his mouth to protest and then clamped it
shut. He had never experienced the
misery of epidemics that swept through towns and settlements like a prairie
fire out of control. But he could
remember little Martha dying in his arms only hours ago. Oh, was it really only hours?
They used the strong green soap and washed themselves
thoroughly. The soap smelt of lye and pine.
Joe hated the smell. Adam
scrubbed his shirt clean as well, hanging it on a hook near the stove to dry
off. As they sat at the table and drank
their coffee they watched the steam coming off the shirt as it dried. On the stove ham sizzled along with some
eggs. Joe was so hungry that he longed
for the food to cook more quickly. He
looked over at his brother and saw the weariness in his brother’s eyes and
sighed
“I wish we were home now.” he said quietly, cradling
his fingers around the cup.
“So do I” Adam replied and he nodded slowly, his
eyes half closed in sleep.
Chapter 9
“Mr Cartwright?
Mr Cartwright?”
Ben Cartwright moved away from the table with such
force that everything on it rattled. He
threw down the serviette and was halfway to the door when it was thrust open
and Matt Taitt, one of the ranch hands, stepped into the room
“Judd’s back, Mr Cartwright, he’s been shot”
Ben paused momentarily, before hurrying from the
room behind the ranch hand and to the bunk -house where he could see several of
the hands assisting Judd through the door into the room. Questions and fears raced through the
rancher mind. Judd was with Joe, but had
returned alone. He’d returned alone and
shot so what had happened to Dave the other ranch hand, and more importantly to
the loving father, what had happened to his son?
With these questions tumbling through his head Ben
hurried to the sick mans bed, where Hop Sing was already peeling aside the
bloodied shirt in order to examine and tend the injury. It was an unpleasant sight, and the men
there stepped back and murmured amongst themselves. The man was all but dead, but had ridden hard
to reach the Ponderosa. The question
they were now asking themselves was exactly what had happened to Joe, and to
Davy, if Judd was here now in such a bad condition.
“Velly bad, Mr Cattlight” Hop Sing murmured softly,
“No need get doctah.”
Ben nodded and approached the bed and leaned over
the dying man who raised his eyes in an attempt to get the face of his employer
more into focus.
“Mr Cartwright?”
“Yes, Judd.
It’s all right, you made it home safely” Ben said gently, taking hold of
the mans hand in his own, for Judd was young, as young as Joe, and when he died
there would be grieving parents to mourn his passing.
“Mr Cartwright?”
“I’m here” Ben said patiently, knowing that the
dying could not be rushed, but oh, if only he would tell him what he needed to
know “Judd? Where’s Joe?”
“Back at the fence.
He’s okay, Mr Cartwright, honest to God, he’s okay.”
Ben nodded slowly and took a deep breath of
relief. He signaled to the men to step
back and to stop crowding the bed. Hop
Sing continued to gently bathe the wound, although there was little point, but
it offered some comfort and hope to the young man.
“Mr Cartwright, there’s some folk on the far side of
“Slowly, Judd, slowly now. What folk are these?”
“Quakers. Three
families. Sickness in the wagons,
several died even as we were on the road so I thought best take them to open
land and fresh water. Get here and ask
you for advice.”
Ben took a deep breath. Sickness. He bit on his bottom lip and glanced down at
Hop Sing and then looked down on the pallid sweating face of the youth
“What kind of sickness, Judd?”
“I dunno, sir.
Sweating, fainting, fever and it sure moved when it gets going. Didn’t seem no one was sick but one man when
we left then suddenly everyone was coming down with it. Some kids there, they got sick too.”
“Did Joe meet them?”
Matt Taitt put a hand on Bens shoulder, obviously
the rancher would want to know about his son, but there were other questions
that needed to be asked, and other people to consider. Ben glanced up anxiously
“Ask him who shot him? Quakers are supposed to be peaceable folk “
Matt suggested.
“Judd” Ben leaned closer to the man for the rapid
breathing indicated that there was less time now than ever to find any answers
to any questions any one would ask “Judd, who shot you?”
“I left the wagons there. Miss Prudence said it was a good idea. I wanted to get the doctor. Couldn’t take the wagons into town. Couldn’t take them there, too many could get
sick and die – “
“That’s right, Judd, you did right.” Ben whispered
reassuringly
“Then I saw Dave riding up and told him what had
happened. He said I had the sickness too
now and that I would kill anyone who touched me. I ain’t got the sickness though, have I, Mr
Cartwright?” he turned appealing eyes to the older man, who laid his hand
reassuringly on his shoulder and shook his head. “I told him I had to come and see you,
you’d know what to do for the best and as I rode off, Dave shot me. I fell – “
his voice trailed away and Hop Sing got to his feet and shuffled
away. “Mr Cartwright, don’t worry about
Joe, he’s okay. He was at the Murphy’s
having a great time –“
“Judd, did Joe come into contact with these
people? Do you know if –“ his voice
trailed away as Judd gave a shudder that made the bed rattle. Then his body went slack and everyone there
knew then, that Judd was dead. Ben
gently closed the young mans eyes and with a sigh got to his feet. He looked over at Matt and the other men
grouped there and then at Hop Sing
“Well, you heard what Judd said. We’ve sick people on the Ponderosa and a
killer roaming loose.”
“Mr Cartwright, I don’t much like the idea of them
sick folk being around. Seems to me if
they have food and clean water, it would be best for them to stay put as they
are, no need for any of us to get involved and get the sickness too.” Matt
observed, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.
“If Judd had caught the sickness we would probably
have it too.” Another exclaimed with panic touching his voice and the murmur
from the other men was a clear indication of how quickly fear could arouse
emotions amongst them. Ben raised a hand
“I doubt if Judd was stupid enough to get in contact
with any of the sick people. But, if he had been, there is very little we can
do about it now. He’s dead now. Joel, I’d like you to attend to his burial. Matt, I want you to ride into town and inform
the doctor and also Roy Coffee of what has happened here.”
“But what if I’ve got the sickness, boss?” Matt’s
eyes opened wide in horror “In this heat
and in some areas of town, it could spread like a wild prairie fire”
Ben nodded thoughtfully and looked at the other men
there. He took a deep breath and placed
a hand on the ranch hands shoulder
“I understand what you mean, Matt. All right, this is what I’ll do – I’ll get
one of the boys who hasn’t been in contact with any of us, to go into
town. Then I want several of you to
ride with me to track Dave down, and to locate these wagons.”
Several men grumbled loudly about this, and shifted
uneasily about the room. Matt Taitt
looked sullen and Ben shook his head sadly
“Look, boys, if we have got this sickness, which I
very much doubt, it won’t matter too much about going to those wagons, will it?
“
“If we ain’t got the sickness we sure will if we go
near them wagons” Jake yelled and his comment was supported loudly by the other
men there.
“We’ll make sure that we don’t go near enough the
wagons to catch any sickness. But they
need some contact with other people, just so that they know help is on the
way. We also need to know what kind of
sickness it is and what they need in the way of supplies.” Ben’s black eyes pierced each one of them
through the marrow of their souls, and they quailed somewhat “You’re all good
Christian men, and as such would go to the aid of those in need just as we
would expect them to come to our aid, should we require it.”
There was a murmur of assent and Ben nodded, and,
followed by Hop Sing, left the bunk- house.
Joel glanced about him and then at Matt
“I ain’t wanting to get any sickness –“ he grumbled
“No one’s expecting you to, so shut up!” came Matt’s
swift rejoinder.
They heard the ringing of the triangle summoning the
men from their duties on other parts of the ranch.
“All right, men, let’s saddle up and get ready. Mr Cartwright will want us riding out of here
like yesterday!” Matt yelled and showed
a good example by grabbing at his hat and leaving the building immediately.
Chapter 10
Hoss Cartwright pocketed his change and nodded his
farewell to Sally Cass. He leaned down
and picked up a sack of flour with an ease that would have been the envy of
Widow Clementine’s husband, ‘Arry, had he been alive to see it.
Stepping out of the General Store he dumped the sack
in amongst the rest of the dry goods and straightened his back and looked
around him. Normally life in
He pushed his hat back in amazement at the stampede
that was taking place down the sidewalks and
Had he missed out on an announcement of someone
important coming to town? He scratched
his head and viewed the commotion with renewed interest before deciding for
himself that he should amble along and see what was going on.
It seemed that everyone was talking at one. A great babble of voices all rose to a
crescendo of sound that could only be the prelude to panic. He elbowed his way through the throng and came
stomach to stomach with Mr Jackson.
“You! You and
your brothers!”
“Hey, steady up thar, Mr Jackson” Hoss protested,
pushing the offending finger away with a firm but gentle hand “’Fore you go
making accusations, perhaps you could tell me what’s going on?”
“Your brothers – that’s what’s going on” a female
snapped as she held her child tightly to her “Firing guns, not letting folks
have their proper stop, and telling ‘em to clear on out. A fine how d’you do, I must say”
“And scaring folks by telling ‘em there was sickness
about –“
“Sickness – what sickness?” Hoss asked and his
question was echo’d around the crowd “C’mon, tell me, what sickness?”
“Billy seems to be the only one who knows – ask him”
came the short reply.
The crowd, including Hoss, now surrounded Billy who
told them what he could to the best of his knowledge. It was sufficient however
to cause the stampede to now flow in the opposite direction as the crowd
mithered around and then scattered in all four directions of town. Billy found himself alone on the street with
Hoss. He shook his head and pulled out a
handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face and neck
“I rode as fast as I could to get into town to tell
the doc and Sherriff Coffee, but that fool
“Did Adam or Joe say they had the sickness, Billy?”
“Nope, jest what I said, the Murphys had died and
they had jest buried ‘em all.”
“The Murphy’s” Hoss said sadly, and he shook his
head “Joshua and Martha…shucks, they were only little kids”
“Martha died in Joe’s arms, so Adam said”
Hoss nodded and stood quietly on the sidewalk. He stood for some time with the sun beating
down on him as he thought over all the implications of what had been said and
what had been left unsaid. Eventually
he moved and strode back to his wagon, only to find a crowd of the townsfolk
gathered around it. He elbowed his way
through and clambered onto the seat
“Hey, Hoss?”
“Yeah?” he turned to look down at the anxious face
of one of the newer homesteaders
“Is it true your brothers have got the sickness?”
“No, it ain’t, mister” he picked up the reins of the
horses and frowned slightly “You jest git that idea clear outa your head, you
hear?”
“You just tell your old man we don’t want any
Cartwrights coming into town nor anywhere near if they got sickness on the
Ponderosa.” Another voice yelled
“You Cartwrights should be quarantined.” A shrill
voice; that of a woman, hovered over the murmers of the crowd.
“I understand you’re all worried an’ all, but there
ain’t no sickness on the Ponderosa. If
there were, my Pa would make sure no one came into town, ma’am”
Roy Coffee appeared through the crowd, elbowing them
out of the way in his inimitable fashion.
They parted to let him through and he approached the wagon and looked up
at Hoss
“What’s all this news, Hoss? Everything all right back home?”
“Yep. There
ain’t no sickness on the Ponderosa, Roy, but seems there is at the relay
station. The Murphy’s have all died from
it and –“
“And I understand Adam and Joe are there now?”
“I don’t know,
“Listen, young man, a word of advice. You keep away from that relay station, d’you
hear? If the sickness is that bad, then
we want it kept contained as much as possible.
The more folks go there and then travel about the more likely it is to
reach town and –“ someone shrieked and despite Roy flapping his arms about like
a demented turkey for peace and quiet, the crowd began to mumble rather like
Versuvius with cries of “it’s in town”
“The sickness” “The children –“
and suddenly they were scattering, to spread their wrongly interpreted news far
and wide.
“Dangburn it,
“Wal”
Paul Martin hurried across the road, waving his hat
in an attempt to prevent the young man leaving.
Hoss waited as patiently as he could for the portly doctor to reach the
wagon
“Is it true about the Murphy’s, Hoss?”
“According to Billy, yes, sir.”
“All four of them dead?”
“Yes, sir”
“What about your brothers?”
“Adam and Joe were there when little Martha
died. Buried ‘em before the stage got
there. Reckon they’ll stay put for a
while – “ Hoss chewed on his bottom lip
and looked down at the doctor “Any idea what it could be, Doc?”
“None at all.
This is the first I’ve heard of it.
There’s no sickness of any kind in town, other than what is usual at
this time of year”
“Then – “ Hoss gulped, thinking of Adam and Joe
alone in the relay station “What do you reckon we should do about my brothers,
Doc?”
“I’ll try and get to them as soon as I can,
Hoss. At present I’m run off my feet
with some other things, but as soon as I can, I’ll get to them.”
Hoss nodded.
As soon as he could, huh! He
flicked the reins and urged the horses’ forwards. As soon as he could and that could be too
late! Once out of town he flicked the
reins and sent the horses into a gallop.
Some miles from home and a rider in a cloud of dust emerged
galloping towards him. He pulled the
horses up sharp and veered to the left in order for the horseman to thunder
past him. He screwed up his eyes in
order to make out who the rider was, and recognised young Les Hallaran. He yelled after him to stop, but Les was
going too fast and was too intent on his assignment to listen to Hoss.
Chapter 11
“I’m Prudence Callaghan”
The young woman stepped forward, and stopped at what
she must have felt was a safe distance from the group of men. She was a pretty woman, with soft eyes, and
dark hair bundled in a snood, dressed in a gray frock with white collar and
cuffs. She looked at the men and settled
on Ben as the leader
“I appreciate you letting us stay here, Mr
Cartwright. Judd explained all about
you, and said you would rather we stayed here than ride on into town.”
“I would, Miss Callaghan. Do you have any idea what this sickness is
all about?”
“Not really.
We were four wagons when we started.
Everything went well until some weeks ago when we stopped at a small
place just on the
“I think I know the place you mean. No one has lived there in some years. It’s never been a healthy area, the
homesteaders get sick and leave.”
“I can well believe it. Nothing seems to live there but mosquito’s
and rats.”
She glanced over her shoulder to survey her people
who were standing around listening to the conversation. “Then after a few days we found that the
water we had in our barrels from the wells was stagnant – everyone seemed to be
getting sick.”
“You stayed at the relay station – the Murphys – “
“Oh yes, they were very hospitable.”
“Was there a young man there with them and Judd?”
“Yes, a young man called Joe. But I never saw him – Judd just spoke to him
before leaving.”
Ben nodded and straightened his back. It was not exactly reassuring information and
it left him feeling unsure as to what to do.
He turned to Matt and waved him forward so that they were both sitting
on their horses looking down at the young woman
“We’ve brought you fresh fruit and food that we felt
you may need. I’ve also sent one of my
men into town to get the doctor to see to you.
Hopefully if you stay here, and make sure that your people stay put, we
can contain this sickness here. Are
there many sick at the moment?”
“A woman and her child. But they do not seem to be so ill as the
others were previously.”
Ben nodded and turned to Matt “Get everything
unloaded and leave it here for them to collect when we leave.” Matt nodded acknowledgement and rode to the
wagon whilst Ben concluded his conversation with Miss Callaghan.
The temptation to ride to the relay station, and on
to where Joe and Adam would be working on the fences was very strong in Ben’s
heart and mind. But the fear that Judd
may have brought something of the sickness with him, thereby contaminating him
and the other men, cautioned him to follow the course of wisdom. He turned Bucks head towards home.
Chapter 12
Adam surveyed the cow thoughtfully. No doubt about it, she was due to deliver her
calf sometime that day, or evening. He chewed on his bottom lip and walked
around her, hoping that he could gauge whether or not her delivery would be an
easy one. An easy one meaning one that
she could do without any help from either of them.
He had fed the animals, watered them, fussed over
Sport and Cochise, and milked the cow.
He was tired. He wiped his brow
and stared at the cow. The cow stared
back.
“Look” he said in a very even patient voice “If you
intend having this calf today, I want it to be a clean delivery. No fuss.
No bother. No bawling out for
help in the middle of the night. Do you
understand?”
The cow chewed her cud and stared at him
thoughtfully. Her brown eyes looked
reproachful. He reached out and stroked
her neck and ran his hand along her flanks and sighed – no doubt about it, that
calf was a big one and from the way it was laying, it was going to arrive in a
hurry.
He left the barn with a bucket of cool milk and
stood at the doorway and looked down at the relay station. It had been a strange night. They had slept on mattresses of straw over
which they had thrown clean linen and their own blankets. They had slept the sleep of the exhausted
and woken up just as weary as when they had gone to bed.
Perhaps, after coffee and some flapjacks inside
them, they would feel much better. He
was striding down towards the building when the door opened and Joe
emerged. He was hanging onto the
doorframe, and seemed to swing on it for a second, and then slithered onto his
knees.
“Adam. Adam”
he doubled over, clutched at his stomache and vomited violently into the dirt.
Bucket and milk were scattered as Adam put his legs
to good use and ran all the way down to the place where his brother lay,
doubled up, groaning in pain. Adam
tried to think of anything at all his brother may have said to have warned him
that this was possible, that he could be ill, but there had been nothing. There had been nothing, except for the
restlessness of his sleep during that night.
In one swift move he gathered his brother into his
arms and hurried him back into the house.
There he settled him back down onto the truckle bed and felt his brow
and pulse. The pulse beat was rapid, too
rapid. His brow was hot, feverishly
hot. Already Joe’s lips were becoming
dry, like those of a man so hot with fever that all moisture was being drawn
from his body.
“It’s alright. Joe, it’s alright” Adam murmured
gently, wiping a wet cloth around the younger mans face. How could he be saying it was alright; when
it was so obviously NOT alright. Joe had
passed from being healthy one minute to this fever ridden body the next. It had been as swift as a bullet, only
silent, and deadly.
“Adam?”
Joe’s hands clutched at his brothers arms and tightened as a spasm of
pain swept over him, causing him to groan involuntarily and double over once
again.
Adam felt bile touch his own throat as vomit slewed
from the younger mans mouth and onto the bed coverings and floor. Joe’s legs threshed against the bedding and
he groaned so pitifully that
With a gentleness that not many would have
associated with the eldest Cartwright brother, Adam began to undress his little
brother. He covered him with a blanket
and went and boiled water with a scattering of herbs, sweet smelling and
comforting. When he returned to the
bedroom Joe had vomited more, vomit alarmingly streaked with the ominous streak
of blood.
Don’t panic.
Panic and you’ll frighten him as well as yourself. Adam bit his lips and set to cleaning his
brother. Washing him gently. Letting the water cool on his feverishly hot
body. He dribbled cold boiled water
through the parched lips. Wiped away
the sweat that beaded the youthful brow.
I remember when you were a baby, Joseph, and your mother held her in her arms and nursed you at her breast. I remember you when you lay helpless and weak, with a red angry face as you denied your existence so soon in this world. I remember you when you cried for no other reason than that you wanted to be fed, to be cleaned, to be loved. Just like now I would hold you, and just like now I would clean you. You were weak then, and you are weak now. When you needed me then, I came when you cried. Cry for me now, I’m still here. I’m still here.
“Adam?” his name was whispered through hoarse lips, from a voice parched by the burning acid of bile and vomit “Adam, you - you won’t let them get me, will you?”
“No, Joe, no one will get you, I promise” he
whispered with a break in his voice as his brothers tear filled eyes turned to
his face “I promise”
“So many of them.
They’re buzzing about and crawling everywhere. I can feel them crawling over my body,
Adam. Don’t – don’t let them get me,
will you?”
Adam frowned, and then realised that his brother was
talking about the flies and the maggots that had made both their skins crawl
the previous day. He drew in a deep
breath and stroked back the dark hair.
Joe’s hair was wet from perspiration, spiked with beads of sweat. It curled rebelliously as
You bawled for twenty- four hours after you were
born. Got redder and redder in the
face, and we couldn’t see your eyes for nigh on a week. But you had a mass of dark hair even
then. Don’t go quiet on me, Joe “
“What’s wrong with me,
Adam? I feel – weak – I just feel so
tired and weak” his voice was less than a whisper, Adam had to lean his head
down and let the silently breathed words drift into his ear
“I don’t know, Joe” he
replied quietly “But you’ll get better soon, I promise you.”
“Don’t let those flies
come back”
“I won’t”
“Am I – Am I going to
die?”
“Not if I can help it,
Joe”
“I didn’t get to finish
the fencing.”
Adam swallowed a lump in
his throat. Darn the fencing he wanted
to shout, and darn this place. He bowed
his head and closed his eyes tightly, as tightly as he could to try and shut
out the anger and the disgust and misery he felt at that moment. He could feel his brother’s body trembling in
his arms and hurriedly pulled the blanket from his own bed and covered his
brother with it.
He looked down at the
pallid waxy face with its long lashes forming a gentle crescent shadow on the
pale cheeks. The sheen of perspiration
gleamed on the usually tanned skin.
Gently he removed the soiled clothing and blanket and took it to the
other room.
Chapter 13
“Pa”
The one word, exclamation
and accusation all in one, stopped Ben in his tracks. He felt a dreadful fear grip him as he
walked hurriedly towards his son
“What’s wrong?”
“Wrong? Jest about everything, pa! Where’ve you bin, fer Pete’s sake” Hoss ran
his strong fingers through his scant hair, making it stand on end as a result. “Pa, you heard about any sickness on the
Ponderosa?”
“Tell me what you know,
son” Ben said quietly, unbuckling his belt and trying to still the silent voice
that niggled at the back of his brain.
Ignored also the tightening of his stomach as though in preparation for some
granite fist to strike a felling blow.
“The Murphy’s way station
was hit by some sickness. They’re dead”
“All of them?”
“Thet’s not all, pa. Adam and Joe are there. They buried them, seems little Martha died in
Joe’s arms” Hoss put out a hand as he saw his father stagger slightly, just a
slight faltering, for then the dark eyes turned back to him and demanded more
“Billy and the stagecoach saw them yesterday.
Adam and Joe told them to keep driving.”
“Were they alright?”
“They were then, pa, but they
told Billy they wouldn’t leave until next week.”
Ben said nothing, but
stared at the far off wall. That’s how
he would expect his sons to act.
Perhaps they were dying now. They
would need him and Hoss. He glanced at
Hoss who was watching him with anxious, frightened blue eyes. He took a deep breath and nodded
“They did right. No need to take unnecessary risks, not with
something like this.”
“But, pa, that was hours
ago, I bin waiting for you for ages so’s we could ride on out there and be with
them”
“No – “ Ben reached out a
hand and seized Hoss’ arm “No, we need to stay put right here. We could well have the sickness ourselves and
the more we travel about, the more likely we are to spread it abroad. Did Hop Sing tell you about Judd and Dave?”
“Yeah, but that don’t
make no sense, pa. I know they didn’t
see eye to eye at times, but I can’t imagine Dave shooting Judd down.”
“Humm” Ben shook his head “Fear of the unknown, the unseen, makes people act in strange ways.” He took a deep breath and was about to speak when the sound of horses entering the yard make him turn, hopefully, in the direction of the door.
“D’you reckon it could be Joe and Adam?” Hoss said
hopefully, trailing behind his father as they approached the door.
“I pray so” came Ben’s fervent reply and he pulled
the door wide and stepped out onto the verandah.
Hoss noticed the droop of the shoulders and knew
that their hopes were dashed. He stepped
to his fathers’ side and paused. Doctor
Paul Martin drew up his buggy and beside him rode Dave, his rifle nestled in
the crook of his arm.
“What’s going on here?” Ben demanded, striding forwards with his dark
eyes bright with anger “Davy? You’ve
some explaining to do, boy. Paul? What are you doing here?”
“You may well ask” Paul Martin growled. He clambered down from the buggy and grabbed
at his medical bag. “I was on the way to
see the people on that wagon train you warned me about –“
“I see. My
man found you then?”
“Oh yes, he found me, the trouble is, this other found
me as well.” He jerked his thumb in Dave’s direction “And forced me to come
here instead.”
“Why, David?” Hoss frowned “Those folk need a doctor
to see to them, Pa promised them that help and –“
“And they ain’t got no rights to a doctor. NO good you saying any different, Hoss, nor
none of you either. Just git into the
house –“ he swung the rifle in a steady arc “I mean it, Mr Cartwright, git into
the house”
Hoss and Ben exchanged looks and without a word
returned to the house. They were followed closley by Paul and then David. At
the doorway, Dave turned to check around the yard in order to ascertain that he
had not been noticed.
The door closed with a soft thud.
“You kin sit down, Mr Cartwright. I want you to be comfortable, you know.”
“All right, Davy, enough of this charade, boy. Why don’t you just tell us what it is that’s
on your mind and why you killed young Judd?” Ben asked with a scowl on his face
as he took the young mans advice and sat down.
“You killed Judd?” Paul Martin said looking at David
with a mixture of emotions on his countenance.
“It wasn’t meant to happen” David said with a slight
frown on his brow and he looked at Ben with the clear -eyed look of an
innocent, unaware of the harm he had achieved in his actions. “Mr Cartwright, Judd had been with those
people who had the sickness. He said he
was going to ride on here and get you to send someone for the doctor but I
knew, Mr Cartwright, that if he did that, then he could be bringing the
sickness to the Ponderosa.”
“But, Davy, what else could he have done?” Hoss
asked gently, his blue eyes fixed upon the anxious face of the young man
“One things for sure, Hoss, he should never have
thought of bringing those folk onto the Ponderosa. I told him that if he did that, he was
signing your death warrants. I ain’t
messing –“ he licked his lips, the first sign of nervousness he had displayed
“Mr Cartwright, did I ever tell you about my folks?”
“No, Davy, I don’t believe you ever did.” Ben glanced over at his son, the tone of his
voice was gentle, it was a tone Hoss knew well. It was the voice of a man seeking to calm
and reassure a nervous young man with his finger on the trigger of his
rifle. Hoss sat down on the edge of the
big coffee table and waited.
“Well, sir, my folks settled on a small place in
Seconds ticked by as he paused. His narrative had obviously released memories
of those happy days and he wished to dwell, fondly, upon them. He sighed, and
unconsciously, everyone else in the room did likewise.
“Happened a wagon came by and the folk asked if they
could settle along with us. The folks
all agree that it would be fine for them to do so, and if more folks came
along, then the settlement would soon grow into a good sized town in no time at
all.” Dave’s voice was a slow drawl, and
the three men sat and listened as though there was nothing incongruous about
being there under threat by the rifle the young man held in his hands so
steadily. “Within a few days on, one of
the got sick. Then another. The whole lot of them died within less than a
week. A few days later my ma got sick
and then someone else. Within six weeks
there were only half a dozen of us left alive.
We waited awhile to see if we would die too, but we did not. Our hopes did though. So did the settlement. My brother and I went to live with an old
aunt and when she died we just roamed.
The Ponderosa was my first taste of what home could have been like. I could not let Judd ruin it like he would
have done if he brought the sickness here too.”
His voice ended on a high note. It prompted him to get back on his feet and
grip his rifle as though it was necessary for them to understand how important
everything was to him. Hoss rose to his
feet slowly and put his hands on his hips and looked at the young man
“Dave, your concerns for the Ponderosa did not give
you the right to shoot down a man. You
know that, don’t you?”
“He was coming here.
He had the sickness, Hoss”
“Mebbe so” Hoss said quietly, taking a step and two
towards him “Mebbe so. The fact is that
we’ll never know now, will we? He’s
dead, Dave. He died here.”
“He died here?”
Dave’s face was a portrait of misery as he looked from one to the other
of them. Hoss stepped a little nearer
and reached out a hand “That means you may all have the sickness then?” Dave
groaned. The hold on the rifle tightened
and he back paced a little way, distancing himself from Hoss. “You’d best get back there, Hoss, and sit
awhile – there ain’t no place we’re going jest yet.”
Silence settled upon the big room as Hoss took his
seat. The four men sat and said
nothing. The rifle was held steady in
Dave’s hands and pointed directly at Hoss.
It occurred to Ben that whatever was happening to Adam and Joe about that
he knew nothing, the possibility of Hoss being killed suddenly became far too
real for him to contemplate.
“Why’d he have to come here? Why’d he have to do that? I told him he was risking all your lives by
bringing those folks onto the Pondorosa, wasn’t that bad enough?”
“This was his home, Davy.” Ben said quietly “Judd
always thought of the Pondorosa as his home.
Where else would he have gone when he was dying?”
“I didn’t mean to kill him. He just shot off with his big mouth as always
and then said I didn’t care what happened to other folk. He said I had no right to say anything anyway
seeing as how I wasn’t there when the folk arrived at the way station. But I told him, I seen what they did, I seen
what they’d left, at the way station.”
“What way station, Davy? Tell us, what way station do you mean?” Ben
coaxed gently.
Davy wiped away a film of sweat that had settled
upon his upper lip like a greasy moustache.
He shrugged and nestled the rifle closer to his body, as though in a
defensive attitude
“The Murphys.
I was on my way back to help with the fencing but needed water for my
canteen so went off the trail a mite. I
knew the Murphys was close by so went to ask them for some water from their
well. Weren’t no one about when I got
there so I went to the house but it all seemed shut up. I walked about the place and looked through
one of the windows and saw the bodies on the bed.”
“Did you go inside to see if they needed help?” the
doctor asked, his voice thin with condemnation
“No. They
were beyond help. I saw them there and
it was like I was back in that settlement all over again. I was turning away when I heard crying. I
walked all around the place and peeked into all the windows and saw the girl
crying in a room all on her own.”
“And you left her?” Hoss growled, clenching his
fists tightly
“I fired off three shots and decided the best thing
to do was git a doctor. I hadn’t gone
into the house so I thought it wouldn’t do any harm to go into town but on the
way there, I saw where Judd had taken the wagons off the track onto Pondorosa
land. Then he told me what had happened, and I told
him clear. I told him those folk had
brought sickness to the way station and wiped ‘em out. He was about to do the same to the whole
Pondorosa. He yelled and shouted at me
and drew on me, so I drew quicker.” he
lowered his head and frowned slightly “I was scared. Seeing what had happened back at the Murphy’s
and then remembering what had happened to my folks. It can all happen so quickly, Mr
Cartwright. It’s unseen, you don’t see
your enemy, until you’re on your knees and dying!”
“You said, you fired off three shots –“ Hoss
murmered, turning his back on the young man and facing the big hearth
“Sure, I had to do something for the little
girl. But I didn’t know what else to
do. I was too scared to go on in there myself.
You do understand, don’t you, Hoss?”
“I understand all right. “ Hoss took a deep swallow of air “Your three
shots must have been what sent Adam and Joe to the Murphys’. They went there, found the family, and …….”
“Joe and Adam? How’d you mean?”
“They’re there at the way station.” Ben said
quietly, gruffly. “If this sickness is
as fast moving as it appears to be, I should imagine that they’re both pretty
ill right now.”
“No” Davy stood up and shook his head “No, no, I
didn’t mean for that to happen. Believe
me, Mr Cartwright. I would never want
anything to happen to Joe or Adam.”
“Davy, just give us your rifle and let’s – “ Hoss
stepped forward, his hand stretched out towards the gun man, his blue eyes
looked at the confused frightened face and just as the rifle exploded into
action Hoss thought how this was one time he could not predict how things were
going to end up. It’s a sense a man
gets after riding horses for so long and can sense when a horse is about to
break. There is a look in their eyes,
the position of their body, and the fight has gone out of them. But sometimes the signals are too confused
and all a man can do is reach out and take that final risk.
Chapter 14
Adam forced the food into his mouth and ate it
slowly. There was no taste to it nor
any enjoyment. He had to eat to keep
strong. He needed to keep strong to care
for his brother. There was so much to
do. The foul stench of the sickness
clung to his clothes and filled his nostrils and contaminated the food he was
eating. However, he continued to eat,
methodically.
He chased the food down with some strong
coffee. It tasted bitter. But after the first cup, he drank down
another. He had to keep awake. He needed to keep awake to care for Joe.
Outside in the yard the dogs began barking and
reminded him that there were other chores to attend to before the day was
over. He hauled himself up from his
chair, and took himself to Joe’s room.
The youth lay covered by a blanket on the bed. His arms were flung outstretched to either
side of him. His legs were drawn
up. The normally tanned skin looked dry
and stretched across the fine features, and was pallid and waxy with its sheen
of sweat. Adam could see the eye- lids
flickering and the lips twitching. He
stepped up to the bed and gently lifted each arm and folded them over Joe’s
naked chest. Then he drew the blanket
higher and stroked back the boy’s hair.
He was burning with fever. Even though his face was so gray, red patches
of fever burned in his cheeks. He
muttered words that were totally incoherent.
He groaned aloud when pain rolled around the emptiness of his intestines
and curled about his abdomen.
The dogs were barking again. Adam stood up and looked around the
room. It was clean. It smelt of sickness and it was far too
hot. He dared not open the windows for
air in case the flies came in. He
shuddered even as he thought about it, for the memory came back to his mind of
the rooms when he had found Tom, and Mary, and Joshua.
“Joe? Can you
hear me, little buddy? I’ve chores to
do. The animals need feeding and
watering, do you understand? I’ll be back, do you hear?”
Joe’s lips stopped twitching as he heard the words
that seemed to float somewhere above his head.
He half opened his eyes and through a haze watched the dark shape of his
brother walk away from him and leave him .
You said you’d never leave me again. You promised never to go away. I can’t believe what you tell me because you went away when I asked you to stay and you didn’t come back.
I put my arms about your neck and said ‘Stay, please
stay’ I cried and begged but all you
said was ‘I’ll be back’ You got on
the stage and left me. You promised to
come back but you did not. I asked pa
next morning ‘Is Adam coming back today?’ and he said no, not today. I asked pa the next morning the same thing
and he said no. I lost count of the days
I asked until I stopped asking. I
stopped asking because you didn’t come back.
Then I stopped caring because suddenly it didn’t matter anymore.
Joe’s eyes fluttered shut. He shivered once or twice and plucked at the blanket and drew it close to his face. He was so hot but he could not stop the shivering.
Adam sluiced water into the troughs and
buckets. He fed the animals and saw to
the dogs. He looked at the sky and
wondered if it would ever get to rain again and be cool and refreshing once
more.
In the barn the cow laboured to deliver her
calf. She looked at him with reproachful
eyes and he looked at her with disgust and anger.
“It’s not fair” he yelled and kicked a bucket
against the wall. “How can I help you
with Joe so sick? What am I supposed to
do….”
The cow was not interested in answering. She raised her head to the ceiling and
emitted a mournful sound heavenwards.
Her flanks heaved.
Adam buried his face into his hands. For some reason that he could not understand
life seemed suddenly to have spiraled out of his control. If he stayed to help the cow, and Joe sickened
and died, how could he live with himself?
How could he tell pa? He put a
hand to his gun handle and drew it out slowly. Perhaps this would be the only
solution. A swift one. He raised the gun
and aimed it and then lowered his arm.
Odd how quickly birth can take place once the
mechanisms got under way! The calf
plopped into the straw and lay there panting and wheezing. Mother turned and nuzzled it. With a whispered prayer of thanks Adam
slipped the gun back into its holster and decided that mother and child could
handle the proceedings well enough without him.
Joe groaned aloud as the pain crept through his body
and he doubled up into the foetal position and pulled the blanket closer.
“Adam!
Adam!”
It was such a weak cry for help. More like the mewing of a kitten than the
bawl of a man. It sounded loud to his
own ears and he groaned again when there came no answering call, no sound of
footsteps rushing to his aid. He turned
and flung himself from the bed.
I didn’t know you when you came back. You were a stranger. The boy I loved and had held me when mama died was gone. You didn’t seem to know how to laugh and you didn’t seem to want to know me. You were always angry. ‘Joe, do this’ you would say ‘Joe, do that.’ Then pa went away and you were always working. Sitting at pa’s desk and writing in the books. At night I’d sit on the stairs and watch you and wish you’d come and tuck me into bed like pa would…..
He lay there for what seemed hours to him. He reached out for the bed and hoped for the strength to haul himself back but his arm dropped effortless and weak back onto the floor. He closed his eyes
Pa always spoke so much about you. You were his pride and joy. He loved you more than anyone else in the world………..
Adam straightened the boy’s legs and gently washed the handsome body with the warm water. Was it his imagination or had the fever abated a little? Was it just a trick to delude him into thinking Little Joe would recover and that there was no longer any need to fear death snatching him away from them.
He took his brother into his arms and raised him
gently up and poured cool water into the parched mouth. Had the flush of fever really left his cheeks
or was it merely the hand of death clutching more tightly at him. Joe, Joe….
Pa always wrote so often about you when I was away from home. You are his pride and joy. He loves you more than anyone else in the world……
He brought his steaming cup of coffee into the room and sat down beside the bed and took the limp hand in his own. With a sigh he closed his eyes and remembered back to the time when Marie had died, and he had held that child close in his arms and had wept. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes even now.
You were so angry with me when I left home. Perhaps it was too soon after Marie had died. Perhaps I should have stayed longer at home with you, but sometimes circumstances happen over which no one has any control…….
He sipped the coffee and stared fixedly at the wall as he remembered the sullen little boy who greeted him upon his return from college. Then when Pa had been forced to go away to get money to finance the Ponderosa, and left him in charge, that sullen little boy had become an angry little dynamo who seemed to resent everything that Adam ever suggested. He would look up from working on the books at night and see the little white night shirted figure sitting on the stairs with his big green eyes and the tight little button of a mouth and he wanted to go up and hug him tight and tell him stories and play tag but there was always so much work to do.
There had been the morning when Joe had looked at
him and told him ‘It’s all your fault pa’s gone from home’ Then he had coolly left the house and made
his way to school leaving Adam devastated and wondering how he would ever win
his little brothers heart over to him again.
Adam closed his eyes and felt his body lighten as
sleep stole upon him. He struggled a
little, just a little. His head nodded
and he jerked awake for a second, glanced at his brother, his eyes closed and
he was asleep.
The horseman dismounted and tethered the horse to
the hitching rail. He took himself and
his baggage to the house and stood for a while on the verandah as he looked
about him.
The smoke from what looked like a funeral pyre still
rose mournfully skywards. It was dying
out now. A mound of gray ash and a few
burnt remains was witness to what had once been and was no more.
The dogs barked and the horses shifted uneasily
round and round in the corral. He merely
watched them for a moment or two and then pushed open the door.
He rekindled the fire in the stove and set pans and pots
to boiling. Then he pushed open the
door to the other room. For some moments
he stood in the doorway, framed within its framework. He saw the sleeping youth, wan and haggard
as he lay upon the bed. He saw the
sleeping man sitting in the chair by the bedside, his hand holding tightly to
the hand of the other. He smiled and nodded
to himself
I remember the little one crying for his big
brother. When he left home he went up to
his mother’s wardrobe and buried himself amongst her clothes and wept because
he thought another person he loved had gone forever.
I remember how big brother cried when he came home
and found that little brother had forgotten how to love him. But he had not forgotten how to love him,
just forgotten how to show it.
I remember when father left the house and went
away. Long hours of work for the big brother
and before he would go to sleep he would go to the bedroom and sit by the bed
and take hold of little brothers hand and hold it just like now. He had never stopped loving either, just
forgotten how to show it.
Adam Cartwright opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He rubbed his face and tried to work life into it and then blinked and looked at his brother.
“Joe?”
The younger man stirred slightly and the hazel green
eyes opened, narrowed and focused upon his brother. He coughed a little and then closed his eyes
again. A little sigh slipped through his
lips.
Adam frowned and leaned forward and put a hand to
his brother’s brow. It was cool to the
touch and he allowed himself a little surge of exhilaration before tempering it
with caution. He felt for his brother’s
pulse and the thready beat, though weak, was steadier than it had been and he
allowed himself a prayer of thanks.
He sat by the bedside and bowed his head and closed
his eyes. He had slept but he was so
tired. Random thoughts and fears that
had chased round and round in his brain had tormented him in his sleep. He roused himself and stood up. At the sound from the doorway he turned, his
hand already at his gun, and then he stepped back in surprise
“What are you doing here?” he gasped involuntarily
“I come – say to Mistah Hoss, you stay, I go – “ Hop
Sing bobbed a bow and smiled “I go now and make good tea for you and Liddel
Joe….you come eat and I see to boy”
Adam glanced down at his brother and shook his head,
he sat down on the chair and took his brothers hand in his own
“No,” he said quietly “I want to be here when he
wakes up.”
Chapter 15
“Amy. Amy”
Joe’s lips parted into a brief joyful smile. How sweet were the smells of the pasture on
the
“Amy, I love you too much” he whispered
“No one can love too much” she laughed, a soft shy
laugh.
Joe took a deep breath. To the anxious watchers by his bedside they
saw his chest heave and sink and exchanged worried looks. They saw the smile on his lips and relaxed, knowing
that in his dreams Joe was happy, and happiness gave strength.
“I do love you, Amy.
I’m almost afraid to love you”
“But I love you too, Joe, and it only makes me
happy. You can’t imagine how happy I am
coming here every day, waiting for you to join me….”
“What if I lose you –“
“How can you lose me, silly Joe” she leaned forwards
and her hair brushed his cheek as she settled her head upon his shoulder.
Oh, so young and so innocent. Joe kissed her nose, stroked her cheek, and felt
his heart tumbling over and over in his breast for the love of her and he
raised a hand to take hold of hers –
Adam took hold of the hand reaching out towards them
and held it gently in his own. He
glanced over at Hop Sing
“He’s dreaming of Amy. Hop Sing?
Do you think he will survive this?”
“He’s young and strong –“
“Others have been younger and stronger, but died
anyway!”
“Hush! He
will hear what you say” the Chinese placed a finger to his lips and Adam sighed
and looked down at his brother and laid down his hand by his side.
“Don’t talk of death.” Joe whispered to Amy, holding
her close “I’m frightened of death. My
mama died and left me, I don’t want you to die and leave me, Amy”
“I won’t, I won’t” she promised and raised her lips
to his own.
“Everyone I love, dies” Joe groaned aloud and his
brother leaned towards him and wiped away the sweat and tears from his face.
Hop Sing tip toed from the room and to where he had
left his bag, which held all the herbs and drugs he had gathered up before
leaving the ranch. With the patience of
a skilled herbalist he began to measure out a pinch of this and a scoop of
something else….
“Joe?” Adam leaned down and whispered his brother’s
name and Joes’ eyes opened and for the first time since his illness began, they
focused on his brother’s dark anxious eyes
“Hi, Adam. I
was dreaming….” He whispered through chaffed lips
“Was it a good dream, buddy?”
Joe smiled and closed his eyes dreamily, “Yes, for a
while. Then she left me and I was all
alone again” once more he opened his eyes and looked up at Adam and frowned “Am
I dying, Adam?”
“No, you aren’t going to die”
“I wouldn’t mind dying. I feel so tired and weak. I dreamt of Amy, just now, I had almost forgotten
how brown her eyes were…” he sighed
“It’s been a while, Joe, since she died”
“I loved her so much”
“I know”
“I’m sorry I hit you, Adam.”
“I’m sorry I hit you too –“
“Aww, it didn’t hurt!” Joe smiled again, and a twinkle gleamed in
the hazel green of his eyes and then faded “I – I do love you, brother”
“I know”
“It just seems hard at times – I didn’t want you to
go away – to college – and I get angry.”
“I understand, Joe”
“If I go to sleep now, will I die?” he took hold of
“No, you won’t die, Joe, I won’t let you die”
“Don’t be angry with me if I do, will you?” Joe’s eyelids lowered and the long lashes
cast shadows on the sunken hollowed sockets and Adam felt a lurch to his heart
as he looked at the youths face and realised with a shock just how haggard he
now appeared.
He glanced up at Hop Sing came into the room, and
sat back as the Chinese gently raised Joe into his arms and carefully poured
the liquid into his mouth. He watched as Hop Sing lowered Joe back down onto
the bed
“He is going to be alright, isn’t he?”
“Better he sleep now” Hop Sing said softly and sat
down on the chair on the other side of the bed.
He looked over at the older brother and smiled “You sleep now”
“No. I’ll go and
check the stock and then come back….” Adam got to his feet and then glanced
down at the younger man “Hop Sing, call me if he wakes. I don’t want him to wake up and find me gone”
Upon the assurance that he would be called as soon
as needed, Adam left the building and stood for some minutes on the porch. He surveyed the hills beyond and then the
dogs both of whom had risen to their haunches at sight of him. He lowered his head as though overwhelmed by
misery and sadness, but by force of will, he walked to the barn.
Still Joe slept.
Now he had no dreams. There was
only the comfort of deep dark sleep and unconsciousness. If he were aware of gentle hands touching
him, turning him over in the bed, or cleaning him, he gave no indication. Only the rhythm of his breathing gave any
indication that he was living, or perhaps a sigh would pass through his lips,
and apprehensive and afraid, Adam would lean forwards and touch his brothers’
cheek or brow.
He listened to Hop Sing telling him about the events
between Judd and Davy, about the stagecoach coming into town and Hoss returning
home with the news that plague had broken out on the Ponderosa.
“Is it plague?” he had asked his old friend and the
wise old eyes darkened and Hop Sing shrugged his shoulders
“Who is to know?” he had replied quietly
“I remember reading about a village in
Hop Sing nodded “It happens, and you did what was
wise and right.”
“But Joe could still die”
“Who is to know that?” Hop Sing replied again
He must have fallen asleep. So long without proper sleep takes its
toll. His head had lolled forwards, his
eyelids closed. He heard voices as
though from a long way off, and someone placed a heavy hand upon his
shoulder.
Joe opened his eyes and looked up into a face he
loved and smiled. He reached out his
hands just as he had done when an infant in his crib. The large eyes filled
with tears that coursed their way down his face. A voice he loved assured him he was now safe.
There was nothing to fear anymore.
“Is Adam here?” he whispered
“Yes, he’s here”
“He didn’t leave me then?”
“Not for a second” the deep voice assured him
“I thought I was going to die, pa” his voice trembled
and his father gathered him into his arms and held him close, and stroked back
the unruly mass of hair
“You’re safe, son, safe now”
Chapter 16
Hoss licked his lips and then his fingers. He grinned over at his youngest brother who
sat up in the bed and who watched his brother dispatch sugar doughnuts as
though he had only just discovered the joy of them
“Shucks, Joe, if’n I’d known Hop Sing was coming
over here to rustle up these doughnuts for you and Adam, I’d’ve been here even
sooner!”
“Somehow I believe you” Joe grinned
“Sure you don’t want one?”
Joe’s stomach lurched sideways and he shook his
head. He leaned against the pillows and
closed his eyes. What relief to be able
to move his head without the fear it would explode in pain, or bring about the
need to vomit. He took a deep breath and
smiled slowly. He opened his eyes and
watched Hoss pick up another doughnut, lazily brushed aside a wandering
fly…..he shuddered and closed his eyes again and fought nausea.
Dr Martin closed his bag and set it to one side and
picked up a cup of coffee. He watched
as Hoss ate doughnuts and Joe sat up in the bed and he nodded to himself and
smiled over at Adam
“You did well, Adam.
Joe could have died.”
“I know. The
thought never left my mind for a moment.” Adam said quietly, picking up his cup
and raising it to his lips
“A tragedy what happened to the Murphys” Ben said
quietly
Adam nodded and turned aside to survey the view from
the window. He thought of the grave and
wondered how long it would be before the bare scar of earth would be covered
with grass and wild flowers. He glanced
up at the sky, still blue, and he sighed.
There could have been another grave, he thought,
another grave on that hillside. There could
have been another body for someone else to find….for who was to know where that
silent bullet would have stopped next.
He turned back to his father and met the dark anxious eyes
“It shouldn’t have happened. They were a good family” he said quietly
Ben nodded and stepped to his son’s side and placed
a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“But for the grace of God –“
Adam glanced up at his father, repeated the words in
his own mind, and nodded. He walked to
the door and opened it wide and stepped out onto the porch. The dogs barked a welcome and the horses
milled about in the corral. The cow
grazed on the green grass and raised her head and turned moist large eyes towards
him as her calf nudged at her flanks for sustenance. Adam threw away the dregs of his coffee and
turned back to the house as the sound of Josephs laugh trickled like sweet
music through the stillness.
A fly made it’s way across the table and paused to
reconnoitre its passage via a sugar doughnut……………….
The End.
Author :
Krystyna Woollon
May 2003.