"I don't
believe
what I am hearing," said Ben, as he stood by the
main door of the Ponderosa ranch house, his home for almost twenty
years. "Adam and I have only been away for a total of forty-eight
hours and in that short space of time, you two have managed to
create all this trouble."
"Well, ya see, Pa, it ain't quite as bad as it seems," said Hoss.
"I
know, on the face of it, things appear ta be pretty bad, but they
ain't, really."
"That is a matter of opinion," said Adam, leaning against the
doorframe, and momentarily, closing his eyes, in order to clarify
his thoughts. "Coming home to find that half the stock is missing,
seems pretty bad to me."
"Trust you to see the worst of it, Adam," said Joe.
"What else can I do?" said Adam. "There can't be any good
side to
you losing half a herd of cattle and several good horses, or can
there?"
"No, not exactly," said Joe. "But it's not like they're
really gone,
they've only been borrowed and we will get 'em back. And it ain't
half the herd, neither, it's only about a third."
"Maybe Hop Sing can bring us some coffee and we can all sit
down,"
said Ben. "Then perhaps we can hear the whole story."
"Sounds like a good idea," said Adam, shrugging off his coat and
hat
and unbuckling his gunbelt. "I always enjoy a good story and these
two are usually pretty fair entertainment value."
Joe poked his tongue out at his eldest brother, before running
towards the kitchen, in order to fetch some coffee for his father.
He knew that Ben was always more willing to listen, once he was sat
in his favourite armchair, enjoying a decent cup of coffee and a
smoke on his pipe, and he felt that the best way to save his hide,
was to have his father as calm as possible.
"Fetch Pa his pipe," said Joe, to Hoss, as he ran out of the
room,
and Hoss did so.
"Uh oh," said Adam, sitting down in the blue velvet chair, and
stretching out his long legs, in order to warm them, by the
fire. "Pipe AND coffee.
It's not looking good. Shall I pour out the brandy, as well?"
"Perhaps you'd better have it on standby," said Ben, as he, too,
removed his coat, hat and gun. "I have a nasty feeling that I am
going to need it, before this night is through."
Ben and Adam had been over to
Association meeting, leaving Hoss in charge of the ranch, and of
Little Joe. Hoss wasn't too happy about being left with the task,
as
he knew how his 16 year old brother was apt to take advantage of
their father and big brother's absence, in order to get involved in
things that he was not really allowed to do.
Once all four of them were settled in the main room, Hoss and Joe
began to tell their story.
Straight after Adam and Ben left, Hoss needed to go into town, to
run some errands for Ben, and he'd given Little Joe a list of
chores
to do, while he was gone.
"That should be enough to keep ya busy, `til I get back," said
Hoss.
"Dunno why I can't come with you," said Joe.
"Because it don't take two of us to do the things Pa's asked me ta
do, little brother, and you're not to be trusted in town. Pa's only
gonna be away a couple of days and I don't want nothin' going
wrong.
It's best you stay at home."
"Why does this whole family always think the worst of me?" said
Joe. "I was just trying to help you out, by offering to go with
you,
into town, and you immediately think I'm gonna cause trouble."
"You only wanna come, cos ya see it as a chance to have a few
beers,
with your friends, or get into a poker game, knowin' that you ain't
s'posed ta do either of them things."
"I never said nothing about wanting to do that," said Joe, with
an
injured tone to his voice. "I know Pa don't allow me to drink or
gamble, `specially in the middle of the week. Like I said, I was
only offering, cos I wanted to help you out, but iffen you don't
want my help, then that's fine by me. I'll just stay here and do
these chores," and Joe took the list off his brother.
About an hour after Hoss rode off for town, one of his friends came
by the ranch. Johnny Webb was newly married and had a small spread,
not that far from the Ponderosa. He'd met his wife, Nancy, when
she'd taken up a position as a teller in the Virginia City Bank. It
became a standing joke that Johnny would go and deposit his money
in
the bank, a dollar at a time, just so that he could visit
often.
Eventually, he plucked up the courage to ask her out and the two
began courting. Johnny had not long before taken over the family
ranch, after the death of his parents, and the place needed quite a
bit of work doing to it. But once Johnny confided in Hoss that he
was hoping to ask Nancy to marry him, the Cartwright brothers
offered to help the young man get the house done up and have it fit
for his bride.
The wedding was a small one, but most enjoyable, and the young
couple were blissfully happy. However, one thing was causing them
some heartache.
Nancy's parents were not pleased that their daughter had married a
poor rancher and were constantly criticising Johnny, whenever they
wrote to Nancy, saying that they were worried she might end up
starving, because she had a no good dreamer, for a husband. In
order
to silence the parents, Johnny wrote to them and pretended he was
doing better than he was. As they lived quite a distance away, it
was not likely they would visit, anytime soon, and Johnny was
confident that by the time they did, the lies would have turned
into
the truth.
But, the parents decided to pay them a visit, much sooner than
expected, and so Johnny rode over to the Ponderosa, to ask a big
favour of his friend, Hoss.
On finding out that Hoss was in town, Johnny decided to confide in
Joe.
"You see, Little Joe," he said. "Mr and Mrs Lawrence are
arriving
later today and I need to have a decent sized herd grazing in my
South Pasture and a corral full of horses, in order to prove to
them
that I can provide for their daughter."
Joe was very fond of Johnny and Nancy, as they were of him, and he
wanted to help.
"How long are they gonna be stayin' with you?" he asked.
"Only for a day, as they're on their way to
elderly relative out there," said Johnny. "Poor old girl ain't
expected to live much longer, so they're gonna stay with us one
night, and press on to
borrow a few head of cattle and some horses, Little Joe, I'll be
able to return `em in a day, or two."
"Sounds okay to me, Johnny," said Joe. "But you must have
`em back
before my Pa and Adam return, else they might not be too happy to
come home and find some of our herd missing. And as you're
borrowing
them to deceive your in laws, Pa might not take kindly to our stock
being used in such a way."
"Don't worry, Little Joe," said Johnny. "I'll have your
stock
returned long before your Pa and Adam get back."
By the time Hoss returned from town, Johnny and a couple of his
friends had taken the cattle and the horses from the Ponderosa, and
they were now on the Webb ranch.
Hoss wasn't too pleased to hear what Joe had done.
"What will Pa say, Joe? He won't like the Ponderosa bein' part of
summat deceitful."
"Pa's not likely to find out," explained Joe. "Johnny
promised to
return the stock before Pa and Adam get home. I'm sorry if I did
wrong, but I thought you'd want me to help your friend out."
"Yeah, I guess I am glad you helped him, shortshanks," said Hoss,
placing his arm around Joe's shoulders and giving the boy a
reassuring squeeze. "I jest hope Pa don't find out."
Unfortunately, Pa did find out, because the stock were not returned
before Ben and Adam were making their way home, and they could see
for themselves that the herd was depleted, and that there were less
horses than there should have been in the holding corrals.
"Johnny was gonna return `em, Pa," said Hoss, offering his father
another cup of coffee. "But durin' the night, Johnny's place was
attacked by rustlers and most of our stock was stolen. But Sheriff
Coffee's got up a large posse and headed out, straightaway, and
we're pretty confident he's gonna catch up with the yahoos who
took `em. I sent some of our men along, but decided I best stay
here, knowin' you was due home."
After listening to what his boys had to say, Ben felt in need of
the
brandy and asked Adam to pour him one.
As he sipped it, he said, "I can understand you wanting to help out
Johnny, but you were right in thinking I wouldn't be happy about
our
stock being used to deceive
Johnny's, I hope that our missing cattle and horses are swiftly
returned, and in good health. It's already dark, so there's no
point
us going out now to help with the search. If
morning, we'll ride out and look for him. It's been a long day,
boys, and I'm ready for my bed, how about you?"
The boys agreed and Hoss and Joe were relieved that their father
wasn't angrier with them, than he was. They, too, hoped that the
morning would see their stock being returned.
Their prayers were answered and the Cartwright family was still
eating breakfast, when
Fortunately, they had not got too far ahead, before the posse was
on
their trail, and as the posse could travel faster than a herd
could,
they soon caught up with them.
All four Cartwrights were very pleased to have their livestock
returned, but Hoss and Joe were not let completely off the hook.
Ben
allocated several of the less popular chores, on the ranch, to his
two younger boys, in order to ensure they were well occupied for
the
next couple of weeks.
funeral of their great aunt, and broke the news to the young couple
that the old lady had left them a substantial amount of money, in
her will. It would be enough to buy a herd around about the size of
the one that Johnny had `borrowed' from the Ponderosa.
Johnny came clean and explained to his in laws about the deception,
but they had already guessed, as they'd noticed the brand on the
cattle.
"I am sorry if we came across as being so critical of you, that you
felt the need to try and deceive us, like you did," said
father. "It's just that we love our daughter, very much, and we
want
the best for her."
"I understand, sir," said Johnny. "And I am truly sorry that
I tried
to con you like that. With this generous inheritance, we will be
able to buy a really good herd and, hopefully, I will be able to
prove to you that I can care for your daughter."
"I'm sure you will, son," said
have some good friends, in the Cartwrights. It was very kind of
them
to try and help you, like they did."
"It sure was," said Johnny. "And to think I was nearly
responsible
for losing their livestock, after they'd been so generous in
lending
it to me. Thank goodness the Sheriff caught the rustlers."
"That, too, makes us feel a little bit happier about
here," said her mother. "To us city dwellers, this part of the
world
appears to be very dangerous, but at least you have a good law
officer protecting you."
Before
to dinner, at the fanciest restaurant in
"To friends," he said.
Hoss was very appreciative of the food, Ben and Adam enjoyed the
wine, and Joe was just glad that his rather impulsive gesture of
friendship, had ended on a happy note.
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne