TRAPPED
by
Lynne C.

As Candy opened his eyes, after the short nap he'd taken, once again
he prayed, just for that split second before he could focus properly,
that what he was going through was really a dream. But, as his vision
sharpened and he became aware of the rough walls behind him, he knew
that it wasn't a dream, but a reality. He and his boss, Ben
Cartwright, had been trapped in a mine shaft for what seemed like
forever, and if someone didn't stumble upon them, soon, they both knew
they would be dead.

It had started like any other working day on the Ponderosa. Ben asked
Candy to accompany him on a tour of some of the more remote parts of
the ranch.

"There are a couple of line shacks that could probably do with some
repairs," said Ben, as he saddled Buck. "And I want to check out an
old mine we have on the property. It played out, a long time ago, but
Paul Martin said that young Billy Hawkins hurt himself playing around
there and I want to make sure it's fully sealed off and made safe."

"I agree with you, Mr Cartwright, that it needs to be made safe, but
that kid shouldn't have been playing around there. The mine is on your
property and he was trespassing, so there's no need for you to feel
bad about him getting hurt."

"Oh, I know that, Candy, but you do still feel a certain sense of
responsibility, if someone, particularly a child, is hurt on your land."

This responsible streak, which ran through all of the Cartwrights, was
one of the many traits, which endeared them to Candy, although he
would not admit it to them. In fact, he was more likely to make fun of
it, at least when it showed itself in Hoss or Joe, although he never
tried to tease Adam. And he was even known to poke fun at Ben, too,
and, surprisingly, Ben let him get away with it, for the most part.
Having grown up on an Army base, and then striking out, alone, around
his sixteenth birthday, Candy was a pretty self sufficient kind of a
character, and found it rather amusing, the way the Cartwrights were
such a close knit and caring family. But the real reason that he
teased them about their closeness was because he was envious of their
bond and wished he'd known the same thing. Ben sensed this, and that
was why he was more lenient, than he might have been, about Candy's
rather cavalier manners.

Ben didn't routinely carry out such manual chores around the ranch,
but every now and again he rather enjoyed the opportunity to roll up
his sleeves and get his hands dirty.
His three boys were away on a cattle drive and Ben was missing their
company. He felt like he was rattling around the large house he'd
built for them all, and so when the trip was proposed, he decided to
go with Candy, rather than send another one of the hands to accompany
the young man.
Candy was a bit surprised when he found out that the boss was going
with him, but he didn't mind, as he had a lot of respect for Ben and
enjoyed his company.
Mind you, he hadn't expected to be spending quite as much time with
his boss, as he was now doing.

"No one's gonna find us, Mr Cartwright," said Candy, clutching his
canteen, which he'd just shaken to determine how much water was left
in it. "Even though we've been very frugal with our food and water,
it's very nearly all gone, and once that happens, it's only a matter
of time before we starve to death."

"They'll find us! My boys won't give up!" declared Ben, but this
hadn't been the first time he'd said those words and they were
beginning to sound rather hollow, even to him.

"If the boys had been at home, when we went missing, then I'm sure
they would've found us by now," said Candy, also repeating himself.
"But they were away when we left, and you gave Hop Sing a holiday, so
no one is going to be wondering where we are; not for a while, anyway."

"Well, maybe not for a couple more days, but soon they will," repeated
Ben.

"But how long have we been down here, Mr Cartwright?" demanded Candy.
"I don't know and you don't, either, not for sure."

"No, that's true," said Ben, as they had been in pretty much total
darkness since the cave in, which has blocked off the entrance to the
mine. "But they will know, roughly, where we were going, and so I am
sure they will come this way, eventually."

"But when? And will it be too late?" said Candy, feeling his levels of
panic rising.

Candy was no coward and had found himself in quite a few sticky
situations, in his young life, but he'd always managed to find a way
out of them. But this time, he just couldn't see how they were going
to win, as the odds were too overwhelming.

When they arrived at the mine, it had been raining for several days
and the entrance was like a quagmire. Any shoring up of the roof,
which had been done in the past, was now rotten and very shaky, but
they had decided to take a risk and go inside, as it did offer them
some respite from the relentless rain.
Fortunately, before the muddy hillside gave way under the continual
pounding from the rain, and began its descent, covering the entrance,
they had finished unloading the mules and so had all their supplies
and bedrolls inside the mine, with them. The horses had been tethered
some way away, where a grove of trees afforded them, too, some
protection from the rain. Ben and Candy could only pray that they had
not been engulfed in the sea of mud.

Both Ben and Candy were, at first, confident that they could dig their
way out, but with every handful of mud they managed to move away, at
least two more would settle down to take its place, and they soon
realised it was hopeless.

So, they began to look at other possibilities and walked to the far
end of the tunnel, where they found a small hole, about halfway up a
solid stone wall. Without dynamite to blast it, or at least a pick,
they had no means to make the hole large enough, for either of them to
be able to get through it.

"That was the way the Hawkins' boy must've got in," said Candy.

"Yes, and then he fell down and twisted his ankle, as the drop was
steeper than he expected," said Ben.

"Of course, the entrance wasn't blocked then, and so his Pa was able
to get in, pick him up and take him home," said Candy.

"I suppose it was a relief that the mudslide didn't happen when little
Billy was in here," went on Ben.

"Not that I wish any harm to a little kid, but if it had happened,
then, we wouldn't be in here, now," said Candy.

Ben patted the young man on the back.

"Very true, Candy, very true."

They eked out the food and water they had brought with them and
managed to make it last a lot longer than it would have done,
normally. Candy reasoned that as they were not moving about, that
much, they didn't need to eat as much food.

However, they were now down to their last day's rations and there was
still no sign of them being rescued

Adam, Hoss and Little Joe arrived back at the ranch, and Joe was the
first out of the saddle. He rushed into the house, anxious to tell his
father how well they had done, achieving a much better price than
expected, for their steers.

But the only person to greet him was Hop Sing.

"Enough of this foolishment, Little Joe," yelled the cook. "Why you
run in here like devil himself after you, leaving dust cloud behind
you, when Hop Sing spend all day cleaning?"

"Sorry, Hop Sing," said the eighteen year old, standing in front of
the angry cook, with his hands behind his back, a stance that he
always took up, whenever he was in trouble. "I was just keen to tell
Pa the good news about the cattle drive. Where is he?"

"Mistah Cartlight and Candy not back yet," said Hop Sing, preparing to
return to the kitchen, in order to fetch the coffee pot and cups for
the boys.

"Where did they go?" asked Joe. "Maybe I can ride out and meet them?"

Hop Sing explained how Ben and Candy had gone away, more than a week ago.

"Fatha was missing you boys and decided to go with Candy to check out
line shacks and old mine at north of property. Gave Hop Sing holiday,
but I came back two days ago as expected fatha to be home, but he not
here."

When Adam and Hoss joined Joe in the main room, they discussed their
father's trip.

"I guess I should've stayed home with Pa, instead of going with you on
the drive," said Joe. "But I did ask Pa if he minded being alone and
he said he would be fine."

"Aw, don't beat yerself up about it, button," said Hoss, putting his
large arm around Joe's slim shoulders and giving him a hug. "Pa's a
big boy and he's fine bein' left alone, and he wanted you ta join us
on the drive, as ya ain't been on that many, and ya needed the
experience."

"I guess so," said Joe, but he still didn't look that happy.

"Did Pa tell you when he and Candy were likely to be getting back, Hop
Sing?" asked Adam.

"About a week, he say, and that's why Hop Sing got back two days ago."

"That's not like Pa to be late back," said Adam. "Was he checking out
the mine that Billy Hawkins had his accident in?"

Hop Sing nodded.

"If the place was unsafe, then maybe Pa's had an accident there, too,"
said Joe. The young man had still not grown out of his irrational
childish fear of his father coming to harm, whenever they were apart.

"I guess that's possible," said Hoss. "What do ya think, Adam?"

Knowing how Joe worried about their father, Adam didn't want to add to
his fears, but he was concerned, too.

"Well, it wouldn't do any harm to go and check it out," said Adam.

"Sounds good ta me," said Hoss.

Hop Sing prepared a meal for the boys and once they'd eaten it, they
saddled up their horses and loaded a pack mule with supplies.

The three of them rode along, mainly in silence, as all of them were
thinking about their father and whether he was all right. They went as
far as they could, before total darkness and tiredness overtook them
and then they bedded down for the night.

Joe, for once in his life, was the first of the three to wake up, the
next morning, and he soon had the fire going and a pan of bacon cooking.
He chivvied his brothers along, saying, "We need to get to that mine
and make sure Pa's okay, so hurry up."

When they finally reached the mine, the first thing they saw were the
horses. Fortunately, they had survived, because there was adequate
grass for them to graze on and a stream close by. They had all managed
to work their reins free from the branches they had been tethered to,
and so were able to wander about. And Ben and Candy had removed their
saddles, before going into the mine, so they were not encumbered with
saddles on their backs.
The next thing they noticed was that the entrance to the mine was
totally blocked by a mudslide.

Joe ran over to it and began scraping away at the mud, with his hands.
Adam and Hoss soon joined him, but they could tell, just as Ben and
Candy had, that it was a fruitless task.

They leaned against the wall of mud, breathing heavily, after their
exertions.

Suddenly, Joe said, "The Hawkins boy got in through another entrance,
when he had his accident. Let's go and find it."

The three young men began their search and soon found the small hole
in the rock face.

"Pa and Candy are both too big to get through that tiny hole," said
Adam. "We'll have to blast it, and make it bigger."

Inside the mine, Ben and Candy were aware that someone, or something,
was trying to break through the mudslide.

Then it all went quiet, and Ben said, "Whoever it is has realised they
can't get through that way."

"Well, let's hope they are now going to try the other way," said
Candy, standing up and working the kinks out of his legs. "I'm going
to go and call out to them."

"Good idea," said Ben. "I'll follow you as soon as I can get my legs
to work properly."

Both men had stiffened up, from spending long periods of time sat on
the damp ground and it had affected Ben more than Candy, being that he
was older.

Candy was soon at the wall and he began to call out.

"Hello, who's there? Can you hear me?"

"Yeah we can, sure enough," replied Hoss. "Are ya okay? Is Pa with ya?"

"We're both okay, just rather low on grub and we can't get out,"
replied Candy.

"We're going to have to blast this wall to make a larger hole,"
explained Adam. "So I want you and Pa to get as far away from here, as
you possibly can. This wall is pretty thick and it's going to take a
lot of dynamite to get through it."

"Will do," said Candy, and he began to retrace his steps.

He met Ben, as the older man was making his way towards the wall.
Candy quickly explained what Adam and the others were planning to do
and although he was anxious to talk to his sons, Ben accompanied Candy
back to the entrance of the mine.

Even though it was a fair way from the wall to the mine entrance, when
the explosion came, both Ben and Candy were showered with dust.

As soon as the dust settled, Ben and Candy made their way to the wall,
again, and were delighted to be able to see daylight, and Adam, Hoss
and Joe, through the large hole. Joe ran over to his father and helped
him climb over the rubble, as it was obvious that Ben was suffering
from exhaustion, brought on by lack of food and drink.

It was a great relief for the boys to discover that neither Ben nor
Candy had suffered any injuries when the entrance to the mine had
become blocked.

"We're fine," said Candy. "Just cold, hungry and thirsty."

Adam soon had a fire started and Hoss cooked some more of the bacon
and beans they'd brought with them. Joe filled all their canteens from
the stream and after having a good meal and plenty to drink, both Ben
and Candy declared they were ready to ride home. They took it slowly,
as the horses were also suffering from their poor diet, but finally
arrived home, after two full days travelling.
Hop Sing wanted to call Doc Martin out to the ranch, but both men
declared they would be fine after a few decent meals and a good
night's rest, in a proper bed.

All three boys hovered around their father, anticipating his every
need, for the next few days, but after about a week, Ben declared he
was fully recovered and things could get back to normal.

Joe stood in front of his father and adopted Ben's usual position,
whenever he was angry with one of his sons.

"Well, young man," began Joe, trying to copy his father's voice, and
failing, miserably. "I hope you have learned something from all of
this and you won't go entering abandoned mines again."

"No sir, I definitely won't," said Ben, laughing at Joe's rather poor
impression.

"Too much foolishment," said Hop Sing, as he brought in a tray,
containing mugs of cocoa and cookies. "Think I go back to China."

THE END

Little Joe forever
Lynne
January 15th 2008

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