Summary:  This is a prequel in which Adam is at odds with Ben and with Hoss because of events that occur and words that are spoken in anger. A master manipulator is at work and needs to be stopped before things get any worse.

Rating = T  WC = 13,369

 

Shoe Leather

Chapter 1

Hot in more ways than one, Adam stared at the mess in front of him. “Who was the stupid fool who stacked the salt on top of these tools?” Adam grumbled rather loudly to himself as he pulled bags of salt from the shelf in the tool shed. He put them in a box and carried them to the kitchen only to have Hop Sing upset with him because of the condition of the valuable commodity. He tried to explain that he hadn’t been responsible for that, but Hop Sing was too upset to listen so he simply followed the cook’s instructions as to where to put the salt before he returned to the tool shed. He took all the tools that now needed cleaning and sharpening to the forge where he had tools for that purpose. He scraped each one and then used the grinding wheel to add a sharp edge to the cutting tools he needed for the task he had that day. As he was finishing that job and packing up the tools, his father returned from doing a herd count in the south pasture. Seeing his son still in the yard and not at work clearing the brush in the other pasture as he had been instructed to do, Ben was brusque in asking Adam when he thought he might get to his job for the day. Adam didn’t have a chance to explain anything to him either before his father headed into the house and angrily slammed the door.

As he had earlier, he complained to the air because no one else was there. “Well now, I’ve got two of them mad at me for things I haven’t done. I guess we better get going, Sport, before someone else gets mad at me for something I have no control over whatsoever.”

Leading a packhorse loaded down with tools, Adam headed out to the job he was supposed to do that day knowing he was unlikely to finish it because of the delay and would probably have to face his father’s anger over that at dinner. However his father would have to listen to him then he guessed, and he could explain why he couldn’t start right away on the job. He didn’t know that there was another Cartwright mad at him who was going to make that dinnertime conversation a lot more difficult than he imagined at that moment.

On the way to school, Little Joe Cartwright couldn’t wait to tell Hoss what Adam had said in the tool shed. He had been going out to the stable to saddle his pony when he had heard Adam complaining loudly, but Little Joe knew exactly who had put those salt bags on top of the tools. The day before, their father had gone to town for supplies. As he was driving home, he saw a rain shower heading toward him. Worried about the salt, sugar, flour, paper, nails, and other supplies that he had in the wagon, he had pushed the team hard to get home before his supplies got wet and arrived in the yard about the same time as Hoss and Little Joe returned home from school.

“Hoss, Little Joe, unload these supplies quickly and get them in the tool shed or in the kitchen before the rain hits. I pushed the horses so hard that I need to get them in the stable and rubbed down right away. Hurry now. The salt, flour, and sugar cannot get wet. You can take care of your ponies after you unload the supplies.”

Hoss and Little Joe had run as fast as they could to do what their father commanded. Little Joe carried the bags of sugar and the canned goods into the kitchen as Hoss took the larger bags of flour and the salt. The rain arrived as he was unloading the salt so he rushed into the tool shed with it to keep it dry. The tool shed often had water run across the floor so the only safe place for things was on the shelves. There was no spare place to put anything so Hoss placed the bags of salt on top of some tools intending to come get it later and bring it to the kitchen. He told Little Joe to remind him to get it later, but with all the commotion that occurred later, he forgot to get the salt and Little Joe forgot to remind him. With the humidity in the air, the salt drew moisture to the tools and caused problems that Adam discovered the next morning when he found the tools he needed were starting to rust. His exclamation had been one of general disgust, but Little Joe took it far more literally. Adam had made some comments recently about Little Joe being short, and although true, Little Joe resented being reminded of that fact. He decided to get even.

“Hoss, Adam called you a stupid idiot this morning. I heard him say it.”

“Little Joe, Adam didn’t call me nothin’ cause I woulda heard it ifn he did, and he never said nothing like that to me. Adam never would say nothing like that to me no how.”

“Well, I was walking by the tool shed and I heard him say you were a stupid idiot for putting the salt bags on top of the tools in there. He said it real clear. I could hear it plain as anything. Anybody could hear it.”

“Adam said that about me?”

“Of course he said it about you. Nobody else put that salt in there. He was talking about you and said you were a stupid idiot.”

Hanging his head, Hoss was quiet then and for the rest of the ride to school. He had trouble concentrating in school and ended up with a note to take home to his father because of that. Several times he had been caught not working at his assigned task. It was unlike him, but after several infractions, the teacher felt he had no choice but to send the note home. It was the first year of the school, and Ben Cartwright had helped hire him so he wasn’t about to discipline the man’s son without some authorization from him to do so. Hoss was one of the oldest boys in school, and the teacher knew that one of the reasons he was there was that Ben Cartwright wanted to send a message to the other families in the area that their boys ought to be attending school. He didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize his relationship with Ben Cartwright, and he genuinely liked Hoss and could find no fault with him at all usually. The day’s behavior had him stymied as to why there had been such a sudden and dramatic change.

When Hoss and Little Joe arrived home that afternoon, Ben was in foul mood. The herd count had been off and then he had found Adam apparently shirking some responsibilities. It was so unlike him that Ben had been shocked. However he had to wonder if it was some rebelliousness on the part of his eldest son. For months, Adam had shouldered a lot of responsibility on the ranch as Ben had mourned the loss of his third wife. Slowly Ben had pulled himself together and taken back his duties as head of the family and owner of the ranch. He wondered if Adam was resenting the loss of the authority that he had wielded for a time. If so, there needed to be a change in the young man’s attitude especially if he expected his father to approve his request to attend college in the fall. Ben was highly skeptical of that anyway because he didn’t think his son should be alone anyway, and this seemed to be more evidence to him that his son was not ready to be away from home on his own. When Little Joe came running into the house, Ben was ready to pounce on someone.

“Little Joe, I have told you hundreds of times, I am sure, not to run into the house. You are not longer a little boy. You walk into the house and close the door properly. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Pa.” The master at changing the focus of a conversation, Little Joe didn’t take long to switch this one. “I only wanted to tell you something real important about Hoss.”

“What about Hoss?”

“He’s in the stable, and he’s real upset.”

“Why is he real upset?”

“Uh, well, I ain’t supposed to snitch so I can’t tell you, but it started with what Adam said.”

“What did Adam say?”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to snitch on him either. I guess you’ll have to go talk to Hoss to find all that out.”

Rolling his eyes, Ben got up from his desk and headed to the stable reminding Little Joe to do his chores and then his homework before he did anything else. Seeing that stern look his father had, Little Joe knew he needed to follow those instructions. In the stable, Ben found Hoss still currying his horse. He had recently gotten the big horse because he was growing so fast that he had needed a full sized horse, and Adam had suggested a big one because he guessed Hoss was going to grow into a big man. Ben had agreed with that, and Hoss loved Chubb. Now he seemed to be waiting for the horse to give him some comfort. Ben startled his middle son when he called his name.

“Uh, sorry, Pa. I’ll be done here shortly.”

“That’s all right, Hoss. Little Joe told me that you were troubled, and I can see that’s true. What’s bothering you so much?” Hanging his head, Hoss handed over the note from the teacher and Ben read it. “Hoss, this isn’t like you. What happened? Little Joe said something too about some words that you and Adam had. Did that have something to do with you not being able to concentrate in school today? I know how close the two of you are, and how trouble between you would bother you.”

“Ain’t no trouble between us. Ain’t nothing between us no more.”

“Hoss, how can you say that? Adam is your brother.”

“Well, a brother don’t call a brother a stupid idiot, does he? That’s what Adam called me.”

Shocked, Ben had nothing to say for a moment. Then his anger at Adam took over. “I’ll be talking to that young man. You will get an apology, and he will be making this right. You can trust me on that. Hoss, you are a smart young man, and don’t ever let anyone make you doubt that. You have wisdom far beyond your years.”

Hoss’ mood lifted somewhat with his father’s support, and the two walked to the house together. In the stable though, two of the hands were talking. They had overheard the conversation.

“Seems Adam has gotten way too big for his britches, don’t it?”

“Yeah, we went along with him giving orders and such when his pa was in such a bad way and he had to hold everything together, but he’s still a kid.”

“Maybe we ought to remind him of that. Let’s talk it over with the others. I’m sure we can come up with a few things to let him know he’s not the big man he thinks he is. Picking on Hoss that way was way out of line.”

“It sure was. We’ll be making sure he don’t do it again anytime soon.”

Nodding in agreement, the two headed to the bunkhouse later to talk to the other hands about what they could do. When Adam arrived home late for dinner after a backbreaking day of clearing brush, he had no idea why he got some hostile looks to his greetings to men he saw. He shrugged it off, groomed, fed, and watered his horse, and then headed to the house where there was a far more hostile reception waiting for him.

Chapter 2

Walking into the kitchen from the washroom, Adam got a sour look from Hop Sing who was still perturbed over the poor condition of the salt bags that Adam had brought into the house that morning. Hop Sing took a plate of food from the counter and handed it to Adam. It was cold because he had not bothered to keep the warmer oven warm. It was a small punishment in his mind for what he saw as Adam’s small transgression. To Adam, it was an insult. He took the plate without saying anything. He didn’t eat anything except the meat on the plate and left it on the sideboard before leaving the kitchen. Hop Sing thought him very rude and wondered why his attitude had changed so much in only one day.

When Adam exited the kitchen, he met his father and Hoss at the dining room table where his father was helping Hoss finish his homework which was a task that Adam typically did. Adam was about to apologize for not being there to help Hoss except Hoss immediately took his leave to go to bed. It was a bit early for that and Adam cocked his head to one side wondering why Hoss seemed to want to avoid him. He guessed it was perhaps because their father was not in a good mood, and Hoss expected that he and Adam were going to have words.

“I expected you home in time for dinner. Then you would have been here to help Hoss with his math and I could have spent some time with Joseph. Instead he spent the evening alone.”

“I got a late start on that brush in the ravine. I thought I might be able to finish so I kept going, but I couldn’t finish. It’s too much. I’ll have to go back tomorrow to finish. It could take me the better part of the morning too. Once I cleared all the way to the edge of that ravine, I found thicker growth behind the stand that I couldn’t see when I started.”

“You might have finished with the extra time if you had started in a timely fashion instead of lollygagging around here for hours.”

“I wasn’t lollygagging.”

“Don’t use that tone with me. I’ve had enough of your attitude. Hoss has especially had enough of your attitude. I want to talk to you about that more than anything.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my attitude. I haven’t had any problem with Hoss.”

“You may say you have not had a problem with him, but he certainly has had a problem with you. He is so upset about it that he has had trouble concentrating at school.”

Any further arguing was cut off then as Little Joe appeared at the top of the stairs and called for his father. “Pa, I need you. Are you and Adam fighting?”

“No, son, we’re not fighting. Adam, I’ll be back down to speak with you.”

With that cryptic comment, Ben left to take care of his youngest son. Adam had no idea what had gone so wrong in one day, but it had seemed to him that they were arguing. However, he was exhausted and in no mood for any more of whatever it had been. He sat at the table, put his head down on his arm, and was asleep in a minute. When Ben returned fifteen minutes later ready to do battle with his oldest son, he found him sound asleep at the dining room table. He couldn’t bear to wake him up to yell at him so he gently shook his shoulder to wake him enough to tell him to go to bed. Barely awake, Adam made his way up the stairs to his bedroom. Later, Ben found him lying across his bed in his pants. He had removed his boots, socks, and shirt and then apparently decided anything more was too difficult and fallen asleep on top of the covers wearing only his pants. Ben took a blanket from the end of the bed and draped it over his son who was still a boy in some ways even if he worked and looked more like a man.

The next morning, two things that had happened surprised Ben. The first was that Adam was up before he was and was out in the stable doing chores by the time Ben got downstairs to have his coffee. Hop Sing told him that his number one son was already at work. The next surprise was that Hoss was soon up as well.

“Pa, I had to talk to you. I want you to let me talk to Adam about what happened. I want him to tell me why he said that and I want to tell him that he has to apologize to me.”

“Hoss, that’s a lot to take on at your age. You’re only twelve years old.”

“Lots of boys my age are working full time on their family’s ranch and such. I reckon they would handle things themselves and not have their pa do it for ’em. That’s how I want it to be too.”

Still uncertain as to the wisdom of allowing it, Ben couldn’t deny the injured party his request so he agreed, but he reminded Hoss that he was there to help at any time if he needed any help. Hoss assured him that he thought he could handle it fine on his own. Then he said he was going out to talk with Adam because he had already seen that he was at work. When Hoss got outside though, a couple of the hands pulled him aside and told him to wait and watch instead of going to talk to his brother. He said they had a good prank set up and wanted Hoss to be able to enjoy it. Adam had Sport out by the corral fence and had gone into the stable to get the packhorse and lead it out. Intent on his work, he seemed to be unaware of Hoss standing near the house with a couple of the hands. He grabbed the lead rope of the packhorse and untied Sport’s reins from the corral fence. He prepared to mount up, but when he stepped into the stirrup, the whole saddle slipped toppling him on his backside in the dirt. With the lead to the packhorse in one hand and Sport’s reins in the other, Adam wasn’t able to do anything to soften the impact of the fall. His head hit the ground hard stunning him and his hat rolled away. He heard all the laughter though including that of his younger brother as well as that of Little Joe from an upstairs window where he had been drawn by the noise. Embarrassed, he stood quickly even though that caused the world to spin a bit and pushed the saddle back into position and tightened the cinch once more. It was easy to know what had happened. The hands or his younger brother had loosened the cinch while he was in the stable getting the packhorse. His relationship with the hands had been testy ever since his father had emerged from his melancholia over Marie’s death and resumed his role as boss. The hands no longer knew how to relate to Adam, and the uncertainty had become hostility to some degree. Adam understood that situation somewhat, but that Hoss had participated was hurtful. He had no idea why that had happened. He refused to admit to anyone there that he was hurt though and rode out as if he was fine letting their laughter die away as distance separated them. He was a bit confused by the remarks from the hands that he had gotten payback for what he had done to Hoss. He hadn’t done anything to Hoss that he could recall and certainly nothing requiring such a retaliation.

Hoss was happy to go inside to let his father and Little Joe know what had happened and why. Little Joe was as pleased as could be that his efforts had led to Adam being treated that way, but Ben wasn’t at all pleased by that report though. To him, that was nearly an act of insubordination by the hands, and he meant to say something to them later that day once his younger sons headed off to school. Hoss noted that his father didn’t laugh at the story and that his eyebrows descended in that telltale mark of disapproval.

“Pa, it was funny, and it wasn’t like he got hurt or nothing. The hands only wanted to send him a message.”

“Hoss, that isn’t the point. He could have been hurt. That kind of activity is not to be tolerated. And what kind of message were they trying to send?”

“Well, for one, they heard what he called me, and they didn’t like it neither. Plus a couple of ’em said he’s a boy and he keeps trying to boss ’em around so he needs to learn his place.”

“Well, they are not your father, so they are not responsible for taking care of things like that, and Adam is their boss too so they better get used to the idea. Just because I’m back on my feet again doesn’t mean they don’t have to take his orders. He is second in command around here.”

“Even after what he called me, Pa?”

“Hoss, anyone can make a mistake. Look at how badly I handled myself for a few months there and left my responsibilities in Adam’s hands. I’m going to ride out there today and have a talk with him.”

“Like you started to last night, Pa?”

“No, Joseph, that was another mistake I made. I wasn’t talking with him. Frankly, I was not allowing him to talk at all. My temper got the best of me. I plan to do something about that today to get the taste of shoe leather out of my mouth.”

Both Hoss and Little Joe frowned at that so Ben had to explain what putting your foot in your mouth meant and the various ways people expressed having done that. Ben sent his younger sons off to school then and asked Hop Sing to pack up some food. He knew that Adam hadn’t eaten much so he planned to take a good lunch out there hoping that the two of them could share a meal and talk too. It wasn’t easy getting Adam to open up, but relaxing with a meal was a good way to start. With everything that had happened, Ben knew that it was about time for them to start talking about things. He finished some work that he had to get done and then saddled up Buck for the ride to where Adam was working.

Except that Adam wasn’t working at that point. He had worked as hard as he could for a few hours, but he hadn’t slept well at all the night before troubled by his father’s words, troubled by not having finished the job the day before, and especially troubled that somehow there was some kind of problem between him and Hoss. No matter how hard he tried, he could not think of any kind of issue that had come up between them so he couldn’t imagine why their father had said that Hoss had a problem with his attitude. He knew that the hands had a problem with him. They didn’t like taking orders from him because of his age and had only done it because of the tragedy that had befallen the family with Marie’s death. Now they wanted to go back to having all the orders come from Ben. However Ben had told Adam to shoulder some of the responsibility for running the ranch, and Adam had accepted that both because he wanted to help his father and because he was flattered to be treated as a man. He wasn’t about to give up that position easily and had talked to Hoss about how hard it was though. That had made it even harder that morning to hear Hoss laughing at him with the hands. He let all those thoughts circulate through his mind as he worked, but more and more his mind was distracted by the dizziness that assailed him and the nauseated sensations he had. He didn’t even drink any water, which of course made things worse in the hot sun. Finally at about eleven, he had to take a break. He sat down in the shade of a tree, took a sip of water, and leaned against the tree trunk where he almost immediately fell asleep. His father found him there a short time later.

Chapter 3

Dismounting and walking to his son who was asleep in the shade of a tree, Ben felt his temper rising exponentially. He did his best to tamp it down some but with little success. When Marie died, it was as if his emotions had died with her. He hadn’t cared about anyone or anything. He felt only numbness where his heart should have been. He had no joy but no great sorrow. Doctor Paul Martin had told him that was how he was dealing with her death. He had called it a form of melancholia. As he had emerged from it, his emotions had been riding high and low. He could go from the heights of euphoric joy to the depths of mean and nasty ill tempers over one bit of bad news and back up again with a bit of good news. He knew it worried Adam who did his best to weather the storms and protect his younger brothers, but this time the tempest was aimed squarely at the young man sleeping at the tree with no one there to buffer Ben’s temper for him. The roar woke him nearly instantly. His eyes fluttered and Ben knew that he had been sleeping deeply. It had been no short nap. That only infuriated him more.

“Stand up. How dare you lie to me? You said you couldn’t finish this job in a day, but now I can see why. You aren’t even working. I came out here to have a talk with you man to man but I find you acting like an irresponsible child.”

There were many things that Adam had gotten from his father, and that famous temper was one of them. Being addressed that way set it off. “I am not a child and I am not irresponsible. You have no right to say that about me. I have shown that I am not for the better part of the last year. I’m about to head off to study at college in a few months. I’ll be on my own to travel and to live.”

“Oh I doubt very much that you will be going off to college after what has been happening lately. You are proving to me that you aren’t ready to do any of that. You need to be responsible and show some respect.”

Shocked by his father’s words, Adam was also feeling the effects of what had made him seek the shade of the tree and rest earlier. His vision was still blurry and he felt dizzy. He began to find it difficult to think, and his father’s bellows were making things worse. “You could talk to me too in a more respectful tone of voice. Yelling like that isn’t setting a very good example.”

“Listen to me, boy, you aren’t too old to get a necessary talking to.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

Adam had called his bluff, and Ben had little left to offer. “If you live under my roof, you obey my rules and follow my orders. I’m the head of this family, and I still make the decisions around here.”

Then Adam went too far. He knew it after he said it, but he was too angry to take it back. “Then perhaps I don’t belong under your roof. Perhaps I should go live with my grandfather. He wouldn’t stop me from going to school.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t have the money to get to Boston.”

“I can work my way there.”

Ben knew that he could too. He turned back to Buck because anything more that either of them said in anger was only going to make a terrible situation all that much worse. “I brought lunch for us, but I don’t think either of us wants to be together right now. I hope you’re ready to discuss things when you finish this job and get yourself back to the house.”

Fighting to keep his balance and unwilling to admit his weakness at that point, Adam was silent. Ben mounted up on Buck and rode back to the ranchhouse as frustrated as he could ever remember being. Adam turned to the brush remaining in the ravine and wondered how he could possibly manage to complete the task he had. He trudged slowly to the ravine and began the arduous task. Two hours later, he lay unconscious and tangled in brush at the bottom of the ravine nearly invisible to anyone at the top. His horse and packhorse were grazing in the grass in the field until some men traveling through to California were cutting across the pasture and found them there with no one in sight. Silly with glee over their good fortune, they gathered up the reins of the horses and headed out at a good pace hoping the owner wasn’t nearby. When it was time for dinner, Ben’s anger rose again because Adam wasn’t there. He asked one of the hands to ride to that ravine and tell Adam to come home for dinner regardless of what he was doing. It was time for them to talk about all the things that had happened and all the things that had been said. The hand returned over an hour later.

“I couldn’t find him, Mister Cartwright. I rode all around the area and there was no sign of him. I found some tools by that ravine but nothing else. Wasn’t nary a sign of Adam or his horse. Looks like he rode off somewhere.”

At that point, Ben wasn’t sure if he was more worried or upset or angry. It was such a combination of feelings that he was confused. He told Hoss and Little Joe to finish their meal and do their homework, but they reminded him it was Friday night which was their traditional night to have time to play checkers or play with the toy soldiers. Sometimes Adam led them in singing or they read stories but clearly that wasn’t going to happen on this Friday evening. It did give Ben an idea though. He wondered if Adam had gone to town in an act of defiance. He decided that he would ride to town to find out. Before he headed out, he told Hop Sing where he was going and that he might not be home until the next morning. The town was still very small with not much more than the trading post, the three saloons, a livery stable, and a small number of houses and other small stores as well as the first small churches. It didn’t take Ben long to find out that Adam wasn’t there and never had been. The new part-time sheriff met him as he walked through town asking if anyone had seen Adam. Sheriff Roy Coffee took his duties quite seriously and was a very observant man.

“Ben, I hear you been looking for that oldest boy of yours. Now I wonder if you been looking for a couple of horses too.”

Somewhat impatient and still not used to Roy’s folksy way of speaking, Ben tried to brush him off. “I have no interest in horses. I want to find my son.”

“Well, now, you see, I’m thinking these two things might be related. I saw two strangers come into town with two extra horses. Now that ain’t that unusual.” Ben nodded in full agreement and wished that Roy would stop talking so that he could continue with his search. “Excepting that one of them extra horses had an extra saddle. Now why would two men need three saddles? It didn’t make no sense to me at all. I took a good look at those horses, and they got your brand on them. Now I know you sell horses so that by itself ain’t so peculiar even if the one is a mighty fine looking horse for the two saddle tramps what has him, but more important, now that I know Adam is missing, it becomes downright suspicious, don’t you think?”

As Roy talked, Ben became more and more concerned and wanted to rush Roy but knew that never worked. He waited impatiently for Roy to finish talking. “Where are they, Roy? That sounds like Adam’s horse and the packhorse he was using to carry tools.”

“They’re over at the cheapest saloon in town. Now, you can come with me, but you stay out of it. You let me handle it. I’d hate to have to put you in jail for disturbing the peace. Course you know, we only got the one cell, and it ain’t much more than a storeroom with no windows and only a solid wood door. You’d have to be locked up with them two jaspers.”

“Let’s just get going. I want to see those horses.”

Ben immediately recognized Adam’s horse and the packhorse. He wanted to rush into the saloon and demand to know what those men had done to Adam. Roy made him stand back as he walked in and casually approached the two men to question them about the horses. They said they bought them. Roy asked from whom, and they had no answer of course. They were going to draw, but the bartender pulled a shotgun and several patrons stepped up to lend Roy a hand. Roy called Ben in at that point.

“Now, this man’s son had those horses. We want to know what you did with him in order to get his horses. You have to know you’re already facing the hangman for stealing the man’s horses out here. The only way you can avoid it is ifn we can find Adam alive somewhere.”

“We never saw a man. We found these horses out on their own with nobody around. We figured we got lucky and we took ’em. Honest, that’s all we did.”

“Where did you supposedly take ’em?”

The two men described the area and it was where Adam had been working. Ben didn’t believe that they had done nothing to Adam. Roy didn’t either. Both believed that Adam would have been noticed if he was afoot.

“You two are going on over to the jail until we get this all sorted out. I’m taking your guns, and I suggest you don’t try nothing. Folks around here like Adam Cartwright. If you done anything to him, they’ll be more than happy to make sure you pay for it, and some would be happy to do that right now, I reckon.”

With that warning, the two men were compliant. Once they were locked in the cell, Roy followed Ben out of town. They were going to do a search for Adam although the increasing darkness was going to make that unlikely to be successful. It was. They found no trace of Adam.

Chapter 4

Meanwhile, Adam heard noises on occasion as he lay tangled in the brush at the bottom of the ravine. He tried to call out, but somehow he couldn’t find the words he needed. He tried to pull his pistol to fire shots to let someone know where he was, but he dropped it and couldn’t locate it in the dark. Then he passed out again, and when he next awoke, it was silent except for the usual sounds of the night. He was cold and shivering. He tried to extricate himself but with his head down he found that any effort increased his dizziness and disorientation. Laying still allowed the headache to diminish somewhat but he wanted so much to raise his head up and couldn’t. He was aware enough to know that he probably had to wait until morning for someone to find him. He hoped that the predators of the night didn’t find him first especially as he couldn’t locate his pistol anywhere.

When Ben arrived at his home, he found Hoss still up although it was past midnight. He was worried about his brother. “I got Little Joe to bed and told him there was nothing to worry about. That was all right to do, wasn’t it, Pa? I mean, it weren’t exactly the truth, but Little Joe needed to sleep, right?”

“You did well, son. Don’t worry about that.”

“Pa, did you find Adam?”

And Ben had to tell Hoss everything that happened even though it was a lot for the boy to have to face. He was worried about the brother he loved and any anger over some words was long forgotten when he considered the possibility of losing him forever. Ben knew his sons had lost too much already. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his oldest son even as he knew they would suffer losing a brother.

“Hoss, you need to get some sleep. So do I because as soon as it gets light we’re going to go find your brother. He’s out there somewhere, and we’re going to bring him home.”

There was only a hint of light in the sky when Ben moved down the hallway to wake Hoss only a few hours later. He found that his middle son hadn’t even undressed but had gone to sleep on top of his bed wearing everything except his boots. He was groggy but pulled on his boots and soon followed his father down the steps. When Ben and Hoss walked to the stable, they were gratified to see that all the hands were up and saddling horses ready to help in the search. Hop Sing had coffee ready and sandwiches for all to take with them. He had a bag of supplies too in case Adam was injured which Ben took with a grim look because he didn’t want to think about that possibility.

At the ravine, they began spreading out to search, but Ben noted how Hoss was searching the ground walking in wide circles around the area. Ben knew that Adam had been teaching Hoss about tracking and that Hoss had been practicing whenever he had a chance, but Ben wondered what good it could do in their present crisis. Finally he had to ask Hoss what he hoped to accomplish while the men were already riding off looking for signs of Adam.

“Pa, I’m looking for Adam’s tracks. Ifn he left here without Sport, then he had to leave tracks, didn’t he. Well, I ain’t finding any.”

“Hoss, that doesn’t make any sense unless . . .”

Father and son turned back toward that brush choked ravine at almost the same moment knowing that there was only one place he could be if he hadn’t walked out of here. Ominously, if he was silent and so close, he had to be hurt too. Both rushed to the ravine and began looking for Adam. Once they did that, it didn’t take long to find him even in the early dawn light that barely reached the depths of the ravine. Ben got to his son’s side and called his name. Adam turned his head toward his father allowing Ben some relief, but he seemed unable to talk. With Hoss’ help, Ben cleared more of the brush away and in the process found Adam’s pistol.

“I wonder why he didn’t fire it to let us know where he was?”

“Maybe he couldn’t. Pa, he don’t look so good. What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know, but we’re going to need some help to get him out of here.”

Raising Adam’s pistol, Ben fired three shots that caused Adam to groan in pain and turn away from his father. Soon, the hands were there and helped get Adam up on flatter ground. No one could find any wound or injury so no one knew why he was mostly unresponsive. Ben and the men put Adam on Hoss’ horse, and Hoss got on behind him to hold him in place. Slowly they rode home as one of the hands went to town to see if the doctor was in town. He was new to the area and only spent a few days a week in Virginia City spending the rest of the week in another community or traveling from settlement to settlement. Luckily, Doctor Paul Martin was there and arrived at the ranch a few hours later. He examined Adam who was semi-conscious and then had questions for Ben.

“Has he been hit in the head recently?”

“No, he hasn’t. He hasn’t been in any kind of fight or anything like that.”

“No, I didn’t see any bruising nor any damage to his hands indicating a fight, but he still has all the indications of being hit. He has a head injury. You don’t know how he could have been hurt?”

Ben was stymied as to an explanation for that, but Hoss started to feel even more guilty about the prank that had been played on Adam. He knew it had been mean and that he shouldn’t have laughed at his brother when it happened, but now he realized that his brother had likely been injured too. Because of the laughter, he had probably been too proud to want to admit it though so he had ignored the pain of what had happened and gone off to work when he probably should have gone off to bed instead.

“Pa, I think I might know how Adam hurt his head.” Both Ben and Paul turned expectantly toward Hoss. “When the hands loosened the cinch on his saddle and he fell, I think he might have hit his head on the ground.”

“Was it the back of his head?” Paul suspected as much but wanted to confirm that.

Hoss nodded. “When he fell, he went down on his back and his hat flew off. He held onto the reins of the horses so he couldn’t stop his fall. It all looked kinda funny then, but now I know he got hurt when that all happened. I feel real bad about that.”

Paul gave an answering nod. “That’s it then. That’s consistent with what I found. There is no bruising or point of impact but that blow probably caused some bleeding to start inside his skull. When did this happen, Hoss?”

“Yesterday morning. It was real early.”

“Will he be all right, though?” Ben was most concerned about the future.

“He’s had a serious head injury, and he should have spent time resting and healing after it happened. Instead he went out to work and then spent the night out in the elements, but yes, I think he will likely be all right. He needs to be kept warm and quiet. Keep the room darkened somewhat. There should be no bright sunlight because that will likely aggravate the headache he is likely to have for a few days at least. Keep the curtains pulled and use a lamp instead. Give him only liquids until you’re sure he won’t retch. Then he can have soft foods under the same rule. If all goes well, he should be able to be up and about in four or five days. Now even then, he needs to avoid anything strenuous for much longer than that. I know there’s a lot of hard work on a ranch like this, but for a few weeks, he shouldn’t be doing any of it. He’ll probably sleep a lot today, but by tomorrow, he should be more alert.”

Relieved, Ben offered Paul a chance to have a meal with them before he headed back to town. After that, both Ben and Paul went in to check on Adam and found him sleeping as he had been earlier. As predicted, he slept most of the next twenty-four hours waking only occasionally for sips of water or broth before falling asleep again. Ben kept Little Joe from his room so the young boy wouldn’t be too frightened and so that he wouldn’t make too much noise and bother Adam, but that evening, Little Joe’s curiosity got the best of him and he snuck into Adam’s room. Ben found him standing at Adam’s bedside and staring at him as he slept. Adam was pale and even in sleep grimaced a bit from the pain of his constant headache.

“He isn’t gonna die like Mama, is he, Papa?”

“No, he isn’t. He’s going to be fine.” Ben answered even as he steered Little Joe from the room. However the noise had awakened Adam so Ben returned to care for him as Little Joe went down the stairs. Hoss waited for him and asked if their father had been angry with him.

“No, but Adam looks like he’s gonna die. He’s all gray like.”

“It’s kinda dark in his room and that’s one reason why, but he’s sick too and that happens when folks are sick. Doc said he’ll get better though, but it didn’t help that you snuck in there and woke him up. Pa’s gonna be mad at you like as not.”

Ben was upset with Little Joe about that. His disobedience had caused his brother some discomfort, and Ben made it clear that wasn’t going to be tolerated. He didn’t yell knowing that Adam might hear that too, but Little Joe heard the message in that low growling voice too. He stayed away from Adam’s room. By the next day, Adam was able to stay awake for longer periods of time and eat some soft foods. By the third day, he asked his father if he would bring him some extra pillows so that he could try sitting up in bed. That worked well, and the two of them began to talk.

“Pa, I’m very sorry for the things that I said. I let my temper get the better of me. I put my foot in my mouth by speaking from anger instead of thinking things through and talking it out with you.”

“Son, you’re not the only one with the taste of shoe leather in his mouth. I said things I highly regret, and nothing you said was unexpected after what I said. You are a very responsible young man, and my temper got the best of me. It seems that I’m not so recovered from my bout of melancholia as I thought, and I am not in control of my temper at all apparently. I cannot apologize enough for how I acted and what I said. I should also have thought things through and talked with you instead of jumping to conclusions and being so accusatory. I objected to your attitude when it is my own that needed correcting. I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t notice that you were ill. What kind of father was I to yell at you when I should have been concerned that you were not feeling well? I know what kind of man you are and that if you were sleeping that there had to be a good reason for it.”

“I could have told you too, but you made me mad. I wasn’t going to tell you I was sick.”

“Couldn’t admit any weakness to me either.”

“No, I guess I wanted to stand toe-to-toe with you and I could hardly do that if I said I was sick.”

“I know that whole scene was my fault for not talking and yelling instead.”

“I guess we have time to do a lot of that talking now.”

“Yes, we do. If you feel strong enough?” Adam said that he did. “Then I have to say I wish that this whole thing could have been avoided, and I was shocked to learn how it all started. When Hoss told me what you called him, I couldn’t believe it. It seemed so out of character for you, but Hoss is the most honest boy there is.”

“What did Hoss say?”

“He said that you called him a ‘stupid idiot’ which hurt him to the quick.”

“But, Pa, I never called Hoss a stupid idiot. I would never say anything like that or even close to that to Hoss. Who would say that I ever said anything like that?”

At that point, Ben was very confused. He had conflicting stories from his two sons who never lied. Hoss couldn’t lie no matter if he tried, and Adam only lied by omission. He had too much integrity to even try to lie boldly. His direct statement that he had never said that had to be believed, but Ben had to believe Hoss too. He had only one recourse to pursue at that point even if Adam was still feeling the effects of the concussion. He asked Hoss to come upstairs so he could ask him what happened because he was starting to get a sinking feeling that there was another party involved in all of this. Once Hoss was settled in a chair next to the bed and beside his father, Ben very quietly explained what Adam had said. Hoss looked at his older brother in shock not knowing what to say because he too knew that Adam didn’t lie. Then the whole thing became much more clear although the details would have to be dredged up slowly.

“But Little Joe said he heard you call me that!”

Chapter 5

When Adam heard Hoss’ statement, he thought back and tried to remember ever saying those words and couldn’t. He asked Hoss when Little Joe had told him that.

“We were riding to school on Thursday, I think it was, or maybe it was Friday, and Little Joe said you said I was a stupid idiot for putting the salt bags on top of the tools in the tool shed.”

“But I didn’t know it was you who did that. If I said anything, I only said what I said in general.” Adam paused then. “I think I remember now. I walked in to get the tools I needed to go cut all that brush, and the salt bags were sitting on the tools I needed. It had caused a lot of condensation on the tools and rusting especially on the edges so I had to scrape and sharpen everything even though I had just done that the day before. It made me late going to the job.” Pausing to let the fuzzy memory gel, Adam closed his eyes and then opened them. “That’s when I said something like ‘What kind of stupid idiot would leave salt bags on top of tools?’ or something like that. Hoss, I was upset. I had no idea it was you. I was only reacting to the fact that I was going to have to redo work I had just done, and it was going to make me late getting started at my job that day.”

“That’s why you were still home when I got back. Why didn’t you tell me that?” Only Adam’s quirked eyebrow reminded Ben that his angry response to his son had forestalled any discussion or explanation. “I’m sorry. There’s another taste of that shoe leather.”

“I should probably apologize too for saying what I said when I found those bags of salt there, but I was upset. I never meant for those words to be heard by anyone and certainly never to be heard by you. I had no idea who did it. I was mad about it. That was all. I was letting off a little steam. I shouldn’t have.”

Ben wondered though why it had happened at all. “Hoss, why did you put the salt there?”

“Pa, you said to get the supplies into the kitchen or the tool shed as fast as we could cause the rain was coming. Well, the salt was the last thing and it was already starting to rain. The tool shed was a lot closer. I told Little Joe to remind me to go get it later after it stopped raining. I guess we both forgot it was there.”

“So that was my fault too. I should have checked on whether all the supplies got put away properly. It was my responsibility and I shirked it handing it off to you boys.”

“I brought it in to the kitchen the next day, and Hop Sing was mad at me for the condition it was in. He had some choice words for me. I tried to explain to him that it wasn’t my fault, but he wasn’t listening either.”

Not wanting to interrupt an important family conversation, Hop Sing had been waiting in the hall with food for Adam. Not exactly sure what this reference was to shoe leather, Hop Sing was sure that it applied to him as well. He decided that the next meal for Adam was going to include all of his favorites if that was humanly possible.

In the bedroom, Ben now had a fairly complete picture of what had happened, and it was a rather ugly picture of his youngest son’s behavior. “I think that I need to have a long talk with Little Joe.”

As usual, Adam tried to be the protector of his brothers. “Pa, are you sure you ought to talk to him when your temper is so roused?”

“Adam, I lost my temper with you and that was wrong, but there is also a righteous anger, and that is what I have toward your youngest brother right now. He needs a serious talking to. He hurt both of his brothers and caused a significant amount of trouble. He needs to take responsibility for all of it. I want him to understand things too. I will talk to him, but he needs to accept everything I say or I will be forced to drive the lesson home.”

Both brothers were well aware of what that meant. After Ben left, Adam was quiet. Hoss stared at the floor but felt he had something that needed to be said.

“Adam, I’m real sorry I laughed at you when you fell and hurt yourself. That wasn’t nice.”

“It’s all right. You had no idea I was hurt.”

“Well, I said some things to Pa that was hurtful, and I need to apologize to you for that.”

“But shouldn’t you apologize to Pa not me.”

“No, you see, you don’t understand. I said things that was hurtful to you, but I said ’em to Pa. Even though I never said ’em to you, I still feel like, in my heart, they’re between us, and I gotta say I’m sorry. You’re my brother and ain’t never anything that’s ever gonna change how I feel about you. I shoulda known better when Little Joe said what he said. I shoulda come to you honest like and asked about it like a man woulda and cleared the air. I shur shouldna oughta not laughed when you fell and hurt yourself cause that was right mean. Before Pa left, I heard you and Pa talking ’bout the taste of shoe leather, and I reckon I got a taste of it myself.”

“Hoss, I’m not sure I understood all of that. My head still hurts, but I accept your apology and trust that you and I will always be good. As to the taste of shoe leather, I’m guessing that it isn’t nearly as bad as what our little brother might be tasting if he doesn’t listen very well when Pa is talking to him about all of this now that he has the whole story or at least as much as you and I could tell him.”

“Yeah, why do you suppose that Little Joe done it?”

“He had something that he thought he could use to stir things up, and that imp does like to stir things up when he gets the chance.”

“Do you think Pa knows he done it on purpose?”

“If he doesn’t, he’ll figure it out as he talks to Little Joe. Little Joe has a way of digging himself in deeper when he tries to cover up something that he’s done that is wrong. Pa will get to the bottom of it.”

“And then maybe to the bottom of Little Joe.”

The two brothers snickered a bit about that. Both thought that the youngest brother was a bit spoiled and needed a firmer hand. They had talked about that a few times, and although they had great sympathy for Little Joe’s loss of his mother, they had suffered losses too and never used that as excuses for bad behavior. They had lost her too, and it hadn’t been the first loss for either of them. Adam was concerned about his father’s temper though and that since Marie’s death, he had a difficult time reining it in.

“Hoss, maybe you ought to go, you know, watch over things.”

“Adam, I don’t know if I can do what you do stepping in the middle and smoothing things out when there’s too much trouble.”

“Hoss, don’t sell yourself short. I think you may be better at it than I am. You may be the best of all because you’re the most even tempered of all of us and keep your head better than the rest of us.”

Hoss didn’t have to go far to listen. Ben was sitting by the fireplace in his red leather chair and Little Joe was standing in front of him looking fairly confident, but Hoss was certain that was going to change especially when he heard his father’s first question.

“Little Joe, did you tell Hoss that Adam called him a ‘stupid idiot’ and be very careful how you answer that question because I want the full and honest truth here?”

Little Joe wanted to explain so he took the long way around in answering the question. “Well, I knew Hoss put those salt bags on those tools cause I saw him and I heard Adam say that whoever did that was a ‘stupid idiot’ so I knew that he was talking about Hoss. I told Hoss that.”

“Little Joe, did you tell Hoss that just the way you told me now or did you simply say that Adam called him those names?”

Shifting from foot to foot, Little Joe tried desperately to think of another way to explain his way out of this but couldn’t think of one. He could see his father getting angry because of his delay as much as because of the answer he was going to have to give so he had to answer.

“I only told him the words.”

“So, you purposefully caused trouble between your brothers?”

“Well, Adam did call him those things.”
“No, he did not.”

“But, Pa, I heard him say it.”

“Little Joe, Adam was upset that he had to do work over again that he had done only the day before. He had no idea who had put the salt there. He would never have called anyone those names. He was angry and letting off some frustration not even thinking that anyone could hear him. You told Hoss what you overheard but you told him the words out of context.”

“Huh?”

“You told him what Adam said without telling him the rest of the story so that Hoss could understand what happened. Instead, Hoss drew the wrong conclusion because of how you told him. You caused trouble between your brothers, and the hands heard about it too and thought that Adam had gone too far. They decided to teach him a lesson and did it in a very poor way. We all know how that turned out. Adam could have died out there. Now who would have been responsible?”

“I heard you say you were when you were talking with Adam.”

“You were eavesdropping when I was talking with your brother?”

“No, but you were up there so long and I wanted to know what you were talking about.”

“Joseph, that is eavesdropping.”

“Oh, does that mean I’m in trouble?”

“You were in trouble long before I knew that.”

“Why?”

“You told Hoss a story about Adam in order to cause trouble between Adam and Hoss. You were the one who was supposed to remind Hoss about the salt in the tool shed so the two of you could get it after the rainstorm.”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”

“I didn’t. I told the two of you to get those supplies put away. You want to shift all the blame to Hoss, but you are responsible too. Have you apologized to Hop Sing for the damage to the salt?”

“No, I haven’t.”

“You laughed at Adam being hurt when the hands pulled that trick on him.”

“Hoss laughed too.”

“Arguing with me is another problem. You’re tallying up quite a list here. Because someone else breaks a rule is no excuse for you to break it. I’m sure that Hoss has apologized to his brother by now. Have you?” Little Joe hung his head. He knew he was in a lot of trouble and had no way to explain any of it away. He was caught. He had one last ploy to try. He began to cry.

“I miss Mama. I wish she was here right now. She would know how to make me do the right thing.” The tears and the sobs grew in intensity until Ben wrapped his small son in his arms to soothe him. They stayed that way for probably twenty minutes until Little Joe fell asleep in his father’s arms.

Up at the top of the staircase, Hoss had rolled his eyes and almost snorted with disgust at the first tears and then his father’s reaction. He walked back to Adam’s room expecting his older brother to be sleeping, but he wasn’t because he was worried about what had happened. Hoss walked in and dropped dejectedly into a chair making it creak under his weight already at the age of twelve. Adam was concerned about his reaction and asked what had happened.

“Little Joe did what he always does. He cried and called for Mama, and Pa went all weak and fell for it again.”

“We need to do something about that.”

“I don’t know what we can do.”

“I’ve got a lot of time to lay in this bed and not much to do but think. I’ll come up with something.”

Hoss grinned. He liked it when Adam had a plan, and he knew he would have one soon.

Chapter 6

Only two days later, Hoss’ mouth was hanging open as he listened to his brother. He had expected a plan but this was so outlandish in his opinion as to be foolhardy. “You want to tell Pa? Adam, he’ll be upset with both of us, and I’m still young enough that he might think that belt of his could use some work on my behind.”

“Hoss, he won’t punish you for what I have to say.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“He’s going to be upset with me not you, but then you’ll remind him that he promised to talk with me and not yell. We’ll talk then, and you can join in when he calms down.”

“Ifn he calms down. With what you plan to tell him, he may not calm down ’til next year.”

“Hoss, I’m making him a proposition. He knows about such things. He’ll be willing to let me make a fool of myself and prove him right. Except we both know I won’t. We’re going to prove something else entirely, and it’s about time too.”

Resigned to his fate, Hoss asked Adam when they were going to do it so that Little Joe wouldn’t hear them.

“Pa has him doing a few extra chores for what he did. We’ll wait until he goes outside to do them, and then we’ll ask Pa to come up here to talk.”

Things happened fairly close to what Adam had predicted. Ben was incensed at Adam’s hypothesis that Little Joe used tears and sobs to get what he wanted and manipulated his father’s emotions by that means. However Hoss did intercede and remind his father that he had agreed to talk with Adam on issues and not lose his temper so he agreed to hear Adam out. Adam proposed a test then of the idea, and Ben agreed that he would play along with it to show Adam that he was wrong. With both parties in agreement on the scheme, they decided to put it into play that evening. Ben was back downstairs by the time Little Joe came in from his few extra chores.

“Pa, I did the extra chores again. It’s been three whole days. Isn’t that enough to teach me my lesson?”

“Little Joe, I told you that it would be a week.” Ben saw his son’s lip and chin begin to quiver and got his first doubts about what he had said to Hoss and Adam. However he decided to forestall this situation by diverting Little Joe’s attention and having the added benefit of getting Adam’s plan in motion. “Hop Sing made some cookies today. They’re Adam’s favorites. Perhaps he would let you take some up to Adam and have some for yourself too. Hoss is up there. I’m sure he would like some too.”

That did the trick and Little Joe was off to get some cookies to take upstairs to share with his brothers. They were ready for him too having discussed their plan and how to talk about it so that Little Joe would be intrigued. They heard him coming because they always heard him coming except when he was sneaking around trying to eavesdrop. Adam said something about fishing at the lake but stopped immediately as the door began to swing open. Little Joe was there with a tray of cookies and some tea for Adam to drink, and now some big questions too.

“What are you talking about? Are you going fishing at the lake? When are we going?”

“Little Joe, we are not going fishing at the lake.”

“Don’t lie to me, Adam. Pa says it’s wrong to lie. I heard you talking about it. You said you were going fishing at the lake.”

“I said we as in Hoss and I. I did not say we as in you and Hoss and I.”

“Huh?”

“What he means, Little Joe, is that he’s still hurting a bit and Pa said I could take him there in the wagon, but he ain’t in no shape to watch over you, and I gotta be there to help out Adam if need be. I can’t be watching out for you too.”

“So Pa said you two could go fishing but not me?”

Both Hoss and Adam nodded solemnly. They could see that Little Joe was thinking hard about what to do about that. Then he pursed his lips and looked at them squarely.

“I can make Pa let me go. You just wait and see. I’ll be going with you.”

As Adam munched on a cookie and sipped his tea, he nodded. “I don’t know how you do it, Little Joe. You seem to be able to convince Pa to do almost anything.”

As Hoss nearly choked on his cookie, Little Joe simply smiled and nodded as he was quite proud of himself and what he took to be praise from his oldest brother. He took the tray when they finished because he was intent on showing his father how responsible he was so that he could launch into his argument for going along on the fishing trip knowing he had that secret weapon waiting to be used. As soon as Little Joe headed down the stairs, Hoss carried a chair down the hallway so that Adam could sit near the top of the stairs as the two brothers listened to the drama they expected to play out down below. They didn’t have long to wait.

“Pa, I brought the cookies up there and some tea for Adam. I brought the tray and the cup back down too.”

“Very good, Little Joe.”

“They were talking about a fishing trip. They said I can’t go.”

“That’s right. Adam isn’t fully recovered yet so he can’t watch over you, and Hoss needs to be ready to help Adam if needed.”

“But I can watch over myself, and I could help with Adam too like I just did.”

“No, Little Joe, I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to go.”

“But Pa, Mama’s out there by the lake. I hardly ever get to go out there by her. I miss her.”

“Yes, son, we all miss her.”

“I really need to go with Hoss and Adam, Pa.”

Little Joe’s lip began to quiver as did his chin and tears welled up in his eyes. He started to huff a little in preparation for all out sobbing when Ben stood up and his eyebrows came down and his chin jutted out. Extending his arm completely, he pointed his finger at his youngest son shocking Little Joe who had no idea what was happening. The quivering, tears, and huffing stopped immediately.

“To use your mother’s memory so selfishly is despicable. To manipulate me with your fake grief is beyond reprehensible. Those punishments, I gave you were far less than you deserve for your behavior. You know how you want to act to aggrieved. Well, there’s one way to fight through grief and that’s through hard work. All those chores I’ve assigned you to do this week. Well, those are now your permanent chores. You will do them every day from now on. There will be no fishing trip for you, but your brothers have earned one. You will stay home tomorrow and do their chores as well while they enjoy a well-earned day away from your manipulations. I cannot believe that I have raised such a conniving child. You will stop this scheming behavior in this family immediately or you will find that you have more to fear than additional work. Now go to your room. Hop Sing will bring you a plate for dinner. I do not want to see you before breakfast because I am so ashamed of you right now.”

Shocked into silence, Little Joe complied. He got to the top of the stairs in time to see Hoss carrying a chair back to Adam’s room and knew that his two brothers had heard everything. He had to wonder if they were somehow responsible for what had happened but couldn’t imagine how they could possibly be culpable. Instead, he went to his room and sat in dejected self-pity for the evening until it was time to go to bed. He wasn’t completely idle during that time though as he tried to think of another way that he could use to go on that fishing trip. When he thought he had a possible solution, he was ready to go to bed. His father never came in to wish him a good night. He couldn’t remember a night when that had not happened even when his father had been immersed in his sadness over Marie’s death and sometimes had too much to drink. It should have told him not to push his father any further, but he didn’t heed that warning.

The next day, Hoss hitched up the buckboard with a big grin until he saw Little Joe standing there with the most dejected look he could imagine. Although Hoss knew that Little Joe deserved every thing that had happened, he was still bothered by seeing his brother hurting. He never could stand to see either of his brothers hurting. He told Little Joe to behave himself so that next time he could go along. Little Joe nodded but without enthusiasm.

“Let’s go, Hoss. Once we’re out of sight, he won’t feel as bad because he can forget about us for the day.”

Freed not only from his bedroom but the house too for the day, Adam was anxious to get going before their father decided that the trip to the lake was too strenuous for him. He had needed help getting down the stairs and help getting up into the wagon. Hopefully he could manage everything else without assistance. Hoss was capable of driving the team and they had everything in the back of the wagon that was needed for the day. There wasn’t room for Little Joe to hide with the things in the back. A few hours later, Hoss and Adam were relaxing on the lakeshore, trying to catch a few fish but mostly soaking in the sun’s rays and talking when Little Joe rode up. Hoss was the first to speak.

“Little Joe, what in tarnation are you doing here? Pa is gonna skin you alive ifn he finds you went against what he said.”

“I didn’t go against what he said. He said I couldn’t go on the fishing trip, and he said I couldn’t go to the lake with you and Adam. I didn’t do either of those things. I rode out here by myself and I’m not going to be doing any fishing.”

Shaking his head at the impertinence of the boy, Adam was ready with a lot more. “If you were in any other family, I think you would end up as an outlaw. You have no respect for authority and only do your best to think of ways around rules without thinking of why rules are made. By the way, doesn’t Pa have a rule that says you are not allowed to ride to the lake by yourself. Two, aren’t you supposed to be working at our chores today?” Turning to his middle brother, Adam shrugged in mild annoyance. “We’ll have to cut our day short here too. We have to take him back.”

“I figured you was gonna say that. I had it all set in my head already. I’ll get the horses ready and start packing up stuff.”

“No, you get the horses ready. Little Joe and I will pack up the stuff. There isn’t much because we never got to our lunch. I guess we’ll eat it when we get home.” Hoss was rather disappointed by that until Adam said they could eat it as a picnic on the porch. That helped his spirits some.

Nothing could help Little Joe’s spirits though as Adam and Hoss repeatedly brought up what they thought their father would do when he found out what had happened. They took a bit of perverse pleasure in making the boy suffer because he had ruined their special day, but nothing they said could have prepared Little Joe for the angry father who greeted them and listened to their tale when they arrived home. Ben took Little Joe with a hand gripping the boy’s shoulder and steered him toward the house except at the last minute, he detoured and took him around the house to the back. Little Joe found sitting to be difficult for the next three days and not comfortable for several days after that. His ploy of invoking his mother’s memory and then crying was a thing of the past. He wouldn’t ever dare try that combination again.

Chapter 7   Epilogue

Standing at the stage that would take his son to San Francisco and a ship for his voyage to Boston, Ben Cartwright fought hard against the tears that wanted to come. He was a proud man and letting his tears show in public was not something he could indulge, and he suspected his proud son felt much the same way as he stood stiffly beside him. Ben spoke to Adam without touching him or even looking at him directly afraid that doing either might undo the work both had done to shore up their emotions on this day.

“Adam, son, it seems I only have these long speeches with you so often when I am angry or when I am apologizing to you. This time it is because I want you to know that any opposition I may have voiced to your leaving, whether it was in anger or in moments of melancholy over these last months, was not any true desire to hold you back from your education. It was because I will miss you very much. You have been the one constant in my life for the past eighteen years. We have each lost so much but have had each other. You have been with me for tremendous change. You have helped me build our dream and helped me raise Hoss and Little Joe. I look back and wonder what I would have done without you to love and to be loved by you. You are more than my son. You are my friend and my partner in all of this. When you finish your schooling, I want you to come back here and give us another chance.”

With a sideways look of his eyes and a wry half grin, Adam had a cheeky answer. “I have to come back, Pa. I don’t know if you’ll be able to handle Little Joe all by yourself when he’s ten.”

Hoss added his part then. “Yeah, for a such a smart one, he shur can be stupid about things.”

Sighing in resignation, Ben had to smile with his two older sons. They watched Little Joe down the street teasing two girls and then running away so they couldn’t retaliate before going back to do more of the same. “Yes, I’m afraid it will take the whole family and then some to help raise Little Joe into an upright man. I’m glad you’ll be back to help. In fact, I’m overjoyed to hear you say you’ll be back.”

“Pa, no matter how many times I might leave here, I’ll always be back. It’s my home.” Ben smiled because of how Adam had phrased that. He thought about some words Marie had used to describe Adam a year earlier when they had talked about Adam going off to school.

The stage arrived then, and there was a flurry of activity as Adam said his final goodbyes, boarded the stage, and left. Ben thought then of Marie’s words about him. They seemed to fit his last words before leaving and his big grin as he climbed aboard that stage. He’s more of a free spirit than you are, Ben. He sees the world as a marvelous place and wants to explore it. He needs the chance to try new things, to test himself, and to see what he has never seen. He loves you and his brothers deeply though, and he will never let go of that. He loves as passionately as anyone I have ever known no matter how much he may try to hide those feelings within himself. Let him fly free, Ben, and he will always come back to you when each flight is over because he knows that this is his home. Trust him. Ben knew he would, but he would also worry until that stage arrived again in four years and delivered his son back home again, he hoped.

 

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Ben Cartwright, Family, Hoss Cartwright, Joe / Little Joe Cartwright