Summary:  Adam finds himself in dire straits and needs help to extricate himself, but he has to flee to avoid worse trouble.  He makes a friend but manipulation takes from him something he had hoped never to lose even though he gains something he had desired.  His family worries about him and wonders if he will keep his promise to come home one day.

Rating = T  WC = 25,590

 

The Outlaw Brother

Chapter 1

Watching from behind boulders far above the posse, Adam watched as they rode out. His father and brothers were with them probably to stop them from shooting him before they asked any questions such as whether he was armed or not. The posse kept heading in the same direction for at least twenty minutes with no one looking back before he began making his way down the steep slope hoping that perhaps they had left some scrap of food or something else behind that he could use. He had nothing. He had managed to escape with his brother’s help but the only way out of town had been to slip into the back of a freight wagon already on the move in the early morning darkness. He had dropped from the wagon before it got to its destination. When it slowed at a crossroads he slid from the back and used the bulk of the wagon to hide until the men driving the wagon decided that they must have imagined the noise they had heard. Then he ran to the brush at the side of the road and hid hoping they had not turned back to look once more. He heard nothing and when he chanced a peak to check, the two men looked relaxed if not bored sitting silently and watching the road ahead as they drove away. He wasn’t sure where he was at that point and had climbed to higher ground after brushing away his prints, which had been a good precaution. Less than four hours later, the posse had come by looking at each side of the road for tracks of any kind. It had been late by then and as the sun dropped low, they had decided to camp near him. Hoss had signaled the stop and pointed to a grove of trees at the base of the hill where he was hiding. There was a stream there so they could water their horses and get fresh water for their canteens. He had none. He was thirsty, hungry, and cold. Adam had thought that Joe was the only one actively helping him until he saw Hoss using a small branch to brush out some tracks he must have missed. Hoss looked up the hill at one point probably wondering if his older brother could see him. He looked back to see if any members of the posse were watching. None were. He threw a small salute up the hill making it clear he knew where Adam had gone even if he wasn’t sure if he was still there.

That night, Adam shivered up in the rocks while they slept around a roaring fire snug in their bedrolls. For a short time, he considered trying to steal one of the horses, but suspected the Ponderosa horses might whinny on his approach. Any noise like that, and he would have been found out, sent back to jail, and hanged most likely the next week or soon after that. The trial was only going to be a formality with the witnesses against him and the incriminating documents they had amassed. He didn’t know how they had done it, and knew that if he didn’t know he was innocent, he might even wonder at his own guilt with the preponderance of the evidence against him.

As he worked his way down the hill, he did his best not to dwell on the charges against him, but they offended him so much he could seldom forget them. His father and brothers had never believed them. A few friends had stood by him never doubting his innocence, but there were others who wondered even if they said they believed him. He could see it in their eyes when a few visited him and more when he was brought into the courtroom for the first day of the trial. They had doubts about him. The jury had looked as hostile as he could imagine especially after the evidence that was presented and the witnesses who were brought that first day. He could see it in their posture and their expressions: they believed he could be the man who set fire to a house burning a man, his wife, and his children to death.

His own sharp tongue had been part of the evidence against him. He had called John Barton’s children ‘demon spawn’ in front of witnesses. He had referred to Matilda Barton as a shrew and said that John ought to burn in hell for his deeds. The partnership agreement he had signed with John before he knew him well left everything to the surviving partner in the case of the death of one partner. John had been charming and persuasive offering all sorts of inducements to get Adam to agree to a partnership in an engineering project for a local mining corporation. John’s credentials were bogus, and the work all fell to Adam even though the profits from the endeavor were to be split evenly. When Adam tried to get out of the partnership, he found ironclad penalties had been inserted without his knowledge. He hired a lawyer to sue John, and that’s when the fire occurred. He had been in town that night. He and John had argued in public with Adam nearly throwing a punch. Instead he had uttered words meant to be taken one way but taken entirely another way after the fire.

“John, I’m going to burn you. I’ve hired a lawyer. You won’t get away with this. Hopefully, by the time I’m done with you, you won’t have a thing left including the house you live in.”

After that, Adam had not wanted to stay in town. He had left town, but his brothers had stayed in town to enjoy the evening. His father was in Sacramento and Hop Sing was visiting relatives in town. He had visited a friend but her husband was not home. Adam knew he was in Sacramento with Ben and had decided to stop in to check on her to see how she was faring in his absence. Truth be told, he liked visiting with her as she always complimented him and flirted a bit with him. It was innocent as neither would do anything about it or so they had thought, but she had asked Adam to kiss her. He had made excuses to leave, and she had cried. He had made the mistake of comforting her and the kiss had happened anyway as she had him in close proximity and in effect took advantage of the situation. He felt a bit guilty about that. The result was that he had no alibi he could use for what happened later that night. If he said he had visited the woman at night, people would make assumptions that were wrong. Her reputation would be ruined, and more ominously, her marriage might be ruined. He wouldn’t do that to her. Roy had come to see him the next morning to question him because of his argument with John and what he had said.

“Roy, I meant that figuratively. Surely you know I would never set a man’s house on fire.”

“Adam, I know that, but I got a job to do. You was heard making threats against the man. You ain’t got an alibi as to your whereabouts. A man dressed all in black was seen running away from that house after the fire was seen and screams were heard from inside. I’m sorry, but I gotta take you to town.”

“Roy, that’s hardly enough to say I did it.”

“Maybe so, and after I investigate and there’s nothing more, then I can let you go, but Adam, there’s got to be an inquest at least.”

By the time of the inquest, John’s lawyer had brought forth the partnership documents and testified that John had told him he was afraid of Adam and what Adam might do if he was angry. The whole story of how Adam was hoodwinked by John in the partnership came out adding to the weight of the evidence pointing at Adam. There was no alternative explanation that anyone could supply so he was the only suspect. The ruling at the inquest pointed directly at him, and he guessed that the trial was going to go the same way. It wasn’t the first time he had been accused even though completely innocent. He had stood on a gallows twice before only to be rescued at the last moment once by Joe and once by Joe and Hoss. He didn’t think it was likely he was going to be saved a third time.

His potential alibi came to bring him some fresh baked goods while he was in jail and offered to tell the truth. He refused and could see the relief she had that he was not going to make her sacrifice to save him. He guessed then that their friendship wasn’t as strong as he had thought it was. She was willing to let him die to save her reputation and her marriage.

When his family visited, which was often, he told them not to do anything illegal to get him out of jail. He didn’t want the law broken or innocent people hurt. Those were the words he used and he saw his father nod in acceptance of them. They were the same words they had agreed upon once many years earlier in a similar terrible situation. Like then, though, Adam heart was screaming inside that he wanted them to get him the hell out of this mess no matter what it took. He didn’t want to die for something he hadn’t done. He saw resignation in Hoss’ expression and such pain that he couldn’t bear to look at him too long. But when he looked at Joe, he knew that there was a kindred spirit there. The two of them were alike in many ways even if they clashed often over little things. They carried the same passion in their hearts and the same willingness to break rules when injustice was being perpetrated even if it meant going against family and friends. He didn’t know what Joe was going to do, but the look in his eyes was that he was going to do something. There was a resolve there that said he wasn’t going to let his brother hang. As their father talked of lawyers and reprieves and trusting the jury, Joe’s expression said he didn’t believe in any of those things.

Each day, Adam was confined in that cell staring at gray walls and sitting in dim light. For most of the day, it wasn’t even bright enough in there for him to read a book. Then the trial had begun. After that first day, as Adam was led from the courthouse back to the jail, he tried to be positive and give a brave front to his family. However, the prospect of an anemic defense in the face of the evidence stacking up against him made that nearly impossible. In Joe’s eyes, he had seen a reflection of what he was feeling in his heart. Joe nodded at him in a way that made him think there might yet be a hope that he might be willing to do something dramatic and drastic. If anyone would, it would be Joe. That night, he stayed alert waiting for whatever would happen. It was well after midnight when a small package fell from the open window. That’s all that it was. Adam knew that there was a deputy stationed outside the jail and one inside. Somehow, Joe had managed to get to the window to drop this package to him. He opened it to find a pistol, some beeswax, and a few makeshift keys that he could use to try to open the cell door. These old cells didn’t have very good locks so he had a chance. It still took him nearly an hour to work a key around in the lock and get it to open. When he did, he used beeswax on the hinges to make sure there was no noise, and then he carefully opened the door. He did what he could to make it look like he was still wrapped in the blanket on the cot before shutting the cell door. It meant that he wouldn’t have a hat to wear. Later he wished he had thought to take one of the other blankets with him, but at that moment, he was only concerned with getting away from that jail and town. He listened at the back door for the footsteps of the deputy. He didn’t hear any so he opened the door to find him sitting in a chair sound asleep. He walked slowly and carefully to avoid making a sound until he was quite far from the jail and then tried to think of how he would get out of town before they discovered he was missing. The freight wagon loading up was his only option as far as he could determine. He waited for them to get underway and ran behind them jumping into the back and sliding under the canvas tarp covering the large crates they were carrying. He rode there for what seemed like probably ten to twelve hours grateful to the brother he assumed had to be Joe who had helped him get away.

However Adam’s situation was still desperate. He was on foot with no food, no blanket, and no money. When he got to the campsite, he found that someone had dropped a canteen in the brush. He picked it up and saw numbers scrawled on the side. Smiling, he recognized the old but simple code he had taught Joe when his youngest brother was still quite young but fascinated with secret things. It was using twenty-six numbers backwards for the alphabet. Using the code, he quickly translated the code. It told him to look behind the log. There were several logs in the vicinity so he had to look several places before he found the items they had left for him in a small sack. There was some jerky, a small tin of matches, a jackknife, and three gold coins. There was a note too that simply stated the name of a point in the mountains. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was and would have to work that out so that he could get to Stag’s Leap because that’s where his brothers wanted him to go.

Chapter 2

For days, Ben Cartwright hadn’t been able to sleep. In Sacramento for a meeting, he had gotten a telegram from Joe telling him that Adam was in trouble and needed his help. However, never in his wildest imagination would he have ever thought to find his son in jail facing arson and four homicide charges. The evidence against him was significant. Ben knew he was innocent, but Adam had been frustrated and had lost his temper several times and said things that had now been taken out of context and were being used against him as motive for a crime he could never commit. Ben knew how bad it looked, but he hired the best attorney he could find, and he scheduled a meeting with the governor on the chance that did not work. He was going to use every resource he had to get clemency at the very least so that they would have more time to prove his son was innocent of these charges. The pain he felt when he saw Adam sitting so dejected in that cell tore at his heart each time. He tried to be strong and agreed with his son that no illegal means should be used because innocent people could be hurt. Hoss reluctantly agreed with him, but he knew that Joe had reservations about it. Even the night before the trial began, they had argued about that.

“Son, we have to trust in justice. An innocent man cannot be hanged if we use all the resources the law allows us to use.”

“Tell that to Bob Jolly. I’m sure that he won’t agree with you.”

“His father didn’t get to use the justice system as it was meant to be used. It was perverted by powerful men who wanted to take his land.”

“How do we know that isn’t happening here? How do we know that someone hasn’t set Adam up to hang because there’s something they want and they’ll get it if he dies?”

“It hardly seems likely because John Barton was the one who would benefit and he’s dead. I don’t know that anyone benefits now.”

“Wouldn’t the mining corporation benefit because they don’t have to pay for what Adam did for them?”

“I suppose that’s possible, but the amount that they’re paying isn’t such a huge amount that murdering four people and orchestrating the hanging of a fifth person would seem warranted. They’re a huge corporation. That amount of money is quite substantial for one or two men to share, but for that business, it isn’t that much.”

“But the work is done, and now they probably won’t have to pay for it.”

“Don’t talk like that, Joseph. Adam is not going to hang. We’re going to find a way to prove that he’s innocent.”

“We better do it soon. That trial starts tomorrow, and you already said he doesn’t have much of a defense even with the lawyer you hired.”

“If only he had stayed with you. If only he had an alibi. That argument with John certainly worked to someone’s advantage making Adam angry enough to storm out of there.”

“Yeah, that’s why me and Hoss think Adam was set up for this. Someone wants him to hang.”

“They would have to be an awful cold-hearted scoundrel to do what’s been done to accomplish that. I hate to think what kind of person would do that.”

After that discussion, Ben had found sleep elusive. The next day, the trial went as badly as they feared it would. Witnesses to things Adam had said about John Barton and his family were brought to the stand one after another. The documents detailing the partnership were brought forward despite Adam’s protests that some of the documents were forgeries. The judge said they could argue about that when it was their turn. His lawyer knew that was going to be a problem because the ideas were already planted in the jurors’ minds. Adam knew it too. By the end of the day, when they left the courtroom, Adam tried to be strong, but his eyes told a different story. He had no faith in the system. Ben did his best to reassure Adam that they were doing all they could. Hoss said the same. Ben didn’t hear Joe say anything, but when he looked back, Adam gave a small weak smile to his youngest brother. He guessed that Joe must have said something so quietly that he hadn’t heard, and he was glad to see that little smile even as weak as it was. They should have packed for a night in town, and he resolved they would do so for the next nights. That night he couldn’t sleep again, and at one point, even imagined he heard Adam going out for a nighttime ride. When he looked, the stable doors were closed though so he lay back on his bed again in a futile attempt to get some sleep. In the morning, when they were awakened with a rider from town telling them that Adam had escaped from jail, it all made more sense because Joe didn’t look as surprised as he should have.

“Joe, did you do something that we should know?”

“Someone had to do something. I wasn’t about to see my brother swinging on the gallows for a crime he didn’t commit.”

“So you would rather he be hunted down like an animal by a posse who would like nothing better than to shoot him on sight. Hoss, saddle up some horses. We’ll ride with the posse and help them track him. If we’re there, hopefully we can keep him alive.”

“I’m going too.”

“If you do, you have to be part of the posse and follow Sheriff Coffee’s rules.”

“I’ll do what he tells me to do.”

Ben had had some misgivings, but he couldn’t at that point see the loophole that must have been there for Joe to agree so readily. He guessed that when he figured it out, he would make his son agree not to use it. It was when they took their first break of the day on the second day of searching that he realized what must have happened but couldn’t bring himself to betray either son.

“Hoss, can I have a drink from your canteen?”

“Sure, I got plenty.”

“Joe, where’s your canteen? I was sure I saw you have one.”

“I did, but I must have left it by the stream at the camp this morning. I don’t have it now. It’s all right. It was an old one anyway.”

Ben wanted to ask what else they had left for Adam because he saw the stare he was getting from Hoss. It was that look that pleaded for him not to say anything more. It was then that he realized the loophole. They were doing everything that Roy told them to do and were also doing things he had not expressly forbidden, which was to leave things for their brother to use and to ignore evidence they had seen. Adam must have been close the previous night and both of them had known it. Roy had been told by the manager of the freight office that he thought perhaps someone had run after the freight wagon in the early morning when Adam had escaped. Clem was searching through town because no horses were missing as far as they knew so it was possible Adam was hiding in town. But Roy got together a posse to follow the route of the freight wagon in case Adam had managed to get on that moving freight wagon, and that’s what they were doing. Now Ben knew that was how Adam had escaped, and most likely Joe had witnessed it before returning home. He didn’t know what to do about this situation. He didn’t want to betray his two sons, but he feared what would happen to his eldest as a wanted man. His indecision though had already helped make up his mind. He knew how difficult it was going to be to find Adam in the wild country through which they had just passed. He was being forced into a decision he didn’t like, but he decided to trust his sons’ judgment and nodded at Hoss and then Joe.

“I hope you didn’t forget anything else that was important.”

“Nope, nothing I needed.”

By the end of that day, they reached the destination for which the freight wagon had set out. It was still there with no sign of Adam. The two men who brought the wagon there said they had heard nothing and seen nothing. There was nothing in the wagon to indicate that a man might have been hiding there. Neither man recalled anything suspicious.

“Well, that tears it. He’s hiding in town somewhere, which I doubt, or somebody helped him get out of town hiding him in a carriage or wagon. Maybe somebody even gave him a horse. Ben, unless Clem’s found him by now, all I’ll be able to do is put out a wanted poster on him. You know what it’s gonna say, don’t you? After the charges against him, there ain’t gonna be any choice for me.”

“I know, Roy. We’ll ride home. There’s nothing more we can do.”

After Roy and the rest of the posse headed back to Virginia City probably having to camp out another night, Hoss and Joe wanted to know what he meant.

“It means that the posters will be wanted dead or alive, and it does seem that most bounty hunters find it easier to bring their quarry in dead. This is what you’ve condemned your brother too. He’ll be running for his life now. I hope you can sleep with that knowledge.”

“I can live with it, Pa. I think Adam will prefer it too rather than having us console him as he walks up the steps of the gallows.”

“Maybe so, but anything you do now to help him puts you in prison too for helping a murderer escape because that’s what he is in the eyes of the law until we can prove him innocent. Running away though probably means most people now think he’s guilty. I don’t think I’m going to get much help from the governor’s office any more. I don’t know what my options are at this point. You have to know too that Roy is likely going to be watching all of us. I think he suspects that one of us helped Adam. If any one of us were to go to Adam now, that would be all Roy needs not only to capture Adam but to arrest whoever helped him.”

Not having considered that possibility, Hoss and Joe wondered if Adam would wait a few days at the spot they told him to go. Of course, on foot, it was going to take him a couple of days to get there so he would likely wait for a bit anyway just to rest. Without a horse, travel was going to be very difficult for him. It was three days later before they had a chance to ride out. It was time to do the roundup so they packed up extra gear, and of course they were taking extra horses up to the high pastures where they would be working for the next ten to twelve days. They had seen a rider or two watching the ranch and guessed that was Roy’s man doing the surveillance their father had suspected would happen. They had gotten some worse news on those days in between when Roy had come to the ranch to speak with Ben.

“I hate to have to tell you this, Ben. The mining corporation wants to make sure no one thinks they had anything to do with what happened so they’re putting the entire ten thousand they owed for the work Adam did up as a reward for him. Bounty hunters are going to be out in droves when they see that amount.”

“They’ve put a target on his back.”

“Ben, if you can get him to come in voluntarily, it’s probably the only way he’s got to come in alive. I’m telling you this as a friend. I know it’s hard to hear, but there ain’t no good way to talk about all this.”

“I know, Roy, but I have no idea where he is.”

“Well, you three talk it over. If you can come up with an idea of where he is, you get him back here. Those posters are being printed and will be sent out by the end of the week.” Roy looked pointedly at Joe and then at Hoss. It was clear he was as suspicious of them as Ben was. He left then, and Ben stared at his younger sons too.

“We’ll do what’s best for Adam, Pa.” Hoss agreed with Joe’s statement.

In the late afternoon after setting up the camp for the roundup, Hoss and Joe said they were going to do some hunting to get some fresh meat. They left and headed toward Stag’s Leap where they had told Adam to hide out. There was a cave there and a natural spring. In their saddlebags, they had food, clothing, and ammunition, and as soon as they were out of sight of the camp, they got an extra horse from those they had brought along. Once it was saddled, they headed toward Adam. When they got there, there was no sign of Adam, and they thought that he had not made it there.

“Don’t leave. I had to make sure you were alone.” Adam stepped from the trees near the cave. “I’ve been brushing out my prints and I haven’t made a fire. I don’t want anyone to know I’ve been here.”

Shocked at Adam’s appearance, Hoss and Joe realized they probably shouldn’t have been. He had come through rough country on foot. He only had a small pack of jerky to eat. Noticeably thinner already, he had a healthy growth of beard and was dirty. He didn’t look much at all like Adam Cartwright. The clothing they had brought should complete the transformation. Joe handed him an old gray hat, his old plaid barn coat, a gray shirt, and brown pants. Adam paused when opening a small leather pouch. A treasured book of poems was in there as well as a small picture of his mother and one of his father and brothers.

“We figured there was a chance ya might be gone a while. Me and Joe thought ya ought ta have somethin’ from home.”

Adam’s pursed lips and shining eyes said all that needed to be said about that. They handed over the saddlebags with the food assuming correctly that he would be famished. After opening those, Adam ate some food quickly and drank from the battered canteen Joe had left.

“Hoss and I got together all the money we could, but you know we don’t usually have that much. We took some from the safe. Pa’s probably figuring that out about now. I hope it’s enough.”

“Thank you. Any amount is great. I can work as I need to get more, but this will be enough to get me far away from here first. Any news from town?” From their looks, he knew it was bad. “Tell me.”

“There’s a reward of ten thousand dollars for you dead or alive. The posters will be out by the end of the week.”

“Not much time then for me to get ahead of them.”

“Dadburnit, Adam, where ya goin’ ta go?”

“It might be best if I don’t tell you. You can’t be accused of not telling them something if you don’t know it. I’ll send letters when I get where I’m going. Joe, watch for the code. What I say won’t be where I am. With that kind of reward, bounty hunters might follow.”

The brothers hugged and then there wasn’t anything left to do. Adam planned to leave early the next morning so he would be out of the area before the hands started to round up cattle. Before they left, Adam had parting words.

“Thank you, both. You saved my life. Nothing I say can repay that. Joe, tell Pa, this is the best way. We know it. Maybe someday, he will too.”

“Ifn Pa ever proves ya didn’t do it, will ya come back?”

“I promise I will.”

Of course, none of them realized how difficult that might be with communication almost exclusively on a one-way course and Adam eventually living on another continent.

Chapter 3

Questions about Adam’s whereabouts and suspicions that he was somehow hiding on the Ponderosa had bounty hunters sniffing around for much of the next month. There were reports of Adam being seen in various parts of California and Nevada and even Arizona and Montana. The strangest occurrence though happened only two weeks after Adam escaped. The stage pulled into Virginia City and none other than John Barton stepped from the stage to the ground only to be stared at by a few and then by dozens who had questions, but all of them were stymied when Sheriff Roy Coffee waded in and ushered John directly to his office.

“What’s going on, Sheriff? I’ve done nothing wrong, but you could hardly tell it by the way people out there were staring. You would think I robbed the stage instead of riding in on it.”

“Where have you been, John?”

“If you wanted to know, all you had to do was ask Tilda. I was up in Montana looking at some mining prospects. I’ve been traveling all around up there. When things soured here with Adam Cartwright, I decided to head out early on a trip I had been planning to take. Why?”

“John, I’ve some very bad news for you.”

“What kind of bad news? It’s not Tilda or the children, is it? They’re not sick, are they? I didn’t mean to be gone so long, but it’s hard traveling up there. I didn’t realize how much. Roy, what’s wrong?”

“John, there’s been a fire.”

“No, Roy, no! Who got hurt?”

“John, they’re all gone.”

“Gone? You mean, no, you can’t mean that. No!”

Roy’s demeanor and his expression said it all. John leaned over and sobbed into his hands. Roy sighed and looked to Clem who sat at the other desk watching. After a minute or so, John sat up.

“Did you give them a good funeral? I mean, where are they buried? I mean, I don’t know what I mean.”

“There wasn’t much left to bury, John. Whoever set the fire used so much coal oil that the house went up like an inferno. We couldn’t find much of anything there. There’s but one grave with all their names on it.”

“Wait a minute. Set the fire? Someone did this? Who did this?”

So Roy told him the whole story of Adam being accused, put on trial, but escaping.

“But he’s supposed to be dead. If he killed my family, he should be dead. He should have been hanged already.”

“It might have happened that way, John, but like I told ya, he escaped. He’s probably out of the country by now.”

“Where will I stay? I have no home now. No place to stay and no money now.”

“The mining corporation put up the money they owed as the reward for Adam. You could probably talk to them about getting some or all of that.”

“Yes, yes, I suppose I could do that. If Adam has left the country, the bounty hunters won’t get him anyway.”

“Maybe you could split the amount. I mean, you do want the bounty hunters to keep going after Adam, don’t you? It is your family he is accused of killing.”

“Yes, yes, I guess that does make sense. Yes, I suppose I should do it that way. It would look best if I did it that way.”

Acting very focused on himself, John stood and left then getting condolences from people as he explained over and over that day what had happened. The mining corporation agreed that it was reasonable to split the amount and paid him five thousand dollars changing the reward to five thousand telling him that they would issue the amount as soon as the old posters could be recalled and new ones sent out.

When John had left Roy’s office, Clem had looked over to Roy who was staring at the door. “You saw that?”

“Yes, I did. It was odd, wasn’t it?”

“If my wife and children died, I would have tears. I know men don’t cry so easily, but if I lost my family and cried for a minute, there would be tears. His eyes were dry and clear.”

“And he said ‘he’s supposed to be dead’ as if that was part of a plan and not the way the trial might have turned out.”

“Yes, and he said that splitting the money with the reward and for himself ‘would look best if I did it that way’ as if he has to make it appear a certain way.”

“He looked rather scared knowing that Adam was alive and out there somewhere too.”

“He looked more relieved when you said he was probably out of the country. I guess I’d be worried too if I murdered three people and then framed Adam Cartwright for it.”

“Seems like that might be the case, doesn’t it? Maybe we ought to talk to those witnesses more who said they saw a man dressed in dark clothing leaving the scene that night. We also need to find out when exactly John was last seen in town.”

“Do it quietly?”

“Yes, as casually as you can. With Adam gone, there’s not the rush there would be if the trial was still going on. We need to find out what really happened that night.”

Over the next couple of weeks, Clem found out that the witness accounts fit John as well or better than they fit Adam. He also found out that no one saw John leave town that night. He was there later than Adam was seen however so he had an even better opportunity. It was the supply of coal oil though that he had purchased over six months at several stores in town that started to look the most ominous. It added up to the kind of amount used in the fire. Now that didn’t rule out someone else getting into his supplies and using it, but anyone looking at how much he had amassed would have wondered why he needed so much in the first place. Then Clem found out one more piece of the puzzle. John was having an affair with an attractive widow in town. By all accounts of her neighbors though, it had started well before the fire and while Matilda was still alive. That made John as much a likely suspect as Adam casting reasonable doubt on Adam’s guilt, but Roy wanted to prove Adam innocent. He needed more pieces of the puzzle. He got one when Virginia Keith McCarren walked into his office nearly a month after Adam had escaped his jail. A sullen looking Todd was with her.

“Sheriff Coffee, I have something to tell you. I should have come forward a month ago. I was only thinking of myself. I thought then that I would come forward if it looked like the jury would convict Adam. When he escaped, I thought there was no reason to tell anyone. The guilt though has been eating away at me. I went to my minister, and he told me I had to tell Todd and then I had to tell you. It is the only way.”

“What do you have to tell me, Virginia?” Except Roy guessed he might know what it was she was going to say.

“Adam was with me when that fire happened at the Barton house. He didn’t tell anyone because he wanted to protect me. He knew Todd was out of town, and he knew how lonely I could get. Lonely as in afraid not lonely as in needing him, well you know, just scared to be alone. He stopped by to check on me, and I could tell how upset he was too. We talked for hours. By the time we finished talking, it was very late. He told me to go to bed. He said he would wait a bit until I was sleeping, and then he would ride home. He couldn’t have set that fire.”

“You could have saved him from jail and the trial.”

“He knew my reputation and maybe my marriage would be at risk. He told me I didn’t have to take that risk unless it was necessary. I wasn’t going to let him die though. I would have spoken up if I had to do it. Then he escaped instead. I guess he didn’t trust me to do the right thing. After I waited like I did, I guess he was right not to trust me.”

“Have you told anyone else besides your minister?”

“No one.”

“All right. I’m going to take your statement and have you sign it, and have Clem witness it with me. Todd if you’ll sign it too, that would be helpful. I know how hard this must be for you.”

“Actually, I’m disappointed in Virginia. Adam’s been a good friend to us, and she let him hang out there to dry. It was wrong of her. She should have trusted me too.”

“I’ve got something else in the works, and we may have enough soon to arrest the real murderer. Then maybe Adam can come home.”

Roy had gone out to the Ponderosa to brief Ben and his sons on what he and Clem had discovered. It wasn’t enough to arrest John or enough yet to clear Adam, but they were on the right track. All of them were certain of that. It was Joe who came up with the plan to get what they needed.

“I’ll send a note to John saying I saw him spreading coal oil around his house and setting the fire but I won’t say who I am. I’ll say now that he has money, my silence is worth something. I’ll ask for five hundred dollars and tell him to meet me in the livery stable to pay up so I can leave town a wealthy man. I can wear a disguise to meet him. It’ll be dark and he doesn’t know me hardly at all anyway. There’s room there for all of you to hide and listen.”

“Little brother, what ifn he up and shoots ya instead of talkin’ to ya first?”

“I’ll start by talking to him from hiding and tell him to show himself so I know he won’t shoot me. I’ll be wearing that disguise and I’ll try to stick to the shadows. Of course, just by showing up, he’ll be showing he’s worried about what I supposedly know.”

Roy had agreed that the plan had merit and was the type of thing a jury would like to know. He still wanted to go through with it because it helped prove John’s guilt. That night it was set to go. Hours before the planned meeting, Clem and Hoss were in the stable getting good hiding places. Roy planned to watch from the street and follow John there to listen from outside. Ben would be at the back door of the stable once he saw John heading in that direction. Joe arrived in his disguise about a half hour before the scheduled meeting. As soon as he entered the stable, John approached it surprising Roy who had thought he would have to wait much longer. He followed John there and saw him go around to the side of the stable and open a storage bin. He pulled out two large cans. Roy knew then what he planned to do. He waited until John began pouring the coal oil before he arrested him. John dropped the can when he heard Roy’s voice.

“John Barton, you’re under arrest for murder.”

“What? I haven’t murdered anyone.”

“The murder of your wife and children, arson, and your attempt to frame Adam Cartwright for your crimes will be plenty of charges to lock you up.”

By then, Ben and the others were outside and wondering what had happened.

“Caught him red-handed spreading coal oil here. Looks like he planned to kill his blackmailer instead of paying him off.”

“Do we have enough now?”

“Ben, we got more than enough. I’m going to hold a new inquest so we can throw out the old one, and then we’ll have a new trial. With everything we have now, Adam will be cleared, and John here is going to be facing a jury who likely won’t think too much of a man who would kill his own family. Your Adam can come home now.”

“We don’t know where he is.”

“Really? All this time I thought you was covering it up and now I find out you really don’t know. Ain’t that something.”

“His last letter said he was going to France but we have no idea where or how to contact him.”

“He went to Mexico.”

“What?”

“Pa, the letters Adam sent to me included code. The last one said he was in Mexico and he was going to get a job on a ship there and head to sea.”

“Why wouldn’t he tell me where he was?”

“If bounty hunters intercepted or got hold of the letters, he didn’t want them to know where to look. Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money.”

“So he didn’t go to New York and Boston?”

“No, he went to Mexico and got on a ship to work as a sailor.”

“Is he going to work as a sailor or use that to go somewhere else?”

“I don’t know. I guess we have to wait for the next letter.”

“You three figure out how to get Adam home. I’m going to take this one to the jail.”

Over the next week, the inquest was held exonerating Adam Cartwright and pointing the finger of guilt at John Barton for the murders of Matilda Barton and children. He was put on trial and found guilty after two days. The hanging was attended by many two days later. The Cartwrights were not there. The whole story was so dramatic that it was written up in a three part serial in the Territorial Enterprise and then picked up by several national newspapers and reprinted. Some of those papers from San Francisco ended up aboard ships and found their way to various parts of the world.

In Australia, a wealthy investor was sitting in a restaurant at the harbor having dinner with one of his ship’s captains and the man who ran his cattle station. When he saw the American newspaper on an adjoining table, he picked it up and read the third part of the story, which also included brief summaries of the first two parts. Adam Cartwright’s innocence had been established. He would have been grateful to know that Virginia had finally come forward but a bit bitter about how long she had waited. Knowing too that if he had trusted the justice system in his country, he would be dead, he probably wouldn’t be so anxious to return. The wealthy man even considered the possibility that the story was false and meant to lure the man home, but then considering all that he read, he guessed that it was probably a true story. The sketch of the man looked vaguely familiar to him though. He handed it to his ship’s captain who read it and stared at the picture for a time.

“Don’t say anything. Let’s see what McDougal thinks after he reads this and looks at the drawing.”

Angus McDougal read the story and looked at the picture. Almost immediately he had a reaction. “Looks like that American bloke we hired for the cattle station. He wasn’t much of a sailor according to the captain here, but he rides and ropes like an expert.”

“It wasn’t that he wasn’t a good sailor, but he was new at it, and if you could use him better, I thought our boss here would rather see him on the cattle station.”

“You both agree it looks like it could be this American then?” They agreed. “Captain Perkins, when you’re in San Francisco, see what else you can find out about the man. It says here he was doing an engineering project for a mining corporation. If he was, he’s a lot more than what he says he is if he is that Adam Cartwright. I could use someone with all that talent. I’ll keep this article. Maybe if he ever shaves that beard, I can see if that’s actually him.”

“He gave his name as Adam Black. That’s close.”

“Yes, but not definitive. I need to know more.”

“We’ll find out more, Mister Ryan. We’ll find out whatever you need to know.”

Chapter 4

While Ryan, Perkins, and McDougal ate their dinner, Adam was eating with the other men who were driving cattle through the mountains to the cattle station. He liked the situation. It was a lot more comfortable to him than being on the ship. There he had found being on deck exhilarating at times and tedious at others, but below decks, he found it unseemly at best to have to share a cot with another sailor off duty when he was on and at worst claustrophobic. Here in the open spaces where he could always see the sky and his bedroll or bed was his own, he was more relaxed. The other men were friendly enough too once they realized he knew what he was doing. They enjoyed teaching him about his new country laughing at his ignorance of the slang they used so freely. A lot of these men were like him in many ways. After Laura’s betrayal and the mistakes he had made in trusting people, he wasn’t so willing to accept anything on face value. He had become in many ways the lone wolf he had once been accused by his brother of being.

“Every wolf pack’s got a leader. Only kin have but one, and Pa’s the leader here. You want to be the leader too. In a wolf pack, those that want to be leaders too kin go off and make their own pack or they kin be a lone wolf. Seems like you’re hankering to be the lone wolf responsible ta no one but yerself, and you’re already headed a long way down that trail. It can be lonely that way. I know you think maybe it’s a way not ta be hurt and not ta let yerself be fooled again, but it means ya miss out on a lot of things too.”

In his future, being the lone wolf didn’t seem like a good long-term goal, because he yearned for the comfort of a woman’s arms around him and the release of being with a woman at night. For the time being, it did seem like maybe it was the way to go. He had used the money he earned as a sailor to buy the clothing and gear he needed for this new job. With the price of a horse, he hadn’t had any left to send a letter home. He hoped to be able to do so soon, but knew even when he managed to do that, it would be months before his family received it. For now, he was an outlaw on the run thinking that perhaps the less his family knew, the better for then no one could accuse them of withholding information. As he thought about it over the following weeks and then months, he decided that perhaps it was too early to tell them where he was. He could simply let them know he had taken work as a sailor and talk of some of the ports of call he had made. That would satisfy their curiosity for a time. If they thought he was sailing, they wouldn’t expect letters very often. He would have quite a bit of time to consider when it might be safe to tell them where he was.

When they got to the cattle station, Adam was surprised at the size of the house there as well as the number of buildings in the fenced compound. With an architect’s eye though, he noted that it looked like those with no training had done quite a bit of the building. A few buildings were set up for failure if a strong wind blew. He knew little about the typical weather so he asked. Generally the winds weren’t as strong as what he was used to feeling in the Sierras in a storm. The dry weather was drier, and the wet weather was less frequent but could be wetter. He learned about dingoes and other wildlife especially about snakes that were to be avoided and a few other insects and other animals that could be a problem. He got on reasonably well with the other men in those first weeks but they didn’t know what to make of him.

There were aboriginal women at the station, and the men got after them when they had an opportunity. Adam refused to consider it seeing it as almost assault because even though the women were given gifts or money, they didn’t have the full freedom to say no. He didn’t know much about the relations between the races in Australia but surmised they were about the same as what he had left behind in America. He didn’t like it any better but knew that as one man, he wasn’t likely to change anything. He was resigned to living with the injustice around him. Things were usually the worst on a Saturday night when the men often brought the women to the bunkhouse. He walked out not wanting to be a witness to the debauchery.

Up at the main house, Dylan Ryan sat on the porch with his daughter Gwen. They were enjoying the cool evening air as well as the sunset and saw Adam walk from the buildings to the fence and lean there staring toward the setting sun. Adam’s thoughts were miles away and he was unaware that he was being observed. Dylan hadn’t heard anything more about Adam and suspected he wouldn’t for months yet. His curiosity was aroused though, and he wondered if there was another way for him to find things out about the man without letting on that he might already know something. He had shared nothing about him with his daughter who still was intrigued with him probably because of his handsome dark looks as well as because he was an American, or so Dylan surmised those were the reasons. Actually it was this very act this evening that had intrigued his daughter first. She disliked how aborigines were treated with the men often hunted like animals and the women used as if they were put on earth for no other purpose. She wondered if Adam’s exit from the activities of the other men was because of moral repugnance. She hoped that it was. So lost in those thoughts, she didn’t hear what her father had said.

“I’m sorry. I was thinking and didn’t hear that.”

“I said I will regret it, but I may have to let him go. The other men think he’s not a man in the full sense of the word. Acting the way he did tonight and has done before only makes that opinion of him grow stronger.”

Not sure what he meant by that, Gwen didn’t get a chance to ask. Apparently when Adam was absent, some men had thought to look through his things and found his book of poetry, his mother’s picture, and a picture of him with three men who did not resemble him. It was all they needed to solidify their thoughts especially as most had been drinking. A number of them went out to confront Adam with the ‘evidence’ they thought they had.

“Well, Sheila, we got it now. Here’s your poems, your mum’s picture, and you with your blokes all looking mighty close now.”

“You had no right to go through my things.”

“We wondered why you were hiding things, Sheila.”

“That’s my mother’s picture. She died when I was born and I have nothing else from her. I have enjoyed that poetry ever since college, and those are my brothers and my father in that picture. That’s is all you need to know and more than you have a right to know.”

“Blokes, the Sheila says he went to college.” That was met with laughter. “And he wants us to believe that bodgy story.”

Then he tossed Adam’s things to the other men. That’s when Adam hit him. It was a serious blow from which the man never recovered and was hit several more times before he fell to the ground and stayed there. Another man stepped forward and Adam dispatched him too though it took longer. It was the same with the third. All Adam could think was that their sense of fairness meant that he faced only one at a tie. However, he knew he couldn’t withstand all of them. The fourth man had him up against the fence rails when Angus McDougal called a halt. He had been there for most of the conversation and all of the fight and wanted to know if what he had heard was the truth. He guessed that an angry Adam weakened by all the fisticuffs would be more willing to share that information with him.

“What you said about going to college and such is true?”

“It is.”

“I guess it’s your business why you’re working here then. Why won’t you go near the women here?”

“I might if any of them had the right to say no to what I was asking. They don’t really, and they know it. They submit because it’s going to happen anyway. I find it morally repugnant. If I’m going to be with a woman, I want it to be because she wants me there not because she has no other choice.”

Angus turned to the other men. “Give his things back to him.”

Taking his items from the men, Adam winced noticeably as he reached for them. Angus noted the short shallow breathing and the way he seemed to be favoring his left side.

“Your ribs?”

“Might be.”

“Mister Ryan’s daughter handles the doctoring when she’s here, and she’s here now. Put your things away and I’ll walk you to the house and show you where to wait.”

Walking slowly because each step jarred his ribs, Adam put his things away and then followed Angus to the house. He was directed to wait in the laundry room sitting on a table there. When Angus came back, he was accompanied by a woman with brown hair and the most attractive smile Adam could remember. She wasn’t pretty in the conventional sense, but when she smiled, it made you forget all that. There were lines in her face and freckles across her nose because she obviously spent more time outdoors than was fashionable. Angus referred to her as Miss too so she wasn’t married at an age when almost every woman was married so that set her apart from the typical female too. Despite the pain in his ribs, Adam was intrigued.

“I saw you throw the first punch. It seems the men made you pay for that anger. Now I suppose we’ll be paying you but won’t be getting any work from you.”

Adam bristled at her comment. “I always do what I say I’m going to do. I’ll work or you won’t have to pay me.”

“There’s still the food and the housing.”

“You could deduct the costs from the wages I’ve already earned.”

“That’s fair. Well, you’ll need to take off your shirt for me to examine those ribs properly.”

Again, Adam winced as he had to move his left arm to remove his shirt. Seeing that, Gwen suspected she knew what was wrong long before she saw his ribs. She felt along the lines of the ribs until she found the spot where two were broken. Adam gasped in pain as she lightly pressed the area to be sure there was no displacement of the broken bones.

“This needs more than to be wrapped. I’m going to put a felt over that area and then wrap it. You can help by holding the felt in place until I get the wrap around you a couple of times.”

As Gwen worked, she was intensely aware of the attributes of the man sitting there. Through strength of will, she managed to stop herself from caressing his chest when she finished. She helped him put on his shirt but told him to stay on the table while she got a basin of water to bathe his battered hands. Then she washed his face and made sure the abrasions there were clean. When she was finished, she helped him from the table. As she did so, he ended up standing very close to her. She didn’t back up but looked up into his face only inches from hers and looking down at her. At first, neither moved.

“If you wanted to kiss me, now would be a perfect opportunity.” She fervently hoped he would.

“I hardly know you. It doesn’t seem right to steal a kiss from you.”

“In some cultures, a kiss is given as a thank you for help received.”

As Adam leaned down to kiss her cheek, Gwen moved her head so that the kiss met her lips. It was brief and relatively chaste, but both felt the intensity build as they kissed. It could easily have developed into so much more.

“I think if your father had seen this, I’d be fired.”

“And I might be sent to that nunnery he’s threatened me with for years. I would like to see what’s under that beard of yours though. Will you ever shave it off?”

“It’s most likely a moot point. Your father isn’t going to allow you anywhere near me.”

“I suppose that’s true. He keeps me as far away from the men here as he can. He wants me to marry one of those nice respectable men at one of those businesses in the city especially if it would be the son of one of his very rich friends. I can’t bear the thought.”

Any further conversation was ended when Angus returned. He had reported what he had learned to Dylan Ryan who was also going to be interested to find out that Adam and Gwen seemed to be attracted to one another.

“This could work out well, Angus. I could find myself with the services of a mining engineer that is next to impossible to find here, and find an educated man my daughter would consider for marriage because she won’t know his background. She’ll think he’s a hand like any other, and that will satisfy the rebellious streak she has.”

“So you haven’t told her who you suspect Adam of being?”

“No, and now I certainly won’t be saying anything about it.” The newspaper article about Adam’s innocence being established was safely tucked away in Dylan’s den, and Adam wouldn’t read it for many years.

Chapter 5

Over the next few months, changes took place in Adam’s role on the ranch. The first one cemented Dylan’s evaluation of Adam long before he got more information about him and before he shaved off the beard leaving only a mustache. Dylan wanted a new stable for his horses and wanted it to be impressive for guests as he planned to have more of them visiting him at his cattle station and going hunting with him. Angus drew up a plan, which Dylan liked, and set about getting the men organized to begin building it. When Adam saw the plan, Angus noted his expression.

“You don’t like my plans? You think you could do better?”

That put Adam in a difficult position. He knew he could do better, but admitting it would let people know a great deal more about him. However, he had already let slip that he had gone to college so perhaps this wouldn’t be that much of a revelation. “Yes, I can.” He said it straight out not as a boast but as a fact. “I would need some basic drafting tools though. A project like this needs more precise measurements than what can be done with a pencil and paper alone.”

“What do ya need, mate?”

Noting the change in attitude, Adam made a short list of what he considered essential, and was surprised that Angus turned and headed to the main house returning with most of those items.

“It ain’t all ya asked for but out here, it’s about all you’re going to get. Can you do it with these?”

“I’ll do my best.”

“You have until tomorrow.” Adam was surprised. “We can work on other projects until then but the boss wants this building project started so we can’t wait any longer than that.”

“Are the dimensions in your plan and the number of stalls, rooms, and so on the things that he wanted included?”

“They are, but if you can fit more in the same space, he would like that.”

For the rest of the day and into the night until the early morning hours, Adam worked on the design of the stable. When he showed it to Angus in the morning, the manager was impressed. He too no longer had any doubts as to Adam’s true identity. They began work on the stable that morning, and two weeks later when Dylan and Gwen returned there from the city, the stable was finished except for painting and finishing the wood that had to season a bit yet. Angus gave Dylan and Gwen a tour. There were fourteen stalls with a center area that could be used as a small riding ring. There was a center post so temporary stalls could be anchored there, or it could be a work space or training area too. There were two rooms attached. One was a large tack room and the other was there for grooms or trainers should Dylan decide to hire any. The loft above was split into sections accessible by stairs from either side and by wide doors on either end to allow feed to be brought up by pulleys there. There were chutes in the floor of the loft allowing the feed to be dropped down so that the loft covered the entire second story giving them significant storage space. Angus noted that they could likely store lumber and other large items there as it was more space than they needed for feed.

“Angus, I had no idea you were this creative and talented.” Even as he said it, Dylan began to suspect Angus had not designed the stable. The smile he got from his manager confirmed that before he said anything.

“No, you’re right, boss. I couldn’t do anything this good. Our new man, Adam Black, did it. He didn’t think much of my plans so I challenged him to do better. I guess his claim that he went to college is true. It takes some good learning to do something like this.”

“Where is he now?”

“I sent the boys out to hunt some vermin.”

“Does he know what that means?”

“Maybe. He ought to know what kind of trouble they cause. Them Americans got their own to deal with.”

“You are all barbarians. They don’t hurt anything.”

“They eat our cattle.”

“We live on their land. Surely a cow now and then is a small price to pay.”

“It’s our land now, Gwen. They refuse to accept that. If they trespass, they know the penalty.”

“How do they even know it’s trespassing? For so long, all of this land was theirs.”

“We’ve had this discussion before. I am not going to fight the system out here. It’s the way things are done.”

About that time, Adam was learning what Gwen was complaining about to her father and Angus. He had a more visceral and angry response. He knocked a rifle from a man’s shoulder as he saw him aiming at an aborigine man in the distance.

“Hey, what did ya do that for?”

“Why were you going to shoot a man for no reason?”

“Don’t you have the full quid, that’s why we’re out here. We’re on a hunt, aren’t we. We’re supposed to shoot them.”

“That’s barbaric.”

By then, some of the other men had reached the two who were arguing and asked what the problem was.

“This ocker stopped me from shooting. Seems he thinks it’s not nice to shoot ’em.”

“That’s right. I’d sooner shoot one of you if you try to shoot another unarmed man.”

“That’s rubbish.”

“You want to try me?”

The men had seen Adam shoot because he practiced often and knew that none of them approached his skill level. They outnumbered him six to one, but if shooting started, many of them would be killed or wounded too. It wasn’t worth the risk. The calmest among them had a better solution in mind.

“Mates, let’s ride back and let Angus handle it. I have a feeling we’ll be one less tonight at dinner.”

They did ride back to the station with Adam hanging back. He didn’t want a bullet in the back so he made sure they never had the chance. From the brush, dark eyes watched the procession wondering about the dark haired man who had saved one life and then made the others leave. Something unusual had happened with the white skinned men, but they couldn’t make sense of it. They retreated to eat the rest of the cow they had found dead, killed by dingoes but not consumed by them. When they got back, the men quickly explained what had happened. Adam didn’t dispute what they said. As they had ridden back and he had a chance to think about it, he guessed he would be fired, but he was willing to accept that because he didn’t want to stay here among people willing to murder so callously. He knew they didn’t think of it as murder, and that made it all the more galling to him. Like so many at home, they didn’t see native populations as people.

“I hate to do it, Adam, but you went against my orders. You’re done here. I’ll get your wages while you pack up your things. I think it best if you leave now.”

There was nothing left to say. The other men there looked about as smug as expected as Adam went to get his few possessions. He took his horse then and walked toward the main house to wait for Angus and the wages he was due. He waited a long time, and when Angus came out, Dylan was with him. Gwen waited on the porch as the two men approached Adam.

“Well, you’ve made a bloody mess of things here. Why did you do it?”

“The man he was going to shoot had done nothing wrong.”

“How do you know that?”

“All he was doing was standing there.”

“Didn’t you find a dead cow with prints of those men around it earlier?”

“We did, but they didn’t kill that cow.”

“Of course they did. They were eating it, weren’t they?”

“They were eating it, but that cow was killed by dingoes who ripped out its throat. It bled to death and then they tore into the soft belly and ate their fill before they left. Those men arrived much later and took the meat from the hindquarters. I would guess they were planning to come back for more of it because they couldn’t carry it all away with them the first time or we scared them off.”

“How could you possibly know all of that?”

“It was in the tracks, the blood in the soil, and the condition of the carcass. It was easy to see.”

Dylan looked to Angus. “The throat was ripped up pretty badly and the belly was torn open and there were guts pulled out. The hindquarters were cut away neatly. I’m not a tracker so I can’t tell you anything about the rest of it.”

“Get me a horse. I want to see this for myself.”

“Am I fired or not?”

“Maybe or maybe not. Show me what you found and we’ll talk about things after I see it for myself.”

When they got to the carcass, it was clear that more meat had been harvested from it. Dylan asked Adam to explain what he saw.

“Here’s what killed this cow. The animal was brought down by dingoes hamstringing it here and here. Then they tore into the large veins in the throat and ripped them open. It wouldn’t have taken long for the animal to die then and stop kicking. Once that happened, they ripped open the soft belly and ate their fill of the soft tissues and organs. You can see their paws were all wet with blood so their tracks leading away are marked with that. The prints of the men who came later are only sand. They arrived after the blood had dried so they didn’t have anything to do with killing this animal. They did take advantage and harvest meat that would have gone to waste otherwise. While we were gone, they came back and got more.”

“Could you track them to where they went.”

“Yes, but I won’t.”

“I guessed that.”

“They’re watching us now.”

“How do you know that?”

“There’s been movement along those upper ridges as we rode the last mile here. If those were animals worried about us, they would have scattered by now. Instead, they’re still there watching. Once we get a mile or so away, they’ll probably come back here for the rest of the meat.”

“Is there anything you can’t do.”

“Many things. If I could do it all, I wouldn’t be here now.”

“All right. Let’s go back. We’ll talk.”

Once they were back at the house and in Dylan’s study, Dylan asked had a question. “Now I need you to tell me everything. You obviously have skills and talents that are more than your application for this job and your previous employment with me indicated. You have architectural skills. You can hunt and track. What else can you do that I might find useful in my businesses.”

“I’ve negotiated contracts, and run timber camps and a lumber mill. I can do work as a blacksmith. I’ve broken horses. I’ve done some engineering work with mining companies including the installation of square set timbering.

“Well, you’re fired as a hand on this cattle station. But I’m offering you a position as my assistant. You’ll come with me to my mines and accompany me to business meetings. How does that sound?”

“I’m willing to try it on one condition.”

“You are a tough one, aren’t you? Well, I guess I should have known before I asked you. Out with it: what do you want?”

“I want the hunts to stop on this station at least. I know you can’t stop your neighbors, but you don’t have to do what they’re doing especially as you know there’s no reason for it.”

“They’re still trespassing.”

“The hire them.”

“For what?”

“Killing dingoes? Offer a bounty on dingoes. Decide how many dingoes dead are enough to pay them a cow. How many cows do you think dingoes might cost you in a year and then multiply that year after year.”

“I’ll try if for a few months, but I’ll make no guarantees that I’ll stick to it unless it shows that it works for me. Angus is an honest man. He’ll let me know if things are working out.”

“Then I’ll work for you on the same basis. I’ll try it out and see if we can make it work.”

“For now, you can stay in that groom’s room in the stable. Get some linens and anything else you need from the supplies in the pantry off the kitchen. We can talk more tomorrow. You can take your meals in the kitchen too.”

After Adam left to take care of all of that, Gwen rushed into the study to ask her father what had happened. She was smiling by the time he finished the story, and he could tell she was pleased by what she had heard. Her rebellious nature was even more drawn to Adam after all of this than it had been before, and now he would be travelling with them. Then he realized he would have to tell Adam to shave. That bushy beard wasn’t going to be acceptable in some of the places they had to go. When he told Gwen that, she was even happier.

“Good, I’ve wanted to see what was under all that hair.”

Dylan had a fairly good idea what the man he had hired to be his assistant would look like once he had shaved. He had seen the sketch in the newspaper. There was one more conversation he intended to have with Adam before they left for Sydney. The next morning he asked Adam if Black was his true last name and saw the man stiffen slightly at the question.

“It would be awkward for my assistant to have one name and then later for it to be found out that he had another. You’re a long way from America and you’ve been gone from there a long time now. If you have a true name to use, don’t you think you could use it now and not worry that someone would find out about it back there?”

Pursing his lip as he thought about it, Adam did think he would rather use his name than an alias. It was unlikely too that anyone would follow him at this stage. He had sent a letter to his family to tell them he was in Australia but it was in code. “Cartwright. My name is Adam Cartwright.”

“Thank you. Now, there’s one more thing. You’re going to have to shave off that unsightly beard. You could keep a goatee and mustache or just the mustache if you wished, but a bushy beard is only for sailors or out here working cattle not for businessmen.”

“I can do that.”

“When we get to Sydney, I’ll take you to my tailor. He’ll get you in a proper suit and you can pay for it when you get the money. I have an extra apartment at my house there. It’s a garden apartment and you can use that. I think this is going to work out well for both of us.”

Chapter 6

Dylan’s prediction could not have been more accurate, but even he was surprised at how well it worked out and how soon. An astute observer, Adam noticed things at business meetings that Dylan had never guessed. The first meeting they had was enlightening to Dylan after that one, it was a common practice to ask Adam for an assessment of the men that he had met and to explain any ‘tells’ that he had noticed. He had explained those to Dylan after that first session.

“I play poker or did. A man’s tell is that thing he does when he gets nervous or when he’s sure of himself. Without realizing it, a man will do the same thing in the same situation even while schooling his expression not to give anything away.”

“Give me an example.”

“When Bob Jameson gets worried, his right eye twitches a bit and he closes it some to stop that. His left eye is normal size but his right eye is narrowed. When he’s confident and pleased with how things are going, he interlaces his fingers and his thumbs are pushed up against each other. He never smiles until the whole process is complete. He thinks he has you completely fooled.”

The next time they bargained with Bob Jameson, Adam sat across from him as Dylan sat next to him. Adam watched the man and gave signals to Dylan. With those fingers interlaced and thumbs up against each other, Dylan didn’t need any help at first. He countered the offers again and again until Jameson unlaced his hands. Then he looked at Adam waiting for the signal that said Jameson’s eyes were getting worried. When Adam gave him the signal, he agreed to that amount for shipping the man’s goods. The two men signed the deal then and shook hands. As Jameson stood to leave, he had a parting comment.

“That’s the first time you ever drove a hard bargain with me, Ryan. Your new man must have brought you some good luck.”

With that, he left and Dylan looked at Adam. “I don’t believe in luck, but you dropping in on me from America certainly was good luck. I’m going to make twice as much shipping out his goods as I ever have. Why don’t you have dinner at the house tonight with me and Gwen. I want to hear if you have more to tell me about negotiating. I have a few more clients to see this week. Next week, we’ll head to my mine. You may have some ideas there too about how I can make more money.”

“Mining is likely to be quite different than this. You usually have to invest more to make more.”

“It’s been that way so far, but if I can make the investments more wisely and be more efficient, that would be useful too. I want to build a house out there too. I’m tired of the rough conditions when I have to go there. Bring whatever you need to bring to measure or whatever it is that you need to do to draw up a house plan and site plan for that.”

“Is that part of my duties as your assistant too?”

“If you want a raise, say it.”

“Not yet, but I do want to know what my job includes.”

“For now, anything that has to do with my three businesses and my homes. If I expand from there, you’ll be paid more.”

“I actually don’t know what I’m being paid now.”

“Stop by the purser on the way out and ask for your salary to date. You should be pleasantly surprised then. I see you have another letter for home. If you give that to the mail clerk, he’ll see that it’s posted for you. I have ships going to San Francisco regularly. From there, it can be sent anywhere in America you want it to go at company expense.”

“Thank you. I’ll do that.”

Dylan felt only a little guilty about that. He had intercepted the previous letter Adam had sent to his family, and now this one wouldn’t get there either. He wanted to keep Adam there to help him, and he hoped too that Adam and Gwen’s friendship that was only beginning would develop into something more. Someday he guessed that Adam would want to go home to at least visit his family. By then hopefully he would be married to Gwen and a wealthy Australian businessman. At least that was Dylan’s dream. In his mind, he was helping Adam and not hurting him, which of course was only a rationalization of a selfish manipulation of another man’s life.

There were regular dinners at the Ryan house, and frequently after dinner, there was time for Adam and Gwen to talk. Dylan often claimed he was tired or had things to do but was of course hoping that the two of them would grow closer. He need not have worked so hard at it because they were naturally inclined to be together finding similar interests and compatible personalities. The only obstacle was Adam’s unwillingness to pursue any kind of romantic relationship. After weeks of being friends, she thought he wasn’t interested in her romantically. After a dinner dance where Adam had the same reaction to a number of attractive women who showed interest in him, a frustrated Gwen decided to force the issue with him. As they sat on the patio after dinner the day after that dance, she had a question for him.

“What is wrong with me that you seem to have no interest in me whatsoever because I certainly have let you know that I am interested in you?”

“Gwen, it’s not you.”

“Oh, don’t use that tired old line.”

“But it’s true.”

“If it’s true then tell me what’s so terrible that you cannot trust me?”

“I do trust you.”

Well then why don’t you want to be with me at all. In fact, you made it clear last night that you weren’t interested in being with any of the women with whom you danced. Several of them told me they made rather clear offers to you and you rejected them although politely yet firmly.”

Knowing how much a risk he was taking but feeling that he could trust her, Adam took a deep breath and exhaled. “If I tell you, you can’t tell anyone.” Gwen agreed. “You must have guessed that because I came here and was using an alias that I was in trouble.” He waited a moment because the next part was so difficult to say. “I left home because I was on trial for murders I did not commit. Yet the evidence was set up to make it look like I did. There was a strong probability that I was going to be convicted and hanged. I escaped from jail the night before the trial likely would have concluded. I got to Mexico and waited in a port there for a ship that would take me on as part of the crew. I sold what I had and came here. When I found out that there was a job working with cattle, I took that. Being below decks on a ship was not something I could tolerate well.”

Everything had poured out after the first devastating admission. Adam stopped there and waited for her reaction. Gwen threw her arms around Adam hugging him and then kissing him. The kiss started as a chaste kiss but soon developed into something far more passionate as Adam responded to her. Realizing then where he was and what was happening, he disengaged from her holding her at arm’s length.

“I never expected that and shouldn’t have reacted the way I did.”

“Why not? I was as honest in my reaction as you were in what you told me. My heart went out to you for what you have had to endure.”

“You’re too young for me. You’re younger than my youngest brother. I’m thirty-six years old and you’re only twenty-three. It wouldn’t work.”

“The way you kissed me says that it would work.”

“I’m not ready for this.”

“I think there’s a lot more you haven’t told me. Perhaps you can tell me more about your life and I’ll tell you more about me, and we’ll get to know each other better. Then perhaps you will be able to better see if there’s a future for you with me.”

“All I’m offering is friendship.”

“For now, I’ll accept that.”

“Why don’t you start with the woman who hurt you so much that you’ve closed your heart to love.”

Startled by that, Adam’s expression left no doubt that she had hit the truth. He didn’t even try to hide it from her because he knew he had given himself away already. “I told people it didn’t matter. I told them that I wasn’t really in love with her and that what I really wanted was to marry and have a family. That wasn’t the truth. I did love her. Perhaps not as much as I could have, but I did love her. She started to see my cousin while she was engaged to me.”

Gwen gasped at that. The magnitude of that betrayal wasn’t lost on her. “Those aren’t the murders you’re accused of, are they?”

“No, I wished them well and sent them on their way. If they hadn’t gone off to live elsewhere, I think I would have. Living in close proximity would have been too much. I have had far too many relationships that failed, but that one hurt the most. That two people who were supposedly so close to me would do that to me was enough to make me step back and wonder if I should even consider the possibility of love. What is it anyway except another chance to be hurt.”

“Or a chance to find the one who will love you forever.”

“I’m not sure I want to take that chance.”

“I think you do or you wouldn’t have already told me so much.”

“You’re willing to take a chance on getting involved with an outlaw, the outlaw brother of my family?”

“I think I’ve made that clear enough. Now, tell me about your family. Have you heard from them at all?”

Frowning a little, Adam shook his head. “No, and I’ve wondered about that. I sent a letter saying where I was. Now it was in code to my youngest brother, Joe, but he would know what I said. It gave an address for them to use. I have gotten nothing. I wrote another letter and that’s sent now. Maybe they didn’t get the other one. I know how difficult it must be to get letters from here to a ranch in Nevada.”

“Father could help with that. He has a ship going to America on a regular route.”

“He already has. This last letter is going out with one of his ships. He said he would make sure it got delivered to San Francisco, and from there, it certainly should get to my family.”

“Will you ever go back to see them?”

“If my innocence can be established, I will. Otherwise it will be rather dangerous. There’s no statute of limitations on murder although I could possibly meet with them in another state. But there is a substantial reward for my capture so bounty hunters would be a threat if there was any hint that I was back.”

“That’s why you chose to be so far away. I wondered about that. This far away, there wouldn’t be much chance that anyone would ever track you down even now that you’re using your own name.”

“Yes, and an English name in a country like this doesn’t sound uncommon at all. It doesn’t stand out making anyone take notice. As long as nothing happens to get my name published anywhere, I should be safe.” Gwen frowned a little when he said that. “Why did that make you frown?”

“Wedding announcements are always published. It’s often the biggest news there is on a weekend here.”

It was Adam’s turn to frown for a moment and then he shook his head. “Aren’t you making some huge assumptions?”

“Am I? Kiss me and tell me that again.”

Not one to back down from a challenge easily, Adam wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to him. He decided to let her know what it could be like and was as gentle as possible at first brushing his lips across her cheeks and lips before kissing her but then increasing the pressure of the kiss even as he pressed the two of them closer and closer together until she yielded to the insistence of his kiss and responded in kind. He almost lost control of the moment and went too far but managed to hold back and broke the kiss.

“Are you sure you want this? I can be moody and ill-tempered. I can be demanding.”

“You are a man of passion and fire. You have ideals. I can take the things that are less than exemplary. I have enough of those myself that I could hardly expect another to be perfect. As my father knows too well and you’re finding out, I can be impulsive. I act on my feelings sometimes without thinking about the consequences. I need someone who’s more anchored to logic to be there for me. I think that one is you. But I share your passion and I share your ideals. Most of all, I trust you and you trust me. What better basis for two people is there than that?”

Inside the house listening to the two of them, Dylan thought things were progressing quite well. He was going to have the son he had always wanted. His daughter was finally going to be married and hopefully provide heirs for him. Meanwhile Adam was a valuable partner in his business enterprises and was already improving the profits of his companies. He began to think about the wedding he would give his daughter once she managed to get Adam to ask her to marry him. He anticipated that at some point Adam would be asking him for permission to court his daughter so he began thinking about how he should act when he got that question. All he had to do was to make sure that Adam didn’t find out that he could go home until he was married and committed to a life here in Australia. So far that had only meant intercepting a few letters. He didn’t know if there was anything else he had to do.

There wasn’t anything else for Dylan to do because in Nevada, the Cartwrights had no idea what had happened to Adam. As far as they knew, he had signed on to work on a ship, and then they had heard nothing more from him. Ben hired a detective to look into it, but the man came back saying only that Adam was probably using the name Adam Black and that there were no ships that had come into any port he could check that had a sailor on board with that name. There were however several ships that had been lost in a tropical cyclone, and the man left the implication that Adam might have been lost at sea. All the family could do was to wait for the letter that didn’t come.

Chapter 7

“Do you ever smile? You’re always so serious. Not that I mind so much because I like that you have a serious nature, but a smile now and then would be nice. What could I do to make you smile?”

Raising his eyebrows, Adam leaned over to Gwen who sat on the picnic blanket and ran a finger down her shoulder. The smile she got then wasn’t exactly the type she had been looking for.

“Now that’s more of a leer.”

He did grin then which caused her to smile and put her hands on his cheeks and kiss him. “There. I knew you could do it, and a gorgeous smile it is too. I’d like to see it a bit more often if I could.”

Pulling her into an embrace, Adam kissed her and the kiss deepened as he slid a hand down her back and pressed her into him. Then as he usually did as they became more passionate, he pulled away and lay back on the blanket. Gwen leaned on an elbow and looked down at him.

“Why do you do that? Why do you pull away from me every time? With other men, I’ve had to push them away or even slap their faces to get them from taking liberties I didn’t want them to have, but you’re not like that. I’d like you to take some liberties, but you don’t.”

“Are you sure about that? Have you ever been with a man, Gwen?”

“No, but I want to be with you.”

“After everything I’ve told you about me, you can still say that?”

“Especially after all you’ve told me. You trusted me with all your past. I’ve told you mine although there isn’t all that much to tell. I love you. I can’t imagine a life without you in it, and I can’t imagine being in love with anyone else.”

“It’s only been three months.”

“I knew well before these months were done that I was in love with you. It gets stronger all the time.”

“What if I go back to America?”

“I’ll go with you.”

“I don’t think your father would allow that.”

“If we’re married, he couldn’t stop me.”

“I have a feeling he would try.”

“Would you let him stop us if we were married?”

She got that grin again and gave one back. “I think you answered my earlier question. So when will you ask my father for my hand?”

“He’s sending me to the cattle station because he’s too busy to go. When I get back in a few weeks, if you still feel the same way, we’ll talk. I can ask him then.”

Gwen kissed him again then and wrapped her arms around his neck and didn’t let him pull away. He almost lost his resolve not to become intimate. As it was, it was close with some caressing and touching by both that went further than they had ever gone before that afternoon. It was getting late though and they needed to pack up and get moving to return to the city before the sun set. Gwen regretted that was the case, but Adam was relieved that he didn’t have to force himself away from her again. He wanted her so much, but had doubts as to whether he ought to be making such a commitment with what still was over his head. He decided to go talk to the minister of the church they had been attending thinking that he could be a confidential advisor.

The next morning, Adam met with the minister and told him his story. The man to his credit listened dispassionately as if he had heard such stories before Adam told his. When Adam finished, he had a few questions.

“Have you told Gwendolyn the story as you told me?”

“Yes, she knows all of it and more of my past as well.”

“Have you told Dylan this story?”

Knowing where he was going with this, Adam had to admit the truth. “Dylan is aware that I had legal trouble, serious legal trouble, that caused me to flee America. He does not know the details nor the nature of the charges against me.”

“You must tell him before you can ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage. I accept you innocence. I have counseled many people, both the guilty and the innocent. I think I can tell the difference. I believe you. However, the father has a right to know all the details in this situation because his daughter potentially is at some risk. She is not the one who should be making the final decision on this matter.”

“I guess she would vehemently disagree with you on that, but I understand, and I agree that I should tell all of it to Dylan. I will do that when I get back from the cattle station and before I ask for Gwen’s hand.”

“It will be difficult, Adam, but it is the right thing to do. I think you knew that before you came to see me. You only needed someone else to tell you that you had to do it even if it means that you will lose the young lady. I think I see in your eyes that you have suffered losses and this would be even more painful because of that. I’m sorry for that, and I will pray that this time, things work out for you.”

“Thank you. I guess I should pray too. There’s nothing else I can do about it.”

Things didn’t go well at the cattle station by Adam’s determination. He got the job done, but there was a problem that could have been quite serious. He dealt with it, but he wasn’t proud of himself for the way he had handled things. When he told Dylan about it though, Dylan laughed saying he thought it was a very creative solution.

“Adam, I doubt you’ll have any more trouble at that station. They’re going to think you have powers beyond any normal human after that. My guess is that Angus is happy to be rid of those two blodgers. They weren’t much good but hadn’t done anything to get themselves fired until now. Now, you said there were two things you wanted to discuss with me. What’s the other thing?”

“I know you’re aware that legal troubles made me leave home. You must have surmised those legal troubles were serious enough to make me flee this far. I have to tell you what the charges against me are.” Adam proceeded then to explain the whole situation to Dylan in even greater detail than he had explained things to Gwen not holding back anything and answering a few questions that Dylan posed. When Dylan had no more questions, Adam sighed deeply. “So that’s my story. After all you’ve done for me, and because I’m very fond of your daughter and I believe she feels very strongly about me, I thought you should know everything before a decision is made as to whether I continue in your employment and whether you allow me to continue to see your daughter.”

Dylan could not have been more elated. Adam had proved himself to be a far more principled man that Dylan was and certainly a moral and ethical man to do what he had done. Dylan couldn’t even imagine the courage it took to take the step he had taken. He knew the answers he was going to give Adam, but he couldn’t appear to be anything but shocked at least a little by all that had been revealed supposedly by Adam’s confession.

“I’ll have to think about this, Adam. I am impressed that you are honest and forthright, but this is a very serious matter and it is my only child. I need time to think this through. I hope you were not expecting an answer immediately. I don’t think I can do that.”

“I understand. I’ll be at the office in the morning. You can tell me then if you’re ready.”

“I think it would be better if we did this privately. Why don’t you meet me here tomorrow morning at eight. We can discuss your future then.”

With that, Adam was dismissed. He suspected that his future with the Ryans was going to be short. Gwen met him on the way out and asked if he had asked her father for her hand.

“Not yet. I told him the truth about me first. He’s thinking about that now. Please do not interfere. I don’t think it would be wise. Don’t make him think I’ve turned his daughter against him.”

“All right. I won’t say anything tonight, but if he says no to you tomorrow, this won’t be over.” Gwen watched as Adam walked to his apartment. To her eye, he walked as if he was defeated. After all the failed romances he had endured, she guessed he assumed this was another one. She wasn’t going to let that be the case though. Her father was going to say yes one way or another. She had no idea that he had been hoping for this for months already and only waited for Adam to ask.

Dylan slept very well that night. Gwen and Adam did not. In the morning, Adam appeared as he had been requested. Dylan schooled his face to appear very somber.

“This is a serious situation, but my daughter’s happiness is foremost in my mind. She had never found another man to love. I don’t know that she ever will. I accept your explanation of events. I believe you. You didn’t have to tell me any of that. You could have simply asked for my daughter’s hand and I would have said yes. I assume that is the reason you told all of this to me.” Adam agreed. “Very well. The official courtship has begun. We will discuss a wedding date at dinner as I assume the two of you have already agreed that you will marry?”

“Yes, Gwen has told me she will marry me as soon as I ask her.” Adam had a small smile as he said it.

“That does sound like my daughter.” Dylan grinned then. “Well, it’s time for us to be off to work. Go tell your fiancé the news and be quick about it.”

The three-month courtship that was required was almost more than Adam could bear especially the way that Gwen continued to tease him. He finally pulled her against him one evening.

“Sweetheart, it isn’t funny. It is uncomfortable especially when there are other people around.”

“I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

“That’s why I’m telling you. Please, there’s only one more month. Then we’ll be married and you can tease and explore all you want.”

“I’m looking forward to that.”

“I’m looking forward to that very much.”

When they finally reached their wedding day, there was still a lot of waiting. First there was the nearly two hour wedding service. Adam had no idea how long a formal wedding service could be. He had only attended weddings in the west and usually the wedding service was no more than an hour and often far less than that. Then there was the reception followed by the dinner and then the dance. By the time they got to their room for the night, he was afraid the might be too exhausted to do anything. However as soon as he helped open one button on Gwen’s wedding gown, he found that he had reserves of energy he never knew he had. He helped her disrobe kissing her skin as it was exposed and making her shiver a number of times. She turned shyly toward him and unbuttoned his shirt as he struggled to keep his hands at his sides to let her return the favor he had done for her. She learned quickly kissing him as he had kissed her as his clothing was discarded. He threw back the covers on the bed then, and after wrapping his arms around Gwen, he kissed her passionately and sank down on the bed with her. There were no more prohibitions on touching and caressing so they were able to do that as much as they wished soon building their passion to a level that brought them together as one. When they were resting together under the covers later, Gwen asked if they would do it again. Adam kissed the top of her head and told her to wait until morning.

“Good. That was wonderful, but I’m tired.”

For the first time in his life, Adam found love in the arms of a woman who would be his wife for the rest of his life. He didn’t fall asleep right away though even as he felt her relax against him and begin to breathe softly and regularly. He thought about his father and how proud he would be to have his son married. Adam decided to write one more letter. He had written six letters so far and still there had been no response. He hoped that perhaps the lucky seventh letter might elicit some kind of answer. He didn’t understand why nothing at all came from home. He had all sorts of fears and doubts. He worried that perhaps now they thought he was guilty or that because he had been gone so long, he didn’t matter to them any more. He didn’t want to accept those reasons but couldn’t come up with any other reason for the silence.

In the morning, they made love again more slowly and with more exploration of each other. Afterwards Gwen noted the slightly melancholy state of her new husband.

“What’s wrong? I am deliriously happy and content, but you seem sad too. Are you missing your family?”

“You’re getting to know me very well. Yes, I am. My father especially after yesterday. He would have been so happy to see me walk out of that church with you on my arm. I wish I could see his face when he finds out I’m married. At least, I hope he’s going to be very happy about it.”

“Of course he will be. He will be thrilled to know it. After what you have told me about him and your brothers, they’ll probably have a party there to celebrate.”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s because you haven’t heard from them, isn’t it?”

“Of course.”

And all Gwen could do was hug him and hold him as he shed some tears for the family he had lost.

Chapter 8

Over the next few months, Adam and Gwen’s life was full. They traveled together as Adam supervised the various parts of the Ryan business empire. He made a recommendation that Dylan liked and they added a freight hauling business and a timber cutting business to their holdings. It reduced their expenses and added in more profit making entities. More and more, Dylan congratulated himself on helping to manipulate Adam into marrying his daughter though he wouldn’t have pushed her into it except he knew she wanted to marry the man too. It seemed the best solution for all if he could only forget that he had denied Adam the information that he had been found innocent of all charges in Nevada and could return home at any time. He continued to intercept letters from Adam to Nevada but noted that they came less and less frequently. He assumed correctly that eventually he would stop writing them. He justified his actions by seeing Adam with Gwen and seeing how happy they were together. That only increased when Gwen had some news for her husband.

“Adam, I don’t think we can continue to use the rough accommodations at these camps. I think we ought to think about building or buying houses for when we travel to the mountains or up to the mines.”

“I thought you were the adventurous sort and liked the way we were roughing it.”

“I did, but things are about to change.”

“Is it the weather? I know I don’t know that much about the weather here yet, but it never seems that bad.”

“No, it’s not the weather.”

“Then what is it?”

Frowning slightly, Adam looked at Gwen who only grinned at him because he wasn’t usually so slow on the uptake. However this was a completely new situation for him. It was for her too. Then he got it, and she was rewarded with a grin that was pure joy. She had never seen him that way before grinning at her with no regrets and no bad memories intruding. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her holding her close. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest with the excitement.

“When?”

“About six months from now, I think. I’m rather new at this too. I wasn’t sure at first, but when I lost my breakfast the last two mornings, it was a good sign that there’s a little one in there. He’s going to be a pistol if this is any indication.”

“I’m sorry. Is there anything that can be done about that?”

“I talked to the cook. She said she can prepare food that will be easier for me, but that there are no guarantees. For a time, I may have to suffer with that but it will pass.”

“Are you happy?”

“Very much so. Father is going to be ecstatic. He was worried I might never marry, and now I am and carrying an heir for him too.”

“I would like us to have our own home though when we have a child. In six months, I could have a house built and ready for us.”

“You’ll have to take that up with Father. I don’t think he’s going to like the idea.”

Dylan didn’t like the idea, but there was little he could do about it, and it was a small concession to make to keep Adam and his daughter happy. He conceded the point but insisted they not build too far away from him. Adam conceded that point for the time being telling Gwen that eventually he wanted to build a bigger house further out so they could have horses and other animals on the property, but a small house in town would still be convenient to have. He also purchased some small houses on their next trips so that in the future they would have more comfortable accommodations. He was building quite an estate for himself. As he made more money, he invested some in banking and railroads too so that he was becoming independently wealthy as well. As his bank accounts grew and his role in Ryan properties expanded, his influence in the community rose as well. He and Gwen were invited to dinners and parties. They attended the theatre when they had time.

The exception was when she was due to deliver their child. For a month or so there, she was home and Adam stayed there with her until the night she woke him and told him it was time to summon the midwife. He was nearly forty years old but that was still a panic producing moment and a stress filled twelve hours as he waited. When he walked in that room though to see his wife holding his son, he had tears of joy in his eyes.

“I have never seen a more beautiful sight.”

“You are a crazy man. I am drenched in my own sweat. My hair is soaked with it and hanging in strings about me. The baby needs to be bathed yet. He’s a mess.”

Moving to Gwen’s side, Adam kissed her cheek and touched his baby’s head. “I don’t care about any of that. You’re here. He’s here. That’s all that matters. I love you and I love our baby.”

The midwife was gathering up the soiled linens and other things. As she left the room, she smiled. She had seen all sorts of reactions of men seeing their child for the first time. This was one of the best ones. Before she left, the midwife did some basic instruction on suckling the new baby. She said that she would come back if Gwen needed help in taking care of the baby and she could instruct her in other things as well. What was funny to Gwen was that Adam knew enough to teach Gwen about caring for an infant so they never summoned the midwife again.

“How do you know so much about caring for babies? You grew up in a household of all men?”

“They weren’t always men. I was six when Hoss was born so I helped care for him especially after Inger was killed. I told you about that. We were out in the wilderness then. The other women helped but I did a lot. Then when Joe was born, I was twelve, so again, I was expected to help. Of course, by then, I had experience.”

“At twelve, I bet you didn’t want to do it though.”

“You guessed right on that one. I certainly never wanted my few friends to know that I had to change my little brother’s diaper. How they would have howled with glee if they had ever found out.”

“Why?”

“In both white and Indian cultures, that’s considered women’s work. When you’re twelve, a boy is very sensitive about crossing that line.”

“And now?”

“Do you really think any man is going to challenge me about changing my son’s diaper?”

At Gwen’s insistence, they named their son for his father, but Adam didn’t want his son called junior so they called him AC. It was a compromise.

The most difficult thing for Adam was waiting the six weeks the doctor said to wait before he could make love with his wife again. That night, he was as passionate as he had been on their first night together but then their son began to cry.

“We can continue my love. He can cry a little. I can’t bear to hear both of you cry.”

“I can’t do this with him crying. Go to him. I’ll be here when you get back.”

So Gwen had gone to nurse their son who seemed not to understand the schedule of feeding the midwife said he was supposed to be on. When she finished and got him settled, she returned to bed to find Adam asleep. She wasn’t going to be denied and didn’t think he would mind so she found a way to wake him that he found most pleasant. They resumed their love life with gusto. It was another five years though before there was another baby on the way.

During that time, Adam spent his evenings at home playing with his son and loving his wife. He liked to take off his shoes and jacket when he got home from work wherever they were, and then he would sit on the floor and play games with his son. The laughter always made Gwen want to sit and watch them. After AC went to bed, Adam and Gwen had time to talk and be together. The only issue of contention that developed in their marriage that couldn’t be settled in that whole time had to do with Adam’s family.

“You haven’t written a letter to your family in a long time.”

“They never answered any of the earlier ones. Why would I think any effort now would be any different?”

“There’s that illogical stubbornness. You should write. You still don’t know why they never answered you. Or you could hire someone to go there to find out. We’ve talked about this over and over. We have enough money to investigate this for ourselves to find out what has happened.”

“And it could stir things up and bring someone here who thinks that amount of money is worth the trip. There is no statute of limitation on murder. I would think that my family would have made an effort to let me know if I had been found innocent or cleared of those charges. There’s been nothing.”

“We could have one of our captains we trust such as Captain Perkins make a discreet inquiry.”

Adam had finally conceded that point, but of course, Perkins went to Ryan who told him what to tell Adam on his return. What he told him was that as far as he could determine, the charges were still intact and Adam was still a wanted man, an outlaw in the eyes of the justice system. Gwen could tell how terribly disappointed Adam was with that news.

“I’m so sorry. I was so sure that your family would have gotten you cleared by now. Perhaps that is why they haven’t contacted you. It simply isn’t safe yet.”

“And it may never be safe.” Adam pulled her into a hug. “Thank God that I have you and AC.”

“And Father. He has made all our lives very comfortable.”

“Yes, he has. I am very grateful to him for all he has done. He took me on when he knew so little about me. He trusted in me and saw something in me that he liked. I don’t know what it was, but I’m so glad he did. That’s how I met you, and now we have a beautiful child.”

“And soon, we’ll have another.”

“What?”

“I think you heard what I said. Are you happy about this one too?”

“Oh, I couldn’t be happier. It had been so long, I thought perhaps we were only going to be blessed with one. Two is a treasure beyond measure. Yes, yes, I am happy. It’s early. Why don’t we gather up AC and go tell your father. He’ll be so pleased to know too. He’s been hinting so broadly about it. It will be good to let him know he’ll be getting another grandchild he can attempt to spoil.”

“It hasn’t worked with AC.”

“No, and we won’t let him spoil the next one either, but he has fun trying.”

When they got to Dylan’s house, they knocked and there was no answer. They entered and saw a light from his study and went there. Dylan was slumped over his desk as if he was taking a nap except they couldn’t rouse him. Adam went to send someone for a doctor as he got Dylan to his bed. It was his heart according to the doctor. Dylan lingered for several months but grew weaker and weaker never able to leave his bed except to take care of necessary personal things. Adam took over the running of the businesses promoting a few men to manage various parts of the operations. Luckily his nearly seven years of working for Dylan made him very familiar with all the men in managerial positions so he knew who was capable of handling more responsibility. It was lucky that he did so because Dylan died about three months after suffering his heart attack. He had another one and never woke up. Gwen was heartbroken but had those months to prepare herself for the inevitable. There was the funeral then to organize and then the will to read. It left everything to her and Adam of course so it was a simple process. She and Adam planned to sell Dylan’s home as they had four other houses already that they used.

After a few weeks, Gwen began spending time at her father’s house going through family possessions deciding what to keep and what could be sold. It was when she went through her father’s desk that she found something that made her the most upset. She didn’t know whether she was more angry, sad, hurt, or worried. She knew she was extremely angry at her father and couldn’t believe that he had done what he had done. She suspected too that meant that Captain Perkins and perhaps others had been in on the subterfuge. She was worried too about how Adam would react, but most of all she as sad that Adam had lost so much because of her father’s action. She took the paper in her hands and got in the carriage to go to Adam’s office. There was no reason to wait a second longer than necessary for him to see what she had found. When she got to the office, she had tears in her eyes as she walked to his office. People stared at her wondering what was wrong but she was resolute in her determination to see Adam and not talk to anyone else until she did so. When she entered his office, he saw the tears.

“What’s wrong? Are you all right? Is AC all right?”

She thrust the newspaper at him not knowing of any way to make this any easier. “I found this in my father’s desk. It was hidden in a bottom drawer under all sorts of old papers.”

Adam took the paper from her hands and read it. His face showed his emotions. All he said was a simple epithet. “Damn him to hell!”

Chapter 9

That night at home, tempers and emotions had calmed. Gwen told Adam what she thought he should do. “Adam, you should go home. Your family must miss you terribly and be worried about you.”

“What do you think happened to my letters?”

“I think my father made sure they never got delivered.”

“And Captain Perkins?”

“I think you know. I think he lied to us at my father’s direction.”

“I’d ask why he did it, but I think we both know.”

“Do you regret marrying me knowing my father set it up?”

Adam wrapped his arms around Gwen. “Lord, no, I do not regret marrying you for a moment. I love you with all my heart. Sweetheart, I trust you. I know you didn’t have to show this to me. I know you could have protected your father’s memory. You didn’t hesitate though, did you? You brought it here immediately without a doubt trusting me. What we have can’t be regretted at all.”

“Will you go to see your family?”

“Only when you and AC can come with me. I’ve lost one family. I won’t risk losing another. Besides that, I have so many people dependent on me here. I can’t walk away and leave them in the lurch. I’ll organize things over the next months. You’ll have our baby. The we can go.”

“But we’ll have to wait a bit after the baby’s born. We won’t be able to go immediately and then the weather will be bad. The stormy season will be here.”

“I know. I’ll be able to write letters now though that will be delivered. I’ll send them things too. Maybe if we have time, we can have a family picture done. I would like to send one.”

“I don’t think I want to be in a picture right now. Perhaps after the baby. You could have a picture of you and AC though. I’m sure they would like that. You could send a copy of our wedding picture though. I look quite a bit different there before my hair started to turn gray, but it will give them some idea of us as a family. They’ll be able to see you on your wedding day too. Remember how happy you said your father would be to see you married. Now he can.”

“I can do that. I can have a letter and package ready in a few days. Then Captain Perkins replacement can make sure they get to San Francisco and get posted to my family.”

“You’re going to fire him?”

“Yes, I’ll fire him and McDougal too. They had loyalty to your father and they put that above honesty and morality. I won’t accept that. If I find that anyone else knew, they’ll be gone too.”

“At least you’re not going to shoot them.”

“I thought about it.”

Gwen’s eyes got very big until she saw the hint of a smile on Adam. She shook her head then. Even in this situation, he could tease her.

In Virginia City a couple of months later, Joe Cartwright thought that someone was teasing them too. He saw the letter from Adam and the return address. There was a package with it too. He decided to open the package to see what the trickster had sent. He held a picture of his oldest brother in one hand as he stood dressed formally in a wedding portrait with a woman in a wedding dress seated beside him. He was smiling broadly and even with the mustache, it was clear who it was. In the other picture, Adam was dressed in a suit with a young boy standing by him as he sat. Both had identical smiles. It was clear that it was Adam’s son with those dimples and the eyes. Joe stared at the pictures for at least a full minute before he forgot why he was in town, stowed those things in his pockets, and rode hell bent for leather for home knowing his father and brother would want to see those pictures and read the letter as soon as possible. It was a thick letter and Joe thought about that on the way home thinking it better be long to explain why he hadn’t told them anything for seven years. When he rode into the yard, he nearly gave his father a heart attack coming to a halt on Cochise and flying off the horse so fast. He asked a hand to take care of the horse.

“Joseph, that is no way to ride in here. Jumping jehosophat, what has gotten into you? You could have killed yourself.”

Hoss came out of the house with all the commotion. Joe ran up to them and pulled the pictures from his pockets. He could hardly speak and neither could they for a moment as they looked at one picture and then the other.

“Joe, where’d you get these?”

“It was in the mail. Oh, there’s a letter too. Pa, he’s alive. Adam’s alive!”

There was such a mixture of feelings among the three men until they read the whole letter, which was very long written in his hand that they recognized so well. Adam explained why he had not been in contact with them and spared no details of why that had happened and who had been responsible. He told them that he was planning to come see them but that his wife was going to be having another baby and by the time that happened and she recovered, they would be entering the stormy season for ocean travel. He didn’t want to expose his family to the dangers of that so he planned to travel the following spring. It would be nearly a year from when he had learned the truth and ten months from when they received the letter. After seven years, it didn’t seem so long and yet it seemed an eternity.

“Pa, Adam’s comin’ home like he promised.”

“And Pa, you’re a grandfather too. You have a grandson and another grandchild on the way. That’s pretty exciting, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is, but I won’t believe it all until I see my son walk through that door.” For the rest of that day and frequently in the days and months that followed, Ben would pick up those two pictures that Adam had sent and hold them as he stared at the son who had gone away and he thought he had lost. He was coming home. Ben prayed each night that nothing more would delay that day.

In Australia, it was a very busy time for Adam. He had to organize each of the businesses with managers to run each part. He had to work out communication systems among the various companies to that they could work together and he had to hire new men to fill some newly created positions and to replace Perkins and McDougal. He considered selling off the mining operation because it was the least profitable of their endeavors but delayed that and instead found a new superintendent for the mines for a year. That gave him time to evaluate that decision as to whether to sell those or keep them. After his daughter was born, he told Gwen that he had only one more task and he would be ready to pack them up and take them to America.

“Lizzie is gaining weight quickly. She’s ready to travel and I feel fine too.”

“Good. As soon as I show McMaster around the mining operation and tell him the improvements I would like him to make in the drainage and ventilation systems, I’ll head back here. We can pack what we think we’ll want with us and we can go. I’m holding one of our ships for us to use so we can take as much as you wish with us.”

“No limits?”

“Well, it is only one ship, sweetheart, so there is that limit.” He grinned then as he hugged her and AC, kissed the top of Lizzie’s head, and headed out for the last business trip he had to make.

Two days later, Gwen was summoned to a hospital where Adam had been taken after a cave-in at that mine. It hadn’t been much of a cave-in, but a piece of shoring had pierced Adam’s leg. Again, it wouldn’t have been that serious except he and the new superintendent he had hired had toured the area where the new drainage system was to be placed. His pant legs had been dirty with all sorts of things and the shard of wood had driven the filthy material into his leg. Although the doctors had cleaned the wound as well as they could, some of the material must have gotten into a vein because the infection had spread. Adam was feverish and in great pain when Gwen got to his side. His right leg was swathed in thick bandages. He was bathed in sweat and red with the fever but he grasped her hand and made a valiant effort to smile at her.

“I guess we’ll have to delay our trip for a little while.”

“Yes, a little while. Now it’s your turn to lay in bed and get better.”

“Can you hold me?”

By that request, Gwen knew how worried he was. She sat on the side of the bed and wrapped her arms around him holding him close and kissing his cheeks and forehead. She was alarmed at how hot he was. She didn’t move until the doctor came in the room and she wanted to know from him what they faced.

“How bad is it?”

“It is very serious, but he’s fighting it very well. Although it seems serious to see how he is sweating, it means he is fighting it off. It would be worse if he was dry and delirious.”

After making arrangements for the care of her children, Gwen stayed with Adam day and night despite the hospital staff claiming that was highly irregular. She didn’t care. The second day she was there, he was a bit better, and the third day, he seemed even to have improved a little more. They began to plan their trip. She had to go home to bathe and get clean clothing though. When she returned, she noted that Adam looked pale rather than red and he wasn’t sweating as he had been. She hoped the fever had gone, but when she touched him, his skin was hot and dry. Her heart began to beat very fast and she told him she was going to get some cold water for him but what she wanted to do was to find the doctor. She did and all he had was bad news.

“He has taken a turn for the worse. His kidneys are not working well any more. I’m afraid the infection may have gotten to them. He also is complaining of severe pain in his back. When we tried to move him to use the chamberpot, he actually screamed because of the pain. We used a urinal. And we have a pad under him now.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m afraid the infection may have gotten into his spine. If it has, there’s nothing we can do for him except give him enough painkillers to knock him out when the pain gets too severe for him to tolerate it.”

“He’s dying?”

The doctor didn’t answer which was an answer in itself. Gwen nearly dropped to the floor but managed to stumble to a chair instead. She stayed with Adam and talked with him. She never told him what the doctor had said. She didn’t have to tell him. He could tell by all that was happening to him. He never got to the state the doctor had mentioned even though he was in great pain. Instead he slipped away more quietly over a few days. He told her two things before he went. The first was a long statement and he struggled to say it all saying a few words at a time and then breathing shallowly and saying a few more until he got it all out.

“I promised I would go home. Please take the children home to keep my promise. It’s the only part of me that can go home now.”

He closed his eyes.

“I will. We will go to your home, and we will see your family. I promise.”

Gwen was holding his hand and thought she could feel him squeeze her hand a little. He had become so weak, she wasn’t sure, but she squeezed back in case he had. Opening his eyes a short time later, he said his last words. His voice was very weak and raspy.

“I love you.”

“I love you, Adam.” She kissed him but didn’t know if he knew it. His eyes had closed again. She put her hand on his chest over his heart to feel it beating. She sat there for four more hours. Near midnight on that last night, she felt his heart begin to slow. She knew it was close and she waited. Then it stopped. She sat there for a short while longer watching him and thinking that his spirit had left as she watched his color turn gray. A nurse came in to check to see how things were going and saw that Adam was gone. She put a hand on Gwen’s shoulder.

“I know. I just wanted every last minute with him that I could get. Now, how do I go home and tell my son that his beloved father will never come home again?”

Lizzie would never know her father, but at least they had gotten that family picture done before Adam had gone up to the mines. Lizzie would at least see how happy her father was to hold her in his arms. AC knew his father, but Gwen wondered how much he would remember when he was older. She decided she better start writing down all the stories that she knew and all the memories that she had of Adam and his family. As hard as it was to tell AC, she knew too that she had to write to the family she never knew and tell them that the son and brother they so anticipated seeing again would never be coming home.

Chapter 10

Hoss read a telegram to his family. “It says they’re arriving here on Friday.”

“That’s not much notice.” Ben wondered about the sudden arrival.

“She says she wasn’t sure when they would be able to get here as she wasn’t familiar with the land and travel here. They’re taking care of some things in San Francisco and then taking the train here.”

“Time to get her story straight perhaps?” Joe was skeptical.

“She says they can stay in the hotel if that is more convenient for us.”

“Well I guess we ought to have them stay here.”

“Pa, why wouldn’t you want her to stay here?”

“Hoss, how do we know this is actually Adam’s wife? The picture we have of her is over eight years old now. In that letter, she said she had a lot of things to do after he died and that’s why it’s taken so long for her to plan a trip. But what if that isn’t true? What if that is simply her story?”

“Why would she do somethin’ like that?”

“Pa could be right. She could be after money. We have a lot of it, and quite a few people would like to get their hands on it. If she can convince us that she was married to Adam, that gives her one third of the Ponderosa someday.”

“Well, I think it’s his wife and his kids, and I want ta see ’em.”

So on that Friday, Ben, Hoss, and Joe waited in town for the arrivals. It was easy to pick them out as a woman dressed in black stepped down from the train holding a toddler and followed by a tall young boy with dark hair.

“Pa, that’s gotta be them.” Hoss strode over to greet Gwen and the children. She knew who it had to be based on all the stories Adam had told her. The giant of a man with the sky blue eyes and the friendly smile was there to greet them.

“You must be Hoss.”

“And you’re Gwen. I’m pleased as punch ta meet ya, ma’am.”

“AC, this is your Uncle Hoss.”

AC extended his hand to shake Hoss’ hand. He was nervous but wouldn’t let that stop him.

“I’m sorry ifn I scare ya a little bit. I cain’t help being so big.”

“It’s all right to be scared, my Papa said. He said being scared is normal. Acting scared is the problem.”

“That shur nuff sounds like Adam. Here’s my Pa, your Grandpa, and your Uncle Joe.”

Both of them greeted Gwen and AC.

As they walked to the carriage, AC had a complaint for his mother. “I’m hungry.”

“We’ll get some food later, AC. I don’t have any money right now.”

When they passed a restaurant on the way out of town, AC turned to Hoss who was driving the carriage. “I was hungry, but Mama said she doesn’t have any money. Do you have food on the Ponderosa?”

“We got plenty of food. Our cook, Hop Sing has cooked up a banquet to welcome all of you to the Ponderosa. It could be a little while. Ya think ya kin wait a couple of hours?”

“I can wait. Hoss, why do you talk that way?”

Joe heard that part. “We all ask that question, AC. Nobody knows the answer.”

At the house, there was a huge dinner, and then the children went to bed early. With all the travel, they were very tired. Gwen thought it was time to answer any questions the others had about her. She had the distinct impression there was some coolness. The first thing she did was to bring out the music box and small picture of Elizabeth that Adam had carried with him on his travels.

“I thought you might like to see that Adam’s treasures have survived his travels.”

Ben nearly gasped and Hoss had a pretty good smirk as he saw the items which confirmed in all of their minds that this was Gwen who was Adam’s wife. Then Gwen brought out the picture that Adam had made of the family shortly after Lizzie was born. He was holding his daughter and smiling with Gwen seated in front of him and AC standing beside them. It was a very happy family. The picture brought tears

Hoss wanted to know what Gwen’s best memory of Adam was.

“I don’t even have to think very long about that. It was when AC was about nine months old. Adam had made some wooden blocks for him and would stack them for him. AC would knock them over and they would laugh. Then AC stopped Adam’s hand because he wanted to stack the blocks himself. He could only stack three and rather precariously at that. Next he pointed at Adam who knocked the blocks over but he made this ridiculous face while he did it. AC started laughing so hysterically at that sight that he tipped over, but Adam caught him before his head hit the floor. It only made them laugh all the more. They did it over and over laughing the whole time. I watched them and couldn’t bear to turn away.”

Gwen had tears in her eyes as she told the story. Ben wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“You don’t have to tell any more of these stories if they’re too painful for you.”

“No, it’s not at all painful. You see, I had tears in my eyes then too because it was the first time I had truly heard Adam laugh. I had teased him early on about whether he could actually smile. It seemed he was always so serious.”

Joe smiled then. “Sounds like my oldest brother.”

“He told me he had lost a lot of reasons to smile. I asked him what I could do to make him smile and you can imagine what he said. I won’t repeat any of that here.”

Ben rolled his eyes as Joe and Hoss began to laugh uproariously not only at Gwen’s comment and expression but at their father’s reaction. Gwen grinned for she had hoped to bring Adam home in the only way she knew how and it was working.

Joe had the next question. “How did Adam get along with the men over there?”

“Quite well in general. There were a few who didn’t like some of his ideas. A few tried to teach him a lesson about that and found out the hard way that it wasn’t so easy to get the best of Adam Cartwright.”

“That sounds like there’s a good story there too.”

“It’s a rather long one though. It started before I really knew him. He worked first on my father’s cattle station. He was sent out on a hunt not knowing what that actually meant. I hated those but it’s done by so many there as a matter of course.”

“Why would anybody hate hunting? We do it here all the time. Adam and Hoss used to like going hunting a lot.”

“They hunted the aborigine men. They killed them on sight. When Adam realized that, he made the men stop. They weren’t willing to take him on because they knew how well he could shoot so they all came back to the ranch together. He was going to be fired, except he proved to my father that the aborigines didn’t kill the cow they were accused of killing. It was dingoes.”

“What’re dingoes?”

“A kind of wild dog about as dangerous as you can imagine. Adam said they were far worse than the wolves you have here because they will attack people too. Well he convinced my father to hire the aborigines to hunt dingoes in exchange for cows to eat. It worked out very well. Some of the men resented it though, and once when my father sent Adam to the station to see how things were going, he went out with two of the men to survey things and they stranded him in the bush without his horse, gun, or hat. They claimed he had wandered off and they couldn’t find him and had to get back before it got dark.”

“The bush?”

“Out in the wilderness. It’s very dangerous especially at night with poisonous snakes, the dingoes, and all sorts of other things. Anyway, the aborigines whom Adam had helped came to his rescue and guided him back to the station. He got a knife and went and got those two men by sneaking in while the others were sleeping yet.”

“What did he do with them?”

“The next morning, the men walked out and saw a writhing thing under some blankets in the middle of the compound. When they pulled the blankets off, it was those two men tied together and they were completely naked. Everyone stood around laughing for quite a bit before Adam walked out from the house with their wages, threw the money on the ground, told them they were fired, and said that anyone who wanted to untie them, could. He never told anyone except me how he managed to get back that night, but you can guess no one ever messed with him there again.”

Ben had a question that his sons had too but he asked it first. “Did he miss us?”

“Terribly, but he didn’t know what to do when you never answered any of his letters. He had no idea my father was intercepting them. He was still under the impression that he was wanted here and would face the gallows if he returned. I believe he wrote to you and explained that after he found out the truth. He was so upset when he found that out. There was nothing he could do. My father was dead. I didn’t know about it. When I discovered that newspaper account in my father’s desk, I was shocked, angry, sad, and so many things. I brought it to Adam. I told him he should go home to see you. I couldn’t go. I was carrying Lizzie then and I was too far along to think of going on a ship. AC was not yet six years old so hardly of an age to accompany his father on such a trip, but I thought Adam could go especially after all those years apart from you. He said he would but wouldn’t leave us behind. He said he had already lost one family and wouldn’t risk losing another.”

“He never lost us.”

“He thought he had. After our wedding, he had some tears because he said he so wanted his family to know he had married and yet he had no way to communicate with you. He had thought he lost you, and then when he found he had not, he had so many responsibilities, he couldn’t immediately come to see you. He had so many people depending on him and had to make so many arrangements before he could go. He was inspecting that mine with the new superintendent when the accident occurred. It was the last thing he would have to do before he could make arrangements for us to travel here. Then he was hurt and we hoped he would recover. For a time, it seemed he might, but the infection got into his spine and never let him go. He told me that he promised to come home if he was found innocent so he made me promise that I would bring his children here because it was the only way for him to fulfill that promise. I know it’s taken some time, but here we are. I sold everything almost everything we owned except our house in Sydney. We can stay then or we can go back. The choice is yours as much as anything.”

“This is your home if you want it to be your home. You’re Adam’s family. You belong here.”

“I was thinking of getting a house in San Francisco too. However with the train system you have, it’s only two days or less to travel back here. That’s convenient enough.”

“That would be very expensive to do. I’m not sure how many trips our budget here would be able to cover.”

“Oh, you wouldn’t have to pay for any of that. I would pay for our travel.”

“You have enough money for that and a house too?”

“I don’t know if you realize it, but your son and I were very wealthy. We are wealthy. That expense is not something that will be a concern.” She saw their looks and remembered what AC had said in town. “Oh, you must be thinking about what AC said. I brought bank drafts with me. I had no idea banks closed so early here. I couldn’t cash them so we had no money. I told him we wouldn’t need any here. I will have money once I can get to a bank.”

With that statement, Hoss sported a smirk that would have made Adam proud. Both Ben and Joe had worried that perhaps Gwen was looking for money and perhaps wasn’t who she claimed to be. They had not received a picture of Adam’s family so they didn’t know what they looked like. However Ben saw that AC was a lot like Adam at that age. Gwen had the music box and old and new portraits. The stories she told were perfect matches to the man they knew.

“May I ask why you want a house in San Francisco?”

“I didn’t sell the shipping business. I can run that business as well from San Francisco as from Sydney, but I will need to be there to supervise things on a regular basis. If there are any new ships to buy, I want to see them first. I wanted to keep part of the business for AC if he wanted to run it when he’s older. If not, it can always be sold later.”

“What else did you have that you sold?” Ben was intrigued now.

“I sold the cattle station, the mines, the timberlands, and the freight hauling business, and I liquidated the investments Adam had made in the railroads and banks. I sold the house in Brisbane, the one up by the mines, and the one outside of town, and only kept the one in Sydney. It was the smallest of the four. There’s a caretaker living there.”

“But you’re willing to live here?”

“I enjoyed living away from town most of all. I only want the house in San Francisco for convenience. Someday, AC will want to go to college and there are good schools in San Francisco. The house will be especially useful then.”

“What does he want to study?”

“He likes a lot of things. It depends on the week you ask him. He is his father’s son that way too. He has a curiosity about a lot of things. He’s already getting curious about girls.”

“Thank goodness Adam was much older before he got curious about girls not like my youngest here.”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. Let me see if I remember this story correctly. Did you know that Mary Ellen Martin has a trellis right below her bedroom window and it’s covered in vines so you can climb it without making a sound if you wear the moccasins that Young Wolf gave you.”

“What! That scamp! If I had known!”

“Of course you would, so Adam never let you know he was that curious about girls.”

“You certainly learned a lot about my son.”

“Often it was only the two of us. We talked a lot. He talked about home quite often. It was a way to ease the heartache of his loss.”

“I look forward to hearing more of these stories. It’s like having my son back again. You’re quite the storyteller too. I can picture him and it’s like seeing it all happen.”

“Yeah, Pa, he kept his promise to come back, but he done it his way in stories and in AC and Lizzie. He came home.”

 

 

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