As soon as she stepped into the house, Joe knew that this young girl was a troublemaker. Daisy Lovecraft was the only daughter of Daniel and Maureen Lovecraft, who, among other titles, could pride themselves on being Ben Cartwright’s friends.

Daniel and Maureen were on their way to California where they planned to settle but, not knowing what they could find at the end of their journey, they had asked Ben a favour : would he accept to keep their daughter in the Ponderosa a few months in order to let them enough time to prepare a suitable home for a female teenager.

So, Daisy was there and, since then, the Cartwright boys were living on their nerves. Ben was the only one she accepted to listen to and many a time, his sons had dreamt to give the young lady a well deserved spanking. Ben had forbidden such a gesture and was particularly watching Adam who had proved previously to have no qualms of conscience about it.

This morning, Ben was in town with the buckboard. He had proposed to Daisy to come with him but she had turned down the offer. Hoss and Adam were busy at the sawmill and Joe was heading to the barn : his father had assigned him the duty to climb up to the North pasture and check up the fences. He didn’t know where Daisy was but didn’t care. He went into the barn humming Shenandoah but stopped suddenly, incredulous :

“But… but… where’s my horse ?”

As a matter of fact, Cochise was no longer in its box.

“Hank, Hank”, he shouted.

Hank Meier who was rubbing his mare stopped singing through his nose and turned his head.

“Yes, Joe.”

“Where’s Cochise, where’s my horse ?”

“Miss Lovecraft took it for a ride.”

“Miss Lovecraft ! Why didn’t you prevent her from doing that ?”

“Nobody told me…”

“There’s no need to tell you. Cochise is my horse and nobody can ride him except for my father if he wants to. In particular, it hasn’t to be ridden by somebody as inexpert as Miss Daisy Lovecraft. Well, I have to chase and catch her. I think I’ll take Sport, it’s the most speedy horse after Cochise.”

Having said so, he saddled Sport and hurried away.

A few minutes later, Adam appeared in the courtyard. Hoss had broken a very special saw and he couldn’t help going to town to buy a new one. Annoyed by this contretemps he tried not to lose time, ran to the barn and gasped at seeing its mount wasn’t where he expected it to be.

“But, where’s my horse ?”

Placidly, Hank Meier answered : “Joe took it to catch up Miss Lovecraft who went away riding Cochise.”

And he turned back to his mare and his rubbing work and started again singing through his nose.

Adam sniffled to control his temper but it was vain to get angry. He needed a horse and decided to take Chubb : “It’s used to Hoss and manages to go pretty fast with such a weigh on its back. With a lighter horseman, I’m sure I could catch up Joe and make the exchange.”

He was hardly disappearing below the horizon when Hoss passed a head through the barn’s door : “Adam”, he called, “Adam”.

Hank sighed and interrupting his chore for the third time, said : “He’s gone.”

“Dadburnit, I have to catch him up, I also broke the hammer. But Hank ?”

“What do you want, Hoss”, the latter asked, knowing perfectly what question would follow.

“Where’s my horse ?”

“Adam took it to catch up Joe who took Sport to catch up Miss Lovecraft who went away riding Cochise.”

“It looks like a nursery rhyme”, Hoss noticed. “Anyway, I can’t stay here waiting for them”. And he saddled Buck and rode away.

A quarter of an hour later, Ben came back with Paul Martin in the buckboard. Ben was worrying for Hop-Sing and had convinced Paul to come for an impromptu medical exam on the short-tempered Chinese cook.

“All right, Paul, I think I’ll let you sort it out alone, it’s far better. Meanwhile, I’ll ride to the North pasture to give Joe a hand.”

He entered the barn, saw that his sons’ horses were all out but couldn’t help shouting with surprise at not seeing Buck in its stall.

“By Jove, where’s my horse ?”

Hank Meier was a very serious man so he replied very seriously :“Hoss took it to catch up Adam who took Chubb to catch up Joe who took Sport to catch up Miss Lovecraft who went away riding Cochise and don’t think of taking my mare because I will not let you steal it.”

Ben opened his mouth to point that there was no question of stealing but he hadn’t the time to articulate a word : Joe was showing himself, riding Cochise, followed by Hoss riding Chubb and, last but not least, Adam riding Sport and pulling behind him Buck with Daisy lying face down across the saddle, duly tied.

“Adam !”, he growled, “I told you not to spank her !”

Adam chuckled : “I didn’t, Pa. We just found her, hung by her skirt at the limp of a tree. We freed her and she decided she would ride Sport accusing Cochise of being wicked. I just told her : Young lady, you haven’t to ride one of our horses. If you insist, you’ll do it in the only posture allowing you not to fall. And I just tied her the right way : she didn’t fall.”

Ben could see the broad smile across Hoss and Joe’s faces. Obviously, they were fully agreeing with their elder brother.

“You may be right”, he finally replied. “Now, help her down, I think she’s learnt her lesson.”

And as a matter of fact, there wasn’t anymore question of  Miss Daisy’s caprices in the Ponderosa, until she left two months later.“You see, Pa, you should have left me spank her at the beginning”, Adam remarked, “we would have  gained time !”

THE END