Chapter Twelve

Roy paused at the edge of the road and considered the conversation he needed to have. He’d ridden out to see Hop Sing and the little Chinese man had actually embraced him as he went off on a rant that would have sounded angry if Roy hadn’t known how relieved the man was. Number Three Son held a special place in the man’s heart and Roy had seen Little Joe use that to his advantage on more than one occasion. He smiled again as he thought about it before quickly sobering again. His next stop would not be so pleasant and he hated what he was about to do. As he pushed his horse into Walter Maddington’s yard, he knew there were some days he wished he wasn’t the law in the town.

Walter sat in a broken down wicker chair on the front porch and his bleary eyes betrayed him before he even opened his mouth.

“You find them two ungrateful brats yet?”

Roy dismounted and tied his horse to the porch post before he answered. The contrast between Hop Sing’s reaction and Walter’s was like night and day.

“Matthew and Derek have been found. They are in Riversbend.”

“They with that Cartwright brat?”

Roy managed to hold his tongue in check as he nodded. “Joe is with them. Ben is there too and he’s bringing all of them home, just as soon as Matthew is well enough to travel.”

Roy found his anger mounting at the man’s callous lack of response. Any other parent would have asked immediately what that meant, but Walter just took another slug of whiskey. Roy coughed as he nudged closer.

“I said, young Matthew’s sick. Real sick.”

Walter glared at him, his mind calculating as he stared at the sheriff. The boy wasn’t much use for physical labour anyway so he wasn’t much concerned if he came back or not. The older boy? Now that was a different story. He had a sturdy back and without his whining little brother underfoot, the boy just might prove useful after all.

“What about Derek? He okay?”

“S’far as I know. Matthew’s got the measles. I find it hard to figure that one boy in a family would have had it and t’other ain’t. Not how it usually goes.”

“They ain’t brothers.” Walter muttered the comment and was too drunk to realise what he’d let slip.

Roy frowned at the man in confusion. It wasn’t the story that Walter had told him about the boys being his sister’s boys and she had passed on with no other kin. He’d already thought they didn’t much resemble each other, but then again, none of Ben’s boys looked much like each other.

“That so?” He scratched as his chin as he made his way to his horse. Walter hadn’t asked for any more details and he decided he wasn’t going to divulge any. His gut told him to dig deeper and speak later.

It was a long ride back towards town as he considered what little he really knew of the two boys. He figured the best source of information so far had been young Mitch so he swung his horse towards the Devlin ranch in the search for answers.

---

Nick leaned up against the doorframe and listened as the three men in the room painted a picture for him that he could not have made up if he’d tried. He twisted his hat between his fingers as he listened to the tale that slowly unfolded. It had taken the better part of an hour in the telling, between mouthfuls of food and slurps of lukewarm coffee. He quickly gathered the men had been on the trail for some days and he wasn’t sure when they’d last eaten. Eventually it came out that it had been the noon meal the day before and that was only trail rations.

“That is the most unbelievable tale I’ve ever heard. If I hadn’t seen it playing out right in front of me, I woulda said you were making it up!”

“Believe me, I wish I was.” Ben drained the last of his coffee and stood up to place the cup on the tray. He looked across to where Joe was still soundly sleeping and he half smiled. “My son has many qualities that have caused me a measure of grief or frustration over the years, but I cannot deny that his sense of justice is finely honed. He doesn’t always stop to think everything through, but if I had just taken more time to really listen to him, this could have all been avoided.”

“Pa, you know as well as we do that Joe don’t always give you a whole story.” Hoss felt as guilt-ridden as the rest of his family, but he would not allow his father to shoulder the entire blame. “And that’s maybe my fault as much as anythin’.”

“How do you mean, Son?”

“Well, Little Joe told me he wanted ta talk to you and I told him not to.” Hoss hung his head as he recalled only too well the day he’d wished he could gag his youngest brother before he put his foot in anything.

“Why ever not?” Ben frowned across the room at the comment. It was so unlike his usually open and trusting son. Of all of them, Hoss was the easiest to read and the most open to conversation. He didn’t hide things and his comment made no sense.”

Hoss scuffed a boot across the worn carpet as he remembered the day in the barn. “You and Adam was out with them army fellas checkin’ out them Indian raids. You told me not ta worry Little Joe and I accident’ly let it slip that’s where you were. I tried ta stop him from worryin’ and I guess I just messed it up more. I told him not ta ask you ’bout it and I know that he was keen to ask you ’bout somethin’ that day. I guess I just stopped him from askin’ you anythin’ at all!”

Adam stood up and tracked across to the coffee pot for a refill. The lack of sleep was catching up with them all and he yawned as he filled the cup. “We all missed it, Hoss. It was me that Joe asked about slaves and what would happen if someone helped a runaway slave. You saw his face when he saw the sheriff and Pa. He thought Pa was going to be arrested because of what I told him.”

“Sure shocked me when the kid begged me not to arrest you.” Nick shook his head at the memory. The boy’s odd behaviour was certainly beginning to make more sense as the story padded out.

“I think there is more than enough blame to share around, but I’m the one who decided to leave my son locked in a jail cell.” Ben held up a hand as Hoss began to object again and he walked over to the bed again to stand over his youngest son. It looked like a protective stance and all three of them were clearly struggling with how they had failed to protect the boy.

Before anyone could say anything further, there was a knock at the door. Adam reached to open it and wasn’t surprised to see the doctor standing with his hand raised to knock again.

“Just come to check up on my patients.”

Nobody had much to say as the man settled on the bed next to Matthew. The boy had barely stirred since he’d arrived in town and only been semi-conscious when they had roused him to get him to drink. The doctor smiled as he peeled back the damp washcloth and laid a hand across the boy’s forehead. He waited for some time to be sure of his diagnosis.

“I think his fever has stopped rising. God willing, this little trooper might just be turning the corner.” He glanced up to see smiles right around the room. “You need to get some more water into him and let me know as soon as he wakes up.”

He looked across to where Derek had wrapped himself around Matthew’s left arm. Dark circles smudged under his eyes and it was clear the boy was exhausted. The doctor had already noted that both boys were far too thin, but the younger boy’s profile looked gaunt and he knew the bout of measles could not be the sole cause.

“These boys need feeding up.”

It was an observation that the doctor spoke almost to himself as he stared at the two boys in front of him. The third boy across the room was wiry, but these two were clearly malnourished. He stood up and headed over to check on Joe and he almost smiled as the boy’s father moved along with him.

“You ever find out how he broke his nose? Did he really fall off his horse?”

Adam snorted as he listened to the comment. “Is that what he told you?”

When both men nodded, he smiled across at his brother’s sleeping form. “Joe hasn’t fallen off a horse since he first figured out how to climb up onto one when he was three! He thinks he’s ready to start busting broncs!”

Nick smiled at the comment as he considered the boy he’d only known for a few hours. It sounded about right.

“That’s the story he gave me. Why? What really happened?” The doctor glanced around the room and noted that the smiles quickly disappeared.

“Somebody took a shot at him. Our town sheriff shoved him out of the way and into a wall.”

“Who’d want to shoot a boy?” The doctor was horrified by the answer.

Nick straightened up and shook his head. “That fella I told you escaped from the Territorial Prison. Seems he had a little score to settle in Virginia City. And elsewhere from what the wires have been saying.”

“What do you mean?” Ben stared at the sheriff as if he was only just realising something. He’d been so focused on finding Joe that he’d given no thought to Kent Johnston’s whereabouts. He figured the posse would have caught up with him by now and dealt with the local law. For all he knew, the man could have been hung already. Apparently not.

“Seems he’s got a list of folks he’s going after. So far he hasn’t left any of his victims alive so if your son escaped him, I’d be mighty thankful for that.”

“I am.” Ben nodded slowly in agreement. “Believe me, I am!”

The doctor still hadn’t gotten the full story of just who was connected to who and how the three boys had come to be in his town, but for now, he was satisfied that they were in good hands. He had other patients to tend to and he trusted that if Nick was happy with the strangers, then so was he.

“I need to get on with my round, gentlemen. But like I said, you let me know when this young fella wakes up.”

“Will do, Doctor. And thank you.” Ben ushered the man to the door and shook his hand heartily as he left.

---

Roy sat at the table as Mitch sipped at a glass of milk and he fiddled with his coffee mug. He’d enjoyed telling the lad that his friends were all accounted for and he carefully avoided giving any real details. The boy’s mother hadn’t missed that, but she had kept quiet as she continued preparing supper at the bench and listened in to the conversation. The younger children had been shooed out into the yard so Roy could focus his attention on Mitch.

“What exactly do you mean, Walter paid for ’em?”

“That’s what Derek told us. He said that Walter paid for them so he owned them. We figured that meant like slaves so Joe asked Adam about it and Adam told him that slaves stay slaves ’til they die. If they run away, they get locked up if they get caught.”

Roy blew out a sharp breath as he considered the comment. He would bet good money that Joe hadn’t given any actual details to Adam when he asked the question or they wouldn’t be where they all were now. He tried to contain his thoughts as he knew full well the boys had clearly only meant to help. “Well that is kinda the facts, but don’t you boys know that slavery isn’t legal in Nevada?”

Mitch twisted his glass between his fingers and tried to explain. “We didn’t know that then and we didn’t want to ask. Joe was real certain not to get his family into any trouble with the law!”

Roy sighed as he thought about that idea. He’d seen the boy cover for Derek and refuse to rat on him when he’d been caught with the knife. He knew only too well how loyalty worked with Joe Cartwright, even when it bit him. “Why would Joe’s family be in any kind of trouble?”

Mitch looked at the sheriff, feeling slightly confused. Didn’t the sheriff know the law? “Cause Adam said so.”

“Now young fella, Adam Cartwright’s no fool and he wouldn’t tell his brother somethin’ that just ain’t true.”

Mitch’s mother glared at him as she wondered if he was still trying to hide something after everything that had come out.

“But Adam said that anybody who helped a runaway slave got into all sorts of trouble with the law and Joe didn’t want any of his family gettin’ into trouble. Honest, Ma!”

Roy reached across and patted at his arm. “It’s alright there, boy. I know just what you mean.”

He could envisage the kind of conversation that had happened. After all, Ben had once said that his son could well become a lawyer one day with the way his mind worked. It hadn’t been a compliment, given the father was at his wits’ end, but Roy chuckled nonetheless as he recalled it. Little Joe certainly had a unique way of seeing the world.

“Alright then. Just one last question for you and I’ll leave you ta get back to that woodpile you was workin’ on. Did Derek or Matthew ever tell you where they came from before Walter brought them to Virginia City?”

Mitch chewed at his lip as he thought it over. Neither boy was very open with any kind of personal information. “I’m not sure, but I think they lived in San Francisco. Derek said somethin’ one day about his pa bein’ a sailor and his ship went down. That’s how he ended up in the orphanage. He didn’t ever say nothin’ about their ma though.”

“Good. That’s helpful. Now, anythin’ else you can think of, son?”

“Umm … the orphanage … it was summer somethin’. I think.”

Roy pushed himself up from the table and reached to place his hat back on his head. “Thank you for the coffee, Ma’am. And thank you for the help, young fella.”

As Mitch watched the sheriff ride back out of the yard, he hefted the axe in his hand and dropped another log onto the block. For the first time in what felt like forever, he felt a measure of hope that things might just turn out all right after all.