FIVE

Ben Cartwright huddled in a nest of creaking branches and budding leaves.  He’d tethered Buck to a low bush and then followed the woman’s trail as best he could in the dark.  She had led him deep into the woods, toward one of the smaller lakes.  A light rain had begun to fall and it made a chilly evening even colder.  He wasn’t dressed properly for the weather and was already shivering.  The fire the men before him had kindled looked inviting.

Even if the men didn’t.

There were three of them.  He’d recognized Earl and Virgil Stanley immediately.  The other man with him, if he remembered right, was a drifter named Thom Marshall.  He hadn’t hired Thom since his quota for the day was full, but Roy had mentioned seeing the man in town and said he was trouble.

At first Ben had expected the woman to be with outlaws.  Maybe she was a cook, or even a wife to one of them.  But even though her footprints came right up to the edge of the camp, after that they simply vanished.

Earl Stanley, who was the oldest of the trio, was counting out gold pieces.  He counted two for himself for every one he gave the other two men.  His brother Virgil was half-asleep and hardly paying attention.  Thom Marshall was.  Marshall’s eyes followed every coin Earl lifted from the sack and from the look on his face, he was none too happy with the way Stanley was portioning out the gold.

“I ain’t waited two years to be stinted,” Thom growled.  “How come you get twice as much?”

“Because I’m twice as smart as you, moron.”

“I told you not to call me that!”

Stanley shrugged.  “If the boot fits.”

Thom’s gun was out in an instant. “I could just kill you and take it all.”

Earl laughed.  “Virg?”

Virgil shifted, revealing the gun in his lap and the fact that it was pointed at Thom’s gut.

Apparently the younger man was wide awake.

“You’ll take what I give you and be happy.  Even a quarter of this gold is more money than you could make in a lifetime.”

“I got me nine lives to take care of.”

“Well, Virg has got him ten bullets, so shut up.”

Two years Thom had said.  Ben cast his mind back.  Where would that kind of gold come from?  He couldn’t recall any bank robberies in the area at the time and besides, that gold would have been in bars.  Maybe a stagecoach robbery or….

Navarra.

The Navarra fortune.

Adam was due home from college and their lives had been hectic, what with all the preparations they were making for his return and the fact that he was arriving during calving season.  The sheriff had come out the house and asked him to be a part of the posse that had formed to track down the men who had killed Danel Navarra.  He’d had to decline as there simply wasn’t time or enough man-power.  He’d always felt bad about it, considering the outcome, but at the time there’d been nothing he could do.  Danel was a wealthy Basque rancher who lived near Reno.  He’d lost his lands due to the Mexican-American conflict, but rumor had it he’d managed to secret away a small fortune in spite of the loss.  The promise of so much money had proven too tempting and one night Navarra had been set upon.  The men who took him, lynched him, and then ransacked his house.  No one knew if they found the money.  They only knew the next day that Danel was dead and his wife and only child, gone.

Were these the criminals who had killed Danel Navarra?  If so, they were more desperate men then he had first believed.  It chilled him to think that they had intended to kidnap Joseph.  In all likelihood they would have issued a ransom demand and then killed the boy.

Ben moved in a little closer.

All three men were armed, though Earl’s gun belt with his pistol lay coiled on the ground beside him.  Ben scowled.  If he showed himself, it would be all too  easy for one of the men to take him out.  He needed a distraction, so he could get the drop on them instead.

“You think those kids are still alive?” Virg asked, a slight tremble in his voice.

“Why?  Your conscience botherin’ you?” Earl snarled.

Ben’s heart plunged to his toes.

Kids?

“Hell, no.  I was just…well…wonderin’, you know?”

“They got them ten ton of rock dropped on their heads.  Would you be alive with ten ton of rock dropped on your head?”

“What about that black mare?  Maybe she….”

“There you go about that damn horse again!” the older Stanley snapped.  “Wake up, little brother.  That horse is dead as those Cartwright boys.”

Ben’s breath came fast and hard.  Dead?  His boys….  Hoss?  Adam?

Dead?

“It was weird the way she ran into the cave instead of away from it.  Don’t you think?” Thom asked.

“I told you it wanted that snot-nosed kid.  That’s why Virg and me were gonna take him,” the older man snarled.  “Well, now she’s got him.”

Tears pooled in Ben’s eyes.

Not Joseph too.

Joseph, no, you didn’t….

“I never understood why you thought that horse wanted the kid,”  Thom pressed.  “Seems to me you just ain’t thinkin’ straight.”

“That mare belonged to the Navarra boy,” Virgil answered, his voice hushed.  “We think the horse thought Joe Cartwright was him.”

“You’re talkin’ hogwash.”

There was a click.  Earl’s gun was in his hand and pointed at Thom Marshall.  “Why don’t you just stop talkin’ all together, moron”

Thom bristled.  “I told you not to call me that!”

Imbecile.

Ben watched the men start.  He started too.

It was her.

Terese.

“Did you hear that?” Thom asked, standing up quickly and drawing his gun.

“Hear what?” Earl scoffed, though his voice shook.

“A woman.  She called me an imbecile.”

“She’s a smart one then,” the older man snarled.

Thom pivoted and pointed  his gun at Earl’s head.  “You’re gonna shut up, Stanley!”

“Or what?”  Earl was still calmly counting coins.

Marshall snarled.  “I have had just about enough of you –”

Ben winced.  Gun-smoke filled the air.  When it cleared he saw Thom Marshall still standing, looking with surprise at his gut.

It was smoking too.

“Damn you…” Thom whispered and then fell backward.

Virgil scrambled out of the way, barely making it in time.  “What’d you do that for, Earl?  We need him!”

“We don’t need no one, kid,” his brother groused.  “You and I pulled that heist two years ago.  We don’t need to share with no one.  Besides, only you and me know what really happened.”

‘I know.

‘Murderers.’

Virgil spun in a circle.  “Did you hear that, Earl?”

Earl was looking decidedly nervous.  “Someones playin’ with us.”

“There’s no one left, Earl.  You killed them all!”

“Get hold of yourself, Virg!”

Ben watched as Earl rose and crossed to his brother.

He didn’t take his gun.

Shifting through the underbrush, the rancher drew closer to the fire.  Once in place, Ben hesitated.  Virgil was still holding his weapon and could get off a lucky shot.

“There!  There!  Do you see her?” the younger Stanley shrieked as something white moved through the trees.

Earl turned to look and Ben charged.

It was over a minute later.  Earl Stanley lay on the ground, unconscious, his first bullet having creased the outlaw’s head.  His brother lay beside him, nursing an arm shattered by the second bullet from his gun.  Ben crouched and took hold of Virgil.  He’d been sick.  The younger man smelled of vomit and sweat.  The rancher didn’t’ care.  He hauled the outlaw up and drew him in close while pressing the point of his pistol into his cheek and demanded.

“Where are my sons?”

He didn’t know where he was.

It felt like he’d been walking for hours.  There was light, enough for his wounded eyes to see with, but there was nothing to see other than rock and more rock.

And more rock.

Joe’d been calling as he walked.  The echo of his words made him kind of dizzy, but he kept calling anyway.  At first he just yelled out ‘Hey, girl!’  Finally, lonely for someone he knew, he’d begun to call out the name he had given the horse, even though he knew – for some reason – it brought the black mare pain.

He was in pain too.  As he moved deeper into the cave, Joe began to feel his injuries.  He was limping pretty bad.  He’d found a gash in his leg and it was bleeding.  He’d laughed when he realized he was leaving a trail of red ‘breadcrumbs’, kind of like Hansel and Gretel, except there was no one to find them.  His head was bleeding too, but it wasn’t bad.  Still, just like the Doc had warned, the second blow had left him dizzy.  He’d fallen down a couple of times, but kept getting up and walking and calling.  He’d been just about to give up when he heard a noise.

It was a blow – a horse exhaling through its nose without opening its mouth – and sounded like it was twenty or thirty feet away.

“Hey, girl,” Joe called. “Is that you?  Mystery?”

There was an answer.  A shrill squeal followed by a scream.

“I’m sorry,” the boy said as he moved forward with his hands extended.  “I don’t know what else to call you, girl.  I could’ve tried Blackie, or maybe Midnight, but they just ain’t you.  How come you don’t like that name?”

Joe was listening.  Trying to discern where the animal was.  If it was truly frightened, it could lash out of the dark with its hooves and hurt him.

“Is it okay?  Can I call you that?  Mystery?”

Something moved beside him.  It startled him since he thought he would have smelled horseflesh.  Joe reached out and felt the mare’s velvet-black coat brush against him.  When it did, something broke inside him.  Tears poured down the boy’s cheeks as he buried his face in her side and suddenly all the strength went out of him.

Joe slid to the floor and sat there, sobbing.

“I gotta…get out, girl,” he said between gasps.  “Adam’s hurt and I need to get Pa.  Can you show me?  Do you know where that shaft is?  The one me and Hoss found?  Do you know the way out?”

Joe felt the mare’s soft nose nuzzle his cheek, urging him to rise.  Mystery nickered as she lowered her head so he could take hold of her mane.

A moment later Joe was mounted.  He gave Mystery her lead and let her take him where she would, which was farther down and into the darkness.

Ben left the Stanley brothers trussed up and tied to two separate trees.  Injured, they would only have slowed him down.  Earl had refused to say anything, but Virgil was the weak link and he’d intimidated the younger man enough to get a general idea of where his boys were.  Hoss and Joseph had played in the lake caves as boys – often against his wishes – until one day Hoss had stopped asking to go.  He’d never inquired why, figuring something had scared the boy and he’d decided it was too dangerous for his younger brother.  The caves were like rabbit warrens, with one connected to another and multiple ways in and out.  The Paiutes used them, as did men seeking to escape the law.

An unspoken urgency pressed Ben on.  He hadn’t even taken time to go back for Buck.  In spite of what Virgil said, Earl Stanley continued to insist the boys were dead.  Earl was mean as a skunk and about as greedy as they came.  He admitted he had intended to kidnap Joseph and issue a ransom demand, and then he was going to kill the boy and leave his body deep within one of the lake caves.  The entrance to the cave would be blown, burying his victim and his crime for eternity.  Earl had started to shake then and had seemed to lose his grip on reality, shouting that the mare was dead and he was finally free.  When he pressed the man to give him more details, the elder Stanley had started mumbling incoherently and in the end, Ben had given up.

The light was gone now except for the stars.  The rain had passed and they were brilliant, blazing a path for him as he made his way over the rocky land.  The problem was there were so many caves in the area.  The only way he was going to be able to tell which one the boys were trapped in was by the fresh rock-fall and he simply couldn’t see it.  He was afraid he was going tot have to wait until morning and if one of them was hurt badly….

That it might be too late.

As he approached a large hill, Ben heard a faint noise.  It sounded something like a woman crying and for a moment he wondered if Terese had returned.  It took him a second or two, but then he recognized it.  Of course, Joseph wouldn’t have left the house alone.  His son could barely see.  Joe had to have had a helper.

“Rogue?  Rogue, boy, is that you?”

The joyful bark that answered Ben made his own heart leap.  A moment later he was nearly bowled over as a shaggy mass of thick curly brown fur struck him hard.

He wrapped his fingers in the animal’s fur as he knelt beside it.  A quick feel told him Rogue was uninjured.

“Where are the boys, Rogue?  Do you know?  Can you take me to them?”

The dog whined and barked.  Then it took off like a shot.

Ben hastened to follow him, paying no attention to rocky ground; all but flying over it in his haste to find his sons.  They’d traveled about ten minutes when Rogue stopped in front of a solid rock wall and began to bark again.

The older man ran over to it and pressed his face against the rocks.  “Adam!  Hoss!  Are you in there?  Joseph?  If you can hear me, answer me!”

Rogue was still barking.  “Shush, boy,” he said.  “I need to hear.”

As if understanding, the mutt his young sons loved sat back on its haunches and fell silent.

“Good boy.”  Turning back, Ben tried again.  “Adam?  Hoss?  Little Joe?”

And then he heard it.  A blessed voice.

“Pa?  Is that you?”

It was Hoss.

Ben felt the rocky wall with his fingers.  There were chinks in it, some of them large enough to work his fingers into.  He pressed his lips against one.  “Hoss?  Son, is that you?  Are your brothers with you?”

“Adam’s here.”  There was a pause.  “He’s hurt, Pa.  Real bad.”

Dear God!

“Is he conscious?”

“No, sir.”

Ben steeled himself.  “And Joseph?”

Hoss’ silence frightened him.  Fortunately, it didn’t last long. “He ain’t here, Pa.  Joe got trapped on the other side of a wall of rock.  We…sent him away.”

“You did what?”

“Adam said there weren’t no way to bring down all that rock without bringin’ the whole cave down on Little Joe.  We was hopin’, well, prayin’ really, that he’d find another way out.  You know how these caves are.”

Yes, he did.  “You did your best, son.”  While he’d been talking, Ben had been running his fingers over the stones.  In one area, they moved.  The older man reached in through the crack under the biggest one of them  and wiggled his fingers.  “Son, can you see my hand?”

After a moment, Hoss gripped it.  “Yes, sir.”

“I can just move this boulder.  Maybe together….”

He didn’t have to say anything more.  Suddenly, the boulder started rocking.

“Easy, son.  Not too fast.  If we do it together, we should be able to move it without bringing any more down.”

As they worked at it his middle son said, his voice shaking.  “Even if we can shift the rock, Pa, it ain’t gonna be a big enough opening for me to get through.  And Adam’s gonna have to be lifted out.”

Ben looked Heavenward.  Help me save my boys, he mouthed.  Dear Lord, help me help them!

“We’ll take it one at a time,” he replied.  “I think there are enough stones loose here to make an opening big enough for you to get out and me to get in.  That way I can stay with Adam while you go for help.”  The older man paused.  “Can you do that, son?  Are you able?”

“Yes, sir.”  Hoss’ voice broke.  “But…but what about Little Joe?”

Ben didn’t stop what he was doing.  He had to think of Adam first.

“God will take care of your brother,” he said at last.

You hear that, God?

You take care of my Little Joe.

Mystery halted and put her head down.  They were in a large cavern.  Joe could tell by the echoes.  It was lit by a pale light that fell from somewhere high above, though he couldn’t tell where.  After a moment Joe slid from the mare’s back and stood at her side, talking softly and praising her for how far she’d brought him.  She took it for a minute or two and then pulled away and disappeared into the darkness.  As he stood there, straining to see where she had gone, Joe caught sight of something that looked like it didn’t belong.  It was low and white and was laying near the bottom of a funny looking tower of rock shaped kind of like a throne.  Curious, he left Mystery’s side and crossed over to it.  Bending down, Joe reached for whatever it was.  The object was cold to the touch and smooth, though there were bumps at both ends that felt kind of like something that would fit into a socket.  He lifted it up and smelled it.  It was kind of musty.  Putting that piece down, Joe picked up another one and felt something clinging to its surface.  This one was flat and concave and there was something stringy hanging on the outside of it, sort of like….

Hair.

Joe yelped and dropped what he now knew to be a piece of a skull. He darted back and then stood there, staring at the sad pile of what had once been a man or woman or….

Beside him Mystery appeared.  As the mare whinnied, Joe followed her lead and looked up.  There was an opening over his head.  Starlight was trickling through it.  Something tickled his memory and he recalled the cave he and Hoss used to come to.  They’d found a shaft one time that emptied into it.

Maybe this was it.

Joe turned toward the black horse.  “Hey!  Mystery!  You do know the way out!”

The horse didn’t squeal at her name this time, but shifted back and retreated once more into the darkness.

Joe squinted.  “Mystery?  Where are you, girl?  Are you okay?”

Something moved.  Joe’s aching eyes tried to focus on it.  It reminded him of a shadow coming over a mountain – black enveloping a deeper black.  He blinked, wondering if he was seeing things.  But no, he wasn’t, because it happened again.  Taking a step forward, he called out.

“Mystery?  Is that you?”

It is I, Josépe.

Joe froze.  Unless the mare had learned to talk there was someone else down here with him.

He swallowed hard.  “Hello?”

Whatever it was moved again.  Joe thought he caught a glimpse of a woman’s face, surrounded by long shining black hair.  Then a long slender arm with a bracelet of golden coins reached toward him.

The coins jangled.

Josépe.  Come.

As he stood there, trembling, the arm vanished.  A second later, he heard a familiar sound.   Mystery nickered.  The mare appeared briefly and then backed off again as if she wanted him to follow.

Holding his breath, Joe did as she asked.  He stepped into the pool of blackness and then suddenly – miraculously – was struck by a beam of light that fell through the opening in the ceiling above.  It illuminated not only him, but two piles of bones.  Joe’s breath caught as he spotted them.  One skeleton was smaller than the other.  A leather belt lay across its narrow hips and there was a boy’s hat near its head.  The other was larger.  A woman by the look of it.  Her bones were scattered, but there was one he recognized.

An arm bone with a bracelet of gold coins circling the wrist.

Reverently Joe reached out to touch it, tears streaking his filthy cheeks.  “Is this what you wanted me to find, girl?  Mystery?”

He was alone.

The mare was gone.