Summary: Written for the Chaps & Spurs September challenge

Hoss and Joe go on a hunting trip, but they become the hunted, not the hunters

Rated: K+ (1,340 words)

A Hunting We Will Go

 Ma little brother an’ me were on a huntin’ trip, tryin’ ta git us a deer ta help us through winter, when this all started. Joe had wanted ta go alone, but Pa preferred us ta hunt in pairs.

At the beginnin’ of the trip, all was goin’ well, but as time went on, and we didn’t find us a deer, my little brother grew plain ‘ornery.

First it was that he was cold, then it was that he was hungry and then came that he was bored.

Now, I reckon that I’m a pretty easy goin’ kinda guy, and if any of us can put up with Little Joe in a mood, it’s me, but even I have my limit and he was gittin’ pretty darn close ta it, let me tell ya.

We stopped ta give the horses a breather and I pulled out some of the supplies that Hop Sing had packed up fer us.

“Here, little brother,” I said, handin’ him a sandwich.

Joe was seein’ ta his horse and never even turned round ta see what I was offerin’ him.

“Don’t want it,” he muttered, doin’ a mighty good impression of a quarrelsome fifteen year old, which, indeed, he was.

“Dadburnit, you were jest moanin’ ‘bout bein’ hungry, Little Joe. I ain’t gonna be stoppin’ agin, in half an hour, jest cos you wanna eat, then.”

He grabbed the sandwich off of me, sayin’ nothin’, crammed it in his mouth, chewin’ noisily, and then said, “Yuck, that was disgustin’,” and began spittin’ it out onto the ground.

“What’s the matter?” I demanded, hatin’ ta see good food goin’ ta waste.

“It’s got pickle in it, I hate pickle, and you know that, Hoss, so why did ya give it to me?”

“I’m sorry, little brother, it was an accident; I done gave ya the wrong one.”

“Somebody told me, one time, there ain’t no such thing as accidents, only carelessness,” yelled Joe, and I have a sneaky feelin’ it was me who told him that. “You gave me that sandwich on purpose.”

“No, I didn’t,” I replied. “Why on earth would I do that? The ones with pickle are mine and now you’ve spat it out on the ground, I can hardly eat it, and that means I’m one sandwich light fer ma lunch.”

“Really? I reckoned with a constitution like yours, you were gonna pick it up off the ground, and eat it, dirt and all.”

My ability ta eat pretty much anythin’ and never git sick made Joe say that, but even I drew the line at some things.

Before I could reply, Joe charged inta me, and head butted me right in the bread basket. Now, I’m pretty well padded, there, so it didn’t hurt, but it was enough ta throw me off balance, and I fell over.

“I’ve had enough of being with you, so I’m going off hunting, alone,” shouted Joe, as he mounted Cochise.

Before I was able to suck back in enough air ta talk, little brother was gone. I’d unsaddled Chubb, and unloaded some supplies, so knew it was gonna take me a while before I could head off after him. ‘Sides, I was still havin’ trouble breathin’. That little brother has sure bin a caution, lately; reckon it must have summat ta do with him growin’ up, though he ain’t doin’ much of that, yet, growin’ up, I mean. He’s still pretty small fer his age, and we all know that bugs him some.

I lay there fer a while, until I felt able ta stand, and then I began ta ready myself fer the search fer Joe. I reckoned he wouldn’t be too far ahead of me, cos although he was quick to anger, he was jest as quick ta calm down, so I wasn’t worried about him.

However, when I hadn’t found him, after an hour or so, a knot of fear began ta gnaw at ma insides. Ya know how it is, sometimes, when ya jest know that someone you care fer, is in trouble? Well, that’s how I was feelin’.

And my feelin’s sure weren’t wrong. As I rounded the next bend in the trail, there was Joe, with his back pressed up agin a broad tree trunk, and a huge mama bear towerin’ over him. There was no sign of Cochise, but a rustlin’ in the bushes, on the other side of the trail, drew my attention away from Joe and the bear, fer a second or two. I could jest make out the small nose of a bear cub, and I saw a way of rescuin’ ma little brother. Fer a big guy, I can move pretty fast, and real quiet like, and I was pickin’ up that cub, afore its mama, or Joe, even knew I was there. Then I started makin’ some noise and the mama bear was soon headin’ fer me, and fergettin’ all about Joe.

I ran, as though ma life depended on it, which it did, then suddenly came to a stop, and put the cub down on the ground. The mama was close behind, but her love fer her baby overcame her desire ta harm me, and while she was checkin’ him out, I hightailed it in the opposite direction.

I jest about collided with Joe, who was headin’ towards me and the bears, armed with my rifle.

“No need fer that, little brother,” I said. “Mother and baby are back together and they ain’t bothered about us, no more. ‘Sides, she weren’t doin’ nothin’ wrong, jest protectin’ her young, is all.”

Joe jest about fell into ma arms, clingin’ onto me fer dear life.

“I’m really sorry, Hoss,” he said, though it was hard ta make out the words, as his face was buried in my shirt. “Cochise pulled up, had a stone in his hoof, and we must’ve gotten between the mother and her cub, and she thought we were gonna harm her baby. Cochise ran off, and the mother went after me. Beyond that tree was a sheer drop, so I had nowhere else to run to, so I was mighty glad to see you, big brother.”

“And I was mighty glad ta see you, too,” I said, wiping a hand across ma eyes, and giving the boy a hug.

I was so darn happy ta see Joe in one piece that I didn’t really wanna spoil the moment, but I knew I oughta say something to him about what he did.

“I oughta tan your hide fer runnin’ off, like that. I hope this has taught you a lesson, young’un. This is why Pa don’t like any of us goin’ huntin’ alone. There are lots of dangers in these woods and two people can look out fer each other.”

“I do understand now, Hoss. I guess I was just thinking he was treating me as a baby, making us go together, but I should have known that wasn’t the case. Erm, Hoss, are you gonna tell Pa what I did?”

“That depends on whether you behave yourself, fer the rest of this trip,” I said, sternly, and he nodded and vowed to be good.

Truth be told, I wouldn’t have told on him, as I knew he’d learnt his lesson, and so, as far as I was concerned, we could go on with our trip, with a clean slate.

Postscript: We found us a deer, so returned home as heroes, well to Hop Sing, anyway. Adam was jest moanin’ that he’d been left with all the chores LOL

THE END

Little Joe forever

Lynne

September 16th 2010

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