Summary: This is a prequel about how Ben found the spot for the Ponderosa, but it is told as a story about Adam and Hoss and how they met Young Wolf.  There is also some insight into how Adam developed into the man he became.
Rating: PG  Word count: 4057

The Children Shall Lead

Hiding in a thick copse of pines, eleven-year-old Adam didn’t feel so brave anymore. At least he certainly didn’t feel as brave nor as confident as when he had assured his father that he could do as instructed with no reservations. No, he was not as brave as he had been only a half-hour earlier, and he wasn’t as confident as he had been then, and in fact, he was fearful for his life and safety and that of his younger brother too. Yes, he had told his father he was sure he could get back to camp with Hoss and get a meal started. Yes, he had told his father he would take care of the horses and make sure they were watered and tied off. Yes, he had promised he wouldn’t fire the rifle his father had given him to use unless he absolutely had to pull it from that scabbard on his saddle. He had the bravado then of an eleven-year-old anxious to be treated as a young man, but now he had the fear of a child and wished his father was there to rescue him and Hoss.

Oh, he wished he had insisted the two of them had been allowed to stay with Ben Cartwright and ride home to a cold dinner of leftover biscuits and antelope jerky. Their father had trusted him and insisted he ought to head back to their camp, and Adam had let the two of them get into a terrible mess. Their father was still at the settler’s cabin bargaining with that man and a few of his neighbors over items he would bring to them the next day from their freight wagon. Ben Cartwright was finishing up a job of hauling freight to the settlers and trappers in this region. He had taken the boys with him because things were too unsettled in California. The terrain was difficult. The families lived over a ridge too steep for the wagon to get there, and they had left it behind. So all Adam had to do was ride up and over that ridge back to the wagon. It had seemed so simple at the time.

However, the Washoe raiding party had made the situation even worse here. The raiding party had seen the two brothers as easy pickings and wanted their horses and probably them as well. Taking boys to sell as slave labor was fairly common in the region.

Pressed up against Adam, a terrified six-year-old Hoss was doing his best to be brave and not cry in a situation that had his older brother frightened too though he couldn’t show it. Putting on a brave front, Adam told Hoss he had to be quiet and do all he could to help keep their horses from making any sound too. As they had ridden toward their camp, a group of Washoe young men had stormed out from the trees to surprise them waving at them to stop and whistling and whooping. Instead of doing what they wanted, Adam had turned and made Hoss turn so they could ride as fast as possible in the opposite direction. A better rider than the Washoe chasing them, Adam was able to put some distance between them and finally to get them into cover. He guessed they hadn’t had horses for very long because they rode much like men who were called greenhorns by other more experienced settlers.

At one point, Adam grabbed the reins of Hoss’ horse and told his little brother to hang on. Then, he had kicked his horse back into a gallop leading his brother deep into the hills and cover of the trees. Eventually, the sounds of pursuit were gone, but Adam didn’t know if they had given up or slowed down to be stealthier.

It was going to get dark quickly with the sun on the opposite side of the hills, and the worst thing was that he had no idea where he and Hoss were and how to get back to their camp. He thought the best bet was to stay where they were until it was light again. It was going to be a cold night for them, but luckily, they had their coats and each other.

“Adam, I’m hungry.”

The whispered complaint echoed Adam’s own condition, but he had no plan of what to do about that. All he could do was hug Hoss close and tell him they would go to their camp in the morning and have an extra big breakfast. That was a fib, and Hoss knew it, but it was a comforting one.

They were often hungry. Ben Cartwright had accepted a freight hauler’s job to bring supplies to settlers and trappers and traders in this area of wilderness. They had minimal foodstuffs for themselves and were expected to live off the land as best they could. It often meant light meals for days when the hunting wasn’t very good. That was their plight because Ben Cartwright was a hard worker, but his background and training had never prepared him to be a hunter and scavenger in the wilderness. Most often, Adam did better with his snares than his father did with his firearms, but he had only recently learned how to set snares and wasn’t successful as often as he had hoped to be. They had to settle in one place for at least a couple of days to give Adam time to set enough snares and that rarely happened.

In the morning, Adam was exhausted. He had slept only for short periods nervous about the dangers they might face as well as disturbed by his restless brother who held onto him all night long. As dawn broke, he surveyed the area and realized he didn’t have the skill to retrace their flight from those Washoe ambushers. In the mad dash to escape them, they had made a lot of twists and turns through unfamiliar terrain. They had followed the natural openings and cut through the trees as well as they could whenever they were able to do so. But they did it on the run with no chance to memorize any landmarks. Now as he looked around, it all looked so much the same. It was beautiful, but he hardly saw the tall pine trees and snow-capped mountains in the distance because he wasn’t sure where to go that wouldn’t get them more lost. Then Hoss gave him the information he hadn’t noticed.

“I smell smoke.”

Once alerted to that, Adam smelled it too. He didn’t know whether to worry or be hopeful.

“I wonder where it’s coming from. I hope it’s not those men.”

A little panicked by that thought, Adam directed Hoss to hide in the trees with the horses. He pointed down the slope preparing to go find out who their neighbor was.

“If I don’t come back, get on your horse and ride that way. Pa will find you.”

“Are you sure, Adam?”

“Of course. Pa’s got eyes in the back of his head. Haven’t we said that a thousand times? He’ll find you.”

Adam didn’t believe anything he said, but he needed to keep Hoss focused on the positive. Reassured by Adam’s words, Hoss thought a bit and worried about something else because of what his brother had said.

“Why wouldn’t you come back?”

“If it’s those men who were chasing us, they might not let me come back.”

“Oh. Those men are bad, ain’t they?.”

“Yes, now you hunker down and remember what I said.”

Ten minutes later, Adam peeked out from some bushes to see a Paiute boy about his age staring right at him. Clearly, Adam hadn’t done a good job of sneaking up on him although to be fair, he had to get through some heavy brush on the way. The boy had a rock in his hand, but Adam could see too that he had a severely injured leg with swelling and a large bandage. The boy sat by a campfire, and it looked like he couldn’t walk without using a thick wooden staff that was laying at his side. Deciding on an open approach, Adam walked out and greeted him, but the boy only looked confused. After calling to Hoss to join them and to bring the horses with him, Adam picked up sticks and chunks of wood and brought them to the boy who dropped the rock although he still looked wary. The offering of firewood was certainly a peace offering but the boys had no other way of communicating. When Hoss walked into the campsite, the Indian boy looked even more concerned, but not nearly as much as Hoss who stopped and stared.

“It’s all right, Hoss. He’s Paiute not Washoe. I’ll take the horse and tie them to a line. You collect more wood for the fire. Then sit by the fire until I come back here.”

When Adam returned, he heard Hoss’ stomach rumble. Adam looked over to see that the Paiute boy was eating what appeared to be a roasted rabbit, and that made both Hoss and Adam even more hungry. Pointing at the rabbit, Adam tried to use signs to ask how the boy had gotten it. It took some time, but eventually the Paiute boy understood and picked up a snare that was on the ground beside him. He signed that the animal came to the small spring that was near him there, and he caught him with the snare. Adam did his best to communicate with the Paiute boy that he wanted to know how he made his snares. It took even more time, but Adam got him to show how he made and used his snare. It was thinner and lighter than anything Adam knew how to make. Hoss was impatient.

“Adam, I’m really hungry, and where’s Pa?”

“Hoss, he’s showing me how to get us some food so you need to be quiet.”

That got Hoss’ interest, and he came to sit beside the two older boys. As they worked, they gradually taught each other a few words. The Paiute boy relaxed as he worked with Adam. Soon the two were trading some words too such as the words for rabbit and then their names moving on to all sorts of other names for physical objects. Drawings in the dirt allowed them to expand the vocabulary lesson. They got so tied up in that, Adam forgot about catching a rabbit. Hoss tapped him on the shoulder and reminded him of the original purpose of talking with the boy whose name Adam now knew was Young Wolf. It made communicating easier as they learned some of each other’s language, but Adam and Hoss needed food so Adam explained he needed to use the snare to get some. When Adam stood to go try setting his own snares, Hoss wanted to come with him.

“No, you stay here with Young Wolf. The less noise I make, the better. He told me what to do and where to set the snares. Maybe I can catch a rabbit or two for us.”

Hoss was clearly not in favor of that idea until Young Wolf offered him part of the roasted rabbit. That did it. He was Young Wolf’s friend too. Adam shook his head at his younger brother and how food could so easily win him over as Young Wolf laughed but then grimaced. His leg hurt him very much.

What helped Young Wolf forget the pain in his leg was Adam’s poor hunting skills. As Adam walked to the spring, Young Wolf snickered at the way Adam walked and called to him. He pointed at Adam’s toes until he had made it clear how he wanted his new friend to walk. Hoss thought it looked funny, but Adam was amazed at how much easier it was to be quiet by walking that way. Nevertheless, it took several snares and a few hours, but Adam got a rabbit. He reset the snares as he worked to prepare the rabbit for roasting. After skinning it and preparing it for cooking, he set it over the fire. Then he filled Young Wolf’s water skin too. He had Hoss go collect more firewood as he went to water the horses.

When he came back from taking care of the horses, he found Hoss sitting beside the fire relaxing with their new friend. Adam joined them and learned more words. Slowly, the two older boys worked out a system of communication based on words they learned and signs they could make. Young Wolf was especially interested in the two horses and the rifle Adam had. He wondered why Adam didn’t use the rifle, but it was too difficult a concept for the two to discuss.

By late that day, a deal had been made. Young Wolf knew where the white man’s camp was. He would take them there if they would make sure he got home to his family by letting him use one of their horses. Young Wolf had been with a Paiute hunting party of only five, but they had been attacked by the Washoe raiders. As far as Young Wolf knew, the others had been killed. He needed help to get home. As he told his story using the few words they now shared and drawing pictures in the sandy soil and making gestures and signs for some of the actions that had taken place, Young Wolf was able to tell the whole story of what had happened to him and the other Paiute at the hands of the Washoe raiders. Adam watched Young Wolf as he told the story and noted only that his eyes glistened. Other than that, he showed no emotion keeping an iron control of his facial features and his emotions. Adam was familiar with the technique having learned early the importance of not showing tears and not letting his emotions show. He felt closer to Young Wolf because he felt they shared a common bond with that. Adam was able to question Young Wolf enough to determine that the Paiute boy’s father had not been in the hunting party.

As for Adam’s father, Adam guessed he wouldn’t like the bargain that had been made, but he didn’t see any other way out of their dilemma. After all their discussion, Adam pointed to Young Wolf’s leg and communicated that he wanted to look at the wound. By then, Young Wolf trusted him enough to allow it. Taking the bandage from the leg, Adam saw the wound needed to be cleaned. Wrinkling his nose at the smell, he did his best to explain that to Young Wolf before getting water and a clean shirt from his saddlebag. With a knife, he cut the shirt into strips.

“Pa ain’t gonna like that, Adam.”

“Hoss, I know, but Young Wolf needs this, and he has nothing else to use.”

When Adam pointed to the wound and made motions to show he was going to open the wound in order to clean it, Young Wolf nodded. Adam tried to be gentle, but the wound was already inflamed. Watching Adam’s every move, Young Wolf couldn’t help grimacing in pain, but he fought not to make a sound. However, when Adam finished and wrapped it in the clean cloths, Young Wolf nodded in relief and forced a smile. His leg did feel better though even if his stomach was rebelling at what he had endured. Seeing how pale Young Wolf was, Adam moved to his shoulders and pushed to have him lay back to rest. The Paiute youth didn’t want to do that. Despite all that had happened, he was nervous about closing his eyes with the two whites in his camp. Adam offered him the knife in a show of good faith and friendship. It worked. Young Wolf lay back and closed his eyes impressed with the healing skills of his new friend and his strong character. He had no idea that Adam was nauseated by what he had done and would need hours for his stomach to settle. The white boy was as good as the Paiute boy in hiding his emotional state.

Later when Adam did have another rabbit from a snare, Young Wolf handed him the knife to use but wanted it back after he finished with it. They used it cooperatively until it was time to pack to leave. Then Adam had to let Young Wolf have it. The shirt and the knife were the cost of their rescue.

Early in the morning of the next day, the three boys began their trek to the white man’s camp. Hoss and Adam rode on Adam’s horse and Young Wolf was on Hoss’s small horse so they had to go slowly. They never got to the camp. As they began to walk the horses through a grassy meadow, they realized there were armed men on both sides of them. Stopping the horses, they didn’t know what to do. From one side, Adam and Hoss heard their father call out to them to come to him. Young Wolf heard his father call to him to come to the other side. Adam asked his father a question instead of obeying because he was afraid of what would happen to Young Wolf if they separated.

“Pa, what’s going on?”

“Son, just come here. It’s too dangerous where you are.”

“Pa, they’re Paiute. They won’t hurt us. We brought Young Wolf back to them.”

As Adam was speaking, Young Wolf was having a similar conversation with his side. Ben and the white men weren’t accepting what Adam said and began to get upset with the Cartwright boy. Ben was afraid and embarrassed that Adam didn’t obey him.

“Adam, I told you to get over here. You’re endangering yourself and Hoss. These Indians are a raiding party who have attacked many whites over the last couple of days. They have killed some and kidnapped some children.”

“It wasn’t Paiute, Pa. The raiding party was Washoe. They came after us too. That’s how we got lost. They chased Young Wolf too and killed the men he was with.”

“How would you know this?”

“I know the difference between Washoe and Paiute, Pa. We’ve traded with the Paiute, and we always avoid the Washoe. And I can speak some Paiute.”

From the other side, Chief Winnemucca’s voice was heard in English because he had learned from the whites who had come into those lands. “The boy speaks the truth. Do you want to fight and kill so much you would not listen to the truth?”

Shocked, Ben took only a moment to make his decision. He trusted his son. With the agreement of the other whites, Ben made an offer. “Truce to talk?”

“We talk.”

Ben and Winnemucca walked out then to where the boys waited. It didn’t take long to get an agreement. Young Wolf left with the Paiute, and Hoss got to keep his horse. Because the raiding party had killed Paiute too, a few of the Paiute stayed to help track the Washoe raiding party. The white men had worked with the Paiute in the past and traded with them. It wasn’t too difficult for them to believe it was the Washoe especially with a white boy who swore to it too and a Paiute boy who had a wound from the battle. When everyone had left, Ben turned to his sons.

“I suppose we ought to get to our camp. I guess you boys must be very hungry by now.”

“No, Pa. We had a big breakfast, and Adam has more to fix later.”

“What?”

“Young Wolf taught me a better way to make snares for catching rabbits and the best places to set them. He told me how to catch fish in the streams too. I’d like to try that when we get a chance.”

“How did he tell you all of this?”

“Well, we signed and drew pictures in the dirt.”

“And Adam and Young Wolf jabbered away in that Indian talk too, Pa. I tried to learn it, but it’s awful hard. I learned some of it, but I only know a few words. Like I said, it’s hard, but Adam was getting really good at talking with Young Wolf in them Indian words.”

“Adam can speak Paiute now?”

A little embarrassed to admit his limitations, Adam still was quick to amend that assessment.

“I can’t really speak Paiute. I can say some words and get across what I mean about some things.”

Looking around now that all the people had left, Adam had a question for his father.

“The Paiute left and went to their home. The Washoe don’t live here. The other whites live further down the mountain and east of here. Pa, why don’t we live here. It’s pretty, but it’s got a lot of things we could use too. And it’s got lots of the tall trees that touch the sky.”

“That it does, son. Maybe I could down to Mormon Station to see if anyone has claimed any of this land.”

“We could be good neighbors to the Paiute, Pa. Young Wolf and I are friends already.”

“You’re more than that. You three boys stopped a battle that could have become a war. I’m proud of you, but, Adam, we’re going to have to have a talk too about you listening to me. It all worked out well this time, but that might not always be the case. You put your brother in great danger. I thought you had made a promise to always protect him.”

Seeing his son’s look of joy disappear to be replaced by that mask that hid everything, Ben relented. He didn’t want that look to be the one that would be the permanent way his son related to him.

“It does sound like you helped each other out of trouble though, and I have to admit, you led us all out of trouble today.”

Adam nodded but his thoughts went a different way. His father had no better answer apparently, but he had wanted his son to obey him without reservation anyway. He admitted the value of what had been done, but then countered with criticism. It seemed Adam couldn’t do things right unless he did as his father ordered. The boy tucked all that information away to be evaluated over time.

Hoss looked up at Adam and then at his father.

“Pa, what should Adam have done if he didn’t do what he did? I mean I was really scared for all of us. Young Wolf was good to us, and I didn’t want him to get hurt neither. Those men with you were scary mad, Pa.”

“Yes, they were. I’m afraid I don’t know what the right answer is here. We needed good leadership, and the only leaders we had were three boys. We managed to keep the peace though.”

“Pa, are we home then? Can we be home? Can this be where we’re gonna live and stop moving around? Are we gonna have a real house so I can have a bed? I’d like to have a bed that I can sleep in every night, Pa.”

Ben looked at his sons and knew what he would do. In his mind, he heard those words of Elizabeth when she had talked about the dream they had and realized this could be the place to begin building it. He’d start some trap lines. He’d build a house for his sons so they could have real beds to sleep in and walls to protect them. He’d hire some men and perhaps take some furs to the Spanish in California or to cities in the east to get more money for them. In time, he’d build up a legacy to hand over to his sons. They’d shown him it was time to put down roots. By what they had shown him, they were well suited to living in this land. Adam was growing into a strong young man, and both Adam and Hoss had shown themselves to be brave and resourceful in a difficult situation. Ben knew the three of them could build something impressive indeed.

Tags:  Adam Cartwright, Ben Cartwright, Hoss Cartwright, prequel