Summary: When Candy brings in a murderer, the murderer escapes prison and comes looking for revenge on Candy.
Rating and Reader Alerts: G
Words: 7,980
The Brandsters have included this story by this author in our project: Preserving Their Legacy. To preserve the legacy of the author, we have decided to give their work a home in the Bonanza Brand Fanfiction Library. The author will always be the owner of this work of fanfiction, and should they wish us to remove their story, we will.
The One That Got Away
Chapter 1
********
This little excitement started when Candy, the young foreman of the Ponderosa, went rounding up strays on the northwestern edge of the north pasture of the Ponderosa. He was no more than a day’s ride from the house, but he had been out rounding up strays for about three days now, and he was ready to get back to the house for a good meal from Hop Sing’s kitchen.
He was riding along in a rocky area when he stumbled across a body! He recognized the man as Charlie, the rancher who lived below the Ponderosa, across Lake Tahoe.
Charlie was an older man, not very tall, but very strong. He had been friends with the Cartwrights for many years now.
Candy turned him over only to find two bullet holes in his vest. He looked up, quickly turning his head from side to side, searching for signs that would lead him to the killer. He knew that someone had killed Charlie not long before he himself had gotten there because the body was still warm. He got up and searched the area, but he didn’t find anything. He went to the top of a nearby hill. Below him a ways down the hill he saw a lame horse. A little further down the hill was the figure of a man! He was only a few yards away from the lame horse, but he was running down the hill at a great speed, and Candy realized that this must have been the man who had killed Charlie.
He drew his gun and shot at the moving figure. He had meant to shoot above the man’s head, just to scare him a little, but as he pulled the trigger he tripped on a rock and came very close to sending the bullet through the man’s skull. Candy saw that the man was on the ground so he went over and got him to his feet, not noticing the gun that was carefully hidden beneath the man’s vest. One thing that Candy noticed right off was that this man was not much older than himself. He was not very big, about Little Joe’s size, but he seemed to have a lot of fight in him.
Candy wanted to make sure that this man did not escape from him, so instead of pointing his gun at him, for that would risk the man’s escaping, he took the man’s arm and pulled it tight behind his back so that he couldn’t get away without knocking Candy to the ground.
He didn’t recognize the man, but he knew that this was the man who had killed Charlie. He also knew that he had to take him to the sheriff in Virginia City. He understood that it wasn’t going to be easy, but he also remembered that Ben was good friends with Charlie. He had to take this man in.
He was right about it being hard to get this man to the sheriff. They were almost to Candy’s horse when the man spun around, very quickly, releasing Candy’s grip on him.
Unfortunately for Candy, the man was a faster draw than he was. He had his gun drawn and pointed straight at Candy’s chest before Candy even had his gun all of the way out of its holster.
The man didn’t have any bullets left in his gun though, for he had used his last one on Charlie; but Candy didn’t know that, and he didn’t want to risk his life trying to find out.
When the man turned to put his foot in the stirrup of Candy’s horse, Candy flung himself towards the man, knocking him off of the horse and the gun out of his hand. They fought on the ground for quite some time.
When Candy finally got the better of him, he tied his hands together with his lasso, grabbed onto one end of the rope, and rode towards Virginia City.
That night, since his prisoner was on foot, Candy stopped at a little open area. It had one tree in the middle of it so that Candy could tie his prisoner to it. When he had finished tying up the killer, he went to his horse, got out a bedroll, and went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, while Candy was sound asleep, his prisoner was trying to wiggle out of the lasso. Then, he hit a rock with his foot. It rolled towards Candy, and just barely tapped the end of his pistol. It made a ‘chink’ noise as it knocked the barrel of the gun. Candy, who was just waking up anyway, heard the noise and reached for his gun to point it at his prisoner. He realized what the man had been up to, so he tied him tighter, and stood beside his horse to keep an eye on the man. There was no more trouble the rest of the night.
All the next day, Candy wondered about Charlie, and thought about the idea that somehow he was responsible for his death by not getting to him sooner. The day wore on. Candy decided to make as few stops as possible, so that they would make good time in getting to Virginia City. He didn’t want to be around this man much longer. They would reach the Ponderosa by sundown, if they hurried.
When they got to the Ponderosa, only Joe was there to meet them. He explained that everyone else was out at the corral, showing some new horses to a Mister Bondsworthy from out of town and wouldn’t be in for a while longer. Candy couldn’t spare any time, so he very briefly explained the situation to Joe and asked him for an extra horse. Joe consented and saddled one up right away. After securing the man’s hands together, and his hands to the saddle’s horn, Candy grabbed the reins of the extra horse; he and his prisoner were then off to Virginia City.
When they got to the sheriff’s office, he found out that the man was Lucas Tannor, and that he had no record, until now. Murder was a serious charge. Candy knew it, and so did Lucas.
Candy went back to the Ponderosa, unsaddled the horses, and explained everything to the Cartwights.
That night, the death of Charlie was weighing heavily on Candy’s mind. He just kept thinking that if he had gotten there a minute sooner he could have prevented Charlie’s death. He was glad though that the murderer was behind bars.
******
That night at the jail Lucas was making an escape plan. His plan was to jump the sheriff, Roy Coffee, when he came to give him his supper. That night, when the cell door would be open, he would grab the sheriff’s gun, gag him, and put him in the cell.
His plan worked! He grabbed Roy’s hat and coat and headed out into the city.
He knew that he only had a few hours, so the first thing he did was to form a group of the toughest outlaws he could find. He had a couple of “friends” that were on jobs in Carson City who he knew he could count on for reinforcements; two ex-army men and a hired gun who all had accomplices in their crimes that were willing to join with Lucas. By the time he was done with his search, he had about ten men under his command.
There was a bounty of $1000 on his head, and a rope for his neck if he was caught. He would take his revenge on the man responsible for his capture. Candy!
Chapter 2
********
The next morning about nine o’clock, Roy was discovered. The first thing that Roy did was to contact Ben Cartwright, and ask him and the boys, Joe, Hoss, and Candy, if they would join in the posse that he was going to form. They would find the men that they needed now, and start the searches early the next morning.
It had been about four days since Charlie’s death and Candy was feeling just as guilty as before. Seeing as how he was a friend of Charlie’s son, Mike, who was about Candy’s age, he decided to ride with the posse that the sheriff was forming.
Early the next morning, the posse went out to the place where Lucas had shot Charlie. Since the ground was rough and rocky, and full of cliffs, they decided to split up into groups so that they could cover more ground. From there, the group of about twelve split up into four groups. Ben, Roy, and Buck went north; Nick, Hoss, and Mike headed northeast; Landers, Joe, Clay, and Marcus took the west section; and Candy, Tom, and Sanders went northwest.
One thing that they didn’t realize was that Lucas had gotten a few more armed men since he’d gotten out of jail. One of those men was sitting on a nearby hill, watching their every move, especially Candy’s.
Candy took Tom and Sanders into the northwest section. They went through some rough mountains, deserts, and rocky cliffs. They did this for about three hours with no sign of anyone or anything. For the last hour of riding Candy had not heard a sound. This made him nervous.
The group was now getting to easier land to travel, but after that last section the men and horses needed water and rest. They traveled on another mile or so, and if they had been looking for it, they would have seen tracks leading in the same direction. What’s more, Lucas and his gang had made the tracks.
They went about two more miles and found that green grass was starting to grow. About fifty feet ahead of that was a high, rock formation; and behind the rocks was a water hole! To them, they had reached their destination. Tom and Sanders leapt down off of their horses and handed the reins to Candy. Candy got off of his horse and let the three horses eat the fresh, green grass. He knew that Tom and Sanders had had a harder time on the trail than he had, so he let them take all the time that they needed. Tom and Sanders were old friends of Charlie’s. They were each about sixty or so years old and Tom hadn’t been ranching for the last twenty. As a matter of fact, Sanders had been working in the Virginia City Bank for the last ten years or so. Candy, being a young, hard working ranch hand on the Ponderosa, was used to being in the saddle for long lengths of time, and roughing it through the elements. Even though he was thirsty, too, he decided to wait for Tom and Sanders to finish their drinks before he got his.
Just then, Candy heard two echoing gunshots. They had come from behind the rock formation. The horses were all skittish and jumpy, except for Candy’s horse that was used to hearing gunfire. As soon as Candy dropped the horses’ reins, Tom and Sanders’ horses ran off as quickly as they could, but Candy’s stayed right where it was. Candy sprinted to the water hole to see what had happened. But just as he rounded the corner of some rocks that were blocking his view of the men, he stopped dead in his tracks as a gun barrel met his face. It was Lucas. “Going some place, Candy?” Lucas stated smugly. “This time my gun’s loaded,” he finished. Candy could see the bodies of Tom and Sanders behind Lucas. They were dead.
As Candy looked around him, he saw six armed men. He tried to hide the horror and fear on his face, but he couldn’t. He didn’t know what Lucas would, and could do to him, and he didn’t want to find out.
After having Candy take off his gun belt, Lucas ordered his men to tie Candy’s hands to the horn of his saddle, so he couldn’t escape.
Let’s see how you like your own treatment,” Lucas sneered. Then, after having a drink from the hole himself, Lucas mounted his own horse, grabbed the reins to Candy’s horse, and rode out having his men follow him.
They rode northward, towards Reno and the Truckee River. They passed through more rough terrain and high cliffs until they reached the top of a high cliff with a rocky bottom. Then they stopped. They were on a trail that led from the cliffs around the water hole, to the set of cliffs that they were on right now, to somewhere beyond a set of rocks in front of them. To their left was the edge of a high cliff with a drop of about seventy-five feet, and immediately to their right was a set of high ridges too steep to climb.
Lucas had his men dismount and take the bodies off of their horses. The men were just getting ready to throw the bodies over the cliff, when Candy yelled for them to stop. They looked at him with smug expressions.
“Throw them over and let’s get moving!” Lucas barked. The men stepped nearer to the cliff. Candy stopped them with another shout.
“At least give them a descent burial!” he pleaded. He was trying to stall for time.
“No!” shouted Lucas, “Throw them over!”
In another instant, Candy was helplessly watching the bodies of his companions being flung over the side of the cliff, plummeting to the rocks below. Candy wondered how long it would be until his own body joined them.
******
On the other side of the range, the rest of the posse had finished their searches and had found no trace of Lucas. Everyone was back, except for Candy’s group. The posse was about to give up waiting and go look for them when, out of the blue, Tom and Sanders’ horses came trotting up, with no riders!
Ben was the first to notice the horses. “Say, isn’t that Tom’s horse?” he asked fearfully.
By then, Joe had noticed them too and said,” I think it is! And that’s Sanders’ horse behind it! But I don’t see Candy’s! He must be in some sort of trouble!”
“Dadgumit,” Hoss shouted,” Let’s quit talkin’ and go out there and find him!”
Everyone agreed and, very quickly, the posse turned into a search party. Since the horses had taken an easier way back to the posse, they were seen coming from the west, while Candy and the others were in a northern direction towards Reno.
Roy suggested that he take half of the group and follow the direction from which the horses had come, and that Ben take the other half and go in the direction that Candy, Tom, and Sanders had left; but Joe protested by saying that they could cover a lot more ground if they split up and went in smaller groups. Ben agreed. He didn’t want to think about the danger that Candy might be facing.
With that, everyone agreed to go in groups. All that is, except Clay, who argued and argued, but finally gave in to Joe’s stubbornness.
What nobody there knew was that Clay was really a part of Lucas Tannor’s group of renegades. He was the hired gun; and he was only there to keep an eye on the posse, and try to prevent them from finding Lucas and the others.
******
Lucas, Candy, and the gang were headed to their secret hideout where four more men were waiting. Candy was feeling extremely dehydrated, for he hadn’t been able to get a drink at the water hole before Lucas had found him. As a matter of fact, the only thing keeping him from falling off of his horse was the fact that his hands were tied tight enough to the horn of his saddle that he wouldn’t fall off.
When he had almost given up all hope, Lucas had his men stop, and dismount. They had reached a small cabin in the middle of a medium-sized box canyon.
The canyon was about 150 feet deep by about 100 feet wide. It wasn’t like other box canyons; instead of riding straight into it, and having high cliffs surrounding it, this one dipped down into the land like a giant hole in the ground. All around the inside of the canyon were mining shafts, large openings in the side of the canyon for the miners to climb into. Lucas had found it on his way to Virginia City. He had stopped off, killed the miner, got his supplies, and left.
The cabin had a door in the back of it, along with a window in the back next to the door, and a window facing them. Other than that, there were no other exits for an escape. The box canyon was deep and had only one entrance, but it came in from the north. Unless you knew where it was, or were an extremely good tracker, you could only find it by chance. It was in the middle of nowhere, it was in a rocky area where no tracks could be left, and was not in a spot where someone could find it easily.
The men got down off of their horses, untied Candy’s wrists from his saddle, and yanked him off of his horse and inside the cabin. If they had tried to do this to him even just this morning Candy wouldn’t have put up with it; he would have fought them. But now, after the long ride through rough territory, he was intent on saving his strength for a real emergency when he might need it more. He was so exhausted from the trail that when the men shoved him through the door, he tripped on the threshold, and fell to the floor. Since his hands were still tied, he had no way to steady himself, and the impact from his head hitting the ground caused him to blank out.
He woke up a couple of minutes later to a splash of water in the face. It felt so good to have water touch his lips again. The only thing he noticed was Lucas standing over him with a knife in his hand. As he became more and more aware of his surroundings, he noticed that the men from the water hole were standing around him in the cabin, and he overheard two of them saying that there were four more outside keeping lookout. He was trapped with no way of escape. Even if he could get out of the cabin and onto a horse, he was too weak to get very far before Lucas caught up with him. The only thing to do now was to stall for time until either he came up with a plan, or the posse showed up.
“Why?” Candy asked as he tried to sit up on the floor.
“Why what?” replied Lucas with a curious and concerned expression.
“Why did you have to kill Charlie? Why not one of the other ranchers?” Candy exclaimed.
Lucas warned him that an inquisitive tongue could get him killed. Candy replied by reasoning that their plan was to kill him anyway, so he had nothing to lose.
He asked his question again. “Why?”
Lucas nodded his head in agreement and began. “I was rustling his cattle and he saw me. I had no choice but to shoot him. He drew first!” he stated quickly.
“I don’t believe you,” Candy smiled slyly. “Charlie was shot twice, in the back. That right there destroys your story about him drawing first. If he had drawn first, that would mean that he was facing you when he pulled his gun on you. Unless old Charlie can shoot backwards, you would have shot him from the front! Now, how about we try this again. This time the real story,” Candy said victoriously.
“Why don’t I just kill you now and save myself the trouble later?” Lucas returned.
“You can, but I don’t think you will,” Candy said shakily, afterwards regretting what he had said.
Lucas laughed at Candy’s curiosity, and stupidity to say something like that to him. But he decided to tell him anyway, if only to make him nervous.
“ You know, you got a lot a nerve saying a thing like that around here. I like that, so I’m going to honest with you.
Three years back, I was in Carson City. I had tracked a guy there that had stolen a good deal of money from me. I was going to kill him when I got the chance. Unfortunately right before the killing actually took place, Charlie had come into the alley from behind and saw the whole thing. I offered him money to keep him quiet, and threatened that if he ever tried to tell anyone about it I’d kill him too. I never saw him again, until I passed through his ranch. I didn’t know it was his ranch. I didn’t even know that he had a ranch!
Anyway, I was rustling his cows. He saw me from a distance, but I could tell that he knew who I was, so I followed him. He headed off to the Ponderosa. I couldn’t get in front of him so I shot him twice from the back to make sure he would die. I would have gotten away with it too if you hadn’t shown up. I tried to escape, but my horse went lame as he was running down the hill. You know what happened from there.”
Candy stared at him. Lucas had succeeded in making him edgy and nervous. He wondered if he was going to get out of the cabin alive.
Chapter 3
********
Meanwhile, Ben was getting the posse split up into groups. Joe wanted to go by himself, to prove to his Pa and brother that he could do it, and that he wasn’t a child anymore; but Ben simply wouldn’t have it. He said it was dangerous for even himself to go out on his own in a rocky and treacherous area like this. In the end, Ben and Roy decided that Joe would go with Clay in a north to northwestern direction, and follow the same trail that Candy did; they themselves would go northwest; Hoss and Mike would go in a west to northwestern direction; and the rest of the posse would fan out in that general direction.
The search went on for about an hour and a half and everyone was getting tiered. The rest of the posse had given up, so they all met back up and decided to wait for Roy back in Virginia City.
******
With all of the cliffs and large rock formations in the area, Ben and Roy got to turning themselves around so that they were traveling along the bottom edge of the same cliffs that Lucas and his gang had traveled on top of just an hour and a half before. As they rode along the cliffs, they saw two large, dark figures on the ground. As they got closer they realized that they were Tom and Sanders’ bodies! They now knew that they were going the right way; they only hoped that they weren’t too late already!
They rushed back to the tops of the cliffs where they saw a fork in the trail and took the other way. They now knew that Candy was alive, but they had to hurry to stop Joe and Clay from falling into the same trap.
******
Hoss and Mike had been searching for a while, but Hoss at least was not going to give up the search for Candy. “Hoss, how long do you think this search could go on for?” Mike asked. Hoss looked back at Mike.
“Oh, I don’t know Mike. We may find Candy today, or we…. We may not find him at all, but dadgummit, I’m not going to give up till we find him,” Hoss stated.” You look tired, and you probably have a lot to think about. Why don’t you go on back to the ranch, Mike”
Mike nodded his head sleepily,” Maybe you’re right Hoss, thanks,” he said as he turned his horse and rode away back down the trail. Hoss watched him leave, then turned back to the trail. He was determined to find Candy.
******
Joe and Clay had just come to the watering hole and saw some things lying on the ground. As they got closer, they discovered that it was Candy’s hat and gun! They got back on their horses and walked to the other side of the rocks where they saw a collection of hoof prints.
After taking a close look at them, Joe estimated about six horses, maybe more, had been there in the last two or three hours. They took their horses to a canter and followed the prints. They had done this for about forty-five minutes when they came to a spot with lots of confused prints. Some were facing one direction, while still others were facing another direction; but all of them left in the same direction. Joe and Clay dismounted to have a closer look. Joe was the first to notice two streaks of blood leading to the edge of the cliff. He walked towards the edge and peered over. He saw two large objects at the bottom. Then, out of his fear of heights and the horror of the bodies, he almost fell over the cliff! He would have if Clay hadn’t noticed him beginning to fall and come over and grabbed his arms, pulling him to safety, far from the edge of the cliff.
Once they were a safe distance away, Clay asked, “Joe, you all right? I thought you were a goner.”
“I would have if you hadn’t pulled me back. Thanks,” Joe replied as he gasped to catch his breath.
“Are you hurt at all?” Clay inquired, but not sincerely. He was putting on an act so that Joe would trust him.
Joe caught his breath, and then answered,” I don’t think so, but I lost my hat!”
“What did you see down there that made you freeze like that?” Clay asked.
Joe told Clay all about the bodies. Clay sat a moment, appearing to be in deep thought. The more Joe started to think about it, the more he realized how much danger Candy was in!
He and Clay got back on their horses and followed the prints.
******
About thirty minutes later, Ben and Roy galloped up to the cliff, saw the extra tracks and the blood, got off of their horses, and looked over the cliff. They saw the bodies right off hand, but they also noticed something else. They couldn’t make out what it was right off, but after taking a good, hard look at it they knew for sure that it was Joe’s hat! They knew that Joe and Clay had been there recently, for when they had been at the bottom part of the cliff looking at the bodies, Joe’s hat had not been there.
They followed the fresh tracks, hoping that they would lead them to Clay, Joe, and Candy, all still alive.
******
Candy was still in the cabin with Lucas and his band of renegades. He didn’t know how he was going to defend himself with any strength without a drink of water. He now knew why Lucas had killed Charlie. He assumed that Lucas wasn’t intending on keeping him alive; not after he had confessed to two murders. He hoped he was wrong.
******
Hoss was riding at a little faster pace now, but he was still thinking about old Charlie and his son Mike, and the changes that Mike was going to have to go through with his Pa gone.
He rode a little further and found that he had strayed from the trail and had found a water hole. He filled up his canteen, and looked behind the rocks. He saw the prints and followed them.
Chapter 4
********
When Joe and Clay had been riding for about an hour, Joe noticed something. Clay was nervous and tense all of a sudden. He didn’t know what to make of it. But his thought turned to something else when he noticed another cliff. It wasn’t just a cliff though, it seemed to be the surrounding wall of a canyon! He dismounted and got down low on the ground to have a look over the edge. Clay wanted to leave, but Joe stayed right where he was. He peered over the edge of the cliff.
He saw a cabin in the middle of the canyon. The cabin was small, and had wooden planks for a roof. Standing outside the cabin were four men, all carrying pistols at their sides and rifles under their arms. All around the outside walls of the canyon were holes, like mining shafts for a prospector’s use. In one of the shafts Joe saw a man. The man was poorly dressed, and was leaning against the side of the rock face as if sleeping. Then Joe realized that this miner was dead!
The canyon in itself was not very big. It was tall, and unnoticeable from the outside though. On the other side of the canyon, directly across from him, Joe saw an entrance to the canyon. It led down into the canyon from the other side. Next to the entrance, on the outside, Joe saw twelve horses, one of which he recognized as Candy’s! He knew what he had to do. But when he turned to ask Clay for any ideas on how to go about it, he noticed that Clay had already left. He was nowhere to be seen. Joe looked around him in all directions, but in the rocky ground, not even a print had been left as a hint of his departure. Jo decided to go on without him. “Maybe he left to go back to the others,” he thought, and brushed it off to think about a plan of action.
When he got to the other side of the canyon he saw what he had been searching for. He got behind a nearby rock so that he could see the cabin without being seen. There were two windows and a door on the cabin. One window, next to the door, was facing him, and the other window was on the left side of the house. As he looked more intently on the windows, trying to see inside, he made out the figures of a tall man leaning over another man in a red shirt and a dark vest. “That must be Candy and Lucas!” Joe thought to himself. He had to get Candy out of the cabin, but his immediate concern was the four guards outside the cabin’s doors and windows.
After a little while of thought, he got an idea. The horses! He would set the horses free and let the guards try to chase them down. He crept over to the pen that held the horses and let the latch loose. All of the horses rushed out of the pen and ran into the distance, except for Candy’s, which Joe grabbed the bridal of when he had opened the pen. The four guards left their posts and ran after the horses, passing right by Joe without a glance in their haste to catch the horses.
Clay on the other hand, had not left to go back to the others, but instead snuck around to the back side of the cabin when Joe had his back turned. He had climbed in through the back window of the cabin and was telling Lucas all about Joe’s presence there when the horses ran off.
Candy would have yelled for Joe to stay clear, but Lucas saw the anxiety in Candy’s eyes and had one of his men keep him quiet with a pistol. All Candy could do was wait.
Just at that moment, Joe knocked in the door, gun drawn and cocked, ready for the trigger to be pulled. Lucas also had his gun drawn, but his was pointed at Joe’s head. “Pull that trigger Cartwright and Candy here gets it,” Lucas warned as he pointed to Candy and the man holding the pistol that was pointed at Candy’s head. Joe couldn’t sacrifice the very man he had come to rescue so, slowly, he tossed his gun to the floor and waited for an order, or a gunshot.
With four men gone, Lucas sent three more outside to keep a lookout. That left only two other men inside other than Lucas and Clay to guard Candy and Joe.
Then Joe saw that Clay was there. “Clay?” He asked in astonishment. “You were on his side the whole time?” Clay didn’t say anything. “You joined the posse to get me here,” Joe exclaimed!
“On the contrary,” Lucas interrupted. “Clay wasn’t there to lead you here. He was to keep the posse away from this cabin.” There was a pause. “He obviously didn’t do his job,” he added, almost under his breath.
“You’ve disrupted my plans, Cartwright,” Lucas said with a wild grin. “Me and the boys were planning on having a little fun with Candy here, but now that you’ve arrived, I don’t think we’ll be able to without you steppin in. Let’s see, shall we boys?”
With that said, Lucas grabbed Candy by the shirt and yanked him to his feet. As soon as Candy got his balance, Lucas landed a firm punch in Candy’s stomach. That sent him flying into one of the other men who also punched him. Joe tried to help his friend, but as soon as he did, a strong man grabbed his arms and held him out of the way. Candy tried to fight the men, but with every hit he felt a new pain and bent over in agony. After being punched by all three of the men at least once, he finally got hit so hard that he was sent flailing back into the wall behind him with such force that he temporarily passed out. Joe had had enough. He was determined now to overpower Lucas.
Candy got up, with the help of a nearby chair, and gave Joe a painful gaze. The man, exceedingly overconfident, loosened his grip on Joe’s arms. Joe looked back at Candy, fire in his eyes. Then, quick as lightning, he turned and shot a wailing fist into Lucas’s face. It made a solid connection with his left cheekbone. Lucas stumbled back from the strength of Joe’s punch.
When he regained his composure, he ordered a couple of his men to bind Joe’s hands. Joe put up a fight, but after a minute of struggle the men got his hands tied behind his back. Lucas came over, after seeing to his jaw, looked at Joe with resentment and kneed him in the stomach with as much force as he could gather. Joe buckled over in pain. Candy watched in horror as Lucas repeatedly struck Joe in the stomach, Joe buckling over with every blow.
When Lucas delivered the final blow to Joe’s shoulder Joe fell to the ground. Lucas grabbed him up in a strong grip and forced him into a corner and told his men to keep him there.
Lucas went over to Candy and grabbed him by his arm, yanking him to his feet, ready to strike him again.
“This is hardly a fair fight,” Joe managed to get out of his tired lungs.
“What?” Lucas questioned in an aggravated tone.
“Joe, don’t. Not for me,” Candy groaned.
Lucas gave him a sharp look.
“You heard me,” Joe said,” Candy probably hasn’t had a drop of water since morning; and with the rough terrain and hot weather, he’s lucky to be alive right now!”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Candy whispered to Joe.
Joe looked back at Lucas.” You couldn’t fight fair if you wanted to. Maybe you just aren’t strong enough to fight a strong cowhand like Candy when his hands are untied. Maybe your just too scared to fight anyone that’s not tied up,” Joe teased.
“Enough!” Lucas shouted. “ half a canteen of water and twenty minutes of rest. Then we can fight fair!”
“You’re all heart, Lucas,” Candy moaned sarcastically.
Lucas ordered Clay to keep an eye on Candy. Joe wanted to help Candy, but Lucas wouldn’t let his hands be untied. Joe just sat in his corner and stared at Candy, hoping that Lucas would reconsider his “fair fight”.
Candy knew that he could defend himself for a while without any help, but he wondered how long his strength would hold out against a man like Lucas. Even if he did beat Lucas, all that would happen is that Lucas’s men would jump him and Joe for defeating their leader. “I can’t possibly get the rest I need in twenty minutes!”
Before anyone was ready, the twenty minutes was up. It could not have come too late for Joe or Candy. Lucas motioned for Candy. He had a ruthless, unceasing gaze. Before Candy had even reached Lucas, Joe piped up with a solution.
“Why don’t you fight me instead?” Joe suggested.
“What? Somebody shut him up while I finish this!” Lucas ordered. He raised his hand for a punch. Joe saw the punch coming and warned Candy who ducked just in time to watch Lucas’s fist fly over his own head and into the nose of the man behind him.
“Looks like you could use to practice your aiming, Lucas!” Joe sneered.
“Watch your mouth, boy,” Lucas returned as he rubbed his knuckles.
Candy looked triumphantly at Lucas, but his expression turned to fear as he saw Lucas lunge at him with his hands in fists. He ducked the first punch, but the second caught him unexpectedly in the ribs. Candy buckled and fell to the floor in a savage pain.
Joe had seen enough. He decided to make a deal with Lucas. “Fight me,” he stated. “If I win you let me and Candy go free.”
Lucas stopped and stared curiously at Joe. “And what happens if I win?” he asked.
Joe looked over at Candy. “If you win,” he stuttered,” If you win, I won’t interfere with your plans,” he finished.
Candy looked at Joe in distress. “You WHAT?” Candy exclaimed as he snapped to a sitting position on the floor. Joe stared reassuringly at Candy. Candy knew Joe had a plan.
Chapter 5
********
Meanwhile, Ben and Roy were about two miles west of the cabin when they saw twelve horses trot past. Chasing them were four men that turned around as soon as they saw the sheriff. They started to run back where they had come from, but Roy shot his gun into the air. All of them stopped and dropped their weapons in mere confusion, except one, who, in a desperate escape, jumped over the side of the nearby cliff! Eventually the other three were tracked down and captured by Ben and the sheriff.
When Ben and Roy gave up looking for the man who had jumped off the cliff, they decided to question the three that they already had. By the time they got anything out of the men, they thought they had figured out where the cabin was, but in reality, the men they had captured were leading them around in circles. By the time they figured out where the cabin really was, they feared it was too late for Clay, Joe, and Candy.
******
Back in the cabin, Lucas had been thinking about Joe’s comments and his proposition. He couldn’t let a fool kid make him look bad in front of his men. He had his men untie Joe and keep an eye on Candy. When Joe’s hands were free Lucas turned to Joe and ran at him with wild fists. Joe ducked and pushed Lucas into a flip over his back. As soon as Joe got up, he was met by one of Lucas’s fists in his jaw. He fell back into the wall.
Lucas took a firm grasp on Joe’s shoulder’s pressure point and pushed him slowly towards the nearby window, ready to smash it with the back of Joe’s head. Joe decided to use this to his advantage. When Lucas had moved Joe close enough to the windowpane, Joe spun out of the painful grip and let Lucas slide into the window. Lucas held his hand out just in time to save his face, but his hand ended up hitting the already cracked window with enough force that it came out badly wounded and bloody.
As soon as Lucas got up from the window, Joe set out with a screaming punch to Lucas’s face. Lucas fell to the floor. As soon as he saw that Lucas had been taken care of, he ran to Candy, who was just getting up, and helped him knock out the other man. One thing that puzzled him was that Clay was nowhere to be seen! He must have slipped out one of the windows during the confusion to warn the others of their leader’s defeat.
When Joe saw that Candy was all right, they started fist-fighting the rest of the group. Candy, feeling a rush of energy out of the moment, managed to knock out one, while Joe took care of the other one. But they still had one more problem; four of them to be exact, who ran in as soon as they had heard noises. One of them rushed through the front door, grabbed Joe, and held his six-shooter to Joe’s head before Candy had time to grab a gun. “I wouldn’t do anything foolish, Candy, if you want to see this friend of yours alive again,” he laughed.
Joe had a look in his eyes that Candy had not seen before. It was a look of terror, anxiety, and desperation.
Just then, out of nowhere, a shot was heard and the man that was holding Joe fell to the floor, dead. The gunshot had come from outside the cabin; it was Hoss! Never had Joe and Candy been so glad to see him. He was riding Chub down into the canyon, but he was not alone. He had a man tied to his saddle that both Joe and Candy recognized as one of the four guards who had run off.
“Miss me little brother?” he exclaimed in an excited tone. Joe nodded his head in joy, and then turned around to find Candy already grabbing one of the men ready to punch.
“Care to join me brother?” Joe asked Hoss teasingly.
“Now Joe, you already know my answer!” he exclaimed as he ran inside to find his own fist-fighting partner. Joe followed quickly behind, and between the two of them and Candy, they had knocked out Lucas and all of his men. Or so they thought. As soon as Hoss stepped outside to get a rope from his horse, Clay stepped into the room. He lunged at Joe, but was stopped short by Candy’s body knocking him out of the way. He and Candy started fist fighting on the floor. Joe got a hold of a gun, but didn’t want to shoot for fear that he would hit Candy and not Clay! He tried threatening Clay with it, but Clay was too busy with Candy to notice him.
Candy and Clay continued to tussle around on the floor until Clay got a hold of Lucas’s knife that was lying on the floor next to him. Candy stopped abruptly when he saw the knife in Clay’s hand. He waited, wondering if the next move he made would plunge the knife into his chest.
But he never got a chance to find out, for in the next second, Joe leaped at Clay and started tussling with him for the knife.
The fight ended when Clay stabbed the knife at Joe, just missing his head, and landing in his shoulder. Joe let out a cry of pain. Hoss came in at the sound of Joe’s cry and found Candy, holding a gun that was pointed at Clay’s head.
“Don’t move, Clay, or I’ll kill you!” Candy shouted quickly. Clay didn’t move, but just stared up into Candy’s eyes with fear.
“Now, drop the knife over here, nice and easy,” he said as he motioned to a spot on the floor. Clay silently obeyed, never taking his eyes off of Candy and the pistol.
“You alright Joe?” Candy asked in concern.
Joe nodded his head. “I’ll be fine. How about you? Had enough excitement for one day?” he asked teasingly as he tried to stand. Candy smiled. Hoss went to help Joe get on his feet.
Between Hoss and Candy, they managed to get Joe’s shoulder bandaged up, and all of the outlaws tied up. Then they heard horses outside. Hoss and Candy grabbed their guns, fearing that it was the other four that had returned. Then one of them yelled out; it was Ben! He and Roy had brought three of the escaped men with them. Hoss yelled back to him, telling him that he and Candy were fine, but that Joe had a stab wound. At that news, Ben left the men with Roy and rode down to the cabin to see about Joe.
When he reached the cabin he went straight to Joe to see about his wound. Once he had done that, he turned to Hoss and asked,” Hoss? Where did you find that man? He was one of the men that we found out in the cliffs, but he…. Oh, never mind. Where did you find him?” he asked as he pointed to the frightened man tied to Chub.
“Oh, him? You know Pa, that’s a funny story. I was riding along the bottom of some cliffs and I heard a shot! I stopped for a moment and tried to figure out where it had come from. Next thing I knew I was breaking that man’s fall! When I got up, he threw a punch at me, so I fought back. When the fight was over I started asking some questions. You know, I think he was scared of me, because he answered all of my questions before I finished asking them. I asked him to take me to Lucas and he led me here,” Hoss explained.
After Ben had heard Hoss’s explanation, he helped Joe onto Cochise, gave Candy his canteen full of water, and helped Roy tie up the rest of the men.
That night, they all arrived back at the Ponderosa. Joe got his shoulder taken care of, Candy’s bruised ribs and other wounds were tended to, and Ben managed to somehow squeeze the whole story out of the two of them.
Clay was put in prison with the rest of the men, and Lucas was sentenced to hang. Clay would have hanged too if Joe hadn’t told Roy about the incident on the cliff, and that Clay could have just let him fall and be rid of him, but he didn’t.
Joe and Candy recovered quickly and couldn’t wait to get out of bed. Ben said to them,” If I had my way, you two would be bedridden for the rest of your lives. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about you two getting into so much trouble!”
Joe retorted,” Us? Trouble? What trouble? Did we get into any trouble Candy?”
“Course not! No trouble! What trouble?” Candy replied with a quick smile to Joe.
Everyone laughed, and life went on as usual on the Ponderosa.
