Summary: What would happen if every Cartwright had to do a job they hated? Or at least disliked? This is a story of jumbling up the work and distributing it in a whole new way. Let’s see if the Cartwright sons can really pitch in and fill in for another brother. Part of the Bonanza Trailriders Legacy. 

Rating: G, Word Count: 17,310

Mixed-Up, Jumbled up Work on the Ponderosa

By

Michele Bennett

Chapter 1

Just as breakfast was over, Ben announced that he had a job for “one lucky son.” As they stood and made their way into the living room, they waited, dreading the unknown task. Ben took his time measuring up the matches, insuring nothing gave away which stick had been shortened to indicate the ‘winner’. Shifting their weight and looking among themselves, each tried to gain some advantage over the others.

Finally, Ben turned to face his sons. Holding the matches, they all appeared the exact same height at the tops.

Presenting his hand to Adam, his eyebrows rose when Adam reached out to pick one, but stopped. “I think the youngest should go first.” His eyes drifted to his youngest brother.

Indignantly, Joe answered, “Why should I go first? You’re the oldest.”

Adam shrugged and reached for the matches. “Fine. I’ll go.”

Reaching forward and grabbing Adam’s arm, Joe suddenly declared, “Wait! No, you want to go first, don’t you? That’s why you said I should go first. Cause you figured I’d be suspicious, and then I’d let you go anyway. No, I’LL go…”

Adam pushed his hand away. “I thought you said you didn’t want to go.”

Joe retorted, “Well, I changed my mind. I think you were right. The youngest SHOULD go first!”

Ben waited, watching with amusement. Finally, Hoss spoke up. “Dag-gum, you two! Jest somebody go, would ya? Here, I’ll go.” And before either of them could speak, he made his selection.

With identical looks of incredulity, they looked at Hoss before turning to look at each other. Moments passed before their attention returned to the remaining two matches. They glanced at their father. He never said a word. He just stood there.

Finally, Adam offered again, “Go ahead, Joe.”

Joseph took a deep breath, looked from Ben to Adam, then gave Hoss a glare to kill with. Looking at the matches, he tried to guess or hoped to figure out which match he should pull to avoid whatever unknown horror his father had dreamed up for one of them.

Adam impatiently announced, “Joe, just pull one, would you, please?” Ben just stood ramrod still, arms outstretched holding the remaining two matches, a faint smile on his face.

Joe reached up and pulled one match. He quickly turned around to prevent his brothers from seeing. He turned back to face his family, keeping the match hidden behind his back.

Shaking his head, Adam took the final match.

Ben said only one word, “Reveal.”

They each held up their matches, hands close together, to compare. To their horror, all three matchsticks were the same length!

Almost in unison they exclaimed, “Whaaa?” before looking at their father.

Finally, Adam was the first to speak, “Pa? Would you care to explain?”

Ben smiled as he looked from one to the other. “Well, I DO have a special task. But it’s for each of you, actually.”

Taking a deep breath before speaking again, he began, “Hoss, I want you to go up to the timber line…”

Adam interrupted, “But Pa, I’ve got men waiting for me up there!”

“I know, son. Just tell Hoss what he needs to know, and he’ll handle it when he gets up there.”

“What do you mean, ‘tell him what he needs to know?’ There’s a lot he needs to know, and I don’t have time to teach him all of it.”

“Just tell him the most important things he needs to know to get up to speed. He’ll figure out the rest.”

As Adam opened his mouth, Hoss spoke up. “But, Pa! Adam’s right! I don’t know what needs ta be done up there…he’s…”

Ben held up his hand. “No, Hoss, I think you’ll be fine. And I do want you up there, not Adam.”

Crossing his arms, Adam asked, “So there IS a special job I am needed for?”

Addressing his eldest, “Yes there is, son. I want you to work on that contract for saddle horses to the Army post in New Mexico.”

“But PA! That was my contract!” Joe shouted.

Ben slowly turned to face him, “Yes, it was. And now Adam is going to help fill it.”

“Yeah, but, Pa. I mean, I just meant, I mean, I…I put that contract together. I told the Major at the post that I’d have forty-five horses for him by summer. I just figured I’d be the one to keep my word and get them to him.” Ben knew his youngest son’s temper was rising.

He calmly stated, “I appreciate that you feel your word is important, but I believe the Ponderosa will be able to deliver those horses, no matter who works them, am I right?”

Reluctantly Joe nodded. He didn’t like it, but he really couldn’t think of any counter-argument.

Hoss and Joe looked at each other, commiserating in their misery for what was coming.

Ben then then addressed Joe. “Joe, I want you to get to the branding corral to help out with the calves there.”

Peevishly he said, “Branding?!? Aw, Pa! Anyone can do that job! Why do I have to go out there?”

“Really? Anyone?”

“YES!”

Offended, Hoss responded, ‘Oh, so that’s what you think about the job I do around here, little brother? Anyone?”

In an effort to keep this peaceful, Ben interjected, “Hoss, just settle down for a moment. I think it’s a good idea for your little brother to go and see for himself just what the jobs entails.”

“Wall, it ain’t jest a ANYONE kind o’job.”

“I know that.”

“Well, tell HIM!” Hoss practically shouted while jabbing an accusatory finger in Joe’s direction.

“I asked you settle down, son. I’ll handle this.” Turning once more to address Joe again, Ben continued, “If ‘anyone’ can do the job, I guess you’re ‘anyone!’”

“Aw, Pa! Why?”

Ben stepped back. He said no more. Hoss glared at Joe, his lips pursed tightly, teeth clenched. Adam’s face was becoming taut, and reddening all the way up his neck and to his forehead, his arms tightly crossed across his chest. Joe tightened his fists, nostrils flaring, and looked as though he could have pounded both brothers with his hands tied behind him!

Holding up his hands as though to pacify, Ben tried again to explain. “Boys, listen. I think we’ve all gotten comfortable in the jobs we’ve picked for ourselves…”

Each son was thinking, ‘I enjoy the job I do, so why’s that so wrong?’

Adam articulated his opinion. “Why is that a bad thing? I think Hoss is great with the cattle operation. And Joe’s the real wrangler at breaking the army horses. I built that timber operation from the ground up. I enjoy it and I have a very good relationship with the men up there…”

Hoss interrupted, “Whaddya think I’m gonna do, Adam? Run ‘em all off?”

“No, I didn’t mean that. I just mean, well why upset the apple cart? Everything’s working well, why change it?”

Hoss nodded, understanding, “Yeah, Pa? Why upset the apple cart?”

Ben patiently began to explain again, “Boys, I just think we’ve all gotten complacent, gotten used to doing the jobs we do. I think it’s good to stretch yourself once in awhile. I think it will be a good thing to take some time and swap out your comfortable jobs for one your brother does. It’ll help you appreciate him more.”

Joe mumbled, “I appreciate them a lot. I do! But I really wanna do what I’m good at.”

“I know you’re good at what you do. But how do you know you’re best at that? Maybe you’ll find something you can do just as well.”

“I’ve done cattle, I know they smell and they’re dirty and noisy.” Petulantly Joe continued, even though he didn’t like the way he sounded right now, “I like horses. Why can’t I just stick to that?”

Hoss spoke next. “Yeah, Pa. An’ I like cows. Why do I gotta go up there and mess with his timber straw bosses?

They ain’t real friendly, I heard.”

Adam defended his crews. “They’re friendly enough. You’ve just got to let them do what they know to do. They just need you to approve the trees marked and they’ll handle it from there.”

Smiling, Ben clasped Adam’s shoulders. “Ah! You see? Now you’re giving Hoss the kind of information I knew he’d find helpful!”

Adam glanced at his father and quirked an eyebrow. “That’s not very funny.”

Ben matched Adam’s sardonic mood, “I’m not laughing.”

Trying to stay calm, Joe interjected, “Why are you really doing this, Pa? Are you punishing us for something? We haven’t fought with each other or anything?”

“No. No, boys. I mean it. I want you to each take a turn at the different jobs your brothers do. This is a big ranch. A lot of diverse operations going on all the time. I think it’s time you each had as much information about all the other operations as possible. It will be good to know that at any time, any of you could jump into another brother’s position at the drop of a hat. Go out and give it your all for two weeks. That’s all. Just two weeks.”

Ben was pleased when each nodded in turn, although they weren’t feeling particularly acquiescent.

Hoping not to be identified, one muttered, “Two miserable weeks.” They didn’t look at him, their father, or each other. None looked particularly happy as they chose to stare at the floor.

He clapped his hands. “Good! Now let’s get to work, shall we? I need to check on the progress of the new mines we opened, and then I’ll be around to see you. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

He slapped Adam on the back again, smiled at Hoss, and gave Joe’s shoulder a squeeze.

Then he turned and headed out to the barn to saddle his horse.

The brothers, left standing in the middle of the expansive room, finally looked one to the other. The glances that passed between them would have told anyone watching they were less than enthusiastic about this arrangement.

Joe spoke next, “Adam, listen, we’ve only got about two months to get a couple dozen more horses ready, so no time to waste…”

“Good to know, Joe. I’ll look over the contract before I leave. That way I’ll know exactly what I need to do.”

Joe nodded. “That’ll give you a good heads up.” Then he turned to Hoss. “Hey, Hoss, any idea how many cattle we need to brand before round-up?”

Hoss brightened up at the prospect of bringing his younger brother up to speed on his favored job. “Yeah! At the last round-up, we brought 250 cattle to market. I reckon we’ve got that, and maybe half again that many. You’re gonna need ta step on it ta git that many branded in time. I’ve got men scoutin’ for strays over in Green Meadow, so check with that crew for how many they got.”

“Thanks, Hoss. I’ll do it!”

With that, each brother was feeling somewhat better about the daunting task before him. After all, it was just for two weeks. What could possibly go wrong in only two weeks?

Chapter 2

Adam rode out to the corral they used to break the wild horses. It had been fortified to hold the weight of a man – or horse – being thrown against it during the battle of wills between man and beast. The fortification idea had been Joe’s, but Adam oversaw the actual construction, since he had experience in making structures that looked good as well as being functional.

The crew had herded up about five horses. Adam wondered if that’s all they intended to work this day. Seemed like at this pace, they wouldn’t have enough time to get all the horses needed for the contract. He determined to check on that.

He dismounted as slowly and casually as if he had all the time in the world. Some of the men who recognized him nudged each other and nodded in his direction. He noticed, but pretended he didn’t.

“Morning!” he said, cheerfully.

“Morning, Mr. Adam. Uh, Joe ain’t here yet.” The foreman ventured.

“Oh, yeah, I know. I’m here in his place this morning.”

“Something happen to him? Is he all right? I didn’t think he went to town or nuthin’ last night…”

“Oh, no. Nothing’s wrong. He and I just…well, I’m here in his stead. He’s working with – uh – on another job this morning. I’ll be working with you fellows this week. To break these mounts.”

They all just stood looking at each other.

Finally, the original wrangler who had bid him good morning spoke up. “Why?”

Adam looked past him at the horse they were attempting to saddle. “Uh, looks like a feisty one there.”

The wrangler turned and looked in the direction Adam was, then spoke again. “Where’s Joe? We need to get busy here. I hear we got a contract to fill.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s why I’m here! I’m going to help fill it.” He looked from man to man. They all stood looking at him. “I’ve done this before, you know. Heck, I’m the one who taught Joe! That looks like one hell of a horse there! Can I have a shot at him?”

The wrangler looked back at the horse, then from one man to the next. They all just stood looking at him, waiting for him to decide. Again, he spoke up, “Why you here ‘stead o’Joe agin?” His eyes squinted.

Adam sighed, hoping his own discomfort wasn’t showing. “It’ll just be for a few days. I’m out of practice in breaking horses, so I figured I’d get back to it for a while. That’s all!” He was trying to sound much more jovial about this switch than he was feeling. He hoped they couldn’t see through his act.

“Joe mad at us fer somethin’?”

“Oh, no! It’s nothing like that! We just decided to change things up a bit, and get a chance to try something different, kind of like a change of pace.”

“Seems like some folks got more time and money on they hands than brains…” muttered the foreman.

Adam ignored the comment, continuing to look over the herd.

“Wall, then, get on over, I reckon.” The wrangler turned to walk to the corral. The others, who had made a circle around the two men, moved out of the way, and Adam followed. It felt like he was being led to a “schooling” by a stern teacher.

When they reached the corral, he looked over the rails at the stallion they were attempting to saddle. He watched them try to throw a blanket, then jump out of the way as the stallion bolted, bucked and threw his head back in protest against the ropes they held tight. Then they’d pick the blanket up, dust it off from the dirty ground, and try to throw it again. This went on for quite a few tries. Finally, a blanket was over his back, and he seemed to be accepting it. A saddle was going to take many more tries, so the men stood and waited while less than a handful of men worked to settle the horse enough to accomplish that task. Adam made a mental note that it took a very long time to just “dress” the horse. The actual breaking wasn’t anywhere near ready to begin yet, and Adam began to wonder if it was possible to fulfil the contract at this pace.

While these men worked to prepare the stallion, Adam noticed there was a smaller corral behind this one. In it, there were about 4 or 5 mares. He ambled over and watched the mares circle around in the corral. They seemed agitated as well. In fact, every time the stallion in the front corral began to buck and whinny at the weights being placed upon him, it would set off the mares to become agitated as well. One or two were a little more timid than the others, and didn’t run around as much, but it was obvious they were all very wild, and remained nervous while the wranglers worked with the stallion. Adam gauged the mares, and considered that there were two who might be easier to tame. Then he mused to himself that maybe they should start with the easier of the animals and work their way up to the stallion now in the corral with several men closing in on him. That seemed to be a more efficient use of their time and energies. He resolved to ask the head wrangler about that later.

Finally, after about half an hour, the stallion was calm enough to allow a saddle to be cinched around him. Once the cinch was pulled tight enough to hold a man in place, however, he came up bucking and protesting once again. Five tired, sweaty cowboys worked to hold his ropes while the stallion fought the tightened saddle on his back.

Finally, Adam could stand it no longer. He shouted out to the men, “Why not leave him for a while? Let him calm down. Maybe he’ll be more accepting once he realizes that saddle isn’t coming off?”

All the men stopped working and looked at him. Then they turned to look at the head wrangler, Jake, his name turned out to be, who took a few steps toward Adam and spoke slowly and quietly, almost as if explaining it to a child. “Because, Mr. Adam, if we let him be now, he’ll get up another head o’steam and come at us twice’d as hard the next time we git near ‘im. We gotta keep going while we’re wearing ‘im down.”

Adam just nodded. He didn’t like being corrected in front of hired men, but he concluded he had asked for it.

Once the stallion was standing still, the men all turned to look at Adam. They exchanged looks, glanced at the head wrangler, then seemed to become “busy” with their boots, their gloves, whatever they could to avoid making eye contact with Jake.

Finally, Jake concluded he was going to have to call Adam over to mount the stallion, as Adam obviously did not realize this calm was a moment to take advantage of.

“Mr. Adam? He’s ready. Was you still wantin’ to give it a try, or should one of the other fellers mount up?”

Adam turned his attention away from the mares. “What? Oh!”

He strode over to the corral fence, tied on a pair of chaps, and slowly climbed over the top rail. He never took his eyes off the stallion. He was trying to gauge the animal’s mood. Of course, he knew the animal was unhappy, and going to become even more unhappy when a man tried to mount and ride him. Adam was trying to gauge how much of a fight he was in for.

His mouth was dry, his heart was beating, as if to pound right out of his chest. He was working very hard to maintain an outward air of calm. As he gradually walked, he talked slowly and lowly to the stallion, keeping his voice calm and steady.

“Easy, there. Just relax, old son.” Adam was rubbing the side of his head, his bridle, “This isn’t so bad. Adam’s not going to hurt you. I’m just going to try to ride…”

Almost as if the stallion could understand what was being said, he suddenly began bucking furiously. Adam jumped back just in time to miss being thumped on the side of his head by a front hoof. Several cowboys jumped off the fence and grabbed ropes to get the stallion back under control. After several minutes of bucking and kicking, the stallion seemed to tire again, and stopped moving. Adam moved in closer. All the men held their ropes, only letting go of them one at a time, hoping the stallion wouldn’t fight much anymore.

Finally, Adam was next to the stallion again. He stroked his head again, talked lowly into his ear, and as he did, lifted one foot into a stirrup. As soon as he did, the stallion bucked up again, and Adam went flying back and landed hard, flat on his back. He jumped up quickly, dusted himself off, and practically ran back over to where the others had the horse steady again.

This time, in a very short time he was able to mount the horse’s back. Immediately the stallion began bucking again, snorting, jumping, twisting…anything to get this foreign element off his back! Adam made it about twelve seconds before he went flying over the horse’s backside, and landed, once again, flat on his back.

He gingerly got up and mounted once again. After about a thirty-second ride, he found himself flat on his back one more time. He limped over to the rail, climbed up, one leg thrown over the top rail, and contemplated the options.

Jake came over to look him over. He wanted to say, “Are you hurt,” but what he said instead was: “Can I give him a try for a while, boss?”

Adam gratefully nodded, trying to nurse a sore back and major pain throbbing down one leg, without appearing to be in much pain.

Jake nodded to the others, and they held the stallion again while Jake then mounted and took him for a ride around the corral. Jake was thrown once, got back up and onto his back, and rode him until the stallion stopped bucking. Jake pushed him, feeling that he was only winded and not truly “broken,” and he was right. About 20 seconds after he stopped bucking, the stallion began again. But Jake was expecting it, and he held on and waited.

Finally, after fighting hard for another two or three minutes, the stallion gave up. He stopped fighting, and began responding to the bridle. Jake was able to ride him around the corral, turning him left, right, and back on command. It was as if the stallion always knew what he was supposed to do, and simply had taken leave of his senses momentarily.

When Jake walked back over to the rail, Adam jumped down – sorry for doing it afterward – and shook Jake’s hand.

“Nice ride,” was all he could think to say.

Graciously, Jake replied, “You primed him for me.”

Back in the corral, another cowboy had now jumped up and onto the stallion and was continuing his schooling on how to behave under the saddle. It was obvious the hardest work was over. Now all that remained was to “explain” to the stallion what was expected with each pull on his bridle, what a rider’s shift in the saddle meant.

Before the morning was over, the wranglers had brought another horse into the main corral, a mare this time, and proceeded to repeat the process Adam had witnessed earlier. He tried his hand again, this time staying astride a lot longer, but ultimately being thrown again. And again. He was determined to prove himself, but it was becoming obvious, not only to himself, but to the men as well, that was his motivation. So he resigned himself to the embarrassing conclusion that he was going to have to admit to just being a small part of the cog of this giant wheel, and not a very effective one at that!

During the lunch break, Adam rode back to the ranch house. He desperately hoped Joe wasn’t there. He could barely walk and surely did not want to take a ribbing from his littlest brother about how “old” he was getting! Today, he was feeling every one of his years. As luck would have it, no one was there, so lunch time was a quiet affair. After eating and enjoying the quiet time alone, he set back out for the corral, and hoped the afternoon would go better than the morning had gone.

Chapter 3

Hoss rode with great trepidation toward the timber camp. He wanted to just turn around and ride back down the mountain, straight to his beloved cows! But before he could, he was spotted by a couple of the lumberjacks. They recognized him, as they’d all been to the ranch house on pay day when Hoss had been the one passing out wages.

One of the men Hoss recognized waved, “Hey! Hoss!”

As Hoss approached, he waved back. When he got to the shack that acted as a command center, he was tying his horse when another man asked, “Where’s Adam? We been waiting to get to work.”

He turned to look at the man who’d asked the question. “Don’t you know what your job is?”

The man looked him up and down. He did know who he was, but did not appreciate the question. “Yeah, I do, but we always check with him before taking out, ‘case somethin’s changed.”

Hoss turned to look him straight on. “Nope. Nuthin’s changed today, so might as well get goin’.”

The man asked again, “Where’s Adam?”

“He ain’t here today. I am.”

“I need to talk to ‘im.”

“Bout what,’xactly?”

The two men stood staring each other down.

Finally, Shorty walked up. He broke the ice: “Hey, Hoss. How ya been?”

Hoss broke his glare with the other man and shook the small man’s hand. “Hey, Shorty! Good ta see ya! Ya got things under control, I see.” Hoss looked around, as though he had looked over the camp and had come to this conclusion. Truth be told, Hoss hadn’t seen anything except the glare of the man he had just turned away from.

Shorty turned to the other man, “Micah, get to the team we talked about yesterday. We’re wasting time here.”

“Yeah, boss,” the man said, but as he went he gave Hoss a long glare.

Hoss turned back toward Shorty. “Any problems here, Shorty?”

“Naw. They just like givin’ ‘flat-landers’ a hard time. What brought ya up here, Hoss?”

Now Hoss had to answer. Shorty certainly deserved to know what was going on.

“Aw, Shorty, Pa got this wild idear that me ‘n’ole Adam and Joe needed ta switch jobs. I caught this one. I’ll be here for a coupl’a weeks. Think we can get through this?”

“We’ll make it, Hoss! Don’t worry. Just don’t let ‘em git under yer skin.”

“Thanks, Shorty. Anything else? What we got going on up here?”

“It’s moving pretty smooth. Don’t worry about a thing, Hoss. We ain’t had no problems at all.”

Hoss smiled. Shorty then showed him around, and explained what each job was, and what it meant to the entire operation. He talked about how many more board feet were needed, and how they were going to meet those goals. Hoss listened intently, trying to learn so he could sound informed if any of the workers asked him about anything. Once he and Shorty were out of earshot of anyone else, Hoss asked him, “Shorty, what exactly should I be doing up here? I mean, I know Adam don’t jest walk around. So, let me know what his job is, and I’ll do it.”

Shorty rubbed his neck. “Well, truthfully, I don’t rightly know. He mostly stays inside that there shack. I guess he does a lot of paperwork…then he goes out and marks trees for the crews to move to.”

‘Great! Paperwork’s not what I wanna do fer two weeks,’ Hoss thought to himself. To Shorty, he said, “You reckon them papers are in there now?”

“No reason why they wouldn’t be!” They walked over to the shack together, and Shorty got called away just as Hoss put his hand on the door handle, so he let himself in. Exactly as he expected, the shack was neat and orderly – with everything in place. ‘Just like Adam!’ he thought.

Hoss spent much of the morning looking through the paperwork stacked up neatly on the make-shift table. He tried to understand the drawings, numbers and charts he found. He knew Adam had meticulously drawn all these things up, and they were probably important, but he had no idea how to decipher them.

Outside the shack, he could hear loud voices. That broke him out of his deep examination of Adam’s sketches. He jumped up and ran out the door of the shack. He saw several men standing face to face, squaring off against each other.

He demanded, “What’s going on?”

The man who had challenged him earlier in the day addressed him now, “What’s it to you? You’re just here to give Adam a few days off. You ain’t even got no interest in what’s going on.”

Across the way, another man screamed back, “That ain’t true! That there’s Adam’s brother, and he’s got just as much right to be here as Adam, and I’ll do what he says.”

Others started yelling. Some saying he was right; others siding with the man who made the original charge against Hoss.

Hoss stepped between both groups. He stretched his arms out to his sides, shoulder-high, as if to keep the sides apart. Then he yelled.

“Hold it just one cotton-pickin’ minute! HOLD IT! STOP YER YELLING!”

Finally, the din slowed to a low hum. Hoss spoke again.

“If’n somebody’s got a problem, bring it here. I’m here, and I’m stayin’. If there’s a problem, we’ll talk it out, cause we ain’t got time to fight like this. We got a contract to fill, and I aim to see it filled. Now, if’n you wanna talk ta me in private with yer problems, let’s take it in the shack. Otherwise, I expect ta see all you men git back to work. Now.”

He stood and looked around. Some men had started walking away. Others stood looking at their particular “leader,” trying to determine what they should do next.

Hoss spoke up again, “Well? What’s it gonna be, boys? We ain’t got all day to stand here starin’ at each other. We got work ta do, and I need ta see men workin’.” He looked around and made eye contact with each man still standing there in the circle.

Of those left standing there, no one moved. Then Hoss spoke again. “Anybody not ready to git back to work now better jest pick up his belonging’s and I’ll git his pay ready. You kin ride out right now. Either git back to work, or git off the job site. Which is it?”

He looked around again. Slowly, most of the men were shaking their heads and starting to move away from the circle. Hoss guessed they were headed back to work.

He was only left with three men standing there facing him. He faced them, with his hands hitched in his belt.

“What do you three want ta do? I ain’t got all day to stand here nursemaidin’ you.”

The ringleader just shook his head and turned. The other two followed him.

Hoss walked back into the shack and plopped himself heavily into the chair. He let out a long, deep breath and closed his eyes. Once he had taken another deep breath, he moved back toward the papers, and started reading again. He concluded it was going to be a long two weeks.

Chapter 4

Little Joe Cartwright slowly, deliberately, but jovially rode toward the campfire that was being used to brand the young calves. The smell of burning cowhide stung inside his nostrils. He tried to ignore it and keep a smile on his face. He was determined to show his father that he could do what was asked of him, even if he hated the chore. If his brothers could bear to trade jobs, then he could as well.

He jumped down and walked toward the three sweaty, dirty cowboys holding a calf down, while another man held a branding iron on a young calf’s hide. They men holding the calf looked over at him. He knew enough to wait to speak to them until the calf was safely branded and away from the fire. Any number of calamities might befall all of them if the calf was spooked at this juncture. This was a delicate operation, even though it looked extremely brutal.

Finally, they turned the hapless calf loose and stood to face him.

“Mornin’ fellas!” He said, a bit louder than he intended.

“Mornin’ Joe,” the head wrangler answered. He looked over Joe’s shoulder. “Where’s yer brother?”

“Oh, Hoss? Uh, he’s running an errand for Pa. I came to look over the operation in his place.”

“Why? Is sumthin’ wrong?”

“Huh? Naw! Nothin’ like that! I just decided to come on out and help out, that’s all!”

“You came to help? When’ll Hoss be back?”

Joe nodded. “Um well, not for a few days, so I’ll be helping out.”

The wranglers all looked at each other. The head wrangler was a man about 40 years old, with mangled hands, graying hair and bent over as though he’d spent his entire adult life bent over a campfire, spoke again. “Yeah, sure!”

Joe took affront at that statement. “What’s the matter? You think I can’t do it?”

The wrangler, known only as Denver spoke again. “I don’t really know. Ain’t never seen ya do it!”

Joe was getting angry, but he was determined to keep his temper in check. “Yeah, that’s funny, Denver. But I mean it, I’m here to help.” He turned to look around. “Where’s the next calf?”

The three wranglers looked at each other. Then they looked to the wrangler in charge of the operation. He nodded. They got up and mounted their horses to rope three more calves and bring them closer to the fire.

“Joe pulled a paper out of his front shirt pocket. Then he asked, “How many you done this morning?”

Denver looked at him with suspicion. “Why? You think we ain’t keepin’ up?”

Joe looked up quickly from his paper. “Huh? I didn’t say that. Naw, I just figured it was easier to keep track as we brand ‘em to count ‘em.”

Denver spoke up again. “That ain’t the way we do it.”

“Well, that’s the way I want to do it.”

“Then what do we do with your way when Hoss gits back?”

Joe didn’t really have an answer. He didn’t know how Hoss did it. He determined to ask him that evening at supper, though.

“I promise, it won’t be a problem. Now, can I get a count or not?”

Denver shook his head, made a face of contempt, but spat out a number that Joe wrote down on his paper. The remainder of the day went smoothly, although it was obvious Denver resented having to keep a count and give it to Joe after each calf was branded with the familiar Pine Tree brand.

Branding cattle wasn’t a particularly difficult job, and it was one Joe had been involved in since he was 13 years old, so he could hold his own, and they soon saw that. It was the method, the counting, etc. that the hands were taking offense with, and Joe Cartwright wasn’t all that enthralled with being here, either. These two weeks couldn’t go by fast enough to suit him.

Chapter 5

After work at home that first night of “the experiment”, supper began quiet enough, but it wasn’t a calm quiet. It was more a tense quietude where none of them wanted to be the one to begin the storm that surely would follow the initial volley.

Ben knew it, but he also knew he needed to know that his brainstorm idea was not falling flat on its face. So he was the one to throw open the door.

“Adam, how was your day?”

This certainly got Joe’s attention, since he was usually in charge of breaking the wild horses.

“Yeah, Adam, how did it go today?” He wanted to hear some horror stories, so he could convince his father to let him go back to doing what he felt he did well.

“It was fine, Joe. Pa, no problems.”

Ben tried to head off any argument between his oldest and youngest sons, “Wonderful news, son!”

He turned to look at Hoss next. “Hoss? How are things up at the timber camp?”

He gave the same non-committal answer. “Everything’s working like it’s supposed ta.”

Adam decided he needed more details. “Did you run into any problems with anyone? Everything is working like it’s supposed to? Are you sure? No challenges, or anyone I need to talk to?“

Hoss just shook his head and commented, almost to his plate, “If there’s anyone to talk to, I’ll do the talkin’,” and continued to eat his supper.

Adam looked at him a long time. He didn’t want to open a huge can of worms tonight. He was just too tired and too sore to get into a fight, but he wasn’t sure Hoss was telling him the whole truth. He knew those men. He knew they would have challenged anyone new who came in to camp and tried to take over.

Adam pressed, “No problems? Not a one?”

Ben sensed things could devolve, so he moved on. “Joe? How was the branding? Any issues there?”

Not one to shy away from upsetting the apple cart, he made his displeasure apparent. “Pa, I don’t know why we gotta do this for two weeks. You made your point. We all need to know how to do everything everywhere. I got it. I can brand. I guess if I need to, I can go up there and cut down trees, too. Now can I get back to the bronc’ breaking? I gotta get those horses ready…”

Adam broke in, “You think all I do is ‘cut down trees…”

And Hoss broke in next, “And you think there ain’t nuthin’ to brandin’ but just burning their hides?”

He addressed Hoss first, “Yeah, you burn the brand and count ‘em. Simple enough.”

Hoss was truly offended now. “Listen, Little Joe, there’s a lot to know about how many, how old are the ones you brand, which are too young to leave their mama’s. Ya cain’t just round them up and haul them off to round-up. That’s part of it, too, ya know.”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t, Hoss, and I didn’t see no way they were being counted, so I just took over the…”

“Oh, so you KNOW what has to be done better’n me? Cause my job ain’t much of a job, and any idiot, like me – like YOU – kin do it.”

Adam jumped into this fray next. “Oh, don’t worry, Hoss. Little brother here thinks there’s nothing to MY job, either, except cut down a few trees here and there…”

Ben tried to calm the situation. “All right, boys…”

Hoss saw an opening, “Oh, yeah! Every job is easy, except the one HE chooses for himself. Just the FUN one.”

Adam couldn’t let that go now. “Now, wait a minute, Hoss. I wouldn’t want to go that far. I’m sore as I can be, and breaking horses wasn’t as much fun as I remember it from when I was his age…”

“Yeah, old man. It’s tough work, huh? Think you can keep up with it for two whole weeks? Good luck!”

Ben knew this was devolving into something unmanageable. “Now, just calm down, boys. Every job on this ranch is important. Every job has its easy aspects and its difficulties, as it seems each of you discovered today…”

Joe wasn’t ready to let it go. “So, you’re sore, huh? Guess you’re just too OLD to break bronc’s anymore!”

“I didn’t say that.”

“I heard you! That’s what you said!”

“Joe, don’t go giving yourself so much credit for what breaking broncs is. I did it, I will do it, and it won’t kill me.”

“Well, maybe it might. You said yourself you’re already sore! And you got 12 more days to go!”

Ben spoke up, more forcefully now. “Boys! Adam! Hoss! Joseph! There’s no point irritating each other over this. The jobs have to get done. Each job can be difficult, it’s true. I know each of you is doing, and will do, your best at your job…”

Hoss addressed his father directly. “Pa, why we gotta keep this up? I’d much rather be branding my own cattle…”

“The cattle will get branded, Joe will see to it, and they’re not only YOURS.”

He knew his father had trapped him. “Well, no, not mine only. I jest meant, I mean I just like doin’ it, and I wanna go do it.”

“Well, boys, it sounds like you’ve each had a little taste of what your brothers do all day every day. I’m sure you’ll come to appreciate it even more each day. Now, if supper is finished, I think maybe you’re all tired enough to turn in early. I know I am.”

He stood up and moved to his chair in front of the fireplace. He lit his pipe. He hoped the silence and his absence from the table would calm things down. In one sense it did. No one else talked. What he didn’t see was that each son was actually sulking. And glaring at each other. Each was still extremely upset at having to continue to go to a job site they weren’t particularly enamored with.

Finally, one by one, they left the table, muttered ‘Good night’ to their father, and slipped into their own rooms.

Chapter 6

The next day started out with dread. None of the Cartwright boys was looking forward to another day on their least chosen job. They ate breakfast quickly and quietly. Ben said nothing, as he felt he had made his decision clear. They were going to continue their assigned jobs to completion. It was obvious from the sour looks on three faces that they were not happy with the current status.

* * * *

Riding up the mountain to where the timber camp was, Hoss determined that if he had to do this for two whole weeks, he might as well try to make it a more pleasant experience. He got on the job and sought out Shorty. He made eye contact, then poured a cup of coffee and sauntered over to where Shorty was handing out assignments for the day. He just stood and watched and listened. He was addressed by another lumberjack.

“Hey, boss man. You got anything to add to what the crew chief is tellin’ us?”

Hoss felt he was about to be caught in a trap, and he wanted to avoid that.

“I jest walked up. I don’t reckon I got enough information to add anything.”

The man stared at him a long time. Then he added, “Just what I figured. You don’t even know what he’s talkin’ about.”

Hoss was about to respond back when Shorty jumped in. “That ain’t what this is about, Sam, and you know it. Just leave Hoss out of it. I’m the straw boss, and after him and me decides on the jobs, it’s my job to let you know what jobs they is. So just lay off him, right?”

“Aw, I don’t believe he had nothin’ to do with the job assignments.”

Shorty stepped closer to the large lumberjack. The man was at least five inches taller than Shorty – who was called that for a very apparent reason – and the man outweighed him by at least sixty pounds. That wasn’t going to keep Shorty from challenging him. They stood face to face, Shorty puffing himself up to his full height, trying to appear equal to the other man. After about ten seconds of the stare-down, Hoss stepped forward.

“Aww-right, you two. We ain’t got time fer this mess. We need to git back to work, if’n you two kin find a way to settle yer differences another time.” And he stood between them, looking from one to the other. Finally, Shorty looked over at Hoss and spoke. “OK, OK, I hear ya. We gotta get some work done. Keep yer shirt on, Hoss.” And he walked off.

There was an uneasy peace on the job this day. Hoss tried to make himself appear involved, but truth was, he wasn’t even sure what involvement by him would look like. After walking around and checking out each team, and nodding approvingly at the jobs they were doing, he made himself scarce in the make-shift office again.

Just before lunch, he heard a horse ride up. He walked to the door to see his father dismounting and tying his horse to the rail in front of the building.

“Hey, Pa! What brings you all the way up here?”

Ben looked around before speaking directly to Hoss. “I just thought I had time for a little visit, Hoss. How’s it going?”

“Aw, it’s all right. We’re pretty busy, but you kin see that!”

“Let’s go inside, Son.”

Hoss nodded and led the way into the office.

Ben stepped inside and looked around. “This reminds me of your brother Adam.”

“I found it like this. You know how ‘orderly’ he is about his things. That obviously goes for his work things, too.”

Ben nodded his assent. “Sure looks like this would make it easier for someone to step right in his place.”

Hoss had to agree. “It has.”

Ben walked over to the table doubling as a desk. He looked over the papers, shuffled them around and looked at the ones underneath, as well.

“Do you know what to do with all these sketches, Hoss?”

The big man shook his head. “I been tryin’ to make heads and tails out of it all, but it’s not so easy fer me to figure out.”

Ben put the papers back down, and ordered them again, nodding as he did.

Then he went outside the cabin, with Hoss following close behind. He looked around. Then he turned to Hoss and said, “Care to take a walk?”

Hoss nodded and followed his father. They proceeded to walk toward the first team working nearest to the cabin. Ben nodded to a couple of the men as he approached them. They acknowledged him, but continued working. He stopped walking and watched them work for a minute or two. Hoss did the same. He was watching his father, and trying to figure out what he was thinking. Was he thinking Hoss hadn’t done something? Or was doing something wrong?

After touring all the crews, they made their way back to the office. Ben immediately went back to the drawings. He made a few noises, nodding and making grunting sounds, almost as if acknowledging something Hoss couldn’t see. Hoss could only watch.

Finally, Ben put the papers down and looked up at Hoss. “Do you know what these drawings are showing?”

Hoss shook his head, “I looked at ‘em all day yesterday, and I cain’t make heads nor tails out of ‘em.”

“They are sketches of the layout of the camp. See where this little square is? And the letters inside it? That’s the initials of the team working in that area. The ‘tick marks’ inside each box tells you how far along they are, and how close to completion that area is. This larger box? Marks a stand of trees over there.” He pointed through the window toward the back of the cabin, then looked to see if Hoss followed his gaze. Hoss nodded. He pointed to a place on the paper and continued, “That’s an area where no one’s cutting yet, but Adam’s already planned it out, and how many trees will be cut down. All that’s left is to mark them, and each team of men will be ready to move to that area as soon as they’re done where they are now. Do you understand, Son?”

“I do now! I could go up to that stand and start marking them trees, so there’s no down time.”

“Good idea! Want some help? Turns out I finished up on my own chores a little early.”

“Sure, Pa! I’d like yer company in doing that.” Hoss felt better about what he had to do, knowing his father was going to be working alongside him. He knew how important the trees were to their livelihood, as well as his father’s vision for the future preservation of the forests they were culling.

They mounted their horses, and rode toward a stand of trees some ways up the mountain from where they had been. Ben pointed out an area that could be cleared easily for a staging area, and where the new office could be built. He had brought Adam’s sketches along, so he pulled them out and referred to them often while he explained to Hoss what the sketches were showing him. Once he understood, Hoss told him he now knew how to mark the trees. So, after tying off a few trees with Pa and sharing lunch back in the office, Ben rode off and Hoss rode back up to the new cutting site and began tying off the trees he wanted the lumberjacks to cut down. This would be where the crews would work next.

The work was extensive and difficult. Hoss found himself climbing through thickets of trees, some no taller than his knees. This was one of the reasons Adam had chosen this section, Hoss reasoned. These young, small trees were getting little sun, and would never grow to be tall enough to cut down if the larger trees around them weren’t cut down to allow more sunlight to reach them. Eliminating just so many trees within this section would make the area healthier for future use. Now Hoss noticed Adam had even written a number inside each square, indicating how many trees could safely be cut from that section so as not to damage future growth. It was hard, physically challenging work, but Hoss felt like he was doing something worthwhile now, unlike yesterday. The rest of the day went quickly, and even the men seemed to have a more positive opinion of Hoss after seeing how hard he’d worked on the new section.

Chapter 7

Another day of breaking wild horses, and Adam wasn’t sure he had it in him, as he really was hurting from the previous day. But he wasn’t about to disclose that – either to his little brother or the men on the job. He had left the house before his brother had come down in order to avoid just such a conversation. As he rode up on the corral where the busting was going on, he was careful how he dismounted his own horse.

He made eye contact with Jake, the head wrangler who had already started up the fire and sent some cowboys out to rope a few more yearlings. “How’s it going today, Jake?”

“Can’t complain, Adam? How ‘bout you? You feeling okay?” Jake knew he was probably hurting. A lot. He saw how many times Adam made contact with the ground, and he knew what that meant! He was about Adam’s age and he’d spent plenty of time abusing his own body breaking mounts like they were doing now.

Adam tried his best to walk in a spritely manner over to the fire, but Jake wasn’t fooled. Adam would never admit how much he was hurting. He was just hoping to get through the day without maiming himself permanently!

The morning went fairly smoothly. Jake had arranged for some of the other men to begin breaking some of the other mounts, leaving Adam to work with those that were “green broke.” That meant they were saddle broke, and just needed help understanding what the commands given by the rider meant. Before they were handed over to the cavalry unit, they had to be ready to be ridden. They needed to know rein commands and be ready to obey them. Adam enjoyed this job immensely, and was glad Jake had suggested it.

All in all, the day was productive and enjoyable. Adam was in a very good mood when he returned home. The only thing he dreaded was facing his youngest brother, who had felt all along that none of this switching was a good idea!

* * * *

Over in the pasture where branding was taking place, Joe rode up to several calves being prepped to be branded. The men looked up momentarily, then went right back to work. Joe’s mood matched the attitude he encountered. He simply wanted to just do the job, not have to talk to anyone, and then go home, and mark off one less day in hell.

While this may have helped him get through the day, it did nothing to inure him to the favor of the men he was working with. They began to see him as the youngest, therefore most spoiled son of Ben Cartwright. They began murmuring to themselves about why Hoss wasn’t around, and when – or if – he might return. Some began to express thoughts of not returning to the Ponderosa once this job was completed.

* * * *

After a long morning and an even longer afternoon, Joe dragged himself home, determined to talk to no one until this “penance” was completed. He wasn’t inclined to talk to anyone about anything. So wound up and angered was he over this chore he’d been handed, he determined to do it as quickly as he could to end the misery. Each day just seemed to make the “ending” of the torture appear further away.

* * * *

Once the day was done, he mounted up and rode home without even addressing any of his crew. He kicked his horse into a gallop and rode away from the branding circle as fast as Cochise would run!

Suppertime found him already in bed. Ben went up to find out if he was hurt, or sick, but Joe assured him he was neither; simply tired – worn out. He put up a good front, though, and his father left him assured that he wasn’t injured or ill. The truth was – he was angry, depressed, and literally dejected over his current state of affairs. He simply wanted the two weeks to end quickly.

Chapter 8

The next morning found Joe determined to get through the task his father had dictated, but still nursing his bad disposition. He said nothing at breakfast, ate quickly and left while everyone else continued eating. He was successful in assuring his father his early departure was an attempt to get an early jump on the day’s task however, and that his lack of attendance at supper last night wasn’t a sign of an illness coming on. Once he got through that interrogation, he saddled up and took off to the branding corrals, in a darker mood than even the day before.

He poured coffee that was percolating from a pot on a small fire set away from the branding fire they would work over all day. He drank about half the cup, then walked up to where the wranglers had a calf down, and another man was holding one roped nearby. He watched, standing alone, speaking to no one. The men stole glances at him, but no one acknowledged his presence, since he didn’t seem to want to acknowledge them.

While the men branded the second calf, he threw the rest of the coffee into the fire, set the cup down and strode over to the fire and practically spat out some orders to bring several more calves up near the fire to a few of the hands.

“We’re wastin’ time doing this one calf at a time. I want every man to rope a calf and bring it up.”

Some of them looked at him questioningly, some flat-out ignored him! One or two tried to reason with him. “Joe, that ain’t gonna work, cause…”

He cut them off. “I don’t care what you think! This is how I wanna do it. Now get to it, and bring over those calves. This waitin’ around for one or two at a time ain’t working. We can get a whole lot more done this way, so let’s get going.”

He walked back over to the fire, and started firing up another branding iron. There were only two, but he didn’t seem to take that into consideration when he spat out his decision.

The men he sent off came back, each dragging a calf behind. That meant there were seven unhappy calves bawling nearby. He gestured for them to bring a calf to where he was ready. There was only one wrangler with a rope on the calf, so while Joe was heating up the iron, that calf became agitated and began pulling away, causing two of the waiting calves to act up. No one had a free hand to get a second rope around the protesting calf. Now since there was only one man holding each calf, their antics caused the riders’ horses to spook and two of them jumped sideways. The calves saw their advantage. They yanked, bawled, and pulled and the horses were heaved off balance. The mounted men worked to hold the ropes holding the calves and control their mounts. In the commotion the calves broke free and ran off, dragging the ropes behind them. Everyone was screaming orders at once. After everyone calmed their horses, Denver barked out the order to send two men after each of the calves. That meant there would be three calves left running through the pasture dragging ropes behind. He shot Joe a look to kill, yelled at him to help rope another of the loose calves dragging a rope behind it. That left two calves still running free, dragging their ropes. The men had to wait until two calves were branded before they could take off after the ones still at large. A calf dragging a rope was a danger to itself most of all, but also to any other animals he might encounter. They had to work quickly to avert a disaster. Eventually, all seven calves were herded up and branded, but the amount of work expended turned out to be more work than if they’d stuck to the original way of doing things. The men went back to the way they had been working before Joe’s insistent order to bring more calves over than could be handled safely. A calamity had been prevented, somehow, but the momentary lapse in Joe’s judgment caused many of the wranglers to question his leadership skills.

The rest of the day was a disaster, as the men now felt as though Joe didn’t know what he was doing. So, they essentially ignored him whenever he talked to them, or gave an order. He literally ended the day counting the minutes until he could ride home.

He was hot, dirty, smelly and miserable when he got home, but he’d arrived first, since he’d left the job early. He cleaned off as best he could in the horse trough and then decided to start on the barn chores. He had a pretty good idea that if his father found out how much chaos he’d created on the job, he’d be in big trouble, so he decided a little good will would go a long way later.

Almost as if done on purpose, his father rode up, earlier than expected. He pulled his horse up to the rail closest to the house, and walked over to where Joe was chopping wood. Joe looked over his shoulder at him, but kept right on chopping.

“Hey, Pa! You’re home early!”

“So are you. Everything all right?”

“Oh yeah! Sure! I just remember seeing that the wood boxes were all empty, so I figured I’d get started filling ‘em, since I got home early. I got the barn chores done, already, too.” He continued working, chopping with all his might.

“Mighty good thinking on your part, Son.” Ben then walked into the house, leaving his youngest to his chopping. Eventually, all three boys were home, and dinner was again going to be a painful affair.

* * * *

Ben started the dinner conversation by asking direct questions. “Hoss, did you finish up marking those trees for the next crew?”

“Shore did, Pa! They kin move into that area soon’s they’re done where they’re at.”

Adam looked over at his brother. “Which trees did you mark? How many?”

“I followed what your sketches said, Adam. I got this covered, you don’t hafta worry.”

“You followed my sketches?” Adam almost sounded incredulous.

“Yeah, why? Weren’t’ that what you was gonna do?”

“Yeah, I was…” He was numb struck. He’d worked on those sketches for weeks, and he thought only he could decipher them.

“Well, thanks for leaving all them drawings. It helped a lot! And I think we’re on schedule to meet the contract deadline, too, so don’t worry ‘bout a thing. I got it all under control.”

“Uh, I…it sounds like it, Hoss.”

Hoss was smiling. Adam just watched him carefully. Was everything really okay at the timber camp? Was Hoss doing as good a job as he himself could do? It appeared he was.

Ben smiled to himself as he looked between Adam and Hoss.

Joe had remained quiet. He knew his father would get around to him, but he wanted to avoid it as long as possible.

Now that it was out in the open that the timber operation was moving along well, he moved to the next task.

“Adam, did you ever get that mare under control?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. She’s almost as headstrong as the stallion, but we’ll keep working with her.”

Joe snapped his head up now. He knew they were talking about his herd. “If it’s the one I think it is; the chestnut, with the thin blaze on her nose?”

Adam nodded.

“She’ll come around. Deep down inside, she wants to please, but she’s been doing what her stallion has been telling her for so long, she’s afraid. She’s come around, I know it.”

“I hope you’re right, Joe. She’s a real beauty, and will make a fine mount if we can get her calmed down.”

“I know you can. Just trust her, she knows right from wrong. She’ll get it figured out eventually.”

“Okay, good to know you think so. We’ll keep working on her.”

Ben started to think he’d been wrong in his assessment that there was probably an ulterior motive for why Joe had ridden in early, and voluntarily took on another job. He knew the only way to know for sure was to poke the bear.

“Joe, how many calves have we gotten branded so far this year? They’ll need to be ready to be taken to the railhead in less than a month, so we’ve got to move now.”

“I know, Pa. We’re working as hard as we can. I think we ought to have about 200 head.”

Hoss couldn’t stand it. “TWO HUNDRED?!?! You should have closer to four hundred. What are you fellers doin’ out there?”

“Listen, Hoss, we’re doing our job. We’re working as hard as we can. The guys you hired don’t really seem to work very fast, though.” He regretted adding that last bit of information. Hearing about the successes from his brothers’ day, he didn’t want to be the one to let the family down. He determined he’d work hard tomorrow to pick up the pace, but without making a stupid mistake like he’d done this day that had cost them precious time.

Hoss wanted to question that last statement, and opened his mouth to do so, but his father put his hand up, gesturing for Hoss to let it be, so he shut his mouth, put his head down and continued his dinner.

After that exchange, things settled down again. No one wanted to start the squabbling all over again. It just wasn’t worth the effort, and Pa wasn’t going to change his mind anyway. This mealtime was certainly going better than the past few. Hoss was in a particularly good mood. He was questioning Adam about the trees, the sketches, and verifying how many trees were still needed to fulfil the obligations they had. Adam was oh so happy to be talking about his trees and timber operation again, so they were both very animated. It was obvious that Joe wasn’t involved in any of the conversations. Ben had an idea that something had gone on. Ever since the moment he got home and saw Joe, home early and working harder than he’d ever seen, he had a feeling he needed to get the whole story of what was going on. When he felt that Hoss had all the necessary information for his operation, he directly addressed Joe.

“So, Joe, anything else go on at your job site today?”

He commenced eating his supper, keeping his eyes on Joe and waiting for an answer. Since this was Hoss’ cattle they were talking about, Hoss was now listening, too.

Joe addressed his father. “Fine, Pa, fine…” And then he went back to eating his supper.

“So, no problems, today?”

“No, nothing I couldn’t handle.”

Hoss got worried now, so he addressed that ambiguous answer. “Just what does that mean?”

“Nuthin’ – don’t worry about it, I got it handled.”

Ben’s senses were pricked. He suspected something had happened since he rode up and saw Joe so busy on a menial job he normally hated.

“What is it you’ve ‘got handled,’ Son?”

“Huh? Nuthin’! It wasn’t nuthin’! I got it handled. I took care of it, and it’s over. It wasn’t nuthin’ anyway.”

“Well, if it ‘wasn’t nuthin’,’ why don’t you tell me what it WAS?”

Ben put his fork down, put his elbows on the table, folded his hands, and put his chin on them. He waited.

Joe squirmed. He really didn’t want to admit just how stupid he’d been today. He’d learned his lesson, and it was over now. Why bring it up and give his brothers something else to tease him about?

He shrugged, “It wasn’t much of anything, really, Pa. Hardly even worth mentioning anymore. In fact, I just about forgot about it anyway.”

Ben wasn’t fooled. If Joe made this out to be any smaller of an incident, he’d be worried the whole ranch might be in peril!

“Well, to put my mind at ease, why don’t you just tell me about it?”

He looked at Adam, he swiveled his head around to Hoss, and turned to look straight at his father. “Why? So, they can tease me about something that wasn’t much of anything? It told ya, I took care of it. It wasn’t much anyway, so why do we gotta talk about it anymore?”

Ben agreed to drop it, sensing that Joe was embarrassed by whatever it was.

“Fine. You’re probably right. If the whole ranch isn’t burning down, I guess it wasn’t much of anything at all.”

Hoss spoke up now. “Wait a minute! Them are my cows! If’n something went wrong, I wanna know about it!”

Ben’s eyebrows went up as far as they could, “Oh? They’re YOUR cows, are they?”

Hoss knew he’d jumped the gun, “Aw, Pa, that ain’t what I meant. I jest meant, I mean, I was doin’ that job, and now…I jest meant, aw doggone it! YOU know what I meant, Pa!”

“I believe I do, but your brother is capable, and I’m sure there’s nothing to this ‘problem,’ right, son?” He looked over at Joe. But Ben interceded before Joe could open his mouth. “Hoss, I’m sure if it was important, Joe would tell us, right, son?”

“Yeah, Hoss. It’s nuthin’. Don’t worry about it. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay, Joe. If you say so. I’m sorry if I’m jumpy; I jest care about getting’ it right…”

“Yeah, I know, brother. Me, too, okay?”

Hoss nodded, his mind not quite at ease, but trusting his father’s instincts.

* * * *

After supper, the family had a relatively “normal” evening. Ben sat and sipped coffee laced with Brandy. Adam sat and read a few chapters in his latest book while he enjoyed a small glass of brandy, and Joe and Hoss played a couple of rousing games of checkers. Eventually, Adam decided he needed to get some rest. Truth was, he was still smarting from being thrown from the stallion on his first day on the job. He knew his body would heal faster if he didn’t push himself. This hadn’t been his practice before, but since he started on this job, he was feeling every one of his years! He bid his family good night, and went up the stairs.

At the end of their game, Hoss got up to head to bed, so Joe stacked the checkers to put them away. Before he could start to climb the stairs, his father stopped him.

“Joseph, sit with me a moment, please.”

Joe knew. His father knew it wasn’t a small matter with the cattle today, and now he wanted to hear more. He didn’t really want to tell his father the whole truth of how dumb he’d been, but he was glad his father had at least waited till his brothers had gone up to bed before talking to him.

“What is it, Pa?” he questioned, innocently sounding.

“What happened out at the branding corral today? I want the full story, and the truth, please.”

Joe breathed in deep, and let it out quickly. He was stalling, but he knew it wouldn’t matter. He wasn’t get out of telling the whole ugly story to his father.

“I guess I just made a stupid decision,” he began. He looked over at his father. He hoped that was enough. Obviously, it wasn’t going to be.

“Go on, Joe.”

“Well, there’s not much more to it. I made a stupid decision, and then I fixed it.” He shrugged, trying to lead his father to the conclusion that it was a small matter.

“I appreciate you admitting to doing something you shouldn’t have, but I’d like to hear what it was, son. Was anyone hurt? Did you lose any cattle?”

Joe knew there was no point in prolonging it. His father wasn’t going to let up until he heard it all.

He let out another long, loud sigh. “I made the decision to have the wranglers bring up more calves at the same time, one man, one calf. I thought we could get more done that way. Obviously, there’s a reason it takes two men to rope and wrangle a calf. They spooked, and it spooked the horses, the calves ran off…we had to chase them down. No one was hurt, no cattle lost, so it turned out okay. I made a mistake, Pa. Then I fixed it. Isn’t that what you would want me to do?” He didn’t really want to justify himself. He had fixed it and felt that was enough.

“I just wanted the whole story, Son. There’s no reason to get defensive. I appreciate you telling it, and I’m glad to hear you own up to your mistake. Hopefully, there won’t be any repeat of anything like this again. It could cost a man or a horse his life. I’m sure you understand that now.”

“Yes sir, I do. I’m sorry, Pa. It was a stupid thing to do, and I didn’t think before I told the men to rope the cattle…I guess I just wasn’t thinking…”

“Or…maybe you were still thinking you’d rather be doing something else?”

Truth was, his father was probably right. He shrugged, “Yeah, maybe a little. But it won’t happen again, Pa. I promise. I learned my lesson.”

“Well, then, I’m glad to hear it. And we won’t need to talk about this again, will we?”

Joe shook his head. He didn’t really like being called down by his father when he did a stupid thing, but his father had always made it a lesson learned, so that he could be wiser – and more careful in the future – and he appreciated that. He knew tomorrow would be a better day. He’d see to it.

Chapter 9

At breakfast the next morning, Adam felt better since he’d had a good night’s sleep and hadn’t really abused his body in the past couple of days. Hoss felt better because he had a better idea of exactly what he was supposed to be doing. Only Joe still had an attitude about this whole switching idea. He was wound up like a clock, and it showed. It did not go unnoticed. His father knew his attitude would create problems out on the job today if he didn’t get it under control.

“Joseph, is there something wrong this morning?”

“Nope.”

“Then I suggest you take on a different attitude.”

“What’s wrong with my attitude? I can’t have a quiet breakfast?”

“It looks to me like there’s more to it than that, and I suggest you work on your non-attitude before you get to the branding corral.”

“I’ll be fine, Pa.”

“Be sure you are, or there will be more lapses in judgment today.”

Hoss heard that and wondered what his father meant. “Lapses in judgment? Just what did you do yesterday, Joe?”

“NUTHIN’! I told you already, I didn’t do nuthin’ – just stay out of it, Hoss.”

“Joseph, I suggest you change your attitude now.”

“Well, he didn’t have to come at me before he even knows anything about what happened.”

“Well, why don’t you jest tell me what did happen?”

“Hoss, Joseph, we don’t really have time to go through all this now. Hoss? Can we hold off on this?”

“Is there something going on I need to know about them cattle?”

“No, Son. I heard the whole story last night, and everything’s fine. Right, Joe?”

Joe felt this was calling his account of events into question: “Why do you hafta worry about what he thinks about all this, Pa? I told ya everything last night, and now cause he’s got a problem, we gotta go over it all again?”

Hoss answered now. “We gotta go all over it again, cause it’s MY name on that contract for calves at market.”

This got Ben’s attention. He swiveled his head around to address Hoss, “It’s YOUR name?”

He was so angry now, he didn’t even back down, even to his father. “That’s right, MY NAME.”

Then Ben quietly nodded and said, “Yes, it is. Cartwright. Isn’t that right?”

Hoss caught his meaning, and settled down quickly, “I guess it’s all our name, ain’t it?”

Ben nodded. “Now, if we’re through arguing about something that’s already over and done with, can we all get to work? I never thought it was a good idea for the boss to be the last one to show up on the job.”

He stood up and walked to the sideboard to buckle on his gun belt. Each son followed suit. And so they began one more long day on their assigned jobs. This was turning into a very long week.

* * * *

As they saddled up in the barn, Ben worked alongside his sons. No one engaged in much conversation. They just saddled up and rode out. As Adam mounted his horse, Ben stopped him. “Adam, I’ll ride with you.” And then he mounted his horse, and pulled alongside Adam as they rode toward the corral used to break horses. Ben began to engage in small talk.

“So, how’s it going out here, Son?”

“As far as I can see, it’s going well. I’m trying to find a way to keep us on schedule so we complete the contract on time. Seems like Little Joe put an awfully tough schedule together for this contract.”

“Is there an issue with staying on schedule?”

“Well, it seems to me like there’s no real rhyme or reason for which horses are picked to be broken first.”

“Explain.”

“When I first came out the other day, I noticed we started with breaking a large, powerful and very wild stallion. There were several mares in the holding corral waiting to be broken. Some of them seemed somewhat reserved, and I wondered why they couldn’t have started with some of them. It seems like it would have made the day a little more productive. I didn’t want to say anything at the time, because I had just arrived, but I think I’m going to change things up today. I just hate wasting the time we are while we all work with just one very obstreperous stallion.”

“Well, maybe it’s not such a good idea to…change things up, as you say, Adam.”

“Why would you say that?”

After a long silence, Ben began to speak again. “When your brothers were in school, you remember hearing about one fellow who was kind of the bully of the school?”

“What’s that got to do with today’s work?”

“An object lesson, I guess. Was there?”

Adam nodded, “Yeah, there was one guy. He kind of picked on all the smaller kids. Don’t you remember? He picked on Little Joe, Hoss defended his brother, and both got a tanning more than once for fighting with him.”

“So, you figure he had a small following? Fellows who thought it made them look tough if they hung around with him, or even bullied the smaller kids like he did?”

“Yeah, it’s usually that way with bullies, and they said he had a couple of friends, but I don’t see how…”

Ben cut him off. “Hear me out. That bully had a ‘following,’ his own little group, right?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, but he knew Adam had nodded. “He was the ringleader. I suspect that even if Hoss could have stopped all that bully’s followers from picking on the smaller children, or if he could have run them all off, he would have just found new followers and continued bullying others. Would you agree with that assumption?”

“I don’t see what that has to do with…”

Again, he was cut off. “The ringleader enjoys having everyone treat him like he’s the toughest, the meanest guy around, wouldn’t you agree?”

Adam began to understand the object lesson: “So that stallion is a pretty important fellow to his mares.”

Ben nodded. “I suspect the best way to ‘tame’ the rest of the herd is to take on the biggest, baddest, ‘bully’ in the group. That would be the stallion – it makes more sense to just take out the ring leader, even if it takes a little longer. By doing that, it breaks the will of the entire group.

“You’re saying that stallion essentially drives the morale for the whole group.”

Ben nodded. “And trusts him to be their leader. So, once you take down the leader, it’s easier to take down the rest of the herd. I suspect that’s the reason they started with the stallion, rather than follow your line of thinking, as logical as it sounds. Once he’s broken, they work on the next in line who wants to control the mares. They’ll sense the changes, and come around quicker, I suspect.”

Adam said nothing. He was thinking through what his father had theorized. It made sense – for humans. Was it really true in animals, too? It was possible, but was there really a way to know?

They rode a long time in silence. Finally, Adam broke the silence. “I’ll think on what you’re saying, Pa. It’s an intriguing concept.”

Ben smiled and nodded at him.

Soon after that, they arrived at the corral. The men were setting up for the day’s back-breaking work. Several of the men bid them good morning, happy to see the big boss man on the job for the first time since the switch, although several wished it had been Joe. Ben greeted each man by name as he was greeted.

Finally, the first horse was picked out and roped. Once again it seemed like this one was a real handful, and it would be another jarring day on one’s bones. Jake called over and asked Adam if he wanted the first ride. Adam indicated he would give it a try. Ben decided to stay around and watch for a little while.

Adam’s first ride was quick, and violent. He landed on his backside in just over three seconds. He tried again and lasted about twice as long. He went for a third try and rode till the horse slowed quite a bit. By then, he was very sore and decided to let one of the younger guys have a try. He hobbled over to where his father was standing with his arms draped over the top rail.

“Tough one, eh?”

“Yeah, that one gave me a time. I guess I’m getting a little old for this.”

“Oh, really?” Ben glanced sideways at him.

“Yeah, if I had to be honest, I’m pretty bruised up and hurt just about everywhere.”

“So I guess it’s a good thing we’ve got ‘Young Blood,’ like your young brother to handle this job.”

Adam looked over at his father quickly. Draping his arms over the fence and locking his fingers together now, he watched a young man, about Joe’s age ride the horse until it stopped bucking. “Yup, I guess this is a job for younger men.”

“Getting old only gets worse, son.”

“Not looking forward to finding that out!”

Ben laughed, then walked over to mount his horse. As he turned to ride away, he called out to his son. “See you at supper!”

* * * *

Joe rode up to the circle where they’d been branding cows all week. He spotted Denver immediately, and walked up to him. “Morning, Denver.”

The wiry old wrangler looked up from stirring his coffee and just nodded.

Joe knew what he had to do. His talk with his father had convinced him of his recklessness the day before, and just ignoring it wasn’t the best way to show the men he could be a good cattle boss. He wanted it to be known to all the men he’d upset the day before. So, he poured a cup of coffee and waited till they all started to amble in.

Once all the men were there, Joe summoned up the courage to face them all. He stood while they bent or sat around the morning fire with a cup of coffee.

“Listen, fellas. I gotta say somethin’ here. About yesterday…” He hesitated, and looked into each man’s eyes.

“I, uh, I…I asked you fellas to do a dumb thing. Bringing that many calves over at once was pretty dumb.”

He heard a voice in the back say, “Yeah, it was.”

He almost lost his resolve to do this. He had to rein in his temper and continue, he told himself. He took a deep breath and continued.

“Okay, I did a dumb thing, I’ll admit it. I thought it would make the work go faster. I was wrong. I apologize for it. I know you are all thinking it, but I’m not some dumb kid who doesn’t know what he’s doing. I just lost my sense of balance for a bit and thought we could speed things up by bringing more calves in at once. I know better, and I won’t make that kind of mistake again, okay?”

He looked around. He waited to get a reaction. Any reaction. No reaction was almost worse than a negative one, and he opened his mouth to speak again, but Denver beat him to it.

“Okay, but what kind of dumb mistake will you make next time?” Then he smiled at Joe.

Joe smiled back at him, then looked to see that many of the men were smiling, too. “I don’t know, Denver, but I’m sure you’ll let me know when I do!”

That broke the tension. The men all stood and threw their coffee remains in the fire, and turned to get to work. A few even came over and discussed which calves Joe wanted first.

The day went quickly and productively. Joe even got a chance to mount his horse and cut out a few calves himself! It was a more pleasant job than continually branding the hides – what with the smell of burned cowhide invading your nostrils hour after hour, and the branding iron getting hotter and hotter, until even gloves couldn’t stop you from burning your hands.

* * * *

Supper at home was a more light-hearted affair than it had been for many days. Adam was clearly sore, but Joe didn’t rib him about it. It just wasn’t worth it. He knew Adam enough to know that he now appreciated how hard the job was, even if he never said it to Joe directly.

Hoss felt better about what he was doing, and the men could see that he was learning the job, and doing his best. Although they all respected Adam as the boss, they could see that Adam’s younger brother was trying to do the best he could to keep up with the contract they had to fill. They still had not been filled in on why Adam wasn’t there, but it didn’t matter any longer. There was a job to do, and they all banded together to get it done.

Joe kept Hoss apprised of the cattle total each night, reassuring him that they were going to be able to meet his quota before taking the herd to market.

The tension between the brothers was gone and had been replaced by a renewed respect for the job each brother normally did on the ranch.

Chapter 10

Joe had all but forgotten about his lapse in judgment from the previous week, until early in the morning on the first day of the next week when his father said they would ride together to the branding circle. Most of the wranglers were men who had worked for the Cartwrights for many years, and Joe wasn’t sure what might be said, to or about him, over the incident he’d caused the previous week.

As they rode up, Denver walked up and took the reins of Ben’s horse as he dismounted. Joe held back, still unsure of his father’s motive.

“Morning, Mr. Cartwright.”

“Morning, Denver. Sure looks like you fellas have done a fine job out here.”

Denver nodded as he looked back at the groups of men, ready to engage in this day’s activities. Then he turned and addressed Ben, “Mr. Cartwright? Is Hoss ever coming back out here? I mean, I ain’t complain’ or nuthin’, but it’s just, well we miss ‘im.”

Ben looked quickly over at Joe, who bristled slightly, but kept it fairly well hidden.

He addressed Denver again. “Well, sure, Denver. He’ll be back up here soon. I just needed him to take care of another task for me. That’s all right, isn’t it?” He smiled as he said it.

Of course it was all right! This was the boss, and whoever he put in charge would be the boss, and that would be that.

Denver didn’t want the boss to think he didn’t know that. “Uh, yeah, sure, boss. That’s fine. I was jest wonderin’. I mean, Joe’s doin’ a fine job and all, but, well, we started this job with Hoss, and, uh, we been wonderin’ is all.”

Ben smiled as he explained, “He should be finished up in about a week, and get back up here in time to ride with the herd to the rail head.“

Denver seemed satisfied, “That’s fine. It’ll be good to work with him agin, Mr. Cartwright.”

After he had watched the operation for about forty-five minutes, Ben informed Joe that he was headed out, and would see him at home later. He then waved his good-bye to Denver and rode toward the mine operation.

Having his father ride in with him had made Joe a little apprehensive, but now that he was leaving, Joe felt he had seen a very good representation that proved Joe had handled the branding task well. At least that’s what he intended to ask him at supper that night.

* * * *

Once he settled into the realization that he was going to be doing this job for the full two weeks, Joe let himself enjoy the experience a little more. It’d been a long time since he’d branded cattle for any prolonged length of time, so once the initial learning curve wore off, he took some time to look the herd over a little more closely. He noticed the smaller calves, tried to guess who their mamas were by the markings on them, and even guessed if any of them were going to grow up to be good breeding stock.

Then the realization set in that these cows weren’t all that different than his horses! Sure, the work to “prepare” them for sale was different, but in the end, it was the same. The bloodlines were important, the stout and steady animals were the most coveted. The quality and dependence on the Ponderosa to deliver a product that would meet or even exceed their clients’ needs was paramount to success of the Cartwright brand.

The day-to-day operations were tiresome, no doubt about that. But in the end, all that anyone would remember was what the Cartwrights presented for sale. Be it a cow, a horse, or a tree, it all must be presented after doing one’s very best to deliver a quality product. Little Joe almost surprised himself when he made this revelation! He’d never been one to turn so philosophical.

* * * *

In the corral where Adam was breaking the stock for the cavalry, once the back-breaking work was done and all that remained was to teach the animals their commands and expected responses, Adam also was taking some time to enjoy the experience. He looked over the horses they had already broken and tried to envision the type of man who would one day “own” each mount. Would the man appreciate all the hard work that went into making this animal one who would be a faithful and trustworthy friend to his rider? Would the mount always remember the lessons he was learning now, and carry his rider faithfully and carefully, no matter the mission?

Adam realized he was daydreaming about something he would have no way of ever following up on, but it gave him a new perspective on the purpose of what they were doing, and the importance of doing the best job they could. A soldier’s life might depend on how calm or steady his mount could be, especially in the heat of battle, should they find themselves so engaged. But even if not in battle, the reliance a man has on his horse could make the difference between life or death in other circumstances as well. Adam felt the full weight of what they were doing to secure the safety of the soldiers who would soon receive this complement of horses, and he began to wonder if such thoughts ever entered his little brother’s mind. Was that where the satisfaction came from doing this job well? He hoped Little Joe had this type of perspective at least once in awhile. He started to wonder if that’s what Joe had meant when he told Adam that filly would be reliable once they got her tamed enough. He determined that one day he might even discuss it with him.

* * * *

High up in the mountains toward the northern end of the Ponderosa, Hoss Cartwright watched the men skillfully maneuver a tree to fall exactly between two smaller ones. It seemed that they knew exactly where they wanted it to fall each time so as not to damage any of the smaller trees around it. This was a skill Hoss knew he’d never master. There was a certain “art” to it, and Hoss wondered if this was why Adam loved his “trees” so much. Well, that and the fact that he was responsible for securing future forests for the Ponderosa for many decades to come. Hoss knew well how his father felt about not strip mining or destroying the forests just to make a few dollars. He knew Adam had come to appreciate that sentiment as well and worked hard to maintain the trees in a way to ensure there would always be a great supply of trees to choose from.

At first, this task had seemed confusing and he became somewhat overwrought. But as he’d spent more time on the job, he understood why careful planning was essential, and he appreciated more and more what his father had taught them about their resources, and the meticulous way his brother Adam had gone about safeguarding that supply for generations yet unborn. For once in his life, Hoss Cartwright felt “small.” Next to these trees, and this tremendous forest, he could see himself as a small cog in a larger wheel where everything had to work in concert to maintain a balance between man and nature. But instead of feeling helpless, small and inconsequential, it gave him a great sense of pride and power to know he was preserving something nature had provided graciously to them, trusting them to give back in the small ways that they could. He made a note to himself that he would discuss this with Adam and his father. He now felt a greater appreciation for what the Ponderosa meant to all of them.

Chapter 11

Eventually, the two weeks ended. Each Cartwright brother was eager for this “experiment” to end, yet satisfied with the job they had managed to do while filling in for their sibling. It was Saturday, so technically, only a half-day of work was required. Ben rode out to the branding pen and spotted Joe just as he untied the last calf to be branded. Joe looked around, spied his father and waved and smiled. Ben smiled broadly and rode right up next to where Joe stood.

“This looks like the end of a job well-done, son!”

“It is, Pa. That’s the last little one right there.” He pointed to the calf he had just untied. They both watched her run to her mother and begin to nurse. Then Ben laughed and put his arms around Joe’s shoulders.

“So how many cattle are ready for the drive, son?”

“I think I counted 365, Pa.”

Ben beamed, ‘Excellent! I think Hoss will be pleased with that number, don’t you?”

Joe looked at his father. Did it really matter what Hoss thought? Wasn’t this all about appreciating the contribution to each other each brother did?

“I guess he will. Are you?”

Ben, arm still draped over Joe’s shoulder, looked over at him. “I am if you are, but I think we need to know what Hoss thinks. After all, this is HIS operation, is it not?”

Joe was now thoroughly confused. Didn’t his father do this to show them all that none of their “operations” belonged to any of them alone? He just shrugged. Ben suggested they take a ride.

They bid the crew to have a good day off and mounted up. Ben led the way, and they headed up toward the corral where the horse-breaking operation was going on.

Even before they arrived, Joe began straining his eyes to try to spot each horse he’d chosen for the Army contract. He began to wonder how many had worked out well, were broken and suited for their new riders. He kept his thoughts to himself, as he knew his father would just tell him to wait and see for himself if he tried to ask those questions.

Finally, as they arrived at the corral and began to dismount, Adam came from around the second corral full of completely broken mounts and spotted them. He stopped walking for a moment, then dusted his hands off on his chaps, and walked over to greet them.

He extended his hand to shake, somewhat awkwardly, since it made no sense for them to be here. “Pa, Joe. Didn’t expect to see you two till supper tonight.”

Ben went over to stand beside his son, but did not shake his hand. Instead, he turned his head left, then right, and scanned the scenery full of whinnying horses and riders circling around the corrals, and some outside the corrals.

“Everything looks real good, Son. How many have you got ready to go?”

“45. Right on Joe’s numbers.”

Joe smiled at his older brother, “That’s great, Adam! I knew you would do it!”

“Thanks, Joe. That means a lot to hear. We had some challenges, but we finally brought it all around.”

“They look like they’re ready to go, too. You did a good job, Adam.”

“Thank you.”

“Yes, you did, Son.”

“Yes, and I’ve got a couple of riders eager to help us take them over to the fort, too, so we have plenty of help.”

Ben was pleased with all he was hearing, “Good, good.” He nodded his head.

After they watched the finish up work going on with the horses without talking for a long while, Ben turned to Adam. “Can you get away now? I want us to take a ride up and see how Hoss is making out.”

Adam looked for Jake. When he spied him, he strode over to where he stood, watching the last of the mustangs being put through her paces, spoke a minute to him, gestured to his family, and shook Jake’s hand.

When he returned, he said, “Sure, let’s go. I’m anxious to see how things are up there.”

“I’m sure they’re fine.”

“I know. I just…I miss it, I guess.”

No more was said as they rode out of the corral area and into the open pasture that would eventually take them up the path to the high country where Hoss and the lumberjacks were finishing up the last of the logs for the next wagon load to go down the trail.

As the three Cartwrights rode up, Hoss and Shorty looked up to see them. Hoss smiled broadly, and Shorty started out toward the horses.

Adam dismounted first, “Shorty. How’ve you been?”

“Right as rain, Adam.” They shook hands. “Yer brother done a right fine job, Adam. He learned fast, and kept up a good schedule.”

“I’m glad to hear it. He’s a good man.”

Ben and Joe walked up to Shorty about the same time Hoss arrived.

“Didn’t expect to see you fellers way up here. What’s the occasion?” Hoss was happy to see them, but wondered at the motive.

“We came to see if you could pull yourself away. Looks like your last load is about to leave. So, does that mean you can leave now, too?” Ben asked.

“I’d say we’re just about to wrap up fer the day, wouldn’t you, Shorty?”

“I know I am, boss.” He glanced quickly over at Adam. “Oh, sorry, boss. I mean…well, who IS the boss?”

Hoss and Adam simultaneously pointed to each other and said, “HE IS!”

Everyone laughed. Then the four Cartwrights mounted up and headed out. They thought they were going home, but when they reached the flatland, Ben turned east, and everyone knew they were headed into town.

Chapter 12

They checked into the International House, and baths were ordered all around. They didn’t know Ben had carried a change of clothes for each of them in his saddlebag. After baths, they changed into their clean clothes and were headed out to the finest restaurant in town, Pa’s treat!

The meal was filled with laughter, a little wine, lots of food, and good feelings for jobs well done all around.

When the meal was cleared from the table, no one spoke. It was a warm, solemn moment, and no one wanted to break the feeling. They had had their “ups and downs” throughout the two weeks of Ben’s “experiment” and now it was over.

Each man was lost to his own thoughts. Adam was happy to see how well Hoss had done with the timber job. He didn’t seem to have had any trouble with any of the men. The men had moved on to the section Adam had sketched out and Hoss had done an admirable job marking just the right trees to cut without damaging the newer ones still growing. He would certainly comment to him about that, but now was not the time. Now was a time of celebration, and no talk of work would intrude.

Joe was glad to be away from the smell of the cattle! He loved the Ponderosa, of course, and everything associated with it, but two whole weeks of nothing but eating dust and smelling burning cow hide was more than enough for him. Maybe he’d tease Hoss about how he could smell that all day and come home and still have a healthy appetite; but not tonight. Tonight, he was glad to celebrate with his family that he’d done an excellent job on what his father had assigned him, and that even his brother could be proud of him for that.

Hoss knew Joe had given the cattle all the attention he himself would have, so he had had no worries about what was going on there. He didn’t know yet how many head were ready to go to market, but he didn’t doubt Little Joe had gotten every one he could, and the number would be a good and profitable number for the Ponderosa. Because he knew that Joe, just like himself, loved their land and wanted to do the best job he could – at whatever job it was! He was also happy that he, himself had learned a great deal about the timber operation. Although he really hadn’t had much interest in it to begin with, he now had a deeper appreciation for what his father and brother were trying to do in preserving the forests by carefully cutting only certain trees and letting others flourish. It meant the Ponderosa would have timberland and beautiful Ponderosa pine trees growing on it long past the time the four of them were gone. In that way, their future generations and others after them could always enjoy it.

Ben said nothing. He just enjoyed the company of all his sons. He hadn’t really known how his “experiment” would work out, and he was happy that it was over, as well. But most of all, he hoped each of his boys had learned a valuable lesson about the responsibilities the others had, and saw how it all worked together. He had been nervous when he first cooked up this “scheme,” but now all Ben could think to himself was: ‘I know they each learned more than I hoped. This worked out better than I could have planned.’

Finally, he spoke to all three of his sons. “Boys, this is how it’s supposed to be. We are a family, we are a team. We need each other, and we need to work together to make our ranch stronger. Our ties to each other help us get through anything we face. You’ve all proven you’re capable of taking on great challenges and overcoming them, and I’m mighty proud of all three of you tonight.”

He held up a glass of wine. “A toast. To us. To family. To the Cartwrights. To the Ponderosa.”

The End

© 2017