Summary: This is a prequel with Adam home from college at about 23, Hoss at about age 17, and Joe at about age 11. Returning from a trip to Sacramento, Adam has two disturbing encounters, one with someone he thought could be a friend and another with outlaws. Then he has another one with his father. The rest of the story develops from those until the issues can be resolved.
Rating – T Word Count – 32,154
No Deal
Chapter 1
Sitting with his head down and his pocketknife dangling from his fingers, Hoss Cartwright was the picture of a depressed young man. At seventeen, he worked like a man on his father’s ranch, but he lacked the experience and wisdom to understand some issues that men had. In this case, the two men were his father and older brother, Adam. They were arguing again. From his perch on the porch, the loud voices laid out the arguments point by point.
Little Joe came across the yard and assumed his brother was unhappy because of Adam. There had been many issues on the ranch lately, and Hoss had been bothered by every one of those. In Little Joe’s mind, all the problems on the ranch had seemed to develop since his brother had returned from college so he placed all blame squarely on Adam. He couldn’t see that there was any other cause. When he got to the porch of the house where his brother was sitting, he made assumptions based on that.
“Adam making trouble again? He only got home a couple of hours ago.”
“Little Joe, don’t talk like that. You’re only likely to make things worse. Adam don’t usually make trouble.”
“Sure seems like it to me.”
“Well, he don’t. He does his jobs the best anybody could do them. Pa just don’t seem to want to like what he does no matter how he does them.”
Listening to the raised voices inside the house, Little Joe cocked his head to one side and looked with some sympathy at Hoss. He knew how much he suffered with trouble in the family. He decided to soften his tone because he didn’t want to upset Hoss.
“What’s it about this time?”
“Pa sent Adam with those horses to sell and scout out the trail for the drive. Well, he went alone and some Bannock trailed him. He finally traded one of the horses for safe passage so they wouldn’t try to steal all of them when he was sleeping or do something else. It coulda been a lot worse. Pa just saw the bill of sale and realized it was for six horses not seven so Adam explained, and Pa’s temper exploded.”
“That doesn’t seem like a reason to be so mad.”
“Pa was already mad that Adam was three days late getting back.”
“But he explained that the freight wagons had some trouble. He couldn’t make them go faster. Getting attacked by outlaws and having to shoot it out wasn’t anything he could do anything else about.”
“No, he couldn’t just like he couldn’t do anything else about the Bannock, but Pa won’t accept anything Adam has to say.”
“Why is he always mad at Adam? I guess I thought Adam was causing the trouble, but maybe I need to know why Pa feels the way he does. Didn’t he want Adam to come back?”
“Course he wanted him to come back, but something’s changed. I don’t know what it is.”
“I guess they don’t know what it is either. They’re always so mad like they’re mad even before they can think of a reason for it.”
Looking at his little brother, Hoss realized Little Joe had hit the truth squarely. The two men didn’t know why they were arguing either. Something was going on with each man that put them at odds, and they needed to figure out the real reason for the animosity. Hoss decided he needed to give that idea some thought.
“Thank you, little brother. I think you may have given me an idea to chew on that might help if I can work on it enough.”
“What’d I say that was good?”
“I’ll tell you after I think on it some.”
Although Little Joe didn’t like that answer, he knew he wouldn’t get anything more. He thought perhaps some eavesdropping might help though as he suspected Hoss would try to talk with Adam and probably that night. He was right about the talk but wrong about being able to overhear anything. Adam proposed that he and Hoss take a walk outside to talk when Hoss made the suggestion. A quick flick of his eyes toward Little Joe and Hoss had gotten the message. Adam did not want their little brother to overhear the conversation. So the two older brothers walked outside that Sunday to converse. Hoss spoke first.
“I heard you and Pa arguing. I know what it was about. I’m sorry Pa acted that way. I’m trying to understand what’s going on here, and I don’t.”
“Hoss, I don’t understand either. I don’t know why he sent me alone to Sacramento with those horses to sell and to scout out the trail. He had to know how difficult and dangerous it was going to be. When I asked for someone to go along, you know what he said.”
Nodding, Hoss could imagine that conversation. “So you were insulted and decided to go alone like he told you to.”
“Yeah, that was not the smartest move, was it? But then, I felt like I had a target on my back the whole time. When I realized I was being followed, I waited for an arrow almost every minute. That first night, I couldn’t sleep at all. The second night, I made camp and signaled for them to come in to meet with me.”
“They could have killed you right there.”
“By then, I had guessed they weren’t interested in killing. If they wanted to kill me, there had been plenty of chances. It was the only thing about it that gave me any confidence at all. They wanted the horses. I offered coffee and used up my whole supply of sugar. I know how some of them like it sweet. I shared the food I had. Then I offered to trade for safe passage. They wanted all the horses. I let them know I was the son of Ben Cartwright, and that helped. It took some hard bargaining, but finally, they accepted one horse as payment. I thought that was the best deal I could make. They camped with me and rode with me the next day to show me a way through some of the rougher terrain. They even showed me a different way to go to avoid that bottleneck where the valley narrows so much that it’s a delay getting the herd through. Then they rode off with their prize. I sold the six horses for a good price in Sacramento, and I brought home a map of a route for the drive. I ordered the freight and got a deal by agreeing to be a guard on the trip. We saved money on what we ordered and I got a free ride. We had some trouble on the way. I earned that deal, but it meant we were late getting here. Now Pa is mad about the whole thing and doesn’t even want to try the new route even though it’s shorter. It will be faster too without having to take a couple of extra days to ease the cattle through that bottleneck.”
“Yeah, and we have to hope there’s no flooding which would slow us down even more there. There was a lot of snow this winter, and if the spring rains come hard, there will be rivers flooding all through there.”
“That’s another good reason to go a different way, but he won’t even consider it.”
“It seems no matter what you do, it isn’t good enough.”
“That’s the truth. I was talking with Gill Janus on the trip back. He’s kind of a sour one, but he’s having the same kind of trouble with his father or so he says.”
Pausing then with kind of a dark look, Adam frowned. Hoss wondered why.
“Something bad happen between you and Gill?”
“Nothing really happened, but he makes some dark jokes that aren’t funny. If he was really joking when he said one that was particularly bad. It sounded so serious at the time, I wasn’t sure, but then he laughed at me for how I looked. I guess it was a joke at least by how he saw it, but I don’t think we’ll ever be friends. He’s got a dark side I don’t want to know anything more about.”
“What was the joke or what he said was a joke?”
“I don’t want to say. It was too grotesque.”
“What does that mean?”
“Too awful to think about.”
But that night, Adam did think about it. He remembered the whole evening when he and Gill had been talking about their difficulties getting along with their overbearing, unbending fathers. Both had taken jobs as guards for the freight wagons as a way to get home from Sacramento where they had ordered supplies for their respective ranches. At the campfire, Adam poured each a cup of coffee, and then Gill made a suggestion that made Adam nearly drop his. He remembered that conversation as if it had happened only minutes earlier.
“I didn’t understand why you were so angry when I ran into you in Sacramento. I always thought you had everything you wanted, but now I know you have the same kind of problems I do. How about we make a deal to solve our problems?”
“What kind of deal?”
“Like you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours.”
“How could we do that?”
“You take care of my problem and I take care of yours and no one would ever guess what had happened.”
Frowning, Adam stared at Gill for a moment trying to understand what he was saying. He didn’t like what he thought Gill was implying they ought to do.
“You’re not making a whole lot of sense.”
“What else would work except getting them off our backs?”
“There must be things we could do to make things better for each of us.”
Then Gill spelled it out and it was as bad as he had implied earlier.
“Nothing would work as well as this. No one would ever figure this one out because each one of us could have an airtight alibi by being busy elsewhere when it happens. You kill my father and I kill yours.”
Gill laughed.
“You should see your face.”
There was still an uncomfortable silence that Gill felt he had to break.
“I guess I really got going with that one! I didn’t really mean it. It was just in fun.”
Not knowing how to react at first, Adam remained silent and stared at Gill. It took him a moment longer to react verbally.
“That’s not something anyone should ever joke about.”
“Sorry, I guess I say some pretty weird things to get a laugh sometimes.”
Waiting a short time, Gill added more.
“So, I guess it’s no deal?”
“Damn, Gill, don’t talk like that. It isn’t funny at all, and people could hear. It’s no deal.”
“Yeah, if they did hear us, they could think we were really planning to do something instead of getting our frustrations out. We aren’t really planning anything are we? If we are, I’m in. You’re the planner though. I’m not good at planning anything.”
“We were never planning anything!”
All Gill had done then was laugh at how uncomfortable the whole conversation made Adam. He didn’t make any more remarks about that deal he wanted to make either joking or serious.
That memory dogged Adam’s dreams for days and came back to him because of his talk with Hoss. He wondered what people would think if they had heard what Gill said. As he thought about that conversation, he still wasn’t sure if Gill had been making a terrible joke or if he had meant to make the proposition he had stated. Both ideas were awful, but one was too terrible to contemplate. He didn’t know their conversation had been overheard.
Resting in his bedroll, Big Joe had heard the two young men talking. At first, he had been mildly entertained by the stories, but by the time they finished, he decided he better keep an eye on that Gill whose morality was suspect. The other one, Adam, was still growing into his manhood, but Big Joe thought his instincts probably were good and his character was strong. The conversation shook his confidence in Adam a bit even though Big Joe still wanted Adam at his side when trouble happened, and he expected it would. The young man was good with a rifle, but more importantly, he seemed to know the right thing to do when he was up against it. He had not immediately throttled young Gill when he had spouted such swill, but then again, he was still young and probably had some difficulty determining a man’s true nature. But he had stood against him and not backed down. When trouble came at you, that was a good quality to have.
The trouble happened the next day. A group of men attacked the wagons from the front and rear at the same time. Adam immediately went into action shooting down two of the men attacking from the front making the others turn tail. They had not expected such deadly opposition from freight drivers. With that threat gone, Adam climbed on top of the freight to get a line of fire to the men attacking from the rear. Gill had a shotgun and was supposed to be defending the wagons in the back, but he was keeping his head down as much as possible. Adam took out one of the men attacking from the rear too, and it was all the attackers could bear. Those men withdrew as well. It was unlikely with the losses they had taken that they would try again. Big Joe pulled the lead wagon to a stop to see what their damages were. The driver in the last wagon was hit and needed attention. He was hurt because Gill had not done his job. The drivers ignored Gill but thanked Adam knowing he had helped save their lives, and they mentioned that he might get a bonus from the freight company. Two of the outlaws were dead and another was wounded. The wounded man was bandaged and tied up. Adam and Big Joe did what they could for the wounded driver, but he needed rest.
“He shouldn’t be moved for the next day or two until we can be sure the bleeding has stopped.”
“Adam, I know that. We have a schedule to keep though.”
“That schedule be damned. Big Joe, it’s a man’s life we’re talking here. That should be more important.”
Big Joe wasn’t used to being talked to like that, especially by someone so young as Adam, but he realized the young man was shaken by what he had been forced to do. Killing two men didn’t sit easy with him. Before Big Joe could respond, he was informed by one of his drivers that there was damage to the axle on one of the wagons. It meant at least a day’s delay. It relieved him of having to make a decision or any kind of response to Adam. They were staying put for a day that the wounded driver needed.
Gill didn’t like it but didn’t dare say a word. He was set on perimeter guard duty and didn’t like that either. He would have to do his job or risk getting killed. The only person Gill complained to was Adam.
“So, kill a couple of men and you’re a hero who gets all the benefits.”
“Gill, all you had to do was fire a few times at those men. They wouldn’t have wanted to face a shotgun up close. I don’t think that they had any idea there were guards on this freight haul. They expected to shoot some drivers and steal the freight.”
“You mean kill the drivers, don’t you?”
“Yeah, it’s how they would have gotten away with it.”
“So they were ready to kill, and you were ready to kill them too, weren’t you?”
“I was because I took the job as a guard. I knew it was a possibility.”
“I’ve never killed anyone. I’ve never even shot at anyone or anything that could shoot back. I like a sure thing. I thought they would see us and that would be enough.”
“If they were smart, it should have been. They didn’t check things out, I guess. They weren’t patient enough to check out the details to see if their plan could work. They had a plan and followed it without thinking about how it could go wrong.”
“Do you plan everything?”
“No, I don’t because nobody can, but I plan whatever it’s possible to plan. I want to know what could go wrong and be ready for that too.”
“Is that how you reloaded so fast? I heard those rifle shots. They came so close together I thought more than one man was shooting.”
“Yes, I thought with the terrain, if there was going to be an ambush, that might be the area so I had what I needed to reload in my pockets and ready to go.”
“So you could kill.”
“If I needed to do it.”
“You’ve got a cold heart when you talk about stuff like that.”
“Sometimes it’s how you have to be. It was a choice between them killing them or they would have killed us.”
Gill and Adam never spoke again on the trip.
In town when the trip was over, Adam looked as unhappy as any man could look. Big Joe asked him what was wrong.
“I killed two men. That’s weighing pretty heavily on me. Plus, I’m three days late getting home. My father isn’t going to be at all happy with me.”
“He’ll come around, Adam. He’s got to get used to having another man in the house, and not the boy who left to go to school. You showed your mettle out there. We treated you and Gill as equals giving you no more or less to do than anyone else. You had guard duty, cleanup, and cooking like the rest of us. You did your work as well as any man and never complained. You keep that kind of approach and things will work out for you.”
Left unsaid were the frequent complaints by Gill. His unhappiness was shown too by his less than careful execution of basic tasks which often required someone else to tidy up for him. He made no friends among the drivers, and in their opinion, what they saw as dereliction of duty at best and cowardice at worst had gotten a driver shot. They thought blasts from that shotgun should have scared off the outlaws before they got close enough to wound a driver. Gill offered no other explanation so the men assumed they were correct in their assumptions.
After the unpleasant conversation by the campfire and the shootout with the outlaws, Adam spent no time with Gill except in passing or in the larger group. He didn’t want to be associated with him. It was easy to avoid him too because the other drivers were so grateful for Adam’s help. On arrival in Gold Hill, Adam was told he had a job with the company anytime he wanted one. Big Joe drove the freight wagon with the goods for the Ponderosa and headed directly there with Adam riding beside him. He was surprised at the frosty reception Adam got when he arrived at his home but was pleased that Ben Cartwright had the cash to pay for all the goods and made no complaints about the delivery.
“Your son did a fine job with us, Ben. The bill reflects a discount because of his help.”
“Thank you. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I know that, but your son negotiated the deal and carried through as he said he would.”
“I’m glad about that.”
Big Joe shook Ben’s hand and waved goodbye to Adam hoping the two men could work out their differences. He understood Adam’s reticence about going home. Ben Cartwright did seem to have a chip on his shoulder about his oldest son.
The goodwill generated by the freight discount only lasted until the freight was stored and then Ben saw the bill of sale for the horses and the map for the trail drive. He registered his objections forcefully letting Adam know how much the ranch needed the money from the horse sale and then deriding the idea of trying a new route for the drive when again, the money was so important for the future of the ranch. After repeated complaints from his father on those issues, Adam was more than happy to ride out on Monday morning for the roundup. Hoss went with him. They were only gone a short time when the part-time sheriff of Gold Hill arrived.
“I got a delivery for Adam, and I got some questions to ask him too.”
“What did he do?”
“Now, Ben, why would you say that like you think he done something wrong? It’s about those outlaws who attacked the freight wagons. I need to know about where it happened to make sure we got jurisdiction or at least that’s what the judge said. Otherwise, we got to send them to California for trial. I need to know too if he thinks he can identify any of the men who rode off. You see, the one he wounded is locked up, and a man tried to break him out. We caught him, but we’re wondering if he’s one of them outlaws.”
“You can’t ask the freight haulers? Wait, you said Adam wounded a man?”
“Yeah, the drivers are all gone now. Adam’s aim must have been off a bit on that one or he would have been as dead as his two friends. That’s the delivery I got. The freight company issued a reward to Adam for what he done. I got five twenty-dollar gold pieces here for him.”
Slightly confused, Ben wanted a more thorough explanation.
“A reward for wounding a man?”
“Well, that, and the two he killed stopped the attack on the freight wagons. According to Big Joe, he pretty much stopped the outlaws all by himself. They had Gill Janus along, but he turned out to be useless in a fight cause all he was interested in doing was protecting himself instead of the freight wagons and drivers.”
Seeing Ben’s astonished look, the sheriff realized he did not know of his son’s heroics. Adam wasn’t the type of man to brag about things that he did, and the sheriff recalled that Big Joe had said Adam was troubled by having had to kill two men.
“Yeah, Adam killed two outlaws and wounded another. He’s a real hero, Ben.”
Not sure what to say about that, Ben offered to ride to the round-up so the sheriff could talk with Adam. On the way, the two men talked about other things as the sheriff sensed Ben’s reluctance to discuss his oldest son. He didn’t understand it, but then, he didn’t know either man very well. At the round-up, Ben took over Adam’s duties so he could talk with the sheriff. His answer meant he needed to go to town.
“If he was in the group that attacked the front, I could identify him. I had my sights on all of them at one point of another. They were riding so I had to pick and choose to get the right target. If he was one of the men in the back, then I don’t think I can. I sighted in on one man and shot. I hit him and the others left. I never got a good look at them.”
“I’m going to need you to come to town and identify him if you can. If you can’t, would you stare at him like maybe you aren’t sure? Maybe look at him like you’re thinking about it and could remember if you have more time? The judge says there’s an Army sergeant coming in to do some recruiting. He might take both of them for a unit down in Arizona.”
“But they’re outlaws!”
“Lots of people out here got something like that in their past. These two only did an attempted robbery. They won’t get much of a sentence for that anyway. But being locked up for six months or a year might seem worse than a couple of years in the Army. The judge is kind of hoping they might like the Army option. If they do, that makes it easier on him and a lot easier on our budget here.”
“But it doesn’t seem quite right.”
“They’ll be confined, but in a different kind of way, and they’ll be doing some good at the same time. I think it’s a better way of meting out justice in this set of circumstances.”
Adam was surprised at how agreeable his father was to the sheriff’s plan. Adam left with the sheriff, and it worked out as the judge hoped. Adam did identify the man who attempted the jailbreak as one of the outlaws. Both men admitted their guilt with the statements from the drivers and with Adam there too. They asked the judge for leniency, and that’s when he offered the Army option as if he had thought of it at that moment. The two men jumped at the chance to avoid being locked up for six months to a year for their crime. They only had to wait in jail for the Army sergeant to arrive. When Adam witnessed how much they acted like boys rather than men, he was more agreeable to the solution that had been worked out between the judge and the sheriff. It did seem to make more sense.
When Adam returned to the round-up, his father had a few things to say to him. Most caused Adam to feel good.
“Son, I’m proud of you not only for what you did but how you handled it afterward. You didn’t brag about it, and I know it weighed heavily on you. It shows your good moral character. Now, we can talk about it whenever you want. That will be up to you, but I have one warning for you. I didn’t know what the sheriff was going to say, and Little Joe heard it all.”
Adam reeled as if he was in pain.
“Yes, when you get back, at some point, he will bombard you with questions or comments. I will do my best to let him know how he shouldn’t do that and why, but you know how well he accepts advice or even rules when there’s something he wants.”
Little Joe wasn’t the only one hearing the stories about Adam. Gill Janus had been in town when Adam was there, and he heard all the stories too. Of course, he already knew them, but he was most interested in the emphasis that people put on Adam’s skill with a rifle. Hoping to build up that reputation, he added his own observations from that trip back from Sacramento and how everyone had been so impressed with what Adam had done as one shooter against a whole gang of outlaws. Then, he went home and made sure to find time to practice with his brand-new rifle whenever he could. He had made a special trip to Carson City to buy it with money he had made from little extra jobs he was doing for a new business in town, the Syndicate. Taking that trip had angered his father and led to another of their arguments, but his father thought he went there to gamble and drink. So Gill played along with that. He wasn’t very good with firearms, and he needed to be much more skilled with his new rifle if his plan was going to work. When that was accomplished, he only had to wait for the right opportunity to put his plan into action.
Meanwhile, Gill was enjoying the jobs he did for the Syndicate. It was the kind of work he liked. There was little or no danger and there were good payouts for success. He dropped yew and larkspur in pastures of ranches that refused to cooperate with the Syndicate. Spreading coal oil at the back of a barn or storage shed and lighting a match was pretty easy work too. It was a little more difficult to tamper with wagons and harnesses to make sure accidents occurred, but he had found that sneaking around at night suited him well. The best job he had managed was collapsing the ventilation shaft at a mine whose owners were not cooperating with the Syndicate. The payoff for that job was quite generous. He considered himself to be very smart. After all, he was doing all this planning and preparation and carrying out these tasks for good money, and no one had any suspicions of him at all. Most thought he wouldn’t have had the courage to do any of the things he was doing or planning to do. That suited his purposes very well. Gill didn’t like to directly confront anyone. It could lead to him being hurt or losing something. He never wanted to do that.
Chapter 2
Months later, stomping from the house, Little Joe Cartwright was in no mood to be lectured. As far as he was concerned, too many things had been going the wrong way. First, the cattle drive had been delayed by unusually heavy spring rains which caused a fast snowmelt. Streams and rivers were torrents that no cattle drive could cross. Then his father got hurt before the cattle drive, and he couldn’t go. That meant Little Joe couldn’t go either.
After the cattle drive, still hobbled by his injury, his father had sent Adam to negotiate the timber contract removing another chance for Little Joe to do something fun. Almost every time his father traveled, he had convinced him to take him along most often by some version of how it wouldn’t be a good situation to leave him in Adam’s care. Now something he wanted very much was out of reach because the ranch budget couldn’t afford it, and Little Joe’s mood reflected his disappointment in that. Unfortunately for his oldest brother, that mood wasn’t apparent soon enough. With his back to his youngest brother, Adam pulled a heated piece of metal from the forge and began hammering only to be interrupted by Little Joe.
“Pa wants to talk with you when you’re done.”
“I won’t be done for quite a while. A lot of work piled up here while I was gone. Maybe you could take over for a bit to keep the forge hot so I could go see Pa. I don’t want to let the forge cool and cost me even more time. You could even heat some of the metal for the hinges.”
“I’m not very good at keeping the forge hot and doing that thing with making those hinges.”
“Practice makes perfect. You have to learn some time, and if you keep a steady hand on the bellows, the forge should stay hot enough. I can always heat the forge more if necessary and sort them out some when I get back if I have to.”
“There you go again. First, you give me advice I don’t want. Then you just know I won’t do good enough. It’s always like that. You have to always say what I’m no good at and give advice. Now, how’s that all worked out for you? Practice makes perfect working for you. You finding the right woman for you? I hear men asking that question about you. They’re wondering why you ain’t married yet. Oh, and experience is the best teacher. Well, I really like that one. Here you’re older than most of the men around here with lots of experience but no woman, no close friends, and you’re not even a good brother or a good son or running stuff on the ranch neither. Pa just told me he was disappointed in how low a price you got for the cattle at the end of the drive and then in the contract for the timber. I asked why we didn’t have money because I wanted a new saddle, but he said we can’t even afford that, and it’s all because of you. So, I’d rather be me. I’m only eleven and he likes me more than you. Maybe I’m not perfect and not as smart as you, but I know how to have fun. People like me.”
When he finished his long rant and Adam didn’t respond at all, Little Joe wheeled around and headed to the barn. Already a bit embarrassed by his outburst, he knew he was going to have to eat most of those words and began silently composing an apology. Behind him, he left devastation like a zephyr blowing over a ridge would but no one likely would have been able to tell. Adam stood with no expression. The only hint was when he dropped his tools to the ground and walked to the house to meet with his father as instructed. He hated being made to feel like a schoolboy, and every moment of that walk made his irritation grow worse.
Inside, Ben was frustrated. Going over the books and trying to find money for projects that needed to be done, he had been unable to calculate little more than a fraction of what was needed. He hoped his son could find a way out of the financial difficulties they were in or those problems were going to grow far worse.
“Adam, I need you to find a way to renegotiate that timber contract. If we don’t get more money for that timber, our whole operation is going to suffer this year and put us in jeopardy of defaulting on our loans.”
“Pa, I warned you about making those loans.”
“We needed the money for operations.”
“We could have waited.”
“I run this ranch, and it was my decision. The loans are not the subject I wish to discuss. Now, stop diverting this conversation from the real issue I wanted to discuss. What can you do about that contract? The amount for our timber is too low.”
“I know it is, but I never wanted to make a deal with the Syndicate. That’s a tough bunch and dangerous. Some of the men who have gone up against them have run into what is too much bad luck to be a coincidence. Buildings have burned, cattle and horses have died, and men have been injured in unexpected calamities that have become too commonplace. They must have someone helping them here too because they seem to know the best way to hurt everyone who doesn’t cooperate with them. I wanted to wait for the Central to ask, but you insisted on making a deal with the Syndicate instead. I pushed them as hard as I could.”
“Are you afraid of them? Maybe I should talk to them.”
Holding his temper at the insults implied by his father’s comments, Adam was fairly neutral in his response.
“You won’t get a better price.”
“We’ll see about that.”
Trying to remain logical and reasonable, Adam held his anger and his tongue in check. It was difficult for him, but he thought there were more important issues than his pride.
“Pa, haven’t you listened to anything I said? These men could be dangerous to us. We should conclude the contract with them and never deal with them again.”
“I don’t need advice from you on how to negotiate. I was doing it long before you ever did. I guess I shouldn’t have expected anything better after that debacle with the cattle drive.”
“Debacle? I told you we should have waited, but you insisted we had to go when everyone else was going. The market was flooded with beef. There was no way to get a better price?”
“We had better cattle than anyone else. We needed cash.”
“Yes, we had better cattle, and we got a better price than anyone else, but in a buyers’ market, it wasn’t going to be a good price.”
“You should have done better than you did.”
“The rains delayed our drive and we ended up going at the same time that everyone else was sending their extra cattle to market. We had no control over that. If we had waited until fall, we could have gotten that premium price you wanted. We couldn’t do it in the circumstances we were in this spring. I’m sorry you hurt your leg and couldn’t be there, but if you were there, the offers were going to be the same and no higher.”
“I guess your special little shortcut didn’t help then.”
The dig wasn’t new, and it was meaningless. It was mean, and Ben knew it, but his irritation at being in the wrong and being reminded of it brought out the worst in his mood too. He turned away and looked back down at the books as if the argument with his son merited no further response. There didn’t seem to be anything else to say. It wasn’t the first time for this confrontation and the same things had been said too many times already. None of Adam’s advice, suggestions, or explanations ever seemed to matter.
“Fine, if you don’t need me anymore, I’ve got work to do outside.”
“I don’t need you.”
Those words cut deep and caused far more damage than Ben Cartwright ever intended. As he stared at his ledgers, he never saw the look on his son’s face. It faded quickly but the emotional devastation had been shown if only briefly. Outside, Adam found Hoss standing by the forge wiping down the tools Adam had dropped in the dirt earlier.
“When I found these, I figured it had been Little Joe messing around here, and I laid into him about leaving the forge unattended with as dry as it’s been. Then he told me it was you. What the hell is the matter with you? Dropping your tools in the dirt and letting a hot forge sit here with nobody to watch it?”
Grabbing the tools from Hoss’ hands, Adam turned his back on his brother and began to pump up the heat in the forge again. Hoss was upset about the tools and the response, but he wasn’t going to start a fight about it.
“You are the orneriest man I know.”
Pausing because he had no reason to upset Hoss, Adam had to offer some explanation,
“I’m sorry. I mean no offense to you. Maybe I have cause to be angry, and I need to work off some steam.”
“And maybe talking about it would be better than this pouting.”
“I don’t pout.”
“Well, whatever it is you do, you’re doing it. When you’re ready to talk about it, I want to hear it.”‘
“All right.”
That response was delivered in a grumpy tone, but it was what Hoss had hoped to hear. He accepted the concession and walked to the house. There he heard the complaints about Adam as his father had a lot to say although none of it was new. Because Adam had come from the house, Hoss had a fair idea of why his brother was so angry. Later, when Little Joe walked in and added his complaints, there was more evidence to support the conclusions Hoss had drawn. He was sorry then that he had added his comments and added to his brother’s misery, but he did wish Adam would respond more to this bickering in the family. It was festering more because Adam let it ride. Hoss didn’t understand why a man with such a temper would hold back as much as he was. Hoss had a theory but didn’t like thinking about it because if he was correct, Adam had decided to leave. Therefore his brother had no interest in resolving these disputes because he could walk away from them. That idea was reinforced at dinner when their father made an announcement.
“I’m going to town tomorrow to see about that timber contract we have. Then Little Joe is going with me when I go to Carson City to do some business there. As usual, he needs to be with me so there won’t be trouble here.”
As Ben directed a stern look at Adam, the two younger brothers could see Adam seething, but he said nothing in response to his father’s provocation. Hoss wanted to tell him to speak up. More than his father and younger brother seemed to care, he wanted to know more about why that contract had been signed. He knew his older brother’s skills at negotiating and the warnings he had given their father. Ben had dismissed them outright, but Hoss was worried because he knew Adam was worried. Adam didn’t worry about men unless he thought there were good reasons. When Adam said nothing, Ben turned to Hoss.
“Will you be doing the herd counts the next few days?”
“I planned on it.”
Then it was Adam’s turn again for his father’s attention, and this time, Ben was direct. Adam’s lack of response in their conversation made him a bit mean again. He wanted to know what was going on between Adam and Little Joe but couldn’t entirely trust the youngster’s version of events. He knew Adam wouldn’t lie to him, but he wouldn’t even talk about it, no matter how hard Ben tried to provoke him into responding.
“Do you suppose you can finish the work at the forge in the next two days so you can help out around here?”
Laying his fork down very deliberately and then his knife ever so slowly, Adam slid his chair back, stood, dropped his napkin to the table, and walked away.
“Come back here! We’re not done yet.”
The only sound was the front door closing.
“Pa, that was rude. He never even answered your question.”
“Little Joe, if that was said to me, you would have had to cover your ears for my answer. Pa, you had no right to say something like that. You trying to make him leave?”
“No, I want him to stand up for himself. Just like in those negotiations, he’s not himself anymore. He lets anyone walk all over him.”
“Pa, you weren’t there. You don’t know that he done that. You ain’t been listening to what he’s been saying. You know he don’t lie. Insulting him ain’t gonna do nothing to help neither.”
“Hoss, why are you fighting for him? He ought to fight for himself.”
“Yeah, he should, and if he does, you better run for cover.”
Joe dropped his head then because he knew Hoss was correct. He knew he had baited Adam on more than one occasion recently including that afternoon. He always felt a little triumphant at first and then sorry later because he knew he shouldn’t have done it. He had also been telling tales to his father to gain sympathy so he could accompany him on these trips. The only way it worked was to make Adam out to be a kind of ogre when Ben wasn’t present. It wasn’t at all true, but because Adam did have much higher expectations for behavior and work for Little Joe, it was rather easy for Little Joe to portray him as being mean. As trouble in the family was growing serious though, and Little Joe realized he may have played a part in it, he had some regrets. He had heard what his father said, but he didn’t have the maturity or the courage to tell his father he may have exaggerated what had happened between him and Adam.
“Enough about this. It’s up to Adam to talk about this, and if he won’t, then the responsibility is his. And Hoss, I would appreciate a more respectful tone from you when you talk to me.”
“I was being respectful, Pa. I was talking to you man-to-man. If that ain’t good enough, I kin follow Adam out that door.”
Despite his temper, Ben held his comments and didn’t say anything more much as he wanted to do so. He had one son so angry he might leave. It wouldn’t do to anger his middle son as well.
Although Hoss wanted to say more, he knew it wouldn’t do any good the way things were. He knew how angry his father was and that it would be impossible to have a reasonable conversation with him at this point. It would take Adam saying something to break this open. He guessed it wouldn’t happen anytime soon though.
The next day, Ben and Little Joe left for Virginia City where Ben broke the contract with the syndicate when they refused to renegotiate. He told them he would rather pay the penalty than conclude the terms of the contract. They objected but he was determined to stand firm.
“Your son made a deal with us.”
“And I’m telling you, it’s no deal. I will pay the penalty.”
“You think you can just march in here and declare no deal to us? There can be worse things than a penalty.”
Drawing up to his full height, Ben pointed his finger at the head of the syndicate who sat behind his desk. He had refused to rise to talk to Ben insulting him without saying a word. Ben let his temper get the best of him.
“Don’t you dare threaten me.”
“It’s not a dare.”
“I thought so.”
Rather triumphantly, Ben strode out of the meeting with Little Joe following. Both were smiling. Neither had understood what was meant by the man’s comment that it was not a dare. Inside the offices, there were no smiles.
“He’s not as smart as his oldest son.”
“So we go ahead with what we said we would do?”
“We will complete step one at least to see what happens. It could be that will be enough to get him to reconsider.”
“I’ve heard he is stubborn.”
“We’ll see how stubborn he is when he faces what we can and will do. No one marches in here and says that to us only to walk away unscathed. Send Taggart. He’ll know how to handle it.”
On the ranch, Adam was worried. He told Hop Sing that afternoon that he should go to town for supplies with nearly everyone gone and then spend the night with his relatives. He gave the instructions with a smile so Hop Sing wouldn’t realize he had an ulterior motive.
“You can come back tomorrow afternoon in time to fix dinner for everyone when they’re back too. I can take care of meals for just me.”
As he worked, Adam kept his pistol on and a rifle within reach. That night, he slept in the hayloft as a precaution. He expected retaliation if his father canceled the contract but didn’t know what form it would take. When he went to the kitchen for breakfast, he found out. He was hit from behind as he entered, and then rifle butts and boots continued the beating. All he heard were a few things.
“You were warned. No one cancels a contract with us. Someone in your family was going to get hurt. Too bad it’s you, but your father needs to learn that we keep our promises.”
Those were the last words Adam heard until hours later. The men dragged the unconscious man outside.
“What do we do with him now?”
“Tie him up by the front door. It ought to be a good sight for his father when he gets back. He’ll see we don’t ‘dare’ anyone. We do what we say.”
Once they had Adam tied to the post by the front porch of the house, one of the men pulled his shirt nearly off and put his cigar out on his abdomen.
“If this was your father, I’d be doing this somewhere where it hurt a lot more. I know you can’t hear me, but I think you’re smart enough that you’ll know that later.”
Two more men did the same with their cigars leaving three burn marks in the shape of a triangle. Adam was struggling to breathe because of damaged ribs.
“Do you think he’ll live to tell them what happened?”
“He will. His injuries are painful but nothing that serious. He’s young and strong and about as tough as they come, but it doesn’t matter. They should get the message. and we left our calling card. That’s what matters.”
Exhausted and dehydrated, Adam was finally released from that post eight hours later by his father and Little Joe who were shocked to find him there. They carried him inside to lay him down but found he could breathe better in a more upright position so put him in a chair and propped up his legs.
“Son, what did you do to make someone so upset with you?”
“Pa, he’s hurt pretty bad, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, this is a lot of revenge to take on a man. I wonder what he did to make someone so mad. I need you to ride into town for the doctor. Hop Sing isn’t here. He must be in town getting supplies because the wagon is gone.”
“I’ll hurry.”
“I’ll do what I can for him until the doctor gets here. Be careful riding. I don’t need two sons hurt.”
When Ben began to minister to Adam, his son turned his head away. Ben thought it was the pain, and in a way, it was, but not the pain Ben thought it was. Adam had heard what they said. Blaming him for his injuries had added emotional pain to his physical torment.
About an hour later, Hoss arrived, and he stepped in to help soothe his brother and care for his injuries. Talking softly to Adam, Hoss got quite a different reaction than his father had. Adam leaned toward him, and Hoss put a hand to the side of Adam’s head to comfort him. The two rested silently like that for a short time. Ben saw it and wondered at the different response.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
Although Adam tried to answer Hoss’ question, he couldn’t. It took too much effort to breathe. Hoss understood.
“You can talk later then. We’ll take care of you hurting first.”
Hop Sing was the next to arrive and began bustling about preparing tea and getting salve for the burns. When Doctor Paul Martin arrived, he wrapped the ribs and took care of superficial abrasions so they wouldn’t get infected.
“Being more upright is beneficial, but I think propped up in bed would be more comfortable.”
Once they had Adam in the downstairs guest room with pillows propping him up and blankets all around to keep him warm, he was finally able to fall asleep. As exhausted as he was, Doctor Martin thought he would sleep for quite a while.
“His recuperation is going to take some time. He has a head injury, rib injuries, arm injuries, and leg injuries as well as numerous abrasions. I don’t think there are any internal injuries. He’s not complaining about severe pain, but it would be wise to keep the liquids to what is necessary until we can be sure nothing is damaged internally. Give him small amounts to drink only when he is thirsty until you’re sure of that. Keep him where he is for the next couple of days.”
By that time, the sheriff arrived. He wanted to know if anyone had any idea why Adam had been beaten.
“Adam doesn’t talk about things much. You know that. He’s been even less talkative lately especially since he had some trouble getting some negotiations done well. I was disappointed in him, and I think that bothered him quite a lot.”
“Probably disappointed in himself quite a bit too if I know him.”
“Yes, that’s most likely true too. My son is a proud man. I don’t know what kind of trouble he was in that would lead to this though. There was no hint of anything seriously wrong.”
“Pa, what about that warning he gave you about not canceling the timber deal with the syndicate?”
“Hoss, that is all settled. I paid the penalty for cancellation, and now we have a much better deal in the works with the Central Railroad. There will be a meeting in Sacramento, and we will have to bid on the contract, but they assured me that the numbers I was quoting to them were almost a guarantee of acceptance. They couldn’t see anyone doing that well with an offer. It was all worked out with no trouble.”
“Yeah, Pa’s got an offer that will cover the penalty we paid and get us a profit over what we would have had with the deal Adam signed. That’s what you said, right, Pa? That’s what you said, wasn’t it?”
Smiling at his youngest son, Ben nodded. Hoss still looked worried as he thought about the whole conversation and didn’t draw the conclusion that his father and younger brother seemed to focus on.
“Are you both sure that was all there was to it? Adam seemed more worried about them. It seemed like it was a lot more to worry about what they might do than what you’re making it sound?”
“He worried too much. Pa had them backing off right away. They hardly complained at all when he backed out of the contract. At first, they tried to talk big and say there were worse things than a penalty. But Pa pushed back. Then there was no fight in them. He asked them if that was a dare. They backed right down. They took it back and said it wasn’t a dare.”
The sheriff took that conversation quite a bit differently than Ben and Little Joe had. He was thinking much the same way as Hoss. But now as Ben heard the whole thing condensed in Little Joe’s explanation, he had doubts. Hoss spoke up first.
“They said it was not a dare like maybe they really meant to do something?”
The sheriff reinforced Ben’s doubts and Hoss’ worries.
“I’d take something said like that just the way Hoss is thinking. Sounds like them saying it wasn’t a dare might have meant they were going to do something.”
“That’s the way I took it too. It was no dare. It was a threat. You didn’t back down so they went ahead and carried through on it.”
“That’s how I see it too. Like Hoss, I think that’s what they did. I guess we’ll have to wait for Adam to wake up to find out.”
The conversation had gotten Ben thinking about other things, and some made more sense than they had earlier.
“No, we probably don’t have to wait for Adam to wake up. I wondered why the way he reacted to me was so different than how he reacted to Hoss and then to Paul. I know now. When I got him in the house, I asked what he had done to make someone so angry with him. He turned away from me. I thought he was embarrassed or too proud to say. Now I think he was that upset with me for what I had done. Then asking that question upset him too. He’s most likely angry with me and doesn’t want me near him because I might make those same insensitive remarks again.”
Hoss nodded in agreement and in sympathy for what his brother had endured.
“You blaming him for getting beat on might have hurt near as much as the beating did.”
Ben showed the pain of the truth of that statement.
“You’re probably right about that, Hoss. Little Joe backed me up too so he’s not likely going to want to see either of us anytime soon. You may have to continue to handle much of his care until he can forgive us.”
“Pa, Adam had them three burns on him close together like it might be the shape of a triangle. Ain’t a burning triangle the symbol of that syndicate?”
Ben could only stare at Hoss because of the obvious implications of that. The Syndicate had left their calling card by marking the eldest Cartwright son with the triangle of burns.
“I’ve been such a fool.”
Sometimes the sheriff had a difficult time listening to how this family could be so hard on one another. At this point though, he had a job to do.
“I’ll still need to hear what Adam has to say, and it likely still won’t be enough to arrest the right people. If I get the ones who did this to him, you know they won’t tell anyone who sent them to do it.”
There was nothing they could do until Adam woke up. On Doctor Martin’s return to the ranch, he brought a nurse with him. He hoped she might be able to coax his patient to wake up.
On Adam’s side, he was aware of someone new in the room when a soft hand stroked his face, and he felt like it was being touched by velvet. He remembered Marie having a touch like that. Inger was more robust in her touching letting you know she loved you. His father’s touch was gentle enough but always insistent. He always wanted something. Wake up. Drink something. Talk. Tell me what happened. Why did you do it? And that made him remember what his father had said. He knew he had taken the beating meant for his father, but then he had taken the blame for it too. Hurting too much to face any of it, when he heard his father’s voice, he chose the darkness once more. He wasn’t ready to listen to anything more.
Chapter 3
For almost two days, Adam stubbornly held to that unwillingness to be awake or to let anyone know he was. Although Doctor Martin was discouraged that Adam did not open his eyes and speak with them, he saw some hopeful signs. There were some reactions to the nurse touching him gently which always stopped when Ben spoke. They had been unable to elicit any more responses from Adam until everyone left the room, but that told the doctor and his nurse something too. Adam was aware of them and his father, and he didn’t want any attention from his father. When Doctor Martin broached that topic with the family, he was surprised that they seemed aware of the problem.
“Mostly, Pa and Little Joe stay out of his room. I have been doing most of the care for Adam, but now the nurse you brought has taken over a lot of that. I still help when she needs me to help.”
“I don’t entirely understand this. If you knew Adam didn’t want you in the room, Ben, why were you there?” At Ben’s downcast look, Paul knew. “You were wondering how he would react to my nurse, and you wanted to know how he was doing. If you care about how he’s doing, you’re going to have to curb your curiosity and trust Hoss to answer your questions. You are naturally concerned about his welfare but seem unaware that your actions are interfering with his recovery. You need to stay away from him for the time being.”
“He’s my son and he’s hurt. It’s difficult.”
“Yes, it’s extremely difficult for Adam.”
That sent the message home to Ben. Chagrined to be acting and thinking so selfishly, he held his hands up in surrender and nodded in acceptance of the rebuke.
“We’ll do the right thing from now on. I’m sorry about how I acted. I admit it was selfish. I was feeling guilty and was looking for the opportunity to make things right.”
“You’ll have your chance, but first, Adam has to recover and be stronger. Miss Deeann knows what to do. She’s taken care of difficult patients several times already. Please follow any instructions she gives you. She always keeps the patient’s needs as her first priority.”
Left unsaid was the rebuke that Ben had not been doing that. With the parting shot delivered, Paul turned to Deeann.
“Is there anything more I should know?”
“I would say that what worries you is far less than you think it is.”
Raising an eyebrow over that, Paul actually managed a slight smile. He had a good idea what she meant. Nodding because he thought he understood and knowing Adam would get the care he needed, he left. Over the next day, with Deeann’s gentle touches and quiet ministrations, Adam began to relax even more especially with no more visits from his father. Hoss noticed how Adam’s face seemed more at peace as if the pain was so much less. Adam was calm in bed too not moving about while he rested.
“Adam looks like he’s getting a lot better already by having you here. It’s like you took the pain away.”
“It isn’t that he has so much less physical pain. He’s a strong man. He tolerates quite a bit of discomfort. But it was all the pain inside his heart and mind that was torturing him. Giving him time to get away from that has helped him rest. That is the peace you see in him. All injured patients have wounds that are not physical. Those have to be healed too.”
Thinking about that for a short time, Hoss remembered a situation from only a few months earlier.
“There was this thing that happened with the Flanagan family. The mother was Bea Flanagan. She had another baby but the little thing died right during being born. The doctor said there was nothing wrong with Bea any different than any other woman who had a baby, but she got worse and worse. She was sick to her stomach and wouldn’t eat or drink like she should have. Two weeks after the baby died, she died.”
“Yes, the wounds she suffered were mainly to her heart and soul. No one treated those because they didn’t understand that was how she was hurt. She had a sickness within her that was left untreated. It is sad that many times we don’t understand how much someone can be hurting inside.”
Lying in his bed, Adam heard those conversations. He agreed with them, and he was healing. He was making plans which they would know in part but not in whole. Secrecy was key to being successful in what he wanted to do. He did not trust that anyone else could do what he planned to do. Finally, he decided to let them know he was awake. It was time to get stronger.
“I’m thirsty.”
“I have cool water here for you. If you tolerate that well, and I think you will, then you can have something more nutritious and satisfying. I have that here too as well as a couple of cookies that should be easy for you to eat. When you have had those without a problem, Hop Sing will bring more food.”
When she said nothing as she first helped him drink some water and then sugar water before feeding him the cookies in bite-size pieces, Adam had to say something.
“You knew I was awake.”
“Yes, it wasn’t difficult to tell.”
“But you didn’t say anything.”
“I thought you must have your reasons for acting as if you were not awake. However, I guessed that thirst and hunger and perhaps other needs would win out over whatever was keeping you so still so I prepared for that.”
He didn’t have to say she was very smart. That was obvious. Saying it would seem trite so he said nothing. She only smiled at his discomfiture before she explained.
“It is not unusual for patients who have been unaware to take some time to assess the situation before they decide to let others know they are awake. I have always assumed it is a sign of intelligence or at least good planning. I had the feeling that you had some thinking to do too. I could even see you frowning at times as if there was a big problem you were working out.”
Shrugging because he didn’t know if he should take that as a compliment or if she was condescending to him, it seemed to be somewhat indifferent might be the best direction to go.
“I hear a lot in this room. Is there a chance I could go to my room?”
“You would have to go on a stretcher, but yes, I see no reason we couldn’t move you. You’re not ready to walk especially up those stairs. However, if Hoss can get some help, we can get you moved.
As soon as it could be arranged, and when the family members were outside, Hoss got help and moved Adam up to his room. It was another way to get him to relax. The familiar environment was helpful as was the location of his room much further away from the ordinary noises of people entering and leaving the house, and all the noises from the kitchen and the rest of the downstairs area. After a short time, because he didn’t want to talk about the problems he had been working out, Adam did ask where the members of his family were.
“They’re having lunch. I asked if they could wait until after their lunch before coming in here so that I could assess your condition and determine how best to proceed. Actually, I wanted to ask you how you wanted to handle things. Do you want them to visit one at a time or all three at once? It may seem like a lot to handle but I suggest all three at once. It will be a commotion, but then you can say you are tired when you have had enough. You may not think so, but you will be tired so it won’t be dishonest. When you say you are tired, that will be my cue to ask if they can all leave. One at a time can get to be intense and the questions asked can make a patient uncomfortable. Then the next one comes in and the pattern repeats. It can be far more exhausting to do it that way. That is unlikely to happen with all three in the room at the same time. They will likely also police each other’s actions.”
“Is that your usual practice?”
“What?”
With the quirk of an eyebrow and the hint of a grin, Adam responded. She got the message. She knew what he meant by his question.
“Oh, yes, I suppose so. Ask a question and then suggest an answer. Sometimes it is, but only when my experience is likely more relevant than my patient’s. I rather doubted that you have had this particular experience previously.”
Frowning slightly, Adam wanted to make a sarcastic retort but couldn’t think of one. It was her turn to have a slight smile. Instead of sarcasm, he agreed with her suggestion. She left to tell the family that he would see them all. The thunder of the family rushing up the stairs left little doubt of their enthusiasm for his decision. They did enter his room more cautiously, and the conversation was upbeat. Adam guessed she had coached them as much as she had prepared him. After a short time, he realized he was as tired as she had predicted, and he said so. They graciously agreed he should get some rest although Little Joe had to make a joke about it before they left. Nothing said he was going to recover fully more than Little Joe acting normally. That made Adam smile.
“I’m glad to see you smiling. Next, we have to change your bandages so I’m guessing it will be a scowl I see next.”
“Actually, they’re beginning to itch a little so I don’t mind.”
When they finished that task as well as some basic bathing, she helped him put on a clean nightshirt and a robe. With all of that done and his slippers on, he seemed more comfortable. She pulled the rocking chair next to the window, and getting the hint, he walked slowly to it carefully seating himself.
“Short walks across the room, rocking in the chair, and some exercises I can help you do should get you back on your feet in a week.”
“I was hoping for less.”
“That could happen, but some of your injuries may need more time to heal. It’s going to take longer for you to be back to your normal abilities too, but we will begin working on you doing some normal tasks to see how you do.”
They continued the routine for several days taking meals in his room as Adam seemed to have no interest in spending time with his family. Hoss walked in one day as she was bathing Adam with soapy cloths. Surprised at the ease with which his brother accepted the situation, Hoss offered to help him to the washroom if he wanted a bath.
“Let’s try that tomorrow. I think I’m almost ready to handle things on my own. It will be a good test. Today when I’m dressed, you could help me get out on the porch for some fresh air though. She doesn’t want me trying the stairs without help.”
Once Adam was on the porch and settled in a chair, Deeann went to get some beverages and food for them. Hoss talked with her when they were in the kitchen.
“Miss Deeann, my brother seemed awful comfortable with your care. Do you think he might be falling in love with you because I know sometimes patients fall in love with their nurses or at least I’ve heard tell of it?”
Smiling at Hoss because his rushed delivery and nervous behavior indicated how worried he was about the situation, Deeann put her hand on his arm to reassure him.
“Yes, that does happen occasionally, but usually with very serious injuries. However, many patients are also comfortable with my care because they expect it will be temporary, and they won’t see me again. I believe that is the case here. Adam has shown no indication that he has developed any feelings for me. It’s the opposite. He is very businesslike about everything. He’s holding all his emotions inside.”
“Yeah, he’s been doing that for quite a while. It makes me worried.”
“I sense he’s got some anger in him. Is that what worries you?”
“I expect he’s holding onto his temper with everything he’s got. I don’t know how he does it. So many have done things that should have riled him up something fierce, but he stays that cold calm way he has that makes me worry.”
“Those who ‘riled him up’ are probably the ones who should be most worried.”
“He’s hurt. What could he do to them?”
“In the short time I’ve known him, I know better than to ask that question.”
“You think he’s going to get even, don’t you?”
“I think he believes in justice, and he will find a way to make sure it is meted out and the scales are once again in balance. Sometimes when he’s sitting quietly, it’s like I can hear him thinking and planning because he is so intense about it. He has something going on in his mind, and I wouldn’t want to be the target of whatever those plans are.”
“He can be sneaky, but I sure don’t know how he could go up against the three men who run this syndicate and do it all by himself.”
“He wouldn’t dare do it alone, would he?”
“As far as I know, he ain’t talked to nobody about working with him on whatever he’s planning to do.”
Deeann had to admit that point which answered her question too. Gathering the items Hop Sing had gotten for her, she looked worried as did Hoss. Hop Sing had heard their conversation and tried to be reassuring.
“Maybe number one son plans are to leave and that why he not tell no one.”
“Hop Sing, that makes sense, and I’ve been worried about that too. But I got a gut feeling that there’s way more to this than that.”
Knowing the legendary predictive powers of Hoss’ gut feelings, Hop Sing began to worry more too about what the oldest Cartwright son might be planning to do. Over the next couple of weeks, Adam spent much of his time writing letters. He had Hoss or Hop Sing post them when they went to town. Waiting patiently for responses, it seemed that nothing was urgent or particularly important in any of the letters. Hoss asked him about them several times and got a similar response each time.
“Just checking in with old acquaintances. If I decide to do some traveling, I need some information to work out a schedule.”
As Adam recovered, Miss Deeann’s services were no longer needed so she headed back to town. Adam thanked her for her help and was generous in his payment for her services. From his generally neutral wording, it was clear that she was correct that he had not developed any special feelings for her. Little Joe and Hoss were far sadder than Adam to see her go. Feeling free to pursue the lady now that he was sure Adam wasn’t interested, Hoss was quick to issue an invitation.
“It sure was nice to have a lady in the house. We’re going to miss you a whole lot, Miss Deeann. You come visit any time you want. I’ll show you around the place. We got some beautiful land you never got to see while you was here.”
“Hoss is right. If you’ll come see us again, we could have a picnic down by our lake. It is really pretty, and I know you’d like it there.”
“I would be pleased to accept any invitation from either of you in the future. Both ideas sound delightful.”
That left both brothers smiling. As she rode back to town with Hop Sing, Deeann knew that she saw Hoss only as a friend and not at all as a romantic interest. He looked like a man, but he was still a boy in many ways. She was not interested in a relationship with a boy. That further clarified her feelings for her. Hop Sing seemed to understand too.
“You go on picnic with family. I pack up special lunch. It be good time after church on Sunday. You see.”
It worked out that way too. On Sunday, Joe intercepted Deeann as she walked to the church. His invitation was delivered quickly to prevent Hoss from offering an alternative. She accepted, and it was all arranged. Ben smiled, Hoss looked dejected, and Adam had that smug look as if he had expected it all to happen that way. The family accompanied Deeann to the lake for a picnic. She spent most of her time talking with Ben and Adam while sitting in the shade. She had little or no interest in the antics of the two younger sons skipping stones and wading in the shallow water with their boots off.
Over the next few weeks, Hoss tried to spend time with Deeann but their schedules somehow never matched up. He didn’t understand that she was trying to gently let him know she wasn’t interested. Meanwhile, Ben struggled to find a way to manage the finances of the Ponderosa without a contract for timber. Adam got letters in return to those he had sent but didn’t share the contents with anyone. When the Central Railroad finally announced the opening of bidding for timber contracts, Ben told his sons of his travel plans.
“I’ll be going to town tomorrow to make arrangements to get to Sacramento. If possible, I will go immediately and be there early. I don’t want to take a chance of some accident or something happening that might keep me from that meeting.”
“Pa, that’s a bad idea.”
“Adam, what could possibly be wrong with going early?”
“That’s not what’s wrong. It’s going by public transport. The Syndicate may try to stop you, and that makes it too easy.”
“Why would they want to stop me?”
Except all three men had some idea of why they would. What had happened to Adam was proof of what kinds of things they might do.
“You’ve been sending one or two hands to watch over Little Joe.”
Shocked by that, Little Joe looked to his father who could only shrug. Hoss knew about it too and tried to explain.
“Little Joe, we were worried about you. If they were to try something, we wanted to be ready. The men were told to stay far enough away so you wouldn’t know, but to stay close enough too in case some others tried to sneak up on you.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Of course, you can, son, but you might have been a bit distracted in those kinds of circumstances. On our own ranch, you would hardly expect trouble, but after what happened to Adam, we know we have to be careful everywhere. You don’t have experience with these kinds of things.”
“I guess you might be right about that, but you could have told me.”
“And then you would have told them not to do it.”
Little Joe wanted to be angry at Adam for that comment but knew he was correct. He also knew Adam was correct about the danger to their father going to that meeting.
“Pa, you shouldn’t go alone either. We can go across the country. We’ll still be there early, and they won’t suspect a thing.”
Pleased that Little Joe was agreeable to the plan, Adam had more suggestions.
“But go to town and buy your ticket tomorrow. Get one that will get you to the meeting a day early. It will still seem like you’re planning ahead, and they should have no reason to be suspicious. Oh, and invite Miss Deeann to the Ponderosa for the weekend. You can tell her that Pa will drive her back to town on Monday morning when he’s going to get on the stage to head to Sacramento.”
“But Pa is already going to be gone.”
“Yes, Joe, but anyone overhearing your conversation isn’t going to know that. She’ll say no anyway so it won’t matter. The important thing is that anyone hearing what you say will get the information we want them to have.”
“Lordy, Adam, it sounds like you’ve been planning this whole thing for awhile.”
“I have been thinking about it. And Pa and Little Joe should have a man go with them. Anyone looking for them will not be looking for three.”
“But if it’s somebody from the ranch, they’ll know anyway.”
“That’s right, Hoss, and why they should have someone else. Maybe a Paiute guide or even two. No one would likely expect that.”
Later, after all related events played out, Ben and his brothers wondered how much Adam had planned in what happened and how much had occurred simply because of the natural play of things. Criminals tended to turn on one another in a crisis. If they had integrity, loyalty, and honesty, they wouldn’t likely have been criminals. That the Syndicate destroyed itself from within could have happened without any outside intervention, but when asked, Adam wouldn’t deny that he had a part in it. After days of evasive responses, Hoss insisted one day that he admit what he did, and he tried to get an answer or an explanation of what had happened or at least what Adam had done.
“What did you do?”
“About what?”
“Don’t you go doing that thing that you do. You know what I mean. What did you do to the Syndicate fellows to get them to do what they did?”
“I didn’t do anything to them to make them do anything to each other.”
“Listen, I know you did something.”
“I may have done something, but I didn’t do anything to them, any of them to make them take a particular action. I may have encouraged one or more of them to take action by something I said or did. I may have contributed to a situation that let their fears and their suspicions about each other grow until they took action against each other. That was far better than them taking action against our father and against Little Joe, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah, but what did you do?”
“I’ve told you all I’m going to tell you. It’s all you need to know, and I don’t think you even needed to know that much.”
“Pa and Little Joe want to know too. What can I tell them?”
“Tell them what I told you.”
“That’s not much of an explanation. Pa and Little Joe were going to Sacramento expecting trouble. Instead, they got the news like everybody else that the Syndicate men were killing each other off or at least it looked that way. One was killed in his own house. The knife with blood on it and bloody clothes were found in another one’s house along with the loot from the first one’s safe. He’s arrested, and the third one skedaddles. The thing is he’s ambushed on his way to San Francisco and ends up as a show in town hanging from a building for everybody to see. Then somebody up and kills that one who’s in jail by putting poison in his food. That way he can’t go to trial and tell anybody what’s been going on. Nobody knows who done that hanging or the poisoning. Somebody had to plan that whole thing because stuff like that don’t just happen without somebody doing something to make it happen.”
“Rats abandoning a sinking ship don’t need a plan, and they’ll do whatever it takes to save themselves.”
“So you’re saying you didn’t plan all that stuff happening?”
“Hoss, how could anyone plan that kind of chaos?”
It was only later that Hoss realized Adam had not answered his last question. He had not denied it. However, he had brought up a valid point. Hoss couldn’t imagine anyone even as smart as his brother managing to control something as crazy as what happened in a couple of days to destroy that Syndicate.
When Hoss left him after that conversation, Adam knew that he was as surprised as anyone at how fast that Syndicate had collapsed. He had set it in motion but thought it would take much longer and had never imagined it would be such a complete success. It had started with some simple if dirty business based on information he had gotten by writing letters to friends and then talking to those in Chinatown who trusted him enough to tell stories about what one of the Syndicate men was doing. Then he talked to those who had power to be sure they would not oppose his actions. That wasn’t quite right either. He needed the leaders in Chinatown to accept that he was going to do something, and they had to agree not to interfere. There likely would be a cost for even such a limited amount of complicity, but he was prepared to pay it. In the end, it had been the money that helped convince them to let him try. It had all worked out rather seamlessly after he had thought through the plan. It began innocently enough with a visit to town to pick up supplies. No one could have guessed what he had in mind by the few things he was doing beginning with a little trip to Chinatown. A stroll to get some food and a few other items was a cover for arranging support for an elaborate plan or the alternative of getting permission to carry out that plan. He remembered each step of what he had done.
Chapter 4
The whole series of seemingly chaotic events began when Adam was in town with Hop Sing who carried a list of supplies to get at several stores. Adam announced that he had a list of errands to run to various establishments. After making arrangements to meet Hop Sing later in the day, Adam headed to the bank first. There he converted some of his assets into bearable notes and put his other money into the Ponderosa accounts making the ranch closer to solvent again.
Under the pretense of looking for Hop Sing and probably getting something to eat, Adam headed to Chinatown. But he wasn’t looking for Hop Sing and wasn’t particularly hungry either. He wanted to talk to the real power in that part of town, and as soon as he mentioned a name, he was dragged into a makeshift shop and accused of many things they knew he had not done. They were trying to rattle him. Remaining calm, he stuck to his story. Soon a man walked into the room and ordered the harassment to stop.
“Mr. Cartwright, I believe you said you wished to speak to me.”
“I do.”
“Stories have been told to us of what happened to you. May I assume what you wish to discuss is in reference to that?”
“You are very perceptive.”
Invited into a back room that was decorated elaborately, Adam stood facing five men who wielded authority in Chinatown.
“It has come to my attention that one of the men in the Syndicate has been paying to be with a young woman from here. He has no honor. His lack of honor is matched only by the length and depth of his willingness to cheat anyone and everyone regardless of any deal or contract he has made. That is not an exaggeration. His previous partners found that out. None of them are alive and any profits they made by working with him are back in his accounts. His loyalty is only to himself. There is no deal he will not break, no agreement he will not abrogate, and no trust he will not violate. Evasion of truth and justice is an art form with him, and that is true of his present partners as well although they lack his expertise. Many will be harmed if the Syndicate is allowed to continue unopposed.”
“I do not disagree with you. You have a plan?”
“I do.”
After Adam explained what he hoped to accomplish and how he thought he could do it, the men asked for some time to discuss his ideas. What they wanted was time to discuss him because they had already been discussing the necessity of taking on the Syndicate. They went into a back room to talk over his proposal.
“He spoke to you with ideas and information he could not know you would understand.”
“He knew. He has done research. That was obvious. I’m sure he researched my background as well. If he is successful, it could mean our right to go home again and sleep on soft beds with concubines and satin and silk.”
“You want to let him try?”
“Of course, I will let him try. If he succeeds, we win and he pays us for the right to do what we wanted done. If he fails, we have lost nothing and still have the money he agreed to pay to us so we cooperate in a very minor matter.”
“Very well, then shall we ask him for payment?”
“I shall give him my answer. If I have read the man correctly, he will pay us the money then. We will see how much it is. I assume it will be a sufficient amount. He could pay more later if we decide it is not enough.”
They gave Adam their answer. They would not interfere with his actions. If he destroyed the Syndicate, it would initially cost the men some money in mutual business interests and loss of payment for the young woman’s services, but they liked the idea for the long term. To cover the short-term losses, they wanted him to pay. The payment was in thousands exceeding the amount the men had been expecting. It was in bearer notes though which they had not been expecting.
“Those are legal to cash at any bank here, but I would suggest it wise to cash them in San Francisco when I am there to help facilitate the transfer of the funds.”
“Ah, I understand. Your father is unaware of these transactions. You are the guarantor.”
A slight dip of the head was Adam’s only answer.
“The papers there are also to introduce you to the contacts I have in the corporation who will likely be here to buy up the assets of the Syndicate if I am successful. They will need partners here and are willing to talk with you to make business arrangements for labor and security.”
“You will benefit from those arrangements?”
“Only if both sides can find mutually beneficial arrangements can be made. Then, yes, I will receive a reward for having brought the parties together.”
“Normally we would celebrate such a momentous agreement, but your friend is looking for you. I assume you would rather he not find you here? My men can get you to where you can discreetly make your way back to the general store where you plan to meet him.”
Direct yet subtle, he had let Adam know that he and Hop Sing had been watched since they arrived. So, they would work with him, but they did not trust him. It was all right. He felt that way about his new partners too. He would do what he had promised to do too so he had no worries in that regard. When he met Hop Sing, his friend seemed worried about him and suspicious about his activities but knew better than to pry. Well aware that Adam never told anyone anything unless he wanted them to know, he asked no questions.
At home, when Ben and Hoss agreed with Adam’s assessment of the situation regarding the trip to Sacramento, Little Joe had accepted it too. It worked out much as predicted. Adam wasn’t ready yet for a hard ride and Hoss was too recognizable when Ben’s journey had to be as secretive as they could make it. For several days, all seemed normal on the Ponderosa. Then, it was time for Ben and Little Joe to get ready to leave, Adam had another suggestion.
“You should head out with the men tomorrow who are going to work. Make everything look as normal as possible for the day before your scheduled departure.”
Little Joe was skeptical of his suggestion.
“I thought the whole idea was to get started well before Pa was expected to leave so that we can be nearly in Sacramento before they realize he hasn’t gone the normal way?”
Hoss understood though.
“He said to go out with them not stay with them. He means you ought to go as far as looking like you’re at a work site, and then leave from there. It will cost a little in time, but if anyone is watching, it will be darn confusing to them.”
Ben had another thought.
“You think there’s someone here working for the Syndicate?”
“Maybe not working for them but certainly willing to give information for the right amount of money, yes.”
It made sense so the next day, Ben and Little Joe dressed as if they were going to work. Driving a wagon, Hoss loaded up the gear they needed for their cross-country trek and piled a few tools on top of that. They headed out for a work site when all the men headed out to work in the morning. That evening, Hoss came back alone with a nearly empty wagon. No one knew what had happened that day, but Hoss was smiling and offered no bad news. There was no reason for anyone to pry.
The following day, the stage that Ben was supposed to be riding to the meeting in Sacramento had a devastating accident. Several passengers suffered serious injuries, and the driver was critically injured. The men who had set up the accident reported back to the Syndicate that Ben Cartwright was not on that stage. The Syndicate leaders waited for their informant on the Ponderosa to show up with news. When he did, they figured out how they had been fooled. The one who usually did the talking, Danforth, questioned the ranch hand.
“Mister Cartwright and Little Joe went out with Hoss to do some work a couple of days ago. Mister Cartwright and Little Joe didn’t come back that night when Hoss did. Nothing seemed wrong or nothing so nobody asked nothing. Now it’s been three days and they ain’t back yet, but Hoss and Adam both are acting like everything is fine so nobody’s asking them nothing.”
“Damn, they could be in Sacramento already or almost there if they’re riding hard. They could have extra horses and even have help. We have no way of knowing.”
“What about me? Do I get paid for what I told you?”
“Yes, my men here will take care of you.”
Danforth nodded to his men who escorted the informant from the room. A short time later, one of those men was back.
“I didn’t hear anything. Did you break his neck?”
“Yes, it’s quiet and not messy. We’ll take him out and act like we’re all drunk and such. He’ll end up in an alley by a saloon. Drunks who have nasty accidents are very easy to find in this town. He’ll be another unfortunate tragedy reported in the newspapers as a man with too much to drink walking in the dark and falling. It will give more fodder for the temperance ladies.”
“Sounds plausible to me.”
The other two Syndicate men left then after they agreed there was little the three could do that night. Danforth headed home for plans he had for the evening that were far more pleasant, and he hoped would take his mind off this problem. At home, he went to his study, poured a brandy, and waited for his special guest to arrive.
Already on his way to town when those men were talking, Adam was dressed in clothing he had not worn in years. It was unlikely that anyone could identify him the way he looked especially in the waning light. To complicate matters for any potential witness, he rode a horse that was recently broken and destined for sale. It was docile and easily managed so not at all a horse that suited his style but again would be another way to confuse anyone trying to identify him. They would not see what they expected to see.
Arriving at his target’s home at about dusk, Adam tied off his horse in a dark area and then went to his target’s partner’s home. He got to the bedrooms quickly and found the one Jenson used. In sizing up the three partners in the Syndicate, Adam thought he and Jenson were the closest in height and weight. He took one of the man’s shirts and a light coat. Then he left quickly changing clothing in the dark yard of the target’s house. Aware that the staff was out for the night, Adam entered the house by the unlocked kitchen door. Hearing a call for the girl to come to the study as soon as she was properly attired, Adam moved quickly in the direction of the voice. Danforth was outraged when Adam entered the study and ordered him to leave immediately.
“No, that is not what is going to happen. Your nights of using and abusing that young woman are over.”
“Young woman? She’s Chinese. I bought the right to be with her whenever I want. It’s none of your business anyway. Why are you even here?”
“I outbid you for that right. She will not be coming here anymore. I did some research and found out your habits and your weaknesses. Now I’m here because you made me your business. I am very good at taking care of business.”
“If you kill me, you will hang and your family will lose everything.”
“Of course, that could happen, but you would be dead.”
For the first time, Danforth was worried and even a bit scared. Adam was so calm when he said these horrible things. He said them in a matter-of-fact voice as if it what he wanted was already accomplished. He watched Adam as the man moved slowly around the study stopping at the weapons display where he took down a pair of throwing knives.
“Very nice.”
“A lot of my men can be here very quickly to help me if you threaten me.”
“Except not tonight. You always let your staff off on the nights you abuse that young woman. I guess you wouldn’t want them rushing in if they heard her scream.”
“You need to leave.”
A note of panic was slipping into Danforth’s words. He had never faced a situation like this. Others had always done his bidding. Facing potential violence directly was not in his experience nor in his expected mode of operation.
“I will leave, but first I have information for you. In the morning, if you are still alive, packets will be distributed to newspapers here and in Sacramento. There are details of your involvement with a Chinese young woman here and the proclivity you have to be with Chinese young women wherever you are. There are drawings and witness statements supporting those claims.”
“You wouldn’t dare!”
“Oh, you would likely be surprised at what I would dare to do. Now, you could kill me, and the story would still be published. You would be humiliated and then hang if that happened. Or you could kill yourself and avoid the humiliation.”
“I would never kill myself. Only a coward would do that.”
“Sometimes it is someone so troubled they see no other way out of a situation. They feel helpless and hopeless. Do you feel that way at all? Take a little time and think about it.”
“I won’t.”
“Then we could fight, and I could kill you in self-defense.”
“I won’t fight you.”
“Even to save your life? Even if you feel threatened?”
Tossing one of the knives to the desk where Danforth stood, Adam expected the next move. Being ready saved his life and meant Danforth would die. Dodging the poor throw by Danforth, Adam threw accurately in response hitting the man in the chest. It was not a fatal wound. Adam’s skill in throwing a knife was barely adequate, but Danforth grabbed the razor-sharp knife and pulled it which caused considerably more damage. Blood spurted from the wound. With blood pooling on the desk in front of him, Danforth stared at it in shock before collapsing to the floor. Adam waited patiently. After about fifteen minutes, he walked over to him careful not to get any blood on his boots, and pulled the bloody knife from the dead man’s hand. Going through the man’s desk, he took what looked to be important papers and carefully put them into a leather portfolio he found. Retracing his earlier route, he picked up his clothing in Danforth’s yard before he returned to Jenson’s home where he removed that man’s shirt and coat which were now bloodstained, wrapped the knife in them, and threw them and the portfolio under Jenson’s bed. He wiped his hands on a towel and threw that under the bed too. Then donning his clothing, he left and walked to where he had left his horse. He rode home hoping the rest of his plan would play out like dominoes falling in a row. He wasn’t at all sure how it would go and guessed it wouldn’t be neat and orderly like dominoes. But if he had read these men correctly, they would fall.
When the sheriff rode into the yard of the ranch the next day, Adam had a sinking feeling that he had made a mistake. Instead, the sheriff began talking about the stage having an accident.
“Now, I know Ben was supposed to be on that stage and wasn’t. Do you have any reason to believe somebody mighta wanted to see him hurt for any reason? Some of the passengers on that stage are hurt real bad, and the driver is probably never going to drive a stage again. He was hurt the worst.”
“Why would you ask us that?”
“Adam, I noticed you didn’t answer my question, and I got some idea why that is, but I got to tell you, there ain’t much reason to worry about that Syndicate no more. One of them jaspers is dead, and I got another one of them in jail charged with the murder of his partner, and a darn bloody mess it was too.”
Looking as shocked as Hoss was, Adam had to ask what happened.
“Who did what to whom?”
“We don’t know why but Jensen stabbed Danforth. Probably some argument over business far as we can tell. There were papers and such taken from Danforth and found in Jensen’s home where we found the murder weapon and bloody clothes too. It’s going to be an easy case for a jury to decide.”
“When did it happen? And what about the third one?”
The sheriff had to smile. He had hoped to catch Adam with some knowledge of what had happened because he suspected he knew more than what he was admitting. But Adam was too clever for that.
“Oh, it was late last night, and August Jenson is the killer sitting in my jail. The third one is nowhere to be found at this point. We’re looking for him because I’d like to ask him some questions about what might have happened, but I don’t know where he is. He might be up to his neck in all this mess too if he’s hiding out.”
Daniel Woodman wasn’t hiding out from the law. He was hiding from August Jenson and what he suspected might happen next. In the jail, Jenson got the visitor he had requested after meeting with his lawyer. He spoke quietly but forcefully to him.
“My lawyer isn’t offering much hope. I was framed rather well. No judge will grant me bail after the scene that was set up. Sitting in this jail, I’m an easy target too.”
“You think somebody is going to try to kill you here?”
“The same one I think created this whole thing. Think about it. Who benefits from his two partners being dead? He can kill me here or wait for me to hang. Either way, he’s the sole surviving partner and gets everything.”
“We can protect you here.”
“That only means I’ll hang. No, I have another plan. You find him and kill him. I can still pay you. Here’s a document I had the lawyer draw up. It says that if all partners are deceased, the bearer of this paper gets all the assets the partners have left in the lawyer’s safe minus whatever fees the lawyer is to be paid.”
“So he’ll honor this because he wants to be paid?”
“Of course. Now, do you accept the deal?”
Smiling, the man reached for the paper.
“How do you want Mister Woodman to meet his end?”
“He’s responsible for murdering two men. I think hanging would be appropriate.”
“Grisly, but a good choice. I think that it could be arranged so you could see it from your cell window there.”
“Jarrett, you’re good at what you do. I want to tell you. I don’t want to hang. After, Woodman, you have one more job to do, but I want it clean and painless.”
“You don’t want me to get you out of here?”
“Now that you have visited me, you will be watched until you leave town. If you return, you will be watched. You can be sure of that. They have hired many extra men because of my arrest. They expect an attempt to break me out of here. No, I’m fairly certain it wouldn’t work, and then the rest of my plan would be in shambles too. No, do what I want and remember the clean and painless part.”
“Yes, sir, your generosity will guarantee that.”
“Oh, and you don’t have to eliminate the lawyer. He will never testify against you. He has too many dirty secrets that would end his life as he knows it. My guess is he will take my generous payment and disappear from this area. The two of you appear to be the only men I could count on. I can reward loyalty.”
“Anyone else I should take care of for you? I don’t mind killing a few men.”
“A few come to mind, but I’ll be gone anyway so there’s no point to it. Thank you. If you need some help, there’s a young man by the name of Gill Janus who has helped me with a few unsavory tasks as well as run a few errands that I did not want to do personally. He acts innocent and inexperienced, but don’t let that fool you. He is greedy and has no morals to interfere with orders to do anything. He can be discreet and knows how to keep a secret too. Pay him well, and he’ll do anything you ask and keep his mouth shut afterward.”
The next morning, the citizens of Virginia City were greeted with the sight of a man hanging from the building near the jail. A metal band secured him to the wall of the building so a blacksmith had to be summoned to free the body. He was there for over an hour for spectators to get a good look. Jenson heard the commotion and looked out of his jail cell window to enjoy the view. He had no reason to be joyful, but he had to smile at Jarrett’s efficiency.
Later that same day, Jenson ate his dinner and felt drowsy. He lay back on his lumpy jail cot and pulled the thin blanket over his chest and shoulders. When the sheriff’s deputy came to retrieve his dinner tray, Jenson didn’t respond to calls to slide it through the slot in the door. He didn’t move or show any response at all.
“Sheriff, I think we got a problem here.”
The Syndicate was dissolved. Its assets were for sale with the managers handling the sales and the stockholders reaping the benefits. A large eastern corporation conveniently had a representative there and made offers that were attractive and kept the mines open. Adam received a commission for his recommendation to that corporation to be ready for such a situation. He kept most of it, but he did pay an additional amount to those in Chinatown who had offered assistance to him in his endeavor. He thought it was good business practice to share the result of their combined efforts, and his action was taken as a gesture of good faith. He would have help again if needed.
When Little Joe and Ben returned home with a contract from the Central Railroad, it seemed all was well. It was calm and settled until Ben learned that Adam had deposited money into the Ponderosa accounts. Ben had been feeling pretty good about himself with that contract and thinking he was once again in charge of the Ponderosa. His confidence had been shaken by the missteps he had taken and which he hated. To be reminded that he had messed up and with his pride punctured and the patch barely holding, he was oversensitive. That was an understatement by Hoss’ estimation especially after he heard what his father said before anyone could interject anything. Ben got home from Virginia City after a visit to their main bank and confronted Adam immediately.
“How dare you supersede my authority without even consulting me. You couldn’t wait to try to prove one more time that you’re superior to me. Let me tell you, boy, this is my ranch. I will run it my way, and no impertinent, disrespectful son of mine is going to take my ranch away from me or tell me how to run it.”
It was eerie how quiet it was at that moment when Ben stopped yelling. Hoss and Little Joe waited for an explosion from Adam, but they were shocked when he said nothing. He stared at his father as if challenging him to apologize. Ben was not the kind of man to ever apologize when he was angry even if at that moment he was already regretting much of what he had said. The anger had been building in the hours since he had heard what Adam had done. It was illogical and irrational, but he was emotional about his ranch and had let those feelings explode. When there was no retraction and no apology, Adam turned and grabbed his hat and gunbelt walking out the door almost as silently as a man could. The door didn’t slam but closed slowly and slid shut softly with a whisper of wood against wood.
“Pa, you gotta go do something. That outburst of yours probably done more damn harm than anything anybody else ever did to him. You don’t go fix this now, it probably ain’t never gonna be fixed.”
“I can’t talk to him when he’s like that.”
“Pa, you have to do like Hoss said. What you mean is you can’t talk to him when you’re like that. I know. I’ve done the same thing, and I was wrong, but this is worse. I’m just his dumb kid brother, but you’re his Pa. You need to do something and fast.”
The discussion continued for a few minutes which was too long. The sound of a horse riding out let them know the chance at reconciliation may have been lost. The next morning at breakfast, Adam sat quietly in his chair as Ben tried to find the words that he had to eat. When he finally started to talk, Adam stopped him.
“There’s no point to anything you’re going to say. I know by now you’re sorry. I know you wish you hadn’t said what you did. But it happened, and it wasn’t the first time. I’ve been thinking about my options for a while now. All of you know it whether you want to admit it or not. Months ago, I began checking into things to see how realistic my ideas were. They’re good enough that I have made a decision to pursue some of them. I plan to leave within a few weeks. I have a few things yet to organize, and I would like to spend some time with all of you before I go to be sure you understand my reasons for going. It is not to leave any one of you. It is to seek what I cannot find here. I had offers in the East, but I came back here out of loyalty and love. However, it seems, my role here has changed into something that I cannot accept. I will not be an employee and dutiful son when I should be a partner in this ranch. My judgment is questioned on every front. I have to be able to make decisions and have them backed up. That’s not happening here. I cannot succeed with the standards that have been set for me. They are unreasonable. I will seek out my dream elsewhere.”
There were some skeptical looks at that with Little Joe the most unbelieving. Adam had expected that and had allowed time to spend with his youngest brother. He didn’t want to leave a sourness in their relationship when he left. With Hoss, he had made promises that now he was going to have to amend. His father would have to understand, and considering his past, that should not be difficult for him once he got his feelings under control. A few weeks would give them time to achieve a more balanced perspective. At least, he hoped it would work.
“I’ve got some business to do in town in the next couple of days. Then I will be back to spend time here before I go. I will not be changing my mind.”
That information left them in various states of shock and disbelief. Yes, they had worried about Adam leaving, but somehow, each had thought it could never actually happen. Now what they had denied was happening, and none knew anything that could change the course that Adam had chosen.
Chapter 5
A man who was having a difficult time not changing his mind or course of action was Gill Janus. He had worked out an elaborate plan, practiced what he needed to do, and gotten the items he needed to have to make his plan work. Then he was ready and had hoped to pull off his scheme months earlier, but Adam Cartwright’s life kept taking twists and turns that messed up Gill’s planning and his schedule. There were times that Gill was ready to bash his father’s head in with a shovel or was tempted to put rat poison in his coffee. He even considered burning down the house one hot evening when the two of them had a particularly vicious argument. With all the fires in the area, no one would likely have suspected him, but suspicion might have fallen on the Syndicate, and Gill had known better than to get them upset with something like that.
Whenever Gill got too upset with his father, he always managed to calm himself with the mantra that he couldn’t be there when his father was killed. Because he would reap no benefit from his father’s death if he had to pay the penalty for his action, the blame for the murder had to fall on someone else. So he planned to have an alibi but Adam Cartwright had to be available to take the blame. His plan hinged on those two things and nothing else could work out for him unless those two things were true. He had been waiting for months for the elements of his plan to come together. Sometimes he was amused to think that Adam’s fate was going to be determined by the lessons he had learned so well from Adam. Plan what you can plan and be patient. Gill had done that and now he had to be patient and wait for the opportunity to use his well-developed plan.
In town, Gill had been doing his best to sow the seeds of doubt about Adam. Whenever he could, he reminded people of the men Adam had killed. He wanted the label of killer attached to him so when people thought of him, they thought of a man who could and did kill other men. Reminding people of Adam’s skill with a rifle by bringing up that incident with the freight haulers and the ambush reinforced the killer label too. Of course, it did remind people that Gill had kept his head down and not fired his shotgun, but in an odd way, that helped his plan too. Everyone would have the idea that he wasn’t the kind of man to kill anyone. That certainly would work to his advantage or he assumed it would. People wouldn’t expect him to suddenly become a killer. They didn’t know of the things he had done to make money which included killing men and in one case doing it in a most gruesome way. He would never tell anyone about those kinds of things. So, of course, they didn’t know that he was already a killer. The only time he had shied away from killing was when the men he might have killed were shooting at him. He preferred a helpless victim. It reminded him of hunting deer and antelope. They didn’t fight back either. He liked killing them because it gave him a sense of power. Other than money, power was the other thing Gill wanted.
And then opportunity met planning when Gill saw Adam riding to town. It was the right kind of chance. Gill got the rifle he had purchased in Carson City and set his plan in motion. The first step was to make his father’s murder look like it was done by Adam by using a rifle of the same caliber as the one that belonged to Adam. Gill’s rifle was a smaller caliber. He had purchased one like Adam’s and prepared it to be found and identified as Adam’s. Plan what you could plan was what Adam had told him. He didn’t think it would be necessary, but he was prepared for the possibility that the rifle would be needed for evidence. The rifle was only taken from its hiding place when he was practicing his shooting. Otherwise, he kept it hidden away. Gradually he became a more accurate shooter or at least good enough to accomplish what he needed to do which was to shoot his father from a long distance. Everyone knew that Adam could do that so any accusation that he had would start tongues wagging or he hoped so. It was part of his plan.
Gill’s father was working on a fence line. From a distance, Gill shot him. With all the practice he had been doing, it wasn’t difficult. When his father crumpled to the ground, Gill wrapped the rifle back in the slicker he used to conceal and protect it, and he put it back in its hiding spot. It wouldn’t do to have a rifle in his possession that was recently fired when he “discovered” his father’s lifeless body. Some of the hands had heard the rifle shot, but none came to find out what happened until Gill fired his pistol three times. Then they were shocked to find Gill with his father’s body.
“Somebody shot him.”
A couple of the men glanced at Gill’s horse. They saw no rifle and knew it had been a rifle shot they heard earlier. Knowing the animosity that had been growing between the two men, it was an understandable suspicion, but Gill only had a pistol. The men were sympathetic then and helped load the body into the wagon and bring it back to the house. There, Gill began telling the story when the men asked questions.
“Who do you think could have done this, Gill?”
“There’s only one man who could have done this.”
“Who?”
It was time for Gill to start spinning his story.
“Adam Cartwright. I saw him riding by earlier, and then a short time later, I heard that shot. He’s damn good with a rifle.”
“But why would he shoot your father?”
“It don’t make no sense.”
Then Gill got to spin the rest of the story to get his plan moving forward.
“It does if I tell you a nasty story. It goes back to when we rode home from Sacramento with those freight haulers. Everybody thinks of Adam as a hero for what he did, but they don’t know the dark side of him. They don’t know the deal he wanted to make with me.”
“What kind of deal?”
“Well, sometimes at night, we’d sit around, and we’d tell stories. You know, mostly complaints, like some of us are prone to do. I do it often enough. Pa and I had enough fights that you all know how many stories I could tell. Well, Adam had plenty to tell too, so we began comparing our fathers. Then he nearly made me fall over with what he said. I did spit out the coffee that was in my mouth.”
“What’d he say?”
“He said as we ‘both hated our fathers so much, we could help each other.’ I said I don’t hate my father. I just want him to treat me more like a man. He said ‘well it’s about the same thing. I got that problem too. Now we can get rid of that problem if we work together. No one would ever suspect us.’ I said suspect us of what? He said, ‘well if you shoot my father and I shoot yours, we could be sure to have alibis and no one would ever suspect a thing.’ I said that’s a really bad joke. He laughed and said ‘yeah, I got kind of a dark side to me.’ I said it’s not a dark side, it’s downright awful. He only laughed some more. ‘You should have seen your face when I said it.’ I said that’s because it wasn’t funny. I haven’t seen him since. I didn’t want to have any contact with him because I was worried he might bring up that awful idea again. I wasn’t convinced he was making a bad joke. I think he meant it when he said it and only said it was a joke when I reacted like I did. Now he’s up and done it. I suppose he expects me to do the same for him now. It’s no deal. But maybe he thinks there is one. Well, he’s crazy.”
“You been practicing a lot with your rifle, Gill. We’ve been hearing the shooting for months now.”
The men were a little suspicious. They knew Adam a little, and it didn’t seem like something he would do although he did seem to have that dark side Gill mentioned.
“I know. I was worried that I might have to go up against Adam about this. I ain’t so good with a pistol, but I thought I might stand a chance with a rifle if I practiced. I never thought he would just up and do it like this.”
That made sense to them.
“Yeah, what about that part about you having an alibi. He didn’t even worry about that.”
“I know that isn’t what he said should happen. Maybe he wanted me to take the blame because I didn’t go along with his plan. I can’t think of any other way this could have happened. No one else would have shot my father.”
The men had to agree with that.
“We’ll go to town with you. We can all let the sheriff know and get Adam Cartwright locked up where he ought to be.”
“If he ain’t strung up right off.”
“Yeah, we hardly need a trial for this one.”
The men were telling him they were on his side. They were going to back him up which would help seal the fate of Adam Cartwright.
“Let’s stick with the law on this one, men. You know how my father was about the law. Out of respect for him, let’s have the sheriff handle it. Unless Adam and his father try to pull some tricks to get out of this. Then I would be more than happy to have you men make sure my father gets justice.”
“Whatever you say, Boss. You’re in charge now.”
It made Gill feel good to hear that. It was all he had hoped for and more. His dream was coming true and all he had to do was make sure Adam Cartwright was dead before he could explain his way out of this. He guessed some whisky and some more talk would be about all it would take or at least he hoped that was true.
“Would you help me get my father into his best suit and wrap him up for the trip to town. I want a grand funeral in town and a parade through town for everyone to see. Only the best for my father. We may have had some arguments, but those were about the ranch not about us.”
It was probably two hours then before the procession halted by the sheriff’s office. Gill waited while one of the men went inside to get the sheriff. A crowd gathered and some of the men began telling the story as Gill sat waiting and looking as sorrowful as he could. By the time the sheriff came outside, many in the crowd had heard most of Gill’s version of the story and Gill blurted out a short version to the sheriff.
“Gill, we ought to go inside and get a proper statement from you on this.”
“I told you what happened.”
“Yeah, but when you go accusing somebody like Adam Cartwright, you better have everything done right and proper, you know, follow all the legal rules.”
“So he don’t get away with it because he finds a way around being guilty because some rule got broke? That don’t sound reasonable, Sheriff.”
“Now, Gill, you know your father would want you to follow the law.”
“He would, but look what it got him. I think maybe we ought to go get Adam Cartwright wherever he’s hiding and put him in that jail before he gets away. Then I can give you a formal, legal, follow all the rules statement.”
That suggestion fired up the crowd. The sheriff had no hope of stopping them so he went with them hoping to curb their more violent impulses.
Unfortunately for Adam Cartwright, he had no idea what was happening out there on the street. He was relaxing in a bath at the hotel enjoying the quiet solitude. When a group of men rushed in, pulled him from his bath, and tied his arms behind his back, he complained and got a fist to his belly for an answer. It doubled him over and knocked the breath out of him. The sheriff intervened with warnings.
“I told you men there not to hurt him. He’s innocent until proven guilty, and Adam, stay quiet until you get to the jail.”
“Why am I going to the jail?” and “Let me get dressed.” got him two more punches. Adam wasn’t good at taking unreasonable orders.
The prospect of taking Adam to jail in his present state with his arms tied behind his back was very satisfying to Gill and everyone there could tell. They understood too. To them, Adam had killed Walter Janus so of course Gill would want every terrible thing to happen to him. Under the circumstances, they were willing to oblige. Adam was pulled from that room and out of the hotel past the guests who had gathered in the lobby and then across and down the street to the jail past a much larger crowd of people who had come to see what all the fuss was. As Gill’s version of events was relayed through that population, anger grew as did the desire to take care of justice for Walter Janus that night. Luckily, the sheriff got Adam into a cell before any of that desire to lynch him coalesced into an actual attempt to take custody of him. The sheriff decided that he needed to keep some of these men busy before they did organize a lynch party.
“Could two of you please go get all of Adam’s other things from the hotel? Could two others go to the livery and get his things there including his saddle? I need somebody to go outside too and see if anyone can tell us when Adam got to town and ask too if he met with anyone when he got here.”
Soon, Gill was the only one left until the men returned with Adam’s possessions. The sheriff looked them over and then questioned the men who had brought the items.
“Where’s his rifle?”
“We asked at the livery, and they said he didn’t have one. There’s no rifle scabbard with his horse and gear.”
“There wasn’t one with his stuff at the hotel either.”
“I have to tell you it’s going to be darn hard to convince a judge and a jury he done this thing if he doesn’t even have a rifle.”
Gill had never considered the possibility that Adam would be riding to town and not have a rifle with him. He had to scramble now to come up with a way out of this mess.
“Sheriff, you know how smart he is, and people say he can be sneaky too. He must have known that without a rifle, it would be hard to find him guilty of all this. We’ll go search for his rifle, and when we find it, he won’t be safe anywhere.”
“All right, go ask around and see if anyone saw him with a rifle or got a rifle from him. See if he made any other stops in town. Work in pairs or in a group of three so if you have to testify later, there will be someone to back up what you say.”
Without saying another word, the sheriff picked up Adam’s clothing and walked back to the cells as the men left leaving only Gill in the office again. Adam was slumped on a cell with one arm around his middle. The sheriff opened his cell and tossed in his valise with his clothing. Adam immediately began to dress.
“What the hell is going on? And it took you long enough to give me my damn clothes. What was the point of that stunt dragging me over here naked? Who were those men? They weren’t deputies. That was clear. You barely had control of the situation. What is it that I’m supposed to have done?”
“I’ll try to explain what I know when you’re done with your rant. I have a few questions for you too.”
“I don’t rant.”
“That was a pretty good imitation of one then.”
“All right. Sorry. Ask your questions, but if you could do it fast and then tell me what the hell is going on here?”
“I will. First, what are you doing in town?”
“You had the ask the hardest one first. I’m leaving. I told my father that I had business to take care of in town, but really what I needed was a couple of days away while he gets used to the news. I knew what would happen if I stayed there after I told him. I said I’d be back in a couple of days to spend time with the family before I left.”
“Where are you going?”
“To San Francisco first, then to Nicaragua and across to catch a ship to New Orleans. From there, I’m making my way to see several people about possible employment.”
“You have proof of this?”
“I have letters. Why do I need proof of any of this?”
“Walter Janus was murdered today. Shot by a long-range rifle shot. One shot killed him.”
In the middle of pulling on his boots, Adam paused but then finished that task. He sat back on the lumpy cot and stared straight ahead for a moment.
“I have a horrible feeling I know what this is about now.”
“You want to tell me?”
“It’s an awful story. When I was riding back here with the freight haulers, Gill Janus made what he said was a joke. It wasn’t funny. We’d been sharing complaints about our fathers. I wasn’t in a very good frame of mind with the things my father had been putting me through. I said too much about my frustrations venting my anger when I thought it wouldn’t matter. I thought Gill was doing the same. But then it took a very ugly turn. Gill thought it would be a good idea if we killed them both. He said he would murder my father if I would murder his. I told him no deal and that it was a grotesque thing to say. He laughed and said it was only supposed to be a joke, but the way he said it to me implied he had meant it. Then came the attack on the haulers and Gill’s cowardice under fire. It meant I could easily avoid him after that, and I did. I didn’t like what I had learned about his character that night with that ugly conversation, and then in the fight for our lives and he had concern only for his.”
In the main office, Gill had moved close to the door to the cells and heard everything the two men said. He realized at that point if Adam ever testified in court and said what he had just said, it would shake everyone’s confidence in his own version of events. That, and no rifle in Adam’s possession were major weaknesses in the case as well as the papers Adam had in his home supporting his plan to leave. Gill knew he had a lot of cleaning up to do, or he had to go on the run as a wanted man. That prospect was not one he wanted to have to choose. Wanted and running forever because a murder charge never ran out was a prospect that made him willing to consider doing anything to avoid it. It would also mean being poor instead of owning a ranch and living better than almost anyone out here. So he began making plans on how to deal with the other three problems. The rifle had to be found, those papers had to be eliminated, and Adam could never be allowed to testify.
Orchestrating a plan to find that rifle was the easiest part of his plan. It seemed that without the rifle as evidence, getting Adam lynched was unlikely to happen. People were not so sure of things because of the lack of physical evidence. Once the rifle was found, their doubts would be erased. Gill was sure of that, and anything that happened to Adam after that would be easier to manage. He was sure of that too.
The next part wasn’t as easy, but he did think he could find a way to get into the ranch house on the Ponderosa and get those papers from Adam’s room. The third part was more difficult, but he had worked with a man named Taggert who didn’t mind killing people. For a small favor, he had helped him find and then hang a man from a building in town. That man had deserved what he got so Gill never felt any guilt about what he had done. Afterward, many people in town talked about how justice had been done, and Gill had to refrain from explaining how he had been part of that. Oh, he did often interject in those conversations that he didn’t think it was right to kill. He needed to keep reminding people that he was no killer even though he was. Yes, he would find Taggert. He was sure the man would know how to get rid of Adam Cartwright especially if that rifle was found and they could get the right people stirred up.
By then, Gill was pacing around the office and didn’t hear any more of the conversation between Adam and the sheriff. He thought he had heard enough, but he should have listened more. Lack of patience was another problem he had and one his father had often pointed out to him. Yes, and added to his problem of not listening when he should, he had a terrible combination of faults for this situation. However, if he had listened, he might not have heard the most important parts of the conversation anyway. Too late, Adam found out Gill was in the other room when he heard someone pacing.
“Who’s out in your office?”
“Gill is waiting out there.”
If Adam had known that earlier, he wouldn’t have said some of the things he had. The sheriff realized too that they should have been more discreet in their conversation considering the turn it had taken. The rest of what they said was in more of a whisper than in anything that could possibly be overheard except for one small omission that Adam set up later.
“Gill has to be watched. I’m sure he killed his father and is trying to lay the blame on me. But he has to put a rifle in my hands for that to work. Somehow, he’s going to lead someone, perhaps even you, directly to that rifle.”
“What can we do about that? He’s probably worked that out already. It seems he’s worked out a lot of the details of this whole thing.”
“Two things could help. Take the best tracker you know with you. When you find that rifle, have him sort out the tracks to and from where it’s found. Check out the shoes on my horse. Have him compare the tracks to see if any of them match the horse I rode. Have him check Gill’s horse too. If he used that rifle, he’s made more than one trip to it. Have the tracker look for those old tracks and mark the direction they go.”
“That will cast suspicion on him, but it doesn’t clear you.”
“I’ve got another idea.”
Adam talked more loudly then as if he was answering a question.
“Of course I have an alibi. Well, maybe not an alibi, but I have proof or evidence to back up what I told you. I have letters in my room at home. They will verify what I told you about leaving. There would be no reason to have my father killed if I was leaving. So there would be no point to killing Mister Janus.”
The sheriff caught on quickly.
“Well, I guess those letters could make a big difference. I sent a man to tell your father what’s happened. When they go back out there tomorrow, they could get those letters together and they could be brought back here to me. I’m guessing those letters would help your case a lot.”
“Yes, without those letters, I wouldn’t be able to show I was leaving. It would only be my word that was what I planned to do.”
In a whisper, the sheriff asked a question about those letters.
“Where are those letters?”
“I’ve got them in the valise here. I packed them with my clothing so I could read them over when I was in town. I wanted to finalize my plans and needed the details that are in the letters.”
“Might be best if you give them to your lawyer so he can put them in his safe until they’re needed as evidence.”
“Maybe.”
The sheriff knew Adam was going to keep the letters with him because he didn’t trust anyone very much at this point. Considering his position, the sheriff didn’t blame him much. He went out to chat with Gill until the other men returned to the jail. When they arrived, they had no news to report.
“Sheriff, he must have gotten rid of the rifle right after he shot my father. I think he may have hidden it on our ranch. Tomorrow, I can lead any men who are interested to where he might have been when he killed my father. I should say when he murdered my father. We can search for it and see what else we can find.”
“Thank you, Gill. I’ll go with you so that any evidence that you find will be officially taken. Every little bit helps in a case like this.”
Everything was set up the way he and Adam had worked it out. Then Ben Cartwright stormed into the office and nearly upset the whole plan.
Chapter 6
Outside the sheriff’s office, Ben had walked through a gauntlet of people who questioned his son’s innocence. Some were sympathetic and some were accusatory. Ben had the same answer for all of them.
“My son did nothing wrong. Any charges against him are lies.”
Nothing stopped the comments though until Hoss grabbed a man who stood in Ben’s way and wanted to argue the issue.
“Mister, you say one word against my brother Adam, and I’m gonna break you in two. If anybody wants to try the same, I have more of the same waiting for them. We’re going inside now, and you folks oughta go home until we can get this straightened out.”
“Walter Janus was a good man.”
“Yes, sir, he was. But his son is a useless piece of cow dung, and until today everyone seemed to know that. All of a sudden, you’re willing to believe what that cowardly cur has to say. Now why is that?”
Things got quieter then allowing the family to enter the jail. What Hoss said made sense and made some question the conclusions they had drawn. Inside, Adam and the sheriff had heard both what Ben had to say and what Hoss said which quieted the crowd. When Ben made his dramatic entrance, he was followed by Hoss and Little Joe. Their presence didn’t help because if trouble happened, those two were too young to be in the middle of it. With Ben there, trouble was more likely too.
“Sheriff, I want my boy out of this jail this instant.”
“Ben, I’m not going to tell you to calm down because I know that won’t work. But I will tell you this. You’re in my office, and you will show respect for me here. Next, your son, Adam, is not a boy. He is a man, and as a man, he is in jail because he has been charged with the murder of Walter Janus. Until that matter is settled, he’s staying right here.”
The sheriff held up a hand to stop Ben from interrupting him. He had more to say.
“Now, I have to tell you I don’t believe he did it, but he is safer here than he would be if he was outside this jail. You didn’t see the crowd earlier and the mood some of them were in. You rolling in here and demanding his release and probably going to the judge and filing some papers to get him released is as likely to get him lynched as anything else anyone can do.”
“But I can’t let him sit in jail like a criminal. He didn’t murder anyone.”
“I know that. But, here, I have some authority that at least some of the people will respect, and if not, I have four walls and some shotguns. That’s more protection than he would have walking out that door.”
“I hope your plan is bigger than simply keeping him alive until a trial.”
“It is, but I think it would be better if you don’t know what it is. I do have a few ideas that you could help with. Tomorrow morning, I need you to ride with us when we go look for the rifle that was used to murder Walter. You’ll be there protecting Adam’s interests. If you know anything about tracking, that would be helpful too.”
“I do all right with tracking, but Hoss here is an excellent tracker and probably as good or even better than Adam.”
“All right, Hoss will come with us too. I’ll have a deputy or two here, and Little Joe can stay here. Don’t look so worried, Ben. The main ones we have to worry about will be out with us looking for that rifle.”
“I wish I knew what your plan was.”
“It’s mostly your son’s plan. It’s a good one.”
“I shouldn’t be surprised by that. Planning is one of his best skills. Always has been. Can we see him now?”
When they walked back to the cell, Adam had a bit of a smirk, and Ben knew why.
“You can smirk, but I’m not the one in a jail cell.”
That sobered up the conversation.
“It certainly wasn’t what I was expecting for my first night in town.”
“Is there anything we can get for you?”
“A couple of blankets would be nice.”
“You’re cold?”
“No, the mattress is so lumpy and smelly, I thought I would layer a couple of blankets over the top and sleep better.”
“We’ll take care of that. I see you have your things. Do you want us to bring you anything to eat? We’ll be getting dinner so it wouldn’t be a problem.”
“No, I don’t think my stomach could handle a big meal about now.”
It was the first and only admission Adam had made that the situation had unnerved him. Ben put his hand through the bars hoping Adam would take it. He did.
“We’ll get through this. I don’t know what the plan is that you worked out with the sheriff, but I trust it is a good one. You always plan well. Hoss and I are going with the group who are searching for this rifle tomorrow. We’ll do our best to represent your interests.”
“Just do whatever the sheriff asks. That’s all I need.”
“Tomorrow, I’m staying here at the jail with you, Adam. Maybe I could sing to you so you won’t be bored.”
Little Joe grinned broadly at Adam’s look of horror at that prospect. Then he offered an alternative.
“Of course, if you wanted to play some checkers or chess or even cribbage, then I guess I wouldn’t have time to sing.”
“I think you just roped me into that one.”
Ben and Hoss had to laugh. Adam was smiling too.
“He learned from the best, older brother.”
Then Adam got serious.
“Before you leave, I have to tell you something. I heard what you said to the people outside. It meant a lot to me that you trusted me.”
Ben reached in and took Adam’s hand once more. Hoss shrugged.
“Well, older brother, you can be darn ornery, but no matter how mad you ever get, you ain’t never shot nobody who didn’t need it.”
More diplomatic in his response, Ben was equally supportive.
“I know we have had our differences, but you would never do anything like this, and anyone who thinks that is a fool or stupid. I don’t think anyone ever needs to be killed, but sometimes one has to act in self-defense or defense of others. You have that kind of moral character, and I could never doubt you.”
Although Adam knew he had pushed that line already, he knew he could never kill in cold blood. Even with Danforth, he had waited until the man attacked him. It was a thin line, but it was there.
The next morning, Gill was surprised to see Ben and Hoss join the group heading to his ranch to search for the rifle. Although he hid it well, he was gleeful though because it meant Adam’s father would have to testify against his son about finding the rifle. With what he had done, he thought it would put the murder weapon in Adam’s hands. With only a little wandering about on the ranch as if he was trying to be sure, Gill led them to the area where he said a shooter would have had a line of sight to where his father was working. The men panned out from there and soon one of the men yelled that he had found something. The sheriff had told them not to touch anything until he was there with the others. One of Gill’s men stood next to a tree that had a hollow in it from a lightning strike. In the hollow was something long wrapped in a slicker. The sheriff dismounted and pulled it out unwrapping the rifle from the slicker. The rifle had AC carved into the stock, and the slicker had the same initials on the inside of the collar. The men there were about ready to ride to town and join any lynch mob that might form.
“Pa, that ain’t Adam’s rifle, and he ain’t never had a slicker like that.”
“Hoss, I know that, but here isn’t the place to talk about it. Let’s look at the tracks. It’s what we came here to do, and it’s the only thing that can help Adam now.”
Ignoring the comments from the posse, Hoss and Ben got busy looking at tracks. Soon, they were pointing out a number of them to the sheriff and the rest of the posse.
“Here’s another one. It’s going in the same direction as all the others.”
The tracks all led back to the Janus ranch. There were no tracks from that tree or anywhere in that area that led to town. Even considering the tracks of the posse there to search, there were no tracks in any direction that even circled around and headed back to town or toward the Ponderosa. Without fail, every set of tracks headed toward the Janus ranch. It was a failure in Gill’s plan that he realized far too late. It left doubt in the minds of the men there despite the overwhelming evidence they thought they had found earlier.
Too late, Gill remembered one of those things Adam had told him about planning. When he talked about the outlaws who attacked the freight wagons, he said they had a plan but followed it without thinking about what could go wrong. They had not planned on alternatives if the original plan didn’t work out as expected. Gill had done the same thing, and now he needed even more help before his whole plan went wrong and he ended up with a rope around his neck. He had sent messages to try to contact Taggert but had not received a reply. So, he had decided he would have to try to use some of that man’s methods even if he didn’t have his help. Gill wanted to be a wealthy man, an important man, and getting control of the ranch was the first step. Without it, he wouldn’t have the resources to do anything more. But he had to stay alive too and free. Whoever had to be sacrificed to make that happen was a necessary cost. What he needed was a new plan and one in which he thought about what could go wrong and have alternative steps to take if that happened. He had already set one plan in motion, and if it worked, he wouldn’t have to worry about any of this or any more planning about what to do about Adam Cartwright.. He preferred that there would be no trial and no examination of the evidence. If his plan worked, that would be the desired outcome
In town, Adam and Little Joe were playing checkers, but Little Joe couldn’t win. None of the tricks he used on Hoss worked with Adam just like they didn’t work with their father. So he asked if they could try cribbage or chess.
“Maybe cribbage would be the best option. I think we could be a fairly even match there.”
“Oh, you think you’re better at chess than me?”
A quirked-up eyebrow was his only answer. He laughed and pulled the cribbage board out with a deck of cards as Adam put the checkers set away. They were in the middle of a hard-fought game when lunch arrived.
“Adam, let’s eat.”
“I’m not that hungry yet. I’ll be hungrier when I beat you.”
“No, I’ll be hungrier when I beat you.”
They played for a few more minutes until they heard some loud thumps from the office area. Little Joe wanted to investigate immediately, but Adam had him wait.
“Did you recognize the man who brought the food in?”
“No, I never saw him before today.”
“He seemed nervous.”
“I guess I might be too if I was coming into the jail for the first time.”
“Of maybe it was something else. Carefully, look around the door to the office and then tell me what you see. Quietly.”
“You’re making me scared.”
“Good because I already am.”
Peeking around the corner, Little Joe stepped back carefully but quickly and looked probably as scared as he felt. He whispered to Adam.
“The two deputies are on the floor. They got white foam on their mouths. They’re staring at me, but they don’t look so good.”
“Little Joe, I need you to be very brave now. Go in the office and get their guns and bring them to me. Quickly.”
“I can’t.”
“You can. You need to do it. It could save our lives. Go fast and don’t think too much about it.”
That was the kind of thing Little Joe could do. He rushed out into the office, grabbed two guns, and rushed back handing both to Adam.
“Now get behind that door. If someone comes in here, you should be safe there.”
“What about you?”
“You gave me two guns. It will have to be enough. Remember, they will think we’re dead from eating that food.”
“Oh, yeah, they wanted us to eat and be dead like the deputies.”
Little Joe shivered then. He remembered how close he had been to the two men and how he could feel that their bodies were still warm when he reached them and pulled their pistols from their belts. It had nearly made him run back to the cells, but Adam had told him he could do it. He couldn’t let him down after he said that.
“Get behind the door. There may not be time if they come in here fast.”
It wasn’t fast, and they weren’t murderers. Almost two hours later, the sheriff, Ben, Hoss, Gill, and members of the posse came into the office to find the two dead unarmed deputies. Rushing to the cell area, they found Adam who offered the weapons butts first through the cell bars. Then Little Joe came out from behind the door. In shock, the sheriff wanted answers.
“What the hell happened here?”
Gill was quick to improvise.
“Looks like an attempted escape from jail.”
Adam was shocked by that theory. “What?”
Little Joe intervened with his story before anyone else could say anything.
“Pa, someone tried to poison us, but we were playing cribbage and didn’t eat right away. We heard noises and I saw the deputies on the floor. Adam had me get their guns in case anybody came in here. He made me hide behind the door. That was a long time ago.”
“I’m surprised he didn’t have you get the keys instead of guns. But I guess there were too many of us for the guns to be of much use.”
“Gill, I had the keys. I didn’t want any possible lynch mob to open the cell, and knowing Little Joe too, I took the keys with me.”
Gill jumped on that opportunity.
“So, Adam wouldn’t have known that and this might have been an attempt to break jail. He killed two more men, but he botched the jailbreak.”
“Gill, that’s not what I said. Besides, their food was poisoned too.”
“Very convenient that they didn’t eat it though, isn’t it? It’s like he knew they shouldn’t.”
Gill had effectively thrown suspicion back on Adam. Until that moment, Adam had doubted his own conclusion that Gill must have killed his father. But the look of triumph that Gill had when the sheriff made his next statement convinced Adam that he had drawn the logical answer to the question of who had shot Walter Janus.
“Unfortunately, Adam, there’s going to be an inquest, and I think the best place for you to be until then is here.”
Although Adam had expected that, Ben had not. He thought there had been enough weakness exposed in the case against Adam that he could be released. The sheriff told him he could sit down and talk it over with him after everyone left. Ben wanted to argue more. Both Adam and Hoss asked him to listen to the sheriff.
“Pa, this will all get cleared up at the inquest. You have to be patient. If anyone wants this settled, it’s me, and I’m willing to let justice be served.”
“Maybe you don’t know all that’s going on, Pa. Maybe you should take this advice from Adam. Seems reasonable enough to me.”
Although Gill was on his way out by then, he heard that conversation. He guessed that there was more going on than he knew, and then remembered the papers Adam said he had in his room. They might or might not be there, but he had done some work for Jenson that involved forging some signatures and some writing. They had found that he was good at it. As Ben, his sons, and the sheriff were busy back by Adam’s cell, Gill backtracked to the sheriff’s desk and looked for Adam’s statement. When he found it, he hurried to copy the way Adam wrote each letter. He had some idea what to do about those papers. When he thought he had enough, he folded the paper and put it in his pocket and leaned on the desk. It was just in time too as the sheriff walked into the office. He was surprised to find Gill leaning on his desk.
“You’re still here?”
“Yes, sheriff, what are you going to do about the inquest? I want to know when and where it will be. I have a right to know.”
“I’ll let you know as soon as all the details are worked out.”
“I hope that’s soon. I mean you letting me know and the inquest.”
“It will be. This whole matter needs to be settled soon.”
About an hour after he got home, Gill was ready to ask for help from his men. First, he invited them into the house to have a drink which he said was to thank them for their help. Then in conversation, he brought up another idea.
“You know how Cartwright says he’s got papers to back up his story. Well, what if he’s making that up, and he forged those letters he says he got from other people? You know he’s a writer. Everybody always talks about the writing he does.”
“Yeah, but Boss, how could be prove something like that? Wouldn’t that be awful hard to do?”
“We probably can’t, but what if he wrote other stuff down like what he planned to do to my father.”
“Yeah, he is a writer. I know he writes stuff for the plays the children put on at Christmas at the church.”
“He’s a planner too. That’s something else people say about him. Maybe we could find things he wrote down.”
“How could we find anything?”
“His family is staying in town tonight. We could go to the house and say we need to search for evidence. We were in the posse today so aren’t we still sworn in?”
With general agreement from his men, Gill asked them to come with him. They agreed. At the house, they pushed past Hop Sing and ignored his complaints. Gill had only one thing to say to him.
“We can search the whole house and probably make kind of a mess, or you can tell us which room is Adam’s so we can search that one for evidence. It’s your choice.”
It wasn’t much of a choice. Hop Sing told them which room was Adam’s and then watched while they searched. He was disgusted as he saw Gill toss Adam’s books on the bed not noticing him put a folded paper in one as he did so. When the men found nothing, they were frustrated and Hop Sing was smug. Then Gill had one last suggestion.
“He likes books so much, maybe he put something in one of them. We may as well look through them while we’re here.”
One by one, the books were examined and the folded note was found. It had a timetable of how and when to shoot Walter Janus mentioning that he had said at the general store that he would be working on the fence line that week. There were other notes there and dates crossed off as if he had planned to do it earlier and aborted the plan.
“That’s it. You found the proof we need. Let’s bring that to the sheriff. That ought to help convince him along with the rifle with his initials and his slicker.”
The note was brought to the sheriff, but like the other evidence, he found it to be too convenient and too connected to Gill to be convincing. He accepted it with a neutral tone that Gill found irritating.
“Isn’t that enough? What does it take to convince you that a Cartwright can break the law?”
“Gill, what I would like is some evidence that isn’t tainted by being brought to me by you.”
“Why would it being brought to you by me be a problem? It was my father he murdered.”
“You’re the only one who benefits by your father’s death. If it wasn’t for the story you told and the convenient evidence you have produced, you would be the suspect not Adam. That would be the reason I’m not convinced.”
“I suppose that’s how you’re going to present things in the inquest too, isn’t it?”
“It is. I have to present the whole case not only the things you want presented. Adam has a side to tell and has evidence he wants to present too. It will all be heard at the inquest.”
Once more, Gill remembered he had to plan for the things that could go wrong. The sheriff was certainly something gone wrong. In the morning, the deputies who had night duty wondered why the sheriff didn’t come to the office. There was supposed to be an inquest, and they expected him to be early not late. Finally, they decided one of them had to go to his house to see why he wasn’t there. They found him slumped over his kitchen table. He had been poisoned. The inquest was postponed.
That night, someone tossed an open container of coal oil and then a lit torch into Adam’s cell. That had not been expected so the window had not been blocked. It was only with quick action that a deputy was able to unlock the cell in the thick smoke and get Adam out of the cell. He wasn’t hurt, but his belongings which had been stacked on a stool beneath the window were burned. Adam was about as discouraged as he could be. It seemed that fate was against him. If he was playing poker with this hand, he would likely fold. However, even though all the advantages were with Gill now, Adam knew he was in grave legal jeopardy and couldn’t give up. He and his father discussed the situation.
“The sheriff was on your side, and he was skeptical of evidence Gill produced.”
“He was. But the letters I had are gone now too. They were on the chair under the window. It was like somebody saw my belongings there and knew how to destroy them.”
“So it had to be someone who was in here.”
“Like Gill.”
“Of course, it was probably him, but we can’t prove anything.”
“No, and the damning evidence he manufactured is still here.”
“Nothing we can do about that.”
Ben watched as Adam pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes. It was a familiar sight and one Ben often saw when the two of them were arguing. It was Adam’s reaction when a situation seemed hopeless. Ben had little good news to offer.
The news he did have didn’t help much. A former part-time sheriff from Gold Hill was coming to take over. An older man, he was a kindly man and a bit folksy as Adam remembered him, but he wondered if he had the skills necessary to stop a lynch mob if one formed. What concerned Adam far more was whether the interim sheriff was capable enough to prevent the miscarriage of justice Adam was facing. He wondered too if he would listen to him and to the ideas he had discussed with the sheriff who had been murdered. Their theory of the murder of Walter Janus pointed directly at his son, but Gill had apparently been planning this thing for a long time. It was going to take some special skills to expose him. The dead sheriff had all the evidence he thought he needed, but would the new sheriff have the same evidence and plan?
Chapter 7
Later that day, the interim sheriff, Roy Coffee re-introduced himself to Adam and then to Ben when he came to the jail. He had looked over the items to be presented at the inquest which had been rescheduled for the next day.
“Adam, it’s not much time for me to get ready to present the case. I have to say one thing though. It seems somebody is darn well set on railroading you into a noose.”
Shocked when he first heard that, Adam had to smile slightly when he saw his father’s expression when Roy repeated it later and then explained again why he thought so. He had been relieved to hear the new sheriff say it, and saw his father’s shoulders relax when he heard the same words.
“The sheriff who got murdered left quite a few notes. He was ready for that inquest to happen, and his notes were in his desk. He had an inventory of the letters Adam had here in his cell that got burned up. There’s a description of the contents of each one. By themselves, they seem to add up to an alibi. Now, what I didn’t understand was the rifle. I asked Adam earlier why he wouldn’t miss a rifle. He can tell you what he said.”
“It’s not mine. I would never carve my initials into the stock of a rifle.”
“So I asked him where his pistol and rifle were that he had when he came into town. I went out and looked the pistol over. There’s not a mark on it at all. He doesn’t mark up his firearms. He didn’t have a rifle with him. Then I asked him to write his initials, and I compared them to the ones on the slicker and on the rifle the posse found. They’re close but they don’t match. I looked at that note that was found at your house. It’s about the same thing. It’s close, but there are lots of places where someone erased letters and wrote them again which I’m guessing was to get them right. I’m not an expert, but I’ve seen enough bad forgeries to recognize one when I see it. The evidence ain’t so strong if you look at it that way. In fact, it seems more like somebody is trying to make it look like Adam did it. The tracks you all found where that rifle was found are a problem too. The evidence doesn’t point at Adam but at somebody else and most likely somebody from Walter Janus’ own ranch.”
“You figured this all out today?”
“No, like I told your boy here, I read the sheriff’s report. He was a smart man. He had it all figured out. The real suspect here is this Gill. Unfortunately, we don’t have any real evidence against him.”
“What would we need?”
“I’m glad you asked because I could use some help with that. First thing I need is a picture or a drawing of Gill. You know anyone who could help with that? It might not get us enough to prove anything, but it will be a good start at getting some. Then I need two men to take it to Carson City, and they got to get back here with the information by tomorrow at one when the inquest is scheduled. That’s going to cost some money. There’s an expert witness I’d like to call on at the inquest. I already talked to his employer who’ll let him have the day off, but the man wants to be reimbursed for the wages he’ll lose for being gone for the day. That’s going to cost more money.”
“I can put money into your budget for you to spend as you see fit.”
“I’ll have to tell the judge where I got the money to do these things. It shouldn’t be a problem.”
After talking with Roy first and with his father, Adam had some hope again. All three were worried though. Gill was unpredictable. A major worry was that he would work at getting a lynch mob going that night to prevent the inquest. Gill was smart enough to know there were problems with the evidence against Adam. Many of those would go away if Adam were no longer alive. Roy hired extra deputies to help with security. As a precaution, Ben wanted to send Little Joe home to keep him out of harm’s way.
“Pa, don’t do it.”
“I want him safe, Adam.”
“So do I. Who better to use as a hostage against us than Little Joe, and with Gill, you know it won’t turn out well for Little Joe either.”
“He wouldn’t dare.”
Adam said nothing, and Roy turned away letting the family work that one out. Little Joe complained that he could take care of himself only bolstering Adam’s argument.
“Leave him here with me. It’s probably the safest place for him to be. You should probably stay here too. Hoss is safe because he’s going to Carson City with Clem. You already told Hop Sing to take some time off. If Gill is looking for a hostage, he’s out of luck.”
“You are very good at planning. I should have told you that more often instead of complaining. If I had listened to you more, we wouldn’t have had some of the problems we have.”
“We can talk about that later.”
“I hope you will do that. I have a lot to say, and most of it I think you’ll want to hear, and you deserve to hear. Hoss told me that I needed to figure out why I was angry. I think I have, and I want to discuss it with you, man-to-man.”
“I’d like that.”
When Ben left, Adam thought about what he had said especially the part Hoss had contributed. He had told their father he needed to figure out why he was so angry. Now he wanted to talk to Adam about it. Adam wondered what the answer to that was going to be, and he began to wonder too why he was so angry and why he didn’t want to talk about it but was leaving instead. He probably needed to figure that out too. While thinking about those things, he still had quite a lot of time to think about all the possible outcomes of what Gill had planned.
It was good that they were preparing for possibilities because Gill was getting desperate. Although he didn’t want the inquest to happen because of what Adam would say, he did know that the evidence would still favor his side or so he thought. However, the sheriff’s murder had soured the town on the whole situation. He guessed that getting a lynch mob to take care of Adam was hopeless. There were extra deputies so any attempt to kill him was going to fail. He toyed with the idea of a hostage, but the cook was nowhere to be found and that youngest Cartwright was sticking close to Ben who seldom was away from the jail and the protection it offered. He had hoped that Taggert would show up to help him not realizing that the man had gotten a fortune from the last of the Syndicate men and only worked for huge fees which were far more than Gill could pay anyway. All Gill could think to do was to go to the inquest and make as much noise as possible and have his men there too insisting that Adam be put on trial. If that didn’t work, Gill was going to pull a gun and shoot him. He hoped a jury would be forgiving considering that overcome with grief and frustration, he killed the man who murdered his father. At least, that was what he wanted them to believe. It was the best plan he could think of even though he knew there were problems with it.
Gill was nervous the next morning, and he had a few drinks before he went to town. The men could smell it on him and wondered about that. They could tell too that he had a pistol under his coat. Weapons were not allowed at a trial or an inquest so that meant he was going to smuggle one in. It didn’t take much to guess why. No one said anything, but at the inquest, they held back and let Gill go sit further up. He wondered at their reluctance but dismissed it as an unwillingness to be the center of attention which he guessed he would be because it was his father who had been murdered. For a moment, he even forgot that he was the one who had done it. His emotional stability, which had always been fragile, was cracking.
When Adam walked into the room with Sheriff Roy Coffee, Ben, and some deputies, Gill stood and glared at him. Adam stared back at Gill and then said something that surprised many.
“I’m sorry for you. I’m sorry for what you’ve done. I’m sorry for what you have become. I’m sorry for all the people you have hurt. If only we had known, we could have helped you or stopped you before you did all the things you did.”
Completely in shock by the statements, Gill had no answer. Adam turned to walk to the front of the room as the others in attendance sat in stunned silence wondering at the meaning of all that he had said. Then the judge entered the room and ordered everyone to sit and be quiet as he asked Roy to present the evidence. Roy began with an explanation.
“Now I only got here a day ago, but I found the notes from the sheriff who was murdered. I’m going to use those as I present the evidence as they make a lot of sense, and I’m going to add my own information that I got since I got here. First off, I want to read the statement made by Gill Janus.”
After Roy read that, he launched into a description of the search for the missing rifle and how Gill had led the posse to the exact area where it was found. He showed the rifle with the AC in the stock, and the slicker with AC written on it. He said little about that at the time, but then asked men from the posse to describe the tracks that were found.
“Well, they were found by Hoss and Ben Cartwright.”
“As they are family of Adam, I would like you men to describe what you saw.”
“Once they pointed them out, they were clear as could be. We looked around as they said, and we only saw tracks that went to the Janus ranch. There were no tracks that headed to town and none that headed toward the Ponderosa either.”
“Of all the men in the posse, are there any here who disagree with that conclusion?”
No men spoke up.
“Now I would like the men from the Janus ranch who were in the posse to stand. I have a question for you.”
Once they were standing, Roy pulled the note that had been found in one of Adam’s books.
“This note was found in one of Adam’s books in his room. Who touched those books first and who suggested those books then be searched?”
The men looked at each other and were nervous. It seemed they didn’t want to answer. The judge ended that by insisting they answer Roy’s question.
“Ah, it was Gill in both cases, sir.”
“Thank you. Now, I want to call a special witness. He’s worked in the mint in San Francisco before he came here to work on one of the newspapers. He is an expert on writing because he has dealt with a lot of forgery cases. I want him to look at some of these things.”
Once on the stand, Roy handed over the note, showed him the gun stock, and then showed him the slicker.
“Would you say these are all written by the same hand?”
“Yes, I would say the same person did all three.”
There were murmurs across the courtroom, and Gill almost smiled. Then he got worried when Roy asked the next question about the items.
“I have a sample here of Adam Cartwright’s writing. Is he the one who wrote those things?”
After several minutes and a very close examination, the witness shook his head. “It is very close, but no. It is like someone was trying to copy his writing, but they have all the marks of forgeries. There are hesitations, erasures, double lines, and some inconsistencies too in how some of the letters are made. Someone made these to resemble Adam Cartwright’s writing.”
After thanking the witness, Roy asked Adam to come to the front and try on the slicker. Now he and Gill were about the same build, but Gill was much shorter. When Adam tried on the slicker, it fell across his shoulders very easily but the arms were at least six inches too short and it was much too short to be his slicker. The hood wouldn’t have gone over his hat if he was wearing one. It belonged to a much shorter man.
About that time, Clem and Hoss arrived. The deputies detained them at the door because no one was supposed to enter during an active inquest and both were armed. Roy told the deputies to take their pistols but to admit them.
“Your honor, it is quite irregular, I know, but they made a ride to Carson City and back since yesterday in hopes of bringing more evidence. I hope you can allow some leeway here as it is an inquest to find the truth of the matter and not a trial.”
“Proceed.”
“Gentlemen, what did you find out in Carson City?”
Clem and Hoss looked at each other until Roy said it would be best if Clem did the testimony for the record.
“We went to gunsmiths there and one recognized the drawing we had. He said about six months ago he bought a rifle there and ammunition for it. He said he didn’t need a scabbard. Then he wrapped it up in a slicker and left.”
“What was the drawing you used?”
Clem reached in his pocket to pull out the drawing, unfolded it, and showed it to Roy and those in front who could see it. Roy took it then to show the judge who began to turn it to show it to the crowd. Before he could do that, Gill pulled his pistol and fired hitting Adam and then threatening to shoot others. Waving his pistol about, he ran from the room and outside to grab a horse and ride away. Most in attendance were unarmed, and the guards were afraid that if they opened fire, Gill’s wild shooting might kill or seriously wound innocent citizens.
On the way out of town, Gill rode past the freight wagons on their run into town. Big Joe saw him and thought maybe he ought to shoot him considering it looked like he was running away from something. But then he thought it might be his inclination to want to do that because he didn’t like him. Later, he wished he had shot him. When Big Joe got to where the commotion was and found out what happened, he was shocked.
“Why that’s crazy. It was Gill who asked Adam if they could kill each other’s fathers. I heard him ask it. That is one greedy nasty one. Adam told him that it was an awful thing to suggest, and Gill laughed. He thought such a thing was funny. That one has no morals at all. He doesn’t care about nobody but himself.”
“Sure wish you had been in town to tell us this sooner.”
“Who knew things could go so bad here so fast? Say, how is young Cartwright?”
“Gill was right about one thing. He is a terrible shot. He hit him in the arm, but nothing really bad. It will be a while before he can use that arm, but he’ll be fine.”
“I’m fine already. Hey Big Joe. I want to track Gill down.”
“I’m guessing you can’t shoot with that arm in a sling.”
“No, but I can ride and I can see so I can track him for those who can shoot.”
“What does your father say about that?”
“That he’s a man who can make up his own mind. Granted, I did offer my opinion on the matter.”
That brought some grins even in the grim situation. Gill had killed two men. There were plenty who wanted to go including Hoss.
“In case you need any help tracking. I know you say you’re fine, but you did get shot so just in case.”
“Thank you.”
Clem went as the official deputy, the men from the Janus ranch went because they were mad about how they had been used, and several men from the Ponderosa went too. It didn’t take long to track down Gill. Because they knew the territory, Hoss and Adam suggested how the posse could get some men ahead of him and have the others close in behind. That meant it would take longer to apprehend him but made it more likely that he could not get away nor put up any resistance that would get someone hurt. By the end of the day they were ready but Gill had no idea he was riding into a trap. That was what Hoss and Adam intended. Hoss went with Clem and the forward group who had to ride hard and fast by a shortcut. Adam stayed with the main group who kept up a steady pace halting occasionally after Adam saw Gill ride to high ground and look for signs of pursuit. Each time he did that, the posse halted and stayed in cover for a time. Gill did some basic things to elude pursuit like brushing out tracks for a time, dragging some brush behind him at other times, and going into and out of small streams too. But he always came back to the main trail. He didn’t know the way otherwise so they only had to stick to the main trail to pick up his tracks again. As they neared the place where they expected to spring the trap, Adam had them cautiously get closer to Gill as he rode.
For Gill, the escape seemed to be working so well that he began to relax. He had seen no one following him and heard nothing either. Then he came around a bend where he had to pass through a narrow defile and saw a rope strung across it. His heart rate had already escalated before he heard Clem yell out that he should surrender.
“You can’t get through here. We’re in cover, and you don’t stand a chance.”
Wheeling around to retreat, he saw that there were men who had taken cover in the trees behind him and stringing ropes between trees cutting off his escape routes. Adam Cartwright stepped out to address him but didn’t move far from the tree where he had been hiding.
“You can’t escape.”
“Here or later is what you’re saying, isn’t it?”
Gill had to grin at the black sling that held Adam’s right arm which had a thick white bandage around his upper arm. Adam wasn’t wearing his pistol and had no other firearm.
“I at least shot you. I may not be a good shot, but I was able to do that much. I don’t want to die, Adam, but I won’t hang. I helped hang a man once, and that was the worst way of dying I can think of happening to anyone. I know you won’t shoot me because you don’t even have a gun on. If I could, I’d shoot you again. I’d shoot myself if I had the guts to do it, but I’d probably mess it up and only hurt myself. No, I want to make it quick and sure, and I know how to take care of that.”
Guessing what would happen next, Adam stepped quickly back behind the tree as Gill drew his pistol and charged them, but Adam’s command to the men not to shoot Gill was ignored. The men had every legal right to do what they did, but to Adam, it still felt like an execution. He wished they could have brought him back alive. Not only would it have been real justice, but a trial with the whole case laid out against Gill would have helped the tarnish that Gill had put on Adam’s reputation. No matter how well anyone explained it now, he was fairly sure there were still going to be some doubts and some negative thoughts that would cling to him because of this.
With Adam worried yet about the reception he would get in town and Clem concerned about how his first posse had turned out, the ride back was quiet. There had been a death too, and several were quiet as they reconciled their actions with their morality. That included Hoss who could have used a friendly ear or at least a sympathetic one about that issue, but Adam was wrapped up in his concerns. They would have that talk about what happened later when they arrived home and had a chance to evaluate all events and actions that had taken place. Hoss had to wait.
In town though, Roy Coffee had done a thorough job explaining to the newspapers what had happened. He gave them every detail he had and showed them all the evidence up close so they could see how it damned Gill. Several of the newspapers rushed out special editions with the whole story trying to beat their rivals and sell more. By the time Adam and the others returned with Gill’s body, the atmosphere in town was much more friendly for Adam. The suspicion was gone replaced by sympathy over what he had endured. Ben greeted his two older sons as they dismounted.
“Adam had a great plan, Pa. Gill never had a chance to get away, but he sure never got a chance to hurt nobody neither.”
“Planning is one of the many things your brother is very good at doing.”
A little surprised and a bit embarrassed by the unexpected praise delivered in public like that, Adam was quiet. Then Little Joe ran out to greet him. He looked to his father for an explanation.
“Little Joe knows the whole story now, and I’ve been telling him why I have to apologize to you too. I have been unfair. It was something Hoss said that got me thinking. He asked if I knew why I was so angry with you so much. I realized it was because of what was inside me, and it was nothing you had done or failed to do that got me so angry. I guess I felt somehow I had to assert myself and that was wrong. I was being selfish in wanting things to be like they had been. It was wrong too to be unwilling to make some changes to accommodate the changes in you.”
“Hoss said something like that to me too about not knowing what it was that we were arguing about and got me thinking as well. Although I was the object of your anger, I probably invited it too by my attitude. I may have been willing to let you do that to give myself an excuse to leave because that is what I wanted to do.”
“You always wanted to leave?”
“I never wanted to come back. I came back out of a sense of duty and because I love my family. I had some good job offers when I was still in the East, and they were still tempting me even while I was here. They may have caused me to get my values a little mixed up. I guess I was being a little selfish too. We may be alike in many ways, and one of those is that desire to try new things, to go exploring.”
“Well I think I’ve gotten past that stage of wanting to try new things and to go exploring, but I should respect it in you. I like the life I have now. That of course is another reason we were at odds. I wanted things to be the way they were or the way they are.”
“And I saw problems and wanted to tackle them, find a solution, and make things better for us. It’s the way I am. When I see a problem, I want to do something about it. Only you didn’t see it as making things better.”
“No, I saw it as you challenging me.”
“In some ways, I was. If I stayed, that wouldn’t change.”
Ben nodded and chuckled too.
“Somehow, I knew that was going to be true. You could never change that and keep your integrity. We were destined to be butting heads on many things probably.”
“Yes, but now we understand each other better, and we know it wasn’t about a lack of respect.”
“We both have Hoss to thank for getting us back to that better relationship before you leave then.”
Listening to the two older men talk, Hoss was satisfied that they were understanding each other much better. He felt at ease explaining how he had been inspired to talk to each of them as he had.
“Well, I gotta tell you both it was Little Joe who kinda got that idea into my head. You two were having one of your big rows, and he asked if the two of you really knew what you were fighting about. It got me thinking and wondering if the anger was only about the stuff you said or if there was stuff that wasn’t being said but that oughta be said.”
Little Joe was going to interject himself into the conversation then and take credit, but a look from Ben stopped him. Ben could see that Adam was getting ready to say something, and he wanted to hear what it was.
“I’ve been thinking, Pa, that maybe I could put off leaving for a bit until we get things settled more around here.”
Ben could not have been more pleased hearing that. He had heard that ‘we’ll talk later’ earlier in their conversation and hoped that it meant Adam would not be leaving for many years.
“I was hoping for that too. I was going to ask if you would do that. Your brothers could use your help yet, and so could I. Maybe in a couple of years, when things are going better, it would be a better time for you to strike out on your own. We would likely have more resources then too to support you when you first start out. Now, don’t look like that. It wouldn’t be a gift. It would be part of your share of what we’re building here together.”
“A couple of years? But as long as you put it like that, yes, that does sound like a good plan.”
“And it all happened because of me.”
Little Joe finally had the chance to take credit. He’d been waiting for the right moment to do it, and it seemed the best time. When Ben rolled his eyes and his brothers laughed, Little Joe knew he’d done it right again. He would have felt very good about things except for the parting words from the new sheriff.
“Ben, I think you’ve got two mighty fine sons in Adam and Hoss. This has been a terribly hard situation we were all in, and the two of them handled things as well as any man could. But you better keep a close eye on that youngest of yours. Do you know he cheats at checkers?”
An interesting take on the dynamics between father and son. Sometimes Ben doesn’t think things through before opening his mouth.
Thank you so much. Ben had trouble communicating with his oldest son in those early years. He did much better with Joe and Hoss in the later years.
I truly enjoyed the premise of this story and Adam’s dilemma with it. I love seeing inside Adam’s head as he work through situations. Always look forward to your twists in the plot which kept me guessing. Glad to see you with a new story.
Thank you so much especially too for the two read throughs and feedback before it was posted. Your advice was very helpful. You know how I love twists and turns in storytelling.
I was more than glad to help. 🙂
Thank you again. Your advice and encouragement were invaluable.
Great story with all the twists, turns, backstabbings, etc. A great mystery and a great read.
Thank you so much for your wonderful comments. They made my day brighter.
Good story-you must also be a fan of Strangers On A Train? I did get a little confused with which sheriff you were talking about as there were a couple of times earlier in the story that Roy was mentioned.
How the ladies must have swooned when Adam was walked through the town!Lol.
Thank you so much. I am not familiar with Strangers On a Train, but I’m guessing it has a similar plotline. Thank you for catching the problem with the Roy use — it was far too easy to use his name instead of sheriff and I made that error several times. I believe I have corrected those mistakes.
strangers on on a train is an Alfred Hitchcock movie- one of my favourites- maybe Netflix might have it.
Thank you.