Summary: Young Hoss helps a young stranger without telling his family, but did his heart overrule his wisdom?  

Rating: G

Word Count: 1902

Being A Neighbor and a Friend

Hoss stomped through the Spring mud and snow to reach the last trap. It was a slippery trail and hard for the eleven year old, despite his near adult size. Adam was a good bit behind him checking the other traps more closely. Even though the air was cold and the ground soggy, Hoss was enjoying the work because he had the sounds of nature all around him. When he reached the last trap he suddenly sensed something was wrong. All the birds had gone quiet making his heavy breathing from the hike the only sound. Creeping closer to the trap, he found it like all the others, the bait was gone and no animal in the trap. 

Feeling his hair tickle his neck, he looked around expecting to see someone hiding in the undergrowth. He jumped when his older brother approached and stepped on a twig, snapping it in two. 

“You okay, Hoss?”

“Uh, yeah. This trap’s the same as the others. What do ya think is happenin’, Adam?” 

Adam squatted down to study the cut rope that once held the bait. “I don’t know. Come on. Let’s get home. I’ll talk to Pa about it.”

Anxious to get out of there, Hoss followed his brother back to the horses. He glanced back one more time, and thought he saw a young Indian leave the brush. He could have sworn the boy was carrying all of their bait animals. Not sure of what he’d witnessed, he kept it to himself. Little did he know it would be the beginning of something bigger.

-o-o-o-

A few days later, Hoss was behind the house, clearing dead limbs and brush away from the house. Taking a break he hiked up the hill to look at the lake in the distance. He watched a young deer scamper into a clearing, freeze, then run back. A moment later Hoss saw an Indian boy run across the clearing chasing the deer. The meadow wasn’t far so Hoss took off running, hoping he’d find out why an Indian about his age was so close to the house. 

After a couple of miles Hoss gave up. He’d lost the trail in the thickest part of the woods. Sighing in frustration, he headed back home. Leaving the clearing for his side of the woods, Hoss realized the birds had stopped singing, just like they had when he and Adam were checking the traps. Turning slowly he saw the boy again. This time he was close enough that Hoss could tell the boy was real skinny and his clothes were torn. The two stared at each other for a moment before the boy disappeared into the woods. 

Later that afternoon, after Hoss finished his chores, he grabbed some old apples from the barn and a couple of old, thin blankets that his Pa was going to cut up for rags. Stuffing them into a sack, he headed back to the clearing. There was a fallen tree on the far side of the clearing so Hoss left the sack there and ran back to the woods. Watching for most of an hour, he saw the Indian finally appear, cautiously check the sack and take it. He left something in its place. Hoss waited another thirty minutes then ran to see what the boy left behind. It was a feather, the one Hoss had seen hanging from the boy’s long braid. He took it as a thank you gift for the blankets and apples. 

The next day, Hoss helped one of the hands get the supply wagon ready to go to the settlement. He then went to the house to get Adam. Hearing his brother’s and father’s deep voices he waited outside the opened front door.

“Surely Pa, you don’t believe the talk about the Paiutes being so close? Their hunting territory is at least 20 miles from here, at the closest point.”

“I don’t know, Adam. The game has been scarce all over this year, and with what you and Hoss told me of our traps, I’m thinking the Paiutes are struggling just as much as some of the other families who depend on hunting. It was a brutal winter, and even our stores are quite low.”

“Yeah, but we’ll make it. Can we share some of what we have with others?”

“I’ve heard the church is trying to get something like that started. I’ll look into it.”

When there was a pause in the conversation, Hoss thought they had finished so he headed in.

“Hey Adam, are you ready to go get supplies?”

“Sure. Give me and Pa another minute. I’ll be right out.”

Hoss took that time to run up to his room. Retrieving his treasure box from under his bed, he took out a few coins he’d been saving. Stuffing them deep into his pants pocket, he put his box back and headed out to the wagon. Adam was there ready to go. 

At the Cass store, while Adam loaded the wagon, Hoss stepped up to the counter and dropped his coins there.

“Mister Cass. How much food could I buy with this?”

Will Cass counted it out and smiled at Hoss. “Not much I’m afraid. Perhaps three cans of peaches or a small bit of flour.”

“Oh, so I couldn’t get one of them hams you got hanging in the back?”

“No Hoss, I’m sorry. Tell you what, why don’t I get you four cans of peaches, one’s on me, and you can get some apples from the barrel in the back. How’s that?”

“Thank you Mister Cass. I guess that will have to do. Could you wrap the cans so’s they don’t rattle? It’s, um, a long way home.”

“Sure Hoss, give me just a moment.” Will put the coins in the register, then went to get the peaches.

Later, Hoss snuck around Adam to pick out some better-looking apples, and shoved the sack of treats under the wagon seat. 

After they got home, and Adam had entered the kitchen with the first boxes, Hoss grabbed his bag and ran to the clearing. He left the sack and waited. Soon enough, the boy came, took the sack and left a gift. This time it was a small, hand-carved knife. Hoss slid it into his boot and ran back home. 

Over the next week he found other things to give to the Indian boy, hoping those things would  help his tribe. Walking by the bunkhouse one evening, he heard talk that the Paiutes were starving and needed help but no one was willing to take the chance to help them. 

Later when he rode out with Adam and the hands to move a small herd of cattle to a better pasture, he saw it was close to the meadow where he’d been helping the Paiute boy. Hoss had an idea but was afraid to talk to Adam about it. However, he knew he had to tell him or he’d be in real big trouble with his Pa later. Waiting for the men to leave the area, Hoss called Adam to come back. 

“What’s up, Hoss? It’s getting late and we need to get home.”

“I, uh, got to ask you somethin’. I think it’s somethin’ you’re not gonna like.” 

Sensing his brother’s unusual hesitation, Adam responded gently, “Well, let me be the judge of that. Just tell me what it is.”

Hoss told his brother about the Indian, starting with what he saw at the traps, then how he’d been helping him by leaving things for him.

“And we’re close to where I been leavin’ the small sacks of food and such. Well, since you and Pa were talkin’ about helpin’ folks in town who lost a lot, well, I was wonderin’ if we could take one of these heifers over there an’ leave it for the Paiutes.”

Hoss grew quite nervous at the long silence from his brother. Adam was so good at hiding his emotions, Hoss had no idea if he agreed or if he was angry at the idea.

Adam studied his young brother’s’ face and found genuine concern there for the plight of his Indian ‘friend’. He rolled his eyes upwards toward the sky in a silent prayer for guidance, pursed his lips, then finally spoke.

“Little brother, your heart is in the right place to help these people, and I can’t go against that. But perhaps your way of going about it could use a little work. I don’t think you should be sneaking off anymore to leave packages for that boy.”  

Hoss dropped his head as his hopes sank.

Adam couldn’t hide his smile. “Now I didn’t say no, just that we need to do it differently. Pa and I have already been talking about this, and it seems you’re thinking the same thing. Here’s what we’re going to do.”

Hoss’ frown turned to a smile, then a grin once Adam explained the plan.

They roped two heifers and took them to the clearing, then waited, out in the open for the Indian boy to appear. 

Hoss saw him first and nudged Adam. The two dismounted and moved to meet the boy. Adam spoke to him in the Paiute language, identifying himself as a friend to Young Wolf and Winnemucca. The boy nodded and spoke back asking about the cattle. 

Adam explained about wanting to share their family’s bounty with his friends. The boy nodded, handed a blanket to Adam, then took the rope to lead the two heifers into the woods. 

A few days later Hoss returned to the site of the exchanges. The boy never came out but Hoss found some dried beef in a leather pouch, and a knife stuck through a feather into a tree. Leaving everything there, he ran to get Adam who was working in the barn. Back at the clearing, Adam picked up the pouch but left the knife and feather. As he and Hoss walked home, he explained.

“The jerky is a gift, thanking us for the beef. The knife and feather are a message that all exchanges are ended. The boy won’t be back, and we are not to search for him.”

That evening, Adam found Hoss at the top of the knoll, overlooking the clearing. He noted his brother had his treasure box with him, and was fingering the items he’d received from the Paiute boy.

“You okay, little brother?”

“Yeah. Just thinkin’ ‘bout it all. I was hopin’ to make friends with him like you did with Young Wolf, that’s all.”

“Well, sometimes that can’t happen. We kept the peace and our friendship with the Paiute by helping them in a way they could accept. They are a proud and independent people. We showed that we respected that.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“You did a great thing Hoss. And I’m proud to call you my brother for your big heart for others.”

Hoss grinned, but then cringed when Adam tried to hug him. “Hey, cut it out. I’m too old for that!”

Both brothers laughed as they ran back to the house, hoping to be the first to get some of Hop Sing’s chocolate cookies. 

Written for a challenge – “And the Children Shall Lead”