Summary:  Sixteen-year-old Joe is in jail.  Dare he tell Adam and Pa his alibi?  Only when he realises the seriousness of the crime does he decide to act like a man and reveal his whereabouts.  But will Pa ever accept him as a grown man?
Rating:  PG  (13,310 words)

The Alibi

Joe Cartwright opened one eye and then the other very slowly, then closed them again.  He shifted on the hard bunk and tried again.  No, he wasn’t at home in his soft bed.  From his bed every morning he could see furnishings, smell Hop Sing’s cooking and hear the sounds of his brothers starting chores.   This morning he could see a blurred image of a brick wall to his left and to his right a bunk just like the one he rested on but this second one was occupied by his best friend, Mitch Devlin.  He didn’t even want to think what the smells and sounds were.  The sounds in particular seemed very loud and his head hurt as each clang or footfall reverberated in the empty cell.  He swallowed hard; it was, as he had feared he was in jail.

“Joe…Joe, ”  Mitch whispered urgently  “You awake?”

Joe tried to raise his head but the slight movement made him feel sick and he simply turned toward his buddy.  “Sorta…” he replied in a hoarse voice.

“You think our folks know where we are yet?”  Mitch sounded worried and Joe accepted that he had every right to be, neither George Devlin nor Ben Cartwright was going to be too thrilled at bailing their sixteen year old sons out of jail.

Joe struggled hard to remember the events of the evening and as they came flooding back his stomach heaved again.  “I dunno, maybe Sheriff Coffee sent someone to tell ’em.”

“Least your Pa’s away in Genoa ’til Monday.  Mine’s gonna kill me.”  Mitch groaned, turning over and heaving himself into a sitting position his head in his hands.  “How come I always let you talk me into trouble. There’s times Joe Cartwright when I wish we wasn’t best friends.”

Joe slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bunk and sat facing his friend.  His head felt heavy and he couldn’t open his eyes properly.  So this is what too much drink felt like.  He regretted laughing at his older brother now.  He’d seen Adam drunk once or twice and had teased him unmercifully.  Adam!  Oh hell!  Not only would he be in trouble with Pa but first he’d have to explain to his older brother.  Then he remembered the events of the previous night in more detail explaining to Pa might be the least of his problems.  He tried to get his tired brain around an explanation; it wasn’t going to be easy…now how had all this started?

*****

Little Joe Cartwright straightened his tie and admired his reflection in the mirror.  Yep, he looked real good, how could the girls ever resist him?  He was planning on an evening of dancing with every pretty girl in town and then he’d favor one of them with a walk home and maybe steal a few kisses.  Who should it be tonight, Annie, Susan, Val or Judy, or maybe a new one he hadn’t even noticed yet?  Mitch was stuck on Katie at the moment so he’d better leave her alone.  He tweaked his tie one last time and ran a hand over his hair then grabbing his jacket he raced down the stairs in an effort to get out the door before his father stopped him for the weekly lecture on how to behave on a Saturday night.  He wasn’t successful.

“Joseph!”  His father’s voice from the depth of the chair by the fire stopped him, as he was halfway across the room.

Joe raised his eyes to the ceiling and half turned.  “Yes, Pa.”

“You remember what I said.  Home by eleven, no drinking, no fighting and no trouble.”

Joe tried to keep his expression respectful but it was difficult in the face of such restrictions.  What harm could a simple beer do and to be home by eleven meant leaving the dance before it ended.   He had celebrated his sixteenth birthday just weeks back and his friends didn’t get treated like kids.  He saw his oldest brother grinning at him from the dining room and glared at him. Pa’s next words wiped the smile from Adam’s face and gave Joe a certain amount of satisfaction until he realised the implications.

“Adam will keep an eye on you and make sure you behave, won’t you Adam?”

Adam bit down an angry retort and nodded.  “I’ll be at the dance but I’m not riding home with him.  He can manage that on his own or with Hoss.”

I can manage the whole evening on my own.  Joe thought but was wise enough to avoid saying it out loud.

“I’m not asking you to ride home with him but see he behaves himself at the dance and make sure he leaves in good time to be home before eleven.”  Ben spoke firmly”  I know its Saturday night but it wouldn’t hurt for you all to be home at a reasonable hour.  Falling asleep in church on Sunday is becoming a habit.”

Joe almost giggled as he recalled Hoss’s snoring shocking the whole congregation a few weeks back.  Pa had not been amused.

The evening was most enjoyable.  Joe had a few beers and danced with every girl, some more than once.  He paid particular attention to Susan, who was the one he singled out to escort home.  When he saw Adam making his way over to him, he managed to draw Susan to one side and disappear into the dancers.  If Adam didn’t tell him to leave then he could pretend he didn’t know what time it was, he reasoned.  Walking Susan home was pleasant and she even allowed him several kisses and cuddles on her front porch.  Yes, he thought as he stabled Cochise, all in all it had been a good dance.  He looked around the barn, Chubby was in his stall, so Hoss must be home, but there was no sign of Sport.  He chuckled, Adam was probably taking Linda home by the longest possible route.  He glanced over at the house, no lights showed so he guessed his father must have gone to bed.  He grunted, that was just as well as it must be past midnight.  He cupped his hands and breathed into them.  A faint smell of beer but not enough to be noticed unless someone was real close, he decided.

He removed his boots on the porch and gently pushed open the front door, it creaked a little and Joe froze for a moment before closing it.  He had reached the bottom step when a movement, behind him, made him turn and he looked up into the stern dark eyes of his father.  He swallowed hard and tried to think fast.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?”  Ben said, quietly, turning up the lamp by the stairs.

“Must be a round eleven.”  Joe replied, quickly, hoping his father would believe he was unaware that it was nearer one in the morning.

“It’s after twelve thirty, as if you didn’t know.”  Ben snapped.  “What time did Adam tell you to ride home?”

Joe shook his head and pasted an innocent expression on his face  “He didn’t say anything, Pa.  I guess he forgot.”

“He may have done, but you certainly did not.  You’ve deliberately ignored my instructions.”  He caught Joe’s arm and pulled him closer, a frown darkening his features still further.  “Is that beer I can smell?”

Joe debated saying that someone must have spilt some on his clothes, but the chances of being found out in the lie were too great.  “I only had a little, Pa.  All the others had a drink and…”

“I’m not interested in what anyone else did, Joseph.  We are talking about you.”  Ben cut him off with an angry glare.  “If you can’t be trusted to obey me then you won’t go into town alone.”

Joe resisted the temptation to point out that his brothers had been at the dance too so he wasn’t strictly alone.  He didn’t think it would help his case at this point.

Ben fixed him with look that Joe knew all too well.  “There will be no more dances or visits to town for the next month, young man.  Perhaps that will give you time to think over your behaviour.”

Joe groaned, in two weeks it was Seth’s sixteenth birthday and the group of friends had made plans.  Seth was the last one of them to turn sixteen and they planned a special celebration.  He realised he had shown his displeasure aloud and dropped his eyes to his boots.  “Yes, sir.”  he said respectfully, in an effort to correct his error.

For almost two weeks Joe tried his best to stay out of trouble or at least to make Pa think he had.  He kept his sulky expressions to himself and reserved cursing his restriction for when Pa wasn’t around.  He’d been suitably grateful to his older brother when Adam had managed to finagle a trip to Carson City for him.  It had only been to talk to some horse trader but at least it had been a day off the ranch.  Adam had told Pa it would be good experience for him and after much lecturing and with many reservations Pa had finally agreed.  He’d kept his thoughts to himself when Adam was clinching the deal even though in his opinion there was something strange about the horse trader’s manner.   He’d casually mentioned it on the ride home but Adam had dismissed his opinion as fanciful.

“We’re only following up on a deal Pa’s been working on for months. Pa would have noticed if there was anything untoward.  He’s known Hoskins for years.  Breeds good horses and we’ve bought from him before.”  Adam had said.

Joe gave up. No one, especially Pa and Adam, valued his opinion and they had been good horses.  He didn’t want to rock the boat by an argument with Adam, things had to go well for the next few days.

He planned to use his good behaviour as evidence when he made one last attempt to change Pa’s mind. His campaign was to culminate on Friday at supper with a plea to his father to allow just one night out, then he’d go back to his restriction with no complaints.  Joe failed to see how contradictory this was.  There was little point in him being confined to the ranch on days when he didn’t want to leave it, but this irony was lost on Joe.  He arrived home from school and did all his chores very thoroughly then sat down at the dining room table and applied himself diligently to his homework.  Anyone who knew him would immediately surmise that there was an ulterior motive.

Adam and Hoss came in from the yard laughing and joking about some incident at the branding pens that afternoon.  Seeing their little brother bent over his books, Adam couldn’t resist giving Hoss a nudge and a grin.  “You’re wasting your time little brother, Pa’s gone to Genoa.”  He chuckled.

“Whaddya mean?”  Joe queried, raising his head to look at his older brother .

“You! “  Adam chuckled.  “Sitting there, working so hard on your homework and with all your chores done too and all for nothing.  Pa said you might try to persuade me to let you go to town tomorrow night and I guess this was what he meant.”  Adam removed his gunbelt and hat and then threw himself into his favorite chair with a sigh.  He glanced over at Joe once more.  “He’s spending the weekend with the Mortons, hoping to talk Henry into a business deal on some timber.  I’m in charge.”  He raised an eyebrow and grinned.  “But don’t go getting ideas, he left strict instructions that I was not to allow you out of the yard until he gets back Monday except for school Monday morning.”

Hoss had wandered into the kitchen to check on supper and as he came back he slapped Joe on the back.  “Guess Pa has you all sewed up, little brother.  How about a game of checkers after supper?”

Joe shrugged off Hoss’s hand which had come to rest on his shoulder  “Maybe…”  he growled then turned to his older brother “C’mon, Adam?”  he begged.  “It’s Seth’s birthday.  Pa don’t have to know.”

Adam’s expression was unreadable, so Joe tried again.

“I’ll do your chores for you all weekend and I’ll…..”

“You’ll what?  Dig out blocked drainage ditches and clear thistles for me… because that’s what Pa’ll have me doing if I let you into town while he’s gone.  Of course that’s after I’ve had my ears burned off with a lecture.”  He sat forward in his chair and wagged a finger at Joe.  “No deal, little brother. And don’t tell me Pa wouldn’t know. He always knows.”

Joe sat back and sighed.  There was no point in completing his homework if Pa wasn’t around to see and be impressed, so he pushed the books away.   A few more weeks and there’d be no more school anyhow.  He’d be a full-time ranch hand like his brothers and boy was he looking forward to that.  His mind came back to the problem of tomorrow night.  The celebration was partly for Seth’s birthday but mainly it was intended as a marker for them all becoming working men with school left far behind them.  He had to be there it was almost a ritual that had to be completed, an initiation into manhood that couldn’t be missed or he would be left behind while his friends achieved a sort of superior status.

He gave Hoss the obligatory games of checkers and beat him in every one even though his mind wasn’t on the game.  No, his mind was on giving Adam the slip tomorrow and joining his friends in town.  The plan that formed wasn’t a good one since it had no contingency plan for when he was found out, as he surely would be.  Oh well, he’d worry about that on Sunday or more likely on Monday when Pa got back. Maybe, just maybe, he could get out of the house and back in again without Adam knowing and if the visit to town went off without a hitch then he’d get away with it.

Fate played nicely into Joe’s hands for once.  Adam hadn’t planned to go to town on Saturday, it had been a hard week and simply wanted to rest.  He wasn’t too bothered about the dance this week, he was going to the theater with friends on Monday, anyway..  This meant Joe would have to fake an early night and then slip away, not an easy task.  Adam could always see through his subterfuge.  However, late on Saturday afternoon Joe saw neighbour, Arthur Palmer talking to his older brothers in the yard and on further investigation discovered that Adam had been invited to dine with the Palmer family.   Since Adam was kinda sweet on Lucy Palmer and had been trying to find a way to see more of her, it was an invitation he was unlikely to turn down.  There was a short discussion centred on whether Joe could safely be left with Hoss and a long list of instructions for both younger brothers before Adam departed for his dinner date and Joe could give a heartfelt sigh of relief.

“You ain’t goin’.”  Hoss stood over his younger brother and made his statement for the ninth time.  “Adam’d kill me, Pa’d kill me and sides I agree with ‘em, you deserved the punishment and shouldn’t be let off.”  He finished.

Ten more minutes of pleading and Hoss was weakening.

“I’ll be a joke at school, Hoss.  Mitch and the others’ll tease me somethin’ awful and we’re just going to have one beer to celebrate Seth’s birthday.  It’s important.  We’ve done it for everyone else and I didn’t get in no trouble then.   Joe closed his eyes and prayed Hoss wouldn’t remember the tanning he’d gotten way back last year when Robbie Edwards had turned sixteen and they’d all got into a fight in the street.  “I’ll be back before Adam gets home and I promise only one beer.”

“Pa would be mad at us both.”  Hoss’ voice held a note of uncertainty now.

Joe took a chance and plunged in for the clincher  “Pa won’t know and anyhow you can’t tell me you never did nothing Pa would’na approved of.  Yeah, there was that time when Pa and Adam was away and you went night hunting with Bessie Sue and I never told on you…”

Hoss blushed and stuttered  “That was different, we lost track o’ time, we didn’t mean to stay out and anyhow we was only huntin’.”

“Well, I won’t lose track of time and I’ll be back before you know it.” Joe replied grabbing his coat and slipping it on.  “I won’t let you down Hoss.  You just go on to bed and I’ll slip in through the window.”

It didn’t occur to Hoss that if Joe planned to slip in by his window then he already intended to be back after Adam or he’d be able to use the front door.  He was already suckered and Joe was on his way.  It was only after Joe had left that doubts began to creep in.  By the time eleven o’clock came around and he was making his way to bed, Hoss was worried.  Now he’d have to cover for Joe to save his own skin.  Reluctantly he went into Joe’s room and arranged pillows and blankets in the bed to look like a sleeping figure.  Maybe if Joe did fail to return before Adam, which was looking likely, and big brother looked in quickly, he’d be fooled.  Hoss sighed, why did he always fall for Joe’s silver tongue.  It seemed that once Joe started talking he was hooked.

Roy Coffee eased out of his chair and glanced at the large wooden wall clock, almost ten and time for his first rounds of the night.  From now until dawn he would patrol the town every hour or so watching for trouble.  Saturday nights were notorious for fights and drunks and the occasional break in.  His deputies were already out on the streets but Roy liked to look in on the regular trouble spots himself.  He’d take a turn from the jail down ‘C’ passed the Washoe Club, not usually any problem there, it was frequented by Virginia City’s wealthier residents, then on to the Delta and a quick glance up the hill to Piper’s as the audience departed after the performance.  By ten thirty he was across the street and checking on Julia’s Palace, Cosmo the bartender nodded and smiled, all was well there.

A few more steps to the Bucket of Blood, rowdy and noisy, a crowd of youngsters from Dayton were getting drunk but there didn’t appear to be any trouble.  He spotted another group of local youngsters, some younger than he’d like but they were all drinking beer and didn’t seem to be drunk.  He decided to finish his rounds then come back, if the boys were still here he’d chase them off home.  A brisk walk down the hill to the Frederick’s House where the red light winked at him and business was only just beginning for the night.  No problems there, and none at the Silver Dollar, or any of the cheap bars on ‘D’ or ‘E’ streets.  He was walking back toward the Bucket of Blood and beginning to think it was going to be a quiet night when the sound of breaking glass made him hurry his steps.

Two of his deputies were already pushing through the saloon doors ahead of him and from inside came the unmistakable sounds of a fight.  Using their night-sticks and a certain amount of force the deputies separated some of the protagonists and a shot from Roy’s gun startled the remainder into a frozen tableau.  The Dayton boys were facing the local youngsters and between them was a mess of tables and broken glass.

Roy waved the barrel of his shotgun at the visitors.  “You got a minute to put a dollar a piece on the bar and clear out. If you ain’t got a dollar then you’re under arrest and if any of you are still within the city limits in fifteen minutes I’ll arrest you too,” he growled.   Dollars were slapped on the bar and Roy watched in silence as the group of maybe ten boys trouped out into the street.  The sheriff then turned his shotgun on the local youngsters, “A dollar a piece from you too,” he ordered.  “That should cover the broken glasses Sam,” he nodded at the bartender “and you tell your boss that if he didn’t let you serve youngsters with liquor he’d have less damages.”

Roy looked over the group in front of him,  Seth Pruitt,  Mitch Devlin, Marty Young, Joe Cartwright, Luke Shore and a kid who’s name he couldn’t remember.  “Now not one of you is more’n sixteen and by rights I should march you all home to your parents, but I ain’t got the time.  There’ll be no more drinking and you head on home or I’ll find the time.”  He waited patiently until the last one had gone then walked over and leaned on the bar.  “What started it, Sam?  Am I gonna get anymore trouble?”

Sam shook his head.  “Can’t be certain, Sheriff, but it looked like a grudge between a couple of the Dayton kids and young Joe Cartwright and Mitch Devlin.  Mitch was taking all comers at that arm wrestling he’s so good at and young Joe was takin’ bets.  The tall skinny Dayton kid lost a couple of times and started getting mad, his friend reckoned Joe was nudging the chair.  Jen, over there,” he indicated a young saloon girl in a yellow dress,  “was cuddlin’ up to Joe and the Dayton kid pulled her away from him, kinda rough like and it went from there.”

Roy nodded “I’ll just go make sure they all went home then.”  He walked out into the street but none of the youngsters were in sight.  Hopefully they’d taken his advice and gone home.

Two hours later Roy’s third pass of the trouble spots brought him more serious problems.  He was walking down Taylor Street when he heard scuffling and then a man groaning.  Drawing his gun he moved into a darkened alley between buildings.  A stocky youngster was bending over another figure and calling out.

“Billy, Billy, you gotta wake up.”

Roy moved alongside him and knelt down beside the prone figure “Let me see, son.” He said easily.  It only took a moment, a quick examination told Roy that the boy on the ground was in a bad way.  “Help me get him to Doc Martin’s.” he ordered.

Once out in the slightly better light of the street, the blood on the young man’s shirt was obvious.  He had been stabbed in the left side and was bleeding profusely.  Roy looked down into the boy’s face, it was the tall lad from the saloon.

Roy waited in the shadows of the livery stable corral.  He had been here half-an-hour and was beginning to wonder if he should have mounted a search for the suspects.  He reasoned that this was more certain.  Their horses were here, they had to come back for them.  He watched as the pinto whickered softly and moved toward the fence.  Yes, he’d been right, here they were.  He moved out to make his arrest.

*****

Joe rested his head in his hands  “Now we gotta work out what are we going to say Mitch,” he looked at his friend with concern.

Mitch shook his head in disbelief “We tell the truth,” he stated sadly  “We had nothing to do with that kid being stabbed and we say so. I mean being in jail’s gonna be bad enough for our folks but we can’t lie about that! ”

Joe groaned “And what do we tell them we were doing when it happened?”

Now it was Mitch’s turn to groan  “Maybe they won’t ask.  I mean if he ain’t hurt bad…”

“They must have some kinda evidence.  The sheriff wouldn’t have arrested us unless he knew something.  We just gotta disprove it.”  Joe suggested, hopefully.  “Without sayin’ where we were…” he added with a worried frown

The clang of the heavy doors told them they had company and the conversation stopped as a deputy brought in breakfast.  Joe eyed it with distaste and took only the coffee which was strong, black and almost cold.

Breakfast in the Cartwright household was icier than Joe’s coffee.  On discovering Joe was not in his bed, Adam had assumed that he had sneaked out without Hoss’ knowledge.  However, on seeing his brother’s fury at Little Joe, Hoss had felt obliged to deflect at least some of it by telling the truth, now he fervently wished he hadn’t been so doggone honest.

“God knows what trouble he’s got himself into this time.”  Adam growled.  “How could you be so stupid?”

Hoss was usually pretty even tempered but he wasn’t going to take that.  “Don’t you call me stupid.  So maybe I shouldna let him go, but he’s right he has been to town lots ‘o times without a problem and you and Pa do treat him like a kid…”

Adam pointed his knife at Hoss “That’s because he is a kid.  Hell, Hoss, he’s sixteen and not a very mature sixteen at that.”  He threw down the knife and gulped a mouthful of coffee as he stood up.  “C’mon let’s go.  The sooner we find him the less Pa has to hear about it.”

Hoss glanced mournfully at his ham and eggs, still more than half left on his plate, but he could see Adam was worried as well as angry and he had to admit he was pretty worried too. He might defend Joe to Adam but he was mad at him too.  Why did he let Joe talk him into things, was he stupid, well maybe not, but he was an easy target for his little brother’s schemes and silver tongue.

The ride into to town was fast and silent and the brothers didn’t speak as they swiftly tied up their mounts outside the Sheriff’s office.  Adam’s suspicions of Joe’s whereabouts were confirmed by the presence of George Devlin, and the look of relief on Roy Coffee’s face.

“He is here then?”  Adam said with a sigh.

Roy nodded “Yes, he’s here.”

“What’s the fine, Roy?”  Adam asked taking out his wallet and checking its contents with a look of resignation.

“No fine, Adam.  I’m sorry.  It’s a mite more serious than that.”  Roy replied getting to his feet.  “I was just explaining to George.”

“Roy reckons one of them stabbed a another boy in a fight.”  George Devlin spat out.  “I’ve told him its ridiculous but he says he has a witness.”

“What!”  Adam’s shocked voice rose above George.

“Now cool off.  I gotta a boy up at Doc’s with a stab wound and his friend says Joe did it and Mitch was with him.  I gotta investigate.”  Roy tried to calm Adam by raising a hand and then pulling out a chair.  “Sit and let me tell you what I know.”  Roy went on to relate the incident in the Bucket of Blood and then his discovery of the boy in the alley.  “Dalton is stabbed that’s a fact and his friend says they were set on by several boys, his descriptions fit Mitch and Joe, the others he’s more vague about.  He says Joe was the one who did the stabbing.”

Adam banged a fist on the table  “That’s ridiculous, Roy.  You and I both know Joe likes a fight and won’t back down but to follow someone to deliberately beat up on them … and as for pulling a knife…  you know he’d only do that in self-defence.  What does Joe say happened?”

Roy sighed  “Well I ain’t told ‘em exactly why I’m askin’ yet.  I arrested them for being drunk, pretended I wanted to know who’d been serving ‘em drinks.  They both said they couldn’t remember where they went.  I gotta say they weren’t that drunk, they must know where they went.”

George Devlin intervened “That don’t mean nuthin’, Roy.  They could be trying to protect a friendly bartender from you.”

Roy nodded  “Could be but I didn’t want to question ‘em too much until you got here.”

“Well let’s get to it then.”  Adam said, slapping a hand against his thigh “Then we can all get home.”

Roy nodded and led the way into the jail cells.

“Uh oh”  Mitch nudged Joe who was still holding is head in case it fell off.

Joe slowly looked up and then came to his feet even more slowly.  Adam looked real angry.  He started to speak, but Roy cut him off.

“You can get into a family fight later.  Right now I got some questions and I want Adam and George here to know the answers as well as me.”  He indicated that the boys should sit down again and he pulled up chairs for their visitors.  He remained standing and began to pace.

“Now I saw you two drinking in the Bucket of Blood and I broke up a fight between you and the boys from Dayton.  That’s fact,” he said firmly.

Joe and Mitch nodded they couldn’t argue with that and that alone was gonna cost ‘em when they got home, Joe reckoned.

“That was about eleven, I guess.  I told you to get on home, but no, you had to give me the slip and stay in town, ‘cos two or maybe nearer three hours later I arrested you at the livery stable.  Now I wanna know where you went during them hours?”

Mitch looked at his buddy.  If he had been alone he would have told the truth.  His pa could always worm it out of him, anyhow and it went harder on him if he’d lied.  The same was true in the Cartwright household, but he could see Joe still planned to bluff it out.  Well, if he wanted to fool his Pa and Adam then he must have a good story and as usual Mitch was willing to let him give it a try.

Joe kept his eyes on the sheriff, lying to him was just about possible, lying to Adam was more risky.  His older brother started out sceptical and convincing him of a lie was an uphill battle that Joe’s head wouldn’t allow him to engage in right now.  “We toldya, we can’t remember. We went along the street and hid out until you’d gone then into the Silver Dollar…”  Joe selected a saloon who’s reputation was slightly above some  “we had a few drinks there and after that I don’t remember where we went.”

Roy sniffed and shook his head  “You was drinking for three hours and can’t recall which saloons, but when I picked you up you know’d who I was, where your horses were and which way was home.”  He looked at his two visitors  “I ain’t buyin’ it.  A fella was stabbed and ain’t apt to make it to mornin’…”

“Stabbed!”  Joe and Mitch exploded together.

“Yeah, stabbed.  And his buddy says you did it.  He described you pretty good too.  I got my deputies lookin’ for the knife.  I took your guns but neither of you was carryin’ one when I arrested you but that don’t mean you didn’t have one earlier.”

Joe instinctively put a hand to his belt, the sheath was there but no knife.  The movement wasn’t missed by Roy either.

Adam was still thinking about the first part of the sentence and he moved closer to the bars  “Gun, what gun?”  he almost shouted at Joe, although they were only a foot apart.

“They both had pistols.”  Roy said, more quietly.

Adam glanced at George Devlin.

“Tell the Sheriff, where you were, Mitchell.”  George’s voice was calm but firm.  “This isn’t a game and you’re not doing yourself or Joe any good by lying.”

Mitch couldn’t look his father in the eye but he did look at his friend, “We gotta tell, Joe.  We didn’t have nuthin’ to do with stabbing that kid.”

Joe nodded. It was no longer a bit of fun that had gone wrong and the consequences of saying nothing were worse than the consequences that would surely follow when they provided the Sheriff with their cast iron alibi.

“We weren’t anywhere near those fellas and we’ve got witnesses to prove it.”  Joe said slowly.  He brought his eyes up until they were looking into the angry ones of his older brother.

“Then let’s hear it?”  Roy growled.

“They were WHERE?”  Ben Cartwright was almost apoplectic.  “My sixteen-year-old son was WHERE?” he repeated.

They were in the living room of the Ponderosa ranch house on Sunday evening and Adam was trying to keep his father calm. Not that there was much chance of that.  Joe took one quick look at his father’s face and seriously believed that although cleared of attempted murder, he could well become the victim of the same crime.

Adam had already hauled him over the coals this morning but it was nothing compared to what was to come.  In fact Joe reckoned that his older brother saw a certain black humor in the situation.  The lecture had been long but Joe had a distinct feeling that all through it, and even at the jailhouse before it, Adam had been having a hard time keeping a straight face.  Hoss on the other hand was shocked but then it didn’t take much to shock the middle Cartwright, Joe almost grinned at his brother’s embarrassment, would have if it hadn’t been for his own as he told the story.

Ben had arrived this evening in full sail, so to speak.  He had heard from Roy that Joe had been arrested and then cleared of attempted murder but for some reason his old friend couldn’t keep from smirking as he told the tale. He had stormed into the house and demanded an explanation and now as Adam finished telling the whole story he was furious.

Adam tried hard to keep a serious expression on his face but the corner of his mouth betrayed him.

“And you think there is something funny, in all of this?”  Ben swung on to his oldest son and wagged a finger in his face.

Adam controlled the urge to smile and shook his head  “Of course not, sir.  It was a very serious charge.”

“I’m not talking about the charges, they were preposterous and as soon as Roy spoke to the injured boy, he confirmed that it wasn’t Joseph.”  Ben was still shouting.

“The kid’s going to be okay and he’s identified his supposed friend as the guilty party.  Some fight over a girl.  I guess he panicked when he thought the kid was going to die…  He’s fessed up now, so that’s alright.” Adam tried cool the situation.  Maybe if he kept talking Pa would calm down, right now he looked as though he might explode.

“ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT… nothing about this is alright.”  Ben stormed.  “You let him go into town after I made it clear it was not to happen and he gets into this mess.”

Adam is taken aback “I what?  I didn’t let him, he talked Hoss into it.  I wasn’t even here.”  He protested.

“Exactly, you went off knowing he was likely to disobey me.”  Ben fumed.

“I went to dinner with the Palmers, it’s hardly a crime.  We talked business.”  Adam said reasonably, no matter how unjust the accusation he didn’t want to inflame Ben further, if that was possible.

“You went to flirt with Lucy Palmer, as if one girl isn’t enough for you.  No doubt you put this idea into his head…” Ben was beyond reason now.

Adam’s color rose, this was too much. Across the room Hoss covered his face with his hands.  This was developing into a full-scale family war and he hated discord.  So far Pa had avoided any mention of his part in the fiasco and he didn’t thank Adam for drawing attention to it.

“What I do in my private life is my business or at least it should be.”  Adam’s voice dropped until it was almost a growl.  Then he shook his head  “Anyway, I don’t know what the fuss is about, they only went into the bar.”

This last caused Ben to finally reach the end of what he considered to be a very long fuse.  “Only a bar!  Only a BAR!  The fact that the bar is the entrance to the Frederick’s House, one of the most notorious brothels in Virginia City…   My sixteen-year-old son’s alibi for an attempted murder charge is that he was in a brothel and you consider I’m making a fuss.  Believe me I’ve only just started.”

He turned away from them and desperately fought for control.  “You!”  he swung back on Joe his pointing finger missing Joe’s nose by less than an inch “Go to your room until I’ve cooled down enough to deal with you, which might be a very long time.  And you two…”  he turned back and included both Hoss and Adam in his glare  “You had better stay out of my way until you realise what it means to set a good example to your brother and to see that I am obeyed.”

He didn’t need to say it twice, Joe fled up the stairs and with a shrug Adam turned and putting his hand on Hoss’ shoulder encouraged him toward the front porch.

“Pa’s gonna kill him.”  Hoss said, morosely, when they were safely in the barn.

“Sure looks like it.”  Adam grinned.

“What’s so dadblamed funny?”  Hoss asked.  Like his father, he could see no humor in the situation.

Adam gave a short laugh  “C’mon, you gotta admit the kid’s got nerve.  Would you have gone into a brothel when you were sixteen?  No, don’t answer that,” his laughter became fully vocal.  “Marcie said she almost persuaded him upstairs even though he didn’t have the money.  It was Mitch that lost his nerve.”

The flush on Hoss’ face told Adam that his brother was uncomfortable with the discussion.  “It’s gonna happen sometime, Hoss.  He’s only about a year or so younger than I was…  Might’ve even taken him myself, but looks like he doesn’t need encouragement.” He watched Hoss from under lowered lashes, knowing his brother was thinking back to a time when Adam had been just back from college and Hoss had been a nervous nineteen-year-old accompanying his older brother on a night out on the town.  That had been a disaster with Hoss refusing to set foot in the place, but Adam was pretty sure that it wasn’t still the unknown experience that Hoss was making it out to be.

“You gonna do chores or not?”  Hoss grunted ”No sense in making Pa any madder ‘an he is already.”

Adam kept his grin  “Sure, but he’ll cool off.  Give him a while and I’ll try to talk him out of murdering younger brother.”

Talking to Pa proved more difficult than Adam had anticipated.  An hour later when the chores were done and the stock settled for the night, Pa was still pacing the great room and he looked no less angry.

Adam walked over to the fireplace and with one hand resting on the stones glanced at his father.  “He’s okay Pa, nothing happened.  They just had a few drinks and…”

“Don’t try to justify his disobedience or your own actions.” Ben’s anger was still close to the surface.

“I don’t think my actions need justifying,” Adam said stiffly.  “I told him to stay here, he didn’t.  What do you expect me to do tie him up, dammit he’s sixteen,” he swore loudly.

“I expect you to do as I ask and set the boy an example.”  Ben replied.

“So I don’t drink or carry a gun, or visit certain establishments until he’s old enough to do the same, is that it?”  Adam moved closer to his father and Hoss feared the confrontation was going too far.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it.  But you could be more discreet.” Ben was beginning to direct his anger at Adam now.

“You can’t believe he doesn’t know what goes on in the Frederick’s House.  And as for drinking and wearing a gun, all his friends do. You’re treating him like a ten-year-old. Pa, he’s almost a man.”  Adam watched as his father considered what was being said.

“He’s still a boy.”  Ben said but his voice was calmer and his stance more relaxed.

“Pa, think about it.  When does Joe really go against you?  When does he do stupid things?”  Adam let this sink in.  “I’ll tell you.  Most often it’s when you’ve reined him in too hard.  Like this time.  He was an hour late home because he wanted to walk his girl back from a dance.  He’d had one or maybe two beers, I know I was there.  He and Susan were having fun, not doing any harm.  He wanted to look good to her, not leave the dance before the end like some kid and he wanted to see her home like a gentleman and okay, maybe steal a kiss or two.  He did nothing that we haven’t all done…”  He looked up at his father  “You included, I’ll bet.  You can’t tell me that you spent every evening alone in your bunk when “The Wanderer” was in harbor.”

Ben nodded “And what point are you making?”

Adam plunged on, more in hope than expectation “For that you restricted him for a month. That was pretty harsh. Combine that with the fact that last night was a kind of ‘right of passage’ for him and his friends, they are all sixteen and leaving school and boyhood behind.  It was important. If he hadn’t gone and gone along with the crowd he would have been humiliated.” Adam hesitated and looked at Hoss.  He’d tried but it didn’t look as though Pa was going to take much notice.

“So you think I should just forget about it, is that it?”  Ben hooked his thumbs into his pockets and surveyed his oldest son with a look that would have withered a lesser man.

“Noooo, but I do think you are making too much of it.”  Adam countered.

“He got into a fight in a saloon, Adam.  He got drunk and arrested.  He…, well he went places he has no business to go.”

Ben was now speaking in a more normal tone and Hoss held out hope that maybe Joe would survive the forthcoming encounter if not unscathed at least alive.

Adam sighed, he was winning but it was a struggle  “He didn’t start the fight. He had a few too many beers but the arrest was a mistake.  You’d never have a heard about any of this if the other kid hadn’t been stabbed…”

“You mean you’d all have lied to me.”  Ben’s temper rose again and Adam realised his error.

“No Pa, that’s not what I mean. But you gotta admit he was unlucky.  If he’d managed to sneak back to bed, none of us would have known.”

“And what about this visit to… to a brothel.  You going to tell me that was a mistake too.”  Ben growled.

Adam allowed a small smile “It was probably a dare. Nothing happened, Marcie said they had one or two drinks…”  he was careful not to say Marcie had said whiskeys  “They stayed downstairs in the bar.  It’s not much worse than the Silver Dollar, a bit more fancy and the girls are… well friendlier…”

“Oh you’d know all about them wouldn’t you, calling them by name and who knows what else.”  Ben glowered at is son.

Adam had to turn away to hide a grin, Pa’s innocent act was too funny for words. “That’s not the point, Pa.  It was a challenge and I bet Robbie Edwards was behind it.  He’s near seventeen and he’s been working the mines for almost a year now.  The others think he’s… well he’s full-grown and they try to be like him. You can’t be too hard on Joe for this, Pa.  He really wasn’t that bad.”

Ben grunted  “Joseph knows better than to follow like a sheep.  He knows right from wrong.”  He moved toward the stairs  “And since when have their been degrees of  disobedience in this house.  I’ll thank you to leave the decisions on how to discipline my son to me” And with that he headed up the staircase.

Adam sucked in air through his teeth and shook his head at Hoss.  “I don’t know if I’ve made it better or worse.”

“He sure is mad.”  Hoss sighed and thankfully sank into a chair, relieved that at least Pa had left the room without commenting on his part in the proceedings of the previous night.

“He just can’t accept that Joe is growing up,” Adam chuckled, “And growing real fast by the sound of things.  Or maybe… do you think Pa is getting so upset because he knows what he got up to at sixteen.”  Adam chuckled.

“Huh!.”  Hoss grunted, the image of his father at sixteen and what he might or might not have done was one he’d rather not conjure up at all.  Pa was… well Pa.

When he had escaped upstairs all Little Joe had felt was relief to be off the battlefield for a while.  It had been a long time since Pa had been this angry with him, in fact, he wasn’t sure he’d ever been this mad before.  Joe wasn’t sure what the trigger had been, was it the alibi or was it that he’d gone to town at all.  He paced the room while he tried to work out his tactics for his defence but he was no nearer a solution, when he heard his father’s distinctive footsteps and then a sharp rap on his door.  As usual there was no pause between knock and entry, Pa considered the knock itself was sufficient warning for his sons.  Joe often wondered why Pa bothered to knock on his sons’ doors at all, since the occupant wouldn’t have time to stop doing whatever they were doing, and in his case it simply meant he had a guilty expression even when he hadn’t been doing anything wrong.

He stopped pacing and turned to the door, his hands firmly behind his back which was ramrod straight.  Pa still looked pretty angry as he closed the door purposefully behind him.  It wasn’t until the older man spoke that Joe realised he had been holding his breath and he let it out in a long rush that sounded like a sigh.

“Well, what do you have to say for yourself, young man?”

Joe wished Pa wouldn’t always start like that, it was so predictable and there really was no answer, or at least not one that would be acceptable to an angry parent.  If he defended himself he’d be wrong and if he didn’t he’d be punished…  Heck, he’s was gonna be punished whatever he said.  Even as this thought went through his head with its notion of answering back, he discarded it.  He was in enough trouble without back talking Pa.  As for calling him ‘young man’ that was laughable, wasn’t the whole conversation about to revolve around their differences on that subject.  He settled for silence.

Receiving no response, Ben continued  “Answer me. And look at me when I’m talking to you,” he snapped.

Joe swallowed. Did Pa know how hard it was to look him in the eye when you knew he was rightly disappointed in your behaviour?  Sure he did.  That was why he asked it.  Joe knew he had a choice of two roads to travel, the question was which one would lead to the least pain?  If he apologised then he was sure he’d feel a physical pain but it wouldn’t be as bad as if he didn’t.  But an apology for something he didn’t consider wrong was like confessing to a crime he hadn’t committed.  Oh sure, he’d disobeyed he wasn’t denying that but he considered that the original order had been wrong too.  He was a man now, well almost, and men stood up for what they believed in.  He had heard too many arguments between Adam and Pa not to know that.  Adam never apologised to Pa for disagreeing with him.  A tiny voice told him that Hoss did and Hoss was a man too, maybe Hoss’ way of dealing with a situation like this was the right one, a decision made from love not fear.  Then he pushed the thought away, Hoss would apologise for breathing if it kept Pa from yelling at him.  No, given this situation, Adam would put his case calmly and not back down.  He looked up to both of his brothers but he had always wanted to be more like Adam and here was his chance to show Pa that he was as much his own man as his older brother.

He lifted his head and looked Pa right in the eyes, boy this was harder than it looked when Adam did it.  “I had some drinks with my friends. I didn’t do anything wrong,” he started coolly but his voice had a slight shake when he saw his father’s reaction.

Ben’s eyes almost popped out of his head.  Was he hearing right?  He had expected a mumbled apology or defiant angry words, not this calm denial.  “You didn’t do anything wrong,” his voice rose for a moment then settled into its deep, quiet, deliberate tones that told the listener he was barely controlling his anger.  “You disobeyed me.  You lied to your brother.  You broke your restriction.  You got drunk.  You got into a fight.  You got arrested for a crime and then… then your alibi for this crime was…” He shook his finger under Joe’s nose and the rest of him was physically shaking with rage.  “Your alibi was that you were in a place you had no business to be and in company you had no business to keep.”

Joe mentally ticked off the points in his head.  Each one was true but whether each one was a crime requiring punishment depended on whether he was a man or a boy and on that score Joe had no doubts.  Unfortunately, neither did Pa.

“And you stand there and tell me you did nothing wrong.”  Ben finished.

Joe took a deep breath and tried to explain  “Pa, I’m sixteen, in just over a month I’ll be working on the ranch and if I’m gonna make it with the rest of the hands I have to be one of them, not a kid.  If it had been Adam you’d be mad but you wouldn’t make such a big thing of it, would you?”

“You are NOT Adam, you are a boy who needs to be taught a lesson in respect.  Its clear that your older brother is having far too much influence on you and not for your good.  I’ll be having a few words with him right after I deal with you.”  Ben was beyond reaching now and Joe knew it.  Disobedience was bad, dishonesty worse, but disrespect for your elders was top of Pa’s list of crimes. His approach had made things bad for his older brother and worse for himself, that much was clear.  He decided his only option now was the one he should have taken in the first place; silence.

Downstairs, Hoss was trying to take his mind off events upstairs by mending a halter but every so often he would glance upwards.  Adam had settled comfortably into his chair and was apparently deep in a new book, but even he wasn’t really concentrating.  Both had been on the receiving end of Pa’s temper when they were Joe’s age and before and since and it wasn’t a pleasant experience.  Adam reflected that, of all of them, his younger brother was the least affected by Pa yelling, but even Joe was shaken by the quiet, deep voice and the look of disappointment that came into Pa’s eyes when they had done something to earn his disapproval.

Suddenly there was a familiar sound from above, at least familiar when Joe was in trouble with Pa and both brothers looked first upwards and then at each other.

“Guess, that answers my question.” Adam said with regret  “I didn’t help, I just got Pa mad at me too.  But at least you seem to have escaped unscathed, considering you were the one who let him get past you and go into town.”

“You sayin’ its my fault that Joe’s gettin’ a tannin’?”  Hoss asked.  It was true he did feel guilty, and that guilt wasn’t helped by Adam reminding him that Pa had said nothing to him.

“No.”  Adam sighed.  “It’s no one’s fault but Joe’s, but for once I do think Pa is being too hard on him.  The more Pa tries to keep him a kid the harder he tries to prove he’s not, it’s a vicious circle.  Maybe it will get better when he’s working on the ranch full-time.”

He stopped speaking as they heard a door open and close and then footsteps on the stairs.   Both returned to their previous occupations and tried not to look up as Ben came back into the room and picked up the newspaper and his pipe.

After a moment or two Adam raised his eyes and carefully set down his book.  Then with a slight shrug at Hoss he got up and began to pace.  Ben was aware of every move but he kept his eyes on the printed page, not reading but waiting, until Adam had made his third or fourth pass of his chair. “Something on your mind?”

“Well… Don’t you think you’re being a little hard on the kid.  He’s gotta grow up sometime.”  Adam glanced nervously at Hoss, this wasn’t going too well. “Couldn’t you just forget it now.  I mean, well, do you have to restrict him more? It was keeping him on the ranch that made him do this in the first place.”

“Oh, so I reward him for his behaviour, do I?”  Ben’s temper was still simmering.

Adam sighed.  “I’d hardly call the tanning you just gave him a reward.  Look Pa, how can you expect him to make mature judgements when you never give him the chance.”

Ben wagged a finger at his eldest son “If he had ever made one mature decision, I might consider that a valid point.  The day Joseph makes a decision based on reason and considered thought is the day I start treating him like man.”

Adam sank down into his chair again.  He’d tried but it looked like the battle would continue. Joe would be restricted, Joe would fight it and eventually break it, and then it would start all over again.

The following Saturday Adam and Hoss were working on a particularly stubborn section of fence.  Both had stayed out late in town the previous night, arriving back in the early hours, just a little worse for drink and both were now suffering for it.

“I swear Pa gave us this job as a punishment for being none too quiet when we got home this morning.”  Adam sighed as he stretched and wiped the sweat from his eyes.

“Yep,” Hoss agreed  “There’s times when bein’ Joe has its advantages.”

“Huh!”  Adam took a swig from his canteen and looked puzzled.

“Well, wouldn’t you rather be stuck in the yard with nothin’ to do but clean out a few stalls and then relax all afternoon.  Pa’s gone to town so you can bet our little brother  ain’t working too hard.”  Hoss grinned.

“I suppose, but he did get a taste of Pa’s belt and that’s something I’d just as soon not experience again.”  Adam leaned on the fence post and stared into the distance.  “He sure did have a strong right arm when I was a kid.”

Hoss laughed.  “Well, you’d know better than me.”  He fastened off another piece of wire and came to stand by his brother.

“You got your share.”  Adam chuckled. “How old were you the last time?”

“That’d be the second summer after you went to college, you know, when Pa came out to visit ya.   Just afore he wen, Joe and me went up to Eagle Falls.  I musta bin fourteen I guess, comin’ up fifteen that fall.”  Hoss recalled the events with some chagrin.  “I got hurt and we was out all night. He sure was mad.”

Adam nodded thoughtfully  “Yeah and I was just a bit older when he took his belt to me for that little incident with Joe, when I went visiting Caroline.  Both of us haven’t gotten that particular punishment since we were fifteen.”

Hoss glanced sideways at his brother.  Adam was meaning somethin’ but he wasn’t sure what.   “What ya getting’ at?” he asked.

Adam straightened up and sighed.  “Joe’s way past sixteen and going to leave school and start work next month.  Kinda proves my point, that Pa is… well I don’t know… stopping Joe growing up, I guess.  Treating him like a kid way longer than he did us.   You know, like he didn’t want to lose his baby.”

Hoss nodded  “I’d been on two maybe three cattle drives by the time I was Joe’s age and so’d you.  Hell you were less than a year old than he is when you was running a loggin’ camp and takin’ care of the ranch.” He sighed and picked up the wire cutters again  “What can we do about it?”

Adam shook his head  “Not much I guess, ‘cos Pa isn’t about to listen.”  He applied himself to the task of stretching the next bit of wire and no more was said.

Joe leaned on the corral fence and tried to decide what to do.  He’d done the chores, well he’d done most of them and he didn’t plan on doing anymore.  Hop Sing was working in his garden so there was no chance to slip away even if he dared.  Pa was still pretty mad at him.  He was bored and various thoughts ran through his head, he ruled out most of them as likely to lead him into more hot water.  He was already pushing his luck by wearing his pistol and he had been doing a spot of target practice.  Hop Sing had frowned but said nothing and he doubted that the cook would tell his father.  That was one thing about Hop Sing, he might give Joe a hard time, but he only told as much as was necessary and never worried his boss without cause.  Over the years Joe had been grateful to the cook on more than one occasion.

He wondered if he could stretch the words ‘yard and house’ to include a trip to the stream for a spot of fishing.  It was less than a mile but could hardly be called staying in the yard.  He had almost decided to risk it when he heard the sound of horses, several of them. Too early to be Hoss and Adam and too many of them.  He turned around as a rider with a string of five horses rounded the corner of the barn.

“Hello, Mr Hoskins.  Pa ain’t here.”  Joe greeted the horse trader.

“Hello, Little Joe.” Hoskins dismounted and looped the reins of his horse around the post next to Joe.  “Saw your Pa in town.  He told me to bring the horses on over and collect the money from Hop Sing, if Adam wasn’t back.”

Joe shrugged and nodded to where the Chinese cook was tending the garden.  “He never said nothing to me.”  Joe made it sound like a complaint and then as Hoskins ignored him and walked over to Hop Sing he added “Why would he, I’m just a kid?”

He watched the two men in conversation for a moment and then Hop Sing went inside.  Hoskins drew up a chair on the porch to wait. With nothing better to do Joe started looking over the horses.   They were prime stock and Joe was admiring a sorrel mare and wishing he could own her.  He ran his hand over her and then patted her rump as he moved on to the next.  Suddenly something stopped him and he went back to examine the mare more thoroughly.  This was the same horse he had seen with Adam two weeks back but something wasn’t right.  He hesitated a few seconds then checked another animal.  He had to be wrong.  Adam would have noticed this, surely.  He ran his fingers over the brand one more time.  It couldn’t be, Pa trusted this man, Adam said they’d traded with him before.  He had to be wrong, but he knew he wasn’t.  What should he do, Hop Sing was coming out of the house with an envelope in his hands.

Taking a deep breath he made up his mind.  “Hey, Mr Hoskins, you got the bill of sale for me to give my Pa?”

Hoskins looked up in surprise  “Yes, of course, it’s right here.”  He held out an envelope to Hop Sing and reached for the money.

“May I see it.”  Joe said pleasantly  “Just so I can show my Pa I know how to do business, huh, Mr Hoskins?”

Hoskins smiled  “Sure Joe.”  The boy just wanted to look grown-up, he decided.  No harm in that.  He handed the paper to Joe and waited.

Hop Sing was puzzled but he watched Little Joe’s face and something told him to hold on to the envelope, he even moved back a little toward the house.  He sensed that something wasn’t quite right.

Joe slowly opened the envelope and took out the Bill of Sale.  He had seen them lots of times before and knew what they should look like but he took his time.  He desperately wanted to find some excuse for not handing over the money.  He knew he couldn’t just accuse Hoskin of rustling.

“My brother will be back in less than an hour, I’d just as soon he looked this over, Mr Hoskin.  The descriptions don’t seem quite accurate to me.”  He hedged, hoping that Hoskin would wait.

“I ain’t got time to hang around here waitin’ on Adam.”  Hoskin seemed flustered.  “Your Pa said it was fine.”

“Did Pa see the Bill of Sale and the horses?”  Joe asked.

“Well, no but you and Adam saw ‘em and you an see they’re the same ones.” The horse trader was agitated now.

“Can’t see how it would hurt to wait for Adam.  Hop Sing can make you coffee, can’t you Hop Sing?”  He turned to the cook and nodded.

Not sure what was happening but knowing what Joe wanted him to do the little cook bobbed his head  “I go get hot coffee now, you wait.” And he scurried inside before Hoskin could protest, taking the envelope of money with him.

Once inside Hop Sing rapidly put the money back in the safe and shut the door with a bang and then headed for the kitchen, where he armed himself with a shotgun.

Hoskin was torn between wanting to take his money and get out and the knowledge that any objection to waiting would seem suspicious. He hadn’t seen Joe’s examination of the horses and he reckoned that Adam Cartwright had missed the altered brands before and would do so again.  The kid was just showing off, trying to be like his brothers and pretend that he knew something about the business.  “Okay, Joe, I’ll wait a while but if he’s not back in an hour I want the money your father promised. I gotta get back to Carson City before dark.

Hop Sing brought coffee and for a very uneasy hour the three sat on the porch warily watching each other.  Finally, Hoskin got to his feet.  “I done what you asked and your brother ain’t showed.  Your Pa said the cook here could hand over the money, so I want it now.  Even if he cain’t give it to me, you can, you’re a Cartwright same as Adam.  Now you got the horses and you got the bill of sale and I want to be on my way.”

Joe realised he could stall for time no more.  He stood up and consciously rested his hand on his pistol.  “I can’t give you the money, Mr Hoskin.  I’d prefer you to wait until my brother gets here to explain but if you insist on leaving, I’ll have to stop you.”  Joe tried to sound cool and confident but inside he was shaking.  Did he really have the nerve to stop Hoskin if he wished to leave and take the horses, or indeed if he tried to take the money by force.

Hoskin looked at the boy in front of him in surprise  “What you talking about boy?  I can leave anytime I want and take my horses with me.  There’s plenty as’ll buy them if you won’t. Your Pa ain’t gonna be pleased to lose ‘em and he won’t be too happy about the way I’ve been treated neither.”

Joe’s resolve faltered, what if he was wrong, maybe he should just let Hoskin leave. He was just a kid after all, surely if there was anything crooked Pa or Adam would have picked it up.  But he knew he wasn’t wrong.  He could let Hoskin go then send a posse after him.   He almost shook his head, no that wouldn’t work, no one would believe him if the horses were gone, they were his only evidence.  He also knew that if Pa or Adam suspected such a thing they’d never let Hoskin get away.

He saw a movement in the house and remembered Hop Sing.  Hop Sing would be right behind him.  His mind was made up, he’d done like Pa was always telling him, he’d thought it through and now he had to act, not in haste but with a cool head.  Keeping his eyes on the horse trader, his hand moved imperceptibly toward his gun.

Either by good luck or good fortune, two horses rounded the barn at that very second.  The sound of their arrival masked by the movement of the other horses. Hoskin was momentarily distracted while Joe drew his gun.

Adam’s first picture as he swung down from Sport was of his young brother holding a gun on one of their father’s friends, a gun he shouldn’t even be wearing.  “What in heavens name is going on here.”  Adam thundered in a fair imitation of his father.  He strode to Joe and relieved him of the gun.  It didn’t take much effort as the pistol almost dropped from Joe’s nerveless fingers at his brother’s shout.

The horse trader took advantage of Joe’s shock to get his story in first. “I ain’t never been treated like this.  Five years I’ve traded with your Pa and now he refuses to give me my money and pulls a gun on me.  I ain’t about to do business with you now, me and my horses will be going.  There’s plenty who know a good horse when they see one.”  He gathered up the reins of his own mount and was about to pick up the leading rein on the string of horses.

Joe had by now recovered from the shock of seeing Adam “Stop him, Adam. He’s a rustler.”  He shouted.

Adam almost choked  “What are you talking about? Mr Hoskin has traded with us for years. You’ve been reading to many of those dime novels.”  He caught Joe’s arm  “Apologise,” he demanded.  When Joe said nothing but struggled against his grip he squeezed him more firmly “I’m sorry Mr Hoskin, my kid brother here is playing some kind of game and he will apologise.”  He turned back to Joe  “And to think I told Pa you were growing up.” He said in disgust. ”Well he’s gonna hear about this.”

Joe was angry now, why wouldn’t his brother listen?  “The brands have been changed.  Check ‘em if you don’t believe me,” his voice became high pitched and he struggled again against his brother’s grip.

“I’m not gonna stand here and listen to this.”  The horse trader spun on his heel and prepared to mount up.  Then seeing Hoss watching him he hesitated.

“I wouldn’t do that Mr Hoskin, not if you know what’s good for ya,” the big man said slowly.

Adam’s jaw dropped  “Not you too, you can’t possibly believe what Joe is saying.”

“Sure can, Adam, ‘cos it’s true, ain’t it Mr Hoskin, “ Hoss ran his left hand over the nearest horses rump while his right stayed just a fraction away from his pistol.  “This horse’s bin branded twice.  Course you’ll have a bill of sale from the original owner and a note of the brand change won’t ya?”

It was hard to tell who was more shocked Hoskin or Adam.

Adam dropped Joe’s arm as if it had burned him and with a wild look at Hoskin moved over to check the horses for himself.  Hoskin stood with his head down knowing that there was nothing he could do against three of them.  Why hadn’t his luck held?  If that snot-nosed hadn’t been here he’d have been free and clear.  Ten years he’d been trading horses honestly, but he’d got into debt with his poker playing and needed money fast and the holder of his note had blackmailed him into taking these off his hands.

Adam checked all five horses, his sense of unreality growing with each one.  He had trusted this man, his Pa had trusted this man.  “Why?”  he asked, truly puzzled.

“I ain’t never done nuthin’ like this before,” Hoskin pleaded.  “I wouldn’t cheat your Pa, wouldn’t cheat nobody but I had no choice.”

“We’ve all got choices, Mr Hoskin.  You made the wrong one.  I think you’d best get mounted up and we’ll go see what Roy Coffee has to say about this.”

Hoss nodded in agreement  “You want me to come with you?” he asked.

Adam shook his head.  “Mr Hoskin isn’t going anywhere while those horses are in our corral.  We can return them to their rightful owners once Roy has made a note of the evidence.”

Joe watched as the horse trader and his older brother prepared to leave again. So far Adam hadn’t spoken to him or looked him in the eye once since his discovery.

Adam swung into the saddle “Let Pa know what’s happened if I don’t pass him on the road.”

Hoss acknowledged the instruction with a raised hand and Adam was gone.

Joe waited a few minutes but then he could contain himself no longer, he spit into the dust and swore.

“Hey!”  Hoss glared at him.  “What’s eatin’ you.  You just caught a rustler, you oughta be celebratin’.  Saved Pa a whole bunch o’ money too.”

Joe swore again  “Yeah, and Adam didn’t even apologise.”  He rubbed his arm which was still a trifle sore from his older brother’s rough treatment.  “He was wrong and I was right and he never even said thanks.”

Hoss grinned  “Give him time.  Apologies come hard to our big brother and ‘specially when he has to admit he’s wrong to one of us.  He’ll get there.”

Joe grunted  “He thinks I’m just a kid, so does Pa…”

“That ain’t fair, Joe,  Adam’s bin tryin’ real hard to get Pa to let you do more.”  Hoss put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.

Joe shook off the hand “Well, it ain’t doin’ no good.”

Adam didn’t meet Ben on his way into town and was puzzled when he arrived back and there was still no sign of Buck in the barn. He took his time settling Sport, reluctant to go into the house and do what he knew had to be done.  He had accused his father of treating Joe like a kid and yet when the chips were down he had done the same.  He hadn’t trusted his younger brother and had assumed the worst without giving him a chance to explain.  He owed an apology and he dreaded the way Joe would crow over it.  No, that wasn’t fair either.  Neither of his brothers had ever made him feel small when he made mistakes, only when he refused to admit them.  It was his own feelings that got in the way of an apology, his own stubborn nature that made apologies so hard.

“You plan on brushing his coat clean away?”  A voice at his elbow made him jump.

“Oh! Hi Pa.  I didn’t hear you come in.”  Adam, stopped grooming Sport and began to idly pick at the brush a sure sign to his father that something was wrong.   “You’re late back, was there a problem?”

Ben shook his head  “No, I called over to see George Devlin. I thought he might be interested on those horses we got from Hoskins.  He was telling me he’d lost one of his prime brood mares and was looking to replace her.”

Adam frowned  “That won’t be possible,” he said slowly.

“Why not, we don’t need all five.  I only bought them all because Hoskins wanted to get rid of them in one sale.  We can sell one on to George.  I saw them as I rode in. They look real good, you’re a good judge of horse flesh, son.”

“Yeah, horses maybe, people I’m not so sure,” Adam muttered.  “They aren’t ours to sell,” he added in a louder voice. “They weren’t even Hoskins’, they were stolen and over branded.  I’ve just got back from taking Hoskins to the law for horse stealing.”

Ben’s jaw dropped. “Are you sure? I’ve known Hoskins for years, bought stock from him many times…”

“I’m sure, Pa.  You can take a look for yourself, if you don’t believe me.”  Adam sighed.

Ben shook his head  “If you say its true then it is, I don’t need to check.  Why wouldn’t I believe you?”

“Because I didn’t believe Joe.”  Adam said, softly, so softly that Ben didn’t hear.

Ben had finished bedding down Buck while he was talking and now he turned to Adam,  “It sounds like there’s a story here, maybe you’d better tell me inside why Hoskins turned bad.”

Adam nodded “There’s a lot of things I need to tell you Pa and I need to do it so my little brother hears it too.”

Ben raised an eyebrow, questioningly, but Adam had already turned to walk across the yard, and he could only follow his son’s long strides.

Once in the house Ben was greeted noisily by his two younger sons but he waved them to silence and sank into his chair,  “Let’s all sit down and Adam can tell me what exactly has been going on around here.”

Joe shrugged and slid down on to the sofa.  Sure let Adam tell it.  He’s always right, he knows everything.  Now we get to hear his version of how he made all the right decisions and saved Pa’s money.  At this thought Joe almost chuckled, here he was being the kid again.  What did it matter how Adam told it, he knew the truth and even if he told the truth Pa wouldn’t believe him.  He’d probably be in trouble for wearing the pistol around the yard and drawing it on Hoskins.  No matter how long he lived or how old he got in years, Adam would always be the big brother and Pa would always defer to him and not to the baby of the family. 

Adam began by relating his trip to Virginia City with his prisoner and Hoskin’s explanation for trying to cheat them.  He wanted to put off the inevitable until the last minute and he was ashamed of himself for his cowardice.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to credit Joe it was more that he didn’t want to admit he’d been wrong in his judgement not once but twice.

Ben gave a sigh, “I’d never have thought it of him, guess that’s what you get for taking things for granted.  He’d always been straight before and I suppose I just got into that way of thinking.  You don’t expect people to change.”  He turned a smile on Adam, “At least you were alert to him, son.  You didn’t let history cloud your judgement.”

Adam pulled at his ear in a nervous gesture and avoided looking across at his younger brother.  “Yes, I did, Pa.  I misjudged two people and I’m sorry, my mistake could have cost us a lot of money and maybe even risked a jail sentence.”

Hoss nudged Joe and winked as Joe looked up.

Joe waited, he still didn’t believe that Adam was going to come completely clean here.  There’d be some rider that if he hadn’t happened along when he did Joe would have gotten himself hurt and Pa would still be mad at him for the gun.

Ben leaned forward  “I don’t understand, you spotted the changed brands…”

“No, Pa.”  Adam interrupted  “That’s just it, I didn’t, Joe did.” He went on to relate the events he and Hoss had witnessed on their return.  “So you see Pa, not only did I miss the brands and believe Hoskin, I didn’t listen to Joe when he tried to tell me.  I lost my temper and went off half-cocked at him.  I did just what we are always yelling at Joe about, I reacted too quickly.”

Joe was too shocked to say anything, he just stared at his older brother.

“But it was foolish to draw a gun on Hoskin, he could have been killed” Ben blustered, not yet willing to accept that Joe was entirely blameless.

“No, Pa.  He’d already alerted Hop Sing, and there was a shotgun backing him up and the money was back in the safe where Hoskins couldn’t get it.  He did everything just as I would have done if I had been in his place… well not quite what I’d have done, because he got it right.”  Adam hung his head for a second then looked up at his young brother  “I’m sorry I doubted you, Joe.  I should have listened.”

Joe grinned  “That’s okay, older brother.  No one ever listens to me, it’s a habit around here.  I’m used to it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s a habit I’m going to try and break.”  Adam replied with a smile.  “Just don’t expect miracles to soon.”

Adam looked over to his father, willing him to say the right thing.

Ben saw the look and nodded.  “Adam’s right, Joseph.  You did the right thing and you saved us a lot of problems. We have tended to expect the worst instead of the best and I’m as guilty as he is, probably more so.  I promise that from now on I’ll try to change that, if you try to be more mature.”

Joe grinned, how like Pa to make conditions but for now he was content.  He had gained some ground at least.  But Pa hadn’t finished speaking and the next words left him walking on air.

“I’m proud of you, son.”

The End