Summary: \u00a0Joe’s in a precarious position, and he can only pray that rescue will come before it’s too late.<\/p>\n
Rating: T ( 2329 words)<\/p>\n
On Edge\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n An involuntary shiver skittered down Joe Cartwright\u2019s spine.\u00a0 Stop it<\/em>, he chided himself.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t that cold\u2014not yet.\u00a0 Gonna get that way soon, though.\u00a0 Stop it!\u00a0 Don\u2019t think about darkness coming.\u00a0 Don\u2019t think about cold.\u00a0 Don\u2019t think about . . . that . . . no, don\u2019t think about that, whatever else your mind drifts to.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t cold.\u00a0 It\u2019s just a nice spring day, with a little breeze rustling through the trees up on the ridge<\/em>.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t bother me a bit\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 . . . if only I were up on that ridge<\/em>.<\/p>\n Another shiver coursed through his taut body, and Joe again willed himself to complete stillness.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t afford to move, could scarcely afford to breathe.\u00a0 Even the shallow rise and fall of his chest, as he inhaled and exhaled, made his body sway slightly.\u00a0 And his arms!\u00a0 How could he possibly keep still when his aching arms screamed for a change of position?<\/p>\n Joe almost laughed at his ludicrous longing for the impossible, except laughing would have set his body bobbing like a cork at the end of a fishing line.\u00a0 He winced at the all-too-apt image.\u00a0 Change of position . . . change of location . . . change of almost any kind would look mighty good about now, but wishing for it was just plain laughable . . . if it weren\u2019t so doggone serious.\u00a0 You think Pa or Hoss or Adam will be laughing when they find . . . stop it!<\/em>\u00a0 Change of scenery.\u00a0 Yeah, he could go for that about now, too.\u00a0 How long had he been staring at this rough rock wall inches from his face?\u00a0 Felt like hours, but couldn\u2019t be, not yet.\u00a0 Well, maybe one . . . or two . . . not the dozen or so it felt like, anyway.\u00a0 The sun was still warm on his back.\u00a0 If that pesky breeze would just quit tickling his bare feet, quit making him shiver top to toe!<\/p>\n Joe bit his lips to stop their quivering and risked a glance to the side.\u00a0 As he\u2019d suspected, the sun was starting to slip downward.\u00a0 Not too close to the horizon yet.\u00a0 Still an hour or so of daylight left for someone to find him.\u00a0 After that, forget it.\u00a0 Darkness would claim him . . . and not just the darkness of night, unless you meant that long eternal night poets and preachers talked about.\u00a0 He closed his eyes, as if shutting out the scene could shut out the dark prospect.<\/p>\n Slowly, he turned his gaze again to the wall in front of him. \u00a0Not much of a view, but it was better than the one above, and it was sure better than the one through his toes, pretty as it was.\u00a0 Green pastures, narrow stream meandering through a flower-speckled meadow, perfect spot for a picnic.\u00a0 Give anything to be down there right now<\/em>.<\/p>\n As if in answer to his unspoken wish, Joe felt himself drop.\u00a0 Not far, no more than an inch or so, but he cried out at the sudden jolt and gasped for air as his heart seemed to leap into his eyeballs.\u00a0 Fighting frantically against the terror tensing his stomach muscles, he tried to relax, to hang motionless again, the only thing he could do to stop the sawing motion of the sharp ridge on the braided tether holding him aloft.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t want to be down there . . . not . . . right . . . this instant<\/em>.<\/p>\n His body started to shake, and there was no blaming it on the cold this time, though his feet felt like blocks of ice.\u00a0 It was happening, what he\u2019d known would happen from the first moment those rustlers dropped him over the edge of the cliff.\u00a0 The rock up there wasn\u2019t razor sharp, but it was only a matter of time \u2018til the friction of fiber against granite sawed the rope asunder, strand by strand.\u00a0 Now it had started and before long he\u2019d be splattered all over that scenic landscape below, spread out like a picnic for the vultures.<\/p>\n Stop it.\u00a0 Stop it!\u00a0 So you\u2019re gonna die soon . . . you gonna spend these last few precious minutes thinking trash like that?\u00a0 Think about Pa . . . Adam . . . Hoss . . . home<\/em>.\u00a0 He felt tears forming in his eyes, and if he\u2019d dared, he would have tossed his head to dash them away.\u00a0 He had no choice but to let a few dribble out, but he couldn\u2019t give in to the flood of emotions; he had to concentrate, instead, on just hanging loose, dangling motionless.\u00a0 Not that it would do any good.\u00a0 Eventually, that rope was going to break, and he\u2019d go plummeting down.\u00a0 Nothing to break his fall, no hope of surviving.\u00a0 Why put off the inevitable?\u00a0 Why not bounce up and down, force the rope to break and end this death-by-inches?\u00a0 Because I can\u2019t.\u00a0 Because I\u2019m plumb full of Cartwright stubbornness, my brothers would probably say, but, really, because I just can\u2019t.\u00a0 It would be like letting them all down, to just give up.\u00a0 None of them would.\u00a0 Not Pa, not Adam, not Hoss.\u00a0 They\u2019d all hold tight to hope \u2018til all hope was gone, so I got to, too<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u2018Course, none of them would get hisself in a fix like this.\u00a0 Hoss has too much common sense, Adam never rushes in without thinkin\u2019 first, and if Pa was ever dumb as me, he learned better a long time ago<\/em>.\u00a0 Joe scowled in self-disgust.\u00a0 Why had he thought he could handle those rustlers alone?\u00a0 Well, there\u2019d only been two of them . . . or so he\u2019d thought when he\u2019d snuck into their camp.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken those two by surprise, had them under his gun, but then he\u2019d felt the muzzle of a revolver boring into his spine and realized that his impulsiveness had once again made him overlook hidden danger.<\/p>\n Another slight lurch made Joe look up, his eyes following the rope past his tightly bound hands, all the way up to the ridge.\u00a0 Another strand had frayed through, obviously, but it was stupid to think he could see how many were left from this far down.\u00a0 Did he really want to know how little time he had left, anyway?\u00a0 Probably not a good idea.\u00a0 Just make the waiting that much harder.\u00a0 He brought his eyes down and stared again at the wall before him.<\/p>\n Not knowing didn\u2019t make the waiting easier, though.\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019d have been better off if those rustlers had just killed him straight off.\u00a0 They hadn\u2019t wanted to draw attention to their location by shooting him, though, and one of them had been a bit squeamish about taking a man\u2019s life, had argued for just tying him up and leaving him so they had time to make their getaway.\u00a0 Joe\u2019d been relieved when they\u2019d bound his wrists, thinking the young rustler had swayed his elders, but then the head man had mounted up and wrapped the other end of the long rope around his saddle horn.\u00a0 \u201cWe leave him tied up,\u201d he agreed, \u201cbut not here.\u00a0 Too easy to find him down here in the low country.\u201d<\/p>\n Thinking the man intended to drag him behind the horse, Joe had swallowed hard and braced himself for the pain to come.\u00a0 But there\u2019d been no pain, no urging him to go faster than a man could go, to keep up.\u00a0 No, they\u2019d simply made him walk at a steady, breath-squandering pace as they rode up the steep path from the valley below to the ridge above, joshing around that they should have taken his boots and made him trot in his bare feet.\u00a0 That idea had struck them all funny, even the one who\u2019d argued against killing him.<\/p>\n Joe had dropped from exhaustion when they finally reached the top of the ridge, and he\u2019d barely paid attention when the man in charge tied the other end of the rope to a tall pine near the rim.\u00a0 So they were going to leave him tethered up here, but all things considered, he was getting off light.\u00a0 It would take him awhile to work free, probably give them a chance to get away scot-free with the cattle, but he\u2019d get loose eventually and then just walk home.\u00a0 He\u2019d endure endless teasing from his brothers, of course, and a stern lecture from Pa, but since his stupidity had earned him that much, endure it he would.\u00a0 After all, he\u2019d be alive, when he didn\u2019t much deserve to be, and for that, a man could endure a lot.<\/p>\n Then the boss had grabbed his shirt front and hauled him to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cOkay, sonny,\u201d he\u2019d said with a taunting leer.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re going over the side.\u201d\u00a0 He jutted his chin toward the edge of the ridge, and Joe realized, with mounting horror, that getting home had just gone from a little tough to next-to-impossible.\u00a0 \u201cNow, we can either toss you over fast or let you down easy,\u201d the man announced with a mocking grin, \u201cbut easy will cost you.\u201d\u00a0 When Joe looked puzzled, the grin widened.\u00a0 \u201cThem fancy boots is the price.\u00a0 You want it easy, peel \u2018em off.\u201d\u00a0 He turned loose of Joe and stood facing him with folded arms and derisive sneer.<\/p>\n Joe had stared at him for a long moment and then slowly sat down and, awkwardly because of his bound hands, began to pull off his boots as the three rustlers roared with laughter.\u00a0 Even the young one seemed to have lost his inclination toward humanity in the high-spirited camaraderie of demeaning him.\u00a0 Let them laugh<\/em>, he\u2019d thought.\u00a0 I\u2019ve already used up my quota of stupid for the day.\u00a0 Maybe they\u2019ll honor what they promise, maybe they won\u2019t, but I won\u2019t buck \u2018em over a pair of boots, not if it gives me a chance to live<\/em>.<\/p>\n They\u2019d kept their word.\u00a0 Once they had his boots, taking his socks for good measure, they\u2019d held the rope tight while he stepped of the cliff\u2014hardest step he\u2019d ever taken\u2014and they\u2019d eased him down \u2018til the rope was stretched full length with him dangling at the end.\u00a0 \u201cSorry to leave you all by your lonesome, sonny,\u201d the leader had jeered down at him, \u201cbut we got some cattle to move; ain\u2019t got all day to hang around here, like some folks.\u201d\u00a0 Raucous laughter had echoed down at him, but Joe had ignored the anger surging up his craw and set his mind to keeping as still as possible, hoping against slim hope that his family would somehow find him before the rope gave way.<\/p>\n It did once more as another strand of rope shredded, and Joe groaned when he slipped a little further downward.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be much longer.\u00a0 Though he didn\u2019t dare look, he was probably hanging by a thread now.\u00a0 Soon it would break and he\u2019d go hurtling through the amber light of the setting sun . . . where?\u00a0 To heaven?\u00a0 To his mother?\u00a0 He\u2019d dreamed of seeing her again someday, but hadn\u2019t planned on it being quite this soon.\u00a0 Pa . . . it was Pa he wanted to see, but that hope was gone.\u00a0 Guess it\u2019s you, then, Mama.\u00a0 You waiting for me?\u00a0 Will you catch me when I fall?<\/em><\/p>\n His body lurched again.\u00a0 This is it<\/em>, he thought as the rock face swam dizzily before him.\u00a0 He closed his eyes to shut out the swirling image, expecting any moment to feel the rush of air against his face as his body plunged earthward.\u00a0 Then his fear-numbed brain registered something odd.\u00a0 He was moving, yes . . . not down, but up!\u00a0 He opened his eyes, and his gaze slowly traveled the rope \u2018til he saw . . . hands!\u00a0 Big hands, strong hands, hands he\u2019d recognize anywhere.\u00a0 Hand over hand hauled the rope \u2018til he reached the rim.\u00a0 Then those big, loving hands that had supported him all his life reached down, grabbed him under the armpits and pulled him to safety.<\/p>\n Joe collapsed against his brawny brother\u2019s solid chest and felt those strong arms close comfortingly around him.\u00a0 The tension of holding still all those hours drained out, like a flash flood coursing down a dry rivulet, and his strained muscles began to tremble uncontrollably.<\/p>\n Hoss held him tighter, his iron embrace all that kept Joe upright.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s all right, Joe,\u201d he soothed softly.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re all right now, little brother.\u201d\u00a0 He gave Joe a chance to catch his breath while he unfastened the rope from his chafed wrists and then held him at arms\u2019 length.\u00a0 His face was hard as he demanded, \u201cWho did this to you, boy\u2014and why?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRustlers,\u201d Joe croaked and after a few more deep breaths, he told his story from foolish first decision to final, near-fatal dilemma.\u00a0 Typically, he was eager to go after the outlaws by the time he finished<\/p>\n Hoss shook his head, blue eyes twinkling with tender compassion and a hint of amusement.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think so, little brother.\u00a0 I think we need to get you home, get you some food and rest . . . and some boots . . . before you do any trailing.\u201d\u00a0 He chuckled as Joe took a sheepish glance at his bare feet, but remembering that his young brother had been through a lot worse than just losing his boots, Hoss\u2019s countenance hardened once more.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll get \u2018em, little brother; I promise you that.\u00a0 We\u2019ll start after \u2018em at first light and we\u2019ll get \u2018em.\u201d\u00a0 Seeing Joe\u2019s chin bob with satisfaction, the wide smile returned, and the blue eyes twinkled again, with pure mischief this time.\u00a0 \u201cNow, where was it you said you left Cochise tied up when you went after the bad guys all by your puny little self?\u201d<\/p>\n Moaning, Joe shook his head.\u00a0 It had started already, the inevitable teasing.\u00a0 As Hoss helped him into Chubby\u2019s broad saddle, he reminded himself that he deserved it and had earlier counted himself lucky to pay so small a price for his foolishness.\u00a0 Hoss settled in behind him, and Joe leaned back into his big brother\u2019s protective power, still grateful.\u00a0 He was going home, and that was worth any price.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The End<\/p>\n \u00a9 February, 2004<\/p>\n <\/p>\n