{"id":14013,"date":"2017-04-10T21:13:11","date_gmt":"2017-04-11T01:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14013"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:41:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:41:14","slug":"black-and-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14013","title":{"rendered":"Black and Gold (by AC1830)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Rumors and sightings are flying around town about a dark creature roaming the hills of the Ponderosa. \u00a0Will the Cartwrights find out what it is? \u00a0What is Adam\u2019s connection to the creature?<\/p>\n

Rating K\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 WC = 1323<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Black and Gold<\/strong><\/p>\n

Strolling down the boardwalk towards the bank, Adam Cartwright had to pause after passing several folks caught up in an animated conversation.\u00a0 Adam had felt a nervous feeling running through the town since he and Hoss had ridden in that morning. Leaning against a post a few feet away he could only pick up scattered words but it was easy to tell that two of the men were concerned about something up in the mountains.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell ya Dave, I seen it.\u00a0 \u2018Twas big and black an\u2019 had glowin\u2019 yeller eyes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAin\u2019t no way possible, Tom.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 like that around these parts.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been huntin\u2019 in them hills since I was a kid and ain\u2019t never seen anything like that \u2018cept a bear.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2018Twern\u2019t no bear.\u00a0 It was too thin an\u2019 it prowled like a mountain lion.\u201d<\/p>\n

A frown crossed Adam\u2019s face as he pushed away from the post and continued on to the bank.\u00a0 Talk like that could arouse a lot of curiosity.<\/p>\n

—-<\/p>\n

An hour later, Adam caught up with Hoss outside the mercantile.\u00a0 Together they finished loading the wagon and headed home.\u00a0 While Hoss drove, Adam propped his feet up and slid his hat over his face to catch a little shut-eye, but his rest was short-lived as Hoss asked a question.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, you ever been around Mills\u2019 Peak?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMulls Puk?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHuh?\u00a0 What was that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam pushed his hat back.\u00a0 \u201cMills\u2019 Peak?\u00a0 Why?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHeard some men in the mercantile talking \u2018bout seein\u2019 a big cat up that way.\u00a0 That\u2019s an area not far from one of our pastures.\u00a0 You don\u2019t reckon it could get to the herd do ya?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI doubt it Hoss.\u00a0 That pasture is too open and there aren\u2019t any boulders in that area.\u201d\u00a0 He sat up now, giving up on his nap. \u201cWhat\u2019d they say about the cat?\u00a0 What did it look like?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard lots o\u2019 things.\u00a0 It was big, dark, maybe black, or brown, and some said it had gold eyes.\u00a0 An\u2019 it prowled like a cougar.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss took his hat off and scratched his head then popped his hat back on.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do ya reckon it is, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo idea.\u201d\u00a0 Adam spoke quietly as he crossed his arms over his chest.<\/p>\n

The brothers finished the trip home in silence as each pondered what they\u2019d heard in town.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

After dinner that night, Adam went for a ride. He said he wanted to enjoy the fresh night air but everyone knew he only went riding when he had something niggling at him.\u00a0 Ben stared at the closed door wondering why his son had suddenly taken to night rides.<\/p>\n

Hoss explained to Ben and Joe what he\u2019d heard in town.\u00a0 Joe said he\u2019d been hearing that too for the last few days from some of the ranch hands.\u00a0 After some discussion the three men agreed to head out that weekend to Mills\u2019 Peak.\u00a0 They needed to know if there was some creature up there that could threaten their herd.\u00a0 Hours later, when Adam returned home Ben told him of their plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa you don\u2019t really believe those stories, do you?\u00a0 Nothing lives up there except bears, and they aren\u2019t going to attack our cattle.\u00a0 It\u2019s a wasted trip in my opinion.\u201d\u00a0 He rubbed his neck. \u201cIf you\u2019ll excuse me, I\u2019m going to bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben was surprised by Adam\u2019s response.\u00a0 The next morning he insisted they all go anyway.\u00a0 Adam couldn\u2019t see any way out so reluctantly agreed.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

The following Saturday, while the Cartwrights made their way toward Mills Peak, several men from town were already in the area trying to find the creature.\u00a0 Everyone met up in a small canyon.\u00a0 Ben told the men they were on Ponderosa property and that they needed to leave.\u00a0 Most left, not wanting to get on the bad side of Ben Cartwright but two men tried to stay longer as they claimed to be excellent huntsmen.\u00a0 Hoss and Joe escorted them off the property as Adam and Ben set up camp.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

During the night, each man took a turn keeping watch.\u00a0 Nothing happened so the next day they scouted for any signs of a wild animal.\u00a0 Tracks had been found in nearby rocks and scree, even indicating that the creature could have been near the camp.\u00a0 That night, they kept a bigger fire burning and took their watch shifts again.<\/p>\n

At breakfast, Hoss and Joe shared that they were sure they had heard movement near the camp during their watches.\u00a0 Ben thought he\u2019d seen golden lights flash nearby. \u00a0Hoss had located large cat-like tracks much closer to the camp. Adam remained strangely quiet and made few comments as he sipped his coffee.\u00a0 After eating each man headed in a different direction hoping to catch sight of the creature and maybe deal with it once and for all. By dinner time they had only seen tracks and other evidence of the cat but not the cat itself.\u00a0 Hoss had indicated some of the tracks looked fresh and were close to the camp.<\/p>\n

That night, they set up watches with two of them at a time.\u00a0 Adam was on first watch with Hoss, then Joe.\u00a0 All was quiet as Ben joined Joe, and Adam went to get some sleep. The next morning, no one could find Adam.\u00a0 Hoss said he wasn\u2019t in his bed roll when the sun came up.\u00a0 A frantic search began.\u00a0 By mid-day they had found Adam\u2019s boot prints and cat-like prints all around, intermingled with each other.\u00a0 Further down the trail, Adam\u2019s hat was found, then pieces of his black clothing but his boot prints had disappeared and only the large cat prints could be seen.<\/p>\n

In a near panic the three Cartwrights returned to camp to get the horses and to start a full search for their missing son and brother.\u00a0 After searching for the rest of the day the three men reluctantly returned to their camp.\u00a0 No one knew what to say or think.\u00a0 They were numb to think that perhaps the large, dark cat had killed Adam, but there was no evidence of that.<\/p>\n

After the sun set, Ben, Hoss and Joe sat around the fire.\u00a0 Each man confused, grieving, yet refusing to give up on Adam.\u00a0 Joe heard the sound first, something like a low growl.\u00a0 As he drew his gun, Hoss looked all around to discern where it was coming from.\u00a0 Ben was the first to see the form as it neared the fire. Out of the shadows, he could have sworn he had seen a large cat slowly approaching the camp.\u00a0 Suddenly, Joe, Hoss and Ben looked at each other, none being sure what they were seeing.\u00a0 Adam, dressed in his black clothes, came closer to the fire and sat down slowly, almost gracefully.\u00a0 He looked around at his family and smiled briefly, cocking one eyebrow. He spoke quietly and calmly, \u201cWe can go home now.\u00a0 The cat won\u2019t be a bother to anyone anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The others could only nod, not quite sure if it was the firelight or something else that made Adam\u2019s eyes appear to reflect a golden glow.<\/p>\n

—–<\/p>\n

Days later as darkness fell upon the land, a large black cat gracefully roamed over the rock-strewn hills around Mills\u2019 Peak.\u00a0 Every so often the sleek creature would stop and listen, release a quiet deep-throated purr, and move on.\u00a0 As the night wore on, the cat disappeared into the shadows of trees and boulders.\u00a0 Moments later, on the far side of the boulders, a tall silhouette appeared, carefully moving down the rocky trail toward his waiting horse.\u00a0 Slowly mounting up, he rode off into the night, making his way back home.<\/p>\n

The End<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tags:\u00a0 Adam Cartwright,\u00a0Family<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary:\u00a0\u00a0Rumors and sightings are flying around town about a dark creature roaming the hills of the Ponderosa. \u00a0Will the Cartwrights find out what it is? \u00a0What is Adam\u2019s connection to the creature?<\/p>\n

Rating K\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 WC = 1323<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8333,"featured_media":14014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mystery","wpcat-32-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/Adam-and-Panther.jpg?fit=638%2C475&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8333"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}