{"id":14405,"date":"2017-06-22T18:12:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T22:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14405"},"modified":"2025-09-25T15:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T19:41:09","slug":"14405","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14405","title":{"rendered":"Blood and Bread (by McFair_58)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0<\/strong>Twelve-year-old Little Joe is late for supper. Hop Sing is hopping mad and Adam is none too pleased. When he heads for the stable to look for his brother, Adam expects an argument \u2013 what he gets is something else entirely. Something that begins in terror and rolls on toward tragedy. Will the Cartwrights ever be the same?<\/p>\n

Rated PG-13 \u00a0(92,480 words) \u00a0Rating assigned for typical standard episodic TV Western violence and brutality.<\/p>\n

Blood and Bread Series: \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blood and Bread<\/a>
\nKeep Your Eyes on the Sun<\/a>
\nThirty-Six Ways to Get Out of Trouble<\/a>
\nAn Unspeakable Dawn<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blood and Bread<\/strong><\/p>\n

PROLOGUE<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhere that boy go now?!\u00a0 Little Joe!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 There was a pause.\u00a0 \u201cFather be angry if you no come out!\u201d\u00a0 Another pause.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe!\u201d<\/p>\n

Twenty-four year old Adam Cartwright stretched and yawned.\u00a0 He\u2019d been sitting at his father\u2019s desk working over the numbers when fatigue had overcome him.\u00a0 He\u2019d scooted down in the big chair, propped his head on the back of it, and fallen asleep.<\/p>\n

Hop Sing\u2019s strident call wakened him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has that kid done now?\u201d Adam grumbled as he unfolded himself and rose to his feet.\u00a0 He loved his little brother but, in the years since he\u2019d come home from college, found his tolerance for the exuberant child lacked, well, length.\u00a0 Little Joe was like the land his father had chosen to call home \u2013 wild and untamed.\u00a0 Or at least so it seemed to him after four years in Boston.\u00a0 His father doted on the twelve-year-old and seemed to have forgotten the basic principal of parenting.<\/p>\n

The parent is the one in charge.<\/p>\n

With a sigh Adam walked to the front door and opened it.\u00a0 Stepping outside, he looked for Hop Sing.\u00a0 He finally found their Chinese cook coming out of the barn.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo luck?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Hop Sing do with boy?\u201d the man from China asked with a shake of his queue.\u00a0 \u201cBoy no listen! Tell Little Joe to wash face and hands and get ready for supper.\u00a0 He tell Hop Sing he has something to do!\u00a0 Mister Ben be home soon from city and not be happy.\u00a0 Hop Sing tell boy to chop chop!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh, well, that\u2019s where you made your mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their cook frowned.<\/p>\n

Adam shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe distinctly told me last night that no one<\/em> was allowed to tell him what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It had been quite a confrontation.\u00a0 He had to give the little scamp his due. \u00a0He\u2019d told Joe to go upstairs to bed.\u00a0 Their father was due home and hadn\u2019t arrived yet.\u00a0 Joe had gone toe to toe with him and told him Pa had said he could stay up until he got home and that he\u2019d have to carry him kicking and screaming up the stairs and tie him to the bed if he wanted him to stay up there.<\/p>\n

It had<\/em> been tempting.<\/p>\n

Adam sighed.\u00a0 He\u2019d begun to understand shortly after he returned home that Little Joe was a boy with a problem.\u00a0 He regretted to this day that his departure for college had coincided with Marie\u2019s death.\u00a0 The Little Joe he had known when he left for school was not the Joe he returned to.\u00a0 Oh, his littlest brother had always been a handful \u2013 willful, stubborn, and\u00a0 more determined than any full grown man he had ever met. \u00a0But at the same time Joe was, well, sweet.\u00a0 He was an absolute charmer with that head of dark brown curls, those enormous green eyes, and that grin.\u00a0 Oh dear, that grin!\u00a0 But there was something underlying all of that.\u00a0 It shone from the boy\u2019s eyes at times and, to tell the truth, it frightened him.\u00a0 Whatever it was kept Joe on the brink.\u00a0 Laughing and snorting one moment.\u00a0 Angry and crying his heart out in the next.<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t sure what it was, but he thought it had to do with their Pa.<\/p>\n

Hop Sing was staring at him.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what he got for waxing poetic about a twelve-year-old.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you checked the stable yet?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

The Chinese man shook his head.<\/p>\n

As Pa was away again and he\u2019d been left in charge for the day, Adam offered, \u201cI\u2019ll go do that.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019d taken a few steps toward the stable \u2013 it was one of Joe\u2019s favorite places to disappear into when the urge to be obstinate struck him \u2013 when he had a thought.\u00a0 Turning back, he asked, \u201cDid you check with Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Hoss out with other men.\u00a0 Work fences.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was right.\u00a0 He kept forgetting.\u00a0 Though Hoss was still shy of nineteen he was as big, if not bigger, than most of the men they hired and he worked a man\u2019s job.\u00a0\u00a0 His middle brother had changed too in the years he\u2019d been away, growing from an awkward adolescent into a sensible, secure, and sincere young man.\u00a0 You could always count on Hoss.<\/p>\n

Adam eyed the stable.\u00a0 Of course, you could always count on Little Joe too.<\/p>\n

You could count on him to get into trouble.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we do with boy?\u201d Hop Sing sighed.\u00a0 \u201cMuch anger in him.\u00a0 Much fear.\u201d<\/p>\n

That stopped him.<\/p>\n

\u201cFear?\u00a0 Joe?\u201d he snorted.\u00a0 \u201cThat boy doesn\u2019t have the sense to be afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMister Adam not here.\u00a0 He not see.\u201d\u00a0 Hop Sing\u2019s black eyes fastened on his.\u00a0 \u201cBoy too young to lose mother.\u00a0 Afraid he lose father too.\u00a0 And maybe brothers.\u00a0 All the time afraid.\u00a0 All the time angry. \u201d<\/p>\n

Adam frowned.\u00a0 Yes, he could see that.\u00a0 \u201cAngry at Pa, you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

Their cook shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cAngry at God.\u201d<\/p>\n

His own mother had died as he was born.\u00a0 He\u2019d never known her.\u00a0 He had<\/em> known Hoss\u2019 mother and he vaguely remembered his own childish anger at a wise and loving Creator who would allow such a thing; one who would allow such a beautiful and loving woman to die so senselessly.\u00a0 By the time Marie came along he had hardened himself, he supposed. \u00a0Her death had seemed to him almost inevitable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell,\u201d he said, with a wry smile, \u201cif Joe\u2019s mad at God, little brother has bitten off more than he can chew.\u00a0\u00a0 He\u2019s not going to win this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLittle Joe not know how to not win,\u201d Hop Sing said solemnly.<\/p>\n

Truer words had never been spoken.<\/p>\n

As Adam turned back to the stable, he called over his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cYou go ahead and finish cooking.\u00a0 I\u2019ll find Joe.\u00a0 I promise he\u2019ll be spit and polish clean and ready for eating before you can say Jack Robinson.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way he said it, it sounded like he was going to serve Joe up for<\/em> supper.<\/p>\n

There were days….<\/p>\n

It was late autumn and the days were growing shorter.\u00a0 The sun\u2019s light penetrated the interior of the stable as he entered, but it was fading fast.\u00a0 His little brother had one or two favorite hiding places in the building and he started with those.\u00a0 There was the feed bin where the dog liked to hide her pups, and the area where they kept extra hay and other stored items.\u00a0 When he didn\u2019t find the kid in either of those locations, Adam paused in the middle of the stable with his hands on his hips and considered his alternatives.\u00a0 There was the office yet and the stalls themselves, though Joe should know well enough not to go into them and chance being trampled by the massive near ton-weight animals.\u00a0 Deciding he would try the loft next, Adam had just reached for the rung of the ladder when he heard a noise.<\/p>\n

A small strangled noise.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been annoyed when he started out to search for Joe and then grown irritated \u2013 perhaps even mad \u2013 as his brother continued to elude him.<\/p>\n

For the first time Adam Cartwright knew fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe?\u00a0 Little Joe?\u00a0 Is that you?\u201d<\/p>\n

What he\u2019d heard wasn\u2019t repeated, but there was another sound.\u00a0 It could have been a man cursing.<\/p>\n

Adam reached toward his hip, then remembered he hadn\u2019t worn his gun. \u00a0There\u2019d been no need.\u00a0 For goodness sake, all he was doing was trying to track down one wayward kid! \u00a0He thought the sound had come from one of the stalls \u2013 probably the one farthest back \u2013 and so he headed for it.\u00a0 On his way there Adam palmed a rake and turned it so the sharpened tines were facing out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s there?\u00a0 Joe?\u00a0 Is that you?\u201d he called as he walked.<\/p>\n

Two things happened.\u00a0 There was a yelp and then a sharp cry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam!\u00a0 Adam!\u00a0 Help me!\u00a0 Help \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

Then silence.<\/p>\n

Terrified, Adam strode toward the back of the stable.\u00a0 Just as he came alongside the last stall, a large dark form stepped out of it.\u00a0 The light had faded enough that he couldn\u2019t see the man well, but he was taller than Hoss and powerfully built.\u00a0 Whoever it was, was dressed in janes and wore a heavy navy-blue pea coat.\u00a0 He had a stocking cap on his head and a bandana tied around his mouth and nose.\u00a0 Above the colorful cloth, Adam could see the man\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 They were cold as the fear that gripped him.<\/p>\n

Anchored under one arm was Little Joe\u2019s silent form.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat have you done to my brother?\u201d Adam demanded, wielding the rake.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing compared to what I will<\/em> do to him if you don\u2019t put that rake down, boy,\u201d the man growled, \u00a0\u201cand put it down now<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was then Adam noticed the gun in the man\u2019s other hand.\u00a0 The tip of it was anchored in Little Joe\u2019s curly brown hair.<\/p>\n

Adam didn\u2019t hesitate.\u00a0 As the rake hit the stable floor, he pleaded, \u201cLet my brother go.\u00a0 Please.\u00a0 He\u2019s only a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those cold eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t that a shame.\u00a0 You tell your Pa when you see him that\u2019s a shame.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 quite like someone takin\u2019 a boy from you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panic twisted his insides.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t hurt him.\u00a0 If it\u2019s a hostage you want, take me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man looked him up and down.\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t right. Don\u2019t even the score,\u201d he said enigmatically.<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s eyes went to his little brother\u2019s limp form.\u00a0 Dear God!\u00a0 He had to get Joe away from this madman!<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s money you want, Pa will \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMoney.\u00a0 Pshaw!\u00a0 What\u2019d I want with money?\u00a0 Ain\u2019t no good to the likes of me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His mind was flying faster than a herd of wild mustangs.\u00a0 Who was this man?\u00a0 He obviously had a grudge against their father.\u00a0 What could it be?\u00a0 What could be so<\/em> bad that he would threaten the life of an twelve-year-old boy?<\/p>\n

He was almost afraid to ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen what do<\/em> you want?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man stepped forward.\u00a0 \u201cI got a message for your old man.\u00a0 You deliver it, boy.\u00a0 You tell him Wade Bosh paid him a visit today.\u00a0 You tell him I\u2019m takin\u2019 my due.\u201d\u00a0 As Bosh hesitated, Adam\u2019s eyes went to the limp form dangling from the man\u2019s right arm.\u00a0 Joe was blinking, fighting toward consciousness.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just takin\u2019 what he owes me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t have my brother,\u201d Adam countered sharply, his jaw tight.\u00a0 \u201cI won\u2019t let you take him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those cold eyes locked on his.<\/p>\n

There was a click.<\/p>\n

\u201cFine with me to leave the boy here, but you\u2019ll get to clean up the mess.\u201d\u00a0 Bosh nodded toward the stall, which he had just exited.\u00a0 \u201cNow, you just get yourself back there where I can tie you up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam hesitated only a second.\u00a0 With his eyes on Joe, he moved past the man.\u00a0 He had only gone a few feet when he pivoted on his heel.\u00a0 Knowing it might be the only chance he had to save his brother, Adam caught hold of the man\u2019s arm and pulled it up, and then slammed his full weight into the kidnapper\u2019s massive form.<\/p>\n

There was a grunt.<\/p>\n

A second of silence.<\/p>\n

And then the sound of a shot.<\/p>\n

As his knees hit the dirt, Adam had one thought.\u00a0 \u2018I\u2019ve killed him.\u00a0 I\u2019ve killed<\/em> Little Joe\u2019.<\/p>\n

It was only as he lay on the floor watching the man carry his struggling brother out of the stable that Adam realized he was wrong.<\/p>\n

If he\u2019d killed anyone, it was himself.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PART ONE<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ONE
\nBen Cartwright was hot and dusty and saddle sore, and not in the best temper.\u00a0\u00a0 When he had given in to the lure of the West, leaving New England and its century-old civilization behind, it was with the knowledge that life would be one long fight.\u00a0 Not only would the elements be against him, but man as well.\u00a0 There would be herds of cattle lost to the Indians and to disease.\u00a0 Too little and too much rain bringing times of drought and floods that would threaten to wash away everything he had done.\u00a0\u00a0 There would be men who would, by force, try to wrest from him what was his \u2013 cattle rustlers, highwaymen and thieves.\u00a0 But no one had warned him about the most God forsaken creatures of all.<\/p>\n

Bureaucrats.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been in Eagle Station all day wrangling with businessmen and lawyers over a disputed piece of timberland.\u00a0 While all his holdings were secure, it seemed there was always someone who came forward to dispute his ownership of this or that particular parcel of land \u2013 and always the best ones!\u00a0 When he\u2019d asked why the man hadn\u2019t come to him in the first place to work this out, the contender\u2019s lawyer had made it quite<\/em> clear that his client feared he would \u2018inflict bodily harm\u2019 on him if he did.<\/p>\n

Ben snorted out dust as he wiped the back of his sleeve over his face.<\/p>\n

Damn right!<\/p>\n

After tethering his horse, the man with gun-metal gray hair walked over to the watering trough.\u00a0 He removed his gloves and anchored them behind his waistband and then worked the pump, sending a cool gush of clear liquid into the wooden vessel.\u00a0 Bending, he put his head under it and let it run over his hair for a moment.\u00a0 Straightening up, he tossed the gray waves like a dog, sending clear cold missiles flying out to strike the packed earth. Then he reached for the ladle that hung on a nail driven into the trough.\u00a0 As he did, the door to the house opened and the man he hired to care for and to cook for him and his boys came out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHappy see you home, Mistah Ben,\u201d Hop Sing said, his shrewd eyes taking him in.\u00a0 \u201cYou no have tough day in town?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have tough day in town,\u201d Ben chortled as he took a sip.\u00a0 He glanced around.\u00a0 It was nearly dark and that meant the days chores were done.\u00a0 He\u2019d been surprised when none of the boys rushed out to greet him.\u00a0 Especially Joseph.\u00a0 With a frown, he asked, \u201cWhere is everyone?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Hoss still out with men.\u00a0 Due back soon.\u201d\u00a0 The man from China paused.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Adam look for Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam\u2019s looking<\/em> for Joseph?\u00a0 You mean the boy\u2019s disappeared?\u201d<\/p>\n

His cook sighed with exasperation.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing look for boy everywhere!\u00a0 No can find him.\u00a0 Mister Adam, he say he look in stable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben glanced at the building.\u00a0 It looked quiet.\u00a0 \u201cWhen was this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing looked up.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe twenty minutes ago.\u00a0 Not sure how long. \u201c\u00a0 He scowled.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing busy.\u00a0 Beat meat and bang kettle.\u00a0 Make stew for supper.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he hung the ladle back on the nail, Ben asked, \u201cTwenty minutes?\u00a0 What would the boys be doing in the stable for that long?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHop Sing not know.\u00a0 Stew burn he any longer.\u00a0 Just wanted Mistah Cartwright to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that the man from China turned and walked back into the house.<\/p>\n

Ben scowled as he watched him go, and then he realized he had been scowling all day.\u00a0 He was home now.\u00a0 Supper was on the table and he was looking forward to an evening with his boys, hearing about all they had done, and maybe playing checkers or chess with one of them.\u00a0 All three had keen minds and were good at both games, though Adam preferred chess and Joe and Hoss, checkers.\u00a0 That wasn\u2019t surprising since checkers was a more straight-forward game.\u00a0 Chess required a slightly devious mind.<\/p>\n

A \u2018sneaky\u2019 one, as Hoss liked to say of his eldest brother.<\/p>\n

With a chuckle, Ben turned and walked toward the stable.<\/p>\n

Even when the sun was shining, the inside of the stable could be dark.\u00a0 It amazed him sometimes how night seemed to arrive sooner inside than outside.\u00a0 As he entered Ben heard several of the horses shy as if they were nervous.\u00a0 Instantly alert, his hand went to his gun as he stepped into the main room.\u00a0 His eyes were busy scanning the stalls and so he didn\u2019t see the object lying in the middle of the floor until his foot encountered it and he was forced to look down.<\/p>\n

It was as if the world stopped.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam!\u00a0 Good Lord!\u00a0 Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n

His eldest son was lying on the stable floor.\u00a0 One hand was folded under his chest and the other thrust out toward the door as if he had been reaching for something when he fell.\u00a0 In the dim light Ben couldn\u2019t tell whether his son had tripped and fallen or if something worse had happened.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s skin was naturally pale, but it seemed even more so than usual.\u00a0 As he felt for a heartbeat and found it, a suspicion, unsupported and just as undeniable, punched him in the gut.\u00a0\u00a0 This was not good.<\/p>\n

Really <\/em>not good.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam?\u201d Ben called softly as he sank to his knees beside his oldest boy.\u00a0 When his son gave no response, he tried again, \u201cAdam, it\u2019s your Pa.\u00a0 Adam, wake \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d felt something wet at the boy\u2019s middle.<\/p>\n

Thick <\/em>and wet.<\/p>\n

That suspicion had just become a surety. \u00a0His fingers were covered in blood.<\/p>\n

Ben looked around.\u00a0 He instinctively knew no one else was there, but\u00a0 caution demanded he look.\u00a0 In the end he decided there was nothing he could do but leave his son laying where he was and run to the house for help.\u00a0 Placing a hand on Adam\u2019s head, Ben promised a quick return, and then walked briskly to the stable door.\u00a0 Once there, he glanced back.\u00a0 A beam of moonlight, falling through one of the windows, illuminated Adam\u2019s still form.\u00a0 His son hadn\u2019t moved or made a sound.<\/p>\n

He was yelling before he burst through the door.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing!\u00a0 Hop Sing!\u00a0 Come quick!\u00a0 Adam\u2019s been hurt!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben made his way to the sideboard in the dining room where they kept extra linens.\u00a0 He had no idea how badly Adam was wounded, but he knew it was imperative to stop the bleeding.<\/p>\n

Hop Sing came out of the kitchen, dishrag in hand.\u00a0 \u201cWhat you yell about?\u00a0 All time yelling!\u00a0 Bad as boys!\u00a0 Hop Sing….\u201d<\/p>\n

The face Ben turned toward him caused his cook\u2019s words to trail off.\u00a0 Grabbing the linens, he headed for the door.\u00a0 \u201cAdam is in the barn.\u00a0 He\u2019s hurt.\u00a0 Bleeding.\u00a0 Get some bandages and then follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben stopped dead in his tracks.\u00a0 At first the words didn\u2019t register, he was so focused on what had happened to Adam.<\/p>\n

\u201cJ…Joe?\u201d he stammered.<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Adam look for Little Joe,\u201d Hop Sing said, his voice quiet.\u00a0 \u201cYou no see Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

The proportions of the disaster he was facing suddenly became all too apparent.\u00a0 For just a moment, Ben felt he might collapse, but just as quickly his resolve surfaced to keep him on his feet and moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll just have to hope Little Joe is being his naughty self,\u201d he said, his tone grim as he looked at the amount of blood on his hands.\u00a0 \u201cAdam may be dying.\u201d<\/p>\n

The time it took to cross the yard and reenter the stable seemed like an eternity, though in truth it was probably thirty seconds.\u00a0 Ben tossed the linens to the floor and sat by his son.\u00a0 Drawing a breath, he gently rolled Adam over just as Hop Sing arrived.\u00a0 Bless him, the man from China had brought a lantern as well as extra bandages and a canteen of water.\u00a0 Lifting his eldest boy, Ben slipped in under him.\u00a0\u00a0 As he rested Adam\u2019s head on his arm, he whispered a quick prayer and then felt for the boy\u2019s heartbeat.\u00a0 It was there.\u00a0 Fairly steady, if a little weak.<\/p>\n

That was a good description of him at the moment as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happen to boy?\u201d Hop Sing asked.<\/p>\n

He was unbuttoning Adam\u2019s shirt.\u00a0 He had no idea.\u00a0 Had his son injured himself with one of the farm tools?\u00a0 There was a rake laying at an odd angle on the straw close by.\u00a0 As he probed Adam\u2019s left side and encountered the wound, his question was answered.<\/p>\n

Launching a thousand more.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been shot,\u201d he said, his jaw tight.<\/p>\n

Hop Sing had wadded up some of the linens and doused them with water.\u00a0 As he handed the bundle to him, he asked, \u201cWho want to shoot Mistah Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben shook his head as he pressed the linens against the wound.<\/p>\n

Hop Sing rose to his feet.\u00a0 The next words he spoke were a knife-thrust to his heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Ben want me look for Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot…here….\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben looked down.\u00a0 He was surprised to find Adam looking up at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSon?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe\u2019s…not…here.\u00a0 He….\u201d\u00a0 Adam winced with pain and let out a short grunt before trying again.\u00a0 \u201c…took…him….\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam was reaching up.\u00a0 Ben caught his hand and squeezed it.\u00a0 \u201cWho, son?\u00a0 Who<\/em> took your brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

His son\u2019s hazel eyes closed and opened with less focus.\u00a0 He looked at their joined hands and then\u00a0 back to his face.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, son, I\u2019m here.\u201d\u00a0 Ben glanced at Hop Sing.<\/p>\n

The man from China nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI go to town for doctor and sheriff.\u00a0 Come back soon as can.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHop Sing, I know you don\u2019t like to ride, but my horse….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTake Mistah Ben\u2019s horse.\u00a0 Go faster.\u00a0 Come back soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s eyes lazily followed their cook\u2019s retreat.<\/p>\n

\u201cMad….\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is that, Adam?\u201d\u00a0 Ben frowned as he noted the blood already seeping through the thick wad of linens he had pressed against the boy\u2019s wound.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s lips curled in an unlikely smile. \u201cHop Sing….\u00a0 Going to…miss supper….\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben ran a hand along his son\u2019s brow, clearing the matted black hair that clung there.\u00a0 Adam had lost consciousness.\u00a0\u00a0 Shifting, Ben slid out from under his boy.\u00a0 He gently laid Adam\u2019s head on the floor before going to look for blankets and anything else that might keep him warm until Hop Sing\u2019s return.\u00a0 Until he knew more about Adam\u2019s wound he was hesitant to move him.\u00a0 Still, he knew it would be hours before Hop Sing could return with the doctor.\u00a0 He thought if he pulled the boy over to where he could sit with his back against the wall, he could hold him until then.\u00a0 It was imperative Adam know he was not alone in case….<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

As he picked up one of the blankets to cover Adam with, Ben heard a sound.\u00a0 He turned toward it and found a solid form blocking the open doorway.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa?\u201d Hoss asked as he entered the stable.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you \u2013?\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d seen.\u00a0 Ben dropped the blanket and went to over to his middle son.\u00a0 \u201cAdam\u2019s alive, Hoss, but he\u2019s hurt.\u00a0 I sent Hop Sing to town.\u201d<\/p>\n

He saw his son\u2019s mind working, turning over what he\u2019d said.\u00a0 He and Adam, here.\u00a0 Hop Sing, gone.\u00a0 No little brother in sight.\u00a0 The inevitable question followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

The older man shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know, son.\u00a0 He\u2019s not here.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was no emotion Hoss felt that didn\u2019t show in those clear blue eyes.\u00a0 He\u2019d come home from a day of ranching to find his world changed, and perhaps forever.\u00a0 The boy\u2019s love for his two brothers was fierce, but there was a special connection between him and Little Joe.\u00a0 Along with Hop Sing, Hoss had reared the boy after Marie died.\u00a0 He\u2019d <\/em>always been busy.\u00a0 Away.\u00a0 Preoccupied.<\/p>\n

If Joe was….<\/p>\n

Hoss had moved past him.\u00a0 He was kneeling beside his brother.\u00a0 The teenager looked up at him, fright in his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s bleedin\u2019 bad, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben went to join him.\u00a0 Hoss was right.\u00a0 The linens pressed against Adam\u2019s side were nearly soaked through.\u00a0 So far as he could tell, the bullet had gone through the soft flesh of his son\u2019s right side, escaping out\u00a0 the back.\u00a0 While the loss of blood was troubling, at least there was less fear of blood poisoning.<\/p>\n

As the older man pressed his hand against Adam\u2019s forehead, checking for fever, Hoss asked, \u201cYou want I should take him into the house, Pa?\u00a0 It\u2019s awful cold out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the season where the weather was changeable.\u00a0 While it had been near seventy degrees during the day, it had rapidly fallen off to where it felt like it might be in the high forties.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think you can carry him?\u201d Ben asked.<\/p>\n

Hoss smiled shyly.\u00a0 \u201cShucks, Pa, I carried feed sacks heavier than older brother here.\u201d\u00a0 As he spoke, his giant of a son gently placed one arm under Adam\u2019s shoulders and the other behind his brother\u2019s knees.\u00a0 With little effort, he rose to his feet with his burden.\u00a0 \u201cYou want I should take Adam to his room?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t we put him in the downstairs bedroom until we see how badly he\u2019s wounded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tears entered his son\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u201cWho\u2019d do this, Pa?\u00a0 Who\u2019d want to hurt Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n

All he could do was shake his head.<\/p>\n

Who indeed?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hop Sing and Paul Martin made it in record time.\u00a0 Still, even at that, it was early morning before they arrived.<\/p>\n

The night had been harrowing.\u00a0 More than once Ben thought he had lost his son.\u00a0 Even though the bullet had passed through Adam\u2019s body, exiting out the back, it appeared the wound had been contaminated by the fact that the boy had \u2013 at some point \u2013 dragged his body across the stable floor in an effort to reach the door.\u00a0 It was all Ben could do to think of it \u2013 his young son, wounded, bleeding, pulling himself along the floorboards, desperately trying to reach the yard where he could be seen and found.<\/p>\n

Ben cast a glance at the staircase even though he knew the effort was useless.\u00a0 He would hear the doctor as he began to descend.\u00a0 Rubbing a hand over his face, the rancher shifted back in his chair, easing the pain in his tired body, if not his troubled soul.\u00a0 Paul had been as encouraging as he could be when he arrived.\u00a0 He said \u2013 if Adam had<\/em> to be shot \u2013 the good news was that the bullet had entered and exited, and his son had been struck in such a way that no vital organs were involved.\u00a0 The bad news was Adam had lost a lot of blood and the wound was infected.\u00a0 The boy had quickly developed a high fever and spent half the night screaming out in his delirium.<\/p>\n

Screaming for his youngest brother.<\/p>\n

Little Joe was missing.\u00a0 He\u2019d sent a dozen hands out to look and the boy was nowhere to be found.\u00a0 At first, he\u2019d hoped Joseph was just being his usual high-spirited self.\u00a0 There had been other nights when his youngest had forced him to come looking for him.\u00a0 In a strange way, he thought, Joseph needed the reassurance that his father loved him and would set everything else aside to find him.\u00a0 Joe had suffered the worst of his sons in the loss of his mother.\u00a0 While Marie\u2019s death had been hard on his older sons \u2013 Hoss most of all \u2013 both older boys regrettably knew and understood the dangers of the West and had accepted its harsh nature and the grief that could come with it.\u00a0 Joseph knew nothing of this.\u00a0 All he knew was a safe home with a wonderful woman who loved and nurtured him \u2013 a wonderful woman who had been there, drawing him onto her lap and lavishing kisses one moment, and then gone the next.<\/p>\n

He worried about the boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an awful long time, Pa.\u00a0 You think Adam\u2019s okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben looked at Hoss.\u00a0 Neither of them had slept for more than a few fitful minutes since the night before.\u00a0 His middle son was devastated \u2013 one brother shot and the other gone.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to help Hoss but, as usual, it had been his gentle giant of a son who had helped him even more.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam is in the hands of Doctor Martin and the Lord,\u201d Ben replied, knowing his words were pat.<\/p>\n

Hoss\u2019s young face scrunched up as it always did when he was thinking hard.\u00a0 Finally he asked, \u201cPa, how come God lets this kind of thing happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben leaned back in his chair and looked over steepled fingers at his teenaged son. How many times as a young man had he asked himself that same question?\u00a0 His faith in God was deep and abiding and hard won, but that didn\u2019t mean he had all the answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, son,\u201d he answered honestly, \u201cbut I honestly believe God does.\u201d\u00a0 Ben paused, thinking.\u00a0 \u201cDo you remember that time you got your finger caught in the fish hook and we had to take you to Doctor Martin to have it cut out?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI sure do, Pa.\u00a0 It hurt like the dickens!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we were on our way to town, we came across John and Myrtle Hicks on the road.\u00a0 Myrtle was trying to get John to town, but the wheel on their carriage had broken and they were stranded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJohn had a cardiac insufficiency.\u00a0 Now, while I am sure you would have wished that hook hadn\u2019t lodged so deeply in your finger that neither Hop Sing or I could get it out, the fact that we were on that road and were able to get John to town in such a short time saved his life.\u201d\u00a0 Ben paused.\u00a0 \u201cJohn and Myrtle are praying people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The look was there again, multiplied by ten.\u00a0 \u201cSo…somethin\u2019 good came out of somethin\u2019 bad?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded.\u00a0 \u201cExactly.\u201d<\/p>\n

At that moment, there was a sound outside.<\/p>\n

Hoss rose to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s horses, ain\u2019t it, Pa?\u00a0 Who do you suppose it is?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, he didn\u2019t have to \u2018suppose\u2019.\u00a0 Ben knew who all too well who it was and, while the man was his friend, he would have given everything he had not to greet him.<\/p>\n

\u201c Roy,\u201d Ben said as he opened the door and stepped out of the way.\u00a0 \u201cCome in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy Roy Coffee stood on the porch, hat in hand.\u00a0 Their friendship was one of long standing, dating back to when he and the boys had first come to Eagle Station.\u00a0 He liked Roy.\u00a0 The lawman was a simple, honest individual.\u00a0 The world to him was black and white.<\/p>\n

Someday, he would make an excellent sheriff.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry we have to be seein\u2019 each other under these circumstances, Ben,\u201d Roy said as he entered.<\/p>\n

Looking past him to the riders still sitting their horse s in the yard, he asked, \u201cWould your men like to come in as well?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThem two boys?\u00a0 Nah.\u00a0 If\u2019n it\u2019s okay, though, I\u2019ll tell them to tend to the horses while they wait.\u201d\u00a0 Roy hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cOnce I get done talkin\u2019 to you, we\u2019ll be headin\u2019 out to see if we can find your boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben could feel Hoss\u2019 unease.\u00a0 It radiated across the room.\u00a0 Turning to his son, he said, \u201cHoss, I want you to show Roy\u2019s men where to find everything they need.\u201d\u00a0 When the boy failed to move, he added quietly, \u201cPlease, son.\u00a0 I know you want to hear what Roy has to say, but \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBeggin\u2019 your pardon, Pa, but that ain\u2019t it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it then?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know Roy\u2019s gonna do all he can to find Little Joe and…to find those men who hurt Adam.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss moved to stand beside them.\u00a0 The look his son gave him was almost desperate.\u00a0 \u201cI want to go with him, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben exchanged a glance with Roy.\u00a0 The lawman spoke before he could.<\/p>\n

\u201cSon, I know you\u2019re worried about your brother and I ain\u2019t blamin\u2019 you for wantin\u2019 to take a crack at the man that hurt Adam, but \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa, you tell him I ain\u2019t no kid!\u201d Hoss interrupted.\u00a0 Once he realized that he had, the sandy-haired teen apologized.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Deputy Roy.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean no disrespect.\u00a0 But the truth is I ain\u2019t been a kid since Ma died.\u00a0 I know how to be responsible.\u201d\u00a0 His son\u2019s clear blue eyes moved to him.\u00a0 \u201cPa cain\u2019t <\/em>go since Adam needs him.\u00a0 One of us needs to be out lookin\u2019 for Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy was eying him.\u00a0 \u201cHow old are you, son?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNear nineteen, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deputy drew a deep breath, as if considering the responsibility he was thinking of shouldering.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you say, Ben?\u201d<\/p>\n

What did he say?\u00a0 Or what did he want<\/em> to say?<\/p>\n

No, of course.<\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 The boy is only eighteen.\u00a0 Barely past being a child.\u00a0 I can\u2019t expose him to such danger.<\/p>\n

But then he thought again.<\/p>\n

Hoss was <\/em>eighteen.\u00a0 Boys married at that age and were suddenly men.\u00a0 Some even had children of their own.\u00a0 And Hoss was right, he wasn\u2019t a child.\u00a0 When Marie died his middle son had been forced to grow up quickly.\u00a0 He and Adam had to run the ranch.\u00a0 Hop Sing was wonderful with Joseph, but he too had his work and it was demanding.\u00a0 It was Hoss who had been in the right place and of an age to become both mother and father to his youngest son.<\/p>\n

And he had done a wonderful job.<\/p>\n

Ben drew a breath as he stepped over to his boy.\u00a0 As he let it out, he anchored his hands on the teen\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n

They were of a height.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis mean a great deal to you, doesn\u2019t it, son?\u201d he asked softly.<\/p>\n

Hoss had tears in his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not that I ain\u2019t just as worried about Adam, Pa.\u00a0 But you know…you know<\/em> me and Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded.\u00a0 His smile was a little forced.<\/p>\n

Yes, he did.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will take no chances, you hear me?\u00a0 And you will do everything Roy says, or either of his men.\u00a0 Is that understood?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben laid a hand alongside his son\u2019s face.\u00a0 \u201cI love you all.\u00a0 You are just as important to me as Joseph and Adam.\u00a0 You take care of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be leaving as soon as we can, son,\u201d Roy Coffee said.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll be out today and tomorrow before heading back.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Hoss nodded, Ben told him.\u00a0 \u201cSee to Roy\u2019s men and their animals first and then come in and gather your gear.\u00a0 I\u2019ll have Hop Sing put together some food for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Normally, the thought of Hop Sing\u2019s cookin\u2019 would have brought a smile to his son\u2019s lips.\u00a0 Not this time. \u00a0They were set in a thin line of determination.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll find Little Joe, Pa.\u00a0 We\u2019ll bring him home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben released his son.\u00a0 Forcing a smile, he said, \u201cI know you will, son.\u00a0 Now, you\u2019d better get going.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Deputy Coffee,\u201d Hoss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be right honored to have you along, boy,\u201d Roy replied.<\/p>\n

As the door closed behind his son, Ben said to the lawman.\u00a0 \u201cLet me give some instructions to Hop Sing and then I\u2019ll be back.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Roy Coffee watched his friend disappear into the hall that led to the ranch house\u2019s kitchen before crossing over and taking a seat before the fire.\u00a0 No matter how many times he came to Ben Cartwright\u2019s home, he was impressed.\u00a0 Not that Ben had built it to impress \u2013 he was too good a man for that \u2013 but impress him it did anyhow with its size and simple elegance.\u00a0 It always brought a smile to his face to look at all the items in it.\u00a0 While most of them were what a man would choose, there were still traces of the woman who had graced Ben\u2019s home for five years such as the elegant striped settee, the floor lamp with a flood of crystals hanging from its glass shade, and several sets of china and glassware.<\/p>\n

Weren\u2019t too many homes he went into on the outskirts of Eagle Station where he worried he was goin\u2019 to break the dishes just by lookin\u2019 at them!<\/p>\n

Yes, Ben Cartwright had done right well by himself, forgin\u2019 an empire against all odds by grit and determination.\u00a0 Maybe he\u2019d had a little luck \u2013 or maybe God just loved Ben a little bit more than others \u2013 he didn\u2019t know.\u00a0 What he did know was that Ben was one of the best men he\u2019d ever known and he\u2019d raised just about the finest boys he\u2019d ever met.<\/p>\n

It was a damn shame someone was out to do them harm.<\/p>\n

Since the sheriff had left town, he\u2019d been holdin\u2019 the fort along with the two men outside who\u2019d been deputized before the older man rode away.\u00a0 The sheriff had to give testimony in San Francisco and so he was goin\u2019 to be in charge for a good three or four weeks.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t his first time doin\u2019 it, but it wasn\u2019t his tenth either and he was right nervous about gettin\u2019 it correct.\u00a0 He\u2019d been up early every day lookin\u2019 at wanted posters and then patrollin\u2019 the streets of Eagle Station mornin\u2019, noon, and night to see if he spotted any of the mean hombres on them.\u00a0 He\u2019d had a talk with the proprietors of the local saloons, givin\u2019 them fair warnin\u2019 that he wasn\u2019t goin\u2019 to put up with no nonsense.\u00a0 In fact, he\u2019d felt right proud of himself for keepin\u2019 the trouble down.<\/p>\n

Then Ben\u2019s Chinese cook had ridden up to the jail and let loose a string of foreign words there weren\u2019t no way<\/em> he was gonna understand.\u00a0\u00a0 It took him a moment to calm the little man down.\u00a0 When he did and he finally got some English instead of that overseas jabber, he\u2019d realized he didn\u2019t have to look for trouble \u2013 trouble had come to him.<\/p>\n

Adam Cartwright had been shot and left for dead on Ben\u2019s own land and Little Joe was missin\u2019.<\/p>\n

Lord have mercy!<\/p>\n

\u201cRoy,\u201d a tired voice said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry I can\u2019t say that I am happy to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawman turned toward the stairs.\u00a0 Doctor Paul Martin was comin\u2019 down them.\u00a0 He\u2019d expected he was here.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen Hop Sing pullin\u2019 out of Eagle Station with the Doc in tow.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeems you and me has a way of runnin\u2019 into each other when the news ain\u2019t so good, Paul,\u201d he said in reply.<\/p>\n

The doctor had reached the floor.\u00a0 He looked around.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhere\u2019s Ben?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the kitchen,\u201d he replied, nodding toward it.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2019s the boy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul fixed him with a stare that was less than welcoming.\u00a0 \u201cI suppose you want to talk to him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ain\u2019t a matter of wantin<\/em>\u2019,\u201d he answered without apology.\u00a0 \u201cThat boy\u2019s the only eyeball witness we got us right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

They both turned toward the kitchen wing as a tall gray-haired figure appeared.\u00a0 As he made his way past the dining table,\u00a0 Ben asked, \u201cPaul, how is Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright was a strong man.\u00a0 If you\u2019d have asked Roy on any given day, he would\u2019ve said weren\u2019t nothin\u2019 could scare him.<\/p>\n

He was scared now.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis fever is still high, but not dangerously so. The combination of the medicine I gave him and Hop Sing\u2019s ancient remedies seems to have turned the tide.\u201d\u00a0 Paul paused and his eyes moved to Roy.\u00a0 \u201cAdam\u2019s very weak, Ben.\u00a0 He\u2019s lost a lot of blood.\u00a0 It will take some time to build it back up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I see him, Doc?\u201d Roy asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d rather you wait until tomorrow,\u201d came the expected reply.\u00a0 Then, surprisingly, he added, \u201cIt\u2019s up to you, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher blinked.\u00a0 \u201cUp to me?\u00a0 Since when is it \u2018up to me\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

The doctor cracked the first smile he \u2018d seen.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve reared some tough boys, Ben.\u00a0 Adam is insisting he be allowed to talk to the law.\u00a0 I told him I would leave it up to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben snorted and shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cCoward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Martin chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cGuilty as charged.\u201d\u00a0 He sobered quickly.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s very concerned about his brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy watched indecision flicker across his friend\u2019s broad face.\u00a0 He was glad it weren\u2019t him havin\u2019 to choose.\u00a0 One boy missin\u2019, and the other one hurtin\u2019 and maybe holdin\u2019 the only key to findin\u2019 him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Adam strong enough\u201d Ben asked at last.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Paul said abruptly, \u201cbut he\u2019s determined and sometimes that is a different kind of strength.\u201d\u00a0 The physician turned to the lawman then.\u00a0 \u201cKeep it to a few questions and a few minutes, Roy.\u00a0 If Adam gets too upset, I will call a halt.\u00a0 I won\u2019t jeopardize his life.\u201d<\/p>\n

No.\u00a0 But he might be jeopardizing Little Joe\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll do my best to keep it short,\u201d Roy promised as he held out his hand.\u00a0 \u201cAfter you, Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It had been hours since he had seen his eldest son and Ben was shocked to see how pale he remained.\u00a0 His mother had had skin like ivory.<\/p>\n

Adam was whiter now than Elizabeth had ever been.<\/p>\n

He appeared to be sleeping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave him something for the pain,\u201d Paul said softly.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll have to rouse him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded as he headed to his son\u2019s side.\u00a0 Sitting in the chair he had earlier pulled up to the bed, he reached out and ran a hand along Adam\u2019s forehead, pushing back the fringe of black hair that lay in such stark contrast to his skin.\u00a0 With a glance at Paul, who nodded, he called him.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam.\u00a0 Adam, it\u2019s Pa. Can you hear me?\u201d\u00a0 He waited.\u00a0 \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n

His son made a small noise.\u00a0 A grunt that turned into a low moan.\u00a0 He shifted slightly and his eyelids fluttered.\u00a0 A second later Adam\u2019s eyes opened.\u00a0 And closed.\u00a0 And opened again.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa…?\u201d he asked with a frown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here, son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam frowned and his breathing quickened.\u00a0 A second later words exploded from him.\u00a0 \u201cJoe.\u00a0 Pa!\u00a0 He…took…Joe!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben caught his son\u2019s hand in his own.\u00a0 \u201cAdam, you have to remain calm.\u201d\u00a0 He shot a look at Paul Martin, who was frowning.\u00a0 \u201cOtherwise Paul will chase us out of the room.\u00a0 Can you do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s eyes closed again, as if he was drawing on some inner reserve of strength to combat a rising fear.\u00a0\u00a0 A moment later he opened them and nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cSon, you said \u2018he\u2019,\u201d Roy Coffee interjected as he drew closer to the bed.\u00a0 \u201cDid you know the man who took Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

Pain tightened the skin at the edges of Adam\u2019s lips and eyes.\u00a0 He gave a small shake of his head and then fell silent.\u00a0 Ben thought he was asleep and rose to shoo everyone out of the room, but at that moment Adam spoke again.<\/p>\n

\u201cName,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ben sat back down.\u00a0 He glanced at Roy.\u00a0 His own hope was reflected in the lawman\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u201cYou know the man\u2019s name?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s jaw was tight.\u00a0 He licked his lips as he nodded.\u00a0 \u201cTold…me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told you his name?\u201d Roy asked, obviously surprised.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell your…Pa….\u201d\u00a0 Adam struggled to speak.\u00a0 \u201cTell your Pa…Wade Bosh…taking what\u2019s…owed him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBen, that\u2019s enough,\u201d Paul Martin warned.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s getting too upset.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa, you…have to let…me….\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s fingers gripped his shirt, tugging him closer.\u00a0 \u201cBosh…shot me.\u00a0 Joe…he hurt<\/em> Joe.\u00a0 You\u2019ve…got to…find him before….\u201d<\/p>\n

Abruptly Adam\u2019s fingers released his sleeve.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s unconscious!\u201d Paul snapped.\u00a0 \u201cYou two get out of here and, Ben, send up Hop Sing.\u00a0 I may need him.\u201d<\/p>\n

He turned to the doctor to ask a question, but it died on his tongue.<\/p>\n

Roy took hold of his arm.\u00a0 \u201cCome on, Ben.\u00a0 Best let the doctor do his work and let me get to mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben didn\u2019t remember descending the stairs.\u00a0 Even as his fear for Adam fought with his terror for Little Joe, his mind set about trying to unravel the puzzle of his oldest son\u2019s words.<\/p>\n

The man who took Joseph had been careful to make sure Adam knew who he was.<\/p>\n

But who was<\/em> Wade Bosh?<\/p>\n

And just what did the man think he owed <\/em>him?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TWO<\/p>\n

Joe Cartwright slowly opened his eyes and instantly regretted it as someone took a hammer to his head.\u00a0 Overcome with a wave of dizziness, he closed them again and licked his lips and swallowed.\u00a0 His mouth was dry and his tongue felt like worn leather.\u00a0 Cautiously, he eased his eyes open again and attempted to focus on his surroundings.\u00a0 It was dark wherever he was and cold<\/em>.\u00a0 He could feel a light breeze ruffling his hair.\u00a0 Joe shivered and reached out to pull the blanket that was covering him up closer about his shoulders and then realized he couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

His hands were bound together in front of him.<\/p>\n

Along with that fact another one hit him.\u00a0 His felt sick.<\/p>\n

Really<\/em> sick.<\/p>\n

Leaning to the right he retched until his stomach was empty, and then rolled onto his left side and laid on the cold hard ground feeling totally and utterly miserable.<\/p>\n

Ground.\u00a0 Yeah, he was on the ground.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t in his bed.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t at…home.\u00a0 He was….<\/p>\n

Where <\/em>was he?<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout time you roused, boy,\u201d a rough voice groused.\u00a0 \u201cI thought maybe I\u2019d have to throw you to the fishes.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew it wasn\u2019t, but he couldn\u2019t help but ask.\u00a0 \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n

A blast of laughter answered his weak plea. \u00a0\u201cDamn my eyes, boy!\u201d\u00a0 Before Joe could draw a breath someone took hold of his soiled shirt, pulled him up, and slammed him against a wall.\u00a0 \u201cYou got eyes.\u00a0 Do I look like yer<\/em> old man?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe fought to keep upright.\u00a0 He blinked and swallowed again.\u00a0 There was a face before him \u2013 close and foul \u2013 but he couldn\u2019t see it.\u00a0 It was like being underwater; the man\u2019s features were a wash.<\/p>\n

\u201cN…no,\u201d he stammered.<\/p>\n

The man\u2019s fingers were just under his chin.\u00a0 The knuckles were calloused over with scars that scratched his throat as he continued to draw him upward until Joe was on his feet.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot up to Dick, are we?\u201d he snorted as he looked him up and down.\u00a0 \u201cLost our supper?\u00a0 I should have expected as much from the runt of that swaggerin\u2019 son of a gun Ben-ja-min Cartwright.\u201d\u00a0 The man paused.\u00a0 His voice lowered in pitch.\u00a0 \u201cNow I got you,\u201d he said menacingly, \u201cI\u2019ll make you into a man.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pressure on his throat was causing Joe to choke.\u00a0 Still he managed to rasp, \u201cWho..who are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s got you<\/em>, you mean?\u201d\u00a0 The man took his other hand and locked his rough fingers in his curls and forced Joe\u2019s head back and waited until he met his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cYou take a good look, boy-o.\u00a0 You and me are gonna be mates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s vision was still shaky.\u00a0 He squinted and was able to see that the man was either dark-skinned or deeply tanned and had a head of wiry salt and pepper hair.\u00a0 The ends kinked and curled like corkscrews around a face deeply furrowed with wrinkles.\u00a0 He had a long, kind of bulbous nose that was bent to one side as if it had been broken \u2013 probably more than once \u2013 and thin cruel lips.\u00a0 His eyes….\u00a0 Joe sucked in air.<\/p>\n

His eyes were the same as a mountain cat\u2019s staring you down and sizing you up for supper.<\/p>\n

The man chuckled as he squirmed and tried to break free.\u00a0 Then the pressure on his throat increased.\u00a0 \u201cName\u2019s Bosh.\u00a0 Wade Bosh.\u201d\u00a0 Joe saw something flicker in the depths of the man\u2019s pale cold eyes.\u00a0 \u201cThat mean anythin\u2019 to you, runt?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man slammed his head into the wall behind him.\u00a0 \u201cNo \u2013 what?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe blinked, at a loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never heard your name,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

Again his head contacted the wall. \u201cI\u2019ve never heard you name \u2013 what?\u201d Bosh growled.<\/p>\n

Joe swallowed.\u00a0 He was terrified to answer.\u00a0 The pain in his head increased each time he was driven back.\u00a0 Piercing lights shot before his eyes.<\/p>\n

He was going to be sick.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou say it, boy!\u201d his kidnapper shouted.<\/p>\n

Joe closed his eyes.\u00a0 He was going to die.\u00a0 He was going to die somewhere in the middle of nowhere, without even knowing why.<\/p>\n

Then he had it.<\/p>\n

\u201cS…sir?\u201d he stammered.\u00a0 \u201cI never heard your name…sir?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Wade Bosh stared at him hard for another two or three heartbeats and then released his grip. Joe struck the floor and rolled over, retching bile.\u00a0 Bosh watched him a moment and then walked away, shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou got a lot to learn, boy.\u00a0 A lot to learn before you\u2019ll be fit to be mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Laying on the floor, stinking of vomit and chilled to the bone, Joe watched the man walk away into the darkness.\u00a0 He heard him fumbling with something and then saw that he was coming back.\u00a0 Desperate to escape, the boy began to crawl along the floor, using his fingers, digging them into the damp earth, breaking his nails and causing them to bleed.<\/p>\n

It did no good.\u00a0 Bosh caught him by the back of his collar, turned him over, and drove him into the dirt.<\/p>\n

The man loomed over him, shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re just like him, you know?\u00a0 Don\u2019t know your place.\u00a0 Well, you\u2019ll know it before I\u2019m done with you, Jo-seph<\/em> Cartwright.\u201d\u00a0 Bosh bent then and brought a white cloth forward.\u00a0 \u201cTime to move on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Joe knew that sickening smell.\u00a0 He shook his head violently.\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u00a0 Don\u2019t!\u00a0 That stuff makes me sick.\u00a0 I can\u2019t \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

Too late.<\/p>\n

It was too late.\u00a0 The cloth with the chloroform was pressed over his nose.\u00a0 Joe continued to struggle, but he knew it was no use.\u00a0 He could feel it winning.\u00a0 He bucked once, wildly, desperately, and then his body shuddered to the ground.\u00a0 The world shifted sideways.\u00a0 He began to slip.<\/p>\n

And was gone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cYou see anythin\u2019 useful, Tad?\u201d Roy Coffee asked.<\/p>\n

Tad Corby was crouching at the side of the trail reading the tracks of a horse.\u00a0 They\u2019d been following it for a while, hoping against hope that it might lead them to Little Joe Cartwright somehow.<\/p>\n

Roy glanced at Ben\u2019s middle boy who was sittin\u2019 his horse, waitin\u2019 \u2013 and it weren\u2019t<\/em> patiently.\u00a0 Hoss was right upset.\u00a0 \u2018Course, he had a right to be.\u00a0 Someone done took off with his little brother and from the look of it, they might just have got away with it.\u00a0 Whoever had Little Joe was smart.<\/p>\n

Right smart.<\/p>\n

Hoss had argued with him when he called a halt and said they were gonna make camp for the night.\u00a0 The boy\u2019d wanted to go on even though they might as well have been blind.\u00a0 He\u2019d been ready to lay down the law when Tad shouted and said he\u2019d seen somethin\u2019.\u00a0 The moon had broke through the clouds and Corby\u2019d spotted a set of tracks leading off the road and into the trees.\u00a0 It was all he could do to keep Ben\u2019s boy from boltin\u2019 right that minute into the woods.\u00a0 It weren\u2019t that the boy was defyin\u2019 him.\u00a0 Trouble was, Hoss was young and had enough energy to be to California and back before him and his men could even say \u2018howdy.\u2019 They\u2019d discussed it and decided they\u2019d try it until the light gave out.<\/p>\n

Which, by the look of the dark clouds rollin\u2019 in and the feel of the risin\u2019 wind on his face, weren\u2019t about to be long.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d picked up the kidnapper\u2019s trail first out back of Ben\u2019s stable.\u00a0 Trouble was it was the trail of just one man.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t no sign of the boy with him.\u00a0 Then again, whoever took Little Joe could have been carryin\u2019 him. \u00a0The boy weren\u2019t much bigger than a minute.\u00a0 There\u2019s been plenty of pounds weighin\u2019 the horse down and drivin\u2019 its hooves into the dirt, but then it weren\u2019t any more than a tall man would have made and Tad said the horse was a big one. \u00a0Maybe sixteen hands.\u00a0 So man and horse alone might of been enough to do it.<\/p>\n

In other words, they didn\u2019t know squat.<\/p>\n

Tad had climbed to his feet and was headin\u2019 toward him.\u00a0 He was shakin\u2019 his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t know, Roy.\u00a0 Could be the same horse.\u00a0 Might be a different one.\u00a0 I just can\u2019t tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawman looked up.\u00a0 The sky was growin\u2019 mighty dark.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s it,\u201d he announced.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re callin\u2019 it quits for the night.\u00a0 Break out your bedrolls.\u00a0 Tad, you get a fire going.\u00a0 Marv, you see to the horses.\u00a0 I\u2019ll do the cookin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 Turning to Hoss, he called out.\u00a0 \u201cHoss, why don\u2019t you see about gettin us some firewood?\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed to take a moment for his command to register with Ben\u2019s young son.\u00a0 The boy was turned away from him and starin\u2019 into the woods.\u00a0 Hoss seemed to come to himself and lifted a worried face to the sky before dismounting.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sure we gotta stop, Deputy Coffee?\u201d he asked as he arrived.<\/p>\n

The lawman smiled.\u00a0 \u201cYou call me, Roy, son.\u00a0 No need to stand on bein\u2019 formal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss looked uncomfortable.\u00a0 He winced.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t sure my pa would go along with that, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy smiled.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright taught them right.\u00a0 \u201cWell, you call me whatever makes you comfortable, son.\u00a0 But I\u2019m tellin\u2019 you Roy is fine with me.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cAfter all, you don\u2019t see my other men callin\u2019 me \u2018sir\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took a second.\u00a0 Hoss smiled shyly.\u00a0 \u201cYour other<\/em> men?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a valuable member of the search party, son.\u00a0 Just like Marv and Tad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The smile broke into a grin.\u00a0 \u201cYou mean that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy placed a hand on the teenager\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cI sure do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss ducked his head in that way he had.\u00a0 He\u2019d been doin\u2019 it since he was just a little tyke \u2013 well, a littler<\/em> tyke.\u00a0 Weren\u2019t no time in his life you could of called Eric Cartwright \u2018little\u2019.\u00a0 That brother of his, the one that was missin\u2019, now he<\/em> was another story.<\/p>\n

A strong wind could of blowed that young\u2019un away.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeputy….\u201d\u00a0 Hoss cleared his throat.\u00a0 \u201cMister Roy, can I say somethin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure thing, son.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the horse we\u2019re followin\u2019, well, it may have somethin\u2019 to do with Little Joe goin\u2019 missin\u2019, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the man what took him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy blinked.\u00a0 \u201cNow what makes you think that, son?\u201d he asked kindly.<\/p>\n

Hoss drew a breath and puffed it out.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou see, Mister Roy, that\u2019s a right big horse.\u00a0 I know \u2018cause I ride one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTad said those prints went right into the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it ain\u2019t enough!\u201d Hoss protested.\u00a0 \u201cWhen we was behind the barn, I seen that man\u2019s boot prints pressed\u00a0 into the ground.\u00a0 You could tell just how much he weighed.\u00a0 Mister Roy, I carried Joe plenty of times. \u00a0He don\u2019t add much.\u00a0 That man\u2019s prints, well, he\u2019s a real<\/em> big feller.\u00a0 That horse should be even heavier if the two of them are ridin\u2019 it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo maybe he put Little Joe on it and was walkin\u2019 beside it,\u201d he offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cAin\u2019t no prints showin\u2019 that he was, you know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, he did.<\/p>\n

Roy scratched his chin.\u00a0 \u201cSo what you\u2019re sayin, son, is that we\u2019re on a wild goose chase.\u00a0 You think Bosh sent that horse on alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss scowled.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t like to….\u00a0 Well, I\u2019ve been taught not to question my betters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow come you didn\u2019t speak up before, boy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s son shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cI could be wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he wasn\u2019t quite old enough to shoulder the guilt if it turned out that he was and somethin\u2019 happened to his brother \u2018cause of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think we oughta go back and start again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss chewed his lip.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe you and I could, Roy.\u00a0 That way Mister Corby and Mister Jones could keep followin\u2019 this <\/em>trail.\u00a0 You know, just in case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy considered it and then nodded slowly.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t take more than two men to follow one set of tracks. \u00a0You and I will do that come mornin\u2019, boy.\u00a0 Now,\u201d Roy favored him with a grin, \u201chow about you go get some of that firewood so we don\u2019t freeze our tails off.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager nodded and then turned to go about the task.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken about ten steps when he turned back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThanks, Mister Roy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy Roy Coffee watch Hoss Cartwright go with a smile on his lips.<\/p>\n

He was a keeper, that one.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A golden light was spilling in the office window of the Ponderosa ranch house.\u00a0 Outside the window birds wheeled in the air, announcing the morning.\u00a0 As the light rose ranch hands woke and went about their business.\u00a0 Horses nickered.\u00a0 Steers lowed.\u00a0 Soon the air would be full of other sounds \u2013 timber being cut, cattle being roped and branded; horses snorting as the bronco busters climbed on their backs.\u00a0\u00a0 Ben Cartwright sat in his desk chair listening as he stared at the map of the empire he had created.<\/p>\n

It meant nothing.<\/p>\n

Wearily, the rancher rose from his seat and walked toward the massive stone hearth that was the centerpiece of the great room.\u00a0\u00a0 He glanced at the chess board and then turned to look at the game of checkers left half-finished on the table.\u00a0 After a moment he crossed to the blue chair by the fire and picked up the book lying on its velvet surface and turned it over so he could read the spine.\u00a0 It was one of Adam\u2019s volumes of Shakespeare.\u00a0 There was a bookmark holding his place.\u00a0 It seemed the bard awaited his wounded son\u2019s return just as he did.<\/p>\n

Just as he awaited Hoss\u2019 return.<\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s<\/em> return.<\/p>\n

The house had never felt so empty or so useless.<\/p>\n

Still holding Adam\u2019s book, Ben dropped into the chair his son usually occupied and lowered his head into his hands.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d <\/em>never felt so useless.<\/p>\n

Several minutes later a soft sound alerted the older man to the fact that he was not alone.\u00a0 Ben lifted his head to find Hop Sing watching him from across the room.\u00a0 Shifting, he placed Adam\u2019s book on the side table and forced a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cMorning, Hop Sing.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was nothing \u2018good\u2019 about it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Ben not sleep last night?\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d tried to after Paul Martin shooed him out of the sick room.\u00a0 He\u2019d failed, miserably, of course.\u00a0 If he wasn\u2019t thinking about Adam, he was thinking about Hoss who was out with a search party.\u00a0 He thought of Joseph too.\u00a0 In fact, Joe\u2019s fate was never far from his mind.\u00a0 Joseph, his child<\/em> who had vanished, seemingly into thin air, taken by a man who had some reason to hate him.<\/p>\n

Wade Bosh.\u00a0 He had turned the name over in his mind all night.\u00a0 It was an unusual name. \u00a0He should remember it.<\/p>\n

Bosh.\u00a0 Wade<\/em> Bosh.<\/p>\n

He had no idea<\/em> who he was.<\/p>\n

Ben ran a hand over his stubbled chin and turned to look up the stairs.\u00a0 \u201cI should check on Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHop Sing just come down.\u00a0 Mistah Adam sleeping,\u201d his cook said as he came closer.\u00a0 \u201cDoctor say worst is over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOver?\u00a0 What do you mean \u2018over\u2019?\u00a0 How long ago?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam\u2019s fever broke about dawn, Ben,\u201d a bleary-eyed Paul Martin said as he descended the stairs.\u00a0 \u201cI was worried after that relapse, but you breed them tough here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s…Adam\u2019s going to be all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul frowned.\u00a0 \u201cHe will be \u2013 if <\/em>he stays in that bed and heals.\u00a0 Your oldest boy is already talking about getting up and riding after the man who took Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe can\u2019t do that!\u201d Ben protested.<\/p>\n

Paul lifted one eyebrow.\u00a0 The look he gave him was sympathetic.\u00a0 \u201cAdam wouldn\u2019t listen to me.\u00a0 He dragged himself up to a seated position and tried to throw his legs over the side of the bed.\u201d\u00a0 The doctor snorted.\u00a0 \u201cYou not only breed them tough, but stubborn as mules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s eyes went to the stairs.\u00a0 He listened.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t heard a thud.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou convinced him to lie back down?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 God did.\u00a0 He passed out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0 Ben was headed toward the stairs.<\/p>\n

Paul caught his arm. \u201cIt\u2019s all right, Ben.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like the last time. The boy was just too weak to try it.\u00a0 The effort wore him out.\u00a0 He\u2019s sleeping normally now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Cartwright, I go check on Mistah Adam again,\u201d Hop Sing offered.\u00a0 \u201cWait until he wakes.\u00a0 Maybe he want something to eat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a good idea,\u201d the doctor agreed.\u00a0 \u201cBroth or soup.\u00a0 Something easy.\u00a0 Maybe a little bread.\u201d\u00a0 As his cook headed up the stairs, Paul turned to him.\u00a0 This time the look he gave him was that of a man who knew all too well the pain he was in.\u00a0 \u201cI never got to tell you how sorry I am about what\u2019s happened with Little Joe.\u00a0 Do you have any idea who this man is who took him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish I did!\u00a0 It\u2019s maddening to have a name, but nothing to attach to it.\u00a0 Wade Bosh<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Ben let out a sigh of frustration.\u00a0 \u201cWhoever he is, he has something against me and he\u2019s taking it out on my sons!\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s hand landed on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cGet hold of yourself, Ben. \u00a0Your boys need you to be strong for them.\u00a0 Hoss most of all, I imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben frowned.\u00a0 \u201cHoss?\u00a0 Hoss is the only<\/em> one who\u2019s safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s smile was gentle.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what I mean.\u00a0 I know that boy.\u00a0 First of all he\u2019s feeling guilty because he didn\u2019t prevent Adam being shot.\u00a0 Then, because he couldn\u2019t protect Little Joe.\u00a0 Add to that the guilt he must feel because he isn\u2019t<\/em> in danger, and you have one troubled boy.\u201d\u00a0 The doctor lifted his hand.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s young, Ben.\u00a0 Hoss may look like a man, but he\u2019s hardly more than a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

As he stood there, considering the wisdom of his friend, Hop Sing reappeared at the top of the staircase.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Ben, Mistah Adam asking for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben looked at Paul who nodded.\u00a0 \u201cKnowing you lot, I\u2019ll have a calmer patient if you talk to him.\u00a0 But, Ben, not too long, and not too many questions.\u00a0 Let him tell you<\/em> what happened, if he wants to.\u201d\u00a0 Looking at the man from China, the doctor added.\u00a0 \u201cI have some powders for you, Hop Sing, to use for Adam.\u00a0 For both his pain and to help him sleep.\u201d\u00a0 Paul caught his eye and winked.\u00a0 \u201cHow about we slip one of them into his soup?\u201d<\/p>\n

As his cook headed down the stairs, Ben headed up.\u00a0 He walked down the hall and then hesitated just a moment outside his son\u2019s bedroom door.\u00a0 After whispering a brief prayer for wisdom, he opened it and stepped inside with something that passed for a smile plastered on his face.\u00a0 Adam didn\u2019t see it.\u00a0 His oldest son was laying on his back, staring at the ceiling.\u00a0 When the boy realized he was there only his eyes moved, shifting toward him.<\/p>\n

The first words out of Adam\u2019s mouth were, \u201cAny word about Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben went to the chair beside the bed and sat down.\u00a0 \u201cRoy is out looking for him.\u00a0 Hoss went with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam shifted slightly and grunted as he did.\u00a0 Ben reached out and helped him to right himself against the pillows.\u00a0 The boy was still pale, but his color was better.\u00a0 The lines of pain had eased a bit around his lips and eyes as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Roy is smart he\u2019ll…give Hoss his rein,\u201d his son said.\u00a0 \u201cNo one…reads tracks better than him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded. \u00a0\u201cHow are you feeling, son?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s look was chagrinned.\u00a0 \u201cStupid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy \u2018stupid\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

His oldest boy closed his eyes, as if he were seeing it all happen again.\u00a0 When he spoke, he was obviously in pain.\u00a0 \u201cI went looking for Joe…couldn\u2019t find him.\u00a0 I thought he was….\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s eyes opened and he looked at him.\u00a0 In their hazel depths was something of despair.\u00a0 \u201cI thought he was hiding on…purpose.\u00a0 I was mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

He touched his arm.\u00a0 \u201cSon, maybe this should wait for later when you\u2019re rested.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 You need to…know.\u00a0 Bosh had him in the back stall.\u00a0 Joe was….\u201d\u00a0 He drew a shuddering breath.\u00a0 \u201cHe had Little Joe under his arm.\u00a0 Pa, at first he wasn\u2019t…moving.\u00a0 I think he…was drugged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s jaw tightened.\u00a0 \u201cGo on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I had was a rake.\u00a0 Bosh…threatened to hurt Joe if I didn\u2019t…put it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam had paled.\u00a0 His breath was coming harder now.\u00a0 \u201cSon, perhaps you should rest.\u00a0 Paul said \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

His son\u2019s fingers gripped his wrist.\u00a0 \u201cPa, let…me finish.\u00a0 Then…I promise…I\u2019ll rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded.<\/p>\n

Slowly.<\/p>\n

\u201cI dropped the rake.\u00a0 Bosh…ordered me into…one of the stalls.\u00a0 He…was gonna tie…me up.\u00a0 I….\u201d\u00a0 Adam swallowed.\u00a0 \u201cI tried to take…him, Pa. It was…stupid.\u00a0 I could have gotten Little Joe…killed.\u201d\u00a0 His son\u2019s gaze reflected the horror he had felt.\u00a0 \u201cBosh had the gun…to…Joe\u2019s head.\u201d<\/p>\n

He felt the horror as well.\u00a0 It left him speechless.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa…?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSon, you did what you had to do,\u201d he said at last.\u00a0 \u201cIt didn\u2019t work, but it just as easily could have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s grip tightened.\u00a0 \u201cJoe\u2019s gone and it\u2019s…my fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

He covered the boy\u2019s hand with his own. \u201cNo.\u00a0 It\u2019s the fault of the man who took him.\u201d<\/p>\n

His son held his gaze for a moment, defiant.\u00a0 Then, seemed to accept his words.<\/p>\n

For a moment they sat in silence.\u00a0 The sun was still shining.\u00a0 The birds called out in joy beyond the window.\u00a0 Life went on even though, in the ranch house, it went on wounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa, you need to…go after Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cRoy has the law searching.\u00a0 Hoss is \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n

Again, that grip. Firm.\u00a0 Resolute\u00a0 \u201cJoe needs you…more than Hoss or I do, Pa.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be okay.\u00a0 He…won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded.\u00a0 It was true.\u00a0 He knew it.<\/p>\n

Still….<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t leave you until I know you re out of danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you can leave, Ben,\u201d a voice said from the door.\u00a0 He turned as Paul Martin reentered the room.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing is on the way with soup and some tea for Adam.\u00a0 The worst is over here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul\u2019s implication, of course, was that the worst might be yet to come elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Ben released his son\u2019s hand and rose to his feet.\u00a0 He brushed the sweat-soaked hair off of Adam\u2019s forehead and then bent and planted a kiss on the cleared space.\u00a0 Adam didn\u2019t protest.<\/p>\n

He knew that kiss was more for his father than for him.<\/p>\n

As he reached the door, Adam\u2019s voice called him to a halt.\u00a0 \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, son\u201d? he asked, turning back.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell Joe I\u2019m sorry when you see him, will you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded.\u00a0 When he saw <\/em>him.\u00a0 Not if.<\/p>\n

God willing, it would be soon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THREE<\/p>\n

The stagecoach arrived in Eagle Station early that morning.\u00a0 There was only one passenger on it.\u00a0 More had been scheduled to take it, but they had quickly exchanged their tickets for the next coach, which was due to leave Placerville the following afternoon.\u00a0 The two maiden ladies who had been due to ride reported that one of them felt ill.\u00a0 They decided to stay over for the night to see if the sickness passed.\u00a0 The logger who was heading back to his trees developed a sudden aversion to coaches and chose to rent a horse instead.\u00a0 There were two salesmen who decided Placerville looked mighty good, while the banker and his wife who had arrived late and left the soonest simply and rudely stated that if the stage line was going to allow \u2018those\u2019 kind of people on it, they would have none of their custom in the future.<\/p>\n

No one, it seemed, wanted to ride with a darky.<\/p>\n

The passenger in the coach smiled.\u00a0 There were two ways to look at it.\u00a0 He could be hurt by the rejection or take pride in the power of his color.<\/p>\n

He chose to do the later.<\/p>\n

The irony was, due to his white father and half-white mother, it took two looks to determine that he was <\/em>anything other than white himself.\u00a0 The ends of the stranger\u2019s full lips quirked with wry amusement.\u00a0 Why was it, when a man was two-thirds white, that he was still considered black?\u00a0 He dropped his eyes to the hands poking out from underneath the elegant white lace cuffs of his Marcus Regency shirt.<\/p>\n

At most you might have called him coffee with cream.<\/p>\n

As he sat there musing, he heard a sound.\u00a0 The driver had jumped to the ground and was reaching for the door.\u00a0 Outside the coach the usual gawkers had arrived.\u00a0 The stage line was still a new enough phenomena in the area that its arrival always drew large crowds.\u00a0 They were not there to gawk at him \u2013 at least not yet \u2013 but to see who had found some reason to visit their backwater village.\u00a0 He\u2019d come from such a place once upon a time where it was everyone\u2019s business to make sure that they knew <\/em>everyone\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

They were in for, well, a bit of a shock.<\/p>\n

\u201cEagle Station, Mister Randolph,\u201d the driver announced as the coach door opened.\u00a0 \u201cYour bag\u2019s already down.\u201d<\/p>\n

In spite of the confidence he had gained over the years while living in England, Jude Randolph drew in a deep breath and held it as he stepped out of the coach.\u00a0 He noted the usual reactions as he did \u2013 fear, anger, disbelief, curiosity and, yes, hatred.<\/p>\n

Hatred of what he was.<\/p>\n

Hatred of how what he was made them <\/em>feel.<\/p>\n

Jude nodded as he stepped down.\u00a0 He opened his silk purse and removed a coin and put it in the driver\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, my good man.\u201d<\/p>\n

The driver\u2019s eyes lit at the gold coin.\u00a0 He tipped his hat.\u00a0 \u201cThank you, Mister Randolph!\u201d\u00a0 With a nod to the left, the driver finished, \u201cThe International House is over there.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was some grumbling at the suggestion.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t surprise him.\u00a0 It only confirmed that Eagle Station was no more or less civilized than the rest of the towns he had stopped in during his progress from California to Nevada.<\/p>\n

A man \u2013 burly, bristle-cheeked, and more than a bit of a buffoon from what he could tell \u2013 pushed through the crowd.\u00a0 His bushy mustache twitched as he announced, \u201cYou just get back on that stage, Mister.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want your kind here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude pretended ignorance.\u00a0 It was something he was well-practiced in.\u00a0 \u201cAnd what \u2018kind\u2019 would that be?\u00a0 Tall?\u00a0 Well-dressed?\u201d\u00a0 He grinned.\u00a0 \u201cHandsome?\u00a0 Or perhaps, you mean English?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what kind,\u201d another man, a possessor of\u00a0 a shock of straw-yellow hair and a cadaverous face, growled.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dear sir,\u201d he replied, \u201cyou seem to grant me powers of perception that are far beyond those with which the good Lord has imbued me.\u201d Jude raised his black brows.\u00a0 \u201cIf you would care to clarify your position?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow come a darky like you talks so fancy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude pivoted to look at the skeletal man beside him.\u00a0 \u201cPerhaps, because a \u2018darky\u2019 like me had the good fortune to attend Oxford University instead of failing to be present at school past the age of accountability as it seems you did.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took a moment.\u00a0 Well, actually, more than a moment.\u00a0 The one man had to point out to the other that what he\u2019d said had been an insult.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gonna let that darky get by with saying you\u2019re stupid, Jake?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude held up a finger. \u201cI beg to differ.\u00a0 I never said…\u201d\u00a0 He looked at the jowly man.\u00a0 \u201cJake?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t mean to imply that Jake was dim-witted,\u201d he said, turning back.\u00a0 \u201cMerely inexpert.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bristle-cheek frowned.\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t that the same thing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude looked the man up and down, noting his dungarees and checked shirt as well as the well-worn leather boots with spurs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the cowboy hat fits….\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you making fun of my friend, Hal?\u201d Jake demanded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no need.\u00a0 He does entirely too good a job of it on his own.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rest of the crowd had been standing by listening to their repartee.\u00a0 Now they began to back off.\u00a0 It took Jude a moment to understand why.<\/p>\n

Then he saw the gun.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy good man….\u201d he began, his eyes on the pistol.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t your \u2018man\u2019,\u201d Hal snarled.\u00a0 \u201cBoy<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, boy<\/em>,\u201d Jake added, darting forward and knocking off his hat.\u00a0 \u201cI think we ought to teach you a lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude glanced at his beaver hat, eating dust.<\/p>\n

He shouldn\u2019t have said it.<\/p>\n

But….<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only thing you or your brainless cohort could teach me would be how to become a bigoted, oafish boor.\u201d\u00a0 Jude sneered.\u00a0 \u201cNot exactly the skill-set someone of my position needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy you!\u201d Hal snarled as he raised the pistol.<\/p>\n

\u201cPardon me, pardon me,\u201d a light sing-song voice interjected.\u00a0 \u201cSo sorry, but need to pass by on boardwalk.\u00a0 Ranch hands in Hop Sing\u2019s way.\u00a0 Mistah Ben not happy with hands.\u00a0 Send them far<\/em> away with no pay if he no get supper in time tonight!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude watched with amusement as the men\u2019s faces went from angry to angrier, and then progressed rapidly toward worry and finally, fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou shut your mouth, China man,\u201d Hal muttered, the wind driven from his sails.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, you<\/em> keep quiet!\u00a0 Mister Ben busy man, hungry man!\u00a0 Want food on table when get home!\u201d\u00a0 The man from China eyed the pair with obvious disdain.\u00a0 He punctuated his words with the jab of a finger.\u00a0 \u201cYou <\/em>come Ponderosa, I send you<\/em> to see boss.\u00a0 You<\/em> tell him why supper late!\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake caught Hal by the elbow.\u00a0 \u201cWe don\u2019t want to make the boss angry. Them jobs mean too much to us.\u201d\u00a0 He paused to lick his lips. \u201cYou know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Something passed between the two men.\u00a0 Jude wasn\u2019t sure what. But in the end they slunk off toward the local sampling room with the tails of their beastly plaid shirts tucked between their legs.<\/p>\n

The man from China watched them go with a scowl.\u00a0 \u201cPerson stupid, don\u2019t have medicine to heal,\u201d he said with a shake of his head.<\/p>\n

Jude laughed as he turned toward him.\u00a0 \u201cThough I believe I could have extricated myself from the situation without substantial damage, I thank you, friend.\u201d\u00a0 He held out his hand.\u00a0 \u201cNg\u00f3h giujouh<\/em>, Jude Randolph.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chinese man beamed as he took his hand.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing.\u00a0 H\u00f3u h\u00f2is\u00e0m yihngs\u012bk n\u00e9ih<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude bowed as he took the man\u2019s hand and shook it.\u00a0 He\u2019d lived abroad for a time and had picked up a smattering of Cantonese.\u00a0 \u201cI am pleased to meet you as well.\u201d\u00a0 Turning back, the elegant mulatto\u2019s gaze swept the street which was, not surprisingly, for the most part empty.\u00a0 \u201cSo, my friend, how do you<\/em> find Eagle\u2019s Station?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBad people here,\u201d Hop Sing answered, his brows drawn down in a frown.\u00a0 But then they popped up and his tone brightened.\u00a0 \u201cEven more good<\/em> people!\u00a0 You stay, you meet them.\u00a0 Many good people like Mister Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude stiffened.\u00a0 \u201cCartwright, you say?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing nodded \u2013 vehemently.\u00a0 \u201cMister Cartwright boss of Hop Sing.\u00a0 He not good man, he best <\/em>man!\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman drew a hand across his chin.\u00a0 Curling his index finger under his lip, he asked, \u201cWhat is Mister Cartwright\u2019s Christian<\/em> name, if you don\u2019t mind my asking?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man from China frowned \u2013 just a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s is quite all right if you don\u2019t want to tell me.\u201d\u00a0 Jude drew in a breath.\u00a0 It seemed he had no other recourse than to be completely honest.\u00a0 \u201cActually, I have come to Nevada seeking a man named \u2018Cartwright\u2019.\u00a0 Benjamin<\/em> Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n

The frown deepened.\u00a0 \u201cWhat man from city want with Mistah Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude catalogued the interesting reaction.\u00a0 \u201cYou might say I am an old friend.\u201d\u00a0 He paused, remembering.\u00a0 \u201cA very<\/em> old friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMan from city not that old,\u201d Hop Sing stated plainly.<\/p>\n

\u201cMan from city has a name,\u201d Jude countered.\u00a0 \u201cPlease, call me Jude.\u00a0 There is no need to stand on any formality.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow Jude know Mister Benjamin Cartwright?\u201d the man from China demanded.<\/p>\n

He thought a moment.\u00a0 \u201cWas the man you work for a sailor some twenty-odd years back?\u00a0 Did he serve as first mate to Captain Stoddard among others?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat it mean to you if he did?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing reminded him of a fierce little dog protecting its beloved master.<\/p>\n

Jude attempted to ease the man\u2019s fears with a smile.\u00a0 \u201cI was a cabin boy on the vessel Independence.<\/em>\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t one of Captain Stoddard\u2019s ships, but one on which First Mate Benjamin Cartwright served for a short time.\u00a0 She sailed the English seas as the decade of the twenties ended.\u201d\u00a0 The Englishman\u2019s voice drifted off as the memory of that time took his attention.\u00a0 He could see Benjamin Cartwright standing on the deck of the Independence<\/em> during a fierce gale, facing down a man whose only intent was his death \u2013 and all because he had chosen to protect a young black boy who had no help and no hope.\u00a0 \u201cHe was….kind to me.\u00a0 I would like to see him so I could give him my thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man from China did not look entirely convinced.\u00a0 \u201cWhat name of Captain Stoddard\u2019s daughter?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cElizabeth,\u201d he replied without hesitation.<\/p>\n

Hop Sing\u2019s black eyes narrowed as he weighed every word.\u00a0 \u201cMister Cartwright have enemies.\u00a0 How I know you not one of them?\u00a0 How Hop Sing know you not come here to hurt him…or his family?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude thought a moment.\u00a0 Then he spread his hands wide.\u00a0 \u201cLook at me, Hop Sing.\u00a0 I\u2019m not white.\u00a0 How many men would have helped a mulatto?\u00a0 How many have helped you <\/em>other than Benjamin Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed at last that the man from China believed him.\u00a0 He nodded and then his eyes went to a building across the street that sported a doctor\u2019s shingle.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing take you to Mistah Ben after he gets supplies.\u00a0 Mistah Ben\u2019s son hurt.\u00a0 Needs medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was his turn to frown.\u00a0 \u201cHurt?\u00a0 How?\u00a0 When did this happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHappen last night.\u00a0 Bad man come to Ponderosa.\u00a0 Shoot Mistah Adam, Mistah Ben\u2019s number one son.\u201d\u00a0 The Chinese man\u2019s face grew ineffably sad.\u00a0 \u201cTake Mistah Ben\u2019s young son.\u00a0 No one know where.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman\u2019s jaw tightened. \u201cTook<\/em> him?\u00a0 How old is the boy who has disappeared?\u201d<\/p>\n

Real tears entered the Chinese man\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe twelve.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a second, Jude reeled.\u00a0 Enough so, that he had to reach out and grasp a rail to steady himself.<\/p>\n

As he stood there, drawing a deep breath, the man with a queue asked, \u201cMister Jude, what wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

What was wrong?<\/p>\n

Everything<\/em> was wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood Lord,\u201d Jude breathed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve come too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright stood outside his stable watching his middle son, Hoss, walk with his head down and his eyes to the ground, searching for signs of his missing brother and the man who took him.\u00a0 Hoss and Roy Coffee had surprised him when they\u2019d arrived alone that morning about eight o\u2019clock.\u00a0 Roy explained how Hoss felt they\u2019d misread the kidnapper\u2019s tracks and how the boy had insisted on returning to the ranch house to start again.\u00a0 His friend explained that the other men who had been with them had continued on, intent on following the tracks that had led them away from the Ponderosa in the first place.<\/p>\n

Just in case.<\/p>\n

Ben looked at his son.\u00a0 If it hadn\u2019t been for the fact that Hoss wouldn\u2019t have listened to him, he would have told the boy to go inside and get some sleep and let the law do what they could.\u00a0 The strain on his young son was plain in the slump of the big teenager\u2019s shoulders and the way he muttered to himself as he walked a few feet, knelt, and then rose and walked again, ever hopeful that he would spy something that would lead them to Little Joe.\u00a0 Hoss had taken on quite a lot of responsibility.\u00a0 If the boy misread the tracks and Joseph…well…didn\u2019t make it….<\/p>\n

Ben shook himself.<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

Damn<\/em> it!\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

Roy was watching him closely.\u00a0 He gave his friend a weak smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow you listen to me, Ben.\u00a0 You\u2019re doin\u2019 all you can.\u00a0 You know that.\u201d\u00a0 Roy indicated the house with a nod.\u00a0 \u201cYou got you other concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

The gray-haired man nodded.\u00a0 It pained him more deeply than he could express that he couldn\u2019t join in the hunt for Joseph, but he couldn\u2019t abandon Adam.\u00a0 He would consider leaving once Hop Sing returned from town but, even then, he wasn\u2019t certain it would be wise to go.\u00a0 Ben knew his eldest son.\u00a0 Keeping Adam in bed might be more than Hop Sing could manage without his authority to back him up.<\/p>\n

Adam would kill himself to save his youngest brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher glanced at Roy who was indicating the empty yard in front of the stable.\u00a0 He frowned when he realized they were alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s Hoss?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cGone \u2018round the back,\u201d Roy replied.\u00a0 \u201cI think maybe you and me oughta just follow him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded.\u00a0 He glanced at the house before moving, half expecting to see Adam\u2019s long lanky figure stumbling out of the door in spite of his direct order to the boy to remain in bed.\u00a0 When he didn\u2019t see him, the rancher sighed.\u00a0 Not with relief, but in expectation.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d probably find him there when he got back.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen!\u201d<\/p>\n

There was excitement in Roy\u2019s voice.\u00a0 Moving quickly, Ben rounded the stable and almost stumbled over Hoss who was once again kneeling on the ground.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you find something, son?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Hoss turned a weary face toward him.\u00a0 While there was a tiny glint of hope in his eyes, his lips were turned down in a frown.\u00a0 His son pointed to the ground before him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t sure how we did, but we missed these Pa,\u201d he said softly.<\/p>\n

Two set of boot prints.\u00a0 One small and slender.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The other….\u00a0 Ben sucked in air.<\/p>\n

The other pair looked like they belonged to a giant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wasn\u2019t on that horse, Pa.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinkin\u2019 that man what took Little Joe must of put a sack of grain on the saddle and sent it runnin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss rose to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cI bet if we check the feed in the stable, there\u2019s one missin\u2019 at least.\u00a0 Maybe two.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben planted a hand on his son\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cGood work, son!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss\u2019 frown had deepened.\u00a0 \u201cI understand why that man done what he did.\u00a0 It sure put us off the scent.\u00a0 But Pa, he ain\u2019t gonna get anywhere fast if he\u2019s on foot and he\u2019s got Little Joe to contend with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The older man smiled, though the smile faded quickly from his lips.\u00a0 He knew his youngest son, just as Hoss knew his little brother.\u00a0 Joseph would not go meekly.\u00a0 He would try to escape, try<\/em> to make it home \u2013 he would use everything that was in him to come back to them.\u00a0 If the boy tried and failed<\/em> it might very well put his life in danger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI imagine anyone takin\u2019 a child for ransom or such would have other horses hidden somewhere along the trail, son,\u201d Roy interjected.\u00a0 \u201cI doubt they was on foot for long.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben was looking at his youngest son\u2019s boot prints.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s follow these and see where they lead,\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gonna leave Adam, Pa?\u201d Hoss asked, surprised.<\/p>\n

He shook his head. \u00a0\u201cNo, son.\u00a0 I\u2019ll walk with you a ways and then you two can go on.\u00a0 If I can, I\u2019ll follow as soon as Hop Sing returns.\u201d\u00a0 Ben eyed the pair.\u00a0 They both looked done in.\u00a0 \u201cBut first, you two need to come inside for some coffee and food.\u201d\u00a0 As his son started to protest, he held a hand up.\u00a0 \u201cIt will do your brother no good if you faint from hunger.\u00a0 Besides, I need to check on Adam before we head out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss\u2019s nose wrinkled.\u00a0 \u201cI feel kind of…selfish, you know, Pa?\u00a0 Restin\u2019 and eatin\u2019 food when Little Joe\u2019s….\u201d<\/p>\n

The sentence trailed off as the boy ducked his head.\u00a0 Ben stepped over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cSon, look at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir,\u201d the teenager said as he looked up and met his stare.<\/p>\n

Hoss had the bluest eyes \u2013 clear as a mountain stream, crisp as ice on a winter morning.\u00a0 They were so transparent the boy wasn\u2019t able to hide anything he was feeling.\u00a0 His middle son was scared.<\/p>\n

Just as he<\/em> was scared.<\/p>\n

\u201cSon, Little Joe knows we\u2019re coming.\u00a0 Joseph knows we will never<\/em> give up until we find him \u2013 that we haven\u2019t forgotten him \u201d\u00a0 The gray-haired man paused.\u00a0 \u201cAnd I hope he knows another thing,\u201d he added quietly.<\/p>\n

Those blue eyes were wide as a small child\u2019s and just as trusting.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s that Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat his God knows what is happening and this terrible event in within His providence.\u201d\u00a0 Ben\u2019s jaw tightened with emotion.\u00a0 \u201cThat the God who made<\/em> him is sovereign and in control and hasn\u2019t forgotten him either.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss stared at him for a moment before speaking.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t sure I got the…rock solid faith you do, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rock solid.<\/p>\n

The thought of his youngest son in the hands of a kidnapper \u2013 and a giant of a man at that, when Joseph was so small \u2013 was chipping away at that rock.\u00a0 He could feel it cracking and was fighting hard to keep it from crumbling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what builds such faith, son,\u201d he replied.\u00a0 \u201cIt says in Isaiah, \u2018Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.\u2019<\/em>\u00a0 It is in that moment, when we are in the fire, that we find out what we\u2019re made of.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss puzzled a moment and then nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen!\u201d<\/p>\n

He and Hoss both turned toward Roy Coffee.\u00a0 The deputy was standing at the corner of the stable looking back toward the house.<\/p>\n

Ben wasn\u2019t clairvoyant, but he knew what the deputy was looking at.\u00a0 \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYep, walking toward the stable bold as brass and slow as molasses.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took three, maybe, four seconds for Ben to round the wooden structure.\u00a0 Just like Roy said Adam, pale as a winding sheet, was walking across the yard.\u00a0 His son was dressed haphazardly.\u00a0 The tail of his wine-colored shirt was flying in the wind and his black suede vest was inside-out.<\/p>\n

He was wearing his gun.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd just where do you think you are going, young man?\u201d Ben boomed as he stepped into his son\u2019s path.<\/p>\n

Adam didn\u2019t look the least bit penitent.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m going after Little Joe,\u201d he stated firmly \u2013 as firmly as he could between chattering teeth.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s heart melted at this physical manifestation of his oldest son\u2019s love for his youngest brother.\u00a0 Still, he couldn\u2019t let that melt his resolve as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will turn around and march back into that house,\u201d he said firmly.<\/p>\n

Adam favored him with a weak imitation of his usual grin.\u00a0 \u201cPa, I\u2019m twenty-four.\u00a0 You can\u2019t tell me what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was true.\u00a0 But he could suggest it \u2013 strongly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSon, I know you\u2019re worried about your brother, but you know what Paul said.\u201d\u00a0 His eyes went to his son\u2019s side. Adam was holding it with his left hand.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll break that wound open.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t had time to heal.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were unspent tears in Adam\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u201cPa!\u00a0 I can\u2019t just lay there!\u00a0 This is my fault!\u00a0 Don\u2019t you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, it ain\u2019t, Adam,\u201d Hoss said as he came between them.\u00a0 \u201cIt ain\u2019t the fault of anyone but that bad man who took Little Joe.\u201d\u00a0 His middle son glanced at him and then took a step toward his injured brother.\u00a0 \u201cAdam, I got me a heart full of guilt too.\u00a0 Little Joe, well, he\u2019s my<\/em> responsibility.\u00a0 I should of checked on him to make sure he was okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam was shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cHoss, no, you \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cain\u2019t tell me what I\u2019m feelin\u2019 anymore than I can tell you<\/em>, older brother!\u201d the giant teen snapped.\u00a0 Then his tone softened, \u201cI know you want to look for Little Joe, Adam, but Joe\u2019d be the first one to tell you to take care of yourself.\u00a0 \u2018Sides….\u201d\u00a0 His big son frowned.\u00a0 \u201cIf Roy and me don\u2019t find Little Joe soon, we\u2019re gonna need you to go look later when we\u2019re all tuckered out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have to be gettin\u2019 back to town, son,\u201d Roy Coffee added as he joined them.\u00a0 \u201cI got me one, maybe two days to give to the search, then I gotta get me back to the office.\u00a0 You can take over then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben glanced at Roy.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t tell if he was being truthful \u2013 or helpful.<\/p>\n

Adam was wavering, both mentally and<\/em> physically.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know….\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I <\/em>do,\u201d Hoss replied as he moved forward to take his brother by the arm.\u00a0 \u201cYou look like somethin\u2019 a herd trod on, older brother.\u00a0 Come on now, let\u2019s get you back in your bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben silently acknowledged his middle son\u2019s wisdom.\u00a0 Where Adam would have fought him tooth and claw, his brother\u2019s gentle words had driven home the truth that he was in no condition to sit a horse or ride.\u00a0 Still, the boy tried one more time.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Little Joe….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you worry yourself none, Adam,\u201d Hoss said, his tone uncompromising.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll ain\u2019t comin\u2019 home without punkin\u2019, you can bet money on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The use of Hoss\u2019 pet name for Little Joe stabbed Ben.\u00a0 It brought to mind the boisterous unstoppable whirlwind that was his youngest son.\u00a0 His youngest son who was missing.<\/p>\n

His youngest son who had been ripped from the bosom of his family and was God only knew where.<\/p>\n

Ben walked over to the pair and placed a hand on each of their shoulders.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome on, boys, let\u2019s go inside.\u00a0 Hop Sing left food to warm up.\u201d\u00a0 At their looks, he added, \u201cI don\u2019t feel like eating either, but we have to keep up our strength if we\u2019re to find your brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a moment of hesitation.\u00a0 Then both nodded.<\/p>\n

Ben allowed himself a little smile.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d won the skirmish.<\/p>\n

But the greatest battle was yet to come.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam Cartwright shifted and straightened up, easing the pain in his side.\u00a0 He was propped in the blue velvet chair near the fire and had spent the last hour or so watching his father pace the floor.\u00a0 The older\u00a0 man had wanted him to go up to his room after they finished eating to rest.\u00a0 Once again, Hoss had run interference for him.\u00a0 His younger brother had convinced their father that it was probably best to leave him where he was until Doctor Martin\u2019s promised visit later that evening.<\/p>\n

After all, a second climb up the stairs might just break that wound that had remained closed so far wide<\/em> open again….<\/p>\n

The black-haired man glanced at the tall case clock.\u00a0 It was just about noon.\u00a0 Roy Coffee and his brother had headed out around 10:30, after they had eaten and refreshed their supplies.\u00a0 As he left, Hoss had once again made the promise he had no way of knowing if he could keep \u2013 the promise that he wouldn\u2019t return home without Little Joe.<\/p>\n

Adam closed his eyes as he leaned his head back against the soft supple fabric of his favorite chair.\u00a0 His brother Joseph could be, well, a royal pain at times.\u00a0 So far as he was concerned Joe was undisciplined and more than a little spoiled.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t that he was bad.\u00a0 Joe was a good kid.\u00a0 A hard worker when he wanted to be, smart, and, in some ways, more mature than other boys his age.\u00a0 But there was a part of Joe that was, and probably always would be an eternal child.\u00a0 He put it down to his mother, Marie, dying when Little Joe was just a tyke.\u00a0 Joe was nearly thirteen now.\u00a0 While other boys his age were happily cutting the apron strings and flying free, Joe had no desire to be loosed.\u00a0 The invisible ties that bound him to Marie and to the place where she had lived, if ever so briefly, had only grown stronger.\u00a0 Joe was frightened to be alone.\u00a0 Frightened that, while he was, someone was going to die, or that they would abandon him and never return.<\/p>\n

The black-haired man sighed.\u00a0 He wondered if the thought had ever crossed his brother\u2019s mind that it might be him<\/em> who would leave them <\/em>first.<\/p>\n

Adam sucked in air as tears formed in his eyes.<\/p>\n

It was <\/em>his fault.\u00a0 No one could tell him otherwise.<\/p>\n

The morning had been a typical one.\u00a0 He\u2019d yelled at Little Joe more than once.\u00a0 In fact, the reason Joe was in the stable was most likely due to the fact that he\u2019d told him he\u2019d neglected his work there.\u00a0 The kid shouldn\u2019t have been left alone.\u00a0 Joe should have been in the house where he would have been safe.<\/p>\n

Safe from the anima<\/em>l who took him.<\/p>\n

With his eyes still closed, Adam considered what he could recall of the man\u2019s appearance.\u00a0 It had been dim in the stable and it seemed pain had blanked out at few minutes before and after the shooting.\u00a0 Still, he remembered the sheer size of the man, and his eyes \u2013 cold, wicked eyes that gleamed with an unholy joy.\u00a0 Little Joe was the one who\u2019d been taken, but Joe wasn\u2019t the one who was Bosh\u2019s target.<\/p>\n

That was their father.<\/p>\n

For the thousandth time, he wondered why.<\/p>\n

He kept thinking over the words the man had said to him.<\/p>\n

\u2018Ain\u2019t that a shame.\u00a0 You tell your Pa when you see him that\u2019s a shame.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 quite like someone taking a boy from you.\u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018You tell him I\u2019m takin\u2019 my due\u2019. <\/em><\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s eyes opened and sought his father\u2019s figure.\u00a0 The older man had opened the door and was staring out it, as if by sheer will he could draw his youngest son back to the fold.\u00a0 He knew his father, knew the man he was and the man he had been.\u00a0 He could have done nothing wrong.\u00a0 If, as it seemed, the older man had taken someone away from that villain, then it was to save them.<\/p>\n

Was Bosh\u2019s \u2018due\u2019 a replacement for whoever that had been?\u00a0 Was that why the man had kidnapped the youngest and most vulnerable of Ben Cartwright\u2019s sons?<\/p>\n

Adam paid attention as his father\u2019s lean frame tensed.\u00a0 He saw the older man frown before he stepped out the door.\u00a0 There was an exchange of words that included more than a smattering of quickly spoken Cantonese, so he knew Hop Sing was one of those who had arrived.\u00a0 The black-haired man\u2019s eyes went to the clock.\u00a0 It was too soon for Roy and Hoss to have returned, unless they\u2019d realized the trail they were following was a false one.\u00a0 Planting his hands on the arms of the chair, Adam levered himself out of it.\u00a0 As he took a step toward the front door, his father returned.\u00a0 Pa gave him a disapproving glance, but held his comments to himself as Hop Sing and a stranger walked in.<\/p>\n

And what<\/em> a stranger!<\/p>\n

The man appeared to be between thirty-five and forty.\u00a0 His black-brown hair was curly as Little Joe\u2019s, though the curls were tighter on the ends.\u00a0 They spiraled down to cover his ears and abruptly ended just below them.\u00a0 He wore his hair parted on the side and a similar cascade of curls fell in a wave over the left side of his face.\u00a0 He was obviously of mixed parentage.\u00a0 There was a negro in there somewhere and perhaps Indian, most likely a few generations back.\u00a0 He was handsome as handsome went, with even features that tended a bit to the feminine.\u00a0 He had a broad straight nose over full lips and enormous eyes.\u00a0 Adam couldn\u2019t discern their color from a distance, but they were light and might have tended toward hazel.\u00a0 The brows that topped them were black and thick.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Mistah Adam do out of bed!\u201d Hop Sing chided as he hurried over to him.\u00a0 \u201cDoctor say you stay tin bed another day or two!\u00a0 You tear wound in side again, Hop Sing no have thread to sew you back together!\u201d<\/p>\n

The elegantly attired mulatto\u2019s smile was affectionate.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing has been quite concerned about you,\u201d he said, his accent thick.<\/p>\n

So, he was English as well.<\/p>\n

Adam glanced at his father who shrugged.\u00a0 Apparently, Pa had no idea who this man was either.<\/p>\n

As he eased himself back into the chair at their cook\u2019s insistence, the black-haired man said, \u201cIt\u2019s all right, Hop Sing.\u00a0 I came down to check on how things were going and Pa decided it was best for me to remain downstairs until Doctor Martin comes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suspicious as always \u2013 and usually with good reason \u2013 the man from China turned to his father who nodded.<\/p>\n

A second later the older man said, \u201cHop Sing, aren\u2019t you going to introduce your friend?\u201d<\/p>\n

That surprised him \u2013 his Pa letting a stranger into the house before he knew who he was and what his business was with them.<\/p>\n

The man from China bowed deeply.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing excited.\u00a0 Forget to tell.\u201d\u00a0 He turned toward the Englishman and said, \u201cMistah Ben, Mistah Adam, this Mister Jude Randolph.\u00a0 Man come from all way from England to see honored father.\u201d<\/p>\n

His father frowned.\u00a0 \u2018Jude Randolph?\u2019 he mouthed.\u00a0 \u201cJude….\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright paled.<\/p>\n

Jude Randolph.<\/p>\n

The name sounded a bell.<\/p>\n

Its sonorous tone resonated over an ocean of water and more than two decades of his life, bringing with it a second peal that called another name to mind.\u00a0 The name of a man whom he had shamed.\u00a0 A man he had, in fact, destroyed.<\/p>\n

Wade Bosh.<\/p>\n

\u201cGood Lord,\u201d Ben whispered.<\/p>\n

He only hoped that name was not a death knell for his youngest son as well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FOUR<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam!\u00a0 Adam, answer me!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe Cartwright stood in the doorway of the stable, yelling his brother\u2019s name.\u00a0 Its interior was darker than usual.\u00a0 The only light penetrating the wooden walls came in thin shafts that fell through the liberty dollar size knotholes that had popped out of the ceiling.\u00a0 Outside the moon was high and the night was cold and he was frightened.\u00a0 No, he was terrified.<\/em><\/p>\n

And he didn\u2019t know why.<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe looked at the threshold.\u00a0 It was like, well, as if when he stepped over it there would be no going back.\u00a0 He knew his terror was unfounded. It was just the stable like it had always been the stable.\u00a0 He could hear the horses shifting in their stalls, talking to one another with nickers and whinnies.\u00a0 He ever heard the stable cat, the one Pa allowed to keep house there so long as she chased out all the mice.\u00a0 She was mewing and her kittens were mewing back.\u00a0 They were near grown now, but they kept close to home.\u00a0 Just like he kept close to home.<\/em><\/p>\n

Close to the ranch house.\u00a0 Close to the barn.<\/em><\/p>\n

Close to this stable. <\/em><\/p>\n

Drawing a breath, Joe stepped in.<\/em><\/p>\n

He let it out when nothing happened. <\/em><\/p>\n

Then he laughed.\u00a0 He could hear Hoss, snortin\u2019 loud as the horses, falling down in the hay and laughin\u2019 so hard his sides near split at the thought of him being afraid of a place he\u2019d known all his life.\u00a0 Older brother Adam would stand there, arms crossed, shaking his head and tellin\u2019 him he was letting his heart rule his head. <\/em><\/p>\n

Adam.\u00a0 Something about Adam.<\/em><\/p>\n

Was he afraid of Adam?<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe blew out a breath and nickered like a pony.\u00a0 Him.\u00a0 Afraid of that blue-blooded, cool, unconcerned, Yankee.\u00a0 Adam might be nearly twice his size and twice as old, but he wasn\u2019t scared of him, not even when older brother was havin\u2019 one of his fits.\u00a0 He\u2019d had a right good one that morning, shouting at him and tellin\u2019 him he hadn\u2019t done his work.\u00a0 Adam didn\u2019t know that Pa\u2019d asked him to help with one of the horses and told him to let the stable chores go until after supper.\u00a0 And, of course, Adam didn\u2019t give him a chance to tell him either. Older brother had shouted and he\u2019d shouted back and in the end he\u2019d stomped off to do his chores even though Pa had told him to come in and eat beforehand.\u00a0 Now Pa was probably mad at him! <\/em><\/p>\n

He just couldn\u2019t win.<\/em><\/p>\n

Halting inside the door, Joe called again.\u00a0 \u201cAdam!\u00a0 If you\u2019re in here, show yourself!\u00a0 Adam!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

A sound answered him.\u00a0 Not a word or a name, but a sound.\u00a0 A sound he\u2019d heard before \u2013 just after Pa had shot one of their lame horses.<\/em><\/p>\n

The sound of something dying.<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe swallowed over the lump of fear in his throat and moved forward, calling again.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cAdam?\u00a0 Adam, are you \u2013\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

A shaft of moonlight pierced the night in the stable, illuminating a figure on the floor.\u00a0 Behind it was a thick foot wide trail of something black.\u00a0 It took a second for him to recognize it as blood. <\/em><\/p>\n

A lot of blood.<\/em><\/p>\n

Falling to his knees, Joe reached out and touched his brother\u2019s back. \u00a0Adam was growing cold.\u00a0 Terrified, he picked him up and slipped in underneath him.\u00a0 As he cradled his older brother in his arms, Joe felt his trousers grow wet as even more blood soaked through the cloth to soak his skin. \u00a0Adam opened his lips and a moan came out.\u00a0 Then he opened those hazel eyes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLittle Joe?\u201d he asked.<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe took the hand that fumbled in the light.\u00a0 Catching Adam\u2019s fingers, he squeezed them.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, Adam.\u00a0 It\u2019s Joe.\u00a0 I\u2019m here for you, brother.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Adam seemed confused.\u00a0 \u201cWhy….\u00a0 Why…Joe?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe swallowed over bile even as his tears fell.\u00a0 His brother wasn\u2019t going to make it.\u00a0 He could tell by the look in his eyes.<\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019d seen death\u2019s knock before.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy what, brother?\u201d he asked, his voice quivering.<\/em><\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s blood-streaked fingers touched his face even as his brother\u2019s soul fought hard to be free.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy did you kill me?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Little Joe Cartwright woke with a start, breathing hard.\u00a0 Even as he did, the sickness he had known before slammed into him and he realized he\u2019d been dreaming.\u00a0 Adam wasn\u2019t dead.\u00a0 At least, so far as he knew.<\/p>\n

He<\/em> could be though.<\/p>\n

There was no way of knowing.<\/p>\n

At the thought of his brother\u2019s long form lying still on the stable floor, his stomach turned over.\u00a0 Joe tried to wrap a hand around it to hold in the sickness but found he couldn\u2019t, so instead he writhed on the hard ground, drawing his bound hands and knees together and curling up in a ball. Hot waves rolled over him, drawing the sickness up and out until there was nothing left and all that spewed out of his dry lips was a bitterness that tasted like death.<\/p>\n

Just when he felt he couldn\u2019t take it any longer, someone took hold of his hair and forced his head back and dribbled liquid into his mouth that tasted of ginger and lemon.\u00a0 The cool liquid ran down his chin and onto his chest, soaking his shirt and setting him to shivering.<\/p>\n

A moment later a rough voice demanded, \u201cOpen your eyes, boy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe didn\u2019t want to. If he did, he knew it would make everything real.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to face the fact that he wasn\u2019t at home in his bed having one of his nightmares.\u00a0 Home, where Pa would come in to wake him and sit with him until he went back to sleep.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to accept that he was somewhere else.\u00a0 Somewhere no one knew about.\u00a0 Somewhere no one could find him.<\/p>\n

That this nightmare was real.<\/p>\n

An abrupt slap to the face confirmed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you to open your eyes, boy!\u00a0 Look at me when I\u2019m talkin\u2019 to you!\u201d the man commanded as he shook him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve got men watchin\u2019 that fancy house of yours.\u00a0 You want me to tell them to make it real hot for your Pa and brothers?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe groaned and did as he was told.\u00a0 He forced his eyes to open on the terror that had become his life.\u00a0 Wade Bosh knelt beside him, leaning in, one hand clutching a handful of his curls and the other holding the canteen mere inches from his lips.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake another drink.\u201d<\/p>\n

As much as he could, he shook his head \u2013 and got another slap for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018drink!\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe opened his lips and let the sour liquid dribble in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t havin\u2019 you die on me, you young scallywag!\u201d\u00a0 Bosh rose to his feet and then ordered, \u201cSit up!\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe felt weaker than he could ever remember feeling.\u00a0 It was all he could do to comply, and even then it was only a half-effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got yourself a case of Cape Horn fever, I suppose.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 wrong with you!\u201d Bosh snarled as he shoved him with the toe of his boot.\u00a0 The massive man stood looking down at him a moment before he spoke again.\u00a0 \u201cI shouldn\u2019t be surprised, I \u2018spose, that Cartwright whelped nothin\u2019 better than a runt on that New Orleans strumpet of his.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe set his jaw and forced himself to sit up.\u00a0 His nostrils flared and his chin jutted out as he shouted, \u201cDon\u2019t you say anything about my mother or \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

Bosh snorted.\u00a0 \u201cOr what?\u00a0 You\u2019ll hit me with a broadside?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou untie me and you\u2019ll see!\u201d Joe shouted as he strained against the ropes binding him.<\/p>\n

Before Joe had time to draw a breath, he felt his neck snap as Bosh drove his head back.\u00a0 A second later rough fingers cupped his chin.\u00a0 \u201cSo there\u2019s some fire in you after all, Joe Cartwright.\u00a0 Good!\u00a0 You\u2019re gonna need it where we\u2019re goin\u2019, boy.\u201d\u00a0 Bosh released his grip, rose, and walked toward the fire he\u2019d kindled in the mouth of the shallow cave they were holed up in.\u00a0 \u201cThe sailin\u2019 life ain\u2019t an easy one.\u00a0 The sea would as like suck you down as hold you up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe grew still.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you mean, the \u2018sailing\u2019 life?\u201d he asked, his voice hushed with fear.<\/p>\n

Bosh had begun to kick dirt into the fire, as if in preparation for moving.\u00a0 \u201cNow just what do you think an old seaman like me would be wantin\u2019 with the likes of a nipper like you?\u00a0 Think you\u2019ll make a fit cabin boy?\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew this had something to do with his father and with making him pay for some supposed sin.\u00a0 It was all so <\/em>unfair.\u00a0 \u201cYou won\u2019t get to make anything out of me!\u201d he countered.\u00a0 \u201cMy Pa will find me and he\u2019ll kill you when he does!\u201d<\/p>\n

The massive man stared at him and then bellowed out his amusement.\u00a0 \u201cSuperior, nose in the air, self-righteous Benjamin Cartwright take a life?\u00a0 Shows what you know, boy.\u00a0 He\u2019d as soon let you die as break that high and mighty moral code of his.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know nothin\u2019 about my Pa!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bosh was back faster than a rattlesnake.\u00a0 Joe found himself trapped between the wall and the man\u2019s powerful fingers as they closed on his throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know everythin\u2019<\/em> about that pompous high-handed prig,\u201d he hissed.\u00a0 \u201cEverythin\u2019, you hear!\u201d\u00a0 Joe tried to avoid looking into the man\u2019s eyes, but it was impossible.\u00a0 Bosh\u2019s face was mere inches from his own.\u00a0 \u201cI can see him in my mind\u2019s eye, standin\u2019 there, denyin\u2019 me what was mine.\u201d\u00a0 His kidnapper stopped suddenly.\u00a0 A strange light entered his eyes as he reached out to stroke his hair.\u00a0 His voice softer, almost cloying, he said, \u201cI\u2019ll take care of you, boy.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you worry.\u00a0 You\u2019ll have a better life with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe bit his tongue.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t in his nature to stay silent, but he did this time.<\/p>\n

It seemed wise in the face of Wade Bosh\u2019s madness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright fell into the large red leather chair by the fire.\u00a0 He sat with his hands linked between his legs, staring at the man seated on his late wife\u2019s elegant settee \u2013 a man he had never seen before, but a boy that he knew well.<\/p>\n

In the last twenty years he had married three times and buried three wives, fathered three sons and built an empire.\u00a0 The life he had lived as a seaman when a young man seemed now to be a waking dream \u2013 a dream, he feared, that had just become an unexpected nightmare for him and his sons.<\/p>\n

They had moved into the area of the great room and sat before the fire.\u00a0 Adam occupied the blue chair, he, the red, and Jude sat on the settee.\u00a0 Hop Sing came and went from the kitchen, setting the table, dusting and moving a vase from here to there.\u00a0 The noticeable lack of progress at any of these tasks suggested the man from China simply needed to be close.<\/p>\n

Ben sat up and leaned back. The last time he had seen Jude Randolph, he\u2019d been a boy about Joe\u2019s age.\u00a0 As Jude had no idea of the year he had been born, he would have guessed him to be between eleven and thirteen at the time.\u00a0 Jude had started life on a plantation in the south.\u00a0 The place had an excess of slaves and their heartless master ended up selling off a group of the younger ones with no regard for the fact that he was destroying families.\u00a0 Some went to other plantations, but a small portion were purchased by a New Englander who was recruiting men as sailors.\u00a0 They were freed \u2013 so to speak \u2013 and transported to Massachusetts to man sailing vessels, among them the merchant ship Independence<\/em>.\u00a0 It was a privately owned ship bound for London and captained by a long-time friend of Abel Stoddard.\u00a0 Ishmael Peak was a hard but fair man.\u00a0 He\u2019d been left short-handed due to an epidemic that had wiped out one third of his crew, including his first mate.\u00a0 As his cargo was perishable and he was in haste, he was persuaded to hire a half-dozen of the ex-slaves to man his ship.\u00a0 They were, unfortunately, treated as something less than human by all involved and promised a mere pittance of a wage.\u00a0 The black men also lived under the threat that \u2013 should they disobey or cause trouble \u2013 upon their return to the states they would be sold back into slavery.\u00a0 In other words, they were still in chains.\u00a0 As was to be expected, they were given all of the more heinous tasks of the ship to perform.\u00a0 Among the former slaves were two younger boys \u2013 Jude and his elder brother, Samuel.<\/p>\n

The older man shifted uncomfortably.\u00a0 It was mostly due to this arrangement that he\u2019d hesitated when Abel Stoddard asked him to undertake the three month journey to England with Peak.\u00a0 Something about the whole thing just felt wrong.\u00a0 But he owed Abel more than he could ever hope to pay and so he\u2019d agreed and signed on as first mate.\u00a0 The Independence<\/em> had come out of South Carolina and had a mostly southern crew.\u00a0 It hadn\u2019t taken long for him to become disliked as he openly expressed his opinions concerning the treatment of the black men and human trafficking in general.\u00a0 Late one night, as they neared England, he came upon a group of seamen whipping Samuel Randolph, whom they had tied to the mast.\u00a0 When he\u2019d demanded to know what the young man had done to deserve such harsh treatment, he\u2019d been told in stops and starts that Samuel had dropped a tray of food while bringing it to a white lieutenant, who had then ordered the whipping.\u00a0 Infuriated he\u2019d ordered Samuel, who could have been no more than seventeen at the time, untied and sent him to the sick bay.\u00a0 He demoted the lieutenant and punished the ones who had accosted the boy by assigning them all of the heinous tasks the young black man had been forced to perform.\u00a0 Captain Peak had backed him up, but he\u2019d not been happy about it.\u00a0 Ishmael was a man of the South as well and to him, as to most of the seamen on the ship, the black men who sailed with them were little more than cattle.<\/p>\n

Later when he\u2019d gone to see how Samuel was fairing, he\u2019d found him lying on a cot in the sickbay with another younger boy seated beside him.\u00a0 He knew the child as he was one of several who served the captain\u2019s cabin, though they\u2019d had little if any interaction.\u00a0 The boy was pressing a wet cloth to his brother\u2019s forehead as Samuel tossed and turned with a rising fever.\u00a0 The doctor gave him an absent nod and left the room as he dropped into the empty chair on the other side of the low cot and began to study Jude Elijah Randolph.<\/p>\n

The first thing Ben noticed was that the boy and his brother were of mixed parentage.\u00a0 In time he found out that Jude\u2019s maternal grandmother had been black and his grandfather, a mix of Spanish or Caribbean and white.\u00a0 Both parents were of mixed heritage as well so that the boy, while he had some obviously African features, was light-skinned and light-eyed.\u00a0 Jude\u2019s hair was a dark brown bordering on black that turned to spun gold when the sun caught the edges of his myriad curls.\u00a0 He was a sensitive child, far too sensitive for a life at sea.\u00a0 Jude was also, to put it bluntly, beautiful \u2013 a fact some of the more salacious of the seamen did not miss.<\/p>\n

Samuel died the following day.<\/p>\n

From that time on Ben had made it his business to keep an eye on the boy.\u00a0 He and Jude became casual friends, spending a moment together when they found the time, playing chess or checkers.\u00a0 Jude had a quick mind and a pleasant temper and he had thoroughly enjoyed the time they spent together.\u00a0 Then, one day, Jude disappeared.<\/p>\n

On a ship, in the middle of the ocean, he disappeared.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d canvassed the ship, speaking to everyone.\u00a0 Finally, he found a man who said he\u2019d seen the boy standing near the rail the night he disappeared.\u00a0 When the seaman asked Jude what was wrong, he said the boy told him that he missed his brother and wanted to be with him.\u00a0 It was this man\u2019s opinion that the boy had jumped overboard.<\/p>\n

He knew the man.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t like him.<\/p>\n

It was Second Mate Wade Bosh.<\/p>\n

Ben ran a hand along his chin and sighed.<\/p>\n

How <\/em>could he have forgotten?<\/p>\n

\u201cMister Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n

He looked up to find Jude watching him with concern.\u00a0 \u201cCall me Ben, please, Jude.\u00a0 It\u2019s been a long time, but there is no need to stand on formality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former cabin boy smiled.\u00a0 \u201cIt is good to see you.\u00a0 I only wish it were under more agreeable circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded.\u00a0 He\u2019d had a chance to chat briefly with Hop Sing and understood that Jude had come to Eagle Station specifically looking for him.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d come to warn him about Wade Bosh.<\/p>\n

Too late.<\/p>\n

Too late for Joseph.<\/p>\n

Ben shook himself and forced a smile.\u00a0 \u201cYou seem to have done well over the years.\u00a0 When I left you, you were little more than a boy.\u00a0 I had hoped the money I left with you would have been enough for you to secure lodging and find a job to pay for room and board.\u00a0 But this?\u201d\u00a0 He indicated the man\u2019s elegant attire and obvious wealth.<\/p>\n

Jude laughed.\u00a0 \u201cHardly what you would expect, is it?\u00a0 If you remember, Ben, after you rescued me from my captivity on the Independence<\/em> and set me on English soil where I was free, you gave me a letter of recommendation to take to your relatives in Derby.\u201d\u00a0 The Englishman paused.\u00a0 \u201cI never made it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you were dead,\u201d Ben replied.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I contacted Mark, he said you\u2019d never arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShortly after you departed, I was waylaid and the money you\u2019d given me was stolen.\u00a0 I was struck on the head and lay bleeding in an alley, sure I was going to die.\u201d\u00a0 Jude noted his horrified look.\u00a0 \u201cDo not despair, old friend.\u00a0 If I had died, it would have been as a free man.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat did you do?\u201d Adam asked.\u00a0 His older son was tired and hadn\u2019t said much so far, but as always his son\u2019s keen mind was at work.<\/p>\n

\u201cA local storekeeper found me in that alley.\u00a0 He took me in and nursed me back to health.\u00a0 In time, he adopted me and I was reared as one of his own.\u00a0 When he prospered, becoming one of the wealthiest merchants in London, I prospered with him.\u00a0 Father died several years back and his estate was apportioned between his two natural children and myself.\u00a0 John assumed the presidency of the mercantile business, handling both his portion and Joanna\u2019s.\u00a0 I was left control of the timber operations, mills, and forestland.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich is why you came to this country?\u201d Ben asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn part.\u201d\u00a0 Jude shifted in his seat as if ill at ease.\u00a0 \u201cAs you know, there was another darker reason as well.\u00a0 My brother John came to me one day to tell me that a former shipmate had come into one of our stores looking for me.\u00a0 He told me it was the ship\u2019s first mate and so I erroneously assumed it was you.\u00a0 I looked forward to the meeting. When I arrived at the rendezvous, you can imagine my surprise and horror when it turned out to be the Independence\u2019s second<\/em> mate.\u00a0 Bosh had found out I was alive and prosperous.\u00a0 He made an attempt to blackmail me based upon the time I spent alone with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben had always wondered what horrors Jude had been subjected to while being held captive by Bosh.\u00a0 At the time he\u2019d freed him, the boy he\u2019d been had remained silent.\u00a0 Ben\u2019s gaze went to Adam.\u00a0 His son was sitting up, his attention riveted on the former cabin boy.\u00a0 He hoped Jude would be discreet, at least until they could talk alone.\u00a0 If Adam knew what he suspected, there would be no way under the sun he could keep him from joining the hunt for his brother.<\/p>\n

He prayed to God his suspicions were wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cI suspect his attempt to blackmail you was unsuccessful?\u201d Ben asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far as blackmailing me, yes.\u201d\u00a0 Jude\u2019s hesitated, his gaze flying to Adam and then back to him. \u201cWhen I refused to play his game, Wade Bosh became a madman.\u00a0 He attacked me and came close to killing me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cKilling you?\u201d Adam echoed, his tone hollow.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, Ben couldn\u2019t breathe.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The interior of the ship Independence was black as pitch this deep within her.\u00a0 He\u2019d searched the vessel over for a week without finding a sign of the missing boy.\u00a0 The captain had warned him that very day that if he didn\u2019t cease and desist, he was facing disciplinary action.\u00a0 Sad as it was, the boy had gone overboard, Captain Peak told him, just as Second Mate Bosh had said.\u00a0 Bosh stood behind the Captain, glaring; a sickening smirk plastered on his beefy face that proclaimed he had gotten away with it.\u00a0 Whatever he had done with Jude Randolph \u2013 or planned to do \u2013 there would be no justice for the child.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ben had made a vow there and then that such would not be the case. <\/em><\/p>\n

With the same prayer on his lips that he had whispered and shouted for the last two weeks \u2013 that God would lead him to the boy \u2013 First Mate Ben Cartwright caught a lantern in his hand and lit it before descending the after stair, and then took the stair below that to the bottommost part of the ship.\u00a0 They\u2019d harbored that night and in the morning the off-loading of the cargo would begin.\u00a0 If Bosh concealed the boy in one of the crates, there would be no saving him.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

He had to find him tonight.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Soon, Ben found himself in the fore of the ship.\u00a0 He continued on, moving until he was below the orlop and in the hold.\u00a0 There was a small pocket of space there he had not yet been able to check.\u00a0 It lay beyond the step of the foremast, separated from the sea by only the keel and dead rising.\u00a0 It was too small for a man, but then Jude was far from a man.\u00a0 He was a boy.\u00a0 A boy who had been terribly and horribly misused. \u00a0He\u2019d chosen this moment to check the hidden pocket as Wade Bosh was otherwise occupied.\u00a0 He had, perhaps, an hour before the man would be free of his duties.\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

It was there he found Jude \u2013 dirty, emaciated, barely able to speak, but alive.<\/em><\/p>\n

The boy was alive!<\/em><\/p>\n

Ben had brought an extra coat with him to wrap around the child should he find him.\u00a0 He pulled the boy\u2019s wasted limbs into it and fastened the buttons.\u00a0 Bright feverish eyes looked up at him.\u00a0 Jude\u2019s lips parted and a small strangled sound issued from them.\u00a0 With tears falling, he\u2019d picked him up and borne him through the ship, emerging onto the deck in a secluded area and proceeding directly to the captain\u2019s cabin.<\/em><\/p>\n

When they went to look for Wade Bosh, the man had disappeared.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

Ben stirred at the touch of a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 He looked up to see Adam \u2013 pale, weak Adam \u2013 standing at his side.\u00a0 The rancher rose immediately and, in spite of his son\u2019s protests, gave him his seat.\u00a0 Remaining close by, he turned again to Jude.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you think Joseph\u2019s life is in danger?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Jude thought long and hard before answering.\u00a0 \u201cI do not think Wade would mean<\/em> to hurt the boy, even though his hatred of you, Ben, is great.\u00a0 I visited Bosh in jail, before he was sent to Newgate prison for two years for assault, and it was all he could talk about.\u00a0 His release is what compelled me to seek you out.\u00a0 Bosh was…possessed by the thought of you and how you had robbed him of his \u2018son\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 The former slave sighed.\u00a0 \u201cThat \u2018son\u2019 being me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what Bosh said, Pa, before he shot me,\u201d Adam interjected.\u00a0 \u201cHe said, \u2018You tell him I\u2019m taking my due.\u00a0 I\u2019m just taking what he owes me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The fear he felt for his young son had multiplied as the Englishman recounted his tale.\u00a0 While Wade Bosh might not intend to harm his son \u2013 only to possess him \u2013 he knew Bosh well enough to know Joseph\u2019s treatment would be harsh even if he was compliant.<\/p>\n

Jude had fallen silent.\u00a0 The Englishman\u2019s gaze went to Adam.\u00a0 At last, he asked, \u201cHow old is your son, Ben?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m twenty-four, why?\u201d Adam answered.<\/p>\n

Jude nodded. \u201cOld enough.\u00a0 During the trial I was forced to recount the days I spent as Bosh\u2019s prisoner.\u00a0 In deference to my adopted father\u2019s memory and his status in the city, the testimony was taken in the judge\u2019s chambers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy?\u201d his son asked innocently.<\/p>\n

Ben knew why.\u00a0 Pederasty was a crime in England, punishable by death, for both the perpetrator and the victim of his crime.\u00a0 Nevermind the unwilling victim of a such a predator was innocent.<\/p>\n

Before he could say anything, Jude held up a hand.\u00a0 \u201cIt is hard to describe Wade Bosh\u2019s treatment of me, but it was not what you are thinking, Ben.\u00a0 My brother was concerned what I said would be misconstrued by the general populace and blown out of proportion by the newspapers.\u00a0 Bosh never touched me.\u00a0 Not in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben saw Adam\u2019s face fall.\u00a0 Apparently such a thing had not entered his young mind.<\/p>\n

The weight that lifted from Ben\u2019s shoulders was palpable.\u00a0 The result was weak knees.\u00a0 As he sank to the hearth stones, he repeated, \u201cNot in that<\/em> way? \u00a0But in others?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude nodded.\u00a0 \u201cBosh seemed, unhinged, even then.\u00a0 One moment he would be gentle as a father, cooing over me.\u00a0 The next he would turn like a rabid dog and strike me so hard my teeth rattled.\u00a0 He would not brook defiance and I learned quickly enough to keep my thoughts to myself.\u00a0 If Joseph is a docile boy….\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben and his son exchanged glances.<\/p>\n

Jude read them. \u201cAh.\u00a0 He takes after his father then?\u00a0 I was afraid of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

His son turned toward him with a puzzled look.<\/p>\n

The gray-haired man fought an inappropriate smile.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph gets his fire from both the fore and aft, from his mother and<\/em> me, I\u2019m afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA fitting mate then,\u201d Jude said.\u00a0 He glanced around. \u201cIs your wife here?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMarie died when Joseph was barely five,\u201d he replied, the pain of the loss still evident in his voice.\u00a0 \u201cThat loss has fueled the boy\u2019s anger.\u00a0 Joseph is, unfortunately, anything but<\/em> compliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude rose to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cThen it is all the more important that we find the boy and soon.\u00a0 I would not have your son hurt on account of me.\u00a0 Do you know which direction Bosh took?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben rose as well.\u00a0 He kept Adam seated by applying a hand to his shoulder.<\/p>\n

Adam balked. \u201cPa, you can\u2019t expect me to stay here when Joe is \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I can,\u201d he said firmly. \u201cFirst of all, if you go with us my attention will be focused on you.\u00a0 Is that what you want?\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy paled.\u00a0 \u201cNo, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd secondly,\u201d Ben said, softening his tone, \u201csomeone needs to be here. What if Roy and Hoss return?\u00a0 Or someone comes with information?\u00a0 What if Joseph, God willing, makes his way back on his own?\u201d\u00a0 He paused to let that sink in.\u00a0 \u201cI need someone I can trust to handle that if it happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam seemed to mull it over.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about Hop Sing?\u201d he tried.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch as I love Hop Sing, he\u2019s not up to this task.\u00a0 You<\/em> are.\u201d<\/p>\n

His son\u2019s hazel eyes pinned him.\u00a0 \u201cIf Doctor Martin says I can ride, Pa, I can\u2019t guarantee I won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben gazed with love at him. \u201cWell, I suppose you are<\/em> too big to take a switch to if you disobey my orders.\u201d\u00a0 Turning away from his beloved oldest boy, he faced Jude again.\u00a0 \u201cDo you have a horse?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman shook his head. \u201cI came with Hop Sing in the wagon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing had finished his work and waited at the table.\u00a0 The dishes were set and the food was ready.\u00a0 Even though his stomach rebelled at the thought, Ben knew he had to eat \u2013 he had <\/em>to keep his strength up for the fight ahead.<\/p>\n

Ben turned to Adam.\u00a0 He felt it was too soon.\u00a0 Still, giving the boy something to do might help quench his feelings of guilt.\u00a0 \u201cSon, will you go out to the stable and select a mount for Jude?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s eyes reflected his gratitude.\u00a0 \u201cSure thing, Pa,\u201d he said as he slowly rose.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupper ready,\u201d Hop Sing announced.\u00a0 Ben wondered if the man from China had heard what he said earlier.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t worry if he had.\u00a0 Hop Sing would know why<\/em> he\u2019d said it.<\/p>\n

As the door closed behind Adam, Ben turned back to the man who had been the boy he had saved.\u00a0 \u201cTell me the truth, Jude.\u00a0 How desperate is Joseph\u2019s situation?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude reached out and took his shoulder in his hand and squeezed it. There were unspent tears in his light eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no time to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joe lay on the ground shivering.\u00a0 It was dark and it was cold and he ached from his head to his toe.\u00a0 He figured he\u2019d been bound for nearly two days now.\u00a0 Three or four times his captor had loosed his bonds.\u00a0 That was to let him go about his business.\u00a0 It had been hard to do since the man stayed right by his side while he was doin\u2019 it, sometimes with a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 At first he\u2019d found it embarrassing, then kind of humiliating, and then the lack of privacy had just made him mad.\u00a0 The third time it happened, he\u2019d yelled at the man and told him to leave him alone.\u00a0 Wade Bosh was a big man and he put a lot of weight behind a punch.\u00a0 He\u2019d backhanded him for bein\u2019 mouthy and sent him reeling into a tree.\u00a0 He\u2019d struck head first and gone out for a minute or two. When he woke up his pants were buttoned and he was tied up even tighter than before.<\/p>\n

He was gonna kill him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know how or when, but someday<\/em> he was gonna kill Wade Bosh.<\/p>\n

That was a promise he\u2019d made himself.<\/p>\n

It was dusk and they\u2019d come to the edge of the lake.\u00a0 For the last few miles they\u2019d traveled by horse with him slung over the saddle, but most of the journey had been made on foot. He figured it was because Bosh wanted to stay off\u00a0 the main roads and thought it would be less likely anyone would spot them traveling through the wilds.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s exposed skin was cut and sore and his feet felt like they\u2019d been beaten with Hop Sing\u2019s meat pounder.\u00a0 Every step he took was a little bit of agony.\u00a0 Bosh had fed him once or twice a day, beans mostly, and mostly cold.\u00a0 He was hungry and<\/em> thirsty.\u00a0 Joe knew, of course, that his kidnapper was doing everything he had to in order to keep him alive, but only just what he had<\/em> to.\u00a0 He wanted him weak.<\/p>\n

Too weak to try to escape.<\/p>\n

It hadn\u2019t taken him very long to realize that the big man didn\u2019t like anyone challenging his authority.\u00a0 That smack he\u2019d taken while peeing was the last time he\u2019d tried it.\u00a0 He decided that, if he pretended to be puny and scared, he\u2019d take the man off guard when he did<\/em> try to run.\u00a0 And he was<\/em> going to run the first chance he had.\u00a0 The first time Bosh untied him, somehow \u2013 he didn\u2019t know how<\/em> \u2013 he was going to overcome him and run like a jackrabbit.<\/p>\n

Joe looked up at the giant form looming above him, half-again big as Hoss and swallowed hard.<\/p>\n

Yeah.\u00a0 Right.<\/p>\n

Bosh reached down and shook him.\u00a0 \u201cYou awake, boy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sometimes he thought if Wade Bosh called him \u2018boy\u2019 one more time, he was gonna scream.\u00a0 Joe bit his lip.\u00a0 Let him think he\u2019d hit him so hard he was barely conscious.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t far from the truth.<\/p>\n

The big man hovered.\u00a0 \u201cLad?\u201d\u00a0 The toe of Bosh\u2019s boot nudged him.\u00a0 \u201cTime to be on our way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The curly-headed youth could hear the waves crashing against the rocks that lined the shore.\u00a0 The wind was up and, from the look of the clouds, a storm was on its way.\u00a0 He\u2019d grown up around Lake Tahoe and he knew how quick one could come up.\u00a0 Bosh must want to get moving before it did.<\/p>\n

But did he?<\/em><\/p>\n

He knew his pa and Hoss would be coming after him.\u00a0 Probably the sheriff and Deputy Roy as well.\u00a0 Maybe all the hands on the ranch.\u00a0 Or at least he thought they would.\u00a0 Pa wouldn\u2019t wait to follow unless….\u00a0 Joe swallowed over his fear.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know about Adam.\u00a0 He\u2019d been barely conscious when Wade Bosh carried him out of the barn, but he\u2019d been awake enough to see what happened.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard that shot and watched Adam fall; had seen the trail of blood running away from his brother\u2019s silent form.<\/p>\n

Adam could be dead.<\/p>\n

If he was, his pa couldn\u2019t<\/em> come.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the cold or the danger or the pain of the bruises on his face or the cuts on his hands that made Joe moan.<\/p>\n

It was the thought that he might be alone.<\/p>\n

Really <\/em>alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought you were gullin\u2019 me,\u201d Bosh huffed as he knelt and checked the ropes binding his hands.\u00a0 A second later the big man used a grip on them to force him to his feet.\u00a0 As Joe swayed, Bosh lifted him over his shoulder and began to carry him toward the lake.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are we going?\u201d Joe demanded, figuring Bosh couldn\u2019t hit him since he had his hands full of him.<\/p>\n

His captor snorted.\u00a0 \u201cYou and me, boy, we got us a boat to catch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s eyes went wide.\u00a0 He began to struggle.\u00a0 If Bosh got him on a boat and took him across Lake Tahoe, his pa or anyone else looking for him would lose the trail.\u00a0 There was no more time.\u00a0 He had to get away.\u00a0 He had to \u2013<\/p>\n

Bosh caught his chin in his hands and forced him to look into his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI got me a man waitin\u2019 on the other side for us.\u00a0 We don\u2019t show by daybreak, he\u2019s got orders to ride hard and fast to that fancy house of yours and leave no one alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe stilled immediately.\u00a0 He knew kidnapper\u2019s threats were usually false, like the one Bosh had made about having men surrounding the house.\u00a0 Pa had warned them there would be men who would try to use them against him.\u00a0 He\u2019d taught them that outlaws almost always used empty threats to control a man; threats against his family and such.\u00a0 Still, there was no way of knowing.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t all that far from the house yet.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t even take a day to ride to his mama\u2019s grave and they weren\u2019t far from that.<\/p>\n

Bosh could <\/em>be telling the truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, what will it be, boy?\u201d the big man demanded.<\/p>\n

Joe glared his answer and kept still as his captor bore him to the edge of the lake and laid him in the bottom of a medium-sized rowboat.\u00a0 As Bosh pushed off from the shore, a steady rain began to fall, adding to the discomfort he already felt.\u00a0 Joe lay with his head propped against one of the seats.\u00a0 His eyes remained fixed on the shore as it began to recede \u2013 the land he loved and the life he had fading away and disappearing into the rising mist.\u00a0 He fought the tears that threatened to fall, not wanting to appear weak.\u00a0 All too soon he lost the battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gone, son,\u201d Bosh said in a soothing tone as his strong arms propelled the craft out and into deeper waters.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no one but me now.\u00a0 No other way to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe struggled to keep his lip from trembling as he eyed the water flowing by the boat.\u00a0 If that was the truth, then he\u2019d just rear up and throw himself into the lake.\u00a0 It was warm on top, but he knew how cold it was just below the surface.<\/p>\n

It wouldn\u2019t take long to die.<\/p>\n

But he wouldn\u2019t<\/em> die.\u00a0 Not because he was afraid, but because he wouldn\u2019t do that to his pa.\u00a0 Pa\u2019d lost enough.\u00a0 No, somehow he would survive, and somehow he would return.<\/p>\n

No matter how long it took.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FIVE<\/p>\n

The morning sun rose above Lake Tahoe.\u00a0 The mid-autumn night had been cold but the day was hot and, as he\u2019d feared, heralded a storm.\u00a0 Lightning flashed in the distance as the sound of thunder echoed across the roiling waves.\u00a0 Their small party was clear of it for now, other than a spit here and there, but it raged on the southwest side of the large body of water.<\/p>\n

A body of water he feared his son traveled upon.<\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright ran a hand across his forehead to wipe away beads of sweat brought on by the high level of humidity.\u00a0 They\u2019d been dressed for fall and, with the storm, the weather had taken a sudden turn toward the summer just gone.\u00a0 Hoss had shed his heavy coat.\u00a0 It was bound and tied to the saddleback of the boy\u2019s barrel-chested morgan percheron.\u00a0 His son was on the ground, moving slowly inch by inch, seeking and reading tracks.\u00a0 Roy Coffee stood next to Hoss, his piercing gaze fixed on the endless miles of restless deep blue water before them.<\/p>\n

He and Jude had left the ranch house and ridden hard, pausing only briefly in the darkest of night to catch a few hours sleep.\u00a0 Hoss and Roy\u2019s tracks had been easy to follow since they were making no attempt to mask them.\u00a0 The four of them had joined forces near dawn.\u00a0 With each mile that passed Wade Bosh\u2019s intentions grew ever clearer and Ben knew a growing fear.\u00a0 The rancher\u2019s gaze returned to the body of water that stretched endlessly before him, noting the morning mist that partially obscured it.\u00a0 Bosh was headed for the lake.\u00a0 On top of that, he was an experienced seaman.<\/p>\n

What if he meant to take Joseph over the lake instead of around it?<\/p>\n

Though it was the last thing he wanted to do as he worried it would confirm his worst fears, Ben crossed to Hoss\u2019 side.\u00a0 Jude followed, but passed the boy by and went to talk in low tones to Roy Coffee.\u00a0 His teenage son was kneeling, his fingers tracing something in the mud.<\/p>\n

Ben hesitated and then placed a hand on his shoulder.<\/p>\n

Hoss looked up with tears in his eyes; his reddish-blond hair blowing in the rising breeze.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s gone, Pa,\u201d he said, his usually boisterous voice quiet; without strength.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben kept his eyes on the ground, refusing to look at the choppy waves.\u00a0 \u201cHow do you know, son?\u201d<\/p>\n

The big teen pointed to the ground.\u00a0 \u201cSee there, Pa, that\u2019s gotta be Bosh.\u00a0 He\u2019s a big man, Pa.\u00a0 Real<\/em> big.\u201d<\/p>\n

He saw the prints.\u00a0 There were rumors, told by those who lived in these parts, of a giant creature known as Sasquatch.\u00a0 It was said to be seven feet tall and weigh many hundreds of pounds.\u00a0 The prints looked like they could have been made by such a beast.\u00a0 Ben winced at the thought.\u00a0 His son wasn\u2019t called \u2018Little Joe\u2019 for nothing. The boy had yet to hit a growth spurt.\u00a0 Marie\u2019s boy was slight and slender and not very tall, and though Joseph fought like a tiger and was stronger than he looked, against such a man as Bosh he would be completely….<\/p>\n

Helpless.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis here\u2019s Little Joe\u2019s prints, sir.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss shifted and was pointed to another set of marks in the earth.\u00a0 \u201cI know them boots of his.\u00a0 He\u2019s got a nick in the heel.\u201d\u00a0 His son paused and then looked up at him.\u00a0 \u201cJoe\u2019s tied up, Pa.\u00a0 His feet are bound together.\u201d<\/p>\n

It made sense.\u00a0 If he was a man as big as Bosh, there would be no need to make the boy walk, he would simply carry him.\u00a0 It would give him more control.\u00a0 Ben drew a breath as he lifted his eyes to the lapping waves.\u00a0 The lake was approximately twelve miles across.\u00a0 Within a few miles, any sailing vessel would vanish into the mists of morning.\u00a0 He knew from experience that it took about thirty minutes for an able-bodied seaman rowing to cover a mile in a small boat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow old do you think the tracks are, son?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Hoss rose to his feet.\u00a0 He dusted off the knees of his brown pants and then straightened up and stared at the lake, as if willing the mist to part and reveal his missing brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey was here last night, Pa,\u201d he said, his voice both tired and terrified.\u00a0 \u201cThat Bosh, he\u2019s got him some kind of a lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, he did.\u00a0 While it might be eleven or twelve miles across<\/em> the lake, it was nearly seventy around it.\u00a0 More time they would lose in pursuit.\u00a0 Time they would not be able to make up.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s brows drew in and down as he pursed his lips and considered his next move.\u00a0 It appeared that they were going to have to guess which harbor Bosh would head for once he reached the opposite shore.<\/p>\n

God help them if they were wrong.<\/p>\n

Jude and Roy had moved to join them.\u00a0 \u201cBenjamin,\u201d Jude said, \u201cI cannot tell you how sorry I am to have brought this upon your household.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo apology is necessary.\u00a0 The only thing you did wrong was to be sold like a piece of property and to end up on a vessel with Wade Bosh as second mate.\u00a0 You are hardly responsible for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman frowned.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t help but wonder if it was something I said at the trial that rekindled Bosh\u2019s hatred of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long ago was the trial, son?\u201d Roy Coffee asked.<\/p>\n

He considered it.\u00a0 \u201cMy adopted father died three years ago in December.\u00a0 Wade Bosh appeared the next year.\u00a0 Somewhere around two and a half.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeems to me if it was somethin\u2019 you said, son, he would have been here sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s eyes spoke gratitude to the lawman.\u00a0 Jude was nothing if not Wade Bosh\u2019s victim, just as his youngest son was now the seaman\u2019s victim.<\/p>\n

\u201cJude, tell me again why do you think Wade took Joseph?\u201d he asked with trepidation.\u00a0 The former cabin boy\u2019s assurances before that Bosh would have no perverted interest in his son had done little to quell his fears in that regard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it is as Adam said, Benjamin.\u00a0 Bosh has it in his mind that you took me \u2013 took his son<\/em> \u2013\u00a0 from him all those years ago.\u00a0 Now he has taken your son from you in recompense for the loss he believes he suffered at your hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben glanced at Hoss and decided he couldn\u2019t hide anything from the boy, no matter how much it might frighten him.\u00a0 Joseph\u2019s life depended on them all having knowledge of what Bosh was about.\u00a0 \u201cYou said he was violent \u2013 that Bosh tried to kill you when he reappeared in England.\u201d\u00a0 He saw Hoss stiffen and Roy place a hand on the boy\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cDo you think he will harm Joseph \u2013 physically?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude hesitated.<\/p>\n

Sensing something, Ben asked quickly, \u201cWhat haven\u2019t you told me?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman sighed.\u00a0 \u201cHave you ever heard of syphilis of the brain, Benjamin?\u201d<\/p>\n

Syphilis he knew about.\u00a0 It was a disease common among sailing men, often picked up in the ports from their immoral dalliances with the local women of the night.\u00a0 Many went blind from it.\u00a0 But syphilis of the brain?<\/em><\/p>\n

He shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedical science is only beginning to understand the brain.\u00a0 It seems there are times when this disease does not manifest itself in the way you and I are familiar with, but instead eats away at the brain.\u201d\u00a0 Jude held his gaze. \u201cThe result can be madness.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you saying….\u201d\u00a0 He swallowed over his fear.\u00a0 \u201cJude, are you saying Wade Bosh has<\/em> this form of the disease?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, and in his insanity, I wonder….\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s heart skipped a beat.\u00a0 \u201cBosh may think, or come to think that Joseph is you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss was staring at the two of them.\u00a0 \u201cPa, what does that mean?\u00a0 What does it mean for Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

When Jude was a boy, just about Joseph\u2019s age, Second Mate Bosh had captured him and then spun a yarn to everyone that he was dead.\u00a0 The Independence\u2019s second mate had hidden the boy away and nearly starved him to death in an effort to control him.\u00a0 When he\u2019d freed Jude, it had been obvious the boy had been beaten as well and he was afraid \u2013 so terribly<\/em> afraid.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s mouth was dry.\u00a0 \u201cI need you to tell me, Jude.\u00a0 I need you to tell me everything<\/em> about the time when you were Bosh\u2019s prisoner.\u00a0 If Little Joe\u2019s kidnapper is reliving what he did then, he may try to do the same things now.\u201d\u00a0 The rancher cast another look at the darkening lake.\u00a0 Rain had begun to fall and had passed quickly from light to steady.\u00a0 Ben closed his eyes, picturing the lake\u2019s other shore.\u00a0 The closest landing was John Meek\u2019s bay to the south and west.\u00a0 From there Bosh could go anywhere, Vallejo, San Francisco….<\/p>\n

Anywhere there was a tall ship and a port of call.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam Cartwright rose to his feet.\u00a0 There\u2019d been a knock at the door and Hop Sing wasn\u2019t around to answer it, so he\u2019d worked his way out of the chair and was limping over to see who it was.\u00a0 Their Chinese cook had gone to Eagle Station to fetch supplies.\u00a0 Adam grinned.\u00a0 It had taken just about every mental gymnastic he could manage to get him to go, but he\u2019d won in the end.<\/p>\n

In Hop Sing\u2019s eyes he wasn\u2019t any more capable of taking care of himself than Joe.<\/p>\n

As he ambled over, the black-haired man thought about the first time he\u2019d met Hop sing.\u00a0 It was about the same time Pa came home with Marie.\u00a0 He\u2019d been thirteen then and, since he thought he was all grown up, he and the man from China had gone a few rounds.\u00a0 But, after the first time Hop Sing\u2019s Chinese medicine got him up and out of bed in one week instead of two, he gained a newfound respect.\u00a0 After that their cook had become something of a second \u2018ma\u2019 to him and Hoss.\u00a0 Marie\u2019s attention was often focused on Little Joe, since their youngest brother had come early and needed a lot of tending.\u00a0 Hop Sing had taken up the slack, making sure he and Hoss were up and ready for school, and that he sent them out the door with lunches that were the envy of even the wealthiest of their classmates.\u00a0 After Marie died, Hop Sing\u2019s interest was mostly Joe \u2013 after all, someone had to watch the kid every minute or he would have torn the house down \u2013 and yet he still <\/em>found time to take care of the two of them.\u00a0 When he left for college, the Chinese man cried \u2013 and<\/em> handed him a lunch that was the envy of everyone on the stage coach bound for Boston.<\/p>\n

Smiling with the memory, Adam opened the door.<\/p>\n

On trouble.<\/p>\n

Two men burst in, guns drawn.\u00a0 As one fanned off to check the kitchen wing, the other leveled his revolver at him and demanded, \u201cWhere is he?\u00a0 Where\u2019s that high-falutin\u2019 darky?\u201d\u00a0 The intruder glanced from side to side and then pinned him with pale watery eyes.\u00a0 \u201cWe know he was headed to your place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam wrinkled his nose at the man\u2019s rank breath.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t recognize him or the other man with him, but he knew their type.\u00a0 They were locals \u2013 ranch hands, maybe, or miners \u2013 and were obviously intoxicated.\u00a0 Jude must have run afoul them when he arrived in town.\u00a0 The elegant educated former slave had probably made fools of them.\u00a0 They\u2019d gotten drunk and were out for revenge.<\/p>\n

The black-haired man straightened imperceptibly in an attempt to project strength.\u00a0 He\u2019d come downstairs against orders and done some light work around the house, always careful not to reopen his wound.\u00a0 Still, he was pretty tired and had been just about to call it a night when that knock came at the door.<\/p>\n

He was definitely not <\/em>up for a fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cJude\u2019s not here,\u201d Adam replied.\u00a0 \u201cHe was, but he\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man who had disappeared into the kitchen was back, apparently satisfied that they were alone.\u00a0 He came up to him and grabbed hold of his collar.\u00a0 \u201cOkay, Cartwright!\u00a0 Where\u2019d the darky go?\u00a0 You better tell us and tell us fast!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInto Eagle Station,\u201d he said without hesitation.<\/p>\n

The two men exchanged a look.\u00a0 \u201cThen why didn\u2019t we see him on our way out here?\u201d the second said.\u00a0 \u201cAre you lying to us, boy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Damn <\/em>that laudanum!\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t thinking clearly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s more than one path into town,\u201d Adam extemporized.\u00a0 \u201cOr, maybe, Pa decided to show him some of our land on the way there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man who had his shirt balled in his fist turned to look at his partner in crime.\u00a0 \u201cYou buyin\u2019 that, Jake?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Jake chortled. \u201cNo way in Hell, Hal!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam blanched.\u00a0 He did<\/em> know them.\u00a0 Jake Kusky and Harold Wilmot.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, they worked for them.<\/p>\n

Adam pursed his lips and lifted on eyebrow.\u00a0 \u201cYou know, I think my father might look dimly upon two of his hands threatening me.\u00a0 Why don\u2019t the pair of you turn around and go back out the door and we\u2019ll just pretend this whole thing didn\u2019t happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy don\u2019t you just shut up!\u201d Hal snarled.\u00a0 Then, without warning, he backhanded him.\u00a0 Adam stumbled into a chair, knocking it over, and then fell to the floor as the inebriated man turned to his partner, ordering him to keep watch at the door.\u00a0 Standing over him, Harold Wilmot sneered as he pointed the revolver at his head.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you go thinkin\u2019 you\u2019re the man your pa is, boy, \u2018cause you ain\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam had curled up.\u00a0 He had his hand to his side and was fighting a wave of pain and nausea that suggested at least one of the stitches Doc Martin had taken in his side had popped.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t you think we ought to get out of here, Hal?\u00a0 What\u2019s the point of stayin\u2019 if the darky ain\u2019t here?\u201d Jake asked nervously, his eyes on the yard.<\/p>\n

Jake Kusky wasn\u2019t the sharpest tool in the line shack.\u00a0 Hal Wilmot was another matter.\u00a0 They\u2019d been hired on a few weeks before when they needed extra hands for the fall round-up.\u00a0 Like most ranch hands, the pair were transients.\u00a0 They\u2019d arrived together and offered a letter as proof that they\u2019d worked one of the big ranches close to Reno.\u00a0 Somehow, now, he doubted the veracity of their claim.\u00a0 They were obviously thieves and liars.<\/p>\n

He just hoped they weren\u2019t killers too.<\/p>\n

Hal stared down the barrel of his gun at him and demanded, \u201cWhere\u2019d the darky go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Darky.<\/p>\n

Images of Jude Randolph flashed through Adam\u2019s mind \u2013 of his rich brown curls, pale eyes, and light complexion that was barely darker than his in summer time.\u00a0 The former cabin boy was far more white than black.\u00a0 Unfortunately, that didn\u2019t seem to matter.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard that, in the South, if your mother was a slave, then you were a slave too no matter how much white you had in you.<\/p>\n

What lunacy.<\/p>\n

Adam bit his lip against the pain and considered his options.\u00a0 He could continue to make up stories in order to misdirect the pair, sending them on a wild goose chase, but it had already been proven that the drugs the doctor had given him for the pain had addled his wits and he wasn\u2019t thinking straight.\u00a0 Most likely he\u2019d slip up.\u00a0 He could<\/em> tell them the truth and do the same, but that would put his pa and brother in danger.\u00a0 The black-haired man looked up at Harold Wilmot.\u00a0 The man appeared to be around forty.\u00a0 He had wiry dark hair streaked with silver, a thick mustache, and cold ice-blue eyes.\u00a0 Adam thought he\u2019d caught a touch of a southern accent, and guessed that was what fueled Wilmot\u2019s hatred.\u00a0 Jake Kusky on the other hand was a bumbling fool.\u00a0 He had pale yellow hair that hung in hanks before his brown eyes and a gaping mouth.\u00a0 No, Jake was no worry.\u00a0 It was Wilmot he had to look out for.\u00a0 Wilmot, who had murder in his eyes.\u00a0 At the moment, his bloodlust was aimed at Jude Randolph, but it would take little for to turn it to him.\u00a0 Hal was the kind of a man who simply liked <\/em>to kill.\u00a0 He was also the kind of man who was unlikely to leave witnesses.<\/p>\n

There was only one option left.<\/p>\n

It was gonna kill his pa.<\/p>\n

Feeling his shirt, Adam noted it was damp.\u00a0 Fortunately, it was wine-colored and the blood wouldn\u2019t show \u2013 much.\u00a0 \u201cAnother man came here yesterday.\u00a0 He kidnapped my little brother.\u201d\u00a0 When Wilmot snorted, seemingly delighted, Adam bit back his anger and went on.\u00a0 \u201cHis name is Wade Bosh and he\u2019s connected to Jude Randolph somehow.\u00a0 Jude and my father took off after him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow<\/em> are they connected?\u201d Hal demanded.<\/p>\n

Adam shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cMy pa didn\u2019t tell me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilmot frowned, but bought it since he was a devious devil himself.\u00a0 \u201cWhich way did they go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam drew a breath.\u00a0 This<\/em> was the part Pa wasn\u2019t going to like.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have to show you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those icy eyes were filled with suspicion.\u00a0 \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re on Ponderosa land.\u00a0 My Pa and brothers and I have ways through no one else knows.\u00a0 Pa wouldn\u2019t have followed the road.\u00a0 He\u2019d be worried about someone tracking him.\u201d\u00a0 While that might be true, he was fairly certain his father and Jude had<\/em> followed the road, at least for some ways.\u00a0 He doubted the Englishman was an accomplished rider.\u00a0 Even if he was, the West was a whole <\/em>different country.<\/p>\n

\u201cMakes sense, Hal,\u201d Jake said.<\/p>\n

Wilmot looked over his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cWhen I want your opinion, lamebrain, I\u2019ll ask!\u201d he snapped.\u00a0 Turning back, the grizzled man said, \u201cSeems to me, Cartwright, that you want to come with us for some reason.\u00a0 Why\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Why?\u00a0 To stay alive, of course.<\/p>\n

Thinking quickly, he replied, \u201cAll right.\u00a0 You got me.\u00a0 There is more to it.\u201d\u00a0 Adam adopted an angry pose.\u00a0 \u201cMy pa treats me like a kid.\u00a0 He left me behind because I was asking too many questions.\u00a0 I\u2019m certain there\u2019s something going on between Randolph and this man Bosh.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 He scowled.\u00a0 \u201cJude is a rich man.\u00a0 I think he has some kind of treasure hidden up in the hills.\u00a0 Bosh wants it and that\u2019s why he took my brother, to threaten my pa so he would make Jude turn it over to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

He tried not to frown.\u00a0 That was about the most convoluted thing he had ever said, but then the pair he said it to were drunk.<\/p>\n

Hopefully, greed would make it make sense to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think he\u2019s telling the truth, Hal?\u201d Jude asked, dollar signs in his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI…don\u2019t…know….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGet me a Bible,\u201d Adam said quickly.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll swear on it.\u00a0 That is, if you <\/em>believe in God.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe ain\u2019t heathens!\u201d Jake asserted.<\/p>\n

No, just brutes and would-be murderers.<\/p>\n

Hal was wavering.\u00a0 With the tip of the gun, he indicated his side.\u00a0 Adam glanced down to find blood seeping between his fingers.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He scowled.\u00a0 It was little use lying.\u00a0 All they had to do was lift his shirt to see the wound.\u00a0 \u201cThe man who took my brother shot me.\u00a0 It\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fortunately, his red shirt hid just how much blood had soaked into it.\u00a0 If it was a stitch he\u2019d broken like he thought and he was lucky, it would clot soon and stop.<\/p>\n

If he wasn\u2019t lucky….<\/p>\n

\u201cLook,\u201d Adam insisted, \u201cI want to get my hands on that money.\u00a0 My pa doesn\u2019t give me anything.\u00a0 You\u2019ve seen how it is here.\u00a0 My middle brother and I have to work like hands for a hand\u2019s wages while our little brother gets treated like a prince!\u201d\u00a0 Sorry, Joe<\/em>, he thought.\u00a0 \u201cIf we catch up to them, I\u2019ll help you.\u00a0 Then we can split the treasure three ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hoped that by appealing to their baser nature \u2013 and making them think his was base too \u2013 the intoxicated pair wouldn\u2019t think things through too carefully.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re going to go, we\u2019d better go now,\u201d Adam continued.\u00a0 \u201cOur cook will be back anytime.\u00a0 The men too.\u00a0 It\u2019s the weekend and they\u2019ll be coming in for their pay.\u00a0 You know how it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Only it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 The hands were in the field and not due back until Monday at the earliest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI say we go for it, Hal,\u201d Jake said.<\/p>\n

\u201cShut up!\u00a0 I\u2019m thinkin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 Wilmot scowled and then gestured with his gun.\u00a0 \u201cGet up!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam complied, as quickly as he could \u2013 which was not fast enough for Wilmot.\u00a0 The man reached out, caught him by the arm, and dragged him the rest of the way.\u00a0 By the time he was on his feet, the black-haired man couldn\u2019t help it, he was panting.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou slow us down and I\u2019ll shoot you and leave you like a dead dog by the side of the road,\u201d the outlaw snarled.\u00a0 \u201cIs that understood, Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam nodded.\u00a0 He supposed he should feel lucky.\u00a0 Not only was he going to live a little longer \u2013<\/p>\n

He was going after Joe.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Little Joe woke with a jolt as lightning flashed and thunder crashed and the boat he was sailing in rocked from side to side.\u00a0 For a time he had been allowed to sit on the seat and had stared at the endless miles of dark blue water stretching out on every side of him.\u00a0 He\u2019d contemplated throwing himself overboard \u2013 preferring death to a life with the man who had taken him \u2013 but like before, rejected the idea.\u00a0 When he was about ten a friend of his drowned.\u00a0 Every man and boy in Eagle Station had gone looking for Jim Tyler.\u00a0 It ended up he\u2019d been caught in a ravine by a flash flood and carried away.\u00a0 They only found the body \u2018cause he got snagged on a tree before the river took him.\u00a0 He and Pa had been with the men who found Jim.\u00a0 Once he saw what had happened, Pa\u2019d caught him and turned him away, tryin\u2019 to shield him, but he\u2019d seen his friend anyway \u2013 seen the skin sloughing off of his feet and hands and the bright red blood pooling in his cheeks and forehead.\u00a0 He\u2019d caught the scent of death as they carried Jim by and he looked into his dead friend\u2019s glistening, lifelike eyes.<\/p>\n

Joe closed his own and shuddered.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t do that to his pa.\u00a0 If he was gonna die, it was gonna be clean and on dry land.<\/p>\n

That way his bones would be picked clean.<\/p>\n

The curly-haired boy blinked to clear his eyes of sleep, but quickly realized that it wasn\u2019t sleep that weighed them down but rain.\u00a0 He remembered slidin\u2019 down to the bottom of the boat as the rain started; passing gratefully from a world of pain and fear into one where he was runnin\u2019 on warm summer grass with his mama, and laughing as Hoss and Adam chased them.\u00a0 He was lying there still, his hands and feet bound.\u00a0 Glancing at Wade Bosh Joe saw him struggling with the oars, fighting to keep them on course and afloat.\u00a0 There was a bucket near the big man\u2019s feet to scoop water out of the hull, but he didn\u2019t have a hand to use it.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntie me!,\u201d Joe shouted above the storm.\u00a0 Bosh didn\u2019t hear him the first time, so he cleared his throat and shouted again, louder this time.\u00a0 \u201cUntie me so I can help!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bosh frowned.\u00a0 \u201cWhy would you want to help me, boy?\u201d he growled.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s eyes went to the sky.\u00a0 It was black.\u00a0 He turned around and looked.\u00a0 There was no shore.\u00a0 The waves were rising higher than the boat and they were riding low in the water.<\/p>\n

Really<\/em> low in the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cCause I don\u2019t want to drown!\u201d Joe yelled as he shoved his bound hands toward his captor.\u00a0 \u201cUntie me so I can use the bucket!\u00a0 Otherwise, we\u2019re gonna go down!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you know about sailin\u2019, nipper?\u201d<\/p>\n

He did a double-take.\u00a0 Bosh\u2019s tone had done an about face.\u00a0 It was almost \u2013 friendly.<\/p>\n

Joe shook his head to clear away his confusion as well as a mass of tangled, sodden curls that dragged down into his eyes, blinding him.\u00a0 He blew at the remainder as he replied.\u00a0 \u201cMy Pa\u2019s had me out here, and my brothers. I ain\u2019t never been this far from shore, but I\u2019ve been out in a storm and I know what to do!\u201d<\/p>\n

Not one this<\/em> bad, he thought, but kept the thought to himself.<\/p>\n

The man who had taken him from his home stared at him for the longest time.\u00a0 So long Joe feared they would sink.\u00a0 Finally Bosh locked the oars in place.\u00a0 He reached toward his belt.<\/p>\n

And then came at him with a knife.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s eyes went wide as he pressed back against the wooden seat, sure he was gonna die.\u00a0 It was almost too much to take in when Bosh sliced through the ropes binding his feet and hands and then, with a twist, palmed the bucket and thrust it toward him.<\/p>\n

\u201cGet to baling, boy!\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe didn\u2019t argue.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to be Bosh\u2019s captive, but even more than that, he didn\u2019t want to die.\u00a0 As he loaded the bucket and tossed the water overboard into the rushing waves, the seaman began to row with vigor, driving them through the mist and toward the unseen shore.\u00a0 Joe had no idea how far across the lake they were.\u00a0 It seemed to him that the sun was up, though it was hard to tell with the cloud-covered sky.<\/p>\n

It couldn\u2019t be that <\/em>far to the opposite shore.<\/p>\n

Joe glanced at the water at his feet.\u00a0 It was up to his shins now, which was more than halfway up the side of the boat.<\/p>\n

It better <\/em>not be too far.<\/p>\n

A crack of lightning split the night.\u00a0 As the thunder rumbled, waves crashed up and onto the boat.\u00a0 Bosh halted what he was doing, a look of horror on his face.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re not going to make it!\u201d he announced as the boat began to list to one side.<\/p>\n

Visions of Jim\u2019s corpse rose up before Joe\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 God, no! <\/em>he thought. \u00a0No!\u00a0 Don\u2019t let my pa see me like that.\u00a0 Please, God, no!<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe let out a startled yelp as Wade Bosh\u2019s huge form crashed into him and propelled him into the water.\u00a0 Stupidly, he gasped as his head went under, sucking liquid into his lungs.\u00a0 A moment later he spit most of it out as the seaman lifted him above the waves and shoved him onto the boat, which had resurfaced upside-down.\u00a0 It was rocking with the waves and he didn\u2019t think it would hold for long.\u00a0 As he lay there, Joe coughed several times.\u00a0 His chest felt tight and he was light-headed.\u00a0 It was all he could do not to slip off into the black water.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimb on my back, boy!\u201d Bosh shouted above the renewed thunder and lightning.\u00a0 \u201cWrap your arms around my neck!\u201d<\/p>\n

His kidnapper was near the boat and his broad shoulders offered a mountain of safety.\u00a0 Much as Joe hated to be dependant on the man who had ripped him from his home, he had no choice.\u00a0 For whatever reason the seaman wanted him alive.\u00a0 He was pretty sure Bosh wouldn\u2019t let him drown.<\/p>\n

Joe eyed the churning water again.<\/p>\n

That was, if he could help it.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, boy!\u201d Bosh shouted with urgency.<\/p>\n

Clamping his lips shut and tightening his jaw, Joe did as he was told.\u00a0 He slid forward, ringed Bosh\u2019s neck with his arms and locked his hands beneath the man\u2019s stubbled chin.\u00a0 Then he held on for dear life.\u00a0 The seaman pulled away from the boat as it sank and began to swim; his long, strong arms carrying them forward quickly through the roiling waves.<\/p>\n

As he rode on Bosh\u2019s back, Joe turned his head and laid his cheek on the big man\u2019s neck.\u00a0 His eyes drifted opened and closed, opening mostly when the lightning flashed.\u00a0 After awhile it felt like being set adrift.\u00a0 He felt like he was floating not on the water, but in a dream \u2013 a dream where the whole world had gone to water and fish kept men in glass bowls filled with air.\u00a0 Joe was vaguely aware of the fact that his mind was wandering and wondered why.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t think he\u2019d swallowed all that much water.\u00a0 Then he realized he must have cause it was pouring out of his mouth, causing him to gag and retch.\u00a0 He struggled to lick his lips in order to clear them of vomit, and panicked when he felt foam at the edges of his mouth.\u00a0 He began to kick and scream, to claw at the hands that held him down.\u00a0 He had to get away \u2013 get away from the water!\u00a0 He had to \u2013<\/p>\n

\u201cBoy!\u00a0 You\u2019re safe!\u00a0 Stop fightin\u2019 me!\u201d\u00a0 There was a pause.\u00a0 \u201cBoy!\u00a0 You hear me now!\u201d<\/p>\n

The fingers of both his hands dug into the man\u2019s arms.\u00a0 Joe looked up to see who it was that held him, but his vision was blurred.\u00a0 Water streamed into his eyes from the curls plastered across his forehead\u00a0 and all he could make out was a halo of gray hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa?\u201d he croaked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t….\u201d\u00a0 There was silence for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cYeah…\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe reached out with a hand, still not sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa?\u201d he asked again.<\/p>\n

A big hand encased his.\u00a0 Another touched his brow.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s me, boy.\u00a0 The only pa you got.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cPa, it\u2019s time to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright turned to face the wind.\u00a0 The storm had reached them and they were being forced to retreat in order to seek shelter.\u00a0 Early to mid-autumn was often the time of the most violent tempests and this one raged as if the Olympian gods themselves were set against the course he had chosen.\u00a0 He\u2019d intended to start out anyway, to dare<\/em> the gods and the elements to keep him from his boy.\u00a0 Every minute, each hour that passed gave Wade Bosh a greater lead.\u00a0 If that madman managed to get Joseph to one of the bigger cities with their myriad ports and onto a tall ship, he would be lost to them.\u00a0 He might not see his boy for years.<\/p>\n

If ever.<\/p>\n

Hoss\u2019 hand caught his arm.\u00a0 \u201cPa, you gotta come with me.\u00a0 Roy\u2019s found a cave.\u00a0 It ain\u2019t too far from here.\u201d\u00a0 His middle son paused to look overhead.\u00a0 Just as he did there was a crack of lightning and a nearby tree burst into flame.\u00a0 \u201cPa, please!\u00a0 It ain\u2019t safe out here!\u201d<\/p>\n

It was almost more than he could contemplate, heeding that voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss, I can\u2019t….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa.\u201d\u00a0 His son\u2019s tone took on an edge that seemed too old, too wise<\/em> for someone his age \u2013 as if Hoss were the parent and he <\/em>was the child.\u00a0 \u201cYou or me gettin\u2019 struck by lightnin\u2019 ain\u2019t gonna help Little Joe one whit.\u00a0 You know that.\u201d\u00a0 His son paused.\u00a0 \u201cYou know too we cain\u2019t all just take off after him.\u00a0 Someone\u2019s gonna have to go back to the house for supplies and men.\u00a0 Pa.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss shook him.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a big lake and California\u2019s a mighty big state.\u00a0 We cain\u2019t canvas all of it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was another lightning strike, followed by a quick boom of thunder.<\/p>\n

Ben hesitated.\u00a0 Then he took his son by the shoulders and pushed him toward Jude who was waiting and watching in the distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa!\u201d\u00a0 Water was running of the rim of Hoss\u2019 ten gallon hat.\u00a0 It splashed on his shoulders and slid down the shining leather vest he wore.\u00a0 \u201cYou always told me God\u2019s in control of everythin\u2019 and that no matter what happened, it\u2019s in His plan.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss swallowed as he looked at the churning water.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe\u2019s in God\u2019s hand now, Pa.\u00a0 There ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 we can do but pray.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben drew a sharp breath.<\/p>\n

His son\u2019s faith shamed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n

Slowly Ben nodded and then he began to walk, following after the boy who had turned his collar up against the wind.\u00a0 As he did, the words of his God echoed through his mind.\u00a0 \u2018When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.<\/em>…f<\/em>or I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s face was wet, with the rain and his tears.<\/p>\n

His God was his son\u2019s savior too.<\/p>\n

Before the storm ended, God would either rescue Joseph or welcome him home with open arms.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PART TWO<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SIX<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jude Randolph stared at the man with gun-metal gray hair who sat opposite him.\u00a0 They had paused to partake of food and drink before beginning their journey around the lake.\u00a0 In many ways Benjamin Cartwright appeared to be a broken man.\u00a0 It was hard to see in him the strong, resilient seaman who had been his rescuer and savior some twenty-odd years before.\u00a0 But then, that was to be expected.\u00a0 While he did not have children of his own, his brother John did and he knew how precious they were.<\/p>\n

And how vulnerable.<\/p>\n

Roy Coffee had filled him in on what had occurred, the lawman\u2019s words brief and succinct.\u00a0 Benjamin had returned to Boston to marry\u00a0 Captain Stoddard\u2019s daughter.\u00a0 The woman had died giving birth to his first son.\u00a0 He had married again and that wife died as well, bleeding to death in front of his eyes, leaving him with another babe without a mother.\u00a0 Then had come the bride from New Orleans, a fiery woman with a temper to match, who had given his old friend his third son \u2013 the child of his old age \u2013 before she too died.\u00a0 The lawman had sighed and shaken his head.\u00a0 \u2018All Ben\u2019s hopes are wrapped up in that boy, and the biggest part of his heart,\u2019<\/em> he had said.\u00a0 \u2018If Little Joe don\u2019t survive, well, I ain\u2019t so sure Ben will either.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

They had parted company with the deputy and Benjamin\u2019s middle son as soon as the storm passed.\u00a0 The young man with the reddish-blond hair had attempted to talk his father into returning with them, but the rancher would have none of it.\u00a0 Wade Bosh had approximately a half day\u2019s lead as far as they could tell and he was not willing to make it more.\u00a0 In the end Benjamin had ordered his son to accompany Roy Coffee back to the Ponderosa.\u00a0 While the lawman rode on to Eagle Station to check in with the sheriff and see if anything had been reported concerning Joseph Cartwright or the man who had taken him, Hoss was instructed to ride out to where the cattle were being sequestered and to bring back as many men as he could to form a search party.\u00a0 After that, he was to rejoin his father.<\/p>\n

Jude took a sip of coffee and then placed the cup on the ground near his feet.\u00a0 When asked what he would like to do, he had opted to remain with Benjamin.\u00a0 There were two reasons.\u00a0 First of all, he knew more about Bosh and his methods than any of them.\u00a0 Secondly, he was a living reminder that the seaman had neither molested nor sought to kill him while he was with him.\u00a0 It was his hope the same would hold true for Joseph.\u00a0 Sadly, the disease from which Wade Bosh suffered made the man mercurial.\u00a0 His greatest fear was not that Bosh would harm Benjamin\u2019s son on purpose \u2013 but by accident.\u00a0 Bosh was a large man and powerful.\u00a0 From what he had seen in England, there was a rage within him fueled by all the wrongs he believed he had suffered and he laid the majority of them at Benjamin Cartwright\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n

In the distance there was a rumble of thunder.\u00a0 The storm had traveled southeast.\u00a0 It was beyond them now, but its fierce display still lit the night, reminding the former slave of the fireworks his adoptive father had taken him to see on a business trip to France.\u00a0 Jude shook his head.\u00a0 It was more <\/em>than amazing where life had taken him.\u00a0 He had two men to thank for it.\u00a0 Benjamin Cartwright and, curiously, Wade Bosh.\u00a0 If Bosh had not kidnapped him and Benjamin saved him, he would no doubt have been returned at the end of their voyage to the south and slavery.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s ways were indeed mysterious.<\/p>\n

Benjamin had been staring at the electrical display in the sky.\u00a0 He sighed as he turned back to the fire.\u00a0 \u201cI wonder where Joseph is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, there was no answer that would bring his friend peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will find him,\u201d Jude said simply. \u201cAs you found me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former first mate of the Independence<\/em> ran a finger under his eye, wiping away moisture.\u00a0 It might have come from the few raindrops that still fell, but most likely was tears.\u00a0 The rancher closed his eyes and then focused those near-black orbs on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were almost dead when I found you,\u201d the rancher said.\u00a0 \u201cAnother day and you would have been.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was true.\u00a0 The ship\u2019s doctor told Benjamin that when he came to see him the next day.\u00a0 They had thought he was asleep, but he had been listening.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou sat with me that night.\u00a0 Do you remember?\u201d Jude asked softly.<\/p>\n

Benjamin nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you remember as well what you told me?\u201d<\/p>\n

The older man\u2019s brows peaked toward his dark gray hair.\u00a0 \u201cYou mean you<\/em> do?\u00a0 It seemed you were very far away.\u00a0 Perhaps so far I would not be able to reach you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had been in a way.\u00a0 That night first mate Cartwright was not the only one by his bedside.\u00a0 His brother Samuel had been there too, offering a hand and a way out of the pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour voice…called me back,\u201d he admitted, his own choking.\u00a0 \u201cThere were words.\u00a0 Words you repeated more than once.\u00a0 Do you remember what they were?\u201d<\/p>\n

His friend shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude smiled.\u00a0 \u201cFear thou not, for I am with thee.\u00a0 Be not dismayed for I am thy God.\u00a0 I will strengthen thee.\u00a0 Yea, I will help thee.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Benjamin\u2019s smile was wistful.\u00a0 \u201cYes….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are words you need to hold onto now as I did then, my friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a moment the other man said nothing.\u00a0 Benjamin\u2019s face was drawn.\u00a0 His jaw tight.\u00a0 \u201cI have<\/em> held on to them, Jude.\u00a0 I held onto them as I buried each of my wives.\u00a0 I don\u2019t….\u201d\u00a0 He drew a sharp breath.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know if I can hold on to them if I am forced to bury one of my sons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude understood.\u00a0 In the darkness of the hold he had briefly lost his faith in God.\u00a0 He\u2019d never known his father, who had been a skilled tradesman.\u00a0 The master of the plantation had sold him shortly after his birth.\u00a0 It was his mother and grandmother who reared him.\u00a0 Both were women of deep faith.\u00a0 He\u2019d asked them once how they could believe in a loving and merciful Father when they had known nothing but misery and lived their entire lives enslaved.<\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re all enslaved\u2019<\/em>, his mother liked to say, \u2018black or white, it\u2019s the same.\u00a0 The Lord come to bring us bread for our bodies and blood for our souls.\u00a0 Bread and blood, it\u2019s all we need.<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

The Englishman me his friend\u2019s troubled gaze.\u00a0 \u201cI lost my faith in the darkness, Benjamin.\u00a0 It was you who brought it back to me.\u00a0 If you will, I will…help you keep hold.\u201d\u00a0 Jude paused.\u00a0 \u201cYou said you wanted to know what happened to me while I was held captive.\u00a0 In some ways it is worse than you suspect, but in others, perhaps better.\u00a0 I have said it before and I do so again, I do not believe Bosh has any intent to harm your son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those dark eyes held his.\u00a0 \u201cLike he had no \u2018intent\u2019 to harm you?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was hard to put into words.\u00a0 He\u2019d been on the deck, carrying supper to the captain\u2019s cabin when Bosh took him.\u00a0 The ship\u2019s second mate had stolen chloroform from the sickbay and used it to subdue him, so he could carry him deep down into the belly of the ship and sequester him in a place where no one would think to look.\u00a0 Wade Bosh had bound his hands and feet and for a whole day he lay there, alone in the dark, his only companions the waves lapping against the hull and a constant growing hunger both for food and the sound of a human voice.\u00a0 When Bosh returned, bringing him stale bread, a bit of cheese, and a sip of wine, he\u2019d eaten them eagerly, but even more eagerly he had drunk in the presence of another human being.\u00a0 His reprieve lasted only a few minutes. Then he was bound again and, again, left alone.\u00a0 This went on for days until at last he came to hunger for Wade Bosh more than he hungered for the meager food he brought him.\u00a0 He was ravenous for the touch of his hand on his forehead and for the words he spoke in his ear, assuring him that he was there for him.\u00a0 There was no one else, he said.\u00a0 Everyone else had abandoned him.\u00a0 He was nothing to them.\u00a0 He\u2019d been forgotten.<\/p>\n

Only Bosh cared.<\/p>\n

Bosh, who had started to call himself \u2018Pa\u2019 when he spoke to him.<\/p>\n

Bosh, whom he had come to call \u2018Pa.\u2019<\/p>\n

He was later to find out that God intervened to break this cycle.\u00a0 Such was his dependence on the man he would have done anything, said anything; gone anywhere <\/em>with him.\u00a0 As they pulled into the harbor Captain Peak found he did not feel well.\u00a0 First mate Cartwright took charge of the ship, leaving Second Mate Bosh with all his duties.\u00a0 As the days went by and Bosh failed to reappear, Jude came to believe he had abandoned him.\u00a0 His hunger for the man quickly turned to hatred.\u00a0 With his last breath, for so he had thought it was, he cursed the man\u2019s name.\u00a0 He had no idea how long it was after that when the light appeared, coming toward him through the darkness.\u00a0 In a moment of clarity he\u2019d realized what it was Bosh had done to him, how he had changed him from a human being into something else \u2013 into a kind of animal that begged for its master\u2019s hand even though that hand brought it harm.\u00a0 Then, he saw it wasn\u2019t Bosh.\u00a0 It was the ship\u2019s first mate. The man with the kind eyes whose name was Benjamin.<\/p>\n

It was the last thing he said before falling into a fever that nearly took him away \u2013 that name.<\/p>\n

\u201cJude?\u201d Benjamin called softly.<\/p>\n

He blinked, surprised to find there were tears in his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cForgive me,\u201d he breathed.<\/p>\n

The rancher rose to his feet.\u00a0 He came to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 Then he walked on by and disappeared into the night.<\/p>\n

To despair or to plead with his God, Jude knew not which.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss Cartwright reined his horse in and fairly leapt from the saddle to the ground.\u00a0 He nodded to Roy Coffee who had come with him to the house before heading into town.\u00a0 The deputy said he would stable the horses and tend to them.\u00a0 He was gonna go in and see how Adam was and inform his brother of the progress they\u2019d made so far in the hunt for Little Joe.<\/p>\n

Which was none.<\/p>\n

They were both wet, tired, and hungry.\u00a0 He\u2019d invited Deputy Roy to come in and rest a spell as well as to eat somethin\u2019 before the lawman hit the Eagle Station road.\u00a0 The older man was gonna go to town and raise what men he could for a search party, while he went out onto the range and gathered at least half a dozen hands.\u00a0 That was about all they could spare as it took most of the men to keep watch over the herd and get it settled for winter.\u00a0 They planned on meeting back at the house around the time supper was served.\u00a0 They\u2019d eat and then head out again, picking up his pa\u2019s trail.<\/p>\n

Deputy Roy had just entered the stable and he was steppin\u2019 onto the porch when the front door flew open and Hop Sing burst out wavin\u2019 his hands and shoutin\u2019 in Cantonese.\u00a0 They all knew a few of Hop Sing\u2019s words \u2013 usually the ones he used when he was shooin\u2019 them out of the kitchen or up the stairs.\u00a0 Hoss had heard a few of these before and he recognized one in particular. \u00a0Ngai<\/em>.\u00a0 It meant somethin\u2019 like \u2018in danger\u2019.<\/p>\n

Mostly Hop Sing used it when he was talking about Little Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey!\u00a0 Hop Sing!\u201d Hoss shouted back, holding out his hands and waving them.\u00a0 \u201cSlow down and speak English!\u00a0 I ain\u2019t got enough Chinese in my head to fill a slate!\u201d<\/p>\n

The small man drew a sharp breath.\u00a0 He shuddered and then blurted out, \u201cMistah Adam gone!\u00a0 No at home when Hop Sing return.\u00a0 Mistah Adam not in house anywhere!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss scowled.\u00a0 Now what would Adam be doin\u2019 headin\u2019 out when he was hurt?\u00a0 Pa\u2019d told him to stay put.\u00a0 Maybe he decided he\u2019d just take it on the chin and go out and look for their missing brother anyhow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou mean he went lookin\u2019 for Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

Behind him he heard Deputy Coffee clear his throat.\u00a0 When he turned toward him, the look on the lawman\u2019s face made his heart skip a beat.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss.\u00a0 Your brother Adam\u2019s horse is in the stable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam could<\/em> have taken another horse, though he couldn\u2019t imagine why.\u00a0 A man and his horse, they kind of went together like a glove on the hand.\u00a0 Riding a horse you knew and that knew you was the surest and safest way to get back home in one piece.<\/p>\n

\u201cNumber one son not go look for brother.\u00a0 Someone come in house.\u00a0 Someone cause trouble!\u00a0\u00a0 Hop Sing find chair upside-down.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 Some of the bluster went out of his tone.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing also find blood on floor by chair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy Coffee was at his side now.\u00a0 \u201cYou said you found blood?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man from China nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cShow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss was still reeling.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t possible, was it?\u00a0 Adam should be inside the house recovering from the bullet he took in his side.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t make any sense he would have left so that must mean \u2013<\/p>\n

He swallowed hard.<\/p>\n

Someone had taken him as well.<\/p>\n

The teenager felt a hand on his arm and looked up to find Deputy Coffee staring at him with understanding eyes.\u00a0 \u201cCome on, son.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go inside.\u00a0 Standin\u2019 out here ain\u2019t gonna change what we find.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was all he could do to step through the door.\u00a0 Just two days before everythin\u2019 had been fine.\u00a0 Little Joe\u2019d been his mischievous self, playin\u2019 tricks and drivin\u2019 both him and Adam to near distraction.\u00a0 Joe\u2018d rigged a bucket of mush above the stable door.\u00a0 Adam had been the one unlucky enough to open it.\u00a0 He\u2019d<\/em> tossed a coin and heads said he was on older brother\u2019s side this time and the two of them had chased the little scamp all the way back to the house.\u00a0 Pa\u2019d been sittin\u2019 in his chair as they burst through the door.\u00a0 He\u2019d watched them tackle one another with that look that said he\u2019d just about had enough \u2013 and that enough wasn\u2019t ever really<\/em> enough.<\/p>\n

A house that was empty now, \u2018cept for him.<\/p>\n

Standing just inside the door, Hoss watched the lawman as he crossed over to the upturned chair.\u00a0 Deputy Roy knelt and touched the reddish stain on the floor.\u00a0 He held his fingers to his nose and tasted it and then declared. \u201cThat\u2019s blood, all right.\u00a0 It ain\u2019t quite dry, so it ain\u2019t been too long.\u201d\u00a0 He looked at their cook. \u201cHow long you been home, Hop Sing?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man from China glanced at the tall case clock.\u00a0 \u201cOne hour, maybe a little bit less.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s about right,\u201d the deputy said as he rose.\u00a0 He looked toward the door with a frown.\u00a0 \u201cWe may find some prints, but I ain\u2019t holdin\u2019 out a lot of hope since we just rode in here and probably went right over them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho you think take Mistah Adam?\u201d Hop Sing asked.<\/p>\n

Deputy Roy pulled at his chin.\u00a0 \u201cWell, it cain\u2019t be that man what took Little Joe.\u00a0 He\u2019s long gone.\u00a0 Tell me, Hop Sing, did you find anythin\u2019 missin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone take food and some of Mistah Ben\u2019s liquor.\u00a0 Several rifles gone.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Adam gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSince they didn\u2019t leave no ransom note, I\u2019m thinkin\u2019 that ain\u2019t what we got goin\u2019 on here.\u00a0 Maybe they needed Adam to take them somewhere,\u201d he proposed.<\/p>\n

Hoss had been listenin\u2019.\u00a0 He\u2019d been thinkin\u2019 too.\u00a0 The only thing that was different from two days ago \u2013 aside from the fact that Little Joe\u2019d gone missin\u2019 \u2013 was the fact that they had a visitor.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeputy Roy?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t think this could have anythin\u2019\u00a0 to do with that there Jude Randolph, feller do you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy Coffee\u2019s pale blue eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cYou may just have somethin\u2019 there, boy.\u00a0 I heard there was a disturbance in town when that English man arrived.\u00a0 Had somethin\u2019 to do with two of your pa\u2019s men as I remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMen still talk about it in city,\u201d Hop Sing chimed in.\u00a0 \u201cTwo men from Ponderosa threaten Mister Jude, call him \u2018darky\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 The Chinese man\u2019s eyes narrowed with outrage.\u00a0 Hoss knew why.\u00a0 There\u2019d been many a time Hop Sing had been called names.\u00a0 \u201cMister Jude make fools out of men.\u00a0 Make very mad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy Roy was noddin\u2019 his head.\u00a0 \u201cI heard it was Jake Kusky and Harold Wilmot.\u00a0 Them two are trouble.\u00a0 Maybe they come here lookin\u2019 for that English feller.\u201d\u00a0 He scratched his chin.\u00a0 \u201cWhat I cain\u2019t figure is why they\u2019d want to take Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo show them the way,\u201d Hoss suggested.\u00a0 \u201cTo take them to Pa and Jude.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawman thought that over a minute.\u00a0 He nodded and then let out a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cSeems we got us two<\/em> kidnapped Cartwrights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss let out a strangled cry.<\/p>\n

The older man pursed his lips. \u201cSorry, son, I weren\u2019t thinkin\u2019.\u00a0 You must feel right lost about now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager fought back tears.\u00a0 Little Joe was his heart.\u00a0 Adam, his rock.\u00a0 Both needed rescued.<\/p>\n

How did he choose?<\/p>\n

Deputy Roy walked over to him.\u00a0 \u201cFirst thing we need to do, boy, is get some food and rest.\u201d\u00a0 The lawman held up a hand to silence his protests.\u00a0 \u201cYou and me are plumb wore out.\u00a0 We won\u2019t do neither of your brothers any good if we fall out of our saddles and lay snoozin\u2019 in the middle of the road.\u201d\u00a0 He turned to their cook.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing, can you rustle us up some grub?\u201d\u00a0 As the Chinese man nodded and went to do as he\u2019d been asked, the older man\u2019s attention returned to him\u00a0 \u201cYou go get out of those wet clothes, son, and then come down and eat.\u00a0 When you\u2019re done, you go on out and find your pa\u2019s men and bring as many of them as you can back here to the house.\u201d\u00a0 The lawman lifted his hand and headed for the door.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m gonna ride hard and fast as I can for Eagle Station.\u00a0 I\u2019ll rustle up as many of the town folk as are free and meet you back here around supper time.\u201d\u00a0 Deputy Roy turned and pinned him with a glare.\u00a0 \u201cNow you hear me, Hoss, you stay put \u2018til I get here.\u00a0 If I go losin\u2019 your pa\u2019s last son, there ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 on earth\u2019s gonna keep Ben Cartwright from hog-tyin\u2019 me and throwin\u2019 me to the wolves!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss sucked in his fear and unspent tears and nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou givin\u2019 me your word?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded again.\u00a0 \u201cYes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deputy stared at him a moment longer and then returned to his side.\u00a0 He reached out again and took his shoulder in his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cSon, I cain\u2019t guarantee you everythin\u2019 will come out right.\u00a0 You know that.\u00a0 It ain\u2019t in my hands.\u00a0 But I can tell you that if anyone can make it, it\u2019s them two brothers of yours.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s right smart.\u00a0 He can sure as heck outthink Jake and Hal.\u00a0 And Little Joe,\u201d Roy Coffee smiled, \u201cI ain\u2019t never seen anyone<\/em> more like an eel. That boy can slip out of anythin\u2019!\u201d\u00a0 He lifted his hand.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019ll find their way home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Hoss come eat.\u00a0 Food on table,\u201d Hop Sing said softly.<\/p>\n

It was a joke between his brothers that there weren\u2019t nothin\u2019 could take his appetite away.\u00a0 He\u2019d always joined right in, laughin\u2019 with them and tellin\u2019 them how right they was.<\/p>\n

Hoss only hoped he\u2019d get to see them again so\u2019s he could tell them just how wrong they\u2019d all been about it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam Cartwright reined in his borrowed horse.\u00a0 He and his captors had been riding for something close to two hours and had come to the pass where he planned to take them off the road and into one of the rockier portions of the Ponderosa.\u00a0 There was a danger in going this way as anyone tracking him would have a hard time finding prints due to the hard-packed earth and stone.\u00a0 Still, it lay along the route his father and Jude had taken and he\u2019d been able to convince Hal and Jake that the pair had veered off and headed into the hills looking for Jude\u2019s hidden stash.\u00a0 Fortunately for him neither Jake Kusky or Hal Wilmot was too bright.\u00a0 Their belts just didn\u2019t go through all the loops.\u00a0 He\u2019d had hopes he could misdirect them long enough that they\u2019d sober up and think better of what they were doing, but that hope had been dashed when Jake discovered Pa\u2019s liquor cabinet.\u00a0 Jake had chugged half a bottle of brandy and spent most of the time on the trail singing a rousing rendition of \u2018Sweet Betsy From Pike\u2019 \u2013 taking especial pleasure in the verse where Betsy shows her legs.\u00a0 Hal had finished the remainder of the bottle but, unlike Jake, he didn\u2019t get drunk \u2013 he just got quiet and mean.<\/p>\n

Really mean.<\/p>\n

Adam reached up and touched his jaw.\u00a0 He\u2019d failed to respond to a question quickly enough for Hal\u2019s liking and nearly been knocked out of the saddle when the man backhanded him.\u00a0 As it was, the jolt had set his side to throbbing.\u00a0 He was feeling slightly nauseous and was fairly certain he was bleeding again.<\/p>\n

At least there was no sign of a fever \u2013 yet.<\/p>\n

The black-haired man\u2019s hazel eyes lifted to the ridge above them.\u00a0 He and his brothers had covered every inch of the Ponderosa and had trails of their own.\u00a0 Some of them Pa knew about, others he didn\u2019t because they were, well, dangerous to say the least.\u00a0 Like this one.\u00a0 For a while it followed the edge of a low hill, but then, slowly, began to climb up the ridge, winding until it came out on the top.\u00a0 He\u2019d chosen this path because it was special.\u00a0 To the casual eye there appeared to be only one way down, but there were actually two.\u00a0 Off to the side, hidden within a clump of wizened trees and bushes, there was a narrow chute known as Diaz\u2019s Dodge.\u00a0 The shaft plummeted down at a nearly perpendicular angle.\u00a0 Anyone unfortunate enough to stumble into it would be dumped out at the bottom of the ravine.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s lips curled with a fond but frightening memory.\u00a0 They\u2019d been at the top of the ridge when Little Joe had one of his fits of temper.\u00a0 Youngest brother had stomped off into the trees.\u00a0 He and Hoss set about making camp and settling in, knowing the rascal would come back on his own when it got dark.\u00a0 Just about the time Hoss struck a match to light the fire, they heard a yelp and a few choice words that neither one of them were aware Little Joe knew.<\/p>\n

Then there was one they knew all too<\/em> well.<\/p>\n

Help!<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe\u2019d stumbled into the chute and ridden its rough sides all the way to the bottom.\u00a0 To this day he and Hoss debated whether or not their little brother had landed head-first.<\/p>\n

If he had, it would explain a lot of things.<\/p>\n

Adam glanced at his riding partners.\u00a0 Jake and Hal had given him an unfamiliar horse and then plastered theirs to his side making it near impossible to escape.\u00a0 He thought the shaft might be his only chance to do so.\u00a0 The problem was Little Joe was just that \u2013 little.<\/em>\u00a0 The chute had been a tight fit in places for his brother\u2019s slender form.\u00a0 He had no way of knowing if it was wide enough for him to make it all the way to the bottom without getting stuck.<\/p>\n

The black-haired man snorted.\u00a0 That\u2019d be a headline for you.\u00a0 College age son of<\/em> Benjamin Cartwright stupid enough to get wedged in Diaz\u2019s Dodge. \u00a0Left dangling for days.\u00a0 Funeral tomorrow.<\/em><\/p>\n

That Eastern university he attended would never live it down.<\/p>\n

Adam blew out a breath.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou got a problem, Cartwright?\u201d Hal snarled.\u00a0 \u201cI thought you said you knew what you were doin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI do.\u201d\u00a0 He touched his side with his hand.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just a little tired.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, ain\u2019t that too bad.\u00a0 You can rest once you get us where we\u2019re goin\u2019 and we find that there darky and your pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pass leads up and along the side to the top of the ridge,\u201d Adam replied.\u00a0 \u201cThere are a lot of caves there.\u00a0 My brothers and I explored them when we\u00a0 were kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re thinkin\u2019 that\u2019s where Randolph\u2019s got his treasure hid?\u201d Jake asked, his eyes wide as a kid with his nose pressed up against the candy store window.<\/p>\n

He nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sure of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jake looked at Hal.\u00a0 \u201cWell, then, what are we waitin\u2019 for?\u00a0 Let\u2019s get goin\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hal didn\u2019t move.\u00a0 The grizzled man was watching him, seeming to weigh his words.\u00a0 \u201cThis better not be a trick, Cartwright.\u00a0 If it is, you\u2019re dead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo trick,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

It was true.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a trick.\u00a0 He was <\/em>going to lead them up the pass and along the top of the ridge like he\u2019d said.<\/p>\n

It was just that he <\/em>was just going to take a shortcut down.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright stood near the water, gazing across Lake Tahoe to the other side.\u00a0 The rising sun\u2019s pale rose-gold fingers had peeled back the night, revealing a dawn worthy of a bard\u2019s description.\u00a0 All around the advance of winter was evident in the trees that had shed their needles, creating a blanket on the ground.\u00a0 The lush underbrush of the forest echoed the dawn in earthy shades of orange, yellow, and red.\u00a0 Above his head hawks wheeled, challenging one another, staking out their claims just as he had done when his sweat and hard labor allowed him to obtain the thousand acres he called home.<\/p>\n

He would have traded it all for one hug from his youngest son.<\/p>\n

The rancher drew in a breath and let it out slowly.\u00a0 He was glad to have Jude with him as the Englishman\u2019s knowledge regarding Wade Bosh would prove invaluable.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Jude had grown up and prospered in one of the most civilized cities in the world.\u00a0 While he had traveled by horse, the former cabin boy would be the first to admit that most of his horseback riding had been for show.\u00a0 Jude sat a horse well, but was not used to a grueling pace.\u00a0 They would be forced to move more slowly than he wanted.\u00a0 It was about seventy miles around the lake if a man did the entire loop.\u00a0 They had to cover a little over thirty to get to Meek\u2019s Bay.\u00a0 With Jude along, it could take two days.<\/p>\n

In two days Joseph could be in Grass Valley, or even farther away.<\/p>\n

Ben held out a hope \u2013 and it was a desperate one \u2013 that somehow his son would manage to escape from his captor.\u00a0 Joseph was a bright, quick-witted boy.\u00a0 Growing up on a ranch had made him agile and strong for his age and size.\u00a0 Many older boys were deceived into thinking he would be an easy mark.\u00a0 Ben\u2019s lips curled in a wistful smile.\u00a0 He could see his young son standing in the doorway, having just arrived home from school, every curl on his head awry, his knuckles bleeding, and his green eyes wide with triumph. The older man sobered quickly.\u00a0 Yes, his son was capable of escaping his captor, but if Joseph tried to flee and failed, he shuddered to think what retribution he would face.\u00a0 Jude had tried to soften his words, but it was clear Bosh had been physically harsh with him.\u00a0 He\u2019d read a treatise once on the natives and their techniques for bending a captive to their will.\u00a0 No English was spoken to them.\u00a0 They were walked or run until they were exhausted and then placed in dark teepees, bound hand and foot, and left without food or water for days.\u00a0 In time their captors began to speak to them, uttering threats, and then promising no harm would come to them or their families if they obeyed.<\/p>\n

Near the end of the article the physician who penned it remarked that these techniques were not unique to the red man, but were employed by men of all colors.\u00a0 If no ransom was demanded and money was not the object of the abduction, its object was often the possession of the one taken.\u00a0 He knew that was the case with Wade Bosh.\u00a0 The seaman blamed him for the loss of the boy he had wrongly claimed as his son.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s jaw tightened.<\/p>\n

Now, Bosh had his<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Lifting his head, Ben looked again at the sky.\u00a0 From the angle of the sun, it was around eight o\u2019clock.\u00a0 The days were growing shorter.\u00a0 It would be dark before twelve hours passed.\u00a0 If Bosh had made it across the lake and not been slowed by the storm, he already had a six or seven hour lead.\u00a0 The older man pursed his lips and frowned.\u00a0 Yes, as great as his fear was of that, he had an even greater <\/em>fear \u2013 that the seaman and his son had<\/em> been slowed by the storm.\u00a0 That they had been in it.<\/p>\n

That they might not<\/em> have made it across.<\/p>\n

Retreating to a boulder that jutted over the water, Ben took a seat and linked his hands together.\u00a0 He closed his eyes and lowered his head and began to pray, crying out to His God for the deliverance of his child.\u00a0 As he did, a vision flashed before his eyes.\u00a0 He saw himself seated beside a bed.\u00a0 His beautiful wife Marie lay upon it, newly delivered of a son.\u00a0 The baby was so tiny they feared for him, though his lusty cries seemed to belie the doctor\u2019s dire predictions.\u00a0 Marie took his hand and put it on their child\u2019s head which, even then, was covered with downy curls.\u00a0 They\u2019d discussed a dozen names.\u00a0 His wish was to call the child Joseph after his father.\u00a0 He had let Elizabeth name Adam and, well, Inger had her own ideas.\u00a0 Marie hadn\u2019t argued with his choice, but neither had she agreed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u2018Well?\u2019 he asked, knowing she knew what he was about. <\/em><\/p>\n

Marie\u2019s finger traced the baby\u2019s pert nose.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph?\u00a0 Are you sure, mon cher, that is the name you desire for our son?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He was puzzled.\u00a0 \u201cIs there something wrong with Joseph?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cNon.\u201d\u00a0 She wrinkled her nose as the baby caught her finger and began to suck on it.\u00a0 \u201cBut is it not a grand nom for such a miniscule?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cA grand name?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Her green eyes fixed him.\u00a0 \u201cI remember my Bible.\u00a0 Do you not remember yours, Benjamin?\u00a0 Joseph was a special boy, so special God called him to great things.\u00a0 But God called him as well to pass through the fire to get there.\u00a0 Joseph was betrayed by his family and left to die.\u00a0 Thrown into prison.\u00a0 Betrayed again.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

He understood what she was saying.\u00a0 He did believe, as did the ancient Jews, that names held some kind of power and, perhaps, even a prediction of the future.\u00a0 Reaching out, he caught his son\u2019s tiny hand in his own and said, \u201cI remember the other part of the story, dear heart.\u00a0 Joseph was a man of character.\u00a0 Hard working, honest, and brave.\u00a0 It says in Genesis that \u2018the Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered…and the Lord gave him success in everything he did.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled at her.\u00a0 \u201cI think that\u2019s a pretty good recipe for a remarkable man.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Marie leaned down then and kissed their child\u2019s head.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph,\u201d she said, trying it out.\u00a0 \u201cMon petit Joseph.\u201d\u00a0 Looking up, she favored him with smile.\u00a0 \u201cLike his father, Joseph will be a most remarkable man.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben heard it again.\u00a0 Whispered close to his ear as if it were a promise.<\/p>\n

Like his father, Joseph Francis Cartwright will be a most remarkable man. <\/em><\/p>\n

He started and turned.\u00a0 There was no one there.<\/p>\n

No one but his God.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SEVEN<\/p>\n

Joe.\u00a0 Hey, Joe!<\/em><\/p>\n

The bundle of skin and bones wrapped in wet cloth that lay on the shore of Lake Tahoe grunted.<\/p>\n

Joe.<\/em><\/p>\n

The grunt turned into words.\u00a0 Well, almost words.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuh…uhhhh…wwyyy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe, you gotta get up.\u00a0 You gotta move.<\/em>\u00a0 A pause.\u00a0 It ain\u2019t safe here.<\/em><\/p>\n

The bundle shifted.\u00a0 A curly brown head lifted slightly from a nest of ragged, sodden blue that had once been a fine linen shirt.\u00a0 A pair of green eyes flicked open in a mud-streaked face and then clamped shut just as quickly as a wave of nausea rolled through the battered and bruised body attached to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t,\u201d Joe Cartwright replied.<\/p>\n

Come on, Joe.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong?\u00a0 Ain\u2019t you up to it?<\/em><\/p>\n

Those were fighting words. The trouble was, there wasn\u2019t much fight left in him.\u00a0 Joe groaned again and attempted to lift himself up on one arm.\u00a0 He waited until the nausea subsided for a second time and then rolled over.\u00a0 It was only then he realized his shirt was up over his head, his chest was bare, and he was soaked to the skin.\u00a0 As he sat up \u2013 sort of \u2013 he tugged the shirt down and over his belt.\u00a0 The motion caused more nausea and he fought to keep from retching.<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t remember ever feeling so miserable.\u00a0 All he wanted to do was go back to sleep.<\/p>\n

Joe, don\u2019t.\u00a0 Don\u2019t go to sleep.<\/em><\/p>\n

He\u2019ll catch you.<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe blinked.\u00a0 He reached up and touched his head and winced as his fingers came away bloody.\u00a0 Walking them into the curls, he found a gash on the right side of his skull near his hairline.\u00a0 With a frown, Joe lowered his hand and then looked up and out, wondering who it was that wouldn\u2019t leave him alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa?\u201d he called.\u00a0 \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n

Shh.\u00a0 He\u2019ll hear you. <\/em><\/p>\n

Joe blinked again, trying to clear away the cobwebs.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure if he was really hearing a voice or if it was just in his head.\u00a0 Of course, if it was, then he was in more trouble than he thought.\u00a0 The curly-haired boy gathered his strength and rose to his feet and stood there wobbling.\u00a0 The mid-afternoon sun was shining on Lake Tahoe\u2019s placid surface.\u00a0 For a moment it blinded him.\u00a0 Swallowing down bile, Joe staggered a few feet forward and was surprised to see a slender form standing on the shore.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Then he knew.<\/p>\n

It was Jim.<\/p>\n

Drowned dead Jim.<\/p>\n

Drowned dead Jim with his glistening eyes, his fire-red face, and his skin sloughing off like a snakes\u2019.<\/p>\n

Joe froze, terrified.<\/p>\n

Run, Joe!\u00a0 Run!<\/em> Jim shouted.\u00a0 Don\u2019t die like me!<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe gasped and sat up.\u00a0 A shiver ran from his head to his toe.\u00a0 In place of Jim, who had been standing at the water\u2019s edge, was the fallen body of a big man.\u00a0 Whoever it was lay still and unmoving.\u00a0 One hand was thrust out before him and the fingers of that hand were buried in the sandy mud of the shore.\u00a0 The man \u2018s other hand was hidden beneath him, making him look like he was trying to climb a ladder lying down.\u00a0 Behind him on the edge of the shore were the broken remnants of a small boat.<\/p>\n

It took a moment.\u00a0 Then he remembered.<\/p>\n

\u201cBosh,\u201d Joe breathed and shivered again.<\/p>\n

It was fear made him quake.\u00a0 Not the fact that his clothing was soaked through or that water was dripping from his curls onto what was left of his blue shirt, or the fact that the breeze made it feel near as cold as winter.\u00a0 This was the man who had ripped him away from his family, who had drugged him and threatened him.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s jaw tightened and his nostrils flared.<\/p>\n

This was the man he hated.\u00a0 He was glad <\/em>he was dead.<\/p>\n

A little twinge of guilt struck Joe as that thought crossed his mind.\u00a0 He could hear Pa telling him that no one was all bad.\u00a0 As he heard his pa\u2019s voice, he also had a flash of memory \u2013 Bosh puttin\u2019 him on his back, haulin\u2019 him to the shore, shovin\u2019 him out of the water and onto the land before falling down beside him.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s hand went to his chest.\u00a0 It hurt.\u00a0 He had a vague memory of Bosh leanin\u2019 over him and poundin\u2019 on him while he coughed and gagged, drivin\u2019 the water out of his lungs.<\/p>\n

Savin\u2019 his life.<\/p>\n

His pa didn\u2019t approve of cussing, but he said it anyway.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young Joe Cartwright thought this was probably what the preacher called a \u2018moral dilemma\u2019.<\/p>\n

Hesitantly, he approached the massive man.\u00a0 If Bosh was playin\u2019 possum, he was done.\u00a0 The big man would catch hold of him and any chance of escape would be gone.\u00a0 But if the seaman was alive \u2013 dyin\u2019, maybe, but alive \u2013 then he was pretty sure, as a Christian, he was under some kind of an obligation to get help.\u00a0 His Pa was always sayin\u2019 the only thing that separated men in the West from the animals they hunted was behavin\u2019 like they were men instead<\/em> of animals, and that meant bein\u2019 decent even to those who tried to harm them.<\/p>\n

It\u2019d be easier bein\u2019 an animal.<\/p>\n

Joe was close now.\u00a0 He moved forward and pushed his toe into the ragged pile of dark cloth and nudged Wade Bosh with it.<\/p>\n

The man didn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n

The curly-haired boy drew in a deep breath for courage and then knelt and pressed his fingers against his kidnapper\u2019s throat. He found the heartbeat quickly.\u00a0 It was slow and steady.\u00a0 As he knelt there, Joe saw that Bosh had taken a knock on the head like he had.\u00a0 That was probably why he was lying there out cold.<\/p>\n

Joe let the breath out.<\/p>\n

He was free!<\/p>\n

Turning on his heel, he surveyed his surroundings.\u00a0 He\u2019d been around this lake a few times with his brothers and father and thought he knew where he was \u2013 just a little north of John Meek\u2019s bay and its landing.\u00a0 He and his pa had visited John and Rita Meeks last spring.\u00a0 The older couple would know him and know he was tellin\u2019 the truth when he told them what Bosh had done.\u00a0 Joe glanced down at himself.\u00a0 It was a good thing too.\u00a0 Right now he looked like one of those beggar boys he\u2019d seen in San Francisco when they took a trip there.\u00a0 He was barefoot, his exposed skin was splashed with mud and some blood, and his clothing was filthy and ragged.\u00a0 Someone had joked one day to his pa, callin\u2019 the three of them \u2018princes\u2019.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s tired lips curled with a weak smile.\u00a0 He looked more like a pauper.<\/p>\n

A noise from behind him \u2013 sort of a grunt \u2013 made Joe whirl.\u00a0 Bosh was lying still, but that small sound was enough to put the fear of God in him and he took off at a sprint.\u00a0 It was about noon by the sun.\u00a0 If he remembered right, John Miller\u2019s place was two, maybe three miles away.\u00a0 He thought about traveling the road, but remembered what Bosh had said about some friend of his waiting for them on this side of the shore.<\/p>\n

With a determined look on his face, Joe Cartwright turned away from the easy path and plummeted into the trees.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the end Ben had been pleasantly surprised.\u00a0 He glanced at Jude Randolph who stood beside him, taking a drink from his canteen.\u00a0 Though the Englishman had assured him that his horseback skills were limited, Jude had nodded when he asked him if they could make more speed and followed suit as Buck began to canter.\u00a0 Even so, their pace was galling.\u00a0 Ben had always had a sixth sense where his youngest\u2019s welfare was concerned.\u00a0 He put it down to Joseph\u2019s mother being in Heaven.\u00a0 That gave him an advantage.<\/p>\n

Marie was watching from the other side, whispering in his ear.<\/p>\n

Having been a seaman himself Ben knew that \u2013 if Bosh got his son on a tall ship and sailed out of the harbor \u2013 the odds of rescuing Joseph were slim to none.\u00a0 The men who sailed the seas were a hard lot.\u00a0 Most of them were honest, but that honesty had its limits.\u00a0 There was a camaraderie \u2013 a secret society, you might say \u2013 among them and, more often that not, no matter what a man had done, they protected their own.<\/p>\n

As he was fighting to protect his <\/em>own.<\/p>\n

He and Jude had stopped a few hours back, just like they were doing now.\u00a0 They had spoken briefly as they let their horses rest and took a bite of food themselves.\u00a0 Jude tried to offer him comfort again, assuring him that Bosh would not harm Joseph intentionally.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t fooled.\u00a0 Ben recognized the tone and the words too well.\u00a0 They were the same ones he used with his sons to reassure them when he was anything but certain himself.\u00a0 The former slave and cabin boy felt a deep responsibility for what had happened to Joseph.<\/p>\n

It seemed the person Jude was trying to convince the most was himself.<\/p>\n

As they rested, an idea had formed in Ben\u2019s mind.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure where it had come from \u2013 common sense and logic as Adam would insist, or from his heart as his middle son would avow.\u00a0 For some unknown reason he had a feeling Bosh was headed for Meek\u2019s Bay.\u00a0 It was one of the only places with a landing on the far side of the lake.\u00a0 Wade Bosh was a sailor first and foremost.\u00a0 He knew what a harsh mistress any body of water could be.\u00a0 Ben\u2019s near-black eyes returned to lake Tahoe.\u00a0 It was calm now.\u00a0 Placid.\u00a0 There was no evidence of the violent storm\u2019s passing other than a few downed limbs and a good dusting of coppery leaves.\u00a0 He had to believe Joseph had made it across.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen men drowned.\u00a0 Seen…boys drowned.<\/p>\n

Before he could stop it ane image flashed before his eyes, not Jim Tyler\u2019s body lying on the bank of the river after having been fished out of the churning waters, but Joseph\u2019s \u2013 his skin fish-belly white, his cheeks and chest livid; those beloved green eyes fixed open and shining with death.<\/p>\n

A shudder ran through him and, he couldn\u2019t help it, ended in a little moan.<\/p>\n

\u201cBenjamin?\u00a0 Is there anything I can do?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude was wise enough not to ask what was wrong.\u00a0 He knew<\/em> what was wrong.<\/p>\n

All he wanted to do was banish that image.\u00a0 Ben was old enough to know that, even though it was the last thing he wanted to do, only talking about it would accomplish that goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a boy several years back, a friend of Joseph\u2019s, who went missing.\u00a0 Jim fell into a ravine and was carried into the river and drowned.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cI was with the men who found him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are worried Joseph did not make it across the lake due to the storm,\u201d Jude stated.<\/p>\n

He nodded, at a loss for words.<\/p>\n

Jude was silent a moment.\u00a0 \u201cThis may not be easy for you to hear, Benjamin.\u00a0 It is not easy for me to say.\u00a0 Wade Bosh did not wish to harm me.\u00a0 He…loved me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s jaw tightened.\u00a0 \u201cHow can you say that?\u00a0 How can you employ that <\/em>word where such a beast is concerned?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause it is true.\u00a0 Perhaps, better put, in his <\/em>mind it was true.\u201d\u00a0 Jude hesitated, considering his words before speaking again.\u00a0 \u201cYou have met fathers, I am sure, who beat their children, who misuse and even abuse them, and yet, in their own minds, they believe they are doing it for their good \u2013 because <\/em>they love them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a very selfish kind of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman nodded.\u00a0 \u201cIt is.\u00a0 It is a selfish<\/em> love that views its object as a possession.\u201d\u00a0 Jude\u2019s hazel-brown eyes met his.\u00a0 \u201cDo you not love your possessions?\u00a0 Do you not care for them and take <\/em>care of them?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy son is not a possession!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0 This time Jude smiled.\u00a0 \u201cYou are a most unusual man, Benjamin.\u00a0 Self-possessed and yet so free of self.\u00a0 What I am trying to say is that Wade Bosh thought of me as his possession \u2013 as he no doubt thinks of Joseph \u2013 and with that comes a responsibility, a need <\/em>really, to keep that possession safe and<\/em> alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he almost killed you.\u00a0 He locked you in a dark place and left you to die<\/em>,\u201d he protested.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, because he erroneously thought it was for my best.\u201d\u00a0 The former cabin boy sighed.\u00a0 \u201cMy nearly dying was a consequence of Bosh\u2019s fear not his intent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben tried to digest what the other man was saying \u2013 without anger.\u00a0 It left his son in a precarious position at best.\u00a0 He\u2019d known fathers like Jude described. \u00a0One man in particular came to mind.\u00a0 He loved his sons with a fierce selfish pride.\u00a0 The youngest \u2013 a boy about Joseph\u2019s age \u2013 had disobeyed him and brought shame to the family.\u00a0 The man had beat him and locked him in the corncrib without food or water for several days.<\/p>\n

It had been summer.\u00a0 The boy had died.<\/p>\n

At his look, Jude continued.\u00a0 \u201cI say this only to give you a slender thread of hope to hang onto, my friend.\u00a0 If there was a way for Bosh to get Joseph through that storm and safely onto land, he would have done it \u2013 even at the cost of his own life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctors were only beginning to unravel the workings of the mind.\u00a0 Such thinking was beyond him, and yet Ben knew it was real.\u00a0 He had witnessed it with his own eyes.<\/p>\n

In the end he said, \u201cThank you, Jude. \u00a0Thank you for offering what consolation there is.\u201d<\/p>\n

His old friend touched his arm.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI offer that, Benjamin, but please know, what I desire to offer even more is hope<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hope.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d had a lot of it, but with each yard his tired legs covered, Joe Cartwright began to lose it.<\/p>\n

The land around the lake was uneven, littered with stones and leaves and other bracken.\u00a0 It was rough going in his ruined boots.\u00a0 He\u2019d turned his ankle more than once and could feel blisters forming on his feet.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t much close on this side of the lake, that\u2019s why makin\u2019 it to Meek\u2019s Bay was so important.\u00a0 As Joe ran he kept one ear to his backside.\u00a0 If Bosh was<\/em> trackin\u2019 him, he was either real far back or moved like a ghost \u2018cause the ground cover was snappin\u2019 like a turtle under his feet and so far he hadn\u2019t heard anything.\u00a0 That was why he\u2019d had so much hope.\u00a0 It had seemed like he was gonna make it.\u00a0 He was <\/em>gonna get away from the monster who had shot Adam and left him for dead as he stole him away.<\/p>\n

Joe swallowed over a big lump in his throat. He had no way of knowin\u2019 if Adam was alive or…dead.\u00a0 When he closed his eyes, everything from that night was muddy \u2013 everything, that was, except the image of the blood trailin\u2019 away from his brother\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

That<\/em> was crystal clear.<\/p>\n

Defiantly, Joe ignored the signals from his own body that he was just plain wore out and pushed on.\u00a0 His pa had read him plenty of Bible stories about men bein\u2019 in particular pickles that they thought they would never get out of.\u00a0 One of his favorites had been the story of Joseph, probably because that was his name.\u00a0 He remembered one night when his pa had been reading to him out of Genesis, he\u2019d stopped him and asked why \u2013 if God loved Joseph so much \u2013 he let him get into so much trouble.\u00a0 His pa had looked at him and a gentle smile had lifted his lips.\u00a0 What he\u2019d got afterwards was a lecture about God testin\u2019 people to see what they were made of and Joseph comin\u2019 out on top.\u00a0 He\u2019d laid there in bed thinkin\u2019 about it for some time before he went to sleep. \u00a0In spite of what Pa said, it seemed to him Joseph got into trouble all by himself; that he didn\u2019t think things through very well.\u00a0 After all, he should have knowed he\u2019d make his brothers mad by tellin\u2019 them they were gonna bow down and worship him one day, and he should have stopped and thought to take his cloak with him when that old Potiphar\u2019s wife tried to get him to do, well, what he shouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

After that he\u2019d made a vow to think things through better.\u00a0 After all, if God was gonna test him, he didn\u2019t want to end up in some prison for years in some foreign land.<\/p>\n

Trouble was, he wasn\u2019t very good at it.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019d gone about another ten yards when a wave of dizziness hit him.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t had any food since right before he and Bosh went onto the water, and very little water since he\u2019d been taken.\u00a0 The gash on his head had stopped bleeding, but he hadn\u2019t been able to clean it.\u00a0 Halting where he was, he put a hand to it and was surprised to find it little fiery.<\/p>\n

What he wouldn\u2019t give for his pa to show up right now and blister his behind for the words he was thinking of usin\u2019!<\/p>\n

Swaying on his feet, Joe eyed the landscape around him.\u00a0 He thought he was about a mile and a half still from John Meek\u2019s place.\u00a0 He\u2019d meant to press on until he got there but, try as he might, he had to admit that without rest he just wasn\u2019t going to make it.\u00a0 As another wave of nausea hit him and sweat poured down his face, he spotted a clump of trees and bushes off to his right.\u00a0 It was dark and would provide him with some sort of cover should Bosh come by.\u00a0 Joe walked a few yards forward and then clambered up onto some rocks and used them to make his way back.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t much, but at least his trail would disappear and Bosh would have to figure out which way he went.<\/p>\n

That would buy him a little time.<\/p>\n

Leaping the last few feet to the low-lying bushes, Joe crawled under them and placed his head on his arms and was asleep in seconds.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben felt as if he were sitting on a saddle composed of nails.<\/p>\n

They were nearing Meek\u2019s Bay.\u00a0 It was nearly three in the afternoon and they\u2019d been riding for almost eight hours.\u00a0 Both he and Jude were exhausted, but nothing was going to stop him until he rode into John Meek\u2019s yard.\u00a0 John and his wife Rita were gracious people.\u00a0 They were generous about the use of their landing.\u00a0 The homesteader was also a good judge of character.\u00a0 He\u2019d size up a man and take his measure in the space of two heartbeats.\u00a0 If Wade Bosh had come through there with Joseph, the odds were John would have been suspicious of the seaman and his charge.\u00a0 There were even greater odds Meek would remember his son.\u00a0 Joseph was, after all, distinctive looking with those brilliant green eyes, winning smile, and that mound of tousled chestnut-brown curls.\u00a0 He and Little Joe had visited the Meeks not all that long ago.<\/p>\n

Of course, John and Rita might be away from home.<\/p>\n

Ben scoffed.\u00a0 There was nothing like good old common sense to make mincemeat of hopeful expectations.<\/p>\n

As they rounded the last corner and John\u2019s place came into view, Ben reined in his horse.\u00a0 As he did, his dark gaze went to surrounding trees and then to the lake that stretched out on the east end of the property.\u00a0 It looked just as tranquil from this side.\u00a0 No one would have known what horrific event had played out there the night before.<\/p>\n

Jude came to a halt beside him.\u00a0 He lifted a hand and pointed.\u00a0 \u201cThere is smoke in the chimney.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relief flooded through the rancher, nearly bringing him to tears.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re home.\u201d<\/p>\n

His old friend nudged his mount forward.\u00a0 When he passed him, Jude paused and looked back. \u201cBenjamin?\u00a0 Are you coming?\u201d<\/p>\n

He swallowed hard and then nodded.\u00a0 What if there was no news or, worse, what if John had found his son\u2019s slender body washed up on the shore?\u00a0 On the other hand, what if Joseph had been rescued and was sitting in Rita\u2019s kitchen right now wrapped in a warm woolen blanket, drinking milk and eating her famous molasses cookies?<\/p>\n

Ben straightened in the saddle as he urged the animal he rode toward the Meeks\u2019 humble home.<\/p>\n

There was only one way to find out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joe was on the run again.\u00a0 He\u2019d been horrified to find that he\u2019d fallen asleep, and then terrified to realize just how<\/em> long he\u2019d slept. The sun had slipped farther down the sky toward the west.\u00a0 It was mid-afternoon and he\u2019d been out at least a couple of hours.<\/p>\n

Plenty of time for Bosh to awaken and come after him.<\/p>\n

Joe had found when he got up that all the aches and pains from the perilous passage over the lake were catchin\u2019 him up.\u00a0 His head was throbbing and his chest felt like it would burst.\u00a0 Both made the going tough.\u00a0 But Joe Cartwright was nothin\u2019 if not tough<\/em>.\u00a0 Hoss\u00a0 had told him once that all the scrapes he\u2019d been through were gonna make him strong as leather.\u00a0 After watching his pa and brothers tan hides, and now helping with the process himself, he understood what his middle brother meant.\u00a0 If a man could survive the skinning, curing, soaking, drenching and<\/em> picklin\u2019, he\u2019d come out strong.\u00a0 The first skinnin\u2019 for him had been his ma dying.\u00a0 Everythin\u2019 since then had seemed pretty tame, though he was sure his pa and old Doc Martin would disagree.\u00a0 So, in spite of the fact that he wanted to fall down and lie flat on his face and just give up, Joe kept moving.\u00a0 The Meek\u2019s place couldn\u2019t be that<\/em> far away.\u00a0 In fact, he though he could see smoke rising from a chimney.\u00a0 It had to be their house.<\/p>\n

Not so much running as dragging, Joe moved doggedly forward.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cBen!\u00a0 Ben Cartwright!\u00a0 What brings you to our side of the lake?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben had watched John Meeks come to the door with a rifle in his hand. The weapon was lowered now and John was smiling.\u00a0 He and Rita lived apart from any other settlers and, while they were always wary, they were just as glad of company.<\/p>\n

He only wished his visit today had been social.<\/p>\n

As they approached the house, Ben saw John\u2019s gaze shift to Jude and watched it turn quizzical.\u00a0 The former cabin boy had toned his attire down and was dressed more as a Western dude than a European one, but he still looked like a Beau Brummell in his dark gray Coburn great coat and dress shirt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho\u2019s this?\u201d John asked as they both dismounted.<\/p>\n

Ben watched Jude stiffen.\u00a0 The Englishman awaited the usual outcome of meeting a stranger \u2013 prejudgment, rejection and, perhaps, outright hostility.<\/p>\n

He was in for a surprise.<\/p>\n

John held his hand out.\u00a0 \u201cLooks like you aren\u2019t from around here, friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude visibly relaxed as he took the offered hand and shook it.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 I am from London.\u00a0 My name is Jude Randolph.\u201d<\/p>\n

The homesteader was busy sizing him up.\u00a0 \u201cSomehow I think you came from London via a long route.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJude was a cabin boy on one of the ships I served on,\u201d Ben offered.\u00a0 \u201cHe settled in London when the voyage ended.\u201d<\/p>\n

John grinned at him. \u201cWith a little help, I imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded impatiently.\u00a0 He glanced at Jude before asking, \u201cJohn, you haven\u2019t by chance seen that youngest son of mine, have you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWould that be the pretty one with the curly hair?\u201d Rita Meeks asked as she came out, dishcloth in hand.<\/p>\n

Hope swelled in his breast.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u00a0 Yes, Joseph.\u00a0 Have you seen him?\u201d<\/p>\n

Only a deaf man could have missed how desperate he sounded.<\/p>\n

Rita came forward to place a hand on his arm.\u00a0 \u201cBen, we haven\u2019t seen the boy.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong?\u00a0 Has something happened?\u201d<\/p>\n

Disappointment robbed him of his voice momentarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoseph has been kidnapped,\u201d Jude said plainly.\u00a0 \u201cThe man took him across the lake.\u201d\u00a0 His eyes went to the shimmering water. \u201cWe had hoped to find him here.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Meeks looked ill.\u00a0 \u201cGood God!\u00a0 When was this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral days ago,\u201d Ben answered, finding his voice.\u00a0 \u201cThe man took Joseph from the stable.\u00a0 He…shot Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs Adam all right?\u201d John asked.<\/p>\n

As Ben nodded, Rita asked, \u201cHas there been a ransom note?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSadly, it is more complicated than that,\u201d Jude interposed.\u00a0 \u201cThe man\u2019s name is Wade Bosh.\u00a0 He is the former second mate of the ship Independence<\/em>, who served under Benjamin.\u00a0 While first mate, Benjamin freed a boy Bosh had taken.\u00a0 Now he has returned to take, as he told Adam, his \u2018just due.\u201d<\/p>\n

John was eying Jude.\u00a0 \u201cWere you<\/em> that boy?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude nodded.<\/p>\n

The homesteader turned to Ben then.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry to say we haven\u2019t seen or heard anything, but we\u2019ll keep our eyes and ears peeled.\u00a0 You can be assured if that man shows up with your boy, I\u2019ll stop him from going any further.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded his thanks and then stumbled.<\/p>\n

Rita\u2019s hand shifted to prop him.\u00a0 She looked into his face.\u00a0 \u201cHow long has it been since you\u2019ve eaten a meal or had any real sleep, Ben?\u201d<\/p>\n

Before he could answer, Jude did.\u00a0 \u201cThe night the boy was taken.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben snarled.\u00a0 \u201cWe ate on the way here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u00a0 Crusty old jerky, I\u2019ll bet. And I can tell by your eyes they haven\u2019t seen sleep in hours.\u201d\u00a0 Rita\u2019s voice was tender.\u00a0 \u201cCome inside, Ben, take a rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head adamantly. \u201cI can\u2019t.\u00a0 Joseph….\u201d<\/p>\n

Rita didn\u2019t move.\u00a0 She waited until he met her stern gaze.\u00a0 \u201cNow, what would that wife of yours \u2013 and the boy\u2019s mother \u2013 say about your running yourself into the ground?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rita and Marie had been friends.\u00a0 Their visits to this side of the lake had been more frequent before her death.\u00a0 \u201cI promised her….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what you promised Marie.\u00a0 You promised her that you would look after her boy and nothing would harm him.\u201d\u00a0 Rita\u2019s voice softened.\u00a0 \u201cYou promised her<\/em> the same thing, too, didn\u2019t you, before she died?\u201d<\/p>\n

That he would look after Marie and see no harm came to her?\u00a0 Yes, and it haunted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Good Lord gives and He takes away, Ben.\u00a0 The best we can do is pray together and ask Him to give Joseph back.\u201d<\/p>\n

John\u2019s hand landed on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cCome inside, Ben.\u00a0 At least sit a spell and eat some food before you start out again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numbly he nodded, and didn\u2019t resist when Rita began to draw him toward the house.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joe was out of breath and nearly done.\u00a0 As he stumbled forward, he\u2019d heard the sound of someone breakin\u2019 through the trees behind him, hard on his trail.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter now how tired he was, how his head was pounding or how he couldn\u2019t draw a deep breath, he was runnin\u2019 full tilt like there was a grizzly comin\u2019 for him.<\/p>\n

A grizzly named Wade Bosh.<\/p>\n

He was pretty sure John Meek\u2019s place was just beyond the next stand of trees.\u00a0 They were tall ponderosas, and he\u2019d noticed them that time Mister Meek had taken him and his pa down to the landing.\u00a0 Mrs. Meek had come and got him, knowin\u2019 he\u2019d be bored soon enough, and had taken him into their house and fed him black molasses cookies.\u00a0 They\u2019d been her son\u2019s favorite before Ted Tyler decided to go East like Adam and never come back.\u00a0 They\u2019d laughed and sung a few songs, and then she\u2019d told him everything she remembered about his mama.\u00a0 He\u2019d hidden his tears when his pa and John Meeks came bustin\u2019 through the door laughin\u2019 and jokin\u2019, but Mrs. Meek had seen them right enough.<\/p>\n

She told him his mama would be proud of how deep feelin\u2019 he was.<\/p>\n

With a glance over his shoulder, Joe put on an extra burst of speed.\u00a0 As he did there was a roar, like a bull elephant, and he knew he was in trouble \u2013 big<\/em> trouble.\u00a0 As he exploded out of the stand of trees that was about a half a mile from the Meeks\u2019 house, he noticed four figures standing in front of the wooden structure.\u00a0 There were two horses too.\u00a0 One of them he thought he recognized.<\/p>\n

He was pretty sure it was his pa\u2019s new horse, Buck.<\/p>\n

Joe started to wave his arms as he ran forward, shouting into the wind that was blowing\u2019 from west to east.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t hear him.<\/p>\n

His heart in his throat, he yelled louder, \u201cPa!\u00a0 Pa!\u00a0 I\u2019m here!\u00a0 Pa, see me!\u00a0 Please, Pa!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Massive arms circled his legs, catching him just above the knees and driving him to the ground.\u00a0 Joe screamed into the grass as Wade Bosh took hold of him and flipped him over and then drove him back to the ground with a hand clamped so tightly over his mouth he feared his teeth would break.\u00a0 Bosh\u2019s eyes were wild \u2013 just like that cougar\u2019s had been the time he\u2019d perched on a rock and had almost jumped Pa.<\/p>\n

Joe saw his death in those eyes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben halted at the door to Rita and John\u2019s home and looked to the east.\u00a0 He thought he\u2019d heard something.\u00a0 Rita urged him on, but he firmly held his footing, listening.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it, Ben?\u201d she asked, her eyes following his.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t see anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI thought I heard someone calling me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman gave him a sympathetic look.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s the wind and the water through the trees. You don\u2019t know how many nights I\u2019ve come out looking for the passerby I thought was on my doorstep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s dark eyes went to her face.\u00a0 \u201cIt sounded like…Joseph.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had heard it clearly, or so he thought.\u00a0 Someone shouting \u2018Pa!<\/em>\u2019.<\/p>\n

Rita turned in the same direction.\u00a0 They both stood there until John and Jude rejoined them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it, Benjamin?\u201d Jude asked.<\/p>\n

His ears were tuned to the sound of his son\u2019s voice.\u00a0 When he didn\u2019t hear it, the rancher shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cBen thought he heard Little Joe calling him,\u201d Rita said\u00a0 He could hear the woman\u2019s pity in her tone.<\/p>\n

John took a few steps toward the lake.\u00a0 He looked back.\u00a0 \u201cDo you want me to look, Ben?\u201d<\/p>\n

He was being foolish.\u00a0 He knew it.\u00a0 Of course, he hadn\u2019t heard his son.\u00a0 It had been the wind through the trees just as Rita said \u2013 and his wishful thinking.\u00a0 If Joseph had been there he would have seen him by now; seen that precious face, those curls \u2013 heard his son\u2019s unmistakable giggle.<\/p>\n

Gone.\u00a0 They were gone.<\/p>\n

Joseph was gone.<\/p>\n

John Meeks caught his arm.\u00a0 \u201cCome inside, Ben.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben gave in.\u00a0 John was right.\u00a0 There was nothing out there.<\/p>\n

Nothing but a vain hope.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wade Bosh rose and stared down at the unconscious boy who lay crumpled at his feet.\u00a0 He\u2019d warned him.\u00a0 He shouldn\u2019t <\/em>have tried to get away.\u00a0 When he\u2019d awakened on the shore and found the boy gone, a fury had arisen in him stronger than the gale that had all but killed them both the night before.\u00a0 He\u2019d saved the boy\u2019s life and he\u2019d run<\/em> from him.<\/p>\n

Ingratitude.\u00a0 That\u2019s what it was.\u00a0 Plain ingratitude!<\/p>\n

Here he was, giving the boy a chance to travel at his side and see the world; freeing him from the constraints of that stolid holier-than-thou pa of his and a landlubber\u2019s life of drudgery and dirt.\u00a0 He should be grateful.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d better be grateful.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d teach<\/em> him to be grateful.<\/p>\n

It was obvious the boy was mouthy and ill-behaved.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know his place.\u00a0 He\u2019d asked around Eagle Station and been told Joe Cartwright was a spoiled brat; that his father indulged him on account of his mother dyin\u2019 when he was young.\u00a0 Bosh\u2019s hammy fingers formed into fists.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright was going to ruin the boy, just like he\u2019d ruined Jude Randolph.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t believe what Jude had become \u2013 a soft, cosseted, and indulged son of wealth, not fit to swab a deck or clean the head.<\/p>\n

That wouldn\u2019t happen with this one.<\/p>\n

The ship was waiting in port.\u00a0 Once they were on it first mate Cartwright could bellyache all he wanted, but there wasn\u2019t a thing he could do<\/em>.\u00a0 The Sun Princess<\/em> was due to set sail in two days\u2019 time and he and the boy would be on her.\u00a0 She was bound for southern climes; her voyage one of exploration that would last three years.\u00a0 By the time\u00a0 they returned, Joseph Cartwright would have forgotten all about his life on a ranch in the West; forgotten the names of his brothers and father.\u00a0 The boy would learn to think of him<\/em> as his pa.\u00a0 He would have Ben Cartwright\u2019s son for his own, since Cartwright had taken away his<\/em> son all those long years ago.<\/p>\n

The boy stirred at his feet.\u00a0 His eyes, masked by a fringe of chestnut curls, opened.\u00a0 They were dazed and feverish.\u00a0\u00a0 He licked his lips and looked up at him and whispered, \u201cPa?\u201d<\/p>\n

No, Bosh thought as he bent and lifted the boy into his arms and carried him away.\u00a0 No, not yet.<\/p>\n

But soon.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EIGHT<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Hoss no go!\u00a0 Promise lawman he be here<\/em> when he come back!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss stopped by the door.\u00a0 He had his heavy coat on and had donned his hat and belt and was headed out.\u00a0 He knew what he had promised.\u00a0 Hop Sing didn\u2019t have to remind him.<\/p>\n

But it had been too<\/em> long.<\/p>\n

\u201cDang it, Hop Sing!\u00a0 It\u2019s goin\u2019 on suppertime.\u00a0 Deputy Roy\u2019s had plenty of time to get back with that search party.\u00a0 I got me the Ponderosa men and we\u2019re headin\u2019 out.\u00a0 Roy can just catch us<\/em> up!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow he know which to go look for, Little Joe or Mistah Adam?\u00a0 How you know which you go look for?\u00a0 What if deputy find Little Joe!\u201d\u00a0 The Chinese man drew a breath.\u00a0 \u201cWhat if Little Joe hurt, need big brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

That was striking below the belt and Hop Sing dang well knew it.\u00a0 He knew how he felt about Little Joe \u2013 but he loved Adam too.<\/p>\n

Hoss sighed and crossed over to their irate cook.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing,\u201d he said, startin\u2019 slow, \u201cLittle Joe might need me, but I know <\/em>Adam does.\u00a0 \u2018Sides, Pa\u2019s lookin\u2019 for Little Joe and once he gets him back here, he\u2019s got you.\u201d\u00a0 He drew a breath and then finished.\u00a0 \u201cAdam ain\u2019t got no one but me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSend men then.\u00a0 Mistah Hoss not go.\u00a0 Too much danger.\u201d\u00a0 Hop Sing shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cFather be velly velly<\/em> angry with number two son.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was right there.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, Pa\u2019s gonna tan me from here \u2018til kingdom come, but that ain\u2019t gonna stop me.\u201d\u00a0 His eyes returned to the stain on the floor.\u00a0 \u201cAdam\u2019s bleedin\u2019.\u00a0 He\u2019s bein\u2019 forced to ride.\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe he ain\u2019t got so much time left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing wasn\u2019t a big man.\u00a0 Compared to him he was about knee-high to a grasshopper.\u00a0 Still, he was bigger than any of them when it came to his heart.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing have to try,\u201d he breathed.\u00a0 \u201cYou go, Mistah Hoss.\u00a0 The ancestors go with you.\u201d\u00a0 A look came into his eyes \u2013 fiercely protective.\u00a0 \u201cYou find Mistah Adam and you make men who take him pay!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss placed a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cI will, Hop Sing.\u00a0 You get those bandages ready and boil some water.\u00a0 I\u2019m bringin\u2019 big brother home.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the man from China nodded, Hoss turned back to the door, opened it, and stepped through.\u00a0 A half-dozen men were waiting for him outside, mounted and ready to ride.\u00a0 They were all he\u2019d been able to round up, fear for his brothers keeping him from riding further than the nearest camp.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re ready to ride, Hoss,\u201d Ed Waters said.\u00a0 \u201cHow about you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than ready, Ed,\u201d he answered.\u00a0 Ed was about his pa\u2019s age.\u00a0 So were half the men ridin\u2019 with him.\u00a0 The others were younger.\u00a0 All of them were good men.\u00a0 Among them was a couple of sharpshooters and at least one who could track as good as he could.\u00a0 Right after Deputy Roy rode away, he\u2019d gone out and followed what tracks there were.\u00a0 Like he\u2019d thought, Adam had taken the men along the road for a bit and then headed up into the rocky country.\u00a0 He was sure his brother was aimin\u2019 for one of the trails the three of them had scouted out.\u00a0 Most likely the one Pa didn\u2019t know about as he would have told them it was too dangerous.\u00a0 It led up to the top of a ridge and there was a secret way back down.\u00a0 He figured Adam was thinkin\u2019 of usin\u2019 that to get away from them men what held him. There were only two problems \u2013 that rock shaft was barely wide enough for Little Joe\u2019s skinny little hiney to shinny through and it was a long, hard drop to the bottom.<\/p>\n

If Adam got caught and he was bleedin\u2019 bad….<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your plan, Hoss?\u201d Joe Suggs called out, stirring him from his thoughts.<\/p>\n

Hoss smiled.\u00a0 These men were ten and twenty years older than him, but they were lettin\u2019 him take the lead.\u00a0 Not just \u2018cause he was the boss\u2019 son, but \u2018cause they knew him and trusted him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Adam, we got us ways no one knows about other than Little Joe.\u00a0 We kind of swore each other to secrecy.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinkin\u2019 Adam\u2019s on one of those trails.\u201d\u00a0 He paused and a smile lit his summer blue eyes.\u00a0 \u201cNow, you understand, you gotta swear you ain\u2019t never gonna tell a livin\u2019 soul about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed snorted as Joe placed a hand over his heart.\u00a0 \u201cI swear on my old sainted mother\u2019s grave,\u201d the older man said.<\/p>\n

Another voice, Jimmy Wheats\u2019, came from behind.\u00a0 \u201cYour ma ain\u2019t dead, Ed!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019m still gonna swear on it.\u00a0 She ain\u2019t got all that long!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss was touched.\u00a0 These were good men.<\/p>\n

\u201cFellers, I….\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed nudged his horse forward.\u00a0 \u201cHoss, you don\u2019t have to say nothin\u2019.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s missin\u2019 and <\/em>Little Joe.\u00a0 You\u2019d have to hogtie the bunch of us and roast us rare to get us to stay behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Ed\u2019s too old and stringy for supper!\u201d Joe Suggs proclaimed.<\/p>\n

Hoss laughed.\u00a0 He eyed his morgan percheron.\u00a0 She was already saddled and ready to go.<\/p>\n

That was another thing he owed these men for.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was late afternoon when they topped the ridge.\u00a0 Adam eyed his companions from across the fire they\u2019d kindled in order to fix a meal.\u00a0 While Hal and Jake were used to ranch work \u2013 inefficient as they were \u2013 they were not used to mountain climbing, even on horseback.\u00a0 He\u2019d made sure to take the most circuitous route he could think of so they would have to work their mounts hard, winding them through the rocks instead of coming straight up.\u00a0 Both animals and beasts…er…men were worn out.\u00a0 Even though they\u2019d stopped briefly at noon for jerky and coffee, the pair had decided to rest before going on.\u00a0 They\u2019d brought him a plate of beans and a cup of coffee and he\u2019d done the best he could with his hands tied.\u00a0 Adam knew he had to keep his strength up.\u00a0 Still, his wound, which was constantly bleeding now, was sapping his strength.\u00a0 He was tired \u2013 really tired.\u00a0 He had to break free soon.<\/p>\n

If he didn\u2019t, he was afraid when the time came to make an escape attempt, he wouldn\u2019t have the strength to do it.<\/p>\n

Leaning back, Adam closed his eyes and rested his head on the rock behind him.\u00a0 It was unbelievable what the last forty-eight hours or so had brought.\u00a0 When he\u2019d gone out to the barn to fetch his little brother in for supper, he\u2019d expected an argument and bit of a fight to get Little Joe to obey, but not….<\/p>\n

This.<\/p>\n

It was all a blur.\u00a0 Try as he might, he couldn\u2019t see Joe\u2019s kidnapper clearly.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t sure why it mattered other than seeing him \u2013 maybe recognizing him \u2013 might give him some small sense of control.\u00a0 Still, he was pretty sure he had never seen the man before.\u00a0 One day he and Joe had jokingly talked Hoss into stepping onto the horse scale.\u00a0 Their then thirteen-year-old brother had topped out at over two hundred pounds.\u00a0 Hoss was big.\u00a0 The man who took Joe was bigger.<\/p>\n

And Little Joe was, to put it bluntly, about as small as a ten year old.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d done their best to build him up.\u00a0 Hop Sing kept slinging steaks and he and Hoss pushed the kid mercilessly, making him do heavy lifting, baling, and everything else they could think of to increase his muscle strength.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s lips curled in a smile.\u00a0 He\u2019d even provoked a fight now and then to teach the little scamp the finer art of defending himself.\u00a0 One thing they had not had to teach Joe was how to be fast.\u00a0 That was a gift from God.\u00a0 Little Joe ran like the wind and at times it seemed he might even be able to fly.<\/p>\n

God<\/em>, he thought, let Joe fly.\u00a0 Give him wings and let him fly back to us!<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a silly thought but somehow, strangely comforting.<\/p>\n

Adam opened his eyes and shifted in an attempt to put his back at ease.\u00a0 When he did, pain shot through him.\u00a0 Frowning, he sat up a bit and used his bound hands to pull at his now tattered wine-red shirt.\u00a0 It came away from his skin with difficulty, indicating the deep red color was more than just dye.\u00a0 He could feel fever licking at the edge of his senses.\u00a0 He\u2019d been sick enough often <\/em>enough to know it was a mild one, but he knew as well his rising temperature indicated infection was setting in.<\/p>\n

Another reason to be on the move.<\/p>\n

Through heavily-lidded eyes, Adam watched his captors.\u00a0 They were busy with various mundane chores.\u00a0 He\u2019d thought it through and decided to make his escape attempt the moment it became dark.\u00a0 The men who had taken him kept his hands bound, but had left his feet free so he could ride.\u00a0 He\u2019d pretended to be even weaker than he was in the hope that they would grow complacent and think him too ill to try to get away and leave them that way.<\/p>\n

Adam snorted.\u00a0 He probably was<\/em> too ill to try to get away!<\/p>\n

From what he remembered the chute or natural rock shaft was about two miles along the top of the ridge.\u00a0 At the rate they were traveling, and with night coming on, he thought he could slow them enough to reach it just about the time it got dark.\u00a0 The chute lay about twenty yards within the trees to the left of the path.\u00a0 It was hidden by a dense growth of underbrush.\u00a0 There was an overhang and then you entered it and it was about forty feet straight down.\u00a0 He still marveled Little Joe had survived the drop.\u00a0 But then he marveled that Little Joe had survived to be nearly thirteen at all.\u00a0 The kid was a walking magnet for trouble.\u00a0 Fortunately, it seemed God had balanced that penchant for danger with a charmed life because he came out of every scrape bruised, battered, and sometimes scarred, but stronger.<\/p>\n

He loved his little brother.<\/p>\n

He was so <\/em>frightened for him .<\/p>\n

\u201cYou awake, Cartwright?\u201d Hal\u2019s rough voice called, stirring him from his thoughts.<\/p>\n

Adam replied \u2013 and then he replied again after clearing his throat.\u00a0 It surprised him how weak his voice sounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I\u2019m awake. What do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, if Mister high-and-mighty don\u2019t sound put out<\/em>,\u201d the more evil of the two men sneered, affecting a foppish pose.\u00a0 \u201cSorry, your lordship, did I wake you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hal Wilmot\u2019s voice dripped with venom.<\/p>\n

Adam effected a weak pose with his shoulders slumped and his head barely lifted.\u00a0 Not that it was too much of an affectation.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo we really have to move on?\u201d he whined.<\/p>\n

Wilmot\u2019s gun was in his hand.\u00a0 He walked over to him and placed it against his forehead.\u00a0 \u201cI can put you to sleep forever, Cartwright, if that\u2019s what you want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHal!\u00a0 You cain\u2019t kill him.\u00a0 We won\u2019t ever get that treasure!\u201d Jake Kusky called.\u00a0 Jake was beginning to break the camp.<\/p>\n

Hal was eyeing him.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t so sure there is<\/em> a treasure.\u00a0 I\u2019m thinkin\u2019 mister high-and-mighty here was just tryin\u2019 to save his skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, how wrong he was.\u00a0 He was trying to divert them from following his father.<\/p>\n

\u201cCome now, Hal.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking about a seaman here who has traveled the world,\u201d Adam countered. \u201cYou know as well as I do how many ships go down and how much gold is found.\u00a0 What makes you doubt me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilmot crouched before him.\u00a0 The outlaw reached out and caught his hair in his hand and forced his head back against the rocks.\u00a0 The gun moved from his temple to under his chin.<\/p>\n

\u201c \u2018Cause I know you Cartwrights.\u00a0 You ain\u2019t worried about money \u2018cause you got so much.\u00a0 I\u2019m bettin\u2019 it\u2019s that little brother of your\u2019n you\u2019re worried about most.\u00a0 Maybe you\u2019re tryin\u2019 to save him somehow.\u201d\u00a0 He paused, suddenly inspired.\u00a0 \u201cOr maybe it\u2019s that pa of yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was all he needed \u2013 for Hal Wilmot to turn out to be an idiot savant<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Adam swallowed over his rising fear.\u00a0 \u201cI told you.\u00a0 Jude Randolph is a rich man.\u00a0 Wade Bosh wants the gold he has.\u00a0 Jude came here to the Ponderosa and hid it and then came to my pa to ask him to join him in getting Bosh off his tail.\u00a0 Pa and Jude are old friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShould\u2019a knowed your pa\u2019d be\u00a0 friends with a darky,\u201d Wilmot spit with disgust.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat \u2018darky\u2019, as you call him, was adopted into one of the wealthiest families in England.\u00a0 Anyhow, when Bosh found out Pa was involved, he took Little Joe to force my father to turn Jude over to him.\u00a0 Jude and Pa took off to come up here, get the gold, and then go look for Joe and Bosh.\u201d\u00a0 Adam paused.\u00a0 He added this for the sake of the man holding him whom he knew would believe it. \u201cPa means to betray Jude, take the money, and pay the ransom for Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please God<\/em>, Adam thought, his head\u00a0 reeling, make him believe me!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt sound right, Hal,\u201d Jake said. \u201cYou know Cartwright, he\u2019d do anythin\u2019 to get that brat of his back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hal continued to stare at him for several long heartbeats.\u00a0 Then he lifted the gun and rocked back on his heels.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess so,\u201d Hal said, not entirely convinced.\u00a0 \u201cStill, seems your pa\u2019s got more than enough money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam formed his features into an avaricious grin.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan a man really<\/em> ever have enough?\u201d<\/p>\n

That, Hal Wilmot understood.<\/p>\n

Standing, the outlaw looked at his companion.\u00a0 \u201cYou got everythin\u2019 ready to ride?\u201d\u00a0 When Jake nodded, he turned back to him and waved his gun.\u00a0 \u201cOn your feet, Cartwright, it\u2019s time to ride.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t know if he could.\u00a0 Standing up seemed no less imposing an idea than climbing a mountain at that moment.\u00a0 Still, if he didn\u2019t, he was pretty sure Wilmot would put a bullet through his head.\u00a0 Gathering everything that was left in him, Adam forced himself to his feet and then stood there, rocking, until his head cleared enough that he could move.<\/p>\n

Wilmot caught his arm and thrust him toward his horse. \u201cMount!\u201d he ordered.<\/p>\n

Adam looked at the fifteen and a half hand horse he was riding.\u00a0\u00a0 He sighed.<\/p>\n

Another mountain to climb.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you tellin\u2019 me, Hop Sing?\u00a0 That Ben\u2019s other boy is missin\u2019 now too?\u00a0 Jumpin\u2019 Jehoshaphat!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cMister Hoss not missin\u2019!\u201d the little China man shouted back.\u00a0 \u201cTake men!\u00a0 Go look for Mistah Adam since lawman late!\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy Coffee scowled.\u00a0 He had him on that one.\u00a0 It was<\/em> mighty late.\u00a0 In fact, the dark was comin\u2019 on and there weren\u2019t much they could do tonight to search for either of Ben\u2019s boys.\u00a0 He\u2019d gone to town to round up men for the hunt for Little Joe and run smack dab into an amateur bank robbery.\u00a0 The outlaws turned out to be two teenage boys \u2013 hardly older than Ben\u2019s youngest \u2013 who\u2019d taken money from their father\u2019s safe and gone on a bender and then panicked when they found he was comin\u2019 home sooner than they thought.\u00a0 They\u2019d gone into the bank and ordered the clerk to put all the money in the safe in a bag they was carryin\u2019.\u00a0 Trouble was they didn\u2019t put no guard on the door and one of the customers just walked out and went to get help.\u00a0 He\u2019d arrived just in time to keep the two boys from gettin\u2019 themselves killed for their stupidity.<\/p>\n

Why, their guns wasn\u2019t even loaded!<\/p>\n

Anyhow, by the time he\u2019d sorted things out and the boys\u2019 folks had come to claim them, the day was almost gone.\u00a0 He\u2019d went through the crowd recruitin\u2019 men what thought they could be away for a day or two and ridden hard back to the Ponderosa not even stoppin\u2019 for supper, only to find Ben\u2019s middle boy had got ants in his britches and started out without him!<\/p>\n

Leastwise the boy\u2019d been wise enough not to go on his own.<\/p>\n

Roy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cSo, I\u2019m supposin\u2019 Hoss told you what way they was goin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing nodded.\u00a0 With a raised finger, the China man indicated he should follow.\u00a0 Roy did as he was told and traipsed over to Ben\u2019s desk.\u00a0 It was then he saw a map of the Ponderosa laid out there.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s cook\u2019s finger traced a pencil course across it.<\/p>\n

\u201cMistah Hoss make marks.\u00a0 Say he go this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy leaned over the map, but he couldn\u2019t see nothin\u2019.\u00a0 He took his glasses off and rubbed his eyes.\u00a0 Once they were settled back on his nose, he looked again.<\/p>\n

There it was.\u00a0 A light scratching in gray.<\/p>\n

As his finger traced it, he whistled. \u201cThis ain\u2019t no beaten path.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing\u2019s dark head bobbed up and down.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Hoss say way known only to him and Mistah Ben\u2019s other sons.\u00a0 Play there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Play\u2019 there?\u00a0 Roy whistled.\u00a0 Ben bred them tough.\u00a0 The path the pencil followed went up into God\u2019s country that weren\u2019t nothin\u2019 but bone and stone.\u00a0 It was a good thing it wasn\u2019t summer.\u00a0 Anyone up there would roast in an hour or two.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow come he\u2019s goin\u2019 this way?\u201d he asked, eying the map with trepidation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMister Hoss go look at tracks.\u00a0 He say Mistah Adam take path.\u00a0 Maybe Mistah Adam think he lose bad men in rocks.\u201d\u00a0 Hop Sing had seemed pretty confident.\u00a0 Now, his voice wavered.\u00a0 \u201cMistah Hoss say there quick way down from ridge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy felt the color drain from his cheeks.\u00a0 \u201cNot Diaz\u2019s Dodge?\u201d<\/p>\n

The China man\u2019s eyes were narrow by nature.\u00a0 They narrowed ever further.\u00a0 \u201cDeputy Roy know of chute?\u201d<\/p>\n

Oh, he knew about that shaft.\u00a0 It had been a long time since he\u2019d thought about it, but he remembered it well.\u00a0 He\u2019d been a young man, about Adam\u2019s age, and just come to the Nevada territory when an old Indian told him about it.\u00a0 Seemed there\u2019d been this crazy Spaniard, had a lot of money.\u00a0 He betrayed his men and was abscondin\u2019 with the loot. They caught up to him at the top of that ridge.\u00a0 There was a shoot-out and he worked his way back into the trees and then literally stumbled into it.\u00a0 Seein\u2019 a chance to escape, Diaz worked his way down it until he was about twenty feet from the ground and he got stuck.\u00a0 His friends sat at the top and took pot shots at him and then listened to his screams until they died away and he died too.<\/p>\n

Some said it was a year or two before his bones fell apart enough for him to take the plunge the rest of the way down.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam ever been in that chute before?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe go down it.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2018Course he had.\u00a0 That boy was a pistol.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, Hop Sing, Adam\u2019s a sight bigger than that little squirt.\u00a0 Odds are he ain\u2019t gonna make it down without gettin\u2019 stuck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Makin\u2019 Ben\u2019s oldest a target for whoever\u2019d taken him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMister Adam slender like sapling.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy didn\u2019t need to be a sapling \u2013 he needed to be a reed!<\/p>\n

Roy sighed as he lifted his finger from the map.\u00a0 It was a right good plan \u2013 if the boy could make it.\u00a0 He turned and glanced out the window in Ben Cartwright\u2019s office.\u00a0 The night was comin\u2019 on.\u00a0 If they left now, they\u2019d make it to the bottom of the ridge before they had to call a halt.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t no way they could travel that country at night, so\u2019s it would be another six hours or so before they could set out after the boy.<\/p>\n

The lawman sighed deeply.<\/p>\n

An awful lot could happen in six hours.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss was kneeling on the ground.\u00a0 He righted himself and looked up.\u00a0 There were very few tracks \u2013 a hoof print here and there and the outline of a boot in the dust.\u00a0 He\u2019d found a dark stain on the side of a rock as well.\u00a0 He\u2019d almost missed it as the light was going.\u00a0 The big teenager scowled.\u00a0 He almost wished he had.<\/p>\n

It was blood.<\/p>\n

Unexpectedly, a hand came down on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, son.\u00a0 It\u2019s looks like your brother\u2019s bleedin\u2019 bad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss nodded.\u00a0 What Ed said came as no surprise to him.\u00a0 He wondered if Adam<\/em> knew.\u00a0 Since the shirt his brother was wearing was the color of blood, there\u2019d be nothin\u2019 to show how much he was losin\u2019, just a sense of weakness \u2013 a feelin\u2019 like things weren\u2019t right.\u00a0 He\u2019d been shot once in the leg.\u00a0 It were an accident while huntin\u2019.\u00a0 He and his brothers had been pretty far out and the horses had bolted with the sound.\u00a0 He remembered how he just kept gettin\u2019 weaker and weaker as Adam steadied him and Little Joe danced desperately in front of him, urgin\u2019 him to keep goin\u2019 until they reached home.<\/p>\n

And he wasn\u2019t bleedin\u2019 this<\/em> much.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe gotta keep goin\u2019,\u201d he said, determination in his voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss, there ain\u2019t now way we can,\u201d Ed replied.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019ll be dark soon and you know this area, ain\u2019t no lantern gonna light it well enough to travel at night.\u00a0 You can\u2019t<\/em> go on.\u201d<\/p>\n

His fingers formed a fist.\u00a0 He shook his head. \u201cI cain\u2019t stop, Ed!\u00a0 I gotta keep goin\u2019.\u00a0 Adam needs me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes he need you dead?<\/em>\u00a0 \u2018Cause that\u2019s what you\u2019re gonna be, boy, if you try it.\u201d\u00a0 The older man paused. \u201cWhat about your Pa?\u00a0 What if….\u201d\u00a0 He hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cWhat if you\u2019re the only boy he\u2019s got left?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was like Ed had punched him in the gut.<\/p>\n

His eyes teared up.<\/p>\n

Ed sighed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, son, but it had to be said.\u00a0 You gotta do what you can to take care of yourself, Hoss.\u00a0 Your pa needs you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A world without Adam and Little Joe was beyond thinkin\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cEd, I cain\u2019t….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know, boy,\u201d he said as he lifted his hand.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll get your bedroll.\u00a0 You need to eat and then get some sleep.\u00a0 Come mornin\u2019 we\u2019ll do all we can to find that brother of yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numb, Hoss watched the older man walk away.\u00a0 Around him there were the normal sounds of a camp bein\u2019 made \u2013 someone was cookin\u2019, he could smell the coffee and stew.\u00a0 Someone else was tendin\u2019 to the horses.\u00a0 Ed was layin\u2019 out their bed rolls.\u00a0 Life went on.<\/p>\n

How could it?<\/p>\n

What if Ed was right?\u00a0 What if Adam…died and they never got Little Joe back?\u00a0 Mama\u2019s death had just about killed their pa, what would losin\u2019 two<\/em> of his sons do to the older man?<\/p>\n

What would it do to him?<\/em><\/p>\n

Hoss\u2019 jaw grew taut as he fought to keep the tears from fallin\u2019.\u00a0 There were so many things ragin\u2019 inside him \u2013 fright for his brothers, hate for the men who took them, a sort of helplessness when he thought about his pa and how he wasn\u2019t gonna survive this, and a real<\/em> deep fear that what was left of his pa wouldn\u2019t be anythin\u2019 like the man he loved and knew.\u00a0 In the space of less than two days his whole world had turned upside-down.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know where to turn \u2013 what to do \u2013 and he had<\/em> to do somethin\u2019.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t sit here and eat his supper and then lay down to rest like Ed wanted.<\/p>\n

If he did, he was gonna explode!<\/p>\n

Hoss eyed the other men.\u00a0 They were all busy with their various chores.\u00a0 He thought about boltin\u2019 right there and then, but realized it would be better to wait just a little while.\u00a0 He\u2019d pretend to do all those normal things so\u2019s they wouldn\u2019t suspect what he was about.\u00a0 He\u2019d wait \u2018til they was all asleep and then<\/em> he\u2019d go.\u00a0 He\u2019d take his horse and his gun and he\u2019d mount up and head out in the dark whether or not anyone thought he was loco.\u00a0 The moon was up.\u00a0 It was enough to light his way.<\/p>\n

Even if it wasn\u2019t, nothin\u2019 could have stopped him .<\/p>\n

He was a Cartwright and plain and simple, a Cartwright never<\/em> said \u2018can\u2019t\u2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They\u2019d stopped for the night.\u00a0 Adam knew it was now or never.\u00a0 He\u2019d been so weak when he dismounted his horse that Wilmot had simply dumped him on the ground and walked away.\u00a0 Hand over hand he\u2019d crawled away from the horses\u2019 hooves, eventually righting himself so he sat against a rock.\u00a0 Jake had brought him some food and he\u2019d forced a little of it down.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t wanted it, but consuming it actually made him feel better and he was ready to try.<\/p>\n

To try to escape.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been sitting for a few minutes watching the pair.\u00a0 They\u2019d argued about just about everything.\u00a0 In the end Jake had gone to care for the horses and Hal was sitting, brooding over a cup of coffee.\u00a0 Neither of them had paid him any attention for at least ten minutes.\u00a0 Shifting ever so slightly, the black-haired man turned and looked over his shoulder.\u00a0 Before the dark had fallen, he\u2019d gotten a bead on where he was.\u00a0 There was a tall pine that had been split by lightning, one half of which had fallen and looked like a natural bridge.\u00a0 The rock chute was behind it.\u00a0 He remembered hanging onto the withered trunk and looking down, fearing he would find Little Joe, his body broken beyond repair, at the bottom of the shaft.\u00a0 Of course, in the dark, there was a pretty good chance he was going to step too far out and plunge down rather than lowering himself into it.\u00a0 Still, as much as he didn\u2019t want to die, it would be better to do so by his own choice than at the hands of Hal Wilmot.<\/p>\n

And, with Wilmot, it was only a matter of time.<\/p>\n

Adam looked at the men again.\u00a0 Hal\u2019s head was nodding and Jake was nowhere in sight.\u00a0 He\u2019d probably gone off to relieve himself.\u00a0 Fortunately for him, the men\u2019s fatigue had caused them to forget to bind his feet.\u00a0 Planting his teeth firmly in his lower lip to stifle any unintended cries, Adam began to shift to the right.\u00a0 It was hard.\u00a0 He was weaker from blood loss than he cared to admit and knew the fever that had licked at his senses had burst into life in the last hour or so.\u00a0 The odds were he wasn\u2019t going to survive this.<\/p>\n

Still, what other choice did he have?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss waited until his Pa\u2019s men fell asleep and then sneaked out of camp.\u00a0 Ed had left one of the men on watch at the edge of it, but he\u2019d made it past him without any trouble.\u00a0 His head was droopin\u2019 too.\u00a0 The men he\u2019d recruited had been workin\u2019 day and night drivin\u2019 cattle.\u00a0 They was plumb wore out . He hated to cheat them, but there just wasn\u2019t any way he\u2019d be able to sleep and since he couldn\u2019t, then he might as well be on his way.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d kind of chuckled as he took off.\u00a0 He was the good son, or so the town folks said.\u00a0 Adam… Well, older brother had his own head and so did his pa and they butted them more often than not.\u00a0 People knew when the Cartwrights came into town, they could expect at least one shoutin\u2019 match, sometimes in anger but most of the time in fun.\u00a0 And Little Joe?\u00a0 Well, that boy wasn\u2019t bad.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t come more lovin\u2019 or deeper feelin\u2019 than him.\u00a0 But \u2018cause Joe feelin\u2019s ran so deep, the boy just didn\u2019t think \u2013 he acted.<\/em>\u00a0 It was like all that lovin\u2019 and feelin\u2019 just rose up in him and shot out like a bullet at full speed.\u00a0 Trouble was, too often, he had a hard time when he hit.<\/p>\n

Now him?\u00a0 He always heard people talkin\u2019 when they walked by.\u00a0 He was the one they was sure would still be with his pa when he was an old man, takin\u2019 care of him.\u00a0 That was okay with him, and sometimes he thought that too.\u00a0 After all it was Adam that had the wanderlust and Little Joe who was always lookin\u2019 for fun.\u00a0 Still, sometimes, he dreamed too.\u00a0 Not of seein\u2019 the world, but maybe goin\u2019 off on his own to live in the mountains away from people and all their notions.\u00a0 Animals was easier than people, and they\u2019d be his companions way up there.\u00a0 Still, he thought as he took a swig from his canteen, he knew he\u2019d never leave the Ponderosa.\u00a0 He just couldn\u2019t <\/em>leave his pa and brothers. They were part and parcel of his soul.<\/p>\n

Were…not had been<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d save them both yet.<\/p>\n

As he hesitated, a little ways in front of him Hoss saw a glint of moonlight on metal.\u00a0 A second later, there was a shot.\u00a0 And then another.<\/p>\n

Capping his canteen, he dropped it to the ground beside the rope and satchel containing whiskey and bandages he\u2019d brought with him, and then he lit out like a house on fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn kid!\u00a0 God damn,<\/em> kid!\u00a0 Can you see him, Jake?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t, Hal.\u00a0 But he\u2019d gotta be down there!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam winced.\u00a0 Stupid as he was, Jake Kusky was right.\u00a0 He was \u2018down there\u2019.<\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t gotten very far.<\/p>\n

Adam sighed as he looked past his feet.\u00a0 When he went over the edge and into the shaft \u2013 fortunately under his own power \u2013 something must have alerted Wilmot to his absence.\u00a0 He had no more begun to work his way down it than he heard the man shout that he was gone and call out to Kusky.\u00a0 After that they lit lanterns and began to beat the brush.\u00a0 He\u2019d huddled against the wall of the shaft as they moved in ever-widening circles, knowing that eventually one of them would stumble \u2013 literally \u2013 onto the entry of the chute.\u00a0 They couldn\u2019t know he had gone down it and it was too dark for them to see him.\u00a0 His only hope lay in them taking a good look at it and dismissing it as a possibility \u2013 which it appeared they were<\/em> doing until Hal Wilmot decided that he just might<\/em> be down there and had started to fire his gun into it on the off-chance that he would hit him.<\/p>\n

So far he had not.<\/p>\n

He was anchored to the western wall, about ten feet down, his boots balanced precariously on a bit of rock that jutted out.\u00a0 When they looked down, the men would actually be looking over<\/em> him as the small shelf was mirrored by one above his head that was covered with grass.\u00a0 So long as it was dark, he was safe \u2013 unless, of course, he lost his footing and plummeted all the way to the bottom.\u00a0 There was another problem too, Adam realized as he adjusted his grip and the trembling fingers that held onto a root that jutted out of the mountainside.<\/p>\n

He might not have the strength to last until help arrived.<\/p>\n

Another bullet bit into the rock near his feet, sending up a spray of sharp shards.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou down there, Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n

Like he was going to answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cCartwright!\u201d\u00a0 A pause.\u00a0 Then, \u201cYou get yourself down there, Jake!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam heard an exclamation of surprise.\u00a0 One his father would not<\/em> have approved of.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t goin\u2019 down there!\u00a0 You\u2019re crazy!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCrazy or dead.\u00a0 Your choice!\u201d<\/p>\n

The black-haired man sighed.\u00a0 No honor among thieves. Wasn\u2019t that how it went?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019re you gonna do?\u00a0 Shoot me?\u00a0 I ain\u2019t \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a shot.\u00a0 Then another one.<\/p>\n

Then silence.<\/p>\n

Then, maybe thirty seconds later, a voice.\u00a0 A beloved <\/em>voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, you down there?\u201d<\/p>\n

Relief almost made him let go.\u00a0 \u201cHoss?\u201d he called weakly.<\/p>\n

There was a smile in the reply.\u00a0 \u201cNow, older brother, just what do you think you\u2019re doin\u2019 down there?\u00a0 You tryin\u2019 to outdo Little Joe for sheer cussedness?\u201d<\/p>\n

That was a title he would gladly acquiesce to the youngest of the clan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew you were comin\u2019,\u201d he replied, his breathing a bit ragged.\u00a0 \u201cThought I\u2019d just hang around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss snorted.\u00a0 Then a note of alarm entered his tone.\u00a0 \u201cHow far down are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam looked between his feet again.\u00a0 The risen moon lit the bottom of the shaft.\u00a0 \u201cAbout ten feet down, I think.\u00a0 Looks like thirty to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou just hangin\u2019 on, or are you on anythin\u2019 firm?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Firm\u2019 was a matter of opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy feet are on a shelf.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t move, Adam!\u00a0 I got a rope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about Hal and Jake?\u201d he called back, fearing for his brother.<\/p>\n

There was a pause.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019re dead.\u00a0 Hal killed Jake.\u00a0 I had to shoot….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all right, Hoss.\u00a0 You did what you had to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silence again.\u00a0 Then finally, \u201cYeah.\u00a0 You stay put, brother.\u00a0 No dancin\u2019, you hear?\u00a0 I\u2019ll be right back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The black-haired man was surprised how terrified he felt when his brother disappeared.\u00a0 It was the relief, he told himself, of knowing rescue was on its way.<\/p>\n

He told himself that, but more likely it was the fact that his muscles had reached their limit and he was losing his grip.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss, hurry, I\u2019m \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam didn\u2019t have time to get the word out before he fell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PART THREE<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

NINE<\/p>\n

The first thing he was aware of was the smell of wood \u2013 dank, musty wood.<\/p>\n

The second was that he was in the dark.<\/p>\n

Third, he was bound hand and foot and a rag had been placed between his teeth and tied behind his head, silencing him.<\/p>\n

Fourth, he was moving, bouncing up and down like the road they were on was a mountainous one.<\/p>\n

Joe licked his lips as he shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position.\u00a0 His ears were ringin\u2019 and his head felt like someone had taken a hammer to it.\u00a0 After catching him Bosh had lifted him up like a rag doll and tossed him over his shoulder.\u00a0 It had been a mistake, but he\u2019d started kicking and bucking as hard as he could the minute he did.\u00a0 He\u2019d manage to throw Bosh off-kilter and they\u2019d both landed in a heap.\u00a0 Quick as a rabbit, he\u2019d tried to skedaddle, but his kidnapper had been faster.\u00a0 The seaman caught his legs, dragged him back, and hit him upside the head plunging him into darkness.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d only just awakened to he fact that he was trussed up and laying in the bed of a wagon.\u00a0 Joe tried to get a sense of whether it was day or night, but realized pretty quickly it was pointless.\u00a0 Since his hands were bound behind him, he couldn\u2019t reach up and test what was above him.\u00a0 He was pretty sure it was a tarp.\u00a0 If it had been sky, he would have seen something \u2013 stars, moonlight \u2013 something.<\/p>\n

Seemed Bosh wasn\u2019t gonna take a chance on anyone seein\u2019 him.<\/p>\n

Joe scrunched his nose up and fought a sneeze.\u00a0 It was cold in the wagon bed and he didn\u2019t feel so good.\u00a0 His clothes were damp and the cut on his head was hot and he was pretty sure he was catchin\u2019 a cold or somethin\u2019.\u00a0 As he lay there thinkin\u2019 about how miserable he felt, he noticed the wagon slowin\u2019 down.\u00a0 It continued rolling a few more yards and then he felt a jolt as it came to a stop.\u00a0 There were voices.\u00a0 A man and a woman\u2019s.<\/p>\n

All too quickly they moved away.<\/p>\n

Desperate that someone know he was there, Joe fought to work himself into a seated position.\u00a0 He began to panic when he found he couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 His hands and feet were tethered to the wagon bed by ropes that had been drawn through metal rings.\u00a0 Since he couldn\u2019t move much, he tried to make noise.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t work either.\u00a0 The muffled sounds were pitiful even to his own ears.\u00a0 Joe shivered as tears entered his eyes and spilled over onto his filthy cheeks.\u00a0 I was useless.\u00a0 Even if <\/em>someone had been standin\u2019 right by the wagon they wouldn\u2019t have been able to hear him.<\/p>\n

Abruptly the tarp was drawn back.\u00a0 Bosh\u2019s face appeared inches above his.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you know what\u2019s good for you, you\u2019ll keep quiet, boy,\u201d he growled menacingly.<\/p>\n

Then the tarp went back in place.<\/p>\n

Joe froze as he heard a door open and close.\u00a0 Seconds later a man said something.\u00a0 The sound of his voice was close; then he moved away.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter he heard a nicker and the whinnying of horses, as well as the clatter of harnesses.<\/p>\n

Bosh must be hiring a new team!<\/p>\n

Wherever the seaman was heading with him, Joe feared it would be far away.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t remember all that much about what had happened since he\u2019d been kidnapped, but he had a sick feeling that the seaman was taking him to a sailing vessel.\u00a0 Joe knew from the tales his pa had spun of his time on shipboard the that the voyages the tall ships went on were often two or three years in length.<\/p>\n

If Bosh got him on<\/em> one of them….<\/p>\n

Recklessly \u2013 heedless of Bosh\u2019s whispered warning \u2013 Joe squirmed with all his might and made as much noise as he could, driving the heels of his boots into the wagon\u2019s bed and shouting into the gag.\u00a0 He heard the man\u2019s voice rise in a question and Bosh\u2019s answer.<\/p>\n

Then, a gun went off.<\/p>\n

A woman screamed.<\/p>\n

Then, there was another shot.<\/p>\n

Several pounding heartbeats later the tarp was withdrawn.\u00a0 Wade Bosh took the end of his smoking gun and shoved it under his nose.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you happy now, mate?\u00a0 These nice people are dead and it\u2019s all on account of you!\u00a0 What\u2019s your precious pa goin\u2019 to think of that?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s eyes were wide with horror.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t….<\/p>\n

He hadn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

He had<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Joe choked back tears as he turned his face into the fetid boards that lined the wagon\u2019s bed.\u00a0 A man and woman had been murdered.\u00a0 They were dead <\/em>because of him. He hadn\u2019t pulled the trigger, but he was every bit as much a murderer as the one who did.<\/p>\n

How could he ever <\/em>go home?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Deputy Roy Coffee stared at the lone figure\u00a0 what occupied a rock at the far end of the camp he and his men had just come upon.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright was sittin\u2019 on it, starin\u2019 off into nothin\u2019; his lean figure a black shadow in front of the risen moon.\u00a0 It had been two days since they\u2019d left the Ponderosa and that meant Little Joe had been missin\u2019 for nigh onto five.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know about Adam.\u00a0 Thing was, he didn\u2019t know about Hoss neither and Roy wasn\u2019t sure just how<\/em> he was gonna tell those boy\u2019s pa that all <\/em>of his sons were missin\u2019 and probably in danger and maybe, just maybe dead.<\/p>\n

Roy glanced back at the men who was settlin\u2019 in at the fire.\u00a0 He\u2019d lost about half of \u2018em along the way.\u00a0 They\u2019d set out in pursuit of Ben and that Jude feller, but when it became clear that the man who\u2019d taken Little Joe had crossed the lake and was headed up into the Sierras, several of them begged off, sayin\u2019 they had crops to tend and animals to care for and a wife and young\u2019uns of their own to worry about.<\/p>\n

He let them go.\u00a0 They\u2019d done what they could, even if it wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

The men who\u2019d stayed with him were a hard lot \u2013 ranch hands mostly.\u00a0 They were tough men, used to sleepin\u2019 on the ground and goin\u2019 without food and drink for days on end if called for.\u00a0 Most of them had been in his jail a time or two for fightin\u2019 and brawlin\u2019.\u00a0 The lot of them had worked for Ben Cartwright at one time or another, and all of them knew those boys and loved them.<\/p>\n

That little squirt most of all.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d told the men to bed down for the night and then had a word with Jude Randolph.\u00a0 The English man had been tendin\u2019 to his horse and Ben\u2019s.\u00a0 Jude told him how they\u2019d left Meek\u2019s Bay and headed out, hopin\u2019 they\u2019d catch up to that Bosh feller what took Little Joe before he got too deep into the mountains.\u00a0 They\u2019d stopped at every cabin or camp along the way and asked if anyone had seen a man and a boy that looked like Joe.\u00a0 What they found was a long line of angry trappers and a few homesteaders who\u2019d had supplies, horses, and even a wagon taken at gunpoint.\u00a0 Several of them mentioned the man what robbed them was a giant.\u00a0 One of the homesteaders, name of Jed Horner, said he\u2019d seen that giant loadin\u2019 somethin\u2019 into a wagon.\u00a0 When he asked him about it, the stranger said it was a sack of feed.\u00a0 \u2018In a pig\u2019s eye,\u2019 Horner had said.\u00a0 That there feed sack looked suspiciously like a body.<\/p>\n

Size of a girl or maybe a young boy.<\/p>\n

At the last place Jude and Ben had stopped there\u2019d been a woman name of Rosey O\u2019Rourke.\u00a0 She was a tough old bird who\u2019d lived by herself in the mountains for years.\u00a0 Fought off men and Indians, she said, and weren\u2019t afraid of nothin\u2019 or no man.\u00a0 She\u2019d been suspicious and had offered to feed Bosh so she could pump him for information.\u00a0 She hadn\u2019t got much out of him before he reared up, knockin\u2019 her chair over, and stormed out of the house, but she was sure he was travelin\u2019 with someone and he had them in that wagon.\u00a0 Bosh mentioned the sea to Rosey.\u00a0 He mentioned a name as well \u2013 the Sun Princess<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ben said that sounded like the name of a sailing ship.<\/p>\n

Roy paused at the edge of the clearing where the rancher sat.\u00a0 They were well into the Sierras now.\u00a0 About halfway to Placerville.\u00a0 The odds were Wade Bosh was near two days ahead of them from what Rosey had said.\u00a0 Roy let out a low whistle.\u00a0 The man must be flyin\u2019 like a demon, stopping only to catch a wink of sleep before pressin\u2019 on.\u00a0 Seemed he was bound and determined not to be caught.\u00a0 Not to give up what he took.<\/p>\n

Roy worried what that meant for Little Joe if and when they did<\/em> manage to overtake the seaman.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvenin\u2019, Ben,\u201d he said as he idled toward his friend.\u00a0 When the other man didn\u2019t respond, Roy cleared his throat and tried again. \u201cI said, \u2018Evenin\u2019, Ben\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher stirred.\u00a0 The look the rancher turned on him was blank and, well, a little frightenin\u2019.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright was a man of action and he looked lost.<\/p>\n

Plain lost.<\/p>\n

Ben blinked several times before askin\u2019, \u201cRoy, is that you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure is, Ben.\u201d\u00a0 He stepped into a shaft of moonlight.\u00a0 \u201cHow are you doin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

His friend\u2019s eyes were glistenin\u2019, with tears no doubt.\u00a0 He huffed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve been better, Roy.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawman nodded.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what to say.<\/p>\n

Ben looked behind him, expectin\u2019 no doubt to see his middle son.\u00a0 When he didn\u2019t, his friend\u2019s near-black eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cWhere\u2019s Hoss?\u201d he demanded as he rose to his feet.<\/p>\n

Roy drew a breath.\u00a0 \u201cWell, now, Ben, I think maybe you ought to sit yourself back down \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n

Stark fear entered those eyes.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s happened to Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy held up his hands. \u201cNothin\u2019 I know of.\u00a0 Least not for sure, Ben.\u00a0 He went after Adam \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWent \u2018after<\/em>\u2019 Adam?\u201d\u00a0 The rancher was still on his feet.\u00a0 \u201cWhere did Adam go?\u00a0 He was injured!\u201d<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t gonna be easy.\u00a0 \u201cBen, I need you to calm down.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCalm down?\u00a0 Calm down!\u201d <\/em>he bellowed.\u00a0 \u201c Roy, where<\/em> are my sons?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rollin\u2019 thunder had nothin\u2019 on that voice of Ben\u2019s.<\/p>\n

It took a bit to explain it.\u00a0 Ben was right unsettled by the end.\u00a0 It was plain he was torn between pressin\u2019 on to find Little Joe and goin\u2019 back to make sure the other two were still breathin\u2019.\u00a0 It weren\u2019t really a contest though.\u00a0 Adam was over twenty and Hoss was about there.\u00a0 Those two were men.\u00a0 Little Joe, well, he was just a boy.<\/p>\n

He needed his pa most of all.<\/p>\n

Ben ended up sitting back down where he\u2019d begun.\u00a0 He was about as pale as that moon that shone behind him.\u00a0 \u201cThese men \u2013 the ones you think took Adam \u2013 you\u2019re sure they had worked for me?\u201d<\/p>\n

That <\/em>seemed to be stickin\u2019 in his craw just about as much as anythin\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry to say, Ben, but I\u2019m sure.\u00a0 You got yourself an awful lot of hands.\u00a0 Cain\u2019t be as you\u2019re expected to remember all of them, or to know for sure what kind of men they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cWilmot and Kusky?\u00a0 You would think I would remember.\u00a0 It\u2019s not like they\u2019re named Smith and Jones.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew Ben tried his best to hire honorable men, mostly \u2018cause he knew they\u2019d be workin\u2019 with his boys.\u00a0 But good men were trusting and bad men were good liars and it just wasn\u2019t always possible to know just what you were gettin\u2019, no matter how hard you tried.<\/p>\n

\u201cOdds are they minded their Ps and Qs,\u201d the lawman snorted.\u00a0 \u201cThey was probably some of the best behaved men you had, Ben.\u00a0 You cain\u2019t know what a feller\u2019s plannin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd there might have been<\/em> no difficulty if not for me,\u201d Jude Randolph remarked quietly as he joined them. \u201cI am sorry, Benjamin.\u00a0 I raised the ire of those two.\u00a0 I could have simply walked away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Randolph was an interesting fellow.\u00a0 With his wild curly hair and light brown skin and that outfit he was wearin\u2019, he looked like he belonged in one of those novels the school girls was fond of readin\u2019 \u2013 like some kind of lost prince of the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not your fault, Jude,\u201d Ben stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI disagree.\u00a0 If I had not insulted them, they would not have come looking for me and Adam and Hoss would not now both be at risk.\u201d\u00a0 The English man scowled.\u00a0 \u201cI have put your entire family at risk by coming here.\u00a0 It was selfish of me.\u201d\u00a0 A slight smile curled the ends of his lips.\u00a0 \u201cI could have sent a letter, but I so longed to find the man who saved me so I could thank him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou ain\u2019t responsible for what those bad men have done, son.\u00a0 They was workin\u2019 at the Ponderosa. Who knows, they might of been plannin\u2019 somethin\u2019 like this all along,\u201d Roy ventured.<\/p>\n

A light of hope entered Jude\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 \u201cPerhaps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright rose to his feet.\u00a0 He turned and looked to the west.\u00a0 \u201cAdam and Hoss are men,\u201d he said softly.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph is…so very young.\u00a0 I have to trust my two oldest to look out for themselves.\u00a0 Little Joe needs me to find him before it\u2019s too….\u201d\u00a0 He swallowed hard over his fear.\u00a0 \u201cBefore Wade Bosh gets him on a ship and he is lost to us forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew you were a good father when I talked to you,\u201d an unexpected voice remarked.<\/p>\n

They all turned on their heels to look toward the trees and were right startled to see a slender figure standin\u2019 there.\u00a0 From what the lawman could tell, whoever it was measured about five and a half feet tall and had long dark hair hanging down on both sides of their face like an Indian.\u00a0 Only it weren\u2019t any Indian.<\/p>\n

It were a woman.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright drew in a breath at the sight of the woman who had stepped out of the woods.\u00a0 He knew her instantly.\u00a0 There was no mistaking the deep red and blue Indian shirt covered in ribbon work, the faded blue pants made of janes, or the worn leather chaps topping them.\u00a0 The woman wore a pair of army-issued gloves and a wide white hat as well.\u00a0 She was tall for a woman, with rich dark hair and golden skin.\u00a0 Her eyes were dark as well and cradled in fine lines that suggested she\u2019d known an equal portion of laughter and pain.\u00a0 Decades of living in the West, surviving its brutal heat and harrowing winters had matured her like a fine wine.\u00a0\u00a0 She\u2019d once been pretty.<\/p>\n

She was beautiful now both without and within.<\/p>\n

\u201cRosey,\u201d he said as he stepped forward.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n

This was the woman \u2013 the homesteader \u2013 they had spoken to earlier.\u00a0 She was the one who had told them she suspected Bosh intended to take Joseph to a harbor in order to board a ship.<\/p>\n

Rosey\u2019s voice was husky; rich and ironic.\u00a0 \u201cI figured a bunch of men like you\u2019d go off and get lost.\u00a0 Figured you could use a guide.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019d been one \u2013 a scout for the army actually, in her younger years \u2013 hence her somewhat surprising attire.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s very kind of you, but I can\u2019t….\u201d\u00a0 Ben\u2019s words trailed off.\u00a0 There was something in her eyes.\u00a0 A sadness.<\/p>\n

A need.<\/p>\n

Rosey shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s just it.\u00a0 I \u2018can\u2019t.\u2019\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t forget about that young\u2019un of yours that\u2019s gone missin\u2019, or about his pa who\u2019s lookin\u2019 so hard to find him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow look here, Madame,\u201d Roy began.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadame!\u00a0\u00a0 Laws…Madame?\u201d\u00a0 The former scout snorted.\u00a0 \u201cNo one\u2019s called me that since San Francisco.\u201d\u00a0 Her rich brown eyes sparkled.\u00a0 \u201cBack when the word fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben hid his smile.\u00a0 What a tale this woman could tell!<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right then, Rosey<\/em>,\u201d Roy tried again.\u00a0 \u201cThis here is an official search \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

She looked him up and down. \u201cAre you the official <\/em>lawman?\u201d<\/p>\n

The deputy straightened up.\u00a0 \u201cIt just so happens I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, tell me, lawman, have you taken the road through the Sierras and on to California before?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI been to San Francisco,\u201d Roy protested.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a coach or wagon, I warrant,\u201d she said.\u00a0 As Rosey continued, her eyes sparked like flint.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve done it on foot, takin\u2019 all the passes no one knows about.\u00a0 I can get you to the coast in three days instead of five and,\u201d her eyes moved to him, \u201cI\u2019m thinkin\u2019 that boy who\u2019s missin\u2019 would appreciate his pa comin\u2019 sooner than later.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you lead the army through?\u201d Ben asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraveled with them.\u00a0 Kearney and his dragoons, back in forty-six in the dead of winter.\u00a0 I left them before they…. Before they all died.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAt San Pasqual?\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI was in San Diego when Carson made it there.\u00a0 Came back out with them.\u201d\u00a0 Her eyes flicked to Roy.\u00a0 Ben noted the lawman had grown silent out of respect.\u00a0 \u201cHelped to dig those poor boy\u2019s bodies up and move them.\u201d\u00a0 Rosey was eyeing Roy.\u00a0 It was a measure of the woman she was, what she said next.\u00a0 \u201cYou can trust me.\u00a0 I know what I\u2019m about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The deputy was frowning.\u00a0 \u201cNow ma\u2019am \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRosey,\u201d she corrected gently.<\/p>\n

\u201cRosey.\u201d\u00a0 Roy was scratching his chin.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t exactly sure these men here are gonna want to follow a woman.\u00a0 They\u2019re a pretty hard lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

She scoffed.\u00a0 \u201cLawman, there ain\u2019t nothin\u2019 tougher than a bunch of soldiers who have walked all the way from Kansas to California, draggin\u2019 ordinance behind them and livin\u2019 off grit and mule meat.\u201d\u00a0 Rosey\u2019s eyes flicked to Ben.\u00a0 \u201cStill, if I\u2019m not wanted….\u201d<\/p>\n

He stepped forward to offer his hand.\u00a0 \u201cMrs. O\u2019Rourke.\u201d At her look he amended it, \u201cRosey, you are most welcome.\u00a0 Thank you for coming. You didn\u2019t have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was that look again.\u00a0 Aggrieved.\u00a0 Culpable, even.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I did,\u201d she said as her fingers gripped his.\u00a0 \u201cMister Cartwright.\u00a0 Yes, I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wade Bosh pulled the tarp covering his young charge back and stared at the boy.\u00a0 Dawn was breaking in the sky and the pale morning light illuminated his slender figure where it lay on the wagon bed.\u00a0 The seaman\u2019s eyes went to the boy\u2019s hands and feet.\u00a0 Both were bound and tethered to the weathered boards by ropes leading through metal rings.\u00a0 He\u2019d had to do it.\u00a0 Havin\u2019 sprung from the loins of that molly Ben Cartwright, he\u2019d not expected the boy to have the tools to buck him.\u00a0 It had been a ravin\u2019 surprise to find Joseph Cartwright had the stuff to fight back even when he knew he\u2019d get the monkey for it.<\/p>\n

And get the monkey he had.<\/p>\n

Bosh reached in and wrapped his fingers in the boy\u2019s curly hair and turned his face into the light.\u00a0 He was a real beauty.\u00a0 Looked like one of them statues he\u2019d seen when he sailed to Greece.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to watch the boy close \u2013 keep him hidden away \u2013 once they boarded the Sun Princess<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The john-and-johns would be lookin\u2019 for a fresh catch and he\u2019d be ripe for the net.<\/p>\n

When the boy made no sound and failed to respond, Wade placed his fingers on his neck.\u00a0 The little nipper\u2019s skin was hot, though not so hot as to worry him.\u00a0 He\u2019d need to clean the cut on his head again and see if he could force some liquids into him.\u00a0 Since the night before, when he\u2019d killed the man who owned the stable and told the boy it was all his doin\u2019, he\u2019d refused to eat.\u00a0 It was no nevermind.\u00a0 Once he\u2019d gone long enough without, his hunger would rule him.\u00a0 In Newgate Prison he\u2019d seen men crawl like dogs through the dirt and tear each other apart for a scrap of putrid meat they\u2019d sworn they wouldn\u2019t touch the day before.\u00a0 It had been the same on the ships he sailed.\u00a0 The first month off was spent fightin\u2019 like dogs, establishin\u2019 who was leader of the pack.\u00a0 A man had to fight for what was his.\u00a0 Bosh fingered one of the boy\u2019s chestnut brown curls.<\/p>\n

He was goin\u2019 to make this boy into a man whether he wanted it or not.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d started to do that with Jude Randolph.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken that boy and separated him from everything that could make him weak \u2013 from the lily-livered Captain Peak and his pompous first mate, Benjamin Cartwright.\u00a0 They were soft, the pair of them.\u00a0 They wanted Jude to be soft.\u00a0 Soft as that brother of his who folded at the first strike of the lash.<\/p>\n

Bosh\u2019s gaze returned to the boy in the wagon.\u00a0 This one wouldn\u2019t fold.\u00a0 He\u2019d jut that chin out and strike poison like an eel and take down any who tried to harm him.\u00a0 He<\/em> didn\u2019t want to harm him.\u00a0 He loved the boy.\u00a0 He only wanted to make him stronger.<\/p>\n

The pain Joe Cartwright felt today was the strength<\/em> he would find tomorrow.<\/p>\n

As he continued to stare, the boy shifted and moaned.\u00a0 His eyelids fluttered, but he didn\u2019t come awake.<\/p>\n

That was good.<\/p>\n

Wade\u2019s eyes shifted to the duffel bag in the upper left-hand corner of the wagon.\u00a0 It contained the drug he\u2019d used to quiet the boy when he took him from his home.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to use it.\u00a0 A drop too much \u2013 or one too many times \u2013 could be deadly.\u00a0 Still, they were nearing the end of the mountains and would soon be passing through occupied territory.<\/p>\n

Territory occupied by his enemies who wanted to take the boy away.<\/p>\n

To take his son<\/em> away.<\/p>\n

The seaman swallowed as saliva flooded his mouth.\u00a0 He looked west, seeing in his mind\u2019s eye the ship he was headed for \u2013 the tall ship named Sun Princess<\/em> that would bear them away.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d kill the both of them before he let that happen.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cMister Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben turned to find Rosey O\u2019Rourke standing directly behind him.\u00a0 It was morning and they were preparing to move out.\u00a0 He\u2019d freshened up as best he could and just sat down to finish his coffee when she appeared.\u00a0 When he and Jude had stopped at her house, he\u2019d had a good chance to look at her.\u00a0 Last night, her features had been hidden, but today with the sun, they were clearly visible.\u00a0 She reminded him, to his amazement, of Elizabeth, his first wife.\u00a0 She was not a beauty in the traditional sense of the word. Though lovely, she had what some would call a \u2018mannish\u2019 look.\u00a0 The rancher smiled at the thought.\u00a0 Most often that meant that the woman was highly intelligent as his wife had been.\u00a0 Rosey\u2019s nose was straight and her lips full.\u00a0 Her hair was the same deep brown as Elizabeth\u2019s as well.<\/p>\n

Thinking of his lost love, Ben sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry if I am distrubin\u2019 you,\u201d she said and turned to leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 Please.\u00a0 There\u2019s some coffee left in the pot.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled a greeting.\u00a0 \u201cNo point in wasting it.\u00a0 Won\u2019t you join me?\u201d<\/p>\n

She thought about it a moment and then nodded and sat down.\u00a0 Ben poured the coffee and gave her a cup.\u00a0 They sat in companionable silence for a moment before she said, \u201cSo tell me about this boy of yours. The one who\u2019s missin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her request stabbed him.\u00a0 He blinked back tears.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s my youngest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow old?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot quite thirteen.\u201d \u00a0Dear God<\/em>, he thought.\u00a0 \u201cJust a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey nodded.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the other two?\u00a0 Adam and Hoss, was it?\u00a0 They\u2019re his brothers?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHalf-brothers, though you\u2019d never know by how much they love one another that they had different mothers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The older woman grinned as she took a sip.\u00a0 \u201cSo you\u2019ve got a tale or two to tell as well?\u201d<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t help but return it.\u00a0 \u201cA few.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo what\u2019s he like, this youngest boy?\u00a0 \u2018Joseph\u2019, did you say?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Joseph.\u201d\u00a0 Ben fell silent, seeing Little Joe with his mind\u2019s eye.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s slight, like his mother.\u00a0 Five feet tall, perhaps a bit more.\u00a0 Smaller than the other boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo he\u2019s strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben looked at her.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s strong.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to be.\u201d\u00a0 Her eyes reflected a mind that wandered to another time or place.\u00a0 \u201cA small man has to be to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe\u2019s only twelve.\u201d<\/p>\n

Molly\u2019s eyes flicked to his face.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s a man in some men\u2019s books.\u201d\u00a0 The woman took another sip.\u00a0 \u201cSo, what\u2019s he look like, this little man of yours?\u00a0 Like you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben laughed.\u00a0 \u201cNo, like his mother.\u00a0 Joseph has…delicate features.\u00a0 Sometimes his eyes are green as the forest at spring.\u00a0 At other times, more like green leaves turning to gold.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled.\u00a0 \u201cThat boy, he has three heads of hair, curly, and chestnut as a bay.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou love him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tears threatened again.\u00a0 \u201cDeeply.\u00a0 As I do all<\/em> my sons.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a moment he thought she was going to tell him something \u2013 something about her<\/em> \u2013 but the moment passed as Roy Coffee called for them to mount and ride.<\/p>\n

Ben reached out and caught her shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cRosey?\u201d<\/p>\n

She turned back to look at him.\u00a0 Her tone suggested she was not open to questions.<\/p>\n

He asked one anyway. \u201cIs there anything I can do to help you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

For a moment her face was glacial. Then it melted and shone with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re lettin\u2019 me help search for your boy.\u00a0 The good Lord knows, that\u2019s more than enough, Ben.\u00a0 He sent me to you and, I think, maybe you to me.\u201d\u00a0 Her hand covered his.\u00a0 \u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 It\u2019s more than enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

He stood there, watching her walk away, amazed again by the goodness of God.\u00a0 He\u2019d been praying for a miracle \u2013 for some way they could pass through the mountains and on to the coast at lightning speed.\u00a0 It was at that moment Rosey had appeared.<\/p>\n

The curious thing was, it seemed she<\/em> had been praying too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TEN<\/p>\n

Adam Cartwright held his breath as a stream of pebbles cascaded down the length of the rocky chute beneath him.\u00a0 He\u2019d fallen another ten feet or so and become wedged in the natural channel at its narrowest point, held in place by three jagged fingers of rock.\u00a0 Two were pressing into his flesh near his waist, driving his gun belt up. The other poked into his side right below his ribs.<\/p>\n

Just about where Wade Bosh\u2019s bullet had entered.<\/p>\n

There was blood on the rock.<\/p>\n

He knew that because the sun was rising and he could see his surroundings, which was a good thing \u2013 sort of.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s gaze slipped between his boots.\u00a0 Below him the shaft opened up, enough so that there was no way he could ease himself down even if <\/em>he could get free.\u00a0 He\u2019d just plummet straight down.<\/p>\n

It was a testament to his little brother\u2019s physical prowess that Joe hadn\u2019t been killed by the fall.<\/p>\n

Gathering what meager strength he had, Adam looked up, searching the area at the top of the shaft for a sign of his middle brother\u2019s face.\u00a0 Hoss had been gone some time and he was worried about him. There was no proof that Wilmot and Kusky had operated alone.\u00a0 There had to have been other men in Eagle Station the day Jude came to town.\u00a0 Men who had probably been just as offended by the ex-slave\u2019s existence.\u00a0 He hoped his brother hadn\u2019t run afoul of any of them.\u00a0 Hoss was big \u2013 very big \u2013 and very strong, but he was still just a kid.<\/p>\n

A formidable<\/em> kid, but just a kid.<\/p>\n

That thought took him to another one and it made him moan.\u00a0 He\u2019d watched Hoss and Joe fight, testing each other\u2019s strength and ability.\u00a0 Joe\u2019d won once or twice, but little brother didn\u2019t know that the times he\u2019d won, middle brother had let him.\u00a0 Hoss was a foot taller than Joe and outweighed him by about a hundred pounds.\u00a0 He could have snapped him in two if he\u2019d wanted to.<\/p>\n

The man who had taken Little Joe was bigger and<\/em> stronger than Hoss.<\/p>\n

The black-haired man licked his lips and swallowed as a wave of nausea washed over him at the thought of his brother in Bosh\u2019s hands.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t protect Joe.\u00a0 Pa was away and he was supposed<\/em> to have protected him.<\/p>\n

If his little brother didn\u2019t make it home it would be his fault.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam!\u00a0 Hey, Adam!\u00a0 You down there?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam closed his eyes, sought a shaky center, and then looked up again.\u00a0 There it was, what he\u2019d been waiting for \u2013 his brother\u2019s cherubic face framed by a soft halo of reddish-blond hair looking down at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought about taking a stroll,\u201d he replied, his tone laconic.\u00a0 \u201cI decided to stick around instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss was leaning precariously far out over the jut of land at the top.\u00a0 \u201cI cain\u2019t see you very well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI can see you!<\/em>\u00a0 Stay where you are!\u00a0 You come tumbling down this shaft, that\u2019ll be the end of me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow come on, Adam.\u00a0 That\u2019s just what I was thinkin\u2019 of doin\u2019!\u00a0 I\u2019ll pop you out of there like a cork out of one of them fancy bottles of champagne!\u201d<\/p>\n

As a joke, that fell rather flat.<\/p>\n

Adam swallowed again.\u00a0 The nausea was mounting thanks to a rising fear and the stony finger poking into his injured side.\u00a0 \u201cDid you bring the rope?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSure did.\u00a0 It\u2019s a pretty long one.\u00a0 How far down are you, you think?\u201d<\/p>\n

How far down?\u00a0 Well….<\/p>\n

Adam looked again, though the sight of what lay below him made his head swim.\u00a0 \u201cAbout twenty feet, I think.\u00a0 There\u2019s about…twenty more to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, that little brother of ours must be born to ride a whirlwind.\u00a0 Imagine him makin\u2019 it all the way down without ending up flat as one of Hop Sing\u2019s pancakes.\u201d\u00a0 There was a pause and then a quiet, \u201cSorry \u2018bout that, Adam.\u201d\u00a0 A second later he heard the rope begin to snake down the chute.\u00a0 It was followed by Hoss asking, \u201cHow are you feelin\u2019, older brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ah, to be or not to be \u2013 to answer truthfully or to lie through his teeth?<\/p>\n

Adam chose to take a leaf from Little Joe\u2019s book.<\/p>\n

\u201cFine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWould that be \u2018fine\u2019, like I feel right as rain?\u201d his brother asked as he played out the line.\u00a0 \u201cOr \u2018fine\u2019 like I just dropped an anvil on my toe only I ain\u2019t gonna admit it hurts?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s eyes went unwillingly to his side.\u00a0 There was a steady stream of blood running over the top of the rock jabbing into his side.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust…fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you see it yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam looked up and was rewarded by the tale end of the rope striking him between the eyes.\u00a0 He reached up and caught it in his fingers.<\/p>\n

\u201cGot it,\u201d he said, breathing hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you tie it around you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Could he?\u00a0 Adam shifted a bit to look, to judge the distance between him and the walls of the chute. As he did, his gun belt moved up and he fell another half inch.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, he also cried out.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam?!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay.\u00a0 I\u2019m okay.\u00a0 I just….\u201d\u00a0 He hoped he\u2019d fastened his belt very <\/em>tightly that morning.\u00a0 \u201cI moved and lost a little ground.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGet that rope tied around you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was hard.\u00a0 Every movement was agony.\u00a0 In the end he succeeded, though he had no idea if the knots were strong enough.\u00a0 By the end his hands and the rope were covered in blood.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you climb up?\u201d<\/p>\n

Somehow he doubted it.\u00a0 \u201cHow about you try pulling?\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a pause.\u00a0 \u201cAdam, is there somethin\u2019 you ain\u2019t tellin\u2019 me?\u00a0 Are you hurt bad?\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, he looked between his feet.\u00a0 Panic was not something he wanted to incite.\u00a0 \u201cMy side is hurting.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be all right when you get me up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He heard his brother moving at the top of the shaft, digging his feet in and taking up a position.\u00a0 \u201cYou ready?\u201d<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOn one, two, three….\u201d<\/p>\n

Excruciating pain shot through him, stealing his breath away, as the upward movement drove the finger of rock deeper into his side.\u00a0 Adam gasped and drew in air.\u00a0 The first time he tried, his shout was a whisper. Then he managed it.<\/p>\n

\u201cStop!\u00a0 Hoss, stop!\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother\u2019s face appeared again, mooning above the opening.\u00a0 It was paler than before.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

He guessed he had to admit it. \u201cIt looks like I\u2019m pinned.\u00a0 I…I can\u2019t go up and….\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam looked between his boots again.\u00a0 Weak as he was, he would have no strength to guide his falling body or slow himself down.\u00a0 He was bigger and heavier than Joe and would fall faster, plummeting down to his death.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t go up and he couldn\u2019t go down.<\/p>\n

All he could do was hang there like the Spaniard Diaz and die.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n

He drew a breath and held it against the pain.\u00a0 Hoss was only seventeen.\u00a0 He really didn\u2019t want him to see what was going to happen.\u00a0 He had to get him away \u2013 away where he wouldn\u2019t feel responsible.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re…going to have to go get…help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI cain\u2019t leave you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t stay!<\/em>\u00a0 You can\u2019t get me out of here alone!\u00a0 You said you had some of the men with you.\u00a0 Go back and find them.\u00a0 Then come back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hopefully that would take him long enough to avoid…well…what he wanted him to avoid.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, Adam….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss, you can\u2019t pull me up and I can\u2019t climb up.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to have to…\u201d\u00a0 He swallowed again.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m going to have to go down.\u00a0 If we have several men, they can do something to break my fall.\u201d\u00a0 Adam closed his eyes. \u201cPlease, Hoss.\u00a0 You have to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Please, Hoss, go!<\/em><\/p>\n

There was a momentary pause and then his brother\u2019s response.\u00a0 \u201cOkay, but don\u2019t you go chasin\u2019 no girls or nothin\u2019.\u00a0 I wanta find you here when I get back.\u201d<\/p>\n

As his belt shifted again and he slipped another half-inch or so, Adam called back.\u00a0 \u201cYou got a deal unless it\u2019s Amy Prentiss.\u201d She was the pretty girl he\u2019d been flirting with at the Saturday night dances of late.\u00a0 \u201cThen the deal is off.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou take care of yourself, brother.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be back soon as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

With that, silence descended again.<\/p>\n

Except for the sound of the steady stream of pebbles cascading down the rocky chute beneath his feet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss Cartwright ran for all he was worth back to where he\u2019d left his horse.\u00a0 He\u2019d left the morgan horse in a place with sweet grass and water, clove-hitched to a skinny stump of a tree.\u00a0 The animal was waitin\u2019 for him there, lookin\u2019 fat and sassy and ready to ride.\u00a0 With a final glance over his shoulder at the point above where the shaft lay, the big teenager mounted and began to work his way down the ridge.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to admit it to Adam, but he was still feelin\u2019 mighty shaky.\u00a0 All the while he\u2019d been workin\u2019, he\u2019d been aware of the shady spot behind him that he\u2019d pulled Jake Kusky and Hal Wilmot\u2019s bodies into.\u00a0 He\u2019d covered them up with some branches and long grass so\u2019s the animals wouldn\u2019t get them.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what he was gonna tell his pa when they got back to the ranch house.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d just killed a man.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been with his pa when Pa\u2019d been forced to do it.\u00a0 Pa didn\u2019t cotton to gunfightin\u2019 or the fast draw or nothin\u2019 like that, but he\u2019d taught them to defend themselves and told them a day might come when they\u2019d have to do it with deadly intent.\u00a0 Pa was mighty fast and sure with his gun.\u00a0 He said most often that was enough.\u00a0 If a man looked you in the eye and he saw you wouldn\u2019t back down, most often he <\/em>would.\u00a0 Trouble was, Hal Wilmot hadn\u2019t been lookin\u2019 him in the eye.\u00a0 The outlaw\u2019d been bendin\u2019 down, tryin\u2019 to kill Adam.\u00a0 He\u2019d shot the man in the back.<\/p>\n

He lost his supper after that.<\/p>\n

Still, he knew, there weren\u2019t nothin\u2019 else he could have done.\u00a0 Another thing Pa taught them was that the West was a pretty lawless place.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it was so important for them to follow the laws.\u00a0 In time, Pa said, men like Hal Wilmot wouldn\u2019t find a welcome here in Nevada \u2013 after the territory became a state and more civilized folks moved in.\u00a0 As his horse slipped on some stones and he rode them down the ridge, the teenager righted himself in the saddle and began to pay more attention.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t gonna do Adam no good for him to go plummeting off the side.<\/p>\n

After all, he was the only one knew his brother was there.<\/p>\n

Pulling on the reins a bit, Hoss directed his mount to the side of the path.\u00a0 As he did, he saw movement in the distance.\u00a0 A big smile broke on his face as he recognized Ed Waters and the other men who\u2019d come with him from the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Rising up in the saddle, Hoss took his hat off and waved it.<\/p>\n

\u201cEd!\u00a0 Yo!\u00a0 Ed!\u201d\u00a0 Urging his mount forward, he called out again.\u00a0 \u201cEd!\u00a0 I found Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed was waving too \u2013 kind of frantic-like.\u00a0 A second later, the older man\u2019 voice reached him, riding on the wind.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss!\u00a0 Behind you!\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager turned \u2013 a second too late.\u00a0 He sensed more than saw Hal Wilmot step out of the trees.\u00a0 Hal looked like one of them ghosts men said they seen, risin\u2019 up out of the dark all covered with blood; their eyes wild and their skin white as bone.<\/p>\n

There was a gun in his hand.<\/p>\n

Hoss heard Ed shout again even as he felt somethin\u2019 slam into his shoulder.\u00a0 The impact knocked him from his horse and to the ground.\u00a0 As he lay there, his vision fading, Wilmot appeared above him.\u00a0 He stared hate down at him even as he raised his rifle and turned it butt down.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, Cartwright,\u201d Hal breathed.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s see just how thick that skull of yours is!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Shots echoed across the land above him.\u00a0 First one and then another, and then half-dozen more.\u00a0 Adam twisted to look up, as if that was going to do him any good, and only succeeded in slipping another inch.\u00a0 His gun belt was working its way over his hips, riding up toward his slender waist.\u00a0 It was hard to gauge whether the slight difference between his waist and his hip bone would be enough to send him plummeting to his death.\u00a0 He still had the rope tied around him, but there was no one above holding onto it. Unless, of course, Hoss had tied it off.\u00a0 Still, even if his brother had<\/em> tied the rope to a tree, the jolt as he fell \u2013 tearing into his wound and undoing the last of the stitches that held \u2013 would probably cause him to bleed to death in a very short time.<\/p>\n

Unless God intervened, he was done.<\/p>\n

Dangling there with his heart pounding, Adam listened again.\u00a0 The shooting had stopped.\u00a0 Silence echoed across the rocky landscape.\u00a0 He hesitated, knowing it was probably not the brightest thing to do, and then he shouted, \u201cHoss!\u00a0 Hoss!\u00a0 Are you all right?\u201d\u00a0 The black-haired man waited.\u00a0 \u201cHoss?\u201d<\/p>\n

More silence.<\/p>\n

Adam looked up and then down.\u00a0 He had to do something.\u00a0 His brother needed him!\u00a0 Above him was a twenty foot climb.\u00a0 Even if he could escape the rocks and the rope was<\/em> secured, he doubted he had the strength to hand over hand it and make it to the top.\u00a0 Conversely, if he did manage to drop safely to the ground below, he was going to be forty feet under<\/em> his brother.\u00a0 Still, once on the ground he could gather his strength and make the climb back to the top.<\/p>\n

Right.<\/p>\n

What was that rhyme Marie liked to quote to Little Joe?<\/p>\n

If wishes were horses?<\/p>\n

For a moment he was stumped.\u00a0 Logic seemed to be taking him in circles.\u00a0 Adam didn\u2019t like to admit that there were insoluble problems, but he thought he might just have encountered one.\u00a0 He knew what his pa would say.<\/p>\n

When you eliminated everything possible, the answer, no matter how impossible was to pray.<\/p>\n

Pray for a miracle.<\/p>\n

Hoss believed in them.\u00a0 He said he saw them everyday in nature, when a caterpillar turned into a butterfly, or a baby foal was born.\u00a0 Little Joe believed in them too.\u00a0 Adam snorted.\u00a0 His little brother thought by just believing something and wanting it bad enough, you could make it happen.\u00a0 That was why he went to Mama\u2019s grave so frequently.\u00a0 He was trying to believe<\/em> her back into being.<\/p>\n

Him?\u00a0 Well, he believed in God.\u00a0 He just wasn\u2019t sure he believed in miracles.\u00a0 They went against everything he had been taught in college and really, against his own practical and pragmatic nature.<\/p>\n

Adam looked down again.<\/p>\n

He surely needed one now.<\/p>\n

As he felt himself slip again, the belt riding up toward his ribs, Adam closed his eyes and his lips moved in prayer.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t for himself, it was for his brothers.\u00a0 He asked God to make sure Hoss was safe and that Little Joe was found, and that his father wouldn\u2019t have to go through loosing all three of them and most likely, ending his life as a broken man.\u00a0 He asked that, when he fell, none of his family would find his shattered body \u2013 that they wouldn\u2019t have to live with the memory of that sight.<\/p>\n

As the belt slipped over his hips, as he felt himself start to fall, Adam\u2019s lips curled with an ironic smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cInto your hands,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A second later he jolted to a stop.\u00a0 A hard <\/em>stop.<\/p>\n

Gasping, Adam looked up and found Ed Waters, his pa\u2019s old ranch hand, holding the rope and staring down at him.\u00a0 Behind him was Joe Suggs, and leaning over Joe\u2019s shoulder was Jimmy Wheats.<\/p>\n

Tears entered his eyes and he gave them a smile.<\/p>\n

Just before he passed out.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss groaned his way back to consciousness.\u00a0 His shoulder hurt like the dickens and he felt sick.\u00a0 Not sick enough to lose his supper again \u2013 didn\u2019t have any left anyhow \u2013 but sick like you did when you was fightin\u2019 the ague and the world wouldn\u2019t stop spinnin\u2019.\u00a0 Seemed to him he might have a little fever and he wondered for just a moment if he\u2019d caught that flu that had been over in Reno.\u00a0 The town folk had been mighty worried about it leapin\u2019 over the Truckee to Eagle Station.\u00a0 Seemed to him though, if he was layin\u2019 sick in his bed, he ought to be a sight more comfortable.\u00a0 Pa always fussed like an old mother hen when they was sick and he\u2019d have him layin\u2019 on a thick feather tick with a quilt pulled up to his chin.<\/p>\n

Not layin\u2019 on the ground with sticks and stones pokin\u2019 into his back.<\/p>\n

In an instant it all came back \u2013 Adam caught in Diaz\u2019s Dodge, Hal Wilmot risin\u2019 up from the dead, hearin\u2019 a shot.<\/p>\n

Bein<\/em>\u2019 shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam!\u201d the teenager shouted, sitting up and pulling off the thin blanket that covered him.\u00a0 A second later a pair of strong arms pinned him to the ground.\u00a0 \u201cHey!\u00a0 You let me go!\u201d he yelled, fighting back. \u201cMy brother needs me!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s here, Hoss,\u201d a familiar voice said. \u201cRight beside you.\u00a0 Look!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss froze.\u00a0 He turned and looked.\u00a0 Adam was there all right, layin\u2019 beside him with a blanket pulled up to his chin.<\/p>\n

He looked dead.<\/p>\n

Still, since the blanket was at his brother\u2019s chin and not over <\/em>his head, he figured he was breathin\u2019.<\/p>\n

Laying his spinning head back down, he asked, \u201cIs he okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Ed Waters who held him.\u00a0 His eyes flicked to Adam and then back.\u00a0 \u201cBest as can be expected. The boy\u2019s lost a lot of blood.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid he fall?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe kept him from fallin\u2019,\u201d Jimmy Wheat said as he crouched beside him.\u00a0 \u201cEd, he held the rope so Adam couldn\u2019t go nowhere while me and Joe went to the bottom of the shaft.\u00a0 I got on Joe\u2019s shoulders.\u00a0 We were about ten feet shy, but Ed let your brother down real <\/em>slow and we caught him and got him out safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was only then, when he knew Adam was safe and alive, that Hoss relaxed and the pain he had been keepin\u2019 at bay coursed through him, taking his breath away.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn!\u201d he breathed, and then added with a shy smile.\u00a0 \u201cEd, don\u2019t you go tellin\u2019 my pa you heard me say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed crossed his heart with his fingers.\u00a0 \u201cHope to die,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hoss wrinkled his nose.\u00a0 His eyes move to his brother.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s just hope none<\/em> of us do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager didn\u2019t know when it happened, but he fell asleep after that.\u00a0 When he woke up, the light was almost gone.\u00a0 Ed had lit a fire and it cast a warm glow over the camp.\u00a0 Somethin\u2019 was cookin\u2019.\u00a0 He could smell it.<\/p>\n

His stomach rumbled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I ain\u2019t like to fade away from hunger,\u201d he mumbled as he struggled to lift himself up on one elbow.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo…chance,\u201d a quiet voice remarked.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s…too much…of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He looked around, expectin\u2019 to find it were Ed or one of the other men who\u2019d spoken.\u00a0 Then he realized it hadn\u2019t been any of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam!\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother winced.\u00a0 \u201c…headache.\u00a0 Can you…keep it down?\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager shifted and laid a hand on his brother\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cI thought I\u2019d lost you, older brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThought I…lost you<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s voice was weak, but he was determined.\u00a0 \u201cI heard…shots?\u00a0 What…?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou know how I thought I\u2019d killed Hal Wilmot?\u00a0 He sure was a mean cuss.\u00a0 He got up with a bullet in his back, got on his horse and rode down, and was waitin\u2019 for us.\u00a0 When he see\u2019d me alone, he took a shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s hazel eyes rolled his way.\u00a0 \u201cDid he…hit…you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah.\u201d\u00a0 He shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cAin\u2019t nothin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re…fine,\u201d Adam\u2019s lips curled in a smile as his eyelids drifted shut.<\/p>\n

\u201cEd and the men were comin\u2019 up the ridge.\u00a0 I kind of gave them the slip last night,\u201d he admitted with chagrin.\u00a0 \u201cCome first light they started trackin\u2019 me.\u00a0 I was wavin\u2019 at Ed when Hal came out of the trees.\u00a0 Them other shots you heard were Pa\u2019s men takin\u2019 him down.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a moment, he thought his brother was asleep.\u00a0 Then Adam roused again.\u00a0 \u201cAny word on…Joe?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u2018Course there weren\u2019t no way they could have any word on punkin.\u00a0 But Adam was hurt bad and he couldn\u2019t remember that.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa\u2019s gone to fetch him home,\u201d he said, squeezing his brother\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s lip twitched.\u00a0 \u201cAsked God,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Hoss frowned.\u00a0 \u201cYou asked God for somethin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a small \u2013 a very small<\/em> nod.\u00a0 \u201cMiracle.\u201d<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t help it. \u201cI thought you didn\u2019t believe in miracles, older brother.\u00a0 Somethin\u2019 change your mind?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cImpossible I\u2019m here,\u201d he said, his voice breathy.\u00a0 \u201cBut…I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou asked God to get you out of that chute alive?\u00a0 So did I….\u201d<\/p>\n

He felt a return squeeze. \u201cNo.\u00a0 Asked for Joe.\u00a0 God saved me…. He\u2019ll…save Joe….\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss reached out and lifted one of Adam\u2019s lids.\u00a0 His brother was unconscious again.<\/p>\n

Leanin\u2019 back, he thought about what Adam had said.\u00a0 It sure seemed there was no way to get Adam out of that chute, but here he was.\u00a0 Just like it seemed there was no way his pa could find Little Joe when a mountain range and a lot of land lay between the Ponderosa and wherever Wade Bosh was takin\u2019 him.\u00a0 But God did work miracles.\u00a0 He saw it everyday.\u00a0 It was a miracle every mornin\u2019 when the sun rose, and another one when the moon chased it off at night.\u00a0 Every time a calf or foal was born.\u00a0 Each time he watched one of them little worms wiggle into its house and then emerge a while later as a big beautiful, brilliant butterfly.\u00a0 God made miracles happen all the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust one more,\u201d the big teenager whispered as sleep sought to claim him too.\u00a0 \u201cPlease God, just one more.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam moaned and opened his eyes.\u00a0 At first, he had no idea where he was, but then he realized there was a soft ticking under him, a warm fire blazing beyond the foot board of the bed, and a very familiar and slightly exasperated gray-haired man standing over him, holding his wrist in one hand and a watch in the other and shaking his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have no idea how surprised I was, young man,\u201d Doctor Martin said, noting he was awake, \u201cwhen I got the call to come to the Ponderosa and found it was you<\/em> instead of that adventurous younger brother of yours in need of my services.\u00a0 I thought you were on the road to recovery!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019s Hoss?\u201d he croaked.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh yes, and him too!\u201d\u00a0 Doctor Martin laid his hand gently on top of the bed cover.\u00a0 \u201cTell me, Adam, just what made you go against every order I gave you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He winced as he straightened a bit.\u00a0 \u201cJake and Hal didn\u2019t give me much choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they forced you to go with them?\u201d\u00a0 One white eyebrow cocked.\u00a0 \u201cFrom what Hop Sing said, you volunteered<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to do something to protect Pa \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause your pa can\u2019t take care of himself.\u201d<\/p>\n

He frowned.\u00a0 \u201cI didn\u2019t say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo.\u00a0 I<\/em> did.\u201d\u00a0 The older man crossed to the window and threw open\u00a0 the curtains.\u00a0 Outside, it was dark.\u00a0 Turning back he asked, \u201cDo you know what day it is or, rather, was?\u201d<\/p>\n

As a matter-of-fact, he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFive days later than the last time I asked you that question.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam started.\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

Doctor Martin\u2019s voice was soft.\u00a0 \u201cSon, you almost died.\u00a0 You tore all your stitches open.\u00a0 You nearly bled out.\u201d<\/p>\n

He winced.\u00a0 \u201cBut I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough no fault of your own!\u201d\u00a0 The physician\u2019s tone was stern.\u00a0 \u201cDidn\u2019t you think about your father?\u00a0 He\u2019s already lost one son \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe\u2019s not lost!\u201d\u00a0 Adam sat up in the bed, ignoring the fact that his head was swimming and the room was going dark \u2013 and<\/em> that he was defying the doctor again.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you dare<\/em> say Joe\u2019s dead!\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul was at his side in a second, pressing him back to the bed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Adam.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean to upset you.\u201d\u00a0 The older man dropped into the chair beside him and in a rare moment of emotion, choked out, \u201cI saw that boy into the world.\u00a0 I\u2019m more worried about Little Joe than I can say.\u201d<\/p>\n

It felt odd to be comforting the comforter.\u00a0 Adam placed a hand on the older man\u2019s sleeve.\u00a0 \u201cYou know Joe.\u00a0 He\u2019ll pull through.\u00a0 He always does.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doc Martin nodded his head.\u00a0 A moment later the doctor reached toward his nightshirt and began to unbutton it.\u00a0 \u201cI need to check your stitches.\u00a0 I want to make sure there\u2019s no residual bleeding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam leaned his head back against the pillows as the doctor began to examine him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to admit it, but he was exhausted.\u00a0\u00a0 When the older man had finished and began to close his shirt, he said, \u201cYou didn\u2019t tell me how Hoss is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell enough to take Amy Prentiss to the dance tomorrow night,\u201d a familiar voice replied.<\/p>\n

The doctor rolled his eyes as he turned toward the door.\u00a0 \u201cAnd what are you<\/em> doing out of bed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss was standing there, leaning heavily on the jamb.\u00a0 As he spoke, he moved in and dropped into the chair on the opposite side of the bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard my big brother talkin\u2019,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you risked your<\/em> health to see that Adam\u2019s health was better?\u201d\u00a0 Paul threw his hands up into the air.\u00a0 \u201cI give up!\u00a0 You Cartwrights are impossible!\u00a0 I\u2019m going down for a cup of coffee.\u00a0 When I get back I expect you,\u201d he pointed at Adam, \u201cto be asleep and you,\u201d Hoss was next, \u201cto be in your own room doing the same thing!\u00a0 Am I understood?\u201d<\/p>\n

They both murmured, \u201cYes, sir,\u201d meekly as the physician left the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe sure can be cantankerous,\u201d Hoss sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to admit we give him a lot of reason.\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother\u2019s lips pursed in a smile.\u00a0 \u201cI reckon it\u2019s our God-given job to keep him on his toes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam fell silent.\u00a0 He turned his face toward the window and for a moment they both sat there.<\/p>\n

Finally Hoss asked, \u201cDid I say somethin\u2019 wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just thinking about miracles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager looked a bit startled.\u00a0 \u201cYou too?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s hazel eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cYou think we\u2019ve used up our share?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss rose and walked to the window to look out.\u00a0 \u201cPa will find Little Joe, Adam.\u00a0 We\u2019re gonna see him again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said it, but his words lacked conviction.\u00a0 Their hearts yearned for a positive outcome, but their heads knew better.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one thing I am sure of,\u201d Adam said, straightening up in the bed a bit.<\/p>\n

Hoss turned toward him.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa won\u2019t ever give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

A silent void opened before them \u2013a world in which they had neither their brother nor their father; only an empty void where one had been and an absent presence in the other.<\/p>\n

It remained until Doctor Martin returned to chastise them both.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ELEVEN<\/p>\n

Ming-hua, whose name meant \u2018tomorrow\u2019s flower\u2019, lifted her dark head from the piece of embroidery she was working on to watch the door of the salon open and a large man walk in.\u00a0 He stopped just inside it and surveyed the smoke-filled room filled with white men and the China girls who brought them pleasure.\u00a0 He was an unpleasant looking man, ugly as a dugong and big as an elephant.\u00a0 Just one of the large hands that hung below his dust-covered deep blue coat would have circled her waist.\u00a0 At fourteen, she was glad she was not old enough to service the men who came into Madame Ah Kum\u2019s establishment in the Chinese quarter of Sacramento.\u00a0 Ah Kum had purchased along with two of her sisters from her father.\u00a0 There were too many mouths to feed in his house and most of them were worthless females, and so they had been sold.\u00a0 She earned no wage yet, but both older sisters commanded a high price.\u00a0 Biyu and Dandan, or Jasper and Cinnabar as the salon\u2019s patrons called them, were beautiful, tall, and slender.\u00a0 Biyu was eighteen and Dandan, twenty.\u00a0 It was Biyu\u2019s dress she was working on.\u00a0 Biyu had chosen a deep red silk, to match her name and she was embellishing it with rampant golden dragons.<\/p>\n

Ming-hua sighed.\u00a0 Deciding to take a break, the young Chinese girl laid her sister\u2019s dress in her lap and folded her hands over it.\u00a0 One day she too would be made to bring pleasure to the men who paid.\u00a0 Dandan had told her the day was still years away and for that she was glad.\u00a0 Madame Ah Kum owned her sisters.\u00a0 They had been forced to sign a contract when they arrived in America.\u00a0 It said they would pleasure the men who came to the Delectable Dragon<\/em> for a term of ten years.\u00a0 For every day they were sick, two days were added to that time.\u00a0 If they were sick for two, it became a month.\u00a0 And if they tried to run away and were caught?\u00a0 The girl drew a breath and let it out slowly.\u00a0 They would be held as a slave for life.<\/p>\n

She was already a slave for life.\u00a0 She knew it.\u00a0 Even if she did not try to run away.<\/p>\n

Madame Ah Kum was powerful, but there were people more powerful than her.\u00a0 She too was a slave.\u00a0 She had been married to one of the richest Chinese men in San Francisco before his death.\u00a0 He had been one of the Tong.\u00a0 There had been a war.<\/p>\n

He had lost.<\/p>\n

Ming-hua returned her gaze to the big man.\u00a0 She did not know why he intrigued her.\u00a0 Perhaps it was the fact that he acted like he had a secret.\u00a0 His narrowed eyes scrutinized the men and women in the room as if seeking to discern their thoughts.\u00a0 \u2018There are no secrets of the soul that conduct does not reveal\u2019<\/em>, her grandmother used to tell her.<\/p>\n

As she continued to watch him, one of the lesser China girls \u2013 her name was Xiofan, which meant little and ordinary and she was both \u2013 went to greet the stranger.\u00a0 The top of her head did not reach his chin.\u00a0 Xiofan spoke a few words.\u00a0 When the man nodded, she headed for the counter behind which they kept many kinds of liquor and what little food their cook prepared.\u00a0 There were many hotels and other establishments in the town where one could get a meal.\u00a0 Madame Ah Kum\u2019s served soup and small delicacies, tea, and a few sweets.\u00a0 It was enough.<\/p>\n

The men who came to the Dragon<\/em> sought to satisfy a different kind of hunger.<\/p>\n

When she looked back, the big man was gone.\u00a0 Ming-hua frowned, puzzled, and then realized he had only stepped outside.\u00a0 A moment later he reentered the room.\u00a0 This time he was not alone.\u00a0 With him was a white boy.<\/p>\n

She could not help but stare at him.<\/p>\n

The boy was a shoot of bamboo next to the man\u2019s Banyan tree.\u00a0\u00a0 He was small in stature and had skin the color of milk.\u00a0 His hair was dark and curly as a mountain goat\u2019s horns.\u00a0 The clothes he wore were ragged and hung on his slender frame.\u00a0 He was not clean and looked as though he lived in the streets.\u00a0 Ming-hua scowled.\u00a0 Perhaps the man had found him and in kindness taken him in.<\/p>\n

But no, she did not think so.<\/p>\n

The young girl started as a hand came down on her shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cAre you finished yet?\u201d her sister asked.<\/p>\n

She looked up at Biyu.\u00a0 \u201cA moment more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you kept your mind to your task you would be done.\u201d\u00a0 Her tall, attractive sister leaned in to finger the golden thread of a dragon\u2019s mane.\u00a0 As she did, she whispered, \u201cYou will stay away from that man.\u00a0 The one who just came in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ming-hua\u2019s eyes flicked to the stranger.\u00a0 He had led the boy to a table and placed him in a chair.\u00a0 The boy stared listlessly at the floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho is he?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her sister smirked.\u00a0 \u201cHe is trouble.\u00a0 That is all you need to know.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMing-hua!\u201d a voice called.<\/p>\n

She glanced at Biyu and then turned to find Madame Ah Kum gesturing to her.\u00a0 The man who tended their bar had placed two drinks on a tray.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake this to that table!\u201d the salon\u2019s mistress ordered.<\/p>\n

She looked at her sister.<\/p>\n

Biyu scowled. \u201cDo as you are told.\u00a0 Then leave as quickly as you came.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ming-hua rose to her feet.\u00a0 She placed her sister\u2019s dress on the chair and went to pick up the tray.\u00a0 She was young and pretty and dressed in a heavily embroidered blue silk gown that was slit up her thigh on one side to reveal her legs.\u00a0 Her hair was wound high upon her head and decorated with silk flower petals and pearls.\u00a0 She wore no makeup yet and only a simple pair of black pearl earrings.\u00a0 Madame Kum had bought her when she was eight years old and was grooming her for the time when she would serve her as did all the other China girls.\u00a0 The men in the salon watched her as she delivered the drinks, drooling like dogs in summer heat.\u00a0 She kept her eyes on the table as she crossed the room, and on the boy who sat there still as stone.\u00a0 The big man said something and when the boy did not respond, he snarled like a wolf as he caught the boy\u2019s brown curls in his fingers and thrust his head back.<\/p>\n

The boy, like her, must be a slave.<\/p>\n

Ming-hua arrived at the table and put the tray down.\u00a0 \u201cYour drinks, honored guest,\u201d she said and turned to walk away.<\/p>\n

\u201cSit down,\u201d the big man said a he reached for the taller of the two glasses.<\/p>\n

The Chinese girl stiffened.\u00a0 She shot a look at her sister who was leaning against the bar watching her.\u00a0 Biyu shook her head.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonored sir, I have work to attend to,\u201d she said, giving him a little bow.<\/p>\n

As she started to move away, his hand shot out and caught hers.\u00a0 \u201cI said \u2018sit\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The look in his eyes made her shiver.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeave her be, Wade,\u201d her sister said as she came to her side.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s only a child.\u201d<\/p>\n

The white man\u2019s eyes assessed her and then went to Biyu.\u00a0 \u201cJasper,\u201d he said, sneering.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s been a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot long enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ming-hua was surprised by her sister\u2019s words.\u00a0 They were taught to be respectful to white men no matter what their words or actions.<\/p>\n

The man Biyu called \u2018Wade\u2019 leaned back in his chair.\u00a0 His eyes went to the boy who was looking at the floor and still had not touched the drink placed before him, and then settled on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis your little sister?\u201d he sneered.\u00a0 \u201cSeems old enough to have a man show her what it\u2019s about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShow me a man and I might consider it,\u201d Biyu replied.<\/p>\n

For a moment it looked like the white man would grow angry and strike her sister.\u00a0 She had seen it happen many times.\u00a0 Once, a China girl had been killed by such a blow.\u00a0 Instead, he began to laugh.\u00a0 When he slapped the table, the boy sitting there did not jump even though she did.<\/p>\n

\u201cDamn my eyes!\u00a0 If you ain\u2019t full of yourself for a fancy girl!\u201d\u00a0 Ming-hua watched as Wade reached out and caught her sister\u2019s hand.\u00a0 \u201cCome here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Biyu did not flinch. \u201cShow me your gold first,\u201d she said, refusing to allow him to draw her in.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe then I will.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man reached into his pocket and tossed several coins on the table.\u00a0 \u201cYou, a bath, a meal and a room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her sister picked them up.\u00a0 She counted them and then placed the coins in the small purse she carried.\u00a0 With her head, she indicated the boy.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about him?\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade\u2019s lips curled in an unpleasant smile.\u00a0 \u201cI want to rent a crib as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ming-hua shuddered.\u00a0 The ugly girls, the ones men did not want to look at but only to use, were sold to crib owners.\u00a0 A \u2018crib\u2019 was a small wooden shack with one locked door and a barred window.\u00a0 There was a narrow bunk with a thin mattress filled with straw within, as well as a chamber pot and a small table with a bucket holding wash water.\u00a0 These girls were made to stand at the barred window and call out to the men walking by, baring their nakedness, and then doing whatever the man wanted for the wage of \u2018two bits\u2019.\u00a0 The cribs were filthy and often the home to rats and insects.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s too young,\u201d Biyu replied, disgusted.<\/p>\n

Wade snorted.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t want a woman for him.\u00a0 I just want him in a crib until we\u2019re done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biyu eyed the boy, who still had not moved or made a sound.\u00a0 \u201cIs he yours?\u201d<\/p>\n

The white man\u2019s sneer brought the chill of winter to her heart.\u00a0 \u201cSure, he\u2019s mine.\u201d\u00a0 Wade reached out and lifted the boy\u2019s head by his chin and said, \u201cTell the lady who I am, boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

His eyes were green as jade, dull as stone, and rimmed in sadness.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re my…pa,\u201d he replied woodenly.<\/p>\n

On the last word he flinched.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s right, boy,\u201d the man said as his hand dropped to the boy\u2019s arm.\u00a0 Ming-hua watched his fingers dig into the boy\u2019s fragile flesh.\u00a0 \u201cAnd don\u2019t you forget it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her sister watched with indifference.\u00a0 Since coming to America, Biyu and Dandan had both grown hard as diamonds, as she would grow hard one day.\u00a0 Biyu\u2019s fingers curled and wiggled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother coin for the crib.\u201d<\/p>\n

The white man\u2019s eyes narrowed and then he laughed again.\u00a0 Reaching into his pocket he pulled out another coin.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re robbin\u2019 me blind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her sister\u2019s lips twisted. \u201cGood.\u00a0 Then you will not see when I switch places with the crib girl whose house you have just bought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade stood up.\u00a0 \u201cSame room?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Biyu inclined her head toward the stair.\u00a0 \u201cSecond floor, second on the right.\u201d\u00a0 She started to follow him and then, almost as an afterthought, turned back.\u00a0 \u201cMing-hua, take the boy to Zhu\u2019s crib.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl became pale.\u00a0 Zhu had died the week before.\u00a0 She had been very sick.\u00a0 There had been talk of burning that row of cribs down.\u00a0 Her wide eyes went to the boy.\u00a0 Her sister read the words in her stare.<\/p>\n

A hand came down on her shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cHe is with Wade Bosh.\u00a0 Perhaps the ancestors will be kind and he will sicken and die,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n

With that, Biyu walked away.<\/p>\n

A moment later, Longwei appeared beside the table.\u00a0 He was one of the men Ah Kum hired to throw out those who did not pass the test of the water.\u00a0 Ah Kum told the China girls to put alcohol in the water with which they bathed the men who came.\u00a0 If they cried out \u2013 and were unclean \u2013 Longwei or one of his brothers would throw them out.\u00a0 Longwei was not quite so large as the white man who had gone away with her sister, but he was very tall and very strong.<\/p>\n

He was there to make sure the boy did not run away.<\/p>\n

Ming-hua sat for a moment and then she reached out and touched the boy\u2019s hand.\u00a0 At first, he did not move.\u00a0 Then he lifted his head and looked at her.\u00a0 She saw again his pale skin and the darkness that cradled his eyes.\u00a0 There was something else\u00a0 she saw, and she knew the crib held little fear for him.<\/p>\n

There was a wish for death in his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must come with me,\u201d she said softly, her eyes flicking to Longwei as she touched his hand.\u00a0 \u201cYou must come now.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seemed then that he noticed her for the first time.\u00a0 Something else entered his eyes \u2013 perhaps a spark of the fire that had once been his.\u00a0 The boy\u2019s lips parted and he said, so quietly she almost did not hear.<\/p>\n

\u201cB\u0101ngb\u0101ng w\u01d2.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Help me.<\/p>\n

Please.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They were less than a day out of Sacramento.\u00a0 Over the last five, Ben had grown increasingly desperate.\u00a0 The trail they\u2019d been following had disappeared and he was all for scouring the earth until he found it again. \u00a0Rosey stopped him.\u00a0 She knew the lay of the land and said that Joe\u2019s kidnapper was taking the Humboldt Trail, most likely in an attempt to escape notice.\u00a0 It was a less traveled route and paralleled the river of the same name. The Humboldt River took a crooked, meandering path west across the arid Great Basin.\u00a0 He knew from what others had told him that the river was good for neither man or beast.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t enough timber along it to make a snuff-box or enough vegetation to shade a rabbit.\u00a0 The water was alkaline and undrinkable.\u00a0 He had been terrified for his son when he realized that was the route Wade Bosh had chosen.<\/p>\n

Rosey assured him it was the hand of God.<\/p>\n

He had to admit he had not been very kind.\u00a0 He had all but accused the woman of being insane.\u00a0 The former army scout had taken it in stride.\u00a0 Think about it, she\u2019d said.\u00a0 The Humboldt trail was a long and winding one.\u00a0 If they stuck to the more traveled path, they would make better time and would have a chance of catching up to Joseph and the man who took him.\u00a0 Both trails bottomed out at what used to be called Sutter\u2019s Fort; the town that had recently come to be known as Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u2018Blood and bread\u2019<\/em>, Rosey said with a smile.\u00a0 The town was named after the Holy sacrament.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s promise of life out of death.<\/p>\n

They were, perhaps, fourteen hours out from the fast-growing city.\u00a0 Sacramento had been prospering since the late eighteen-forties.\u00a0 When gold was discovered it boomed, and then settled back down to a reasonable size and began to grow fat and content with commerce.\u00a0 It had seen its share of epidemics, riots, and fires.\u00a0 Hop Sing had traveled there once to aid a relative \u2013 one of his seemingly thousand cousins.\u00a0 When he\u2019d mentioned this to Rosey she smiled.\u00a0 She was familiar with the Chinese quarter of the city.\u00a0 They were good people, she said, and \u2013 if necessary \u2013would help in the search for Joseph.\u00a0 Ben drew a breath against his fear.\u00a0 If Wade Bosh succeeded \u2013 if that madman managed to take Little Joe to San Francisco or another port and get him on a ship….<\/p>\n

A week.<\/p>\n

It had been over a week since he had seen his son.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t even know if the boy was still alive.\u00a0 If Joseph had been…killed, he could be buried anywhere along the trail.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d never know.<\/p>\n

Ben sniffed and ran the back of his hand under both eyes, striking away tears.\u00a0 He was bone tired.\u00a0 But more than that, he was afraid.<\/p>\n

Afraid for his boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupper\u2019s ready, Ben,\u201d Rosey said as she approached.\u00a0 When she noted his demeanor, she added, \u201cTake heart.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be in Sacramento by noon tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

They\u2019d stopped for the night.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to.\u00a0 He wanted to press on, but Rosey said the path was too dangerous to attempt in the dark.\u00a0 Not so much due to the land as to the highwaymen and evil doers who inhabited it this close to the city.<\/p>\n

\u2018If you die, Ben, who will there be to rescue your boy?<\/em>\u2019 she\u2019d asked in her soft husky voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not hungry,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

She came closer to him.\u00a0 Her hand reached out and touched his arm.\u00a0 \u201cI know you aren\u2019t, but you need to eat.\u201d\u00a0 She frowned. \u201cThere\u2019s no knowin\u2019 what awaits you tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

There it was again.\u00a0 The way she said things \u2013 like she\u2019d been through what he was going through.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s smile was wistful.\u00a0 \u201cWill you ever tell me?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Rosey\u2019s keen eyes narrowed.\u00a0 She thought a moment.\u00a0 \u201cWhen we find your boy.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you then.\u201d<\/p>\n

When \u2013 not \u2018if\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Accepting that, he asked, \u201cDo you have an idea of where to begin looking in the city?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have some friends I mean to talk to,\u201d she said and then hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cBen, you know, I haven\u2019t led what you would call a righteous life, not even a half of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSan Francisco?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

She nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI was a working<\/em> girl, if you know what I mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

He did.<\/p>\n

\u201cGirls like me, we hear everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour friends?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSame as me. Working girls, only Chinese.\u00a0 There\u2019s a place called The Delectable Dragon<\/em>, run by a woman named Ah Kum.\u00a0 She\u2019s okay, though the man who owns her is involved with the Tong.\u201d\u00a0 At his look, she shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cThe West ain\u2019t exactly kind to women who\u2019ve got no man.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a sad truth.\u00a0 Ben nodded.\u00a0 \u201cGo on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was a bettin\u2019 woman, and I\u2019m not.\u201d\u00a0 She smiled.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s one vice Jesus won\u2019t have to forgive me for.\u00a0 But if I was, I\u2019d bet Wade Bosh frequents the Dragon<\/em>.\u00a0 It\u2019s the place all the seamen go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think someone there might know about Joseph?\u201d\u00a0 Hope sprang in his heart.<\/p>\n

Rosey removed her hand.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019m thinkin.\u201d\u00a0 At his look, she cautioned, \u201cNow, even if Bosh visited, he may be gone before we arrive.\u00a0 But maybe \u2013 just maybe<\/em> \u2013 we can find out somethin\u2019 about him \u2013 if he has your son with him, where he\u2019s headed; what his plans are.\u201d\u00a0 She shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cA man don\u2019t mind his mouth much when he\u2019s busy thinkin\u2019 with his other parts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it possible?\u00a0 Could he be only one<\/em> day away from finding out where his youngest son was \u2013 and more importantly, that Joseph was alive?<\/p>\n

He hardly knew what to say.\u00a0 \u201cThank you, Rosey.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know what I would have done without you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would have gone on,\u201d she said, her eyes and tone serious.\u00a0 \u201cTo where there be dragons, I imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, he would.<\/p>\n

For his son, he would have gone to the ends of the Earth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ming-hua persuaded Longwei to leave her alone with the boy.\u00a0 Longwei liked her and she had told him she would let him touch her and kiss her if he walked away for an hour and did not tell anyone that he had.\u00a0 The crib was filthy.\u00a0 It had not been touched since Zhu\u2019s death the week before.\u00a0 The walk to the alley the small shacks lined exhausted the boy and he wanted to lie down immediately, but she did not let him.\u00a0 She made him lean against the wall as she covered the polluted ticking with a blanket and cleared away the chamber pot. The crib had a small stove in it, less than worthy to heat the tiny eight foot square space.\u00a0 She brought firewood and lit a fire and then took hold of the boy\u2019s arm and led him over to the cot.\u00a0 As he sat on the edge of it, his eyes pleaded with her.\u00a0 His lips formed the words again, spoken in Chinese, and then he fell over and was still.<\/p>\n

Tears fell as she stared at him.<\/p>\n

She had thought him a beggar at first, but now she knew better.\u00a0 The large shirt he wore had been tossed over his other clothes to hide them.\u00a0 They were threadbare but fit well, and were of fine workmanship.\u00a0 They told their own tale, but this was not the tale that spoke the loudest.\u00a0 His hands, though they showed he was not a stranger to work, were soft and refined; the fingers long, the nails unbroken.\u00a0 His features were refined as well \u2013 a small straight nose that turned up at the end, full lips, and a strong-boned face.\u00a0 She had seen his eyes, even though now they were covered by thick black lashes which shaded their haunting green depths.<\/p>\n

Like the jade eyes of the dragon.<\/p>\n

Ming-hua wondered what his name was.<\/p>\n

The time would not be long now before Longwei returned.\u00a0 And it would not much be longer until Biyu and the man were done.\u00a0 She would be forced to leave him then and might never see him again.\u00a0 The young girl chewed her lip.\u00a0 She did not believe the boy belonged to the big white man.\u00a0 Like her, she knew he had been taken from his home.\u00a0 She wanted desperately to do something to save him, but she did not know how.\u00a0 She was a China girl.\u00a0 She was owned by another.\u00a0 She was powerless.\u00a0 No more than a slave.<\/p>\n

Still….<\/p>\n

Ming-hua placed a hand on the boy\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 His skin was slightly hot, as though sickness waited to pounce like a hungry tiger.\u00a0 Moving her hand, she brushed the wet brown curls off his forehead and asked in Chinese, \u201cN\u01d0 ji\u00e0o sh\u00e9nme m\u00edngz\u00ec?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

What is your name?<\/p>\n

A slight smile curled his lips.\u00a0 \u201cJoe,\u201d he answered, his voice soft as a whisper.<\/p>\n

Her fingers lingered in the thick curls.\u00a0 \u201cOnly Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

The smile turned to a frown.\u00a0 She thought he was in pain.\u00a0 His head shook.\u00a0 \u201cCan\u2019t,\u201d was all he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes he beat you if you tell?\u201d she asked, recognizing his fear as one of her own.<\/p>\n

Joe nodded.<\/p>\n

Ming-hua glanced over her shoulder.\u00a0 Longwei was returning.\u00a0 She heard his footsteps, even amidst the cries of the other crib girls and the ones who used them.<\/p>\n

Leaning in close, she said, \u201cYou must <\/em>tell me.\u00a0 I will keep your secret.\u201d\u00a0 The girl drew in a breath.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd, should you go to meet your ancestors, I will keep your memory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those jade green eyes stared into her as if they could discern her soul.<\/p>\n

\u201cCartwright,\u201d he said at last, flinching with the name as if it was a blow itself.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cJoe Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longwei was placing the key in the lock.\u00a0 In a second he would draw her away.\u00a0 Quickly she kissed the boy\u2019s fevered forehead.<\/p>\n

\u201cMay your luck be as immense as the eastern sea, Joe Cartwright,\u201d she breathed into his ear.\u00a0 \u201cYou will not be forgotten.\u201d
\nJoe lay where he was, quiet and unmoving.\u00a0 All he wanted to do was to go to sleep and not wake up.\u00a0 He was sick, but that wasn\u2019t what had brought him to this pass.\u00a0 What had was the loss of somethin\u2019 he didn\u2019t really even know he had, it was such a part of him.<\/p>\n

Hope.<\/p>\n

In the mountains they\u2019d run across a man from the East named Cunningham who was lookin\u2019 for gold.\u00a0 He had a black man with him named Billy who was his cook.\u00a0 Bosh untied him before they entered the men\u2019s camp.\u00a0 The big man took hold of his shoulder and gripped it hard and used his eyes to indicate the pistol he kept anchored behind his belt, indicatin\u2019 he\u2019d better not say anything or make a break for it or he\u2019d die.<\/p>\n

At least that was what he thought Bosh meant.<\/p>\n

Billy was about Adam\u2019s age and he sensed something was wrong right away.\u00a0 The black man brought him his food and then sat down beside him and started to talk.\u00a0 With his eyes on Bosh and Cunningham, Billy began to ask him questions.\u00a0 In spite of trying to hide it, it quickly became clear to the stranger that Bosh wasn\u2019t his father and that he didn\u2019t want to be with him.\u00a0 Billy told him to lay down and go to sleep and he\u2019d talk to Cunningham and see what they could do.\u00a0 He\u2019d laid his head down without despair for the first time in a week that night.\u00a0 He\u2019d still had it then \u2013 hope \u2013 alive and beatin\u2019 in his chest.<\/p>\n

It died along with the two men.<\/p>\n

Bosh told him he<\/em> was the reason they were dead.\u00a0 Four <\/em>people were dead because of him and his stubborn pride and there\u2019d be more.\u00a0 The big man warned him that \u2013 anytime he tried to tell anyone anything, if he ever looked anyone in the eye, if he told them his name….<\/p>\n

They were dead.<\/p>\n

Joe closed his eyes and sighed.\u00a0 Bosh kept tellin\u2019 him he was never going to see his family again, that they weren\u2019t even trying to find him.\u00a0 And if they did, it wouldn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 Once they knew, they wouldn\u2019t want <\/em>him.<\/p>\n

Who\u2019d want a snivelin\u2019 sorry murderer like him?<\/p>\n

Tears formed in Joe\u2019s eyes and traveled along his feverish cheek to strike the rough blanket Ming-hua had placed on the cot.\u00a0 He was scared for her.\u00a0 Bosh had gone off with that woman so he didn\u2019t think he knew the Chinese girl had stayed behind at the crib and talked to him, but he couldn\u2019t be sure.\u00a0 He\u2019d put her in danger.\u00a0 If she died, he didn\u2019t know what he would do.\u00a0 He\u2019d just wanted to be with someone other than Bosh \u2013 someone who didn\u2019t yell at him or tell him his name wasn\u2019t what he thought it was.\u00a0 Someone who didn\u2019t tell him he was all he wanted and then treat him as if he was worthless as the offal from a butchered cow.<\/p>\n

Joe swallowed hard over his fear.<\/p>\n

Truth to tell, he thought the seaman was insane.<\/p>\n

At first Bosh had called him by his name and seemed to know who he was.\u00a0 Lately \u2013 since he\u2019d been forbidden to talk about his pa and brothers or mention their names or use his last name \u2013 Bosh seemed to have, well, lost track.\u00a0 Most of the time he called him \u2018boy\u2019, like he was nothin\u2019 and didn\u2019t even have<\/em> a name.\u00a0 Every once in a while he\u2019d call him \u2018Joseph\u2019, but then, without warning, he\u2019d call him \u2018Jude\u2019.\u00a0 Joe didn\u2019t know who Jude was, but he was afraid he was someone like him who Bosh stole away from his family and maybe killed.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to ask once and been backhanded for it.\u00a0 Since they\u2019d left the mountains the big man had become more unstable.\u00a0 When he didn\u2019t move fast enough or answer right away he got angry.<\/p>\n

And when he was angry, Bosh hit him.<\/p>\n

Sometimes the big man would lose his temper and forgot to stop and then he\u2019d beat him until he was lyin \u2018 on the ground, breathin\u2019 hard.\u00a0 The worst pounding had come the night after he\u2019d killed Billy and Cunningham.\u00a0 Bosh told him to call him \u2018Pa\u2019 and waited for him to do it.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t about to.\u00a0 He told him he only had one \u2018Pa\u2019 and he <\/em>wasn\u2019t a murderer!\u00a0 That sent the big man into a fury.\u00a0 He struck him and struck him and struck him until he forced the word out of his mouth.<\/p>\n

Somethin\u2019 broke in him then.\u00a0 Joe wasn\u2019t sure what it was, but he thought it might have been his spirit.\u00a0 Layin\u2019 there, his lip bleedin\u2019, with Bosh looming over him, he\u2019d said it.\u00a0 He\u2019d called the seaman \u2018Pa.\u2019<\/p>\n

The word didn\u2019t have any meaning anymore.<\/p>\n

Another tear trailed down Joe\u2019s cheek to wet the blanket.\u00a0 Bosh would come for him soon.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know where they were goin\u2019, but he was pretty sure it was out to sea.\u00a0 The closest port city was Vallejo.\u00a0 San Francisco was a little farther west.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t really care which one it was.\u00a0 He knew there was nothin\u2019 left for him.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t go home and he didn\u2019t want to go forward.<\/p>\n

He just wanted to die.<\/p>\n

Drownin\u2019 was a good a way as any.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

TWELVE<\/p>\n

Rosey O\u2019Rourke stopped outside the doors of the Delectable Dragon<\/em> and took a deep breath.\u00a0 This wasn\u2019t one of the dens of iniquity where she\u2019d worked, but the sights and sounds and smells were the same.\u00a0 Sweaty men.\u00a0 Stale tobacco.\u00a0 Whiskey, both cheap and over-priced.\u00a0 Powdered hair and perfumed women.<\/p>\n

Lust and despair.<\/p>\n

As a young girl she\u2019d found herself on her own.\u00a0 Her family perished on the journey out west.\u00a0 They\u2019d been among the first to try it in the late eighteen-twenties and paid the price for the nation\u2019s inexperience.\u00a0 The O\u2019Rourke family hadn\u2019t been large \u2013 just her, her ma and pa, and two brothers.\u00a0 Both Rory and Sean, who were younger than her, died along the way.\u00a0 Her parents made it to the coast only to depart this life in one of the epidemics that swept through the gathering of wooden houses, tents, and hulks of ships that in time would become San Francisco.<\/p>\n

So there she was, a seventeen year old girl; one husband shy of respectability.\u00a0 The only thing she had to offer was what she\u2019d been born with and that was what she used to survive.<\/p>\n

Just like the China girls at Ah Kum\u2019s.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d been pretty as a filly then, with dark masses of hair that cascaded down her back, a waist small enough for a man to circle with two hands, and breasts that were little more than a mouthful.\u00a0 In the beginning the owner put her to work on the first floor, delivering drinks to tables and so on.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t mind.\u00a0 It was all right.\u00a0 A year later she graduated to the second floor.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t take her long to discover that what she was expected to deliver there was a horse of a different color.\u00a0 Before she knew it, she was laying on her back every night looking at the ceiling and tryin\u2019 not to think about what was going on.\u00a0 The ceiling had a pretty painting of a lake on it.\u00a0 She\u2019d dream she was swimming there, floating on her back and starin\u2019 at the stars.<\/p>\n

One day \u2013 when she couldn\u2019t take it any more \u2013 she\u2019d tried to swim away.\u00a0 One of the girls had been beat so bad she\u2019d nearly died.\u00a0 The Doc who cared for her had left a bottle of laudanum on the bedside table.\u00a0 She stole it and drank it all.\u00a0 When she woke up she was lying in bed and there was a man bending over her.\u00a0 He was lifting her eyelids and callin\u2019 her name.\u00a0 She was pretty sure he actually called her back.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d been furious.<\/p>\n

Years later when she sat beside that same man in their home, safe and loved in the crook of his arm, she remembered that night.\u00a0 She\u2019d cussed him up one side and down the other, shouting at him that he should have let her die.\u00a0 She told him he had no right to bring her back and he\u2019d damn-well better be prepared accept the responsibility for doin\u2019 so!\u00a0 Doctor Patrick Johnston O\u2019Rourke, with his braw Scottish accent and winning smile, his deep auburn hair and gentle hands, took her up on the challenge.<\/p>\n

They were married six weeks later.<\/p>\n

Rosey stirred.\u00a0 She glanced into the smoke-filled room.\u00a0 This was the first time she\u2019d had to face the life she\u2019d led since Patrick passed and, even though this wasn\u2019t <\/em>the San Francisco hell-hole she\u2019d spent her lost youth in, in many ways it was<\/em>.\u00a0 She saw herself in the blank stare of every China girl that walked the floor.\u00a0 They lived in that same place \u2013 lookin\u2019 at that lake on the ceiling and dreaming of their own Patrick O\u2019Rourke.<\/p>\n

God, she missed him.<\/p>\n

A disgruntled sound behind her made Rosey turn and look.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright was gettin\u2019 impatient.\u00a0 It had been all she could do to get the rancher to promise to wait in the street with Roy and Jude while she went inside.\u00a0 If the man who took his son was there and he saw him, it would be over.\u00a0 Most likely Wade Bosh wouldn\u2019t have the boy with him and, if he escaped, they\u2019d lose Joseph forever.\u00a0 She didn\u2019t know that the seaman was here, of course, but she thought he probably was \u2013 or at least had been.\u00a0 The Dragon<\/em> was a fancy house that catered to sailors.\u00a0 Ah Kum\u2019s current husband ran a shipping yard and owned a number of vessels.\u00a0 There was word on the streets that he ran other \u2018businesses\u2019 as well including one that bought and sold the China girls and another that crimped American men.<\/p>\n

Rosey caught the rancher\u2019s eye and held up five fingers, indicating the amount of time she wanted.<\/p>\n

Ben scowled and then nodded.\u00a0 As he did Jude Randolph placed a hand on the older man\u2019s shoulder and drew him back.\u00a0 There was a bond there.\u00a0 A deep one.\u00a0 It reminded her of….<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

Not yet.<\/p>\n

Drawing a breath of fresh air before entering, Rosey swung open the salon doors and stepped into the smoke-filled room.\u00a0 She was looking for a pair of young women.\u00a0 A month or two after her marriage, she and Patrick had come to Sacramento.\u00a0 He was there to attend a week-long medical conference.\u00a0 Left to herself during the day, she\u2019d decided to frequent some of the cat houses in the rapidly expanding city.\u00a0 It had become a mission of sorts for her, seeing if she could free other women who were trapped as she had once been.\u00a0 In one house she encountered a pair of Chinese girls; sisters who had just arrived.\u00a0 She thought at first that they were twins, but later found out there was a year between them.\u00a0 Cinnabar and Jasper, they were called by the men who used them.\u00a0 She knew them as Biyu and Dandan.\u00a0 Though they had refused her help, something about the pair had touched her and she\u2019d kept in touch with Biyu over the years.\u00a0 She\u2019d received a letter not all that long ago and so she knew the pair were at the Dragon.<\/p>\n

If Wade Bosh had<\/em> visited Ah Kum\u2019s establishment, Biyu would know it.<\/p>\n

Rosey smiled as she passed through the crowd of men on her way to the counter.\u00a0 It caused a little stir.\u00a0 There weren\u2019t too many white women would darken the Dragon\u2019s<\/em> doorstep.\u00a0 Not if they wanted to remain acceptable in society.<\/p>\n

\u2018Course, she hadn\u2019t been considered acceptable for a long <\/em>time.<\/p>\n

There was a young woman behind the bar.\u00a0 She had her eyes averted and was polishing one of a pair of glasses.\u00a0 Rosey waited patiently for her to look up and acknowledge her.\u00a0 As their eyes met there was a flash of fear.\u00a0 The girl buried it quickly in her work.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow may Shuchun help you?\u201d she asked, her voice soft.<\/p>\n

Shuchun.\u00a0 It meant \u2018fair purity\u2019.\u00a0 Now, there<\/em> was a name for a China girl.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard a couple of my friends are here,\u201d Rosey replied.\u00a0 \u201cI came to pay them a visit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shuchun frowned.\u00a0 Her eyes flicked up and then returned to her work.\u00a0 \u201cWhat are your friends names?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBiyu and Dandan.\u201d\u00a0 She deliberately used their Chinese names and not the ones their owner had given them.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid I hear my name?\u201d a sultry voice asked from close behind her.<\/p>\n

Rosey turned on her heel.\u00a0 She gasped at what she found, but recovered quickly and turned it into a little cough.\u00a0 She should<\/em> have used \u2018Jasper\u2019.<\/p>\n

The woman before her looked hard as stone.<\/p>\n

It had been, maybe, nine years since she\u2019d seen her.\u00a0 She\u2019d prospered, obviously, for Biyu was dressed in a finely-embroidered dress of rust-colored silk and had diamond and ruby encrusted combs holding up her shining black hair.\u00a0 She was still beautiful, but it was the hard beauty of a porcelain mask.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I know you?\u201d Biyu asked.<\/p>\n

Rosey smiled.\u00a0 She was over forty now and felt like she\u2019d lived twice that many years.\u00a0 She supposed she <\/em>had changed to.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Rosey,\u201d she said with a smile.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cRosey O\u2019Rourke.\u201d<\/p>\n

The porcelain cracked and Biyu smiled.\u00a0 She reached out and took her hands. \u201cRosey,\u201d she breathed.\u00a0 \u201cForgive me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The older woman shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cThere is nothing to forgive.\u00a0 How are you?\u00a0 How are those sisters of yours?\u00a0 Dandan and, Ming, was it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Biyu\u2019s smile faded.\u00a0 \u201cMing-hua.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs something wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n

With her head the Chinese woman indicated a pretty girl serving food to two men nearby.\u00a0 She looked to be fourteen, maybe fifteen years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is here.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that said it all.<\/p>\n

As she opened her mouth to say something more, Rosey noted a decided silence settle over the room.\u00a0 He older woman closed her eyes and sighed.\u00a0 She knew what had happened before she looked.<\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright\u2019s patience had run out.<\/p>\n

It was funny.\u00a0 He was just a man, but it only took one look at Ben to know he hadn\u2019t come to the Delectable Dragon<\/em> lookin\u2019 for an evening of amorous congress.<\/p>\n

Biyu\u2019s eyes reflected her fear.\u00a0 \u201cI must go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey gripped her hand.\u00a0 \u201cBiyu, there\u2019s a boy missin\u2019.\u00a0 That\u2019s his pa.\u00a0 We think the man who took him might have come here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know nothing!\u201d Biyu declared as she tried to pull away.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re mighty skittish for someone who knows nothin\u2019,\u201d she replied, her tone dark.\u00a0 \u201cTell me the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the truth.\u00a0 You must go away.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy<\/em> must I go away?\u00a0 Can\u2019t a woman have a drink and a chat with an old friend?\u201d<\/p>\n

Biyu\u2019s eyes went past her to Ben.\u00a0 She seemed to size him up quickly.\u00a0 \u201cThe man you seek is not here.\u00a0 He was, but is gone.\u00a0 But this man, you must get him away.\u00a0 For his own sake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey glanced around the room.\u00a0 She noted three large Chinese men occupying a corner of it.\u00a0 They were sizing up Ben.<\/p>\n

\u201cCrimpers?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Her old friend nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThere is a ship in the Vallejo harbor.\u00a0 It sets sail this week.\u00a0 Longwei and the others have been paid to find men to fill her crew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey turned to look and saw Roy Coffee and Jude standing just outside the Dragon\u2019s<\/em> doors, keeping an eye on their friend.\u00a0 The lawman especially looked concerned.<\/p>\n

Ben was almost at her side.<\/p>\n

Biyu leaned in to kiss her cheek.\u00a0 \u201cYou are not safe.\u00a0 Leave this place.\u00a0 Go now!\u201d<\/p>\n

She did not release her hand.\u00a0 \u201cNot until you answer this \u2013 was there a boy with him?\u00a0 A boy with green eyes and curly hair?\u00a0 Tell me!\u201d<\/p>\n

The China girl nodded and then pulled free.<\/p>\n

Rosey watched as Biyu gathered up her sisters and disappeared into the kitchen.\u00a0 Then she swung about and faced Ben.\u00a0 Anchoring her hands on her hips, the older woman put on her best frown and declared, \u201cAha!\u00a0 I knew <\/em>I\u2019d find you here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben halted, stunned.<\/p>\n

Rosey glared at him.\u00a0 Come on<\/em>, she thought.\u00a0 You\u2019re a smart man!\u00a0 Play along!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew<\/em> you were lying!\u00a0 I knew this<\/em> was what you\u2019ve been doin\u2019 all those nights you came in late!\u201d\u00a0 She shook\u00a0 a finger at him.\u00a0 \u201cAfter hours meetings of the cattleman\u2019s association, my eye teeth!\u00a0 You\u2019ve been makin\u2019 time with these Chinese hussies!\u201d<\/p>\n

He was slow on the pick-up, but he had it at last.<\/p>\n

\u201cDarling,\u201d the rancher said as he advanced into the room, \u201cI assure you that you are mistaken.\u00a0 I came in here looking for a friend.\u201d\u00a0 Ben lifted up on tiptoe and looked around.\u00a0 \u201cHe doesn\u2019t appear to be here.\u00a0 Now, why don\u2019t you and I go home \u2013\u00a0 Oh, there he is!\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy had just stepped in.\u00a0 Jude was close on his heels.\u00a0 The elegant Englishman turned more than one head \u2013 most of them female and Chinese.<\/p>\n

The lawman raised a hand and waved it.<\/p>\n

By this time the entire room was watching them, including Longwei who was eyeing Ben like a side of beef.<\/p>\n

\u201cSee?\u201d the rancher asked.\u00a0 \u201cYou remember Roy, don\u2019t you, darling?\u00a0 We were at the meeting together.\u00a0 He asked me to meet him here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey held her frown for a moment and then let it melt into a sigh.\u00a0 She went over to Ben and reached up and touched his face.\u00a0 It was simple gesture \u2013 an act \u2013 but the thrill that went through her was very<\/em> real.<\/p>\n

\u201cMen,\u201d she sighed.<\/p>\n

Ben wrapped her arm around his and patted her hand.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey glanced at Longwei as they headed for the door.\u00a0 The older woman didn\u2019t read suspicion in his stare, but she did see a hunger.\u00a0 Ben Cartwright was a strong, well-muscled man; over six feet in height.\u00a0 Just the type the crimpers looked for.\u00a0 They\u2019d have to be careful.<\/p>\n

They didn\u2019t need another Cartwright to go missing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was dark when they left the Delectable Dragon<\/em>.\u00a0 Ben didn\u2019t want to go, but bowed to Rosey\u2019s greater knowledge of the establishment when she said nothing more could be accomplished there that night.\u00a0 He reluctantly took his small party to the better end of town and rented a suite of rooms at a respectable hotel.\u00a0 After a week on the trail \u2018rank\u2019 didn\u2019t even begin to describe them.\u00a0 He and Roy shared a room while Rosey and Jude each had one of their own.\u00a0 After they\u2019d freshened up, he and Roy went down to the dining room.\u00a0 Jude soon joined them.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken a walk, he said, to clear his head.\u00a0 It was late, but a little extra cash in hand persuaded the hotel owner to keep the kitchen open for another hour.\u00a0 There were very few patrons in the dining room, which suited him fine.\u00a0 In a far corner two men sat with their heads together.\u00a0 They were conducting business.\u00a0 Behind them was a able with a handsome white-haired woman and her children.\u00a0 Her three young sons reminded him of his own.\u00a0 There was an older studious-looking boy with black hair, a middle boy with an easy smile, also black-haired, and a much younger one with curly brown hair.\u00a0 The woman had a babe in arms that might have been a girl.\u00a0 Ben turned away as the sight struck him to his core.<\/p>\n

He so<\/em> missed his boys.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow much longer do you think Rosey\u2019ll be, Ben?\u201d Roy Coffee asked, his tone clearly impatient.\u00a0 Rosey had promised to fill them in on what she\u2019d learned from the Chinese woman she\u2019d talked to.\u00a0 He had been slightly piqued with her when she refused to go into it before, but had finally accepted the fact that she had her reasons.<\/p>\n

The main one being she was a woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve both had wives, Roy.\u00a0 You know how long it takes a woman to make themselves presentable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeems to me that a woman like Rosey don\u2019t worry much about things like that.\u201d\u00a0 Roy shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cImagine her bein\u2019 a scout for Kearney back in forty-six.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea had <\/em>surprised him \u2013 momentarily.\u00a0 Women were capable of anything a man was for the most part, but social custom usually prevented them from attempting anything that might engender scandal.\u00a0 They had to keep a close watch over their reputation.<\/p>\n

Rosey laughed when he brought the subject up, saying she had no reputation to watch.<\/p>\n

She was<\/em> a fascinating woman.<\/p>\n

He knew from what little Rosey had <\/em>told him that she\u2019d been on her own by the time she was seventeen, fallen into harlotry to survive, and then left that dubious profession to build a better life.\u00a0 There had been a marriage and maybe a child, but something had happened and she\u2019d been left alone again.\u00a0 After that she\u2019d shunned society and taken to living in the mountains.\u00a0 He wondered what she would do now.\u00a0 She seemed invested in finding Joseph, but as of tonight her task was done.\u00a0 She\u2019d brought them safely through the mountains to Sacramento in record time.\u00a0 He knew his way to Vallejo and San Francisco from here.\u00a0 She was free to go.<\/p>\n

But would<\/em> she go?<\/p>\n

The middle boy at the woman\u2019s the table rose abruptly and sped toward the door.\u00a0 His mother\u2019s voice followed him, calling for him to slow down.\u00a0 He was looking back over his shoulder and was quite unaware of the dark-haired woman in a simple blue frock who had just stepped into the dining room.\u00a0 With a speed Ben would not have expected, the woman moved out of the way, avoiding the collision and sending the boy tumbling to the floor.\u00a0 He ended up at the feet of a well-dressed gentleman who offered up a very familiar sigh.<\/p>\n

That of a long-suffering father.<\/p>\n

Reaching down the man caught the boy\u2019s arm and lifted him to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cNicholas, apologize to the lady,\u201d he said in a stern tone.<\/p>\n

The boy ducked his dark head and mumbled something.<\/p>\n

\u201cStand up straight.\u00a0 Speak clearly.\u00a0 I\u2019m not breeding idiots.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a snicker from behind him.\u00a0 It came from the curly-headed youth who received a cuff from his older brother and fell silent.<\/p>\n

Nicholas opened his mouth to apologize, but Ben didn\u2019t hear what he said.\u00a0 He\u2019d only just realized who <\/em>the woman in the dark blue dress was.<\/p>\n

Rosey O\u2019Rourke.<\/p>\n

The older woman moved like grace itself to their table and grinned as the three of them jumped to their feet.\u00a0 Roy was the first to regain his tongue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, now, Miss Rosey, you clean up right nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled at the lawman as Jude pulled a chair out and she took a seat.\u00a0 After arranging her skirts, Rosey looked at him.\u00a0 Her hair was loose and it lay in a dark wave across her exposed shoulders.\u00a0 When the candlelight that illuminated the room caught it just right, streaks of silver shot through it like summer lightning.\u00a0 Rosey had a neat, trim figure that was enhanced by the cut of the dress with a waist that would have been the envy of any girl.<\/p>\n

She was, in a word, breathtaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cCat got your tongue, Ben?\u201d the older woman asked, her lips twitching with a smile.<\/p>\n

He became aware that his mouth was hanging open and closed it.\u00a0 \u201cYou look lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey looked at the dress and then back up at him.\u00a0 Her eyes were wide and inviting.\u00a0 \u201cI haven\u2019t worn it since Patrick died.\u00a0 I figured, what with comin\u2019 to town, there might be a need.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben dropped into his chair.\u00a0 \u201cA need?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 If it had been any other woman, he would have thought she was flirting with him, but this was Rosey.<\/em>\u00a0 She knew there was nothing on his mind but Joseph.\u00a0 There had to be something else.<\/p>\n

A movement to his side drew Ben\u2019s attention as a young woman stopped beside the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe chef asked if you were ready to order yet, Mister Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n

The hotel manager had supplied them with a menu upon their arrival.\u00a0 After Rosey had a chance to look at it, they indicated their choices to the waitress and sent her off to the kitchen.\u00a0 Ben watched her go and then glanced at the table behind them.\u00a0 Nicholas and his father had taken a seat.\u00a0 Coffee and dessert had been served.<\/p>\n

Turning back to Rosey, he said, \u201cSo what is this need you speak of?\u201d<\/p>\n

The older woman held his gaze.\u00a0 \u201cThings didn\u2019t quite go as planned tonight at the Dragon<\/em>.\u00a0 I need to go back and talk to Biyu or Dandan.\u00a0 Considerin\u2019 I was wearing chaps and trail dust before, I figure \u2013 looking this way \u2013 no one will recognize me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re goin\u2019 back?\u201d Roy asked, incredulous.<\/p>\n

As she nodded, Ben shook his head. \u201cNo.\u00a0 It\u2019s too dangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey leaned over and caught his wrist in her fingers.\u00a0 \u201cNo one\u2019s gonna crimp me, Ben.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be safe enough.\u201d\u00a0 She leaned back.\u00a0 \u201cBesides, you forget, I know my way around a place like Ah Kum\u2019s.\u00a0 We need to know if your boy is there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill they not question why you are there? \u00a0Why would a woman, such as you appear now, enter such an establishment?\u201d Jude asked.<\/p>\n

The older woman shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cMen.\u00a0 Innocents<\/em>, all of you.\u00a0 \u2018Women such as \u2018me\u2019 run<\/em> establishments such as \u2018that\u2019.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell them I\u2019m looking for some girls and willing to pay a handsome price.\u201d\u00a0 She looked at the rancher.\u00a0 \u201cI assume you\u2019ve got some money I can flash, Ben?\u201d<\/p>\n

He was uncertain what he thought of her plan.\u00a0 He was desperate to find news of Joseph, but not at the risk of Rosey\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cRosey, I thought you said there was nothing more that could be done tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

She smiled.\u00a0 \u201cBy you<\/em>.\u00a0 Not by me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t go there alone.\u00a0 Really, I \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben stopped. There was a disturbance in the hotel\u2019s foyer.\u00a0 He could hear the manager\u2019s voice; it was raised.\u00a0 He exchanged a glance with Rosey and then rose to his feet.\u00a0 As he passed her chair, she stood and followed.\u00a0 By the time they got to the lobby the manager was moving toward the door, dragging a Chinese girl behind him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you think are you doing, girl?\u00a0 We don\u2019t want your kind here!\u201d he declared.\u00a0 \u201cNo one with any respectability will set foot through the door of this hotel if they know one of Madame Ah Kum\u2019s ching chong<\/em> girls was here!\u201d<\/p>\n

God bless him, Ben Cartwright stepped right into the middle of it.\u00a0 \u201cNo one with any respectability would treat a woman that way!\u201d<\/p>\n

The manager rounded on him.\u00a0 The man looked slightly embarrassed and wholly discommoded.\u00a0 \u201cMister Cartwright, as a patron of this fine establishment, I would think you would wish for it to maintain a sense of decorum and reflect a code of decency.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI would.\u00a0 That\u2019s why you are going to let go of that young lady right now.\u00a0 Otherwise,\u201d Ben loomed over the smaller, slighter man and used what his sons called \u2018the voice\u2019, \u201cyou might have to deal with an incident that would bring not only bad press but the long arm of the law into your fine<\/em> establishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one cares about a piece of trash like this!\u201d the man spat.<\/p>\n

It was a good thing Rosey chose that moment to appear at his elbow.\u00a0 She took hold of it and kept his balled fist from swinging up and into the man\u2019s smug face.<\/p>\n

\u201cBenjamin, mind your manners,\u201d the older woman said softly as she stepped in front of him, sounding for all the world like the patient wife of a hot-headed husband.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll have to forgive my friend, Mister…?\u201d<\/p>\n

The manager shot a glance at the girl he held.\u00a0 She was quiescent, and so he let her go in order to reach up and pull at his tie.<\/p>\n

\u201cPennington,\u201d he said stiffly.\u00a0 \u201cGeorge Pennington.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey sidled up to him and completed the straightening of his tie.\u00a0 \u201cMister Pennington, a mistake has been made.\u00a0 This lovely child,\u201d she nodded toward the girl, \u201chas been employed by me as a maid.\u00a0 Someone was supposed to have brought her here so there would be no…misunderstanding.\u00a0 I apologize for the disturbance this has caused.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMadame, that is a prevarication!\u00a0 I happen to know what she is and I \u2013 \u201d\u00a0 Pennington stopped and went red in the face.<\/p>\n

Rosey batted her eyelashes.\u00a0 \u201cYes?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben stifled a snort.\u00a0 He had caught it too.\u00a0 It was obvious that the ever-so moral George Pennington had frequented Ah Kum\u2019s establishment.\u00a0 Otherwise, how would he know who and what the girl was?<\/p>\n

The hotel manager\u2019s demeanor changed in an instant.\u00a0 \u201cForgive me, Madame.\u00a0 If the girl is with you \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe is,\u201d Rosey said.<\/p>\n

Pennington\u2019s eyes darted to the dining room.\u00a0 The family with the children was just coming through the door.\u00a0 The two businessmen were gathering up their papers.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you intend for your…maid to dine with you?\u201d the bigoted man gulped.<\/p>\n

Rosey glanced at him.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you think, darling?\u00a0 I\u2019m a bit weary.\u00a0 Perhaps we could have the food delivered to our suite?\u201d<\/p>\n

The woman never ceased to amaze him.\u00a0 \u201cI agree.\u201d\u00a0 Ben turned and found that Jude and Roy had joined them.\u00a0 \u201cGentlemen, the lady would like to retire for the night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair came toward him.\u00a0 Roy met Ben\u2019s gaze and said, \u201cI feel a might restless, Ben.\u00a0 Think I\u2019ll take me outside and have a stroll around the town.\u00a0 Just to stretch my legs, you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

He understood only too well.\u00a0\u00a0 Roy was going to see what information he could find.\u00a0 \u201cBe careful,\u201d the rancher responded.\u00a0 \u201cThere are villains afoot in a town this large.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy nodded.\u00a0 He tipped his hat to the Chinese girl who stood silently by, her eyes averted and her slender body trembling, and then disappeared out the door.<\/p>\n

Rosey walked over and placed a hand on the girl\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cCome with me, my dear.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you to your room.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl\u2019s head came up.\u00a0 There was so much in her stare \u2013 surprise, relief, gratitude and, sadly, fear.\u00a0 She nodded once and then obediently followed Rosey up the stairs.<\/p>\n

Jude was at his side.\u00a0 \u201cThe girl was at the Delectable Dragon<\/em> tonight, Benjamin.\u00a0 I noticed her as she is so young.\u00a0 What do you think she is doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben shook his head.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know.<\/p>\n

He could only pray it had to do with Joseph and his return.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rosey raised her eyes and looked at Benjamin Cartwright.\u00a0 He was angry with her.<\/p>\n

No, he was furious.<\/p>\n

Of course, he had every right to be.<\/p>\n

They\u2019d come to the suite and begun to settle in when the men came in.\u00a0 She\u2019d watched the girl, whose name was Ming-hua, closely as they did.\u00a0 Her body went rigid.\u00a0 Having worked in an establishment like Ah Kum\u2019s, Rosey knew that the girl had an ambivalent attitude toward the male of the species \u2013 they provided women like her and her sisters with a living, but at a price no one should have to pay.\u00a0 Ming-hua was young enough it was unlikely she had made it to the second floor, but that didn\u2019t mean she hadn\u2019t been abused in other ways.<\/p>\n

So many<\/em> other ways.<\/p>\n

Ben had been all for questioning the frightened girl the moment he arrived.\u00a0 She\u2019d stopped him, reminding him that the child had her needs as well as him.\u00a0 When the food arrived, she\u2019d split her meal with Ming-hua and then sent her to her room to wash up.<\/p>\n

It was then she told Ben Cartwright what Biyu had told her \u2013 that Wade Bosh had<\/em> visited the Delectable Dragon<\/em> and that his son had been with him \u2013 and that both were gone.\u00a0 Ben had pressed her and she\u2019d been forced to admit that was all she knew.\u00a0 He\u2019d wanted to go back that very moment to Ya Kum\u2019s and tear it apart and then set out after his son.\u00a0 It had been all she could do to stop him.\u00a0 After a while Jude had joined in and assured Ben that, even if they found out something new, there was no way they could track Joseph\u2019s kidnapper at night.\u00a0 In a town like Sacramento every street was covered with literally hundreds of boot and hoof prints.\u00a0 They couldn\u2019t possibly know which ones belonged to Wade Bosh.\u00a0 She told him she\u2019d planned on going back to the establishment after dark, in spite of any danger to herself, to seek out Biyu and question her again.\u00a0 Information was what they needed.\u00a0 What had Bosh told her exactly?\u00a0 Had he mentioned where he was going?\u00a0 What plans did he have for the boy?<\/p>\n

Rosey\u2019s eyes went to Ming-hua.<\/p>\n

God had been kind.\u00a0 Instead, He had sent that information to them<\/em> in the form of one small, terrified Chinese girl.<\/p>\n

The older woman drew a breath and held it as she met Ben Cartwright\u2019s righteously angry stare.\u00a0 He wanted to question the girl.\u00a0 She\u2019d told him he was gruff as a grizzly and just about as terrifying to a child like Ming-hua and that he\u2019d do nothing but frighten her and cause her to shut up like a clam.\u00a0 She\u2019d told him, in so many words, to shut up and sit down.<\/p>\n

Grumbling something that sounded like acceptance, the tall handsome rancher went to a chair and dropped into it.\u00a0 Every line of his body leaned forward in anticipation.<\/p>\n

Rosey smiled at him and then went to the girl.\u00a0 She sat on the settee beside her and took her hand.\u00a0 After a moment, she asked, \u201cMing-hua, who sent you here?\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl wouldn\u2019t look up.\u00a0 She spoke to her hands. \u00a0\u201cBiyu.\u201d<\/p>\n

So she\u2019d surmised.\u00a0 \u201cDid Biyu have a message for me?\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl nodded.\u00a0 \u201cBiyu sent me here to tell you to leave Sacramento.\u00a0 That what you seek is long gone and questions will only bring trouble upon all our heads.\u201d\u00a0 Ming-hua glanced up.\u00a0 \u201cAlready Longwei has beaten my sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey glanced at Ben.\u00a0 He had paled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs she all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl nodded.\u00a0 \u201cIt is not the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nor would it be the last.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs there anything more?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Ming-hua shook her head, but she didn\u2019t move.\u00a0 Her fingers twisted the silk fabric of her dress as her white teeth gnawed her lower lip.<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you see my son?\u201d Ben asked.\u00a0 \u201cDid you see Joseph?\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl\u2019s head came up and her eyes went to him.\u00a0 The rancher\u2019s tone was gentle, loving…<\/p>\n

And filled with need.<\/p>\n

The girl tensed beneath her hand.\u00a0 She remained silent a moment and then said, \u201cIf Ming-hua speaks, she cannot go back to Ah Kum\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid your sister tell you that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl nodded.<\/p>\n

Rosey glanced at Ben as he rose and came over to where they were sitting.\u00a0 Catching a chair from the desk, he pulled it up and sat so he would appear less threatening.<\/p>\n

Rising, she left the pair alone.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright sought permission with his dark eyes and then took the girl\u2019s hand in his.\u00a0 Ming-hua was trembling; shivering like a frightened bird.\u00a0 The child was absolutely lovely with her shining black hair and large expressive eyes.\u00a0 Still, that loveliness was marred.<\/p>\n

Her eyes and face were cast in fear.<\/p>\n

He squeezed her fingers and asked, \u201cDo you want<\/em> to go back \u2018home\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

She shrugged.\u00a0 The gesture reminded him so of Joseph, it was a physical pain.\u00a0 He had to remember to go slowly, even though everything that was in him insisted on speed for fear he would be too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat youngest boy of mine, Joseph?\u00a0 He\u2019s something special.\u00a0 Oh, all the girls go on about how handsome he is, but that\u2019s not what I mean.\u201d\u00a0 He smiled at her.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019d have my head if he knew I said this, but Little Joe\u2019s a sweet boy.\u00a0 Loving.\u00a0 Gentle.\u201d\u00a0 Ben choked as an image rose up before his eyes \u2013 his sweet boy in the hands of a madman.\u00a0\u00a0 He drew a breath to steady himself and let it out as he straightened up.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph is strong as well.\u00a0 Determined.\u00a0 If there is a way, he will survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ming-hua looked straight at him.\u00a0 He watched a dozen emotions war in her eyes.\u00a0 At last, pity won.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou must hurry,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n

The rancher stiffened.\u00a0 \u201cYou were with him?\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded.\u00a0 \u201cHe is…unwell.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s heart skipped a beat.\u00a0 \u201cIs it bad?\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, she nodded.\u00a0 \u201cLike Biyu, someone struck him.\u201d\u00a0 She reached up and, surprisingly, touched his face.\u00a0 \u201cHis skin is hot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beaten.\u00a0 Infected.<\/p>\n

Dear Lord….<\/p>\n

Ben drew a another breath.\u00a0 \u201cDo you know where Bosh has taken him?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the question everyone in the room was hanging on.<\/p>\n

Ming-hua sighed.\u00a0 \u201cThe big man….\u201d\u00a0 She shuddered.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAs he used her, he told my sister things \u2013 things Biyu said I must not repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want to go back?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut do<\/em> you want to go back, Ming-hua?\u00a0 If not, I promise you, I will find a way to removed you from Ah Kum\u2019s establishment and find a place for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her jaw was tight.\u00a0 Tears hung in her eyes unshed.\u00a0 The girl was conflicted.\u00a0 She wanted to leave that life, but doing so meant leaving her sisters \u2013 the only family she had. Still, leaving meant a chance at freedom.\u00a0 Something she very much wanted.\u00a0 He felt for her.\u00a0 Ming-hua was very young.\u00a0 This was a momentous decision \u2013 to give up everything and everyone she knew in order to save the life of a boy who was little more than a stranger to her.<\/p>\n

Rosey returned and sat beside her.\u00a0 She took the girl\u2019s hand in her own.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll take care of you, Ming-hua,\u201d she promised.<\/p>\n

The girl looked at him.\u00a0 Then at Rosey and back.<\/p>\n

Then, God be praised, she nodded.<\/p>\n

And began to talk.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

THIRTEEN<\/p>\n

For the longest time he\u2019d felt nothing but a jarring motion.\u00a0 First on foot, then on horseback, and then in a wagon.<\/p>\n

But that was gone.<\/p>\n

The jarring motion was gone.<\/p>\n

Now, he felt like he was floating.\u00a0 It was a nice feeling, he supposed.\u00a0 Better than the one before.\u00a0 When you were floating, the world seemed to disappear.\u00a0 There was only the water beneath you and the sky above.\u00a0 There was only the present.\u00a0 No future.\u00a0 No past either.<\/p>\n

Past.<\/p>\n

He had a past.<\/p>\n

When he closed his eyes he saw a big log house amidst the pines, with a big room inside that held a blazing fire.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t clear, but like he saw it through a mist.\u00a0 There were men inside.\u00a0 Three men.\u00a0 Two were his brothers and the…other…was….<\/p>\n

Joe winced as if he had been struck.\u00a0 He inhaled rapidly and puffed the breaths out, fighting the panic rising in him; the panic that<\/em> word brought with it \u2013 the word he had once loved more than any other word in the world.<\/p>\n

Pa.<\/em><\/p>\n

A word that now brought only pain.<\/p>\n

As his breathing evened, Joe let the flow of water carry him again.\u00a0 He lay there, drifting, wondering where he was.\u00a0 He must be injured.\u00a0 That\u2019s all he could figure.\u00a0 He\u2019d been hurt a time or two before and it always felt like this.\u00a0 You woke up not knowing where you were.\u00a0 Your whole body hurt.\u00a0 Your tongue always seemed too big for your mouth and your throat was dry as the desert.\u00a0 Licking his lips, Joe opened his mouth to speak.\u00a0 Then he clamped it shut and moaned.\u00a0 He\u2019d was gonna call for the one who brought him comfort; the man who was always there for him; the one who dribbled cool liquid between his lips, checked his forehead for fever, and brushed back his sweat-soaked curls with a gentle hand.<\/p>\n

No.<\/p>\n

No. <\/em><\/p>\n

Never again.<\/p>\n

Joe shifted his body.\u00a0 In doing so, he discovered his body wasn\u2019t the only thing that hurt.\u00a0 His head hut too.\u00a0 It was pounding like someone was driving nails into it with a hammer.\u00a0 He groaned and attempted to lift his hand so he could touch it.<\/p>\n

Terror gripped him when he found he couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

It was then Joe remembered that both his hands and feet were bound, and there was a gag pulled taut between his teeth.<\/p>\n

With the thunder of a hundred stampeding hooves, it all came rushing back.\u00a0 Wade Bosh in the stable, grabbing him, taking him prisoner.\u00a0 Watching\u00a0 Bosh shoot Adam and then being dragged away.\u00a0 The long trip over the mountains.\u00a0 The beatings.\u00a0 The cold nights when he couldn\u2019t sleep.\u00a0 His night in the crib, surrounded by the sounds of men\u2019s hunger and women\u2019s despair.\u00a0 Then, a thick canvas sack being dragged over his body and then….<\/p>\n

Then, Bosh puttin\u2019 something over his mouth and him breathing it in as the world faded from white to gray to black.<\/p>\n

Chloroform.\u00a0 That\u2019s why he felt so sick.<\/p>\n

Gritting his teeth, the curly-haired boy drew his knees up and kicked out, hoping to make contact with something.\u00a0 He was rewarded with a sharp yelp and then punished as thick fingers closed around his throat.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlmost there, boy,\u201d a gruff voice growled.\u00a0 \u201cYou want to add to your tally, you just go ahead and cry out.\u201d<\/p>\n

He froze.\u00a0 He\u2019d forgotten.\u00a0 How<\/em> could he have forgotten?\u00a0 The livery owner and his wife, Billy, and Cunningham.<\/p>\n

The people he\u2019d murdered.<\/p>\n

Joe swallowed hard over a dry and dusty throat.\u00a0 He could hear men speaking now.\u00a0 Whoever they were, they were in danger because of him.\u00a0 If one of them suspected he was in the sack or, worse, found him, Bosh would kill them for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou keep quiet, Jude.\u00a0 We\u2019re almost home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe frowned.\u00a0 There it was again \u2013 that name.\u00a0 Since they\u2019d left Sacramento, Bosh had begun to call him \u2018boy\u2019 less and Jude more and more.\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to tell the giant of a seaman that it he wasn\u2019t his name.\u00a0 Once<\/em>, he\u2019d tried.<\/p>\n

It had been as bad a choice as tellin\u2019 Bosh that he wasn\u2019t about to call him \u2018Pa\u2019.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d wondered when that last beating happened, if he giant of a man had broken his ribs.\u00a0 Since some time had passed, he didn\u2019t think so.\u00a0 His ribcage was sore, but he was able to breathe just fine.<\/p>\n

Well, as fine as you could when you were trussed up like a pig in a poke.<\/p>\n

An unexpected jolt turned Joe\u2019s attention back to what was happening.\u00a0 Rough hands gripped him.\u00a0 Something was being looped around his shoulders.\u00a0 He heard a man shouting.\u00a0 Wade Bosh replied and then, suddenly, he was in the air.\u00a0 Moments later he was dumped onto something hard.\u00a0 Joe held his breath to keep from crying out, terrified whoever it was Bosh was dealing with would wind up dead.\u00a0 It was agony.\u00a0 He wanted to scream, to shout, to tell the world what this monster was doing, but he couldn\u2019t.\u00a0 He just…<\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

The hands returned, gripping his shoulders, loosening the rope, and lifting him up.\u00a0 The next thing he knew he was slung over someone\u2019s shoulder hard enough for the wind to be forced out of him.\u00a0 For a moment he fought for air.\u00a0 As he did, sounds filtered in \u2013 men calling out commands, others answering; the creak of wood and the snap of canvas in the wind.\u00a0 Unbidden, the image of the watercolor painting in his room sprang before his eyes.<\/p>\n

They were on a ship \u2013 a ship gettin\u2019 ready to sail off the California coast and straight to Hell!<\/p>\n

A large bang startled him.\u00a0 Then he and Bosh began to descend, winding down from noise into silence.\u00a0 Rung by rung they jolted into the belly of the great ship.\u00a0 Joe began to cough and struggled mightily to contain the sound, fearful some poor seaman passing by would die because he was weak.\u00a0 Once the ladder ended, his kidnapper set off at a quick pace.\u00a0 Joe couldn\u2019t see or hear much of anything and so, as they moved ever deeper into the bowels of the great ship, his sense of smell grew startlingly strong.\u00a0 There were familiar odors mixed with unfamiliar \u2013 Bosh\u2019s sweat, the\u00a0 iron scent of blood, the stale smell of urine rising from the dried matter on his shirt and pants, sodden wood, rusting metal, and the unmistakable smell of rotting fish.\u00a0 They made him want to retch.\u00a0 So it was both a blessing and a curse when Wade Bosh dropped him, untied the sack he was in, and let the canvas fall to the wooden floor of the sailing vessel.\u00a0 At first even the pale light cast by the lantern his kidnapper had hung on a nail on one of the ship\u2018s wooden ribs was enough to blind him.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s head screamed at the betrayal of the darkness and began to pound.<\/p>\n

A few seconds later he was sick.<\/p>\n

Bosh held him as he vomited, supporting his injured ribs with his big hands.\u00a0 When he was spent, the seaman turned him around and shifted him back until he was braced by the ship\u2019s outer hull.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s relief at Bosh undoing his hands and feet turned to horror as chains replaced the ropes and were secured to a metal ring driven into the floor.<\/p>\n

Joe knew what was coming.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t think he could live through it.<\/p>\n

Blinking back tears, his voice a strained whisper, he pleaded, \u201cPlease don\u2019t leave me here!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bosh reached for his hair and began to stroke the matted curls as he spoke.\u00a0 \u201cShh.\u00a0 Hush.\u00a0 This is where you belong \u2013 where you\u2019ve always <\/em>belonged.\u201d\u00a0 There was a pause.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve brought you home, Jude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe wanted to shout, to strike out, to kick and drive him away \u2013 to keep Bosh from touching him.\u00a0 And yet, when the big man began to pull away, he panicked.\u00a0 Bosh was going to leave him alone \u2013 all alone in the dark!\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t \u2013 he just couldn\u2019t!\u00a0 The seaman was his only connection to the world outside, to the sky and the light \u2013<\/p>\n

To life.<\/p>\n

Bosh was reaching for the lantern.\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u201d Joe shouted, desperation robbing him of all pride.\u00a0 \u201cI promise I won\u2019t try to get away.\u00a0 Please!\u00a0 Take me with you!\u00a0 Don\u2019t leave me here alone in the dark!\u201d<\/p>\n

The hand that had struck him so many times and the voice that had commanded he obey, touched his face and spoke to him gently.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s for your own good, boy.\u00a0 You don\u2019t trust me.\u00a0 You need<\/em> to trust me.\u00a0 You\u2019ll learn to do that down here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe strained against the chains that bound him as Bosh lifted the lantern from the nail and began to move away.\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u201d he shouted.\u00a0 Then he screamed, \u201cNO!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGo ahead and cry out, Jude.\u00a0 No one will hear you,\u201d Bosh said as the light receded into the darkness.\u00a0 \u201cWhen you\u2019re tamed, I\u2019ll let you go.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re tamed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe continued to struggle until he was spent.\u00a0 Then he fell, exhausted, to the ship\u2019s floor.\u00a0 Curling into a ball he lay there, listening to the waves lap against the underbelly of the ship.\u00a0 In time he slept.<\/p>\n

And dreamed of that journey to Hell.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hoss Cartwright sat bolt upright.\u00a0 He blinked and looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings he found himself in.\u00a0 It took him a moment to remember that he wasn\u2019t in his own room, but in Little Joe\u2019s.\u00a0 He\u2019d come to his baby brother\u2019s bedroom the night before to pray, pleadin\u2019 with God that Joe be found alive and well, and must have fallen asleep.\u00a0 As usual, morning had come and God\u2019s silence was deafenin\u2019.\u00a0 He wanted so to believe with the same deep conviction his pa had, but it seemed he always found himself wantin\u2019.\u00a0 Seemed to him the one lesson he\u2019d learned from his mama\u2019s death was that, even though God answered all prayers, a lot of the time you didn\u2019t get what you wanted.\u00a0 He\u2019d prayed the whole time he watched his mama bein\u2019 carried into the house, and prayed while the Doc checked her over.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen his pa\u2019s face fall when the doctor shook his head and known the answer to those prayers was \u2018no\u2019.\u00a0 He was old enough to understand that Mama wasn\u2019t gonna make it and all the prayers in the world weren\u2019t gonna change God\u2019s mind one whit.\u00a0 Pa told him that night that prayer was for you and not for God, not really.\u00a0 God knew what He was about and He was gonna do whatever brought Him glory.\u00a0 Prayer was a way to grow closer to the Man upstairs, to get to know your Heavenly Father and for Him to get to know you.<\/p>\n

\u2018Hoss<\/em>,\u2019 his pa had said after he\u2019d walked him to Joe\u2019s room and had him climb in beside his sleepin\u2019 baby brother, \u2018your mama has to go.\u00a0 Her body\u2019s broken and, if God granted your prayer, she\u2019d be in more pain than she could stand.\u00a0 It\u2019s God\u2019s gift to take her to Himself.\u00a0 We want her here, but in Heaven she\u2019ll have a new body and she\u2019ll be free to run and laugh and sing forever.\u00a0 It\u2019s selfish for us to pray for Mama to stay.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

It might have been selfish, but he\u2019d done it anyway.<\/p>\n

Last night, even though it brought tears to his eyes, he\u2019d prayed that same prayer for Little Joe.<\/p>\n

Rising to his feet, the big teenager stretched.\u00a0 He scratched the back of his neck as he headed over to the window and looked out on the new day.\u00a0 Joe\u2019d been gone near two weeks now.\u00a0 It seemed sometimes like it wasn\u2019t\u2019 even real, havin\u2019 a little brother.\u00a0 Like he\u2019d dreamed him up somehow.\u00a0 It was just him and Adam like it had been before.\u00a0 Pa\u2019d always been workin\u2019, tryin\u2019 to build his dream.\u00a0 The pair of them had leaned on one another in order to grow straight and tall and make him proud.<\/p>\n

Hoss lifted his hands and held them out before him as if he cradled something, picturin\u2019 in his mind the little bundle of piss and vinegar Marie had placed there nearly thirteen years before.\u00a0 His baby brother had come early and he\u2019d been no bigger than a minute.\u00a0 He\u2019d<\/em> been closin\u2019 in on five foot tall at the time and topped one hundred on the scale.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been scared to death to hold Little Joe for fear he\u2019d break him.<\/p>\n

But he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Dang that little cuss, if he wasn\u2019t twice as strong and three times as determined as he looked!\u00a0 Joe\u2019d grown and thrived and he loved him more than his own life, and it was just about killin\u2019 him that he didn\u2019t know where his little brother was and if he was okay.<\/p>\n

Most of all, though, it was killin\u2019 him to stay put.<\/p>\n

Hoss turned and looked at the door that led into the hall.\u00a0 Adam was a lot better, but Doc Martin hadn\u2019t given him a clean bill of health yet.\u00a0 There\u2019d been some infection come back into the wound after Adam\u2019s adventure in Diaz\u2019s Dodge.\u00a0 Coupled with exposure, older brother had been right sick for nigh onto a week.\u00a0 He was better now, but not good enough for the Doc who\u2019d threatened big brother with everythin\u2019 but jail if he left the house and took off after their pa.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t want to leave his oldest brother, but his heart longed to be doin\u2019 just that.<\/p>\n

It was a quandary.<\/p>\n

The sound of the front door closin\u2019 told Hoss someone had left the house.\u00a0 Most likely it was Doc Martin.\u00a0 The older man said he\u2019d be by early and, by the clock on the wall, it was half-past nine.\u00a0 Stirring, Hoss regretfully left his baby brother\u2019s room and headed down the stairs.\u00a0 When he got to the landing, he looked into the great room.\u00a0 Adam had opened the door again was standing half-in and half-out of it, looking west.\u00a0 His brother didn\u2019t move as he finished his descent or when he came to stand beside him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctor\u2019s gone,\u201d Adam said, his tone even and controlled.\u00a0 \u201cHe told me to stay home for two more days.\u201d\u00a0 His brother drew in a breath and then pivoted on his heel.\u00a0 \u201cLike hell!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, Adam, if the Doc says you ain\u2019t ready \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m more <\/em>than ready, Hoss.\u00a0 In fact, I\u2019ve been more than ready for days.\u00a0 I\u2019m goin\u2019 after Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew that set of his brother\u2019s jaw.\u00a0 It weren\u2019t no use arguin\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa\u2019s gonna be right mad if you make yourself sick again,\u201d he hazarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet him!\u00a0 I can take it.\u00a0 What I can\u2019t take is sitting here helpless for one more minute, waiting to find out that I could have done something but didn\u2019t, and now it\u2019s too late!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat number one and number two sons talk about?\u201d Hop Sing asked, startling them as he came into the room.\u00a0 \u201cHop Sing see doctor ride away.\u00a0 He say Mister Adam good to go?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam hesitated only a second.\u00a0 He squared his feet and met Hop Sing\u2019s doubtful gaze.\u00a0 \u201cYes, Paul\u2019s given me a clean bill of health.\u00a0 Hoss and I are going to go look for Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man from China nodded.\u00a0 \u201cNumber three son in much trouble.\u00a0 Need brothers to help save.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss met his brother\u2019s sideways glance.\u00a0 They both knew that Hop Sing knew that Paul had done no such thing. The Doc was always careful to tell their cook the same thing he told them so they couldn\u2019t weasel their way around it.<\/p>\n

His sentence had been purposefully wooly.<\/p>\n

Adam nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes, Little Joe needs us.\u00a0 Would you mind fixing us some food for the road, Hop Sing?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow soon you leave?\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother\u2019s eyes sought his.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s were deep wells of worry.\u00a0 \u201cAs soon as possible.\u00a0 The others have quite a lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was an understatement, since they had no idea what route Wade Bosh or their pa and the others had taken.\u00a0 They\u2019d talked about it before and he and his brother thought Joe\u2019s kidnapper would take him to a harbor somewhere.\u00a0 The seaman would fit right in and no one would question the fact that Joe was signin\u2019 on as a cabin boy.\u00a0 The closest harbor was Vallejo, followed by San Francisco.<\/p>\n

Both were more than a week away.<\/p>\n

If they were lucky.<\/p>\n

\u201cMister Cartwright\u2019s number one and number two son be sure to dig well deeply before they are thirsty.\u00a0 Both remember, a vengeful army will certainly win.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s what he and Adam was.\u00a0 A vengeful army.\u00a0 And come Hell or high water, that\u2019s what they was gonna do.<\/p>\n

Win.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The dark that surrounded him was cavernous.<\/p>\n

The only sounds Joe could hear were the lap of the waves against the hull and his own heartbeat.\u00a0 They echoed in his ears and off the walls of his damp, wooden cage, driving him closer and closer to madness.\u00a0 He was weak \u2013 so weak.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t remember the last time he had eaten.\u00a0 Bosh had given him a drink of water before he disappeared, but that had been hours…minutes…days ago.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t be sure.\u00a0 There was nothing in this place but the wet floor, the damp walls, the cold iron chains that cut into his wrists and ankles, and now and again a scurrying sound signaling that he had unwelcome and unwanted company.<\/p>\n

Nothing to do but to listen for a new sound \u2013 somethin\u2019 that would indicate his tormentor and savior was comin\u2019.<\/p>\n

It shamed him, but he had begun to hunger for Bosh\u2019s presence.\u00a0 Joe knew the man was evil and that the big man was the one who had ripped him from his home, but he knew as well that the seaman was the only person on the face of the Earth who knew where he was and the only one he could count on to ease the pit of loneliness that gnawed like a cancer in his belly.\u00a0 Every time there was a sound, no matter how small, he tensed, waiting \u2013 waiting for the sound of Bosh\u2019s voice, the touch of his hand.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t matter if it was a caress or a cuff.<\/p>\n

That hated, beloved touch was all that grounded him to reality.<\/p>\n

Sinking back, Joe sighed as he let the chains that bound him clank to the floor.\u00a0 Listen to yourself!<\/em> he thought.\u00a0 Listen to what you\u2019ve become!<\/em>\u00a0 It was hard to admit, but he was pretty sure Bosh wasn\u2019t going to let him die \u2013 not if he could help it.\u00a0 He was going to keep him here until he broke him.\u00a0 Unless he could find somethin\u2019 sharp to cut himself so he\u2019d bleed out, or break free and make his way up the ladder and jump over the side, the seaman was goin\u2019 to own him.<\/p>\n

Just like he\u2019d owned Jude.<\/p>\n

The thought brought a flicker of hope, but it was dashed soon enough.\u00a0 From the way Bosh talked, sometimes he could believe Jude got away.\u00a0 At other times \u2013 when his thinking was clearer \u2013 he knew he hadn\u2019t.\u00a0 Joe licked his lips and looked around, seeking to pierce the darkness.\u00a0 Maybe, just maybe, Jude held out and didn\u2019t give in and his bones were chained to the floor a yard away.\u00a0 Maybe Jude was watching him, his lipless bones smilin\u2019, waitin\u2019 for him to join him.<\/p>\n

Tears formed in Joe\u2019s eyes but wouldn\u2019t fall.\u00a0 He was drained dry.\u00a0 There was nothing left to cry.<\/p>\n

Nothing left to shout.<\/p>\n

Nothing left to hope.<\/p>\n

Nothing….<\/p>\n

Only Bosh.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Left alone in the Cartwright\u2019s home,\u00a0 Hop Sing returned to the sanctuary of his kitchen.\u00a0 He \u2018d gathered up Mister Hoss and Mister Adam\u2019s saddlebags and intended to fill them with as much food as he could, some fresh, but more dried and preserved and ready for the long journey that lay before the two boys.\u00a0 The cook\u2019s lips curled at his last thought even as he headed for the steaming kettle on the stove.\u00a0 Mister Adam would not like being called a \u2018boy\u2019.\u00a0 His head was filled with the knowledge of books and he thought himself a wise man.\u00a0 Hop Sing had lived long and seen many things and he knew that, while there was a place for wisdom words, there was another wisdom of higher importance.<\/p>\n

Mister Adam must learn to listen to his heart.<\/p>\n

Using a thick cloth, Hop Sing lifted the steaming kettle from the stove top and carried it over to the block table.\u00a0 Carefully, he went through the ritual of preparing tea.\u00a0 He had chosen Longjing<\/em> or Dragon Well tea in honor of the boy he loved who was missing.\u00a0 His heart ached for all his family, but for the youngest boy there was a special place.\u00a0 In the almost eight years since Mrs. Cartwright had gone to join her ancestors, he and the boy had spent many hours together, so many he could not count.\u00a0 The house was empty without his smile and his laughter.\u00a0 Like a small hole opened in the ground, the loss of his boy would lead to a vast cavern miles below \u2013 so vast there would not be enough earth in all the world to fill it.\u00a0 In time, the ground above would collapse and draw after it all there was, mountain, lake, plain and meadow, the tall pine trees, Mister Cartwright\u2019s humble home; the man he worked for and his remaining sons.<\/p>\n

Until there was nothing.<\/p>\n

The man from China rose and went to the shelf where he kept the shrine to his ancestors with its golden flower, incense holder, and small plate for food offerings.\u00a0 Upon it were physical memories of family members no longer with him \u2013 beads from his father\u2019s abacus, a bamboo brush belonging to his mother; a piece of his grandfather\u2019s silk coat.\u00a0 These were the mementoes of his family.\u00a0 But there was more.\u00a0 A beautiful white woman watched him from above these simple things, her eyes radiant and full of life.\u00a0 On the plate beneath the photograph lay a lock of her golden-blonde hair, glinting in the light of the kitchen fire.\u00a0 Moving to the ice box, Hop Sing reached in and removed a small container.\u00a0 In it were the remnants of the summer\u2019s flowers, faded now but no less beautiful.\u00a0 Opening the box, he drew out two violets. \u00a0They had been among Mrs. Cartwright\u2019s favorites.\u00a0 After returning the receptacle to its cool home, he turned and went to the shrine and placed the flowers in the dish that awaited them.\u00a0 Then he pressed his hands together and bowed his head.<\/p>\n

Asking mercy from the dead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joe awoke to the sound of scratching.\u00a0 He fought to come awake, desperate to find out who had come to his prison.\u00a0 He\u2019d grown so accustomed to the dark that he could see in a way \u2013 like a man did on a moonlit night when clouds veiled the orb\u2019s round white face.\u00a0 Pinpricks of light, squeezed between boards or left in the absence of popped nails, dotted the ship\u2019s floor.\u00a0 They glinted off the myriad eyes that watched him, while illuminating the dozens of whiskered noses that twitched at the scent of the bit of bread and butter on the plate beside him.\u00a0 Joe wasn\u2019t really interested in the food or<\/em> the rats.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t have the energy.\u00a0 But watching the living wave of gray that undulated across the sodden boards gave him something to think about other than how cold and miserable he was and so he concentrated on them, smiling wanly at the antics of the first few who reached his side.\u00a0 The small creatures stopped just short of the plate and sat up on their haunches, waiting for him to make a move.\u00a0 When he didn\u2019t, first one and then another broke ranks and attacked the rancid butter and stale bread.<\/p>\n

The sight of it made him sick and he retched.<\/p>\n

Sick as well of the constant smell of his own vomit and filth, Joe dropped his head, scrunched up his shoulder, and buried his nose in his tattered shirt.\u00a0 The relief was as momentous as it was momentary.<\/p>\n

But then again, consciousness was momentary too.<\/p>\n

All too soon he felt himself drifting off again.\u00a0 As his eyes closed, Joe seemed to rise up out of the refuse to float out of the ship and across the rippling waves.\u00a0 In the distance there was a light and it called to him, a light he thought was home.<\/p>\n

Suddenly he was there, opening the door, rushing over the threshold to the hearth and falling into his mother\u2019s arms.\u00a0 She planted a thousand kisses on his head and a hundred more on his cheeks.\u00a0 Beside her and before the flickering fire stood a handsome man \u2013 tall, with gray hair going silver.\u00a0 His face was broad.\u00a0 A smile broke across it and his near-black eyes danced with love.\u00a0 He caught him from his mother\u2019s arms and tossed him high into the sky \u2013 so high he thought he was flying \u2013 but in time he came down into that safe, protected embrace, knowing there was nothing that could touch him so long as he was inside those walls, cherished by his mama \u2013 the pretty lady with golden hair \u2013 and kept safe from harm by his….<\/p>\n

By his….<\/p>\n

The fire roared and a log crashed to the hearth.\u00a0 In the light it cast, the man before the hearth grew taller, broader, stronger.<\/p>\n

Darker.<\/p>\n

His hair thinned as did his lips, becoming a knife\u2019s edge, and his eyes lost their color as rage replaced love.\u00a0 The big man\u2019s embrace, once cherished and longed for, became a prison of chains that pinned him to a rotting wall of wood lined with the skeletal remains of other boys who had been taken from their homes and stripped of their identity.<\/p>\n

His identity.<\/p>\n

He had an identity.<\/p>\n

What was it?<\/p>\n

Who was he?<\/p>\n

Into the nightmare world the boy inhabited, another sound came.\u00a0 This one was that of footsteps, heavy, large, falling at leisure.\u00a0 Half-aware, he heard a snort of disgust and heard the rattle of the tin plate beside him as it was upset and those who had remained to dine on the dregs of the feast scattered.\u00a0 Someone took hold of his hair and lifted his head by it.\u00a0 A hand cupped his chin and turned his face from side to side.\u00a0 There was a sound.\u00a0 Disgust mixed with fear.\u00a0 The hand released him and whoever it was moved away, their footsteps echoing in the dark and moving with a purpose of their own, taking away his only link to humanity until there was, again, nothing but silence.<\/p>\n

The boy lay there for some time, drifting in and out of consciousness, his ears tuned to the creak of the ship and the lap of the waves.\u00a0 They were the song his mother sang.\u00a0 Beckoning him to her side.\u00a0 Calling on him to surrender.\u00a0 To rest.<\/p>\n

To find peace.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s eyes flashed open as the hand returned without warning.\u00a0 Fingers pressed the sides of his face, forcing his mouth open.\u00a0 A bottle was placed between his lips.\u00a0 Gagging at the taste, he tried to turn away, but the fingers held him fast and would not let go.\u00a0 A pungent, fiery liquid ran down his throat and burned its way to his gut.\u00a0 He coughed, gasping for air, but still the man did not relent \u2013 not until it was all gone.<\/p>\n

Exhausted, the curly-haired boy fell to the wet boards beneath him, gasping and panting for air.\u00a0 The hand that had harmed before now offered help, lifting him, placing him against the wall; taking a soothing cloth and wiping his fevered brow, cleansing the sweat from his neck and chest.<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s eyes opened slowly.\u00a0 It was a man.\u00a0 A large man with large hands.\u00a0 Love shone from his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be all right now, son,\u201d the giant of a man said softly.\u00a0 \u201cI won\u2019t let anything happen to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Son.<\/p>\n

Which man was this?\u00a0 The one who tossed him in the air or the one who threatened him?<\/p>\n

Were they the same?<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s lips parted.\u00a0 At first there was no sound.\u00a0 And then, only one word.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa.\u201d
\nAdam Cartwright stood looking out over Lake Tahoe, back toward their home.\u00a0 When it came to it, he\u2019d decided it would be best for them to find a boat and cross the lake in order to save time.\u00a0 The day was calm.\u00a0 The weather chilly but not unseasonable for autumn.\u00a0 They\u2019d rented the boat from a man who kept a shack near the placid body of water and promised to leave it in Meek\u2019s Bay.\u00a0 He was sure John Meek would know something.\u00a0 Surely, their pa would have stopped at John\u2019s house to inquire if he or Rita had seen Little Joe.\u00a0 On top of that, they would have need of fresh horses and John always kept a ready supply on hand.<\/p>\n

The black-haired man turned away from the lake to look at his brother who knelt at his side.\u00a0 Hoss had been none to keen on crossing the lake.\u00a0 A quick dip in its tepid waters to cool off was about all he needed or was comfortable with.\u00a0 It had taken a bit to convince him, but in the end Hoss\u2019 love of his baby brother and their need for speed had won out over his fear of the briny deep.<\/p>\n

They knew now that Joe had <\/em>made it across, a fact that should have lifted their spirits.\u00a0 It would <\/em>have had it not been for the fact that they\u2019d found the boat Wade Bosh had \u2018borrowed\u2019 on this side of the lake splintered into a dozen pieces.\u00a0 Hoss was sifting through them now in case there was anything to be found that might point them in one direction or the other.\u00a0 Barring some discovery, they would move on to the Meek\u2019s and pray the homesteader and his wife could tell them something.\u00a0 If John and Rita couldn\u2019t, then they\u2019d strike out for the nearest harbor and hope against hope they\u2019d find Joe there.<\/p>\n

Hoss was on his feet now and walking toward him.\u00a0 He held a scrap of fabric in his hand.\u00a0 It was filthy, muddy, and stained with a dark brown substance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

His brother\u2019s clear blue eyes were moist.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s what\u2019s left of Little Joe\u2019s shirt.\u00a0 Well, a scrap of it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam looked closer.\u00a0 To tell the truth, he had no idea what Joe had been wearing when Bosh took him.\u00a0 \u201cAre you certain?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss nodded.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s that blue one Pa got him for the end of the last school year.\u00a0 He was growin\u2019 out of it, but it was one of his favorites and he\u2019d done about worn it through at the elbows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Was.<\/p>\n

There was a whole world of grief in that one word.<\/p>\n

His hand went to his brother\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll find Joe, Hoss. One of us.\u00a0 Pa and Jude, or you and me.\u00a0 We won\u2019t stop<\/em> until we find him.\u201d<\/p>\n

The big teenager nodded even as the tears spilled over and ran down his cheeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoss?\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother sniffed and nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t doubtin\u2019 we\u2019ll find him, Adam.\u00a0 I know Pa.\u00a0 He won\u2019t stop \u2018til he does.\u00a0 But, there\u2019s no guaranteein\u2019 we\u2019ll find him a….\u201d<\/p>\n

The sentence was left incomplete.\u00a0 Just as their lives would be.<\/p>\n

If Little Joe was dead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

PART FOUR<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FOURTEEN<\/p>\n

As Ben Cartwright urged his mount forward, calling on it for speed that was long past, he cast his mind back to the night before and the words Ming-hua had spoken.\u00a0 It had taken some coaxing, but slowly the child had told been convinced to tell her tale.<\/p>\n

Wade Bosh had come to the Delectable Dragon<\/em>, seeking an assignation with one of her sisters, and brought Joseph with him.\u00a0 Ben scowled.\u00a0 For a moment he\u2019d wondered if the boy Ming-hua described was <\/em>Joseph for the words she\u2019d used were all wrong \u2013 unresponsive, passive, and submissive.\u00a0 These words were the antithesis of his youngest boy who was vibrant and full of life, fiercely determined, and headstrong.\u00a0 Still, as she went on, painting the picture of a slender twelve-year-old boy with eyes like jade and a head of unruly chestnut-brown curls, he had to accept the fact that it was Little Joe she had met and that his son was in mortal peril.<\/p>\n

That sentiment only deepened as she went on to describe the boy\u2019s condition.<\/p>\n

Joseph was weak, she said.\u00a0 And sickly.\u00a0 It was no surprise to hear that he had been beaten, though the thought of a man as large as Bosh striking a twelve-year-old boy made the blood boil in his veins.\u00a0 Ming-hua said Little Joe\u2019s clothing hung on his thin frame, he was listless and his eyes were bright with fever.\u00a0 She\u2019d done her best, risking her own safety to tend to him when Bosh had him locked in a disease-infested harlot\u2019s crib.\u00a0 Ben shuddered at the thought.\u00a0 While there was nothing good about the establishments that catered to men\u2019s carnal appetites in Eagle Station, thanks to the sheriff and his deputies there were no crib rows.\u00a0 The council had come to a decision and appointed the lawman to clear the squalid wooden shacks out several years back for fear the fetid conditions would bring disease to the budding town.\u00a0 In one night, twenty or more were put to the torch and the women who occupied them turned out.<\/p>\n

The councilmen, of course, had cared little what happened to those wretched souls.<\/p>\n

Ben glanced at Jude who rode at his side.\u00a0 The Englishman leaned forward, pressing his mount for greater speed as well.\u00a0 They both felt it.\u00a0 They were close.\u00a0 Very <\/em>close.\u00a0 But just as close as they were to finding Joseph, they were to losing him.<\/p>\n

Vallejo harbor was in sight.<\/p>\n

It had been a long night and they\u2019d ridden through most of it.\u00a0 As he\u2019d continued to talk to Ming-hua, his fear for his son\u2019s life had grown along with a deep-seated sense of guilt.\u00a0 This was happening because of him<\/em> \u2013 because of the choice he had made on the ship Independence<\/em> all those long years ago.\u00a0 The girl told them that, as he lay with her sister, Wade Bosh had boasted that he had stolen the one thing in the world the great Benjamin Cartwright could not live without.\u00a0 Bosh had revealed to Biyu his plans for Joseph. \u00a0He meant to take him to sea on the Sun <\/em>Princess.\u00a0 The ship was to set sail today out of Vallejo!\u00a0 Once on board Joseph would be completely dependent on Bosh for food, for water \u2013 for his very life.\u00a0 Ben had watched Jude as Ming-hua spoke.\u00a0 The Englishman had paled at her words, the memory of his own captivity still fresh enough after twenty-odd years to bring tears to the former cabin boy\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 A steely determination had entered those eyes and Jude had vowed to find Joseph no matter what it cost him.\u00a0 There was nothing, he said, could turn him away.\u00a0 Deputy Roy Coffee was another matter.\u00a0 Roy had returned to Eagle Station.\u00a0 A letter from the sheriff had caught up to them, recalling him to his duty.\u00a0 Ben told his friend he understood.\u00a0 It had been two weeks.<\/p>\n

No one in their right mind would think they would ever find Joseph, and certainly not that they would find him alive.<\/p>\n

By the time Ming-hua had finished her tale, the girl was exhausted.\u00a0 They put her in Rosey\u2019s room.\u00a0 After the girl fell asleep, the older woman had joined him and Jude and they\u2019d discussed their options.\u00a0 In the end it was decided Rosey would take the child and return to her home in the mountains.\u00a0 It was doubtful Longwei and his bully boys would follow them there.\u00a0 As he and Jude departed, he\u2019d left an envelope with the manager of the hotel and asked it be delivered to Madame Ah Kum\u2019s.\u00a0 It contained two hundred dollars.<\/p>\n

More than enough, he hoped, to buy the freedom of one China girl.<\/p>\n

Ben returned his attention to the road as his mount weaved to avoid something.\u00a0 Before him, nestled in rolling foothills, lay the city of Vallejo.\u00a0 Once considered for the capital of California, it had been passed over and had become instead a hub of naval activity.\u00a0 As the tall ships with their gigantic masts and sails unfurled topped the horizon and came into view, the rancher drew his mount to a halt.\u00a0 The sight drove him back two decades to his time as a sailor, to Elizabeth and her stern but loving father; to the life he thought he\u2019d been destined to live.<\/p>\n

Jude\u2019s mounts sides heaved as he drew the horse to a halt beside him.\u00a0 Ben looked down.\u00a0 Buck\u2019s sides were heaving too.\u00a0 The rancher felt a pang of guilt as he realized how he had neglected his friend.\u00a0 Leaning forward, he patted the buckskin\u2019s neck.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, boy,\u201d he said softly.\u00a0 \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nose of Jude\u2019s horse was aimed toward the harbor.\u00a0 The Englishman lifted a hand and pointed to something in the distance.\u00a0 It was just after noon and the light reflecting off the water was nearly blinding.\u00a0 Ben had to raise a hand to shield his eyes before he could see what it was the other man had noted.\u00a0 It took a moment and then he spotted it.\u00a0 A single vessel, perhaps a half-mile out, ambling like a lady on promenade out of the harbor with one sail unfurled.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s near-black eyes went to his companion as fear gripped him.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no reason to suspect that Bosh is on that ship,\u201d he breathed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd no reason to believe it is not,\u201d Jude replied.\u00a0 \u201cI went to the local office and inquired as to the ships\u2019 schedules.\u00a0 There were two due to set sail today, the merchant ship Jupiter<\/em> and the Sun Princess<\/em>, which is a vessel of exploration bound for the West Indies and beyond.\u201d\u00a0 The former cabin boy narrowed his eyes.\u00a0 As Ben followed suit, he said softly, \u201cThe vessel underway is of the right size and type for the Princess<\/em>.\u00a0 There would be many places to hide a boy on such a ship.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher was shaking from head to toe.\u00a0 A torrent of emotions rolled through him, not the least of which was despair.\u00a0 His mount sensed his unease and began to chew the bit nervously.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 No!\u201d<\/em> Ben proclaimed as his fingers tightened on the reins.\u00a0 \u201cNo!\u00a0 I won\u2019t believe Joseph is lost!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI said I made inquiries regarding the ships in Vallejo, my friend.\u201d\u00a0 Jude waited until he turned toward him.\u00a0 \u201cThose inquiries did not stop with the Jupiter<\/em> and Princess<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben hardly heard him.\u00a0 His eyes were riveted on the tall ship as it moved inexorably out of the harbor carrying his heart with it.<\/p>\n

\u201cBenjamin!\u201d<\/p>\n

The spell broken, Ben returned his gaze to the other man.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is it you\u2019re trying to tell me, Jude?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a one-masted vessel, the Bloodhound<\/em>, laying at anchor.\u00a0 She\u2019s a cutter and flies fast as the wind, or so I was told.\u201d<\/p>\n

His head was reeling.\u00a0 His son was being taken from him and Jude was talking about sailing vessels?<\/p>\n

\u201cWho told you?\u00a0 Why….\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude\u2019s lips curled in a half-smile.\u00a0 \u201cHer captain.\u00a0 Do you remember when I was late to supper in Sacramento?\u00a0 I went to track him down.\u201d\u00a0 Jude reached out to take hold of his arm.\u00a0 \u201cBenjamin, listen to me.\u00a0 I spoke to Captain Ford and I\u2019ve hired her.\u00a0 Do you hear me?\u00a0 I\u2019ve hired<\/em> her.\u00a0 She\u2019s waiting for us.\u201d\u00a0 At his incredulous look, Jude went on.\u00a0 \u201cI was concerned Bosh would outpace us and be underway before we could arrive, as it seems he has.\u00a0 I have apprised the captain of the situation.\u00a0 He is willing to take us out.\u00a0 Ben, listen to me!\u00a0 All is not lost!\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher blinked, unable to believe what he was hearing.\u00a0 \u201cYou…hired a ship?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJude, I….\u201d\u00a0 He drew in a steadying breath.\u00a0 \u201cHow can I thank you?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman grew sober.\u00a0 \u201cI know what Joseph faces.\u00a0 Saving him from Bosh will be thanks enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded, tears in his eyes, and turned his buckskin\u2019s nose toward the harbor.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Captain Liam Ford was waiting for them.\u00a0 He was a young man in his early to mid-thirties.\u00a0 The Bloodhound<\/em> was a cutter, fast as a Hansom coach and no more than a child herself at three years in service.\u00a0 Ford\u2019s father had come West and made a fortune in the Gold Rush.\u00a0 When he died, Liam\u2019s older brother took control of the family business, leaving him free to pursue his dream of sailing the world.\u00a0 He took a part of his inheritance and bought the Bloodhound <\/em>and a smaller gig.\u00a0 Jude said he\u2019d considered waiting until night fell and then using the fast-flying gig to catch the Sun Princess<\/em> and board her unannounced.\u00a0 After he and the captain had spoken, it had been decided a better approach was to ride the tide and pursue the Sun Princess<\/em> during daylight hours under the cover of delivering goods that had arrived late on the dock.\u00a0 That way, they could approach the captain of the sailing vessel.\u00a0 Liam knew Captain Howard and said he was a good man who would not conscience what Wade Bosh was doing.\u00a0 It was only fair to give him a chance to make things right.\u00a0 Once Howard understood, Liam was certain the older man would order a ship-wide search and Joseph would be found.<\/p>\n

If<\/em> he was aboard her.\u00a0 They had no proof.<\/p>\n

God willing, he was.<\/p>\n

Ben finished pulling on his able seaman\u2019s uniform.\u00a0 The coat was dark blue and had pants to match.\u00a0 The outfit was completed by a white shirt and a small ribboned hat that was a little jaunty for his taste.\u00a0 Jude was similarly attired, though he wore a dark shirt instead of a white one.\u00a0 While it was not unusual to see a sailor of mixed parentage, the former slave was sure to draw attention.\u00a0 It had been decided Jude would hold back when they first boarded.\u00a0 They had to be careful.\u00a0 If Bosh spotted them before they spotted him<\/em>, he could move Joseph to a place where they would never find him.<\/p>\n

Or kill the boy to prevent his rescue.<\/p>\n

Jude\u2019s hand came down on his shoulder.\u00a0 With a nod, the Englishman indicated the vista of water spread out before them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re gaining ground,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It was true.\u00a0 The Sun Princess<\/em> had been little more than a spec on the horizon when they\u2019d left the harbor.\u00a0 Now, as the sun set, she loomed massive as Melville\u2019s white leviathan.\u00a0 The winds were right and they would reach her within the hour, just as the light faded and it became night.\u00a0 He and Liam would board and seek out the captain.\u00a0 Jude would board discreetly after that and begin the search for Joseph.<\/p>\n

Captain Ford tipped his hat and smiled as he came alongside them.\u00a0 He was a handsome man, tall and with an air of daring.\u00a0 His dark blond hair was cut short, the ends winging forward to surround a strong-boned face that bore several days worth of scruff.\u00a0 His eyes were not quite blue, but neither were they hazel.\u00a0 A man might have called them teal.\u00a0 Their unusual color was enhanced by the crisp navy-blue uniform he wore with its high collar, buttons, and cuffs of gold.\u00a0 They had talked before and, though there were ten years between them, he and Liam had found they had much in common. For one thing, they both had boys who were twelve and eighteen.\u00a0 Liam\u2019s boys lived with their mother in San Francisco and he was keen to see them again, just as he was to find Joseph and return with him to his brothers.\u00a0 It rankled.\u00a0 His youngest son\u2019s kidnapping had forced him to abandon Adam and Hoss to fate.<\/p>\n

No, he corrected himself, not fate \u2013 they were in the hands of God.<\/p>\n

Liam held up a bottle of whiskey in one hand and a glass in the other.\u00a0 \u201cWhiskey for your thoughts?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Ben shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo, thank you.\u00a0 I want my wits about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bloodhound\u2019s<\/em> captain raised his light brown brows.\u00a0 \u201cIf you take my advice, Ben, you\u2019ll drink it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh?\u00a0 Why?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the look of a man on the edge,\u201d the blond man said.\u00a0 \u201cOne gander at you will start chin\u2019s wagging and set the seamen talking.\u201d\u00a0 He pushed the glass toward him. \u201cYou\u2019ll want to speak to Captain Howard if you\u2019re to help that son of yours, not end up in his brig.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reluctantly Ben took it.\u00a0 He sipped the whiskey, relishing its fire in spite of himself.\u00a0 After a second sip, he nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis way, you\u2019ll smell like a real seaman, \u201d Liam laughed as he poured a glass for himself.\u00a0 \u201cI have several bottles.\u00a0 We\u2019ll take one to Old Ironsides.\u00a0 It will loosen him up as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d heard that term used with other men, mostly naval officers.\u00a0 \u201cDid Captain Howard serve in the war?\u201d<\/p>\n

The blond man nodded.\u00a0 \u201cWith distinction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Definitely not the kind of man, then, to countenance Joseph\u2019s kidnapping.\u00a0 Sadly, there were some who would \u2013 so long as coins crossed their palms and the law remained ignorant.\u00a0 Many ships that sailed had crimped or shanghaied crews.\u00a0 Ben took another sip and permitted himself a smile.\u00a0 Rosey had been afraid for him.\u00a0 That was why she had hurried him out of the Delectable Dragon<\/em>.\u00a0 She\u2019d feared Ah Kum\u2019s men would try to take him.\u00a0 The thought amused him.\u00a0 He could take care of himself.<\/p>\n

For a moment, he considered what it would be like to take care of her<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ben sighed.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore thoughts?\u201d Liam asked, offering the bottle. \u201cMore whiskey?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head.\u00a0 One was enough.<\/p>\n

Liam looked toward the horizon.\u00a0 The Sun Princess<\/em> had grown larger.\u00a0 They were almost upon her.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll go get that fresh bottle.\u00a0 It looks like it won\u2019t be long until we board.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded absent-mindedly as he turned to see for himself.\u00a0 At the fore of the cutter, his slender form cut in silhouette against the rich red light of the sea at nightfall, stood Jude Randolph.\u00a0 In that moment, where color and feature were hidden, Ben was struck by the resemblance between\u00a0 the former cabin boy and his son.\u00a0 The slender build was the same as was the wild mass of unruly and untamable hair.\u00a0 Due to their age difference, you wouldn\u2019t have mistaken one for the other, but you might have thought Jude was Joseph\u2019s older brother.\u00a0 Was that what had drawn Wade Bosh to his son and driven him to kidnap the boy?\u00a0 Or was there something else?\u00a0 Was it his <\/em>fault alone?\u00a0 Had saving the young man who stood before him all those long years ago doomed his child to this…this barbarous act?\u00a0 Some believed in a cosmic balance.\u00a0 For everything taken, something must be given in return.\u00a0 A shiver ran through the rancher as a light breeze rustled his steel-gray hair and Ben pulled up his collar.\u00a0 The chill was more than skin deep.\u00a0 Was it possible, he wondered, to emerge from this with both Jude and<\/em> Joseph whole?<\/p>\n

Or would fate demand a sacrifice?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Captain Francis Howard stood on the aft deck of his ship the Sun Princess<\/em> with his arms folded behind his back.\u00a0 Beside him stood his first mate, Rowan Paul.\u00a0 Rowan had a spyglass to his eye and had his eye trained on the sleek cutter that was fast approaching them.\u00a0 They\u2019d noticed it a few hours back but, at the time, had not been certain it was them it followed.\u00a0 It had become clear within the last sixty minutes that the Princess<\/em> was its destination and, while there was little to fear from a ship coming out of Vallejo harbor, it was \u2013 to say the least \u2013 a puzzlement.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you recognize her colors?\u201d the older man inquired as the chill wind snapped the sail on the main mast.\u00a0 They had yet to unfurl the mizzen or fore sails.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know her, sir,\u201d the first mate replied, dropping the glass and turning toward him.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s Captain Ford\u2019s ship, the Bloodhound<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard\u2019s owlish eyebrows popped up toward his receding hairline as his crisp blue eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cLiam, you say?\u00a0 You spoke to him on the shore, Rowan.\u00a0 Did he say anything about setting sail?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, sir.\u00a0 With the speed of that vessel, perhaps he\u2019s running something to us that we left behind?\u00a0 Or supplies that arrived late?\u201d<\/p>\n

They did have supplies missing \u2013 one crate in particular was important as it included several pieces of scientific equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps.\u00a0 Daring though, to set sail so late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowan nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThat would be Liam.\u00a0 Brave as a hurricane lantern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPenny wise and pound foolish, if you ask me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His first mate attempted to hide his smile.\u00a0 \u201cI have to admit, he\u2019s more pirate than privateer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard\u2019s eyes were narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s someone with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowan nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI saw three men.\u00a0 Hard to make them out clearly as they\u2019re dressed in seaman\u2019s garments.\u00a0 One looked older.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, we\u2019ll know soon enough.\u00a0 When they board, bring them to me.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be in my quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 Eh, sir?\u201d<\/p>\n

He had started toward the main mast, but paused and turned back.\u00a0 \u201cWhat is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve had complaints about second mate Bosh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard was surprised.\u00a0 \u201cAlready?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowan huffed out a sigh.\u00a0 \u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 The men think he\u2019s…odd.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far as I know there is no naval law against being \u2018odd\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes…er…no, sir.\u00a0 I just thought I\u2019d mention it as he\u2019s already come to blows with one of the men under his command.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard frowned.\u00a0 \u201cHe came fairly highly recommended.\u00a0 Seems he\u2019s good at his job.\u201d\u00a0 The older man paused.\u00a0 \u201cWhile I don\u2019t approve of unnecessary violence, it is sometimes required to use physical force to make the men comply.\u00a0 Seaman are a hard lot, Rowan.\u00a0 It takes a hard man to command them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The younger man nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI know that, sir.\u00a0 I just thought you would like to be informed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019d turned to go again, but swung back.\u00a0 \u201cHow, \u2018odd\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gives orders but refuses to enter into any conversations, preferring \u2013 it seems \u2013 to speak mostly to himself.\u00a0 He doesn\u2019t eat with the men and disappears for hours on end with no explanation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs his work getting done?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowan nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes, sir.\u00a0 Everything is shipshape.\u201d<\/p>\n

Howard considered it.\u00a0 \u2018Odd\u2019 perhaps, but there was nothing illicit or off beam about the man\u2019s behavior.<\/p>\n

At least not yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeep an eye on him, Rowan.\u00a0 Inform me if anything arises that threatens the voyage.\u00a0 The Sun Princess\u2019s<\/em> mission is of vital importance and I won\u2019t have one man \u2013 any<\/em> man \u2013 threatening it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowan saluted smartly.<\/p>\n

As his first mate began to move away, Howard called him back.\u00a0 \u201cTell me the man\u2019s name again.\u00a0 It escapes me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond mate Wade Bosh, sir, late of The Quail<\/em> out of London.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the bowels of the Sun Princess<\/em> Wade Bosh crouched, not sitting but not standing, rocking back and forth, back and forth.\u00a0 The lantern he carried was made of punched tin.\u00a0 It cast a pattern much like a snowflake over the saturated floor boards of the hold, spilling out for some six or seven feet \u2013 far enough to touch the boy\u2019s sleeping form.\u00a0 The child\u2019s knees were drawn up and he was curled in a ball.\u00a0 His curly brown head rested in the nook of one arm.\u00a0 His breathing was labored as if he dreamed and the stuff of the dreams was a nightmare.<\/p>\n

Like the nightmare he\u2019d <\/em>lived for the last twenty-odd years.<\/p>\n

It was over now.\u00a0 The boy was back.<\/p>\n

Jude was back.<\/p>\n

Rising, Wade walked over to his treasure.\u00a0 Crouching again, he reached out and brushed aside the mass of\u00a0 curls that shielded the boy\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t remember Jude\u2019s hair being quite so dark, but then in this place of safety there was nothing but gloom.\u00a0 Still, he knew the boy would be safe here.\u00a0 No one would be able to take him \u2013 none could find him.\u00a0 He winced at the heat radiating from the child\u2019s slim body.\u00a0 He was concerned that Jude was unwell.\u00a0\u00a0 Taking pity on the boy, he lifted his light frame up and removed the tattered and sodden shirt he wore, hoping that would help to cool him.<\/p>\n

As he did, the boy stirred and groaned.<\/p>\n

Wade ran a hand through the mass of curls \u2013 a gentle caress.\u00a0 \u201cHush, go back to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude continued to stir, shifting his head from one side to the other.\u00a0 Finally, he croaked, \u201cThirsty.\u201d<\/p>\n

The big man rose and returned to where he\u2019d been sitting.\u00a0 He\u2019d brought food with him, though the boy had refused it for several days.\u00a0 Catching the flask and a horn cup from the floor, along with a white packet, he returned to where the child lay.\u00a0 Bosh filled the cup with water and poured the powder he had stolen from the sickbay into it.\u00a0 Then he lifted the boy again and dripped the clear cool liquid between his lips.<\/p>\n

Jude swallowed a few times, and then his eyes opened.\u00a0 They shone in the lantern light, bright and feverish.\u00a0 The child lifted a trembling hand and, with his fingers, caught the edge of his coat.<\/p>\n

\u201c…Pa?\u201d he pleaded.<\/p>\n

Bosh felt a thrill deep within him.\u00a0 \u201cYes, son.\u00a0 It\u2019s your pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

A slight smile lifted the corner of his lips.\u00a0 \u201cYou…found me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, the seaman ran his hand through the boy\u2019s hair, noting how thick it was.\u00a0 \u201cI found you.\u00a0 A bad man took you away.\u00a0 I searched a long time and I found you.\u201d\u00a0 His jaw set and he made a promise.\u00a0 \u201cYou ain\u2019t got nothin\u2019 to fear.\u00a0 No one<\/em> will ever take you away from me again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s brow furrowed.\u00a0 He blinked several times and then those big eyes of his fastened on his face.\u00a0 Terror entered them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re…not my pa!\u201d he cried and, with what little strength he had remaining, tried to pull away.<\/p>\n

Bosh gripped his arm.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re sick, boy. You don\u2019t know what you\u2019re sayin\u2019!\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Jude retreated, moving into the shadows, back, out of the circle of light.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re….\u00a0 No.\u00a0 No, you\u2019re not my pa.\u00a0 You\u2019re….\u201d\u00a0 The boy was breathing hard.\u00a0 It was all he could do to get the words out.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re the bad man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade\u2019s hand shot out.\u00a0 His fingers closed around the boy\u2019s throat.\u00a0 \u201cNow, you listen here, Jude.\u00a0 You\u2019re sick!\u00a0 Your head\u2019s all<\/em> mixed up.\u00a0 You\u2019re my<\/em> son and it was Ben Cartwright who stole you away from me.\u00a0 He\u2019s<\/em> the bad man!\u201d<\/p>\n

The boy swallowed hard against his fingers.\u00a0 His eyes were bright, awake.<\/p>\n

And filled with hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot…a…bad man,\u201d he rasped.\u00a0 \u201cNot…my<\/em> pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

He had to make the boy understand.\u00a0 He was sick.\u00a0 Out of his head with fever.\u00a0 He had it wrong, all wrong.<\/p>\n

Had to….<\/p>\n

\u201c…please…you\u2019re…choking me….\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade Bosh stared down at the boy.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what he\u2019d been thinkin\u2019 before.\u00a0 There was that tangle of brown curls lit with gold, the coffee and cream skin; those extraordinary green-gold eyes.\u00a0 Jude\u2019s eyes were starin\u2019 at him, ringed with red and rimmed with tears.<\/p>\n

With a shudder and a gasp the seaman drew back, suddenly aware of how close he\u2019d come to killin\u2019 him.<\/p>\n

As the boy slumped to the floor, Bosh rose to his feet.\u00a0 He went to the place where he had been seated and picked up the sack that lay there.\u00a0 Without a backwards glance, he mounted the ladder and returned to the deck and his duties.\u00a0 Jude would sleep for a while and then he\u2019d come and see him again.\u00a0 By then the fever would be better and he\u2019d know who he was.<\/p>\n

Imagine a boy forgettin\u2019 his pa.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright stepped onto the deck of the Sun Princess<\/em> and was instantly transported back by the sights and sounds.\u00a0 He had never regretted giving up the sea and sailing, but it was still in his blood, and it was his blood that stirred as the mainmast creaked and the mainsail snapped in the wind, as the bosun\u2019s whistle sounded and the ship\u2019s bell knelled seven times, proclaiming the twenty-third hour.<\/p>\n

As they stood, waiting, a slender man with reddish-blond hair approached them.\u00a0 He saluted smartly and grinned broadly.\u00a0 \u201cLiam!\u00a0 Great to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Captain Ford took a step forward to grip his hand.\u00a0 \u201cRowan, how are you?\u00a0 How is your fianc\u00e9?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPining away, both of us,\u201d the ship\u2019s first mate answered with sad chuckle.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve undertaken a long voyage.\u00a0 It\u2019s certain she\u2019ll know what the life of a sailor\u2019s wife is by the time you return.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben continued to listen to the two men exchange pleasantries for several minutes and then, completely out of character for him, interrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiam, I think we should see Captain Howard.\u201d<\/p>\n

The man with the reddish-blond hair turned toward him.\u00a0 \u201cForgive me, seaman….?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is Benjamin Cartwright, Rowan.\u00a0 He\u2019s the reason the Bloodhound<\/em> set sail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rowan seemed surprised.\u00a0 \u201cI thought you told the bosun\u2019s mate you\u2019d brought missing cargo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liam smiled. \u201cI lied.\u00a0 The situation is delicate.\u00a0 I need to speak to Francis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other man looked puzzled.\u00a0 \u201cAll right.\u00a0 Follow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben reached out and caught the mate\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cPlease, \u201c he said, \u201csay nothing of this to anyone until we finish with your captain.\u00a0 It is of utmost importance that you don\u2019t.\u00a0 A boy\u2019s life depends on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Liam exchanged a look with the first mate .\u00a0 He nodded.<\/p>\n

Suddenly serious, Rowan began to move.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollow me.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A few minutes after Ben and Liam Ford left the aft deck, a shadowy figure topped the ladder, stepped onto the deck, and quickly ducked behind a large crate.\u00a0 The sun had set and he was attired in dark blue, so he went unnoticed as he moved among the boxes of cargo that had been stored there that morning.\u00a0 Jude Randolph knew as well that the less accepted half of his heritage would help to hide him.\u00a0 His darker skin would be of benefit as he worked his way down through the sunless decks of the Sun Princess<\/em> to begin his search for Ben\u2019s missing son.\u00a0 The Princess<\/em> was a larger ship than the one he and Bosh had sailed on all those years ago.\u00a0 She had once been a warship and carried twenty guns.\u00a0 Most of these had been removed to make space for the doctors and scientists who were now onboard.\u00a0 This time, hers was a mission of peace.<\/p>\n

Marred by the war one madman had brought upon her.<\/p>\n

Jude wondered if Captain Howard knew yet.\u00a0 Even if he did, and was amenable to their needs, he and Ben had decided that he should remain anonymous as long as he could.\u00a0 Ben and Liam would be quite conspicuous as they searched the ship with the help of Howard\u2019s men.\u00a0 Wade Bosh was clever and crafty as a fox.\u00a0 When the seaman kidnapped him all those years ago, all hands had been turned out to search.\u00a0 They\u2019d found nothing.\u00a0 It was two weeks before Ben Cartwright found out where he was.\u00a0 The Sun Princess<\/em> had even more dark corners than the Independence<\/em> had.\u00a0 More wells of darkness.<\/p>\n

More rooms in Hell.<\/p>\n

Ducking down, Jude waited as two seamen passed by.\u00a0 It was near midnight and the upper deck was mostly empty.\u00a0 At the aft end of the ship there was a gathering of men.\u00a0 One of the officers was angry about something.\u00a0 He could hear the man\u2019s voice rising above the clamor of the seabirds that flew overhead and the waves slapping against the sides of the ship.\u00a0 He counted to twenty and then moved quickly along the gangway to the poop deck.\u00a0 Catching a lantern from the wall, the Englishman took the various stairs that ran down and past the Bread Room scuttle.\u00a0 From there he moved more slowly, walking the lower decks, which he found for the most part deserted.\u00a0 He passed the Steward\u2019s room with its bounty of provisions as well as the Cock Pit and then stopped, startled not by a seaman or any threat of discovery, but by his own fear.\u00a0 The mainmast stairs lay before him.\u00a0 The all but perpendicular ladder would take him down into the very belly of the beast \u2013 the lowest deck where once he had been held as a prisoner without light, without food, with only a trickle of water between parched lips, and where he had begged and pleaded for the touch of a hated hand.<\/p>\n

Jude was shaken.\u00a0 He trembled from head to foot.\u00a0 Saliva formed in his mouth.\u00a0 He swallowed over it, but all too soon it was filled again.\u00a0 Stunned, he dropped to his knees and struck out with a hand, steadying himself.<\/p>\n

And began to retch.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Five decks up and directly above Jude Randolph, Wade Bosh strode across the deck toward the captain\u2019s cabin.\u00a0 He was infuriated.\u00a0 He\u2019d sailed the seas for nearly thirty years and never <\/em>had he seen such a crew.\u00a0 Milksops and chinless wonders every one of them!\u00a0 Added together, the lot of them might<\/em> have reached forty years!\u00a0 They\u2019d argued with every order he\u2019d given, blowin\u2019 about him not makin\u2019 any sense.\u00a0 One of them told him to see the ship\u2019s surgeon about gettin\u2019 a new brain.\u00a0 Bosh\u2019s lips curled in a cruel smile.<\/p>\n

That one would be soon be seeing the medic himself!<\/p>\n

Somethin\u2019 had to be done.\u00a0 The coddled and spoon-fed lot of them had gone runnin\u2019 to the first mate and that fancy-boy would bring their tales to the captain. So, he<\/em> was goin\u2019 to speak the captain first.\u00a0 He\u2019d give the old man an earful and more.<\/p>\n

With any luck, Lieutenant Paul would soon be cleanin\u2019 the head and he\u2019d be first mate!<\/p>\n

Wade halted as the door to the captain\u2019s quarters opened and two men stepped out.\u00a0 The one looked like Rowan and he wondered if the mate had beat him there somehow.\u00a0 When the sailor turned into the moonlight and he saw the cut of his hair, he realized it wasn\u2019t Rowan Paul, but someone new.<\/p>\n

Someone who was not a part of the crew.<\/p>\n

Ducking into the shadows, Bosh waited as the two men walked his way.\u00a0 The first was slender.\u00a0 He\u2019d seen him before, but he wasn\u2019t sure where.\u00a0 He thought he captained another ship.\u00a0 The other was older, thicker-set, with broad shoulders and a determined stride.\u00a0 There was something familiar about him, but it was like smoke and it slipped through his fingers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t wait!\u201d the older man declared.\u00a0 \u201cWe have to begin now!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Captain Howard\u2019s ship,\u201d the thin man replied, his tone firm but understanding.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll do it Howard\u2019s way or not at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is the point of waiting until first light to search the belly of the ship?\u201d the older man countered sharply.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s like going into a mine.\u00a0 The only light we\u2019ll have is what we take with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it has more to do with the men and the running of the ship.\u00a0 Francis wants to wait until the next watch.\u00a0 It\u2019s only a few hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thinner man halted just in front of his hiding place.\u00a0 Wade crouched as he did and peered through a crack between two crates.\u00a0 The older man had walked to the rail and was looking out over the water.\u00a0 He lowered his head and remained still for a moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a father, Liam,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sure you know how it is.\u00a0 I… Somehow I know<\/em> even an hour\u2019s delay is too much.\u00a0 I can feel it in my bones.\u00a0 Joseph is almost out of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bosh blinked.<\/p>\n

Joseph.<\/p>\n

An image flashed before his eyes \u2013 a slender boy in a stable, curly-haired, with bold green eyes.<\/p>\n

Joseph.<\/p>\n

Jude.<\/p>\n

A hand of fear gripped the seaman.\u00a0 Wade looked up to find that the older man had turned into the light.\u00a0 He removed his hat and ran a hand through hair that glinted like gun metal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, Liam,\u201d Ben Cartwright said, \u201cI can\u2019t wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wade Bosh sucked in air.\u00a0 He rose and headed for the mainsail stair.<\/p>\n

Neither could he.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

FIFTEEN<\/p>\n

Jude Randolph leaned against the damp wall of the mid-ship hold.\u00a0 The stench of his vomit assaulted him, causing him to continue to heave even though there was nothing left in him.\u00a0 After a moment, he climbed to his feet and stood there, breathing hard, fighting to take command of his emotions.\u00a0 Tears in his eyes, his jaw tight and his fists clenched, he reproached himself for behaving like the child he had been all those years ago; a child who had felt completely powerless.\u00a0 He was a man<\/em> now and there was another child counting on him \u2013 the beloved son of the one who had rescued him from the belly of the Independence<\/em> and brought him up out of the pit into the light.<\/p>\n

It was the pit that had broken him then.<\/p>\n

As it sought to break him now.<\/p>\n

Lifting his arm, Jude wiped his mouth clean on his jacket, picked up his lantern, and forced his legs to move.\u00a0 It was as if they were weighted with lead.\u00a0 Every step was a conscious effort, but he wouldn\u2019t quit \u2013 wouldn\u2019t <\/em>give in.\u00a0 He knew where Bosh had the boy because that had been his <\/em>prison too.\u00a0 Past the mid-ship floor riders, beyond the step of the foremast, between it and the keel and dead rising where nothing remained between the ship and the sea but a single wall.\u00a0 He knew he would find Joseph there just as he <\/em>had been there, alone, cut off from light and sound, chained and laying in his own filth, beyond hope, beyond caring.<\/p>\n

Dying.<\/p>\n

Again Jude had to stop and brace himself as a wave of nausea rolled over him.\u00a0 It angered him.\u00a0 No, it infuriated <\/em>him that after all this time \u2013 after his escape and his success in England \u2013 Wade Bosh was still <\/em>in control.<\/p>\n

Jude shook his head.\u00a0 No more.<\/p>\n

No<\/em> more.<\/p>\n

The Englishman remained where he was and listened.\u00a0 He was close now, very<\/em> close.\u00a0 After assuring himself that he was not being followed, he shuttered the lantern and plunged into the Stygian darkness, ready to confront Charon himself.\u00a0 As he drew nearer the step of the foremast Jude\u2019s pace quickened.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t entirely sure, but he thought he\u2019d heard someone cough.\u00a0 He wanted to call out, but fear for Joseph stopped him.\u00a0 Bosh could be there with him.\u00a0 Without light, this deep in the hold there was no way to tell.\u00a0 Once past the step, the former cabin boy paused and listened again.\u00a0 He heard a breath drawn in pain, a stifled moan.<\/p>\n

Then silence.<\/p>\n

Drawing the revolver he had tucked behind the waistband of his trousers, Jude moved forward into the unknown.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Joe bit his lip and fought the urge to cough.\u00a0 Pain had exploded through his head when he coughed the first time and he really didn\u2019t want to do it again.\u00a0 He could still feel Bosh\u2019s fingers on his throat cutting off his air.\u00a0 The sudden attack had left him woozy and lightheaded.\u00a0 Multi-colored lights filled his vision, bursting like the fireworks he\u2019d seen when he and his brothers had spent the fourth of July in San Francisco with their pa.<\/p>\n

A tear ran down his cheek.<\/p>\n

Pa.<\/p>\n

He had a…pa.<\/p>\n

He wondered what he looked like.<\/p>\n

The man who came to bring him water said he was his pa, but he knew he wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Not really.\u00a0 He knew<\/em> he had a father out there somewhere, he just couldn\u2019t remember who he was.\u00a0 It was like he\u2019d been sucked into a pit and left there so long that everything but the damp and the dark had gone away \u2013 everything but the damp and the dark and Wade Bosh and the rats who watched him day and night waiting for him to die so they could have a feast.<\/p>\n

A slight smile curled the boy\u2019s lips.\u00a0 \u201cIt…won\u2019t be…long,\u201d Joe croaked, his voice sounding like dry leaves on stone.<\/p>\n

Nauseous, he tried closing his eyes to ease the misery.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t work.\u00a0 The lights were still there, running in a crazy circle like a horse trying to toss its rider.\u00a0 It was actually worse with his eyes closed.\u00a0 It made him feel like he did when he climbed too high and forgot and looked down.\u00a0 Everything was out of balance and he knew he was gonna fall.<\/p>\n

He was falling.<\/p>\n

He wondered if he would die when he reached the base of the pit.<\/p>\n

At least the rats would be happy.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s eyes popped open.\u00a0 He\u2019d just caught himself before he hit bottom.\u00a0 Still, he knew he was danglin\u2019 right above it and he didn\u2019t know if he had the strength to hold on.\u00a0 It would be easier to let go.\u00a0 Easier to…die.\u00a0 Only one thing stopped him.<\/p>\n

Pa.<\/p>\n

He wanted to find his real pa.<\/p>\n

He wanted to know why his pa hadn\u2019t tried to find him<\/em>.\u00a0 Why he\u2019d left him alone in the damp and the dark, hangin\u2019 on for dear life, with the rats waiting to eat him.<\/p>\n

They were watching.\u00a0 Their eyes were everywhere.\u00a0 They were bright yellow in color and they were on the move, advancing toward him.\u00a0 Terrified, Joe moved his hands, digging his fingers into the rotten water-logged wood, clawing, crawling away.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want them to eat him.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to feel their teeth rippin\u2019 into his flesh and gnawin\u2019 his bones; strippin\u2019 away everything that was his \u2013 eyes and nose and lips and skin and hair.\u00a0 If his pa found him stripped bare, he wouldn\u2019t know him.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d leave his bones in the pit.<\/p>\n

The yellow eyes were beside him now \u2013 they were climbin\u2019 on him!<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d he shrieked. \u201cNo!\u00a0 NO!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jude Randolph stopped, utterly stunned.\u00a0 He had no idea what delirium Joseph was experiencing, but it had driven the boy to the length of the chain that bound him to the floor and into a corner where he cowered, weakly moving his hands and moaning.\u00a0 When he\u2019d reached the dead rising and heard nothing, he\u2019d opened the lantern and let its light spill out, forgetting how he too had been terrified by the absence of the darkness.\u00a0 As he approached the boy Jude closed it, hoping that would ease Joseph\u2019s fear of him.\u00a0 He hated to touch Ben\u2019s child, for he remembered the blessed horror of that touch in the dark as well, but he had to silence him.<\/p>\n

If Bosh was near and he\u2019d heard….<\/p>\n

Crouching, the Englishman\u00a0 reached out and found the boy\u2019s arm and gripped it.\u00a0 Joseph struggled feebly to get away, batting ineffectively at his hand.\u00a0 The touch was as light as a butterfly wing on the cheek.\u00a0 Speaking soft assurances, Jude began to search for his other arm.\u00a0 When he found it, the former cabin boy slipped in-between him and the wall.\u00a0 Gently, ever so gently, talking all the while in a low even tone and telling him why he was doing it, Jude cupped his hand over the terrified boy\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 In spite of his assurances Joseph stiffened.\u00a0 His body went rigid.\u00a0 He struggled a moment longer, said something unintelligible, and then slumped lifeless against him.<\/p>\n

Jude sat there in the dark, sucking in the dank air and willing himself not to join the boy in oblivion.\u00a0 He leaned his head back against the wall and reassured himself that he would not <\/em>be imprisoned again.\u00a0 He would not die <\/em>here.\u00a0 Wade Bosh would<\/em> not win.\u00a0 After a moment he pulled the boy into the circle of his arms and willed him, even in his unconscious state, to know that help had come and that he was safe.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t met Joseph, but he had seen the daguerreotype that sat on his father\u2019s night stand.\u00a0 Three handsome young men \u2013 ten, sixteen, and twenty-two years of age \u2013 looked out of the silver frame.\u00a0 Both of the older boys took after their father.\u00a0 They were tall and broad of build.\u00a0 Benjamin\u2019s youngest son was thin as a spindle but wiry; small and slender with the beauty of a girl.\u00a0 Joseph Francis Cartwright had grinned at him from that frame, his eyes alight with mischief; his lips pressed into a tight line to try to contain the laughter that bubbled up within him.\u00a0 Though the photo was nothing more than metal exposed to a mix of chemicals and the light, the boy\u2019s zest for life radiated out of it.<\/p>\n

What he held now was a shadow of that child \u2013 thin, frail, wasted away; clothed in his own filth and barely holding on to life.<\/p>\n

But he was<\/em> holding on.<\/p>\n

Jude leaned forward and brushed the boy\u2019s forehead with his lips, trying to gauge his temperature.\u00a0 Joseph was hot.\u00a0 He was also very sick.\u00a0 He\u2019d been sick too and remembered precious little of his own liberation from the belly of the Independence.<\/em>\u00a0 Lights.\u00a0 A deep voice.\u00a0 Gentle hands.\u00a0 Then more light \u2013 so much light he thought it would blind him.\u00a0 He\u2019d lain at death\u2019s door for weeks.\u00a0 Once he\u2019d recovered and returned to life, he\u2019d been burdened with a different pain.\u00a0 How could he repay this man who had brought him back from the dead?<\/p>\n

It seemed God had given him the chance.<\/p>\n

Jude felt for the cuff that circled Joseph\u2019s leg. When he found it, he followed the attached chain to a ring on the floor.\u00a0 He\u2019d remembered how he had been similarly bound and had come prepared.\u00a0 Gently slipping out from behind the boy and onto his knees, the Englishman opened the lantern\u2019s door a sliver and then reached into his pocket and drew out a ring of keys and began to try them one by one in the lock.<\/p>\n

The unexpected sound of footsteps froze him in place.<\/p>\n

Quickly pocketing the key ring, Jude rose to his feet.\u00a0 He pulled the pistol out from behind his belt, released the safety, and slowly \u2013 oh, so slowly \u2013 pulled back on the hammer.<\/p>\n

Then he waited.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As Ben Cartwright moved through the mid-ships on his way to the mainmast stair, memories of a similar journey decades before crowded him like a room full of people.\u00a0 He\u2019d been forbidden to continue the search for Jude, but he\u2019d done it anyway.\u00a0 Just as he now defied Captain Howard\u2019s orders to wait until morning to search for his son.\u00a0 Both times there had been something within him that would not let him wait.<\/p>\n

Sitting still was tantamount to being on a bed of nails.<\/p>\n

Every parent was tied flesh and bone to their child, as if a cord stretched between them that only death could sever.\u00a0 He was bound to each <\/em>of his sons.\u00a0 Yet, with Joseph, there was something more \u2013 an inner sense, perhaps, of the boy\u2019s own need, or maybe of his own.\u00a0 Whatever it was, he always knew when his youngest was in danger and the clarion bell of that knowledge was sounding in him now, loud<\/em> and clear.<\/p>\n

Joseph was here, on this ship, and he was in mortal peril.<\/p>\n

Old ways returned as the former sailor rapidly descended the mainmast stair, gun behind his belt and lantern anchored at his hip.\u00a0 As he moved down, hand over hand, making a near perpendicular descent, Ben wondered where Jude was.\u00a0 If all had gone according to plan, the Englishman was on board the Sun Princess<\/em> and his own search was well underway.\u00a0 The odds were they would meet up at fore of the keel, which was where he was headed.\u00a0 He remembered what Jude had told him about his captivity all those years ago.\u00a0 Considering how unnerving he was finding the journey, Ben couldn\u2019t imagine what the former cabin boy must be feeling.<\/p>\n

It had to be like stepping on his own grave.<\/p>\n

The rancher grunted mildly as his feet struck the floor of the lowest deck.\u00a0 Opening his lantern\u2019s shutter, he pointed the light forward and began to move, quickly passing through the mid-ship\u2019s hold and on toward the keel.\u00a0 Several minutes into his journey, he drew to an abrupt halt.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard something.\u00a0 Voices, he thought, raised in anger.\u00a0 Ben clamped the lantern shut and remained where he was, listening.\u00a0 There was a shout.<\/p>\n

And then a shot.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wade Bosh howled like a wild beast and struck out into the darkness, his hands extended, seeking his throat.\u00a0 As soon as he realized the madman was there, Jude had shuttered the lantern, plunging the keel into darkness.\u00a0 The lack of light had made it impossible to take aim and so he\u2019d shot blindly.\u00a0 He\u2019d was certain he\u2019d hit Bosh, but he had no idea where he ball had taken the seaman or whether it was a fatal or passing blow.\u00a0 The only thing Jude knew for certain was that Wade Bosh was still on his feet and was as enraged as a bull elephant.\u00a0 The Englishman didn\u2019t move.\u00a0 He remained still, listening, trying to determine the big man\u2019s position.\u00a0 Pinpoints of the dawn\u2019s light were working themselves through small holes in the keel wall behind him.\u00a0 He waited for a disturbance in the pattern of light to locate him.<\/p>\n

And failed.<\/p>\n

Desperate to protect Joseph, Jude straddled the boy\u2019s prone form, and tried another tactic.\u00a0 He called out, hoping the sound of Bosh\u2019s reply would make him a target.<\/p>\n

\u201cSurrender, Bosh!\u00a0 It\u2019s over.\u00a0 The captain and his men will be here soon.\u00a0 There\u2019s no escape!\u201d\u00a0 Jude wet his lips as the old fear rose again \u2013 the fear that this man would once again take him and hold him in his sway.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve felt the bite of my gun once!\u00a0 I\u2019ll use it again if I must.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d Bosh asked from out of the dark.<\/p>\n

Jude\u2019s jaw tightened and he shivered as he aimed to pistol toward that voice.<\/p>\n

\u201cJustice,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben jerked at the second report of a gun.\u00a0 The sound of the shot rang from rafter to rib and through the hollow underbelly of the Sun Princess<\/em>.\u00a0 Throwing all caution to the wind he opened his lantern wide, letting its brilliant light paint the boards before him, and ran the length of the deck, unwilling to stop until he ran into the keel wall or broke through it and plunged into the raging sea.\u00a0 The scene that unfolded as he rounded the step of the foremast brought him to a jarring halt.\u00a0 Two men were struggling, one slight of build, the other a veritable giant.\u00a0 Jude and Wade Bosh.\u00a0 An upturned lantern lay near their feet.\u00a0 It had set something on fire and the area was quickly filling with a thick, choking smoke.<\/p>\n

There was no sign of Joseph.<\/p>\n

Swallowing his disappointment, Ben placed his own lantern on the floor and drew his gun.\u00a0 \u201cBosh!\u201d he shouted. \u201cWade Bosh!\u00a0 Let Jude go!\u00a0 It\u2019s me you want!\u00a0 It\u2019s me \u2013 Ben Cartwright!\u201d<\/p>\n

The giant\u2019s form went rigid. With his hands on Jude\u2019s throat, he turned to stare at him.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet him go!\u201d he repeated, one eye to the smoldering blaze.\u00a0 Fortunately, the hold was damp enough no fire couldn\u2019t last long.\u00a0 Once it had burned through whatever dry material was available, it would go out on its own.\u00a0 \u201cLet Jude go!\u201d<\/p>\n

Bosh\u2019s eyes returned to the man he held.<\/p>\n

\u201cJude?\u201d he rasped.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re…Jude?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman couldn\u2019t speak.\u00a0 He nodded as best he could.<\/p>\n

Bosh\u2019s grip tightened and then he staggered.\u00a0 It was only then Ben realized the seaman had been hit.<\/p>\n

Like a grizzly, it was going to take more than one shot to bring him down.<\/p>\n

Still, he hesitated to shoot.\u00a0 It would be too easy to miss Bosh and hit Jude.\u00a0 Closing his eyes briefly, Ben prayed for the chance he needed.<\/p>\n

He got it when he opened his eyes.\u00a0 The bear of a man had dropped Jude and was charging straight at him.<\/p>\n

Ben fell back a step.\u00a0 Only seconds remained before Bosh would plow into him.\u00a0 In rapid succession, he fired off three shots \u2013 the sound of the Cartwrights, indicating there was trouble \u2013 and prayed that at least one of the bullets struck the big man.<\/p>\n

Then, he was on the floor.\u00a0 As Bosh hit him, Ben reared back hitting his head.<\/p>\n

And knew no more.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t out long.\u00a0 Ben awoke a minute later to the realization that he couldn\u2019t breathe.\u00a0 For a moment he had no memory of what had happened and wondered if he was in one of the Cartwrights mines and there had been a cave-in.\u00a0 Then he comprehended that whatever was weighing him down was warm, as was the thick, iron-scented liquid flowing down his left arm onto his hand.\u00a0 It was a man.\u00a0 It was \u2013<\/p>\n

Bosh.<\/p>\n

Wade Bosh who had kidnapped his son and held him a prisoner for two weeks.<\/p>\n

Bosh who was the only one who knew where Joseph was.<\/p>\n

And would never tell.<\/p>\n

It was all Ben could do to push the mass of cooling flesh and bone off of himself.\u00a0 When he stood, his head reeled like he\u2019d been on leave and cleared the saloon of half of its ale.\u00a0 Walking was impossible, and so he staggered through the dissipating smoke to where he had last seen Jude.\u00a0 The air was better toward the floor and he relished it as he crouched and reached out, probing the darkness for his friend.\u00a0 It took a bit, but finally his hand fastened on a leg.\u00a0 Shifting, the rancher followed it up to an arm and then farther along to a head of curly hair.<\/p>\n

\u201cJude,\u201d Ben called, pausing as a cough racked him.\u00a0 \u201cJude, can you hear me.\u00a0 Are you injured?\u201d<\/p>\n

A low moan was his first answer.<\/p>\n

The second came from the darkness to his left.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m…all right, Benjamin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Puzzled, he turned toward the sound.\u00a0 If Jude was beside him, then who…?<\/p>\n

God.<\/p>\n

Dear <\/em>God.<\/p>\n

It must be Joseph.<\/p>\n

A moment later Jude Randolph appeared, stepping into a thin beam of light.\u00a0 The former cabin boy was pale as a ghost, his face soot-streaked and filthy; his wild hair even wilder than usual.\u00a0 In the Englishman\u2019s hand was the lantern he had brought with him and abandoned.\u00a0 The shutter was closed . The light leaking through the punches in the tin cast weird shadows on the deck.<\/p>\n

As he turned back toward his son, Jude warned, \u201cPrepare yourself, Benjamin.\u00a0 We may have come too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben gasped as the light struck the lean figure of his son and fought to keep the contents of his stomach where they belonged.\u00a0 Joseph lay completely still, his eyes closed and his limbs askew like an abandoned rag doll\u2019s.\u00a0 His usually tanned skin was gray as the smoke that whorled above their heads and bruises darkened nearly all of it that was exposed.\u00a0 His son was thin \u2013 so<\/em> thin.<\/p>\n

And hot.<\/p>\n

Burning hot.<\/p>\n

But alive!<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to get him out of here!\u201d he proclaimed as he began to slip his arms under his boy.<\/p>\n

Jude\u2019s hand came down on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll need these,\u201d the former cabin boy said as he offered him a ring of keys.\u00a0 When he blinked, not comprehending, Jude added, \u201cJoseph\u2019s leg is chained to the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Ben needed to do at that moment was free his child and take him out of this hell-hole, up where there was light and fresh air.\u00a0 Instead he laid Joseph down, rose to his\u00a0 feet, and started toward the hulking mass of flesh that lay at the bottom of a rider.<\/p>\n

Breathing or not, he was going to tear Joseph\u2019s kidnapper limb from limb.<\/p>\n

Jude caught his arm.\u00a0 \u201cBosh is dead, Benjamin,\u201d he said softly.\u00a0 \u201cHe can\u2019t hurt Joseph anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

He fought for a moment and then quieted.\u00a0 Jude was right.\u00a0 With a nod, Ben returned to his son\u2019s side.\u00a0 Dropping to his knees, he reached out and found Little Joe\u2019s leg and ran his hand along it, wincing as he felt the bone so close to the skin.\u00a0 He continued on until he came to the iron cuff that chained the boy to the deck.\u00a0 Finding the right key was quick work. The cuff fell off and struck the boards with a dull thud and Joseph was free.<\/p>\n

The rancher leaned in to lift his son, but stopped.\u00a0 He heard voices.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s Rowan and the search party,\u201d Jude said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll tell them.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Ben rose with Joseph\u2019s feather-light form in his arms, a memory from the boy\u2019s childhood came to him.\u00a0 His son had been five, maybe six years old.\u00a0 He\u2019d heard the boy crying and rounded the barn to find him sitting on the ground with a bird\u2019s broken body in his hands.\u00a0 A talk had followed, about the fragility of life and about God.\u00a0 He told his small son about the passage in Matthew and how, in Jesus\u2019 time, you could buy two sparrows for a farthing, and yet their Lord said not one of them would fall on the ground without his Father\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n

Faith was the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.<\/p>\n

He only hoped he had enough of it to carry him through the next few days.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright paced the floor of the passageway outside the tall ship\u2019s sickbay.\u00a0 It was located to the fore of the Sun Princess<\/em>, three decks down.\u00a0 The nightmare that had been bringing Joseph to the ship\u2019s surgeon was still with him.\u00a0 Every effort to rouse the boy had failed.\u00a0 On the first mate\u2019s orders, one of the seamen had looped a rope around Joseph\u2019s chest and began to ascend the ladder.\u00a0 He\u2019d followed, clutching the boy\u2019s legs, guiding him up, all the while praying for a grimace or a groan \u2013 anything to indicate that Little Joe was aware \u2013 but his young son remained as stubborn in oblivion as he was when awake.<\/p>\n

By the time they reached the third deck Ben was exhausted but he had marshaled on, removing the rope from his cataleptic son and then lifting the boy into his arms.\u00a0 The interior of the ship was dark.\u00a0 Little light penetrated, and the lanterns the seamen carried only sufficed to cast lurking shadows on the walls.\u00a0 Near the sickbay one of the former gun ports had been turned into a window and as they passed it he got his first good look at his son.<\/p>\n

It was a sight he would never forget.<\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s glorious chestnut curls had grown dull as tarnished brass and were riddled with mud, blood, and debris.\u00a0 A layer of slime and dirt covered his gaunt form.\u00a0 His slender throat was marred by finger-shaped bruises that contrasted sharply with his pale skin and there was a slightly bluish tinge to his lips.\u00a0 As he\u2019d carried his boy toward the sickbay, Ben had noted that the clothing Joseph wore was the same as when he\u2019d been taken over two weeks before.\u00a0 The shirt and pants were mostly rags; the cloth stiffened with sweat and a noxious mix of excrement and urine.\u00a0 Joseph\u2019s leg \u2013 the one that had been cuffed \u2013 was badly chafed, the skin red and angry, and the ankle swollen to twice its normal size.<\/p>\n

Ben reached out for the ship\u2019s wall to steady himself.\u00a0 That had been two hours before. Two hours<\/em>.\u00a0 In that time Jude had checked on him several times and Captain Howard had appeared to offer his regrets and to tell him the Sun Princess<\/em> would remain anchored until such a time as his son was well enough to travel.\u00a0 As the captain left, First Mate Rowan Paul appeared with the news that Wade Bosh\u2019s body was to be fed to the fishes come the end of the forenoon watch.<\/p>\n

He should have felt some satisfaction at that, but he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Bosh\u2019s death might bring justice, but it couldn\u2019t undo the damage he had done.\u00a0 Exhausted and overwhelmed, Ben fell into one of a pair of chairs that had magically appeared in the corridor.\u00a0 Tears came as he lowered his head into his hands and returned to his own watch.<\/p>\n

Sometime later, he had no idea how long, a gentle touch on his shoulder brought it back up.<\/p>\n

Ben didn\u2019t know the man who stood before him, but he recognized the uniform of the ship\u2019s chaplain.\u00a0 The minister was tall and slender, with hair white as a cloud and a long thin face webbed with deep lines and wrinkles.\u00a0 His eyes were gray.\u00a0 The sparkle in them made the lines turn up instead of down, marking him as an affable, gentle soul.\u00a0 In one hand he held a plate with bread.\u00a0 The other held an earthenware chalice.<\/p>\n

\u201cMister Cartwright?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Ben sat up and nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m Father Brendan Blaine,\u201d the chaplain said as he indicated the chair beside him. \u201cMay I?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, perhaps, you would like to take the sacrament,\u201d he began without preamble.\u00a0 When Ben frowned, the older man went on, \u201cIt\u2019s the Lord\u2019s Day.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher\u2019s gaze went to the sickbay door that barred him from his child.\u00a0 Behind it his son was dying.<\/p>\n

He shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI…can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chaplain carefully placed the elements on the floor to the side of his chair and then turned back to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cTell me what you are feeling and, Mister Cartwright, be honest.\u201d\u00a0 The older man smiled.\u00a0 \u201cThree decks and a bit of sky aren\u2019t enough to keep God from reading a man\u2019s heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI…\u201d\u00a0 Ben cleared his throat.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know that I can…give anymore.\u00a0 Three wives dead and now…this.\u201d\u00a0 A tear fell as he choked.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t lose my son.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendan Blaine regarded him a moment. \u201cAnd this thought, it\u2019s driving you from God?\u201d<\/p>\n

Was it?\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t really thought of it that way.\u00a0 But, in a way, it was<\/em> true.\u00a0 He should have been on his knees pleading for his son\u2019s life \u2013 he wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 Somehow Ben knew that \u2013 if Joseph died \u2013 the faith hoped for but unseen would wither and turn to dust.<\/p>\n

The ranched sucked in a breath.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cHow can a good and gracious God let this happen to a child?\u201d<\/em> he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a reason,\u201d the chaplain said.<\/p>\n

It was a platitude he used with his boys.\u00a0 Now it seemed so shallow.<\/p>\n

Sensing his anger, Chaplain Blaine went on.\u00a0 \u201cThere was another beloved boy, grown into a man, who was betrayed, scourged, and wounded unto death though he had done nothing to deserve it.\u00a0 On the day he died, God and the angels wept.\u00a0 This man died for the sins of the men who beat him \u2013 and for your son\u2019s sins and your own.\u00a0 In the Father\u2019s eyes, Mister Cartwright, we are all guilty.\u00a0 A heavy price was paid for our sin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s near-black eyes went to the plate and cup at the chaplain\u2019s feet.\u00a0 It was there \u2013 the price.<\/p>\n

Blood and bread.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs your son a believer?\u201d the older man asked.<\/p>\n

Ben sucked in his fear and nodded again.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you know, should he pass from this life to the next, that the blood and body of Christ have washed away his sins and he will dwell in the house of the Lord forever?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tears threatened to fall.\u00a0 \u201cHis mother is there already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brendan Blaine stared at him, pausing, as if he chose the next words carefully.\u00a0 \u201cShould you not then rejoice?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI want Joseph here with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs is only right.\u00a0 But should the worst occur, you know<\/em> he is secure in the Lord and will live forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

The word was wrung from him.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The chaplain leaned over and recovered the elements.\u00a0 He held the plate out, indicating the bread with a nod.<\/p>\n

\u201cWill you not then join me in thanking God for the gift of His son and of eternal life?\u201d\u00a0 Blaine\u2019s smile was soft, comforting.\u00a0 \u201cAfter we have partaken of the elements, if you are so inclined, we will petition our Father together to bring your son back to life just as He did His own.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded and, as the chaplain fell to his knees, he did too.\u00a0 Bending his head, he quieted his heart and listened to the familiar words, seeking comfort as he awaited word on his son.<\/p>\n

\u2018And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and said, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it, for this is my blood of the new testament….<\/em>\u2019<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

An hour later he was sitting at his son\u2019s side.\u00a0 After they\u2019d finished praying, Father Blaine had gone to the sickbay door and knocked.\u00a0 The ship\u2019s surgeon had glanced at him where he sat and then let the other man in.\u00a0 Ten or fifteen minutes passed before the chaplain reappeared and told him he could see his son.\u00a0 He\u2019d given the man his thanks.\u00a0 Blaine stopped him as he moved past.<\/p>\n

\u2018Remembered, Mister Cartwright.\u00a0 Miracles happen,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

Joseph lay before him, a thick blanket drawn up to his bruised chin.\u00a0 His son hovered between life and death, his body wasted and his reserves nearly drained dry.\u00a0 The surgeon had given him a look before departing to get a little food and an hour or two of much-needed sleep.\u00a0 In that look Ben saw sympathy and condolences.\u00a0 Science had given up.<\/p>\n

There was nothing left but the chaplain\u2019s miracle.<\/p>\n

Anchoring his hands on the side of his son\u2019s cot, the rancher closed his eyes and began to pray.\u00a0 It was forced, but his first words were of praise, giving thanks for a loving and merciful Father and for the gift of His<\/em> son. Then he began to pray in earnest, pleading, begging, bargaining <\/em>for his boy\u2019s life, offering the only things he had \u2013 his heart, his mind and soul, the time he had left \u2013 all the things God already possessed.\u00a0 In the end, Ben realized he had nothing.\u00a0 All the land and wealth he had accrued and the hard work it had taken; his determination to be a good man, to be obedient and to follow his God\u2019s commands \u2013 none of it meant anything.\u00a0 He came to God empty-handed, just as he had entered this life and as he would depart it.<\/p>\n

Reaching out, Ben took hold of Joseph\u2019s fiery fingers.\u00a0 His final prayer was a choked sob.<\/p>\n

\u201cThy…thy<\/em> will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The cry of seabirds woke him.\u00a0 For a moment, Ben couldn\u2019t remember where he was.\u00a0 Then he felt his son\u2019s fingers in his own.<\/p>\n

They were cooler.<\/p>\n

Fear gripped him, for he thought at first it was the coolness of death, but then he saw the boy\u2019s chest rise and fall.\u00a0 The rancher touched his son\u2019s forehead.\u00a0 It was still hot, but not so much as before.\u00a0 During the time the ship\u2019s surgeon had been with Little Joe, the doctor had removed his clothing and washed him down with water to ease his fever.\u00a0 Even so filth still clung to parts of his undernourished frame.\u00a0 Ben fingered the boy\u2019s hair and found the beloved curls matted together with blood, sweat, and slime.\u00a0 Rising, he searched for a basin and then went to the nearby wash stand and filled it with water from the pitcher.\u00a0 Returning to his son\u2019s sick bed, he pulled the blanket back and began to bathe him with the tepid water.<\/p>\n

A few minutes later he was rewarded as Joseph\u2019s eyelids fluttered.<\/p>\n

Putting the basin down, Ben caught his son\u2019s thin hand in his.\u00a0 With his other hand, he reached out to touch the boy\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoseph?\u00a0 Son, can you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n

His son winced.\u00a0 A moan escaped his lips.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoseph?\u00a0 It\u2019s your pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben didn\u2019t know what reaction he expected, but it certainly wasn\u2019t the one he got.\u00a0 At that word his Joseph\u2019s stick-thin frame stiffened.\u00a0 The boy cried out and began to thrash from side to side.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo!\u201d he shrieked. \u201cNo!\u00a0 Get…away from me!\u00a0 No…Pa!\u00a0 Don\u2019t….\u201d\u00a0 His strength almost spent, Little Joe fell back to the cot, still pleading.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t…hurt me…Pa….\u00a0 Please…don\u2019t…..\u201d<\/p>\n

As his son surrendered to the darkness, Ben Cartwright released his hand and leaned back, stunned.<\/p>\n

Joseph had won the battle to live, but it seemed the war to save him had only just begun.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SIXTEEN<\/p>\n

Rosey O\u2019Rourke stopped what she was doing and looked at her helper who stood near the kitchen stove.\u00a0 It seemed that Ming-hua knew how to do just about everything.\u00a0 More than that, she did it with\u00a0 cheerful countenance as if the work was a joy to her.\u00a0 On top of that<\/em>, the girl was always thanking her!\u00a0 She\u2019d told her a hundred times in the two days they\u2019d been home that she didn\u2019t owe her any thanks for makin\u2019 her work hard.\u00a0 Just as they\u2019d arrived at the house, a light snow had begun to fall.\u00a0 It had come early this season and she wasn\u2019t prepared and there were a thousand things to do.\u00a0 Here in the mountains once the snow flew, you were on your own.\u00a0 Of course, she was used to it.<\/p>\n

And this time, she wasn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n

At the moment Ming-hua was fixing tea for them both.\u00a0 As night fell, the temperature had dropped.\u00a0 They\u2019d stoked the fire, but its heat hadn\u2019t reached the cabin\u2019s corners yet.\u00a0 The lovely child had insisted the tea would not only warm them but keep them from catchin\u2019 a chill.\u00a0 A heartfelt smile curled the older woman\u2019s lips.\u00a0 She\u2019d almost forgotten what it was to have someone else around.\u00a0 The life she\u2019d led with Patrick O\u2019Rourke belonged to a past so distant it was a dream.\u00a0 Drawing her thick shawl closer about her shoulders, Rosey walked to the window and looked out on her yard, which was a solid white.\u00a0 Proof that the snow was here to stay for at least a few days.\u00a0 It was dusk and\u00a0 a hint of sunlight remained, so the landscape was breathtaking in its beauty.\u00a0 A pale rose-gold light tinted the snow, while lavender shadows banked it underneath.\u00a0 The older woman opened the front door and stepped out.\u00a0 The world was hushed as if in anticipation.\u00a0 With rare exception, there was silence.<\/p>\n

That rare<\/em> exception being the sound of men on foot making their way through the snow.<\/p>\n

Whirling, Rosey returned to the house and walked briskly to the corner where she kept her gun.\u00a0 Picking the rifle up, she checked to make sure it was loaded and then headed back out.\u00a0 Ming-hua watched her with wide dark eyes, but said nothing.\u00a0 She knew why.\u00a0 When you led the life the girl had led for the last few years, you were prepared for happiness to last only a few minutes.<\/p>\n

Actually, you expected it to.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes Miss Rosey need assistance?\u201d her guest asked.<\/p>\n

She shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 You stay where you are.\u201d\u00a0 Advancing onto the stoop, Rosey pulled the door closed behind her and waited, gun in hand, for the two men to arrive.\u00a0 When they came close enough for her to see them clearly, she revised that.<\/p>\n

The two boys.<\/em><\/p>\n

The tallest one was fair-haired, with a round face and a body any prizefighter would have envied.\u00a0 The puzzlin\u2019 thing was that he was obviously younger than the slender, shorter man who leaned heavily on him.\u00a0 That one might have been twenty, maybe a year or two more.\u00a0 He was dark-haired and there was something wrong with him.\u00a0 His skin was near as white as the snow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat can I do for you?\u201d she called out before either of them had time to say anything.<\/p>\n

The fair-haired boy reached up and tipped his hat, a gesture that made her lips tickle with a smile.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry to trouble you, Ma\u2019am.\u00a0 We was travelin\u2019 through to Sacramento when a mountain cat jumped my brother.\u00a0 It didn\u2019t do too much damage, but it sure scared the daylights out of our horses.\u00a0 I imagine they\u2019re halfway back to the Ponderosa by now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey rested her rifle on her hip as she eyed the young man.\u00a0 \u201cYou say the cat didn\u2019t get him?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJust a scratch on his arm.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSeems mighty pale for a scratch,\u201d she replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat ain\u2019t from the cat.\u00a0 My brother was shot a few weeks back and I\u2019m afeared he\u2019s torn some of his stitches loose.\u201d\u00a0 The big teenager paused.\u00a0 \u201cYou see Ma\u2019am, big brother wasn\u2019t well enough to sit a horse, but he was determined to head out to look for our younger brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

It could<\/em> be a ploy.\u00a0 It had happened to her before.\u00a0 There could be a group of adult outlaws waiting in the trees.\u00a0 She studied the boy\u2019s face.\u00a0 It seemed sincere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cSorry, Ma\u2019am.\u00a0 I wasn\u2019t thinkin\u2019.\u00a0 My name\u2019s Hoss and this is my brother Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her brown brows lifted.\u00a0 \u201cHoss..?\u201d<\/p>\n

He was puzzled for a second, then he laughed.\u00a0 \u201cGuess you might want to know that too.\u00a0 Cartwright, Ma\u2019am, the name\u2019s Cartwright.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey lowered the rifle.<\/p>\n

Would wonders never cease?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright stood outside Captain Ford\u2019s cabin on the cutter Bloodhound <\/em>with his hand on the latch. It had been a day since they had left the Sun Princess<\/em> behind and transferred to Liam\u2019s ship and nearly three days since he had found his son.\u00a0 They were nearing the harbor and he had to make a decision \u2013 did he take Joseph to a hospital in San Francisco to recover, or have the boy made the arduous journey home?\u00a0 San Francisco meant days more heading west and more time away from the ranch and Joseph\u2019s brothers.\u00a0 He knew what his son would have wanted \u2013 at least before.\u00a0 Physically it would be hard on him.\u00a0 Mentally, well….<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t entirely certain Joseph wouldn\u2019t try to run from him somewhere along the way if he had the strength and the opportunity arose.<\/p>\n

Of course, as his son was now, he would only make it a few steps.\u00a0 Though his fever had broken, Joseph was still a very sick boy and not completely out of danger.\u00a0 The Sun Princess\u2019<\/em> doctor had spoken to him as he placed his son in one of the ship\u2019s\u00a0 rowboats in preparation for debarking.\u00a0 The physician warned him that what Joseph had experienced in the hold of the Princess<\/em> was comparable to the solitary confinement prisoners were subjected to.\u00a0 He was young and, given time, his body would heal.\u00a0 Perhaps more rapidly than he expected.\u00a0 Joseph\u2019s mind was another matter.\u00a0 Such prisoners, once released, often suffered delusions.\u00a0 They evidenced paranoia and were given to panic attacks.\u00a0 Sometimes, they even became obsessed with death.\u00a0 Joseph, the doctor warned, might be overly sensitive to outside stimuli and have difficulties concentrating and remembering.<\/p>\n

The latter was certainly true.\u00a0 Joseph seemed to have no memory of his home before his ordeal began.<\/p>\n

And no memory of him.<\/p>\n

Ben fought back tears.\u00a0 His son had been driven down about as far as a human being could go.\u00a0 He\u2019d been abused, beaten into submission, and made dependent on the one who hurt him.<\/p>\n

The man who had misused him and forced him to call him \u2018Pa\u2019.<\/p>\n

In the endless hours of silence while he sat at his son\u2019s bedside, Jude had come and spoken to him.\u00a0 The Englishman assured him that Joseph would recover in time as he had recovered.\u00a0 And yet, when he thought of Jude as he saw him in the hold of the Princess\u2019<\/em> after he\u2019d grappled with Wade Bosh, he knew that frightened boy was still within the former cabin boy and most likely would be until the end of his days.\u00a0 That same monster<\/em> had taken his bright, ebullient, and confident boy and turned him into a shattered creature that cowered in the corner, jumping at every noise; afraid of the light.<\/p>\n

Afraid of his own father.<\/p>\n

The rancher remained where he was for a moment and then, with a whispered prayer on his lips, opened the door of the cabin and stepped inside.<\/p>\n

At first he thought Joseph was sleeping.\u00a0 Then he realized his son was playing possum.\u00a0 Joseph\u2019s breathing had been fairly even when he entered.\u00a0 Now it came in short, ragged gasps.\u00a0 He took the chair from beside Liam\u2019s desk and pulled it to the center of the room \u2013 a good four feet from the bed \u2013 and sat down.\u00a0 Outside it was nearly night.\u00a0 The moonlight intruded into the darkened room, dusting all that lay within it with a silvery light.\u00a0 From outside came the shouts of Captain Ford\u2019s crew as they anchored the Bloodhound<\/em> in the harbor, calling out orders and answering commands.\u00a0 In a moment twenty-plus years melted away.\u00a0 He was a sailor again, sitting in a similar room, waiting for the tortured boy he had rescued from the hold to reach out to him.\u00a0 Ben closed his eyes and tried to recall what he had done then.\u00a0 It took\u00a0 a moment, then he had it.<\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n

Folding his hands and placing them on his lap, the rancher waited.<\/p>\n

Little Joe was curled in a tight ball, his face turned toward the cabin wall.\u00a0 The movement was almost imperceptible and took agonizing minutes, but in time the boy turned to look at him.<\/p>\n

Ben didn\u2019t shift or make a sound.<\/p>\n

The first move had to be Joseph\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Fever brightened the green eyes that looked at him.\u00a0 It was not so high now \u2013 not high enough for his son to be delirious \u2013 but, coupled with everything else, it still threatened his life.\u00a0 Liam didn\u2019t have a doctor on board but his first mate, a man by the name of Downing, had been an army medic once upon a time.\u00a0 It was his belief that the soul \u2013 a man\u2019s heart and mind \u2013 had just as much to do with his recovery as any doctor\u2019s skill.<\/p>\n

Joseph, he said, had not yet made his mind up as to whether he wanted to live.<\/p>\n

Another minute passed.<\/p>\n

And another.<\/p>\n

Then a small voice asked, \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

It might have killed him to hear it, but at least he was making progress.\u00a0 By God\u2019s grace, it seemed that Joseph no longer identified him with the man who had taken him and held him hostage.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy name is Ben,\u201d he answered, keeping it simple.<\/p>\n

His son mulled that over, rolling the name around on his tongue before releasing it.\u00a0 \u201cBen….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy…won\u2019t you…leave me alone?\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher\u2019s fingers gripped the arms of the chair.\u00a0 \u201cDo you want to be alone?\u201d<\/p>\n

A shiver ran through his son\u2019s emaciated body and Little Joe began to shake.\u00a0 His jaw grew tight and his nostrils flared as he fought back tears.\u00a0 Ben dug his fingers in deeper.\u00a0 He wanted nothing more than to run to him and to take the boy in his arms.\u00a0 But he wouldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

He couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Not yet.<\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s dark brows were knitted together.\u00a0 \u201cNo…\u201d he said at last.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019d be welcome to come live with me, when you\u2019re well,\u201d he said, deliberately keeping his tone light.\u00a0 \u201cUnless you\u2019d like to go home.\u201d<\/p>\n

A single tear fell.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d he sniffed softly.<\/p>\n

Ben hid his frown.\u00a0 \u201cCan\u2019t or won\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a mistake.\u00a0 His son curled into himself and leaned his head against the wall.\u00a0 Sobs wracked his broken body.\u00a0 Ben sat there a moment, at war with himself.\u00a0 When he could bear it no longer, he rose and went over to the cot and sat on the side of it.\u00a0 It was a risk, but one he had to take for both<\/em> their sanities.\u00a0 The rancher waited until a flick of Joseph\u2019s eyes told him he knew he was there.<\/p>\n

Ben shifted his hand so it made contact with the boy\u2019s leg.\u00a0 \u201cWould you like to tell me about it?\u201d<\/p>\n

The only answer was a shake of that curly head.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might help.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bright feverish eyes peered at him from over a bare shoulder.\u00a0 Joseph looked at him, but Ben could tell he didn\u2019t really see him.\u00a0 His son\u2019s eyes had been light-starved for so long, the doctor had told him it was unlikely the boy saw anything but vague, shadowy images.\u00a0 Recovery of his sight would take time as would his recuperation from everything else Wade Bosh had subjected him to.<\/p>\n

Joseph remained quiet for the longest time.\u00a0 Turning his face away once again, his son said the one thing he could not have come up with in his wildest dreams.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m…a…murderer.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAdam.\u00a0 Adam, can you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n

He grunted and shook the fingers off of his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cG\u2019way,\u201d he mumbled.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, I need you to wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t want to.\u00a0 He knew what would happen when he woke up.\u00a0 He\u2019d be in pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, come on.\u00a0 I need to get goin\u2019 and I need you to listen to me before I do.\u00a0 Come on, older brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brother.\u00a0 Hoss.\u00a0 Going somewhere.<\/p>\n

Snow.<\/p>\n

A lot of snow.<\/p>\n

Adam groaned and opened his eyes.\u00a0 He turned his head to find Hoss sitting on the edge of the bed he lay on.\u00a0 The room around him was unfamiliar \u2013 as was the Chinese girl who stood behind Hoss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are you going?\u201d the black-haired man asked as he raised himself up on one elbow, or tried to.\u00a0 \u201cHoss, you can\u2019t…go anywhere.\u00a0 It\u2019s snowing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI ain\u2019t got time to argue, Adam.\u00a0 I just gotta<\/em> go.\u00a0 But I gotta know first that you\u2019re gonna be all right.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have one stubborn brother, Mister Cartwright,\u201d a woman\u2019s voice remarked.\u00a0 \u201cI told him the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam turned his head to the right, an action that sent both it and his stomach whirling.\u00a0 Swallowing over the nausea, he asked, \u201cWho are you?\u201d<\/p>\n

A woman came forward to stand on the opposite side of the bed.\u00a0 She was fairly tall and slender, with deep brown hair and a trim waist that could have belonged to a girl twenty years younger.\u00a0 The look out of her eyes told him that contending with her would be an exercise in futility.<\/p>\n

As she reached out to place a hand on his forehead, she said, \u201cMy name is Rosey.\u00a0 Rosey O\u2019Rourke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRosey done helped Pa, Adam,\u201d Hoss chimed in.\u00a0 \u201cShe took him, Roy, and Jude to Sacramento.\u201d\u00a0 His brother paused.\u00a0 His voice lost most of its strength as he continued.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe was there with Wade Bosh.\u00a0 That mean feller got away and took Joe with him.\u00a0 Pa and Jude are followin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 The teen\u2019s fingers formed fists.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no tellin\u2019 what he\u2019s gonna do to Joe.\u00a0 I gotta go, Adam.\u00a0 I gotta find Little Joe!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told your brother all he\u2019s going to find out there right now is his death.\u00a0 The snow is a foot deep.\u00a0 By the look of the sky, it will begin to melt tomorrow.\u201d\u00a0 Rosey eyed Hoss. \u201cBest to wait \u2018til then.\u201d<\/p>\n

Middle brother\u2019s frown was earnest.\u00a0 It puckered his forehead and pulled his reddish brows down to shield his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cMiss Rosey, you don\u2019t understand.\u00a0 It don\u2019t matter about me.\u00a0 All that matters is Little Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow would you…find him, Hoss?\u201d Adam asked.\u00a0 \u201cDo you know where Pa went?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVallejo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam shifted in the bed.\u00a0 He nodded his thanks to Rosey as she helped him to sit up and propped a pillow between him and the headboard.\u00a0 His weakness had taken him by surprise.\u00a0 Since his stitches were mostly healed, he\u2019d been sure he could travel.\u00a0 Riding had been bad enough, but after the cat frightened their horses and they\u2019d been forced to walk, he \u2018d had to admit that Doctor Martin was right.\u00a0 It had<\/em> been too soon for him to leave the house.\u00a0 And yet \u2013 if he looked at it from the side of Providence \u2013 their ending up here, in the home of someone who had seen their Pa and knew about Joe, was an answer to prayer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWade Bosh means to take your little brother onto a ship and sail away,\u201d Rosey said quietly.\u00a0 \u201cGod willin\u2019 your Pa finds him before he does.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou see<\/em> why I gotta go, Adam?\u201d Hoss pleaded.\u00a0 \u201cPa and Joe need my help!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPa needs you to…be safe,\u201d he countered, sounding slightly winded.\u00a0 Adam scowled at the fact that his strength appeared to be waning.\u00a0 \u201cYou…dying in a bank of snow…isn\u2019t going to help Pa or<\/em> Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey smiled. \u201cI told him that too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss stared at him a moment and then shot out of his seat.\u00a0 \u201cIf somethin\u2019 happens to punkin and I ain\u2019t there, well….\u201d\u00a0 Those keen blue eyes pleaded with him.\u00a0 \u201cI just don\u2019t think I can live with myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Punkin<\/em>.\u00a0 Joe hated that.\u00a0 Their little brother was always telling them that he was a man.<\/p>\n

He wondered now if he would live to be one.<\/p>\n

The Chinese girl had remained quiet during their conversation.\u00a0 Adam watched as she walked over to his brother and touched his shoulder.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuilt has very quick ears,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The way Hoss looked at her, it was obvious they had spoken before.\u00a0 \u201cMing-hua, I know<\/em> what you think.\u00a0 Dang it, you told me enough times!\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam smiled.\u00a0 \u201cHave you been coaching my brother?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss actually blushed. \u201cAh, shucks, she just told me her story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMing-hua tell Mister Hoss her sisters in Sacramento are in great danger.\u00a0 She cannot do anything and so she has asked the Creator to do it for her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam eyed his brother.\u00a0 \u201cSounds like good advice \u2013 at least until the snow melts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teenager\u2019s head was down.\u00a0 He scuffed the floor with his boot.\u00a0 \u201cI keep hearin\u2019 Pa\u2019s voice in my ear, tellin\u2019 me the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI light a candle for your brother,\u201d Ming-hua said, holding out her hand.\u00a0 \u201cYou come and light one too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss\u2019 jaw was tight; his eyes misty.\u00a0 He balked for a moment and then took the girl\u2019s hand.\u00a0 As they walked away, Adam returned his attention to Rosey.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard you speaking earlier,\u201d he said.\u00a0 He had been going in and out of sleep and had overheard her talking with his brother.\u00a0 \u201cYou don\u2019t think Little Joe is alive, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n

The older woman hesitated.\u00a0 \u201cIf there is any way to save that boy, your father will find it.\u00a0 He\u2019s an amazing man.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the sound of what little he\u2019d heard, Rosey was pretty remarkable too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou should get some sleep,\u201d she said.\u00a0 \u201cYour father was very concerned about you.\u00a0 Let\u2019s not give him anything else to worry about, shall we?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam was going to argue with her, but his eyes were already closing.<\/p>\n

Outside, the snow continued to fall.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you mean, you killed four people?\u201d Ben blurted out.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t imagine where his son had gotten such a bizarre notion.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph, you haven\u2019t killed anyone!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The boy retreated into himself at the sound of his raised voice.\u00a0 He covered his head with his hands and whimpered, \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u00a0 Don\u2019t hit me…please….\u201d<\/p>\n

That had been stupid!\u00a0 Ben drew a breath, fighting a rising rage, and spoke again \u2013 quietly this time.\u00a0 \u201cNo, I\u2019m <\/em>sorry.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t mean to frighten you and I won\u2019t…hit you.\u00a0 Ever.\u00a0 Now, won\u2019t you tell me, please?\u201d<\/p>\n

His son\u2019s jaw tightened.\u00a0 Joseph shuddered again and then began to speak in a voice so low he had to strain to hear it even though he was sitting right next to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was…this man and woman.\u00a0 They ran a stable.\u00a0 I heard them talking to…pa…and…I….\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s jaw was tight.\u00a0 \u201cGo on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI made…a noise.\u00a0 He heard me.\u201d\u00a0 Joseph winced.\u00a0 He put a hand to his head.\u00a0 \u201cPa…Bosh…killed him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taking the risk, he gripped the boy\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cAnd how is that your fault?\u201d<\/p>\n

Without warning Joseph reared up in the bed.\u00a0 He spoke with manic energy.\u00a0 \u201cBecause I made a noise!. He told me not to make any noise or he\u2019d kill someone!\u00a0 He told me he…Bosh told me…that he killed that man and woman because of…me…and it was my<\/em> fault!\u00a0 Just like he killed…Billy and Mister Cunningham.\u00a0 That<\/em> was my fault too!\u201d\u00a0 As quickly as the outburst had begun, it ended.\u00a0 Spent, Joseph fell back to the bed and began to sob.<\/p>\n

Ben couldn\u2019t stand it a moment longer.\u00a0 Throwing caution to the wind, he reached out and drew his son into his arms.\u00a0 Joseph struggled against him weakly at first and then fell, exhausted, against his chest and continued to sob.<\/p>\n

His hand went to the boy\u2019s head and stroked those tangled curls.\u00a0 After a moment, when his son quieted,\u00a0 he said, his tone gentle, \u201cJoseph, your real father won\u2019t turn you away.\u00a0 He could never<\/em> turn you away.\u00a0 Even if you had<\/em> murdered four people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Little Joe burrowed his face into the folds of his shirt as if he sought to disappear.\u00a0 \u201cMy…fault,\u201d he sobbed.\u00a0 \u201cHe…won\u2019t want…me.\u00a0 No one will want me.\u201d\u00a0 He gulped in air.\u00a0 \u201cBosh wants me.\u00a0 He\u2019s my…pa.\u00a0 The only one I…can<\/em> have…\u201d<\/p>\n

Driven to action by his son\u2019s words, Ben gripped the sides of the boy\u2019s face and forced him to look up and meet his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph! That\u2019s simply not true!\u00a0 I\u2019m<\/em> your Pa, not that madman!\u201d Tears ran down his cheeks.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph,\u201d he began again, his voice cracking, \u201clook at me, son.\u00a0 Look.\u00a0 See<\/em> me!\u201d<\/p>\n

He feared the boy would break and run, or cower in the corner like an animal.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Joseph held deathly still.\u00a0 The only thing that moved were his eyes.\u00a0 He opened and closed them several times and then timidly, tentatively reached out and touched his face.<\/p>\n

His son\u2019s mouth opened but no sound came out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is it, Joseph?\u00a0 Try again.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tears that hung on Little Joe\u2019s thick black lashes spilled down his face.<\/p>\n

\u201c…Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the sweetest word he had ever heard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam sat on the edge of the bed watching Ming-hua as she cleared away the breakfast dishes.\u00a0 The new day had come and as Rosey predicted, the snow had stopped.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t melting yet, but if the rising sun was any indication the thaw would begin soon.\u00a0 By tomorrow they would be able to ride.\u00a0 He felt like a heel, but he was playing his weakness for everything he could get.\u00a0 It was the only way to get his brother to turn around and head back to the Ponderosa.\u00a0 They\u2019d been foolish trying to follow their father.\u00a0 Love of their missing brother had driven them to it.\u00a0 Logic dictated that it was all over by now \u2013 either Pa had found Joe and rescued him or their brother was gone.\u00a0 And if Little Joe was gone, Pa probably was too.\u00a0 They needed to get back to the ranch.\u00a0 Someone<\/em> had to run it.\u00a0 He knew his father would search the world over for Joe, but one day he would have to return.\u00a0 He was going to make certain that the empire they had built together would be waiting for him when he did.<\/p>\n

Whether Pa cared or not.<\/p>\n

\u201cMister Adam like some tea?\u201d a soft voice asked.<\/p>\n

Adam looked up to find Ming-hua watching him.\u00a0 \u201cThat would be lovely,\u201d he said with a smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou stay put.\u00a0 I bring it to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ming-hua was in on his plan too.\u00a0 She knew if Hoss saw him out of bed, he\u2019d make a beeline for the door and be halfway to Sacramento before they could yell \u2018stop!\u2019\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t blame him.\u00a0 It was what he wanted to do as well.\u00a0 Both of them felt a great responsibility for Joe.\u00a0 He was such a little squirt and seemed to find trouble quicker than Moody\u2019s goose.\u00a0 They\u2019d spent the last twelve years wiping his nose and other parts and hauling his bacon out of one mess after the other.\u00a0 But it was different for Hoss.\u00a0 Joe wasn\u2019t just the brother he sought to protect.\u00a0 Joe was his best friend.<\/p>\n

So the loss was twice as deep.<\/p>\n

The black-haired girl approached and held out the tea.\u00a0 As he took it, Adam indicated she should sit in the chair by the bed.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonored sir wishes Ming-hua\u2019s company?\u201d she asked, sounding slightly astounded.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d he said.\u00a0 After a sip Adam added, \u201cTell me more about yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

She blushed and looked at her hands.\u00a0 \u201cMister Adam is sweet.\u00a0 Ming-hua is not exciting.\u00a0 There is nothing more to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou said you had sisters.\u00a0 Are you close?\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl looked up.\u00a0 She nodded.\u00a0 \u201cThey are much missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey told him that the two young women \u2013 Biyu and Dandan \u2013 worked in a rather unsavory establishment in Sacramento.\u00a0 Ming-hua had worked there as well, though as of yet only in a servant\u2019s capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what Rosey said, your sisters helped in the search for my brother.\u00a0 I am sure Pa would help them leave Ah Kum\u2019s if they wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAh Kum would not let them go.\u00a0 Too many men come to pleasure palace just for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was a sadness in her eyes that was heartbreaking.\u00a0 \u201cWhat will you do then?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 \u201cGo back?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her small shoulders rose and fell in a shrug.\u00a0 \u201cI cannot go back, and yet I do not know how to go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

He indicated the older woman who was sitting by the fire, mending a blouse, with a nod.\u00a0 \u201cYou could stay here.\u00a0 I am sure Rosey would welcome you.\u00a0 She\u2019s told me as much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI like Miss Rosey too much to put her life in danger,\u201d the girl replied.\u00a0 \u201cLongwei will come for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He frowned.\u00a0 \u201cI thought my father paid for you.\u00a0 Er, I mean, paid to buy your freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl nodded.\u00a0 \u201cLongwei will not care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou could come with us to the Ponderosa.\u00a0 No one could hurt you there. We have over a thousand acres and dozens of men to guard it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ming-hua turned and looked out the window.\u00a0 After a moment she surprised him by saying, \u201cI would like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam was getting tired.\u00a0 He laid his head back against the pillows.\u00a0 \u201cAfter all you did for Joe, it\u2019s the least we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour father will find him and bring him back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl sounded so sure it startled him.\u00a0 He turned his head to look at her.\u00a0 \u201cHow do you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked the ancestors to make his luck as immense as the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

And that seemed to say it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you,\u201d Adam murmured, as sleep overtook him.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s…very…kind….\u201d<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t hear the girl rise, or feel her lips brush his forehead.<\/p>\n

But he did sleep a dreamless sleep.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright left his son sleeping in the captain\u2019s cabin.\u00a0 He opened the door and quickly stepped outside.\u00a0 Walking to the aft rail he gripped it so hard his knuckles went white.\u00a0 A rage deeper than any he had ever known filled him, threatening to consume his reason.\u00a0 His blood was up and it pounded through his veins, driving him toward violence.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what to do with it.\u00a0 The source of his revulsion was already dead.\u00a0 Wade Bosh\u2019s giant form lay at the bottom of the ocean, food for the various scavengers that would find it.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n

Not nearly<\/em> enough.<\/p>\n

There should have been something beyond death \u2013 some desecration.\u00a0 Bosh should have been scourged and keel-hauled, or better yet, drawn and quartered.\u00a0 He was glad the seaman was dead.\u00a0 Ecstatic, really.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d never been glad of a man\u2019s death before.<\/p>\n

Ben drew in a sharp breath.\u00a0 Just what did it say about him that he was now?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cBenjamin?\u00a0 Are you all right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude.\u00a0 He had forgotten about Jude.<\/p>\n

Turning slightly, he addressed the other man.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d he replied tight-lipped.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd how is Joseph?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer should have given him pleasure, but it didn\u2019t.\u00a0 \u201cBetter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude walked to his side.\u00a0 Turning, he leaned his back against the railing.\u00a0 \u201cYou know, Benjamin, hate cages all the good things about you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t buying it.\u00a0 \u201cWade Bosh deserves<\/em> to be hated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBosh is dead.\u00a0 He cared little for your hatred in life and cares even less about it in death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you suggesting \u2013 that I forgive him? \u201c\u00a0 Ben\u2019s hand shot out, pointing to the cabin in which his son lay.\u00a0 \u201cThat madman did everything he could to destroy <\/em>my son.\u00a0 He beat and abused him.\u00a0 He controlled Joseph by fear.\u00a0 He made him think….\u201d\u00a0 He drew another breath and breathed it out through his nose.\u00a0 \u201cThat animal told my boy that he was a murderer.\u00a0 Joseph believes him.\u00a0 He believes that, because he asked for help, he is responsible for the death of four people.\u00a0 That is something I cannot <\/em>forgive.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude held his gaze.<\/p>\n

Ben faltered.\u00a0 Of course, he understood.<\/p>\n

He was the only one who could.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d he mumbled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do understand, Benjamin.\u00a0 At first I hated Bosh as well \u2013 more than I have ever hated anything.\u00a0 In time I found out that the price of hatred is loving one\u2019s self less.\u201d\u00a0 The Englishman paused.\u00a0 \u201cI decided in the end to stay with love.\u00a0 Hate is far too great a burden to bear.\u201d<\/p>\n

He knew Jude was right.\u00a0 His hatred would have no effect on Wade Bosh, but it would have an immense effect on him and his sons.\u00a0 He had seen men consumed by hate; watched them drive their families away and grow old before their time, shriveled up with bitterness.<\/p>\n

Jude\u2019s hand touched his sleeve.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph needs you to focus on him.\u00a0 He needs your love, old friend.\u00a0 Bosh has no need of your hate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher was shamed.\u00a0 He thought a moment and then a slight smile curled his lips.\u00a0 \u201cThank you, my friend. Thank you for showing me the path.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cYou knew it all along.\u00a0 You just got lost in the darkness for a moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Jude moved on, leaving him alone, Ben turned to face the water.\u00a0 For a moment he watched the tall ships sail out, thanking God that his young son was not on one of them.\u00a0 Then he returned to the captain\u2019s cabin.\u00a0 Joseph was asleep, though the boy tossed and turned as if in the throes of a nightmare.\u00a0 Crossing to the cot, the rancher sat on its side and reached out and stroked his son\u2019s hair and began to tell him of the life that awaited him \u2013 of the life he had known.\u00a0 He continued talking until he was hoarse and the boy was still.<\/p>\n

And then, finally, Ben gave in as well and slept the sleep of the dead.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

SEVENTEEN<\/p>\n

Adam Cartwright opened the door and stepped into the foyer of the Ponderosa ranch house.\u00a0 He brushed the light coating of snow off of his black hat and tan coat and then hung them on the peg before removing and placing his gun belt on the credenza.\u00a0 Once he\u2019d done so, he stared at the firearm.\u00a0 It was funny. With Pa away there was no reason not<\/em> to wear his weapon in the house, but old habits died hard.<\/p>\n

It had been three weeks.<\/p>\n

October was gone and they were well into November.\u00a0 He and Hoss had waited every one of those twenty-one days for the front door to open and their father and brother to appear.\u00a0 Expectations had run high the first week, been lowered a bit for the second, and very slowly abandoned during the third.\u00a0 There had been no word.\u00a0 No messenger had arrived.\u00a0 No letter come.<\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n

Slowly, in spite of everything, life at the ranch had found a new \u2018normal\u2019.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been out today checking the winter pastures.\u00a0 The snow was light so far, which was surprising after that first unseasonably early and hard fall.\u00a0 The trails were passable for the most part and that had allowed Roy Coffee to come out earlier in the day.\u00a0 Deputy Roy and the sheriff were as anxious as they were about their pa and Joe.\u00a0 They\u2019d sent letters to every lawman in every town from Placerville to San Francisco, but had received no replies.\u00a0 It was like their father and their missing brother had dropped off the face of the earth.\u00a0 And maybe they had.\u00a0 If Joe had been taken aboard a ship….<\/p>\n

As Pa liked to say, \u2018Here there be dragons\u2019.<\/p>\n

Adam sighed as he turned back to look into the great room.\u00a0 The black and yellow checkerboard was on the table.\u00a0 Everything was in place and ready to go.\u00a0 Hoss had set it up the first night they arrived home.\u00a0 In a way it had become a symbol of the hope they were slowly losing.\u00a0 Both of them felt \u2013 irrationally \u2013 that if they moved it they would be admitting defeat.\u00a0 Admitting that they might never see there father or little brother again.<\/p>\n

A movement near the hall that led to the kitchen attracted his attention and he realized it was Ming-hua.\u00a0 The girl from China was heading for the table.\u00a0 Hop Sing had been, well, startled to say the least when they\u2019d returned home bringing two women with them.\u00a0 He\u2019d quickly taken to the lovely and humble dark-haired girl.\u00a0 He treated her more like a daughter than a guest and had given her free reign of the kitchen. And while the man from China wouldn\u2019t let Rosey O\u2019Rourke cook, he had<\/em> allowed her to take over the upkeep of the house.\u00a0 Adam smiled.\u00a0 He admired Rosey even more now.\u00a0 She\u2019d changed nothing \u2013 there were no lace curtains on the windows or antimacassars on the chairs, though there were<\/em> a few more vases with fresh greens and sometimes wintry blooms from outside.\u00a0 Rosey had decided to come with them and remain at the Ponderosa for the winter.\u00a0 She said she had to know the end of the story.<\/p>\n

He only hoped it didn\u2019t turn out to be a tragedy.<\/p>\n

A noise drew his attention and Adam looked toward the stair.\u00a0 Hoss was coming down.\u00a0 His brother had been working in the stable and had come in before him.\u00a0 It looked like he\u2019d changed for dinner \u2013 another habit.\u00a0 Adam scowled a bit as he watched him.\u00a0 The newly turned nineteen-year-old had lost weight and there were perpetual circles under his eyes.\u00a0 Neither of them slept well, of course.\u00a0 It was hard to walk past those empty bedrooms.\u00a0 In fact, as of late, Hoss had taken up Joe\u2019s mantle and been plagued by a series of nightmares.\u00a0 He wouldn\u2019t talk about what happened in them.<\/p>\n

Then again, he didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

\u201cSupper served in half-hour, Mister Adam,\u201d Ming-hua said and then offered a little bow.\u00a0 He had tried to get her to stop doing that \u2013 calling him \u2018mister\u2019 and bowing \u2013 but Hop Sing told him to let it go.\u00a0 It was a mark of respect and honor, and was a way for the girl to repay them for their family\u2019s kindness.<\/p>\n

Hoss had gone into the great room and was staring at the checkerboard.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you, Ming-hua.\u00a0 I\u2019ll get changed and be ready in time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl nodded, bowed again, and returned to the kitchen.<\/p>\n

Adam turned toward his brother.\u00a0 The teenager\u2019s grief was palpable.<\/p>\n

As he moved toward him Hoss let out a long, heartfelt sigh.\u00a0 When he looked up, the light struck the unspent tears in his eyes.<\/p>\n

The black-haired man plastered a smile on his face.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s about time you showed up for a meal, brother. You\u2019re going to be thin as….\u201d The hesitation was minor, but his brother caught it.\u00a0 He\u2019d almost said \u2018thin as Joe\u2019.\u00a0 \u201c…thin as a rail soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss sat down in the chair by the board and stared at the place on the table Joe usually occupied.\u00a0 \u201cI just ain\u2019t got no appetite, Adam.\u00a0 You know how good Hop Sing\u2019s grub is.\u00a0 It just seems…wrong somehow to be enjoyin\u2019 somethin\u2019 that much when….\u201d<\/p>\n

When we don\u2019t know if our father and brother are alive or dead.<\/p>\n

Adam sank onto the settee.\u00a0 It still seemed impossible somehow, Joe being gone.\u00a0 It seemed like yesterday that he\u2019d stormed out to the barn to rake his little brother over the coals for being late, only to discover him dangling, unconscious, from his kidnapper\u2019s arm.<\/p>\n

In reality, it had been nearly two months.<\/p>\n

He would never, in his wildest dreams, have thought it would come to this.\u00a0 Like his Pa and brother, he believed they would find the man after a day or two, and certainly within a week.\u00a0 At first they had expected a ransom note, but once Jude arrived it had become all too clear that this was not about money.\u00a0 It was a personal vendetta against First Mate Benjamin Cartwright.<\/p>\n

Adam opened his mouth to reply to his brother but was silenced by the sound of hooves striking the frozen and packed earth of the yard.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost likely it\u2019s Roy,\u201d Adam said as he rose to his feet.\u00a0 The lawmen had probably forgotten to tell them something, or maybe ask <\/em>them something.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was halfway to the door when it opened and a cloaked man blew in with the wind.\u00a0 The stranger was of moderate height and slender, but that was about all he could tell \u2013 everything else was masked by his hat, thick woolen scarf, gloves, and long coat.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s hand slipped toward his\u00a0 pistol where it lay on the credenza, hoping he would have no need for it.\u00a0 Behind him Hoss was climbing to his feet and Rosey, who had begun to descend the stairs, lingered on the landing, watching.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d Adam demanded.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man held up a hand.\u00a0 He waited a moment and then began to peel away the layers.\u00a0 What was revealed was a jaw-dropper.<\/p>\n

It was Jude Randolph.<\/p>\n

Jude cast a look over his shoulder and then stepped into the room.\u00a0 He looked around for a moment, taking note of the fire blazing in the hearth and several oil lamps burning on the tables.\u00a0 \u201cPut the lamps out,\u201d he ordered and then swung back and disappeared out the door.<\/p>\n

Adam remained where he was, stunned.\u00a0 Hoss was at his side.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do you suppose is happenin\u2019, Adam?\u00a0 If Jude\u2019s here, where\u2019s Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n

A thought had formed in his mind \u2013 one past hoping for.\u00a0 \u201cPut that lamp out, Hoss,\u201d he ordered as he walked to the one closer to the door and did the same thing.<\/p>\n

Hoss obeyed, but asked, \u201cWhat\u2019s this all about?\u201d<\/p>\n

His thoughts were too painful to give words \u2013 too filled with hope and the despair of that hope dying.<\/p>\n

Rosey had descended, she looked at him.\u00a0 \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head.<\/p>\n

A moment later they all had their answers as their father stepped through the door.\u00a0 In Pa\u2019s arms was a form, swaddled in blankets, with just the barest hint of chestnut curls peeking out at the top.<\/p>\n

There was an audible gasp from Hoss, and then a name spoken in astonishment.\u00a0 \u201cJoe!\u201d<\/p>\n

Pa was on the move, headed for the stair.\u00a0 As he passed him, Adam looked into his father\u2019s face.\u00a0 He had never seen the older man look so exhausted.\u00a0 There was something in his stare.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t put a word to it.\u00a0 The only thought that came to mind was that the gray-haired man had been to Hell and hadn\u2019t quite made it back.\u00a0 His father nodded briefly and then continued on, picking up Rosey along the way and disappearing around the wall at the top of the stair, headed \u2013 no doubt \u2013 for Joe\u2019s room.<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s room.<\/p>\n

Joe was alive.<\/p>\n

Joe was home.<\/em><\/p>\n

Light-headed, Adam staggered back and fell onto the settee and put his head down.\u00a0 A moment later he felt a large hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 Looking up he met his brother\u2019s questioning gaze.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ain\u2019t over, Adam?\u00a0 Is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

He glanced at the stairs.\u00a0 \u201cProbably not.\u00a0 But…at least Joe\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHard to believe, ain\u2019t it?\u201d the big teenager said.\u00a0 \u201cYou s\u2019pose we should go up?\u201d<\/p>\n

A new voice intruded.\u00a0 \u201cI wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

They both turned to find Jude Randolph had reentered the house.\u00a0 Adam rose, but Jude waved him back to his seat and crossed over himself to drop onto the hearthstones.\u00a0 He was still wearing his heavy coat, but had left his hat and scarf by the door.\u00a0 The Englishman looked just about as weary as their pa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy cain\u2019t we go see Little Joe?\u201d Hoss asked.\u00a0 It was a plea straight from the heart.<\/p>\n

Jude opened his mouth to reply, but before he could the voice the very walls and rafters of the house had longer for spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour brother is not…himself,\u201d their father said as he came down the stairs.\u00a0 He paused at the bottom to look around the room and then those dark much-beloved eyes fastened on them.\u00a0 Pa opened his arms wide and like two little kids they ran into them.\u00a0 As he embraced them both, he said, \u201cI have missed you so <\/em>much, sons.\u00a0 Thank the Lord you are both whole and well!\u201d\u00a0 He held them tightly for a moment and then backed them off.\u00a0 As he gave them a second look, the older man\u2019s eyes narrowed with worry.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re both thinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss snorted.\u00a0 \u201cAdam won\u2019t admit it, but he ain\u2019t quite all the way up to snuff yet.\u00a0 He had kind of\u00a0 hard trip back here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The black-haired man was scowling.\u00a0 \u201cMiddle brother here hasn\u2019t been eating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their father\u2019s dark brows shot up. \u201cHoss?\u00a0 Are you ill?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly with worry, Pa,\u201d Adam answered for him as his eyes walked the stairs.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with Little Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

It was an assumption, but one he knew was right.<\/p>\n

Their father drew in a deep breath.\u00a0 He let it out in a puff of air.\u00a0 \u201cHoss why don\u2019t you go get Hop Sing.\u00a0 I might as well fill in everyone at once.\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother remained still a moment, drinking in the sight of their father, and then did as he was told.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you want me to get Rosey?\u201d Adam asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, son.\u00a0 She\u2019s sitting with your brother.\u00a0 I…don\u2019t want to leave Joseph alone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hop Sing came in with Ming-hua trailing in his wake.\u00a0 He noted his father\u2019s expression.\u00a0 The older man\u2019s seemingly perpetual frown was replaced with a genuine smile.<\/p>\n

\u201cRosey told me you were here.\u00a0 How are you, young lady?\u201d<\/p>\n

The girl bowed.\u00a0 \u201cMuch pleased to see honorable Mister Cartwright.\u00a0 You bring Little Joe home?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, Joe is home, but it\u2019s going to be some time before he is…himself again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anger crackled in Hoss\u2019 tone. \u201cWhat\u2019d that bad man do to him, Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss probably missed it, but he<\/em> could see the depth of pain in their father\u2019s near-black eyes.<\/p>\n

It was Jude who answered.\u00a0 \u201cYour brother has been taught that nowhere and no one is safe.\u00a0 That he will be punished \u2013harshly, physically \u2013 if he does not obey, and that there is no obedience that is right or quick enough.\u00a0 He fears that his actions \u2013 even his words \u2013 may cause harm to those he loves, and that those he loves have turned their backs on him.\u201d\u00a0 The former cabin boy drew a breath and then continued.\u00a0 \u201cIn short, Joseph believes that he is worthless and unworthy of love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam exchanged a look with his brother.\u00a0 He saw his own horror and disbelief reflected in the teenager\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n

Their father spoke next.\u00a0 \u201cYour brother\u2019s mind is one thing.\u00a0 Physically, he has been broken as well.\u00a0 Joseph was beaten \u2013 savagely at times.\u00a0 He was kept as a prisoner in the dark for several days, left alone with no light or sound or touch, and only\u00a0 the pittance of food and water Wade Bosh deemed to give him.\u201d\u00a0 The older man visibly shuddered.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph was barely alive when we found him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long ago was that?\u201d Adam asked.<\/p>\n

His father turned to Jude who replied, \u201cTwo and a half, perhaps three weeks ago.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe stayed in Vallejo for several days.\u00a0 At the end of it Joseph had recovered enough physically to be moved.\u00a0 I had to make a choice \u2013 take him to a hospital in San Francisco or come home.\u201d\u00a0 Pa looked toward the stair.\u00a0 \u201cI regret now that it may have been the wrong one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy is that, Pa?\u201d Hoss asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to get your brother home, to his own room \u2013 to the life he had known.\u00a0 I had hoped….\u201d\u00a0 He paused.\u00a0 \u201cNo matter what I hoped, in the end the journey may have been too much for him.\u00a0 As we passed through the Sierras the weather took a turn for the worst and so did your brother.\u00a0 He developed pneumonia.\u00a0 The worst is over now, but he is still a sick boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShould one of us go for the doctor?\u201d the black-haired man asked.<\/p>\n

His father shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cWe ran into Roy on the road.\u00a0 He\u2019ll be sending Paul.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill boy eat?\u201d Hop Sing asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to,\u201d Pa answered.\u00a0 \u201cHe\u2019s skin and bones.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chinese man\u2019s eyes were moist.\u00a0 \u201cMing-hua come with me.\u00a0 Make good soup with stock for boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be wonderful, Hop Sing.\u00a0 Let m know when it\u2019s ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam felt guilty, but he was like a young horse champing at the bit.\u00a0\u00a0 He knew his father was exhausted from travel and worry, but he couldn\u2019t help but ask, \u201cPa, what happened?\u00a0 Where did you find Little Joe?\u00a0 How did you get him away?\u00a0 What happened to Bosh?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen can we see Joe?\u201d Hoss chimed in.<\/p>\n

Their father held his hand up, calling for silence.\u00a0 He glanced at Jude and then very slowly and deliberately began to tell the tale of their brother\u2019s kidnapping and his rescue from the pit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rosey O\u2019Rourke sat at the bedside of Ben Cartwright\u2019s youngest son, keeping watch. \u00a0She\u2019d agreed to do so in order that Ben could go and talk to the child\u2019s brothers.<\/p>\n

The handsome rancher had no idea what he asked.<\/p>\n

Reaching out, the older woman brushed the sweat-soaked curls off the boy\u2019s forehead.\u00a0 He was feverish and in a deep sleep that she was not entirely sure was natural.\u00a0 Ben told her before he left that their family doctor was on the way.\u00a0 He could come none to soon.\u00a0 The rancher had given her the barest sketch of what had happened, but she knew the boy\u2019s reserves were almost depleted.\u00a0 The body could only take so many shocks and it seemed Joseph Francis Cartwright had had just about as many as he could take.<\/p>\n

He reminded her so of the boy she had lost.\u00a0 Somehow, she\u2019d known he would from the moment Ben Cartwright arrived at her house and told her of his son\u2019s kidnapping.\u00a0 It had all come so close<\/em> \u2013 that was why she\u2019d been unable to stay safe and removed in her mountain retreat.\u00a0 Rory had been the same age, twelve, and had the same slender, fragile-looking build even\u00a0 though he\u2019d been tough as nails as she suspected this boy was.<\/p>\n

He had<\/em> been.<\/p>\n

The loss had come out of the blue.\u00a0 She and Patrick had married and moved to a small town in northern California, leaving behind his lucrative practice in San Francisco and the life she\u2019d lived there as well.\u00a0 Once they were established, he began to care for the people of the area, riding as far as a hundred miles at a time.\u00a0 Pat always came home with chickens, eggs, milk, and the occasional squirrel in payment.\u00a0 They weren\u2019t rich, but they were happy, and that happiness was multiplied when she found out she was with child.\u00a0 Nine months later Rory Patrick O\u2019Rourke was born.\u00a0 Rosey\u2019s eyes flicked to the boy in her charge.\u00a0 Her son had had that same thick head of hair, only it had been auburn \u2013 a rich burnished red the color of a sorrel horse.\u00a0 He was a blithe child with a winning smile and a determined streak.\u00a0 As Rory grew, that fortitude served him well for he was a small, slight boy and the world of men did not look kindly upon that.<\/p>\n

In time Rory took to making the rounds with his father.\u00a0 Patrick\u2019s patients looked forward to seeing him and often plied the boy with sweets and other small tokens of affection.\u00a0 Rosey turned in her chair and looked at the window.\u00a0 Rising, she crossed to it and gazed out on the falling snow.\u00a0 It had happened in November, when there had been a dusting of snow on the ground.\u00a0 There\u2019d been a knock at the door.\u00a0 One of Pat\u2019s patients, a woman who lived about ten miles away, had gone into labor early.\u00a0 She had several small children and a recently deceased husband, and so Rory had gone with his father to mind the little ones while Pat did his work.\u00a0 She would have gone too, but she was with child again and was no longer young, and Patrick had put his foot down and said \u2018no\u2019.\u00a0 She stood in the door watching the sleigh fly across the snow carrying its precious cargo, worried about the weather.\u00a0 She needn\u2019t have been.<\/p>\n

The weather had nothing to do with the fact that she never saw either of them alive again.<\/p>\n

The next day the local sheriff showed up at her door with his hat in his hand, his fingers ringing round and round the rim of it.\u00a0 She knew instantly it was bad news.\u00a0 Someone had gone out to the Henderson\u2019s place and found the woman\u2019s children in the house alone.\u00a0 A quick search of the surrounding land turned up Mrs. Henderson, who had lost the child and clung to life by a thread.<\/p>\n

A wider search turned up Patrick\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

Rory was nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n

Several days passed as Mrs. Henderson struggled for life.\u00a0 Rosey took her children in and the poor distressed things helped to keep her mind from her own woes.\u00a0 She buried her Patrick on the day the young ones went home.\u00a0 There was still no word of Rory.<\/p>\n

And then the note came.\u00a0 Not a ransom note, but a letter of intent.<\/p>\n

Intent to harm her and make her life a misery.<\/p>\n

She\u2019d fainted when she read it.\u00a0 The fall was hard and she lost the unborn babe the next day.<\/p>\n

A man from her past \u2013 from the days when she had sold herself \u2013 had come to exact revenge on her for a supposed wrong.\u00a0 He\u2019d watched as her husband and son pulled away and followed them.\u00a0 Her husband was dead.\u00a0 Her unborn child, lost.<\/p>\n

Rory, the note said, had died trying to escape and been buried in an unmarked grave.<\/p>\n

In a second, everything she had was gone.<\/p>\n

Rosey shuddered with the memory.\u00a0 With her hand anchored on the curtain, she turned to look at Ben Cartwright\u2019s son.\u00a0 She had had a hand in this, bringing this<\/em> boy back to the ones who loved him.<\/p>\n

There was some comfort in that.<\/p>\n

The sound of the door creaking open made her turn to look.\u00a0 It was Joe\u2019s father.\u00a0 Ben indicated with a gesture that he wanted her to step into the corridor.\u00a0 With one last glance at the miracle in the bed, she did so.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas he wakened?\u201d Ben asked.<\/p>\n

She shook her head.\u00a0 \u201cNo, but he has quieted.\u00a0 He\u2019s sleeping very deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those near-black eyes held her gaze.\u00a0 \u201cToo<\/em> deeply?\u201d<\/p>\n

Moving to his side, she placed a hand on the rancher\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve done everything you can for the boy, Ben.\u00a0 You\u2019ve brought him home.\u00a0 If…if the worst should happen, he\u2019s here with you, with his brothers.\u00a0 That is a gift in itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

The handsome man covered her hand with his own.\u00a0 \u201cYou<\/em> are a gift, Rosey.\u00a0 You have blessed this family.\u201d<\/p>\n

She blushed and looked down.\u00a0 \u201cI did it for selfish reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

He touched her cheek then.\u00a0 \u201cPerhaps, one day, you will know me well enough to share your story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you, Ben Cartwright,\u201d she said. \u201cYou are a man of deep feeling.\u00a0 A courageous man who fears nothing.\u00a0 A humble man who is kind to all.\u00a0 And more than anything, a father.\u00a0 Your sons are blessed as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey felt it then.\u00a0 A spark.\u00a0 It ignited something long lost within her and set her heart to beating wildly, bringing her joy and absolute, stark terror.<\/p>\n

Tearing herself away from that gaze and his touch, she said, \u201cI mustn\u2019t leave Joe alone for long.\u201d<\/p>\n

He held her fast.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what I came to tell you.\u00a0 Paul Martin has arrived.\u00a0 Hop Sing is getting him some coffee so he can warm up, and then he\u2019ll be up to see Joseph.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe doctor?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded.\u00a0 Then he smiled.\u00a0 \u201cPaul is deeply invested in Joseph.\u00a0 He brought him into the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so, they came full circle.<\/p>\n

Rosey swallowed.\u00a0 \u201cCoffee sounds good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben nodded. \u201cHop Sing made a pot.\u00a0 You go down.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to wait on Paul.\u00a0 If you see him, tell him I\u2019m with Joseph.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey watched the man enter the room.\u00a0 Somehow, she doubted she needed to tell Paul where he was.<\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright could be nowhere else.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam glanced at his middle brother where he stood outside the door to their little brother\u2019s bedroom.\u00a0 Hoss looked as green as he felt.<\/p>\n

It had been nearly four hours since their father had come through the door carrying Little Joe, and they\u2019d only now been given permission to go in and see him.\u00a0 Paul Martin\u2019s examination had taken nearly two of those hours.\u00a0 His conclusion was that their brother was not over the pneumonia and, in his weakened condition, they were going to have a major fight on their hands.\u00a0 Pa told them what the physician on the Bloodhound <\/em>had said \u2013 that Joe hadn\u2019t made his mind up whether or not he wanted to live yet \u2013 was true.\u00a0 Apparently, on the long journey back to the Ponderosa, their brother had slipped farther and farther away, speaking only to answer questions and preferring to say nothing.\u00a0 None of them knew exactly what Wade Bosh had done to Joe.\u00a0 Doctor Martin had assured them there were no signs of any carnal abuse.\u00a0 There were, however, earmarks of extensive physical abuse.\u00a0\u00a0 All of this troubled their family physician, but what concerned him the most was Joe\u2019s mental state.<\/p>\n

If their brother was to survive, he was going to have to fight to do so.<\/p>\n

Pa\u2019d finally come down to tell them they could go up and sit with Joe.\u00a0 He\u2019d cautioned them not to question or tease.\u00a0 Their brother\u2019s mind was delicate, he\u2019d said.\u00a0 Adam closed his eyes as he reached for the latch.\u00a0 Behind his lids flashed the image of his youngest brother going toe to toe with him, his chin jutted out, those green eyes narrowed and his nostrils flaring with barely controlled rage.<\/p>\n

Delicate?<\/p>\n

That was a word he would never have applied to Joe.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n

He opened his eyes and looked at Hoss.\u00a0 His giant of a brother was clearly frightened.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat if….\u00a0 What if Joe ain\u2019t…Joe<\/em> anymore?\u201d<\/p>\n

The black-haired man reached out and caught his brother\u2019s arm in his fingers. \u201cHe\u2019s Joe, Hoss.\u00a0 No matter what.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a \u2018new\u2019 Joe, then we\u2019ll love him just the same as the old one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss sniffed and nodded. \u201cYou\u2019re right, Adam.\u00a0 Sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam squeezed the teen\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cNo need.\u00a0 This is new to both of us.\u201d\u00a0 Turning back, he lifted the latch and the two of them stepped inside.<\/p>\n

The room was steamy and smelled of pine.\u00a0 Both meant to help their brother breathe.\u00a0 Beside the bed was a tray with a clay pot and tea cup.\u00a0 Hop Sing had made Joe some Fenugreek tea, which he insisted would help clear the infection from his lungs.\u00a0 They could hear their brother\u2019s heavy breathing but as of yet, couldn\u2019t see him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s really here, Adam,\u201d Hoss said, his voice soft with wonder.\u00a0 \u201cLittle Joe\u2019s really <\/em>here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t one to show emotion, but he showed it now.\u00a0 Tears streamed down Adam\u2019s cheeks as he walked to the bedside and looked down.\u00a0 It was Joe, but it wasn\u2019t.\u00a0 The mass of brown curls was there and that familiar pert nose, but there was little else he recognized.\u00a0 Little Joe\u2019s face was gaunt; his thin frame almost skeletal.\u00a0 There was something otherworldly about him \u2013 as if he had only had one foot in this<\/em> one.\u00a0 Hoss\u2019 shock was audible.\u00a0 He drew in a gasp of air and then choked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam, he \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam shook his head.<\/p>\n

Little Joe\u2019s eyes were opening.<\/p>\n

Hoss went to the side of the bed nearest the window and sat down carefully on its edge.\u00a0 He reached out and took Joe\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, punkin, how you doin\u2019?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Languidly, their brother\u2019s eyelids closed and then opened again.\u00a0 As he looked at Hoss and then at him, a puzzled expression appeared.<\/p>\n

\u201c…dreaming?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cShucks, no, punkin.\u00a0 We\u2019re real,\u201d Hoss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re home, little buddy,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Joe licked his lips.\u00a0 His eyes closed again and then opened \u2013 seemingly a little brighter this time.\u00a0 \u201cHome?\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam sat on the side of the bed opposite Hoss.\u00a0 He stroked Joe\u2019s tangled curls.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re on the Ponderosa, Joe, in the ranch house.\u00a0 You\u2019re in your room.\u00a0 You\u2019re home and you\u2019re safe.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s green eyes were wandering, pausing here and there on familiar objects.\u00a0 They seemed to linger on the silver frame beside the bed \u2013 the one with the photo of his mother \u2013 and then moved on to something only he could see.\u00a0 Adam felt his brother tense.<\/p>\n

\u201cBosh,\u201d he said and began to grow agitated.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s dead, Little Joe.\u00a0 Wade Bosh is dead,\u201d Hoss said firmly.\u00a0 \u201cThat bad man cain\u2019t hurt you no more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe was shaking his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 Not dead.\u00a0 He\u2019s coming after me!\u00a0 He \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam caught Joe by both arms.\u00a0 Hoss\u2019 tone had been gentle.\u00a0 His was not.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe!\u00a0 Look at me!\u00a0 Now!\u00a0 Do it, Joe!\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother froze at his tone.\u00a0 The eyes that fastened on him were terrified.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t hurt me,\u201d Joe whimpered as he struggled to pull away, to curl into a ball \u2013 to disappear.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t…hit me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam melted.\u00a0 He\u2019d always used that tone to get his little brother\u2019s attention.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t thought what it would do to him now.\u00a0\u00a0 With a glance at Hoss, he pulled Joe into a tight embrace and refused to let go no matter how the boy fought him.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s struggles were pitifully weak.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoe,\u201d he said, holding him close, \u201clisten to me.\u00a0 Do you remember the night that madman took you?\u00a0 I came out to the stable to find you and Wade Bosh had you in his arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hoss\u2019 look asked, \u2018Adam, what do you think you\u2019re doing?<\/em>\u2019\u00a0 He shook his head.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you, Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, you do, Joe,\u201d he insisted, his voice barely more than a whisper.\u00a0 \u201cConcentrate.\u201d<\/p>\n

His brother\u2019s head was against him.\u00a0 It shook as did his whole body.\u00a0 \u201c…yes….\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was taking you away, Joe, but you<\/em> wanted to help me.\u00a0 I was on the floor, remember?\u00a0 Bosh shot me.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t give one thought to what was happening to you, you were worried about me!\u00a0 I saw you reaching out \u2013 trying to reach me!\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 He took his brother\u2019s shoulders in his hands and pulled him back gently so he could look into his eyes.\u00a0 His own were filled with uncharacteristic tears that spilled over and ran down his cheeks in a flood.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what we are<\/em>, Joe.\u00a0 We\u2019re always there for one another.\u00a0 Hoss and I are here for you now.\u00a0 No matter what it takes.\u00a0 No matter how<\/em> long.\u00a0 We are here for you.\u201d\u00a0 Adam drew a breath.\u00a0 He held his brother\u2019s uncertain gaze. \u201cDo you know what that means?\u201d<\/p>\n

That gaunt face.\u00a0 Those haunted green eyes.\u00a0 They stared back at him as his brother\u2019s head moved almost imperceptibly from side to side.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means we will not<\/em> let you give up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He felt Hoss\u2019 hands on top of his.\u00a0 \u201cWe love you, Little Joe,\u201d the big teen said softly, crying as well.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you ever <\/em>go leavin\u2019 us again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adam wasn\u2019t sure what to expect.\u00a0 He hoped he hadn\u2019t said too much and frightened the already terrified boy even more.\u00a0 Joe looked at him and then at their brother.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam?\u201d he said, his voice no more than the touch of a leaf on stone. \u201cHoss…?\u201d<\/p>\n

What followed was the bear hug to end all <\/em>bear hugs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Outside the door to his youngest son\u2019s room, Ben Cartwright rested his head on the wall.\u00a0 His lips moved quickly in thanks, and then he left the three brothers alone to heal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

EPILOGUE<\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright stepped out of the ranch house and looked to the left and right.\u00a0 It was a cold crisp night and there was a thin coating of snow on the ground.\u00a0 It was Christmas Day and there had never been a better time or more reason to celebrate.\u00a0 Paul Martin had finally given Joseph a clean bill of health where the pneumonia and his other physical injuries were concerned, and his youngest was going to come down to the great room for the first time since he had returned home.\u00a0 Ming-hua was busy setting the table.\u00a0 Hop Sing was cooking away merrily all the while singing snatches of Christmas carols in Cantonese.\u00a0 Joseph was sleeping and his brothers were nearby upstairs, getting ready and keeping a close watch.\u00a0 Their younger brother was still fragile.\u00a0 He tired easily and was often introspective.\u00a0 Loud noises \u2013 raised voices especially \u2013 made him wince.\u00a0 Little Joe had always feared the dark.\u00a0 He had come now to loathe it, so much so that most nights the house was roused with the boy\u2019s nightmares.<\/p>\n

Ben reached up to rub his neck.\u00a0 Last night had been one of those nights.\u00a0 The boy\u2019s screams had cut through the silence bringing them all to their feet.\u00a0 He\u2019d sent everyone else off to bed and sat at Joseph\u2019s side until the sobbing subsided, and then crept out leaving a light burning in his room and in the hall beyond.<\/p>\n

Lifting his arms over his head, the rancher stretched and then looked around.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken a moment after checking on the boys to change his own clothes, putting on his finest silver vest and blue coat for their company and Christmas dinner.\u00a0 When he returned to the great room, he found both Rosey and Jude missing.\u00a0 Not that it was surprising that the Englishman was nowhere to be found.\u00a0 Since their return over a month before, he had grown introspective.\u00a0 Jude would often vanish without a word for hours at a time.\u00a0 Ben left him alone, knowing the former cabin boy had his own demons to deal with where Wade Bosh was concerned.<\/p>\n

Rosey was another matter.<\/p>\n

He found he didn\u2019t want to leave her<\/em> alone.<\/p>\n

In some ways Rosey was a mix of his former wives \u2013 dark like Elizabeth, strong and gentle as Inger, and with a past like Marie.\u00a0 He grinned.\u00a0 She had a bit of Marie\u2019s fire too.\u00a0 He\u2019d felt it each time he\u2019d tried to probe into that past.\u00a0 Something had wounded her so deeply she couldn\u2019t speak of it. He knew it had to do with a child she had lost.<\/p>\n

He just hoped that one day she would trust him enough to unburden herself.<\/p>\n

Stepping off the porch, Ben looked around.\u00a0 It took a moment but he spotted her, wrapped in her winter cloak and sitting on the swing just beyond the porch.\u00a0 She\u2019d brushed off most of the snow, but enough remained to make the wooden structure sparkle.\u00a0 Rosey\u2019s cloak was made of a deep wine wool.\u00a0 It was of the Welsh kind, with a large ruffled hood that pulled up around the face.\u00a0 Like a little girl too long in he cold, her cheeks were nearly as red as her cape.<\/p>\n

As he came alongside her, Ben turned and looked in the direction she was looking.<\/p>\n

It was at Joe\u2019s room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis name was Rory,\u201d she said abruptly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour son,\u201d he replied as he turned back to her.\u00a0 It was a statement, not a question.<\/p>\n

That brought a small smile. \u201cYes.\u00a0 You guessed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben indicated the swing beside her. \u201cMay I?\u201d\u00a0 When she nodded, he sat down.\u00a0 \u201cYou said you were married.\u00a0 Your obvious interest in Joe\u2019s welfare brought me to the conclusion that there must have been a child and it was a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded. \u201cRory was about Joseph\u2019s age when he died.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rancher pursed his lips. \u201cI\u2019m sorry. I didn\u2019t mean to dredge up bad memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, that\u2019s the problem,\u201d Rosey replied, her eyes glinting with tears.\u00a0 \u201cFor so many years that\u2019s all I have thought about \u2013 the bad <\/em>memories.\u00a0 I forgot what a precious treasure I had for those twelve years.\u00a0 Your Joseph has reminded me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDo you mind if I ask \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat happened to him?\u201d\u00a0 She drew in a breath against a remembered pain. \u201cI did.\u00a0 Or more accurately, the woman I was before I met you and your family did.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head, not understanding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a man,\u201d she began.\u00a0 \u201cHe was a bouncer in the sporting house where I worked.\u00a0 He thought he loved me.\u00a0 When I married Patrick, he considered it a betrayal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe…murdered your son?\u00a0 Twelve years later?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was in a brawl and almost killed a man.\u00a0 He went to prison for a time. When he was released, he found out I\u2019d married and had a son and another child on the way and decided to exact a price for my liberation.\u201d\u00a0 Rosey paused at his look.\u00a0 \u201cI lost the baby too.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d\u00a0 Ben paused.\u00a0 \u201cWas the man ever caught and made to pay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Anger crinkled the edges of her eyes.\u00a0 She shook her head, at a loss for words.\u00a0 Rosey remained still a moment longer and then reached out and took hold of his hand.\u00a0 She blinked back tears as she continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter they all died, I went back \u2013 not to that house in San Francisco, but to another just like it.\u00a0 I met a woman there who\u2019d been an army scout and decided that was the life for me.\u00a0 Now I\u2019d be leading men instead of being led.\u00a0 I\u2019d be outside, in the wilds, instead of trapped by four walls.\u00a0 Outside where \u2013\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hoped to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

She looked up at him, startled.\u00a0 Then she laughed. \u201cIs there no keeping anything from you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He patted her hand.\u00a0 \u201cI have buried three wives.\u00a0 Each time, I felt I couldn\u2019t go on.\u201d\u00a0 He looked at the house. \u201cMy sons saved me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are fine boys.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they are.\u00a0 I wish….\u201d\u00a0 He cleared his throat.\u00a0 \u201cI wish you could have known Joseph before.\u00a0 That boy…\u201d\u00a0 He lost the ability to speak.<\/p>\n

Rosey gripped his hand. \u201cHe\u2019ll return.\u00a0 Just as I returned.\u00a0 Older, wiser, not the same, but stronger.\u00a0 He\u2019s your<\/em> son, Ben.\u00a0 He can\u2019t help but be strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

She was looking at him.\u00a0 The moonlight struck her face, painting it in perfection.\u00a0 Before he knew it he had taken her in his arms and kissed her.<\/p>\n

Rosey pulled back, breathless.\u00a0 \u201cWhy Mister Cartwright!\u00a0 And here I thought you were the soul of propriety!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, you haven\u2019t talked to the inhabitants of Virginia City,\u201d he replied with a cheeky smile.<\/p>\n

It was only a second later Adam called him.\u00a0 So quickly, he knew his son could not have missed what had happened.<\/p>\n

\u201cPa!\u00a0 Hoss is bringing Joe down!\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosey rose to her feet and pulled him after her.<\/p>\n

It was time to go in.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Adam had turned back into the house.\u00a0 He grinned as Hoss carried Little Joe down the stairs.\u00a0 He\u2019d been listening outside the door when middle brother went in to get him.\u00a0 Joe had protested at being carried.\u00a0 It hadn\u2019t\u2019 been very loud or lasted too long.<\/p>\n

But he had<\/em> protested!<\/p>\n

They couldn\u2019t have had a better Christmas present.<\/p>\n

As Hoss placed Joe in the big red chair by the fire and settled him in, tucking a blanket around his thin frame to keep him warm, their father walked through the door hand in hand with Rosey O\u2019Rourke.\u00a0 Adam hid his smile.\u00a0 He\u2019d caught them kissing.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t know what the future held for the pair, but it wouldn\u2019t have bothered him one bit if Rosey came to stay.\u00a0 She was a remarkable woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelly Chlistmas!\u201d<\/em> Hop Sing proclaimed loudly as he came into the room carrying, of all things, a blazing figgy pudding!\u00a0 Ming-hua trailed after him, bearing a stack of plates and forks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d their father asked. \u201cDessert before dinner?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man from China paused before the settee.\u00a0 His dark eyes drank in Little Joe.\u00a0 \u201cSpecial day.\u00a0 Special present for number three son.\u00a0 Hop Sing want him to know how much he is loved.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe was doing better.\u00a0 He was still brittle physically and jumpy as a bee-stung stallion, but little by little he was mending.\u00a0 Paul had given them strict instructions that he was to stay inside, probably until spring.\u00a0 Late last night, when Hoss was snoring and he was reading in his room, he\u2019d heard the click of a door.\u00a0 And then another opening and closing.\u00a0 He\u2019d poked his head out into the hall just in time to see a shadow passing onto the stair.\u00a0 Following quietly, he\u2019d looked around the stair wall and seen the front door closing.\u00a0 Padding after whoever it was, the black-haired man had gone to the office window and peered outside.\u00a0 There, in the falling snow, stood his father with Little Joe in his arms.\u00a0 Joe had a thing about snow.\u00a0 He loved being out in it.<\/p>\n

It was the first time he had seen a genuine smile on his little brother\u2019s face since he\u2019d come home.<\/p>\n

His father\u2019s voice returned Adam to the present.\u00a0 The older man had moved to Joe\u2019s side.\u00a0 Sitting on the hearth beside little brother, Pa reached out and took hold of his hand.\u00a0 Then he looked at each of them in turn \u2013 him, Hoss, Joe.\u00a0 They all knew what he was thinking.\u00a0 No presents needed.<\/p>\n

They all had the only thing they wanted.<\/p>\n

Joe was home and he was going to be all right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

They all thought he was going to be all right.<\/p>\n

Joe wasn\u2019t so sure.<\/p>\n

The curly-haired boy stared at the dying fire.\u00a0 After a moment, he shifted and sighed, his face a study in concentration.\u00a0 He was <\/em>better, he knew that.\u00a0 He had come to accept the fact that Wade Bosh had done more damage to his mind than his body.\u00a0 And, though it had taken a long time, he\u2019d finally come to grips with the deaths of the four people who had been killed because they\u2019d tried to help him and to believe that it wasn\u2019t his fault.<\/p>\n

That was the easy<\/em> one.<\/p>\n

Joe drew in a deep breath and held it like it was something precious before slowly expelling it along with some of his fear.\u00a0 And he was afraid.\u00a0 He was afraid that the people he loved were lying to him, that they didn\u2019t really<\/em> understand \u2013 that they thought he should have fought harder, been stronger; that he was weak and useless and wouldn\u2019t ever be useful again.\u00a0 Sometimes he would catch them watching him with pity in their eyes and, at other times, with what he thought was disgust.\u00a0 Adam, Hoss and…Pa.\u00a0 Joe swallowed over the other half of that fear.\u00a0 It was still nearly impossible to say that name and when he couldn\u2019t say it, something dark rose up in him that made him wonder if what had happened to him hadn\u2019t changed him forever.\u00a0\u00a0 He would start shaking and seeing red and the only thing he could think of was taking Wade Bosh by his fat neck and squeezing until he choked \u2013 until the seaman\u2019s eyes popped out and his tongue turned black and he died.<\/em><\/p>\n

But Bosh was already dead.<\/p>\n

And so, there was nowhere for that anger to go but inside.\u00a0 Inside, where it tugged him back toward the pit and the peace it offered.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d gotten good at pretending.\u00a0 He\u2019d smiled for everyone tonight and opened his presents and acted like he was having good time.\u00a0 He\u2019d joked with his brothers on the way up to bed and then snuggled down in his covers like he was content when his father bid him goodnight.\u00a0 Then he laid there, thinking.\u00a0 Once it got quiet, he\u2019d left his room and come downstairs.\u00a0 The trip nearly wore him out, so much so that when he got to the great room he\u2019d stumbled over to the settee and fallen onto it.\u00a0 He\u2019d been here ever since, leaning his chin on his knee and thinking about everything that had happened and how, sometimes, it seemed like it was still happening and that it would happen forever.<\/p>\n

That he would never<\/em> be free.<\/p>\n

Joe sniffed as tears ran down his cheeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will fade in time,\u201d a soft voice said.<\/p>\n

The curly-headed boy jumped.\u00a0 \u201cWho…?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sorry if I startled you.\u201d\u00a0 Jude Randolph, the feller his father had saved from Bosh when he\u2019d been about his age, was coming out of the kitchen.\u00a0 He had a cup of tea in his hand.\u00a0 Crossing over to the red chair, he sat down.\u00a0 \u201cSleep is not always a welcome companion, is it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe sniffed again and ran a hand under his nose.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2019d you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout the nightmares?\u201d\u00a0 Jude smiled.\u00a0 \u201cI know about them, for they are my own.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStill?\u201d Joe asked.<\/p>\n

Jude placed the cup on the side table.\u00a0 \u201cStill, but not so much as before.\u00a0 They are…occasional unwelcome guests now, not family.\u201d<\/p>\n

Family.<\/p>\n

That was a hard one.<\/p>\n

Joe hesitated and then asked, \u201cDid Bosh make you call him \u2018Pa\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Englishman nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you….\u00a0 Does that…word…still make you….\u201d\u00a0 What did he say?\u00a0 Wince?\u00a0 Cringe?<\/p>\n

Cry?<\/p>\n

Jude stood. He came closer and indicated the other end of the settee.\u00a0 \u201cMay I?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe nodded.\u00a0 He studied the man as he sat down.\u00a0 In the last of the firelight, he could see the resemblance between them.\u00a0 Jude\u2019s skin was darker and his features heavier, but he had the same wide eyes and hair that made him look \u2013 as his father would put it \u2013 like a riverboat gambler.\u00a0 When he was a boy, they had probably looked even more alike.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike you,\u201d\u00a0 Jude began, \u201cI was haunted by the memory of Wade Bosh and what he had done to me \u2013 what he…took from me.\u00a0 Then, I realized one day that he hadn\u2019t taken anything that I hadn\u2019t freely given.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe frowned.\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n

Jude held his gaze.\u00a0 \u201cJoseph, your father loves you more than life.\u00a0 You know that, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd yet you doubt it, because of the things Bosh told you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t doubt he loves me!\u201d he protested.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe.\u201d\u00a0 Jude paused.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you see?\u00a0 When you hesitate or choose not to call your father \u2018Pa\u2019, Wade Bosh wins.\u00a0 He is in the grave<\/em>.\u00a0 You are alive and here \u2013 but you are not <\/em>free.\u00a0 Bosh holds you prisoner still.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe blinked back tears.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it is hard.\u00a0 But you must set aside what happened and try to remember your life before<\/em> that madman took you.\u00a0 My grandmother was a woman of deep faith and wisdom.\u00a0 She told me once that we\u2019re all enslaved, and she was right.\u00a0 Even if your body is not owned as hers was \u2013 as mine was for a time \u2013 a man can be owned in many other ways.\u201d\u00a0 Jude reached out to lay a hand on his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cRight now, Joseph, you<\/em> are enslaved.\u00a0 Wade Boss owns your mind and, perhaps, a part of your soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

His tears were flowing now. \u201cWhat do I do?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFind a memory from the time before you were taken.\u00a0 One of you and your father.\u00a0 Dwell on it.\u00a0 Let it blot out the memory of the man who used that word to break your spirit.\u00a0 You\u2019re stronger, Joseph, but you will never be healed until you can do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

He thought a minute.\u00a0 \u201cAre you healed, Jude?\u201d<\/p>\n

The former cabin boy smiled.\u00a0 \u201cI was healed the day we set you free.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ben Cartwright roused from a deep sleep.\u00a0 He thought he\u2019d heard the sound of the latch being engaged.\u00a0 Cracking one eye, he looked toward the hall and found his door open and a slender shadow occupying the frame.\u00a0 With a start, he realized it was his youngest son.\u00a0 Feigning sleep, the ranched remained still, curious to find out what had drawn the boy to his room.<\/p>\n

Joseph hesitated and then entered.\u00a0 His son stood at his bedside for a moment before sitting on the edge.\u00a0 Several heartbeats passed before the boy reached out and tentatively, gently, touched his face.\u00a0 It took everything that was in him, but Ben didn\u2019t move.\u00a0 His heart ached for his child and he wanted nothing more than to roll over and take Little Joe in his arms.<\/p>\n

Something stopped him.\u00a0 Some inner instinct that told him Joe had to come to him<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A moment later the bed bent beneath the boy\u2019s knees.\u00a0 Joe moved closer and then lay down beside him.\u00a0 His son\u2019s arm reached out and circled his waist.\u00a0 For some time they lay there, completely silent, and then Joseph spoke.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou awake?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

Ben\u2019s placed his hand over his son\u2019s.\u00a0 \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe\u2019s voice was sleepy.\u00a0 He was not long for this world.\u00a0 \u201cYou know somethin\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

His heart was racing.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 Why don\u2019 you tell me what it is?\u201d<\/p>\n

His son reared up so he could look into his eyes.\u00a0 There was a trace of a smile on his lips.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love you, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the spring Jude returned to England and the life he had left behind.\u00a0 Rosey and Ming-hua left the Ponderosa as well, but not before announcing their intention to move to Virginia City.\u00a0 They would return to the older woman\u2019s mountain home for a time in order to take care of everything, including the sale of her house and stock, and be back and in place before the summer\u2019s end.\u00a0 Hop Sing cried as the wagon pulled out of the yard, carrying with it the lovely girl he had come to think of as a daughter.\u00a0 Ben shed tears too \u2013 of thankfulness.\u00a0 Each was an outstanding woman.\u00a0 He would look forward to the homecoming of both, but Rosey most of all.<\/p>\n

A most<\/em> outstanding woman.<\/p>\n

Ben turned and looked toward the stables where his sons were roughhousing.\u00a0 He could hear the whoops and hollers and took delight in his youngest\u2019s most of all.\u00a0 Nearly six months had passed since Joseph\u2019s ordeal and, true to his nature, his young son\u2019s spirits had soared as the world was renewed.\u00a0 The boy was still not quite himself, but every day he watched him grow stronger and his laugh \u2013 that blessed and beloved laugh \u2013 rang out more often than not.\u00a0 He could hear it now, and hear Hoss bellowing in mock rage as he chased his brother toward the house.<\/p>\n

Yes, indeed, everything<\/em> was going to be all right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Next Story in the Blood and Bread Series: \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keep Your Eyes on the Sun<\/a>
\nThirty-Six Ways to Get Out of Trouble<\/a>
\nAn Unspeakable Dawn<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Tags:\u00a0 Adam Cartwright,\u00a0Ben Cartwright,\u00a0ESA,\u00a0ESJ,\u00a0Family,\u00a0Hoss Cartwright,\u00a0Joe \/ Little Joe Cartwright,\u00a0JPM,\u00a0kidnap,\u00a0Ransom,\u00a0SAS,\u00a0SJS<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/g><\/svg><\/i> \"Loading\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: \u00a0Twelve-year-old Little Joe is late for supper. Hop Sing is hopping mad and Adam is none too pleased. When he heads for the stable to look for his brother, Adam expects an argument \u2013 what he gets is something else entirely. Something that begins in terror and rolls on toward tragedy. Will the Cartwrights ever be the same?<\/p>\n

Rated PG-13 \u00a0(92,480 words) \u00a0Rating assigned for typical standard episodic TV Western violence and brutality.<\/p>\n

Blood and Bread Series, links to stories within the series are included.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10058,"featured_media":30524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,41,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-hurtcomfort","category-prequels","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-41-id","wpcat-30-id"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":6146,"today_views":0},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/Blood-and-Bread-Brand--scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1814&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62661,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=62661","url_meta":{"origin":14405,"position":0},"title":"Talking Turkey? (by VickiC.)","author":"vickic","date":"March 3, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary:\u00a0 There's turkey and then there's turkey.\u00a0 Is it all a distraction and an excuse?\u00a0 Or is it real? Rating:\u00a0 G\u00a0 (7,300 words)","rel":"","context":"In "Brothers"","block_context":{"text":"Brothers","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?cat=1009"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Preserving-Their-Legacy.png?fit=732%2C477&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Preserving-Their-Legacy.png?fit=732%2C477&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Preserving-Their-Legacy.png?fit=732%2C477&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/Preserving-Their-Legacy.png?fit=732%2C477&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10425,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=10425","url_meta":{"origin":14405,"position":1},"title":"Who Did It? (by bahj)","author":"bahj","date":"January 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: There's a broken window on the Ponderosa but who's guilty? 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Can Ben babysit Little Joe and prepare for his guest?","rel":"","context":"In "Humor"","block_context":{"text":"Humor","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?cat=4"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Marie.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Marie.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/Marie.jpg?fit=640%2C480&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11981,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=11981","url_meta":{"origin":14405,"position":4},"title":"On the Warpath (by ChristyG)","author":"ChristyG","date":"April 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary:\u00a0 Everyone take cover .\u00a0 Someone's on the warpath.\u00a0 Just how will they rescue themselves? Rating:\u00a0 K (1,645 words)","rel":"","context":"In "Drama"","block_context":{"text":"Drama","link":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/sacredground.png?fit=983%2C766&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/sacredground.png?fit=983%2C766&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/sacredground.png?fit=983%2C766&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/sacredground.png?fit=983%2C766&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14132,"url":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/?p=14132","url_meta":{"origin":14405,"position":5},"title":"A Bucketful of Trouble (by Krystyna)","author":"Krystyna","date":"January 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Summary: Hop Sing decides it's time to quit! This story may be familiar to forum readers but I hope it will appeal to those newer members of Bonanzaworld who have yet to read it. 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