Summary: Adam and Joe Cartwright face the worse possible kind of danger . a silent enemy, one unseen and lethal … but which of them will survive?<\/p>\n
Rated: K+ (22,570 words)<\/p>\n
The final page contains comments\/reviews from the Old Bonanza Library.<\/p>\n
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And Amen to All That<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cJust put it down and leave it alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Joseph Cartwright spun round as though a whip had lashed him. His face screwed into a tight ball of mixed emotions that flashed across his features with the clarity of words written on the pages of a book. Rage, irritation, contempt slipped across the handsome features. The nostrils flared. The lips thinned and curled from his teeth. The green in the hazel eyes positively blazed. His hands balled into fists that now swung in the direction of his brother.<\/p>\n \u201cI said \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cI know what you said.\u201d Joe hissed between clenched teeth \u201cI heard you. Do you think I\u2019m deaf as well as stupid?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam allowed a slight smile to grace his lips and he folded his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrows<\/p>\n \u201cWell now, that wasn\u2019t exactly what I was saying, brother, but if that is your opinion of yourself.\u201d he shrugged \u201cStupid, huh? They say from the mouth of babes \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cThat does it\u201d Joe howled and with fury etched on his face he leapt towards his brother, his fists flailing as he did so.<\/p>\n Adam neatly side stepped and grabbed Joe\u2019s arm as he passed, twisting him round to face him and then grabbing hold of him by the upper arms in order to restrain him as best he could. He moved his legs back as far as practicality allowed, for he knew his brother would not hesitate to kick out as hard as he could in order to gain his freedom.<\/p>\n \u201cNow just you calm down, Joe, and you listen to me\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI ain\u2019t gonna listen to anything you have to say. I\u2019ve been listening to you all my life long and I\u2019ve just about had a bellyful of it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI said, listen to me and listen good.\u201d Adam gave his younger brother a shake, which only gave Joe the added impetus to wrench himself free and swing his fist in a perfect uppercut that caught his brother square on the chin. Joseph gulped. Fights between Adam and himself were not unknown. They had fought at times to a standstill, but always came out of it with some mutual respect, a handshake, a smile and a wink. There just happened to be some times when both knew that they were skating on thin ice and that there would come a day when they would fight such a fight that any bonds between them would be totally severed.<\/p>\n It was an instinct. A something that made them both aware of a border beyond which neither could, or would, go beyond. On this particular day, Joe had a sudden, terrible feeling that they were both about to go over the edge and what had been said in anger, would never be easily erased.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want to fight, huh?\u201d Adam advanced a step closer. His dark eyes were nearly total black now and his cheeks were heightened in colour due to the rage he was feeling at that moment. He clenched his teeth and his lips snarled back and then he launched himself forwards and caught Joe squarely in the midriff.<\/p>\n Both went down. They rolled first oneway and then the other. The thud of punches landing on flesh could be heard in echo to the grunts and gasps of the two opponents. Through the haze of dust that the fight created Adam stood up, only to be pulled back down as his brother kicked his legs from beneath him and sent him toppling onto his back.<\/p>\n Adam rolled, free from his brothers writhing wriggling body he struggled to get to his feet, but before he could do so Joseph had landed squarely on top of him, and had struck him a blow in the face with such force that he could taste blood in his mouth.<\/p>\n He grabbed blindly for some handhold and his fingers curled upon Joe\u2019s hair and tightened. With a yelp of pain Joe was tossed to one side and fell heavily against some rocks. For some seconds he lay there, his head hang down, his chest heaved and burned within his ribs, and perspiration dripped from his face.<\/p>\n Only yards away, Adam struggled to his feet and swayed too and fro as he wiped a hand across his mouth and face. He looked through narrowed eyes at the sight of blood on his hand and then looked over at his brother.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you done now?\u201d he gasped<\/p>\n \u201cNo\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you sure?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes\u201d<\/p>\n Both of them remained where they were for some seconds. Adam swayed back and forth, gasping and puffing. Joe on the ground, head down, grunting and wheezing.<\/p>\n Cochise and Sport continued to graze some yards away as though such scenes were as commonplace as watching rabbits hopping from burrow to burrow, or young calves frolicking from daisy decked grassland to daisy decked hillock. They were saddled and ready for the journey home to the Ponderosa, but having been given the time and opportunity to dally, they did so, in a manner any sensible horse would enjoy.<\/p>\n Adam flexed his shoulders, and took a deep breath. Warily he watched as Joe regained his feet. He put his head to one side, wondering whether or not Joe were really serious about continuing with the fight. Like his brother, Adam was always cautious about allowing any fight to go beyond the borders of what both would consider an honorable end. He cleared his throat and extended his hand in order to help the lad to his feet more quickly, but Joe slapped it aside angrily. Hostilities were obviously still waging. Adam withdrew his hand and stepped back and clenched his fist and as Joe sprung at him he threw a punch that sent Joe staggering backwards and falling back into the dirt.<\/p>\n Adam walked over to him and looked down at him \u201cFinished?\u201d he asked<\/p>\n \u201cNo\u201d Joe said in a muffled tone of voice<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t be so obstinate, Joe, you know you can\u2019t win!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho says?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI say\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh yeah, of course, you say. Like you say this, you say that, you who knows everything there is about everything\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Adam sighed and stepped back and rubbed his knuckles into the palm of his other hand. It was always the same thing with Joe, always the same refrain. He cleared his throat and spat blood and dust<\/p>\n \u201cLook, Joe, let\u2019s stop now before we do any real damage. Pa won\u2019t be too happy if we go home looking like we\u2019ve been in a war\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t start it\u201d Joe said sulkily, still lying flat on his stomach in the dust.<\/p>\n \u201cI beg your pardon, little brother, but if I recall rightly, it was certainly not me who started it.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe rolled over onto his back and scrambled up onto his feet and glowered over at his brother. He swallowed dust and grit and a bit of his back tooth.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy\u2019d you have to come anyways? Why\u2019d you have to come and check up on me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t checking up on you, Joe.\u201d Adam said in a conciliatory tone of voice \u201cI told you once already, pa wanted me to come on over and give you a hand to finish the job. I\u2019d already finished my stretch of fencing and pa \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cI was alright, I was nearly finished, another day and I\u2019d have been done\u201d Joe snapped<\/p>\n \u201cAnother day? You mean another two days!\u201d Adam snapped abruptly \u201cWhat I\u2019d like to know is exactly what you\u2019ve been doing over the past few days. You had the shortest stretch of fencing to do and you\u2019ve taken longer to do it than a green horn rookie cowboy could.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy do you always have to come and interfere anyway\u201d and before another word could be spoken Joe launched himself forwards and flew at his brother once again.<\/p>\n Adam raised his hand and swiped him away with a swing of the fist that would have made even Hoss stagger some paces. Before Joe fell back Adam grabbed at his shirt and held on to him, and shook him a little for good measure.<\/p>\n \u201cNow you listen here, little brother, I don\u2019t come interfering with your work, as you put it. I came here because pa was concerned about you. I came here because I had finished my work and we thought I could help you finish yours. I thought if we finished in time before the week ends we could go into town Saturday and enjoy ourselves. But if you want to stay here for another two days on your own, so be it\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.\u201d He gave his brother another angry shake and released his hold on the shirt.<\/p>\n Joe landed with a thud amongst some shrubs, which somehow softened the landing. He rubbed his face, his chin, his brow, and finally his head. He watched as his brother walked, stiff legged, straight backed, towards Sport. Adam stooped on the way to pick up his black hat, which he whacked several times against his leg before sliding it slowly over his disheveled hair. As he put his foot into the stirrup he glanced over his shoulder at his brother<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do I tell pa?\u201d he said quietly<\/p>\n \u201cTell him what you usually say\u201d Joe snapped back<\/p>\n \u201cWhat? That you were too lazy and too stupid to get the job down?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe snorted with anger. Had it been possible fire would have streaked from his nostrils and steam from his ears. As it was his face reddened and he rose to his feet quicker than Adam had anticipated. In a trice Adam swung himself into the saddle and turned Sport round so that Joe bounced rather unceremoniously into Sports rump and was sent sprawling into the dust again.<\/p>\n \u201cC\u2019mon, Joe, let\u2019s call it quits and be done with it\u201d Adam said quietly, wishing more than anything that he had left it to Hoss to come and help Joe with his section of the fencing.<\/p>\n \u201cJust go away and leave me alone\u201d came the snapped off reply.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you wish\u201d Adam replied and turned the horse in the direction of home.<\/p>\n The retort of a rifle that sent ripples of sound echo-ing eerily across the vast vista of land made them both pause. They glanced around them and peered, narrow eyed, at the high ridges about them. Adam inclined his head to measure sound and distance and frowned<\/p>\n \u201cThat came from the way station\u201d he said quietly<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe they\u2019re hunting\u201d Joe said quietly, picking up his hat and dusting it down.<\/p>\n Another retort. Before the echo had died away, still another.<\/p>\n \u201cThey need help\u201d Adam said quickly and looked over at his brother who, perhaps gratefully, was putting his hat on and running towards Cochise.<\/p>\n Three shots. It was the plainsman\u2019s plea for help. As swiftly as they could both brothers turned their horses round and galloped towards the little relay station from where the signal had been sent.<\/p>\n *********<\/p>\n When Adam raised his hand and pulled Sport to a rearing standstill, Joe was so close upon his heels that it was with some difficulty that he pulled Cochise away from a collision. As it was the abrupt halt did nothing to cool his temper, for he edged Cochise so close to Sport that Adams knee actually grazed against his own<\/p>\n \u201cWhy are you stopping?\u201d he demanded, his eyes blazing into his brothers\u2019 face \u201cThis is not time to stop. Those people need our help\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been pushing our horses hard for the past I don\u2019t know how long, Joe, but in all that time I\u2019ve not heard a single thing \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cHow\u2019d you mean? What are we supposed to have heard?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGun shots \u2013 \u201c Adam frowned, his face turned towards the way they were headed \u201cI don\u2019t know \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cYOU don\u2019t know! And we\u2019re supposed to just sit here while they could be in desperate need of our help?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t mean that, I \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I ain\u2019t gonna waste anymore time. You can do what you like, Adam, but I\u2019m going on right now \u2013\u201c and putting words into action the younger man spurred his horse forwards. Cochise sprung forwards and within seconds had left the other horseman looking after them as the dust settled around them.<\/p>\n With a sigh of exasperation Adam spurred Sport into a gallop. It took no time at all to catch up with Joe and together they galloped onwards to the relay station.<\/p>\n There are times when riding, and particularly in situations of this kind, when both brothers felt that no matter how fast they rode their horses, distance remained at a standstill. No matter how low in the saddle they sat, no matter how they urged their horses onwards, no matter how the wind streamed into their faces and made their eyes sting and weep, the miles and the time remained static. How Joe wished he could spring from one area, or situation, immediately into the other with no wastage of time. How Adam longed to will away the miles so that riding from A to B was like walking from one room to another.<\/p>\n It seemed to no account that their horses stretched their legs to leap over boulders, swerve around obstacles, gallop so hard that their withers began to tremble and sweat began to streak white upon their coats. Still miles to go and both horses were beginning to labour and pant, and their eyes began to roll wildly as they struggled to fulfill their masters\u2019 determined will to stretch them to the limits of their power and endurance.<\/p>\n At last the relay station hove into sight and both men hauled on the reins to bring their horses to a trembling laboured halt. As Sport and Cochise snorted and panted, so their two riders struggled to gain their own breath as they looked down upon the peaceful scene that lay serenely stretched out beneath them.<\/p>\n In the corral the horses grazed undisturbed and unperturbed. Chickens clucked about, scratching up dust into tiny dust devils with their claws. The relay station appeared to be basking in the mid-day sun with all the appearance of blissful ignorance of the onlookers concern. Washing hung limp upon the line begging for a breeze to sift away the collected dust that clung upon it.<\/p>\n Joe and Adam scanned the scene with narrowed eyes and then looked at one another. Both wore slight frowns of puzzled concern upon their brows. Joe pushed his hat to the back of his head and scratched through his thatch of hair<\/p>\n \u201cOdd\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTom must have been hunting\u201d Adam leaned upon his pommel and stared thoughtfully at the house.<\/p>\n \u201cHe may be a bit of a green horn out here but even so, he knows better than to fire off three shots at random\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes it\u2019s easy to forget when there\u2019s so much else new to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n The two brothers said nothing more for some seconds. Adam caressed Sports\u2019 smooth neck and inwardly cursed himself for putting his horse to such pains for nothing. He could feel the horse sweat wet to his fingers and sighed heavily. He glanced over at Joe and cleared his throat noisily to gain his brothers attention.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing I do know\u201d he said quietly \u201cMary\u2019s still enough of a lady not to want us tramping into her home looking like two no account cow pokes rolling home from a saloon bar fracas. If I look as bad as you look, we\u2019d scare her and the kids to death \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n Joe scowled and nodded and reached for his canteen. There was no denying that Mary Murphy was prim and dainty, just as there was no denying that Adam looked bloodied and bruised and he fully realised he would be looking equally as bad. Both of them soaked their handkerchiefs in water and wiped around their faces and necks.<\/p>\n \u201cShe can be a mite starchy about etticky-kett\u201d Joe admitted as he raised the canteen to his lips and swallowed down several mouthfuls<\/p>\n \u201cWell, she\u2019s a well brought up gal from Louisiana and doesn\u2019t think living out in the wilds here any excuse for bad manners\u201d Adam followed his brothers example and drank some water. \u201cLet\u2019s get down there, our horses could do with something to drink and my canteens dry\u201d and without another word he urged Sport down the scree clad descent to the track that led to the relay station.<\/p>\n Some minutes ticked past and he was thinking of nothing more urgent than getting Sport to the trough for the animal to slurp up as much fresh water as he could, when a disturbing anxiety niggled its way through and to the surface of his mind and he turned to Joe who was trailing some distance behind<\/p>\n \u201cJoe? Do you know when the next stage is due?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot for some hours yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEven so \u2013\u201c Adam paused and looked at the house, now coming closer into view as they reached the track<\/p>\n \u201cEven so what?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, granted it\u2019s hot enough to fry an egg on these stones, but that never has stopped a woman from having a stove alight\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo? What\u2019re you thinking?\u201d Joe frowned and narrowed his eyes and turned to look at the house again<\/p>\n \u201cNo smoke\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo smoke?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the chimney. No smoke, no stove alight, no cooking \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cOr boiling water for washing\u201d<\/p>\n They looked at one another anxiously and Joe bit his bottom lip thoughtfully before urging Cochise into a leap and a gallop.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe!\u201d<\/p>\n He cast an anxious look over at Adam and saw his brother unclip the catch on his holster and seeing his brother\u2019s stern features the younger man nodded and followed his example. It was better to be prepared, just in case.<\/p>\n But just in case of what? Seeing Adams example of caution as he approached the relay station, Joe settled Cochise into a steady trot so that both of them rode into the yard, side by side, hands on their gun butts, and eyes turning from side to side. Looking for what? Expecting \u2013 what?<\/p>\n Dogs barked frantically. They strained at their leashes and whined and snapped before retreating back to settle on their haunches and watch, with dark brown anxious eyes as the two men approached the hitching rail.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels all wrong\u201d Joe said involuntarily \u201cToo quiet\u201d<\/p>\n One of the dogs whined plaintively and settled onto its belly. It\u2019s eyes twitched from one rider to the other. The other dog began to bark, its hackles were raised, slathering from its jaws.<\/p>\n Adam was about to mention the possibility of the family having ridden into town. It would have been a journey that necessitated an overnight stop en route so the wagon would have been essential. However, the wagon, collecting several chickens who were perched around about it, stood basking in the heat of the mid day sun. He eased himself in his saddle and looked over to the horses.<\/p>\n The horses had moved towards them. As though at a given signal every horse in the corral had abandoned their close cropping of the sparse greenery to stand at the fence and nod in silence over at them. One of them lifted what seemed a weary head and snortled down his nostrils at them, and received an answering whicker from Cochise.<\/p>\n The brothers edged their horses to the trough, and then glanced at one another. The water trough was empty. Not only empty, bone dry. Adam nudged Sport towards the water trough that stood within the confines of the corral and then looked over at Joe and shrugged. It was not good. No man, woman or child would abandon their stock with insufficient water. When the sun could burn up moisture within minutes it was a criminal act of inhumanity to treat dumb animals in such a way.<\/p>\n \u201cNo water in any of the troughs. Nor has been for over a day I would say\u201d Adam said quietly<\/p>\n \u201cI guess that goes for the stock in the byre as well?\u201d Joe indicated the barn and Adam glanced over his shoulder over at it and frowned \u201cI\u2019ll go and check it out.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll get some water to these creatures.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam dismounted and hitched Sport to the rail. At the well he threw down the bucket and heard the satisfying splash of water. The two dogs stood up immediately, their tongues lolling from heat-starved mouths, their eyes moist and expectant as they watched the man turn the winch and bring the water to the surface.<\/p>\n How it gleamed and glistened and bedazzled the eyes. Diamond sparks and spangles as the sun gleamed upon its surface and caught the splashes in gleaming prisms of light. They yelped excitedly and when Adam poured the water into their bowls they came near to choking in their efforts to gorge on the life enhancing liquid.<\/p>\n The horses shifted restlessly. Adam glanced up from his labours to see Joe walking towards him, leading Cochise on his rein. He could see the thin line of Joe\u2019s mouth. Obviously what was in the barn had not impressed his little brother. He winched up another bucket load of water and walked to the trough and emptied it out. He could hear Joe working the handle of the sluice that would send water gushing into the other troughs. Best to deal with one thing at a time. A man cared for his beasts before anything, anyone else.<\/p>\n The horses pushed and shoved one another. There was a pecking order to be observed. Their thirst had to be constrained by discipline but they pushed their big heads forward as water splashed into the trough and time and time again Adam lowered the bucket and winched it back upwards. Once he stopped and poured a ladle of the cold fresh water over his face. He saw Joe dipping his own head under the sluice as the water flushed through\u2026.<\/p>\n The troughs filled and re-filled. The dogs\u2019 bowls filled and re-filled. They lay bloated and satisfied. Their tails twitched and they closed their eyes and slept knowing their bowls had plenty in them. Adam bit his lip and wondered how much longer they could have survived.<\/p>\n However, there was still a mystery to be solved. Dogs may be mad with thirst and horses and cattle dazed and lethargic from heat exhaustion and lack of water. But none of them could have pulled the trigger of a rifle three times\u2026<\/p>\n He walked slowly towards Joe, wiping the back of his neck with his kerchief. Joe was stroking Cochise\u2019s neck, as his horse slurped water by his side.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about the cattle?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne dead calf. It\u2019s mother looked half dead but livened up after a drink. There\u2019s another milk cow in there. Another looks like giving birth anytime.\u201d Joe sighed. \u201cThe other stock must be grazing down below\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThank goodness for that, I\u2019d hate to think of more beasts suffering unnecessary.\u201d Adam glanced over at the house \u201cThey must have just up sticks and gone\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I can\u2019t believe that Tom and Mary would do that, Adam. It may not have been the ideal as far as Mary was concerned, but Tom was happy with the work and the location. He was enjoying his life here and he was a conscientious man.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe left the animals without food and water for who knows how long?\u201d Adam replied coldly by way of reminder<\/p>\n \u201cThere must be a reason. Perhaps an accident \u2013 someone fired those shots.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam glanced around the yard. His eyes flickered to the house and he nodded. \u201cLet\u2019s go and see what there is inside \u201c he suggested. \u201cIf there ain\u2019t no sign of them, we had better go looking further afield.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019d have known we were here by now, Adam. They must be absent for some reason.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s make sure first\u201d and Adam withdrew his gun slowly from its holster and looked over at Joe \u201cJust in case \u2013\u201c he said quietly<\/p>\n Joe nodded and took his gun into his hand. Slowly they approached the house. Their heels made staccato raps onto the wooden planks of the verandah. The wooden rocking chair witnessed their approach. From the house there was nothing.<\/p>\n Chapter 2<\/p>\n They paused at the door and looked about them. Adam took a deep breath and glanced at the window of what would have been the Murphy\u2019s kitchen. He frowned slightly as he saw something the significance of which his brain could not yet register. He nudged Joe and indicated the window and looked at his brother with a question in his eyes. Joe shrugged and shook his head.<\/p>\n It was hot. It had been stiflingly hot for days. When it got hot there were flies. Sometimes when food was left unattended there would be more flies than normal. There were more flies around the window than normal.<\/p>\n The window on the other side of the door crawled with flies. Maggots inched against the framework or lay fat and creamy sluggish as flies walked over them.<\/p>\n Involuntarily both brothers stepped back and licked their dry lips. Adam felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and Joe felt sweat prickle his scalp and make him itch.<\/p>\n Carefully, tentatively, Adam stretched out a hand and touched the door handle. He pushed it open and stepped forward. He held his gun ready. Behind him Joe stepped forward.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, sheeesh!\u201d<\/p>\n The exclamation slipped like a gasp from Adams lips as he recoiled hastily back onto the verandah, almost knocking Joe into the rocking chair that began to creak back and forth eerily.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat \u2013 what is it?\u201d Joe whispered, his large eyes widening in fright.<\/p>\n \u201cIt stinks in here!\u201d Adam replied<\/p>\n Joe suddenly realised he had not needed to have been told. The stench touched his own nostrils and he turned his head away. The dogs, secure on their chains at the far corner of the house, instinctively sat up, their forefeet paddled the dry ground nervously. They whimpered and whined as they raised their noses to the air and snuffled at the smell that drifted into the clean air.<\/p>\n \u201cCome \u2013.\u201d Adam said quietly \u201cI\u2019ve a bad feeling about this, Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe nodded. He pulled out his kerchief and held it to his face, against his nose and mouth. As they walked into the room, Adam put away his gun and pulled out his handkerchief and followed his brother\u2019s example.<\/p>\n He had smelt this stench before, this cloying, sickening stench of death. He turned his head to one side as though the smell would be less if he did so. He brushed aside flies that buzzed angrily towards him. Behind him Joe did likewise as he hurried to the windows and threw them open. The flies lingered. Bloated, lazed and dazed by heat and too much to gorge upon. Joe stepped back to avoid maggots and dead flies cocooned by webs from opportunistic spiders.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam? What\u2019s going on here?\u201d he whispered and his voice wobbled slightly as he glanced around the room.<\/p>\n Rotting food upon the plates. Meat heaved as maggots crawled over their banquet. Wilting flowers that shed their leaves like a wreath upon a meal of death. He held his kerchief closer to his mouth and fought back nausea that hit his throat and burned with an acidic scorching.<\/p>\n Adam pushed open another door, paused a moment and went ashen faced. Hastily he stepped back and slammed it behind him.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t go in there.\u201d He whispered hoarsely<\/p>\n \u201cNo?\u201d Joe whispered back, his over large eyes asking a hundred questions that could all have been answered by the horror on his brother\u2019s face.<\/p>\n Adam now inched forwards to another door. There was no enemy. No man crouched there awaiting anyone arriving with rifle or gun. But the sight he anticipated was one more fearsome. No one would want to rush in upon the sight he expected to see and he swallowed hard, Joe could see the jerk of his brothers Adam\u2019s apple, and felt the sweat break out down his spine.<\/p>\n Adam put his hand on the door and pushed it slowly open. He paused for an instant and looked into the room, upon the bed, and then turned to Joe.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it \u2013 is it Tom?\u201d Joe whispered<\/p>\n \u201cNo, it\u2019s the boy. Joshua.\u201d Adam said with a voice thick with misery and the phlegm that rose in the throat when emotion signalled to the body to rush in with its defenses\u2026adrenalin, endomorphines\u2026.They squeezed his throat and made his heart beat so fast that he wanted to vomit there and then. He closed the door and wiped his face and shivered.<\/p>\n \u201cIs he \u2013 is he dead?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cProbably the first\u201d Adam muttered and then he glanced about him \u201cThe little girl? She must be here somewhere. She must have been the one to have fired the gun\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot Tom?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, he\u2019s been dead too long.\u201d Adam\u2019s voice trailed away and he glanced fearfully at the closed door where Tom and Mary lay together on their marital bed. \u201cAnd Mary \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n Joe felt the colour drain from his face. He swallowed bile. His lips went even drier than they had been already. He could only stare into his brother\u2019s face and see the horrified misery he felt reflected back at him.<\/p>\n \u201cThen where\u2019s Martha?\u201d he whispered<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps she\u2019s still alive,\u201d Adam said, and he looked at the door behind Joe. It was the door that led to the back storeroom that Tom and Mary used as an office. \u201cOpen it, Joe, unless you want me to?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe said nothing. He knew that whatever his brother had already seen had been so miserably sad that Adams request had been only to spare him the same horror. He put his hand to the door and pushed it open.<\/p>\n \u201cMartha?\u201d he whispered as he saw the child sitting hunched in the corner of the room \u201cShe\u2019s here, Adam, she\u2019s alive\u201d<\/p>\n Exultant joy! They hurried into the room and Joe, having reached her first, went onto his knees and took her into his arms and smiled down at the child\u2019s face. Adam, so close, watched the young mans smile fade and the relief disappear from his eyes. He placed a gentle hand on the younger mans shoulder and knelt down beside them.<\/p>\n \u201cMartha?\u201d Joe whispered hoarsely. \u201cMartha, can you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n The child\u2019s eyes flickered and opened. Already death was waiting to claim its latest victim. The once blue eyes were already mud coloured and opaque. The once fresh rosebud lips were dry and withered as an old crone\u2019s. Joe stroked back the golden blond hair and his own lips trembled and he looked over at his brother and shook his head. Martha sighed and whispered a few words that begged for him to lean down closer to her. Her words brushed his cheek as warm soft air as soft as a kiss. Then she shuddered in his arms.<\/p>\n They stayed there for some minutes. It presented a silent tableau of misery, grief and despair before them. Then Adam placed a hand on Joe\u2019s shoulder and rose to his feet.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe, leave her be for the present, we have to bury them\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, yes, of course we must.\u201d<\/p>\n He didn\u2019t want to leave her. It was as though they were about to abandon her. How she must have suffered. How alone she must have felt. He shivered, and shivered again. It was though his body could not stop from reacting to what its eyes had witnessed. He finally lay her down and looked at her as he did so. She was such a little child with her golden hair. He could remember her running towards him with smile on her lips and her cheeks bright from her exertions. Laughter had tumbled from her mouth and her eyes had been bright with the excitement of life. He could recall her tumbling down the hillside with the dogs running by her side and her brother, Joshua, his feet pounding the ground as he raced to reach him first. That had only been a few days ago -. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He wanted to go somewhere private and throw up.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you alright?\u201d<\/p>\n Adams voice floated towards him and he glanced up and nodded. They were outside again now. All the doors and windows had been left open. The flies were drifting reluctantly out into the hot day. The dogs were still whining. He looked at his brother and licked his lips<\/p>\n \u201cAdam? \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cYeah?\u201d Adam turned his attention back to his brother and frowned \u201cYou alright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI feel a bit better now. Sorry \u2013\u201c he took the canteen of water his brother handed him and took several long refreshing gulps. As he screwed the lid back onto them he looked once more at Adam \u201cDo we have to bury them? Can\u2019t we take them into town for a decent Christian burial?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNope\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe could put them in the wagon and I\u2019d drive them there if you\u2019d rather?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI said \u2018no\u2019.\u201d Adam frowned, his brow furrowed and Joe could see where the perspiration had settled into the creases of his brother\u2019s skin. He could see his brother\u2019s lips had formed a resolute line in preparation for resistance. Joe swallowed and prepared to give him some<\/p>\n \u201cTom and Mary were good living people, Adam. You can\u2019t just dig a hole and bury them in this \u2013 this place\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can. We can \u201c Adam corrected himself.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, Adam, it isn\u2019t decent \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cDying as they did isn\u2019t decent. Not having a doctor to care for them. That isn\u2019t decent. Being alone \u2013 dying alone \u2013 that isn\u2019t decent either. But the fact is that they\u2019re all dead and \u2013\u201c his voice faltered and he lowered his eyes \u201cAnd we don\u2019t know what they died from, do we?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo\u201d Joe\u2019s voice, along with his resistance, slipped away<\/p>\n \u201cA whole family doesn\u2019t die like that without any reason, Joe. There\u2019s no gunshot wounds, there\u2019s no evidence of any other person having been here for days. All the evidence points to Joshua dying first, then Tom. Maybe two days, three days ago\u201d he put his fingers to his head as though trying to sort out the thoughts that crammed into his brain \u201cLook, Joe, Mary couldn\u2019t bury them. She must have been too weak herself. She left little Martha alone while she went into that room to die with her husband. Everything was just left. They died from some sickness that \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cHang on\u201d Joe put his hand on his brothers arm \u201cWhat exactly are you saying, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m saying \u2013 \u201c Adam stood up, straightened his shoulders \u201cI\u2019m saying you had better dig one big hole while I go and get the bodies ready for burial\u201d he glanced back at the house \u201cOr do you think we should just burn the lot down?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWith them in it? Are you crazy?\u201d Joe\u2019s fingers tightened around his brother\u2019s wrist \u201cYou can\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI could, I can.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, they deserve better than that, Adam\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey deserved better than what they\u2019ve had, they deserved to have had proper doctoring, medicine, care and attention. Now they\u2019ve died and \u2013 and we have to take care of them.\u201d He took a deep breath and looked at Joe and then pointed over to the shovel \u201cDig it really deep\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir.\u201d Joe said quietly and without a word more he walked over to the shovel and walked away to where he thought they would have liked to be sleeping altogether.<\/p>\n It was a daisy-decked hillside with views over the lake that glistened on the horizon. As his shovel cut into the first sod of soil, he felt the tears mount into his eyes and fall unheeded down his face. Martha, little Martha, had died asking for water, for her mama and papa. He could still feel the soft breath warm to his cheek. He could still feel the lightness of her body in his arms. She was just a little girl, barely six years old.<\/p>\n Chapter 3 ***********<\/p>\n Adam stood awhile in the bedroom of the couple and looked down upon them. They lay close together, and she, who had lived longer, had slipped into her husband\u2019s arms and entwined her own arms upon his neck and laid her head upon his shoulder. He wondered if the smells of death that stunk in his nostrils were of his imagination. Or was the stench real, conjured up by the intense heat of the room with its closed window and the flies.<\/p>\n He stepped forward and wished that this task could have been given to another, and not to him. Yet it was self designated, after all, who else could he delegate the task but to his brother. How could he have done so? He had taken fresh linen from an ottoman and hastily he covered her with a sheet and drew her away from the last embrace of her dead love.<\/p>\n He had buried bodies before. There had been those who had been victims of disease or victims of Indian attacks. Of accidents and gun fights. But there was something terribly awful about these deaths for it touched his own heart with a frightening foreboding. He forced his mind to face the immediate task and not wander down paths that, at present, he had barely allowed himself to consider. Now she was wrapped in a shroud and he lifted her into his arms and carried her out to the wagon whereupon he lay her down.<\/p>\n He returned to the room. Flies hovered and buzzed about his perspiring face and he brushed them away. He realised now that he was more aware than ever of the heat. He could feel sweat prickling his armpits, his scalp and running down his spine.<\/p>\n He rolled Toms body into the sheets, and bundled them close and tightly together as quickly as he possibly could, knowing that if he hesitated then he would see things that would fill his brain and be food for nightmares for weeks to come. The fetid smell of death clung in his nostrils and seeped down his throat and he longed for the opportunity to run outside, throw him-self into the saddle and ride home.<\/p>\n As he carried the body to the wagon, he could hear the scrape of the shovel on the soil. He placed Tom next to Mary and listened. Joe was working industriously at his task. He bowed his head, and a shiver trickled up and down his spine.<\/p>\n He collected little Martha next. He held her close for a moment and looked at the child\u2019s face and stroked back the blonde hair and felt emotion tighten into a lump at his throat. Carefully and gently he placed her in a quilt and wrapped her tightly as though she were that infant from long ago who had been settled in a manger in swaddling bands.<\/p>\n How he dreaded the next room. The child lay on the bed and he waved aside the flies and threw open the window, knowing that it was impossible to work in the claustrophobic heat and stench of the room. His heart was thudding against his ribs as he pulled the boy up \u2013 and then dropped him back into the sheets on the bed. It was no good. He couldn\u2019t bear to touch the child\u2019s corpse like this and he hurriedly pulled over the soiled linen and bundled it together all the while with his brain screaming \u2018sorry, sorry, Josh, sorry\u2019<\/p>\n Joe glanced up as he heard the wagon approach and he lowered his head and looked into the hole he had dug. It was certainly big and wide enough. He had had a task of his own to clamber out of it.<\/p>\n The dogs had sensed their own loss in the way only the canine species could explain. Now they sat side by side and raised their muzzles to the sky and whined that plaintive low warble of distress one associated with wolverines and full moons. It added an air of eeriness and unreality to the situation that made Joe feel sick to the pit of his stomach. As the wagon passed them the dogs stood and began to pad the ground, yipping and whining, and falling into miserable uncanny silence once it had rumbled out of their sight.<\/p>\n Adam narrowed his eyes as he approached his brother. Then, hurriedly, he bowed his head knowing that his brother would not want him to have witnessed the shed tears that streaked his cheeks. Without looking up he put a brake to the vehicle, and clambered down.<\/p>\n Now he paused and placed a hand on the tailgate and felt tears well up into his own eyes. He pressed his fingers against his eye lids and stood there awhile until he had mastered the desire to weep and could get down to the grisly business of taking the bodies from the wagon floor.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll help.\u201d whispered Joe and their eyes met, and very hastily they both turned away for recognising the sorrow and weakness in the other, weakened their own resolve.<\/p>\n Carefully and as gently as they could they took the bodies, and lowered them into the gaping wound in the soils surface. When little Martha was settled down to rest upon the body of her mother, Joe\u2019s restraint faltered and a sob escaped his lips. When Adam placed a reassuring, comforting hand on the younger mans shoulders, Joe turned away. He straightened his back and took a deep breath.<\/p>\n \u201cAre you \u2013 are you going to say anything \u2013 for \u2013 for them?\u201d he muttered hoarsely.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you want to say anything first?\u201d Adam asked<\/p>\n \u201cNo \u2013 I mean \u2013 I \u2013 I can\u2019t \u2013 not just yet\u201d<\/p>\n Adam nodded. Side by side they stood, shoulder to shoulder, and with their hats held to their chests. Adam took a deep breath and began to speak the familiar words<\/p>\n \u201cMan that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not. So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. \u201c<\/p>\n A bird called out in the silence as the two men stood by the graveside. A breeze drifted by and the daisies nodded to the rhythm of its passing. Another bird answered the call of the first. Butterflies drifted in a lazy arc and faded from their vision<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the Lord said \u201c Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation\u201d he stooped and picked up a handful of the dry soil and held it over the grave \u201cDust to dust, ashes to ashes \u2013 may God bless you all and remember you all, Tom, Mary, Joshua, Mar \u2013 Martha\u201d and he let the dust fall, sifting down upon the quilt that covered the child. He blinked back tears and pressed his fingers against his eyelids \u201cAmen\u201d he whispered hollowly.<\/p>\n \u201cAmen\u201d Joe echoed and bowed his head and tears slowly slid down his cheeks forming runnels through the dust that had coated his skin as a result of his labours.<\/p>\n They stood in silence for some more time. The birds were singing now and both of them heard the sound of the birds\u2019 song, and pondered over the irony of beauty continuing on through a macabre moment of time. Adam shivered and turned to look at Joe. He placed a gentle hand on his brother\u2019s arm<\/p>\n \u201cLook, Joe, you had best take the wagon back and see to the stock. They\u2019ll need some feed and more water. The stage will be here in less than an hour, and we have to talk\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy must I \u2013\u201c Joe\u2019s protest faded from his lips, and he took a deep breath and nodded \u201cSure, we have to talk. I\u2019ll see to the stock and we\u2019ll talk later.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure, we\u2019ll talk later.\u201d Adam watched as his brother walked away and mounted the wagon.<\/p>\n Joe had just loosened the brake on the wagon and flicked the reins when he heard the sound of the shovel biting into the soil. He turned hurriedly and bit his bottom lip. As the wagon rolled slowly back to the yard of the relay station, Joe struggled to shut out the mental image of his brother shoveling back the mound of soil into the grave.<\/p>\n Chapter 4 *************<\/p>\n Billy hauled on the lead reins and drew the horses up in a cloud of dust close to the corral where the fresh horses milled around. The heavy vehicle rocked slightly on its suspension, as the dust enveloped it in a filmy gray sheen.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right, folks, time to git out and git some food and drink \u2013 stop over time just two hours and \u2013\u201c he paused in mid-sentence and turned as the recognisable click of a trigger being pulled back sounded eerily through all the other noises \u201cWhat in tarnations going on here?\u201d he cussed as his feet reached the hard packed soil and he turned to face the relay cabin and saw, with gun pointed directly at him, the tall sombre looking eldest son of Ben Cartwright \u201cWhat\u2019s going on, Adam?\u201d Billy said, stepping forward to the cabin<\/p>\n \u201cNot another step, Billy\u201d Adams voice rasped<\/p>\n \u201cYou must be joshin\u2019\u201d Billy grinned, then stopped as he recognised something in the young mans face that indicated that he was very far from joshing. Even as he stood there the makeshift cabin door opened and Joseph Cartwright stepped outside into the glaring sun. His own pistol pointed directly at the stagecoach and his face was a replica of his brothers.<\/p>\n \u201cTell your passengers to stay on board. Change the horses if you must, but get moving as soon as you can\u201d Adam Cartwright said in a tone of voice that brooked no argument and he swung round slowly, his gun carving an arc in the air as he turned to aim it at one of the passengers<\/p>\n The perspiring form of one of the leading citizens of Virginia City thrust open the door and peered out, glowered at Adam, and Joe, and then at Billy.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought you said there was food and drink here.\u201d he growled, pulling out a kerchief and mopping frantically at the beads of sweat that rolled down his face.<\/p>\n \u201cYou stay right where you are, Mr Jackson\u201d Joe suggested<\/p>\n \u201cYou Cartwright\u2019s taking over the relay business as well is it? Think you can tell us \u2013\u201c Jackson stopped when a bullet whined through the air and spat dust inches from his feet. Hastily he clambered back inside \u201cWhat\u2019s going on here? This is crazy!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSome way to run a stage coach business\u201d a woman whined as she tried to stifle the sounds of crying from her two year old child.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam? Joe? What\u2019s going on here? Where are the Murphys?\u201d Billy demanded, thrusting out his gray bristled chin stubbornly<\/p>\n Adam beckoned him to step forwards, and then raised a hand to stop him after several paces<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s far enough, Billy\u201d<\/p>\n Billy looked at one and then the other of the two brothers. Both of them bore signs of stress. Their eyes were strained, sad, and wistful. Dirt and grime clung to their clothes, and he could see marks on the face of the younger that looked like the course of tears. He frowned and glanced over his shoulder as the sound of a baby crying added to that of the two year olds bawling.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened? Summat bad?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs bad as you can imagine\u201d Adam said quietly \u201cWe just buried Tom and his wife and children\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat? What happened?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe rode in a few hours ago. Martha died in Joe\u2019s arms. Billy, I don\u2019t know what killed them, but I\u2019m pretty much convinced that \u2013\u201c Adam paused and glanced sideways at his brother and Billy saw there the look of tenderness that fell over the older mans face as he looked at Joe. The fear in his eyes, and Billy knew that it was the fear for his brother more than anything else that now haunted the older man, for when he next looked at Billy his eyes were haunted and wild \u201cBilly, don\u2019t let anyone come any closer just in case.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn case?\u201d Billy pushed his hat to the back of his head and surveyed them both.<\/p>\n \u201cJoshua died first, several days ago, then Tom, they must have been too weak to bury the boy, and then Mary died\u2026Billy, it wasn\u2019t pleasant finding them like that and \u2013 and we don\u2019t know what they died from, but it was sure something unpleasant.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you want me to send Dr Martin back to you boys?\u201d<\/p>\n They looked at one another. Joe, his face showed his trust and love for his older brother, respect for whatever he decided upon, and the confidence that he would be right. It was the older man who showed lack of conviction, and that was only due to the love he had for his brother, his fear that the boy could become sick to the death with the illness that had been in the cabin. His responsibility to protect and care for the boy lay upon his heart like a stone. Joe turned away and looked at Billy and shook his head<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of folk out there, and only two doctors to see to them. Best you just leave it to them to decide what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam gave his brother a long look of pride and respect and then turned to Billy and nodded<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019ll take another 22 hours to get to town and another 22 hours for them to come back plus time spent finding them, by which time \u2013\u201c he licked his lips, they were dry and he coughed to clear his throat \u201cBilly, when you see Pa and Hoss, tell them \u2013 tell them we did what we thought to be right and tell them we\u2019ll see them when the next stage comes through\u201d he paused and frowned and bit his lip and looked over at Joe, who inclined his head.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not for another week.\u201d Billy said quietly<\/p>\n \u201cYes, a weeks time. Tell them that, and tell them not to do anything without the doctor\u2019s approval. Tell them \u2013\u201c Adam paused and took a deep breath \u201cTell them we will be thinking of them\u201d he stepped back into the shadows of the cabin, his hand on his brothers shoulder and Joe, looking at the frightened faces peering out of the open windows, and then at Billy, nodded his farewell and stepped with his brother into the cabin.<\/p>\n The door closed quietly.<\/p>\n Within ten minutes the stagecoach rocked back into motion and sent a cloud of dust and dirt and grit billowing skywards across the yard towards the gray clapboard building.<\/p>\n ***********<\/p>\n The sounds of the stagecoach finally drifted away. The two brothers exchanged glances and reholstered their guns. Adam nodded curtly to Joe and indicated the table and chairs with a gesture of the hand. It was obvious it was now time to talk. Both brothers sat down and looked warily at the other.<\/p>\n \u201cWell?\u201d Adam asked first, raising his eyebrows<\/p>\n \u201cWell what?\u201d Joe replied, with a sinking feeling in his stomach<\/p>\n \u201cWhat have you got to tell me?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNuthin\u2019\u201d and the hazel eyes glared defiantly into his brothers\u2019 face.<\/p>\n Adam nodded thoughtfully for a second or two and then sat back, his arms folded across his chest and scanning the sad and anxious face of his youngest brother with a cynical twist to his lips.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat?\u201d snapped Joe eventually \u201cWhat are you looking at me like that for?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I\u2019m waiting for you to tell me what\u2019s been going on this past week that I need to know about\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNeed to know about? What are you getting at, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right. This is how I see it. You left home on Friday with two ranch hands to assist you on fencing the smallest section and you were expected back, with your two ranch hands, by Wednesday at the latest\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJudd Clancy and Dave Jackson were the two worse hands you could have given me. They hate each other \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t give them to you, you chose them yourself\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cChose them myself? Are you crazy? Those two idiots never work on the same job to gether, everybody knows that!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam looked coolly at his brother and raised one eyebrow. He sighed and shrugged \u201cSo, what happened to them? Where are they now?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know!\u201d Joe shrugged and then sagged a little in his chair. Then he looked quizzically up at his brother, his hazel eyes large in appeal as he leaned forward, and placed his elbows on the table. \u201cLook, David decided to go into town Saturday evening. They had been arguing at each other all day and it was driving me crazy. When he said he was going into town I reminded him that it would take him at least 24 hours to get there and another 24 hours to get back. He said it didn\u2019t matter, so long as he was out of Judd\u2019s way. He saddled up and left us to the job!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMmmm, didn\u2019t you try and stop him?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou kidding? I was glad to see the back of him. Between the two of them I spent so much time trying to keep the peace that hardly any work got done. At least with Dave gone I had hopes of Judd and myself getting the section finished in time to get home by Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGo on?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m thirsty. Can\u2019t we have something to drink, Adam, we\u2019ve had nothing since we got here?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUse the water in the canteens. The stove hasn\u2019t been lit for some days but once I get it started we\u2019ll get something to drink and eat.\u201d Adam frowned and glanced around the room and shivered \u201cWe\u2019ll have to scrub this place out\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWHAT?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, give it a thorough scrubbing with boiling water, soap, salt, vinegar, you name it, we\u2019ll have to use it\u2026.\u201d He sighed again and then looked back at his brother \u201cGo on, what happened to Judd?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTom came along next morning and said he was going hunting. Judd suggested we go along with him \u2013\u201c Joe\u2019s voice faltered and he went rather red around the face<\/p>\n \u201cYOU went as well?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure, I didn\u2019t see any harm in it. Tom bagged a good sized deer and said how it would be a good idea for us to go back to his place for a meal. We rather liked the idea of some venison steaks so we went back with him.\u201d Joe took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide at the expression on his brothers\u2019 face \u201cLook, Adam, I had no idea anyone was going to be sick at the time. It was hot, and I was in need of some decent company. Judd is not my idea of decent company!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut, Joe \u2013\u201c Adam scratched his neck slowly, as he pondered over his brothers\u2019 revelations \u201cJoe, don\u2019t you see what\u2019s happened?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLook, Adam, I\u2019m not a prophet. I\u2019m not a doctor either!\u201d Joe replied tersely.<\/p>\n Adam raised a hand and took a deep breath in order to control his emotions. It had not been Joe\u2019s fault but oh, the avenues of anxiety and fear that now opened up before them! He nodded slowly \u201cWhat happened next?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHalfway through the meal two wagons pulled up. They were Quakers en route to California.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd?\u201d Adam prompted as his brothers\u2019 narrative suddenly ran dry.<\/p>\n Joe licked his lips and took another deep breath. He stared at the table and several flies that were doing some kind of waltz around some crumbs scattered from some past meal seemed suddenly overlarge. He gulped noisily.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, a lady came to the door and asked for some water and food. She asked for someone to help guide them to Virginia City as the man they had hired was sick.\u201d<\/p>\n The silence dropped around them like a shroud. Adam leaned back in his chair and surveyed his brother as though he had suddenly sprouted two heads. Joe just stared at the flies but jumped slightly when some portion of the bread moved involuntarily of its own accord. He glanced up at Adam who was obviously waiting for more damning disclosures. The bread heaved over, disclosing a fat maggot and Joe\u2019s stomach heaved.<\/p>\n \u201cMary gave them some food and water. She went to help the sick man and came in later saying she thought he was dying. Josh and Martha went to play in the yard with the children whilst we talked over who could help them. Anyway Judd said he would take them into town. Tom said he would come over and give me a hand with the fencing the next day, but he never came. That\u2019s why the work wasn\u2019t finished by the time you got there\u201d his voice trailed away miserably and he ran his fingers through his dark hair \u201cAnyway, what do you think it is \u2013 this sickness?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. How would I know? I\u2019m no more a doctor than you are!\u201d Adam retorted angrily \u201cOne thing I do know for sure, it\u2019s obviously very contagious and if you didn\u2019t have it before, it\u2019s more than likely both of us could have it by now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow\u2019d you make that out?\u201d Joe asked, his eyes sliding back to view the fat maggot and the flies that were attacking another crumb of discarded food.<\/p>\n \u201cYou held Martha as she was dying, she coughed and breathed all over you, didn\u2019t she? And I\u2019ve \u2013 I\u2019ve been clearing away the mess in their rooms, and on their bodies.\u201d His voice faltered and he looked at his brother\u2019s face and felt contrition touch his heart \u201cLook, Joe \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cOkay, I know, I know what you\u2019re about to say. It was my fault. I should have kept my nose out of their business and stayed at my job. If it had been Hoss he would have done just that, and no one would have been any the wiser \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s not what I was going to say\u201d Adam replied gently. He rubbed his hands over his face and realised he was tired, very tired, and there was still a lot to do. He looked about the room once again \u201cLook, there\u2019s no point in worrying about things that may never happen. If we take sensible precautions neither of us need be ill.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what precautions do you suggest, brother?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, for a start \u2013 why don\u2019t you go and bury that dead calf and check the mother? It\u2019s hot and we know enough about heat and dead bodies and flies to know that they spread disease, whatever the disease may have been\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd what will you be doing?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll get the stove alight and boil some water. There should be enough salt or vinegar to use with it\u2026I\u2019ll start cleaning out the rooms\u2026I\u2019ve no wish to stay anywhere with maggots and flies as my bedside companions\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d Joe frowned and pulled away the table \u201cDo you think we could get this sickness?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t pretend that there isn\u2019t a possibility, Joe. We\u2019ve both been \u2013 \u201c he brushed some flies away from his face \u201ctoo close for comfort. It could be either one of us, both of us or neither. Time will tell, I guess\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd, you don\u2019t know what it could be?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know it isn\u2019t diphtheria, nor smallpox nor scarlet fever. I\u2019d have burnt the place down had it been any of them, and it wasn\u2019t poison of any kind, because had it been they would have all died at the same time, within hours of one another.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDysentery?\u201d Joe suggested<\/p>\n \u201cCould be! My guess is that it started with that wagonload of Quakers. In which case \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cIn which case, Judd will have it and so will the town\u201d<\/p>\n Adam chewed on his thumb for some seconds and then glanced over at Joe and shook his head \u201cJoe, there\u2019s no point in worrying about them now. We can\u2019t change that situation and, thankfully, there are doctors in town. We need to care for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure, you\u2019re right.\u201d Joe put out a hand and took a deep breath \u201cAdam, I\u2019m sorry I fought with you earlier. I\u2019m sorry I raised my hand against you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d Adam took the hand and shook it warmly and then, in a rare gesture of warmth, he gave his brother a hug \u201cLet\u2019s get on now, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure, Adam. And then I\u2019ll come in and give you a hand.\u201d He smiled at his brother and quickly left the room, closing the door firmly behind him.<\/p>\n Adam watched him go with no answering smile on his face. The tasks ahead were unpleasant and could even be in the realms of unnecessary if they were already contaminated with the disease. He forced himself to get the stove alight and began to fill pans with water and as they boiled he went in search of salt and vinegar and any other herbs that he could find that were the plainsman\u2019s only defenses against any disease at that time.<\/p>\n Chapter 5 ***********<\/p>\n One room scrubbed clean. He closed the door and wiped his brow. There had been dried faeces on the floor. It had turned his stomach to see maggots on the linen and mattress. Flies everywhere. It was cleaner now. He had used the old seaman\u2019s trick of scattering the floorboards with salt and then sluicing them with boiling water and then scouring them with the hard bristled brush. Outside in the yard the fire devoured the soiled linen and bedding. Smoke like incense coiled from the corner of the room from the dried bunches of herbs he had found in Mary\u2019s cold store. Hop Sing had told him how effective they could be as a preventive against disease.<\/p>\n The stove was burning hot, and water bubbled in their pans and he picked up more salt. He fumbled and dropped some and paused to think \u2013 was it a sign of mere fatigue and hunger, or of the sickness?<\/p>\n Joe came into the room as Adam closed the door on the other room. The two brothers looked at one another and Joe sighed<\/p>\n \u201cYou look a mess.\u201d He observed<\/p>\n \u201cSo do you\u201d Adam responded with a smile.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw the fire. What are you burning?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnything that\u2019s been soiled. I found some clean untouched linen in a closet. Look, Joe, any chance of getting some milk from those cows? We could do with some, and best feed those dogs. Once we\u2019ve eaten, we\u2019ll no doubt sleep for hours!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI could sleep on my feet right now \u2013\u201c Joe yawned and stretched, \u201cI\u2019ll go and see about that milk \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n Joe made his way slowly to the barn and to the cattle byre where the milk cow stood in her stall, chomping at the hay. She turned liquid brown eyes to view him and continued to chew the cud as she watched him pull out a stool and bucket.<\/p>\n He had gentle hands and she was quite happy to let him strip her of the milk that would have been her calfs. The white liquid frothed in the bucket, rich and creamy. She was a good yielder and Joe felt some peace of mind steal over him as he sat with his hands doing their work, and the warmth of her body reminding him of days gone by when he had been a child and one of his chores had been to bring in the early morning milk.<\/p>\n When he left the barn he stood for a moment or two and surveyed the scene about him. It was daylights ending, the sky was darkening and the first star was already twinkling high overhead. In the yard he saw Adam throw something onto the flames that licked hungrily upwards and he wondered just how bad things could have been in those rooms. He realised then that his brother had protected him from seeing the worse and for that he was truly grateful. He leaned down and picked up the bucket.<\/p>\n Strange. His head was spinning round and he felt dizzy. Don\u2019t be stupid, he told himself. Don\u2019t let your imagination run away with itself. You have had nothing to eat since morning and little to drink. You\u2019re bound to be dizzy. He took a deep breath and walked down to the house. Adam was already going inside, the door swung open and closed behind him.<\/p>\n When he pushed his way into the house Adam glanced up and smiled. Joe looked around the room and frowned thoughtfully. It looked so much cleaner, and smelt \u2013 he raised his face and inhaled the aroma \u2013 it smelt of sweet pleasant things instead of vomit, excrement and death.<\/p>\n Adam jerked his thumb over to the stove where the coffee pot was steaming on the hot plate. Then he threw some boiling water over the table and began to scrub at it. He was now stripped to the waist for his shirt had become so wet with sweat that it had been more of a nuisance and had to be discarded. He scrubbed so hard at the table that Joe wondered if he would wear the brush down to the stub of the bristles. He picked up a cloth and began to dry away the excess water. They worked together without a word.<\/p>\n \u201cPa told me once \u201c Adam suddenly broke the silence by speaking out \u201chow he was on board a ship when typhus broke out. The men were falling like – like flies, he said. Gran\u2019pa Stoddard ordered the men who were able, to get out and keel haul the deck. Then everything had to be scrubbed inside. Scrubbed and scoured with boiling salted water and strong soap. They kept away from other ships for a week to ten days. Every day the deck and everything inside and out was scrubbed and scoured.\u201d He wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his arm and straightened his back \u201cPerhaps it\u2019ll help here too\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat? We gotta clean this place out every day?\u201d Joe protested, his eyes widening<\/p>\n \u201cGran\u2019pa Stoddard saved most of his men. And Hop Sing told me how burning herbs in a sick room could purify it. I\u2019m not sure of what, but I think we need all the help we can get.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDo you really think it\u2019ll be that bad, Adam?\u201d Joe said quietly<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want it to be, Joe, but if we don\u2019t protect ourselves in whatever way we can, then we have only ourselves to blame if it does come to the very worse thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI guess you\u2019re right.\u201d Joe forced a smile \u201cCoffee? I brought the milk\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood, but first of all \u2013\u201c Adam heaved some pans back onto the stove \u201cwe\u2019ll wash ourselves down. And before we use that milk, Joe, pour it through that cloth\u201d<\/p>\n Joe opened his mouth to protest and then clamped it shut. He had never experienced the misery of epidemics that swept through towns and settlements like a prairie fire out of control. But he could remember little Martha dying in his arms only hours ago. Oh, was it really only hours?<\/p>\n They used the strong green soap and washed themselves thoroughly. The soap smelt of lye and pine. Joe hated the smell. Adam scrubbed his shirt clean as well, hanging it on a hook near the stove to dry off. As they sat at the table and drank their coffee they watched the steam coming off the shirt as it dried. On the stove ham sizzled along with some eggs. Joe was so hungry that he longed for the food to cook more quickly. He looked over at his brother and saw the weariness in his brother\u2019s eyes and sighed<\/p>\n \u201cI wish we were home now.\u201d he said quietly, cradling his fingers around the cup.<\/p>\n \u201cSo do I\u201d Adam replied and he nodded slowly, his eyes half closed in sleep.<\/p>\n *************<\/p>\n \u201cMr Cartwright? Mr Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben Cartwright moved away from the table with such force that everything on it rattled. He threw down the serviette and was halfway to the door when it was thrust open and Matt Taitt, one of the ranch hands, stepped into the room<\/p>\n \u201cJudd\u2019s back, Mr Cartwright, he\u2019s been shot\u201d<\/p>\n Ben paused momentarily, before hurrying from the room behind the ranch hand and to the bunk -house where he could see several of the hands assisting Judd through the door into the room. Questions and fears raced through the rancher mind. Judd was with Joe, but had returned alone. He\u2019d returned alone and shot so what had happened to Dave the other ranch hand, and more importantly to the loving father, what had happened to his son?<\/p>\n With these questions tumbling through his head Ben hurried to the sick mans bed, where Hop Sing was already peeling aside the bloodied shirt in order to examine and tend the injury. It was an unpleasant sight, and the men there stepped back and murmured amongst themselves. The man was all but dead, but had ridden hard to reach the Ponderosa. The question they were now asking themselves was exactly what had happened to Joe, and to Davy, if Judd was here now in such a bad condition.<\/p>\n \u201cVelly bad, Mr Cattlight\u201d Hop Sing murmured softly, \u201cNo need get doctah.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben nodded and approached the bed and leaned over the dying man who raised his eyes in an attempt to get the face of his employer more into focus.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Judd. It\u2019s all right, you made it home safely\u201d Ben said gently, taking hold of the mans hand in his own, for Judd was young, as young as Joe, and when he died there would be grieving parents to mourn his passing.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Cartwright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here\u201d Ben said patiently, knowing that the dying could not be rushed, but oh, if only he would tell him what he needed to know \u201cJudd? Where\u2019s Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBack at the fence. He\u2019s okay, Mr Cartwright, honest to God, he\u2019s okay.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben nodded slowly and took a deep breath of relief. He signaled to the men to step back and to stop crowding the bed. Hop Sing continued to gently bathe the wound, although there was little point, but it offered some comfort and hope to the young man.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Cartwright, there\u2019s some folk on the far side of Goose Peak. I had to take them there, didn\u2019t risk taking \u2018em into town like how they wanted me to.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSlowly, Judd, slowly now. What folk are these?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cQuakers. Three families. Sickness in the wagons, several died even as we were on the road so I thought best take them to open land and fresh water. Get here and ask you for advice.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben took a deep breath. Sickness. He bit on his bottom lip and glanced down at Hop Sing and then looked down on the pallid sweating face of the youth<\/p>\n \u201cWhat kind of sickness, Judd?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI dunno, sir. Sweating, fainting, fever and it sure moved when it gets going. Didn\u2019t seem no one was sick but one man when we left then suddenly everyone was coming down with it. Some kids there, they got sick too.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid Joe meet them?\u201d<\/p>\n Matt Taitt put a hand on Bens shoulder, obviously the rancher would want to know about his son, but there were other questions that needed to be asked, and other people to consider. Ben glanced up anxiously<\/p>\n \u201cAsk him who shot him? Quakers are supposed to be peaceable folk \u201c Matt suggested.<\/p>\n \u201cJudd\u201d Ben leaned closer to the man for the rapid breathing indicated that there was less time now than ever to find any answers to any questions any one would ask \u201cJudd, who shot you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI left the wagons there. Miss Prudence said it was a good idea. I wanted to get the doctor. Couldn\u2019t take the wagons into town. Couldn\u2019t take them there, too many could get sick and die \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s right, Judd, you did right.\u201d Ben whispered reassuringly<\/p>\n \u201cThen I saw Dave riding up and told him what had happened. He said I had the sickness too now and that I would kill anyone who touched me. I ain\u2019t got the sickness though, have I, Mr Cartwright?\u201d he turned appealing eyes to the older man, who laid his hand reassuringly on his shoulder and shook his head. \u201cI told him I had to come and see you, you\u2019d know what to do for the best and as I rode off, Dave shot me. I fell \u2013 \u201c his voice trailed away and Hop Sing got to his feet and shuffled away. \u201cMr Cartwright, don\u2019t worry about Joe, he\u2019s okay. He was at the Murphy\u2019s having a great time \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cJudd, did Joe come into contact with these people? Do you know if \u2013\u201c his voice trailed away as Judd gave a shudder that made the bed rattle. Then his body went slack and everyone there knew then, that Judd was dead. Ben gently closed the young mans eyes and with a sigh got to his feet. He looked over at Matt and the other men grouped there and then at Hop Sing<\/p>\n \u201cWell, you heard what Judd said. We\u2019ve sick people on the Ponderosa and a killer roaming loose.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMr Cartwright, I don\u2019t much like the idea of them sick folk being around. Seems to me if they have food and clean water, it would be best for them to stay put as they are, no need for any of us to get involved and get the sickness too.\u201d Matt observed, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Judd had caught the sickness we would probably have it too.\u201d Another exclaimed with panic touching his voice and the murmur from the other men was a clear indication of how quickly fear could arouse emotions amongst them. Ben raised a hand<\/p>\n \u201cI doubt if Judd was stupid enough to get in contact with any of the sick people. But, if he had been, there is very little we can do about it now. He\u2019s dead now. Joel, I\u2019d like you to attend to his burial. Matt, I want you to ride into town and inform the doctor and also Roy Coffee of what has happened here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut what if I\u2019ve got the sickness, boss?\u201d Matt\u2019s eyes opened wide in horror \u201cIn this heat and in some areas of town, it could spread like a wild prairie fire\u201d<\/p>\n Ben nodded thoughtfully and looked at the other men there. He took a deep breath and placed a hand on the ranch hands shoulder<\/p>\n \u201cI understand what you mean, Matt. All right, this is what I\u2019ll do \u2013 I\u2019ll get one of the boys who hasn\u2019t been in contact with any of us, to go into town. Then I want several of you to ride with me to track Dave down, and to locate these wagons.\u201d<\/p>\n Several men grumbled loudly about this, and shifted uneasily about the room. Matt Taitt looked sullen and Ben shook his head sadly<\/p>\n \u201cLook, boys, if we have got this sickness, which I very much doubt, it won\u2019t matter too much about going to those wagons, will it? \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cIf we ain\u2019t got the sickness we sure will if we go near them wagons\u201d Jake yelled and his comment was supported loudly by the other men there.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll make sure that we don\u2019t go near enough the wagons to catch any sickness. But they need some contact with other people, just so that they know help is on the way. We also need to know what kind of sickness it is and what they need in the way of supplies.\u201d Ben\u2019s black eyes pierced each one of them through the marrow of their souls, and they quailed somewhat \u201cYou\u2019re all good Christian men, and as such would go to the aid of those in need just as we would expect them to come to our aid, should we require it.\u201d<\/p>\n There was a murmur of assent and Ben nodded, and, followed by Hop Sing, left the bunk- house. Joel glanced about him and then at Matt<\/p>\n \u201cI ain\u2019t wanting to get any sickness \u2013\u201c he grumbled<\/p>\n \u201cNo one\u2019s expecting you to, so shut up!\u201d came Matt\u2019s swift rejoinder.<\/p>\n They heard the ringing of the triangle summoning the men from their duties on other parts of the ranch.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right, men, let\u2019s saddle up and get ready. Mr Cartwright will want us riding out of here like yesterday!\u201d Matt yelled and showed a good example by grabbing at his hat and leaving the building immediately.<\/p>\n Chapter 6 *********<\/p>\n Hoss Cartwright pocketed his change and nodded his farewell to Sally Cass. He leaned down and picked up a sack of flour with an ease that would have been the envy of Widow Clementine\u2019s husband, \u2018Arry, had he been alive to see it.<\/p>\n Stepping out of the General Store he dumped the sack in amongst the rest of the dry goods and straightened his back and looked around him. Normally life in Virginia City was a matter of routine for its inhabitants. He would expect to see Roy lounging on the porch of the Sherriffs Office. There would be various townsfolk strolling along the sidewalks. Cowpokes and miners would be mingling together for drinks in the numerous beer houses and saloons. Sometimes a wagon would roll by loaded with goods for some homesteader. Then there would be the carriages containing the prosperous wives of the more elite personnel in town. That was on a normal day in Virginia City.<\/p>\n He pushed his hat back in amazement at the stampede that was taking place down the sidewalks and Main Street and all headed towards the Stagecoach depot. He pulled out his watch and checked the time. For once, Billy was early! Despite being a major feat, it was not so great that it would cause this much interest.<\/p>\n Had he missed out on an announcement of someone important coming to town? He scratched his head and viewed the commotion with renewed interest before deciding for himself that he should amble along and see what was going on.<\/p>\n It seemed that everyone was talking at one. A great babble of voices all rose to a crescendo of sound that could only be the prelude to panic. He elbowed his way through the throng and came stomach to stomach with Mr Jackson. Jackson stopped wiping his face, and glared at Hoss with such a hatred that it was practically tangible<\/p>\n \u201cYou! You and your brothers!\u201d Jackson yelled, stabbing Hoss in the chest with his index finger<\/p>\n \u201cHey, steady up thar, Mr Jackson\u201d Hoss protested, pushing the offending finger away with a firm but gentle hand \u201c\u2019Fore you go making accusations, perhaps you could tell me what\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour brothers \u2013 that\u2019s what\u2019s going on\u201d a female snapped as she held her child tightly to her \u201cFiring guns, not letting folks have their proper stop, and telling \u2018em to clear on out. A fine how d\u2019you do, I must say\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd scaring folks by telling \u2018em there was sickness about \u2013\u201c Jackson yelled.<\/p>\n \u201cSickness \u2013 what sickness?\u201d Hoss asked and his question was echo\u2019d around the crowd \u201cC\u2019mon, tell me, what sickness?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBilly seems to be the only one who knows \u2013 ask him\u201d came the short reply.<\/p>\n The crowd, including Hoss, now surrounded Billy who told them what he could to the best of his knowledge. It was sufficient however to cause the stampede to now flow in the opposite direction as the crowd mithered around and then scattered in all four directions of town. Billy found himself alone on the street with Hoss. He shook his head and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his face and neck<\/p>\n \u201cI rode as fast as I could to get into town to tell the doc and Sherriff Coffee, but that fool Jackson kind of got the drop on me there, Hoss\u201d he explained apologetically<\/p>\n \u201cDid Adam or Joe say they had the sickness, Billy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNope, jest what I said, the Murphys had died and they had jest buried \u2018em all.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe Murphy\u2019s\u201d Hoss said sadly, and he shook his head \u201cJoshua and Martha\u2026shucks, they were only little kids\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMartha died in Joe\u2019s arms, so Adam said\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss nodded and stood quietly on the sidewalk. He stood for some time with the sun beating down on him as he thought over all the implications of what had been said and what had been left unsaid. Eventually he moved and strode back to his wagon, only to find a crowd of the townsfolk gathered around it. He elbowed his way through and clambered onto the seat<\/p>\n \u201cHey, Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah?\u201d he turned to look down at the anxious face of one of the newer homesteaders<\/p>\n \u201cIs it true your brothers have got the sickness?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, it ain\u2019t, mister\u201d he picked up the reins of the horses and frowned slightly \u201cYou jest git that idea clear outa your head, you hear?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou just tell your old man we don\u2019t want any Cartwrights coming into town nor anywhere near if they got sickness on the Ponderosa.\u201d Another voice yelled<\/p>\n \u201cYou Cartwrights should be quarantined.\u201d A shrill voice; that of a woman, hovered over the murmers of the crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cI understand you\u2019re all worried an\u2019 all, but there ain\u2019t no sickness on the Ponderosa. If there were, my Pa would make sure no one came into town, ma\u2019am\u201d<\/p>\n Roy Coffee appeared through the crowd, elbowing them out of the way in his inimitable fashion. They parted to let him through and he approached the wagon and looked up at Hoss<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s all this news, Hoss? Everything all right back home?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYep. There ain\u2019t no sickness on the Ponderosa, Roy, but seems there is at the relay station. The Murphy\u2019s have all died from it and \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I understand Adam and Joe are there now?\u201d Roy\u2019s blue eyes hardened somewhat behind the gleam of his spectacles \u201cDo they want the doctor there?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, Roy. It seems you should be talking to Billy, he seems to be the one who knows what\u2019s going on.\u201d Hoss replied, his lips thinning in his impatience to be going home.<\/p>\n \u201cListen, young man, a word of advice. You keep away from that relay station, d\u2019you hear? If the sickness is that bad, then we want it kept contained as much as possible. The more folks go there and then travel about the more likely it is to reach town and \u2013\u201c someone shrieked and despite Roy flapping his arms about like a demented turkey for peace and quiet, the crowd began to mumble rather like Versuvius with cries of \u201cit\u2019s in town\u201d \u201cThe sickness\u201d \u201cThe children \u2013\u201c and suddenly they were scattering, to spread their wrongly interpreted news far and wide.<\/p>\n \u201cDangburn it, Roy, what you go and do a thing like that fer?\u201d Hoss groaned<\/p>\n \u201cWal\u201d Roy pushed his hat to the back of his thinning hair \u201cThe worse sickness in the world is fear and panic. And it looks like we\u2019re about to get a full blown epidemic of both!\u201d<\/p>\n Paul Martin hurried across the road, waving his hat in an attempt to prevent the young man leaving. Hoss waited as patiently as he could for the portly doctor to reach the wagon<\/p>\n \u201cIs it true about the Murphy\u2019s, Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to Billy, yes, sir.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll four of them dead?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, sir\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat about your brothers?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam and Joe were there when little Martha died. Buried \u2018em before the stage got there. Reckon they\u2019ll stay put for a while \u2013 \u201c Hoss chewed on his bottom lip and looked down at the doctor \u201cAny idea what it could be, Doc?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNone at all. This is the first I\u2019ve heard of it. There\u2019s no sickness of any kind in town, other than what is usual at this time of year\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen \u2013 \u201c Hoss gulped, thinking of Adam and Joe alone in the relay station \u201cWhat do you reckon we should do about my brothers, Doc?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll try and get to them as soon as I can, Hoss. At present I\u2019m run off my feet with some other things, but as soon as I can, I\u2019ll get to them.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss nodded. As soon as he could, huh! He flicked the reins and urged the horses\u2019 forwards. As soon as he could and that could be too late! Once out of town he flicked the reins and sent the horses into a gallop.<\/p>\n Some miles from home and a rider in a cloud of dust emerged galloping towards him. He pulled the horses up sharp and veered to the left in order for the horseman to thunder past him. He screwed up his eyes in order to make out who the rider was, and recognised young Les Hallaran. He yelled after him to stop, but Les was going too fast and was too intent on his assignment to listen to Hoss.<\/p>\n ********<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m Prudence Callaghan\u201d<\/p>\n The young woman stepped forward, and stopped at what she must have felt was a safe distance from the group of men. She was a pretty woman, with soft eyes, and dark hair bundled in a snood, dressed in a gray frock with white collar and cuffs. She looked at the men and settled on Ben as the leader<\/p>\n \u201cI appreciate you letting us stay here, Mr Cartwright. Judd explained all about you, and said you would rather we stayed here than ride on into town.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI would, Miss Callaghan. Do you have any idea what this sickness is all about?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot really. We were four wagons when we started. Everything went well until some weeks ago when we stopped at a small place just on the Utah border. It was deserted so we made camp there. We stayed several days as there were wells there and plenty of water.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think I know the place you mean. No one has lived there in some years. It\u2019s never been a healthy area, the homesteaders get sick and leave.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can well believe it. Nothing seems to live there but mosquito\u2019s and rats.\u201d \u201cYou stayed at the relay station \u2013 the Murphys \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n \u201cOh yes, they were very hospitable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWas there a young man there with them and Judd?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, a young man called Joe. But I never saw him \u2013 Judd just spoke to him before leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben nodded and straightened his back. It was not exactly reassuring information and it left him feeling unsure as to what to do. He turned to Matt and waved him forward so that they were both sitting on their horses looking down at the young woman<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve brought you fresh fruit and food that we felt you may need. I\u2019ve also sent one of my men into town to get the doctor to see to you. Hopefully if you stay here, and make sure that your people stay put, we can contain this sickness here. Are there many sick at the moment?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cA woman and her child. But they do not seem to be so ill as the others were previously.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben nodded and turned to Matt \u201cGet everything unloaded and leave it here for them to collect when we leave.\u201d Matt nodded acknowledgement and rode to the wagon whilst Ben concluded his conversation with Miss Callaghan.<\/p>\n The temptation to ride to the relay station, and on to where Joe and Adam would be working on the fences was very strong in Ben\u2019s heart and mind. But the fear that Judd may have brought something of the sickness with him, thereby contaminating him and the other men, cautioned him to follow the course of wisdom. He turned Bucks head towards home.<\/p>\n *********<\/p>\n Adam surveyed the cow thoughtfully. No doubt about it, she was due to deliver her calf sometime that day, or evening. He chewed on his bottom lip and walked around her, hoping that he could gauge whether or not her delivery would be an easy one. An easy one meaning one that she could do without any help from either of them.<\/p>\n He had fed the animals, watered them, fussed over Sport and Cochise, and milked the cow. He was tired. He wiped his brow and stared at the cow. The cow stared back.<\/p>\n \u201cLook\u201d he said in a very even patient voice \u201cIf you intend having this calf today, I want it to be a clean delivery. No fuss. No bother. No bawling out for help in the middle of the night. Do you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n The cow chewed her cud and stared at him thoughtfully. Her brown eyes looked reproachful. He reached out and stroked her neck and ran his hand along her flanks and sighed \u2013 no doubt about it, that calf was a big one and from the way it was laying, it was going to arrive in a hurry.<\/p>\n He left the barn with a bucket of cool milk and stood at the doorway and looked down at the relay station. It had been a strange night. They had slept on mattresses of straw over which they had thrown clean linen and their own blankets. They had slept the sleep of the exhausted and woken up just as weary as when they had gone to bed.<\/p>\n Perhaps, after coffee and some flapjacks inside them, they would feel much better. He was striding down towards the building when the door opened and Joe emerged. He was hanging onto the doorframe, and seemed to swing on it for a second, and then slithered onto his knees.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam. Adam\u201d he doubled over, clutched at his stomache and vomited violently into the dirt.<\/p>\n Bucket and milk were scattered as Adam put his legs to good use and ran all the way down to the place where his brother lay, doubled up, groaning in pain. Adam tried to think of anything at all his brother may have said to have warned him that this was possible, that he could be ill, but there had been nothing. There had been nothing, except for the restlessness of his sleep during that night.<\/p>\n In one swift move he gathered his brother into his arms and hurried him back into the house. There he settled him back down onto the truckle bed and felt his brow and pulse. The pulse beat was rapid, too rapid. His brow was hot, feverishly hot. Already Joe\u2019s lips were becoming dry, like those of a man so hot with fever that all moisture was being drawn from his body.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s alright. Joe, it\u2019s alright\u201d Adam murmured gently, wiping a wet cloth around the younger mans face. How could he be saying it was alright; when it was so obviously NOT alright. Joe had passed from being healthy one minute to this fever ridden body the next. It had been as swift as a bullet, only silent, and deadly.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d Joe\u2019s hands clutched at his brothers arms and tightened as a spasm of pain swept over him, causing him to groan involuntarily and double over once again.<\/p>\n Adam felt bile touch his own throat as vomit slewed from the younger mans mouth and onto the bed coverings and floor. Joe\u2019s legs threshed against the bedding and he groaned so pitifully that Adams eyes filled with tears and as he gently wiped clean the boys face and placed a cool cloth on his brow, he realised that his brothers needs were now extended to another extremity as his bowels had turned to water.<\/p>\n With a gentleness that not many would have associated with the eldest Cartwright brother, Adam began to undress his little brother. He covered him with a blanket and went and boiled water with a scattering of herbs, sweet smelling and comforting. When he returned to the bedroom Joe had vomited more, vomit alarmingly streaked with the ominous streak of blood.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t panic. Panic and you\u2019ll frighten him as well as yourself. Adam bit his lips and set to cleaning his brother. Washing him gently. Letting the water cool on his feverishly hot body. He dribbled cold boiled water through the parched lips. Wiped away the sweat that beaded the youthful brow.<\/p>\n I remember when you were a baby, Joseph, and your mother held you in her arms and nursed you at her breast. I remember you when you lay helpless and weak, with a red angry face as you denied your existence so soon in this world. I remember you when you cried for no other reason than that you wanted to be fed, to be cleaned, to be loved. Just like now I would hold you, and just like now I would clean you. You were weak then, and you are weak now. When you needed me then, I came when you cried. Cry for me now, I\u2019m still here. I\u2019m still here.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d his name was whispered through hoarse lips, from a voice parched by the burning acid of bile and vomit \u201cAdam, you – you won\u2019t let them get me, will you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Joe, no one will get you, I promise\u201d he whispered with a break in his voice as his brothers tear filled eyes turned to his face \u201cI promise\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo many of them. They\u2019re buzzing about and crawling everywhere. I can feel them crawling over my body, Adam. Don\u2019t \u2013 don\u2019t let them get me, will you?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam frowned, and then realised that his brother was talking about the flies and the maggots that had made both their skins crawl the previous day. He drew in a deep breath and stroked back the dark hair. Joe\u2019s hair was wet from perspiration, spiked with beads of sweat. It curled rebelliously as Adams fingers stroked through it.<\/p>\n You bawled for twenty- four hours after you were born. Got redder and redder in the face, and we couldn\u2019t see your eyes for nigh on a week. But you had a mass of dark hair even then. Don\u2019t go quiet on me, Joe.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong with me, Adam? I feel \u2013 weak \u2013 I just feel so tired and weak\u201d his voice was less than a whisper, Adam had to lean his head down and let the silently breathed words drift into his ear<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know, Joe\u201d he replied quietly \u201cBut you\u2019ll get better soon, I promise you.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t let those flies come back\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAm I \u2013 Am I going to die?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot if I can help it, Joe\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t get to finish the fencing.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam swallowed a lump in his throat. Darn the fencing he wanted to shout, and darn this place. He bowed his head and closed his eyes tightly, as tightly as he could to try and shut out the anger and the disgust and misery he felt at that moment. He could feel his brother\u2019s body trembling in his arms and hurriedly pulled the blanket from his own bed and covered his brother with it.<\/p>\n He looked down at the pallid waxy face with its long lashes forming a gentle crescent shadow on the pale cheeks. The sheen of perspiration gleamed on the usually tanned skin. Gently he removed the soiled clothing and blanket and took it to the other room.<\/p>\n *********<\/p>\n \u201cPa\u201d<\/p>\n The one word, exclamation and accusation all in one, stopped Ben in his tracks. He felt a dreadful fear grip him as he walked hurriedly towards his son<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWrong? Jest about everything, pa! Where\u2019ve you bin, fer Pete\u2019s sake\u201d Hoss ran his strong fingers through his scant hair, making it stand on end as a result. \u201cPa, you heard about any sickness on the Ponderosa?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTell me what you know, son\u201d Ben said quietly, unbuckling his belt and trying to still the silent voice that niggled at the back of his brain. Ignored also the tightening of his stomach as though in preparation for some granite fist to strike a felling blow.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Murphy\u2019s way station was hit by some sickness. They\u2019re dead\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll of them?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThet\u2019s not all, pa. Adam and Joe are there. They buried them, seems little Martha died in Joe\u2019s arms\u201d Hoss put out a hand as he saw his father stagger slightly, just a slight faltering, for then the dark eyes turned back to him and demanded more \u201cBilly and the stagecoach saw them yesterday. Adam and Joe told them to keep driving.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWere they alright?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey were then, pa, but they told Billy they wouldn\u2019t leave until next week.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben said nothing, but stared at the far off wall. That\u2019s how he would expect his sons to act. Perhaps they were dying now. They would need him and Hoss. He glanced at Hoss who was watching him with anxious, frightened blue eyes. He took a deep breath and nodded<\/p>\n \u201cThey did right. No need to take unnecessary risks, not with something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut, pa, that was hours ago, I bin waiting for you for ages so\u2019s we could ride on out there and be with them\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo \u2013 \u201c Ben reached out a hand and seized Hoss\u2019 arm \u201cNo, we need to stay put right here. We could well have the sickness ourselves and the more we travel about, the more likely we are to spread it abroad. Did Hop Sing tell you about Judd and Dave?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, but that don\u2019t make no sense, pa. I know they didn\u2019t see eye to eye at times, but I can\u2019t imagine Dave shooting Judd down.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHumm\u201d Ben shook his head \u201cFear of the unknown, the unseen, makes people act in strange ways.\u201d He took a deep breath and was about to speak when the sound of horses entering the yard make him turn, hopefully, in the direction of the door.<\/p>\n \u201cD\u2019you reckon it could be Joe and Adam?\u201d Hoss said hopefully, trailing behind his father as they approached the door.<\/p>\n \u201cI pray so\u201d came Ben\u2019s fervent reply and he pulled the door wide and stepped out onto the verandah.<\/p>\n Hoss noticed the droop of the shoulders and knew that their hopes were dashed. He stepped to his fathers\u2019 side and paused. Doctor Paul Martin drew up his buggy and beside him rode Dave, his rifle nestled in the crook of his arm.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s going on here?\u201d Ben demanded, striding forwards with his dark eyes bright with anger \u201cDavy? You\u2019ve some explaining to do, boy. Paul? What are you doing here?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou may well ask\u201d Paul Martin growled. He clambered down from the buggy and grabbed at his medical bag. \u201cI was on the way to see the people on that wagon train you warned me about \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cI see. My man found you then?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh yes, he found me, the trouble is, this other found me as well.\u201d He jerked his thumb in Dave\u2019s direction \u201cAnd forced me to come here instead.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhy, David?\u201d Hoss frowned \u201cThose folk need a doctor to see to them, Pa promised them that help and \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cAnd they ain\u2019t got no rights to a doctor. NO good you saying any different, Hoss, nor none of you either. Just git into the house \u2013\u201c he swung the rifle in a steady arc \u201cI mean it, Mr Cartwright, git into the house\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss and Ben exchanged looks and without a word returned to the house. They were followed closley by Paul and then David. At the doorway, Dave turned to check around the yard in order to ascertain that he had not been noticed.<\/p>\n The door closed with a soft thud.<\/p>\n \u201cYou kin sit down, Mr Cartwright. I want you to be comfortable, you know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll right, Davy, enough of this charade, boy. Why don\u2019t you just tell us what it is that\u2019s on your mind and why you killed young Judd?\u201d Ben asked with a scowl on his face as he took the young mans advice and sat down.<\/p>\n \u201cYou killed Judd?\u201d Paul Martin said looking at David with a mixture of emotions on his countenance.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t meant to happen\u201d David said with a slight frown on his brow and he looked at Ben with the clear -eyed look of an innocent, unaware of the harm he had achieved in his actions. \u201cMr Cartwright, Judd had been with those people who had the sickness. He said he was going to ride on here and get you to send someone for the doctor but I knew, Mr Cartwright, that if he did that, then he could be bringing the sickness to the Ponderosa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut, Davy, what else could he have done?\u201d Hoss asked gently, his blue eyes fixed upon the anxious face of the young man<\/p>\n \u201cOne things for sure, Hoss, he should never have thought of bringing those folk onto the Ponderosa. I told him that if he did that, he was signing your death warrants. I ain\u2019t messing \u2013\u201c he licked his lips, the first sign of nervousness he had displayed \u201cMr Cartwright, did I ever tell you about my folks?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, Davy, I don\u2019t believe you ever did.\u201d Ben glanced over at his son, the tone of his voice was gentle, it was a tone Hoss knew well. It was the voice of a man seeking to calm and reassure a nervous young man with his finger on the trigger of his rifle. Hoss sat down on the edge of the big coffee table and waited.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, sir, my folks settled on a small place in Utah. I had brothers and sisters then. I guess I was about seven years old and for the first year or so, we all had the best of times together. Yes, sir, they were the happiest days of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n Seconds ticked by as he paused. His narrative had obviously released memories of those happy days and he wished to dwell, fondly, upon them. He sighed, and unconsciously, everyone else in the room did likewise.<\/p>\n \u201cHappened a wagon came by and the folk asked if they could settle along with us. The folks all agree that it would be fine for them to do so, and if more folks came along, then the settlement would soon grow into a good sized town in no time at all.\u201d Dave\u2019s voice was a slow drawl, and the three men sat and listened as though there was nothing incongruous about being there under threat by the rifle the young man held in his hands so steadily. \u201cWithin a few days on, one of the got sick. Then another. The whole lot of them died within less than a week. A few days later my ma got sick and then someone else. Within six weeks there were only half a dozen of us left alive. We waited awhile to see if we would die too, but we did not. Our hopes did though. So did the settlement. My brother and I went to live with an old aunt and when she died we just roamed. The Ponderosa was my first taste of what home could have been like. I could not let Judd ruin it like he would have done if he brought the sickness here too.\u201d<\/p>\n His voice ended on a high note. It prompted him to get back on his feet and grip his rifle as though it was necessary for them to understand how important everything was to him. Hoss rose to his feet slowly and put his hands on his hips and looked at the young man<\/p>\n \u201cDave, your concerns for the Ponderosa did not give you the right to shoot down a man. You know that, don\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe was coming here. He had the sickness, Hoss\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMebbe so\u201d Hoss said quietly, taking a step and two towards him \u201cMebbe so. The fact is that we\u2019ll never know now, will we? He\u2019s dead, Dave. He died here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe died here?\u201d Dave\u2019s face was a portrait of misery as he looked from one to the other of them. Hoss stepped a little nearer and reached out a hand \u201cThat means you may all have the sickness then?\u201d Dave groaned. The hold on the rifle tightened and he back paced a little way, distancing himself from Hoss. \u201cYou\u2019d best get back there, Hoss, and sit awhile \u2013 there ain\u2019t no place we\u2019re going jest yet.\u201d<\/p>\n Silence settled upon the big room as Hoss took his seat. The four men sat and said nothing. The rifle was held steady in Dave\u2019s hands and pointed directly at Hoss. It occurred to Ben that whatever was happening to Adam and Joe about that he knew nothing, the possibility of Hoss being killed suddenly became far too real for him to contemplate.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy\u2019d he have to come here? Why\u2019d he have to do that? I told him he was risking all your lives by bringing those folks onto the Pondorosa, wasn\u2019t that bad enough?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis was his home, Davy.\u201d Ben said quietly \u201cJudd always thought of the Pondorosa as his home. Where else would he have gone when he was dying?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t mean to kill him. He just shot off with his big mouth as always and then said I didn\u2019t care what happened to other folk. He said I had no right to say anything anyway seeing as how I wasn\u2019t there when the folk arrived at the way station. But I told him, I seen what they did, I seen what they\u2019d left, at the way station.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat way station, Davy? Tell us, what way station do you mean?\u201d Ben coaxed gently.<\/p>\n Davy wiped away a film of sweat that had settled upon his upper lip like a greasy moustache. He shrugged and nestled the rifle closer to his body, as though in a defensive attitude<\/p>\n \u201cThe Murphys. I was on my way back to help with the fencing but needed water for my canteen so went off the trail a mite. I knew the Murphys was close by so went to ask them for some water from their well. Weren\u2019t no one about when I got there so I went to the house but it all seemed shut up. I walked about the place and looked through one of the windows and saw the bodies on the bed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDid you go inside to see if they needed help?\u201d the doctor asked, his voice thin with condemnation<\/p>\n \u201cNo. They were beyond help. I saw them there and it was like I was back in that settlement all over again. I was turning away when I heard crying. I walked all around the place and peeked into all the windows and saw the girl crying in a room all on her own.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd you left her?\u201d Hoss growled, clenching his fists tightly<\/p>\n \u201cI fired off three shots and decided the best thing to do was git a doctor. I hadn\u2019t gone into the house so I thought it wouldn\u2019t do any harm to go into town but on the way there, I saw where Judd had taken the wagons off the track onto Pondorosa land. Then he told me what had happened, and I told him clear. I told him those folk had brought sickness to the way station and wiped \u2018em out. He was about to do the same to the whole Pondorosa. He yelled and shouted at me and drew on me, so I drew quicker.\u201d he lowered his head and frowned slightly \u201cI was scared. Seeing what had happened back at the Murphy\u2019s and then remembering what had happened to my folks. It can all happen so quickly, Mr Cartwright. It\u2019s unseen, you don\u2019t see your enemy, until you\u2019re on your knees and dying!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou said, you fired off three shots \u2013\u201c Hoss murmered, turning his back on the young man and facing the big hearth<\/p>\n \u201cSure, I had to do something for the little girl. But I didn\u2019t know what else to do. I was too scared to go on in there myself. You do understand, don\u2019t you, Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI understand all right. \u201c Hoss took a deep swallow of air \u201cYour three shots must have been what sent Adam and Joe to the Murphys\u2019. They went there, found the family, and \u2026\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe and Adam? How\u2019d you mean?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re there at the way station.\u201d Ben said quietly, gruffly. \u201cIf this sickness is as fast moving as it appears to be, I should imagine that they\u2019re both pretty ill right now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo\u201d Davy stood up and shook his head \u201cNo, no, I didn\u2019t mean for that to happen. Believe me, Mr Cartwright. I would never want anything to happen to Joe or Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDavy, just give us your rifle and let\u2019s \u2013 \u201c Hoss stepped forward, his hand stretched out towards the gun man, his blue eyes looked at the confused frightened face and just as the rifle exploded into action Hoss thought how this was one time he could not predict how things were going to end up. It\u2019s a sense a man gets after riding horses for so long and can sense when a horse is about to break. There is a look in their eyes, the position of their body, and the fight has gone out of them. But sometimes the signals are too confused and all a man can do is reach out and take that final risk.<\/p>\n ***********<\/p>\n Adam forced the food into his mouth and ate it slowly. There was no taste to it nor any enjoyment. He had to eat to keep strong. He needed to keep strong to care for his brother. There was so much to do. The foul stench of the sickness clung to his clothes and filled his nostrils and contaminated the food he was eating. However, he continued to eat, methodically.<\/p>\n He chased the food down with some strong coffee. It tasted bitter. But after the first cup, he drank down another. He had to keep awake. He needed to keep awake to care for Joe.<\/p>\n Outside in the yard the dogs began barking and reminded him that there were other chores to attend to before the day was over. He hauled himself up from his chair, and took himself to Joe\u2019s room.<\/p>\n The youth lay covered by a blanket on the bed. His arms were flung outstretched to either side of him. His legs were drawn up. The normally tanned skin looked dry and stretched across the fine features, and was pallid and waxy with its sheen of sweat. Adam could see the eye- lids flickering and the lips twitching. He stepped up to the bed and gently lifted each arm and folded them over Joe\u2019s naked chest. Then he drew the blanket higher and stroked back the boy\u2019s hair.<\/p>\n He was burning with fever. Even though his face was so gray, red patches of fever burned in his cheeks. He muttered words that were totally incoherent. He groaned aloud when pain rolled around the emptiness of his intestines and curled about his abdomen.<\/p>\n The dogs were barking again. Adam stood up and looked around the room. It was clean. It smelt of sickness and it was far too hot. He dared not open the windows for air in case the flies came in. He shuddered even as he thought about it, for the memory came back to his mind of the rooms when he had found Tom, and Mary, and Joshua.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe? Can you hear me, little buddy? I\u2019ve chores to do. The animals need feeding and watering, do you understand? I\u2019ll be back, do you hear?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s lips stopped twitching as he heard the words that seemed to float somewhere above his head. He half opened his eyes and through a haze watched the dark shape of his brother walk away from him and leave him .<\/p>\n You said you\u2019d never leave me again. You promised never to go away. I can\u2019t believe what you tell me because you went away when I asked you to stay and you didn\u2019t come back.<\/em><\/p>\n I put my arms about your neck and said \u2018Stay, please stay\u2019 I cried and begged but all you said was \u2018I\u2019ll be back\u2019 You got on the stage and left me. You promised to come back but you did not. I asked pa next morning \u2018Is Adam coming back today?\u2019 and he said no, not today. I asked pa the next morning the same thing and he said no. I lost count of the days I asked until I stopped asking. I stopped asking because you didn\u2019t come back. Then I stopped caring because suddenly it didn\u2019t matter anymore.<\/em><\/p>\n Joe\u2019s eyes fluttered shut. He shivered once or twice and plucked at the blanket and drew it close to his face. He was so hot but he could not stop the shivering.<\/p>\n Adam sluiced water into the troughs and buckets. He fed the animals and saw to the dogs. He looked at the sky and wondered if it would ever get to rain again and be cool and refreshing once more.<\/p>\n In the barn the cow laboured to deliver her calf. She looked at him with reproachful eyes and he looked at her with disgust and anger.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not fair\u201d he yelled and kicked a bucket against the wall. \u201cHow can I help you with Joe so sick? What am I supposed to do\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n The cow was not interested in answering. She raised her head to the ceiling and emitted a mournful sound heavenwards. Her flanks heaved.<\/p>\n Adam buried his face into his hands. For some reason that he could not understand life seemed suddenly to have spiraled out of his control. If he stayed to help the cow, and Joe sickened and died, how could he live with himself? How could he tell pa? He put a hand to his gun handle and drew it out slowly. Perhaps this would be the only solution. A swift one. He raised the gun and aimed it and then lowered his arm.<\/p>\n Odd how quickly birth can take place once the mechanisms got under way! The calf plopped into the straw and lay there panting and wheezing. Mother turned and nuzzled it. With a whispered prayer of thanks Adam slipped the gun back into its holster and decided that mother and child could handle the proceedings well enough without him.<\/p>\n Joe groaned aloud as the pain crept through his body and he doubled up into the foetal position and pulled the blanket closer.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam! Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n It was such a weak cry for help. More like the mewing of a kitten than the bawl of a man. It sounded loud to his own ears and he groaned again when there came no answering call, no sound of footsteps rushing to his aid. He turned and flung himself from the bed.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t know you when you came back. You were a stranger. The boy I loved and had held me when mama died was gone. You didn\u2019t seem to know how to laugh and you didn\u2019t seem to want to know me. You were always angry. \u2018Joe, do this\u2019 you would say \u2018Joe, do that.\u2019 Then pa went away and you were always working. Sitting at pa\u2019s desk and writing in the books. At night I\u2019d sit on the stairs and watch you and wish you\u2019d come and tuck me into bed like pa would\u2026..<\/em><\/p>\n He lay there for what seemed hours to him. He reached out for the bed and hoped for the strength to haul himself back but his arm dropped effortless and weak back onto the floor. He closed his eyes<\/p>\n Pa always spoke so much about you. You were his pride and joy. He loved you more than anyone else in the world\u2026\u2026\u2026..<\/em><\/p>\n Adam straightened the boy\u2019s legs and gently washed the handsome body with the warm water. Was it his imagination or had the fever abated a little? Was it just a trick to delude him into thinking Little Joe would recover and that there was no longer any need to fear death snatching him away from them.<\/p>\n He took his brother into his arms and raised him gently up and poured cool water into the parched mouth. Had the flush of fever really left his cheeks or was it merely the hand of death clutching more tightly at him. Joe, Joe\u2026.<\/p>\n Pa always wrote so often about you when I was away from home. You are his pride and joy. He loves you more than anyone else in the world\u2026\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n He brought his steaming cup of coffee into the room and sat down beside the bed and took the limp hand in his own. With a sigh he closed his eyes and remembered back to the time when Marie had died, and he had held that child close in his arms and had wept. He could feel the tears welling up in his eyes even now.<\/p>\n You were so angry with me when I left home. Perhaps it was too soon after Marie had died. Perhaps I should have stayed longer at home with you, but sometimes circumstances happen over which no one has any control\u2026\u2026.<\/em><\/p>\n He sipped the coffee and stared fixedly at the wall.<\/p>\n He remembered the sullen little boy who greeted him upon his return from college. Then when Pa had been forced to go away to get money to finance the Ponderosa, and left him in charge, that sullen little boy had become an angry little dynamo who seemed to resent everything that Adam ever suggested. He would look up from working on the books at night and see the little white night shirted figure sitting on the stairs with his big green eyes and the tight little button of a mouth and he wanted to go up and hug him tight and tell him stories and play tag but there was always so much work to do.<\/em><\/p>\n There had been the morning when Joe had looked at him and told him \u2018It\u2019s all your fault pa\u2019s gone from home\u2019 Then he had coolly left the house and made his way to school leaving Adam devastated and wondering how he would ever win his little brothers heart over to him again.<\/em><\/p>\n Adam closed his eyes and felt his body lighten as sleep stole upon him. He struggled a little, just a little. His head nodded and he jerked awake for a second, glanced at his brother, his eyes closed and he was asleep.<\/p>\n ********<\/p>\n The horseman dismounted and tethered the horse to the hitching rail. He took himself and his baggage to the house and stood for a while on the verandah as he looked about him.<\/p>\n The smoke from what looked like a funeral pyre still rose mournfully skywards. It was dying out now. A mound of gray ash and a few burnt remains was witness to what had once been and was no more.<\/p>\n The dogs barked and the horses shifted uneasily round and round in the corral. He merely watched them for a moment or two and then pushed open the door.<\/p>\n He rekindled the fire in the stove and set pans and pots to boiling. Then he pushed open the door to the other room. For some moments he stood in the doorway, framed within its framework. He saw the sleeping youth, wan and haggard as he lay upon the bed. He saw the sleeping man sitting in the chair by the bedside, his hand holding tightly to the hand of the other. He smiled and nodded to himself<\/p>\n I remember the little one crying for his big brother. When he left home he went up to his mother\u2019s wardrobe and buried himself amongst her clothes and wept because he thought another person he loved had gone forever.<\/em><\/p>\n I remember how big brother cried when he came home and found that little brother had forgotten how to love him. But he had not forgotten how to love him, just forgotten how to show it.<\/em><\/p>\n I remember when father left the house and went away. Long hours of work for the big brother and before he would go to sleep he would go to the bedroom and sit by the bed and take hold of little brothers hand and hold it just like now. He had never stopped loving either, just forgotten how to show it.<\/em><\/p>\n Adam Cartwright opened his eyes and took a deep breath. He rubbed his face and tried to work life into it and then blinked and looked at his brother.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u201d<\/p>\n The younger man stirred slightly and the hazel green eyes opened, narrowed and focused upon his brother. He coughed a little and then closed his eyes again. A little sigh slipped through his lips.<\/p>\n Adam frowned and leaned forward and put a hand to his brother\u2019s brow. It was cool to the touch and he allowed himself a little surge of exhilaration before tempering it with caution. He felt for his brother\u2019s pulse and the thready beat, though weak, was steadier than it had been and he allowed himself a prayer of thanks.<\/p>\n He sat by the bedside and bowed his head and closed his eyes. He had slept but he was so tired. Random thoughts and fears that had chased round and round in his brain had tormented him in his sleep. He roused himself and stood up. At the sound from the doorway he turned, his hand already at his gun, and then he stepped back in surprise<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d he gasped involuntarily<\/p>\n \u201cI come \u2013 say to Mistah Hoss, you stay, I go \u2013 \u201c Hop Sing bobbed a bow and smiled \u201cI go now and make good tea for you and Liddel Joe\u2026.you come eat and I see to boy\u201d<\/p>\n Adam glanced down at his brother and shook his head, he sat down on the chair and took his brothers hand in his own<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d he said quietly \u201cI want to be here when he wakes up.\u201d<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n \u201cAmy. Amy\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Joe\u2019s lips parted into a brief joyful smile. How sweet were the smells of the pasture on the Truckee. How sweet was the perfume of this little girl\u2019s hair as she sat so close to his side. He reached out a hand and touched her face and she turned large brown eyes to wards his face and her young girls face looked earnestly up at him<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cAmy, I love you too much\u201d he whispered<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cNo one can love too much\u201d she laughed, a soft shy laugh.<\/em><\/p>\n Joe took a deep breath. To the anxious watchers by his bedside they saw his chest heave and sink and exchanged worried looks. They saw the smile on his lips and relaxed, knowing that in his dreams Joe was happy, and happiness gave strength.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI do love you, Amy. I\u2019m almost afraid to love you\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cBut I love you too, Joe, and it only makes me happy. You can\u2019t imagine how happy I am coming here every day, waiting for you to join me\u2026.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cWhat if I lose you \u2013\u201c<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cHow can you lose me, silly Joe\u201d she leaned forwards and her hair brushed his cheek as she settled her head upon his shoulder.<\/em><\/p>\n Oh, so young and so innocent. Joe kissed her nose, stroked her cheek, and felt his heart tumbling over and over in his breast for the love of her and he raised a hand to take hold of hers \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n Adam took hold of the hand reaching out towards them and held it gently in his own. He glanced over at Hop Sing<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s dreaming of Amy. Hop Sing? Do you think he will survive this?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s young and strong \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cOthers have been younger and stronger, but died anyway!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHush! He will hear what you say\u201d the Chinese placed a finger to his lips and Adam sighed and looked down at his brother and laid down his hand by his side.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t talk of death.\u201d Joe whispered to Amy, holding her close \u201cI\u2019m frightened of death. My mama died and left me, I don\u2019t want you to die and leave me, Amy\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t, I won\u2019t\u201d she promised and raised her lips to his own.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cEveryone I love, dies\u201d Joe groaned aloud and his brother leaned towards him and wiped away the sweat and tears from his face.<\/p>\n Hop Sing tip toed from the room and to where he had left his bag, which held all the herbs and drugs he had gathered up before leaving the ranch. With the patience of a skilled herbalist he began to measure out a pinch of this and a scoop of something else\u2026.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u201d Adam leaned down and whispered his brother\u2019s name and Joes\u2019 eyes opened and for the first time since his illness began, they focused on his brother\u2019s dark anxious eyes<\/p>\n \u201cHi, Adam. I was dreaming\u2026.\u201d He whispered through chaffed lips<\/p>\n \u201cWas it a good dream, buddy?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe smiled and closed his eyes dreamily, \u201cYes, for a while. Then she left me and I was all alone again\u201d once more he opened his eyes and looked up at Adam and frowned \u201cAm I dying, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, you aren\u2019t going to die\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t mind dying. I feel so tired and weak. I dreamt of Amy, just now, I had almost forgotten how brown her eyes were\u2026\u201d he sighed<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a while, Joe, since she died\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI loved her so much\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry I hit you, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry I hit you too \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n \u201cAww, it didn\u2019t hurt!\u201d Joe smiled again, and a twinkle gleamed in the hazel green of his eyes and then faded \u201cI \u2013 I do love you, brother\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt just seems hard at times \u2013 I didn\u2019t want you to go away \u2013 to college \u2013 and I get angry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI understand, Joe\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf I go to sleep now, will I die?\u201d he took hold of Adams hand and held it tight<\/p>\n \u201cNo, you won\u2019t die, Joe, I won\u2019t let you die\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t be angry with me if I do, will you?\u201d Joe\u2019s eyelids lowered and the long lashes cast shadows on the sunken hollowed sockets and Adam felt a lurch to his heart as he looked at the youths face and realised with a shock just how haggard he now appeared.<\/p>\n He glanced up at Hop Sing came into the room, and sat back as the Chinese gently raised Joe into his arms and carefully poured the liquid into his mouth. He watched as Hop Sing lowered Joe back down onto the bed<\/p>\n \u201cHe is going to be alright, isn\u2019t he?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBetter he sleep now\u201d Hop Sing said softly and sat down on the chair on the other side of the bed. He looked over at the older brother and smiled \u201cYou sleep now\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo. I\u2019ll go and check the stock and then come back\u2026.\u201d Adam got to his feet and then glanced down at the younger man \u201cHop Sing, call me if he wakes. I don\u2019t want him to wake up and find me gone\u201d<\/p>\n Upon the assurance that he would be called as soon as needed, Adam left the building and stood for some minutes on the porch. He surveyed the hills beyond and then the dogs both of whom had risen to their haunches at sight of him. He lowered his head as though overwhelmed by misery and sadness, but by force of will, he walked to the barn.<\/p>\n Still Joe slept. Now he had no dreams. There was only the comfort of deep dark sleep and unconsciousness. If he were aware of gentle hands touching him, turning him over in the bed, or cleaning him, he gave no indication. Only the rhythm of his breathing gave any indication that he was living, or perhaps a sigh would pass through his lips, and apprehensive and afraid, Adam would lean forwards and touch his brothers\u2019 cheek or brow.<\/p>\n He listened to Hop Sing telling him about the events between Judd and Davy, about the stagecoach coming into town and Hoss returning home with the news that plague had broken out on the Ponderosa.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it plague?\u201d he had asked his old friend and the wise old eyes darkened and Hop Sing shrugged his shoulders<\/p>\n \u201cWho is to know?\u201d he had replied quietly<\/p>\n \u201cI remember reading about a village in England, called Eyam, and how a tailor in London had sent a relative a bale of material. It was during a summer in the late 1600\u2019s and as a result of that tailors\u2019 kindness, almost all that village was wiped out. The villagers cut themselves off from all those around them, and so contained the illness. Is that what could happen here? Now?\u201d<\/p>\n Hop Sing nodded \u201cIt happens, and you did what was wise and right.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut Joe could still die\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho is to know that?\u201d Hop Sing replied again<\/p>\n He must have fallen asleep. So long without proper sleep takes its toll. His head had lolled forwards, his eyelids closed. He heard voices as though from a long way off, and someone placed a heavy hand upon his shoulder.<\/p>\n Joe opened his eyes and looked up into a face he loved and smiled. He reached out his hands just as he had done when an infant in his crib. The large eyes filled with tears that coursed their way down his face. A voice he loved assured him he was now safe. There was nothing to fear anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cIs Adam here?\u201d he whispered<\/p>\n \u201cYes, he\u2019s here\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe didn\u2019t leave me then?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot for a second\u201d the deep voice assured him<\/p>\n \u201cI thought I was going to die, pa\u201d his voice trembled and his father gathered him into his arms and held him close, and stroked back the unruly mass of hair<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re safe, son, safe now\u201d<\/p>\n *************<\/p>\n Hoss licked his lips and then his fingers. He grinned over at his youngest brother who sat up in the bed and who watched his brother dispatch sugar doughnuts as though he had only just discovered the joy of them<\/p>\n \u201cShucks, Joe, if\u2019n I\u2019d known Hop Sing was coming over here to rustle up these doughnuts for you and Adam, I\u2019d\u2019ve been here even sooner!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomehow I believe you\u201d Joe grinned<\/p>\n \u201cSure you don\u2019t want one?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s stomach lurched sideways and he shook his head. He leaned against the pillows and closed his eyes. What relief to be able to move his head without the fear it would explode in pain, or bring about the need to vomit. He took a deep breath and smiled slowly. He opened his eyes and watched Hoss pick up another doughnut, lazily brushed aside a wandering fly\u2026..he shuddered and closed his eyes again and fought nausea.<\/p>\n Dr Martin closed his bag and set it to one side and picked up a cup of coffee. He watched as Hoss ate doughnuts and Joe sat up in the bed and he nodded to himself and smiled over at Adam<\/p>\n \u201cYou did well, Adam. Joe could have died.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know. The thought never left my mind for a moment.\u201d Adam said quietly, picking up his cup and raising it to his lips<\/p>\n \u201cA tragedy what happened to the Murphys\u201d Ben said quietly<\/p>\n Adam nodded and turned aside to survey the view from the window. He thought of the grave and wondered how long it would be before the bare scar of earth would be covered with grass and wild flowers. He glanced up at the sky, still blue, and he sighed.<\/p>\n There could have been another grave, he thought, another grave on that hillside. There could have been another body for someone else to find\u2026.for who was to know where that silent bullet would have stopped next. He turned back to his father and met the dark anxious eyes<\/p>\n \u201cIt shouldn\u2019t have happened. They were a good family\u201d he said quietly<\/p>\n Ben nodded and stepped to his son\u2019s side and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.<\/p>\n \u201cBut for the grace of God \u2013\u201c<\/p>\n Adam glanced up at his father, repeated the words in his own mind, and nodded. He walked to the door and opened it wide and stepped out onto the porch. The dogs barked a welcome and the horses milled about in the corral. The cow grazed on the green grass and raised her head and turned moist large eyes towards him as her calf nudged at her flanks for sustenance. Adam threw away the dregs of his coffee and turned back to the house as the sound of Josephs laugh trickled like sweet music through the stillness.<\/p>\n A fly made it\u2019s way across the table and paused to reconnoitre its passage via a sugar doughnut\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n The End.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Reviewer: jojay Anonymous Read this a long time ago, it’s just as good the secong time around!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Author’s Response: That’s really great,Jojay, you know, when a reader writes this kind of review it really is one of the finest compliments. Thank you so very much. Krystyna<\/em><\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n
\nIt also caught Adam by surprise for he staggered back some paces before regaining control of his balance. \u201cAll right\u201d he growled, and he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists and walked towards Joe.<\/p>\n
\nShe glanced over her shoulder to survey her people who were standing around listening to the conversation. \u201cThen after a few days we found that the water we had in our barrels from the wells was stagnant \u2013 everyone seemed to be getting sick.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nDate: 08 Jul 2011 07:13 am Title: Chapter 1<\/p>\n