Summary: \u00a0My Camp in the Pines story, using the following words from the fishing tournament: \u00a0eggs, petticoat, gunshot wound. \u00a0Adam had been reluctant to take sixteen-year-old Little Joe on a hunting trip, but when he is incapacitated by a freak accident, only his baby brother stands between him and certain death.<\/p>\n
Rating: \u00a0T \u00a0 Word Count: \u00a016,760<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
On the Hunt for Brotherhood<\/strong><\/p>\n Ignoring the glare from his hefty brother across the table, Little Joe added a second huge dollop of whipped cream atop his berry cobbler before passing the bowl to Adam.\u00a0 Not only was he feeling spiteful enough to hog the rich topping, but he needed the comfort of some extra sweetening.\u00a0 The suppertime conversation had revolved, as it generally did lately, around the upcoming hunting trip his two older brothers were planning.\u00a0 A ten-day excursion, just the two of them, no little brothers welcome.\u00a0 Oh, no one had told him he couldn\u2019t go, but from the first mention it had been \u201cHoss and I\u201d or \u201cAdam and me,\u201d so Little Joe had quickly gotten the message.\u00a0 He hadn\u2019t even bothered to hint at tagging along because he knew that\u2019s exactly what he\u2019d be, an unwanted tagalong. \u00a0In all his sixteen years he had never felt more left out.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks all to pieces, little brother,\u201d Hoss grunted when he\u2019d scraped every last bit of whipped cream onto his cobbler, an amount that didn\u2019t approach half of what remained on Joe\u2019s dessert.<\/p>\n \u201cDid Adam take too much?\u201d the youngest Cartwright asked with bold-faced innocence.<\/p>\n \u201cYou know doggone well who took too much!\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe sported an impish grin.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m a growing boy, Hoss, while you . . . well, you don\u2019t need to do no more growin\u2019, do you now?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSomeone could certainly do with some growing up,\u201d Adam suggested.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, he could,\u201d Little Joe said with a sagacious nod at Adam.\u00a0 \u201cWhy don\u2019t you work on that while you\u2019re away with him?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam arched an eyebrow.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s not a working vacation, which is why . . .\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s enough, boys,\u201d their father put in quickly.\u00a0 Though nothing had been said, he\u2019d suspected for days that Little Joe was nursing a sizeable bundle of hurt feelings, and they probably didn\u2019t need much priming to come bursting out now.\u00a0 Adam and Hoss had earned the time off, and if they chose to spend it together, Ben wouldn\u2019t deprive them of that pleasure.\u00a0 One-on-one time was always special, and he\u2019d been making secret plans for a trip for just him and his youngest, to make up for Joe\u2019s being left at home this time.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t rub it in,\u201d Ben advised later, when Little Joe had excused himself for a final trip to the outhouse before bedtime.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll enjoy your time away more if you don\u2019t leave hard feelings at home.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam, realizing that the admonition had been aimed more toward him than Hoss, nodded acquiescence, and when Little Joe returned to the house, both older brothers wished him a good night with an extra ration of kind congeniality.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n \u201cCan not hold suppah much longer, Mistah Ben,\u201d Hop Sing declared, standing arms akimbo in the dining room.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I know,\u201d Ben sighed.\u00a0 \u201cFifteen minutes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMo\u2019 better ten,\u201d the cook insisted.<\/p>\n Bowing to the household tyrant\u2019s authority, Ben nodded.\u00a0 Then he wandered over to the front window and gazed out with concern at the darkening sky.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d think they\u2019d want one more good meal before trusting themselves to whatever they can snare,\u201d Little Joe observed, reaching for an apple to munch while he waited for that good meal.<\/p>\n Ben turned with a chuckle.\u00a0 \u201cI doubt your brothers share your negative view of their hunting prowess, young man.\u201d\u00a0 Lines again furrowed his forehead.\u00a0 \u201cThey should be back by now.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe stretched out on the settee.\u00a0 \u201cThey\u2019ll be back soon, Pa.\u00a0 Hoss wants that meal, if Adam don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFeet on the floor, Joseph,\u201d his father admonished.<\/p>\n With a sigh and a meek \u201cYes, sir,\u201d the boy complied.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd don\u2019t spoil your appetite.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd don\u2019t take out all your fatherly frettin\u2019 on me,\u201d Little Joe saucily returned.\u00a0 He bounced the gnawed apple in his hand.\u00a0 \u201cThis little ole thing is just an appetizer.\u00a0 Ain\u2019t that what fancy folks call it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps,\u201d Ben conceded with a smile as he moved back toward the fire, \u201cbut don\u2019t let Hop Sing hear you suggest that his meal needs an appetizer.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe grinned.\u00a0 \u201cI got sense, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben finally laughed, for his youngest always seemed to shake him free from any somber mood.\u00a0 \u201cOh, I hope so, Joseph; I do sincerely hope so.\u201d\u00a0 His head instinctively turned toward the door as he heard the sound of horses coming into the yard.\u00a0 \u201cAt last,\u201d he breathed with relief, for he never felt settled until all his boys were beneath his roof each night.<\/p>\n Little Joe quickly finished his apple and tossed the core into the fire before Hop Sing could catch him nibbling before supper.\u00a0 It had just begun to sizzle and spread its fragrance through the room when the door opened and Adam entered, followed by four men, carrying Hoss on a blanket between them.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened?\u201d Ben asked.<\/p>\n Adam didn\u2019t answer.\u00a0 \u201cThis way,\u201d he directed the men transporting Hoss.\u00a0 He led them to the downstairs bedroom and opened the door.<\/p>\n Little Joe, who had leaped to his feet as soon as his brother was carried in, pushed into the bedroom at the heels of his father.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happened?\u201d Ben demanded more firmly.<\/p>\n \u201cRattler spooked his horse,\u201d Adam said as he threw back the covers on the bed, so the men could lay Hoss down.<\/p>\n \u201cKnew I should-a took Chubb,\u201d Hoss grunted as the blanket was pulled from beneath him.\u00a0 \u201cThat dadblame bay\u2019s plumb squirrelly.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe horse panicked,\u201d Adam explained.\u00a0 \u201cThrew younger brother here onto a pile of rocks.\u00a0 His right leg\u2019s broken.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll get the doc,\u201d Little Joe offered, turning toward the door.<\/p>\n Ben caught his arm, while Adam said, \u201cI\u2019ve already sent someone.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking disgruntled, Little Joe pulled out of his father\u2019s grip and stood, arms folded, \u00a0at the foot of Hoss\u2019s bed.<\/p>\n Ben shook the hand of each man that had borne Hoss in; then he moved to his injured son\u2019s side.\u00a0 \u201cHow do you feel, boy?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Bout like you\u2019d figure, I reckon,\u201d Hoss said with an expression that was more grimace than grin, though the latter was what he intended.<\/p>\n \u201cYou want some laudanum?\u201d Adam asked.\u00a0 \u201cSince you didn\u2019t hit your head, I doubt Dr. Martin would object.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNaw, rather not get that fuzzy-headed just yet,\u201d Hoss said.\u00a0 \u201cDoggone, Adam, I sure am sorry to go ruinin\u2019 your plans like this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry about it,\u201d Adam assured him.\u00a0 \u201cWe can go once you\u2019re on your feet again.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI know I ain\u2019t the sharpest tool in the shed, Adam, but I ain\u2019t stupid.\u00a0 Six, eight weeks from now, by the time this leg\u2019s ready to even think about trekkin\u2019 into the mountains, the weather won\u2019t be favorable.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam sighed as he pulled up a chair and straddled it.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, I know.\u00a0 Just wishful thinking on my part.\u00a0 I was really looking forward to that trip.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMe, too.\u201d\u00a0 Hoss also sighed, more from regret at spoiling Adam\u2019s good time than from disappointment for his own loss.<\/p>\n Little Joe grasped the footboard with white-knuckled fists.\u00a0 Much as he\u2019d resented being left out of his brothers\u2019 plans, he\u2019d never wished anything like this on them, but he felt as guilty as if his ill feeling had brought on the bad luck.<\/p>\n Hoss noticed the boy\u2019s slumped posture and asked, \u201cYou okay, Joe?\u201d<\/p>\n Startled, Little Joe pulled upright.\u00a0 \u201cMe?\u00a0 Sure.\u00a0 Anything I can get you, Hoss?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI reckon some extra pillows wouldn\u2019t go amiss.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll get \u2018em!\u201d the boy said and ran out, eager to help.<\/p>\n The other three Cartwrights exchanged a knowing look.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe I should have let him ride for the doctor,\u201d Adam chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cBurn off some of that bottled-up energy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have let him go,\u201d Ben said, \u201cnot after dark, not the way he tears down a road.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAw, Pa, he\u2019s got more sense than that,\u201d Hoss argued.<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s mouth twitched.\u00a0 \u201cSo he tells me, Hoss; so he tells me.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe returned with a pile of pillows so high he couldn\u2019t possibly have seen over it, and Ben dryly expressed gratitude that he didn\u2019t have two little boys in need of Dr. Martin\u2019s mending after what must have been a blind descent of the stairway.\u00a0 Once they had Hoss settled with pillows propping him on all sides, there was nothing to do but wait for the doctor.<\/p>\n Hop Sing came in, and Ben chased his two healthy sons out to silence the cook\u2019s ranting about the cold meal on the table.\u00a0 \u201cBring me back somethin\u2019 good,\u201d Hoss called as they left.<\/p>\n \u201cHop Sing bring,\u201d the cook declared.\u00a0 \u201cGood meal make strong, for heal bones fast.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMake it a double helpin\u2019, then, so I\u2019ll heal double fast,\u201d Hoss said, and the cook beamed and bowed as he backed out the door to meet the request.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n The doctor had come and gone, leaving Hoss snoring under the effects of laudanum, and once assured that his older brother would be all right, Little Joe had gone to bed, as well.\u00a0 The older two Cartwrights, however, found it harder to relax and settled in before the fire, each lost in his own thoughts. \u00a0Ben refilled his eldest son\u2019s cup before setting the coffee pot down and picking up his own fresh cup of brew.<\/p>\n \u201cThanks, Pa,\u201d Adam said almost in a monotone.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re disappointed,\u201d Ben said as he sank into his fireside chair.<\/p>\n Adam shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cYes, of course.\u00a0 We\u2019ve been planning this trip for weeks.\u00a0 My disappointment scarcely compares with what Hoss is enduring, though.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben smiled in commiseration.\u00a0 \u201cOne feeling doesn\u2019t cancel out the other.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Adam conceded as he turned to stare again into the flickering flames.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re still due some time off,\u201d his father suggested.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe you\u2019d enjoy a trip to San Francisco, a night or two at the opera?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam laughed roughly.\u00a0 \u201cI know I should jump at the chance for that,\u201d he said, \u201cbut it doesn\u2019t even sound appealing.\u00a0 I suppose it\u2019s the stillness of the pines I\u2019m craving right now, not the bustle and noise of a city full of people.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThen go to the pines.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlone?\u00a0 Well, it had crossed my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben frowned.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019d rather it weren\u2019t alone, son.\u00a0 Skilled as you are at woodcraft, it\u2019s still wiser to travel in pairs.\u00a0 Anything can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cExactly why Hoss and I were going together, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I know, but you have other friends.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam sighed heavily.\u00a0 \u201cNone that are available now.\u00a0 Responsibilities . . . wives.\u00a0 Harder for men to take off once those are involved.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben arched an eyebrow, but said nothing.\u00a0 Tonight was obviously not the best time to suggest that his son consider similar involvement with a wife . . . and the provision of grandchildren for his aging father.\u00a0 \u201cWell, there is one other alternative,\u201d he said. \u00a0When Adam looked up quizzically, he continued, \u201cYou do have another brother.\u201d<\/p>\n Breath caught in Adam\u2019s throat.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re not serious.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cActually, I was.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shook his head from side to side, his expression one of disbelief.\u00a0 \u201cThis was intended to be a pleasure trip,\u201d he finally said, \u201cnot an opportunity to hone Little Joe\u2019s hunting skills.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben chuckled as he settled back in his chair.\u00a0 \u201cOh, I think his hunting skills might prove sufficient . . . for a pleasure trip.\u201d\u00a0 Again he cocked a meaningful eyebrow at his son.\u00a0 \u201cOr are you saying that you wouldn\u2019t enjoy your young brother\u2019s company?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam opened his mouth and just as promptly clamped it shut.<\/p>\n \u201cSpit it out, son.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam exhaled slowly.\u00a0 \u201cWell, all right.\u00a0 Since I know you value honesty, I\u2019ll be blunt.\u00a0 No, I don\u2019t think I would enjoy my young brother\u2019s company.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s intake of air was sudden and sharp.\u00a0 \u201cThat was blunt, all right.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam bent forward, palms spread open before him.\u00a0 \u201cLook, Pa, it\u2019s not that I care any less for Joe than I do for Hoss.\u00a0 They\u2019re both my brothers, both equal in my affections.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut Joe is a kid,\u201d Adam said plainly.\u00a0 \u201cHoss is a man, and man-to-man makes for a more easy-going relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s pursed lips almost appeared to be chewing.\u00a0 \u201cHave you and Joseph been quarrelling?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Adam said, drawing out the word.\u00a0 Then, since they were supposed to be speaking honestly, he added, \u201cWell, no more than is typical between a mature man and . . .\u201d\u00a0 He stopped at sight of his father\u2019s frown.<\/p>\n \u201cHis inferior?\u201d Ben asked sharply.<\/p>\n Adam shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNot at all.\u00a0 Joe is a fine boy; he\u2019ll make a fine man some day.\u00a0 But he\u2019s not there yet, Pa.\u00a0 Sure, we see things differently at times, but we generally work through it.\u00a0 That\u2019s just it, though.\u00a0 This trip was supposed to be a break from work, and with Hoss, it would have been; with Joe . . .\u201d\u00a0 He raised his palms toward the ceiling as if to say, \u201cWho knows?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben eased back and nodded.\u00a0 \u201cYou and Hoss have something very special together, something I\u2019d hoped all my sons would share, each with the others, and this might be an excellent opportunity to build that sort of closeness with Joseph. \u00a0You may recall that as you boys were growing up, I tried to spend time alone with each of you for that very purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n Seeing where his father was heading and not particularly wanting to go there, Adam concentrated on his cooling coffee.<\/p>\n Ben recognized the attempt to close conversation.\u00a0 \u201cWill you, at least, think about it?\u00a0 I think you should get away, son, but I really don\u2019t like to see any of you boys alone in the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam set the empty cup down and stood.\u00a0 Seeing that his father was still waiting for an answer, he said, \u201cYes, Pa, I\u2019ll think about it, but right now all I want to do is sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPleasant dreams, then, son,\u201d Ben said softly.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll bank the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not going to sit up all night with Hoss, are you?\u201d Adam asked, his voice chiding.<\/p>\n Ben smiled.\u00a0 \u201cNot all night,\u201d he promised.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n The night was less restful than Adam might have hoped.\u00a0 For at least an hour after he slipped between the sheets, he lay with arms folded beneath his head, eyes fixed on the ceiling, mind tossing between two alternatives.\u00a0 A week and a half in the mountains with Little Joe, with all the extra responsibility that entailed, at first seemed ridiculous.\u00a0 Then he began to wonder if Pa might be right.\u00a0 Maybe one reason he didn\u2019t feel the same closeness with his youngest brother that he shared so easily with Hoss was simply that he didn\u2019t know him as well, at least not one-on-one.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken the boy hunting before, of course, but Hoss had always been with them\u2014two men secretly snickering at the manlike posturing of the boy.<\/p>\n Little Joe was growing up, though, standing now on the brink of real manhood.\u00a0 While Adam had almost felt like a second father to his youngest brother when Joe was small, he realized that relationship no longer felt right.\u00a0 Joe was coming into his own, beginning to demand treatment as an equal.\u00a0 In worth, he was and always had been, but not in maturity and experience.\u00a0 Those were the changes that were happening almost before their eyes, and Adam felt a sudden nostalgia for the man-child relationship on the verge of extinction.\u00a0 It couldn\u2019t last, though; it was time to let it develop into man-to-man brotherhood, the same as he shared with Hoss.\u00a0 And as warm remembrances of times he\u2019d spent alone with his father and his middle brother washed over him, Adam knew what he had to do.<\/p>\n He broke the surprise at breakfast the next morning.\u00a0 Little Joe\u2019s sausage-laden fork hung in mid-air as he stared, mouth gaping, at his brother.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t josh me,\u201d he finally said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cObviously, you weren\u2019t my first choice; no point in pretending otherwise, but I\u2019d like to have your company, share a little brother-to-brother time.\u00a0 What do you say?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe slanted a suspicious glance at his oldest brother.\u00a0 \u201cPa\u2019s idea?\u201d<\/p>\n The kid was sharp; Adam had to hand him that.\u00a0 \u201cPa\u2019s idea,\u201d he admitted, \u201cbut my decision.\u201d\u00a0 He chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cEat your eggs; they\u2019re getting cold.\u00a0 Any further discussion can surely wait for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe grinned and dug in with hearty appetite.<\/p>\n When Hoss was told that his little brother was taking his place, he practically beamed and promptly offered Little Joe use of the gear he\u2019d already put together for the trip.\u00a0 \u201cReckon you best pack your own britches, though,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cMine might be a tad loose.\u00a0 Now, me personally, I like a little extra breathin\u2019 room.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOne can get too much of a good thing,\u201d Adam observed, \u201ceven breathin\u2019 room.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBetter keep an eye on him, Joe,\u201d Hoss cautioned.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s a powerful lot of breathin\u2019 room up in the hills.\u00a0 Might be too much for him.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam laughed.\u00a0 \u201cI give up.\u201d\u00a0 He lightly tapped Hoss\u2019s splinted leg.\u00a0 \u201cHang in there, big guy.\u00a0 Next trip with you, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe wishes it were you this time,\u201d Little Joe confided as soon as Adam had left to start his day\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cNot for long,\u201d Hoss assured his little brother.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll show him.\u00a0 Just don\u2019t go pushin\u2019 too hard to prove yourself.\u00a0 Who you are is plenty good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe doubled his fist and gave Hoss a feather-light punch on the arm.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re the best, Hoss, you know that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMatter of fact, I did,\u201d Hoss said with a gap-toothed grin.\u00a0 \u201cYou reckon you could sneak a donut past Hop Sing for your best brother?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll give it a try,\u201d Joe said.\u00a0 He knew, as did Hoss, that no one would have to sneak food past their cook, once he knew who wanted it.\u00a0 The merest hint that an injured Cartwright needed nourishment would be enough to produce a banquet, much less one measly little donut.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n For the next two days Little Joe\u2019s ebullient enthusiasm spread its radiance all over the Ponderosa.\u00a0 Mealtime discussions of the upcoming trip, all but ignored before, were now of paramount interest to him.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s patience with the seemingly unending questions began to feel strained, especially since most of them had been rehearsed in Joe\u2019s hearing at previous meals.\u00a0 With what he considered remarkable restraint, he refrained from asking, \u201cWhy weren\u2019t you listening before?\u201d\u00a0 Or, perhaps, it was remarkable insight, for he had a feeling he already knew the answer, though he had been blind to the resentment before.<\/p>\n On the final night before the great adventure, the two hunters gathered in Hoss\u2019s room, and both expressed how much they\u2019d miss him and how much they wished he could come, too.\u00a0 \u201cWell, now, I think I\u2019m gettin\u2019 the better vacation,\u201d Hoss said.\u00a0 \u201cAll I got to do is lay around and chow down on good sick folks\u2019 food.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLike pie, cake, donuts,\u201d Adam said with a smirk.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cWhy is it I always seem to get dosed with beef tea, gruel and stewed prunes?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Cause you\u2019re a stewed prune kind of guy,\u201d Little Joe snickered.<\/p>\n Adam arched an ominous eyebrow.\u00a0 \u201cYou can still be left at home, little boy.\u201d<\/p>\n Hoss wagged his finger at his older brother.\u00a0 \u201cNope.\u00a0 You ain\u2019t stickin\u2019 me with a mess like that to clean up.\u00a0 I\u2019m feelin\u2019 puny, remember?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam rolled his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cAnd working it for all it\u2019s worth, you poor, pale, frail thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe stretched a plate, which still held a few sugar cookies, toward his bed-bound brother.\u00a0 \u201cHere.\u00a0 This oughta put some color back in your cheeks.\u201d<\/p>\n Having already eaten a good half dozen, Hoss started to decline, but then he decided he should probably snare a cookie or two, in case of later emergency.\u00a0 With brothers like his, there was no guarantee there\u2019d be one left when he felt the need for sweetening.<\/p>\n Adam stood, stretching and yawning.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll leave them in your good hands, brother.\u00a0 Since we\u2019ll be riding out early tomorrow, we\u2019d better get to bed.\u201d\u00a0 He reached out to scrub Little Joe\u2019s curly noggin with his knuckles.\u00a0 \u201cAnd no argument from you, little buddy.\u00a0 If I have to drag you out of bed . . . well, I just might not.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m comin\u2019,\u201d Little Joe said.\u00a0 Tonight, at least, he didn\u2019t feel like arguing with anyone about anything.\u00a0 Nothing, absolutely nothing, would be allowed to dim his bright hopes for tomorrow\u2019s grand quest.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m gonna bring back the biggest ram in Nevada,\u201d he promised Hoss.<\/p>\n \u201cOr, at least, a fair-sized rabbit,\u201d Adam teased, with a shove toward the door for Joe and a wink at Hoss.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n The scenery through which the two Cartwright brothers rode the next morning was spectacular.\u00a0 Leaving behind the pine-rimmed sapphire majesty of Lake Tahoe, they climbed into the mountains, their tops still lightly dusted with last winter\u2019s snow.\u00a0 They wound their way upward through natural passes too narrow for wheeled vehicles and sometimes barely passable for their horses and pack mule.<\/p>\n It was all Adam had hoped it would be . . . except for the incessant chatter of his companion.\u00a0 Did the boy never take a breath?\u00a0 Apparently, even in the thinner air of the mountaintops, his lungs held an infinite capacity, for if he wasn\u2019t enthusing about the trip itself, he was asking questions about the best way to track a bighorn sheep.\u00a0 When he ran out of those, he had an endless supply of bad jokes to share, but when he began to sing off-key ditties to entertain the squirrels and chipmunks, Adam could take no more.\u00a0 \u201cCould you shut up, just for a little while?\u201d he groaned.<\/p>\n Seeing the hurt on his brother\u2019s expressive face, he wished he could take back the words.\u00a0 Well, not the words themselves, for they needed saying, but he regretted the exasperation with which they\u2019d come out.\u00a0 \u201cLook, Joe,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cPart of the attraction of the high country\u2014at least, for me\u2014is the serenity, the peace.\u00a0 Just listening to the wind in the pines, the twitter of the birds, the pure stillness of crisp mountain air.\u201d<\/p>\n The pain faded from Little Joe\u2019s eyes, and his lips curved pensively.\u00a0 \u201cYou sound like Hoss.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerhaps,\u201d Adam said softly.\u00a0 \u201cAnd perhaps you might find a little Hoss in yourself\u2014if you quiet down long enough to hear it.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019d tried to say it lightly, as if teasing, but the sting of his brother\u2019s reply told him it hadn\u2019t been received that way.<\/p>\n \u201cI know you wanted Hoss,\u201d Little Joe sputtered, \u201cbut I ain\u2019t him!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not, either,\u201d Adam said, keeping his voice calm.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m just suggesting you explore another side of your own inner being.\u00a0 You don\u2019t always have to be the life of the party, you know.\u201d\u00a0 Something in the way Joe looked at him made him ask, \u201cDid you think you did?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe looked away, as if fearful his traitorous face had given away too much.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, maybe.\u00a0 We each got our place, Adam.\u00a0 You\u2019re the smart one; Hoss is the strong one, and I\u2019m\u201d\u2014suddenly, a mask descended, and he said, \u201cI\u2019m the young, handsome, life-of-the-party one.\u00a0 Yup, that\u2019s my role in life, keeping the rest of you sober sides entertained.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI see,\u201d Adam said, and though he said no more, he felt that he had, indeed, been granted a brief glance inside his young brother\u2019s soul.\u00a0 \u201cDo you think you might be a shade less entertaining . . . just for a while?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe tossed him a mischievous grin.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll try to hold myself back, older brother; it\u2019ll be hard, but for you I\u2019ll try.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI shall be eternally grateful,\u201d Adam said, and for the next thirty minutes or so the brothers rode together in absolute silence.<\/p>\n They camped in the open that night.\u00a0 When Adam divided the responsibilities, he was surprised that Little Joe merely nodded and began to carry out his assignments.\u00a0 He could remember a time\u2014in fact, only last year, on a camping trip including Hoss\u2014when his youngest brother had done nothing but argue about whatever he was told to do.\u00a0 Was it possible the kid was growing up?\u00a0 Or had older brother somehow been lucky enough to give younger the jobs the kid was most comfortable with?<\/p>\n When Adam returned from watering the animals, he saw that Joe had begun to lay the fire.\u00a0 \u201cBe sure to clear the space around it of debris,\u201d he cautioned.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t leave anything that can catch a stray spark.\u201d<\/p>\n A Paiute could have used the look Little Joe gave him to tip his arrows.\u00a0 \u201cI know how to build a campfire, Adam,\u201d the boy grunted.<\/p>\n \u201cAll right,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cJust a reminder.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t need a reminder.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFine.\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s tone was only a hint sharper than Joe\u2019s own.<\/p>\n Hop Sing had packed enough sandwiches for two meals, so as soon as a fresh pot of coffee had brewed, the brothers settled down to polish them off, along with a couple of oatmeal cookies.\u00a0 \u201cBetter save a few back,\u201d Adam suggested.\u00a0 \u201cIf we don\u2019t come across any game tomorrow, we\u2019ll want something better than just beans for supper.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was just thinkin\u2019 that.\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe rewrapped the remaining cookies in brown paper and carried them to his saddlebag.\u00a0 Bringing back his bedroll, he untied it and spread it on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cNot there,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re too far from the fire.\u00a0 Nights get cold here in the mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf I get cold, I\u2019ll move closer,\u201d Joe growled, tossing his brother an irritated look.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t need you watchin\u2019 every little thing I do, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam pursed his lips.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t intend to spend half this trip nursing you through a head cold.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHuh!\u00a0 As if I\u2019d ever pick you as a nurse!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam opted for a change of subject.\u00a0 \u201cSo, what pretty little petticoat are you chasing these days?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNone of your dadgum business!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam exhaled forcefully.\u00a0 Man, the kid was touchy tonight.\u00a0 \u201cAll right, all right.\u00a0 Forget I asked.\u00a0 I was only trying to make conversation.\u00a0 I\u2019m turning in.\u00a0 I\u2019d suggest you do the same, except I\u2019d probably get my head bitten off.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe nibbled his lower lip and wordlessly finished laying out his bed before crawling between the blankets.\u00a0 The camp was silent, but for the movement of some small animal in the brush, the trill of some bird calling to its mate.\u00a0 After perhaps five minutes Little Joe said softly, \u201cAdam?\u201d\u00a0 When his brother made no response, he called again, \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Joe,\u201d the older brother drawled with strained patience.<\/p>\n \u201cUm, well, uh\u2014don\u2019t you think the stars look serene tonight?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam, whose lips had been tightly pursed during the stammering which preceded this remarkable speech, felt them start to twitch.\u00a0 This, he supposed, was his little brother\u2019s idea of a face-saving apology.\u00a0 Gaining control of himself, he finally said, \u201cWhy, yes.\u00a0 Yes, they do.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe sounded relieved as he said, \u201cGood night, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n A tiny chuckle slipped out as Adam replied, \u201cGood night, Joe.\u00a0 Serene dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n The next morning they headed further into the hill country, and for much of the way Adam could drink his fill of the wind in the pines and the twitter of mountain bluebirds.\u00a0 In fact, he began to fear that he had thoroughly squelched his brother\u2019s youthful enthusiasm and found that he missed it.\u00a0 Whenever Little Joe did venture a remark or question, however, he sounded pleasant enough, so the fear faded.\u00a0 Perhaps, Adam mused, his young brother had just needed to vent all that excess energy and excitement into the air and, having done so, was now ready to proceed on a more even keel.\u00a0 Maybe there was a center of calm\u2014an inner Hoss, so to speak\u2014somewhere inside all that natural exuberance.\u00a0 Maybe Little Joe was trying hard to let it through and maybe, just maybe, Adam was coming to appreciate both sides of his youngest brother\u2019s makeup.\u00a0 Both were unexpected, but equally welcomed, developments.<\/p>\n The sun was still high in the sky when they came across a crudely crafted cabin, and Adam pulled up before it.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll make this our base camp,\u201d he said as he dismounted.<\/p>\n Still in the saddle, Little Joe looked puzzled.\u00a0 \u201cI thought we were after bighorn sheep,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cThey usually range higher, don\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam loosened the cinch on his saddle.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s right, and that\u2019s where we\u2019ll hunt them.\u00a0 What Hoss and I had discussed was leaving our heavier gear and the pack mule here.\u00a0 Then we\u2019d take only what we needed for one night in the open and go south first and hunt a couple of days; we\u2019ll come back here for a night and do the same, heading west, instead.\u00a0 If we still haven\u2019t found the game we want, we\u2019ll decide what to do for the next couple of days, and then it\u2019ll be time to head home.\u00a0 That sound all right to you?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe swung down from his pinto.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, it\u2019s a good plan.\u00a0 Just hadn\u2019t heard it before.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou really weren\u2019t paying much attention at the table, were you?\u201d<\/p>\n Shrugging, Little Joe began to unsaddle the horse.\u00a0 \u201cDidn\u2019t have anything to do with me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor not inviting me?\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe gave a skeptical snort.<\/p>\n \u201cMore for monopolizing the dinnertime conversation with a subject that must have been boring, even irritating, to you.\u00a0 That was thoughtless, and I\u2019m sorry.\u201d\u00a0 Adam shouldered his saddle and headed for the cabin.<\/p>\n Little Joe stared at his brother\u2019s back.\u00a0 Adam apologizing?\u00a0 He figured he could count on one hand the times that had happened in his lifetime!\u00a0 \u201cHey, that\u2019s all right,\u201d he called and was rewarded with a grin tossed back over his brother\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 He followed Adam in and looked around the cabin, noting the single bunk, the rickety square table and scarcely more solid chair beside it.\u00a0 \u201cLet me guess,\u201d he groused, although he didn\u2019t sound all that put out.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sleeping on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t you think your young bones can handle it better than my slightly older ones?\u201d Adam chuckled.<\/p>\n \u201cYour much older ones,\u201d Joe jibed back, setting his saddle near the loosely mortared stone hearth.\u00a0 \u201cClose enough,\u201d he asked, \u201cor are you still afraid I\u2019ll take cold?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust see to it you don\u2019t.\u201d\u00a0 Adam took his bedroll from his saddle and tossed it on the bunk, while sliding the saddle beneath it.\u00a0 \u201cBest see to the stock,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cThen one of us can gather firewood and try to chink some of the larger cracks in this place, while the other tries to scare up some small game for our supper.\u00a0 Which do you fancy?\u201d<\/p>\n Joe stared at his older brother.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re giving me the choice?\u00a0 You\u2019re not pulling rank?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam worked his pursed lips from side to side, mostly to mask their telltale twitching.\u00a0 \u201cI take that to mean you\u2019d rather hunt?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho wouldn\u2019t?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam laughed.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe I think I\u2019ll sleep warmer tonight if I ready the cabin.\u00a0 I am a trained architect, after all.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe snickered.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, that\u2019s what this place needs all right, but maybe we should\u2019ve sent to San Francisco for a proper one.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam arched an eyebrow.\u00a0 \u201cWhy not Boston?\u00a0 I can speak with certainty of the superiority of architects trained there.\u201d\u00a0 He snapped his fingers.\u00a0 \u201cOh, that\u2019s right.\u00a0 We already have one.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe shook his head in capitulation.\u00a0 \u201cAll right, architect.\u00a0 You chink and I\u2019ll hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t bother with bighorns yet,\u201d Adam teased.\u00a0 \u201cA fair-sized rabbit will do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSince you brought me, instead of Hoss . . . it just might.\u201d\u00a0 Joe headed for the door.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe?\u201d\u00a0 When his brother turned, Adam said, \u201cDon\u2019t go far, and be back well before dark.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe rolled his eyes.\u00a0 Sometimes older brother just couldn\u2019t help being . . . well, an older brother, he supposed . . . and, maybe, all things considered, that wasn\u2019t such a bad thing.\u00a0 \u201cBack in plenty of time for you to skin and cook whatever I find,\u201d he promised.<\/p>\n Adam nodded, but not until his little brother had left did he realize that he\u2019d just accepted cooking duty from the kid.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ll do the cleanup!\u201d he called, but Joe was too far away to hear him.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Adam led his chestnut gelding into a clearing late the next evening.\u00a0 \u201cLet\u2019s make camp here,\u201d he suggested.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, looks good,\u201d Little Joe agreed.<\/p>\n Adam gave his younger brother, who looked irritatingly fresh, a weary smile.\u00a0 \u201cAfter you finagled me into both cooking and clearing up last night, I should make you set up camp, but since you brought in not one, but two fat rabbits for our sustenance, I think I\u2019ll let you water the horses, instead.\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019d cooked one rabbit in a savory stew for supper and had polished that off for breakfast this morning.\u00a0 The second rabbit had been fried and saved to eat along the trail today.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s my aim, to keep us well fed,\u201d Little Joe chirped as he began to unsaddle his pinto.<\/p>\n \u201cApparently not on mountain mutton,\u201d Adam said dryly, removing the gear from his own mount.<\/p>\n Little Joe shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019d think we\u2019d have spotted at least one, with all the tracks we saw today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not easy game to bag.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe grinned.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what makes it fun.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam laughed.\u00a0 \u201cEven you should get your fill of fun before the week\u2019s out, if you\u2019re determined to track bighorns.\u00a0 I might be willing to settle for a deer if tomorrow proves as fruitless as today.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019d settle for a fair-sized rabbit,\u201d his younger brother snorted.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll both be settling for beans tonight,\u201d Adam sighed, \u201cunless you see something down by the creek.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t get your hopes up.\u201d \u00a0Little Joe took Adam\u2019s horse and led it south, alongside his own.<\/p>\n Adam gazed fondly at his brother\u2019s departing back before propping his rifle against a pine at the edge of the clearing and leaving camp in search of dry wood.\u00a0 It had been a long day, with Little Joe uncharacteristically up at the crack of dawn and eager to hit the trail as soon as he\u2019d gulped down a few bites of leftover stew.\u00a0 It had been an unrewarding day, as well, at least in terms of the hunt, but a strange aura of satisfaction hung over Adam.<\/p>\n He\u2019d actually enjoyed Little Joe\u2019s company, and over a lunch of cold rabbit, the boy had even opened up enough to describe that latest little petticoat in his life that he\u2019d been so touchy about the first night.\u00a0 Belinda Montgomery: honey-blonde hair, creamed-coffee eyes, the cutest little spattering of tawny freckles across her nose and pert rosy lips that looked\u2014and Joe assured him, were\u2014tantalizingly kissable.\u00a0 Her family had only come to Virginia City two weeks ago, and how his brother had even discovered her, much less come to know her so well, was beyond Adam\u2019s understanding.\u00a0 Just a gift, he supposed, as much as Hoss\u2019s affinity with animals.<\/p>\n He was still mulling that over as he returned to their campsite for the night.\u00a0 Days later, when darkness began closing in, he would ask himself if he could have changed the course of the next few moments if he had kept his attention on his feet, instead of somewhere in the clouds, but the exercise was as pointless as most games of what-if.\u00a0 Almost simultaneously, he felt himself falling forward and heard a deafening explosion.\u00a0 Had he tripped on some dropped branch and somehow knocked over the rifle as he fell?\u00a0 Or was it the bullet ripping through his thigh that made him fall?<\/p>\n He cried out involuntarily as he hit the ground.\u00a0 He lay there, momentarily stunned, and then reached his left hand down his leg until he felt a ragged edge and explored the mysterious hole in his trousers.\u00a0 Raising his hand, he stared in disbelief as his thumb rubbed his sticky red fingertips.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m . . . shot,\u201d he murmured.\u00a0 He reached back down and pressed his palm against the wound, but he could still feel the fluid seeping through his fingers.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam!\u00a0 Adam!\u201d\u00a0 A sharp cry and the sound of feet pounding toward him.<\/p>\n Joe?\u00a0 Joe was here?\u00a0 Yes, of course, he was; they\u2019d come hunting together . . . bighorn sheep, wasn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n Little Joe slid to his brother\u2019s side.\u00a0 \u201cAdam?\u00a0 Adam, what happened?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam looked up into panicked green eyes.\u00a0 \u201cShot,\u201d he gasped.\u00a0 \u201cHelp me.\u201d \u00a0In the same moment he felt his brother\u2019s strong young hands push his own aside and press down firmly on the dripping tear in his leg.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know what to do, Adam!\u201d Joe cried.\u00a0 \u201cI wish . . .\u201d\u00a0 He sucked in his lips to hold the words back.\u00a0 What good would it do Adam to hear that wish?\u00a0 But, oh, how he did wish that Hoss had come on this trip, instead of him!\u00a0 Hoss was good at doctoring\u2014well, critters, anyway\u2014while Little Joe had generally looked away, feeling queasy, whenever Hoss had been working on some half-dead little stray.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all right,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re fine.\u00a0 I\u2019ll tell you what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u201d\u00a0 When Adam said nothing more, Little Joe cried, \u201cWhat, Adam?\u00a0 Tell me what to do!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cStop the bleeding.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying!\u201d\u00a0 The boy panted in an effort to control himself.\u00a0 \u201cIt just keeps comin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTourniquet,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cSaddlebag . . . clean bandana.\u00a0 Put a rock in it and tie it around my leg.\u201d\u00a0 He slid his hands down to replace his brother\u2019s.\u00a0 \u201cHurry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay, okay.\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe stumbled across the clearing to where Adam had dropped his saddlebags and hurriedly tossed out the contents until he came to the bandana.\u00a0 \u201cHow big a rock?\u201d he called as he scoured the clearing.<\/p>\n \u201cEgg-size, smooth as you can find,\u201d Adam said through gritted teeth.<\/p>\n Little Joe spied one he thought would work and hastily wrapped it inside the bandana and ran back to Adam\u2019s side.\u00a0 Grimacing, he laid the padded rock over the hole in his brother\u2019s flesh; then he tied the bandana securely behind the leg.<\/p>\n \u201cNot tight enough,\u201d Adam grunted.\u00a0 \u201cGet a stick . . . twist.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, okay; I can do that.\u201d\u00a0 He pulled a sturdy stick from the load Adam had been carrying, which lay strewn all around them, slipped it into the knot at the back of his brother\u2019s leg and twisted with all his might.\u00a0 \u201cSorry,\u201d he whispered when he heard Adam moan.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, doing fine.\u201d\u00a0 Adam raised his head slightly.\u00a0 \u201cIs it stopping?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe fought the urge to be sick and made himself look.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, I think so.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBring my saddle over here . . . prop it up.\u201d\u00a0 Adam lay back down.<\/p>\n Little Joe did as instructed, lifting his brother\u2019s leg as gently as possible.\u00a0 \u201cBetter?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFine,\u201d Adam said, a report his younger brother, who also gave that as a standard answer to all medical questions, didn\u2019t believe for a minute.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u201d\u00a0 Though Adam was trying to sound calm, his voice was shaking.\u00a0 \u201cThe horses . . . you didn\u2019t just . . .\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe\u2019s lips tightened into a frustrated frown.\u00a0 \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t just!\u00a0 I tied \u2018em to some mesquite down by the creek.\u00a0 I\u2019m not some stupid kid, Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry,\u201d Adam said, his eyes closing.\u00a0 They opened again as a slender hand came to rest on his shoulder.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I\u2019m sorry,\u201d Joe said, his anger now directed inward.\u00a0 Who but a stupid kid would snap at a wounded man?<\/em> he chastised himself.\u00a0 If you want people to think you\u2019re a man, act like one!<\/em>\u00a0 \u201cListen, if you\u2019ll be okay for a couple of minutes, I probably ought to go fetch those horses.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam smiled slightly.\u00a0 \u201cGood thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u201d\u00a0 Joe stood.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll be right back.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s nod was barely perceptible, and he again closed his eyes.\u00a0 He willed himself to take these few moments of rest, for he could foresee the ordeal that lay ahead\u2014and not just for him.\u00a0 Perhaps, not even primarily for him.\u00a0 Despite his pretensions of manhood, Little Joe was only a boy, a frightened boy who obviously already felt as if he were treading in water as deep as Lake Tahoe.\u00a0 What would happen when he realized that water was not a lake, but an ocean of turbulent waves?<\/p>\n Leading the horses, Little Joe soon returned.\u00a0 When he had carefully picketed them for the night, he squatted beside his brother.\u00a0 \u201cHow you doin\u2019, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFine,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n \u201cUh-huh,\u201d Little Joe muttered doubtfully.\u00a0 Why did he bother asking?\u00a0 \u201cAnything I can get you?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cJust set up camp.\u00a0 Eat something.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe scowled.\u00a0 \u201cAll we got\u2019s beans.\u00a0 Think you can manage that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot hungry,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n Little Joe\u2019s mouth curled in distaste.\u00a0 \u201cMe, neither.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEat,\u201d Adam ordered tersely.\u00a0 \u201cI need you strong.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy sobered in quick acknowledgement of that truth.\u00a0 \u201cOkay,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cStay put.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam raised an eyebrow.\u00a0 Was that supposed to be a joke?\u00a0 Apparently not, since Joe, who could never resist laughing at his own jokes, had not even cracked a grin.\u00a0 Probably just too edgy to put two and two together and come up with the obvious.<\/p>\n Little Joe moved about quietly, clearing the area around Adam and building a fire at the right distance to keep his brother warm.\u00a0 He brought their two bedrolls and, after covering Adam, spread his own blankets little more than an arms\u2019 length away.\u00a0 \u201cYou want coffee?\u201d he asked his brother when the fire was burning steadily.<\/p>\n \u201cJust water for now,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n \u201cI filled our canteens from the creek,\u201d Little Joe said, \u201cso it\u2019s nice and cold.\u201d\u00a0 He raised his brother up and held the canteen to his mouth.<\/p>\n Knowing that he should replenish lost fluids, Adam drank deeply.\u00a0 \u201cThanks,\u201d he said when he pulled away.<\/p>\n Little Joe stripped off his heavy plaid coat, rolled it tightly and placed it beneath his brother\u2019s head.<\/p>\n \u201cJoe, no,\u201d Adam protested.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t worry, Adam,\u201d Little Joe said with a cheeky smile.\u00a0 \u201cThere\u2019s no way you can get stuck with nursing me through a head cold now.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam uttered a short, gasping laugh.\u00a0 \u201cI guess that shoe\u2019s on the other foot,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u201d\u00a0 Joe looked nervous again.\u00a0 \u201cLook, I got no experience as a nurse.\u00a0 Is there somethin\u2019 I should be doin\u2019 for you?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam nodded, but said only, \u201cEat first.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWho\u2019s takin\u2019 care of who?\u201d Joe grunted as he opened the beans.<\/p>\n \u201cWhom,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n \u201cHuh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPreposition \u2018of\u2019 takes objective case . . . whom.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe\u2019s lips fluttered with exhaled frustration.\u00a0 \u201cMaybe I don\u2019t know much about nursin\u2019, but I\u2019m pretty doggone sure you shouldn\u2019t be wastin\u2019 your strength correctin\u2019 my grammar.\u201d\u00a0 He set the opened can near the fire.\u00a0 \u201cSo, you think you\u2019re gonna be able to sit a horse, come morning?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 You know how to build a travois?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll figure it out.\u201d\u00a0 After a few minutes Little Joe reached for the can of beans, which was warm, but not hot enough to burn his hand.\u00a0 Sitting on his bedroll, with his legs crossed Indian style, he forked the lukewarm beans into his mouth.<\/p>\n Adam watched until he saw his brother set the empty can aside.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cProbably should wash out the wound.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe turned a sickly shade of green.\u00a0 \u201cWish you\u2019d said that before I ate.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, it\u2019s okay.\u00a0 Gotta be done, I guess.\u00a0 You got another clean bandana?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u00a0 You?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe laughed hoarsely as he loosened the neck scarf he\u2019d worn the last three days.\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019re kidding, right?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight.\u201d\u00a0 Adam sighed.\u00a0 \u201cWash it out first.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Yeah, right.\u201d\u00a0 Joe sprang to his feet and hurried to the creek, where he doused the bandana a half dozen times and wrung it out before running back to Adam\u2019s side.<\/p>\n \u201cTake a breath,\u201d Adam grunted with an exaggerated roll of his eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m tryin\u2019 my best, Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI know.\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s hand closed over that of his young brother, and though his grasp was weak, Little Joe felt a fresh infusion of strength.<\/p>\n Steeling himself, the boy loosened the tourniquet and slid it down below the wound.\u00a0 Then he gingerly dabbed at the crusted blood that surrounded the ragged hole and finally began to cautiously clean the wound itself.<\/p>\n \u201cGood hands,\u201d Adam whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah?\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe almost visibly relaxed under his brother\u2019s smile of approval.<\/p>\n \u201cDid it go through?\u201d Adam asked.<\/p>\n Little Joe licked his lips.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLook.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUh, okay.\u00a0 Can you roll onto your other side, just for a minute?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf you help.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe slowly rolled his brother away from him until he could see the underside of the leg.\u00a0 His voice choked as he reported, \u201cI don\u2019t see anything.\u00a0 It\u2019s still in there, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust my luck,\u201d Adam muttered as he rolled back again.\u00a0 He glanced down at his leg.\u00a0 \u201cBleeding?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPut the tourniquet back then . . . but looser.\u201d<\/p>\n As he again tied the makeshift tourniquet around his brother\u2019s thigh, Little Joe asked, \u201cWhat we gonna do about that bullet?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing here,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cJust get me back to the cabin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAt first light,\u201d Little Joe promised.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Neither brother slept much that night.\u00a0 Though Adam tried to keep his moaning subdued, the minute he drifted to sleep, pain pressed through his vocal cords.\u00a0 Then Little Joe would wake from his own restless slumber and rise to check on his brother.\u00a0 Within a few hours, he began to feel fever burning beneath his anxious hands.\u00a0 From then on he didn\u2019t bother trying to sleep, but alternately paced the camp with nervous energy or hovered over his brother, frenetically bathing his face and neck with cool water from the nearby stream.\u00a0 When a faint rosy glow haloed the mountains to their east, he folded the well-soaked bandana into a compress and laid it on Adam\u2019s forehead, while he put together a travois to transport him.\u00a0 By the time the sky was light enough for them to travel, he was finished.<\/p>\n After saddling both mounts, he tied the travois to Adam\u2019s chestnut and then moved the rig beside his brother and helped him slide onto the travois.\u00a0 At Adam\u2019s instruction, he elevated the leg with both bedrolls and looped a full canteen around his brother\u2019s neck for easy access.\u00a0 \u201cYou ready?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah,\u201d Adam panted, for the effort of moving onto the travois had left him breathless.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u00a0 Go easy, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI can figure that much on my own, brother,\u201d Little Joe said, though without a trace of the irritation with which he customarily reminded any other Cartwright of how grown up and knowledgeable he was.<\/p>\n \u201cDoin\u2019 good, kid.\u201d\u00a0 Adam wearily closed his eyes, willing himself to stay awake to avoid any outcry when the inevitable bumps of the trail jostled his throbbing thigh.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Dusk was descending when the Cartwright brothers arrived back at the old trapper\u2019s cabin.\u00a0 Little Joe stepped wearily from the saddle.\u00a0 There\u2019d be no jokes about old bones tonight; his muscular, young body ached as if it were as ancient as Pa\u2019s . . . or, at least, Adam\u2019s.\u00a0 He moved to the rear of the horse and crouched beside the travois.\u00a0 \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n There was no response.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam!\u201d\u00a0 Joe shook his brother\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n With a groan Adam opened his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cWha . . . ?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re home,\u201d Little Joe said.\u00a0 \u201cWell, not home . . . not really home . . . just . . .\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u201d<\/p>\n As Adam appeared to drift off again, Joe again shook his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cAdam!\u00a0 Not yet,\u201d he urged.\u00a0 \u201cYou can sleep all you want once I get you inside, but you gotta help me.\u00a0 I can\u2019t lift you if you\u2019re dead weight; I just can\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n Glazed hazel eyes stared at the boy.\u00a0 \u201cOkay.\u201d\u00a0 He lifted his arm and stretched it toward his brother.<\/p>\n Little Joe quickly slid his arm behind Adam\u2019s back and raised him to a sitting position.\u00a0 For a moment he didn\u2019t think he\u2019d be able to get his brother to his feet, but then the wounded man pushed himself up and stood, shakily leaning on the more slightly built youth.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t put weight on that bad leg,\u201d Joe cautioned.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ll just take it slow and easy.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re here, we got all the time in the world.\u201d\u00a0 Of necessity, he\u2019d walked the horses all the way from their mountain camp, and even though he\u2019d stopped only to check on Adam and cool his flushed face from time to time, he\u2019d been fearful they wouldn\u2019t reach the cabin before dark.\u00a0 Now that they had, everything seemed possible again.<\/p>\n \u201cHorses . . . fire,\u201d Adam panted.<\/p>\n Little Joe\u2019s gusty exhale was composed of two parts exhaustion and one of pure exasperation.\u00a0 He\u2019d been handling things the best he knew.\u00a0 Would Adam never feel a lick of confidence in him?\u00a0 Still, Adam was hurt, so Joe deliberately kept his tone level as he said, \u201cYeah, I know.\u00a0 I\u2019ll take care of all that, but you first, older brother.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah . . . good.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe smiled to himself.\u00a0 Adam going along with what he said this easy?\u00a0 Well, that was different.\u00a0 Probably only a sign of how weak his brother was, but it sounded good, anyway.\u00a0 One step at a time, with Adam leaning heavily on him, he entered the cabin and walked to the bunk in the corner, where he eased his brother onto the thin mattress.\u00a0 \u201cGuess you get the soft bed again,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSorry.\u201d\u00a0 Genuine regret coated the single word.<\/p>\n Little Joe patted his shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t matter none, older brother.\u201d\u00a0 He said it to make Adam feel better, but then realized that if tonight in any way resembled the one they\u2019d passed last night, the lack of a bed truly wouldn\u2019t matter a smidgen.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Closing the door softly behind him, Little Joe stepped into the pale moonlight and drank deeply of the crisp, pine-scented air.\u00a0 The deeper shadows of the trees stretching into the clearing beckoned to him.\u00a0 To some, the shadowy pines might have seemed eerie, but the youngest Cartwright had always found them comforting.\u00a0 When he was a little boy, prone to nightmares, sometimes he\u2019d lean out his window and imagine they were tall soldiers standing guard over the Ponderosa and he\u2019d feel safe.\u00a0 He hoped these pines were part of the same squadron, a whole troop of special guardian angels in uniforms of spiny green, protectively circling this cabin, because never had he felt less safe, more in need of protection\u2014and not only for himself, not even primarily for himself.<\/p>\n With a concerned glance back at the cabin, he walked toward the trees.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t go far, of course.\u00a0 In fact, he felt guilty for leaving Adam at all, although his brother seemed to be sleeping easier now.\u00a0 He\u2019d had to, though.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t stay in that stifling cabin one more minute.\u00a0 As Adam\u2019s fever had risen, he\u2019d taken to such violent shaking that Little Joe had stoked the fire so hot that he\u2019d begun to sweat, even after donating his own blanket to his still shivering brother.\u00a0 I\u2019d have a better chance of sleeping out here<\/em>, he mused as he pulled a pine branch toward him and inhaled the fragrance of the needles.\u00a0 Releasing it, he shook his head.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t leave Adam alone that long.\u00a0 He\u2019d have to go back inside soon, but he\u2019d give himself a few more minutes out here in the cool comfort of the pines.\u00a0 He had some thinking to do, and this was surely a better place to do it than the airless interior of that cabin.<\/p>\n He scooped a pinecone from the ground and began to peel off the scales as his mind ruminated.\u00a0 Adam wasn\u2019t getting any better.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to face that fact, but the fever told him that much.\u00a0 Probably, that bullet was causing infection.\u00a0 It needed to come out, so if he could possibly leave Adam alone, he\u2019d need to ride for help.\u00a0 While he\u2019d hunted with his brothers before, they\u2019d never come to this area when he was along, and he wasn\u2019t sure which way to go.\u00a0 Maybe Adam could tell him.\u00a0 Maybe he knew the closest town with a decent doc.\u00a0 He\u2019d ask as soon as his brother woke.\u00a0 The sooner he left, the sooner he could bring back the help Adam needed.<\/p>\n Not right away, though.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t leave his brother with nothing but cold beans and jerky to eat, could he?\u00a0 Well, maybe he could, the way Adam\u2019s appetite had deserted him, but he\u2019d feel better if he could, at least, find another rabbit, start some stew simmering.\u00a0 Fever notwithstanding, Adam was still lucid, so hopefully he\u2019d be able to dish himself up a tin cup of stew.\u00a0 Satisfied with his plan, Little Joe sighed in resignation and headed back to the sweltering cabin.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n \u201cJoe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHuh?\u201d\u00a0 Incredulous that he\u2019d actually fallen asleep, Little Joe rolled over to face his brother through bleary eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cToo far.\u201d\u00a0 Adam seemed to be pushing the words out through sheer determination.<\/p>\n Little Joe yawned widely.\u00a0 Too far?\u00a0 What did Adam mean?\u00a0 Too far from home?\u00a0 Yeah, they were that, for sure, but guessing what thoughts might run through a fevered brain was plumb foolish.\u00a0 Finally, he just asked.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom fire,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cTake cold.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe laughed as he sat up.\u00a0 \u201cOlder brother, I promise you I ain\u2019t in no danger of gettin\u2019 too cold unless I sleep outside.\u00a0 Quit your frettin\u2019.\u201d\u00a0 He got up and moved to sit at Adam\u2019s side.\u00a0 \u201cYou feelin\u2019 any better this morning?\u201d he asked as he laid his hand across his brother\u2019s forehead.\u00a0 Hot\u2014far, far too hot\u2014and dry as tinder.\u00a0 One touch answered his question without a word from Adam.\u00a0 \u201cHow about I try to make some broth out of beef jerky?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam shook his head.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, you need to eat,\u201d Little Joe said firmly.\u00a0 \u201cIf you think you can manage alone for a while, I\u2019ll try to get a rabbit, make some proper stew, but . . .\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 He sounded almost angry.\u00a0 \u201cI need . . . bullet out.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe nodded glumly.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, I figured that.\u00a0 I ain\u2019t real familiar with these parts, so I was gonna ask where you thought I should go to fetch a doctor, but I wanted to leave you something to eat first.\u00a0 Adam, you gotta get somethin\u2019 inside you.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam stared, wide-eyed, at him.\u00a0 \u201cJoe . . . sorry.\u00a0 No doctor . . . too far.\u00a0 You take out . . . bullet.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe jumped up and backed away from his brother.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t, Adam; I just can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHave to,\u201d Adam insisted.\u00a0 \u201cNo one else.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u201d the sixteen-year-old cried, and he turned and fled from the cabin, running toward the shelter of the surrounding pines.\u00a0 He latched onto the first one he encountered and wrapped an arm around its thick trunk.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d he whispered, pressing his cheek into the rough bark.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t cut into my own brother; I just can\u2019t!\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Inside, Adam raised up and reached a shaking hand toward the just-slammed door.\u00a0 \u201cJoe,\u201d he called weakly.\u00a0 Then he fell back onto the thin mattress.\u00a0 Stupid!\u00a0 Stupid<\/em>, he chided himself.\u00a0 Just a kid . . . just a kid . . . too much to ask<\/em>.\u00a0 He closed his eyes, trying to figure some way out of this predicament, but his mind was too filled with concern for his young brother.\u00a0 How far had he gone?\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t even wearing a coat.\u00a0 Come back for that, Joe, just for that.\u00a0 I promise I won\u2019t ask. . . anything more.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The cinnamon scent of the stalwart Ponderosa bark wafted into Little Joe\u2019s nostrils, and with it seemed to come a measure of the pine\u2019s strength.\u00a0 In that moment he knew: the evergreens weren\u2019t standing sentinel over his brother\u2019s life; he was.\u00a0 Adam had always stood sentinel over him, but this time he had to do it for Adam.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t,\u201d he whispered one more time; then he forcefully shoved the craven thought aside.\u00a0 \u201cBut I have to.\u201d\u00a0 Pushing away from the pine, he stood as tall as a tree\u2014well, more likely a sapling\u2014and headed back toward the cabin.<\/p>\n He took a deep, stomach-stilling breath and opened the door.\u00a0 Walking directly to his brother, he said, \u201cAll right.\u00a0 Tell me what to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Face flooded with gratitude and admiration, Adam patted the edge of his mattress, and when Little Joe sat beside him, he said, \u201cListen close first time.\u00a0 Can\u2019t promise to stay with you.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe squeezed his hand to signify that he understood.\u00a0 Not sure I can, either, brother<\/em>.\u00a0 Only his heart rumbled those words, however.\u00a0 He silenced their roar and listened carefully as Adam haltingly told him, step by step, what he needed to do.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n \u201cYou ready?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s fingers closed over his brother\u2019s trembling left hand, the one holding a knife poised for the first cut into his leg.\u00a0 \u201cYeah.\u00a0 You can do this.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Course, I can.\u201d\u00a0 The bravado might have sounded less forced had Little Joe\u2019s traitorous voice not broken mid-sentence.<\/p>\n Adam gave his brother a final, encouraging smile, knowing full well that the next sounds issuing from his mouth would probably be anything but encouraging.<\/p>\n Little Joe raised his eyes in fleeting petition to God.\u00a0 Then he sliced the knife into his brother\u2019s flesh.\u00a0 Blood streamed down the leg, and he quickly stanched it with the folded cloth he had at hand.\u00a0 He choked down the stomach acid burning his mouth and used his fingers to probe the opening in search of the bullet. \u00a0Shaking his head in frustration when he found nothing, he again picked up the knife.\u00a0 \u201cSorry,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n Adam wanted to tell him it was okay, but he didn\u2019t dare speak unless he had to.\u00a0 He\u2019d managed to restrain all but a single grunt when the knife cut him, but holding back the groans growling up his throat had taken iron will as Joe\u2019s fingers dug deeper into tender flesh. \u00a0Thinking he might need to give further instruction during the procedure, Adam had refused the offer of a cloth bit in his mouth.\u00a0 With the second, deeper cut of the knife, he reconsidered that decision, but it was too late.\u00a0 The groans slid past his gritted teeth, and the last thing Adam remembered seeing was the tears swimming in his brother\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n A single drop escaped, but Little Joe dashed it away with the back of an angry, blood-smeared hand.\u00a0 He\u2019d hurt his brother, and it was killing him inside, but he couldn\u2019t give way now, not to regret and certainly not to the childish fear that surged through him when he saw Adam go limp.\u00a0 Being unconscious was better for Adam, but Joe realized afresh how much he\u2019d been relying on his brother\u2019s being there, telling him what to do if anything went wrong.\u00a0 And he still couldn\u2019t find that dang bullet!<\/p>\n Pursing his lips, he cut again and then followed the path of the knife with probing fingers.\u00a0 There!\u00a0 At last!\u00a0 His fingers closed around the metal, and he slowly drew it out, fearful each moment that his slick fingers might lose their hold.\u00a0 Nothing left to do now but clean the wound and bandage it.\u00a0 Thankfully, Adam had packed a roll of gauze in his saddlebags, although he hadn\u2019t mentioned it until just before this operation.\u00a0 Saving it for when he\u2019d need it most, he\u2019d said, and considering there wasn\u2019t that much, Joe thought that was probably good thinking.\u00a0 Adam was good at thinking ahead like that.\u00a0 Too bad he was the one shot, leaving the one who never thought more than a minute ahead to take charge of him.\u00a0 Little Joe had never dreamed he\u2019d welcome taking a bullet, but right now it seemed like the better alternative.\u00a0 Should\u2019ve thought that one out ahead, Adam!<\/em><\/p>\n Air\u2014he needed air.\u00a0 His thinking had gone plumb squirrelly without it.\u00a0 Little Joe lurched to his feet and stumbled toward the door.\u00a0 He almost fell through it into the frosty air.\u00a0 Pines\u2014he needed pines.\u00a0 No\u2014dumb thought\u2014he couldn\u2019t go that far, not when Adam might come around at any minute.\u00a0 He had to stay . . . had to make himself go back inside . . . but not just yet.\u00a0 Air\u2014he needed air\u2014and he took it in with deep, chest-heaving gulps.\u00a0 Then, with one final, silent appeal to the sheltering evergreens to stand watch, he turned toward the cabin and walked through the door he hadn\u2019t even thought to close.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n With his cheek Little Joe dreamily caressed the downy pillow, but it scratched more than he thought it should.\u00a0 Slowly a puzzled frown replaced the smile on his face.\u00a0 Why did his neck feel stiff and his entire body ache like he supposed an old man\u2019s must?\u00a0 As his eyes reluctantly opened, reality slammed into him, and he realized he wasn\u2019t home in his own bed, dreaming of pretty girls in evergreen dresses, holding hands and dancing in a circle around him.\u00a0 He was sitting on the slapped-together chair in the old trapper\u2019s cabin, his cheek pressed into the lumpy mattress of Adam\u2019s cot. \u00a0He tried to raise his head, but something seemed to be weighing it down.<\/p>\n Then his senses cleared and he understood what that weight was.\u00a0 \u201cAdam?\u201d he whispered.\u00a0 When he heard no answer, he maneuvered his head from beneath his brother\u2019s instinctively protective hand and unwound his twisted body, not certain how he\u2019d gotten into that position in the first place.\u00a0 He had determined to keep watch over his brother, despite the heaviness of his eyelids after the loss of two nights\u2019 sleep. \u00a0That much he remembered, but evidently his tired body had overcome his will, and his head had fallen to the mattress.<\/p>\n Standing, he worked his kinked muscles by bending this way and that before checking on Adam.\u00a0 There were a few spots of blood on the bandage, but nothing that looked fresh.\u00a0 He felt his brother\u2019s forehead and found it still warm.\u00a0 Less than before?\u00a0 Joe wasn\u2019t sure, but he thought it was possible, and that possibility raised his hopes.\u00a0 Suddenly, he was hungry for the first time since that fool rifle had gone off, hungry enough to eat Hoss\u2019s proverbial half a cow.\u00a0 Since he didn\u2019t have any meat, he decided to stir up a batch of flapjacks. \u00a0Coffee first, though.\u00a0 Even Adam might be up to a cup of that, when he woke.<\/p>\n It was the aroma of that coffee that finally pulled Adam from his heavy slumber.\u00a0 \u201cGot enough for me?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Though the words had been soft, Little Joe\u2019s attentive ear caught every syllable.\u00a0 \u201cSure thing, brother,\u201d he almost burbled.\u00a0 He filled a tin cup and brought it to Adam, raising him to lean against the wall behind him.\u00a0 \u201cTake it easy,\u201d he advised.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s hot.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam nodded and took a tentative sip.\u00a0 \u201cBut potable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHuh?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDrinkable.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe brightened still more.\u00a0 \u201cYou are feeling better!\u201d<\/p>\n Adam wasn\u2019t alert enough to grasp his brother\u2019s theory that the use of twenty-dollar vocabulary indicated returning health, so he responded literally.\u00a0 \u201cSome.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe sat beside him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry for hurting you, Adam, but that bullet was in deep.\u00a0 Almost would\u2019ve been easier cuttin\u2019 in from the backside, if I\u2019d knowed exactly where.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam grimaced, but he tapped his brother\u2019s arm with the back of his hand.\u00a0 \u201cYou did fine, kid.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe\u2019s nose wrinkled disdainfully.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t see how you could know that, passin\u2019 clean out like you did.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTrust.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think you mean desperation,\u201d Little Joe chuckled.<\/p>\n \u201cHmm?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo other choice,\u201d the younger boy said, as if he were the one now defining a twenty-dollar word.<\/p>\n Adam handed back the empty cup.\u00a0 \u201cTired.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 You sleep, then,\u201d Joe said as he eased his brother down and covered him.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m gonna fry up some flapjacks.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEnjoy,\u201d Adam said, and then his eyes closed.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Little Joe stayed close to the cabin that day and the next.\u00a0 Since Adam seemed to be sleeping restfully on the third day, however, he did range far enough to set a couple of rabbit snares.\u00a0 Toward suppertime, he checked them and found one empty, but the other one held a bunny in its noose.\u00a0 He frowned at the tiny thing.\u00a0 Barely more than a baby.\u00a0 He regretted taking its life; still, it would make a broth for his brother.\u00a0 He could make out on beans and jerky, if he had to, but Adam needed better nourishment.\u00a0 He reset the snares and hurried back to the cabin.<\/p>\n That night Adam was able to sit up and eat the broth, and the next day he even appeared to relish the gravy Joe made from the meager bits of rabbit meat and served over hot flapjacks.\u00a0 Disturbingly, however, the fever that had seemed to abate with the removal of the bullet was rising again, and by the fourth day after the extraction Little Joe could no longer withstand the evidence he felt each time he touched his brother\u2019s ever-warmer flesh.\u00a0 Adam wasn\u2019t getting better, and he didn\u2019t know what to do.<\/p>\n \u201cPa\u2019ll be expectin\u2019 us about now, won\u2019t he?\u201d he asked tentatively as he offered his brother broth from another rabbit the snare had finally produced.<\/p>\n \u201cNot due home \u2018til tomorrow,\u201d Adam said, \u201cand he won\u2019t worry too much if we\u2019re a day or two late.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah.\u00a0 Hope not.\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe was happy to keep up the fa\u00e7ade that he was only concerned about worrying their father.\u00a0 Contrary to his usual attitude, this time he actually hoped Pa would fret up a storm once they were a minute overdue; then, maybe, he\u2019d come looking for his tardy little boys.\u00a0 Pa\u2019ll know how to help Adam, and even if he don\u2019t, at least he can stay here while I ride for a doc<\/em>.\u00a0 None of that, however, was anything to worry Adam with, so Joe kept it to himself.<\/p>\n He needn\u2019t have bothered.\u00a0 Weak as he was, Adam was still up to hiding behind a fa\u00e7ade of his own.\u00a0 He could feel fever burning behind his closed eyelids, and the leg was on fire.\u00a0 Try as he might, that night he could no longer control his chilled shaking, and though he protested when Little Joe sacrificed his own blanket, he welcomed the extra cover.\u00a0 By morning he knew that he was in bad shape, and what was worse, he knew that his young brother knew, too.\u00a0 Joe\u2019s open face had always read like a book, and that morning, the tale plainly written across it was fear.<\/p>\n Adam waited until his brother had finished his breakfast of flapjacks and then called him over.\u00a0 \u201cI think you\u2019d better have a look under those bandages,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah . . . okay.\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe slowly and carefully unwound the bandage, wincing at the sickly yellow stain on the final layer.<\/p>\n \u201cWell?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe bit his lower lip.\u00a0 \u201cIt ain\u2019t pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJust tell me what you see!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSorry.\u00a0 It\u2019s\u2014uh\u2014kind of swollen, red around the edges, but they\u2019re sort of\u2014well, dark.\u00a0 I guess that means infection?\u201d<\/p>\n Regretting the impatience of his last words, Adam regulated the tone of his voice.\u00a0 \u201cBound to be some.\u00a0 Anything else?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe nodded.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s seepin\u2019 some kind of thick, yellowish stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam forced himself to smile.\u00a0 \u201cLaudable pus.\u201d<\/p>\n The words produced a blank stare on his brother\u2019s face.\u00a0 \u201cWhat kind of pus?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam swallowed hard.\u00a0 \u201cLaudable . . . a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe cocked his head quizzically.\u00a0 \u201cIt is?\u00a0 But I thought . . .\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAsk any doctor,\u201d Adam replied with a stage-worthy air of confidence.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t a complete lie.\u00a0 Many doctors, perhaps even the majority, still thought pus was a necessary stage in the healing of a wound, that it indicated the poison was being pushed out of the body.\u00a0 As he knew from private conversation, however, Dr. Paul Martin, their family physician, wasn\u2019t among them.\u00a0 \u201cJust wash it out and bandage again, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, sure.\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe fetched some clean water and did as his brother had asked.\u00a0 \u201cSo, you\u2019re doin\u2019 better, in spite of the fever and all?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRight.\u201d\u00a0 Lest evidence of the bald-faced lie show on his face, he quickly asked, \u201cYou checked the rabbit snare yet?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo, but if you\u2019re okay for now, I\u2019ll go ahead and do that.\u00a0 Maybe we\u2019ll get a fat one today!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHope so.\u00a0 Stew sounds good.\u201d\u00a0 As soon as Joe left, Adam covered his face with a shaking hand.\u00a0 The optimistic picture he\u2019d painted for his brother was far from an accurate one, and he wasn\u2019t sure how long he could keep up the fantasy that, contrary to all external evidence, he was actually improving.\u00a0 Joe might be young and inexperienced, but he was no fool.\u00a0 If the fever kept rising, if the leg kept swelling, if more of that so-called \u201claudable pus\u201d kept oozing from the putrefying wound\u2014all highly likely\u2014the kid would eventually figure it out.\u00a0 Worse, if the fever made him delirious, he might well babble it out himself.\u00a0 He\u2019s too young to face<\/em>\u2014Adam laughed harshly\u2014for that matter, I\u2019m too young.\u00a0 I may have to grow up fast, but Joe?\u00a0 Not if I can help it!<\/em><\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n By the next afternoon Adam knew the worst.\u00a0 He\u2019d convinced Little Joe to go out in search of real game.\u00a0 \u201cA more substantial meal,\u201d he\u2019d said, hoping the boy would take that as sign of a healthier appetite.\u00a0 In truth, he was more interested in getting a substantial meal into his brother, who had been subsisting mainly on flapjacks while saving the occasional rabbit for broth.<\/p>\n Adam took advantage of the time alone to explore his own wound.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t dare unwrap the bindings.\u00a0 Joe would notice.\u00a0 Instead, he trusted his sense of touch.\u00a0 His thigh felt enormous, compared to the other, and when his fingers explored the bandage, he found it damp and sticky.\u00a0 Bringing his fingers to his nostrils, he gagged at the putrid odor.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t need to actually see the gunshot wound.\u00a0 What he\u2019d felt and what he\u2019d smelled was enough to tell him gangrene was present, and in this isolated setting, far from medical help, there was no doubt how that would end.\u00a0 He was going to die, and hard as it would be to die alone, there was no way he would allow his baby brother to watch it happen.\u00a0 He had to get the kid out of here, but what ruse would possibly work?<\/p>\n A couple of hours later Little Joe burst through the cabin door with none of the caution he\u2019d been using since his brother\u2019s accident.\u00a0 \u201cGuess what, Adam?\u201d\u00a0 He was almost babbling with excitement.<\/p>\n \u201cThree fat rabbits?\u201d Adam teased, pouring energy into his voice.<\/p>\n \u201cBetter than that!\u00a0 I bagged a deer!\u201d the boy crowed.\u00a0 \u201cHow\u2019s that for substantial?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPerfect.\u00a0 Good job, oh mighty hunter.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, well, I gotta get it cleaned and skinned,\u201d Joe said, \u201cbut I wanted to check on you first.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood kid.\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s voice was warm with appreciation for all his little brother had done to deal with this catastrophe.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m doin\u2019 fine, thanks.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe eyed him somewhat dubiously.\u00a0 \u201cYou sure?\u00a0 Reckon I ought to check that wound before I get my hands all bloody?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI already did.\u00a0 It\u2019s fine.\u00a0 And\u2014and I\u2019m hungry for venison.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe shrugged.\u00a0 \u201cWell, okay, then.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be just outside, so give a holler if you need anything.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSure.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam exhaled slowly as the boy left.\u00a0 He\u2019d pulled it off, but he\u2019d sapped his strength.\u00a0 If this scheme were to work, he\u2019d have to tap into some hidden reserve by the time his little brother had cleaned that deer.<\/p>\n Later that evening, when by strength of will he\u2019d managed to choke down his \u201cmore substantial\u201d meal, Adam called his brother over.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cReally glad you found that deer, Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s what I was hoping for,\u201d Joe said with a saucy grin as he sat at his brother\u2019s side.\u00a0 \u201cGettin\u2019 kind of tired of rabbit myself, and I know sick folks can get even finickier.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe.\u201d\u00a0 Adam passed over a point he might otherwise have contested.\u00a0 \u201cNot what I meant, though.\u00a0 Having that much meat means I can spare you a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSpare me?\u201d\u00a0 Thinking that this, too, was a sick man\u2019s notion, Little Joe patted his brother\u2019s arm.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, Joe, you are,\u201d Adam said with older-brother-authority.\u00a0 \u201cJust listen.\u00a0 You said it before, but I wasn\u2019t thinking clearly: we\u2019re overdue now, and Pa\u2019s bound to worry.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe nodded soberly.\u00a0 \u201cBy now, yeah.\u201d\u00a0 Then he brightened.\u00a0 \u201cBut that\u2019s a good thing, Adam.\u00a0 Probably already packing up to head this way.\u201d\u00a0 The thought of pending rescue pierced through the night of his ordeal like a shining star.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would be,\u201d Adam drawled, giving himself time to think, \u201cexcept he doesn\u2019t know where we are.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe stared at him.\u00a0 \u201cSure, he does.\u00a0 You talked about your plans.\u201d\u00a0 He rolled his eyes.\u00a0 \u201c\u2018Til I got dizzy with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam smiled.\u00a0 Odd, how endearing his baby brother\u2019s dinnertime disgust with him could seem now, when he\u2019d probably never see it again.\u00a0 \u201cOnly the general direction.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy\u2019s brow furrowed.\u00a0 \u201cYou said the other day that you\u2019d talked about this cabin at dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n Of all the times for the kid to start paying attention!\u00a0 Adam quickly reframed the truth.\u00a0 \u201cI mentioned a cabin, yes, but not its exact location.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut Hoss must\u2019ve known.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam could hear the pleading in his brother\u2019s voice.\u00a0 \u201cNo, we never discussed it that specifically.\u201d\u00a0 Another bald-faced lie.\u00a0 Hoss knew exactly where this cabin was; in fact, he\u2019d been the one to suggest it.\u00a0 \u201cPa won\u2019t be able to find us on his own, Joe; that\u2019s why you have to find him.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe bolted to his feet.\u00a0 \u201cI ain\u2019t leavin\u2019 you alone, Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe . . .\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo!\u00a0 Yeah, we got food enough now, but you ain\u2019t able to fend for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam reached toward him.\u00a0 \u201cI can, Joe.\u00a0 I\u2019m better now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNot that much!\u00a0 Fact is, I\u2019m startin\u2019 to think you\u2019re plumb delirious with fever.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam moistened his dry lips.\u00a0 \u201cJoe, you\u2019re not thinking.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m<\/em> not thinking!\u201d\u00a0 The boy sounded indignant.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, you\u2019re not,\u201d Adam answered with controlled calm.\u00a0 \u201cYou can\u2019t get me home by yourself.\u00a0 We need Pa.\u00a0 Once you\u2019ve told him how to get here, you can go on and find a wagon to\u201d\u2014his voice caught, and then he pushed on\u2014\u201cto bring me home.\u00a0 Pa needs you, Joe.\u00a0 He could wander around these hills for months without finding this place.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI . . . don\u2019t know.\u201d\u00a0 Joe still sounded reluctant, but clearly the picture of his father searching aimlessly through the mountains was making inroads into his resolve.<\/p>\n Adam was quick to play on it.\u00a0 \u201cYou know Pa.\u00a0 He won\u2019t stop \u2018til he finds us, but he\u2019ll be searching blind . . . and it could snow any time.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe\u2019s open face revealed the deeper cut into his resolve.\u00a0 \u201cAnd we need to get you out of here before that,\u201d he said slowly.\u00a0 \u201cA wagon would sure help.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cExactly,\u201d Adam said with relief.\u00a0 It was working!<\/p>\n Little Joe still looked troubled.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, but how you gonna keep the fire going, Adam?\u00a0 You ain\u2019t even been out of your bed yet.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll manage, so long as you bring in plenty of firewood.\u201d\u00a0 Adam deftly turned his brother\u2019s attention from his concern about leaving to what he needed to do if he did.<\/p>\n Little Joe nodded.\u00a0 \u201cI guess I need to do that, either way.\u201d\u00a0 He pulled on his coat and headed back into the cold night air.<\/p>\n Normally, Adam would have told him it could wait for daybreak, but his full focus now was on getting Joe away from the cabin as early as possible tomorrow.\u00a0 Joe was moving in the right direction for that, and Adam would do absolutely nothing to delay his progress toward that desired end.\u00a0 If it required a performance to rival that of the Booth brothers\u2014Junius, Edwin and John Wilkes, combined\u2014then, so be it.\u00a0 He could\u2014and probably would\u2014collapse later.<\/p>\n Morning came, and with it less-than-subtle hints that Little Joe should get an early start.\u00a0 \u201cI still don\u2019t like this much,\u201d the boy responded.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s what you need to do.\u201d\u00a0 Adam hoped the slight pause between virtually every word would come across as emphasis.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I guess.\u00a0 I should probably redress that wound before I go.\u201d<\/p>\n Mercy, was there no getting this kid out the door?\u00a0 \u201cLeave it until Pa comes,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cWe probably only have enough material to do it once; best to save it for the journey home, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe frowned.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t you think Pa\u2019ll pack some bandages, just in case?\u201d<\/p>\n The kid was getting entirely too sharp!\u00a0 \u201cCan\u2019t count on it,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cGet goin\u2019, Joe.\u00a0 Sooner you leave, sooner Pa can get back here\u2014and you with that wagon.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay.\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe gathered up his supplies, but hesitated at the door.\u00a0 \u201cDon\u2019t let that fire go out,\u201d he ordered.<\/p>\n \u201cRight.\u00a0 And take Sport with you, okay?\u00a0 It\u2019ll slow you down some, but I can\u2019t take care of him now.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe rolled his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI already figured that one out on my own, Adam.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGood; that\u2019s good, kid.\u201d\u00a0 Should have trusted him for that.\u00a0 He\u2019s heard Pa\u2019s adage about putting livestock first all his life<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cTake care, Joe; I\u2019ll miss you.\u201d\u00a0 He almost choked on those final words, but he had to say them.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t dare try to express what he was really feeling, but he wanted the last words his brother ever heard from him to carry some note of love and brotherhood.<\/p>\n Then Joe was gone, and with him all life seemed to leave the cabin.\u00a0 Instead, Death draped its shadowy shroud across the room.\u00a0 It wouldn\u2019t be a quick and easy one, though.\u00a0 Adam would have all too much time to think, time to lament all he would leave behind.\u00a0 Oh, how he would miss his baby brother!\u00a0 He\u2019d gotten a glimpse this week of the man the boy would become, but how he wished he could stay and see Little Joe come to full maturity.\u00a0 And Hoss, the brother who had been his closest friend since his own boyhood\u2014he\u2019d never see that cherub face again, never feel his exuberant bear hug.\u00a0 Pa.\u00a0 Pa would surely be leaving home tomorrow, the next day at the latest.\u00a0 Another couple of days for the trip.\u00a0 Gangrene killed, but not quickly, so he hoped he could hold on long enough to see Pa once more.\u00a0 He desperately wanted a chance to say good-bye, an opportunity to tell him directly what it had meant to have Ben Cartwright as a father and to convey messages to both his brothers.\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t possibly have shared those with Little Joe without discarding the mask that all was well, but he could be honest with Pa.\u00a0 And Pa could help him make the difficult passage from Earth to\u2014well, he hoped it would be Heaven.\u00a0 He had a few fresh lies to repent of before approaching the Pearly Gates, but he thought God would understand.\u00a0 He closed his eyes, and damp eyelashes touched his cheeks as he whispered, \u201cTo sleep, perchance to dream.\u201d<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Little Joe blazed another tree and sheathed his hunting knife.\u00a0 That should be enough.\u00a0 He was back on the main trail now, and he\u2019d carefully marked the place Pa would need to diverge from that to reach the cabin, as well as blazing a number of trees along the route back to Adam.\u00a0 All that had taken extra time, of course, so he wasn\u2019t as far down the trail as he\u2019d expected by\u00a0 midday.<\/p>\n He squinted at the sun directly above his head.\u00a0 Eat now or try to make more ground?\u00a0 The question was hardly worth asking, since he hadn\u2019t had any appetite all morning.\u00a0 Mounting his pinto, he gathered up Sport\u2019s reins and the lead rope on the mule and moved at a steady pace.\u00a0 He tried to keep his mind fixed ahead, on meeting up with Pa and working together to get Adam home, but his thoughts continually drifted back to the brother he\u2019d left behind.\u00a0 He kept fretting about whether Adam really was strong enough yet to feed himself, much less the fire.\u00a0 And how would he keep his fever down with no little brother there to lay cold compresses on his burning head?<\/p>\n It was more than that, though.\u00a0 Valid as those concerns were, beneath them crouched a nameless fear that kept niggling away at the deepest recesses of his mind.\u00a0 Some instinct told him that he shouldn\u2019t have left . . . and not for any of the reasons he\u2019d worried over.\u00a0 Something was wrong, more wrong than any of those things.\u00a0 He sensed it, but he couldn\u2019t pin it down.\u00a0 Something Adam had said . . . something not right; yet every time he tried to grasp it, it skittered away.<\/p>\n Adam had sounded so sure about everything he\u2019d said, and after all, Adam was the smart one, not the good-for-nothing-special, life-of-the-party one.\u00a0 Even that morning he\u2019d explained the widening yellow-green stains on his bandage by saying that it showed most of the poison had been pushed out.\u00a0 The ongoing fever only meant that his body was fighting hard to expel what still remained.\u00a0 It had all sounded reasonable while Adam was talking.\u00a0 Now, with only the voice of his own nagging doubt, instead of Adam\u2019s smooth-as-silk logic, it didn\u2019t sound reasonable at all.\u00a0 It sounded . . . like a lie.<\/p>\n Would Adam lie to him?\u00a0 All the Cartwright boys had been trained in honesty, but not one of them was above stretching the truth in a good cause.\u00a0 Did Adam have good cause now?\u00a0 A shiver went down Joe\u2019s spine, and the nameless fear began creeping up it.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Why would Adam lie?\u00a0 To get him out of the cabin?\u00a0 He shook his head.\u00a0 That didn\u2019t make sense.\u00a0 He\u2019d done a good job of caring for his brother, and there wasn\u2019t anyone else.\u00a0 Sure, Pa would do better.\u00a0 Maybe that\u2019s what Adam was thinking, that sending his brother after Pa would get him here faster.\u00a0 That made sense, but it didn\u2019t have the ring of truth.\u00a0 The nameless fear began to nibble at the back of his brain.\u00a0 He tried to push it down, but it only screeched louder.\u00a0 Finally, it screamed out its ugly name:\u00a0 Death.<\/p>\n No!\u00a0 Little Joe pressed his hands to his ears, to shut out the soundless shriek, but unlike all Adam\u2019s smooth words, which had sounded so right, but felt wrong, this sounded wrong, but felt miserably true.\u00a0 Pulling his hands away from his ears, he faced the truth with lips grim and taut: Adam was dying; he knew it, and he\u2019d sent his little brother away so he wouldn\u2019t have to watch.\u00a0 Joe wheeled his horse around and headed back the way he\u2019d come.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n The shadows inside the cabin were deepening as the firelight dwindled.\u00a0 Ought to get up and stoke it<\/em>, Adam thought.\u00a0 But it scarcely seemed worth the bother.\u00a0 Death from cold was said to be as easy a way to go as a man could find.\u00a0 Just go to sleep and never wake.\u00a0 No pain, no rehearsing of regrets, just peaceful oblivion. \u00a0So, what was the point of prolonging the matter?\u00a0 Pa, he reminded himself.\u00a0 Pa was the point, and for Pa he\u2019d get up and stoke the fire . . . soon.<\/p>\n The door flew open with a mighty bang, and framed in the opening stood a glowering figure.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u201d Adam croaked.\u00a0 Joe wasn\u2019t supposed to be here; he was supposed to be far away by now, safe from . . .<\/p>\n \u201cWhat kind of fool kid did you take me for?\u201d Little Joe demanded hotly as he stormed across the room to stir up the dying embers of the fire.\u00a0 \u201cWell, the kind I am, I guess, since I fell for that playacting of yours!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat are you doing here?\u201d Adam groaned.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of chasin\u2019 that wild goose you sent me after?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo . . . Pa.\u00a0 You find Pa?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe\u2019s face hardened as he strode to his brother\u2019s side.\u00a0 \u201cIt wasn\u2019t about finding Pa, and you and I both know it.\u00a0 Stop lying, Adam!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cJoe . . . please.\u201d\u00a0 Adam\u2019s voice broke on a sob.<\/p>\n That was all it took to quench the fire blazing in Little Joe\u2019s eyes.\u00a0 What was he doing, yelling at a sick, maybe even dying, man?\u00a0 Mortified, he fell to his knees beside the bed.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Adam,\u201d he murmured, repentant hands touching the fevered face, \u201cbut no more lies, okay?\u00a0 I got to know the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTruth?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe sighed in exasperation with what he took for more prevaricating.\u00a0 \u201cYeah, Adam, truth.\u00a0 What\u2019s the truth about\u2014oh, say, laudable pus, for instance.\u00a0 Is there any such thing?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam stared into his brother\u2019s eyes and wilted under their withering gaze.\u00a0 \u201cDebatable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAdam, so help me!\u201d\u00a0 Joe regained control of himself.\u00a0 \u201cNo twenty-dollar words, brother.\u00a0 Just answer me plain: is there such a thing or not?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSome doctors . . . yes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd some docs say no?\u00a0 Well, just what side of this here debate does good ole Doc Martin come down on, hmm?\u00a0 Or can I guess?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam withered still further into the mattress.\u00a0 \u201cYou can guess,\u201d he said slowly.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, figures.\u00a0 Gotta protect the little kid from the truth, right?\u201d\u00a0 Joe shook his head from side to side.\u00a0 \u201cNo more, Adam.\u00a0 Tell me how things really stand and give it to me straight.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam closed his eyes.\u00a0 \u201cBad . . . they stand bad.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe took his hand.\u00a0 \u201cHow bad?\u201d he asked softly.\u00a0 \u201cAre you . . . are you . . .\u201d\u00a0 He couldn\u2019t bring himself to finish the question, especially as he saw tears brim his brother\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n \u201cThink so,\u201d Adam whispered.\u00a0 \u201cGangrene . . . no doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n Gangrene.\u00a0 Only a ten-dollar word at best, but it sent frissons of horror racing through every vein and artery in Joe\u2019s body.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t as educated as Adam, but he knew that word.\u00a0 You didn\u2019t live near the Sierras without hearing tales of men with gangrene, either dying alone or, if they were brave enough, sawing off parts of their own bodies so they could survive.\u00a0 \u201cIsn\u2019t there something we can do?\u201d he asked, dreading whichever answer he\u2019d receive.<\/p>\n \u201cNothing you could<\/em> do.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe heard the emphasis on the word and understood at once what his brother meant.\u00a0 \u201cOh, yes, I could,\u201d he said, giving Adam\u2019s hand a firm squeeze.\u00a0 \u201cRather than watch you die, I could do anything.\u00a0 Anything, Adam!\u00a0 Is it . . . is it . . . am-ampu . . .\u201d<\/p>\n Adam uttered a short, rough laugh.\u00a0 The idea of his baby brother performing a procedure he couldn\u2019t even bring himself to name seemed suddenly hilarious, but he had neither the strength nor the heart to continue laughing.\u00a0 \u201cNo, Joe.\u201d\u00a0 Moistening his dry lips, he explained, \u201cWound that high, have to take off . . . at hip.\u00a0\u00a0 Don\u2019t even know how . . . tell you . . . what to do.\u00a0 Need real doc . . . for that.\u201d<\/p>\n No one needed to tell Little Joe that a real doctor was impossible.\u00a0 The nearest one was too far away, had been too far away from the moment that rifle went off.\u00a0 \u201cThere has to be something we can try.\u201d\u00a0 His voice was pleading, desperate.\u00a0 \u201cIsn\u2019t there something, Adam?\u201d<\/p>\n Adam pursed his lips thoughtfully and finally said, \u201cMaybe . . . one chance . . . hard on you.\u201d<\/p>\n Sitting back, Little Joe squared his shoulders.\u00a0 \u201cI can do it.\u00a0 Gotta be easier than, than . . . the other.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam gave him a weak, lopsided grin.\u00a0 \u201cNot much.\u00a0 Still gotta cut . . . putrid stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe exhaled slowly, hoping he\u2019d expelled all his fear along with the air.\u00a0 \u201cWell, let\u2019s get at it, then.\u201d<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s eyebrow arched quizzically.\u00a0 \u201cHorses?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe slumped.\u00a0 \u201cI forgot,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n \u201cLivestock first.\u201d<\/p>\n His younger brother wagged his head from side to side.\u00a0 \u201cYes, Pa,\u201d he drawled and hurried out the door.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n \u201cYou ready?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAre you?\u201d\u00a0 Having seen his little brother rush from the cabin to vomit out the meager contents of his stomach at first sight of the rotting flesh, Adam could scarcely be blamed for the ironic tone with which he asked the question.<\/p>\n Mouth clamped shut, perhaps to hold back more bile rising up his throat, Little Joe nodded curtly and cut into the leg.\u00a0 Blood mingled with jaundiced pea ooze as he sliced away the blackness that edged the wound.\u00a0 Dead flesh, Adam had called it, saying it all had to go, because that\u2019s what was poisoning his body, inside and out. \u00a0Again and again Joe cut away the gangrenous tissue, closing his ears to the outcries his brother could not silence this time.\u00a0 It had to be done, so it would be done\u2014not as well as Doc Martin, but with equal, if not greater, determination to do it thoroughly.<\/p>\n Stabbing pain continually pulled Adam back to consciousness whenever he started to drift away, but only by sheer grit did he stay with his brother as Joe wrapped their last fresh gauze around the leg.\u00a0 \u201cThanks, ki . . .\u201d\u00a0 He chopped the word off, but not from weakness, as Joe presumed.\u00a0 It simply felt wrong on his tongue.\u00a0 No kid could have done what his baby brother had just done.\u00a0 Adam wanted to explain, but his strength was fading fast.\u00a0 \u201cSleep,\u201d he whispered.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d Little Joe soothed, as he drew the blankets over his brother.<\/p>\n A half-smile twisted Adam\u2019s mouth.\u00a0 \u201cMeant . . . you.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe grinned.\u00a0 Trust big brother to worry about him to the very end.\u00a0 He turned quickly away, lest Adam see the tears in his eyes.\u00a0 Dear God, don\u2019t let it be the end!<\/em><\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n As the sun descended, sending amber strings of light through the chinks in the cabin that Adam hadn\u2019t filled that first day, Little Joe prowled the four corners of the room like a caged cougar.\u00a0 Though exhausted, he couldn\u2019t rest, and except for periodically trying to cool his brother\u2019s fever, he kept moving, trying, perhaps, to outpace the fear that stalked each step he took.<\/p>\n He knew that the desperate carving he\u2019d done on Adam\u2019s thigh was his brother\u2019s last chance.\u00a0 What if it wasn\u2019t enough?\u00a0 What if, despite everything, he had to watch his brother die?\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the watching that bothered him, he realized as he paced the cabin; if Adam really were dying, he wanted to be here for him.\u00a0 No one should have to face that alone.\u00a0 He stopped still and stared at the bed as a hard truth hit him.\u00a0 There was another thing no one should have to face alone: the loss of a big brother with whom one had shared a lifetime of memories.<\/p>\n His steps slowed as his mind drifted back to the scene of a tiny boy dandled on his brother\u2019s knee, his first recollection of Adam as Adam, separate from all the other big people in the house.\u00a0 Supple hands supported his back as he looked up, up, up at the face so far above him.\u00a0 So tall his brother was, though he didn\u2019t yet know to call him that.\u00a0 So strong.\u00a0 He\u2019d felt secure in those hands, as safe there as in the arms of his father or mother.\u00a0 Though he hadn\u2019t yet formed a single word, he thought his eyes must have shone with trust.\u00a0 A fanciful thought, maybe, but how could he have felt something that deeply without its showing?<\/p>\n Trust.\u00a0 That word seemed to sum up his deepest feelings toward Adam as he grew from babe to toddler to little boy.\u00a0 Adam\u2014always there to run to if something scared him, whether it was a tumble down the stairs or a howling noise outside his window.\u00a0 He\u2019d run to Pa or to Mama quicker, of course, and for lesser frights, to Hoss, but especially when nighttime fears were chasing him, Adam, just across the hall, was closer than Pa and bigger than Hoss, at least early on.\u00a0 In the dark days after his mother\u2019s death, when Pa had all but disappeared from his life, Adam had been there, holding him while he grieved and providing all those lesser needs like food and clothing, as well.<\/p>\n And then he was gone.\u00a0 Barely months after losing his mother, the big brother who had become his rock just vanished, ripped away by a stagecoach headed east and held captive in some dark dungeon called college.\u00a0 Surely, it had to be something as gruesome as that to keep Adam away from him!<\/p>\n By the time his brother returned, Little Joe had understood that no fairy-tale ogre had forced Adam into that dungeon; he\u2019d walked in of his own free will.\u00a0 Joe\u2019d had a hard time forgiving his brother for that.\u00a0 He\u2019d held back at first, not willing to risk rejection again, but gradually he\u2019d come to realize that Adam was still Adam underneath a thick-padded coat of book-learning.\u00a0 He could be downright aggravating with that padding . . . or he could use it to rescue a kid brother who\u2019d worked himself out onto a limb.\u00a0 Little Joe smiled wistfully as he recalled the innumerable times Adam had pulled him out of some conflagration of his own kindling.\u00a0 Trust.\u00a0 It had taken time, but the trust he\u2019d felt as a baby on his brother\u2019s knee had returned and deepened.<\/p>\n That trust had almost been his downfall, too.\u00a0 Without it, Adam would never have been able to pull the wool over his eyes the way he had.\u00a0 Adam\u2019s word had always been something he could count on, so he\u2019d accepted the story his brother had woven out of whole cloth.\u00a0 Probably because I wanted it to be true<\/em>, he admitted now.\u00a0 Can\u2019t make that mistake again . . . but how can I not want him to be better? How can I stop trusting after a lifetime like we\u2019ve shared?\u00a0 Just let me see things as they are,<\/em> he finally prayed as he sat down again to bathe Adam\u2019s burning face with cool water.<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Adam slept soundly, not waking until early the next morning.\u00a0 \u201cI feel better, Joe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Little Joe shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve heard that before, brother, so I ain\u2019t real inclined to take it on your say-so.\u201d\u00a0 He laid his hand across Adam\u2019s forehead and frowned.\u00a0 \u201cStill feels mighty warm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBetter, though,\u201d Adam insisted.\u00a0 \u201cI can tell.\u00a0 My eyes don\u2019t burn as much.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, if you\u2019re right, fever\u2019ll keep on goin\u2019 down, won\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt should,\u201d Adam answered cautiously.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m gonna check the wound now,\u201d Joe announced with such no-nonsense authority that Adam acquiesced without another word.\u00a0 He examined the bandage carefully and then covered his brother again.<\/p>\n \u201cWell?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo worries . . . yet.\u201d\u00a0 Standing, he tucked the blanket under Adam\u2019s chin.\u00a0 \u201cGet some more rest.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay . . . you, too.\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe pointed an index finger.\u00a0 \u201cFor now, older brother, I give the orders.\u00a0 Sleep!\u201d<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n Joe had no intention of following his brother\u2019s dictates, but after eating a couple of flapjacks, his eyes grew heavy, so he pushed the plate away and laid his head on the table to rest them for a few minutes.\u00a0 He was still there, head cushioned on his folded arms, hours later when the door to the cabin creaked open.\u00a0 Whether it was the sound or the shaft of light that streamed across his face, something made him open his eyes.\u00a0 There, in the doorway, stood the most welcome sight a weary boy had ever seen.\u00a0 \u201cPa!\u201d he cried as he lurched to his feet and, still groggy, stumbled across the room.<\/p>\n Ben caught his son in his arms.\u00a0 \u201cJoe?\u00a0 What on earth?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou did know where the cabin was!\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWell, no, not exactly,\u201d Ben said, \u201cbut Hoss did, and someone had marked the way.\u201d<\/p>\n Standing upright, Little Joe shook his head in disgust.\u00a0 \u201cWell, that figures.\u00a0 He lied about that, too!\u201d\u00a0 With a pointed look toward the cot, he said, \u201cYou need to have a serious discussion with that oldest boy of yours about truth-telling, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben took the boy\u2019s face in his hands and pulled it back toward him.\u00a0 \u201cPerhaps, but what I want now is a serious discussion with my youngest son.\u00a0 What\u2019s happened here, Joe?\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong with your brother?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh, Pa.\u201d<\/p>\n It was the cry of a boy who had reached the end of his stamina, so Ben quickly pulled him over to the splintery chair and then knelt in front of him.\u00a0 \u201cTell me all about it, son,\u201d he said, taking the boy\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n Between hitched breaths and stammering lips, Little Joe somehow rehearsed the events of the last few days, his father\u2019s eyes growing wider and more sober with each new development.\u00a0 \u201cHe says he\u2019s better,\u201d Joe finally finished, \u201cbut I don\u2019t trust him anymore, Pa, and I don\u2019t trust my own fingers, either, \u2018cause they\u2019re tellin\u2019 me he\u2019s cooler, but they told me that before and they was wrong.\u00a0 They was so wrong and . . .\u201d<\/p>\n Ben laid a finger across his son\u2019s lips.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s enough, son.\u00a0 I\u2019m gonna check on your brother now, and I want you to sit here . . . quietly.\u00a0 Understood?\u201d<\/p>\n Little Joe started to speak, but his father pressed the finger down more firmly.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 Just sit . . . quietly.\u00a0 Understood?\u201d\u00a0 He nodded his own head to demonstrate the sort of answer he wanted.\u00a0 When he got it, he stood and walked briskly across the room.<\/p>\n His hand trembled as it reached for his son\u2019s face.\u00a0 If even half of what Joe had babbled was true, he\u2019d nearly lost his oldest son\u2014might lose him even yet, for that matter.\u00a0 He was relieved by what he felt.\u00a0 Adam was warm, clearly feverish, but not nearly as burning hot as Joe\u2019s story had made him fear.\u00a0 Small beads of sweat were forming on the brow, too, perhaps an indication that the fever was breaking.\u00a0 Moving to the leg itself, he checked the bandage wrapped thickly around his son\u2019s thigh.\u00a0 Some drops of blood stained the white surface, but not more than he would have expected after the surgery Little Joe had described, and he saw no sign of discoloration to indicate anything worse.\u00a0 Though he had more gauze in his saddlebags, the current bandage looked so clean he elected to leave it in place.<\/p>\n Ben stood and walked back to his youngest son.\u00a0 \u201cHe may not have been lying this time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Little Joe looked up hopefully.\u00a0 \u201cHe really is better?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTime will tell,\u201d his father said, \u201cbut I think there\u2019s a good chance, son.\u201d\u00a0 He laid a strengthening hand on the young man\u2019s shoulder.\u00a0 \u201cHelp me unsaddle my horse and bring in my gear.\u201d\u00a0 He didn\u2019t need the help, but he instinctively sensed that some good, clean, fresh air was exactly what this son needed.<\/p>\n As he stood, Joe looked anxiously across the room.\u00a0 \u201cAdam?\u201d<\/p>\n Gently, but steadily, Ben pulled him toward the door.\u00a0 \u201cSound asleep, and we won\u2019t be gone long.\u201d<\/p>\n **********<\/p>\n When Adam next opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was his father\u2019s face.\u00a0 \u201cPa,\u201d he whispered, and as he recalled the reason he had so yearned to see that face one more time, uncharacteristic tears trickled down his cheeks.<\/p>\n \u201cAdam?\u201d\u00a0 Concerned, Ben leaned closer.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, son?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNothing, Pa,\u201d Adam said.\u00a0 \u201cNothing.\u00a0 Everything is . . . as it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n Instinctively understanding what his son was saying, Ben raised Adam\u2019s hand to his own damp cheek.\u00a0 \u201cYes, it is . . . now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s okay?\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe peeked over his father\u2019s shoulder.<\/p>\n \u201cSee for yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe came forward then to lay his own hand against his brother\u2019s forehead, and brightness spread across his countenance.\u00a0 \u201cWelcome back, brother,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you<\/em>, brother,\u201d Adam returned warmly.<\/p>\n Ben chuckled.\u00a0 \u201cSo, \u2018the kid\u2019 did all right by you?\u201d he teased in reference to the conversation he and Adam had shared before the trip.<\/p>\n \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben looked surprised and Joe devastated.\u00a0 In what way did Adam think he\u2019d let him down?<\/p>\n Seeing their reaction, Adam quickly added, \u201cNot a kid; that\u2019s a man standing there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYes, that he is,\u201d Ben agreed, proud gaze turning first to Joe and then back to Adam.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m a blessed man to have three fine men for sons.\u201d\u00a0 And though he didn\u2019t say it, he felt particularly blessed that the number still stood at three.<\/p>\n Adam\u2019s eyelids were drooping.\u00a0 \u201cTake care of Joe,\u201d he whispered just before he drifted again to sleep, reassured by his father\u2019s nod.<\/p>\n Little Joe tossed his hands at the rafters.\u00a0 \u201cHe never quits, does he?\u201d<\/p>\n Ben turned and placed both hands on his youngest son\u2019s shoulders.\u00a0 \u201cNo, never will, but you do look like you could use some tending, young man.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI could use some sleep,\u201d Joe admitted.<\/p>\n Ben chuckled in acknowledgement of the obvious.\u00a0 \u201cWell, I don\u2019t have a feather bed to offer you, but I\u2019ll gladly tuck you into a cozy bedroll.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPa!\u201d\u00a0 Little Joe hissed, so his remonstration wouldn\u2019t wake his brother.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t need tucking!\u00a0 You heard Adam: I\u2019m a man now.\u201d<\/p>\n Ben\u2019s lips twitched as he said, \u201cA man, yes . . . but a young man, a very<\/em> young man.\u00a0 Go to bed, Little<\/em> Joe.\u201d\u00a0 And I\u2019ll keep watch over both my little boys<\/em>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Epilogue<\/p>\n Getting Adam home was a time-consuming struggle, and his full recovery an even slower process.\u00a0 However, the day finally came, many weeks later, when all three Cartwright sons were again able to ride out together.\u00a0 Not one of them minded that all that lay before them was a day of rounding up strays.\u00a0 They were brothers and they were together.\u00a0 What more could a man ask?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The End<\/p>\n \u00a9 September, 2014<\/p>\n Tags:\u00a0 Adam Cartwright, Angst, ESJ, Joe \/ Little Joe Cartwright, SAS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Summary: \u00a0Adam had been reluctant to take sixteen-year-old Little Joe on a hunting trip, but when he is incapacitated by a freak accident, only his baby brother stands between him and certain death.<\/p>\n Rating: \u00a0T \u00a0 Word Count: \u00a016,760<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":9708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-full-width-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[23,40],"tags":[120],"class_list":["post-9706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drama","category-challenges","tag-citp","wpcat-23-id","wpcat-40-id"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/Joe-wounded-Adam2.jpg?fit=251%2C200&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bonanzabrand.info\/library\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}