Sarah and Abbie were in a field, picking some berries and talking amongst themselves, when they saw three men riding up. Even from far away, they knew right away that it wasn't the Cartwright men because they didn't recognize the horses the men were riding.
"I wonder who they are." Sarah said.
"And what they want." Abbie said. When the men got close, they realized that the men were strangers to them. They had never seen them before in their lives. But, then again, unwanted strangers were common on the Ponderosa.
"Do you know where you are?" Abbie said to the men, "You're on the Ponderosa."
"Be careful, Abbie." Sarah said.
"Yeah. We know that." one of the men said.
"You ladies are married to the Cartwright boys, aren't you?" one of the other men said.
"What's it to you?" Abbie said, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. The men got down off of their horses.
"How do you know that?" Sarah asked, her eyes wide.
"Oh, you know, just the word around town." the third man said. One of the men grabbed Sarah, who was unarmed, and held a gun to her head.
"You grab for your gun, and she gets it." the man said, "Now, hand your gun belt over to Sam here." the man said, nodding towards one of the other two men. Abbie handed her gun belt over to the man who was apparently named Sam.
"That's better. Alright, Willie, grab her." Sam said to the third man, apparently named Willie. Willie grabbed Abbie. Each of the two men tied the women's hands, and placed them up on the horses, then got up onto the horses.
"You ladies are coming with us." Willie said.
"Come on, Owen. Let's get out of here before their husbands show up." Sam said to the third man, apparently named Owen. Owen put Sarah up on the horse, then got up. They rode to a very small shack and brought the women inside. Inside, there was only a window and a very tattered bed. Other than that, the shack was empty.
"It's a real shame, you know. You are fine looking ladies." Owen said, "It's a shame you married those pretty boy, stuck up Cartwrights." Willie walked over to Abbie and grabbed her arm.
"Aren't you a real nice looking thing? You're married to that pretty boy, Adam, aren't ya? That goody-two-shoes, huh? What a waste of good woman." he said.
"You don't know me. Or Adam. I love Adam. I couldn't find a better man than Adam. Now, stay away from me, you pig." Abbie said, stepping on Willie's foot.
"You bitch." Willie said, shoving Abbie and walking away.
Owen grabbed Sarah by the arm.
"And, you, aren't you married to that Hoss Cartwright? I don't understand that. A pretty little thing like you. I don't know what you see in that fat tub of lard." he said.
"Leave me alone." Sarah said, trying to pull free from his grip. He scowled, letting go of her arm and walking away. The three men walked over to the door.
"Well, fine. You ladies have it your way. We'll just stay here and wait until your husbands get here." Owen said.
"Why are we here? Why did you take us?" Abbie asked.
"We're sending a note back to the Ponderosa saying that if they ever want to see you three again, they give us some of the Cartwright money." Sam said.
"We're going to leave you in here. Don't get any ideas on leaving. The door is locked. And even if you did break the door or something somehow, we'll be camping right around here, and we'll shoot you dead as soon as look at you." Willie said. The three men walked out of the shack, closing the door behind them. Abbie sighed.
"We have to wait. Hoss will come. I know he will." Sarah said.
"I'm telling you, Adam. It just ain't right. They should be back by now." Little Joe said as the four Cartwrights stood on the porch, waiting for the women to return.
"They might have just decided to go riding for a while before coming back." Adam said.
"Yeah, you know how girls are. They're prob'ly just fine." Hoss said.
"I don't know. Your brother could be right." Ben said.
"We shouldn't have let them go riding by themselves." Adam said. Just then, Hop Sing came running up to them, waving a piece of paper in the air.
"Hop Sing, what is it this time?" Ben asked.
"A letter! Letter for Cartwrights! Man come up to me. Told me give you Cartwrights this!" Hop Sing said.
"Hop Sing, let me see that." Adam said, taking the piece of paper from Hop Sing. Adam read the paper aloud.
"Cartwrights, if you ever want to see your women again, bring us 200 dollars. We'll meet you at High Canyon at dawn." he read.
"Hop Sing, what did the man look like?" Ben asked.
"I don't know. He just look like ordinary man." Hop Sing said.
"See, I told you. I told you we should've went looking for them hours ago." Little Joe said.
"Would you calm down, Little Joe." Hoss said, "We ain't no use to them if we're all hot under the collar." Hoss couldn't bear the thought of losing another woman that he loved, but he knew that they would never be able to deal with the situation if they got all worked up.
"We have to give them the money. It's as simple as that." Ben said. His daughters-in-law were family to him. He would never want anything to happen to them. Not to mention, if he could prevent his sons from having to feel the pain of losing the woman they love, just as he had three times, he would certainly do what he needed to do.
"I don't know, pa. There's no guarantee they'll still tell us where the women are. They might just take the money and run. I want to guarantee I'm going to get Abbie back safely." Adam said.
"So, what are we gonna do, Adam? Just do nothing?" Joe said.
"Of course not, Joe. It's my wife out there, not yours." Adam said.
"Boys." Ben said, getting between his two sons to keep them from fighting, "Joe, leave your brother alone. Now is not the time to be fighting with him. Can't you see he's worried?"
"Sorry, pa." Joe said.
"And, Adam, it's not helping Abbie if you stand here fighting with your brother." Ben said.
"You're right, pa. It's not." Adam said, looking to the ground.
"It's alright. I know you're just worried. But, we need to figure out what we're going to do." Ben said. His three sons nodded in agreement.
Later that night, the women sat in the cabin, staring out the window into the darkness.
"Maybe we could sneak past them in the dark, if we could break out of here somehow." Abbie said.
"You don't think they'll come for us?" Sarah asked.
"No, they'll come for us. But, I don't look forward to the idea of seeing Adam get shot on site." Abbie said.
"Well, there's no way out. Those men are out there sitting around a campfire right now. They'll notice us, even in the dark." Sarah said.
"Those guys aren't too smart. I'm just worried they might cause a brush fire. We'd be in trouble if that happened." Abbie said.
The Cartwrights decided that the best course of action would be to ride out to the canyon and hide, watching the men that they were supposed to meet there to give the money to. They would hide there until the men would be convinced the Cartwrights weren't coming and ride back to wherever it was that they were keeping the women. Then, they would follow the men back, attack the men, and rescue the women. The four Cartwrights rode out to where they were supposed to meet the men, staying far enough away so that the men wouldn't hear them ride up, but close enough so that they could still watch them. After awhile, the men finally decided to ride away.
"Remember, boys, keep back far enough that they won't hear us following them." Ben said. His three sons nodded, and the four of them followed the men to the small shack and the camp that the men had set up right outside.
"Do you think they're keepin' the ladies in there?" Hoss said.
"I don't know." Adam said.
"We've gotta get in there." Joe said.
"Hoss, Adam, sneak around the back of that shack and see if you can get in from the back. Joe and I will distract those men." Ben said. Adam and Hoss nodded, and went around the back of the shack. Ben and Joe walked out in plain sight of the men.
"Ben and Little Joe Cartwright. You're a little late, but we're in a generous mood. So, if you give us the money now, we'll give you the gals back." One of the men said.
"Hey, where's the other two? To cowardly to come rescue their own women?" one of the other men asked.
"They had something they had to attend to." Ben said.
Adam and Hoss snuck around the back of the shack, and tried opening the back door.
"I didn't figure they'd just leave it unlocked." Adam said.
"I reckon we'll have to break it down." Hoss said.
"Yeah. It looks like the only way." Adam said. They broke down the door.
Unfortunately, the three men out front heard the sound of the door being broken open.
"What was that?" one of the men said. Not wanting the men to find Adam and Hoss breaking in, Ben and Joe shot the three men. They walked over to check for a pulse and discovered that the men were dead.
"Adam!" Abbie said, running to him, into his arms.
"Abbie, are you alright? Did they touch you?" Adam asked.
"No, Adam. They didn't." Abbie said, " I'm alright."
"Good." Adam said, hugging her tightly, relieved that she was safe. She leaned in and kissed him on the lips. She smiled at him when they broke the kiss, and he blushed slightly.
"Well..." he said, clearing his throat as he stumbled over his words, trying to regain his composure. Sarah ran over to Hoss, hugging him tightly.
"Oh, Hoss! I'm so glad to see you!" she said.
"Sarah, I'm so happy to see you're okay. Why, if I'd lost another woman I loved, well, I don't know what I'd do." Hoss said, looking at Sarah as if he might cry, "Now, don't you ever scare me like that again, dad burn it."
"You don't need to worry, Hoss. I'm fine." Sarah said. Hoss hugged her tightly. He had been so worried he would never see her again. They walked outside and around to the front of the shack, to where Ben and Joe were standing, and where the corpses of the three outlaws lay.
"Look at those men. I hope it was worth it." Abbie scoffed.
"I'm glad you girls are alright." Ben said. He cared deeply for both of his daughters-in-law.
"So are we." Abbie said.
"Good to see she still has her sarcasm." Joe said. Abbie grinned.
"Come on. Let's get out of here." Sarah said. Abbie took her gun back from the men, and they all rode back to the Ponderosa. They retrieved the girls' horses from the field, and returned to the house.
THE END