Tracking Sasquatch

By Sarah Hendess

Ponderosa Ranch
Utah Territory
July 1850

Little Joe gazed out the front window and sighed.

"It's been rainin' forever!" the eight-year-old whined as he stamped his foot. "I ain't been outside in so long I can't even remember what outside looks like!"

Josie Cartwright rolled her eyes at her cousin. "We played outside all day yesterday, Joe. Come on, let's play checkers."

Joe glared at Josie over his shoulder. "I'm sick of checkers," he pouted.

"How about Hide and Seek?"

Little Joe grinned. He loved Hide and Seek, but his brothers never played the game with him anymore. Freshly home from college, Adam was busy all the time building a big new house for the family, and now that Hoss was fourteen, he, too, was caught up with ranch work and didn't have much time for his baby brother. Joe was glad his cousin Josie was visiting from Washington City for the summer. She was a good playmate – even for a girl. She was only a year and a half older than him, and she didn't mind getting dirty.

"Now you're talkin! I get to hide first!"

Josie frowned. "I'll flip you for it."

"Fine."

Josie dug a penny out of her pocket and tossed it in the air.

"Heads!" Joe shouted.

The coin plinked onto the wood floor, and the cousins nearly knocked heads as they bent down to see which side was up.

"Ha! Tails! I win!" Josie crowed. "You're 'It!' Close your eyes and count to fifty. And no peeking!"

Little Joe flopped face-down on the sofa and started counting. He didn't peek, but he did listen carefully, like Adam had taught him. Josie's footsteps pattered down the hall. She was headed for the boys' bedroom.

"No good hiding spots in there, Josie," Little Joe giggled softly. The bedroom he shared with his two brothers had barely enough space for a set of bunk beds, one free-standing bed, and two tiny wardrobes. The room was fine for two kids – Josie had been sharing it with Joe while she and her parents were visiting – and even when it was Little Joe and Hoss in there together, like it had been the past three years while Adam was at college, it was ok. But once Adam and Hoss came back in from the bunkhouse where they'd been staying during the eastern Cartwrights' visit, it was going to get awfully crammed. Much as he wished Adam would pay more attention to him, Little Joe was glad his oldest brother was building a new house.

There was no more rustling anywhere in the house, so Little Joe sped up his counting, knowing that Josie must already be tucked away somewhere.

"Forty-eight, forty-nine, FIFTY!" he hollered. He popped off the sofa and scampered down the hall, screeching to a halt outside his open bedroom door. He hovered in the doorway, barely breathing, as his ears strained for signs of his cousin. She was too smart to hide somewhere as obvious as underneath a bed, so Joe tiptoed to his and Adam's wardrobe and flung the door open.

No Josie.

He shoved aside his and Adam's clothes and waved his hands around, just to be sure, but apart from the clothing, the wardrobe was empty. He checked Hoss's next, but it, too, was devoid of cousins. Thinking that Josie must have tiptoed into his father's room, Little Joe turned to leave when a slight movement, no more than a flutter, caught his eye. He whirled back around and fixed his gaze on his bottom bunk. Hop Sing was forever chastising him for not making his bed properly, but the covers were awfully lumpy, even by Joe's standards. And they were breathing. He tiptoed over, holding his own breath.

"GOT YOU!" he shouted as he ripped back the covers.

Josie shrieked in surprise before dissolving into giggles.

"All right," she said. "My turn to count."

The children raced each other back to the living room, where Josie buried her face in the sofa cushions and started counting. In case she knew the trick about listening for footsteps, Little Joe took off down the hallway toward the bedrooms again, and then doubled back on tiptoe and slipped into the kitchen. Hop Sing had gone outside a few moments ago to feed the chickens, so Joe zipped into the pantry undetected. He tucked himself under the bottom shelf and scooted back against the wall, pulling a large sack of potatoes in front of him. He bit his lip to keep from cackling with delight at his own cleverness.

Through the pantry door, Joe heard a muffled "Forty-nine, FIFTY!" as Josie finished counting. Joe bit his lip again and grinned as he heard her racing down the hallway toward the bedrooms.

"Gotcha," he gloated softly to the potatoes.

All too soon, though, footsteps approached the outside of the pantry door. How did Josie get there so fast? Oh well, Joe thought, at least he could give her a good scare when she found him.

Light flooded into the pantry as the door swung open and the sack of potatoes was snatched away. Momentarily blinded, Little Joe popped out from his hiding spot with a loud "BOO!"

Hop Sing screamed and flung the sack of potatoes at Joe, who ducked just before all twenty pounds of tubers clocked him in the head. He burst out laughing at his mistake.

"Sorry, Hop Sing!" he squeaked between peals of hysterical giggles. "I thought you were Josie!" He bent double and nearly fell to the floor with the force of his laughter.

Hop Sing's face went bright red, and Little Joe could have sworn he saw steam pouring out of the cook's ears.

"Boys no belong in kitchen!" Hop Sing shouted, jabbing a finger at Little Joe. "Hop Sing say over and over again to boys to stay out of kitchen! Why you in pantry?"

Joe opened his mouth to explain when he heard the front door bang open. Seconds later, Ben, Adam, and Hoss burst into the kitchen, guns drawn and rain dripping from their clothes onto Hop Sing's kitchen floor.

"Hop Sing!" Ben said. "What happened? What's going on? We heard you scream!"

Hop Sing spun on his heel to face his employer. "Little Joe hide in pantry! Nearly scare Hop Sing to death!" Another indignant finger stabbed in Little Joe's direction.

Ben sighed, and Adam and Hoss snickered as all three of them holstered their guns. Josie and her parents, Jacob and Hannah, peeped uncertainly around the doorframe.

"Joseph!" Ben barked. "Would you mind explaining why you frightened Hop Sing?"

Little Joe quailed under his father's stern glare. "I didn't mean to scare him, Pa." He scuffed a toe along the floor. "Me and Josie were playin' Hide and Seek, and it was my turn to hide. I didn't think Hop Sing would be startin' supper just yet."

Jacob and Hannah joined Adam and Hoss in snickering.

Ben covered his eyes with one hand and pulled off his dripping hat with the other. "Joseph, apologize to Hop Sing and then get out of the kitchen, please."

Joe mumbled an apology to Hop Sing and then darted out of the kitchen, grabbing Josie as he raced past. He decided it was probably best if they suspended their game of Hide and Seek for the time being, so while the big people changed out of their wet clothes, Joe finally consented to the game of checkers that Josie had suggested earlier.

The game didn't last long.

After only three moves apiece, Josie accused Joe of cheating, saying that he'd moved one of her pieces backward when she turned her head to sneeze. Little Joe's temper flared. He was the best checkers player in the entire Utah Territory! Why would he need to cheat?! Within seconds, the children were shouting at each other at the top of their lungs, and Little Joe had flung the board to the floor, scattering checkers all over the living room.

For the second time in fifteen minutes, Ben Cartwright stormed into a room and demanded that his youngest son tell him what in the world was going on. He was still dripping, his dry clothes clutched in one hand.

"Josie 'cused me of cheatin', Pa!" Angry tears burned trails down Joe's cheeks.

Ben sighed – something he did a lot, Little Joe thought – and massaged his temples.

"Look," he began, his voice dangerously soft. "Right now, I don't really care what she accused you of. I'm wet, I'm hungry, and I'm exhausted. Now clean up these checkers, and then the two of you find something quiet to do until supper, or you will find yourselves in a world of trouble." He stalked out of the house to the bunkhouse where he'd been sleeping while Jacob and Hannah had his bedroom.

Drawn by the commotion, Hoss had tumbled into the living room behind Ben and finished buttoning his dry shirt while Ben threatened the children. He scooted over to Joe and laid an enormous hand on his baby brother's shoulders.

"Come on, little buddy," he said. "Lemme help you clean up these checkers, and then three of us will find something to do."

Little Joe grinned; he could always count on Hoss to be on his side. They had the checkers picked up in no time, and then they collapsed on the settee with Hoss in the middle. Joe wasn't ready to forgive Josie just yet.

"So what are we going to do, Hoss?" Josie asked.

Joe didn't give his brother time to reply. "Tell us a story, Hoss! Tell us a story!" If Little Joe was the best checkers player in the Utah Territory, then Hoss was the best storyteller.

"You want a story?" Hoss asked with a grin.

"Yes, Hoss, please!" Josie squealed, bouncing in her seat. Little Joe nodded so vigorously his curly hair bobbed.

Hoss chuckled. "All right, then." He draped his arms across the little kids' shoulders. "Have you two ever heard of the Sasquatch?"

Little Joe wrinkled his nose. "The Samsquanch? What's that?"

Hoss laughed. "Not 'Samsquanch,' silly, 'Sasquatch.'"

Joe and Josie both shook their heads.

"Well, when Pa took me with him to the Oregon Territory last summer, I didn't just hear about it, I saw it!"

"What is it? What is it?" Josie demanded.

"Gimme a minute, and I'll get there. Now, me and Pa, after we talked to some men he was doin' business with, we set off for home right through the middle of those thick Oregon woods. Weather up there was so pretty we took our time about it and stopped to fish. Well, darned if we didn't catch ourselves a whole pile of salmon! I'll tell you, those streams up there are so full of salmon you could reach right in there with your bare hands and scoop out a dozen. That's why the grizzly bears like it up there so much.

"Anyway, me and Pa, we had our big pile of fish, and we couldn't possibly eat all of them, so we fried up a couple for supper and strung up the rest for the next day. It was warm, so we didn't keep much of a fire goin' when we went to sleep – just a couple of embers – and it got real dark out there. Now, you know it ain't so easy to wake me up."

Hoss paused while Little Joe laughed. It was true: Hoss slept like the dead. Ben often joked that Hoss could sleep through the Rapture.

"Well, wouldn't you know, I popped awake sometime in the middle of the night. I couldn't figure out why at first. Pa was snorin' away, but that ain't enough to wake me up. Then I heard it: A mysterious rustlin' at the edge of our camp."

Little Joe and Josie's eyes shot wide, and Josie let out a little gasp.

"What did you do, Hoss?" she breathed.

"Reached for my gun, of course!" the teenager laughed. "I figgered we had a bear in camp, or at least a pesky ol' raccoon, and I aimed to scare it off. So I grabbed my gun and rolled over real quiet-like. And that's when I saw it. Standin' right there next to our string of fish was this big, hairy, hulking creature. I thought it was a bear at first, but it looked up when I cocked my gun, and I realized it weren't no bear. But it sure weren't no man, either. He was about seven or eight feet tall, and all covered in shaggy brown hair. His eyes were real close together, and when he heard my gun cocking, he turned his head and stared right at me!"

A thrill of delighted terror shot through Little Joe, and he shivered as his skin broke out in goosebumps.

"What did you do?!" he demanded.

"Couldn't do nothin'," Hoss said with a shrug. "I knew I should at least fire into the air to scare him off, but I was too stunned. I just laid there and stared back at him. Finally, he snatched one of the fish off the line and took off runnin' back into the woods. He ran like this." Hoss leapt from the sofa and loped, spraddle-legged across the living room, swinging his arms like a gorilla.

Josie giggled, but Joe just stared at Hoss in awe.

"What did Pa say when you told him about it?" Joe asked.

Hoss quit ambling and frowned. "Pa said I musta seen a bear. One of the fish was definitely gone, but we looked all over the next mornin' and couldn't find no tracks of any kind – bear or man. But I'm tellin' you: It weren't no bear."

Little Joe's chest was heaving, and he could barely catch his breath to ask his next question. "Do ya think we got Samsquanches down here, Hoss?"

"Sasquatches, Joe, and maybe. Probably not right here around the house, but maybe up in the mountains, or even just back in them woods apiece."

"Are you telling that crazy wild-man story again?" Adam asked as he stepped into the room.

Little Joe jumped; he hadn't heard Adam come in from the bunkhouse.

"Ain't crazy, Adam!" Hoss insisted. "I saw the Sasquatch!"

"Sure you did, Younger Brother." Adam gave Hoss a patronizing smile. "Come on, I think Hop Sing has supper about ready. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Joe and Josie giggled as Hoss stuck his tongue out at Adam's retreating figure before they hopped off the settee and followed the eldest Cartwright cousin into the dining room.

That night, Little Joe lay in bed, staring up at the underside of the bunk above him. His mind swirled with images of a hairy ape-man sneaking fish from his brother's campsite.

"Josie!" Little Joe hissed. "You awake?"

"Yeah," came the whispered reply. "Whaddya need?"

"I need to talk to you. Come down here." One of the adults would hear if he and Josie kept whispering across the bunks to each other, and this was a conversation Joe preferred to keep between him and his cousin.

The upper bunk creaked and Josie's bare feet appeared over the edge. She dropped lightly to the floor, and Little Joe scooted over to make room for her. Josie slipped into bed next to Joe and pulled the sheet up over both of them.

"All right, I'm here. Whaddya want?"

"I been thinkin' about that Samsquanch Hoss told us about."

"Sasquatch, Joe."

"Whichever. Anyway, I been thinkin'. Pa ain't used half the land we own yet, and I'd be surprised if we don't have ourselves a Samsquanch right here on the Ponderosa. And I'm gonna find him."

Josie radiated skepticism so brightly the bed got too warm.

"I don't know, Joe," she said. "Adam said that was just a crazy story."

Little Joe bristled. "What does Adam know about it? He ain't even been here for three years!"

"Got a college degree, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, from some damn Yankee school. They didn't teach him nothin' about real livin'. Why, if Adam met a Samsquanch, he'd probably recite poetry to it."

Josie giggled, and a grin spread across Little Joe's face. He had her.

"So what's your plan?" she asked.

Little Joe huddled close to his cousin and quietly outlined his scheme.