Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Bonanza or anything affiliated with it.
It was a lazy Sunday afternoon on the Ponderosa ranch. Joe Cartwright, the youngest of the Cartwright clan, was draped over an armchair reading a worn copy of Robinson Crusoe that his oldest brother, Adam, had received for Christmas years back. Adam and Hoss, the middle of the three Cartwright sons, were playing chess on a card table a few paces away to Joe's left. In the nearby alcove sat their father, Ben Cartwright, who was reading last week's newspaper. He sighed and Joe looked up with a mix of both concern and irritation. "Pa, are you feelin' all right?"
Ben looked up from the paper, "Yes, I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
Joe shrugged, "Oh, no reason. You've just sighed for the third-"
"Fourth," Adam interjected.
"-Fourth time since you've picked up that paper, and I was just wondering if something was wrong."
"I'm sorry, boys," Ben replied, "I'll stop."
Silence filled the house again for a few more minutes until Ben sighed a fifth time. Adam felt a twinge of annoyance, though he kept his face masked- even as he sharply slammed his knight in a suicide position that did not go unnoticed by Hoss, who licked his lips at the prospect of finally taking one of Adam's pieces. "Pa, something is obviously wrong. What is it?"
Ben placed the paper back on his desk and sighed once more, though cringing at the realization that he did. "Another ranch has been robbed. That's the sixth one this month, and the path the thief is taking is heading straight for the Ponderosa."
Hoss's queen was inching ever closer to Adam's king, though Adam took no notice as he concentrated on Ben instead, "So what are we going to do?" At this, Joe sat upright in his chair and held his place in Robinson Crusoe with his forefinger.
"Stand watch over the Ponderosa," Ben raised his eyebrows in defeat, "I don't know what else to do. Roy can't patrol the Ponderosa at all hours, let alone all the other ranches that have yet to be robbed."
"So we'd each get four corners of the Ponderosa?" Hoss asked, turning away from the chess board. Ben answered Hoss's question with a nod and he whistled. "That's a lot of territory, and what makes you think that thief isn't already here someplace?"
"Yeah, Hoss," Joe nodded with mock seriousness, "he could even be right here in this very room."
It was Adam's turn to sigh and as he did, Ben held the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger and took a deep breath. "Joseph, this isn't a laughing matter. This thief has taken horses, supplies, and cattle in the middle of the day without a trace, and the only lead we have on him is the direction he's taking by the path of ranches he's hit."
"What makes you think the thief is a man? Maybe that's why the thief is never caught- we're looking for a man instead of a woman."
Though Adam understood Joe's point of view, he saw no validity in his argument. "A woman wouldn't need all of the supplies the thief has been stealing."
Joe shrugged, "She could always sell the things she steals. It's money all thieves want, isn't it?"
"This is beside the point, Little Joe," Adam interrupted. Joe thought it was because he proved Adam wrong so Joe didn't mind that Adam was telling him off. "The point is that the Ponderosa is next in line for a robbery, and we need to protect it."
"So then what are we sitting around here for?" Joe asked with a grin. He stood up and walked to the credenza near the front door to grab his hat and his gun belt. "I'll get the east corner," he said before he shut the door behind him.
"You know," Ben commented as he walked out of the alcove slowly shaking his head, "I sometimes wonder about Joseph."
Why did I take the east corner? Joe berated himself under the unbroken sun rays of the afternoon. An hour and a half on Cochise and Joe already felt a bead of sweat trickle down his backside. "It's going to be a long day, Cochise," he spoke aloud to his horse. Cochise softly whinnied, as if agreeing to Joe's statement.
Joe squinted his hazel eyes at the great expanse of territory that was the Ponderosa and saw no sign of movement, save for the occasional bird or small mammal. He reached behind him, still staring ahead, for his canteen but could not grasp it. Joe frowned and gave up his blind search to look behind him and found that he had forgotten his canteen in his hasty exit. "You're kidding me," Joe muttered to himself. In vain, Joe searched through his saddle bags to no avail. "How could I forget water?" Joe incredulously asked. "What was I thinking?"
Cochise whinnied and tossed her head in complaint to Joe's twisting and turning to find his canteen, making Joe realize fretting over his lack of water wasn't the best thing to do. "Sorry, Cooch," Joe settled down again, "I guess we'll just have to go to the nearest creek."
Joe looked up past his mount and saw a lone rider a hundred fifty yards ahead of him. The rider was too shirt and gangly to be any of the Cartwright's, Joe evaluated, and the mount the boy was riding wasn't one Joe was familiar with. Thank heavens I didn't forget my gun, he thought as the boy was approaching.
Once the boy was within a closer range, Joe called out. "Who are you and what are you doing on the Ponderosa?" Joe eyed a shotgun on the right side of the rider's saddle and Joe's left hand twitched for his own pistol.
"Joe, is that you?" The boy asked. "Joe Cartwright?"
"That's me," Joe replied with suspicion. "Who are you?"
The boy took off his wide brimmed hat to reveal a mess of dark blond curls that threatened to overtake his green eyes. The boy quickened his horse's pace to meet Joe, "You don't remember me?" He didn't look a year over eighteen, thought he looked nearly twelve when his handsome face broke in a wide, toothy grin. "I mean, it's been eight years, but I didn't think you'd plum forget."
Joe tilted his head to the side and looked harder. The boy's bright eyes looked so familiar, but why? Joe mentally went through his inventory of old friends, but none of them would be this young, unless- "Will? Will Carder?"
If it were possible, Will's grin grew even wider. "I knew you wouldn't forget."
At this realization, Joe took on Will's happiness and exclaimed, "Will! Has it really been eight years? You're what, seventeen now? How've you been? Where's your sister, Rebecca?"
At the mention of Rebecca, Will's sunny disposition was clouded over and his grin fell almost instantly. "I haven't seen Becky since I was fifteen. I don't wire her either."
"O-Oh," Joe stuttered at Will's unexpected mood turn-around. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"Don't be, it's for the best." Will sent a grim smile Joe's way before changing the topic for both their benefits. "Where's the rest of your family?"
Joe shrugged and scratched the back of his sweaty neck, "They're all in different corners of the Ponderosa. There's been a lot of ranch robberies lately and Pa's gettin' worried that the Ponderosa'll be next, so we're all keeping watch."
Will shook his head, "No, I don't think you'll be next. He knows you Cartwright's'll find him out."
"What makes you so sure?" Joe teased with a half smile, "You haven't been wanderin' with the wrong crowd, have you?" Will laughed at Joe's accusation.