Chapter Two
The brothers had an uneventful ride up to their destination. The day was sunny and cool. There was no breeze yet, but Adam had checked the weather forcast before leaving home and noted that they would have some wind and rain coming in Monday evening. He felt an urgency to get as much accomplished as possible, not wanting he and his brothers to be caught out in the rain. They sure didn't need any more illnesses to worry about.
The family had had more than it's fair shair of illness this past year, not to mention injuries. Adam shuddered as he remembered Daniel's narrow escape from the truck collapsing on him, escaping Watkin's barn fire, not to mention what he'd endured after being injured in the mine collapse.
Adam had found himself worrying constantly about him while at the same time, trying desperately to ease up and not hover over him as though he were a child. Adam had been forced to face the grim reality on more than one occasion that Daniel might not even see is nineteenth birthday.
The thought still made him shudder now. That birthday would be coming up in less than a week and Adam had resolved himself to start treating the boy as an adult. After all, he had a really good head on his shoulders. He was strong, capable, smart and most of all reliable. He had come away from each tragedy with a seemingly strong resolve to learn from his mistakes.
His efforts to mature had not gone unnoticed where Adam was concerned either. He could see how hard the young man was trying to grow up and really appreciated his efforts. If he could just stop seeing that eight year old boy devastated and guilt ridden after their parents were killed. He didn't know if he would ever be able to get over feeling the need to protect him...to protect all of them.
"This is about the best place we're gonna find to camp Adam." We can patch up this old corral and use it to hold the strays as we round them up, Brian said as he motioned toward the small corral the brothers' had put together a few years back, for just the same kind of occasion as this.
"I think you're right Brian." Adam offered. "Alright guys, let's make camp before it gets dark." He continued.
They made quick work of patching the corral and setting up the campsite. It took less than two hours to have everything in place. They gathered wood and started a campfire. Brian heated up some stew Hannah had packed. It was leftovers from Saturday nights supper, but they were glad to have it, as none of the brothers were especially fond of Brian's cooking.
"How 'bout it Dan'l? A little mood music before we turn in? Brian asked. "I've got my harmonica."
"Sure Bri. I'll play a few." Daniel agreed.
The mood was light and each brother was enjoying their time together. Daniel played guitar while he and Crane sang and Brian accompanied them on his harmonica. They were delighted in the fact that they were able to even get a tune out of big brother Adam. After about an hour, they all decided to turn in. Adam and Brian bedding down in one tent, Daniel and Crane bedding down in the other one.
Adam woke up at dawn on Monday. It took him a moment to realize that he was not in his warm bed and that his beautiful wife was not lying next to him. He decided to wake the others up and get a move on, hoping to beat the rain showers that were forecast.
After rousing everyone and having coffee and breakfast Adam announced, "Ok, I think we should split into two groups, Brian you and Crane head south and Daniel and me will head north. That suit everybody?"
They all shook their head in agreement.
It was around two in the afternoon when the brothers met up again. Between them, they had only found six head. Brian had at first figured that the cattle would have gotten tangled up in the thick brush and would be easy to find. Now he thought that they must have been out longer than he'd first believed.
"Crane, they are scattered out way more than I would have guessed. We've gotta pick up the pace or it'll take us a week or better to find 'em all." Brian said with disgust.
"Yeah, I would've thought we would have found more of 'em by now. We've covered several miles between the four of us. We may not get 'em all back at all." Crane replied.
"We have to find them all. We can't afford not to Crane!" Brian replied. "Let's head back to camp and see if the other guys are there. We need a new plan." He continued.
Adam and Daniel had ridden back to camp in near silence. Both were deep in thought about what to do. They were disheartened to realize that the cattle had been so hard to locate. They made it back to camp about five minutes before Brian and Crane showed up. They all quickly grabbed a bite and discussed their options.
"Well, the rain will be moving in by dark I figure," Adam announced as he looked up at the darkening sky. Then he continued, "We'd better split up so we can cover more ground. Brian, why don't you head north, Crane you go south, Daniel and me will go east into the National Forest."
"What? We should all four split up Adam!" Daniel replied, already sounding defensive.
Here we go again.
Crane thought to himself.
"Danny, I don't wanna argue. I told you the plan, just stick to it, huh?" Adam replied.
"No! That's stupid Adam. Why is it you trust Brian and Crane to go it alone, but not me?" Daniel shouted.
"Oh, so now I'm stupid?" Adam snapped defensively.
"Come on guys. Let's not start this crap. We don't have time for it." Brian retorted in disgust. He was in no mood for more bickering between these two.
"Daniel, I have a valid reason for not splitting up with ya, so just cool it, ok?" Adam shot back.
"Oh? And what reason is that?" Daniel said as he stared his oldest brother down, accusingly.
"Dammit boy! You're not a hundred percent yet. I'm just looking out for you!" Adam spat out, a little more harshly than he intended.
"That's bullshit Adam. If you thought that, why would you ask me to come out here at all?" Daniel argued.
"Daniel, come on. Calm down!" Crane cried out in desperation. Once again, he could see both sides and it stuck him right in the middle of it...once again.
"No, why didn't you just bring Evan instead? If I'm so feeble Adam, what good am I gonna do you?" Daniel said, still staring Adam down.
"Look, Danny...I just" Adam began but Daniel cut off his words.
"My name is Daniel! It's not Danny, not kid and not boy!" Daniel spat out, sounding more disrespectful than he had intended.
"Look, fellas. This isn't gettin' us anywhere. We're trying to save time, remember?" Brian said, clearly exasperated.
"Ok, ok fine! Daniel, you and me will split up. There...you happy now?" Adam relented.
"Yep." Daniel said with a sense of satisfaction. It was rare that Adam allowed him to actually win an arguement.
"Ok, if anybody has any trouble, fire two shots in the air." Adam announced, mounting his horse. He didn't know why he was making such a big deal of it anyway. Daniel had been doing this his whole young life. There truly was no good reason, save Adam's overprotective nature, for him not to split up with his brothers.
"I'm gonna head east, into the National Forest, Daniel you stay to the west, on our property line. Everybody be back at camp by darkfall, Agreed?"
"Yep," Daniel again replied in growing satisfaction. Adam couldn't help but shake his head at the boy...strike that...the man! He thought to himself, both disgusted and proud at the same time. The others shook their heads in agreement too.