I am so excited! I cannot believe all the awesome reviews I have been getting! Bobby, BLBLF, gidgetmarie55, littlemom, westernsoul, Rachel L. Driscoll, Aurea, islaboe, and several guests: you guys are amazing! I think I have narrowed down the filly's name, but it's not final yet so ideas are still welcome!

Anyway, I may only update today and not Friday since this chapter is the furthest extent I have written and I will be very busy both this week and next week. This chapter is probably one of the longest ones, besides maybe the first chapter. 11 pages! I will try to keep up my usual chapter length, but I'm not sure I'll be able too. I will try to at least post something next Monday.

So here's the next chapter! Enjoy!

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CHAPTER 4

No, please God, not again, Adam thought as he ran to his little sister's still form that was lying just outside of the corral. Instantly his mind flashed back to a previous time that he had found her lying unconscious on the ground, though that time a tree had been the cause instead of a horse. She had been lucky to get off with just her permanently injured knee that time; he wasn't sure if she'd be so lucky this time. With his heart in his throat, he felt her wrist for a pulse. It wasn't until he felt the throbbing of her pulse that he realized that he'd been holding his breath. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, he carefully began to check her over for injuries.

"Adam, how is she?" Hoss asked as he and Joe appeared beside them. The sight of Sierra's pale face made their blood run cold.

"I don't think it's too serious," Adam told them, his voice still shaky from the original scare. "She's got a bad bump on the head which is why she's unconscious."

"She must've hit her head on that rock over there when she fell," Joe surmised as he glanced inside the corral.

"Bring me some water," Adam said and Joe jumped up and was back with a canteen in record time. Removing his bandanna from around his neck, Adam soaked it with the water before gently washing his little sister's face. With a quiet moan, Sierra moved her head to the side as she began to come to. "Come on, Sierra, wake up," Adam almost begged her.

Another moan slipped out as the girl slowly opened her eyes.

"A-Adam?" her voice cracked as she let out a light cough. Gently Adam helped her up into a sitting position and put the canteen to her lips.

"Are you hurt, sis?" Joe asked once she had finished her drink.

"My head hurts," Sierra admitted quietly. Truth be known, her right shoulder was throbbing steadily not to mention her leg, but seeing as it was her own fault that she was hurt, Sierra decided to keep that to herself.

"No wonder, that's a pretty good goose egg ya got there," Hoss told her.

"How's your leg?" Adam asked as he gently felt it for injuries.

"Its fine," Sierra lied pushing his prodding hands away. Truth be known, her leg was throbbing painfully and her oldest brother's gentle fingers were only making the pain worse, but she wasn't about to admit that to Adam. The pain was not unbearable, though she could only imagine what her already injured leg would feel like after attempting to walk, not to mention ride a horse.

"I'll bet it won't be 'fine' tomorrow," Joe told her as Adam stood to his feet. Sierra watched him walk away. She knew from the purposeful way he walked that he was angry with her. That was no surprise; she had known he would be angry with her when he found out about her trying to riding the filly he had forbidden her from, though she hadn't counted on him finding out quite like this. She watched as he paced back and forth, his anger evident on his face, before he finally turned to face her.

"What did you think you were doing?" Adam asked, his voice was calm and low, and to a stranger, he would have simply seemed upset. That was one ability that all of his siblings had tried to master without much progress. From the lowness of his voice, Sierra knew that if he had been anyone else he would have been yelling at her.

"I was only trying to break her," Sierra replied dropping her head to study an interesting looking pebble on the ground, her voice just barely audible.

"I can't hear you," Adam said, his tone rising just slightly. She was on shaky ground now and she knew it wouldn't take much to set her oldest brother off.

Sierra raised her head defiantly, returning her oldest brother's fierce glare. "I said 'I was trying to break her'," she repeated.

"You were trying to break her? What on earth would make you do a foolish thing like that?" by this time Adam had lost his calm and his anger was very evident. "You could've injured your leg again and this time it might not have been repairable, if you were even lucky to have survived at all."

"Well I didn't!" Sierra countered hearing the anger beginning to filter into her own voice. "I could've done it if you three hadn't shown up. She trusted me up until you scared her. How did you even know I was here anyway?"

"We followed your tracks," Adam said, fighting for control of his anger. He sent an angry glare at Hoss. "I don't suppose you were in on this?"

"Adam, I had no idea what she was up too," Hoss assured him. "Shucks, I had just ridden in here not long before you two did."

"You were supposed to keep her with you," Adam turned his anger towards his younger brother.

Hoss hung his head. "I'm sorry Adam," he said.

Sierra felt her blood begin to boil. It wasn't enough that he had to baby her but did he have to blame Hoss too? "It wasn't Hoss' fault!" Sierra told Adam in a voice just below a yell. "I told him I was going back to the shack and he let me go. He didn't know where I was really going."

"So let me get this straight; you not only deliberately went against my orders, but you also lied to Hoss? Young lady, you are in some serious hot water." Adam stated, shaking his head. "We'll discuss your punishment later. Get on your horse."

Sierra knew what her punishment was most likely to be and decided to try and pacify his anger. "I'm sorry, Adam, I-" she started but Adam cut her off.

"I said we'll talk about it later. Now get on your horse," he told her as he strode angrily over to where he had left Sport and mounted up. Hoss offered his hand to his sister to help her to her feet, but she angrily pushed it away, rising stiffly by herself as Joe walked over to them leading the other three horses. Heatedly, Sierra jerked her reins from Joe's hand and walked to Phantom's side. She tried to hide the pain she felt in her right shoulder and leg, but all three of her brothers noticed that her usual limp was now more pronounced and the way that she favored her arm. As Joe started to offer to assist her in mounting the horse, Hoss wisely stopped him and shook his head. Their sister felt as if she was already being too babied by their oldest brother and both boys knew that any offered help would only work to fuel her anger more. However, Hoss watched her carefully as Sierra led the gelding over to a low stump before mounting.

The entire way back to the shack, Adam contemplated his sister's punishment. His first intentions had been to give her a good thrashing and let that be the end of it, but after seeing her obvious pain, he realized that the spanking would only intensify her pain and he wasn't sure he wanted do that. However, he had no intention of letting her go unpunished. She had disobeyed him and lied to Hoss, not to mention the fact that she could've gotten herself killed. He knew he probably shouldn't have gotten so angry with her, but he had been afraid.

Adam closed his eyes as the image of her still form lying unmoving in the dirt came back to him. A shiver ran down his spine at the recollection. He remembered how his blood had run cold and another instance flashed into his mind; when she and Joe's mother had been killed.

Marie too had been a daredevil when it came to riding horses. She loved nothing more than to feel the wind flowing through her blonde curls as she galloped at breakneck speed across the grounds of the Ponderosa. He remembered how his father used to scold her about riding too fast; saying that she was going to hurt herself someday. Marie had merely given him her special smile and kissed him, telling him that he worried too much and Ben had returned her smile. He never had been able to stay angry with his young wife for very long.

Adam sighed. Sierra was so much like her mother. Like her, Sierra lived for the horses. Ben had scolded her many times too about riding the horses at dangerous speeds, but like her mother, Sierra had a way about her that seemed to be able to melt her father's heart. Oh, he still punished her, but Adam sometimes felt that he went too easy on her, easier than he had even been on Little Joe. As he thought about it, he realized that they all had a tendency of being very lenient with her. None of them could stand to see her cry, and Adam knew that she had used that fact to her advantage many times as a child. Maybe if they hadn't of been so easy on her when she was younger, she might not have attempted to do what she had earlier. No actually, Adam corrected himself, the reason she acted so fearless was probably something that she had inherited from her mother, seeing as how Joe too tended to act like that at times. Adam couldn't count the number of times he had thought his heart would stop as he had seen the girl race across the fields on a horse. Ever since she had been allowed to get back on horseback a year after the accident, she seemed determined to make up for the time she had spent in recovery. In a matter of weeks after her first ride in a side saddle, she had the horse racing and jumping just like she had done before, paying the side saddle fact no mind.

Slowly, Adam began to feel his anger melt away. He knew he was probably wrong to get so angry with her, but after all, the girl had nearly been killed due to her lack of obedience. A quick glance behind him told Adam that his little sister was still furious with him. He sighed again. This was going to be a long night, not to mention the next couple of days. Sierra could stay angry awhile, and she often went out of her way to make sure that the person she was angry with knew it. At home, Pa always put a stop to it as soon he could. But, Pa wasn't here now and Adam was in charge. How was he supposed to put a stop to her anger when he was the one she was angry with in the first place? He shook his head.

When they reached the shack, Adam pulled his horse to a halt and dismounted before turning to his sister. Like him, she too had dismounted with Joe's unasked for help, though she was purposely keeping her back to her oldest brother. Adam glanced across at Hoss. He had considered asking Hoss about her punishment since it had him that she had lied to, but after noticing the concerned look on his younger brother's face, Adam knew that Hoss would probably be ready to let her off the hook with a simple talking to. Having already tried that approach many times before, Adam knew that the girl needed more punishment than that.

"All right, Sierra, I've decided on your punishment," Adam said calmly, but kept his voice firm, letting her know that he meant business. "You are not to leave this clearing without my permission and then it will only be in the presence of one of us. You will not be allowed to continue the hunting, but will stay here with me and start cleaning and tanning the hides and then preparing the meat for storage." He paused to study his sister's reaction to his words. Tanning the hides and preserving the meat were tasks that were hated by all of them; it was messy and smelly and usually Sierra was excused from them. This time, however, Adam figured that they would serve as sufficient punishment. "Look at me, Sierra," he told her when she remained with her back to him. Slowly, she turned to face him. Her anger was clearly visible in her flashing green eyes. His intention had been to tell her he was only punishing her for her own good and because he loved her, but seeing the firm set of her jaw and the expression on her face, Adam knew that now was not the time for that. She wasn't ready to listen to him say that. So instead he merely handed his horse's reins to her and told her to take care of both her horse and his before he turned to go into the shack.

Having her take care of his horse hadn't been part of Adam's original plan, but it was obvious that she needed some time to cool off without him present. Entering the tiny building, Adam decided that he'd go ahead and cook supper that night. True, he wasn't as good a cook as Sierra was, but he could do a sight better than either of his brothers. As he got out the necessary ingredients, Adam prayed that his brothers would be able to work some of the anger out of his little sister.

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It seemed that Adam's plan hadn't worked. The tension in the air that night was so strong it was almost suffocating. Dinner was eaten in silence and the room was tidied up the same way. Hoss and Joe tried to brighten the mood with little jokes, but they both soon gave up after being ignored. Adam only spoke to answer his younger brothers' questions and then it was with short answers. His eyes watched Sierra as she purposely avoided his gaze and ignored his presence as much as possible. He felt himself sighing as all of his attempts to make conversation with her were either ignored or ended as soon as possible. He hated having her mad at him. Part of him considered withdrawing her punishment, but the other part reminded him of how close she had come to getting killed. Besides, he had a feeling that withdrawing her punishment wasn't going to change anything. She was just going to have to work out her anger on her own and Adam hoped that she wouldn't take too long to do it.

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By the time she crawled into bed that night, Sierra was exhausted. Collapsing onto the cot, she sat rubbing liniment on her injured leg, grimacing as she reached particularly sore spots. The bruises on her right side had darkened to a purplish-blue color and she knew her shoulder was going to be even stiffer in the morning, not to mention the pain that had seemed to double in her injured leg. Her entire body ached, but Sierra passed it off as part of the side effects from her fall. She sniffled and wiped her nose. The change in the weather had caused her to develop a slight cold.

"Sierra?" she heard Adam call softly through the curtain. Sierra held back a sigh. The last thing she wanted to do right then was talk to Adam. She knew he didn't like it when she was angry with him, neither she for that matter, but she just wasn't ready to apologize to him yet. Apologizing seemed like saying he had been right and there was no way she was ever going to admit that… well, at least not anytime soon. Considering how angry he had been with her at first, Sierra had been surprised at being let off without the normal thrashing. "Please, Sierra, I want to talk to you," Adam's voice came again. He sounded genuinely sorry and for a moment, Sierra felt her anger start to fade away. Then she remembered the recent events and changed her mind.

"Come in," she told him keeping her voice emotionless as she slid down under her covers. Adam pushed back the curtain as he entered and gently sat at the foot of her small cot. For a moment he didn't say anything and Sierra began to wonder if he ever would. But then he broke the silence.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I'm fine," she replied. Again there was silence.

"How's your leg?" Adam asked her. Sierra shrugged her shoulders again.

"Fine," she answered.

"You did a good job brushing Sport tonight, I wanted to thank you for that," Adam told her.

"He's a good horse," Sierra said ignoring her older brother's praise as they again lapsed into silence.

"Sierra, I'm sorry I got so angry with you today, but I just got scared. You could've really gotten-"

"I could've really gotten hurt," Sierra finished, cutting him off. "Yeah, yeah, I know." She heard Adam sigh.

"Well, I guess I'll be going to bed," he said, standing after a few minutes of silence. He paused with his hand on the curtain and turned back to look at her. "Good night, Littlin', I love you."

"'Night Adam," Sierra replied. She heard Adam wait for a few seconds, before he finally pushed through the curtain. The light in the small room soon went out and she listened to the voices of her brothers as they said good night to each other. Tears pricked Sierra's eyes. Hearing him call her by that special nickname had almost broken through her stubborn resolve. Each of her brothers had special names for her that they had thought up throughout the years, but Adam had been calling her 'littlin' as far back as she could remember. It was a name that held every bit of his affection for her and was never used any other way. She wanted nothing more than to call Adam back and allow him to hold her in his strong embrace, but her Cartwright stubbornness refused to let her.

Her hand reached up to clasp the silver locket that hung around her neck. Though Sierra had only been two years old, the heart-shaped locket had been a gift to her from Adam just before he had left for college. Inside he had placed two pictures; the one side had a photograph of the three Cartwright boys and Sierra which had taken at Adam's insistence just a week before he had left for college. The other side had a picture of their father and Marie, taken just after they were married before they left New Orleans. Sierra treasured the locket; she never went without it. What made it even more special to her was the fact that the locket had belonged to Adam's mother Elizabeth. During the four years Adam had been away, the locket had served as a reminder of the older brother that she barely remembered and of her mother who she remembered even less. Many times the locket had brought her comfort and tonight was no different. Rolling onto her right side and gripping the locket tightly in her hand, Sierra curled up into a ball, burying her head in the pillow in an attempt to muffle her sobs, as she cried herself to sleep.

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The silence the next day was almost unbearable. Adam had elected himself the job of staying back at the shack with his angry, stubborn sister, sending Hoss and Joe off to do some more hunting. The weather had turned colder and Adam knew that it would probably snow before the next day. Sierra had quietly begun her assigned task of tanning the hides. She struggled with the weight of the skins as she lifted then into the large boiler. Adam figured she must still be a bit sore from her fall, so he soon decided to help her. If he had hoped to get a thank you, he was disappointed, because the girl barely acknowledged him all day. Adam tried several times to start a conversation, but each time he was unsuccessful. Though he knew she had tried to hide them, he had heard her cry herself to sleep the night before and the sounds had broken his heart. But he also knew that there was nothing he could do to help her unless she allowed him to.

That night, Sierra found that she was even more tired than she had been the day before. Her cold had slowly worsened and she felt it beginning to settle in her chest, causing her to have a light cough. As she crawled into bed that night, she could barely keep her eyes open and by the time Adam came to tuck her in, she was fast asleep.

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Fire, she was burning up. It was snowing outside so why was it so hot? And why am I soaking wet? Wait, is there a leak over my bed? But the water wasn't cold; instead it was just as hot as she was. Someone must have dumped water on me. It must have been Joe. His favorite way to wake her up in the morning was to dump water on her. Ooh, I'm going to get him this time!

"Joe!" Sierra called out as she jerked upright on her cot still half asleep, expecting to see her eighteen year old brother's mischievous grin staring down at her. Opening her eyes, she was surprised to find that it was still dark outside. Hoss' loud snores told her that he was still asleep and as she listened closely, she could just barely make out the sounds of Adam and Joe's quiet snores.

Why was it so hot in the shack? Couldn't the boys feel the heat? Or was she the only one sweating? A feeling of dizziness swept over and Sierra rested her head in her hands. Her hand jerked back in surprise as she felt the heat radiating from her damp forehead. She was burning up. Pushing back the dark strands of hair that were sticking to her face, Sierra sniffled, setting off a round of coughing and she pressed her hands to her mouth in an effort to muffle the sound. The coughing left her breathless and exhausted. She had to get out of the shack. The sweltering heat made her head feel as if it were about to explode if she didn't.

Slowly, Sierra reached a shaky hand out, feeling the floor for where she had laid her crutches and quietly lifting them up onto the cot. Not daring to slip on her brace for fear of waking her brothers with the noise, she quietly slipped on her socks, boots, and coat before positioning the crutches under her arms. As silent as possible, Sierra crept out the door of the shack. The freezing night air hit her in the face, setting off another round of coughing as she wearily swung herself across the clearing on her crutches to sink down in exhaustion on a stump that stood near the small barn. The frigid wind blew savagely across her face and Sierra shivered despite the fact that she was still sweating from the fever. Her tired eyes ached and the bright light from the moon didn't help them much. Realizing the dryness in her throat, Sierra rose from the stump on shaky legs and, positioning the crutches under her arms, she made her way over to the rain barrel next to the barn door. She leaned against the wall as she removed the wooden cover and raised the dipper to her dry lips, drinking thirstily. Breathing in deep breaths of the night air, Sierra returned the dipper to the barrel and gasped as the moonlight fell across the surface of the water, clearly revealing her reflection.

Spots! Her face was covered in bright red spots! Sierra felt her knees grow weak and she sank down onto a large block of wood. Suddenly, the pieces all seemed to fit together. The runny nose, the coughing, the fever: she had assumed it was nothing but a bad cold. But the splotches on her face said otherwise. She had measles! Fear gripped her heart as she remembered everything she had heard about the disease. She knew it could often be fatal especially to babies and adults over twenty. Adults over twenty, she stopped cold as the thought repeated in her mind. Joe was eighteen so it shouldn't be too bad on him, but both Hoss and Adam were over twenty. All of the sudden, she wasn't worried about herself, but she knew she had to keep her oldest brothers from catching the disease. There was only one way to do that, get away from the shack.

Not stopping to think clearly, Sierra pushed herself up from her wooden seat and used her crutches to widen the crack in the ill-fitting barn door. The inside of the small barn was quite warm, but Sierra didn't notice; it took all of her concentration to swing her weary body on the crutches across the small space between the door and the stall where the gray gelding Phantom was standing.

"Hey, boy," Sierra whispered to him breathlessly as she removed the bridle from its hook beside the stall and slipped it onto the gelding's face. Phantom replied with a soft whiny and a gentle nudge to her shoulder which would have knocked the precariously balanced girl over had she not grabbed onto the wall.

Moving inside the stall to the gelding's side, Sierra leaned back against the wooden stall divider wall, as she slowly lifted the saddle blanket and then the sidesaddle onto the gentle gelding's back. Reaching into her saddle bags which hung on the wall behind her, she was relieved to find the change of clothes that she had placed there the beginning of the week. Quickly as possible, Sierra changed out of her flannel nightgown and into her button-up cream colored shirt and the borrowed tan pants before reaching for her brace which lay on the Hoss' small workbench next to the stall. Her unexpected tumble the other day had broken one of the metal strips which Hoss had been able to fix and luckily for her, he had forgotten the brace in the barn afterwards. Now she fastened the brace on her leg over the top of her pants before standing slowly to her feet and leading Phantom towards the door. Pausing momentarily by the door to grab her hat which had somehow ended up in the barn the previous night, Sierra set it on her head before continuing out of the barn.

Soft white snowflakes had begun to fall unnoticed during the short time Sierra had been inside the warm barn. Still, she paid no attention as she led the gray gelding over to the stump she earlier used as a resting place. Using the stump as a step, Sierra carefully climbed onto the side saddle. She paused a moment as the effort of mounting brought on another wave of dizziness. The freezing wind had also picked up speed, catching strands of her long dark brown hair and whipping them wildly around her face as it threatened to dislodge her light brown hat from her head. Sending one last look back at the warm shack, Sierra sent the gelding away from the clearing, not daring to go any faster than a walk.

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Several hours later, Adam awoke with the strong feeling that something was wrong. Puzzled, he lay in his bunk and stared up at the underside of Joe's bunk, listening to Hoss' loud snores from the bunk at his feet. What could be causing that feeling? he wondered. Obviously its not Hoss', Adam thought with a wry smile as he raised his head to glance at his larger brother, who was sleeping with his arm flung over the side of the bed, his mouth wide open. Joe? Adam debated briefly as he strained his ears, trying to caught any sound coming from his youngest brother overhead. After a few seconds he barely made out the teenager's quiet moans as he too slept deeply. Maybe its Sierra, Adam thought as he slowly raised himself from his bed. There were no sounds coming from behind the curtain that divided his little sister's space from the rest of the shack, but that was nothing unusual. Unlike their brothers, Sierra was generally a silent sleeper. Slowly, Adam eased himself up from his bunk and shuffled across the wooden floor to push aside the curtain, stopping short at what he saw- or didn't see as the case was.

"Joe! Hoss!" Adam called as he quickly surveyed the area behind the curtain. It was plain to see that she had left in a hurry; the covers were thrown back and one blanket was lying in a heap on the floor. Both her crutches and her brace were gone. Maybe she just stepped outside for a moment, Adam told himself as he tried to quell the fear that he felt building up inside of him.

Not surprisingly, neither of his brothers had heard him call them and both were still sound asleep, though, by now Adam was wide awake. Quickly he shoved his stocking-clad feet into his boots and threw on his yellow coat before opening the door, gasping in surprise at the sight that met his eyes. Everything outside of the little shack had been covered by a white blanket. Adam stepped out into the snow to test its deepness, finding it only a few inches deep. Remembering the purpose for coming outside, he searched the area hoping to uncover some kind of sign that would reassure him that his sister was nearby. He was in no such luck. The only footprints that marred the surface of the snow were his. Seeing the door to the barn standing wide open, the oldest Cartwright boy approached the small building. Upon entering, Adam immediately noticed the absence of Sierra's gentle gelding, Phantom. Her crutches and the discarded flannel nightgown only added to his conclusion; for some unknown reason, Sierra Cartwright had decided to go for a ride in the middle of the night.

"Hoss! Joe!" Adam called loudly as he burst into the warm shack. He rushed over to where his brothers lay fast asleep on their bunks and shook both of them roughly. "Sierra's gone!"

"Huh?" Joe groaned out, not fully awake.

"What?" Hoss jerked upright on his bed, momentarily forgetting about the bunk above him only to be reminded as he bumped his head. "Ouch! Dadburnit, Adam, what's the point of running in here like you's got Indians on tail fer? It's too early for loud noises."

Joe snickered. "Try telling yourself that for a change," he muttered.

"What's that s'posed ta mean?" Hoss inquired, giving Joe a suspicious look as he continued to rub the small bump on his head.

"Oh, nothin', just with all of your snoring it's a wonder any of us can get any sleep at night," was Joe's response.

"I don't snore," Hoss protested firmly.

"Sure you don't, big brother," Joe replied sarcasm evident in his voice. "Must've been your twin brother then."

"Stop it, both of you!" Adam yelled, causing both of his younger brothers to drop their argument immediately and turn their attention toward their older brother. Both Hoss and Joe were surprised to see that Adam, having taken advantage of the time during their argument, was completely dressed.

"Hey, older brother, what's your hurry?" Joe wondered and was met with a frustrated glare from Adam.

"Didn't you hear a word that I said?" he asked them. Both boys shook their heads. Adam let out a longsuffering sigh. "Sierra's missing."

"Missing?" the two boys repeated together as both jumped from their beds and hurriedly began dressing.

"That's right," Adam confirmed then he held up his hand to ward off the volley of questions that he knew was coming. "And before you say anything, I don't know how long she's been gone for but she had to have left when we were sleeping. Phantom's gone too."

"Why would she go for a ride in the middle of the night?" Hoss wondered.

"Yeah, and where would she go anyway?" Joe added.

"I've got an idea," Adam told them.

"Where?" Joe asked.

"That Indian filly," Adam stated. Hoss and Joe exchanged glances. They had to admit that Sierra had pulled some pretty dangerous stunts within the last few weeks, but it didn't make any sense why she would take off in the middle of the night just to go see a horse that had just thrown her.

"I don't know, Adam," Hoss said dubiously. "That just don't sound like somethin' she'd do."

"You didn't think she'd try to ride a half-wild filly by herself either did you?" Adam countered.

"Surely she wouldn't try to ride her again, would she?" Joe wondered as he shoved his arms into the sleeves of his thick winter coat.

"With her, there's no telling what she'll do next," Adam replied. "Of all the dumb tricks! When I get my hands on that girl…" Though he didn't finish his threat, both Hoss and Joe knew that the sternness and anger in his voice was only an attempt to cover up his worry. They had both heard Adam promise their father to keep their stubborn, strong-willed sister safe. If anything happened to Sierra, they both knew that Adam would blame himself. Both of the younger Cartwright boys exchanged a worried glance as they followed their oldest brother out into the cold.

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Oh, no! Sierra's sick with the measles and now she's out in the cold somewhere! Where was she going? How will her brothers react when they find her? Will they be able to find her before the weather turns for the worst? Let me know your thoughts in the review section!