"Hoss?"
"Over here!"
He wasn't sure Adam could hear him over the settling rock, but between the dust he'd swallowed and the effort he was puttin' into keeping Tom Jackson from tumbling after both the wagon and his brother down the hill, he just couldn't yell any louder. It was enough—Adam scurried over on hands and knees a few seconds later. He sized up the situation in a heartbeat and threw himself down beside Hoss, reaching to grab one of Tom's wrists. Freed from havin' to take the man's entire weight without any sort of anchor, Hoss let go with one hand. He seized the back of Tom's shirt, braced as well as he could manage with just his knees, and hauled back. The ranch hand came sliding up over the edge with a gasp and a muffled curse, tumbling into a heap beside the Cartwright brothers.
Hoss fell back onto the packed earth, wheezing harder than he should've had to for a full breath. Dust from the trail's collapse roiled in the air around them. The headache he'd been fightin' for the past couple of days pounded in time with his heart, and he wanted nothin' more than to just lay there panting until help came. He was plumb tuckered.
That wasn't gonna happen. He, Adam, and Tom were the only ones up top anymore, and Tom was already scrambling toward the drop-off—what had, until a few minutes ago, been the left-hand side of the trail. Adam was close on the man's heels, and Hoss rolled painfully up to follow.
Jack was down there, with a wagon full of timber. Question was, on top or underneath? The possibilities made Hoss's blood run cold
"Stop!" Adam grabbed for Tom as the other man showed every sign of heading over the edge after his brother. Hoss seized the back of the battered shirt again and shook hard.
"Tom, wait. Ya can't just go down there!"
"Back off, Cartwright!"
He'd never heard either Jackson yell before … but if there was ever a time for volume, now was it. Hoss shook again, gentler this time. "Hang on, now, Tom. We gotta think this thing through."
"If you try to get down there now, with everything still shifting, you're going to bring the rest of that hill right down on top of him," Adam added, and finally the other man stilled. He stared for a long minute at Adam, then nodded and held up a hand. Hoss eased up and Tom dropped to his knees, shuffling forward to peer out over the edge.
"Eddie! Answer me, ya hear?"
Eddie. He'd never heard the elder Jackson brother called anything but Jack—wasn't sure anybody else even realized the man had another name. Hoss exchanged a glance with Adam, and together they edged forward. He surely wasn't lookin' forward to whatever they might find down there. Couldn't be anything good.
The four of them—he, Adam, Jack, and Tom—had been in the high country for the past two days, cuttin' timber for an expansion of the lower corral. He would have downright enjoyed the work and the fresh air and the company (mostly silent as it was) if he hadn't been sleepin' so bad. At least, he didn't remember wakin' up none, but he'd been sluggish and draggy in the mornings like he'd done tossed and turned all night long. (Adam claimed he'd done no such thing, that he'd been dead to the world if snorin' loud enough they barely needed the saw was any indication, but he'd mostly ignored that. It was an old complaint, and there weren't much he could do about that anyways.) Whatever the problem, it didn't stop him from pullin' his weight, and in less time than they'd planned them trees were felled and stripped and split. They'd brung the big wagon, since Adam claimed he could rig up somethin' to lower the wood down the backside of the hill right onto path 'stead of draggin' the smaller wagon up through the trees to load it. It had worked just like big brother said, and they'd been right happy about makin' one trip back home instead of havin' ta return for a second load. Really, things had been goin' about as good as could be until the road collapsed right out from underneath the wagon, sendin' it and Jack (and almost Tom) down the hill in a shower of wood and rock and earth.
At first all Hoss could see as he squinted through the dust was the underside of the wagon, one wheel spinning drunkenly, planks scattered both above and below. Neither one of the horses was movin', and he spared a second to be glad that if they had to go that way, at least they weren't in any pain. He didn't see Jack, though, and that wasn't … no, there he was.
First sight showed things weren't as bad as they coulda been … but all in all, it was bad enough. The man was mostly clear, but one leg disappeared beneath the sideboards of the wagon. Jack was definitely trapped—Hoss could tell that without even hearin' a reply. Whether or not he was in any kinda shape to answer was another—
"I'm here."
The voice was fuzzy, but strong enough at least that they could hear it. That was real good news, and Hoss let out a long breath as Tom called back down to his brother.
"How ya feelin', Eddie? What's hurtin'?"
A long silence, and then, "Leg's broke. Maybe arm, too."
"What about yer head? Ya hit it?"
"Nah, not bad. Clipped the wagon a little, but got lucky there." Jack put his head back and closed his eyes. "Got real lucky."
Tom snorted, muttering somethin' under his breath about luck bein' in the eye of the beholder. "You just stay still, we'll be down!" He studied the edge, lookin' for a good drop off spot, but before he could move Adam had him by the arm.
"You can't."
"Watch me, Cartwright." Jackson tried to pull away, but Adam's grip tightened. Hoss, who had already started searchin' for his own way down, stared.
"Adam, we gotta get down there."
Adam's eyes flashed. "I know that." Big brother never had taken it too good when he felt like somebody was tryin' to tell him the obvious.
"Well it don't seem to me like puttin' things off is gonna do anybody any good, least of all Jack."
"Well, it seems to me like we should find out what we're dealing with. Just because the rocks have stopped rolling doesn't mean they're stable, and doesn't mean we won't end up with them on top of us if we just go tearing down there without some kind of plan." One dark eyebrow quirked. "Or does that sound like fun to you?"
Dadburn it, Adam was usually right about these things. Weren't no need for him ta talk like that, though. Course, that were just big brother's way. Adam got sharp-tongued when he was stressed, he'd always done. He usually didn't mean nothin' by it, and the best way through it was generally to just ignore it.
Hoss hoped Tom, who was lookin' ready ta steam at the ears, would be willin' to take his lead. It probably helped that the Jackson brothers didn't have too many years on ol' Adam …
"Okay, Adam. But just remember that's his brother down there." Hoss's own brother eyed him narrowly. "All I'm sayin' is, I wouldn't wanna wait too long if it was you."
Adam glanced from Tom to Jack, then drew in a long breath and nodded. "Sorry, Tom. I'll get us down there as soon as we safely can." Tom's jaw twitched, then he nodded curtly. Good. Adam clapped the other man on the shoulder, moving past to crouch again at the edge. "Jack, what does the hill look like from down there?"
For a minute, Hoss didn't think they were going to get an answer. Tom stirred and drifted forward again, but Jack's strained voice drifted up before things could get tense again.
"Looks like the … the bank got washed out. Coupla big trees down with the roots pulled out, prob'ly from that last storm. Guess the road couldn't … couldn't hold without 'em."
Adam grimaced at Hoss. "Pulled out the support structure, and when that loaded wagon came over, the trail couldn't take the weight." He scrubbed a hand across his jaw and sighed. "Shoulda brought the smaller wagon after all."
"Weren't no way you coulda seen this comin'. Ain't like we ain't had storms before."
"Yeah, I guess." Adam stared across the ravine into the trees, silent for so long that Tom stirred impatiently, casting a glance at Hoss. Right. Hoss stepped forward and was about to speak when Adam stood abruptly. "All right. We can't all go down there."
"That wagon is heavy, Cartwright. It's gonna take all of us to—"
"All three of us wouldn't be able to budge it, Jackson."
Tom gaped, and Hoss felt like doin' the same. "What are you sayin'?"
"I'm saying that even if all three of us got down there without bringing the rest of the bank with us, there's no purchase for any kind of lifting. Look," he continued, pushing past Jackson's protest. "The wagon isn't even on solid ground, it's half off the next ledge. There's nowhere down there for us to brace or make any kind of effort to lift it, and the ground would crumble if we tried. There's no place to set up any kind of a lever. There's no point in all of us going down there, because we can't do anything from there."
"Fine." Tom spun away, making for the edge again. "Fine, but I ain't just leavin' him there. I—"
"I'm not saying we're going to leave him!" Adam pinned Hoss with an exasperated glare, and Hoss caught Jackson's arm. The other man jerked out of his hold.
"We ain't leavin' him, Tom. Just listen a minute."
"He's been down there for—"
"I know it! But just listen anyway!"
"We can use the pulleys!"
Tom halted. He didn't turn back, but he did wait. Adam continued.
"The pulleys we used to get the logs down the backside of the hill. If we rig those into the trees up here, and attach a couple of ropes to the wagon, we can lift it off from here."
Well, how about that? Leave it to ol' Adam to find the smart solution. Tom looked around. "The pulleys are down with the wagon."
"No, they're not." Adam jerked his chin to the left. Following the gesture, Hoss saw that the mess of pulleys and rope they'd chucked in on top of the wood was snarled in a couple of bushes no more'n ten feet down. Wouldn't take anything at all to reach 'em. He clapped Tom's shoulder.
"There you go, Tom. We'll get Jack out, don't you worry."
The ranch hand took a long breath, still staring down at the wrecked wagon and his brother, then he turned abruptly back to them. "All right, Cartwright." He nodded to Adam. "Guess I was wrong. We'll do it your way, if you swear to me this is the best we got."
"I do. It's the only thing we've got."
"Fair enough." Tom nodded toward the wagon. "Tell me where we'll need that rope hooked up. I ain't as familiar with—"
"I'm going down."
"Now, Adam—"
"No, you're not. He's my brother, and I—"
"Are you going to try to tell me that arm isn't broken?"
Dadburn it, how'd he miss that? Now that he thought about it, though, Tom hadn't used that arm once since they'd pulled him back onto the road. Jackson scowled.
"It's bruised, but it ain't nothin' that I—"
"Are you really going to do this?" Adam pushed forward, into the other man's face. Tom backpedaled, and Hoss shot out a hand to make sure he didn't go right off the edge. "Take the chance that arm will last, that it won't give out halfway and you'll grab at the wrong thing and pull that whole hill down on top of you both? Because that's the chance you're taking, Jackson. You think about that, then tell me if you really want to fight about this."
Tom glowered, shoulder rigid beneath Hoss's grip. Hoss shoved his brother back none too gently, talkin' all the while. "Adam knows about this kinda thing, Tom—it's what he spent all them years in college learnin'. If he says it's the best way, I gotta believe him."
The eyes Jackson turned on him were unfriendly at best, but after a long minute Tom growled and looked back to Adam. "All right, Cartwright, we'll do it your way."
Adam tipped the other man a nod, but Hoss saw something in the set of his brother's jaw that warned him this wasn't over.
He was right.
"Jackson … if you really want to help your brother, the best thing to do would be to get on my horse and head on down to the house. We're gonna need another wagon when we get him back up here, and I need Hoss on the pulleys."
"Look, I ain't—"
"You can stay if want, but it'll be longer until he gets medical attention if you do."
Tom Jackson eyed Adam for a long, flat moment.
"You're a bastard, Cartwright, but you do seem ta think of everything, don't you?"
Adam sighed and looked away, scrubbing roughly at his stubbled jaw. "Wish I would have thought of this," he waved his hand at the collapsed trail, "before it happened."
"Well." Jackson turned back to the edge. "You ain't God, I guess." Hoss barely held back a chuckle, despite the circumstances. Even Adam cracked a faint grin, casting a raised brow in Hoss's direction. It was nothin' big brother hadn't heard from him any number of times. "Eddie!"
"Still here …"
The voice was fainter, though. The three men on the trail traded concerned frowns. "Guess you're right about that too," Tom muttered, and Hoss thumped his shoulder.
"Don't be given' him too much credit, now. His head's big enough already."
Jackson snorted, and returned his attention below. "Eddie, Hoss and his brother are gonna take good care of you." Adam's lips twisted. "I'm headed for a wagon, and to get somebody ridin' for the doc. You're gonna be fine, ya hear?"
"Don't … break your neck gettin' there," came the slow reply.
"See what I can do." Tom stood, looking to Adam. "Your horse?" Sport and Chubby were the only two saddle horses they had—Jack and Tom had come up in the wagon. Adam nodded. Tom hesitated, then nodded stiffly. "Cartwright."
"Jackson."
Tom reached back and thumped Hoss in the gut, then seized Sport's reins and climbed painfully into the saddle. (He wouldn'ta made it down the hill. He wouldn'ta made it twenty feet.) They watched him ride out, then Hoss sighed and looked to Adam.
"Sure hope you're right about this, brother."
"Don't worry, brother." Adam raised a sardonic brow. "I've got no plans to ruin your reputation."
The sarcasm stung, all the more because Hoss had no idea what Adam was talkin' about. "What's that supposed ta mean?" he demanded, following Adam across to where the pulleys and rope hung in the bushes below the trail. His brother looked around sharply, and studied him for a long moment. "Adam, I don't know if you noticed, but I was tryin' ta help you out back there. I don't—"
"I know, Hoss." Adam sighed, and thumped Hoss's shoulder. "I know. It didn't mean anything, I just wish this hadn't happened."
"Yeah."
That was sure enough true. The brothers stood for a scant second, starin' down at the ruined trail, the scattered wood, and the man pinned beneath the wagon, and then they went to work.
