Chapter 11
Hoss ran into the water, grabbed the still form of his brother by the back of the shirt and rolled him over face up just as he heard the sound of hooves racing away. He looked down at Adam who was completely limp, motionless. Fear gripped the middle Cartwright's chest as he shouted. "Adam! Adam!"
He dragged Adam out of the water and up the bank, tripping on the entanglement of reeds nearby, his boots slipping in the mud. Adam was dead weight in his arms, but Hoss was strong and soon had him up on the bank and on his back. He couldn't keep the panic from his voice as he slapped Adam's face. "Adam! Adam! Wake up!"
His fear intensified when he realized Adam wasn't breathing!
Instinctively he pressed on Adam's rib cage, then rolled him onto his side and pounded on his back something he'd done a couple times before to calves that had been born but not breathing. It was a trick he learnt from some of the older cowhands. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he begged and pleaded. "Breath, dag gummit, breath! Please, Adam!"
Hoss rolled him onto his back again and was just about to push on his chest once more when suddenly Adam's back arched up and he started vomiting violently, spewing up large mouthfuls of water. Hoss quickly rolled him onto his side, supporting him across his knees as he continued to heave, then at last, drew in a huge gasp of air. Hoss continued to rub his back, supporting him. "That's it, Adam breath, big brother! Breath!"
Adam coughed, gagged and drew in more ragged breaths while Hoss held him tight. Adam was breathing, but was still out for the count. Hoss reached down and felt a large lump on the back of Adam's head. Afriad to leave him and afriad for Little Joe, Hoss knew he needed help and fast! He grabbed the gun out of Adam's holster and fired off three shots in the air in rapid succession, hoping beyond hope someone would hear.
He cradled Adam on his lap and tried desperately to rouse him again, slapping him on the face and practically screaming in his ear, "Adam! Ya gotta wake up."
Adam moaned loudly as he started to come to. He heard his name being called, over and over again in a desperate plea. His eyes fluttered opened, blinking rapidly. The first thing he saw was the cherub, anxious, tear-stained face of his younger brother hovering over him. "Hoss?" he rasped, not sure why he was laying on the grass, his head resting in his brother's lap, but worse yet, why head was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to explode, or why his chest felt like it was suddenly on fire.
He groaned and then realized Hoss was speaking rapidly. At first he couldn't comprehend anything he was saying, the words frantic and stumbling over themselves. Something about Little Joe, about needing to get help and not to move. Adam's head began to clear and his memory returned sluggishly "Joe?" He struggled to sit up and felt Hoss' strong arms under his armpits, supporting him. Adam hissed and brought his hand to the back of his head, trying to keep the sudden wave of pain and dizziness from toppling him back over into oblivion. The vision of Little Joe's eyes widening in fear suddenly jolted Adam back into reality. "Joe? Where's Little Joe?"
"Someone done took him, Adam!"
Adam twisted around and grabbed Hoss by the flaps of his vest. "What?"
"Someone grabbed Joe, Adam!" Hoss voice cracked with a sob. "I couldn't tell who. He was too far away and I didn't get a good look at him through the bushes. I was about to go after him when I saw ya face down in the water. I thought you were dead," the thirteen year old cried.
Adam's grip on Hoss' vest tightened, his pale face paling a shade more than it already was. "Which way did they go, Hoss?"
"South, I think, from the sound of the horse's hooves."
"Help me up." Adam tried to stand but swayed and started coughing again.
Hoss put a restraining arm on him. "Ya done near drowned on me brother and got a knot the size of a robin's egg on the back of your head. Ya ain't going anywhere."
"I said help me up and then fetch the horses!" Adam snapped back. He struggled to his feet. His head spun.
Knowing there was no arguing with him, Hoss helped him up the bank and left him leaning against a tree while he raced to retrieve the horses. Adam's face was nearly white as a sheet by the time Hoss got back.
With help Adam managed to mount his horse. He grabbed the reins. "Hoss, ride back to the house as fast as you can and get Pa!"
Hoss gaped. "Adam, I can't leave ya! You're hurt!"
"I don't have time to argue with you. Just get going! I'm going after Joe!" Hoss hesitated, afraid. "Go, Hoss, please! There's no time to waste. Get Pa and some men!"
Hoss nodded and climbed aboard his own mount, quickly taking off.
Adam spurred Ranger south, his heart racing.
Oh, God let me find him! Let me just find him!
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Hoss had never ridden so fast or so hard. When he reached the house he practically leapt from his horse and burst through the door, shouting. "Pa! Pa!"
Ben came downstairs, alerted by the frantic calls of his middle son. "Hoss, what is it? What's the matter?"
Hoss ran over to his father, grabbed him by the forearms. "Pa, ya gotta come quick! Joe's gone and Adam, he's hurt and went after him by hisself. Please, Pa, we need ta hurry."
Ben cupped his son's face in the palm of one hand. "Hoss, slow down. Tell me what happened."
The boy was nearly panting in his anxiety and fear. "Someone took Little Joe, Pa, and hit Adam over the head." He quickly explained how he'd found Adam face down in the pond, nearly drowned and how he'd managed to get Adam breathing again. But Adam was hurt from the hit to the back his head yet insisted on going after Joe, sending him home to fetch help. "Please, Pa! I'm scared for Little Joe and Adam."
The gravity of the situation hit Ben full force. He strapped on his gun, grabbed his coat and hat. "Stay here, Hoss."
Outside Ben Cartwright, full of worry and rage, quickly gathered his men.
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Little Joe was dumped rather unceremoniously on the hard dirt floor. He lay there in a semi conscious heap in the dark until a lantern was lit causing him to squint from the sudden glare. The face that loomed over him blurred in and out of focus.
When he had been grabbed, Joe's initial shock had been quickly replaced with desperation and panic. His natural instinct was to fight back and he kicked out and squirmed and punched with his puny fists against his abductor. He fought when his assailant tried to throw him bodily up onto the saddle. When the man became frustrated by the boy's wild struggles, he had turned Little Joe around and slapped him hard across the face. The shock and sudden stinging pain left Little Joe dazed and once again he was grabbed and thrown unceremoniously across the front of a saddle and then held down by the back of a strong hand as his abductor quickly mounted. The rough ride that followed jostled the scared and abused boy about until it became too much to bear and Little Joe had passed out.
Now, as his awareness returned to hands grabbing him and roughly tying his wrists together, Little Joe let out a whimper of pain. Large, frightened eyes welled in tears as his legs were then grabbed and also bound tightly together.
His kidnapper then sat back on his hunches, his mouth curling into a slight smile before reaching out and grabbed the boy's chin. "Sorry, kid. Nothing personal. Just business."
Frightened and hurting, Little Joe's could only stare back through terrified tears before jerking his head away and recoiling from the man's touch. He groaned, dizzy with pain and confusion as his head lulled to the side and he blacked out again.
€#€#€#
Adam led Ranger through a washout between two gently sloping hillsides. He had been searching for over an hour. His head pounded and the queasiness in his stomach increased, a combination, he was sure, resulting of from the hit on his skull along with the pond water he had swallowed. He forced the discomfort down though, his own guilt, anger and desperation driving him forward.
He spotted the single rider some distance ahead and off to the right. He urged his horse forward but was still too far away, and the sparse trees and rocks the rider wove through, prevented Adam from getting a full view of the man or any sign of Little Joe, although it was more than possible that the boy was riding up front and hidden from his sight.
The rider slipped behind a large outcropping of boulders. Adam followed cautiously. When he rounded the bend, though, there was no sign of him. His fear mounted, knowing it would difficult at best to pick up the rider's trail in the hard ground. Frantically he searched. Finally, he spotted the flank end of the chestnut colored horse partially concealed near some scrub bushes. There was no sign of the rider, however, or Little Joe.
Dismounting, he tethered his horse out of sight and drew his pistol. He cautiously advanced, his gait slightly wobbly. The sun was beating down on his hatless head and the glare made his eyes water and his head spin dizzily. He reached out and steadied his hand against the rocks to keep from falling over. Sweat poured down his face and he gritted his teeth as he tried to force the sensation away. Only his sheer stubbornness and determination to find his baby brother kept Adam upright.
The sudden ricochet of a bullet off the rocks just above him forced Adam to duck down low. A brief flash of movement caught his attention. As the figure darted back behind a rock, he recognized the shooter instantly. It was Colvarre!
A second shot forced Adam farther back. He returned fire but missed.
Staying low, Adam's rage boiled. He shouted. "Colvarre!"
"We meet again, Cartwright," came the amused twangy drawl.
"Let him go!"
"Don't know what your talking about, boy," he sneered back.
"My brother! Little Joe! Let him go!"
Colvarre laughed. "Is that what you think? Haven't got that little brat. Loose him?"
"I'm not here to play games. Where is he? What have you done to him?"
"You sound worried, Cartwright." He snickered. The sound of Colvarre's voice had shifted. He was on the move.
Adam glanced quickly around, trying to spot him. He growled back. "So help me god, if you've harmed him in anyway, I swear I'll hunt you down and put a bullet through your spineless heart!"
Colvarre taunted back. "I don't think it's that brother of yours you have to worry about right now." Another bullet ricocheted off the rock near Adam's hand.
Adam quickly withdrew back, the sudden movement making his head spin. Staying low, he backed up intending to make his way around the rock and get at Colvarre from the other side, when another bullet pinged off the rocks, this time from a different direction. Adam spun about and saw a second man hidden in the rocks. It was Colvarre's partner, Durham.
Adam tried to move back the way he came, but another bullet forced him back. The two men had Adam effectively trapped between them!
"Seems to me you got yourself caught between a rock and a hard place, now," Colvarre laughed his own pun.
Adam crouched low, trying to make his body as small of a target as possible between the small grouping of rocks he was forced into. He checked his gun and tried to remain calm but knew he was in a bad predicament. He looked around, trying to figure out another avenue of escape.
"What's the matter, Cartwright? Got nothing high and mighty to say now?" From the sound of Colvarre's voice, he was moving closer. "You are all the same, you know. Big rich guys, in rich houses. You think you can call all the shots, push us around."
Ignoring the taunts, Adam got down on his belly and dragged his body between the rocks. "I lost sight of him," Durham shouted.
Adam slithered along the ground, trying to conceal his body behind several small scrub trees when another bullet exploded close to his head, shattering a dried branch into pieces in front of face, and forcing him to plaster his face into the dirt.
"Just like shooting ducks, aye, Cartwright?"
...
Ben and several of his men heard the distant shots. "This way!" Ben spurred his horse forward in the direction of the sound.
...
Adam lifted his head up a few inches. "Keep him pinned down while I move around." Colvarre shouted. Through the scrub tree Adam saw Colvarre scale up and over a rock, trying to increase his vantage point. Knowing he had little time, Adam scrambled forward, then rolled his body into a small depression between the rocks and the scrub trees.
"I can't see him anymore!" Durham shouted.
Adam, wedged on his side, saw Colvarre scrambling up and over another rock. Sweat poured down his face and his vision swam briefly from the pounding in his head. Knowing he'd probably have only one chance at this before Colvarre spotted him, Adam stretched out his arm and steadied his gun, then waited. Colvarre's head pop up as he climbed up onto another rock.
The impact of the bullet striking Colvarre took him completely by surprise. The wrangler fell out of sight. Two bullets immediately shot into his hiding place, one grazing his left bicep. Hissing sharply against the pain, he heard the rapid report of return fire from somewhere out of his visual range.
Chaotic shouts followed, echoed, and then a deep familiar voice was bellowing his name. "Adam! Adam!"
Soon the equally familiar husky figure followed, scrambling over the rocks and with relief Adam dragged himself out of his hiding place. Strong hands grabbed him, helped him up. "Adam! Are you all right son?"
His head swam, but he nodded just the same. "Sure glad to see you, Pa," he replied weakly.
"Here. Let me help you." Ben, not giving a chance for Adam to protest, supported him with a steady hand on his arm as they made their way over the rocks to a shady spot. Making him sit, Ben cupped his face, and then ran his hands over Adam's body in a quick assessment, noticing the blood streaming down his left arm. Luckily it appeared to only be a flesh wound.
"Joseph? Where's Joseph?"
"I don't know, Pa. They had me pinned down before I could reach him, but I intend to find out." He tried to stand but was pushed back down.
"You'll stay right there! I'll handle this." Ben's tone was deadly and foreboding. He turned just as one of his men dragged the now subdued wrangler Durham over and pushed him down to the ground. "The other one's dead, Mr. Cartwright," he was told. The wounded wrangler gripped his left arm, which hung uselessly at his side as he struggled up onto his knees.
The patriarch stood, feet shoulder width apart, brows descended into a thick line, his faced chiseled in stone. Without preamble, he demanded. "Where's my son? Where is Joseph!"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Ben voice was low, deep and deadly and matched the glacial hardness of his eyes. Few saw this side of Ben Cartwright, but it was a side those that did, never forgot. "You will tell me what I want to know or as God is my witness, I'll shoot you down right here and now." The fact that he hadn't bellowed, hadn't even raised his voice, but said the words slowly made them all the more deadly and the wrangler swallowed uneasily.
"I swear, Mr. Cartwright. I don't know anything about your boy."
Ben cocked his gun and was joined by Adam who refused to stay put.
Durham trembled unable to hold his gaze against the fierce, unwavering glitter of the patriarch's stare.
A shot rang out and the dirt inches from wrangler's thigh exploded in a cloud of dust. Durham nearly jumped out of his skin. Adam's eyes matched those of his father. "I suggest you tell my father what he wants to know, and now."
Durhamn trembled nervously. "You gotta believe me! I swear I don't know what you are talking about"
"You took my son and I want him back!"
The wrangler practically whimpered as Adam leveled his gun at his chest. "I'm telling the truth! I swear on my mother's grave, we didn't take your boy. We just wanted to get back at Adam for firing us."
"All the more reason I should just kill you here and now!" Adam retorted.
The man shuddered. "Please! I'm telling the truth!"
"If you didn't take my brother, what where you doing out here then?"
Durham suddenly looked very nervous, guilty. He hesitated briefly but one look at Ben Cartwright thunderous face and he finally broke down. "It was all Colvarre's damn idea!" He spewed in an angry rush. "He was mad about getting fired and Adam beating him up. He said you owed us. First he planned to sneak in the house and steal some money and stuff, but the Chinaman surprised him so...so instead he decided to steal a couple of your seeds bulls we knew were grazing in this area and sell them down in Mexico until Colvarre spotted Adam following us."
Adam scoffed jerking his pistol in front of Durham, who was practically sobbing now. "You're lying!"
"No! Please. I-I can prove it!"
"How?" Ben asked.
"One of the bulls is tied up down in the draw. Go see for yourself!" The man pathetically pleaded.
A few minutes later one of Ben's men came jogging back. "He's right, Mr. Cartwright. The bull's there just like he said."
"I didn't want to do it, I swear! It was all Colvarre's idea. He made me!"
Ben's jaw clenched and Adam felt sick with disgust. "Get him out of my sight! Take him into town and have the sheriff lock him up before I change my mind and string him up right here!" Durham, still pale and quaking, was hauled unceremoniously to his feet and led away.
Adam stumbled, the adrenaline, which had been fueling him up to now vanishing. His arms dropped to his sides as the sudden gravity of Durham's confession struck him. Someone else had taken Little Joe! Adam swallowed and for a moment he was unable to face his father. "Pa..."
Ben gripped his son's arm. Adam could barely get the words past is throat. "I'm sorry, Pa."
"It's not your fault, Adam. We'll find him. We'll get him back."
TBC...
A/N: Hope you enjoyed this latest chap. Reviews, as always, appreciated and keep me inspired to continue.