Since they were riding slowly because of Cat's injured rib, it took the Cartwrights longer than normal to reach Silver Hawk's village. Cat was delighted when they reached the village and wanted to run and play with the children. Before she could run off, Ben said, "You haven't said hello to Silver Hawk and his family yet."

Cat sighed and said hello to everyone. Silver Hawk and Standing Bear looked at the cuts on her face and Silver Hawk asked, "What happened to Wild Cat? Why does she have those cuts on her face?" Ben told him what happened and explained Cat's injuries, adding that she is not supposed to run anywhere. "I see. I am glad that she was not badly hurt."

"So are we. However, being a typical child, she is not happy with the restrictions the doctor put on her. Dr. Martin told her that along with not running, she is not to trot or gallop her horse and he would prefer that she walk. I had to stop her from galloping several times on the way here."

Silver Hawk laughed. "Yes, I can imagine you did." While they were talking, Running Wolf and several of the other children ran up and invited Cat to play with them. She started to run off with them when Silver Hawk scolded, "Wild Cat, I just heard your father say you were not allowed to run because of the injury to your rib. Children, Wild Cat was injured today and is not allowed to run. You may play, fish, practice your tracking skills, or using your bows and arrows. However, you must not run while Wild Cat is here with us."

"Catherine," said Ben. "You may play with the other children while we are here, however you are not to run until after Dr. Martin sees you again on Wednesday. I know you are unhappy with the restriction but it is important so your rib will heal. If you are caught running, you will be in trouble. You will not be allowed to ride any horse by yourself. You will have to ride double with one of us until Dr. Martin says your rib is healed. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir," said Cat dejectedly.

Ben hugged her and said, "You will be able to run again just as soon as Dr. Martin says you can. We just can't take a chance on your injury getting worse. The rib is already bruised. If you trip and fall while you're running, you could crack the rib and then it will be a long time before you are able to do much of anything."

Cat grumbled as she walked off with the children causing the adults to laugh. After Cat and the other children walked off, her father and brothers joined Silver Hawk inside his teepee. Standing Bear and Morning Star joined them a few minutes later. "When do you plan to adopt Catherine?" asked Ben.

"I had planned on doing it two days from now, but I want to wait until her rib is completely healed. Once I have adopted her, more of the children will want to run and play with her, so I want to wait until she is able to run again."

While everyone was talking in Silver Hawk's teepee, Cat was answering the children's questions about how she got hurt. "Weren't you scared?" asked Running Wolf.

"Yes I was."

"Then you're not brave," said a boy about two years older than Cat. "You're a coward. Only cowards get scared."

"You are wrong son," came a voice from behind them. "I have ridden in battle many times and I am afraid everytime. So are the other warriors."

"You're not a coward father," said the boy. "You're a brave warrior."

The brave sat down on a fallen tree and called the children over to him. He picked Cat up, sat her on his lap and introduced himself as Deep Water Running and his son as Swift Rabbit. Then he looked at the children and said, "Being brave does not mean that you're not afraid. Only a very foolish person is unafraid when they are faced with danger. Nobody wants to get hurt or worse. The difference between a brave person and a coward is their actions when faced with danger. Wild Cat, could you have run away from the person who hurt you?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Could you have stopped her from hurting you?"

Cat thought for a minute and said, "Maybe I could have gotten up, run at her and grabbed her around her knees."

"What would have happened to her if you had done that?"

"She would have fallen over, but she would have stopped hitting me with her whip."

"Could she have been injured if you had done that?"

"Yes. She is old. She could have fallen against one of the buggies and hit her head or one of the horses could have stepped on her."

"What did you do?"

"I called for my white father and brothers."

"That was exactly what you should have done. The woman's actions were wrong but you did the right thing. It takes courage to not injure someone to keep yourself from getting hurt. The woman is old. If she had fallen and hit her head or if one of the horses had stepped on her, she could have been seriously hurt or killed. You see children, being brave doesn't mean that you are not afraid. Being brave means that you don't run away when you are afraid. Now, I want to see how well Wild Cat can track. Swift Rabbit, go and hide somewhere. We will follow in ten minutes."

The boy ran off and the others followed ten minutes later. Cat tried tracking the boy as best she could. She followed his footprints and looked for signs of where he had gone. When she lost the footprints, she had trouble finding any signs of Swift Rabbit. She looked at Deep Water Running for help. "Go back and look for small signs," he said. "Look for things that look different than they should." Cat and the other children walked back to where they last saw the boy's footprints. Cat noticed the tip of a low tree branch was broken and some of the other children noticed where someone had recently walked on the nearby grass. It took another fifteen minutes of searching but they eventually found Swift Rabbit hiding in the branches of a small tree. When he came down, all of the children had a good laugh. Then Deep Water Running said, "When you are tracking an animal or a person, do not forget to look for small signs. You will not always see footprints, but if you look for things that are not as they should be, you will be successful. Now I want Wild Cat to hide and the rest of you to find her. Because she is not allowed to run, we will give her twenty minutes to find a place to hide."

Cat walked off and her puppies followed. After a few minutes, she stopped and picked her puppies up, wincing because the action hurt her injured rib. After walking around some trees several times and walking backwards over her footprints, she stopped, put her puppies under a large bush and climbed in after them. The other children walked by about five minutes later. They were confused by the fact that the indentations in the grass went around the trees and stopped. They looked for broken branches and other clues that showed which way Cat had gone but couldn't find any. Deep Water Running chuckled to himself as he knew exactly where Cat and her puppies were. The children searched for another fifteen minutes when Deep Water Running said, "Wild Cat, your white family will want to go home soon. You need to come out from under the bush." Cat and her puppies crawled out from under the bush and the other children were amazed. They asked what she had done and she told them. "The Apaches taught you well," praised the brave. "We will teach you more when you spend time here. Now, I believe that your white family wants to return home so you need to go with them."

The group walked to Silver Hawk's teepee where Ben, Adam, Hoss, and Joe were saying goodbye. Ben looked at Cat and asked, "Catherine, did you do any running while you were with the other children?"

"I'm not going to tell you."

Ben's eyebrows went up. "Why not?"

"Because if I say yes, you'll be mad at me and if I say no, the other children will think I'm not brave."

Ben was about to scold her when Deep Water Running caught his eye and shook his head no. "Well then, I guess I'll just have to tickle you to get you to tell me the truth." Ben started tickling his daughter who finally admitted that she had not been running.

"Children, do you think Wild Cat is a coward now?" asked Deep Water Running.

"No," replied one of the older boys. "Nobody could resist torture like that. I do not even think that the greatest chiefs that ever lived could resist torture like that." Everyone laughed at the boy's pronouncement.

"It's time for us to go home," said Ben. "Say goodbye to everybody and get your horse. We'll come back later in the week." Cat reluctantly did as she was told. After they left the village, Ben said, "Ok Cat, let's see what you remember from the ride up here. Tell us how to get home. Everytime Cat said to make a turn, Ben would ask, "Why do you think we need to turn here?" When Cat pointed out a particularly large tree, Ben said, "That's very good, but how will you know you need to turn here if we have a very bad storm and it blows the tree down?" Then he pointed out a rock formation she could use as a landmark instead. Once they reached the house, Ben said, "You did a very good job remembering how to get back home and I am very proud of you. You only forgot two turns. Remember to use things for landmarks that won't change, such as rock formations. You can also use bodies of water like Lake Tahoe or rivers and streams. Although rivers and streams may occasionally dry up or change course, as long as you can see where they used to be, you will be fine. Now let's get these horses put up and go eat supper."

The family walked their horses into the barn and Adam said, "Cat, I'll unsaddle Beauty and Sport. You can take their bridles off, put them away, and give the horses their grain. I'll brush both horses and give them their hay. If it doesn't hurt your rib, you can clean Beauty's feet. If it hurts your rib, tell us & one of us will finish doing it for you."

After Adam unsaddled the two horses, Cat took their bridles off and put them away. Then she gave each horse his grain and tried to clean Beauty's feet. Her rib was hurting but she was determined to finish the job when Joe noticed her struggling and said, "Come out of there, give me that hoof pick and go wash up for supper." He gave her a swat as she walked by and said, "You were supposed to tell us when your rib was hurting. Doing things that make it hurt will keep it from healing."

Cat went into the bath house and washed up. Then she walked into the house and Ben said, "Are all of the horses bedded down for the night?"

"No. Joe got mad at me because I was cleaning Beauty's feet and my dumb rib was hurting so he swatted me and told me to wash up and come in the house."

"Haven't you been paying attention to what we have been telling you ever since we left Dr. Martin's office? If you do things to make your rib hurt, it will take longer to heal. Now go, stand in the corner until supper and think about what we have been telling you." He turned her around and gave her a hard swat before sending her over to the corner by the fireplace.

Hop Sing came out of the kitchen, looked at Cat standing in the corner, guessed what had happened and said, "Supper leady in fifteen minutes. After supper Hop Sing fix hot bath for Missy Cat rib and put ointment on cuts."

"Thank you Hop Sing. I appreciate you taking care of Catherine like that."

"No problem. Hop Sing doctor sons when they get hurt and doctor Missy Cat too. What she do? Something to hult rib?"

"Yes. She insisted on cleaning her horse's feet even though it was hurting her rib. Joe had to make her stop and he swatted her before sending her into the house. I gave her a hard swat too before sending her to the corner."

Hop Sing began scolding Cat. "Missy Cat you no do things to make rib hult. You do, Hop Sing use wooden spoon and make you bottom hult!"

Cat sighed. She was tired of being scolded just because almost everything she tried to do made her rib hurt. Since there was nothing she could do to keep her family from scolding her, she started trying to figure out how to get even with Mrs. Warren for hurting her. She couldn't use her bow and arrows because Pa would know it was her and she would be in a whole lot of trouble. Cat decided that she needed some help from Mike Devlin. She wasn't allowed to go to town by herself but he was. Cat figured if she could get over to the Devlin's and talk to Mike, once he knew what happened, maybe he and some of his friends could get revenge for her.

Hop Sing started bringing the food to the table a little while later. Joe walked up to Cat, gave one of her braids a playful tug and said, "Come on Squirt. Supper's ready."

Cat looked at him and said, "I'm mad at you. You got me in trouble."

Her brothers and father laughed at her. "You got yourself into trouble sis," said Adam. "Ever since we left Paul's office, we've been telling you that if you're doing something that makes your rib hurt, you need to stop doing it. So you've got nobody but yourself to blame for getting into trouble."

"It's still Joe's fault. If he didn't tell me to go in the house, Pa wouldn't have asked if the horses were bedded down and I wouldn't have had to tell him that Joe was mad at me because my rib was hurting."

Her family laughed at her and Ben said, "Alright. You need to eat. When supper is over, Hop Sing is going to fix a hot bath so you can soak that rib for a little while. He's also going to doctor your cuts."

"I'm mad at Mrs. Warren for hurting me. I'm going to get even with her as soon as I can."

"No Catherine. That is not the right way to handle the problem."

"I don't care. She hurt me and tried to hurt my puppies so I'm going to get even with her."

"What are you going to do?" asked Joe.

"I'm going to write to Pete and Mike. They'll help me figure out what to do. Maybe they'll even come here and help me."

Cat's brothers and Hop Sing could not contain their laughter. "I'll tell you what," said Hoss. "Ifn Pete and Mike do come here by theirselves, I'll help you plan your revenge."

"Hoss," scolded Ben. "You're not helping matters."

"I'm sorry Pa, but ifn their parents let two nine year old boys travel from Dodge ta Virginia City alone, Cat will deserve her revenge."

"If your friends are allowed to come here from Dodge by themselves, I'll help also," said Joe.

"So will I," said Adam to everyone's surprise.

"Hop Sing will help too."

Ben sighed. "The four of you are impossible and you're not setting a very good example for Catherine."

"I hope Mamma and Mr. Tanner will let Pete and Mike come here. It would be lots of fun. Maybe I'll write to them too and tell them to let my friends come here. John or Robert could bring them."

"Right now, you need to finish eating," Ben said sternly. "You need to soak that rib and Hop Sing needs to doctor your cuts before bed. Now, enough talk about getting even, finish your supper, and let Hop Sing take care of your rib and cuts. If you continue with this nonsense instead of eating your food, you will spend tomorrow in the house." Cat said nothing but she glared at Ben. She didn't think her talk of revenge against Mrs. Warren was nonsense and his comments made her even more determined to exact her revenge, even if others had to do it for her. When she finished eating, Ben said, "Help Hop Sing clear the table, get your night clothes, soak that rib and go to bed."

Hop Sing interrupted him. "Missy Cat stay there. Hop Sing clear table and bring dessert."

"Catherine isn't getting any dessert tonight. I am very upset about this talk of revenge. She needs to learn that we do not talk about taking revenge on others who have harmed us."

"Missy Cat do nothing wrong! If you no let her have dessert, Hop Sing go back to China and take Missy Cat with him!"

Ben just sighed. He knew that Hop Sing would make good on his threat to leave and he didn't want to lose his daughter and the best cook in the territory. "Alright, she can have dessert but I do not want to hear any more of this foolish talk about revenge. The law will take care of Mrs. Warren." Once Cat had finished her dessert and gone upstairs to get her night clothes, Ben looked at his sons and said, "I am very disappointed in the three of you encouraging your sister's talk of taking revenge on Mrs. Warren. Joseph, it hasn't been that many years since you and I had a necessary discussion about that same subject."

"Pa," said Adam. "You know as well as the three of us do that the odds of John and Elizabeth allowing their nine year old sons to travel across the country by themselves for any reason, especially to help Cat take revenge on Mrs. Warren, are absolutely zero. They need John Jr. to help on the farm and Robert is only fifteen. From what I know of the Tanners, the only way the twins will be coming out here is if they are accompanied by their parents. Since school in Dodge will be starting soon, I don't anticipate seeing any of the Tanners until Cat goes to Dodge next summer."

"The difference between me and Cat," said Joe "Is that I did get my revenge. I was fourteen and didn't talk about taking revenge, I just did it. And I would do it again despite the consequences."

Cat came downstairs, ignored her father and went out to the bath house with Hop Sing. After she soaked her injured rib for fifteen minutes, Hop Sing told her to get out of the tub, put her night clothes on, and go upstairs so he could doctor her cuts. She walked through the great room, ignored Ben, hugged Adam and Hoss goodnight and walked upstairs to her bedroom. Hop Sing followed her, examined her cuts and put his ointment on them and said "Hop Sing put more ointment on cuts and wrap rib in molning before bleakfast. Go downstails now and tell Little Joe to come up." He hugged her goodnight and walked downstairs.

Joe walked into Cat's room a few minutes later and they read a chapter in King Arthur. When they finished, Joe hugged his sister goodnight and started to walk out of her room. "Joe, please blow out the lamp before you go."

"Don't you want to say goodnight to Pa?"

"No. I'm mad at him."

Joe laughed. "He's not going to be happy about that. I'll blow out your lamp, but expect him to come up and say goodnight anyway."

"I don't care. He can come up but I'm not talking to him."

Joe laughed again. "You sound like me when I was nine and angry at Pa. I didn't win then and you won't either. Good luck sis. You'll need it in this battle because Pa doesn't like to lose." He blew out her lamp, closed her door and went back downstairs. He didn't say anything to Ben when he started up the stairs to say goodnight to Cat. Joe looked at his brothers and said, "This should be interesting. Little sister is angry at Pa and has no intentions of saying goodnight to him."

Hoss and Adam laughed. "Yeah," said Hoss. "I remember how well that went over when you were nine."

"Oh?" asked Adam. "What happened?"

"You were still away at school. Pa scolded Joe 'cause he thought he'd done something he hadn't. Joe got all mad at Pa and wouldn't speak to him, even at supper and wouldn't say goodnight to him when he came upstairs to say goodnight to us. Well, ya know that Pa don't like to lose a battle with any of us, so he tickled Joe until Joe talked to him."

"I wish I had been here for that," laughed Adam.

"Well, you're here for it now. I'm shore it's gonna be the same with Cat as it was with Joe."

Ben walked upstairs and saw Cat's closed bedroom door. He had a feeling he knew what was happening and his suspicions were confirmed when he opened the door and saw that the lamp was out. Cat was snuggled down under her blankets and pretended to be asleep when Ben opened the door. "I've come to say goodnight Sweetheart," he said. Cat ignored him. He lit the lamp, sat down on the bed, and said, "You are allowed to be angry at me, but you are not allowed to ignore me." Cat said nothing and kept her eyes closed. "I've been through this before and you aren't going to win. Ask Joseph. He tried the same thing when he was your age and I won the contest. Now tell me why you are angry at me." Cat ignored him. Ben moved Silver Chief over next to Lassie and started pulling the covers off of Cat who still ignored him. "You need to talk to me Catherine. Why are you angry at me?" Cat still kept her eyes closed and didn't say anything. Ben rolled her over, sat her up and pulled her into his lap. "Come on Cat. You need to talk to me. I won't let you go to sleep until you do. Cat got down from Ben's lap and tried to get under the bed. Ben sighed, picked her up, put her back in his lap and began to tickle her. "Now are you going to tell me why you are angry at me?"

He kept tickling her until she yelled, "STOP IT! I'M MAD AT YOU! GO AWAY AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"

Her brothers were listening at the bottom of the stairs and started laughing. "I gotta hand it to her. She lasted three minutes longer than you did little brother," laughed Hoss.

"Now will you tell me why you are angry with me?" asked Ben.

"No!"

"Well then, I'm just going to have to tickle you some more."

Ben tickled Cat until she said. "Alright, I'll tell you. Then go away and leave me alone. I'm still mad at you."

Ben laughed. "Why are you angry at me?"

"Because you said I was dumb to want to get even with Mrs. Warren."

"I'm sorry you feel that way but you misunderstood what I said. I would never, ever say you were dumb. I said that talking about getting revenge on someone who hurt you was foolish. Taking revenge on someone who hurt you can get you into a lot of trouble. Ask Joe. Someone did something to hurt him when he was fourteen. He got his revenge on that person and hurt them so I used the big strap in the barn on his bare bottom."

"If that person hurt Joe first, he was right to hurt them and you shouldn't have punished him."

"Hurting someone else is never right, even if that person hurt you first."

"That's dumb. When Mark Nelson pushed me down the stairs at school, I pounded the stuffing out of him even though he was bigger and weighed more than me. Miss Jackson didn't punish me and neither did Uncle Matt. Miss Jackson used the rod on him and his uncle gave him a whipping. He never tried to hurt me again."

Ben sighed. "You should not have hit Mark. You should have let Miss Jackson and his uncle deal with him. I do not want you fighting or taking revenge on someone who has hurt you. If someone tries to hurt you, you can stop them but I do not want you getting into fights and I especially do not want you starting fights. We'll talk more about this tomorrow. Right now, you had better put your moccasins on, use the outhouse, and go back to bed."

Cat put her moccasins on and walked downstairs with her puppies. "Where ya goin' Punkin;?" asked Hoss.

"I'm going to the outhouse. Pa cheats!"

Her brothers laughed. "I told you that Pa would win," said Joe. "He doesn't like losing that particular battle. If it makes you feel better, Hoss said you lasted three minutes more than I did when I was nine."

Adam picked Cat up, stood her on his chair and said, "Climb on my back & I'll give you a ride. I can't run with you tonight because of your rib so you'll have to settle for walking."

"Can't everyone just forget about my dumb ol' rib?"

"Sorry Kitten," came Ben's voice from the stairs. "We can't forget about your rib because we want it to heal, so no running until the doctor says otherwise."

Cat sighed. "It's not fair. I don't want to walk everywhere. I want to run and gallop my horse."

"Give it time Sweetheart. It was just injured today. Dr. Martin will be out here on Wednesday to look at it. If you do what you're supposed to, that rib will be healed in no time at all and you'll be able to run and gallop your horse. You just need to be patient. Now, you had better let Adam take you to the outhouse so you can go back to bed."

After Adam got Cat back in bed, he walked downstairs and sat down in his chair. "I thought the three of you were going to take your sister out to her parents' graves today," said Ben.

"We had planned on it but after what happened to her, Paul said to wait for a while because she had been through enough trauma for one day," replied Adam.

"I see. So when are you planning to take her there?"

"I don't know for certain. Paul wants her injuries completely healed first."

"Poor kid," said Hoss. "I'd shore love to give that Mrs. Warren a large piece of my mind. She had no call to do that to Cat."

"Yeah," said Joe. "You're not the only one Hoss. I'd like to tell her a thing or two myself. Maybe we'll get lucky and the judge will send her to prison for a while. That'll teach her to abuse little kids like that."

"Mrs. Warren is older than I am," said Ben. "She wouldn't survive in prison very long, so I seriously doubt that the judge will send her there. We'll just have to wait and see what the outcome of the trial is."

The four of them talked for a while then Adam, Hoss, and Joe went upstairs while Ben went over to his desk and started writing in his journal. Cat's brothers no sooner reached the top of the stairs when they heard Cat cry out in the beginning of a nightmare. Joe yelled for Ben as the three of them raced to Cat's room. They sat with her until the nightmare passed. Adam pulled her into his lap and all three of her brothers hugged her. "Put her pillow and blanket on my bed and put her in it when you bring her back from the outhouse," said Ben.

"No! I want to go in Adam's bed."

"I think little sister's still mad at ya," laughed Hoss.

Ben sighed. "Yes, it does seem that way, doesn't it. Go ahead and put her in your bed Adam. There's no sense in upsetting her even more."

While Adam took Cat to the outhouse, Hoss and Joe put her pillow and favorite blanket on Adam's bed. He brought her back upstairs and put her and her puppies in his bed. Then he got his night clothes and said, "I'm going to go and change in your room. I'll be back in just a few minutes then I'll blow out the lamp and we can get some sleep." Once Adam was in bed, he hugged Cat who snuggled up next to him and fell into a deep sleep. The next morning, Adam got dressed in Cat's room and then decided to wake his sister up. "Come on Squirt. You've got to get up so Hop Sing can take care of your cuts and rib before breakfast."

"Go 'way. I want to sleep more."

Adam tickled her. "Sorry Squirt but Hop Sing needs to make breakfast but he has to take care of your cuts and rib first. The rest of us don't want to wait half the day for you to get out of bed so we can have breakfast. Now, if you don't get up, I am going to keep tickling you until you will get out of bed in a big hurry."

"That's not fair. You cheat just like Pa does."

"Who do you think I learned it from? Now, are you going to get up or do I have to keep tickling you?"

"I'm going back to sleep. I'll get up later." Cat pulled the covers up and rolled over. Adam laughed, pulled the covers down and tickled her until she said, "Alright, you win. I'm getting up. I have to use the outhouse in a hurry."

"Sorry Squirt. It was your decision. I know you're in a hurry, but remember, you're not allowed to run."

"I don't care. I'm in a hurry and I'm going to run."

"Why do you always insist on doing things the hard way? I swear, you are too much like Joe." He picked Cat up, put her over his shoulder, carried her downstairs and outside to the outhouse. Hoss, Joe, and Ben looked at the pair coming down the stairs and laughed at the sight.

"Why are you carrying your sister like that?" asked Ben.

"She didn't want to get out of bed and I had to tickle her to get her up. Now she needs to use the outhouse in a hurry and said she was going to run there even though she's not supposed to run."

Adam carried Cat outside where they saw Pete on his way back to the bunkhouse. "'Morning Adam. What are you planning to do with that wild thing you caught?"

"I'm taking her to the outhouse and then I might just throw her in the trough to wake her up. Sleepyhead didn't want to get out of bed this morning."

"I don't blame her. I'd like to be able to sleep in too. What happened to her? How did she get all of those cuts?"

"Let me get her to the outhouse and then I'll tell you. You can tell the others so I don't have to answer the same question a dozen or more times."

Adam told Pete what Mrs. Warren had done to Cat and he was outraged. "I'd like to be on that jury and I'm sure that almost every hand on this ranch would be too."

"So would my brothers and I, however, Sheriff Coffee isn't likely to ask any of us to be on it."

"It's a shame, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, but Mrs. Warren wouldn't get a fair trial." Just then Cat left the outhouse and started to run past her brother who picked her up, put her back across his shoulder and gave her a swat. "Oh, by the way, this one isn't supposed to be running until after the doctor checks her on Wednesday. If you or any of the hands see her running, please bring her to one of us and we'll deal with the problem."

"Sure Adam, we can do that."

"Thanks Pete. Well, I'd better get this one back into the house so Hop Sing can doctor her cuts and wrap her rib. I know that Pa's going to want to know about her running when she's not supposed to." Adam took Cat back into the house where Hop Sing was waiting for her. Once he doctored her cuts and wrapped her rib he told her to come and help make the flapjacks for breakfast and he would teach her how to cook bacon.

Cat got dressed, went downstairs and walked past Ben who said, "Adam tells me you were running when you left the outhouse. Is that true?"

"Yes. It's dumb having to walk everywhere so I'm not going to."

Ben sighed. "You are too much like your youngest brother. Go, help Hop Sing and we are going to have a little talk this morning. Cat made the flapjacks and watched Hop Sing make the bacon.

During breakfast, Cat asked, "Can I go and play with Mike Devlin?"

"You may go over to the Devlin ranch, however since I cannot trust you not to gallop your horse, someone needs to go with you."

Cat sighed. "Will you go with me Joe?"

"No," said Ben. "Joseph is still restricted to the ranch for another two weeks."

"Will you go with me Hoss?"

"Sorry Punkin'. I've got a lot of work to do."

Cat got angry. "That'd not fair! Joe can't go, Hoss is busy and Adam doesn't like Mitch, so he won't take me. I'm not going to stay here by myself all day because you won't let me do anything because it might hurt my rib. I don't care if I hurt my rib. It's boring here by myself. I'm going to play with Mike and then I'm going back to Dodge so I can play and have fun with kids my age!"

Ben sighed. He knew Cat would saddle her horse, ride to the Devlin's by herself, and was determined enough to try and reach Dodge on her own despite the dangers of being on the trail alone. "Alright, Joe can go with you but he's got to get some work done first and you and I need to have a talk about you running when you're not supposed to until Dr. Martin says you can. Now finish your breakfast or you won't be going anywhere today."