5
Ben rode Buck out of town, and Hoss rode Chub, leading Sport on a short rope. Coffey drove the buggy and Ben stuck close to it, monitoring his son. Adam looked to be asleep but Ben caught a wince every time the buggy jolted, and had to bite his lip to keep from snapping at Roy to drive easy.
Ben couldn't shake the edginess. It had followed him from the explosion, into the cramped quarters of the doctor's office, and now hung behind him like a spectre as they traveled. It whispered at him that they were being watched. It drew shadows on the boulders and the draws that looked like armed men, or ham-handed giants, ready to pounce. At least once he had looked over his shoulder, catching Hoss in his peripheral and nearly pulling a gun on him before he realized it was his own son.
An hour into their ride, Ben had Coffey pull the buggy off the road and into a copse of trees. He gave the excuse that Buck had picked up a rock, and surely Adam needed a rest from all the bouncing around. No one argued with him and Ben fiddled with Buck's hooves for as long as he could, watching their back trail, the horizon line, and the road ahead.
By the time he finished, Roy was sitting in the buggy with his arms crossed, the reins tucked into one of his elbows, looking perturbed.
"Is there somethin' you need to tell me, Ben?" Roy asked.
Ben looked at his old friend, nervously resituating his hat on his head before he stepped into the saddle. "Just taking care of my animal, Roy." Ben said.
Roy shook his head and directed the horse back onto the road. Ben took his position by the buggy and Hoss once more took up the rear. Ben had started to chide himself for being foolish, coming up with an explanation for his churlish behavior and preparing a swift, but poignant apology, when his paranoia appeared to have paid off. A rider swung in behind them as they crossed onto Ponderosa land.
When Ben looked back to squint at the horse, Hoss looked back as well, telegraphing to the rider that he had been seen. The man and the horse turned off a few minutes later, making the spot between Ben's shoulder blades itch.
"We have company, Roy." Ben said, keeping his voice even and low.
Roy didn't so much as blink. He slapped the reins over the horse's back and said, "My rifle is under the blanket with Adam."
"I've got my rifle and pistol. Adam's pistol is wrapped around the pommel here. And Hoss should have both." Ben said, scanning the sides of the trail and the land beyond it while trying to move his head as little as possible.
"Supposing this company is foe, and not friend, was it the little feller or the big one?" Roy asked.
"Little." Ben said. "Supposing it is foe, and supposing it's the devil we know."
Ben heard metal clacking on metal and looked down to Adam. Stretched across the seat the way he was Adam had the freedom to cock the rifle under the blanket. Ben caught his boy's eyes and knew he was ready.
"Up ahead the road narrows, and drops down on both sides. We'll get a good glimpse of the country, but we'll have to go single file." Ben said. "Let me get ahead of you."
Roy called a soft command to the horse and it slowed. Ben kicked Buck into a trot and skipped out ahead of the buggy, then kicked him into a gallop and charged out into the narrow, swinging his head left and right. He caught sight of the rider on the flatlands below to the east of the road, riding at a hard run, focused on the ground. Ben turned and gestured toward the rider before he charged down the road.
"You look after Adam." Hoss called, hooking around the buggy once the road widened, dropping Sport's reins into Adam's outstretched hand as he went.
Roy heard Adam cluck softly to the horse behind him and he reached back and snatched the reins from the man's hand. "Oh no, you don't, Adam Cartwright. The lickin' your pa would give me would put me in my grave."
Ben waved Hoss ahead of him, then took a deer trail off the road that would cut down the hillside and into the meadow. Hoss nodded to him before he disappeared, understanding the move Ben wanted to make. He rode ahead for a quarter mile before the road turned, and then split. Hoss took the road they had cut to the east pastures, hunched low over the pommel, pushing Chub fast down the familiar path.
This would put Ben directly behind the rider, and Hoss about even with him. When the trees and hillside dropped away Hoss could see the horse and rider off to his left, riding flat out in the hot sunlight, free of the rough country full of chuck holes that usually only held cattle. There was no way Ben would catch up with him, but Hoss had a good chance.
He spurred Chub on with his voice and his heels, cutting the distance between himself and the rider into yards, then feet. Hoss pulled his gun and shot high and to the right, letting the rider know he was there. The horse turned hard to get away from the sound, unseating the rider, who tumbled out of the saddle into the path of Hoss' mount.
Chub had never been a jumper, but he jumped with all his might at the sight of an obstacle in the road. Hoss had never ridden a jumper and the move tossed him out of the saddle, too. The only difference was that he'd practiced riding a bronc most of his life and he knew how to land. Hoss hit the ground, rolled and popped up on one knee, checking over his shoulder to make sure Chub kept his legs under him. Gun pointed, Hoss pushed to his feet, eyes on the rider who lay motionless in the road.
The wind blew past him, bringing dust from his father's approaching horse, and taking the hat off the rider's head. Hoss spotted hair as light as the color of ripe wheat, piled in a bun under where the hat had been, and holstered his gun. He ran to the body, turned it over gently and swore under his breath. He put his fingers under her nose, felt warm air hitting his skin, and gently pushed the hair back from her forehead. His fingertips found a lump on the back of her head, but no blood. She looked like she'd been riding for hours, and the horse that was stumbling to a stop out in the pasture, didn't look any better.
Ben pulled Buck to a skidding stop and stared down at the woman in the road.
"Did she fire on you?" He asked.
"Nah...I shot in the air to scare him...her into stopping. The horse turned and dumped her outta the saddle. Pa, this is Sarah Tungsten." Hoss said.
"What in tarnation is she doing out here? And following us?"
"I don't know but it can't be a social visit."
A soft moan drew Hoss' attention back down and he spoke gently to the blonde woman, cautioning her against moving too much. As she came around she hissed and winced, her hand going to the back of her head. Both her arms seemed to move ok, and then her legs. She took a moment to recognize Hoss, but when she did a strange series of emotions played across her face. At first she was afraid, then ashamed, then tears were rolling down her face and she lunged into Hoss' arms, sobbing.
"It's alright, it's alright." Hoss said, bewildered, getting his arms under the girl's back and knees and lifting her. She clung to him, her tears soaking into his shirt. "She's terrified, Pa." Hoss said.
Ben looked out to the pasture, then back to his son. "I'll get Roy down here, then go after that horse. Be careful with her."
Hoss nodded, moving out of the sun and into the shade of the trees that grew across the hillside. He set her down, there in the shade and gently stroked Sarah's blonde hair until the tears calmed, but her fingers never did let loose of his shirt.
"I didn't think I'd make it." She said. "I just...I never thought I'd make it. Surely I wouldn't make it." She said, over and over.
"Make it...here? To the Ponderosa?"
"They're in trouble, Hoss. Terrible, awful trouble. We tried to fight them. We tried…" Sarah broke off and began sobbing again and Hoss shushed her gently. He heard the creak and rattle of the buggy coming down the road and lifted Sarah again.
When Roy stopped the buggy Hoss put her in the back seat with Adam. It took prying one hand away, then turning Sarah's face toward his brother, to convince her to let him loose. Sarah began crying all over again at the sight of Adam's face, but he pulled her against his chest anyway and she crumbled. Hoss settled the blanket over them both, and moved the horses out of the way so that Roy could turn the buggy.
The rest of the trip to the house was covered at twice the speed as before. The buggy arrived first in the dooryard with Hoss close behind. He stepped down from the saddle and went to the buggy, gently collecting Sarah in his arms and starting for the house. Roy leaned toward Adam to help him, but Adam waved him off.
"I can make it on my own. Go help Hoss."
Roy made sure the brake was set and trotted after the middle Cartwright boy. Adam realized he had overexaggerated his independence the moment he tried to stand in the buggy. Instead he slid off the seat and then onto the ground like a kid on a playground slide before collecting the rifle and the blanket from the rig. He used the support of the buggy to get up to the still tethered horse, released the brake, then used the horse to get to the porch.
He felt almighty clever about himself until he encountered the problem of stepping up onto the porch and found he couldn't do it. He glanced up at his father riding into the door yard with Sarah Tungsten's animal behind him.
"Is she alright?" Ben called.
"I don't know. They just took her in there and...uh."
Ben stepped down from the saddle and tied the horses to the post with slip knots.
"I'm stuck." Adam admitted.
Confused Ben stared at Adam for a long moment before he understood the problem and couldn't resist the gentle laugh at his son's expense. He trotted to where Adam stood and got under his arm, helping him the rest of the way into the house.
Inside Sarah had been laid out on the settee. Joe stood leaning over the back of the settee and when Ben got close enough he could see that Joe was holding her hand. Hoss came out of the kitchen with a chunk of ice that he had chipped off the block in the small cold cellar under the kitchen, and wrapped in a thick towel. Ben guided Adam into the chair closest to the stairs, got a nod from Hoss, then went back out to take care of the horses.
"You boys got this?" Roy asked.
"We got it." Hoss said.
"I'll go out and he'p your pa."
"What happened to Adam...what? Who did that?" Sarah was asking.
"I'm going to be fine, Sarah, it's alright." Adam said, sliding from the chair to the coffee table with what energy he had left.
"He did that...didn't he? That awful, big brute. He hurt you…" She said, crying again. "They bragged about it. They were so proud of how they had hurt the Cartwrights, and blown up the town."
Hoss, Joe and Adam caught on quickly and Joe limped out the door, calling for Ben.
"Earnest..the man in the orange brocade vest…" Adam said, gesturing at his chest.
"They rode in late last night. They barged into the house, shooting. My sisters were screaming, and my mother…" Sarah shook her head, unable to speak past the fear closing her throat. "I was in the guest house. It's the only reason I escaped. I snuck to the barn and saddled my horse. I rode..as far as I could. I tried to find this place. I've...I've never been here and I knew I couldn't go into town."
Ben and Roy rushed into the house and the patriarch leaned over the back of the settee, gently taking Sarah's hands.
"Miss Tungsten...Sarah."
It took a moment for her eyes to focus on him, and when they did, Ben saw despair in them. "Topaz and Earnest. They're at your ranch?"
More tears rolled down her cheeks and she nodded.
"Was anyone else with them?" Ben asked.
"No...no." She whispered.
"They'll be alright. We'll take care of it. I promise you." Ben said, gently cupping her cheek and waiting for her eyes to meet his. He held them and nodded his head to her. "They'll be alright." He said again. "You boys stay here with Sarah. You aren't to leave this house until I return. Understood?"
"Pa you can't be serious-"
"You can't go out there alone-"
"Pa, you need someone to back you up-"
"Boys!" Ben's voice easily barked over the three of them, bringing a deathly silence to the room. "I don't want you hurt...anymore." Ben said, through gritted teeth. "Roy and I are going to ride into town. We're going to wire Reno and get a posse of good fighting men and then we are going to end this, once and for all. And if you boys set one foot off the Ponderosa…" Ben didn't finish the sentence, begging silently that he wouldn't have to.
"Be careful." Adam said, finally.
Ben nodded to his sons, then guided Roy out the door, closing it behind him.
Joe straightened and walked to the high window behind Ben's desk, watching his father and the sheriff mount up and ride off. When they were gone he paced back into the middle of the room and asked, "Now, what do we do?"
"They're headed off to war." Adam said. "We do what they do on the homefront."
"Keep the fires burnin'." Hoss said. "And get the bandages ready."
The ride into town was a blur for Ben who couldn't remember the last time he'd slept. When they arrived in Virginia City it took Ben less time to round up a posse of angry, armed and ready fighting men, than it took for Roy to get the wire sent off, and get his guns. Before they left town Roy weeded out the hot heads and the men he couldn't trust in a gunfight, then swore in the rest.
They headed out of town loaded down with bare-bones supplies, bone tired men, and a boneheaded plan. Roy knew that even if the wire he sent didn't reach the sheriff for an hour, the men from Reno would beat them to the Tungsten place. He'd made it clear that they would work together, and no action was to be taken until Roy and his group arrived. He wanted no slipups, and he wanted the two men taken alive if at all possible.
He said much the same to his own crew even before they left Virginia City, reminding them that as sworn deputies, any action they took against his orders was punishable by law, regardless of the outcome.
The last of the heat of the day was beginning to die when they reached the ranch. Half a mile down the ranch road they met up with Deputy Sheriff Vince and a small posse of ten men. It took ten minutes for them to sketch out a rough map of the ranch, and ten more minutes for Vince, Coffey and Cartwright to come up with a plan. Their twenty minutes of planning was all they dare spare. The men split up once they understood the plan, riding in wide archs to surround the house before they would leave their horses ground tied and approach the rest of the way on foot. Vince and Coffey stayed on the camp road half a mile from one another, watching as much of the well worn path as they could see, with rifles trained.
Ben was in charge of the rest of the posse. They used the shadows and the blind spots to get close to the building. The curtains were drawn over the windows, but a fire burned inside and there was smoke coming out of the stack that smelled of recently cooked food. Ben could hear horses in the barn.
He nodded his head to the men surrounding the guest house. They entered the small building as quietly as they could, clearing it quickly before nodding back. Next was the barn. Ben and four other men entered the large building from both ends, clearing it as well. That left the main house and the bathhouse. Before they could check the latter Ben noticed a curtain flickering on the second floor. He spotted the muzzle of the gun seconds before it fired and dove for the ground.
The shot missed him by inches.
"Upstairs!" He shouted. "Move in! Watch your shots!"
The men moved. They yipped and hollered. They poured their anger, frustration and fear into their attack and they swarmed the house, tearing into every room, up the stairs and into the bedrooms. Topaz was a big man but he didn't stand a chance. He took three bullets before he dropped his gun.
Ben's goal was different. He knew the tendencies of Earnest and his dislike for dealing with hostages. He circled the house until he spotted the entrance to the cold cellar. It had been bolted, and the doors were covered with the husk of an old cook stove. Ben levered a board under one of the broken feet of the stove and heaved, unbalancing the iron oven and knocking it from the cellar hatch. He yanked the bolt free, then pulled the doors open and found the prize he was looking for.
Jenny Tungsten was the first to escape their dungeon and she threw her arms around Ben, kissing him. Together they pulled Mrs. Tungsten from the cellar, then young Becky who promptly fainted. "Where's Sarah?" Mrs. Tungsten demanded, her eyes fearful.
"She's safe. She's at the Ponderosa, with my boys." Ben said. Some of the other men joined him, those that weren't busy trying to tie up and subdue Topaz, and carried Becky into the house while Ben and Jenny guided Mrs. Tungsten.
Ben asked about the other hands, the cook and the gardeners. Mrs. Tungsten began to tear up, causing Ben to fear for the lives of the young ladies. When the matron of the house shook her head and started to laugh, he frowned, confused. "Please...they, they have the nights off. They all live in Reno. I'm...you startled me by remembering them, Mr. Cartwright."
Ben wasn't sure what to do with that, but he chuckled a bit and thanked the woman.
"What about Earnest?" He asked.
He got only blank looks from the ladies. When Roy rode in from the road Ben asked him the same question. "Nobody passed us, Ben. If he made it out, he didn't go by the ranch road."
"I'll take the men out and look for tracks." Ben said, standing.
"If he's using one of our horses, and he most likely is, you won't be able to tell one track from another." Mrs. Tungsten said. "And he made it very clear last night that he had only one goal."
Ben instantly didn't like the look she was training on him.
"To get as many men as he could pay, and kill you and your sons."
"Roy.."
"Go, Ben, go! We'll be right behind ya."
Adam was in his room, struggling to stay awake in the chair by his bed when he heard Sport whicker in the barn. He'd kept the lantern low, against the headache that Topaz had been good enough to give him, but snuffed it at the sound. From the chair he could see out the window, and he let his eyes adjust to the gloom of dusk watching the shadows and listening hard.
One of the men wore spurs. Another had chaps on.
Adam grabbed his loaded rifle from the bed and was crouching by the window when he heard the eaves on the north corner of the house bow under the weight of a man trying to get on the roof. That made at least three men. When he spotted two more crossing in front of the tree line across the dooryard, and spotted another ducking into the barn his heart began to race.
His brothers were down in the main room. Sarah was down in the guest room off the kitchen. It was only the three of them, and Hop Sing. Adam had no way of warning them without giving away his position. What he did have was a rifle, a six-shooter and more than ample ammunition. They hadn't been planning on a siege, but at the moment Adam was relatively well prepared for one.
Adam listened to the boots on the roof, knowing that his brothers had to have heard them from below. He heard the man grunting softly, testing each of the windows. When the man spotted Adam's window he hastened his steps and Adam took advantage. He aimed the butt of his rifle at the man's knees once he was close enough and the gunman screamed, then fell off the roof.
Adam ducked back out of the way and listened to the confusion on the ground. The voices outside went from hasty shouts to hushed rasps. Adam clearly heard the words, "Move in."
"They're comin' in!" Adam shouted as loud as he could manage and the shooting began. Adam pegged one man still dumb enough to be astride a horse then moved from his window. He got to the door and had to rest before going down the hall to Joe's room and resting again. From his new vantage point he could see the man who had climbed into the loft. He eased Joe's window open and sent three shots toward the loft door. He heard a shout but didn't stick around to see the damage, pressing down the hall again to Hoss' room.
This time the bedroom was already occupied. The man with the high wire act had had an accomplice who was in the process of climbing in the window when Adam turned into the room. They stared at each other for a split second before Adam dove to the side and pulled his pistol. The other man cleared leather at the same time but he didn't have the sense to duck. Adam's shot spun him around and back through the window.
Adam went through the painful process of picking himself up off the floor and helped the gunman the rest of the way off the roof. He landed with a thud and someone shouted about a gun on the second floor. Adam ducked out of Hoss' room and went to Ben's room last. This room had two windows and occupied a corner. Only one side of that corner had a porch roof under the window. Adam went there, scanning the dooryard for bodies, either laying down or standing and shooting. When he didn't spot any he went back out into the hallway.
Underneath him he'd heard shouts and shots echoing through the house. He could hear Sarah screaming on occasion. Short, terrified yelps that sounded after a shot came too close. As the men outside found better cover, the shooting had died down. Adam ducked back into Ben's room and leaned against the wall at an angle that would let him look down the length of the porch roof.
He reloaded his six-shooter, then his rifle, then jumped when he saw that his hand was covered in blood. It took him a moment to remember the knife wound in his shoulder. It had opened at some point and bled and Adam rolled his eyes at himself, which hurt the swollen eye and made his head pound all the more. All thanks to Topaz. And this latest fiasco he could only assume was further abuse from Topaz and Earnest. The reminder raised his blood pressure, encouraging him to do stupid things and take dumb chances.
He held off, just barely.
"All I want is Ben and Adam Cartwright." A voice shouted. "The rest of you will live if you turn them two loose."
Adam wanted to roll his eyes again but he didn't. He couldn't tell where Earnest was standing, apart from somewhere in front of the house. He was surprised that he couldn't see Topaz, but counted his blessings.
While they waited Adam heard the porch roof creak again and spotted the figure climbing up over the far edge. Adam hunkered down behind the wall, aimed his rifle and took in a deep breath before holding it. He squeezed the trigger and watched the man jolt, flinging his arms out wide and windmilling them before falling off the roof. Adam hit the floor a second later as his father's bedroom was pelted with bullets. When the shooting stopped Adam was covered in down, glass and droplets of kerosene, but whole.
"Adam!"
The dive to the floor hadn't done any favors for his ribs or his shoulder. Adam tried pushing up to his knees, and when that failed he rolled carefully onto his back and pushed up with his elbows, gently brushing glass off as he went.
"You like high places, don't you, Adam? I'll bet that's you up there."
Adam grabbed his rifle and tried to get to his knees. A piece of glass bit into the skin below his kneecap and he stifled what should have been a shout, shifting so that he could lift the offended joint. He plucked the shard out of his jeans, then used the wall to make his feet and crept out of the room as stealthily as a wounded man could manage.
In the hallway he knocked the rest of the glass from his hair, heading for the stairs. Before turning the corner he called quietly down to his brothers.
"Adam?"
"I'm comin' down." He whispered back, and used the banister to get to the ground floor. Below him he found just as many bullet holes and just as much broken glass. Joe was at the window over Ben's desk and Adam figured Hoss was in the kitchen with Hop Sing. He spotted Sarah crouching behind the overturned coffee table with the fireplace to her back. It was the safest place she could be.
Joe backed away from the window and dug his hand into the box of shells on the card table by the stairs.
Adam plucked at the line of blood on top of Joe's right shoulder and looked over the cut that sent blood down the side of his brother's face.
"Hoss in the kitchen?"
Joe nodded, loading his rifle. "We got maybe ten of 'em at the start. I counted as many more still standing, but they're out behind the water troughs and the wood pile. There might be one more in the barn." Joe's eyes traveled to the blood on Adam's shoulder. "You get hit again?"
"No, I'm fine-"
"Adam Cartwright."
Both Joe and Adam snapped their heads to the window over Ben's desk. The outside was no longer dimly lit. A bright hot fire was dancing in the dooryard, the light refracted by the glass.
"I will blow this entire ranch to kindling if you don't come out and face me." Earnest screamed, standing only twenty feet back from a crate that he had stuffed with hay and lit on fire. The crate was empty, but for the hay, but Earnest was holding a small glass jug, stoppered with a cork.
Joe snapped the gun to his shoulder, but Adam stopped him.
"I shoot that jug and he's the one that blows up, Adam. Not us."
"What's in that jug will do plenty of damage to the house. It could bring the roof down on us. Collapse the barn on the horses. Just..hold off." Adam set the rifle and his gun down by Joe and moved to the door, trying to minimize the limp, straighten his back a little, look less like he'd taken the beating of his life less than twenty-four hours ago. He heard his brother whispering his name behind him but Adam ignored it, opening the door to the house and stepping out onto the porch.
He held his hands out away from his body, not able to lift them over his shoulders. Earnest grinned behind the dancing flames and laughed triumphantly.
"Sorry, Earnest. I don't seem to get the joke." Adam said, trying to sound bored and unimpressed.
Earnest stepped forward, uncorked the bottle, and poured water over the fire in the crate, putting it out.
"Do you get it now?" Earnest asked, slamming the bottle down and shattering it in the coals of the fire.
"My father's not here. You only get me." Adam said, staying where he was. Earnest kept his eyes on the windows, and Adam was gratified to see him checking the second story as well as the first.
"I get you. I get your brother, Joe." Earnest said, pointing over Adam's shoulder at the narrow window.
"And I bet Hoss is someplace around here. I get him."
"And we get Topaz." Adam said, letting a smug grin take over. It broke open the scab on his lip, but he didn't care. The look of surprise that Earnest couldn't control made it worth it.
The look turned into a snarling smile and Earnest laughed. "Oh ho ho. Tricky, tricky. Adam Cartwright. There's that sneaky Cartwright way. Your pa rolled into my camp, while I rolled into his."
Earnest sighed and pulled his sixshooter, leveling it at Adam's belly. "Won't he be surprised when he gets home."
Earnest's eyes danced to the side, then up, then back to Adam. "I got my brand new gun aimed at your brother's belly button. And my finger has the trigger half-pulled. That means any shot at all will get Adam Cartwright gut shot, dying slow and painful." Earnest's volume dropped a little when he ordered. "Throw out your guns."
"Don't do it!" Adam shouted.
"Throw out your guns!" Earnest countered.
"I'd rather he shoot me!"
"Happy to oblige." Earnest said, and he pulled the trigger.
Three gunshots followed the sound of his one. Earnest was hit in the back first and he pitched forward before he was shot in the left side, twisting him around. The final shot took him in the gut, and he bent at the waist, backed up two steps, then fell down dead in the dirt of the dooryard.
Adam took two steps back until his calves hit the edge of the porch and he sat down hard, staring down at the shocking lack of holes in his person. Adam was gasping like he had run a marathon, and his ribs ached miserably, competing with his shoulder and his head, but he was not newly perforated by the bullet of a madman.
Three men ran from the house, the kitchen and the tree line, guns trained on the hired toughs who were more than ready to give up, each reaching Adam at the same time, and coming to the same conclusion.
"I thought sure you were dead, Adam." Hoss said, looking his brother over from head to toe.
"There's no way he missed!" Joe said. "I-I heard his gun go off!"
"I'm..I'm fine." Adam said, equally as stunned.
Ben Cartwright was the last to join them and he lit the lantern hanging on the porch before bringing it over to his children, looking them all over carefully.
"He had you dead to rights, Adam." Ben said, kneeling in front of his eldest. "What happened?"
"I don't...I don't know."
"I do." Sarah Tungsten said, her face marred with disgust as she came limping out onto the porch. Both Hoss and Joe went to her, guiding her to a chair. "That ain't his gun he's got. Was my Pa's. Was the worst gun ever made. Never once shot straight. When Pa died, we put it over the fireplace. Reminded us of him. Made us remember him with a smile." Sarah's face twisted into a sort of smile. "Guess Pa did you a big favor, Mr. Cartwright."