8
They boarded the train early the following morning. Their arrival in Reno went unheralded and the family quietly boarded the stage that afternoon, riding to Virginia City. There Ben picked up their horses from the livery and they rode into the late night hours to get back to the Ponderosa.
Hop Sing had left cold sandwiches, cookies and coffee to be reheated. While Ben prepared the late night supper for his family, his boys lugged luggage into the house. They prepared Elizabeth for bed and brought her to the kitchen where Ben exchanged a warm baby for hot coffee and took her upstairs for their bedtime routine.
Ben sang her to sleep, forgoing the usual bedtime story. He checked that her windows were shut and locked and closed the bedroom door softly. The security of the well built walls fell around his shoulders like a favorite robe and he found himself relaxing a little.
He joined his sons in the kitchen and they ate and talked for a short while before Hoss, then Adam, then Little Joe, headed for bed. It was two in the morning by the time Ben changed into his night clothes and went down to the main room to check that the door was locked. All of the hands were quiet in the bunkhouse, and he knew Hop Sing was fast asleep in his own room off the kitchen.
His mind began to flip through the list of things he had to do in the morning. A comfortable list that didn't involve making sure his children hadn't just been kidnapped by mad men. That night he went to bed counting chores, instead of sheep.
He woke with the first crow of the cock, before the light of dawn had filtered into his room. Below he could smell coffee and breakfast already on the stove. Ben went to check on Elizabeth before he dressed, sitting in her room, by her crib, wrapped in his robe, watching her sleep.
He'd done this with each of his boys when they were young. It was usually a time that he dedicated to thinking about their mothers, but Elizabeth was unique. Ben hadn't known her mother, beyond what she had done to save Adam's life. The woman he had known had been nothing more than a body, protecting her child even in death.
The day he'd found Elizabeth seemed like less than a week ago, yet a year and 6 months had passed. Ben knew the next 17 years would go just as quickly, and that was why he took this moment in the morning to enjoy the peace. To force into his head as many memories of his children as he could, hoping they would stay, and the less pleasant memories would be forgotten.
Ben was joined by Adam after a time. Adam stood in the doorway, half-dressed, planning a trip into Virginia City to send a telegram to San Francisco, letting Sarah know they'd arrived home safely. He also had to mail his final grades to his students, and would stay in town most of the day, working on that and the statement the San Francisco police had asked for. Ben bid Adam goodbye, and minutes later he was sitting with Hoss, both watching Elizabeth sleep. Hoss went down for breakfast and Joe was the last to come in, dressed and ready to start the morning's work before he ate.
Elizabeth woke and Ben got her dressed. He ate breakfast with two of his three sons, and his daughter, and the day began. It was sunny and warm, there was a pleasant breeze. He was at home on his own land, comfortable in his work clothes, watching Elizabeth pet the growing chicks and talk to the horses.
It was a good day. Followed by more good days. Ben mailed his statement to the San Francisco Police Department and a response came via telegraph that the statement had been recieved a week later.
As they headed towards summer and the myriad of tasks that the ranch required, Ben spent more time on the range with Elizabeth in the care of Hop Sing. Each departure involved screaming fits and tears, and each return was as if Elizabeth hadn't seen him in days. Elizabeth threw fits from time to time, whether Ben was there or not. Throwing food, refusing to eat, refusing to go to bed. Her favorite word became "no" and Ben was as fierce a disciplinarian with his daughter as he had been with his sons. He was pleased to see at least Adam and Hoss putting their feet down from time to time. Joe was a soft hand, and tended to give in to Elizabeth, or distract her rather than resort to discipline when she was unhappy.
The improvements that had been made to the land over the past two years had made more of Ben's land available for raising stock than ever before. As a result he had a bigger, healthier herd than he had had in years. A great deal of that herd could be taken to San Francisco, Reno, or any other railhead for sale, but Ben hesitated to find a buyer. He didn't want a trail drive, yet, and instead focused on building the herd of horses on his ranch. His sons spent hours of each day busting new horses, training them to the bridle and saddle, and training a handful of new ranch hands on riding, roping and branding.
Ben's hesitation to send a drive out during the summer proved wise when the providence of beef and green grass caused the market prices to tank towards the start of June. Ben could afford to let his herd grow and fatten, especially with no new purchases on the horizon. He won an army contract for seventy horses, and could devote the attention of most of his hands to that task, rather than being short handed with his men scattered across the territory. When a timber contract came through two weeks into the first month of the summer, Ben knew he'd made the right choice.
He spent a day touring the timber he planned to cut, and was in Carson City the next day, signing the contract. With income enough to see the Ponderosa through the winter, Ben delivered the gladdest of news to his sons and hands. No cattle drive this summer. A small one in the fall, perhaps, but none of them would be astride horses chasing ornery cows through deserts until the leaves began to change. The happiest of all parties was Hop Sing, who had run out of cousins who needed his help in San Francisco.
The night after he made the announcement, the summer church social was held at the main house of the Ponderosa. Colorful lanterns were hung and lit, the spit was set out with an entire side of beef lathered in marinade. The town council had provided a fireworks display and a surprise guest made the festivities all the more enjoyable.
Sarah Vince had arrived in Reno a week before and arrived unannounced, smiling brilliantly when she snuck up behind Adam. Ben watched Adam turn, pull Sarah into his arms, then swing her around joyfully. Sarah seemed at once content in Adam's arms, and Ben caught some jealous glances from other girls who had had their eye on the eldest Cartwright boy.
Sarah's mother and sisters joined them as well and Ben happily led Rachel Tungsten around the dooryard and main room of his home, introducing her to anyone she didn't already know. Her ranch, now housing the biggest creamery in the territory, was fairly well known, and Ben found his neighbors were happy to put a face to the name.
The fireworks display was the highpoint of the evening, and even though Ben had men standing by with barrels and buckets full of water, there were no mishaps. He stood in the dooryard with Elizabeth in his arms, watching the bright colors explode against the dusky sky. The band they had hired played patriotic hymns, showing no allegiance to the Union or the Confederacy of old, but joyfully playing any tune they could manage to match the artistic display above them.
Elizabeth seemed unfazed by the explosions and would clap her hands together when the others did, or reach toward the lights, trying to capture them in her hands. She had started to recognize and name colors and Ben would guide her. He grinned at each, "Boo, wed, and ornge."
Most of his guests helped to clean up the dooryard, happily taking leftover food and beef with them, and leaving the Ponderosa relatively as they had found it. His family went to bed, exhausted but happy. The hands quieted down in the bunkhouse, content to be doing the least onerous of chores for the next few months.
Ben was sure to count his blessings before he finally went to bed.
He woke a few hours later to a sky that shouldn't have been so bright, and shouts. The bunkhouse was on fire. Ben and his boys scrambled out of the house, reaching for buckets and blankets, working with the ranch hands to put out the blaze. Adam went to the barn to release the horses, in case the fire should spread, and Ben sent Hop Sing to get Elizabeth out of the house.
Even while they were fighting the flames Ben heard his hands shouting that there were men trapped inside, already unconscious because of the smoke. Ben ran for the wood pile, grabbed the axe and busted the windows out, drawing flames toward the new source of oxygen, but releasing gouts of smoke at the same time. Adam and Joe, and two of his top hands, pushed the glass in on the window that was the farthest from the fire and leapt inside to drag out the unconscious men.
The wind was up and the fire spread briefly to the barn wall before Ben had it soaked with water. The walls of the bunkhouse, farthest from the main house, had fallen in, and the roof sagged onto the ruins before the flames were completely doused. All of them were choking on the smoke, covered in soot and wet with mud and water by the time the sun came up. Ben sent his hands and sons in to eat breakfast, starting to shift through the debris and pour water on even the faintest glow of embers. When he found the broken mouth of a bottle, stuffed with a rag and smelling of kerosene, he left the remains of the bunkhouse and dressed hurriedly.
Ben rode into town to report the arsen and returned with Sheriff Coffey and two of his deputies. They looked over the bunk house and out around it for tracks. Ben let the sheriff and his men handle tracking down the arsonist and set his own men to working in shifts, clearing the debris. He had the men tally the personal items that had been destroyed and sent Adam and Joe into town for new lumber, and a list of items to replace.
Roy Coffey returned that evening to tell him that they had caught the arsonists. "They was boys, Ben. Just a couple of local kids. Two of 'em ain't got but one parent, and each of those parents said the same thing. That their boys were gone most of the day, off playing soldier, and usually come home at night tuckered out."
"Playing soldier?" Ben asked.
Roy nodded and shrugged. "The boys wear army kepis and yellah scarves around their necks. Some of 'em sewed scraps of cloth on their sleeves for rank. I got the two kids that started the fire locked up in the jail, and they been talking plenty. They say their colonel told 'em to set fire to the bunkhouse. And that they was supposed to stay and watch what went down after, and then report."
Ben was silent for a long time. "Did they report?"
"I didn't think to ask 'em that, but I will, soon as I get back. Unless…"
Ben looked around him, then shook his head. "No, Roy...I...don't think it would be wise to leave the Ponderosa at the moment. Thank you."
That night, and for a week after, Ben had his men and boys guarding the main house, barn and bunkhouse. The purpose in setting fire to one of Ben's main buildings seemed to have been to test his security and the response time to an emergency. It was a military tactic, often used by the natives when they were approaching a settlement or wagon train. They would hang at the periphery, or send in a flaming arrow, testing their enemy and seeing what they would do.
The more cautious the war chief, the more times the enemy was put to the test before the main attack.
His men caught two more boys a few nights after the fire, trying to rob the hen house. The next morning Ben rode south across his land and found a small camp of canvas tents. The three boys camping there were local, and they bore the small yellow decorations to their clothes that Roy had talked about. Ben escorted them off of his land, jotting down their names.
That evening a boy rode up to the main house and asked for food, water and shelter, claiming that he had been kidnapped. Ben took the boy into Virginia City, putting him up for the night in the boarding house. The next morning the boy was gone.
The next day, some of his ranch hands were riding north and they spotted several poached deer carcasses. Adam and Hoss spent the night out on the range, and that evening they spotted fires dotting the woods around the clearing. When they investigated each, they found pairs of boys camping. Each boy was questioned, told to pack their tents and equipment, and ridden into Washoe, Virginia City, and Carson City respectfully the following morning.
Ben had begun felling and transporting timber with Joe, Hoss was looking to the branding on the northernmost edge of the Ponderosa and Adam was touring possible sites for a girls school in Carson City, when the attack on the main house came.
When Ben returned that afternoon he found the main house empty, lunch burned to a crisp on the stove, Hop Sing, Elizabeth and Charlie Black gone, and evidence of a gun fight littering his dooryard.
He followed the tracks until he found his foreman, shot twice, and barely conscious, lying on the side of the road.
Ben was returning with Charlie Black slung over his saddle when Joe joined him at the house. Ben couldn't have stopped Joe if he'd tried using buckshot. The minute Joe heard that Elizabeth was gone he took off down the road on Cochise, and Ben was left to get his foreman into the bedroom in the bunkhouse, and treat his wounds.
When Charlie came around he explained through moans of pain that it was a group of boys that had taken Elizabeth and Hop Sing. But they had an older man with them. A man in a cavalry uniform that the boys called colonel. They had said they were heading to the lake and Ben could only assume they meant Lake Tahoe.
"The camp at the lake, Ben. That's all I heard." Charlie whispered.
Ben got the man as stable as he could manage before he hooked up a buckboard, loaded Charlie into the bed and drove him to Virginia City. With men sent out to tell Hoss and Adam where they were going, Ben, Roy and a posse of men from Virginia City headed for the Ponderosa to track down the kidnappers.
The tracks turned west toward the mountains and away from the lake. Yet another ruse on the part of the man leading an army of boys. Ben and Roy spotted Cochise' distinct hoof marks among the others. They encountered Adam heading west and north, and he joined their posse. When they rested, close to supper time, they could see Hoss behind them, running Chub to catch up. They were well into the mountains by the time they stopped for the night.
They set up a guard, went without a fire, and ate cold jerky and drank water, quietly watching the mountain side for signs of a camp. The next morning the well marked trail split three ways. Adam took two men with him and headed south, while Ben, Roy and one of the posse members continued west. Hoss traveled north with the final two members of the posse.
Adam's group traveled for an hour before they encountered a trap on the trail. Adam had been riding between a man who helped run one of the livery stables in town, and a man who repaired guns. The liveryman, named Red for his vibrant red hair, had managed to walk his horse over the tripline just as Adam noticed it. Adam stopped Sport and tried to back the horse away from the trip line, but Sport's whicker, drew Red's attention. Red spun his horse, a hoof stepped down on the line and the trap was sprung.
The rope had been strung in the narrow path between two boulders that defined the walls of the deer trail. Perched above those boulders were piles of stone that came cascading down to fill the gap. Red was tossed from his horse, but Adam clung to Sport's back, weathering when the animal reared up, and managing to turn the horse back away from the rock fall. The gunsmith behind him, a man named Smith, backed his horse out of range and the two picked their way down, then back up again, urging the horses up a steep draw until they could get back to the trail.
Red wasn't moving. His horse was limping, and had edged further up the trail, nibbling at bits of grass. When Adam checked on Red he found that the man's neck was broken. Red had died almost instantly. Adam told Smith that Red was dead, then asked the man to bring Red's horse around. From where it stood in the patch of grass to where Adam squatted over Red's body, the horse's limp managed to worsen to the point where Adam knew the animal wouldn't make it back down the mountain. Adam took the saddle, blankets and canteen from Red's animal and used Red's rifle to put the animal out of it's misery. As they loaded Red's body across the back of Smith's saddle, Adam added two deaths to the list of crimes these teenaged army brats had caused. The trail they had been following continued south for half a mile before turning west, then north again. Adam sent Smith back to town with Red's body, and carried on ahead, going back north, his eyes glued to the ground.
Ben and Roy worked with Cass, one of many mercantile owners that called Virginia City home, cutting west across the mountains. Their trail meandered, frequently cutting back and turning a new way when the riders discovered that the most often used trail was blocked or washed out. When Ben found a full diaper sitting by the side of the trail he was convinced that Elizabeth, and the majority of the strength of the group had gone due west. They slowed their pace, endeavoring to cross as much ground as possible, while remaining silent. Ben kept his eyes on the heights, and Roy on the trail behind them, expecting to turn any corner and find the group camped out.
They smelled no woodsmoke or black powder, and heard no wails of a child, nor shouts from an angry chinaman. When they heard a rider approaching from the south, Ben, Roy and Cass pulled their horses off the trail, and brandished their rifles, ready for anything. When Adam came around the side of a boulder, eyes on the trail, head calculating the number of hoof prints, versus the number of riders he'd been following, Ben shouted his son's name.
Adam's head popped up and he squinted into the darkness behind their shelter. Ben, Cass and Roy came out of hiding, leading their animals. When Adam related the trap that had been set, and that one of the posse was dead, Roy bristled angrilly. He immediately thought of Red's wife and two children, of the business he was building, and how none of that mattered anymore with the man dead. Dead doing his duty as a townsman, caught in a trap set by kids not old enough to vote yet.
"I ought'a be there when Smith brings Red in." Roy said, his horse dancing under him as if the animal was as distraught as its rider. "I ought'a be there to give them some sorta explanation."
"If you deputize us, Roy, we can carry on without ya." Cass said, at once sounding entirely too eager to be his own law. Roy gave Ben a questioning look, then shook his head. "Let's find these kids."
Together Ben, Adam, Roy and Cass returned to the trail. It was after noon when they found Cochise. The animal was standing by the side of the trail. A rope had been tied around the pommel of the saddle, disappearing into the brushy crags between boulders. When Ben stepped down and tried to loosen the rope he found that he recognized the knots. He tried to follow the rope through the bushes but the brush was too thick. When he went around the boulder and brush, edging down a narrow, rocky foot trail he found the other end of the rope, tangled in some branches, and frayed at the end. Below him was a fifty foot, near 90 degree decline.
"Joe!? Joseph?" Ben shouted, his voice quaking, his body sending him back to that moment on the cold dark pier, desperately calling for another of his sons.
He got no answer, and heard Roy, Cass and Adam calling for him to return. Ben scrambled back up to the boulder, squeezed through the space between the rocks and stumbled back onto the trail to find Adam kneeling a hundred feet away with Joe in his arms. His boy looked like he'd been stuffed into a barrel, filled with rocks and blades, and tossed down a waterfall. He was covered in cuts and bruises, missing one boot and his hat.
Adam had splashed water over Joe's face, then spilled it over his lips, bringing his youngest brother around before letting him sip from the canteen. Ben watched Joe's belly, the flat planes of flesh moving like bellows, desperately fighting the confusion of pain, panic and terror. He knelt on the other side of his son, shielding Joe's face from the sun, waiting for Joe to meet his eyes.
"The colonel...he said...said to tell you...don't…" Joe's eyes closed, and his face wrinkled, and the pain took over for a moment. "Don't...try to come after her. He'll kill ya, pa. He said he'll kill you."
"Who? Who is this man? This colonel?"
Joe's left hand came up, curling around the cloth at the V in Adam's shirt. "Woodman...Adam. It's...Colonel Woodman. From...from Fort Bidwell."
Adam's eyes met Ben's, then he looked to Cass and Roy, realizing that he was likely the only one to recognize the name. "Colonel Woodman..is Elizabeth's father."