Chapter 9

Face moaned as he woke the next day. His arms and shoulders hurt from all of the push-ups Hannibal had made him do the night before.

"What up, kid? Sore?" Asked Hannibal.

Face glared at him. "What do you think, Hannibal," he replied sarcastically.

"I think that if you don't use the attitude, you will be doing ten more before we leave today," replied Hannibal sternly.

Face nodded, "I'm sorry, Hannibal, but I hurt!" replied Face quietly.

"I know you do, kid. But think of it as a learning experience, of not scaring your family again. Come on; I bet Mama B has some salve that will help those sore muscles," Hannibal replied and he helped his son up.

"What's wrong with, little brother?" Asked BA as he walked by.

"He's sore. Would you take him to your mother? Maybe between the two of you, he can get some relief," hinting to BA to massage the boy's shoulders and arms.

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"Where is your buddy, Face?" Asked Wooster to Barney as he joined them for the supper meal. "I haven't seen him all day."

"He's with his family. He's too sore from doing push-ups as punishment for taking off without telling anybody," replied Barney.

"Push-ups? What's that?" Asked Wooster as he ladled a spoonful of stew onto Barney's plate.

"Some type of exercise, I think. Anyhow he had to do over twenty-five last night, and the muscles in his shoulders and arm are sore, is what he told me."

"Here, I'll show you," volunteered Coop as he quickly got in position on the ground a did one.

"That doesn't seem so hard," Barney said, watching closely.

"Why don't you see if you can do one," challenged Bill.

"Okay, I will," Barney replied as he set his plate down and did one without any difficulty.

"Nothing to it. I wonder why Face is so sore?" he mused.

"Maybe the answer is in how many he did. Why don't you see how many you do before you have to stop," suggested Coop.

Barney nodded and started with Coop counting the completion of each push-up. When Barney got to ten, he began to feel a burn in his shoulders, and at fifteen, he was feeling discomfort. He barely made it to twenty before he came to a complete stop. He had to be pulled to his feet and walked to the nearest wagon wheel to sit before Wooster gave him back his plate. It was a few more minutes before he got his breath back.

"Do you understand now why your friend is sore? And don't forget he did ten more than you and is younger than you, too," explained Coop as he began to massage his shoulders.

Chris came by about then and casually asked. "What's wrong with Barney?"

"He discovered that Face's punishment was harsher than he thought by experiencing it himself," explained Bill.

Chris just nodded and ate his supper.

Back at the Smith wagons, supper had just been finished when Hannibal addressed his youngest. "Okay, kid, drop and give me twenty-five push-ups!"

"I'm still sore from last night. I've learned my lesson; I won't go anyplace without first telling someone," whined Face.

Hannibal looked at him thoughtfully before asking. "Are you telling me that if Dandy is stolen again, you won't go after him?"

Face's expression told Hannibal everything he needed to know. "Drop and give me twenty-five push-ups, and don't forget to count them off!"

Face reluctantly got in position and started, "sir, one, sir...sir, two, sir...sir...three, sir." Face kept it up until he got to "sir...twenty, sir..." when he collapsed on the ground, unable to complete his punishment.

"Come on, son...that's enough for tonight," and pulled him to his feet, where he landed him to his big brother, BA, who helped him into his mother's wagon.

"So that is a push-up," remarked Chris Hale as he entered their encampment. He had wandered up while Face was just finishing his punishment.

"Yep, with the kid, I find that physical activity makes a good punishment. When he was my drummer boy and got into mischief, I would order him to do push-ups, and afterward, he was too tired to do anything except sleep. Of course, I could only punish him when we were on leave; it would be too dangerous for him to be too tired in the middle of a battle."

"I might incorporate your system on Barney. He wanted to know about push-ups, so Coop showed him and suggested that he do as many as he could for a further understanding of why Face was so sore," explained Chris with a smirk.

"How many did he do?"

"Twenty! And he might be too sore to do his chores tomorrow."

"I'll send Murdock over with some of Mrs. B's salve. Just rub it onto Barney's shoulders and arms, and he should feel better tomorrow."

The last night of Face's punishment came after an uneventful day, and after supper, Face got into position without comment when Hannibal said.

"Face?"

"I don't think I can say that I wouldn't do the same thing with Dandy was stolen, but I will try my best to leave some type of message so you will at least know," replied the kid.

Hannibal thought his answer over, noting at the same time that he was willing to complete his punishment, and said. "Okay, I can accept that, but I mean it when I said earlier that if you do anything like this again without leaving us some sort of message, I will tan your hide and up the push-ups to thirty!"

"Yes, sir. Do I have to finish my push-ups tonight?"

"No, you are off the hook!" declared Hannibal and watched with a smile as his son jumped up with glee.