LOST AND FOUND - PART IV
THE PLAN
Chapter 33
After escorting Dora, Cassie, and Marie on the train to San Francisco Ben, Hoss, and Joe had not been to visit Adam and his family for a few weeks. Responsibilities on the ranch now that spring was coming soon had kept them extremely busy, so they were hurrying to complete their errands in order to have their afternoon free for a long visit. Since it was Saturday, Adam should be home.
Having finished first, Ben was standing outside the feed store when he opened his new pocket watch and saw it was almost eleven o'clock. He looked around and saw Joe coming down the board sidewalk and Hoss coming directly toward him from across the street. But when Hoss was walking past the wagon he stopped and stared at something on the seat.
Joe had reached his father by that time and the two hurried over.
A folded piece of paper with a rock weighing it down sat on the wagon seat. The three men glanced at each other, puzzled as Hoss picked up the smooth rock. Then they could see the name "Adam Cartwright" written on the outside of the paper.
Ben shook his head as he picked up the note. "Well," he said, "seemingly someone knew we'd be seeing your brother today."
Hoss nodded and climbed up on the seat and picked up the reins as his father and brother climbed up on the other side.
"Are you going to open it?" Joe asked.
"Of course not," Ben answered then turned to Hoss. "Do you still have the rock?"
"Yep."
"Good, I'm sure Adam will want to see that too."
Hoss nodded as he quickly backed the wagon out and headed down the main street toward Adam's house.
When they pulled up in front, the door opened and Thea came out on the porch. She was practically dancing with excitement.
"Thank God you're back!" she called out to them.
Hoss was the first up the steps and she threw her arms around him and hugged him as hard as she could. Then she stepped back, but kept her hands on his shoulders.
"You've got to help me," she said then looked at Ben and Joe to include them, "Adam has been home for the last week and he's driving me insane!"
The three men laughed and she grumbled, "Oh sure, you can laugh, you don't have to live with him anymore."
"Why has he been home?" her father-in-law asked.
"The idiot fell off the roof and fractured his ankle. I've been keeping him home so he'll at least stay off of it some of the time."
Hoss and Joe restrained themselves, but were still highly amused as Ben looked at her with sympathy.
"Come on in, maybe you can help distract him for a while. You will be staying for lunch, won't you? Please?" she begged.
"Of course," Ben was saying as they followed her through the front door, then he stopped and looked around in surprise.
The hall HAD been in the shape of a "T" but the arms of what would be the cross bar had been closed off and each new wall had a door set in the center. Both doors were closed, but the one to what had been the downstairs bedroom stood open and they could see a small wooden gate blocking the bottom half of the door.
Thea saw their surprised expressions and smiled, "We had the rest of the work we wanted done finished while you were gone," she explained as they heard the babble of children's voices coming from the open door.
"We joined the hall space and the downstairs bedroom to make one large room. We call it the Baby Corral now," she said as they moved down the hall. She motioned for them to go in as she kept going and went through the open kitchen door.
The three men stood looking in the doorway and recognized the furniture as being from Adam's office in San Francisco. The man in question was sitting sideways in a leather armchair near the door with both of his legs draped over the arm. He was writing on a pad of paper, but looked quickly up when they appeared in the doorway.
"Gentlemen!" he spoke loudly over the din of children's voices, "welcome to the Cartwright Asylum!" and then grinned at their expressions. He swung his legs down and came over to the door to open the gate.
"Come in quick or one of them will escape," he said as all three babies started crawling toward them at top speed, followed by the twins, who were herding them toward their grandfather and uncles.
Matthew had just made it to the gate as Adam closed it, then looked down at him. "Ha! You didn't make it this time," he said as he picked the baby up, kissed him on the forehead, and handed him to Joe.
The child looked up at his uncle and scrunched his face up, preparing to start screaming. Adam put a finger to his son's lips and said a firm, "NO." His little face immediately cleared and he opened his beautiful hazel eyes wide as he said, "Pa!" then reached up to grab his uncle's bottom lip. Joe gently removed his lip from the baby's grasp then grinned down at his nephew and namesake as he carefully moved across the room to the sofa and sat down.
The twins had rushed up to their grandfather and each now had their arms wrapped around one of his legs as they looked up at him and laughed. All three babies laughed when they laughed and stopped when they stopped.
"It's like a Greek chorus in here," Adam said as he went back to his chair and swung his legs up again. He shook his head as Benjamin quickly crawled behind his chair.
Ben had crouched down to talk to the twins while Thomas crawled up to Hoss and sat in front of him. The baby started tipping his head back, looking up his uncle's tall form and promptly fell backward, without having even seen Hoss's face yet. His gurgling laughter made the other's start and when Hoss went down on one knee to pick him up he started saying "Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Adam looked up at his brother holding the small child in his huge arms and explained. "He's not really laughing now, Hoss, he's trying to say your name."
As though agreeing with his father the baby poked Hoss's nose with a finger and said "Ha!" again. The big man smiled and the child grinned up at him, showing the beginnings of one tiny tooth as Hoss moved to the sofa and sat down on the other end from Joe. He put the child in his lap facing him and holding him upright with one hand, he gently touched one finger to his tiny nose and said, "Thomas." The baby looked up at him with round eyes for a moment then clapped his hands together while burbling, "Ta! Ta! Ta!"
Everyone laughed then, including the twins, who were crowded into their grandfather's lap. Ben was sitting directly across from Adam in his favorite leather chair.
"So," Ben said to his eldest son, "I hear you fell off the roof."
Adam shook his head, "Yes, and it looks like no one is ever going to let me forget it."
"What were you doin' up there anyway?" Hoss asked.
"Getting a cat out of the chimney."
Joe and Hoss stared at him in disbelief while his father said, "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
Adam sighed then and continued his explanation, "Technically, it was a kitten and when I finally pulled it out the damn thing attacked me! It's hard to keep your balance with a cat attached to your face."
He shook his head again as his father and brothers chuckled. "Tell me," he said, changing the subject, "Did Thea say I'm driving her crazy?"
The other men nodded and Adam said, "Good. She'll think twice now about playing her 'Doctor' card and insisting I stay home. I've been doing it on purpose. Actually I've been having a good time taking care of the kids, but don't tell Thea that." He grinned wickedly at them as they laughed at his expression.
"What was that? I heard my name," she called down the hall.
"I'm telling them about being under house arrest," Adam yelled back.
"Yes and may the good Lord help me!" she answered.
"I love you too, dear," he bellowed and they could faintly hear her make a rude razzing noise from the kitchen.
"Very funny!" Adam shouted back then smiled a satisfied smile as he winked at his father and brothers.
"When do you get paroled?" Joe asked.
"Don't ask me, you'll have to ask the warden. Doesn't matter though, I'm going over the fence at midnight," his brother replied making everyone laugh again.
Thomas turned around in Hoss's lap and began to clap his hands again, saying "Ba! Ba!"
Balor came out from the corner where he had been lying, walked up to the baby, and poked him in the belly with his nose. Thomas patted him on the head, hard, but the dog didn't even flinch. He just endured the baby's blows until he stopped, gave one of his tiny hands a lick then lay down on the floor beside Hoss's end of the sofa.
Ben shook his head, amazed by the dog's patience and how much the babies had grown. "Aren't they trying to talk a little early?" he asked Adam.
"Not really, six months isn't that unusual. But what Benjamin can do is," his eldest son answered then shouted, "Benjamin!" The authority in his voice made his father jump.
Adam chuckled, "Sorry Pa, I didn't mean to startle you."
His father just gave him a dark look as Benjamin crawled out from behind his father's chair. Adam swung his legs down again and leaned over the arm to pick him up then stood to walk slowly over to Joe.
Holding the child with one arm he put a hand on Matthew's head and said, "Name?"
"Matthew," Benjamin said clearly as the other three men looked at the child, startled.
Passing by Thomas, Adam moved over to his father and put a hand on his eldest son's head. "Name?"
"Alexander," was the easily understood response. Adam moved his hand over to his daughter's head. "Annalise," the baby piped without being asked and he smiled sweetly up at his father.
Adam put a hand on his own chest and said, "Name?"
"Adam," the baby said and chuckled, liking this game.
Joe opened his mouth to say something but Adam held up his hand, "Wait, it gets better," he said as he put his hand on Annalise's head again. But this time he asked, "Who?"
"Sister!" Benjamin said with enthusiasm then responded "Brother!" when asked who Alexander was.
Adam put his hand on his own chest again and asked "Who?"
"Pa!" the boy yelled at the top of his voice as his grandfather and uncles stared at him disbelief.
"One more," Adam said putting his hand on Thomas's head this time and asking "Name?"
The baby looked at his brother for a moment, then giggled saying, "GOOBER!"
The three men were startled by his response then they all started to laugh, including the baby Benjamin.
Adam went back to his chair, walking with a slight limp now, and settled the baby in his lap. "We have no idea where he got that one, but he'll say that even if you ask him 'Who?'" He shook his head and looked down into Benjamin's bright, black eyes. "You're going to have to stop that son, I don't want your brother to be called 'Goober' for the rest of his life."
The baby looked up at his father then gave him a naughty little grin and said, "Thomas!" then waved his little arms around and laughed while looking at his brother still in Hoss's lap.
When the laughter died down he squirmed around until Adam set him down on the floor. Benjamin murmured, "thomas, thomas, thomas," to himself as he quickly crawled behind his father's chair again.
"Everyone usually thinks Matthew is the smartest one, but that's because Benjamin doesn't talk in front of strangers." Adam said as they saw his face tighten a little from pain and he swung his legs up over the arm of the chair again.
"Just how bad IS your ankle?" Joe asked, concerned for his brother, but looking down at Matthew who had fallen asleep in his arms.
"Not too bad, it's not actually a break just a small fracture so it should heal quickly."
"Good," his father said, "because we have a feeling something is going to happen soon. We found a note with your name written on the outside sitting on the seat when we came back to the wagon this morning." He took the note out of his vest pocket and handed it to Annalise who hopped down, took it over to her father, and then scampered back to settle herself in her grandfather's lap again.
"It was bein' held down by this rock," Hoss added and tossed it to his brother who caught it without even looking in Hoss's direction. His attention was completely focused on the note.
Hoss's mouth dropped open then he asked, "How'd you do that?"
"I have excellent peripheral vision," Adam said distractedly as he unfolded the paper and looked at it narrowly for a moment. Then he turned the rock in his hands a few times. Nodding his head, he turned back to the note and began to read it.
When he was finished he put them both on a table next to his chair and looked at his father. "You're right, Pa, something is definitely going to happen...in fact on Monday so we have at least one day to prepare."
He whistled and they heard Thea came hurrying down the hall. "Why hast though summoned me, milord?" she said from the doorway.
Adam smiled at her impudence, "I need you and the twins to take the babies up for their nap then please come back down. Something is up and I'm going to need your help as well as theirs," he said nodding toward his father and brothers.
"Your wish is my command," Thea said, then unlatched the gate and came in to pull Benjamin out from behind her husband's chair.
The twins kissed their grandfather on the cheek, hopped down and each collected one of the other babies then left with their mother, followed by their faithful four-legged guardian.
Adam said, "Just give me a minute to read this over again," to his father and brothers. By the time he had finished Thea had returned and seated herself in between Hoss and Joe on the sofa. The four of them looked at him expectantly when he laid the note down again.
"One of my informants is saying that four men have come to Virginia City and are planning to rob the 1st National at closing time on Monday," he said then narrowed his eyes and thought about it some more, then abruptly swung his legs down and leaned forward as he looked at Thea.
"Barbara can be trusted to keep this quiet, can't she?"
"Of course, she's trustworthy," his wife answered.
Adam nodded his head then turned to Joe, "I'm sure the boys are at the Sage Brush. Please go over there and sit down with them for a while and talk. Then leave after telling them I want them here. Make sure you remind them to not all leave at the same time. Go slow and don't attract any attention, you never know what might tip our visitors off. Then get back here."
Joe quickly left as Adam looked at Thea again, "I need you to go to Barbara's house and ask her to come back with you without explaining why. I'm sure she'll be a good sport about it."
"Oh, I'm sure!" Thea said dubiously and quickly left too.
Grinning at his father and Hoss Adam said, "If you don't mind, I'd rather wait until everyone gets here before discussing my ideas so I'll only have to do it once." His father and brother nodded as Adam stretched his legs out in front of him. "So what's new out there in the world?"
"Did you hear that Jacob King died?" his father answered.
"No, I've been pretty isolated here this week. What happened?"
"Horse went down and rolled on him," Hoss said, his face showing his sorrow at losing a neighbor, even a crotchety recluse like Jacob. "By the time Matt got there he was already dead."
Adam shook his head, "How old was he?"
"I'm pretty sure he was ninety-eight," Ben said.
"That's what I thought. I'm surprised, but I shouldn't be - an accident like that would have killed anyone, no matter what their age. But I guess I just expected that old buzzard would be around forever."
"I think everyone felt that way. But you won't believe this - his grandson Jason has already scheduled a land auction."
"Already?" Adam said, startled. "That's cold, but then I shouldn't be surprised, that sounds just like something Jason would do."
"That's right, you knew him pretty well didn't you?" Hoss said.
"Unfortunately, yes," Adam answered. "I bet he's breaking the land up into parcels isn't he? Just so he can make as much money on it as possible."
The other two men nodded.
"Are you thinking about expanding Pa?" Adam asked his father after he thought about it for a moment.
"I'm not sure, but I think I might if the price is right."
"Sounds like a good idea to me if you can get better access to the other road and river."
Ben smiled at his eldest son, "Just what I was thinking."
"Great minds think alike," Adam said then chuckled at his father's dubious expression.
Seemingly Hoss was still thinking about Benjamin's demonstration. "When did Benny start talkin'?"
"We hadn't heard a peep out of him for a while, then about a week ago he fell down and hurt himself, then started yelling 'Theadora!' instead of 'Ma!'" Adam answered. "It was hilarious, he sounded just like me.'
Hoss grinned then said, "Does he hide behind that chair a lot?"
Adam nodded, "All the time.'
"Why do you think he does that?" Ben asked.
"Well, I may be wrong but I think he does that to be alone and think." Adam shrugged, "When he's out here with the other two they're after him constantly, but he seems to like having time to himself."
Ben grinned at his eldest son; "Six months old and already they're quite a handful."
Giving his father a dark look Adam said, "Yes, and AGAIN you are enjoying this entirely too much."
Both Hoss and Ben laughed at his annoyed expression then they heard the front door open as Joe and Mike came in. Before anyone could say anything Thea came in with Barbara from the back of the house.
The seated men started to stand, but Barbara said, "Boys, don't get up for my sake," as she moved toward the sofa and sat down next to Hoss. Joe and Mike squeezed in together next to her as Thea went to the other side of the room and came back carrying a tall footstool. She put it down in front of Adam, put her hands on her hips and gave her husband a pointed look.
Adam rolled his eyes saying, "Yes ma'am," and lifted his legs so she could nudge it under his feet. Then she perched on the arm of his chair while leaning toward him with an elbow on the back.
Barbara looked at Adam, concerned. "How are you feeling?"
He smiled, as usual she got right to the point. "Much better, but right now I wonder if I'll ever stop walking with a limp."
She grinned and started to reply but stopped when she saw Nate and John standing in the doorway.
"Come on in and find a place to sit," Adam said and the two quickly did as he asked. Nate sat in a chair on the other side of the table next to Adam's, while John chose to sit on the floor next to Ben.
Adam swept his eyes around the group of people looking at him eagerly and held back a smile.
"Well folks, here's the story. An informant left a note where my father and brothers would be sure to find it this morning. The note is a warning that four men have come to town to rob the 1st National bank Monday at closing time."
"Is this the note?" Nate asked noticing the folded paper and the rock on the table between them.
"Yes it is," Adam answered. "You can look at it if you want to, but it's written in code so you won't be able to understand it anyway."
Nate opened the note and smiled. "It looks like gibberish."
"What's the rock for?" John asked, observantly.
"The rock told me which code was being used."
"How?" Nate asked as he picked it up and looked at it closely.
"Feel around the outer edge," Adam answered.
"I don't feel anyth...wait a minute, there's two, no three small holes."
"Right, so on the note eliminate every third letter."
Nate turned to the note again. "Geez boss, it's easy to understand once you know the secret."
Adam nodded, "It's a very simple code, so I assume whoever sent the note didn't think there was much of a chance of it falling into the wrong hands." An annoyed look passed across his face as he looked up at Thea - she had been threading her fingers through the curls at the nape of his neck.
"Would you please stop that? You're distracting me," he said.
"Sorry," she said then stuck her tongue out at him as he turned away. "I saw that," he said and the people facing them tried to not show their amusement, but failed.
Adam rolled his eyes and sighed. "Can we get back to business now, people?" he said as he turned his head and gave Thea a sideways look. She smiled mockingly at him and he shook his head.
"You are such a smart-aleck," he complained then turned back to the rest of the group. "Now the way I see it, the hardest thing will be getting into the bank without them spotting us." He paused for a moment to let that sink in.
"So here is what we are going to do..."
THE PLAN
Chapter 33
After escorting Dora, Cassie, and Marie on the train to San Francisco Ben, Hoss, and Joe had not been to visit Adam and his family for a few weeks. Responsibilities on the ranch now that spring was coming soon had kept them extremely busy, so they were hurrying to complete their errands in order to have their afternoon free for a long visit. Since it was Saturday, Adam should be home.
Having finished first, Ben was standing outside the feed store when he opened his new pocket watch and saw it was almost eleven o'clock. He looked around and saw Joe coming down the board sidewalk and Hoss coming directly toward him from across the street. But when Hoss was walking past the wagon he stopped and stared at something on the seat.
Joe had reached his father by that time and the two hurried over.
A folded piece of paper with a rock weighing it down sat on the wagon seat. The three men glanced at each other, puzzled as Hoss picked up the smooth rock. Then they could see the name "Adam Cartwright" written on the outside of the paper.
Ben shook his head as he picked up the note. "Well," he said, "seemingly someone knew we'd be seeing your brother today."
Hoss nodded and climbed up on the seat and picked up the reins as his father and brother climbed up on the other side.
"Are you going to open it?" Joe asked.
"Of course not," Ben answered then turned to Hoss. "Do you still have the rock?"
"Yep."
"Good, I'm sure Adam will want to see that too."
Hoss nodded as he quickly backed the wagon out and headed down the main street toward Adam's house.
When they pulled up in front, the door opened and Thea came out on the porch. She was practically dancing with excitement.
"Thank God you're back!" she called out to them.
Hoss was the first up the steps and she threw her arms around him and hugged him as hard as she could. Then she stepped back, but kept her hands on his shoulders.
"You've got to help me," she said then looked at Ben and Joe to include them, "Adam has been home for the last week and he's driving me insane!"
The three men laughed and she grumbled, "Oh sure, you can laugh, you don't have to live with him anymore."
"Why has he been home?" her father-in-law asked.
"The idiot fell off the roof and fractured his ankle. I've been keeping him home so he'll at least stay off of it some of the time."
Hoss and Joe restrained themselves, but were still highly amused as Ben looked at her with sympathy.
"Come on in, maybe you can help distract him for a while. You will be staying for lunch, won't you? Please?" she begged.
"Of course," Ben was saying as they followed her through the front door, then he stopped and looked around in surprise.
The hall HAD been in the shape of a "T" but the arms of what would be the cross bar had been closed off and each new wall had a door set in the center. Both doors were closed, but the one to what had been the downstairs bedroom stood open and they could see a small wooden gate blocking the bottom half of the door.
Thea saw their surprised expressions and smiled, "We had the rest of the work we wanted done finished while you were gone," she explained as they heard the babble of children's voices coming from the open door.
"We joined the hall space and the downstairs bedroom to make one large room. We call it the Baby Corral now," she said as they moved down the hall. She motioned for them to go in as she kept going and went through the open kitchen door.
The three men stood looking in the doorway and recognized the furniture as being from Adam's office in San Francisco. The man in question was sitting sideways in a leather armchair near the door with both of his legs draped over the arm. He was writing on a pad of paper, but looked quickly up when they appeared in the doorway.
"Gentlemen!" he spoke loudly over the din of children's voices, "welcome to the Cartwright Asylum!" and then grinned at their expressions. He swung his legs down and came over to the door to open the gate.
"Come in quick or one of them will escape," he said as all three babies started crawling toward them at top speed, followed by the twins, who were herding them toward their grandfather and uncles.
Matthew had just made it to the gate as Adam closed it, then looked down at him. "Ha! You didn't make it this time," he said as he picked the baby up, kissed him on the forehead, and handed him to Joe.
The child looked up at his uncle and scrunched his face up, preparing to start screaming. Adam put a finger to his son's lips and said a firm, "NO." His little face immediately cleared and he opened his beautiful hazel eyes wide as he said, "Pa!" then reached up to grab his uncle's bottom lip. Joe gently removed his lip from the baby's grasp then grinned down at his nephew and namesake as he carefully moved across the room to the sofa and sat down.
The twins had rushed up to their grandfather and each now had their arms wrapped around one of his legs as they looked up at him and laughed. All three babies laughed when they laughed and stopped when they stopped.
"It's like a Greek chorus in here," Adam said as he went back to his chair and swung his legs up again. He shook his head as Benjamin quickly crawled behind his chair.
Ben had crouched down to talk to the twins while Thomas crawled up to Hoss and sat in front of him. The baby started tipping his head back, looking up his uncle's tall form and promptly fell backward, without having even seen Hoss's face yet. His gurgling laughter made the other's start and when Hoss went down on one knee to pick him up he started saying "Ha! Ha! Ha!"
Adam looked up at his brother holding the small child in his huge arms and explained. "He's not really laughing now, Hoss, he's trying to say your name."
As though agreeing with his father the baby poked Hoss's nose with a finger and said "Ha!" again. The big man smiled and the child grinned up at him, showing the beginnings of one tiny tooth as Hoss moved to the sofa and sat down on the other end from Joe. He put the child in his lap facing him and holding him upright with one hand, he gently touched one finger to his tiny nose and said, "Thomas." The baby looked up at him with round eyes for a moment then clapped his hands together while burbling, "Ta! Ta! Ta!"
Everyone laughed then, including the twins, who were crowded into their grandfather's lap. Ben was sitting directly across from Adam in his favorite leather chair.
"So," Ben said to his eldest son, "I hear you fell off the roof."
Adam shook his head, "Yes, and it looks like no one is ever going to let me forget it."
"What were you doin' up there anyway?" Hoss asked.
"Getting a cat out of the chimney."
Joe and Hoss stared at him in disbelief while his father said, "Why doesn't that surprise me?"
Adam sighed then and continued his explanation, "Technically, it was a kitten and when I finally pulled it out the damn thing attacked me! It's hard to keep your balance with a cat attached to your face."
He shook his head again as his father and brothers chuckled. "Tell me," he said, changing the subject, "Did Thea say I'm driving her crazy?"
The other men nodded and Adam said, "Good. She'll think twice now about playing her 'Doctor' card and insisting I stay home. I've been doing it on purpose. Actually I've been having a good time taking care of the kids, but don't tell Thea that." He grinned wickedly at them as they laughed at his expression.
"What was that? I heard my name," she called down the hall.
"I'm telling them about being under house arrest," Adam yelled back.
"Yes and may the good Lord help me!" she answered.
"I love you too, dear," he bellowed and they could faintly hear her make a rude razzing noise from the kitchen.
"Very funny!" Adam shouted back then smiled a satisfied smile as he winked at his father and brothers.
"When do you get paroled?" Joe asked.
"Don't ask me, you'll have to ask the warden. Doesn't matter though, I'm going over the fence at midnight," his brother replied making everyone laugh again.
Thomas turned around in Hoss's lap and began to clap his hands again, saying "Ba! Ba!"
Balor came out from the corner where he had been lying, walked up to the baby, and poked him in the belly with his nose. Thomas patted him on the head, hard, but the dog didn't even flinch. He just endured the baby's blows until he stopped, gave one of his tiny hands a lick then lay down on the floor beside Hoss's end of the sofa.
Ben shook his head, amazed by the dog's patience and how much the babies had grown. "Aren't they trying to talk a little early?" he asked Adam.
"Not really, six months isn't that unusual. But what Benjamin can do is," his eldest son answered then shouted, "Benjamin!" The authority in his voice made his father jump.
Adam chuckled, "Sorry Pa, I didn't mean to startle you."
His father just gave him a dark look as Benjamin crawled out from behind his father's chair. Adam swung his legs down again and leaned over the arm to pick him up then stood to walk slowly over to Joe.
Holding the child with one arm he put a hand on Matthew's head and said, "Name?"
"Matthew," Benjamin said clearly as the other three men looked at the child, startled.
Passing by Thomas, Adam moved over to his father and put a hand on his eldest son's head. "Name?"
"Alexander," was the easily understood response. Adam moved his hand over to his daughter's head. "Annalise," the baby piped without being asked and he smiled sweetly up at his father.
Adam put a hand on his own chest and said, "Name?"
"Adam," the baby said and chuckled, liking this game.
Joe opened his mouth to say something but Adam held up his hand, "Wait, it gets better," he said as he put his hand on Annalise's head again. But this time he asked, "Who?"
"Sister!" Benjamin said with enthusiasm then responded "Brother!" when asked who Alexander was.
Adam put his hand on his own chest again and asked "Who?"
"Pa!" the boy yelled at the top of his voice as his grandfather and uncles stared at him disbelief.
"One more," Adam said putting his hand on Thomas's head this time and asking "Name?"
The baby looked at his brother for a moment, then giggled saying, "GOOBER!"
The three men were startled by his response then they all started to laugh, including the baby Benjamin.
Adam went back to his chair, walking with a slight limp now, and settled the baby in his lap. "We have no idea where he got that one, but he'll say that even if you ask him 'Who?'" He shook his head and looked down into Benjamin's bright, black eyes. "You're going to have to stop that son, I don't want your brother to be called 'Goober' for the rest of his life."
The baby looked up at his father then gave him a naughty little grin and said, "Thomas!" then waved his little arms around and laughed while looking at his brother still in Hoss's lap.
When the laughter died down he squirmed around until Adam set him down on the floor. Benjamin murmured, "thomas, thomas, thomas," to himself as he quickly crawled behind his father's chair again.
"Everyone usually thinks Matthew is the smartest one, but that's because Benjamin doesn't talk in front of strangers." Adam said as they saw his face tighten a little from pain and he swung his legs up over the arm of the chair again.
"Just how bad IS your ankle?" Joe asked, concerned for his brother, but looking down at Matthew who had fallen asleep in his arms.
"Not too bad, it's not actually a break just a small fracture so it should heal quickly."
"Good," his father said, "because we have a feeling something is going to happen soon. We found a note with your name written on the outside sitting on the seat when we came back to the wagon this morning." He took the note out of his vest pocket and handed it to Annalise who hopped down, took it over to her father, and then scampered back to settle herself in her grandfather's lap again.
"It was bein' held down by this rock," Hoss added and tossed it to his brother who caught it without even looking in Hoss's direction. His attention was completely focused on the note.
Hoss's mouth dropped open then he asked, "How'd you do that?"
"I have excellent peripheral vision," Adam said distractedly as he unfolded the paper and looked at it narrowly for a moment. Then he turned the rock in his hands a few times. Nodding his head, he turned back to the note and began to read it.
When he was finished he put them both on a table next to his chair and looked at his father. "You're right, Pa, something is definitely going to happen...in fact on Monday so we have at least one day to prepare."
He whistled and they heard Thea came hurrying down the hall. "Why hast though summoned me, milord?" she said from the doorway.
Adam smiled at her impudence, "I need you and the twins to take the babies up for their nap then please come back down. Something is up and I'm going to need your help as well as theirs," he said nodding toward his father and brothers.
"Your wish is my command," Thea said, then unlatched the gate and came in to pull Benjamin out from behind her husband's chair.
The twins kissed their grandfather on the cheek, hopped down and each collected one of the other babies then left with their mother, followed by their faithful four-legged guardian.
Adam said, "Just give me a minute to read this over again," to his father and brothers. By the time he had finished Thea had returned and seated herself in between Hoss and Joe on the sofa. The four of them looked at him expectantly when he laid the note down again.
"One of my informants is saying that four men have come to Virginia City and are planning to rob the 1st National at closing time on Monday," he said then narrowed his eyes and thought about it some more, then abruptly swung his legs down and leaned forward as he looked at Thea.
"Barbara can be trusted to keep this quiet, can't she?"
"Of course, she's trustworthy," his wife answered.
Adam nodded his head then turned to Joe, "I'm sure the boys are at the Sage Brush. Please go over there and sit down with them for a while and talk. Then leave after telling them I want them here. Make sure you remind them to not all leave at the same time. Go slow and don't attract any attention, you never know what might tip our visitors off. Then get back here."
Joe quickly left as Adam looked at Thea again, "I need you to go to Barbara's house and ask her to come back with you without explaining why. I'm sure she'll be a good sport about it."
"Oh, I'm sure!" Thea said dubiously and quickly left too.
Grinning at his father and Hoss Adam said, "If you don't mind, I'd rather wait until everyone gets here before discussing my ideas so I'll only have to do it once." His father and brother nodded as Adam stretched his legs out in front of him. "So what's new out there in the world?"
"Did you hear that Jacob King died?" his father answered.
"No, I've been pretty isolated here this week. What happened?"
"Horse went down and rolled on him," Hoss said, his face showing his sorrow at losing a neighbor, even a crotchety recluse like Jacob. "By the time Matt got there he was already dead."
Adam shook his head, "How old was he?"
"I'm pretty sure he was ninety-eight," Ben said.
"That's what I thought. I'm surprised, but I shouldn't be - an accident like that would have killed anyone, no matter what their age. But I guess I just expected that old buzzard would be around forever."
"I think everyone felt that way. But you won't believe this - his grandson Jason has already scheduled a land auction."
"Already?" Adam said, startled. "That's cold, but then I shouldn't be surprised, that sounds just like something Jason would do."
"That's right, you knew him pretty well didn't you?" Hoss said.
"Unfortunately, yes," Adam answered. "I bet he's breaking the land up into parcels isn't he? Just so he can make as much money on it as possible."
The other two men nodded.
"Are you thinking about expanding Pa?" Adam asked his father after he thought about it for a moment.
"I'm not sure, but I think I might if the price is right."
"Sounds like a good idea to me if you can get better access to the other road and river."
Ben smiled at his eldest son, "Just what I was thinking."
"Great minds think alike," Adam said then chuckled at his father's dubious expression.
Seemingly Hoss was still thinking about Benjamin's demonstration. "When did Benny start talkin'?"
"We hadn't heard a peep out of him for a while, then about a week ago he fell down and hurt himself, then started yelling 'Theadora!' instead of 'Ma!'" Adam answered. "It was hilarious, he sounded just like me.'
Hoss grinned then said, "Does he hide behind that chair a lot?"
Adam nodded, "All the time.'
"Why do you think he does that?" Ben asked.
"Well, I may be wrong but I think he does that to be alone and think." Adam shrugged, "When he's out here with the other two they're after him constantly, but he seems to like having time to himself."
Ben grinned at his eldest son; "Six months old and already they're quite a handful."
Giving his father a dark look Adam said, "Yes, and AGAIN you are enjoying this entirely too much."
Both Hoss and Ben laughed at his annoyed expression then they heard the front door open as Joe and Mike came in. Before anyone could say anything Thea came in with Barbara from the back of the house.
The seated men started to stand, but Barbara said, "Boys, don't get up for my sake," as she moved toward the sofa and sat down next to Hoss. Joe and Mike squeezed in together next to her as Thea went to the other side of the room and came back carrying a tall footstool. She put it down in front of Adam, put her hands on her hips and gave her husband a pointed look.
Adam rolled his eyes saying, "Yes ma'am," and lifted his legs so she could nudge it under his feet. Then she perched on the arm of his chair while leaning toward him with an elbow on the back.
Barbara looked at Adam, concerned. "How are you feeling?"
He smiled, as usual she got right to the point. "Much better, but right now I wonder if I'll ever stop walking with a limp."
She grinned and started to reply but stopped when she saw Nate and John standing in the doorway.
"Come on in and find a place to sit," Adam said and the two quickly did as he asked. Nate sat in a chair on the other side of the table next to Adam's, while John chose to sit on the floor next to Ben.
Adam swept his eyes around the group of people looking at him eagerly and held back a smile.
"Well folks, here's the story. An informant left a note where my father and brothers would be sure to find it this morning. The note is a warning that four men have come to town to rob the 1st National bank Monday at closing time."
"Is this the note?" Nate asked noticing the folded paper and the rock on the table between them.
"Yes it is," Adam answered. "You can look at it if you want to, but it's written in code so you won't be able to understand it anyway."
Nate opened the note and smiled. "It looks like gibberish."
"What's the rock for?" John asked, observantly.
"The rock told me which code was being used."
"How?" Nate asked as he picked it up and looked at it closely.
"Feel around the outer edge," Adam answered.
"I don't feel anyth...wait a minute, there's two, no three small holes."
"Right, so on the note eliminate every third letter."
Nate turned to the note again. "Geez boss, it's easy to understand once you know the secret."
Adam nodded, "It's a very simple code, so I assume whoever sent the note didn't think there was much of a chance of it falling into the wrong hands." An annoyed look passed across his face as he looked up at Thea - she had been threading her fingers through the curls at the nape of his neck.
"Would you please stop that? You're distracting me," he said.
"Sorry," she said then stuck her tongue out at him as he turned away. "I saw that," he said and the people facing them tried to not show their amusement, but failed.
Adam rolled his eyes and sighed. "Can we get back to business now, people?" he said as he turned his head and gave Thea a sideways look. She smiled mockingly at him and he shook his head.
"You are such a smart-aleck," he complained then turned back to the rest of the group. "Now the way I see it, the hardest thing will be getting into the bank without them spotting us." He paused for a moment to let that sink in.
"So here is what we are going to do..."