CHAPTER TEN
The Cartwrights spent most of their next three days in Salt Flats sleeping and eating. By the end of the second day, Adam felt well enough to eat supper in the hotel restaurant, and on the third day, Little Joe and Hoss rode to the small village where Joe had left Cochise. The pinto's hoof had healed enough that Little Joe could ride him so long as he was careful, and the Cartwrights had no plans to ride hard back to the Ponderosa.
By the fourth day, they were ready to head home. Adam was eating normally and had regained enough strength for a slow ride, though he looked even worse than when they first cleaned him up. The scrapes and gashes on his wrists, arms, and chest had scabbed over, and his sunburnt face had begun to peel. But his good humor had returned, though he startled easily and gave the strangers in Salt Flats a wide berth.
It took them three days to cover the same distance that Ben, Hoss, Josie, and Little Joe had covered in a day and a half. Joe was worried about Cochise's hoof on the rocky ground, and Adam tired quickly, but he was thrilled to be riding Sport again. He'd agonized over his horse's fate when he was stolen. Adam bit back tears as they crossed onto Ponderosa land. He was home.
Hop Sing was waiting in a rocking chair on the porch when they rode into the front yard and dismounted. Hoss had sent him a second telegram before they left from Salt Flats so he would know when to expect them home. The cook sprang to his feet and rushed to Adam, tears streaming down his cheeks. Adam gave him a tired smile.
"Hey, Hop Sing," he said.
"Adam, are you all right?" Hop Sing asked, peering into Adam's burnt and peeling face. In his relief at seeing his boy ride into the yard under his own power, he forgot to speak in broken English, but Adam was so worn out from the long ride that he didn't notice.
"Just hungry. Hope you've got something good planned for dinner." Even after a week, he felt ravenous nearly all the time.
"Hop Sing no cook," Hop Sing said, shifting into pidgin. "All Virginia City bling food! Come see! Come see!"
The Cartwrights followed Hop Sing into the house, deposited their hats and guns, and stepped into the kitchen. Their eyes bugged out at the sight that greeted them. All the counters and the small preparation table in the center of the kitchen groaned under the weight of dozens of covered dishes of meats, vegetables, bread, biscuits, pies, cookies, and cakes. Everyone's mouths began watering, and Hoss rubbed his stomach.
"Where did all of this come from?" asked a stunned Ben.
Josie checked a paper tag hanging from one of the dishes. "Well, this one's from Mrs. Larson," she said. She moved to the next dish. "And this one's from Delphine Marquette."
Little Joe started reading tags on the other side of the kitchen. "Widow Hawkins," he called out. "Mrs. Lovejoy, Sally Cass, Mrs. Martin, Mrs. Bailey, the Crawfords, Abigail Myers…" he continued down the line, reading tags.
"People hear Mr. Adam coming home, and ladies start blinging food," Hop Sing explained. "Lots and lots of food. Hop Sing run out of room!" He opened the pantry door to reveal still more covered dishes.
Ben's eyes filled with tears for what seemed the hundredth time that week. The generosity of his friends and neighbors was overwhelming. It would have been touching enough had their kindness been directed toward him, but the fact that this outpouring was for his child made it that much sweeter. Adam was overwhelmed too. His recent experience had shaken his faith in the fundamental goodness of humanity, but the people of Virginia City were restoring it, one covered dish at a time.
There was so much food that while Adam went upstairs for a bath, the other four, aided by Hop Sing, took a dozen dishes to the men in the bunkhouse. The hands were more than happy to help the Cartwrights eat through it all, though even with their help, the family had enough food to last a week.
That evening, after everyone had stuffed themselves silly, the family was sitting in the great room when they heard two horses gallop into the yard. Ben opened the door and was greeted by Ross Marquette and Simon Croft. Ross's face was pale and drawn, but Simon grinned and handed Ben a pie.
"My ma made this for Adam," he said. "Said she thought blueberry was his favorite."
Ben's first thought was "Oh, Lord, not more food!" but he thanked Simon and ushered him and Ross into the house.
Ross glanced frantically around the living room, where Josie, Hoss, and Little Joe were rising to greet their guests.
"Where's Adam?" he demanded, his eyes wild.
"He went to bed already," Josie said. "He's pretty tired, but I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."
Without another word, Ross darted up the stairs.
Josie turned to Simon as Ben took the pie into the kitchen. "Thank you for coming all the way out here, especially so late. And your mother was right about the blueberry pie. Adam will love it. Would you like something to eat?"
Simon grinned and nodded, so Josie led him into the kitchen, where there was just enough space at the small table for the two of them to sit.
"Whoa!" Simon exclaimed when he saw the offerings of the ladies of Virginia City.
Josie laughed. "What would you like? We have quite a selection."
Simon opted for some of Delphine's pot roast and Mrs. Lovejoy's potatoes, finished off with a slab of Sally Cass's chocolate cake. As he ate, Josie told him the story of the past two weeks.
Simon shook his head in amazement. "It's a miracle you found him."
"I know," Josie whispered, casting her eyes to the floor. She willed herself not to cry in front of Simon.
He cupped her chin in his hand and tilted her face back up. "Hey," he said softly. "It's okay. You found him. Adam's fine."
Josie nodded and gave Simon a small smile. She'd never noticed the gold flecks sprinkled throughout his deep brown eyes, and they enchanted her. She and Simon gazed at each other for several moments until Little Joe burst into the kitchen and broke the spell.
"Hey, Simon!" he said, completely unaware that he was intruding on a moment. "Pa wants to know if you'd like some coffee or brandy."
Simon dropped Josie's chin and looked over at Little Joe. "No, thanks. I should be heading home." Josie couldn't hide her disappointment, and Simon noticed. "But I could come back in a couple days," he suggested.
Josie grinned. "I'd like that."
"All right, then," Simon said as he rose. He kissed Josie swiftly on the cheek and headed out of the kitchen to say goodbye to Ben and Hoss.
Josie sat silently, her fingers touching the spot on her cheek Simon had kissed.
"What's the matter with you?" Little Joe asked.
Josie dropped her hand. "Nothing! Just too much sun lately."
"Sure," Joe drawled, and he darted out of the kitchen before Josie could reply.
In the days and weeks that followed, Adam regained his strength and started to put back on some of the weight he had lost. For the most part, he seemed to suffer no long-lasting effects from his ordeal, though sometimes in the middle of a conversation or a game of chess, he would sigh heavily and go off by himself for the rest of the evening. But as time wore on, even this subsided.
Hoss seemed completely unfazed by the incident. Once they had Adam home safe and sound, the whole trial was over in his mind. For Ben, Josie, and Little Joe, however, the effects lasted a bit longer. The three of them often bumped into each other in the hallway in the dead of night as they all went to peek in on Adam to reassure themselves that they really did have him back. During one such midnight sojourn, Josie heard Little Joe thrashing around in his bed across the hall and rushed in to wake him from a nightmare. Ben found the two of them the next morning curled up together in Joe's bed, arms wrapped around each other.
Simon also became a more familiar presence around the Ponderosa. Initially, he and Ross both rode over frequently to help with Adam's share of the work while he recovered, but once the eldest Cartwright cousin was back on his feet, Simon came just to call on Josie. He kept the visits platonic, but by the end of summer, he and Josie were a common sight strolling around the Ponderosa's duck pond or having lunch together in Virginia City on days Josie worked in the clinic. Adam kept a leery eye on the situation, but Josie had proven herself more than self-sufficient during their trek through the desert in July, so even he gave his cousin a bit of space. A bit.
By the time September rolled around, life had returned to normal on the Ponderosa. Little Joe and Hoss drove the rest of the Ponderosa cattle to market in San Francisco, and Josie was kept busy delivering a bumper crop of babies.
"My goodness," she sighed one evening when she returned home from delivering her fourth baby that week. "What got into everyone nine months ago?"
"It was a cold winter," Adam observed.
Little Joe snickered. "You gotta keep warm somehow."
"Like you'd know so much about it," Adam teased.
Josie giggled as Little Joe pulled off one stinky sock and chucked it at his brother.
"Happens during wartime," Ben said, not looking up from his newspaper.
"I'm sorry?" Josie asked.
Ben folded his paper and looked up at her. "There's always more babies born during wartime. The future gets uncertain and people think they better take advantage of the present. Your own father was born during the War of 1812."
She hadn't thought of this. "That's true. Speaking of the elder Dr. Cartwright, I'm posting a letter to him tomorrow if anyone would like include a note." Ben grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen and quickly scrawled out a short letter to his brother, which he handed to Josie to tuck into the envelope.
"I'll ride into town with you tomorrow," Ben said. "I wouldn't mind doing a little shopping for a certain young lady's upcoming birthday." He smiled.
"Aw, shucks," she replied, grinning back at him.
When Ben and Josie arrived in Virginia City the following morning, the town was in an uproar. Ben sought out Sheriff Coffee and asked what was going on.
"There's been another battle, Ben," Roy answered.
Ben's face darkened, and Josie clutched his hand. While they had been away searching for Adam, the Union Army had been defeated once again in the Second Battle of Bull Run, and President Lincoln had fired General John Pope and reinstated General George McClellan. Given McClellan's reluctance to take action during his first stint as the Union commander, no one had expected him to engage the Confederates so soon.
"Where was the battle?" Ben asked.
"Can't remember the name of the place," Roy said. "Somewhere in Maryland."
Josie blanched. "Papa's with the main army in Maryland," she whispered.
Ben grasped Josie's elbow and hustled her to the telegraph office to get the full story.
"Happened two days ago. They're calling it the Battle of Antietam," Morris said as he handed Ben a copy of the story that had come in over the wire from New York.
"My god," Ben said as he read the details.
The Confederate army had crossed into Maryland to try to win the state for the Confederacy. Unfortunately for him, a Union corporal found a copy of General Robert E. Lee's orders wrapped around three cigars and took them directly to Union General George McClellan. The orders gave General McClellan a complete picture of Lee's plans to divide his army and spread out across Maryland. McClellan had the perfect opportunity to march through the gaps and defeat the Confederate army one little piece at a time. So, he sat and did nothing for eighteen hours, giving Lee's men time to regroup near Sharpsburg, where the two armies clashed in the early hours of September 17.
Both sides fought badly. Lee's defense was hastily and poorly planned, and McClellan refused to put all his men on the battlefield at once, instead allowing them to be cut down one chunk at a time. By the end of the day, 4,100 men lay dead with another 2,500 mortally wounded. In all, the battle claimed more than 22,000 casualties. It would be the bloodiest single day of the American Civil War.
"At least the Union won," Morris said.
"There are no winners," Ben said, not looking up from the story.
Chastised, Morris sat quietly for a few moments before he remembered he had a telegram for Josie. "Here you are, Dr. Cartwright," he said, sliding it across the counter to her.
"It's from Papa!" she exclaimed, and Ben's head snapped up. "Well, sort of. It's from one the soldiers on his behalf. It says he's all right and not to worry about him."
"Who was worried?" Ben said, hugging Josie.
"I don't envy him his job," Josie said grimly.
All the Cartwrights were saddened by the news of Antietam, but Adam took it especially hard. His stomach clenched in a hard knot as he read the story his father had brought home from town.
"How much more do people have to do to each other to prove that humanity is irreparably depraved?" he snarled as he crumpled the paper and hurled it into the fire.
Ben and Josie shared a glance, both knowing that Adam was talking about more than the battle. Ben sighed. He thought that Adam had come through that summer's ordeal with no lasting effects, but now he realized his reserved son was carrying scars he hadn't let anyone see.
Adam spent the next few days keeping to himself even more than usual. His work, appetite, and sleep were unaffected, but he spoke as little as possible and would retire to his room immediately after supper in the evenings. He cheered briefly on the twenty-third when the family had Simon, Patience, Margaret, and Sally over for supper to celebrate Josie's twenty-second birthday, but the next day, he drew back into his shell.
On Saturday the twenty-seventh, Ben answered a knock at the door and was surprised to see Margaret standing on the porch.
"Hello, Mr. Cartwright!" she greeted him with a smile.
"Well, hello, Margaret!" Ben was always glad to see Josie's friends at the ranch and invited the young lady inside. "Josie's over at the old bunkhouse with a patient right now. Would you like to wait for her?"
"Certainly! You might like to see this now, though." She handed Ben a newspaper from San Francisco. "My father asked me to bring this by. He said you and Josie and Adam would be interested."
As Ben skimmed the front page, his jaw dropped. He looked over at Margaret, who was fluffing her curly brown hair in the mirror over the sideboard. "Is this true?" he asked.
Margaret turned to him. "I would imagine so. It's right there in black and white."
Ben called up the stairs for Adam. When Adam reached the living room and greeted Margaret, Ben handed him the newspaper. Adam's eyes widened as he read the story. Little Joe ambled in from the kitchen and asked what the big news was.
Adam read aloud from the paper: "On the first day of January in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."
"President Lincoln's setting the slaves free?" Little Joe asked.
"That's what it sounds like," Ben said.
"It won't work," Adam said cynically, handing the paper back to his father.
"What do you mean, son?"
"Look at it." Adam pointed to the story. "It says 'any state… the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States.'"
"So?"
"So," Adam huffed, "he's freeing the slaves only in the Confederate states."
"Ain't that where the slaves live?" Joe asked.
"Not all of them. You're forgetting Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, and Delaware. They all have slaves, and they're all still with the Union. Besides, the Confederate states don't recognize Abraham Lincoln as their president. They're not going to abide by this. It's just a symbolic gesture to make President Lincoln appear to be a humanitarian. Nothing more than politics." He turned and stalked back upstairs without another word to anyone.
Ben turned to Margaret. "I'm so sorry. He's been like this for days."
"It's all right, Mr. Cartwright. Josie told me. She's worried about him."
"That makes two of us," Ben said, gazing up the staircase.
When Josie arrived home an hour later, she found Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe entertaining Margaret in the living room. She greeted her friend and apologized to her family for being out later than she had expected.
"Mrs. Bryson came in with her little boy Michael just as I was locking up," she explained.
"He okay?" Hoss asked.
"He will be. He swallowed his pocket money, and Mrs. Bryson was worried it would make him sick."
Everyone laughed, especially Ben, who had dealt with little boys swallowing foreign objects plenty of times himself.
"How much did he swallow?" he asked.
"About seventeen cents."
"What did you do?" Margaret asked, genuinely curious. She still assisted Josie at the clinic from time to time and soaked up every bit of medical knowledge that came her way.
"The only thing I could do. I gave him a big dose of magnesium hydroxide and told him to keep his eyes peeled for it to reappear."
"Ew!" Margaret, Ben, Hoss, and Little Joe exclaimed in unison.
"I don't know I'd want it back after that," Hoss mused.
"Seventeen cents is a lot of money to a five-year-old," Josie said.
Ben turned to his middle son. "Hoss, when you're in town tomorrow, stop by the general store and tell Will Cass that if Michael Bryson comes in and tries to pay for anything with coins, don't accept them. Just put it on my bill."
"You got it, Pa."
Margaret then showed Josie the newspaper, and Josie screamed in excitement. She hugged Margaret as the two young ladies jumped up and down.
"I can't believe it!" Josie said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'll have to write to Aunt Rachel. She and her abolition society must be beside themselves."
"Adam didn't think it was such a big deal," Little Joe said, and Ben explained Adam's assessment of the event to Josie.
"He's got a point," Josie admitted. "But he's also been a big killjoy the past week. No, this is still a good thing." She grinned, but Ben could tell that beneath her smile, Josie was worrying about Adam.