Joe's wife Mary receives a disturbing note several hours after her husband left for Carson City.
Hearing a knock on the door of her cabin, Mary Cartwright placed the ball of bread dough she was kneading into it's bowl, took off her apron, and opened the door. To her surprise, no one was there. She noticed a folded paper was tacked into the wood door. Pulling the tack out, Mary read the note in the light coming in through the open doorway. "We have Joseph. If you want him back, leave $1,000 dollars in gold outside of the abandon Phearson place." Mary read out loud, her voice rising with panic toward the end.
Stuffing the note into her pocket, Mary took her sunbonnet off it's peg, tied it beneath her chin, and stuffed her pistol into the band of her skirt. Quickly, she saddled her brown and white appaloosa horse, and galloped toward the Ponderosa.
Ben and Adam jumped up from the desk when the door flew open, and Mary burst into the room. "Mary! What's the matter?" Adam asked, immediately sensing his sister-in-law was upset. "Look!" Mary gasped, pulling the note from her skirt pocket and handing it to Adam, who read it out loud. "Adam, I think we need to take a ride to the Phearson place." Ben said resolutely, marching to the credenza and pushing his hat onto his head. "I'm coming with you." Mary declared following Ben and Adam to the door. "It's too dangerous, Mary. These men could be violent." Ben tried to dissuade her. "The note was sent to me, Pa." Mary protested. "Besides, an extra pair of hands may be of use to you." "I can't stop you, Mary, but please be careful. Joe would never forgive himself if you got hurt trying to rescue him." Ben admonished, gently squeezing her shoulder. "I'll be careful, Pa." Mary promised, walking out of the open door, and mounting her horse. Ben and Adam closely followed.
The Phearson place was wedged between two sandy, brush covered hills, fifteen miles west of the Ponderosa. "We have a vantage point, being so high up." Ben said quietly, observing the situation. "Not as much as we do." A voice boomed behind them. Turning in her saddle, Mary saw a tall, lean man, with a face that reminded her of a poster of Uncle Sam she'd once seen. He sat tall in his saddle, and held a double barrel shotgun, pointed straight at them. Ben's eyes widened in recognition "Jack Phearson?" He half stated, half questioned. "That's right, Ben Cartwright." He replied in a slow, drawling southern accent, never wavering the shotgun. Another rider came up behind Phearson, and Mary guessed by the similarity between the two men that they were father and son. The younger man pulled his pistol from it's holster and pulled back the hammer. "Drop your arms; real slow." He commanded in a boyish voice. Ben and Adam slid their pistols from their belts and dropped them to the ground. Mary took the pistol from her skirt waistband and dropped it. The younger man dismounted and gathered up the guns, whilst the older one kept the shotgun on them. Seeing the younger man up close, Mary guessed he couldn't be much older than 17 or eighteen. It didn't appear he'd shaved yet. "Where's Joseph?" Mary blurted her question out loud by accident. The older man, Jack, chuckled ominously. "Let's go find out." He said gruffly, riding up beside Mary and pressing the gun barrel to her shoulder and pressing her forward. Mary pressed her heels gently int the flanks of her horse, getting him walking.
The ride to the cabin wasn't far; a half mile at the most. The entire way, Jack and the other man held them at gunpoint. "Get inside." Jack said gruffly, yanking Mary from her saddle and pushing her toward the door. Ben and Adam followed closely, a gun on each of them. Upon opening the cabin door, Mary's eyed immediately met those of Joe. He was tied hand and foot, and a thick rope wound around his torso, binding him to a chair. A bandanna was tied around his head, with the front part of it going through his mouth, keeping him from speaking.
"Now, Ben Cartwright," Jack said slowly, but deviously, "there's a nice coil of rope over there. You'll use it to tie up these two if you know what's good for you." He said, gesturing toward Mary and Adam with his shotgun. "You can copy the example of how my son tied up Jo-seph." He said, motioning to Joe with a nod of his head. "Of course, they won't need to be gagged unless they make a nuisance of themselves like he did." Jack added chuckling at his own joke.
Mary could read the obvious turmoil on her father-in-law's face as he trudged to the corner to get the rope. Going to the table, Mary pulled out a chair to take a seat. "Make sure to tie them good, Ben!" Jack called loudly. "If anyone gets away you're a dead man."
Ben couldn't bear to make eye contact as he knelt beside Mary's chair with the rope. "It's not your fault, Pa." She whispered. "I know that, and Adam knows that." She added, holding out her hands, wrists together. "Thank you, Mary." Ben whispered, tying her wrists loosely. Mary knew she could have easily pulled her hands from the knot of rope, and that by tying it so loosely Ben had entrusted her with his life.
"What do you want from us, Phearson?" Adam asked after he'd been tied. "I reckon you're not big on sharing." Phearson stated, glaring at Mary. "Well, Adam Cartwright, I wrote in my note to Mary that I wanted $1,000 in gold. None of you are goin' free 'till I get it." Phearson stated grinning. "You have another son, don't you Ben?" Phearson asked Ben, who was being securely tied to a chair by young Clyde Phearson. "Yes, but he's in Texas with some of my men bringing in a new bull." Ben answered. "When will he be back?" Jack wondered. "I can't say for sure. Likely two weeks from today." Ben replied.
Jack ran his hand through his orange brown beard in thought. "I reckon we'll just have to wait until he gets back." He decided, looking at Clyde for his approval. "Clyde, you're going to have to go get some more food. I wasn't expecting so much company." Jack said, laughing at his own joke. "Sure, Pa." Clyde responded, shoving his hat on his head and heading out the door.
"Phearson, why are you doing this?" Ben asked bluntly. "Why do you need $1,000 in gold?" Phearson looked up from the stick he was busy whittling with his pocket knife. "I don't need it." He responded. "I've always known you to be a decent man, Phearson." Ben responded. "I don't understand why you would try and rob us for something you don't need." Phearson didn't answer, but continued whittling, shaving one small curly piece of wood off at a time. Something was mysterious about this man, Mary decided.
Hours passed, and young Clyde Phearson hadn't come back. Jack paced anxiously back and forth, periodically lifting the red checked curtains covering the solitary window beside the door. Mary wriggled uncomfortably in her seat. Although Ben hadn't tied her tightly, hours of sitting on the uncushioned wooden chair was taking it's toll. Joe had been able to get the bandanna gag out of his mouth, and thus far, likely because he hadn't spoken, Jack hadn't bothered to gag him again.
"Phearson, shouldn't your boy be back by now?" Adam asked, tilting his chair on it's back two legs, and placing his feet on an empty chair beneath the table. Jack eyed Adam suspiciously, as if wondering whether or not he should answer. "He'll come back in his own good time." He answered finally, coughing toward the end. "That sounds like a pretty nasty cough, Phearson." Ben commented. "WHAT IS THAT TO YOU!?" Phearson exploded angrily, making Mary jump and let out a little gasp. As if spurred on by his excitement, Jack doubled over and began coughing violently onto the sleeve of his shirt. When he finally recovered, Mary spotted a blood spot on the green checked broadcloth. Mary's mind went back to when her father had died of tuberculosis. Jack Phearson had the same cough as her father, and coughed up blood in the same manner. "Mr. Phearson, you're Ill!" Mary exclaimed. "Shut your mouth woman!" Phearson snapped back angrily. "I mean no disrespect, Mr. Phearson, but I served as a nurse during the war between the states, and I happen to know coughing up blood is very serious." Mary warned emphatically. "Woman, the fact is I'm dying, and that's all there is to it. All I want now is to get a good inheritance for my boy before I go." Phearson stated simply. "It'll be bad enough for the boy to loose his Pa without being left penniless."
A light of understanding crossed Ben's face like a breaking dawn. "Jack, you know we would have helped your boy if you'd asked. Why, I would have been happy to give him a job on the Ponderosa. There's no need to steal from us." Ben pleaded, vainly attempting to shift in the chair he'd been tied to. Phearson shook his head. "Ben, I've raised myself a proud boy. He'd never take a job that was offered in pity." "Do you expect he'll take stolen money?" Ben countered. "I told Clyde he's doing this in obedience to me. After I'm gone he'll have no choice but to take the money, since he has nothing of his own." Jack explained, descending into another coughing fit. Mary watched in horror as Mr. Phearson collapsed onto the floor.
For a moment, Phearson laid there gasping for breath in a state of semiconsciousness, and Mary feared he was going to die. After a couple of minutes, though he opened his eyes, and a terrified expression crossed his face. "Ben, I can't die like this." Phearson said shakily once he had caught his breath. "I needed more time; time for my boy to forget what happened here." Ben studied the shaking man, who seemed to be too weak to get off the floor. Was he being sincere? "I don't know where my boy is. He should have been back hours ago. I don't know for sure if he will come back, and I can't die leaving you stuck here." Phearson said, struggling to turn over on his side. Pulling a skinning knife out of the sheath in his belt, he handed it to Ben, who used it to free himself and Joe. Adam and Mary were easily able to wiggle out of the ropes that they had been loosely tied with. Jack Phearson, worn out by his coughing fit seemed to have fallen asleep.
"Let's bring him to the Ponderosa." Ben instructed, pulling the sleeping man up by his underarms. Adam took him up at the feet, and together they hauled him out to an old creaky wagon parked outside the rundown house. "I hope this thing makes it back to the Ponderosa." Joe commented, eyeing the rotten wood. "I reckon this thing must be 50 years old." Ben replied, carefully lying the sick man on the wagon bed.
Meanwhile, Joe and Mary went looking for a harness. "I'm so glad you're alright." Mary said softly, squeezing Joe's hand. "All's well that ends well." Joe quoted, stealing a kiss and brushing a dark curl from Mary's forehead.
Harness found, and a team of oxen retrieved from the barn, the group set back o their way to the Ponderosa. Adam, Joe and Mary didn't question why Pa was doing what he did. It could be well explained by a group of Bible verses the older man often quoted: "Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good."
The words were from the book of Romans, and Joe especially, remembered several times when Pa had used them to douse his fiery temper.
Upon arriving at the Ponderosa, the group was surprised to see that Clyde Phearson's horse was tied out front, along with sheriff Roy Coffee's.
Upon coming inside, Ben saw that Roy and Clyde were sitting in the living room, apparently engrossed in a deep conversation. Seeing Ben standing in the doorway, the two rose, and a moment of awkward silence passed. "Well, Ben, we were just making a plan to rescue the two of you." Roy explained, stepping over to shake hands. "I reckon you did a pretty god job of it on your own." Roy chuckled, slapping Ben on the arm. "Roy, we've got a sick man out there. We'll need a doctor, though I'm not sure there's anything he can do." At Roy's questioning look, and Clyde's fearful one, Ben stated the obvious. "He's got tuberculosis, we believe, and he collapsed back at his cabin." Clyde's face grew pale, and Mary couldn't help but pity him; he was so young. "I'll go for the doctor." The boy stated, shoving his hat on his head and heading out the door, stopping only to take one look at his father lying in the wagon bed.
"I'm not going to press charges, Roy." Ben said, in answer to the sheriff's questioning glance. "Phearson is a sick man, and Clyde a scared boy, minding his Pa." Seeing that Adam, Joe and Mary were in agreement with their Pa, Roy shook hands with each of them, and headed back toward Virginia City.
By this time, Jack Phearson had awaken, and was brought upstairs between Ben and Joe to the guest bedroom. Mary got the water bucket, and the tin dipper, and brought them upstairs to the thirsty man. Ben filled the dipper, and held it to Jack's lips.
Being revived somewhat by the water, he looked at the four Cartwrights with tears in his eyes. "It would have served me right if you had let me die back there." He said in a near whisper. "No true man would leave a neighbor to die." Ben replied. "Ben, I have no right to ask anything from you, but I have a son, and he's about to loose his Pa." Jack whispered hoarsely. "Don't blame him for what happened; he's a good boy. Ben, please make sure he doesn't go hungry." The dying man pleaded desperately, searching the face of his neighbor. "He'll have a job on the Ponderosa for as long as he wants it." Ben promised. "Thank you, Ben." Phearson choked.
Jack Phearson went in and out on consciousness over the next few days. He didn't have many visitors, save Clyde, the Cartwrights, Dr. Paul, and the minister. He died peacefully in his sleep on the fourth day, having made his peace with God and men. Clyde worked for Ben two years before heading to Oregon territory to work out his years living off the land.
Thus went the ledgend of the dying kidnapper.