It was three days of hard riding, stopping only to eat briefly and rest the horses, before the three Cartwright men made it to the Virginia City limits. However there their progress was slowed by a barricade of armed deputies.
"Sorry Mr. Cartwright, but you can't come through. Virginia city's closed," said a young man with sandy hair that Hoss and Adam knew a Jed.
"Dang burn it all Jed, my brother's sick!" Hoss exclaimed, the big man trying desperately to plead with him.
"I'm sorry to hear that Hoss, but in less the Sheriff let's you through, I can't. I'm sorry."
"I don't give a damn what you can or can't do, my boy is dieing!" Ben growled, ready to charge the man who stood before him and his baby. The only thing that stopped him was Adam's hand.
"Hank's coming," he said softly as his eyes focused in on the approaching rider.
"Hey there! Mr. Cartwright hurry! The Doc's waiting on you!" Hank called as he and his mount skidded to a halt, "Jed let 'em through."
"But Hank, the Sheriff…"
"The Sheriff said let them through. Now get outta the way," the deputy barked, startling the man enough to make him move. In no time the Cartwrights and Hank were racing into the town, towards Joe.
Roy was waiting for them in the doctor's office as soon as they arrived. The sheriff was grimed faced and tired. He couldn't even manage a fleeting smile for his old friend.
"How is he Roy?" Ben asked as soon as he entered the room.
"Doc's with him now. I'll have Hank take care of the horses," was the somber answer as he moved passed the worried family, giving each a friendly pat on the back.
Moment's later Paul and Molly emerged from the examine room to face the worried family.
"Paul?" Ben demanded, his eyes looking past him to the closed door.
"It's not good Ben. Not at all. So far the dead counts twelve and it's looking to add another. Joe's a stubborn cuss, just like the rest of you all, but he's just a boy. So far he's hung in there, but there's been no change. He's fever's the same, he can't hold anything in his stomach, and his lungs are congested. The only time he was even remotely lucid was when he first got here, and even then it was just long enough to tell us where Walter was. The poor boy tried so hard to save him…" Paul stopped in his speech to take a breath and fight the fatigue that had been consuming him lately. "Molly, would you be kind enough to get us some coffee and sandwiches?"
"Of course," the young woman said as she silently slipped past the men.
Paul waited until she left before he continued on about Joe's condition, "Ben, I doubt that he's got much more fight left in him. I'm sorry, I've done all I can…I don't think there's anything that can save him Ben."
The despair that Paul saw in the proud man's eyes was unbearable, and then to see it mirrored in the faces of the two young men that flanked their father…it made the doctor sick to witness.
"May we see him?" Ben asked after a minuet of silence.
"Of course, I think you better. You're the only reason that boy's hung in so long," Paul said softly as he moved out of there way.
As the three men shuffled past him, Ben mumbled a, "thank you," but Adam hung back.
"Doc," he said, once his family had disappeared, "while we were away, we learned from a friend that similar illnesses had been reported all over the west. In fact Sacramento came up with the idea to cheek over all the cattle that came into the town, and the doctor there had helped with some of the break outs in the surrounding areas. They did us a favor by writing down what they had learned about this disease and letting us pass it on to you." That being said, Adam pulled from his coat pocket a bundle of paper and handed it to Paul, "I hope it helps some how."
Paul looked at the bundle of papers like it was the Holy Grail, and he felt a flutter of hope race through him, "Thank you Adam. This is probably one of the best gifts an old country doctor could get."
But his gratitude was bestowed upon empty space. The eldest Cartwright brother had already slipped into the other room to be with his baby brother.