Chapter 6

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Of course the only one that really suffered that night was Percy. He woke up with a very stiff neck and his left foot had fallen asleep and had no feeling in it at all at the moment. His top lip felt a little swollen too as he reached up and lightly touched it with his fingers. He wondered if some creepy critter bit him during the night because his lip felt twice its size as he slowly ran his fingers across it.

Deciding he needed to get going before anyone came along, Percy started to get up from his sitting position on the ground. But his sleeping foot decided to keep sleeping and gave him no support at all. So down he went! And as Percy's luck would have it, as he started falling his right foot turned under him and he let out a loud yelp as he hit the ground hard.

"Gosh darn it, why does everything happen to me?" he whined, as he tried to stand up again to no avail.

Now adding to his miseries, he had sprained his ankle and every time he tried to put any pressure on his foot, a shooting pain went up his leg. So the only way he could stay upright for any amount of time was to hop around on his sleeping foot trying to get it to wake up, and at the same time not put any weight on the ankle he had just twisted. His little dance would have been quite amusing to any spectator passing by, but the only ones that witnessed this unusual dance were a few birds that were perched in the tree over his head.

After a few more minutes of his rather amusing hopping dance, he finally got some feeling back in his sleeping foot and was able to slowly limp over to where his horse was tied. He hadn't bothered to unsaddle the horse the night before, so all he had to do was mount up and continue on his journey.

Heading back down the road Percy hoped he might find an abandon shack or some kind of shelter that he could stay in till he was ready to go back. After he had ridden a short distance, Percy decided he should probably put a move on just in case someone was following him. If they found him now, his plans would be ruined and no one would feel sorry for him.

So he kicked his horse into a gallop and was making good time until he heard a noise off to the side of the road that distracted him from watching where he was going. As he glanced over at the side of the road….WHACK….a low tree limb hit him right in the face and off his horse he went! He had been knocked right off the back of his horse. Losing his troublesome rider hadn't bothered his horse in the least as he continued down the road without him, not even glancing back.

But after his runaway horse had gone a little further down the road, something seemed to spook him and he suddenly stopped, turned around and came trotting back towards Percy. Even though he was still rather dazed, Percy got to his knees hoping to try and stop his horse. But this horse wasn't stopping for anything. He just kept trotting right on past Percy with his tail in the air as if he was waving at the little dandy sitting in the middle of the road—probably his way of getting back at Percy for not removing his saddle the night before.

"Stop you stupid horse!" Percy yelled angrily, as he watched the horse trot on down the road in the direction they had just come from, continuing to wave his tail in the air as if he was saying goodbye and good riddance to Percy.

Percy let out a long suffering sigh and lay back on the road for a few minutes thinking about what a stupid horse he had and how unfair his life was. When he eventually got over his pity party for one, he sat up and looked around trying to get his bearings. He could feel his left eye starting to swell shut. And as he slowly reached up to feel his injured eye, out of the corner of his other eye he saw some movement on the road. Tilting his head so he could get a closer look with the only good eye he had left, Percy shrieked when he saw a small snake start to slither across the road right in front of him. It was only a small garter snake, but to Percy the city boy, it was a giant snake big enough to cause him some serious damage.

Letting out a scream that could probably be heard in Virginia City, Percy tried to get to his feet. Of course he only had the use of one good leg now and when he tried to put weight on his bad ankle—down he went onto his knees! But that wasn't about to stop Percy from getting away from this dreaded creature. Right now all he could think of was putting as much distance between this scary snake and his skinny velvet clad body as he could. So he started crawling as fast as his little, city boy knees would take him down the dusty road, screaming all the way as the snake just slithered off into the grass as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

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Adam was crouching down studying the tracks in the road.

"These tracks look fresh. I just bet they belong to our little runaway. He can't be too far ahead if these are his tracks because they were made fairly recently."

Adam stood and started to mount up on Sport when he heard a scream.

"Did you hear that scream, Alissa?"

Adam finished mounting Sport as he turned and looked in the direction of the scream.

"It's coming from that direction," Adam said, as he pointed down the road.

"It sounded like a girl screaming though…let's go check it out. Maybe we will find our little runaway with the girl."

Adam and Alissa took off riding down the road and had only gone a short distance when they came upon Percy's horse causally grazing on the side of the road. Adam rode over to the horse to check out the brand.

"This has our brand on it, so it must be the horse that Percy took when he ran away. But where is Percy?"

Adam started to look around the area and call out his name. When there was no answer, Adam grabbed the horse's reins and he and Alissa continued walking their horses for about a mile while continuing to call Percy's name.

"He can't have gone too far…. after all he is on foot," Alissa said worriedly.

Adam frowned slightly as he pulled his bandana from around his neck and wiped his forehead.

"That poor kid! I hope he hasn't gone and gotten himself really hurt," Alissa said sympathetically, as she scanned the area hoping to see him.

"Well, if he isn't hurt when we find him, he will be when I am done with him!" Adam threatened.

"Oh Adam, you can't be too hard on him. After all he has to be so scared out here all alone. Plus he is on foot now, so I bet he is really sorry he ran away."

"He is never sorry for anything he does. He just is sorry if he gets caught! But this time he will be very sorry for leading us all on a merry chase to find him! Not to mention the danger he has put himself into by being out here all alone."

Adam just shook his head in frustration and adjusted his hat as he urged Sport forward.

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But Adam was wrong about Percy this time. He was definitely a very sorry young boy as he sat in the middle of the road trying to figure out what to do next. And what a sight he was to see. His right eye was completely swollen shut from the tree branch hitting him in the eye when it had knocked him off of his horse. His left ankle was swollen to twice its size, and the knees of his pants were torn to shreds from him trying to out crawl the snake! His velvet pants hadn't lasted very long as he had crawled quite a distance, and eventually he ended up crawling on his bare knees. So now he was inspecting the damage to his knees as he sat on the road looking at the scratches and bruises that were forming on his slightly bleeding knees. He tried to lick his dry lips, but his tongue could barely move over his swollen upper lip.

"What am I going to do now?" he complained, as he tried to focus on the road ahead of him.

"I can't get very far like this. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave after all. But if Adam hadn't made me so mad for giving me that tanning, then I wouldn't have left the ranch. So it is his fault too that I am here. Oh why does everything happen to me?"

Suddenly Percy heard horses coming down the road and realized it might be the Cartwrights. Even though he was in bad shape, he didn't want them to find him just yet. He wanted them to suffer a little longer with worry. After all, look how he was suffering!

Percy tried to stand and with much effort he finally got to his feet. He was quite the sight as he limped down the road. He could hear the horses getting closer so he tried to go faster. When he realized he wasn't going to get anywhere quickly with his injuries, he decided to hide in the bushes to see who was on the approaching horses.

Poor Percy—being the city boy that he was, he had no idea about all the little critters that like to hide in the bushes too! And today he happen to find a bush to share that was also being used by a momma skunk and her two little babies. Percy limped over to the bush and crouched down behind it when he noticed a small black and white animal by his feet.

"Oh, you are so cute. What kind of animal are you?"

Percy reached down to pet one of the baby skunks, when suddenly the mother skunk came charging at Percy with her tail raised! The smell that surrounded Percy came hard and fast as he stumbled back trying to get away from the offending odor.

"Oh-oh-oh!" exclaimed Percy, as he tried to limp as fast as his injured body would take him away from his newfound friends and their awful stench!

Adam and Alissa had just come down the road and stopped when they heard Percy yell as he came out of the bushes. They couldn't believe their eyes at what stood in front of them. Someone who resembled Percy, but not the Percy they were use to seeing. Standing before them was the most pathetic looking boy they had ever seen.

His hair had twigs and leaves in it and was sticking out in all directions. He only had on one shoe because he had lost the other one in his rapid getaway from the terrifying snake. Both bruised and scraped knees were peeking out of his torn velvet pants. He had his head tilted to the side so he could see out of the one good eye he had left, while his other eye had completely swollen shut now and the skin around it was turning blue. As he limped towards them, they could see his swollen lip and his sprained ankle that was also turning a lovely shade of purple and blue. But the worst thing about this poor boy heading towards them wasn't the way he looked—it was the awful smell that was coming with him!

Adam wrinkled his nose as he gasped, "Percy, did you have a run in with a skunk?"

"I don't know. It was some black and white animal over there in the bushes," he whined, as he pointed in the direction he had just been.

"Boy, you don't have the sense God gave a grasshopper! Well, just stay over there till we figure out what to do with you! I think there is a creek just a little ways over the hill by this road."

Adam kept his bandana over his mouth as he spoke to Percy, then he kicked Sport and took off in search of the creek. Alissa looked over at poor Percy as she used the bottom of her shirt to cover her nose.

"What happened to you, Percy? You look like you had a fight with a bear and the bear won! Are you all right?" Alissa asked sympathetically, as she looked over at the poor boy standing there with his face starting to turn green from the smell that surrounded him.

"I want to go home now! I wish I never would have ran away, and I am so sorry for what I put everyone through having to come looking for me!"

Percy just sat down on the ground and started to cry. Adam had gone over the hill while Alissa and Percy had been talking and just came riding up when he saw Percy sitting on the ground. Even though he had brought them all on a merry chase, he felt very sorry for the young boy crying in the middle of the road.

"There is a creek just over the hill, Percy, so let's get you into some water. That will take a little of the smell away. Not much, but hopefully enough that we can get you on your horse without it throwing you off."

Adam raised his gun in the air and let off three shots to tell the others he had found Percy.

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An hour later Ben, Hoss and Little Joe rode up to find Alissa and Adam standing by the creek—while Percy was quite a ways down from them standing in the creek trying to rub some of the smell off.

Ben's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked over at Percy and reluctantly asked, "What on earth happened to him? And what in blazes is that smell?"

Both Adam and Alissa pointed over at Percy and declared, "It's him!"

Adam smiled briefly as he answered, "Apparently he found a little black and white friend in the bushes. We'll tell you the rest of the story on the way home, pa. Our little house guest has had quite the adventure out here on his own."

"Yes, and he told me he is very sorry for running away and putting us all to the trouble of finding him," added Alissa, hoping to calm some of Ben's anger.

Ben turned and gave Alissa a scowl as he saw her sitting beside Adam.

"What are you doing here, Alissa? Weren't you told to stay at the ranch?"

Smiling hesitantly Alissa answered, "Yes, but…

"It's a long story," explained Adam, as he shook his head and frowned as he looked over at Alissa.

"I see. Well, I have some lye soap here in my saddlebags that will help a little until we can get him home. Then we will let Hop Sing see to him to help with his injuries and his smell!"

Ben rode over to within a few feet of Percy and threw him the soap.

"Here you go, Percy. See if that will help a little with the smell. You kind of got yourself in a bit of a mess, didn't you, boy?"

Ben just shook his head as he looked at the miserable boy standing in the creek.

"I am so sorry for running away, Mr. Cartwright. I know now that I should never have gone and I just want to go home. This smell is awful!"

Ben felt very sorry for the young boy looking so pathetic as he stood in the middle of the creek.

As he held his hand over his nose trying his best to keep the smell at bay Ben muttered, "I know, Percy, I know."

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After they got Percy home, Hop Sing tended to his injuries and used one of his own remedies to help with the skunk smell. By the time Percy's head hit his pillow that night, he was a very remorseful and pathetic looking boy who was definitely glad to be home. And as his eyes closed, he decided he would not go any further than the barn from now on, and he would really try and start changing his ways and behave better. It certainly was a lot safer!

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Later that night as Ben and Adam sat by the fire drinking a brandy, Adam told Ben all the things that had happened to Percy while he was lost. Percy had told them the whole sad story while he was trying to get the skunk smell off as he bathed in the creek.

"I was so mad at him for running away that I had fully planned on tanning him good for worrying us and putting himself in so much danger. But when I rode up and saw how pitiful he looked, I felt he had endured enough punishment and really felt sorry for the poor kid."

Adam leaned back in his chair and slowly sipped his brandy.

"I know what you mean, Adam. He sure was a sight, wasn't he? I think he learned his lesson this time and we won't have any more trouble from our little houseguest the rest of his visit. He certainly apologized enough on the way home," Ben chuckled.

Then he furrowed his brow as he set his brandy glass down.

"I certainly hope you explained to Alissa how dangerous it was for her to follow us all alone."

Shaking his head Ben frowned, "Sometimes that girl just doesn't think about the dangers she puts herself in."

"I know, pa. And believe me, we will have a serious discussion about that very thing tomorrow. She was just too tired to do it tonight."

"Good."

Ben sat in his chair watching the flames from the fire as they slowly danced in the fireplace. Then he suddenly remembered some news he had gotten and reached for his pocket.

"By the way, I received a letter from the Mathews and haven't had time to read it with all that has been going on."

Ben pulled the letter out of his pocket and started to read it. Suddenly his eyes widened as he muttered, "Oh dear!" and quickly handed the letter to Adam to read.

Taking the letter from Ben, Adam sat back in his chair and started reading the last part of the letter out loud.

"I hope this won't inconvenience you too much, Ben, but since Mrs. Mathews broke her leg the doctor told us she can't travel for at least 6 weeks. So Percy will have to stay with you a little while longer. I hope he hasn't been too much trouble. Sincerely Tom Mathews."

Adam leaned his head back against his chair and closed his eyes as he slowly let the letter slip from his hand and groaned, "Lord give me strength!"

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Well, that is the tale of little Percy the Terrible. I hope you enjoyed his stay with the Cartwrights. And if you did, PLEASE review and let me know. I also think we haven't seen the last of Percy, and he may just show up again in another story.