Chapter 26
"Well, they ain't here," Hoss said. Adam and he stood in the yard of the Morris place and looked around. The house had been empty. The door had swung open easily and the inside was filled with dust, mice who scuttled in the corners and the doorways were cloaked in cobwebs; it was obvious that no one had been inside or even outside for a long time past.
"Now…where could they be?" Adam was obviously upset but asked the question rhetorically. Hoss knew Adam was struggling with his emotions, trying to stay in control but his jaw kept working and his hands flexed in and out of fists.
"We gotta think," Hoss said. He took off his hat and wiped his brow with his kerchief. "Where else would they go? You think they're still on the Ponderosa?"
"Yes, I think they are. They couldn't spell worth a damn but that doesn't mean they're stupid—just uneducated." He paused and then his face changed. "Hide in plain sight."
"What?" Hoss was often confused by Adam's mental leaps.
"The Purloined Letter. It's a short story by Poe about a letter that's been stolen but has to be produced at a moment's notice so the thief left it in the open, hanging by a ribbon. The detectives searching for it looked where it might be hidden but never found it—it was hidden in plain sight. Now, if you had to hide a person far enough away that he wouldn't be found easily but yet close enough so that you could get to and from the Ponderosa quickly, where would it be? And it would have to be a place where no one would become suspicious if a fire was burning or men were about, that is if anyone from the Ponderosa even went out that far."
Hoss' brow furrowed while he thought for a few seconds. Then his face took on an enlightened expression. "A line shack."
"Yes, a line shack. But which one?" Adam looked around and up at the sky to judge exactly where they were. "Okay, if we're standing on the Ponderosa at the house and considering the direction the tracks went until we arrived at the grazing site…" He looked in the direction.
"The line shack bordering the Paiute lands, maybe," Hoss said.
"That's what I was thinking," Adam said as he mounted up. He kicked his horse into a gallop and Hoss quickly mounted and followed him.
I hope older brother's right; we ain't got much time to find 'er afore they're on to us. Hoss feared that the men who took Sylvia would see them coming since the line shack was basically on the edge of a vast spread of brush and boulders with few trees. If whoever it was saw them from afar, they might hurt Sylvia, even kill her and toss her body on the dirt before they took off. He and Adam would both stop for Sylvia and the men would get clean away. So Hoss made up his mind that no matter what, even if Sylvia would be lying naked and broken on the ground, he would keep after the men. And he would make them pay.
"Now you sleep, sweet one," Fiona whispered as she lay Ezra in his crib. She quietly pulled up the side and locked it in place. She watched him as he slept and tears fell from her eyes; she knew what she had to do. Fiona turned and went down the stairs to where Ben Cartwright sat smoking his pipe and staring into the fireplace.
"Mr. Cartwright," Fiona said quietly.
He looked over at her as if he was surprised to see anyone else in the house. "Oh, Fiona. Yes, what is it?"
Fiona couldn't stop the shivers that went through her; this was going to be difficult, the most difficult thing she has ever done in her 18 years on earth. "I know who has the Missus."
From a distance of about a mile, Hoss pointed out the smoke rising in the sky. "Those ain't no Paiute smoke signals neither," Hoss said.
Once they were within half a mile, the brothers pulled up their horses. "Hoss, go around and come in from behind. I'll come in from the side. The line shacks only have those two windows and if we can keep from being seen, we can surprise them." Hoss nodded and took off to make a circle around the line shack while Adam went further west in order to come in at an angle but he noticed as he rode closer, that there weren't any horses outside but he did see the tracks of two horses leading away from the shack and at great speed, as if the riders couldn't get away fast enough. He wanted to kick his horse to reach the shack faster, his heart thumping, but it was too much of a risk. Then he saw Hoss come to the back of the shack, look around and then ride round to the front. Hoss dismounted and Adam kicked his horse into a canter to cover the last few yards.
Even before his horse came to a complete stop, Adam dismounted and ran to the open front door. Hoss stood by the stacked bunks and looked to him, his brow drawn. "She's in a bad way, Adam."
Hoss stepped aside as Adam went to the bunk. Sylvia looked up at him, her face white with pain. He dropped to sit on the bed, having to hunch down, and reached out to caress her face. He murmured her name.
"It hurts so bad, Adam. Please…I'm going to die."
"Not if I have anything to say about it, you won't. It'll be all right. I promise you." Adam was shocked at the blood, at the copious amount spread under her, but he remained calm. "Hoss, pull the blankets off the top bunk and hold them." Hoss did as he was told and stripped the bunk and stood waiting. "Now listen to me, Sylvia." She gripped her abdomen again and cried out but Adam stroked her head. "I'm going to put you in Hoss' arms and we'll wrap you in the blanket and take you home. Do you understand?" She nodded but her eyes remained squeezed shut against the pain. "Can you put your arms around my neck, sweetheart?"
Sylvia reached up and tried to help Adam lift her from the cramped space but a new pain caused
her to grab herself again. "I'm sorry, Adam. Oh, God."
Adam pulled her to the edge of the mattress and then picked her up off the bunk. He then placed her in Hoss' arms.
"Why she don't weigh hardly nothin'," Hoss said as Adam pulled the blankets around her.
"Let me get on my horse and then hand her up to me. I'll take her back to the Ponderosa and you go get Doc Martin."
Hoss carried her out and when Adam was on his horse, He handed Sylvia up to him. She cried out again.
"It'll be all right," Adam said soothingly. "I'll have you home soon-soon and then you'll be fine." He turned to Hoss who was about to mount up. "I found the bastards' tracks; they can't even go to hell to escape me." He adjusted Sylvia in his arms again and then picking up the reins with one hand, kicked his horse into an easy canter and headed to the Ponderosa.
Hoss was worried and not just about his "little sis," but about Adam as well. "C'mon, Chubb. I know you're tired and hungry 'cause I am too but we got business to take care of first. Let's go, boy, and iffen you make good time, I promise you a treat of oats and a rubdown that'll make you feel better than any mare who ever lifted her tail in your face could." And Hoss kicked his horse into a canter and once they reached a familiar area where they knew every root and chuckhole, the horse broke into a gallop without Hoss' urging; the animal seemed to know that time was imperative.
While Ben Cartwright sat on the chair by the small table in the hallway, Adam paced outside the bedroom where Doctor Martin tended to Sylvia and Fiona was washing the blood from her. Joe was home and sitting downstairs. Hoss had met the posse and told them that they had found Sylvia in a line shack and that he was going for the doctor and since it would soon be dark, the posse was dispersed. As Hoss rode to town, he debated whether or not to turn around and to tell Roy about the tracks leading away from the shack—he had been in such a hurry, he had forgotten. He decided that getting to town was more important so he continued.
Dr. Martin had slung his bag over the saddle horn and ridden quickly to the Ponderosa; from Hoss' description, he had decided that Sylvia had suffered a miscarriage but he would have to examine her to be certain. Hoss had stayed behind and rested his horse while he had a quick beer after first loosening Chubb's cinch so the horse could drink long and deep from the trough outside the saloon. Then, after quickly downing the beer, Hoss adjusted the saddle and headed back to the Ponderosa, his thoughts dark.
The bedroom door opened and Paul Martin came out.
"Well?" Adam asked with annoyance. He wanted to be told Sylvia's condition.
Paul sighed. "Mrs. Cartwright has had a miscarriage. I'm sorry. It's an early miscarriage—she was a bit over two months from my calculations but she wasn't in a state to really answer any questions. She didn't know she had conceived. I've given her laudanum—give her a few grams tomorrow if she needs it but the pain should ease off and by the day after tomorrow she shouldn't need any more. The pains are contractions and…well, the womb is expelling the…the matter."
Adam caught the words that Paul used; he refrained from saying the "baby". "She'll be all right, then?"
"Yes, but I'll come by tomorrow and check on her."
"Thank you. Can I see her?"
"She's groggy and should sleep; she probably won't be making much sense. Let Fiona finish cleaning her—there was quite a bit of blood and she needed help changing into a gown as well. but when Fiona leaves, you can see her." Paul watched as Adam waited outside the bedroom, going back to his pacing. He turned back to Ben and the two friends walked down the hall and talked in hushed voices. "Such a shame, Ben, such a shame but Mrs. Cartwright's a healthy woman on the whole. There should be more children. Do you know who took her?"
"Yes," Ben said haltingly, "but I haven't sent word to Roy yet…or told Adam; things have happened so quickly. Now come have a cup of coffee and something to eat. Hop Sing's been cooking all day. It's how he deals with anxiety; he becomes upset and we become stuffed with food."
"I'd appreciate it," Paul said and headed down the stairs with Ben. He was hungry and just now felt it and the smells from the kitchen downstairs filled the house and drew him down and to the table like a siren's song.