The Beauty of Darkness - THREE
oooooooooo
"Joseph?"
Little Joe Cartwright stopped what he was doing and looked over his shoulder. It was late morning and he was saddling his horse in preparation for riding out. One of the men had come in an hour before with word that a section of the north fence was down. Might have been a wash of the nearby stream, Thom said, but he wasn't sure. He thought there was something fishy about it and wanted someone else to take a look. Joe had considered telling his pa about it, but decided it wasn't worth bothering him.
Looked like he'd be telling him now.
"Hey, Pa," he said as he finished pulling on the cinch strap and turned toward the older man. "What's up?"
"Have you seen your brother?"
Now, there was a loaded question if he'd ever heard one.
"Which one?"
The older man's gaze moved to the horizon. "Either," he said. "Both."
He'd seen Hoss ride out just as he reached the barn. He'd kind of been expecting it. The ride home the night before from the Owens' house had been made in silence. Pa was stoic. He'd been, well, kind of sad. Mostly for Lessy.
Hoss was angry. So angry that, about half the way home, middle brother put his heels to Chubb's side and sent the black flying for the Ponderosa, leaving the pair of them in the dust.
Around four a.m., he'd heard the big man head downstairs. About half an hour later the front door opened and closed with a bang! Joe glanced at his father. He was sure Pa had heard that too. It would have been kind of hard to miss.
"Hoss left just as I got here. He didn't say where he was going. Adam…." Joe hesitated. "I think Adam needs to be alone."
"The last thing either of your brothers needs is to be left alone!" Pa snapped, and then regretted it. A bemused smile lit the older man's face as he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Who would have guessed that you would be the one son I could rely on?"
That smarted a little, but then he deserved it. He wasn't always reliable. "Not me," Joe replied with a little laugh.
It took a moment before his father realized what he had said. "Joe, I didn't mean it that…."
"It's okay, Pa. It just took me a bit longer to grow up. I'm twenty now and just plain boring."
Pa laughed this time. "You will never be that!"
He laughed too.
"I'm worried about your brothers. Worried that Hoss is so filled with emotion and Adam seems so…emotionless."
"They'll find their way, Pa."
The older man's keen black eyes fastened on him. "Will they? Are you sure? I have seen far less take a man down, or turn him into someone he doesn't know. Someone no one knows."
He understood his father's distress. He felt it too. The problem was, he'd talked to both of his brothers and neither one of them would listen. It was odd, him being the strong one.
No, it was downright wrong.
"Do you want me to try to find them?"
Pa lifted his hand. "No. Not yet. Let's give them some time. If they're still missing at supper, we'll go looking – the pair of us."
Joe gave him a little smile. "Sounds good."
"Son?"
He'd started for his horse. "Yes, sir?" he asked, turning back.
"How are you?"
Three words.
Three words and they had the power to lay him flat in the dirt.
Joe's jaw grew tight. His impulse was to say 'fine'. It was his routine answer to any question that implied he was less than one hundred percent sound both mentally and physically. He thought a moment before replying with uncharacteristic honesty.
"I hurt, Pa, but I'll mend. After all, you did – three times."
"Yes, but you are not me."
Joe nodded. This time his voice was rough. "I felt…. I didn't think I could survive, but, well, I realized I'm not the only one in pain, and that there are those who are in far more pain than me."
"Does this have to do with Mrs. White?"
It seemed funny to hear Lessy called that. It made her seem…old…somehow.
"She's lost so much, Pa. Her husband. Her child. And yet…."
"Yet?"
He wouldn't say the young woman was happy, but she was content. After she'd cried her eyes out, they'd talked about just about everything from the time of day to the end of days. When he got ready to leave, Lessy reminded him of a scripture Pa liked to quote – the one from Jeremiah about God having plans for a man's future; plans to help and not to harm him. She'd laughed when he told her that was hard for a man to reconcile with what the four of them had been through of late. 'I actually think sadness and darkness can be very beautiful and healing,' she said. 'Something good will come of it.'
Something already had.
He'd met her.
"Joseph?"
He blushed. "Sorry, Pa. I was thinking. Lessy told me something good would come out of all this bad. She said I just had to give it time."
"A very wise woman." Pa drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Yes, time. We need to give your brothers time."
Joe grinned. "At least 'til supper, right?"
"Hey, Joe!"
He turned with Pa to see who had shouted. Danny Kidd had appeared. He was seated in a wagon laden with supplies and directed the vehicle their way.
"Mister Cartwright, I'm sure I don't know what to make of this here son of yours. Here I am all kitted up and ready to roll and he hasn't finished checkin' his saddle!"
"I know," Pa said, his voice rumbling with hidden laughter. "The boy's a slacker, I tell you – a slacker!"
"He better be a slicker too," Danny said with an eye on the sky. "There's a storm coming."
Pa looked. The sky was a brilliant blue. There wasn't a cloud visible and the breeze was gentle, if a bit warm. "Oh? How can you tell?"
Danny's look darkened just a bit. He rubbed his right thigh with his knuckles. "It's an old wound, from the poorhouse. Always complains when rains comin' its way."
"Well, then, the two of you had best get going – wherever you're going, that is!"
Joe had finished his check list and swung up into the saddle. "We're gonna meet Thom Barker up in the north pasture. I told him I'd help him mend that fence."
"Without checking with your old man?" Pa asked with a wink.
"I figured I'd be there and back before you noticed I was missing."
The sadness returned. "I always know when one of you boys are missing."
"I'll keep an eye out for Adam and Hoss, Pa."
"God keep you safe," the older man said
Joe nodded as he put knees to horse flesh.
What did you say to that?
oooooooooo
"I don't know, Thom. You really think this was deliberate?"
Thom Barker shrugged. "I just don't see how a rush of water could have pulled the stakes out and tossed them that far."
Adam frowned. At first glance it appeared the nearby stream had overflowed its banks, pushing rocks and bracken before it, and that the rocks and bracken had knocked the posts out of their holes. If that had been the case, normally, they would have been carried a few feet at most. Thom had found three several yards away, laying at an odd angle.
"You think it could be rustlers?" Thom asked.
He didn't know what he thought. If it was rustlers, they were either careless or stupid. The only ground cover nearby was a clump of trees. Maybe if they were planning on moving the cattle under cover of darkness….
"You said Little Joe's on his way?" he asked.
Thom nodded. "He's comin' and bringin' Danny Kidd with him, along with supplies."
That didn't surprise him. The pair had practically been inseparable since Kidd's return. If he'd been the kind of man to muse – and he was – he'd have wondered about the Fates bringing the pair together, and especially in the way they had. Still, almost a year had passed and so far Danny had proven an able, if not exemplary employee, as well as – wonder of wonders – a good influence on his little brother.
"I suppose I should wait until Joe gets here," he said with a sigh.
"You got somewhere to go?"
Adam's lips twisted with a wry smile. "No."
Thom stuttered something and moved away.
The man in black stared at the ranch hand's back for a moment and then his gaze returned to the stream. It was running fast and hard with the recent rains. He knelt on the bank to examine the area where it appeared the rush of water had overwhelmed it. The ground had an oddly consistent look to it, as if a shovel or some other implement had been applied. Adam rose and looked around, noting said 'clump' of trees and wondering if there was someone there now watching him and Thom. What he couldn't figure out was 'why'. If it was rustlers, they would have to know their actions would arouse suspicions.
Was that the point?
"Here they come!"
He pivoted in Thom's direction. Sure enough there were two specks on the horizon – one riding high and the other low. Adam watched a moment and then shook his head. The fool kids were racing.
Danny must have those supplies seriously secured!
Joe arrived first, both he and Cochise breathless.
"What do you think you're doing?" Adam asked, his tone put-out.
"Feelin' his oats," Thom muttered.
Joe slipped from the saddle and headed toward him. "It's okay, older brother. Some of us don't cotton to slow and steady."
"No, you 'cotton' to fast and reckless." A shiver of fear ran through him. "One of these days, Joe, you're going to break your neck."
Baby brother turned. The look out of those great green eyes was surprisingly sharp. "Like you'd care."
He caught his shoulder. "What do you mean by that? Of course, I'd care!"
Joe shook him off. "Would you? Is that why you've been avoiding me ever since we brought you home from the desert?"
Adam went rigid. "Now is not the time to talk about that."
"Oh yeah?" Joe came closer. "If not now, when will it be 'time'? I want to know, Adam. What have I done wrong?"
"You…didn't do anything wrong."
His brother's gaze narrowed. "You and me, Adam, we don't always see eye-to-eye, but there's one thing I thought we had. I guess I was wrong."
Danny Kidd had come up behind Joe now. The man in black glanced at him, but the ex-con's face gave nothing away.
"What's that?"
"Respect."
"I do respect you."
"No, you don't." Joe's jaw was set. "You don't respect me enough to tell me the truth. You're keeping something from me, from all of us. I know it. Pa knows it. Even Hoss knows it, and right now he doesn't know much of anything. Adam…."
He hesitated to ask.
"What?"
Joe glanced at Danny, who nodded and moved away, before catching his arm and pulling him toward the rushing stream.
For a moment he thought Joe was going to toss him in.
The kid stared at the rushing water and then turned and looked at him. There were unspent tears in his eyes. "Adam, I apologize. I just got done telling Pa we had to give you time and I meant it. It's just…." Joe's jaw tightened and his nostrils flared. "You make me so darn mad!"
He couldn't help but smile. "The feeling is mutual, little brother."
Joe started. Then he laughed.
It was short-lived.
"Older brother, you need…us. We need…each other. We can't keep going our own way. It's like…." Joe thought a moment. "You know, it's like Pa's bundled sticks."
They'd each gone through that exercise. One stick alone breaks easily. In a bunch, they are nearly unbreakable.
What his little brother hadn't gone through was a week with Peter Kane in the desert. Little Joe, Pa, Hoss…their sticks were straight. Intact.
His was twisted.
"Joe, I can't…."
"Yes, you can! And you are the only one who can! Look, Adam, Hoss is missing. Go find him. Take him home to Pa. You go home to Pa. Both of you need to talk to him. Pa won't reject you or condemn you, no matter what you think you've done. He loves you!" A single tear trailed down his little brother's cheek. "Adam, please. Pa's heart is near breaking."
Adam looked over his brother's curly head at Thom and Danny where they worked emptying the wagon. The portion of the boundary fence behind them was broken – washed out and wasted. It could no longer function. Anyone with any sense would just toss the remains on the fire and walk away. But there were Thom and Danny – and here, was Joe – determined to do whatever it took to make it right.
Whatever it took.
"I…." He cleared his throat. "I don't know if I can."
Joe's lips curled at one end. "Well, you know what, 'educated-back-East-I got-an-answer-for-everything older brother', I do!" The kid gripped his arm. "You're Adam," Joe said, with all the wonder of the four-year-old boy he had been, "you can do anything."
oooooooooo
Joe watched Adam walk mount up and ride away. The curly-haired man sucked in air, wiped the snot from his upper lip, and then deliberately turned his back on his older brother's departure, hoping his words had touched the man in black as Lessy's had touched him the night before. On the way out from the ranch he'd had time to think.
Time.
Yes, Adam and Hoss needed time, but they also needed him and Pa – and each other. If one of them didn't do something – and soon – there wasn't going to be a Cartwright family. So he'd made up his mind to be the one who did it. He'd decided to start with Adam, since older brother was the most stubborn of them. People thought that was him, but it wasn't. Pa told him that when older brother was a toddler, he'd hold his breath until he passed out rather than give in. He was stubborn too – heck, stubbornness was part and parcel of being a Cartwright – but there was something in Adam that was different; something that made being right not a thing he wanted, but a thing he had to have.
That was pride.
And that was what had died with Peter Kane.
Joe glanced at the horizon just in time to see his brother turn from a speck into a memory, and then he turned back to Thom, Danny, and the task at hand.
"So, where do we start?" he asked as he rolled up his sleeves.
Thom was eying the stream. "I don't know about you two, but the height of that water is makin' me nervous. I agree with Danny that there's a storm on the way. I'm thinkin' maybe we should wait."
"And let more of the fence wash out?" Joe was surprised. "We can't do that. We'll lose too many cattle."
"Better that than lose your life. I've seen flash floods before and don't want no part of one. If the water burst its banks once, it can do it again."
Thom was older than him and Danny, maybe by ten years, and therefore more cautious.
"But did it?" Danny asked. "How can we be sure? Looks to me like someone knocked it down and made the water come this way on purpose."
"Even if," Thom agreed. "Don't mean it can't happen again natural-like."
Joe looked at the sky. The sun was still shining. "You sure about that rain?" he asked his friend.
Danny's thumb kneaded his thigh. "Yep."
Thom pointed east, toward the clump of trees. "It's early in the day. How about we reset the fence farther away from the water – maybe ten yards that way?" The cowpoke grinned. "Your pa's got thousands of acres, what's a few feet?"
"What if it is rustlers that did it, Joe?" his friend asked. "Won't they just come back and knock it down again?"
"Could be." Joe scrunched up his face. "Look, here's what we'll do. We'll fix it in place and then ride away. About a mile out, Thom will take charge of the wagon and take it home. Danny, you and me, we'll ride back and keep watch. That way, if it is rustlers, we'll catch them red-handed."
Thom eyed him like he'd sprouted a second head. "Your Pa will have my hide if I let you take a chance like that!"
Joe laughed. "What chance? I promise we won't try to take them. We'll wait and watch, and – at most –follow."
The older man crossed his arms. "Pull the other one, why don't you? I was young once, you know."
Danny laughed. "I promise I'll keep him in line, Thom. I got me one month to go and then I'm free for good! I'm not gonna take any chances with that."
"Pa will be fine with it," Joe said. "In fact, I'd appreciate it if you didn't tell him what we're doing."
"Now, Joe…."
He held up a hand. "Thom, Pa's got a lot on his plate with Adam and Hoss. He doesn't need to worry about me too. Just tell him Danny and I decided to camp out overnight and finish the work in the morning. It's the truth, after all." His gaze returned to the scattered poles. "We'll never finish this today."
"I won't lie to your pa."
"You don't need to. If Pa asks, tell him. It's not like it's a secret. Just…well…just don't tell him if he doesn't ask." Joe pinned the other man with his stare. "Besides, you owe me."
Thom made a noise. "I thought you said you wasn't gonna bring that up again."
His grin was wicked. "Said, not promised."
Thom was a good man, but he had a problem with the bottle. Joe'd come on the wrangler drunk as a skunk one time during a cattle drive – and had taken it upon himself to sober him up before his father was any the wiser.
"What is it that Chinaman works for your pa says?" the older man asked. "If you can't change your fate, change your attitude?" Thom wagged a finger. "You do what you promised, boy. You hear?"
Innocent as an angel, Joe asked, "Don't I always?"
oooooooooo
The day was long and hard and steaming hot. About halfway through it the rain pounced, and then pounded and poured for more than an hour before falling off to nothing. They'd managed before the storm broke to shift the fence to the east and put the posts in place, but were forced to wait for its end to add the rails. It was a wet, slippery, and filthy business. All three of them were mud from head to toe by the time they finished, so much so that Thom's horse actually shied from him when he approached it. Thom said he'd clean up once he was back at the Ponderosa and wished them well in doing the same as he took off in the wagon with his horse hitched behind.
Neither he or Danny had brought any extra clothing. They did have their slickers since the sensible ex-convict and his aching thigh had insisted they retrieve them before leaving the Ponderosa. It felt mighty funny to be wearing the oil-cloth garments and nothing else, but that's what they did as they sat down to fix their supper with their freshly washed clothes spread far and wide over branches and fallen logs beside them. The stream was running high – much too high for them to have washed themselves in. They'd followed it a ways and found a small waterfall, which they used instead, and then made camp close by. That put them a good mile downstream from where they'd laid the fence. It was their intention to eat and catch a few hours sleep before returning there to keep watch for the rustlers.
If there were rustlers.
"I don't know," Joe said. "The more I think about it, the more I'm starting to believe that Adam might have been right. The wash-out could have been natural. That water's got some power to it. It could have tossed those poles that far."
Danny shook his head as he leaned forward to stir the beans bubbling in a pot over the fire. "I don't agree."
"Why not?"
"Look, Joe, I did a lot of digging when I was on the press gang. I know the marks of a shovel."
"So do I!"
His friend snorted. "Shovelin' horse crap isn't the same."
"Like that's all that I've shoveled," Joe growled.
"Yeah. You're knee-deep in it all the time, aren't you?" Danny said with a grin. He picked up a plate and began to dish out the beans. "There's a look to a shovel pushed in hard and fast. It cuts in a certain way. And that's not all."
Joe accepted the plate, took a bite, and swallowed. "What else is there?"
"Someone worked backward to cover it up. They wanted it to look natural." Danny shoved his beans around on his plate as if thinking. Then, instead of speaking, he smiled again.
"What are you smiling about?"
The ex-convict scoffed. "One time me and some of the other fellers, well, we paid Travis back. We dug us a pit and covered it over with branches and leaves. Then Jones, he pretends he's sick and can't work. Travis, he comes stormin' over and falls in…."
The image of the prison guard shooting his gun and almost hitting Danny with a bullet just for talking out of turn flashed before Joe's eyes.
"Sheesh, Danny. I'm surprised he didn't kill you!"
"Nah. Travis knew we were worth too much to the government." His friend laughed. "I couldn't lean back for a month, but it was worth it!"
Joe fell silent, considering once again the life his friend had led before they met. Born to poverty, abandoned at a young age and left alone to fend for himself – imprisoned at an age when most kids were still in school – Danny had spent most of his life caged and treated like an animal. By comparison, he'd lived like a prince! His pa warned him when he took Danny on, that it would be hard to keep him out of trouble. His friend's anger ran fast and furious as the stream rushing at their backs. There'd been a lot of fights and a good many misunderstandings in the last year. Once or twice he'd thought Danny wasn't going to make it – that something would push the former convict over the edge and make him strike out with deadly force.
But he hadn't.
And here they were, eating beans and having a fine time one month shy of the governor granting him a pardon.
One month and Danny Kidd would be a free man!
Joe chewed a moment longer. "I wonder what happened to Travis."
"Why?"
Joe shrugged. "I don't know. Just curious, I guess."
Danny's look was keen. "Is there something you didn't tell me?"
The curly-haired man wrinkled his nose. "I guess I never told you. I reported him to the warden. You know, for the way he was treating you and the other men who were working on our land."
Danny snorted. "I doubt the warden cared. We were no more than animals to him."
"Pa cared," Joe said as he reached for his coffee. "He went to the gov –"
A second later Joe was clutching his hand to his side. A bullet had cut the skin on the top and it was bleeding.
"Don't move!" a sharp voice commanded. "You move so much as an inch and I'll put the next one between your eyes!"
Joe met and held Danny's stare. He shook his head.
His friend had been poised to spring between him and danger.
"Rustlers?" Danny mouthed.
Joe shrugged.
"Who are you?" he shouted. "What do you want?"
A figure appeared. In the waning light Joe couldn't make the man out, other than to say that he was of average build and height and his clothing was dark.
Sadly, he could see the moonlight glinting off the barrel of his gun.
"Look at you two sittin' pretty," the man said as he moved closer. With the tip of the weapon, he pointed to Joe's tan paints where they hung drying. "Looks like they's nekkid as jaybirds, boys!"
"There's not much more vulnerable than a snake shed of its skin," another man hissed.
Joe shivered as he felt the cold steel of a blade press against his neck. Whoever it was had come up behind him
He sucked in air, but refused to be cowed.
"I'm asking you again, what do you want?"
"Now ain't he mister high-and-mighty? Just like that pa of his," the first man said. "Mister 'I-got-me-the-governor-as-a-friend' Ben Cartwright."
Joe exchanged a look with Danny. His friend's eyes had gone wide.
The man speaking – the one with the gun?
It was Travis, the prison guard.
"You know what you and that inteferin' pa of yours cost me, Little Joe Cartwright? My job. My wife and kids. My home!" Travis spit. "Everything!"
"Whatever you lost, you lost it yourself!" Joe shot back.
"Well, now, I guess that's right," Travis agreed as he pointed his rifle's nose at Danny's belly. "Just like Mr. Kidd here. He made a choice to kill and he had to pay – or he would have if not for you."
"Leave Joe out of this," Danny breathed. "This is between you and me, Travis, and only you and me. I won't –"
"Now, Mr. Kidd, I hate to tell you, but you ain't got that quite right," Travis said.
"What do you mean?" Danny asked.
"Seems there's someone's got a higher claim than mine for makin' you pay," the prison guard replied. "Ain't that right, Murdoch?"
The knife blade was shifted from the back of his neck to Joe's throat. He gasped as its sharp tip cut into his skin.
The name meant nothing to him.
It meant something to Danny.
oooooooooo
To be continued…..