Chapter 5

Gertie and Ben sauntered along in the buggy enjoying what was left of the beautiful fall scenery around them. Ben was hoping that Gertie was going to open up to him some, for their morning had started off very well but to his dismay she was sitting still and silent next to him. As Ben moved Jingle around the bend in the road he came upon the Smith children who were on their way to school Ben assumed. He pulled on the reins to halt the team and spoke with the children. "Good Morning James and Annabeth."

"Good Morning Mr. Cartwright." James spoke.

"How are your folks doing?" Ben asked remembering it had been some time since he had run into Walter and Margaret Smith.

"Just fine Sir. Pa is working real hard to get the last of the harvest in and Ma's been busy canning for the winter." James said doing all the talking and answering of Mr. Cartwright's questions. Ben smiled down at the two thinking of how Adam used to do the same with Hoss and Little Joe. Ben was about to ask another question when he noticed little Annabeth's tan bonnet peek around her brother to get a better look at the mysterious little girl sitting next to him. Ah, he thought, these two probably have never met the Callahan children.

"I'd like to introduce you to Gertie Callahan, she and her brother, Ephraim are staying with us on the Ponderosa for a spell."

"It's nice to meet you Gertie. I'm James Smith and this is my younger sister Annabeth. You and my sister here look to be about the same age. " Gertie did not respond but gave James and Annabeth a weak smile and a soft wave.

"Off to school?" Ben asked noticing the slates and readers in their hands.

"Yes, Sir." James said quickly.

"Well, just your luck, Gertie and I are heading into town, would you like a ride?" Ben offered up.

"Oh, no, that's alright Mr. Cartwright. Me and Annabeth are fine. Thanks you though for the offer."

"It's no problem at all. We're passing right pass the school James." Ben tried to offer again. But James refused the offer once more. "Really, Mr. Cartwright we're fine."

Ben was a bit puzzled that James was refusing the offer on such a blustery day like today. And as far as Ben knew there wouldn't be anyone else passing by in a buggy or wagon to offer up another ride. "Have a good day then." Ben waved goodbye to the Smith children and gave Jingle a little slap of the reins to get them moving again. Gertie couldn't help but to turn and peek back at the Smith children. The two children gave cheery waves and watched as Mr. Cartwright and his guest drove away towards town.

"Whatcha do that for?" Annabeth hissed at her older brother. James swung around and grabbed Annabeth by the shoulders and sternly spoke.

"You know Pa wouldn't like it one bit if he learned that we took charity from the Cartwright's!" James shouted at his sister.

Annabeth shook out of her brother's grip and muttered, "It's not charity James! It's would have been nice to get a ride this morning with how cold it is and everything."

"Well, if you get moving than you won't be cold, now will you?" James turned and started down the road towards town leaving his sister behind. "Come on Annabeth, we're gonna be late." Annabeth ran to catch up with James and the two walked out of the way of the dust that Jingle and the buggy were creating as the Cartwright's sped further ahead.

Mr. Cartwright tapped Gertie on her leg to get her to turn around. "Gertie, please turn around and place your bottom back on the seat." As Gertie turned back around Ben could see the frown that she was displaying. "I am sure you'll see the Smith children around again. No need to be frowning about it."

"How old are they?" Gertie asked.

Ben tipped his hat back and gave his head a quick scratch. "Umm, if I recall, James is around ten or eleven maybe, and Annabeth might be six or seven."

"Like Ephraim and me?" She piped up. Ben noticed the frown she was wearing moments ago was now gone and that made him smile.

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Do they live close by the Ponderosa?" Gertie couldn't resist trying to learn more about these two children, her curiosity about them was growing by the second.

"Not too far from the Ponderosa. Their folks own a small spread about seven miles or so from our east end pasture." Ben was happy to see that something had finally caused Gertie to open up. He was afraid that she wasn't going to speak the whole ride into town, but now that she was once again talkative he wanted to pursue some questions that he had been meaning to ask. "Gertie, have you ever been to school?"

Gertie shied away from Ben and her eyes immediately darted to her feet. "No, Mr. Cartwright, but my Ma taught Ephraim, and he has been teaching me, on Pa's orders and all." Ben had been thinking about enrolling them in school, but was hesitant to do so if they would be moving along sooner than later.

"So tell me about your learning. How much has Ephraim been able to teach you?" Ben needed a better idea of what knowledge the two Callahan children had so that he could relate the information to the local schoolmarm.

"Well, Ephraim is a lot smarter than me, Mr. Cartwright; he had our Ma to teach him. He can read some; he used to practice by reading to me at night. And boy does he know his numbers real good Mr. Cartwright. He can do addition and subtraction right in his head, doesn't even need to write anything down. I think he gets that from our Pa. Pa used to be real good with numbers, but you probably already know that." Gertie gave Ben a weak smile remembering her father's skills. Ben tossed Gertie a wide smile, but he wanted more information, so he pressed her for more answers.

"And you? You've talked a great deal about Ephraim's learning but what about you?" Ben saw the Gertie's cheeks started to fill with red, and it wasn't from the cold. He had embarrassed her by pressing for more information. When she hadn't responded Ben pressed again. "Gertie? I asked you about your skills."

"Umm, they aren't as good as Ephraim's, Sir." She mumbled.

"Can you be more specific please?" Gertie just shook her head, which prompted Ben that he would have to take this in strides. "Alright then, do you know the alphabet?"

"Oh, yes Sir, I do." Gertie answered with confidence.

"Good, good. How about their sounds?" Ben planned to take this one step at a time with her. He had quickly learned that to get anywhere with this child he had to ease into it, or else she would completely shut down, and if that happened it was going to be a very long morning, for both of them.

"Oh, yes, I know them too." She answered beaming from ear to ear.

"Wonderful Gertie. How about your numbers? Do you know how to count?"

"Yes Mr. Cartwright! I can count to 100. Do you want to hear me?" Ben let out a small chuckle.

"No, no child that is quite alright. Can you add and subtract?"

"Some, small numbers. One plus one equals two. And two plus two equals four, and four plus four equals eight, and eight plus." Ben took one hand off the reins and held it up to signal her that was quite enough.

"Very good Gertie. I would say you are off to a very good start young lady." The two rode in silence for a minute or so before Ben added, "You know Gertie you cannot compare yourself to Ephraim, for he is older, remember that." But there was still one more thing that Ben needed to know, could Gertie read? They had beaten around the bush a bit with this, but now that Gertie's confidence level was up about her learning he hope now would be a good time to ask. "What about reading Gertie? Can you read a passage from a book?" Gertie's head dipped low and she suddenly had gotten quiet and still. "Gertie?"

"I'm afraid not very well Mr. Cartwright." Gertie admitted. Ben reached over and patted his hand on her leg.

"Maybe there's something we can do about that huh?" Ben was giving Gertie a crooked grin which in return made her smile back.

"You mean school?" She asked innocently.

"Possibly. I'll put it on my list to do, but until then, I know someone back at the Ponderosa that might be interested in helping you out some."

"I just hope this someone that you're talking about Mr. Cartwright has more patience than Ephraim."

"Oh, don't you just worry none about that little one, the person I have in mind has had plenty of experience with helping with schooling. In fact he has had more schooling than anyone at the Ponderosa." Ben's smile ran from ear to ear. The two had now come to the peak in the road where they could start to see the buildings of the bustling town of Virginia City.

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Ephraim was trying his best to keep up with Little Joe and Adam, but to be honest he wasn't used to riding that much, he did most of his getting around on foot not by horse. And besides being uncomfortable on the horse his health was bothering him as well. He was constantly trying to muffle up his cough and his nose was running like a river. He kept trying to wipe it with the sleeve of his coat so that Little Joe and Adam wouldn't notice, but what he didn't know was the two older boys were actually keeping a much better watch over him than he originally thought.

"Hey Big Brother, have you noticed that Ephraim is lacking behind more so than when we started?" Little Joe had halted Cochise and looked back towards Ephraim and Coco who were at least 6 horse length behind.

"He looking pretty ragged, don't ya think Joe? Maybe one of us should turn back with him. We've almost got these bulls moved to their new grazing field." The two Cartwright boys watched as Ephraim and Coco inched closer.

"It looks like Coco is doing most of the work back there. He's barely got a hold of them reins and he sure is slumping over the horn of the saddle, isn't he? Just what we need to be explaining to Pa. I'm sure he'll love to hear how he fell of his horse." Little Joe was somewhat kidding but when Adam tossed him a look he stopped and tried to be more serious about it.

"Joe, I think I best get him back on home. It was me who convinced Pa to let him come in the first place. Can you handle moving the herd?"

"Yeah, go ahead and take him. I'll be fine. I'll come home right after I get them to the pasture." Joe tried to wave off Adam to reassure him he was fine but Adam was still a bit hesitant to do so.

"I just don't want to leave you shorthanded or anything Joe." Adam was feeling guilty leaving Joe behind to handle these bulls; it could be a dangerous job if you made the wrong move. And knowing Little Joe he wasn't always known for using his head at times.

"I still have Jimpson, and Jonesy. I'll be fine. You go." Adam started to pull the reins to get Sport to turn around but before he did so, he heard Joe's voice. "You do know he's gonna be disappointed about this. He might put up a little fight if you're not careful. Because something tells me he might not go willingly." Before Adam could respond the boys heard hooves of Coco approaching. Adam looked up and then back at Joe.

"Hey Ephraim, you're looking a bit worn, is everything alright? How ya feeling?"

"Oh, everything alright Joe, I'm feeling just fine." Ephraim gave a tip of his hat, but not so much as a greeting, but more so to try to hide his eyes and his runny nose from Little Joe and Adam. But neither Cartwright boys were buying it. Adam gave Ephraim his best Pa eyeball, but Ephraim just turned his head towards the side to avoid it.

"Ephraim, I think we best call it a day. We'll let Joe, Jonesy and Jimpson finish up here for the day." Adam stated while grabbing ahold of Coco's reins.

"No, Adam, please! We almost have the herd moved. I can make it. Please don't bring me back just yet." Ephraim was trying to plead his case but Adam knew better.

"Sorry Kiddo, you can barely sit up in that saddle of yours, and look." Adam said point to Ephraim's jacket. "HopSing's going to have to wash that jacket because you've got so much booger snots all over it. Nope, you and I are calling it a day." Adam dug into his jacket and handed over a bandanna for Ephraim to use. "Here use this." Ephraim reluctantly took it and swiped at his nose real quick, trying not to let on any. He thought if Adam wasn't gone budge then he would try his luck with Joe. Out of the three Cartwright boys, Ephraim had already learned in his short stay at the Ponderosa that Hoss was the easiest, than it was Little Joe, so he tried that avenue next.

"Joe, can't I stay? I promise I won't be no problem. I'll be so quiet you won't even know that I'm here." Ephraim tried straightening himself up in the saddle to prove to the boys that he could make it. Joe gave a weak smile and looked back over to get approval from Adam, but Adam just shook his head.

"Sorry Kid. You should go on home with Adam. We're always working here on the Ponderosa so when you're feeling better we'll have more work for you." Joe felt bad for having to let down Ephraim, but even Little Joe could tell he needed to get on back home and in bed.

"Alright Joe." Ephraim replied sadly. Ephraim was just about to follow Adam when he turned around in his saddle and looked once more time at the heard of bulls. "Maybe tomorrow?" He asked looking back and forth between Adam and Joe.

Adam smiled and gave Ephraim's shoulder a little squeeze, "Maybe tomorrow." And just when Adam was about to say good-bye to Jonesy and Jimpson, Ephraim grabbed at his stomach and lurched forward. "Ephraim?" Adam no more got out the boy's name when Ephraim empty whatever contents were in his stomach from breakfast over the side of Coco.

"Feeling fine my ass." Jonesy commented to the boys.

Adam and the men stayed on their horses trying not to watch Ephraim continue to hurl. When he was bringing up nothing more than bile Adam moved Sport right next to Coco and starting speaking to Ephraim like he was a speaking to a spooked horse. "Ephraim I'm gonna grab you by the waist and pull you on over to Sport. I just need you to let go of Coco's reins." Ephraim managed to give Adam a weak nod. "On the count of three." Adam and Ephraim made eye contact and Ephraim gave another weak nod. "Good, here we go. One. Two. Three." Adam swung Ephraim over onto his saddle with him like he was a sack of potatoes." While Adam was helping Ephraim Little Joe had dismounted from Cochise and grabbed Coco's loose reins and tied them to the back of Sport's saddle.

Once Adam had himself and Ephraim situated Joe gave Ephraim's leg a little pat. "Hope you're feeling better there little buddy. I'll come check on you when I get back."

Ephraim released a weak smile, "Sorry I'm causing so much trouble."

"Oh, you're not causing any trouble. You can't help it none if you're sick. Now get on home so that you can start feeling better." Joe gave Sport a smack on his rump to get them moving. Adam swung his arm around the front of Ephraim and held him tight and kicked Sport into a gallop. He wanted to get Ephraim back to the house sooner than later. They were only ten minutes in before the bouncing up and down made Ephraim yank on Adam's sleeve.

"Adam.. Adam I'm gonna be sick again." Adam had just pulled Sport to a halt when Ephraim tried to empty his stomach over the side of the horse. Not much but more bile came up, but when he bent over he had knocked his hat off and it was loosely hanging from his neck. Adam reached over and gently pushed it back up on his head but when he did his hand grazed Ephraim's forehead and even through his leather gloves he had on he could feel the heat from Ephraim's forehead. Adam whipped off one glove and brought his hand to Ephraim's cheek this time, again nothing but radiating heat. Even as poorly as Ephraim was feeling he tried to swat off Adam's hand.

"Ephraim!" Adam said a bit more roughly than he intended.

"I'm not a baby." Ephraim grumbled.

"Then you shouldn't have told my Pa this morning that you were fine, and besides I need to find out just how sick you are, seeing you're not helping with those details." When Ephraim didn't offer up any more information about how he was feeling, Adam looked back around the boy. "Do you think we can get a moving?" Ephraim nodded. Adam kicked Sport into motion and they trotted off. Ephraim was trying his best to hold it together, but the only thing that felt good was the cool breeze blowing in his face from the speed that Adam and Sport were traveling at. Ephraim's stomach was still feeling uneasy and his nose was still running like a river, and now his ear was started to throb with pain, not to mention that his head was pounding almost as fast as Sport's hooves. Ephraim had done great to hold his own weight but he slowly felt himself leaning back against Adam's chest and slowly his eyelids closed. Anything to help sooth himself he thought. Adam felt the weight hit his chest and pulled on Sports reins to slow them down. As Sport slowed Adam took a peek over Ephraim's shoulder and spotted that the boy had finally given in and allowed himself to actually rest some. Adam let out a small chuckle and moved Sport to continue to go at a nice steady trot. The two arrived within five minutes and were greeted by Charlie and Gabe.

"Hey Adam, done sooner than I thought you would have been." Charlie stepped forward to help stop Sport. But as he did he soon realized Adam wasn't back because work was done, in fact he was back with what looked like an ill Ephraim. "Adam, is everything alright?"

"No, Charlie, I don't think it is. Can you send someone into town and fetch Doc Martin and see if they can find Pa while they're there too. I think Ephraim might have more than just a case of the allergies." Charlie sent Adam a strange look with the mention of allergies, but held Sport steady as Adam shook his head.

"Gabe go mount up and run for the Doc and Mr. Cartwright. Hurry Son." Charlie opened the corral for him to take one of the horses from inside. "Adam what's this with allergies? The boy looks to have something more serious than that."

"Yes, I know that, but it's a long story Charlie. Let's just say Ephraim was ill this morning but when Pa asked him if he was feeling alright he said it was just a case of allergies. Just so he could ride with Little Joe and me." Charlie got it now and chuckled.

"Kids these days can say the darnness things. Here hand him to me." Adam jostled Ephraim awake trying to lift him up from the saddle.

"Huh, what? Pa?" Ephraim seemed a bit disorientated, maybe from the fever Adam thought.

"No, Son, it's me, Charlie and Adam's right here too. Remember you went out moving the bulls this morning with Adam and Little Joe?" Charlie took ahold of Ephraim from Adam and quickly moved towards the house. Adam wrapped Sport's reins around the fence post and followed right in behind Charlie. Once they were to the main door, Adam pushed it open for Charlie and started giving orders.

"Bring him upstairs Charlie. His room's the second door on the left. HopSing!" Adam hollered out through the empty house. "HopSing!"

HopSing came rushing into the grand room holding a dishcloth in his hand. "What's number one son shouting about?"

"HopSing, Ephraim's ill. We need a cool basin of water, probably with an ice block in it. I've sent Gabe for the doctor and Pa. Just bring them up when you have them ready. His fever is high and I want to see if I can't bring it down before the Doc gets here. Also bring some of that salve, it might help sooth him some, or at least help with his cough."

"Yes, yes, I will get it right away." HopSing hustled off towards his kitchen while Adam took the stairs two at a time, not caring one bit about his father's rules of running on the stairs. He reached Ephraim's room where Adam was surprised to see that Charlie had gotten the boy into a nightshirt and into bed.

"Thanks Charlie. I can take it from here." Adam pulled over a chair and sat next to the bed brushing Ephraim's bangs from his face.

"He's awfully warm Adam." Charlie stated spinning his hat in his hands.

"HopSing's coming with a block of ice; I'm going to try to bring it down before Doc gets here. Why don't you go on back to work? If Gabe gets back with the Doc just send him right up."

"Will do. Just holler if you need anything." Charlie paused as he took another look at the very pale boy. He placed a hand on Adam's shoulder and let it stay there for a minute before withdrawing it and himself from the boy's room. He passed HopSing who was coming up the stairs frantically speaking in his native Chinese language. Charlie chuckled not understanding one word of it and continued to move back outside where he resumed his work piling wood for the upcoming winter months.

"Number one son, got the ice as you requested. Let me take a look at boy." Adam moved over to the side and let HopSing move in. Adam had complete trust in HopSing, for HopSing had studied medicine under his father back in China. But his father passed before HopSing was finished with his studies. He had more medical knowledge than anyone else in that house at the moment and Adam trusted him completely. "Has little boy been physically sick?"

"Yes, a few times on the way back to the ranch." Adam confessed.

"Hum. We need to get little boy's fever down. Keep cool cloth on his forehead." HopSing motioned for Adam to do so. "Little boy will be fine in a bit. No worry." Adam released a sigh.

"I hope so HopSing, I hope so."