Guest - Thank you so much! It's fun getting inside the heads of each of the brothers, especially Hoss. He's a blast to write. Hope you enjoy the rest as the mystery gets a bit deeper.

BJ2 thank you so much for your comments! It's great to see a reader not only come back to continue reading, but review as well. It means a lot! Yes, that Adam is always willing to shoulder the brunt of responsibility, isn't he? Stay tuned to see if Joe's right. ;)

Thank you, BettHT. I hope you continue to enjoy it as more parts of the puzzle come into play.

You're right, guest. No body found. But could it mean something else entirely? ;)

It is a sad start to the story, AureaD. Thankfully I've never lost someone like that before, but I'd imagine especially with the boys, it'd take a while to forget and move on.

Thank you, guest!

~CHAPTER 4~

What's keeping them? Adam thought to himself as he got up from his chair and started pacing the length of the veranda, impatiently waiting for his brothers to return with the month's payroll. They were supposed to have been back an hour and a half ago. Adam checked his watch again. No, two hours ago. Something was wrong. He knew his brothers were inclined to spend a little extra time in one of the local saloons before coming back from a trip into town, but never with a ten thousand dollar payroll. No, he knew they would head straight back home. Something had to have gone wrong.

"Hop Sing!" Adam called urgently, turning toward the house.

"You call Hop Sing, Mista Adam?" the cook asked, rushing in and wiping his hands on his apron.

"Yes, I need you to watch the house. Hoss and Little Joe aren't back yet, and I'm going out to look for them," he said, grabbing his coat and buckling on his gun.

"Something happen to Mista Hoss and Little Joe?" the Chinaman asked, worry shining in his black eyes.

"Let's hope not, Hop Sing."

Adam didn't take the customary road that led into Virginia City, but the road his brothers had taken, a little-used road that added about twenty minutes onto the journey, but one they knew to be safer. As he came around a sharp bend, he spotted their buckboard stopped in the middle of the road, the horses standing still. "Oh, no," Adam's heartbeat quickened, and he urged Sport into a faster gallop as he spotted both his brothers lying by the side of the road. He dismounted before the horse had even slowed down and was knelt beside the closer one. He couldn't see any blood anywhere and could feel a steady pulse at his neck. Grasping behind his brother's neck gently with his hand, he called to him trying to bring him around.

"Joe? C'mon, Joe, wake up," he urged.

He was instantly relieved to see Joe's eyes soon flutter open. "Adam. Did... did they get the payroll?"

"Who?"

"The men that jumped us," Joe answered in annoyance, slowly easing himself into a sitting position.

"Easy, Joe."

"I'm fine, Adam. How's Hoss?" he asked as Adam bent over his other brother.

"Already coming around," Adam breathed thankfully.

"Adam?" Hoss said groggily.

"It's alright; you fellas were jumped. Joe's fine," he answered, helping Hoss up and handing him his hat that had been knocked off.

By this time Joe had carefully worked his way to his feet and stumbled to the back of the buckboard. At the base of the bed, in a pile, was the tarp they had used to cover the supplies, and more importantly, the money box. Joe hurriedly started moving sacks and packages out of the way trying to locate the precious box. He quickly found that it was no longer there. "They took the money," he said as Adam and Hoss came to stand next to him. "That was our main reserve for the men, wasn't it?" Joe asked hurriedly. "There isn't any more."

Hoss and Joe both looked at their brother as he shook his head, slowly running a hand over his face. "What happened?" he asked quickly. "Did you see who did it?"

"We didn't see anythin'. We'd just come 'round that blind bend when we heard somebody yellin' fer us to put up our hands and not turn around," Hoss explained.

"Did you recognize the voice at all?"

Both shook their heads no.

"There had to be at least two of them because I think we were knocked out at the same time," Joe reasoned.

"And that's all?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, the next thing I saw was you," he replied, rubbing his neck as he turned his aching head to scan the surrounding hills.

"This don't make sense, Adam. How did anybody know we was takin' this trail today, and even if'n somebody did find it, we didn't tell nobody we was bringin' the payroll back with us. For all anyone shoulda known we was goin' into town fer supplies."

"None of the hands knew?"

"No one except the foreman, Adam," Joe answered.

"N' Charlie's as honest as the day is long," Hoss added.

"I know, I know. Well, it just stands to reason that this is connected with the other accidents happening around here lately, the fire, the rustlers, and now this. All of these setbacks are happening too close together to be coincidence," Adam speculated. His deep hazel eyes looked off into the distance for a few moments before he stated grimly, "And yet the only thing they seem to have in common... is perfection."

"How do yuh mean?" Hoss asked.

"Well, think about it. The fire wiped out all of the timber that we were planning on using for the railway contract. That in and of itself is suspicious because even though it wasn't a very big stand of our overall timber it was the only timber we could've used for that contract because of its type and location. Second was the rustling just five days ago. Three hundred gone just like that, one of the cleanest rustlings I've ever seen in my life. Not a trace, not a clue left. Again, they were the cattle we were just about to drive to market. And lastly, this. We didn't tell anyone about the payroll, and yet here we are, ten thousand dollars poorer, only this ten thousand was gonna to keep us in business for the next three months. It wasn't just money for the hands, it was also money for expenses and supplies."

"That bad, huh?" Hoss asked.

Adam nodded. "I didn't realize before just how bad it was. We were pushing ourselves before all this started happening. Our assets are practically all used up."

"Well, we've just gotta find a way to get back on top," Joe stated. "Maybe sell some land or some of our younger cattle. They won't fetch the same price of course... but at least it's something." Having to be worried about money was something quite new to him. His whole life they had always had enough. It had gotten hard at times, naturally, but never like this. It wasn't that he was worried about having to give up the comforts that he had always enjoyed, but he was afraid... no... more like terrified of losing the ranch... his father's Ponderosa. It was all of theirs, not just Adam's, responsibility to hold onto it for him, but never before did he appreciate just what Adam must feel as much as now.

Adam started a restless pacing between the wagon and the side of the road, his drawn brows indicating that he was deep in thought. "Who?" he finally growled as if to himself, but loud enough for his brothers to hear. "Who would know all of our operations? Down to the last detail it seems they've got us covered on all fronts. The only person that would know..." Adam stopped suddenly, his face becoming dark with confusion and... could it be frustration?

"What is it, Adam?" Hoss asked, concerned.

His question snapped Adam out of his trance-like look. "Nothing, nothing. Forget it," he said before continuing to pace again. "Another thing that's strange about the rustling, big ranches like ours are never the first places hit. Too big an operation. It's always the smaller ones that are targeted first. No, whoever it is is undoubtedly trying to destroy the Ponderosa bit by bit. But why?"

He paused for a long minute before continuing hesitantly, "We... we should keep an eye on all of the hands, even ones that have been with us for a while, just in case. We can't take any chances with anyone anymore. Whoever's doing this has to be working close to home."

"Too close," Joe answered, shivering not just from the approaching evening.

Adam sighed heavily and turned back to the buckboard, "Let's just get this rig home, and we'll start making some inquiries tomorrow."

"What about the hands? How are we going to pay them?" Joe asked.

"We've never once short-changed any of our men and we're not about to start now. We'll pay them for the work they've done for us so far with the reserves in the safe at the house. I just hope it's enough. Then I'm afraid we're gonna have to let them go," he finished with the air of a defeated man.

"Just till things get cleared up," Joe added.

"Yeah. Just till it's cleared up," Adam half-heartedly agreed.

As Adam remounted and he and Joe returned to their seats on the buckboard, Hoss couldn't keep his mind off of Adam's broken-off sentence. The only person that would know... Hoss had an idea of what he would've said, but kept it to himself for fear his brothers would think he was crazy or at least the victim of wishful thinking. That's ridiculous, he thought to himself. Even if, he would never try to destroy our ranch...