After breakfast, Ben walked over to the store with Millie to buy a suitcase large enough to carry Cat's father's sword and hat. She didn't have one for sale in the store but found an old one in the back and gave it to Ben. He offered to pay for it and she said, "There's no charge Ben. It's been sitting around back here for years collecting dust. Just be sure to hug that little girl as often as you can and let her come to visit us every summer."
"I will Millie. Thanks for the case."
They walked back over to the hotel and handed the suitcase to Cat who put the sword and hat in it. "That's a good sized case Cat," said Ben. "Why don't you see if your bow, arrows, and saddle bags will fit in it too? Then you won't have to worry about them getting lost on the trip."
The stage arrived and Adam tied their horses to the back. While the driver was putting their bags on it, Ben picked up Mark, hugged him and said, "If you can manage to keep your Pa out of mischief, I'll let Cat spend two weeks here next summer."
Lucas, Millie, Micah and Mark hugged Cat goodbye. Then Lucas picked her up and put her on the stage and Mark handed the puppy to her. They stood in the street and watched the stage as it drove out of sight.
The trip to Santa Fe took almost three hours. Everytime the stage stopped, Cat took Silver Chief out so he could do his business. He didn't like being on the lead and fought it at first. "I'm sorry Chief but I don't want to have to try and catch you if you take off after a rabbit. When we get to Dodge, you won't need the lead as long as you stay with me, but right now, the stage only stops for a little while, so you have to stay on the lead. You're going to have to stay on the lead when we're on the train too. A lot of people ride trains and if you don't stay with me, you could get stepped on and hurt. Right now, you need to do your business so the stage isn't waiting for us. I don't want Uncle Ben and Adam getting mad at me."
When the stage reached Santa Fe, Cat was amazed. She couldn't believe the size of the city. "Wow!" she exclaimed. "Santa Fe is a whole lot bigger than Dodge and Virginia City. I'd like to see some of it. Do we have time to look around for a little while before the train leaves?"
"I don't know Cat," said Ben. "Let's go over to the depot, buy our tickets and see what time the train leaves. Then we'll know exactly how much time we have." They walked over to the train depot, bought their tickets and checked their luggage. On learning that they had four hours until the train would leave, Ben decided they had plenty of time to get some food and explore the city a little bit. They stopped at a restaurant, ate dinner and bought some food for supper on the train. Then they walked through the city, stopping in several shops. In one shop, Cat saw some very pretty material that she liked. Ben sees her looking at it and asks, "Would you like to have a dress made from that material? You can wear it to church the first Sunday after we get back home. In fact, here's some other pretty material. I know that Thanksgiving is still a long way from now, but if you like it, I'll buy some of it too and you can have a dress made to wear to church on Thanksgiving Day."
Since Cat always wore a dress to church on special days and her first Sunday at the Ponderosa and Thanksgiving Day were special days, Cat said, "Yes please. I would like that very much." Ben was surprised at his daughter's response but didn't say anything. Instead, he asked the shop keeper to please sell him enough of each material to make dresses for Cat.
Cat had never been in a store that large before and while Ben was getting the material, she walked around the store with Silver Chief. Every once in a while, something would catch her eye and she would pick the puppy up and say, "Look at that Chief. Isn't it nice?"
After cutting the material for Ben, the shopkeeper walked over to where Cat was looking at something with Silver Chief. He got down on one knee and petted the puppy. "Young lady, you have done a very good job training your puppy. I have never seen such a well behaved puppy before. However, it looks like his collar is getting a bit small for him."
"Thank you sir. His name is Silver Chief and yes, his collar is starting to get small and he's only had it a few weeks."
"Well, just like children, when they're little like that, puppies grow in a hurry. I have something here you can use to make him a new collar. Wait here and I'll be right back." Then he asked, "Are you and your puppy going to be leaving on the train?"
"Yes sir. We're going to Dodge City."
He walked away and returned with a long piece of braided leather and proceeded to tie it around Silver Chief's neck. "It's nice and long so as he grows, you can just loosen it for him." Then he pulled something out from behind him and gave it to Cat. "I thought you might like a couple of bowls for him to eat and drink out of on the train."
"Thank you very much but I don't have any money to buy these things with."
"You don't need any money for them. They are a gift for you and your puppy. He is very handsome and well behaved, just as you are. Maybe the two of you can come and visit me again in a year or so when you are a little older. I'd love to see what he looks like when he's grown up."
"Thank you very much for the collar and bowls for Silver Chief. If I'm ever in Santa Fe again, I'll come and show you how big he is."
"You are very welcome young lady. It's not very often that such a polite, well behaved child and a well behaved puppy visit my store, so when they do, I like to do something nice for them. Is that your father?" he asked pointing at Ben.
Cat thought for a minute. I guess so. He is my uncle but he adopted me, so I guess that makes him my father now."
"Yes, that does make him your father now and I'm going to go and tell him what a polite, well behaved daughter he has."
The man walked up to Ben and said, "I just wanted to tell you how polite and well behaved your daughter and her puppy are. It is a real pleasure seeing a young child and puppy acting like that. I hope you don't mind, but I gave her some braided leather as a new collar for the puppy and some bowls so he can eat and drink on the train. I can't begin to tell you how impressed I am with her. When I put the leather around the puppy's neck and gave her the bowls, she thanked me for them but said she didn't have any money to pay for them. Most children would have asked their parents for the money, but she wanted to pay for them herself. You should be very proud of her."
"Thank you for telling me how well behaved Catherine and her puppy were while we were in your store. Yes, I am very proud of her and I will make sure that she knows it. Now, we had better be going if she wants to explore a little more before we have to be at the train depot. Thank you very much for giving her the collar and bowls for Silver Chief. That was very nice of you. Will you allow me to pay you for them?"
"No, I won't hear of you paying for them. They are a gift to a very polite, well behaved little girl and her puppy. I don't get many children in my store who know how to behave and I like to reward the ones who do." Then he wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to Ben. "I don't know if you plan on rewarding her for her behavior, but if you do, go to the ice cream shop one block down and give this note to the proprietor."
"Thank you. I will do that. Catherine, we need to leave now."
Cat and Silver Chief walked up to Ben and the shopkeeper. "Thank you again for the collar and bowls for Silver Chief Mr. …"
The shopkeeper got down on one knee and said, "Oh, I am so sorry. How rude of me. We have been talking and I neglected to introduce myself to you. My name is Mr. Miller and I own this store."
"My name is Catherine Cartwright but everyone calls me Cat. Thank you so very much for Silver Chief's new collar and bowls. That was very nice of you to give them to him. If I ever come to Santa Fe again, I will bring him with me."
"I will look forward to your next visit Miss Catherine Cartwright. It was a real pleasure meeting you and Silver Chief."
Ben, Adam, and Cat walked out of the store. Once they were outside, Ben picked Cat up and hugged her tightly. Then he said, "I am so very proud of you. Not only were you polite and well behaved, Mr. Miller told me how you wanted to pay for the collar and bowls yourself. I am very proud of you. We have a little bit of time left before we need to be at the train depot. Would you like some ice cream?"
"Yes please. I would like some very much."
"Well then, let's go and get some ice cream."
As they were walking toward the ice cream shop, Ben read Mr. Miller's note. "George, this little girl is one of the politest, most well behaved children I have ever met and her puppy is also very well behaved. Please give her something special from your shop. Thank you. Michael."
When they got to the ice cream shop, Ben handed the note to the owner who read it. He looked at Cat and said, "Well young lady. You must be a very special little girl. You impressed my brother and Michael rarely gets impressed by children who go into his store. Now, what is your favorite flavor ice cream?"
"Chocolate sir," replied Cat.
"Have you ever had an ice cream sundae?"
"No sir. I don't even know what that is."
"Well then young lady, you are in for a real treat. Now then gentlemen, what would you like?"
"I would like a bowl of strawberry ice cream," said Ben.
"And I would like a bowl of chocolate ice cream," said Adam.
"Thank you very much." Then he bent down to pet Silver Chief. "You sure are a handsome puppy. I'm going to give you a bowl of water and a small scoop of ice cream." Then he looked at Cat. "I have had dogs all of my life. It's ok to give them a little bit of vanilla ice cream once in a while but not too much and not all the time."
"I didn't know that," said Cat. "Thank you for telling me. I won't give him much ice cream and I'll only give it to him on very special days."
"Good for you. Now, make yourselves comfortable and I'll be back with your ice cream in a few minutes." When he returned, Cat's eyes got as big as dinner plates when he set her dish down. It had two scoops of chocolate ice cream with chocolate sauce on them and it was piled high with whipped cream. There was also a cherry on the top and two cookies on the sides. She had never seen anything like that before and wished there was some way to take a picture of it to show all of her friends.
"Thank you very much. That looks wonderful. I've never seen anything like this before. I wish there was a way I could take a picture of it to show all of my friends. I don't think they've ever seen anything like it either."
"You are very welcome young lady. I hope you enjoy it." Then he knelt down by Silver Chief, petted him and said, "And I hope you enjoy your treat too young man."
While the Cartwrights were enjoying their ice cream, a young man of about twenty walked into the shop. The owner greeted him warmly and whispered something to him. He smiled, nodded his head and walked in the back.
Just before they finished their ice cream, the young man walked up to the table with several pieces of paper in his hands and introduced himself. "Hello. My name is Andrew and my father owns this shop. He told me that the little girl has never had an ice cream sundae before and wanted a picture of it. I am studying art and have taken the liberty of drawing some pictures for her." He handed the papers to Cat and she shared them with her father and brother. He had drawn pictures of the sundae, Cat eating it, Silver Chief eating his ice cream, and Adam and Ben eating theirs.
Cat was thrilled. "Thank you very much Andrew. These are very nice. I can't wait to show the picture of the sundae to my friends. They've never had one either. It was delicious and I hope I get to have another one sometime. Silver Chief really liked his ice cream too."
"Thank you Andrew. That was very nice of you. Cat, if you're finished, we need to go. The train will be boarding in about forty five minutes," said Ben.
"Yes, I'm done but I need to use the outhouse."
Andrew chuckled. "We don't have an outhouse in here, but we do have a water closet. Let me show you where it is. When you're finished with your business, just pull that chain." He walked out of the room and pulled the door shut behind him.
When Cat had finished, they left the ice cream shop and started back toward the train depot. As they passed Mr. Miller's store, he came out and said, "Mr. Cartwright, I am very happy you came back this way. Something occurred to me. It's a long ride to Dodge City, even on the train and Miss Catherine is going to need to sleep. I've had this pillow lying around for years. My son and nephew used it when they were boys and we took long trips on the train, but they're both grown now and no longer need it. Please allow me to give it to you. I just need to put a new pillow case on it."
"Thank you Mr. Miller. I accept your gracious offer, which reminds me, I had better buy a blanket for Cat because the train can get chilly at night. Cat, let's go back into Mr. Miller's store and pick out a blanket you like."
Cat found a pretty blanket that had many different colored stripes on it and handed it to Ben. "This is pretty and reminds me of the story from the Bible about Joseph and his pretty coat."
Once again, Ben was astonished. He hadn't realized that Cat had been attending church and Sunday school while she was living in Dodge. "Yes, I can see why it would remind you of that story. It has many colors in it, just like Joseph's coat did. However, I don't think that your brothers are going to get jealous of it the way Joseph's brothers did."
Ben paid for the blanket and Mr. Miller wrapped both the blanket and pillow up for him. They resumed their walk toward the train depot when a woman's clothing store caught Cat's eye. She looked in the window and saw a pretty blue parasol. "I wish I had some money so I could buy that for Miss Kitty. She always says blue is her favorite color and that is a very pretty shade of blue. Maybe when I come here again, it will still be here and I'll have some money so I can buy it."
Adam got down on one knee, took his sister in his arms and said, "Cat, will you please allow me to buy it for you?"
"But I don't know when I'll be able to pay you back."
"That's ok. You don't have to pay me back. This is something that family members do for each other. There have been many times when Hoss and Joe wanted to buy something for Pa but didn't have any money, so I bought it for them."
Cat wasn't sure about what Adam was saying, but she said, "Yes please. Thank you for doing that for me."
"That's ok. Like I said, that is something family members do for each other. Now, let's go and buy that parasol for Miss Kitty." They walked into the store and Adam paid for the parasol. "Now, we can't make any more stops until we get to the depot. If we miss the train, we'll have to wait until tomorrow afternoon for the next one, so we had better hurry."
"I wish Uncle Rip and my Godparents were here. I'd really like to see them again."
"Well, if everything works out the way it should, maybe you'll see them at Christmas. I know that seems a long way away, but you'll be so busy on the ranch and with school, the time will fly by and Christmas will be here before you know it."
"I don't want to go to school. Can't I just stay and do work on the ranch?"
"No you can't. You have to go to school until you're eighteen."
"Yuck. I can't wait until I turn ten."
"What's so important about being ten?"
"When I turn ten, I am going to take Uncle Sam's job. Mark, Laura, Mary, Julie, Peter, and Michael are going to help me and we're going to make Arithmetic go away."
Adam started laughing loudly. When they got outside, Ben asked, "What's so funny?" Adam told him about Cat's plans for when she turned ten and Ben started laughing also.
"Come on my silly girl. Bring your puppy and let's go before we miss our train."
When they reached the depot, Ben put all of their purchases except the food, pillow, blanket and dog bowls in their luggage. Then he walked across the street to a store and bought several newspapers. While he was doing that, Cat took Silver Chief in the grass next to the depot to do his business and Adam took her inside to use the water closet. The train arrived fifteen minutes later. They found seats in the car closest to the stock car so they wouldn't have to carry Silver Chief too far when he needed to do his business. Then Adam took one of the dog bowls, put water in it and put it on the floor under Cat's seat so it wouldn't spill. Several hours after the leaving Santa Fe, Cat started yawning so Ben gave her the pillow and Adam took the puppy into the stock car. When he returned, he put Silver Chief on the seat with Cat and Ben covered them up.
Once Cat was asleep, Adam said, "Matt sure did a good job raising her, didn't he?"
"Yes he did. I was expecting Cat to be her usual wild self but she was the exact opposite."
"Did you notice that she didn't ask for a single thing for herself? I don't think any of us were even close to being that well behaved when we were boys."
"No you weren't. I had to tan your backsides a lot for not behaving in public. I was also impressed by the fact that, except for the dress material, Cat wanted to pay for everything herself. Not many children do that, especially nine year olds. You and your brothers were always asking me for money to buy something. I can remember quite a few times growing up when I asked my father for money to buy something I wanted. And before you ask, yes, I also got my backside tanned many times for not behaving in public. I guess we can safely assume that if Cat acts up in public, she's not feeling well. We'd better get some sleep. She will be up at first light and we're going to need to be well rested."
About two hours after Ben and Adam fell asleep, Cat became restless and called out, "Mother!" Ben was up in an instant and knew what was happening. He immediately changed seats and put his daughter's pillow and her head in his lap. He sat there caressing her head, talking to her in soft, soothing tones, trying to reassure her that she was safe and everything was ok.
A few minutes after the start of Cat's nightmare, Silver Chief began to get restless. Before Ben could wake Adam to take the puppy to the stock car, a woman about his age walked up and asked if Cat was ok. "Yes. I think she's going to be fine," he replied. "Thank you for asking. Her mother was murdered about two months ago and she was standing next to her when it happened. I think she's reliving that night. If you'll excuse me for a minute, I need to wake my son. My daughter's puppy needs to go to the stock car and I don't want to leave her."
"Why don't you let me sit with your daughter while you take care of the puppy? It's been a long time since I had to take care of a little one like her."
"Thank you Mrs. …"
"Wilson. Betty Wilson. I have four children, all grown now. My eldest, Elizabeth, is about the same age as your son and my youngest is twenty two."
"Thank you very much Mrs. Wilson. I really appreciate it. My name is Ben Cartwright. My son is Adam and my daughter is Catherine but everyone calls her Cat."
"You're very welcome Mr. Cartwright. Now you had better take care of that puppy before he does his business on the train seat."
Ben took Silver Chief to the stock car, put him back with Cat when he returned and resumed his seat with Cat's pillow and head in his lap. Mrs. Wilson took Ben's seat next to Adam and said, "I'm sorry that your wife was murdered."
"Catherine's mother wasn't my wife," replied Ben. "She was my younger sister. Cat's father was killed in the war when she was just a baby. When my sister died, I adopted her daughter."
"I am still very sorry for your loss and that this sweet child had to witness her mother's death at such a young age. It was very nice of you to adopt your niece."
"When Catherine was born, I promised her parents that if anything ever happened to them, I would take care of her. I have loved this little girl ever since the day she was born and I intend to do my best to take good care of her. She hasn't had a home and family since her father was killed and now she's going to have one. We're all going to have to make some adjustments. She was raised by one of her father's brothers in Dodge City and had a lot of freedom to pretty much do what she wanted. Now, she's going to have more rules to follow and chores to do. I know that she is going to rebel against having her freedom curtailed, but my ranch is very large and I need to keep her safe.
As you'll see in the morning, Cat is not a typical girl. She is very independent and can practically take care of herself. She would rather be out running with the wild things than sitting still in school. When she was five, she and two of her friends got bored with school, slipped away several times and spent the days fishing. Her father's brothers and I all agree that the only thing that kept her in school was being told she couldn't spend summers on my ranch if she skipped school. Starting next year, Catherine will be spending summers with her uncle in Dodge. He has already told her that if she skips school, she will not be allowed to spend her summers with him. That should keep her in school. Thank you again for sitting with her while I took care of her puppy. If you are not traveling with someone else, you are more than welcome to stay here with me and my family. Now, if you'll excuse me, these two little ones will be up at the crack of dawn and I need to get some sleep."
"No, I am not traveling with anyone else. Thank you for your kind invitation. I gladly accept. I am looking forward to meeting your son and daughter in the morning. I'll go and get my things and be right back." She returned a few minutes later and took a blanket out of her suitcase. Ben put it up on the luggage rack, made sure Cat was covered up and drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, the adults were awake shortly before Cat. Ben introduced Adam and Mrs. Wilson. Cat woke up when Silver Chief started wiggling and kissing Cat's face. "Alright Chief, I'm up. Give me a minute and I'll find somewhere for you to do your business."
"I'll take him," said Adam.
"Why don't you put him inside your shirt?" teased Cat.
"No, I think I'll put him inside your shirt. That will be much more fun."
"Son, if you don't take that puppy to the stock car, the same thing that happened to you at Lucas' ranch is going to happen again," said Ben.
"That would be funny," said Cat. "Keep holding him Adam. I want to see it happen again. I'll write to Mark and tell him as soon as we get to Dodge."
"Little sister, just as soon as I take care of this puppy of yours, I'm going to pick you up, turn you upside down and stick your head in a water bucket."
Cat laughed. "No you won't. People have to drink from those buckets. They'll get mad at you and feel sorry for me."
"Adam, go!" said Ben. "If that puppy wets on you, it will be your own fault. We've been taking him to the stock car so he won't do his business in here and you need to take him NOW!" Adam took Silver Chief to the stock car and Ben introduced Cat to Mrs. Wilson.
"Do we have any food left from yesterday?" asked Cat. "I'm hungry."
"No Kitten. I'm sorry but we ate almost all of it last night. I saved a little bit for your puppy, but that's it."
"Oh. How long until we get to Dodge?"
"We'll be in St. Louis in about an hour," said Mrs. Wilson. "You'll have plenty of time to eat because the train to Dodge won't leave for about ninety minutes. In fact, if the three of you would care to join me, I know of a wonderful restaurant not very far from the train depot where we can all have breakfast."
"Thank you for the invitation," said Ben. "We gladly accept." A few minutes later, the conductor began walking up and down the aisle telling people that they would be in St. Louis shortly. As soon as the train stopped, Ben and Adam began getting their luggage down.
"Would you please get my bags down too?" asked Mrs. Wilson. "I'm staying in St. Louis."
Ben did as he was asked and handed Cat the case containing the hat, sword, saddle bags, and bow and arrows. "Cat, can you manage this case and your puppy? That way I can carry Mrs. Wilson's bags for her."
"Yes, I can carry it and take care of Silver Chief. It's not heavy." They exited the train and started toward the station when Cat exclaimed. "The horses. We can't leave the horses on the train. They can't take care of themselves and somebody will steal them."
"It's alright Cat," said Adam. We're just going to put our bags down over there and then we'll go back and get our horses. Don't worry; we're not going to leave them on the train." They put their bags down and walked back to the stock car where Ginger was acting up because she was afraid to go down the ramp.
Before anyone could stop her, Cat ran up the ramp into the stock car. She started petting her horse and talking softly to her.
The man who was trying to get the horses out of the car scolded her. "Young lady, you could have been seriously hurt. You should never, ever run up to a horse that's rearing like this mare was."
"Ginger is my horse. She would never hurt me. I help Mr. Quint, the blacksmith in Dodge, with the horses all the time. He says I'm so good with them I should become a blacksmith." The man just shook his head. It took a few minutes, but Ginger finally calmed down and allowed the man to lead her down the ramp.
Adam took the reins and waited for the other horses while Ben began yelling at Cat. "Do not ever do that again! You could have been seriously hurt! Ginger could easily have trampled you! You are extremely lucky that you weren't hurt! The next time you put yourself in danger, I will warm your backside but good!"
"That's how I help Mr. Quint all the time. He pays me to help with horses that don't want to have new shoes and won't hold still."
"This is a totally different situation! Quint has the horses tied so they can't rear and hurt you or him! You could have easily been hurt or killed! I am serious. The next time you put yourself in danger, you will have a hard time sitting down when I finish with you! Now, go, take your puppy out in the grass and then wait for me by our bags!"
Cat went to do as she was told. Then Mrs. Wilson said, "Ben, calm down and stop yelling at that child. Catherine obviously doesn't see any difference between what she did today and what she has done in Dodge. After breakfast, when you are calmer, you need to explain the difference to her. Yelling at her is not going to help her understand. You need to talk to her calmly and explain the difference in a way she'll understand. Remember, nine year olds see things in a totally different way than adults do."
While Adam was putting the horses in the corral, feeding and watering them, Ben and Mrs. Wilson walked over to where Cat was sitting on one of the suitcases, talking to Silver Chief. "I don't understand it Chief. Mr. Quint pays me twenty five cents every time I help him with a horse, but Uncle Ben yelled at me for doing the same thing. I don't want to live with Uncle Ben if I'm going to get yelled at every time I do something. I also don't want to have to follow a bunch of dumb rules, like having to ask permission whenever I want to do something or go somewhere. If I wait for someone to tell me I can do something or go somewhere, I'll never be able to leave the house or yard. Even if someone is home, I know they won't let me do anything. I'm tired of being treated like a baby. When we get to Dodge, I'm going to tell Uncle Matt that I don't want to live with Uncle Ben. I'll tell him that I want to stay with him in Dodge and when I'm too old I'll go and live with Uncle Rip. His new quarters even have a bedroom for me. They won't yell at me for doing things I've been doing ever since I was five. They never yell at me, even when I do something wrong. Now it looks like I'm not even going to be able to eat until we get to Dodge and I'm hungry. I should get my bow and arrows out so we could go hunting, but then we'd probably miss the train and Uncle Ben will really be mad at me. The next time we take the train to Dodge, I'm going to have money so we don't have to depend on anyone else." All of a sudden, Cat remembered that she had the money her Godfathers and Rip had given her for telegrams. "I do have some money Chief. We're not going to go hungry. Come on. Let's go and find some food."
Ben heard what Cat was saying to her puppy, sighed, turned to Mrs. Wilson and said, "I'm getting very tired of hearing that child say she's being treated like a baby every time she doesn't get her own way. I've half a mind to put her over my knees and give her a very sore bottom right here and now."
"Ben, did you even listen to she said? She has been helping the blacksmith in Dodge with unruly horses since she was five, so when her horse started acting up, Catherine did what she has been doing for many years now. She does not know the difference between what she has been doing and what she just did. Also, apparently, she's not used to being yelled at when she does something wrong. Believe it or not, it is not necessary to yell at children when they get into mischief. My husband and I never yelled at our children, no matter how much trouble they got into. We explained what they did wrong, why it was wrong and what their punishment was going to be. She thinks you're treating her like a baby because you yelled at her in front of a bunch of strangers. Stop and think about how you were raised. Did your parents yell at you in front of strangers? What about your sons? Did you yell at them in front of strangers or wait until you were somewhere private to let them know of your displeasure?"
Ben admitted that his parents never scolded him in public. "I did yell at my youngest a lot when he was little because he was always doing things that were dangerous and sometimes that was the only way to get his attention, but I never yelled at him in public. So, what do I do now? If I don't do something, it's going to be a very long train ride to Dodge and an even longer two weeks while we're there."
"You need to apologize for yelling at her in front of a bunch of strangers and tell her why you yelled at her. Try and make her understand the difference between what she does in Dodge and what she just did. Let her know that you're angry about what she did but you still love her."
Ben turned around and saw Cat walking away from their luggage with her puppy.
"Where are you going Cat?"
"I'm going to get some food. My Godfathers and Uncle Rip gave me money for telegrams. I'll use it to get some breakfast for me and Chief. I'm going to tell Uncle Matt that I had to use my telegram money to buy breakfast because you were mad at me for helping Ginger and weren't going to let me have any breakfast.
Ben got down on one knee, took his daughter in his arms and said, "First, I need to apologize to you. I should not have yelled at you, especially in public. I was wrong. I was afraid that you were going to get hurt or worse and reacted the wrong way. I know it's hard for you to understand now, but when you're grown up and have children of your own, you will understand what I felt when I saw you go running up to a rearing horse. Second, I never said we weren't going to get breakfast. We just need to wait for Adam. He is taking care of Ginger, Buck and Sport for us. It wouldn't be fair if we ate breakfast and they didn't, now would it? Look, here comes Adam. Now we can all go, get some breakfast."
Just then a young woman about Adam's age and a young man a few years younger walked to the group and greeted Mrs. Wilson. She introduced them to the Cartwrights. "Ben, I would like you to meet my daughter Elizabeth and my son Robert. Elizabeth, Robert, this is Mr. Ben Cartwright, his son Adam, his daughter Catherine and her puppy, Silver Chief. We've been traveling together since Santa Fe and we're on our way to get some breakfast. Would you care to join us?"
"We would love to," said Elizabeth. "Robbie, would you please put Mother's bags in the buggy?" When Robert returned, the two families walked over to the restaurant to get breakfast.