They walked into the kitchen and discovered that once again, Hop Sing had anticipated what a family member would need. He had made a fresh pitcher of lemonade and was just taking chocolate cookies off a baking sheet and putting them on a plate. "Go get glasses and sit at table. I bling cookies and lemonade in a minute."

After they finished their cookies and lemonade, Adam looked at Cat and asked, "Do you feel better now?"

"Yes."

"Good because I was going to have to tickle you if you said no. Now, let's go clean those fish and get your chores done. Then we'll sit and talk about why I was upset that you were so late getting home. You're not in trouble, so don't worry about our talk because all we're going to do is sit in the rocking chair and talk. However, if you rock so hard that we fall over backwards, I'm going to have to tickle you until you wet your pants." Cat giggled. "That's a sound I like hearing from my Wild Cat. Now let's take care of those fish and the chores because if they're not done before Pa gets home, I'll get in trouble. I know you wouldn't want Pa to spank me because my chores weren't done, now would you?"

"It would be funny."

"Come on Scamp before I decide to toss you into the trough just for fun."

"You can't toss me into the trough because today's only Friday and I don't have to take a bath until tomorrow night."

"Well, we'll just have to see about that, won't we? Hop Sing, is there any rule in this house that says a child can't have two baths in a week?"

"No. Children get dirty, children have bath even if it every day. You put Missy Cat in trough, make sure she dry before coming back in house. Go clean fish before they spoil."

After the fish were cleaned, Adam said, "Go ahead and fill Hop Sing's wood box. I'll start on the barn chores while you're doing that." When Cat walked into the barn, she saw that Adam had Sport's, Beauty's and Lady and Fury's stalls mucked out and was starting to put fresh bedding down. "Go ahead and put grain in all three of the stalls. Then I'll take you up into the hayloft and you can help me push some hay bales over the edge. I'll just have to hang onto you so you don't go over with the bale. Pa would kill me if anything happened to you because I took you into the hayloft."

"In that case, maybe I'll hop on the hay bale as it goes over the edge. It would be fun to ride it down and even more fun watching Pa kill you."

"Look Squirt. I can still put you in the trough. Hop Sing just said I had to make sure you were dry before letting you back into the house. So after I put you in the trough, I can put you on a shelf in the smokehouse to dry."

"Yeah you can, but Pa and Hop Sing will get mad at you ifn you leave me in there too long."

"Cat, you have got to stop talking like Hoss. I don't know why Pa has allowed him to talk that way for so many years. You are a little girl who is going to grow up to be a lady and ladies don't talk the way Hoss does."

"That's dumb. People should be able to talk however they want ta."

"Sorry kiddo but that's not the way it works. Polite ladies use proper grammar. Now that the chores are done, let's go sit in the rocker on the porch and have a little talk about going fishing after school." They walked over to the porch and Adam sat down in the rocker and pulled Cat into his lap. "First of all, you're not in trouble because this is something nobody thought to tell you. It is very important that you come home right after school and not stop to go fishing. Stopping at the Ingalls or Devlins for a little while is fine but fishing takes too much time. I was very worried about you and was getting ready to look for you when Mrs. Warren drove into the yard."

"Why? I always went fishing after school in Dodge and Uncle Matt didn't care."

"I was getting to that. It takes almost two hours to get to town from here and a lot can happen on the road. If you're not home at a reasonable time after school is dismissed for the day, we start to worry and think something bad may have happened to you. Can you imagine how worried I would have been if I had ridden all the way to the school and couldn't find you? I would have been imagining all of the bad things that possibly could have happened to you and would have gone to Roy's office and asked him to get a posse together to search for you. Roy loves you as much as we do and he would have been out of his mind with worry. So would Paul Martin. He probably would have joined the search too. Pa would have been frantic too. So would Hoss and Joe."

"But why would everyone be worried about me? I can take care of myself."

"Not necessarily little one. What if a rattler or a cougar spooked your horse and he threw you and you hit your head on a rock? What if it started raining real hard and your horse slipped and pinned you under him? I know you think you can take care of yourself but nobody can take care of themselves all the time."

"I pretty much been takin' care of myself since I was a little kid. I even rode my pony out to the Tanner's all by myself when I was five. When Uncle Matt wasn't around and everybody else was busy, I had to take care of myself. I don't need anyone else taking care of me."

"That's where you're wrong little sister. We all need someone to take care of us once in a while. We take care of Pa and Hop Sing and they take care of us. That's what it means to be part of a family. What would you have done if Hop Sing and I hadn't been here to keep Mrs. Warren from hurting you this afternoon?"

"I would have shot her with an arrow. Maybe it woulda got 'fected and she would have had to go away forever."

"The word is infected. Your bow and arrows are in the house and so were your puppies. What would you have done if she had used her whip on you again?"

"I woulda done like I shoulda done at church that day. I woulda run at her and knocked her over and hit her and kicked her and bit her until she stopped bein' mean. She's a mean, nasty lady and it's time someone started bein' mean to her. The next time she tries to hurt me, I'm gonna hurt her bad."

Adam smiled at Cat's description of what she would do to Mrs. Warren the next time the old lady attacked her, knowing full well it was just talk. "Ok. You would defend yourself against Mrs. Warren but how would you help yourself if a rattlesnake or other wild animal frightened your horse and he threw you and you got hurt?"

"I guess maybe I might need somebody to help me then."

"Yes you would need somebody to help you. If we didn't love and care about you, we wouldn't worry if you were late coming home and you could lie in the road for a day or more before anyone found you. Nobody wants that to happen to you."

"Oh ok."

"The reason it was ok for you to go fishing after school when you lived in Dodge is because the pond you fished in is close to town. If you were hurt or had become sick, somebody would have found you right away and taken you straight to Doctor Adams. I'm not saying that you will never be allowed to go fishing after school but you need to ask Pa if you can. That way we'll know where you are. Until you get better at telling what time it is by the sun, Pa will probably tell you that if you are going to fish after school, you'll probably have to do it in the pond here on the ranch. That way somebody can come and get you when it's time for supper. You know how much Hop Sing hates it when anybody is late for a meal. Right now, you had better go and start on your homework. What are you supposed to do for Monday?"

"Reading, grammar, history and arithmetic. And I have a grammar test on Monday."

"Well then you'd better get busy. I'll help you if you need it. Also, I think there's a black colt somewhere on this ranch that is looking for you. You had better go and find him before he thinks you don't love him any more."

Cat grabbed a brush, curry comb, and her saddle bags and ran off to see Fury and do her homework. When Ben got home, Adam told him that Cat's homework might not be finished before supper because she had gone fishing after school. He also told his father about Mrs. Warren being there and threatening Cat. "It took me thirty minutes to get Cat out of her wardrobe and calmed down. I wanted to rip that woman limb from limb and feed her to the vultures."

"I understand son but think about how sick the poor vultures would get if you did that. Then Hoss and Cat would be angry at you because they would have to take care of a bunch of sick buzzards." Father and son shared a laugh. "Where is your sister now?"

"She's out in the pasture with Fury. I told her not to worry if she doesn't get her homework finished tonight. She was very frightened and since it's Friday, I didn't see any need in pressuring her to finish it tonight."

"I agree with you. I'm going to ride into town after breakfast and talk to Roy about Millicent coming out here when the judge ordered her to stay away from the Ponderosa and your sister. Maybe I'll see if Cat wants to come with me and spend some time on the King ranch. I know that she and Jasper are friends. In fact, I think I'll stop at the Devlin ranch on the way."

That night, Cat had her worst nightmare since Mrs. Warren's trial. It took the family almost an hour to get her calmed down before she fell asleep in Ben's bed.

On the way to town the next morning, Ben and Cat stopped by the Devlins where Mitch told them that his parents and brother had gone out to the Kings. He said he had chosen to stay home so he could work with their new stallion. When they reached the King ranch, they were greeted warmly by everyone there. Ben and Cat greeted everyone in return and then she, Mike, and Jasper went outside to play. Then Ben said, "Millicent Warren came out to the Ponderosa yesterday and threatened Cat. Adam said it took him thirty minutes to get her out of her wardrobe and calmed down. Last night, she had the worst nightmare she's had since the trial."

"What in the devil was that woman doing out at the Ponderosa when the judge specifically told her she wasn't allowed to go out there without an invitation? What is wrong with her?" asked Mr. King.

"She told Adam she was soliciting donations for the church and parsonage roof fund. Apparently she doesn't think she has to abide by the rules. You heard her in court – blaming Cat for her actions. I'm on my way to see Roy and file a formal complaint against the woman. That brings me to the reason for my unannounced visit. I would like you to allow Michael and Jasper to bring their slingshots to school. If Millicent goes to the school, she could easily hurt Cat before anyone could get Roy or Clem. If you agree, I'm going to have both boys promise right here and now that the slingshots will remain in their saddle bags unless Millicent shows up at the school."

"I think it's a good idea," said Mr. Devlin. "Well Ted, what do you think?"

"I agree Dan. I know that both boys can be trusted to keep their word so I am going to allow Jasper to take his slingshot to school unless Millicent is in jail."

Before the conversation could continue, they heard a loud shout from outside. The adults rushed outside to find Mike laughing as hard as he could while Jasper and Cat rolled around on the ground, laughing the entire time."

"What is going on here?" demanded Mr. King.

"Don't worry Mr. King," replied Mike. "They're not fighting. They're wrestling. I told Jas how Cat pinned Mitch Harris and Jas said that Cat couldn't pin him. So they decided to have a wrestling match. To be honest, I don't think either of them is going to win. They've been going at it for a while now and neither one can stay on top long enough to pin the other."

About five minutes after the adults went outside, Cat and Jasper rolled over on their backs. "I don't know about you, but I'm beat," said Jasper. "Say, you wrestle pretty good for a girl.

"Yeah, me too. Thanks. You're a pretty good wrestler too," replied Cat. "Hey Mike, how about giving us a hand up? I think we're both too tired to get up by ourselves."

Mike tried pulling both of his friends up at the same time only to have them pull him down onto the ground. The three children sat their laughing, oblivious to the adults standing there laughing at them. "I wish Pete and Mike Tanner were here," said Cat. "They're my best friends in Dodge and you'd like them a lot. They're lots of fun to be with and they love to go fishing as much as we do."

"I'm glad that they're not here," said Ben. "One of you is all I can take right now. Three of you would drive me insane."

"Why? We're not bad."

"Dr. Adams calls the three of you the Three Musketeers of Mischief and after spending two weeks with the three of you together in Dodge, I learned why."

"I don't know why Doc would say that. We didn't get into too much trouble."

"Oh no, you didn't get into much trouble. You just gave your Uncle Matt more gray hairs than he should have even considering his job. Shall I remind you of some of the things the three of you did? Let's see now, I believe that three young children climbed the water tower in Dodge at least once. Then there were the times when a certain five year old rode her pony out to the Tanners alone without telling anyone where she was going. Oh yes, I also seem to remember three five year olds skipping school to go fishing and lying about it at least three times."

"That's 'cause school is dumb and boring. Fishing is lots more fun. I only stopped skipping school 'cause Little Joe said I could come here at Easter and Christmas if I didn't go to school. I shouldn't have to go to school any more 'cause I live here now. I can just work with the horses on the ranch. Mr. Quint says I'm real good with horses and will be a good blacksmith."

All of the adults laughed at Cat's logic. "Sorry Kitten. We've talked about this before. You have to attend school until you're eighteen. Besides that, I seem to remember Matt and Rip saying you had to attend school or you wouldn't be allowed to visit them in the summer. Besides that, I thought you wanted to take President Grant's job when you turned ten. If you don't stay in school, you won't be able to do that because you won't know enough. Remember, he told you that you have to know a lot of arithmetic in order to be president."

"Ok. I'll stay in school for now but as soon as I turn ten and take Uncle Sam's job, I'm not going to school any more."

"Of course you won't. You'll be much too busy running the country to attend school. Now on a different topic, Jasper, Michael come here please." Both boys walked up to Ben. "I'm sure that Catherine has told you that Mrs. Warren came out to the Ponderosa yesterday and threatened her." The boys said that Cat had told them. "I am concerned that Mrs. Warren may go to the school and try to harm Catherine. If your fathers agree to let you take your slingshots to school, will you promise all of us right here and now that you will leave them in your saddle bags unless Mrs. Warren goes to the school?"

"Yes sir, Mr. Cartwright," said Mike.

"We'll even tell Miss Winter that we have them and show them to her," said Jasper. "That way if someone uses one at school, she'll know it wasn't either of us."

"Thank you boys. I'm on my way to see the sheriff now. I'll let you know at church tomorrow if you'll need them on Monday. Come on Cat. We need to get to town before it gets too late."

"Ben, why don't you let Cat stay here while you go to town?" asked Mr. King. "If Cat is in town, there's always the possibility of an encounter with Millicent. She has already been here asking for a donation so there's no reason for her to come back."

"I don't know. This particular Cat is quite wild."

"Ben, I am completely capable of handling a Wild Cat. So is Dan. Remember, we are both raising boys. One Wild Cat will be no problem at all. If the Cat gets too wild, all we have to do is turn it upside down and tickle its feet. I've never met a Wild Cat that couldn't be tamed that way. Now go to town and talk to Roy. When you come back, meet us at the pond. We're going to have a picnic dinner and do some fishing and swimming. I'm sure that Betsy still has some of Jasper's old things Cat can swim in. Now scoot so you can get back here before these three children eat all of the food."

"Alright, I'll see you after I finish talking to Roy. Cat, can I have a hug before I go?"

Cat thought for a few seconds and said, "No because I left them all at home."

"Scamp! Just for that, I am going to tickle you until you can't stand up any more and you are going to ride home facing backwards." Cat giggled and pretended to walk away from Ben. Then she turned around, ran to him and hugged his neck causing everyone to laugh. "Not so hard scamp. I need that neck. Now I know why your Godparents warned me to be careful of my neck around you. I'll be back after I talk to Roy. Try and stay out of mischief while I'm gone."

"That's no fun."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't sell you to the highest bidder."

"'Cause Hop Sing would quit and go back to China. Then Hoss would starve to death because Hop Sing wouldn't be there to cook for him."

The women could tell that Ben really didn't want to leave Cat behind. Finally Mrs. Devlin said, "Ben you need to go now. Roy can't do anything until you file your complaint. Cat will be fine. We're not planning to eat her or anything. Now go." Ben mounted Buck and rode off, reluctantly leaving Cat behind.

"Before I find you some of Jasper's old things to wear while swimming, why don't you introduce your puppies to us?" asked Mrs. King. "We've seen them in church with you and when Michael visits, he can't stop talking about them." Cat introduced her puppies to the Kings and followed Mrs. King into the house while the boys threw sticks for the puppies to chase.

Ben rode into town and walked into Roy's office. "I've come to file a complaint. Millicent Warren was out at the Ponderosa yesterday and threatened Cat."

"I've been expecting you. She complained to Paul and Reverend Long about the way Adam treated her and they told me she had been out there. I've got the form all ready for you to complete. As soon as you do and sign it, I'll go and arrest her and tell her lawyer. She's going to pitch a fit but it's her own fault. The judge told her to stay away from the Ponderosa and Cat but she decided to go out there anyway. I'll keep her locked up for the rest of the weekend and the judge can decide what he wants to do with her on Monday. In fact, I think I'll wait until Monday to tell her lawyer that she's locked up. There's no law that says I've got to disturb people on the weekend. She can sit and stew until Monday for all I care. The problem is that I'm going to have to listen to her complaining until I take her to the judge."

"I'm sorry you're going to have to listen to her complain. Why don't you come out to the Ponderosa for supper tonight? That will give you a break for several hours."

"I'd love to Ben but it's Saturday and all of the ranch hands got paid and I wouldn't feel right leaving Clem to deal with all of them himself. Before you ask, yes, Ponderosa hands get just as rowdy as the rest of the bunch when they've had too much to drink. I may take you up on that offer tomorrow night though."

"Anytime Roy. You always have an open invitation. I'd better be getting back. I left Cat at the King's. The Devlins were there too so there's no telling what kind of mischief those three kids are up to."

"Be honest Ben. You know as well as I do that Dan and Ted can handle any mischief those three youngins can get into. You're being overprotective of Cat again. You didn't want to leave her with the Kings and Devlins but they talked you into it. Even though you knew full well there was an excellent chance of running into Millicent, you wanted to bring Cat to town with you today. Are you planning on riding in with her on Monday morning when she goes to school? When are you going to stop being overprotective? When she gets married and has children? Or are you even going to let her court? You know as well as I do if you don't loosen up on the reins soon, she's going to resent not having any freedom. When that happens, you're liable to wake up one morning and find her gone. Right now, you do need to get back to the Kings. The danger isn't in what kind of mischief Cat and the boys will get into. The danger is that your daughter is with two women who would give their eye teeth to have a little girl to fuss over. They may decide to keep her for themselves."

Ben laughed. "They won't keep her long. As soon as that Cartwright temper starts to flare, they'll be all too happy to send her back home."

"Don't be too sure of that. Cat will be so spoiled that her temper may never show itself."

Ben pretended to be horrified. "Oh no! You don't think they're going to try and tame the Wild Cat, do you? You know I can't let that happen. The rest of the family will kill me if the Wild Cat gets tamed. What will I do if the Wild Cat becomes just a Cat?"

Roy laughed at Ben's feigned outrage. "You would have a lot fewer gray hairs and get more sleep at night. Go and rescue your daughter before those women tame her. I'll see you in church tomorrow." After Ben left, Roy looked for his deputy and found Clem sitting outside the office reading the paper. "Come on Clem. Ben signed a complaint. We have to go and arrest Mrs. Warren. She was out at the Ponderosa yesterday and threatened Cat."

Clem looked up from the paper and sighed. "What is wrong with that woman? The judge specifically told her to stay away from the Cartwrights and Cat in particular. He also told her she was not to go out to the Ponderosa without an invitation. Has she completely taken leave of her senses? Why did she go out there?"

"She was collecting donations for the church and parsonage roof fund."

"Surely Reverend Long didn't send her out there."

"No he didn't. He was very upset when she complained to him and Paul Martin about the way Adam treated her. He never asked her to go around collecting funds for the roofs. She just took it upon herself to do it like she always does. According to her, she's the only one who is capable of collecting money for the church."

"I swear that woman is the biggest busybody this town has. The only reason she goes around collecting money for the church is because it gives her a chance to be nosy. Well, let's go and get her. Although I must confess that I'm not looking forward to having her here for the rest of the weekend and possibly even longer."

"I'm not either, but unfortunately it goes with the job. Well, let's go and get her. We can tell the judge, her lawyer and the prosecutor after church tomorrow. It won't hurt to let her stew in her own juices for a while. Besides that, the judge won't do anything until Monday." They walked over to Mrs. Warren's house and Roy knocked on the door. When she opened the door, Roy said, "Millicent Warren I am placing you under arrest for violating the judge's orders to stay away from the Cartwrights. Mr. Cartwright came into town a little while ago and signed a complaint. You were out at the Ponderosa yesterday in direct violation of the judge's orders and you threatened Catherine Cartwright. Get your Bible and needlework and come with us. You will see the judge on Monday."

"How dare Benjamin sign a complaint against me! I was collecting money for the church and parsonage roof fund. I should file a complaint against Adam for the way he spoke to me. As for the brat, it went fishing instead of coming straight home from school. Somebody had to do something about it as Adam certainly was not going to."

"I don't care what you were collecting money for. You were ordered to stay away from the Cartwrights and the Ponderosa. If you want to sign a complaint against Adam for ordering you off his family's property, that's your right but I can guarantee you that the prosecutor will just throw it in the trash. You were on Cartwright land without permission and against judge's orders. The Cartwrights have every right to tell someone to leave their property. How they discipline Catherine for breaking the rules is none of your business. Ben is perfectly capable of taking care of his daughter. Now get your Bible and needlework and let's go. I don't have time to stand here discussing the Cartwrights with you." Mrs. Warren kept complaining and Roy finally said, "Either you can get your Bible and needlework and come with us on your own or we will be forced to carry you or we can get some men from the saloon to carry you and then you can spend your time sitting in a cell with nothing to keep you occupied until the judge decides to see you. Now which is it going to be? Consider yourself lucky. My prisoners don't normally get to bring anything into the cell with them but the judge allowed you to have your Bible and needlework. Now let's go. I'm tired of wasting time standing here listening to you."

Mrs. Warren refused to move, so Roy and Clem each took her by an elbow and carried her out of her house, toward the jail. She was not a lightweight woman and kept kicking both men, trying to get away from them. A couple of cowboys came out of the saloon and watched Roy and Clem trying to take Mrs. Warren over to the jail. "Hey sheriff," said one of them. It looks like you've got a live one there. How come you're taking her to jail?"

"She defied the judge's orders, went out to the Ponderosa yesterday and threatened young Catherine while she was there."

The two cowboys looked at each other and the second one said, "We'll help you sheriff. We kinda like young Cat Cartwright. She's a cute kid and didn't deserve what that woman did to her. It don't matter to us if she kicks or not. We've been kicked by steers and broncs. One ornery lady ain't gonna make much difference. Come on Tom. Lend a hand." The two men relived Roy and Clem of Mrs. Warren and carried her over to the jail and put her in the cell Roy indicated.

"Thank you men," said Roy. "Clem and I greatly appreciate your help. I think my shins are going to be sore for a week. I'll buy each of you a beer if you want to meet me at the Bucket of Blood later."

Clem walked in carrying Mrs. Warren's Bible as the two cowboys were leaving. "I figured I'd bring her Bible to give her something to do besides complain while she's here. I also closed and locked her door. That way nothing will be stolen while she's here." He handed the Bible to Mrs. Warren who demanded he go back and get her needle work. "You had your chance to get it while we were at your house. Now you can just wait until after you see the judge on Monday to see what he wants to do with you."

After locking Mrs. Warren in a cell, Clem and Roy decided to walk around the town so they could get away from her complaining for a while. Roy walked past the White's where he found Annabel in the yard, refusing to do her assigned chores. "Mama said I didn't have to do any of this nasty stuff so I'm not going to do it!"

"Young lady," said her father. "You have just earned yourself another two days of restriction and are very close to going over my knees again. The hen house needs to be cleaned out and fresh nesting material put in the nesting boxes. The chicken coop needs to be raked out and the rugs need to be beaten. If you don't fix your attitude in a hurry, you are going to be on restriction until after Christmas and your birthday. You will not get your Christmas or birthday presents until your restriction is over. You will not have a birthday party either and except for church, will spend Thanksgiving, Christmas, and your birthday alone in your bedroom. Your meals on those days will also be eaten in your bedroom rather than with your mother and me."

Roy walked up to them and said good morning. Then he said, "Young lady, I just heard you arguing with your father about doing some chores he assigned you because you were caught stealing. You don't know how lucky you are. I heard about everything you stole and I can guarantee you that if you were older, instead of being punished by your father, you would have gone on trial and the judge probably would have sent you to prison for several years. Trust me when I tell you that whatever chores your father wants you to do are much better than what you would endure in prison. Before you ask, although states do not send young children to prison, they do send them to homes for wayward children and those homes aren't much better than prison. I highly recommend you think about what I just told you, listen to your father and do whatever he wants you to do." Roy said goodbye and continued walking around the town.

"I don't care what that mean old sheriff said. Mama said I'm her princess and I don't have to do your nasty chores if I don't want to!"

Mr. White sighed. "Annabel Marie, I did not want to start Saturday out by giving you a spanking but unfortunately that is exactly what is about to happen. We have talked before about your attitude and speaking to adults, including me and your mother, respectfully. You are being disobedient and disrespectful and I am not going to tolerate it. I fail to understand why it is necessary for me to spank you before you will do your assigned chores. Let's go. We are going to continue this discussion in the barn."

Ben rode back out to the King ranch where he found his daughter taking a turn on the rope swing that was hung by the creek. Even though he knew it was perfectly safe and all three of his sons had used rope swings many times, his first instinct was to pull her off of it, scold her, take her home and punish her for putting herself in danger. Mr. Devlin saw the look on Ben's face and, guessing what he was about to do, stopped him. "Ben, all three of your sons have used rope swings and you were fine with it. You know as well as I do that the swing is perfectly safe and Catherine is in no danger. Why do you want to spoil her fun? Yes, you can stop her and take her home if you want to, but she will resent it."

"Because she's just a little girl and has already been hurt too much in her young life. I need to keep her from ever getting hurt again. I thought I was ready to start letting her have more freedom until Millicent showed up on the ranch and threatened her. Now, I just want to keep her by my side at all times so I can protect her."

"I understand what you're feeling but stop and think about what you would be doing to that precious little girl. Ask yourself if she would be happy staying by your side all the time. Instead of letting her ride her horse to school, she would have to ride in the buggy with you and all of the other children would laugh at her. Is that what you want? If it is, I guarantee you will lose her."

"You're right of course Dan but that doesn't stop me from wanting to wrap her in cotton wool and put her on a shelf until she's all grown up."

Mr. Devlin laughed. "Good luck doing that. From what I've seen of that little girl, you wouldn't even get one wrap around her before she would be off and running. Besides that, I think your sons and Hop Sing would have something to say about your plans also."

"You're right. I surrender. I guess I'd better go and let her show me how far out she can swing on that thing."

"Now that's a good plan. We're about the same size, so I brought some clothes you can swim in. I had better warn you, I'm quite certain that all three children expect to see you, Ted, and myself use that rope too."

"That's just great. I haven't used one of those things since Joe was a boy. Why do I get the feeling that I'm the one who is going to need to be wrapped in cotton wool before this day is over?"

Ben tied his horse with the others and walked over to where the ladies were sitting with their feet in the water. Cat spotted him and said, "Hi Pa. Are you going to use the swing too?"

Ben laughed. "I'm not so sure Kitten. It might not be strong enough to hold me and I don't want to break it."

"It's plenty strong Pa. Mr. King and Mr. Devlin have already used it. So have Mrs. Devlin and Mrs. King. I'll bet that Hoss, Adam, and Joe could all use it together and it wouldn't break."

The ladies laughed at the expression on Ben's face. "Well Ben," said Mrs. King. "You seem to have been outmaneuvered by a nine year old. What are you going to do now?"

"The only thing I can do. Surrender, change into the clothes Dan brought for me and try to keep from killing myself on that swing."