By Doyle (translated by Singingchris)
raydoyle67@aol.com
Joseph
Cartwright, the youngest of Ben Cartwright’s three sons looked proudly into the
corral, leaning his arms above the highest corralboard.
The fragile
white mare stood in the right corner of the corral and snorted. The weight of
its unborn foal was hard to carry.
Suddenly
the young man felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He turned around and looked
into his father’s face. He smiled : “Just a few more weeks to go, Pa!” Ben
Cartwright nodded :
“Yes, Joe.
Fortunately her pregnancy has been not that hard for her.” “I can’t wait anymore! Cochise’s first foal!
It surely will be the prettiest one which has ever been born on the Ponderosa!”
Ben smiled with indulgence. Many good foals had been born on the Ponderosa
Ranch. But this one was something really special for Joe. He loved his stallion
Cochise, which he had got to his fourteenth birthday more than everything else,
and with the birth of the foals, Cochise would show his qualities as a breeding
stallion.
Joe had
been riding around for months, had visited nearly every ranch around until he
found that lovely arabian mare. The price had been unbelievable high. “Are you
kidding ? What a waste of money!”, Adam had asked, as if he had been thunder-strucked,
but Ben had shown understanding for his son’s passion and had given him the
money immediately. Now there had hardly been another topic to talk about on the
Ponderosa for some weeks than the upcoming birth.
Ray Wilson,
the foreman of the cowboys from the
north-willow rode his horse hard unto the ranch yard. Ben’s eyebrows
moved, he feared that maybe there would be a problem. Breathless,
Soon the
four man had crossed the flatland and the landscape got stony and clefted. The
path also became that narrow so that it was only wide enough for one rider.
They were
just going to move around a rock-ledge where a narrow creek was running three
metres below on their left, when Sport, Adam’s horse shyed and kicked after its
behind.
Three
wolves were standing at the rock and looked and growled with fire-blazing eyes.
When Adam had calmed Sport, he drew his gun and shot the first wolve, but the
others could escape.
But Sports
backhooves hit Cochise hard, who stumbled towards the slope. His back hooves
slided and, trying to get his balance back, he fell hard onto his frontlegs and
threw his rider into the creek.
All that had
happened within a few seconds. “Joe!”, Ben screamed frightened when he saw his
son falling. “Take it easy, Pa”, Joe replied when he came up soaked. Ben took
his rope off the saddlepin to throw one end to Joe when he saw the terrified
face of Hoss.
Cochise
still couldn’t manage to get back on his hooves. Meanwhile Adam had also jumped
off his horse and moved quickly to Cochise. He took the bridle and spoke
calming words to him. Cochise breathed heavily and remained lying down.
Carefully Adam touched the frontlegs and turned down his face.
With Ben’s
help, Joe had got up and rushed quickly to his horse. “Cochise!”, he cried out.
Adam spoke no word and got up. Anxiously, Joe looked up to him. Ben and Hoss
held their breath. They all knew, what had to be done now would break the boy’s
heart. Joe’s eyes filled with tears. “Adam! Don’t do this!” Ben moved to his
youngest son and put his arms around Joe’s shoulders. “It has to be done, son!”
Angry and despaired Joe shook his head. “No! He has not broken his leg! No! It
can’t be!” Helpless, Hoss stood next to his brother. Adam came back, holding
his rifle. He checked it and drew the drifle to aim it. Joe moved between Adam
and Cochise. “Adam! You won’t do this!” He raised his fists with hate and
despair in his eyes. “Get outta my way or do it yourself, Joe!”, Adam spoke
calm and seriously. “Cochise’s life cannot be saved. He has broken his
frontleg.”
Hoss came
to his younger brother and begged quietly : “Joe, it has to be done!”
Joe looked
to Adam who was standing there with his rifle, waiting.
He looked
to Cochise, who looked confidently as always in his rider’s eyes.
He looked
in his father’s face. It showed sadness.
Joe felt
like being caught in a nightmare. Suddenly he turned around and ran away as
fast as he could, back to the Ponderosa. He had not been running for a long
time when he heard the single shot. He felt sickness but went on running home.
Away from this terrible scene.
It was
hours after
The next
morning Ben, Hoss and Adam were sitting round the table. No one spoke even a
word. Only Hop Sing tried to bring up a conversation with his employers when he
screamed loudly : “Mistel Caltwlight don’t like Hop Sing’s food ?”, but the
rancher just looked down-right strong into the Chinese’s face. So Hop Sing
better moved into his kitchen to clean the dishes. Joe’s seat was empty.
The
Cartwrights finished their meal without feeling hungry. Adam and Hoss took
their hats effortlessly and were going to leave the house when Joe showed up on
the stairs. Ben hopefully looked in Joe’s face. “Good morning, Joe!”. Joe
ignored his father’s words and looked angrily at Adam. “Eh, Adam ? Did you like
doing it ?”
Although
Joe knew that Adam had done right, it was his temperament which let him say
this offending words to Adam. Ben raised his brows and said strictly : “Joseph!
I don’t want you to talk to Adam in that way! He only did what had to be done!”
Joe
shrugged, but didn’t reply. He turned around and shut his door loudly. Ben
looked sadly. “I think time will help him to get over it.”, Hoss said. Ben
nodded. “Yes, I hope so.”
“Let’s get
going!”, Adam said and went onto the frontyard. Joe words had hitten him hard,
but he could understand his younger brother very well. It would take time to
wash away the pain over the loss of his beloved Pinto. Until then Adam would be
a “Red cloth” to Joe.
The
following weeks had not been easy for the Cartwrights. Joe went around quietly
like a ghost and avoided any conversation with his family. When he talked to
Ben and Hoss at least about the work which had to be done on the Ponderosa,
Adam was completely ignored by him. Furthermore, he hardly ate and became
skinny and pale-faced. Ben felt more and more worried but Joe still did not
want to talk about the things which had happened in the mountains. The only thing
which was in his mind was the white arabian mare, where he spent hours and
hours.
It was one
evening when dark clouds gathered around and made the sky dark. A storm was
coming from the plains of the Sierra and Ben ordered to tighten all loose
things which could be blown away. It was already dark when the storm came down
on Ponderosa. The old pine tree behind the mainhouse cracked in the sharp wind.
Ben, Adam and Hoss were sitting in silence in the living-room and Joe was
sitting (as usually during the last weeks) alone in his room.
Suddenly
the three men in the living-room heard a high-pitched neighing. Immediately
they got up and hurried to get out of the house. The sounds came out of the
stable where the white mare had been. Adam was the first to enter. The mare lay
down in the hay, breathing and sweating heavily. “Oh, what a wonderful moment
to give birth to a foal. This horse is almost as stubborn as Joe. This
statement resulted in an amused look from his young, but big brother, Hoss.
Adam raised his shirt’s sleeves and examined the horse. “The foal does not lie
as it should” he said when he touched the horses belly. Ben groaned, had Joe’s
bad luck not yet come to an end ? Behind him, Joe entered the stable. Adam
looked straight into Joe’s eyes. The message got clear : If he wasn’t able to
turn the foal, it and its mother both would die in pain. And Adam wouldn’t let
die horse in pain. Joe held his breath and nodded an OK to Adam, so he started
to try and turn the foal.
The night
got long and the storm blew hard around the stable. Adam worked restlessly,
trying to put the foal in the right direction. With one hand he carefully moved
the foal’s legs within his mother’s belly. Quietly he told Joe when to push
certain body parts of the mare from outside. Then it was finally done. In the
light of the petroleum lamp two little hooves could be seen at the mare’s
uterus. Soon a small head followed. Just one more little effort by the mare,
and in the hay there lay a small Pinto-stallion, which almost was his father’s
look-a-like.
Exhausted
but happy Joe watched the little stallion trying to get up on his legs and he
helped him wandering to his mother and finding the udder. Joe gave Adam a shy
smile. He felt great thankfulness for Adam for he had been able to save both
the mare and the foal, although it would still take him a long time to get over
the loss of Cochise. But here he saw the successor of Cochise, standing in the hay and drinking
his mother’s milk. Cochise would live on in him. Joe still watched the small
foal for a long time, while his familymembers moved quickly into the mainhouse
to have breakfast.
The foal
was a little bit more fragile than his father, but that was the cause of his
mother’s Arabian blood. In distant
future it would carry Joe through the prairie and would be the same good friend
for him as Cochise had been.
The end!