SONS OF THE FATHER
Ben rode into the yard, tired after
a long
day in the saddle. He was
looking forward to an hour with a
good book,
resting in the main room
of his beautiful home, before
enjoying
supper, with his three boys.
The sight that greeted him, as he
arrived in
the yard, put all
thoughts of relaxing out of his
mind. He
pulled his gun out of his
holster and pointed it at the three
men, one
of whom was holding onto
his youngest son, Little Joe, and
another
who was doing the same to
Hop Sing.
The third man spoke.
"Drop your gun, Mr Cartwright, or my
son will put a bullet through
your boy's pretty head."
Ben could see that all three men
were
holding sidearms, and that the
one holding Joe had the gun pressed
into the
side of the boy's head.
There were several bruises on both
Joe and
Hop Sing's faces,
indicating that they had put up a
struggle,
before being taken
captive.
Ben dropped his gun, realising that,
for
now, there was nothing else
he could do.
"What do you want?" he said.
"Let my son and my cook go, and then
maybe we can talk about what's
brought you
here."
"All in good time, I will tell you
what
we want, Cartwright," said
the man, who was obviously the
leader.
"I know that you are very used
to being the one giving the orders,
but this
time I am in charge and
I call the shots, understood? If you
don't
do exactly what I tell you
to do, then I will have my boys
shoot your
boy and then your cook.
Now, let's all go inside and make
ourselves more
comfortable and I
will explain what this is all about."
They all entered the house and the
two
younger men took Joe and Hop
Sing over to the dining chairs, made
them
sit down and tied them up,
while the other man bade Ben to sit
down in
one of the armchairs at
the other end of the room.
The man walked up and down, and
although he
seemed distracted, Ben
was aware that he was still keeping
him in
his gun sight and so there
was no chance to escape.
"You have a very fine house here, Mr
Cartwright, very fine indeed. I
commend you on your good taste. I
would be
happy living in a place
like this, myself, and maybe one day
I will,
with your help. It's not
a lot to ask, the lives of your son
and your
cook in exchange for
$100,000. And it's only what I feel
I am
owed, for the twenty years I
spent in jail, after you put me
there."
"I put you in jail?" said Ben.
"How did I do that?"
"You mean you don't remember me?
Well,
I am very upset to hear you
say that, as your face has been
etched into
my mind the whole time I
have been away. I robbed the bank in
witness at my trial. Because I'd
been in
trouble before, I got twenty
years and no chance of parole, so I
only got
out a few weeks ago. I
went to see my boys, first, and when
I told
them I was planning to
come and see you, they offered to
accompany
me. So here we are. Now,
you know what I want and you know
what I
will do, if I don't get it,
and so I would advise you to fetch
me the
money, as quickly as you
can."
"Nate Carstairs? I wouldn't have
recognised you," said Ben, suddenly
realising who this man was. "Your
sentence was a fair one, Carstairs.
You had been involved in a number of
robberies, and you had shot
several people, too. I don't owe you
a thing
and neither does my son
or my cook, so please let them go."
"You didn't have this one when I was
last in
said Carstairs, pointing at Joe.
"What
is he? Sixteen, seventeen.
Lucky you, being able to see him
grow up,
not like me and my boys.
Matt was three and Tom not quite
born when I
got sent away, so they
never had a father around when they
were
growing up. I've got nothing
to leave 'em, like you have for your
boys,
so I reckon that as it was
you who took me away from 'em, you
should be
the one to help me
provide for 'em. My wife died last
year,
after slaving on her own to
keep a roof over their heads, so I
think you
owe 'em a fair bit."
"I am sorry to hear about the death
of
your wife, Carstairs, and that
your boys had to grow up without a
father,
but none of that is my
fault," said Ben. "You shouldn't
have broken the law, then you
wouldn't have gone to jail. My son
had me
here with him, because I
don't break the law. I don't owe you
a
thing, so I suggest you just
leave, before my sons and the ranch
hands
get back, and we'll forget
that this happened."
"I ain't leaving until I get what
you
owe me," shouted Carstairs, and
he hit Ben across the face, with the
back of
his hand.
Matt and Tom watched the exchange
between
their father and Ben, and
both were worried. When Nate had
been
released from prison, the boys
were glad to have their father home,
at
first. However, his rather
strange behaviour was giving them
cause for
concern. The small farm,
which had been in their family for
several
generations, was doing
well, and the boys hoped that Nate
would
work the land with them, but
all he could talk about was Ben
Cartwright.
When he told the boys that he wanted
to
visit Ben, they tried to
dissuade him, but he assured them
that all
he wanted to do was talk
and then he would be ready to settle
down on
the farm.
But when they arrived at the
Ponderosa, they
were alarmed when Nate
ordered them to overpower Joe and
Hop Sing
and prevent them from
leaving the house.
"Why, Pa?" said Matt. "If all
you wanna do is talk to Mr Cartwright,
why use force?"
"Just do as I say, son," said
Nate. "I do wanna talk, but I just
wanna be sure that Mr Cartwright
will
listen, so I'm holding the boy
and the Chinaman, as insurance. They
won't
be hurt, okay?"
So Matt and Tom reluctantly crept up
on Joe
and Hop Sing, who were in
the yard, feeding the chickens, and
overpowered them, but not before
Joe managed to throw a few punches
and
receive a few in return. Hop
Sing, too, tried to fight with his
assailants, but was knocked to the
ground by Nate.
Once Ben arrived and the boys found
out what
their father's real
intention was, they were both
horrified.
Their mother had done a good
job raising them and they both
understood
that their father was in
the wrong and deserved to go to
prison. That
didn't stop them from
caring about him, but they didn't
feel that
he was owed anything by
Ben.
Matt whispered to Tom, "This is not
good. We are gonna end up dead or
in prison if we go along with this.
I don't
wanna hurt the old man,
but he's let the thought of revenge
addle
his brain. We've got to
stop him, Tom."
"I agree," said Tom. "What do
ya suggest we do?"
"Just follow my lead," said Matt,
and he began to loosen the rope,
which was keeping Joe tied to the
chair.
"As soon as you see that we
have disarmed our father, boy, you
and the
cook hightail it outta
here, all right? That way you won't
get
harmed. We didn't know he was
planning to do this, please believe
me, and
we don't want anyone
getting hurt, including our
"What about my Pa?" said Joe, in
an angry whisper. "I don't want him
getting hurt, either."
"Don't worry, he won't be," said
Tom, loosening Hop Sing's ropes, too.
The slap was a hard one and caused
Ben to
see stars, for a few
seconds, but then he got angry. He
stood up
and confronted Nate.
"There was no need for that,
Carstairs.
It won't make me change my
mind. As I said before, I don't owe
you a
thing, so just get out of
my house, now."
As Ben was talking, he noticed that
Matt and
Tom were making their
way towards him and Nate. At first
he
thought they were coming to
assist their father, but then he
realised
that they were, in fact,
coming to help him. Matt grabbed his
father from
behind and Tom was
able to take his gun away from him.
"What are you doing, boys?"
shouted Nate. "Let me go, I'm doing this
for you. I wanna make up for all the
time I
was away from you."
"This isn't right, Pa," said Matt.
"And Ma would tell you so, too, if
she was here. All we want from you
is for
you to work on the farm
with us, we don't need any more from
you, do
we, Tom?"
"No, Pa, we don't," said Tom.
"I wanna spend time getting to know my
father, and if you rob this man,
we'll never
have a moment's peace.
You'll end up back in jail and so
will we.
Let's just go, before
things get any worse."
"Your sons are talking a lot of
sense,
Carstairs," said Ben, as Joe
ran over to join him. "They just
want
to put all this behind them and
enjoy being with their father. Take
their
advice and go back to your
farm. Get to know your boys, they
are fine
young men and you could
learn a lot from them."
"Are you okay, Pa?" said Joe,
hugging Ben. "Are you really gonna let
them get away with what they've
done? They
were gonna kill me."
"No, they weren't, son," said Ben.
"I think letting them go is the
best thing to do."
All the fight seemed to leave Nate,
and he
would have fallen to the
ground, if his sons hadn't been
holding onto
him.
"You're right, boys," he said.
"This was a stupid thing to do, just
about the most stupid thing I've
ever done,
apart from getting
involved in crime, in the first
place. If Mr
Cartwright is willing to
let us go, then I think that's what
we
should do. I really don't
deserve to have you boys as my sons.
I've
spent all this time blaming
everyone else, and not accepting
that it was
my fault I ended up in
jail. It's about time that I faced
up to
what I did and start trying
to make it up to you, boys."
"Come on then, Pa, let's go home,"
said Tom.
"Thank you, Mr Cartwright, for being
so
understanding," said
Matt. "I'll make sure that my Pa
doesn't bother you any more."
"And thank you, Matt, and you, Tom,
for
making your father come to
his senses," said Ben. "Good luck
to you all."
Ben and Joe led the way out into the
yard
and said goodbye to the
Carstairs family. Joe was still not
sure
that Ben had done the right
thing in letting them go, but did
not say
so. Ben could tell that Joe
was not happy and so tried to
explain to the
boy why he'd made that
decision.
"I know that I would usually want to
see such behaviour punished by
the law, son, but I think this time,
it was
better to let them go. Mr
Carstairs has spent twenty years in
jail,
and during that time his
sons have grown up and his wife has
died. It
must be a big adjustment
to make, coming home after all this
time. I
think if he and his boys
are left alone to get to know each
other,
they will do all right."
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne