Homecoming
By: Rona Y.
“It’s been a long time,
Joe,” the man said, coolly. He glanced up at the younger man on the pinto
horse.
Gazing back impassively,
Joe Cartwright nodded. “A very long time,” he agreed. There was nothing
friendly in his tone. “What are you doing here?” He dismounted and looked
around the yard. There didn’t appear to be anyone else around.
“What do you think I’m
doing here?” returned the other impatiently. “This is my home.”
“Really, Adam?” Joe asked.
“Since when?” He turned on his heel and
led his horse into the barn, leaving his oldest brother standing there with his
mouth open. It wasn’t the welcome Adam had expected.
*************
Following Joe into the
barn, Adam leant against the door, his arms crossed, watching as Joe cared for
his mount. Joe didn’t look at his brother, or show any signs that he was aware
the man was there. Adam took the chance to examine Joe more closely, for 6
years absence had brought a lot of changes to his youngest brother.
He saw a young man in his
late 20s, slim of build, but muscular with it. Joe’s shoulders were broader
than they had been when Adam left, and there was a new depth of maturity to his
face, but his legs were just as long and slim, and his waist was still circled
by the same old black leather belt he’d always worn. The most noticeable change
was the way Joe wore his hair and the hints of grey in it.
“What’s with the long
hair?” Adam asked, unable to keep silent. “Has Pa decided to let you become a
Giving Adam an unfriendly
look, Joe said, shortly, “it’s my hair.”
“There’s no need to be
touchy, kid,” Adam retorted. “But when I left, Pa would never have let you go
around looking like that!”
“You don’t say,” Joe responded,
and continued brushing the glossy black and white coat of his horse.
“Different pinto,” Adam
noted, belatedly.
“Cochise had to be put
down,” Joe offered. “I called this one Cochise after him.”
“I’m sorry,” Adam said. He
knew how much Joe had loved that horse. Joe just shrugged, his back
determinedly to Adam. “Where’s Sport?” he asked.
For the first time, Joe’s
movement faltered. He stopped and turned round. “You must not have got that
letter,” he said, awkwardly. “He got colic, got cast in his box and when we
found him next day, he was dead. I’m sorry.” Sport had not been Joe’s favourite
horse, for although he was flashy, he was bad tempered and wasn’t all that well
trained, and there were few men on the ranch who were willing to ride him. Joe
had never had any problems riding him, and so had found himself delegated to
keeping his brother’s horse fit after Adam left.
Adam felt a pang of regret.
“I’d kind of hoped he’d still be here,” he admitted. Joe said nothing, just
resumed his steady brushing.
There was a rush of hooves
in the yard and a dark-haired man appeared in the doorway of the barn. “Joe…”
He stopped as he saw Adam.
“Yeah, Candy?” Joe asked.
Still eyeing Adam askance,
Candy stepped in, leading his horse. “Just wanted to tell you that the last of
the foals are separated, and the boys are turning the mares loose.”
“That’s great,” Joe said.
He watched as Candy led his horse into the stall next to Joe’s and began to
untack. “Candy, this is my older brother, Adam. Adam, this is Candy Canaday,
our foreman.”
“Pleased to meet you,”
Candy said, thrusting out his hand. He wasn’t a handsome man, having something
of a lantern jaw, but he had a friendly grin that changed his face completely.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“But not from me,” Joe
added. “Just before you start worrying, big brother. Hoss is the one who’s been
singing your praises.” He dropped his brush and headed out of the barn. Candy
looked embarrassed, as well he might, and Adam wondered what had happened to
the friendship that he and Joe used to share.
Shrugging, Adam followed
Joe outside and he was half way across the yard when Ben and Hoss rode in. For
a moment, Ben peered at Adam in disbelief, then threw himself from his horse to
take his oldest son into his arms. “Adam! What a surprise! Why didn’t you let
us know you were coming?”
“Hi, Pa,” Adam answered,
extracting himself from his father’s embrace. “I thought I’d surprise you,
that’s all.”
“Dadburnit, Adam, I’m right
glad t’ see ya,” Hoss said, thumping his older brother on the shoulder. Adam
staggered slightly, but Hoss didn’t notice.
“Me, too,” he agreed,
seeing the changes the years had wrought in Hoss. His brother’s hair was
thinning on top, and he looked heavier than he had been when Adam last saw him.
But his face was unchanged; the genial smile and the gap-toothed grin were the
same as ever.
“Come into the house,” Ben
said, putting his arm round Adam’s shoulder. Ben looked the same as he had
always done. His silver hair was just as thick, and if there were a few more
wrinkles around his eyes, they were only visible close up. “It’s good to see
you, son,” Ben went on, warmly.
Adam had changed, Ben
thought. He was older and heavier, and balding. He got that from his mother’s
side of the family, Ben decided, for his hair was as thick as ever. Joe seemed
to be the only one of his sons who was not going bald. Reminded, Ben looked
round for Joe, surprised that he wasn’t in sight. However, when they went into
the house, he saw Joe sitting on the settee.
“Look who’s home, Joe,” Ben
called, unaware that Joe had already seen him.
“Yeah, I know,” Joe
responded. “Hi, Pa, Hoss. Have a good day?”
“It were a great day,
little brother,” Hoss told him. “What about you? Get them foals done, did ya?”
“All done,” Joe replied.
“Pa, Candy says the mares were turned loose. We’ll start handling the weanlings
tomorrow and we should be ready to let them into the pasture in a couple of
weeks.”
“All right,” Ben agreed,
although his attention was mostly on Adam. “Adam put your bags into your old
room. Supper should be ready soon. Hop Sing!”
The Chinese factotum
scurried out of the kitchen. Over the years, Joe had decided that this was the
diminutive cook’s way of giving the impression that he was working at top speed
on something much more important than anything the Cartwrights could want or
need. However, on this afternoon, he forgot about being busy and just stood
looking at Adam. “Mistah Adam!” he said, and bowed reverentially.
“Hello, Hop Sing,” Adam
replied, warmly. “So you haven’t gone back to
“Suppa ready soon,” Hop
Sing announced.
“I’d better freshen up
then,” Adam said, and took his bag and climbed the stairs slowly. Just before
he reached the top, the door opened and he glanced back to see Candy come in
and throw his hat and gun down on the credenza, as they all did. Adam realised,
with a shock, that he had done it himself without thinking.
“Evening, Mr Cartwright,”
Candy said, casually. “I’d better go and get washed up. I wouldn’t want Hop
Sing mad at me again.” Everyone downstairs laughed, and Adam suddenly felt left
out. Telling himself that was ridiculous, he continued to his room.
****************
Nothing had changed. The furniture
was exactly as he had left it, and his books still lined the shelves. Opening
the armoire, he saw the few clothes he had left behind were still hanging
there. A strong smell of mothballs wafted out. The surfaces were all dusted.
The tiny hint of mildew on the mirror above the dresser was still there.
Dumping his bag onto the
chair, Adam sat down on the bed. There was a knock on the door, then Ben’s head
appeared round it and he smiled at his son. “I brought you some water,” he
said, and put the ewer into the basin. He glanced around the room. “How does it
feel to be back?” he asked.
“In a way, as though I’d
never left,” Adam replied, honestly. “And in another way, I feel as if I’ve
been gone forever.”
“I can understand that,”
Ben responded. “Supper in a few minutes, son.”
“I’ll be there,” Adam
smiled and he went to wash up as Ben left the room.
************
Conversation over the
supper table revolved mostly around Adam’s travels. Adam had been a little
surprised that Candy seemed to be living in the house, but he figured it wasn’t
his business. He took his usual seat at the foot of the table, opposite Ben.
Candy sat beside Joe, who, as always, sat at Ben’s right hand. Hoss sat on the
other side.
The food was as good as
Adam remembered, and he had another helping of peach pie, as he told them about
Paris, Milan, Rome, London, Stockholm, Copenhagen and the many other places he
had been in the last 6 years. The others plied him with questions, the only
exception being Joe. He listened closely, but didn’t ask anything, and didn’t
offer any opinion.
Over coffee, they sat in
front of the fire, but tonight, the checkers board didn’t come out as Adam told
them of the buildings he’d helped design in
“Dadburnit, Adam, if’n you
ain’t bin everywheres,” he said, admiringly. “All them places in
“Worse,” Adam commented,
wryly. “It seems to rain most of the time. And they told me it’s worse in
“Well, I’m going to bed,”
Joe said, as the clock struck 10. “I have an early start in the morning.
G’night, everyone.” He rose and made for the stairs, not pausing to hear any
replies.
Joe’s going was the prompt
that Hoss and Candy needed, and they headed up a few minutes later. That left
Adam and Ben, as it had often done in the old days. Adam stirred. “Guess I’d
better let you get to bed, too,” he murmured.
“There’s no rush,” Ben
replied. “I did want a few words alone with you.”
“Go on,” Adam said, warily.
“I just wanted to tell you
why I think Joe is being so cold towards you,” Ben said. He paused for a moment
to collect his thoughts. Adam’s dark eyes never wavered from his face. “A lot
has happened to Joe since you left, Adam. Not all of it has been good. I wrote
you about it, but it seems you haven’t had all our letters.”
“I didn’t know about
Sport,” Adam agreed.
“Did you get the letter
telling you that Joe had been trampled by a horse?” Ben asked. When Adam shook
his head, Ben went on, “Or the one where I told you he’d been bushwhacked and
shot in the back? Or the one where I told you he’d been blinded in an
accident?” Again Adam shook his head, unable to speak.
Quickly, Ben sketched in
the details of each incident, leaving Adam quite shaken, even though he could
see Joe was all right. “It was especially hard on Joe when he was blind,” Ben
said, quietly. “He so wanted you to write, and you didn’t.” He glanced at his
son. “Joe was hurt when you left, Adam. He knew why you wanted to leave, but he
hoped you would come back quickly. At first, he lived for your letters, but as
they became fewer, he stopped looking for them. I think he was afraid to hope
you’d write in case he was hurt when you didn’t.”
“I didn’t mean not to
write,” Adam admitted, wretchedly. “But I was busy and somehow I didn’t do it
as often. I never thought.”
“He’ll come round,” Ben
assured his son. “You just have to give him time and remember that he isn’t a
child any more.”
“I’ll do that,” Adam
promised, and they went up to bed.
But it was some time before
Adam slept.
**************
Next morning, Adam was last
to the table. Ben was the only one still there, but the discarded plates told
Adam that Candy, Joe and Hoss had all eaten and gone to work. “I didn’t realise
I had slept so late,” Adam excused himself as he sat down. “It must be the
country air.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ben
smiled. “The boys all have work to be getting on with, and you must have been
tired after your journey yesterday.”
“Is there anything you want
me to do today?” Adam asked, forking bacon onto his plate and pouring a cup of
coffee.
“No, nothing in
particular,” Ben replied, airily. “Just have today to settle in. Joe’s left a
horse for you in the barn. He says that you should like it.” A smile played
over Ben’s lips and was gone. He pushed his chair back. “I’ve got to go and
speak to Candy about a few things. See you later.”
“Right,” Adam answered. He chewed
slowly, wondering what on earth he would do. He’d expected to be thrown
straight back into the life of the ranch, and yet here he was, being treated
like a visitor. With a start, Adam realised that the others had become used to
his absence, and the jobs he’d thought of as his were being covered by someone
else. He hadn’t expected that, although he should have. Well, when he saw Pa
later, he would offer to help with the books. He knew Pa would be grateful to
have a break from them.
***************
The horse was similar
enough to Sport to have been his twin. Adam swallowed the lump that had risen
unexpectedly in his throat. Joe was barely talking to him, yet had picked out a
horse that he knew Adam would like. He put his hand out to the horse, wary in
case it nipped, but the animal just sniffed, and then allowed Adam to fondle
his muzzle.
A short time later, Adam
rode out of the yard. The horse was well schooled, with a responsive mouth, but
plenty of spirit. Adam was impressed. In one of his letters, Ben had told Adam
that Joe was selling more horses to people round about who didn’t have the time
or skills to break and train their own mounts. Proudly, he had told Adam that a
‘Joe Cartwright finished horse’ was worth a lot of money in
He found Joe down by the
breaking corrals. He and Candy were methodically separating the weanling colts,
haltering them and then letting them go. Each colt was stroked and fussed over
after the halter was on, calming them and teaching them that humans weren’t
their enemies.
Sitting watching from a
distance, Adam could see that Joe was the expert there. Candy could clearly
handle the colts, but Joe was the one who calmed them down. It was a time
consuming process, Adam knew from past experience, but it was essential to a
well-mannered horse.
How long he sat there, Adam
was never sure, but he guessed it to be about half an hour. Finally he put his
heel to his mount and rode over. Joe glanced up and Adam could see tension
creep into his brother’s body.
“Morning,” he called,
stopping just outside the corral.
“Mornin’,” Candy responded.
He went to corner the next colt.
“I wanted to thank you for
the horse,” Adam continued, trying not to be disconcerted by Joe’s silence.
“He’s lovely. I don’t know when I last rode such a well schooled animal.”
A grin broke out on Joe’s
face. “When you last rode Cochise?” Joe hazarded. “Because Sport was anything
but well schooled, brother. You have to admit that!”
“Nobody made you ride him,”
Adam objected, for his grief over the death of his horse was still fresh. “He
was my mount, not yours.”
“Pity you didn’t remember
that when you went off to
*****************
The house was empty when
Adam returned. He had seen Hop Sing outside hanging up sheets, but he didn’t
seek him out. He put away his horse and went inside. He could hardly believe the
venom in Joe’s voice when he delivered that last shot. Perhaps it hurt more
because it was true, he thought. He hadn’t thought about who would look after
his horse when he left. What else had he not thought about when he left?
A knock on the door roused
him from his reverie and Adam went over to answer it. A tall, thin older man
stood there. He looked suspiciously at Adam, who didn’t recognise him. “Who’re
you?” the man demanded, and Adam almost laughed.
“I’m Adam Cartwright,” he
replied, politely. “Can I help you Mister?”
“Adam,” repeated the man.
“Oh, you’re the older brother? The one who left? Right. I’m Jeff Dunn. Is Joe
around?”
“He’s down at the corral,”
Adam replied. “Can I help?”
“No, I need to see Joe.
It’s real important.” Dunn began to turn away.
“Maybe I could help,” Adam
persisted.
“I know where the corral
is,” Dunn replied. “I’ll just go down there an’ talk to Joe. He’s the only one
who can help.” He glanced over his shoulder, suddenly aware that he’d been
abrupt. “I hope you enjoy your vacation,” he added, and swung up onto his
horse’s back.
Closing the door, Adam went
back to resume his seat. Someone coming to the house who didn’t want to see
Ben, but had to see Joe. When had that happened? Was Joe taking on some
responsibility at last? Adam wondered. He made a mental note to mention the man
to Joe at lunch, just in case he hadn’t gone down to the corral.
Restlessly, Adam wandered
over to the desk and saw a familiar ledger lying there. It wasn’t, of course,
the same one that he had last worked on, but Ben always bought the same type of
book and the very feel and touch of it were familiar. Unable to resist, Adam
opened it and got another surprise. Although most of the writing was Ben’s, a
good proportion of that writing was Joe’s distinctive backward slanting hand.
The front door shut and his
father’s voice called, “Adam?”
“Here, Pa,” Adam replied,
still looking in the ledger. He suddenly felt awkward. “I’m sorry,” he said, as
Ben came into sight. “I just couldn’t help myself.”
“There’s nothing to be
sorry for,” Ben replied. “A third of this ranch will still be yours when I’m
gone. You’re entitled to know how we’re doing.”
“How long has Joe been
helping with the book work?” Adam asked, setting the ledger down and closing
it. “That must take some doing.”
“Not at all,” Ben denied.
“Your brother took on a share of the book keeping quite willingly. I would
guess he’s been doing it for 5 or 6 years now. He began about that time I got
the flu, and he’s kept it up.” Ben smiled as he shrugged out of his coat. “He’s
very good at it.”
“I have to say its come as
a surprise to me,” Adam admitted. “Joe was always terrible at math in school.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Ben
disagreed. “He could always do the work, he just didn’t desperately want to. In
retrospect, I don’t think the local school was the right place for Joe. He’s
too bright. They weren’t able to give him the kind of challenges he needed to
make him interested in learning. His teacher from the Institute commented on
how quickly he learned to read Braille.”
“Braille?” Adam repeated.
“Joe learned to read Braille?”
“Joe learned a lot of
things in those few months,” Ben replied, remembering his son’s courage as he
mastered living with his disability. “Miss Dobbs, his teacher, wanted him to go
to the Institute and teach the blind there.”
“The blind teaching the
blind?” Adam muttered, sceptically.
“You sound just like Joe.
He thought that. But then he discovered that his teacher was also blind, and
Joe had never guessed.”
Chastened, Adam asked, “Why
didn’t he go?”
“His sight returned,” Ben
explained, and his voice suddenly sounded choked. He felt tears welling every
time he thought of that morning when Joe had called for him, and told him he
could see again, and suddenly, he had back the old Joe, the impetuous Joe, the
Joe he had thought forever gone. “He woke up the very next morning able to see
again.” Ben blinked away the moisture from his eyes.
“Months,” Adam repeated,
numbly, the word having just impinged itself on his mind. “Joe was blind for
months?”
“Didn’t I make that clear?”
Ben asked, contritely. “I’m sorry. Joe was blind for about 4 months.” Ben’s
eyes became unfocused as he thought back. “I was so proud of the way he handled
himself. Of course, it was hard for him to begin with, but he adjusted
wonderfully for the most part.” Smiling, Ben came back to the present. “But
that’s in the past, although I believe that Joe still keeps up his Braille,
just in case he can ever help someone in that situation.”
“I never thought of Joe as
all that bright,” Adam admitted. “Oh, I knew he wasn’t dumb, Pa, but I never
thought he was brighter than any other kid.”
“I couldn’t manage without
Joe,” Ben said, startling Adam. “He and Candy could run this ranch between them
without needing my help at all.”
“Candy seems a nice
fellow,” Adam commented, changing the subject. He needed time to think about
all the things he’d learned about Joe. “How long has he been here?”
“Oh, about 3 years,” Ben
replied. “He’s almost like one of the family.”
Again, the remark jolted
Adam. “I was a little surprised that he was staying in the house,” Adam
mentioned.
“I guess we didn’t do that with
any of the other foremen, did we,” Ben mused. “But it just happened, and it
would be strange now if he wasn’t living in the house.” Ben smiled brilliantly
at Adam. “How has your day been? How is the horse?”
“The horse is great,” Adam
replied, truthfully. “But I still haven’t been able to coax Joe round. I
thought I was getting somewhere, when he made a joke about Sport, but I said
something about him not having to ride Sport, and he closed up on me again.”
Adam shook his head. “Asked me who I thought had looked after the horse when I
was in
“Yes,” Ben agreed. “And it
was all mixed up with that accident that Cochise had about then. It was round
up and there was a stampede. Joe was at the front of the herd, and we nearly
lost him. Cochise was gored, and had to be put down on the spot. Joe broke his
leg. When he was able to ride again, he wasn’t ready to get another horse of
his own. I suggested he ride the horses that were in the corral, and one of
them was Sport. Nobody else wanted to ride him, and Joe had taken him out
fairly regularly before that, so he rode him for a bit, until he found this new
Cochise.”
“I’ve missed so much,” Adam
said. “All these things happening to Joe.” He forced himself to smile. “So
trouble still seeks him out, huh?”
“No wonder I’m grey,” Ben
agreed. He smiled. “Well, how about coffee? I’m parched.”
“Sounds good,” Adam agreed,
but he was still thinking about all the things Ben had told him.
*******************
“Yes, I saw Jeff,” Joe
replied, when Adam remembered to ask him about his caller. “The deadline on the
team he wanted schooled has changed and he needs them sooner than he expected,”
Joe explained to everyone at the table. “Candy, can you and the boys carry on
with the colts? That way, I can take a few days now and put that team to
rights, and they’ll be ready when Jeff needs them at the end of next week.”
“Sure thing, Joe,” Candy
agreed amiably.
“And cut back on Black
King’s grain and turn him out,” Joe went on. “He’s done covering mares for this
season; we can let him rough off now.” He was referring to the big black
stallion he was using as a stud. Adam had seen the stallion briefly that
morning and had been impressed with his quality. Joe had always had an eye for
good horseflesh. Now, he waited expectantly for Joe to turn to ask Ben’s
permission for all the orders he’d given.
“Personally, I reckon
Jeff’s gettin’ the better end o’ this bargain, Joe,” Hoss mentioned. “That
there’s a right good team you picked out fer him. You coulda had double the
price fer ’em I reckon.”
“I don’t think he’d have
paid double the price,” Joe commented, and Adam still waited for Ben to confirm
Joe’s orders. His eyes flashed to the foreman, expecting Candy to ask for
confirmation, but he didn’t. He just kept on eating, listening to the
affectionate wrangling going on. “Half as much again, maybe...” He grinned at
Hoss. “Maybe you should’ve negotiated the deal, Hoss.”
“Ah, hush up!” Hoss
retorted, genially. “I ain’t no good at them fancy deals ya put together an’ ya
know it, Shortshanks.” He looked singularly unmoved by this admission.
“We can’t all be good at
the same things,” Ben replied, calmly.
“Yeah, look at Joe an’
shoein’ horses,” Hoss jested. “If’n we relied on him fer that, our horses would
all be barefoot!”
The thought of barefoot
horses made them all laugh. “Lucky we got you around to see to that for us, big
brother,” Joe responded, giving Hoss a loving smile.
“Lucky you got me around ta
keep ya outa trouble, seems ta me,” Hoss replied. “Who was it that pulled ya
outa the ruins o’ that hut, when ya tried to blow yerself up?”
Adam winced, knowing now
that Hoss was referring to when Joe was blinded. He waited for the explosion –
and waited. It never came.
“I know,” Joe said,
quietly. He smiled. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, Hoss.”
“More of your own work,”
Candy inserted, thinking that they’d become serious enough.
“True ‘nough, Candy,” Hoss
agreed mock seriously. “He’s allus tried to git me ta do his work, ain’t he,
Adam?”
Caught by surprise, Adam
wasn’t quite sure what to say. But a grin crept over his face, and he nodded.
“Not just you, brother,” he commented. “Me, too.”
They all laughed and the
subject turned away to something else. Adam realised that none of them were
going to ask Ben to approve Joe’s orders, and it served to remind him once more
that things had indeed changed.
****************
Over the next few days,
Adam became more integrated into the running of the ranch. He began to take on
some of the daily chores that had been his previously, and found Joe thawing
slightly towards him. Once more, he realised that Joe had taken on the roles
that had been Adam’s. However, they were still no nearer regaining the ease
that had existed between them before Adam left.
Part of it now was that Joe
was busy working on the team for Jeff Dunn. Adam was extremely impressed when
he went past to see what was going on. Joe was a thorough worker and gifted
with horses. It seemed to Adam that the horses would be ready well before the
end of the week.
The next afternoon, Adam
was in the house when Joe came in. Glancing up in surprise, for he was usually
alone in the house during the afternoon, Adam said, “Hello. Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Joe replied, in a
distracted tone. He shucked his hat and jacket and gun belt and Adam became
aware that Joe was being careful with his right hand.
“Have you hurt yourself?”
he asked, concerned. Joe had always been a daredevil and frequently fell heir
to scrapes and cuts because of it.
“It’s just a cut,” Joe
replied. He took a ball of material from his hand, and Adam belatedly realised
it was his bandanna, which was stained with blood.
“How’d you do that?” Adam
asked, finding himself standing by Joe, examining his hand. The cut ran across
Joe’s palm in a perfectly straight line and had obviously been done with a
knife. “Knife cut,” he added, in case Joe thought about trying to pretend it
wasn’t.
“Tell me about it,” Joe
said, wincing. “I was cutting the twine on a bale of hay and – I don’t know
what happened, but the knife slipped and I cut myself. It won’t stop bleeding.”
“I’ll get a bandage,” Adam
said. “A doctor friend of mine told me that pressure helps stop bleeding.” He
went off to the kitchen and shortly came back with a roll of bandage.
Before he could do
anything, a wailing filled the air. “What’s that?” Adam asked, startled.
“The mine!” Joe exclaimed,
turning for the door, his bleeding hand forgotten. “There’s been an accident!”
He dashed out of the door.
Adam dropped the bandage and followed.
*****************
Dust hung thick on the air
as they arrived at the entrance to the mine. Adam hadn’t known that the
Cartwrights had an interest in this mine, but Joe had explained on the way that
Ben had bought a part share, as the workings went beneath Ponderosa land.
“Mr Cartwright!” a voice
hailed, and Joe dismounted from his horse. “Thank goodness you’ve come!” It was
the mine foreman. He was caked in dirt.
“What happened?” Joe asked,
guiding the man to a place he could sit down.
“We were adding the new
timber to replace the old shoring,” the man said, and coughed deeply. “I’m not
quite sure what went wrong, but one of the old timbers came down before the new
one was in place and the wall caved in.”
“Is there anyone in there?”
Joe demanded, knowing that there had to be.
“Yes, I think there are 4
men missing.”
“All right.” Joe
straightened up. “Are you hurt, John?”
“Just bruises,” John
replied. “What do you need, Mr Cartwright?”
“Get someone to bring the doctor.
Send someone else to alert my father. He’s down at the South Forty. I’m going
in.” He glanced around, seeing the men who were ready to go in and help their
fellow miners.
“Wait a minute, Joe!” Adam
objected. “It’s not safe to go in there!”
“I know,” Joe agreed. “But
I have no choice. You stay here and wait for
“If you’re going in there,”
Adam stated, grimly, “then so am I!”
“Grab the canteen from your
saddle then,” Joe advised him. “We’ll need water in there.” He led the way over
to the entrance. The men were waiting for him. “Let’s go,” Joe advised.
**************
The dust was killing. The
men all had bandannas over their noses to try and keep some of it out, but it
didn’t seem to be working. Adam was surprised to see Joe produced a bandanna,
remembering that his other one was at home, covered in blood. Reminded, Adam
glanced at his brother’s hand, in time to see Joe wipe his palm on his pants.
There was a dark stain left behind. So, the hand was still bleeding slightly.
They began moving the
debris, slowly and carefully. It was back breaking work. After a while Ben
appeared with Hoss, and after a few words to his sons, Ben went back outside,
taking Hoss with him, to tend to the injured miners.
“We got a gap,” one miner
called, and everyone stopped to peer at the small hole that had appeared in the
debris.
“We’ll need to widen it
before we can get through,” Joe said, examining it more closely. They began
digging again. Within half an hour, the hole was wide enough for them to
squeeze through. “I’ll go first,” Joe said.
He climbed carefully up to
the hole and peered through, lowering his lantern so he could see the other
side of the hole. “All right.” He handed the lantern to Adam and eased his way
through the space. The whole mine seemed to creak. Joe disappeared into the
darkness. “I’m through,” he called, softly. Adam handed the lantern through,
followed by the canteens.
“Me next,” Adam said, and
began his climb. The men nodded. They didn’t know Adam, but it seemed he was a
true Cartwright, always willing to do the things they asked the men to do.
He had just disappeared
through the hole when there was an ominous rumble and the roof collapsed,
filling in the small space they had created such a short time before. When the miners
could see again, the hole was gone and so were Joe and Adam.
******************
There was a rock digging
into his side, Joe realised as he swam back to consciousness. He moved slightly
to try and get away from it and the movement set up a chorus of pain throughout
his body. He groaned. After a few minutes, everything settled down to a
miserable throbbing, and Joe wondered if he’d been thrown from a horse.
Opening his eyes, he saw
profound darkness, and for one terrified second, thought he’d been struck blind
again. Remembering, he sat up abruptly and his head began to throb. Something
sticky ran down his face, and Joe guessed that it was blood. “Keep calm,” he told himself. “Remember the
still centre within.” He forced himself to be still.
Once he was calm, Joe
called softly for Adam. There was no answer. “The lantern must be here
somewhere,” he muttered. He put his skills to good use, feeling carefully
around until his hand encountered a warm, cloth covered body. “Adam!” he
murmured. Gently, his sensitive fingers felt along his brother’s back and head,
until Joe found a knot on his brother’s skull.
Feeling around some more,
Joe located the canteens first, then the lantern. The glass on the chimney was
broken, but Joe was sure it would still light. And a flicker would be very
welcome. He searched his pockets for matches, but found none. Retracing his
steps to Adam’s side, he searched his brother’s pockets, and there, as he
expected, was a match.
The flicker of light from
the match was the most welcome thing Joe had ever seen. He lit the lamp, but he
could see that a lot of the oil had spilled out and it wouldn’t last long. So
he took his opportunity to examine his older brother.
Apart from the bump on
Adam’s head, Joe thought that Adam had a broken leg. Joe had no way to splint
it, and he wasn’t sure enough of his medical abilities to try and set the leg.
Pulling the bandanna from round his neck, Joe soaked it thoroughly and began to
wipe some of the dirt from Adam’s face.
The cool water soon brought
Adam to mumbling consciousness. He squinted up at Joe. “Where are we?” he
asked.
“In the mine,” Joe reminded
him gently. “The roof caved in as you climbed through after me.”
“Will they come for us?”
Adam asked.
“They’d better,” Joe
responded. He laughed. “There were at least half a dozen men who saw exactly
where we went.” He touched Adam’s
shoulder. “Lie still, Adam, you’ve had a bang on the head and your leg is
broken.”
“Are you all right?” Adam
asked, seeing the blood on Joe’s face. “You’re bleeding.”
“Still,” remarked Joe.
“Yes, I know, but I don’t think it’s serious.” Joe crossed his fingers as he
said that. His head was throbbing fiercely and he felt incredibly sick. But
Adam needed him and he had to keep his brother from moving about.
“We don’t have a lot of
oil,” Joe mentioned, sitting down more comfortably. He peered at his injured
hand in the feeble light, but his hand was so dirty that he could no longer see
the cut. Shrugging, he reached for a canteen and gave Adam a drink. “And it’s
pretty dark in here.”
“How did you find it?” Adam
asked.
“Easy,” Joe replied. “I
learned to do things like that when I was blind.” He said the words casually
enough, but the memory of those dark days haunted his worst nightmares even
yet.
“I wish I’d known about
that,” Adam said. “I didn’t get a lot of your letters, Joe. I was moving about
so much, they never caught up with me. I didn’t know you’d been bushwhacked, or
that you’d been trampled.” Adam swallowed. “That must have been scary.”
“It was,” Joe replied,
soberly. “I was alone, and my hand had swelled. I knew I could die from
gangrene and my only hope, according to Pa’s medical book, was to amputate my
arm.” He shuddered at the memory. Adam reached over and put his hand on Joe’s
arm.
“I can’t imagine what that
must have been like,” Adam admitted. “I can’t imagine the courage you’d need to
do that.”
“I didn’t want to die,” Joe
responded, simply. “Pa has already lost too much.” His voice cracked slightly.
“Your mother; mine; Hoss’. And…” Joe stopped. His head ducked a sure sign of
distress.
“And me,” Adam completed.
“That’s what you were going to say, isn’t it, Joe?” He moved and agony flared
up his leg. He winced. “It’s true, don’t worry. I know Pa thought I was never
coming back.” He took a deep breath. “But I needn’t have worried, Joe, need I?
Because he had the perfect son to step into my shoes, didn’t he?” The
bitterness in his voice flayed Joe’s feelings like a whip.
“Sure, I stepped into your
shoes, Adam,” Joe retorted, angrily. “What other choice did I have? You’d gone,
and Pa was trying to do your work as well as his own. He got sick and then I had to step in. I did the books, I
looked after your horse, I did the
timber contracts, I kept an eye on
the mines, I bossed the cattle
drives. I did it, Adam! Me! Your
stupid little brother! And boy! Did I resent it at first!”
“Nobody asked you to!” Adam
flared back.
“No, they didn’t,” Joe
agreed. “But I couldn’t let Pa struggle with doing the work of 2 men, either. I
had to take some of it on. Hoss did what he could, but we both know that Hoss
isn’t good at bookwork. He’s too heavy to break horses. So Hoss took on the
herd, and some of the timber and Pa and I did the rest. And do you know what,
Adam? I found I was good at it. Really good at it. And then I discovered that I
was better at it than you had been.” Joe was really on a roll now. He couldn’t
have stopped if he’d wanted to. All the hurt and bitterness was pouring out. “I
wasn’t ‘Little’ Joe Cartwright any more. I wasn’t playing second fiddle to my
clever older brother. I was Pa’s right hand man, and if we disagreed sometimes,
it didn’t matter. I became a grown up after you left, Adam. Oh yes, I was
legally an adult before you left, but how many times was I trusted to do
something really important? If you were around, never. And you couldn’t help
but run me down. Well, guess what? I grew up and discovered that I’m a
worthwhile person, too. Pa and I make the decisions together and when I make
decisions, they are respected by everyone.”
There was silence apart
from Joe’s panting breath. Adam tried to absorb Joe’s bitterness, telling
himself that his youngest brother was right. He had gone without a thought as
to how they would cope without him, and when he’d returned to discover they had
coped just fine, he’d resented it. All the things he’d learned about Joe since
his homecoming had shown him that he had never really accepted Joe as an adult.
He had never realised that Joe was more than just the family clown and baby. He
couldn’t envisage the Joe he’d known back then coping with being blind, and
yet, when he stopped to think about it, Joe had shown a lot of maturity in
dangerous situations even then.
“You’re right,” he said, in
a low voice. “I didn’t want to let you grow up. I still thought of you as my
pesky baby brother.”
“I know you did,” Joe
replied and there were tears in his voice. The lantern had been flickering
wildly for the last few minutes, but neither man had noticed. It suddenly
guttered out, leaving them in impenetrable darkness. “But you know, what,
Adam?” Joe went on. “It doesn’t matter any more. It really doesn’t. I’m glad
you’re back. I’ve missed you. And if you hadn’t gone away, I might never have
found myself.” In the dark, Joe’s hand found Adam’s and gave it a squeeze.
After a moment, the pressure was returned.
“I didn’t deliberately stop
writing,” Adam said, softly. “It just happened. You’re right, Joe. I was
selfish when I left. I didn’t think about how you were going to get on without
me. It was rather galling to come back and find you’d barely missed me!”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Joe
murmured. “We did miss you.”
“I was jealous, Joe,” Adam
admitted. “I was jealous to come home and find Candy living in the house, for all
the world like another son. You and he get along and I was jealous, Joe. You
all had your jobs to do and I was excluded. Most of the hands don’t know me;
and even the ones who do check out my orders with you or Pa or Candy.” He fell
silent.
“Do you want a drink?” Joe
asked. His hand went unerringly to the canteen in the darkness. He took Adam’s
hand and placed the canteen securely in it. “Here.”
Adam drank deeply. “I’m
sorry I held you back, Joe,” he muttered. “I’m really sorry.”
“Don’t you understand?” Joe
replied, sounding amazed. “I’m not hurt any more, Adam. My life is on the
Ponderosa. I never want to live anywhere else. But your life isn’t. Your life
is somewhere out there. And that’s all right.
You were a square peg in a round hole. It happens. You go on and live
your life. We’ll be here whenever you come home again, whether it’s for a
holiday or a visit. We’ll be here.”
In the darkness, Adam felt
tears prickle in his eyes. He wanted to cry, but he had spent too many years
holding back. He wondered if he had been jealous of Joe all those years ago
without realising it, and thought the answer was probably yes. Joe had never
had the worries or responsibilities that Adam had had at a similar age and he
had resented it, even while knowing that was crazy. It wasn’t Joe’s fault that
their circumstances were different. He found he couldn’t speak.
**************
Time passed. Joe kept a
close watch on Adam. He pressed water on him regularly and kept him talking,
terrified that Adam might slip into unconsciousness. He checked Adam’s leg,
gently touching the break and making sure it wasn’t swelling too much.
However, Joe was concerned
about himself, too. His right hand was slowly seizing up and the fingers were
swelling. Joe knew that dirt was causing a massive infection. His head was
throbbing harder than ever as the air became a bit stale and Joe wasn’t sure
how much longer he could control his nausea. He moved very little, as his head
swam alarmingly when he did. It was horribly disconcerting to feel the rock
walls whirling when he couldn’t see them.
“Joe?” Adam muttered.
“Yeah?” Joe asked, cutting
the word short as he swallowed the bile that rose in his throat.
“Do you think they’re
coming for us?” Adam sounded despairing. Joe didn’t blame him.
“Of course they are!” he
declared, stoutly. “Just take it easy, big brother. They’ll get here. It’s
difficult to judge how much time has passed in the dark. We haven’t been here
as long as you think.”
“Haven’t we?” he asked,
feeling for Joe’s hand. His fingers touched Joe’s hot, swollen hand and his
younger brother let out a scream of pain. “Joe!” Adam sounded much more alert
suddenly. “Joe, your hand!”
“I know,” Joe said, and he
knew he was going to be sick. He thrust himself up and stumbled across the space,
where he fell to his knees and retched hopelessly.
There was nothing Adam
could do for him except lie there and listen. Finally, the sounds of his
brother’s distress stopped, and Adam spoke. “Joe? Are you all right?”
“I guess,” Joe replied. Adam
could hear him getting up and then his brother’s slow steps crossed the space
between them. “Speak again,” Joe requested.
“What should I say?” Adam
asked, at a loss. He didn’t know why Joe wanted him to talk.
“That’ll do,” Joe replied
and he sat down beside Adam. “I just needed you to speak so I knew how close I
was to you. I didn’t count my steps as I went over there.”
“You don’t say,” Adam
remarked faintly. He was impressed with even that small skill.
“Do you want some more
water?” Joe asked.
“No,” Adam responded. “Take
some for yourself. You need it as much as I do.” Joe was sitting closer to Adam
this time, and he could feel the heat from Joe’s body. “You’ve got a fever.”
“I had noticed,” Joe
laughed, but the laugh was forced. His voice sounded slurred all of a sudden.
Joe took a deep drink. He wished their rescuers would hurry up. “Rest, Adam,
they’ll get here soon.” Joe hoped he sounded more confident to his brother than
he did to himself.
*****************
The rescuers broke through
about an hour later. Adam was asleep and Joe was unconscious, the infection and
head injury combining to sap his strength as time passed. He didn’t stir as he
was tied to an old door and passed through the hole to fresh air and freedom.
Adam was only a few minutes behind him, and a huge cheer went up as they were
brought from the bowels of the earth alive.
Doctor Martin was there and
he examined both the Cartwrights before supervising them being loaded into
wagons for the journey home. He remembered doing something very similar to this
many years ago, when they thought Joe might not be alive. This time, they had
known the boys were alive and that gave them hope. But still, Ben and Hoss were
exhausted from their vigil.
They were quickly brought
home, then transferred to bed. Joe had roused during the journey, and Paul
thought he might, in the end, need more care than Adam. However, the first
thing Paul did was to set Adam’s leg. The break was quite straight forward, and
Paul was sure it would heal cleanly. He put splints on the leg to hold it until
the swelling was down, then left Hoss to give Adam a good wash.
Across the corridor, Ben
was in Joe’s room. He had already washed the blood and dirt from his son’s
face. He glanced up as Paul came in. “How’s Adam?” he asked.
“He’s going to be fine. No
concussion that I can see, just that broken leg, and it’s a nice clean break.
It shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I didn’t try to set it,”
Joe muttered, his eyes still closed. “I didn’t want to mess it up.”
“Quite right,” Paul said
approvingly. “Too many people have been crippled by amateurs setting bones.” He
peered into Joe’s eyes and saw that his pupils were a bit sluggish, confirming
his earlier diagnosis of concussion. The cut on his forehead would need a
stitch and was full of dirt. But it was Joe’s hand that worried Paul most.
“Joe, I’m going to tend to
your hand,” Paul explained. He took out a bottle of chloroform and in a short
time, Joe was asleep. Paul worked for a long time, cutting away the infected
tissue, flushing the wound with alcohol and finally stitching it closed. He
left in a thin piece of tubing to allow any remaining infection to drain.
Finally, he bandaged the hand tightly, and showed Ben the position that allowed
the drain to work best. Again, it was eerily reminiscent of something he’d had
to do for Joe before. At least this time, it wasn’t gangrene he was fighting.
He then turned his attention to the head wound, and by the time he was finished
with it, Joe was stirring back to life.
Meantime, Ben had been
popping in and out of the room, tending to Adam, who just wanted to sleep. Hoss
finally shooed their father out so Adam could rest and the oldest Cartwright
slipped off to sleep almost at once.
“They’ll be fine,” Paul
told Ben, as he saw the worried frown on his face. “Joe’s strong. He’ll rally
quickly, Ben, don’t worry.”
“You’re a bit late with
that advice,” Ben retorted. “It was worrying about this one that gave me grey
hair, as well you know!”
“Must be worryin’ about you
that’s givin’ me grey hair,” Joe muttered, for he was beginning to go grey. It
didn’t bother him one bit.
“You go to sleep, young
man!” Paul ordered.
“In a minute,” Joe agreed.
“But I must know about Adam.”
“He’s fine,” Paul assured
him.
“He’s asleep,” Ben added.
“Good,” Joe said, with
decided satisfaction in his tones. “I told the ole Yankee granite head that if
he just did as I said, he’d be fine. Seems I was right. Again.” Joe chuckled.
The grin stayed on his face as he slid off into a healing sleep.
***************
It was several days before
they were all together in the main room again. Adam was learning to negotiate
his crutches and Joe was longing for the day when the drain would come out of
his hand. The risk of infection seemed to be gone, although Joe had been quite
unwell for a few days.
Ben was coming from the
kitchen one afternoon when he heard Joe and Adam talking. He stopped to do a
little eavesdropping.
“Joe, I wanted to thank you
for what you did for me in the mine,” Adam began. “I might not have held up as
well if you hadn’t been there.”
“Of course you would,” Joe
replied, briskly. “You surely ain’t telling me that Adam Cartwright would let a
little bit of darkness get him down? I don’t believe it.”
“It was a lot of darkness,”
Adam responded quietly. “And it would have got me down. I was impressed by the
way you coped. And it gave me an insight as to how it was for you after that
accident. I don’t know if I’d have coped as well as you.”
“I didn’t cope to start
with,” Joe admitted. “But Miss Dobbs showed me I could be useful.”
There was a pause and Ben
was about to start walking again when Adam spoke once more. “I wanted to thank
you, too for what you did when I left. Taking care of Sport, helping with the
books, doing my chores. I never thought about how it would be for you here when
I left. All I could see was my own need to get away. I never thought about how
it would affect you.”
“It affected me in the best
way,” Joe responded. “I grew up, finally. I learned not to be envious of you. I
learned that this is my home and I love it too much to ever want to leave it.”
He glanced at Adam and hurried on. “I understand why you don’t want to stay,
Adam, and that’s all right. You’re not me, any more than I am you. You’ve found
what you want elsewhere. I’ve found it right here.”
“I don’t know that I have
found it, in quite the way you mean, Joe,” Adam told him. “In a sense I am
still searching; searching for a place that I can put down roots. I might
search for ever. I might end up coming back here and putting down roots. I
don’t know.”
“Adam,” Joe confided,
leaning forward, “you like your nomadic life. That’s why you aren’t going to
stay here after your leg is healed. We all knew, from that first day, that you
were only here on a holiday. That doesn’t make the Ponderosa any less your
home. We all understand that. The door is always open for you, and you know
it.”
Standing there, Ben felt
tears in his eyes. Once again, Joe had said exactly the right thing, and
although Ben knew that Adam would leave again, he would always return, drawn by
the love of his family. He dashed the tears away and went into the room. There
was peace on Adam’s face; a peace he hadn’t seen in a long time.
“Coffee?” he offered, as
blandly as he could.
***************
“Look after Sport for me,
will you, Joe?” Adam asked, as he waited for the stage east to leave.
“Sure will,” Joe responded.
He had been flattered when Adam decided to call his new mount after his old
one. “And he’ll be here waiting for you
when you get back.”
“Take care, son,” Ben said,
putting his arm around Adam’s shoulders. He had never admitted to his sons that
he’d heard their conversation that afternoon, but he was fairly sure Joe knew.
“You, too, Pa,” Adam
responded. “Keep this hellion under control, won’t you?”
“No promises,” Ben muttered
as Joe and Hoss laughed.
It was more difficult
taking his leave from Hoss, Adam thought. He felt a pang running through him as
he wondered if he would see any of his family again. Life was uncertain; one
never knew what was round the corner. He hugged Hoss, suddenly wanting to weep.
“Good bye,” he managed.
“Take good care o’ yersl’,
Adam,” Hoss replied. There were tears in his eyes. “An’ write lots.”
“I will,” Adam replied. The
driver got onto his box and Adam hugged each member of his family one more
time. He saved the last one for Joe. “Thanks, little brother,” he whispered.
“Thanks for setting me free.”
Stepping back, Joe smiled
through his tears. “If you love something, set it free,” he quoted. “If it
comes back to you, it’s meant to be yours.” He wiped the tears away, but they
were replaced at once by more. “I reckon you came back to us once, Adam. You’re
free to go.”
This time, the tears did
fall and Adam climbed aboard the stage and waved to his family for as long as
he could see them. When at last they and the town were out of sight, he sat
back, oblivious to the stares of the other passengers.
Adam Cartwright felt free.
The
End