WHERE'S MY HORSE?
Adam could not believe the sight that met his eyes, as he sat on the
porch of the Ponderosa ranch house.
Riding into the yard, large as life, and looking like he hadn't a
care in the world, was his sixteen-year-old brother, Little Joe, and
he was leading his big brother's horse, Sport. The horse had been
stolen from town, the night before.
"Hi, Adam, look who I've got," said Joe.
Before the boy could dismount, Adam stormed over to Cochise and
yanked Joe out of the saddle.
"Watch it, that hurt," said Joe, trying to break free of his
brother's iron grip. "What's the big idea?"
"I haven't even begun to start hurting you, yet," said Adam, through
gritted teeth. "But rest assured I'm going to. You made a complete
fool out of me last night and disobeyed
protect you, and so I'm the one who's going to make sure you pay for
your crimes," and he dragged the boy over to the barn.
As they entered, Adam pushed Joe into a vacant stall, which
contained some hay bales, and began to unbuckle his belt.
"Pa promised you a tanning, if you disobeyed him, again, and I am
going to give it to you."
Joe backed up into the stall, as far as he could, and kept his
backside well out of Adam's reach.
"Look, just calm down a minute, brother, and I'll explain it all to
you. Yeah, I might've disobeyed Pa, but at least I found your horse."
"Found my horse? You were the one who stole him, in the first place,
so don't play the innocent with me, little brother. I left my horse
tied up in town last night, while I was visiting a friend, and when
I came out to ride home, he was gone. Old man Barker told me that he
saw you hanging around in town, and now you turn up, with Sport. It
doesn't take a genius to work out that you took him, probably
thinking it was a funny thing to do, knowing your rather warped
sense of humour. I had to wake up Leif at the livery stable and pay
well over the normal rate, in order to rent a horse. Darn thing was
older than Methuselah and it took me about three hours to get home,
by which time Pa was hopping mad. When I told him it was you who'd
stolen Sport, he refused to believe me and said you'd gone to bed,
early, with a headache. He went up to check and found you were gone,
so he headed out, at first light, to find you. Hoss went too, but I
decided to stay, in case you came back, or any word came from
as he's been informed, as well. Dave was riding into town, early
this morning, to visit his sick mother, and he offered to take a
message to
if I decide to press charges, you could hang. I bet the idea of a
tanning doesn't sound so bad when weighed up against being hung,
does it? So let's get this over with," and Adam began to advance on
his little brother, his belt doubled up, in his right hand.
"Please, Adam, I am innocent, I didn't steal your horse, but I did
see the man who stole him, and I followed him and got Sport back for
you. Yeah, I was in town, when I shouldn't have been, and I did go
by where you'd tethered Sport, so that would be when Mr Barker saw
me. I guessed you were with Nonie and I was tempted to come and pay
you a visit, but I decided that wasn't a good idea. I wasn't
supposed to have been in town and you were probably doing things
that a boy my age had no business knowing about."
Adam blushed at these words, because they were the truth, but it
wasn't a part of his life that he wished to discuss with his little
brother. He and Nonie had a `business arrangement' that went back
several years and Adam tried to spend a night with her, once a week.
He was extremely discreet, knowing that his father expected him to
be so, but his immediate family did know of the association.
"I do not have to discuss my personal affairs with you, Joe. I had a
perfect right to be in town, but you didn't, and it's very easy for
you to stand there and say someone else stole my horse, in the hope
that I will believe it wasn't you. Unfortunately, for you, I don't
happen to be that gullible. I still think it was you and I am about
to do some damage to your hide. Hopefully, this tanning will get the
message across that you have gone too far with your pranks."
Seeing as how Joe was cornered in a stall, there wasn't any way for
him to escape Adam, and the young man was able to grab Joe by the
arm and bend him over some of the hay bales. Just as he raised his
arm, in order to apply the first lick of his belt, to the seat of
Joe's pants, Ben and Hoss arrived in the barn.
"What's going on here?" demanded Ben.
"I would have thought that was obvious, Pa," said Adam. "I am
about
to administer a much deserved tanning to my little brother, the
horse thief."
"He may be a lot of things, but he isn't a horse thief, son. I met
up with
were reported stolen, in town, last night. Now, I can see Little Joe
possibly taking Sport, as a prank, but not stealing all those other
horses, as well, can you?"
Adam lowered his arm and Joe stood up, not being able to believe his
luck. He ran over to join his father, before Adam had a change of
heart.
"See, brother, I told ya it wasn't me who stole Sport. I saw this
man leading him out of town and so I followed him. Eventually, he
stopped at a camp, about five miles outta town, and he tethered
Sport and then turned in for the night. As soon as I was sure that
he and his friends were asleep, I crept in and stole Sport back
off `em, and brought him home. I deserve a reward, not a tanning."
"I wouldn't go so far as to say that," said Adam. "After all,
you
were in town last night, when you weren't supposed to be."
"But if I hadn't been in town, you might never have seen Sport
again," said Joe, rather cockily.
"
the horse thieves had their camp, once he hears about this," said
Ben. "I will be coming with you and once we return home, you and I
will be having a discussion about your disobedience. I could have
left it to Adam, but you need to be able to ride, in order to help
perfectly clear that you were not allowed to go into town, last
night, yet you lied to me, about having a headache, so that you
could go to bed early, and then you sneaked out."
"I wouldn't have had to sneak out, iffen you'd allowed me to go with
Adam," said Joe, rather petulantly.
"And I would have agreed to take you, if you didn't make a habit of
letting me down and getting into strife, every time we go to town,"
retorted Adam. "I was just so fed up with having to bail you out of
trouble, each week, and so wasn't prepared to be responsible for
you, anymore."
"I know that, but I don't see why I couldn't have gone and bin
responsible for myself," said Joe.
"Because I don't feel that a sixteen year old is capable of looking
after himself, when there are all the temptations of town, on
offer," said Ben, sternly. "And as I am often heard saying, I am
your boss and your father and I make the rules. I quite understood
Adam's reluctance about having you along, as you do seem to attract
an awful lot of trouble, and he is entitled to some time off, in
order to relax; he works very hard."
"Is that what he does with Nonie, relax," said Joe, sniggering.
"What your adult brother does is no one else's concern, other than
his," said Ben, crossly. "Now, let's go and help Roy find the
thieves."
"Yes sir," said Joe, and the two of them rode out of the yard.
The thieves had already moved on, by the time Roy and the
Cartwrights got to the campsite, but at least
follow. Roy and the posse continued with their search, eventually
catching up with them, and they were able to retrieve all of the
stolen horses.
Ben and Joe returned to the Ponderosa, once Joe had shown
the campsite was. Unfortunately for Joe, he still received
that `talking to' in the barn, but it was from his father, for his
disobedience, rather than from Adam, for stealing Sport.
THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne