LONG DAY'S RIDE
By
Lynne C.

The day had started much as any other day for Hoss Cartwright and the rest of his family. He'd drawn the short straw, yet again, and been the one who'd had to wrastle Little Joe out of bed, in order for the boy to be ready, in time to go to school.
Adam, the eldest Cartwright son, was leaving on a trip that day, to San Francisco, and so he was going to ride into town, with Joe, to catch the early morning stage. Little Joe was being entrusted with collecting some supplies at the mercantile, after school, and driving the buckboard home.
"Come on, buddy," yelled Adam, from the door of the ranch house. "If you don't get down here in ten seconds, I am coming up to get you, and it won't be pretty. I am going to miss the stage."
"All right, quit your yelling," said Joe, clattering down the stairs, and missing out the last three. "I forgot my homework, and iffen I get to school without that, ole Jonesy will have my hide."
"And if you refer to your school teacher in that way, again, I will have your hide, too," said Ben. "Now, off you go, and just you take care, bringing that wagon back, this afternoon. I'm still not convinced that I should let you do it on your own."
"Aw, come on Pa, quit your worryin'. I'm fifteen, not five, and I can handle the wagon, just as good as Adam or Hoss, you'll see. Come on Adam, what are you standing there for? You're gonna miss that stage, iffen you don't get a wriggle on," and Joe ran past his brother and was sat on the wagon, by the time Adam reached the yard.
Ben shook hands with his eldest and Hoss gave him a bear hug, before Adam joined Joe on the wagon seat.
"I should be back in a little under two weeks, as long as everything goes according to plan," said Adam.
"Take care, son," said Ben, and he and Hoss waved them off.

Fortunately, Adam did get to town in time to catch the stage and Joe saw him aboard, before dropping the list of supplies at Cass' and then heading for school.
The day passed by, fairly uneventfully for the fifteen-year-old, except that as they were about to leave, while Joe was hitching up the wagon, one of the younger boys fell out of a tree. Fortunately, he didn't hurt himself too badly, but his ankle was sprained and so Joe offered to give the boy a lift home in the wagon.
"It's not that far outta my way, Miss Jones, and Anthony can hardly walk home, on that swollen ankle, now can he?"
"No, I don't suppose he can," said Miss Jones. "It's very kind of you to offer, Little Joe."
Joe made Anthony as comfortable as he could, in the back of the wagon, and then drove to the mercantile, to pick up the order.
"Just stay put, Anthony, I won't be long."
"OK Joe, and I'm sorry I can't help you with the loading."
"Don't worry about it, Mr Cass will help me, or Johnny, if he's arrived yet."
Johnny was another friend from school, but he helped out at the store, after school each day and on Saturdays.
He was there and it didn't take them long to load up the wagon.
Joe was soon driving along the rather narrow, dirt road, which led to Anthony's farm.
"Won't be long, now, Anthony. I hope the bumpy ride ain't made your ankle hurt even more."
"No, it's fine, Joe, and thanks again for doing this. I don't think I could've walked all this way."
When they arrived at the house, Joe helped Anthony down from the wagon. Mrs Williams, Anthony's mother, came out to greet them, her welcoming smile being replaced by a concerned look, when she saw that her son was hurt.
"It's okay, Mama, don't fuss," said Anthony. "I just had a bit of a fall and twisted my ankle. Joe brought me home, cos I couldn't walk on it."
"Are you sure you are all right? Thank you so much, Little Joe, for bringing him home. Please come in and have some lemonade, it's a warm day and you have a long drive ahead of you."
"Thank you, ma'am," said Joe. "I'd like that, but I can't stay long, or else my Pa will be fretting."
They went into the house and Mrs Williams also gave Joe a slice of her renowned apple pie. He sat and chatted with her and Anthony, for a short while, but then made to leave.
"Thanks very much for the pie and the lemonade, ma'am. I must be going now. I guess you won't be in school for the next couple of days, Anthony?"
"No, I guess not, unless my Pa can spare the time to bring me in. I sure won't be able to walk."
"OK, I'll tell Miss Jones, `though I expect she'll send out some work for you to do. That woman hates us to be idle. Bye for now."

As Joe began the drive home, he realised that he was going to have to get a move on, if he was to be back in time to do his chores before supper. So, he decided to take the shorter route home, even though the road was a bit more difficult to negotiate, with the wagon. However, he was confident that he could cope and as he drove along, his confidence grew and he began to go a little bit faster. Suddenly, something spooked the horses, Joe wasn't sure what it was, and they began to gallop, quickly getting out of control, owing to the fright they'd received. Joe did his best to regain control of the team, but it was impossible, and they swerved off the road, causing one of the wagon wheels to be clipped by a tree. The wagon overturned and Joe was thrown off. As he hit the ground, he banged his head, and the world went black.

Back at the ranch, Ben was beginning to get a little bit anxious about his youngest's non appearance.
"I knew I shouldn't have trusted him," said Ben, to Hoss, who was just back from a long day in the saddle, doing an inspection of part of the herd. "He's got caught up in some scheme and forgotten the time. I think I will have to give that boy a short, sharp reminder of how I expect him to behave, when he finally gets back here."
Hoss was tired and in no mood to be playing devil's advocate between his father and his little brother, all evening. He was hoping that Joe would soon arrive home, thus preventing Ben from getting too angry.
"Aw, don't be too hard on him, Pa. Joe's jest a young `un, he don't mean nothin' by it. At that age, we all get the notion to go off and do stuff, and forget what we're s'posed ta be doin', I know I did. You'll see, he'll come breezin' in here, very shortly, as if he ain't got a care in the world."
"And when you did, I used to make sure that you learned it was the wrong thing to do, and that's what I need to teach Joseph."

It got to suppertime and still the boy wasn't home. Hoss had fallen asleep in the chair, and Ben woke him up, to eat the meal.
"Little Joe still isn't back, son, and I'm beginning to get worried. We'll have a quick bite to eat and then go out to look for him."
"Sure thing, Pa. At least bein' that it's summer, we still have a good few hours of daylight ahead of us."
Hoss was not that happy about the prospect if having to get back into the saddle, again, that evening, but he, too, was getting rather concerned about Joe's whereabouts.
Neither man could manage to eat very much, but the ever-thoughtful Hop Sing provided both of them with some sandwiches before they left.
"Little boy likely to be hungry, when you find him," said Hop Sing. "Give him these and then you yell good and tell him Hop Sing mad that he worry father and brother, and Hop Sing."
"We'll tell him, doncha worry `bout that," said Hoss.
It was decided that they would split up, as there were two roads into Virginia City. If they didn't find him, they would meet up in town and see if anyone there could tell them where Joe went.
Ben took the most likely route and Hoss took the shorter, but harder, trail.
As he rode along, Hoss was feeling bone weary and really wished he was back at home, relaxing in a nice, warm tub, and then sinking into his custom made king sized bed.
`When I get hold of you, little brother, I'm gonna do some poundin' on your hide. I'm hot, tired and gettin' grouchier than a grizzly bear,' thought Hoss.
He was nearly falling asleep in the saddle, when he realised that there were some horses up ahead. As he drew alongside them, he recognised them as being the ones that had been pulling the Ponderosa wagon. Neither horse was lame, but both were dirty and had a few scratches on them. There was no sign of the wagon, or of Little Joe, so Hoss gathered up what was left of the horses' reins and began to lead them along the road.
After a while he came to the place where the wagon had left the trail, and he was soon crouching by the side of his little brother. Joe was still unconscious and Hoss began to check him over, in order to ascertain the extent of his injuries. He was as gentle as he could be, but the slight movement caused Joe to groan.
"Sorry, shortshanks, but I needed ta know how bad things were. I reckon you've come off pretty well, buddy, looks like ya must've bounced when ya left that wagon. But jest you lie still, now, and I'll signal Pa, so he knows I've found ya."
Hoss stood up and shot his gun, three times, into the air. Hopefully, the noise would carry far enough for Ben to hear it.
Hoss returned to Joe's side and was very relieved to see that the boy was now more awake.
"Hi, Hoss, good to see you. Sorry about all this, something spooked the horses and before I knew it, I was flying through the air. Are they all right?"
"Yeah, they are, but the wagon looks a bit beat up. It's goin' dark, now, so I think it might be best if we stay here, tonight, and then, once the horses have rested, p'raps they can pull the wagon back up to the road and we can use it to carry you home. Where are ya hurtin'?"
"My head, mainly. I hit it when I fell, and my back is a bit sore, but apart from that, and a few bruises, I reckon I'm okay."
"Well, that's good news. Are ya hungry? You missed supper, but Hop Sing sent along some sandwiches."
"Yeah, I am a bit, a sandwich would be good."
Joe managed to raise himself to a sitting position, proving that his back wasn't hurt, that badly, fortunately.
Hoss retrieved the sandwiches from his saddlebags and sat down next to Joe. He checked out the injury to the boy's head and cleaned it with some water from his canteen.
"Only a small cut, and a rather big bump, but ya sure won't need any stitches. In fact, I doubt if you'll havta see the doc, at all," said Hoss, knowing how much Joe hated having to do that.
"You might not think so, but I bet Pa will," said Joe. "You know what a mother hen he can be."
Joe was able to eat several of the sandwiches, and Hoss finished off the rest.
"Hey, brother, I missed supper, you didn't."
"I know, but I couldn't manage much, then, cos I was a mite worried about you."
"Were you really? Worried about me, that is. Aw, thanks Hoss. You didn't think I'd just gone off with my friends, then?"
"Well, I thought ya might have, at first, but then, once it got to supper time, I reckoned there was summat wrong. Pa was the same, mad at first, then worried. Poor guy, we sure put him through a lot."
"I know he'll be pleased to know I'm okay, but once he sees the state of the wagon, I reckon he'll start with the yelling. I can't really blame him, either, cos I should've used the other road, and I was going a bit fast. Maybe if I'd been going slower, I would've been able to control the horses, better, when whatever it was spooked `em."
"Why were ya on this road?"
Joe explained about taking Anthony home and how he was anxious to make up the time.
"I wanted to get back in time to do my chores, before supper, especially with Adam being away, too. Guess Pa was right to be worried about me, driving the wagon."
As he was speaking, Joe moved closer to Hoss, to take advantage of his brother's body warmth. Although the weather was warm during the day, the temperature dropped quite rapidly, at night, and Joe was beginning to feel cold.
Hoss realised this and fetched his bedroll and the blanket that was always kept in the wagon. He had already unsaddled Chubb, and taken care of the team, and was using his saddle to lean against.
"Here we go, shortshanks, might as well get settled down fer the night. Don't look like Pa heard my signal, so we best break camp, at first light, and go and find him. I'm hopin' we can use the wagon, but if not, you can ride with me, okay?"
Joe was very tired and just managed an `OK' before sleep overtook him. Hoss lay down next to Joe, and the younger boy curled around the contours of his big brother's body, making Hoss smile, as it reminded him of when Joe had been a little boy, and had crept into bed with his older brother.
Although Hoss was tired, he found it hard to go to sleep, as he began to think about how lucky Joe was, to have come through the accident, without being too badly hurt. Images of what might have happened were preventing Hoss from getting the rest he craved.
Just then, he heard a noise, and reached out for his gun. He didn't need it, though, as it was his father.
Ben began to speak, but Hoss placed his finger on his lips and then pointed at Joe. Ben got the message and dropped his voice to a whisper.
"Is he all right? I heard your signal, but it's taken me a while to get here."
"Yeah, he's fine, just a slight bump on his head, is all. He was thrown off the wagon, when it crashed, and knocked out, but he's been talking to me and he's eaten some of them sandwiches, so no lasting effects, thank goodness. I cleaned the wound on his head; it ain't even big enough to stitch. I was gonna wait here, `til mornin', then check out the wagon, and if it's still in one piece, take Joe home in it. Thought that he and the horses needed a rest, before headin' back."
"Thanks, son, you've certainly done a good job of taking care of him, but then I didn't expect any less from you. It makes sense to rest here, tonight; it's not like he needs to see a doctor, urgently, is it? Did he tell you how the accident happened and why he was on this road, rather than the other one?"
Hoss told Ben what Joe had told him.
"He's real sorry about it, Pa. He was jest tryin' ta make up the time he lost, takin' Anthony home."
"No matter what that boy does, you always defend him, don't you? But you've no need to do so, this time. I'm not angry with him. This was an accident that could have happened to any one of us. Yes, it would have been more sensible had he used the other road, and maybe he was driving a little too fast, but even so, I think we all would have found it hard to prevent the wagon running off the road, if the horses were that frightened. I'm just relieved that he's still in one piece. Now, I think it's time that we all got some rest, don't you?"
Ben made up his bed, the other side of Joe, and was soon asleep. Hoss had been looking forward to a good night's rest, in his comfortable bed at home, but knowing that his little brother was safe, and was sleeping soundly next to him, seemed to make the ground feel less hard than it usually did, when they camped out. Things could have been so much worse, and just as he was falling asleep, Hoss said a prayer of thanks to the Lord above, for taking care of Little Joe. Maybe there was some truth in the story that Ben told Joe, after his mother died, that all three of the boys' mothers were angels, up in Heaven, looking out for them. It certainly did seem that way, at times.

THE END
Little Joe forever
Lynne
April 18th 2005

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