Rating:   G

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“Just put it down and leave it alone.”

 Joseph Cartwright spun round as though a whip had lashed him.   His face screwed into a tight ball of mixed emotions that flashed across his features with the clarity of words written on the pages of a book.  Rage, irritation, contempt slipped across the handsome features.  The nostrils flared.  The lips thinned and curled from his teeth.  The green in the hazel eyes positively blazed.   His hands balled into fists that now swung in the direction of his brother.

 “I said –“

 “I know what you said.” Joe hissed between clenched teeth “I heard you.  Do you think I’m deaf as well as stupid?”

 Adam allowed a slight smile to grace his lips and he folded his arms across his chest and raised his eyebrows

 “Well now, that wasn’t exactly what I was saying, brother, but if that is your opinion of yourself.” he shrugged “Stupid, huh?  They say from the mouth of babes –“

 “That does it” Joe howled and with fury etched on his face he leapt towards his brother, his fists flailing as he did so.

 Adam neatly side stepped and grabbed Joe’s arm as he passed, twisting him round to face him and then grabbing hold of him by the upper arms in order to restrain him as best he could.  He moved his legs back as far as practicality allowed, for he knew his brother would not hesitate to kick out as hard as he could in order to gain his freedom.

 “Now just you calm down, Joe, and you listen to me….”

 “I ain’t gonna listen to anything you have to say.  I’ve been listening to you all my life long and I’ve just about had a bellyful of it.”

 “I said, listen to me and listen good.” Adam gave his younger brother a shake, which only gave Joe the added impetus to wrench himself free and swing his fist in a perfect uppercut that caught his brother square on the chin.

  It also caught Adam by surprise for he staggered back some paces before regaining control of his balance.  “All right” he growled, and he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists and walked towards Joe.

 Joseph gulped.   Fights between Adam and himself were not unknown.   They had fought at times to a standstill, but always came out of it with some mutual respect, a handshake, a smile and a wink.  There just happened to be some times when both knew that they were skating on thin ice and that there would come a day when they would fight such a fight that any bonds between them would be totally severed.

 It was an instinct.  A something that made them both aware of a border beyond which neither could, or would, go beyond.  On this particular day, Joe had a sudden, terrible feeling that they were both about to go over the edge and what had been said in anger, would never be easily erased.

 “You want to fight, huh?” Adam advanced a step closer.  His dark eyes were nearly total black now and his cheeks were heightened in colour due to the rage he was feeling at that moment.   He clenched his teeth and his lips snarled back and then he launched himself forwards and caught Joe squarely in the midriff.

 Both went down.  They rolled first oneway and then the other.   The thud of punches landing on flesh could be heard in echo to the grunts and gasps of the two opponents.   Through the haze of dust that the fight created Adam stood up, only to be pulled back down as his brother kicked his legs from beneath him and sent him toppling onto his back.

 Adam rolled, free from his brothers writhing wriggling body he struggled to get to his feet, but before he could do so Joseph had landed squarely on top of him, and had struck him a blow in the face with such force that he could taste blood in his mouth.

 He grabbed blindly for some handhold and his fingers curled upon Joe’s hair and tightened.  With a yelp of pain Joe was tossed to one side and fell heavily against some rocks.   For some seconds he lay there, his head hang down, his chest heaved and burned within his ribs, and perspiration dripped from his face.

 Only yards away, Adam struggled to his feet and swayed too and fro as he wiped a hand across his mouth and face.   He looked through narrowed eyes at the sight of blood on his hand and then looked over at his brother.

 “Are you done now?” he gasped

 “No”

 “Are you sure?”

 “Yes”

 Both of them remained where they were for some seconds.  Adam swayed back and forth, gasping and puffing.  Joe on the ground, head down, grunting and wheezing.

 Cochise and Sport continued to graze some yards away as though such scenes were as commonplace as watching rabbits hopping from burrow to burrow, or young calves frolicking from daisy decked grassland to daisy decked hillock.   They were saddled and ready for the journey home to the Ponderosa, but having been given the time and opportunity to dally, they did so, in a manner any sensible horse would enjoy.

 Adam flexed his shoulders, and took a deep breath.  Warily he watched as Joe regained his feet.   He put his head to one side, wondering whether or not Joe were really serious about continuing with the fight.  Like his brother, Adam was always cautious about allowing any fight to go beyond the borders of what both would consider an honorable end.   He cleared his throat and extended his hand in order to help the lad to his feet more quickly, but Joe slapped it aside angrily.  Hostilities were obviously still waging.  Adam withdrew his hand and stepped back and clenched his fist and as Joe sprung at him he threw a punch that sent Joe staggering backwards and falling back into the dirt.

 Adam walked over to him and looked down at him “Finished?” he asked

 “No” Joe said in a muffled tone of voice

 “Don’t be so obstinate, Joe, you know you can’t win!”

 “Who says?”

 “I say”

 “Oh yeah, of course, you say.  Like you say this, you say that, you who knows everything there is about everything…”

 Adam sighed and stepped back and rubbed his knuckles into the palm of his other hand.   It was always the same thing with Joe, always the same refrain.   He cleared his throat and spat blood and dust

 “Look, Joe, let’s stop now before we do any real damage.  Pa won’t be too happy if we go home looking like we’ve been in a war”

 “I didn’t start it” Joe said sulkily, still lying flat on his stomach in the dust.

 “I beg your pardon, little brother, but if I recall rightly, it was certainly not me who started it.”

 Joe rolled over onto his back and scrambled up onto his feet and glowered over at his brother.   He swallowed dust and grit and a bit of his back tooth.   

 “Why’d you have to come anyways?   Why’d you have to come and check up on me?”

 “I wasn’t checking up on you, Joe.” Adam said in a conciliatory tone of voice  “I told you once already, pa wanted me to come on over and give you a hand to finish the job.  I’d already finished my stretch of fencing and pa –“

 “I was alright, I was nearly finished, another day and I’d have been done” Joe snapped

 “Another day?   You mean another two days!”  Adam snapped abruptly “What I’d like to know is exactly what you’ve been doing over the past few days.  You had the shortest stretch of fencing to do and you’ve taken longer to do it than a green horn rookie cowboy could.”

 “Why do you always have to come and interfere anyway” and before another word could be spoken Joe launched himself forwards and flew at his brother once again.

 Adam raised his hand and swiped him away with a swing of the fist that would have made even Hoss stagger some paces.   Before Joe fell back Adam grabbed at his shirt and held on to him, and shook him a little for good measure. 

 “Now you listen here, little brother, I don’t come interfering with your work, as you put it.  I came here because pa was concerned about you.  I came here because I had finished my work and we thought I could help you finish yours.   I thought if we finished in time before the week ends we could go into town Saturday and enjoy ourselves.   But if you want to stay here for another two days on your own, so be it………….” He gave his brother another angry shake and released his hold on the shirt.

 Joe landed with a thud amongst some shrubs, which somehow softened the landing.   He rubbed his face, his chin, his brow, and finally his head.  He watched as his brother walked, stiff legged, straight backed, towards Sport.  Adam stooped on the way to pick up his black hat, which he whacked several times against his leg before sliding it slowly over his disheveled hair.   As he put his foot into the stirrup he glanced over his shoulder at his brother

 “What do I tell pa?” he said quietly

 “Tell him what you usually say” Joe snapped back

 “What?  That you were too lazy and too stupid to get the job down?”

 Joe snorted with anger.  Had it been possible fire would have streaked from his nostrils and steam from his ears.  As it was his face reddened and he rose to his feet quicker than Adam had anticipated.   In a trice Adam swung himself into the saddle and turned Sport round so that Joe bounced rather unceremoniously into Sports rump and was sent sprawling into the dust again.

 “C’mon, Joe, let’s call it quits and be done with it” Adam said quietly, wishing more than anything that he had left it to Hoss to come and help Joe with his section of the fencing.

 “Just go away and leave me alone” came the snapped off reply.

 “As you wish” Adam replied and turned the horse in the direction of home.

 The retort of a rifle that sent ripples of sound echo-ing eerily across the vast vista of land made them both pause.  They glanced around them and peered, narrow eyed, at the high ridges about them.   Adam inclined his head to measure sound and distance and frowned

 “That came from the way station” he said quietly

 “Maybe they’re hunting” Joe said quietly, picking up his hat and dusting it down.

 Another retort.  Before the echo had died away, still another. 

 “They need help” Adam said quickly and looked over at his brother who, perhaps gratefully, was putting his hat on and running towards Cochise.

 Three shots. It was the plainsman’s plea for help.   As swiftly as they could both brothers turned their horses round and galloped towards the little relay station from where the signal had been sent.

                                                   *********

   When Adam raised his hand and pulled Sport to a rearing standstill, Joe was so close upon his heels that it was with some difficulty that he pulled Cochise away from a collision.  As it was the abrupt halt did nothing to cool his temper, for he edged Cochise so close to Sport that Adams knee actually grazed against his own

 “Why are you stopping?” he demanded, his eyes blazing into his brothers’ face “This is not time to stop.  Those people need our help”

 “We’ve been pushing our horses hard for the past I don’t know how long, Joe, but in all that time I’ve not heard a single thing –“

 “How’d you mean?  What are we supposed to have heard?”

 “Gun shots – “ Adam frowned, his face turned towards the way they were headed “I don’t know –“

 “YOU don’t know!   And we’re supposed to just sit here while they could be in desperate need of our help?”

 “No, I didn’t mean that, I –“

 “Well, I ain’t gonna waste anymore time.  You can do what you like, Adam, but I’m going on right now –“ and putting words into action the younger man spurred his horse forwards.  Cochise sprung forwards and within seconds had left the other horseman looking after them as the dust settled around them.

 With a sigh of exasperation Adam spurred Sport into a gallop.  It took no time at all to catch up with Joe and together they galloped onwards to the relay station.

 There are times when riding, and particularly in situations of this kind, when both brothers felt that no matter how fast they rode their horses, distance remained at a standstill.   No matter how low in the saddle they sat, no matter how they urged their horses onwards, no matter how the wind streamed into their faces and made their eyes sting and weep, the miles and the time remained static.  How Joe wished he could spring from one area, or situation, immediately into the other with no wastage of time.  How Adam longed to will away the miles so that riding from A to B was like walking from one room to another.

 It seemed to no account that their horses stretched their legs to leap over boulders, swerve around obstacles, gallop so hard that their withers began to tremble and sweat began to streak white upon their coats.   Still miles to go and both horses were beginning to labour and pant, and their eyes began to roll wildly as they struggled to fulfill their masters’ determined will to stretch them to the limits of their power and endurance.

 At last the relay station hove into sight and both men hauled on the reins to bring their horses to a trembling laboured halt.  As Sport and Cochise snorted and panted, so their two riders struggled to gain their own breath as they looked down upon the peaceful scene that lay serenely stretched out beneath them.

 In the corral the horses grazed undisturbed and unperturbed.  Chickens clucked about, scratching up dust into tiny dust devils with their claws.   The relay station appeared to be basking in the mid-day sun with all the appearance of blissful ignorance of the onlookers concern.  Washing hung limp upon the line begging for a breeze to sift away the collected dust that clung upon it.

 Joe and Adam scanned the scene with narrowed eyes and then looked at one another.  Both wore slight frowns of puzzled concern upon their brows.  Joe pushed his hat to the back of his head and scratched through his thatch of hair

 “Odd”

 “Tom must have been hunting” Adam leaned upon his pommel and stared thoughtfully at the house.

 “He may be a bit of a green horn out here but even so, he knows better than to fire off three shots at random”

 “Sometimes it’s easy to forget when there’s so much else new to learn.”

 The two brothers said nothing more for some seconds.  Adam caressed Sports’ smooth neck and inwardly cursed himself for putting his horse to such pains for nothing.   He could feel the horse sweat wet to his fingers and sighed heavily.  He glanced over at Joe and cleared his throat noisily to gain his brothers attention. 

 “One thing I do know” he said quietly “Mary’s still enough of a lady not to want us tramping into her home looking like two no account cow pokes rolling home from a saloon bar fracas.  If I look as bad as you look, we’d scare her and the kids to death –“

 Joe scowled and nodded and reached for his canteen.  There was no denying that Mary Murphy was prim and dainty, just as there was no denying that Adam looked bloodied and bruised and he fully realised he would be looking equally as bad.   Both of them soaked their handkerchiefs in water and wiped around their faces and necks.

 “She can be a mite starchy about etticky-kett” Joe admitted as he raised the canteen to his lips and swallowed down several mouthfuls

 “Well, she’s a well brought up gal from Louisiana and doesn’t think living out in the wilds here any excuse for bad manners” Adam followed his brothers example and drank some water.   “Let’s get down there, our horses could do with something to drink and my canteens dry” and without another word he urged Sport down the scree clad descent to the track that led to the relay station.

 Some minutes ticked past and he was thinking of nothing more urgent than getting Sport to the trough for the animal to slurp up as much fresh water as he could, when a disturbing anxiety niggled its way through and to the surface of his mind and he turned to Joe who was trailing some distance behind

 “Joe?  Do you know when the next stage is due?”

 “Not for some hours yet.”

 “Even so –“ Adam paused and looked at the house, now coming closer into view as they reached the track

 “Even so what?”

 “Well, granted it’s hot enough to fry an egg on these stones, but that never has stopped a woman from having a stove alight”

 “So?  What’re you thinking?”  Joe frowned and narrowed his eyes and turned to look at the house again

 “No smoke”

 “No smoke?”

 “From the chimney.  No smoke, no stove alight, no cooking – “

 “Or boiling water for washing”

 They looked at one another anxiously and Joe bit his bottom lip thoughtfully before urging Cochise into a leap and a gallop.

 “Joe!”

 He cast an anxious look over at Adam and saw his brother unclip the catch on his holster and seeing his brother’s stern features the younger man nodded and followed his example.   It was better to be prepared, just in case.

 But just in case of what?   Seeing Adams example of caution as he approached the relay station, Joe settled Cochise into a steady trot so that both of them rode into the yard, side by side, hands on their gun butts, and eyes turning from side to side.  Looking for what?   Expecting – what?

 Dogs barked frantically.   They strained at their leashes and whined and snapped before retreating back to settle on their haunches and watch, with dark brown anxious eyes as the two men approached the hitching rail.

 “It feels all wrong” Joe said involuntarily “Too quiet”

 One of the dogs whined plaintively and settled onto its belly.  It’s eyes twitched from one rider to the other.  The other dog began to bark, its hackles were raised, slathering from its jaws.

 Adam was about to mention the possibility of the family having ridden into town.  It would have been a journey that necessitated an overnight stop en route so the wagon would have been essential.  However, the wagon, collecting several chickens who were perched around about it, stood basking in the heat of the mid day sun.  He eased himself in his saddle and looked over to the horses.

 The horses had moved towards them.   As though at a given signal every horse in the corral had abandoned their close cropping of the sparse greenery to stand at the fence and nod in silence over at them.  One of them lifted what seemed a weary head and snortled down his nostrils at them, and received an answering whicker from Cochise.  

 The brothers edged their horses to the trough, and then glanced at one another. The water trough was empty.   Not only empty, bone dry.   Adam nudged Sport towards the water trough that stood within the confines of the corral and then looked over at Joe and shrugged. It was not good.  No man, woman or child would abandon their stock with insufficient water.  When the sun could burn up moisture within minutes it was a criminal act of inhumanity to treat dumb animals in such a way. 

 “No water in any of the troughs.   Nor has been for over a day I would say” Adam said quietly

 “I guess that goes for the stock in the byre as well?”  Joe indicated the barn and Adam glanced over his shoulder over at it and frowned “I’ll go and check it out.”

 “I’ll get some water to these creatures.”

 Adam dismounted and hitched Sport to the rail.  At the well he threw down the bucket and heard the satisfying splash of water.   The two dogs stood up immediately, their tongues lolling from heat-starved mouths, their eyes moist and expectant as they watched the man turn the winch and bring the water to the surface.

 How it gleamed and glistened and bedazzled the eyes.   Diamond sparks and spangles as the sun gleamed upon its surface and caught the splashes in gleaming prisms of light.  They yelped excitedly and when Adam poured the water into their bowls they came near to choking in their efforts to gorge on the life enhancing liquid.

 The horses shifted restlessly.  Adam glanced up from his labours to see Joe walking towards him, leading Cochise on his rein.  He could see the thin line of Joe’s mouth.   Obviously what was in the barn had not impressed his little brother.  He winched up another bucket load of water and walked to the trough and emptied it out.    He could hear Joe working the handle of the sluice that would send water gushing into the other troughs.  Best to deal with one thing at a time.  A man cared for his beasts before anything, anyone else.

 The horses pushed and shoved one another.  There was a pecking order to be observed.  Their thirst had to be constrained by discipline but they pushed their big heads forward as water splashed into the trough and time and time again Adam lowered the bucket and winched it back upwards.  Once he stopped and poured a ladle of the cold fresh water over his face.   He saw Joe dipping his own head under the sluice as the water flushed through….

 The troughs filled and re-filled.  The dogs’ bowls filled and re-filled.   They lay bloated and satisfied.  Their tails twitched and they closed their eyes and slept knowing their bowls had plenty in them.   Adam bit his lip and wondered how much longer they could have survived.

 However, there was still a mystery to be solved.  Dogs may be mad with thirst and horses and cattle dazed and lethargic from heat exhaustion and lack of water.  But none of them could have pulled the trigger of a rifle three times…

 He walked slowly towards Joe, wiping the back of his neck with his kerchief.   Joe was stroking Cochise’s neck, as his horse slurped water by his side.

 “What about the cattle?”

 “One dead calf.   It’s mother looked half dead but livened up after a drink.  There’s another milk cow in there.  Another looks like giving birth anytime.”  Joe sighed. “The other stock must be grazing down below”

 “Thank goodness for that, I’d hate to think of more beasts suffering unnecessary.” Adam glanced over at the house “They must have just up sticks and gone”

 “No. I can’t believe that Tom and Mary would do that, Adam.   It may not have been the ideal as far as Mary was concerned, but Tom was happy with the work and the location.  He was enjoying his life here and he was a conscientious man.”

 “He left the animals without food and water for who knows how long?” Adam replied coldly by way of reminder

 “There must be a reason.  Perhaps an accident – someone fired those shots.”

 Adam glanced around the yard. His eyes flickered to the house and he nodded.   “Let’s go and see what there is inside “ he suggested. “If there ain’t no sign of them, we had better go looking further afield.”

 “They’d have known we were here by now, Adam.  They must be absent for some reason.”

 “Let’s make sure first” and Adam withdrew his gun slowly from its holster and looked over at Joe “Just in case –“ he said quietly

 Joe nodded and took his gun into his hand.  Slowly they approached the house.   Their heels made staccato raps onto the wooden planks of the verandah.  The wooden rocking chair witnessed their approach.  From the house there was nothing.

 They paused at the door and looked about them.   Adam took a deep breath and glanced at the window of what would have been the Murphy’s kitchen.  He frowned slightly as he saw something the significance of which his brain could not yet register.  He nudged Joe and indicated the window and looked at his brother with a question in his eyes.  Joe shrugged and shook his head.

 It was hot.  It had been stiflingly hot for days.   When it got hot there were flies.  Sometimes when food was left unattended there would be more flies than normal.   There were more flies around the window than normal.

 The window on the other side of the door crawled with flies.   Maggots inched against the framework or lay fat and creamy sluggish as flies walked over them. 

 Involuntarily both brothers stepped back and licked their dry lips.  Adam felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end and Joe felt sweat prickle his scalp and make him itch.  

 Carefully, tentatively, Adam stretched out a hand and touched the door handle.  He pushed it open and stepped forward.  He held his gun ready.  Behind him Joe stepped forward.

 “Oh, sheeesh!”   

 The exclamation slipped like a gasp from Adams lips as he recoiled hastily back onto the verandah, almost knocking Joe into the rocking chair that began to creak back and forth eerily.

 “What – what is it?” Joe whispered, his large eyes widening in fright.

 “It stinks in here!”  Adam replied

 Joe suddenly realised he had not needed to have been told.  The stench touched his own nostrils and he turned his head away.   The dogs, secure on their chains at the far corner of the house, instinctively sat up, their forefeet paddled the dry ground nervously.  They whimpered and whined as they raised their noses to the air and snuffled at the smell that drifted into the clean air.

 “Come –.” Adam said quietly “I’ve a bad feeling about this, Joe.”

 Joe nodded. He pulled out his kerchief and held it to his face, against his nose and mouth.   As they walked into the room, Adam put away his gun and pulled out his handkerchief and followed his brother’s example.

 He had smelt this stench before, this cloying, sickening stench of death.  He turned his head to one side as though the smell would be less if he did so.  He brushed aside flies that buzzed angrily towards him.  Behind him Joe did likewise as he hurried to the windows and threw them open.   The flies lingered.  Bloated, lazed and dazed by heat and too much to gorge upon.  Joe stepped back to avoid maggots and dead flies cocooned by webs from opportunistic spiders.

 “Adam?  What’s going on here?” he whispered and his voice wobbled slightly as he glanced around the room.

 Rotting food upon the plates.   Meat heaved as maggots crawled over their banquet.   Wilting flowers that shed their leaves like a wreath upon a meal of death.   He held his kerchief closer to his mouth and fought back nausea that  hit his throat and burned with an acidic scorching.

 Adam pushed open another door, paused a moment and went ashen faced.  Hastily he stepped back and slammed it behind him.

 “Don’t go in there.”  He whispered hoarsely

 “No?”  Joe whispered back, his over large eyes asking a hundred questions that could all have been answered by the horror on his brother’s face.

 Adam now inched forwards to another door.  There was no enemy. No man crouched there awaiting anyone arriving with rifle or gun.   But the sight he anticipated was one more fearsome.  No one would want to rush in upon the sight he expected to see and he swallowed hard, Joe could see the jerk of his brothers Adam’s apple, and felt the sweat break out down his spine.

 Adam put his hand on the door and pushed it slowly open.   He paused for an instant and looked into the room, upon the bed, and then turned to Joe.

 "Is it – is it Tom?” Joe whispered

 “No, it’s the boy.  Joshua.” Adam said with a voice thick with misery and the phlegm that rose in the throat when emotion signalled to the body to rush in with its defenses…adrenalin, endomorphines….They squeezed his throat and made his heart beat so fast that he wanted to vomit there and then.  He closed the door and wiped his face and shivered.

 “Is he – is he dead?”

 “Probably the first” Adam muttered and then he glanced about him “The little girl?   She must be here somewhere.  She must have been the one to have fired the gun”

 “Not Tom?”

 “No, he’s been dead too long.”  Adam’s voice trailed away and he glanced fearfully at the closed door where Tom and Mary lay together on their marital bed. “And Mary –“

 Joe felt the colour drain from his face.   He swallowed bile.  His lips went even drier than they had been already.  He could only stare into his brother’s face and see the horrified misery he felt reflected back at him.

 “Then where’s Martha?” he whispered

 “Perhaps she’s still alive,” Adam said, and he looked at the door behind Joe.  It was the door that led to the back storeroom that Tom and Mary used as an office.  “Open it, Joe, unless you want me to?”

 Joe said nothing.  He knew that whatever his brother had already seen had been so miserably sad that Adams request had been only to spare him the same horror.   He put his hand to the door and pushed it open.

 “Martha?” he whispered as he saw the child sitting hunched in the corner of the room “She’s here, Adam, she’s alive”

 Exultant joy!  They hurried into the room and Joe, having reached her first, went onto his knees and took her into his arms and smiled down at the child’s face.  Adam, so close, watched the young mans smile fade and the relief disappear from his eyes.  He placed a gentle hand on the younger mans shoulder and knelt down beside them.

 “Martha?” Joe whispered hoarsely. “Martha, can you hear me?”

 The child’s eyes flickered and opened.  Already death was waiting to claim its latest victim.  The once blue eyes were already mud coloured and opaque.  The once fresh rosebud lips were dry and withered as an old crone’s.  Joe stroked back the golden blond hair and his own lips trembled and he looked over at his brother and shook his head.    Martha sighed and whispered a few words that begged for him to lean down closer to her.  Her words brushed his cheek as warm soft air as soft as a kiss.  Then she shuddered in his arms.

They stayed there for some minutes. It presented a silent tableau of misery, grief and despair before them.   Then Adam placed a hand on Joe’s shoulder and rose to his feet.

 “Joe, leave her be for the present, we have to bury them”

 “Yes, yes, of course we must.”

 He didn’t want to leave her.  It was as though they were about to abandon her.  How she must have suffered.  How alone she must have felt.   He shivered, and shivered again.  It was though his body could not stop from reacting to what its eyes had witnessed.   He finally lay her down and looked at her as he did so.  She was such a little child with her golden hair. He could remember her running towards him with smile on her lips and her cheeks bright from her exertions.  Laughter had tumbled from her mouth and her eyes had been bright with the excitement of life.   He could recall her tumbling down the hillside with the dogs running by her side and her brother, Joshua, his feet pounding the ground as he raced to reach him first. That had only been a few days ago -.  He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.  He wanted to go somewhere private and throw up. 

 “Are you alright?”

 Adams voice floated towards him and he glanced up and nodded.  They were outside again now.   All the doors and windows had been left open.  The flies were drifting reluctantly out into the hot day.   The dogs were still whining.  He looked at his brother and licked his lips

 “Adam? “

 “Yeah?”  Adam turned his attention back to his brother and frowned “You alright?”

 “I feel a bit better now.  Sorry –“ he took the canteen of water his brother handed him and took several long refreshing gulps.  As he screwed the lid back onto them he looked once more at Adam “Do we have to bury them?  Can’t we take them into town for a decent Christian burial?”

 “Nope”

 “We could put them in the wagon and I’d drive them there if you’d rather?”

 “I said ‘no’.” Adam frowned, his brow furrowed and Joe could see where the perspiration had settled into the creases of his brother’s skin.   He could see his brother’s lips had formed a resolute line in preparation for resistance.  Joe swallowed and prepared to give him some

 “Tom and Mary were good living people, Adam. You can’t just dig a hole and bury them in this – this place”

 “I can.  We can “ Adam corrected himself.

 “But, Adam, it isn’t decent –“

 “Dying as they did isn’t decent.   Not having a doctor to care for them. That isn’t decent.   Being alone – dying alone – that isn’t decent either.  But the fact is that they’re all dead and –“ his voice faltered and he lowered his eyes “And we don’t know what they died from, do we?”

 “No” Joe’s voice, along with his resistance, slipped away

 “A whole family doesn’t die like that without any reason, Joe.   There’s no gunshot wounds, there’s no evidence of any other person having been here for days.  All the evidence points to Joshua dying first, then Tom.   Maybe two days, three days ago” he put his fingers to his head as though trying to sort out the thoughts that crammed into his brain “Look, Joe, Mary couldn’t bury them.  She must have been too weak herself.   She left little Martha alone while she went into that room to die with her husband.  Everything was just left.  They died from some sickness that – “

 “Hang on” Joe put his hand on his brothers arm “What exactly are you saying, Adam?”

 “I’m saying – “ Adam stood up, straightened his shoulders “I’m saying you had better dig one big hole while I go and get the bodies ready for burial” he glanced back at the house “Or do you think we should just burn the lot down?”

 “With them in it?  Are you crazy?”  Joe’s fingers tightened around his brother’s wrist “You can’t do that.”

 “I could, I can.”

 “No, they deserve better than that, Adam”

 “They deserved better than what they’ve had, they deserved to have had proper doctoring, medicine, care and attention.  Now they’ve died and – and we have to take care of them.”  He took a deep breath and looked at Joe and then pointed over to the shovel “Dig it really deep”

 “Yes, sir.” Joe said quietly and without a word more he walked over to the shovel and walked away to where he thought they would have liked to be sleeping altogether. 

 It was a daisy-decked hillside with views over the lake that glistened on the horizon.  As his shovel cut into the first sod of soil, he felt the tears mount into his eyes and fall unheeded down his face.  Martha, little Martha, had died asking for water, for her mama and papa.  He could still feel the soft breath warm to his cheek.  He could still feel the lightness of her body in his arms.   She was just a little girl, barely six years old.

                                           ***********

 Adam stood awhile in the bedroom of the couple and looked down upon them.   They lay close together, and she, who had lived longer, had slipped into her husband’s arms and entwined her own arms upon his neck and laid her head upon his shoulder.   He wondered if the smells of death that stunk in his nostrils were of his imagination.   Or was the stench real, conjured up by the intense heat of the room with its closed window and the flies.  

 He stepped forward and wished that this task could have been given to another, and not to him.   Yet it was self designated, after all, who else could he delegate the task but to his brother.  How could he have done so?  He had taken fresh linen from an ottoman and hastily he covered her with a sheet and drew her away from the last embrace of her dead love.  

 He had buried bodies before.  There had been those who had been victims of disease or victims of Indian attacks.  Of accidents and gun fights.  But there was something terribly awful about these deaths for it touched his own heart with a frightening foreboding.  He forced his mind to face the immediate task and not wander down paths that, at present, he had barely allowed himself to consider.   Now she was wrapped in a shroud and he lifted her into his arms and carried her out to the wagon whereupon he lay her down.

 He returned to the room.   Flies hovered and buzzed about his perspiring face and he brushed them away.    He realised now that he was more aware than ever of the heat.  He could feel sweat prickling his armpits, his scalp and running down his spine.

 He rolled Toms body into the sheets, and bundled them close and tightly together as quickly as he possibly could, knowing that if he hesitated then he would see things that would fill his brain and be food for nightmares for weeks to come.   The fetid smell of death clung in his nostrils and seeped down his throat and he longed for the opportunity to run outside, throw him-self into the saddle and ride home.

 As he carried the body to the wagon, he could hear the scrape of the shovel on the soil.  He placed Tom next to Mary and listened.  Joe was working industriously at his task.  He bowed his head, and a shiver trickled up and down his spine. 

 He collected little Martha next.  He held her close for a moment and looked at the child’s face and stroked back the blonde hair and felt emotion tighten into a lump at his throat.   Carefully and gently he placed her in a quilt and wrapped her tightly as though she were that infant from long ago who had been settled in a manger in swaddling bands.

 How he dreaded the next room.  The child lay on the bed and he waved aside the flies and threw open the window, knowing that it was impossible to work in the claustrophobic heat and stench of the room.   His heart was thudding against his ribs as he pulled the boy up – and then dropped him back into the sheets on the bed.  It was no good.  He couldn’t bear to touch the child’s corpse like this and he hurriedly pulled over the soiled linen and bundled it together all the while with his brain screaming ‘sorry, sorry, Josh, sorry’

 Joe glanced up as he heard the wagon approach and he lowered his head and looked into the hole he had dug.  It was certainly big and wide enough. He had had a task of his own to clamber out of it.

 The dogs had sensed their own loss in the way only the canine species could explain.  Now they sat side by side and raised their muzzles to the sky and whined that plaintive low warble of distress one associated with wolverines and full moons.  It added an air of eeriness and unreality to the situation that made Joe feel sick to the pit of his stomach.   As the wagon passed them the dogs stood and began to pad the ground, yipping and whining, and falling into miserable uncanny silence once it had rumbled out of their sight.

 Adam narrowed his eyes as he approached his brother.  Then, hurriedly, he bowed his head knowing that his brother would not want him to have witnessed the shed tears that streaked his cheeks.   Without looking up he put a brake to the vehicle, and clambered down.  

 Now he paused and placed a hand on the tailgate and felt tears well up into his own eyes.  He pressed his fingers against his eye lids and stood there awhile until he had mastered the desire to weep and could get down to the grisly business of taking the bodies from the wagon floor.

 “I’ll help.” whispered Joe and their eyes met, and very hastily they both turned away for recognising the sorrow and weakness in the other, weakened their own resolve.

 Carefully and as gently as they could they took the bodies, and lowered them into the gaping wound in the soils surface.   When little Martha was settled down to rest upon the body of her mother, Joe’s restraint faltered and a sob escaped his lips.   When Adam placed a reassuring, comforting hand on the younger mans shoulders, Joe turned away.   He straightened his back and took a deep breath.

 “Are you – are you going to say anything – for – for them?” he muttered hoarsely.

 “Do you want to say anything first?” Adam asked

 “No – I mean – I – I can’t – not just yet”

 Adam nodded.   Side by side they stood, shoulder to shoulder, and with their hats held to their chests.  Adam took a deep breath and began to speak the familiar words

 “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.  He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down.  He fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.   So man lieth down, and riseth not; till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. “

 A bird called out in the silence as the two men stood by the graveside.  A breeze drifted by and the daisies nodded to the rhythm of its passing.  Another bird answered the call of the first.  Butterflies drifted in a lazy arc and faded from their vision

 “And the Lord said “ Marvel not at this; for the hour is coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” he stooped and picked up a handful of the dry soil and held it over the grave “Dust to dust, ashes to ashes – may God bless you all and remember you all, Tom, Mary, Joshua, Mar – Martha” and he let the dust fall, sifting down upon the quilt that covered the child.  He blinked back tears and pressed his fingers against his eyelids “Amen” he whispered hollowly.

 “Amen” Joe echoed and bowed his head and tears slowly slid down his cheeks forming runnels through the dust that had coated his skin as a result of his labours.

 They stood in silence for some more time.  The birds were singing now and both of them heard the sound of the birds’ song, and pondered over the irony of beauty continuing on through a macabre moment of time.   Adam shivered and turned to look at Joe.  He placed a gentle hand on his brother’s arm

 “Look, Joe, you had best take the wagon back and see to the stock.  They’ll need some feed and more water.   The stage will be here in less than an hour, and we have to talk”

 “Why must I –“ Joe’s protest faded from his lips, and he took a deep breath and nodded “Sure, we have to talk.  I’ll see to the stock and we’ll talk later.”

 “Sure, we’ll talk later.”    Adam watched as his brother walked away and mounted the wagon.  

 Joe had just loosened the brake on the wagon and flicked the reins when he heard the sound of the shovel biting into the soil.   He turned hurriedly and bit his bottom lip.    As the wagon rolled slowly back to the yard of the relay station, Joe struggled to shut out the mental image of his brother shoveling back the mound of soil into the grave.

                                             *************

 Billy hauled on the lead reins and drew the horses up in a cloud of dust close to the corral where the fresh horses milled around.   The heavy vehicle rocked slightly on its suspension, as the dust enveloped it in a filmy gray sheen.

 “All right, folks, time to git out and git some food and drink – stop over time just two hours and –“ he paused in mid-sentence and turned as the recognisable click of a trigger being pulled back sounded eerily through all the other noises “What in tarnations going on here?” he cussed as his feet reached the hard packed soil and he turned to face the relay cabin and saw, with gun pointed directly at him, the tall sombre looking eldest son of Ben Cartwright “What’s going on, Adam?” Billy said, stepping forward to the cabin

 “Not another step, Billy” Adams voice rasped

 “You must be joshin’” Billy grinned, then stopped as he recognised something in the young mans face that indicated that he was very far from joshing.   Even as he stood there the makeshift cabin door opened and Joseph Cartwright stepped outside into the glaring sun.  His own pistol pointed directly at the stagecoach and his face was a replica of his brothers.

 “Tell your passengers to stay on board.  Change the horses if you must, but get moving as soon as you can” Adam Cartwright said in a tone of voice that brooked no argument and he swung round slowly, his gun carving an arc in the air as he turned to aim it at one of the passengers

 The perspiring form of one of the leading citizens of Virginia City thrust open the door and peered out, glowered at Adam, and Joe, and then at Billy.

 “I thought you said there was food and drink here.” he growled, pulling out a kerchief and mopping frantically at the beads of sweat that rolled down his face.

 “You stay right where you are, Mr Jackson” Joe suggested

 “You Cartwright’s taking over the relay business as well is it?  Think you can tell us –“ Jackson stopped when a bullet whined through the air and spat dust inches from his feet.  Hastily he clambered back inside “What’s going on here?  This is crazy!”

 “Some way to run a stage coach business” a woman whined as she tried to stifle the sounds of crying from her two year old child.

 “Adam?  Joe?  What’s going on here?  Where are the Murphys?” Billy demanded, thrusting out his gray bristled chin stubbornly

 Adam beckoned him to step forwards, and then raised a hand to stop him after several paces

 “That’s far enough, Billy”

 Billy looked at one and then the other of the two brothers.   Both of them bore signs of stress.  Their eyes were strained, sad, and wistful.   Dirt and grime clung to their clothes, and he could see marks on the face of the younger that looked like the course of tears.  He frowned and glanced over his shoulder as the sound of a baby crying added to that of the two year olds bawling.

 “What happened?   Summat bad?”

 “As bad as you can imagine” Adam said quietly “We just buried Tom and his wife and children”

 “What?  What happened?”

 “We rode in a few hours ago.   Martha died in Joe’s arms.   Billy, I don’t know what killed them, but I’m pretty much convinced that –“ Adam paused and glanced sideways at his brother and Billy saw there the look of tenderness that fell over the older mans face as he looked at Joe.  The fear in his eyes, and Billy knew that it was the fear for his brother more than anything else that now haunted the older man, for when he next looked at Billy his eyes were haunted and wild “Billy, don’t let anyone come any closer just in case.”

 “In case?” Billy pushed his hat to the back of his head and surveyed them both.

 “Joshua died first, several days ago, then Tom, they must have been too weak to bury the boy, and then Mary died…Billy, it wasn’t pleasant finding them like that and – and we don’t know what they died from, but it was sure something unpleasant.”

 “Do you want me to send Dr Martin back to you boys?”

 They looked at one another.  Joe, his face showed his trust and love for his older brother, respect for whatever he decided upon, and the confidence that he would be right.  It was the older man who showed lack of conviction, and that was only due to the love he had for his brother, his fear that the boy could become sick to the death with the illness that had been in the cabin.  His responsibility to protect and care for the boy lay upon his heart like a stone.  Joe turned away and looked at Billy and shook his head

 “There’s a lot of folk out there, and only two doctors to see to them.  Best you just leave it to them to decide what to do.”

 Adam gave his brother a long look of pride and respect and then turned to Billy and nodded

 “It’ll take another 22 hours to get to town and another 22 hours for them to come back plus time spent finding them, by which time –“ he licked his lips, they were dry and he coughed to clear his throat “Billy, when you see Pa and Hoss, tell them – tell them we did what we thought to be right and tell them we’ll see them when the next stage comes through” he paused and frowned and bit his lip and looked over at Joe, who inclined his head.

 “That’s not for another week.” Billy said quietly

 “Yes, a weeks time.  Tell them that, and tell them not to do anything without the doctor’s approval.   Tell them –“ Adam paused and took a deep breath “Tell them we will be thinking of them” he stepped back into the shadows of the cabin, his hand on his brothers shoulder and Joe, looking at the frightened faces peering out of the open windows, and then at Billy, nodded his farewell and stepped with his brother into the cabin.

 The door closed quietly.

 Within ten minutes the stagecoach rocked back into motion and sent a cloud of dust and dirt and grit billowing skywards across the yard towards the gray clapboard building.

                                      ***********

 The sounds of the stagecoach finally drifted away.    The two brothers exchanged glances and reholstered their guns.  Adam nodded curtly to Joe and indicated the table and chairs with a gesture of the hand. It was obvious it was now time to talk.   Both brothers sat down and looked warily at the other.

 “Well?” Adam asked first, raising his eyebrows

 “Well what?” Joe replied, with a sinking feeling in his stomach

 “What have you got to tell me?”

 “Nuthin’” and the hazel eyes glared defiantly into his brothers’ face.

 Adam nodded thoughtfully for a second or two and then sat back, his arms folded across his chest and scanning the sad and anxious face of his youngest brother with a cynical twist to his lips.

 “What?” snapped Joe eventually “What are you looking at me like that for?”