Bonanza - Book 4 - " Random Chances "

Adam opened his eyes again, slowly, and glanced to his clock. It was barely five thirty. He looked to his bedroom window. It was still pretty dark out, and there were heavy layers of grey cloud in the early morning sky. He rolled over, and gently shook Beth's shoulder. " Hey, sweetheart. I've got to get up, and get going. Don't want to keep Hoss waiting...." Beth buried her face into her pillow, and murmured something unintelligible to Adam then, turning to him, smiled. " I'll get up and make you breakfast, Adam..."

A short while later, he sat quietly eating his meal of eggs, bacon, and home fries, and tossed the occasional sideways glance to Beth. "I'm sorry I have to leave you and Sarah, Beth. This stallion is just really important to Pa. He's been trying to buy him from Mr. Lambert for a couple of years, now. He wired Pa - he finally decided to sell. If he doesn't buy him now, someone else will... Pa just can't take the time off right now, to pick him up himself, with that logging crew working in the north section. It's a project he just feels he has to supervise - to be sure just the right trees are harvested. You know - 'Pa and his trees'. Hoss, Joe and I drew lots - far as who was going to pick up the stallion - and Hoss and I 'won '." Beth sighed deeply. " I know that, Adam. Sarah and I will be fine. But hurry back, alright, sweetheart ?" Adam smiled at his young wife. They hadn't been married for very long, and neither of them really enjoyed being apart. " It shouldn't take more than a week or so, Beth. Hmm.. 'The life of a rancher', hey ? We'll be back before you know it." Adam stood up from the table, and leaned to kiss her. "Say my goodbyes to Sarah, again, will you ? Though we did say our 'goodbyes' last night....." Beth smiled again. " She will miss her Pa." Adam grinned." No more than I'll miss 'my girls' ". Adam leaned to kiss Beth's cheek, again, and gave her a warm hug. Walking to the door, he buckled on his holster, and pulled on his hat. He reached his jacket on, and felt the deep inside pocket, to be sure that the three thousand dollars, to buy the horse, was still safely stored there. He grabbed his bedroll, and packed saddle bags, from the sideboard, opened the door, and was gone.

There was a bit of a nip in the air as he walked across the barnyard, and he could actually see his breath in the coolness of the early November morning. He shuddered a little as he opened the barn door, and was met by the whinnied greetings of the barn's occupants. The warmth from their bodies filled the barn, and the smell of fresh hay made its way up his nose. Hoss had been up for some time, and had already fed and watered all the stock. He smiled broadly, as Adam entered the barn. "Hey, big brother-Good morning ! Bet it was hard getting out of that nice, warm bed, this early, weren't it ?!"Adam half - smiled, as he reached his tack from its stand. " No more harder than usual, Hoss, when Beth's still in it...." He winked at his younger brother, with a bit of a twinkle in his eyes. Hoss just smiled. " Dadburn it - I hear that ! I wouldn't want to leave her, either, if she were my gal !" The two men quickly tacked up their horses, and led them from the barn. Adam swung up onto Sport's back and Hoss clambered onto Chubb's. Rounding the corner of the stable, they loped off across the expanse of meadowland, on the far side. They were headed for Sutcliffe, Nevada, near the western shore of Pyramid Lake - about a hundred mile ride away. They had ridden along in silence for some time when Adam glanced up at the heavy cloud cover, and sighed. " I hope we're not riding into snow, Hoss. Those clouds sure look threatening..." Hoss raised his lowered head, and the cool wind whistled around his ears. "It's too early for snow, ain't it, Adam ? It'll just be a bit of rain - no more than that - I hope...At least we got our slickers....." Hoss hunkered down again, his chin resting against his chest, which was protected from the wind, behind the generous collar of his long, dark brown coat. Adam tugged up the collar of his tan jacket, to shield his neck from the whirling wind, and pulled his hat a little lower on his forehead - if only so it wouldn't be carried off on that wind. "I hope you're right, Hoss. Let's get a bit of a move on. We still need to pick up some supplies in Virginia City." Adam dug in his heels, and loped off, with Hoss following his lead.