A Trail of Courage and Paper (A Bonanza Story)

Chapter Three

Once again Joe fought to regain consciousness. It was much harder this time, and he nearly gave up on the effort after several tries. He floated in and out of awareness, the nagging of his injuries becoming harder and harder to ignore as the fog in his head slowly began to disperse. His whole body ached and felt bruised, his right shoulder felt as if someone had branded it with a hot poker, and he felt like the world was spinning behind his eyelids. He had the mother of all headaches pounding the living daylights out of his head. Nearby, whoops and yells resonated through the air. For one confused moment, Joe thought they were back at Bulker's Ridge. His eyes snapped open, only to reveal that the Indians were a few dozen yards away dancing around a bonfire, and he was sitting with his back rigid against a tree, a thick rope around his chest and his hands tied securely behind him. They used wet rawhide! he realized with a grimace as his wrists made him quite aware of the pain of the tightening bonds. He wiggled his hands and feet to get the blood circulating in them again, then tried to slip out of the ropes that were holding him to the tree. Grunts of pain escaped his tightly pressed lips whenever he moved his right shoulder, hot agony pulsing through his fingertips and spreading through his chest muscles. He paused to stare at the deformed joint and realized that somewhere along this whole mess he had dislocated it.

A groan caused Joe to whip his head around, and he instantly regretted the sudden movement as pain shot through his skull and caused a dizzy spell that rivaled any ride on a bucking bronco. Something warm and wet trickled down the side of his neck , and Joe suddenly remembered the flash of pain that had dropped him from Cochise. Bullet must've grazed the back of my head, he thought, and that second knock on the head didn't help any. Probably have a concussion. Gritting his teeth against the rising nausea, he tried to focus his eyes on the fuzzy shape of his brother a few feet away. "Adam!" Joe whispered loudly, "Adam, you have to wake up!"

Adam let out another groan as his head rolled, seemingly having no strength to lift it. Joe kept softly calling to him, pulling him towards awareness. After what seemed like a lifetime, Adam groggily opened his eyes, unseeing at first before clarity sparked his gaze.

"Joe?" He whispered, his voice hoarse, "What happened? Where are we?" Joe looked around.

"I'm not sure where we are. Somewhere in the north mountains, I'd say. And as for what happened, we got bushwhacked by a Shoshone raiding party. Remember now?" Joe was relieved when Adam slowly nodded. No memory loss helped to rule out a possible concussion for his brother. "Good. Can you get out of those ropes?"

Adam struggled with his bonds for a few moments, then fell back against the tree, gasping. "No good. They're too tight." He leaned his head back against the tree and let out a low hiss of pain, discomfort etched into the furrow of his brows. Joe examined his brother's roughed up state and winced at the tears crisscrossing his shirt, sure by the amount of blood that there were some nasty cuts to go along with them.

Footsteps suddenly made themselves known as a Shoshone brave staggered out of the woods from the bonfire towards them. Joe realised that the Indians must've been drinking, because this brave certainly did look tipsy. The Indian seemed to have come all by himself, probably unbeknownst to the other redskins.

The brave stood for a moment staring at the two men, as if comparing or sizing them up. He seemed to make up his mind on whatever he was thinking, because he stumbled over to Adam, a knife sliding into his hand. Joe felt his pulse quicken as the brave grabbed a fist full of Adam's dark hair and jerked his head forward, moving the knife towards the back of his neck.

"Adam!" Joe yelled, straining at his ropes. Adam struggled to twist his head out of reach of the blade, but the brave's iron grip held him steady as the blade pushed beneath the skin, causing the eldest Cartwright sibling to go rigid and gasp at the new pain. "Adam!"