Disclaimer: This story is the copyright of nesciri and are published for others to read. Any abuse or infringement of the author's rights will be goverened by Swedish law. The characters have been borrowed from the TV-drama "The Young Riders" . This has not been done in order to violate the copyright of the authors of that show, however, if an infringement has been done, please notify and this page will be removed. Any drawings are the copyright of nesciri and may not be used without the written permission of .

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

to be continued

Main Page

Reading Room

Library

"James Michael!" His mother's word rung out over the farmyard. The young boy frowned and ignored the demand in the words. He didn't feel like going back - not yet anyway. Squatting under a large tree, he studied the ants building their home and dragging food back to the anthill. He noticed that if an ant died another went back and dragged it back to the home. Fascinated with this, he killed some of them, just to see it repeated. He wondered if the ants ate each other.

He heard his mother call for him again and rose in anger. Before he returned he stopped and looked at the ants, then he put his foot close to the home, killing several more. The others immediately attacked him, and not realizing the danger he was too late in removing his foot. He screamed as their bites started to sting and he moved quickly away from the place. He looked at the anthill and muttered. The bites hurt and with tears in his eyes he started to run back to the homestead. It wasn't a homestead yet, really.

The family had just acquired the land from a broker only a couple of months ago. They had been here for three weeks now, and his father hadn't visited the nearest town yet. They had bought a lot of things in Blue Creek on their way and then his father had been busy building the small cottage. James didn't like it here. He would have preferred to stay in Tacoma, where he had all his friends. The only other child here was his own sister, who was nothing more than a nuisance. Well, except to his parents, that was. They always made sure that she was OK. As the hurt from the bites slowly disappeared, he slowed down to a brisk walk, kicking on stones on the path. He didn't like his sister. Whenever he made a mistake or did something wrong, she couldn't wait to tell their parents. And his father didn't take it easy on any mischief-makers. James had tasted the end of his belt more than once. And it wasn't his fault!

He wasn't even allowed to examine the forest, although he had often tried to sneak away into the nearest grove. His father feared that there might be Indians around. He frowned. As if Indians frightened him! If he and Cole had been out here they would show them Indians. He darted behind a bush and pretended to fire a rifle at a bunch of imaginary savages attacking him.

"Bam! Bam!" The rifle echoed over the landscape killing the attacking Indians just like "Wild Bill" Hickok and other heroes of his well-read books would have done.

"What do you think you're doing? Didn't you hear your mother?" His father's angry voice interrupted the game, and he shrunk.

"I was ..."

"Playing as usual. There's chores to be done and where is my useless son? Playing in the woods like an idiot."

"I was looking for Indian tracks," the boy tried to defend himself. "You said yourself there might be Indians around.."

"Sure. Go help your mother. If I see you avoiding your chores again, you'll taste my belt. God knows, you deserve it."

"I'm sorry."

His father looked in dismay at this pitiful boy that was his son. He hadn't expected his son to be such a coward and a mother's boy. It's was his wife's fault. She had spoiled the boy, he thought, looking after the boy as he ran back into the house.

"Rider coming!" Kid rose from the table where he had been trying to write a letter. He carefully folded the letter and placed it in his pocket, before reaching for his hat.

"What was that you were writing?" Cody asked from his bunk, putting down the book he was reading.

"Nothing special." Kid quickly left the bunkhouse.

Cody sighed with disappointment. He had half-hoped that Kid would leave the letter on the table. He had been working on that letter for some time now, and Cody's curiosity was increasingly aroused. Keeping secrets in such a small place wasn't easy, and Cody had made it his specialty to find out all of them. He bent over and threw a quick glance out the window. Kid was already on his way and no one of the other riders were in sight. Quickly he reached for his journal and added a few notes. He read them again and smiled to himself. His journals would make a great story someday. The sound of somebody on the porch, caused him to hide the journal quickly under his pillow and pick up the book again.

When Lou entered the room, he was lying on his back, apparently oblivious to the world.

"You gonna stay there the rest of the day? Don't you have any chores to do?"

"Now, Lou, what kind of question is that? If you remember I've had a hard ride, and I think that should entitle me to some rest."

"Your ride was yesterday!"

"As I said, it was a hard ride."

"I know, Cody," she said with a fleeting smile, "and I think we have a surprise for you."

She hastily moved out of the way as Jimmy entered with a bucket of water and without mercy he emptied it over Cody.

"What do you think you're doing? My book, my bed!"

"You're right, Lou, that hard ride did make him dirty. You look much cleaner now,Cody!" Jimmy looked him over with a mischievous smile.

The commotion in the bunkhouse had already attracted the others and soon Noah and Ike stood in the doorway, smiling at the very wet Cody, who miserably tried to separate the pages in his book. He was a sight and when Ike gently asked if he hadn't considered using something else than his bed for a bath, no one could hold back their laughter. Soon even Cody, who never could be angry for long, joined in, and when he without thinking sat down in the bed, causing a large splash, the mirth grew.

"What are you doing?" Teaspoon stood in the doorway looking in amazement at his young riders. When he saw the water on the floor, the wet Cody and the also very wet bunk, he sadly shook his head.

"I knowed I shouldn't have accepted that job after Sam left. Here I leave you for one day, and you manage to turn the bunkhouse into a public bath. I do hope you intend to clean up after you."

"And while you're at it, you could clean this 'ere bunkhouse up. A genuine pigsty, that what it is. With all that water, I'd say that you could start with the floor," he added smiling.

The faces on the riders fell. That wasn't exactly what they had anticipated.

"What are you doing here, Teaspoon?" Jimmy asked to avoid the issue of cleaning.

"Came out to see if any of you would join me on an errand. Got a message from Blue Creek about a settler that passed by there a couple of weeks ago. Bought himself some land near Sweetwater, apparently."

"What has he done?"

"Nothing. Except the land he bought is just beyond the old Jenkins farm, on the other side of the hills."

"That's Kiowa land, isn't it?" Lou asked.

"Nope. But too damn close for comfort, I say. Especially for a single farmer with a wife and kids."

"Why didn't the people in Blue Creek warn him?"

"The messenger said he had been set on getting there. Apparently he used all his savings for that land. No man is just going to give that up."

"There's no trouble with the Kiowa right now," Cody said. "Maybe Buck can ask them to leave this farmer alone as long as he stays on his land. After all, the man bought it."

"Now hold on, Cody. Just because Buck's half-Kiowa doesn't mean we can send him running in and out of the Kiowa village. And even if he was willing to do that, I'm not sure that the Kiowa would agree to such an arrangement. Any white settlement that close to their home could cause trouble."

"What are you going to do?" Noah asked.

"I'll have to talk to the man. If he gets in trouble with the Kiowa, we could have a serious conflict on our hands - and that might effect you. Some of your rides go across the Kiowa land."

"I'll go with you, Teaspoon." Jimmy quickly said before anyone else could make the offer.

"That's fine. Then let's get going. And boys, when I get back, I expect there will be some changes in this room."

"I promised Rachel I'd make a list for what we need in the stable." Lou quickly jumped down from the bunk where she had seated herself when Teaspoon entered the room.

"I still got some chores to do." Noah stated.

<Me too>. Ike signed and followed the others out of the bunkhouse. Before leaving, he quickly signed, <Don't forget to clean up after your bath,> and then he was gone.

Teaspoon looked at Cody. "Well son, I believe you have work to do."

When he and Jimmy left, Cody looked after them with a frown on his face and then, realizing that he still held on to the wet book, let it drop to the floor. The book landed in a small puddle of water and he sighed.

"Wasn't a very good book anyway,"he mumbled to himself and was then struck by a terrible thought. His journal. He darted over to his bunk and threw away the pillow. Most of the pages were dry, but from five pages the water was dripping and the ink unreadable.

"Nooo!"

At his cry, Noah and Lou stopped on their way to the barn and looked at each other.

"Do you think we were too hard on him, leaving him to clean up?"

They looked over at the bunkhouse and then at each other again.

"No," they said simultaneously and walked on.