A/N: This is a collaboration story with BettyHT in response to a writing challenge over on Trail Riders.

Joe's Journal – June 26

You are never going to believe this. Me and Adam have been on the road for well over a week, and there hasn't been one argument. Oh, it got close the first morning when we got up and had breakfast. I burned the bacon, or well, not really, but it was close. I told him he shouldn't complain because he says he likes it crispy. Woo, that was close. Instead, he told me to take care of the horses. Now that was perfect – just what I wanted. I hate doing all those camp chores. That's woman's work. We had a string of ten horses we were taking down to the BK ranch in Prescott, Arizona. I've never been there.

But anyway, I could see Adam didn't like it much, and that 'l' word was on his lips, but he never said it. He knew we were going to be together for at least two weeks. It was going to be miserable if we started at each other the first morning. If he said lazy, it was going to start up a real mess between us, so, he let it go. After that, he took over the camp duties and told me I was responsible for the horses. Fine by me. I think he wondered every day if I set it up that first morning by nearly burning the bacon, but he never said anything.

Only one thing makes me a bit nervous. Adam has this thing where he gets even. If he really thinks I did that on purpose to get out of doing work, he's going to find a way to make me pay for it. So I have to make sure he doesn't think that.

We're getting close to Prescott now and I'm really looking forward to that. I never met any of the Kraft family, but Adam has and says they got a daughter. Doesn't matter what she looks like, I'm going to enjoy her company while we're there. Except for one night in Tonopah on the way down and that was only a couple of nights out, we haven't had a single night in a town. Not that there was much to consider stopping at, but Adam didn't trust that we would keep the horses if we stopped in any of those places. Not one of them probably has any lawman.

About halfway down, we did spend a night at the ranch of one of Pa's friends. Place was out in the middle of nowhere but at least we got a home cooked meal and a bath. They had plenty of water from an artesian well. Yep, that's what they called it. The water just came bubbling up on its own. Guess there's a lot of them in that area. Place is called Pahrump which is based on the old southern Paiute name. I'm looking forward to telling Hoss about those artesian wells though. He's never going to believe it.

Now it's time to get some sleep. We're pushing on past Flagstaff tomorrow and then down toward Prescott. We're heard that there's been some Apache trouble again although they said they're more likely to lift our horses than our scalps. I'd rather not lose either one, so we need to be ready for anything. I'm sleeping first, and then Adam will wake me so he can get some sleep. This is all going to make that BK ranch look even better to me.

Adam's Journal – June 26

When Pa told me that I'd be taking a trip to Arizona with Joe, I tried to convince him it was a bad idea. We don't see eye-to-eye on many things. Never have and probably never will. I tried to tell Pa we'd be at each other's throats and getting on each other's nerves the entire trip. The only response I got from him was a small smile before he said that he thought this trip would be good for both of us and it might actually bring us closer together.

At first, I doubted this trip would do anything but make me more annoyed at my younger brother. But now that we're over a week into the trip, I'm starting to see that maybe Pa was right. We haven't really argued much at all. Well, besides the first morning when Joe almost burned the bacon and then replied with a snippy comment when I asked him about it. I almost lost my temper with him. I didn't want to ruin our trip the first morning, though. Instead, I ordered him to be in charge of the horses we were taking down to Arizona for the remainder of the trip and I would take care of the camp chores. Did he try to burn the bacon on purpose so he didn't have to do the cooking? I can't be 100 percent sure, but if it means we don't start a wildfire and have edible food for the duration of our trip, I'll gladly take on those chores.

Only a couple more days before we get to the Kraft ranch and deliver these horses. We're in Apache territory now and I told Joe it would probably be best if we take turns staying up at night in case trouble arises. I'm taking the first watch tonight. So far, all is quiet. Hopefully, it stays that way and before we know it we're in Prescott. All I know is that I'm looking forward to delivering these horses and being back on the road towards home.

Joe's Journal – June 28

That Kraft daughter is beautiful. This is going to be a great day. While Adam was busy haggling over price for the horses, I watched her. Now I had to wait for dinner to officially meet her, but I got an eyeful of her long before that. I watched her up at the house eyeing me while Cole Kraft and Adam were arguing about price. Just watching them, you could tell they enjoyed it. They were well matched for that job. Finally, they shook hands and Cole invited both of us to the house so the bill of sale could be exchanged for cash. Of course, there was the offer of a brandy, and then after some conversation, dinner was offered. Adam said we were hardly presentable after all that time on the trail so Cole expanded the offer to include staying the night. That got us a room and a chance to clean up. I think it may have been that last part that appealed to my oldest brother the most. He sure does like to put on a clean shirt. I do too especially when there's a pretty young lady around to impress.

When we got to the room, Adam searched all over until he found a good hiding place for the money. We can't send it home by sending a bank draft or anything like that. It's Saturday and it's doubtful that there's a Wells Fargo or similar office anywhere near here anyway. No, as much as it makes us nervous, we're going to have to carry that money with us.

Dinner went well, but it was the walk in the evening air that was the best part for me. Her name is Amelia, and she is as sweet as she is pretty. I was a gentleman, but I definitely entertained thoughts that were not gentlemanly. I tried to steal a kiss, but she wouldn't let me. She said to wait for a day. I was wondering what the heck did she mean by that, but she said to wait until I talked with her father. When I walked her inside, she smiled so nice for her father who looked quite relieved. He invited me into the study telling me that my brother had just retired for the night. Then he made me a proposition. I think he has one of those ulterior motives.

He told me that every year, the Kraft ranch competes with the other big ranch next door, the CR or Claussen Ranch, in a rodeo. The Kraft Ranch always loses. Apparently though, he had found out from Adam during their haggling that we broke those ten horses we sold to him. Those were some well-trained horses we brought down there. He's impressed. In fact, he's so impressed, he wants us to stay and help him in the rodeo. It's only six days away so it won't delay us much, and I get to spend nearly a week with Amelia. I think he knew I would be motivated to stay. All I have to do is convince Adam that it's a good idea.

Adam's Journal – June 28

We finally made it to the Kraft ranch without incident. After some quick introductions, I sat down with Cole to get to the business of making a deal for the horses. You would think it was a simple task negotiating on a price, but it's all a delicate science. You don't want to come in with a deal too low and lose out on some money. Then again, you don't want to highball the price and lose the deal altogether. Joe hasn't perfected this part of the business process yet. He just seems to think you argue back and forth until you reach a final price. That's probably why Pa told me to take care of this part of the deal. I don't mind, though. Secretly I enjoy the delicate banter back and forth working towards a price that we eventually both find agreeable. Then when we finally reach a deal and shake hands…well, I can't think of much else that's more satisfying than that.

The Krafts offered for us to stay for a celebration dinner for our successful deal. This ultimately turned into an offer to stay the night, which I was most grateful to accept. I'll take a soft bed to sleep on any day over the hard ground. Dinner was a fine affair, but after being on the trail for over a week, I was ready to get a good night's rest. I wasn't the least surprised to see Joe eyeing the pretty young lady across the table. I was even less surprised that when I excused myself for the evening before retiring to our room that he said he wasn't tired. I didn't buy that for one instant. There's no way he wasn't just as tired as me. With Joe, though, if there's a young lady involved, everything else seems to take second place, including sleep.

Joe's Journal – June 29

Getting Adam to agree to stay and help out was easier than I thought. I got back to the room and he was hiding the money. I chided him some on that but not too much as I didn't want to make him mad. Didn't want to make him suspicious either, and he would have been if I didn't say something. Anyway, he trusts the Kraft family but not the people working for them. He is the suspicious type. Oh well, he likes the family so the next part wasn't too hard. I told him how they were in this rodeo and how they lost every year. He knew how awful it feels to lose and he hates losing. I told him the Claussen ranch has a couple of really good cowboys working for them and nobody around here can beat them at horse racing or saddle bronc busting. Now that second part appealed to my older brother right away. I know he's kinda proud of how well he rides. I am too even though I think I ride a bit better than he does. Between us though, I don't think there's a pair of riders that are as good. He grinned like he knew what I was thinking then. I hope not because I'm thinking I'm about to get a week with Amelia. Yep, I am.

Breakfast was a really happy occasion. Seems like they were really happy with our news that we would stay and help out. Cole said he would hire us on for a week so he could say we were hands on the BK and make it all legal or legitimate or whatever. I was a little worried about what that would mean until he kept talking. He asked me if I would mind taking over escort duty with Amelia. Seems she likes to go out riding every morning and Cole usually rode with her. Now though he wanted to ride with Adam so they could talk over maybe some improvements that could be made to the ranch. So that was going to be our 'jobs' for the week. I agreed as fast as I could swallow and be free to talk. I saw Adam grinning and figured he had already told Cole what he would do. Didn't matter if he did or not. I didn't pay much attention to Adam for the next six days. I had a job to do.

I saw my brother at breakfast and at dinner and of course when we turned in for the night. It was the best week I ever spent with him.

Adam's Journal – June 29

Well, it seems there's going to be a little delay in getting back home. I'm sure Pa won't mind and personally, I could use a short rest from being on the trail.

I knew something was up when Joe came back to the room much earlier than expected that first night. I expected I would be in bed long before he returned from his little stroll with Amelia. I was still in the process of hiding our money from the sale of the horses when he came barging into the room, questioning why I was hiding the money. While it wasn't unlike Joe to give me grief about being extra cautious with our money, something felt off about the way he said that comment. Plus, one look at his face and I could tell there was something more he wanted to tell me.

It was then that he told me the rodeo. He went on to explain how there was a neighboring ranch, the Claussen ranch, that is really good and wins just about every year because no one can beat them. I guess it was expressed to Joe that the Krafts want us to stay and help with the rodeo and to try to win it for them this year.

It was those words that piqued my interest. I don't want to sound like I'm bragging, but I'm an excellent rider. And Joe is almost as good as me. Combining our two skills and experience, we make an unstoppable team. Ever since I was a little boy, I have always wanted to stick up for the minorities that crossed my path and this situation seemed to fit that perfectly. Joe tried to act like he really wanted to help the underdog as well, but I know better. He's more excited to have an extra week with Amelia.

After talking privately with Cole the next morning to get a few more details about the rodeo that Joe failed to remember, he told me that one of the official rodeo rules is that riders representing each ranch had to be workers of that ranch. Cole said that there were no requirements, though, for how long a rider had to work on the ranch, so he would make both Joe and myself temporary workers for the week. I asked Cole what type of work he had in mind for us. As we weren't planning on staying originally, neither Joe nor myself had brought much more than provisions for the trail and the horses we sold to the ranch. After hearing the options, I informed him that Joe seems to have taken a liking to his daughter and would gladly accept that 'chore' while I work with him on plans for improvements around the ranch. Cole agreed to the arrangements which he would officially announce at breakfast.

Despite having to work for a week, it won't be nearly the most difficult work I've done for a stranger in the past. Between helping Cole and practicing for the rodeo, it should be a fairly relaxing week. I just hope it all goes as planned.

Joe's Journal – July 3

One thing that has surprised me is the amount of betting that takes place with this rodeo. Amelia has told me that people will bet a month's wages or more on how this turns out. Now for the ranch hands here, that means losing twenty-five to fifty dollars or so. But she told me the odds against her father's ranch are five-to-one. So that means someone betting against twenty-five here would have to pay out one hundred twenty-five if we help them win. The whole thing is starting to make me a bit nervous. When that kind of money is on the line, men can get ornery. I probably should talk to Adam about this. I'm guessing he's not going to like it, but he's the one who can usually think of a way out of possible messes like this one.

Of course, if he thinks the solution is to cut and run, I've got an ace up my sleeve. Amelia told me that the CR hands know all about us being here and being ready to help the BK hands. They're still betting against us at five-to-one odds though. They said they saw me and they think I'm too small to be a threat. Hey, I'm used to that. What they don't seem to know is that is a big advantage in breaking horses. The best horsebreakers out there are mostly smaller men. The best part though is what they said about Adam is likely to get his back up. They think he's too big. I know he likes to think of himself as being pretty good looking, and for them to kind of hint at him being too large is going to bother him. Even if he never says it, he's going to want to show them they're dead wrong.

Tomorrow is the big day, and I've got to get a good night's sleep. But this betting thing is going to be on my mind unless I get a chance to talk to Adam about it. It's not the only thing bothering me though. Amelia is a real nice gal, but she's kind of hinting that maybe there might be more developing between us than being really good friends. Her father and even Adam have been teasing me some too asking if she's going to be traveling to the Ponderosa with us. Dang, now what am I going to do about that? A man can only handle so many issues at one time. I wish I wouldn't get into these predicaments all the time. I wonder why things like this always happen to me.

Adam's Journal – July 4 (Morning)

So far, the week has gone smoothly. After riding around the ranch with Cole the first day, we discussed some improvements that needed to be done around here. I think he valued my opinion even more when he found out I took some architectural classes in college and then helped build our house back in Nevada. Some of the changes were easy, like fixing some fence posts and repairing a portion of a roof on an old shed, so I helped him do those while I was working. A few of the other changes he wanted to do would take longer to complete than the week we were going to be here. For those more difficult tasks, I wrote simple, step-by-step instructions so he could complete them after we left. Overall, we got a lot accomplished in such a short period of time.

I didn't see Joe much during the week, only seeing him at meals and off in the distance while doing some of those odd chores. He appeared to be taking his 'job' of watching Amelia seriously. They were always together and he came to dinner each evening with one of those love-struck grins on his face. I teased him one night if Amelia would be traveling back to the Ponderosa with us. I knew I struck a tender subject with him when he gave me a scowl and a firm declaration that they were just friends. Really, just friends? I didn't push the subject further, but from the outside, you could see something was beginning to blossom between these two 'friends'.

Of all the things my younger brother has done this has to be one of the most annoying. My fool-hearted younger brother would wait until the morning of the rodeo to tell me about some of the concerns he had with the betting and comments the other ranch had said about us. Usually, I'm good at figuring out a solution to any type of problem, no matter how sticky it might be. Waiting until the last minute, didn't give me any time to think of something this time. It was too late to withdraw ourselves from the rodeo, so the only solution I came up with was to ride and show the Claussen ranch that they're wrong about everything they may have said about us.

To be honest, making comments about both Joe and myself got under my skin. Sure, I don't like it when people make comments about my size or skills without actually knowing me. However, making comments about my younger brother takes it to a whole new level. As much as Joe gets on my nerves, he's my brother and I'll do anything to defend and protect him. The fact that those comments made him anxious and worried for several days, made me angry. For some people, anger might be a distraction. For me, it only focuses and makes me more determined. Unfortunately for that other ranch, they won't know what hit them in a couple hours.

Joe – July 4

This may have been the best day of my life so far. I don't think I've ever had so many people cheering for me especially people who don't know me. We won the rodeo. Well, me and Adam didn't win it alone, but we were the reason the BK ranch won it.

The day started with calf-roping. We, I mean me and Adam, didn't do that because every cowboy worth anything is good at that. The hands here told us that some years they won that. We could save our energy for the horse events later. This year, the calf-roping was a tie. They all have to rope and bring in calves that are running loose in a big corral, and they have to take them down and tie off their legs. The whole thing is timed, and the times this year were one second apart. The judge said he was declaring it a tie, too close to call. He never even said who was ahead by the one second. I guess when something takes nearly an hour, one second doesn't mean much. You could miss that much or more looking down at your watch and setting the time for the start each side had.

With the calf-roping settled in a tie, we went ahead with the horse race. I was in that with Cochise. Adam wasn't in that. The race wasn't a real long one. If it was, I think I would have won outright. Those big horses get winded. Cochise can run longer. Some men were making fun of me and Cooch at the start of the race. Lots of them said a pinto was bad luck. Nobody said anything like that at the end of the race. I came across the finish line nose against nose with the CR rider. The race was declared a tie too. Nobody could agree if one was ahead of the other or not.

Offering congratulations on the tie, Adam came away from where he was leaning against a railing and asked if I knew how important the saddle bronc riding was. I did, and I was as worried as he was. We needed to win it, but if we did, there were going to be some very angry cowboys. And the scariest thing was, we both had a pretty good idea we were going to win it.

I rode first and got a tough horse, but I rode him to a standstill beating the CR rider who followed me by a full fifteen seconds. That was a pretty good margin. The second CR rider rode his horse to a standstill too, but it took him a long time. Then it was Adam's turn and he drew the worst horse of all. The horse hardly stopped bucking even in the chute. They had to put a bag over his head just to get time for Adam to get on his back. At one point, Adam caught my eye and shrugged. He knew the odds were against him, but I had confidence in him and in his skill. He did manage to stay on that horse and rode him to a standstill in about the same time as the second CR rider. One thing about a horse that rides hard like that is that they get tired out faster too. If you can stick the saddle like Adam did, you have a good chance of breaking them. His ride gave us the win which everyone knew before it was announced.

The next event was apparently fisticuffs because fists started flying. The sheriff was there to break it up. He's only part-time so doesn't really have the power to watch over things all of the time, but he did supervise the paying off of bets although he didn't like it. He knew there was going to be trouble with so much money being paid to those who had been perennial losers. Some of the men had to borrow money to pay off their bets. In fact, I think a lot of them did that and walked away sour.

Because of the mood at the end, Adam wanted to leave right away. He figured we could put a lot of miles between us and anybody holding a grudge. But we're invited to a big victory celebration at the BK ranch. We can stay over one more night. It won't matter that much. I did remind Adam that he could soak in a nice bath at the ranch house because after the ride he had, he was going to need it. That was what I needed to say to convince him to stay the extra night. A long soak in a bath was too tempting after that nasty ride he had.

Adam's Journal – July 4 (Late Afternoon)

Well, I must say this rodeo business is certainly an exciting way to spend an afternoon! It was thrilling to test our talents against the other area ranches and actually prove how good both to ourselves and to the others watching. I'll have to see if we can put on a rodeo back home in Virginia City.

Calf roping was the first event. All the ranches were very good. In the end, it came down to our ranch and the Claussen ranch. It was declared a tie, but I could have sworn we were ahead. Plus, the form of our riders while riding and tying was much better than the CR riders. If I was judging, I would have given us a few bonus seconds for that.

Joe was in the next event: the horse race. He's always been a good rider ever since he first learned to ride and his small stature made it easy for Cochise to gallop really fast without getting tired out. I wasn't worried one bit that Joe was going to win this event. Unfortunately, I was wrong. It wasn't a win for us, but another tie. I was excited for Joe, but at the same time was a little annoyed it was another tie. Cole was really happy, though. Sure, we haven't won an event yet, but this is the best they have ever done at the rodeo. According to him, it was already a win in his books.

I didn't have time to be annoyed for long. Joe and I still had one more event to compete in. We were both nervous about the saddle-bronc riding as we knew we had to win this event for the Kraft ranch to win the rodeo.

Joe did a really good job on his horse. He looked like a natural out there. No surprise there. We've been doing this sort of thing on our ranch for as long as I can remember.

Finally, it was my turn. Out of all the horses in the arena, I had to get the feistiest one of the bunch. Mine wouldn't even stay still long enough to let me sit on him in the chute. If that was any indication about what my ride was going to be like, I didn't stand a chance. Like I said earlier, I've been breaking horses for years and have encountered my fair share of stubborn ones. A less experienced rider would have probably just given up, but I knew what I had to do to bring him to a standstill. I tied with the CR rider. I didn't beat them, but my tie and Joe's win was enough to give us the overall rodeo win.

As I looked over to the sidelines, I could see the CR ranch riders just standing there in shock. They couldn't believe they had been beaten. Before I even got off my horse, a fight broke out. I could hear shouting directed in my direction. Something about us cheating to win. I know how it feels to lose and could understand the frustration and anger, but this reaction seems to be blown way out of proportion. Luckily for us, the sheriff was there and quickly brought the fight to an end. Hmm…if this is the way rodeos ended, I might have to rethink my idea to bring one to Virginia City.

When I returned to where Joe was standing and watching, Cole came over and congratulated us. Then he offered for us to stay for a victory dinner and celebration. What I just saw happening over on the other side of the arena worried me. I wanted to get out of town as soon as possible. But Joe used that look of his that he knows I can't say 'no' to. That and his mention of a nice bath was all it took for me to agree to stay one more night.

Joe – July 6

All I can say at this point is I hope Adam is ready to do all the talking when we get home. I'll nod my head and say yes. When we left Prescott, I never saw any sign that we were followed. We headed cross-country to Sedona which was a lot harder riding than I thought we had to do, but hard-headed Adam was sure someone was after us. We planned to get to the Flagstaff road and take that to the Nevada cutoff. We never got that far before trouble found us.

I enjoyed the scenery and the ride as much as I could while thinking about my time in Prescott. That last night had been a great night. Dinner, drinks, a walk in the evening with Amelia, and then fireworks, real ones that is not with Amelia. I guess I should have been paying more attention to what was going on around us.

The second morning out, we had breakfast and were packing up to go when we got ambushed. Out of nowhere it seemed, there were four men with guns. Well, it wasn't exactly nowhere. They came up on me as I was watering our two horses and a pack horse. One minute I'm talking to them, and the next, I had a gun at my head. I never had a hint that anyone was there. They kept that gun at my head and got the drop on Adam that way. I was really sorry about that. Those men wanted the money we won by betting. They said we were cheats. That was crazy. We didn't bet. I wanted to bet using some of the money from the horse sale, but Adam wouldn't let me risk losing any of it. We didn't have much other cash with us, so I couldn't bet, and Adam wouldn't.

With the four men holding guns on us, Adam gave me a look that said clear as if he said it out loud to let him handle it. Now I wasn't so sure about that when they started hitting him because he said we didn't have any money from betting. When they hit me once, all of a sudden he changed up and told them not to hit the 'kid' which irritated me a bit. Not that I minded him stopping them from beating me, but I'm a man not a kid. Anyway, he told them to look in the coffee bag for the money, and sure enough, there was a wad of money rolled up in there. One man pocketed that roll and told us never to come back to Prescott. Then they rode off.

Before I got a chance to complain that we didn't have any money from betting, and how was he going to explain losing the money from the horse sale, Adam picked up a rock, and there was the money from the horse sale. Cool as can be, he told me we better get going before those four figured out that they got a few bills wrapped around some cut up newspaper. Here I found out he hid that money the night before because he was still sure we were being followed. He does a nice job getting us out of these messes, but he's gonna be sore for a bit especially as we'll have to ride hard for the next few days. But, dang, I got a sneaky brother just like Hoss says.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to a quieter ride home.

Adam's Journal – July 6

I knew we should have left as soon as the rodeo was finished. When we left the next day, my senses were telling me we were being followed. So, we pushed our horses hard and fast to get as far away from Prescott as we could. We finally reached as far as we could that first day and made camp for the night. Joe gave me some grief about riding too hard. I explained once again how I felt like someone was following us and the sooner we could get home, the better.

It wasn't until the next morning when I realized maybe Joe was right and our hard push was all for nothing. Surely if someone was chasing us, they would have caught up to us by now. I barely got done thinking that when I heard struggling down by the creek from Joe. Before I knew it, Joe came into view being dragged up from the creek with a gun pointed at his head. I slowly stepped away from the campfire with my hands up, hoping to show them I was no threat to them. That had no effect on them and they were on me before I could take any action.

They started yelling at us saying we were cheats and wanted the money we won from betting. That was ridiculous. We didn't cheat. I wouldn't allow Joe to bet and I hate betting myself. Of course, they had no way of knowing that.

I looked over at Joe who had a fire in his eyes. He has a habit of opening his mouth in situations like this and making things worse. I threw him one of my looks that I hoped he understood as 'keep your mouth shut and let me handle this'. I kept telling those guys we didn't have any betting money. That's when things got physical. They started punching and hitting me. I could see this wasn't going to end well unless we gave them what they wanted. Thinking quickly, I grunted out between hits that the money was in the coffee bag. They pocketed the money and told us not to come back to Prescott before riding away.

After they left, I could tell Joe was confused and worried that we just lost all our money from the horse sale. Calmly turning around, I picked up a rock where I had hidden most of our money the night before. Joe's face turned to shock when he realized what I had done. Sure, we lost some money to those guys, but not all of it. Plus we're leaving this ordeal alive. Hurting, but alive. I told Joe we better hurry and leave before they found out they didn't get all the money.

On the way home, Joe questioned me about what we are to tell Pa about losing the money. Joe wanted to tell the whole truth about our adventure including the rodeo and being accused of betting. I thought it might be best, for Pa's sake, to just say we were ambushed on the way home and they took some of the money from the sale. I didn't want Pa to worry about unnecessary details that were already over and done with.

All I know is that maybe next time Joe won't be so quick to judge my paranoia about wanting to hide our money when we're traveling. Then again, probably not. Joe is Joe and he seems to enjoy giving me a hard time. That's alright with me because I enjoy giving him a hard time too. I guess that's what makes us such good brothers.