"Bo!"

Luke yelled his cousin's name again, even as he struggled. All he could do was to let Bo know that he was with him, even if he wasn't right by his side. If Bo was about to leave him, as he feared, he certainly didn't want him to think he was about to pass away without his loved ones there beside him.

The urgency of the situation gave Luke the surge of adrenaline needed to loosen himself from the Cherokee's grip. The Cherokee swiped his arm through empty air in an attempt to catch Luke. Unsuccessful, he let go of Jesse in an attempt to go after Luke.

"I'm goin' for help!" Jesse called out before he turned and bolted into the darkness that led to the mouth of the cave. Seeing that he had an escape artist on his hands, the Cherokee forgot about Luke and began to chase Jesse, calling for him to stop.

Luke limped toward Bo as best as he could. He was certain that the fact Bo was too warm was a contributing factor to his illness.

When he reached the cot he grabbed the blanket that covered Bo and threw it back. Grabbing onto his arm, he heaved in an attempt to get him outside.

But he didn't get very far.

Not after he was grabbed on the shoulder and turned around.

The last thing Luke remembered, before darkness overcame him, was the Cherokee's fist coming in contact with his jaw.

XXXXXXXX

"Luke?"

"Hey buddy, wake up!"

Slowly Luke came out of his fog and tried to focus on his surroundings. When his vision finally cleared he was staring into the face of Cooter Davenport.

"Uh, Cooter." Luke groaned, putting his arm out in an attempt to be assisted into a sitting position. Cooter took the cue and pulled him up.

Luke sat there a few seconds, flinching as the soreness in his jaw introduced itself. It was when he reached up to soothe that jaw that he suddenly remembered why it was sore.

"Bo." Luke whispered, looking at his friend. It was then that he became both wide-eyed and confused. He wasn't in the cave where the Cherokee had punched him out. He wasn't even at a doctor's office or hospital where he might have expected to wake up after having been unceremoniously delivered to dreamland.

Instead, he lay in the woods on a bed of damp leaves, watching as the rising sun began to clear the fog.

"How'd I get out here? Where's Bo?" Luke asked even as he stood to his feet and began to make his way back to the cave, which he saw was just a short distance away.

"Hey Lukas, slow down!" Cooter exclaimed, rushing up to catch his friend who had almost fallen thanks to the fact that his injured ankle had been forgotten.

"I ain't gonna slow down till I find out what's happened to Bo." Luke insisted, remembering how bad off his cousin had been the last time he saw him.

"Relax, just relax. He's still in the cave." Cooter assured him.

"In the cave?!" Luke exclaimed. "Why is he still in there? Why hasn't he been took to the hospital? Has everyone gone out of their minds?"

"Luke!" Cooter called out as Luke jerked himself out of the mechanic's grasp and continued to hobble inside. Feeling against the side wall, the oldest Duke Cousin continued through the pitch blackness until the familiar lights and smell of a burning campfire met him once again.

Once he reached the opening, he could see Bo. His cousin remained deathly still on the cot. Nearby, the Cherokee focused his attention on the pot over the fire, stirring the contents.

Luke immediately lunged for the Cherokee. While his biggest concern was getting Bo to the hospital where he needed, first he needed to make sure the Cherokee wasn't going to be able to stop him.

Despite his bad ankle Luke managed to make it to the Cherokee before the man even had a chance to realize what was going on. Luke plowed into him with all of his weight, sending the Cherokee's turban flying in one direction and the wooden spoon with which he had been stirring in another. But before Luke got to do much more, he felt a pair of hands on his shoulder's pulling him back.

"Lemme go Cooter!" Luke complained, struggling to get out of his friend's grasp. "We gotta get Bo to the hospital.....and we gotta make sure this guy don't stop us."

"He ain't gonna stop us from goin' nowhere." Luke received in reply.

As the Cherokee cowered Luke curled his hand into a fist, ready to deliver a knockout punch. But something made him stop.

"Bo?" Luke asked, forgetting about his mission.

Turning to look behind him, he found himself looking into the face of Bo as his cousin hovered over him, his hand on his shoulder.

Bo! Luke exclaimed, forgetting about the Cherokee and turning to grab Bo in a bear hug. Bo managed a small laugh as he patted Luke on the back before gently pushing him away. "I'm not ready for that much excitement just yet, cuz." He verified, gently pushing Luke away before he eased back onto his cot.

"But Bo you were…how? Man, you look great!" Luke exclaimed, talking a million miles a minute as he grinned and grabbed Bo's hand, smacking the back of it and squeezing it with both of his own. "Last night, seeing you here in this cave and knowin' how everybody was doin' at the hospital….I…I thought you's a goner."

"Well, when I got to feelin' real sick there by the creek yesterday, I thought I's a goner too." Bo verified, adjusting to pull the blanket around his shoulders as he sat. "But I'm not, and it's all thanks to Adahy."

"To what?" Luke asked.

"Adahy Vann." Bo replied. When he saw that his answer left Luke no more enlightened than before the response, he managed a smile. "That would be the fella ya just plowed over a second ago."

Luke's eyes widened as he turned to look at the Cherokee Indian once again. Cooter had just finished helping him to his feet before turning to collect his turban. Adahy stood there beating the dust out of his jeans with swiping smacks.

"Mr. Vann." Luke began, as Adahy accepted his hat and returned it to his head. "I owe you a huge apology."

Adahy gave Luke a stern look. "Your uncle was telling me you're a smart young man. Now, I'm not so sure. Seems to me smart young man would take into consideration his uncle not here before he takes it upon himself to attack someone. Do you not think your uncle would still be here had cousin been at death's door?"

"Well yeah, I suppose he would." Luke verified, looking both guilty and embarrassed. "But….."

Adahy held up his finger. "No buts." He explained.

As Luke stood with a mild look of shock on his face, saying nothing, Adahy's lips slowly curled into something that might be considered a grin. "You were going to defend yourself by saying you were trying to help your cousin, but you see, family….it's very important to my people. We respect our fellow man who respects and cherishes his family. I understand that you were doing what you thought you needed to do to help your cousin at the time, and I accept, nor expect, apology for that."

Luke managed a smile and, giving Bo a couple of pats, stood and walked over to Adahy and shook his hand. "Thanks for understanding, Mr. Vann."

Adahy simply nodded. "Cousin just lucky I was out here this weekend. I wasn't due to be here for two weeks yet."

Luke looked around in confusion. "You mean you don't live here?"

Adahy's look was one of mild amusement. "I have a home in Oklahoma, three bedrooms, two baths." He replied. "Not a mansion by any means, but nice, even if I do say so myself."

Luke looked slightly embarrassed. "I'm sorry. I just looked around and assumed…….."

Adahy held his hands up. "I understand. I only return to the land of my ancestors once a year. It is a time to pay respect to them…and to gather herbs and plants from the forest. Many of us have homes in the west now, but we still rely on the healing powers and health benefits of the natural things discovered by our great grandfathers, here in our native land of the Southern Appalachians." Adahy paused a moment and closed his eyes, as if he were paying respect to the home of his forefathers. "It is a special mixture of those gatherings that lead to the healing of your cousin."

"And to a lot of the people back at the hospital as well." Cooter added. "Soon as he saw how well Bo was respondin' to Adahy's concoction, old Uncle Jesse high tailed it back to Tri-County with a big 'ole batch of it."

Luke shook his head in amazement. "Well Mr. Vann, this has been a perfect example of how you can't judge a book by it's cover. If you don't mind my asking, what all did you put into that mixture?"

"I could tell you." Adahy began, bending over to pick something up off of the floor. "But some things are better left unsaid. Let's just say that this concoction, while superb at clearing the stomach, can just as quickly turn it once all the ingredients are revealed."

And with that, Adahy spread a perfectly cut rat skin over a branch to dry. When he did so, Bo's face immediately turned green. Imagining the remnants of a rat coursing through his veins, he clasped a hand over his mouth and demonstrated a great deal of returned health as he bolted toward the mouth of the cave.

As Cooter and Luke laughed, Adahy frowned. "That's odd." He announced. "You're cousin is not as bold as I thought. It's usually the ladies who can't stand the thought of rotten mushrooms in the medicine."

And that's how Bo Duke survived the Benson Barbecue.

Ole Jesse' made it to the hospital with that medicine just in time to save a whole bunch of his friends. When they all began to sing his praises, he made sure they all knew that it was Adahy Vann who had saved them. And while Hazzard County mourned the few friends and neighbors they had lost, they all knew it coulda been a whole lot worse, and were grateful that a cure had been found.

Eventually Doc Appleby learned that the source of the bovine illnesses was a batch of bad feed that many of the Hazzard folk had bought on the cheap. Needless to say, it all came together to provide a good amount of fuel for a big bonfire.

As for Adahy, he became the town hero and a new friend of the Duke family. Before he returned to Oklahoma, Jesse invited him for dinner but was surprised himself when Adahy offered to cook one of his native dishes for the family to experiment. Bo was much relieved to find out that the dish contained neither rats nor rotten mushrooms, for that matter.

When all was said and done, there was only one thing left for Bo and Luke to do: finish that boar hunting trip for the widow Schneider. I don't know why, but I have this strange feeling that Ms. Schneider might have a special liking for Bo.

The End.