Chapter 12

The cudgel was headed for Joe's ribs, and he was too off balance for an effective block. Joe did manage to get his stick around into a partial block, but the force behind the cudgel was too great to be deflected. The force of the swing was moderated enough to keep the impact to something less than a fatal blow, but it did result in four broken ribs. Joe was badly stunned and fell to the ground.

The man raised his cudgel to smash Joe's brains out, but he was distracted by a crushed windpipe. The cavalry, in the form of Ed's stick, had arrived in time! Ed dived at the man which may have reduced the force of his impact, but not enough to make any difference against the relatively soft structure of the windpipe. The man dropped his cudgel and used both hands on his throat to try to get some air through the dent in his breathing system. This was pretty much a waste of time, because Ed regained his balance and drove his stick against the bridge of the bandit's nose. The crushed bone was driven back into the man's brain, and that ended further discussion.

Meanwhile, the first man to attack Joe was showing signs of regaining his breath, so Ed took care of him with a blow from his heel into the man's neck from the rear. The impact took place at the point of juncture between the skull and the spine. The kick was hard enough to sever all connection between the brain and the spinal cord, so not even 21^st Century medicine could have saved the man's life.

This was the first time that Ed had ever seen Joe even come close to losing a fight. Ed was about as distraught as it was possible for the boy to get. "What can I do to help you, Joe?"

"I think I have some broken ribs, so there is not much you can do. Oh, and thanks for all the help in the last few minutes. I'd be dead if it weren't for you, and I sure do appreciate it. Please help me to lie down in the back of the wagon. You'll have to drive home, now. Please take it easy and look out for bumps. Once we get home, don't let Mary hug me! If she squeezes as hard as she might, she could kill me with a punctured lung."

Ed and Ephraim lifted Joe into the wagon, and Ed drove slowly home. When they got there, Joe was proven right as Mary rushed to hug him. She was truly pissed when Ed blocked her way, but she calmed down when she heard about the broken ribs. They got Joe to bed and removed his clothes. Joe knew that wrapping his chest would not help the bones to knit any faster, but he also knew that he would feel better with his ribs immobilized.

It hurt so much to move that Joe was stuck in bed for three days. He missed church that Sunday, and Parson Adams devoted most of his sermon time extolling Joe's virtues as a protector of their community. After church, Mary thanked Parson Adams for his kind words about Joe, and noted that nothing like that would have happened if Parson Jacobs was still running their church.

Joe was finally up and around on Tuesday, but he was not able to do much but sit in the sun and talk a little bit. When Thursday came, Joe sent Ed with Ephraim Hollister and only one wagon. With Joe out of action, they just had not been able to bring in as much game as usual. Turtle was needed to keep hunting so that they could meet as many obligations as possible.

What they really needed was another hunter. There was a boy in town that had a good reputation and he needed a job. Joshua Watson was 14 years old and the major breadwinner for his family. Joshua's father thought of himself as a farmer, but he really was not very skilled at it, so times were lean at the Watson household. Joe discussed the prospect with John, and John agreed that the boy could use a break. Joe decided to visit the Watson home to see what he might do.

Joe went by that afternoon and was surprised to find all of the Watson's at home. As was the polite thing to do, Joe opened the discussion with Mr. Watson. After about 20 minutes of chit-chat, Joe mentioned why he was visiting. Mr. Watson was a little reluctant to release Joshua because he was "training the boy to be a farmer." Joe broke that attitude very quickly when he mentioned that he planned to pay Joshua in hard cash. He mentioned starting the boy out at three copper pennies a week, but he could earn more if he proved out as a hunter. This was a fabulous wage for a boy, and Mr. Watson almost fainted when he heard it. Now the situation changed, and Joshua was called into the meeting.

Joe offered the job to Joshua, and the boy accepted the offer even before he heard the wage rate. The boy, too, almost fainted when he heard the offered wage. He had no use for farming, but he was being a good son by following his father's wishes. An opportunity to escape the drudgery of farming as Mr. Watson performed it, and Joshua would have taken the job at one copper half-penny per week.

Joe asked if Joshua could start this day, and when father and son agreed, Joe handed the boy a penny. This was the first time the boy had held so much hard cash at one time, and he was thrilled. Joe told Joshua to come along with him as he went to the woodworking shop to order another crossbow. From there, they went to the blacksmith to order the necessary metal parts for the cocking device.

It was going to take about 10 days to get delivery on those items, so Joe took Joshua home with him to introduce the boy to the other company employees. The first thing Joe wanted Joshua to learn was how to skin and butcher the meat. Sometimes Blue Jay and Redbird needed help with the flood of meat that came in, and Joe wanted everybody to be able to pitch in wherever there was a need. Joshua frankly admitted that he had no idea of the proper way to butcher meat, so Joe figured that he was going to be about four days learning that phase of his job. Joshua applied himself, and the Indian women complimented him on how fast he learned.

The next step was to learn to shoot the crossbow. Joe still didn't have a crossbow that he could assign to Joshua, but he expected to get the weapon soon enough, so he started Joshua out with his personal crossbow. The boy had to learn how to cock and hold the weapon. The dry-firing exercises could be done with any crossbow, so there was no problem right now.

Joshua was familiar with shooting a gun, so he understood the basics of aiming and firing, but he still had to learn the details of how to do it with a different style of weapon. Joshua had always used a blunderbuss, so he really had no experience in holding an exact aim. A blunderbuss was nothing more than a close-range shotgun, so aiming was pretty crude, but that was all that was necessary with that weapon.

He did pick up quickly on the fact that a crossbow required accurate aiming, so he was well on his way to absorbing the fundamentals. On the other hand, he was flabbergasted at how quickly the crossbow could be cocked and loaded as compared to the relative eternity required for the blunderbuss. By the time his own crossbow was delivered, Joshua was ready for it and figuratively biting his fingernails as he anxiously waited on the delivery.

He was an adequate shot by the end of the first day, and well on his way to becoming an expert by the third day. This represented about 27 hours of target practice, but Joe had to chase the boy home, he was so proud of his growing skill.

Now came the really hard part. Joshua had to be taught how to become a commercial hunter. Joe figured that Turtle was the best one to teach this phase of the training program. Turtle and Joshua operated as a team for two weeks, and Turtle taught Joshua what he needed to know to get started. After that, it would be just be a matter of gaining experience.

The first two or three days, Turtle's number of kills fell off as he spent most of his time teaching; however, by the end of the week, Turtle was back to his normal productivity. During the next week, their productivity really picked up as Joshua began to roam by himself.

As a reward, Joshua was sent with Ed to Harmony Ridge as the guard, while Ed and Ephraim did the driving. Ed was instructed by Joe to show Joshua everything that he did at Harmony Ridge in case it was ever necessary to send Joshua as the company representative. He was also told to start teaching Joshua how to drive the two-horse team. Eventually, Joe wanted to have Ed and Joshua as interchangeable parts.