The Tiger Trap

By Marion

Rating: G

The Ponderosa and the Cartwrights are not mine (except for Annie, of course) Thank you to Mr. Dortort for allowing me to play on the Ponderosa for a little while. This story is purely for entertainment and is not intended to infringe on the rights of anyone else involved with Bonanza and Ponderosa.

"Hey, Pa, you promised you'd tell us another story 'bout when you was a boy." Joe Cartwright looked at his father eagerly.

Ben smiled. "I did? I don’t recall saying any such thing, Joseph."

"Nope, I think Little Joe’s right, Pa." Hoss looked up from the checkerboard and winked at his cousin, Annie, who was sitting across from him.

Ben looked around the room and saw that even Adam was nodding. "Well, I might have said something like that, Joe." He thought a minute. "Have I told you about the Whydah?"

Three voices chimed "yes."

"What about the mooncussers?"

Four voices this time.

"The time my brothers and I saw a mermaid?"

Four heads nodded and Ben frowned. He thought a long minute, and then grinned. "I know. I don’t think I ever told you about the tiger trap, did I?"

All four of his children sat up straight and turned their attention to him. His grin grew wider. "I guess not."

Ben stared into space, trying to gather his memories. "Let’s see, I was nine, I think, which made John almost twelve, and Eddie just eight. It was spring, and we were at the Cape, staying with Uncle John and Aunt May. My father’s cousin Charlie was home visiting his parents, and we were having great fun listening to his stories. Charlie had sailed all over the world, and he had seen things we couldn’t even imagine."

Ben smiled to himself. After he had sailed a while, he realized that most of Charlie’s stories were pure fabrication. But they had been bliss for young boys. And now that he had children, he realized how much fun they had been for Charlie, as well.

"Now, Charlie had spent some time in India." Ben glanced at Joe. "You do know where India is, don’t you?"

Joe nodded. "We studied geography in school, Pa. Mr. Taylor has an atlas that we used."

"Good." Ben thanked Hop Sing for the cup of coffee and waited while his friend settled into the chair across from Adam. "Now, then, Charlie was telling us about this village in India that was being terrorized by a man-eating tiger."

Ben glanced around the room. Adam’s book lay forgotten on his lap, Hoss sat twirling his checker in his hand and both Annie and Joe were staring at him, mouths hanging open. Only Hop Sing had a slight smile.

"This tiger would sneak into the village and carry off a baby or a child. It was awful, Charlie said. So, the men of the village built deep pits around the village and covered them with palm fronds." He looked at Joe. "Those are branches from palm trees." Joe nodded.

"One night, while everyone was asleep, the tiger sneaked toward the village. The villagers were awakened by the sound of snapping branches and a ferocious roar. They had caught the tiger! The men rushed to the pit, and killed the tiger with spears. Charlie said he saw the skin, and it was easily ten feet long, without the tail!"

Ben was transported over the years as he looked at Joe’s face. No doubt that was how he and his brothers appeared to Charlie, hanging on the man’s every word.

"Well, the day after Charlie got done telling us this story, one of us three brothers had the bright idea that we would build a trap and catch a tiger."

Adam snorted, and Ben saw that he had not fooled his oldest son. But there was no way he would admit that the tiger trap had been his idea, even if Uncle John was long gone to his Maker.

"Pa, there are no tigers on Cape Cod."

"I know that Adam, and we knew it then. But there were other wild animals on the Cape. We just called it a tiger trap." Ben grinned at the disgusted look Joe was shooting Adam.

"We decided to build the trap near Doane Rock, which some people called Enoch’s Rock, I’m not sure why. That was a goodly distance from the lighthouse, and in an area that was not well traveled. We knew the area was full of wild creatures."

Actually the boys had known no such thing, but they were hoping to catch one of the pigs that roamed through the woods. They knew that Aunt May would be proud if they brought home a nice fat ham.

"We spent almost three full days digging. The pit was as twice as deep as John was high, and John and I could lay down in it. We carefully covered it with pine branches and we hid behind the rock and waited.

"We didn’t have to wait long. We heard a rustling in the woods. It got closer, and closer and closer. We couldn’t stand still, we were so excited, and John had to hold onto Ed, to keep him hidden. We heard the snapping of the branches, and then we heard a mighty roar. Our blood ran cold at the sound."

"You got a tiger!" Joe jumped up in his excitement but Ben shook his head.

"No, we had no such luck. We recognized the roar, and it was all we could to keep from turning tail and running back to the lighthouse. Not that running would have done us any good, because Uncle John was already hauling himself out of the pit, and he would have seen us fleeing."

The laughter filled the room. Hoss guffawed so loudly that Ben couldn’t hear himself think. Hop Sing actually had to wipe tears from his eyes, he laughed so hard. Ben grinned.

"You can laugh now, but I can assure you that neither my brothers, nor I, felt much like laughing then. Uncle John was furious." Indeed he had been. The boys could tell by the way his bushy brows had knit together and his beard had wagged that they were in trouble. All three had backed up against the rock. Ed had begun to sniffle, but like his brothers, he stood straight, with his hands behind his back.

"Uncle John started hollering. He demanded to know what we were thinking, and didn’t we know he could have broken his leg, and where did we get a blame-fool idea like that! We didn’t dare tell him about Charlie’s story for fear of getting Charlie in trouble, even though Charlie was older even than Father.

"Finally Uncle John stopped yelling, and that was worse, because we thought we knew what was coming next." Ben saw Joe nodding sagely. "But we were surprised. He looked at us and told us that we would come back right after breakfast, at first light and we would fill in our tiger trap. Then, because we so obviously enjoyed digging in the dirt, he would allow us to dig a new vegetable garden for our aunt, and when we were done with that, he needed a new garbage pit dug, and if we had time after that was done we could dig a new outhouse and cover the old one. Then, if Father still hadn’t come to take us home, he would find other digging projects for us."

"Golly, Pa, you were lucky that you didn’t get a tanning!"

Ben grinned. "That’s what your uncles and I thought at first, Joseph. But Uncle John saved that punishment for really terrible misdeeds, like lying or disobeying. What we did was only stupid. Of course, while we were filling in that hole, and digging the new ones, he would visit to check our progress and he would remind us how stupid we had been." Ben stared at his hands, convinced that if he looked hard enough he could see the calluses that two weeks of non-stop digging had created. His arms and shoulders ached more than his backside ever did.

The clock struck the hour and startled Ben. "Hey, look at the time. Joseph, Anna, it’s time for bed." Ben was surprised when Adam and Hoss also elected to turn in, but his surprise turned to concern as he heard Hoss and Joe earnestly discussing the possibility of using tiger traps to catch mountain lions. He looked to Adam and was relieved to see his oldest son wave, as though to say, "not to worry."

Hop Sing, too, excused himself and Ben was left alone with his memories. He remembered how the brothers had dreaded the arrival of their father, and how they had worried that Uncle John would tell on them. He had been so surprised when he overheard Uncle John, Father and Charlie laughing over the story. He stood, and placed his mug in the washbasin. He glanced at the closed bunkroom door, and smiled. Glory, but he hoped Adam could convince Joe and Hoss that a tiger trap was a bad idea!