As they walked through the woods, Eric noticed the bare tree limbs. "It's pretty, isn't it, Beth?"

Elizabeth smiled. "It is. Um, Eric, when did you start calling me Beth?"

Eric considered a moment. "I guess I heard Uncle Joe and Grandpa and everybody else calling you that while you were in Virginia City, and that's how I think of you now. Do you mind?"

She shook her head. "No, not at all. Did you have fun while Abel and I were in town?"

"Some," Eric said, "but it was really lonesome without you and Mama. I even missed Abel. I worked a lot with Uncle Joe and Hop Ling. Hop Ling learned me to make cookies."

"Hop Ling taught you to make cookies," Elizabeth corrected him.

"Yeah, well, and Grandma Joyce and I had lessons every morning after breakfast. I know my alphabet pretty well now, and I can read some. She said it would make the time go faster if we stayed busy. Were you lonesome without me and Papa?"

"We were so lonesome without you and Papa and Uncle Joe and Grandpa and Grandma and Hop Ling and Hop Sing and Miss Betsey and Mr. Butler and the chickens and...just everything," Elizabeth told him.

Eric laughed. "It was a surprise yesterday when we went to town. I didn't know until Papa hitched up the wagon that we were going to bring you home. Will you have to go to town every year for winter school?"

Elizabeth shook her head. "I hope not, Eric. Mama missed you and Papa something awful, and - don't tell anybody - but Abel didn't behave very well because he missed Papa so. Uncle Roy stepped in to help Mama with him, and we spent a lot of time with him and Aunt Elinor. I heard Mama tell Aunt Elinor that our schooling wasn't worth being separated for so long. She said if Papa ever suggested it again she'd get our lessons from Miss Rogers and teach us herself." Elizabeth thought for a minute. "I guess the best of it was getting to be with the Coffees."

They'd been walking and talking so much neither one of them realized it was getting darker and colder until Eric shivered. "We'd better go back," Elizabeth said. "Papa and Mama will be worried if we're gone too long." They started back the way they'd come, but there was no path to follow. With a sinking feeling, Elizabeth realized that they'd wandered into an unfamiliar part of the woods. She looked around for a landmark but didn't see anything she recognized. Eric was looking at her trustfully, and she smiled at him. She couldn't let him know she didn't know they were lost. "Eric, which way do you think we should go to get back to the house?" Her voice was steady, and she sounded much braver than she felt.

Eric looked around and then pointed in an entirely wrong direction. "I think we should go that way." Elizabeth took a deep breath, and the two of them set off.

...

Julia looked outside and noticed that the sun was going down. "Abel, please go out to the barn and get your brother and sister. It's almost time for supper."

Abel stood up, stretched and walked out to the barn. He stood at the open door and called, "Elizabeth! Eric! Mama said for you to come inside." He waited, listening for them. He heard nothing. "Elizabeth! Eric!" he called again. Except for the usual animal noises, there was silence.

"Are you hiding from me?" he shouted. He was angry now. How dare they play without him! "I'll tell Papa that you're not minding Mama. You know he won't like that!"

"Whoa, Abel, what's wrong?" Joe asked. He and Mary had come outside.

Abel looked up at his uncle. "It's Elizabeth and Eric, Uncle Joe. They're hiding from me."

Joe and Mary looked at each other and then Mary said, "Elizabeth wouldn't do that."

"Eric might," Joe said, "if he were still angry about being teased." He looked down at Abel who stared down at his shoes and began to scuff the dirt.

Joe sighed. "Well, let's find them, Abel." He went into the barn and called for the children. There was no answer, and Joe moved from stall to stall to loft, calling for them. When he was satisfied they weren't in the barn, he went outside to find that Mary and Abel had checked the garden. "I'm sorry, Mary, I need to find Elizabeth and Eric. I'll find someone to drive you back to town."

Mary shook her head. "No, I'll stay and help look for them."

Joe tried not to show it, but he was relieved. Taking her hand, he led her back to the house. Adam and Julia, Ben and Joyce looked up when they entered with Abel. "We can't find the children. They're not in the barn or the garden."

Adam stood. "We'd better try the woods."

As they gathered blankets and lanterns, Hop Ling filled four small pails with hot broth. "I will come with you," he announced. His tone was firm and no one argued with him. As darkness fell and the temperature dropped, they would need to find the children soon. Julia, Joyce, and Mary prepared to join the search, but Ben stopped Joyce. "Stay here with Hop Sing and Abel. If the children come home, Hop Sing will fire his shotgun into the air three times. We'll all hear it and come back to the house." He kissed her gently and went outside to join the others.

Adam watched as Joe looked around for footprints outside the barn. "See anything?"

Joe shook his head. "No, the ground's too hard." That said, he and Mary, Ben and Hop Ling, and Adam and Julia set off into the woods in different directions.

...

"Elizabeth, I'm cold," Eric whined.

"I know, Eric, I'm cold, too." Elizabeth started to take off her scarf and wrap it around her little brother.

"Hold on there, missy," a deep voice said.

The children jumped and looked around to see a big man with a tall white hat staring down at them. "What you little ones doing out here after dark?"

"We went for a walk, and now we can't find our way back home," Eric said. His dark eyes filled with tears, and Elizabeth pulled him close.

"We're Elizabeth and Eric Cartwright," she told the strange man. "Our Papa is Adam Cartwright and we live on the Ponderosa with our Uncle Joe and Grandpa." As she spoke, she looked down to wipe Eric's tears away and didn't see the big man smile.

"I know your Papa and your Uncle and your Grandfather, too," he said.

Elizabeth looked up eagerly. "Do you? Do you know how to get to the house from here? Can you help us get home?"

"Sure can," he said, and he began to lead them through the woods. They'd gone only a short way when Eric tripped and fell. Elizabeth helped him up and brushed him off. He wasn't really hurt, but he began to cry.

"Come on, now, don't cry," the man soothed. "You're all right."

"No, I'm not," Eric whined. "I'm cold and hungry, and I don't like being lost. It's scary."

"That it is," said the man. "I've been lost myself, and I know how scary it can be."

Eric hiccuped and looked up at him. "Where were you lost?"

"Right here in these woods, and when my older brother found me, I promised him I'd always pay attention."

Just then Eric tripped again, and this time the man helped him up. "Yeah, I wasn't any older than you are now, Eric, when I followed a bear cub into these woods. Of course, it was late in spring then, and the bears were just waking up from the naps. Somehow that little cub found its way to the cabin where I lived with my Pa and brother, Adam. They were busy digging a garden for us, and I'd been told to stay out of the way. I was getting tired of sitting by myself and here comes this cute little cub. I watched him wander around the yard, and when he went into the woods, I followed him. We walked quite a ways, and then he found his Mama. She reared up on her hind legs and growled at me, and scared me so I backed up and tripped over a log. I reckon I hit my head or something, because when I woke up it was dark and I could hear Pa and Adam calling for me. I hollered, and Adam came through the brush with a lantern. I was so glad to see him, I just about squeezed him to death."

"Our Papa's name is Adam," Elizabeth said. She looked up at the man, but it was completely dark now, and she couldn't make out his features. When he answered, though, it seemed like he was smiling.

"I know, Elizabeth," and she thought she heard him whisper, "and he was the best older brother."

Just then there was a sound ahead and Adam and Julia came through the trees.

"Mama! Papa!" Eric cried. He and Elizabeth forgot about their rescuer and ran to their parents.

Adam and Julia gathered their children into their arms, and hugged them hard.

Eric spoke first. "Papa, we were lost and we were scared."

Adam rubbed his son's back. "We were scared for you, son, but you're almost back to the house."

Elizabeth nodded. "That man found us and helped us." She looked around, but the man was gone.

"What man, sweetheart?" Adam asked.

The children looked around but there was no sign of the man in the big white hat.

Elizabeth and Eric tried to tell him, both of them talking at once. "There was a big man, a real big man, bigger than you, Papa..."

"...and he had a big white hat, and he was taking us back to the house... "

And guess what, Papa? He had an older brother named Adam, and we told him that was your name, Papa..."

"...And he said he used to live in a cabin with his Pa and brother..."

Adam straightened up and looked at Julia. She smiled at him, and wrapped blankets around Elizabeth and Eric. He drew his Colt and fired three times into the air before lifting Eric into his arms. As he turned to follow Julia and Elizabeth, he thought he saw a large figure from the corner of his eye. Hoss? He turned back, but there was nothing there. Just a trick of the light, he decided.

...

Late that night Adam was sitting alone in front of the fireplace in the great room. There was a sound on the stairs and he looked up to see a ghostly little figure glide down them. He smiled. Elizabeth walked as lightly as a fairy in one of the old tales. "What is it, sweetheart?"

She came over and climbed into his lap. "Papa, the man who found us...is there such a thing as ghosts?"

He cuddled her. "Why do you ask, Beth?"

"Because the man...I wasn't afraid of him, Papa. I thought I'd seen him before, and, tonight, before we went upstairs, I remembered where I'd seen him."

"Where, Elizabeth?"

For answer the child got up from his lap and went over to the desk. She picked up one of the framed pictures there and brought it over to her father.

"This was the man, Papa. Is he a ghost? Does he haunt the ranch?"

Tears rose in Adam's eyes as he stared down at Hoss's face. "Well, sweetheart, if your Uncle Hoss is here, he's more of a guardian angel." He looked at his daughter. "I feel better knowing that he's watching over us, over you and Eric and Abel."

She returned the picture to the desk, and came back to him. "Goodnight, Papa," and she kissed his cheek. Adam kissed her forehead. "Goodnight, dear sweet girl."

He watched her go upstairs, and then he checked the windows and doors, making certain all were closed and locked. Before he shot the bolt on the front door, he walked outside into the frosty air. It was a clear night and the stars shone. Adam looked all around. There was a feeling of peace surrounding him, and he whispered, "Hoss, thank you for my children."

Epilogue

Summer had come, and it was time to celebrate another wedding. The regular Sunday service had ended, but most people stayed as Joe escorted Mary to the altar where Reverend Alden waited to begin the age-old ceremony. When it was over, they had dinner with the family at the International House, and then set out for their new house on the Ponderosa. Adam had adapted the plans he'd drawn for his father and Joyce to fit a couple of Joe's special requests.

Joe pulled the buggy to a stop in front of house built of stones from the Ponderosa. "Well, Mrs. Cartwright, we're home." He helped Mary down, and they climbed the steps with their arms around each other. He carried her over the threshold and held for a moment longer to kiss her. Something held him back, though, and in a moment Mary pulled back and smiled up at him. "It's all right, Joe. I know you remember another wedding. I don't think less of you because you remember Alice."

The last bit of guilt left him, and he drew her close.