"You're sure about this?"

"Oh yeah. I'm sure."

Joe shook his head skeptically, but he swung the corral gate closed anyway and latched it behind him. Candy, leaning on the corral fence, grinned confidently. Joe thought that confidence was misplaced. If it was, it was going to cost Candy plenty. But Candy didn't look a bit worried about that, and it wasn't Joe's job to stop him from wasting his money if that's what he wanted to do with it.

A week had passed since Roy and Sam had been arrested. Sam had been more than willing to tell the sheriff everything he'd told Candy and the Cartwrights. When he woke up, Roy (Sam's brother, not the sheriff) was incredibly upset with him. Despite being badly shot, he managed to get up enough strength to try and beat up his brother. Roy Coffee decided that there would be none of that and moved Sam to the cell where he had Edward Lowe locked up. Ben had already asked for leniency where Sam was concerned. Not only had Sam changed his mind about stealing the Cartwrights' cattle, he was also shaping up to be a find cowhand, or so Ben claimed.

Even though both Sam and his brother asserted that they had done all the catching and killing of the calves, a hunt ensued for their dogs. The general consensus seemed to be that dogs who had eaten from the carcasses of cattle would also kill them. And these dogs were apt to go wild without their masters around, and that was more dangerous still.

In the end, only one dog was found, and that one by Liam Lowe, who insisted the dog was good and no threat to anybody or anything. But the other ranchers in the area were unconvinced. It was Candy who finally developed a plan to prove that Liam was right in a way that would satisfy the ranchers, who had been threatening to come and kill the dog some night when Liam wasn't around.

Now in the corral Joe had just shut was the dog and a young calf. Because the Lowe ranch had so few calves to spare, it was a Ponderosa calf, one Candy had promised to pay for if it should come to any harm from the dog.

The shaggy, gray-black and fawn dog was large, with even bigger feet which suggested he had even more growing to do before he was done. Moreover, he had a distinctly wolfish aspect to him, especially in his face and way of carrying himself. In fact, there was little to convince Joe that he wasn't a wolf, except possibly his way of interacting with men and horses, and the fact that animals who would be afraid of wolves but were accustomed to dogs didn't seem disturbed by his presence, which meant they viewed him as a dog.

Still, dog or wolf, Joe was pretty sure that the animal would go after the calf the second his back was turned. To make the test harder, the dog had not been fed since the day before, and would be left alone without human presence or interference for an entire night.

The calf was already bawling for its mother, being much too young to handle being alone. Its cries of distress would attract every predator for miles. Joe knew of stories about wolves that had killed cows and sated themselves, then attacked the cow's calf not because they were hungry, but because the calf bawled. It was well known by hunters that the sounds of a distressed prey animal was as good as hanging a sign telling every predator in earshot that there was a free lunch to be had. Even the most cunning of wolves could be lured in by the sound of a young animal in distress.

If that dog had any potential to kill calves, all that bawling would make him show it.

Just now, the dog was lying in the dirt, panting in the warm spring air, ignoring the calf entirely. Joe was convinced it wouldn't be there for a heart beat after he and Candy left.

"Ready to go?" Joe asked.

"Sure," Candy replied.

They turned and headed back towards the ranch house.

"Y'know, I don't get you sometimes," Joe said.

"What'd I do this time?" Candy asked.

"Edward Lowe," Joe reminded him.

"Oh," Candy said flatly, "That."

When Candy had been summoned to the sheriff's office to give his statement about what had happened to him on the road between the Ponderosa and Virginia City, what he'd had to say surprised everyone.

"Sorry to haul you in like this," Roy had begun, "But I've gotta get some of these facts straight before the circuit judge gets here. Saves time and hassle down the road."

"Anything I can do to help," Candy had said, "What do you need from me?"

"I need you to tell me what happened," Roy explained.

"What happened when?" Candy had asked feigning innocence so completely he almost had Ben -who had come with him- believing it.

"The mauling," Roy persisted.

"Somebody get mauled?" Candy inquired.

Roy had looked up from his papers, stared hard at Candy, then looked at Ben, then back at Candy in disbelief.

"Yes," Roy said, "You."

"Me?" Candy scoffed, "Where'd you get a funny idea like that?"

Roy looked at Ben, his expression asking if Candy was serious. Ben had only shrugged helplessly.

"Son, if you weren't mauled," Roy said slowly, nodding towards Candy's bandaged left hand as he spoke, "What did that to your hand?"

"This?" Candy lifted his hand, looked at it as he rotated it, then looked back at Roy, "Well, you see, I fell off my horse."

"A fall from a horse broke your hand?" Roy asked, not sure whether to be amused or annoyed.

"Oh no. No," Candy shook his head slowly, "That happened later."

"When you were bitten by a dog," Roy insisted.

"What dog?" Candy asked.

"There was a dog, wasn't there?" Roy asked, trying to keep his exasperation at bay.

"When?"

Roy had opened his mouth to speak, then sighed and shook his head.

Things had deteriorated from there. Candy was the only real witness, and also the victim. But Roy couldn't get him to confess that he'd been the victim of anything, much less a mauling by two dogs. Candy denied having any conflict with Edward Lowe. Finally, Roy did back him into admitting that he'd killed one of Liam Lowe's dogs.

"And why did you do that?" Roy asked, thinking he was finally getting somewhere.

Candy shrugged dismissively and said, "Seemed like the thing to do at the time."

"And why was that?" Roy persisted, feeling success was finally in his grasp.

"Well..." Candy hesitated for the first time, right before he obliterated that feeling of success Roy was having, "I guess... because I was mad," he glanced over at Ben, "Mr. Cartwright, do you s'pose that's why people keep taking me for the murdering kind?"

"Candy," Ben replied, "You don't need to do this."

"Do what?" Candy asked.

"Lie," Ben said, "You don't need to protect Edward Lowe."

"Who's protecting Edward Lowe?" Candy demanded to know, "I'm just tryin' to figure out why I'm here."

"Candy," Roy said, then continued once he had Candy's attention, "What made you mad enough to kill the dog?"

"Well, it's really kind of embarrassing," Candy told him, "But the thing is... I was having kind of a bad day. And when I fell off my horse... well..."

"You decided to stab a dog," Roy concluded when Candy trailed off.

"Yes," Candy said.

"You realize that could be considered a crime, to stab another man's dog without just cause?"

Candy shook his head and frowned, "I doubt the dog's owner will be pressing any charges."

He was right, of course. When it became evident that Candy wouldn't testify to being attacked or having any disagreement with Ed Lowe that could have led to such an attack, Roy was forced to let him go free. Roy didn't have any choice: even though it was known to all the Lowes, the Cartwrights and to Candy what had really happened, only Candy could've done much to prove it. In fact, Candy's stubborn (if roundabout) denial of the facts was enough to interfere with Edward Lowe's attempt at confession. After all, if the victim denied ever having been attacked, it was pretty hard to build a case that they had been, even if the attacker claimed to have done the attacking. Of course, Candy had known all that long before he went into Roy Coffee's office that day.

"I don't get why you let Ed Lowe go," Joe said.

Candy shrugged, "Seemed like the thing to do at the time."

"He tried to kill you," Joe persisted.

"So he did," Candy agreed with a nod, but his tone was dismissive, as if it didn't especially matter to him.

Joe was quicker on the uptake than Roy Coffee, and realized almost immediately that he was being given the run around, and that Candy wasn't going to give him any answers.

So he simply shook his head and repeated, "Sometimes I don't get you."

"What I don't get," Candy replied cheerfully, "Is how you can shoot so well using your left hand. But that don't stop you from doin' it, does it?"

Joe started to respond, then smiled and said, "No. No, I guess it doesn't."

Joe and Hoss had quit early that day. They were still recovering from having spent so many sleepless nights out on the range. But Ben stayed up on the pretense of doing paperwork at his desk. Candy was also staying up, sitting in the living room and reading. He'd been doing that quite a bit since he'd been mauled. Since he couldn't work, he needed something to occupy his attention. Having seen Candy's interest in the books on the first day after he'd been mauled, Ben invited him to come and read in the living room whenever the notion struck, assuring him that he was always welcome to do so.

Ben suspected that Candy was staying up not because the book he'd picked up was so fascinating, but because he couldn't sleep. He'd presented a lot of confidence that the dog out there wouldn't hurt any cattle, but underneath he had to be worried, especially since he had more than money riding on this. He'd been right so many times recently, he was due to be wrong about something. Finally, Ben admitted to himself that he wasn't really focusing on the paperwork in front of him. He sat back in his chair and sighed tiredly. The sound brought Candy out of his book.

"Tired?" Candy inquired, though it was really more of an observation.

Ben grunted, then said, "When I first started building the Ponderosa, I never imagined there'd be so much paper involved."

Candy grinned, but not without sympathy, "I hope I never have to worry about that."

Ben nodded, rubbing his eyes and stretching.

"You know," Ben said as he eased back in his chair, "There's something I don't quite understand."

"Is there?" Candy asked, closing the book and laying it aside.

"You don't like Randal," Ben said.

"Not especially," Candy replied.

"And you don't like Liam or John," Ben continued.

"They tend to side with Randal in bar fights, an' John throws a pretty mean punch," Candy said by way of confirmation.

"And you can't possibly like Ed, seeing as he tried to kill you," Ben went on.

"I s'pose you could see it like that," Candy admitted.

"You had the opportunity to make Ed pay for his crime," Ben said.

"I did," Candy agreed.

"It would've been the honest thing to do. And most people would agree that it was right, including people who liked Ed Lowe," Ben told him.

"You could see it that way," Candy said slowly.

"I do see it that way," Ben said, "Frankly, I was surprised that you don't seem to. I expected you to be a bit more... well... angry. And nobody would blame you for that," he added hurriedly, "But you went out of your way to make sure I didn't ride out to the Lowe ranch with anger at the forefront of my mind. And, while you didn't actually lie to Roy Coffee, you did the next closest thing. All to make sure Ed Lowe was released. Why?"

"Well, Mr. Cartwright," Candy said slowly, leaning back in his chair, "'Way I see it, he was only dangerous to me because he thought I was going to kill his son. And, for the record, the thought did cross my mind a time or two. So I can't exactly hold that against him."

He got up and relocated to the chair in front of Ben's desk before going on.

"Now he knows I'm not going to hurt Randal, he's got no reason to want me dead. An' I don't think he's the kinda man to do much of anything without a reason," Candy said.

"He still tried to commit murder. If you weren't the fighter you are, he would have succeeded," Ben pointed out.

"Yes," Candy agreed matter-of-factly.

"Don't you think he should pay for that?" Ben asked.

"Mr. Cartwright," Candy sighed, "It seems to me that people tend to let the word justice get in the way of the facts. And the fact is that Ed Lowe isn't a threat to me or anybody else. I know you to be a good judge of character, an' I don't believe you'd have been friends with Ed Lowe for so many years if he tended to fly off the handle and try to kill people at the slightest provocation. Maybe Randal exaggerated our conflict so he wouldn't look foolish to his father. Maybe I look a lot scarier than I am. Maybe Mr. Lowe had a bad week. Whatever the reason, I don't think he'll do it again. Not to me or to anybody else."

"And you base this conclusion on the fact that he's my friend?" Ben inquired.

"I do," Candy said.

"Candy..." Ben shook his head, "Attempted murder is still-"

"Attempted murder," Candy interrupted, "I was there. Believe me, I know."

"And you're not angry about it?" Ben asked.

"Are you kidding?" Candy scoffed, "I'm furious. But that's no reason to hang a man."

Ben frowned deeply. It seemed to him that letting a man off the hook for what Ed Lowe had tried to do to Candy was a mistake. But Candy was old enough to make his own decisions, and his decision in this case seemed to be to let a would-be murderer go free on the basis of his being a friend of Ben's.

"I don't agree with you."

"'Way I see it, there's not much you can do about it," Candy said, "Unless you want to fire me."

"The only thing that would accomplish would be my losing one of the best ranch hands who's ever worked for me," Ben pointed out after a moment's thought, "And I don't see that you should be punished for something that was done to you, even if you don't appear to want justice for it."

"Sometimes the right thing to do is the wrong thing," Candy told him.

Ben shook his head, "You know, Candy... sometimes I don't understand you."

"Funny," Candy remarked, with a lopsided grin, "Joe said the same thing to me earlier today."

In the morning, several of the local ranchers -including the Lowes- showed up to see the results of the test. Ben led the way around behind the barn to the corral where they'd left the dog. Candy was already there, perched on the fence and looking very pleased with himself.

It was soon obvious why.

The calf was lying down, very much alive, and the dog had curled his body around it protectively. Seeing Liam, whom he seemed to have accepted unreservedly as his new master, the dog yawned widely, licked the top of the calf's head as if to wake it, and stood up. He stretched fore and aft, then strolled over to the gate. He stood quietly for a moment, waving his low-held tail slowly. Evidently deciding he wasn't going to be let out, the dog nosed the gate latch and pushed it open, then trotted purposefully over, sat directly in front of Liam and gazed up at him with loving trust.

"Proof enough for ya?" Candy inquired of the gathered crowd.

There were some assorted murmurs, generally of reluctant assent. Liam knelt before the dog and grabbed his ruff in both hands affectionately.

"Well, looks like you've got another dog on your hands, big brother," Randal remarked, "What're you gonna name this one?"

Liam looked up at his brother, then at the rest of his family, the Cartwrights and finally smiled at Candy, whose clever idea had allowed him to keep the dog he'd already fallen in love with.

"I think," he said, looking back at the dog, "There's only one thing I could possibly name him."

"Oh?" Randal asked, "What's that?"

"Lobo," Liam replied, "I'm gonna call him Lobo."

Candy laughed. After a moment, everyone else seemed to get the joke, and there was laughter all around. It was quite awhile before the laughter subsided.

"C'mon, Lobo," Liam said, standing, "Let's go home."

The dog immediately fell into a Heel position and Liam started to go, but then turned back.

"Thanks, Candy," He said, then glanced at his father before looking back at Candy, "For everything."

"That goes for all of us," Randal put in.

Candy just smiled and said, "Don't mention it."

Author's Note: Hope you all enjoyed the story (and this final chapter), thanks for reading (and reviewing), goodnight everybody.