It was late in the evening. On the road rode two cowboys. The youngest was sitting on a light brown horse and the eldest on a red brown one. It were Adam and Mitch Cartwright, the son and grandson of Ben Cartwright. Mitch had entered a baseball tournament for youngsters and now he and his father were on their way home. They knew that their family was waiting for them. Though the ranch was much too far away to get there that same night. Besides, they were too tired to ride any further.
To their great relief Mitch noticed an empty house.
“Daddy, I see an empty house. Maybe we can spend the night there and go home when it’s light”, the boy said.
“Let’s go”, Adam said.
They rode towards the house and dismounted their horses Sport and Caramel. After the animals were hitched and Mitch had taken his rucksack with him the two entered the house. The stairs were blood red. The front door peeped already when touched of the doorknob.
“This needs to be oiled”, Mitch commented.
He closed the door and stayed near the door. Adam was already inspecting the hallway. As he was wearing boots their footsteps sounded extra hard on the wooden floor. The walls were covered with spiders webs, it was more than obvious there hadn’t been inhabitants for years. The smell in the house was rancid. Mitch, who was quite used to lot of things, started to get scared.
“Daddy, I’m scared”, Mitch said.
“There’s no need for that because I am with you”, his father reacted.
Mitch walked towards the kitchen and said optimistically, “I’m going to inspect the kitchen.”
The door was ajar but also cracked loudly.
“Woo woo”, sounded it suddenly through the silent hallway.
Mitch went to lie on the floor and reached for his bat. Adam had drown his gun and lied next to his son. Both held their breath.
Again there was spoken, “Woo.”
“Let’s get out of here”, Adam said.
Quickly they got up and ran to the front door. But the door was locked from the inside.
“Dang it. It looks like we’re stuck in here for the night”, Adam said.
“Let’s just see what happens”, Mitch reacted.
He put his rucksack and put it near the door but he took his bat with him.
Adam found a candle in the corner of the hallway. He lit it.
“So, now we can see something at last”, Adam said.
He wasn’t feeling comfortable at the empty house and neither did Mitch. It was bitter cold eerily dark.
The young Cartwright said, “There hasn’t been any cleaning in a thousand years. Even my room is much cleaner than this house. Let’s take a look upstairs.”
Adam smiled at this remark. He couldn’t count how many times that Mitch had to clean his room. The two walked towards the stairs and went upstairs. With every step the stairs creaked. There was a lot of dust on the stairs. Everywhere you could see the footsteps of Adam and Mitch.
On the first floor the candle went out without an explanation. Now Adam and Mitch were very cautious. Then suddenly there flew a couple of bats across their heads. Adam didn’t hesitate for a moment and shot down the scary animals. One fell dead on the floor next to the boy. Right after that they heard a eerie laugh. It was the laugh of a witch who was probably also living there. Mitch walked into a room and felt a strange warmth. The boy went to lie in a corner and closed his eyes. Pretty soon he was in dreamland. Adam soon went to sleep as well.
At twelve o’clock the clock began to bang. This didn’t happen very unsoundly but so loud that people could hear it in New Orleans. It woke Adam and Mitch up.
“What will happen this time for Heaven’s sake?”, Mitch asked.
“I don’t know but we’ll find out soon enough”, Adam reacted.
To be sure that he had a weapon as well, Mitch took his bat with him. As curious as they were, Adam and Mitch decided to take a look. Very carefully they crawled through the dust to the door and looked into the corridor. They didn’t know that the empty house was a ghost house but they would discover it soon enough.
In a bigger room there was a firm light burning. There was also a lot of noise to be heard. There was a ghost party being held but by only two ghost.
“Kid, there are only two ghosts there”, Adam whispered.
“I am not afraid because there is no such thing as ghosts”, Mitch reacted.
They both got up and Mitch opened the door. The ghosts looked at them and the first one wanted to attack them.
“No, they are our guests of honour”, the second ghost said.
They came up to the man and boy and wanted to get them. But Adam drew his gun and Mitch held his bat in hit position. One moment there was a brief silence. That Adam and Mitch didn’t trust the ghost was true because this were no ghosts but two outlaws.
In an unseen moment Mitch pulled a sheet of one ghost and he said, “Daddy, do you now see that there are no ghosts? You can’t tell me no more fairytales.”
“You dang rotten kid. How dare you to do this?”, the unmasked ghost who listened to the name of Will Manson asked.
Mitch looked at his father who still kept an eye on the both outlaws.
Then he spoke, “You better make sure that nothing will happen to us because in case we don’t get home tomorrow, my two uncles and grandpa will come after you.”
“They will find you both dead and we’ll be go free. Boy, tell me how old are you anyway?”, Bruce Plant asked while he undid himself from his sheet.
“Twelve years old”, Mitch said while he became very shy in an attempt to trick the outlaws.
Bruce took his chance, grabbed the bat of Mitch and knocked Adam out.
In the meantime Will said, “Shut up kid!”
He grabbed the boy. The outlaw took him to the stairs and threw him downstairs. Mitch came down upon his left ankle and hurt it again.
“So, that is done. He is dead. Now let’s get rid of his daddy. Then the party can go on”, Will said pleasantly.
Bruce had put Adam in the warm room and had thrown his gun and the bat near him. They didn’t know that there was help on its way for Adam and Mitch.
That night Hoss Cartwright couldn’t really get to sleep. A reason here for was that his brother and nephew were still not at home. In the middle of the night he got up and got dressed. Very quietly he sneaked out of the house and left with his horse the Ponderosa. Somewhere he had the feeling that his brother and nephew needed help. Outside the yard Hoss mounted on and he rode away.
After an hour Hoss arrived at the ghost house. At the door he recognized the horses of Adam and Mitch. He put his horse next to them and dismounted. After that the second son of Ben Cartwright entered the house. He also made that the door peeped when it went open. Mitch, who had fallen asleep near the stairs, woke up by the visitor.
“Is that you, Uncle Hoss?”, Mitch asked directly.
“No, it’s me the Easter Bunny. Of course it’s me. How did you get here?”, his uncle asked innocently.
He walked up to him and went to sit on the stairs.
“I wanted to get some sleep which I could get. But at midnight two outlaws decided to hold a ghost party but I interfered. They are wanted for murder and burglary. One threw me from the stairs. They think I’m dead. I don’t know what happened to daddy”, Mitch said who was very glad that his uncle was with him now.
“We’re going to surprise him. I bring you upstairs and you appears at the door. Then I handle them my way”, Hoss suggested.
Mitch’ eyes began to glister with this idea. Together they went upstairs.
Adam woke up with a terrible headache. He stumbled out of the room where he had been sleeping with Mitch. From the stairs he saw his brother and son coming. Adam looked at Hoss and helped Mitch coming up. Hoss whispered to Adam what he and Mitch had planned. A smile came upon Adam’s face and he wanted to help.
Mitch was not only a talented pitcher but a great actor as well.
He stood in the doorway and said to Bruce and Will, “Why am I not invited to your party? This will cost you your freedom.”
The two outlaws became white as sheets and said nothing.
Then Adam and Hoss stepped into the scene and Adam said, “Throw your weapons on the floor. Mitch, tie them up.”
That was quickly done. Hoss knocked them both out with one fist.
“Do we bring them to Clem and the sheriff?”, Mitch asked.
“No, but we’ll report it to them and then the authority’s can collect them by themselves. We have done our duty. Now let’s go home”, Hoss said.
Mitch leaned on him when they went outside and he took his rucksack with him.
Father, Uncle and Nephew looked at the ghost house one more time.
Mitch said, “It’s actually funny that an empty house can have so many secrets.”
“Indeed it is”, his Uncle said.
“Let’s go home before Grandpa and Uncle Joe come here as well”, Adam said.
After this they left the house behind and rode down to the ranch which they all loved the most.