The whole week the brothers Adam, Hoss and Little Joe Cartwright were talking about their camping plans. So the four year old son of Adam, Mitch, heard about it too. He wanted to come along too together with the dog Cody but didn’t know if he was allowed to come.
On Friday morning Mitch saw with his grandpa Ben Cartwright how the boys grabbed their horses. Adam came to them and picked up his son.
“Daddy, may I come along?”, asked Mitch.
“You are a little bit too little for it. Besides we go hunting too. When you are a bit bigger you are allowed to come. Grandpa stays by you and Cody too”, answered Adam.
Mitch was clearly disappointed and began to cry softly. Adam looked a bit hopeless at Ben but remained by his decision.
“Adam, are you coming?”, asked Joe.
“Mitch, behave yourself”, said Adam.
He kissed his son, gave him over to his father and went along with his brothers. When the brothers were out of sight the Cartwrights and Cody went inside. Mitch soon calmed down and went to play with the dog. Ben went to do the administration but this didn’t last long. He thought, ‘My sons are camping and hunting and then I should do the administration while I better can spend that time with my apple of my eye.’ The rancher left the administration for what it was and left his office.
“Mitch, this weekend is totally for you”, said Ben.
“How nice grandpa. What are we going to do? Fishing?”, asked Mitch.
They heard the rain coming down on the roof and the windows.
“I am afraid that we have to postpone the fishing for when it’s dry. But there are enough other things we can do together”, answered Ben.
“Are we going to play games?”, his grandson suggested.
“If that’s what you want”, said Ben.
Mitch nodded.
Meanwhile the brothers got robbed by a big rain.
“This is probably the fault of Mitchy. He wasn’t allowed to come from you, Adam. So he has prayed very hard to Our Dear Lord for this rain”, Hoss said when they had found a shelter.
“Mitch and praying to God? That are two total different things”, laughed Adam.
“There goes our weekend camping and hunting”, reacted Joe.
He was so looking forward to this and now everything was literally wet. Adam and Hoss also thought about it that way. The cave where they were was big enough to let the horses stay too. It began to rain harder.
“Boys, it starts to look like more and more that we will have to camp here”, Adam said while he stood at the entrance of the cave and looked outside.
Hoss came to stand next to him and said, “At least we are dry.”
“That’s true but I hadn’t counted on that rain”, reacted Adam.
The brothers decided to make the best of it.
At the ranch Mitch enjoyed himself quite well, even though eh had to stay indoors of Ben. The boy kept on looking at the chess game which was always ready to play. Ben noticed that and feared that he had to teach it his grandson.
“Grandpa, can you teach me this game?”, Mitch asked after a while.
“Of course I can and will teach you it. Now you go to the kitchen and ask if Hop Sing makes tea and brings it with cake”, said de rancher.
Mitch fled directly to the kitchen to arrange it.
“Hop Sing, grandpa asked me to ask you to make tea and cake for us”, said Mitch.
The Chinese cook answered, “Hop Sing make tea right away. Cake is ready.”
Satisfied the little boy went back to the living room where Ben had put the chess game on the salon table.
“Tea and cake coming up said Hop Sing”, Mitch announced.
“Good. Sit down because eI will teach you how to play chess”, said Ben.
Mitch nodded. The game and the rules cost the boy a lot of time and trouble but he did enjoy it. Sometime later Hop Sing came in with a pot of tea and fresh baked cake. Grandpa and grandson Cartwright let it taste well.
“I don’t think that daddy, uncle Hoss and uncle Joe have it as warm and cozy as we have”, Mitch said after the tea and cake.
“I know for sure they don’t”, his grandpa said laughing.
Ben and Mitch weren’t so really far from the truth because in the cave the other Cartwrights tried to make their free weekend as nice as possible. Because they hadn’t eaten yet Hoss cut the subject ‘FOOD’. Adam and Joe looked at each other laughing because they exactly knew what time it was.
“If I don’t get something into my stomach I faint. We haven’t eaten nothing more since breakfast”, said Hoss.
“Let’s eat then first before you faint. Then this cave may collapse and we never get home”, Adam said dry.
“What are you so very funny”, reacted Hoss.
“Well very”, said Joe.
“Well, I am also so funny”, said Adam while he walked to Sport and got the sanchwiches which Hop Sing had made for them from his saddlebags.
It did taste the brothers but because it kept on raining the boys couldn’t do not much than to talk, sleep and of course tease each other very much.
“It is good that Mitch didn’t come along with us because he can’t stand this cold and wetness”, Adam said after the meal.
“We take him along the next time when it is a bit warmer”, was the answer or Joe.
“We do make the condition then that he keeps his remarks, comments and reactions unknown. With other words: he keeps silent”, reacted Hoss.
“No, unfortunately not. It would be a whole lot more quiet at home then”, reacted Joe.
His brothers couldn’t deny that. They were always very glad when Mitch was off to bed because then he kept his mouth at least. Mitch was speaking from the moment that he saw his father, uncles and/or grandpa.
At the ranch Mitch got all the attention from Ben. The boy loved this. Especially because Hop Sing made the most delicious things and the boys only had simple sandwiches given along.
The cozier Ben and Mitch had it, the more bored the brothers had it in the cold cave. Though none of the three got the idea to go back home. The fun of their failed and wet camping weekend wasn’t up to their father and Mitch. No matter how much they loved them.