SCOLDING

Ben Cartwright had taken his two youngest sons Hoss and Little Joe along to San Francisco for a combined business trip and vacation. The rancher had urged the boys strongly not to do anything dumb because then they would know it. Of course the boys promised that.

Because Hoss and Little Joe had all freedom while their father was busy with business the brothers went into town. Ben had given them each 50 dollars.

“Joe, do you know how we can earn some more money here fast?”, asked Hoss.

“Yes, of course I know that”, replied Little Joe.

“Would you like to tell me that or would you keep the plan to yourself?”, Hoss asked a bit indignant.

“I shall explain it to you: you are pretty good at boxing so I am going to as my boxer. Then the content of everyone’s wallet falls into our pockets”, Little Joe explained.

“You mean your pockets!”, protested Hoss.

“Not at all. I had planned to share the profit with you but now you can forget that!”, Little Joe reacted fierce.

They were quarreling for quite some time until a beautiful lady came towards them.

“You are the bear I am looking for”, said Lola Smith.

She ignored Little Joe who didn’t like that naturally.

“What must I do?”, Hoss asked smiling shy.

“Your brother must close his eyes and you must pose for me. I am an artist and want to draw you. But then you must take off your clothes above.”, Lola explained.

Hoss was sold right away by the beauty of Lola and did what she had said. At first Little Joe was indignant buy the behavior of Lola but quite soon he did along with her.

“Eyes closed you! Otherwise I can’t draw my bear”, snapped Lola.

The brothers both closed their eyes whereby Lola could make her coup. She not only took the wallets of the boys along but also the shirt of Hoss.

The brothers still stood with their eyes closed when Ben came to stand by them. The rancher didn’t understand anything of it. His second son stood half naked on the street and had his eyes closed and his youngest son stood there too with also eyes closed.

“Why are you standing sleep?”, Ben asked strict.

Hoss and Little Joe flew a meter or ten into the air when they heard the voice of their father. They looked around them and realized then that they had been robbed.

“Err pa, look at this way: There was an attractive lady who wanted to draw us. We had to close our eyes and Hoss had to take off his shirt. We thought that we could earn something with it”, Little Joe told hesitating.

Ben sighted deep and knew enough.

“I really cannot leave you alone! How old are you anyway?”, he asked strict.

“You do know that, don’t you?”, Hoss asked innocent.

“It is a good thing that Adam stayed at home. Because he would never let anything like that happen. But alright: I shall have to punish you and with the following thing: as soon as we are home you have house arrest for 2 months and you must do the dishes during that time!”, Ben spoke.

The brothers swallowed and knew that they couldn’t get out of it anymore.

“Pa, we accept the punishment and promise you better behavior. From now on we will improve our life and don’t do any stupid things anymore”, said Little Joe on behalf of his brother.

“Can I get that in writing?”, Ben asked frowning.

“After we had gotten hold of that chick”, replied Hoss.

They ran to a saloon and there they found the shirt of Hoss and their wallets too. Quickly Hoss put on his shirt and they held their wallets close to them.

Since that moment Hoss and Little Joe were alert when they were once again in San Francisco and got approached by attractive ladies.