The Cougar and the Mustang

by dcat

Disclaimer: The characters and situations of the TV program "Big Valley" are the creations of Four Star/Republic Pictures and have been used without permission. No copyright infringement is intended by the author. The ideas expressed in this story are copyrighted to the author.

Heath felt himself slipping down the rocks. He tried to brace himself, but it was no use, there wasn’t anything firm for him to grab onto, especially since he was toting his rifle along with him. As he continued to slide, the rifle dislodged itself from his usually sure grip and slid below and since he’d lost it now, he found it easier to use his hands and arms to try to grab onto anything. And he did, but not before he left leg was sharply jolted and smashed by an impending boulder. He let out a yelp of pain. The only good thing was that he had stopped falling.

Nick watched the whole thing from the top and when he saw his brother’s leg nearly snap, he knew that the two of them were in a deep mess. He didn’t need to hear his cry of pain to know that his leg was broken and that Heath would need some medical attention before too long.

He quickly grabbed the ropes that they carried on their horses and rigged up several relay lines and tossed them down the canyon wall. Carefully and slowly he made his way down to Heath.

When Nick reached him, Heath had his eyes closed and he was taking quick, shallow breaths.

“Heath,” Nick gently asked, afraid to touch him to cause him any more pain. “Hey, boy, can you hear me? How ya feeling?”

Heath’s eyes fluttered open. “I’m not sleeping, just trying to ignore the pain,” he answered him.

“How bad is it?” Nick asked, knowing that Heath would have already assessed his injuries.

“It’s broke for sure, I heard it snap, but I got feeling all the way to my toes, so I’m hoping it was clean. I lost my rifle though,” he added.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll buy you another one,” Nick said. “You hurt anywhere else?”

“Ain’t that enough?”

Nick had to chuckle. “Yeah, that’s more than plenty. We gotta figure out how to get us out of here now.” As Nick spoke, the prey that they were hunting was just above them and to the right. The cougar hissed several time, gaining both of the men’s attention immediately.

“Well, if this isn’t our lucky day, nothing is,” Nick said, eyeing up the golden feline.

The cat made an already jittery Heath even more nervous. “What are you waiting for, shoot it,” he whispered to Nick. But it was too late, the cat jumped and climbed and had left their immediate sight.

Both of them scanned around and couldn’t spot the cougar. Heath forced himself to take several deep breaths and looked below to the canyon floor. He couldn’t believe what he saw. “Nick, take a look down there,” he pointed.

Nick was still scanning the rocks above for signs of the dangerous cat. “What? Where?” he asked.

“Down there, look, the mustang.” Heath pointed again.

“I’ll be damned,” Nick said, spotting the wild horse right away. “It’s happening all over again?”

Heath laid his head back on the rocks. “I don’t know which is the worst pickle, now or then.”

“Well, supposedly we have more brains now than we did back then,” Nick said.

“You could have fooled me, looks like we just wound up in a worse predicament than when we were little.”

Nick turned around and positioned himself along side his brother. They both started to remember back when Nick was twelve and Heath was eight. They had run into the cougar and the mustang before.

As much as Nick hated to admit it to anyone, he was beginning to enjoy having Heath tag a long with him. He could get him to do more crazy things in the name of brotherhood than he ever thought would be possible. He tried to remember if older brother Jarrod had done the same to him, but those memories eluded him for the time being.

It was early morning and Nick was already steps away from the barn when he heard the back door of the house slam close and could hear the patter of a sprinting Heath as he ran toward Nick.

“Where ya goin’ today Nick?” Heath asked as he caught up to him at the barn door.

Acting slightly annoyed, Nick told him, “just out, exploring I guess.” He knew what was coming next and he smiled inwardly.

“Can I come too? I ain’t never been exploring, please can I come?” Heath asked.

“It’s not a thing for a kid,” Nick teased.

“But you said I didn’t sound like a kid yesterday when I told that story at supper,” Heath reminded him.

Nick thought about it long and hard. “Ok, but first I gotta ask you a question.”

Heath got very serious and waited for one of Nick’s nearly impossible questions. He always seemed to give him the wrong answer. “Go ahead Nick, ask me anything.”

“Don’t rush me,” Nick said, trying to think of the question, “What’s faster? A cougar or a mustang?”

Heath thought about the question for what seemed like an eternity, scrunching up his nose and brow in deep thought. “I think it’s the cougar,” he said with eight-year-old certainty.

“Wrong,” Nick boomed, “the mustang will flat out run away.”

Heath was upset with himself for guessing the wrong answer. “Well, how do you know for sure, did you ever see ‘em race Nick?”

“No, but I studied it, and today I’m gonna prove it to you. Come on, let’s go.”

They saddled up and rode off, waving to Jarrod who was mending some nearby fence when they rode away. Jarrod wondered what the two of them were up to.

They got closer to Schuler’s Canyon and the landscape quickly changed from grazing land to a rocky, precipitous landscape. Soon they dismounted and began to climb on some of the rocks.

“You gotta promise you’re not gonna tell anyone about this?” Nick said, as they started the climb.

“I won’t,” Heath said, solemnly.

“Say you promise!” Nick demanded.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone.”

They climbed up a bit higher and Nick led Heath into a small cave. “Over here, come on, hurry up.”

“I’m coming,” Heath said.

Just then Heath heard the mewing of a baby cougar. Nick had picked him up by the scruff of his neck and was holding him out for Heath to see.

Heath’s blue eyes opened wide and he exclaimed, “Wow, Nick, how’d you find it? You’re the best tracker ever!”

Nick beamed with delight, happy to think that his younger brother thought he was some new kind of legend. “Yep, I’ve been tracking him, and now I’m gonna prove to you that the mustang is faster than the cougar. Come on,” he brushed past Heath with the tiny cougar and headed out of the cave and back down the rocks to the valley of the mini-canyon. Heath followed along, enthralled by Nick.

When they got to the bottom, Nick handed the cougar to Heath. “Ok, here you go, all you have to do is hang on to him till I drive the mustang through. When the mustang is here, you let the cougar go and we’ll see which one gets to the draw first, understand?”

Heath nodded, although he was distracted by the baby cougar he held in his hands. It was the first time he had ever held one.

Nick grabbed him by the chin and made him look right at him, “can you do that? Do you have any questions?”

“Nnnnooppe, I can do Nick, I promise,” he said excitedly, proud that Nick had taken him into his confidence and into this new brotherhood. He wasn’t afraid in the least, least wise not in front of Nick. Nick was the bravest person he’d ever met in his whole life.

“You stay right here and don’t move around too much. It’s only gonna be a few minutes cuz I spotted the mustang when we rode up.”

The cougar was busy chewing on the sleeve of Heath and Heath petted the feline in return. “We’ll be ready,” he said to Nick.

So off Nick went, mounting up quickly and then off to chase the mustang into the canyon.

On top of the canyon wall, the mother cougar returned and heard the mews of her baby down below. She began to inch her way down the unstable rocks.

Heath happily played with the energetic baby cougar, not realizing any of the impending danger.

Nick rode hard and shagged the mustang into the canyon. As they approached the spot where Heath was, Nick could see the mother cougar above, coming down slowly and methodically, some rocks began to slide down the rather sheer cliffs. In a flash, he forgot about the mustang and only thought about Heath being in danger. He pushed Coco toward his little brother.

Heath saw the mustang veer away and stood up, poised and ready to drop the tiny cougar onto the ground. He wondered why Nick was coming straight toward him and not shagging the mustang toward the canyon.

The mama cougar was almost poised and ready to pounce on Heath, when a few rocks slid down along side of Heath. The movement and noise caused him to inadvertently drop the baby cougar, which instantly ran off, and Heath slipped down the rocks, loosing his footing.

Nick took a deep breath as he saw it all happen. His hand reached for his pistol and he drove Coco as close to where Heath was as he possibly could.

In a flash, from the other direction, Jarrod rode up on Jingo and quickly and expertly snatched Heath from the rocks, just as Nick pulled up Coco and aimed his pistol and shot the mama cougar in mid air. One shot was all it took, the mother died instantly. The tiny cougar was nowhere to be seen.

Jarrod pulled Heath in front of him sitting in the saddle with him and asked him if he was ok.

“I’m fine now,” Heath began, “did you see what Nick did Jarrod? Boy howdy he shot that mama cougar dead. He saved my life again.” Jarrod could barely contain the eight-year-old’s revived case of hero worship.

“Boy howdy is right, that’s for sure,” Jarrod imitated Heath’s words and rolled his eyes in Nick’s direction. “What in the blazes were you trying to do this time?”

Heath chimed in right away, forgetting about the promise he made earlier. “We’re trying to see what’s faster, the cougar or the mustang.”

Nick’s head slumped to his chest. “Heath!” he said in defeat, ‘you promised remember?”

“It’s just Jarrod, he won’t tell, it’s a brother secret thing, right Jarrod?”

Jarrod looked over to Nick, who he knew was sweating out what had just transpired. He knew their father would tan their hides if he ever found out. “Yeah Heath, it’s a brother secret thing,” he said, making sure Nick knew what kind of favor he’d just done for him.

“Thanks Jarrod,” Nick said.

“Uh huh, and now it’s your turn to promise that you’ll never try to find the answer to that question out again, promise Nick?”

“Yeah, I promise,” Nick said with a whine.

“I promise too,” Heath said.

Nick and Heath lay there side by side and laughed recalling their escapade as boys. Today they were out hunting a cougar that threatened their cattle. They weren’t out to see which was faster. They gave up finding that answer out after they promised Jarrod long ago.

“We gotta get you outta here,” Nick said, sitting up. “You’re still gonna need a doctor. I’ll get some branches and make a splint and then we’ll get you up top. Can you make it?”

“I can make it,” Heath answered, sitting up too. He looked down into the canyon and saw the mustang again. “Nick, look!” Heath said again.

Nick looked down and saw the wild horse, and then suddenly, down below them, the cougar had made its way down and was catching up to the mustang. Off they ran into the draw of the canyon.

Up above the brothers, from the top of the rocks, Jarrod rode up and called out to them. “Hey, what’s going on down there?”

Nick looked up and saw him, “Jarrod’s here Heath, we’ll get you up in no time. Heath was still fixed on the race below.

Between Nick and Jarrod, they got Heath splinted in no time and hauled him up to the top and then carefully got him home, safe in bed. He’d be all right, his left leg had broken, but it was clean and it’d heal in no time.

Later that night the three of them sat in Heath’s room.

“I thought I told you two to never attempt to find out that answer ever again?” Jarrod remembered the earlier fiasco too.

“I told you, we were hunting that cougar for killing some of our cattle,” Nick explained. “I don’t know where that mustang came from. Tell him Heath.”

“Yeah, Nick’s right, Jarrod, it wasn’t like before.”

“Oh no?” Jarrod raised an eyebrow.

Heath smiled, “I promised, I’ll never tell,” he said to Jarrod and he turned toward Nick, “but I was right, way back then. I saw the answer for myself today.”

THE END