He was glad at least that he had been able to see them. He tried to smile slightly at them, hoping to relieve the fear that had taken over their faces, but it didn’t seem to work. He glanced quickly through the men standing around the bank, and noticed almost immediately his father and brother standing near the sheriff. “Hold your fire!” Joe heard Sheriff Coffee yell, and he let out a sigh of relief and opened his eyes. He felt the man behind him tighten his grip on his shoulder, and he grimaced. Outside, Joe could see the ends of shotguns and rifles pointed at him, and he closed his eyes, hoping they wouldn’t shoot. Joe couldn’t break his gaze away from Adam, and as the men led him towards the door, he wondered if he would ever see his brother again. “I know,” he whispered back, and then the man pulled him to his feet. He began to tie his hands behind his back.Īdam looked up at him, and it was the first time Joe could remember seeing anything close to tears in his brother’s eyes. “Anything you want to say?” he asked, and shoved Joe to his knees next to Adam. One of the other men knocked Adam to the floor as the man grabbed Joe’s arm and pulled him closer to his brother. The man said, “Very well, we’ll take the kid instead,” smirking in Adam’s direction. “Joe, no!” Adam once again protested, but his action had the opposite effect. “Please…” Instantly he regretted the ‘please’ it was a little childish. “I won’t resist in any way I’ll go quietly with you until you’re far enough away. He started to turn away, but Jo ereached out and grasped his arm. “I’m not a kid, I’m 16,” he replied, a little hotly. The man grasped Joe’s chin, and tilted his head back. Growth spurts, and becoming a man, and things like that. When he was 15, they said he would probably be taller by 16. The man walked up to him, and once again Joe wished he was tall like his brothers. Adam was already pretty bruised, and he had a nasty cut over his eye. How much further, he was afraid to imagine. They wanted a hostage to help get them out of town, and Joe knew they would probably injure his brother further. But now, it was Joe’s turn to be concerned for his older brother. There were several women and a couple of children in the bank, and Adam’s concern must have been for them. Joe had seen his brother fight before, and he knew. Two of them had punched and kicked Adam, and he tried to only defend himself, and not cause a bigger fight. The robbers had told everyone to get down, but she was frozen in fear. Adam had protested when the robbers first came into the bank and pushed Mrs. Joe thought of all the things he could respond with, but finally said, “I’ll make a better hostage.” He looked at his brother, and tried to explain why with his eyes. The rest of the man’s face was obscured by the neckerchief he wore over his nose.

The man in the red shirt looked down at him, and Joe tried to keep from trembling as he met his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the man who was tying Adam’s wrists paused. There was a protest from Adam, and Joe almost looked towards his brother, but he forced himself not to. “No, take me.” Joe moved forward, closer to the man in the red shirt. Summary: Just a very short story about what one brother would do for the other one.

Bonanza the hostage