Copyright © All rights reserved. Made by James Martin Sandbrook.

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Home

"Leave my brother and sister alone", said Jake.

Bill was amazed at his good luck and he was already calculating how much money he would get off Dirk for the three of them when Jake punched Bill on the nose. Bill stared, blood trickled out of his nose and then he collapsed to the floor. Ben and Mary ran to Jake and cuddled him.

"Thanks Jake", they said.

"Its time to move on", said Jake, rubbing his right knuckles and wishing that Bill had stayed up long enough for him to get another punch in, "pity", he thought. Jake was enjoying his new role as big brother, it was a good feeling.

Just then Dr Jones walked into the barn and saw Bill Rawlings out cold on the floor.

"Ah, I see that you have met Mr Rawlings, the investigator whom I guess is on the payroll of big brother Dirk" said Dr Jones, "I think we had better get moving before we arouse more interest in this little town. Bill Rawlings will have the sheriff on his side and that makes him dangerous".

They quickly said goodbye's to Mr and Mrs Weatherbee and then left the town in the late afternoon, it wasn't long before they were travelling by the light of the moon.

Three weeks later they arrived on the outskirts of Virginia.

"Well here we are folks, my home town, I suggest we head straight for the ranch to surprise Dirk and Sheza. If we go to town somebody may recognise us and tell Dirk that we are somewhere near". Everyone nodded their heads in approval.

Finally they were at the edge of the ranch. "Lets camp here for the night and survey the situation in the morning", said Dr Jones, "I need to see this place in daylight to get a good idea of the layout, it may help, is there a hill around here that we could use to see over most of the ranch land Jake"?

"Yes, I'll take you there at daybreak, its not far from here and nobody from the ranch should see us from there", said Jake, "No fire tonight folks, the smoke and firelight would give us away".

They made camp making sure not to make much noise, the element of surprise was very important.

Dirk Worthington had the advantage, but advantages can be turned around.

At daybreak Jake led them to a small hill a few miles away and they rode up it and looked over the land. The ranch house was huge.

"How many rooms are there", said an impressed Dr Jones.

"Its bigger than when I was last here", said Jake thinking back to the past of when he used to live here, "Dirk must have added some more rooms. I don't know what for, maybe just for his ego", "Its a big house, Dad always liked to live a grand life with a big house and big ranch, but he worked hard for it all believe me".

"If there is a Will it could be in the old barn at the back of the ranch house, Dad used to spend a lot of time in that barn working with his tools fixing farm equipment or just pottering around in there. He loved that barn and his tools, it was his hobby. I'm thinking that could be where the Will would be, and it may not be hidden. Dirk had no time for working with his hands it wasn't his style. He liked the easy life, he has soft hands. There is a good chance that Dirk has hardily ever been in that old barn for anything. If the Will is in there Dirk would have missed it, maybe even walked right passed it".

"Dirk would have looked all through the house, but I don't think he would have figured that it was in the barn".

"We need to look in there, but how Jake, how?" said Mary.

"We could sneak in at night" said Ben, keen to get the upper hand on his older brother Dirk.

"No, we may trip on something and wake the whole house up including all the guards".

Mary opened her backpack and pulled out some binoculars, she then had a look and handed them to Jake who raised them to his eyes and said "Thanks".

"Much has changed, Dirk has really made many small changes to suit himself and his new lady friend".

"How about you go into town Dr Jones and see what you can find out about Dirk and Sheza, maybe the local town talk can help us learn something of interest", said Jake.

"That's a good idea, I will head to town now and sell my wares as a cover up", said Dr Jones, "See you all soon". With that he was off to town to do some investigating.

"Lets use these binoculars and spend a few hours watching the ranch and wait for Dr Jones to come back" said Ben.

Mary and Jake nodded their heads, it seemed like a good idea for now and nobody had come up with any other ideas yet. They wanted to be very careful because Dirk had so many hired gun hands with him, they would be hard to get past. Dr Jones was back at lunchtime.

"Hello folks, I'm back and guess what, I got  me a job as a cook on the Worthington ranch", said a very pleased Dr Jones.

"Do you think that's safe", said a concerned and surprised Mary.

"Yes, it looks like a good opportunity for me to have a good look around before you all move in for the final showdown".

"How did you find out about the job", said Ben.

"There was a sign posted up in the Saloon stating that a cook was needed on the ranch, I asked the bartender who I was to see about the job and he took me upstairs to meet the owner of the saloon and his name was Dirk Worthington", said a smiling Dr Jones.

"You were right Jake, Dirk's a shifty character to say the least. After we talked for a while I managed to convince him that I was the man for the job. He gave me the job on the spot, I start this afternoon", Dr Jones was packing some clothes away in a suitcase to take with him.

"I'll leave soon, while I'm gone keep a close watch of the house", said Dr Jones who was now ready to leave, "Ben can I take your horse"?

""Yes, we will take good care of Jessy while you are gone", said Ben.

They all watched as Dr Jones mounted his horse and headed for the ranch.

"Good Luck", they all said and waved.

"Thanks I'll need it", said Dr Jones as he waved back to his friends.

Dr Jones was impressed once again as he rode up the long driveway to the ranch house, it was big and roomy. Dr Jones thought that there must at least be twenty rooms, maybe more. He looked around the back of the house as he got closer and saw the old barn at the back. "That's my target", he thought.

As Dr Jones rode closer to the house twenty men came out of nowhere to guard the front of the house, Dr Jones thought "These chaps don't look anything like ranch hands".

"Stop" said a man with a look on his face that said that he expected to be listened to.

"Hello" said Dr Jones, "I am the new cook".

"Dismount your horse while we search you and your baggage, I am the ranch foreman", said the pistol toting thug.

"Well I really must protest, this is most unusual", said Dr Jones, putting on a good act of trying to look surprised. But he still got of his horse and let them search big suitcase and himself.

"Okay old man you can go on", said the foreman and Dr Jones walked to the house while one of the thugs led the horse away to the stables. Dr Jones let out a short whistle of awe, It was obvious to Dr Jones that this house had lots of money spent on it. Even the doorway was glamorous with its carved frame and varnished glossy tanned surface.

Dr Jones reached for the fancy polished brass door knocker but the door opened before he could touch it, there in the doorway stood a short fat butler, dressed in the style of a English butler. He even had the toffee red nose, this made Dr Jones smile.

"Hello, I am the new cook" said Dr Jones trying to be friendly.

The butler looked Dr Jones up and down with a very disapproving look on his face, it was obvious that this man standing in front of his was not what he expected.

"You will be supplied with suitable clothes for your job as cook" said Toffee Nose, and he stepped aside to let Dr Jones into the house.

To be continued…

The Tucker Twins

Written by James Martin Sandbrook - 2005

Abrev. Advice. Camera. Character. Children. Computing. Crosswords. Driving. Education. Electronics.  Fitness/Self Defence.

Garden. Health. House Ideas. How To. Jokes. Kitchen/Cooking. Measure. Mechanics/Machines. Motivation.

Movies. Music. NZ. OOS/RSI. People.  Personal Care. Poetry. Projects. Proverbs. Religion. Reviews. Sewing.

Skills/Hobbies. Slang. Stories. Tips. Tools. Whats It Mean? Words.  Woodwork.