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"Howdy folks"!

The twins spun around on their horses and there at the side of the road about forty feet away was a wagon and a man with a plate on his lap, he was sitting on an log. Behind him was a wagon and a white horse grazing nearby. The horse lifted its head and whinnied when it saw the children.

Ben turned his horse towards the man and said "Hello, may we come into camp"?

The man smiled and put his plate down, he stood up an yelled "Mary and Ben Tucker, well I never thought I would see you two again", "I thought you were both dead"!

Mary jumped off her horse and ran over to Dr Jones her hair flowing in the breeze as she ran, while Ben dismounted his own horse and came running after her. Dr Jones gave them both a healthy hug and said "Boy you two have grown, you must be at least ten years old by now, I new that you wouldn't have been foolish to fall down no mine shaft, what's going on anyway"?

"Where did you get the horses"?

"Its a long story Dr Jones and it will take some time for us to tell it" said a tired looking Ben.

"Sit down and I will get you both some supper, then you can tell the story while we eat" said a very curious Dr Jones.

They all sat down to eat and Ben and Mary told the story to Dr Jones, telling him the whole truth this time. They were shocked to hear that Dr Jones had been to the town and seen Mr and Mrs Weatherbee and they told him the bad news, he also told the twins that he had taken a shortcut from the town and didn't need to go over the mountain to get where he was now, a small roadway had been cut away many years before and it was a shortcut through the side of the mountain. He mostly took the shortcut to avoid the thieves that he thought were living up there in the mountain.

"You two are sure brave young uns", "I did some research on my travels and I found out who you two really are", "Your names are Ben and Mary Worthington, your first names were written on the box that you were both in when you were left on the Tuckers doorstep".

Ben thought "Worthington, where have I heard that name before..."?

Ben and Mary didn't know what to think now that they had found out the name of their real family, Dr Jones went on...

"You have two older brothers Jake and Dirk and you lived in a town called Virginia.

Ben stared at Mary and she stared back, Dr Jones sensed the tension in the air and looked at them and said "Is everything all right"?

Mary said in a startled voice "One of the boys back there in the gang was called Jake Worthington, he may be our brother, he said that he was kicked out of his home".

Dr Jones stared at them both and wondering what this could mean for the two youngsters.

Mary had tears in her eyes, she said "We must go back for him and tell him, oh poor Jake", "He is going to be so surprised".

Ben wasn't so sure that was a good idea "Mary the last time we saw Jake he was going to kill us, we need to think this over first, right Dr Jones"?

Dr Jones nodded his head in agreement and sighed, what an amazing chain of events he thought.

He said "Shall I go on"?

Mary and Ben nodded their heads and gave Dr Jones their full attention.

"Your mother died when you were born and Mr Worthington, your father, was so heartbroken that he asked his eldest son to take you both away because he thought that you were to blame for her death. Mr Worthington loved your mother dearly and he was devastated when she died.

A few years past and Mr Worthington decided that he had made a drastic mistake and he decided to try and get you both back but the eldest son wouldn't tell him where you were because he was scared that he would have to share the family inheritance when Mr Worthington died. Mr Worthington always hoped that the eldest son would one day tell him where you were but he never did".

"Our poor mother and father" exclaimed Mary!

"The younger son Jake left home at the age of 15, some people say that the older brother kicked Jake out and told him if he ever came back that he would kill him on sight. Jake was never seen again at least in your home town".

"Mr Worthington died when Jake was 16. Mr Worthington thought Jake has disowned him probably due to things that the older brother had said, so the older brother was the only one left to claim the inheritance. Rumour has it that Mr Worthington left a Will somewhere on the farm but nobody has ever found it".

"The older brother may have wanted to get you to go home so that he could do away with you both and keep the inheritance to himself." "Its a sad story and mixed up with greed and selfishness" said Dr Jones. "But if the Will could be found then it may give you twins and Jake some rights to the inheritance, it would certainly make it harder for Dirk and Sheza to continue with their crooked ways".

What are you going to do about it"? said Dr Jones.

The twins were thinking about their options. What should they do? What could they do?

Then Ben asked "What does the inheritance consist of"?

"I think it was the ranch and some money, but some people said there is land back in England as well, something to do with a title, your older brother will know the rest". "It was meant to be divided up amongst you all, but nobody could find Jake or you two so it was given to your older brother Dirk, but he is supposed to be looking after your shares of the inheritance until you go back home, but if you never go back Dirk keeps it all". "From what I was told about Dirk he intends on keeping it all to himself and his new girlfriend, Sheza de Vicousgal, she is French I think or from somewhere in Europe anyway.

She is well known for her vanity and dislike of children, she had a husband and child but she gave them up for a career in horse stealing and riding with the infamous Dick Wellings gang, a bunch of rough men who were well known for stealing horses and cattle, they robbed a few banks as well. Sadly she was never caught for her part in their thieving deeds. The rumour going around is that she 'turned in' her gang to the law for the reward money, it came to about $10, 000 and she was given protection from the local sheriff because she was a witness at their trial".

"Her old pards are now in jail including the notorious Dick Wellings who swears that when he gets out he is going to hunt her down, that girl has sure made some mean enemies in her time."

"Both Dirk and Sheza run a few businesses in town and they are well known for their greed and meanness, they are hard on their staff and the county Marshals thinks that they may have something to do with the large amount of robberies that are happening around the area, but so far he has no proof. They have a staff on the ranch who look just like hired guns and seem to know nothing about working on a ranch, meanest dudes around."

"I guess we had better head home Ben, we can't let Dirk and Sheza get away with this" said Mary "But can we get Jake to help us, he is mixed in with his own gang of thieves"?

At that moment they hear Reds voice and they all turned around sharply to see Jake with Red behind him, Red had a gun pointed at Jakes back. "Its nice to know that my partner Jake has some money coming to him", "Where do we collect"?

They had cleverly snuck up on them while their attention was stuck in the mystery of their family.

Mary glared at Red and started to speak and Ben interrupted quickly and said "How are you Jake, did you hear the entire story"? Jake nodded his head and said "Yes, Red and I snuck up to see what was going on when we saw the camp fire smoke, after Red heard about the money he pulled his gun and pointed it at me and told me to stand up".

"So you are our brother"? said Mary.

"Yes, Dirk kicked me out and sent me away, I figured that something was going on at home but I didn't know what to do about it, I remember when Mum died and the twins disappeared, I wasn't happy about it but Dirk didn't seem to mind at all, Dad never said much about it, he just moped around the ranch day after day".

"Sob, sob, sob" said Red, "when you all have finished playing Happy Families and stopped bellyaching and bawling lets get down to business".

"What business, we have no business with the likes of you Red"? said Mary disgusted at the thought of doing any deals with Red.

"Heres how it is, I keep Jake alive and you bring all the money back here to me, I want you to sell the farm as well and bring that money back too", "You had better kill Dirk so we get a bigger share" said Red "You had better do it if you want to ever see your brother alive again".

"Bigger share" said Mary rising to her feet with clenched fists, "You crooked thief, you only want one share and that's for you, you want to kill us all so you don't have to share", "I am not going to help you, you rotten, mean spirited, greedy fool"!

"I'll kill Jake then, right now", threatened Red.

Red shoved the pistol barrel into Jakes back hard, Jake yelped and arched his back in pain, "And that will end this lovely little family reunion fast won't it sweetie pie", Red smiled at Mary with crooked teeth and cold dark eyes, "You will do as I say".

To be continued…

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.              

The Tucker Twins

Written by James Martin Sandbrook - 2005