~ 4 ~

Raging Bulls

By now Ben had arrived and jumped from Buck's back. He stood in front of his amigo grabbed his shoulders and glared sternly into his eyes. “Carlos! What are you doing?”

“I have warned him many times, Ben, about being alone with Isabella… especially away from the homestead. Now I will show him that I mean what I have said.”

Carlos looked down at Adam and shouted as he nodded his head, shook Ben’s hands off his shoulders and moved to the left shoving Ben aside so he could move towards Adam again, “You treat my sister as if she is common! I could kill you!”

Ben stepped in once again as Carlos lunged towards Adam but this time Carlos was like a charging bull. Ben had a hold of Carlos’ arms and, in an instant, the younger man had pushed himself into Ben. As the two men stood chest to chest with only Ben's hands between them, Carlos reached up and grabbed Ben’s hands pulling them down and to his right literally yanking Ben out of his way. Ben recovered himself quickly and rose to the momentum of the assault by grabbing Carlos right arm and pulling. As Carlos pivoted, Ben came up with his left fist making contact with Carlos’ jaw. Carlos let out a shriek, spun around and came back with an unexpected backhand to Ben’s face causing Ben to spin completely around. He would have fallen to the ground if Buck had not been right there. As Ben crashed into Buck, he grabbed onto the stirrup to steady himself. He paused for only a moment to catch his breath and turned back around just in time to see Carlos again heading towards Adam. With a look of exasperation, Ben stooped low and ran towards Carlos grabbing him from behind and tackling him to the ground which caused the two of them to tumble and roll down the embankment and into the water. They continued fighting in the water throwing punches and falling with each attempt to knock the other down. They pushed and tugged and swung at one another dunking each other until they were completely exhausted. Finally, when they could barely stand, they came to a draw. Facing each other, both men were swaying and breathing heavily. Carlos was about to throw one more blow when Ben raised his right hand and leaned forward, his left hand on his thigh as he lowered his head. Shaking it from side to side, he offered that he had had enough.

Carlos stood up straight, nodded and said that that was good. He moved toward Ben and leaned in to support him. Then, they, two friends, leaned on each other as they slowly emerged from the water.

Ben looked at Carlos’ chin and winced, “You ok?”

“Yeah, I’ll be ok. You ok?” Carlos responded breathlessly.

“Yeah.”

Scanning the baron shoreline, Carlos squinted then smiled as he queried, “Where are Adam and Isabella?”

“Guess they went home.” Ben's lack of concern was evident in his tone.

Carlos was clearly distracted by the water rushing past his legs as he headed for dry ground. “I guess they did.”

Ben stopped. “Water is nice.”

Carlos continued toward the shoreline. “Yeah.”

“I feel like staying in it for a while.”

Looking back at Ben, Carlos once again revealed his playful side, “Me too.”

But they didn't.

The two men emerged from the water and dropped down on the ground. Carlos reclined on his back propped up by his elbows, crossed his legs and mumbled about needing new boots anyway. Ben lay on his side facing Carlos and propped himself up on only one elbow while having no choice but to agree that their boots were done.

Cuping his hand over the left side of his face, Ben proclaimed his increasing discomfort. "Dangit! I think you gave me a black eye!”

Carlos, chewing on nothing, retorted, “Yeah. You made me bite my tongue. Twice.”

Ben took his hand away and smiled at his friend. “You scared the daylights out of them, you know.”

Carlos laughed, “Yeah, I know.”

Ben began to chuckle as he shook his head lightheartedly, “You scared the daylights out of me!”

Carlos' smile widened taking over his entire face, “Yeah, I know.”

After sharing a laugh at each others' expense, the two men rested there in silence.

Ben gazed into the distance and grunted as he stood up, yanking his shirt from his trousers and wringing it out at the waist. “We have a lot of work to do.”

Undaunted, Carlos mumbled, “Yeah, I know.”

But Ben had no intention of surrendering their fun just yet! "Last one in the water has to explain to Hop Sing what happened to our clothes…!”



To be continued...