AN EXCITING RIDE
Very seldom did the six little Bunkers need any one to call them to get
them out of bed. Generally they were up before any one else in Farmer
Joel’s house. The morning when the hay was to be gotten in was no
exception.
Almost as soon as Norah had the fire started and breakfast on the way,
Russ, Rose and the others were impatient to start for the hay field.
“Why does he have to get the hay in before it rains?” asked Violet of
her father, remembering what Farmer Joel had said the night before.
“Because rain spoils hay after it has been cut and is lying in the
field ready to be brought in,” answered Mr. Todd, who heard Vi’s
question. “Once hay is dried, it should be brought in and stored away
in the barn as soon as possible.
“After it is raked up and made into cocks, or Eskimo houses, as Laddie
calls them, if it should rain we’d have to scatter the hay all over
again to dry it out. For if it were to be put away in the haymow when
wet the hay would get mouldy and sour, and the horses would not eat it.”
“Also if the hay gets rained on after it is cut and dried, and while it
is still scattered about the field, it must be turned over so the wet
part will dry in the hot sun before it can be hauled in. We have had
several days of hot weather and my hay is fine and dry now. That’s why
I am anxious to get it into the barn in a hurry.”
“Yes, I think we had better hurry,” said Adam North who, with a couple
of other hired men, was to help get in Farmer Joel’s hay. “We’re likely
to have thunder showers this afternoon.”
“Then we must all move fast!” exclaimed Daddy Bunker, who liked to work
on the farm almost as much as did Adam and Mr. Todd.
The day before the hay had been raked into long rows by Adam, who rode
a large two-wheeled rake drawn by a horse. The rake had long curved
prongs, or teeth, which dragged on the ground pulling the hay with
them. When a large enough pile of hay had been gathered, Adam would
press on a spring with one foot and the teeth of the rake would lift up
over the long row of dried grass. This was kept up until the field was
filled with many rows of hay, like the waves on the seashore.
Then men went about piling the hay into cocks, or cone-shaped piles,
which, as Laddie said, looked like the igloos of the Eskimos. Now all
that remained to be done was to load the hay on a big, broad wagon and
cart it to the barn.
Laddie was a bit disappointed because all the hay was raked up, for he
wanted to ride on the big machine which did this work. But Farmer Joel
said:
“We always have a second raking after we draw in the hay, for a lot of
fodder falls off and is scattered about. You shall ride on the rake
when we go over the field for the second time.”
So Laddie felt better, and he was as jolly as any of the six little
Bunkers when they rode out to the field on the empty wagon. Once the
field was reached there was a busy time. There was little the children
could do, for loading hay is hard work, fit only for big, strong men.
But Russ, Rose and the others watched Adam, Farmer Joel, their father,
and the two hired men dig their shiny pitchforks deep into a hay cock.
Sometimes two men, each with a fork, would lift almost a whole cock up
on the wagon at once. When one man did it alone he took about half the
cock at a time.
As the hay was loaded on the wagon, which was fitted with a rick, going
over the wheels, the pile of dried grass on the vehicle became higher
and higher. So high it was, at last, that the men could hardly pitch
hay up on it.
“I guess we’ll call this a load,” said Farmer Joel, as he looked up at
the sky. “The road is a bit rough and if we put on too much we’ll have
an upset. Adam, I think you’re right,” he went on. “We’ll have thunder
showers this afternoon. Have to hustle, boys, to get the hay in!”
When the horses were ready to haul the first load back to the barn, to
be stored away in the mow, the six little Bunkers were put up on top of
the load to ride.
“Oh, this is lovely!” cried Rose.
“Like being on a hundred feather beds!” added Russ.
“And you don’t feel the jounces at all!” added Laddie, for as the wagon
went over rough places in the field the children were only gently
bounced up and down, and not shaken about as they would have been had
there been no hay on the wagon.
But the rough field caused one little accident which, however, harmed
no one.
The first load of hay was almost out of the field when, as it
approached the bars, Mun Bun suddenly yelled:
“I’m slippin’! I’m slippin’!”
And Margy followed with a like cry.
“Oh, I’m fallin’ off!” she shouted.
And, surely enough, Russ and Rose also felt the top of the load of hay
beginning to slip to one side. Adam North was riding with the children,
Farmer Joel and Daddy Bunker having remained in the field, while one
hired man drove the team of horses.
“I guess they didn’t load this hay evenly,” said Adam. “Part of it is
going to slip off. But don’t be frightened, children,” he said kindly.
“You can’t get hurt falling with a load of hay.”
Just as Adam finished speaking part of the top of the load slid off the
wagon and fell into the field, and with it fell the six little Bunkers
and Adam himself.
“Oh! Oh!” screamed Margy and Mun Bun.
“Keep still!” ordered Russ. “You won’t get hurt!”
“Look out for the pitchforks—they’re sharp!” warned Rose.
Laddie and Violet laughed with glee as they felt themselves sliding.
Down in a heap went the hay, the six little Bunkers and Adam. The hay
was so soft it was like falling in a bed of feathers. The man sitting
in front to drive the horses did not slide off.
“All over! No damage!” cried Adam, with a laugh, as he leaped up and
picked the smallest of the little Bunkers from the pile of hay. “But
we’ll have to load the hay back on the wagon.”
This was soon done, and once more the merry party started for the barn,
which was reached without further accident.
Farmer Joel had many things on his place to save work. Among these was
a hay fork which could pick up almost half a load of hay at once and
raise it to the mow.
A hay fork, at least one kind, looks like a big letter U turned upside
down. The two arms are made of iron, and from their lower ends prongs
come out to hold the hay from slipping off the arms.
A rope, running through a pulley is fastened to the curved part of the
U, and a horse, pulling on the ground end of the rope, hoists into the
air a big mass of hay.
The wagon was driven under the high barn window and from a beam
overhead the hay fork was lowered. Adam North plunged the two sharp
arms deep into the springy, dried grass.
All but Russ had gotten down off the load of hay to wait for the ride
back to the field. But Russ remained there. He wanted to see how the
hay fork worked.
So when Adam plunged the arms into the fodder Russ was near by. Adam
pulled on the handle that shot the prongs out from the arms to hold the
hay from slipping off as the fork was raised.
Then, suddenly, Russ did a daring thing. Seeing the mass of hay rising
in the air, pulled by the horse on the ground below, the boy made a
grab for the bunch of dried grass. He caught it, clung to it and up in
the air he went, on an exciting and dangerous ride.
“Oh, look at Russ! Look at Russ!” cried Rose.
“Hi there, youngster, what are you doing?” shouted Adam.
“I—I’m getting a ride!” Russ answered. But his voice had a frightened
tone in it as he swung about and looked down below. He began to feel
dizzy.