Part 14 (2/2)

The wind blew er on the plains than it did an to hear stories about the wind For instance there was the story about the faht and tied their horses to a bush About bedti And nextthey were surprised to learn that the bush was really a tall tree which had been alht the sand had bloay and by h up in the tree-both of them dead

Before they could cut the tree down and recover their ropes and harness, the wind changed and the sand ca the horses and the tree

Then there was the story about the fa a wind storm The wind blew harder and harder until the cellar shook as if by an earthquake TheThe cellar was rolling across the prairie and the et in the hole where the cellar had been, but the hole had bloay too

The saround and wrapped it around a telephone pole Most of the water ran out before he could get it plugged up and put a faucet in the bottom of it After that he didn't have to pump water, he only had to open the faucet and let it flow

The story was told on us boys that ere not used to the strong wind and were always asking Papa if we could quit work and go in the house until the wind calmed down They told that Papa settled the question once and for all one day He hung a trace chain on the clothes line and told us, ”As long as the bottoo ahead and work When the chain blows up in a horizontal position and waves like a flag in the wind, take off a few minutes and wait for it to settle back down a bit”

One man told us he had a rainwater barrel by his house And since it hadn't rained for six ht about bedtime a southind hit with all its fury and blew the barrel away It continued to blow for three days and three nights There were no fences, so the barrel rolled on and on Then the wind changed and there cahts later, about bedtiainst their house They took the lantern and went out to see what it was and found that their water barrel had returned home, but it had rolled so far it had worn down to about the size of a nail keg

CHAPTER 10

SOLD FARM; MOVED TO HAMLIN

By the su somewhat better Papa had ordered t tires for the Reo They had come in but there had been no hurry to put thee beside the old car which had been mothballed for quite a few months

Then one Sunday afternoonan airplane flying around over at Lamesa It was a small two-seater like they flew in the war Anyway, there ere sitting at ho the action from ten miles ahen Papa asked if any of us would like to drive over there and watch the airplane OH BOY! Would we! We got busy right away putting the new tires on the car, puain after quite a spell of sitting Then we drove over, watched the action from up close, then went back ho the plane, we learned that the pilot was taking up passengers, that is, anyone anted to pay ten dollars to ride And he would loop-the-loop for an extra ten dollars each loop One man paid 40 to ride and loop three tiine anyone having that kind of money to spend for so little in so short a ti good to us didn't include spending a lot of enuity and hard work, they had a way of stretching a few dollars beyond contentment and happiness, almost to abundance We each had a saddle and a horse to ride, including Ollie Mae, but not William Robert Papa braided quirts for all of us He would take the leather uppers of worn-out shoes, cut theood as the best He cut up Ollie Mae's old high top red shoes and made the prettiest little red quirt you ever saw And as I inbotha sold piece by piece to farmers Most all the ranch houses were vacant and much of the pastureland had becoainst the fences and sand had drifted into the weeds, burying both the fences and the weeds in many places There were abandoned houses here and there on the ranch The vacant houses had most all the s broken out Most of the doors were off their hinges or broken or had been taken by someone who had a need for theuns and our horses and went to a lot of the old houses- just exploring to see as there

In one of the old houses, behind a door casing, I found a 22 rifle It worked but not well It wouldn't shoot where I aiun when I was younger, I ht I could shoot around corners with it But I was much sun no matter how crooked the barrel was

Actually the curve in the gun barrel was no proble it on a four-by-four, then placing a block of wood on it at just the right place and hitting it with a big hah for hunting rabbits But then, I had uns by having the old gun around to play with

One day we four boys got off out behind the barn, hiding frouns out of our rifles We would take the bullet out of a 22 shell, place the shell in the chaun shell down the barrel, stuff in a little paper for wadding, then put in a few shot fro to hold the shot in place Then ould aih an old rusted out washtub After a couple of tries, I put h the tub The other boys were afraid to put a lot of powder, but I wasn't So I put twice as much powder the next time-I really put in an overdose and a few extra shot

Well, yes, the pellets went through the tub this tih the stock The un split the wood stock and came almost to my shoulder Smoke filled my eyes and a cloud of snal It see, so we listened, and we stoppedrain the swaht a lot of water, and ducks becahborThe swamps were four or five miles apart There was a lot of water and plenty of ducks, but there were practically no trees or bushes to sneak up behind The ducks could see us co and fly away We met with failure at swamp after swamp-no ducks for us, anyhow notback toward home but were still about seven miles from home, and with only three little ducks about the size of quail-well, ry We had been walking since early breakfast It had been a long day and we had covered many miles

Finally we decided to eat the ducks we had At a vacant ranch house we found a rusty syrup bucket There ater at the windmill And in the barn we found some cattle salt with some black stock powder mixed in it First we built a fire Then we picked the ducks and boiled the the steith the black and white salt We could hardly wait for it to cook

We had walked at least 25 or 30 ht hours doesn't ood, you are plum loco, no matter what they are cooked in or seasoned with That was, beyond a doubt the best food I had ever tasted in my life We divided the meat as equally as possible, and it came out to about one fifth as much as each of us needed Then we drank the soup-ts for you, two for hiht out of the rusty bucket When a feather cale drop of soup We would let it go into our mouth, suck the juice out of it, then spit it out

We always had sohbors wherever we lived One fall we headed on load But the stalks had fallen down so badly in places that heading went very slowly and we couldn't et the ht ere just trying to get more pay for less work, and he wouldn't pay it, so we quit Then Mr Wood finished heading the hbor because, when he sa much trouble it was to head the fallen stalks, he caathered My parents ht us kids that ”By their fruits ye shall know thes But there were other things which were not taught in our fas as best we could Along about an to learn about new-born calves and colts and babies Up until then, all I kneas that horses and cows found their babies out in the pasture, and doctors brought babies to women at times And about Santa Claus, I wasn't curious about him, I was just happy about him I well remember how disappointed I hen I learned the truth about Santa And ht a bit of disappoint the moral character of adults

We learned some of our lessons the hard way I re unbroken horses while Ma We kneere not supposed to ride wild horses unless Papa ith us He had told us never to do so It wasn't that we deliberately disobeyed Papa It was that we thought we had learned a lot since he last told us that, and perhaps the rule didn't apply any longer And besides, ere riding a real gentle unbroken filly

Anyway, Joel was on the horse and ere holding the reins when she went sideways and fell and rolled over on Joel She mashed the wind out of him and left hi there doing nothing I knew Papa would be unhappy with our disobedience, but when there is so that needs to be done, you just do it I was scared and I hated to have to face Papa but I didn't hesitate a second I ran as fast as I could to get him I was about 12 or 13 Was I scared? Brave? Loyal to Joel? Trustworthy? Devoted to duty? I don't really know I only knew there was soer thanto face Papa with my confession of disobedience, so I did what had to be done

Lucky for all of us, Joel went down lengthways in a furroeen two ridges The ridges held the horse up somewhat Joel wasn't really hurt-just had the wind knocked out of hi about this sa that one of my brothers wanted to buy from me I don't remeht cents He offered me a nickel for it He had a nickel and four pennies I finally offered to take the nickel if he would pitch the four pennies up and give me all that fell ”heads” We didn't make the deal because Earl learned what I had offered to do and he sha dice or playing poker” I didn't kno to shoot dice nor play poker I only knew that either one was a bad thing to do I was deeply hurt, not because Earl had scolded or sha dishonor to , after all the iven norance I hadn't realized that such an act would be ganorance