The Meeker herald. [volume] (Meeker, Colo.) 1885-current, 1904-01-23

The Whitcomb cart had no sooner
backed out of the barn floor than in
came our cart with its second load.
Napoleon had loaded 1t hastily, for
the sky was darkeninE.
pitch it Off. Roll 1t off" exclaimed
to the hired man. I'm take care of
it! I'll stow it now as fast as all OF
you can bring 1t to me-
would wait till l had half a rack
lond of 1t rolled back and distributed
about little; then l would get up on
the front orders with the hOrsewhip
and send those colts back and forth.
from one end of the long bay TO the
other Eight feet are much better
than two for treadlng down hay. and
the difference between 14O pounds OF
boys and 1900 pounds OF colt was at
once apparent. 1t was great scheme!
Meanwhile the loads came In hurry
and haste. One was no sooner pitched
off to me than another was ready.
We were all working as swiftly as pos
sible But while throwing off the
eighth load our hired man suddenly
stopped, leaned on his fork, and began
to laugh.
Say" he drawled. II s'pose you
see that this haymow is film up
pretty fast. 1t is up to the front beams
now. 'Tain't any o. my business, but
how are you gOin' to git the colts down
off'n tie mow?'
In the heat and hurry Of the emer-
gency had not thought of that. and
they were being elevated higher md
higher with every load. In fact. they
We're up nine or ten feet above the
barn floor already; too high for them
to jump down without breaking their
legs.
The hired man stood and laughed.
"Those colts'll be up III the roof Of the
barn when this field of hay is in"
said lie.
When lie drove out to :he field he
told Napoleon of the fix l was getting
into with the colts. and Policy came
running in to see about 1t.
THAT'S pretty co. he exclaimed.
What will Grandpa Adams say? l
don't think you ought to have taken
those colts for such a job. The dust
Is making them cough"
well. they might just MS well be
on the great beams as where they
are" said l. Now they are up here l
am goi ,g to keep them ut it till this
hay is In"
There'll be the mischief to ray If
grandpa finds 1t OUT" replied Nnpo-
leon. He hurried back to the field,
however. for the cart was waiting.
felt not little anxious about
the situation; but the loads were
coming think and fast. AS could
could not get the colts down, l kept
them treading, and getting higher with
every load. The rain did not begin
until nearly five o'clock, and we hauled
In eighteen big loads Of that herds
grass. there were only about two loads
that became too wet to get In.
But those eighteen loads had filled
that haymOw quite up to the great
beams Of the barn. As the hired man
had anticipated. the colts were up in
the top of that high barn with hardly
room to stand under the roof. Truth
to say. too, they were hot and sweaty.
The men from Mr.. Whitcomb's went
of home, laughing over 1t; as for
Napoleon and me, the more we studied
the problem of gerling the colts down,
the more difficult 1t looked. We set
long ladder and carried up two
buckets of water to them, and let them
stand In the hay and eat what they
wanted. In fact, we were tired out
with our hard afternoons work. and
there were the cows tn milk. and all
the barn chores to Go. 1t WAS Satur-
day night and our hired man went
home.
While we were milking we heard
Grandpa Adams calling the colts. 1t
was now raining hard. and he had
come over to see that they had
opportunity to get under the barn
yard sheds.
"Now what shall we tell him."
said Napoleon, anxiously.
OF course I ought to have gone and
confessed. knew 1t. but 1 did. not
want to have him flnd out what had
done. 1t disturbed me a good deal
to hear the old gentleman out in the
rain calling. ""Nobby, hobby. nobby"
and "Cojack, cojack. cojack. up and
down the pasture but kept quiet. and
when at last he came back to the
barn and looked for us boys. TO ask
about the colts. Napoleon and kept
out of sight.
Grandfather at last decided that
they must have taken shelter in the
woods at the far side Of the pasture,
as they sometimes did. and although
still somewhat disappointed by their
non-appearance, he went home without
making any further search.
Day had no sooner broken next morn
ing than Napoleon and I were at the
barn. We knew that we must get
those colts down in some way even
II It were Sunday. 1t was really work
of necessity. but how to manage 1t
and not injure the animals was some
thing of u problem.