Los Angeles herald., 1908-01-12
Hobo Bob Gets Watahnillions

melons. After fixing his gaze for min
ute upon the Lana ives. of the track,
Bob suddenly raised to ali fours and be-
gan to run toward the edge of the coach
like black bear. l yelled at him, but
1t was too late. With headlong plunge
he jumped off the swiftly moving train.
landing on his hands and knees just as
he had left the top of the car. l fastened
to the edge of the car and looked back.
There was n cloua of dust, and l could
see Bob still rolling along on the ground
Just as his form faded in the distance
/ saw him get to his feet and thought
detected him waving me a farewell He
had seen hundreds of acres of melons
ripe and juio.' smiling at him from the
cool depths OF the vines. My heart was
heavy as the train pulled out of Lodi
for l feared l should never be able to
travel again with my ola pal. Without
him I feard tha, l would starve or,
worse, have to go to work.
l reached Sacramento in due time, and
there l undertook to wait for Bob to
appear upon the scene After existing
from hand to mouth for four weeks l
determined to go back and hunt for
Bobbie, for 1 missed the pleasant smile
and CHEEKY words of my companion.
had used every device known to my in
nocent mind while in Sacramento, but
cOuiu ndfuly keep munger IToH dtldCh-
ing me. Did you ever have to resort to
the blowpipe method of raising a
meal? If you have not. I hope you never
Will The blowpipe consists of a piece Of
quarter-inch gas pipe about twenty
inches long, which is often carried by
knights OF the road. BY inserting one
end of the pipe into a swill barrel and
blowing hard g person can raise biscuits
and old potatoes from the depths of the
barrel without sticking in his hands too
deep. Sometimes cabbage and tomatoes
come to the surface ard float around be-
fore your eyes. yours to command. Well,
as I said. I was tired of getting along in
such precarious manner, so thought it
was time to hunt for Bobble.
Finds Many cIews
I stole ride on n freight which
stopped at Lodi to take on seven car
loads of melons, and without loss of TIME
hastened my steps toward the spot where
last saw Bob Climbing the fence L
examined the ground carefully and saw
many 'signs." There were melon rinds
scattered everywhere. There were great
melons which had been sliced open AMI
just the hearts taken. I looked closely
and found rough edges on the rinds, and
knew that 'Bob's old saw-tooth razor
had done the work. From place to place
went, looking around and calling for
Bob. over In a corner o. the field, where
the largest melons seemed to grow,
espicd melon that loomed up larger by
half than any of the others, and deter
mined to examine the monster carefully.
When 1 was WITHIN ten yards of 1t the
melon suddenly moved, much to my dis
may Looking carefully l saw the mel
begin to rise up before my very eyes. L
turned and began to run, when 1 was
arrested by hearing that old familiar
laugh. and, turning around, saw Bob
standing there.
OF all the outlandish figures he was
it. He was dressed In green striped
shirt and trousers, exactly the color
of a big Cuban queen watermelon, and
had a cap of similar design upon his
head. The stripes ran around his body
in such a manner that a person would
have sworn that he was a melon. He
said that whenever the men came into
the field TO pick melons he would draw
his legs and arms beneath him and lie
in the thick vines. He was actually
thumped several times by the pickers
who wanted to determine whether or
not he was ripe. He was so fat that
the sound from his ribs was like the
sounds that came from a green melon
when thumped by an expert, and he had
been passed up from day to day. Once
he said that a greenhorn came along
and started TO plug him with a long
knife to see If he was ripe. He could
not stand for that, so jumped to his
feet and ran down the field. He scared
the pickers until every man jumped the
fence and quit the Job. They thought
that they had seen q ghost or hop
goblin.
Bob would never tell me where he
secured his rig, but minstrel troupe
had been playing in Lodi about that
time and I have my suspicious.
After a long conflab Bob and 1
started off across the fields intending