Adventures of a Boy Reporter Page 4

  CHAPTER IV.

  WORKING ON A FARM TO EARN SOME MONEY--CRUEL TREATMENT.

  WHEN daylight came, Archie was far out of the town walking quickly alongthe southern road. He figured that he had walked nearly six miles in thetwo hours since he had let himself out of the back door at home, and,as he looked ahead, he planned that he would walk at least thirty milesevery day. Of course, he had never done much walking before, or he wouldhave known better than to have expected to accomplish so much in twelvehours, but he felt fresh and full of strength this morning, and nothingseemed too hard to accomplish. As yet he had not regretted his departurefrom home. The excitement of it all, and the adventurous side of hisexploit, had kept him interested, and made him feel that he was a realhero. But he was not so foolish as to imagine that there would not betimes when he would regret having set out for New York. He was too oldand too sensible for his age to allow his ambition to run away with himentirely, and he fully expected to meet with many great discouragements."But I'm sure of one thing," he said to himself, as he walked along, "Inever will return home until I have something to show for the trip. Iwon't have the club boys and the neighbours saying that Archie Dunn hadto come home discouraged. If I return without accomplishing anything, Iwill be held up to the whole town as a boy who made a fool of himself bynot taking his friends' advice, and I never will be made an exampleof if I can help it." And Archie walked faster as he thought of thepossibility of failure.

  When seven o'clock came he was passing through the county-seat, butthough there were many interesting things to look at in the town, Archiedetermined not to stop. He was afraid he might meet some one he knew,who would be sure to ask him where he was going with his bundle, andwhat he was doing out so early. And anyhow he was very hungry, anddecided to get out of the town and to the farmhouses as soon aspossible. "I can work for my meal at a farmhouse," he said to himself,"but in the town they'll take me for a regular tramp."

  So poor Archie walked quickly through the town, still keeping to thesouthern road, and saying to himself, as he passed every milestone,"So much nearer New York." About a mile out in the country he came to alarge farmhouse, and he determined to enter and ask for a meal. He hadhard work to muster up enough courage to go in and ask for anything, butfinally he knocked timidly at the kitchen door, and was frightened bya large dog which came barking around the corner. It seemed to him thatthe animal would surely bite, but a large fat woman opened the doorjust in time to let him in. "Hurry in, boy," she said, "fer there'sno tellin' what Tige might do ef he once gets a hold of ye." So Archiestepped into the large kitchen, with its rafters overhead, and itsdining-table in the corner. "Sit down, boy," said the woman. "I reckonyou's thet new lad thet's come ter work over at Mullins's, ain't ye?"

  "No'm," said Archie, "I don't work anywhere. I'm on my way to New York,where I expect to find a position, and I thought perhaps you'd allow meto do a little work here this morning to earn my breakfast."

  Good Mrs. Lane, for that was the woman's name, was horrified to thinkthat any one was alive and without breakfast at eight o'clock in themorning. "Goodness me!" said she. "Why, you must be half-famished ferwant of food, ain't ye?" And she bustled about the kitchen, putting thekettle on to boil, and stirring up the fire. "You'll have some nice hamand eggs, my boy, and then I have somethin' in mind fer you. I reckonyer ain't in no hurry ter get ter the city, be ye? Well, even if yedo be in a hurry, I reckon you'll be glad of the chance to earn fourdollars. I ain't goin' to ask ye no questions about how ye come to bewalkin' to New York, because I never wuz no hand ter meddle in otherfolkses affairs, but ye look to be a likely lad, and a strong un, and ezmy sister's husband, what lives two miles down the pike, needs a boy todrive a plough fer a week, I b'lieve ye'll suit 'im first-rate. So ezsoon ez ye have finished yer vittles, I'll walk down there with ye, andwe'll see the old man."

  Archie hardly knew whether to be delighted with the prospect or not. Ofcourse four dollars would be nice to have, but he was anxious to getto the city as soon as possible, and every day counted. But perhaps itwould be wrong, he thought, to throw away such a good chance to earnsome money, and he had decided to accept any offer the farmer madehim, long before he finished his breakfast. When he got up from thestraight-backed chair, he felt that he had never eaten a better mealin his life, and when Mrs. Lane started off down the road, he gladlyfollowed her. A week on such a farm as this would be no unpleasantexperience. Such food was not to be had every day, he knew, and he ofcourse would have precious little that was good to eat when he reachedthe city.

  They soon covered the two miles, Mrs. Lane getting along very fast forsuch a large woman, and at last they stood before Hiram Tinch, who ownedthe farm. Archie was made to describe his intentions, and was thoroughlyexamined by Mr. Tinch. He told the farmer that he knew nothing aboutfarm work, but Mr. Tinch said he would soon teach him, and it wassettled that Archie was to remain on the farm a week. Mrs. Lane wentinside the house to see her sister, who looked sick with too much work,and the farmer told Archie that he might as well start in, as there wasno object in waiting. So the boy donned a pair of "blue jean" trousers,and was taken into a field, where a one-horse plough was standing.Archie knew how to hitch a horse, so he went to the stable and securedhis steed, and then harnessed him to the plough. The farmer didn'tsee fit to give him any instructions about ploughing, and the poor boyhardly knew what to do, but rather than ask he started off, and tried toguide the animal in the right direction, as far as he knew it. Of coursethe horse went wrong, and the plough refused to stay in the earth,and altogether the attempt was a miserable failure. The farmer leanedagainst the fence, picking his teeth with a pin, but when he saw thehorse going crooked, and the plough bounding along over the earth, hisface grew livid with anger. For a minute he seemed unable to speak, butstrode toward Archie with a fierce look in his eyes. Then he found histongue, and opened such a tirade of vile words that the poor boy shrankfrom him in terror. He was in mortal fear lest the man should lay handson him and commit some crime, so intense was his rage, but Hiram Tinchseemed to know how far to go, and after five minutes of cursing andswearing he took the plough in his own hands, and guided it through theearth. "Now take it," he growled at Archie, when he had gone a furrow'slength, "and see ef ye can do better this time. Remember, not a bite ofdinner do ye get until this field is ploughed."

  Poor Archie was weak from fright, but there was nothing to do but toobey. He looked at the vast field before him, and made up his mind thathe would get nothing to eat until night, anyhow, for it was alreadynearly noon. He felt very much like bursting into tears, but he was tooproud to give way to his feelings. But he couldn't help wishing that hewere at home, playing with the members of the Hut Club. "Those boys aremuch better off than I am," he said, over and over, "though they havemade no effort to improve themselves." After a time, however, hisambition returned, and as he looked ahead into the future, andremembered the wonderful things he was going to accomplish, he felt morelike working.

  He finished the field at five o'clock in the afternoon, and was almostfainting from hunger and from the hard work. The ploughing was fairlywell done, but Hiram Tinch could see no merit in the work. He swore atArchie again, and gave him a supper of mush and milk. Mrs. Tinch sat by,and Archie could see that she did not approve of his treatment. The poorwoman seemed afraid to speak, almost, but it was plain that she had agood heart. So when Archie heard a noise in his garret room that night,he was not surprised to see Mrs. Tinch at the window, placing somedoughnuts and sandwiches there for him to eat.