Cowboy Kim

By Ida Stewart Peay

(Previous chapter)

Chapter 9.

The little yellow cur was christened Buff to please Pattie, also, the small miss was given half interest in him; and she and Kim and the playful trick-dog had many wonderful times together. Kim’s interview with Uncle Pete, too, at which the big question was to be asked, turned out highly satisfactorily, Uncle Pete being fully as delighted with his nephew’s plan as Neighbor McCree had been.

So it transpired the first warm Saturday in April Kim had a surprise for his chums. The night before he had told them to come over to his place Saturday morning if they wanted to see some fun. They were not bidden in vain for very early in the morning Wallie Carson, Bob Simmons and slim little Jorg Madison – the most understanding and satisfying of all Kim’s friends – were on hand full of curiosity. Kim had acted mysteriously elated over something the day before and they could hardly wait to solve the riddle.

“What’s in the wind?” Bob drawled when the Deer Run boy met them in his back yard and there was nothing unusual in sight.

“Bet you been fooling us,” complained Wallie disgustedly. “It’s jest like it was yesterday – the hose cart went by an’ I followed it an’ when we got to the widder’s house where the blaze started, the folks had gone and put the ding-busted fire all out an’ we didn’t get to see nothing!”

Kim burst out laughing. “Did you want to see their house burn down?” he asked, but at that instant Jorg uttered a cry of surprise and they all turned to the unfenced lane where the mystery hove into view. A large empty wagon drawn by two immense horses lumbered and bumped along and suddenly stopped right beside them.

“They’re Belgians1 They’re Belgians!” cried Kim in wild excitement.

“What’s Belgians?” asked Jorg entirely at sea.

“Work horses, they’re thoroughbreds!” explained the country boy jumping up and down delightedly.

The wagon stopped before the pile of iron the boys had made n the fall when they were cleaning the yard; and Kim went vigorously to work getting the junk into the wagon thus showing he knew exactly what the big dray was there for.

“Well, sonny, are you going to be my chief assistant?” the man asked grinning at the little enthusiast good naturedly.

“Yes, sir,” said Kim, then worked on silently. His mind was busy with the long harbored thought that he was going to make a pile of money. The nearness of these big, beautiful horses made him home sick for the old farm home and intensified his desire to buy it back some day. He worked with astonishing energy and the other boys catching the fever also took hold of the job with a will.

Kim asked the teamster a hundred questions about the horses, and the man, perceiving the child’s heart-hunger for animals, permitted him to drive while the iron was delivered to the junk man and the trash taken to the garbage pile out of town. Plowing the lot was the next job in order. It is easy to imagine the excitement and pleasure of these four boys when the shining plow share began to turn over the damp, soft earth. The boy from the Deer Run very generously shared with his chums his privilege of driving the horses wile the man guided the plow. The patient teamster let Wallie and Bob and Jorg each have a short turn, but as their handling of the great steeds left much to be desired he soon turned to Kim in despair.

“Here, sonny,” he said when his endurance was at an end, “you’ll have to take the ribbons ’cause I’m in a hurry and I can see you’ve driven horses before.”

“Yes, I have,” the boy cried with ready confidence, “I used to drive for Dad when he plowed down on the farm.”

“I thought as much,” smiled the teamster.

So the man and his chief assistant finished the work wile Wallie, Bob and Jorg followed in the wake of the share and got their shoes and clothes covered with the sticky, black loam. That boots and trousers would have to be cleaned under the direction of irate mothers never bothered them for a moment or took away one iota of their delight. They threw clods at each other and were deeply stirred with the sense of danger when the big horses stumbled and floundered in the soft, uneven ground. Also, they marveled at the way their new friend handled them when they seemed disgusted with their uncertain footing.

Although the plot of ground to be plowed was not small, being 20×8 rods, it was soon finished by this mighty span of horses, and when the teamster took his departure four boys watched the big animals with longing eyes until they were quite out of sight. When Kim knew this pleasure was really ended he turned his attention to his next source of entertainment.

“This is to be my arm this summer,” he confided enthusiastically to his chums indicating with a sweep of his arm the whole of the plowed lot. “Uncle Pete has rented it to me.” he expected his friends to gasp in astonishment at such a great business secret but they showed no excitement.

“For how much?” Wallie enquired sardonically at last, not realizing the possibilities of the ground and thinking Kim was liable to lose his bank account in the deal.

Kim burst out laughing. “For one dollar! And he says that will be one dollar more than he has ever received from it before.” This small rental seemed to tickle Kim’s funny bone for he laughed and laughed even though the other boys only grinned wonderingly. “Of course, I’ll pay him lots more than that for I’ll furnish the table with all the garden stuff that’s needed,” he declared with an emphatic nod of his fair head. Then he went on to explain, “I’m going to divide my farm into four quarters. The southeast corner I’ll plant to potatoes, the northeast to corn, the northwest to onions, and the southwest to all kinds of vegetables, like radishes, lettuce, peas, beans, beets, turnips and so on.”

“Do you think you can do all that planting alone?” sneered Wallie.

“No, I’ve got to hire help,” the little farmer owned thoughtfully. “Any of you fellows want work?”

“I do, I do,” yelled Bob.

“So do I, but I ain’t ever farmed,” modestly offered little Jorg.

“What’ll you give us?” was Wallie’s crafty inquiry.

“I believe I can pay you ten cents an hour if you will bring your own tools,” speculated the small financier, remembering the details of one of his father’ soft told transactions with some chums in his boyhood days.

“That’s not much,” grumbled Wallie. “Mother’ll pay me fifty cents any time I’ll clean the yard; and it needs to be done often, too.”

“Well, you better work for your Ma. You can cheat her easier than you can Kim,” was Bob’s opinion an dit set him to laughing uproariously. Then he turned to the immature boss. “I’ll take you up. Will I need a rake first?”

“Yes, we’ll use rakes this afternoon,” he was informed.

“I’ll work for that, too, an’ we’ve got a rake home, I believe,” decided Jorg starting off.

“When’ll you pay us?” Wallie wanted to know.

“When I begin to sell the crops, but I can’t pay you all off till next fall.”

“Ho! ho! that’s like workin’ for salvation for the hereafter,” giggled Wallie. “That’s too far off for me.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” said Kim, “workin’ for salvation is getting intelligence and you get your pay for that as you go along.”

“Isn’t that enough or how much do you want for a cent, Wall?” snickered Bob.

“Each of you bring back a time book,” Kim called to his new hired men when Bob and Jorg started off to procure their tools and, perhaps, incidentally to eat their dinners. Not that they neglected their stomachs because they respected lay time more than meal time; any time is meal time for a boy so what they lost at the table they made up for in the pantry. At the mention of time books Bob chuckled and grinned and poked Jorg playfully in the ribs and the two went off in high glee.

“We’ll start n the southwest quarter, because I’m going to plant that to small garden stuff,” Kim explained when his employees returned armed to the teeth with their agricultural weapons. Soon the pleasant sound of many rakes, or, at least three, could be heard lying in the soft, rich earth.

The boys did not know that it is good for the senses of man to handle and smell the moist, fresh dirt, they did not realize that the sun, beaming down on them with the genial warmth of early April, was electrifying them with new power and pleasure, neither did they dream that achievement is the supreme joy of life, but they did know that they were having a good time. They told riddles and jokes, and confided to each other the funny tricks they had played on people when they were “little.” Finally Wallie Carson came out and watched them from the top of the fence and they liked talking with him.

“Shucks! I’d hate to be you kids,” Wallie pitied jovially, “working for ten cents an hour! Mother’s offered me fifty cents if I’ll clean the yard an’ I can do it in two hours easy. Twenty-five cents an hour is low enough wages for me and I won’t have to wait till kingdom come for my pay, neither.”

“If you sit on that fence much longer, we’ll earn fifty cents before you do, yet,” predicted Jorg.

“O, well, I’m goin’ to start pretty soon,” vowed Wallie in the lazy tone of the ut-off people. At the same time he settled himself in a more comfortable position on the fence rail and for mild exercise began to chew a cent’s worth of gum, stretching it an arm’s length every few minutes for the benefit of all observers.

“We’d rather wait for our pay and get enough at a time to make a bank account. We’d spend it all for gum if we got it in driblets,” derided Bob grinning, though it took all his will to forget how good a chew would taste at that moment.

“I’ll buy my own clothes next fall,” mused Jorg who knew the humiliation and sorrows of the shabbily clad.

“I’m going to buy me an automobile,” snickered Bob. He had never thought yet that his dreams would be anything but a joke.

“I’m going to buy a farm and some horses,” contributed Kim, and he believed in his heart that he rally would.

Wallie laughed till he nearly fell off the fence at Kim’s big imagination. When he became sober he scorned. “Shucks! my Dad will buy my clothes, and we’re going to have an automobile next month, and I’m going to have a horse, too, an’ I don’t want no farm.” Poor, poverty-stricken rich boy! He had nothing to wish for and no impulse for achievement.

Before the week was out Kim and his helpers had in all the small garden stuff, and before the middle of May they had the onions, corn and potatoes planted and Kim was visualizing their increase to a hundred-fold.

Uncle Pete was the most astonished person in town. he had to call Mr. McCree over to see what his little nephew had done. both neighbors were enthusiastic in their praise of the boy from the Deer Run and Uncle Pete loved them for their kind words. He was almost as fond of his sister’s boy as he would have been of a son of his own. “It’s wonderful!” he vowed looking proudly over the smoothly raked garden. “I didn’t plan it for him – I didn’t even think of it in the beginning. If it had occurred to me I would have dismissed the idea as preposterous. I didn’t suggest is hiring help. I didn’t even know what he was going to plant until he asked me about the seed. I never heard of such a boy!” he declared laughing inordinately while he wiped his eyes again and again.

Mrs. Sloan was greatly affected, too. Kim was rapidly winning his way into her heart. “Just look at that lettuce and those radishes! Aren’t they growing fast?” she cried delightedly pointing to the tiny green shoots that were just arranging themselves into distinct rows, so pleasing to the eye.

When the neighbors parted, peter Sloane went into the secret chamber of his heart and prayed for wisdom. He was fervently anxious not to do anything to impede the progress or mar the character of his small, promising nephew. also every time Mabel Sloane looked out of the window and saw the upward march of those long green rows she, too, felt humble and asked to be freed from tradition and to be guided by Divine Truth instead.

Only a few days later Mr. Sloane rushed home greatly excited. he even hurried through the usually pleasant ceremony of kissing Baby Belle and the waiting woman.

“Where’s Kim? Where’s Kim?” he shouted.

“Where, indeed, but pulling some radishes for supper!” his wife proudly informed him.

The boy entered at that moment and, as if it were not sensation enough to have raised radishes in one’s own garden before th3 20th of May, Uncle Pete precipitated some wonderfully stirring news.

“Well, sir, Kim, something great has happened!” he gushed as wild as a school boy. They all had time for several minutes of thrilling anticipation before Uncle Pete got the gist of his information conveyed to them. It was that the State, the County and the city were offering prizes to boys for garden stuff. There was a long list of prizes and the names of the donors published in the evening paper which Mr. Sloane read aloud while Kim scraped a lot of sticky mud from his shoes at the back door. There were prizes for the most corn that could be raised on an acre, for the most potatoes, the most peas, etc.; and prizes for the best kept gardens, the largest, the most profitable and so on. Mr. Sloane’s mouth had hardly closed n the last word before Kim made his decision.

“I’m going to try for that $100.00 prize offered by the State for the most profitable garden raised by boys under twelve years of age,” he promptly declared.

“He always goes in for the biggest game!” his uncle whispered to his wife chuckling, and he kept laughing about it all evening.

In a few days Kim started out to find his markets. He got the promise from a half a dozen stores that they would take all the products he brought them, if they were early and in good shape. Then he bought a little red book and ruled it off just to suit his purpose and was thus ready to keep track of his sales. Mr. McCree suggested the procedure.

Every few days he went through his garden patch and gathered all the radishes and lettuce that was ready. These he promptly sold after generously supplying his aunt and Mr. McCree. When Bob and Jorg heard about the prize they were wild with joy.

“We’re almost sure to get the $100.00 prize and that will make us $33.33 a piece,” sang Kim gaily as he and his helpers were gardening together the following Saturday. he was bubbling over with hope and happiness. It sounded like a fabulous sum to little Jorg. His eyes were big and wistful with astonishment.

“If we get it – ” his words came out in breathless gasps of dismay and anticipation strangely mingled – “I’m – I’m goin’ to git mother something she’s never had in her life.”

“What’s that?” blurted out the not too nice Bob.

“A silk dress!” Jorg answered guilelessly, his eyes shining.

Kim looked for a moment thoughtfully at the thin little face of his friend, then he swallowed hard. He was thinking that more nourishing food would be a good thing for that frail body. He said nothing but he never forgot to load Jorg down with vegetables after each period of work.

Wallie sat astride the division fence and helped to make things interesting as usual. “Pooh! thirty dollars ain’t so much!” he scoffed when he was told the news. If he had any regrets that he was not “in” on the garden, he was going to be game and not let anyone know. “Besides, you’re bout as likely to get that prize as hens is to cut teeth.”

“It might not look much to you,” said little Jorg, and those words spoke volumes.

“And we ain’t goin’ to leave no stones unturned tryin’ for it.” Bob affirmed piously, working away as fast as he could while the sweat from his brow fell whithersoever it would, he was too engrossed to mop it off – at that particular moment. “How much have you earned this spring, Wall?” he asked blandly.

“Oh, I coulda earned a lot if I had wanted to – I’ve only cleaned the lot three times,” Wallie confessed.

“Ho, ho, ho! Dollar an’ a half!” jeered Bob with his good humored fun. “And I’ve earned seven dollars! And, say, Wall, I’m comin’ in some day with specks on and see where you’ve cleaned that yard.” The laugh that bubbled up at this bit of a joke put an end to his work for some time.

“But I’ve got my pay!” crowed young Carson.

“Yes, and spent it,” snickered Jorg.

“You bet your boots! and had a good time with it. When I want something to put in a glass cage I’ll make some wax flowers like them at Granny Brown’s.” Wallie laughed so hard at this burst of wit that he fell from his perch and rolled on the ground where he was immediately joined by the other boys and a rough and tumble ensued. This overcame the working spirit to such an extent that they were soon over by the sand throwing it at each other. They were enjoying it, too; Wallie, especially was happy because he had demoralized even for a time these union laborers.

If there ever was a more wonderful summer Kim in looking back in years to come was not able to recall it. The youthful triumvirate realized $20.00 from their potatoes when they were new, then the ground was planted to beans which sold in the fall for $10.00. They added $7.00 to this by the sal eof their small garden stuff; and $18.00 from their corn. The onions, however, turned out to be the most paying crop, for they got from that small patch the large sum of $60.00; $115.00 in all. Instead of paying his helpers wages Kim insisted upon dividing the profits with them. First he thought it only fair to pay his uncle $25.00 for rental, then he divided the remaining $90.00 between himself and Bob and Jorg.

“Dad says you’ll never get ahead in this world if you do that way,” Wallie said disgustedly after the money had been divided and all the boys were playing in the unfenced lane.

“I will, too, get ahead,” asserted Kim vigorously, then he added in a burst of inspiration which revealed in part the great reforms he was to sponsor in the distant future, “I – a – may not get ahead of the fellows who work with me but I don’t want to – these kids have worked as hard as I have, and – ” Kim said no more, his mind was living over the scene wherein he gave Jorg his share – thirty big, bright, silver dollars! The little neglected, half-rationed, shabbily clad child had been almost overcome for a few seconds, and then the hope, the joy and the gratitude that flamed into his small face was a vision that never left Kim but proved a light for his footsteps thence forth. Bob was almost as glad as Jorg though he had not known equal privation. His glee was so boisterous and his laugh so infectious that he soon had all the boys laughing and dancing around with him.

Suddenly they realized there was some excitement abroad. Peter and Mabel Sloane, Baby Belle, half the McCree family including the father, the mother, Pattie and the baby, and even Mr. and Mrs. Carson were coming down the lane all talking at once.

“Kim! You boys got the prize all right – the One Hundred Dollar prize, just think of it!” cried Kim’s uncle, breaking the news in a shaky voice while he wiped his bothersome eyes. “He’s just like Clara, she was always the greatest person to carry out plans,” he explained to those with him.

Of course, there was a great hubbub for a half an hour or more. Kim simply went wild with joy, but great as was his pleasure in being able to add sixty-three and a third dollars to his bank account, his happiness in sharing with Bob and especially Jorg exceeded it by far.

By the time the late September sun had dropped unceremoniously out of sight all the crowd had left the scene of excitement except Kim and Pattie. Subdued and quiet they sat sifting fine sand through their fingers, both busy with their own thoughts.

“What do you want to save a whole lot of money for, Kim?” Pattie asked at last in her soft voice.

“To buy back our old farm and our horses,” answered Kim simply.

“Then will you go away there to live?” this question was murmured in a hurt tone and her head hung so low the brown curls almost hid the sorry little pout on her red lips.

An indulgent and loving smile flitted across Kim’s face as he reassuringly declared, “Oh, that won’t be for a long, long, long time!”

Just then Kim heard his name called several times so he parted from his little schoolmate and ran to the house. His Aunt Mabel was sitting on the back doorstep alone, the evening shadows enveloping her.

“Sit down beside me,” she said. When the boy was seated and looking wonderingly up into her face she began in a very gentle voice, “Kim, dear, I have a present for you,” and she laid a small round object in his hand. “It’s a gold watch that was my brother’s. I have saved it a long time thinking I might some day have a little boy of my own to give it to, but now I am going to give it to you; for I want you to be my little boy. I wish to be a mother to you, Kim. Of course I can never hope to be like your wonderful mother, but I’ll do the best I can – ” Her voice broke and Kim, his little heart full and happy, stole an arm around her neck. Impulsively she leaned down and kissed the child, drawing him close to her in a loving embrace and at that moment Kim’s uncle opened the door.

(To be continued)