Corn-Farm Boy (14 page)

Dick watched them. He could have told them it was a waste of time. He had seen no footprints along the creek. He knew Margy had not been there. The only thing the men found was the lost corn knife. Dick took it back to the tool house. It was rusted and would need sharpening. He wondered if Dad would be glad to get it back.

When Dick came out of the tool house, he saw Buster and called him over. Then he whistled for Popcorn, but Popcorn did not come. He had a special whistle just for Popcorn. Popcorn always recognized it and came. Dick sat down and patted Buster.

“Where did Popcorn go?” he asked.

Buster stretched out and panted. He had been running back and forth, excited over all the visitors. Now he was tired.

Dick began to think. When did he last see Popcorn? He remembered. It was in the morning, after the Hasses came. The little kids began to play hide-and-seek. Popcorn had chased little Peggy and scared her. Margy had said, “Oh, Pie Face won't hurt you, Peggy. He's our pet. He sleeps in my bed at night.” Then Popcorn had run along with them.

Dick jumped up suddenly.

“I bet he's with her right now,” said Dick. “If I can find Popcorn's tracks, they'll lead me to the place where she is hiding. If I can find Popcorn, he'll follow her.”

Dick ran over to the barn where the game of hide-and-seek had started. In a short time, he entered the cornfield behind the hog lot. He whistled now and then as he walked along, his eyes on the ground. Maybe Margy had fallen asleep somewhere. Dick had once found her asleep on top of a strawstack out in the field. She must be asleep. That was why she did not answer.

It was beginning to grow dark when Dick came out on the other side of the big eighty. Now a little rat terrier dog scampered beside him. He came out on the highway and looked in both directions, uncertain which way to go. A large truck thundered past but did not stop.

Dick's legs were aching. He wished he had brought his crutches. He wondered how many miles he had walked in the cornfield. A half-hour before when Popcorn heard Dick's whistle and came bounding up to greet him, Dick thought his search was over. But the dog did not lead him to Margy. The dog kept running in circles and Dick became more and more confused. He decided to get out to the road somewhere—anywhere, to get his bearings. On the road, Popcorn did not help him either. Dick could not decide whether to go to the right or the left. He had the feeling that Margy had come out to the road. She might have been picked up by a car. It had all been a wild-goose chase. He might as well go home. He'd better get home before Mom found out he had gone through the cornfield. That would only make her worry more. He decided to ask for a ride from the next car or truck that came along.

He heard the truck long before it got there. He heard the singing voices of the girls, so he knew it was the detasselers coming home. Wilma would be on the truck. Russell Ruden would be driving. Russell would stop and give him a ride.

The girls' young voices rang out clearly:

“O, come all detasselers

And listen to me,

Never stake out your fortune

On a detasseler's fee.

The leaves they will wither,

The roots they will die;

You'll be without money

And never know why!”

Dick picked Popcorn up in one arm and waved with the other. Russell Ruden, Elmer's older brother, pulled up to a sudden stop. The girls in the body of the truck shrieked.

“What's the matter, Russ?” “Run over somebody, Russ?” “Oh, hurry up, Russ, I'm hungry, I want to get home,” called the girls.

Some one began to sing:

“Merrily we bump along, bump along,

Merrily we bump along, o'er the dusty roads!”

A car came up from the other way and stopped beside the crew truck. A detasseler shouted to the driver, “Don't you see us? Can't you hear us?”

“I heard you all right,” answered the driver. Dick saw that it was Bill Heiter. “A load of hogs went through just before you girls came along. You girls made just a little more noise than the hogs!”

The detasselers roared with laughter.

“Say, Russ,” said Bill Heiter. “You didn't pass a little girl walking along the road anywhere, as you came along. Did you?”

“What do you mean?” asked Russell Ruden.

“The Hoffman girl is lost … been gone since early morning,” said Bill Heiter. “Eight hours already and night's coming.”

“Oh yes, we saw her,” said Russell. He began to grin.

Dick still standing in the road, tense with fear, could not move. He wondered what Russell found funny about it. He clasped Popcorn tighter. The touch of the dog was a comfort to him.

“Where was she?” asked Bill. “We're cruising around on all the roads in the county now. We think she's been picked up by a car … or kidnapped maybe … Where was she?”

“Oh, back a ways,” said Russ Ruden, still grinning. He pointed back with his thumb. Russ had the reputation of being a great tease.

“About how far?” cried Bill Heiter. “She had on a blue dress and her feet were bare, and her hair is brown, in two short pigtails. Did she look like that? Are you sure? Where was she?”

Russell Ruden reached over and started his engine.

“Get in, Dick,” he said. “Crowd in here between me and Ernie.” Dick found he was able to move. He climbed in. “She's back in there with her big sister, Bill,” Russ went on. “Now, that's a good joke on you!”

“
Where? In your truck? You mean you've found her
?” yelled Bill Heiter.

“Sure,” said Russ. “She was walking along the road. Her sister Wilma spotted her and made me drive back half a mile to pick her up. Her sister gave me heck for driving by so fast. Made me back up all that distance. If Wilma wasn't so pretty …”

“Well, why on earth didn't you
tell
me?” shouted Bill.

“Heck!” said Russell Ruden. “How was I to know the kid was lost? All she said was she wanted a ride with the detasselers. Said she wanted to sing with 'em too.”

“Well!!!” said Bill Heiter. “With all the county out looking for her—I bet there's fifty men …”

“You don't say,” grinned Russ. He looked at Dick and Ernie Welker. “Say! I'll be a hero, won't I? Bringin' her home! Any reward out?”

Bill Heiter and Dick looked inside the truck. There they saw Margy sitting safely in her big sister's arms. They breathed a prayer of gratitude. Then Bill spoke to Russ again.

“I'll turn around and drive on ahead and tell the folks the good news. Honk your horn as loud as you can. That's the signal if she's found. We'll both honk all the way to Hoffman's.”

When the honking car and truck reached the barnyard, everybody had guessed the good news. People came running in from all directions. Margy jumped down off the rear end of the truck straight into her mother's arms. Mom held her for a long time and did not want to let her go.

Then Margy said, “I can hide so no one can find me, can't I?”

Mom did not know whether to praise her or scold her. She managed to say, “Don't ever do it again, Margy. Don't ever go in the cornfield.”

“I liked it at first,” said Margy, “but after a while, I couldn't find my way out. So I just lay down with Sassy Brat and took a nap.”

The listening people laughed now with relief.

Wilma looked around, bewildered. She, Wilma, was not the center of attention tonight. Nobody looked at her or at the other detasselers, tired and weary, in the truck. This was one night when the tale of their day's adventures had to wait. There was only one story and it was on everybody's lips, “The little Hoffman girl has been found unharmed.”

Dick took Margy by the hand and led her to the house.

“I knew we'd find her, Mom,” he said.

CHAPTER VIII

The White Pigeon and the Sick Hog

For the next two days after Margy was found, Dick had to stay in bed. His long trudge through the cornfield had tired him and made his rheumatism worse. On the third day, he felt rested again, so Dad dropped him off at the Rudens' on his way to town. Dick had not seen Elmer lately.

Elmer and his sister, Donna, had a stepladder at the back of their house.

“Hello, what you doing?” asked Dick.

“Tearing down sparrows' nests,” said Elmer.

Donna said, “Sparrows are no good. They just mess up the place.”

“The Vet told us to clear them all out of our hog-house,” said Dick. “They carry cholera germs.”

“They're building nests under the eaves up here,” said Donna. “They make so much noise, they wake us up every morning.” She ran indoors and came out with a handful of red ribbons, cut in short lengths. “Mom said to tack red ribbons up. The birds are afraid of something that dangles and blows in the wind. The ribbons will keep them from building again.”

Two large sparrow nests were under the eaves at the back door. They were big and messy, full of white chicken feathers. The sparrows were building a third nest around the corner. As the children came up, they flew off to a tree, chirping noisily.

Elmer climbed up the ladder and pulled the nests down. He threw them on the ground. Dick climbed up after him and tacked the red ribbons in place, while Donna watched from below.

“After dark,” said Elmer, “you can go out to that tree and catch a sparrow in your hand.”

“You can?” said Dick.

“Oh yes,” said Elmer. “They can't see too good. Last night I caught about twenty of them.”

“What did you do with them?” asked Dick.

“Fed them to our dog Pooch,” said Elmer. “He likes them. All but three. I gave them to the cat.”

“Do you just pick them off the limb of a tree?” asked Dick.

“Yes,” said Elmer. “They roost there after dark.”

“They don't hear us coming,” said Donna. “We go kinda tiptoeing.”

“Oh!” said Dick. “I should think destroying their nests would be enough. That ought to make them go somewhere else.”

“Not with sparrows,” said Elmer. “They come right back and build another nest. My Dad says they're the worst pests on the place—except pigeons.”

“You don't like pigeons?” asked Dick.

“They're terrible,” said Elmer. “They follow the cows around and scare them. They even ride on their backs!”

“They like the loose corn,” said Dick. “That's why they are always around a corncrib. Ours never get tame. They land on a shed and just talk to us. You walk up to them and they fly away.”

“Some people like to eat them,” said Donna.

“
We
do,” said Elmer. “I'll get my BB gun and we'll shoot some and ask Mom to cook them for dinner.”

“We used to have a pure white pigeon that stayed on our barn,” said Donna.

“A pure white one would be pretty,” said Dick.

Elmer brought out his BB gun and the children went to the barnyard. A row of pigeons sat on the roof of the barn.

“They make good targets,” Elmer said, “sitting on the roof like that. It's so easy to shoot up.”

Mr. Ruden came out and said, “Hi, Dick.” He brought his shotgun. He turned to Elmer and said, “You let Dick shoot first. Give him your BB gun.”

“No,” said Dick. “I don't want to shoot.”

“It's safe,” said Mr. Ruden. “When you aim up, you're not likely to hit someone. I always tell the kids to shoot
up.
”

“It's not that,” said Dick. “I know it's safe. I'm not afraid of hitting people. I just don't want to hit pigeons.”

“You don't?” Elmer and his Dad laughed. Elmer explained, “Dick likes to make pets out of pigeons too, I suppose.”

“What would I want to kill one for?” asked Dick. “I figure a pigeon likes to be alive just as much as a person does. Why kill it?”

Elmer and Mr. Ruden said nothing, but Donna spoke up, “Dick thinks they're cute and so do I.”