One
weekend a couple of months later we found an old lumber camp that was closed.
About fifteen or twenty camps. We divided to look through them. There wasn't
much in any of them. One had a lock on it and that made us want to see what was
inside. We had a small pinch bar but couldn't get the lock open so we pried the
boards and all loose.
I
sprung it out enough so that Frank could get inside and he told me to stay
outside and watch for anyone that might come around. He kept telling me what he
was finding. It used to be the office. There was nothing around, only old
papers, figures, and records of the work they did.
All
of a sudden he was quiet. "What you doing?" I asked. He said he'd
found something we might use. I waited a few more minutes and wondered what I
could pull on him. Finally I just yelled "Cops!" and I took off
around the next camp and watched what would happen.
I
heard him trying to get out. He sounded like someone trying to wreck a room. He
called for me to hold the door far enough open so he could get out but I just
stayed put. He pushed the door and boards far enough out so he could squeeze
out. He ripped his pants on the nails as he came through and I heard him say
"Oh!" as he took off down through the camp. I seen envelopes flying
out of his pockets as he ran. He was maybe two or three hundred yards before he
realized there was no one around. He stopped and looked back and seen me just
standing and watching him break another world's record and laughing my head
off.
Boy,
I'm telling you, from the time I said "Cops!" till the time he
stopped running I bet no more than ten seconds had gone by. He had found a
drawer full of envelopes he was filling all his pockets. That's what was flying
out as he ran. I never did know what in the world he wanted with all those
envelopes. He didn't know himself when I ask him, but he did say the next time
I could go in and he's watch outside. Said he's like a chance to nail me in.
One thing, he never could tell when to trust me. I never did know why.
Anyways,
we always did have a lot of fun while we were together. One thing for sure,
anyone never wanted to be in his road when he get scart because he'd run them
right over to get away.
It
wasn't too long after that Frank headed back for Pennsylvania to our Uncle's
place and I got a job on a farm in southern New York state. It was a big farm.
They had four hired men all the time. We got so much pay and our board. They
served real good meals. They had a good cook. We had our own table to eat at.
In the summer there were six men working there. I used to look forward to
breakfast. They used to bring plates piled up with hot cakes, others with bacon
and ham and eggs. I sure used to put away plenty of those kind of things. After
all when we ate breakfast we had already done two and a half hours work. They
had 85 milking cows and back at that time there was no milking machines. We
done it all by hand. We each had 23 cows to milk. They all gave any where from
14 to 22 quarts each at a milking. I was a pretty good milker and could milk 15
an hour so by the time we had them done and fed we were ready for a good
breakfast.
The
only trouble, there wasn't no time for anything else. Our day was from 4:30 in
the morning till 7 in he evening so nobody felt like doing anything but rest
and sleep at night.
I
did have an old bicycle I used to ride Saturday night to see the movies in town
close by. There was no coaster brake on it. It was like a tricycle. The pedals
kept going around on it. If I was going too fast I couldn't get the brake on, I
had to slow it down by pushing backwards on the pedals but I got along with it
for a while. It was better than walking.
