Hiram in the Middle West

by Burbank L. Todd

"You are a good fellow, Strong!" declared the friendless one. "You won't be sorry that you took me in."

"Oh," Hiram said, his eyes twinkling, "I figure to get all of my money back on you, Orrin."

There was something about Orrin Post that Hiram found very attractive, and yet the fellow was as secretive about his personal history as though his past life was something to be ashamed of.

He proved to be, now that he was convalescent, a good looking young man, rather frail of physique, but manly in every way. Because of his enunciation and judging, also, by little turns of expression in his use of English, Hiram thought Orrin came, too, from New England. He was intelligent and to all appearances well-educated.

But never did the latter drop a word to reveal what his upbringing or his former state had been, save that he had worked on farms. He appeared to have none of the vices of the common tramp; he was polite, clean-mouthed, and an easy and fluent speaker on almost any subject but that of his private affairs.

He read everything there was to read—books, papers, magazines, even a pile of old poultry journals Brandenburg had left in the incubator shed. Miss Pringle pronounced him to be "real nice" and lent him all the books and papers she owned.

Now that Orrin Post was out of danger and there were so many men about Sunnyside Farm, the spinster did not visit them so often. But Hiram and Orrin sometimes called on her in the evening. In numbers there is safety, Hiram thought, while Orrin did not seem to be at all disturbed by any of Delia Pringle's languishing ways.

That he was grateful both to the good-hearted spinster and to Hiram they could not doubt. Orrin began to do light jobs for both very soon. One thing, he relieved Hiram altogether of the care of the more than twenty cattle that the young farm manager was feeding in the pens behind the big barn.

It was Orrin, too, who assisted Hiram in setting up the farm machinery that had arrived. He seemed to have some idea of mechanics, and Hiram always found him of considerable assistance.

The two-disc plow was the first implement they set up. It was a splendidly built machine, one of the newest on the market, and could be pulled by either tractor or horses.