“All over! No damage!” cried Adam, with a laugh, as he leaped up and picked the smallest of the little Bunkers from the pile of hay. “But we’ll have to load the hay back on the wagon.”
This was soon done, and once more the merry party started for the barn, which was reached without further accident.
Farmer Joel had many things on his place to save work. Among these was a hay fork which could pick up almost half a load of hay at once and raise it to the mow.
A hay fork, at least one kind, looks like a big letter U turned upside down. The two arms are made of iron, and from their lower ends prongs come out to hold the hay from slipping off the arms.
A rope, running through a pulley is fastened to the curved part of the U, and a horse, pulling on the ground end of the rope, hoists into the air a big mass of hay.
The wagon was driven under the high barn window and from a beam overhead the hay fork was lowered. Adam North plunged the two sharp arms deep into the springy, dried grass.
All but Russ had gotten down off the load of hay to wait for the ride back to the field. But Russ remained there. He wanted to see how the hay fork worked.
So when Adam plunged the arms into the fodder Russ was near by. Adam pulled on the handle that shot the prongs out from the arms to hold the hay from slipping off as the fork was raised.
Then, suddenly, Russ did a daring thing. Seeing the mass of hay rising in the air, pulled by the horse on the ground below, the boy made a grab for the bunch of dried grass. He caught it, clung to it and up in the air he went, on an exciting and dangerous ride.
“Oh, look at Russ! Look at Russ!” cried Rose.