The Barn Fire

By Tennessee

It was not long until the leaves would change colors. Ben had gotten some hay from a man who was leaving town. Ben gave him the money and said, "Have a nice trip."

"Thank you," the man replied.

Ben said, "We will get the hay out of your barn tomorrow."

Mr. Hughes said, "No hurry. I have not sold the place yet. I will be leaving in the morning. Take your time getting the hay."

Ben got on his horse and rode to the Ponderosa. His three boys were working on a fence when Ben rode up. He said, "We got the hay from Mr. Hughes."

Adam said, "Good, Pa."

Ben said, "We need a clean place in the barn to put the hay. The fence can wait."

" 'Kay, Pa," said the boys.

Ben rode his horse into the barn and the boys followed him. "Where do you boys think would be a good place to store the hay for the winter?"

Adam said, "What about over here where we keep the horse feed, Pa? That's the only thing there."

"And if we change the door to the cow pen we could make this whole area bigger," said Hoss.

"Great idea, brother," Adam said with a smile.

Ben said, "Let's get to work then. Adam and I will move the horse feed. Little Joe, you rack all the feed in there. Hoss, you start taking off that door."

They worked for hours, did their chores, ate, and then feel into bed exhausted. It was still dark when they got up the next morning to start another day of work. They rode in the wagon to Mr. Hughes' ranch. It was a cool, bright day with plenty of sun. When they got to the Hughes farm, Ben said, "Some of the hay in is in the barn and some is still on the ground in the hay field. We will need to make two trips. Let's get the hay from the field first.

Hop Sing drove the horses to the hay field. Ben and the boys got out of the wagon and worked to load the hay. A rake full of hay was too heavy for Little Joe so he got on the wagon and rode, pushing the hay back from the wagon's tailgate.

After a while it clouded up and Ben said, "It looks like it might rain." They worked faster and they were able to gather all the hay from the field. They jumped on the wagon, said "Go Hop Sing," and headed back to the Ponderosa.

When they got home, they pulled the wagon into the barn and put the hay in its assigned spot. Hop Sing helped unload the wagon until it was time for dinner.

Adam said, "Pa, we should eat."

"Not now, son. If we keep going, we can get the hay in before the sun goes down."

They all got back in the wagon and went to the farm. They backed the wagon next to the barn door. Little Joe held the horses. Two hours later they had all the hay. Ben said, "I will drive the wagon. You all jump on top of the hay and ride."

Little Joe say by his Pa and the others sat in the back of the wagon. It started to rain, and Ben urged the horses to go faster. They got to the Ponderosa.

Ben said, "Shut the barn door," and Hoss did. Then Ben said, "Let's get into some dry clothes and then put the hay up.

Hop Sing went to the kitchen to make hotcakes, eggs, and ham. Ben and the boys got some dry clothes and met at the table.

Ben drank tea. Hoss said, "My poor hands. They are cut and bleeding from handling the hay."

"Mine too," said Adam.

"We'll put some cream on them tonight," said Ben.

Hop Sing came out with the food. They were eating when Adam looked out the window. He yelled, "Smoke! Coming from the barn!"

They all ran to the barn. Adam opened the barn door. Flames shot out.

Ben yelled, "Get some water! Get the horses away from the barn!"

Ben went into the barn. He could not see and fell on the barn floor. He was coughing and his eyes were burning. Little Joe and Hop Sing got some water and Adam and Hoss met them. "Where's Pa?" said Adam.

The horses ran out of the barn, and Adam said, "Oh no, Pa is still in there." He turned to Hop Sing. "Wet my clothes with water. I'm going in to get Pa."

"Me too," said Hoss.

When they were wet, they moved to the barn door. A board fell right when they went in.

"Adam! Hoss!" cried Little Joe.

Hop Sing put his arm around Little Joe.

Adam and Hoss stayed together as best they could. Hoss saw Ben and called to Adam. Adam pulled Ben out and then Adam went back inside to make sure all the livestock was out. Hoss could not see him and ran into the wagon. He saw that the hay wagon was on fire. He found Adam and they pulled the hay wagon out of the barn and far away from the house and the barn and then ran back to get water and sacks. They hit the fire with the sacks and doused it with water.

Hop Sing and Little Joe kept bringing water, and Adam threw dirt onto the fire on the ground. They put water on the hay wagon. Ben was on the ground watching everything.

"What started the fire, Pa?" asked Little Joe.

"The hay, son. I think it started the fire."

Ben got up and went into the barn to survey the damage. Everyone followed him.

Adam said, "Pa, it isn't bad. Most of the fire was in the wagon."

"But we'll have to replace some of the barn and we lost half our hay."

"But at least we got each other, right Pa?" said Little Joe.

"You're right, son," Ben said.

When they went to bed that night, Ben coughed a lot. He'd gotten a lot of smoke in his lungs. The next morning early they went to the barn, and Hoss started getting the old boards off. Adam took them outside. Little Joe raked the black hay out of the barn, and Ben measured the hay they had left to see if it would last out the winter. If they were careful, they'd have enough.

They worked all day cleaning up the barn and wagon. They next morning they got the boards cut to build the new part of the barn the fire got. Little Joe and Hop sing got the horses together too. And for the next two days they worked from sunup to sundown rebuilding the barn.

They got the barn done, and it looked great. Ben said, "Now we will make a place far from the barn and house to store the hay."

The boys said, "OK, Pa."

So they built another little building and moved the hay into it.

Ben and the boys looked at all their work, and Ben said everyone had done a great job.

Little Joe said, "We sure did."

And they went into the house to eat a hearty supper.

The End