Chapter 6

I liked the idea of having more than one customer, so much so that I started looking around for possibilities. What was bothering me was the fact that I could now get everything Mr. Benson wanted in half a day. I was sure that I could get 12-15 adult hog carcasses in a day with three dogs working for me. The big trouble was that I could not get rid of the hogs fast enough to make that practical. I couldn't just kill every hog that I found and feed them out slowly to Mr. Benson because most of the meat would spoil in the summer heat. Once he has his cold room, I can probably make one delivery a week, but I am stuck until then.

There was only one butcher shop in Winslow, and it didn't look like any more would locate there in the near future. The town was just too small. All I could figure was that I might be able to sell my meat in Baker, the county seat. That was a growing community that was rapidly becoming a city. Why, the last I heard, they already had almost 5,000 residents. Baker was eight miles away, and I had to figure on two hours of travel time each way. That was half a day in the winter time, so it was going to cut into my hunting time. Of course, if I only went to Baker one time each week, then it might be workable. I guess that the thing to do was to give the town a try.

I guess that the thing to do would be to travel to Baker next Saturday to see just what the trip would be like. Dun could certainly keep up the pace, so it just might be possible. Okay, that's what I will do. I'll set things up so that I can visit Baker on Saturday. I'll ask Mary if she would like to go. I'm pretty sure that she would.

I'll just work this week like I have been doing, except that I will get my Saturday chores done early. That way, I can have the time to visit Baker.

Mary and I rushed to get away to Baker as quickly as we could. I would not be hauling meat this trip, so, if I couldn't make the round trip in four hours, the whole idea had to be abandoned. Well, we got to Baker in about 90 minutes, so things were looking up.

This was my first trip to Baker and Mary had not been here in over 17 years, so she really didn't know the town any better than I did. My God, Baker was a big and bustling town. They had two main streets parallel to each other and two at right angles. This was becoming a big place. I figured for our first effort, we would just ride down 1^st Street and see what was located on it. Hot Dog! There was a butcher shop. Okay, in a town this big, there might be more than one. We covered 1^st Street and 2^nd Street before switching over to Washington Avenue and Lee Avenue. We spotted two butcher shops and four restaurants.

That was a lot of potential customers, so Baker looked like it was worth the trip. The closest butcher shop was on 1^st St., so I figured to try there first. I went in and saw that there were no customers. The man behind the counter was of the right age, so I figured that he was probably the owner and butcher. "Howdy, Mister. I'm looking for the manager of this here shop."

"Howdy, that's me. What can I do for you?"

"My name is Jack Allgood from over near Winslow, and I am in the business of supplying butcher shops with wild hog meat. You may know Mr. Benson in Winslow, he's my customer. I supply him with 14 prime carcasses a week. I was looking to expand my business, so I came here to see you. Are you interested?"

"My name is Alton Malone. Yes, I know Benson. He's a good man. If you are supplying him then you must be reliable. I could use a solid supply of wild hog meat. What do you charge?"

"I deliver bled out carcasses of freshly killed wild hog for 12¢ per pound. I can make a delivery to you every Thursday. Each hog weighs in at about 180-200 pounds, so that's $21.60-24.00 per carcass. Are you interested?"

"Yeah, I'm interested, but 12¢ per pound is kind of steep. Can you come down to 8¢ per pound?"

"No way, Mr. Malone. I have to make a profit, too, you know, and it will take me about half a day to make a delivery in the winter if I am lucky. How does 11¢ sound?"

"I might go to 9¢, but that is pushing it pretty hard."

"Suppose we split the difference and call it 10¢ per pound. You're hurting me at that price, but I do want to enlarge my business."

"Okay, 10¢ per pound it is, but these better be prime fresh killed carcasses. How many can you deliver each week?"

"As long as the weather holds good, I should be able to deliver from 12 to 15 per week. I don't know what the winter weather will do to the road. If it gets too bad, I'll have to back off some on the weight so that the wagon can get through. Shake on it?"

I held out my hand and Malone shook it. Dammit, I think that I will quit there. At this point, their ain't no way that I can make it with more than 12-15 carcasses in one load. I wish that I knew more about Mr. Malone, but most people are honest and will abide by any agreement where there is a handshake. Now my Thursdays were committed. I just better stop there before I get in over my head. I thanked Malone for his business and headed back to the wagon.

I told Mary of my agreement with Mr. Malone, and she was impressed that I could get 10¢ per pound from him. I was surprised, too, and I hoped that the agreement would stick. Now I had to see how long it took us to get home.

We were back home in a little over an hour. Dun seemed to know that he was headed home, so he picked up the pace without me having to urge him on. I wondered how much of that energy he would have when Wednesday came around.

I was going to need some more space to hang carcasses while they were bleeding out. I went ahead and put up two more beams, but that was the end of it because I had run out of thick wood for the beams. Each beam could take eight or nine adult carcasses, so that was plenty of capacity for now. I quit before I got too tired because tonight was the prime fuck night.

Monday was a busy day. I wanted to get everything for the Tuesday delivery to Winslow and start on collecting carcasses for delivery to Baker. I started the dogs out as pairs in hopes of not tiring them too much. We were back on Jeb's farm because I had not finished there before I took on Ed's place. Well, I was honor bound to finish Jeb's farm as much as I could before I spent much more time with Ed.

Dammit, in that one week that I had been at Ed's farm, a whole flock of hogs had moved in on Jeb. I just moved back to that first field that I had worked. Sam and Sarah went out after the first hog and were back in no time with a boar. They chased it toward me and I dispatched it with my usual one shot.

The next time, I sent out Sam and Eve. They were back just as quickly with a sow. Next out were Sarah and Eve. They brought in another sow. I continued with that same rotation pattern until we had 10 adults. Next, I ordered up two pigs from Sam and Sarah. They were dropped with buckshot, and we had our full load. Oh, hell, I decided to take two more pigs, one for the Hansons and one for Mary and me. That was quickly done and we were ready to leave.

I dropped the pig off with Jeb and told him about my bargain with the butcher in Baker. Jeb congratulated me and said that I ought to hire somebody to make the delivery to Baker, and that was when he zinged me. "My son, Harlow, needs a job. Do you think that you could hire him to make your deliveries. That would sure take a big work load off your back."

I laughed and said, "Jeb, I thing you just zinged me. Dammit, you are absolutely right. That would help me a lot. Is Harlow around? I'll talk to him right now. Have you said anything to him about pushing me to hire him?"

Jeb looked embarrassed and stared at the ground. Finally, he said, "Well, I may have mentioned it to him in passing."

I laughed again and said, "Call him out here and I'll talk to him while you listen in. That way, you will have all of the details and won't have to pry them out of your son."

Jeb called to Harlow, and he came out to us right away. No doubt, he had been listening at the back door. I said, "Harlow, your pa said that you were looking for a job, and he pointed out that I needed to hire somebody. Do you want a job making deliveries for me?"

"I sure do, boss. I need a job real bad that pays hard money. What are you offering?"

"First of all, Harlow, you and I both know that you are two years older than me. Is that going to make a difference to you? If it is, we can stop talking right now. I say that because I want you to understand that I am the boss, and not the other way around."

"Oh, yeah, I understand that. Do you want me to call you Mr. Allgood?"

I grinned and said, "No, Jack will be fine. Okay, now that is settled. What I want you to do is to make the deliveries and collect the money for the meat. I'll get some forms made up so that you can present an invoice to the customer and have him sign for the delivery and put on the invoice how much cash he gave you. That will protect you and me if a question ever comes up. Are you okay with that?"

"Yeah, Jack, that sounds like a good idea."

"The second thing I want you to understand is that you are never to fight with any road agents what might try to hold you up. I can almost guarantee that they will try to kill you if you fight with them, so I want you to give them whatever of my money that you have on you. No amount of money is worth your life. I understand how hard that will be for you to do, but it is necessary. Do you agree to that?"

"Yeah, Jack, but you are right about it being hard to do. I know that you are trying to keep me from getting hurt, but it still rankles a bit."

"I know how it would feel, but think of how your family would feel if you were badly hurt or killed over a few dollars. There are road agents in the neighborhood, and that's why I am warning you now.

"Now, let's see how much to pay you. You will start working for me tomorrow, and I will pay you four-bits a day for every day you work. Is that agreeable?"

"Shit, yeah! That's as much as a skilled craftsman makes in a day. I don't know how to thank you."

"Just do a good job, and that will be thanks enough. Can you be at my place at 7:00 tomorrow morning to help me load the wagon? If so, I will make the first delivery with you and make sure that Mr. Benson and Mrs. Adams know that you are authorized to collect the money for me."

"Sure thing, boss. I'll be there with bells on!"

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, and I hope you still feel that way at the end of the week. Okay, goodby for now, and I'll see you tomorrow morning."

As I started to leave, Jeb stopped me. "Dammit, Jack, I had not meant for you to be so generous. A wage of 50¢ a day is a princely sum. Please let me know if you have any trouble with Harlow."

"Don't worry about it, Jeb. I know Harlow's pa, and I expect that he will be as honest and hard working as his old man. So long." I grinned as I drove away.

The next morning, Harlow was waiting for me beside the hanging beams. "I didn't know which horse you planned to use, so I didn't mess with either one of them. Next time, I'll have him harnessed and ready by 7:00 o'clock."

"Fine, let's get Dun hitched up to the larger wagon. You drive it over and run the wagon under that carcass. I'll give you directions from there." Harlow proved just how much I had needed help because we were ready to leave in less than half the time it normally took me to get ready. I put my shotgun down at my feet and had Harlow drive us to Winslow.

We went to the restaurant first and dropped off the two pigs. I had my scale along in case it was needed, and it was. The total weight was 43 pounds, so we collected $5.16; that is, Harlow collected the money. I explained to Mrs. Adams that Harlow would be making the deliveries from now on, and she would receive an invoice. I explained how I wanted it filled out, and we left for the butcher shop.

I showed Harlow where to park and we went into the shop. Mr. Benson had a couple of customers, so we had a short wait. When he was available, I introduced Harlow as my new delivery man and explained about the invoice. Mr. Benson nodded and we went out back to fetch the carcasses. He weighed them and paid Harlow.

From there, we went to the print shop/newspaper office to order some invoices. I explained what I wanted, and the printer said that he could have 100 invoices ready by tomorrow morning. The charge would be $1. I thought that was kind of expensive, but I didn't argue since I did want the speedy service. Harlow drove us to my place, and I had him wash the blood from the wagon and generally clean the place up before he left for home. I did pay him his 50¢ before he left and said that I wanted him to show up tomorrow to go into Winslow to pick up the invoices. He was to hitch Edna to the buckboard and use that for the trip into town. I also gave him the dollar to pay for the invoices. I knew that it was safe with him.

Tomorrow morning, I was going after at least a dozen adult hogs. I would take up to 22 if I could manage it, but I knew that was practically impossible. Harlow was to track me down in his pa's field when he got back with the invoices. Shit! I just realized that 12-15 adult hogs might weigh up to 3,000 pounds, and that was too much for Dun to pull. In fact, I really needed another horse and wagon for that big a load. That meant a second driver. Now I really needed to talk to Jeb or Ed about renting the horse and wagon and hiring another son. Ouch, this being in business was getting complicated.

Well, the dogs and I worked our asses off and managed to get 13 hogs. That was over 2,000 pounds of hog carcasses. I was afraid that the load would be too much for the wagon, and I wondered how I was going to handle it. Fortunately, Harlow showed up about then with the excuse that the printer wanted to raise the price. Harlow refused to pay more than the originally agreed upon $1, and the printer finally gave in.

Harlow and I loaded eight hogs on the wagon and left the buckboard with Edna hitched to it with the rest of the carcasses lying on the ground. I left the three dogs to guard everything while while Harlow and I went to hang up these carcasses.

We loaded up the rest of the carcasses when we returned. I sent Harlow and the dogs back to unload the last hogs while I tracked down Ed Jenson. I wanted to spread the work around among the needy families, so he was the first one I thought to approach. Ed was just getting ready to leave to work in the field when I caught him.

Sure, he was willing to rent me his horse and wagon for tomorrow for $1, and his eldest son Ed, Jr. was looking for work. I talked to him the way I had talked to Harlow, and we agreed that Ed, Jr. would let Harlow or me boss him as the situation required. I also agreed to pay him four-bits per day for when I needed him. I told him to show up ready to work at my house at 7:00 o'clock with the horse and wagon.

Harlow and Ed were ready when I came out of the house at 7:00. We loaded the two wagons with seven carcasses in one and six carcasses in the other. The trip to Baker took about 90 minutes, and I spent half of the trip riding with each of the two helpers.