Augustus at the Ponderosa. For some time Hoss Cartwright was busy at the barn. Of course he did very secretly about this. Each night after supper he sneaked out of the house to do something in the barn. Because Ben, Adam and Little Joe were away anyway Hoss could do what he wanted to his heart’s content. Of course it had to go wrong one time.
At a certain evening Ben Cartwright and his sons Adam and Little Joe came home from a long hike with the herd. It was already very late and they were dead tired. Ben saw that there was no light burning inside the ranch house which he found strange.
“Hoss is sleeping already, seeing everything is dark”, said the rancher.
Adam and Little Joe looked around at the yard.
“Joe, come on”, Adam suddenly whispered.
The brothers dismounted and went without making a sound to the barn. Adam pointed at the dimly light which shone from under the barn door, pointed at the door and nodded. Cheeky as he usually was Little Joe opened the door. He and Adam looked inside and what did they see? Hoss was busy with his project. In both his hands was a hayfork. But the object wasn’t used wherefor it was made. No, Hoss used it as a mircophone. Out of his throat sounded the Christmas carol “Deck The Halls”.
Adam and Little Joe looked at each ther with a look of:“That brother of ours has now really lost his marbles. The brothers kept on looking for a while until their father came to them.
Ben asked, “What is going on inside the barn?”
“Nothing special. I only believe that Hoss has the wrong season in his head”, answered Adam.
Little Joe only stood watching laughing. Now Ben also heard the dirge and the rancher also became curious. He looked into the barn and saw his seconsdw son singing with the hayfork. He hinted Adam and Little Joe to leave. They did that.
At the porch Ben said whispering, “We don’t know of anything of what we have just seen. If Hoss leaves it only with singing, that’s fine by me.”
Fortuantly for Ben, Adam and Little Joe Hoss never found out that they discovered him singing in the barn.