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diff --git a/old/11069.txt b/old/11069.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..855c48b --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11069.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3489 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Squinty the Comical Pig, by Richard Barnum + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Squinty the Comical Pig + His Many Adventures + +Author: Richard Barnum + +Release Date: February 13, 2004 [EBook #11069] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SQUINTY THE COMICAL PIG *** + + + + +Produced by Ben Courtney and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + SQUINTY + THE COMICAL PIG + + HIS MANY ADVENTURES + + BY + RICHARD BARNUM + +Author of "Slicko, the Jumping Squirrel," + "Mappo, the Merry Monkey," + "Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant," + "Don, a Runaway Dog," etc. + + ILLUSTRATED BY + HARRIET H. TOOKER + + + + +KNEETIME ANIMAL STORIES + +By Richard Barnum + + SQUINTY, THE COMICAL PIG + SLICKO, THE JUMPING SQUIRREL + MAPPO, THE MERRY MONKEY + TUM TUM, THE JOLLY ELEPHANT + DON, A RUNAWAY DOG + +Large 12mo. Illustrated. Price per volume +40 cents, postpaid + + + +1915 + + + +_Squinty, the Comical Pig_ + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAPTER + + I SQUINTY AND THE DOG + + II SQUINTY RUNS AWAY + + III SQUINTY IS LOST + + IV SQUINTY GETS HOME + + V SQUINTY AND THE BOY + + VI SQUINTY ON A JOURNEY + + VII SQUINTY LEARNS A TRICK + +VIII SQUINTY IN THE WOODS + + IX SQUINTY'S BALLOON RIDE + + X SQUINTY AND THE SQUIRREL + + XI SQUINTY AND THE MERRY MONKEY + + XII SQUINTY GETS HOME AGAIN + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +Squinty looked at the beautiful wagons, and at the strange animals + +Squinty saw rushing toward him, Don, the big black and white dog + +"Hop on," he said to the toad. "I won't bother you." + +"Oh, Father!" exclaimed the boy, "do let me have just one little pig" + +Squinty gave a little spring, and over the rope he went + +The next moment Squinty felt himself lifted off the ground + +"Why, I am Mappo, the merry monkey," was the answer + + + + +SQUINTY, THE COMICAL PIG + + +CHAPTER I + + +SQUINTY AND THE DOG + +Squinty was a little pig. You could tell he was a pig just as soon as +you looked at him, because he had the cutest little curly tail, as +though it wanted to tie itself into a bow, but was not quite sure +whether that was the right thing to do. And Squinty had a skin that was +as pink, under his white, hairy bristles, as a baby's toes. + +Also Squinty had the oddest nose! It was just like a rubber ball, +flattened out, and when Squinty moved his nose up and down, or sideways, +as he did when he smelled the nice sour milk the farmer was bringing for +the pigs' dinner, why, when Squinty did that with his nose, it just made +you want to laugh right out loud. + +But the funniest part of Squinty was his eyes, or, rather, one eye. And +that eye squinted just as well as any eye ever squinted. Somehow or +other, I don't just know why exactly, or I would tell you, the lid of +one of Squinty's eyes was heavier than the other. That eye opened only +half way, and when Squinty looked up at you from the pen, where he lived +with his mother and father and little brothers and sisters, why there +was such a comical look on Squinty's face that you wanted to laugh right +out loud again. + +In fact, lots of boys and girls, when they came to look at Squinty in +his pen, could not help laughing when he peered up at them, with one eye +widely open, and the other half shut. + +"Oh, what a comical pig!" the boys and girls would cry. "What is his +name?" + +"Oh, I guess we'll call him Squinty," the farmer said; and so Squinty +was named. + +Perhaps if his mother had had her way about it she would have given +Squinty another name, as she did his brothers and sisters. In fact she +did name all of them except Squinty. + +One of the little pigs was named Wuff-Wuff, another Curly Tail, another +Squealer, another Wee-Wee, and another Puff-Ball. There were seven pigs +in all, and Squinty was the last one, so you see he came from quite a +large family. When his mother had named six of her little pigs she came +to Squinty. + +"Let me see," grunted Mrs. Pig in her own way, for you know animals have +a language of their own which no one else can understand. "Let me see," +said Mrs. Pig, "what shall I call you?" + +She was thinking of naming him Floppy, because the lid of one of his +eyes sort of flopped down. But just then a lot of boys and girls came +running out to the pig pen. + +The boys and girls had come on a visit to the farmer who owned the pigs, +and when they looked in, and saw big Mr. and Mrs. Pig, and the little +ones, one boy called out: + +"Oh, what a queer little pig, with one eye partly open! And how funny he +looks at you! What is his name?" + +"Well, I guess we'll call him Squinty," the farmer had said. And so, +just as I have told you, Squinty got his name. + +"Humph! Squinty!" exclaimed Mrs. Pig, as she heard what the farmer said. +"I don't know as I like that." + +"Oh, it will do very well," answered Mr. Pig. "It will save you thinking +up a name for him. And, after all, you know, he _does_ squint. Not that +it amounts to anything, in fact it is rather stylish, I think. Let him +be called Squinty." + +"All right," answered Mrs. Pig. So Squinty it was. + +"Hello, Squinty!" called the boys and girls, giving the little pig his +new name. "Hello, Squinty!" + +"Wuff! Wuff!" grunted Squinty. + +That meant, in his language, "Hello!" you see. For though Squinty, and +his mother and father, and brothers and sisters, could understand man +talk, and boy and girl talk, they could not speak that language +themselves, but had to talk in their own way. + +Nearly all animals understand our talk, even though they can not speak +to us. Just look at a dog, for instance. When you call to him: "Come +here!" doesn't he come? Of course he does. And when you say: "Lie down, +sir!" doesn't he lie down? that is if he is a good dog, and minds? He +understands, anyhow. + +And see how horses understand how to go when the driver says "Gid-dap!" +and how they stop when he says "Whoa!" So you need not think it strange +that a little pig could understand our kind of talk, though he could not +speak it himself. + +Well, Squinty, the comical pig, lived with his mother and father and +brothers and sisters in the farmer's pen for some time. As the days went +on Squinty grew fatter and fatter, until his pink skin, under his white +bristles, was swelled out like a balloon. + +"Hum!" exclaimed the farmer one day, as he leaned over the top of the +pen, to look down on the pigs, after he had poured their dinner into the +trough. "Hum! That little pig, with the squinty eye, is getting pretty +big. I thought he was going to be a little runt, but he seems to be +growing as fast as the others." + +Squinty was glad when he heard that, for he wanted to grow up to be a +fine, large pig. + +The farmer took a corn cob, from which all the yellow kernels of corn +had been shelled, and with it he scratched the back of Squinty. Pigs +like to have their backs scratched, just as cats like to have you rub +their smooth fur, or tickle them under the ears. + +"Ugh! Ugh!" grunted Squinty, looking up at the farmer with his comical +eyes, one half shut and the other wide open. "Ugh! Ugh!" And with his +odd eyes, and one ear cocked forward, and the other flopping over +backward, Squinty looked so funny that the farmer had to laugh out loud. + +"What's the matter, Rufus?" asked the farmer's wife, who was gathering +the eggs. + +"Oh, it's this pig," laughed the farmer. "He has such a queer look on +his face!" + +"Let me see!" exclaimed the farmer's wife. + +She, too, looked down into the pen. + +"Oh, isn't he comical!" she cried. + +Then, being a very kind lady, and liking all the farm animals, the +farmer's wife went out in the potato patch and pulled up some pig weed. + +This is a green weed that grows in the garden, but it does no good +there. Instead it does harm, and farmers like to pull it up to get rid +of it. But, if pig weed is no good for the garden, it is good for pigs, +and they like to chew the green leaves. + +"Here, Squinty!" called the farmer's wife, tossing some of the juicy, +green weed to the little pig. "Eat this!" + +"Ugh! Ugh!" grunted Squinty, and he began to chew the green leaves. I +suppose that was his way of saying: "Thank you!" + +As soon as Squinty's brothers and sisters saw the green pig weed the +farmer's wife had tossed into the pen, up they rushed to the trough, +grunting and squealing, to get some too. + +They pushed and scrambled, and even stepped into the trough, so eager +were they to get something to eat; even though they had been fed only a +little while before. + +That is one strange thing about pigs. They seem to be always hungry. And +Squinty's brothers and sisters were no different from other pigs. + +But wait just a moment. They were a bit different, for they were much +cleaner than many pigs I have seen. The farmer who owned them knew that +pigs do not like to live in mud and dirt any more than do cows and +horses, so this farmer had for his pigs a nice pen, with a dry board +floor, and plenty of corn husks for their bed. They had clean water to +drink, and a shady place in which to lie down and sleep. + +Of course there was a mud bath in the pig pen, for, no matter how clean +pigs are, once in a while they like to roll in the mud. And I'll tell +you the reason for that. + +You see flies and mosquitoes and other pests like to bite pigs. The pigs +know this, and they also know that if they roll in the mud, and get +covered with it, the mud will make a coating over them to keep the +biting flies away. + +So that is why pigs like to roll in the mud once in awhile, just as you +sometimes see a circus elephant scatter dust over his back, to drive +away the flies. And even such a thick-skinned animal as a rhinoceros +likes to plaster himself with mud to keep away the insects. + +But after Squinty and his brothers and sisters had rolled in the mud, +they were always glad when the farmer came with the garden hose and +washed them clean again, so their pink skins showed beneath their white, +hairy bristles. + +Squinty and the other pigs grew until they were a nice size. They had +nothing to do but eat and sleep, and of course that will make anyone +grow. + +Now Squinty, though he was not the largest of the family of pig +children, was by far the smartest. He learned more quickly than did his +brothers and sisters, how to run to the trough to eat, when his mother +called him, and he learned how to stand up against one side of the pen +and rub himself back and forth to scratch his side when a mosquito had +bitten him in a place he could not reach with his foot. + +In fact Squinty was a little too smart. He wanted to do many things his +brothers and sisters never thought of. One day when Squinty and the +others had eaten their dinner, Squinty told his brother Wuff-Wuff that +he thought it would be a nice thing to have some fun. + +Wuff-Wuff said he thought so, too, but he didn't just know what to do. +In fact there was not much one could do in a pig pen. + +"If we could only get out of here!" grunted Squinty, as he looked out +through a crack in the boards and saw the green garden, where pig weed +was growing thickly. + +"Yes, but we can't," said Wuff-Wuff. + +Squinty was not so sure about this. In fact he was a very inquisitive +little pig--that is, he always wanted to find out about things, and why +this and that was so, and what made the wheels go around, and all like +that. + +"I think I can get out through that place," said Squinty to himself, a +little later. He had found another crack between two boards of the +pen--a large crack, and one edge of the board was loose. Squinty began +to push with his rubbery nose. + +A pig's nose is pretty strong, you know, for it is made for digging, or +rooting in the earth, to turn up acorns, and other good things to eat. + +Squinty pushed and pushed on the board until he had made it very loose. +The crack was getting wider. + +"Oh, I can surely get out!" he thought. He looked around; his mother and +father and all the little pigs were asleep in the shady part of the pen. + +"I'm going!" said Squinty to himself. + +He gave one extra hard push, and there he was through the big crack, and +outside the pen. It was the first time he had ever been out in his life. +At first he was a little frightened, but when he looked over into the +potato patch, and saw pig weed growing there he was happy. + +"Oh, what a good meal I shall have!" grunted Squinty. + +He ran toward a large bunch of the juicy, green pig weed, but before he +reached it he heard a dreadful noise. + +"Bow wow! Bow wow! Bow wow!" went some animal, and then came some +growls, and the next moment Squinty saw, rushing toward him Don, the big +black and white dog of the farmer. "Bow wow! Bow wow! Bow wow!" barked +Don, and that meant, in his language: "Get back in your pen, Squinty! +What do you mean by coming out? Get back! Bow wow!" + +[Illustration: Squinty saw rushing toward him, Don, the big black and +white dog.] + +"Oh dear! Oh dear!" squealed Squinty. "I shall be bitten sure! That dog +will bite me! Oh dear! Why didn't I stay in the pen?" + +Squinty turned on his little short legs, as quickly as he could, and +started back for the pen. But it was not easy to run in a potato field, +and Squinty, not having lived in the woods and fields as do some pigs, +was not a very good runner. + +"Bow wow! Bow wow!" barked Don, running after Squinty. + +I do not believe Don really meant to hurt the comical little pig. In +fact I know he did not, for Don was very kind-hearted. But Don knew that +the pigs were supposed to stay in their pen, and not come out to root up +the garden. So Don barked: + +"Bow wow! Bow wow! Get back where you belong, Squinty." + +Squinty ran as fast as he could, but Don ran faster. Squinty caught his +foot in a melon vine, and down he went. Before he could get up Don was +close to him, and, the next moment Squinty felt his ear being taken +between Don's strong, white teeth. + +"Oh dear! Oh dear! Oh dear!" squealed Squinty, in his own queer, pig +language. "What is going to happen to me?" + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +SQUINTY RUNS AWAY + +Between the barking of Don, the dog, and the squealing of Squinty, the +comical pig, who was being led along by his ear, there was so much noise +in the farmer's potato patch, for a few moments, that, if you had been +there, I think you would have wondered what was happening. + +"Bow wow! Bow wow! Bow wow!" barked Don, still keeping hold of Squinty's +ear, though he did not pinch very hard. "Bow wow! Get back to your pen +where you belong!" + +"Squee! Squee! Squee!" yelled Squinty. "Oh, please let me go! I'll be +good!" + +And so it went on, the dog talking in his barking language, and Squinty +squealing in his pig talk; but they could easily understand one another, +even if no one else could. + +Back in the pen Mrs. Pig suddenly awakened from a nap. So did Mr. Pig, +and all the little pigs. + +"Don't you hear something making a noise?" asked Mrs. Pig of her +husband. + +"Why, yes, I think I do," he answered slowly, as he looked in the feed +trough, to see if the farmer had left any more sour milk there for the +pig family to eat. But there was none. + +"I hear someone squealing," said Wuff-Wuff, the largest boy pig of them +all. + +"So do I," said Squeaker, a little girl pig. + +Mrs. Pig sat up, and looked all over the pen. She was counting her +children to see if they were all there. She did not see Squinty, and at +once she became frightened. + +"Squinty is gone!" cried Mrs. Pig. "Oh, where can he be?" + +The squealing noise became louder. So did the barking of the dog. + +"Look, there is a board off the side of the pen," said Mr. Pig. + +"Yes, Squinty wanted me to come outside with him," said Wuff-Wuff. "But +I wouldn't go." + +"Oh, maybe my little boy pig is outside there, making all that noise!" +cried Mrs. Pig to her husband. + +"Well, he isn't making _all_ that noise by himself," said the father +pig. "Someone is helping him make it, I'm sure." + +They all listened, and heard the barking of Don, as well as the +squealing of Squinty. + +"Oh, some animal has caught him!" cried Mrs. Pig. Then she pushed as +hard as she could with her nose, against the loose board near the hole +in the pen, through which Squinty had run a little while before. Mrs. +Pig soon knocked off the board, and then she ran out into the garden, +Mr. Pig and all the little pigs ran after her. + +The first thing Mrs. Pig saw was her little boy pig down on the ground +in the middle of a row of melon vines, with Don holding Squinty's ear. + +"Bow wow!" barked Don. + +"Squee! Squee!" cried Squinty. + +"Oh, you poor little pig!" grunted Mrs. Pig. "What has happened to you?" + +"Oh, mamma!" squealed Squinty. "I--I ran out of the pen to see what it +was like outside, and I was just eating some pig weed, when this big dog +chased after me." + +"Yes, I did," said Don, growling in his deep voice. "The place for pigs, +little or big, is in their pen. The farmer does not want you to come out +and spoil his garden. He tells me to watch you, and to drive you back if +you come in it. + +"This is the first time I have seen any of you pigs in the garden," went +on Don, still keeping hold of Squinty's ear, "and I want you, please, to +go back in your pen." + +"Oh, I'll go! I'll go!" cried Squinty. "Only let loose of my ear, Mr. +Dog, if you please!" + +"What! Have you hold of Squinty's ear?" asked Wuff-Wuff. "Oh, do please +let him go!" + +"Yes, I will, now that you are here," said Don, and he took his strong, +white teeth from the piggy boy's ear. "I did not bite him hard enough to +hurt him," said Don. "But I had to catch hold of him somewhere, and +taking him by the ear was better than taking him by the tail, I think." + +"Oh, yes, indeed!" agreed Mr. Pig. "Once, when I was a little pig, a dog +bit me on the tail, and I never got over it. In fact I have the marks +yet," and he tried to look around at his tail, which had a kink in it. +But Mr. Pig was too fat to see his own tail. + +"So that's why I took hold of Squinty by the ear," went on Don. "Did I +hurt you very much?" he asked the little pig who had run out of the pen. + +"Oh, no; not much," Squinty said, as he rubbed his ear with his paw. +Then, as he saw a bunch of pig weed close to him, he began nibbling +that. And his brothers and sisters, seeing him do this, began to eat the +pig weed also. + +"Come! This will never do!" barked Don, the dog. "I am sorry, but all +you pigs must go back in your own pen. The farmer would not like you to +be out in his garden." + +"Yes, I suppose we must," said Mrs. Pig, with a sigh. "Yet it is very +nice out in the garden. But we must stay in our pen." + +"Come, children," said Mr. Pig. "We must stay in our own place, for if +we rooted up the farmer's garden, much as we would like to do it, he +would have no vegetables to eat this winter. Then he might be angry at +us, and would give us no more sour milk. So we will go back to our pen." + +"Bow wow! Bow wow!" barked Don, running here and there. "I will show you +the way back to your pen," he said, kindly. + +And he capered about, here and there, driving the pigs back to the place +where Squinty had run from, and where all the others had come from, to +see what had happened to him. + +The farmer, who was hoeing corn, heard the barking of his dog. He +dropped the hoe and ran. + +"Something must have happened!" he cried. "Maybe the big bull has gotten +loose from his field, and is chasing someone with a red dress." + +Into the garden he ran, and then he saw Don driving Squinty, and his +brothers and sisters, and mother and father, back to the pen. + +"Ha! So the pigs got loose!" the farmer cried. "Good dog! Chase 'em +back!" + +"Bow wow!" barked Don. "I will!" + +But the pigs did not need much driving, for they were very good, and did +not want to cause Don, or the farmer, any trouble if they could help it. + +Soon Squinty and the others were safely in the pen again. The farmer +looked at them carefully. + +"So, you thought you'd like to get out and have a run, did you?" he +asked, speaking to pigs just as if they could understand him. And they +did, just as your dog understands, and minds you when you call to him to +come to you. + +"So you wanted a run in the garden, eh?" went on the farmer. "Well, I +don't blame you, for it isn't much fun to stay cooped up in a pen all +the while. But still I can't have you out. But I'll give you a nice lot +of pig weed, just the same, for you must be hungry." + +Then the farmer pulled up some more of the green stuff, and tossed it +into the pen. He also gave them plenty of sour milk, which pigs like +better than sweet milk. Besides, it is cheaper. + +"Well, I guess you won't run away again," the farmer went on, as he +nailed back on the pen the board which Squinty had pushed off. Perhaps +the farmer thought one of the big pigs--the papa or mamma one--had made +the hole for the others to get out. I am sure he never thought little +Squinty, with his comical eye, did it. But we know Squinty did, don't +we? + +For some time after this Squinty was a very-good pig, indeed. Not that I +mean to say he was bad when he ran out of the pen, for he did not know +any better. But, after the board was nailed on tightly again, he did not +try to push it off. Perhaps he knew he could not do it. + +Squinty and his brothers and sisters had lots of fun in the pen, even if +they could not go out. They played games in the straw, hiding away from +one another, and squealing and grunting when they were found. They raced +around the pen, playing a game much like our game of tag, and if they +could have had someone to tie a hand-kerchief over their eyes, they +might have played blind-man's buff. But of course they did not really do +this. + +However, they raced about, and jumped over each other's backs, and +climbed upon the fat sides of their father and mother while the big pigs +lay asleep in the shade. + +Squinty was a pig very fond of playing tricks. Sometimes he would take a +choice, tender piece of pig weed, which the farmer had tossed into the +pen, and hide it in the soft dirt in one corner. + +"Now see who can find it!" Squinty would call to his brothers and +sisters, and they would hunt all over for it, rooting up the earth with +their strong, rubbery noses. + +Digging in the dirt was good practice for them, and their mother and +father would watch them, saying: + +"Ah, when they grow up they will be very good rooting pigs indeed. Yes, +very good!" + +Then Squinty, or his brothers or sisters, would root up the hidden pig +weed, and the old pigs would go to sleep again, for they did not need to +practice digging, having done so when they were young. About all they +did was to eat and sleep, and tell the little pigs how to behave. + +"Squinty, how is your ear that Don, the dog, bit?" asked Mrs. Pig of her +little boy pig one day. + +"Oh, it doesn't hurt me," answered Squinty. "Don did not bite very hard. +He only wanted to catch me." + +"Yes, Don is a good dog," said Mrs. Pig. "But you must be careful of +other dogs, Squinty." + +"Why, are not all dogs alike?" the little pig boy asked. + +"Oh, no, indeed!" answered Mrs. Pig. "Some of them are very bad and +savage. They would bite you very hard if they got the chance. So, +whenever you see any dog, except Don, running toward you, run away as +fast as you can." + +"I will," promised Squinty. And he did not know how soon he would be +glad to remember his mother's good advice. + +For some days nothing much happened in the pig pen. Once or twice +Squinty pushed his nose against the board the farmer had nailed on, but +it was very tight, he found, and he could not push it off. + +"Are you trying to get out again?" asked Wuff-Wuff. + +"Oh, I don't know," Squinty would answer. "I think it would be fun if we +all could; don't you?" + +"No, indeed!" cried Wuff-Wuff. "Some big dog might chase us. I want to +stay in the pen." + +But Squinty was a brave, bold, mischievous little pig. He was not +content to stay in the pen. He wanted to have some adventures. He wanted +to get out in the garden, which looked so nice and green. + +Squinty looked all around the other sides of the pen. He wanted to see +if there was another loose board. If there was, he made up his little +pig mind that he would go out again. But he said nothing of this to his +brothers or sisters, or to his father or mother. He felt that they would +not like him to go away again. + +"But there is not much fun staying in the pen all the while," thought +Squinty. "I wish I could get out." + +Squinty, you see, had made up his mind to run away. Often horses run +away, so I don't see why pigs can't, also. Anyhow, that was what Squinty +intended to do. + +But, for nearly a week after his first adventure in the garden, Squinty +had no chance to slip out of the pen. All the boards seemed very tight. + +Then, one day, it was very hot. The sun shone brightly. + +"Dig holes for yourselves in the cool ground, and lie down in them," +said Mrs. Pig. "That will cool you off." + +Each little pig dug a hole for himself, just as a hen does when she +wants to take a dust bath. Squinty dug his hole near the lower edge of +the boards, on one side of the pen. + +"I'll make a big hole," he thought to himself. + +And, as Squinty dug down, he noticed that he could see under the bottom +of the boards. He could look right out into the garden. + +"That is very queer," thought the little pig boy. "I believe I can get +out of the pen by crawling under a board, as well as by pushing one +loose from the side. I'll try it." Squinty was learning things, you see. + +So he dug the hole deeper and deeper, and soon it was large enough for +him to slip under the bottom board. + +"Now I can run away," he grunted softly to himself. He looked all around +the pen. His father, mother, sisters and brothers were fast asleep in +their cool holes of earth. + +"I'm going!" said Squinty, and the next moment he had slipped under the +side of the pen, through the hole he had dug, and once more he was out +in the garden. + +"Now for some adventures!" said Squinty, in a jolly whisper--a pig's +whisper, you know. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +SQUINTY IS LOST + +This was the second time Squinty had run out of the pen and into the +farmer's garden. The first time he had been caught and brought back by +Don, the dog. This time Squinty did not intend to get caught, if he +could help it. + +So, after crawling out through the hole under the pen, the little pig +came to a stop, and looked carefully on all sides of him. His one little +squinty eye was opened as wide as it would open, and the other eye was +opened still wider. Squinty wanted to see all there was to be seen. + +He cocked one ear up in front of him, to listen to any sounds that might +come from that direction, and the other ear he drooped over toward his +back, to hear any noises that might come from behind him. + +What Squinty was especially listening for was the barking of Don, the +dog. + +"For," thought Squinty, "I don't want Don to catch me again, and make me +go back, before I have had any fun. It will be time enough to go back to +the pen when it is dark. Yes, that will be time enough," for of course +Squinty did not think of staying out after the sun had gone down. Or, at +least, he did not imagine he would. + +But you just wait and see what happens. + +Squinty looked carefully about him. Even if one eye did droop a little, +he could still see out of it very well, and he saw no signs of Don, the +big dog. Nor could Squinty hear him. + +Don must be far away, the little pig thought, far away, perhaps taking a +swim in the brook, where the dog often went to cool off in hot weather. + +"I think I'll go and have a swim myself," thought Squinty. He knew there +was a brook somewhere on the farm, for he could hear the tinkle and fall +of the water even in the pig pen. But where the brook was he did not +know exactly. + +"But it will be an adventure to hunt for it," Squinty thought. "I guess +I can easily find it. Here I go!" and with that he started to walk +between the rows of potatoes. + +Squinty made up his little mind that he was going to be very careful. +Now that he was safely out of the pen again he did not want to be caught +the second time. He did not want Don, or the farmer, to see him, so he +crawled along, keeping as much out of sight as he could. + +"I wish my brothers, Wuff-Wuff or Squealer were with me," said Squinty +softly to himself, in pig language. "But if I had awakened them, and +asked them to run away with me, mamma or papa might have heard, and +stopped us." + +Squinty did not feel at all sorry about running away and leaving his +father and mother, and brothers and sisters. You see he thought he would +be back with them again in a few hours, for he did not intend to stay +away from the pen longer than that. But many things can happen in a few +hours, as you shall see. + +"I won't eat any pig weed just yet," thought Squinty, as he went softly +on between the rows of potato vines. "To pull up any of it, and eat it +now, would make it wiggle. Then Don or the farmer might see it wiggling, +and run over to find out what it was all about. Then I'd be caught. I'll +wait a bit." + +So, though he was very hungry, he would not eat a bit of the pig weed +that grew near the pen. And he never so much as dreamed of taking any of +the farmer's potatoes. He did not yet know the taste of them. But, let +me tell you, pigs who have eaten potatoes, even the little ones the +farmer cannot sell, are very fond of them. But, so far, Squinty had +never eaten even a little potato. + +On and on went the little pig, looking back now and then toward the pen +to see if any of the other pigs were coming after him. But none were. + +And there was no sign of Don, the barking dog, nor the farmer, either. +There was nothing to stop Squinty from running away. Soon he was some +distance from the pen, and then he thought it would be safe to nibble at +a bit of pig weed. He took a large mouthful from a tall, green plant. + +"Oh, how good that tastes!" thought Squinty. "It is much better and +fresher than the kind the farmer throws into the pen to us." + +Perhaps this was true, but I imagine the reason the pig weed tasted so +much better was because Squinty was running away. + +Perhaps you know how it is yourself. Did you ever go out the back way, +when mamma was washing the dishes, and run over to your aunt's or your +grandma's house, and get a piece of bread and jam? If you ever did, you +probably thought that bread and jam was much nicer than the kind you +could get at home, though really there isn't any better bread and jam +than mother makes. But, somehow or other, the kind you get away from +home tastes differently, doesn't it? + +It was that way with Squinty, the comical pig. He ate and ate the pig +weed, until he had eaten about as much as was good for him. And then, as +he saw one little potato on the ground, where it had rolled out of the +hill in which it grew with the others, Squinty ate that. He did not +think the farmer would care. + +"Oh, how good it is!" he thought. "I wish I had not eaten so much pig +weed, then I could eat more of those funny, round things the farmer +calls potatoes. Now I will have to wait until I am hungry again." + +Squinty knew that would not be very long, for pigs get hungry many times +a day. That is what makes them grow fat so fast--they eat so often. But +eating often is not good for boys and girls. + +Squinty had now come some distance away from the pen, where he lived +with his mother, father, sisters and brothers. He wondered if they had +awakened yet, or had seen the hole out of which he had crawled, and if +they were puzzled as to where he had gone. + +"But they can't find me!" said Squinty, with something that sounded like +a laugh. I suppose pigs can laugh--in their own way, at any rate. + +"No, they can't find me," thought Squinty, looking all around. All he +saw were the rows of potato vines, and, farther off, a field of tall, +green corn. + +"Well, I have the whole day to myself!" thought Squinty. "I can do as I +please, and not go back until night. Let me see, what shall I do first? +I guess I will go to sleep in the shade." + +So he stretched out in the shade of a big potato vine, and, curling up +in a little pink ball, he closed his eyes, the squinty one as well as +the good one. But first Squinty looked all around to make sure Don, the +dog, was not in sight. He saw nothing of him. + +When Squinty awakened he felt hungry, as he always did after a sleep. + +"Now for some more of those nice potatoes!" he said to himself. He liked +them, right after his first taste. He did not look around for the little +ones that might have fallen out of the hills themselves. No, instead, +Squinty began rooting them out of the earth with his strong, rubbery +nose, made just for digging. + +I am not saying Squinty did right in this. In fact he did wrong, but +then he was a little pig, and he knew no better. In fact it was the +first time he had really run away so far, and he was quite hungry. And +potatoes were better than pig weed. + +Squinty ate as many potatoes as he wanted, and then he said to himself, +in a way pigs have: + +"Well, I guess I'll go on to the brook, and cool off in the water. That +will do me good. After that I'll look around and see what will happen +next." + +Squinty had a good nose for smelling, as most animals have, and, tilting +it up in the air, Squinty sniffed and snuffed. He wanted to smell the +water, so as to take the shortest path to the brook. + +"Ha! It's right over there!" exclaimed Squinty to himself. "I can easily +find the water to take a bath." + +Across the potato field he went, taking care to keep well down between +the rows of green vines, for he did not want to be seen by the dog, or +the farmer. + +Once, as Squinty was walking along, he saw what he thought was another +potato on the ground in front of him. He put his nose out toward it, +intending to eat it, but the thing gave a big jump, and hopped out of +the way. + +"Ha! That must be one of the hop toads I heard my mother tell about," +thought Squinty. "I must not hurt them, for they are good to catch the +flies that tickle me when I try to sleep. Hop on," he said to the toad. +"I won't bother you." + +[Illustration: "Hop on," he said to the toad, "I won't bother you."] + +The toad did not stop to say anything. She just hopped on, and hid under +a big stone. Maybe she was afraid of Squinty, but he would not have hurt +her. + +Soon the little pig came to the brook of cool water, and after looking +about, to see that there was no danger near, Squinty waded in, and took +a long drink. Then he rolled over and over again in it, washing off all +the mud and dirt, and coming out as clean and as pink as a little baby. +Squinty was a real nice pig, even if he had run away. + +"Let me see," he said to himself, after his bath. "What shall I do now? +Which way shall I go?" + +Well, he happened to be hungry after his swim. In fact Squinty was very +often hungry, so he thought he would see if he could find anything more +to eat. + +"I have had potatoes and pig weed," he thought, "and now I would like +some apples. I wonder if there are any apple trees around here?" + +He looked and, across the field of corn, he thought he saw an apple +tree. He made up his mind to go there. + +And that is where Squinty made another mistake. He made one when he ran +away from the pen, and another one when he started to go through the +corn field. + +Corn, you know, grows quite high, and pigs, even the largest of them, +are not very tall. At least not until they stand on their hind legs. +That was a trick Squinty had not yet learned. So he had to go along on +four legs, and this made him low down. + +Now he had been able to look over the tops of the potato vines, as they +were not very high, but Squinty could not look over the top of the corn +stalks. No sooner had he gotten into the field, and started to walk +along the corn rows, than he could not see where he was going. He could +not even see the apple tree in the middle of the field. + +"Well, this is queer," thought Squinty. "I guess I had better go back. +No, I will keep on. I may come to the apple tree soon." + +He hurried on between the corn rows. But, though he went a long +distance, he did not come to the apple tree. + +"I guess I will go back to the brook, where I had my bath, and start +over again from there," thought Squinty. "I will not try to get any +apples to-day. I will eat only potatoes and pig weed. Yes, I will go +back." + +But that was not so easy to do as he had thought. Squinty went this way +and that, through the rows of corn, but he could not find the brook. He +could not find his way back, nor could he find the apple tree. On all +sides of him was the tall corn. That was all poor Squinty could see. + +Finally, all tired out, and dusty, the little pig stopped, and sighed: + +"Oh dear! I guess I am lost!" + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +SQUINTY GETS HOME + +The rows of corn, in the field where Squinty the comical pig was lost, +were like the streets of a city. They were very straight and even, just +like the street where your house is, and, if you liked, you could +pretend that each hill of corn was a house. + +Perhaps Squinty pretended this, if pigs ever do pretend. At any rate the +little lost pig wandered up and down in the rows of corn, peering this +way and that, to see which way to go so he could get home again. He +began to think that running away was not so much fun as he had at first +thought. + +"Oh dear!" Squinty grunted, in his funny, squealing voice. "I wonder if +I'll ever see my mamma and papa again?" + +Squinty ran this way and that up and down the rows of corn, and you can +easily imagine what happened. He soon became very tired. "I think I will +take a rest," thought Squinty, talking to himself, because there was no +one else to whom he could speak. I think the little pig would have been +very glad, just then, to speak even to Don, the dog. But Don was not +there. + +Squinty, wondering what happened to little pigs when they were lost, and +if they ever got home again, stretched out on the dirt between two rows +of corn. It was shady there, but over-head the hot sun was shining. +Squinty's breath came very fast, just as when a dog runs far on a warm +day. + +But the earth was rather cool, and Squinty liked it. He would much +rather have been down by the cool brook, but he knew he could not have a +swim in it until he found it. And, just now, he seemed a good way off +from it. + +Poor Squinty! It was bad enough to be tired and warm, but to be lost was +worse, and to be hungry was worse than all--especially to a little pig. +And, more than this, there was nothing to eat. + +Squinty had tried to nibble at some of the green corn stalks, but he did +not like the taste of them. Perhaps he had not yet learned to like them, +for I have seen older pigs eat corn stalks. And pigs are very fond of +the yellow corn itself. They love to gnaw it off the cob, and chew it, +just as you chew popcorn. + +But the corn was not yet ripe, and Squinty was too little to have eaten +it, if it had been ripe. Later on he would learn to do this. Just now he +cared more about finding his way home, and also finding something that +he could eat. + +For some time the little lost pig rested on the cool earth, in the shade +of the rows of corn. Then he got up with a grunt and a squeal, and began +rooting in the ground. + +"Perhaps I may find some potatoes, or some pig weed, here," thought +Squinty. "Who knows?" + +But all he could root up, with his queer, rubbery nose, was some round +stones. Some of these were brown, and looked so much like the little +potatoes, that Squinty tried to chew one. But when he felt the hard +stone on his little white teeth he cried out in pain. + +"Ouch!" squealed Squinty. "That hurt! Those are funny potatoes! I never +knew they could be so hard." + +Later on he learned that what he supposed were potatoes were only +stones. You see it takes a little pig some time to learn all the things +he needs to know. + +Squinty let the stone roll out of his mouth, and he looked at it with +such an odd look on his face, peering at it with his squinty eye, and +with one ear cocked up sort of sideways, that, if you had seen him, you +could not have helped laughing. No one could, if they had seen Squinty +then, but there was no one in the field to watch him. + +"Well," thought Squinty, after a bit, "this will never do. I can't stay +here. I must try to find my way back home. Let me see; what had I better +do? I guess the first thing is to find that field of real potatoes, and +not the make-believe ones like this," and he pushed the stone away with +his nose. + +"When I find the potato field," he went on, still talking to himself, "I +am sure I can find the brook where I had a swim. And when I find the +brook I will know my way home, for there is a straight path from there +to our pen." + +So Squinty started off once more to walk through the rows of corn. As he +walked along on his little short legs he grunted, and rooted in the +earth with his nose. Sometimes he stumbled over a big stone, or a clod +of dirt, and fell down. + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed poor Squinty, when he got up after falling down +about six times, "Oh dear! This is no fun. I wish I had stayed in the +pen with my brothers and sisters. I wonder what they are doing now?" + +Just then Squinty felt more hungry than ever, and he thought it must be +feeding-time back in the pen. + +"Oh, they must be having some nice sour milk just now!" thought Squinty. +"How I wish I were back with them!" + +And then, as he fancied he could smell the nice sour milk, which the +farmer or his wife was pouring into the eating trough of the pen, +Squinty just howled and squealed with hunger. Oh, what a noise he made! + +Then this gave him an idea. + +"Ha!" he exclaimed to himself, in a way pigs have, "why didn't I think +of that before? I must squeal for help. My mamma, or papa, may hear me +and come for me." + +Then Squinty happened to think that the hole, by which he had gotten out +of the pen, was not large enough for his fat papa or mamma to crawl +through. + +"No, they can't get out to come for me," Squinty thought. "They'll have +to send Wuff-Wuff, or Squealer. And maybe they'll get lost, the same as +I did. Oh dear, I guess I won't squeal any more. It's bad enough for me +to be lost, without any of my brothers or sisters getting lost, too." + +So Squinty stopped squealing, and walked on and on between the rows of +corn, trying to find his way home to the pen all by himself. Squinty was +really quite a brave pig, wasn't he? + +By this time, as you can well believe, Mr. and Mrs. Pig, in the pen, had +awakened from their afternoon sleep. And all the little pigs had +awakened too, for they were beginning to feel hungry again. + +"Isn't it about time the farmer came with some sour milk for us?" asked +Mr. Pig of Mrs. Pig. + +"I think it is," she said, looking up at the sun, for the sun is the +only clock that pigs, and other animals, have. When they see the sun in +the east, low down, they know it is morning. When it shines directly +over their heads, high in the sky, they know it is noon. And when the +sun sinks down in the west the pigs know it is getting toward night, and +supper time. + +The sun was low down in the west now, and Mr. and Mrs. Pig knew it must +be nearly time for their evening meal. + +"Come, Wuff-Wuff. Come, Squealer. Come, Squinty, and all the rest of +you!" called Mrs. Pig in her grunting voice. "Come, get ready for +supper. I think I hear the farmer coming with the nice sour milk!" + +"Squee! Squee! Squee!" squealed all the little pigs, for they were very +hungry indeed. "Squee! Squee! Squee!" + +They all made a rush to see who would get to the eating trough first. +Some of them even put their feet in, they were so anxious. Pigs are +always that way. They know no better, so we must excuse them. If they +had been taught not to do that, and then did it, we would not excuse +them. + +"Here comes the farmer with the sour milk," grunted Mr. Pig. "Oh, how +good it smells!" + +Just then Squealer cried: + +"Why, where's Squinty?" + +His brothers and sisters looked around. + +Squinty, the comical pig, was not to be seen. But we know where he was, +even if his mamma and papa and brothers and sisters did not. Squinty was +in the cornfield, trying to find his way back to the pen. + +"Why, where can Squinty be?" asked Mrs. Pig. "Squinty! Squinty!" she +called, grunting and squealing as she always did. "Come to the trough!" +she went on. "Supper is ready!" + +But Squinty did not come. The farmer poured the sour milk down the +slide, where it ran into the trough, and the little pigs began to eat. +But Mr. and Mrs. Pig began looking for Squinty. They turned up the +straw, thinking he might be asleep under it. No Squinty was to be seen. +Then Mr. Pig saw the hole under the side boards of the pen. + +"Ha!" exclaimed Mr. Pig, speaking to Mrs. Pig, "I think perhaps Squinty +went out there." + +"Oh, so he did!" said Mrs. Pig. "What shall we do?" + +Just then the farmer looked over in the pen to see how fat the pigs were +getting. He counted the little pigs. Then a queer look came over his +face. + +"Hello!" he exclaimed. "Only six here! One of those pigs has gotten out. +I must look into this!" + +Quickly he glanced all about the pen. He saw the hole out of which +Squinty had run away. + +"I thought so!" exclaimed the farmer. "One of the pigs has rooted his +way out. I'll have to go after him. Here, Don!" he called to his dog. "A +pig is loose! We must catch him!" and he whistled for the big black and +white dog, who ran up, barking and leaping about. + +At first Squinty's brothers and sisters were paying so much attention to +drinking their sour milk, that they did not notice what the farmer said, +even though they missed Squinty at the trough. But when they heard the +dog barking, they wondered what had happened. Then they saw their mamma +and papa looking anxious, and talking together in their grunting +language, and Wuff-Wuff asked: + +"Has anything happened?" + +"Squinty is lost!" said Mrs. Pig, rubbing her nose up against that of +Curly Tail, the littlest girl pig of them all. "He must have run out of +the pen when we were asleep." + +"Oh dear!" cried all the little pigs, and they felt very badly. + +"Never mind," said Mr. Pig, "I heard the farmer call Don, the dog, to go +off and find Squinty. I think he'll bring him back." + +"Oh, but maybe Don will bite Squinty," said Wuff-Wuff. + +"I guess not," answered Mr. Pig. "Don is a gentle dog. But, anyhow, we +want Squinty back, and the only way we can get him is to have the farmer +and his dog go after him." + +The other little pigs finished their supper of sour milk, with some +small potatoes which the farmer's wife threw in to them. Mr. and Mrs. +Pig ate a little, and then the farmer, after stopping up the hole where +Squinty got out, so no more of the pigs could run away, started off over +the fields, calling to his dog. + +"Bow wow! Bow wow! Bow wow!" barked Don. That meant, in dog language, +"I'll find Squinty and bring him back." + +Meanwhile Squinty had tried his best to find a way out of the cornfield. +But all he did was to walk up one row, and down another. If he had been +tall enough to stand up and look over the tops of the corn stalks, he +might have seen which way to go, but he was not yet large enough for +that. + +Pretty soon Squinty looked up, and he saw that the sun was not as bright +as it had been. Squinty knew what this meant. The sun was going down, +and it would soon be night. + +"Oh dear! I wonder if I shall have to stay out all alone in the dark +night," thought poor Squinty. "Oh, I'll never run away again; never!" + +Just then he heard, off through the rows of corn, a dog barking. + +"Bow wow! Bow wow! Bow wow!" went the dog. + +"Oh, what shall I do? Where shall I hide?" thought Squinty. "A bad dog +is after me." + +He ran this way and that, stumbling and falling down. The barking of the +dog sounded nearer. Then Squinty heard a man's voice saying: + +"Get after him, Don! Find him! Find that pig!" + +"Bow wow!" was the barking answer. + +"Ha!" thought Squinty. "Don! That's the name of the good dog on our +farm! I wonder if he is coming after me?" + +Just then the farmer, who had been following the tracks left in the soft +ground by Squinty's feet, came to the cornfield. The farmer saw where +the pig had been walking between the green rows of corn. + +"He's here, somewhere, Don," the farmer said. "Find him!" + +"Bow wow!" barked Don. "I will!" + +Just then Squinty stumbled over a big stone, and he could not help +grunting. He also gave a little squeal. + +"Here he is, Don!" called the farmer. "Take him by the ear, and lead him +back to the pen. Easy, now!" + +Squinty stood still. He did not want to run away from Don. Squinty was +only too anxious to be found, and taken home. + +The next minute, through the rows of corn, came bounding Don, the dog. +He was followed by the farmer. + +"Ah, there he is! The little runaway!" cried the farmer man as he saw +the pig. "After him, Don! But don't hurt him!" + +Don raced up beside Squinty, and took him gently by the ear. + +"Bow wow!" barked the dog, and that meant: "Come along with me, if you +please. You have been away from your pen quite long enough." + +Squinty gave a loud squeal when Don took him by the ear, but when the +little pig found that the dog did not mean to hurt him, he grew quiet, +and went along willingly enough. + +"I must make that pig pen a great deal tighter, if they are going to get +out and run away every day," said the farmer to himself, as he walked +along behind Don and Squinty. + +Soon they were at the pig pen, and Oh! how glad Squinty was to see it +again. The farmer picked the little pink fellow, now all tired out and +covered with dirt, up in his arms and dropped him down inside the pen +with the other pigs. + +"There!" cried the farmer. "I guess you'll stay in after this." + +"Bow wow!" barked Don, jumping about, for he thought it was fun to chase +runaway pigs. + +And so Squinty got safely back home. But very soon he was to have some +more adventures. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +SQUINTY AND THE BOY. + +Did you ever have a little brother or sister who ran away from home, and +was very glad to run back, or be brought back again, by a policeman, +perhaps? Of course your little brother or sister may not have intended +to run away, it may have been that they only wandered off, around the +corner, toward the candy store, and could not find their way back again. +But, when he or she did get home--how glad you were to see them! Weren't +you? + +It was just like that at the pen where Squinty, the comical pig, lived. +When the farmer picked him up, and dropped him down among his brothers +and sisters, in the clean straw, Wuff-Wuff, Squealer, and Curly Tail, +and the others, were so glad to see Squinty that they grunted, and +squealed and walked all over one another, to be the first to get close +to him. + +"Oh, Squinty, where were you?" + +"Where did you go?" + +"What did you do?" + +"Weren't you awfully scared?" + +"Where did the dog find you?" + +"Did he bite you very hard?" + +These were some of the questions Squinty's brothers and sisters asked of +the little runaway pig. They pressed close up to him, rubbing their +funny, wiggling, rubber-like noses against him, and snuggling up against +him, for they liked Squinty very much indeed. + +Then, after the young pigs had had their turn, Mr. Pig and Mrs. Pig +began asking questions. + +"What made you run away?" asked Squinty's papa. + +"Oh, I wanted to have an adventure," said Squinty. + +"Well, did you have one?" asked his mamma. + +"Oh, yes, lots of them," answered the little pig. "But I didn't find +very much to eat." Squinty was very hungry now. + +"Oh dear!" exclaimed Mrs. Pig. "You are just too late for supper. It is +all eaten up. We did not see that you were not here until too late. It's +too bad!" + +Squinty thought so himself, for the smell of the sour milk that had been +in the feeding trough made him more hungry than ever. + +Squinty walked over and tried to find a few drops in the bottom of the +wooden trough. These he licked up with his red tongue. But there was not +nearly enough. + +"Ha! I guess that little pig must be hungry," said the farmer looking +down in the pen, after he had put some more stones and a board over the +hole where Squinty had gotten out. "I guess I'll have to feed him, for +the others have had their supper." + +And how glad Squinty was when the farmer went over to the barrel, where +the pigs' feed was kept, and mixed a nice pailful of sour milk with some +corn meal, and poured it into the trough. + +"Squee! Squee!" cried Squinty as he made a rush over to get his supper. + +"Squee! Squee!" cried all the other little pigs, as they, too, made a +rush to get more to eat. + +"Here! Hold on! Come back!" cried Mr. Pig. "That is Squinty's supper. +You must not touch it. You have had yours!" and he and Mrs. Pig would +not let Squinty's brothers and sisters shove him away from the trough. +For sometimes pigs are so hungry that they do this, you know. Being pigs +they know no better. + +So Squinty had his supper, after all, though he did run away. Perhaps he +should have been punished by being sent to bed without having had +anything to eat, but you see the farmer wanted his pigs to be fat and +healthy, so he fed them well. Squinty was very glad of that. + +"Now all of you go to sleep," said Mrs. Pig, when it grew darker and +darker in the pen. So she made them all cuddle down in the straw, +pulling it over them with her nose and paws, like a blanket, to keep +them warm. For only part of the pen had a roof over it, and though it +was summer, still it was cool at night. + +But Squinty's brothers and sisters had no notion of going to sleep so +soon. They wanted to hear all about what had happened to him when he had +run away, and they wanted him to tell them of his adventures. So they +grunted and whispered among themselves. + +"What happened to you, Squinty?" asked Wuff-Wuff. + +"Oh, I had a fine swim in a brook," said Squinty. + +"I wish that had happened to me," said Wuff-Wuff. "What else?" + +"I found a nice field of corn," went on Squinty, "but I did not like the +taste of it. I got lost in the cornfield." + +"That's too bad," said Wuff-Wuff. "Did anything else happen?" + +"Yes, I found some pig weed, and ate that, and some little potatoes." + +"Oh, how nice!" exclaimed Twisty Tail. "I wish that had happened to me. +Did you do anything else, Squinty?" + +"Yes," said the comical little pig. "I saw something I thought was a +potato, and it jumped away from me. It was a hoptoad." + +"That was funny," said Squealer. "I wish I had seen it. Did anything +else happen?" + +"Yes," said Squinty. "I thought I saw another potato, but when I bit on +it I found it was only a stone, and it hurt my teeth." + +"That's too bad," said Wuff-Wuff. "I am glad that did not happen to me. +Tell us what else you saw." + +But just then Mrs. Pig grunted out: + +"Come, now! All you little pigs must keep quiet and go to sleep. Go to +sleep at once!" + +So Squinty and the others cuddled closer together, snuggled down in the +soft straw, and soon were fast asleep. Now and then they stirred, or +grunted during the night, but they did not wake up until morning. They +were running around the pen before breakfast, squealing as loudly as +they could, for the farmer to come and feed them. But the farmer had his +cows and horses and chickens to feed, as well as the pigs, and he did +not get to the pen until last. And when he did, all the pigs were so +hungry, even Mr. and Mrs. Pig, that they were squealing as hard as they +could. + +"Yes, yes!" cried the farmer, as though he were talking to the pigs. +"I'm coming as fast as I can." + +Soon the farmer poured some sour milk and corn meal down into the +trough, and how eagerly Squinty and the others did eat it! Some of the +smaller pigs even put two feet in the trough, they were so anxious to +get their share. Squinty had an especially good appetite, from having +run away, so perhaps he got a little more than the others. + +But finally the breakfast was all gone, and the pigs had nothing more to +do until dinner time--that is, all they had to do was to lie down and +rest, or get up now and then to scratch a mosquito, or a fly bite. + +"Well, I guess none of you will get out again," said the farmer, after a +while, as he nailed a bigger board over the hole by which Squinty had +gotten out. "Don, watch these pigs," the farmer went on. "If they get +out, grab them by the ear, and bring them back." + +"Bow wow!" barked Don, and that meant he would do as his master had told +him. + +For several days after this nothing happened in the pigs' pen except +that they were washed off with the hose now and then, to clean them of +mud and make them cool. Once in a while the farmer would take a corn cob +and scratch the back of Mr. or Mrs. Pig, and they liked this very much. +The other pigs were almost too little for the farmer to reach over the +top of the pen. + +One day the pigs heard merry shouts and laughter up at the farmhouse. +There were the sounds of boys' and girls' voices. Then came the patter +of many feet. + +"Oh, look at the pigs!" someone cried, and Squinty, and his brothers and +sisters, looking up, saw, over the edge of the pen, some boys and girls +looking down on them. + +"Oh, aren't they cute!" exclaimed a girl. + +"Just lovely!" said another girl. "Pigs are so nice!" + +"I wonder if any of them can do any tricks?" asked a boy who stood +looking down into the pen. + +"These aren't trained circus pigs," spoke one of the girls. "They can't +do tricks." + +The boy and the girls stayed for a little while, watching the pigs. Then +the boy said: + +"Let's pull some weeds and feed them." + +"Oh, yes, let's!" cried the girls. The pigs were glad when they heard +this, and they were more glad when the boy and the girls threw pig weed, +and other green things from the garden, into the pen. The pigs ate them +all up, and wanted more. + +After that, for several days, Squinty and his brothers and sisters could +hear the boy and the girls running about the garden, but they could not +see them because the boards around the pig pen were too high. The boy +and the girls seemed to be having a fine time. + +Squinty could hear them talking about hunting the hens' eggs, and +feeding the little calves and sheep, and riding on the backs of horses. + +Then, one day Squinty looked up out of the pen, and, leaning over the +top board he saw the farmer, the boy and another man. + +"Oh, Father!" exclaimed the boy, "do let me have just one little pig. +They are so nice!" + +[Illustration: "Oh, Father!" exclaimed the boy, "do let me have just one +little pig."] + +"A pig!" cried Father. "What would you do with a pig in our town? We are +not in the country. Where would you keep a pig?" + +"Oh, I could build a little pen for him in our yard. Look, let me have +that one, he is so pink and pretty and clean." + +"Ha! So you want that pig, do you?" asked the farmer. The boy and his +father and sisters were paying a visit to the farm. + +"Yes, I want a pig very much!" the boy said. "And I think I'd like that +one," and he pointed straight at Squinty. Poor Squinty ran and tried to +hide under the straw, for he knew the boy was talking about him. + +"Oh, see him run!" cried the boy. "Yes, I think he is the nicest pig in +the lot. I want him. Has he any name?" + +"Well, we call him Squinty," the farmer said. "He has a funny, squinting +eye." + +"Then I'll call him Squinty, too," the boy went on. "Please, Father, may +I have that little pig?" + +"Well, I don't know," said his father slowly, scratching his head. "A +pig is a queer pet. I suppose you might have him, though. You could keep +him in the back yard. Yes, I guess you could have him, if Mr. Jones will +sell him, and if the pig will behave. Do you think that little pig will +be good, Mr. Jones?" asked the father of the farmer man. + +"Well, yes, I guess so," answered the farmer. "He has run away out of +the pen a couple of times, but if you board up a place good and tight, I +guess he won't get out." + +"Oh, I do hope he'll be good!" exclaimed the boy. "I do so want a little +pet pig, and I'll be so kind to him!" + +When Squinty heard that, he made up his mind, if the boy took him, that +he would be as good as he knew how. + +"When can I have my little pig?" asked the boy, of his father. + +"Oh, as soon as Mr. Jones can put him in a box, so we can carry him," +was the answer. "We can't very well take him in our arms; he would slip +out and run away." + +"I guess so, too," laughed the boy. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +SQUINTY ON A JOURNEY + +"Mamma, did you hear what they were saying about Squinty?" asked +Wuff-Wuff, as the boy and the two men walked away from the pig pen. + +"Oh, yes, I heard," said Mrs. Pig. "I shall be sorry to lose Squinty, +but then we pigs have to go out and take our places in this world. We +cannot always stay at home in the pen." + +"Yes, that is so," spoke Mr. Pig. "But Squinty is rather young and small +to start out. However, it may all be for the best. Now, Squinty, you had +better keep yourself nice and clean, so as to be ready to go on a +journey." + +"What's a journey?" asked the comical little pig, squinting his eye up +at the papa pig. + +"A journey is going away from home," answered Mr. Pig. + +"And does it mean having adventures?" asked Squinty, flopping his ears +backward and forward. + +"Yes, you may have some adventures," replied his mother. "Oh dear, +Squinty! I wish you didn't have to go and leave us. But still, it may be +all for your good." + +"We might hide him under the straw," suggested Wuff-Wuff. "Then that boy +could not find him when he comes to put him in a box, and take him +away." + +"No, that would never do," said Mr. Pig. "The farmer is stronger and +smarter than we are. He would find Squinty, no matter where we hid him. +It is better to let him do as he pleases, and take Squinty away, though +we shall all miss him." + +"Oh dear!" cried Curly Tail, for she liked her little brother very much, +and she loved to see him look at her with his funny, squinting eye. "Do +you want to go, Squinty?" + +"Well, I don't want to leave you all," answered the comical little pig, +"but I shall be glad to go on a journey, and have adventures. I hope I +don't get lost again, though." + +"I guess the boy won't let you get lost," spoke Mr. Pig. "He looks as +though he would be kind and good to you." + +The pig family did not know when Squinty would be taken away from them, +and all they could do was to wait. While they were doing this they ate +and slept as they always did. Squinty, several times, looked at the hole +under the pen, by which he had once gotten out. He felt sure he could +again push his way through, and run away. But he did not do it. + +"No, I will wait and let the boy take me away," thought Squinty. + +Several times after this the boy and his sisters came to look down into +the pig pen. The pigs could tell, by the talk of the children, that they +were brother and sisters. And they had come to the farm to spend their +summer vacation, when there was no school. + +"That's the pig I am going to take home with me," the boy would say to +his sisters, pointing to Squinty. + +"How can you tell which one is yours?" asked one of the little girls. + +"I can tell by his funny squint," the boy would answer. "He always makes +me want to laugh." + +"Well, I am glad I am of some use in this world," thought Squinty, who +could understand nearly all that the boy and his sisters said. "It is +something just to be jolly." + +"I wouldn't want a pig," said the other girl. "They grunt and squeal and +are not clean. I'd rather have a rabbit." + +"Pigs are so clean!" cried the boy. "Squinty is as clean as a rabbit!" + +Only that day Squinty had rolled over and over in the mud, but he had +had a bath from the hose, so he was clean now. And he made up his mind +that if the boy took him he would never again get in the mud and become +covered with dirt. + +"I will keep myself clean and jolly," thought Squinty. + +A few days after this Squinty heard the noise of hammering and sawing +wood outside the pig pen. + +"The farmer must be building another barn," said Mr. Pig, for he and his +family could not see outside the pen. "Yes, he must be building another +barn, for once before we heard the sounds of hammering and sawing, and +then a new barn was built." + +But that was not what it was this time. + +Soon the sounds stopped, and the farmer and the boy came and looked down +into the pig pen. + +"Now you are sure you want that squinty one?" the farmer asked the boy. +"Some of the others are bigger and better." + +"No, I want the squinty one," the boy said. "He is so comical, he makes +me laugh." + +"All right," answered the farmer. "I'll get him for you, now that you +have the crate all made to carry him home in on the cars." + +Over into the pig pen jumped the farmer. He made a grab for Squinty and +caught him. + +"Squee! Squee! Squee!" squealed Squinty, for he had never been squeezed +so tightly before. + +"Oh, I'm not going to hurt you," said the farmer, kindly. + +"Squinty, be quiet," ordered his papa, in the pig language. "Behave +yourself. You are going on a journey, and will be all right." + +Then Squinty stopped squealing, as the farmer climbed out of the pen +with him. + +"At last I am going on a journey, and I may have many adventures," +thought the little pig. "Good-by!" he called to his papa and mamma and +brothers and sisters, left behind in the pen. "Good-by!" + +"Good-by!" they all grunted and squealed. "Be a good pig," said his +mamma. + +"Be a brave pig," said his papa. + +"And--and come back and see us, sometime," sniffled little Curly Tail, +for she loved Squinty very much indeed. + +"I'll come back!" said the comical little pig. But he did not know how +much was to happen before he saw his pen again. + +"There you go--into the box with you!" cried the farmer, as he dropped +Squinty into a wooden box the boy had made for his pet, with a hammer, +saw and nails. + +Squinty found himself dropped down on a bed of clean straw. In front of +him, behind him, and on either side of him were wooden slats--the sides +of the box. Squinty could look out, but the slats were as close together +as those in a chicken coop, and the little pig could not get out. + +He did not want to, however, for he had made up his mind that he was +going to be a good pig, and go with the boy who had bought him for a pet +from the farmer. + +Over the top of the box was nailed a cover with a handle to it, and by +this handle the pig in the little cage could be easily carried. + +"There you are!" exclaimed the farmer. "Now he'll be all right until you +get him home." + +"And, when I do, I'll put him in a nice big pen, and feed him well," +said the boy. Squinty smacked his lips at that, for he was hungry even +now. + +"Oh, have you caged him up? Isn't he cute!" exclaimed one of the boy's +sisters. "I'll give him the core of my apple," and she thrust it in +through the slats of the box. Squinty was very glad, indeed, to get the +apple core, and he soon ate it up. + +"Come on!" cried the boy's father. "Is the pig nailed up? We must go for +the train!" + +"I wonder what the train is," thought Squinty. He was soon to know. The +boy lifted him up, cage and all, and put him into the wagon that was to +go to the depot. Squinty knew what a wagon was and horses, for he had +seen them many times. + +Then away they started. Squinty gave a loud squeal, which was his last +good-by to the other pigs in the pen, and then the wagon rattled away +along the road. + +Squinty had started on his journey. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +SQUINTY LEARNS A TRICK + +Squinty, the comical pig, tried to look out through the slats of the +box, in which he was being taken away, to see in which direction he was +going. He also wanted to watch the different sights along the road. But +the sides of the farm wagon were so high that the little pig could see +nothing. He stretched his fat neck as far as it would go, but that did +no good either. Squinty wished he were as big as his papa or his mamma. + +"Then I could see what is going on," he thought. + +But just wishing never made anyone larger or taller, not even a pig, and +Squinty stayed the same size. + +He could hear the farmer and the children talking. Now and then the boy +who had bought Squinty, and who was taking him home, would look around +at his pet in the slatted box. + +"Is he all right?" one of the girls would ask. + +"He seems to be," the boy would say. "I am glad I got him." + +"Well, he acts real cute," said another girl, who was called Sallie, +"but I never heard of having a pig for a pet before." + +"You just wait until I teach him some tricks," said the boy, whose name +was Bob. "Then you'll think he's fine!" + +"Ha! So I am to learn tricks," thought Squinty in his box. "I wonder +what tricks are, anyhow? Does it mean I am to have good things to eat? I +hope so." + +You see Squinty, like most little pigs, thought more of something to eat +than of anything else. But we must not blame him for that, since he +could not help it. + +Pretty soon the wagon rattled over some stones, and then came to a stop. + +"Here we are!" called the children's father. "Bring along your little +pig, Bob. Here comes the train." + +"Ha! It seems I am to go on a train," thought Squinty. "I wonder what a +train is?" + +Squinty had many things to learn, didn't he? + +The little pig in the box felt himself being lifted out of the wagon. +Then he could look about him. He saw a large building, in front of which +were long, slender strips of shining steel. These were the railroad +tracks, but Squinty did not know that. Then all at once, Squinty heard a +loud noise, which went like this: + +"Whee! Whee! Whee-whee!" + +"Oh my! what a loud squeal that pig has!" exclaimed Squinty. "He can +squeal much louder than I can, I think. Let me try." + +So Squinty went: + +"Squee! Squee! Squee!" + +And then the big noise sounded again, louder than before: + +"Whee! Whee! Toot! Toot!" + +"Oh my!" said Squinty to himself, snuggling down in the straw of his +box. "I never can squeal as loud as that. Never!" + +He looked out and saw a big black thing rushing toward him, with smoke +coming out of the top, and then the big black thing cried out again: + +"Whee! Whee! Toot! Toot!" + +"Oh, what a terrible, big black pig!" thought Squinty. And he was a bit +frightened. But it was not a big black pig at all. It was only the +engine drawing the train of cars up to the station to take the +passengers away. And it was going to take Squinty, also. + +Squinty thought the engine whistle was a pig's squeal, but it wasn't, of +course. + +Pretty soon the train stopped. The passengers made a rush to get in the +cars. Bob, the boy, caught up the handle of Squinty's box, and, after +some bumping and tilting sideways, the little pig found himself set down +in a rather dark place, for the boy had put the box on the floor of the +car by his seat, near his feet. + +And there Squinty rode, seeing nothing, but hearing many strange noises, +until, after many stops, he was lifted up again. + +"Here we are!" the little pig heard the children's papa say. "Have you +everything? Don't forget your pig, Bob." + +"I won't," answered the boy, with a jolly laugh. + +"Well, I wonder what will happen next?" thought Squinty, as he felt +himself being carried along again. He could see nothing but a crowd of +persons all about the boy who carried the box. + +"I don't know whether I am going to like this or not--this coming to +live in town," thought the little pig. "Still, I cannot help myself, I +suppose. But I do wish I had something to eat." + +I guess the boy must have known Squinty was hungry, for, when he next +set down the box, this time in a carriage, the boy gave the little pig a +whole apple to eat. And how good it did taste to Squinty! + +"Are you going to make a pen for him?" asked one of the boy's sisters, +as the carriage drove off. + +"Yes, as soon as we get to the house," said the boy. + +By this time Squinty was thirsty. There was no water in his cage, but, a +little later, when he saw through the slats, that he was being carried +toward a large, white house, he was given a tin of water to drink. + +"I'll just leave him in that box until I can fix a larger one for him," +the boy said, and then, for a while, Squinty was left all to himself. +But he was still in the box, though the box was set in a shady place on +the back porch. + +All this while Mr. Pig and Mrs. Pig, as well as the brother and sister +pigs, in the pen at home, were wondering what had happened to Squinty. + +"Where do you think he is now, Mamma?" Wuff-Wuff would ask. + +"Oh, I don't know," Mrs. Pig answered. + +"And will he ever come back to us?" asked Twisty Tail. + +"Perhaps, some day. I hope so," said Mrs. Pig, sort of sighing. + +"Oh, yes, I think he will," said Mr. Pig. "When he gets quite large the +boy will get tired of having him for a pet, and perhaps bring him back." + +"Were you ever carried off that way, Papa?" asked Grunter, as he rubbed +his back, where a mosquito had bitten him, against the side of the pen. + +"Oh, yes, once," answered Mr. Pig. "I was taken away from my pen, when I +was pretty large, and given to a little girl for a pet. But she did not +keep me long. I guess she would rather have had her dolls, so I was soon +brought back to my pen. And I was glad of it." + +"Well, I hope they will soon bring Squinty back," Wuff-Wuff said. "It is +lonesome without him." + +But, after a while, the other pigs found so many things to do, and they +were kept so busy, eating sour milk, and getting fat, that they nearly +forgot about Squinty. + +But, all this time, something was happening to the comical little pig. + +Toward evening of the first day that Squinty had been put in the new +little cage, the boy, who had not been near him in some time, came back +to look at his pet. + +"Now I have a larger place for you," the boy said, speaking just as +though Squinty could understand him. And, in fact, Squinty did know much +of what was said to him, though he could not talk back in boy language, +being able to speak only his own pig talk. + +"And I guess you are hungry, too, and want something to eat," the boy +went on. "I will feed you!" + +"Squee! Squee! Squee!" squealed Squinty. If there was one word in +man-talk that he understood very well, it was "feed." He had often heard +the farmer say: + +"Well, now I must feed the pigs." + +And right after that, some nice sour milk would come splashing down into +the trough of the pen. So when Squinty heard the word "feed" again, he +guessed what was going to happen. + +And he guessed right, too. + +The boy picked Squinty up, box and all, and carried him to the back +yard. + +"Now I'll give you more room to run about, and then I'll have a nice +supper for you," the boy said, talking to his little pig just as you +would to your dog, or kittie. + +With a hammer the boy knocked off some of the slats of the small box in +which Squinty had made his journey. Then the boy lifted out the comical +little pig, and Squinty found himself inside a large box, very much like +the pen at home. It had clean straw in it, and a little trough, just +like the one at his "home," where he could eat. But there was nothing in +the trough to eat, as yet, and the box seemed quite lonesome, for +Squinty was all alone. + +"Here you are now! Some nice sour milk, and boiled potatoes!" cried the +boy, and then Squinty smelled the most delicious smell--to him at least. +Down into the trough came the sour milk and potatoes. + +"Squee! Squee!" yelled Squinty in delight. And how fast he ate! That was +because he was hungry, you see, but pigs nearly always eat fast, as +though they were continually in a hurry. + +"Oh, isn't it cute!" exclaimed a voice over Squinty's head. He looked +up, half shutting his one funny eye, and cocking one ear up, and letting +the other droop down. But he did not stop eating. + +"Oh, isn't he funny!" cried another voice. And Squinty saw the boy and +his sisters looking at him. + +"Yes, he surely is a nice pig," the boy said, "In a few days, when he +gets over being strange, I'm going to teach him some tricks." + +"Ha! There's that word tricks again!" thought Squinty. "I wonder what +tricks are? But I shall very soon find out." + +For a few days Squinty was rather lonesome in his new pen, all by +himself. He missed his papa and mamma and brothers and sisters. But the +boy came to see Squinty every day, bringing him nice things to eat, and, +after a bit, Squinty came to look for his new friend. + +"I guess you are getting to know me, aren't you, old fellow?" the boy +said one day, after feeding Squinty, and he scratched the little pig on +the back with a stick. + +"Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty. That, I suppose, was his way of saying: + +"Of course I know you, and I like you, boy." + +One day, about a week after he had come to his new home, Squinty heard +the boy say: + +"Now I think you are tame enough to be let out. I don't believe you will +run away, will you? But, anyhow, I'll tie a string to your leg, and then +you can't." + +Squinty wished he could speak boy language, and tell his friend that he +would not run away as long as he was kindly treated, but of course +Squinty could not do this. Instead, he could only grunt and squeal. + +The boy tied a string to Squinty's leg, and let him out of the pen. The +comical little pig was glad to have more room in which to move about. He +walked first to one side, and then the other, rooting in the dirt with +his funny, rubbery nose. The boy laughed to see him. + +"I guess you are looking for something to eat," the boy said. "Well, +let's see if you can find these acorns." + +The boy hid them under a pile of dirt, and watched. Squinty smelled +about, and sniffed. He could easily tell where the acorns had been +hidden, and, a moment later, he had rooted them up and was eating them. + +"Oh, you funny little pig!" cried the boy. "You are real smart! You know +how to find acorns. That is one trick." + +"Ha! If that is a trick, it is a very easy one--just rooting up acorns," +thought Squinty to himself. + +Squinty walked around, as far as the rope tied to his leg would let him. +The other end of the rope was held by the boy. Once the rope got tangled +around Squinty's foot, and he jumped over it to get free. The boy saw +him and cried: + +"Oh, I wonder if I could teach you to jump the rope? That would be a +fine trick. Let me see." + +The boy thought a moment, and then lifted Squinty up, and set him down +on one side of the rope, which he raised a little way from the ground, +just as girls do when they are playing a skipping game. + +On the other side of the rope the boy put an apple. + +"Now, Squinty," said Bob, "if you want that apple you must jump the rope +to get it. Come on." + +At first Squinty did not understand what was wanted of him. He saw +nothing but the apple, and thought how much he wanted it. He started for +it, but, before he could get it the boy pulled up the rope in front of +him. The rope stopped Squinty. + +"Jump over the rope if you want the apple," said the boy. Of course +Squinty could not exactly understand this talk. He tried once more to +get the apple, but, every time he did, he found the rope in front of +him, in the way. + +"Well!" exclaimed Squinty to himself, "I am going to get that apple, +rope or no rope. I guess I'll have to get over the rope somehow." + +So the next time he started for the juicy apple, and the rope was pulled +up in front of him, Squinty gave a little spring, and over the rope he +went, jumping with all four legs, coming down on the other side, like a +circus man jumping over the elephant's back. + +[Illustration: Squinty gave a little spring, and over the rope he went.] + +"Oh, fine! Good!" cried the boy, clapping his hands. "Squinty has +learned to do another trick!" + +"Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty, as he chewed the apple. "So that's another +trick, is it?" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +SQUINTY IN THE WOODS + +Bob, the boy who had bought Squinty, the comical pig, laughed and +clapped his hands. His two sisters, who were playing with their dolls in +the shade of an evergreen tree, heard their brother, and one of them +called out: + +"What is it, Bob? What is it?" + +"Oh, come and see my pig do a trick!" answered the boy. "He is too funny +for anything!" + +"Can he really do a trick?" asked the smaller sister, whose name was +Mollie. + +"Indeed he can," the boy said. "He can do two tricks--find hidden +acorns, and jump a rope." + +"Oh, no, not really jump a rope!" cried Sallie. + +"You just come and see!" the boy called. + +All this while Squinty was chewing on the apple which he had picked up +from the ground after he had jumped over the rope. He heard what the boy +said, and Squinty made up his mind. + +"Well," said the little pig to himself, "if it is any fun for that boy +and his sisters to watch me jump over a rope, and dig up acorns, I don't +mind doing it for them. They call them tricks, but I call it getting +something to eat." + +And they were both right, you see. + +Sallie and Mollie, the two sisters, laid down their dolls in the shade, +and ran over toward their brother, who still held one end of the rope, +that was fast to Squinty's leg. + +"Make him do some tricks for us," begged Mollie. + +"Show us how he jumps the rope," said Sallie. + +"First, I'll have him dig up the acorns, as that's easier," spoke Bob. +"Here, Squinty!" he called. "Find the acorns! Find 'em!" + +While Squinty had been munching on the apple, the boy had dug a hole, +put some sweet acorn nuts into it, and covered them up with dirt. +Squinty had not seen him do this, but Squinty thought he could find the +nuts just the same. + +There were two ways of doing this. Squinty had a very sharp-smelling +nose. He could smell things afar off, that neither you nor I could smell +even close by. And Squinty could also tell, by digging in the ground +with his queer, rubbery nose, just where the ground was soft and where +it was hard. And he knew it would be soft at the place where the boy had +dug a hole in which to hide the acorns. + +So, when Bob called for Squinty to come and find the acorn nuts, even +though the little pig had not seen just where they were hidden, Squinty +felt sure he could dig them up. + +"He'll never find them!" said Sallie. + +"Just you watch!" exclaimed the boy. + +He pulled on the rope around Squinty's leg. At first the little pig was +not quite sure what was wanted of him. He thought perhaps he was to jump +over the rope after another apple. But he saw no fruit waiting for him. +Then he looked carefully about and smelled the air. The boy was very +gentle with him, and waited patiently. + +And I might say, right here, that if you ever try to teach your pets any +tricks, you must be both kind and gentle with them, for you know they +are not as smart as you are, and cannot think as quickly. + +"Ha! I smell acorns!" thought Squinty to himself. "I guess the boy must +want me to do the first trick, as he calls it, and dig up the acorns. +I'll do it!" + +Carefully Squinty sniffed the air. When he turned one way he could smell +the acorns quite plainly. When he turned the other way he could not +smell them quite so well. So he started off in the direction where he +could most plainly smell the nuts he loved so well. + +Next he began rooting in the ground. At first it was very hard for his +nose, but soon it became soft. Then he could smell the acorns more +plainly than before. + +"See, he is going right toward them!" cried the boy. + +"There, he has them!" exclaimed Sallie. + +"Oh, so he has!" spoke Mollie. "I wouldn't have thought he could!" + +And, by that time, Squinty had found the hole where the boy had covered +the acorns with dirt, and Squinty was chewing the sweet nuts. + +"Now make him jump the rope," said Mollie. + +"I will, as soon as he eats the acorns," replied the boy. + +"Ha! I am going to have another apple, just for jumping a rope," thought +Squinty, in delight. + +You see the little pig imagined the trick was done just to get him to +eat the apple. He did not count the rope-jumping part of it at all, +though that, really, was what the boy wanted. + +Once more Bob placed the apple on the ground, on the far side of the +rope. One end of the rope the boy held in his hand, and the other was +around Squinty's leg, but a loop of it was made fast to a stick stuck in +the ground, so the boy could pull on the rope and raise or lower it, +just as you girls do when you play. + +"Come on, now, Squinty! Jump over it!" called the boy. + +The little pig saw the apple, and smelled it. He wanted very much to get +it. But, when he ran toward it, he found the rope raised up in front of +him. He forgot, for a moment, his second trick, and stood still. + +"Oh, I thought you said he would jump the rope!" said Mollie, rather +disappointed. + +"He will--just wait a minute," spoke the boy. "Come on, Squinty!" he +called. + +Once more Squinty started for the apple. This time he remembered that, +before, he had to jump the rope to get it. So he did it again. Over the +rope he went, with a little jump, coming down on the side where the +apple was, and, in a second he was chewing the juicy fruit. + +"There!" cried the boy. "Didn't he jump the rope?" + +"Oh, well, but he didn't jump it fast, back and forth, like we girls +do," said Mollie. + +"But it was pretty good--for a little pig," said Sallie. + +"I think so, too," spoke the boy. "And I am going to teach him to jump +real fast, and without going for an apple each time. I'm going to teach +him other tricks, too." + +"Oh dear!" thought Squinty, when he heard this. "So I am to learn more +tricks, it seems. Well, I hope they will all be eating ones." + +"Make him do it again," suggested Mollie, after a bit. + +"No, I haven't any more apples," the boy answered. "And at first I'll +have to make him jump for an apple each time. After a bit I'll not give +him an apple until he has done all his tricks. Come on now, Squinty, +back to your pen." + +The boy lifted up his pet, and put him back in the pen that had been +especially built for the little pig. As soon as he was in it Squinty ran +over to the trough, hoping there would be some sour milk in it. But +there was none. + +"You've had enough to eat for a while," said the boy with a laugh. +"Later on I'll give you your milk." + +"Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty, and I suppose he meant he would be glad to +have the milk now. But he got none, so he curled himself up in the clean +straw and went to sleep. + +When he awakened, he thought at first he was back in the pen at home, +and he cried out: + +"Oh, Wuff-Wuff! Oh, Twisty Tail. I had the queerest dream! I thought a +boy had me, and that I could jump a rope, and hunt acorns, and do lots +of tricks. But I--!" And then Squinty stopped. He looked around and +found himself all alone in the new pen. None of his brothers or sisters +was near him, and he could not hear his mamma or papa grunting near the +feed trough. + +"Ha! It wasn't a dream, after all," thought Squinty, a bit sorrowfully. +"It's all real--I can do tricks, and a boy has me." + +Every few days after that the boy took Squinty out of his pen, and let +him do the rope-jumping and the acorn-hunting tricks. And it did not +take Squinty long to learn to jump the rope when there was no apple on +the other side. The boy would say: + +"Jump over the rope, Squinty!" + +And over it the little pig would go. But if he did not get the apple as +soon as he jumped, he did get it afterward, which was just as good. It +was sort of a reward for his tricks, you see. + +"Now you must learn a new trick," said the boy one day. "I want you to +learn how to walk on your hind legs, Squinty. It is not going to be +easy, either. But I guess you can do it. And I am going to take the rope +off your leg, for I do not believe you will run away from me now." + +So the rope was taken off Squinty's leg. And he liked the boy so much, +and liked his new home, and the nuts and apples he got to eat were so +good, that Squinty did not try to run away. + +"Up on your hind legs!" cried the boy, and, by taking hold of Squinty's +front feet, Bob raised his pet up on the hind legs. + +"Now stand there!" the boy cried, but when he took away his hands of +course Squinty came down on all four legs. He did not know what the boy +meant to have him do. + +"I guess I'll have to stand you in a corner to start with," the boy +said. "That will brace you up." + +Then, kindly and gently, the boy took Squinty over to the place where +the corn crib was built on to the barn. This made a corner and the +little pig was stood up on his hind legs in that. Then, with something +to lean his back against, he did not feel like falling over, and he +remained standing up on two legs, with his front feet stuck out in front +of him. + +"That's the way to do it!" cried Bob. "Soon you will be able to stand up +without anything to lean against. And, a little later, you will be able +to walk on your hind legs. Now here's an apple for you, Squinty!" + +So you see Squinty received his reward for starting to learn a new +trick. + +In a few days, just as the boy had said, the little pig found that he +could sit up on his hind legs all alone, without anything to lean back +against. + +But learning to walk on his hind legs was a little harder. + +The boy, however, was patient and kind to him. At first Bob held +Squinty's front feet, and walked along with him so the little pig would +get used to the new trick. Then one day Bob said: + +"Now, Squinty, I want you to walk to me all by yourself. Stand up!" + +Squinty stood up on his hind legs. The boy backed away from him, and +stood a little distance off, holding out a nice, juicy potato this time. + +"Come and get the potato," called the boy. + +"Squee! Squee!" grunted Squinty. "I can't!" I suppose he meant to say. + +"Come on!" cried the boy. "Don't be afraid. You can do it!" + +Squinty wanted that potato very much. And the only way to get it was to +walk to it on his hind legs. If he let himself down on all four legs he +knew the boy would not give him the potato. So Squinty made up his +little pig mind that he would do this new trick. + +Off he started, walking by himself on his hind legs, just like a trained +bear. + +"Fine! That's the way to do it! I knew you could!" the boy cried when +Squinty reached him, and took the potato out of his hand. "Good little +pig!" and he scratched Squinty's back with a stick. + +"Uff! Uff!" squealed Squinty, very much pleased. + +And from then on the comical little pig learned many tricks. + +He could stand up a long time, on his hind legs, with an apple on his +nose. And he would not eat it until the boy called: + +"Now, Squinty!" + +Then Squinty would toss the apple up in the air, off his nose, and catch +it as it came down. Oh, how good it tasted! + +Squinty also learned to march around with a stick for a gun, and play +soldier. He liked this trick best of all, for he always had two apples +to eat after that. + +Many of Bob's boy friends came to see his trained pig. They all thought +he was very funny and cute, and they laughed very hard when Squinty +looked at them with his queer, drooping eye. They would feed him apples, +potatoes and sometimes bits of cake that Bob's mother gave them. Squinty +grew very fond of cake. + +Then one day something happened. Bob always used to lock the door of the +new pig pen every night, for, though he knew his pet was quite tame now, +he thought, if the door were left open, Squinty might wander away. And +that is exactly what Squinty did. He did not mean to do wrong, but he +knew no better. One evening, after he had done many tricks that day, +when Squinty found the door of his pen part way open, he just pushed it +the rest of the way with his strong nose, and out he walked! No one saw +him. + +"Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty, looking about, "I guess I'll go take a walk +by myself. I may find something good to eat." + +Out of the pen he went. There was no garden here, such as the farmer had +at Squinty's first home. But, not far from the pig pen was the big, +green wood. + +"I'll go over in there and see what happens," thought Squinty. "Perhaps +I may find some acorns." + +And so Squinty ran away to the woods. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +SQUINTY'S BALLOON RIDE + + +This was the third time Squinty had run away. But not once did he intend +to do any wrong; you see he knew no better. He just found his pen door +open and walked out--that was all there was to it. + +"I wonder what will happen to me this time?" thought the comical little +pig, as he hurried along over the ground, toward the woods. "I don't +believe Don, the dog, will find me here, for he must be back on the +farm. But some other dog might. I had better be careful, I guess." + +When Squinty thought this he stopped and looked carefully around for any +signs of a barking dog. But he saw none. It was very still and quiet, +for it was nearly supper time in the big house where Bob lived, and he +and his sisters were waiting for the bell to ring to call them to the +table. + +But Squinty had had his supper, and, for the time, he was not hungry. + +"And if I do get hungry again, I may find something in the woods," he +said to himself. "Acorn nuts grow in the woods, and they are very good. +I'll root up some of them." + +Once or twice Squinty looked back toward the pen he had run away from, +to see if Bob, his master, were coming after him. But Bob had no idea +his little pet had run away. In fact, just then, Bob was wondering what +new trick he could teach Squinty the next day. + +On and on ran the comical pig. Once he found something round and yellow +on the ground. + +"Ha! That looks like a yellow apple," thought Squinty, and he bit it +hard with his white teeth. Then his mouth all puckered up, he felt a +sour taste, and he cried out: + +"Wow! I don't like that. Oh, that isn't an apple at all!" + +And it wasn't--it was a lemon the grocery boy had dropped. + +"Oh! How sour!" grunted Squinty. "I'd like a drink of water to take the +taste of that out of my mouth." + +Squinty lifted his nose up in the air, and sniffed and snuffed. He +wanted to try to smell a spring of water, and he did, just on the edge +of the big wood. Over to the spring he ran on his little short legs, and +soon he was having a fine drink. + +"Now I feel better," Squinty said. "What will happen next?" + +Nothing did for some time, and, when it did it was so strange that +Squinty never forgot it as long as he lived. I'll tell you all about it. + +He walked on through the woods, Squinty did, and, before very long, he +found some acorns. He ate as many as he wanted and then, as he always +felt sleepy after he had eaten, he thought he would lie down and have a +nap. + +He found a place, near a big stump, where there was a soft bed of dried +leaves, nearly as nice as his straw bed in the pen at home. On this he +stretched out, and soon he was fast asleep. + +When Squinty awoke it was real dark. He jumped up with a little grunt, +and said to himself: + +"Well, I did not mean to stay away from my pen so long. I guess I had +better go back." + +Squinty started to go back the way he had come, but I guess you can +imagine what happened. It was so dark he could not find the path. He +walked about, stumbling over sticks and stones and stumps, sometimes +falling down on soft moss, and again on the hard ground. Finally Squinty +thought: + +"Well, it is of no use. I can't get back tonight, that is sure. I shall +have to stay here. Oh dear! I hope there are no dogs to bite me!" + +Squinty listened carefully. He could hear no barks. He hunted around in +the dark until he found another soft bed of leaves, and on that he +cuddled himself up to go to sleep for the night. He was a little afraid, +but, after all, he was used to sleeping alone, and, even though he was +outside of his pen now, he did not worry much. + +"In the morning I shall go back to the boy who taught me tricks," +thought Squinty. + +But something else happened in the morning. + +Squinty was awake when the sun first peeped up from behind the clouds. +The little pig scratched his ear, where a mosquito had bitten him during +the night. Then he stretched first one leg and then the others, and +said: + +"Ha! Ho! Hum! Uff! Uff! I guess I'll have some acorns for my breakfast." + +It was a very easy matter for Squinty to get his breakfast. He did not +have to wash, or comb his hair, or even dress. Just as he was he got up +out of his leaf-bed, and began rooting around in the ground for acorns. +He soon found all he wanted, and ate them. Then he felt thirsty, so he +looked around until he had found another spring of cool water, where he +drank as much as he needed. + +"And now to go back home, to the boy who taught me tricks," said Squinty +to himself. "I guess he is wondering where I am." + +And indeed that boy, Bob, and his sisters Mollie and Sallie, were +wondering where Squinty was. They saw the open door of the pen, and the +boy recalled that he had forgotten to lock it. + +"Oh, Squinty is gone!" he cried, and he felt very badly indeed. But I +have no time to tell you more of that boy now. I must relate for you the +wonderful adventures of Squinty. + +Squinty went this way and that through the woods, but he could not find +the path that led to his pen. He tried and tried again, but it was of no +use. + +"Well," said Squinty, at last, sitting down beside a hollow log, "I +guess I am lost. That is all there is to it I am lost in the big woods! +Oh dear! I almost wish Don, the dog, or the farmer would come and find +me now." + +He waited, but no one came. He listened but he heard nothing. + +"Well, I might as well eat and go to sleep again," said Squinty, "Maybe +something will happen then." + +Soon he was asleep again. But he was suddenly awakened. He heard a great +crashing in the trees over his head. + +"Gracious! I hope that isn't a dog after me!" cried the little pig. + +He looked up, Squinty did. He saw coming down from the sky, through the +branches of the trees, a big round thing, like more than ten thousand +rubber balls, made into one. Below the round thing hung a square basket, +with many ropes, and other things, fast to it. And in the basket were +two men. They looked over the edge of the basket. One of them pulled on +a rope, and the big thing, which was a balloon, though Squinty did not +know it, came to the ground with a bang. + +"Well, at last we have made a landing," said one of the men. + +"Yes," said the other. "And we shall have to throw out some bags of sand +to go up again." + +Squinty did not know what this meant. But I'll explain to you that a +"landing" is when a balloon comes down to the ground. And when the men +in it want to go up again, they have to toss out some of the bags of +sand, or ballast, they carry to make the balloon so light that the gas +in it will take it up again. + +The men began tossing out the bags of sand. Squinty saw them, but he was +not afraid. Why should he be? for no men or boys had ever been cruel to +him. + +"Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty, getting up and going over to one of the +bags of sand. "Maybe that is good to eat!" he thought. "If it is I will +take a bite. I am hungry." + +"Oh, look at that pig!" suddenly called one of the men in the balloon +basket. + +"Sure enough, it is a pig!" exclaimed the other. "And what a comical +little chap he is!" he went on. "See the funny way he looks at you." + +At that moment Squinty looked up, as he often did, with one eye partly +closed, the other open, and with one ear cocked frontwards, and the +other backwards. + +"Say, he's a cute one all right," said the first man. "Let's take him +along." + +"What for?" asked his friend. "We'd only have to toss out as much sand +as he weighs so we could go up." + +"Oh, let's take him along, anyhow," insisted the other. "Maybe he'll be +a mascot for us." + +"Well, if he's a mascot, all right. Then we'll take him. We need some +good luck on this trip." + +Squinty did not know what a mascot was. Perhaps he thought it was +something good to eat. But I might say that a mascot is something which +some persons think brings them good luck. Often baseball nines, or +football elevens, will have a small boy, or a goat, or a dog whom they +call their mascot. They take him along whenever they play games, +thinking the mascot helps them to win. Of course it really does not, but +there is no harm in a mascot, anyhow. + +"Yes, we'll take him along in the balloon with us," said the taller of +the two men. "See, he doesn't seem to be a bit afraid." + +"No, and look! He must be a trick pig! Maybe he got away from some +circus!" cried the other man. For, at that moment Squinty stood up on +his hind legs, as the boy had taught him, and walked over toward the big +balloon basket. What he really wanted was something to eat, but the men +did not know that. + +"He surely is a cute little pig!" cried the tall man. "I'll lift him in. +You toss out another bag of sand, and we'll go up." + +[Illustration: The next moment Squinty felt himself lifted off the +ground.] + +The next moment, before he could get out of the man's grasp if he had +wanted to, Squinty felt himself lifted off the ground. He was put down +in the bottom of the basket, which held many things, and, a second +later, Squinty, the comical pig, felt himself flying upward through the +air. + +Squinty was off on a trip in a balloon. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +SQUINTY AND THE SQUIRREL + +Up, up, and up some more went Squinty, the comical pig. At first the +fast motion in the balloon made him a little dizzy, just as it might +make you feel queer the first time you went on a merry-go-'round. + +"Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty. He was so surprised at this sudden +adventure that, really, he did not know what to say. + +"I wonder if he's afraid?" said one of the men. + +"He acts so," the other answered. "But he'll get used to it. How high up +are you going?" + +"Oh, about a mile, I guess." + +Squinty cuddled down in the basket of the balloon, between two bags full +of something, and shivered. + +"My goodness me!" thought poor Squinty. "A mile up in the air! That's +awfully high." + +He knew about how far a mile was on land, for it was about the distance +from the farmhouse, near where his pen used to be, to the village +church. He had often heard the farmer man say so. + +"And if it was a mile from my pen to the church, and that mile of road +was stood straight up in the air," thought Squinty, "it would be a +terrible long way to fall. I hope I don't fall." + +And it did not seem as if he would--at least not right away. The basket +in which he was riding looked good and strong. Squinty had shut his eyes +when he heard the men speak about going a mile up in the air, but now, +as the balloon seemed to have stopped rising, the little pig opened his +eyes again, and peered all about him. + +"Look!" exclaimed one of the men with a laugh. "Hasn't that pig the most +comical face you ever saw?" + +"That's what he has," answered the other. "He makes me want to laugh +every time I look at him, with that funny half-shut eye of his." + +"Well," thought Squinty, "I'm glad somebody is happy and jolly, and +wants to laugh, for I'm sure I don't. I wish I hadn't run away from the +nice boy who taught me the tricks." + +Then, as Squinty remembered how he had been taught to stand up on his +hind legs, he thought he would do that trick now. He was hungry, and he +imagined, perhaps, if he did that trick, the men would give him +something to eat. + +"Look at the little chap!" cried one of the men. "He's showing off all +right." + +"Yes, he's a smart pig," said the other. "He must be a trick pig, and I +guess whoever owns him will be sorry he is lost." + +"Hu! I'm sorry myself!" thought Squinty to himself, as he walked around +on his hind legs. + +"I wonder if these men are ever going to give me anything to eat," he +went on. He looked at them from his queer, squinting eye, but the men +did not seem to know that the little pig was hungry. + +On and on sailed the balloon, being blown by the wind like a sailboat. +Squinty dropped down on his four legs, since he found that walking on +his hind ones brought him no food. Then, as he made his way about the +basket, he saw some more of those queer bags filled with something. +There were a great many of them in the balloon, and Squinty thought they +must have something good in them. + +Squinty squatted down beside one, and, with his strong teeth, he soon +had bitten a hole in the cloth. Then he took a big bite, but oh dear! + +All at once he found his mouth filled with coarse sand, that gritted on +his teeth, and made the cold shivers run down his back. + +"Oh, wow!" thought poor Squinty. "That's no good! Sand! I wonder if +those men eat sand?" + +Of course they didn't. The sand in the bags was "ballast." The balloon +men carried it with them, and when they found the balloon coming down, +because some of the gas had leaked out of the round ball above the +basket, they would let some of the sand run out of the bags to the +ground below. This would make the balloon lighter, and it would rise +again. + +"Squee! Squee! Uff! Uff!" grunted Squinty, as he wiped the sand off his +tongue on one of his legs. "I don't like that. I'm hungry." + +"Why, what's the matter with the little pig?" asked one of the men, +turning around and looking at Squinty. + +"He must be hungry," said the other. "See, he has bitten a hole in one +of our sand bags. Let's feed him." + +"All right. Give him something to eat, but we didn't bring any pig food +along with us." + +"I'll give him some bread and milk," the other man said. "We won't want +much more ourselves, for we are nearly at our last landing place." + +"Squee! Squee!" squealed Squinty, when he heard this. He watched the man +put some bread and milk in a tin pan, and set it down on the floor of +the basket. Then Squinty put his nose in the dish and began to eat. + +And Oh! how good it tasted! Of course the milk was sweet, instead of +sour, for men do not usually like sour milk. Squinty had a good meal, +and then he went to sleep. + +What happened while Squinty slept, the little pig did not know. But when +he woke up it was all dark, and he knew it must be night, so he went to +sleep again. And the next time he awakened the sun was shining, so he +felt sure it was morning. + +And then, all of a sudden, something happened. One of the men called +out: + +"There is a good place to land!" + +"Yes, we'll go down there," agreed the other. Then he pulled a string. +Squinty did not know what it was for, but I'll tell you. It was to open +a hole in the balloon so the gas would rush out. Then the balloon would +begin to fall. + +And that is what happened. Down, down went the balloon. It went very +fast, and Squinty felt dizzy. Faster and faster fell the balloon, until, +at last it gave such a bump down on the ground that Squinty was bounced +right over the side of the basket. + +Right out of the basket the comical little pig was bounced, but he came +down in a soft bed of leaves, so he was not hurt in the least. He landed +on his feet, just like a cat, and gave a loud squeal, he was so +surprised. + +And then Squinty ran away. Almost anybody would have run, too, I guess, +after falling down in a balloon, and being bounced out that way. Squinty +had had enough of balloon riding. + +"I don't know where I'm going, nor what will happen to me now," thought +Squinty, "but I am going to run and hide." + +And run he did. He found himself in the woods; just the same kind of +woods as where he had first met the two balloon men, only, of course, it +was much farther off, for he had traveled a long way through the air. + +On and on ran Squinty. All at once, in a tree over his head, he heard a +funny chattering noise. + +"Chipper, chipper, chipper! Chat! Chat! Whir-r-r-r-r-!" went the noise. + +Squinty looked up in the tree, and there he saw a lovely little girl +squirrel, frisking about on the branches. Then Squinty was no longer +afraid. Out of the leaves he jumped, giving a squeal and a grunt which +meant: + +"Oh, how do you do? I am glad to see you. My name is Squinty. What is +your name?" + +"My name is Slicko," answered the lively little girl squirrel, as she +jumped about. "Come on and play!" + +Squinty felt very happy then. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +SQUINTY AND THE MERRY MONKEY + +"Where do you live, Squinty?" asked Slicko, the jumping squirrel, as she +skipped from one tree branch to another, and so reached the ground near +the comical little pig. + +"Oh, I live in a pen," answered Squinty, "but I'm not there now." + +"No, I see you are not," spoke Slicko, with a laugh, which showed her +sharp, white teeth. "But what are you doing so far away from your pen? +Or, perhaps it is close by, though I never saw you in these woods +before," she went on, looking around as if she might see the pig pen +under one of the trees. + +"No, I have never been here before," Squinty answered. "My pen is far +from here. My master is a boy who taught me to do tricks, such as +jumping rope, but I ran away and had a balloon ride." + +"What's a balloon?" asked Slicko, as she combed out her tail with a +chestnut burr. Squirrels always use chestnut burrs for combs. + +"A balloon is something that goes up in the air," answered Squinty, "and +it has bags of sand in it." + +"Well, I can go up in the air, when I climb a tree," went on Slicko, +with a jolly laugh. "Am I a balloon?" + +"No, you are not," said Squinty. "A balloon is very different." + +"Well, I know where there is some sand," spoke Slicko. "I could get some +of that and put it in leaf-bags. Would that make me a balloon?" + +"Oh, no, of course not," Squinty answered. "You could never be a +balloon. But if you know where there is some sand perhaps you know where +there is some sour milk. I am very hungry." + +"I never heard of sour milk," replied the girl squirrel. "But I know +where to find some nuts. Do you like hickory nuts?" + +"I--I guess so," answered Squinty, thinking, perhaps, they were like +acorns. "Please show me where there are some." + +"Come on!" chattered Slicko. She led the way through the woods, leaping +from one tree branch to another over Squinty's head. The little pig ran +along on the ground, through the dry leaves. Sometimes he went on four +feet and sometimes he stood up straight on his hind feet. + +"Can you do that?" he asked the squirrel. "It is a trick the boy taught +me." + +"Oh, yes, I can sit up on my hind legs, and eat a nut," the squirrel +girl said. "But nobody taught me. I could always do it. I don't call +that a trick." + +"Well, it is a trick for me," said Squinty. "But where are the hickory +nuts you spoke of?" + +"Right here," answered Slicko, the jumping squirrel, hopping about as +lively as a cricket, and she pointed to a pile of nuts in a hollow +stump. Squinty tried to chew some, but, as soon as he took them in his +mouth he cried out: + +"Oh my! How hard the shells are! This is worse than the sand! I can't +chew hickory nuts! Have you no other kind?" + +"Oh, yes, I know where there are some acorns," answered Slicko, "but I +do not care for them as well as for hickory nuts." + +"Oh, please show me the acorns," begged Squinty. + +"Here they are," spoke Slicko, jumping a little farther, and she pointed +to a pile of acorns in another hollow stump. + +"Oh, these are fine! Thank you!" grunted Squinty, and he began to eat +them. All at once there sounded through the woods a noise like: + +"Chat! Chat! Chatter! Whir-r-r-r-r-r!" "My, what's that?" cried Squinty, +turning quickly around. + +"That is my mamma calling me," said Slicko, the jumping squirrel. "I +shall have to go home to my nest now. Good-by, Squinty. I like you very +much, and I hope I shall soon see you again." + +"I hope so, too," spoke Squinty, and while he went on eating the acorns, +Slicko ran along the tree branches to her nest. And in another book I +shall tell you some more stories about "Slicko, the Jumping Squirrel," +but in this book I have room to write only about Squinty. + +The little comical pig was rather lonesome after Slicko had left him, +but he was no longer hungry, thanks to the acorns. + +So he walked on and on, and pretty soon he came to a road. And down the +road he saw coming the strangest sight. + +There were a lot of big wagons, all painted red and green and gold. Many +horses drew each wagon, the big wheels of which rattled like thunder, +and beside the wagons there were many strange animals walking +along--animals which Squinty had never seen before. + +"Oh my!" cried Squinty. "This is worse than the balloon! I must run +away!" + +But, just as he turned to run, he saw a little animal jump out of one of +the big wagons, and come toward him. This animal was something like a +little boy, only, instead of clothes, he was covered with hairy fur. And +the animal had a long tail, which Squinty knew no boy ever had. + +Squinty was so surprised at seeing the strange animal that the little +pig stood still. The hairy animal, with the long tail, came straight for +the bush behind which Squinty was hiding, and crawled through. Then the +two stood looking at one another, while the big wagons rumbled past on +the road. + +"Hello!" Squinty finally exclaimed. "Who are you?" + +"Why, I am Mappo, the merry monkey," was the answer, as he curled his +long tail around a stick of wood. "But I don't need to ask who you are. +You are a pig, I can see that, for we have one in our circus, and the +clown rides him around the ring, and it is too funny for anything." + +[Illustration: "Why, I am Mappo, the merry monkey," was the answer.] + +"Ha, so you are a monkey?" asked Squinty. "But what do you mean by a +circus?" + +"That's a circus," answered Mappo, pointing with one paw through a hole +in the bush, at the queer animals, and the red, gold and green wagons. +"That is, it will be a circus when they put up the big tent, and all the +people come. Didn't you ever see a circus?" + +"Never," answered Squinty. "Did you ever ride in a balloon?" + +"Never," answered Mappo. + +"Well, then we are even," said Squinty. "Now you tell me about a circus, +and I'll tell you about the balloon." + +"Well," said the monkey, "a circus is a big show in a tent, to make +people laugh. There are clowns, and animals to look at. I am one of the +animals, but I ran out of my cage when the door flew open." + +"Why did you run away?" asked Squinty. + +"Oh, I got tired of staying in a cage. And I was afraid the big tiger +might bite me. I'll run back again pretty soon, before they miss me. Now +you tell me about your balloon ride." + +So Squinty told the merry monkey all about running away, and learning +tricks, and having a ride in the queer basket. + +"I can do tricks, too," said Mappo. "But just now I am hungry. I wonder +if any cocoanut trees are in these woods?" + +"I don't know what a cocoanut is," answered Squinty, "but I'll give you +some of my acorns." + +The comical little pig and the merry monkey hid under the bush and ate +acorns as they watched the circus procession go past. It was not a +regular parade, as the show was going only from one town to-another. +Squinty looked at the beautiful wagons, and at the strange animals, some +with big humps on their backs. At last he saw some very big creatures, +and he cried out: + +"Oh, Mappo! What are those animals? They have a tail at each end!" + +"Those are elephants," said Mappo, "and they do not have two tails. One +is a tail, and the other is their trunk, or long nose, by which they +pick up peanuts, and other things to eat, and they can drink water +through it, too." + +"Oh, elephants, eh!" exclaimed Squinty. "But who is that big, +fierce-looking one, with two long teeth sticking out. I would be afraid +of him." + +"Ha! Ha! You wouldn't need to be," said Mappo, with a merry laugh. "That +is Tum-Tum, the jolliest elephant in the whole circus. Why, he is so +kind he wouldn't hurt a fly, and he is so happy that every one loves +him. He is always playing jokes." + +"Well, I'm glad he is so jolly," spoke Squinty, as he watched Tum-Tum +and the other elephants march slowly along the road on their big feet, +like wash tubs, swinging their long trunks. + +Then Mappo the monkey, and Squinty, the comical pig, started off through +the woods. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +SQUINTY GETS HOME AGAIN + +"Squinty, I don't believe we're going to find any cocoanut trees in this +woods," said Mappo, the monkey, after he and the little pig had wandered +on for some time. + +"It doesn't seem so, does it?" spoke Squinty, looking all around, first +with his wide-open eye, and then with his queer, droopy one. + +The monkey ran along, now on the ground, and now and then swinging +himself up in the branches of trees, by his long legs, each one of which +had a sort of hand on the end. Sometimes he hung by his tail, for +monkeys are made to do that. + +"My, I wish I could get up in the trees the way you do," said Squinty. +"Do you think I could hang by my tail, Mappo?" + +"I don't know," answered the monkey, scratching his head. "Your tail has +a nice little curl in it, almost like mine. Did you ever try to hang by +your tail?" + +"No, I never did." + +"Well, you don't know what you can do until you try," said Mappo. + +The two animal friends soon came to where some of the acorn nuts had +fallen off a tree, and they ate as many as they wanted. Mappo said they +were not as good as cocoanuts, but he liked them pretty well, because he +was hungry. And Squinty thought acorns were just the best things he had +ever tasted, except apples, and potatoes or perhaps sour milk. + +By this time it was getting dark, and Squinty said: + +"Oh dear, I wonder where we can sleep tonight?" + +"Oh, do not let that worry you," said Mappo. "I am used to living in the +woods. When I was little, before I was caught and put in the circus, I +lived in the woods all the while. See, here is a nice hollow stump, +filled with leaves, for you to sleep in, and I will climb a tree, and +sleep in that." + +"Couldn't you sleep down in the stump with me?" asked Squinty. "It's +sort of lonesome, all by yourself in the dark." + +"Yes, I'll sleep with you," said Mappo. "Now we'll make up a nice bed." + +But, just as they were piling some more leaves in the hollow stump, they +heard many voices of men shouting in the woods. + +"Here he is! Here is that runaway monkey! I see him! Come and catch +him!" cried the men. + +"Oh, they're from the circus! They're after me!" cried Mappo. "I must +run and hide. Good-by, Squinty. I'll see you again sometime, maybe. You +had better run, also, or the circus men may catch you." + +Squinty looked through the trees, and saw a number of men coming toward +him and the monkey. Then Mappo climbed up in a tall tree, and Squinty +ran away as fast as his little short legs would take him. + +"Never mind the pig! Get the monkey!" Squinty heard one man cry, and +then the comical little pig dodged under a bush, and kept on running. + +When Squinty stopped running it was quite dark. He could hardly see, and +he had run into several trees, and bumped his nose a number of times. It +hurt him very much. + +"Well, I guess I'm lost again," thought Squinty. "And I am all alone. +Oh, what a lot of things has happened to me since I was in the pen with +my mamma and papa and sisters and brothers! I wish I were back with them +again." + +Squinty felt very sad and lonesome. He wondered if the circus men had +caught Mappo. Then he felt that he had better find a place where he +could cover himself up with the dry leaves, and go to sleep. + +He walked about in the dark until, all of a sudden, he stumbled into a +hole that was filled with dried grass. + +"I guess I had better stay here," thought Squinty. So he pulled some of +the grass over him, and went to sleep. + +When he awoke the sun was shining. + +"I must get my breakfast," thought Squinty. He hunted about until he had +found some acorns, and then, coming to a little brook of water he took a +long drink. Something about the brook made Squinty look at it carefully. + +"Why--why!" he exclaimed to himself: "It seems to me I have been here +before! Yes, I am sure I have. This is the place where I first came to +get a drink, when first I ran away. It is near the pen where I used to +live! Oh, I wonder if I can find that?" + +The heart of Squinty was beating fast as he looked around at the scenes +he had seen when he was a very little pig, some weeks before. Yes, it +was the same brook. He was sure of it. And there was the garden of +potatoes, and the cornfield where he had first lost his way. + +Hark! What was that? + +Off in the rows of corn he heard a dog barking. Somehow he knew that +dog's bark. + +"If that could be Don!" thought Squinty, hopefully. + +The barking sounded nearer. Squinty turned around, standing on the edge +of the little brook, and waited, his heart beating faster and faster. + +All at once there came running through the potato field a black and +white dog. Squinty knew him at once. + +It was Don! + +"Bow wow! Bow wow!" barked Don. "Well, if there isn't that comical +little pig, Squinty! Where in the world did you come from? You've been +running away, I'll be bound! Now I'm going to take you back to the pen!" + +"Oh, Don! I am so glad to see you!" squealed Squinty. "I--I did run +away, but I never will any more. I am lost. Oh, Don, don't take me by +the ear. I'll go with you." + +"All right," barked Don, kindly. "Come along. Your pen isn't far off," +and he ran along beside the little pig, who, after many adventures had +wandered back home. Squinty and Don came to the edge of the potato +field. + +"Well, I never!" exclaimed the farmer man, who was there hoeing the +potatoes. "If there isn't that comical little pig I sold to that boy +Bob. I wonder where he came from?" + +"Bow wow! Bow wow! I found him," barked Don, but of course the farmer +did not understand. + +"Well, I'll put you back in the pen again until that boy sends for you," +said the farmer, as he lifted Squinty over into the pen where his mamma +and papa and brothers and sisters were. + +"Why--why, it's Squinty!" cried Mrs. Pig. + +"He's come back!" grunted Mr. Pig. + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" said Wuff-Wuff. + +"And so am I," added Twisty Tail, as she rubbed her nose against +Squinty's. "Where have you been, and what happened to you?" she asked +her brother. + +"Oh, many things," he said. "I have learned some tricks, I have been up +in a balloon, I met Slicko the jumping squirrel, Mappo, the merry +monkey, and I saw Tum-Tum, the jolly circus elephant. Now I am home +again." + +"And which did you like best of all?" asked Mrs. Pig, when they had +finished asking him questions. + +"Getting back home," answered Squinty, as he took a big drink of sour +milk. + +And that is the story of Squinty, the comical pig. The farmer sent word +to the boy that his pet was back in the pen, but the boy said he thought +he did not want a pet pig any more, so Squinty, for the time being, +stayed with his family. + + + + +STORIES FOR CHILDREN + +FROM 5 TO 10 YEARS OLD + + * * * * * + +THE KNEETIME ANIMAL STORIES + +By Richard Barnum + +Large 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated + +Price per volume 40 cents Postpaid + +In all nursery literature animals have played a conspicuous part; and +the reason is obvious for nothing entertains a child more than the funny +antics of an animal. These stories abound in amusing incidents such as +children adore and the characters are so full of life, so appealing to a +child's imagination that none will be satisfied until they have met all +of their favorites--Squinty, Slicko, Mappo, Tum Tum and Don. + + Squinty, the Comical Pig + Slicko, the Jumping Squirrel + Mappo, the Merry Monkey + Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant + Don, A Runaway Dog. + + + +BOOKS FOR BOYS + + * * * * * + +THE BOBBY BLAKE SERIES +By Frank A. Warner + +Large 12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Price per volume 50 cents, net. + +True stories of life at a modern American boarding school. Bobby +attended this institution of learning with his particular chum and the +boys had no end of good times. The tales of outdoor life, especially the +exciting times they have when engaged in sports against rival schools, +are written in a manner so true, so realistic, that the reader, too, is +sure to share with these boys their thrills and pleasures. + +*BOBBY BLAKE AT ROCKLEDGE SCHOOL* + OR WINNING THE MEDAL OF HONOR + +*BOBBY BLAKE AT BASS COVE* + OR THE HUNT FOR THE MOTOR BOAT GEM + +*BOBBY BLAKE ON A CRUISE* + OR THE CASTAWAYS OF VOLCANO ISLAND + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Squinty the Comical Pig, by Richard Barnum + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SQUINTY THE COMICAL PIG *** + +***** This file should be named 11069.txt or 11069.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/0/6/11069/ + +Produced by Ben Courtney and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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