Squinty the Comical Pig | Page 4

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