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"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."
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.
"I hope you didn't hurt him," said Tum Tum. "No, I wouldn't do that for the world," said Don. And those of you who have read about "Squinty, the Comical Pig," know how kind Don was to him. "So you came to see the circus?" went on Tum Tum to Don, as the dog's master and his boy looked about at the strange sights. "Yes, though I don't know exactly what a circus is," said Don.
"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.
"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.
"He hasn't two tails," he said. "One is his tail and the other is his trunk. That is Tum Tum, the circus elephant. And you needn't be afraid of him, for he is the jolliest elephant in the whole show. "But I'm not going to be caught," went on Mappo. "I want to run away farther, and have more adventures. So I guess I'll go before Tum Tum and the men see me. Good-by, Squinty. I'm glad I met you."
I suppose you had guessed that before I told you at least those of you who have read my other book, called "Squinty, the Comical Pig." "Squinty, eh?" remarked Mappo. "That's a queer name." "They call me that because one of my eyes squints," said the little pig.
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?
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."
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.
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