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.