“Jumpin’ sand hills, he’ll be takin’ up knittin’ when winter comes on, an’ makin’ of his own socks,” said Bud, in disgust.

“No, he’s going in for tatting,” said Ben Tremont.  “He’s going to make a lot of doilies for the chairs so we won’t soil the satin upholstery with our oily hair.”

As all the chairs in the living room were very plain, made of solid oak, with bullhide seats and backs, this remark was received with laughter.

“Go aheadt!” said Carl.  “Ven you ain’dt drough, let me know.  I know your own bizziness.  Ven der vinter comes und I haf dot deliciousness sauerkraut, und am eating it, und ven your mouts vater so dot you slobber like a colt off der clover, den—­ah, den, I gifs you der ha-ha, ain’dt it?  Den you see who der knitting und der tatting do, eh?”

Carl laughed at the thought of how the boys would miss the sauerkraut which he was going to make.  But now “Oof,” the pet pig of the establishment, had eaten them nearly all, and was standing in his sty too full even for the utterance of his usual lazy grunt.  He looked like an animated keg of sauerkraut with four pegs at the corners for him to stand on, so full was he of Carl’s cherished and esculent cabbages.

“How in the world did he get into the cabbage patch?” asked Ted.  “I thought you had made it pig tight.”

“So did I,” answered Carl.  “No pig but vun mit der teufel inside him vould haf got der fence over.”

“Got over ther fence!” snorted Bud.  “Why, yer feeble-minded son of a downtrodden race, thet thar pig couldn’t hev got over ther fence without a balloon.  Thet fence is six feet high.  A deer couldn’t jump it.”

“I didn’t saying so.  He cannot yump, dot pig.  He cannot moof, so full mit gabbages are he.  No, he didn’t yump, he yoost sving himself over mit dot fence.”

“Slush!  Yer gittin’ plumb dotty.  No pig could swing hisself over thet fence.”

“But it’s der only vay vat he could, und Song, der Chineser cook, saw him did it.”

“You don’t believe what a Chinyman tells yer, do yer?”

“What did Song say?  How did the pig do it?” asked the boys, roused to interest in the squabble by this statement.

“Vell, Song he say dot he vos looking der vinder ouid und he saw der pig take der end of dot long rope vot hangs down mit der roof of der hay house in his teeth, und he svings on it some.  Song say he t’ought it vas some of Pud’s foolishment he vas teaching dot pig, und didn’t no more look at him for a leetle vile.  Ven he looked again der pig vas svinging avay oop high by der rope.  Den I coom along und see der pig in der gabbages, und I takes me a stick und vallops him goot ofer der hams, und drife him his pen into.”

“Shucks!  Is that all ther story?  That don’t prove nothin’.  Thet pig, Oof, is a animile of high intelligence.  He wuz needin’ exercise before dinner.  He found a hole in ther fence, er maybe he tunneled one fer hisself, an’ he wuz jest kinder doin’ some gymnasium work ter git up a good appetite.  Yer cain’t make me believe a Chinyman, nohow.”