The farmer hid himself among some bushes. But he saw nothing, except one of his own little pigs. Piggy was coming slowly, slowly along the big road. He was rooting all the way, and grunting at every step. Did the pig know where he was going?
One corner of the rail fence rested on a large hollow log. That log was just like the elbow of a stove-pipe. One of its ends was outside and one was inside of the potato field.
The sly pig went straight to that log! With a grunt, he crawled in at one end of it, and, with another grunt, he crawled out at the other end, into the field. There he began, at once, to root up the nice potatoes, and to eat them.
The farmer jumped over the fence. In a trice the bars were put down. There was a loud call, "Here, Rover, Rover, seek him! seek him, sir!" And the dog chased the thieving rascal squealing from the field.
The farmer said to himself, "I 'll fix things all right." Then he turned the log so that the elbow was in the field, and both of its ends were on the outside.
Then the farmer hid and watched again. Mr. Pig came along a second time. He thought everything was right. He crawled into the log once more. He crawled through it. But he was still on the outside of the fence!
The pig grunted. He lifted up his head. He looked all around in great surprise. He wondered what was wrong. Then he grunted louder, and tried once more. Again he failed. And he failed as often as he grunted and tried.
The merry farmer laughed loudly at the wicked and astonished pig.
Thieves are sometimes caught in their slyest tricks!
My cousin Betty had a shepherd dog whose name was Scott. He was a beauty. He followed Betty in all her walks and rides.
He would chase her about until she ran into the tallest tree in the yard; and there she would stay until Scott went home.
One day Scott was out in the street having a frolic with two other dogs. He was run over by a wagon, and one of his legs was broken. Betty and her brother and Bridget all cried when he went limping into the house.
Bridget hid her face in her apron and said, "Sure, the poor beast will be a cripple for life."
Betty soon wiped away her tears, and said she was going after the doctor. The doctor came home with Betty. After looking at the broken bone he said he could set it He thought in a few weeks his leg would be all right again.