The Tale of Grunty Pig Part 4

"Oh, dear!" he whined. "Mother must be awake now; and she'll punish me if I go back." The more he thought about returning, the less he liked the idea.

"I won't go home at all!" he cried at last. "I'll stay in the pasture the rest of my life. There's plenty to eat here; and plenty of fun, too."

It was afternoon when Grunty Pig made up his mind that he would never go home. When the Muley Cow warned him once more to beware of the bears he actually jeered at her.

"There are no bears in Pleasant Valley," he scoffed. "And you needn't trouble yourself to mention them again to me. I'm going to live in this pasture and there's no use of your trying to frighten me away."

The Muley Cow said nothing more to him. She merely looked at him and smiled wisely.

"He'll sing a different song," she thought, "when it begins to grow dark."

XI

LOCKED OUT

The Muley Cow was right. She had said to herself, with a smile, that Grunty Pig, the runaway, would be glad enough to go home when night came. He had decided to stay right there in the pasture for the rest of his life, where there was plenty to eat and plenty to do. He felt sure that he would have a much pleasanter time there than at home. For one thing, he knew well enough that there was a punis.h.i.+ng waiting for him at the piggery--if he ever went back to get it.

Not until Johnnie Green and old dog Spot came to the pasture to drive the cows down the lane did Grunty Pig begin to feel the least twinge of homesickness. And even then he tried to forget it. He hid in a clump of brakes near the fence while Johnnie Green and Spot were in the pasture, for he didn't want them to spy him and take him home with them.

There was a delicious, damp, woodsy smell in the cool shade of his hiding place.

"How much nicer this is than our stuffy pen!" Grunty exclaimed under his breath.

Now and then he peeped out to watch the procession of cows moving slowly towards the barn to be milked. And when the last one had entered the lane, hurrying to catch up with the rest--and to avoid Spot's nips at her heels--Grunty crept out into the open.

Then, strange to say, he hurried towards the lane himself. All at once the pasture seemed a great, lonesome place. Who knew when a bear might rise out of a clump of bushes near him?

He was careful not to follow too closely after the herd as they meandered down the lane. At the same time, he was careful not to fall too far behind. And he took many a quick backward glance, to make sure no bear was creeping up on him.

Not far from the barn Grunty left the lane and hurried toward the little yard outside the piggery, where he had run away from his mother and his brothers and his sisters.

When he reached the fence through which he had crept while Mrs. Pig was enjoying a nap, he met with a great surprise. The hole in the fence was no more! Somebody had mended it. And there he was, outside the yard!

Grunty Pig squealed for his mother. But no one answered. The fence was too high for him to look over it. It was too tight for him to peep through.

"I want to get in!" Grunty cried. "Why doesn't somebody answer?"

The silence from the other side of the fence was dreadful. Grunty Pig would have been _glad_ to have his mother scold him then, just for the comfort of hearing her voice.

"Oh! Oh!" he wailed. "What shall I do? Whatever shall I do? Farmer Green must have put the family back in the pen. And I'll have to spend the night out here alone!"

XII

WOOF!

Night found Grunty Pig huddled close to the outside of the piggery. Many times he had walked around the low building, snuffing at the doors and trying in vain to find some opening through which he might crawl. To his dismay, all was snug and tight. There wasn't a hole big enough even for Miss Kitty Cat to creep through.

Though Grunty had called a good many times, n.o.body had answered him.

Inside the piggery, in their pen, Mrs. Pig and her other children were sound asleep. Now and then Grunty could hear a throaty snore, which he knew to be his mother's.

"How can she sleep, when I'm missing?" he cried.

Now, Mrs. Pig had been much upset by Grunty's absence. And when Farmer Green came to put her family into the piggery for the night she had tried to explain to him that Grunty had run away. Unfortunately, it happened that Farmer Green was in a great hurry. He didn't stop to find out what was troubling Mrs. Pig, but hustled her and her children inside and closed all the doors.

Try as she would, Mrs. Pig hadn't been able to stay awake. Her eyes would close, in spite of all she could do. Though she slept, she dreamed about the truant Grunty. Now and then she cried aloud in the darkness, when some terrible creature seemed to be chasing him. But Mrs. Pig never quite waked up.

Once Grunty Pig thought he heard his mother speak his name. And he called out in as brave a voice as he could muster, "Here I am, just outside the piggery! Won't somebody please let me in?"

He called in vain. At last he fell asleep, for he was about as tired as any little pig could be.

In the middle of the night Grunty Pig awoke with a start. Somebody said "Woof!" And somebody came sniffing and snuffing around the corner of the piggery. Dimly Grunty could see a dark, burly form. And he was so frightened that he bawled right out, "It's a bear! It's a bear! It's a bear!"

Almost at the same instant old dog Spot ran out of his kennel, barking furiously. And like magic the prowler--whoever he was--vanished into the night.

"Keep still!" Grunty's mother called to him; for the noise had half roused her. "Don't you mention the word _bear_ again, or I'll attend to you in the morning."

Drowsy as she was, Mrs. Pig actually thought Grunty was right there in the pen with the rest of her children. And in no time at all she was snoring again.

Grunty Pig didn't dare open his mouth nor close his eyes the rest of the night. And when morning came, Farmer Green found him huddled against the door of the piggery.

It was a joyful meeting--for Grunty Pig.

XIII

HOME AT LAST

"What's this?" Farmer Green exclaimed, when he went to unlock the piggery in the morning and found Grunty Pig lying up against the door.

"Did you get locked out last night? Was it you that old Spot was barking at?"

Grunty Pig didn't dare answer. When Farmer Green dropped him into the pen he said nothing to anybody--not even "Good morning!"

A little later Farmer Green found something more outside the piggery. In the loose dirt he discovered--bear tracks!

"Aha!" he cried to his son Johnnie. "Look here! We had a visitor last night. It was no wonder old Spot woke us all up. A bear called on us!

And he'd certainly have had that pig if Spot hadn't scared him off."

Naturally the news soon spread all over the farmyard. And when Mrs. Pig heard it she began to tremble.