the next outing that farmer green gave mrs. pig's family in the little yard proved to be anything but a picnic—for mrs. pig. that poor lady had a dreadful time. grunty ran away again. and he hadn't been gone long before his mother heard a loud squealing in the nearest field. the sound rapidly grew louder. and as she stood still and listened, mrs. pig knew that it was grunty's squeal and that he was drawing nearer every moment.

"dear me!" she cried. "he must be in trouble."

soon grunty tumbled through the fence. and scrambling to his feet he ran to his mother, crying at the top of his voice, "a bear chased me!"

"oh! oh!" shrieked mrs. pig. "it's a mercy he didn't catch you. oh! oh! it's lucky you're no fatter, else you couldn't have run so fast." being more than fat, herself, and greatly excited, mrs. pig had to stop talking for a time, because she gurgled and wheezed and panted in a most alarming fashion.

at last, when she had somewhat recovered from her flurry, she called to grunty. and looking at him severely mrs. pig said to him, "let this be a lesson to you. never, never stray away from the farmyard again!"

"yes, mother!" was grunty's glib reply. then he sidled away. somehow he felt uneasy under his mother's gaze.

"perhaps it was a good thing, after all, that the bear chased him," mrs. pig muttered. "maybe this fright will keep him at home."

she soon discovered that it would take more than a mere fright—more than a command—to stop grunty from running away. for it wasn't long before she missed him again.

if mrs. pig hadn't been so upset she might have been vexed—and with good reason.

"oh! that dear little grunty!" she wailed. "the bear may have caught him already, in the cabbage patch."

then piercing squeals fell once more on mrs. pig's ears.

"dear! dear!" she cried. "i ought to have watched him. i ought to have kept an eye on grunty. after all, he's little more than a baby."

again the squeals grew louder. again grunty pig burst through the hole in the fence and romped up to his mother.

"he chased me another time!" he grunted. "the bear chased me almost as far as the fence."

"sakes alive!" his mother shrieked. "somebody ought to tell farmer green! this farm is not a safe place to live, with a bear prowling about it."

"do you want me to go and tell mr. green?" grunty inquired.

"you?" his mother exclaimed. "no, indeed! you stay right here with me! don't you dare stir out of this yard!" and to grunty's astonishment, mrs. pig bowled him right over, to show him that she meant what she said.

he jumped to his feet in a jiffy. and he was all ready to slink away into a corner42 of the yard; but his mother bade him wait.

"this bear—" she said—"what did he look like?"