may be
all for your good."

"We might hide him under the straw," suggested Wuff-Wuff. "Then that boy
could not find him when he comes to put him in a box, and take him
away."

"No, that would never do," said Mr. Pig. "The farmer is stronger and
smarter than we are. He would find Squinty, no matter where we hid him.
It is better to let him do as he pleases, and take Squinty away, though
we shall all miss him."

"Oh dear!" cried Curly Tail, for she liked her little brother very much,
and she loved to see him look at her with his funny, squinting eye. "Do
you want to go, Squinty?"

"Well, I don't want to leave you all," answered the comical little pig,
"but I shall be glad to go on a journey, and have adventures. I hope I
don't get lost again, though."

"I guess the boy won't let you get lost," spoke Mr. Pig. "He looks as
though he would be kind and good to you."

The pig family did not know when Squinty would be taken away from them,
and all they could do was to wait. While they were doing this they ate
and slept as they always did. Squinty, several times, looked at the hole
under the pen, by which he had once gotten out. He felt sure he could
again push his way through, and run away. But he did not do it.

"No, I will wait and let the boy take me away," thought Squinty.

Several times after this the boy and his sisters came to look down into
the pig pen. The pigs could tell, by the talk of the children, that they
were brother and sisters. And they had come to the farm to spend their
summer vacation, when there was no school.

"That's the pig I am going to take home with me," the boy would say to
his sisters, pointing to Squinty.

"How can you tell which one is yours?" asked one of the little girls.

"I can tell by his funny squint," the boy would answer. "He always makes
me want to laugh."

"Well, I am glad I am of some use in this world," thought Squinty, who
could understand nearly all that the boy and his sisters said. "It is
something just to be jolly."

"I wouldn't want a pig," said the other girl. "They grunt and squeal and
are not clean. I'd rather have a rabbit."

"Pigs are so clean!" cried the boy. "Squinty is as clean as a rabbit!"

Only that day Squinty had rolled over and over in the mud, but he had
had a bath from the hose, so he was clean now. And he made up his mind
that if the boy took him he would never again get in the mud and become
covered with dirt.

"I will keep myself clean an