"Now make him jump the rope," said Mollie.

"I will, as soon as he eats the acorns," replied the boy.

"Ha! I am going to have another apple, just for jumping a rope," thought
Squinty, in delight.

You see the little pig imagined the trick was done just to get him to
eat the apple. He did not count the rope-jumping part of it at all,
though that, really, was what the boy wanted.

Once more Bob placed the apple on the ground, on the far side of the
rope. One end of the rope the boy held in his hand, and the other was
around Squinty's leg, but a loop of it was made fast to a stick stuck in
the ground, so the boy could pull on the rope and raise or lower it,
just as you girls do when you play.

"Come on, now, Squinty! Jump over it!" called the boy.

The little pig saw the apple, and smelled it. He wanted very much to get
it. But, when he ran toward it, he found the rope raised up in front of
him. He forgot, for a moment, his second trick, and stood still.

"Oh, I thought you said he would jump the rope!" said Mollie, rather
disappointed.

"He will--just wait a minute," spoke the boy. "Come on, Squinty!" he
called.

Once more Squinty started for the apple. This time he remembered that,
before, he had to jump the rope to get it. So he did it again. Over the
rope he went, with a little jump, coming down on the side where the
apple was, and, in a second he was chewing the juicy fruit.

"There!" cried the boy. "Didn't he jump the rope?"

"Oh, well, but he didn't jump it fast, back and forth, like we girls
do," said Mollie.

"But it was pretty good--for a little pig," said Sallie.

"I think so, too," spoke the boy. "And I am going to teach him to jump
real fast, and without going for an apple each time. I'm going to teach
him other tricks, too."

"Oh dear!" thought Squinty, when he heard this. "So I am to learn more
tricks, it seems. Well, I hope they will all be eating ones."

"Make him do it again," suggested Mollie, after a bit.

"No, I haven't any more apples," the boy answered. "And at first I'll
have to make him jump for an apple each time. After a bit I'll not give
him an apple until he has done all his tricks. Come on now, Squinty,
back to your pen."

The boy lifted up his pet, and put him back in the pen that had been
especially built for the little pig. As soon as he was in it Squinty ran
over to the trough, hoping there would be some sour milk in it. But
there was none.

"You've had enough t