"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."