"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.