"Well," said Squinty, at last, sitting down beside a hollow log, "I guess I am lost. That is all there is to it I am lost in the big woods! Oh dear! I almost wish Don, the dog, or the farmer would come and find me now."
He waited, but no one came. He listened but he heard nothing.
"Well, I might as well eat and go to sleep again," said Squinty, "Maybe something will happen then."
Soon he was asleep again. But he was suddenly awakened. He heard a great crashing in the trees over his head.
"Gracious! I hope that isn't a dog after me!" cried the little pig.
He looked up, Squinty did. He saw coming down from the sky, through the branches of the trees, a big round thing, like more than ten thousand rubber balls, made into one. Below the round thing hung a square basket, with many ropes, and other things, fast to it. And in the basket were two men. They looked over the edge of the basket. One of them pulled on a rope, and the big thing, which was a balloon, though Squinty did not know it, came to the ground with a bang.
"Well, at last we have made a landing," said one of the men.
"Yes," said the other. "And we shall have to throw out some bags of sand to go up again."
Squinty did not know what this meant. But I'll explain to you that a "landing" is when a balloon comes down to the ground. And when the men in it want to go up again, they have to toss out some of the bags of sand, or ballast, they carry to make the balloon so light that the gas in it will take it up again.
The men began tossing out the bags of sand. Squinty saw them, but he was not afraid. Why should he be? for no men or boys had ever been cruel to him.