"Take my hands, my dears," Mother Grunty urged anxiously. At the first crossing they did so. But soon Blacky-ears became used to the noise and hurry. Before he knew it, Bad Boy Mischief was once more riding on his shoulder.
"You're too old to take anyone's hand. You're smart enough to take care of yourself," he whispered.
And Blacky-ears listened. He jerked his hand out of his mother's and ran across the street. A large red hose wagon clanged out of the side street and just missed knocking him flat!
"Oh-h!" shrieked Mother Grunty as she hurried to catch him. "Why will you do such things? You promised me you would be so good. I fear you'll come to some bad end."
But that was only the beginning of the trouble. In the "Piggie and Wiggie" shop Blacky-ears bumped rudely against a case of glass dishes, jarring two of them to the floor, where they broke to slivers.
While his poor mother was helping the clerk clean up the scattered glass, Blacky-ears pried open her purse and sent the change jingling to the floor. Poor Mother Grunty! She was almost ready to give up!
At the next crossing Bad Boy Mischief merely tugged at Blacky-ears' sleeve, and Blacky turned slyly down the side street and was hidden in the crowd.
Mother Grunty realized with a start that she and Little-wee Pig were alone. "Blacky-ears!" she called piteously. "Oh-h-h, what shall I do!" But if Blacky-ears heard, he pretended not to, and at last poor, sorrowful Mother Grunty took Little-wee Pig by the hand and started for the station.
Blacky-ears did not care—not he! He was so foolish that he was glad! "Guess I'm smart enough to go it alone," he told himself. "I hate folks always fussing over me!"