Ted Strongs Motor Car | Page 2

feeble-minded son of a
downtrodden race, thet thar pig couldn't hev got over ther fence without
a balloon. Thet fence is six feet high. A deer couldn't jump it."
"I didn't saying so. He cannot yump, dot pig. He cannot moof, so full
mit gabbages are he. No, he didn't yump, he yoost sving himself over
mit dot fence."
"Slush! Yer gittin' plumb dotty. No pig could swing hisself over thet
fence."
"But it's der only vay vat he could, und Song, der Chineser cook, saw
him did it."

"You don't believe what a Chinyman tells yer, do yer?"
"What did Song say? How did the pig do it?" asked the boys, roused to
interest in the squabble by this statement.
"Vell, Song he say dot he vos looking der vinder ouid und he saw der
pig take der end of dot long rope vot hangs down mit der roof of der
hay house in his teeth, und he svings on it some. Song say he t'ought it
vas some of Pud's foolishment he vas teaching dot pig, und didn't no
more look at him for a leetle vile. Ven he looked again der pig vas
svinging avay oop high by der rope. Den I coom along und see der pig
in der gabbages, und I takes me a stick und vallops him goot ofer der
hams, und drife him his pen into."
"Shucks! Is that all ther story? That don't prove nothin'. Thet pig, Oof,
is a animile of high intelligence. He wuz needin' exercise before dinner.
He found a hole in ther fence, er maybe he tunneled one fer hisself, an'
he wuz jest kinder doin' some gymnasium work ter git up a good
appetite. Yer cain't make me believe a Chinyman, nohow."
"I don't know," said Ben thoughtfully, "pigs are mighty smart. He
might have swung himself over by the rope, and, if so, I think he was
entitled to his dinner as a reward for his ingenuity."
"I don't pay for no pig's inchenoomity mit my gabbages," said Carl
hotly. "Vere I get more gabbages fer der sauerkraut, tell me dot?"
"Yer don't git no sauerkraut, that's all," growled Bud. "But speakin'
about pigs bein' smart, I jest reckon they aire."
"There are three animals that people persist in calling stupid, when they
are only strong-minded and more intelligent than the other animals,"
said Kit Summers, quietly breaking into the conversation.
"What aire they?" asked Bud.
"The pig, the mule, and the goose," answered Kit.
"Come ter think o' it, yer right ez a book," said Bud, rising from the
lounge and joining the other boys in front of the fireplace. "Why, I
remember onct down on the Pecos--"
Ben Tremont rose lazily and stretched himself.
"Well, so long, boys," he said. "If I ain't back for supper don't wait for
me."
"Whar yer goin'?" asked Bud, with a black look from under his brows.
"I've got some work to do this evening, and I don't want to be getting
drowsy," answered Ben, with a wink at Kit.

"Go then, yer varmint," said Bud savagely. "This yere incerdent what
I'm goin' ter relate is fer intelligent persons only."
"In that case I shall have to remain," said Ben, throwing his huge bulk
into a chair, that creaked like a house in a high wind.
"How about that Pecos story?" said Ted.
"'Tis erbout pigs."
"I didn't know there were any pigs down in that country," said Ted,
with a sly smile.
"Oh, yes, there aire. Some folks calls them peccaries, an' others alludes
ter them ez wild hawgs. Yer pays yer money an' chooses what yer likes
best."
"Well, what about them?"
"'Tain't noways what ye'd call much o' a story, but it 'lustrates ther
intelligence o' ther hawg, which in my 'pinion ez almost ez great ez thet
o' some collidge gradooates what I hev mixed with."
Bud stopped and looked hard at Ben, who seemed to be taking a nap in
his big chair.
With a snort of disgust Bud turned his back on the big fellow and
began:
"Me an' 'Peep-o'-day' Thompson wuz ridin' herd on a bunch o' cattle
belongin' ter ole man Bradish. All we hed ter do wuz ter keep 'em from
driftin' too fur, which nat'rally left us much time fer meditation an'
conversation.
"But it wa'n't long before I'd told all my stories, an' Peep bed plumb
fergot I'd tole them ter him, an' wuz tellin' them all over ter me, claimin'
they'd happened ter him.
"I stood it fer a spell because I didn't want ter make no friction betwixt
him an' me, but it made me sore jest ther same, because ther derned
lump allays got ther story balled up so's I hed trouble in reconnizin' it
sometimes.