.

"She said 'through the gate,'" thought Mary Jane, "and this must be the
gate. I wonder if it opens?" She shook the gate as hard as she could
but it didn't open; it didn't even look as though it intended to open;
it looked shut for all day, and Mary Jane was almost discouraged about
getting into the barn yard till she happened to think of a gate at the
back of Doris's yard (her little playmate Doris who lived next door to
Mary Jane's own home) that looked surprisingly like this gate. To be
sure it was little, and this gate was big and wide, but both had boards
crosswise, just right for climbing.

"We climbed on Doris's when it wouldn't open," she thought, "so I guess
this one will climb too."

She put her foot carefully on the first bar--nothing happened; on the
second--everything seemed all right; on the third and in a minute she
was over and climbing proudly down on the other side.

"Grandfather! Grandfather!" she called as she ran gayly toward the
barn; "I did it! The gate wouldn't open so I--Oh, dear! Oh! Oh!
It's coming! _Grandfather_!" she screamed breathlessly as she saw,
coming out of the barn--not Grandfather as she had expected--but a
great, fat, grunting _pig_!

Mary Jane shrank back toward the gate and how she did wish it was open
so she could slip through and shut it tightly behind her. She was
afraid to turn her back to the pig long enough to climb over the gate
as she had come; all the while she was trying her best to think of some
way to get away, that fat, grunting pig was coming closer and closer.
Now it was half the length of the barn yard away. Now it seemed to
have spied her and was coming straight for her--nose to the ground
sniffing and grunting louder than ever.

Grandfather, working in the barn, heard and came a-running as fast as
ever he could run; and Grandmother, 'way in the house, heard and
dropped the receiver and ran out so fast that she was breathless when
she reached the little girl. Grandfather was nearest so got to her
first. Really, he saw what the matter was as soon as he got outside
the barn and he shouted to the pig and flapped his arms in such a
comical fashion that Mary Jane hardly knew whether to be afraid of him
or to laugh. But the pig had no such doubts. She seemed to know that
he meant she should go away. She gave one final snort--almost at Mary
Jane's toes--and then turned and went back to the barn as fast as she
could waddle. The faster she waddled