t had no right there. At the end I found a stake. Tied to the stake I
found a--"

Solomon and Isaac looked surprised. John and Philemon shook their heads.
They knew nothing of the matter. Elias and Romeo Augustus quaked.

"At the end I found a--" repeated their father, gazing sternly round the
table--"I found a--"

"_Pig_," said Romeo Augustus, in the smallest possible voice; and he
fled from the table in an agony of tears. His labor had been in vain.
After all, Mephibosheth must die. How could he endure it? He dared not
glance out of the window of the chamber where he had taken refuge, lest
he should behold Mephibosheth led to slaughter. It seemed as if his
heart would break in two.

But listen! What is that noise? A clatter as of falling boards. There is
a sound as of hammering. At first it seems to Romeo Augustus like
Mephibosheth's death-knell. Thud, thud, thud, go the blows. Drawn almost
against his will, Romeo Augustus stealthily approaches the window. He
glances fearfully out. What does he see? His father pounding busily,
making--what is he making? Can it be? It is--it is a _pen_.

"Father!" gasps Romeo Augustus.

His father looks up and smiles. "Your pig must have a house to live in,"
says he. "I can't have my meadow grass trampled."

Before noon Mephibosheth was in his new quarters. There was a parlor
with two pieces of carpet on the floor; there was a chamber with plenty
of straw, whereon Mephibosheth could repose; there was a dining-room,
with what, in common language, might be termed a trough.

Such a life as that pig led! He was cared for tenderly. He was washed
all over every morning, and put to bed every night. He was not a very
brilliant pig as far as his intellect went, it must be confessed. He
could do no tricks with cards; he could not be taught to jump through a
hoop.

One year passed; Mephibosheth was large. Two years went by; Mephibosheth
was wonderful. I would I could say he was _plump_; that word does not
begin to express his condition. It would be pleasant to call him
_stout_; that would not give the glimmer of an idea of his size.
_Corpulent_ would be a refined way of stating it. Alas! corpulent means
nothing as far as Mephibosheth is concerned. That animal measured _seven
feet and twenty-two inches_ round his body. He weighed--truth is great,
and must be spoken--he weighed _five hundred and fifty and two-third
pounds_.

He could not walk; his legs were pipe-stems under him. He coul