lked inside quite boldly
and before you could have winked, almost, he had seized a little, white
pig in his mouth and was loping off across the barnyard.

The pig had looked very small to Cuffy when he first saw and seized it.
But now it seemed to be as many as twenty times bigger than Cuffy was
himself. That was because the pig made the most frightful noise Cuffy
had ever heard in all his life. Cuffy felt as if he had a hundred pigs
in his mouth, with their hundred snouts squealing right in his ears.
Though Farmer Green was at least a mile away, Cuffy was sure he could
hear. Indeed, Cuffy thought that all the world must hear that dreadful
racket. And he was so frightened that he let go of the little pig and
ran away towards home as fast as he could jump.

That squealing rang in his ears for a long time. And if Cuffy's father
had brought home a pig that night Cuffy couldn't have eaten a mouthful
of it. He never wanted to see or taste of a pig again. And you may be
sure he never wanted to _hear_ one, either.

XIII

HAYING-TIME

After Cuffy Bear's adventure with Mrs. Eagle he did not stray far from
home for several weeks. You can see, from that, that he had been badly
frightened. Yes--just to look at a crow flapping through the air made
Cuffy dizzy now; and nothing would have tempted him to go up the
mountain again.

But Cuffy became very tired of playing near his father's house all the
time. And at last he wandered down into the valley one day. There was
something down there that Cuffy wanted to see. You'd never guess what
it was; so I'll tell you. Cuffy Bear wanted to see a mowing-machine.
You may think that was queer. But you see, it was summer now. And
down in the valley Farmer Green was making hay as fast as ever he
could. Early and late there sounded far up the mountainside the
_click-clack-click-clack_ of Farmer Green's mowing-machine.

When he first heard it Cuffy Bear had been very much alarmed; and he had
come running into the house in a great fright. But his mother explained
what the sound was. And after that Cuffy had been very curious to see
that wonderful machine, which was pulled back and forth through the
meadows by horses, leaving behind it a broad path of grass which lay
flat on the ground.

So that was the reason why Cuffy stole away from home. He felt that he
simply _must_ see a mowing-machine. Nothing but the sight of a
mowing-machine would make him happy. He was sure of that.

Now