Page:Minnie's Bishop and Other Stories (1915).djvu/126



"I'll take the young pig that's beyond with me, anyway," said Matty Hynes.

The pig, trusting apparently to his powers of escape, had scorned to conceal himself. He was still rooting in the manure heap when the party returned to his home. This time Matty Hynes made careful plans for his capture. He and the two bailiffs approached the manure heap from three different directions and closed in slowly on their prey. The pig, with contempt in his eye, waited until they were quite near him, and then bolted unexpectedly past Matty Hynes. He had, the night before, successfully evaded capture when chased by all the fishermen from Ballymure, the three Geraghtys, and the fourteen children. He felt perfectly confident of being able to escape from Matty Hynes and the two bailiffs. But Matty was a crafty and determined man. Perhaps, also, the pig was overconfident. After a chase which lasted half an hour, he was hemmed into a corner between his sty and the wall of the house. There seemed no way of escape. Every rush for freedom ended in failure, and the rushes got shorter each time, as the bailiffs and Matty closed in. Lieutenant Eckersley, greatly excited, followed Matty closely, and peered over his shoulder to see the end. Matty stooped and grasped the pig round the neck. Then an unexpected thing happened. The pig made a furious rush between Matty's legs. He clung to its neck, he tottered backward, tripped over Lieutenant