Katy and Gertie undertook the feeding, while Chicken Little went to the tool house for pick and spade. The log pig pen was merely one corner of the big hog corral, fenced off for the benefit of the new litters to protect them from the older hogs. Stones had been securely embedded underneath the lowest rail to keep the pigs from burrowing out beneath. Chicken Little went into the corral and inspected these, carefully trying one or two with the pick. "Here's one that isn't very big and it's loose at one corner. Let's try it." The stone had been put there to stay and did not yield readily. Jane dug till she was tired, then Katy took a hand. Gertie had been posted as a sentinel where she could watch the road. They strained and tugged, but the stone was obstinate. Jane was getting red in the face. "The old hateful----I'll get it out or bust!" "Perhaps I can help you, Chicken Little." The girls glanced up in dismay. Sherm stood there grinning. He had come back across lots. "What you trying to do, anyhow? Have your pets been getting out?" There was nothing to do but take Sherm into their confidence. "Please promise you won't tell, Sherm--they'd tease me to death if they know. But we're sick of those pigs. I never want to lay eyes on a pig again. So we thought we'd just loosen a stone so they could get into the corral with the others and Father'd think they'd dug out themselves. Nobody can ever pick 'em out from the others. They are every bit as big as old Whity's pigs and Father turned them in two weeks ago." Sherm chuckled. "Mum's the word. Hand over the pick and we'll do such an artistic job that the porkers themselves will think they are responsible for the whole business. I don't blame you. That's not girl's work!" The pigs rose to the occasion beautifully. The tiny opening called as loudly as a pile of corn. They continued the excavating so promptly and expeditiously that by the time Dr. Morton returned from town, every piglet had deserted its maternal ancestor and was joyously rooting for itself in the corral. "I don't see how those pigs got out," said Dr. Morton disgustedly. "I thought that small pen was secure." The girls listened attentively. "They were there at four o'clock, I saw them," Sherm remarked. "Oh, I suppose the heavy rain loosened the earth and it was easy rooting." "Possibly," said Sherm.