CHAPTER III.
JACKO RUNNING AWAY
Minnie had a cousin Frank, the son of Mr. Harry Lee. He was three years older than Minnie, and was full of life and frolic.
At one time he came to visit Minnie; and fine fun indeed they had with the pets, the monkey being his especial favorite.
Every day some new experiment was to be tried with Jacko, who, as Frank declared, could be taught any thing that they wished. One time, he took the little fellow by the chain for a walk, Minnie gayly running by his side, and wondering what her cousin was going to do.
On their way to the barn, they met Leo, who at once began to bark furiously.
“That will never do, my brave fellow,” exclaimed the boy; “for we want you to turn horse, and take Jacko to ride.”
“O, Frank! Leo will kill him. Don’t do that!” urged Minnie, almost crying.
“But I mean to make them good friends,” responded the lad. “Here, you take hold of the chain, and I will coax the dog to be quiet while I put Jacko on his back.”
This was not so easy as he had supposed; for no amount of coaxing or flattery would induce Leo to be impressed into this service. He hated the monkey, and was greatly disgusted at his appearance as he hopped, first on Frank’s shoulder, and then to the ground, his head sticking out of his little red jacket, and his face wearing a malicious grin.
Finding they could not succeed in this, they went into the stable to visit Star, when, with a quick motion, Jacko twitched the chain from Minnie’s hand, and running up the rack above the manger, began to laugh and chatter in great glee.
His tail, which had now fully healed, was of great use to him on this occasion, when, to Minnie’s great surprise, he clung with it to the bar of the rack, and began to swing himself about.
“I heard of a monkey once,” exclaimed Frank, laughing merrily, “who made great use of his tail. If a nut or apple were thrown to him which fell beyond his reach, he would run to the full length of his chain, turn his back, then stretch out his tail, and draw toward him the coveted delicacy.”
“Let’s see whether Jacko would do so,” shouted Minnie, greatly excited with the project.
“When we can catch him. But see how funny he looks. There he goes up the hay mow, the chain dangling after him.”
“If we don’t try to catch him, he’ll come quicker,” said Minnie, gravely.
“I know another story about a monkey – a real funny one,” added the boy. “I don’t know what his name was; but he used to sleep in the barn with the cattle and horses. I suppose monkeys are always cold here; at any rate, this one was; and when he saw the hostler give the horse a nice feed of hay, he said to himself, ‘What a comfortable bed that would make for me!’
“When the man went away, he jumped into the hay and hid, and every time the horse came near enough to eat, he sprang forward and bit her ears with his sharp teeth.
“Of course, as the poor horse couldn’t get her food, she grew very thin, and at last was so frightened that the hostler could scarcely get her into the stall. Several times he had to whip her before she would enter it, and then she stood as far back as possible, trembling like a leaf.
“It was a long time before they found out what the matter was; and then the monkey had to take a whipping, I guess.”
“If his mother had been there, she would have whipped him,” said Minnie, laughing.
“What do you mean?”
The little girl then repeated what her mother had told her of the discipline among monkeys, at which he was greatly amused.
All this time, they were standing at the bottom of the hay mow, and supposed that Jacko was safe at the top; but the little fellow was more cunning than they thought. He found the window open near the roof, where hay was sometimes pitched in, and ran down into the yard as quick as lightning.
The first they knew of it was when John called out from the barnyard, “Jacko, Jacko! Soh, Jacko! Be quiet, sir!”
It was a wearisome chase they had for the next hour, and at the end they could not catch the runaway; but at last, when they sat down calmly in the house, he stole back to his cage, and lay there quiet as a lamb.
Minnie’s face was flushed with her unusual exercise, but in a few minutes she grew very pale, until her mother became alarmed. After a few drops of lavender, however, she said she felt better, and that if Frank would tell her a story she should be quite well.
“That I will,” exclaimed the boy, eagerly. “I know a real funny one; you like funny stories – don’t you?”
“Yes, when they’re true,” answered Minnie.
“Well, this is really true. A man was hunting, and he happened to kill a monkey that had a little baby on her back. The little one clung so close to her dead mother, that they could scarcely get it away. When they reached the gentleman’s house, the poor creature began to cry at finding itself alone. All at once it ran across the room to a block, where a wig belonging to the hunter’s father was placed, and thinking that was its mother, was so comforted that it lay down and went to sleep.
“They fed it with goat’s milk, and it grew quite contented, for three weeks clinging to the wig with great affection.
“The gentleman had a large and valuable collection of insects, which were dried upon pins, and placed in a room appropriated to such purposes.
“One day, when the monkey had become so familiar as to be a favorite with all in the family, he found his way to this apartment, and made a hearty breakfast on the insects.
“The owner, entering when the meal was almost concluded, was greatly enraged, and was about to chastise the animal, who had so quickly destroyed the work of years, when he saw that the act had brought its own punishment. In eating the insects, the animal had swallowed the pins, which very soon caused him such agony that he died.”
“I don’t call the last part funny at all,” said Minnie, gravely.
“But wasn’t it queer for it to think the wig was its mother?” asked the boy, with a merry laugh. “I don’t think it could have had much sense to do that.”
“But it was only a baby monkey then, Harry.”
“How did it happen,” inquired Mrs. Lee, “that Jacko got away from you?”
“He watched his chance, aunty, and twitched the chain away from Minnie. Now he’s done it once, he’ll try the game again, I suppose, he is so fond of playing us tricks.”
And true enough, the very next morning the lady was surprised at a visit from the monkey in her chamber, where he made himself very much at home, pulling open drawers, and turning over the contents, in the hope of finding some confectionery, of which he was extremely fond.
“Really,” she exclaimed to her husband, “if Jacko goes on so, I shall be of cook’s mind, and not wish to live in the house with him.”