Chapter IV: Part 4

So Sammie Littletail ran and got the shooter, and a lot of hard beans. Then he leaned over the edge of the steep hill, and he blew beans at the hawk that was flying around trying to pick out Jacko's eyes.

The beans hit the bird all over; on her tail and on her feathers and on her claws and beak, and soon she was glad enough to fly back into her nest and let the monkey boy alone, for she couldn't see Sammie blowing the beans, as he was hidden behind a bush.

Then the boy animals hurried and pulled up Jacko and the football and he was safe, and they had a lot more fun playing the game, and every one said that Jumpo was very smart to think of the bean shooter. And the green monkey boy was so excited that he forgot all about his toothache, which was a good thing, and the next day the dentist fixed it so that it never ached again.

I hope none of you ever have the toothache.

Now, if the ketchup bottle doesn't spill itself into the pitcher of lemonade and make it look like a pink tomato, I'll tell you next about Jacko doing a trick.

STORY XXII

JACKO DOES SOME TRICKS

Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, a very queer thing happened to Jacko Kinkytail, the red monkey boy, and I'm going to tell you all about it from the beginning down to the very end, and I hope you'll like it. You see it started this way.

It was after school one day, when all the boy and girl animals were on their way home with their books in straps, or else under their paws or wings. Jacko and Jumpo were walking along, sometimes picking up things in their front paws or their feet or their long tails, when, all of a sudden Sammie Littletail, the boy rabbit, said:

"Let's have a race, and see who gets to the big black stump first."

Now this black stump was in the middle of the woods, through which the children had to go on their way to and from school. The stump looked like an elephant trying to catch his tail in his trunk, but of course it wasn't really alive; only make-believe, you know.

"I think I can run faster than anybody," said Munchie Trot, the boy pony.

"Oh, no; I'm the fastest," spoke Bully No-Tail, the frog.

"We'll see," whistled Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow.

Away they started for the big, black stump, girls and boys all together. Some of them flew and some of them hopped and some ran, just as they liked. But Dickie Chip-Chip, the sparrow boy, got to the stump first, because he could go through the air like a balloon or an airship. Then they were all out of breath from the race as they came to the stump, one after another, so they sat down to rest.

"Well, we're all ready now, let's run some more," said Lulu Wibblewobble, the duck girl, after a while, as she looked to see if her neck ribbon had come off. So they all started to run again, just as you do when you come from school, only Jacko Kinkytail didn't race with the others this time.

"What's the matter?" asked his brother, looking back. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"No, I'm too tired," said the little red monkey boy. "I'm going to sit here and rest a bit. I'll be home after a while, and you and I will have an auto ride, Jumpo."

So Jacko stayed there by the big, black stump, while the others went on to race again. And the first thing Jacko knew was that he heard something moving in the bushes behind the stump.

"My goodness!" he exclaimed, jumping up. "I hope that isn't a bad fox or a wolf." So he got ready to run, but before he could jump out of the way, out came a big black bear. And, no sooner had the bear seen Jacko, than the shaggy creature rushed up to the monkey, and tied a rope around his neck.

"Now I have you!" growled the bear.

"Yes, I see you have," said Jacko, as he tried to get away, but couldn't. "Please let me go. Are you going to eat me? Oh, dear, oh, dear!" the monkey boy cried.

"No, I'm not going to eat you," said the bear. "I'll tell you that much, anyhow. And I'm not going to let you go. I am going to take you all around the country with me to do tricks."

"Do tricks?" cried Jacko, surprised like.

"Yes, you see I used to be a performing bear, but I don't want to be one any more. I used to ride a bicycle, climb up a tree, play that I was a soldier and waltz around when my master sang a funny song. But I'm tired of it, so I ran away, and now I want to make some money for myself to buy a pair of spectacles, so I can read. So I'm going to have a trick monkey of my own, and you'll have to be it.

"You and I will travel about, and you'll do the tricks, such as standing on your head, making funny faces, turning somersaults, tying knots in your tail, and swinging on a trapeze. You'll do the tricks and the people will pay me the money for watching you. Then I'll be rich. Come along now," and the bear pulled on the rope which he had fastened about Jacko's neck.

Well, the red monkey didn't want to go with the bear, but he had to. And oh! he felt dreadfully about leaving all his friends, and his brother and mamma and papa, but there was no help for it. He thought, perhaps, some of his friends might see him and make the bad bear run away, but none of them did.

Away through the woods went Jacko with the trained bear leading him. This wasn't the kind trained bear of whom I once told you. No, this was another one, a bad, savage, unpleasant creature.

Pretty soon, after they had gone through the woods for quite a distance, Jacko and the bear came to a place where there were a whole lot of animal people. There were birds and cows and horses and dogs and cats and all like that, only they were animal people, you see.

"Here will be a good place to show off some of your tricks," growled the bear. "We will have time before supper, so you will do them now and I will take up the collection. Lively! Dance and make funny faces. Stand on your tail."

Then the bear pulled hard on the string about Jacko's neck and the poor monkey had to do all sorts of tricks. He made believe he was a soldier and marched around. He jumped over a stick of wood, pretended to beat a drum and ring a bell, and then he turned two somersaults, one after the other, as quick as a stick of lemon candy.

"You are doing very well," whispered the bear in Jacko's ear, after he had taken up a collection. "Keep on and I will soon be rich. Now we will go a long distance and do more tricks."

Well, Jacko didn't like that, and he didn't want to go so far away from home, especially when it was getting dark. And he wondered how he could get away. But he didn't see any chance, as the bear had tight hold of the string around Jacko's neck.

Then Jacko thought of a plan. If he could only make some of the animal people understand that he didn't want to go with the bear, but, instead, wanted to go home, he felt sure they would help him. But he didn't quite know how he could tell them, for he knew if he spoke to them the bear might hear him and scratch him before he was half through telling every one that he wanted to get away.

By this time there was quite a crowd watching the bear make the monkey do tricks, when, all of a sudden, Jacko looked over the heads of the audience and saw Uncle Wiggily Longears, the brave rabbit gentleman, standing there with his crutch.

"Oh, if I could only make him see me and make him know who I am, he would save me!" thought Jacko. So, without the bear telling him what to do, the red monkey suddenly began to make believe he was an automobile. He twisted the pinkum-pankum, tooted the horn, cranked the front part and turned on the gasoline. For he knew Uncle Wiggily would be interested in that sort of a trick and would help him.

And, surely enough, just as Jacko was pretending to turn around a curve in a make-believe auto and run over a milk bottle, and the crowd was laughing and clapping and yelling like anything, Uncle Wiggily saw the monkey and cried out:

"Why, if there isn't Jacko Kinkytail! I wonder what that bear is doing with him? I think he must have kidnapped him."

Then the old gentleman rabbit cried: "Hey! You let my friend Jacko go!"

And Uncle Wiggily rushed forward with his crutch and banged it on a stone, making a noise like a gun, and he looked so angry that the bear let go of the rope and quickly sneaked away where no one could find him. So Jacko was free, and didn't have to do any tricks unless he wished to. Then Uncle Wiggily took him home, and they arrived just as Mrs. Kinkytail was sending out old dog Percival to look for her son and tell him to come to supper.

So that's how Jacko escaped from the bad bear. And on the next page, in case the stove lifter doesn't pull out the carpet tacks and feed them to the gold fish, I'll tell you about Jumpo and the paper cup.

STORY XXIII

JUMPO AND THE PAPER CUP

One day, when Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail, the red and green monkey boys, were coming home from school, Jacko said to Jumpo:

"I have five cents, that I have been saving up for a long while. Now I'm going to buy a bag of hot roast peanuts, and I'll give you some."

"Oh, fine!" cried Jumpo. "But where can you buy any peanuts in these woods?" for you see at that time the monkey boys were going home through a place where the trees grew thick and tall, almost up to the sky, it seemed.

"Oh, perhaps we will meet some one with a hot peanut wagon, or we may come to a store where they sell them," said the red monkey. "You look on that side of the path, Jumpo, and I'll look on this side."

So they did this, looking as hard as they could look, for they were quite hungry for peanuts, but all they could see were the brown leaves being blown about in the wind.

"I guess there are no peanuts here," said Jacko at length. "We will have to wait until we get home."

"No!" exclaimed Jumpo, as he tied his tail in three hard knots and untied it as quickly as you can watch the baby shake his rattlebox. "I'll tell you what we'll do," said Jumpo. "You let me take the five cents, and I'll go look for a peanut wagon in the woods. Then you stay here and watch for one to come along. If one does come you kindly ask the man to wait here until I get back with the money, for, of course, I may not find anybody with peanuts."

"But how can I tell you to come back with the money, when you are away off in the woods?" Jacko wanted to know.

"Why, you take two stones, and hit them together as hard as you can," explained the green monkey, "and it will sound like a drum. Then I'll come back running, but if I should happen to find a peanut wagon before you do, I'll come back anyhow."

Well, Jacko thought that was a good plan, so he gave his brother the five-cent piece, and then he sat down on a stone under a tree to wait while Jumpo went off in the woods. Then Jacko began to study his spelling lesson. And he learned to spell cat, and rat, and dog, and boy, and words like that.

But now we needn't think of Jacko for a little time, as I am going to tell you what happened to Jumpo. On and on the green monkey boy went through the woods, looking for a hot peanut wagon. Of course, I don't mean that the wagon would be hot, no, indeed. I mean the peanuts would be nice and warm after being roasted.

"Well, I guess I'm not going to find the peanut man," thought Jumpo, as he looked all over, and in several other places. Then he listened to see if he could hear the whistle of the hot peanut wagon, but he couldn't, and he was just getting ready to turn around and go back where his brother was, for it was getting late, and would soon be dark.

Then, all of a sudden, Jumpo heard a queer sound. It was like some one talking, and the words were these:

"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I'll never get a drink, I'm afraid. And I'm so thirsty, and I can't walk home. Oh, dear! Oh, dear! What shall I do?"

"Ha! I wonder who that can be?" thought the green monkey boy. "Perhaps it is the peanut man, and he has eaten so many of his peanuts that he needs a drink. I guess I had better help him."

So Jumpo started through the woods toward where he heard the voice talking. Then, all at once he thought of something.

"That may be a bear, or a burglar fox talking that way just to catch me," he whispered to himself. "I had better go slowly. I'll just peek through the bushes, before I go any closer, and see who it is."

Then Jumpo looked through the bushes. And whom do you s'pose he saw, sitting on a stump near a little spring of water? Well, I don't believe you'd ever guess, so I'm going to tell you. It was Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit, and Uncle Wiggily was looking at the spring of water and saying: "Oh, dear!" so many times that Jumpo couldn't count them.

"Ha! There is no danger for me now!" exclaimed the green monkey boy. "I must go and help him. Why, what is the matter, Uncle Wiggily?" asked Jumpo as he walked toward him.

"Oh, it is you; is it, Jumpo?" spoke the rabbit. "Well, I am very glad to see you. But, oh dear! how thirsty I am. I ate some salted muskmelon with pepper cabbage sauce on it for dinner, and I am so thirsty that I don't know what to do."

"But why don't you drink, when you are so close to a spring of water?" asked Jumpo.

"Ah, why indeed?" said Uncle Wiggily. "Well, the truth of the matter is that I have no drinking cup; so how can I get a drink?"

"That is easy," said Jumpo. "Do as we boys do. Lie down flat on your face, and sip up the water. Here, I'll show you," and Jumpo stretched out on the ground, and took a long drink from the spring.

"Very fine--for you," said Uncle Wiggily. "I tried that way, but every time I began to sip up the water it squirted up my nose, and that tickles me, and I have to sneeze, and when I sneeze I can't drink. No one could. You just try it. Sneeze, please."

So Jumpo did, and surely enough he couldn't drink and sneeze at the same time.

"Did you try to dip up some in the top of your hat?" asked Jumpo.

"Yes," said Uncle Wiggily, "but my hat is a tall silk one, with holes in to let out the hot air, and the water all runs out before I can drink it."

"I'll try my cap," said the monkey boy, and he did but all the water ran out of that as soon as it was dipped up.

"Oh, what shall I do?" said Uncle Wiggily. "I am afraid I shall die of thirst, for my rheumatism hurts so that I can't walk very fast and it will take me a week to get home."

Then Jumpo thought real hard, and he suddenly exclaimed:

"Oh, I know the very thing! I will make you a paper cup."

"A paper cup!" spoke the rabbit. "One cannot drink out of a paper cup."

"I will prove it to you," said Jumpo. "Our teacher showed us how to make paper cups that would last long enough to get a good drink from."

Then the monkey boy took a piece of paper from his pad that was strapped in with his schoolbooks and he folded it and creased it and folded it again, doubling it over until he had a cute little paper cup. Then he opened it out and dipped it into the water and held it up for Uncle Wiggily to drink.

"Well, I do declare!" exclaimed the rabbit, as he drank the water. "That's fine." Then he drank some more until he had enough, and by leaning on Jumpo's shoulder he managed to walk along toward home.

Then, all of a sudden, a big black bear jumped out of the woods crying:

"I'm going to eat you both!" But what did Jumpo do? Why, he scooped up a paper cupful of water and threw it in the bear's eyes and made him sneeze, and the bear was so scared that he cried out, "Wow! Wow! Wow!" three times and ran away.

Then Uncle Wiggily and Jumpo went to where Jacko was waiting for them, and a hot peanut wagon came along and the old gentleman rabbit bought each of the monkey boys a bag full, and they went home, helping Uncle Wiggily all the way.

Now, that's all to-night, if you please; but the next story I'll tell you will be about the Kinkytails blowing bubbles--that is, if the soapdish doesn't jump up and bite the bathroom towel and make it cry.

STORY XXIV

THE KINKYTAILS BLOW BUBBLES

"Oh, dear, I wonder what we can do to-day?" exclaimed Jacko Kinkytail, as he got up one Saturday morning and saw that it was raining quite hard.

"Yes, isn't it too bad," said his brother, the green monkey. "Here it is Saturday, when there is no school, and we can't go out and play. Oh, dear!"

"Oh, my!" cried Mamma Kinkytail, as she came in to see if her boys were ready for breakfast. "Why are you so sad?"

"I guess you'd be sad if you couldn't go out and play," answered Jacko, as he parted his hair on the left side and took the kinky spots out of his tail where he had slept on it in the night.

"We'll see if we can't have some fun in the house," his mamma said. "Just you get your breakfasts and then you boys can help me dust a bit. Then I'll think up some way so you may have some fun, even if it rains."

"Oh, goody!" cried Jacko and Jumpo together, and they jumped up and down, and Jacko climbed on Jumpo's back and tried to touch the ceiling, only Jumpo toppled over and they both fell right down on top of the bed, so they weren't hurt.

"Now, if you'd only jump around, and help me dust, it would be better than jumping on the bed," said their mamma with a laugh. So they got some old rags, and soon all the furniture was polished so shiny that you could see yourself standing upside down in it.

"Now for the fun!" said Mrs. Kinkytail. "Jacko, you get me some bowls with warm water in them, and, Jumpo, you shave up some of that nice smelling soap in the bathroom."

"Are you going to wash us, ma?" asked Jumpo, scared like.

"No, indeed. You will have your baths tonight. This is a little trick I am going to do for you. While you are getting the soap and water and bowls I will go to the telephone. But you mustn't listen to what I say."

Well, of course, the monkey boys promised, and they got the things their mamma told them to, while she was telephoning. Then she showed them how to mix up the soap and water in the bowls. Just as this was finished the door bell rang.

"I wonder who that can be?" said Jacko, surprised like.

"Suppose you go and see," answered his mother with a smile.

Jacko went to the front door and looked down toward the ground, for you know the monkeys' house was up in a high tree. In the rain he saw three duck children standing there.

"Oh, it's Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble!" cried Jacko in delight. "Oh, how did you happen to come in all the rain?"

"Why, your mamma telephoned for us," said Jimmie, as he wiggled his wings to toss off some of the water, for you know the ducks didn't need umbrellas.

"Oh, come right up!" cried Jumpo, who had also run to the door. "We're going to have fun. Come up."

"But how can we, when there are no stairs?" asked Lulu.

"Wait, I'll let down the basket," spoke Jacko, and soon he lowered a basket, fastened to a rope. This was always kept for visitors, but the monkeys could climb up without it.

Into the basket Alice and Lulu and Jimmie stepped, and Jacko and Jumpo pulled them up, for monkeys are very strong.

"Come right in, Jimmie, and your sisters, too," invited Mrs. Kinkytail. "Did you bring the pipes, Jimmie?"

"Yes, ma'am," said the boy duck.

"What pipes?" Jumpo wanted to know.

"Some nice, new, clean clay pipes, that you are going to blow bubbles with," explained his mamma. "That is the good time I have made for you. You are going to have a soap-bubble party. Now, children, come right out in the kitchen and the party will begin."

"Oh, how lovely!" cried Alice Wibblewobble, as she looked in a glass to see if her hair ribbon was on straight. "I love soap bubbles."

"So do I," said Lulu, whistling just like a boy.

Out in the kitchen a soft cloth had been spread on the floor for the bubbles to fall on, so they wouldn't get hurt. And Jimmie put the new pipes on the table beside the bowls of soap and water.

"Now, begin," said Mamma Kinkytail. So each one dipped a pipe into the soapy water and began to blow. Oh, what fine bubbles they made! Some were white, and some blue, and some green, and some red--just like the rainbow colors.

Lulu blew a very big bubble, almost as big as the moon looks, and all of a sudden it burst, making her sneeze like the time when Uncle Wiggily got the water up his nose.

Then Jacko blew a bubble and bounced it on the soft cloth until it looked like a football rolling along.

"Oh, see mine!" cried Alice, as she shook one off her pipe. It floated about the room. "It's on Jumpo's head!" said Alice. And, surely enough, it was, only it didn't stay there very long, as it burst. And Jimmie Wibblewobble blew one that almost reached the ceiling. Then Jumpo blew two at once, like twins, and they stayed on the cloth a long time.

Oh! They were having such fun that they didn't even think of the rain. They blew hundreds of bubbles, and laughed and shouted until you would have thought there were a dozen children at the party. And then, all of a sudden, something happened.

All at once there was a noise at the window, and a great big black bear poked his head in. He gave a growl and cried:

"Ah, ha! Now I'll have plenty for my supper. I am very fond of monkeys and ducks. I'm glad I climbed up the tree to get you. All ready now, I'm coming in!"

"You get right out of here, you bad bear!" cried Lulu.

"No, I will not," said the bear, savage like.

"I'll go tell my mamma if you don't," said Jacko, for Mrs. Kinkytail wasn't in the kitchen just then.

"I'm not afraid!" growled the bear. "Here I come in after you."

Well, he was just getting in through the window, when Lulu Wibblewobble cried:

"Oh, let's blow a whole lot of bubbles at him and scare him!"

And that's what those brave animal children did. They dipped their pipes in the soap and water and blew forty-'leven-sixteen-twenty-one bubbles and shook them at the bear. And my! how frightened he was. He'd never seen soap bubbles before, and he thought they were red and green and yellow and blue cannon balls going to hit him on his nose and toes.

Quickly he turned around and crawled out of the window and down the pole before any of the bubbles could burst and make him sneeze, and he ran off to the woods, and so that's how he didn't eat anybody that night.

Then Mrs. Kinkytail came in and heard what happened, and she said Lulu was a very bright little duck girl to think of it. Then the mamma monkey called:

"Come into the dining-room now and have ice cream and cake." And, oh! wasn't it good!

Then they blew more bubbles and soon the party was over, and Jacko and Jumpo were glad it had rained. Now on the next page, if the boy who lives in the corner house doesn't lose his roller skates down our chimney and make it sneeze, you may read about Jacko and the paper chain.

STORY XXV

JACKO AND THE PAPER CHAIN

"Now sit up nice and straight, children," said the owl school teacher one day, "and pay close attention. I am going to show you how to make paper chains, so you can decorate the Christmas trees with them when the time comes. I have shown you how to make paper cups, and this time it will be paper chains."

"And the paper cup was very useful," thought Jumpo, as he remembered the time he had given Uncle Wiggily a drink from it.

"I don't see how you can make chains out of paper," said Jacko in a whisper to his brother.

"Oh, you must not talk in school!" exclaimed the teacher quickly, "for it takes your minds off your lessons. Now look at me and do as I do."

But even when the teacher took out some squares of prettily colored paper and began cutting them in strips with her scissors, Jacko couldn't understand how she was going to make a chain that way.

"For chains are made of iron or steel or silver or gold, and not paper," he thought. "But I'll wait and see."

The teacher took a narrow strip of red paper, and she pasted the two ends together, making a little ring. Then she slipped another narrow strip of paper, colored green, inside the first red ring and she fastened the ends of the second strip together, making a second ring, right inside the first, like a watch chain. And so she went on until she had about forty-sixteen rings all fastened together, and that was a paper chain.

"Now you try to make one," said the owl teacher, and all the animal children did. Susie Littletail, the rabbit, made a very fine chain of the most beautiful colors, and her brother Sammie made two paper chains, while the Bushytail squirrel brothers made some yellow chains that looked like gold.

"You may each take some paper with you," spoke the teacher when school was nearly over, "and make some chains at home."

So they all went up to her desk to get the paper, but Jacko Kinkytail, the red boy monkey, was a little late because he couldn't get his book strap fastened. And all there was left for him was some black paper. All the pretty colored pieces had been given away.

"Never mind," said the teacher, kindly, "I'm sure Jacko will make a very good black paper chain. Now school is over. Run home."

So they all ran home. Suddenly Jumpo Kinkytail happened to think that his mamma had told him to go to the store on his way from school, and bring her a yeast cake.

"Will you come with me?" Jumpo asked his brother.

"Oh, I don't want to," answered Jacko. "But I'll wait here in the woods for you."

"All right," said Jumpo, so off he started to the store.

Well, Jacko sat down on a hollow stump, taking good care not to fall in it and get his long tail all tangled up. He had his squares of black paper with him, and also a pair of scissors and some paste which the teacher had given him.

"I think I will start to make my paper chain now," he said to himself when he had been sitting there a little while. "Then I won't have to do it at home, and Jumpo and I can go for a little ride in our auto."

So he cut the black paper into strips, and made rings of them, fastening them together, one inside the other, until he had a nice long chain.

"Ha! That is very fine!" thought the monkey boy. "I will have it all done when Jumpo comes back."

He was holding up the chain by the end, to see how long it was, when, all of a sudden he heard a noise in the bushes. At first he thought it was his brother, coming with the yeast cake, but, somehow it didn't sound like the green monkey. It was a crashing-bashing-rashing-smashing sort of a noise, and Jacko began to be afraid, thinking it might be the burglar fox.

And then, before he could stand up and sing a song about four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a rice pudding, out from the bushes came the savage skillery-scalery alligator with the double jointed tail. Oh, but that alligator was savage! And how he glared at Jacko with his mean, green eyes. Then the bad creature smacked his jaws together like an automobile running over a pair of roller skates.

"Ah, ha!" cried the alligator. "At last I have a monkey for supper. I would like two--a red one and a green one--but as long as there is only a red one I'll eat him."

"Are you really going to eat me?" asked Jacko, dropping the paper chain and the paste and the scissors. He was real scared.

"I am," said the alligator, "and if your brother was here I'd eat him also."

Then Jacko was glad his brother hadn't come back. Nearer and nearer came the alligator, with his mouth wide open. And, oh! how frightened Jacko was. He didn't know what to do.

"Please, Mr. Alligator, don't eat me!" he cried.

"Yes, I must eat you," said the unpleasant creature with the double-jointed tail. And he stood up on the end of it and waggled his head up and down and sideways and opened his mouth still wider.

Well, of course, Jacko didn't want to be eaten up, but he didn't know how to get out of it, until all of a sudden, he thought of a plan. His paper chain! It was black, and looked just like one made of strong iron. Perhaps he could fool the alligator.

All at once the red monkey boy caught up the rings of paper, all pasted together. Very quickly he threw the chain around the alligator's neck, and then he fastened both ends of the chain to the stump with strong paste. And he had the alligator fast in the paper chain.

Then Jacko jumped to one side and cried out:

"Now you can't get me, bad Mr. Alligator, for I have you chained fast to the stump! You can't get away, and you can't eat me!"

Well, that alligator looked at the paper links of the paper chain around his neck and fast to the stump. And as the paper was black, and looked like iron, the savage creature with the double-jointed tail really thought it was iron. So he didn't try to get away, for he knew he couldn't break iron, but if he had known that it was only paper he could have broken away as easily as not, just by one flip-flop of his tail, or by biting the paper with his strong teeth. But you see he didn't know.

"Now, I have you fast!" cried Jacko.

"Oh, please let me go," begged the alligator. He it was who was scared now.

"Never!" exclaimed Jacko. "I am going to run and meet my brother and we will go home. You can't catch us, for you are held fast."

So Jacko ran to meet Jumpo and told him how he had caught the alligator with a paper chain, and Jumpo was very glad. Then the monkey brothers went safely home, and the alligator stayed in the woods chained fast to the stump.

But in the night it rained, and the water melted the paste so that paper chain came all apart. Then the alligator was loose, and when he saw how he had been fooled with just paper he was as mad as anything, yes, really he was. But he couldn't catch Jacko and Jumpo.

So that's all now, but if the pretty little girl on our street doesn't sweep the dried leaves up in a pile and cover up the pussy cat, so it can't go to the moving pictures, I'll tell you next about the Kinkytails and the chirping cricket.

STORY XXVI

THE KINKYTAILS AND THE CRICKET

One day, as Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail were coming home from school they happened to go past a pile of stones in the woods. And just as they got near to the stones they saw something black on top.

"Oh!" exclaimed Jacko, "perhaps that is one of the rings from my black paper chain that I fastened the alligator with."

"Maybe it is," agreed Jumpo. "And if it is, why the alligator may be around here. We had better be careful. Let's run home."

Well, they were just going to run, not knowing the alligator had gone away as I told you in the previous story, when the black thing on the pile of stones gave a jump and disappeared down in a crack between two rocks.

"Ha! That is very funny!" said Jacko. "I didn't know that pieces of paper could jump."

"Me either," said Jumpo. "Let's go up and take a look. Maybe it isn't a piece of your paper chain after all; and the alligator may not be there."

So they went closer to the pile of stones, and all at once, and as quickly as you can eat a dish of ice cream on a hot day, they heard a little voice singing. And this was the song, which goes to the tune of "Rinky-tinky diddily-dum,"

"Let's be jolly, don't be sad,
Let's be good and not be bad.
If you fall and hurt your nose,
Dance upon your tippy-toes.

"Always try to sing or play,
Laughter drives dull care away.
Whistle with a happy shout,
Music turns the world about."

"My, you must be a jolly fellow, whoever you are!" said Jacko.

"Oh, no; I am the most miserable creature in all the world," was the sorrowful answer from beneath the pile of stones.

"Then why do you sing about happiness; and who are you?" asked Jumpo.

"I am a chirping black cricket," was the answer. "I was sitting on this stone pile when I happened to see you coming. I thought you were two bears, so I jumped down in here and now I cannot get out again, for every time I try to jump out I bump my nose. Are you really bears?"

"No, indeed; we're two monkey boys," spoke Jacko. "But we will help you out of the stone pile. Come, Jumpo, let's toss the stones away, one by one, and the cricket can get out."

So they did this, and pretty soon the little black creature could crawl out.

"Well, are you happy now?" asked Jacko.

"Oh, no; I am very sad, for I know winter will soon be here and I will freeze to death," said the cricket. "But still I sing my joyous song as I want other people to be happy. I am much obliged for helping me out, but I will soon be dead."

"Oh, nonsensicalness! Don't talk so!" exclaimed Jumpo. "Winter isn't at all bad. Think of the skating, and the snow, and riding down hill on your sled, and making forts and snow men and--"

"Yes, that's all right for any one who can keep warm, but I can't," said the black cricket. "Oh, I am so miserable," and then he began to sing again about always being happy and not sad.

"I think we can easily fix this," said Jacko. "We will take you home with us, Mr. Cricket, and you can stay in the warm fireplace all winter. Then you will keep warm until summer comes again, and you can sing to us as we study our lessons, for some of them are so hard that they make us sad."

"That will be lovely," spoke the cricket. "I'll come with you gladly. But first throw away the rest of the pile of stones so no one else will fall down among them as I did."

So the monkey boys did this, and just as Jacko tossed away the last stone the big black bear popped out of the bushes most unexpectedly, and the stone hit him on the nose.

"Oh! I'll eat you up for that," he cried, and he made a jump for the monkey boys.

"Run! Run!" called the cricket, "and I'll bump into his eyes and blind him so he can't see you."

So the monkey boys ran as fast as they could, and the black cricket gave a big hop and hopped right up against the bear's eyes and for a minute he couldn't see. That gave Jacko and Jumpo a chance to get away, and they ran on and on and pretty soon the cricket caught up to them, hopping away from the bear, and they all went home to the monkeys' house.

Mrs. Kinkytail was very glad to see the cricket, who would have been frozen if he had had to sleep outdoors many more cold nights. She made him a warm bed near the fireplace by putting some cotton inside her sewing thimble.

"Oh, this is most delightful," said the cricket as he snuggled down inside the thimble under the warm cotton. "This is the nicest place I ever slept in." Then he sang his jolly song again, and Jacko and Jumpo did their lessons and soon the cricket sang himself to sleep and it was time for everybody to go to bed.

But listen! Something happened in the middle of the night. That bad bear was so mad that along about 12 o'clock, when all was still and quiet in the monkeys' house, he sneaked up and climbed the tree until he was at the front door.

"Now I will go in and eat them all up," thought the bear, smacking his lips and gnashing his sharp teeth. So with his long toenails he unlocked the door and went softly into the house, where Jacko and Jumpo and their papa and mamma were fast asleep. No one heard the bear come in--that is, no one but the little black cricket in the thimble near the fireplace. He heard the shaggy, savage creature, and all at once that cricket chirped and cried out:

"Wake up! Wake up, everybody! You'll all be eaten!" And the cricket sang his happy song so loudly that Jacko and Jumpo and Mr. and Mrs. Kinkytail awakened at once, just as though they had heard an alarm clock.

Then Mr. Kinkytail took a club and began beating on the bottom of the dishpan, and the bear heard it and he thought it was the fire engines coming after him, so he jumped out of the front door to get away. And he jumped so hard that he fell to the ground and broke two of its toenails, and it served him right, I think.

So that's how the cricket saved the Kinkytails from being robbed and eaten up, and they were very thankful to him. And he stayed with them all winter, and sometimes he had cherry pie for supper.

Now next I'm going to tell you about the Kinkytails and the doll's house--that is, if the alarm clock will stop making figures all over my paper so I can write the story, and if the coffee pot doesn't step on the rolling pin's toes.

STORY XXVII

THE KINKYTAILS AND THE DOLL'S HOUSE

"Now, boys," said Mrs. Kinkytail to her two monkey sons one morning, "this is Saturday, and there isn't any school, so I wish you would go on an errand for me."

"Where is it, mamma?" asked Jacko. "Do you want us to go to the store to get some molasses, so we can make candy?"

"No, indeed, I do not!" she exclaimed. "I have plenty of molasses in the house, and I can't let you make candy today, though I may some other time."

"Then do you want us to get some corn so we can pop it, and make popcorn balls?" asked Jumpo, trying to stand up on the end of his tail. But he couldn't do it very well, so he wound his tail around the gas fixture in the ceiling and hung head downward.

"Don't do that," said his mother. "All the blood may run to your head and there won't be any in your feet, and you may get the epizootic. But I don't want any popcorn from the store. What I want you to do is to go over to Grandfather Goosey Gander's house and borrow the chopper machine he grinds up things in. I am going to make some cabbage chow-chow and some chew-chew and some tomato pickles and I want to grind up all the things in the food chopper.

"So hurry off, and when you come back you may take turns grinding up the things in the chopper, and here is a penny for each of you."

"Oh, goody!" exclaimed Jacko. "You are very kind, mother."

"She certainly is," agreed Jumpo. "And maybe Grandfather Goosey Gander will give us some peppermint candies. Oh, I'm glad it's Saturday, and I'm glad we're going after the chipper-chopper."

So they started off over the fields and through the woods together, hopping and skipping and jumping. Sometimes they held each other's paws, and sometimes they twined their tails together and went along that way.

Pretty soon they came to where Grandfather Goosey Gander lived. The old gentleman was very glad to see them, and, after he had given them the food chipper-chopper, which he used to grind up his corn in to make cornmeal, the goose grandfather said:

"I wonder if you two chaps know anyone who likes peppermint candy?"

"Yes, sir!" exclaimed Jacko and Jumpo at once, very quickly.

"Where are such boys to be found?" asked Grandfather Goosey Gander, and he made-believe look all around over the top of his spectacles.

"Right here!" exclaimed Jacko and Jumpo more quickly.

"Bless my gizzard!" cried the old goosey gentleman. "I never thought you liked such things." But he gave them some, just the same, and they started back home with the chipper-chopper.

But on the way something dreadful happened. Just as those two boys were going through a dark place in the woods there was a rustling in the bushes and out jumped the burglar fox.

"Ah, ha! Now I have you!" he cried. But he spoke too soon, for, just as he made a grab for Jacko and Jumpo, they darted away and ran as fast as anything, if not faster.

The foxy fox ran also, and as foxes are good runners, he was soon almost up to Jacko and Jumpo.

"We never can get away from him," said Jacko.

"Never," agreed Jumpo, "and we haven't even one roller skate between us now. Oh, what shall we do?"

Well, they didn't know, and that fox was coming closer and closer, and he almost had them, when, just as the monkey boys turned around a hollow stump corner they saw a little house. Oh, it was the cutest little house, just about large enough for them to get in, and not much more.

"Quick!" cried Jacko. "Into that house with you, Jumpo, and we'll lock the door."

"Whose house is it?" asked the green monkey.

"Never mind. Don't stop to ask questions. Skip in," cried Jacko. So in Jumpo skipped and his brother was right after him, and they were only just in time, for as they shut and locked the door the fox ran slam-bang up against it, if you will pardon me saying so at such an exciting time.

"Come out of there!" called the fox, banging on the door with his paws.

"Indeed, we will not!" answered Jacko and Jumpo most politely, holding tightly to the food chopper. And just then they heard some one walking upstairs in the little house and a voice called down:

"Who is there? Who is knocking at my door?"

"Goodness me, sakes alive, and a sweet potato!" cried Jacko. "Some one lives in this little bit of a house! Think of it!"

"It does seem so," spoke Jumpo. "I wonder who it can be?"

And just then some one came down stairs and into the front room, where the monkey boys were hiding, and who should it be but a doll--yes, a wonderfully nice lady doll in a blue dress--and when she was wound up by a spring in her back she could walk and talk; and she was wound up now.

"Well, of all things!" exclaimed the doll, speaking in a squeaky sort of voice. "What are you monkey boys doing here?"

"We are hiding from the fox," said Jacko. "He chased us on our way home from Grandfather Goosey Gander's house and we ran in here. I hope you are not angry."

"Indeed, I am not," said the doll, kindly. "Where is the fox now?"

And just then the bad fox banged on the door of the doll's house again and cried out:

"Hey! I want you monkey boys!"

"Oh, the savage creature!" exclaimed the doll. "He'll be wanting to eat me next. You see, I'm out here for my health. I belong to a little girl, but she had my house brought out here so I could get the woodland air. And I'm much stronger now. But I'll fix that fox."

"How?" asked Jacko.

"Why, you go close to the front door," said the doll, "and pretend that you are coming out. Rattle the knob, you know. Then I'll go to an upstairs window, right over the door, and when the fox is standing there I'll pour molasses on him and he'll be so sticky that he can't even eat a toothpick."

"Fine!" cried Jacko, so he and his brother rattled the door knob.

"Ah! Here comes my monkey dinner!" said the fox, smacking his lips hungry like.

And just then that brave doll in the blue dress opened the window over the fox's head and poured a whole dish pan of molasses on him.

"Wow! Oh, wow! Bow-wow!" cried that fox.

Oh, I wish you could have seen him. He was so stuck up from the tip of his toes to the tip of his nose that he was all kerflumixed and kerflimixed and he ran off in the woods taking his tail with him. So he didn't eat Jacko or Jumpo, and soon they came out, and after thanking the brave doll in the blue dress they went safely home and helped make chow-chow-chew-chew pickles in the chipper-chopper.

Now, in case the tomato can doesn't roll over in bed and fall out on the floor so it bumps the kitty cat's nose, I'll tell you next about Jacko and the train of cars.

STORY XXVIII

JACKO AND THE TRAIN OF CARS

"May we go over to Sammie Littletail's house and play this afternoon, mamma?" asked Jacko Kinkytail as he and his brother came home from school. It was about three days after the monkey boys had hidden from the fox in the doll's house.

"What about your school lessons and home work?" asked the monkey boys' mother.

"Oh, we both did fine to-day, and we both went to the head of the class," said Jumpo. "First I went up and then Jacko went, and we haven't much home work to do, only some spelling words to learn."

"Then you may go," said Mrs. Kinkytail, "but be sure to be home for supper." So they promised, and away they hopped through the woods toward the place where the Littletail rabbit family lived.

"What shall we play when we get there?" asked Jumpo, as he wound his tail around the low limb of a tree and swung himself across a little brook as nicely as you can fold your napkin.

"Oh, we'll play tag, and hide-and-go-seek, and maybe football," spoke Jacko. "Perhaps Susie Littletail has been helping her mother bake a cake or a pie, and she might give us some. I'm not saying for sure," said Jacko, as he winked both his eyes, "but she might."

"Oh, I wish she would!" cried Jumpo. "When we go in, we'll just sort of look hungry, and when they ask us what's the matter we'll say we haven't had any pie or cake in a long, long time. For you know mamma doesn't allow us to ask for things to eat when we go calling; but that wouldn't be asking, would it?"

"I guess not," said Jacko, slow and thoughtful like.

Well, they were soon at the rabbit children's house and they saw Sammie Littletail outside. He was playing with his football, and when he saw Jacko and Jumpo he cried:

"Oh, goody! Now we can have a game," and he kicked that ball away up in the air, so high that when it came down it stuck in the top of a tree.

"Now see what you did, Sammie!" cried his sister Susie, sorrowfully. "You can't get your ball," and there she stood in the door, with an apron on, and that apron was covered with flour dust, yes, really it was.

"Hey! What did I tell you?" whispered Jumpo to Jacko. "They're baking cake, all right. See the flour on Susie's apron. I'm going to look hungry."

"And I'm going to get the football," said Jacko. "Maybe that will surprise Susie, and she'll offer us some cake without us looking hungry. Here I go."

"Good!" cried Jumpo, and before he could say anything more up the tree scrambled the red monkey to where the football was caught on a crooked branch.

"Look out! Here it comes down!" cried Jacko, in about a minute, and, surely enough, down came the football bouncing up and down like a bowl full of jelly on Christmas morning.

"Oh, fine!" cried Sammie. "I thought I would never get it back again. Isn't there something I can give you and your brother, Jacko?"

"Well," said Jacko, slow and hungry like, "we might have--"

"I know the very thing!" cried Susie. "I have just baked some cherry pies for Uncle Wiggily Longears and I know he'd want you to have some. Come in and I'll cut one."

"Oh, if this isn't the best luck!" exclaimed Jacko. "We didn't have to ask, so it's all right; eh, Jumpo?"

"Sure," said Jumpo in a whisper.

I just wish _you_ could have had some of that cherry pie, but of course you couldn't, for there wasn't any left. Then pretty soon the monkey boys and Sammie went outside to play football again. And, all of a sudden, as Jumpo kicked the ball, it bounced on Sammie's nose and made it bleed.

Oh, how that poor rabbit boy's nose did bleed. He cried and cried again, and Susie and his mamma, the muskrat lady housekeeper, Nurse Jane Fuzzy-Wuzzy, came running out. They did all they could for him, such as putting a cold key down his back and making him chew paper, and they even put some paper under his upper lip, but it did no good, for the nose still bled.

"We must send for Dr. Possum at once," said Mrs. Littletail. "He will have to come in a hurry to stop the bleeding."

"Oh, if we only had our automobile, we could go very quickly," said Jacko, but they didn't have it.

"Oh, I'm so sorry; it was my fault," exclaimed Jumpo. "I will run for Dr. Possum."

"You never can run fast enough," exclaimed Mrs. Littletail. "Why, even an airship wouldn't be quick enough. Oh! What shall I do? Sammie may bleed to death."