After his ride on old dog Spot, Major Monkey went to the henhouse for
eggs even oftener than he had gone before.
Perhaps he had become fonder of eggs. Or perhaps he had become bolder.
Anyhow, he noticed that old dog Spot gave him a wide berth. Whenever
old Spot saw him he tucked his tail between his legs and ran, yelping,
into the house.
Now, Johnnie Green soon discovered that something--or somebody--was
frightening old Spot almost every day. And having nothing else to do
one morning, he made up his mind that he would watch and see what
happened. So he climbed to the cupola on top of the big barn. And
there he stayed for a long time, keeping a sharp eye on old Spot as he
wandered about the farm buildings.
It was a good while before anything happened. But Johnnie Green did
not mind that. He had brought plenty of cookies to munch. And he
pretended that he was a sailor in the crow's nest of a ship, on the
lookout for a sail.
After a while he almost forgot what he was really doing. He was
leaning far out of the cupola, shading his eyes with one hand, and
stuffing a cookie into his mouth with the other, and gazing off across
the meadow, when all at once he heard old Spot yelping.
That sound brought Johnnie to his senses. And glancing down, he saw
Spot tearing across the barnyard, making for the woodshed door in
great bounds. And behind him, perched on the roof of the henhouse,
Johnnie saw a familiar figure.
"It's the monkey again!" Johnnie Green cried. And he clambered quickly
to the ground.
But when he reached the henhouse Major Monkey had fled. Johnnie could
see his red coat flickering among the leaves in the orchard. But he
knew it was useless to follow.
Although Major Monkey was aware that Johnnie Green had seen him again,
he did not stop visiting the henhouse. To be sure, he became somewhat
more wary. He never went inside the henhouse for eggs without first
looking around carefully, to make sure that Johnnie Green wasn't
watching him. And for a time the Major kept an eye out for traps.
He saw nothing of the sort anywhere. But one day when he leaped to the
window-sill of the henhouse he was delighted to find a lump of maple
sugar, which some one had carelessly left there.
At least, that was what the Major supposed. And with something a good
deal like a chuckle he ate the dainty greedily. It was the first bit
of sugar he had tasted since he came to Pleasant Valley. And Major
Monkey was very fond of sweets.
Johnnie Green, or his father, or the hired man seemed all at once to
grow terribly careless with maple sugar. The Major hardly ever visited
the henhouse without finding a lump somewhere. And if his liking for
eggs hadn't brought him thither daily, his taste for sugar would have
been enough to make him continue his visits.
At last there came a day when Major Monkey discovered a thick pitcher
on the henhouse floor. A chain was looped through its handle and
nailed to the wall.
The Major grinned when he saw the chain.
"They don't want this pitcher to run away," he said to himself.
Being of a most curious turn of mind, he looked into the pitcher. And
then he promptly thrust in a hand.
There was a good-sized lump of sugar inside. And Major Monkey's
fingers closed upon it greedily.
His queer face wrinkled with annoyance when he found that he could not
withdraw his hand. Empty, it could easily have slipped through the
mouth of the pitcher. But with the sugar clutched in it, his hand
stuck fast.