A PLOT AGAINST THE MISSING LINK
"Everything's lovely, and the goose hangs high!" sang out Steve, when
they had once more arrived in camp, to find things just as they had been
left, with no sign of tampering on the part of the inquisitive and
perhaps hungry monkey.
"It's all right, because no damage was done, since Toby got back his
stolen high jumpers," Bandy-legs announced.
"Yes, and he's agoin' to have p-p-part of the s-s-same for lunch,
understand?" declared the late frog fisherman; "and say, Max, you never
did see such c-c-crazy antics in all your life as when they f-f-found
that red rag had a jag in it. Great g-g-governor! how they'd try to
c-c-crawl up the string backwards, or any old way. Near died alaughin'
at the s-s-same; then I reckoned it was kind of c-c-cruel to keep 'em
sufferin' so, and I'd knock 'em on the head. 'Bout time I g-g-got busy
with the fryingpans, ain't it?"
No one told him to "hold his horses," for they were only too well
pleased nowadays when Toby offered to take upon himself the getting of a
meal, since he had proved his ability to do fair camp cooking. Time was
when they would have utterly refused to let him try his hand, because
they knew how he would spoil everything he attempted to serve up; but
times had changed apparently, and Nora's lessons were bearing fruit.
It was just as well that Toby cooked an unusual amount of stuff for
luncheon, because it happened that the camp was destined to have
visitors before they had gotten very far along with the meal.
Perhaps the smoke made by their fire attracted attention, for the first
thing the boys knew they heard the sound of voices somewhere near, and
belonging to men at that.
They looked up at each other, and Bandy-legs was the first to express an
opinion.
"Say, I wouldn't be s'prised now, if it's Farmer Ketcham and one of his
hired men acomin' over to see us about something."
"Whew!" exclaimed Steve, "I hope his old bull hasn't broke loose now,
and is on the rampage. Seems to me as if we had about enough to bother
with, as things stand, without having a bull tearing in on us any old
time; and Toby here wearing that red bandana around his neck all the
time, trying to make believe he's a cowboy from out on the plains."
"There they come!" said Max, pointing as he spoke.
A few seconds later, and Toby uttered a loud cry.
"Why, I d-d-declare if 'tain't M-m-mister Jenks!" he announced.
"Jenks!" echoed Steve; "seems like I ought to know that name; heard it
somewhere or other. Who is he, Toby, and where'd you meet him?"
"Why, d-d-don't you remember, boys, he owns the c-c-circus!"
"Oh! sure, that's a fact!" Steve exclaimed, "and you had some mighty
pleasant dealings with him, too, didn't you, Toby? Fifty plunks was it
he paid you because you sent in the first news about his missing
animals? Mebbe he's changed his mind, and wants that hard cash back
again--followed you all the way up here to coax you to pan out. Mebby he
thinks he needs it in his business."
But Toby shrugged his shoulders, and smiled in a way that proved he felt
pretty sure the journey would have been taken for nothing, should such
prove to be the case.
"I can give a guess what brings Mr. Jenks up here," interrupted Max;
"and it's got some connection with our torment, that trained monkey. But
they're waving their hands to us right now, and coming this way; so
we'll soon know all about it."
The two men soon reached the camp. Mr. Jenks it was, just as Toby had
said, and the party with him seemed to be a farmer, who might possibly
live within a few miles of the place.
"Glad to see you again, my boy!" exclaimed the proprietor of the circus,
as he held out his big hand to Toby; "and I must say this looks like a
good omen to me, meeting you away up here, after you had so much to do
with finding the rest of my stock. I'm shy just one fine educated
monkey, the famous Link who's said to be the Missing Link, which he is
right now, at least. Thought I could get on without him, but it seems
that the show has lost its salt without his tricks. Everybody calling
for Link, and attendance falling off when we can't produce him. So when
I had a letter from this party here, Mr. Caleb Kline, who owns a farm
not far away, telling me he had been visited by a big monkey that
chattered, and stole like all get-out, I just made up my mind I'd come
back and make a big effort to locate him. It'll be two hundred dollars
in any one's pocket to capture Link."
"Won't you both sit down, and have a bite of lunch?" asked Max, feeling
that it was really up to them to act as hosts on such an occasion.
Mr. Jenks looked at his companion.
"Might as well, Kline, seeing that your place is a good ways off; and we
don't want to go back till dark, because that boy said he saw the monkey
up in this region day before yesterday. Scared him nearly to death, the
boy thinking he meant to eat him up; but Link only wanted to make
friends, for he's a social chap sometimes."
Steve laughed at that.
"As full of mischief as an egg is of meat, sir!" he declared.
"What's that, have you seen him, then?" demanded Mr. Jenks, eagerly.
"Oh! he's hanging out somewhere near by, and we've had a couple of
experiences with the sly rascal," Steve continued. "First time he stole
half a ham, and when we were looking around in the night he flung it at
my head, and nearly knocked my brains out, only I was saved by not
having it hit me."
"Well, that's interesting--not the fact of your having brains, my son,
but what you tell me about Link's scandalous conduct. He's a slick one,
I assure you," the circus man went on to say, his face beaming with
satisfaction at thus striking a warm clue so early in the hunt.
"Yes," broke out Toby, anxious to get in the spotlight as well as
Steve; "and right this very morning, after I'd f-f-fished for f-f-frogs
over at the p-p-pond a half mile away, and left my h-b-basket full of
saddles under a tree, would you believe m-m-me, that old m-m-monk
slipped up and run away with the s-s-same? C-c-course we found it again,
'cause m-m-monkeys don't f-f-fancy f-f-fish; and we saw tracks as
p-p-plain as anything that looked like a b-b-baby'd been there, which
was his m-m-marks, you know."
"I wouldn't be a bit surprised, now!" declared Mr. Jenks, "but what you
boys will be after me to claim that two hundred yet. Link seems to have
taken a fancy to you in some way, and is hanging around your camp. Now,
my time is nearly up, and unless I gather him in this afternoon I'm
afraid I'll have to leave here. I'm meaning to let you write down where
the show'll be every day for two weeks; and you can reach me there if
you do happen to take the monkey in."
He looked meaningly at Toby when saying this. Somehow Mr. Jenks seemed
to have an idea that the boy who loved to collect wild animals must be
the leader of the little group of campers. This arose partly through his
having had former dealings with Toby Jucklin, whom he had at least found
to be fairly shrewd at making a bargain.
It quite tickled Toby to have this honor thrust upon him for once in his
life; and as Max could see no harm in the mistake he allowed it to go
on. After all it mattered very little, since they were all chums; and
what was one's business was the concern of all. And Toby seemed to be
enjoying the sensation so much that his face was fairly flushed.
"We'll t-t-try to d-d-do our best, sir," Toby went on to say, feeling
that it was up to him to act as spokesman, when his relations with Mr.
Jenks made him so pronounced a factor in the deal.
"He's so tricky, though," observed Steve, "that you mustn't count on our
being able to bring him to terms. Monkeys can bite and scratch
terrible, if they once get mad, can't they, Mr. Jenks?"
The two men were sitting down alongside, and each enjoying the contents
of a pannikin placed before them, containing a fair supply of all that
the boys had had for their meal, as well as a brimming cup of coffee
with all the "fixings."
"Yes, and I wouldn't advise you to trust too much to Link, for while
he's full of fun, at the same time there's rank treachery in his
make-up; so that he may turn like a flash on the hand that pets him, and
use his little sharp teeth. But there's one safe way to capture him, and
which we meant to employ in case we could learn where he was holding
out."
"Would you mind explaining it to us, Mr. Jenks?" asked Max.
"Certainly not, son, and I mean to leave some of the material with you
to use, if you get the chance. Like as not Link will keep on hanging out
near your camp; and if I could remain up here longer I'd just stay here,
and take my chances. You see the little bag Kline carries? Well, that
contains nuts, and dried bread. I've got a bottle of strong liquor
along, and we expected to follow the tactics of nearly all wild animal
catchers who go out after monkeys."
"I think I know what you mean, sir," said Max; "but perhaps you'll
explain a little further?"
"They know the confiding nature of the climbers," continued the circus
proprietor, promptly, "and when they reach a place in the woods where
they know they are apt to strike a colony of monkeys, they take a number
of gourd calabashes and place a certain amount of nuts and bread, soaked
in the whiskey, in each, then hide near by to watch results.
"Pretty soon the troop of monkeys come along, and scenting something
good to eat, proceed to fill up on the dosed stuff. It seems pretty hard
to take advantage of a weakness that they appear to have in common with
the other branch of the two-legged family, don't it? But every time they
get so stupid that they stagger all around, and seem to lose all fear of
mankind. Then one of the watchers will step out, take hold of a monkey's
hand, and lead a whole string of them away, each trying to support the
others. And so they walk into cages, and upon recovering from their
spree find themselves shut up for life."
"If men only had to pay as dear for their first offense, there'd be a
heap less of drinking done, you hear me," remarked the farmer, who had
evidently heard the description before, and yet still marveled at its
ingenuity, as well as thought it pretty hard on the poor monkeys.
"You can leave the stuff with us, Mr. Jenks," said Max, and now the
other realized he was dealing with the real leader of the camping party;
"but I won't promise to use it unless we really have to. Somehow I
don't exactly like the idea, though I suppose it's all right for those
animal catchers to do anything at all in order to make their trip pay,
because with them it's a business. But that isn't true with us boys.
Perhaps we may find another way to get Link; it'll give us something to
think about, and if we succeed it ought to be a feather in our caps."
"And two hundred dollars in your pockets, don't forget that, son," the
circus man said, impressively. "Seems like the more I get to thinking
about that monkey the less I want to lose him. It took a long time to
teach him what tricks he knows, and he's always been a big drawing card
to my show. I certainly hope we manage to corral him in some way. And so
far as I'm concerned I'd as soon get him soaked as not, so long as I lay
hands on him. It wouldn't be the first time either that he knew what
strong drink is, because I'm sorry to say the man I hired to look after
Link especially, used to be very fond of his bottle, and he must have
taught the monkey to like the vile stuff. He's the silliest thing, when
on a jag, you ever saw, and does act too comical for anything."
"I can see from that it would be an easy thing to tempt poor old Link
with some of the stuff, sir," Max went on to say; "and if we fail in
every other way we'll just have to come down to what you suggest;
because the animal would die in the winter if left at large in this cold
country. Either emigration or captivity is the only thing to save him."
"Sensible talk, son," the circus man told Max. "And to tell the truth
I'm so sure you boys will be successful that I'm tempted to turn right
back, and get an early train for Greenburg, so as to be with my show
to-night. Things go wrong when the old man is away. It's a one-man
concern at best. Nobody knows what to do in an emergency but me. Yes,
Kline, after we're done eating take me back to your house, and then to
the station again for the first train. I'll gladly pay you what I
promised, and then wait to hear from these bright lads."
Of course this sort of talk gave the four chums more than a few pleasant
thrills because everybody likes to know that they are appreciated at
their true worth.
"That would m-m-mean another f-f-fifty for me, wouldn't it?" Toby was
heard to say, reflectively, as though the prospect might seem quite
pleasing, and he wondered whether he might not be able to save up, and
after a little while augment the number of animals in his collection,
after he had removed it from the back yard of the family residence out
to the Jucklin farm.
While the two guests were finishing their meal there was more or less
further talk, all bearing upon the different ways in which men who make
it their business in life to trap wild animals, go about it out in the
jungles and dark forests of the countries where such may still be found
in profitable numbers to pay them to go to such enormous expense.
The boys listened, and learned considerable that was deeply interesting
about the habits of these bold adventurers. Since the moving picture
enterprise came into its own there have been many faithful pictures
shown of how these beasts of prey live in their native lands; and the
boys had even had the privilege of seeing some very fine flashlight
pictures that showed all manner of untamed animals at large, so that
this talk with an old traveler like Mr. Jenks was unusually interesting.
Finally the two men announced themselves ready to go back to the Kline
farmhouse.
"Remember, now, boys," said Mr. Jenks, as he went around shaking every
fellow heartily by the hand, "you're going to wire as soon as you get
back to town, and tell me what luck you've had. I'll be ready to jump on
the next train and come back to Carson, bringing that two hundred with
me; because I know you're going to turn the trick on the Missing Link.
Be good to yourselves, now, and here's wishing you the best of luck,"
and with that he passed from their sight.