then it was dark before they were finished, and quite too late to go out
in the auto, for they might have hit a lamp post and bent the rubber
tires into a figure forty-'leven.
"What can we do to have some fun?" asked Jumpo, as he untied two hard
knots in his tail.
"How would you like to roast some marshmallow candies?" asked his
mother, looking over the top of the piano.
"How do you do it?" inquired Jacko, who was still studying.
[Illustration]
"You build a little fire," said his mamma, "only you must be very
careful not to get too near it. Then you take a stick and sharpen the
end. Then you fasten a soft marshmallow candy on the pointed stick, and
hold it near the fire, but not too close, and pretty soon the
marshmallow candy puffs up and gets nice and brown and you eat it--only
you must wait until it is cool, or you might burn your tongue. Do you
want to do that?"
"Burn my tongue? No, indeed!" cried Jumpo, making a funny face and
wriggling his tail up and down like a fan.
"Oh, I didn't mean burn your tongue, you funny boy," spoke his mamma
with a laugh. "I meant do you want to build a fire and roast
marshmallows?"
"Surely," said Jumpo politely. "Don't you, Jacko?"
"No, I guess not," said the red monkey boy. "I think I'll read a little
after my lessons are done and then go to bed. To-morrow we may not have
to study at home, and we can take a longer auto ride."
So Jumpo went out alone in front of his house to roast the marshmallows.
His mamma gave him some of the candies in a tin box, and he sharpened
his own stick, and built a nice little fire, being careful not to make
it too large. And he was also careful not to get burned.
By this time it was quite dark, and the fire looked very pretty,
blazing just on the edge of the woods near where the monkey's tree-house
was built. When there were some nice, glowing, hot coals in the blaze
Jumpo got ready to roast the marshmallow candies. He stuck one on the
sharp stick, and held it close to the fire.
But, oh, dear me, hum suz dud! Jumpo held the candy too close, and the
first thing you know it caught fire and melted and fell off the stick
down into the blaze and was burned up! Wasn't that too bad?
"I'll not hold the next one so close," he said, and he was careful; so
the second candy turned a nice golden brown and puffed up nearly twice
as big as it had been before.
"Oh, I know what I'll do!" suddenly exclaimed Jumpo. "I'll toast a lot
of them and take them in the house for mamma and papa and Jacko."
So he roasted the candies as fast as he could until he had quite a pile
of them in a box. As they were very hot he pushed them off the end on
the pointed stick, using a piece of bark for a pusher.
Jumpo was so busy that he didn't look behind him. If he had done so he
would have been very much frightened. For there, creeping out of the
bushes, was the burglar fox, with his big tail and sharp teeth. And he
was creeping, creeping up toward Jumpo to eat him. But Jumpo didn't know
a thing about it. He was so busy roasting marshmallow candies.
All of a sudden the fox accidentally stepped on a stick, and it broke in
two pieces and made a loud noise. Jumpo heard it and turned around.
Then, by the light of the fire, he saw the fox coming toward him.
"Ah, ha! Now I have you!" cried the bad creature, and he made a spring
to catch the monkey boy. Jumpo didn't wait to be caught, you may be sure
of that. He jumped, too, and the green monkey happened to tip over the
box of toasted marshmallow candies as he leaped to one side. He upset
them all over the ground, and then what do you s'pose happened?
Why, that bad fox landed right in the midst of the hot, soft candies,
and they got all over his feet, like sticky flypaper, and they burned
him. Oh, how he howled! The more he tried to get the candies off, the
tighter they stuck. The fox turned a somersault, and then the candies
got all over his fur, until he looked like a marshmallow fox. And, of
course, he couldn't catch Jumpo then, for he was so stuck up.
The monkey boy ran in the house and told his papa about the fox, and Mr.
Kinkytail came out with his gun. But by that time the fox had run off
to find a puddle of water so that he could wash the candy out of his
fur, and he wasn't in sight for Papa Kinkytail to shoot.
"Oh, my poor marshmallows!" cried Jumpo, when he saw that they were all
spoiled by the fox rolling in them. "Oh, dear!"
"Never mind, I have another boxful," said his mother, kindly.
"And this time I'll help you roast them," said Jacko. So he did, and
there were enough candies for the whole family. Then they all went to
bed and the fox didn't bother them for a long time after that.
Now, if the egg beater doesn't knock all the dust out of the piano cover
when it dresses up like a rag doll, I'll tell you next about Jacko and
the busy bee.
STORY XX
JACKO AND THE BUSY BEE
"Boys, I wish you would go to the store for me," said Mrs. Kinkytail to
Jacko and Jumpo when they came home from school one afternoon.
"Of course we will," said the red monkey. "Do you want some sugar and
chocolate to make candy?"
"No, but I want a yeast cake and some flour to make bread with," said
the mamma monkey. "Bread is more important than candy," she went on,
"though candy is very good, if you don't eat too much. And I also want
some molasses, for I am going to make molasses cookies."
"Oh, goodie!" cried Jumpo. "Come on, Jacko, we'll go in our automobile
and it won't take us very long. Then we can go on another ride when we
come back, and have some fun with the other animal boys."
So their mamma gave them the money for the yeast cake, the flour and
molasses and away they started off in the auto, blowing the horn, to
kindly ask every one to look out so they wouldn't get run over.
Jacko was steering, and Jumpo was sitting beside him. They hadn't gone
very far before they met Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman
rabbit who had given them the auto.
"Hello, Uncle Wiggily!" called Jacko, "don't you want a ride?"
"I believe I will get in," spoke the gentleman rabbit. "As my rheumatism
hurts me to-day, I can't walk very well."
"Aren't you sorry you gave away this nice auto? Don't you want it back?"
asked Jumpo, though he hoped he and his brother could keep it.
"No," answered the old gentleman rabbit, shaking his head. "I never had
any luck with that auto. It wouldn't go for me, and I can't understand
how it goes for you. I'm afraid if I ride with you that you'll have bad
luck."
But the boys didn't think so, and the rabbit gentleman got in the back
seat. Away they went once more. Uncle Wiggily was just thinking what a
nice ride he was having, and he was wishing he could run the auto like
that, when, all of a sudden, there was a bangity-bang noise and the auto
stopped.
"There!" cried the rabbit. "What did I tell you? I knew I'd give you bad
luck. Let me get out and walk. Then it will go again," and before Jacko
and Jumpo could stop him, Uncle Wiggily hopped out.
"Wait, we'll soon get it fixed," said Jacko. "Then you can ride some
more."
"No, indeed!" answered Uncle Wiggily. "That auto will never go again.
I'm going to walk, I'm in a hurry."
So away he hopped through the woods, and Jacko and Jumpo tried to see
what was the matter with their car. But though they pushed and pulled
and twisted and turned everything they could see or think of, the auto
stood still just like a tree growing in the woods.
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Jumpo, "we may have to stay here all night, and
the grocery store will close before we can get to it, and we can't have
any molasses cookies."
"I'll tell you what we'll do," spoke Jacko. "You skip off through the
woods to the store, and get the things, and I'll stay here and see if I
can fix the auto. By the time you get back with the yeast cake and flour
and molasses, I may have it running."
Well, Jumpo thought that was good advice, so he ran on through the woods
to the grocery store. And Jacko tried once more to make the auto go. He
shoved and he twisted and he turned, and he even put some fresh air in
the hollow tires, but the auto wouldn't move.
"I know what I'll do," he exclaimed, "I'll take out the toodle-oodle-um
and put it where the diddle-daddle-um belongs and I'll put the
snicky-snackum in the place of the mickie-mackie-um. That may be the
trouble."
So he did that and then he climbed up on the seat and sure enough the
auto went off as nicely as a piece of cherry pie, with the fizzle-fozzle
going flippity-flop.
"Oh, joy!" cried Jacko, when he saw that the car was all right. "Now
when Jumpo comes back with the groceries we can ride home and have some
fun." So he got out of the auto, after stopping it, of course, to wait
for his brother.
Jacko walked around in the woods and pretty soon he came up to a tree.
Inside of it he heard a funny buzzing sound, and then he heard a voice
singing this little song:
"I am a busy little bee,
I'm buzzing all the day.
I make so much sweet honey that
I have no time to play."
Then Jacko looked and he saw a little hole in the tree. He went close up
to it and said:
"Are you there in that hole, Mrs. Bee?"
"Yes," was the answer, "but please go away, little boy, as I am very
busy, I have to make enough honey to last all winter."
Well, Jacko was just going away when he saw a snake sneaking along on
the ground. And that bad snake took up some soft mud on the end of his
tail, and he plastered it over the hole in the tree where the bee was
making honey, so she couldn't get out when she wanted to.
"Now, when that bee is dead I'll come and get the honey," hissed the
snake, just like a steam radiator.
"No you won't!" cried Jacko, and then he blew the big auto horn so
loudly that the snake was frightened and crawled away as fast as he
could. Then the red monkey took a stick, and knocked the mud away from
the bee's hole so she could come out when she wanted to.
"Oh, thank you, so much!" buzzed the bee. "I'll give you some honey for
being kind to me." So she gave Jacko some, and also some for his
brother, and by that time Jumpo came back from the store with the
groceries and he was glad to find that Jacko had fixed the auto, though
he was a little frightened when he heard about the snake.
The two brothers were just going to ride home in their car, but before
they could get it started all of a sudden along came the savage wolf. He
was just going to grab Jumpo, and maybe Jacko also, for all I know, when
the busy bee just buzzed up and stung the wolf on the tip of his soft
and tender black nose so that he ran howling away to put some mud on the
sting. And so he didn't eat either of the monkey boys, and the bee was
glad she had helped them.
Then they hurried home in their automobile and their mamma made some
molasses cookies and they had them for supper with honey on, and Oh! how
delicious they were. And after supper Jacko and Jumpo played tag with
Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels, until it was time to go to
bed. So now, good night, if you please.
And in the next story I'll tell you about the Kinkytails and the grape
vine--that is if the basket of peaches doesn't fall down the chimney and
scare the fire shovel so that it hides in the ash can.
STORY XXI
JACKO AND THE GRAPE VINE
Jacko Kinkytail had to go alone to school one day, and the reason for it
was because Jumpo had the toothache and could not go with his brother.
Oh, how poor Jumpo did suffer. His mamma did everything she could for
him, putting cloves on his tooth and bags of hot salt outside of his
funny, little, fuzzy, hairy face, but the tooth still ached.
"Oh, I never can recite my lessons today," said Jumpo, as he tied his
tail in two hard knots, thinking that would make him forget the pain.
"Then you needn't go to school," said his mother. "And pretty soon we'll
go down to the dentist's and have the tooth fixed."
Well, Jacko started off alone, and he felt quite sorry that his brother
wasn't with him. Pretty soon Jacko met Jimmie Wibblewobble, the boy
duck. And Jimmie had a new football that his papa had given him.
"Let's see who can kick it the farthest," said the duck boy.
So he tried, and he kicked it about as far as from a stick of peppermint
candy to the place where the ice cream cones grew on the cocoanut tree.
Then it was Jacko's turn.
The red monkey put the football down on the ground. Then he took a
little run and he pushed the ball as hard as he could with one foot and
also with his tail. Away it sailed as far as from the ice cream soda
fountain store down to the place where the man sells hot peanuts at five
cents a bag.
"That was a fine kick!" cried Sammie Littletail, the rabbit boy, who
came along just then. "A most dandy kick."
"Yes, but Jacko used his tail besides his foot to kick with, and I can't
do that," said Jimmie, sort of sad-like.
"Perhaps what I did wasn't just fair," admitted Jacko. "Never mind,
after school we'll have a good football game. We'll go down by our house
and play, so that my brother, who is sick with the toothache, can look
out of the window and watch us. Then he won't think so much of his
pain."
Well, the boy animals thought this was a good plan, so when school was
out they hurried with Jacko to the monkey-house. Then they began to
play football. They kicked the ball all around, up one side, down the
other, through the middle, and sometimes even sideways. And the ball
never said a word, nor so much as winked its eyes.
"Now, for a big, long kick!" suddenly cried Jacko, when he got a chance.
"I believe I can almost kick that ball to the end of the rainbow." Of
course, there wasn't any rainbow there at the time, but Jacko just said
that for fun.
Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrel boy, suddenly rushed at Jacko, trying to
kick the ball before the monkey boy could do so, but Jacko was too quick
for Johnnie, and kicked it first. Away sailed the ball, farther than
ever, and then something happened. The football went right over a high,
steep, straight-up-and-down hill, and fell into a big hole on the other
side.
"Oh, there goes my ball!" cried Jimmie Wibblewobble, and he tried not to
cry, though he felt very much like it.
"Never mind, we can get it again," said Billie Bushytail. "You oughtn't
to kick so strong, Jacko."
"I s'pose I ought not to," agreed the monkey boy, sort of sad-like. "But
I will go down and get the ball. Then we can play another game."
And all this while Jumpo was watching the boys from out of the window.
And his tooth didn't ache quite so badly when he saw what fun they were
having. He wished he was with them.
"What's the matter?" Jumpo asked, when he saw the ball bounce out of
sight over the hill.
"It's fallen down in a big hole, and I'm going after it," said Jacko.
So the red monkey and his friends went to the edge of the hill and
looked over. Oh! it was a very steep, dark place, and when Jacko saw how
far down he'd have to go he was a bit afraid.
"I don't believe I can go down there," he said, wriggling his tail. "But
I will try, because it was my fault that the ball went over. I'll climb
down."
"No, don't do that," spoke Sammie Littletail. "You might fall and be
hurt. See, here is a long wild grapevine. The vine is just like a rope.
We can tie one end around you while we hold on the other end. Then we
can lower you down into the hole, just like on an elevator, and you can
get the football. Then we'll pull you up again."
Every one thought that was a good plan, so they took a long piece of
grapevine and tied it around Jacko.
"Careful now!" called Jacko, as they began lowering him over the edge
of the hill, down into the hole where the football was. "Don't let me
fall!"
They all had tight hold of the grapevine rope, and they promised they
wouldn't let go. And they lowered Jacko down, down, down; very slowly
and carefully, until he could pick up the lost football in his paws.
Then they began to pull him up.
But they didn't know that a savage hawk-bird had her nest in the side of
that hill. And Jacko was lowered right past where she lived. When he
went down the bird was asleep, but when his friends began pulling him up
the bad bird awakened. She looked out, and she saw Jacko, the red
monkey, swinging on the end of the grapevine near her nest of eggs.
"Now is my chance to pick his eyes out!" cried the hawk-bird. Right at
Jacko she flew, beating her big wings and gnashing her beak, and
wiggling her sharp claws. Jacko saw her coming, but he had the football
in one paw and he had to hold on the rope with the other, so he couldn't
do much except with his feet.
"Here's where I bite you!" cried the savage hawk, and really it did seem
as if she would. For the boy animals couldn't pull Jacko up fast enough
to get him out the way of the hawk. And there he was, dangling on the
end of the grapevine rope like an apple on a string.
Then Jumpo, sitting up in the window, saw what was happening. He wanted
to help his brother, so he cried:
"Some of you fellows come and get my bean shooter, and shoot the hawk
until she lets Jacko alone. Hurry and get my shooter."
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.
[Illustration]
"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!"