The Green Monkey sank gently into the earth for a little way and then
tumbled swiftly through space, landing on a rocky floor with a thump
that astonished him. Then he sat up, found that no bones were broken,
and gazed around him.
He seemed to be in a big underground cave, which was dimly lighted by
dozens of big round discs that looked like moons. They were not moons,
however, as Woot discovered when he had examined the place more
carefully. They were eyes. The eyes were in the heads of enormous beasts
whose bodies trailed far behind them. Each beast was bigger than an
elephant, and three times as long, and there were a dozen or more of the
creatures scattered here and there about the cavern. On their bodies
were big scales, as round as pie-plates, which were beautifully tinted
in shades of green, purple and orange. On the ends of their long tails
were clusters of jewels. Around the great, moon-like eyes were circles
of diamonds which sparkled in the subdued light that glowed from the
eyes.
Woot saw that the creatures had wide mouths and rows of terrible teeth
and, from tales he had heard of such beings, he knew he had fallen into
a cavern inhabited by the great Dragons that had been driven from the
surface of the earth and were only allowed to come out once in a hundred
years to search for food. Of course he had never seen Dragons before,
yet there was no mistaking them, for they were unlike any other living
creatures.
Woot sat upon the floor where he had fallen, staring around, and the
owners of the big eyes returned his look, silently and motionless.
Finally one of the Dragons which was farthest away from him asked, in a
deep, grave voice:
"What was that?"
And the greatest Dragon of all, who was just in front of the Green
Monkey, answered in a still deeper voice:
"It is some foolish animal from Outside."
"Is it good to eat?" inquired a smaller Dragon beside the great one.
"I'm hungry."
"Hungry!" exclaimed all the Dragons, in a reproachful chorus; and then
the great one said chidingly: "Tut-tut, my son! You've no reason to be
hungry at _this_ time."
"Why not?" asked the little Dragon. "I haven't eaten anything in eleven
years."
"Eleven years is nothing," remarked another Dragon, sleepily opening and
closing his eyes; "_I_ haven't feasted for eighty-seven years, and I
dare not get hungry for a dozen or so years to come. Children who eat
between meals should be broken of the habit."
"All I had, eleven years ago, was a rhinoceros, and that's not a full
meal at all," grumbled the young one. "And, before that, I had waited
sixty-two years to be fed; so it's no wonder I'm hungry."
"How old are you now?" asked Woot, forgetting his own dangerous position
in his interest in the conversation.
"Why, I'm--I'm-- How old am I, Father?" asked the little Dragon.
"Goodness gracious! what a child to ask questions. Do you want to keep
me thinking all the time? Don't you know that thinking is very bad for
Dragons?" returned the big one, impatiently.
"How old am I, Father?" persisted the small Dragon.
"About six hundred and thirty, I believe. Ask your mother."
"No; don't!" said an old Dragon in the background; "haven't I enough
worries, what with being wakened in the middle of a nap, without being
obliged to keep track of my children's ages?"
"You've been fast asleep for over sixty years, Mother," said the child
Dragon. "How long a nap do you wish?"
"I should have slept forty years longer. And this strange little green
beast should be punished for falling into our cavern and disturbing
us."
"I didn't know you were here, and I didn't know I was going to fall in,"
explained Woot.
"Nevertheless, here you are," said the great Dragon, "and you have
carelessly wakened our entire tribe; so it stands to reason you must be
punished."
"In what way?" inquired the Green Monkey, trembling a little.
"Give me time and I'll think of a way. You're in no hurry, are you?"
asked the great Dragon.
"No, indeed," cried Woot. "Take your time. I'd much rather you'd all go
to sleep again, and punish me when you wake up in a hundred years or
so."
"Let me eat him!" pleaded the littlest Dragon.
"He is too small," said the father. "To eat this one Green Monkey would
only serve to make you hungry for more, and there _are_ no more."
"Quit this chatter and let me get to sleep," protested another Dragon,
yawning in a fearful manner, for when he opened his mouth a sheet of
flame leaped forth from it and made Woot jump back to get out of its
way.
[Illustration]
In his jump he bumped against the nose of a Dragon behind him, which
opened its mouth to growl and shot another sheet of flame at him. The
flame was bright, but not very hot, yet Woot screamed with terror and
sprang forward with a great bound. This time he landed on the paw of the
great Chief Dragon, who angrily raised his other front paw and struck
the Green Monkey a fierce blow. Woot went sailing through the air and
fell sprawling upon the rocky floor far beyond the place where the
Dragon Tribe was grouped.
All the great beasts were now thoroughly wakened and aroused, and they
blamed the monkey for disturbing their quiet. The littlest Dragon darted
after Woot and the others turned their unwieldy bodies in his direction
and followed, flashing from their eyes and mouths flames which lighted
up the entire cavern.
Woot almost gave himself up for lost, at that moment, but he scrambled
to his feet and dashed away to the farthest end of the cave, the Dragons
following more leisurely because they were too clumsy to move fast.
Perhaps they thought there was no need of haste, as the monkey could not
escape from the cave. But, away up at the end of the place, the cavern
floor was heaped with tumbled rocks, so Woot, with an agility born of
fear, climbed from rock to rock until he found himself crouched against
the cavern roof. There he waited, for he could go no farther, while on
over the tumbled rocks slowly crept the Dragons--the littlest one
coming first because he was hungry as well as angry.
The beasts had almost reached him when Woot, remembering his lace
apron--now sadly torn and soiled--recovered his wits and shouted:
"Open!" At the cry a hole appeared in the roof of the cavern, just over
his head, and through it the sunlight streamed full upon the Green
Monkey.
The Dragons paused, astonished at the magic and blinking at the
sunlight, and this gave Woot time to climb through the opening. As soon
as he reached the surface of the earth the hole closed again, and the
boy monkey realized, with a thrill of joy, that he had seen the last of
the dangerous Dragon family.
He sat upon the ground, still panting hard from his exertions, when the
bushes before him parted and his former enemy, the Jaguar, appeared.
"Don't run," said the woodland beast, as Woot sprang up; "you are
perfectly safe, so far as I am concerned, for since you so mysteriously
disappeared I have had my breakfast. I am now on my way home, to sleep
the rest of the day."
"Oh, indeed!" returned the Green Monkey, in a tone both sorry and
startled. "Which of my friends did you manage to eat?"
"None of them," returned the Jaguar, with a sly grin. "I had a dish of
magic scrambled eggs--on toast--and it wasn't a bad feast, at all. There
isn't room in me for even you, and I don't regret it because I judge,
from your green color, that you are not ripe, and would make an
indifferent meal. We jaguars have to be careful of our digestions.
Farewell, Friend Monkey. Follow the path I made through the bushes and
you will find your friends."
With this the Jaguar marched on his way and Woot took his advice and
followed the trail he had made until he came to the place where the
little Brown Bear, and the Tin Owl, and the Canary were conferring
together and wondering what had become of their comrade, the Green
Monkey.
[Illustration]
Tommy Kwikstep
[Illustration]