"Indeed it is. Let me see, I think the answer is a pound of chocolate drops."

"I thought it was a piece of cherry pie," went on the little green monkey, "but the teacher said it was a dozen of eggs, so I missed."

"Never mind, as long as you didn't have to stay in," said Jacko. "Now let's hurry on and see who will get home first. You go one way and I'll go the other, and we'll race."

This suited Jumpo all right, so off he started by the path that led through the woods, while Jacko took the road that led past the house of Grandfather Goosey Gander. And when Jacko reached there the old gentleman was just looking for some one to go to the store for him to get a pound of sugar. So Jacko went, and he earned a penny. Then he hurried home. But Jumpo hadn't yet reached there, and I'll have to tell you what happened to him.

For a while the little green monkey boy hurried on through the woods. He was thinking how surprised Jacko would be to find his brother home ahead of him, and Jumpo was even planning to hide behind the rain water barrel and jump out to make-believe scare Jacko. Then, all of a sudden, as Jumpo went past a big rock he saw a nice big yellow orange on the ground.

"Oh, joy!" exclaimed Jumpo. "I'll take that home and give Jacko half of it."

But as Jumpo reached for the orange it suddenly rolled a short distance away from him, and he couldn't get it.

"Ho, ho!" exclaimed the little green monkey. "That is odd. That must be one of those queer rolling oranges I have read about in fairy stories. But I'll get it yet."

So he went forward very slowly and carefully, and, all of a sudden, he made another grab for the orange, but it rolled still farther away.

"Hum!" exclaimed Jumpo. "This is strange. But I'll try again." So he tried once more, and, all this while, as he was reaching for the orange, he kept coming nearer and nearer to a big hollow stump. And Jumpo never noticed that there was a string tied to the orange, and that the orange was being pulled by a bad old wolf, who was hiding in the stump. You see that the wolf was so old that he couldn't walk around and catch his meals any more, so he took that plan of getting little animals to his den.

Nearer and nearer rolled the orange to the stump, with Jumpo chasing it, and almost getting it at times. But he never really got it, and finally he was so close to the stump that the wicked wolf could reach out and grab the green monkey in his claws.

"Oh, ho! Now I have you!" cried the bad wolf. "My orange trick was a good one," and he carefully put the orange and the string away on a shelf to use next time.

"Was that you making the orange roll?" asked Jumpo, as he tried to get away, but couldn't.

"It was," said the wolf, showing his sharp teeth.

"Oh, please let me go!" begged Jumpo. "I was racing with my brother, to see who would get home first. Please let me go!"

"No, indeed, I'll not," answered the wolf, "and if your brother ever comes past here I'll catch him also. Now, I'm going to lock you up in a dark closet until supper time."

"Do you mean my supper time, or yours?" asked Jumpo, hoping there might be some mistake about it.

"My supper time, of course," growled the wolf, and he was just going to shut Jumpo up in the dark closet, when he happened to look out, and he saw something green in a tree near the stump. Jumpo saw it, too.

"Hum! That is queer," said the wolf. "There are no green leaves on the trees now, as it is getting close to winter. I wonder what it can be? But I have no time to bother with anything like that. I must make a hot fire to cook my monkey supper."

Oh, how badly Jumpo felt at hearing that, and how hard he tried to get away from the wolf, but it was of no use. Then the monkey looked, when the wolf had his head turned to one side, and Jumpo saw that the green thing was a big poll parrot.

"Save me! Save me!" cried Jumpo. The parrot just nodded his head, wise like, and hid behind the tree trunk. Then, all of a sudden, a voice cried:

"Hey, Mr. Wolf, you let that monkey go!"

"Was that you speaking?" asked the wolf, of Jumpo, for the wolf didn't see the parrot.

"No," answered Jumpo, "I didn't speak," and the wolf thought it was very queer. Then the voice cried again:

"Let that monkey go, or I'll shoot a lot of guns at you!"

"Pooh. I'm not afraid," said the wolf, for he could not see anyone.

Then, all of a sudden, the voice cried again: "Get ready now, fellows. Aim your guns right at that wolf, but don't shoot Jumpo! Ready! Aim! Fire! Bangity-bang-bang! Boom! Bang!"

And it sounded like forty-'leven guns going off. My! How that parrot did yell!

"Oh, don't shoot me! Don't shoot! I'll be good! Honest I will! I'll let the monkey go! Hurry, monkey, run along and tell them that I let you go!" begged the wolf, letting go of Jumpo. And you can believe that Jumpo hurried away from that stump.

Then the green parrot hopped into sight on the limb of a tree and cried:

"Ha! ha!! That's the time I fooled you, Mr. Wolf. It was I talking, and there aren't any fellows here with guns at all. But I made you let Jumpo go. Ha! Ha!"

Then that wolf was so angry that he almost bit his own tail, but he couldn't catch Jumpo, and the green parrot went home with the monkey boy to see that no one hurt him. Then the parrot, after Jumpo and his brother and mother had thanked him, flew back to his cage, and that's the end of this story, if you please.

The next one will be about the Kinkytails and the trained bear—that is, if our canary bird doesn't drop his seed dish in the sewing machine and break a needle.

STORY VIII

So, in a little while, all the animal children were following the owl teacher out into the woods, where the leaves were beginning to turn brown and yellow and crimson, all ready to fall off, so the trees could go to sleep during the long, cold winter. Johnny Bushytail felt so good that he sang this song:

"Indeed, it is fine," said the owl teacher. "Now scatter about, and see who can find the first nuts. But don't get lost."

Of course Billie and Johnnie Bushytail, the squirrels, at once scrambled up the trees, and, naturally, they found the first nuts, but they kindly shared them with the others. Then Sammie and Susie Littletail went off one way, and Buddy and Brighteyes Pigg in another direction, and Lulu and Alice and Jimmie Wibblewobble, the duck children, in still another. And Peetie and Jackie Bow Wow, the puppy dogs, took a path right through the bramble bushes, looking for butternuts to spread on their bread, I guess.

"Come on," said Jacko to Jumpo, as the two monkey boys walked side by side, "we'll go down by the little brook. I think there is a hickory nut tree there."

"Are you sure there are no wolves or foxes there?" asked the green monkey.

"I don't believe there are any," said the red monkey. "We'll get a lot of nuts and give the others some."

So away they went through the forest, sometimes hanging by their tails from the low branches, sometimes turning somersaults and sometimes swinging by their feet, for they could hold on by their toes as well as you can by your fingers.

"Oh, there's a nut tree!" suddenly exclaimed Jacko, as they got down by the little brook.

"And see all the nuts!" cried Jumpo, for the ground was just covered with them. Then the monkey boys began filling their pockets.

They had almost as many nuts as they could carry, and they were thinking of going back to join the others, for they could hear the teacher calling to the pupils some distance off in the woods. And then, all of a sudden, Jacko looked toward a big stump, and he exclaimed in a whisper to Jumpo:

"Look at that big bear!"

"Where?" asked Jumpo, getting close to his red brother.

"There," whispered Jacko again, and he pointed toward the stump. Surely enough, there was a bear, wearing a blue cap and a pink coat. And, oh, what a big fellow he was!

"He hasn't seen us," said Jumpo, in a low voice. "Perhaps we can get softly away before he does see us, and then we can tell the others to hurry out of the woods. Move very softly, Jacko."

"I will," whispered the red monkey, and he tried to, but all at once some hickory nuts fell out of his pocket and they made quite a noise as they hit a flat stone.

"Ha! Who's there?" asked the bear quickly, and he looked up, straight at the two monkeys. Then they could see that he had been reading a big book. "Who's there?" cried the bear again, in a sort of savage voice.

"If—if you please, we are here," said Jacko. There was no use in saying they weren't there, for the bear could see them perfectly plain.

"All right; I am coming over to you," went on the shaggy creature, closing his book.

"Oh, oh, please don't come!" begged Jacko. "We can see you very well from here."

"Oh! If he comes, he'll eat us, and then he'll hear the others shouting, and he'll go over and eat them and our teacher also," whispered Jumpo. "Oh, if we could only send them some word to warn them to run away!"

"Why shouldn't I come over to you?" asked the bear. "Of course, I'm coming. Watch me."

And with that he stood up on his head, and walked on his front paws and in that way he quickly came to where Jacko and Jumpo were standing.

"I never saw a bear walk that way before," said the red monkey, surprised like.

"Perhaps he is a crazy bear?" suggested Jumpo. "That kind is very savage. Oh, I know he'll eat us. Poor teacher, too!"

By this time the bear was close to the monkeys.

"I am very pleased to see you," he said in a growlery voice, and he turned a somersault, and stood on his left hind leg. Then he took off his blue cap in his claws, made a low bow, and began to dance around Jacko and Jumpo, at the same time humming a tune.

"How's this?" asked the bear, as he stood on the end of his stubby tail, and opened his mouth real wide. "I call that a right clever trick myself, but what do you think of it?"

"It—it is very pretty," said Jumpo. "But when—when are you going to eat us?"

"Eat you! Why, bless my huckleberry pie appetite!" cried the bear kindly. "I never eat anything but popcorn balls. You haven't one about you I suppose?" and he stood on one ear and made a funny face, by twisting his tongue like a merry-go-round.

"No, we have no popcorn balls," spoke Jacko. "But aren't you a savage bear?"

"Not a bit of it!" roared the bear in a laughing voice. "I'm the jolliest trained bear you ever saw. I wouldn't hurt even a trolley car," and with that he did another dance, and sang such a funny song that Jacko and Jumpo burst out laughing.

"Eat you!" cried the bear. "I never thought of such a thing. You see I work for a man who makes me do tricks all day long. So I never get any time for studying. But today I ran away and took my book with me. I'm studying up to be a cook, you see, and I want to learn how to make popcorn balls, so I won't have to buy any," and then he stood on one toenail and cracked a nut in his teeth.

Well, of course, Jacko and Jumpo were glad they weren't going to be eaten up, and when the trained bear heard there were other pupils in the woods he went with the monkeys to where the rest of the animal children were and did for them all his tricks, and some more besides. Then the bear had to go back home, and so did the pupils and the owl teacher, and I guess you have to go to bed.

Now I'm going to tell you next about the Kinkytails playing hide and go seek—that is, if the postage stamp doesn't stick on my spectacles so I can't see the gold fish jumping over the snail's back.

STORY IX

"And we can't go out because it is raining too hard," added the green monkey.

"Suppose you help me with the housework," suggested Mamma Kinkytail. "After we get the breakfast dishes washed I'm going to make a cake and a pudding, and you may help me. But mind!" she said, shaking her tail at Jumpo, "you mustn't let the eggs or the sugar or the milk fall out of the house, as you once did with the cocoanut."

"I won't," said Jumpo, and then he and his brother helped dry the dishes and set back the chairs, and when their mamma had swept the bungalow they dusted the piano. Then came the making of the cake and pudding. Of course, there were some dishes with nice sweet batter, and sugar and chocolate icing left in them, and Jacko and Jumpo cleaned these out so clean that there was hardly any need of washing them. By this time it was the dinner hour, and Mr. Kinkytail came home from the hand organ factory where he worked at making music.

But in the afternoon it still rained harder than ever, and the monkey brothers stood at the window and looked at the splashing drops, and cried "Oh, Dear!" so often that finally their mamma said:

"I'm going to telephone over for the Wibblewobble children to come and play with you. Those ducks won't mind the rain a bit, for it will run right off their backs. You can play in the house, and I can have some peace and quietness to get my mending done. I'll telephone right away."

So Mrs. Kinkytail telephoned, and Mrs. Wibblewobble said the duck children could come right over. Jacko and Jumpo watched for them at the window and soon they saw Jimmie and his two sisters paddling through the mud puddles.

"What shall we play?" asked Jacko, when the visitors had shaken the water off their feathers, after having flown up into the tree-bungalow.

"Tag," said Alice Wibblewobble, as she looked to see if her hair ribbon was on straight.

"No, there isn't room for that," spoke Lulu. "I think hide-and-seek would be better. We can play that, can't we, Mrs. Kinkytail?"

"Oh, yes," said the monkey mamma as she mended one of Jumpo's torn stockings.

"A ball game would be lots of fun," said Jimmy, the boy duck, "but then I s'pose we might break a window. It will have to be hide-and-seek." So they got ready to play.

First Lulu covered her eyes and she called out: "Ready or not I'm coming!" Then she went to find the others. She easily found Alice, who was standing up behind the flour barrel.

"I might have crawled under the barrel, only I was afraid of spoiling my new sky-blue-pink hair ribbon," said Alice.

Then Lulu found Jimmie hiding under the couch in the dining-room and Jumpo she discovered as he was trying to wiggle farther in behind an old looking-glass in the hall.

"Now if I find Jacko," said she, "I'll have everybody, and it will be Alice's turn to hunt for us. I wonder where Jacko can be?" She looked all over, taking care not to go too far away from "home," for if the red monkey got a chance he could run in and touch the table, which was "home," and then he would be "in free."

"I don't know where he is," said Jimmie. Neither did Alice or Jumpo. Jacko had gone off by himself, and he was well hidden. Lulu looked everywhere. She even looked inside the flour barrel, as if the red monkey would hide in there and get all white. And she took the cork out of the molasses jug, and tried to look down inside the sticky place, as if Jacko would go down there and get all stuck up.

"Oh, I'm going to give up," said Lulu at last.

"Oh, no, we'll all help you look," said the other children, and they all joined in. But what had happened to Jacko, I suppose you are wondering. Well, I'll tell you. He had gone up to the attic and there he found a big empty trunk.

"This will be a fine place to hide," he said, so in he crawled, and closed down the lid. It snapped shut, but Jacko didn't mind. He thought he could open it when he wanted to. However, after a while he got tired of hiding, especially when Lulu couldn't find him, and he decided to come out.

Only he couldn't. He tried to open the cover, but it was shut fast. Then Jacko became scared. He pushed and he pushed, but the trunk cover held tight. Then he called out as loud as he could, but the dust got up his nose, and his voice was very faint and far away. He even tried to put the end of his tail in the keyhole and open the lock of the trunk, but he couldn't. He heard Lulu and the others come up in the attic to find him, and he called: "Here I am!" But they were laughing and shouting and making so much noise that they never heard him.

"Oh, I guess I'll have to stay here forever!" thought poor Jacko. "Oh, if I could only get out!" Then he heard a little noise in one corner of the trunk, and he thought at first it was a fox. Then he knew a fox could never get in the trunk, and he looked and saw a little gray animal.

"I'll help you out of the trunk," said the animal; and who was it but Jillie Longtail, the girl mouse. Quickly Jillie gnawed a hole in the trunk. At first it wasn't large enough for Jacko to get out, but the mouse soon made it larger, and then the monkey boy could crawl out, and after thanking Jillie, he hurried down the stairs, glad enough to be free from the stuffy trunk.

My! How surprised the others were to see him, for they were becoming much frightened, and Jacko's mamma said he must never do a thing like that again. And he never did. Then they all had some bread and jam, and pretty soon it stopped raining.

So that's all this story, but the next will be about Jumpo and Uncle Wiggily—that is, if the fish peddler doesn't blow his horn loud enough to wake up the kittie cat who goes to sleep in the doll's carriage every day.

STORY X

"Well, Jacko, you may go home," she said suddenly, "and so may all of you. School is out. Now be on time to-morrow, and, Jacko, you must take your geography, when you get home, and find out where cocoanuts really come from."

So when Jacko and Jumpo were walking home together the red monkey asked his green brother where he thought cocoanuts came from.

"The grocery store, of course," said the green monkey, quickly. "I should have thought you'd have known that. Didn't you go to the store for some the other day, and didn't the grocery man have a lot of them in a barrel? Cocoanuts grow in barrels in the store, of course."

"Oh, why didn't I think of that?" cried Jacko. "I'll tell the teacher to-morrow. But now let's have a race, and we'll see who'll be the first to get to the old black stump where the giant used to eat his dinner."

"All right," agreed Jumpo. So off they started. First Jacko was ahead, and then he accidentally got a stone in his shoe and had to stop to take it out, so Jumpo got ahead. And then, as the green monkey was going through a dark part of the woods, he saw something crawling under the leaves.

"Oh, maybe it's a snake!" exclaimed Jumpo. "I'm going to wait until Jacko catches up to me." So he waited and waited, but no Jacko came. In fact, Jacko had got tired of playing the racing game, and he had gone home another way. Then Jumpo thought he would be brave, and go over by himself to see what was moving under the leaves. And, if you will believe me, it was nothing but a harmless snail, crawling along with his shell house on his back.

"How silly of me to be frightened!" cried Jumpo, with a laugh. "After this I'm first going to see what it is, and get frightened afterward; that is, if there is anything to scare me." So he said "How-de-do" to the snail, and then the monkey boy went on toward home.

Over the hills, up and down, among the trees, hopping across little brooks he went, until pretty soon, just as he was coming out of the woods he heard a loud, banging noise.

"That's a gun!" cried Jumpo. "A gun, and some one is out shooting. Oh, I must be careful or I'll be shot."

So the poor monkey boy hid down behind a rock and waited. And then, all of a sudden, there came another bangity-bang-bung noise and some one shouted out loud:

"My, I nearly got it that time!"

"Worse and worse!" thought poor Jumpo, shivering. "They are coming after me." Then he saw something moving behind a stump, and a big, ugly fox looked out at him.

"Oh, this is terrible!" cried the green monkey. "I can't stay here or the fox will get me, and if I go out of the woods the man with the gun will shoot me. What shall I do? Perhaps the man may be kind, and let me go. I think I'll go out so the fox won't eat me."

And Jumpo leaped out only just in time, for the fox saw him then, and made a jump for him. And there came another bangity-bung-bang noise, and Jumpo shivered again.

When he got out in the field, just beyond the woods, he looked for a man with a gun, but he could see no one. Down the road, however, he did see a friend he knew, and it was no one else than Uncle Wiggily Longears, the old gentleman rabbit. And Uncle Wiggily was standing beside something with four big wheels and a black front on it, and it had a wheel up by the seat, and a lot of shiny things on it, and there was a smell like gasoline coming from it.

"My! I wonder what it is that Uncle Wiggily has?" thought the green monkey. "It looks like a carriage, but there is no horse to it. However, I'm going to ask him to save me from the man with the gun."

And as Jumpo ran toward the old gentleman rabbit, once more there sounded that banging noise, and the monkey saw Uncle Wiggily jump back very quickly.

"Why, it's Uncle Wiggily who is shooting!" cried Jumpo. "Oh, you Uncle Wiggily!" called the monkey. "Please don't shoot me!"

"Shoot! I'm not going to shoot anybody," said the rabbit. "I'd like to shoot my automobile, though, for it won't go, and it is making those banging noises like a gun. I never saw such a machine—never in all my travels to seek my fortune. Here I am—stuck!"

"Oh, ho! An automobile, eh?" cried Jumpo.

"Yes," said the rabbit, "since I got so rich I bought one of them, and now I wish I hadn't. Here I am, miles from home, and I can't get it to go. I've twisted the thing-a-ma-bob, and poured oil down the what-is-it, and squirted gasoline on the dingus-dingus, and wiggled the touch-me-not, and jiggled the who-is-it and even tickled the tinkerum-tankerum. Still it won't go, and it keeps making that bang-bang noise like a gun whenever I turn the crank. Oh, and my rheumatism hurts me so! And I'm so tired!"

"Perhaps I can help," said Jumpo. "Does that crank in front make music like a hand organ?"

"I only wish it did," spoke the rabbit, as he gave it another twist. But there was only another bang.

"I give up!" cried Uncle Wiggily. "That crank doesn't do anything."

"Never mind!" cried Jumpo. "I'll help you home. You sit up in the auto and steer it, and I'll get a rope and pull you home along the road, and you'll be there in time for supper."

Well, the rabbit gentleman didn't believe the green monkey was strong enough to pull the heavy car, but Jumpo was, and soon the auto and Jumpo and Uncle Wiggily were safe home, and the auto man soon had the machine fixed, so it would run like an alarm clock.

And that night Uncle Wiggily came to the monkey boys' house, and gave them each a peppermint candy and told them a story before they went to bed. And, in case the man across the street, who has an auto, doesn't put one of the big rubber tires on our front doorknob, to make it look like a doughnut, I'll tell you another story on the next page. It will be about Jumpo and Susie Littletail.

STORY XI

And surely enough, the sun was shining brightly the next morning, and as it was Saturday the Kinkytails didn't have to go to school.

"Oh, goody!" exclaimed Jacko as he leaped out of bed and saw what a fine day it was. The rain had washed everything nice and clean, and it was just lovely out-of-doors.

"Now, let's hurry and get our breakfasts," said Jumpo. "Then we'll pack up our lunch and stay all day in the woods."

"And gather chestnuts and bring them home and roast and boil them!" exclaimed Jacko, for monkeys are very fond of chestnuts, you know. Oh, my, yes! and some sweet potatoes also.

Pretty soon the two monkey boys started off for the woods, and each one had a little package of lunch. On and on they went, and in a short time they were quite a distance from home, but that didn't matter, as they knew the way back. They looked at the different trees in search of chestnuts, but for some time they didn't find any.

"I tell you what let's do," suggested Jacko. "I'll go off on this path to the right, and you take the one to the left, and whoever finds a lot of chestnuts first can holler. Then, if it's you, I'll come and help you gather them, but if I find them, then you must come and help me."

"Good!" cried Jumpo. "We'll do it!" So Jumpo went to the left path and Jacko took the one on the right. Well, Jacko hadn't gone very far before he came to a tree, and under it was a whole pile of chestnuts, all nicely gathered together.

"Oh, ho! This is fine!" cried the monkey boy. "Hello, Jumpo!" he called, as loudly as he could. "Come here!"

"What do you want Jumpo for?" asked a voice in a tree overhead, and there was an old gentleman squirrel with a small sack on his back.

"I want him to help me pick up these chestnuts," said Jacko.

"Oh, but those are my chestnuts," said the squirrel. "I have gathered them to eat during the winter. I'm sure you wouldn't want to take them away from me."

"No, indeed," said the red monkey politely. "I didn't know they were yours."

"Then I'll show you where there are a lot more," said the squirrel gentleman, "and you can gather them for yourself." The squirrel took the monkey boy to another place in the woods, and oh! what a pile of chestnuts were there. Jacko called for Jumpo as hard as he could, but the green monkey didn't come.

"Perhaps he has found some nuts for himself," thought Jacko. "Very well, I'll gather these, and wait until he comes."

But Jumpo was having quite an adventure by himself, and I'll tell you about it. He walked along and along, after Jacko had left him, but he couldn't find even a last year's chestnut burr, and he felt quite badly about it. Then, all of a sudden he heard a voice singing. And this was the song:

"Well, did you ever hear the like of that!" exclaimed Jumpo. "I'd better look out. There must be a whole circus over there. But I don't see how a dollie can wiggle her nose, nor how a lion can roar inside a milk pail, nor yet why the old babboon should want to go sailing. I'd better go back home while I have the chance. That may be the burglar fox singing."

But the green monkey took one peep through the bushes, and there he saw Susie Littletail, the little rabbit girl, rocking her dollie in a hammock made from a grape vine, and it was Susie who had been singing the funny song. Just as she started on the forty-'leventh verse Jumpo came out from where he was hiding, and exclaimed:

"Why, Susie Littletail! How glad I am to see you! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I came out to give my dollie an airing in the woods," said the little rabbit girl, as she hurried forward to speak to the green monkey. And then, when she turned back again, to swing the hammock, lo and behold! her dollie was nowhere to be seen.

"Why—why, that's queer," said Susie. "Did you take my dollie, Jumpo?"

"No, indeed," answered the green monkey. "Perhaps she has fallen out of the hammock." So they looked under the hammock, but the doll wasn't there. Then they looked all over, and in many other places, but that dollie had disappeared, which means gone away.

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Susie, beginning to cry. "She was my best dollie, and now she is dead and I'll never see her again. Oh, boo-hoo, boo-hoo! Why did I ever bring her here?"

"Don't cry," said Jumpo kindly, "I'll help you look for her." So he looked in all the places he could think of but it was of no use.

"Oh, I just know a bad giant has taken her!" cried Susie. "Or else it was an eagle."

"I didn't see anything like that," spoke Jumpo. "But maybe the burglar fox came up softly when we weren't looking and took her." Then he called out: "Say, Mr. Burglar Fox, if you don't give back Susie's doll I'll have you arrested!"

There was no answer, but a moment later there was a rustling up in an oak tree which had some brown leaves on it, and then Jumpo caught a glimpse of the doll's blue dress, and he also saw a big crawly snake, with his tail wound around a limb of the tree, and that snake was holding the doll fast in his coils. He had reached down and taken the doll when Susie wasn't looking.

"Oh, the snake has your doll!" cried Jumpo.

"And how shall I ever get her?" asked the rabbit girl.

"Leave it to me," said Jumpo.

"You'll never get this doll," hissed the snake, like a steam radiator. But Jumpo knew a good trick. He went off in the woods until he met a cow. And he asked the cow for some milk and the cow gave him a whole pailful. Then Jumpo went back and put the pail of milk where the snake could see it.

Now you know snakes like milk better than anything—better even than boys and girls like ice cream cones. So as soon as the snake in the tree saw the milk, he at once let go of the doll, uncoiled himself, and hurried down for the milk, before the cow could take it away.

"Oh, now I have my dollie back!" cried Susie in delight, and she quickly caught and hugged Clotilde Raspberry Shortcake, which was the doll's name, and then Susie and Jumpo ran away before the snake could get them, and they found Jacko, and each had a lot of chestnuts.

So that's how Jumpo helped Susie Littletail, and that's all there is to this story. But the next one will be about Jacko and the little mouse—that is, if the water pitcher doesn't turn over and go to sleep in the baby's crib and scare the gold fish.

STORY XII

"Why?" asked his mother.

"Because if I carry such nice things as cocoanuts and sugar and chocolate, a burglar may take them away from me on my way home."

"Nonsense!" said his mother. "Burglars don't want such things as that. Besides, it is daylight, and burglars don't come around then."

"I was thinking of the burglar fox," went on Jacko. "However, Jumpo isn't here, as he went over to play ball with Bully No-Tail, the frog. So I'll have to go alone."

Off he started, and of course, he wasn't a bit afraid going to the store, for he had nothing with him but the money, and that was away down at the bottom of his pocket, and Jacko held his little brown paw tightly over the coins, so they couldn't jump out. Then he reached the store, and gave the money to the grocery man.

"Now don't drop the cocoanuts," said the grocery man, as he made up a package of the nice things Jacko had bought. "Can you carry all of them?"

"Oh, yes," said the monkey boy, confident like, which means sure.

"And do you think you could also carry two sticks of candy, one for yourself and one for your brother Jumpo?" asked the grocery man, sort of smiling.

"Well, I'll try—very hard," answered Jacko, and he wondered why the grocery man laughed. Then the man took from a jar two red and white striped sticks of candy. One of these sticks Jacko put safely in his pocket for his green brother, and the other he ate slowly, as he started for home. He was so interested in the stick of candy that he never even thought of the burglar fox.

But all of a sudden Jacko looked around in surprise, and he found that he had taken the wrong path home. It was one that led through the woods, and right past the house of the burglar fox.

"But there is no use now in going back around the other way," thought the red monkey; "it will take too long, and mamma won't get the cake baked for supper. I'll keep on this way, and I'll run past the burglar fox's house so fast that he can't see me. I guess it will be all right."

So, taking tight hold of his bundle of cocoanuts and sugar and chocolate and flour, and holding fast to the candy stick, Jacko went on. Pretty soon he came to the house where the fox lived, and then the monkey boy got ready to run as fast as he could.

But, all of a sudden, when he was right in front of the house, he heard a voice crying:

"Help! Help! Oh, will some one please help me?"

"Hark! I wonder who that can be?" thought Jacko. "It doesn't sound like the voice of the fox, and yet he may be calling to play a trick and get me in there so he can eat me. I guess I'd better run on."

So he started to run, but he heard the voice again, a sad, squeaky sort of voice, and it cried:

"Oh, do please some one help me!"

"That isn't the fox," said Jacko bravely. "I'm going in to help whoever it is. Perhaps it is one of the Bushytail brothers."

Into the house he went, and he saw no signs of the fox. Then Jacko, standing in the front hall, called out:

"Who are you and what is the trouble?"

"Oh, I'm a poor little mouse," was the answer, "and I'm caught in a trap in this fox's house. Please help me out."

"Is the fox home?" asked Jacko.

"No, he has gone out to get a friend of his, and then they are coming back to eat me. Hurry and you can get me out before they come back, and then we'll run away together."

"I will," said Jacko bravely, so he ran to where he could hear the mousie scurrying around in the trap, which was in a room upstairs in the house of the fox.

Well, it didn't take Jacko long, with his nimble fingers and toes, and his long tail, to get the little mouse out of the trap. Then, when she walked over toward a window, the monkey said:

"Why, I do believe you are little Squeaky-Eeky, the cousin mouse of Jollie and Jillie Longtail."

"That's just who I am," said the mouse. "You see, I was going past this house, and I smelled cheese. I didn't know the fox lived here, so I came in, and then I was caught in the trap."

"But now you're free," said Jacko. "Come on, and we will hurry away before the fox and his friend get back."

They started down the stairs, but just then there was a noise outside, and Squeaky-Eeky, looking from the window, cried:

"Too late! Here come the two foxes."

Then Jacko heard a voice saying:

"Walk right upstairs, Mr. Robber Fox; I have a fine meal waiting for you in my trap."

"Oh, what shall we do?" whispered Squeaky-Eeky.

"Leave it to me," spoke Jacko in a whisper. Then he quickly opened the bag and took out two cocoanuts. He peered over the edge of the stairs until he saw the two foxes coming up and then the brave monkey rolled the cocoanuts down. Bumpity-bump-bump! they went, rolling right down the stairs, and they hit the foxes and knocked them over backward.

"Oh, it's thundering, and the thunder is in the house!" cried the burglar fox. "Come on, quick!" Then, as the burglar fox and the robber fox ran away Jacko threw some flour and sugar after them. "Oh, it's snowing and hailing!" cried the robber fox, as he jumped out of the front door. "We'll freeze to death! Hurry! Hurry!"

Then Jacko tossed some brown chocolate at the bad foxes, out of the window.

"Oh, it's raining mud!" they both cried, and away they ran faster than ever, and then Jacko and Squeaky-Eeky could come safely down stairs, Jacko picking up the two cocoanuts on the way.

So that's how Jacko saved the little mousie girl, and there were still plenty of things left with which to make the cake. And Mamma Kinkytail gave Squeaky-Eeky some, and Jumpo gave her some of his candy. So everything came out all right, you see.

And if the lead pencil doesn't dance the fox trot on the bread board and mark it all over with black ink I'll tell you next about Papa Kinkytail and Grandpa Goosey Gander.

STORY XIII

"That will be fine!" shouted Jumpo, and he tied his tail in such a hard knot in his excitement that his mamma almost had to cut the knot out with the scissors. But finally it was loosened with a knitting needle.

"Come on, boys," said their papa. "The paper says it will be a fair day, so we will go off in the woods. And, who knows? Perhaps we may have an adventure."

It was a fine, cool day, and the monkey boys and their papa hurried along. Soon they came to the woods, where the ground was all covered with leaves that rustled under foot like tissue paper in a box of candy.

"Oh, look there!" suddenly exclaimed Jacko in a whisper. "There is a big elephant!"

"Where?" asked his brother, and the red monkey pointed off through the woods. Surely enough, there was something that looked like an elephant with a bushel of peanuts on his back.

"Why, that's not an elephant," said Mr. Kinkytail, when he had looked most carefully, "that is only a stump, though I admit there is something about it that seems like an elephant's trunk. Well, that was almost an adventure. Come along, and after a while we may have a real one."

On they walked a little farther, and, all of a sudden Jumpo stopped and grasped his brother by the paw.

"Look," whispered the green monkey. "Isn't that a big lion over there?"

"Sure enough it is!" exclaimed Jacko, as he looked toward where his brother pointed.

"Nonsense!" cried Mr. Kinkytail, as he saw the object. "It is only a pile of yellow leaves, though it is big enough for a lion, and the same color. But soon we may have a real adventure."

So they went on some more—about as far as two oranges and half a banana—and, all at once, all three saw something moving in the bushes, and they knew that was real, for the bushes wiggled to and fro like a rabbit's ears.

"Look out!" exclaimed Mr. Kinkytail, and the next instant they saw Grandfather Goosey Gander come waddling out, with his shiny, tall, silk hat on his head.

"Why, how do you do?" asked the old gentleman goose, as he walked toward them. "I'm real glad to see you, as I am quite lonesome. I guess I'll—"

But Grandfather Goosey Gander didn't have time to say what he was going to guess, for at that very particular instant a big, fat cow, with two crumpled horns, stepped out from behind a tree, and with one swoop she grabbed Grandfather Goosey Gander's tall hat in her mouth.

"Why, the very idea!" exclaimed Grandfather Goosey. "The very idea! To take my hat! How dare you! What do you want with it?"

"I want it for a milk pail, to be sure," said the cow, as she stuck the hat on one of her horns. "I want to take some milk to a sick cousin of mine, and I need a pail in which to carry it. This tall hat will do very nicely."

"Why, the very preposterous idea!" gasped the gander gentleman. "My fine silk hat to be used as a milk pail! I'll never allow it—never!"

"Ah, but you see you can't help yourself," said the cow, as she hung the tall hat on the branch of a tree, and sat down under it to rest. "I'm going to walk away, directly, with your hat, and don't you dare come here and get it, for I'll jiggle you with my crumpled horns if you do," went on the cow supercilious like which means sort of proud.

"That's right, she will," whispered Mr. Kinkytail. "You must let her have her way, grandfather."

"But my nice, tall silk hat!" objected Grandfather Goosey Gander. "I can't let her have it. I need it to wear to church, and also down to the bank when I go to put in my money. Oh, this is terrible! I must get it."

He started toward the tree, where his hat was hanging, but the cow got up and shook her crumpled horns at him in such a savage way that he was afraid to go any farther.

"Perhaps I can get it," whispered Jumpo. So he crept up behind the tree, thinking he could grab the hat away, but the cow heard him, and almost snitched him with one horn. Then Jacko tried, by climbing up one tree, and getting ready to drop down into the other one where the hat was. But the cow heard him and she almost kerfuddled him with her left crinkly horn, so that plan failed.

"I think I know a way to get your hat," said Mr. Kinkytail at last.

"Oh, if you only can I will be so thankful!" cried Mr. Gander.

"You stay here with Jacko and Jumpo," said the monkey boys' father, "and watch the cow so that she doesn't run away with the hat. Jacko, you and your brother make some funny faces, and do some funny tricks so the cow will be interested in watching you and will stay. I'll go off and get something I need."

So the monkey boys did a lot of tricks for the cow. Jumpo made a face like half a cherry pie, and Jacko did the trick of standing on his two ears and making a noise like a trolley car. It was too funny for anything, and the cow was real interested.

Then, all of a sudden, off in the woods there sounded the music of a hand organ. And the tune it played was one called "I'm a Yellow-striped Tiger and I'm Very Savage Now, So I Think I'll Make a Sandwich of a Crinkled-crumpled Cow!"

Well, as soon as the cow heard that, up she jumped, crying out:

"No you don't, Mr. Tiger! You can't catch me!" And with that the cow with the crimpled-crumpled horns ran off in the woods, leaving Grandfather Goosey Gander's tall hat hanging on the tree.

And then, from the other side of the woods, came Mr. Kinkytail, and it was he who had played the hand organ to scare the cow. He had hurried to the factory to get the music machine just especially for that.

"Now your hat is safe, Mr. Gander," said the papa monkey, and soon Jacko had scrambled up and got it, and then the goosey grandfather and the monkey boys took turns playing the hand organ until it was time to go home.

But I see it's your bedtime, so I can't tell any more stories for a while. The one on the next page will be about Mrs. Kinkytail and Aunt Lettie the lady goat—that is, if the dining-room table doesn't put its legs down the back of the chair and tickle it so it sneezes its seat off.

STORY XIV

The reason for this was that the old gentleman rabbit always gave his animal boy or girl visitors some chocolate peppermints, or marshmallow candies, or something like that, and of course Jacko and Jumpo were always glad to go to his house. That's why they both spoke at once.

"Now, that's too bad!" exclaimed Mamma Kinkytail. "Only one of you can take the jam tarts over, because there won't be time, after you come back, to go to the store for the pound of butter. So I guess you will have to draw straws to see who goes to Uncle Wiggily's."

"Draw straws! What's that?" asked Jumpo, curious like.

"It's this way," his mamma explained. "I will hold two straws in my paw so that you can only see the tip ends of them. One straw will be short, and the other long. Then, Jumpo, you can draw one straw out of my paw, and Jacko can take the other. Of course, you can't see which is the long or which is the short one, and that will be perfectly fair, as the tip ends look just alike. Then, whoever pulls out the long straw can take the jam tarts to Uncle Wiggily."

Well, the monkey boys thought that would be nice, so they drew the straws, one after the other, and Jumpo got the long one.

"Oh, goody!" he cried. "I'm to go to Uncle Wiggily's."

"Oh, dear!" exclaimed Jacko, and he felt a bit badly at having to go to the store. But then he soon became pleasant again, and said: "Never mind, it will be my turn next time."

"Of course," agreed Jumpo, "and if Uncle Wiggily gives me anything, I'll save you half, Jacko."

So off the two brothers started, one going one way to the grocery and the other in a different direction to the house of the old gentleman rabbit. And Jumpo carried the tarts very carefully, so as not to spill out a bit of the jam.

It didn't take Jacko long to get to the store and buy the butter. And on his way home a big wolf chased after him. But what do you s'pose the monkey boy did? Why, he just spread a little of the butter on the path behind him, and made it so slippery that the wolf slid all over as he ran, and so he couldn't catch Jacko.

But I must tell you what happened to Jumpo. The little monkey walked on and on through the woods, and he was thinking of how nice it was under the trees. Every once in a while he would pick up a chestnut to eat, and this took him so long that soon he noticed it was getting dark.

"Oh, I must hurry faster than this," he said, and then, holding the basket of jam tarts under his paw, he fairly ran on. And then, all of a sudden, he saw a big chestnut burr on the ground in front of him. The burr wasn't open yet, and it had a stem, like a handle to pick it up by, so the stickers wouldn't stick you.

"Oh, there must be at least three big chestnuts in that burr," thought Jumpo. "I'll pick that up, and then I won't stop a bit more." So he picked up the chestnut burr, and on he hurried to Uncle Wiggily's house. But he got a bit tired just as he was almost out of the woods, and he thought he'd sit down to rest for only a few seconds.

So Jumpo was sitting on a flat stone, looking at the chestnut burr and wondering if perhaps there might not be four brown, shining nuts inside, when, all at once, he heard a rustling in the leaves beside him.

"Hark! What's that?" he cried as he leaped up and looked at the basket of jam tarts which he had set down. "Perhaps that is some of the tarts trying to jump out," he said.

Then he looked again, and what he saw frightened him very much. For there was a big, fat, crawly snake on the ground moving toward the basket of jam tarts.

"Oh, ho!" exclaimed the snake, sticking out his tongue, which was like a fork—in two parts. "I'm glad I happened to come this way." Then he wound his pointed tail around the handle of the basket, and hissed: "I am very fond of jam—especially in nice flaky tarts."

"Do you—do you happen to mean these tarts?" asked Jumpo, sort of sad-like.

"Indeed, I do," answered the snake, and then he stood upon the end of his tail on the cover of the basket and sang: