The Story of a Monkey on a Stick Part 4

The school was all right again the next day. The broken pipes had been mended, and the boys and girls could come back to their lessons. The teacher in the room where Herbert, d.i.c.k and their friends studied was much surprised when the janitor gave her the Doll and the Monkey, and told about finding them in her desk with an upset bottle of ink. He related how he had taken them home over-night for safe keeping.

"And so your little girl cleaned them," said the teacher. "That was very good of her, and I am going to make her happy. You may take back to her this doll, with the make-believe tanned face."

"Are you really going to give my little girl the doll?" asked the janitor.

"Yes," replied the teacher. "The little girl from whom I took the doll is not coming back to this school any more, and her mother sent word I might give the doll away. So I'll give her to your little girl."

"That is very kind of you," said the janitor. "My little girl will be happy."

The Monkey was put back in the desk until after school. Then Herbert was called up.

"Here is your Monkey on a Stick, Herbert," said the teacher. "You must not bring him to school again."

"No'm, I won't!" promised the little boy.

"I am sorry he got that blot of ink on the end of his tail," went on the teacher.

"Oh, I don't mind," said Herbert, with a smile. "He can climb his stick just the same."

And the Monkey really could. The ink on his tail didn't bother him a bit. Up and down the stick he went, when Herbert pulled the string, and even the teacher had to laugh, the Monkey was so funny.

"I'm so glad I have my Monkey back!" thought Herbert as he ran along the street.

All the other boys and girls were ahead of him, as he had been kept in a little while after school to get his toy back. All at once, as Herbert was pa.s.sing a candy store, he saw, coming out of it, d.i.c.k, the boy who owned the White Rocking Horse.

"Oh, h.e.l.lo, Herbert!" called d.i.c.k, giving his friend a piece of candy.

"So you have your Monkey back!"

"Yes," Herbert answered. "I stayed in to get him."

"I know how we can have some fun with him," went on d.i.c.k.

"How?" Herbert wanted to know.

"We can give him a ride on the back of our dog Carlo," went on d.i.c.k. "We can take the Monkey off the stick, and tie him on Carlo's back. Then Carlo will run and the Monkey will have a fine ride."

The two boys hurried down the street toward d.i.c.k's house.

"This world is full of surprises," thought the Monkey. "I wonder what my toy friends in the store would think if they knew I was going to have a ride on a dog's back. What a wonderful adventure it may be!"

The Monkey was not afraid. He was a courageous chap, almost as brave as the Bold Tin Soldier. One has to be brave to climb up and down a stick day after day, and turn somersaults from the top; I think.

"How can we make my Monkey stay on your Carlo's back?" asked Herbert, as they reached d.i.c.k's house.

"We can tie him on, same as my sister once tied her Sawdust Doll to the back of the Lamb on Wheels," d.i.c.k answered.

"And maybe, some day, we can have a little show," said Herbert.

"What kind of show?" d.i.c.k asked, as he ate the last piece of candy he had bought on his way from school, having shared some with Herbert.

"Oh, a show with my Monkey in it, and your Rocking Horse, and Arnold's Tin Soldiers, and Mirabell's Lamb and Madeline's Candy Rabbit," Herbert replied.

"Here, Carlo! Carlo!" called d.i.c.k. "Come and give Herbert's Monkey a ride on your back."

Carlo came running up, wagging his tail. He liked to play with the boys, and he did not make a bit of fuss when d.i.c.k and Herbert tied the Monkey on his back. Of course the Monkey was taken off his stick for this strange ride. He was tied on with bits of string, as the boys had plenty of this in their pockets.

"Hold still a minute, Carlo!" called d.i.c.k, for the dog was wiggling and twisting around. "Hold still and we'll soon be ready."

"How are you going to make him run, after we get the Monkey fastened on his back?" asked Herbert.

"Oh, that's easy," d.i.c.k answered. "We'll just run down the meadow toward the brook and he'll follow us all right. He'll give the Monkey a fine ride, won't you, Carlo?"

"Bow wow!" barked the dog, which, I suppose, was his way of saying: "Yes!"

"Well, I surely hope nothing serious will happen," thought the Monkey, as he found himself being tied on the dog's fuzzy back. "I have had many adventures, but never one like this. I hope nothing terrible happens!"

In another minute the boys tied the last knot. There sat the Monkey, off his stick, on Carlo's back.

"Come on, now!" cried d.i.c.k, and he and Herbert started to run.

With a bark Carlo took after them, the Monkey bobbing backward and forward on the dog's back.

"As long as they can't very well see me, I'll grab hold of the dog's hair in my hands," said the Monkey. "In that way I can hold on better.

Some of the strings may break."

He clutched his hands tightly in the dog's hair. Carlo ran faster and faster after the boys.

"Don't go so quick!" begged the Monkey.

"Bow wow! I have to!" barked Carlo.

"Oh, I know something dreadful will happen!" exclaimed the Monkey. "I just know it!"

CHAPTER V

MONKEYs.h.i.+NES

Over the green meadow, with the Monkey on his back, ran Carlo the dog.

In front of the dog raced Herbert and d.i.c.k, now and then looking back and laughing. It was great fun for the boys to see the Monkey having a ride on the dog's back. And, to tell the truth, Carlo and the Monkey were enjoying it themselves.

"Do I hurt you, holding on this way?" asked the Monkey of Carlo, grasping tightly the dog's woolly back. "Do I pull your hair any?"

"Oh, not much," Carlo barked in answer. "I don't mind a little pull like that."

"You see I'm so afraid of falling off and breaking my tail, or something like that," went on the Monkey.