The Story of a Monkey on a Stick Part 9

Jack in the Pulpit nodded toward a big fern leaf near where he himself was growing, and in an instant the Monkey had crawled under this shelter. Truly enough it kept off the rain, the drops pattering down on the leaf over the Monkey's head as they used to patter on the roof of the toy store. No longer was he out in the rain.

"Thank you for telling me how to keep out of the wet," said the Monkey to Jack in the Pulpit.

"Oh, you are very welcome," was the answer. "And now please tell me about yourself and whether you have had any adventures. I love to hear about adventures."

So the Monkey told all about himself, even down to the time when he fell off Carlo's back and visited the cave of Jack Hare.

"And I suppose Herbert is looking for me now," said the Monkey.

"Oh, I hardly think he would be looking for you in all this rain," said Jack in the Pulpit. "Besides it will soon be night. You had better make up your mind to stay here until morning. Then the sun will be s.h.i.+ning and you can hop back to the place where you fell off the dog's back.

Then Herbert and d.i.c.k may come along and find you."

"That's what I'll do," said the Monkey.

Just as the Jack had said it would, it soon became dark, and it kept on raining. But the Monkey curled up under the big fern leaf, where it was nice and dry. Soon the Monkey began to feel warm and sleepy, and, before he knew it, he was fast asleep.

In the morning the rain had stopped. The sun came out bright and warm and dried up the damp gra.s.s. Jack in the Pulpit awoke, and, looking over toward the Monkey, fast asleep under the broad leaf, called:

"Hi, there, Mr. Monkey! It's morning! Now maybe you can find Herbert, or he can find you!"

"Dear me! Morning so soon?" exclaimed the Monkey, stretching out his legs. "I must have slept very soundly."

"Did you dream any?" asked the Jack.

"Not that I remember," was the answer. "But I am glad the rain has stopped. Now I'll hop over the meadow, back to the place where I fell off Carlo's back, and I'll wait there until Herbert comes for me, as I am sure he will."

"I shall be sorry to see you go," said Jack, "but I suppose it has to be. If you ever get back this way again, stop and see me."

The Monkey said he would and then, smoothing down his plush, he sat out in the sun awhile to get a little dryer and warmer. He looked at the end of his tail.

"The ink is almost washed off," he said. "I am glad of that."

Then he began to hop across the field, making his way through the tall gra.s.s. He thought he would know it when he came to the place where the string had come loose, and where he had fallen from Carlo's back, but the gra.s.s looked so much alike all over that the Monkey was beginning to think he might be lost in it.

All at once, however, he heard a voice saying:

"Well, you've come back, have you?"

The Monkey looked around, and there sat his friend Mr. Gra.s.shopper, and near him was Miss Cricket.

"Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" cried the Monkey. "I was looking for the place I first met you--the place where I fell off the dog's back."

"It is right here," said the Gra.s.shopper. "This is where I first noticed you. And there is the hummock of gra.s.s you sat on."

Then the Monkey knew he was back at the place he wished to reach. He sat down and talked with the Gra.s.shopper and the Cricket, telling them of his visit to Jack Hare's cave, and also how he had slept all night under a leaf near Jack in the Pulpit.

"Hark!" suddenly called the Gra.s.shopper.

"What's the matter?" asked the Monkey.

"I think you are going to get your wish," was the Gra.s.shopper's answer.

"I hear boys talking and a dog barking. We had better be going, Miss Cricket. Good-bye, Mr. Monkey on a Stick!"

"Good-bye," called the Cricket.

With that they hopped away. The Monkey listened, and, surely enough, he heard the barking of a dog and the talking of two boys.

"It was right about here he must have fallen off," said one boy.

"It might have been farther on," said another boy.

And just then the gra.s.s began to wave from side to side, and through it came bursting Carlo, the little dog! At once he saw the Monkey.

"Bow wow! Oh, here you are!" barked Carlo. "I thought I should find you."

"I'm glad you did," said the Monkey. Then the two friends had no further chance to talk, for d.i.c.k and his chum came running along when they heard the dog bark.

"Oh, here he is!" cried Herbert. "I've found my lost Monkey. Now I'm going to put him back on his stick!"

CHAPTER IX

MONKEY IN A TENT

Herbert and d.i.c.k, with Carlo the dog, had searched through the meadow all the afternoon, to find the Monkey, but they did not find him. At night the two boys had gone to their homes, and Herbert felt sad at losing his toy.

"Never mind," said Madeline, as she let Herbert hold her Candy Rabbit, "to-morrow I'll help you look for your Monkey. Maybe he's hiding down in the tall gra.s.s, as Dorothy's Sawdust Doll once did."

"Maybe," said Herbert hopefully. But still he felt sad.

The next day he and d.i.c.k and Carlo again went to the meadow. They looked all around, and at last they found the Monkey, as I have told you.

Of course neither of the boys knew what an adventure the Monkey had had, nor how he had gone to visit Jack Hare in the cave, and had seen the little Rabbits. Nor did they know how he had become dried out by sleeping under the fern leaf.

"Well, now we'll have some fun, as long as I have my Monkey back," said Herbert, and he and d.i.c.k, followed by the dog, went back across the meadow.

"What are you going to do?" asked d.i.c.k.

"Put up a tent and have a show," Herbert answered. "You can bring your White Rocking Horse, and Arnold can bring his Bold Tin Soldier. If Dorothy wants to, she can bring her Sawdust Doll, Mirabell can bring her Lamb of Wheels, and my sister Madeline can bring her Candy Rabbit."

"That'll be a fine show!" cried d.i.c.k.

The two little boys hurried back to Herbert's house, and told his mother what they were going to do. Herbert showed his mother the Monkey he had found in the meadow, and d.i.c.k hurried over to his house to get his Rocking Horse, and to tell his sister about the show.

"What can I make a tent of?" asked Herbert.