Howard Roger Garis

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ 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. ”

“ Say, I just wish you could have seen Mugsie Smugsie when Susie got through talking to him. His fuzzy face flushed all red and he dug his paw down in the dirt bashful like and then he felt very much ashamed for having made fun of Jacko when his mamma was sick.
"I—I didn't know all that," stammered Mugsie Smugsie. "I'd like to help you wash those dishes myself, Jacko, if you'll let me."
So this shows that Mugsie wasn't bad all the way through, you see. Nobody is, I guess; there are good spots in everybody, only some folks have more spots than others. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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." ”

“ STORY V JUMPO AND THE ICE CREAM
It was a few days after Jumpo Kinkytail, the little green monkey boy, had been taken ill with the sniffle-snuffles, and now he was all better, for the hot peanuts had made him well. He and his brother Jacko, the red monkey, were hurrying along the road together to get to school before the last bell rang.
"For we must not be late," said Jumpo.
"No, indeed," agreed Jacko. "Shall I carry your books for you, Jumpo? You are not yet strong from having been ill." ”

“ 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." ”

“ They will think it's a cannon," he said with a laugh. Then he waited.
But all of a sudden, before he could count forty-'leven, along came the skillery-scalery alligator. The creature with the double-jointed tail saw the little red monkey tied fast to the tree with ropes.
"Ah, ha! Now I have you!" cried the 'gator, licking his chops. "You can't get away from me this time."
And it didn't seem as if Jacko could. He tugged and strained at the ropes, but they were too tight. It looked as if he were going to be eaten up. ”

“ It's always stopping. I've jiggled and joggled and tickled everything from the whoop-de-doodle-do down to the slam-bangity-what-is-it, but it won't go. I'm done with it. Whoever wants it can have it!"
"Oh, may we have it?" cried Jacko, as Uncle Wiggily started toward the sidewalk, leaving the auto in the street.
"To be sure you may, and I'll buy a gallon of gasoline into the bargain!" cried Uncle Wiggily.
"Come on, we'll pull it home, and then we'll fix it so that it will go!" cried Jacko; so he and Jumpo pulled the auto home, and that's how they got one after all, without any money. ”

“ STORY XI JUMPO AND SUSIE LITTLETAIL
It had rained quite hard in the night and when Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail, after they had gone to bed, suddenly woke up in the darkness and heard the drops pattering on the roof, the little red monkey boy said to his green brother:
"Oh, dear! Now we can't go off in the woods to-morrow and take our lunch and play camping, as we were going to do."
"No; isn't it too bad?" agreed Jumpo. "It always seems to rain at the wrong time, doesn't it?"
"Come, come!" exclaimed Mr. Kinkytail, who was in the next room. "You boys must go to sleep. The sun may shine to-morrow. ”

“ If a boy has a chocolate ice cream cone, and his sister has two, how many oranges can you buy for a bag of peanuts when a stick of peppermint candy breaks in three pieces and one of them falls inside a lemon? Don't you think that's a hard example, Jacko? ”

“ 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, he started to rub poor Jumpo's sore nose, but Jacko made a little mistake. He took up a piece of sticky fly paper instead of a handkerchief, and the fly paper stuck to the nose of the green monkey so that he could hardly breathe, and his mamma had to come running in the bedroom to see what was the matter.
"Oh, you funny boys!" she exclaimed. "You are always up to some tricks. You had better get dressed at once and go out to play. It is a fine day."
"Of course we will!" cried Jacko. "Come on, Jumpo. We'll go for a long automobile ride." ”

“ STORY XIII PAPA KINKYTAIL AND GOOSEY GANDER
"Come, Mr. Kinkytail," said Mrs. Kinkytail to her husband one morning after breakfast, "it is time for you to go to your work in the hand-organ factory."
"Oh, I'm not going to work to-day," said the papa monkey, as he slowly folded the news-paper inside out so that he might read about whether it was going to rain or snow.
"Why aren't you going to work?" asked the monkey mamma.
"Because," answered her husband, "something is the matter with one of the music machines, and the engineer has to fix it. So the factory is closed, and I have a vacation. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I am the most miserable creature in all the world," was the sorrowful answer from beneath the pile of stones.
"Then why do you sing about happiness; and who are you?" asked Jumpo.
"I am a chirping black cricket," was the answer. "I was sitting on this stone pile when I happened to see you coming. I thought you were [Pg 176] two bears, so I jumped down in here and now I cannot get out again, for every time I try to jump out I bump my nose. Are you really bears?"
"No, indeed; we're two monkey boys," spoke Jacko. "But we will help you out of the stone pile. ”

“ And he was a very rich fox, having ice cream for supper nearly every night. Still he was never satisfied. He wanted a goose, or a rabbit, or a squirrel, or a monkey, or something like that. So when he looked out of his bungalow window, and saw Jumpo Kinkytail coming along, this fox said to himself:
"Ah, ha! Perhaps I can have a monkey supper tonight. I must catch that little green chap." Still the sly fox knew better than to rush out and try to grab the monkey. "I must play a trick on him," he said to himself. "What shall I do?" ”

“ But they did.
"All right, then, we'll earn the money," said Jacko. "Come on, Jumpo."
"Don't stay away too long," cautioned their mamma, and she smiled as the two little monkey boys slid down the tree in which the house was built, and hurried away.
"How are we going to make money?" asked Jumpo, as he followed after his brother. "Are you going to gather up old rags, bones and bottles, and sell them?"
"Come on, I'll show you," spoke Jacko, as he tied his tail in a bow knot to keep it from dragging in the dust. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Littletail. "He will have to come in a hurry to stop the bleeding."
"Oh, if we only had our automobile, we could go very quickly," said Jacko, but they didn't have it. [Pg 191]
"Oh, I'm so sorry; it was my fault," exclaimed Jumpo. "I will run for Dr. Possum."
"You never can run fast enough," exclaimed Mrs. Littletail. "Why, even an airship wouldn't be quick enough. Oh! What shall I do? Sammie may bleed to death."
"Wait, I have an idea," cried Susie. "Why can't Jacko go for the doctor in Sammie's toy train of cars?"
"In a toy train of cars?" exclaimed Jacko. ”

“ They just took the organ and started off with it.
"Now we must play the very best tunes, and you must do some of your finest tricks," said Jacko, as they walked along until they came to a row of brick houses. "This will be a good place to begin," said the red monkey boy. "Rich people must live here."
Well, I just wish you could have heard Jacko play that hand organ. Really, he did as well as you could, turning the handle sometimes with his left paw, and sometimes with his right and sometimes with his tail.
"Oh, mamma!" cried a little girl at one window. ”

“ So Jacko and Jumpo having carefully wrapped their money in a piece of paper, started down town. And on their way they met Sammie [Pg 116] Littletail, the boy rabbit, who wanted to know where they were going. So they told him.
"Ha, ha! Ho, ho!" laughed Sammie. "You can't get an auto for that money. Why an automobile costs as much as three dollars and fifteen cents, and then there's the gasoline to make it go—that costs money, too."
"Don't mind him," spoke Jacko, pulling his brother by the sleeve. "We'll get that auto anyhow." ”