Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail Part 8

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 doork.n.o.b, 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

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. Don't grumble and find fault ahead of time."

And surely enough, the sun was shining brightly the next morning, and as it was Sat.u.r.day 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. "h.e.l.lo, 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:

"Dear little dollie go fast asleep, Mamma is here, so don't cry or weep.

Stand on your toes--wiggle your nose, Then I will dust all the rooms as I sweep.

"See the blue lion a-switching his tail, Hear how he roars inside the milk pail.

The elephant, dear, will flap his big ear, And then the old babboon will go for a sail."

"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.