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XIXThe Major's Scheme
"I never can run a thousand miles through the tree-tops," Major Monkey told Jolly Robin in a tone of great disappointment. "I don't see how I can spend the winter in the South; and I certainly don't want to stay here, if it's as cold as you say." The poor Major looked so glum that Jolly Robin was sorry for him.
"Can't you get a ride?" he asked.
"I could ride a horse, if I had one," Major Monkey replied.
"That's not a bad idea," Jolly Robin said. "But I'm afraid you'd have troublefinding a horse. Farmer Green would scarcely care to spare one of his horses for so long a trip."
"Well, I could ride a dog," said Major Monkey. "There's that dog at the farmhouse—old Spot, as you call him. Surely Farmer Green wouldn't mind if I rodehimaway, for he's nothing but a nuisance."
"Why don't you ask Farmer Green?" Jolly Robin suggested.
But Major Monkey shook his head.
"No!" he said. "No! I don't want to do that yet. Before I speak to Farmer Green I prefer to make sure that old dog Spot iseasy to ride on."
Jolly Robin looked puzzled. His mouth fell open. And for a few moments he stared at Major Monkey without saying a word.
The Man Began to Sing a Merry Song
When he finally spoke, it was to ask Major Monkey how he was going to find out what he wanted to know about old dog Spot.
"There's only one way," said Major Monkey. "There's only one way; and that'sto ride him and see."
Jolly Robin thought what a bold fellow Major Monkey was. He entirely forgot the Major's flight from the picnic grove. Riding a dog was such a feat as Jolly Robin himself would never, never attempt. And he was sure that if Major Monkey really undertook it there could be no doubt of his bravery.
"How do you know"—Jolly asked the Major timidly—"how do you know that old dog Spot will let you ride him?"
"Don't you worry about that!" Major Monkey cried lightly, as he swaggered along a limb of the apple tree where they were talking. "Leave that to me."
And Jolly Robin thought what a stout heart beat beneath Major Monkey's red coat, and how fine it was to be one of his friends.
"I should like to see you when you first ride old Spot," said Jolly Robin.
"Delighted, I'm sure!" Major Monkey cried.
"And I hope you've no objection to my bringing my wife along, too."
Major Monkey was not so sure that he would care to have Mrs. Robin for an onlooker.
"Women are likely to be timid," he remarked. "They sometimes scream at the wrong time. And if your wife happened to cry out just as I was about to drop on old Spot's back, he might jump. And that would spoil everything."
Jolly Robin decided that Major Monkey knew best.
"We'll keep this affair a secret," he whispered.
The Major nodded.
"And now"—Jolly Robin asked him—"now where and when are you going to ride old Spot?"
Shutting his eyes tightly, Major Monkey wrinkled his low forehead until Jolly Robin began to fear that he was in great pain.
"Are you ill?" Jolly asked him.
"No!" said the Major. "I was only thinking. And it seems to me that the other end of the orchard, toward the farmhouse, would be the best place to begin my ride.... As for the time," he added, "that will be when old Spot happens to come that way."
"I'll be there, whenever that may be," Jolly Robin assured him.
XXA Fast Ride
For once Mrs. Robin had reason to complain that her husband did not do his share of the work. Jolly Robinwouldspend most of his time at the further end of the orchard, talking with "that good-for-nothing Major Monkey," to use Mrs. Robin's own words.
Whenever she flew over to speak to her husband, the Major was most polite to her, never failing to take off his cap and ask after her health. But Mrs. Robin had little to say to him. She had, however, a great deal to say to Jolly Robin. But no matter how much she urged him to stopidling and come home and help her look after their big family, Jolly insisted that he and the Major "had business to attend to."
At last, when Mrs. Robin gave up in despair, Jolly began to feel somewhat uncomfortable. And he tried to get Major Monkey to go and ask old dog Spot to come to the orchard, instead of waiting there uncertainly for days and days.
But Major Monkey would not consent to such a move. He was quite firm.
"I don't want toaskold Spot to give me a ride," he explained.
"Then how do you ever expect to get one?" Jolly asked him anxiously.
"Oh, there's a way!" was the Major's mysterious reply. And that was all he would say.
The longer Jolly Robin waited to see the fun, the more excited he became, andthe more Major Monkey seemed to enjoy himself.
"Old dog Spot ought to be here soon," the Major kept saying. "I can see him now. No! I'm mistaken."
Jolly Robin had so many disappointments that one morning when the Major cried out that at last old Spot was actually crawling through the fence, and would be in the orchard in about a minute and a half, Jolly couldn't believe him.
It was true, nevertheless. To Jolly's delight, old dog Spot came darting in and out among the apple trees, with his nose close to the ground. He was following a trail made by Tommy Fox, who had visited the henhouse the night before. And he was so intent on what he was doing that never once did he glance up into the apple trees, where Major Monkey and Jolly Robin were watching him.
Major Monkey dropped quickly down to a low-hanging limb. And as luck had it, Tommy Fox's trail led old dog Spot right under the tree where the Major waited, hanging gracefully by his tail and one hand.
As old Spot passed below him, Major Monkey loosened his hold on the limb and dropped squarely upon old Spot's back.
The moment he landed, the Major dug his fingers into Spot's long fur and hung on grimly. And at the same instant old dog Spot leaped high into the air and let out a frenzied yelp.
Jolly Robin was glad that his wife was not present, for he knew that the sight, and the sound too, could not have failed to terrify her.
Old Spot seemed almost out of his mind. For a few moments the poor fellow tore about the orchard in wide circles,hoping in vain that he might shake that strange load off his back.
But he soon saw that his rider clung to him like a burr. And wheeling suddenly, Spot shot like a streak out of the orchard and flew across the meadow.
Just before he disappeared behind a high knoll Major Monkey turned his face over his shoulder and looked behind. Then, holding on with one hand, with the either he waved his red cap at Jolly Robin.
The next moment Jolly saw the Major and his strange steed no more.
"They headed straight for the river!" Jolly exclaimed. And he felt so worried about his friend the Major that though he went home at once, his wife complained that his mind wasn't on his work and that he was more bother than help to her.
Some time later Major Monkey limpedback to his home in the haystack, dripping wet. His fine coat was torn. And he had lost his red cap.
When Jolly Robin saw him he asked the Major if he had had a good ride.
"Well," said Major Monkey, "it was a good one; but it wastoo fast. If I started to travel south on old dog Spot's back I'd reach my journey's end before you had gone half way."
"Dear me!" said Jolly Robin. "Then we can't travel together after all."
XXIA Sweet Tooth
After his ride on old dog Spot, Major Monkey went to the henhouse for eggs even oftener than he had gone before.
Perhaps he had become fonder of eggs. Or perhaps he had become bolder. Anyhow, he noticed that old dog Spot gave him a wide berth. Whenever old Spot saw him he tucked his tail between his legs and ran, yelping, into the house.
Now, Johnnie Green soon discovered that something—or somebody—was frightening old Spot almost every day. And having nothing else to do one morning, he made up his mind that he wouldwatch and see what happened. So he climbed to the cupola on top of the big barn. And there he stayed for a long time, keeping a sharp eye on old Spot as he wandered about the farm buildings.
It was a good while before anything happened. But Johnnie Green did not mind that. He had brought plenty of cookies to munch. And he pretended that he was a sailor in the crow's nest of a ship, on the lookout for a sail.
After a while he almost forgot what he was really doing. He was leaning far out of the cupola, shading his eyes with one hand, and stuffing a cookie into his mouth with the other, and gazing off across the meadow, when all at once he heard old Spot yelping.
That sound brought Johnnie to his senses. And glancing down, he saw Spot tearing across the barnyard, making forthe woodshed door in great bounds. And behind him, perched on the roof of the henhouse, Johnnie saw a familiar figure.
"It's the monkey again!" Johnnie Green cried. And he clambered quickly to the ground.
But when he reached the henhouse Major Monkey had fled. Johnnie could see his red coat flickering among the leaves in the orchard. But he knew it was useless to follow.
Although Major Monkey was aware that Johnnie Green had seen him again, he did not stop visiting the henhouse. To be sure, he became somewhat more wary. He never went inside the henhouse for eggs without first looking around carefully, to make sure that Johnnie Green wasn't watching him. And for a time the Major kept an eye out for traps.
He saw nothing of the sort anywhere. But one day when he leaped to the window-sill of the henhouse he was delighted to find a lump of maple sugar, which some one had carelessly left there.
At least, that was what the Major supposed. And with something a good deal like a chuckle he ate the dainty greedily. It was the first bit of sugar he had tasted since he came to Pleasant Valley. And Major Monkey was very fond of sweets.
Johnnie Green, or his father, or the hired man seemed all at once to grow terribly careless with maple sugar. The Major hardly ever visited the henhouse without finding a lump somewhere. And if his liking for eggs hadn't brought him thither daily, his taste for sugar would have been enough to make him continue his visits.
At last there came a day when MajorMonkey discovered a thick pitcher on the henhouse floor. A chain was looped through its handle and nailed to the wall.
The Major grinned when he saw the chain.
"They don't want this pitcher to run away," he said to himself.
Being of a most curious turn of mind, he looked into the pitcher. And then he promptly thrust in a hand.
There was a good-sized lump of sugar inside. And Major Monkey's fingers closed upon it greedily.
His queer face wrinkled with annoyance when he found that he could not withdraw his hand. Empty, it could easily have slipped through the mouth of the pitcher. But with the sugar clutched in it, his hand stuck fast.
XXIICaught!
Though Major Monkey tugged and tugged, he couldn't pull his hand out of the pitcher.
To be sure, if he had let go of the lump of maple sugar he might have withdrawn his hand easily enough.
But the Major loved sweets too dearly to loosen his hold on any such toothsome morsel—except to pop it into his mouth.
So he struggled and fretted. He even tried to break the pitcher by knocking it against the floor.
It might as well have been made of iron, it was so strong. And the Majoronly succeeded in hurting his own hand.
Of course he made a great racket. And the hens, who had become used to his more stealthy visits, began to flutter and squawk. They made such an uproar at last that Major Monkey wanted to hurl the pitcher at them. But he couldn't do that, with his hand stuck inside it. And besides, the pitcher was chained fast to the wall of the henhouse.
And right there lay the Major's greatest trouble. If the pitcher hadn't been fastened he would have run off on three legs, to the woods, where he might have tried in peace and quiet to get at the sugar inside it.
On the whole, Major Monkey spent a most unhappy quarter of an hour in the henhouse. And the worst moment of all came when the window dropped with a loud bang.
Then the sound of steps on the threshold made the Major turn his head.
There stood Farmer Green with a broad smile on his face, and Johnnie Green with his mouth wide open and his eyes bulging.
And with them was a dark-skinned man, short, and with rings in his ears, and a bright neckerchief tied about his throat.
"Aha-a!" cried the little man. "Look-a da monk! He greed-a boy!" And picking Major Monkey up in his arms, jug and all, he patted him fondly, saying, "Ah-a! Bad-a boy! He run-a da way from da ol' man, no?"
Then—for a soldier—Major Monkey did a strange thing. He began to whimper. But there is no doubt that he was weeping because he was glad, and not because he was sorry.
The little, dark man was his master.
And the Major was very, very fond of him. He knew, suddenly, that he had missed the little man sadly while he roamed about Pleasant Valley.
Though Johnnie Green was staring straight at him, Major Monkey clung to his captor and held his wrinkled face close to the little man's cheek.
"He sorra now!" the little man said to Johnnie Green.
"What's his name?" Johnnie inquired.
"Jocko!" said Major Monkey's master. "Dat nice-a name, eh?"
Johnnie Green thought that it was. And Major Monkey himself appeared to like the sound of it. It was a long time since he had heard it. No one had called him "Jocko" since that day—weeks before—when he had run away from his master, the organ-grinder, in the village.
XXIIIThe Major Goes South
Out of one of his pockets the hand-organ man pulled a stout collar, from which dangled a long, thin chain. And Major Monkey made no protest when his master buckled the collar about his neck.
To tell the truth, the Major appeared to like being a captive. He was enjoying, especially, the maple sugar which the hand-organ man had turned out of the pitcher for him.
At the farmhouse, a little later, Major Monkey went through all his tricks for Johnnie Green and the rest of the family. Though he had once told Mr. Crow thathe never wanted to hear the sound of a hand-organ again, the music that his master ground out while he himself capered about seemed to him the sweetest he had ever heard.
Of the Major's audience, the most astonished of all sat, unnoticed, in a tree in the dooryard and listened and looked on as if he could scarcely believe his eyes.
This one was Jolly Robin. And when, at length, the organ-grinder looped the long chain over his arm, slung the organ over his back, and went toiling up the road, with Major Monkey perched on top of the hand-organ, Jolly Robin had a very queer feeling. He flew down and alighted upon Farmer Greene's fence and trilled a quavering good-by. Major Monkey stood up and made a low bow to him. "He's going South, after all!" Jolly Robin said to himself. If that was so, old dog Spotmust have been glad of it. Anyhow, he dashed out of the dooryard and ran a little way up the road, growling and barking, and telling Major Monkey exactly what he thought of him.
The Major seemed to enjoy old Spot's farewell. He danced up and down, and pulled back his arm, as if to throw something at Spot. But he changed his mind. He had a red apple, which Johnnie Green had given him. And instead of wasting it on old dog Spot, the Major took a bite out of it then and there.
Old Spot had trotted back to the farmhouse, looking very brave, in spite of the scolding Johnnie Green gave him. And Major Monkey was busily engaged with his apple, when he heard a sound that made him look up.
"Caw! Caw!" It was old Mr. Crow, whose keen eyes had caught sight of thehand-organ man plodding along with his precious load. Major Monkey whistled. And just for a moment, as he watched Mr. Crow sailing lazily overhead, he almost wished that he hadn't been quite so fond of sugar. For he knew that he could no longer wander through Pleasant Valley wherever his fancy led him.
But the hand-organ man began singing a merry song. And Major Monkey liked it so well that before he had gone a mile he wouldn't have turned back for anything. Now that his play-time had come to an end, he was eager to journey on, wherever his master might take him.
For Major Monkey—as he had told Mr. Crow in the beginning—was a great traveller.
Transcriber's Notes1. Punctuation has been normalized to contemporary standards.2. List of books relocated to after title page.3. Typographic errors corrected in original:p. 38 whether he he to whether he ("whether he thought it a good one")p. 48 musn't to mustn't ("we mustn't get lost")p. 58 mits to mitts ("pair of black mitts")p. 119 friend' to friend's ("in her friend's eyes")
1. Punctuation has been normalized to contemporary standards.
2. List of books relocated to after title page.
3. Typographic errors corrected in original:p. 38 whether he he to whether he ("whether he thought it a good one")p. 48 musn't to mustn't ("we mustn't get lost")p. 58 mits to mitts ("pair of black mitts")p. 119 friend' to friend's ("in her friend's eyes")