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Catching the Monkeys · The Bobbsey Twins at Cherry Corners

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  Chapter twenty two of The Bobbsey Twins at Cherry Corners by Laura Lee Hope.
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  This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Catching the monkeys, give me
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  my engine. Come back with my engine, cried Freddy, as he ran
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  to the foot of the tree up which the monkey had scrambled. Bert,
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  make him give me back my engine. Glad as Bert would have been to
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  do this, it was impossible, for the monkey moved too quickly, like
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  a streak of brown light. He scampered up the tree, and only by
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  the movement of the limbs and branches could it be told that he was there,
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  for he could not be seen. They are getting very bold, declared
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  missus Bobbsey. Nothing will be safe from the little rascals. Maybe Bert can
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  climb up that tree and get Freddy's engine back, suggested Nan. Oh,
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  yes, please do, begged the little fellow. You'll need one of the
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  cherry ladders, though, went on Nan. The tree had no branches low
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  down that Bert might have grasped, but the monkey carrying Freddy's engine had no
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  trouble in climbing it. It wouldn't do any good to get a ladder,
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  said Bert, who had been walking around the tree, looking up into the
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  branches. Why not, Freddy wanted to know, Because the monkey with your
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  engine isn't up in this tree anymore, went on Bert. Look, he
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  just jumped into that other tree, and there he goes off to the woods.
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  It was true enough, just as he had traveled at his native jungle
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  through the tops of the trees, the monkey was now leaping from branch to
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  branch in the trees of Redgate Farm. There was a line of them extending
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  down the road and so close that their branches touched and interlaced. It was
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  easy for a monkey to leap from one branch to another, and from one
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  tree into the next one. In this way, the little beast could travel
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  along without touching the ground until he reached the woods. How am I going
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  to get my engine back? Wailed Freddie. If I had a gun,
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  I'd shoot that monkey. Oh you wouldn't do that, would you, little
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  fireman? Asked Nan. The monkeys are so cute. How can I be
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  a fireman if I haven't my Engune demanded Freddie. Yes, if I had
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  a gun, i'd shoot that monkey. He means, only shoot him a
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  little to make him drop the engine. Don't you Freddy, asked Flossie,
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  Yes, I'd shoot him just a little, agreed her twin brother. Something
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  must be done, decided missus Bobbsey. When I get a chance to talk
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  to your father, I'll ask him about it. We can't have the monkeys
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  taking things like this. All the while, mister Bobbsey was seeing to the
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  picking of the last batch of cherries, and when he came to the house
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  to lunch, his wife told him what had happened last the taking of Freddy's
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  injun I will send a telegram to the circus people, decided mister Bobbsey.
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  I will tell them to come and catch their monkeys and take them away.
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  We don't want them around here, though I must say, they have not
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  taken any of my cherries. The children's father sent off a message to the
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  circus, and then everyone waited for the arrival of some animal man from the
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  show who would know how to secure the monkeys. Some of the men and
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  boys on the various farms had set traps to catch the apes, but nothing
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  had come of it. Meanwhile, the monkeys kept coming and going. Now
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  only one or two would be seen swinging in the trees close to the home
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  of the bobbseys or on the other three farms near by, but the beast
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  would soon go away, perhaps not being able to get any more of Dinah's
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  kitchen things or NaN's cakes. Once or twice reports came from neighboring farmers wives
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  that their kitchens had been entered while they were out food or bright pans taken.
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  One boy, coming home through the woods late at night, declared a
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  monkey swung down by his tail from a high branch and snatched off his hat.
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  But as he did not see the beast, it was thought perhaps a
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  low swinging branch had caught the cap, and that the boy had imagined.
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  The rest the cherry picking went on Bert, doing his share and earning more
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  than enough money for his new reel as well as for his rod. But
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  I'm not going to buy it until the monkeys are caught, he said.
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  A new shiny reel would be just what they would pick up, like my
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  engine, sighed Freddie, Yes, like your engine, agreed Bert. I
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  guess I'll never see it again, went on the little fellow, sadly,
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  no more than I'm will my watch, or dad his knife, or mother
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  her cameo pin, said Bert. The next day, one of the men
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  from the circus arrived on reaching Cherry Corners. He asked for mister Bobbsey and
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  was directed to Redgate Farm. I guess you have some of our monkeys here,
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  said the circus man with a smile. He gave his name as mister
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  Dalton. They're around here, but we haven't any of them, answered mister
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  Bobbsey. The trouble is we can't catch any of them, and we'd like
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  to, for they've been causing a lot of trouble. We have set traps
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  for them, but haven't caught any. It's quite a trick to catch a
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  monkey, said mister Dalton. They won't enter an ordinary trap. I have
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  brought with me some special kinds and we'll set them as the natives do in
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  the jungle. May we see how it's done, asked Bert. Well,
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  if you stay near the traps after they're set, you may scare the monkeys,
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  the circus man said, But after the apes are caught, you may
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  see how it's done. Does it hurt them, asked Nan, Not a
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  bit, was the reply. How did they manage to escape, asked missus
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  Bobbsey. The beasts got out soon after our circus train passed through here,
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  answered mister Dalton. The monkeys were all in one car, but these which
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  escaped and which were rather wild, were all in one end of the car.
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  What kind of car was it, asked Bert, with a look at
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  Nan. It was a regular circus car, Yes, I know, went
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  on Bert. But did it have any kind of special pictures or looking glasses
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  on it? Oh? I see what you mean, exclaimed mister Dalton.
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  Yes, the monkey car had pictures of lions painted on it. It wasn't
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  a regular monkey car, but we had so many extra specimens of the long
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  tail beasts that we had to use an empty lion car to move them in.
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  Then Nick Dodge let the monkeys loose, declared Bert. For the car
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  he climbed up on had pictures of lions on it, and he opened one
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  of the iron barred windows. What's this, cried the circus man in surprise.
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  That's right, chimed in Nan, and she added her story to the
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  one her brother told how Nick, to be smart and show off, had
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  climbed on the circus train when it stopped for water. He did something to
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  one of the windows and a bar came loose, went on Bert. One
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  of the fellows said, the car had monkeys in it, and we saw
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  something hairy and fuzzy at the window. Then when the train started, Nick
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  jumped off, And after it started, when the window was open, the
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  train stopped again a little farther down the track so the second engine could get
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  water, said Nan. That's just about how it happened, agreed mister Dalton.
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  When the train stopped a second time, the monkeys, finding the window
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  open, either by that boy's trick or by his meddling, got out.
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  Well, now i'll have to catch them. I'm sorry they caused you so
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  much trouble. Will you get my engine back, asked Freddy. I'll try,
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  little man, was the answer. I'd like to get my watch,
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  sighed Bert. I guess my cake is all eaten up by this time,
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  remarked Nan with a laugh. You can't tell what monkeys will do with things
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  they take, declared the circus man. Of course they would eat the cake,
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  but anything bright or shiny they may carry off and hide, or they
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  may drop it soon after picking it up. They are very curious, and
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  it is because of that curiosity that I hope to catch them. He had
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  brought with him a large trunk which was sent up from the railroad station,
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  and this trunk, on being open, proved to contain a number of earthen
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  jars and some nuts. Monkeys are very fond of these nuts, explained mister
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  Dalton. What I'm going to do is to fill these jars with nuts and
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  set them in the woods at the place where the monkeys have been seen most
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  often. Oh, you're going to feed them nuts, asked Bert. Not
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  quite, was the laughing answer. You see, the monkeys will smell or
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  see the nuts in the jars, they will come down out of the tree
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  to get some, and to do that they will have to thrust their paws
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  down inside the jars. A monkey is very greedy as well as very curious.
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  Once he has his paw inside the jar, he will grasp it full
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  of nuts. Now, the openings of the jars are very small, you
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  see. The openings are just large enough for a monkey to slip his paw
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  in when it is unclasp or open. But once the monkey's paw is filled
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  with nuts and swelled out, he cannot pull it out of the jar,
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  and thus he is caught with the heavy jar on his paw. He can't
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  run far, and he can't climb a tree, and we shall soon catch
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  them. But maybe some of the stronger monkeys could run off with the jar,
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  said missus Bobbsey. I should have told you, added the circus man,
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  that we will tie the jars to the trees with strong ropes. But
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  if a monkey opened his fingers and lets go of the nuts that he's grabbed,
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  his hand would be small enough to pull it out of the jar.
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  Said nan Ah. That's just it, little girl, exclaimed mister Dalton.
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  The monkey is so greedy that he will not let go of the nuts he
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  has once grasped, and in that way we catch them. You will soon
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  see. That evening the jars were baited with the nuts and placed in the
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  grove where the long tail beast were seen most often. Word was then sent
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  around to the different farms for the cherry pickers to keep away from the traps
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  so the circus animals would suspect nothing. Then followed a night of waiting while
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  little was talked of in the Bobbsey home, but the chances of catching the
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  nimble chaps and getting back some of the stolen things. Mister Dalton was invited
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  to remain as a guest at Redgate farm, and before Flossie and Freddy went
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  to bed, he told them many circus stories. Early the next morning,
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  the Bobbsey twins were up and ready to go to the monkey grove, as
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  they called it. Mister Bobbsey and the circus man also win, as did
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  a number of the cherry pickers from the different farms. Even before the grove
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  was reached, a shrill, chattering and shrieking could be heard, and mister
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  Dalton said, we've caught some monkeys, all right. I thought my traps
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  would work. They had, for on arriving at the scene, a curious
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  sight met the eyes of Bert and his sisters and brother. End of Chapter
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  twenty two, read by Martha Heaton, October twenty twenty three.