one day, when jacko and jumpo kinkytail, the red and green monkey boys, were coming home from school, jacko said to jumpo:

"i have five cents, that i have been saving up for a long while. now i'm going to buy a bag of hot roast peanuts, and i'll give you some."

"oh, fine!" cried jumpo. "but where can you buy any peanuts in these woods?" for you see at that time the monkey boys were going home through a place where the trees grew thick and tall, almost up to the sky, it seemed.

"oh, perhaps we will meet some one with a hot peanut wagon, or we may come to a store where they sell them," said the red monkey. "you look on that side of the path, jumpo, and i'll look on this side."

so they did this, looking as hard as they could look, for they were quite hungry for peanuts, but all they could see were the brown leaves being blown about in the wind.

"i guess there are no peanuts here," said jacko at length. "we will have to wait until we get home."

"no!" exclaimed jumpo, as he tied his tail in three hard knots and untied it as quickly as you can watch the baby shake his rattlebox. "i'll tell you what we'll do," said jumpo. "you let me take the five cents, and i'll go look for a peanut wagon in the woods. then you stay here and watch for one to come along. if one does come you kindly ask the man to wait here until i get back with the money, for, of course, i may not find anybody with peanuts."

"but how can i tell you to come back with the money, when you are away off in the woods?" jacko wanted to know.

"why, you take two stones, and hit them together as hard as you can," explained the green monkey, "and it will sound like a drum. then i'll come back running, but if i should happen to find a peanut wagon before you do, i'll come back anyhow."

well, jacko thought that was a good plan, so he gave his brother the five-cent piece, and then he sat down on a stone under a tree to wait while jumpo went off in the woods. then jacko began[pg 155] to study his spelling lesson. and he learned to spell cat, and rat, and dog, and boy, and words like that.

but now we needn't think of jacko for a little time, as i am going to tell you what happened to jumpo. on and on the green monkey boy went through the woods, looking for a hot peanut wagon. of course, i don't mean that the wagon would be hot, no, indeed. i mean the peanuts would be nice and warm after being roasted.

"well, i guess i'm not going to find the peanut man," thought jumpo, as he looked all over, and in several other places. then he listened to see if he could hear the whistle of the hot peanut wagon, but he couldn't, and he was just getting ready to turn around and go back where his brother was, for it was getting late, and would soon be dark.

then, all of a sudden, jumpo heard a queer sound. it was like some one talking, and the words were these:

"oh, dear! oh, dear! i'll never get a drink, i'm afraid. and i'm so thirsty, and i can't walk home. oh, dear! oh, dear! what shall i do?"

"ha! i wonder who that can be?" thought the green monkey boy. "perhaps it is the peanut[pg 156] man, and he has eaten so many of his peanuts that he needs a drink. i guess i had better help him."

so jumpo started through the woods toward where he heard the voice talking. then, all at once he thought of something.

"that may be a bear, or a burglar fox talking that way just to catch me," he whispered to himself. "i had better go slowly. i'll just peek through the bushes, before i go any closer, and see who it is."

then jumpo looked through the bushes. and whom do you s'pose he saw, sitting on a stump near a little spring of water? well, i don't believe you'd ever guess, so i'm going to tell you. it was uncle wiggily longears, the old gentleman rabbit, and uncle wiggily was looking at the spring of water and saying: "oh, dear!" so many times that jumpo couldn't count them.

"ha! there is no danger for me now!" exclaimed the green monkey boy. "i must go and help him. why, what is the matter, uncle wiggily?" asked jumpo as he walked toward him.

"oh, it is you; is it, jumpo?" spoke the rabbit. "well, i am very glad to see you. but, oh dear! how thirsty i am. i ate some salted muskmelon with pepper cabbage sauce on it for dinner, and i am so thirsty that i don't know what to do."

"but why don't you drink, when you are so close to a spring of water?" asked jumpo.

"ah, why indeed?" said uncle wiggily. "well, the truth of the matter is that i have no drinking cup; so how can i get a drink?"

"that is easy," said jumpo. "do as we boys do. lie down flat on your face, and sip up the water. here, i'll show you," and jumpo stretched out on the ground, and took a long drink from the spring.

"very fine—for you," said uncle wiggily. "i tried that way, but every time i began to sip up the water it squirted up my nose, and that tickles me, and i have to sneeze, and when i sneeze i can't drink. no one could. you just try it. sneeze, please."

so jumpo did, and surely enough he couldn't drink and sneeze at the same time.

"did you try to dip up some in the top of your hat?" asked jumpo.

"yes," said uncle wiggily, "but my hat is a tall silk one, with holes in to let out the hot air, and the water all runs out before i can drink it."

"i'll try my cap," said the monkey boy, and he did but all the water ran out of that as soon as it was dipped up.

"oh, what shall i do?" said uncle wiggily. "i am afraid i shall die of thirst, for my rheumatism hurts so that i can't walk very fast and it will take me a week to get home."

then jumpo thought real hard, and he suddenly exclaimed:

"oh, i know the very thing! i will make you a paper cup."

"a paper cup!" spoke the rabbit. "one cannot drink out of a paper cup."

"i will prove it to you," said jumpo. "our teacher showed us how to make paper cups that would last long enough to get a good drink from."

then the monkey boy took a piece of paper from his pad that was strapped in with his schoolbooks and he folded it and creased it and folded it again, doubling it over until he had a cute little paper cup. then he opened it out and dipped it into the water and held it up for uncle wiggily to drink.

"well, i do declare!" exclaimed the rabbit, as he drank the water. "that's fine." then he drank some more until he had enough, and by leaning on jumpo's shoulder he managed to walk along toward home.

then, all of a sudden, a big black bear jumped out of the woods crying:

"i'm going to eat you both!" but what did jumpo do? why, he scooped up a paper cupful of water and threw it in the bear's eyes and made him sneeze, and the bear was so scared that he cried out, "wow! wow! wow!" three times and ran away.

then uncle wiggily and jumpo went to where jacko was waiting for them, and a hot peanut wagon came along and the old gentleman rabbit bought each of the monkey boys a bag full, and they went home, helping uncle wiggily all the way.

now, that's all to-night, if you please; but the next story i'll tell you will be about the kinkytails blowing bubbles—that is, if the soapdish doesn't jump up and bite the bathroom towel and make it cry.