"My baby! Oh, my baby is left behind in the room, and the stairs are all on fire. How can I get him?"
"What, is there a baby in the house?" cried Mappo's trainer.
"Yes. In that room where the window is," she said. "Oh, but we can't get him."
"Yes, I think we can!" said the circus man. "Mappo, my monkey is very strong, and he is a good climber. There is a rain-water pipe going up the side of the house, close to the window. I'll send my monkey up the pipe, and he can go in through the window, get the baby, and bring it down to you."
"Oh, a monkey could never do that!" sobbed the woman.
"Yes, my monkey can," the man replied. "Here, Mappo!" he called. "Up you go!" and he pointed to the rain-water pipe on the side of the house. "Go in the window and get the baby--get the little one and bring her safely down."
"Yes, yes!" chattered Mappo, only he spoke in his language and the man talked as we talk. But Mappo understood. Many times he had been sent up rain-water pipes by the hand-organ man. Of course this was a bit different, for this house was on fire. But there were not many flames on the side where the pipe was.
Mappo sprang for the pipe, and began to climb up it. He did not know exactly what he was going after, but he knew it must be something important, or his master would not be so excited.
"Get the baby! Get the baby!" cried the circus man, for the firemen had not yet come up with their ladders. Of course they could have saved the baby, if they had been in time. But it would soon be too late.
Up and up the rain-water pipe went the nimble Mappo. In a few seconds he was on the window sill of the room. He stood there, looking down at his master.
"Go on in! Get the baby and bring her down!" called the circus man, waving his arms at Mappo.
Down into the room jumped Mappo. He knew at once it was a bedroom, for he had been in such rooms in the home of the boy who found him in the woods. And, in a little bed, close to the window, was something that Mappo at first thought was a large doll, such as the sisters of the boy used to play with.
"I wonder if this is the baby," said Mappo. "I guess it is. I'll carry it down."
The baby was asleep. Mappo took her up in one of his strong hairy arms, and, very luckily he picked her right-side up. Some monkeys would carry a baby upside down, and think nothing of it. But Mappo was different.
With the baby held closely, the monkey jumped to the window sill again, and how his master and the others yelled when they saw him!
"He has her! Oh, he has your baby!" cried the circus man.
Down the rain-pipe came Mappo carrying the little baby, which was just beginning to wake up and cry. Mappo gave the little one to his master, who put the baby in its anxious mother's arms.
"There's your child," he said.
"Oh, what a smart monkey, to save her!" sobbed the woman, but her tears were tears of joy. Then the firemen put out the fire in the house, and no one was hurt. Mappo choked a little from the smoke, but he did not mind that.
"You surely are a smart monkey!" said the circus man, as he took him back to the tent to do his tricks. The show went on after a while, and Mappo was more looked at than any animal, for every one heard how he had saved the baby.
And, after the show was over that night, the father of the baby went to the circus man and said:
"I want to buy the monkey that saved my little girl. Please sell him to me. We will give him a good home, and we will always love him, for what he did for us."
"Well, I don't like to lose such a good trick monkey," said Mappo's master, "but I will let you have him. Be kind to him, for he is a good little chap."
"Oh, we'll be very kind to him," the baby's papa promised. "We have a dog named Don, and a cat named Tabby. I am sure Mappo will like them.
We will be very good to him."
And so Mappo, after having lived in the jungle, and afterward joining a circus, went to live at the home of the baby, after it was built over, for it was badly damaged by the fire. And Mappo made friends with Don and Tabby and had a lovely time.
But there are other animals of whose lives I can tell you, and the next book in this series is going to be called "Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant: His Many Adventures."
"Weren't you afraid when you climbed up that rain-water pipe to get the baby?" asked Don the dog of Mappo, one day.
"I wasn't afraid of climbing, but I was a little afraid of the fire,"
said the monkey.
"I wish I were as brave as you," said Tabby, the cat. "Come on, let's have a game of tag."
And the three animal friends played a game very much like our tag; and now we will say good-by to them.
THE END
GOOD STORIES FOR CHILDREN
(From four to nine years old)
THE KNEETIME ANIMAL STORIES
By RICHARD BARNUM
[Illustration]
In all nursery literature animals have played a conspicuous part; and the reason is obvious, for nothing entertains a child more than the antics of an animal. These stories abound in amusing incidents such as children adore, and the characters are so full of life, so appealing to a child's imagination, that none will be satisfied until they have met all of their favorites--Squinty, Slicko, Mappo, and the rest.
1 Squinty, the Comical Pig.
2 Slicko, the Jumping Squirrel.
3 Mappo, the Merry Monkey.
4 Tum Tum, the Jolly Elephant.
5 Don, a Runaway Dog.
6 Dido, the Dancing Bear.
7 Blackie, a Lost Cat.
8 Flop Ear, the Funny Rabbit.
9 Tinkle, the Trick Pony.
10 Lightfoot, the Leaping Goat.
11 Chunky, the Happy Hippo.
12 Sharp Eyes, the Silver Fox.
13 Nero, the Circus Lion.
14 Tamba, the Tame Tiger.
15 Toto, the Rustling Beaver.
16 Shaggo, the Mighty Buffalo.