CHAPTER XXI
THE MONKEYS ESCAPE
WHEN the afternoon performance came to an end, Mr. Paine sent for Jack. He closely questioned the boy about the cut umbrella. Jack could throw no light on when it had been done.
“Whom do you suspect did it?” asked the manager.
“I—I don’t know,” replied Jack.
“Yes, you do. You have some idea. Who’s got a grudge against you?”
“Well, I suppose Ted Chester has, though I never did anything to him.”
“Who else?”
“Well, Mr. Mitz was rather mean to me.”
“Ha! Hum! I begin to understand something. You may tell Mr. Delafield I want him.”
Jack summoned the property man, and the manager closely questioned him as to whether he had seen any one about the airship just before the performance began, for it had been proved that the apparatus was in perfect order that morning.
“I didn’t see any one interfering with it,” replied Mr. Delafield.
“Were you in the property tent all the while?”
“Yes—that is, nearly.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, Mitz called me out to see about making a new tub for the baby elephant to stand on.”
“How long were you gone?”
“About ten minutes.”
“Ha! Hum! That would be time enough. I think I see how this was done. Mitz and Chester put up the game, and a mean one it was. While Mitz got you out, Chester slipped in and cut the umbrella. Say nothing about it, however. I’ll have a talk with them. I’ll put a stop to this business.”
What the result was of the manager’s talk to the mean clown and his crony, the ringmaster, Jack never heard. Evidently there was not proof enough to make certain the guilt of either of the two men, though when they came from the manager’s tent they looked worried and uneasy.
The affair resulted in one thing that benefited Jack, however, for, after that, neither the clown nor Mitz bothered him, though Ted Chester said mean things to his young rival every chance he got.
After that Jack was more than usually careful to look to all the ropes and other strengthening devices on the airship, as well as to the umbrella; for leaping off from such a height as he did it would not take much to cause him to take a terrible tumble.
The circus played a number of one-day stands through the lower part of Ohio, and then swinging around in a big circle, began to work back east. As the larger cities were reached they stayed longer in one place, in some remaining a week, which gave the performers and animals a chance to get a good rest.
Meanwhile, Jack had heard nothing more from the professor, nor about the efforts to cause an arrest for the theft of the gold cup. The young clown kept a wary eye out for the sight of a policeman who might be looking for him, and he was also on his guard against meeting Mr. Klopper.
But he need not have worried. The professor, after his one attempt to locate Jack, gave it up personally, though he tried other means to find the boy, for, as before stated, he had something very important to tell our hero.
The circus reached a town in western Pennsylvania one morning during quite a heavy storm. It had been raining off and on for a week, and the temper of all the employees and performers was tried by the unpleasant weather. A circus is quite a miserable place in the rain, for the usual crowds do not turn out, and everything seems to go wrong.
“I hope it clears up by this afternoon,” said Sam Kyle gloomily, as he left the breakfast tent, which leaked in places, and, with Jack, and some of the other clowns, looked up at the dull sky. “I’m sick of being wet through.”
The show had to go on, rain or shine, however, and the parade usually took place no matter how hard it stormed. This was very unpleasant for the performers, especially the clowns, as the paint would persist in running off their faces, giving them a streaked and bedraggled appearance, which, while it added to their funny aspect, was not just what they wanted.
“It looks as if it might clear,” said Jack hopefully. “The wind seems to be shifting.”
But it was raining when the parade started, and Jack and his fellow clowns were wet and cold riding on top of the open wagon, playing their battered instruments.
Now, whether the rain was the cause for what happened when the procession reached the middle of the town, where quite a crowd had gathered to view it, or whether the little beasts managed to break open the door, was not disclosed. At any rate, just as the parade was turning back to the grounds, the cage containing the monkeys suddenly opened.
Jack was the first to notice it, for the clowns’ wagon was right behind that containing the long-tailed creatures. He saw several of the monkeys leaping out of the opened door, and swinging themselves up on top.
“The monkeys! The monkeys!” he cried. “They’re getting loose!”
“They’re already loose,” observed Sam grimly. “Now there’ll be some fun. They’re the hardest of all animals to catch, once they get out.”
Shouts and laughter from the crowd, which, now that there was more than the usual excitement, did not seem to mind the rain, told the man driving the monkey wagon that something was wrong. But he hardly needed this warning, for, a moment later, one of the mischievous simians snatched off the driver’s hat, and clapped it on its own queer head. Another monkey grabbed it from the first one, and soon the whole troop was on top of the wagon fighting and chattering over the possession of the hat.
The driver wound the reins about his whip, and scrambled up on top of the vehicle in a desperate endeavor to capture some of the nimble animals. But, no sooner did they see him coming than, with one accord, they scrambled down the sides of the wagon, reached the ground, and, rejoicing in their new-found freedom, scattered about the street.
“Come on, boys!” cried Sam. “Those monkeys are valuable. We’ll have to help catch ’em.”
“Let the animal men look after ’em,” said Ted Chester.
“The boss will appreciate it if we help,” remarked the head clown. “Come on, boys.”
Jack and the other clowns dropping their battered instruments, climbed down from the high wagon, which had come to a stop, and began running after the monkeys. But the mischievous beasts had scattered among the crowd now.
Yells of laughter from the men lining the roadway, mingling with the frightened screams of women and children, told that the monkeys were creating plenty of excitement.
“Grab ’em, folks! Grab ’em!” cried Sam to the crowd.
“I’d like to see myself,” objected a fat woman. “One of the ugly beasts tore my best bonnet to pieces. I’m going to sue the circus!”
Just then a shout caused Jack to look where several men were pointing. He saw a monkey perched up on top of a store awning, tearing to pieces something that looked like a bouquet of many-colored flowers.
“My bonnet! Oh, my bonnet!” yelled the fat woman. “There’s the ugly beast, now, tearing my bonnet to pieces, and it cost three dollars!”
Yells from other women in the crowd indicated that they, too, feared the same thing that had happened to the fat lady. Nor were they far wrong. The monkeys seemed to be attracted by the gay headwear of the women in the crowd, and soon there was presented the odd sight of half a dozen of the creatures, perched up on high vantage points, tearing to pieces the flowered and ribboned hats, and scattering the pieces to the ground.
“Help! Help!” suddenly cried a man. “One of ’em’s trying to choke me!”
Jack ran to where he heard the cry. Perched upon a man’s back was a monkey—a small one.
“Take him away! Take him away!” yelled the man. “He’s choking me to death!”
The simian had one arm around the man’s neck, but it was not trying to choke him. Instead, the odd little creature was trying to reach a bright-red balloon, one of the small kind sold when the circus comes to town. The man had bought it for his little girl.
“Give him the balloon!” cried the crowd, delighted at the antics of the monkeys.
“No, no, daddy! It’s mine! Get the monkey for me, too,” cried the little girl.
“Stand still a minute!” called Jack. “I’ll catch the monkey.”
He hurried up to the man, and grabbed the hairy little brute. The monkey tried to get away, but Jack held it tight, and soon had carried it back to the cage, having caught the first one of the runaways.
“That’s the way to do it,” said the man in charge of the monkey wagon. “The old man will have a fit if we lose any.”
Jack ran back to try and capture some more. It was an odd sight to see the queerly-dressed clowns, with the paint on their faces running into all sorts of streaks, darting through the crowd after the monkeys. The excitement among the women continued, and several bonnets had been ruined.
Some of the men in the throng now turned in to help, and five or six of the long-tailed beasts were caught. Jack captured another, and some of the other clowns managed to grab the nimble creatures as they scampered about.
In about ten minutes half of the number in the cage had been caught. The others—the large ones—had climbed to high points of the buildings along the street, where they chattered away, as if defying the men to get them.
“I’ll bring ’em back,” said the man who had charge of them. He went into a store, and purchased some apples, peanuts and candy. These things he gave to the recaptured monkeys in the cage, and the cries they set up as they fought over the possession of the dainties, attracted the others, who, anxious not to miss the feast, came trooping along, only too glad to submit to being captured, if only they could get something to eat.
“Whew! That was a strenuous time,” panted Jack, as he took his place again on the wagon with his fellow clowns. “That was as good as part of the circus.”
“Yes, the crowd got its money’s worth,” replied Sam. “I suppose the old man will have to pay damages for those hats, however.”