e dog's
back.

"It looks just as if the Monkey was holding on, doesn't it?" asked Dick
of his chum.

"Yes, it does," admitted Herbert. "Wouldn't it be funny if my Monkey was
_really_ alive, as your dog is, and could ride him whenever he wanted
to?"

"It would be funny," said Dick. "Very funny!"

Pretty soon the boys came to a little brook that ran through the meadow.
They stopped on the edge, and looked down into the water in which tiny
fishes were swimming.

"Shall we jump across the brook and run in the field on the other side?"
asked Dick of Herbert.

"If we do, won't Carlo jump over, too?" asked Herbert. "And if he tries
to jump over, he may fall in and get all wet, and so will my Monkey."

"Carlo won't mind getting wet!" laughed Dick. "But it might not be good
for your Monkey. Perhaps we'd better stay on this side of the brook, and
then everything will be all right."

"I think so, too!" agreed Herbert.

So the two boys did not try to jump over the stream, but waited on the
edge of it for Carlo to catch up to them. Along came the fussy little
dog, barking and yelping, for he did not like to be left very far
behind. And on his back, still bobbing about, was the Monkey on a Stick.
No, I am wrong. The Monkey was not on his Stick just then. Herbert had
taken him off to give him a ride. It was easy to take the Monkey off his
Stick and put him back on.

Up ran Carlo; and as soon as he saw the brook full of water what did
that little dog do but start to run right into it!

"Oh, look out! Stop him!" cried Herbert. "He'll get my Monkey all wet
and spoil him!"

"Come back, Carlo! Come back!" ordered Dick, making a jump toward his
pet.

But Carlo had no idea of going too deep into the brook. He just wanted
to get a drink. So he waded in only a little way, stopping just before
the dangling feet of the Monkey would have got wet.

"Oh, I guess he isn't going to roll in the water," said Dick. "Sometimes
he does that--just rolls right over in it like a fish."

"If he did that now, with my Monkey on his back, he'd spoil him," said
Herbert. "I'm glad he didn't."

Carlo lapped the cool water up with his red tongue, and then he waded
out of the brook and toward the boys. He seemed to be asking them:

"What shall we do next? That was fun--giving the Monkey a ride. But what
shall we do next?"

"I know what we can do," said Dick to Herbert, after they had sailed
some little make-believe ships in the brook, while C