arlo lay in the
grass on the bank. "We can take your Monkey and my dog down the street.
People will see him and laugh. Shall we do that?"

"Oh, yes. Let's do it!" exclaimed Herbert.

Once more the boys started to run across the meadow, and Carlo, seeing
them go, and not wanting to be left behind, started after them with a
"bow-wow." The Monkey was still on his back.

The two boys were almost across the meadow, and were thinking what fun
it would be to see the dog going down the street, giving the Monkey a
ride, when, all of a sudden, Carlo saw a cat.

Now you know what dogs do when they see cats. They chase them, just for
fun, you understand. And this is what Carlo did--he raced after this cat
as fast as he could go.

"Carlo!" chattered the Monkey.

Now, somehow or other, the strings by which the boys had fastened the
Monkey on the back of the dog had become loosened. One knot after
another came undone, and the Monkey felt himself slipping.

"Oh, wait a minute! Wait a minute, Carlo!" cried the Monkey, for he
could talk now, being out of hearing of the boys. "Wait! Wait!" cried
the Monkey. "I am falling off!"

"I can't wait!" barked Carlo. "I must get that cat!"

On he ran, faster than before. Dick and Herbert saw him, and Dick cried:

"Oh, look at my dog chasing a cat. Let's see if he gets her."

So they ran after the dog.

Faster and faster went Carlo, and the strings that held the Monkey on
became looser and looser until, at last, they slipped off altogether,
and down fell the Monkey into the grass.

The grass was tall and thick, and at the moment when the Monkey fell
Dick and Herbert were down in a sort of little valley, and they did not
see what had happened. So the Monkey fell off the dog's back before they
noticed it.

As for Carlo, all he was thinking of was getting the cat. And the boys
went after him.

On all sides of the Monkey was green grass, nice and soft. A little
farther off were some trees. The Monkey could see them as he looked over
the top of the grass.

"I wish I could climb one of those trees," said the toy Monkey half
aloud. "I've been climbing up and down a stick so long that I am rather
tired of it. I think I ought to climb trees."

The Monkey was beginning to feel strange. It was the first time he had
ever been by himself, alone in a green field, with the warm sun shining
on him.

"I feel just like doing something!" said the Monkey, speaking out loud
this time, though he c