one of the little Rabbits, "where's his stick?"

And then everybody laughed.

CHAPTER VII

OUT IN THE RAIN

"Please excuse little Johnnie Hare," said Mrs. Hare to the Monkey. "He
didn't mean to be impolite, asking for your stick."

"Oh, I know," said the Monkey. "He's just like all children--they just
ask what they want to know about. And I suppose it does seem funny to be
a Monkey on a Stick and then not have your stick with you. But I can
tell you where my stick is, Johnnie," said the Monkey to the little
Rabbit chap, and then he related his adventure on Carlo's back.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" said all the other little Rabbits, opening wide their
eyes when they heard this story. "Tell us another, please!"

"We are just going to have dinner," said Mrs. Hare. "Won't you sit down,
Mr. Monkey on a Stick, and take something? We have some nice carrots and
turnips."

"Thank you, I'll take a little," said the Monkey.

A little chair, made from a piece of wood gnawed out by Mr. Jack Hare,
was brought up for the Monkey to sit on, and then the Rabbit family and
the visitor gathered around the table and began eating. I can not say
that the little Rabbit children ate much, for they turned around so
often to look at Mr. Monkey, that, half the time, they missed putting
things in their mouths and dropped them on the table.

But no one minded this, and every one laughed, so there was a most jolly
good time. The lightning bugs kept on glowing, so it was not at all dark
in the cave, though it would have been only for these fireflies. Mr. and
Mrs. Hare had many questions to ask Mr. Monkey on a Stick about his
adventures, and he told them of the Calico Clown, the Sawdust Doll and
others from the toy store, including the Candy Rabbit.

"Just fancy!" exclaimed Mrs. Hare. "A Rabbit made of candy! I'm glad
you're not that kind, Jack."

"So am I," said her husband. "I'd be afraid, every time I jumped, that
I'd break a leg or an ear, if I were made of candy."

"Now I must show you our cave house," said Mrs. Hare, when the meal was
finished. "We think it is very nice."

"I'm sure it is," returned the Monkey.

So he was taken about, and he looked at the different burrows, or rooms,
in the cave house of Mr. Jack Hare. There were rooms for the children
Rabbits and rooms for Mr. and Mrs. Hare. In each room were lightning
bugs to give light, though as Mr. Hare said, they were needed only when
company came that could not see well in th