thie, one to Ruby, and one to Roberta.

[Illustration]

"Why, they're miraculous!" said the six little monkeys. "It's easy to
see the fleas now, only there are hundreds of them!" And they went on
hunting frantically.

A moment later many more monkeys appeared out of a near-by clump of
mangroves and began crowding around to get a look at the fleas through
the magnifying glasses. They completely surrounded the gorilla, and he
could not see my father nor did he remember to twist his arms.

[Illustration]

_Chapter Nine_

MY FATHER MAKES A BRIDGE

My father walked back and forth along the bank trying to think of some
way to cross the river. He found a high flagpole with a rope going
over to the other side. The rope went through a loop at the top of the
pole and then down the pole and around a large crank. A sign on the
crank said:

TO SUMMON DRAGON, YANK THE CRANK
REPORT DISORDERLY CONDUCT
TO GORILLA

From what the cat had told my father, he knew that the other end of
the rope was tied around the dragon's neck, and he felt sorrier than
ever for the poor dragon. If he were on this side, the gorilla would
twist his wings until it hurt so much that he'd have to fly to the
other side. If he were on the other side, the gorilla would crank the
rope until the dragon would either choke to death or fly back to this
side. What a life for a baby dragon!

My father knew that if he called to the dragon to come across the
river, the gorilla would surely hear him, so he thought about climbing
the pole and going across on the rope. The pole was very high, and
even if he could get to the top without being seen he'd have to go all
the way across hand over hand. The river was very muddy, and all sorts
of unfriendly things might live in it, but my father could think of no
other way to get across. He was about to start up the pole when,
despite all the noise the monkeys were making, he heard a loud splash
behind him. He looked all around in the water but it was dusk now, and
he couldn't see anything there.

"It's me, Crocodile," said a voice to the left. "The water's lovely,
and I have such a craving for something sweet. Won't you come in for a
swim?"

[Illustration]

A pale moon came out from behind the clouds and my father could see
where the voice was coming from. The crocodile's head was just peeping
out of the water.

"Oh, no thank you," said my father. "I never swim after sundown, but I
do have something swee