ly of all that
the boys had had for their meal, as well as a brimming cup of coffee
with all the "fixings."

"Yes, and I wouldn't advise you to trust too much to Link, for while
he's full of fun, at the same time there's rank treachery in his
make-up; so that he may turn like a flash on the hand that pets him, and
use his little sharp teeth. But there's one safe way to capture him, and
which we meant to employ in case we could learn where he was holding
out."

"Would you mind explaining it to us, Mr. Jenks?" asked Max.

"Certainly not, son, and I mean to leave some of the material with you
to use, if you get the chance. Like as not Link will keep on hanging out
near your camp; and if I could remain up here longer I'd just stay here,
and take my chances. You see the little bag Kline carries? Well, that
contains nuts, and dried bread. I've got a bottle of strong liquor
along, and we expected to follow the tactics of nearly all wild animal
catchers who go out after monkeys."

"I think I know what you mean, sir," said Max; "but perhaps you'll
explain a little further?"

"They know the confiding nature of the climbers," continued the circus
proprietor, promptly, "and when they reach a place in the woods where
they know they are apt to strike a colony of monkeys, they take a number
of gourd calabashes and place a certain amount of nuts and bread, soaked
in the whiskey, in each, then hide near by to watch results.

"Pretty soon the troop of monkeys come along, and scenting something
good to eat, proceed to fill up on the dosed stuff. It seems pretty hard
to take advantage of a weakness that they appear to have in common with
the other branch of the two-legged family, don't it? But every time they
get so stupid that they stagger all around, and seem to lose all fear of
mankind. Then one of the watchers will step out, take hold of a monkey's
hand, and lead a whole string of them away, each trying to support the
others. And so they walk into cages, and upon recovering from their
spree find themselves shut up for life."

"If men only had to pay as dear for their first offense, there'd be a
heap less of drinking done, you hear me," remarked the farmer, who had
evidently heard the description before, and yet still marveled at its
ingenuity, as well as thought it pretty hard on the poor monkeys.

"You can leave the stuff with us, Mr. Jenks," said Max, and now the
other realized he was dealing with the real leader of the camp