, 1886-08-25
CATCHING A MONKEY.
4 sABooN ESCAPES FROM A CIRCUS
in THE MOUNTAINS
Trying to Capture the Runaway-An Old
Arab Expert Undertakes the Job-His
Novel and sucaea~fui Methods OF Oper-

During a recent railway accident in .
pass OF the Sierra MorsuAs valuable mon
key escaped from the cars of BreptAno's
circus. and In spite Of. Immediate pursuit
managed to vanish In the cliffs Of the
bahoon, valued At 800 pesos, and, a the
wreck OF the engine involved : delay Of
several hour, half = hundred persons, led
by the circus men-And the employees Of the
Spanish railroad. Joined IN the search, but
only made matters worse, for the irst
attempt to capture the fugitive resulted
In . ~break-neck chase. In which the ma
tive Of the Abyssinian highlands easily dis
tanced the swiftest pursuers- They hsd
caught q sight of him In a pile Of loose
powders, searching for insecta with the
gravity Of a professional naturalitt. and
managed to approach him within dfte en-
steps when he thought 1t was time to beat
a retreat. but At 30 ieisurely a gait that .
young mountaineer conceived Che fatuous
idea Of trying to run him down.
Z Seeing that his pursusr was In earnest,
the fourhAnder, too, mended his pscs-so
much SO, indeed. that his would-bs cap
tors found 1t impossible to keep even In
sight OF Hun, and returned after having
stampeded him nearly a mile down this
steep mountain side. The Brentano folks
had already given him up for lost, when
an old Arab, the trainer OF the camel
team, demanded an interview with the
managers, and induced them to intrust
him with one Of the baby monkeys of the
circus imenagerie. After chucking the
youngster into q sack and nlling his pockr
cts with dried fruit, he started down-hin
without explaining his plan Of procedure
but with the promise that he would DO
back an hour after dark. Messengers had
been dispatched to the mex telegraph
station, and the travellers were grouped
around camp-fires and cabooss stoves
when q series OF cheers at one Of the out
door bivouacs announced . welcome arrt
val with such emphasis hat some Of the
passengers made . rush for their sachela
HIS MoDU oPERANDL 9sal
1t wal the Arab. leading the old bah
Don, who in his turn had charged himself
with the care Of the younRstsr. every now
and then snatchins HIM up in his arms or
helping him over the obstacles of the path.
The three night-walker at once became
the center OF the bivouAc circle, and the
biped proceeded to explain his modus op.
erandi- With his leather strap he had
tied the youngstor to q thorn bush OF
the lower mountain slope, near a point
where the footprints OF the young noun
tatneer indicated the terminus Of the re-
cent steeple- chase. Then, bidding him
goodbye, he commenced the ascent OF the
chf Is II he inteded 10 leave him to his
fate. Az he expected, the young monkey,
after a desperate attempt to tear his fet-
tiers and follow him, began to screech out
his signal OF distress. He was a native Of
eastern Hindostan, but monkeys use q
cosmopolitan language, and In less than
fifteen minutes the defiant relative OF the
chained bxboon babe in the woods peeped
around the chff, and, seeing the coast
Gear, at once made up to the screeching
brat and Rugged him as II he was trying
to silence him by : process OF suffocstion.
All that while the Arab was hiding be-
hind n tree, biding his time till twilight
had pretty well advanced, when he
quickly approached the thorn bush and,
without the least opposition on the part
OF the senior fourhander, removed the
strap from the neck OF the youngster and
transferred it to that OF his companion,
who seemed not only ready, but lAnxieus,
to return to the shelter of his boarding
house on wheelsL Monkeys, explained
the Arab, are the most Hregarious Great
ures on earth, and the prospect of having
to pass the night in . solitary bush-camp
had reconciled the runaway to the re-
straints OF social life in q circus cage
DIR. Felix L. Oswald.