Griggs courier., 1894-09-07

the alligators."
You forget" 1aughingly rejoined,
that Tim is to have one before night.
But come along, we'll take vengeance
on the saurians"
Twisting and turning. sometimes
even creeping. through the maze Of
clingin= thorns and ground shrubs,
above which lowered the vine-en-
shrouded tops of giant trees, we at
last approached the pond, whose wa
ters, now toward the end of the dry
season. had SO far receded as to leave
surrounding margin of sun-baked
mad and sand.
While we were yet eighty yards dis
tant and unable to see any part of the
bayou. we heard, from its nearer edge,
a confused chattering, presently SWELL
ing to a mighty volume of unintelligi.
BILE sound, as if the builders of ancient
Babel had come to life again and here
assembled to try in unison their en-
barrassing gift of divers tongues.
Greatly wondering, we pushed eau
tiously on until the narrow strip of
beach became visible.
Then, ourselves unseen, we beheld a
most comical and unique sight.
Heaped up on the naked sand, close to
the dense and still green top Of a
fallen tree. there lay an oblong pile Of
fern fronds. from the summit of which,
!ncessantly jerked to and fro by a
barely protruding. gloved human hand,
there waved, in eccentric motion, q
SyNvy ct~ - - ~
All around, tumbling over one an
other and dancing, gesticulating and
jabbering away for dear life. were
countless monkeys-big monkeys. in
such variety as can be seen in no other
part OF the world; and--oh, joy!-
among the crowd we espied q pair of
the longed-for simia jacchas!
This is our Irishman's 'iligant
plan,' and not bad one, either"
whispered Graham. "He relies upon
the Unsuitable curiosity of the
creatures, and really may succeed in
grabbing the right one. Let us lie
still and see the fun. We're sure of
our specimen now, in any event; but
I'd like to see the fellow take it
alive
Holding our rifles ready for instant
use we sank softly down behind a
serried mass of cacti and watched the
free show with delighted interest
In twos and threes and half-dozeus,
the inquisitive monkeys would re-
peatedly approach the futtering rag;
then, detecting. or guessing at. the
motive power, each group would
skurry away with loud outcries for
few yards, but only to come on
again and again. as if determined to
solve the mystery and bear away the
gaudy prize.
Tim-for the fern-hidden form could
be none but his-displayed great pa
thence; his russet-gloved hand kept up
its tireless motion, and the tantalizing
lure wriggled in ceaselcss gyrations.
BY and by. seeing that no harm came
to them. the monkeys grew bolder.
One covetous little fellow even made a
dash at the rag, but it was deity
whisked aside, and he retreated with q
ludicrously crestfallen expression on
his wrinkled face.
Then, one after another. fully fifty
of the four-handed folk tried the same
! game, each fresh failure being greeted
by plainly derisive yells from scores of
other monkeys perched on neigbboring
trees, all. fortunately, too much inter-
ested in the game below to spy us out
The whole performance was so ire
sistibly droll that we almost suffo-
Gated in the effort of restraining our
laughter. No pair of impecunious ur-
chins. gaining surreptitious entrance
to a circus tent, could have enjoyed
themselves more thoroughly than did
we.
But at last Harry leaned over and
whispered in my ear:
II do believe Tins going to earn
his money, after all. See there
1t looked that way, certainly; for
now we saw the male jacchus steal
ing, on all fours, toward the tiny ban
ner, and. when within three feet of it,
he squatted down for better observa-
tion of the puzzling thing. Its custc-
dian evidently had a convenient peep
hole, for at this juncture the red frag-
ment remained quite motionless.
Such temptation was too much for
the enterprising simian. Through his
wise little head there doubtless floated
visions of great glory to be attained
by eclipsing his fellows. Victory
seemed assured; and making sudden
spring, he seized the bit of taunting
scarlet with teeth and hands.
But his triumph was short-lived in
deed. Even as his jaws closed on the
prize, those gloved fingers encircled
his own neck, and, blended with his
affrighted cry, there came gleeful
chIckle from Tim Doonan. as he threw
off his leafy covering and gained Sit
ting posture.
At this astounding sight the whole
troop of monkeys scattered in
twinkling, and we were in the act of
rising from our unsupported hiding
place, when there occurred an incident
SO sudden an appalling that for mo-
ment we were stricken motionless by
sheer horror. For possibly five Sec