Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-03-30
THE SPENDTHRIFT MONKEY.
Having Got the Douhloons He Fro-
cectled to Squander Them.

ceetled to Squander Them.
There is a spice of the devil in a
monkey"
The old sailor took a large plug of very
black tobacco from his breecfes pocket
and offered 1t to The Star reporter. The
courtesy being declined. he cut off chunk
of it with his jack-knife and slowed the
chew away in his cheek.
Il was mate on board of the baraue
Annie, trading between New York and
Pernambuco." he said. at was in 1856 or
1851 disremember which. All hands were
in first-rate spirits. for We had just made
profitable voyage, and the crew was to
get share IN the profits. But off the
coast of the Brazils-we had got almost
into port-something occurred that seemed
likely to reduce the gains of the trip.
THE captain had pet monkey, of
1t at Bahia, and the animal certainly did
possess remarkable Intelligence. 1t had
the freedom of the ship, and l CHANGED 10
be the victim of two or three Of its pranks
which caused me good deal of bother. but
only made the captain laugh. One day,
however. the captain went to his cabin to
get a glass of greg. ard-so he told me
afterward-he was just lifting his glass to
lis lips when what should he see but
Jocko skipping out through the door with
something in his hand. 1t didn't take him
a second to discover that the monkey was
walking away with a bag of 500 doubleons.
The skipper always was an absent-minded
man. and he had left the key in the lock
Of the strong box in which he kept his
gold.
"He jumped for Jocko but the monkey
was too quick for him and skipped up the
companion ladder and was on deck long
before the captain could get there. The
beast, with mischief in his eye. lost no
time in climbing up the mainmast. and
presently was perched comfortably on the
main truck. To follow him was hopeless.
and the captain just stood and looked at
him, waiting to see what would happen.
Now. all of this time I was down below.
but 1 got that part of the story from the
second mate, who witnessed the perform
ance.
There was Jocko sitting way up aloft.
with the bag of doubloons in his fist. while
the skipper walked up and down and swore
Ike a pirate. He ordered one of the men
aloft, but countermanded it right away,
thinking that 1t would be more prudent to
coax the beast. He called him pet names
and promised him all sorts of things he
was fond of. If only he would come down.
But Jocko paid no attention. He had got
the fastening of the bag undone by this
time. and out of it he took one of the gold
pieces. After looking at it for a moment
he SHE'D it overheard. The captain groan-
ed. There was SIT gone.
We'll, Jocko didn't seem to be in any
hurry. He took another gold piece out of
as If to discover the date on it, he threw
1t into the sea. The captain was frantic.
The monkey took another and another of
the doubloons and threw them overheard.
1t was evident that when he had emptied
the sack he might come down, but not be-
fore.
ut was just at that moment that I came
on deck. 1t took me a few seconds to
realize what was going on. My first i'm
preston was that the captain was on the
point Of having fit He pointed to Jocko,
and I saw the beast throw something that
had a yellow CLEAN as it fell into the sea.
Suddenly realizing the situation, 1 said:
I'll fix that for you, captainv Then, pick
ing UP marlinspike. aimed carefully and
shot 1t a1oft at Jocko.
II did not care whether hit him or not.
My best hope was to brighten bim This
accomplished. for the marlinspike flew
close by him and caused him to dodge. AS
he did so. he dropped the bag of doubloons,
which fell upon the deck, bursting open, so
that the gold pieces rolled in all directions.
The captain and the rest of us ran to pick
them up, and believe that only about a
dozen were missing. They had gone to
Davy Jones. The captain locked Jocko
up. and when we got to Pernambuco sold
him, believe"