“Squinty, eh?” remarked Mappo.  “That’s a queer name.”

“They call me that because one of my eyes squints,” said the little pig.  “See!” and he looked up at Mappo in such a funny way, with one eye half shut, and the other wide open, and with one ear cocked forward and the other backward, that Mappo had to laugh.

“My name is Mappo, and I’m from the circus.  I’ve run away, and I’m hungry,” the monkey said.

“Ha!  I’m running away myself,” said Squinty, “and I was hungry too, but I found some acorns to eat.”

“What are acorns, and where did you run from?” asked Mappo.

“Acorns are nuts, good for pigs to eat,” Squinty answered, “and I ran away from my pen.”

“I wish I had something to eat,” said Mappo.  “I am very hungry.”

“Come with me, and I’ll see if I can’t find you something to eat,” Squinty said.  “Then you can tell me all about the circus, and I’ll tell you all about my pen.”

“All right,” agreed Mappo, and the two little animal friends went off together into the woods.

“Are there any cocoanuts here?” asked Mappo, when they had gone on for some distance.

“I don’t know,” answered Squinty.  “What are cocoanuts?”

Mappo told the little pig how cocoanuts and bananas grew in the jungle, and the little pig told about how he liked sour milk and things like that.  And, after a while, they managed to find some berries for Mappo to eat, as he did not like the acorn nuts.

The two friends went on in the woods for some distance, and they were having a good time, telling each other about their adventures, when, all of a sudden, as Mappo was swinging along by his tail on a tree branch, he stopped short and cried: 

“Ha!  They’re after me.  I guess I’d better run.”

“Who is after you?” asked Squinty.

“The circus men.  They must have found out I ran away.”

Mappo and Squinty looked through the bushes, and they saw a number of men in red coats and blue trousers coming through the woods.  Squinty also saw something else.

“Oh, look!” cried the little pig.  “What is that funny animal with two tails?  I’m afraid of him, he’s so big!”

Mappo looked and laughed.

“He hasn’t two tails,” he said.  “One is his tail and the other is his trunk.  That is Tum Tum, the circus elephant.  And you needn’t be afraid of him, for he is the jolliest elephant in the whole show.

“But I’m not going to be caught,” went on Mappo.  “I want to run away farther, and have more adventures.  So I guess I’ll go before Tum Tum and the men see me.  Good-by, Squinty.  I’m glad I met you.”

“And I’m glad that I met you,” said the comical little pig.  Then he ran one way through the woods, for he did not want to be caught, either, and Mappo ran the other way.

On and on through the woods roamed the merry little monkey, and many things happened to him.  He met Slicko, the jumping girl squirrel, and in the book about Slicko you may read all about her wonderful adventures.