At first Mappo had lots of fun, after running away from the circus.  It was warm, and he managed to make himself a little house of leaves, in the woods where he slept nights, or when it rained.  But, for all that, he did not have as good things to eat as he had had when he was in his cage.  He missed doing his tricks, too, and he missed seeing the boys and girls and their parents, in the big tent.

One day, as Mappo was asleep in the woods, he was suddenly awakened by feeling himself caught by two hands, and a voice cried: 

“Oh, I’ve caught a monkey.  I’m going to take him home and keep him.  Oh, a real, live monkey!”

Mappo opened his eyes, and he saw that a boy was holding him, and holding him so tightly that the little monkey could not get away.

“Well, I’m caught!” thought Mappo, but he was not very sorry.

CHAPTER XI

MAPPO AND THE ORGAN-MAN

Some monkeys, if they had been caught by a boy, in the woods, would have bit and scratched and fought to get away.  But Mappo was both a merry monkey, and a good, kind one.  So, when he saw that the boy was holding him tightly, Mappo made up his mind that it would not be nice to try to get away.

Besides, he liked boys, as well as girls, for so many of them had fed him peanuts in the circus.  And I rather think that Mappo was getting tired of having run away, for he did not find these woods as nice as he thought he would.

“Oh, father, look!” the boy cried.  “I’ve caught a monkey.”

“Have you, really?” asked a man, who came up near the boy.  “Why, so you have!” he exclaimed.  “It must have escaped from the circus that went through here the other day.”

“Oh, father, mayn’t we keep it?” the boy asked, as he patted Mappo.  “See, he is real tame, and maybe he does tricks.”

“Of course I’m tame and do tricks!” Mappo chattered, but the boy did not understand monkey talk.

“Oh, let me keep him!” the boy begged of his father.

“Well, I don’t know,” spoke the man, slowly.  “A monkey is a queer sort of a pet, and we haven’t really any place for him.”

“Oh, I’ll make a place,” the boy said.  “Do let me keep him!”

“Well, you may try,” his father said.  “But if the circus men come back after him, you’ll have to give up your monkey.  And he may run away, no matter what sort of a cage you keep him in.”

“Oh, I don’t believe he will,” the boy said.

So Mappo was taken home to the boy’s house.  It was quite different from the circus where the merry little monkey had lived so long.  There were no sawdust rings, no horses or other animals, and there was no performance in the afternoon, and none in the evening.

But, for all that, Mappo liked it.  For one thing he got enough to eat, and the things he liked—­cocoanuts and bananas, for the boy read in a book what monkeys liked, and got them for his new pet.  The boy made a nice box cage for Mappo to sleep in, and tied him fast with a string around the collar, which Mappo wore.