“Once.  I had a little wooden cannon that shot wooden balls.  I shot one right through the window of our parlor, and the next ball hit George, the elevator boy, who was coming in with a telegram.”

“And after that I had to take the cannon away from him,” said Mrs. Whipple, with a smile.  “But I think the cork pop-gun will be all right.”

Never had the Bobbsey twins had as much fun as they did the day of their visit to Mr. Whipple’s store.  They were sorry when the late afternoon gave the signal for starting back home.

“But we’ll have fun to-morrow,” said Bert to Nan, as they reached their hotel.

“How do you know?” she asked.

“’Cause I heard Daddy tell Mother he was going to take us to Bronx Park to see the animals.”

“Oh, will we see the monkeys?” cried Flossie, who heard what her older brother had said.

“Well, there are plenty of them there, so I’ve read,” went on Bert, “Big ones, too.”

“I like little monkeys best, even if one did pull my hat to pieces,” went on Flossie.  “Oh, I wish to-morrow would hurry up and come.”

To-morrow finally did come, after the Bobbsey twins had gone to bed, though when it came it was to-day instead of to-morrow.  But that’s the way it always happens, doesn’t it?

“All aboard for the Bronx!” cried Bert as, with his sisters and brother he followed Mr. Bobbsey into the subway train that would take them to the big animal park.

If ever you are in New York, I hope you will go to see this place.  There are many strange animals in it, and it has beautiful birds and gardens also.  Of course, when the Bobbsey twins went it was in Winter, and most of the animals had to be kept shut up in their cages in the warm houses.  Some, however, like the deer, buffalo and other cattle, could stay out of doors even in cold weather.

There were so many things to see, even though it was Winter, when the park is not at its prettiest, that the Bobbsey twins hardly knew where to look first.  Flossie and Freddie were anxious to get to the house where the monkeys were.

Some of the larger ones were uglier than they were funny, and in front of the cages were many persons who never seemed to tire of looking at the queer tricks the “four-handed” animals played on each other.  You might say a monkey had five hands, for those that have tails certainly use them as much as they do their paws.

“Oh, look at that one big monkey, chewing a straw just like some of the men in front of the hotel at home chew toothpicks,” said Nan, pointing to a chimpanzee crouched in a corner of his cage.  He did, indeed, look like a little old man thoughtfully chewing on a toothpick.  And he was so natural, and so much in earnest about it, that the Bobbsey twins, all four of them, burst out laughing.

This seemed to surprise the chimpanzee.  He darted toward the front bars of his cage, shook them, as if in anger, and then ran into a corner, turning his back on the people.