“And we could have my trained white mice,” said Charlie Star.

“If you have mice in it I’m not going to play!” exclaimed Sadie West.  “I don’t like mice at all!”

“Neither do I!” added Jennie Harris.

“Well, we could get Mr. Jed Winkler’s parrot, maybe,” suggested Bunny.

“And his monkey!” some one added.

“Oh, yes!” cried all the children.

Suddenly the door of the room opened and in burst Tom Milton.

“Say!” he cried, “Mr. Jed Winkler’s monkey is loose in Mr. Raymond’s hardware store, and you ought to see the place!  Come on!  Mr. Jed Winkler’s monkey is loose again!” and he jumped up and down he was so excited.

CHAPTER IV

THE CLIMBING BOY

Tom Milton had been invited by Bunny Brown to come to the meeting in the room over the garage and talk about the play which Bunny and his sister wanted to give.  But, for some reason or other, Tom had not come with the other children.  Many, including Bunny, had wondered what kept Tom away, but now, when Tom rushed in with the news that Mr. Jed Winkler’s monkey was loose, none of the children thought of anything but the long-tailed animal with his funny, wrinkled face.

“How’d he get loose?” asked Bunny Brown, as he jumped down off a box on which he had been standing.

“Did he hurt any one?” asked Sue.

“Is he smashing everything in Mr. Raymond’s store?” Charlie Star wanted to know.

“I should say so!  You ought to see!” cried Tom.  “I was coming past on my way here when I heard a lot of yells and saw a big crowd in front of the store.  I looked in, and the monkey was banging a frying pan on a coffee grinder and making a big racket.  Mr. Raymond was trying to get him down off a high shelf, but Wango wouldn’t come.  Then I ran on here to tell you about it.”

“I’m glad you did,” said Bunny Brown.

“We’ll have this meeting again after we see the monkey,” he said.  “The meeting is—­it’s—­er—­well, I don’t know what it is my mother says when her meetings are stopped, but this meeting about the show we’re going to give, is stopped while we go to see Mr. Jed Winkler’s monkey.”

“Oh, won’t it be fun to see him drum with a frying pan!” exclaimed Sue.

“Maybe he won’t be doing that when we get there,” said Tom Milton.  “But I guess he’ll be doing something just as good.”

“That monkey is always doing something,” declared Charlie Star.  “How’d he get loose, Tom?”

“Don’t know!”

“Maybe Miss Winkler let him loose,” suggested Sadie West.  “She doesn’t like Jed’s monkey.”

“And I guess she doesn’t like his parrot very much, either.  It makes a lot more noise than her canary bird,” said Mary Watson.  “I was in there the other day, and the parrot screeched like anything!”

“Well, come on, we’ll go see the monkey!” called Sue.