until
he was stopped by a tree-trunk. Instantly they all took alarm. The Tin
Owl shrieked: "Hoot--hoot!" and flew straight up to the branch of a
tall tree, although he could scarcely see where he was going. The
Canary swiftly darted to a place beside the Owl, and the Green Monkey
sprang up, caught a limb, and soon scrambled to a high perch of safety.

The Jaguar crouched low and with hungry eyes regarded the little Brown
Bear, which slowly got upon its feet and asked reproachfully:

"For goodness' sake, Beast, what were you trying to do?"

"Trying to get my breakfast," answered the Jaguar with a snarl, "and I
believe I've succeeded. You ought to make a delicious meal--unless you
happen to be old and tough."

"I'm worse than that, considered as a breakfast," said the Bear, "for
I'm only a skin stuffed with straw, and therefore not fit to eat."

"Indeed!" cried the Jaguar, in a disappointed voice; "then you must be
a magic Bear, or enchanted, and I must seek my breakfast from among
your companions."

With this he raised his lean head to look up at the Tin Owl and the
Canary and the Monkey, and he lashed his tail upon the ground and
growled as fiercely as any jaguar could.

"My friends are enchanted, also," said the little Brown Bear.

"All of them?" asked the Jaguar.

"Yes. The Owl is tin, so you couldn't possibly eat him. The Canary is a
fairy--Polychrome, the Daughter of the Rainbow--and you never could
catch her because she can easily fly out of your reach."

"There still remains the Green Monkey," remarked the Jaguar hungrily.
"He is neither made of tin nor stuffed with straw, nor can he fly. I'm
pretty good at climbing trees, myself, so I think I'll capture the
Monkey and eat him for my breakfast."

Woot the Monkey, hearing this speech from his perch on the tree, became
much frightened, for he knew the nature of jaguars and realized they
could climb trees and leap from limb to limb with the agility of cats.
So he at once began to scamper through the forest as fast as he could
go, catching at a branch with his long monkey arms and swinging his
green body through space to grasp another branch in a neighboring tree,
and so on, while the Jaguar followed him from below, his eyes fixed
steadfastly on his prey. But presently Woot got his feet tangled in the
Lace Apron, which he was still wearing, and that tripped him in his
flight and made him fall to the ground, where the Jaguar placed one
huge paw upon him an