It was almost time for school to be out, and nearly all the pupils were
sitting quietly at their desks. The owl school teacher was just hearing
the geography class recite, and that was the last lesson of the day.

"Jacko Kinkytail," spoke the teacher, as she took up a piece of red
chalk, "where do cocoanuts grow?"

"In our house," said Jacko very quickly.

"Why, the idea!" exclaimed the teacher. "I mean in what _country_ do
cocoanuts grow?"

"Well, I'm sure they grow in our house," said the red monkey, "because I
saw one there to-day. My mamma is going to make a cake of it."

Of course all the children laughed at that, and the teacher had to laugh
also, though she didn't exactly want to.

"Well, Jacko, you may go home," she said suddenly, "and so may all of
you. School is out. Now be on time to-morrow, and, Jacko, you must take
your geography, when you get home, and find out where cocoanuts really
come from."

So when Jacko and Jumpo were walking home together the red monkey asked
his green brother where he thought cocoanuts came from.

"The grocery store, of course," said the green monkey, quickly. "I
should have thought you'd have known that. Didn't you go to the store
for some the other day, and didn't the grocery man have a lot of them in
a barrel? Cocoanuts grow in barrels in the store, of course."

"Oh, why didn't I think of that?" cried Jacko. "I'll tell the teacher
to-morrow. But now let's have a race, and we'll see who'll be the first
to get to the old black stump where the giant used to eat his dinner."

"All right," agreed Jumpo. So off they started. First Jacko was ahead,
and then he accidentally got a stone in his shoe and had to stop to take
it out, so Jumpo got ahead. And then, as the green monkey was going
through a dark part of the woods, he saw something crawling under the
leaves.

"Oh, maybe it's a snake!" exclaimed Jumpo. "I'm going to wait until
Jacko catches up to me." So he waited and waited, but no Jacko came. In
fact, Jacko had got tired of playing the racing game, and he had gone
home another way. Then Jumpo thought he would be brave, and go over by
himself to see what was moving under the leaves. And, if you will
believe me, it was nothing but a harmless snail, crawling along with his
shell house on his back.

"How silly of me to be frightened!" cried Jumpo, with a laugh. "After
this I'm first going to see what it is, and get frightened afterward;
that is, if there is anythin