ccupied
his usual throne on the meal-barrel, violently sneezing out smoke, and
wondering whether it was not better to be drowned--the shepherd rushed
towards the door to save the two elder children who lay locked in
slumber in the burning room beyond. Seizing them in his arms, he bore
them safely to the open air, and then returned for his wife and the
other children. Tricky followed at their heels; and the next moment the
rescued family stood in a shivering group, helplessly watching the
flames. The roof soon fell in, and in the morning all that remained of
the shepherd's house was a few charred rafters.

* * * * *

On the spot where the shepherd's cottage was burned now stands a noble
lighthouse. It was put up a few months after the fire, and one of the
three lighthouse-keepers is the shepherd. The second is a man who is
fond of telling tales of the sea, and how he was once mate of a ship
called the _Vulcan_. The third keeper of the lighthouse is a quadruped
called Tricky. The affection between him and the ex-shepherd is
peculiar. Other people think there is some history connected with it,
but the shepherd never says much. When asked if it is really true that
the monkey cannot be killed, he always replies, 'Yes; but that is not
why it is alive.' Only on one occasion was the shepherd known to add
anything to that remark. It was one night when Tricky had held back the
baby--it had just learned to creep--from tumbling over the cliff. Then
the shepherd smiled as he threw Tricky a whole bagful of nuts, and said,
'That monkey won't kill--nor let anybody else kill.'

[Illustration: TRICKY HELD BACK THE BABY]

GUM

CHAPTER I

I suppose you thought the monkey I told you about before was dead. But
my opinion is that he is still alive. At least, I am pretty sure it is
the same monkey that I have now to tell you about, though I cannot be
quite sure. In the first place this new monkey was very like Tricky, and
in the second place it was a monkey that _would not kill_. Now, I never
heard before of any monkey that would not kill except one, and that was
Tricky.

Another thing that makes me think it is the same monkey, is that Tricky
disappeared from the island where we saw him last. No one knows how it
happened, but there was a coincidence about the time which I must
relate. One morning a boat's crew landed on the island where Tricky
lived with the lighthouse-keeper, to fill their