to carry it over to the teacher's room as soon as she had worked
out an example for the little girl who had asked her help.

Nina Mills pushed her way into the cloak room ahead of Meg and Bobby,
and as the latter grasped the swinging door they heard Nina give a
loud yell.

"Look out! Get away!" She came tumbling out of the cloak room, her
face white with terror. "There's a monkey in there!" she gasped.

Half of the pupils immediately scattered. Most of the girls fled
screaming, and some of the boys followed them. Miss Mason stood up,
undecided what to do.

"Get a pole and kill him!" shouted Tim Roon, from a safe position
behind the bookcase. "Mash him 'fore he has a chance to fight."

"Don't be silly," snapped Bobby. "A monkey can't hurt you. Let's catch
it."

Now, no one had any experience, in catching a monkey, and they were
willing to let Bobby go about it as he saw fit.

"One of you hold open the door," he decided after a minute's thought.
"Meg, you stand there and hold out your dress. I'll go in and chase
him out to you. Are you afraid? 'Cause I'll stand to catch him and you
can chase him out if you'd rather. Only your dress will help."

Meg said she wasn't afraid and took her place in the doorway. Palmer
Davis volunteered to hold the door back, and the others stood as far
away as they could.

"Look out! Here he comes!" shouted Bobby suddenly.

Meg spread out her skirts. A small, black ball hurled itself through
the door, rolled between Meg's feet and jumped to a desk. Like a flash
the monkey ran lightly over the desk tops, down the aisle, reached
the desk where Miss Mason's hat lay, and seized it in one paw. She
made a frantic grab for it, but missed. With a derisive chuckle and
some remark in monkey talk that no one could understand, the monkey
gained the open window and scampered down the fire-escape.

"My best, new hat! Run after him!" wailed Miss Mason.

The nine o'clock bell had rung five minutes before, but no one thought
of that. The entire school knew that one of the circus monkeys had
been found in Miss Mason's room, and there was no question of holding
assembly till it was driven out or captured.

Pell-mell down the stairs ran the children after the monkey. His quick
eyes glanced about for a haven. A tall pine tree stood near the front
gate, and toward this the monkey ran, a pack of screaming children
after him. He had the best of them when it came to climbing, and
before the first boy r