"Yes, mother," he said. "What do you want?"

 

"Well, I need a dozen cocoanuts and two pounds of sugar, and some chocolate and some flour."

 

"Oh, you must be going to make a cake!" cried the monkey boy, tying two hard knots in his tail.

 

"You have guessed it," answered his mother. "Hurry now, and the cake will be baked in time for supper."

 

"Oh, but I wish Jumpo was here to go with me," said Jacko, as he started off.

 

"Why?" asked his mother.

 

"Because if I carry such nice things as cocoanuts and sugar and chocolate, a burglar¹ may take them away from me on my way home."

 

"Nonsense!" said his mother. "Burglars² don't want such things as that. Besides, it is daylight, and burglars don't come around then."

 

"I was thinking of the burglar fox," went on Jacko. "However, Jumpo isn't here, as he went over to play ball with Bully³ No-Tail, the frog. So I'll have to go alone."

 

Off he started, and of course, he wasn't a bit afraid going to the store, for he had nothing with him but the money, and that was away down at the bottom of his pocket, and Jacko held his little brown paw tightly⁴ over the coins, so they couldn't jump out. Then he reached the store, and gave the money to the grocery man.

 

"Now don't drop the cocoanuts," said the grocery man, as he made up a package of the nice things Jacko had bought. "Can you carry all of them?"

 

"Oh, yes," said the monkey boy, confident like, which means sure.

 

"And do you think you could also carry two sticks of candy, one for yourself and one for your brother Jumpo?" asked the grocery man, sort of smiling.

 

"Well, I'll try—very hard," answered Jacko, and he wondered why the grocery man laughed. Then the man took from a jar two red and white striped sticks of candy. One of these sticks Jacko put safely in his pocket for his green brother, and the other he ate slowly, as he started for home. He was so interested in the stick of candy that he never even thought of the burglar fox.

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