"I do!" cried Jacko and Jumpo Kinkytail.

 

"I do!" cried Jackie and Peetie Bow Wow the puppy dog boys.

 

"So do I!" exclaimed Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrels.

 

And all the other children, including the three Wibblewobbles, Dottie and Munchie Trot², Buddy³ and Brighteyes Pigg—all of them—said they also would be glad to help teacher.

 

"But I only need one," said the owl lady, "and as Jacko has been a very good boy lately I'll let him stay."

 

Well, of course the others were somewhat disappointed, which means sorry, but there was no help for it, and they always did as teacher told them to, except sometimes, but this was not one of those times.

 

So they all went out, leaving Jacko the monkey boy and the teacher in the schoolroom, with the blackboards all covered with words, and sentences, and examples, and number work and maps of different countries, including the one where cocoanuts grow.

 

Jacko took the erasers and a cloth and so did the teacher and they began work. The red monkey boy could hear the other animal chaps playing ball outside, and getting ready to fly their kites, and the girls were shouting and giggling⁴ and screaming like anything, and they didn't know why they did it, either, but girls most always scream, you know.

 

"They are having lots of fun," said the owl teacher to Jacko, "aren't you sorry you stayed in to help me?"

 

"No'm," said Jacko, politely, and he brushed the chalk marks off the blackboards harder than ever. Then, after a while, when there was only one more board left to clean, the teacher said:

 

"Well, Jacko, thank you very much. You have been a great help to me. Run along now and have a good time."

 

But it was getting late then, and the other animal boys and girls had gone home. So Jacko,[Pg 104] putting his books in a loop in his kinky tail, also started for his house.

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