Major Monkey took a bite out of his apple while he looked closely at Peter Mink and Tommy Fox.
"I never saw either of them until I came to this party," he declared. "And then I saw both at the same time, because they were whispering together."
"There!" Mr. Crow shouted to the whole company. "You hear what my old friend the Major says?"
Tommy Fox and Peter Mink stopped quarreling.
"You didn't ask the Major the proper question!" they objected. "We never said he saw us at all! We said——"
But Mr. Crow waved them aside.
"If you aren't too hungry," he muttered to Major Monkey, "I'd suggest that you let fly with that red apple."
The Major was only too willing. With deadly aim he flung the apple at Peter Mink and Tommy Fox. First it hit Peter on the nose, and then it bounced off and struck Tommy on his nose.
And then the party came to an end in an awful uproar. For Peter and Tommy were very angry. Those that could fly flew away in a great hurry. And those that could run scampered quickly out of sight. As for the soldier, Major Monkey, he climbed a tree and hung by his tail from a limb, where he swung backwards and forwards and made faces at Tommy Fox and Peter Mink until their rage was terrible to see.
Mr. Crow did not desert his friend the Major. He remained in a tree near-by, to watch the fun. And there's no telling how long it would have lasted had not Major Monkey pulled himself suddenly up on a limb and laid a hand across the front of his red coat. There was a look of pain upon his face.