“It’s a monkey!” exclaimed Terry with relief. “Only a cute little monkey!”
“Isn’t he funny?” Prim was choking with laughter which she tried to hide, for the little creature looking up at them seemed so human that the girl felt she was being rude to laugh in its face.
Terry had a happy thought. She felt in her pockets and brought forth a little package. There were half a dozen crackers left from the supply Prim had provided.
“Say Terry, what’s the idea! Don’t feed him crackers. Are you crazy?” pleaded Prim.
But Terry was approaching the little animal and offering a bit of the cracker. The monkey shrank back, but only for a second. His curiosity was too great. As Terry dropped the morsel beside him, he grabbed it quickly and with a sudden leap slipped by them to the refuge of a tall tree. Then he devoured it greedily.
“Don’t be too generous, Terry. We may need every bite we can get before this jam is over.”
“All right, but I thought I’d better start by making friends with everything on the island. He’s a nice little fellow. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d get quite friendly.”
The monkey stared down at them with interest and when they moved away he scrambled to another tree nearer to them.
“Just watch him,” laughed Prim. “Terry, you’ve made a big hit with that fellow.”
“It’s pleasant to find one friendly creature on the island. Come on and let’s see what the inside of these woven houses are like. I’m not anxious to sleep out in the open. I think I’ve heard something about the moon in the tropics making people crazy.” Terry led the way into the hut as she spoke, “Why, it’s not so bad, we might manage to sleep in here.”