CHAPTER XII
HOME AGAIN
BY this time it was about three o’clock in the morning. There were two good hours before daylight, and the time was improved by travelling as fast as possible. Billy and his party kept within the woods wherever possible, the monkeys, for the most part, staying in the trees, leaping from one to another, which is the way they get about in their native forests. They can travel much faster that way than on the ground. They all enjoyed the freedom they were experiencing for the first time in years very greatly, and were in the best of spirits.
The racket their chattering made was so loud that Billy had to caution them about it for fear they might attract attention, and this they did not want to do.
It was easy to imagine what was sure to happen if anyone discovered that there was a drove of monkeys loose in the woods. The whole community would be quickly aroused and a big hunt started. By all means discovery of this sort must be avoided.
As soon as signs of daylight began to appear in the east, Billy looked about for a good place to hide during the day where they would all be safe and could rest in peace and quiet until night came again when the journey could be resumed.
It so happened that they were at this time following the course of a little river which ran between steep banks of great rocks. Billy’s sharp eyes soon detected an opening between two of these large enough for him to go in, so in he went. To his surprise, this opening grew in size as he advanced until shortly he found himself in a dark cave as big as a large room. There couldn’t have been a better place for them to spend the day. A little brook ran through the cave so that the supply of good water was abundant.
It was plain to be seen from the bones scattered about that sometime this cave had been the home of wild animals, probably wolves or bears, but there were no signs of recent occupation, so Billy was not disturbed by any fears.
Going out, he hastily summoned the monkeys and told them of his fortunate discovery of a good hiding-place and bade them to lose no time in getting out of sight as it would soon be broad daylight. This they did in a hurry, Colonel Mandrill leading the way.
You might suppose that by this time they must have all been very hungry and so they would but that on their way during the night, they had passed through many fields where there was plenty of corn and pumpkins, through orchards where the boughs of the trees were bending beneath their weight of beautiful, ripe apples, through cabbage patches and fields of turnips. All the time they had helped themselves to everything they wanted.