"I'll just take the short path through the woods," thought the little red monkey. "Then I'll be home quicker. And I wish I had a penny, or a five-cent piece. Then I would buy Jumpo an ice cream cone. But I haven't any money."
So of course when one has no money one can buy no ice cream cones, but still Jacko wished it just the same, which shows that he had a kind heart.
He was going through a dark part of the woods, when all of a sudden he saw, just in front of him, some small, whitish looking things, like little stones.
"Ha! I wonder what these are?" said Jacko, as he took hold of his books in his tail and went carefully forward. "Perhaps that is a trap to catch me."
Then he saw that the little things were a lot of peanuts, all strung out in a row on the ground, like grains of corn, one after another. "Ah, ha! I see!" exclaimed the Jack o'Lantern—oh, I beg your pardon, I mean the red monkey. "These are peanuts. Some one has been along here with a bag that had a hole in it, and the peanuts dropped out," went on Jacko. "Well, if I knew to whom they belonged I'd give them back. But, as I don't, I'll take them home to my sick brother, and later on, if some one claims them, I'll save up my pennies and pay them back."
So with this kind thought in mind, Jacko set to work to gather up the peanuts. There were quite a number of them, when they were all in one pile—as many as two five-cent bags full.
"I think I will eat just one, to see if they will be good for Jumpo," said Jacko, after a while. So, with his strong, white teeth he cracked the shell of one peanut and ate it—that is, he ate the peanut, not the shell. Of course, you understand and I suppose I needn't have mentioned it. But, anyhow, I did.
"Oh, my! Oh, dear! Oh, hum suz dud!" exclaimed Jacko, when he had eaten the peanut. "This will never do at all. The peanuts are damp, and wet, and not nice and brown and crisp as they ought to be." For you know there is nothing more unpleasant than half-roasted and soft peanuts—even onions aren't much worse, I think.
"I must build a fire and roast them nice and hot and fresh," said Jacko. "Then they will be good for sick Jumpo." So then and there Jacko built a little fire in the woods, and set to work to roast the peanuts over again, first taking his books out of his tail and putting them safely on a stump where they wouldn't burn.
When the fire was nice and hot, Jacko took a tin can, put the peanuts in it, and set the can on the hot coals. Then he stirred the peanuts with a long stick so they wouldn't burn.