"Thank you, I'll be glad to have you carry them," said Jumpo politely, so Jacko put his brother's books in the loop of his tail together with his own, and they got to school just as the doors were being closed.
"Now the class in number work will recite," said the owl teacher, as she took a piece of blue chalk and went to the blackboard. "If I had two apples, and Jacko Kinkytail gave me three more, how many would I have?" asked the teacher, and she wrote a big figure 2 on the blackboard, and under it a big 3. "You may answer, Jumpo," she said.
Jumpo thought for a few seconds.
"Well, can't you tell?" asked the owl kindly.
"If you please," said Jumpo, after a bit, "it can't be apples that Jacko would give you, because it's pears that Jacko has in his pocket. Three pears—I saw Mamma give them to him for recess. I can't add pears and apples together."
Well, the whole class laughed at that, and the teacher said:
"I was only making believe, Jumpo, just as when Uncle Wiggily Longears pretends as he tells you a story. However, we will say two pears and three pears, if that will suit you better. You may come to the board and add up this sum for me."
So Jumpo went to the board, and he took the piece of blue chalk in his left paw. And then he couldn't seem to help doing a funny trick. When the teacher wasn't looking he reached over, and with his tail he took an eraser and erased the numbers from another part of the board where Jennie Chipmunk was doing a sum in arithmetic, so Jennie didn't have any numbers to add up, and she cried out:
"Oh, dear!"
"What's the matter?" asked the teacher quickly, and then, turning around, she saw the mischief Jumpo had done.