"All right," agreed Jumpo. So off they started. First Jacko was ahead, and then he accidentally got a stone in his shoe and had to stop to take it out, so Jumpo got ahead. And then, as the green monkey was going through a dark part of the woods, he saw something crawling under the leaves.
"Oh, maybe it's a snake!" exclaimed Jumpo. "I'm going to wait until Jacko catches up to me." So he waited and waited, but no Jacko came. In fact, Jacko had got tired of playing the racing game, and he had gone home another way. Then Jumpo thought he would be brave, and go over by himself to see what was moving under the leaves. And, if you will believe me, it was nothing but a harmless snail, crawling along with his shell house on his back.
"How silly of me to be frightened!" cried Jumpo, with a laugh. "After this I'm first going to see what it is, and get frightened afterward; that is, if there is anything to scare me." So he said "How-de-do" to the snail, and then the monkey boy went on toward home.
Over the hills, up and down, among the trees, hopping across little brooks he went, until pretty soon, just as he was coming out of the woods he heard a loud, banging noise.
"That's a gun!" cried Jumpo. "A gun, and some one is out shooting. Oh, I must be careful or I'll be shot."
So the poor monkey boy hid down behind a rock and waited. And then, all of a sudden, there came another bangity-bang-bung noise and some one shouted out loud:
"My, I nearly got it that time!"
"Worse and worse!" thought poor Jumpo, shivering. "They are coming after me." Then he saw something moving behind a stump, and a big, ugly fox looked out at him.
"Oh, this is terrible!" cried the green monkey. "I can't stay here or the fox will get me, and if I go out of the woods the man with the gun will shoot me. What shall I do? Perhaps the man may be kind, and let me go. I think I'll go out so the fox won't eat me."
And Jumpo leaped out only just in time, for the fox saw him then, and made a jump for him. And there came another bangity-bung-bang noise, and Jumpo shivered again.