Well, Uncle Wiggily went into the house to wash his paws. He soaped them nicely and also his face, but, when he went to dry them, he could not find the towel.
“Oh, Nurse Jane!” he cried. “Come quickly and get me a towel! There’s some soap in my eyes!”
“Oh, my goodness me sakes alive and some apple pudding!” cried Nurse Jane. Then she ran in to get a towel for Uncle Wiggily, leaving the airship in the yard all alone.
And now something is going to happen.
Along came Jocko Kinkytail, the little monkey boy, on his way to school. Jocko was going to be late, too. He almost always was late, and the reason was that he stopped too often along the road to play and to look at the things he saw.
“Oh, my goodness!” cried Jocko, when he saw Uncle Wiggily’s airship in the yard, all ready to sail. “I must look at that!”
Over the fence he scrambled, and he began looking at the airship, made of a clothes basket, some toy balloons, a Japanese umbrella and an electric fan.
“Say! This is fine!” cried Jocko. “I wonder what keeps it from going up when no one is in it?” Then he noticed the clothesline rope holding it down, and he said, “Ah, I see!”
Now Jocko was very curious, and when the monkey chap saw a knot tied in the holdingdown rope he at once tried to loosen it. And with his cunning little fingers Jocko did loosen the knot.
And then——