But he must have been a hungry little monkey, for, when he looked at Flossie, and saw on her hat what he thought were red cherries, that monkey made up his mind to get some of them if he could. Though the cherries were made of celluloid, they looked very real, and they might have fooled even a boy or a girl, to say nothing of a monkey.
So with a quick bound Jacko—which seems to be the name of all those long-tailed chaps—was perched on Flossie's shoulder, tearing at her hat with two paws, trying to pull off what he thought were ripe, red cherries.
"Oh! Oh!" screamed Flossie. "Oh, stop!"
"Wait till I get hold of him!" cried Freddie.
"Come away! Come away froma de littlea gal!" yelled the piano Italian. Some in the crowd laughed and others screamed.
The monkey kept pulling and tearing at Flossie's hat until he had pulled it from her head and then, jumping down off her shoulder to the ground, the animal crouched under the piano and began pulling off the red cherries. But one bite told him they were not real, and then, perhaps frightened at what he had done and fearing he would be punished, the monkey tried to run away.
But he was held by the string on his collar, and the Italian, perhaps afraid that he would be made to pay for Flossie's hat, which his monkey had torn to pieces, pulled Jacko to him, perched him on his shoulder and hurried away, wheeling the street piano.
"Oh, Freddie! Freddie! What shall I do?" cried Flossie, as she looked at her sadly torn hat.
"It's a shame," said a woman in the crowd.
"You'll need a new hat, little girl," said another woman.