"Oh, look at my dog chasing a cat. Let's see if he gets her."
So they ran after the dog.
Faster and faster went Carlo, and the strings that held the Monkey on became looser and looser until, at last, they slipped off altogether, and down fell the Monkey into the grass.
The grass was tall and thick, and at the moment when the Monkey fell Dick and Herbert were down in a sort of little valley, and they did not see what had happened. So the Monkey fell off the dog's back before they noticed it.
As for Carlo, all he was thinking of was getting the cat. And the boys went after him.
On all sides of the Monkey was green grass, nice and soft. A little farther off were some trees. The Monkey could see them as he looked over the top of the grass.
"I wish I could climb one of those trees," said the toy Monkey half aloud. "I've been climbing up and down a stick so long that I am rather tired of it. I think I ought to climb trees."
The Monkey was beginning to feel strange. It was the first time he had ever been by himself, alone in a green field, with the warm sun shining on him.
"I feel just like doing something!" said the Monkey, speaking out loud this time, though he could see no one to whom he might talk. "I'm going to cut up! Hi yi!" he shouted. "I'm going to jump and turn somersaults and everything."
And with that he began leaping about on the soft, green grass. He jumped this way and that. He jumped forward and backward and he turned front somersaults and backward somersaults.