“Now that’s all nonsense, Joe,” said Ben, releasing his hold. “You can go just as near as I do, and all the other folks. I’ll trust you,” and Ben slipped away to prove his words.
Joel felt somebody tugging at one of the hands over his wet little face. “There’s a good place over there,” said Davie, pointing to a little space where two men who hadn’t been able to forget that they had once been boys, were holding it open for him. They spread it out a little further so that Davie could slip in, too.
It was some time before Joel was willing to leave the bears. Father Bear, who couldn’t forgive the boy who made him miss such a well-aimed scratch, kept pacing up and down, growling and showing his teeth at him—and altogether being so very fascinating, that a crowd was continually in front of the cage, staring with open mouths and eyes. At last Mrs. Pepper gave the word to move on.
They had the big snakes, and a lion who was old and tired out, and half asleep in the corner of his cage, so that he wasn’t at all interesting, and almost everything else in the animal line that the circus had afforded, before they came to the monkeys. Phronsie saw them first.
“There they are, Mamsie!” she gave a joyful little cry.
Mrs. Pepper hurried to keep up with her, and the others followed in close ranks, being kept in line by Ben, who brought up the rear.
A small boy who was just as anxious to see monkeys as Phronsie, rushed in between, knocking off the pink sunbonnet. It had been so hot in the crowd that Phronsie had untied it, and now away it went, and a big clumsy man set his foot right on it. Jimmy saw it and tried to rescue it, pulling at one string; but the people pushed about so that he was knocked down and the string came off in his hand. Then the big clumsy man saw what he was stepping on, and he got off.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Jimmy’s face was full of distress, as somebody picked up the poor little sunbonnet, and he held out the string.
“It couldn’t be helped,” said Mrs. Pepper, only glad that Phronsie was so absorbed in delight over the monkeys that she wouldn’t know that she had lost her sunbonnet.
And the monkeys seemed to think that something special was expected of them, for they at once set to on so many antics that there was nothing but crowding and pushing as everybody came up to see, and stopped to laugh. At last a great hulking boy came up suddenly, back of David and pushed him against the cage.