This was apparently just what one of the monkeys had been watching for. He swung himself down from his perch, reached out a long arm, and grabbed off David’s little cap. Then up he leaped back again, squatted down to bite and tear it to his heart’s content.
David clapped his hands to his head, and turned very white, as a cry went up from the crowd.
“Oh, that’s too bad!” “He’s got the little feller’s cap.” “Oh, what a shame!” And one mother elbowed her way in through the crowd to Mrs. Pepper, who had her arms around her boy trying to comfort him. And she herself needed sympathy, for how could she scrape together the money for another cap? “I know who the boy is that pushed him, and I’ll tell his father—he’ll give him a good beating.”
“Oh, no,” said Mrs. Pepper, “don’t do that. Davie doesn’t want you to. Do you, Davie dear?”
“No, I don’t,” said Davie, through his sobs. Then when he saw his mother’s face, he wiped away the tears and managed to smile through them. “I can go without a cap,” he said.
CHAPTER XXVIII
DAVID’S CAP
MRS. PEPPER turned away for a moment, not trusting herself to speak.
“I don’t mind it—much,” Davie pulled at her shawl, and looked anxiously at her face as she turned back.
“Well, now,” she said comfortingly, as she led him out of the crowd. “Mother will see how she can fix it up for you, Davie boy.”
“The monkey’s spitting out the pieces of your cap,” cried some boys after him, and they laughed and doubled up in glee.