“Who is Mappo?” asked Don.
“Mappo is this chap—a merry monkey,” answered the little pig, as he pointed with one paw toward the queer, furry, four-handed and long-tailed animal.
“Oh, so your name is Mappo, is it?” asked Don, for he found that he could talk to the other animals, as well as understand them.
“Yes, I am Mappo,” the monkey said. “But please don’t speak my name so loudly.”
“Why not?” Don wanted to know.
“Because I have run away from a circus,” answered Mappo. And then Don saw that what he had thought were hands were only paws, but they were almost like hands, and the monkey’s tail was almost like a fifth hand to him.
“Run away from a circus?” barked Don. “What’s a circus?”
“That’s it, out there,” Squinty said, as he nodded his head toward the big red, green and golden wagons that were rumbling along the country road. “Mappo and Tum Tum belong to the circus, but Mappo has run away, just as I ran from the pen. Tum Tum is after him.”
“Who is Tum Tum?” asked Don again.
“He’s that big elephant,” answered Mappo, as he pointed toward the creature.