"Say, did I do the thing up in good style, boys?" he demanded.
"I should say you did, Monkey!" burst out Billy. "Makes me think of one of Aesop's fables I used to read ever so long ago, about the lion and the donkey out hunting together."
"Suppose you tell us about it then," suggested Arthur, a little wickedly, for he had, in truth, a pretty fair idea concerning its nature.
"Why," proceeded Billy, hastily, "it seems they discovered a flock of goats in a cave, and the donkey suggested that he disguise himself with an old lion skin they found, and go in to scare the goats out, when the lion standing by the exit could kill the game. When he had hee-hawed and kicked up such a rumpus that the poor goats dashed out, to meet their fate at the exit, the donkey finally came along and proudly asked the lion what he thought of his antics. 'Splendid,' said the lion, or something like that, and I guess you'd have frightened me, too, if I hadn't known you were only a donkey!"
Monkey Stallings hardly knew whether that, was intended for a compliment or not, but he laughed because the others did.
"All the same I had the longest pole that knocked down the persimmons," he asserted. "I gave that bunch the biggest scare of their lives. The way is clear for us now, and, thank goodness, we won't have to sleep under the same roof with that greasy pair of rascals, and, after all; that was the end in view."
"Monkey," said Arthur, "you've put us all under heavy obligations by what you did, and for one I'm not going to forget it, or twit you about the funny noises you manage to coax out of that bone goose-call you made. The end justifies the means, is what I say every time. Now, what's next on the programme, Hugh?"
"Well, since we've met the enemy and won the fight," laughed the other,
"I should say our best move would be to occupy the abandoned works.
Monkey can lead us to where he managed to get into the castle."
"As easy as falling off a log," asserted the other, proudly, as became the principal actor in the late little "unpleasantness."
"Besides," added Alec, impatiently, "we want to take a few pictures inside and out of the old shebang while the sun still hangs high."