Then came the astonishing thing. Jerry seemed to understand his part for, with a twist of his head toward the nearest monkey, he appeared to say: “C’mon.” Then, catching hold of the cage, he executed a swinging jump and landed on the floor. The foremost monkey in the cage followed his example, then another and another.
Calmly the pink-eyed man slashed the side of cage after cage and out of each leaped all those man-like creatures, and man-like still, as if obeying orders, they each and all joined the procession led by Jerry. The procession grew and grew and grew until at last there was not a living creature in the cages.
There arose a hoarse shout of approval from the firemen. Mazie looked around for the hero of the hour—the pink-eyed man. He had vanished!
As she made her way once more into the open air of the park that surrounded the Zoo, she found the trees full of happy chattering creatures who were enjoying to the full such freedom as they had not known for years.
For a time she stood there staring at the burning building. As she turned to go, there came a chatter from the tree above her, followed by a thud on her shoulder.
It was Jerry. With cap gone, his red coat scorched and torn, he still appeared to be the happiest monkey in all the world.
The firemen by this time had the fire somewhat under control, but the mingled sounds of screams, roars and trumpetings which came from the other end of the Zoo was all but deafening.
Having always had a desire to know how different wild animals acted under stress of danger, Mazie decided to re-enter the Zoo and pass through it until stopped by the fire. She could not do this without considerable fear and trembling, nor was this entirely unwarranted. The time was to come, and that within the next quarter of an hour, when she would regret so rash an undertaking.
In the meantime, what had become of Johnny? While all these things were happening to Mazie and her strange companion, Jerry, what success had he had in finding his man?
It is not easy to locate a particular person in a throng of five hundred or a thousand people at night. Johnny thought he knew all about that. He had entered upon just such a task more than once before. More than once, too, he had found himself baffled, beaten back by the mob, in the end defeated. This time he was determined to win.