Toby's first act was to wash his face, and he tried to make the monkey do the same; but Mr. Stubbs had no idea of doing any such foolish thing. He would come down close to the edge of the water, and look in; but the moment that Toby tried to make him go in, he would rush back among the trees, climb out on some slender bough, and then swing himself down by his tail, and chatter away as if making sport of his young master for thinking that he would be so foolish as to soil his face with water.
BREAKFAST IN THE WOODS.
After Toby had made his toilet, he unfastened the bundle which the fat lady had given him, for the purpose of having breakfast. As much of an eater as Toby was, he could not but be surprised at the quantity of food which Mrs. Treat called a lunch. There were two whole pies and half of another, as many as two dozen doughnuts, several large pieces of cheese, six sandwiches with a plentiful amount of meat, half a dozen biscuits nicely buttered, and a large piece of cake.
The monkey had come down from the tree as soon as he saw Toby untying the bundle, and there was quite as much pleasure depicted on his face, as he saw the good things that were spread out before him, as there was on Toby's, and he showed his thankfulness at Mrs. Treat's foresight by suddenly snatching one of the doughnuts, and running with it up the tree, where he knew Toby could not follow.
"Now look here, Mr. Stubbs," said Toby, sternly, "you can have all you want to eat, but you must take it in a decent way, an' not go to cuttin' up any such shines as that."
And after giving this command, which, by-the-way, was obeyed just about as well as it was understood, Toby devoted his time to his breakfast, and he reduced the amount of eatables very considerably before he had finished.
Toby cleared off his table by gathering the food together, and putting it back into the paper as well as possible, and then he sat down to think over the situation, and to decide what he had better do.
He felt rather nervous about venturing out when it was possible for Mr. Lord or Mr. Castle to get hold of him again, and as the weather was yet warm during the night, his camping-place everything that could be desired, and the stock of food likely to hold out, he concluded that he had better remain there for two days at least, and then he would be reasonably sure that if either of the men whom he so dreaded to see had remained behind for the purpose of catching him, he would have got tired out, and gone on.
This point decided upon, the next was to try to fix up something soft for a bed. He had his pocket-knife with him, and in his little valley were pine and hemlock trees in abundance. From the tips of their branches he knew that he could make a bed as soft and fragrant as any that could be thought of, and he set to work at once, while Mr. Stubbs continued his antics above his head.