Chapter VIII.
CAPTURE OF THE MONKEYS.
The boy tried to rise to his feet, but his head whirled so, and he felt so dizzy and sick from the effects of his fall, that he was obliged to sit down again until he should feel able to stand. Meanwhile the crowd around the wagon paid no attention to him, and he lay there quietly enough, until he heard the hateful voice of Mr. Lord, asking if his boy was hurt.
The sound of this voice affected Toby very much as the chills and fever affect any one, and he shook so with fear, and his heart beat so loudly, that he thought Mr. Lord must know where he was by the sound. Seeing that his employer did not come directly toward him, the thought flashed upon his mind that now would be a good chance for him to run away, and he acted upon it at once. He rolled himself over in the mud until he reached a low growth of fir-trees that skirted the road, and when once he was beneath their friendly shade, he arose to his feet, and walked swiftly toward the woods, following the same direction that the monkeys had taken.
He no longer felt dizzy and sick; the fear of Mr. Lord had taken all that from him, and made him as strong as he ever was in his life.
He had walked rapidly for some distance, and was nearly beyond the sound of the voices in the road, when he was startled by seeing quite a procession of men emerge from the trees, coming directly toward him.
He could not understand the meaning of this strange company, and it frightened him so that he attempted to hide behind a tree, in the hope that they might pass without seeing him. But no sooner had he secreted himself than a strange, shrill chattering came from the foremost of the group, and in an instant Toby was out from his place of concealment.
He had recognized the peculiar sound as that of the old monkey who had left him a few moments previous, and he knew now what he did not know before, owing to the darkness. The new-comers were the monkeys that had escaped from the cage, and had been overtaken and compelled to come back by the old monkey, who seemed to have the most perfect control over them.
The old fellow was leading the band, and each one had clasped hands with the others, which gave the whole crowd a most comical appearance, as they came up to Toby, half hopping, half walking upright, and all chattering and screaming like a crowd of children out on a holiday.
Toby stepped toward the noisy crowd, held out his hand gravely to the old monkey, and said, in tones of heart-felt sorrow: