Part 4 (2/2)

'The chimpanzee! Is he tame enough to help us to put up our tents?' said Anne, disbelievingly.

'Old Charlie is cleverer than all of you put together, and as tame as you are!' said Grandad. 'And he could beat you three boys at cricket any day! You bring your bat along one morning, and watch him. I'll call him to help you. CHARLIE! CHARLIE! Where are you? Snoozing I suppose!'

But no Charlie came. 'You go and fetch him,' said the old man, pointing to a corner of the field where stood a big, strong cage, with a tarpaulin roof to keep out the rain. 'He'll do anything you want him to do, so long as you give him a word of praise now and again!'

'Let's get him, Ju,' said d.i.c.k, eagerly. 'My word - fancy having a chimpanzee to help us!'

And off they all went to the great cage. CHARLIE! CHARLIE! Wake up, you're wanted! CHARLIE!

Chapter Eight

CHARLIE THE CHIMP IS A HELP!

Tinker came to the big cage first. He peered inside. Charlie the Chimp was there all right, sitting at the back of his cage, his brown eyes looking at the children with curiosity. He got up and went over to where Tinker was peering in, and pressed his nose against the strong wire, almost against Tinker's. Then he blew hard, and Tinker backed away, surprised and cross.

'He blew at me!' he said to the others, who were laughing at Tinker's disgust. The chimp made a funny noise that Mischief the monkey immediately tried to imitate. The chimpanzee stared at Mischief, then he grew very excited. He rattled his cage, jumped up and down, and made some very queer noises indeed.

A boy came running up at once. It was the boy who had knocked Tinker down. 'Hey - what are you doing to the chimp?' he called. 'Oh - aren't you the boy who shouted at my Grandad - the one I knocked down?'

'Yes. And don't you dare try that on again, or you'll be sorry!' said Tinker, in a fierce voice.

'Shut up, Tinker,' said Julian. He turned to the boy. 'Your name's Jeremy, isn't it?' he said. 'Well, we've just been talking to your Grandad over there, and he said we could get the chimpanzee to help us with our camping gear. It's all right for him to come out of his cage, isn't it?'

'Oh yes - I take him out two or three times a day,' said Jeremy. 'He gets bored in his cage. He'd love to help put up your tents - he's always helping us circus folk with things like that. He's as strong as a lion.'

'Is he - er - is he safe?' asked d.i.c.k, eyeing the big animal doubtfully.

'Safe? What do you mean - safe?' asked Jeremy, surprised. 'He's as safe as I am! Charlie, come on out! Go on, you can undo your cage perfectly well, you know you can!'

The chimpanzee made a funny little chuckling noise, put his hand through the wire, reached the bolt, pulled it, took his hand back - and pushed open the cage door.

'See? Easy, isn't it?' said Jeremy, grinning. 'Charlie boy, come along. Your help's wanted!'

Charlie lumbered out of his cage, and went with the children to where they had left their tents and ground-sheets and the rest. He walked with his fists on the ground in a most inelegant manner, making a funny little groaning noise all the time. Mischief was rather afraid of him, and kept well to the back - but the chimpanzee suddenly turned round, caught hold of Mischief, and sat him up on his shoulder! Mischief held on, not knowing whether to be scared or jubilant!

'I wish I had my camera here,' said Anne to George. 'Just look at them - Mischief is as pleased as can be!'

They arrived at the pile of camping gear. 'Carry this, Charlie, and follow us,' ordered Jeremy. The chimp grabbed at this, that and the other, and, with his great arms full, followed the children to where they thought they could camp, with the great hedge to shelter them from the wind.

'Drop those things, Charlie,' said Jeremy, 'and go back for the rest. Buck up. Don't stand there staring! You've got work to do!'

But Charlie still crouched there, staring straight at Mischief. 'Oh! He wants Mischief the monkey to go with him!' cried George. 'Go on, Mischief, have a ride again!'

Mischief leapt up on to the chimpanzee's shoulders. Charlie put up a great paw to steady him and then lumbered off to fetch the rest of the things. One of the ground-sheets came undone, and slithered over his head like a tent, so that he couldn't see where he was going. In a rage he leapt on it and began to jump up and down, up and down, growling most terrifyingly. The children felt rather scared.

'Charlie, don't be an a.s.s!' said Jeremy, and pulled it away from him, rolling it up swiftly. The chimpanzee could manage it then, and his good temper immediately came back again.

Everything was soon piled up in one place, and Julian and d.i.c.k began to put up the tents. Charlie watched them with the greatest interest, and helped most intelligently when he saw that he could.

'He's a good sort, isn't he?' said Jeremy, proud that his friend the chimpanzee could show off like this. 'Did you see him put that tent-pole in exactly the right place? And you ought to see him fetch the pails of water for the horses each day. He carries a full pail in each hand!'

'He ought to get wages,' said Tinker.

'He does!' said Jeremy. 'He gets eight bananas a day and as many oranges as he likes. And he LOVES sweets!'

'Oh! I think I've got some!' said Tinker and delved into one of his pockets. He brought up a peculiar mixture of things, among which was a screwed-up sweet bag. Inside was a mess of half-melted boiled sweets.

'You can't give him those!' said Anne. 'They're old and sticky and messy!'

But Charlie thought differently. He took the paper bag straight out of Tinker's hand, sniffed it - and then put the whole thing into his mouth at once!

'He'll choke!' said Julian.

'Not Charlie!' said Jeremy. 'Let him be. He'll go straight back to his cage, get in, shoot the bolt and sit there sucking sweets till they're gone. He'll be as happy as can be.'

'Well - he certainly deserved a reward,' said George. 'He did all the heavy work! Come on, let's finish putting everything straight. I say - won't it be fun sleeping out in tents tonight! We'd better have supper first.'

'You can come and join us, if you like,' said Jeremy. 'We don't have posh food like you, of course - but it's good food, all the same. Old Grandma cooks it in her pot. She's two hundred years old.'

The children laughed in disbelief. 'Two hundred! n.o.body lives as long as that!' said George.

'Well, that's what she tells everyone,' said Jeremy. 'And she looks it, too! But her eyes are as sharp as needles still! Shall I tell her you'll be here to supper?'

'Well - would there be enough for so many extra?' said Julian. 'We meant to bring our own meal. Should we bring that and share everything with you? We've more than enough. Our cook Jenny said she would have it all ready for us to bring down tonight - a meat-pie - cold sausages - and apples and bananas.'

's.h.!.+ Don't say bananas in front of Charlie,' said Jeremy. 'He'll worry you for them all the time. All right - you bring your food and we'll share with you round our camp-fire. I'll tell old Grandma. We're having a sing-song tonight, and Fred the Fiddler's playing his fiddle. Ah, that fiddle! Its tunes get into your feet and away you go!'

This all sounded very exciting. Julian thought they ought to go back home before anyone began to be worried about their complete disappearance, and pack up the food for supper that night.

'We'll be back as soon as we can,' said he. 'And thanks awfully for all your help. Come on, Mischief. Say good-bye to Charlie for the moment, and don't look so gloomy. We're coming back here tonight!'

They all went back over the fence, feeling a little tired now, but full of their plans for the evening. 'It's almost like belonging to the circus, going back to sit round a camp-fire and eat supper from that old black stewpot on the fire,' said Tinker. 'I bet the supper will taste delicious. I say - I hope Dad won't mind us popping off to the circus camp.'

'I don't expect he'll even notice that we've gone,' said George. 'My father never notices things like that. Sometimes he doesn't even notice when people are there, in front of his nose!'

'Well, that must be useful at times if they're people he doesn't like,' said Tinker. 'Now - let's see what Jenny's got that we can take back with us.'

Jenny listened wide-eyed to all they had to say. 'Well, well, well!' she said. 'Camping out with the circus-folk! Whatever next? I'd like to know what your parents would think of that, Master Julian!'

'We'll ask them, next time we see them,' said Julian, with a grin. 'What do you have for our supper? We're taking it down to our camp.'

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