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“We can give him a ride on the back of our dog Carlo,” went on Dick. “We can take the Monkey off the stick, and tie him on Carlo’s back. Then Carlo will run and the Monkey will have a fine ride.”

The two boys hurried down the street toward Dick’s house.

“This world is full of surprises,” thought the Monkey. “I wonder what my toy friends in the store would think if they knew I was going to have a ride on a dog’s back. What a wonderful adventure it may be!”

The Monkey was not afraid. He was a courageous chap, almost as brave as the Bold Tin Soldier. One has to be brave to climb up and down a stick day after day, and turn somersaults from the top; I think.

“How can we make my Monkey stay on your Carlo’s back?” asked Herbert, as they reached Dick’s house.

“We can tie him on, same as my sister once tied her Sawdust Doll to the back of the Lamb on Wheels,” Dick answered.

“And maybe, some day, we can have a little show,” said Herbert.

“What kind of show?” Dick asked, as he ate the last piece of candy he had bought on his way from school, having shared some with Herbert.

“Oh, a show with my Monkey in it, and your Rocking Horse, and Arnold’s Tin Soldiers, and Mirabell’s Lamb and Madeline’s Candy Rabbit,” Herbert replied.

“Here, Carlo! Carlo!” called Dick. “Come and give Herbert’s Monkey a ride on your back.”

Carlo came running up, wagging his tail. He liked to play with the boys, and he did not make a bit of fuss when Dick and Herbert tied the Monkey on his back. Of course the Monkey was taken off his stick for this strange ride. He was tied on with bits of string, as the boys had plenty of this in their pockets.

“Hold still a minute, Carlo!” called Dick, for the dog was wiggling and twisting around. “Hold still and we’ll soon be ready.”

“How are you going to make him run, after we get the Monkey fastened on his back?” asked Herbert.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Dick answered. “We’ll just run down the meadow toward the brook and he’ll follow us all right. He’ll give the Monkey a fine ride, won’t you, Carlo?”

“Bow wow!” barked the dog, which, I suppose, was his way of saying: “Yes!”

“Well, I surely hope nothing serious will happen,” thought the Monkey, as he found himself being tied on the dog’s fuzzy back. “I have had many adventures, but never one like this. I hope nothing terrible happens!”

In another minute the boys tied the last knot. There sat the Monkey, off his stick, on Carlo’s back.

“Come on, now!” cried Dick, and he and Herbert started to run.

With a bark Carlo took after them, the Monkey bobbing backward and forward on the dog’s back.

“As long as they can’t very well see me, I’ll grab hold of the dog’s hair in my hands,” said the Monkey. “In that way I can hold on better. Some of the strings may break.”

He clutched his hands tightly in the dog’s hair. Carlo ran faster and faster after the boys.

“Don’t go so quick!” begged the Monkey.

“Bow wow! I have to!” barked Carlo.

“Oh, I know something dreadful will happen!” exclaimed the Monkey. “I just know it!”

CHAPTER V

MONKEYSHINES

Over the green meadow, with the Monkey on his back, ran Carlo the dog. In front of the dog raced Herbert and Dick, now and then looking back and laughing. It was great fun for the boys to see the Monkey having a ride on the dog’s back. And, to tell the truth, Carlo and the Monkey were enjoying it themselves.

“Do I hurt you, holding on this way?” asked the Monkey of Carlo, grasping tightly the dog’s woolly back. “Do I pull your hair any?”

“Oh, not much,” Carlo barked in answer. “I don’t mind a little pull like that.”