134 THE MONKEYFOLK OF SOUTH AFRICA 



master's eagle eye had seen what I had been up to. He 

 jumped off his horse, hitched it up and disappeared. 

 Presently he came back with a thing you call a hose in his 

 hand. The hose was squirting out a big stream of water. 

 He turned this on me. Finding I was being almost drowned 

 in my box, I leapt to the ground, and sprang about here, 

 there, and everywhere, but that avenging stream of water 

 followed me everywhere. At last I lay down utterly ex- 

 hausted and almost drowned. I never plucked a live fowl 

 again. 



WE HAVE LONG MEMORIES 



People say we are vindictive and don't forget to pay 

 off a grudge. Well, I admit we have that trait of character. 

 You see we are not so highly evolved as many of you human- 

 folk. We only have the lower animal portions of our brains 

 well-developed and active. The parts which make animals 

 and humanfolk kind, gentle, and humane are very small 

 in us monkeyfolk. You humanfolk haven't so very much 

 to boast of after all. There are great numbers of you who 

 are more unkind, more selfish, revengeful, spiteful and 

 cruel than even the worst of us. Why, there are whole 

 races of you humanfolk who eat each other. Yes, they 

 even kill and eat their poor old fathers and mothers, because 

 they are too old and feeble to work. 



Well, this isn't exactly what I was going to say. 



One day a young lady came to see me. She began to 

 tease me by throwing stones at me. Then she tempted 

 me with sweets and fruit, and when I was about to take 

 them she would snatch them away again. She made me 

 dreadfully angry, and I sprang at her again and again, but 

 she took good care to keep out of reach of me. How I 

 wished I could snap my chain. Throwing a dish of water 

 over me she went away. 



