"
"Didn't you ever hear any of them speak a word?"
"Never. I've been in a circus, man an' boy, nigh on to forty years,
an' I never seen nothin' in a monkey more 'n any other beast, except
their awful mischiefness."
"Well," said Toby, still unconvinced, "I believe Mr. Stubbs knows
what I say to him, anyway."
"Now don't be foolish, Toby," pleaded Ben. "You can't show me one
thing that a monkey ever did because you told him to."
Just at this moment Toby felt someone pulling at the back of his
coat, and, looking round, he saw it was a little brown hand, reaching
through the bars of the air hole of the cage, that was tugging away
at his coat.
"There!" he said, triumphantly, to Ben. "Look there! I told Mr.
Stubbs if he wanted anything more to eat, to tell me an' I would
give it to him. Now you can see for yourself that he's come for
it." And Toby took a doughnut from his pocket and put it into the
tiny hand, which was immediately withdrawn.
"Now what do you think of Mr. Stubbs knowing what I say to him?"
"They often stick their paws up through there," said Ben, in a
matter of fact tone. "I've had 'em pull my coat in the night till
they made me as nervous as ever any old woman was. You see, Toby
my boy, monkeys is monkeys; an' you mustn't go to gettin' the idea
that they're anything else, for it's a mistake. You think this old
monkey in here knows what you say? Why, that's just the cuteness
of the old fellow -- he watches you to see if he can't do just as
you do, an' that's all there is about it.
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