"I know a real nice one. Once there was a monkey--"

"No, a ape."

"Well, a ape, then. But I didn't start right. Once Mr. 'Gustus Allen
sailed round the world."

"Did? Who sailed him?"

"O, he went in one of those ships that go puffing out of the bay. And he
had a little ape, named Jacky."

"How did you know? You wasn't there."

"O, he told me about it. He was the brightest little creature, Jacky
was. When he was cold, Mr. Allen used to tuck him right in his bosom.
Sometimes he got into mischief, he knew so much."

"Did he know as much as Zip? Did he ever talk in meetin'?"

"No, he couldn't bark the way Zip did at the lecture, but he chattered,
as we do when our teeth are cold. When he'd been doing mischief he'd run
round the floor of the ship, wagging his head the way I do now, as if
he was as innocent as a whole lot of kittens. Why, he acted as you did,
Dotty, when you was a little girl, and picked the inside out of that
custard pie."

"Ahem!" said Dotty. "I guess you think you're talkin' to somebody else,
Prudy Parlin! I don't like your story; wish you'd stop."