Page:The red book of animal stories.djvu/156

 into the studio, and handed Michette over to the cook, who thought for some time that she was quite dead; but the warmth of the kitchen and judicious feeding gradually restored her, and in a day or two she was herself once more; but nothing would ever induce her to go near Jacko again.

Jacko himself was rather stiff, but he soon recovered his circulation and wonted activity, except in his tail, which remained frozen, and which, having frozen whilst curled round Michette's tail, retained a corkscrew form—a shape unknown amongst monkeys, and which had the funniest appearance you can imagine.

Three days later a thaw set in, and the thaw caused a strange thing to happen.

One day Jacko was perched on the top of a tall ladder in the studio, when a lad suddenly came in bringing back a large lion's skin which Tony had sent to be mounted. The boy had hung the skin over his back, and it partly covered his head; and his appearance, and the smell of the skin, so terrified Jacko, that he turned quite faint and fell down from the ladder.

He was promptly picked up and soon restored to his senses, but in the sudden fall his frozen tail had snapped right off, and Jacko had to pass the remainder of his life a tail-less monkey.