CHAPTER XX

THE SAPAJOU

That moment was one the girls and boys--and Rosa Lee--would never forget. What held them silent they did not know. Fear of the unknown perhaps, a temporary mental and physical paralysis. At any rate, no one moved, no one spoke, while the space between door and jamb gradually widened.

In a moment there was a rush from the half-open door, so sudden that the watchers were conscious at the time only of a draught of air blowing across the room.

Then Gerry Thompson screamed and pointed to a small, furry thing that clung to the curtain rod above the curtainless window.

“A--a monkey!” she cried hysterically.

Bab laughed; laughed so hard that she cried and choked and had to be patted on the back. She shrugged her would-be helpers off impatiently and pointed to the door.

“Gordon, close it!” she cried. “If you let that m-monkey get away again, I’ll never forgive you!”

“A monkey!” cried Gerry, shaking her fist at the little animal that merely cocked its head on one side and looked at her with grave disapproval. “And th-that’s what’s been scaring the l-life out of us all this time. Come down here, you little p-pest, and I’ll teach you some new tricks!”

For a while they all talked at once while they stood beneath the curtain rod and stared up at the monkey--who was the only calm one of the company!

At last Gordon succeeded in making his voice heard above the din.

“It’s a sapajou; comes from South America I think. Uncle John had one for a pet--remember, Charlie?”

“Sure, a cute little creature too,” returned Charlie. “Come down here, funny-face, and shake hands!”

As though in answer, the little creature swung itself head downward from the curtain rod and gravely held out its hand.

“Oh, isn’t it cute!” cried Bab, as the monkey regained its perch.

“Looks like a cat and acts like a monkey!” chuckled Gerry. “Three guesses as to what is it, anyway?”

“Well, Ah declare to goodness Ah wish Ah knew de answer to dat question!”

This remark came in plaintive tones from the farthest corner of the room. The eager group about the monkey turned to find Rosa Lee crouched behind a chair, holding on to the back of it defensively. The eyes of Bab’s old nurse rolled wildly and the hue of her skin had changed from rich chocolate color to a grayish brown.

“’Cause if it’s a cat, out Ah comes. But if it’s a monkey, here Ah stays for de rest ob de night, and wild horses, dey couldn’t drag me out o’ here, no _sir_! Ah declares to goodness, it’s de old gen’leman’s ghost, dat’s what ’tis!”

The young folks shouted with laughter as they dragged the protesting Rosa Lee from behind her frail bulwark.

“Ghost nothing!” laughed Gordon. “The old gentleman wanted to make monkeys of us all, so he left this one around to show us what we’d look like after a while!”

“Speak for yourself!” sniffed Gerry.

“Cute little beggar,” observed Charlie. “See how he watches us!”

As though encouraged by this friendly comment to approach his new acquaintances more closely, the monkey deserted its perch on the curtain rod and jumped to the center of the table, almost upsetting the lamp as it did so.

“De Lord have mercy on mah soul!” squawked Rosa Lee, starting to her feet. “De debbil’s in dat animal! Yassir, he’s de debbil’s own child, dat’s what he is!”

Gordon pushed the reluctant old woman back in her chair and tried to reassure her while the others roared with laughter.

“He’s no more a ghost than you are, Rosa Lee,” said Bab.

“And goodness knows Ah’s solid enough,” grumbled Rosa Lee, yet continued to regard the sapajou with an eye of strong suspicion and dislike.

“Look! He wants to shake hands,” said Gerry, in huge delight. “He’s the cutest thing I ever saw. Come here, Jocko!”

But the sapajou cocked its funny little head on one side, scratched himself deliberately behind the ear, and finally sidled over to where Bab regarded him, bright-eyed, from the farther side of the table.

She held out a hand to the monkey, and the little creature grasped it in both of his and swung himself to her shoulder.

“You old darling,” she cried, reaching up to rub its furry head. “Where did you come from anyway--and what do you want?”

As though in answer to the latter part of the question, two small, furry arms were wound about Bab’s neck and a bright-eyed face pressed close to hers while into the black beady eyes crept a look of such comical beatitude as was a treat to see.

“Well, if dat’s de ole gen’leman’s ghost, Ah must say he’s a mighty ’fectionate one,” remarked Rosa Lee, to the huge delight of her audience. “An’ it has mo’ sense than most ha’nts does, too, Ah reckon, ’cause it knows its own niece. Git on dere, animal!” with a defensive gesture as the sapajou turned inquisitive eyes in her direction. “Ghost or no ghost, you keeps yo’ distance, hear me? ’Less you wants to git hit wiv de rollin’ pin, you do!”

“Don’t be silly, Rosa Lee,” cried Bab, as Gerry giggled delightedly. “This is no more a ghost than you are! I remember now that Grandmother said something about Uncle Jeremiah having a monkey for a pet, a little creature he picked up while he was in South America--Brazil, I think. Anyway, this must be it.”

Rosa Lee was relieved, though by no means completely reassured.

“Well, all I has to say ’bout it is it’s mighty funny we didn’t see nothin’ of it befo’!”

“Do you think it has been hiding out around here all this time?” asked Charlie incredulously. “Say, that’s a great theory, Bab!”

“Then,” cried Gerry excitedly, “maybe it has been our ghost!”

“An’ you jest sayin’ as dis wasn’t de old gen’leman’s ghost!” protested Rosa Lee.

No one paid any attention to her, for Gerry’s theory was exciting and at the same time, which was much less usual, plausible.

“You mean this little monkey here is responsible for the food and other things that have disappeared--Bab’s lucky ring, for instance--and the strange noises we’ve heard?” demanded Gordon, with an odd look. “The monkey could have stolen the ring from her finger at night,” he added.

“Why, of course!” Gerry eagerly expounded her theory. “This little fellow--why, he explains everything, or almost everything!”

“That day in the library,” said Bab in a queer tone, “when we were certain we heard pattering feet. That was probably the sapajou then----”

“And he disappeared into the secret opening in the wall!” put in Charlie, who had lost all of his air of nonchalance.

Bab put the sapajou on the table where it looked at her reproachfully, its little head cocked on one side.

“While Uncle Jerry was alive the monkey probably saw him use that secret opening more than once. It probably learned the secret itself, imitating the old man. They are very intelligent, you know, these sapajous. Then, after Uncle Jerry’s death he took to the secret place as a natural refuge.”

“Ah reckons he’s de feller that has been helpin’ hisself to mah pies an’ doughnuts,” said Rosa Lee. “If you don’t watch out, animal, you’ll be gittin’ de rollin’ pin square on de top o’ you haid!” She said this with such a menacing gesture that the little creature chattered affrightedly and made, once more, for the safety of the curtain rod.

“Now, listen to me, gang!” Gordon’s tone was solemn, drawing their attention from the spectacle of the sapajou and Rosa Lee’s wrath.

“We’re listening,” said Gerry. “Shoot!”

“I believe Bab and Gerry have hit pretty close to the truth. This monkey probably had a hiding place back of that hole. When I stood in front of it--the hole, I mean--I distinctly caught a whiff of damp, musty air, as though it came from some space back of the wall. Now, the question is, just what _is_ back of that library wall.”

“The outer wall of the house, of course,” scoffed Charlie.

“I don’t believe it!” Gordon took him up quickly. “I think that there is a space of some sort beyond that library wall and that if we could solve that riddle we’d be on the track of the greater mystery--Bab’s inheritance.”

“The secret chamber!” said Gerry in an awed tone. “Oh, Gordon, what a lamb you are to think of it!”

“Come, be sensible, Gordon,” drawled Charlie, with an attempt at recapturing his blasé manner.

“Sensible!” exclaimed Bab. “It’s the most sensible thing that’s been said for a long time!”

“Of course it is,” declared Gerry. “We’re almost sure now to find Bab’s fortune!”

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