Mappo used to go a little ahead of
the others.
"Be careful," his mother warned him. "If you get too far away from us,
the tiger will catch you."
Then Mappo would come back.
One day, after the monkeys had opened some cocoanuts and eaten out the
white meat, Mappo thought of a good trick to play on Bumpo or Jacko.
Down on the ground, under the family tree, were some empty cocoanut
shells. One was almost whole, with only a small piece broken out.
"I'll put that piece of shell back in the hole," said Mappo, "and it
will look as though it had not been opened. Then I'll give it to Jacko
or Bumpo. They'll think it's a good cocoanut, and try to break it open.
Then won't they feel funny when they see it's empty!"
Mappo was thinking so much about the trick he was going to play, that he
did not look about, as he ought to have done, for any signs of danger.
He was down on the ground, putting the piece of shell back in the hole
in the empty cocoanut, to play a trick on one of his brothers, when, all
of a sudden, there was a crashing in the bushes, right in front of
Mappo, and out jumped the big, yellow and black striped tiger.
"Oh my!" exclaimed Mappo, and he was so frightened that he could not
move.
CHAPTER III
MAPPO IN A NET
Mappo crouched down on the ground, trying to hide under a green bush of
the jungle. In his paw he held the empty cocoanut shell with which he
was going to play a trick on Bumpo or Jacko. The tiger was creeping,
slowly, slowly along, on his soft, padded feet, just as your cat creeps
after a bird.
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