Oh! but he was a bad fellow!
"Ah, ha!" he cried. "Now I have you! Now I will have a piggie boy to
eat and a monkey boy to wait on the table. Come along, both of you!"
and the bad alligator made a grab for the two friends and was about
to carry them off to his den.
"Oh, please let me go!" begged Curly.
"Yes do!" asked the monkey. "Let us go."
"No! No!" snapped the alligator. And just then there sounded this
noise:
"Bang! Bang! Snap! Crack! Bang! Boom!"
"Oh I what is that?" cried the 'gator. "Oh! the hunters with their
guns are after me. I must run! This is no place for me!"
Then, dropping Curly and the monkey, the bad alligator ran away as
fast as he could, and didn't hurt either of them, and the "bang-
bang!" noises kept getting louder and louder.
"Oh, what are they?" asked Curly, who was almost as much frightened
as the alligator had been at the strange sounds.
"Nothing but the roasting chestnuts," answered Jacko the monkey.
"They are bursting and making noises like guns because the fire is
so hot, and because I forgot to make holes in the nuts to let the
steam out.
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