Anecdotes of the Habits and Instinct of Animals | Page 3

which kept him quiet for a few days; but no
sooner was the pain gone than he repeated the mischief.
Two days in each week, the pigs, which formed part of our live stock,
were allowed to run about the deck for exercise, and then Jack was
particularly happy: hiding himself behind a cask, he would suddenly
spring on to the back of one of them, his face to the tail, and away
scampered his frightened steed. Sometimes an obstacle would impede
the gallop, and then Jack, loosening the hold which he had acquired by
digging his nails into the skin of the pig, industriously tried to uncurl its
tail, and if he were saluted by a laugh from some one near by, he would
look up with an assumed air of wonder, as much as to say; What can
you find to laugh at? When the pigs were shut up, he thought it his turn
to give others a ride, and there were three little monkeys, with red skins
and blue faces, whom he particularly favored: I frequently met him
with all of them on his back at the same time, squeaking and huddling
together, and with difficulty preserving their seat; when he suddenly
stopped, and seemed to ask me to praise the good-natured action which
he was performing. He was, however, jealous of all those of his
brethren who came in contact with me, and freed himself from two of
his rivals by throwing them into the sea. One of them was a small Lion
monkey, of great beauty and extreme gentleness, and immediately after
I had been feeding him, Jack called him with a coaxing, patronizing air;
but as soon as he was within reach, the perfidious creature seized him
by the nape of his neck, and, as quick as thought, popped him over the
side of the ship. We were going at a brisk rate, and although a rope was
thrown out to him, the poor little screaming thing was soon left behind,
very much to my distress, for his almost human agony of countenance
was painful to behold. For this, Jack was punished by being shut up all
day in the empty hen-coop, in which he usually passed the night, and
which he so hated, that when bed-time came, he generally avoided the
clutches of the steward; he, however, committed so much mischief
when unwatched, that it had become necessary to confine him at night,
and I was often obliged to perform the office of nursemaid. Jack's

principal punishment, however, was to be taken in front of the cage in
which a panther belonging to me was placed, in the fore part of the
deck. His alarm was intense; the panther set up his back and growled,
but Jack instantly closed his eyes, and made himself perfectly rigid. I
generally held him up by the tail, and if I moved, he cautiously opened
one eye; but if he caught sight of even a corner of the cage, he shut it
fast, and again pretended to be dead. His drollest trick was practised on
a poor little black monkey; taking the opportunity when a calm, similar
to that spoken of above, left him nearly the sole possessor of the deck. I
do not know that he saw me, for I was sitting behind the companion
door. The men had been painting the ship outside, and were putting a
broad band of white upon her, when they went to dinner below, leaving
their paint and brushes on the upper deck. Jack enticed his victim to
him, who meekly obeyed the summons; and, seizing him with one hand,
he, with the other, took the brush, and covered him with the white fluid
from head to foot. The laugh of the man at the helm called my attention
to the circumstance, and as soon as Jack perceived he was discovered,
he dropped his dripping brother, and rapidly scampered up the rigging,
till he gained the main-top, where he stood with his nose between the
bars, looking at what was going on below. As the other monkey began
to lick himself, I called up the steward, who washed him clean with
turpentine, and no harm ensued; but Jack was afraid to come down, and
only after three days passed in his elevated place of refuge did hunger
compel him to descend. He chose the moment when I was sitting on
deck, and, swinging himself by a rope, he dropped suddenly into my
lap, looking so imploringly at me for pardon, that I not only forgave
him myself, but procured his absolution from others. Jack and I parted
a little to the south of the Sicily Islands, after five month's
companionship, and never met again; but I was told that he was