One day the captain's gold snuff-box was missing. It was known that the monkeys had stolen it, for both of them were taken with a severe fit of sneezing. But no one could find it, until the little one was seen peeping into a middy's chest. Searching this, the box was found below the clothing.
Another theft was made while the ship was at anchor in Kingston harbor, Jamaica. This time it was a bottle of wine, which the big one emptied without leaving a drop for his pal, who sat and looked at him as if he had been very badly treated.
In a few minutes the big thief was reeling about the deck very drunk. He jumped on the bulwarks, and seeing a shark swimming around the ship began a great jabbering and at last jumped overboard, perhaps with some idea of making a pet of the big fish. One snap of the huge jaws and the drunken monkey was no more.
The little one saw this with screams of agony. He could not be consoled for the loss of his mate, and the next day he, too, jumped overboard and was soon in the same place as his dead friend.
What has been said above goes to show that the monkey can think and that it comes next to man in doing its own thinking. It goes to school, no doubt, as boys and girls go to school, but it teaches itself also, as may be seen in the story of the monkey and the brush-handle. But the monkey can not only think, it can also feel, and when we tell of some of its shows of feeling it almost seems as if we were talking about people like ourselves.
Here is a story that has been often told, but is worth telling again. A man in India had shot a female monkey and carried it to his tent. A crowd of friends of the dead animal, forty or fifty of them, soon gathered round the tent, making a great noise and acting as if they were about to make an attack on the sportsman. Only when he came out gun in hand did they run away, as if they well knew the powers of that dreadful weapon.
But the leader of the band stood his ground, chattering away in monkey language. When he found that his fury and his threats did no good, he came to the tent door and began to moan in a sorrowful manner and to make signs as if to beg for the dead body. When it was given to him he took it in his arms and carried it away to his waiting friends. All those who saw this sad scene vowed that they would never again fire at one of the monkey race.