Pet Monkey on Board Ship

Some years ago, just before the Russian war, there was on board her Majesty's ship Bellerophon an ape, which belonged to the Captain. Like all the rest of his tribe, he was very fond of mischief, and therefore was kept chained by the waist to a kennel in which he resided. This he used to drag about with him on the main deck, where he was kept, always taking care to hold the chain in one hand to keep the strain off his belt. He was very fond of sitting before the galley fire, warming himself, sometimes much to the inconvenience of the cooks, who, however, were on very good terms with him in general.

He saved them a good deal of trouble at last, for one day, finding the galley quite clear, Jacko tried his hand at "cooking" and very nearly succeeded in producing a dish of boiled monkey. A kettle was fizzing away merrily, and, of course, Jacko began to examine it with his hands, and the result was he turned the boiling water over himself. He was on the sick list for some time afterward and lost a good deal of hair and some skin. He could not bear the sight of a kettle after that, and the cooks found it out, so when Jacko got in the way they used to show him a kettle (full or empty); this was quite enough to start him off for an hour or so.

He nearly came to grief once with another experiment. One cold night he found the oven door open, and though the fire was out, the oven was warm. "Oh, ho!" thought Jacko, "here are snug quarters at all events," so in he walked unperceived and was soon comfortably asleep. By and by, the cook came and lighted the fire, and not knowing there was a stranger on the premises, he shut the oven door. When the fire grew brisk, a most extraordinary noise emanated from the oven; when the door was opened by the sentry, who thought his sable majesty was in it, out jumped Jacko grinning and chattering at a tremendous rate, no doubt feeling unpleasantly hot. He never tried that sleeping apartment again.

After a time he hit upon another and safer way of keeping himself warm at night. He discovered that by standing on the top rail of the sheep pens he could reach the fowl coops which were hung to the beams above them. Up he went, and watched till a fowl put its head out between the bars. Jacko at once made a grab, and pulled the unfortunate fowl out by the neck. Finding the fowl was warm, he dragged his kennel back to his place before the fire, taking his game with him, and there he slept all night, with the bird in his arms, like a baby.

Next morning, when the fire was lighted, out he came with his living blanket. He allowed the fowl to walk about, but the moment it showed signs of going out of reach of his arm he pulled it back again, and gave it a [...]