"But what for?" persisted Dick.
"Oh, just pure ugliness, I guess," replied Jack.
"Then, you know, Monkey has it in for Rand for the thrashing he
once gave him for beating his dog."
"Does he carry malice like that?" asked Donald.
"He will carry it all his life," replied Jack, "and then some more.
Then Monkey doesn't like any of us because he was always behind us
in school. He says we got ahead by favor, for we aren't any smarter
than he is."
"Let fall!" ordered Gerald. "Let's try it again."
The boys bent to their work, but they had lost their vim, and they
did not strike their pace again.
"I don't understand about Monkey," began Jack, as they drew into
the landing. "There is something back of all this, and I mean to
find out what it is."
"What have you been doing," cried Pepper, who was waiting for them
on the landing, "fishing?"
"No; monkeying," answered Rand. "Jim Rae got in the way, and we
had to stop for fear of smashing into him."
"Why didn't you do it and get rid of him?" asked Pepper.
"It would more likely have got rid of us," replied Rand; "and I
guess that is what he was trying to do.
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