Summer of the Monkeys

At home, Jay Berry heads for the cellar to collect more apples for Jimbo. Daisy accosts him and tells him he is too wasteful with the apples; Jay Berry boasts that this time, he will come home with all the monkeys caught. Daisy laughs and refuses to consider this possibility. Rowdy does not willingly go along the path to the bottoms, and Jay Berry must pretend to cry fitfully to persuade him. Jay Berry feels he has no choice but to trick Rowdy: “I always felt guilty fooling my old dog that way, but the idea of going anywhere close to those monkeys without him was something I wouldn’t even consider” (122).

This time in the river bottoms, Jay Berry smells a “sweet-sour odor” and recognizes it as the scent of fermenting sour-mash. This means someone has set up a hidden still nearby for the production of whiskey. Jay Berry goes along the paths calling for Jimbo by name, feeling foolish. Soon he discovers the monkeys; they have found the whiskey still, and Jay Berry deduces from their odd behavior that they drank some of the sour-mash. He offers an apple to Jimbo: “Come on, Jimbo, look what I’ve brought you.