They arrived at the pile of camping gear. “Carry this, Charlie, and follow us,” ordered Jeremy. The chimp grabbed at this, that and the other, and, with his great arms full, followed the children to where they thought they could camp, with the great hedge to shelter them from the wind.

“Drop those things, Charlie,” said Jeremy, “and go back for the rest. Buck up. Don’t stand there staring! You’ve got work to do!”

But Charlie still crouched there, staring straight at Mischief. “Oh! He wants Mischief the monkey to go with him!” cried George. “Go on, Mischief, have a ride again!”

Mischief leapt up on to the chimpanzee’s shoulders. Charlie put up a great paw to steady him and then lumbered off to fetch the rest of the things. One of the ground-sheets came undone, and slithered over his head like a tent, so that he couldn’t see where he was going. In a rage he leapt on it and began to jump up and down, up and down, growling most terrifyingly. The children felt rather scared.

“Charlie, don’t be an ass!” said Jeremy, and pulled it away from him, rolling it up swiftly. The chimpanzee could manage it then, and his good temper immediately came back again.

Everything was soon piled up in one place, and Julian and Dick began to put up the tents. Charlie watched them with the greatest interest, and helped most intelligently when he saw that he could.

“He’s a good sort, isn’t he?” said Jeremy, proud that his friend the chimpanzee could show off like this. “Did you see him put that tent-pole in exactly the right place? And you ought to see him fetch the pails of water for the horses each day. He carries a full pail in each hand!”

“He ought to get wages,” said Tinker.

“He does!” said Jeremy. “He gets eight bananas a day and as many oranges as he likes. And he LOVES sweets!”

“Oh! I think I’ve got some!” said Tinker and delved into one of his pockets. He brought up a peculiar mixture of things, among which was a screwed-up sweet bag. Inside was a mess of half-melted boiled sweets.

“You can’t give him those!” said Anne. “They’re old and sticky and messy!”

But Charlie thought differently. He took the paper bag straight out of Tinker’s hand, sniffed it — and then put the whole thing into his mouth at once!

“He’ll choke!” said Julian.

“Not Charlie!” said Jeremy. “Let him be. He’ll go straight back to his cage, get in, shoot the bolt and sit there sucking sweets till they’re gone. He’ll be as happy as can be.”

“Well — he certainly deserved a reward,” said George. “He did all the heavy work! Come on, let’s finish putting everything straight. I say — won’t it be fun sleeping out in tents tonight! We’d better have supper first.”

“You can come and join us, if you like,” said Jeremy. “We don’t have posh food like you, of course — but it’s good food, all the same. Old Grandma cooks it in her pot. She’s two hundred years old.”