Oh, how I wished that I could be a human being for a few minutes! A
big strong man with a rope in my hands, and that fellow tied to one
end of it. Wouldn't I make him dance? Wouldn't I jerk him and scold
him and beat him, and give him a taste of how it feels to be a
helpless animal, sick and suffering, in the power of a great ugly
brute like himself?

Maybe he would not have been so rough if he had known that any one
besides the children was looking on. He did not see the gentleman
standing at the open front door across the street, watching him with a
frown on his face. He did not see him, as I did, walk back into the
hall and turn the crank of an alarm-signal. But in less than two
minutes, it seemed to me, that same gentleman was coming across the
street with the policeman he had summoned. A few words passed between
them, and almost before the children knew what was happening, the
policeman had the organ-grinder by the arm, and was marching him off
down the street. The gentleman who had caused the arrest followed with
the poor trembling monkey.

"That's the president of the society for preventin' you bein' cruel to
animals," explained one of the larger boys to the crowd of children.
"You dasn't hurt a fly when he is around. Lucky for the monk that the
man happened to stop in front of his house this mornin'. Come on, lets
see what they do with it."

The children trooped off after him, and Phil and Elsie watched them
down the street until they were out of sight, pushing and tripping at
each other's heels in their eagerness to follow.