All the generals began to tell one another that Major Monkey was a
very brave soldier. And certainly he _said_ nothing to change their
opinion of him. He was always telling how much he liked to fight, and
complaining that he was only wasting his valuable time in Pleasant
Valley.

In a way the Major was right. And probably there never would have been
the least trouble if Johnnie Green and his friends hadn't happened to
have a picnic in the woods on the same day and in the same spot that
the Major had chosen to call his generals together.

[Illustration: "You're a Sneak-Thief!" Jasper Jay said.]

Of course, the Major couldn't drill his soldiers with Johnnie Green
and a half-dozen other boys on hand to watch. So the generals lurked
behind trees and wished that the picnickers would go away.

Meanwhile Major Monkey himself sulked in the tree-tops, hidden high up
among the leafy branches, where nobody would be likely to spy him. He
watched the boys while they ate their luncheon, which they devoured as
soon as they reached the picnic grove. And then he looked on while they
played games--hide-and-seek, and duck-on-the-rock, and follow-my-leader,
and ever so many others.

Now and then old Mr. Crow flew up and tried to talk with Major Monkey.
But the Major had very little to say. And at last Mr. Crow lost all
patience with him.

"Are you going to sit here all day and do nothing?" Mr. Crow demanded.