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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
+the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle
+
+Author: Hugh Lofting
+
+Release Date: May 19, 2016 [EBook #1154]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Emmy, MWS and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+_THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE_
+
+[Illustration:
+
+         I
+    HIS LANDING
+      ON THE
+      ISLAND
+
+        II
+    HIS MEETING
+      WITH THE
+       BEETLE
+
+        III
+    HE LIBERATES
+      THE LOST
+      FAMILIES
+
+       IV
+    HE MAKES
+      FIRE
+
+         V
+    HE LEADS THE
+     PEOPLE TO
+    VICTORY IN
+       WAR
+
+      VI
+     HE IS
+    CROWNED
+     KING
+
+THE POPSIPETEL PICTURE-HISTORY OF KING JONG THINKALOT]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+    _The_ VOYAGES _of_
+    DOCTOR DOLITTLE
+
+    ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR
+
+    BY HUGH LOFTING
+
+    _Published by
+    FREDK. A. STOKES Co.
+    at 443 Fourth Avenue New York A.D. 1922_
+
+
+
+
+    _Copyright, 1922, by_
+    FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
+
+    _All rights reserved, including that of translation
+    into foreign languages_
+
+    First Printing,        August 18, 1922
+    Second Printing,     November 10, 1922
+    Third Printing,      February 28, 1923
+    Fourth Printing,         June 20, 1923
+    Fifth Printing,        August 16, 1923
+    Sixth Printing,      November 30, 1923
+    Seventh Printing,       April 18, 1925
+    Eighth Printing,        March 19, 1926
+    Ninth Printing,          July 30, 1927
+    Tenth Printing,         April 11, 1928
+    Eleventh Printing,       June 19, 1929
+    Twelfth Printing,   September 12, 1930
+    Thirteenth Printing,   August 10, 1931
+    Fourteenth Printing, September 1, 1933
+
+    _Printed in the United States of America_
+
+
+
+
+    _To
+    Colin
+    and
+    Elizabeth_
+
+
+
+
+_CONTENTS_
+
+
+    PART ONE
+    CHAPTER                                      PAGE
+    PROLOGUE                                        1
+       I THE COBBLER’S SON                          3
+      II I HEAR OF THE GREAT NATURALIST             8
+     III THE DOCTOR’S HOME                         15
+      IV THE WIFF-WAFF                             24
+       V POLYNESIA                                 32
+      VI THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL                      41
+     VII SHELLFISH TALK                            45
+    VIII ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?                   50
+      IX THE GARDEN OF DREAMS                      55
+       X THE PRIVATE ZOO                           60
+      XI MY SCHOOLMASTER, POLYNESIA                65
+     XII MY GREAT IDEA                             70
+    XIII A TRAVELER ARRIVES                        75
+     XIV CHEE-CHEE’S VOYAGE                        80
+      XV I BECOME A DOCTOR’S ASSISTANT             84
+
+    PART TWO
+       I THE CREW OF “THE CURLEW”                  88
+      II LUKE THE HERMIT                           91
+     III JIP AND THE SECRET                        95
+      IV BOB                                       99
+       V MENDOZA                                  105
+      VI THE JUDGE’S DOG                          111
+     VII THE END OF THE MYSTERY                   116
+    VIII THREE CHEERS                             121
+      IX THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE              126
+       X LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW      129
+      XI BLIND TRAVEL                             135
+     XII DESTINY AND DESTINATION                  140
+
+    PART THREE
+       I THE THIRD MAN                            144
+      II GOOD-BYE!                                151
+     III OUR TROUBLES BEGIN                       155
+      IV OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE                    160
+       V POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN                     167
+      VI THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE              172
+     VII THE DOCTOR’S WAGER                       177
+    VIII THE GREAT BULLFIGHT                      184
+      IX WE DEPART IN A HURRY                     193
+
+    PART FOUR
+       I SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN                198
+      II THE FIDGIT’S STORY                       205
+     III BAD WEATHER                              221
+      IV WRECKED!                                 225
+       V LAND!                                    233
+      VI THE JABIZRI                              239
+     VII HAWK’S-HEAD MOUNTAIN                     245
+
+    PART FIVE
+       I A GREAT MOMENT                           253
+      II “THE MEN OF THE MOVING LAND”             262
+     III FIRE                                     266
+      IV WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT               271
+       V WAR!                                     275
+      VI GENERAL POLYNESIA                        282
+     VII THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS                 287
+    VIII THE HANGING STONE                        291
+      IX THE ELECTION                             300
+       X THE CORONATION OF KING JONG              308
+
+    PART SIX
+       I NEW POPSIPETEL                           314
+      II THOUGHTS OF HOME                         322
+     III THE RED MAN’S SCIENCE                    328
+      IV THE SEA-SERPENT                          332
+       V THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED AT LAST      340
+      VI THE LAST CABINET MEETING                 346
+     VII THE DOCTOR’S DECISION                    350
+
+
+
+
+_ILLUSTRATIONS_
+
+
+  The Popsipetel Picture-History of King Jong Thinkalot
+        (in colors)                                      _Frontispiece_
+                                                                  PAGE
+  “I would sit on the river-wall with my feet dangling
+        over the water”                                              5
+  “And in her right foot she carried a lighted candle!”             22
+  “‘Being a good noticer is terribly important’”                    53
+  A traveler arrives                                                77
+  “On the bed sat the Hermit”                                      101
+  “Sat scowling down upon the amazed and gaping jury”              115
+  “‘What else can I think?’”                                       133
+  “‘Boy, where’s the skipper?’”                                    147
+  “In these lower levels we came upon the shadowy shapes
+        of dead ships” (in colors)                                 162
+  “The Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the bed-maker”        175
+  “Did acrobatics on the beast’s horns”                            189
+  “‘He talks English!’”                                            201
+  “I was alone in the ocean!”                                      226
+  “It was a great moment”                                          257
+  The Terrible Three                                               279
+  “Working away with their noses against the end of the
+        island”                                                    293
+  “The Whispering Rocks”                                           295
+  “Had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his head”        317
+  “‘Tiptoe incognito,’ whispered Bumpo”                            353
+
+
+
+
+_THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE_
+
+
+
+
+THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE
+
+
+ALL that I have written so far about Doctor Dolittle I heard long after
+it happened from those who had known him—indeed a great deal of it took
+place before I was born. But I now come to set down that part of the
+great man’s life which I myself saw and took part in.
+
+Many years ago the Doctor gave me permission to do this. But we were
+both of us so busy then voyaging around the world, having adventures
+and filling note-books full of natural history that I never seemed to
+get time to sit down and write of our doings.
+
+Now of course, when I am quite an old man, my memory isn’t so good any
+more. But whenever I am in doubt and have to hesitate and think, I
+always ask Polynesia, the parrot.
+
+That wonderful bird (she is now nearly two hundred and fifty years old)
+sits on the top of my desk, usually humming sailor songs to herself,
+while I write this book. And, as every one who ever met her knows,
+Polynesia’s memory is the most marvelous memory in the world. If
+there is any happening I am not quite sure of, she is always able to
+put me right, to tell me exactly how it took place, who was there and
+everything about it. In fact sometimes I almost think I ought to say
+that this book was written by Polynesia instead of me.
+
+Very well then, I will begin. And first of all I must tell you
+something about myself and how I came to meet the Doctor.
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIRST CHAPTER_
+
+THE COBBLER’S SON
+
+
+MY name was Tommy Stubbins, son of Jacob Stubbins, the cobbler of
+Puddleby-on-the-Marsh; and I was nine and a half years old. At that
+time Puddleby was only quite a small town. A river ran through the
+middle of it; and over this river there was a very old stone bridge,
+called Kingsbridge, which led you from the market-place on one side to
+the churchyard on the other.
+
+Sailing-ships came up this river from the sea and anchored near the
+bridge. I used to go down and watch the sailors unloading the ships
+upon the river-wall. The sailors sang strange songs as they pulled upon
+the ropes; and I learned these songs by heart. And I would sit on the
+river-wall with my feet dangling over the water and sing with the men,
+pretending to myself that I too was a sailor.
+
+For I longed always to sail away with those brave ships when they
+turned their backs on Puddleby Church and went creeping down the river
+again, across the wide lonely marshes to the sea. I longed to go with
+them out into the world to seek my fortune in foreign lands—Africa,
+India, China and Peru! When they got round the bend in the river and
+the water was hidden from view, you could still see their huge brown
+sails towering over the roofs of the town, moving onward slowly—like
+some gentle giants that walked among the houses without noise. What
+strange things would they have seen, I wondered, when next they came
+back to anchor at Kingsbridge! And, dreaming of the lands I had never
+seen, I’d sit on there, watching till they were out of sight.
+
+Three great friends I had in Puddleby in those days. One was Joe, the
+mussel-man, who lived in a tiny hut by the edge of the water under the
+bridge. This old man was simply marvelous at making things. I never saw
+a man so clever with his hands. He used to mend my toy ships for me
+which I sailed upon the river; he built windmills out of packing-cases
+and barrel-staves; and he could make the most wonderful kites from old
+umbrellas.
+
+Joe would sometimes take me in his mussel-boat, and when the tide
+was running out we would paddle down the river as far as the edge of
+the sea to get mussels and lobsters to sell. And out there on the
+cold lonely marshes we would see wild geese flying, and curlews and
+redshanks and many other kinds of seabirds that live among the samfire
+and the long grass of the great salt fen. And as we crept up the river
+in the evening, when the tide had turned, we would see the lights
+on Kingsbridge twinkle in the dusk, reminding us of tea-time and warm
+fires.
+
+[Illustration: “I would sit on the river-wall with my feet dangling
+over the water”]
+
+Another friend I had was Matthew Mugg, the cat’s-meat-man. He was a
+funny old person with a bad squint. He looked rather awful but he
+was really quite nice to talk to. He knew everybody in Puddleby;
+and he knew all the dogs and all the cats. In those times being a
+cat’s-meat-man was a regular business. And you could see one nearly any
+day going through the streets with a wooden tray full of pieces of meat
+stuck on skewers crying, “Meat! M-E-A-T!” People paid him to give this
+meat to their cats and dogs instead of feeding them on dog-biscuits or
+the scraps from the table.
+
+I enjoyed going round with old Matthew and seeing the cats and dogs
+come running to the garden-gates whenever they heard his call.
+Sometimes he let me give the meat to the animals myself; and I thought
+this was great fun. He knew a lot about dogs and he would tell me
+the names of the different kinds as we went through the town. He had
+several dogs of his own; one, a whippet, was a very fast runner, and
+Matthew used to win prizes with her at the Saturday coursing races;
+another, a terrier, was a fine ratter. The cat’s-meat-man used to make
+a business of rat-catching for the millers and farmers as well as his
+other trade of selling cat’s-meat.
+
+My third great friend was Luke the Hermit. But of him I will tell you
+more later on.
+
+I did not go to school; because my father was not rich enough to send
+me. But I was extremely fond of animals. So I used to spend my time
+collecting birds’ eggs and butterflies, fishing in the river, rambling
+through the countryside after blackberries and mushrooms and helping
+the mussel-man mend his nets.
+
+Yes, it was a very pleasant life I lived in those days long ago—though
+of course I did not think so then. I was nine and a half years old;
+and, like all boys, I wanted to grow up—not knowing how well off I was
+with no cares and nothing to worry me. Always I longed for the time
+when I should be allowed to leave my father’s house, to take passage
+in one of those brave ships, to sail down the river through the misty
+marshes to the sea—out into the world to seek my fortune.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SECOND CHAPTER_
+
+I HEAR OF THE GREAT NATURALIST
+
+
+ONE early morning in the Springtime, when I was wandering among the
+hills at the back of the town, I happened to come upon a hawk with a
+squirrel in its claws. It was standing on a rock and the squirrel was
+fighting very hard for its life. The hawk was so frightened when I came
+upon it suddenly like this, that it dropped the poor creature and flew
+away. I picked the squirrel up and found that two of its legs were
+badly hurt. So I carried it in my arms back to the town.
+
+When I came to the bridge I went into the mussel-man’s hut and asked
+him if he could do anything for it. Joe put on his spectacles and
+examined it carefully. Then he shook his head.
+
+“Yon crittur’s got a broken leg,” he said—“and another badly cut an’
+all. I can mend you your boats, Tom, but I haven’t the tools nor the
+learning to make a broken squirrel seaworthy. This is a job for a
+surgeon—and for a right smart one an’ all. There be only one man I know
+who could save yon crittur’s life. And that’s John Dolittle.”
+
+“Who is John Dolittle?” I asked. “Is he a vet?”
+
+“No,” said the mussel-man. “He’s no vet. Doctor Dolittle is a
+nacheralist.”
+
+“What’s a nacheralist?”
+
+“A nacheralist,” said Joe, putting away his glasses and starting to
+fill his pipe, “is a man who knows all about animals and butterflies
+and plants and rocks an’ all. John Dolittle is a very great
+nacheralist. I’m surprised you never heard of him—and you daft over
+animals. He knows a whole lot about shellfish—that I know from my own
+knowledge. He’s a quiet man and don’t talk much; but there’s folks who
+do say he’s the greatest nacheralist in the world.”
+
+“Where does he live?” I asked.
+
+“Over on the Oxenthorpe Road, t’other side the town. Don’t know just
+which house it is, but ’most anyone ’cross there could tell you, I
+reckon. Go and see him. He’s a great man.”
+
+So I thanked the mussel-man, took up my squirrel again and started off
+towards the Oxenthorpe Road.
+
+The first thing I heard as I came into the market-place was some one
+calling “Meat! M-E-A-T!”
+
+“There’s Matthew Mugg,” I said to myself. “He’ll know where this Doctor
+lives. Matthew knows everyone.”
+
+So I hurried across the market-place and caught him up.
+
+“Matthew,” I said, “do you know Doctor Dolittle?”
+
+“Do I know John Dolittle!” said he. “Well, I should think I do! I know
+him as well as I know my own wife—better, I sometimes think. He’s a
+great man—a very great man.”
+
+“Can you show me where he lives?” I asked. “I want to take this
+squirrel to him. It has a broken leg.”
+
+“Certainly,” said the cat’s-meat-man. “I’ll be going right by his house
+directly. Come along and I’ll show you.”
+
+So off we went together.
+
+“Oh, I’ve known John Dolittle for years and years,” said Matthew as we
+made our way out of the market-place. “But I’m pretty sure he ain’t
+home just now. He’s away on a voyage. But he’s liable to be back any
+day. I’ll show you his house and then you’ll know where to find him.”
+
+All the way down the Oxenthorpe Road Matthew hardly stopped talking
+about his great friend, Doctor John Dolittle—“M. D.” He talked so much
+that he forgot all about calling out “Meat!” until we both suddenly
+noticed that we had a whole procession of dogs following us patiently.
+
+“Where did the Doctor go to on this voyage?” I asked as Matthew handed
+round the meat to them.
+
+“I couldn’t tell you,” he answered. “Nobody never knows where he goes,
+nor when he’s going, nor when he’s coming back. He lives all alone
+except for his pets. He’s made some great voyages and some wonderful
+discoveries. Last time he came back he told me he’d found a tribe of
+Red Indians in the Pacific Ocean—lived on two islands, they did. The
+husbands lived on one island and the wives lived on the other. Sensible
+people, some of them savages. They only met once a year, when the
+husbands came over to visit the wives for a great feast—Christmas-time,
+most likely. Yes, he’s a wonderful man is the Doctor. And as for
+animals, well, there ain’t no one knows as much about ’em as what he
+does.”
+
+“How did he get to know so much about animals?” I asked.
+
+The cat’s-meat-man stopped and leant down to whisper in my ear.
+
+“_He talks their language_,” he said in a hoarse, mysterious voice.
+
+“The animals’ language?” I cried.
+
+“Why certainly,” said Matthew. “All animals have some kind of a
+language. Some sorts talk more than others; some only speak in
+sign-language, like deaf-and-dumb. But the Doctor, he understands them
+all—birds as well as animals. We keep it a secret though, him and me,
+because folks only laugh at you when you speak of it. Why, he can
+even write animal-language. He reads aloud to his pets. He’s wrote
+history-books in monkey-talk, poetry in canary language and comic
+songs for magpies to sing. It’s a fact. He’s now busy learning the
+language of the shellfish. But he says it’s hard work—and he has caught
+some terrible colds, holding his head under water so much. He’s a great
+man.”
+
+“He certainly must be,” I said. “I do wish he were home so I could meet
+him.”
+
+“Well, there’s his house, look,” said the cat’s-meat-man—“that little
+one at the bend in the road there—the one high up—like it was sitting
+on the wall above the street.”
+
+We were now come beyond the edge of the town. And the house that
+Matthew pointed out was quite a small one standing by itself. There
+seemed to be a big garden around it; and this garden was much higher
+than the road, so you had to go up a flight of steps in the wall before
+you reached the front gate at the top. I could see that there were many
+fine fruit trees in the garden, for their branches hung down over the
+wall in places. But the wall was so high I could not see anything else.
+
+When we reached the house Matthew went up the steps to the front gate
+and I followed him. I thought he was going to go into the garden; but
+the gate was locked. A dog came running down from the house; and he
+took several pieces of meat which the cat’s-meat-man pushed through
+the bars of the gate, and some paper bags full of corn and bran. I
+noticed that this dog did not stop to eat the meat, as any ordinary
+dog would have done, but he took all the things back to the house and
+disappeared. He had a curious wide collar round his neck which looked
+as though it were made of brass or something. Then we came away.
+
+“The Doctor isn’t back yet,” said Matthew, “or the gate wouldn’t be
+locked.”
+
+“What were all those things in paper-bags you gave the dog?” I asked.
+
+“Oh, those were provisions,” said Matthew—“things for the animals to
+eat. The Doctor’s house is simply full of pets. I give the things to
+the dog, while the Doctor’s away, and the dog gives them to the other
+animals.”
+
+“And what was that curious collar he was wearing round his neck?”
+
+“That’s a solid gold dog-collar,” said Matthew. “It was given to him
+when he was with the Doctor on one of his voyages long ago. He saved a
+man’s life.”
+
+“How long has the Doctor had him?” I asked.
+
+“Oh, a long time. Jip’s getting pretty old now. That’s why the Doctor
+doesn’t take him on his voyages any more. He leaves him behind to take
+care of the house. Every Monday and Thursday I bring the food to the
+gate here and give it him through the bars. He never lets any one come
+inside the garden while the Doctor’s away—not even me, though he knows
+me well. But you’ll always be able to tell if the Doctor’s back or
+not—because if he is, the gate will surely be open.”
+
+So I went off home to my father’s house and put my squirrel to bed in
+an old wooden box full of straw. And there I nursed him myself and took
+care of him as best I could till the time should come when the Doctor
+would return. And every day I went to the little house with the big
+garden on the edge of the town and tried the gate to see if it were
+locked. Sometimes the dog, Jip, would come down to the gate to meet
+me. But though he always wagged his tail and seemed glad to see me, he
+never let me come inside the garden.
+
+
+
+
+_THE THIRD CHAPTER_
+
+THE DOCTOR’S HOME
+
+
+ONE Monday afternoon towards the end of April my father asked me to
+take some shoes which he had mended to a house on the other side of the
+town. They were for a Colonel Bellowes who was very particular.
+
+I found the house and rang the bell at the front door. The Colonel
+opened it, stuck out a very red face and said, “Go round to the
+tradesmen’s entrance—go to the back door.” Then he slammed the door
+shut.
+
+I felt inclined to throw the shoes into the middle of his flower-bed.
+But I thought my father might be angry, so I didn’t. I went round
+to the back door, and there the Colonel’s wife met me and took the
+shoes from me. She looked a timid little woman and had her hands all
+over flour as though she were making bread. She seemed to be terribly
+afraid of her husband whom I could still hear stumping round the house
+somewhere, grunting indignantly because I had come to the front door.
+Then she asked me in a whisper if I would have a bun and a glass of
+milk. And I said, “Yes, please.”
+
+After I had eaten the bun and milk, I thanked the Colonel’s wife and
+came away. Then I thought that before I went home I would go and see
+if the Doctor had come back yet. I had been to his house once already
+that morning. But I thought I’d just like to go and take another look.
+My squirrel wasn’t getting any better and I was beginning to be worried
+about him.
+
+So I turned into the Oxenthorpe Road and started off towards the
+Doctor’s house. On the way I noticed that the sky was clouding over and
+that it looked as though it might rain.
+
+I reached the gate and found it still locked. I felt very discouraged.
+I had been coming here every day for a week now. The dog, Jip, came to
+the gate and wagged his tail as usual, and then sat down and watched me
+closely to see that I didn’t get in.
+
+I began to fear that my squirrel would die before the Doctor came back.
+I turned away sadly, went down the steps on to the road and turned
+towards home again.
+
+I wondered if it were supper-time yet. Of course I had no watch of my
+own, but I noticed a gentleman coming towards me down the road; and
+when he got nearer I saw it was the Colonel out for a walk. He was all
+wrapped up in smart overcoats and mufflers and bright-colored gloves.
+It was not a very cold day but he had so many clothes on he looked
+like a pillow inside a roll of blankets. I asked him if he would please
+tell me the time.
+
+He stopped, grunted and glared down at me—his red face growing redder
+still; and when he spoke it sounded like the cork coming out of a
+gingerbeer-bottle.
+
+“Do you imagine for one moment,” he spluttered, “that I am going to get
+myself all unbuttoned just to tell a little boy like you _the time_!”
+And he went stumping down the street, grunting harder than ever.
+
+I stood still a moment looking after him and wondering how old I would
+have to be, to have him go to the trouble of getting his watch out. And
+then, all of a sudden, the rain came down in torrents.
+
+I have never seen it rain so hard. It got dark, almost like night. The
+wind began to blow; the thunder rolled; the lightning flashed, and in a
+moment the gutters of the road were flowing like a river. There was no
+place handy to take shelter, so I put my head down against the driving
+wind and started to run towards home.
+
+I hadn’t gone very far when my head bumped into something soft and
+I sat down suddenly on the pavement. I looked up to see whom I had
+run into. And there in front of me, sitting on the wet pavement like
+myself, was a little round man with a very kind face. He wore a shabby
+high hat and in his hand he had a small black bag.
+
+“I’m very sorry,” I said. “I had my head down and I didn’t see you
+coming.”
+
+To my great surprise, instead of getting angry at being knocked down,
+the little man began to laugh.
+
+“You know this reminds me,” he said, “of a time once when I was in
+India. I ran full tilt into a woman in a thunderstorm. But she was
+carrying a pitcher of molasses on her head and I had treacle in my hair
+for weeks afterwards—the flies followed me everywhere. I didn’t hurt
+you, did I?”
+
+“No,” I said. “I’m all right.”
+
+“It was just as much my fault as it was yours, you know,” said the
+little man. “I had my head down too—but look here, we mustn’t sit
+talking like this. You must be soaked. I know I am. How far have you
+got to go?”
+
+“My home is on the other side of the town,” I said, as we picked
+ourselves up.
+
+“My Goodness, but that _was_ a wet pavement!” said he. “And I declare
+it’s coming down worse than ever. Come along to my house and get dried.
+A storm like this can’t last.”
+
+He took hold of my hand and we started running back down the road
+together. As we ran I began to wonder who this funny little man could
+be, and where he lived. I was a perfect stranger to him, and yet
+he was taking me to his own home to get dried. Such a change, after
+the old red-faced Colonel who had refused even to tell me the time!
+Presently we stopped.
+
+“Here we are,” he said.
+
+I looked up to see where we were and found myself back at the foot
+of the steps leading to the little house with the big garden! My new
+friend was already running up the steps and opening the gate with some
+keys he took from his pocket.
+
+“Surely,” I thought, “this cannot be the great Doctor Dolittle himself!”
+
+I suppose after hearing so much about him I had expected some one very
+tall and strong and marvelous. It was hard to believe that this funny
+little man with the kind smiling face could be really he. Yet here he
+was, sure enough, running up the steps and opening the very gate which
+I had been watching for so many days!
+
+The dog, Jip, came rushing out and started jumping up on him and
+barking with happiness. The rain was splashing down heavier than ever.
+
+“Are you Doctor Dolittle?” I shouted as we sped up the short
+garden-path to the house.
+
+“Yes, I’m Doctor Dolittle,” said he, opening the front door with the
+same bunch of keys. “Get in! Don’t bother about wiping your feet. Never
+mind the mud. Take it in with you. Get in out of the rain!”
+
+I popped in, he and Jip following. Then he slammed the door to behind
+us.
+
+The storm had made it dark enough outside; but inside the house,
+with the door closed, it was as black as night. Then began the most
+extraordinary noise that I have ever heard. It sounded like all sorts
+and kinds of animals and birds calling and squeaking and screeching
+at the same time. I could hear things trundling down the stairs and
+hurrying along passages. Somewhere in the dark a duck was quacking,
+a cock was crowing, a dove was cooing, an owl was hooting, a lamb
+was bleating and Jip was barking. I felt birds’ wings fluttering
+and fanning near my face. Things kept bumping into my legs and
+nearly upsetting me. The whole front hall seemed to be filling up
+with animals. The noise, together with the roaring of the rain, was
+tremendous; and I was beginning to grow a little bit scared when I felt
+the Doctor take hold of my arm and shout into my ear.
+
+“Don’t be alarmed. Don’t be frightened. These are just some of my pets.
+I’ve been away three months and they are glad to see me home again.
+Stand still where you are till I strike a light. My Gracious, what a
+storm!—Just listen to that thunder!”
+
+So there I stood in the pitch-black dark, while all kinds of animals
+which I couldn’t see chattered and jostled around me. It was a curious
+and a funny feeling. I had often wondered, when I had looked in from
+the front gate, what Doctor Dolittle would be like and what the funny
+little house would have inside it. But I never imagined it would be
+anything like this. Yet somehow after I had felt the Doctor’s hand upon
+my arm I was not frightened, only confused. It all seemed like some
+queer dream; and I was beginning to wonder if I was really awake, when
+I heard the Doctor speaking again:
+
+“My blessed matches are all wet. They won’t strike. Have you got any?”
+
+“No, I’m afraid I haven’t,” I called back.
+
+“Never mind,” said he. “Perhaps Dab-Dab can raise us a light somewhere.”
+
+Then the Doctor made some funny clicking noises with his tongue and I
+heard some one trundle up the stairs again and start moving about in
+the rooms above.
+
+Then we waited quite a while without anything happening.
+
+“Will the light be long in coming?” I asked. “Some animal is sitting on
+my foot and my toes are going to sleep.”
+
+“No, only a minute,” said the Doctor. “She’ll be back in a minute.”
+
+And just then I saw the first glimmerings of a light around the landing
+above. At once all the animals kept quiet.
+
+[Illustration: “And in her right foot she carried a lighted candle!”]
+
+“I thought you lived alone,” I said to the Doctor.
+
+“So I do,” said he. “It is Dab-Dab who is bringing the light.”
+
+I looked up the stairs trying to make out who was coming. I could not
+see around the landing but I heard the most curious footstep on the
+upper flight. It sounded like some one hopping down from one step to
+the other, as though he were using only one leg.
+
+As the light came lower, it grew brighter and began to throw strange
+jumping shadows on the walls.
+
+“Ah—at last!” said the Doctor. “Good old Dab-Dab!”
+
+And then I thought I _really_ must be dreaming. For there, craning her
+neck round the bend of the landing, hopping down the stairs on one leg,
+came a spotless white duck. And in her right foot she carried a lighted
+candle!
+
+
+
+
+_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE WIFF-WAFF
+
+
+WHEN at last I could look around me I found that the hall was indeed
+simply full of animals. It seemed to me that almost every kind of
+creature from the countryside must be there: a pigeon, a white rat, an
+owl, a badger, a jackdaw—there was even a small pig, just in from the
+rainy garden, carefully wiping his feet on the mat while the light from
+the candle glistened on his wet pink back.
+
+The Doctor took the candlestick from the duck and turned to me.
+
+“Look here,” he said: “you must get those wet clothes off—by the way,
+what is your name?”
+
+“Tommy Stubbins,” I said.
+
+“Oh, are you the son of Jacob Stubbins, the shoemaker?”
+
+“Yes,” I said.
+
+“Excellent bootmaker, your father,” said the Doctor. “You see these?”
+and he held up his right foot to show me the enormous boots he was
+wearing. “Your father made me those boots four years ago, and I’ve
+been wearing them ever since—perfectly wonderful boots—Well now, look
+here, Stubbins. You’ve got to change those wet things—and quick. Wait
+a moment till I get some more candles lit, and then we’ll go upstairs
+and find some dry clothes. You’ll have to wear an old suit of mine till
+we can get yours dry again by the kitchen-fire.”
+
+So presently when more candles had been lighted round different parts
+of the house, we went upstairs; and when we had come into a bedroom the
+Doctor opened a big wardrobe and took out two suits of old clothes.
+These we put on. Then we carried our wet ones down to the kitchen and
+started a fire in the big chimney. The coat of the Doctor’s which I was
+wearing was so large for me that I kept treading on my own coat-tails
+while I was helping to fetch the wood up from the cellar. But very
+soon we had a huge big fire blazing up the chimney and we hung our wet
+clothes around on chairs.
+
+“Now let’s cook some supper,” said the Doctor.—“You’ll stay and have
+supper with me, Stubbins, of course?”
+
+Already I was beginning to be very fond of this funny little man who
+called me “Stubbins,” instead of “Tommy” or “little lad” (I did so
+hate to be called “little lad”!) This man seemed to begin right away
+treating me as though I were a grown-up friend of his. And when he
+asked me to stop and have supper with him I felt terribly proud and
+happy. But I suddenly remembered that I had not told my mother that I
+would be out late. So very sadly I answered,
+
+“Thank you very much. I would like to stay, but I am afraid that my
+mother will begin to worry and wonder where I am if I don’t get back.”
+
+“Oh, but my dear Stubbins,” said the Doctor, throwing another log of
+wood on the fire, “your clothes aren’t dry yet. You’ll have to wait
+for them, won’t you? By the time they are ready to put on we will have
+supper cooked and eaten—Did you see where I put my bag?”
+
+“I think it is still in the hall,” I said. “I’ll go and see.”
+
+I found the bag near the front door. It was made of black leather and
+looked very, very old. One of its latches was broken and it was tied up
+round the middle with a piece of string.
+
+“Thank you,” said the Doctor when I brought it to him.
+
+“Was that bag all the luggage you had for your voyage?” I asked.
+
+“Yes,” said the Doctor, as he undid the piece of string. “I don’t
+believe in a lot of baggage. It’s such a nuisance. Life’s too short to
+fuss with it. And it isn’t really necessary, you know—Where _did_ I put
+those sausages?”
+
+The Doctor was feeling about inside the bag. First he brought out a
+loaf of new bread. Next came a glass jar with a curious metal top to
+it. He held this up to the light very carefully before he set it down
+upon the table; and I could see that there was some strange little
+water-creature swimming about inside. At last the Doctor brought out a
+pound of sausages.
+
+“Now,” he said, “all we want is a frying-pan.”
+
+We went into the scullery and there we found some pots and pans hanging
+against the wall. The Doctor took down the frying-pan. It was quite
+rusty on the inside.
+
+“Dear me, just look at that!” said he. “That’s the worst of being away
+so long. The animals are very good and keep the house wonderfully clean
+as far as they can. Dab-Dab is a perfect marvel as a housekeeper.
+But some things of course they can’t manage. Never mind, we’ll soon
+clean it up. You’ll find some silver-sand down there, under the sink,
+Stubbins. Just hand it up to me, will you?”
+
+In a few moments we had the pan all shiny and bright and the sausages
+were put over the kitchen-fire and a beautiful frying smell went all
+through the house.
+
+While the Doctor was busy at the cooking I went and took another look
+at the funny little creature swimming about in the glass jar.
+
+“What is this animal?” I asked.
+
+“Oh that,” said the Doctor, turning round—“that’s a Wiff-Waff. Its
+full name is _hippocampus pippitopitus_. But the natives just call
+it a Wiff-Waff—on account of the way it waves its tail, swimming,
+I imagine. That’s what I went on this last voyage for, to get that.
+You see I’m very busy just now trying to learn the language of the
+shellfish. They _have_ languages, of that I feel sure. I can talk
+a little shark language and porpoise dialect myself. But what I
+particularly want to learn now is shellfish.”
+
+“Why?” I asked.
+
+“Well, you see, some of the shellfish are the oldest kind of animals in
+the world that we know of. We find their shells in the rocks—turned to
+stone—thousands of years old. So I feel quite sure that if I could only
+get to talk their language, I should be able to learn a whole lot about
+what the world was like ages and ages and ages ago. You see?”
+
+“But couldn’t some of the other animals tell you as well?”
+
+“I don’t think so,” said the Doctor, prodding the sausages with a fork.
+“To be sure, the monkeys I knew in Africa some time ago were very
+helpful in telling me about bygone days; but they only went back a
+thousand years or so. No, I am certain that the oldest history in the
+world is to be had from the shellfish—and from them only. You see most
+of the other animals that were alive in those very ancient times have
+now become extinct.”
+
+“Have you learned any shellfish language yet?” I asked.
+
+“No. I’ve only just begun. I wanted this particular kind of a pipe-fish
+because he is half a shellfish and half an ordinary fish. I went all
+the way to the Eastern Mediterranean after him. But I’m very much
+afraid he isn’t going to be a great deal of help to me. To tell you the
+truth, I’m rather disappointed in his appearance. He doesn’t _look_
+very intelligent, does he?”
+
+“No, he doesn’t,” I agreed.
+
+“Ah,” said the Doctor. “The sausages are done to a turn. Come
+along—hold your plate near and let me give you some.”
+
+Then we sat down at the kitchen-table and started a hearty meal.
+
+It was a wonderful kitchen, that. I had many meals there afterwards
+and I found it a better place to eat in than the grandest dining-room
+in the world. It was so cozy and home-like and warm. It was so handy
+for the food too. You took it right off the fire, hot, and put it on
+the table and ate it. And you could watch your toast toasting at the
+fender and see it didn’t burn while you drank your soup. And if you
+had forgotten to put the salt on the table, you didn’t have to get up
+and go into another room to fetch it; you just reached round and took
+the big wooden box off the dresser behind you. Then the fireplace—the
+biggest fireplace you ever saw—was like a room in itself. You could get
+right inside it even when the logs were burning and sit on the wide
+seats either side and roast chestnuts after the meal was over—or listen
+to the kettle singing, or tell stories, or look at picture-books by the
+light of the fire. It was a marvelous kitchen. It was like the Doctor,
+comfortable, sensible, friendly and solid.
+
+While we were gobbling away, the door suddenly opened and in marched
+the duck, Dab-Dab, and the dog, Jip, dragging sheets and pillow-cases
+behind them over the clean tiled floor. The Doctor, seeing how
+surprised I was, explained:
+
+“They’re just going to air the bedding for me in front of the fire.
+Dab-Dab is a perfect treasure of a housekeeper; she never forgets
+anything. I had a sister once who used to keep house for me (poor, dear
+Sarah! I wonder how she’s getting on—I haven’t seen her in many years).
+But she wasn’t nearly as good as Dab-Dab. Have another sausage?”
+
+The Doctor turned and said a few words to the dog and duck in some
+strange talk and signs. They seemed to understand him perfectly.
+
+“Can you talk in squirrel language?” I asked.
+
+“Oh yes. That’s quite an easy language,” said the Doctor. “You could
+learn that yourself without a great deal of trouble. But why do you
+ask?”
+
+“Because I have a sick squirrel at home,” I said. “I took it away from
+a hawk. But two of its legs are badly hurt and I wanted very much to
+have you see it, if you would. Shall I bring it to-morrow?”
+
+“Well, if its leg is badly broken I think I had better see it to-night.
+It may be too late to do much; but I’ll come home with you and take a
+look at it.”
+
+So presently we felt the clothes by the fire and mine were found to be
+quite dry. I took them upstairs to the bedroom and changed, and when I
+came down the Doctor was all ready waiting for me with his little black
+bag full of medicines and bandages.
+
+“Come along,” he said. “The rain has stopped now.”
+
+Outside it had grown bright again and the evening sky was all red with
+the setting sun; and thrushes were singing in the garden as we opened
+the gate to go down on to the road.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIFTH CHAPTER_
+
+POLYNESIA
+
+
+“I THINK your house is the most interesting house I was ever in,” I
+said as we set off in the direction of the town. “May I come and see
+you again to-morrow?”
+
+“Certainly,” said the Doctor. “Come any day you like. To-morrow I’ll
+show you the garden and my private zoo.”
+
+“Oh, have you a zoo?” I asked.
+
+“Yes,” said he. “The larger animals are too big for the house, so I
+keep them in a zoo in the garden. It is not a very big collection but
+it is interesting in its way.”
+
+“It must be splendid,” I said, “to be able to talk all the languages of
+the different animals. Do you think I could ever learn to do it?”
+
+“Oh surely,” said the Doctor—“with practise. You have to be very
+patient, you know. You really ought to have Polynesia to start you. It
+was she who gave me my first lessons.”
+
+“Who is Polynesia?” I asked.
+
+“Polynesia was a West African parrot I had. She isn’t with me any more
+now,” said the Doctor sadly.
+
+“Why—is she dead?”
+
+“Oh no,” said the Doctor. “She is still living, I hope. But when we
+reached Africa she seemed so glad to get back to her own country. She
+wept for joy. And when the time came for me to come back here I had not
+the heart to take her away from that sunny land—although, it is true,
+she did offer to come. I left her in Africa—Ah well! I have missed her
+terribly. She wept again when we left. But I think I did the right
+thing. She was one of the best friends I ever had. It was she who
+first gave me the idea of learning the animal languages and becoming
+an animal doctor. I often wonder if she remained happy in Africa, and
+whether I shall ever see her funny, old, solemn face again—Good old
+Polynesia!—A most extraordinary bird—Well, well!”
+
+Just at that moment we heard the noise of some one running behind us;
+and turning round we saw Jip the dog rushing down the road after us,
+as fast as his legs could bring him. He seemed very excited about
+something, and as soon as he came up to us, he started barking and
+whining to the Doctor in a peculiar way. Then the Doctor too seemed to
+get all worked up and began talking and making queer signs to the dog.
+At length he turned to me, his face shining with happiness.
+
+“Polynesia has come back!” he cried. “Imagine it. Jip says she has just
+arrived at the house. My! And it’s five years since I saw her—Excuse
+me a minute.”
+
+He turned as if to go back home. But the parrot, Polynesia, was already
+flying towards us. The Doctor clapped his hands like a child getting
+a new toy; while the swarm of sparrows in the roadway fluttered,
+gossiping, up on to the fences, highly scandalized to see a gray and
+scarlet parrot skimming down an English lane.
+
+On she came, straight on to the Doctor’s shoulder, where she
+immediately began talking a steady stream in a language I could not
+understand. She seemed to have a terrible lot to say. And very soon
+the Doctor had forgotten all about me and my squirrel and Jip and
+everything else; till at length the bird clearly asked him something
+about me.
+
+“Oh excuse me, Stubbins!” said the Doctor. “I was so interested
+listening to my old friend here. We must get on and see this squirrel
+of yours—Polynesia, this is Thomas Stubbins.”
+
+The parrot, on the Doctor’s shoulder, nodded gravely towards me and
+then, to my great surprise, said quite plainly in English,
+
+“How do you do? I remember the night you were born. It was a terribly
+cold winter. You were a very ugly baby.”
+
+“Stubbins is anxious to learn animal language,” said the Doctor. “I was
+just telling him about you and the lessons you gave me when Jip ran up
+and told us you had arrived.”
+
+“Well,” said the parrot, turning to me, “I may have started the Doctor
+learning but I never could have done even that, if he hadn’t first
+taught me to understand what _I_ was saying when I spoke English.
+You see, many parrots can talk like a person, but very few of them
+understand what they are saying. They just say it because—well, because
+they fancy it is smart or, because they know they will get crackers
+given them.”
+
+By this time we had turned and were going towards my home with Jip
+running in front and Polynesia still perched on the Doctor’s shoulder.
+The bird chattered incessantly, mostly about Africa; but now she spoke
+in English, out of politeness to me.
+
+“How is Prince Bumpo getting on?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“Oh, I’m glad you asked me,” said Polynesia. “I almost forgot to tell
+you. What do you think?—_Bumpo is in England!_”
+
+“In England!—You don’t say!” cried the Doctor. “What on earth is he
+doing here?”
+
+“His father, the king, sent him here to a place called—er—Bullford, I
+think it was—to study lessons.”
+
+“Bullford!—Bullford!” muttered the Doctor. “I never heard of the
+place—Oh, you mean Oxford.”
+
+“Yes, that’s the place—Oxford,” said Polynesia “I knew it had cattle in
+it somewhere. Oxford—that’s the place he’s gone to.”
+
+“Well, well,” murmured the Doctor. “Fancy Bumpo studying at
+Oxford—Well, well!”
+
+“There were great doings in Jolliginki when he left. He was scared to
+death to come. He was the first man from that country to go abroad. He
+thought he was going to be eaten by white cannibals or something. You
+know what those niggers are—that ignorant! Well!—But his father made
+him come. He said that all the black kings were sending their sons to
+Oxford now. It was the fashion, and he would have to go. Bumpo wanted
+to bring his six wives with him. But the king wouldn’t let him do that
+either. Poor Bumpo went off in tears—and everybody in the palace was
+crying too. You never heard such a hullabaloo.”
+
+“Do you know if he ever went back in search of The Sleeping Beauty?”
+asked the Doctor.
+
+“Oh yes,” said Polynesia—“the day after you left. And a good thing for
+him he did: the king got to know about his helping you to escape; and
+he was dreadfully wild about it.”
+
+“And The Sleeping Beauty?—did he ever find her?”
+
+“Well, he brought back something which he _said_ was The Sleeping
+Beauty. Myself, I think it was an albino niggeress. She had red hair
+and the biggest feet you ever saw. But Bumpo was no end pleased with
+her and finally married her amid great rejoicings. The feastings lasted
+seven days. She became his chief wife and is now known out there as the
+Crown-Princess Bum_pah_—you accent the last syllable.”
+
+“And tell me, did he remain white?”
+
+“Only for about three months,” said the parrot. “After that his face
+slowly returned to its natural color. It was just as well. He was so
+conspicuous in his bathing-suit the way he was, with his face white and
+the rest of him black.”
+
+“And how is Chee-Chee getting on?—Chee-Chee,” added the Doctor in
+explanation to me, “was a pet monkey I had years ago. I left him too in
+Africa when I came away.”
+
+“Well,” said Polynesia frowning,—“Chee-Chee is not entirely happy. I
+saw a good deal of him the last few years. He got dreadfully homesick
+for you and the house and the garden. It’s funny, but I was just the
+same way myself. You remember how crazy I was to get back to the dear
+old land? And Africa _is_ a wonderful country—I don’t care what anybody
+says. Well, I thought I was going to have a perfectly grand time. But
+somehow—I don’t know—after a few weeks it seemed to get tiresome. I
+just couldn’t seem to settle down. Well, to make a long story short,
+one night I made up my mind that I’d come back here and find you. So
+I hunted up old Chee-Chee and told him about it. He said he didn’t
+blame me a bit—felt exactly the same way himself. Africa was so deadly
+quiet after the life we had led with you. He missed the stories you
+used to tell us out of your animal books—and the chats we used to have
+sitting round the kitchen-fire on winter nights. The animals out there
+were very nice to us and all that. But somehow the dear kind creatures
+seemed a bit stupid. Chee-Chee said he had noticed it too. But I
+suppose it wasn’t they who had changed; it was we who were different.
+When I left, poor old Chee-Chee broke down and cried. He said he felt
+as though his only friend were leaving him—though, as you know, he has
+simply millions of relatives there. He said it didn’t seem fair that I
+should have wings to fly over here any time I liked, and him with no
+way to follow me. But mark my words, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if
+he found a way to come—some day. He’s a smart lad, is Chee-Chee.”
+
+At this point we arrived at my home. My father’s shop was closed and
+the shutters were up; but my mother was standing at the door looking
+down the street.
+
+“Good evening, Mrs. Stubbins,” said the Doctor. “It is my fault your
+son is so late. I made him stay to supper while his clothes were
+drying. He was soaked to the skin; and so was I. We ran into one
+another in the storm and I insisted on his coming into my house for
+shelter.”
+
+“I was beginning to get worried about him,” said my mother. “I am
+thankful to you, Sir, for looking after him so well and bringing him
+home.”
+
+“Don’t mention it—don’t mention it,” said the Doctor. “We have had a
+very interesting chat.”
+
+“Who might it be that I have the honor of addressing?” asked my mother
+staring at the gray parrot perched on the Doctor’s shoulder.
+
+“Oh, I’m John Dolittle. I dare say your husband will remember me. He
+made me some very excellent boots about four years ago. They really
+are splendid,” added the Doctor, gazing down at his feet with great
+satisfaction.
+
+“The Doctor has come to cure my squirrel, Mother,” said I. “He knows
+all about animals.”
+
+“Oh, no,” said the Doctor, “not all, Stubbins, not all about them by
+any means.”
+
+“It is very kind of you to come so far to look after his pet,” said my
+mother. “Tom is always bringing home strange creatures from the woods
+and the fields.”
+
+“Is he?” said the Doctor. “Perhaps he will grow up to be a naturalist
+some day. Who knows?”
+
+“Won’t you come in?” asked my mother. “The place is a little untidy
+because I haven’t finished the spring cleaning yet. But there’s a nice
+fire burning in the parlor.”
+
+“Thank you!” said the Doctor. “What a charming home you have!”
+
+And after wiping his enormous boots very, very carefully on the mat,
+the great man passed into the house.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SIXTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL
+
+
+INSIDE we found my father busy practising on the flute beside the fire.
+This he always did, every evening, after his work was over.
+
+The Doctor immediately began talking to him about flutes and piccolos
+and bassoons; and presently my father said,
+
+“Perhaps you perform upon the flute yourself, Sir. Won’t you play us a
+tune?”
+
+“Well,” said the Doctor, “it is a long time since I touched the
+instrument. But I would like to try. May I?”
+
+Then the Doctor took the flute from my father and played and played and
+played. It was wonderful. My mother and father sat as still as statues,
+staring up at the ceiling as though they were in church; and even I,
+who didn’t bother much about music except on the mouth-organ—even I
+felt all sad and cold and creepy and wished I had been a better boy.
+
+“Oh I think that was just beautiful!” sighed my mother when at length
+the Doctor stopped.
+
+“You are a great musician, Sir,” said my father, “a very great
+musician. Won’t you please play us something else?”
+
+“Why certainly,” said the Doctor—“Oh, but look here, I’ve forgotten all
+about the squirrel.”
+
+“I’ll show him to you,” I said. “He is upstairs in my room.”
+
+So I led the Doctor to my bedroom at the top of the house and showed
+him the squirrel in the packing-case filled with straw.
+
+The animal, who had always seemed very much afraid of me—though I had
+tried hard to make him feel at home, sat up at once when the Doctor
+came into the room and started to chatter. The Doctor chattered back
+in the same way and the squirrel when he was lifted up to have his leg
+examined, appeared to be rather pleased than frightened.
+
+I held a candle while the Doctor tied the leg up in what he called
+“splints,” which he made out of match-sticks with his pen-knife.
+
+“I think you will find that his leg will get better now in a very short
+time,” said the Doctor closing up his bag. “Don’t let him run about for
+at least two weeks yet, but keep him in the open air and cover him up
+with dry leaves if the nights get cool. He tells me he is rather lonely
+here, all by himself, and is wondering how his wife and children are
+getting on. I have assured him you are a man to be trusted; and I will
+send a squirrel who lives in my garden to find out how his family are
+and to bring him news of them. He must be kept cheerful at all costs.
+Squirrels are naturally a very cheerful, active race. It is very hard
+for them to lie still doing nothing. But you needn’t worry about him.
+He will be all right.”
+
+Then we went back again to the parlor and my mother and father kept him
+playing the flute till after ten o’clock.
+
+Although my parents both liked the Doctor tremendously from the first
+moment that they saw him, and were very proud to have him come and play
+to us (for we were really terribly poor) they did not realize then
+what a truly great man he was one day to become. Of course now, when
+almost everybody in the whole world has heard about Doctor Dolittle and
+his books, if you were to go to that little house in Puddleby where
+my father had his cobbler’s shop you would see, set in the wall over
+the old-fashioned door, a stone with writing on it which says: “JOHN
+DOLITTLE, THE FAMOUS NATURALIST, PLAYED THE FLUTE IN THIS HOUSE IN THE
+YEAR 1839.”
+
+I often look back upon that night long, long ago. And if I close my
+eyes and think hard I can see that parlor just as it was then: a funny
+little man in coat-tails, with a round kind face, playing away on the
+flute in front of the fire; my mother on one side of him and my father
+on the other, holding their breath and listening with their eyes shut;
+myself, with Jip, squatting on the carpet at his feet, staring into the
+coals; and Polynesia perched on the mantlepiece beside his shabby high
+hat, gravely swinging her head from side to side in time to the music.
+I see it all, just as though it were before me now.
+
+And then I remember how, after we had seen the Doctor out at the front
+door, we all came back into the parlor and talked about him till it
+was still later; and even after I did go to bed (I had never stayed up
+so late in my life before) I dreamed about him and a band of strange
+clever animals that played flutes and fiddles and drums the whole night
+through.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SEVENTH CHAPTER_
+
+SHELLFISH TALK
+
+
+THE next morning, although I had gone to bed so late the night before,
+I was up frightfully early. The first sparrows were just beginning to
+chirp sleepily on the slates outside my attic window when I jumped out
+of bed and scrambled into my clothes.
+
+I could hardly wait to get back to the little house with the big
+garden—to see the Doctor and his private zoo. For the first time in
+my life I forgot all about breakfast; and creeping down the stairs on
+tip-toe, so as not to wake my mother and father, I opened the front
+door and popped out into the empty, silent street.
+
+When I got to the Doctor’s gate I suddenly thought that perhaps it was
+too early to call on any one: and I began to wonder if the Doctor would
+be up yet. I looked into the garden. No one seemed to be about. So I
+opened the gate quietly and went inside.
+
+As I turned to the left to go down a path between some hedges, I heard
+a voice quite close to me say,
+
+“Good morning. How early you are!”
+
+I turned around, and there, sitting on the top of a privet hedge, was
+the gray parrot, Polynesia.
+
+“Good morning,” I said. “I suppose I am rather early. Is the Doctor
+still in bed?”
+
+“Oh no,” said Polynesia. “He has been up an hour and a half. You’ll
+find him in the house somewhere. The front door is open. Just push it
+and go in. He is sure to be in the kitchen cooking breakfast—or working
+in his study. Walk right in. I am waiting to see the sun rise. But
+upon my word I believe it’s forgotten to rise. It is an awful climate,
+this. Now if we were in Africa the world would be blazing with sunlight
+at this hour of the morning. Just see that mist rolling over those
+cabbages. It is enough to give you rheumatism to look at it. Beastly
+climate—Beastly! Really I don’t know why anything but frogs ever stay
+in England—Well, don’t let me keep you. Run along and see the Doctor.”
+
+“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll go and look for him.”
+
+When I opened the front door I could smell bacon frying, so I made my
+way to the kitchen. There I discovered a large kettle boiling away over
+the fire and some bacon and eggs in a dish upon the hearth. It seemed
+to me that the bacon was getting all dried up with the heat. So I
+pulled the dish a little further away from the fire and went on through
+the house looking for the Doctor.
+
+I found him at last in the Study. I did not know then that it was
+called the Study. It was certainly a very interesting room, with
+telescopes and microscopes and all sorts of other strange things which
+I did not understand about but wished I did. Hanging on the walls were
+pictures of animals and fishes and strange plants and collections of
+birds’ eggs and sea-shells in glass cases.
+
+The Doctor was standing at the main table in his dressing-gown. At
+first I thought he was washing his face. He had a square glass box
+before him full of water. He was holding one ear under the water while
+he covered the other with his left hand. As I came in he stood up.
+
+“Good morning, Stubbins,” said he. “Going to be a nice day, don’t
+you think? I’ve just been listening to the Wiff-Waff. But he is very
+disappointing—very.”
+
+“Why?” I said. “Didn’t you find that he has any language at all?”
+
+“Oh yes,” said the Doctor, “he has a language. But it is such a poor
+language—only a few words, like ‘yes’ and ‘no’—‘hot’ and ‘cold.’ That’s
+all he can say. It’s very disappointing. You see he really belongs
+to two different families of fishes. I thought he was going to be
+tremendously helpful—Well, well!”
+
+“I suppose,” said I, “that means he hasn’t very much sense—if his
+language is only two or three words?”
+
+“Yes, I suppose it does. Possibly it is the kind of life he leads.
+You see, they are very rare now, these Wiff-Waffs—very rare and very
+solitary. They swim around in the deepest parts of the ocean entirely
+by themselves—always alone. So I presume they really don’t need to talk
+much.”
+
+“Perhaps some kind of a bigger shellfish would talk more,” I said.
+“After all, he is very small, isn’t he?”
+
+“Yes,” said the Doctor, “that’s true. Oh I have no doubt that there
+are shellfish who are good talkers—not the least doubt. But the big
+shellfish—the biggest of them, are so hard to catch. They are only to
+be found in the deep parts of the sea; and as they don’t swim very
+much, but just crawl along the floor of the ocean most of the time,
+they are very seldom taken in nets. I do wish I could find some way of
+going down to the bottom of the sea. I could learn a lot if I could
+only do that. But we are forgetting all about breakfast—Have you had
+breakfast yet, Stubbins?”
+
+I told the Doctor that I had forgotten all about it and he at once led
+the way into the kitchen.
+
+“Yes,” he said, as he poured the hot water from the kettle into the
+tea-pot, “if a man could only manage to get right down to the bottom
+of the sea, and live there a while, he would discover some wonderful
+things—things that people have never dreamed of.”
+
+“But men do go down, don’t they?” I asked—“divers and people like that?”
+
+“Oh yes, to be sure,” said the Doctor. “Divers go down. I’ve been down
+myself in a diving-suit, for that matter. But my!—they only go where
+the sea is shallow. Divers can’t go down where it is really deep. What
+I would like to do is to go down to the great depths—where it is miles
+deep—Well, well, I dare say I shall manage it some day. Let me give you
+another cup of tea.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE EIGHTH CHAPTER_
+
+ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?
+
+
+JUST at that moment Polynesia came into the room and said something to
+the Doctor in bird language. Of course I did not understand what it
+was. But the Doctor at once put down his knife and fork and left the
+room.
+
+“You know it is an awful shame,” said the parrot as soon as the Doctor
+had closed the door. “Directly he comes back home, all the animals
+over the whole countryside get to hear of it and every sick cat and
+mangy rabbit for miles around comes to see him and ask his advice. Now
+there’s a big fat hare outside at the back door with a squawking baby.
+Can she see the Doctor, please!—Thinks it’s going to have convulsions.
+Stupid little thing’s been eating Deadly Nightshade again, I suppose.
+The animals are _so_ inconsiderate at times—especially the mothers.
+They come round and call the Doctor away from his meals and wake him
+out of his bed at all hours of the night. I don’t know how he stands
+it—really I don’t. Why, the poor man never gets any peace at all! I’ve
+told him time and again to have special hours for the animals to come.
+But he is so frightfully kind and considerate. He never refuses to see
+them if there is anything really wrong with them. He says the urgent
+cases must be seen at once.”
+
+“Why don’t some of the animals go and see the other doctors?” I asked.
+
+“Oh Good Gracious!” exclaimed the parrot, tossing her head scornfully.
+“Why, there aren’t any other animal-doctors—not real doctors. Oh of
+course there _are_ those vet persons, to be sure. But, bless you,
+they’re no good. You see, they can’t understand the animals’ language;
+so how can you expect them to be any use? Imagine yourself, or your
+father, going to see a doctor who could not understand a word you
+say—nor even tell you in your own language what you must do to get
+well! Poof!—those vets! They’re that stupid, you’ve no idea!—Put the
+Doctor’s bacon down by the fire, will you?—to keep hot till he comes
+back.”
+
+“Do you think I would ever be able to learn the language of the
+animals?” I asked, laying the plate upon the hearth.
+
+“Well, it all depends,” said Polynesia. “Are you clever at lessons?”
+
+“I don’t know,” I answered, feeling rather ashamed. “You see, I’ve
+never been to school. My father is too poor to send me.”
+
+“Well,” said the parrot, “I don’t suppose you have really missed
+much—to judge from what _I_ have seen of school-boys. But listen: are
+you a good noticer?—Do you notice things well? I mean, for instance,
+supposing you saw two cock-starlings on an apple-tree, and you only
+took one good look at them—would you be able to tell one from the other
+if you saw them again the next day?”
+
+“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never tried.”
+
+“Well that,” said Polynesia, brushing some crumbs off the corner
+of the table with her left foot—“that is what you call powers of
+observation—noticing the small things about birds and animals: the way
+they walk and move their heads and flip their wings; the way they sniff
+the air and twitch their whiskers and wiggle their tails. You have to
+notice all those little things if you want to learn animal language.
+For you see, lots of the animals hardly talk at all with their tongues;
+they use their breath or their tails or their feet instead. That is
+because many of them, in the olden days when lions and tigers were more
+plentiful, were afraid to make a noise for fear the savage creatures
+heard them. Birds, of course, didn’t care; for they always had wings to
+fly away with. But that is the first thing to remember: being a good
+noticer is terribly important in learning animal language.”
+
+“It sounds pretty hard,” I said.
+
+“You’ll have to be very patient,” said Polynesia. “It takes a long
+time to say even a few words properly. But if you come here often
+I’ll give you a few lessons myself. And once you get started you’ll
+be surprised how fast you get on. It would indeed be a good thing if
+you could learn. Because then you could do some of the work for the
+Doctor—I mean the easier work, like bandaging and giving pills. Yes,
+yes, that’s a good idea of mine. ’Twould be a great thing if the poor
+man could get some help—and some rest. It is a scandal the way he
+works. I see no reason why you shouldn’t be able to help him a great
+deal—That is, if you are really interested in animals.”
+
+[Illustration: “‘Being a good noticer is terribly important’”]
+
+“Oh, I’d love that!” I cried. “Do you think the Doctor would let me?”
+
+“Certainly,” said Polynesia—“as soon as you have learned something
+about doctoring. I’ll speak of it to him myself—Sh! I hear him coming.
+Quick—bring his bacon back on to the table.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE NINTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
+
+
+WHEN breakfast was over the Doctor took me out to show me the garden.
+Well, if the house had been interesting, the garden was a hundred
+times more so. Of all the gardens I have ever seen that was the most
+delightful, the most fascinating. At first you did not realize how big
+it was. You never seemed to come to the end of it. When at last you
+were quite sure that you had seen it all, you would peer over a hedge,
+or turn a corner, or look up some steps, and there was a whole new part
+you never expected to find.
+
+It had everything—everything a garden can have, or ever has had. There
+were wide, wide lawns with carved stone seats, green with moss. Over
+the lawns hung weeping-willows, and their feathery bough-tips brushed
+the velvet grass when they swung with the wind. The old flagged paths
+had high, clipped, yew hedges either side of them, so that they looked
+like the narrow streets of some old town; and through the hedges,
+doorways had been made; and over the doorways were shapes like vases
+and peacocks and half-moons all trimmed out of the living trees. There
+was a lovely marble fish-pond with golden carp and blue water-lilies in
+it and big green frogs. A high brick wall alongside the kitchen garden
+was all covered with pink and yellow peaches ripening in the sun. There
+was a wonderful great oak, hollow in the trunk, big enough for four men
+to hide inside. Many summer-houses there were, too—some of wood and
+some of stone; and one of them was full of books to read. In a corner,
+among some rocks and ferns, was an outdoor fire-place, where the Doctor
+used to fry liver and bacon when he had a notion to take his meals in
+the open air. There was a couch as well on which he used to sleep, it
+seems, on warm summer nights when the nightingales were singing at
+their best; it had wheels on it so it could be moved about under any
+tree they sang in. But the thing that fascinated me most of all was a
+tiny little tree-house, high up in the top branches of a great elm,
+with a long rope ladder leading to it. The Doctor told me he used it
+for looking at the moon and the stars through a telescope.
+
+It was the kind of a garden where you could wander and explore for days
+and days—always coming upon something new, always glad to find the old
+spots over again. That first time that I saw the Doctor’s garden I was
+so charmed by it that I felt I would like to live in it—always and
+always—and never go outside of it again. For it had everything within
+its walls to give happiness, to make living pleasant—to keep the heart
+at peace. It was the Garden of Dreams.
+
+One peculiar thing I noticed immediately I came into it; and that was
+what a lot of birds there were about. Every tree seemed to have two or
+three nests in it. And heaps of other wild creatures appeared to be
+making themselves at home there, too. Stoats and tortoises and dormice
+seemed to be quite common, and not in the least shy. Toads of different
+colors and sizes hopped about the lawn as though it belonged to them.
+Green lizards (which were very rare in Puddleby) sat up on the stones
+in the sunlight and blinked at us. Even snakes were to be seen.
+
+“You need not be afraid of them,” said the Doctor, noticing that I
+started somewhat when a large black snake wiggled across the path right
+in front of us. “These fellows are not poisonous. They do a great deal
+of good in keeping down many kinds of garden-pests. I play the flute to
+them sometimes in the evening. They love it. Stand right up on their
+tails and carry on no end. Funny thing, their taste for music.”
+
+“Why do all these animals come and live here?” I asked. “I never saw a
+garden with so many creatures in it.”
+
+“Well, I suppose it’s because they get the kind of food they like; and
+nobody worries or disturbs them. And then, of course, they know me. And
+if they or their children get sick I presume they find it handy to be
+living in a doctor’s garden—Look! You see that sparrow on the sundial,
+swearing at the blackbird down below? Well, he has been coming here
+every summer for years. He comes from London. The country sparrows
+round about here are always laughing at him. They say he chirps with
+such a Cockney accent. He is a most amusing bird—very brave but very
+cheeky. He loves nothing better than an argument, but he always ends it
+by getting rude. He is a real city bird. In London he lives around St.
+Paul’s Cathedral. ‘Cheapside,’ we call him.”
+
+“Are all these birds from the country round here?” I asked.
+
+“Most of them,” said the Doctor. “But a few rare ones visit me every
+year who ordinarily never come near England at all. For instance,
+that handsome little fellow hovering over the snapdragon there, he’s
+a Ruby-throated Humming-bird. Comes from America. Strictly speaking,
+he has no business in this climate at all. It is too cool. I make him
+sleep in the kitchen at night. Then every August, about the last week
+of the month, I have a Purple Bird-of-Paradise come all the way from
+Brazil to see me. She is a very great swell. Hasn’t arrived yet of
+course. And there are a few others, foreign birds from the tropics
+mostly, who drop in on me in the course of the summer months. But come,
+I must show you the zoo.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE TENTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE PRIVATE ZOO
+
+
+I DID not think there could be anything left in that garden which we
+had not seen. But the Doctor took me by the arm and started off down a
+little narrow path and after many windings and twistings and turnings
+we found ourselves before a small door in a high stone wall. The Doctor
+pushed it open.
+
+Inside was still another garden. I had expected to find cages with
+animals inside them. But there were none to be seen. Instead there were
+little stone houses here and there all over the garden; and each house
+had a window and a door. As we walked in, many of these doors opened
+and animals came running out to us evidently expecting food.
+
+“Haven’t the doors any locks on them?” I asked the Doctor.
+
+“Oh yes,” he said, “every door has a lock. But in my zoo the doors open
+from the inside, not from the out. The locks are only there so the
+animals can go and shut themselves _in_ any time they want to get away
+from the annoyance of other animals or from people who might come here.
+Every animal in this zoo stays here because he likes it, not because
+he is made to.”
+
+“They all look very happy and clean,” I said. “Would you mind telling
+me the names of some of them?”
+
+“Certainly. Well now: that funny-looking thing with plates on his back,
+nosing under the brick over there, is a South American armadillo. The
+little chap talking to him is a Canadian woodchuck. They both live in
+those holes you see at the foot of the wall. The two little beasts
+doing antics in the pond are a pair of Russian minks—and that reminds
+me: I must go and get them some herrings from the town before noon—it
+is early-closing to-day. That animal just stepping out of his house is
+an antelope, one of the smaller South African kinds. Now let us move to
+the other side of those bushes there and I will show you some more.”
+
+“Are those deer over there?” I asked.
+
+“_Deer!_” said the Doctor. “Where do you mean?”
+
+“Over there,” I said, pointing—“nibbling the grass border of the bed.
+There are two of them.”
+
+“Oh, that,” said the Doctor with a smile. “That isn’t two animals:
+that’s one animal with two heads—the only two-headed animal in the
+world. It’s called the ‘pushmi-pullyu.’ I brought him from Africa. He’s
+very tame—acts as a kind of night-watchman for my zoo. He only sleeps
+with one head at a time, you see—very handy—the other head stays awake
+all night.”
+
+“Have you any lions or tigers?” I asked as we moved on.
+
+“No,” said the Doctor. “It wouldn’t be possible to keep them here—and
+I wouldn’t keep them even if I could. If I had my way, Stubbins, there
+wouldn’t be a single lion or tiger in captivity anywhere in the world.
+They never take to it. They’re never happy. They never settle down.
+They are always thinking of the big countries they have left behind.
+You can see it in their eyes, dreaming—dreaming always of the great
+open spaces where they were born; dreaming of the deep, dark jungles
+where their mothers first taught them how to scent and track the deer.
+And what are they given in exchange for all this?” asked the Doctor,
+stopping in his walk and growing all red and angry—“What are they given
+in exchange for the glory of an African sunrise, for the twilight
+breeze whispering through the palms, for the green shade of the matted,
+tangled vines, for the cool, big-starred nights of the desert, for the
+patter of the waterfall after a hard day’s hunt? What, I ask you, are
+they given in exchange for _these_? Why, a bare cage with iron bars; an
+ugly piece of dead meat thrust in to them once a day; and a crowd of
+fools to come and stare at them with open mouths!—No, Stubbins. Lions
+and tigers, the Big Hunters, should never, never be seen in zoos.”
+
+The Doctor seemed to have grown terribly serious—almost sad. But
+suddenly his manner changed again and he took me by the arm with his
+same old cheerful smile.
+
+“But we haven’t seen the butterfly-houses yet—nor the aquariums. Come
+along. I am very proud of my butterfly-houses.”
+
+Off we went again and came presently into a hedged enclosure. Here I
+saw several big huts made of fine wire netting, like cages. Inside the
+netting all sorts of beautiful flowers were growing in the sun, with
+butterflies skimming over them. The Doctor pointed to the end of one of
+the huts where little boxes with holes in them stood in a row.
+
+“Those are the hatching-boxes,” said he. “There I put the different
+kinds of caterpillars. And as soon as they turn into butterflies and
+moths they come out into these flower-gardens to feed.”
+
+“Do butterflies have a language?” I asked.
+
+“Oh I fancy they have,” said the Doctor—“and the beetles too. But so
+far I haven’t succeeded in learning much about insect languages. I have
+been too busy lately trying to master the shellfish-talk. I mean to
+take it up though.”
+
+At that moment Polynesia joined us and said, “Doctor, there are two
+guinea-pigs at the back door. They say they have run away from the boy
+who kept them because they didn’t get the right stuff to eat. They want
+to know if you will take them in.”
+
+“All right,” said the Doctor. “Show them the way to the zoo. Give them
+the house on the left, near the gate—the one the black fox had. Tell
+them what the rules are and give them a square meal—Now, Stubbins, we
+will go on to the aquariums. And first of all I must show you my big,
+glass, sea-water tank where I keep the shellfish.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER_
+
+MY SCHOOLMASTER, POLYNESIA
+
+
+WELL, there were not many days after that, you may be sure, when I did
+not come to see my new friend. Indeed I was at his house practically
+all day and every day. So that one evening my mother asked me jokingly
+why I did not take my bed over there and live at the Doctor’s house
+altogether.
+
+After a while I think I got to be quite useful to the Doctor, feeding
+his pets for him; helping to make new houses and fences for the zoo;
+assisting with the sick animals that came; doing all manner of odd jobs
+about the place. So that although I enjoyed it all very much (it was
+indeed like living in a new world) I really think the Doctor would have
+missed me if I had not come so often.
+
+And all this time Polynesia came with me wherever I went, teaching me
+bird language and showing me how to understand the talking signs of the
+animals. At first I thought I would never be able to learn at all—it
+seemed so difficult. But the old parrot was wonderfully patient with
+me—though I could see that occasionally she had hard work to keep her
+temper.
+
+Soon I began to pick up the strange chatter of the birds and to
+understand the funny talking antics of the dogs. I used to practise
+listening to the mice behind the wainscot after I went to bed, and
+watching the cats on the roofs and pigeons in the market-square of
+Puddleby.
+
+And the days passed very quickly—as they always do when life is
+pleasant; and the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months; and
+soon the roses in the Doctor’s garden were losing their petals and
+yellow leaves lay upon the wide green lawn. For the summer was nearly
+gone.
+
+One day Polynesia and I were talking in the library. This was a fine
+long room with a grand mantlepiece and the walls were covered from the
+ceiling to the floor with shelves full of books: books of stories,
+books on gardening, books about medicine, books of travel; these I
+loved—and especially the Doctor’s great atlas with all its maps of the
+different countries of the world.
+
+This afternoon Polynesia was showing me the books about animals which
+John Dolittle had written himself.
+
+“My!” I said, “what a lot of books the Doctor has—all the way around
+the room! Goodness! I wish I could read! It must be tremendously
+interesting. Can you read, Polynesia?”
+
+“Only a little,” said she. “Be careful how you turn those pages—don’t
+tear them. No, I really don’t get time enough for reading—much. That
+letter there is a _k_ and this is a _b_.”
+
+“What does this word under the picture mean?” I asked.
+
+“Let me see,” she said, and started spelling it out.
+“B-A-B-O-O-N—that’s _Monkey_. Reading isn’t nearly as hard as it looks,
+once you know the letters.”
+
+“Polynesia,” I said, “I want to ask you something very important.”
+
+“What is it, my boy?” said she, smoothing down the feathers of her
+right wing. Polynesia often spoke to me in a very patronizing way. But
+I did not mind it from her. After all, she was nearly two hundred years
+old; and I was only ten.
+
+“Listen,” I said, “my mother doesn’t think it is right that I come
+here for so many meals. And I was going to ask you: supposing I did a
+whole lot more work for the Doctor—why couldn’t I come and live here
+altogether? You see, instead of being paid like a regular gardener or
+workman, I would get my bed and meals in exchange for the work I did.
+What do you think?”
+
+“You mean you want to be a proper assistant to the Doctor, is that it?”
+
+“Yes. I suppose that’s what you call it,” I answered. “You know you
+said yourself that you thought I could be very useful to him.”
+
+“Well”—she thought a moment—“I really don’t see why not. But is this
+what you want to be when you grow up, a naturalist?”
+
+“Yes,” I said, “I have made up my mind. I would sooner be a naturalist
+than anything else in the world.”
+
+“Humph!—Let’s go and speak to the Doctor about it,” said Polynesia.
+“He’s in the next room—in the study. Open the door very gently—he may
+be working and not want to be disturbed.”
+
+I opened the door quietly and peeped in. The first thing I saw was an
+enormous black retriever dog sitting in the middle of the hearth-rug
+with his ears cocked up, listening to the Doctor who was reading aloud
+to him from a letter.
+
+“What _is_ the Doctor doing?” I asked Polynesia in a whisper.
+
+“Oh, the dog has had a letter from his mistress and he has brought it
+to the Doctor to read for him. That’s all. He belongs to a funny little
+girl called Minnie Dooley, who lives on the other side of the town. She
+has pigtails down her back. She and her brother have gone away to the
+seaside for the Summer; and the old retriever is heart-broken while the
+children are gone. So they write letters to him—in English of course.
+And as the old dog doesn’t understand them, he brings them here,
+and the Doctor turns them into dog language for him. I think Minnie
+must have written that she is coming back—to judge from the dog’s
+excitement. Just look at him carrying on!”
+
+Indeed the retriever seemed to be suddenly overcome with joy. As the
+Doctor finished the letter the old dog started barking at the top of
+his voice, wagging his tail wildly and jumping about the study. He
+took the letter in his mouth and ran out of the room snorting hard and
+mumbling to himself.
+
+“He’s going down to meet the coach,” whispered Polynesia. “That dog’s
+devotion to those children is more than I can understand. You should
+see Minnie! She’s the most conceited little minx that ever walked. She
+squints too.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE TWELFTH CHAPTER_
+
+MY GREAT IDEA
+
+
+PRESENTLY the Doctor looked up and saw us at the door.
+
+“Oh—come in, Stubbins,” said he, “did you wish to speak to me? Come in
+and take a chair.”
+
+“Doctor,” I said, “I want to be a naturalist—like you—when I grow up.”
+
+“Oh you do, do you?” murmured the Doctor. “Humph!—Well!—Dear me!—You
+don’t say!—Well, well! Have you er—have you spoken to your mother and
+father about it?”
+
+“No, not yet,” I said. “I want you to speak to them for me. You would
+do it better. I want to be your helper—your assistant, if you’ll have
+me. Last night my mother was saying that she didn’t consider it right
+for me to come here so often for meals. And I’ve been thinking about it
+a good deal since. Couldn’t we make some arrangement—couldn’t I work
+for my meals and sleep here?”
+
+“But my dear Stubbins,” said the Doctor, laughing, “you are quite
+welcome to come here for three meals a day all the year round. I’m only
+too glad to have you. Besides, you do do a lot of work, as it is. I’ve
+often felt that I ought to pay you for what you do—But what arrangement
+was it that you thought of?”
+
+“Well, I thought,” said I, “that perhaps you would come and see my
+mother and father and tell them that if they let me live here with you
+and work hard, that you will teach me to read and write. You see my
+mother is awfully anxious to have me learn reading and writing. And
+besides, I couldn’t be a proper naturalist without, could I?”
+
+“Oh, I don’t know so much about that,” said the Doctor. “It is nice, I
+admit, to be able to read and write. But naturalists are not all alike,
+you know. For example: this young fellow Charles Darwin that people are
+talking about so much now—he’s a Cambridge graduate—reads and writes
+very well. And then Cuvier—he used to be a tutor. But listen, the
+greatest naturalist of them all doesn’t even know how to write his own
+name nor to read the _A B C_.”
+
+“Who is he?” I asked.
+
+“He is a mysterious person,” said the Doctor—“a very mysterious person.
+His name is Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow. He is a Red Indian.”
+
+“Have you ever seen him?” I asked.
+
+“No,” said the Doctor, “I’ve never seen him. No white man has ever met
+him. I fancy Mr. Darwin doesn’t even know that he exists. He lives
+almost entirely with the animals and with the different tribes of
+Indians—usually somewhere among the mountains of Peru. Never stays long
+in one place. Goes from tribe to tribe, like a sort of Indian tramp.”
+
+“How do you know so much about him?” I asked—“if you’ve never even seen
+him?”
+
+“The Purple Bird-of-Paradise,” said the Doctor—“she told me all about
+him. She says he is a perfectly marvelous naturalist. I got her to take
+a message to him for me last time she was here. I am expecting her back
+any day now. I can hardly wait to see what answer she has brought from
+him. It is already almost the last week of August. I do hope nothing
+has happened to her on the way.”
+
+“But why do the animals and birds come to you when they are sick?” I
+said—“Why don’t they go to him, if he is so very wonderful?”
+
+“It seems that my methods are more up to date,” said the Doctor. “But
+from what the Purple Bird-of-Paradise tells me, Long Arrow’s knowledge
+of natural history must be positively tremendous. His specialty is
+botany—plants and all that sort of thing. But he knows a lot about
+birds and animals too. He’s very good on bees and beetles—But now
+tell me, Stubbins, are you quite sure that you really want to be a
+naturalist?”
+
+“Yes,” said I, “my mind is made up.”
+
+“Well you know, it isn’t a very good profession for making money. Not
+at all, it isn’t. Most of the good naturalists don’t make any money
+whatever. All they do is _spend_ money, buying butterfly-nets and
+cases for birds’ eggs and things. It is only now, after I have been a
+naturalist for many years, that I am beginning to make a little money
+from the books I write.”
+
+“I don’t care about money,” I said. “I want to be a naturalist.
+Won’t you please come and have dinner with my mother and father next
+Thursday—I told them I was going to ask you—and then you can talk to
+them about it. You see, there’s another thing: if I’m living with you,
+and sort of belong to your house and business, I shall be able to come
+with you next time you go on a voyage.”
+
+“Oh, I see,” said he, smiling. “So you want to come on a voyage with
+me, do you?—Ah hah!”
+
+“I want to go on all your voyages with you. It would be much easier
+for you if you had someone to carry the butterfly-nets and note-books.
+Wouldn’t it now?”
+
+For a long time the Doctor sat thinking, drumming on the desk with his
+fingers, while I waited, terribly impatiently, to see what he was going
+to say.
+
+At last he shrugged his shoulders and stood up.
+
+“Well, Stubbins,” said he, “I’ll come and talk it over with you and
+your parents next Thursday. And—well, we’ll see. We’ll see. Give your
+mother and father my compliments and thank them for their invitation,
+will you?”
+
+Then I tore home like the wind to tell my mother that the Doctor had
+promised to come.
+
+
+
+
+_THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER_
+
+A TRAVELER ARRIVES
+
+
+THE next day I was sitting on the wall of the Doctor’s garden after
+tea, talking to Dab-Dab. I had now learned so much from Polynesia that
+I could talk to most birds and some animals without a great deal of
+difficulty. I found Dab-Dab a very nice, old, motherly bird—though not
+nearly so clever and interesting as Polynesia. She had been housekeeper
+for the Doctor many years now.
+
+Well, as I was saying, the old duck and I were sitting on the flat top
+of the garden-wall that evening, looking down into the Oxenthorpe Road
+below. We were watching some sheep being driven to market in Puddleby;
+and Dab-Dab had just been telling me about the Doctor’s adventures in
+Africa. For she had gone on a voyage with him to that country long ago.
+
+Suddenly I heard a curious distant noise down the road, towards the
+town. It sounded like a lot of people cheering. I stood up on the wall
+to see if I could make out what was coming. Presently there appeared
+round a bend a great crowd of school-children following a very ragged,
+curious-looking woman.
+
+“What in the world can it be?” cried Dab-Dab.
+
+The children were all laughing and shouting. And certainly the woman
+they were following was most extraordinary. She had very long arms and
+the most stooping shoulders I have ever seen. She wore a straw hat on
+the side of her head with poppies on it; and her skirt was so long for
+her it dragged on the ground like a ball-gown’s train. I could not see
+anything of her face because of the wide hat pulled over her eyes. But
+as she got nearer to us and the laughing of the children grew louder,
+I noticed that her hands were very dark in color, and hairy, like a
+witch’s.
+
+Then all of a sudden Dab-Dab at my side startled me by crying out in a
+loud voice,
+
+“Why, it’s Chee-Chee!—Chee-Chee come back at last! How dare those
+children tease him! I’ll give the little imps something to laugh at!”
+
+And she flew right off the wall down into the road and made straight
+for the children, squawking away in a most terrifying fashion and
+pecking at their feet and legs. The children made off down the street
+back to the town as hard as they could run.
+
+The strange-looking figure in the straw hat stood gazing after them a
+moment and then came wearily up to the gate. It didn’t bother to undo
+the latch but just climbed right over the gate as though it were
+something in the way. And then I noticed that it took hold of the bars
+with its feet, so that it really had four hands to climb with. But it
+was only when I at last got a glimpse of the face under the hat that I
+could be really sure it was a monkey.
+
+[Illustration: A traveler arrives]
+
+Chee-Chee—for it was he—frowned at me suspiciously from the top of the
+gate, as though he thought I was going to laugh at him like the other
+boys and girls. Then he dropped into the garden on the inside and
+immediately started taking off his clothes. He tore the straw hat in
+two and threw it down into the road. Then he took off his bodice and
+skirt, jumped on them savagely and began kicking them round the front
+garden.
+
+Presently I heard a screech from the house, and out flew Polynesia,
+followed by the Doctor and Jip.
+
+“Chee-Chee!—Chee-Chee!” shouted the parrot. “You’ve come at last! I
+always told the Doctor you’d find a way. How ever did you do it?”
+
+They all gathered round him shaking him by his four hands, laughing and
+asking him a million questions at once. Then they all started back for
+the house.
+
+“Run up to my bedroom, Stubbins,” said the Doctor, turning to me.
+“You’ll find a bag of peanuts in the small left-hand drawer of the
+bureau. I have always kept them there in case he might come back
+unexpectedly some day. And wait a minute—see if Dab-Dab has any bananas
+in the pantry. Chee-Chee hasn’t had a banana, he tells me, in two
+months.”
+
+When I came down again to the kitchen I found everybody listening
+attentively to the monkey who was telling the story of his journey from
+Africa.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER_
+
+CHEE-CHEE’S VOYAGE
+
+
+It seems that after Polynesia had left, Chee-Chee had grown more
+homesick than ever for the Doctor and the little house in Puddleby. At
+last he had made up his mind that by hook or crook he would follow her.
+And one day, going down to the seashore, he saw a lot of people, black
+and white, getting on to a ship that was coming to England. He tried to
+get on too. But they turned him back and drove him away. And presently
+he noticed a whole big family of funny people passing on to the ship.
+And one of the children in this family reminded Chee-Chee of a cousin
+of his with whom he had once been in love. So he said to himself, “That
+girl looks just as much like a monkey as I look like a girl. If I
+could only get some clothes to wear I might easily slip on to the ship
+amongst these families, and people would take me for a girl. Good idea!”
+
+So he went off to a town that was quite close, and hopping in through
+an open window he found a skirt and bodice lying on a chair. They
+belonged to a fashionable black lady who was taking a bath. Chee-Chee
+put them on. Next he went back to the seashore, mingled with the crowd
+there and at last sneaked safely on to the big ship. Then he thought he
+had better hide, for fear people might look at him too closely. And he
+stayed hidden all the time the ship was sailing to England—only coming
+out at night, when everybody was asleep, to find food.
+
+When he reached England and tried to get off the ship, the sailors saw
+at last that he was only a monkey dressed up in girl’s clothes; and
+they wanted to keep him for a pet. But he managed to give them the
+slip; and once he was on shore, he dived into the crowd and got away.
+But he was still a long distance from Puddleby and had to come right
+across the whole breadth of England.
+
+He had a terrible time of it. Whenever he passed through a town all the
+children ran after him in a crowd, laughing; and often silly people
+caught hold of him and tried to stop him, so that he had to run up
+lamp-posts and climb to chimney-pots to escape from them. At night
+he used to sleep in ditches or barns or anywhere he could hide; and
+he lived on the berries he picked from the hedges and the cob-nuts
+that grew in the copses. At length, after many adventures and narrow
+squeaks, he saw the tower of Puddleby Church and he knew that at last
+he was near his old home.
+
+When Chee-Chee had finished his story he ate six bananas without
+stopping and drank a whole bowlful of milk.
+
+“My!” he said, “why wasn’t I born with wings, like Polynesia, so I
+could fly here? You’ve no idea how I grew to hate that hat and skirt.
+I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my life. All the way from Bristol
+here, if the wretched hat wasn’t falling off my head or catching in the
+trees, those beastly skirts were tripping me up and getting wound round
+everything. What on earth do women wear those things for? Goodness, I
+was glad to see old Puddleby this morning when I climbed over the hill
+by Bellaby’s farm!”
+
+“Your bed on top of the plate-rack in the scullery is all ready for
+you,” said the Doctor. “We never had it disturbed in case you might
+come back.”
+
+“Yes,” said Dab-Dab, “and you can have the old smoking-jacket of the
+Doctor’s which you used to use as a blanket, in case it is cold in the
+night.”
+
+“Thanks,” said Chee-Chee. “It’s good to be back in the old house again.
+Everything’s just the same as when I left—except the clean roller-towel
+on the back of the door there—that’s new—Well, I think I’ll go to bed
+now. I need sleep.”
+
+Then we all went out of the kitchen into the scullery and watched
+Chee-Chee climb the plate-rack like a sailor going up a mast. On the
+top, he curled himself up, pulled the old smoking-jacket over him, and
+in a minute he was snoring peacefully.
+
+“Good old Chee-Chee!” whispered the Doctor. “I’m glad he’s back.”
+
+“Yes—good old Chee-Chee!” echoed Dab-Dab and Polynesia.
+
+Then we all tip-toed out of the scullery and closed the door very
+gently behind us.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER_
+
+I BECOME A DOCTOR’S ASSISTANT
+
+
+WHEN Thursday evening came there was great excitement at our house.
+My mother had asked me what were the Doctor’s favorite dishes, and I
+had told her: spare ribs, sliced beet-root, fried bread, shrimps and
+treacle-tart. To-night she had them all on the table waiting for him;
+and she was now fussing round the house to see if everything was tidy
+and in readiness for his coming.
+
+At last we heard a knock upon the door, and of course it was I who got
+there first to let him in.
+
+The Doctor had brought his own flute with him this time. And after
+supper was over (which he enjoyed very much) the table was cleared away
+and the washing-up left in the kitchen-sink till the next day. Then the
+Doctor and my father started playing duets.
+
+They got so interested in this that I began to be afraid that they
+would never come to talking over my business. But at last the Doctor
+said,
+
+“Your son tells me that he is anxious to become a naturalist.”
+
+And then began a long talk which lasted far into the night. At first
+both my mother and father were rather against the idea—as they had been
+from the beginning. They said it was only a boyish whim, and that I
+would get tired of it very soon. But after the matter had been talked
+over from every side, the Doctor turned to my father and said,
+
+“Well now, supposing, Mr. Stubbins, that your son came to me for two
+years—that is, until he is twelve years old. During those two years he
+will have time to see if he is going to grow tired of it or not. Also
+during that time, I will promise to teach him reading and writing and
+perhaps a little arithmetic as well. What do you say to that?”
+
+“I don’t know,” said my father, shaking his head. “You are very kind
+and it is a handsome offer you make, Doctor. But I feel that Tommy
+ought to be learning some trade by which he can earn his living later
+on.”
+
+Then my mother spoke up. Although she was nearly in tears at the
+prospect of my leaving her house while I was still so young, she
+pointed out to my father that this was a grand chance for me to get
+learning.
+
+“Now Jacob,” she said, “you know that many lads in the town have been
+to the Grammar School till they were fourteen or fifteen years old.
+Tommy can easily spare these two years for his education; and if he
+learns no more than to read and write, the time will not be lost.
+Though goodness knows,” she added, getting out her handkerchief to cry,
+“the house will seem terribly empty when he’s gone.”
+
+“I will take care that he comes to see you, Mrs. Stubbins,” said the
+Doctor—“every day, if you like. After all, he will not be very far
+away.”
+
+Well, at length my father gave in; and it was agreed that I was to live
+with the Doctor and work for him for two years in exchange for learning
+to read and write and for my board and lodging.
+
+“Of course,” added the Doctor, “while I have money I will keep Tommy in
+clothes as well. But money is a very irregular thing with me; sometimes
+I have some, and then sometimes I haven’t.”
+
+“You are very good, Doctor,” said my mother, drying her tears. “It
+seems to me that Tommy is a very fortunate boy.”
+
+And then, thoughtless, selfish little imp that I was, I leaned over and
+whispered in the Doctor’s ear,
+
+“Please don’t forget to say something about the voyages.”
+
+“Oh, by the way,” said John Dolittle, “of course occasionally my work
+requires me to travel. You will have no objection, I take it, to your
+son’s coming with me?”
+
+My poor mother looked up sharply, more unhappy and anxious than ever
+at this new turn; while I stood behind the Doctor’s chair, my heart
+thumping with excitement, waiting for my father’s answer.
+
+“No,” he said slowly after a while. “If we agree to the other
+arrangement I don’t see that we’ve the right to make any objection to
+that.”
+
+Well, there surely was never a happier boy in the world than I was at
+that moment. My head was in the clouds. I trod on air. I could scarcely
+keep from dancing round the parlor. At last the dream of my life was to
+come true! At last I was to be given a chance to seek my fortune, to
+have adventures! For I knew perfectly well that it was now almost time
+for the Doctor to start upon another voyage. Polynesia had told me that
+he hardly ever stayed at home for more than six months at a stretch.
+Therefore he would be surely going again within a fortnight. And I—I,
+Tommy Stubbins, would go with him! Just to think of it!—to cross the
+Sea, to walk on foreign shores, to roam the World!
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PART TWO
+
+_THE FIRST CHAPTER_
+
+THE CREW OF “THE CURLEW”
+
+
+FROM that time on of course my position in the town was very different.
+I was no longer a poor cobbler’s son. I carried my nose in the air as
+I went down the High Street with Jip in his gold collar at my side;
+and snobbish little boys who had despised me before because I was not
+rich enough to go to school now pointed me out to their friends and
+whispered, “You see him? He’s a doctor’s assistant—and only ten years
+old!”
+
+But their eyes would have opened still wider with wonder if they had
+but known that I and the dog that was with me could talk to one another.
+
+Two days after the Doctor had been to our house to dinner he told me
+very sadly that he was afraid that he would have to give up trying to
+learn the language of the shellfish—at all events for the present.
+
+“I’m very discouraged, Stubbins, very. I’ve tried the mussels and
+the clams, the oysters and the whelks, cockles and scallops; seven
+different kinds of crabs and all the lobster family. I think I’ll
+leave it for the present and go at it again later on.”
+
+“What will you turn to now?” I asked.
+
+“Well, I rather thought of going on a voyage, Stubbins. It’s quite
+a time now since I’ve been away. And there is a great deal of work
+waiting for me abroad.”
+
+“When shall we start?” I asked.
+
+“Well, first I shall have to wait till the Purple Bird-of-Paradise gets
+here. I must see if she has any message for me from Long Arrow. She’s
+late. She should have been here ten days ago. I hope to goodness she’s
+all right.”
+
+“Well, hadn’t we better be seeing about getting a boat?” I said. “She
+is sure to be here in a day or so; and there will be lots of things to
+do to get ready in the mean time, won’t there?”
+
+“Yes, indeed,” said the Doctor. “Suppose we go down and see your friend
+Joe, the mussel-man. He will know about boats.”
+
+“I’d like to come too,” said Jip.
+
+“All right, come along,” said the Doctor, and off we went.
+
+Joe said yes, he had a boat—one he had just bought—but it needed three
+people to sail her. We told him we would like to see it anyway.
+
+So the mussel-man took us off a little way down the river and showed
+us the neatest, prettiest, little vessel that ever was built. She was
+called _The Curlew_. Joe said he would sell her to us cheap. But the
+trouble was that the boat needed three people, while we were only two.
+
+“Of course I shall be taking Chee-Chee,” said the Doctor. “But although
+he is very quick and clever, he is not as strong as a man. We really
+ought to have another person to sail a boat as big as that.”
+
+“I know of a good sailor, Doctor,” said Joe—“a first-class seaman who
+would be glad of the job.”
+
+“No, thank you, Joe,” said Doctor Dolittle. “I don’t want any seamen.
+I couldn’t afford to hire them. And then they hamper me so, seamen do,
+when I’m at sea. They’re always wanting to do things the proper way;
+and I like to do them _my_ way—Now let me see: who could we take with
+us?”
+
+“There’s Matthew Mugg, the cat’s-meat-man,” I said.
+
+“No, he wouldn’t do. Matthew’s a very nice fellow, but he talks too
+much—mostly about his rheumatism. You have to be frightfully particular
+whom you take with you on long voyages.”
+
+“How about Luke the Hermit?” I asked.
+
+“That’s a good idea—splendid—if he’ll come. Let’s go and ask him right
+away.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE SECOND CHAPTER_
+
+LUKE THE HERMIT
+
+
+THE Hermit was an old friend of ours, as I have already told you. He
+was a very peculiar person. Far out on the marshes he lived in a little
+bit of a shack—all alone except for his brindle bulldog. No one knew
+where he came from—not even his name. Just “Luke the Hermit” folks
+called him. He never came into the town; never seemed to want to see
+or talk to people. His dog, Bob, drove them away if they came near his
+hut. When you asked anyone in Puddleby who he was or why he lived out
+in that lonely place by himself, the only answer you got was, “Oh, Luke
+the Hermit? Well, there’s some mystery about him. Nobody knows what it
+is. But there’s a mystery. Don’t go near him. He’ll set the dog on you.”
+
+Nevertheless there were two people who often went out to that little
+shack on the fens: the Doctor and myself. And Bob, the bulldog, never
+barked when he heard us coming. For we liked Luke; and Luke liked us.
+
+This afternoon, crossing the marshes we faced a cold wind blowing from
+the East. As we approached the hut Jip put up his ears and said,
+
+“That’s funny!”
+
+“What’s funny?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“That Bob hasn’t come out to meet us. He should have heard us long
+ago—or smelt us. What’s that queer noise?”
+
+“Sounds to me like a gate creaking,” said the Doctor. “Maybe it’s
+Luke’s door, only we can’t see the door from here; it’s on the far side
+of the shack.”
+
+“I hope Bob isn’t sick,” said Jip; and he let out a bark to see if that
+would call him. But the only answer he got was the wailing of the wind
+across the wide, salt fen.
+
+We hurried forward, all three of us thinking hard.
+
+When we reached the front of the shack we found the door open, swinging
+and creaking dismally in the wind. We looked inside. There was no one
+there.
+
+“Isn’t Luke at home then?” said I. “Perhaps he’s out for a walk.”
+
+“He is _always_ at home,” said the Doctor frowning in a peculiar sort
+of way. “And even if he were out for a walk he wouldn’t leave his
+door banging in the wind behind him. There is something queer about
+this—What are you doing in there, Jip?”
+
+“Nothing much—nothing worth speaking of,” said Jip examining the floor
+of the hut extremely carefully.
+
+“Come here, Jip,” said the Doctor in a stern voice. “You are hiding
+something from me. You see signs and you know something—or you guess
+it. What has happened? Tell me. Where is the Hermit?”
+
+“I don’t know,” said Jip looking very guilty and uncomfortable. “I
+don’t know where he is.”
+
+“Well, you know something. I can tell it from the look in your eye.
+What is it?”
+
+But Jip didn’t answer.
+
+For ten minutes the Doctor kept questioning him. But not a word would
+the dog say.
+
+“Well,” said the Doctor at last, “it is no use our standing around here
+in the cold. The Hermit’s gone. That’s all. We might as well go home to
+luncheon.”
+
+As we buttoned up our coats and started back across the marsh, Jip ran
+ahead pretending he was looking for water-rats.
+
+“He knows something all right,” whispered the Doctor. “And I think he
+knows what has happened too. It’s funny, his not wanting to tell me. He
+has never done that before—not in eleven years. He has always told me
+everything—Strange—very strange!”
+
+“Do you mean you think he knows all about the Hermit, the big mystery
+about him which folks hint at and all that?”
+
+“I shouldn’t wonder if he did,” the Doctor answered slowly. “I noticed
+something in his expression the moment we found that door open and the
+hut empty. And the way he sniffed the floor too—it told him something,
+that floor did. He saw signs we couldn’t see—I wonder why he won’t tell
+me. I’ll try him again. Here, Jip! Jip!—Where is the dog? I thought he
+went on in front.”
+
+“So did I,” I said. “He was there a moment ago. I saw him as large as
+life. Jip—Jip—Jip—JIP!”
+
+But he was gone. We called and called. We even walked back to the hut.
+But Jip had disappeared.
+
+“Oh well,” I said, “most likely he has just run home ahead of us. He
+often does that, you know. We’ll find him there when we get back to the
+house.”
+
+But the Doctor just closed his coat-collar tighter against the wind and
+strode on muttering, “Odd—very odd!”
+
+
+
+
+_THE THIRD CHAPTER_
+
+JIP AND THE SECRET
+
+
+WHEN we reached the house the first question the Doctor asked of
+Dab-Dab in the hall was,
+
+“Is Jip home yet?”
+
+“No,” said Dab-Dab, “I haven’t seen him.”
+
+“Let me know the moment he comes in, will you, please?” said the
+Doctor, hanging up his hat.
+
+“Certainly I will,” said Dab-Dab. “Don’t be long over washing your
+hands; the lunch is on the table.”
+
+Just as we were sitting down to luncheon in the kitchen we heard a
+great racket at the front door. I ran and opened it. In bounded Jip.
+
+“Doctor!” he cried, “come into the library quick. I’ve got something
+to tell you—No, Dab-Dab, the luncheon must wait. Please hurry, Doctor.
+There’s not a moment to be lost. Don’t let any of the animals come—just
+you and Tommy.”
+
+“Now,” he said, when we were inside the library and the door was
+closed, “turn the key in the lock and make sure there’s no one
+listening under the windows.”
+
+“It’s all right,” said the Doctor. “Nobody can hear you here. Now what
+is it?”
+
+“Well, Doctor,” said Jip (he was badly out of breath from running), “I
+know all about the Hermit—I have known for years. But I couldn’t tell
+you.”
+
+“Why?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“Because I’d promised not to tell any one. It was Bob, his dog, that
+told me. And I swore to him that I would keep the secret.”
+
+“Well, and are you going to tell me now?”
+
+“Yes,” said Jip, “we’ve got to save him. I followed Bob’s scent just
+now when I left you out there on the marshes. And I found him. And I
+said to him, ‘Is it all right,’ I said, ‘for me to tell the Doctor now?
+Maybe he can do something.’ And Bob says to me, ‘Yes,’ says he, ‘it’s
+all right because—’”
+
+“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, go on, go on!” cried the Doctor. “Tell us what
+the mystery is—not what you said to Bob and what Bob said to you. What
+has happened? Where _is_ the Hermit?”
+
+“He’s in Puddleby Jail,” said Jip. “He’s in prison.”
+
+“In prison!”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“What for?—What’s he done?”
+
+Jip went over to the door and smelt at the bottom of it to see if any
+one were listening outside. Then he came back to the Doctor on tiptoe
+and whispered,
+
+“_He killed a man!_”
+
+“Lord preserve us!” cried the Doctor, sitting down heavily in a chair
+and mopping his forehead with a handkerchief. “When did he do it?”
+
+“Fifteen years ago—in a Mexican gold-mine. That’s why he has been a
+hermit ever since. He shaved off his beard and kept away from people
+out there on the marshes so he wouldn’t be recognized. But last week,
+it seems these new-fangled policemen came to Town; and they heard there
+was a strange man who kept to himself all alone in a shack on the
+fen. And they got suspicious. For a long time people had been hunting
+all over the world for the man that did that killing in the Mexican
+gold-mine fifteen years ago. So these policemen went out to the shack,
+and they recognized Luke by a mole on his arm. And they took him to
+prison.”
+
+“Well, well!” murmured the Doctor. “Who would have thought it?—Luke,
+the philosopher!—Killed a man!—I can hardly believe it.”
+
+“It’s true enough—unfortunately,” said Jip. “Luke did it. But it
+wasn’t his fault. Bob says so. And he was there and saw it all. He was
+scarcely more than a puppy at the time. Bob says Luke couldn’t help it.
+He _had_ to do it.”
+
+“Where is Bob now?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“Down at the prison. I wanted him to come with me here to see you; but
+he won’t leave the prison while Luke is there. He just sits outside the
+door of the prison-cell and won’t move. He doesn’t even eat the food
+they give him. Won’t you please come down there, Doctor, and see if
+there is anything you can do? The trial is to be this afternoon at two
+o’clock. What time is it now?”
+
+“It’s ten minutes past one.”
+
+“Bob says he thinks they are going to kill Luke for a punishment if
+they can prove that he did it—or certainly keep him in prison for the
+rest of his life. Won’t you please come? Perhaps if you spoke to the
+judge and told him what a good man Luke really is they’d let him off.”
+
+“Of course I’ll come,” said the Doctor getting up and moving to go.
+“But I’m very much afraid that I shan’t be of any real help.” He turned
+at the door and hesitated thoughtfully.
+
+“And yet—I wonder—”
+
+Then he opened the door and passed out with Jip and me close at his
+heels.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
+
+BOB
+
+
+DAB-DAB was terribly upset when she found we were going away again
+without luncheon; and she made us take some cold pork-pies in our
+pockets to eat on the way.
+
+When we got to Puddleby Court-house (it was next door to the prison),
+we found a great crowd gathered around the building.
+
+This was the week of the Assizes—a business which happened every three
+months, when many pick-pockets and other bad characters were tried by
+a very grand judge who came all the way from London. And anybody in
+Puddleby who had nothing special to do used to come to the Court-house
+to hear the trials.
+
+But to-day it was different. The crowd was not made up of just a few
+idle people. It was enormous. The news had run through the countryside
+that Luke the Hermit was to be tried for killing a man and that the
+great mystery which had hung over him so long was to be cleared up
+at last. The butcher and the baker had closed their shops and taken
+a holiday. All the farmers from round-about, and all the townsfolk,
+were there with their Sunday clothes on, trying to get seats in the
+Court-house or gossipping outside in low whispers. The High Street was
+so crowded you could hardly move along it. I had never seen the quiet
+old town in such a state of excitement before. For Puddleby had not had
+such an Assizes since 1799, when Ferdinand Phipps, the Rector’s oldest
+son, had robbed the bank.
+
+If I hadn’t had the Doctor with me I am sure I would never have been
+able to make my way through the mob packed around the Court-house door.
+But I just followed behind him, hanging on to his coat-tails; and at
+last we got safely into the jail.
+
+“I want to see Luke,” said the Doctor to a very grand person in a blue
+coat with brass buttons standing at the door.
+
+“Ask at the Superintendent’s office,” said the man. “Third door on the
+left down the corridor.”
+
+“Who is that person you spoke to, Doctor?” I asked as we went along the
+passage.
+
+“He is a policeman.”
+
+“And what are policemen?”
+
+“Policemen? They are to keep people in order. They’ve just been
+invented—by Sir Robert Peel. That’s why they are also called ‘peelers’
+sometimes. It is a wonderful age we live in. They’re always thinking of
+something new—This will be the Superintendent’s office, I suppose.”
+
+[Illustration: “On the bed sat the Hermit”]
+
+From there another policeman was sent with us to show us the way.
+
+Outside the door of Luke’s cell we found Bob, the bulldog, who wagged
+his tail sadly when he saw us. The man who was guiding us took a large
+bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the door.
+
+I had never been inside a real prison-cell before; and I felt quite
+a thrill when the policeman went out and locked the door after him,
+leaving us shut in the dimly-lighted, little, stone room. Before he
+went, he said that as soon as we had done talking with our friend we
+should knock upon the door and he would come and let us out.
+
+At first I could hardly see anything, it was so dim inside. But after
+a little I made out a low bed against the wall, under a small barred
+window. On the bed, staring down at the floor between his feet, sat the
+Hermit, his head resting in his hands.
+
+“Well, Luke,” said the Doctor in a kindly voice, “they don’t give you
+much light in here, do they?”
+
+Very slowly the Hermit looked up from the floor.
+
+“Hulloa, John Dolittle. What brings you here?”
+
+“I’ve come to see you. I would have been here sooner, only I didn’t
+hear about all this till a few minutes ago. I went to your hut to ask
+you if you would join me on a voyage; and when I found it empty I had
+no idea where you could be. I am dreadfully sorry to hear about your
+bad luck. I’ve come to see if there is anything I can do.”
+
+Luke shook his head.
+
+“No, I don’t imagine there is anything can be done. They’ve caught me
+at last. That’s the end of it, I suppose.”
+
+He got up stiffly and started walking up and down the little room.
+
+“In a way I’m glad it’s over,” said he. “I never got any peace, always
+thinking they were after me—afraid to speak to anyone. They were bound
+to get me in the end—Yes, I’m glad it’s over.”
+
+Then the Doctor talked to Luke for more than half an hour, trying to
+cheer him up; while I sat around wondering what I ought to say and
+wishing I could do something.
+
+At last the Doctor said he wanted to see Bob; and we knocked upon the
+door and were let out by the policeman.
+
+“Bob,” said the Doctor to the big bulldog in the passage, “come out
+with me into the porch. I want to ask you something.”
+
+“How is he, Doctor?” asked Bob as we walked down the corridor into the
+Court-house porch.
+
+“Oh, Luke’s all right. Very miserable of course, but he’s all right.
+Now tell me, Bob: you saw this business happen, didn’t you? You were
+there when the man was killed, eh?”
+
+“I was, Doctor,” said Bob, “and I tell you—”
+
+“All right,” the Doctor interrupted, “that’s all I want to know for the
+present. There isn’t time to tell me more now. The trial is just going
+to begin. There are the judge and the lawyers coming up the steps. Now
+listen, Bob: I want you to stay with me when I go into the court-room.
+And whatever I tell you to do, do it. Do you understand? Don’t make
+any scenes. Don’t bite anybody, no matter what they may say about
+Luke. Just behave perfectly quietly and answer any question I may ask
+you—truthfully. Do you understand?”
+
+“Very well. But do you think you will be able to get him off, Doctor?”
+asked Bob. “He’s a good man, Doctor. He really is. There never was a
+better.”
+
+“We’ll see, we’ll see, Bob. It’s a new thing I’m going to try. I’m not
+sure the judge will allow it. But—well, we’ll see. It’s time to go
+into the court-room now. Don’t forget what I told you. Remember: for
+Heaven’s sake don’t start biting any one or you’ll get us all put out
+and spoil everything.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIFTH CHAPTER_
+
+MENDOZA
+
+
+INSIDE the court-room everything was very solemn and wonderful. It was
+a high, big room. Raised above the floor, against the wall was the
+Judge’s desk; and here the judge was already sitting—an old, handsome
+man in a marvelous big wig of gray hair and a gown of black. Below him
+was another wide, long desk at which lawyers in white wigs sat. The
+whole thing reminded me of a mixture between a church and a school.
+
+“Those twelve men at the side,” whispered the Doctor—“those in pews
+like a choir, they are what is called the jury. It is they who decide
+whether Luke is guilty—whether he did it or not.”
+
+“And look!” I said, “there’s Luke himself in a sort of pulpit-thing
+with policemen each side of him. And there’s another pulpit, the same
+kind, the other side of the room, see—only that one’s empty.”
+
+“That one is called the witness-box,” said the Doctor. “Now I’m going
+down to speak to one of those men in white wigs; and I want you to wait
+here and keep these two seats for us. Bob will stay with you. Keep an
+eye on him—better hold on to his collar. I shan’t be more than a minute
+or so.”
+
+With that the Doctor disappeared into the crowd which filled the main
+part of the room.
+
+Then I saw the judge take up a funny little wooden hammer and knock on
+his desk with it. This, it seemed, was to make people keep quiet, for
+immediately every one stopped buzzing and talking and began to listen
+very respectfully. Then another man in a black gown stood up and began
+reading from a paper in his hand.
+
+He mumbled away exactly as though he were saying his prayers and didn’t
+want any one to understand what language they were in. But I managed to
+catch a few words:
+
+“_Biz—biz—biz—biz—biz_—otherwise known as Luke the
+Hermit, of—_biz—biz—biz—biz_—for killing his partner
+with—_biz—biz—biz_—otherwise known as Bluebeard Bill on the night
+of the—_biz—biz—biz_—in the _biz—biz—biz_—of Mexico. Therefore Her
+Majesty’s—_biz—biz—biz_—”
+
+At this moment I felt some one take hold of my arm from the back, and
+turning round I found the Doctor had returned with one of the men in
+white wigs.
+
+“Stubbins, this is Mr. Percy Jenkyns,” said the Doctor. “He is Luke’s
+lawyer. It is his business to get Luke off—if he can.”
+
+Mr. Jenkyns seemed to be an extremely young man with a round smooth
+face like a boy. He shook hands with me and then immediately turned and
+went on talking with the Doctor.
+
+“Oh, I think it is a perfectly precious idea,” he was saying. “Of
+_course_ the dog must be admitted as a witness; he was the only one
+who saw the thing take place. I’m awfully glad you came. I wouldn’t
+have missed this for anything. My hat! Won’t it make the old court sit
+up? They’re always frightfully dull, these Assizes. But this will stir
+things. A bulldog witness for the defense! I do hope there are plenty
+of reporters present—Yes, there’s one making a sketch of the prisoner.
+I shall become known after this—And won’t Conkey be pleased? My hat!”
+
+He put his hand over his mouth to smother a laugh and his eyes fairly
+sparkled with mischief.
+
+“Who is Conkey?” I asked the Doctor.
+
+“Sh! He is speaking of the judge up there, the Honorable Eustace
+Beauchamp Conckley.”
+
+“Now,” said Mr. Jenkyns, bringing out a note-book, “tell me a little
+more about yourself, Doctor. You took your degree as Doctor of Medicine
+at Durham, I think you said. And the name of your last book was?”
+
+I could not hear any more for they talked in whispers; and I fell to
+looking round the court again.
+
+Of course I could not understand everything that was going on, though
+it was all very interesting. People kept getting up in the place the
+Doctor called the witness-box, and the lawyers at the long table asked
+them questions about “the night of the 29th.” Then the people would get
+down again and somebody else would get up and be questioned.
+
+One of the lawyers (who, the Doctor told me afterwards, was called the
+Prosecutor) seemed to be doing his best to get the Hermit into trouble
+by asking questions which made it look as though he had always been a
+very bad man. He was a nasty lawyer, this Prosecutor, with a long nose.
+
+Most of the time I could hardly keep my eyes off poor Luke, who sat
+there between his two policemen, staring at the floor as though he
+weren’t interested. The only time I saw him take any notice at all was
+when a small dark man with wicked, little, watery eyes got up into the
+witness-box. I heard Bob snarl under my chair as this person came into
+the court-room and Luke’s eyes just blazed with anger and contempt.
+
+This man said his name was Mendoza and that he was the one who had
+guided the Mexican police to the mine after Bluebeard Bill had been
+killed. And at every word he said I could hear Bob down below me
+muttering between his teeth,
+
+“It’s a lie! It’s a lie! I’ll chew his face. It’s a lie!”
+
+And both the Doctor and I had hard work keeping the dog under the seat.
+
+Then I noticed that our Mr. Jenkyns had disappeared from the Doctor’s
+side. But presently I saw him stand up at the long table to speak to
+the judge.
+
+“Your Honor,” said he, “I wish to introduce a new witness for the
+defense, Doctor John Dolittle, the naturalist. Will you please step
+into the witness-stand, Doctor?”
+
+There was a buzz of excitement as the Doctor made his way across the
+crowded room; and I noticed the nasty lawyer with the long nose lean
+down and whisper something to a friend, smiling in an ugly way which
+made me want to pinch him.
+
+Then Mr. Jenkyns asked the Doctor a whole lot of questions about
+himself and made him answer in a loud voice so the whole court could
+hear. He finished up by saying,
+
+“And you are prepared to swear, Doctor Dolittle, that you understand
+the language of dogs and can make them understand you. Is that so?”
+
+“Yes,” said the Doctor, “that is so.”
+
+“And what, might I ask,” put in the judge in a very quiet, dignified
+voice, “has all this to do with the killing of er—er—Bluebeard Bill?”
+
+“This, Your Honor,” said Mr. Jenkyns, talking in a very grand manner as
+though he were on a stage in a theatre: “there is in this court-room
+at the present moment a bulldog, who was the only living thing that
+saw the man killed. With the Court’s permission I propose to put that
+dog in the witness-stand and have him questioned before you by the
+eminent scientist, Doctor John Dolittle.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE SIXTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE JUDGE’S DOG
+
+
+AT first there was a dead silence in the Court. Then everybody began
+whispering or giggling at the same time, till the whole room sounded
+like a great hive of bees. Many people seemed to be shocked; most of
+them were amused; and a few were angry.
+
+Presently up sprang the nasty lawyer with the long nose.
+
+“I protest, Your Honor,” he cried, waving his arms wildly to the judge.
+“I object. The dignity of this court is in peril. I protest.”
+
+“I am the one to take care of the dignity of this court,” said the
+judge.
+
+Then Mr. Jenkyns got up again. (If it hadn’t been such a serious
+matter, it was almost like a Punch-and-Judy show: somebody was always
+popping down and somebody else popping up).
+
+“If there is any doubt on the score of our being able to do as we say,
+Your Honor will have no objection, I trust, to the Doctor’s giving the
+Court a demonstration of his powers—of showing that he actually can
+understand the speech of animals?”
+
+I thought I saw a twinkle of amusement come into the old judge’s eyes
+as he sat considering a moment before he answered.
+
+“No,” he said at last, “I don’t think so.” Then he turned to the Doctor.
+
+“Are you quite sure you can do this?” he asked.
+
+“Quite, Your Honor,” said the Doctor—“quite sure.”
+
+“Very well then,” said the judge. “If you can satisfy us that you
+really are able to understand canine testimony, the dog shall be
+admitted as a witness. I do not see, in that case, how I could object
+to his being heard. But I warn you that if you are trying to make a
+laughing-stock of this Court it will go hard with you.”
+
+“I protest, I protest!” yelled the long-nosed Prosecutor. “This is a
+scandal, an outrage to the Bar!”
+
+“Sit down!” said the judge in a very stern voice.
+
+“What animal does Your Honor wish me to talk with?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“I would like you to talk to my own dog,” said the judge. “He is
+outside in the cloak-room. I will have him brought in; and then we
+shall see what you can do.”
+
+Then someone went out and fetched the judge’s dog, a lovely great
+Russian wolf-hound with slender legs and a shaggy coat. He was a proud
+and beautiful creature.
+
+“Now, Doctor,” said the judge, “did you ever see this dog
+before?—Remember you are in the witness-stand and under oath.”
+
+“No, Your Honor, I never saw him before.”
+
+“Very well then, will you please ask him to tell you what I had for
+supper last night? He was with me and watched me while I ate.”
+
+Then the Doctor and the dog started talking to one another in signs and
+sounds; and they kept at it for quite a long time. And the Doctor began
+to giggle and get so interested that he seemed to forget all about the
+Court and the judge and everything else.
+
+“What a time he takes!” I heard a fat woman in front of me whispering.
+“He’s only pretending. Of course he can’t do it! Who ever heard of
+talking to a dog? He must think we’re children.”
+
+“Haven’t you finished yet?” the judge asked the Doctor. “It shouldn’t
+take that long just to ask what I had for supper.”
+
+“Oh no, Your Honor,” said the Doctor. “The dog told me that long ago.
+But then he went on to tell me what you did after supper.”
+
+“Never mind that,” said the judge. “Tell me what answer he gave you to
+my question.”
+
+“He says you had a mutton-chop, two baked potatoes, a pickled walnut
+and a glass of ale.”
+
+The Honorable Eustace Beauchamp Conckley went white to the lips.
+
+“Sounds like witchcraft,” he muttered. “I never dreamed—”
+
+“And after your supper,” the Doctor went on, “he says you went to see a
+prize-fight and then sat up playing cards for money till twelve o’clock
+and came home singing, ‘We won’t get—’”
+
+“That will do,” the judge interrupted, “I am satisfied you can do as
+you say. The prisoner’s dog shall be admitted as a witness.”
+
+“I protest, I object!” screamed the Prosecutor. “Your Honor, this is—”
+
+“Sit down!” roared the judge. “I say the dog shall be heard. That ends
+the matter. Put the witness in the stand.”
+
+And then for the first time in the solemn history of England a dog was
+put in the witness-stand of Her Majesty’s Court of Assizes. And it
+was I, Tommy Stubbins (when the Doctor made a sign to me across the
+room) who proudly led Bob up the aisle, through the astonished crowd,
+past the frowning, spluttering, long-nosed Prosecutor, and made him
+comfortable on a high chair in the witness-box; from where the old
+bulldog sat scowling down over the rail upon the amazed and gaping
+jury.
+
+[Illustration: “Sat scowling down upon the amazed and gaping jury”]
+
+
+
+
+_THE SEVENTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE END OF THE MYSTERY
+
+
+THE trial went swiftly forward after that. Mr. Jenkyns told the Doctor
+to ask Bob what he saw on the “night of the 29th;” and when Bob had
+told all he knew and the Doctor had turned it into English for the
+judge and the jury, this was what he had to say:
+
+“On the night of the 29th of November, 1824, I was with my master, Luke
+Fitzjohn (otherwise known as Luke the Hermit) and his two partners,
+Manuel Mendoza and William Boggs (otherwise known as Bluebeard Bill)
+on their gold-mine in Mexico. For a long time these three men had been
+hunting for gold; and they had dug a deep hole in the ground. On the
+morning of the 29th gold was discovered, lots of it, at the bottom of
+this hole. And all three, my master and his two partners, were very
+happy about it because now they would be rich. But Manuel Mendoza asked
+Bluebeard Bill to go for a walk with him. These two men I had always
+suspected of being bad. So when I noticed that they left my master
+behind, I followed them secretly to see what they were up to. And in a
+deep cave in the mountains I heard them arrange together to kill Luke
+the Hermit so that they should get all the gold and he have none.”
+
+At this point the judge asked, “Where is the witness Mendoza?
+Constable, see that he does not leave the court.”
+
+But the wicked little man with the watery eyes had already sneaked out
+when no one was looking and he was never seen in Puddleby again.
+
+“Then,” Bob’s statement went on, “I went to my master and tried very
+hard to make him understand that his partners were dangerous men. But
+it was no use. He did not understand dog language. So I did the next
+best thing: I never let him out of my sight but stayed with him every
+moment of the day and night.
+
+“Now the hole that they had made was so deep that to get down and up
+it you had to go in a big bucket tied on the end of a rope; and the
+three men used to haul one another up and let one another down the mine
+in this way. That was how the gold was brought up too—in the bucket.
+Well, about seven o’clock in the evening my master was standing at the
+top of the mine, hauling up Bluebeard Bill who was in the bucket. Just
+as he had got Bill halfway up I saw Mendoza come out of the hut where
+we all lived. Mendoza thought that Bill was away buying groceries. But
+he wasn’t: he was in the bucket. And when Mendoza saw Luke hauling and
+straining on the rope he thought he was pulling up a bucketful of
+gold. So he drew a pistol from his pocket and came sneaking up behind
+Luke to shoot him.
+
+“I barked and barked to warn my master of the danger he was in; but he
+was so busy hauling up Bill (who was a heavy fat man) that he took no
+notice of me. I saw that if I didn’t do something quick he would surely
+be shot. So I did a thing I’ve never done before: suddenly and savagely
+I bit my master in the leg from behind. Luke was so hurt and startled
+that he did just what I wanted him to do: he let go the rope with both
+hands at once and turned round. And then, _Crash!_ down went Bill in
+his bucket to the bottom of the mine and he was killed.
+
+“While my master was busy scolding me Mendoza put his pistol in his
+pocket, came up with a smile on his face and looked down the mine.
+
+“‘Why, Good Gracious!’ said he to Luke, ‘You’ve killed Bluebeard Bill.
+I must go and tell the police’—hoping, you see, to get the whole mine
+to himself when Luke should be put in prison. Then he jumped on his
+horse and galloped away.
+
+“And soon my master grew afraid; for he saw that if Mendoza only told
+enough lies to the police, it _would_ look as though he had killed Bill
+on purpose. So while Mendoza was gone he and I stole away together
+secretly and came to England. Here he shaved off his beard and became a
+hermit. And ever since, for fifteen years, we’ve remained in hiding.
+This is all I have to say. And I swear it is the truth, every word.”
+
+When the Doctor finished reading Bob’s long speech the excitement among
+the twelve men of the jury was positively terrific. One, a very old
+man with white hair, began to weep in a loud voice at the thought of
+poor Luke hiding on the fen for fifteen years for something he couldn’t
+help. And all the others set to whispering and nodding their heads to
+one another.
+
+In the middle of all this up got that horrible Prosecutor again, waving
+his arms more wildly than ever.
+
+“Your Honor,” he cried, “I must object to this evidence as biased.
+Of course the dog would not tell the truth against his own master. I
+object. I protest.”
+
+“Very well,” said the judge, “you are at liberty to cross-examine. It
+is your duty as Prosecutor to prove his evidence untrue. There is the
+dog: question him, if you do not believe what he says.”
+
+I thought the long-nosed lawyer would have a fit. He looked first at
+the dog, then at the Doctor, then at the judge, then back at the dog
+scowling from the witness-box. He opened his mouth to say something;
+but no words came. He waved his arms some more. His face got redder
+and redder. At last, clutching his forehead, he sank weakly into his
+seat and had to be helped out of the court-room by two friends. As he
+was half carried through the door he was still feebly murmuring, “I
+protest—I object—I protest!”
+
+
+
+
+_THE EIGHTH CHAPTER_
+
+THREE CHEERS
+
+
+NEXT the judge made a very long speech to the jury; and when it was
+over all the twelve jurymen got up and went out into the next room. And
+at that point the Doctor came back, leading Bob, to the seat beside me.
+
+“What have the jurymen gone out for?” I asked.
+
+“They always do that at the end of a trial—to make up their minds
+whether the prisoner did it or not.”
+
+“Couldn’t you and Bob go in with them and help them make up their minds
+the right way?” I asked.
+
+“No, that’s not allowed. They have to talk it over in secret. Sometimes
+it takes—My Gracious, look, they’re coming back already! They didn’t
+spend long over it.”
+
+Everybody kept quite still while the twelve men came tramping back
+into their places in the pews. Then one of them, the leader—a little
+man—stood up and turned to the judge. Every one was holding his breath,
+especially the Doctor and myself, to see what he was going to say. You
+could have heard a pin drop while the whole court-room, the whole of
+Puddleby in fact, waited with craning necks and straining ears to hear
+the weighty words.
+
+“Your Honor,” said the little man, “the jury returns a verdict of _Not
+Guilty_.”
+
+“What’s that mean?” I asked, turning to the Doctor.
+
+But I found Doctor John Dolittle, the famous naturalist, standing on
+top of a chair, dancing about on one leg like a schoolboy.
+
+“It means he’s free!” he cried, “Luke is free!”
+
+“Then he’ll be able to come on the voyage with us, won’t he?”
+
+But I could not hear his answer; for the whole court-room seemed to
+be jumping up on chairs like the Doctor. The crowd had suddenly gone
+crazy. All the people were laughing and calling and waving to Luke to
+show him how glad they were that he was free. The noise was deafening.
+
+Then it stopped. All was quiet again; and the people stood up
+respectfully while the judge left the Court. For the trial of Luke the
+Hermit, that famous trial which to this day they are still talking of
+in Puddleby, was over.
+
+In the hush while the judge was leaving, a sudden shriek rang out, and
+there, in the doorway stood a woman, her arms out-stretched to the
+Hermit.
+
+“Luke!” she cried, “I’ve found you at last!”
+
+“It’s his wife,” the fat woman in front of me whispered. “She ain’t
+seen ’im in fifteen years, poor dear! What a lovely re-union. I’m glad
+I came. I wouldn’t have missed this for anything!”
+
+As soon as the judge had gone the noise broke out again; and now the
+folks gathered round Luke and his wife and shook them by the hand and
+congratulated them and laughed over them and cried over them.
+
+“Come along, Stubbins,” said the Doctor, taking me by the arm, “let’s
+get out of this while we can.”
+
+“But aren’t you going to speak to Luke?” I said—“to ask him if he’ll
+come on the voyage?”
+
+“It wouldn’t be a bit of use,” said the Doctor. “His wife’s come for
+him. No man stands any chance of going on a voyage when his wife hasn’t
+seen him in fifteen years. Come along. Let’s get home to tea. We didn’t
+have any lunch, remember. And we’ve earned something to eat. We’ll have
+one of those mixed meals, lunch and tea combined—with watercress and
+ham. Nice change. Come along.”
+
+Just as we were going to step out at a side door I heard the crowd
+shouting,
+
+“The Doctor! The Doctor! Where’s the Doctor? The Hermit would have
+hanged if it hadn’t been for the Doctor. Speech! Speech!—The Doctor!”
+
+And a man came running up to us and said,
+
+“The people are calling for you, Sir.”
+
+“I’m very sorry,” said the Doctor, “but I’m in a hurry.”
+
+“The crowd won’t be denied, Sir,” said the man. “They want you to make
+a speech in the market-place.”
+
+“Beg them to excuse me,” said the Doctor—“with my compliments. I have
+an appointment at my house—a very important one which I may not break.
+Tell Luke to make a speech. Come along, Stubbins, this way.”
+
+“Oh Lord!” he muttered as we got out into the open air and found
+another crowd waiting for him at the side door. “Let’s go up that
+alleyway—to the left. Quick!—Run!”
+
+We took to our heels, darted through a couple of side streets and just
+managed to get away from the crowd.
+
+It was not till we had gained the Oxenthorpe Road that we dared to
+slow down to a walk and take our breath. And even when we reached the
+Doctor’s gate and turned to look backwards towards the town, the faint
+murmur of many voices still reached us on the evening wind.
+
+“They’re still clamoring for you,” I said. “Listen!”
+
+The murmur suddenly swelled up into a low distant roar; and although it
+was a mile and half away you could distinctly hear the words,
+
+“Three cheers for Luke the Hermit: Hooray!—Three cheers for his dog:
+Hooray!—Three cheers for his wife: Hooray!—Three cheers for the Doctor:
+Hooray! Hooray! HOO-R-A-Y!”
+
+
+
+
+_THE NINTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE
+
+
+POLYNESIA was waiting for us in the front porch. She looked full of
+some important news.
+
+“Doctor,” said she, “the Purple Bird-of-Paradise has arrived!”
+
+“At last!” said the Doctor. “I had begun to fear some accident had
+befallen her. And how is Miranda?”
+
+From the excited way in which the Doctor fumbled his key into the lock
+I guessed that we were not going to get our tea right away, even now.
+
+“Oh, she seemed all right when she arrived,” said Polynesia—“tired from
+her long journey of course but otherwise all right. But what _do_ you
+think? That mischief-making sparrow, Cheapside, insulted her as soon
+as she came into the garden. When I arrived on the scene she was in
+tears and was all for turning round and going straight back to Brazil
+to-night. I had the hardest work persuading her to wait till you came.
+She’s in the study. I shut Cheapside in one of your book-cases and told
+him I’d tell you exactly what had happened the moment you got home.”
+
+The Doctor frowned, then walked silently and quickly to the study.
+
+Here we found the candles lit; for the daylight was nearly gone.
+Dab-Dab was standing on the floor mounting guard over one of the
+glass-fronted book-cases in which Cheapside had been imprisoned. The
+noisy little sparrow was still fluttering angrily behind the glass when
+we came in.
+
+In the centre of the big table, perched on the ink-stand, stood the
+most beautiful bird I have ever seen. She had a deep violet-colored
+breast, scarlet wings and a long, long sweeping tail of gold. She was
+unimaginably beautiful but looked dreadfully tired. Already she had her
+head under her wing; and she swayed gently from side to side on top of
+the ink-stand like a bird that has flown long and far.
+
+“Sh!” said Dab-Dab. “Miranda is asleep. I’ve got this little imp
+Cheapside in here. Listen, Doctor: for Heaven’s sake send that sparrow
+away before he does any more mischief. He’s nothing but a vulgar little
+nuisance. We’ve had a perfectly awful time trying to get Miranda to
+stay. Shall I serve your tea in here, or will you come into the kitchen
+when you’re ready?”
+
+“We’ll come into the kitchen, Dab-Dab,” said the Doctor. “Let Cheapside
+out before you go, please.”
+
+Dab-Dab opened the bookcase-door and Cheapside strutted out trying hard
+not to look guilty.
+
+“Cheapside,” said the Doctor sternly, “what did you say to Miranda when
+she arrived?”
+
+“I didn’t say nothing, Doc, straight I didn’t. That is, nothing much. I
+was picking up crumbs off the gravel path when she comes swanking into
+the garden, turning up her nose in all directions, as though she owned
+the earth—just because she’s got a lot of colored plumage. A London
+sparrow’s as good as her any day. I don’t hold by these gawdy bedizened
+foreigners nohow. Why don’t they stay in their own country?”
+
+“But what did you say to her that got her so offended?”
+
+“All I said was, ‘You don’t belong in an English garden; you ought to
+be in a milliner’s window.’ That’s all.”
+
+“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Cheapside. Don’t you realize that
+this bird has come thousands of miles to see me—only to be insulted by
+your impertinent tongue as soon as she reaches my garden? What do you
+mean by it?—If she had gone away again before I got back to-night I
+would never have forgiven you—Leave the room.”
+
+Sheepishly, but still trying to look as though he didn’t care,
+Cheapside hopped out into the passage and Dab-Dab closed the door.
+
+The Doctor went up to the beautiful bird on the ink-stand and gently
+stroked its back. Instantly its head popped out from under its wing.
+
+
+
+
+_THE TENTH CHAPTER_
+
+LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW
+
+
+“WELL, Miranda,” said the Doctor. “I’m terribly sorry this has
+happened. But you mustn’t mind Cheapside; he doesn’t know any better.
+He’s a city bird; and all his life he has had to squabble for a living.
+You must make allowances. He doesn’t know any better.”
+
+Miranda stretched her gorgeous wings wearily. Now that I saw her awake
+and moving I noticed what a superior, well-bred manner she had. There
+were tears in her eyes and her beak was trembling.
+
+“I wouldn’t have minded so much,” she said in a high silvery voice,
+“if I hadn’t been so dreadfully worn out—That and something else,” she
+added beneath her breath.
+
+“Did you have a hard time getting here?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“The worst passage I ever made,” said Miranda. “The weather—Well there.
+What’s the use? I’m here anyway.”
+
+“Tell me,” said the Doctor as though he had been impatiently waiting to
+say something for a long time: “what did Long Arrow say when you gave
+him my message?”
+
+The Purple Bird-of-Paradise hung her head.
+
+“That’s the worst part of it,” she said. “I might almost as well have
+not come at all. I wasn’t able to deliver your message. I couldn’t find
+him. _Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow, has disappeared!_”
+
+“Disappeared!” cried the Doctor. “Why, what’s become of him?”
+
+“Nobody knows,” Miranda answered. “He had often disappeared before, as
+I have told you—so that the Indians didn’t know where he was. But it’s
+a mighty hard thing to hide away from the birds. I had always been able
+to find some owl or martin who could tell me where he was—if I wanted
+to know. But not this time. That’s why I’m nearly a fortnight late in
+coming to you: I kept hunting and hunting, asking everywhere. I went
+over the whole length and breadth of South America. But there wasn’t a
+living thing could tell me where he was.”
+
+There was a sad silence in the room after she had finished; the Doctor
+was frowning in a peculiar sort of way and Polynesia scratched her head.
+
+“Did you ask the black parrots?” asked Polynesia. “They usually know
+everything.”
+
+“Certainly I did,” said Miranda. “And I was so upset at not being
+able to find out anything, that I forgot all about observing the
+weather-signs before I started my flight here. I didn’t even bother to
+break my journey at the Azores, but cut right across, making for the
+Straits of Gibraltar—as though it were June or July. And of course I
+ran into a perfectly frightful storm in mid-Atlantic. I really thought
+I’d never come through it. Luckily I found a piece of a wrecked vessel
+floating in the sea after the storm had partly died down; and I roosted
+on it and took some sleep. If I hadn’t been able to take that rest I
+wouldn’t be here to tell the tale.”
+
+“Poor Miranda! What a time you must have had!” said the Doctor. “But
+tell me, were you able to find out whereabouts Long Arrow was last
+seen?”
+
+“Yes. A young albatross told me he had seen him on Spidermonkey Island?”
+
+“Spidermonkey Island? That’s somewhere off the coast of Brazil, isn’t
+it?”
+
+“Yes, that’s it. Of course I flew there right away and asked every bird
+on the island—and it is a big island, a hundred miles long. It seems
+that Long Arrow was visiting some peculiar Indians that live there;
+and that when last seen he was going up into the mountains looking for
+rare medicine-plants. I got that from a tame hawk, a pet, which the
+Chief of the Indians keeps for hunting partridges with. I nearly got
+caught and put in a cage for my pains too. That’s the worst of having
+beautiful feathers: it’s as much as your life is worth to go near most
+humans—They say, ‘oh how pretty!’ and shoot an arrow or a bullet into
+you. You and Long Arrow were the only two men that I would ever trust
+myself near—out of all the people in the world.”
+
+“But was he never known to have returned from the mountains?”
+
+“No. That was the last that was seen or heard of him. I questioned the
+sea-birds around the shores to find out if he had left the island in a
+canoe. But they could tell me nothing.”
+
+“Do you think that some accident has happened to him?” asked the Doctor
+in a fearful voice.
+
+“I’m afraid it must have,” said Miranda shaking her head.
+
+“Well,” said John Dolittle slowly, “if I could never meet Long Arrow
+face to face it would be the greatest disappointment in my whole
+life. Not only that, but it would be a great loss to the knowledge of
+the human race. For, from what you have told me of him, he knew more
+natural science than all the rest of us put together; and if he has
+gone without any one to write it down for him, so the world may be the
+better for it, it would be a terrible thing. But you don’t really
+think that he is dead, do you?”
+
+[Illustration: “‘What else can I think?’”]
+
+“What else can I think?” asked Miranda, bursting into tears, “when for
+six whole months he has not been seen by flesh, fish or fowl.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER_
+
+BLIND TRAVEL
+
+
+THIS news about Long Arrow made us all very sad. And I could see from
+the silent dreamy way the Doctor took his tea that he was dreadfully
+upset. Every once in a while he would stop eating altogether and sit
+staring at the spots on the kitchen table-cloth as though his thoughts
+were far away; till Dab-Dab, who was watching to see that he got a good
+meal, would cough or rattle the pots in the sink.
+
+I did my best to cheer him up by reminding him of all he had done for
+Luke and his wife that afternoon. And when that didn’t seem to work, I
+went on talking about our preparations for the voyage.
+
+“But you see, Stubbins,” said he as we rose from the table and Dab-Dab
+and Chee-Chee began to clear away, “I don’t know where to go now. I
+feel sort of lost since Miranda brought me this news. On this voyage I
+had planned going to see Long Arrow. I had been looking forward to it
+for a whole year. I felt he might help me in learning the language of
+the shellfish—and perhaps in finding some way of getting to the bottom
+of the sea. But now?—He’s gone! And all his great knowledge has gone
+with him.”
+
+Then he seemed to fall a-dreaming again.
+
+“Just to think of it!” he murmured. “Long Arrow and I, two
+students—Although I’d never met him, I felt as though I knew him quite
+well. For, in his way—without any schooling—he has, all his life, been
+trying to do the very things which I have tried to do in mine—And now
+he’s gone!—A whole world lay between us—And only a bird knew us both!”
+
+We went back into the study, where Jip brought the Doctor his slippers
+and his pipe. And after the pipe was lit and the smoke began to fill
+the room the old man seemed to cheer up a little.
+
+“But you will go on some voyage, Doctor, won’t you?” I asked—“even if
+you can’t go to find Long Arrow.”
+
+He looked up sharply into my face; and I suppose he saw how anxious I
+was. Because he suddenly smiled his old, boyish smile and said,
+
+“Yes, Stubbins. Don’t worry. We’ll go. We mustn’t stop working and
+learning, even if poor Long Arrow has disappeared—But where to go:
+that’s the question. Where shall we go?”
+
+There were so many places that I wanted to go that I couldn’t make up
+my mind right away. And while I was still thinking, the Doctor sat up
+in his chair and said,
+
+“I tell you what we’ll do, Stubbins: it’s a game I used to play when I
+was young—before Sarah came to live with me. I used to call it Blind
+Travel. Whenever I wanted to go on a voyage, and I couldn’t make up my
+mind where to go, I would take the atlas and open it with my eyes shut.
+Next, I’d wave a pencil, still without looking, and stick it down on
+whatever page had fallen open. Then I’d open my eyes and look. It’s a
+very exciting game, is Blind Travel. Because you have to swear, before
+you begin, that you will go to the place the pencil touches, come what
+may. Shall we play it?”
+
+“Oh, let’s!” I almost yelled. “How thrilling! I hope it’s China—or
+Borneo—or Bagdad.”
+
+And in a moment I had scrambled up the bookcase, dragged the big atlas
+from the top shelf and laid it on the table before the Doctor.
+
+I knew every page in that atlas by heart. How many days and nights I
+had lingered over its old faded maps, following the blue rivers from
+the mountains to the sea; wondering what the little towns really looked
+like, and how wide were the sprawling lakes! I had had a lot of fun
+with that atlas, traveling, in my mind, all over the world. I can see
+it now: the first page had no map; it just told you that it was printed
+in Edinburgh in 1808, and a whole lot more about the book. The next
+page was the Solar System, showing the sun and planets, the stars and
+the moon. The third page was the chart of the North and South Poles.
+Then came the hemispheres, the oceans, the continents and the countries.
+
+As the Doctor began sharpening his pencil a thought came to me.
+
+“What if the pencil falls upon the North Pole,” I asked, “will we have
+to go there?”
+
+“No. The rules of the game say you don’t have to go any place you’ve
+been to before. You are allowed another try. I’ve been to the North
+Pole,” he ended quietly, “so we shan’t have to go there.”
+
+I could hardly speak with astonishment.
+
+“_You’ve been to the North pole!_” I managed to gasp out at last. “But
+I thought it was still undiscovered. The map shows all the places
+explorers have reached to, _trying_ to get there. Why isn’t your name
+down if you discovered it?”
+
+“I promised to keep it a secret. And you must promise me never to
+tell any one. Yes, I discovered the North Pole in April, 1809. But
+shortly after I got there the polar bears came to me in a body and
+told me there was a great deal of coal there, buried beneath the snow.
+They knew, they said, that human beings would do anything, and go
+anywhere, to get coal. So would I please keep it a secret. Because
+once people began coming up there to start coal-mines, their beautiful
+white country would be spoiled—and there was nowhere else in the world
+cold enough for polar bears to be comfortable. So of course I had to
+promise them I would. Ah, well, it will be discovered again some day,
+by somebody else. But I want the polar bears to have their play-ground
+to themselves as long as possible. And I daresay it will be a good
+while yet—for it certainly is a fiendish place to get to—Well now, are
+we ready?—Good! Take the pencil and stand here close to the table. When
+the book falls open, wave the pencil round three times and jab it down.
+Ready?—All right. Shut your eyes.”
+
+It was a tense and fearful moment—but very thrilling. We both had our
+eyes shut tight. I heard the atlas fall open with a bang. I wondered
+what page it was: England or Asia. If it should be the map of Asia, so
+much would depend on where that pencil would land. I waved three times
+in a circle. I began to lower my hand. The pencil-point touched the
+page.
+
+“All right,” I called out, “it’s done.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE TWELFTH CHAPTER_
+
+DESTINY AND DESTINATION
+
+
+WE both opened our eyes; then bumped our heads together with a crack in
+our eagerness to lean over and see where we were to go.
+
+The atlas lay open at a map called, _Chart of the South Atlantic
+Ocean_. My pencil-point was resting right in the center of a tiny
+island. The name of it was printed so small that the Doctor had to get
+out his strong spectacles to read it. I was trembling with excitement.
+
+“_Spidermonkey Island_,” he read out slowly. Then he whistled softly
+beneath his breath. “Of all the extraordinary things! You’ve hit upon
+the very island where Long Arrow was last seen on earth—I wonder—Well,
+well! How very singular!”
+
+“We’ll go there, Doctor, won’t we?” I asked.
+
+“Of course we will. The rules of the game say we’ve got to.”
+
+“I’m so glad it wasn’t Oxenthorpe or Bristol,” I said. “It’ll be a
+grand voyage, this. Look at all the sea we’ve got to cross. Will it
+take us long?”
+
+“Oh, no,” said the Doctor—“not very. With a good boat and a good wind
+we should make it easily in four weeks. But isn’t it extraordinary?
+Of all the places in the world you picked out that one with your eyes
+shut. Spidermonkey Island after all!—Well, there’s one good thing about
+it: I shall be able to get some Jabizri beetles.”
+
+“What are Jabizri beetles?”
+
+“They are a very rare kind of beetles with peculiar habits. I want to
+study them. There are only three countries in the world where they are
+to be found. Spidermonkey Island is one of them. But even there they
+are very scarce.”
+
+“What is this little question-mark after the name of the island for?” I
+asked, pointing to the map.
+
+“That means that the island’s position in the ocean is not known very
+exactly—that it is somewhere _about_ there. Ships have probably seen it
+in that neighborhood, that is all, most likely. It is quite possible we
+shall be the first white men to land there. But I daresay we shall have
+some difficulty in finding it first.”
+
+How like a dream it all sounded! The two of us sitting there at the big
+study-table; the candles lit; the smoke curling towards the dim ceiling
+from the Doctor’s pipe—the two of us sitting there, talking about
+finding an island in the ocean and being the first white men to land
+upon it!
+
+“I’ll bet it will be a great voyage,” I said. “It looks a lovely
+island on the map. Will there be black men there?”
+
+“No. A peculiar tribe of Red Indians lives on it, Miranda tells me.”
+
+At this point the poor Bird-of-Paradise stirred and woke up. In our
+excitement we had forgotten to speak low.
+
+“We are going to Spidermonkey Island, Miranda,” said the Doctor. “You
+know where it is, do you not?”
+
+“I know where it was the last time I saw it,” said the bird. “But
+whether it will be there still, I can’t say.”
+
+“What do you mean?” asked the Doctor. “It is always in the same place
+surely?”
+
+“Not by any means,” said Miranda. “Why, didn’t you know?—Spidermonkey
+Island is a _floating_ island. It moves around all over the
+place—usually somewhere near southern South America. But of course I
+could surely find it for you if you want to go there.”
+
+At this fresh piece of news I could contain myself no longer. I was
+bursting to tell some one. I ran dancing and singing from the room to
+find Chee-Chee.
+
+At the door I tripped over Dab-Dab, who was just coming in with her
+wings full of plates, and fell headlong on my nose.
+
+“Has the boy gone crazy?” cried the duck. “Where do you think you’re
+going, ninny?”
+
+“To Spidermonkey Island!” I shouted, picking myself up and doing
+cart-wheels down the hall—“Spidermonkey Island! Hooray!—And it’s a
+_floating_ island!”
+
+“You’re going to Bedlam, I should say,” snorted the housekeeper. “Look
+what you’ve done to my best china!”
+
+But I was far too happy to listen to her scolding; and I ran on,
+singing, into the kitchen to find Chee-Chee.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PART THREE
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIRST CHAPTER_
+
+THE THIRD MAN
+
+
+THAT same week we began our preparations for the voyage.
+
+Joe, the mussel-man, had the _Curlew_ moved down the river and tied it
+up along the river-wall, so it would be more handy for loading. And for
+three whole days we carried provisions down to our beautiful new boat
+and stowed them away.
+
+I was surprised to find how roomy and big she was inside. There were
+three little cabins, a saloon (or dining-room) and underneath all this,
+a big place called the hold where the food and extra sails and other
+things were kept.
+
+I think Joe must have told everybody in the town about our coming
+voyage, because there was always a regular crowd watching us when we
+brought the things down to put aboard. And of course sooner or later
+old Matthew Mugg was bound to turn up.
+
+“My Goodness, Tommy,” said he, as he watched me carrying on some sacks
+of flour, “but that’s a pretty boat! Where might the Doctor be going
+to this voyage?”
+
+“We’re going to Spidermonkey Island,” I said proudly.
+
+“And be you the only one the Doctor’s taking along?”
+
+“Well, he has spoken of wanting to take another man,” I said; “but so
+far he hasn’t made up his mind.”
+
+Matthew grunted; then squinted up at the graceful masts of the _Curlew_.
+
+“You know, Tommy,” said he, “if it wasn’t for my rheumatism I’ve half
+a mind to come with the Doctor myself. There’s something about a boat
+standing ready to sail that always did make me feel venturesome and
+travelish-like. What’s that stuff in the cans you’re taking on?”
+
+“This is treacle,” I said—“twenty pounds of treacle.”
+
+“My Goodness,” he sighed, turning away sadly. “That makes me feel more
+like going with you than ever—But my rheumatism is that bad I can’t
+hardly—”
+
+I didn’t hear any more for Matthew had moved off, still mumbling, into
+the crowd that stood about the wharf. The clock in Puddleby Church
+struck noon and I turned back, feeling very busy and important, to the
+task of loading.
+
+But it wasn’t very long before some one else came along and
+interrupted my work. This was a huge, big, burly man with a red beard
+and tattoo-marks all over his arms. He wiped his mouth with the back of
+his hand, spat twice on to the river-wall and said,
+
+“Boy, where’s the skipper?”
+
+“The _skipper_!—Who do you mean?” I asked.
+
+“The captain—Where’s the captain of this craft?” he said, pointing to
+the _Curlew_.
+
+“Oh, you mean the Doctor,” said I. “Well, he isn’t here at present.”
+
+At that moment the Doctor arrived with his arms full of note-books and
+butterfly-nets and glass cases and other natural history things. The
+big man went up to him, respectfully touching his cap.
+
+“Good morning, Captain,” said he. “I heard you was in need of hands for
+a voyage. My name’s Ben Butcher, able seaman.”
+
+“I am very glad to know you,” said the Doctor. “But I’m afraid I shan’t
+be able to take on any more crew.”
+
+“Why, but Captain,” said the able seaman, “you surely ain’t going to
+face deep-sea weather with nothing more than this bit of a lad to help
+you—and with a cutter that big!”
+
+The Doctor assured him that he was; but the man didn’t go away. He hung
+around and argued. He told us he had known of many ships being sunk
+through “undermanning.” He got out what he called his _stiffikit_—a
+paper which said what a good sailor he was—and implored us, if we
+valued our lives, to take him.
+
+[Illustration: “‘Boy, where’s the skipper?’”]
+
+But the Doctor was quite firm—polite but determined—and finally the man
+walked sorrowfully away, telling us he never expected to see us alive
+again.
+
+Callers of one sort and another kept us quite busy that morning.
+The Doctor had no sooner gone below to stow away his note-books
+than another visitor appeared upon the gang-plank. This was a most
+extraordinary-looking black man. The only other negroes I had seen
+had been in circuses, where they wore feathers and bone necklaces and
+things like that. But this one was dressed in a fashionable frock coat
+with an enormous bright red cravat. On his head was a straw hat with
+a gay band; and over this he held a large green umbrella. He was very
+smart in every respect except his feet. He wore no shoes or socks.
+
+“Pardon me,” said he, bowing elegantly, “but is this the ship of the
+physician Dolittle?”
+
+“Yes,” I said, “did you wish to see him?”
+
+“I did—if it will not be discommodious,” he answered.
+
+“Who shall I say it is?”
+
+“I am Bumpo Kahbooboo, Crown Prince of Jolliginki.”
+
+I ran downstairs at once and told the Doctor.
+
+“How fortunate!” cried John Dolittle. “My old friend Bumpo! Well,
+well!—He’s studying at Oxford, you know. How good of him to come all
+this way to call on me!” And he tumbled up the ladder to greet his
+visitor.
+
+The strange black man seemed to be overcome with joy when the Doctor
+appeared and shook him warmly by the hand.
+
+“News reached me,” he said, “that you were about to sail upon a voyage.
+I hastened to see you before your departure. I am sublimely ecstasied
+that I did not miss you.”
+
+“You very nearly did miss us,” said the Doctor. “As it happened, we
+were delayed somewhat in getting the necessary number of men to sail
+our boat. If it hadn’t been for that, we would have been gone three
+days ago.”
+
+“How many men does your ship’s company yet require?” asked Bumpo.
+
+“Only one,” said the Doctor—“But it is so hard to find the right one.”
+
+“Methinks I detect something of the finger of Destination in this,”
+said Bumpo. “How would I do?”
+
+“Splendidly,” said the Doctor. “But what about your studies? You can’t
+very well just go off and leave your university career to take care of
+itself, you know.”
+
+“I need a holiday,” said Bumpo. “Even had I not gone with you, I
+intended at the end of this term to take a three-months’ absconsion—But
+besides, I shall not be neglecting my edification if I accompany you.
+Before I left Jolliginki my august father, the King, told me to be
+sure and travel plenty. You are a man of great studiosity. To see the
+world in your company is an opportunity not to be sneezed upon. No, no,
+indeed.”
+
+“How did you like the life at Oxford?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“Oh, passably, passably,” said Bumpo. “I liked it all except the
+algebra and the shoes. The algebra hurt my head and the shoes hurt my
+feet. I threw the shoes over a wall as soon as I got out of the college
+quadrilateral this morning; and the algebra I am happily forgetting
+very fast—I liked Cicero—Yes, I think Cicero’s fine—so simultaneous.
+By the way, they tell me his son is rowing for our college next
+year—charming fellow.”
+
+The Doctor looked down at the black man’s huge bare feet thoughtfully a
+moment.
+
+“Well,” he said slowly, “there is something in what you say, Bumpo,
+about getting education from the world as well as from the college. And
+if you are really sure that you want to come, we shall be delighted to
+have you. Because, to tell you the truth, I think you are exactly the
+man we need.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE SECOND CHAPTER_
+
+GOOD-BYE!
+
+
+TWO days after that we had all in readiness for our departure.
+
+On this voyage Jip begged so hard to be taken that the Doctor finally
+gave in and said he could come. Polynesia and Chee-Chee were the only
+other animals to go with us. Dab-Dab was left in charge of the house
+and the animal family we were to leave behind.
+
+Of course, as is always the way, at the last moment we kept remembering
+things we had forgotten; and when we finally closed the house up and
+went down the steps to the road, we were all burdened with armfuls of
+odd packages.
+
+Halfway to the river, the Doctor suddenly remembered that he had left
+the stock-pot boiling on the kitchen-fire. However, we saw a blackbird
+flying by who nested in our garden, and the Doctor asked her to go back
+for us and tell Dab-Dab about it.
+
+Down at the river-wall we found a great crowd waiting to see us off.
+
+Standing right near the gang-plank were my mother and father. I hoped
+that they would not make a scene, or burst into tears or anything like
+that. But as a matter of fact they behaved quite well—for parents. My
+mother said something about being sure not to get my feet wet; and my
+father just smiled a crooked sort of smile, patted me on the back and
+wished me luck. Good-byes are awfully uncomfortable things and I was
+glad when it was over and we passed on to the ship.
+
+We were a little surprised not to see Matthew Mugg among the crowd. We
+had felt sure that he would be there; and the Doctor had intended to
+give him some extra instructions about the food for the animals we had
+left at the house.
+
+At last, after much pulling and tugging, we got the anchor up and undid
+a lot of mooring-ropes. Then the _Curlew_ began to move gently down the
+river with the out-running tide, while the people on the wall cheered
+and waved their handkerchiefs.
+
+We bumped into one or two other boats getting out into the stream; and
+at one sharp bend in the river we got stuck on a mud bank for a few
+minutes. But though the people on the shore seemed to get very excited
+at these things, the Doctor did not appear to be disturbed by them in
+the least.
+
+“These little accidents will happen in the most carefully regulated
+voyages,” he said as he leaned over the side and fished for his boots
+which had got stuck in the mud while we were pushing off. “Sailing is
+much easier when you get out into the open sea. There aren’t so many
+silly things to bump into.”
+
+For me indeed it was a great and wonderful feeling, that getting out
+into the open sea, when at length we passed the little lighthouse at
+the mouth of the river and found ourselves free of the land. It was all
+so new and different: just the sky above you and sea below. This ship,
+which was to be our house and our street, our home and our garden, for
+so many days to come, seemed so tiny in all this wide water—so tiny and
+yet so snug, sufficient, safe.
+
+I looked around me and took in a deep breath. The Doctor was at the
+wheel steering the boat which was now leaping and plunging gently
+through the waves. (I had expected to feel seasick at first but was
+delighted to find that I didn’t.) Bumpo had been told off to go
+downstairs and prepare dinner for us. Chee-Chee was coiling up ropes
+in the stern and laying them in neat piles. My work was fastening down
+the things on the deck so that nothing could roll about if the weather
+should grow rough when we got further from the land. Jip was up in the
+peak of the boat with ears cocked and nose stuck out—like a statue, so
+still—his keen old eyes keeping a sharp look-out for floating wrecks,
+sand-bars, and other dangers. Each one of us had some special job to
+do, part of the proper running of a ship. Even old Polynesia was taking
+the sea’s temperature with the Doctor’s bath-thermometer tied on the
+end of a string, to make sure there were no icebergs near us. As I
+listened to her swearing softly to herself because she couldn’t read
+the pesky figures in the fading light, I realized that the voyage had
+begun in earnest and that very soon it would be night—my first night at
+sea!
+
+
+
+
+_THE THIRD CHAPTER_
+
+OUR TROUBLES BEGIN
+
+
+JUST before supper-time Bumpo appeared from downstairs and went to the
+Doctor at the wheel.
+
+“A stowaway in the hold, Sir,” said he in a very business-like
+seafaring voice. “I just discovered him, behind the flour-bags.”
+
+“Dear me!” said the Doctor. “What a nuisance! Stubbins, go down with
+Bumpo and bring the man up. I can’t leave the wheel just now.”
+
+So Bumpo and I went down into the hold; and there, behind the
+flour-bags, plastered in flour from head to foot, we found a man. After
+we had swept most of the flour off him with a broom, we discovered
+that it was Matthew Mugg. We hauled him upstairs sneezing and took him
+before the Doctor.
+
+“Why Matthew!” said John Dolittle. “What on earth are you doing here?”
+
+“The temptation was too much for me, Doctor,” said the cat’s-meat-man.
+“You know I’ve often asked you to take me on voyages with you and you
+never would. Well, this time, knowing that you needed an extra man, I
+thought if I stayed hid till the ship was well at sea you would find I
+came in handy like and keep me. But I had to lie so doubled up, for
+hours, behind them flour-bags, that my rheumatism came on something
+awful. I just had to change my position; and of course just as I
+stretched out my legs along comes this here African cook of yours and
+sees my feet sticking out—Don’t this ship roll something awful! How
+long has this storm been going on? I reckon this damp sea air wouldn’t
+be very good for my rheumatics.”
+
+“No, Matthew it really isn’t. You ought not to have come. You are not
+in any way suited to this kind of a life. I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoy
+a long voyage a bit. We’ll stop in at Penzance and put you ashore.
+Bumpo, please go downstairs to my bunk; and listen: in the pocket of
+my dressing-gown you’ll find some maps. Bring me the small one—with
+blue pencil-marks at the top. I know Penzance is over here on our left
+somewhere. But I must find out what light-houses there are before I
+change the ship’s course and sail inshore.”
+
+“Very good, Sir,” said Bumpo, turning round smartly and making for the
+stairway.
+
+“Now Matthew,” said the Doctor, “you can take the coach from Penzance
+to Bristol. And from there it is not very far to Puddleby, as you know.
+Don’t forget to take the usual provisions to the house every Thursday,
+and be particularly careful to remember the extra supply of herrings
+for the baby minks.”
+
+While we were waiting for the maps Chee-Chee and I set about lighting
+the lamps: a green one on the right side of the ship, a red one on the
+left and a white one on the mast.
+
+At last we heard some one trundling on the stairs again and the Doctor
+said,
+
+“Ah, here’s Bumpo with the maps at last!”
+
+But to our great astonishment it was not Bumpo alone that appeared but
+_three_ people.
+
+“Good Lord deliver us! Who are these?” cried John Dolittle.
+
+“Two more stowaways, Sir,” said Bumpo stepping forward briskly. “I
+found them in your cabin hiding under the bunk. One woman and one man,
+Sir. Here are the maps.”
+
+“This is too much,” said the Doctor feebly. “Who are they? I can’t see
+their faces in this dim light. Strike a match, Bumpo.”
+
+You could never guess who it was. It was Luke and his wife. Mrs. Luke
+appeared to be very miserable and seasick.
+
+They explained to the Doctor that after they had settled down to live
+together in the little shack out on the fens, so many people came
+to visit them (having heard about the great trial) that life became
+impossible; and they had decided to escape from Puddleby in this
+manner—for they had no money to leave any other way—and try to find
+some new place to live where they and their story wouldn’t be so well
+known. But as soon as the ship had begun to roll Mrs. Luke had got most
+dreadfully unwell.
+
+Poor Luke apologized many times for being such a nuisance and said that
+the whole thing had been his wife’s idea.
+
+The Doctor, after he had sent below for his medicine-bag and had given
+Mrs. Luke some _sal volatile_ and smelling-salts, said he thought the
+best thing to do would be for him to lend them some money and put them
+ashore at Penzance with Matthew. He also wrote a letter for Luke to
+take with him to a friend the Doctor had in the town of Penzance who,
+it was hoped, would be able to find Luke work to do there.
+
+As the Doctor opened his purse and took out some gold coins I heard
+Polynesia, who was sitting on my shoulder watching the whole affair,
+mutter beneath her breath,
+
+“There he goes—lending his last blessed penny—three pounds ten—all
+the money we had for the whole trip! Now we haven’t the price of a
+postage-stamp aboard if we should lose an anchor or have to buy a pint
+of tar—Well, let’s pray we don’t run out of food—Why doesn’t he give
+them the ship and walk home?”
+
+Presently with the help of the map the course of the boat was changed
+and, to Mrs. Luke’s great relief, we made for Penzance and dry land.
+
+I was tremendously interested to see how a ship could be steered into a
+port at night with nothing but light-houses and a compass to guide you.
+It seemed to me that the Doctor missed all the rocks and sand-bars very
+cleverly.
+
+We got into that funny little Cornish harbor about eleven o’clock that
+night. The Doctor took his stowaways on shore in our small row-boat
+which we kept on the deck of the _Curlew_ and found them rooms at
+the hotel there. When he got back he told us that Mrs. Luke had gone
+straight to bed and was feeling much better.
+
+It was now after midnight; so we decided to stay in the harbor and wait
+till morning before setting out again.
+
+I was glad to get to bed, although I felt that staying up so
+tremendously late was great fun. As I climbed into the bunk over the
+Doctor’s and pulled the blankets snugly round me, I found I could look
+out of the port-hole at my elbow, and, without raising my head from
+the pillow, could see the lights of Penzance swinging gently up and
+down with the motion of the ship at anchor. It was like being rocked
+to sleep with a little show going on to amuse you. I was just deciding
+that I liked the life of the sea very much when I fell fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
+
+OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE
+
+
+THE next morning when we were eating a very excellent breakfast of
+kidneys and bacon, prepared by our good cook Bumpo, the Doctor said to
+me,
+
+“I was just wondering, Stubbins, whether I should stop at the Capa
+Blanca Islands or run right across for the coast of Brazil. Miranda
+said we could expect a spell of excellent weather now—for four and a
+half weeks at least.”
+
+“Well,” I said, spooning out the sugar at the bottom of my cocoa-cup,
+“I should think it would be best to make straight across while we
+are sure of good weather. And besides the Purple Bird-of-Paradise is
+going to keep a lookout for us, isn’t she? She’ll be wondering what’s
+happened to us if we don’t get there in about a month.”
+
+“True, quite true, Stubbins. On the other hand, the Capa Blancas make
+a very convenient stopping place on our way across. If we should need
+supplies or repairs it would be very handy to put in there.”
+
+“How long will it take us from here to the Capa Blancas?” I asked.
+
+“About six days,” said the Doctor—“Well, we can decide later. For the
+next two days at any rate our direction would be the same practically
+in either case. If you have finished breakfast let’s go and get under
+way.”
+
+Upstairs I found our vessel surrounded by white and gray seagulls
+who flashed and circled about in the sunny morning air, looking for
+food-scraps thrown out by the ships into the harbor.
+
+By about half past seven we had the anchor up and the sails set to a
+nice steady breeze; and this time we got out into the open sea without
+bumping into a single thing. We met the Penzance fishing fleet coming
+in from the night’s fishing, and very trim and neat they looked, in a
+line like soldiers, with their red-brown sails all leaning over the
+same way and the white water dancing before their bows.
+
+For the next three or four days everything went smoothly and nothing
+unusual happened. During this time we all got settled down into our
+regular jobs; and in spare moments the Doctor showed each of us how to
+take our turns at the wheel, the proper manner of keeping a ship on her
+right course, and what to do if the wind changed suddenly. We divided
+the twenty-four hours of the day into three spells; and we took it in
+turns to sleep our eight hours and be awake sixteen. So the ship was
+well looked after, with two of us always on duty.
+
+Besides that, Polynesia, who was an older sailor than any of us, and
+really knew a lot about running ships, seemed to be always awake—except
+when she took her couple of winks in the sun, standing on one leg
+beside the wheel. You may be sure that no one ever got a chance to stay
+abed more than his eight hours while Polynesia was around. She used to
+watch the ship’s clock; and if you overslept a half-minute, she would
+come down to the cabin and peck you gently on the nose till you got up.
+
+I very soon grew to be quite fond of our funny black friend Bumpo,
+with his grand way of speaking and his enormous feet which some one
+was always stepping on or falling over. Although he was much older
+than I was and had been to college, he never tried to lord it over me.
+He seemed to be forever smiling and kept all of us in good humor. It
+wasn’t long before I began to see the Doctor’s good sense in bringing
+him—in spite of the fact that he knew nothing whatever about sailing or
+travel.
+
+On the morning of the fifth day out, just as I was taking the wheel
+over from the Doctor, Bumpo appeared and said,
+
+“The salt beef is nearly all gone, Sir.”
+
+“The salt beef!” cried the Doctor. “Why, we brought a hundred and
+twenty pounds with us. We couldn’t have eaten that in five days. What
+can have become of it?”
+
+[Illustration: “In these lower levels we came upon the shadowy shapes
+of dead ships”
+
+_Page 360_]
+
+“I don’t know, Sir, I’m sure. Every time I go down to the stores I find
+another hunk missing. If it is rats that are eating it, then they are
+certainly colossal rodents.”
+
+Polynesia who was walking up and down a stay-rope taking her morning
+exercise, put in,
+
+“We must search the hold. If this is allowed to go on we will all be
+starving before a week is out. Come downstairs with me, Tommy, and we
+will look into this matter.”
+
+So we went downstairs into the store-room and Polynesia told us to keep
+quite still and listen. This we did. And presently we heard from a dark
+corner of the hold the distinct sound of someone snoring.
+
+“Ah, I thought so,” said Polynesia. “It’s a man—and a big one. Climb
+in there, both of you, and haul him out. It sounds as though he were
+behind that barrel—Gosh! We seem to have brought half of Puddleby with
+us. Anyone would think we were a penny ferry-boat. Such cheek! Haul him
+out.”
+
+So Bumpo and I lit a lantern and climbed over the stores. And there,
+behind the barrel, sure enough, we found an enormous bearded man fast
+asleep with a well-fed look on his face. We woke him up.
+
+“Washamarrer?” he said sleepily.
+
+It was Ben Butcher, the able seaman.
+
+Polynesia spluttered like an angry fire-cracker.
+
+“This is the last straw,” said she. “The one man in the world we least
+wanted. Shiver my timbers, what cheek!”
+
+“Would it not be, advisable,” suggested Bumpo, “while the varlet is
+still sleepy, to strike him on the head with some heavy object and push
+him through a port-hole into the sea?”
+
+“No. We’d get into trouble,” said Polynesia. “We’re not in Jolliginki
+now, you know—worse luck!—Besides, there never was a port-hole big
+enough to push that man through. Bring him upstairs to the Doctor.”
+
+So we led the man to the wheel where he respectfully touched his cap to
+the Doctor.
+
+“Another stowaway, Sir,” said Bumpo smartly.
+
+I thought the poor Doctor would have a fit.
+
+“Good morning, Captain,” said the man. “Ben Butcher, able seaman, at
+your service. I knew you’d need me, so I took the liberty of stowing
+away—much against my conscience. But I just couldn’t bear to see you
+poor landsmen set out on this voyage without a single real seaman to
+help you. You’d never have got home alive if I hadn’t come—Why look at
+your mainsail, Sir—all loose at the throat. First gust of wind come
+along, and away goes your canvas overboard—Well, it’s all right now I’m
+here. We’ll soon get things in shipshape.”
+
+“No, it isn’t all right,” said the Doctor, “it’s all wrong. And I’m not
+at all glad to see you. I told you in Puddleby I didn’t want you. You
+had no right to come.”
+
+“But Captain,” said the able seaman, “you can’t sail this ship without
+me. You don’t understand navigation. Why, look at the compass now:
+you’ve let her swing a point and a half off her course. It’s madness
+for you to try to do this trip alone—if you’ll pardon my saying so,
+Sir. Why—why, you’ll lose the ship!”
+
+“Look here,” said the Doctor, a sudden stern look coming into his
+eyes, “losing a ship is nothing to me. I’ve lost ships before and it
+doesn’t bother me in the least. When I set out to go to a place, I get
+there. Do you understand? I may know nothing whatever about sailing
+and navigation, but I get there just the same. Now you may be the best
+seaman in the world, but on _this_ ship you’re just a plain ordinary
+nuisance—very plain and very ordinary. And I am now going to call at
+the nearest port and put you ashore.”
+
+“Yes, and think yourself lucky,” Polynesia put in, “that you are not
+locked up for stowing away and eating all our salt beef.”
+
+“I don’t know what the mischief we’re going to do now,” I heard her
+whisper to Bumpo. “We’ve no money to buy any more; and that salt beef
+was the most important part of the stores.”
+
+“Would it not be good political economy,” Bumpo whispered back, “if
+we salted the able seaman and ate him instead? I should judge that he
+would weigh more than a hundred and twenty pounds.”
+
+“How often must I tell you that we are not in Jolliginki,” snapped
+Polynesia. “Those things are not done on white men’s ships—Still,” she
+murmured after a moment’s thought, “it’s an awfully bright idea. I
+don’t suppose anybody saw him come on to the ship—Oh, but Heavens! we
+haven’t got enough salt. Besides, he’d be sure to taste of tobacco.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIFTH CHAPTER_
+
+POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN
+
+
+THEN the Doctor told me to take the wheel while he made a little
+calculation with his map and worked out what new course we should take.
+
+“I shall have to run for the Capa Blancas after all,” he told me when
+the seaman’s back was turned. “Dreadful nuisance! But I’d sooner swim
+back to Puddleby than have to listen to that fellow’s talk all the way
+to Brazil.”
+
+Indeed he was a terrible person, this Ben Butcher. You’d think that any
+one after being told he wasn’t wanted would have had the decency to
+keep quiet. But not Ben Butcher. He kept going round the deck pointing
+out all the things we had wrong. According to him there wasn’t a thing
+right on the whole ship. The anchor was hitched up wrong; the hatches
+weren’t fastened down properly; the sails were put on back to front;
+all our knots were the wrong kind of knots.
+
+At last the Doctor told him to stop talking and go downstairs. He
+refused—said he wasn’t going to be sunk by landlubbers while he was
+still able to stay on deck.
+
+This made us feel a little uneasy. He was such an enormous man there
+was no knowing what he might do if he got really obstreperous.
+
+Bumpo and I were talking about this downstairs in the dining-saloon
+when Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee came and joined us. And, as usual,
+Polynesia had a plan.
+
+“Listen,” she said, “I am certain this Ben Butcher is a smuggler and a
+bad man. I am a very good judge of seamen, remember, and I don’t like
+the cut of this man’s jib. I—”
+
+“Do you really think,” I interrupted, “that it _is_ safe for the Doctor
+to cross the Atlantic without any regular seamen on his ship?”
+
+You see it had upset me quite a good deal to find that all the things
+we had been doing were wrong; and I was beginning to wonder what might
+happen if we ran into a storm—particularly as Miranda had only said the
+weather would be good for a certain time; and we seemed to be having so
+many delays. But Polynesia merely tossed her head scornfully.
+
+“Oh, bless you, my boy,” said she, “you’re always safe with John
+Dolittle. Remember that. Don’t take any notice of that stupid old salt.
+Of course it is perfectly true the Doctor does do everything wrong. But
+with him it doesn’t matter. Mark my words, if you travel with John
+Dolittle you always get there, as you heard him say. I’ve been with him
+lots of times and I know. Sometimes the ship is upside down when you
+get there, and sometimes it’s right way up. But you get there just the
+same. And then of course there’s another thing about the Doctor,” she
+added thoughtfully: “he always has extraordinary good luck. He may have
+his troubles; but with him things seem to have a habit of turning out
+all right in the end. I remember once when we were going through the
+Straits of Magellan the wind was so strong—”
+
+“But what are we going to do about Ben Butcher?” Jip put in. “You had
+some plan Polynesia, hadn’t you?”
+
+“Yes. What I’m afraid of is that he may hit the Doctor on the head when
+he’s not looking and make himself captain of the _Curlew_. Bad sailors
+do that sometimes. Then they run the ship their own way and take it
+where they want. That’s what you call a mutiny.”
+
+“Yes,” said Jip, “and we ought to do something pretty quick. We can’t
+reach the Capa Blancas before the day after to-morrow at best. I don’t
+like to leave the Doctor alone with him for a minute. He smells like a
+very bad man to me.”
+
+“Well, I’ve got it all worked out,” said Polynesia. “Listen: is there a
+key in that door?”
+
+We looked outside the dining-room and found that there was.
+
+“All right,” said Polynesia. “Now Bumpo lays the table for lunch and
+we all go and hide. Then at twelve o’clock Bumpo rings the dinner-bell
+down here. As soon as Ben hears it he’ll come down expecting more salt
+beef. Bumpo must hide behind the door outside. The moment that Ben is
+seated at the dining-table Bumpo slams the door and locks it. Then
+we’ve got him. See?”
+
+“How stratagenious!” Bumpo chuckled. “As Cicero said, _parrots cum
+parishioners facilime congregation_. I’ll lay the table at once.”
+
+“Yes and take that Worcestershire sauce off the dresser with you when
+you go out,” said Polynesia. “Don’t leave any loose eatables around.
+That fellow has had enough to last any man for three days. Besides, he
+won’t be so inclined to start a fight when we put him ashore at the
+Capa Blancas if we thin him down a bit before we let him out.”
+
+So we all went and hid ourselves in the passage where we could watch
+what happened. And presently Bumpo came to the foot of the stairs and
+rang the dinner-bell like mad. Then he hopped behind the dining-room
+door and we all kept still and listened.
+
+Almost immediately, _thump_, _thump_, _thump_, down the stairs tramped
+Ben Butcher, the able seaman. He walked into the dining-saloon, sat
+himself down at the head of the table in the Doctor’s place, tucked a
+napkin under his fat chin and heaved a sigh of expectation.
+
+Then, _bang_! Bumpo slammed the door and locked it.
+
+“That settles _him_ for a while,” said Polynesia coming out from her
+hiding-place. “Now let him teach navigation to the side-board. Gosh,
+the cheek of the man! I’ve forgotten more about the sea than that
+lumbering lout will ever know. Let’s go upstairs and tell the Doctor.
+Bumpo, you will have to serve the meals in the cabin for the next
+couple of days.”
+
+And bursting into a rollicking Norwegian sea-song, she climbed up to my
+shoulder and we went on deck.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SIXTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE
+
+
+WE remained three days in the Capa Blanca Islands.
+
+There were two reasons why we stayed there so long when we were really
+in such a hurry to get away. One was the shortage in our provisions
+caused by the able seaman’s enormous appetite. When we came to go over
+the stores and make a list, we found that he had eaten a whole lot of
+other things besides the beef. And having no money, we were sorely
+puzzled how to buy more. The Doctor went through his trunk to see if
+there was anything he could sell. But the only thing he could find
+was an old watch with the hands broken and the back dented in; and we
+decided this would not bring us in enough money to buy much more than a
+pound of tea. Bumpo suggested that he sing comic songs in the streets
+which he had learned in Jolliginki. But the Doctor said he did not
+think that the islanders would care for African music.
+
+The other thing that kept us was the bullfight. In these islands, which
+belonged to Spain, they had bullfights every Sunday. It was on a Friday
+that we arrived there; and after we had got rid of the able seaman we
+took a walk through the town.
+
+It was a very funny little town, quite different from any that I had
+ever seen. The streets were all twisty and winding and so narrow that a
+wagon could only just pass along them. The houses over-hung at the top
+and came so close together that people in the attics could lean out of
+the windows and shake hands with their neighbors on the opposite side
+of the street. The Doctor told us the town was very, very old. It was
+called Monteverde.
+
+As we had no money of course we did not go to a hotel or anything like
+that. But on the second evening when we were passing by a bed-maker’s
+shop we noticed several beds, which the man had made, standing on
+the pavement outside. The Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the
+bed-maker who was sitting at his door whistling to a parrot in a cage.
+The Doctor and the bed-maker got very friendly talking about birds and
+things. And as it grew near to supper-time the man asked us to stop and
+sup with him.
+
+This of course we were very glad to do. And after the meal was over
+(very nice dishes they were, mostly cooked in olive-oil—I particularly
+liked the fried bananas) we sat outside on the pavement again and went
+on talking far into the night.
+
+At last when we got up to go back to our ship, this very nice
+shopkeeper wouldn’t hear of our going away on any account. He said the
+streets down by the harbor were very badly lighted and there was no
+moon. We would surely get lost. He invited us to spend the night with
+him and go back to our ship in the morning.
+
+Well, we finally agreed; and as our good friend had no spare bedrooms,
+the three of us, the Doctor, Bumpo and I, slept on the beds set out for
+sale on the pavement before the shop. The night was so hot we needed
+no coverings. It was great fun to fall asleep out of doors like this,
+watching the people walking to and fro and the gay life of the streets.
+It seemed to me that Spanish people never went to bed at all. Late as
+it was, all the little restaurants and cafés around us were wide open,
+with customers drinking coffee and chatting merrily at the small tables
+outside. The sound of a guitar strumming softly in the distance mingled
+with the clatter of chinaware and the babble of voices.
+
+Somehow it made me think of my mother and father far away in Puddleby,
+with their regular habits, the evening practise on the flute and the
+rest—doing the same thing every day. I felt sort of sorry for them in
+a way, because they missed the fun of this traveling life, where we
+were doing something new all the time—even sleeping differently. But
+I suppose if they had been invited to go to bed on a pavement in front
+of a shop they wouldn’t have cared for the idea at all. It is funny how
+some people are.
+
+[Illustration: “The Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the
+bed-maker”]
+
+
+
+
+_THE SEVENTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE DOCTOR’S WAGER
+
+
+NEXT morning we were awakened by a great racket. There was a procession
+coming down the street, a number of men in very gay clothes followed
+by a large crowd of admiring ladies and cheering children. I asked the
+Doctor who they were.
+
+“They are the bullfighters,” he said. “There is to be a bullfight
+to-morrow.”
+
+“What is a bullfight?” I asked.
+
+To my great surprise the Doctor got red in the face with anger. It
+reminded me of the time when he had spoken of the lions and tigers in
+his private zoo.
+
+“A bullfight is a stupid, cruel, disgusting business,” said he. “These
+Spanish people are most lovable and hospitable folk. How they can enjoy
+these wretched bullfights is a thing I could never understand.”
+
+Then the Doctor went on to explain to me how a bull was first made very
+angry by teasing and then allowed to run into a circus where men came
+out with red cloaks, waved them at him, and ran away. Next the bull was
+allowed to tire himself out by tossing and killing a lot of poor, old,
+broken-down horses who couldn’t defend themselves. Then, when the bull
+was thoroughly out of breath and wearied by this, a man came out with a
+sword and killed the bull.
+
+“Every Sunday,” said the Doctor, “in almost every big town in Spain
+there are six bulls killed like that and as many horses.”
+
+“But aren’t the men ever killed by the bull?” I asked.
+
+“Unfortunately very seldom,” said he. “A bull is not nearly as
+dangerous as he looks, even when he’s angry, if you are only quick on
+your feet and don’t lose your head. These bullfighters are very clever
+and nimble. And the people, especially the Spanish ladies, think no
+end of them. A famous bullfighter (or matador, as they call them) is
+a more important man in Spain than a king—Here comes another crowd of
+them round the corner, look. See the girls throwing kisses to them.
+Ridiculous business!”
+
+At that moment our friend the bed-maker came out to see the procession
+go past. And while he was wishing us good morning and enquiring how
+we had slept, a friend of his walked up and joined us. The bed-maker
+introduced this friend to us as Don Enrique Cardenas.
+
+Don Enrique when he heard where we were from, spoke to us in English.
+He appeared to be a well-educated, gentlemanly sort of person.
+
+“And you go to see the bullfight to-morrow, yes?” he asked the Doctor
+pleasantly.
+
+“Certainly not,” said John Dolittle firmly. “I don’t like
+bullfights—cruel, cowardly shows.”
+
+Don Enrique nearly exploded. I never saw a man get so excited. He told
+the Doctor that he didn’t know what he was talking about. He said
+bullfighting was a noble sport and that the matadors were the bravest
+men in the world.
+
+“Oh, rubbish!” said the Doctor. “You never give the poor bull a chance.
+It is only when he is all tired and dazed that your precious matadors
+dare to try and kill him.”
+
+I thought the Spaniard was going to strike the Doctor he got so angry.
+While he was still spluttering to find words, the bed-maker came
+between them and took the Doctor aside. He explained to John Dolittle
+in a whisper that this Don Enrique Cardenas was a very important
+person; that he it was who supplied the bulls—a special, strong black
+kind—from his own farm for all the bullfights in the Capa Blancas. He
+was a very rich man, the bed-maker said, a most important personage. He
+mustn’t be allowed to take offense on any account.
+
+I watched the Doctor’s face as the bed-maker finished, and I saw a
+flash of boyish mischief come into his eyes as though an idea had
+struck him. He turned to the angry Spaniard.
+
+“Don Enrique,” he said, “you tell me your bullfighters are very
+brave men and skilful. It seems I have offended you by saying that
+bullfighting is a poor sport. What is the name of the best matador you
+have for to-morrow’s show?”
+
+“Pepito de Malaga,” said Don Enrique, “one of the greatest names, one
+of the bravest men, in all Spain.”
+
+“Very well,” said the Doctor, “I have a proposal to make to you. I
+have never fought a bull in my life. Now supposing I were to go into
+the ring to-morrow with Pepito de Malaga and any other matadors you
+choose; and if I can do more tricks with a bull than they can, would
+you promise to do something for me?”
+
+Don Enrique threw back his head and laughed.
+
+“Man,” he said, “you must be mad! You would be killed at once. One has
+to be trained for years to become a proper bullfighter.”
+
+“Supposing I were willing to take the risk of that—You are not afraid,
+I take it, to accept my offer?”
+
+The Spaniard frowned.
+
+“Afraid!” he cried, “Sir, if you can beat Pepito de Malaga in the
+bull-ring I’ll promise you anything it is possible for me to grant.”
+
+“Very good,” said the Doctor, “now I understand that you are quite a
+powerful man in these islands. If you wished to stop all bullfighting
+here after to-morrow, you could do it, couldn’t you?”
+
+“Yes,” said Don Enrique proudly—“I could.”
+
+“Well that is what I ask of you—if I win my wager,” said John Dolittle.
+“If I can do more with angry bulls than can Pepito de Malaga, you are
+to promise me that there shall never be another bullfight in the Capa
+Blancas so long as you are alive to stop it. Is it a bargain?”
+
+The Spaniard held out his hand.
+
+“It is a bargain,” he said—“I promise. But I must warn you that you
+are merely throwing your life away, for you will certainly be killed.
+However, that is no more than you deserve for saying that bullfighting
+is an unworthy sport. I will meet you here to-morrow morning if you
+should wish to arrange any particulars. Good day, Sir.”
+
+As the Spaniard turned and walked into the shop with the bed-maker,
+Polynesia, who had been listening as usual, flew up on to my shoulder
+and whispered in my ear,
+
+“I have a plan. Get hold of Bumpo and come some place where the Doctor
+can’t hear us. I want to talk to you.”
+
+I nudged Bumpo’s elbow and we crossed the street and pretended to look
+into a jeweler’s window; while the Doctor sat down upon his bed to lace
+up his boots, the only part of his clothing he had taken off for the
+night.
+
+“Listen,” said Polynesia, “I’ve been breaking my head trying to think
+up some way we can get money to buy those stores with; and at last I’ve
+got it.”
+
+“The money?” said Bumpo.
+
+“No, stupid. The idea—to make the money with. Listen: the Doctor is
+simply bound to win this game to-morrow, sure as you’re alive. Now all
+we have to do is to make a side bet with these Spaniards—they’re great
+on gambling—and the trick’s done.”
+
+“What’s a side bet?” I asked.
+
+“Oh I know what that is,” said Bumpo proudly. “We used to have lots of
+them at Oxford when boat-racing was on. I go to Don Enrique and say,
+‘I bet you a hundred pounds the Doctor wins.’ Then if he does win, Don
+Enrique pays me a hundred pounds; and if he doesn’t, I have to pay Don
+Enrique.”
+
+“That’s the idea,” said Polynesia. “Only don’t say a hundred pounds:
+say two-thousand five-hundred pesetas. Now come and find old Don
+Ricky-ticky and try to look rich.”
+
+So we crossed the street again and slipped into the bed-maker’s shop
+while the Doctor was still busy with his boots.
+
+“Don Enrique,” said Bumpo, “allow me to introduce myself. I am the
+Crown Prince of Jolliginki. Would you care to have a small bet with me
+on to-morrow’s bullfight?”
+
+Don Enrique bowed.
+
+“Why certainly,” he said, “I shall be delighted. But I must warn you
+that you are bound to lose. How much?”
+
+“Oh a mere truffle,” said Bumpo—“just for the fun of the thing, you
+know. What do you say to three-thousand pesetas?”
+
+“I agree,” said the Spaniard bowing once more. “I will meet you after
+the bullfight to-morrow.”
+
+“So that’s all right,” said Polynesia as we came out to join the
+Doctor. “I feel as though quite a load had been taken off my mind.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE EIGHTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE GREAT BULLFIGHT
+
+
+THE next day was a great day in Monteverde. All the streets were
+hung with flags; and everywhere gaily dressed crowds were to be seen
+flocking towards the bull-ring, as the big circus was called where the
+fights took place.
+
+The news of the Doctor’s challenge had gone round the town and, it
+seemed, had caused much amusement to the islanders. The very idea of
+a mere foreigner daring to match himself against the great Pepito de
+Malaga!—Serve him right if he got killed!
+
+The Doctor had borrowed a bullfighter’s suit from Don Enrique; and very
+gay and wonderful he looked in it, though Bumpo and I had hard work
+getting the waistcoat to close in front and even then the buttons kept
+bursting off it in all directions.
+
+When we set out from the harbor to walk to the bull-ring, crowds of
+small boys ran after us making fun of the Doctor’s fatness, calling
+out, “_Juan Hagapoco, el grueso matador!_” which is the Spanish for,
+“John Dolittle, the fat bullfighter.”
+
+As soon as we arrived the Doctor said he would like to take a look
+at the bulls before the fight began; and we were at once led to the
+bull pen where, behind a high railing, six enormous black bulls were
+tramping around wildly.
+
+In a few hurried words and signs the Doctor told the bulls what he was
+going to do and gave them careful instructions for their part of the
+show. The poor creatures were tremendously glad when they heard that
+there was a chance of bullfighting being stopped; and they promised to
+do exactly as they were told.
+
+Of course the man who took us in there didn’t understand what we were
+doing. He merely thought the fat Englishman was crazy when he saw the
+Doctor making signs and talking in ox tongue.
+
+From there the Doctor went to the matadors’ dressing-rooms while Bumpo
+and I with Polynesia made our way into the bull-ring and took our seats
+in the great open-air theatre.
+
+It was a very gay sight. Thousands of ladies and gentlemen were there,
+all dressed in their smartest clothes; and everybody seemed very happy
+and cheerful.
+
+Right at the beginning Don Enrique got up and explained to the people
+that the first item on the program was to be a match between the
+English Doctor and Pepito de Malaga. He told them what he had promised
+if the Doctor should win. But the people did not seem to think there
+was much chance of that. A roar of laughter went up at the very
+mention of such a thing.
+
+When Pepito came into the ring everybody cheered, the ladies blew
+kisses and the men clapped and waved their hats.
+
+Presently a large door on the other side of the ring was rolled back
+and in galloped one of the bulls; then the door was closed again. At
+once the matador became very much on the alert. He waved his red cloak
+and the bull rushed at him. Pepito stepped nimbly aside and the people
+cheered again.
+
+This game was repeated several times. But I noticed that whenever
+Pepito got into a tight place and seemed to be in real danger from the
+bull, an assistant of his, who always hung around somewhere near, drew
+the bull’s attention upon himself by waving another red cloak. Then
+the bull would chase the assistant and Pepito was left in safety. Most
+often, as soon as he had drawn the bull off, this assistant ran for the
+high fence and vaulted out of the ring to save himself. They evidently
+had it all arranged, these matadors; and it didn’t seem to me that they
+were in any very great danger from the poor clumsy bull so long as they
+didn’t slip and fall.
+
+After about ten minutes of this kind of thing the small door into the
+matadors’ dressing-room opened and the Doctor strolled into the ring.
+As soon as his fat figure, dressed in sky-blue velvet, appeared, the
+crowd rocked in their seats with laughter.
+
+Juan Hagapoco, as they had called him, walked out into the centre of
+the ring and bowed ceremoniously to the ladies in the boxes. Then he
+bowed to the bull. Then he bowed to Pepito. While he was bowing to
+Pepito’s assistant the bull started to rush at him from behind.
+
+“Look out! Look out!—The bull! You will be killed!” yelled the crowd.
+
+But the Doctor calmly finished his bow. Then turning round he folded
+his arms, fixed the on-rushing bull with his eye and frowned a terrible
+frown.
+
+Presently a curious thing happened: the bull’s speed got slower and
+slower. It almost looked as though he were afraid of that frown. Soon
+he stopped altogether. The Doctor shook his finger at him. He began to
+tremble. At last, tucking his tail between his legs, the bull turned
+round and ran away.
+
+The crowd gasped. The Doctor ran after him. Round and round the ring
+they went, both of them puffing and blowing like grampuses. Excited
+whispers began to break out among the people. This was something new
+in bullfighting, to have the bull running away from the man, instead
+of the man away from the bull. At last in the tenth lap, with a final
+burst of speed, Juan Hagapoco, the English matador, caught the poor
+bull by the tail.
+
+Then leading the now timid creature into the middle of the ring, the
+Doctor made him do all manner of tricks: standing on the hind legs,
+standing on the front legs, dancing, hopping, rolling over. He finished
+up by making the bull kneel down; then he got on to his back and did
+handsprings and other acrobatics on the beast’s horns.
+
+Pepito and his assistant had their noses sadly out of joint. The crowd
+had forgotten them entirely. They were standing together by the fence
+not far from where I sat, muttering to one another and slowly growing
+green with jealousy.
+
+Finally the Doctor turned towards Don Enrique’s seat and bowing said in
+a loud voice, “This bull is no good any more. He’s terrified and out of
+breath. Take him away, please.”
+
+“Does the caballero wish for a fresh bull?” asked Don Enrique.
+
+“No,” said the Doctor, “I want five fresh bulls. And I would like them
+all in the ring at once, please.”
+
+At this a cry of horror burst from the people. They had been used to
+seeing matadors escaping from one bull at a time. But _five_!—That must
+mean certain death.
+
+Pepito sprang forward and called to Don Enrique not to allow it, saying
+it was against all the rules of bullfighting. (“Ha!” Polynesia
+chuckled into my ear. “It’s like the Doctor’s navigation: he breaks all
+the rules; but he gets there. If they’ll only let him, he’ll give them
+the best show for their money they ever saw.”) A great argument began.
+Half the people seemed to be on Pepito’s side and half on the Doctor’s
+side. At last the Doctor turned to Pepito and made another very grand
+bow which burst the last button off his waistcoat.
+
+[Illustration: “Did acrobatics on the beast’s horns”]
+
+“Well, of course if the caballero is afraid—” he began with a bland
+smile.
+
+“Afraid!” screamed Pepito. “I am afraid of nothing on earth. I am the
+greatest matador in Spain. With this right hand I have killed nine
+hundred and fifty-seven bulls.”
+
+“All right then,” said the Doctor, “let us see if you can kill five
+more. Let the bulls in!” he shouted. “Pepito de Malaga is not afraid.”
+
+A dreadful silence hung over the great theatre as the heavy door into
+the bull pen was rolled back. Then with a roar the five big bulls
+bounded into the ring.
+
+“Look fierce,” I heard the Doctor call to them in cattle language.
+“Don’t scatter. Keep close. Get ready for a rush. Take Pepito, the one
+in purple, first. But for Heaven’s sake don’t kill him. Just chase him
+out of the ring—Now then, all together, go for him!”
+
+The bulls put down their heads and all in line, like a squadron of
+cavalry, charged across the ring straight for poor Pepito.
+
+For one moment the Spaniard tried his hardest to look brave. But the
+sight of the five pairs of horns coming at him at full gallop was too
+much. He turned white to the lips, ran for the fence, vaulted it and
+disappeared.
+
+“Now the other one,” the Doctor hissed. And in two seconds the gallant
+assistant was nowhere to be seen. Juan Hagapoco, the fat matador, was
+left alone in the ring with five rampaging bulls.
+
+The rest of the show was really well worth seeing. First, all five
+bulls went raging round the ring, butting at the fence with their
+horns, pawing up the sand, hunting for something to kill. Then each one
+in turn would pretend to catch sight of the Doctor for the first time
+and giving a bellow of rage, would lower his wicked looking horns and
+shoot like an arrow across the ring as though he meant to toss him to
+the sky.
+
+It was really frightfully exciting. And even I, who knew it was all
+arranged beforehand, held my breath in terror for the Doctor’s life
+when I saw how near they came to sticking him. But just at the last
+moment, when the horns’ points were two inches from the sky-blue
+waistcoat, the Doctor would spring nimbly to one side and the great
+brutes would go thundering harmlessly by, missing him by no more than a
+hair.
+
+Then all five of them went for him together, completely surrounding
+him, slashing at him with their horns and bellowing with fury. How he
+escaped alive I don’t know. For several minutes his round figure could
+hardly be seen at all in that scrimmage of tossing heads, stamping
+hoofs and waving tails.—It was, as Polynesia had prophesied, the
+greatest bullfight ever seen.
+
+One woman in the crowd got quite hysterical and screamed up to Don
+Enrique,
+
+“Stop the fight! Stop the fight! He is too brave a man to be killed.
+This is the most wonderful matador in the world. Let him live! Stop the
+fight!”
+
+But presently the Doctor was seen to break loose from the mob of
+animals that surrounded him. Then catching each of them by the horns,
+one after another, he would give their heads a sudden twist and throw
+them down flat on the sand. The great fellows acted their parts
+extremely well. I have never seen trained animals in a circus do
+better. They lay there panting on the ground where the Doctor threw
+them as if they were exhausted and completely beaten.
+
+Then with a final bow to the ladies John Dolittle took a cigar from his
+pocket, lit it and strolled out of the ring.
+
+
+
+
+_THE NINTH CHAPTER_
+
+WE DEPART IN A HURRY
+
+
+AS soon as the door closed behind the Doctor the most tremendous noise
+I have ever heard broke loose. Some of the men appeared to be angry
+(friends of Pepito’s, I suppose); but the ladies called and called to
+have the Doctor come back into the ring.
+
+When at length he did so, the women seemed to go entirely mad over him.
+They blew kisses to him. They called him a darling. Then they started
+taking off their flowers, their rings, their necklaces, and their
+brooches and threw them down at his feet. You never saw anything like
+it—a perfect shower of jewelry and roses.
+
+But the Doctor just smiled up at them, bowed once more and backed out.
+
+“Now, Bumpo,” said Polynesia, “this is where you go down and gather up
+all those trinkets and we’ll sell ’em. That’s what the big matadors
+do: leave the jewelry on the ground and their assistants collect
+it for them. We might as well lay in a good supply of money while
+we’ve got the chance—you never know when you may need it when you’re
+traveling with the Doctor. Never mind the roses—you can leave them—but
+don’t leave any rings. And when you’ve finished go and get your
+three-thousand pesetas out of Don Ricky-ticky. Tommy and I will meet
+you outside and we’ll pawn the gew-gaws at that Jew’s shop opposite the
+bed-maker’s. Run along—and not a word to the Doctor, remember.”
+
+Outside the bull-ring we found the crowd still in a great state of
+excitement. Violent arguments were going on everywhere. Bumpo joined
+us with his pockets bulging in all directions; and we made our way
+slowly through the dense crowd to that side of the building where the
+matadors’ dressing-room was. The Doctor was waiting at the door for us.
+
+“Good work, Doctor!” said Polynesia, flying on to his shoulder—“Great
+work!—But listen: I smell danger. I think you had better get back to
+the ship now as quick and as quietly as you can. Put your overcoat on
+over that giddy suit. I don’t like the looks of this crowd. More than
+half of them are furious because you’ve won. Don Ricky-ticky must now
+stop the bullfighting—and you know how they love it. What I’m afraid of
+is that some of these matadors who are just mad with jealousy may start
+some dirty work. I think this would be a good time for us to get away.”
+
+“I dare say you’re right, Polynesia,” said the Doctor—“You usually are.
+The crowd does seem to be a bit restless. I’ll slip down to the ship
+alone—so I shan’t be so noticeable; and I’ll wait for you there. You
+come by some different way. But don’t be long about it. Hurry!”
+
+As soon as the Doctor had departed Bumpo sought out Don Enrique and
+said,
+
+“Honorable Sir, you owe me three-thousand pesetas.”
+
+Without a word, but looking cross-eyed with annoyance, Don Enrique paid
+his bet.
+
+We next set out to buy the provisions; and on the way we hired a cab
+and took it along with us.
+
+Not very far away we found a big grocer’s shop which seemed to sell
+everything to eat. We went in and bought up the finest lot of food you
+ever saw in your life.
+
+As a matter of fact, Polynesia had been right about the danger we were
+in. The news of our victory must have spread like lightning through the
+whole town. For as we came out of the shop and loaded the cab up with
+our stores, we saw various little knots of angry men hunting round the
+streets, waving sticks and shouting,
+
+“The Englishmen! Where are those accursed Englishmen who stopped the
+bullfighting?—Hang them to a lamp-post!—Throw them in the sea! The
+Englishmen!—We want the Englishmen!”
+
+After that we didn’t waste any time, you may be sure. Bumpo grabbed the
+Spanish cab-driver and explained to him in signs that if he didn’t
+drive down to the harbor as fast as he knew how and keep his mouth shut
+the whole way, he would choke the life out of him. Then we jumped into
+the cab on top of the food, slammed the door, pulled down the blinds
+and away we went.
+
+“We won’t get a chance to pawn the jewelry now,” said Polynesia, as we
+bumped over the cobbly streets. “But never mind—it may come in handy
+later on. And anyway we’ve got two-thousand five-hundred pesetas left
+out of the bet. Don’t give the cabby more than two pesetas fifty,
+Bumpo. That’s the right fare, I know.”
+
+Well, we reached the harbor all right and we were mighty glad to find
+that the Doctor had sent Chee-Chee back with the row-boat to wait for
+us at the landing-wall.
+
+Unfortunately while we were in the middle of loading the supplies from
+the cab into the boat, the angry mob arrived upon the wharf and made
+a rush for us. Bumpo snatched up a big beam of wood that lay near
+and swung it round and round his head, letting out dreadful African
+battle-yells the while. This kept the crowd off while Chee-Chee and
+I hustled the last of the stores into the boat and clambered in
+ourselves. Bumpo threw his beam of wood into the thick of the Spaniards
+and leapt in after us. Then we pushed off and rowed like mad for the
+_Curlew_.
+
+The mob upon the wall howled with rage, shook their fists and hurled
+stones and all manner of things after us. Poor old Bumpo got hit on the
+head with a bottle. But as he had a very strong head it only raised a
+small bump while the bottle smashed into a thousand pieces.
+
+When we reached the ship’s side the Doctor had the anchor drawn up and
+the sails set and everything in readiness to get away. Looking back we
+saw boats coming out from the harbor-wall after us, filled with angry,
+shouting men. So we didn’t bother to unload our rowboat but just tied
+it on to the ship’s stern with a rope and jumped aboard.
+
+It only took a moment more to swing the _Curlew_ round into the wind;
+and soon we were speeding out of the harbor on our way to Brazil.
+
+“Ha!” sighed Polynesia, as we all flopped down on the deck to take a
+rest and get our breath. “That wasn’t a bad adventure—quite reminds
+me of my old seafaring days when I sailed with the smugglers—Golly,
+that was the life!—Never mind your head, Bumpo. It will be all right
+when the Doctor puts a little arnica on it. Think what we got out of
+the scrap: a boat-load of ship’s stores, pockets full of jewelry and
+thousands of pesetas. Not bad, you know—not bad.”
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PART FOUR
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIRST CHAPTER_
+
+SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN
+
+
+MIRANDA, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise had prophesied rightly when she
+had foretold a good spell of weather. For three weeks the good ship
+_Curlew_ plowed her way through smiling seas before a steady powerful
+wind.
+
+I suppose most real sailors would have found this part of the voyage
+dull. But not I. As we got further South and further West the face
+of the sea seemed different every day. And all the little things of
+a voyage which an old hand would have hardly bothered to notice were
+matters of great interest for my eager eyes.
+
+We did not pass many ships. When we did see one, the Doctor would get
+out his telescope and we would all take a look at it. Sometimes he
+would signal to it, asking for news, by hauling up little colored flags
+upon the mast; and the ship would signal back to us in the same way.
+The meaning of all the signals was printed in a book which the Doctor
+kept in the cabin. He told me it was the language of the sea and that
+all ships could understand it whether they be English, Dutch, or
+French.
+
+Our greatest happening during those first weeks was passing an iceberg.
+When the sun shone on it it burst into a hundred colors, sparkling
+like a jeweled palace in a fairy-story. Through the telescope we saw
+a mother polar bear with a cub sitting on it, watching us. The Doctor
+recognized her as one of the bears who had spoken to him when he was
+discovering the North Pole. So he sailed the ship up close and offered
+to take her and her baby on to the _Curlew_ if she wished it. But she
+only shook her head, thanking him; she said it would be far too hot for
+the cub on the deck of our ship, with no ice to keep his feet cool. It
+had been indeed a very hot day; but the nearness of that great mountain
+of ice made us all turn up our coat-collars and shiver with the cold.
+
+During those quiet peaceful days I improved my reading and writing a
+great deal with the Doctor’s help. I got on so well that he let me keep
+the ship’s log. This is a big book kept on every ship, a kind of diary,
+in which the number of miles run, the direction of your course and
+everything else that happens is written down.
+
+The Doctor too, in what spare time he had, was nearly always writing—in
+his note-books. I used to peep into these sometimes, now that I could
+read, but I found it hard work to make out the Doctor’s handwriting.
+Many of these note-books seemed to be about sea things. There were six
+thick ones filled full with notes and sketches of different seaweeds;
+and there were others on sea birds; others on sea worms; others on
+seashells. They were all some day to be re-written, printed and bound
+like regular books.
+
+One afternoon we saw, floating around us, great quantities of stuff
+that looked like dead grass. The Doctor told me this was gulf-weed. A
+little further on it became so thick that it covered all the water as
+far as the eye could reach; it made the _Curlew_ look as though she
+were moving across a meadow instead of sailing the Atlantic.
+
+Crawling about upon this weed, many crabs were to be seen. And the
+sight of them reminded the Doctor of his dream of learning the language
+of the shellfish. He fished several of these crabs up with a net and
+put them in his listening-tank to see if he could understand them.
+Among the crabs he also caught a strange-looking, chubby, little fish
+which he told me was called a Silver Fidgit.
+
+After he had listened to the crabs for a while with no success, he put
+the fidgit into the tank and began to listen to that. I had to leave
+him at this moment to go and attend to some duties on the deck. But
+presently I heard him below shouting for me to come down again.
+
+“Stubbins,” he cried as soon as he saw me—“a most extraordinary
+thing—Quite unbelievable—I’m not sure whether I’m dreaming—Can’t
+believe my own senses. I—I—I—”
+
+[Illustration: “‘He talks English!’”]
+
+“Why, Doctor,” I said, “what is it?—What’s the matter?”
+
+“The fidgit,” he whispered, pointing with a trembling finger to the
+listening-tank in which the little round fish was still swimming
+quietly, “he talks English! And—and—and _he whistles tunes_—English
+tunes!”
+
+“Talks English!” I cried—“Whistles!—Why, it’s impossible.”
+
+“It’s a fact,” said the Doctor, white in the face with excitement.
+“It’s only a few words, scattered, with no particular sense to them—all
+mixed up with his own language which I can’t make out yet. But they’re
+English words, unless there’s something very wrong with my hearing—And
+the tune he whistles, it’s as plain as anything—always the same tune.
+Now you listen and tell me what you make of it. Tell me everything you
+hear. Don’t miss a word.”
+
+I went to the glass tank upon the table while the Doctor grabbed a
+note-book and a pencil. Undoing my collar I stood upon the empty
+packing-case he had been using for a stand and put my right ear down
+under the water.
+
+For some moments I detected nothing at all—except, with my dry ear, the
+heavy breathing of the Doctor as he waited, all stiff and anxious, for
+me to say something. At last from within the water, sounding like a
+child singing miles and miles away, I heard an unbelievably thin, small
+voice.
+
+“Ah!” I said.
+
+“What is it?” asked the Doctor in a hoarse, trembly whisper. “What does
+he say?”
+
+“I can’t quite make it out,” I said. “It’s mostly in some strange fish
+language—Oh, but wait a minute!—Yes, now I get it—‘No smoking’.... ‘My,
+here’s a queer one!’ ‘Popcorn and picture postcards here’.... ‘This
+way out’.... ‘Don’t spit’—What funny things to say, Doctor!—Oh, but
+wait!—Now he’s whistling the tune.”
+
+“What tune is it?” gasped the Doctor.
+
+“John Peel.”
+
+“Ah hah,” cried the Doctor, “that’s what I made it out to be.” And he
+wrote furiously in his note-book.
+
+I went on listening.
+
+“This is most extraordinary,” the Doctor kept muttering to himself
+as his pencil went wiggling over the page—“Most extraordinary—but
+frightfully thrilling. I wonder where he—”
+
+“Here’s some more,” I cried—“some more English.... ‘_The big tank needs
+cleaning_’.... That’s all. Now he’s talking fish-talk again.”
+
+“The big tank!” the Doctor murmured frowning in a puzzled kind of way.
+“I wonder where on earth he learned—”
+
+Then he bounded up out of his chair.
+
+“I have it,” he yelled, “this fish has escaped from an aquarium.
+Why, of course! Look at the kind of things he has learned: ‘Picture
+postcards’—they always sell them in aquariums; ‘Don’t spit’; ‘No
+smoking’; ‘This way out’—the things the attendants say. And then, ‘My,
+here’s a queer one!’ That’s the kind of thing that people exclaim
+when they look into the tanks. It all fits. There’s no doubt about
+it, Stubbins: we have here a fish who has escaped from captivity. And
+it’s quite possible—not certain, by any means, but quite possible—that
+I may now, through him, be able to establish communication with the
+shellfish. This is a great piece of luck.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE SECOND CHAPTER_
+
+THE FIDGIT’S STORY
+
+
+WELL, now that he was started once more upon his old hobby of the
+shellfish languages, there was no stopping the Doctor. He worked right
+through the night.
+
+A little after midnight I fell asleep in a chair; about two in the
+morning Bumpo fell asleep at the wheel; and for five hours the _Curlew_
+was allowed to drift where she liked. But still John Dolittle worked
+on, trying his hardest to understand the fidgit’s language, struggling
+to make the fidgit understand him.
+
+When I woke up it was broad daylight again. The Doctor was still
+standing at the listening-tank, looking as tired as an owl and
+dreadfully wet. But on his face there was a proud and happy smile.
+
+“Stubbins,” he said as soon as he saw me stir, “I’ve done it. I’ve
+got the key to the fidgit’s language. It’s a frightfully difficult
+language—quite different from anything I ever heard. The only thing it
+reminds me of—slightly—is ancient Hebrew. It isn’t shellfish; but it’s
+a big step towards it. Now, the next thing, I want you to take a pencil
+and a fresh notebook and write down everything I say. The fidgit has
+promised to tell me the story of his life. I will translate it into
+English and you put it down in the book. Are you ready?”
+
+Once more the Doctor lowered his ear beneath the level of the water;
+and as he began to speak, I started to write. And this is the story
+that the fidgit told us.
+
+
+    THIRTEEN MONTHS IN AN AQUARIUM
+
+    “I was born in the Pacific Ocean, close to the coast
+    of Chile. I was one of a family of two-thousand
+    five-hundred and ten. Soon after our mother and father
+    left us, we youngsters got scattered. The family was
+    broken up—by a herd of whales who chased us. I and
+    my sister, Clippa (she was my favorite sister) had a
+    very narrow escape for our lives. As a rule, whales
+    are not very hard to get away from if you are good at
+    dodging—if you’ve only got a quick swerve. But this
+    one that came after Clippa and myself was a very mean
+    whale. Every time he lost us under a stone or something
+    he’d come back and hunt and hunt till he routed us
+    out into the open again. I never saw such a nasty,
+    persevering brute.
+
+    “Well, we shook him at last—though not before he had
+    worried us for hundreds of miles northward, up the
+    west coast of South America. But luck was against us
+    that day. While we were resting and trying to get our
+    breath, another family of fidgits came rushing by,
+    shouting, ‘Come on! Swim for your lives! The dog-fish
+    are coming!’
+
+    “Now dog-fish are particularly fond of fidgits. We are,
+    you might say, their favorite food—and for that reason
+    we always keep away from deep, muddy waters. What’s
+    more, dog-fish are not easy to escape from; they are
+    terribly fast and clever hunters. So up we had to jump
+    and on again.
+
+    “After we had gone a few more hundred miles we looked
+    back and saw that the dog-fish were gaining on us. So
+    we turned into a harbor. It happened to be one on the
+    west coast of the United States. Here we guessed, and
+    hoped, the dog-fish would not be likely to follow us.
+    As it happened, they didn’t even see us turn in, but
+    dashed on northward and we never saw them again. I hope
+    they froze to death in the Arctic Seas.
+
+    “But, as I said, luck was against us that day. While
+    I and my sister were cruising gently round the ships
+    anchored in the harbor looking for orange-peels, a
+    great delicacy with us—_Swoop! Bang!_—we were caught in
+    a net.
+
+    “We struggled for all we were worth; but it was no use.
+    The net was small-meshed and strongly made. Kicking
+    and flipping we were hauled up the side of the ship
+    and dumped down on the deck, high and dry in a blazing
+    noon-day sun.
+
+    “Here a couple of old men in whiskers and spectacles
+    leant over us, making strange sounds. Some codling had
+    got caught in the net the same time as we were. These
+    the old men threw back into the sea; but us they seemed
+    to think very precious. They put us carefully into a
+    large jar and after they had taken us on shore they
+    went to a big house and changed us from the jar into
+    glass boxes full of water. This house was on the edge
+    of the harbor; and a small stream of sea-water was made
+    to flow through the glass tank so we could breathe
+    properly. Of course we had never lived inside glass
+    walls before; and at first we kept on trying to swim
+    through them and got our noses awfully sore bumping the
+    glass at full speed.
+
+    “Then followed weeks and weeks of weary idleness. They
+    treated us well, so far as they knew how. The old
+    fellows in spectacles came and looked at us proudly
+    twice a day and saw that we had the proper food to eat,
+    the right amount of light and that the water was not
+    too hot or too cold. But oh, the dullness of that life!
+    It seemed we were a kind of a show. At a certain hour
+    every morning the big doors of the house were thrown
+    open and everybody in the city who had nothing special
+    to do came in and looked at us. There were other tanks
+    filled with different kinds of fishes all round the
+    walls of the big room. And the crowds would go from
+    tank to tank, looking in at us through the glass—with
+    their mouths open, like half-witted flounders. We got
+    so sick of it that we used to open our mouths back at
+    them; and this they seemed to think highly comical.
+
+    “One day my sister said to me, ‘Think you, Brother,
+    that these strange creatures who have captured us can
+    talk?’
+
+    “‘Surely,’ said I, ‘have you not noticed that some talk
+    with the lips only, some with the whole face, and yet
+    others discourse with the hands? When they come quite
+    close to the glass you can hear them. Listen!’
+
+    “At that moment a female, larger than the rest, pressed
+    her nose up against the glass, pointed at me and said
+    to her young behind her, ‘Oh, look, here’s a queer one!’
+
+    “And then we noticed that they nearly always said this
+    when they looked in. And for a long time we thought
+    that such was the whole extent of the language, this
+    being a people of but few ideas. To help pass away the
+    weary hours we learned it by heart, ‘Oh, look, here’s
+    a queer one!’ But we never got to know what it meant.
+    Other phrases, however, we did get the meaning of; and
+    we even learned to read a little in man-talk. Many big
+    signs there were, set up upon the walls; and when we
+    saw that the keepers stopped the people from spitting
+    and smoking, pointed to these signs angrily and read
+    them out loud, we knew then that these writings
+    signified, _No Smoking_ and _Don’t Spit_.
+
+    “Then in the evenings, after the crowd had gone, the
+    same aged male with one leg of wood, swept up the
+    peanut-shells with a broom every night. And while
+    he was so doing he always whistled the same tune to
+    himself. This melody we rather liked; and we learned
+    that too by heart—thinking it was part of the language.
+
+    “Thus a whole year went by in this dismal place. Some
+    days new fishes were brought in to the other tanks;
+    and other days old fishes were taken out. At first we
+    had hoped we would only be kept here for a while, and
+    that after we had been looked at sufficiently we would
+    be returned to freedom and the sea. But as month after
+    month went by, and we were left undisturbed, our hearts
+    grew heavy within our prison-walls of glass and we
+    spoke to one another less and less.
+
+    “One day, when the crowd was thickest in the big room,
+    a woman with a red face fainted from the heat. I
+    watched through the glass and saw that the rest of the
+    people got highly excited—though to me it did not seem
+    to be a matter of very great importance. They threw
+    cold water on her and carried her out into the open air.
+
+    “This made me think mightily; and presently a great
+    idea burst upon me.
+
+    “‘Sister,’ I said, turning to poor Clippa who was
+    sulking at the bottom of our prison trying to hide
+    behind a stone from the stupid gaze of the children who
+    thronged about our tank, ‘supposing that _we_ pretended
+    we were sick: do you think they would take us also from
+    this stuffy house?’
+
+    “‘Brother,’ said she wearily, ‘that they might do. But
+    most likely they would throw us on a rubbish-heap,
+    where we would die in the hot sun.’
+
+    “‘But,’ said I, ‘why should they go abroad to seek
+    a rubbish-heap, when the harbor is so close? While
+    we were being brought here I saw men throwing their
+    rubbish into the water. If they would only throw us
+    also there, we could quickly reach the sea.’
+
+    “‘The Sea!’ murmured poor Clippa with a far-away look
+    in her eyes (she had fine eyes, had my sister, Clippa).
+    ‘How like a dream it sounds—the Sea! Oh brother, will
+    we ever swim in it again, think you? Every night as I
+    lie awake on the floor of this evil-smelling dungeon I
+    hear its hearty voice ringing in my ears. How I have
+    longed for it! Just to feel it once again, the nice,
+    big, wholesome homeliness of it all! To jump, just to
+    jump from the crest of an Atlantic wave, laughing in
+    the trade wind’s spindrift, down into the blue-green
+    swirling trough! To chase the shrimps on a summer
+    evening, when the sky is red and the light’s all pink
+    within the foam! To lie on the top, in the doldrums’
+    noonday calm, and warm your tummy in the tropic sun!
+    To wander hand in hand once more through the giant
+    seaweed forests of the Indian Ocean, seeking the
+    delicious eggs of the pop-pop! To play hide-and-seek
+    among the castles of the coral towns with their pearl
+    and jasper windows spangling the floor of the Spanish
+    Main! To picnic in the anemone-meadows, dim blue
+    and lilac-gray, that lie in the lowlands beyond the
+    South Sea Garden! To throw somersaults on the springy
+    sponge-beds of the Mexican Gulf! To poke about among
+    the dead ships and see what wonders and adventures lie
+    inside!—And then, on winter nights when the Northeaster
+    whips the water into froth, to swoop down and down to
+    get away from the cold, down to where the water’s warm
+    and dark, down and still down, till we spy the twinkle
+    of the fire-eels far below where our friends and
+    cousins sit chatting round the Council Grotto—chatting,
+    Brother, over the news and gossip of _the Sea_!... Oh—’
+
+    “And then she broke down completely, sniffling.
+
+    “‘Stop it!’ I said. ‘You make me homesick. Look here:
+    let’s pretend we’re sick—or better still, let’s pretend
+    we’re dead; and see what happens. If they throw us on a
+    rubbish-heap and we fry in the sun, we’ll not be much
+    worse off than we are here in this smelly prison. What
+    do you say? Will you risk it?’
+
+    “‘I will,’ she said—‘and gladly.’
+
+    “So next morning two fidgits were found by the keeper
+    floating on the top of the water in their tank, stiff
+    and dead. We gave a mighty good imitation of dead
+    fish—although I say it myself. The keeper ran and
+    got the old gentlemen with spectacles and whiskers.
+    They threw up their hands in horror when they saw us.
+    Lifting us carefully out of the water they laid us on
+    wet cloths. That was the hardest part of all. If you’re
+    a fish and get taken out of the water you have to keep
+    opening and shutting your mouth to breathe at all—and
+    even that you can’t keep up for long. And all this time
+    we had to stay stiff as sticks and breathe silently
+    through half-closed lips.
+
+    “Well, the old fellows poked us and felt us and pinched
+    us till I thought they’d never be done. Then, when
+    their backs were turned a moment, a wretched cat got
+    up on the table and nearly ate us. Luckily the old
+    men turned round in time and shooed her away. You may
+    be sure though that we took a couple of good gulps
+    of air while they weren’t looking; and that was the
+    only thing that saved us from choking. I wanted to
+    whisper to Clippa to be brave and stick it out. But I
+    couldn’t even do that; because, as you know, most kinds
+    of fish-talk cannot be heard—not even a shout—unless
+    you’re under water.
+
+    “Then, just as we were about to give it up and let on
+    that we were alive, one of the old men shook his head
+    sadly, lifted us up and carried us out of the building.
+
+    “‘Now for it!’ I thought to myself. ‘We’ll soon know
+    our fate: liberty or the garbage-can.’
+
+    “Outside, to our unspeakable horror, he made straight
+    for a large ash-barrel which stood against the wall on
+    the other side of a yard. Most happily for us, however,
+    while he was crossing this yard a very dirty man with a
+    wagon and horses drove up and took the ash-barrel away.
+    I suppose it was his property.
+
+    “Then the old man looked around for some other place to
+    throw us. He seemed about to cast us upon the ground.
+    But he evidently thought that this would make the yard
+    untidy and he desisted. The suspense was terrible. He
+    moved outside the yard-gate and my heart sank once more
+    as I saw that he now intended to throw us in the gutter
+    of the roadway. But (fortune was indeed with us that
+    day), a large man in blue clothes and silver buttons
+    stopped him in the nick of time. Evidently, from the
+    way the large man lectured and waved a short thick
+    stick, it was against the rules of the town to throw
+    dead fish in the streets.
+
+    “At last, to our unutterable joy, the old man turned
+    and moved off with us towards the harbor. He walked so
+    slowly, muttering to himself all the way and watching
+    the man in blue out of the corner of his eye, that I
+    wanted to bite his finger to make him hurry up. Both
+    Clippa and I were actually at our last gasp.
+
+    “Finally he reached the sea-wall and giving us one last
+    sad look he dropped us into the waters of the harbor.
+
+    “Never had we realized anything like the thrill of
+    that moment, as we felt the salt wetness close over
+    our heads. With one flick of our tails we came to life
+    again. The old man was so surprised that he fell right
+    into the water, almost on top of us. From this he was
+    rescued by a sailor with a boat-hook; and the last we
+    saw of him, the man in blue was dragging him away by
+    the coat-collar, lecturing him again. Apparently it was
+    also against the rules of the town to throw dead fish
+    into the harbor.
+
+    “But we?—What time or thought had we for his troubles?
+    _We were free!_ In lightning leaps, in curving spurts,
+    in crazy zig-zags—whooping, shrieking with delight, we
+    sped for home and the open sea!
+
+    “That is all of my story and I will now, as I promised
+    last night, try to answer any questions you may ask
+    about the sea, on condition that I am set at liberty as
+    soon as you have done.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “Is there any part of the sea deeper than
+    that known as the Nero Deep—I mean the one near the
+    Island of Guam?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “Why, certainly. There’s one much deeper
+    than that near the mouth of the Amazon River. But it’s
+    small and hard to find. We call it ‘The Deep Hole.’ And
+    there’s another in the Antarctic Sea.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “Can you talk any shellfish language
+    yourself?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “No, not a word. We regular fishes don’t
+    have anything to do with the shellfish. We consider
+    them a low class.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “But when you’re near them, can you hear
+    the sound they make talking—I mean without necessarily
+    understanding what they say?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “Only with the very largest ones.
+    Shellfish have such weak small voices it is almost
+    impossible for any but their own kind to hear them. But
+    with the bigger ones it is different. They make a sad,
+    booming noise, rather like an iron pipe being knocked
+    with a stone—only not nearly so loud of course.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “I am most anxious to get down to the
+    bottom of the sea—to study many things. But we land
+    animals, as you no doubt know, are unable to breathe
+    under water. Have you any ideas that might help me?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “I think that for both your difficulties
+    the best thing for you to do would be to try and get
+    hold of the Great Glass Sea Snail.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “Er—who, or what, is the Great Glass Sea
+    Snail?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “He is an enormous salt-water snail,
+    one of the winkle family, but as large as a big house.
+    He talks quite loudly—when he speaks, but this is not
+    often. He can go to any part of the ocean, at all
+    depths because he doesn’t have to be afraid of any
+    creature in the sea. His shell is made of transparent
+    mother-o’-pearl so that you can see through it; but
+    it’s thick and strong. When he is out of his shell
+    and he carries it empty on his back, there is room in
+    it for a wagon and a pair of horses. He has been seen
+    carrying his food in it when traveling.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “I feel that that is just the creature
+    I have been looking for. He could take me and my
+    assistant inside his shell and we could explore the
+    deepest depths in safety. Do you think you could get
+    him for me?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “Alas! no. I would willingly if I could;
+    but he is hardly ever seen by ordinary fish. He lives
+    at the bottom of the Deep Hole, and seldom comes
+    out—And into the Deep Hole, the lower waters of which
+    are muddy, fishes such as we are afraid to go.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “Dear me! That’s a terrible
+    disappointment. Are there many of this kind of snail in
+    the sea?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “Oh no. He is the only one in existence,
+    since his second wife died long, long ago. He is the
+    last of the Giant Shellfish. He belongs to past ages
+    when the whales were land-animals and all that. They
+    say he is over seventy thousand years old.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “Good Gracious, what wonderful things he
+    could tell me! I do wish I could meet him.”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “Were there any more questions you wished
+    to ask me? This water in your tank is getting quite
+    warm and sickly. I’d like to be put back into the sea
+    as soon as you can spare me.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “Just one more thing: when Christopher
+    Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492, he threw
+    overboard two copies of his diary sealed up in barrels.
+    One of them was never found. It must have sunk. I would
+    like to get it for my library. Do you happen to know
+    where it is?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “Yes, I do. That too is in the Deep Hole.
+    When the barrel sank the currents drifted it northwards
+    down what we call the Orinoco Slope, till it finally
+    disappeared into the Deep Hole. If it was any other
+    part of the sea I’d try and get it for you; but not
+    there.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “Well, that is all, I think. I hate to
+    put you back into the sea, because I know that as soon
+    as I do, I’ll think of a hundred other questions I
+    wanted to ask you. But I must keep my promise. Would
+    you care for anything before you go?—it seems a cold
+    day—some cracker-crumbs or something?”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “No, I won’t stop. All I want just at
+    present is fresh sea-water.”
+
+    _The Doctor:_ “I cannot thank you enough for all the
+    information you have given me. You have been very
+    helpful and patient.”
+
+    _The Fidgit:_ “Pray do not mention it. It has been a
+    real pleasure to be of assistance to the great John
+    Dolittle. You are, as of course you know, already quite
+    famous among the better class of fishes. Goodbye!—and
+    good luck to you, to your ship and to all your plans!”
+
+The Doctor carried the listening-tank to a port-hole, opened it and
+emptied the tank into the sea.
+
+“Good-bye!” he murmured as a faint splash reached us from without.
+
+I dropped my pencil on the table and leaned back with a sigh. My
+fingers were so stiff with writers’ cramp that I felt as though I
+should never be able to open my hand again. But I, at least, had had
+a night’s sleep. As for the poor Doctor, he was so weary that he had
+hardly put the tank back upon the table and dropped into a chair, when
+his eyes closed and he began to snore.
+
+In the passage outside Polynesia scratched angrily at the door. I rose
+and let her in.
+
+“A nice state of affairs!” she stormed. “What sort of a ship is this?
+There’s that colored man upstairs asleep under the wheel; the Doctor
+asleep down here; and you making pot-hooks in a copybook with a
+pencil! Expect the ship to steer herself to Brazil? We’re just drifting
+around the sea like an empty bottle—and a week behind time as it is.
+What’s happened to you all?”
+
+She was so angry that her voice rose to a scream. But it would have
+taken more than that to wake the Doctor.
+
+I put the note-book carefully in a drawer and went on deck to take the
+wheel.
+
+
+
+
+_THE THIRD CHAPTER_
+
+BAD WEATHER
+
+
+AS soon as I had the _Curlew_ swung round upon her course again I
+noticed something peculiar: we were not going as fast as we had been.
+Our favorable wind had almost entirely disappeared.
+
+This, at first, we did not worry about, thinking that at any moment it
+might spring up again. But the whole day went by; then two days; then
+a week,—ten days, and the wind grew no stronger. The _Curlew_ just
+dawdled along at the speed of a toddling babe.
+
+I now saw that the Doctor was becoming uneasy. He kept getting out his
+sextant (an instrument which tells you what part of the ocean you are
+in) and making calculations. He was forever looking at his maps and
+measuring distances on them. The far edge of the sea, all around us, he
+examined with his telescope a hundred times a day.
+
+“But Doctor,” I said when I found him one afternoon mumbling to himself
+about the misty appearance of the sky, “it wouldn’t matter so much,
+would it, if we did take a little longer over the trip? We’ve got
+plenty to eat on board now; and the Purple Bird-of-Paradise will know
+that we have been delayed by something that we couldn’t help.”
+
+“Yes, I suppose so,” he said thoughtfully. “But I hate to keep her
+waiting. At this season of the year she generally goes to the Peruvian
+mountains—for her health. And besides, the good weather she prophesied
+is likely to end any day now and delay us still further. If we could
+only keep moving at even a fair speed, I wouldn’t mind. It’s this
+hanging around, almost dead still, that gets me restless—Ah, here comes
+a wind—Not very strong—but maybe it’ll grow.”
+
+A gentle breeze from the Northeast came singing through the ropes; and
+we smiled up hopefully at the _Curlew’s_ leaning masts.
+
+“We’ve only got another hundred and fifty miles to make, to sight the
+coast of Brazil,” said the Doctor. “If that wind would just stay with
+us, steady, for a full day we’d see land.”
+
+But suddenly the wind changed, swung to the East, then back to the
+Northeast—then to the North. It came in fitful gusts, as though it
+hadn’t made up its mind which way to blow; and I was kept busy at the
+wheel, swinging the _Curlew_ this way and that to keep the right side
+of it.
+
+Presently we heard Polynesia, who was in the rigging keeping a look-out
+for land or passing ships, screech down to us,
+
+“Bad weather coming. That jumpy wind is an ugly sign. And look!—over
+there in the East—see that black line, low down? If that isn’t a
+storm I’m a land-lubber. The gales round here are fierce, when they
+do blow—tear your canvas out like paper. You take the wheel, Doctor:
+it’ll need a strong arm if it’s a real storm. I’ll go wake Bumpo and
+Chee-Chee. This looks bad to me. We’d best get all the sail down right
+away, till we see how strong she’s going to blow.”
+
+Indeed the whole sky was now beginning to take on a very threatening
+look. The black line to the eastward grew blacker as it came nearer
+and nearer. A low, rumbly, whispering noise went moaning over the sea.
+The water which had been so blue and smiling turned to a ruffled ugly
+gray. And across the darkening sky, shreds of cloud swept like tattered
+witches flying from the storm.
+
+I must confess I was frightened. You see I had only so far seen the
+sea in friendly moods: sometimes quiet and lazy; sometimes laughing,
+venturesome and reckless; sometimes brooding and poetic, when moonbeams
+turned her ripples into silver threads and dreaming snowy night-clouds
+piled up fairy-castles in the sky. But as yet I had not known, or even
+guessed at, the terrible strength of the Sea’s wild anger.
+
+When that storm finally struck us we leaned right over flatly on our
+side, as though some invisible giant had slapped the poor _Curlew_ on
+the cheek.
+
+After that things happened so thick and so fast that what with the wind
+that stopped your breath, the driving, blinding water, the deafening
+noise and the rest, I haven’t a very clear idea of how our shipwreck
+came about.
+
+I remember seeing the sails, which we were now trying to roll up upon
+the deck, torn out of our hands by the wind and go overboard like a
+penny balloon—very nearly carrying Chee-Chee with them. And I have a
+dim recollection of Polynesia screeching somewhere for one of us to go
+downstairs and close the port-holes.
+
+In spite of our masts being bare of sail we were now scudding along
+to the southward at a great pace. But every once in a while huge
+gray-black waves would arise from under the ship’s side like nightmare
+monsters, swell and climb, then crash down upon us, pressing us into
+the sea; and the poor _Curlew_ would come to a standstill, half under
+water, like a gasping, drowning pig.
+
+While I was clambering along towards the wheel to see the Doctor,
+clinging like a leech with hands and legs to the rails lest I be blown
+overboard, one of these tremendous seas tore loose my hold, filled my
+throat with water and swept me like a cork the full length of the deck.
+My head struck a door with an awful bang. And then I fainted.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
+
+WRECKED!
+
+
+WHEN I awoke I was very hazy in my head. The sky was blue and the sea
+was calm. At first I thought that I must have fallen asleep in the sun
+on the deck of the _Curlew_. And thinking that I would be late for my
+turn at the wheel, I tried to rise to my feet. I found I couldn’t; my
+arms were tied to something behind me with a piece of rope. By twisting
+my neck around I found this to be a mast, broken off short. Then I
+realized that I wasn’t sitting on a ship at all; I was only sitting on
+a piece of one. I began to feel uncomfortably scared. Screwing up my
+eyes, I searched the rim of the sea North, East, South and West: no
+land: no ships; nothing was in sight. I was alone in the ocean!
+
+At last, little by little, my bruised head began to remember what had
+happened: first, the coming of the storm; the sails going overboard;
+then the big wave which had banged me against the door. But what had
+become of the Doctor and the others? What day was this, to-morrow or
+the day after?—And why was I sitting on only part of a ship?
+
+[Illustration: “I was alone in the ocean!”]
+
+Working my hand into my pocket, I found my penknife and cut the rope
+that tied me. This reminded me of a shipwreck story which Joe had once
+told me, of a captain who had tied his son to a mast in order that he
+shouldn’t be washed overboard by the gale. So of course it must have
+been the Doctor who had done the same to me.
+
+But where was he?
+
+The awful thought came to me that the Doctor and the rest of
+them must be drowned, since there was no other wreckage to be
+seen upon the waters. I got to my feet and stared around the sea
+again—Nothing—nothing but water and sky!
+
+Presently a long way off I saw the small dark shape of a bird skimming
+low down over the swell. When it came quite close I saw it was a Stormy
+Petrel. I tried to talk to it, to see if it could give me news. But
+unluckily I hadn’t learned much seabird language and I couldn’t even
+attract its attention, much less make it understand what I wanted.
+
+Twice it circled round my raft, lazily, with hardly a flip of the
+wing. And I could not help wondering, in spite of the distress I was
+in, where it had spent last night—how it, or any other living thing,
+had weathered such a smashing storm. It made me realize the great big
+difference between different creatures; and that size and strength are
+not everything. To this petrel, a frail little thing of feathers, much
+smaller and weaker than I, the Sea could do anything she liked, it
+seemed; and his only answer was a lazy, saucy flip of the wing! _He_
+was the one who should be called the _able seaman_. For, come raging
+gale, come sunlit calm, this wilderness of water was his home.
+
+After swooping over the sea around me (just looking for food, I
+supposed) he went off in the direction from which he had come. And I
+was alone once more.
+
+I found I was somewhat hungry—and a little thirsty too. I began to
+think all sorts of miserable thoughts, the way one does when he is
+lonesome and has missed breakfast. What was going to become of me now,
+if the Doctor and the rest were drowned? I would starve to death or
+die of thirst. Then the sun went behind some clouds and I felt cold.
+How many hundreds or thousands of miles was I from any land? What if
+another storm should come and smash up even this poor raft on which I
+stood?
+
+I went on like this for a while, growing gloomier and gloomier, when
+suddenly I thought of Polynesia. “You’re always safe with the Doctor,”
+she had said. “He gets there. Remember that.”
+
+I’m sure I wouldn’t have minded so much if he had been here with me. It
+was this being all alone that made me want to weep. And yet the petrel
+was alone!—What a baby I was, I told myself, to be scared to the verge
+of tears just by loneliness! I was quite safe where I was—for the
+present anyhow. John Dolittle wouldn’t get scared by a little thing
+like this. He only got excited when he made a discovery, found a new
+bug or something. And if what Polynesia had said was true, he couldn’t
+be drowned and things would come out all right in the end somehow.
+
+I threw out my chest, buttoned up my collar and began walking up and
+down the short raft to keep warm. I would be like John Dolittle. I
+wouldn’t cry—And I wouldn’t get excited.
+
+How long I paced back and forth I don’t know. But it was a long
+time—for I had nothing else to do.
+
+At last I got tired and lay down to rest. And in spite of all my
+troubles, I soon fell fast asleep.
+
+This time when I woke up, stars were staring down at me out of a
+cloudless sky. The sea was still calm; and my strange craft was rocking
+gently under me on an easy swell. All my fine courage left me as I
+gazed up into the big silent night and felt the pains of hunger and
+thirst set to work in my stomach harder than ever.
+
+“Are you awake?” said a high silvery voice at my elbow.
+
+I sprang up as though some one had stuck a pin in me. And there,
+perched at the very end of my raft, her beautiful golden tail glowing
+dimly in the starlight, sat Miranda, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise!
+
+Never have I been so glad to see any one in my life. I almost fell into
+the water as I leapt to hug her.
+
+“I didn’t want to wake you,” said she. “I guessed you must be tired
+after all you’ve been through—Don’t squash the life out of me, boy: I’m
+not a stuffed duck, you know.”
+
+“Oh, Miranda, you dear old thing,” said I, “I’m so glad to see you.
+Tell me, where is the Doctor? Is he alive?”
+
+“Of course he’s alive—and it’s my firm belief he always will be. He’s
+over there, about forty miles to the westward.”
+
+“What’s he doing there?”
+
+“He’s sitting on the other half of the _Curlew_ shaving himself—or he
+was, when I left him.”
+
+“Well, thank Heaven he’s alive!” said I—“And Bumpo—and the animals, are
+they all right?”
+
+“Yes, they’re with him. Your ship broke in half in the storm. The
+Doctor had tied you down when he found you stunned. And the part you
+were on got separated and floated away. Golly, it _was_ a storm! One
+has to be a gull or an albatross to stand that sort of weather. I had
+been watching for the Doctor for three weeks, from a cliff-top; but
+last night I had to take refuge in a cave to keep my tail-feathers from
+blowing out. As soon as I found the Doctor, he sent me off with some
+porpoises to help us in our search. There had been quite a gathering
+of sea-birds waiting to greet the Doctor; but the rough weather sort of
+broke up the arrangements that had been made to welcome him properly.
+It was the petrel that first gave us the tip where you were.”
+
+“Well, but how can I get to the Doctor, Miranda?—I haven’t any oars.”
+
+“Get to him!—Why, you’re going to him now. Look behind you.”
+
+I turned around. The moon was just rising on the sea’s edge. And I now
+saw that my raft was moving through the water, but so gently that I had
+not noticed it before.
+
+“What’s moving us?” I asked.
+
+“The porpoises,” said Miranda.
+
+I went to the back of the raft and looked down into the water. And just
+below the surface I could see the dim forms of four big porpoises,
+their sleek skins glinting in the moonlight, pushing at the raft with
+their noses.
+
+“They’re old friends of the Doctor’s,” said Miranda. “They’d do
+anything for John Dolittle. We should see his party soon now. We’re
+pretty near the place I left them—Yes, there they are! See that dark
+shape?—No, more to the right of where you’re looking. Can’t you
+make out the figure of the black man standing against the sky?—Now
+Chee-Chee spies us—he’s waving. Don’t you see them?”
+
+I didn’t—for my eyes were not as sharp as Miranda’s. But presently from
+somewhere in the murky dusk I heard Bumpo singing his African comic
+songs with the full force of his enormous voice. And in a little, by
+peering and peering in the direction of the sound, I at last made out a
+dim mass of tattered, splintered wreckage—all that remained of the poor
+_Curlew_—floating low down upon the water.
+
+A hulloa came through the night. And I answered it. We kept it up,
+calling to one another back and forth across the calm night sea. And a
+few minutes later the two halves of our brave little ruined ship bumped
+gently together again.
+
+Now that I was nearer and the moon was higher I could see more plainly.
+Their half of the ship was much bigger than mine.
+
+It lay partly upon its side; and most of them were perched upon the top
+munching ship’s biscuit.
+
+But close down to the edge of the water, using the sea’s calm surface
+for a mirror and a piece of broken bottle for a razor, John Dolittle
+was shaving his face by the light of the moon.
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIFTH CHAPTER_
+
+LAND!
+
+
+THEY all gave me a great greeting as I clambered off my half of the
+ship on to theirs. Bumpo brought me a wonderful drink of fresh water
+which he drew from a barrel; and Chee-Chee and Polynesia stood around
+me feeding me ship’s biscuit.
+
+But it was the sight of the Doctor’s smiling face—just knowing that I
+was with him once again—that cheered me more than anything else. As I
+watched him carefully wipe his glass razor and put it away for future
+use, I could not help comparing him in my mind with the Stormy Petrel.
+Indeed the vast strange knowledge which he had gained from his speech
+and friendship with animals had brought him the power to do things
+which no other human being would dare to try. Like the petrel, he could
+apparently play with the sea in all her moods. It was no wonder that
+many of the ignorant savage peoples among whom he passed in his voyages
+made statues of him showing him as half a fish, half a bird, and half
+a man. And ridiculous though it was, I could quite understand what
+Miranda meant when she said she firmly believed that he could never
+die. Just to be with him gave you a wonderful feeling of comfort and
+safety.
+
+Except for his appearance (his clothes were crumpled and damp and his
+battered high hat was stained with salt water) that storm which had
+so terrified me had disturbed him no more than getting stuck on the
+mud-bank in Puddleby River.
+
+Politely thanking Miranda for getting me so quickly, he asked her
+if she would now go ahead of us and show us the way to Spidermonkey
+Island. Next, he gave orders to the porpoises to leave my old piece of
+the ship and push the bigger half wherever the Bird-of-Paradise should
+lead us.
+
+How much he had lost in the wreck besides his razor I did not
+know—everything, most likely, together with all the money he had saved
+up to buy the ship with. And still he was smiling as though he wanted
+for nothing in the world. The only things he had saved, as far as
+I could see—beyond the barrel of water and bag of biscuit—were his
+precious note-books. These, I saw when he stood up, he had strapped
+around his waist with yards and yards of twine. He was, as old Matthew
+Mugg used to say, a great man. He was unbelievable.
+
+And now for three days we continued our journey slowly but
+steadily—southward.
+
+The only inconvenience we suffered from was the cold. This seemed
+to increase as we went forward. The Doctor said that the island,
+disturbed from its usual paths by the great gale, had evidently drifted
+further South than it had ever been before.
+
+On the third night poor Miranda came back to us nearly frozen. She told
+the Doctor that in the morning we would find the island quite close to
+us, though we couldn’t see it now as it was a misty dark night. She
+said that she must hurry back at once to a warmer climate; and that she
+would visit the Doctor in Puddleby next August as usual.
+
+“Don’t forget, Miranda,” said John Dolittle, “if you should hear
+anything of what happened to Long Arrow, to get word to me.”
+
+The Bird-of-Paradise assured him she would. And after the Doctor had
+thanked her again and again for all that she had done for us, she
+wished us good luck and disappeared into the night.
+
+We were all awake early in the morning, long before it was light,
+waiting for our first glimpse of the country we had come so far to see.
+And as the rising sun turned the eastern sky to gray, of course it
+was old Polynesia who first shouted that she could see palm-trees and
+mountain tops.
+
+With the growing light it became plain to all of us: a long island with
+high rocky mountains in the middle—and so near to us that you could
+almost throw your hat upon the shore.
+
+The porpoises gave us one last push and our strange-looking craft
+bumped gently on a low beach. Then, thanking our lucky stars for
+a chance to stretch our cramped legs, we all bundled off on to the
+land—the first land, even though it was floating land, that we had
+trodden for six weeks. What a thrill I felt as I realized that
+Spidermonkey Island, the little spot in the atlas which my pencil had
+touched, lay at last beneath my feet!
+
+When the light increased still further we noticed that the palms and
+grasses of the island seemed withered and almost dead. The Doctor
+said that it must be on account of the cold that the island was now
+suffering from in its new climate. These trees and grasses, he told us,
+were the kind that belonged to warm, tropical weather.
+
+The porpoises asked if we wanted them any further. And the Doctor said
+that he didn’t think so, not for the present—nor the raft either, he
+added; for it was already beginning to fall to pieces and could not
+float much longer.
+
+As we were preparing to go inland and explore the island, we suddenly
+noticed a whole band of Red Indians watching us with great curiosity
+from among the trees. The Doctor went forward to talk to them. But
+he could not make them understand. He tried by signs to show them
+that he had come on a friendly visit. The Indians didn’t seem to like
+us however. They had bows and arrows and long hunting spears, with
+stone points, in their hands; and they made signs back to the Doctor
+to tell him that if he came a step nearer they would kill us all.
+They evidently wanted us to leave the island at once. It was a very
+uncomfortable situation.
+
+At last the Doctor made them understand that he only wanted to see the
+island all over and that then he would go away—though how he meant to
+do it, with no boat to sail in, was more than I could imagine.
+
+While they were talking among themselves another Indian
+arrived—apparently with a message that they were wanted in some
+other part of the island. Because presently, shaking their spears
+threateningly at us, they went off with the newcomer.
+
+“What discourteous pagans!” said Bumpo. “Did you ever see such
+inhospitability?—Never even asked us if we’d had breakfast, the
+benighted bounders!”
+
+“Sh! They’re going off to their village,” said Polynesia. “I’ll bet
+there’s a village on the other side of those mountains. If you take my
+advice, Doctor, you’ll get away from this beach while their backs are
+turned. Let us go up into the higher land for the present—some place
+where they won’t know where we are. They may grow friendlier when
+they see we mean no harm. They have honest, open faces and look like
+a decent crowd to me. They’re just ignorant—probably never saw white
+folks before.”
+
+So, feeling a little bit discouraged by our first reception, we moved
+off towards the mountains in the centre of the island.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SIXTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE JABIZRI
+
+
+WE found the woods at the feet of the hills thick and tangly and
+somewhat hard to get through. On Polynesia’s advice, we kept away from
+all paths and trails, feeling it best to avoid meeting any Indians for
+the present.
+
+But she and Chee-Chee were good guides and splendid jungle-hunters; and
+the two of them set to work at once looking for food for us. In a very
+short space of time they had found quite a number of different fruits
+and nuts which made excellent eating, though none of us knew the names
+of any of them. We discovered a nice clean stream of good water which
+came down from the mountains; so we were supplied with something to
+drink as well.
+
+We followed the stream up towards the heights. And presently we came to
+parts where the woods were thinner and the ground rocky and steep. Here
+we could get glimpses of wonderful views all over the island, with the
+blue sea beyond.
+
+While we were admiring one of these the Doctor suddenly said, “Sh!—A
+Jabizri!—Don’t you hear it?”
+
+We listened and heard, somewhere in the air about us, an
+extraordinarily musical hum—like a bee, but not just one note. This hum
+rose and fell, up and down—almost like some one singing.
+
+“No other insect but the Jabizri beetle hums like that,” said the
+Doctor. “I wonder where he is—quite near, by the sound—flying among the
+trees probably. Oh, if I only had my butterfly-net! Why didn’t I think
+to strap that around my waist too. Confound the storm: I may miss the
+chance of a lifetime now of getting the rarest beetle in the world—Oh
+look! There he goes!”
+
+A huge beetle, easily three inches long I should say, suddenly flew by
+our noses. The Doctor got frightfully excited. He took off his hat to
+use as a net, swooped at the beetle and caught it. He nearly fell down
+a precipice on to the rocks below in his wild hurry, but that didn’t
+bother him in the least. He knelt down, chortling, upon the ground
+with the Jabizri safe under his hat. From his pocket he brought out a
+glass-topped box, and into this he very skilfully made the beetle walk
+from under the rim of the hat. Then he rose up, happy as a child, to
+examine his new treasure through the glass lid.
+
+It certainly was a most beautiful insect. It was pale blue underneath;
+but its back was glossy black with huge red spots on it.
+
+“There isn’t an entymologist in the whole world who wouldn’t give
+all he has to be in my shoes to-day,” said the Doctor—“Hulloa! This
+Jabizri’s got something on his leg—Doesn’t look like mud. I wonder what
+it is.”
+
+He took the beetle carefully out of the box and held it by its back
+in his fingers, where it waved its six legs slowly in the air. We all
+crowded about him peering at it. Rolled around the middle section of
+its right foreleg was something that looked like a thin dried leaf. It
+was bound on very neatly with strong spider-web.
+
+It was marvelous to see how John Dolittle with his fat heavy fingers
+undid that cobweb cord and unrolled the leaf, whole, without tearing it
+or hurting the precious beetle. The Jabizri he put back into the box.
+Then he spread the leaf out flat and examined it.
+
+You can imagine our surprise when we found that the inside of the leaf
+was covered with signs and pictures, drawn so tiny that you almost
+needed a magnifying-glass to tell what they were. Some of the signs we
+couldn’t make out at all; but nearly all of the pictures were quite
+plain, figures of men and mountains mostly. The whole was done in a
+curious sort of brown ink.
+
+For several moments there was a dead silence while we all stared at
+the leaf, fascinated and mystified.
+
+“I think this is written in blood,” said the Doctor at last. “It
+turns that color when it’s dry. Somebody pricked his finger to make
+these pictures. It’s an old dodge when you’re short of ink—but highly
+unsanitary—What an extraordinary thing to find tied to a beetle’s leg!
+I wish I could talk beetle language, and find out where the Jabizri got
+it from.”
+
+“But what is it?” I asked—“Rows of little pictures and signs. What do
+you make of it, Doctor?”
+
+“It’s a letter,” he said—“a picture letter. All these little things put
+together mean a message—But why give a message to a beetle to carry—and
+to a Jabizri, the rarest beetle in the world?—What an extraordinary
+thing!”
+
+Then he fell to muttering over the pictures.
+
+“I wonder what it means: men walking up a mountain; men walking into
+a hole in a mountain; a mountain falling down—it’s a good drawing,
+that; men pointing to their open mouths; bars—prison-bars, perhaps; men
+praying; men lying down—they look as though they might be sick; and
+last of all, just a mountain—a peculiar-shaped mountain.”
+
+All of a sudden the Doctor looked up sharply at me, a wonderful smile
+of delighted understanding spreading over his face.
+
+“_Long Arrow!_” he cried, “don’t you see, Stubbins?—Why, of course!
+Only a naturalist would think of doing a thing like this: giving his
+letter to a beetle—not to a common beetle, but to the rarest of all,
+one that other naturalists would try to catch—Well, well! Long Arrow!—A
+picture-letter from Long Arrow. For pictures are the only writing that
+he knows.”
+
+“Yes, but who is the letter to?” I asked.
+
+“It’s to me very likely. Miranda had told him, I know, years ago, that
+some day I meant to come here. But if not for me, then it’s for any one
+who caught the beetle and read it. It’s a letter to the world.”
+
+“Well, but what does it say? It doesn’t seem to me that it’s much good
+to you now you’ve got it.”
+
+“Yes, it is,” he said, “because, look, I can read it now. First
+picture: men walking up a mountain—that’s Long Arrow and his party;
+men going into a hole in a mountain—they enter a cave looking for
+medicine-plants or mosses; a mountain falling down—some hanging rocks
+must have slipped and trapped them, imprisoned them in the cave. And
+this was the only living creature that could carry a message for them
+to the outside world—a beetle, who could _burrow_ his way into the open
+air. Of course it was only a slim chance that the beetle would be ever
+caught and the letter read. But it _was_ a chance; and when men are in
+great danger they grab at any straw of hope.... All right. Now look at
+the next picture: men pointing to their open mouths—they are hungry;
+men praying—begging any one who finds this letter to come to their
+assistance; men lying down—they are sick, or starving. This letter,
+Stubbins, is their last cry for help.”
+
+He sprang to his feet as he ended, snatched out a note-book and put
+the letter between the leaves. His hands were trembling with haste and
+agitation.
+
+“Come on!” he cried—“up the mountain—all of you. There’s not a moment
+to lose. Bumpo, bring the water and nuts with you. Heaven only knows
+how long they’ve been pining underground. Let’s hope and pray we’re not
+too late!”
+
+“But where are you going to look?” I asked. “Miranda said the island
+was a hundred miles long and the mountains seem to run all the way down
+the centre of it.”
+
+“Didn’t you see the last picture?” he said, grabbing up his hat from
+the ground and cramming it on his head. “It was an oddly shaped
+mountain—looked like a hawk’s head. Well, there’s where he is—if he’s
+still alive. First thing for us to do, is to get up on a high peak and
+look around the island for a mountain shaped like a hawks’ head—Just
+to think of it! There’s a chance of my meeting Long Arrow, the son of
+Golden Arrow, after all!—Come on! Hurry! To delay may mean death to the
+greatest naturalist ever born!”
+
+
+
+
+_THE SEVENTH CHAPTER_
+
+HAWK’S-HEAD MOUNTAIN
+
+
+WE all agreed afterwards that none of us had ever worked so hard in our
+lives before as we did that day. For my part, I know I was often on the
+point of dropping exhausted with fatigue; but I just kept on going—like
+a machine—determined that, whatever happened, _I_ would not be the
+first to give up.
+
+When we had scrambled to the top of a high peak, almost instantly we
+saw the strange mountain pictured in the letter. In shape it was the
+perfect image of a hawk’s head, and was, as far as we could see, the
+second highest summit in the island.
+
+Although we were all out of breath from our climb, the Doctor didn’t
+let us rest a second as soon as he had sighted it. With one look at the
+sun for direction, down he dashed again, breaking through thickets,
+splashing over brooks, taking all the short cuts. For a fat man, he was
+certainly the swiftest cross-country runner I ever saw.
+
+We floundered after him as fast as we could. When I say _we_, I mean
+Bumpo and myself; for the animals, Jip, Chee-Chee and Polynesia, were
+a long way ahead—even beyond the Doctor—enjoying the hunt like a
+paper-chase.
+
+At length we arrived at the foot of the mountain we were making for;
+and we found its sides very steep. Said the Doctor,
+
+“Now we will separate and search for caves. This spot where we now are,
+will be our meeting-place. If anyone finds anything like a cave or a
+hole where the earth and rocks have fallen in, he must shout and hulloa
+to the rest of us. If we find nothing we will all gather here in about
+an hour’s time—Everybody understand?”
+
+Then we all went off our different ways.
+
+Each of us, you may be sure, was anxious to be the one to make a
+discovery. And never was a mountain searched so thoroughly. But alas!
+nothing could we find that looked in the least like a fallen-in cave.
+There were plenty of places where rocks had tumbled down to the foot
+of the slopes; but none of these appeared as though caves or passages
+could possibly lie behind them.
+
+One by one, tired and disappointed, we straggled back to the
+meeting-place. The Doctor seemed gloomy and impatient but by no means
+inclined to give up.
+
+“Jip,” he said, “couldn’t you _smell_ anything like an Indian anywhere?”
+
+“No,” said Jip. “I sniffed at every crack on the mountainside. But I am
+afraid my nose will be of no use to you here, Doctor. The trouble is,
+the whole air is so saturated with the smell of spider-monkeys that it
+drowns every other scent—And besides, it’s too cold and dry for good
+smelling.”
+
+“It is certainly that,” said the Doctor—“and getting colder all the
+time. I’m afraid the island is still drifting to the southward. Let’s
+hope it stops before long, or we won’t be able to get even nuts and
+fruit to eat—everything in the island will perish—Chee-Chee, what luck
+did you have?”
+
+“None, Doctor. I climbed to every peak and pinnacle I could see. I
+searched every hollow and cleft. But not one place could I find where
+men might be hidden.”
+
+“And Polynesia,” asked the Doctor, “did you see nothing that might put
+us on the right track?”
+
+“Not a thing, Doctor—But I have a plan.”
+
+“Oh good!” cried John Dolittle, full of hope renewed. “What is it?
+Let’s hear it.”
+
+“You still have that beetle with you,” she asked—“the Biz-biz, or
+whatever it is you call the wretched insect?”
+
+“Yes,” said the Doctor, producing the glass-topped box from his pocket,
+“here it is.”
+
+“All right. Now listen,” said she. “If what you have supposed is
+true—that is, that Long Arrow had been trapped inside the mountain by
+falling rock, he probably found that beetle inside the cave—perhaps
+many other different beetles too, eh? He wouldn’t have been likely to
+take the Biz-biz in with him, would he?—He was hunting plants, you say,
+not beetles. Isn’t that right?”
+
+“Yes,” said the Doctor, “that’s probably so.”
+
+“Very well. It is fair to suppose then that the beetle’s home, or his
+hole, is in that place—the part of the mountain where Long Arrow and
+his party are imprisoned, isn’t it?”
+
+“Quite, quite.”
+
+“All right. Then the thing to do is to let the beetle go—and watch him;
+and sooner or later he’ll return to his home in Long Arrow’s cave. And
+there we will follow him—Or at all events,” she added smoothing down
+her wing-feathers with a very superior air, “we will follow him till
+the miserable bug starts nosing under the earth. But at least he will
+show us what part of the mountain Long Arrow is hidden in.”
+
+“But he may fly, if I let him out,” said the Doctor. “Then we shall
+just lose him and be no better off than we were before.”
+
+“_Let_ him fly,” snorted Polynesia scornfully. “A parrot can wing it as
+fast as a Biz-biz, I fancy. If he takes to the air, I’ll guarantee not
+to let the little devil out of my sight. And if he just crawls along
+the ground you can follow him yourself.”
+
+“Splendid!” cried the Doctor. “Polynesia, you have a great brain. I’ll
+set him to work at once and see what happens.”
+
+Again we all clustered round the Doctor as he carefully lifted off the
+glass lid and let the big beetle climb out upon his finger.
+
+“Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!” crooned Bumpo. “Your house is on
+fire and your chil—”
+
+“Oh, be quiet!” snapped Polynesia crossly. “Stop insulting him! Don’t
+you suppose he has wits enough to go home without your telling him?”
+
+“I thought perchance he might be of a philandering disposition,” said
+Bumpo humbly. “It could be that he is tired of his home and needs to be
+encouraged. Shall I sing him ‘Home Sweet Home,’ think you?”
+
+“No. Then he’d never go back. Your voice needs a rest. Don’t sing to
+him: just watch him—Oh, and Doctor, why not tie another message to the
+creature’s leg, telling Long Arrow that we’re doing our best to reach
+him and that he mustn’t give up hope?”
+
+“I will,” said the Doctor. And in a minute he had pulled a dry leaf
+from a bush near by and was covering it with little pictures in pencil.
+
+At last, neatly fixed up with his new mail-bag, Mr. Jabizri crawled off
+the Doctor’s finger to the ground and looked about him. He stretched
+his legs, polished his nose with his front feet and then moved off
+leisurely to the westward.
+
+We had expected him to walk _up_ the mountain; instead, he walked
+_around_ it. Do you know how long it takes a beetle to walk round a
+mountain? Well, I assure you it takes an unbelievably long time. As
+the hours dragged by, we hoped and hoped that he would get up and fly
+the rest, and let Polynesia carry on the work of following him. But he
+never opened his wings once. I had not realized before how hard it is
+for a human being to walk slowly enough to keep up with a beetle. It
+was the most tedious thing I have ever gone through. And as we dawdled
+along behind, watching him like hawks lest we lose him under a leaf or
+something, we all got so cross and ill-tempered we were ready to bite
+one another’s heads off. And when he stopped to look at the scenery or
+polish his nose some more, I could hear Polynesia behind me letting out
+the most dreadful seafaring swear-words you ever heard.
+
+After he had led us the whole way round the mountain he brought us to
+the exact spot where we started from and there he came to a dead stop.
+
+“Well,” said Bumpo to Polynesia, “what do you think of the beetle’s
+sense now? You see he _doesn’t_ know enough to go home.”
+
+“Oh, be still, you Hottentot!” snapped Polynesia. “Wouldn’t _you_ want
+to stretch your legs for exercise if you’d been shut up in a box all
+day. Probably his home is near here, and that’s why he’s come back.”
+
+“But why,” I asked, “did he go the whole way round the mountain first?”
+
+Then the three of us got into a violent argument. But in the middle of
+it all the Doctor suddenly called out,
+
+“Look, look!”
+
+We turned and found that he was pointing to the Jabizri, who was now
+walking _up_ the mountain at a much faster and more business-like gait.
+
+“Well,” said Bumpo sitting down wearily; “if he is going to walk _over_
+the mountain and back, for more exercise, I’ll wait for him here.
+Chee-Chee and Polynesia can follow him.”
+
+Indeed it would have taken a monkey or a bird to climb the place which
+the beetle was now walking up. It was a smooth, flat part of the
+mountain’s side, steep as a wall.
+
+But presently, when the Jabizri was no more than ten feet above our
+heads, we all cried out together. For, even while we watched him, he
+had disappeared into the face of the rock like a raindrop soaking into
+sand.
+
+“He’s gone,” cried Polynesia. “There must be a hole up there.” And in a
+twinkling she had fluttered up the rock and was clinging to the face of
+it with her claws.
+
+“Yes,” she shouted down, “we’ve run him to earth at last. His hole is
+right here, behind a patch of lichen—big enough to get two fingers in.”
+
+“Ah,” cried the Doctor, “this great slab of rock then must have slid
+down from the summit and shut off the mouth of the cave like a door.
+Poor fellows! What a dreadful time they must have spent in there!—Oh,
+if we only had some picks and shovels now!”
+
+“Picks and shovels wouldn’t do much good,” said Polynesia. “Look at the
+size of the slab: a hundred feet high and as many broad. You would need
+an army for a week to make any impression on it.”
+
+“I wonder how thick it is,” said the Doctor; and he picked up a big
+stone and banged it with all his might against the face of the rock.
+It made a hollow booming sound, like a giant drum. We all stood still
+listening while the echo of it died slowly away.
+
+And then a cold shiver ran down my spine. For, from within the
+mountain, back came three answering knocks: _Boom!... Boom!... Boom!_
+
+Wide-eyed we looked at one another as though the earth itself had
+spoken. And the solemn little silence that followed was broken by the
+Doctor.
+
+“Thank Heaven,” he said in a hushed reverent voice, “some of them at
+least are alive!”
+
+
+
+
+PART FIVE
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIRST CHAPTER_
+
+A GREAT MOMENT
+
+
+THE next part of our problem was the hardest of all: how to roll aside,
+pull down or break open, that gigantic slab. As we gazed up at it
+towering above our heads, it looked indeed a hopeless task for our tiny
+strength.
+
+But the sounds of life from inside the mountain had put new heart in
+us. And in a moment we were all scrambling around trying to find any
+opening or crevice which would give us something to work on. Chee-Chee
+scaled up the sheer wall of the slab and examined the top of it where
+it leaned against the mountain’s side; I uprooted bushes and stripped
+off hanging creepers that might conceal a weak place; the Doctor got
+more leaves and composed new picture-letters for the Jabizri to take
+in if he should turn up again; whilst Polynesia carried up a handful
+of nuts and pushed them into the beetle’s hole, one by one, for the
+prisoners inside to eat.
+
+“Nuts are so nourishing,” she said.
+
+But Jip it was who, scratching at the foot of the slab like a good
+ratter, made the discovery which led to our final success.
+
+“Doctor,” he cried, running up to John Dolittle with his nose all
+covered with black mud, “this slab is resting on nothing but a bed of
+soft earth. You never saw such easy digging. I guess the cave behind
+must be just too high up for the Indians to reach the earth with their
+hands, or they could have scraped a way out long ago. If we can only
+scratch the earth-bed away from under, the slab might drop a little.
+Then maybe the Indians can climb out over the top.”
+
+The Doctor hurried to examine the place where Jip had dug.
+
+“Why, yes,” he said, “if we can get the earth away from under this
+front edge, the slab is standing up so straight, we might even make it
+fall right down in this direction. It’s well worth trying. Let’s get at
+it, quick.”
+
+We had no tools but the sticks and slivers of stone which we could
+find around. A strange sight we must have looked, the whole crew of us
+squatting down on our heels, scratching and burrowing at the foot of
+the mountain, like six badgers in a row.
+
+After about an hour, during which in spite of the cold the sweat fell
+from our foreheads in all directions, the Doctor said,
+
+“Be ready to jump from under, clear out of the way, if she shows signs
+of moving. If this slab falls on anybody, it will squash him flatter
+than a pancake.”
+
+Presently there was a grating, grinding sound.
+
+“Look out!” yelled John Dolittle, “here she comes!—Scatter!”
+
+We ran for our lives, outwards, toward the sides. The big rock slid
+gently down, about a foot, into the trough which we had made beneath
+it. For a moment I was disappointed, for like that, it was as hopeless
+as before—no signs of a cave-mouth showing above it. But as I looked
+upward, I saw the top coming very slowly away from the mountainside.
+We had unbalanced it below. As it moved apart from the face of the
+mountain, sounds of human voices, crying gladly in a strange tongue,
+issued from behind. Faster and faster the top swung forward, downward.
+Then, with a roaring crash which shook the whole mountain-range beneath
+our feet, it struck the earth and cracked in halves.
+
+How can I describe to any one that first meeting between the two
+greatest naturalists the world ever knew, Long Arrow, the son of Golden
+Arrow and John Dolittle, M.D., of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh? The scene
+rises before me now, plain and clear in every detail, though it took
+place so many, many years ago. But when I come to write of it, words
+seem such poor things with which to tell you of that great occasion.
+
+I know that the Doctor, whose life was surely full enough of big
+happenings, always counted the setting free of the Indian scientist
+as the greatest thing he ever did. For my part, knowing how much this
+meeting must mean to him, I was on pins and needles of expectation and
+curiosity as the great stone finally thundered down at our feet and we
+gazed across it to see what lay behind.
+
+The gloomy black mouth of a tunnel, full twenty feet high, was
+revealed. In the centre of this opening stood an enormous red Indian,
+seven feet tall, handsome, muscular, slim and naked—but for a beaded
+cloth about his middle and an eagle’s feather in his hair. He held one
+hand across his face to shield his eyes from the blinding sun which he
+had not seen in many days.
+
+“It is he!” I heard the Doctor whisper at my elbow. “I know him by his
+great height and the scar upon his chin.”
+
+And he stepped forward slowly across the fallen stone with his hand
+outstretched to the red man.
+
+Presently the Indian uncovered his eyes. And I saw that they had a
+curious piercing gleam in them—like the eyes of an eagle, but kinder
+and more gentle. He slowly raised his right arm, the rest of him still
+and motionless like a statue, and took the Doctor’s hand in his. It was
+a great moment. Polynesia nodded to me in a knowing, satisfied kind of
+way. And I heard old Bumpo sniffle sentimentally.
+
+Then the Doctor tried to speak to Long Arrow. But the Indian knew
+no English of course, and the Doctor knew no Indian. Presently, to my
+surprise, I heard the Doctor trying him in different animal languages.
+
+[Illustration: “It was a great moment”]
+
+“How do you do?” he said in dog-talk; “I am glad to see you,” in
+horse-signs; “How long have you been buried?” in deer-language.
+Still the Indian made no move but stood there, straight and stiff,
+understanding not a word.
+
+The Doctor tried again, in several other animal dialects. But with no
+result.
+
+Till at last he came to the language of eagles.
+
+“Great Red-Skin,” he said in the fierce screams and short grunts that
+the big birds use, “never have I been so glad in all my life as I am
+to-day to find you still alive.”
+
+In a flash Long Arrow’s stony face lit up with a smile of
+understanding; and back came the answer in eagle-tongue,
+
+“Mighty White Man, I owe my life to you. For the remainder of my days I
+am your servant to command.”
+
+Afterwards Long Arrow told us that this was the only bird or animal
+language that he had ever been able to learn. But that he had not
+spoken it in a long time, for no eagles ever came to this island.
+
+Then the Doctor signaled to Bumpo who came forward with the nuts and
+water. But Long Arrow neither ate nor drank. Taking the supplies with
+a nod of thanks, he turned and carried them into the inner dimness of
+the cave. We followed him.
+
+Inside we found nine other Indians, men, women and boys, lying on the
+rock floor in a dreadful state of thinness and exhaustion.
+
+Some had their eyes closed, as if dead. Quickly the Doctor went round
+them all and listened to their hearts. They were all alive; but one
+woman was too weak even to stand upon her feet.
+
+At a word from the Doctor, Chee-Chee and Polynesia sped off into the
+jungles after more fruit and water.
+
+While Long Arrow was handing round what food we had to his starving
+friends, we suddenly heard a sound outside the cave. Turning about we
+saw, clustered at the entrance, the band of Indians who had met us so
+inhospitably at the beach.
+
+They peered into the dark cave cautiously at first. But as soon as
+they saw Long Arrow and the other Indians with us, they came rushing
+in, laughing, clapping their hands with joy and jabbering away at a
+tremendous rate.
+
+Long Arrow explained to the Doctor that the nine Indians we had found
+in the cave with him were two families who had accompanied him into
+the mountains to help him gather medicine-plants. And while they had
+been searching for a kind of moss—good for indigestion—which grows only
+inside of damp caves, the great rock slab had slid down and shut them
+in. Then for two weeks they had lived on the medicine-moss and such
+fresh water as could be found dripping from the damp walls of the cave.
+The other Indians on the island had given them up for lost and mourned
+them as dead; and they were now very surprised and happy to find their
+relatives alive.
+
+When Long Arrow turned to the newcomers and told them in their own
+language that it was the white man who had found and freed their
+relatives, they gathered round John Dolittle, all talking at once and
+beating their breasts.
+
+Long Arrow said they were apologizing and trying to tell the Doctor how
+sorry they were that they had seemed unfriendly to him at the beach.
+They had never seen a white man before and had really been afraid of
+him—especially when they saw him conversing with the porpoises. They
+had thought he was the Devil, they said.
+
+Then they went outside and looked at the great stone we had thrown
+down, big as a meadow; and they walked round and round it, pointing to
+the break running through the middle and wondering how the trick of
+felling it was done.
+
+Travelers who have since visited Spidermonkey Island tell me that
+that huge stone slab is now one of the regular sights of the island.
+And that the Indian guides, when showing it to visitors, always tell
+_their_ story of how it came there. They say that when the Doctor
+found that the rocks had entrapped his friend, Long Arrow, he was so
+angry that he ripped the mountain in halves with his bare hands and let
+him out.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SECOND CHAPTER_
+
+“THE MEN OF THE MOVING LAND”
+
+
+FROM that time on the Indians’ treatment of us was very different. We
+were invited to their village for a feast to celebrate the recovery
+of the lost families. And after we had made a litter from saplings to
+carry the sick woman in, we all started off down the mountain.
+
+On the way the Indians told Long Arrow something which appeared to
+be sad news, for on hearing it, his face grew very grave. The Doctor
+asked him what was wrong. And Long Arrow said he had just been informed
+that the chief of the tribe, an old man of eighty, had died early that
+morning.
+
+“That,” Polynesia whispered in my ear, “must have been what they went
+back to the village for, when the messenger fetched them from the
+beach.—Remember?”
+
+“What did he die of?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“He died of cold,” said Long Arrow.
+
+Indeed, now that the sun was setting, we were all shivering ourselves.
+
+“This is a serious thing,” said the Doctor to me. “The island is still
+in the grip of that wretched current flowing southward. We will have to
+look into this to-morrow. If nothing can be done about it, the Indians
+had better take to canoes and leave the island. The chance of being
+wrecked will be better than getting frozen to death in the ice-floes of
+the Antarctic.”
+
+Presently we came over a saddle in the hills, and looking downward on
+the far side of the island, we saw the village—a large cluster of grass
+huts and gaily colored totem-poles close by the edge of the sea.
+
+“How artistic!” said the Doctor—“Delightfully situated. What is the
+name of the village?”
+
+“Popsipetel,” said Long Arrow. “That is the name also of the tribe. The
+word signifies in Indian tongue, _The Men of The Moving Land_. There
+are two tribes of Indians on the island: the Popsipetels at this end
+and the Bag-jagderags at the other.”
+
+“Which is the larger of the two peoples?”
+
+“The Bag-jagderags, by far. Their city covers two square leagues. But,”
+added Long Arrow a slight frown darkening his handsome face, “for me, I
+would rather have one Popsipetel than a hundred Bag-jagderags.”
+
+The news of the rescue we had made had evidently gone ahead of us. For
+as we drew nearer to the village we saw crowds of Indians streaming out
+to greet the friends and relatives whom they had never thought to see
+again.
+
+These good people, when they too were told how the rescue had been the
+work of the strange white visitor to their shores, all gathered round
+the Doctor, shook him by the hands, patted him and hugged him. Then
+they lifted him up upon their strong shoulders and carried him down the
+hill into the village.
+
+There the welcome we received was even more wonderful. In spite of
+the cold air of the coming night, the villagers, who had all been
+shivering within their houses, threw open their doors and came out in
+hundreds. I had no idea that the little village could hold so many.
+They thronged about us, smiling and nodding and waving their hands;
+and as the details of what we had done were recited by Long Arrow they
+kept shouting strange singing noises, which we supposed were words of
+gratitude or praise.
+
+We were next escorted to a brand-new grass house, clean and
+sweet-smelling within, and informed that it was ours. Six strong Indian
+boys were told off to be our servants.
+
+On our way through the village we noticed a house, larger than the
+rest, standing at the end of the main street. Long Arrow pointed to it
+and told us it was the Chief’s house, but that it was now empty—no new
+chief having yet been elected to take the place of the old one who had
+died.
+
+Inside our new home a feast of fish and fruit had been prepared. Most
+of the more important men of the tribe were already seating themselves
+at the long dining-table when we got there. Long Arrow invited us to
+sit down and eat.
+
+This we were glad enough to do, as we were all hungry. But we were both
+surprised and disappointed when we found that the fish had not been
+cooked. The Indians did not seem to think this extraordinary in the
+least, but went ahead gobbling the fish with much relish the way it
+was, raw.
+
+With many apologies, the Doctor explained to Long Arrow that if they
+had no objection we would prefer our fish cooked.
+
+Imagine our astonishment when we found that the great Long Arrow, so
+learned in the natural sciences, did not know what the word _cooked_
+meant!
+
+Polynesia who was sitting on the bench between John Dolittle and myself
+pulled the Doctor by the sleeve.
+
+“I’ll tell you what’s wrong, Doctor,” she whispered as he leant down to
+listen to her: “_these people have no fires_! They don’t know how to
+make a fire. Look outside: It’s almost dark, and there isn’t a light
+showing in the whole village. This is a fireless people.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE THIRD CHAPTER_
+
+FIRE
+
+
+THEN the Doctor asked Long Arrow if he knew what fire was, explaining
+it to him by pictures drawn on the buckskin table-cloth. Long Arrow
+said he had seen such a thing—coming out of the tops of volcanoes; but
+that neither he nor any of the Popsipetels knew how it was made.
+
+“Poor perishing heathens!” muttered Bumpo. “No wonder the old chief
+died of cold!”
+
+At that moment we heard a crying sound at the door. And turning round,
+we saw a weeping Indian mother with a baby in her arms. She said
+something to the Indians which we could not understand; and Long Arrow
+told us the baby was sick and she wanted the white doctor to try and
+cure it.
+
+“Oh Lord!” groaned Polynesia in my ear—“Just like Puddleby: patients
+arriving in the middle of dinner. Well, one thing: the food’s raw, so
+nothing can get cold anyway.”
+
+The Doctor examined the baby and found at once that it was thoroughly
+chilled.
+
+“Fire—_fire_! That’s what it needs,” he said turning to Long
+Arrow—“That’s what you all need. This child will have pneumonia if it
+isn’t kept warm.”
+
+“Aye, truly. But how to make a fire,” said Long Arrow—“where to get it:
+that is the difficulty. All the volcanoes in this land are dead.”
+
+Then we fell to hunting through our pockets to see if any matches had
+survived the shipwreck. The best we could muster were two whole ones
+and a half—all with the heads soaked off them by salt water.
+
+“Hark, Long Arrow,” said the Doctor: “divers ways there be of making
+fire without the aid of matches. One: with a strong glass and the
+rays of the sun. That however, since the sun has set, we cannot now
+employ. Another is by grinding a hard stick into a soft log—Is the
+daylight gone without?—Alas yes. Then I fear we must await the morrow;
+for besides the different woods, we need an old squirrel’s nest for
+fuel—And that without lamps you could not find in your forests at this
+hour.”
+
+“Great are your cunning and your skill, oh White Man,” Long Arrow
+replied. “But in this you do us an injustice. Know you not that all
+fireless peoples can see in the dark? Having no lamps we are forced to
+train ourselves to travel through the blackest night, lightless. I will
+despatch a messenger and you shall have your squirrel’s nest within the
+hour.”
+
+He gave an order to two of our boy-servants who promptly disappeared
+running. And sure enough, in a very short space of time a squirrel’s
+nest, together with hard and soft woods, was brought to our door.
+
+The moon had not yet risen and within the house it was practically
+pitch-black. I could feel and hear, however, that the Indians were
+moving about comfortably as though it were daylight. The task of making
+fire the Doctor had to perform almost entirely by the sense of touch,
+asking Long Arrow and the Indians to hand him his tools when he mislaid
+them in the dark. And then I made a curious discovery: now that I had
+to, I found that I was beginning to see a little in the dark myself.
+And for the first time I realized that of course there _is_ no such
+thing as pitch-dark, so long as you have a door open or a sky above you.
+
+Calling for the loan of a bow, the Doctor loosened the string, put the
+hard stick into a loop and began grinding this stick into the soft wood
+of the log. Soon I smelt that the log was smoking. Then he kept feeding
+the part that was smoking with the inside lining of the squirrel’s
+nest, and he asked me to blow upon it with my breath. He made the stick
+drill faster and faster. More smoke filled the room. And at last the
+darkness about us was suddenly lit up. The squirrel’s nest had burst
+into flame.
+
+The Indians murmured and grunted with astonishment. At first they were
+all for falling on their knees and worshiping the fire. Then they
+wanted to pick it up with their bare hands and play with it. We had to
+teach them how it was to be used; and they were quite fascinated when
+we laid our fish across it on sticks and cooked it. They sniffed the
+air with relish as, for the first time in history, the smell of fried
+fish passed through the village of Popsipetel.
+
+Then we got them to bring us piles and stacks of dry wood; and we made
+an enormous bonfire in the middle of the main street. Round this, when
+they felt its warmth, the whole tribe gathered and smiled and wondered.
+It was a striking sight, one of the pictures from our voyages that I
+most frequently remember: that roaring jolly blaze beneath the black
+night sky, and all about it a vast ring of Indians, the firelight
+gleaming on bronze cheeks, white teeth and flashing eyes—a whole town
+trying to get warm, giggling and pushing like school-children.
+
+In a little, when we had got them more used to the handling of fire,
+the Doctor showed them how it could be taken into their houses if a
+hole were only made in the roof to let the smoke out. And before we
+turned in after that long, long, tiring day, we had fires going in
+every hut in the village.
+
+The poor people were so glad to get really warm again that we thought
+they’d never go to bed. Well on into the early hours of the morning
+the little town fairly buzzed with a great low murmur: the Popsipetels
+sitting up talking of their wonderful pale-faced visitor and this
+strange good thing he had brought with him—_fire_!
+
+
+
+
+_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
+
+WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT
+
+
+VERY early in our experience of Popsipetel kindness we saw that if we
+were to get anything done at all, we would almost always have to do it
+secretly. The Doctor was so popular and loved by all that as soon as he
+showed his face at his door in the morning crowds of admirers, waiting
+patiently outside, flocked about him and followed him wherever he went.
+After his fire-making feat, this childlike people expected him, I
+think, to be continually doing magic; and they were determined not to
+miss a trick.
+
+It was only with great difficulty that we escaped from the crowd the
+first morning and set out with Long Arrow to explore the island at our
+leisure.
+
+In the interior we found that not only the plants and trees were
+suffering from the cold: the animal life was in even worse straits.
+Everywhere shivering birds were to be seen, their feathers all fluffed
+out, gathering together for flight to summer lands. And many lay dead
+upon the ground. Going down to the shore, we watched land-crabs in
+large numbers taking to the sea to find some better home. While away to
+the Southeast we could see many icebergs floating—a sign that we were
+now not far from the terrible region of the Antarctic.
+
+As we were looking out to sea, we noticed our friends the porpoises
+jumping through the waves. The Doctor hailed them and they came inshore.
+
+He asked them how far we were from the South Polar Continent.
+
+About a hundred miles, they told him. And then they asked why he wanted
+to know.
+
+“Because this floating island we are on,” said he, “is drifting
+southward all the time in a current. It’s an island that ordinarily
+belongs somewhere in the tropic zone—real sultry weather, sunstrokes
+and all that. If it doesn’t stop going southward pretty soon everything
+on it is going to perish.”
+
+“Well,” said the porpoises, “then the thing to do is to get it back
+into a warmer climate, isn’t it?”
+
+“Yes, but how?” said the Doctor. “We can’t _row_ it back.”
+
+“No,” said they, “but whales could push it—if you only got enough of
+them.”
+
+“What a splendid idea!—Whales, the very thing!” said the Doctor. “Do
+you think you could get me some?”
+
+“Why, certainly,” said the porpoises, “we passed one herd of them out
+there, sporting about among the icebergs. We’ll ask them to come over.
+And if they aren’t enough, we’ll try and hunt up some more. Better have
+plenty.”
+
+“Thank you,” said the Doctor. “You are very kind—By the way, do you
+happen to know how this island came to be a floating island? At least
+half of it, I notice, is made of stone. It is very odd that it floats
+at all, isn’t it?”
+
+“It is unusual,” they said. “But the explanation is quite simple. It
+used to be a mountainous part of South America—an overhanging part—sort
+of an awkward corner, you might say. Way back in the glacial days,
+thousands of years ago, it broke off from the mainland; and by some
+curious accident the inside of it, which is hollow, got filled with
+air as it fell into the ocean. You can only see less than half of
+the island: the bigger half is under water. And in the middle of it,
+underneath, is a huge rock air-chamber, running right up inside the
+mountains. And that’s what keeps it floating.”
+
+“What a pecurious phenometer!” said Bumpo.
+
+“It is indeed,” said the Doctor. “I must make a note of that.” And out
+came the everlasting note-book.
+
+The porpoises went bounding off towards the icebergs. And not long
+after, we saw the sea heaving and frothing as a big herd of whales came
+towards us at full speed.
+
+They certainly were enormous creatures; and there must have been a good
+two hundred of them.
+
+“Here they are,” said the porpoises, poking their heads out of the
+water.
+
+“Good!” said the Doctor. “Now just explain to them, will you please?
+that this is a very serious matter for all the living creatures in this
+land. And ask them if they will be so good as to go down to the far end
+of the island, put their noses against it and push it back near the
+coast of Southern Brazil.”
+
+The porpoises evidently succeeded in persuading the whales to do as the
+Doctor asked; for presently we saw them thrashing through the seas,
+going off towards the south end of the island.
+
+Then we lay down upon the beach and waited.
+
+After about an hour the Doctor got up and threw a stick into the water.
+For a while this floated motionless. But soon we saw it begin to move
+gently down the coast.
+
+“Ah!” said the Doctor, “see that?—The island is going North at last.
+Thank goodness!”
+
+Faster and faster we left the stick behind; and smaller and dimmer grew
+the icebergs on the skyline.
+
+The Doctor took out his watch, threw more sticks into the water and
+made a rapid calculation.
+
+“Humph!—Fourteen and a half knots an hour,” he murmured—“A very nice
+speed. It should take us about five days to get back near Brazil. Well,
+that’s that—Quite a load off my mind. I declare I feel warmer already.
+Let’s go and get something to eat.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIFTH CHAPTER_
+
+WAR!
+
+
+ON our way back to the village the Doctor began discussing natural
+history with Long Arrow. But their most interesting talk, mainly about
+plants, had hardly begun when an Indian runner came dashing up to us
+with a message.
+
+Long Arrow listened gravely to the breathless, babbled words, then
+turned to the Doctor and said in eagle tongue,
+
+“Great White Man, an evil thing has befallen the Popsipetels. Our
+neighbors to the southward, the thievish Bag-jagderags, who for so long
+have cast envious eyes on our stores of ripe corn, have gone upon the
+war-path; and even now are advancing to attack us.”
+
+“Evil news indeed,” said the Doctor. “Yet let us not judge harshly.
+Perhaps it is that they are desperate for food, having their own crops
+frost-killed before harvest. For are they not even nearer the cold
+South than you?”
+
+“Make no excuses for any man of the tribe of the Bag-jagderags,” said
+Long Arrow shaking his head. “They are an idle shiftless race. They do
+but see a chance to get corn without the labor of husbandry. If it
+were not that they are a much bigger tribe and hope to defeat their
+neighbor by sheer force of numbers, they would not have dared to make
+open war upon the brave Popsipetels.”
+
+When we reached the village we found it in a great state of excitement.
+Everywhere men were seen putting their bows in order, sharpening
+spears, grinding battle-axes and making arrows by the hundred. Women
+were raising a high fence of bamboo poles all round the village. Scouts
+and messengers kept coming and going, bringing news of the movements of
+the enemy. While high up in the trees and hills about the village we
+could see look-outs watching the mountains to the southward.
+
+Long Arrow brought another Indian, short but enormously broad, and
+introduced him to the Doctor as Big Teeth, the chief warrior of the
+Popsipetels.
+
+The Doctor volunteered to go and see the enemy and try to argue the
+matter out peacefully with them instead of fighting; for war, he said,
+was at best a stupid wasteful business. But the two shook their heads.
+Such a plan was hopeless, they said. In the last war when they had sent
+a messenger to do peaceful arguing, the enemy had merely hit him with
+an ax.
+
+While the Doctor was asking Big Teeth how he meant to defend the
+village against attack, a cry of alarm was raised by the look-outs.
+
+“They’re coming!—The Bag-jagderags—swarming down the mountains in
+thousands!”
+
+“Well,” said the Doctor, “it’s all in the day’s work, I suppose. I
+don’t believe in war; but if the village is attacked we must help
+defend it.”
+
+And he picked up a club from the ground and tried the heft of it
+against a stone.
+
+“This,” he said, “seems like a pretty good tool to me.” And he walked
+to the bamboo fence and took his place among the other waiting fighters.
+
+Then we all got hold of some kind of weapon with which to help our
+friends, the gallant Popsipetels: I borrowed a bow and a quiver full of
+arrows; Jip was content to rely upon his old, but still strong teeth;
+Chee-Chee took a bag of rocks and climbed a palm where he could throw
+them down upon the enemies’ heads; and Bumpo marched after the Doctor
+to the fence armed with a young tree in one hand and a door-post in the
+other.
+
+When the enemy drew near enough to be seen from where we stood we all
+gasped with astonishment. The hillsides were actually covered with
+them—thousands upon thousands. They made our small army within the
+village look like a mere handful.
+
+“Saints alive!” muttered Polynesia, “our little lot will stand no
+chance against that swarm. This will never do. I’m going off to get
+some help.”
+
+Where she was going and what kind of help she meant to get, I had no
+idea. She just disappeared from my side. But Jip, who had heard her,
+poked his nose between the bamboo bars of the fence to get a better
+view of the enemy and said,
+
+“Likely enough she’s gone after the Black Parrots. Let’s hope she
+finds them in time. Just look at those ugly ruffians climbing down the
+rocks—millions of ’em! This fight’s going to keep us all hopping.”
+
+And Jip was right. Before a quarter of an hour had gone by our
+village was completely surrounded by one huge mob of yelling, raging
+Bag-jagderags.
+
+I now come again to a part in the story of our voyages where things
+happened so quickly, one upon the other, that looking backwards I see
+the picture only in a confused kind of way. I know that if it had not
+been for the Terrible Three—as they came afterwards to be fondly called
+in Popsipetel history—Long Arrow, Bumpo and the Doctor, the war would
+have been soon over and the whole island would have belonged to the
+worthless Bag-jagderags. But the Englishman, the African and the Indian
+were a regiment in themselves; and between them they made that village
+a dangerous place for any man to try to enter.
+
+The bamboo fencing which had been hastily set up around the town was
+not a very strong affair; and right from the start it gave way in
+one place after another as the enemy thronged and crowded against it.
+Then the Doctor, Long Arrow and Bumpo would hurry to the weak spot, a
+terrific hand-to-hand fight would take place and the enemy be thrown
+out. But almost instantly a cry of alarm would come from some other
+part of the village-wall; and the Three would have to rush off and do
+the same thing all over again.
+
+[Illustration: The Terrible Three
+
+_From an Indian rock-engraving found on Hawks’-Head Mountain,
+Spidermonkey Island_]
+
+The Popsipetels were themselves no mean fighters; but the strength and
+weight of those three men of different lands and colors, standing close
+together, swinging their enormous war-clubs, was really a sight for the
+wonder and admiration of any one.
+
+Many weeks later when I was passing an Indian camp-fire at night I
+heard this song being sung. It has since become one of the traditional
+folksongs of the Popsipetels.
+
+             THE SONG OF THE TERRIBLE THREE
+
+      Oh hear ye the Song of the Terrible Three
+    And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
+      Down from the mountains, the rocks and the crags,
+    Swarming like wasps, came the Bag-jagderags.
+
+      Surrounding our village, our walls they broke down.
+    Oh, sad was the plight of our men and our town!
+      But Heaven determined our land to set free
+    And sent us the help of the Terrible Three.
+
+      One was a Black—he was dark as the night;
+    One was a Red-skin, a mountain of height;
+      But the chief was a White Man, round like a bee;
+    And all in a row stood the Terrible Three.
+
+      Shoulder to shoulder, they hammered and hit.
+    Like demons of fury they kicked and they bit.
+      Like a wall of destruction they stood in a row,
+    Flattening enemies, six at a blow.
+
+      Oh, strong was the Red-skin fierce was the Black.
+    Bag-jagderags trembled and tried to turn back.
+      But ’twas of the White Man they shouted, “Beware!
+    He throws men in handfuls, straight up in the air!”
+
+      Long shall they frighten bad children at night
+    With tales of the Red and the Black and the White.
+      And long shall we sing of the Terrible Three
+    And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SIXTH CHAPTER_
+
+GENERAL POLYNESIA
+
+
+BUT alas! even the Three, mighty though they were, could not last
+forever against an army which seemed to have no end. In one of the
+hottest scrimmages, when the enemy had broken a particularly wide hole
+through the fence, I saw Long Arrow’s great figure topple and come down
+with a spear sticking in his broad chest.
+
+For another half-hour Bumpo and the Doctor fought on side by side. How
+their strength held out so long I cannot tell, for never a second were
+they given to get their breath or rest their arms.
+
+The Doctor—the quiet, kindly, peaceable, little Doctor!—well, you
+wouldn’t have known him if you had seen him that day dealing out whacks
+you could hear a mile off, walloping and swatting in all directions.
+
+As for Bumpo, with staring eye-balls and grim set teeth, he was
+a veritable demon. None dared come within yards of that wicked,
+wide-circling door-post. But a stone, skilfully thrown, struck him at
+last in the centre of the forehead. And down went the second of the
+Three. John Dolittle, the last of the Terribles, was left fighting
+alone.
+
+Jip and I rushed to his side and tried to take the places of the fallen
+ones. But, far too light and too small, we made but a poor exchange.
+Another length of the fence crashed down, and through the widened gap
+the Bag-jagderags poured in on us like a flood.
+
+“To the canoes!—To the sea!” shouted the Popsipetels. “Fly for your
+lives!—All is over!—The war is lost!”
+
+But the Doctor and I never got a chance to fly for our lives. We were
+swept off our feet and knocked down flat by the sheer weight of the
+mob. And once down, we were unable to get up again. I thought we would
+surely be trampled to death.
+
+But at that moment, above the din and racket of the battle, we heard
+the most terrifying noise that ever assaulted human ears: the sound of
+millions and millions of parrots all screeching with fury together.
+
+The army, which in the nick of time Polynesia had brought to our
+rescue, darkened the whole sky to the westward. I asked her afterwards,
+how many birds there were; and she said she didn’t know exactly but
+that they certainly numbered somewhere between sixty and seventy
+millions. In that extraordinarily short space of time she had brought
+them from the mainland of South America.
+
+If you have ever heard a parrot screech with anger you will know that
+it makes a truly frightful sound; and if you have ever been bitten by
+one, you will know that its bite can be a nasty and a painful thing.
+
+The Black Parrots (coal-black all over, they were—except for a scarlet
+beak and a streak of red in wing and tail) on the word of command from
+Polynesia set to work upon the Bag-jagderags who were now pouring
+through the village looking for plunder.
+
+And the Black Parrots’ method of fighting was peculiar. This is what
+they did: on the head of each Bag-jagderag three or four parrots
+settled and took a good foot-hold in his hair with their claws; then
+they leant down over the sides of his head and began clipping snips out
+of his ears, for all the world as though they were punching tickets.
+That is all they did. They never bit them anywhere else except the
+ears. But it won the war for us.
+
+With howls pitiful to hear, the Bag-jagderags fell over one another in
+their haste to get out of that accursed village. It was no use their
+trying to pull the parrots off their heads; because for each head there
+were always four more parrots waiting impatiently to get on.
+
+Some of the enemy were lucky; and with only a snip or two managed to
+get outside the fence—where the parrots immediately left them alone.
+But with most, before the black birds had done with them, the ears
+presented a very singular appearance—like the edge of a postage-stamp.
+This treatment, very painful at the time, did not however do them any
+permanent harm beyond the change in looks. And it later got to be the
+tribal mark of the Bag-jagderags. No really smart young lady of this
+tribe would be seen walking with a man who did not have scalloped
+ears—for such was a proof that he had been in the Great War. And that
+(though it is not generally known to scientists) is how this people
+came to be called by the other Indian nations, the _Ragged-Eared
+Bag-jagderags_.
+
+As soon as the village was cleared of the enemy the Doctor turned his
+attention to the wounded.
+
+In spite of the length and fierceness of the struggle, there were
+surprisingly few serious injuries. Poor Long Arrow was the worst off.
+However, after the Doctor had washed his wound and got him to bed, he
+opened his eyes and said he already felt better. Bumpo was only badly
+stunned.
+
+With this part of the business over, the Doctor called to Polynesia
+to have the Black Parrots drive the enemy right back into their own
+country and to wait there, guarding them all night.
+
+Polynesia gave the short word of command; and like one bird those
+millions of parrots opened their red beaks and let out once more their
+terrifying battle-scream.
+
+The Bag-jagderags didn’t wait to be bitten a second time, but fled
+helter-skelter over the mountains from which they had come; whilst
+Polynesia and her victorious army followed watchfully behind like a
+great, threatening, black cloud.
+
+The Doctor picked up his high hat which had been knocked off in the
+fight, dusted it carefully and put it on.
+
+“To-morrow,” he said, shaking his fist towards the hills, “we will
+arrange the terms of peace—and we will arrange them—in the City of
+Bag-jagderag!”
+
+His words were greeted with cheers of triumph from the admiring
+Popsipetels. The war was over.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SEVENTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS
+
+
+THE next day we set out for the far end of the island, and reaching it
+in canoes (for we went by sea) after a journey of twenty-five hours, we
+remained no longer than was necessary in the City of Bag-jagderag.
+
+When he threw himself into that fight at Popsipetel, I saw the Doctor
+really angry for the first time in my life. But his anger, once
+aroused, was slow to die. All the way down the coast of the island he
+never ceased to rail against this cowardly people who had attacked his
+friends, the Popsipetels, for no other reason but to rob them of their
+corn, because they were too idle to till the land themselves. And he
+was still angry when he reached the City of Bag-jagderag.
+
+Long Arrow had not come with us for he was as yet too weak from his
+wound. But the Doctor—always clever at languages—was already getting
+familiar with the Indian tongue. Besides, among the half-dozen
+Popsipetels who accompanied us to paddle the canoes, was one boy to
+whom we had taught a little English. He and the Doctor between them
+managed to make themselves understood to the Bag-jagderags. This
+people, with the terrible parrots still blackening the hills about
+their stone town, waiting for the word to descend and attack, were, we
+found, in a very humble mood.
+
+Leaving our canoes we passed up the main street to the palace of the
+chief. Bumpo and I couldn’t help smiling with satisfaction as we saw
+how the waiting crowds which lined the roadway bowed their heads to the
+ground, as the little, round, angry figure of the Doctor strutted ahead
+of us with his chin in the air.
+
+At the foot of the palace-steps the chief and all the more important
+personages of the tribe were waiting to meet him, smiling humbly and
+holding out their hands in friendliness. The Doctor took not the
+slightest notice. He marched right by them, up the steps to the door
+of the palace. There he turned around and at once began to address the
+people in a firm voice.
+
+I never heard such a speech in my life—and I am quite sure that they
+never did either. First he called them a long string of names: cowards,
+loafers, thieves, vagabonds, good-for-nothings, bullies and what not.
+Then he said he was still seriously thinking of allowing the parrots to
+drive them on into the sea, in order that this pleasant land might be
+rid, once for all, of their worthless carcases.
+
+At this a great cry for mercy went up, and the chief and all of
+them fell on their knees, calling out that they would submit to any
+conditions of peace he wished.
+
+Then the Doctor called for one of their scribes—that is, a man who did
+picture-writing. And on the stone walls of the palace of Bag-jagderag
+he bade him write down the terms of the peace as he dictated it.
+This peace is known as _The Peace of The Parrots_, and—unlike most
+peaces—was, and is, strictly kept—even to this day.
+
+It was quite long in words. The half of the palace-front was covered
+with picture-writing, and fifty pots of paint were used, before the
+weary scribe had done. But the main part of it all was that there
+should be no more fighting; and that the two tribes should give solemn
+promise to help one another whenever there was corn-famine or other
+distress in the lands belonging to either.
+
+This greatly surprised the Bag-jagderags. They had expected from the
+Doctor’s angry face that he would at least chop a couple of hundred
+heads off—and probably make the rest of them slaves for life.
+
+But when they saw that he only meant kindly by them, their great fear
+of him changed to a tremendous admiration. And as he ended his long
+speech and walked briskly down the steps again on his way back to the
+canoes, the group of chieftains threw themselves at his feet and cried,
+
+“Do but stay with us, Great Lord, and all the riches of Bag-jagderag
+shall be poured into your lap. Gold-mines we know of in the mountains
+and pearl-beds beneath the sea. Only stay with us, that your
+all-powerful wisdom may lead our Council and our people in prosperity
+and peace.”
+
+The Doctor held up his hand for silence.
+
+“No man,” said he, “would wish to be the guest of the Bag-jagderags
+till they had proved by their deeds that they are an honest race. Be
+true to the terms of the Peace and from yourselves shall come good
+government and prosperity—Farewell!”
+
+Then he turned and followed by Bumpo, the Popsipetels and myself,
+walked rapidly down to the canoes.
+
+
+
+
+_THE EIGHTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE HANGING STONE
+
+
+BUT the change of heart in the Bag-jagderags was really sincere. The
+Doctor had made a great impression on them—a deeper one than even he
+himself realized at the time. In fact I sometimes think that that
+speech of his from the palace-steps had more effect upon the Indians of
+Spidermonkey Island than had any of his great deeds which, great though
+they were, were always magnified and exaggerated when the news of them
+was passed from mouth to mouth.
+
+A sick girl was brought to him as he reached the place where the boats
+lay. She turned out to have some quite simple ailment which he quickly
+gave the remedy for. But this increased his popularity still more. And
+when he stepped into his canoe, the people all around us actually burst
+into tears. It seems (I learned this afterwards) that they thought he
+was going away across the sea, for good, to the mysterious foreign
+lands from which he had come.
+
+Some of the chieftains spoke to the Popsipetels as we pushed off. What
+they said I did not understand; but we noticed that several canoes
+filled with Bag-jagderags followed us at a respectful distance all the
+way back to Popsipetel.
+
+The Doctor had determined to return by the other shore, so that we
+should be thus able to make a complete trip round the island’s shores.
+
+Shortly after we started, while still off the lower end of the island,
+we sighted a steep point on the coast where the sea was in a great
+state of turmoil, white with soapy froth. On going nearer, we found
+that this was caused by our friendly whales who were still faithfully
+working away with their noses against the end of the island, driving us
+northward. We had been kept so busy with the war that we had forgotten
+all about them. But as we paused and watched their mighty tails lashing
+and churning the sea, we suddenly realized that we had not felt cold
+in quite a long while. Speeding up our boat lest the island be carried
+away from us altogether, we passed on up the coast; and here and there
+we noticed that the trees on the shore already looked greener and more
+healthy. Spidermonkey Island was getting back into her home climates.
+
+About halfway to Popsipetel we went ashore and spent two or three days
+exploring the central part of the island. Our Indian paddlers took us
+up into the mountains, very steep and high in this region, overhanging
+the sea. And they showed us what they called the Whispering Rocks.
+
+This was a very peculiar and striking piece of scenery. It was like a
+great vast basin, or circus, in the mountains, and out of the centre of
+it there rose a table of rock with an ivory chair upon it. All around
+this the mountains went up like stairs, or theatre-seats, to a great
+height—except at one narrow end which was open to a view of the sea.
+You could imagine it a council-place or concert-hall for giants, and
+the rock table in the centre the stage for performers or the stand for
+the speaker.
+
+[Illustration: “Working away with their noses against the end of the
+island”]
+
+We asked our guides why it was called the Whispering Rocks; and they
+said, “Go down into it and we will show you.”
+
+The great bowl was miles deep and miles wide. We scrambled down the
+rocks and they showed us how, even when you stood far, far apart from
+one another, you merely had to whisper in that great place and every
+one in the theatre could hear you. This was, the Doctor said, on
+account of the echoes which played backwards and forwards between the
+high walls of rock.
+
+Our guides told us that it was here, in days long gone by when the
+Popsipetels owned the whole of Spidermonkey Island, that the kings
+were crowned. The ivory chair upon the table was the throne in which
+they sat. And so great was the big theatre that all the Indians in the
+island were able to get seats in it to see the ceremony.
+
+They showed us also an enormous hanging stone perched on the edge of
+a volcano’s crater—the highest summit in the whole island. Although
+it was very far below us, we could see it quite plainly; and it looked
+wobbly enough to be pushed off its perch with the hand. There was a
+legend among the people, they said, that when the greatest of all
+Popsipetel kings should be crowned in the ivory chair, this hanging
+stone would tumble into the volcano’s mouth and go straight down to the
+centre of the earth.
+
+[Illustration: “The Whispering Rocks”]
+
+The Doctor said he would like to go and examine it closer.
+
+And when we were come to the lip of the volcano (it took us half a
+day to get up to it) we found the stone was unbelievably large—big
+as a cathedral. Underneath it we could look right down into a black
+hole which seemed to have no bottom. The Doctor explained to us that
+volcanoes sometimes spurted up fire from these holes in their tops; but
+that those on floating islands were always cold and dead.
+
+“Stubbins,” he said, looking up at the great stone towering above us,
+“do you know what would most likely happen if that boulder should fall
+in?”
+
+“No,” said I, “what?”
+
+“You remember the air-chamber which the porpoises told us lies under
+the centre of the island?”
+
+“Yes.”
+
+“Well, this stone is heavy enough, if it fell into the volcano, to
+break through into that air-chamber from above. And once it did, the
+air would escape and the floating island would float no more. It would
+sink.”
+
+“But then everybody on it would be drowned, wouldn’t they?” said Bumpo.
+
+“Oh no, not necessarily. That would depend on the depth of the sea
+where the sinking took place. The island might touch bottom when it
+had only gone down, say, a hundred feet. But there would be lots of it
+still sticking up above the water then, wouldn’t there?”
+
+“Yes,” said Bumpo, “I suppose there would. Well, let us hope that the
+ponderous fragment does _not_ lose its equilibriosity, for I don’t
+believe it would stop at the centre of the earth—more likely it would
+fall right through the world and come out the other side.”
+
+Many other wonders there were which these men showed us in the central
+regions of their island. But I have not time or space to tell you of
+them now.
+
+Descending towards the shore again, we noticed that we were still
+being watched, even here among the highlands, by the Bag-jagderags
+who had followed us. And when we put to sea once more a boatload of
+them proceeded to go ahead of us in the direction of Popsipetel.
+Having lighter canoes, they traveled faster than our party; and we
+judged that they should reach the village—if that was where they were
+going—many hours before we could.
+
+The Doctor was now becoming anxious to see how Long Arrow was getting
+on, so we all took turns at the paddles and went on traveling by
+moonlight through the whole night.
+
+We reached Popsipetel just as the dawn was breaking.
+
+To our great surprise we found that not only we, but the whole village
+also, had been up all night. A great crowd was gathered about the dead
+chief’s house. And as we landed our canoes upon the beach we saw a
+large number of old men, the seniors of the tribe, coming out at the
+main door.
+
+We inquired what was the meaning of all this; and were told that the
+election of a new chief had been going on all through the whole night.
+Bumpo asked the name of the new chief; but this, it seemed, had not yet
+been given out. It would be announced at mid-day.
+
+As soon as the Doctor had paid a visit to Long Arrow and seen that he
+was doing nicely, we proceeded to our own house at the far end of the
+village. Here we ate some breakfast and then lay down to take a good
+rest.
+
+Rest, indeed, we needed; for life had been strenuous and busy for us
+ever since we had landed on the island. And it wasn’t many minutes
+after our weary heads struck the pillows that the whole crew of us were
+sound asleep.
+
+
+
+
+_THE NINTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE ELECTION
+
+
+WE were awakened by music. The glaring noonday sunlight was streaming
+in at our door, outside of which some kind of a band appeared to be
+playing. We got up and looked out. Our house was surrounded by the
+whole population of Popsipetel. We were used to having quite a number
+of curious and admiring Indians waiting at our door at all hours;
+but this was quite different. The vast crowd was dressed in its best
+clothes. Bright beads, gawdy feathers and gay blankets gave cheerful
+color to the scene. Every one seemed in very good humor, singing or
+playing on musical instruments—mostly painted wooden whistles or drums
+made from skins.
+
+We found Polynesia—who while we slept had arrived back from
+Bag-jagderag—sitting on our door-post watching the show. We asked her
+what all the holiday-making was about.
+
+“The result of the election has just been announced,” said she. “The
+name of the new chief was given out at noon.”
+
+“And who is the new chief?” asked the Doctor.
+
+“You are,” said Polynesia quietly.
+
+“_I!_” gasped the Doctor—“Well, of all things!”
+
+“Yes,” said she. “You’re the one—And what’s more, they’ve changed
+your surname for you. They didn’t think that Dolittle was a proper or
+respectful name for a man who had done so much. So you are now to be
+known as Jong Thinkalot. How do you like it?”
+
+“But I don’t _want_ to be a chief,” said the Doctor in an irritable
+voice.
+
+“I’m afraid you’ll have hard work to get out of it now,” said
+she—“unless you’re willing to put to sea again in one of their rickety
+canoes. You see you’ve been elected not merely the Chief of the
+Popsipetels; you’re to be a king—the King of the whole of Spidermonkey
+Island. The Bag-jagderags, who were so anxious to have you govern
+them, sent spies and messengers ahead of you; and when they found that
+you had been elected Chief of the Popsipetels overnight they were
+bitterly disappointed. However, rather than lose you altogether, the
+Bag-jagderags were willing to give up their independence, and insisted
+that they and their lands be united to the Popsipetels in order that
+you could be made king of both. So now you’re in for it.”
+
+“Oh Lord!” groaned the Doctor, “I do wish they wouldn’t be so
+enthusiastic! Bother it, I don’t _want_ to be a king!”
+
+“I should think, Doctor,” said I, “you’d feel rather proud and glad. I
+wish _I_ had a chance to be a king.”
+
+“Oh I know it sounds grand,” said he, pulling on his boots miserably.
+“But the trouble is, you can’t take up responsibilities and then just
+drop them again when you feel like it. I have my own work to do.
+Scarcely one moment have I had to give to natural history since I
+landed on this island. I’ve been doing some one else’s business all the
+time. And now they want me to go on doing it! Why, once I’m made King
+of the Popsipetels, that’s the end of me as a useful naturalist. I’d be
+too busy for anything. All I’d be then is just a er—er—just a king.”
+
+“Well, that’s something!” said Bumpo. “My father is a king and has a
+hundred and twenty wives.”
+
+“That would make it worse,” said the Doctor—“a hundred and twenty times
+worse. I have my work to do. I don’t want to be a king.”
+
+“Look,” said Polynesia, “here come the head men to announce your
+election. Hurry up and get your boots laced.”
+
+The throng before our door had suddenly parted asunder, making a long
+lane; and down this we now saw a group of personages coming towards us.
+The man in front, a handsome old Indian with a wrinkled face, carried
+in his hands a wooden crown—a truly beautiful and gorgeous crown, even
+though of wood. Wonderfully carved and painted, it had two lovely blue
+feathers springing from the front of it. Behind the old man came eight
+strong Indians bearing a litter, a sort of chair with long handles
+underneath to carry it by.
+
+Kneeling down on one knee, bending his head almost to the ground, the
+old man addressed the Doctor who now stood in the doorway putting on
+his collar and tie.
+
+“Oh, Mighty One,” said he, “we bring you word from the Popsipetel
+people. Great are your deeds beyond belief, kind is your heart and your
+wisdom, deeper than the sea. Our chief is dead. The people clamor for a
+worthy leader. Our old enemies, the Bag-jagderags are become, through
+you, our brothers and good friends. They too desire to bask beneath the
+sunshine of your smile. Behold then, I bring to you the Sacred Crown of
+Popsipetel which, since ancient days when this island and its peoples
+were one, beneath one monarch, has rested on no kingly brow. Oh Kindly
+One, we are bidden by the united voices of the peoples of this land to
+carry you to the Whispering Rocks, that there, with all respect and
+majesty, you may be crowned our king—King of all the Moving Land.”
+
+The good Indians did not seem to have even considered the possibility
+of John Dolittle’s refusing. As for the poor Doctor, I never saw him so
+upset by anything. It was in fact the only time I have known him to
+get thoroughly fussed.
+
+“Oh dear!” I heard him murmur, looking around wildly for some escape.
+“What _shall_ I do?—Did any of you see where I laid that stud of
+mine?—How on earth can I get this collar on without a stud? What a day
+this is, to be sure!—Maybe it rolled under the bed, Bumpo—I do think
+they might have given me a day or so to think it over in. Who ever
+heard of waking a man right out of his sleep, and telling him he’s got
+to be a king, before he has even washed his face? Can’t any of you find
+it? Maybe you’re standing on it, Bumpo. Move your feet.”
+
+“Oh don’t bother about your stud,” said Polynesia. “You will have to be
+crowned without a collar. They won’t know the difference.”
+
+“I tell you I’m not going to be crowned,” cried the Doctor—“not if I
+can help it. I’ll make them a speech. Perhaps that will satisfy them.”
+
+He turned back to the Indians at the door.
+
+“My friends,” he said, “I am not worthy of this great honor you would
+do me. Little or no skill have I in the arts of kingcraft. Assuredly
+among your own brave men you will find many better fitted to lead you.
+For this compliment, this confidence and trust, I thank you. But, I
+pray you, do not think of me for such high duties which I could not
+possibly fulfil.”
+
+The old man repeated his words to the people behind him in a louder
+voice. Stolidly they shook their heads, moving not an inch. The old man
+turned back to the Doctor.
+
+“You are the chosen one,” said he. “They will have none but you.”
+
+Into the Doctor’s perplexed face suddenly there came a flash of hope.
+
+“I’ll go and see Long Arrow,” he whispered to me. “Perhaps he will know
+of some way to get me out of this.”
+
+And asking the personages to excuse him a moment, he left them there,
+standing at his door, and hurried off in the direction of Long Arrow’s
+house. I followed him.
+
+We found our big friend lying on a grass bed outside his home, where he
+had been moved that he might witness the holiday-making.
+
+“Long Arrow,” said the Doctor speaking quickly in eagle tongue so
+that the bystanders should not overhear, “in dire peril I come to you
+for help. These men would make me their king. If such a thing befall
+me, all the great work I hoped to do must go undone, for who is there
+unfreer than a king? I pray you speak with them and persuade their kind
+well-meaning hearts that what they plan to do would be unwise.”
+
+Long Arrow raised himself upon his elbow.
+
+“Oh Kindly One,” said he (this seemed now to have become the usual
+manner of address when speaking to the Doctor), “sorely it grieves me
+that the first wish you ask of me I should be unable to grant. Alas! I
+can do nothing. These people have so set their hearts on keeping you
+for king that if I tried to interfere they would drive me from their
+land and likely crown you in the end in any case. A king you must be,
+if only for a while. We must so arrange the business of governing that
+you may have time to give to Nature’s secrets. Later we may be able to
+hit upon some plan to relieve you of the burden of the crown. But for
+now you must be king. These people are a headstrong tribe and they will
+have their way. There is no other course.”
+
+Sadly the Doctor turned away from the bed and faced about. And there
+behind him stood the old man again, the crown still held in his
+wrinkled hands and the royal litter waiting at his elbow. With a deep
+reverence the bearers motioned towards the seat of the chair, inviting
+the white man to get in.
+
+Once more the poor Doctor looked wildly, hopelessly about him for
+some means of escape. For a moment I thought he was going to take to
+his heels and run for it. But the crowd around us was far too thick
+and densely packed for anyone to break through it. A band of whistles
+and drums near by suddenly started the music of a solemn processional
+march. He turned back pleadingly again to Long Arrow in a last appeal
+for help. But the big Indian merely shook his head and pointed, like
+the bearers, to the waiting chair.
+
+At last, almost in tears, John Dolittle stepped slowly into the litter
+and sat down. As he was hoisted on to the broad shoulders of the
+bearers I heard him still feebly muttering beneath his breath,
+
+“Botheration take it!—I don’t _want_ to be a king!”
+
+“Farewell!” called Long Arrow from his bed, “and may good fortune ever
+stand within the shadow of your throne!”
+
+“He comes!—He comes!” murmured the crowd. “Away! Away!—To the
+Whispering Rocks!”
+
+And as the procession formed up to leave the village, the crowd about
+us began hurrying off in the direction of the mountains to make sure of
+good seats in the giant theatre where the crowning ceremony would take
+place.
+
+
+
+
+_THE TENTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE CORONATION OF KING JONG
+
+
+IN my long lifetime I have seen many grand and inspiring things, but
+never anything that impressed me half as much as the sight of the
+Whispering Rocks as they looked on the day King Jong was crowned. As
+Bumpo, Chee-Chee, Polynesia, Jip and I finally reached the dizzy edge
+of the great bowl and looked down inside it, it was like gazing over
+a never-ending ocean of copper-colored faces; for every seat in the
+theatre was filled, every man, woman and child in the island—including
+Long Arrow who had been carried up on his sick bed—was there to see the
+show.
+
+Yet not a sound, not a pin-drop, disturbed the solemn silence of the
+Whispering Rocks. It was quite creepy and sent chills running up and
+down your spine. Bumpo told me afterwards that it took his breath away
+too much for him to speak, but that he hadn’t known before that there
+were that many people in the world.
+
+Away down by the Table of the Throne stood a brand-new, brightly
+colored totem-pole. All the Indian families had totem-poles and kept
+them set up before the doors of their houses. The idea of a totem-pole
+is something like a door-plate or a visiting card. It represents in its
+carvings the deeds and qualities of the family to which it belongs.
+This one, beautifully decorated and much higher than any other, was the
+Dolittle or, as it was to be henceforth called, the Royal Thinkalot
+totem. It had nothing but animals on it, to signify the Doctor’s great
+knowledge of creatures. And the animals chosen to be shown were those
+which to the Indians were supposed to represent good qualities of
+character, such as, the deer for speed; the ox for perseverance; the
+fish for discretion, and so on. But at the top of the totem is always
+placed the sign or animal by which the family is most proud to be
+known. This, on the Thinkalot pole, was an enormous parrot, in memory
+of the famous Peace of the Parrots.
+
+The Ivory Throne had been all polished with scented oil and it
+glistened whitely in the strong sunlight. At the foot of it there had
+been strewn great quantities of branches of flowering trees, which with
+the new warmth of milder climates were now blossoming in the valleys of
+the island.
+
+Soon we saw the royal litter, with the Doctor seated in it, slowly
+ascending the winding steps of the Table. Reaching the flat top at
+last, it halted and the Doctor stepped out upon the flowery carpet. So
+still and perfect was the silence that even at that distance above I
+distinctly heard a twig snap beneath his tread.
+
+Walking to the throne accompanied by the old man, the Doctor got up
+upon the stand and sat down. How tiny his little round figure looked
+when seen from that tremendous height! The throne had been made for
+longer-legged kings; and when he was seated, his feet did not reach the
+ground but dangled six inches from the top step.
+
+Then the old man turned round and looking up at the people began to
+speak in a quiet even voice; but every word he said was easily heard in
+the furthest corner of the Whispering Rocks.
+
+First he recited the names of all the great Popsipetel kings who
+in days long ago had been crowned in this ivory chair. He spoke of
+the greatness of the Popsipetel people, of their triumphs, of their
+hardships. Then waving his hand towards the Doctor he began recounting
+the things which this king-to-be had done. And I am bound to say that
+they easily outmatched the deeds of those who had gone before him.
+
+As soon as he started to speak of what the Doctor had achieved for the
+tribe, the people, still strictly silent, all began waving their right
+hands towards the throne. This gave to the vast theatre a very singular
+appearance: acres and acres of something moving—with never a sound.
+
+At last the old man finished his speech and stepping up to the chair,
+very respectfully removed the Doctor’s battered high hat. He was about
+to put it upon the ground; but the Doctor took it from him hastily and
+kept it on his lap. Then taking up the Sacred Crown he placed it upon
+John Dolittle’s head. It did not fit very well (for it had been made
+for smaller-headed kings), and when the wind blew in freshly from the
+sunlit sea the Doctor had some difficulty in keeping it on. But it
+looked very splendid.
+
+Turning once more to the people, the old man said,
+
+“Men of Popsipetel, behold your elected king!—Are you content?”
+
+And then at last the voice of the people broke loose.
+
+“JONG! JONG!” they shouted, “LONG LIVE KING JONG!”
+
+The sound burst upon the solemn silence with the crash of a hundred
+cannon. There, where even a whisper carried miles, the shock of it was
+like a blow in the face. Back and forth the mountains threw it to one
+another. I thought the echoes of it would never die away as it passed
+rumbling through the whole island, jangling among the lower valleys,
+booming in the distant sea-caves.
+
+Suddenly I saw the old man point upward, to the highest mountain in the
+island; and looking over my shoulder, I was just in time to see the
+Hanging Stone topple slowly out of sight—down into the heart of the
+volcano.
+
+“See ye, Men of the Moving Land!” the old man cried: “The stone has
+fallen and our legend has come true: the King of Kings is crowned this
+day!”
+
+The Doctor too had seen the stone fall and he was now standing up
+looking at the sea expectantly.
+
+“He’s thinking of the air-chamber,” said Bumpo in my ear. “Let us hope
+that the sea isn’t very deep in these parts.”
+
+After a full minute (so long did it take the stone to fall that depth)
+we heard a muffled, distant, crunching thud—and then immediately after,
+a great hissing of escaping air. The Doctor, his face tense with
+anxiety, sat down in the throne again still watching the blue water of
+the ocean with staring eyes.
+
+Soon we felt the island slowly sinking beneath us. We saw the sea creep
+inland over the beaches as the shores went down—one foot, three feet,
+ten feet, twenty, fifty, a hundred. And then, thank goodness, gently as
+a butterfly alighting on a rose, it stopped! Spidermonkey Island had
+come to rest on the sandy bottom of the Atlantic, and earth was joined
+to earth once more.
+
+Of course many of the houses near the shores were now under water.
+Popsipetel Village itself had entirely disappeared. But it didn’t
+matter. No one was drowned; for every soul in the island was high up
+in the hills watching the coronation of King Jong.
+
+The Indians themselves did not realize at the time what was taking
+place, though of course they had felt the land sinking beneath them.
+The Doctor told us afterwards that it must have been the shock of that
+tremendous shout, coming from a million throats at once, which had
+toppled the Hanging Stone off its perch. But in Popsipetel history the
+story was handed down (and it is firmly believed to this day) that when
+King Jong sat upon the throne, so great was his mighty weight, that the
+very island itself sank down to do him honor and never moved again.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+
+
+PART SIX
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIRST CHAPTER_
+
+NEW POPSIPETEL
+
+
+JONG THINKALOT had not ruled over his new kingdom for more than a
+couple of days before my notions about kings and the kind of lives they
+led changed very considerably. I had thought that all that kings had to
+do was to sit on a throne and have people bow down before them several
+times a day. I now saw that a king can be the hardest-working man in
+the world—if he attends properly to his business.
+
+From the moment that he got up, early in the morning, till the time he
+went to bed, late at night—seven days in the week—John Dolittle was
+busy, busy, busy. First of all there was the new town to be built. The
+village of Popsipetel had disappeared: the City of New Popsipetel must
+be made. With great care a place was chosen for it—and a very beautiful
+position it was, at the mouth of a large river. The shores of the
+island at this point formed a lovely wide bay where canoes—and ships
+too, if they should ever come—could lie peacefully at anchor without
+danger from storms.
+
+In building this town the Doctor gave the Indians a lot of new
+ideas. He showed them what town-sewers were, and how garbage should
+be collected each day and burnt. High up in the hills he made a large
+lake by damming a stream. This was the water-supply for the town. None
+of these things had the Indians ever seen; and many of the sicknesses
+which they had suffered from before were now entirely prevented by
+proper drainage and pure drinking-water.
+
+Peoples who don’t use fire do not of course have metals either; because
+without fire it is almost impossible to shape iron and steel. One of
+the first things that John Dolittle did was to search the mountains
+till he found iron and copper mines. Then he set to work to teach the
+Indians how these metals could be melted and made into knives and plows
+and water-pipes and all manner of things.
+
+In his kingdom the Doctor tried his hardest to do away with most of the
+old-fashioned pomp and grandeur of a royal court. As he said to Bumpo
+and me, if he must be a king he meant to be a thoroughly democratic
+one, that is a king who is chummy and friendly with his subjects and
+doesn’t put on airs. And when he drew up the plans for the City of New
+Popsipetel he had no palace shown of any kind. A little cottage in a
+back street was all that he had provided for himself.
+
+But this the Indians would not permit on any account. They had been
+used to having their kings rule in a truly grand and kingly manner;
+and they insisted that he have built for himself the most magnificent
+palace ever seen. In all else they let him have his own way absolutely;
+but they wouldn’t allow him to wriggle out of any of the ceremony or
+show that goes with being a king. A thousand servants he had to keep in
+his palace, night and day, to wait on him. The Royal Canoe had to be
+kept up—a gorgeous, polished mahogany boat, seventy feet long, inlaid
+with mother-o’-pearl and paddled by the hundred strongest men in the
+island. The palace-gardens covered a square mile and employed a hundred
+and sixty gardeners.
+
+Even in his dress the poor man was compelled always to be grand and
+elegant and uncomfortable. The beloved and battered high hat was put
+away in a closet and only looked at secretly. State robes had to be
+worn on all occasions. And when the Doctor did once in a while manage
+to sneak off for a short, natural-history expedition he never dared to
+wear his old clothes, but had to chase his butterflies with a crown
+upon his head and a scarlet cloak flying behind him in the wind.
+
+There was no end to the kinds of duties the Doctor had to perform and
+the questions he had to decide upon—everything, from settling disputes
+about lands and boundaries, to making peace between husband and wife
+who had been throwing shoes at one another. In the east wing of the
+Royal Palace was the Hall of Justice. And here King Jong sat every
+morning from nine to eleven passing judgment on all cases that were
+brought before him.
+
+[Illustration: “Had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his
+head”]
+
+Then in the afternoon he taught school. The sort of things he taught
+were not always those you find in ordinary schools. Grown-ups as well
+as children came to learn. You see, these Indians were ignorant of many
+of the things that quite small white children know—though it is also
+true that they knew a lot that white grown-ups never dreamed of.
+
+Bumpo and I helped with the teaching as far as we could—simple
+arithmetic, and easy things like that. But the classes in astronomy,
+farming science, the proper care of babies, with a host of other
+subjects, the Doctor had to teach himself. The Indians were
+tremendously keen about the schooling and they came in droves and
+crowds; so that even with the open-air classes (a school-house was
+impossible of course) the Doctor had to take them in relays and batches
+of five or six thousand at a time and used a big megaphone or trumpet
+to make himself heard.
+
+The rest of his day was more than filled with road-making, building
+water-mills, attending the sick and a million other things.
+
+In spite of his being so unwilling to become a king, John Dolittle
+made a very good one—once he got started. He may not have been as
+dignified as many kings in history who were always running off to war
+and getting themselves into romantic situations; but since I have grown
+up and seen something of foreign lands and governments I have often
+thought that Popsipetel under the reign of Jong Thinkalot was perhaps
+the best ruled state in the history of the world.
+
+The Doctor’s birthday came round after we had been on the island
+six months and a half. The people made a great public holiday of it
+and there was much feasting, dancing, fireworks, speechmaking and
+jollification.
+
+Towards the close of the day the chief men of the two tribes formed a
+procession and passed through the streets of the town, carrying a very
+gorgeously painted tablet of ebony wood, ten feet high. This was a
+picture-history, such as they preserved for each of the ancient kings
+of Popsipetel to record their deeds.
+
+With great and solemn ceremony it was set up over the door of the new
+palace: and everybody then clustered round to look at it. It had six
+pictures on it commemorating the six great events in the life of King
+Jong and beneath were written the verses that explained them. They were
+composed by the Court Poet; and this is a translation:
+
+
+I
+
+(_His Landing on The Island_)
+
+    Heaven-sent,
+    In his dolphin-drawn canoe
+    From worlds unknown
+    He landed on our shores.
+    The very palms
+    Bowed down their heads
+    In welcome to the coming King.
+
+
+II
+
+(_His Meeting With The Beetle_)
+
+    By moonlight in the mountains
+    He communed with beasts.
+    The shy Jabizri brings him picture-words
+    Of great distress.
+
+
+III
+
+(_He liberates The Lost Families_)
+
+    Big was his heart with pity;
+    Big were his hands with strength.
+    See how he tears the mountain like a yam!
+    See how the lost ones
+    Dance forth to greet the day!
+
+
+IV
+
+(_He Makes Fire_)
+
+    Our land was cold and dying.
+    He waved his hand and lo!
+    Lightning leapt from cloudless skies;
+    The sun leant down;
+    And Fire was born!
+    Then while we crowded round
+    The grateful glow, pushed he
+    Our wayward, floating land
+    Back to peaceful anchorage
+    In sunny seas.
+
+
+V
+
+(_He Leads The People To Victory in War_)
+
+    Once only
+    Was his kindly countenance
+    Darkened by a deadly frown.
+    Woe to the wicked enemy
+    That dares attack
+    The tribe with Thinkalot for Chief!
+
+
+VI
+
+(_He Is Crowned King_)
+
+    The birds of the air rejoiced;
+    The Sea laughed and gambolled with her shores;
+    All Red-skins wept for joy
+    The day we crowned him King.
+    He is the Builder, the Healer, the Teacher and the Prince;
+    He is the greatest of them all.
+    May he live a thousand thousand years,
+    Happy in his heart,
+    To bless our land with Peace.
+
+
+
+
+_THE SECOND CHAPTER_
+
+THOUGHTS OF HOME
+
+
+IN the Royal Palace Bumpo and I had a beautiful suite of rooms of our
+very own—which Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee shared with us. Officially
+Bumpo was Minister of the Interior; while I was First Lord of the
+Treasury. Long Arrow also had quarters there; but at present he was
+absent, traveling abroad.
+
+One night after supper when the Doctor was away in the town somewhere
+visiting a new-born baby, we were all sitting round the big table in
+Bumpo’s reception-room. This we did every evening, to talk over the
+plans for the following day and various affairs of state. It was a kind
+of Cabinet Meeting.
+
+To-night however we were talking about England—and also about things
+to eat. We had got a little tired of Indian food. You see, none of
+the natives knew how to cook; and we had the most discouraging time
+training a chef for the Royal Kitchen. Most of them were champions at
+spoiling good food. Often we got so hungry that the Doctor would sneak
+downstairs with us into the palace basement, after all the cooks were
+safe in bed, and fry pancakes secretly over the dying embers of the
+fire. The Doctor himself was the finest cook that ever lived. But he
+used to make a terrible mess of the kitchen; and of course we had to be
+awfully careful that we didn’t get caught.
+
+Well, as I was saying, to-night food was the subject of discussion at
+the Cabinet Meeting; and I had just been reminding Bumpo of the nice
+dishes we had had at the bed-maker’s house in Monteverde.
+
+“I tell you what I would like now,” said Bumpo: “a large cup of cocoa
+with whipped cream on the top of it. In Oxford we used to be able to
+get the most wonderful cocoa. It is really too bad they haven’t any
+cocoa-trees in this island, or cows to give cream.”
+
+“When do you suppose,” asked Jip, “the Doctor intends to move on from
+here?”
+
+“I was talking to him about that only yesterday,” said Polynesia. “But
+I couldn’t get any satisfactory answer out of him. He didn’t seem to
+want to speak about it.”
+
+There was a pause in the conversation.
+
+“Do you know what I believe?” she added presently. “I believe the
+Doctor has given up even thinking of going home.”
+
+“Good Lord!” cried Bumpo. “You don’t say!”
+
+“Sh!” said Polynesia. “What’s that noise?”
+
+We listened; and away off in the distant corridors of the palace we
+heard the sentries crying,
+
+“The King!—Make way!—The King!”
+
+“It’s he—at last,” whispered Polynesia—“late, as usual. Poor man, how
+he does work!—Chee-Chee, get the pipe and tobacco out of the cupboard
+and lay the dressing-gown ready on his chair.”
+
+When the Doctor came into the room he looked serious and thoughtful.
+Wearily he took off his crown and hung it on a peg behind the door.
+Then he exchanged the royal cloak for the dressing-gown, dropped into
+his chair at the head of the table with a deep sigh and started to fill
+his pipe.
+
+“Well,” asked Polynesia quietly, “how did you find the baby?”
+
+“The baby?” he murmured—his thoughts still seemed to be very far
+away—“Ah yes. The baby was much better, thank you—It has cut its second
+tooth.”
+
+Then he was silent again, staring dreamily at the ceiling through a
+cloud of tobacco-smoke; while we all sat round quite still, waiting.
+
+“We were wondering, Doctor,” said I at last,—“just before you came
+in—when you would be starting home again. We will have been on this
+island seven months to-morrow.”
+
+The Doctor sat forward in his chair looking rather uncomfortable.
+
+“Well, as a matter of fact,” said he after a moment, “I meant to speak
+to you myself this evening on that very subject. But it’s—er—a little
+hard to make any one exactly understand the situation. I am afraid
+that it would be impossible for me to leave the work I am now engaged
+on.... You remember, when they first insisted on making me king, I told
+you it was not easy to shake off responsibilities, once you had taken
+them up. These people have come to rely on me for a great number of
+things. We found them ignorant of much that white people enjoy. And we
+have, one might say, changed the current of their lives considerably.
+Now it is a very ticklish business, to change the lives of other
+people. And whether the changes we have made will be, in the end, for
+good or for bad, is our lookout.”
+
+He thought a moment—then went on in a quieter, sadder voice:
+
+“I would like to continue my voyages and my natural history work; and
+I would like to go back to Puddleby—as much as any of you. This is
+March, and the crocuses will be showing in the lawn.... But that which
+I feared has come true: I cannot close my eyes to what might happen if
+I should leave these people and run away. They would probably go back
+to their old habits and customs: wars, superstitions, devil-worship and
+what not; and many of the new things we have taught them might be put
+to improper use and make their condition, then, worse by far than that
+in which we found them.... They like me; they trust me; they have come
+to look to me for help in all their problems and troubles. And no man
+wants to do unfair things to them who trust him.... And then again, _I_
+like _them_. They are, as it were, my children—I never had any children
+of my own—and I am terribly interested in how they will grow up. Don’t
+you see what I mean?—How can I possibly run away and leave them in the
+lurch?... No. I have thought it over a good deal and tried to decide
+what was best. And I am afraid that the work I took up when I assumed
+the crown I must stick to. I’m afraid—I’ve got to stay.”
+
+“For good—for your whole life?” asked Bumpo in a low voice.
+
+For some moments the Doctor, frowning, made no answer.
+
+“I don’t know,” he said at last—“Anyhow for the present there is
+certainly no hope of my leaving. It wouldn’t be right.”
+
+The sad silence that followed was broken finally by a knock upon the
+door.
+
+With a patient sigh the Doctor got up and put on his crown and cloak
+again.
+
+“Come in,” he called, sitting down in his chair once more.
+
+The door opened and a footman—one of the hundred and forty-three who
+were always on night duty—stood bowing in the entrance.
+
+“Oh, Kindly One,” said he, “there is a traveler at the palace-gate who
+would have speech with Your Majesty.”
+
+“Another baby’s been born, I’ll bet a shilling,” muttered Polynesia.
+
+“Did you ask the traveler’s name?” enquired the Doctor.
+
+“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the footman. “It is Long Arrow, the son of
+Golden Arrow.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE THIRD CHAPTER_
+
+THE RED MAN’S SCIENCE
+
+
+“LONG ARROW!” cried the Doctor. “How splendid! Show him in—show him in
+at once.”
+
+“I’m so glad,” he continued, turning to us as soon as the footman had
+gone. “I’ve missed Long Arrow terribly. He’s an awfully good man to
+have around—even if he doesn’t talk much. Let me see: it’s five months
+now since he went off to Brazil. I’m so glad he’s back safe. He does
+take such tremendous chances with that canoe of his—clever as he is.
+It’s no joke, crossing a hundred miles of open sea in a twelve-foot
+canoe. I wouldn’t care to try it.”
+
+Another knock; and when the door swung open in answer to the Doctor’s
+call, there stood our big friend on the threshold, a smile upon his
+strong, bronzed face. Behind him appeared two porters carrying loads
+done up in Indian palm-matting. These, when the first salutations were
+over, Long Arrow ordered to lay their burdens down.
+
+“Behold, oh Kindly One,” said he, “I bring you, as I promised, my
+collection of plants which I had hidden in a cave in the Andes. These
+treasures represent the labors of my life.”
+
+The packages were opened; and inside were many smaller packages and
+bundles. Carefully they were laid out in rows upon the table.
+
+It appeared at first a large but disappointing display. There were
+plants, flowers, fruits, leaves, roots, nuts, beans, honeys, gums,
+bark, seeds, bees and a few kinds of insects.
+
+The study of plants—or botany, as it is called—was a kind of natural
+history which had never interested me very much. I had considered it,
+compared with the study of animals, a dull science. But as Long Arrow
+began taking up the various things in his collection and explaining
+their qualities to us, I became more and more fascinated. And before
+he had done I was completely absorbed by the wonders of the Vegetable
+Kingdom which he had brought so far.
+
+“These,” said he, taking up a little packet of big seeds, “are what I
+have called laughing-beans.’”
+
+“What are they for?” asked Bumpo.
+
+“To cause mirth,” said the Indian.
+
+Bumpo, while Long Arrow’s back was turned, took three of the beans and
+swallowed them.
+
+“Alas!” said the Indian when he discovered what Bumpo had done. “If he
+wished to try the powers of these seeds he should have eaten no more
+than a quarter of a one. Let us hope that he does not die of laughter.”
+
+The beans’ effect upon Bumpo was most extraordinary. First he broke
+into a broad smile; then he began to giggle; finally he burst into
+such prolonged roars of hearty laughter that we had to carry him into
+the next room and put him to bed. The Doctor said afterwards that he
+probably would have died laughing if he had not had such a strong
+constitution. All through the night he gurgled happily in his sleep.
+And even when we woke him up the next morning he rolled out of bed
+still chuckling.
+
+Returning to the Reception Room, we were shown some red roots which
+Long Arrow told us had the property, when made into a soup with sugar
+and salt, of causing people to dance with extraordinary speed and
+endurance. He asked us to try them; but we refused, thanking him. After
+Bumpo’s exhibition we were a little afraid of any more experiments for
+the present.
+
+There was no end to the curious and useful things that Long Arrow
+had collected: an oil from a vine which would make hair grow in one
+night; an orange as big as a pumpkin which he had raised in his own
+mountain-garden in Peru; a black honey (he had brought the bees that
+made it too and the seeds of the flowers they fed on) which would put
+you to sleep, just with a teaspoonful, and make you wake up fresh
+in the morning; a nut that made the voice beautiful for singing;
+a water-weed that stopped cuts from bleeding; a moss that cured
+snake-bite; a lichen that prevented sea-sickness.
+
+The Doctor of course was tremendously interested. Well into the early
+hours of the morning he was busy going over the articles on the table
+one by one, listing their names and writing their properties and
+descriptions into a note-book as Long Arrow dictated.
+
+“There are things here, Stubbins,” he said as he ended, “which in the
+hands of skilled druggists will make a vast difference to the medicine
+and chemistry of the world. I suspect that this sleeping-honey by
+itself will take the place of half the bad drugs we have had to use so
+far. Long Arrow has discovered a pharmacopæia of his own. Miranda was
+right: he is a great naturalist. His name deserves to be placed beside
+Linnæus. Some day I must get all these things to England—But when,” he
+added sadly—“Yes, that’s the problem: when?”
+
+
+
+
+_THE FOURTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE SEA-SERPENT
+
+
+FOR a long time after that Cabinet Meeting of which I have just told
+you we did not ask the Doctor anything further about going home. Life
+in Spidermonkey Island went forward, month in month out, busily and
+pleasantly. The Winter, with Christmas celebrations, came and went, and
+Summer was with us once again before we knew it.
+
+As time passed the Doctor became more and more taken up with the care
+of his big family; and the hours he could spare for his natural history
+work grew fewer and fewer. I knew that he often still thought of his
+house and garden in Puddleby and of his old plans and ambitions;
+because once in a while we would notice his face grow thoughtful and a
+little sad, when something reminded him of England or his old life. But
+he never spoke of these things. And I truly believe he would have spent
+the remainder of his days on Spidermonkey Island if it hadn’t been for
+an accident—and for Polynesia.
+
+The old parrot had grown very tired of the Indians and she made no
+secret of it.
+
+“The very idea,” she said to me one day as we were walking on the
+seashore—“the idea of the famous John Dolittle spending his valuable
+life waiting on these greasy natives!—Why, it’s preposterous!”
+
+All that morning we had been watching the Doctor superintend the
+building of the new theatre in Popsipetel—there was already an
+opera-house and a concert-hall; and finally she had got so grouchy and
+annoyed at the sight that I had suggested her taking a walk with me.
+
+“Do you really think,” I asked as we sat down on the sands, “that he
+will never go back to Puddleby again?”
+
+“I don’t know,” said she. “At one time I felt sure that the thought
+of the pets he had left behind at the house would take him home soon.
+But since Miranda brought him word last August that everything was all
+right there, that hope’s gone. For months and months I’ve been racking
+my brains to think up a plan. If we could only hit upon something that
+would turn his thoughts back to natural history again—I mean something
+big enough to get him really excited—we might manage it. But how?”—she
+shrugged her shoulders in disgust—“How?—when all he thinks of now is
+paving streets and teaching papooses that twice one are two!”
+
+It was a perfect Popsipetel day, bright and hot, blue and yellow.
+Drowsily I looked out to sea thinking of my mother and father. I
+wondered if they were getting anxious over my long absence. Beside me
+old Polynesia went on grumbling away in low steady tones; and her words
+began to mingle and mix with the gentle lapping of the waves upon the
+shore. It may have been the even murmur of her voice, helped by the
+soft and balmy air, that lulled me to sleep. I don’t know. Anyhow I
+presently dreamed that the island had moved again—not floatingly as
+before, but suddenly, jerkily, as though something enormously powerful
+had heaved it up from its bed just once and let it down.
+
+How long I slept after that I have no idea. I was awakened by a gentle
+pecking on the nose.
+
+“Tommy!—Tommy!” (it was Polynesia’s voice) “Wake up!—Gosh, what a boy,
+to sleep through an earthquake and never notice it!—Tommy, listen:
+here’s our chance now. Wake _up_, for goodness’ sake!”
+
+“What’s the matter?” I asked sitting up with a yawn.
+
+“Sh!—Look!” whispered Polynesia pointing out to sea.
+
+Still only half awake, I stared before me with bleary, sleep-laden
+eyes. And in the shallow water, not more than thirty yards from shore
+I saw an enormous pale pink shell. Dome-shaped, it towered up in a
+graceful rainbow curve to a tremendous height; and round its base the
+surf broke gently in little waves of white. It could have belonged to
+the wildest dream.
+
+“What in the world is it?” I asked.
+
+“That,” whispered Polynesia, “is what sailors for hundreds of years
+have called the _Sea-serpent_. I’ve seen it myself more than once from
+the decks of ships, at long range, curving in and out of the water.
+But now that I see it close and still, I very strongly suspect that
+the Sea-serpent of history is no other than the Great Glass Sea-snail
+that the fidgit told us of. If that isn’t the only fish of its kind in
+the seven seas, call me a carrion-crow—Tommy, we’re in luck. Our job
+is to get the Doctor down here to look at that prize specimen before
+it moves off to the Deep Hole. If we can, then trust me, we may leave
+this blessed island yet. You stay here and keep an eye on it while I
+go after the Doctor. Don’t move or speak—don’t even breathe heavy: he
+might get scared—awful timid things, snails. Just watch him; and I’ll
+be back in two shakes.”
+
+Stealthily creeping up the sands till she could get behind the cover
+of some bushes before she took to her wings, Polynesia went off in
+the direction of the town; while I remained alone upon the shore
+fascinatedly watching this unbelievable monster wallowing in the
+shallow sea.
+
+It moved very little. From time to time it lifted its head out of the
+water showing its enormously long neck and horns. Occasionally it
+would try and draw itself up, the way a snail does when he goes to
+move, but almost at once it would sink down again as if exhausted. It
+seemed to me to act as though it were hurt underneath; but the lower
+part of it, which was below the level of the water, I could not see.
+
+I was still absorbed in watching the great beast when Polynesia
+returned with the Doctor. They approached so silently and so cautiously
+that I neither saw nor heard them coming till I found them crouching
+beside me on the sand.
+
+One sight of the snail changed the Doctor completely. His eyes just
+sparkled with delight. I had not seen him so thrilled and happy since
+the time we caught the Jabizri beetle when we first landed on the
+island.
+
+“It is he!” he whispered—“the Great Glass Sea-snail himself—not a doubt
+of it. Polynesia, go down the shore away and see if you can find any
+of the porpoises for me. Perhaps they can tell us what the snail is
+doing here—It’s very unusual for him to be in shallow water like this.
+And Stubbins, you go over to the harbor and bring me a small canoe. But
+be most careful how you paddle it round into this bay. If the snail
+should take fright and go out into the deeper water, we may never get a
+chance to see him again.”
+
+“And don’t tell any of the Indians,” Polynesia added in a whisper as
+I moved to go. “We must keep this a secret or we’ll have a crowd of
+sightseers round here in five minutes. It’s mighty lucky we found the
+snail in a quiet bay.”
+
+Reaching the harbor, I picked out a small light canoe from among the
+number that were lying there and without telling any one what I wanted
+it for, got in and started off to paddle it down the shore.
+
+I was mortally afraid that the snail might have left before I got back.
+And you can imagine how delighted I was, when I rounded a rocky cape
+and came in sight of the bay, to find he was still there.
+
+Polynesia, I saw, had got her errand done and returned ahead of me,
+bringing with her a pair of porpoises. These were already conversing in
+low tones with John Dolittle. I beached the canoe and went up to listen.
+
+“What I want to know,” the Doctor was saying, “is how the snail comes
+to be here. I was given to understand that he usually stayed in the
+Deep Hole; and that when he did come to the surface it was always in
+mid-ocean.”
+
+“Oh, didn’t you know?—Haven’t you heard?” the porpoises replied: “you
+covered up the Deep Hole when you sank the island. Why yes: you let it
+down right on top of the mouth of the Hole—sort of put the lid on, as
+it were. The fishes that were in it at the time have been trying to get
+out ever since. The Great Snail had the worst luck of all: the island
+nipped him by the tail just as he was leaving the Hole for a quiet
+evening stroll. And he was held there for six months trying to wriggle
+himself free. Finally he had to heave the whole island up at one end to
+get his tail loose. Didn’t you feel a sort of an earthquake shock about
+an hour ago?”
+
+“Yes I did,” said the Doctor, “it shook down part of the theatre I was
+building.”
+
+“Well, that was the snail heaving up the island to get out of the
+Hole,” they said. “All the other fishes saw their chance and escaped
+when he raised the lid. It was lucky for them he’s so big and strong.
+But the strain of that terrific heave told on him: he sprained a muscle
+in his tail and it started swelling rather badly. He wanted some quiet
+place to rest up; and seeing this soft beach handy he crawled in here.”
+
+“Dear me!” said the Doctor. “I’m terribly sorry. I suppose I should
+have given some sort of notice that the island was going to be let
+down. But, to tell the truth, we didn’t know it ourselves; it happened
+by a kind of an accident. Do you imagine the poor fellow is hurt very
+badly?”
+
+“We’re not sure,” said the porpoises; “because none of us can speak his
+language. But we swam right around him on our way in here, and he did
+not seem to be really seriously injured.”
+
+“Can’t any of your people speak shellfish?” the Doctor asked.
+
+“Not a word,” said they. “It’s a most frightfully difficult language.”
+
+“Do you think that you might be able to find me some kind of a fish
+that could?”
+
+“We don’t know,” said the porpoises. “We might try.”
+
+“I should be extremely grateful to you if you would,” said the Doctor.
+“There are many important questions I want to ask this snail—And
+besides, I would like to do my best to cure his tail for him. It’s the
+least I can do. After all, it was my fault, indirectly, that he got
+hurt.”
+
+“Well, if you wait here,” said the porpoises, “we’ll see what can be
+done.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE FIFTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED AT LAST
+
+
+SO Doctor Dolittle with a crown on his head sat down upon the shore
+like King Knut, and waited. And for a whole hour the porpoises kept
+going and coming, bringing up different kinds of sea-beasts from the
+deep to see if they could help him.
+
+Many and curious were the creatures they produced. It would seem
+however that there were very few things that spoke shellfish except
+the shellfish themselves. Still, the porpoises grew a little more
+hopeful when they discovered a very old sea-urchin (a funny, ball-like,
+little fellow with long whiskers all over him) who said he could not
+speak pure shellfish, but he used to understand starfish—enough to get
+along—when he was young. This was coming nearer, even if it wasn’t
+anything to go crazy about. Leaving the urchin with us, the porpoises
+went off once more to hunt up a starfish.
+
+They were not long getting one, for they were quite common in those
+parts. Then, using the sea-urchin as an interpreter, they questioned
+the starfish. He was a rather stupid sort of creature; but he tried his
+best to be helpful. And after a little patient examination we found to
+our delight that he could speak shellfish moderately well.
+
+Feeling quite encouraged, the Doctor and I now got into the canoe; and,
+with the porpoises, the urchin and the starfish swimming alongside, we
+paddled very gently out till we were close under the towering shell of
+the Great Snail.
+
+And then began the most curious conversation I have ever witnessed.
+First the starfish would ask the snail something; and whatever answer
+the snail gave, the starfish would tell it to the sea-urchin, the
+urchin would tell it to the porpoises and the porpoises would tell it
+to the Doctor.
+
+In this way we obtained considerable information, mostly about the very
+ancient history of the Animal Kingdom; but we missed a good many of the
+finer points in the snail’s longer speeches on account of the stupidity
+of the starfish and all this translating from one language to another.
+
+While the snail was speaking, the Doctor and I put our ears against the
+wall of his shell and found that we could in this way hear the sound of
+his voice quite plainly. It was, as the fidgit had described, deep and
+bell-like. But of course we could not understand a single word he said.
+However the Doctor was by this time terrifically excited about getting
+near to learning the language he had sought so long. And presently by
+making the other fishes repeat over and over again short phrases which
+the snail used, he began to put words together for himself. You see,
+he was already familiar with one or two fish languages; and that helped
+him quite a little. After he had practised for a while like this he
+leant over the side of the canoe and putting his face below the water,
+tried speaking to the snail direct.
+
+It was hard and difficult work; and hours went by before he got any
+results. But presently I could tell by the happy look on his face that
+little by little he was succeeding.
+
+The sun was low in the West and the cool evening breeze was beginning
+to rustle softly through the bamboo-groves when the Doctor finally
+turned from his work and said to me,
+
+“Stubbins, I have persuaded the snail to come in on to the dry part of
+the beach and let me examine his tail. Will you please go back to the
+town and tell the workmen to stop working on the theatre for to-day?
+Then go on to the palace and get my medicine-bag. I think I left it
+under the throne in the Audience Chamber.”
+
+“And remember,” Polynesia whispered as I turned away, “not a word to
+a soul. If you get asked questions, keep your mouth shut. Pretend you
+have a toothache or something.”
+
+This time when I got back to the shore—with the medicine-bag—I found
+the snail high and dry on the beach. Seeing him in his full length like
+this, it was easy to understand how old-time, superstitious sailors
+had called him the Sea-serpent. He certainly was a most gigantic, and
+in his way, a graceful, beautiful creature. John Dolittle was examining
+a swelling on his tail.
+
+From the bag which I had brought the Doctor took a large bottle of
+embrocation and began rubbing the sprain. Next he took all the bandages
+he had in the bag and fastened them end to end. But even like that,
+they were not long enough to go more than halfway round the enormous
+tail. The Doctor insisted that he must get the swelling strapped tight
+somehow. So he sent me off to the palace once more to get all the
+sheets from the Royal Linen-closet. These Polynesia and I tore into
+bandages for him. And at last, after terrific exertions, we got the
+sprain strapped to his satisfaction.
+
+The snail really seemed to be quite pleased with the attention he had
+received; and he stretched himself in lazy comfort when the Doctor was
+done. In this position, when the shell on his back was empty, you could
+look right through it and see the palm-trees on the other side.
+
+“I think one of us had better sit up with him all night,” said the
+Doctor. “We might put Bumpo on that duty; he’s been napping all day, I
+know—in the summer-house. It’s a pretty bad sprain, that; and if the
+snail shouldn’t be able to sleep, he’ll be happier with some one with
+him for company. He’ll get all right though—in a few days I should
+judge. If I wasn’t so confoundedly busy I’d sit up with him myself. I
+wish I could, because I still have a lot of things to talk over with
+him.”
+
+“But Doctor,” said Polynesia as we prepared to go back to the town,
+“you ought to take a holiday. All Kings take holidays once in the
+while—every one of them. King Charles, for instance—of course Charles
+was before your time—but he!—why, he was _always_ holiday-making. Not
+that he was ever what you would call a model king. But just the same,
+he was frightfully popular. Everybody liked him—even the golden-carp in
+the fish-pond at Hampton Court. As a king, the only thing I had against
+him was his inventing those stupid, little, snappy dogs they call King
+Charles Spaniels. There are lots of stories told about poor Charles;
+but that, in my opinion, is the worst thing he did. However, all this
+is beside the point. As I was saying, kings have to take holidays the
+same as anybody else. And you haven’t taken one since you were crowned,
+have you now?”
+
+“No,” said the Doctor, “I suppose that’s true.”
+
+“Well now I tell you what you do,” said she: “as soon as you get back
+to the palace you publish a royal proclamation that you are going away
+for a week into the country for your health. And you’re going _without
+any servants_, you understand—just like a plain person. It’s called
+traveling incognito, when kings go off like that. They all do it—It’s
+the only way they can ever have a good time. Then the week you’re away
+you can spend lolling on the beach back there with the snail. How’s
+that?”
+
+“I’d like to,” said the Doctor. “It sounds most attractive. But there’s
+that new theatre to be built; none of our carpenters would know how to
+get those rafters on without me to show them—And then there are the
+babies: these native mothers are so frightfully ignorant.”
+
+“Oh bother the theatre—and the babies too,” snapped Polynesia. “The
+theatre can wait a week. And as for babies, they never have anything
+more than colic. How do you suppose babies got along before you came
+here, for heaven’s sake?—Take a holiday.... You need it.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE SIXTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE LAST CABINET MEETING
+
+
+FROM the way Polynesia talked, I guessed that this idea of a holiday
+was part of her plan.
+
+The Doctor made no reply; and we walked on silently towards the town. I
+could see, nevertheless that her words had made an impression on him.
+
+After supper he disappeared from the palace without saying where he was
+going—a thing he had never done before. Of course we all knew where he
+had gone: back to the beach to sit up with the snail. We were sure of
+it because he had said nothing to Bumpo about attending to the matter.
+
+As soon as the doors were closed upon the Cabinet Meeting that night,
+Polynesia addressed the Ministry:
+
+“Look here, you fellows,” said she: “we’ve simply got to get the Doctor
+to take this holiday somehow—unless we’re willing to stay in this
+blessed island for the rest of our lives.”
+
+“But what difference,” Bumpo asked, “is his taking a holiday going to
+make?”
+
+Impatiently Polynesia turned upon the Minister of the Interior.
+
+“Don’t you see? If he has a clear week to get thoroughly interested in
+his natural history again—marine stuff, his dream of seeing the floor
+of the ocean and all that—there may be some chance of his consenting
+to leave this pesky place. But while he is here on duty as king he
+never gets a moment to think of anything outside of the business of
+government.”
+
+“Yes, that’s true. He’s far too consententious,” Bumpo agreed.
+
+“And besides,” Polynesia went on, “his only hope of ever getting away
+from here would be to escape secretly. He’s got to leave while he is
+holiday-making, incognito—when no one knows where he is or what he’s
+doing, but us. If he built a ship big enough to cross the sea in, all
+the Indians would see it, and hear it, being built; and they’d ask what
+it was for. They would interfere. They’d sooner have anything happen
+than lose the Doctor. Why, I believe if they thought he had any idea of
+escaping they would put chains on him.”
+
+“Yes, I really think they would,” I agreed. “Yet without a ship of some
+kind I don’t see how the Doctor is going to get away, even secretly.”
+
+“Well, I’ll tell you,” said Polynesia. “If we do succeed in making
+him take this holiday, our next step will be to get the sea-snail
+to promise to take us all in his shell and carry us to the mouth of
+Puddleby River. If we can once get the snail willing, the temptation
+will be too much for John Dolittle and he’ll come, I know—especially as
+he’ll be able to take those new plants and drugs of Long Arrow’s to the
+English doctors, as well as see the floor of the ocean on the way.”
+
+“How thrilling!” I cried. “Do you mean the snail could take us under
+the sea all the way back to Puddleby?”
+
+“Certainly,” said Polynesia, “a little trip like that is nothing to
+him. He would crawl along the floor of the ocean and the Doctor could
+see all the sights. Perfectly simple. Oh, John Dolittle will come all
+right, if we can only get him to take that holiday—_and_ if the snail
+will consent to give us the ride.”
+
+“Golly, I hope he does!” sighed Jip. “I’m sick of these beastly
+tropics—they make you feel so lazy and good-for-nothing. And there
+are no rats or anything here—not that a fellow would have the energy
+to chase ’em even if there were. My, wouldn’t I be glad to see old
+Puddleby and the garden again! And won’t Dab-Dab be glad to have us
+back!”
+
+“By the end of next month,” said I, “it will be two whole years since
+we left England—since we pulled up the anchor at Kingsbridge and bumped
+our way out into the river.”
+
+“And got stuck on the mud-bank,” added Chee-Chee in a dreamy, far-away
+voice.
+
+“Do you remember how all the people waved to us from the river-wall?” I
+asked.
+
+“Yes. And I suppose they’ve often talked about us in the town since,”
+said Jip—“wondering whether we’re dead or alive.”
+
+“Cease,” said Bumpo, “I feel I am about to weep from sediment.”
+
+
+
+
+_THE SEVENTH CHAPTER_
+
+THE DOCTOR’S DECISION
+
+
+WELL, you can guess how glad we were when next morning the Doctor,
+after his all-night conversation with the snail, told us that he had
+made up his mind to take the holiday. A proclamation was published
+right away by the Town Crier that His Majesty was going into the
+country for a seven-day rest, but that during his absence the palace
+and the government offices would be kept open as usual.
+
+Polynesia was immensely pleased. She at once set quietly to work making
+arrangements for our departure—taking good care the while that no one
+should get an inkling of where we were going, what we were taking with
+us, the hour of our leaving or which of the palace-gates we would go
+out by.
+
+Cunning old schemer that she was, she forgot nothing. And not even we,
+who were of the Doctor’s party, could imagine what reasons she had
+for some of her preparations. She took me inside and told me that the
+one thing I must remember to bring with me was _all_ of the Doctor’s
+note-books. Long Arrow, who was the only Indian let into the secret
+of our destination, said he would like to come with us as far as the
+beach to see the Great Snail; and him Polynesia told to be sure and
+bring his collection of plants. Bumpo she ordered to carry the Doctor’s
+high hat—carefully hidden under his coat. She sent off nearly all the
+footmen who were on night duty to do errands in the town, so that there
+should be as few servants as possible to see us leave. And midnight,
+the hour when most of the townspeople would be asleep, she finally
+chose for our departure.
+
+We had to take a week’s food-supply with us for the royal holiday. So,
+with our other packages, we were heavy laden when on the stroke of
+twelve we opened the west door of the palace and stepped cautiously and
+quietly into the moonlit garden.
+
+“Tiptoe incognito,” whispered Bumpo as we gently closed the heavy doors
+behind us.
+
+No one had seen us leave.
+
+At the foot of the stone steps leading from the Peacock Terrace to the
+Sunken Rosary, something made me pause and look back at the magnificent
+palace which we had built in this strange, far-off land where no white
+men but ourselves had ever come. Somehow I felt it in my bones that we
+were leaving it to-night never to return again. And I wondered what
+other kings and ministers would dwell in its splendid halls when we
+were gone. The air was hot; and everything was deadly still but for the
+gentle splashing of the tame flamingoes paddling in the lily-pond.
+Suddenly the twinkling lantern of a night watchman appeared round the
+corner of a cypress hedge. Polynesia plucked at my stocking and, in an
+impatient whisper, bade me hurry before our flight be discovered.
+
+On our arrival at the beach we found the snail already feeling much
+better and now able to move his tail without pain.
+
+The porpoises (who are by nature inquisitive creatures) were still
+hanging about in the offing to see if anything of interest was going to
+happen. Polynesia, the plotter, while the Doctor was occupied with his
+new patient, signaled to them and drew them aside for a little private
+chat.
+
+“Now see here, my friends,” said she speaking low: “you know how much
+John Dolittle has done for the animals—given his whole life up to them,
+one might say. Well, here is your chance to do something for him.
+Listen: he got made king of this island against his will, see? And now
+that he has taken the job on, he feels that he can’t leave it—thinks
+the Indians won’t be able to get along without him and all that—which
+is nonsense, as you and I very well know. All right. Then here’s the
+point: if this snail were only willing to take him and us—and a little
+baggage—not very much, thirty or forty pieces, say—inside his shell and
+carry us to England, we feel sure that the Doctor would go; because
+he’s just crazy to mess about on the floor of the ocean. What’s more
+this would be his one and only chance of escape from the island. Now
+it is highly important that the Doctor return to his own country to
+carry on his proper work which means such a lot to the animals of the
+world. So what we want you to do is to tell the sea-urchin to tell the
+starfish to tell the snail to take us in his shell and carry us to
+Puddleby River. Is that plain?”
+
+[Illustration: “‘Tiptoe incognito,’ whispered Bumpo”]
+
+“Quite, quite,” said the porpoises. “And we will willingly do our very
+best to persuade him—for it is, as you say, a perfect shame for the
+great man to be wasting his time here when he is so much needed by the
+animals.”
+
+“And don’t let the Doctor know what you’re about,” said Polynesia as
+they started to move off. “He might balk if he thought we had any hand
+in it. Get the snail to offer on his own account to take us. See?”
+
+John Dolittle, unaware of anything save the work he was engaged on, was
+standing knee-deep in the shallow water, helping the snail try out his
+mended tail to see if it were well enough to travel on. Bumpo and Long
+Arrow, with Chee-Chee and Jip, were lolling at the foot of a palm a
+little way up the beach. Polynesia and I now went and joined them.
+
+Half an hour passed.
+
+What success the porpoises had met with, we did not know, till suddenly
+the Doctor left the snail’s side and came splashing out to us, quite
+breathless.
+
+“What _do_ you think?” he cried, “while I was talking to the snail
+just now he offered, of his own accord, to take us all back to England
+inside his shell. He says he has got to go on a voyage of discovery
+anyway, to hunt up a new home, now that the Deep Hole is closed. Said
+it wouldn’t be much out of his way to drop us at Puddleby River, if we
+cared to come along—Goodness, what a chance! I’d love to go. To examine
+the floor of the ocean all the way from Brazil to Europe! No man ever
+did it before. What a glorious trip!—Oh that I had never allowed myself
+to be made king! Now I must see the chance of a lifetime slip by.”
+
+He turned from us and moved down the sands again to the middle beach,
+gazing wistfully, longingly out at the snail. There was something
+peculiarly sad and forlorn about him as he stood there on the lonely,
+moonlit shore, the crown upon his head, his figure showing sharply
+black against the glittering sea behind.
+
+Out of the darkness at my elbow Polynesia rose and quietly moved down
+to his side.
+
+“Now Doctor,” said she in a soft persuasive voice as though she were
+talking to a wayward child, “you know this king business is not your
+real work in life. These natives will be able to get along without
+you—not so well as they do with you of course—but they’ll manage—the
+same as they did before you came. Nobody can say you haven’t done your
+duty by them. It was their fault: they made you king. Why not accept
+the snail’s offer; and just drop everything now, and go? The work
+you’ll do, the information you’ll carry home, will be of far more value
+than what you’re doing here.”
+
+“Good friend,” said the Doctor turning to her sadly, “I cannot. They
+would go back to their old unsanitary ways: bad water, uncooked fish,
+no drainage, enteric fever and the rest.... No. I must think of their
+health, their welfare. I began life as a people’s doctor: I seem to
+have come back to it in the end. I cannot desert them. Later perhaps
+something will turn up. But I cannot leave them now.”
+
+“That’s where you’re wrong, Doctor,” said she. “Now is when you should
+go. Nothing will ‘turn up.’ The longer you stay, the harder it will be
+to leave—Go now. Go to-night.”
+
+“What, steal away without even saying good-bye to them! Why, Polynesia,
+what a thing to suggest!”
+
+“A fat chance they would give you to say good-bye!” snorted Polynesia
+growing impatient at last. “I tell you, Doctor, if you go back to that
+palace tonight, for goodbys or anything else, you will stay there.
+Now—this moment—is the time for you to go.”
+
+The truth of the old parrot’s words seemed to be striking home; for
+the Doctor stood silent a minute, thinking.
+
+“But there are the note-books,” he said presently: “I would have to go
+back to fetch them.”
+
+“I have them here, Doctor,” said I, speaking up—“all of them.”
+
+Again he pondered.
+
+“And Long Arrow’s collection,” he said. “I would have to take that also
+with me.”
+
+“It is here, Oh Kindly One,” came the Indian’s deep voice from the
+shadow beneath the palm.
+
+“But what about provisions,” asked the Doctor—“food for the journey?”
+
+“We have a week’s supply with us, for our holiday,” said
+Polynesia—“that’s more than we will need.”
+
+For a third time the Doctor was silent and thoughtful.
+
+“And then there’s my hat,” he said fretfully at last. “That settles it:
+I’ll _have_ to go back to the palace. I can’t leave without my hat. How
+could I appear in Puddleby with this crown on my head?”
+
+“Here it is, Doctor,” said Bumpo producing the hat, old, battered and
+beloved, from under his coat.
+
+Polynesia had indeed thought of everything.
+
+Yet even now we could see the Doctor was still trying to think up
+further excuses.
+
+“Oh Kindly One,” said Long Arrow, “why tempt ill fortune? Your way is
+clear. Your future and your work beckon you back to your foreign home
+beyond the sea. With you will go also what lore I too have gathered
+for mankind—to lands where it will be of wider use than it can ever
+here. I see the glimmerings of dawn in the eastern heaven. Day is at
+hand. Go before your subjects are abroad. Go before your project is
+discovered. For truly I believe that if you go not now you will linger
+the remainder of your days a captive king in Popsipetel.”
+
+Great decisions often take no more than a moment in the making. Against
+the now paling sky I saw the Doctor’s figure suddenly stiffen. Slowly
+he lifted the Sacred Crown from off his head and laid it on the sands.
+
+And when he spoke his voice was choked with tears.
+
+“They will find it here,” he murmured, “when they come to search for
+me. And they will know that I have gone.... My children, my poor
+children!—I wonder will they ever understand why it was I left them....
+I wonder will they ever understand—and forgive.”
+
+He took his old hat from Bumpo; then facing Long Arrow, gripped his
+outstretched hand in silence.
+
+“You decide aright, oh Kindly One,” said the Indian—“though none
+will miss and mourn you more than Long Arrow, the son of Golden
+Arrow—Farewell, and may good fortune ever lead you by the hand!”
+
+It was the first and only time I ever saw the Doctor weep. Without a
+word to any of us, he turned and moved down the beach into the shallow
+water of the sea.
+
+The snail humped up its back and made an opening between its shoulders
+and the edge of its shell. The Doctor clambered up and passed within.
+We followed him, after handing up the baggage. The opening shut tight
+with a whistling suction noise.
+
+Then turning in the direction of the East, the great creature began
+moving smoothly forward, down the slope into the deeper waters.
+
+Just as the swirling dark green surf was closing in above our heads,
+the big morning sun popped his rim up over the edge of the ocean. And
+through our transparent walls of pearl we saw the watery world about
+us suddenly light up with that most wondrously colorful of visions, a
+daybreak beneath the sea.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The rest of the story of our homeward voyage is soon told.
+
+Our new quarters we found very satisfactory. Inside the spacious shell,
+the snail’s wide back was extremely comfortable to sit and lounge
+on—better than a sofa, when you once got accustomed to the damp and
+clammy feeling of it. He asked us, shortly after we started, if we
+wouldn’t mind taking off our boots, as the hobnails in them hurt his
+back as we ran excitedly from one side to another to see the different
+sights.
+
+The motion was not unpleasant, very smooth and even; in fact, but for
+the landscape passing outside, you would not know, on the level going,
+that you were moving at all.
+
+I had always thought for some reason or other that the bottom of the
+sea was flat. I found that it was just as irregular and changeful as
+the surface of the dry land. We climbed over great mountain-ranges,
+with peaks towering above peaks. We threaded our way through dense
+forests of tall sea-plants. We crossed wide empty stretches of sandy
+mud, like deserts—so vast that you went on for a whole day with nothing
+ahead of you but a dim horizon. Sometimes the scene was moss-covered,
+rolling country, green and restful to the eye like rich pastures; so
+that you almost looked to see sheep cropping on these underwater downs.
+And sometimes the snail would roll us forward inside him like peas,
+when he suddenly dipped downward to descend into some deep secluded
+valley with steeply sloping sides.
+
+In these lower levels we often came upon the shadowy shapes of dead
+ships, wrecked and sunk Heaven only knows how many years ago; and
+passing them we would speak in hushed whispers like children seeing
+monuments in churches.
+
+Here too, in the deeper, darker waters, monstrous fishes, feeding
+quietly in caves and hollows would suddenly spring up, alarmed at our
+approach, and flash away into the gloom with the speed of an arrow.
+While other bolder ones, all sorts of unearthly shapes and colors,
+would come right up and peer in at us through the shell.
+
+“I suppose they think we are a sort of sanaquarium,” said Bumpo—“I’d
+hate to be a fish.”
+
+It was a thrilling and ever-changing show. The Doctor wrote or sketched
+incessantly. Before long we had filled all the blank note-books we had
+left. Then we searched our pockets for any odd scraps of paper on which
+to jot down still more observations. We even went through the used
+books a second time, writing in between the lines, scribbling all over
+the covers, back and front.
+
+Our greatest difficulty was getting enough light to see by. In the
+lower waters it was very dim. On the third day we passed a band of
+fire-eels, a sort of large, marine glow-worm; and the Doctor asked the
+snail to get them to come with us for a way. This they did, swimming
+alongside; and their light was very helpful, though not brilliant.
+
+How our giant shellfish found his way across that vast and gloomy
+world was a great puzzle to us. John Dolittle asked him by what means
+he navigated—how he knew he was on the right road to Puddleby River.
+And what the snail said in reply got the Doctor so excited, that having
+no paper left, he tore out the lining of his precious hat and covered
+it with notes.
+
+By night of course it was impossible to see anything; and during the
+hours of darkness the snail used to swim instead of crawl. When he did
+so he could travel at a terrific speed, just by waggling that long tail
+of his. This was the reason why we completed the trip in so short a
+time—five and a half days.
+
+The air of our chamber, not having a change in the whole voyage, got
+very close and stuffy; and for the first two days we all had headaches.
+But after that we got used to it and didn’t mind it in the least.
+
+Early in the afternoon of the sixth day, we noticed we were climbing a
+long gentle slope. As we went upward it grew lighter. Finally we saw
+that the snail had crawled right out of the water altogether and had
+now come to a dead stop on a long strip of gray sand.
+
+Behind us we saw the surface of the sea rippled by the wind. On our
+left was the mouth of a river with the tide running out. While in
+front, the low flat land stretched away into the mist—which prevented
+one from seeing very far in any direction. A pair of wild ducks with
+craning necks and whirring wings passed over us and disappeared like
+shadows, seaward.
+
+As a landscape, it was a great change from the hot brilliant sunshine
+of Popsipetel.
+
+With the same whistling suction sound, the snail made the opening for
+us to crawl out by. As we stepped down upon the marshy land we noticed
+that a fine, drizzling autumn rain was falling.
+
+“Can this be Merrie England?” asked Bumpo, peering into the
+fog—“doesn’t look like any place in particular. Maybe the snail hasn’t
+brought us right after all.”
+
+“Yes,” sighed Polynesia, shaking the rain off her feathers, “this is
+England all right—You can tell it by the beastly climate.”
+
+“Oh, but fellows,” cried Jip, as he sniffed up the air in great gulps,
+“it has a _smell_—a good and glorious smell!—Excuse me a minute: I see
+a water-rat.”
+
+“Sh!—Listen!” said Chee-Chee through teeth that chattered with the
+cold. “There’s Puddleby church-clock striking four. Why don’t we divide
+up the baggage and get moving. We’ve got a long way to foot it home
+across the marshes.”
+
+“Let’s hope,” I put in, “that Dab-Dab has a nice fire burning in the
+kitchen.”
+
+“I’m sure she will,” said the Doctor as he picked out his old handbag
+from among the bundles—“With this wind from the East she’ll need it to
+keep the animals in the house warm. Come on. Let’s hug the river-bank
+so we don’t miss our way in the fog. You know, there’s something rather
+attractive in the bad weather of England—when you’ve got a kitchen-fire
+to look forward to.... Four o’clock! Come along—we’ll just be in nice
+time for tea.”
+
+[Illustration: THE END]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Transcriber’s Notes:
+
+Varied hyphenation retained. Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
+
+Page 20, “he” changed to “be” (Don’t be alarmed)
+
+Page 135, “shellflsh” changed to “shellfish” (of the shellfish)
+
+Page 137, “way” changed to “may” (come what may)
+
+Page 188, Part Four, _THE FIRST CHAPTER_ made italic to match rest of
+usage.
+
+Page 218, “is” changed to “it” (where it is)
+
+Page 249, “musn’t” changed to “mustn’t” (that he musn’t give)
+
+Page 324, “Polnesia” changed to “Polynesia” (whispered Polynesia)
+
+Page 347, “thoroughy” changed to “thoroughly” (thoroughly interested in)
+
+Page 357, “Poynesia” changed to “Polynesia” (said Polynesia—“that’s
+more)
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting.
+    </title>
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
+other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
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+www.gutenberg.org.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
+to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
+
+Title: The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle
+
+Author: Hugh Lofting
+
+Release Date: May 19, 2016 [EBook #1154]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOYAGES OF DR. DOLITTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Emmy, MWS and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
+produced from images generously made available by The
+Internet Archive)
+
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+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1 class="faux"><i>THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE</i></h1>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 513px;">
+<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="513" height="800" alt="cover" />
+</div>
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[i]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="maintitle"><i>THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE</i></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 374px;">
+<img src="images/i-004.jpg" width="374" height="600" alt="THE POPSIPETEL PICTURE-HISTORY OF KING JONG THINKALOT" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 360px;"><a id="Frontispiece"></a>
+<img src="images/i-004-withoverlay.jpg" width="360" height="600" alt="Image with tissue paper overlay" />
+<div class="tnote"><small>Transcriber's note: Image with tissue paper overlay</small></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="captions">
+<tr>
+<td align="center">I<br />
+HIS LANDING<br />
+ON THE<br />
+ISLAND</td>
+<td align="center">II<br />
+HIS MEETING<br />
+WITH THE<br />
+BEETLE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="center">III<br />
+HE LIBERATES<br />
+THE LOST<br />
+FAMILIES</td>
+<td align="center">IV<br />
+HE MAKES<br />
+FIRE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="center">V<br />
+HE LEADS THE<br />
+PEOPLE TO<br />
+VICTORY IN<br />
+WAR</td>
+<td align="center">VI<br />
+HE IS<br />
+CROWNED<br />
+KING</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table></div>
+<div class="center">
+<br />
+<big>THE<br />
+POPSIPETEL<br />
+PICTURE-HISTORY OF<br />
+KING JONG THINKALOT</big></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[ii]</a><br /><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[iii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 514px;">
+<img src="images/title.jpg" width="514" height="800" alt="title page" />
+</div>
+
+<div class="maintitle">
+<i>The</i> VOYAGES <i>of</i><br />
+DOCTOR DOLITTLE</div>
+<div class="center"><br />
+ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR<br />
+<br />
+BY HUGH LOFTING<br />
+<br />
+<i>Published by<br />
+FREDK. A. STOKES Co.<br />
+at 443 Fourth Avenue New York A.D. 1922</i><br />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[iv]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="copyright">
+<i>Copyright, 1922, by</i><br />
+<span class="smcap">Frederick A. Stokes Company</span><br />
+<br />
+<i>All rights reserved, including that of translation<br />
+into foreign languages</i><br />
+<br />
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="publishing dates">
+<tr>
+<td align="left">First Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">August 18, 1922</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Second Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">November 10, 1922</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Third Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">February 28, 1923</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Fourth Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">June 20, 1923</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Fifth Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">August 16, 1923</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Sixth Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">November 30, 1923</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Seventh Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">April 18, 1925</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Eighth Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">March 19, 1926</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Ninth Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">July 30, 1927</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Tenth Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">April 11, 1928</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Eleventh Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">June 19, 1929</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Twelfth Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">September 12, 1930</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Thirteenth Printing,</td>
+<td align="left">August 10, 1931</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">Fourteenth Printing,&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left">September 1, 1933</td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+</div>
+<br />
+<i>Printed in the United States of America</i><br />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[v]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<i>To<br />
+Colin<br />
+and<br />
+Elizabeth</i><br />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[vi]</a><br /><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[vii]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>CONTENTS</i></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
+<tr>
+<td align="center" colspan="3">PART ONE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left" colspan="2"><small>CHAPTER</small></td>
+<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Prologue</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Cobbler’s Son</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">I Hear of the Great Naturalist</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_8">8</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Doctor’s Home</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_15">15</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Wiff-Waff</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Polynesia</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_32">32</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Wounded Squirrel</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_41">41</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Shellfish Talk</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_45">45</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VIII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Are You a Good Noticer?</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_50">50</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IX&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Garden of Dreams</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">X&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Private Zoo</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XI&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">My Schoolmaster, Polynesia</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_65">65</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">My Great Idea</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Traveler Arrives</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_75">75</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XIV&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Chee-Chee’s Voyage</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_80">80</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XV&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">I Become a Doctor’s Assistant</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="center" colspan="3">PART TWO</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Crew of “The Curlew”</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Luke the Hermit</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Jip and the Secret</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_95">95</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bob</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_99">99</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Mendoza</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_105">105</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Judge’s Dog</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_111">111</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The End of the Mystery</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_116">116</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VIII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Three Cheers</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IX&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Purple Bird-of-Paradise</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_126">126</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">X&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Long Arrow, the Son of Golden Arrow</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_129">129</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XI&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Blind Travel</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_135">135</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[viii]</a></span></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">XII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Destiny and Destination</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_140">140</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="center" colspan="3">PART THREE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Third Man</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_144">144</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Good-Bye!</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_151">151</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Our Troubles Begin</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Our Troubles Continue</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_160">160</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Polynesia Has a Plan</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_167">167</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Bed-Maker of Monteverde</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_172">172</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Doctor’s Wager</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_177">177</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VIII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Great Bullfight</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_184">184</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IX&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">We Depart in a Hurry</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="center" colspan="3">PART FOUR</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Shellfish Languages Again</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_198">198</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Fidgit’s Story</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bad Weather</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Wrecked!</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Land!</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_233">233</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Jabizri</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_239">239</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hawk’s-Head Mountain</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="center" colspan="3">PART FIVE</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Great Moment</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">“The Men of the Moving Land”</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Fire</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_266">266</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">What Makes an Island Float</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_271">271</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">War!</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_275">275</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">General Polynesia</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Peace of the Parrots</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_287">287</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VIII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Hanging Stone</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_291">291</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IX&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Election</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_300">300</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">X&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Coronation of King Jong</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_308">308</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[ix]</a></span></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="center" colspan="3">PART SIX</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">I&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">New Popsipetel</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_314">314</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">II&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Thoughts of Home</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_322">322</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">III&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Red Man’s Science</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">IV&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Sea-Serpent</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_332">332</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">V&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Shellfish Riddle Solved at Last</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_340">340</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VI&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Last Cabinet Meeting</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_346">346</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="right">VII&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Doctor’s Decision</span></td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_350">350</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[x]</a><br /><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[xi]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>ILLUSTRATIONS</i></h2>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary="Illustrations">
+<tr>
+<td align="left">The Popsipetel Picture-History of King Jong Thinkalot (in colors)</td>
+<td align="right"><i><a href="#Frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></i></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">&nbsp;</td>
+<td align="right"><small>PAGE</small></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“I would sit on the river-wall with my feet dangling over the water”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_5">5</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“And in her right foot she carried a lighted candle!”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_22">22</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“‘Being a good noticer is terribly important’”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">A traveler arrives</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“On the bed sat the Hermit”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“Sat scowling down upon the amazed and gaping jury”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_115">115</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“‘What else can I think?’”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_133">133</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“‘Boy, where’s the skipper?’”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_147">147</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“In these lower levels we came upon the shadowy shapes of dead ships” (in colors)</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_162">162</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“The Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the bed-maker”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“Did acrobatics on the beast’s horns”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_189">189</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“‘He talks English!’”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“I was alone in the ocean!”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_226">226</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“It was a great moment”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">The Terrible Three</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[xii]</a></span>“Working away with their noses against the end of the island”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_293">293</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“The Whispering Rocks”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“Had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his head”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_317">317</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td align="left">“‘Tiptoe incognito,’ whispered Bumpo”</td>
+<td align="right"><a href="#Page_353">353</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table></div>
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_xiii" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</a></span></p>
+<h2><i>THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE</i></h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<div class="maintitle">THE VOYAGES OF<br />
+DOCTOR DOLITTLE</div>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<h2>PROLOGUE</h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">ALL that I have written so far about
+Doctor Dolittle I heard long after it
+happened from those who had known
+him—indeed a great deal of it took
+place before I was born. But I now come to set
+down that part of the great man’s life which I
+myself saw and took part in.</p>
+
+<p>Many years ago the Doctor gave me permission
+to do this. But we were both of us so busy then
+voyaging around the world, having adventures and
+filling note-books full of natural history that I
+never seemed to get time to sit down and write of
+our doings.</p>
+
+<p>Now of course, when I am quite an old man,
+my memory isn’t so good any more. But whenever
+I am in doubt and have to hesitate and think, I
+always ask Polynesia, the parrot.</p>
+
+<p>That wonderful bird (she is now nearly two
+hundred and fifty years old) sits on the top of my
+desk, usually humming sailor songs to herself, while
+I write this book. And, as every one who ever met
+her knows, Polynesia’s memory is the most marvelous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span>
+memory in the world. If there is any happening
+I am not quite sure of, she is always able to put
+me right, to tell me exactly how it took place, who
+was there and everything about it. In fact sometimes
+I almost think I ought to say that this book
+was written by Polynesia instead of me.</p>
+
+<p>Very well then, I will begin. And first of all
+I must tell you something about myself and how
+I came to meet the Doctor.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>PART I</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<h2><i>THE FIRST CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE COBBLER’S SON</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">MY name was Tommy Stubbins, son of
+Jacob Stubbins, the cobbler of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh;
+and I was nine and
+a half years old. At that time Puddleby
+was only quite a small town. A river ran
+through the middle of it; and over this river there
+was a very old stone bridge, called Kingsbridge,
+which led you from the market-place on one side to
+the churchyard on the other.</p>
+
+<p>Sailing-ships came up this river from the sea
+and anchored near the bridge. I used to go down
+and watch the sailors unloading the ships upon the
+river-wall. The sailors sang strange songs as they
+pulled upon the ropes; and I learned these songs by
+heart. And I would sit on the river-wall with my
+feet dangling over the water and sing with the men,
+pretending to myself that I too was a sailor.</p>
+
+<p>For I longed always to sail away with those brave
+ships when they turned their backs on Puddleby
+Church and went creeping down the river again,
+across the wide lonely marshes to the sea. I
+longed to go with them out into the world to seek<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span>
+my fortune in foreign lands—Africa, India, China
+and Peru! When they got round the bend in the
+river and the water was hidden from view, you could
+still see their huge brown sails towering over the
+roofs of the town, moving onward slowly—like
+some gentle giants that walked among the houses
+without noise. What strange things would they
+have seen, I wondered, when next they came back to
+anchor at Kingsbridge! And, dreaming of the
+lands I had never seen, I’d sit on there, watching
+till they were out of sight.</p>
+
+<p>Three great friends I had in Puddleby in those
+days. One was Joe, the mussel-man, who lived in
+a tiny hut by the edge of the water under the bridge.
+This old man was simply marvelous at making
+things. I never saw a man so clever with his hands.
+He used to mend my toy ships for me which I
+sailed upon the river; he built windmills out of
+packing-cases and barrel-staves; and he could make
+the most wonderful kites from old umbrellas.</p>
+
+<p>Joe would sometimes take me in his mussel-boat,
+and when the tide was running out we would paddle
+down the river as far as the edge of the sea to get
+mussels and lobsters to sell. And out there on the
+cold lonely marshes we would see wild geese flying,
+and curlews and redshanks and many other kinds of
+seabirds that live among the samfire and the long
+grass of the great salt fen. And as we crept up the
+river in the evening, when the tide had turned, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a><br /><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[6]</a></span>
+would see the lights on Kingsbridge twinkle in the
+dusk, reminding us of tea-time and warm fires.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/i-023.jpg" width="400" height="600" alt="boy sitting on fiver wall" />
+<div class="caption">“I would sit on the river-wall with my feet dangling
+over the water”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Another friend I had was Matthew Mugg, the
+cat’s-meat-man. He was a funny old person with
+a bad squint. He looked rather awful but he was
+really quite nice to talk to. He knew everybody in
+Puddleby; and he knew all the dogs and all the cats.
+In those times being a cat’s-meat-man was a regular
+business. And you could see one nearly any day
+going through the streets with a wooden tray full
+of pieces of meat stuck on skewers crying, “Meat!
+M-E-A-T!” People paid him to give this meat to
+their cats and dogs instead of feeding them on dog-biscuits
+or the scraps from the table.</p>
+
+<p>I enjoyed going round with old Matthew and seeing
+the cats and dogs come running to the garden-gates
+whenever they heard his call. Sometimes
+he let me give the meat to the animals myself; and I
+thought this was great fun. He knew a lot about
+dogs and he would tell me the names of the different
+kinds as we went through the town. He had several
+dogs of his own; one, a whippet, was a very fast
+runner, and Matthew used to win prizes with her at
+the Saturday coursing races; another, a terrier, was
+a fine ratter. The cat’s-meat-man used to make a
+business of rat-catching for the millers and farmers
+as well as his other trade of selling cat’s-meat.</p>
+
+<p>My third great friend was Luke the Hermit.
+But of him I will tell you more later on.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I did not go to school; because my father was not
+rich enough to send me. But I was extremely fond
+of animals. So I used to spend my time collecting
+birds’ eggs and butterflies, fishing in the river, rambling
+through the countryside after blackberries and
+mushrooms and helping the mussel-man mend his
+nets.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, it was a very pleasant life I lived in those
+days long ago—though of course I did not think
+so then. I was nine and a half years old; and, like
+all boys, I wanted to grow up—not knowing how
+well off I was with no cares and nothing to worry
+me. Always I longed for the time when I should be
+allowed to leave my father’s house, to take passage
+in one of those brave ships, to sail down the river
+through the misty marshes to the sea—out into
+the world to seek my fortune.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SECOND CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>I HEAR OF THE GREAT NATURALIST</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">ONE early morning in the Springtime,
+when I was wandering among the hills
+at the back of the town, I happened to
+come upon a hawk with a squirrel in its
+claws. It was standing on a rock and the squirrel
+was fighting very hard for its life. The hawk was
+so frightened when I came upon it suddenly like this,
+that it dropped the poor creature and flew away. I
+picked the squirrel up and found that two of its legs
+were badly hurt. So I carried it in my arms back to
+the town.</p>
+
+<p>When I came to the bridge I went into the mussel-man’s
+hut and asked him if he could do anything for
+it. Joe put on his spectacles and examined it carefully.
+Then he shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>“Yon crittur’s got a broken leg,” he said—“and
+another badly cut an’ all. I can mend you
+your boats, Tom, but I haven’t the tools nor the
+learning to make a broken squirrel seaworthy. This
+is a job for a surgeon—and for a right smart one
+an’ all. There be only one man I know who could
+save yon crittur’s life. And that’s John Dolittle.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Who is John Dolittle?” I asked. “Is he a
+vet?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the mussel-man. “He’s no vet.
+Doctor Dolittle is a nacheralist.”</p>
+
+<p>“What’s a nacheralist?”</p>
+
+<p>“A nacheralist,” said Joe, putting away his
+glasses and starting to fill his pipe, “is a man
+who knows all about animals and butterflies and
+plants and rocks an’ all. John Dolittle is a very
+great nacheralist. I’m surprised you never heard
+of him—and you daft over animals. He knows
+a whole lot about shellfish—that I know from my
+own knowledge. He’s a quiet man and don’t talk
+much; but there’s folks who do say he’s the greatest
+nacheralist in the world.”</p>
+
+<p>“Where does he live?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Over on the Oxenthorpe Road, t’other side the
+town. Don’t know just which house it is, but ’most
+anyone ’cross there could tell you, I reckon. Go
+and see him. He’s a great man.”</p>
+
+<p>So I thanked the mussel-man, took up my squirrel
+again and started off towards the Oxenthorpe Road.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing I heard as I came into the market-place
+was some one calling “Meat! M-E-A-T!”</p>
+
+<p>“There’s Matthew Mugg,” I said to myself.
+“He’ll know where this Doctor lives. Matthew
+knows everyone.”</p>
+
+<p>So I hurried across the market-place and caught
+him up.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Matthew,” I said, “do you know Doctor Dolittle?”</p>
+
+<p>“Do I know John Dolittle!” said he. “Well, I
+should think I do! I know him as well as I know
+my own wife—better, I sometimes think. He’s a
+great man—a very great man.”</p>
+
+<p>“Can you show me where he lives?” I asked. “I
+want to take this squirrel to him. It has a broken
+leg.”</p>
+
+<p>“Certainly,” said the cat’s-meat-man. “I’ll be
+going right by his house directly. Come along and
+I’ll show you.”</p>
+
+<p>So off we went together.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, I’ve known John Dolittle for years and
+years,” said Matthew as we made our way out of the
+market-place. “But I’m pretty sure he ain’t home
+just now. He’s away on a voyage. But he’s liable
+to be back any day. I’ll show you his house and
+then you’ll know where to find him.”</p>
+
+<p>All the way down the Oxenthorpe Road Matthew
+hardly stopped talking about his great friend, Doctor
+John Dolittle—“M. D.” He talked so much
+that he forgot all about calling out “Meat!” until
+we both suddenly noticed that we had a whole procession
+of dogs following us patiently.</p>
+
+<p>“Where did the Doctor go to on this voyage?”
+I asked as Matthew handed round the meat to them.</p>
+
+<p>“I couldn’t tell you,” he answered. “Nobody
+never knows where he goes, nor when he’s going,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
+nor when he’s coming back. He lives all alone except
+for his pets. He’s made some great voyages
+and some wonderful discoveries. Last time he
+came back he told me he’d found a tribe of Red Indians
+in the Pacific Ocean—lived on two islands,
+they did. The husbands lived on one island and the
+wives lived on the other. Sensible people, some of
+them savages. They only met once a year, when
+the husbands came over to visit the wives for a great
+feast—Christmas-time, most likely. Yes, he’s a
+wonderful man is the Doctor. And as for animals,
+well, there ain’t no one knows as much about ’em as
+what he does.”</p>
+
+<p>“How did he get to know so much about animals?”
+I asked.</p>
+
+<p>The cat’s-meat-man stopped and leant down to
+whisper in my ear.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>He talks their language</i>,” he said in a hoarse,
+mysterious voice.</p>
+
+<p>“The animals’ language?” I cried.</p>
+
+<p>“Why certainly,” said Matthew. “All animals
+have some kind of a language. Some sorts talk
+more than others; some only speak in sign-language,
+like deaf-and-dumb. But the Doctor, he understands
+them all—birds as well as animals. We
+keep it a secret though, him and me, because folks
+only laugh at you when you speak of it. Why, he
+can even write animal-language. He reads aloud
+to his pets. He’s wrote history-books in monkey-talk,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
+poetry in canary language and comic songs for
+magpies to sing. It’s a fact. He’s now busy
+learning the language of the shellfish. But he says
+it’s hard work—and he has caught some terrible
+colds, holding his head under water so much. He’s
+a great man.”</p>
+
+<p>“He certainly must be,” I said. “I do wish he
+were home so I could meet him.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, there’s his house, look,” said the cat’s-meat-man—“that
+little one at the bend in the road
+there—the one high up—like it was sitting on the
+wall above the street.”</p>
+
+<p>We were now come beyond the edge of the town.
+And the house that Matthew pointed out was quite
+a small one standing by itself. There seemed to be
+a big garden around it; and this garden was much
+higher than the road, so you had to go up a flight of
+steps in the wall before you reached the front gate
+at the top. I could see that there were many fine
+fruit trees in the garden, for their branches hung
+down over the wall in places. But the wall was so
+high I could not see anything else.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached the house Matthew went up
+the steps to the front gate and I followed him. I
+thought he was going to go into the garden; but the
+gate was locked. A dog came running down from
+the house; and he took several pieces of meat which
+the cat’s-meat-man pushed through the bars of the
+gate, and some paper bags full of corn and bran.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
+I noticed that this dog did not stop to eat the meat,
+as any ordinary dog would have done, but he took
+all the things back to the house and disappeared.
+He had a curious wide collar round his neck which
+looked as though it were made of brass or something.
+Then we came away.</p>
+
+<p>“The Doctor isn’t back yet,” said Matthew, “or
+the gate wouldn’t be locked.”</p>
+
+<p>“What were all those things in paper-bags you
+gave the dog?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, those were provisions,” said Matthew—“things
+for the animals to eat. The Doctor’s house
+is simply full of pets. I give the things to the dog,
+while the Doctor’s away, and the dog gives them to
+the other animals.”</p>
+
+<p>“And what was that curious collar he was wearing
+round his neck?”</p>
+
+<p>“That’s a solid gold dog-collar,” said Matthew.
+“It was given to him when he was with the Doctor
+on one of his voyages long ago. He saved a man’s
+life.”</p>
+
+<p>“How long has the Doctor had him?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, a long time. Jip’s getting pretty old now.
+That’s why the Doctor doesn’t take him on his voyages
+any more. He leaves him behind to take care
+of the house. Every Monday and Thursday I
+bring the food to the gate here and give it him
+through the bars. He never lets any one come inside
+the garden while the Doctor’s away—not even<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span>
+me, though he knows me well. But you’ll always
+be able to tell if the Doctor’s back or not—because
+if he is, the gate will surely be open.”</p>
+
+<p>So I went off home to my father’s house and put
+my squirrel to bed in an old wooden box full of
+straw. And there I nursed him myself and took
+care of him as best I could till the time should come
+when the Doctor would return. And every day I
+went to the little house with the big garden on the
+edge of the town and tried the gate to see if it were
+locked. Sometimes the dog, Jip, would come down
+to the gate to meet me. But though he always
+wagged his tail and seemed glad to see me, he never
+let me come inside the garden.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE THIRD CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE DOCTOR’S HOME</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">ONE Monday afternoon towards the end
+of April my father asked me to take
+some shoes which he had mended to a
+house on the other side of the town.
+They were for a Colonel Bellowes who was very
+particular.</p>
+
+<p>I found the house and rang the bell at the front
+door. The Colonel opened it, stuck out a very red
+face and said, “Go round to the tradesmen’s entrance—go
+to the back door.” Then he slammed
+the door shut.</p>
+
+<p>I felt inclined to throw the shoes into the middle
+of his flower-bed. But I thought my father might
+be angry, so I didn’t. I went round to the back
+door, and there the Colonel’s wife met me and took
+the shoes from me. She looked a timid little
+woman and had her hands all over flour as though
+she were making bread. She seemed to be terribly
+afraid of her husband whom I could still hear
+stumping round the house somewhere, grunting
+indignantly because I had come to the front door.
+Then she asked me in a whisper if I would have a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span>
+bun and a glass of milk. And I said, “Yes, please.”</p>
+
+<p>After I had eaten the bun and milk, I thanked
+the Colonel’s wife and came away. Then I
+thought that before I went home I would go and
+see if the Doctor had come back yet. I had been
+to his house once already that morning. But I
+thought I’d just like to go and take another look.
+My squirrel wasn’t getting any better and I was
+beginning to be worried about him.</p>
+
+<p>So I turned into the Oxenthorpe Road and
+started off towards the Doctor’s house. On the
+way I noticed that the sky was clouding over and
+that it looked as though it might rain.</p>
+
+<p>I reached the gate and found it still locked. I
+felt very discouraged. I had been coming here
+every day for a week now. The dog, Jip, came
+to the gate and wagged his tail as usual, and then
+sat down and watched me closely to see that I
+didn’t get in.</p>
+
+<p>I began to fear that my squirrel would die before
+the Doctor came back. I turned away sadly, went
+down the steps on to the road and turned towards
+home again.</p>
+
+<p>I wondered if it were supper-time yet. Of
+course I had no watch of my own, but I noticed a
+gentleman coming towards me down the road; and
+when he got nearer I saw it was the Colonel out for
+a walk. He was all wrapped up in smart overcoats
+and mufflers and bright-colored gloves. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
+not a very cold day but he had so many clothes on
+he looked like a pillow inside a roll of blankets.
+I asked him if he would please tell me the time.</p>
+
+<p>He stopped, grunted and glared down at me—his
+red face growing redder still; and when he spoke
+it sounded like the cork coming out of a gingerbeer-bottle.</p>
+
+<p>“Do you imagine for one moment,” he spluttered,
+“that I am going to get myself all unbuttoned
+just to tell a little boy like you <i>the time</i>!” And he
+went stumping down the street, grunting harder
+than ever.</p>
+
+<p>I stood still a moment looking after him and
+wondering how old I would have to be, to have him
+go to the trouble of getting his watch out. And
+then, all of a sudden, the rain came down in
+torrents.</p>
+
+<p>I have never seen it rain so hard. It got dark,
+almost like night. The wind began to blow; the
+thunder rolled; the lightning flashed, and in a
+moment the gutters of the road were flowing like
+a river. There was no place handy to take shelter,
+so I put my head down against the driving wind and
+started to run towards home.</p>
+
+<p>I hadn’t gone very far when my head bumped
+into something soft and I sat down suddenly on
+the pavement. I looked up to see whom I had run
+into. And there in front of me, sitting on the wet
+pavement like myself, was a little round man with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span>
+very kind face. He wore a shabby high hat and
+in his hand he had a small black bag.</p>
+
+<p>“I’m very sorry,” I said. “I had my head down
+and I didn’t see you coming.”</p>
+
+<p>To my great surprise, instead of getting angry at
+being knocked down, the little man began to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>“You know this reminds me,” he said, “of a time
+once when I was in India. I ran full tilt into a
+woman in a thunderstorm. But she was carrying
+a pitcher of molasses on her head and I had treacle
+in my hair for weeks afterwards—the flies
+followed me everywhere. I didn’t hurt you,
+did I?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” I said. “I’m all right.”</p>
+
+<p>“It was just as much my fault as it was yours, you
+know,” said the little man. “I had my head down
+too—but look here, we mustn’t sit talking like this.
+You must be soaked. I know I am. How far have
+you got to go?”</p>
+
+<p>“My home is on the other side of the town,” I
+said, as we picked ourselves up.</p>
+
+<p>“My Goodness, but that <i>was</i> a wet pavement!”
+said he. “And I declare it’s coming down worse
+than ever. Come along to my house and get dried.
+A storm like this can’t last.”</p>
+
+<p>He took hold of my hand and we started running
+back down the road together. As we ran I began
+to wonder who this funny little man could be, and
+where he lived. I was a perfect stranger to him,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span>
+and yet he was taking me to his own home to get
+dried. Such a change, after the old red-faced Colonel
+who had refused even to tell me the time!
+Presently we stopped.</p>
+
+<p>“Here we are,” he said.</p>
+
+<p>I looked up to see where we were and found myself
+back at the foot of the steps leading to the little
+house with the big garden! My new friend was
+already running up the steps and opening the gate
+with some keys he took from his pocket.</p>
+
+<p>“Surely,” I thought, “this cannot be the great
+Doctor Dolittle himself!”</p>
+
+<p>I suppose after hearing so much about him I had
+expected some one very tall and strong and marvelous.
+It was hard to believe that this funny little
+man with the kind smiling face could be really he.
+Yet here he was, sure enough, running up the steps
+and opening the very gate which I had been watching
+for so many days!</p>
+
+<p>The dog, Jip, came rushing out and started jumping
+up on him and barking with happiness. The
+rain was splashing down heavier than ever.</p>
+
+<p>“Are you Doctor Dolittle?” I shouted as we sped
+up the short garden-path to the house.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, I’m Doctor Dolittle,” said he, opening the
+front door with the same bunch of keys. “Get in!
+Don’t bother about wiping your feet. Never mind
+the mud. Take it in with you. Get in out of the
+rain!”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I popped in, he and Jip following. Then he
+slammed the door to behind us.</p>
+
+<p>The storm had made it dark enough outside; but
+inside the house, with the door closed, it was as
+black as night. Then began the most extraordinary
+noise that I have ever heard. It sounded like all
+sorts and kinds of animals and birds calling and
+squeaking and screeching at the same time. I could
+hear things trundling down the stairs and hurrying
+along passages. Somewhere in the dark a duck was
+quacking, a cock was crowing, a dove was cooing,
+an owl was hooting, a lamb was bleating and Jip
+was barking. I felt birds’ wings fluttering and
+fanning near my face. Things kept bumping into
+my legs and nearly upsetting me. The whole front
+hall seemed to be filling up with animals. The
+noise, together with the roaring of the rain, was
+tremendous; and I was beginning to grow a little
+bit scared when I felt the Doctor take hold of my
+arm and shout into my ear.</p>
+
+<p>“Don’t be alarmed. Don’t be frightened.
+These are just some of my pets. I’ve been away
+three months and they are glad to see me home
+again. Stand still where you are till I strike a
+light. My Gracious, what a storm!—Just listen
+to that thunder!”</p>
+
+<p>So there I stood in the pitch-black dark, while all
+kinds of animals which I couldn’t see chattered and
+jostled around me. It was a curious and a funny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span>
+feeling. I had often wondered, when I had looked
+in from the front gate, what Doctor Dolittle would
+be like and what the funny little house would have
+inside it. But I never imagined it would be anything
+like this. Yet somehow after I had felt the
+Doctor’s hand upon my arm I was not frightened,
+only confused. It all seemed like some queer
+dream; and I was beginning to wonder if I was
+really awake, when I heard the Doctor speaking
+again:</p>
+
+<p>“My blessed matches are all wet. They won’t
+strike. Have you got any?”</p>
+
+<p>“No, I’m afraid I haven’t,” I called back.</p>
+
+<p>“Never mind,” said he. “Perhaps Dab-Dab can
+raise us a light somewhere.”</p>
+
+<p>Then the Doctor made some funny clicking
+noises with his tongue and I heard some one trundle
+up the stairs again and start moving about in the
+rooms above.</p>
+
+<p>Then we waited quite a while without anything
+happening.</p>
+
+<p>“Will the light be long in coming?” I asked.
+“Some animal is sitting on my foot and my toes are
+going to sleep.”</p>
+
+<p>“No, only a minute,” said the Doctor. “She’ll
+be back in a minute.”</p>
+
+<p>And just then I saw the first glimmerings of a
+light around the landing above. At once all the
+animals kept quiet.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 372px;">
+<img src="images/i-040.jpg" width="372" height="600" alt="Duck on stairs" />
+<div class="caption">“And in her right foot she carried a lighted candle!”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“I thought you lived alone,” I said to the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“So I do,” said he. “It is Dab-Dab who is
+bringing the light.”</p>
+
+<p>I looked up the stairs trying to make out who was
+coming. I could not see around the landing but I
+heard the most curious footstep on the upper flight.
+It sounded like some one hopping down from one
+step to the other, as though he were using only one
+leg.</p>
+
+<p>As the light came lower, it grew brighter and
+began to throw strange jumping shadows on the
+walls.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah—at last!” said the Doctor. “Good old
+Dab-Dab!”</p>
+
+<p>And then I thought I <i>really</i> must be dreaming.
+For there, craning her neck round the bend of the
+landing, hopping down the stairs on one leg, came a
+spotless white duck. And in her right foot she
+carried a lighted candle!</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FOURTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE WIFF-WAFF</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WHEN at last I could look around me
+I found that the hall was indeed
+simply full of animals. It seemed to
+me that almost every kind of creature
+from the countryside must be there: a pigeon, a
+white rat, an owl, a badger, a jackdaw—there was
+even a small pig, just in from the rainy garden, carefully
+wiping his feet on the mat while the light from
+the candle glistened on his wet pink back.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor took the candlestick from the duck
+and turned to me.</p>
+
+<p>“Look here,” he said: “you must get those
+wet clothes off—by the way, what is your name?”</p>
+
+<p>“Tommy Stubbins,” I said.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, are you the son of Jacob Stubbins, the shoemaker?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” I said.</p>
+
+<p>“Excellent bootmaker, your father,” said the
+Doctor. “You see these?” and he held up his right
+foot to show me the enormous boots he was wearing.
+“Your father made me those boots four years
+ago, and I’ve been wearing them ever since—perfectly
+wonderful boots—Well now, look here,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
+Stubbins. You’ve got to change those wet things—and
+quick. Wait a moment till I get some more
+candles lit, and then we’ll go upstairs and find some
+dry clothes. You’ll have to wear an old suit of
+mine till we can get yours dry again by the
+kitchen-fire.”</p>
+
+<p>So presently when more candles had been lighted
+round different parts of the house, we went upstairs;
+and when we had come into a bedroom the Doctor
+opened a big wardrobe and took out two suits of
+old clothes. These we put on. Then we carried
+our wet ones down to the kitchen and started a fire
+in the big chimney. The coat of the Doctor’s
+which I was wearing was so large for me that I
+kept treading on my own coat-tails while I was helping
+to fetch the wood up from the cellar. But very
+soon we had a huge big fire blazing up the chimney
+and we hung our wet clothes around on chairs.</p>
+
+<p>“Now let’s cook some supper,” said the Doctor.—“You’ll
+stay and have supper with me, Stubbins,
+of course?”</p>
+
+<p>Already I was beginning to be very fond of this
+funny little man who called me “Stubbins,” instead
+of “Tommy” or “little lad” (I did so hate to be
+called “little lad”!) This man seemed to begin
+right away treating me as though I were a grown-up
+friend of his. And when he asked me to stop and
+have supper with him I felt terribly proud and
+happy. But I suddenly remembered that I had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
+not told my mother that I would be out late. So
+very sadly I answered,</p>
+
+<p>“Thank you very much. I would like to stay,
+but I am afraid that my mother will begin to worry
+and wonder where I am if I don’t get back.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, but my dear Stubbins,” said the Doctor,
+throwing another log of wood on the fire, “your
+clothes aren’t dry yet. You’ll have to wait for
+them, won’t you? By the time they are ready to
+put on we will have supper cooked and eaten—Did
+you see where I put my bag?”</p>
+
+<p>“I think it is still in the hall,” I said. “I’ll go
+and see.”</p>
+
+<p>I found the bag near the front door. It was
+made of black leather and looked very, very old.
+One of its latches was broken and it was tied up
+round the middle with a piece of string.</p>
+
+<p>“Thank you,” said the Doctor when I brought it
+to him.</p>
+
+<p>“Was that bag all the luggage you had for your
+voyage?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said the Doctor, as he undid the piece
+of string. “I don’t believe in a lot of baggage.
+It’s such a nuisance. Life’s too short to fuss with
+it. And it isn’t really necessary, you know—Where
+<i>did</i> I put those sausages?”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor was feeling about inside the bag.
+First he brought out a loaf of new bread. Next
+came a glass jar with a curious metal top to it. He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
+held this up to the light very carefully before he
+set it down upon the table; and I could see that
+there was some strange little water-creature swimming
+about inside. At last the Doctor brought out
+a pound of sausages.</p>
+
+<p>“Now,” he said, “all we want is a frying-pan.”</p>
+
+<p>We went into the scullery and there we found
+some pots and pans hanging against the wall. The
+Doctor took down the frying-pan. It was quite
+rusty on the inside.</p>
+
+<p>“Dear me, just look at that!” said he. “That’s
+the worst of being away so long. The animals are
+very good and keep the house wonderfully clean
+as far as they can. Dab-Dab is a perfect marvel
+as a housekeeper. But some things of course they
+can’t manage. Never mind, we’ll soon clean it up.
+You’ll find some silver-sand down there, under the
+sink, Stubbins. Just hand it up to me, will you?”</p>
+
+<p>In a few moments we had the pan all shiny
+and bright and the sausages were put over the
+kitchen-fire and a beautiful frying smell went all
+through the house.</p>
+
+<p>While the Doctor was busy at the cooking I went
+and took another look at the funny little creature
+swimming about in the glass jar.</p>
+
+<p>“What is this animal?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh that,” said the Doctor, turning round—“that’s
+a Wiff-Waff. Its full name is <i>hippocampus
+pippitopitus</i>. But the natives just call it a Wiff-Waff—on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
+account of the way it waves its tail, swimming,
+I imagine. That’s what I went on this last
+voyage for, to get that. You see I’m very busy just
+now trying to learn the language of the shellfish.
+They <i>have</i> languages, of that I feel sure. I can talk
+a little shark language and porpoise dialect myself.
+But what I particularly want to learn now is shellfish.”</p>
+
+<p>“Why?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, you see, some of the shellfish are the
+oldest kind of animals in the world that we know of.
+We find their shells in the rocks—turned to stone—thousands
+of years old. So I feel quite sure that
+if I could only get to talk their language, I should be
+able to learn a whole lot about what the world was
+like ages and ages and ages ago. You see?”</p>
+
+<p>“But couldn’t some of the other animals tell you
+as well?”</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t think so,” said the Doctor, prodding the
+sausages with a fork. “To be sure, the monkeys I
+knew in Africa some time ago were very helpful in
+telling me about bygone days; but they only went
+back a thousand years or so. No, I am certain that
+the oldest history in the world is to be had from the
+shellfish—and from them only. You see most of
+the other animals that were alive in those very ancient
+times have now become extinct.”</p>
+
+<p>“Have you learned any shellfish language yet?”
+I asked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“No. I’ve only just begun. I wanted this particular
+kind of a pipe-fish because he is half a shellfish
+and half an ordinary fish. I went all the way
+to the Eastern Mediterranean after him. But I’m
+very much afraid he isn’t going to be a great deal of
+help to me. To tell you the truth, I’m rather disappointed
+in his appearance. He doesn’t <i>look</i> very
+intelligent, does he?”</p>
+
+<p>“No, he doesn’t,” I agreed.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah,” said the Doctor. “The sausages are done
+to a turn. Come along—hold your plate near and
+let me give you some.”</p>
+
+<p>Then we sat down at the kitchen-table and started
+a hearty meal.</p>
+
+<p>It was a wonderful kitchen, that. I had many
+meals there afterwards and I found it a better place
+to eat in than the grandest dining-room in the world.
+It was so cozy and home-like and warm. It was so
+handy for the food too. You took it right off the
+fire, hot, and put it on the table and ate it. And
+you could watch your toast toasting at the fender
+and see it didn’t burn while you drank your soup.
+And if you had forgotten to put the salt on the table,
+you didn’t have to get up and go into another room
+to fetch it; you just reached round and took the big
+wooden box off the dresser behind you. Then the
+fireplace—the biggest fireplace you ever saw—was
+like a room in itself. You could get right inside it
+even when the logs were burning and sit on the wide<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
+seats either side and roast chestnuts after the meal
+was over—or listen to the kettle singing, or tell
+stories, or look at picture-books by the light of the
+fire. It was a marvelous kitchen. It was like the
+Doctor, comfortable, sensible, friendly and solid.</p>
+
+<p>While we were gobbling away, the door suddenly
+opened and in marched the duck, Dab-Dab, and the
+dog, Jip, dragging sheets and pillow-cases behind
+them over the clean tiled floor. The Doctor, seeing
+how surprised I was, explained:</p>
+
+<p>“They’re just going to air the bedding for me in
+front of the fire. Dab-Dab is a perfect treasure of
+a housekeeper; she never forgets anything. I had
+a sister once who used to keep house for me (poor,
+dear Sarah! I wonder how she’s getting on—I
+haven’t seen her in many years). But she wasn’t
+nearly as good as Dab-Dab. Have another sausage?”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor turned and said a few words to the
+dog and duck in some strange talk and signs. They
+seemed to understand him perfectly.</p>
+
+<p>“Can you talk in squirrel language?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh yes. That’s quite an easy language,” said
+the Doctor. “You could learn that yourself without
+a great deal of trouble. But why do you ask?”</p>
+
+<p>“Because I have a sick squirrel at home,” I said.
+“I took it away from a hawk. But two of its legs
+are badly hurt and I wanted very much to have you
+see it, if you would. Shall I bring it to-morrow?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Well, if its leg is badly broken I think I had
+better see it to-night. It may be too late to do
+much; but I’ll come home with you and take a look
+at it.”</p>
+
+<p>So presently we felt the clothes by the fire and
+mine were found to be quite dry. I took them upstairs
+to the bedroom and changed, and when I
+came down the Doctor was all ready waiting for me
+with his little black bag full of medicines and bandages.</p>
+
+<p>“Come along,” he said. “The rain has stopped
+now.”</p>
+
+<p>Outside it had grown bright again and the evening
+sky was all red with the setting sun; and thrushes
+were singing in the garden as we opened the gate to
+go down on to the road.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FIFTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>POLYNESIA</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">“I &nbsp;THINK your house is the most interesting
+house I was ever in,” I said as we set off
+in the direction of the town. “May I come
+and see you again to-morrow?”</p>
+
+<p>“Certainly,” said the Doctor. “Come any day
+you like. To-morrow I’ll show you the garden and
+my private zoo.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, have you a zoo?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said he. “The larger animals are too big
+for the house, so I keep them in a zoo in the garden.
+It is not a very big collection but it is interesting in
+its way.”</p>
+
+<p>“It must be splendid,” I said, “to be able to talk
+all the languages of the different animals. Do you
+think I could ever learn to do it?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh surely,” said the Doctor—“with practise.
+You have to be very patient, you know. You really
+ought to have Polynesia to start you. It was she
+who gave me my first lessons.”</p>
+
+<p>“Who is Polynesia?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Polynesia was a West African parrot I had.
+She isn’t with me any more now,” said the Doctor
+sadly.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Why—is she dead?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh no,” said the Doctor. “She is still living,
+I hope. But when we reached Africa she seemed
+so glad to get back to her own country. She wept
+for joy. And when the time came for me to come
+back here I had not the heart to take her away
+from that sunny land—although, it is true, she did
+offer to come. I left her in Africa—Ah well! I
+have missed her terribly. She wept again when we
+left. But I think I did the right thing. She was
+one of the best friends I ever had. It was she who
+first gave me the idea of learning the animal languages
+and becoming an animal doctor. I often
+wonder if she remained happy in Africa, and
+whether I shall ever see her funny, old, solemn face
+again—Good old Polynesia!—A most extraordinary
+bird—Well, well!”</p>
+
+<p>Just at that moment we heard the noise of some
+one running behind us; and turning round we saw
+Jip the dog rushing down the road after us, as fast
+as his legs could bring him. He seemed very excited
+about something, and as soon as he came up to
+us, he started barking and whining to the Doctor in
+a peculiar way. Then the Doctor too seemed to
+get all worked up and began talking and making
+queer signs to the dog. At length he turned to me,
+his face shining with happiness.</p>
+
+<p>“Polynesia has come back!” he cried. “Imagine
+it. Jip says she has just arrived at the house.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
+My! And it’s five years since I saw her—Excuse
+me a minute.”</p>
+
+<p>He turned as if to go back home. But the parrot,
+Polynesia, was already flying towards us. The
+Doctor clapped his hands like a child getting a new
+toy; while the swarm of sparrows in the roadway
+fluttered, gossiping, up on to the fences, highly
+scandalized to see a gray and scarlet parrot skimming
+down an English lane.</p>
+
+<p>On she came, straight on to the Doctor’s
+shoulder, where she immediately began talking a
+steady stream in a language I could not understand.
+She seemed to have a terrible lot to say. And
+very soon the Doctor had forgotten all about me
+and my squirrel and Jip and everything else; till at
+length the bird clearly asked him something about
+me.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh excuse me, Stubbins!” said the Doctor. “I
+was so interested listening to my old friend here.
+We must get on and see this squirrel of yours—Polynesia,
+this is Thomas Stubbins.”</p>
+
+<p>The parrot, on the Doctor’s shoulder, nodded
+gravely towards me and then, to my great surprise,
+said quite plainly in English,</p>
+
+<p>“How do you do? I remember the night you
+were born. It was a terribly cold winter. You
+were a very ugly baby.”</p>
+
+<p>“Stubbins is anxious to learn animal language,”
+said the Doctor. “I was just telling him about you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
+and the lessons you gave me when Jip ran up and
+told us you had arrived.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said the parrot, turning to me, “I may
+have started the Doctor learning but I never could
+have done even that, if he hadn’t first taught me to
+understand what <i>I</i> was saying when I spoke English.
+You see, many parrots can talk like a person,
+but very few of them understand what they are
+saying. They just say it because—well, because
+they fancy it is smart or, because they know they
+will get crackers given them.”</p>
+
+<p>By this time we had turned and were going towards
+my home with Jip running in front and Polynesia
+still perched on the Doctor’s shoulder. The
+bird chattered incessantly, mostly about Africa; but
+now she spoke in English, out of politeness to me.</p>
+
+<p>“How is Prince Bumpo getting on?” asked the
+Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, I’m glad you asked me,” said Polynesia.
+“I almost forgot to tell you. What do you think?—<i>Bumpo
+is in England!</i>”</p>
+
+<p>“In England!—You don’t say!” cried the Doctor.
+“What on earth is he doing here?”</p>
+
+<p>“His father, the king, sent him here to a place
+called—er—Bullford, I think it was—to study
+lessons.”</p>
+
+<p>“Bullford!—Bullford!” muttered the Doctor.
+“I never heard of the place—Oh, you mean Oxford.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Yes, that’s the place—Oxford,” said Polynesia
+“I knew it had cattle in it somewhere. Oxford—that’s
+the place he’s gone to.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, well,” murmured the Doctor. “Fancy
+Bumpo studying at Oxford—Well, well!”</p>
+
+<p>“There were great doings in Jolliginki when he
+left. He was scared to death to come. He was
+the first man from that country to go abroad. He
+thought he was going to be eaten by white cannibals
+or something. You know what those niggers
+are—that ignorant! Well!—But his father made
+him come. He said that all the black kings were
+sending their sons to Oxford now. It was the
+fashion, and he would have to go. Bumpo wanted
+to bring his six wives with him. But the king
+wouldn’t let him do that either. Poor Bumpo
+went off in tears—and everybody in the palace was
+crying too. You never heard such a hullabaloo.”</p>
+
+<p>“Do you know if he ever went back in search of
+The Sleeping Beauty?” asked the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh yes,” said Polynesia—“the day after you
+left. And a good thing for him he did: the king
+got to know about his helping you to escape; and
+he was dreadfully wild about it.”</p>
+
+<p>“And The Sleeping Beauty?—did he ever find
+her?”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, he brought back something which he <i>said</i>
+was The Sleeping Beauty. Myself, I think it was
+an albino niggeress. She had red hair and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
+biggest feet you ever saw. But Bumpo was no end
+pleased with her and finally married her amid great
+rejoicings. The feastings lasted seven days. She
+became his chief wife and is now known out there
+as the Crown-Princess Bum<i>pah</i>—you accent the
+last syllable.”</p>
+
+<p>“And tell me, did he remain white?”</p>
+
+<p>“Only for about three months,” said the parrot.
+“After that his face slowly returned to its natural
+color. It was just as well. He was so conspicuous
+in his bathing-suit the way he was, with his face
+white and the rest of him black.”</p>
+
+<p>“And how is Chee-Chee getting on?—Chee-Chee,”
+added the Doctor in explanation to me, “was
+a pet monkey I had years ago. I left him too in
+Africa when I came away.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said Polynesia frowning,—“Chee-Chee
+is not entirely happy. I saw a good deal of him the
+last few years. He got dreadfully homesick for
+you and the house and the garden. It’s funny, but
+I was just the same way myself. You remember
+how crazy I was to get back to the dear old land?
+And Africa <i>is</i> a wonderful country—I don’t care
+what anybody says. Well, I thought I was going
+to have a perfectly grand time. But somehow—I
+don’t know—after a few weeks it seemed to get
+tiresome. I just couldn’t seem to settle down.
+Well, to make a long story short, one night I made
+up my mind that I’d come back here and find you.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span>
+So I hunted up old Chee-Chee and told him about
+it. He said he didn’t blame me a bit—felt exactly
+the same way himself. Africa was so deadly quiet
+after the life we had led with you. He missed the
+stories you used to tell us out of your animal books—and
+the chats we used to have sitting round the
+kitchen-fire on winter nights. The animals
+out there were very nice to us and all that. But
+somehow the dear kind creatures seemed a bit
+stupid. Chee-Chee said he had noticed it too.
+But I suppose it wasn’t they who had changed; it
+was we who were different. When I left, poor
+old Chee-Chee broke down and cried. He said he
+felt as though his only friend were leaving him—though,
+as you know, he has simply millions of relatives
+there. He said it didn’t seem fair that I
+should have wings to fly over here any time I liked,
+and him with no way to follow me. But mark my
+words, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he found a
+way to come—some day. He’s a smart lad, is
+Chee-Chee.”</p>
+
+<p>At this point we arrived at my home. My
+father’s shop was closed and the shutters were up;
+but my mother was standing at the door looking
+down the street.</p>
+
+<p>“Good evening, Mrs. Stubbins,” said the Doctor.
+“It is my fault your son is so late. I made him
+stay to supper while his clothes were drying. He
+was soaked to the skin; and so was I. We ran into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
+one another in the storm and I insisted on his coming
+into my house for shelter.”</p>
+
+<p>“I was beginning to get worried about him,”
+said my mother. “I am thankful to you, Sir, for
+looking after him so well and bringing him home.”</p>
+
+<p>“Don’t mention it—don’t mention it,” said
+the Doctor. “We have had a very interesting
+chat.”</p>
+
+<p>“Who might it be that I have the honor of
+addressing?” asked my mother staring at the gray
+parrot perched on the Doctor’s shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, I’m John Dolittle. I dare say your husband
+will remember me. He made me some very
+excellent boots about four years ago. They
+really are splendid,” added the Doctor, gazing
+down at his feet with great satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>“The Doctor has come to cure my squirrel,
+Mother,” said I. “He knows all about animals.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, no,” said the Doctor, “not all, Stubbins,
+not all about them by any means.”</p>
+
+<p>“It is very kind of you to come so far to look
+after his pet,” said my mother. “Tom is always
+bringing home strange creatures from the woods
+and the fields.”</p>
+
+<p>“Is he?” said the Doctor. “Perhaps he will
+grow up to be a naturalist some day. Who
+knows?”</p>
+
+<p>“Won’t you come in?” asked my mother. “The
+place is a little untidy because I haven’t finished<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
+the spring cleaning yet. But there’s a nice fire
+burning in the parlor.”</p>
+
+<p>“Thank you!” said the Doctor. “What a
+charming home you have!”</p>
+
+<p>And after wiping his enormous boots very, very
+carefully on the mat, the great man passed into
+the house.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SIXTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">INSIDE we found my father busy practising
+on the flute beside the fire. This he always
+did, every evening, after his work was over.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor immediately began talking to
+him about flutes and piccolos and bassoons; and
+presently my father said,</p>
+
+<p>“Perhaps you perform upon the flute yourself,
+Sir. Won’t you play us a tune?”</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said the Doctor, “it is a long time since
+I touched the instrument. But I would like to try.
+May I?”</p>
+
+<p>Then the Doctor took the flute from my father
+and played and played and played. It was wonderful.
+My mother and father sat as still as statues,
+staring up at the ceiling as though they were in
+church; and even I, who didn’t bother much about
+music except on the mouth-organ—even I felt all
+sad and cold and creepy and wished I had been a
+better boy.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh I think that was just beautiful!” sighed my
+mother when at length the Doctor stopped.</p>
+
+<p>“You are a great musician, Sir,” said my father,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
+“a very great musician. Won’t you please play
+us something else?”</p>
+
+<p>“Why certainly,” said the Doctor—“Oh, but
+look here, I’ve forgotten all about the squirrel.”</p>
+
+<p>“I’ll show him to you,” I said. “He is upstairs
+in my room.”</p>
+
+<p>So I led the Doctor to my bedroom at the top of
+the house and showed him the squirrel in the packing-case
+filled with straw.</p>
+
+<p>The animal, who had always seemed very much
+afraid of me—though I had tried hard to make him
+feel at home, sat up at once when the Doctor came
+into the room and started to chatter. The Doctor
+chattered back in the same way and the squirrel
+when he was lifted up to have his leg examined,
+appeared to be rather pleased than frightened.</p>
+
+<p>I held a candle while the Doctor tied the leg up
+in what he called “splints,” which he made out of
+match-sticks with his pen-knife.</p>
+
+<p>“I think you will find that his leg will get better
+now in a very short time,” said the Doctor closing
+up his bag. “Don’t let him run about for at least
+two weeks yet, but keep him in the open air and
+cover him up with dry leaves if the nights get cool.
+He tells me he is rather lonely here, all by himself,
+and is wondering how his wife and children are
+getting on. I have assured him you are a man to
+be trusted; and I will send a squirrel who lives in
+my garden to find out how his family are and to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
+bring him news of them. He must be kept cheerful
+at all costs. Squirrels are naturally a very
+cheerful, active race. It is very hard for them to
+lie still doing nothing. But you needn’t worry
+about him. He will be all right.”</p>
+
+<p>Then we went back again to the parlor and my
+mother and father kept him playing the flute till
+after ten o’clock.</p>
+
+<p>Although my parents both liked the Doctor
+tremendously from the first moment that they saw
+him, and were very proud to have him come and
+play to us (for we were really terribly poor) they
+did not realize then what a truly great man he was
+one day to become. Of course now, when almost
+everybody in the whole world has heard about
+Doctor Dolittle and his books, if you were to go
+to that little house in Puddleby where my father
+had his cobbler’s shop you would see, set in the wall
+over the old-fashioned door, a stone with writing
+on it which says: “<span class="smcap">JOHN DOLITTLE, THE FAMOUS
+NATURALIST, PLAYED THE FLUTE IN THIS HOUSE
+IN THE YEAR 1839</span>.”</p>
+
+<p>I often look back upon that night long, long
+ago. And if I close my eyes and think hard I can
+see that parlor just as it was then: a funny little
+man in coat-tails, with a round kind face, playing
+away on the flute in front of the fire; my mother on
+one side of him and my father on the other, holding
+their breath and listening with their eyes shut;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
+myself, with Jip, squatting on the carpet at his
+feet, staring into the coals; and Polynesia perched
+on the mantlepiece beside his shabby high hat,
+gravely swinging her head from side to side in time
+to the music. I see it all, just as though it were
+before me now.</p>
+
+<p>And then I remember how, after we had seen the
+Doctor out at the front door, we all came back
+into the parlor and talked about him till it was still
+later; and even after I did go to bed (I had never
+stayed up so late in my life before) I dreamed
+about him and a band of strange clever animals that
+played flutes and fiddles and drums the whole night
+through.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SEVENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>SHELLFISH TALK</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THE next morning, although I had gone
+to bed so late the night before, I was
+up frightfully early. The first sparrows
+were just beginning to chirp sleepily
+on the slates outside my attic window when I
+jumped out of bed and scrambled into my clothes.</p>
+
+<p>I could hardly wait to get back to the little
+house with the big garden—to see the Doctor and
+his private zoo. For the first time in my life I
+forgot all about breakfast; and creeping down the
+stairs on tip-toe, so as not to wake my mother and
+father, I opened the front door and popped out
+into the empty, silent street.</p>
+
+<p>When I got to the Doctor’s gate I suddenly
+thought that perhaps it was too early to call on
+any one: and I began to wonder if the Doctor
+would be up yet. I looked into the garden. No
+one seemed to be about. So I opened the gate
+quietly and went inside.</p>
+
+<p>As I turned to the left to go down a path between
+some hedges, I heard a voice quite close to
+me say,</p>
+
+<p>“Good morning. How early you are!”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I turned around, and there, sitting on the top
+of a privet hedge, was the gray parrot, Polynesia.</p>
+
+<p>“Good morning,” I said. “I suppose I am rather
+early. Is the Doctor still in bed?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh no,” said Polynesia. “He has been up an
+hour and a half. You’ll find him in the house
+somewhere. The front door is open. Just push
+it and go in. He is sure to be in the kitchen cooking
+breakfast—or working in his study. Walk right
+in. I am waiting to see the sun rise. But upon my
+word I believe it’s forgotten to rise. It is an awful
+climate, this. Now if we were in Africa the world
+would be blazing with sunlight at this hour of the
+morning. Just see that mist rolling over those
+cabbages. It is enough to give you rheumatism to
+look at it. Beastly climate—Beastly! Really I
+don’t know why anything but frogs ever stay in
+England—Well, don’t let me keep you. Run
+along and see the Doctor.”</p>
+
+<p>“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll go and look for
+him.”</p>
+
+<p>When I opened the front door I could smell
+bacon frying, so I made my way to the kitchen.
+There I discovered a large kettle boiling away over
+the fire and some bacon and eggs in a dish upon
+the hearth. It seemed to me that the bacon was
+getting all dried up with the heat. So I pulled the
+dish a little further away from the fire and went
+on through the house looking for the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I found him at last in the Study. I did not
+know then that it was called the Study. It was
+certainly a very interesting room, with telescopes
+and microscopes and all sorts of other strange
+things which I did not understand about but
+wished I did. Hanging on the walls were pictures
+of animals and fishes and strange plants and
+collections of birds’ eggs and sea-shells in glass
+cases.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor was standing at the main table in
+his dressing-gown. At first I thought he was washing
+his face. He had a square glass box before him
+full of water. He was holding one ear under the
+water while he covered the other with his left hand.
+As I came in he stood up.</p>
+
+<p>“Good morning, Stubbins,” said he. “Going to
+be a nice day, don’t you think? I’ve just been
+listening to the Wiff-Waff. But he is very disappointing—very.”</p>
+
+<p>“Why?” I said. “Didn’t you find that he has
+any language at all?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh yes,” said the Doctor, “he has a language.
+But it is such a poor language—only a few words,
+like ‘yes’ and ‘no’—‘hot’ and ‘cold.’ That’s all
+he can say. It’s very disappointing. You see he
+really belongs to two different families of fishes.
+I thought he was going to be tremendously helpful—Well,
+well!”</p>
+
+<p>“I suppose,” said I, “that means he hasn’t very<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
+much sense—if his language is only two or three
+words?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, I suppose it does. Possibly it is the kind
+of life he leads. You see, they are very rare now,
+these Wiff-Waffs—very rare and very solitary.
+They swim around in the deepest parts of the ocean
+entirely by themselves—always alone. So I presume
+they really don’t need to talk much.”</p>
+
+<p>“Perhaps some kind of a bigger shellfish would
+talk more,” I said. “After all, he is very small,
+isn’t he?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said the Doctor, “that’s true. Oh I
+have no doubt that there are shellfish who are good
+talkers—not the least doubt. But the big shellfish—the
+biggest of them, are so hard to catch.
+They are only to be found in the deep parts of the
+sea; and as they don’t swim very much, but just
+crawl along the floor of the ocean most of the
+time, they are very seldom taken in nets. I
+do wish I could find some way of going
+down to the bottom of the sea. I could
+learn a lot if I could only do that. But we are
+forgetting all about breakfast—Have you had
+breakfast yet, Stubbins?”</p>
+
+<p>I told the Doctor that I had forgotten all about
+it and he at once led the way into the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” he said, as he poured the hot water from
+the kettle into the tea-pot, “if a man could only
+manage to get right down to the bottom of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
+sea, and live there a while, he would discover some
+wonderful things—things that people have never
+dreamed of.”</p>
+
+<p>“But men do go down, don’t they?” I asked—“divers
+and people like that?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh yes, to be sure,” said the Doctor. “Divers
+go down. I’ve been down myself in a diving-suit,
+for that matter. But my!—they only go where
+the sea is shallow. Divers can’t go down where it
+is really deep. What I would like to do is to go
+down to the great depths—where it is miles deep—Well,
+well, I dare say I shall manage it some day.
+Let me give you another cup of tea.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE EIGHTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">JUST at that moment Polynesia came into the
+room and said something to the Doctor in
+bird language. Of course I did not understand
+what it was. But the Doctor at once
+put down his knife and fork and left the room.</p>
+
+<p>“You know it is an awful shame,” said the parrot
+as soon as the Doctor had closed the door.
+“Directly he comes back home, all the animals over
+the whole countryside get to hear of it and every
+sick cat and mangy rabbit for miles around comes
+to see him and ask his advice. Now there’s a big
+fat hare outside at the back door with a squawking
+baby. Can she see the Doctor, please!—Thinks
+it’s going to have convulsions. Stupid little thing’s
+been eating Deadly Nightshade again, I suppose.
+The animals are <i>so</i> inconsiderate at times—especially
+the mothers. They come round and call the
+Doctor away from his meals and wake him out of
+his bed at all hours of the night. I don’t know
+how he stands it—really I don’t. Why, the poor
+man never gets any peace at all! I’ve told him
+time and again to have special hours for the animals
+to come. But he is so frightfully kind and considerate.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
+He never refuses to see them if there is
+anything really wrong with them. He says the
+urgent cases must be seen at once.”</p>
+
+<p>“Why don’t some of the animals go and see the
+other doctors?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh Good Gracious!” exclaimed the parrot, tossing
+her head scornfully. “Why, there aren’t any
+other animal-doctors—not real doctors. Oh of
+course there <i>are</i> those vet persons, to be sure. But,
+bless you, they’re no good. You see, they can’t
+understand the animals’ language; so how can you
+expect them to be any use? Imagine yourself,
+or your father, going to see a doctor who could not
+understand a word you say—nor even tell you in
+your own language what you must do to get well!
+Poof!—those vets! They’re that stupid, you’ve no
+idea!—Put the Doctor’s bacon down by the
+fire, will you?—to keep hot till he comes back.”</p>
+
+<p>“Do you think I would ever be able to learn
+the language of the animals?” I asked, laying the
+plate upon the hearth.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, it all depends,” said Polynesia. “Are
+you clever at lessons?”</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t know,” I answered, feeling rather
+ashamed. “You see, I’ve never been to school.
+My father is too poor to send me.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said the parrot, “I don’t suppose you
+have really missed much—to judge from what <i>I</i>
+have seen of school-boys. But listen: are you a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
+good noticer?—Do you notice things well? I
+mean, for instance, supposing you saw two cock-starlings
+on an apple-tree, and you only took one
+good look at them—would you be able to tell one
+from the other if you saw them again the next
+day?”</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never tried.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well that,” said Polynesia, brushing some
+crumbs off the corner of the table with her left
+foot—“that is what you call powers of observation—noticing
+the small things about birds and
+animals: the way they walk and move their heads
+and flip their wings; the way they sniff the air and
+twitch their whiskers and wiggle their tails. You
+have to notice all those little things if you want to
+learn animal language. For you see, lots of the
+animals hardly talk at all with their tongues; they
+use their breath or their tails or their feet instead.
+That is because many of them, in the olden days
+when lions and tigers were more plentiful, were
+afraid to make a noise for fear the savage creatures
+heard them. Birds, of course, didn’t care; for they
+always had wings to fly away with. But that is the
+first thing to remember: being a good noticer is
+terribly important in learning animal language.”</p>
+
+<p>“It sounds pretty hard,” I said.</p>
+
+<p>“You’ll have to be very patient,” said Polynesia.
+“It takes a long time to say even a few words
+properly. But if you come here often I’ll give you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a><br /><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
+a few lessons myself. And once you get started
+you’ll be surprised how fast you get on. It would
+indeed be a good thing if you could learn. Because
+then you could do some of the work for the Doctor—I
+mean the easier work, like bandaging and giving
+pills. Yes, yes, that’s a good idea of mine.
+’Twould be a great thing if the poor man could get
+some help—and some rest. It is a scandal the way
+he works. I see no reason why you shouldn’t be
+able to help him a great deal—That is, if you
+are really interested in animals.”</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 401px;">
+<img src="images/i-071.jpg" width="401" height="550" alt="Doctor, boy, et al. at tea" />
+<div class="caption">“‘Being a good noticer is terribly important’”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>“Oh, I’d love that!” I cried. “Do you think the
+Doctor would let me?”</p>
+
+<p>“Certainly,” said Polynesia—“as soon as you
+have learned something about doctoring. I’ll
+speak of it to him myself—Sh! I hear him
+coming. Quick—bring his bacon back on to the
+table.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE NINTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE GARDEN OF DREAMS</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WHEN breakfast was over the Doctor
+took me out to show me the garden.
+Well, if the house had been interesting,
+the garden was a hundred times
+more so. Of all the gardens I have ever seen that
+was the most delightful, the most fascinating.
+At first you did not realize how big it was. You
+never seemed to come to the end of it. When at
+last you were quite sure that you had seen it all, you
+would peer over a hedge, or turn a corner, or look
+up some steps, and there was a whole new part you
+never expected to find.</p>
+
+<p>It had everything—everything a garden can
+have, or ever has had. There were wide, wide
+lawns with carved stone seats, green with moss.
+Over the lawns hung weeping-willows, and their
+feathery bough-tips brushed the velvet grass when
+they swung with the wind. The old flagged paths
+had high, clipped, yew hedges either side of them,
+so that they looked like the narrow streets of some
+old town; and through the hedges, doorways had
+been made; and over the doorways were shapes like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
+vases and peacocks and half-moons all trimmed out
+of the living trees. There was a lovely marble fish-pond
+with golden carp and blue water-lilies in it and
+big green frogs. A high brick wall alongside the
+kitchen garden was all covered with pink and yellow
+peaches ripening in the sun. There was a wonderful
+great oak, hollow in the trunk, big enough for
+four men to hide inside. Many summer-houses
+there were, too—some of wood and some of stone;
+and one of them was full of books to read. In a
+corner, among some rocks and ferns, was an outdoor
+fire-place, where the Doctor used to fry liver
+and bacon when he had a notion to take his meals
+in the open air. There was a couch as well on
+which he used to sleep, it seems, on warm summer
+nights when the nightingales were singing at their
+best; it had wheels on it so it could be moved about
+under any tree they sang in. But the thing that
+fascinated me most of all was a tiny little tree-house,
+high up in the top branches of a great elm,
+with a long rope ladder leading to it. The Doctor
+told me he used it for looking at the moon and the
+stars through a telescope.</p>
+
+<p>It was the kind of a garden where you could
+wander and explore for days and days—always
+coming upon something new, always glad to find the
+old spots over again. That first time that I saw
+the Doctor’s garden I was so charmed by it that I
+felt I would like to live in it—always and always—and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
+never go outside of it again. For it had everything
+within its walls to give happiness, to make
+living pleasant—to keep the heart at peace. It was
+the Garden of Dreams.</p>
+
+<p>One peculiar thing I noticed immediately I came
+into it; and that was what a lot of birds there were
+about. Every tree seemed to have two or three
+nests in it. And heaps of other wild creatures
+appeared to be making themselves at home there,
+too. Stoats and tortoises and dormice seemed to
+be quite common, and not in the least shy. Toads
+of different colors and sizes hopped about the lawn
+as though it belonged to them. Green lizards
+(which were very rare in Puddleby) sat up on
+the stones in the sunlight and blinked at us. Even
+snakes were to be seen.</p>
+
+<p>“You need not be afraid of them,” said the Doctor,
+noticing that I started somewhat when a large
+black snake wiggled across the path right in front
+of us. “These fellows are not poisonous. They
+do a great deal of good in keeping down many kinds
+of garden-pests. I play the flute to them sometimes
+in the evening. They love it. Stand right
+up on their tails and carry on no end. Funny thing,
+their taste for music.”</p>
+
+<p>“Why do all these animals come and live here?”
+I asked. “I never saw a garden with so many
+creatures in it.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I suppose it’s because they get the kind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span>
+of food they like; and nobody worries or disturbs
+them. And then, of course, they know me. And
+if they or their children get sick I presume they find
+it handy to be living in a doctor’s garden—Look!
+You see that sparrow on the sundial, swearing at
+the blackbird down below? Well, he has been
+coming here every summer for years. He comes
+from London. The country sparrows round about
+here are always laughing at him. They say he
+chirps with such a Cockney accent. He is a most
+amusing bird—very brave but very cheeky. He
+loves nothing better than an argument, but he always
+ends it by getting rude. He is a real city
+bird. In London he lives around St. Paul’s Cathedral.
+‘Cheapside,’ we call him.”</p>
+
+<p>“Are all these birds from the country round
+here?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Most of them,” said the Doctor. “But a few
+rare ones visit me every year who ordinarily never
+come near England at all. For instance, that handsome
+little fellow hovering over the snapdragon
+there, he’s a Ruby-throated Humming-bird. Comes
+from America. Strictly speaking, he has no business
+in this climate at all. It is too cool. I make
+him sleep in the kitchen at night. Then every August,
+about the last week of the month, I have a
+Purple Bird-of-Paradise come all the way from
+Brazil to see me. She is a very great swell.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
+Hasn’t arrived yet of course. And there are a
+few others, foreign birds from the tropics mostly,
+who drop in on me in the course of the summer
+months. But come, I must show you the zoo.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE TENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE PRIVATE ZOO</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">I &nbsp;DID not think there could be anything left
+in that garden which we had not seen. But
+the Doctor took me by the arm and started
+off down a little narrow path and after many
+windings and twistings and turnings we found ourselves
+before a small door in a high stone wall.
+The Doctor pushed it open.</p>
+
+<p>Inside was still another garden. I had expected
+to find cages with animals inside them. But there
+were none to be seen. Instead there were little
+stone houses here and there all over the garden;
+and each house had a window and a door. As we
+walked in, many of these doors opened and animals
+came running out to us evidently expecting food.</p>
+
+<p>“Haven’t the doors any locks on them?” I asked
+the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh yes,” he said, “every door has a lock. But
+in my zoo the doors open from the inside, not from
+the out. The locks are only there so the animals
+can go and shut themselves <i>in</i> any time they want
+to get away from the annoyance of other animals
+or from people who might come here. Every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
+animal in this zoo stays here because he likes it,
+not because he is made to.”</p>
+
+<p>“They all look very happy and clean,” I said.
+“Would you mind telling me the names of some of
+them?”</p>
+
+<p>“Certainly. Well now: that funny-looking thing
+with plates on his back, nosing under the brick over
+there, is a South American armadillo. The little
+chap talking to him is a Canadian woodchuck.
+They both live in those holes you see at the foot
+of the wall. The two little beasts doing antics in
+the pond are a pair of Russian minks—and that
+reminds me: I must go and get them some herrings
+from the town before noon—it is early-closing
+to-day. That animal just stepping out of his house
+is an antelope, one of the smaller South African
+kinds. Now let us move to the other side of those
+bushes there and I will show you some more.”</p>
+
+<p>“Are those deer over there?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>Deer!</i>” said the Doctor. “Where do you
+mean?”</p>
+
+<p>“Over there,” I said, pointing—“nibbling the
+grass border of the bed. There are two of them.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, that,” said the Doctor with a smile. “That
+isn’t two animals: that’s one animal with two heads—the
+only two-headed animal in the world. It’s
+called the ‘pushmi-pullyu.’ I brought him from
+Africa. He’s very tame—acts as a kind of night-watchman
+for my zoo. He only sleeps with one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
+head at a time, you see—very handy—the other
+head stays awake all night.”</p>
+
+<p>“Have you any lions or tigers?” I asked as we
+moved on.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the Doctor. “It wouldn’t be possible
+to keep them here—and I wouldn’t keep them
+even if I could. If I had my way, Stubbins, there
+wouldn’t be a single lion or tiger in captivity anywhere
+in the world. They never take to it.
+They’re never happy. They never settle down.
+They are always thinking of the big countries they
+have left behind. You can see it in their eyes,
+dreaming—dreaming always of the great open
+spaces where they were born; dreaming of the deep,
+dark jungles where their mothers first taught them
+how to scent and track the deer. And what are
+they given in exchange for all this?” asked the
+Doctor, stopping in his walk and growing all red
+and angry—“What are they given in exchange
+for the glory of an African sunrise, for the twilight
+breeze whispering through the palms, for the green
+shade of the matted, tangled vines, for the cool,
+big-starred nights of the desert, for the patter of
+the waterfall after a hard day’s hunt? What, I
+ask you, are they given in exchange for <i>these</i>?
+Why, a bare cage with iron bars; an ugly piece of
+dead meat thrust in to them once a day; and a
+crowd of fools to come and stare at them with
+open mouths!—No, Stubbins. Lions and tigers,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span>
+the Big Hunters, should never, never be seen in
+zoos.”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor seemed to have grown terribly
+serious—almost sad. But suddenly his manner
+changed again and he took me by the arm with his
+same old cheerful smile.</p>
+
+<p>“But we haven’t seen the butterfly-houses yet—nor
+the aquariums. Come along. I am very
+proud of my butterfly-houses.”</p>
+
+<p>Off we went again and came presently into a
+hedged enclosure. Here I saw several big huts
+made of fine wire netting, like cages. Inside the
+netting all sorts of beautiful flowers were growing
+in the sun, with butterflies skimming over them.
+The Doctor pointed to the end of one of the huts
+where little boxes with holes in them stood in a
+row.</p>
+
+<p>“Those are the hatching-boxes,” said he.
+“There I put the different kinds of caterpillars.
+And as soon as they turn into butterflies and moths
+they come out into these flower-gardens to feed.”</p>
+
+<p>“Do butterflies have a language?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh I fancy they have,” said the Doctor—“and
+the beetles too. But so far I haven’t succeeded
+in learning much about insect languages. I have
+been too busy lately trying to master the shellfish-talk.
+I mean to take it up though.”</p>
+
+<p>At that moment Polynesia joined us and said,
+“Doctor, there are two guinea-pigs at the back<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span>
+door. They say they have run away from the
+boy who kept them because they didn’t get the right
+stuff to eat. They want to know if you will take
+them in.”</p>
+
+<p>“All right,” said the Doctor. “Show them the
+way to the zoo. Give them the house on the left,
+near the gate—the one the black fox had. Tell
+them what the rules are and give them a square
+meal—Now, Stubbins, we will go on to the aquariums.
+And first of all I must show you my big,
+glass, sea-water tank where I keep the shellfish.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>MY SCHOOLMASTER, POLYNESIA</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WELL, there were not many days after
+that, you may be sure, when I did not
+come to see my new friend. Indeed
+I was at his house practically all day
+and every day. So that one evening my mother
+asked me jokingly why I did not take my bed over
+there and live at the Doctor’s house altogether.</p>
+
+<p>After a while I think I got to be quite useful to
+the Doctor, feeding his pets for him; helping to
+make new houses and fences for the zoo; assisting
+with the sick animals that came; doing all manner
+of odd jobs about the place. So that although I
+enjoyed it all very much (it was indeed like living
+in a new world) I really think the Doctor would
+have missed me if I had not come so often.</p>
+
+<p>And all this time Polynesia came with me
+wherever I went, teaching me bird language and
+showing me how to understand the talking signs
+of the animals. At first I thought I would never
+be able to learn at all—it seemed so difficult. But
+the old parrot was wonderfully patient with me—though
+I could see that occasionally she had hard
+work to keep her temper.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Soon I began to pick up the strange chatter of
+the birds and to understand the funny talking antics
+of the dogs. I used to practise listening to the
+mice behind the wainscot after I went to bed, and
+watching the cats on the roofs and pigeons in the
+market-square of Puddleby.</p>
+
+<p>And the days passed very quickly—as they always
+do when life is pleasant; and the days turned into
+weeks, and weeks into months; and soon the roses
+in the Doctor’s garden were losing their petals and
+yellow leaves lay upon the wide green lawn. For
+the summer was nearly gone.</p>
+
+<p>One day Polynesia and I were talking in the
+library. This was a fine long room with a grand
+mantlepiece and the walls were covered from the
+ceiling to the floor with shelves full of books:
+books of stories, books on gardening, books about
+medicine, books of travel; these I loved—and especially
+the Doctor’s great atlas with all its maps of
+the different countries of the world.</p>
+
+<p>This afternoon Polynesia was showing me the
+books about animals which John Dolittle had written
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>“My!” I said, “what a lot of books the Doctor
+has—all the way around the room! Goodness!
+I wish I could read! It must be tremendously
+interesting. Can you read, Polynesia?”</p>
+
+<p>“Only a little,” said she. “Be careful how you
+turn those pages—don’t tear them. No, I really<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
+don’t get time enough for reading—much. That
+letter there is a <i>k</i> and this is a <i>b</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>“What does this word under the picture mean?”
+I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Let me see,” she said, and started spelling it out.
+“<span class="smcap">B-A-B-O-O-N</span>—that’s <i>Monkey</i>. Reading isn’t nearly
+as hard as it looks, once you know the letters.”</p>
+
+<p>“Polynesia,” I said, “I want to ask you something
+very important.”</p>
+
+<p>“What is it, my boy?” said she, smoothing
+down the feathers of her right wing. Polynesia
+often spoke to me in a very patronizing way. But
+I did not mind it from her. After all, she was
+nearly two hundred years old; and I was only
+ten.</p>
+
+<p>“Listen,” I said, “my mother doesn’t think it
+is right that I come here for so many meals. And
+I was going to ask you: supposing I did a whole
+lot more work for the Doctor—why couldn’t I
+come and live here altogether? You see, instead
+of being paid like a regular gardener or workman,
+I would get my bed and meals in exchange for the
+work I did. What do you think?”</p>
+
+<p>“You mean you want to be a proper assistant to
+the Doctor, is that it?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes. I suppose that’s what you call it,” I
+answered. “You know you said yourself that you
+thought I could be very useful to him.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well”—she thought a moment—“I really<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
+don’t see why not. But is this what you want to
+be when you grow up, a naturalist?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” I said, “I have made up my mind. I
+would sooner be a naturalist than anything else in
+the world.”</p>
+
+<p>“Humph!—Let’s go and speak to the Doctor
+about it,” said Polynesia. “He’s in the next room—in
+the study. Open the door very gently—he
+may be working and not want to be disturbed.”</p>
+
+<p>I opened the door quietly and peeped in. The
+first thing I saw was an enormous black retriever
+dog sitting in the middle of the hearth-rug with his
+ears cocked up, listening to the Doctor who was
+reading aloud to him from a letter.</p>
+
+<p>“What <i>is</i> the Doctor doing?” I asked Polynesia
+in a whisper.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, the dog has had a letter from his mistress
+and he has brought it to the Doctor to read for him.
+That’s all. He belongs to a funny little girl called
+Minnie Dooley, who lives on the other side of the
+town. She has pigtails down her back. She and
+her brother have gone away to the seaside for the
+Summer; and the old retriever is heart-broken
+while the children are gone. So they write letters
+to him—in English of course. And as the old dog
+doesn’t understand them, he brings them here, and
+the Doctor turns them into dog language for him.
+I think Minnie must have written that she is coming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
+back—to judge from the dog’s excitement. Just
+look at him carrying on!”</p>
+
+<p>Indeed the retriever seemed to be suddenly overcome
+with joy. As the Doctor finished the letter
+the old dog started barking at the top of his voice,
+wagging his tail wildly and jumping about the
+study. He took the letter in his mouth and ran
+out of the room snorting hard and mumbling to
+himself.</p>
+
+<p>“He’s going down to meet the coach,” whispered
+Polynesia. “That dog’s devotion to those children
+is more than I can understand. You should see
+Minnie! She’s the most conceited little minx that
+ever walked. She squints too.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE TWELFTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>MY GREAT IDEA</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">PRESENTLY the Doctor looked up and
+saw us at the door.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh—come in, Stubbins,” said he, “did
+you wish to speak to me? Come in and
+take a chair.”</p>
+
+<p>“Doctor,” I said, “I want to be a naturalist—like
+you—when I grow up.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh you do, do you?” murmured the Doctor.
+“Humph!—Well!—Dear me!—You don’t say!—Well,
+well! Have you er—have you spoken
+to your mother and father about it?”</p>
+
+<p>“No, not yet,” I said. “I want you to speak to
+them for me. You would do it better. I want to
+be your helper—your assistant, if you’ll have me.
+Last night my mother was saying that she didn’t
+consider it right for me to come here so often for
+meals. And I’ve been thinking about it a good
+deal since. Couldn’t we make some arrangement—couldn’t
+I work for my meals and sleep here?”</p>
+
+<p>“But my dear Stubbins,” said the Doctor, laughing,
+“you are quite welcome to come here for
+three meals a day all the year round. I’m only
+too glad to have you. Besides, you do do a lot of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
+work, as it is. I’ve often felt that I ought to pay
+you for what you do—But what arrangement was
+it that you thought of?”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I thought,” said I, “that perhaps you
+would come and see my mother and father and
+tell them that if they let me live here with you and
+work hard, that you will teach me to read and
+write. You see my mother is awfully anxious to
+have me learn reading and writing. And besides,
+I couldn’t be a proper naturalist without, could I?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, I don’t know so much about that,” said
+the Doctor. “It is nice, I admit, to be able to
+read and write. But naturalists are not all alike,
+you know. For example: this young fellow Charles
+Darwin that people are talking about so much now—he’s
+a Cambridge graduate—reads and writes
+very well. And then Cuvier—he used to be a
+tutor. But listen, the greatest naturalist of them
+all doesn’t even know how to write his own name
+nor to read the <i>A B C</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>“Who is he?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“He is a mysterious person,” said the Doctor—“a
+very mysterious person. His name is Long Arrow,
+the son of Golden Arrow. He is a Red
+Indian.”</p>
+
+<p>“Have you ever seen him?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the Doctor, “I’ve never seen him.
+No white man has ever met him. I fancy Mr.
+Darwin doesn’t even know that he exists. He lives<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
+almost entirely with the animals and with the different
+tribes of Indians—usually somewhere among
+the mountains of Peru. Never stays long in one
+place. Goes from tribe to tribe, like a sort of
+Indian tramp.”</p>
+
+<p>“How do you know so much about him?” I
+asked—“if you’ve never even seen him?”</p>
+
+<p>“The Purple Bird-of-Paradise,” said the Doctor—“she
+told me all about him. She says he is a
+perfectly marvelous naturalist. I got her to take
+a message to him for me last time she was here.
+I am expecting her back any day now. I can hardly
+wait to see what answer she has brought from him.
+It is already almost the last week of August. I
+do hope nothing has happened to her on the way.”</p>
+
+<p>“But why do the animals and birds come to
+you when they are sick?” I said—“Why don’t
+they go to him, if he is so very wonderful?”</p>
+
+<p>“It seems that my methods are more up to
+date,” said the Doctor. “But from what the Purple
+Bird-of-Paradise tells me, Long Arrow’s
+knowledge of natural history must be positively
+tremendous. His specialty is botany—plants and
+all that sort of thing. But he knows a lot about
+birds and animals too. He’s very good on bees
+and beetles—But now tell me, Stubbins, are you
+quite sure that you really want to be a naturalist?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said I, “my mind is made up.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well you know, it isn’t a very good profession<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span>
+for making money. Not at all, it isn’t. Most of
+the good naturalists don’t make any money whatever.
+All they do is <i>spend</i> money, buying butterfly-nets
+and cases for birds’ eggs and things. It is only
+now, after I have been a naturalist for many years,
+that I am beginning to make a little money from
+the books I write.”</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t care about money,” I said. “I want
+to be a naturalist. Won’t you please come and
+have dinner with my mother and father next Thursday—I
+told them I was going to ask you—and then
+you can talk to them about it. You see, there’s another
+thing: if I’m living with you, and sort of belong
+to your house and business, I shall be able
+to come with you next time you go on a voyage.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, I see,” said he, smiling. “So you want to
+come on a voyage with me, do you?—Ah hah!”</p>
+
+<p>“I want to go on all your voyages with you. It
+would be much easier for you if you had someone
+to carry the butterfly-nets and note-books.
+Wouldn’t it now?”</p>
+
+<p>For a long time the Doctor sat thinking, drumming
+on the desk with his fingers, while I waited,
+terribly impatiently, to see what he was going to
+say.</p>
+
+<p>At last he shrugged his shoulders and stood up.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, Stubbins,” said he, “I’ll come and talk it
+over with you and your parents next Thursday.
+And—well, we’ll see. We’ll see. Give your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
+mother and father my compliments and thank them
+for their invitation, will you?”</p>
+
+<p>Then I tore home like the wind to tell my mother
+that the Doctor had promised to come.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>A TRAVELER ARRIVES</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THE next day I was sitting on the wall of
+the Doctor’s garden after tea, talking
+to Dab-Dab. I had now learned so
+much from Polynesia that I could talk
+to most birds and some animals without a great
+deal of difficulty. I found Dab-Dab a very nice,
+old, motherly bird—though not nearly so clever
+and interesting as Polynesia. She had been housekeeper
+for the Doctor many years now.</p>
+
+<p>Well, as I was saying, the old duck and I were
+sitting on the flat top of the garden-wall that evening,
+looking down into the Oxenthorpe Road below.
+We were watching some sheep being driven
+to market in Puddleby; and Dab-Dab had just been
+telling me about the Doctor’s adventures in Africa.
+For she had gone on a voyage with him to that
+country long ago.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly I heard a curious distant noise down
+the road, towards the town. It sounded like a lot
+of people cheering. I stood up on the wall to see
+if I could make out what was coming. Presently
+there appeared round a bend a great crowd of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
+school-children following a very ragged, curious-looking
+woman.</p>
+
+<p>“What in the world can it be?” cried Dab-Dab.</p>
+
+<p>The children were all laughing and shouting.
+And certainly the woman they were following was
+most extraordinary. She had very long arms and
+the most stooping shoulders I have ever seen. She
+wore a straw hat on the side of her head with
+poppies on it; and her skirt was so long for her it
+dragged on the ground like a ball-gown’s train. I
+could not see anything of her face because of the
+wide hat pulled over her eyes. But as she got
+nearer to us and the laughing of the children grew
+louder, I noticed that her hands were very dark
+in color, and hairy, like a witch’s.</p>
+
+<p>Then all of a sudden Dab-Dab at my side startled
+me by crying out in a loud voice,</p>
+
+<p>“Why, it’s Chee-Chee!—Chee-Chee come back at
+last! How dare those children tease him! I’ll
+give the little imps something to laugh at!”</p>
+
+<p>And she flew right off the wall down into the road
+and made straight for the children, squawking away
+in a most terrifying fashion and pecking at their
+feet and legs. The children made off down the
+street back to the town as hard as they could run.</p>
+
+<p>The strange-looking figure in the straw hat stood
+gazing after them a moment and then came wearily
+up to the gate. It didn’t bother to undo the latch
+but just climbed right over the gate as though it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a><br /><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
+were something in the way. And then I noticed
+that it took hold of the bars with its feet, so that
+it really had four hands to climb with. But it was
+only when I at last got a glimpse of the face under
+the hat that I could be really sure it was a monkey.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 435px;">
+<img src="images/i-095.jpg" width="435" height="550" alt="Chimpanzee dressed as lady trying to get to Puddleby" />
+<div class="caption">A traveler arrives</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Chee-Chee—for it was he—frowned at me suspiciously
+from the top of the gate, as though he
+thought I was going to laugh at him like the other
+boys and girls. Then he dropped into the garden
+on the inside and immediately started taking off
+his clothes. He tore the straw hat in two and
+threw it down into the road. Then he took off his
+bodice and skirt, jumped on them savagely and
+began kicking them round the front garden.</p>
+
+<p>Presently I heard a screech from the house, and
+out flew Polynesia, followed by the Doctor and Jip.</p>
+
+<p>“Chee-Chee!—Chee-Chee!” shouted the parrot.
+“You’ve come at last! I always told the Doctor
+you’d find a way. How ever did you do it?”</p>
+
+<p>They all gathered round him shaking him by his
+four hands, laughing and asking him a million
+questions at once. Then they all started back for
+the house.</p>
+
+<p>“Run up to my bedroom, Stubbins,” said the
+Doctor, turning to me. “You’ll find a bag of peanuts
+in the small left-hand drawer of the bureau.
+I have always kept them there in case he might
+come back unexpectedly some day. And wait a
+minute—see if Dab-Dab has any bananas in the pantry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span>
+Chee-Chee hasn’t had a banana, he tells me,
+in two months.”</p>
+
+<p>When I came down again to the kitchen I found
+everybody listening attentively to the monkey who
+was telling the story of his journey from Africa.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>CHEE-CHEE’S VOYAGE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">It seems that after Polynesia had left, Chee-Chee
+had grown more homesick than
+ever for the Doctor and the little
+house in Puddleby. At last he had
+made up his mind that by hook or crook he would
+follow her. And one day, going down to the seashore,
+he saw a lot of people, black and white,
+getting on to a ship that was coming to England.
+He tried to get on too. But they turned him back
+and drove him away. And presently he noticed a
+whole big family of funny people passing on to the
+ship. And one of the children in this family reminded
+Chee-Chee of a cousin of his with whom he
+had once been in love. So he said to himself,
+“That girl looks just as much like a monkey as I
+look like a girl. If I could only get some clothes
+to wear I might easily slip on to the ship amongst
+these families, and people would take me for a
+girl. Good idea!”</p>
+
+<p>So he went off to a town that was quite close,
+and hopping in through an open window he found a
+skirt and bodice lying on a chair. They belonged<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
+to a fashionable black lady who was taking a bath.
+Chee-Chee put them on. Next he went back to the
+seashore, mingled with the crowd there and at last
+sneaked safely on to the big ship. Then he thought
+he had better hide, for fear people might look at
+him too closely. And he stayed hidden all the time
+the ship was sailing to England—only coming out
+at night, when everybody was asleep, to find food.</p>
+
+<p>When he reached England and tried to get off the
+ship, the sailors saw at last that he was only a monkey
+dressed up in girl’s clothes; and they wanted
+to keep him for a pet. But he managed to give
+them the slip; and once he was on shore, he dived
+into the crowd and got away. But he was still a
+long distance from Puddleby and had to come right
+across the whole breadth of England.</p>
+
+<p>He had a terrible time of it. Whenever he
+passed through a town all the children ran after
+him in a crowd, laughing; and often silly people
+caught hold of him and tried to stop him, so that
+he had to run up lamp-posts and climb to chimney-pots
+to escape from them. At night he used to
+sleep in ditches or barns or anywhere he could hide;
+and he lived on the berries he picked from the
+hedges and the cob-nuts that grew in the copses.
+At length, after many adventures and narrow
+squeaks, he saw the tower of Puddleby Church and
+he knew that at last he was near his old home.</p>
+
+<p>When Chee-Chee had finished his story he ate<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
+six bananas without stopping and drank a whole
+bowlful of milk.</p>
+
+<p>“My!” he said, “why wasn’t I born with
+wings, like Polynesia, so I could fly here? You’ve
+no idea how I grew to hate that hat and skirt.
+I’ve never been so uncomfortable in my life. All
+the way from Bristol here, if the wretched hat
+wasn’t falling off my head or catching in the trees,
+those beastly skirts were tripping me up and getting
+wound round everything. What on earth do
+women wear those things for? Goodness, I was
+glad to see old Puddleby this morning when I
+climbed over the hill by Bellaby’s farm!”</p>
+
+<p>“Your bed on top of the plate-rack in the scullery
+is all ready for you,” said the Doctor. “We never
+had it disturbed in case you might come back.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said Dab-Dab, “and you can have the old
+smoking-jacket of the Doctor’s which you used to
+use as a blanket, in case it is cold in the night.”</p>
+
+<p>“Thanks,” said Chee-Chee. “It’s good to be
+back in the old house again. Everything’s just the
+same as when I left—except the clean roller-towel
+on the back of the door there—that’s new—Well,
+I think I’ll go to bed now. I need sleep.”</p>
+
+<p>Then we all went out of the kitchen into the
+scullery and watched Chee-Chee climb the plate-rack
+like a sailor going up a mast. On the top, he
+curled himself up, pulled the old smoking-jacket<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span>
+over him, and in a minute he was snoring peacefully.</p>
+
+<p>“Good old Chee-Chee!” whispered the Doctor.
+“I’m glad he’s back.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes—good old Chee-Chee!” echoed Dab-Dab
+and Polynesia.</p>
+
+<p>Then we all tip-toed out of the scullery and
+closed the door very gently behind us.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>I BECOME A DOCTOR’S ASSISTANT</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WHEN Thursday evening came there
+was great excitement at our house.
+My mother had asked me what were
+the Doctor’s favorite dishes, and I
+had told her: spare ribs, sliced beet-root, fried
+bread, shrimps and treacle-tart. To-night she had
+them all on the table waiting for him; and she was
+now fussing round the house to see if everything
+was tidy and in readiness for his coming.</p>
+
+<p>At last we heard a knock upon the door, and of
+course it was I who got there first to let him in.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor had brought his own flute with him
+this time. And after supper was over (which he
+enjoyed very much) the table was cleared away
+and the washing-up left in the kitchen-sink till the
+next day. Then the Doctor and my father started
+playing duets.</p>
+
+<p>They got so interested in this that I began to be
+afraid that they would never come to talking over
+my business. But at last the Doctor said,</p>
+
+<p>“Your son tells me that he is anxious to become
+a naturalist.”</p>
+
+<p>And then began a long talk which lasted far into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span>
+the night. At first both my mother and father
+were rather against the idea—as they had been
+from the beginning. They said it was only a boyish
+whim, and that I would get tired of it very
+soon. But after the matter had been talked over
+from every side, the Doctor turned to my father
+and said,</p>
+
+<p>“Well now, supposing, Mr. Stubbins, that your
+son came to me for two years—that is, until he is
+twelve years old. During those two years he will
+have time to see if he is going to grow tired of it
+or not. Also during that time, I will promise to
+teach him reading and writing and perhaps a little
+arithmetic as well. What do you say to that?”</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t know,” said my father, shaking his head.
+“You are very kind and it is a handsome offer you
+make, Doctor. But I feel that Tommy ought to
+be learning some trade by which he can earn his
+living later on.”</p>
+
+<p>Then my mother spoke up. Although she was
+nearly in tears at the prospect of my leaving her
+house while I was still so young, she pointed out
+to my father that this was a grand chance for me
+to get learning.</p>
+
+<p>“Now Jacob,” she said, “you know that many
+lads in the town have been to the Grammar School
+till they were fourteen or fifteen years old.
+Tommy can easily spare these two years for his
+education; and if he learns no more than to read<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span>
+and write, the time will not be lost. Though
+goodness knows,” she added, getting out her handkerchief
+to cry, “the house will seem terribly empty
+when he’s gone.”</p>
+
+<p>“I will take care that he comes to see you, Mrs.
+Stubbins,” said the Doctor—“every day, if you like.
+After all, he will not be very far away.”</p>
+
+<p>Well, at length my father gave in; and it was
+agreed that I was to live with the Doctor and work
+for him for two years in exchange for learning to
+read and write and for my board and lodging.</p>
+
+<p>“Of course,” added the Doctor, “while I have
+money I will keep Tommy in clothes as well. But
+money is a very irregular thing with me; sometimes
+I have some, and then sometimes I haven’t.”</p>
+
+<p>“You are very good, Doctor,” said my mother,
+drying her tears. “It seems to me that Tommy is
+a very fortunate boy.”</p>
+
+<p>And then, thoughtless, selfish little imp that I
+was, I leaned over and whispered in the Doctor’s
+ear,</p>
+
+<p>“Please don’t forget to say something about the
+voyages.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, by the way,” said John Dolittle, “of course
+occasionally my work requires me to travel. You
+will have no objection, I take it, to your son’s coming
+with me?”</p>
+
+<p>My poor mother looked up sharply, more unhappy
+and anxious than ever at this new turn;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
+while I stood behind the Doctor’s chair, my heart
+thumping with excitement, waiting for my father’s
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” he said slowly after a while. “If we
+agree to the other arrangement I don’t see that
+we’ve the right to make any objection to that.”</p>
+
+<p>Well, there surely was never a happier boy in
+the world than I was at that moment. My head
+was in the clouds. I trod on air. I could scarcely
+keep from dancing round the parlor. At last the
+dream of my life was to come true! At last I
+was to be given a chance to seek my fortune, to
+have adventures! For I knew perfectly well that
+it was now almost time for the Doctor to start upon
+another voyage. Polynesia had told me that he
+hardly ever stayed at home for more than six
+months at a stretch. Therefore he would be
+surely going again within a fortnight. And I—I,
+Tommy Stubbins, would go with him! Just to
+think of it!—to cross the Sea, to walk on foreign
+shores, to roam the World!</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 177px;">
+<img src="images/decoration.jpg" width="177" height="21" alt="decoration" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>PART TWO</h2>
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<h2><i>THE FIRST CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE CREW OF “THE CURLEW”</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">FROM that time on of course my position
+in the town was very different. I was
+no longer a poor cobbler’s son. I carried
+my nose in the air as I went down the
+High Street with Jip in his gold collar at my side;
+and snobbish little boys who had despised me before
+because I was not rich enough to go to school now
+pointed me out to their friends and whispered,
+“You see him? He’s a doctor’s assistant—and
+only ten years old!”</p>
+
+<p>But their eyes would have opened still wider with
+wonder if they had but known that I and the dog
+that was with me could talk to one another.</p>
+
+<p>Two days after the Doctor had been to our
+house to dinner he told me very sadly that he was
+afraid that he would have to give up trying to learn
+the language of the shellfish—at all events for the
+present.</p>
+
+<p>“I’m very discouraged, Stubbins, very. I’ve
+tried the mussels and the clams, the oysters and the
+whelks, cockles and scallops; seven different kinds<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span>
+of crabs and all the lobster family. I think I’ll
+leave it for the present and go at it again later on.”</p>
+
+<p>“What will you turn to now?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I rather thought of going on a voyage,
+Stubbins. It’s quite a time now since I’ve been
+away. And there is a great deal of work waiting
+for me abroad.”</p>
+
+<p>“When shall we start?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, first I shall have to wait till the Purple
+Bird-of-Paradise gets here. I must see if she has
+any message for me from Long Arrow. She’s
+late. She should have been here ten days ago. I
+hope to goodness she’s all right.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, hadn’t we better be seeing about getting
+a boat?” I said. “She is sure to be here in a day
+or so; and there will be lots of things to do to get
+ready in the mean time, won’t there?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, indeed,” said the Doctor. “Suppose we
+go down and see your friend Joe, the mussel-man.
+He will know about boats.”</p>
+
+<p>“I’d like to come too,” said Jip.</p>
+
+<p>“All right, come along,” said the Doctor, and
+off we went.</p>
+
+<p>Joe said yes, he had a boat—one he had just
+bought—but it needed three people to sail her.
+We told him we would like to see it anyway.</p>
+
+<p>So the mussel-man took us off a little way down
+the river and showed us the neatest, prettiest, little
+vessel that ever was built. She was called <i>The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span>
+Curlew</i>. Joe said he would sell her to us cheap.
+But the trouble was that the boat needed three
+people, while we were only two.</p>
+
+<p>“Of course I shall be taking Chee-Chee,” said
+the Doctor. “But although he is very quick and
+clever, he is not as strong as a man. We really
+ought to have another person to sail a boat as big
+as that.”</p>
+
+<p>“I know of a good sailor, Doctor,” said Joe—“a
+first-class seaman who would be glad of the job.”</p>
+
+<p>“No, thank you, Joe,” said Doctor Dolittle. “I
+don’t want any seamen. I couldn’t afford to hire
+them. And then they hamper me so, seamen do,
+when I’m at sea. They’re always wanting to do
+things the proper way; and I like to do them <i>my</i>
+way—Now let me see: who could we take with us?”</p>
+
+<p>“There’s Matthew Mugg, the cat’s-meat-man,”
+I said.</p>
+
+<p>“No, he wouldn’t do. Matthew’s a very nice
+fellow, but he talks too much—mostly about his
+rheumatism. You have to be frightfully particular
+whom you take with you on long voyages.”</p>
+
+<p>“How about Luke the Hermit?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“That’s a good idea—splendid—if he’ll come.
+Let’s go and ask him right away.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SECOND CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>LUKE THE HERMIT</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THE Hermit was an old friend of ours, as
+I have already told you. He was a very
+peculiar person. Far out on the marshes
+he lived in a little bit of a shack—all
+alone except for his brindle bulldog. No one
+knew where he came from—not even his name.
+Just “Luke the Hermit” folks called him. He
+never came into the town; never seemed to want
+to see or talk to people. His dog, Bob, drove
+them away if they came near his hut. When you
+asked anyone in Puddleby who he was or why he
+lived out in that lonely place by himself, the only
+answer you got was, “Oh, Luke the Hermit?
+Well, there’s some mystery about him. Nobody
+knows what it is. But there’s a mystery. Don’t
+go near him. He’ll set the dog on you.”</p>
+
+<p>Nevertheless there were two people who often
+went out to that little shack on the fens: the Doctor
+and myself. And Bob, the bulldog, never barked
+when he heard us coming. For we liked Luke;
+and Luke liked us.</p>
+
+<p>This afternoon, crossing the marshes we faced
+a cold wind blowing from the East. As we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
+approached the hut Jip put up his ears and said,</p>
+
+<p>“That’s funny!”</p>
+
+<p>“What’s funny?” asked the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“That Bob hasn’t come out to meet us. He
+should have heard us long ago—or smelt us.
+What’s that queer noise?”</p>
+
+<p>“Sounds to me like a gate creaking,” said the
+Doctor. “Maybe it’s Luke’s door, only we can’t
+see the door from here; it’s on the far side of the
+shack.”</p>
+
+<p>“I hope Bob isn’t sick,” said Jip; and he let
+out a bark to see if that would call him. But the
+only answer he got was the wailing of the wind
+across the wide, salt fen.</p>
+
+<p>We hurried forward, all three of us thinking
+hard.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached the front of the shack we
+found the door open, swinging and creaking dismally
+in the wind. We looked inside. There
+was no one there.</p>
+
+<p>“Isn’t Luke at home then?” said I. “Perhaps
+he’s out for a walk.”</p>
+
+<p>“He is <i>always</i> at home,” said the Doctor frowning
+in a peculiar sort of way. “And even if he
+were out for a walk he wouldn’t leave his door
+banging in the wind behind him. There is something
+queer about this—What are you doing in
+there, Jip?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Nothing much—nothing worth speaking of,”
+said Jip examining the floor of the hut extremely
+carefully.</p>
+
+<p>“Come here, Jip,” said the Doctor in a stern
+voice. “You are hiding something from me. You
+see signs and you know something—or you guess
+it. What has happened? Tell me. Where is the
+Hermit?”</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t know,” said Jip looking very guilty and
+uncomfortable. “I don’t know where he is.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, you know something. I can tell it from
+the look in your eye. What is it?”</p>
+
+<p>But Jip didn’t answer.</p>
+
+<p>For ten minutes the Doctor kept questioning
+him. But not a word would the dog say.</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said the Doctor at last, “it is no use
+our standing around here in the cold. The Hermit’s
+gone. That’s all. We might as well go home
+to luncheon.”</p>
+
+<p>As we buttoned up our coats and started back
+across the marsh, Jip ran ahead pretending he was
+looking for water-rats.</p>
+
+<p>“He knows something all right,” whispered the
+Doctor. “And I think he knows what has happened
+too. It’s funny, his not wanting to tell me. He
+has never done that before—not in eleven years.
+He has always told me everything—Strange—very
+strange!”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Do you mean you think he knows all about the
+Hermit, the big mystery about him which folks
+hint at and all that?”</p>
+
+<p>“I shouldn’t wonder if he did,” the Doctor answered
+slowly. “I noticed something in his expression
+the moment we found that door open and
+the hut empty. And the way he sniffed the floor
+too—it told him something, that floor did. He
+saw signs we couldn’t see—I wonder why he won’t
+tell me. I’ll try him again. Here, Jip! Jip!—Where
+is the dog? I thought he went on in front.”</p>
+
+<p>“So did I,” I said. “He was there a moment
+ago. I saw him as large as life. Jip—Jip—Jip—<span class="smcap">JIP</span>!”</p>
+
+<p>But he was gone. We called and called. We
+even walked back to the hut. But Jip had disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh well,” I said, “most likely he has just run
+home ahead of us. He often does that, you know.
+We’ll find him there when we get back to the house.”</p>
+
+<p>But the Doctor just closed his coat-collar tighter
+against the wind and strode on muttering, “Odd—very
+odd!”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE THIRD CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>JIP AND THE SECRET</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WHEN we reached the house the first
+question the Doctor asked of Dab-Dab
+in the hall was,</p>
+
+<p>“Is Jip home yet?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said Dab-Dab, “I haven’t seen him.”</p>
+
+<p>“Let me know the moment he comes in, will you,
+please?” said the Doctor, hanging up his hat.</p>
+
+<p>“Certainly I will,” said Dab-Dab. “Don’t be
+long over washing your hands; the lunch is on the
+table.”</p>
+
+<p>Just as we were sitting down to luncheon in the
+kitchen we heard a great racket at the front door.
+I ran and opened it. In bounded Jip.</p>
+
+<p>“Doctor!” he cried, “come into the library quick.
+I’ve got something to tell you—No, Dab-Dab, the
+luncheon must wait. Please hurry, Doctor.
+There’s not a moment to be lost. Don’t let any of
+the animals come—just you and Tommy.”</p>
+
+<p>“Now,” he said, when we were inside the library
+and the door was closed, “turn the key in the
+lock and make sure there’s no one listening under
+the windows.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“It’s all right,” said the Doctor. “Nobody can
+hear you here. Now what is it?”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, Doctor,” said Jip (he was badly out of
+breath from running), “I know all about the Hermit—I
+have known for years. But I couldn’t tell
+you.”</p>
+
+<p>“Why?” asked the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Because I’d promised not to tell any one. It
+was Bob, his dog, that told me. And I swore to
+him that I would keep the secret.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, and are you going to tell me now?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said Jip, “we’ve got to save him. I
+followed Bob’s scent just now when I left you out
+there on the marshes. And I found him. And I
+said to him, ‘Is it all right,’ I said, ‘for me to tell
+the Doctor now? Maybe he can do something.’
+And Bob says to me, ‘Yes,’ says he, ‘it’s all right
+because—’”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, go on, go on!” cried the
+Doctor. “Tell us what the mystery is—not what
+you said to Bob and what Bob said to you. What
+has happened? Where <i>is</i> the Hermit?”</p>
+
+<p>“He’s in Puddleby Jail,” said Jip. “He’s in
+prison.”</p>
+
+<p>“In prison!”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes.”</p>
+
+<p>“What for?—What’s he done?”</p>
+
+<p>Jip went over to the door and smelt at the bottom
+of it to see if any one were listening outside.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span>
+Then he came back to the Doctor on tiptoe and
+whispered,</p>
+
+<p>“<i>He killed a man!</i>”</p>
+
+<p>“Lord preserve us!” cried the Doctor, sitting
+down heavily in a chair and mopping his forehead
+with a handkerchief. “When did he do it?”</p>
+
+<p>“Fifteen years ago—in a Mexican gold-mine.
+That’s why he has been a hermit ever since. He
+shaved off his beard and kept away from people
+out there on the marshes so he wouldn’t be recognized.
+But last week, it seems these new-fangled
+policemen came to Town; and they heard there was
+a strange man who kept to himself all alone in a
+shack on the fen. And they got suspicious. For
+a long time people had been hunting all over the
+world for the man that did that killing in the Mexican
+gold-mine fifteen years ago. So these policemen
+went out to the shack, and they recognized
+Luke by a mole on his arm. And they took him to
+prison.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, well!” murmured the Doctor. “Who
+would have thought it?—Luke, the philosopher!—Killed
+a man!—I can hardly believe it.”</p>
+
+<p>“It’s true enough—unfortunately,” said Jip.
+“Luke did it. But it wasn’t his fault. Bob says
+so. And he was there and saw it all. He was
+scarcely more than a puppy at the time. Bob says
+Luke couldn’t help it. He <i>had</i> to do it.”</p>
+
+<p>“Where is Bob now?” asked the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Down at the prison. I wanted him to come
+with me here to see you; but he won’t leave the
+prison while Luke is there. He just sits outside
+the door of the prison-cell and won’t move. He
+doesn’t even eat the food they give him. Won’t
+you please come down there, Doctor, and see if
+there is anything you can do? The trial is to be
+this afternoon at two o’clock. What time is it
+now?”</p>
+
+<p>“It’s ten minutes past one.”</p>
+
+<p>“Bob says he thinks they are going to kill Luke
+for a punishment if they can prove that he did it—or
+certainly keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
+Won’t you please come? Perhaps if you spoke
+to the judge and told him what a good man Luke
+really is they’d let him off.”</p>
+
+<p>“Of course I’ll come,” said the Doctor getting
+up and moving to go. “But I’m very much afraid
+that I shan’t be of any real help.” He turned at
+the door and hesitated thoughtfully.</p>
+
+<p>“And yet—I wonder—”</p>
+
+<p>Then he opened the door and passed out with
+Jip and me close at his heels.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FOURTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>BOB</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">DAB-DAB was terribly upset when she
+found we were going away again without
+luncheon; and she made us take
+some cold pork-pies in our pockets to
+eat on the way.</p>
+
+<p>When we got to Puddleby Court-house (it was
+next door to the prison), we found a great crowd
+gathered around the building.</p>
+
+<p>This was the week of the Assizes—a business
+which happened every three months, when many
+pick-pockets and other bad characters were tried
+by a very grand judge who came all the way from
+London. And anybody in Puddleby who had nothing
+special to do used to come to the Court-house
+to hear the trials.</p>
+
+<p>But to-day it was different. The crowd was not
+made up of just a few idle people. It was enormous.
+The news had run through the countryside
+that Luke the Hermit was to be tried for killing a
+man and that the great mystery which had hung
+over him so long was to be cleared up at last. The
+butcher and the baker had closed their shops and
+taken a holiday. All the farmers from round-about,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
+and all the townsfolk, were there with their
+Sunday clothes on, trying to get seats in the Court-house
+or gossipping outside in low whispers. The
+High Street was so crowded you could hardly move
+along it. I had never seen the quiet old town in
+such a state of excitement before. For Puddleby
+had not had such an Assizes since 1799, when
+Ferdinand Phipps, the Rector’s oldest son, had
+robbed the bank.</p>
+
+<p>If I hadn’t had the Doctor with me I am sure I
+would never have been able to make my way through
+the mob packed around the Court-house door. But
+I just followed behind him, hanging on to his coat-tails;
+and at last we got safely into the jail.</p>
+
+<p>“I want to see Luke,” said the Doctor to a very
+grand person in a blue coat with brass buttons
+standing at the door.</p>
+
+<p>“Ask at the Superintendent’s office,” said the
+man. “Third door on the left down the corridor.”</p>
+
+<p>“Who is that person you spoke to, Doctor?”
+I asked as we went along the passage.</p>
+
+<p>“He is a policeman.”</p>
+
+<p>“And what are policemen?”</p>
+
+<p>“Policemen? They are to keep people in order.
+They’ve just been invented—by Sir Robert Peel.
+That’s why they are also called ‘peelers’ sometimes.
+It is a wonderful age we live in. They’re
+always thinking of something new—This will be
+the Superintendent’s office, I suppose.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 336px;">
+<img src="images/i-119.jpg" width="336" height="550" alt="Visiting the Hermit in Jail" />
+<div class="caption">“On the bed sat the Hermit”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From there another policeman was sent with us
+to show us the way.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the door of Luke’s cell we found Bob,
+the bulldog, who wagged his tail sadly when he
+saw us. The man who was guiding us took a large
+bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the door.</p>
+
+<p>I had never been inside a real prison-cell before;
+and I felt quite a thrill when the policeman went
+out and locked the door after him, leaving us shut
+in the dimly-lighted, little, stone room. Before he
+went, he said that as soon as we had done talking
+with our friend we should knock upon the door and
+he would come and let us out.</p>
+
+<p>At first I could hardly see anything, it was so dim
+inside. But after a little I made out a low bed
+against the wall, under a small barred window. On
+the bed, staring down at the floor between his feet,
+sat the Hermit, his head resting in his hands.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, Luke,” said the Doctor in a kindly voice,
+“they don’t give you much light in here, do they?”</p>
+
+<p>Very slowly the Hermit looked up from the
+floor.</p>
+
+<p>“Hulloa, John Dolittle. What brings you here?”</p>
+
+<p>“I’ve come to see you. I would have been here
+sooner, only I didn’t hear about all this till a few
+minutes ago. I went to your hut to ask you if you
+would join me on a voyage; and when I found
+it empty I had no idea where you could be. I
+am dreadfully sorry to hear about your bad luck.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
+I’ve come to see if there is anything I can do.”</p>
+
+<p>Luke shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>“No, I don’t imagine there is anything can be
+done. They’ve caught me at last. That’s the
+end of it, I suppose.”</p>
+
+<p>He got up stiffly and started walking up and
+down the little room.</p>
+
+<p>“In a way I’m glad it’s over,” said he. “I never
+got any peace, always thinking they were after me—afraid
+to speak to anyone. They were bound
+to get me in the end—Yes, I’m glad it’s over.”</p>
+
+<p>Then the Doctor talked to Luke for more than
+half an hour, trying to cheer him up; while I sat
+around wondering what I ought to say and wishing
+I could do something.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Doctor said he wanted to see Bob; and
+we knocked upon the door and were let out by the
+policeman.</p>
+
+<p>“Bob,” said the Doctor to the big bulldog in the
+passage, “come out with me into the porch. I
+want to ask you something.”</p>
+
+<p>“How is he, Doctor?” asked Bob as we walked
+down the corridor into the Court-house porch.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, Luke’s all right. Very miserable of course,
+but he’s all right. Now tell me, Bob: you saw this
+business happen, didn’t you? You were there when
+the man was killed, eh?”</p>
+
+<p>“I was, Doctor,” said Bob, “and I tell you—”</p>
+
+<p>“All right,” the Doctor interrupted, “that’s
+all I want to know for the present. There isn’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
+time to tell me more now. The trial is just going
+to begin. There are the judge and the lawyers
+coming up the steps. Now listen, Bob: I want
+you to stay with me when I go into the court-room.
+And whatever I tell you to do, do it. Do you
+understand? Don’t make any scenes. Don’t bite
+anybody, no matter what they may say about Luke.
+Just behave perfectly quietly and answer any
+question I may ask you—truthfully. Do you
+understand?”</p>
+
+<p>“Very well. But do you think you will be able to
+get him off, Doctor?” asked Bob. “He’s a good
+man, Doctor. He really is. There never was a
+better.”</p>
+
+<p>“We’ll see, we’ll see, Bob. It’s a new thing I’m
+going to try. I’m not sure the judge will allow it.
+But—well, we’ll see. It’s time to go into the
+court-room now. Don’t forget what I told you.
+Remember: for Heaven’s sake don’t start biting
+any one or you’ll get us all put out and spoil everything.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FIFTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>MENDOZA</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">INSIDE the court-room everything was very
+solemn and wonderful. It was a high, big
+room. Raised above the floor, against the
+wall was the Judge’s desk; and here the judge
+was already sitting—an old, handsome man in a
+marvelous big wig of gray hair and a gown of black.
+Below him was another wide, long desk at which
+lawyers in white wigs sat. The whole thing reminded
+me of a mixture between a church and a
+school.</p>
+
+<p>“Those twelve men at the side,” whispered the
+Doctor—“those in pews like a choir, they are what
+is called the jury. It is they who decide whether
+Luke is guilty—whether he did it or not.”</p>
+
+<p>“And look!” I said, “there’s Luke himself
+in a sort of pulpit-thing with policemen each side
+of him. And there’s another pulpit, the same kind,
+the other side of the room, see—only that one’s
+empty.”</p>
+
+<p>“That one is called the witness-box,” said the
+Doctor. “Now I’m going down to speak to one
+of those men in white wigs; and I want you to wait
+here and keep these two seats for us. Bob will<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
+stay with you. Keep an eye on him—better hold
+on to his collar. I shan’t be more than a minute
+or so.”</p>
+
+<p>With that the Doctor disappeared into the crowd
+which filled the main part of the room.</p>
+
+<p>Then I saw the judge take up a funny little
+wooden hammer and knock on his desk with it.
+This, it seemed, was to make people keep quiet,
+for immediately every one stopped buzzing and
+talking and began to listen very respectfully. Then
+another man in a black gown stood up and began
+reading from a paper in his hand.</p>
+
+<p>He mumbled away exactly as though he were
+saying his prayers and didn’t want any one to understand
+what language they were in. But I managed
+to catch a few words:</p>
+
+<p>“<i>Biz—biz—biz—biz—biz</i>—otherwise known as
+Luke the Hermit, of—<i>biz—biz—biz—biz</i>—for
+killing his partner with—<i>biz—biz—biz</i>—otherwise
+known as Bluebeard Bill on the night of the—<i>biz—biz—biz</i>—in
+the <i>biz—biz—biz</i>—of Mexico.
+Therefore Her Majesty’s—<i>biz—biz—biz</i>—”</p>
+
+<p>At this moment I felt some one take hold of my
+arm from the back, and turning round I found the
+Doctor had returned with one of the men in white
+wigs.</p>
+
+<p>“Stubbins, this is Mr. Percy Jenkyns,” said the
+Doctor. “He is Luke’s lawyer. It is his business
+to get Luke off—if he can.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mr. Jenkyns seemed to be an extremely young
+man with a round smooth face like a boy. He
+shook hands with me and then immediately turned
+and went on talking with the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, I think it is a perfectly precious idea,” he
+was saying. “Of <i>course</i> the dog must be admitted
+as a witness; he was the only one who saw the
+thing take place. I’m awfully glad you came. I
+wouldn’t have missed this for anything. My hat!
+Won’t it make the old court sit up? They’re
+always frightfully dull, these Assizes. But this
+will stir things. A bulldog witness for the defense!
+I do hope there are plenty of reporters present—Yes,
+there’s one making a sketch of the prisoner.
+I shall become known after this—And won’t Conkey
+be pleased? My hat!”</p>
+
+<p>He put his hand over his mouth to smother a
+laugh and his eyes fairly sparkled with mischief.</p>
+
+<p>“Who is Conkey?” I asked the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Sh! He is speaking of the judge up there, the
+Honorable Eustace Beauchamp Conckley.”</p>
+
+<p>“Now,” said Mr. Jenkyns, bringing out a note-book,
+“tell me a little more about yourself, Doctor.
+You took your degree as Doctor of Medicine at
+Durham, I think you said. And the name of your
+last book was?”</p>
+
+<p>I could not hear any more for they talked in
+whispers; and I fell to looking round the court
+again.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of course I could not understand everything that
+was going on, though it was all very interesting.
+People kept getting up in the place the Doctor
+called the witness-box, and the lawyers at the long
+table asked them questions about “the night of the
+29th.” Then the people would get down again
+and somebody else would get up and be questioned.</p>
+
+<p>One of the lawyers (who, the Doctor told me
+afterwards, was called the Prosecutor) seemed to
+be doing his best to get the Hermit into trouble by
+asking questions which made it look as though he
+had always been a very bad man. He was a nasty
+lawyer, this Prosecutor, with a long nose.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the time I could hardly keep my eyes off
+poor Luke, who sat there between his two policemen,
+staring at the floor as though he weren’t interested.
+The only time I saw him take any notice at all was
+when a small dark man with wicked, little, watery
+eyes got up into the witness-box. I heard Bob
+snarl under my chair as this person came into the
+court-room and Luke’s eyes just blazed with anger
+and contempt.</p>
+
+<p>This man said his name was Mendoza and that
+he was the one who had guided the Mexican police
+to the mine after Bluebeard Bill had been killed.
+And at every word he said I could hear Bob down
+below me muttering between his teeth,</p>
+
+<p>“It’s a lie! It’s a lie! I’ll chew his face. It’s
+a lie!”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>And both the Doctor and I had hard work keeping
+the dog under the seat.</p>
+
+<p>Then I noticed that our Mr. Jenkyns had disappeared
+from the Doctor’s side. But presently I
+saw him stand up at the long table to speak to the
+judge.</p>
+
+<p>“Your Honor,” said he, “I wish to introduce a
+new witness for the defense, Doctor John Dolittle,
+the naturalist. Will you please step into the witness-stand,
+Doctor?”</p>
+
+<p>There was a buzz of excitement as the Doctor
+made his way across the crowded room; and I
+noticed the nasty lawyer with the long nose lean
+down and whisper something to a friend, smiling in
+an ugly way which made me want to pinch him.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Jenkyns asked the Doctor a whole lot
+of questions about himself and made him answer
+in a loud voice so the whole court could hear. He
+finished up by saying,</p>
+
+<p>“And you are prepared to swear, Doctor Dolittle,
+that you understand the language of dogs and can
+make them understand you. Is that so?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said the Doctor, “that is so.”</p>
+
+<p>“And what, might I ask,” put in the judge in a
+very quiet, dignified voice, “has all this to do with
+the killing of er—er—Bluebeard Bill?”</p>
+
+<p>“This, Your Honor,” said Mr. Jenkyns, talking
+in a very grand manner as though he were on a
+stage in a theatre: “there is in this court-room at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span>
+the present moment a bulldog, who was the only
+living thing that saw the man killed. With the
+Court’s permission I propose to put that dog in the
+witness-stand and have him questioned before you
+by the eminent scientist, Doctor John Dolittle.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SIXTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE JUDGE’S DOG</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">AT first there was a dead silence in the
+Court. Then everybody began whispering
+or giggling at the same time, till the
+whole room sounded like a great hive
+of bees. Many people seemed to be shocked; most
+of them were amused; and a few were angry.</p>
+
+<p>Presently up sprang the nasty lawyer with the
+long nose.</p>
+
+<p>“I protest, Your Honor,” he cried, waving his
+arms wildly to the judge. “I object. The dignity
+of this court is in peril. I protest.”</p>
+
+<p>“I am the one to take care of the dignity of this
+court,” said the judge.</p>
+
+<p>Then Mr. Jenkyns got up again. (If it hadn’t
+been such a serious matter, it was almost like a
+Punch-and-Judy show: somebody was always popping
+down and somebody else popping up).</p>
+
+<p>“If there is any doubt on the score of our being
+able to do as we say, Your Honor will have no
+objection, I trust, to the Doctor’s giving the Court
+a demonstration of his powers—of showing that he
+actually can understand the speech of animals?”</p>
+
+<p>I thought I saw a twinkle of amusement come into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
+the old judge’s eyes as he sat considering a moment
+before he answered.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” he said at last, “I don’t think so.” Then
+he turned to the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Are you quite sure you can do this?” he asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Quite, Your Honor,” said the Doctor—“quite
+sure.”</p>
+
+<p>“Very well then,” said the judge. “If you can
+satisfy us that you really are able to understand
+canine testimony, the dog shall be admitted as a
+witness. I do not see, in that case, how I could
+object to his being heard. But I warn you that if
+you are trying to make a laughing-stock of this
+Court it will go hard with you.”</p>
+
+<p>“I protest, I protest!” yelled the long-nosed
+Prosecutor. “This is a scandal, an outrage to the
+Bar!”</p>
+
+<p>“Sit down!” said the judge in a very stern voice.</p>
+
+<p>“What animal does Your Honor wish me to
+talk with?” asked the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“I would like you to talk to my own dog,” said
+the judge. “He is outside in the cloak-room. I
+will have him brought in; and then we shall see what
+you can do.”</p>
+
+<p>Then someone went out and fetched the judge’s
+dog, a lovely great Russian wolf-hound with slender
+legs and a shaggy coat. He was a proud and beautiful
+creature.</p>
+
+<p>“Now, Doctor,” said the judge, “did you ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span>
+see this dog before?—Remember you are in the
+witness-stand and under oath.”</p>
+
+<p>“No, Your Honor, I never saw him before.”</p>
+
+<p>“Very well then, will you please ask him to tell
+you what I had for supper last night? He was
+with me and watched me while I ate.”</p>
+
+<p>Then the Doctor and the dog started talking to
+one another in signs and sounds; and they kept at
+it for quite a long time. And the Doctor began to
+giggle and get so interested that he seemed to forget
+all about the Court and the judge and everything
+else.</p>
+
+<p>“What a time he takes!” I heard a fat woman
+in front of me whispering. “He’s only pretending.
+Of course he can’t do it! Who ever heard of talking
+to a dog? He must think we’re children.”</p>
+
+<p>“Haven’t you finished yet?” the judge asked the
+Doctor. “It shouldn’t take that long just to ask
+what I had for supper.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh no, Your Honor,” said the Doctor. “The
+dog told me that long ago. But then he went on to
+tell me what you did after supper.”</p>
+
+<p>“Never mind that,” said the judge. “Tell me
+what answer he gave you to my question.”</p>
+
+<p>“He says you had a mutton-chop, two baked potatoes,
+a pickled walnut and a glass of ale.”</p>
+
+<p>The Honorable Eustace Beauchamp Conckley
+went white to the lips.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Sounds like witchcraft,” he muttered. “I
+never dreamed—”</p>
+
+<p>“And after your supper,” the Doctor went on,
+“he says you went to see a prize-fight and then sat
+up playing cards for money till twelve o’clock and
+came home singing, ‘We won’t get—’”</p>
+
+<p>“That will do,” the judge interrupted, “I am
+satisfied you can do as you say. The prisoner’s
+dog shall be admitted as a witness.”</p>
+
+<p>“I protest, I object!” screamed the Prosecutor.
+“Your Honor, this is—”</p>
+
+<p>“Sit down!” roared the judge. “I say the dog
+shall be heard. That ends the matter. Put the
+witness in the stand.”</p>
+
+<p>And then for the first time in the solemn history
+of England a dog was put in the witness-stand of
+Her Majesty’s Court of Assizes. And it was I,
+Tommy Stubbins (when the Doctor made a sign to
+me across the room) who proudly led Bob up the
+aisle, through the astonished crowd, past the frowning,
+spluttering, long-nosed Prosecutor, and made
+him comfortable on a high chair in the witness-box;
+from where the old bulldog sat scowling down over
+the rail upon the amazed and gaping jury.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 403px;">
+<img src="images/i-133.jpg" width="403" height="550" alt="In court" />
+<div class="caption">“Sat scowling down upon the amazed and gaping jury”</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SEVENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE END OF THE MYSTERY</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THE trial went swiftly forward after that.
+Mr. Jenkyns told the Doctor to ask Bob
+what he saw on the “night of the 29th;”
+and when Bob had told all he knew and
+the Doctor had turned it into English for the judge
+and the jury, this was what he had to say:</p>
+
+<p>“On the night of the 29th of November, 1824, I
+was with my master, Luke Fitzjohn (otherwise
+known as Luke the Hermit) and his two partners,
+Manuel Mendoza and William Boggs (otherwise
+known as Bluebeard Bill) on their gold-mine in
+Mexico. For a long time these three men had
+been hunting for gold; and they had dug a deep
+hole in the ground. On the morning of the 29th
+gold was discovered, lots of it, at the bottom of
+this hole. And all three, my master and his two
+partners, were very happy about it because now they
+would be rich. But Manuel Mendoza asked Bluebeard
+Bill to go for a walk with him. These two
+men I had always suspected of being bad. So
+when I noticed that they left my master behind,
+I followed them secretly to see what they were
+up to. And in a deep cave in the mountains I heard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
+them arrange together to kill Luke the Hermit so
+that they should get all the gold and he have none.”</p>
+
+<p>At this point the judge asked, “Where is the witness
+Mendoza? Constable, see that he does not
+leave the court.”</p>
+
+<p>But the wicked little man with the watery eyes
+had already sneaked out when no one was looking
+and he was never seen in Puddleby again.</p>
+
+<p>“Then,” Bob’s statement went on, “I went to
+my master and tried very hard to make him understand
+that his partners were dangerous men. But
+it was no use. He did not understand dog language.
+So I did the next best thing: I never let
+him out of my sight but stayed with him every
+moment of the day and night.</p>
+
+<p>“Now the hole that they had made was so deep
+that to get down and up it you had to go in a big
+bucket tied on the end of a rope; and the three men
+used to haul one another up and let one another down
+the mine in this way. That was how the gold was
+brought up too—in the bucket. Well, about seven
+o’clock in the evening my master was standing at the
+top of the mine, hauling up Bluebeard Bill who was
+in the bucket. Just as he had got Bill halfway up
+I saw Mendoza come out of the hut where we all
+lived. Mendoza thought that Bill was away buying
+groceries. But he wasn’t: he was in the bucket.
+And when Mendoza saw Luke hauling and straining
+on the rope he thought he was pulling up a bucket<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>ful
+of gold. So he drew a pistol from his pocket
+and came sneaking up behind Luke to shoot him.</p>
+
+<p>“I barked and barked to warn my master of the
+danger he was in; but he was so busy hauling up
+Bill (who was a heavy fat man) that he took no
+notice of me. I saw that if I didn’t do something
+quick he would surely be shot. So I did a thing I’ve
+never done before: suddenly and savagely I bit my
+master in the leg from behind. Luke was so hurt
+and startled that he did just what I wanted him
+to do: he let go the rope with both hands at once
+and turned round. And then, <i>Crash!</i> down went
+Bill in his bucket to the bottom of the mine and he
+was killed.</p>
+
+<p>“While my master was busy scolding me Mendoza
+put his pistol in his pocket, came up with a
+smile on his face and looked down the mine.</p>
+
+<p>“‘Why, Good Gracious!’ said he to Luke,
+‘You’ve killed Bluebeard Bill. I must go and tell
+the police’—hoping, you see, to get the whole mine
+to himself when Luke should be put in prison.
+Then he jumped on his horse and galloped away.</p>
+
+<p>“And soon my master grew afraid; for he saw
+that if Mendoza only told enough lies to the police,
+it <i>would</i> look as though he had killed Bill on purpose.
+So while Mendoza was gone he and I stole
+away together secretly and came to England.
+Here he shaved off his beard and became a hermit.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
+And ever since, for fifteen years, we’ve remained
+in hiding. This is all I have to say. And I swear
+it is the truth, every word.”</p>
+
+<p>When the Doctor finished reading Bob’s long
+speech the excitement among the twelve men of the
+jury was positively terrific. One, a very old man
+with white hair, began to weep in a loud voice at
+the thought of poor Luke hiding on the fen for
+fifteen years for something he couldn’t help. And
+all the others set to whispering and nodding their
+heads to one another.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of all this up got that horrible
+Prosecutor again, waving his arms more wildly than
+ever.</p>
+
+<p>“Your Honor,” he cried, “I must object to this
+evidence as biased. Of course the dog would not
+tell the truth against his own master. I object.
+I protest.”</p>
+
+<p>“Very well,” said the judge, “you are at liberty
+to cross-examine. It is your duty as Prosecutor
+to prove his evidence untrue. There is the dog:
+question him, if you do not believe what he says.”</p>
+
+<p>I thought the long-nosed lawyer would have a
+fit. He looked first at the dog, then at the Doctor,
+then at the judge, then back at the dog scowling
+from the witness-box. He opened his mouth to
+say something; but no words came. He waved his
+arms some more. His face got redder and redder.
+At last, clutching his forehead, he sank weakly into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
+his seat and had to be helped out of the court-room
+by two friends. As he was half carried through
+the door he was still feebly murmuring, “I protest—I
+object—I protest!”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE EIGHTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THREE CHEERS</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">NEXT the judge made a very long speech
+to the jury; and when it was over all the
+twelve jurymen got up and went out
+into the next room. And at that point
+the Doctor came back, leading Bob, to the seat beside
+me.</p>
+
+<p>“What have the jurymen gone out for?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“They always do that at the end of a trial—to
+make up their minds whether the prisoner did it or
+not.”</p>
+
+<p>“Couldn’t you and Bob go in with them and help
+them make up their minds the right way?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“No, that’s not allowed. They have to talk it
+over in secret. Sometimes it takes—My Gracious,
+look, they’re coming back already! They didn’t
+spend long over it.”</p>
+
+<p>Everybody kept quite still while the twelve men
+came tramping back into their places in the pews.
+Then one of them, the leader—a little man—stood
+up and turned to the judge. Every one was holding
+his breath, especially the Doctor and myself, to see
+what he was going to say. You could have heard
+a pin drop while the whole court-room, the whole<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
+of Puddleby in fact, waited with craning necks and
+straining ears to hear the weighty words.</p>
+
+<p>“Your Honor,” said the little man, “the jury
+returns a verdict of <i>Not Guilty</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>“What’s that mean?” I asked, turning to the
+Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>But I found Doctor John Dolittle, the famous
+naturalist, standing on top of a chair, dancing about
+on one leg like a schoolboy.</p>
+
+<p>“It means he’s free!” he cried, “Luke is free!”</p>
+
+<p>“Then he’ll be able to come on the voyage with
+us, won’t he?”</p>
+
+<p>But I could not hear his answer; for the whole
+court-room seemed to be jumping up on chairs like
+the Doctor. The crowd had suddenly gone crazy.
+All the people were laughing and calling and waving
+to Luke to show him how glad they were that he
+was free. The noise was deafening.</p>
+
+<p>Then it stopped. All was quiet again; and the
+people stood up respectfully while the judge left
+the Court. For the trial of Luke the Hermit, that
+famous trial which to this day they are still talking
+of in Puddleby, was over.</p>
+
+<p>In the hush while the judge was leaving, a sudden
+shriek rang out, and there, in the doorway
+stood a woman, her arms out-stretched to the Hermit.</p>
+
+<p>“Luke!” she cried, “I’ve found you at last!”</p>
+
+<p>“It’s his wife,” the fat woman in front of me<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span>
+whispered. “She ain’t seen ’im in fifteen years,
+poor dear! What a lovely re-union. I’m glad I
+came. I wouldn’t have missed this for anything!”</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the judge had gone the noise broke
+out again; and now the folks gathered round Luke
+and his wife and shook them by the hand and congratulated
+them and laughed over them and cried
+over them.</p>
+
+<p>“Come along, Stubbins,” said the Doctor, taking
+me by the arm, “let’s get out of this while we
+can.”</p>
+
+<p>“But aren’t you going to speak to Luke?” I said—“to
+ask him if he’ll come on the voyage?”</p>
+
+<p>“It wouldn’t be a bit of use,” said the Doctor.
+“His wife’s come for him. No man stands any
+chance of going on a voyage when his wife hasn’t
+seen him in fifteen years. Come along. Let’s get
+home to tea. We didn’t have any lunch, remember.
+And we’ve earned something to eat. We’ll
+have one of those mixed meals, lunch and tea combined—with
+watercress and ham. Nice change.
+Come along.”</p>
+
+<p>Just as we were going to step out at a side door
+I heard the crowd shouting,</p>
+
+<p>“The Doctor! The Doctor! Where’s the
+Doctor? The Hermit would have hanged if it
+hadn’t been for the Doctor. Speech! Speech!—The
+Doctor!”</p>
+
+<p>And a man came running up to us and said,</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“The people are calling for you, Sir.”</p>
+
+<p>“I’m very sorry,” said the Doctor, “but I’m in
+a hurry.”</p>
+
+<p>“The crowd won’t be denied, Sir,” said the man.
+“They want you to make a speech in the market-place.”</p>
+
+<p>“Beg them to excuse me,” said the Doctor—“with
+my compliments. I have an appointment at
+my house—a very important one which I may not
+break. Tell Luke to make a speech. Come along,
+Stubbins, this way.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh Lord!” he muttered as we got out into the
+open air and found another crowd waiting for him
+at the side door. “Let’s go up that alleyway—to
+the left. Quick!—Run!”</p>
+
+<p>We took to our heels, darted through a couple
+of side streets and just managed to get away from
+the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>It was not till we had gained the Oxenthorpe
+Road that we dared to slow down to a walk and
+take our breath. And even when we reached the
+Doctor’s gate and turned to look backwards towards
+the town, the faint murmur of many voices still
+reached us on the evening wind.</p>
+
+<p>“They’re still clamoring for you,” I said. “Listen!”</p>
+
+<p>The murmur suddenly swelled up into a low
+distant roar; and although it was a mile and half
+away you could distinctly hear the words,</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Three cheers for Luke the Hermit: Hooray!—Three
+cheers for his dog: Hooray!—Three cheers
+for his wife: Hooray!—Three cheers for the Doctor:
+Hooray! Hooray! <span class="smcap">HOO-R-A-Y!</span>”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE NINTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">POLYNESIA was waiting for us in the front
+porch. She looked full of some important
+news.</p>
+
+<p>“Doctor,” said she, “the Purple Bird-of-Paradise
+has arrived!”</p>
+
+<p>“At last!” said the Doctor. “I had begun to
+fear some accident had befallen her. And how is
+Miranda?”</p>
+
+<p>From the excited way in which the Doctor fumbled
+his key into the lock I guessed that we were
+not going to get our tea right away, even now.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, she seemed all right when she arrived,”
+said Polynesia—“tired from her long journey of
+course but otherwise all right. But what <i>do</i> you
+think? That mischief-making sparrow, Cheapside,
+insulted her as soon as she came into the garden.
+When I arrived on the scene she was in tears and
+was all for turning round and going straight back
+to Brazil to-night. I had the hardest work persuading
+her to wait till you came. She’s in the
+study. I shut Cheapside in one of your book-cases
+and told him I’d tell you exactly what had happened
+the moment you got home.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Doctor frowned, then walked silently and
+quickly to the study.</p>
+
+<p>Here we found the candles lit; for the daylight
+was nearly gone. Dab-Dab was standing on the
+floor mounting guard over one of the glass-fronted
+book-cases in which Cheapside had been imprisoned.
+The noisy little sparrow was still fluttering angrily
+behind the glass when we came in.</p>
+
+<p>In the centre of the big table, perched on the
+ink-stand, stood the most beautiful bird I have ever
+seen. She had a deep violet-colored breast, scarlet
+wings and a long, long sweeping tail of gold. She
+was unimaginably beautiful but looked dreadfully
+tired. Already she had her head under her wing;
+and she swayed gently from side to side on top of
+the ink-stand like a bird that has flown long and far.</p>
+
+<p>“Sh!” said Dab-Dab. “Miranda is asleep.
+I’ve got this little imp Cheapside in here. Listen,
+Doctor: for Heaven’s sake send that sparrow
+away before he does any more mischief. He’s
+nothing but a vulgar little nuisance. We’ve had a
+perfectly awful time trying to get Miranda to stay.
+Shall I serve your tea in here, or will you come into
+the kitchen when you’re ready?”</p>
+
+<p>“We’ll come into the kitchen, Dab-Dab,” said
+the Doctor. “Let Cheapside out before you go,
+please.”</p>
+
+<p>Dab-Dab opened the bookcase-door and Cheapside
+strutted out trying hard not to look guilty.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Cheapside,” said the Doctor sternly, “what did
+you say to Miranda when she arrived?”</p>
+
+<p>“I didn’t say nothing, Doc, straight I didn’t.
+That is, nothing much. I was picking up crumbs
+off the gravel path when she comes swanking into
+the garden, turning up her nose in all directions,
+as though she owned the earth—just because she’s
+got a lot of colored plumage. A London sparrow’s
+as good as her any day. I don’t hold by
+these gawdy bedizened foreigners nohow. Why
+don’t they stay in their own country?”</p>
+
+<p>“But what did you say to her that got her so
+offended?”</p>
+
+<p>“All I said was, ‘You don’t belong in an English
+garden; you ought to be in a milliner’s window.’
+That’s all.”</p>
+
+<p>“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Cheapside.
+Don’t you realize that this bird has come
+thousands of miles to see me—only to be insulted
+by your impertinent tongue as soon as she reaches
+my garden? What do you mean by it?—If she
+had gone away again before I got back to-night I
+would never have forgiven you—Leave the room.”</p>
+
+<p>Sheepishly, but still trying to look as though he
+didn’t care, Cheapside hopped out into the passage
+and Dab-Dab closed the door.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor went up to the beautiful bird on the
+ink-stand and gently stroked its back. Instantly
+its head popped out from under its wing.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE TENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">“WELL, Miranda,” said the Doctor. “I’m
+terribly sorry this has happened. But
+you mustn’t mind Cheapside; he
+doesn’t know any better. He’s a city
+bird; and all his life he has had to squabble for a
+living. You must make allowances. He doesn’t
+know any better.”</p>
+
+<p>Miranda stretched her gorgeous wings wearily.
+Now that I saw her awake and moving I noticed
+what a superior, well-bred manner she had. There
+were tears in her eyes and her beak was trembling.</p>
+
+<p>“I wouldn’t have minded so much,” she said in
+a high silvery voice, “if I hadn’t been so dreadfully
+worn out—That and something else,” she added
+beneath her breath.</p>
+
+<p>“Did you have a hard time getting here?” asked
+the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“The worst passage I ever made,” said Miranda.
+“The weather—Well there. What’s the use? I’m
+here anyway.”</p>
+
+<p>“Tell me,” said the Doctor as though he had
+been impatiently waiting to say something for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
+long time: “what did Long Arrow say when you
+gave him my message?”</p>
+
+<p>The Purple Bird-of-Paradise hung her head.</p>
+
+<p>“That’s the worst part of it,” she said. “I
+might almost as well have not come at all. I
+wasn’t able to deliver your message. I couldn’t
+find him. <i>Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow,
+has disappeared!</i>”</p>
+
+<p>“Disappeared!” cried the Doctor. “Why, what’s
+become of him?”</p>
+
+<p>“Nobody knows,” Miranda answered. “He
+had often disappeared before, as I have told you—so
+that the Indians didn’t know where he was. But
+it’s a mighty hard thing to hide away from the
+birds. I had always been able to find some owl
+or martin who could tell me where he was—if I
+wanted to know. But not this time. That’s why
+I’m nearly a fortnight late in coming to you: I
+kept hunting and hunting, asking everywhere. I
+went over the whole length and breadth of South
+America. But there wasn’t a living thing could
+tell me where he was.”</p>
+
+<p>There was a sad silence in the room after she
+had finished; the Doctor was frowning in a peculiar
+sort of way and Polynesia scratched her
+head.</p>
+
+<p>“Did you ask the black parrots?” asked Polynesia.
+“They usually know everything.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Certainly I did,” said Miranda. “And I was
+so upset at not being able to find out anything,
+that I forgot all about observing the weather-signs
+before I started my flight here. I didn’t even
+bother to break my journey at the Azores, but cut
+right across, making for the Straits of Gibraltar—as
+though it were June or July. And of course I
+ran into a perfectly frightful storm in mid-Atlantic.
+I really thought I’d never come through it. Luckily
+I found a piece of a wrecked vessel floating in
+the sea after the storm had partly died down; and
+I roosted on it and took some sleep. If I hadn’t
+been able to take that rest I wouldn’t be here to tell
+the tale.”</p>
+
+<p>“Poor Miranda! What a time you must have
+had!” said the Doctor. “But tell me, were you
+able to find out whereabouts Long Arrow was last
+seen?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes. A young albatross told me he had seen
+him on Spidermonkey Island?”</p>
+
+<p>“Spidermonkey Island? That’s somewhere off
+the coast of Brazil, isn’t it?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, that’s it. Of course I flew there right
+away and asked every bird on the island—and it
+is a big island, a hundred miles long. It seems
+that Long Arrow was visiting some peculiar Indians
+that live there; and that when last seen he was
+going up into the mountains looking for rare<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span>
+medicine-plants. I got that from a tame hawk, a
+pet, which the Chief of the Indians keeps for hunting
+partridges with. I nearly got caught and put
+in a cage for my pains too. That’s the worst of
+having beautiful feathers: it’s as much as your life
+is worth to go near most humans—They say, ‘oh
+how pretty!’ and shoot an arrow or a bullet into
+you. You and Long Arrow were the only two
+men that I would ever trust myself near—out of
+all the people in the world.”</p>
+
+<p>“But was he never known to have returned from
+the mountains?”</p>
+
+<p>“No. That was the last that was seen or heard
+of him. I questioned the sea-birds around the
+shores to find out if he had left the island in a
+canoe. But they could tell me nothing.”</p>
+
+<p>“Do you think that some accident has happened
+to him?” asked the Doctor in a fearful voice.</p>
+
+<p>“I’m afraid it must have,” said Miranda shaking
+her head.</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said John Dolittle slowly, “if I could
+never meet Long Arrow face to face it would be
+the greatest disappointment in my whole life. Not
+only that, but it would be a great loss to the knowledge
+of the human race. For, from what you have
+told me of him, he knew more natural science than
+all the rest of us put together; and if he has gone
+without any one to write it down for him, so the
+world may be the better for it, it would be a terrible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a><br /><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
+thing. But you don’t really think that he is dead,
+do you?”</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;">
+<img src="images/i-151.jpg" width="380" height="600" alt="bird on pedestal" />
+<div class="caption">“‘What else can I think?’”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>“What else can I think?” asked Miranda, bursting
+into tears, “when for six whole months he has
+not been seen by flesh, fish or fowl.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>BLIND TRAVEL</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THIS news about Long Arrow made us
+all very sad. And I could see from the
+silent dreamy way the Doctor took his
+tea that he was dreadfully upset. Every
+once in a while he would stop eating altogether and
+sit staring at the spots on the kitchen table-cloth as
+though his thoughts were far away; till Dab-Dab,
+who was watching to see that he got a good meal,
+would cough or rattle the pots in the sink.</p>
+
+<p>I did my best to cheer him up by reminding him
+of all he had done for Luke and his wife that afternoon.
+And when that didn’t seem to work, I went
+on talking about our preparations for the voyage.</p>
+
+<p>“But you see, Stubbins,” said he as we rose from
+the table and Dab-Dab and Chee-Chee began to
+clear away, “I don’t know where to go now. I
+feel sort of lost since Miranda brought me this
+news. On this voyage I had planned going to see
+Long Arrow. I had been looking forward to it
+for a whole year. I felt he might help me in learning
+the language of the shellfish—and perhaps in
+finding some way of getting to the bottom of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span>
+sea. But now?—He’s gone! And all his great
+knowledge has gone with him.”</p>
+
+<p>Then he seemed to fall a-dreaming again.</p>
+
+<p>“Just to think of it!” he murmured. “Long
+Arrow and I, two students—Although I’d never
+met him, I felt as though I knew him quite well.
+For, in his way—without any schooling—he has, all
+his life, been trying to do the very things which I
+have tried to do in mine—And now he’s gone!—A
+whole world lay between us—And only a bird knew
+us both!”</p>
+
+<p>We went back into the study, where Jip brought
+the Doctor his slippers and his pipe. And after
+the pipe was lit and the smoke began to fill the
+room the old man seemed to cheer up a little.</p>
+
+<p>“But you will go on some voyage, Doctor, won’t
+you?” I asked—“even if you can’t go to find Long
+Arrow.”</p>
+
+<p>He looked up sharply into my face; and I suppose
+he saw how anxious I was. Because he suddenly
+smiled his old, boyish smile and said,</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, Stubbins. Don’t worry. We’ll go. We
+mustn’t stop working and learning, even if poor
+Long Arrow has disappeared—But where to go:
+that’s the question. Where shall we go?”</p>
+
+<p>There were so many places that I wanted to go
+that I couldn’t make up my mind right away. And
+while I was still thinking, the Doctor sat up in his
+chair and said,</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“I tell you what we’ll do, Stubbins: it’s a game I
+used to play when I was young—before Sarah came
+to live with me. I used to call it Blind Travel.
+Whenever I wanted to go on a voyage, and I
+couldn’t make up my mind where to go, I would
+take the atlas and open it with my eyes shut. Next,
+I’d wave a pencil, still without looking, and stick it
+down on whatever page had fallen open. Then I’d
+open my eyes and look. It’s a very exciting game,
+is Blind Travel. Because you have to swear, before
+you begin, that you will go to the place the
+pencil touches, come what may. Shall we play it?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, let’s!” I almost yelled. “How thrilling!
+I hope it’s China—or Borneo—or Bagdad.”</p>
+
+<p>And in a moment I had scrambled up the bookcase,
+dragged the big atlas from the top shelf and
+laid it on the table before the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>I knew every page in that atlas by heart. How
+many days and nights I had lingered over its old
+faded maps, following the blue rivers from the
+mountains to the sea; wondering what the little
+towns really looked like, and how wide were the
+sprawling lakes! I had had a lot of fun with that
+atlas, traveling, in my mind, all over the world. I
+can see it now: the first page had no map; it just
+told you that it was printed in Edinburgh in 1808,
+and a whole lot more about the book. The next
+page was the Solar System, showing the sun and
+planets, the stars and the moon. The third page<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
+was the chart of the North and South Poles. Then
+came the hemispheres, the oceans, the continents
+and the countries.</p>
+
+<p>As the Doctor began sharpening his pencil a
+thought came to me.</p>
+
+<p>“What if the pencil falls upon the North Pole,”
+I asked, “will we have to go there?”</p>
+
+<p>“No. The rules of the game say you don’t have
+to go any place you’ve been to before. You are
+allowed another try. I’ve been to the North Pole,”
+he ended quietly, “so we shan’t have to go there.”</p>
+
+<p>I could hardly speak with astonishment.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>You’ve been to the North pole!</i>” I managed to
+gasp out at last. “But I thought it was still undiscovered.
+The map shows all the places explorers
+have reached to, <i>trying</i> to get there. Why isn’t
+your name down if you discovered it?”</p>
+
+<p>“I promised to keep it a secret. And you must
+promise me never to tell any one. Yes, I discovered
+the North Pole in April, 1809. But
+shortly after I got there the polar bears came to me
+in a body and told me there was a great deal of
+coal there, buried beneath the snow. They knew,
+they said, that human beings would do anything,
+and go anywhere, to get coal. So would I please
+keep it a secret. Because once people began coming
+up there to start coal-mines, their beautiful
+white country would be spoiled—and there was
+nowhere else in the world cold enough for polar<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
+bears to be comfortable. So of course I had to
+promise them I would. Ah, well, it will be discovered
+again some day, by somebody else. But
+I want the polar bears to have their play-ground
+to themselves as long as possible. And I daresay
+it will be a good while yet—for it certainly is a
+fiendish place to get to—Well now, are we ready?—Good!
+Take the pencil and stand here close to
+the table. When the book falls open, wave the
+pencil round three times and jab it down. Ready?—All
+right. Shut your eyes.”</p>
+
+<p>It was a tense and fearful moment—but very
+thrilling. We both had our eyes shut tight. I
+heard the atlas fall open with a bang. I wondered
+what page it was: England or Asia. If it should
+be the map of Asia, so much would depend on where
+that pencil would land. I waved three times in a
+circle. I began to lower my hand. The pencil-point
+touched the page.</p>
+
+<p>“All right,” I called out, “it’s done.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE TWELFTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>DESTINY AND DESTINATION</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WE both opened our eyes; then bumped
+our heads together with a crack in
+our eagerness to lean over and see
+where we were to go.</p>
+
+<p>The atlas lay open at a map called, <i>Chart of the
+South Atlantic Ocean</i>. My pencil-point was resting
+right in the center of a tiny island. The name
+of it was printed so small that the Doctor had to
+get out his strong spectacles to read it. I was
+trembling with excitement.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>Spidermonkey Island</i>,” he read out slowly.
+Then he whistled softly beneath his breath. “Of
+all the extraordinary things! You’ve hit upon the
+very island where Long Arrow was last seen on
+earth—I wonder—Well, well! How very singular!”</p>
+
+<p>“We’ll go there, Doctor, won’t we?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Of course we will. The rules of the game say
+we’ve got to.”</p>
+
+<p>“I’m so glad it wasn’t Oxenthorpe or Bristol,” I
+said. “It’ll be a grand voyage, this. Look at all
+the sea we’ve got to cross. Will it take us long?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Oh, no,” said the Doctor—“not very. With a
+good boat and a good wind we should make it
+easily in four weeks. But isn’t it extraordinary?
+Of all the places in the world you picked out that
+one with your eyes shut. Spidermonkey Island
+after all!—Well, there’s one good thing about it:
+I shall be able to get some Jabizri beetles.”</p>
+
+<p>“What are Jabizri beetles?”</p>
+
+<p>“They are a very rare kind of beetles with peculiar
+habits. I want to study them. There are
+only three countries in the world where they are to
+be found. Spidermonkey Island is one of them.
+But even there they are very scarce.”</p>
+
+<p>“What is this little question-mark after the name
+of the island for?” I asked, pointing to the map.</p>
+
+<p>“That means that the island’s position in the
+ocean is not known very exactly—that it is somewhere
+<i>about</i> there. Ships have probably seen it in
+that neighborhood, that is all, most likely. It is
+quite possible we shall be the first white men to
+land there. But I daresay we shall have some
+difficulty in finding it first.”</p>
+
+<p>How like a dream it all sounded! The two of
+us sitting there at the big study-table; the candles
+lit; the smoke curling towards the dim ceiling from
+the Doctor’s pipe—the two of us sitting there, talking
+about finding an island in the ocean and being
+the first white men to land upon it!</p>
+
+<p>“I’ll bet it will be a great voyage,” I said. “It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span>
+looks a lovely island on the map. Will there be
+black men there?”</p>
+
+<p>“No. A peculiar tribe of Red Indians lives on
+it, Miranda tells me.”</p>
+
+<p>At this point the poor Bird-of-Paradise stirred
+and woke up. In our excitement we had forgotten
+to speak low.</p>
+
+<p>“We are going to Spidermonkey Island, Miranda,”
+said the Doctor. “You know where it is,
+do you not?”</p>
+
+<p>“I know where it was the last time I saw it,”
+said the bird. “But whether it will be there still,
+I can’t say.”</p>
+
+<p>“What do you mean?” asked the Doctor. “It is
+always in the same place surely?”</p>
+
+<p>“Not by any means,” said Miranda. “Why,
+didn’t you know?—Spidermonkey Island is a
+<i>floating</i> island. It moves around all over the
+place—usually somewhere near southern South
+America. But of course I could surely find it for
+you if you want to go there.”</p>
+
+<p>At this fresh piece of news I could contain myself
+no longer. I was bursting to tell some one.
+I ran dancing and singing from the room to find
+Chee-Chee.</p>
+
+<p>At the door I tripped over Dab-Dab, who was
+just coming in with her wings full of plates, and fell
+headlong on my nose.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Has the boy gone crazy?” cried the duck.
+“Where do you think you’re going, ninny?”</p>
+
+<p>“To Spidermonkey Island!” I shouted, picking
+myself up and doing cart-wheels down the hall—“Spidermonkey
+Island! Hooray!—And it’s a
+<i>floating</i> island!”</p>
+
+<p>“You’re going to Bedlam, I should say,” snorted
+the housekeeper. “Look what you’ve done to my
+best china!”</p>
+
+<p>But I was far too happy to listen to her scolding;
+and I ran on, singing, into the kitchen to find Chee-Chee.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 177px;">
+<img src="images/decoration.jpg" width="177" height="21" alt="decoration" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>PART THREE</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<h2><i>THE FIRST CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE THIRD MAN</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THAT same week we began our preparations
+for the voyage.</p>
+
+<p>Joe, the mussel-man, had the <i>Curlew</i>
+moved down the river and tied it up
+along the river-wall, so it would be more handy for
+loading. And for three whole days we carried
+provisions down to our beautiful new boat and
+stowed them away.</p>
+
+<p>I was surprised to find how roomy and big she
+was inside. There were three little cabins, a saloon
+(or dining-room) and underneath all this, a big
+place called the hold where the food and extra sails
+and other things were kept.</p>
+
+<p>I think Joe must have told everybody in the town
+about our coming voyage, because there was always
+a regular crowd watching us when we brought the
+things down to put aboard. And of course sooner
+or later old Matthew Mugg was bound to turn up.</p>
+
+<p>“My Goodness, Tommy,” said he, as he watched
+me carrying on some sacks of flour, “but that’s a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
+pretty boat! Where might the Doctor be going
+to this voyage?”</p>
+
+<p>“We’re going to Spidermonkey Island,” I said
+proudly.</p>
+
+<p>“And be you the only one the Doctor’s taking
+along?”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, he has spoken of wanting to take another
+man,” I said; “but so far he hasn’t made up his
+mind.”</p>
+
+<p>Matthew grunted; then squinted up at the graceful
+masts of the <i>Curlew</i>.</p>
+
+<p>“You know, Tommy,” said he, “if it wasn’t for
+my rheumatism I’ve half a mind to come with the
+Doctor myself. There’s something about a boat
+standing ready to sail that always did make me feel
+venturesome and travelish-like. What’s that stuff
+in the cans you’re taking on?”</p>
+
+<p>“This is treacle,” I said—“twenty pounds of treacle.”</p>
+
+<p>“My Goodness,” he sighed, turning away sadly.
+“That makes me feel more like going with you than
+ever—But my rheumatism is that bad I can’t
+hardly—”</p>
+
+<p>I didn’t hear any more for Matthew had moved
+off, still mumbling, into the crowd that stood about
+the wharf. The clock in Puddleby Church struck
+noon and I turned back, feeling very busy and important,
+to the task of loading.</p>
+
+<p>But it wasn’t very long before some one else came<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
+along and interrupted my work. This was a huge,
+big, burly man with a red beard and tattoo-marks
+all over his arms. He wiped his mouth with the
+back of his hand, spat twice on to the river-wall
+and said,</p>
+
+<p>“Boy, where’s the skipper?”</p>
+
+<p>“The <i>skipper</i>!—Who do you mean?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“The captain—Where’s the captain of this
+craft?” he said, pointing to the <i>Curlew</i>.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, you mean the Doctor,” said I. “Well, he
+isn’t here at present.”</p>
+
+<p>At that moment the Doctor arrived with his arms
+full of note-books and butterfly-nets and glass cases
+and other natural history things. The big man
+went up to him, respectfully touching his cap.</p>
+
+<p>“Good morning, Captain,” said he. “I heard
+you was in need of hands for a voyage. My name’s
+Ben Butcher, able seaman.”</p>
+
+<p>“I am very glad to know you,” said the Doctor.
+“But I’m afraid I shan’t be able to take on any more
+crew.”</p>
+
+<p>“Why, but Captain,” said the able seaman, “you
+surely ain’t going to face deep-sea weather with
+nothing more than this bit of a lad to help you—and
+with a cutter that big!”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor assured him that he was; but the man
+didn’t go away. He hung around and argued.
+He told us he had known of many ships being sunk
+through “undermanning.” He got out what he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a><br /><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
+called his <i>stiffikit</i>—a paper which said what a good
+sailor he was—and implored us, if we valued our
+lives, to take him.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 419px;">
+<img src="images/i-165.jpg" width="419" height="500" alt="sailor talking to boy" />
+<div class="caption">“‘Boy, where’s the skipper?’”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>But the Doctor was quite firm—polite but determined—and
+finally the man walked sorrowfully
+away, telling us he never expected to see us alive
+again.</p>
+
+<p>Callers of one sort and another kept us quite
+busy that morning. The Doctor had no sooner
+gone below to stow away his note-books than
+another visitor appeared upon the gang-plank.
+This was a most extraordinary-looking black man.
+The only other negroes I had seen had been in
+circuses, where they wore feathers and bone necklaces
+and things like that. But this one was
+dressed in a fashionable frock coat with an enormous
+bright red cravat. On his head was a straw
+hat with a gay band; and over this he held a large
+green umbrella. He was very smart in every
+respect except his feet. He wore no shoes or socks.</p>
+
+<p>“Pardon me,” said he, bowing elegantly, “but
+is this the ship of the physician Dolittle?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” I said, “did you wish to see him?”</p>
+
+<p>“I did—if it will not be discommodious,” he answered.</p>
+
+<p>“Who shall I say it is?”</p>
+
+<p>“I am Bumpo Kahbooboo, Crown Prince of
+Jolliginki.”</p>
+
+<p>I ran downstairs at once and told the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“How fortunate!” cried John Dolittle. “My
+old friend Bumpo! Well, well!—He’s studying
+at Oxford, you know. How good of him to come
+all this way to call on me!” And he tumbled up
+the ladder to greet his visitor.</p>
+
+<p>The strange black man seemed to be overcome
+with joy when the Doctor appeared and shook him
+warmly by the hand.</p>
+
+<p>“News reached me,” he said, “that you were
+about to sail upon a voyage. I hastened to see
+you before your departure. I am sublimely ecstasied
+that I did not miss you.”</p>
+
+<p>“You very nearly did miss us,” said the Doctor.
+“As it happened, we were delayed somewhat in getting
+the necessary number of men to sail our
+boat. If it hadn’t been for that, we would have
+been gone three days ago.”</p>
+
+<p>“How many men does your ship’s company yet
+require?” asked Bumpo.</p>
+
+<p>“Only one,” said the Doctor—“But it is so hard
+to find the right one.”</p>
+
+<p>“Methinks I detect something of the finger of
+Destination in this,” said Bumpo. “How would I
+do?”</p>
+
+<p>“Splendidly,” said the Doctor. “But what
+about your studies? You can’t very well just go
+off and leave your university career to take care
+of itself, you know.”</p>
+
+<p>“I need a holiday,” said Bumpo. “Even had I<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
+not gone with you, I intended at the end of this
+term to take a three-months’ absconsion—But besides,
+I shall not be neglecting my edification if I
+accompany you. Before I left Jolliginki my
+august father, the King, told me to be sure and
+travel plenty. You are a man of great studiosity.
+To see the world in your company is an opportunity
+not to be sneezed upon. No, no, indeed.”</p>
+
+<p>“How did you like the life at Oxford?” asked
+the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, passably, passably,” said Bumpo. “I liked
+it all except the algebra and the shoes. The algebra
+hurt my head and the shoes hurt my feet. I
+threw the shoes over a wall as soon as I got out of
+the college quadrilateral this morning; and the algebra
+I am happily forgetting very fast—I liked
+Cicero—Yes, I think Cicero’s fine—so simultaneous.
+By the way, they tell me his son is rowing
+for our college next year—charming fellow.”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor looked down at the black man’s huge
+bare feet thoughtfully a moment.</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” he said slowly, “there is something in
+what you say, Bumpo, about getting education from
+the world as well as from the college. And if you
+are really sure that you want to come, we shall be
+delighted to have you. Because, to tell you the
+truth, I think you are exactly the man we need.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SECOND CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>GOOD-BYE!</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">TWO days after that we had all in readiness
+for our departure.</p>
+
+<p>On this voyage Jip begged so hard to
+be taken that the Doctor finally gave
+in and said he could come. Polynesia and Chee-Chee
+were the only other animals to go with us.
+Dab-Dab was left in charge of the house and the
+animal family we were to leave behind.</p>
+
+<p>Of course, as is always the way, at the last moment
+we kept remembering things we had forgotten;
+and when we finally closed the house up and
+went down the steps to the road, we were all burdened
+with armfuls of odd packages.</p>
+
+<p>Halfway to the river, the Doctor suddenly remembered
+that he had left the stock-pot boiling on
+the kitchen-fire. However, we saw a blackbird flying
+by who nested in our garden, and the Doctor
+asked her to go back for us and tell Dab-Dab
+about it.</p>
+
+<p>Down at the river-wall we found a great crowd
+waiting to see us off.</p>
+
+<p>Standing right near the gang-plank were my
+mother and father. I hoped that they would not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
+make a scene, or burst into tears or anything like
+that. But as a matter of fact they behaved quite
+well—for parents. My mother said something
+about being sure not to get my feet wet; and my
+father just smiled a crooked sort of smile, patted
+me on the back and wished me luck. Good-byes
+are awfully uncomfortable things and I was glad
+when it was over and we passed on to the ship.</p>
+
+<p>We were a little surprised not to see Matthew
+Mugg among the crowd. We had felt sure that he
+would be there; and the Doctor had intended to
+give him some extra instructions about the food for
+the animals we had left at the house.</p>
+
+<p>At last, after much pulling and tugging, we got
+the anchor up and undid a lot of mooring-ropes.
+Then the <i>Curlew</i> began to move gently down the
+river with the out-running tide, while the people on
+the wall cheered and waved their handkerchiefs.</p>
+
+<p>We bumped into one or two other boats getting
+out into the stream; and at one sharp bend in the
+river we got stuck on a mud bank for a few minutes.
+But though the people on the shore seemed to get
+very excited at these things, the Doctor did not
+appear to be disturbed by them in the least.</p>
+
+<p>“These little accidents will happen in the most
+carefully regulated voyages,” he said as he leaned
+over the side and fished for his boots which had
+got stuck in the mud while we were pushing off.
+“Sailing is much easier when you get out into the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span>
+open sea. There aren’t so many silly things to
+bump into.”</p>
+
+<p>For me indeed it was a great and wonderful
+feeling, that getting out into the open sea, when at
+length we passed the little lighthouse at the mouth
+of the river and found ourselves free of the land.
+It was all so new and different: just the sky above
+you and sea below. This ship, which was to be our
+house and our street, our home and our garden, for
+so many days to come, seemed so tiny in all this
+wide water—so tiny and yet so snug, sufficient, safe.</p>
+
+<p>I looked around me and took in a deep breath.
+The Doctor was at the wheel steering the boat
+which was now leaping and plunging gently through
+the waves. (I had expected to feel seasick at first
+but was delighted to find that I didn’t.) Bumpo
+had been told off to go downstairs and prepare dinner
+for us. Chee-Chee was coiling up ropes in
+the stern and laying them in neat piles. My work
+was fastening down the things on the deck so that
+nothing could roll about if the weather should grow
+rough when we got further from the land. Jip
+was up in the peak of the boat with ears cocked
+and nose stuck out—like a statue, so still—his keen
+old eyes keeping a sharp look-out for floating
+wrecks, sand-bars, and other dangers. Each one
+of us had some special job to do, part of the proper
+running of a ship. Even old Polynesia was taking
+the sea’s temperature with the Doctor’s bath-thermometer<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
+tied on the end of a string, to make sure
+there were no icebergs near us. As I listened to
+her swearing softly to herself because she couldn’t
+read the pesky figures in the fading light, I realized
+that the voyage had begun in earnest and that very
+soon it would be night—my first night at sea!</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE THIRD CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>OUR TROUBLES BEGIN</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">JUST before supper-time Bumpo appeared
+from downstairs and went to the Doctor at
+the wheel.</p>
+
+<p>“A stowaway in the hold, Sir,” said he in
+a very business-like seafaring voice. “I just discovered
+him, behind the flour-bags.”</p>
+
+<p>“Dear me!” said the Doctor. “What a nuisance!
+Stubbins, go down with Bumpo and bring
+the man up. I can’t leave the wheel just now.”</p>
+
+<p>So Bumpo and I went down into the hold; and
+there, behind the flour-bags, plastered in flour from
+head to foot, we found a man. After we had swept
+most of the flour off him with a broom, we discovered
+that it was Matthew Mugg. We hauled him
+upstairs sneezing and took him before the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Why Matthew!” said John Dolittle. “What
+on earth are you doing here?”</p>
+
+<p>“The temptation was too much for me, Doctor,”
+said the cat’s-meat-man. “You know I’ve often
+asked you to take me on voyages with you and you
+never would. Well, this time, knowing that you
+needed an extra man, I thought if I stayed hid till
+the ship was well at sea you would find I came in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
+handy like and keep me. But I had to lie so doubled
+up, for hours, behind them flour-bags, that my
+rheumatism came on something awful. I just had
+to change my position; and of course just as I
+stretched out my legs along comes this here African
+cook of yours and sees my feet sticking out—Don’t
+this ship roll something awful! How long has
+this storm been going on? I reckon this damp sea
+air wouldn’t be very good for my rheumatics.”</p>
+
+<p>“No, Matthew it really isn’t. You ought not to
+have come. You are not in any way suited to this
+kind of a life. I’m sure you wouldn’t enjoy a long
+voyage a bit. We’ll stop in at Penzance and put
+you ashore. Bumpo, please go downstairs to my
+bunk; and listen: in the pocket of my dressing-gown
+you’ll find some maps. Bring me the small one—with
+blue pencil-marks at the top. I know Penzance
+is over here on our left somewhere. But I must
+find out what light-houses there are before I change
+the ship’s course and sail inshore.”</p>
+
+<p>“Very good, Sir,” said Bumpo, turning round
+smartly and making for the stairway.</p>
+
+<p>“Now Matthew,” said the Doctor, “you can
+take the coach from Penzance to Bristol. And
+from there it is not very far to Puddleby, as you
+know. Don’t forget to take the usual provisions
+to the house every Thursday, and be particularly
+careful to remember the extra supply of herrings
+for the baby minks.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>While we were waiting for the maps Chee-Chee
+and I set about lighting the lamps: a green one on
+the right side of the ship, a red one on the left and
+a white one on the mast.</p>
+
+<p>At last we heard some one trundling on the stairs
+again and the Doctor said,</p>
+
+<p>“Ah, here’s Bumpo with the maps at last!”</p>
+
+<p>But to our great astonishment it was not Bumpo
+alone that appeared but <i>three</i> people.</p>
+
+<p>“Good Lord deliver us! Who are these?” cried
+John Dolittle.</p>
+
+<p>“Two more stowaways, Sir,” said Bumpo stepping
+forward briskly. “I found them in your cabin
+hiding under the bunk. One woman and one man,
+Sir. Here are the maps.”</p>
+
+<p>“This is too much,” said the Doctor feebly.
+“Who are they? I can’t see their faces in this dim
+light. Strike a match, Bumpo.”</p>
+
+<p>You could never guess who it was. It was Luke
+and his wife. Mrs. Luke appeared to be very miserable
+and seasick.</p>
+
+<p>They explained to the Doctor that after they
+had settled down to live together in the little shack
+out on the fens, so many people came to visit them
+(having heard about the great trial) that life became
+impossible; and they had decided to escape
+from Puddleby in this manner—for they had no
+money to leave any other way—and try to find
+some new place to live where they and their story<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span>
+wouldn’t be so well known. But as soon as the
+ship had begun to roll Mrs. Luke had got most
+dreadfully unwell.</p>
+
+<p>Poor Luke apologized many times for being such
+a nuisance and said that the whole thing had been
+his wife’s idea.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor, after he had sent below for his
+medicine-bag and had given Mrs. Luke some <i>sal
+volatile</i> and smelling-salts, said he thought the best
+thing to do would be for him to lend them some
+money and put them ashore at Penzance with Matthew.
+He also wrote a letter for Luke to take
+with him to a friend the Doctor had in the town of
+Penzance who, it was hoped, would be able to find
+Luke work to do there.</p>
+
+<p>As the Doctor opened his purse and took out
+some gold coins I heard Polynesia, who was sitting
+on my shoulder watching the whole affair, mutter
+beneath her breath,</p>
+
+<p>“There he goes—lending his last blessed penny—three
+pounds ten—all the money we had for the
+whole trip! Now we haven’t the price of a postage-stamp
+aboard if we should lose an anchor or
+have to buy a pint of tar—Well, let’s pray we don’t
+run out of food—Why doesn’t he give them the
+ship and walk home?”</p>
+
+<p>Presently with the help of the map the course of
+the boat was changed and, to Mrs. Luke’s great
+relief, we made for Penzance and dry land.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I was tremendously interested to see how a ship
+could be steered into a port at night with nothing
+but light-houses and a compass to guide you. It
+seemed to me that the Doctor missed all the rocks
+and sand-bars very cleverly.</p>
+
+<p>We got into that funny little Cornish harbor
+about eleven o’clock that night. The Doctor took
+his stowaways on shore in our small row-boat which
+we kept on the deck of the <i>Curlew</i> and found them
+rooms at the hotel there. When he got back he
+told us that Mrs. Luke had gone straight to bed
+and was feeling much better.</p>
+
+<p>It was now after midnight; so we decided to stay
+in the harbor and wait till morning before setting
+out again.</p>
+
+<p>I was glad to get to bed, although I felt that
+staying up so tremendously late was great fun. As
+I climbed into the bunk over the Doctor’s and pulled
+the blankets snugly round me, I found I could look
+out of the port-hole at my elbow, and, without
+raising my head from the pillow, could see the
+lights of Penzance swinging gently up and down
+with the motion of the ship at anchor. It was
+like being rocked to sleep with a little show going
+on to amuse you. I was just deciding that I liked
+the life of the sea very much when I fell fast asleep.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FOURTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THE next morning when we were eating
+a very excellent breakfast of kidneys
+and bacon, prepared by our good cook
+Bumpo, the Doctor said to me,</p>
+
+<p>“I was just wondering, Stubbins, whether I should
+stop at the Capa Blanca Islands or run right across
+for the coast of Brazil. Miranda said we could
+expect a spell of excellent weather now—for four
+and a half weeks at least.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” I said, spooning out the sugar at the
+bottom of my cocoa-cup, “I should think it would
+be best to make straight across while we are sure
+of good weather. And besides the Purple Bird-of-Paradise
+is going to keep a lookout for us, isn’t
+she? She’ll be wondering what’s happened to us
+if we don’t get there in about a month.”</p>
+
+<p>“True, quite true, Stubbins. On the other hand,
+the Capa Blancas make a very convenient stopping
+place on our way across. If we should need supplies
+or repairs it would be very handy to put in
+there.”</p>
+
+<p>“How long will it take us from here to the Capa
+Blancas?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“About six days,” said the Doctor—“Well, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
+can decide later. For the next two days at any
+rate our direction would be the same practically in
+either case. If you have finished breakfast let’s
+go and get under way.”</p>
+
+<p>Upstairs I found our vessel surrounded by white
+and gray seagulls who flashed and circled about in
+the sunny morning air, looking for food-scraps
+thrown out by the ships into the harbor.</p>
+
+<p>By about half past seven we had the anchor up
+and the sails set to a nice steady breeze; and this
+time we got out into the open sea without bumping
+into a single thing. We met the Penzance fishing
+fleet coming in from the night’s fishing, and very
+trim and neat they looked, in a line like soldiers,
+with their red-brown sails all leaning over the same
+way and the white water dancing before their bows.</p>
+
+<p>For the next three or four days everything went
+smoothly and nothing unusual happened. During
+this time we all got settled down into our regular
+jobs; and in spare moments the Doctor showed
+each of us how to take our turns at the wheel, the
+proper manner of keeping a ship on her right
+course, and what to do if the wind changed suddenly.
+We divided the twenty-four hours of the
+day into three spells; and we took it in turns to
+sleep our eight hours and be awake sixteen. So
+the ship was well looked after, with two of us always
+on duty.</p>
+
+<p>Besides that, Polynesia, who was an older sailor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
+than any of us, and really knew a lot about running
+ships, seemed to be always awake—except when
+she took her couple of winks in the sun, standing
+on one leg beside the wheel. You may be sure
+that no one ever got a chance to stay abed more
+than his eight hours while Polynesia was around.
+She used to watch the ship’s clock; and if you overslept
+a half-minute, she would come down to the
+cabin and peck you gently on the nose till you got
+up.</p>
+
+<div class="figright" style="width: 431px;">
+<img src="images/i-181.jpg" width="431" height="500" alt="view undersea with shif and large snail" />
+<div class="caption">“In these lower levels we came upon the shadowy shapes of dead
+ships”</div>
+
+<div class="right"><i><a href="#Page_360">Page 360</a></i></div>
+</div>
+<p>I very soon grew to be quite fond of our funny
+black friend Bumpo, with his grand way of speaking
+and his enormous feet which some one was always
+stepping on or falling over. Although he
+was much older than I was and had been to college,
+he never tried to lord it over me. He seemed
+to be forever smiling and kept all of us in good
+humor. It wasn’t long before I began to see the
+Doctor’s good sense in bringing him—in spite of
+the fact that he knew nothing whatever about sailing
+or travel.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of the fifth day out, just as I
+was taking the wheel over from the Doctor, Bumpo
+appeared and said,</p>
+
+<p>“The salt beef is nearly all gone, Sir.”</p>
+
+<p>“The salt beef!” cried the Doctor. “Why, we
+brought a hundred and twenty pounds with us.
+We couldn’t have eaten that in five days. What
+can have become of it?”<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“I don’t know, Sir, I’m sure. Every time I go
+down to the stores I find another hunk missing. If
+it is rats that are eating it, then they are certainly
+colossal rodents.”</p>
+
+<p>Polynesia who was walking up and down a stay-rope
+taking her morning exercise, put in,</p>
+
+<p>“We must search the hold. If this is allowed
+to go on we will all be starving before a week is
+out. Come downstairs with me, Tommy, and we
+will look into this matter.”</p>
+
+<p>So we went downstairs into the store-room and
+Polynesia told us to keep quite still and listen.
+This we did. And presently we heard from a dark
+corner of the hold the distinct sound of someone
+snoring.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah, I thought so,” said Polynesia. “It’s a man—and
+a big one. Climb in there, both of you, and
+haul him out. It sounds as though he were behind
+that barrel—Gosh! We seem to have brought
+half of Puddleby with us. Anyone would think
+we were a penny ferry-boat. Such cheek! Haul
+him out.”</p>
+
+<p>So Bumpo and I lit a lantern and climbed over
+the stores. And there, behind the barrel, sure
+enough, we found an enormous bearded man fast
+asleep with a well-fed look on his face. We woke
+him up.</p>
+
+<p>“Washamarrer?” he said sleepily.</p>
+
+<p>It was Ben Butcher, the able seaman.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Polynesia spluttered like an angry fire-cracker.</p>
+
+<p>“This is the last straw,” said she. “The one
+man in the world we least wanted. Shiver my
+timbers, what cheek!”</p>
+
+<p>“Would it not be, advisable,” suggested Bumpo,
+“while the varlet is still sleepy, to strike him on
+the head with some heavy object and push him
+through a port-hole into the sea?”</p>
+
+<p>“No. We’d get into trouble,” said Polynesia.
+“We’re not in Jolliginki now, you know—worse
+luck!—Besides, there never was a port-hole big
+enough to push that man through. Bring him upstairs
+to the Doctor.”</p>
+
+<p>So we led the man to the wheel where he respectfully
+touched his cap to the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Another stowaway, Sir,” said Bumpo smartly.</p>
+
+<p>I thought the poor Doctor would have a fit.</p>
+
+<p>“Good morning, Captain,” said the man. “Ben
+Butcher, able seaman, at your service. I knew
+you’d need me, so I took the liberty of stowing
+away—much against my conscience. But I just
+couldn’t bear to see you poor landsmen set out on
+this voyage without a single real seaman to help
+you. You’d never have got home alive if I hadn’t
+come—Why look at your mainsail, Sir—all loose
+at the throat. First gust of wind come along, and
+away goes your canvas overboard—Well, it’s all
+right now I’m here. We’ll soon get things in
+shipshape.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“No, it isn’t all right,” said the Doctor, “it’s
+all wrong. And I’m not at all glad to see you. I
+told you in Puddleby I didn’t want you. You had
+no right to come.”</p>
+
+<p>“But Captain,” said the able seaman, “you can’t
+sail this ship without me. You don’t understand
+navigation. Why, look at the compass now: you’ve
+let her swing a point and a half off her course. It’s
+madness for you to try to do this trip alone—if
+you’ll pardon my saying so, Sir. Why—why,
+you’ll lose the ship!”</p>
+
+<p>“Look here,” said the Doctor, a sudden stern
+look coming into his eyes, “losing a ship is nothing
+to me. I’ve lost ships before and it doesn’t
+bother me in the least. When I set out to go to a
+place, I get there. Do you understand? I may
+know nothing whatever about sailing and navigation,
+but I get there just the same. Now you may
+be the best seaman in the world, but on <i>this</i> ship
+you’re just a plain ordinary nuisance—very plain
+and very ordinary. And I am now going to call
+at the nearest port and put you ashore.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, and think yourself lucky,” Polynesia put
+in, “that you are not locked up for stowing away
+and eating all our salt beef.”</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t know what the mischief we’re going to
+do now,” I heard her whisper to Bumpo. “We’ve
+no money to buy any more; and that salt beef was
+the most important part of the stores.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Would it not be good political economy,”
+Bumpo whispered back, “if we salted the able seaman
+and ate him instead? I should judge that he
+would weigh more than a hundred and twenty
+pounds.”</p>
+
+<p>“How often must I tell you that we are not in
+Jolliginki,” snapped Polynesia. “Those things are
+not done on white men’s ships—Still,” she murmured
+after a moment’s thought, “it’s an awfully
+bright idea. I don’t suppose anybody saw him
+come on to the ship—Oh, but Heavens! we haven’t
+got enough salt. Besides, he’d be sure to taste of
+tobacco.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FIFTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THEN the Doctor told me to take the
+wheel while he made a little calculation
+with his map and worked out what new
+course we should take.</p>
+
+<p>“I shall have to run for the Capa Blancas after
+all,” he told me when the seaman’s back was turned.
+“Dreadful nuisance! But I’d sooner swim back to
+Puddleby than have to listen to that fellow’s talk
+all the way to Brazil.”</p>
+
+<p>Indeed he was a terrible person, this Ben Butcher.
+You’d think that any one after being told he wasn’t
+wanted would have had the decency to keep quiet.
+But not Ben Butcher. He kept going round the
+deck pointing out all the things we had wrong. According
+to him there wasn’t a thing right on the
+whole ship. The anchor was hitched up wrong;
+the hatches weren’t fastened down properly; the
+sails were put on back to front; all our knots
+were the wrong kind of knots.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Doctor told him to stop talking and
+go downstairs. He refused—said he wasn’t going<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
+to be sunk by landlubbers while he was still able to
+stay on deck.</p>
+
+<p>This made us feel a little uneasy. He was such
+an enormous man there was no knowing what he
+might do if he got really obstreperous.</p>
+
+<p>Bumpo and I were talking about this downstairs
+in the dining-saloon when Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee
+came and joined us. And, as usual, Polynesia
+had a plan.</p>
+
+<p>“Listen,” she said, “I am certain this Ben Butcher
+is a smuggler and a bad man. I am a very good
+judge of seamen, remember, and I don’t like the
+cut of this man’s jib. I—”</p>
+
+<p>“Do you really think,” I interrupted, “that it <i>is</i>
+safe for the Doctor to cross the Atlantic without
+any regular seamen on his ship?”</p>
+
+<p>You see it had upset me quite a good deal to find
+that all the things we had been doing were wrong;
+and I was beginning to wonder what might happen
+if we ran into a storm—particularly as Miranda
+had only said the weather would be good for a
+certain time; and we seemed to be having so many
+delays. But Polynesia merely tossed her head
+scornfully.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, bless you, my boy,” said she, “you’re
+always safe with John Dolittle. Remember that.
+Don’t take any notice of that stupid old salt. Of
+course it is perfectly true the Doctor does do everything
+wrong. But with him it doesn’t matter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span>
+Mark my words, if you travel with John Dolittle
+you always get there, as you heard him say. I’ve
+been with him lots of times and I know. Sometimes
+the ship is upside down when you get there,
+and sometimes it’s right way up. But you get there
+just the same. And then of course there’s another
+thing about the Doctor,” she added thoughtfully:
+“he always has extraordinary good luck. He may
+have his troubles; but with him things seem to
+have a habit of turning out all right in the
+end. I remember once when we were going
+through the Straits of Magellan the wind was so
+strong—”</p>
+
+<p>“But what are we going to do about Ben
+Butcher?” Jip put in. “You had some plan
+Polynesia, hadn’t you?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes. What I’m afraid of is that he may hit
+the Doctor on the head when he’s not looking and
+make himself captain of the <i>Curlew</i>. Bad sailors
+do that sometimes. Then they run the ship their
+own way and take it where they want. That’s
+what you call a mutiny.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said Jip, “and we ought to do something
+pretty quick. We can’t reach the Capa Blancas
+before the day after to-morrow at best. I don’t
+like to leave the Doctor alone with him for a minute.
+He smells like a very bad man to me.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I’ve got it all worked out,” said Polynesia.
+“Listen: is there a key in that door?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We looked outside the dining-room and found
+that there was.</p>
+
+<p>“All right,” said Polynesia. “Now Bumpo lays
+the table for lunch and we all go and hide. Then
+at twelve o’clock Bumpo rings the dinner-bell down
+here. As soon as Ben hears it he’ll come down
+expecting more salt beef. Bumpo must hide behind
+the door outside. The moment that Ben is
+seated at the dining-table Bumpo slams the door
+and locks it. Then we’ve got him. See?”</p>
+
+<p>“How stratagenious!” Bumpo chuckled. “As
+Cicero said, <i>parrots cum parishioners facilime congregation</i>.
+I’ll lay the table at once.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes and take that Worcestershire sauce off the
+dresser with you when you go out,” said Polynesia.
+“Don’t leave any loose eatables around. That
+fellow has had enough to last any man for three
+days. Besides, he won’t be so inclined to start a
+fight when we put him ashore at the Capa Blancas
+if we thin him down a bit before we let him out.”</p>
+
+<p>So we all went and hid ourselves in the passage
+where we could watch what happened. And presently
+Bumpo came to the foot of the stairs and rang
+the dinner-bell like mad. Then he hopped behind
+the dining-room door and we all kept still and
+listened.</p>
+
+<p>Almost immediately, <i>thump</i>, <i>thump</i>, <i>thump</i>, down
+the stairs tramped Ben Butcher, the able seaman.
+He walked into the dining-saloon, sat himself down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
+at the head of the table in the Doctor’s place, tucked
+a napkin under his fat chin and heaved a sigh of
+expectation.</p>
+
+<p>Then, <i>bang</i>! Bumpo slammed the door and
+locked it.</p>
+
+<p>“That settles <i>him</i> for a while,” said Polynesia
+coming out from her hiding-place. “Now let him
+teach navigation to the side-board. Gosh, the
+cheek of the man! I’ve forgotten more about the
+sea than that lumbering lout will ever know. Let’s
+go upstairs and tell the Doctor. Bumpo, you will
+have to serve the meals in the cabin for the next
+couple of days.”</p>
+
+<p>And bursting into a rollicking Norwegian sea-song,
+she climbed up to my shoulder and we went
+on deck.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SIXTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WE remained three days in the Capa
+Blanca Islands.</p>
+
+<p>There were two reasons why we
+stayed there so long when we were
+really in such a hurry to get away. One was the
+shortage in our provisions caused by the able seaman’s
+enormous appetite. When we came to go
+over the stores and make a list, we found that he
+had eaten a whole lot of other things besides the
+beef. And having no money, we were sorely puzzled
+how to buy more. The Doctor went through
+his trunk to see if there was anything he could sell.
+But the only thing he could find was an old watch
+with the hands broken and the back dented in; and
+we decided this would not bring us in enough money
+to buy much more than a pound of tea. Bumpo
+suggested that he sing comic songs in the streets
+which he had learned in Jolliginki. But the Doctor
+said he did not think that the islanders would care
+for African music.</p>
+
+<p>The other thing that kept us was the bullfight.
+In these islands, which belonged to Spain, they had
+bullfights every Sunday. It was on a Friday that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
+we arrived there; and after we had got rid of the
+able seaman we took a walk through the town.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very funny little town, quite different
+from any that I had ever seen. The streets were
+all twisty and winding and so narrow that a wagon
+could only just pass along them. The houses over-hung
+at the top and came so close together that
+people in the attics could lean out of the windows
+and shake hands with their neighbors on the
+opposite side of the street. The Doctor told us
+the town was very, very old. It was called Monteverde.</p>
+
+<p>As we had no money of course we did not go to a
+hotel or anything like that. But on the second
+evening when we were passing by a bed-maker’s
+shop we noticed several beds, which the man had
+made, standing on the pavement outside. The
+Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the bed-maker
+who was sitting at his door whistling to a parrot in
+a cage. The Doctor and the bed-maker got very
+friendly talking about birds and things. And as it
+grew near to supper-time the man asked us to stop
+and sup with him.</p>
+
+<p>This of course we were very glad to do. And
+after the meal was over (very nice dishes they were,
+mostly cooked in olive-oil—I particularly liked
+the fried bananas) we sat outside on the pavement
+again and went on talking far into the
+night.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At last when we got up to go back to our ship,
+this very nice shopkeeper wouldn’t hear of our
+going away on any account. He said the streets
+down by the harbor were very badly lighted and
+there was no moon. We would surely get lost.
+He invited us to spend the night with him and go
+back to our ship in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>Well, we finally agreed; and as our good friend
+had no spare bedrooms, the three of us, the Doctor,
+Bumpo and I, slept on the beds set out for sale on
+the pavement before the shop. The night was so
+hot we needed no coverings. It was great fun to
+fall asleep out of doors like this, watching the people
+walking to and fro and the gay life of the
+streets. It seemed to me that Spanish people
+never went to bed at all. Late as it was, all the
+little restaurants and cafés around us were wide
+open, with customers drinking coffee and chatting
+merrily at the small tables outside. The sound of
+a guitar strumming softly in the distance mingled
+with the clatter of chinaware and the babble of
+voices.</p>
+
+<p>Somehow it made me think of my mother and
+father far away in Puddleby, with their regular
+habits, the evening practise on the flute and the rest—doing
+the same thing every day. I felt sort of
+sorry for them in a way, because they missed the
+fun of this traveling life, where we were doing
+something new all the time—even sleeping differently.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a><br /><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
+But I suppose if they had been invited to
+go to bed on a pavement in front of a shop they
+wouldn’t have cared for the idea at all. It is funny
+how some people are.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/i-195.jpg" width="400" height="550" alt="doctor talking to man on sidewalk" />
+<div class="caption">“The Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the bed-maker”</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SEVENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE DOCTOR’S WAGER</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">NEXT morning we were awakened by a
+great racket. There was a procession
+coming down the street, a number of
+men in very gay clothes followed by a
+large crowd of admiring ladies and cheering children.
+I asked the Doctor who they were.</p>
+
+<p>“They are the bullfighters,” he said. “There is
+to be a bullfight to-morrow.”</p>
+
+<p>“What is a bullfight?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>To my great surprise the Doctor got red in the
+face with anger. It reminded me of the time when
+he had spoken of the lions and tigers in his private
+zoo.</p>
+
+<p>“A bullfight is a stupid, cruel, disgusting business,”
+said he. “These Spanish people are most
+lovable and hospitable folk. How they can enjoy
+these wretched bullfights is a thing I could never
+understand.”</p>
+
+<p>Then the Doctor went on to explain to me how a
+bull was first made very angry by teasing and then
+allowed to run into a circus where men came out
+with red cloaks, waved them at him, and ran away.
+Next the bull was allowed to tire himself out by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
+tossing and killing a lot of poor, old, broken-down
+horses who couldn’t defend themselves. Then,
+when the bull was thoroughly out of breath and
+wearied by this, a man came out with a sword and
+killed the bull.</p>
+
+<p>“Every Sunday,” said the Doctor, “in almost
+every big town in Spain there are six bulls killed like
+that and as many horses.”</p>
+
+<p>“But aren’t the men ever killed by the bull?”
+I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Unfortunately very seldom,” said he. “A bull
+is not nearly as dangerous as he looks, even when
+he’s angry, if you are only quick on your feet and
+don’t lose your head. These bullfighters are very
+clever and nimble. And the people, especially
+the Spanish ladies, think no end of them. A
+famous bullfighter (or matador, as they call
+them) is a more important man in Spain than a
+king—Here comes another crowd of them round
+the corner, look. See the girls throwing kisses to
+them. Ridiculous business!”</p>
+
+<p>At that moment our friend the bed-maker came
+out to see the procession go past. And while he
+was wishing us good morning and enquiring how we
+had slept, a friend of his walked up and joined us.
+The bed-maker introduced this friend to us as Don
+Enrique Cardenas.</p>
+
+<p>Don Enrique when he heard where we
+were from, spoke to us in English. He appeared<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
+to be a well-educated, gentlemanly sort of person.</p>
+
+<p>“And you go to see the bullfight to-morrow,
+yes?” he asked the Doctor pleasantly.</p>
+
+<p>“Certainly not,” said John Dolittle firmly. “I
+don’t like bullfights—cruel, cowardly shows.”</p>
+
+<p>Don Enrique nearly exploded. I never saw a
+man get so excited. He told the Doctor that he
+didn’t know what he was talking about. He said
+bullfighting was a noble sport and that the matadors
+were the bravest men in the world.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, rubbish!” said the Doctor. “You never
+give the poor bull a chance. It is only when he is
+all tired and dazed that your precious matadors
+dare to try and kill him.”</p>
+
+<p>I thought the Spaniard was going to strike the
+Doctor he got so angry. While he was still spluttering
+to find words, the bed-maker came between
+them and took the Doctor aside. He explained to
+John Dolittle in a whisper that this Don Enrique
+Cardenas was a very important person; that he it
+was who supplied the bulls—a special, strong black
+kind—from his own farm for all the bullfights in the
+Capa Blancas. He was a very rich man, the bed-maker
+said, a most important personage. He
+mustn’t be allowed to take offense on any account.</p>
+
+<p>I watched the Doctor’s face as the bed-maker
+finished, and I saw a flash of boyish mischief come
+into his eyes as though an idea had struck him. He
+turned to the angry Spaniard.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Don Enrique,” he said, “you tell me your
+bullfighters are very brave men and skilful. It
+seems I have offended you by saying that bullfighting
+is a poor sport. What is the name of the best
+matador you have for to-morrow’s show?”</p>
+
+<p>“Pepito de Malaga,” said Don Enrique, “one of
+the greatest names, one of the bravest men, in all
+Spain.”</p>
+
+<p>“Very well,” said the Doctor, “I have a proposal
+to make to you. I have never fought a bull
+in my life. Now supposing I were to go into the
+ring to-morrow with Pepito de Malaga and any
+other matadors you choose; and if I can do more
+tricks with a bull than they can, would you promise
+to do something for me?”</p>
+
+<p>Don Enrique threw back his head and laughed.</p>
+
+<p>“Man,” he said, “you must be mad! You would
+be killed at once. One has to be trained for years
+to become a proper bullfighter.”</p>
+
+<p>“Supposing I were willing to take the risk of
+that—You are not afraid, I take it, to accept my
+offer?”</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniard frowned.</p>
+
+<p>“Afraid!” he cried, “Sir, if you can beat Pepito
+de Malaga in the bull-ring I’ll promise you anything
+it is possible for me to grant.”</p>
+
+<p>“Very good,” said the Doctor, “now I understand
+that you are quite a powerful man in these
+islands. If you wished to stop all bullfighting here<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
+after to-morrow, you could do it, couldn’t you?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said Don Enrique proudly—“I could.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well that is what I ask of you—if I win my
+wager,” said John Dolittle. “If I can do more
+with angry bulls than can Pepito de Malaga, you
+are to promise me that there shall never be another
+bullfight in the Capa Blancas so long as you are
+alive to stop it. Is it a bargain?”</p>
+
+<p>The Spaniard held out his hand.</p>
+
+<p>“It is a bargain,” he said—“I promise. But I
+must warn you that you are merely throwing your
+life away, for you will certainly be killed. However,
+that is no more than you deserve for saying
+that bullfighting is an unworthy sport. I will meet
+you here to-morrow morning if you should wish to
+arrange any particulars. Good day, Sir.”</p>
+
+<p>As the Spaniard turned and walked into the shop
+with the bed-maker, Polynesia, who had been listening
+as usual, flew up on to my shoulder and whispered
+in my ear,</p>
+
+<p>“I have a plan. Get hold of Bumpo and come
+some place where the Doctor can’t hear us. I want
+to talk to you.”</p>
+
+<p>I nudged Bumpo’s elbow and we crossed the
+street and pretended to look into a jeweler’s window;
+while the Doctor sat down upon his bed to
+lace up his boots, the only part of his clothing he
+had taken off for the night.</p>
+
+<p>“Listen,” said Polynesia, “I’ve been breaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
+my head trying to think up some way we can get
+money to buy those stores with; and at last I’ve got
+it.”</p>
+
+<p>“The money?” said Bumpo.</p>
+
+<p>“No, stupid. The idea—to make the money
+with. Listen: the Doctor is simply bound to win
+this game to-morrow, sure as you’re alive. Now
+all we have to do is to make a side bet with these
+Spaniards—they’re great on gambling—and the
+trick’s done.”</p>
+
+<p>“What’s a side bet?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh I know what that is,” said Bumpo proudly.
+“We used to have lots of them at Oxford when
+boat-racing was on. I go to Don Enrique and say,
+‘I bet you a hundred pounds the Doctor wins.’
+Then if he does win, Don Enrique pays me a hundred
+pounds; and if he doesn’t, I have to pay Don
+Enrique.”</p>
+
+<p>“That’s the idea,” said Polynesia. “Only don’t
+say a hundred pounds: say two-thousand five-hundred
+pesetas. Now come and find old Don Ricky-ticky
+and try to look rich.”</p>
+
+<p>So we crossed the street again and slipped into
+the bed-maker’s shop while the Doctor was still
+busy with his boots.</p>
+
+<p>“Don Enrique,” said Bumpo, “allow me to introduce
+myself. I am the Crown Prince of Jolliginki.
+Would you care to have a small bet with
+me on to-morrow’s bullfight?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Don Enrique bowed.</p>
+
+<p>“Why certainly,” he said, “I shall be delighted.
+But I must warn you that you are bound to lose.
+How much?”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh a mere truffle,” said Bumpo—“just for the
+fun of the thing, you know. What do you say to
+three-thousand pesetas?”</p>
+
+<p>“I agree,” said the Spaniard bowing once more.
+“I will meet you after the bullfight to-morrow.”</p>
+
+<p>“So that’s all right,” said Polynesia as we came
+out to join the Doctor. “I feel as though quite a
+load had been taken off my mind.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE EIGHTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE GREAT BULLFIGHT</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THE next day was a great day in Monteverde.
+All the streets were hung
+with flags; and everywhere gaily dressed
+crowds were to be seen flocking towards
+the bull-ring, as the big circus was called where the
+fights took place.</p>
+
+<p>The news of the Doctor’s challenge had gone
+round the town and, it seemed, had caused much
+amusement to the islanders. The very idea of a
+mere foreigner daring to match himself against the
+great Pepito de Malaga!—Serve him right if he got
+killed!</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor had borrowed a bullfighter’s suit
+from Don Enrique; and very gay and wonderful
+he looked in it, though Bumpo and I had hard work
+getting the waistcoat to close in front and even then
+the buttons kept bursting off it in all directions.</p>
+
+<p>When we set out from the harbor to walk to
+the bull-ring, crowds of small boys ran after us
+making fun of the Doctor’s fatness, calling out,
+“<i>Juan Hagapoco, el grueso matador!</i>” which is
+the Spanish for, “John Dolittle, the fat bullfighter.”</p>
+
+<p>As soon as we arrived the Doctor said he would<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
+like to take a look at the bulls before the fight began;
+and we were at once led to the bull pen where,
+behind a high railing, six enormous black bulls
+were tramping around wildly.</p>
+
+<p>In a few hurried words and signs the Doctor
+told the bulls what he was going to do and gave
+them careful instructions for their part of the show.
+The poor creatures were tremendously glad when
+they heard that there was a chance of bullfighting
+being stopped; and they promised to do exactly as
+they were told.</p>
+
+<p>Of course the man who took us in there didn’t
+understand what we were doing. He merely
+thought the fat Englishman was crazy when he saw
+the Doctor making signs and talking in ox tongue.</p>
+
+<p>From there the Doctor went to the matadors’
+dressing-rooms while Bumpo and I with Polynesia
+made our way into the bull-ring and took our seats
+in the great open-air theatre.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very gay sight. Thousands of ladies
+and gentlemen were there, all dressed in their
+smartest clothes; and everybody seemed very happy
+and cheerful.</p>
+
+<p>Right at the beginning Don Enrique got up and
+explained to the people that the first item on the
+program was to be a match between the English
+Doctor and Pepito de Malaga. He told them what
+he had promised if the Doctor should win. But
+the people did not seem to think there was much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
+chance of that. A roar of laughter went up at the
+very mention of such a thing.</p>
+
+<p>When Pepito came into the ring everybody
+cheered, the ladies blew kisses and the men clapped
+and waved their hats.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a large door on the other side of the
+ring was rolled back and in galloped one of the
+bulls; then the door was closed again. At once the
+matador became very much on the alert. He
+waved his red cloak and the bull rushed at him.
+Pepito stepped nimbly aside and the people cheered
+again.</p>
+
+<p>This game was repeated several times. But I
+noticed that whenever Pepito got into a tight place
+and seemed to be in real danger from the bull, an
+assistant of his, who always hung around somewhere
+near, drew the bull’s attention upon himself
+by waving another red cloak. Then the bull would
+chase the assistant and Pepito was left in safety.
+Most often, as soon as he had drawn the bull off,
+this assistant ran for the high fence and vaulted out
+of the ring to save himself. They evidently had
+it all arranged, these matadors; and it didn’t seem
+to me that they were in any very great danger from
+the poor clumsy bull so long as they didn’t slip and
+fall.</p>
+
+<p>After about ten minutes of this kind of thing
+the small door into the matadors’ dressing-room
+opened and the Doctor strolled into the ring. As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
+soon as his fat figure, dressed in sky-blue velvet,
+appeared, the crowd rocked in their seats with
+laughter.</p>
+
+<p>Juan Hagapoco, as they had called him, walked
+out into the centre of the ring and bowed ceremoniously
+to the ladies in the boxes. Then he bowed
+to the bull. Then he bowed to Pepito. While
+he was bowing to Pepito’s assistant the bull started
+to rush at him from behind.</p>
+
+<p>“Look out! Look out!—The bull! You will
+be killed!” yelled the crowd.</p>
+
+<p>But the Doctor calmly finished his bow. Then
+turning round he folded his arms, fixed the on-rushing
+bull with his eye and frowned a terrible frown.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a curious thing happened: the bull’s
+speed got slower and slower. It almost looked as
+though he were afraid of that frown. Soon he
+stopped altogether. The Doctor shook his finger
+at him. He began to tremble. At last, tucking
+his tail between his legs, the bull turned round and
+ran away.</p>
+
+<p>The crowd gasped. The Doctor ran after him.
+Round and round the ring they went, both of them
+puffing and blowing like grampuses. Excited whispers
+began to break out among the people. This
+was something new in bullfighting, to have the
+bull running away from the man, instead of the
+man away from the bull. At last in the tenth
+lap, with a final burst of speed, Juan Hagapoco,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
+the English matador, caught the poor bull by
+the tail.</p>
+
+<p>Then leading the now timid creature into the
+middle of the ring, the Doctor made him do all
+manner of tricks: standing on the hind legs, standing
+on the front legs, dancing, hopping, rolling
+over. He finished up by making the bull kneel
+down; then he got on to his back and did handsprings
+and other acrobatics on the beast’s horns.</p>
+
+<p>Pepito and his assistant had their noses sadly out
+of joint. The crowd had forgotten them entirely.
+They were standing together by the fence not far
+from where I sat, muttering to one another and
+slowly growing green with jealousy.</p>
+
+<p>Finally the Doctor turned towards Don Enrique’s
+seat and bowing said in a loud voice, “This bull is
+no good any more. He’s terrified and out of
+breath. Take him away, please.”</p>
+
+<p>“Does the caballero wish for a fresh bull?”
+asked Don Enrique.</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the Doctor, “I want five fresh bulls.
+And I would like them all in the ring at
+once, please.”</p>
+
+<p>At this a cry of horror burst from the people.
+They had been used to seeing matadors escaping
+from one bull at a time. But <i>five</i>!—That must
+mean certain death.</p>
+
+<p>Pepito sprang forward and called to Don Enrique
+not to allow it, saying it was against all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a><br /><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
+rules of bullfighting. (“Ha!” Polynesia chuckled
+into my ear. “It’s like the Doctor’s navigation:
+he breaks all the rules; but he gets there. If they’ll
+only let him, he’ll give them the best show for their
+money they ever saw.”) A great argument began.
+Half the people seemed to be on Pepito’s side and
+half on the Doctor’s side. At last the Doctor
+turned to Pepito and made another very grand bow
+which burst the last button off his waistcoat.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 404px;">
+<img src="images/i-209.jpg" width="404" height="550" alt="Doctor doing handstand on bull's horns" />
+<div class="caption">“Did acrobatics on the beast’s horns”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>“Well, of course if the caballero is afraid—”
+he began with a bland smile.</p>
+
+<p>“Afraid!” screamed Pepito. “I am afraid of
+nothing on earth. I am the greatest matador in
+Spain. With this right hand I have killed nine
+hundred and fifty-seven bulls.”</p>
+
+<p>“All right then,” said the Doctor, “let us see
+if you can kill five more. Let the bulls in!” he
+shouted. “Pepito de Malaga is not afraid.”</p>
+
+<p>A dreadful silence hung over the great theatre
+as the heavy door into the bull pen was rolled back.
+Then with a roar the five big bulls bounded into the
+ring.</p>
+
+<p>“Look fierce,” I heard the Doctor call to them
+in cattle language. “Don’t scatter. Keep close.
+Get ready for a rush. Take Pepito, the one in
+purple, first. But for Heaven’s sake don’t kill
+him. Just chase him out of the ring—Now then,
+all together, go for him!”</p>
+
+<p>The bulls put down their heads and all in line,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
+like a squadron of cavalry, charged across the ring
+straight for poor Pepito.</p>
+
+<p>For one moment the Spaniard tried his hardest
+to look brave. But the sight of the five pairs of
+horns coming at him at full gallop was too much.
+He turned white to the lips, ran for the fence,
+vaulted it and disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>“Now the other one,” the Doctor hissed. And
+in two seconds the gallant assistant was nowhere to
+be seen. Juan Hagapoco, the fat matador, was
+left alone in the ring with five rampaging bulls.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of the show was really well worth seeing.
+First, all five bulls went raging round the
+ring, butting at the fence with their horns, pawing
+up the sand, hunting for something to kill. Then
+each one in turn would pretend to catch sight of the
+Doctor for the first time and giving a bellow of
+rage, would lower his wicked looking horns and
+shoot like an arrow across the ring as though he
+meant to toss him to the sky.</p>
+
+<p>It was really frightfully exciting. And even I,
+who knew it was all arranged beforehand, held my
+breath in terror for the Doctor’s life when I saw
+how near they came to sticking him. But just at
+the last moment, when the horns’ points were two
+inches from the sky-blue waistcoat, the Doctor
+would spring nimbly to one side and the great
+brutes would go thundering harmlessly by, missing
+him by no more than a hair.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Then all five of them went for him together, completely
+surrounding him, slashing at him with their
+horns and bellowing with fury. How he escaped
+alive I don’t know. For several minutes his round
+figure could hardly be seen at all in that scrimmage
+of tossing heads, stamping hoofs and waving tails.—It
+was, as Polynesia had prophesied, the greatest
+bullfight ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>One woman in the crowd got quite hysterical
+and screamed up to Don Enrique,</p>
+
+<p>“Stop the fight! Stop the fight! He is too
+brave a man to be killed. This is the most wonderful
+matador in the world. Let him live! Stop the
+fight!”</p>
+
+<p>But presently the Doctor was seen to break loose
+from the mob of animals that surrounded him.
+Then catching each of them by the horns, one after
+another, he would give their heads a sudden twist
+and throw them down flat on the sand. The great
+fellows acted their parts extremely well. I have
+never seen trained animals in a circus do better.
+They lay there panting on the ground where the
+Doctor threw them as if they were exhausted and
+completely beaten.</p>
+
+<p>Then with a final bow to the ladies John Dolittle
+took a cigar from his pocket, lit it and strolled out
+of the ring.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE NINTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>WE DEPART IN A HURRY</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">AS soon as the door closed behind the
+Doctor the most tremendous noise I
+have ever heard broke loose. Some of
+the men appeared to be angry (friends
+of Pepito’s, I suppose); but the ladies called and
+called to have the Doctor come back into the ring.</p>
+
+<p>When at length he did so, the women seemed to
+go entirely mad over him. They blew kisses to
+him. They called him a darling. Then they
+started taking off their flowers, their rings, their
+necklaces, and their brooches and threw them down
+at his feet. You never saw anything like it—a perfect
+shower of jewelry and roses.</p>
+
+<p>But the Doctor just smiled up at them, bowed
+once more and backed out.</p>
+
+<p>“Now, Bumpo,” said Polynesia, “this is where
+you go down and gather up all those trinkets and
+we’ll sell ’em. That’s what the big matadors do:
+leave the jewelry on the ground and their assistants
+collect it for them. We might as well lay in a good
+supply of money while we’ve got the chance—you
+never know when you may need it when you’re
+traveling with the Doctor. Never mind the roses—you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
+can leave them—but don’t leave any rings.
+And when you’ve finished go and get your three-thousand
+pesetas out of Don Ricky-ticky. Tommy
+and I will meet you outside and we’ll pawn the gew-gaws
+at that Jew’s shop opposite the bed-maker’s.
+Run along—and not a word to the Doctor, remember.”</p>
+
+<p>Outside the bull-ring we found the crowd still
+in a great state of excitement. Violent arguments
+were going on everywhere. Bumpo joined us with
+his pockets bulging in all directions; and we made
+our way slowly through the dense crowd to that
+side of the building where the matadors’ dressing-room
+was. The Doctor was waiting at the door
+for us.</p>
+
+<p>“Good work, Doctor!” said Polynesia, flying on
+to his shoulder—“Great work!—But listen: I
+smell danger. I think you had better get back to
+the ship now as quick and as quietly as you can.
+Put your overcoat on over that giddy suit. I don’t
+like the looks of this crowd. More than half of
+them are furious because you’ve won. Don Ricky-ticky
+must now stop the bullfighting—and you know
+how they love it. What I’m afraid of is that some
+of these matadors who are just mad with jealousy
+may start some dirty work. I think this would be
+a good time for us to get away.”</p>
+
+<p>“I dare say you’re right, Polynesia,” said the
+Doctor—“You usually are. The crowd does seem<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span>
+to be a bit restless. I’ll slip down to the ship alone—so
+I shan’t be so noticeable; and I’ll wait for
+you there. You come by some different way. But
+don’t be long about it. Hurry!”</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Doctor had departed Bumpo
+sought out Don Enrique and said,</p>
+
+<p>“Honorable Sir, you owe me three-thousand
+pesetas.”</p>
+
+<p>Without a word, but looking cross-eyed with annoyance,
+Don Enrique paid his bet.</p>
+
+<p>We next set out to buy the provisions; and on
+the way we hired a cab and took it along with us.</p>
+
+<p>Not very far away we found a big grocer’s shop
+which seemed to sell everything to eat. We went
+in and bought up the finest lot of food you ever
+saw in your life.</p>
+
+<p>As a matter of fact, Polynesia had been right
+about the danger we were in. The news of our victory
+must have spread like lightning through the
+whole town. For as we came out of the shop and
+loaded the cab up with our stores, we saw various
+little knots of angry men hunting round the streets,
+waving sticks and shouting,</p>
+
+<p>“The Englishmen! Where are those accursed
+Englishmen who stopped the bullfighting?—Hang
+them to a lamp-post!—Throw them in the sea!
+The Englishmen!—We want the Englishmen!”</p>
+
+<p>After that we didn’t waste any time, you may be
+sure. Bumpo grabbed the Spanish cab-driver and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
+explained to him in signs that if he didn’t drive down
+to the harbor as fast as he knew how and keep his
+mouth shut the whole way, he would choke the life
+out of him. Then we jumped into the cab on top
+of the food, slammed the door, pulled down the
+blinds and away we went.</p>
+
+<p>“We won’t get a chance to pawn the jewelry now,”
+said Polynesia, as we bumped over the cobbly streets.
+“But never mind—it may come in handy later on.
+And anyway we’ve got two-thousand five-hundred
+pesetas left out of the bet. Don’t give the cabby
+more than two pesetas fifty, Bumpo. That’s the
+right fare, I know.”</p>
+
+<p>Well, we reached the harbor all right and we
+were mighty glad to find that the Doctor had sent
+Chee-Chee back with the row-boat to wait for us
+at the landing-wall.</p>
+
+<p>Unfortunately while we were in the middle of
+loading the supplies from the cab into the boat, the
+angry mob arrived upon the wharf and made a
+rush for us. Bumpo snatched up a big beam of
+wood that lay near and swung it round and round
+his head, letting out dreadful African battle-yells
+the while. This kept the crowd off while Chee-Chee
+and I hustled the last of the stores into the
+boat and clambered in ourselves. Bumpo threw
+his beam of wood into the thick of the Spaniards
+and leapt in after us. Then we pushed off and
+rowed like mad for the <i>Curlew</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The mob upon the wall howled with rage, shook
+their fists and hurled stones and all manner of
+things after us. Poor old Bumpo got hit on the
+head with a bottle. But as he had a very strong
+head it only raised a small bump while the bottle
+smashed into a thousand pieces.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached the ship’s side the Doctor had
+the anchor drawn up and the sails set and everything
+in readiness to get away. Looking back we
+saw boats coming out from the harbor-wall after
+us, filled with angry, shouting men. So we didn’t
+bother to unload our rowboat but just tied it on to
+the ship’s stern with a rope and jumped aboard.</p>
+
+<p>It only took a moment more to swing the <i>Curlew</i>
+round into the wind; and soon we were speeding
+out of the harbor on our way to Brazil.</p>
+
+<p>“Ha!” sighed Polynesia, as we all flopped down
+on the deck to take a rest and get our breath.
+“That wasn’t a bad adventure—quite reminds me
+of my old seafaring days when I sailed with the
+smugglers—Golly, that was the life!—Never mind
+your head, Bumpo. It will be all right when the
+Doctor puts a little arnica on it. Think what we
+got out of the scrap: a boat-load of ship’s stores,
+pockets full of jewelry and thousands of pesetas.
+Not bad, you know—not bad.”</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 177px;">
+<img src="images/decoration.jpg" width="177" height="21" alt="decoration" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>PART FOUR</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<h2><i>THE FIRST CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">MIRANDA, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise
+had prophesied rightly when she had
+foretold a good spell of weather.
+For three weeks the good ship <i>Curlew</i>
+plowed her way through smiling seas before a
+steady powerful wind.</p>
+
+<p>I suppose most real sailors would have found
+this part of the voyage dull. But not I. As we got
+further South and further West the face of the sea
+seemed different every day. And all the little things
+of a voyage which an old hand would have hardly
+bothered to notice were matters of great interest
+for my eager eyes.</p>
+
+<p>We did not pass many ships. When we did see
+one, the Doctor would get out his telescope and we
+would all take a look at it. Sometimes he would
+signal to it, asking for news, by hauling up little
+colored flags upon the mast; and the ship would
+signal back to us in the same way. The meaning
+of all the signals was printed in a book which the
+Doctor kept in the cabin. He told me it was the
+language of the sea and that all ships could understand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
+it whether they be English, Dutch, or French.</p>
+
+<p>Our greatest happening during those first weeks
+was passing an iceberg. When the sun shone on
+it it burst into a hundred colors, sparkling like a
+jeweled palace in a fairy-story. Through the telescope
+we saw a mother polar bear with a cub sitting
+on it, watching us. The Doctor recognized her as
+one of the bears who had spoken to him when he
+was discovering the North Pole. So he sailed the
+ship up close and offered to take her and her baby
+on to the <i>Curlew</i> if she wished it. But she only
+shook her head, thanking him; she said it would be
+far too hot for the cub on the deck of our ship, with
+no ice to keep his feet cool. It had been indeed a
+very hot day; but the nearness of that great mountain
+of ice made us all turn up our coat-collars and shiver
+with the cold.</p>
+
+<p>During those quiet peaceful days I improved my
+reading and writing a great deal with the Doctor’s
+help. I got on so well that he let me keep the
+ship’s log. This is a big book kept on every ship, a
+kind of diary, in which the number of miles run,
+the direction of your course and everything else
+that happens is written down.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor too, in what spare time he had, was
+nearly always writing—in his note-books. I used
+to peep into these sometimes, now that I could read,
+but I found it hard work to make out the Doctor’s
+handwriting. Many of these note-books seemed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
+be about sea things. There were six thick ones
+filled full with notes and sketches of different seaweeds;
+and there were others on sea birds; others
+on sea worms; others on seashells. They were all
+some day to be re-written, printed and bound like
+regular books.</p>
+
+<p>One afternoon we saw, floating around us, great
+quantities of stuff that looked like dead grass. The
+Doctor told me this was gulf-weed. A little further
+on it became so thick that it covered all the water
+as far as the eye could reach; it made the <i>Curlew</i>
+look as though she were moving across a meadow
+instead of sailing the Atlantic.</p>
+
+<p>Crawling about upon this weed, many crabs were
+to be seen. And the sight of them reminded the
+Doctor of his dream of learning the language of
+the shellfish. He fished several of these crabs up
+with a net and put them in his listening-tank to see
+if he could understand them. Among the crabs he
+also caught a strange-looking, chubby, little fish
+which he told me was called a Silver Fidgit.</p>
+
+<p>After he had listened to the crabs for a while
+with no success, he put the fidgit into the tank and
+began to listen to that. I had to leave him at this
+moment to go and attend to some duties on the deck.
+But presently I heard him below shouting for me
+to come down again.</p>
+
+<p>“Stubbins,” he cried as soon as he saw me—“a
+most extraordinary thing—Quite unbelievable—I’m<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a><br /><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
+not sure whether I’m dreaming—Can’t believe
+my own senses. I—I—I—”</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 405px;">
+<img src="images/i-221.jpg" width="405" height="500" alt="doctor talking to boy and pointing to fishbowl" />
+<div class="caption">“‘He talks English!’”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>“Why, Doctor,” I said, “what is it?—What’s
+the matter?”</p>
+
+<p>“The fidgit,” he whispered, pointing with a trembling
+finger to the listening-tank in which the little
+round fish was still swimming quietly, “he talks
+English! And—and—and <i>he whistles tunes</i>—English
+tunes!”</p>
+
+<p>“Talks English!” I cried—“Whistles!—Why,
+it’s impossible.”</p>
+
+<p>“It’s a fact,” said the Doctor, white in the face
+with excitement. “It’s only a few words, scattered,
+with no particular sense to them—all mixed up with
+his own language which I can’t make out yet. But
+they’re English words, unless there’s something very
+wrong with my hearing—And the tune he whistles,
+it’s as plain as anything—always the same tune.
+Now you listen and tell me what you make of it.
+Tell me everything you hear. Don’t miss a word.”</p>
+
+<p>I went to the glass tank upon the table while the
+Doctor grabbed a note-book and a pencil. Undoing
+my collar I stood upon the empty packing-case he
+had been using for a stand and put my right ear
+down under the water.</p>
+
+<p>For some moments I detected nothing at all—except,
+with my dry ear, the heavy breathing of the
+Doctor as he waited, all stiff and anxious, for me to
+say something. At last from within the water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>,
+sounding like a child singing miles and miles away,
+I heard an unbelievably thin, small voice.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah!” I said.</p>
+
+<p>“What is it?” asked the Doctor in a hoarse,
+trembly whisper. “What does he say?”</p>
+
+<p>“I can’t quite make it out,” I said. “It’s mostly
+in some strange fish language—Oh, but wait a
+minute!—Yes, now I get it—‘No smoking’....
+‘My, here’s a queer one!’ ‘Popcorn and picture
+postcards here’.... ‘This way out’.... ‘Don’t
+spit’—What funny things to say, Doctor!—Oh, but
+wait!—Now he’s whistling the tune.”</p>
+
+<p>“What tune is it?” gasped the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“John Peel.”</p>
+
+<p>“Ah hah,” cried the Doctor, “that’s what I
+made it out to be.” And he wrote furiously in his
+note-book.</p>
+
+<p>I went on listening.</p>
+
+<p>“This is most extraordinary,” the Doctor kept
+muttering to himself as his pencil went wiggling
+over the page—“Most extraordinary—but frightfully
+thrilling. I wonder where he—”</p>
+
+<p>“Here’s some more,” I cried—“some more
+English.... ‘<i>The big tank needs cleaning</i>’....
+That’s all. Now he’s talking fish-talk again.”</p>
+
+<p>“The big tank!” the Doctor murmured frowning
+in a puzzled kind of way. “I wonder where on
+earth he learned—”</p>
+
+<p>Then he bounded up out of his chair.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“I have it,” he yelled, “this fish has escaped
+from an aquarium. Why, of course! Look at the
+kind of things he has learned: ‘Picture postcards’—they
+always sell them in aquariums; ‘Don’t spit’;
+‘No smoking’; ‘This way out’—the things the attendants
+say. And then, ‘My, here’s a queer one!’
+That’s the kind of thing that people exclaim when
+they look into the tanks. It all fits. There’s no
+doubt about it, Stubbins: we have here a fish
+who has escaped from captivity. And it’s quite
+possible—not certain, by any means, but quite
+possible—that I may now, through him, be able to
+establish communication with the shellfish. This is
+a great piece of luck.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SECOND CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE FIDGIT’S STORY</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WELL, now that he was started once
+more upon his old hobby of the shellfish
+languages, there was no stopping
+the Doctor. He worked right through
+the night.</p>
+
+<p>A little after midnight I fell asleep in a chair;
+about two in the morning Bumpo fell asleep at the
+wheel; and for five hours the <i>Curlew</i> was allowed to
+drift where she liked. But still John Dolittle
+worked on, trying his hardest to understand the fidgit’s
+language, struggling to make the fidgit understand
+him.</p>
+
+<p>When I woke up it was broad daylight again.
+The Doctor was still standing at the listening-tank,
+looking as tired as an owl and dreadfully wet. But
+on his face there was a proud and happy smile.</p>
+
+<p>“Stubbins,” he said as soon as he saw me stir,
+“I’ve done it. I’ve got the key to the fidgit’s language.
+It’s a frightfully difficult language—quite
+different from anything I ever heard. The only
+thing it reminds me of—slightly—is ancient Hebrew.
+It isn’t shellfish; but it’s a big step towards it. Now,
+the next thing, I want you to take a pencil and a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span>
+fresh notebook and write down everything I say.
+The fidgit has promised to tell me the story of his
+life. I will translate it into English and you put
+it down in the book. Are you ready?”</p>
+
+<p>Once more the Doctor lowered his ear beneath the
+level of the water; and as he began to speak, I
+started to write. And this is the story that the
+fidgit told us.</p>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<div class="center">THIRTEEN MONTHS IN AN AQUARIUM</div>
+
+<p>“I was born in the Pacific Ocean, close to the coast
+of Chile. I was one of a family of two-thousand
+five-hundred and ten. Soon after our mother and
+father left us, we youngsters got scattered. The
+family was broken up—by a herd of whales who
+chased us. I and my sister, Clippa (she was my
+favorite sister) had a very narrow escape for our
+lives. As a rule, whales are not very hard to get
+away from if you are good at dodging—if you’ve
+only got a quick swerve. But this one that came
+after Clippa and myself was a very mean whale.
+Every time he lost us under a stone or something
+he’d come back and hunt and hunt till he routed us
+out into the open again. I never saw such a nasty,
+persevering brute.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, we shook him at last—though not before
+he had worried us for hundreds of miles northward,
+up the west coast of South America. But luck was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span>
+against us that day. While we were resting and
+trying to get our breath, another family of fidgits
+came rushing by, shouting, ‘Come on! Swim for
+your lives! The dog-fish are coming!’</p>
+
+<p>“Now dog-fish are particularly fond of fidgits.
+We are, you might say, their favorite food—and
+for that reason we always keep away from deep,
+muddy waters. What’s more, dog-fish are not easy
+to escape from; they are terribly fast and clever
+hunters. So up we had to jump and on again.</p>
+
+<p>“After we had gone a few more hundred miles
+we looked back and saw that the dog-fish were gaining
+on us. So we turned into a harbor. It happened
+to be one on the west coast of the United
+States. Here we guessed, and hoped, the dog-fish
+would not be likely to follow us. As it happened,
+they didn’t even see us turn in, but dashed on northward
+and we never saw them again. I hope they
+froze to death in the Arctic Seas.</p>
+
+<p>“But, as I said, luck was against us that day.
+While I and my sister were cruising gently round
+the ships anchored in the harbor looking for orange-peels,
+a great delicacy with us—<i>Swoop! Bang!</i>—we
+were caught in a net.</p>
+
+<p>“We struggled for all we were worth; but it was
+no use. The net was small-meshed and strongly
+made. Kicking and flipping we were hauled up
+the side of the ship and dumped down on the deck,
+high and dry in a blazing noon-day sun.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Here a couple of old men in whiskers and
+spectacles leant over us, making strange sounds.
+Some codling had got caught in the net the same
+time as we were. These the old men threw back
+into the sea; but us they seemed to think very precious.
+They put us carefully into a large jar and
+after they had taken us on shore they went to a
+big house and changed us from the jar into glass
+boxes full of water. This house was on the edge of
+the harbor; and a small stream of sea-water was
+made to flow through the glass tank so we could
+breathe properly. Of course we had never lived
+inside glass walls before; and at first we kept on
+trying to swim through them and got our noses
+awfully sore bumping the glass at full speed.</p>
+
+<p>“Then followed weeks and weeks of weary idleness.
+They treated us well, so far as they knew
+how. The old fellows in spectacles came and
+looked at us proudly twice a day and saw that we
+had the proper food to eat, the right amount of
+light and that the water was not too hot or too
+cold. But oh, the dullness of that life! It seemed
+we were a kind of a show. At a certain hour every
+morning the big doors of the house were thrown
+open and everybody in the city who had nothing
+special to do came in and looked at us. There were
+other tanks filled with different kinds of fishes all
+round the walls of the big room. And the crowds
+would go from tank to tank, looking in at us<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span>
+through the glass—with their mouths open, like
+half-witted flounders. We got so sick of it that we
+used to open our mouths back at them; and this
+they seemed to think highly comical.</p>
+
+<p>“One day my sister said to me, ‘Think you,
+Brother, that these strange creatures who have
+captured us can talk?’</p>
+
+<p>“‘Surely,’ said I, ‘have you not noticed that
+some talk with the lips only, some with the whole
+face, and yet others discourse with the hands?
+When they come quite close to the glass you can
+hear them. Listen!’</p>
+
+<p>“At that moment a female, larger than the rest,
+pressed her nose up against the glass, pointed at
+me and said to her young behind her, ‘Oh, look,
+here’s a queer one!’</p>
+
+<p>“And then we noticed that they nearly always
+said this when they looked in. And for a long time
+we thought that such was the whole extent of the
+language, this being a people of but few ideas. To
+help pass away the weary hours we learned it by
+heart, ‘Oh, look, here’s a queer one!’ But we
+never got to know what it meant. Other phrases,
+however, we did get the meaning of; and we even
+learned to read a little in man-talk. Many big
+signs there were, set up upon the walls; and when
+we saw that the keepers stopped the people from
+spitting and smoking, pointed to these signs angrily
+and read them out loud, we knew then that these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span>
+writings signified, <i>No Smoking</i> and <i>Don’t Spit</i>.</p>
+
+<p>“Then in the evenings, after the crowd had gone,
+the same aged male with one leg of wood, swept up
+the peanut-shells with a broom every night. And
+while he was so doing he always whistled the same
+tune to himself. This melody we rather liked;
+and we learned that too by heart—thinking it was
+part of the language.</p>
+
+<p>“Thus a whole year went by in this dismal place.
+Some days new fishes were brought in to the other
+tanks; and other days old fishes were taken out.
+At first we had hoped we would only be kept here for
+a while, and that after we had been looked at
+sufficiently we would be returned to freedom and the
+sea. But as month after month went by, and we
+were left undisturbed, our hearts grew heavy within
+our prison-walls of glass and we spoke to one another
+less and less.</p>
+
+<p>“One day, when the crowd was thickest in the
+big room, a woman with a red face fainted from the
+heat. I watched through the glass and saw that
+the rest of the people got highly excited—though
+to me it did not seem to be a matter of very great
+importance. They threw cold water on her and
+carried her out into the open air.</p>
+
+<p>“This made me think mightily; and presently a
+great idea burst upon me.</p>
+
+<p>“‘Sister,’ I said, turning to poor Clippa who
+was sulking at the bottom of our prison trying to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span>
+hide behind a stone from the stupid gaze of the
+children who thronged about our tank, ‘supposing
+that <i>we</i> pretended we were sick: do you think they
+would take us also from this stuffy house?’</p>
+
+<p>“‘Brother,’ said she wearily, ‘that they might do.
+But most likely they would throw us on a rubbish-heap,
+where we would die in the hot sun.’</p>
+
+<p>“‘But,’ said I, ‘why should they go abroad to
+seek a rubbish-heap, when the harbor is so close?
+While we were being brought here I saw men throwing
+their rubbish into the water. If they would
+only throw us also there, we could quickly reach the
+sea.’</p>
+
+<p>“‘The Sea!’ murmured poor Clippa with a far-away
+look in her eyes (she had fine eyes, had my
+sister, Clippa). ‘How like a dream it sounds—the
+Sea! Oh brother, will we ever swim in it again,
+think you? Every night as I lie awake on the floor
+of this evil-smelling dungeon I hear its hearty voice
+ringing in my ears. How I have longed for it!
+Just to feel it once again, the nice, big, wholesome
+homeliness of it all! To jump, just to jump from
+the crest of an Atlantic wave, laughing in the trade
+wind’s spindrift, down into the blue-green swirling
+trough! To chase the shrimps on a summer evening,
+when the sky is red and the light’s all pink
+within the foam! To lie on the top, in the doldrums’
+noonday calm, and warm your tummy in the
+tropic sun! To wander hand in hand once more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span>
+through the giant seaweed forests of the Indian
+Ocean, seeking the delicious eggs of the pop-pop!
+To play hide-and-seek among the castles of the coral
+towns with their pearl and jasper windows spangling
+the floor of the Spanish Main! To picnic in
+the anemone-meadows, dim blue and lilac-gray, that
+lie in the lowlands beyond the South Sea Garden!
+To throw somersaults on the springy sponge-beds
+of the Mexican Gulf! To poke about among the
+dead ships and see what wonders and adventures lie
+inside!—And then, on winter nights when the Northeaster
+whips the water into froth, to swoop down
+and down to get away from the cold, down to where
+the water’s warm and dark, down and still down, till
+we spy the twinkle of the fire-eels far below where
+our friends and cousins sit chatting round the Council
+Grotto—chatting, Brother, over the news and
+gossip of <i>the Sea</i>!... Oh—’</p>
+
+<p>“And then she broke down completely, sniffling.</p>
+
+<p>“‘Stop it!’ I said. ‘You make me homesick.
+Look here: let’s pretend we’re sick—or better still,
+let’s pretend we’re dead; and see what happens. If
+they throw us on a rubbish-heap and we fry in the
+sun, we’ll not be much worse off than we are here in
+this smelly prison. What do you say? Will you
+risk it?’</p>
+
+<p>“‘I will,’ she said—‘and gladly.’</p>
+
+<p>“So next morning two fidgits were found by the
+keeper floating on the top of the water in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
+tank, stiff and dead. We gave a mighty good
+imitation of dead fish—although I say it myself.
+The keeper ran and got the old gentlemen with
+spectacles and whiskers. They threw up their hands
+in horror when they saw us. Lifting us carefully
+out of the water they laid us on wet cloths. That
+was the hardest part of all. If you’re a fish and get
+taken out of the water you have to keep opening and
+shutting your mouth to breathe at all—and even
+that you can’t keep up for long. And all this time we
+had to stay stiff as sticks and breathe silently through
+half-closed lips.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, the old fellows poked us and felt us and
+pinched us till I thought they’d never be done.
+Then, when their backs were turned a moment, a
+wretched cat got up on the table and nearly ate us.
+Luckily the old men turned round in time and shooed
+her away. You may be sure though that we took a
+couple of good gulps of air while they weren’t
+looking; and that was the only thing that saved us
+from choking. I wanted to whisper to Clippa to be
+brave and stick it out. But I couldn’t even do that;
+because, as you know, most kinds of fish-talk cannot
+be heard—not even a shout—unless you’re
+under water.</p>
+
+<p>“Then, just as we were about to give it up and
+let on that we were alive, one of the old men shook
+his head sadly, lifted us up and carried us out of
+the building.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“‘Now for it!’ I thought to myself. ‘We’ll
+soon know our fate: liberty or the garbage-can.’</p>
+
+<p>“Outside, to our unspeakable horror, he made
+straight for a large ash-barrel which stood against
+the wall on the other side of a yard. Most happily
+for us, however, while he was crossing this yard a
+very dirty man with a wagon and horses drove up
+and took the ash-barrel away. I suppose it was his
+property.</p>
+
+<p>“Then the old man looked around for some
+other place to throw us. He seemed about to cast
+us upon the ground. But he evidently thought
+that this would make the yard untidy and he desisted.
+The suspense was terrible. He moved outside
+the yard-gate and my heart sank once more as
+I saw that he now intended to throw us in the
+gutter of the roadway. But (fortune was indeed
+with us that day), a large man in blue clothes and
+silver buttons stopped him in the nick of time. Evidently,
+from the way the large man lectured and
+waved a short thick stick, it was against the rules
+of the town to throw dead fish in the streets.</p>
+
+<p>“At last, to our unutterable joy, the old man
+turned and moved off with us towards the harbor.
+He walked so slowly, muttering to himself all the
+way and watching the man in blue out of the corner
+of his eye, that I wanted to bite his finger to make
+him hurry up. Both Clippa and I were actually at
+our last gasp.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Finally he reached the sea-wall and giving us one
+last sad look he dropped us into the waters of the
+harbor.</p>
+
+<p>“Never had we realized anything like the thrill
+of that moment, as we felt the salt wetness close
+over our heads. With one flick of our tails we
+came to life again. The old man was so surprised
+that he fell right into the water, almost on top of
+us. From this he was rescued by a sailor with a
+boat-hook; and the last we saw of him, the man in
+blue was dragging him away by the coat-collar,
+lecturing him again. Apparently it was also against
+the rules of the town to throw dead fish into the
+harbor.</p>
+
+<p>“But we?—What time or thought had we for
+his troubles? <i>We were free!</i> In lightning leaps,
+in curving spurts, in crazy zig-zags—whooping,
+shrieking with delight, we sped for home and the
+open sea!</p>
+
+<p>“That is all of my story and I will now, as I
+promised last night, try to answer any questions you
+may ask about the sea, on condition that I am set
+at liberty as soon as you have done.”</p></div>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “Is there any part of the sea deeper
+than that known as the Nero Deep—I mean the
+one near the Island of Guam?”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “Why, certainly. There’s one much
+deeper than that near the mouth of the Amazon<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
+River. But it’s small and hard to find. We
+call it ‘The Deep Hole.’ And there’s another
+in the Antarctic Sea.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “Can you talk any shellfish language
+yourself?”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “No, not a word. We regular fishes
+don’t have anything to do with the shellfish. We
+consider them a low class.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “But when you’re near them, can you
+hear the sound they make talking—I mean without
+necessarily understanding what they say?”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “Only with the very largest ones.
+Shellfish have such weak small voices it is almost
+impossible for any but their own kind to hear
+them. But with the bigger ones it is different.
+They make a sad, booming noise, rather like an
+iron pipe being knocked with a stone—only not
+nearly so loud of course.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “I am most anxious to get down to
+the bottom of the sea—to study many things.
+But we land animals, as you no doubt know, are
+unable to breathe under water. Have you any
+ideas that might help me?”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “I think that for both your difficulties
+the best thing for you to do would be to try and
+get hold of the Great Glass Sea Snail.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “Er—who, or what, is the Great
+Glass Sea Snail?”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “He is an enormous salt-water snail,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
+one of the winkle family, but as large as a big
+house. He talks quite loudly—when he speaks,
+but this is not often. He can go to any part of
+the ocean, at all depths because he doesn’t have
+to be afraid of any creature in the sea. His
+shell is made of transparent mother-o’-pearl so
+that you can see through it; but it’s thick and
+strong. When he is out of his shell and he carries
+it empty on his back, there is room in it for
+a wagon and a pair of horses. He has been
+seen carrying his food in it when traveling.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “I feel that that is just the creature
+I have been looking for. He could take me and
+my assistant inside his shell and we could explore
+the deepest depths in safety. Do you
+think you could get him for me?”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “Alas! no. I would willingly if I
+could; but he is hardly ever seen by ordinary fish.
+He lives at the bottom of the Deep Hole, and
+seldom comes out—And into the Deep Hole,
+the lower waters of which are muddy, fishes such
+as we are afraid to go.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “Dear me! That’s a terrible
+disappointment. Are there many of this kind
+of snail in the sea?”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “Oh no. He is the only one in existence,
+since his second wife died long, long ago.
+He is the last of the Giant Shellfish. He belongs
+to past ages when the whales were land-animals<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span>
+and all that. They say he is over seventy
+thousand years old.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “Good Gracious, what wonderful
+things he could tell me! I do wish I could meet
+him.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “Were there any more questions you
+wished to ask me? This water in your tank is
+getting quite warm and sickly. I’d like to be
+put back into the sea as soon as you can spare
+me.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “Just one more thing: when Christopher
+Columbus crossed the Atlantic in 1492,
+he threw overboard two copies of his diary sealed
+up in barrels. One of them was never found.
+It must have sunk. I would like to get it for my
+library. Do you happen to know where it is?”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “Yes, I do. That too is in the Deep
+Hole. When the barrel sank the currents drifted
+it northwards down what we call the Orinoco
+Slope, till it finally disappeared into the Deep
+Hole. If it was any other part of the sea I’d
+try and get it for you; but not there.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “Well, that is all, I think. I hate
+to put you back into the sea, because I know that
+as soon as I do, I’ll think of a hundred other questions
+I wanted to ask you. But I must keep my
+promise. Would you care for anything before
+you go?—it seems a cold day—some cracker-crumbs
+or something?”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “No, I won’t stop. All I want just
+at present is fresh sea-water.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Doctor:</i> “I cannot thank you enough for all
+the information you have given me. You have
+been very helpful and patient.”</p>
+
+<p><i>The Fidgit:</i> “Pray do not mention it. It has been
+a real pleasure to be of assistance to the great
+John Dolittle. You are, as of course you know,
+already quite famous among the better class of
+fishes. Goodbye!—and good luck to you, to your
+ship and to all your plans!”</p></div>
+
+<p>The Doctor carried the listening-tank to a port-hole,
+opened it and emptied the tank into the sea.</p>
+
+<p>“Good-bye!” he murmured as a faint splash
+reached us from without.</p>
+
+<p>I dropped my pencil on the table and leaned back
+with a sigh. My fingers were so stiff with writers’
+cramp that I felt as though I should never be able
+to open my hand again. But I, at least, had had
+a night’s sleep. As for the poor Doctor, he was
+so weary that he had hardly put the tank back upon
+the table and dropped into a chair, when his eyes
+closed and he began to snore.</p>
+
+<p>In the passage outside Polynesia scratched angrily
+at the door. I rose and let her in.</p>
+
+<p>“A nice state of affairs!” she stormed. “What
+sort of a ship is this? There’s that colored man
+upstairs asleep under the wheel; the Doctor asleep<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
+down here; and you making pot-hooks in a copybook
+with a pencil! Expect the ship to steer herself
+to Brazil? We’re just drifting around the
+sea like an empty bottle—and a week behind time
+as it is. What’s happened to you all?”</p>
+
+<p>She was so angry that her voice rose to a scream.
+But it would have taken more than that to wake
+the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>I put the note-book carefully in a drawer and went
+on deck to take the wheel.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE THIRD CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>BAD WEATHER</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">AS soon as I had the <i>Curlew</i> swung round
+upon her course again I noticed something
+peculiar: we were not going as fast
+as we had been. Our favorable wind
+had almost entirely disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>This, at first, we did not worry about, thinking
+that at any moment it might spring up again. But
+the whole day went by; then two days; then a week,—ten
+days, and the wind grew no stronger. The
+<i>Curlew</i> just dawdled along at the speed of a toddling
+babe.</p>
+
+<p>I now saw that the Doctor was becoming uneasy.
+He kept getting out his sextant (an instrument
+which tells you what part of the ocean you are in)
+and making calculations. He was forever looking at
+his maps and measuring distances on them. The
+far edge of the sea, all around us, he examined with
+his telescope a hundred times a day.</p>
+
+<p>“But Doctor,” I said when I found him one
+afternoon mumbling to himself about the misty
+appearance of the sky, “it wouldn’t matter so much,
+would it, if we did take a little longer over the
+trip? We’ve got plenty to eat on board now;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span>
+and the Purple Bird-of-Paradise will know that we
+have been delayed by something that we couldn’t
+help.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, I suppose so,” he said thoughtfully. “But
+I hate to keep her waiting. At this season of the
+year she generally goes to the Peruvian mountains—for
+her health. And besides, the good weather
+she prophesied is likely to end any day now and
+delay us still further. If we could only keep moving
+at even a fair speed, I wouldn’t mind. It’s this
+hanging around, almost dead still, that gets me
+restless—Ah, here comes a wind—Not very strong—but
+maybe it’ll grow.”</p>
+
+<p>A gentle breeze from the Northeast came singing
+through the ropes; and we smiled up hopefully at
+the <i>Curlew’s</i> leaning masts.</p>
+
+<p>“We’ve only got another hundred and fifty miles
+to make, to sight the coast of Brazil,” said the Doctor.
+“If that wind would just stay with us, steady,
+for a full day we’d see land.”</p>
+
+<p>But suddenly the wind changed, swung to the
+East, then back to the Northeast—then to the
+North. It came in fitful gusts, as though it hadn’t
+made up its mind which way to blow; and I was
+kept busy at the wheel, swinging the <i>Curlew</i> this way
+and that to keep the right side of it.</p>
+
+<p>Presently we heard Polynesia, who was in the
+rigging keeping a look-out for land or passing ships,
+screech down to us,</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Bad weather coming. That jumpy wind is an
+ugly sign. And look!—over there in the East—see
+that black line, low down? If that isn’t a storm
+I’m a land-lubber. The gales round here are fierce,
+when they do blow—tear your canvas out like
+paper. You take the wheel, Doctor: it’ll need a
+strong arm if it’s a real storm. I’ll go wake Bumpo
+and Chee-Chee. This looks bad to me. We’d
+best get all the sail down right away, till we see
+how strong she’s going to blow.”</p>
+
+<p>Indeed the whole sky was now beginning to take
+on a very threatening look. The black line to the
+eastward grew blacker as it came nearer and nearer.
+A low, rumbly, whispering noise went moaning over
+the sea. The water which had been so blue and smiling
+turned to a ruffled ugly gray. And across the
+darkening sky, shreds of cloud swept like tattered
+witches flying from the storm.</p>
+
+<p>I must confess I was frightened. You see I had
+only so far seen the sea in friendly moods: sometimes
+quiet and lazy; sometimes laughing, venturesome
+and reckless; sometimes brooding and poetic,
+when moonbeams turned her ripples into silver
+threads and dreaming snowy night-clouds piled up
+fairy-castles in the sky. But as yet I had not known,
+or even guessed at, the terrible strength of the Sea’s
+wild anger.</p>
+
+<p>When that storm finally struck us we leaned
+right over flatly on our side, as though some invisible<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
+giant had slapped the poor <i>Curlew</i> on the
+cheek.</p>
+
+<p>After that things happened so thick and so fast
+that what with the wind that stopped your breath,
+the driving, blinding water, the deafening noise and
+the rest, I haven’t a very clear idea of how our
+shipwreck came about.</p>
+
+<p>I remember seeing the sails, which we were now
+trying to roll up upon the deck, torn out of our
+hands by the wind and go overboard like a penny
+balloon—very nearly carrying Chee-Chee with them.
+And I have a dim recollection of Polynesia screeching
+somewhere for one of us to go downstairs and
+close the port-holes.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of our masts being bare of sail we were
+now scudding along to the southward at a great
+pace. But every once in a while huge gray-black
+waves would arise from under the ship’s side like
+nightmare monsters, swell and climb, then crash
+down upon us, pressing us into the sea; and the poor
+<i>Curlew</i> would come to a standstill, half under water,
+like a gasping, drowning pig.</p>
+
+<p>While I was clambering along towards the wheel
+to see the Doctor, clinging like a leech with hands
+and legs to the rails lest I be blown overboard, one
+of these tremendous seas tore loose my hold, filled
+my throat with water and swept me like a cork the
+full length of the deck. My head struck a door with
+an awful bang. And then I fainted.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FOURTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>WRECKED!</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WHEN I awoke I was very hazy in
+my head. The sky was blue and the
+sea was calm. At first I thought
+that I must have fallen asleep in the sun
+on the deck of the <i>Curlew</i>. And thinking that I
+would be late for my turn at the wheel, I tried to
+rise to my feet. I found I couldn’t; my arms were
+tied to something behind me with a piece of rope.
+By twisting my neck around I found this to be a
+mast, broken off short. Then I realized that I
+wasn’t sitting on a ship at all; I was only sitting on
+a piece of one. I began to feel uncomfortably
+scared. Screwing up my eyes, I searched the rim of
+the sea North, East, South and West: no land:
+no ships; nothing was in sight. I was alone in the
+ocean!</p>
+
+<p>At last, little by little, my bruised head began to
+remember what had happened: first, the coming of
+the storm; the sails going overboard; then the big
+wave which had banged me against the door. But
+what had become of the Doctor and the others?
+What day was this, to-morrow or the day after?—And
+why was I sitting on only part of a ship?</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 427px;">
+<img src="images/i-246.jpg" width="427" height="480" alt="Boy tied to mast floating alone in water" />
+<div class="caption">“I was alone in the ocean!”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Working my hand into my pocket, I found my
+penknife and cut the rope that tied me. This reminded
+me of a shipwreck story which Joe had once
+told me, of a captain who had tied his son to a mast
+in order that he shouldn’t be washed overboard by
+the gale. So of course it must have been the Doctor
+who had done the same to me.</p>
+
+<p>But where was he?</p>
+
+<p>The awful thought came to me that the Doctor
+and the rest of them must be drowned, since there
+was no other wreckage to be seen upon the waters.
+I got to my feet and stared around the sea again—Nothing—nothing
+but water and sky!</p>
+
+<p>Presently a long way off I saw the small dark
+shape of a bird skimming low down over the swell.
+When it came quite close I saw it was a Stormy
+Petrel. I tried to talk to it, to see if it could give
+me news. But unluckily I hadn’t learned much seabird
+language and I couldn’t even attract its attention,
+much less make it understand what I wanted.</p>
+
+<p>Twice it circled round my raft, lazily, with hardly
+a flip of the wing. And I could not help wondering,
+in spite of the distress I was in, where it had spent
+last night—how it, or any other living thing, had
+weathered such a smashing storm. It made me
+realize the great big difference between different
+creatures; and that size and strength are not everything.
+To this petrel, a frail little thing of feathers,
+much smaller and weaker than I, the Sea could<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span>
+do anything she liked, it seemed; and his only answer
+was a lazy, saucy flip of the wing! <i>He</i> was
+the one who should be called the <i>able seaman</i>. For,
+come raging gale, come sunlit calm, this wilderness
+of water was his home.</p>
+
+<p>After swooping over the sea around me (just
+looking for food, I supposed) he went off in the
+direction from which he had come. And I was
+alone once more.</p>
+
+<p>I found I was somewhat hungry—and a little
+thirsty too. I began to think all sorts of miserable
+thoughts, the way one does when he is lonesome and
+has missed breakfast. What was going to become
+of me now, if the Doctor and the rest were
+drowned? I would starve to death or die of
+thirst. Then the sun went behind some clouds and
+I felt cold. How many hundreds or thousands of
+miles was I from any land? What if another storm
+should come and smash up even this poor raft on
+which I stood?</p>
+
+<p>I went on like this for a while, growing gloomier
+and gloomier, when suddenly I thought of Polynesia.
+“You’re always safe with the Doctor,” she
+had said. “He gets there. Remember that.”</p>
+
+<p>I’m sure I wouldn’t have minded so much if he
+had been here with me. It was this being all alone
+that made me want to weep. And yet the petrel
+was alone!—What a baby I was, I told myself, to
+be scared to the verge of tears just by loneliness!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
+I was quite safe where I was—for the present anyhow.
+John Dolittle wouldn’t get scared by a little
+thing like this. He only got excited when he made
+a discovery, found a new bug or something. And
+if what Polynesia had said was true, he couldn’t be
+drowned and things would come out all right in the
+end somehow.</p>
+
+<p>I threw out my chest, buttoned up my collar and
+began walking up and down the short raft to keep
+warm. I would be like John Dolittle. I wouldn’t
+cry—And I wouldn’t get excited.</p>
+
+<p>How long I paced back and forth I don’t know.
+But it was a long time—for I had nothing else to
+do.</p>
+
+<p>At last I got tired and lay down to rest. And
+in spite of all my troubles, I soon fell fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>This time when I woke up, stars were staring
+down at me out of a cloudless sky. The sea was
+still calm; and my strange craft was rocking gently
+under me on an easy swell. All my fine courage
+left me as I gazed up into the big silent night and
+felt the pains of hunger and thirst set to work in
+my stomach harder than ever.</p>
+
+<p>“Are you awake?” said a high silvery voice at
+my elbow.</p>
+
+<p>I sprang up as though some one had stuck a pin
+in me. And there, perched at the very end of my
+raft, her beautiful golden tail glowing dimly in the
+starlight, sat Miranda, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise!</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Never have I been so glad to see any one in my
+life. I almost fell into the water as I leapt to hug
+her.</p>
+
+<p>“I didn’t want to wake you,” said she. “I
+guessed you must be tired after all you’ve been
+through—Don’t squash the life out of me, boy:
+I’m not a stuffed duck, you know.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, Miranda, you dear old thing,” said I, “I’m
+so glad to see you. Tell me, where is the Doctor?
+Is he alive?”</p>
+
+<p>“Of course he’s alive—and it’s my firm belief
+he always will be. He’s over there, about forty
+miles to the westward.”</p>
+
+<p>“What’s he doing there?”</p>
+
+<p>“He’s sitting on the other half of the <i>Curlew</i>
+shaving himself—or he was, when I left him.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, thank Heaven he’s alive!” said I—“And
+Bumpo—and the animals, are they all right?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, they’re with him. Your ship broke in half
+in the storm. The Doctor had tied you down when
+he found you stunned. And the part you were on
+got separated and floated away. Golly, it <i>was</i> a
+storm! One has to be a gull or an albatross to
+stand that sort of weather. I had been watching
+for the Doctor for three weeks, from a cliff-top;
+but last night I had to take refuge in a cave to keep
+my tail-feathers from blowing out. As soon as I
+found the Doctor, he sent me off with some porpoises<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span>
+to help us in our search. There had been
+quite a gathering of sea-birds waiting to greet the
+Doctor; but the rough weather sort of broke up the
+arrangements that had been made to welcome him
+properly. It was the petrel that first gave us the
+tip where you were.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, but how can I get to the Doctor, Miranda?—I
+haven’t any oars.”</p>
+
+<p>“Get to him!—Why, you’re going to him now.
+Look behind you.”</p>
+
+<p>I turned around. The moon was just rising on
+the sea’s edge. And I now saw that my raft was
+moving through the water, but so gently that I had
+not noticed it before.</p>
+
+<p>“What’s moving us?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“The porpoises,” said Miranda.</p>
+
+<p>I went to the back of the raft and looked down
+into the water. And just below the surface I could
+see the dim forms of four big porpoises, their sleek
+skins glinting in the moonlight, pushing at the raft
+with their noses.</p>
+
+<p>“They’re old friends of the Doctor’s,” said
+Miranda. “They’d do anything for John Dolittle.
+We should see his party soon now. We’re pretty
+near the place I left them—Yes, there they are!
+See that dark shape?—No, more to the right of
+where you’re looking. Can’t you make out the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span>
+figure of the black man standing against the sky?—Now
+Chee-Chee spies us—he’s waving. Don’t
+you see them?”</p>
+
+<p>I didn’t—for my eyes were not as sharp as
+Miranda’s. But presently from somewhere in the
+murky dusk I heard Bumpo singing his African
+comic songs with the full force of his enormous
+voice. And in a little, by peering and peering in
+the direction of the sound, I at last made out a dim
+mass of tattered, splintered wreckage—all that remained
+of the poor <i>Curlew</i>—floating low down
+upon the water.</p>
+
+<p>A hulloa came through the night. And I answered
+it. We kept it up, calling to one another
+back and forth across the calm night sea. And a
+few minutes later the two halves of our brave little
+ruined ship bumped gently together again.</p>
+
+<p>Now that I was nearer and the moon was higher
+I could see more plainly. Their half of the ship
+was much bigger than mine.</p>
+
+<p>It lay partly upon its side; and most of them
+were perched upon the top munching ship’s biscuit.</p>
+
+<p>But close down to the edge of the water, using
+the sea’s calm surface for a mirror and a piece of
+broken bottle for a razor, John Dolittle was shaving
+his face by the light of the moon.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FIFTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>LAND!</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THEY all gave me a great greeting as I
+clambered off my half of the ship on to
+theirs. Bumpo brought me a wonderful
+drink of fresh water which he drew
+from a barrel; and Chee-Chee and Polynesia stood
+around me feeding me ship’s biscuit.</p>
+
+<p>But it was the sight of the Doctor’s smiling face—just
+knowing that I was with him once again—that
+cheered me more than anything else. As I
+watched him carefully wipe his glass razor and put
+it away for future use, I could not help comparing
+him in my mind with the Stormy Petrel. Indeed the
+vast strange knowledge which he had gained from
+his speech and friendship with animals had brought
+him the power to do things which no other human
+being would dare to try. Like the petrel, he could
+apparently play with the sea in all her moods. It
+was no wonder that many of the ignorant savage
+peoples among whom he passed in his voyages
+made statues of him showing him as half a fish, half
+a bird, and half a man. And ridiculous though it
+was, I could quite understand what Miranda
+meant when she said she firmly believed that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
+could never die. Just to be with him gave you a
+wonderful feeling of comfort and safety.</p>
+
+<p>Except for his appearance (his clothes were
+crumpled and damp and his battered high hat was
+stained with salt water) that storm which had so
+terrified me had disturbed him no more than getting
+stuck on the mud-bank in Puddleby River.</p>
+
+<p>Politely thanking Miranda for getting me so
+quickly, he asked her if she would now go ahead of
+us and show us the way to Spidermonkey Island.
+Next, he gave orders to the porpoises to leave my
+old piece of the ship and push the bigger half wherever
+the Bird-of-Paradise should lead us.</p>
+
+<p>How much he had lost in the wreck besides his
+razor I did not know—everything, most likely,
+together with all the money he had saved up to buy
+the ship with. And still he was smiling as though
+he wanted for nothing in the world. The only
+things he had saved, as far as I could see—beyond
+the barrel of water and bag of biscuit—were his
+precious note-books. These, I saw when he stood
+up, he had strapped around his waist with yards
+and yards of twine. He was, as old Matthew
+Mugg used to say, a great man. He was unbelievable.</p>
+
+<p>And now for three days we continued our journey
+slowly but steadily—southward.</p>
+
+<p>The only inconvenience we suffered from was the
+cold. This seemed to increase as we went forward.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span>
+The Doctor said that the island, disturbed from its
+usual paths by the great gale, had evidently drifted
+further South than it had ever been before.</p>
+
+<p>On the third night poor Miranda came back to us
+nearly frozen. She told the Doctor that in the
+morning we would find the island quite close to us,
+though we couldn’t see it now as it was a misty dark
+night. She said that she must hurry back at once
+to a warmer climate; and that she would visit the
+Doctor in Puddleby next August as usual.</p>
+
+<p>“Don’t forget, Miranda,” said John Dolittle,
+“if you should hear anything of what happened to
+Long Arrow, to get word to me.”</p>
+
+<p>The Bird-of-Paradise assured him she would.
+And after the Doctor had thanked her again and
+again for all that she had done for us, she wished
+us good luck and disappeared into the night.</p>
+
+<p>We were all awake early in the morning, long before
+it was light, waiting for our first glimpse of
+the country we had come so far to see. And as
+the rising sun turned the eastern sky to gray, of
+course it was old Polynesia who first shouted that
+she could see palm-trees and mountain tops.</p>
+
+<p>With the growing light it became plain to all of
+us: a long island with high rocky mountains in the
+middle—and so near to us that you could almost
+throw your hat upon the shore.</p>
+
+<p>The porpoises gave us one last push and our
+strange-looking craft bumped gently on a low<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
+beach. Then, thanking our lucky stars for a
+chance to stretch our cramped legs, we all bundled
+off on to the land—the first land, even though it
+was floating land, that we had trodden for six
+weeks. What a thrill I felt as I realized that Spidermonkey
+Island, the little spot in the atlas which my
+pencil had touched, lay at last beneath my feet!</p>
+
+<p>When the light increased still further we noticed
+that the palms and grasses of the island seemed
+withered and almost dead. The Doctor said that
+it must be on account of the cold that the island
+was now suffering from in its new climate. These
+trees and grasses, he told us, were the kind that
+belonged to warm, tropical weather.</p>
+
+<p>The porpoises asked if we wanted them any further.
+And the Doctor said that he didn’t think
+so, not for the present—nor the raft either, he
+added; for it was already beginning to fall to pieces
+and could not float much longer.</p>
+
+<p>As we were preparing to go inland and explore
+the island, we suddenly noticed a whole band of Red
+Indians watching us with great curiosity from
+among the trees. The Doctor went forward to
+talk to them. But he could not make them understand.
+He tried by signs to show them that he
+had come on a friendly visit. The Indians didn’t
+seem to like us however. They had bows and arrows
+and long hunting spears, with stone points, in their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span>
+hands; and they made signs back to the Doctor to
+tell him that if he came a step nearer they would
+kill us all. They evidently wanted us to leave the
+island at once. It was a very uncomfortable situation.</p>
+
+<p>At last the Doctor made them understand that he
+only wanted to see the island all over and that then
+he would go away—though how he meant to do it,
+with no boat to sail in, was more than I could
+imagine.</p>
+
+<p>While they were talking among themselves another
+Indian arrived—apparently with a message
+that they were wanted in some other part of the island.
+Because presently, shaking their spears
+threateningly at us, they went off with the newcomer.</p>
+
+<p>“What discourteous pagans!” said Bumpo. “Did
+you ever see such inhospitability?—Never even
+asked us if we’d had breakfast, the benighted
+bounders!”</p>
+
+<p>“Sh! They’re going off to their village,” said
+Polynesia. “I’ll bet there’s a village on the other
+side of those mountains. If you take my advice,
+Doctor, you’ll get away from this beach while their
+backs are turned. Let us go up into the higher
+land for the present—some place where they won’t
+know where we are. They may grow friendlier
+when they see we mean no harm. They have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
+honest, open faces and look like a decent crowd to
+me. They’re just ignorant—probably never saw
+white folks before.”</p>
+
+<p>So, feeling a little bit discouraged by our first
+reception, we moved off towards the mountains in
+the centre of the island.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SIXTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE JABIZRI</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WE found the woods at the feet of the
+hills thick and tangly and somewhat
+hard to get through. On Polynesia’s
+advice, we kept away from all paths
+and trails, feeling it best to avoid meeting any
+Indians for the present.</p>
+
+<p>But she and Chee-Chee were good guides and
+splendid jungle-hunters; and the two of them set
+to work at once looking for food for us. In a
+very short space of time they had found quite a
+number of different fruits and nuts which made excellent
+eating, though none of us knew the names
+of any of them. We discovered a nice clean stream
+of good water which came down from the mountains;
+so we were supplied with something to drink as
+well.</p>
+
+<p>We followed the stream up towards the heights.
+And presently we came to parts where the woods
+were thinner and the ground rocky and steep.
+Here we could get glimpses of wonderful views all
+over the island, with the blue sea beyond.</p>
+
+<p>While we were admiring one of these the Doctor<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span>
+suddenly said, “Sh!—A Jabizri!—Don’t you hear
+it?”</p>
+
+<p>We listened and heard, somewhere in the air
+about us, an extraordinarily musical hum—like
+a bee, but not just one note. This hum rose and
+fell, up and down—almost like some one singing.</p>
+
+<p>“No other insect but the Jabizri beetle hums like
+that,” said the Doctor. “I wonder where he is—quite
+near, by the sound—flying among the trees
+probably. Oh, if I only had my butterfly-net!
+Why didn’t I think to strap that around my waist
+too. Confound the storm: I may miss the chance
+of a lifetime now of getting the rarest beetle in the
+world—Oh look! There he goes!”</p>
+
+<p>A huge beetle, easily three inches long I should
+say, suddenly flew by our noses. The Doctor got
+frightfully excited. He took off his hat to use as
+a net, swooped at the beetle and caught it. He
+nearly fell down a precipice on to the rocks below
+in his wild hurry, but that didn’t bother him in the
+least. He knelt down, chortling, upon the ground
+with the Jabizri safe under his hat. From his
+pocket he brought out a glass-topped box, and into
+this he very skilfully made the beetle walk from
+under the rim of the hat. Then he rose up, happy
+as a child, to examine his new treasure through the
+glass lid.</p>
+
+<p>It certainly was a most beautiful insect. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
+pale blue underneath; but its back was glossy black
+with huge red spots on it.</p>
+
+<p>“There isn’t an entymologist in the whole world
+who wouldn’t give all he has to be in my shoes
+to-day,” said the Doctor—“Hulloa! This Jabizri’s
+got something on his leg—Doesn’t look like
+mud. I wonder what it is.”</p>
+
+<p>He took the beetle carefully out of the box and
+held it by its back in his fingers, where it waved its
+six legs slowly in the air. We all crowded about
+him peering at it. Rolled around the middle section
+of its right foreleg was something that looked
+like a thin dried leaf. It was bound on very neatly
+with strong spider-web.</p>
+
+<p>It was marvelous to see how John Dolittle with
+his fat heavy fingers undid that cobweb cord and
+unrolled the leaf, whole, without tearing it or hurting
+the precious beetle. The Jabizri he put back
+into the box. Then he spread the leaf out flat and
+examined it.</p>
+
+<p>You can imagine our surprise when we found that
+the inside of the leaf was covered with signs and
+pictures, drawn so tiny that you almost needed a
+magnifying-glass to tell what they were. Some of
+the signs we couldn’t make out at all; but nearly all
+of the pictures were quite plain, figures of men and
+mountains mostly. The whole was done in a
+curious sort of brown ink.</p>
+
+<p>For several moments there was a dead silence<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
+while we all stared at the leaf, fascinated and mystified.</p>
+
+<p>“I think this is written in blood,” said the Doctor
+at last. “It turns that color when it’s dry. Somebody
+pricked his finger to make these pictures.
+It’s an old dodge when you’re short of ink—but
+highly unsanitary—What an extraordinary thing
+to find tied to a beetle’s leg! I wish I could talk
+beetle language, and find out where the Jabizri got
+it from.”</p>
+
+<p>“But what is it?” I asked—“Rows of little pictures
+and signs. What do you make of it, Doctor?”</p>
+
+<p>“It’s a letter,” he said—“a picture letter. All
+these little things put together mean a message—But
+why give a message to a beetle to carry—and to
+a Jabizri, the rarest beetle in the world?—What an
+extraordinary thing!”</p>
+
+<p>Then he fell to muttering over the pictures.</p>
+
+<p>“I wonder what it means: men walking up a
+mountain; men walking into a hole in a mountain;
+a mountain falling down—it’s a good drawing,
+that; men pointing to their open mouths; bars—prison-bars,
+perhaps; men praying; men lying
+down—they look as though they might be sick;
+and last of all, just a mountain—a peculiar-shaped
+mountain.”</p>
+
+<p>All of a sudden the Doctor looked up sharply at
+me, a wonderful smile of delighted understanding
+spreading over his face.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“<i>Long Arrow!</i>” he cried, “don’t you see,
+Stubbins?—Why, of course! Only a naturalist
+would think of doing a thing like this: giving his
+letter to a beetle—not to a common beetle, but to
+the rarest of all, one that other naturalists would
+try to catch—Well, well! Long Arrow!—A picture-letter
+from Long Arrow. For pictures are
+the only writing that he knows.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, but who is the letter to?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“It’s to me very likely. Miranda had told him,
+I know, years ago, that some day I meant to come
+here. But if not for me, then it’s for any one who
+caught the beetle and read it. It’s a letter to the
+world.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, but what does it say? It doesn’t seem
+to me that it’s much good to you now you’ve got it.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, it is,” he said, “because, look, I can read
+it now. First picture: men walking up a mountain—that’s
+Long Arrow and his party; men going
+into a hole in a mountain—they enter a cave looking
+for medicine-plants or mosses; a mountain falling
+down—some hanging rocks must have slipped and
+trapped them, imprisoned them in the cave. And
+this was the only living creature that could carry a
+message for them to the outside world—a beetle,
+who could <i>burrow</i> his way into the open air. Of
+course it was only a slim chance that the beetle
+would be ever caught and the letter read. But it
+<i>was</i> a chance; and when men are in great danger<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
+they grab at any straw of hope.... All right.
+Now look at the next picture: men pointing to their
+open mouths—they are hungry; men praying—begging
+any one who finds this letter to come to their
+assistance; men lying down—they are sick, or starving.
+This letter, Stubbins, is their last cry for help.”</p>
+
+<p>He sprang to his feet as he ended, snatched out
+a note-book and put the letter between the leaves.
+His hands were trembling with haste and agitation.</p>
+
+<p>“Come on!” he cried—“up the mountain—all of
+you. There’s not a moment to lose. Bumpo, bring
+the water and nuts with you. Heaven only knows
+how long they’ve been pining underground. Let’s
+hope and pray we’re not too late!”</p>
+
+<p>“But where are you going to look?” I asked.
+“Miranda said the island was a hundred miles long
+and the mountains seem to run all the way down the
+centre of it.”</p>
+
+<p>“Didn’t you see the last picture?” he said, grabbing
+up his hat from the ground and cramming it
+on his head. “It was an oddly shaped mountain—looked
+like a hawk’s head. Well, there’s where he
+is—if he’s still alive. First thing for us to do, is
+to get up on a high peak and look around the island
+for a mountain shaped like a hawks’ head—Just
+to think of it! There’s a chance of my meeting
+Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow, after
+all!—Come on! Hurry! To delay may mean
+death to the greatest naturalist ever born!”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SEVENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>HAWK’S-HEAD MOUNTAIN</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WE all agreed afterwards that none of
+us had ever worked so hard in our
+lives before as we did that day. For
+my part, I know I was often on the
+point of dropping exhausted with fatigue; but I
+just kept on going—like a machine—determined
+that, whatever happened, <i>I</i> would not be the first
+to give up.</p>
+
+<p>When we had scrambled to the top of a high
+peak, almost instantly we saw the strange mountain
+pictured in the letter. In shape it was the perfect
+image of a hawk’s head, and was, as far as we could
+see, the second highest summit in the island.</p>
+
+<p>Although we were all out of breath from our
+climb, the Doctor didn’t let us rest a second as soon
+as he had sighted it. With one look at the sun for
+direction, down he dashed again, breaking through
+thickets, splashing over brooks, taking all the short
+cuts. For a fat man, he was certainly the swiftest
+cross-country runner I ever saw.</p>
+
+<p>We floundered after him as fast as we could.
+When I say <i>we</i>, I mean Bumpo and myself; for the
+animals, Jip, Chee-Chee and Polynesia, were a long<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span>
+way ahead—even beyond the Doctor—enjoying the
+hunt like a paper-chase.</p>
+
+<p>At length we arrived at the foot of the mountain
+we were making for; and we found its sides very
+steep. Said the Doctor,</p>
+
+<p>“Now we will separate and search for caves.
+This spot where we now are, will be our meeting-place.
+If anyone finds anything like a cave or a
+hole where the earth and rocks have fallen in, he
+must shout and hulloa to the rest of us. If we find
+nothing we will all gather here in about an hour’s
+time—Everybody understand?”</p>
+
+<p>Then we all went off our different ways.</p>
+
+<p>Each of us, you may be sure, was anxious to be
+the one to make a discovery. And never was a
+mountain searched so thoroughly. But alas! nothing
+could we find that looked in the least like a fallen-in
+cave. There were plenty of places where
+rocks had tumbled down to the foot of the slopes;
+but none of these appeared as though caves or passages
+could possibly lie behind them.</p>
+
+<p>One by one, tired and disappointed, we straggled
+back to the meeting-place. The Doctor seemed
+gloomy and impatient but by no means inclined to
+give up.</p>
+
+<p>“Jip,” he said, “couldn’t you <i>smell</i> anything like
+an Indian anywhere?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said Jip. “I sniffed at every crack on the
+mountainside. But I am afraid my nose will be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
+of no use to you here, Doctor. The trouble is, the
+whole air is so saturated with the smell of spider-monkeys
+that it drowns every other scent—And besides,
+it’s too cold and dry for good smelling.”</p>
+
+<p>“It is certainly that,” said the Doctor—“and getting
+colder all the time. I’m afraid the island is
+still drifting to the southward. Let’s hope it stops
+before long, or we won’t be able to get even nuts
+and fruit to eat—everything in the island will perish—Chee-Chee,
+what luck did you have?”</p>
+
+<p>“None, Doctor. I climbed to every peak and
+pinnacle I could see. I searched every hollow and
+cleft. But not one place could I find where men
+might be hidden.”</p>
+
+<p>“And Polynesia,” asked the Doctor, “did you see
+nothing that might put us on the right track?”</p>
+
+<p>“Not a thing, Doctor—But I have a plan.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh good!” cried John Dolittle, full of hope renewed.
+“What is it? Let’s hear it.”</p>
+
+<p>“You still have that beetle with you,” she asked—“the
+Biz-biz, or whatever it is you call the
+wretched insect?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said the Doctor, producing the glass-topped
+box from his pocket, “here it is.”</p>
+
+<p>“All right. Now listen,” said she. “If what
+you have supposed is true—that is, that Long Arrow
+had been trapped inside the mountain by falling
+rock, he probably found that beetle inside the cave—perhaps
+many other different beetles too, eh?<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
+He wouldn’t have been likely to take the Biz-biz
+in with him, would he?—He was hunting plants,
+you say, not beetles. Isn’t that right?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said the Doctor, “that’s probably so.”</p>
+
+<p>“Very well. It is fair to suppose then that the
+beetle’s home, or his hole, is in that place—the part
+of the mountain where Long Arrow and his party
+are imprisoned, isn’t it?”</p>
+
+<p>“Quite, quite.”</p>
+
+<p>“All right. Then the thing to do is to let the
+beetle go—and watch him; and sooner or later he’ll
+return to his home in Long Arrow’s cave. And
+there we will follow him—Or at all events,” she
+added smoothing down her wing-feathers with a
+very superior air, “we will follow him till the miserable
+bug starts nosing under the earth. But at
+least he will show us what part of the mountain
+Long Arrow is hidden in.”</p>
+
+<p>“But he may fly, if I let him out,” said the Doctor.
+“Then we shall just lose him and be no better
+off than we were before.”</p>
+
+<p>“<i>Let</i> him fly,” snorted Polynesia scornfully. “A
+parrot can wing it as fast as a Biz-biz, I fancy. If
+he takes to the air, I’ll guarantee not to let the little
+devil out of my sight. And if he just crawls along
+the ground you can follow him yourself.”</p>
+
+<p>“Splendid!” cried the Doctor. “Polynesia, you
+have a great brain. I’ll set him to work at once
+and see what happens.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Again we all clustered round the Doctor as he
+carefully lifted off the glass lid and let the big beetle
+climb out upon his finger.</p>
+
+<p>“Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!” crooned
+Bumpo. “Your house is on fire and your chil—”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, be quiet!” snapped Polynesia crossly.
+“Stop insulting him! Don’t you suppose he has
+wits enough to go home without your telling him?”</p>
+
+<p>“I thought perchance he might be of a philandering
+disposition,” said Bumpo humbly. “It could
+be that he is tired of his home and needs to be
+encouraged. Shall I sing him ‘Home Sweet Home,’
+think you?”</p>
+
+<p>“No. Then he’d never go back. Your voice
+needs a rest. Don’t sing to him: just watch him—Oh,
+and Doctor, why not tie another message to
+the creature’s leg, telling Long Arrow that we’re
+doing our best to reach him and that he mustn’t give
+up hope?”</p>
+
+<p>“I will,” said the Doctor. And in a minute he
+had pulled a dry leaf from a bush near by and was
+covering it with little pictures in pencil.</p>
+
+<p>At last, neatly fixed up with his new mail-bag,
+Mr. Jabizri crawled off the Doctor’s finger to the
+ground and looked about him. He stretched his
+legs, polished his nose with his front feet and then
+moved off leisurely to the westward.</p>
+
+<p>We had expected him to walk <i>up</i> the mountain;
+instead, he walked <i>around</i> it. Do you know how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
+long it takes a beetle to walk round a mountain?
+Well, I assure you it takes an unbelievably long
+time. As the hours dragged by, we hoped and
+hoped that he would get up and fly the rest, and let
+Polynesia carry on the work of following him. But
+he never opened his wings once. I had not realized
+before how hard it is for a human being to walk
+slowly enough to keep up with a beetle. It was the
+most tedious thing I have ever gone through. And
+as we dawdled along behind, watching him like
+hawks lest we lose him under a leaf or something,
+we all got so cross and ill-tempered we were ready
+to bite one another’s heads off. And when he
+stopped to look at the scenery or polish his nose
+some more, I could hear Polynesia behind me letting
+out the most dreadful seafaring swear-words you
+ever heard.</p>
+
+<p>After he had led us the whole way round the
+mountain he brought us to the exact spot where we
+started from and there he came to a dead stop.</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said Bumpo to Polynesia, “what do you
+think of the beetle’s sense now? You see he <i>doesn’t</i>
+know enough to go home.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, be still, you Hottentot!” snapped Polynesia.
+“Wouldn’t <i>you</i> want to stretch your legs
+for exercise if you’d been shut up in a box all day.
+Probably his home is near here, and that’s why he’s
+come back.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“But why,” I asked, “did he go the whole way
+round the mountain first?”</p>
+
+<p>Then the three of us got into a violent argument.
+But in the middle of it all the Doctor suddenly
+called out,</p>
+
+<p>“Look, look!”</p>
+
+<p>We turned and found that he was pointing to the
+Jabizri, who was now walking <i>up</i> the mountain at
+a much faster and more business-like gait.</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said Bumpo sitting down wearily; “if he
+is going to walk <i>over</i> the mountain and back, for
+more exercise, I’ll wait for him here. Chee-Chee
+and Polynesia can follow him.”</p>
+
+<p>Indeed it would have taken a monkey or a bird
+to climb the place which the beetle was now walking
+up. It was a smooth, flat part of the mountain’s
+side, steep as a wall.</p>
+
+<p>But presently, when the Jabizri was no more than
+ten feet above our heads, we all cried out together.
+For, even while we watched him, he had disappeared
+into the face of the rock like a raindrop soaking into
+sand.</p>
+
+<p>“He’s gone,” cried Polynesia. “There must be
+a hole up there.” And in a twinkling she had fluttered
+up the rock and was clinging to the face of it
+with her claws.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” she shouted down, “we’ve run him to
+earth at last. His hole is right here, behind a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
+patch of lichen—big enough to get two fingers in.”</p>
+
+<p>“Ah,” cried the Doctor, “this great slab of
+rock then must have slid down from the summit and
+shut off the mouth of the cave like a door. Poor
+fellows! What a dreadful time they must have
+spent in there!—Oh, if we only had some picks and
+shovels now!”</p>
+
+<p>“Picks and shovels wouldn’t do much good,” said
+Polynesia. “Look at the size of the slab: a hundred
+feet high and as many broad. You would
+need an army for a week to make any impression
+on it.”</p>
+
+<p>“I wonder how thick it is,” said the Doctor;
+and he picked up a big stone and banged it with all
+his might against the face of the rock. It made a
+hollow booming sound, like a giant drum. We all
+stood still listening while the echo of it died slowly
+away.</p>
+
+<p>And then a cold shiver ran down my spine. For,
+from within the mountain, back came three answering
+knocks: <i>Boom!... Boom!... Boom!</i></p>
+
+<p>Wide-eyed we looked at one another as
+though the earth itself had spoken. And the solemn
+little silence that followed was broken by the
+Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Thank Heaven,” he said in a hushed reverent
+voice, “some of them at least are alive!”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>PART FIVE</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<h2><i>THE FIRST CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>A GREAT MOMENT</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THE next part of our problem was the
+hardest of all: how to roll aside, pull
+down or break open, that gigantic slab.
+As we gazed up at it towering above our
+heads, it looked indeed a hopeless task for our tiny
+strength.</p>
+
+<p>But the sounds of life from inside the mountain
+had put new heart in us. And in a moment we
+were all scrambling around trying to find any opening
+or crevice which would give us something to
+work on. Chee-Chee scaled up the sheer wall of
+the slab and examined the top of it where it leaned
+against the mountain’s side; I uprooted bushes and
+stripped off hanging creepers that might conceal a
+weak place; the Doctor got more leaves and
+composed new picture-letters for the Jabizri to
+take in if he should turn up again; whilst Polynesia
+carried up a handful of nuts and pushed them into
+the beetle’s hole, one by one, for the prisoners inside
+to eat.</p>
+
+<p>“Nuts are so nourishing,” she said.</p>
+
+<p>But Jip it was who, scratching at the foot of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>
+slab like a good ratter, made the discovery which
+led to our final success.</p>
+
+<p>“Doctor,” he cried, running up to John Dolittle
+with his nose all covered with black mud, “this slab
+is resting on nothing but a bed of soft earth. You
+never saw such easy digging. I guess the cave
+behind must be just too high up for the Indians to
+reach the earth with their hands, or they could
+have scraped a way out long ago. If we can only
+scratch the earth-bed away from under, the slab
+might drop a little. Then maybe the Indians can
+climb out over the top.”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor hurried to examine the place where
+Jip had dug.</p>
+
+<p>“Why, yes,” he said, “if we can get the
+earth away from under this front edge, the slab
+is standing up so straight, we might even make it
+fall right down in this direction. It’s well worth
+trying. Let’s get at it, quick.”</p>
+
+<p>We had no tools but the sticks and slivers of
+stone which we could find around. A strange sight
+we must have looked, the whole crew of us squatting
+down on our heels, scratching and burrowing at the
+foot of the mountain, like six badgers in a row.</p>
+
+<p>After about an hour, during which in spite of the
+cold the sweat fell from our foreheads in all directions,
+the Doctor said,</p>
+
+<p>“Be ready to jump from under, clear out of the
+way, if she shows signs of moving. If this slab<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
+falls on anybody, it will squash him flatter than a
+pancake.”</p>
+
+<p>Presently there was a grating, grinding sound.</p>
+
+<p>“Look out!” yelled John Dolittle, “here she
+comes!—Scatter!”</p>
+
+<p>We ran for our lives, outwards, toward the sides.
+The big rock slid gently down, about a foot, into the
+trough which we had made beneath it. For a moment
+I was disappointed, for like that, it was as hopeless
+as before—no signs of a cave-mouth showing
+above it. But as I looked upward, I saw the top
+coming very slowly away from the mountainside.
+We had unbalanced it below. As it moved apart
+from the face of the mountain, sounds of human
+voices, crying gladly in a strange tongue, issued from
+behind. Faster and faster the top swung forward,
+downward. Then, with a roaring crash which
+shook the whole mountain-range beneath our feet,
+it struck the earth and cracked in halves.</p>
+
+<p>How can I describe to any one that first meeting
+between the two greatest naturalists the world ever
+knew, Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow and
+John Dolittle, M.D., of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh?
+The scene rises before me now, plain and clear in
+every detail, though it took place so many, many
+years ago. But when I come to write of it, words
+seem such poor things with which to tell you of that
+great occasion.</p>
+
+<p>I know that the Doctor, whose life was surely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span>
+full enough of big happenings, always counted the
+setting free of the Indian scientist as the greatest
+thing he ever did. For my part, knowing how much
+this meeting must mean to him, I was on pins and
+needles of expectation and curiosity as the great
+stone finally thundered down at our feet and we
+gazed across it to see what lay behind.</p>
+
+<p>The gloomy black mouth of a tunnel, full twenty
+feet high, was revealed. In the centre of this opening
+stood an enormous red Indian, seven feet tall,
+handsome, muscular, slim and naked—but for a
+beaded cloth about his middle and an eagle’s feather
+in his hair. He held one hand across his face to
+shield his eyes from the blinding sun which he had
+not seen in many days.</p>
+
+<p>“It is he!” I heard the Doctor whisper at my
+elbow. “I know him by his great height and the
+scar upon his chin.”</p>
+
+<p>And he stepped forward slowly across the fallen
+stone with his hand outstretched to the red man.</p>
+
+<p>Presently the Indian uncovered his eyes. And I
+saw that they had a curious piercing gleam in them—like
+the eyes of an eagle, but kinder and more gentle.
+He slowly raised his right arm, the rest of him
+still and motionless like a statue, and took the Doctor’s
+hand in his. It was a great moment. Polynesia
+nodded to me in a knowing, satisfied kind of
+way. And I heard old Bumpo sniffle sentimentally.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Doctor tried to speak to Long Arrow.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a><br /><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>
+But the Indian knew no English of course, and the
+Doctor knew no Indian. Presently, to my surprise,
+I heard the Doctor trying him in different animal
+languages.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 390px;">
+<img src="images/i-277.jpg" width="390" height="550" alt="Doctor meeting Long Arrow" />
+<div class="caption">“It was a great moment”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>“How do you do?” he said in dog-talk; “I am
+glad to see you,” in horse-signs; “How long have
+you been buried?” in deer-language. Still the Indian
+made no move but stood there, straight and
+stiff, understanding not a word.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor tried again, in several other animal
+dialects. But with no result.</p>
+
+<p>Till at last he came to the language of eagles.</p>
+
+<p>“Great Red-Skin,” he said in the fierce screams
+and short grunts that the big birds use, “never have
+I been so glad in all my life as I am to-day to find you
+still alive.”</p>
+
+<p>In a flash Long Arrow’s stony face lit up with a
+smile of understanding; and back came the answer
+in eagle-tongue,</p>
+
+<p>“Mighty White Man, I owe my life to you. For
+the remainder of my days I am your servant to command.”</p>
+
+<p>Afterwards Long Arrow told us that this was the
+only bird or animal language that he had ever been
+able to learn. But that he had not spoken it in a
+long time, for no eagles ever came to this island.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Doctor signaled to Bumpo who came
+forward with the nuts and water. But Long Arrow
+neither ate nor drank. Taking the supplies with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span>
+nod of thanks, he turned and carried them into the
+inner dimness of the cave. We followed him.</p>
+
+<p>Inside we found nine other Indians, men, women
+and boys, lying on the rock floor in a dreadful state
+of thinness and exhaustion.</p>
+
+<p>Some had their eyes closed, as if dead. Quickly
+the Doctor went round them all and listened to their
+hearts. They were all alive; but one woman was
+too weak even to stand upon her feet.</p>
+
+<p>At a word from the Doctor, Chee-Chee and
+Polynesia sped off into the jungles after more fruit
+and water.</p>
+
+<p>While Long Arrow was handing round what food
+we had to his starving friends, we suddenly heard
+a sound outside the cave. Turning about we saw,
+clustered at the entrance, the band of Indians who
+had met us so inhospitably at the beach.</p>
+
+<p>They peered into the dark cave cautiously at first.
+But as soon as they saw Long Arrow and the other
+Indians with us, they came rushing in, laughing,
+clapping their hands with joy and jabbering away at
+a tremendous rate.</p>
+
+<p>Long Arrow explained to the Doctor that the
+nine Indians we had found in the cave with him were
+two families who had accompanied him into the
+mountains to help him gather medicine-plants. And
+while they had been searching for a kind of moss—good
+for indigestion—which grows only inside
+of damp caves, the great rock slab had slid down<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
+and shut them in. Then for two weeks they had
+lived on the medicine-moss and such fresh water as
+could be found dripping from the damp walls of the
+cave. The other Indians on the island had given
+them up for lost and mourned them as dead; and they
+were now very surprised and happy to find their
+relatives alive.</p>
+
+<p>When Long Arrow turned to the newcomers and
+told them in their own language that it was the white
+man who had found and freed their relatives, they
+gathered round John Dolittle, all talking at once
+and beating their breasts.</p>
+
+<p>Long Arrow said they were apologizing and trying
+to tell the Doctor how sorry they were that
+they had seemed unfriendly to him at the beach.
+They had never seen a white man before and had
+really been afraid of him—especially when they saw
+him conversing with the porpoises. They had
+thought he was the Devil, they said.</p>
+
+<p>Then they went outside and looked at the great
+stone we had thrown down, big as a meadow; and
+they walked round and round it, pointing to the
+break running through the middle and wondering
+how the trick of felling it was done.</p>
+
+<p>Travelers who have since visited Spidermonkey
+Island tell me that that huge stone slab is now one
+of the regular sights of the island. And that the
+Indian guides, when showing it to visitors, always
+tell <i>their</i> story of how it came there. They say that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
+when the Doctor found that the rocks had entrapped
+his friend, Long Arrow, he was so angry that he
+ripped the mountain in halves with his bare hands
+and let him out.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SECOND CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>“THE MEN OF THE MOVING LAND”</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">FROM that time on the Indians’ treatment
+of us was very different. We were invited
+to their village for a feast to celebrate the
+recovery of the lost families. And after
+we had made a litter from saplings to carry the sick
+woman in, we all started off down the mountain.</p>
+
+<p>On the way the Indians told Long Arrow something
+which appeared to be sad news, for on hearing
+it, his face grew very grave. The Doctor asked him
+what was wrong. And Long Arrow said he had
+just been informed that the chief of the tribe, an old
+man of eighty, had died early that morning.</p>
+
+<p>“That,” Polynesia whispered in my ear, “must
+have been what they went back to the village for,
+when the messenger fetched them from the beach.—Remember?”</p>
+
+<p>“What did he die of?” asked the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“He died of cold,” said Long Arrow.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, now that the sun was setting, we were
+all shivering ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>“This is a serious thing,” said the Doctor to me.
+“The island is still in the grip of that wretched current
+flowing southward. We will have to look into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
+this to-morrow. If nothing can be done about it,
+the Indians had better take to canoes and leave the
+island. The chance of being wrecked will be better
+than getting frozen to death in the ice-floes of the
+Antarctic.”</p>
+
+<p>Presently we came over a saddle in the hills, and
+looking downward on the far side of the island, we
+saw the village—a large cluster of grass huts and
+gaily colored totem-poles close by the edge of the
+sea.</p>
+
+<p>“How artistic!” said the Doctor—“Delightfully
+situated. What is the name of the village?”</p>
+
+<p>“Popsipetel,” said Long Arrow. “That is the
+name also of the tribe. The word signifies in Indian
+tongue, <i>The Men of The Moving Land</i>. There are
+two tribes of Indians on the island: the Popsipetels
+at this end and the Bag-jagderags at the other.”</p>
+
+<p>“Which is the larger of the two peoples?”</p>
+
+<p>“The Bag-jagderags, by far. Their city covers
+two square leagues. But,” added Long Arrow a
+slight frown darkening his handsome face, “for me,
+I would rather have one Popsipetel than a hundred
+Bag-jagderags.”</p>
+
+<p>The news of the rescue we had made had evidently
+gone ahead of us. For as we drew nearer to the
+village we saw crowds of Indians streaming out to
+greet the friends and relatives whom they had never
+thought to see again.</p>
+
+<p>These good people, when they too were told how<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span>
+the rescue had been the work of the strange white
+visitor to their shores, all gathered round the Doctor,
+shook him by the hands, patted him and hugged
+him. Then they lifted him up upon their strong
+shoulders and carried him down the hill into the
+village.</p>
+
+<p>There the welcome we received was even more
+wonderful. In spite of the cold air of the coming
+night, the villagers, who had all been shivering
+within their houses, threw open their doors and came
+out in hundreds. I had no idea that the little village
+could hold so many. They thronged about us,
+smiling and nodding and waving their hands; and
+as the details of what we had done were recited by
+Long Arrow they kept shouting strange singing
+noises, which we supposed were words of gratitude
+or praise.</p>
+
+<p>We were next escorted to a brand-new grass
+house, clean and sweet-smelling within, and informed
+that it was ours. Six strong Indian boys were told
+off to be our servants.</p>
+
+<p>On our way through the village we noticed a
+house, larger than the rest, standing at the end of the
+main street. Long Arrow pointed to it and told
+us it was the Chief’s house, but that it was now
+empty—no new chief having yet been elected to
+take the place of the old one who had died.</p>
+
+<p>Inside our new home a feast of fish and fruit had
+been prepared. Most of the more important men<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
+of the tribe were already seating themselves at the
+long dining-table when we got there. Long Arrow
+invited us to sit down and eat.</p>
+
+<p>This we were glad enough to do, as we were all
+hungry. But we were both surprised and disappointed
+when we found that the fish had not been
+cooked. The Indians did not seem to think this
+extraordinary in the least, but went ahead gobbling
+the fish with much relish the way it was, raw.</p>
+
+<p>With many apologies, the Doctor explained to
+Long Arrow that if they had no objection we would
+prefer our fish cooked.</p>
+
+<p>Imagine our astonishment when we found that
+the great Long Arrow, so learned in the natural
+sciences, did not know what the word <i>cooked</i> meant!</p>
+
+<p>Polynesia who was sitting on the bench between
+John Dolittle and myself pulled the Doctor by the
+sleeve.</p>
+
+<p>“I’ll tell you what’s wrong, Doctor,” she whispered
+as he leant down to listen to her: “<i>these people
+have no fires</i>! They don’t know how to make
+a fire. Look outside: It’s almost dark, and there
+isn’t a light showing in the whole village. This is
+a fireless people.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE THIRD CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>FIRE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THEN the Doctor asked Long Arrow if
+he knew what fire was, explaining it to
+him by pictures drawn on the buckskin
+table-cloth. Long Arrow said he had
+seen such a thing—coming out of the tops of volcanoes;
+but that neither he nor any of the Popsipetels
+knew how it was made.</p>
+
+<p>“Poor perishing heathens!” muttered Bumpo.
+“No wonder the old chief died of cold!”</p>
+
+<p>At that moment we heard a crying sound at the
+door. And turning round, we saw a weeping Indian
+mother with a baby in her arms. She said something
+to the Indians which we could not understand;
+and Long Arrow told us the baby was sick and she
+wanted the white doctor to try and cure it.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh Lord!” groaned Polynesia in my ear—“Just
+like Puddleby: patients arriving in the middle
+of dinner. Well, one thing: the food’s raw, so
+nothing can get cold anyway.”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor examined the baby and found at once
+that it was thoroughly chilled.</p>
+
+<p>“Fire—<i>fire</i>! That’s what it needs,” he said
+turning to Long Arrow—“That’s what you all need.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span>
+This child will have pneumonia if it isn’t kept warm.”</p>
+
+<p>“Aye, truly. But how to make a fire,” said Long
+Arrow—“where to get it: that is the difficulty.
+All the volcanoes in this land are dead.”</p>
+
+<p>Then we fell to hunting through our pockets to
+see if any matches had survived the shipwreck.
+The best we could muster were two whole ones and
+a half—all with the heads soaked off them by salt
+water.</p>
+
+<p>“Hark, Long Arrow,” said the Doctor: “divers
+ways there be of making fire without the aid of
+matches. One: with a strong glass and the rays of
+the sun. That however, since the sun has set, we cannot
+now employ. Another is by grinding a hard stick
+into a soft log—Is the daylight gone without?—Alas
+yes. Then I fear we must await the morrow; for
+besides the different woods, we need an old squirrel’s
+nest for fuel—And that without lamps you could
+not find in your forests at this hour.”</p>
+
+<p>“Great are your cunning and your skill, oh White
+Man,” Long Arrow replied. “But in this you do
+us an injustice. Know you not that all fireless peoples
+can see in the dark? Having no lamps we are
+forced to train ourselves to travel through the blackest
+night, lightless. I will despatch a messenger
+and you shall have your squirrel’s nest within the
+hour.”</p>
+
+<p>He gave an order to two of our boy-servants
+who promptly disappeared running. And sure<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[268]</a></span>
+enough, in a very short space of time a squirrel’s nest,
+together with hard and soft woods, was brought
+to our door.</p>
+
+<p>The moon had not yet risen and within the house
+it was practically pitch-black. I could feel and hear,
+however, that the Indians were moving about comfortably
+as though it were daylight. The task of
+making fire the Doctor had to perform almost entirely
+by the sense of touch, asking Long Arrow and
+the Indians to hand him his tools when he mislaid
+them in the dark. And then I made a curious discovery:
+now that I had to, I found that I was beginning
+to see a little in the dark myself. And for
+the first time I realized that of course there <i>is</i> no
+such thing as pitch-dark, so long as you have a door
+open or a sky above you.</p>
+
+<p>Calling for the loan of a bow, the Doctor loosened
+the string, put the hard stick into a loop and began
+grinding this stick into the soft wood of the log.
+Soon I smelt that the log was smoking. Then he
+kept feeding the part that was smoking with the
+inside lining of the squirrel’s nest, and he asked me
+to blow upon it with my breath. He made the stick
+drill faster and faster. More smoke filled the
+room. And at last the darkness about us was suddenly
+lit up. The squirrel’s nest had burst into
+flame.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians murmured and grunted with astonishment.
+At first they were all for falling on their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[269]</a></span>
+knees and worshiping the fire. Then they wanted
+to pick it up with their bare hands and play with it.
+We had to teach them how it was to be used; and
+they were quite fascinated when we laid our fish
+across it on sticks and cooked it. They sniffed the
+air with relish as, for the first time in history, the
+smell of fried fish passed through the village of
+Popsipetel.</p>
+
+<p>Then we got them to bring us piles and stacks
+of dry wood; and we made an enormous bonfire
+in the middle of the main street. Round this,
+when they felt its warmth, the whole tribe gathered
+and smiled and wondered. It was a striking sight,
+one of the pictures from our voyages that I most
+frequently remember: that roaring jolly blaze beneath
+the black night sky, and all about it a vast
+ring of Indians, the firelight gleaming on bronze
+cheeks, white teeth and flashing eyes—a whole town
+trying to get warm, giggling and pushing like school-children.</p>
+
+<p>In a little, when we had got them more used to
+the handling of fire, the Doctor showed them how it
+could be taken into their houses if a hole were only
+made in the roof to let the smoke out. And before
+we turned in after that long, long, tiring day, we
+had fires going in every hut in the village.</p>
+
+<p>The poor people were so glad to get really warm
+again that we thought they’d never go to bed.
+Well on into the early hours of the morning the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[270]</a></span>
+little town fairly buzzed with a great low murmur:
+the Popsipetels sitting up talking of their wonderful
+pale-faced visitor and this strange good thing he
+had brought with him—<i>fire</i>!</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[271]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FOURTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">VERY early in our experience of Popsipetel
+kindness we saw that if we were
+to get anything done at all, we would
+almost always have to do it secretly.
+The Doctor was so popular and loved by all that as
+soon as he showed his face at his door in the morning
+crowds of admirers, waiting patiently outside,
+flocked about him and followed him wherever he
+went. After his fire-making feat, this childlike people
+expected him, I think, to be continually doing
+magic; and they were determined not to miss a trick.</p>
+
+<p>It was only with great difficulty that we escaped
+from the crowd the first morning and set out with
+Long Arrow to explore the island at our leisure.</p>
+
+<p>In the interior we found that not only the plants
+and trees were suffering from the cold: the animal
+life was in even worse straits. Everywhere shivering
+birds were to be seen, their feathers all fluffed
+out, gathering together for flight to summer lands.
+And many lay dead upon the ground. Going down
+to the shore, we watched land-crabs in large numbers
+taking to the sea to find some better home. While
+away to the Southeast we could see many icebergs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[272]</a></span>
+floating—a sign that we were now not far from
+the terrible region of the Antarctic.</p>
+
+<p>As we were looking out to sea, we noticed our
+friends the porpoises jumping through the waves.
+The Doctor hailed them and they came inshore.</p>
+
+<p>He asked them how far we were from the South
+Polar Continent.</p>
+
+<p>About a hundred miles, they told him. And then
+they asked why he wanted to know.</p>
+
+<p>“Because this floating island we are on,” said he,
+“is drifting southward all the time in a current.
+It’s an island that ordinarily belongs somewhere in
+the tropic zone—real sultry weather, sunstrokes
+and all that. If it doesn’t stop going southward
+pretty soon everything on it is going to perish.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said the porpoises, “then the thing to
+do is to get it back into a warmer climate, isn’t it?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, but how?” said the Doctor. “We can’t
+<i>row</i> it back.”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said they, “but whales could push it—if
+you only got enough of them.”</p>
+
+<p>“What a splendid idea!—Whales, the very
+thing!” said the Doctor. “Do you think you could
+get me some?”</p>
+
+<p>“Why, certainly,” said the porpoises, “we passed
+one herd of them out there, sporting about among
+the icebergs. We’ll ask them to come over. And
+if they aren’t enough, we’ll try and hunt up some
+more. Better have plenty.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[273]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Thank you,” said the Doctor. “You are very
+kind—By the way, do you happen to know how
+this island came to be a floating island? At least
+half of it, I notice, is made of stone. It is very odd
+that it floats at all, isn’t it?”</p>
+
+<p>“It is unusual,” they said. “But the explanation
+is quite simple. It used to be a mountainous part of
+South America—an overhanging part—sort of an
+awkward corner, you might say. Way back in the
+glacial days, thousands of years ago, it broke off
+from the mainland; and by some curious accident the
+inside of it, which is hollow, got filled with air
+as it fell into the ocean. You can only see less than
+half of the island: the bigger half is under water.
+And in the middle of it, underneath, is a huge rock
+air-chamber, running right up inside the mountains.
+And that’s what keeps it floating.”</p>
+
+<p>“What a pecurious phenometer!” said Bumpo.</p>
+
+<p>“It is indeed,” said the Doctor. “I must make
+a note of that.” And out came the everlasting
+note-book.</p>
+
+<p>The porpoises went bounding off towards the
+icebergs. And not long after, we saw the sea
+heaving and frothing as a big herd of whales came
+towards us at full speed.</p>
+
+<p>They certainly were enormous creatures; and
+there must have been a good two hundred of them.</p>
+
+<p>“Here they are,” said the porpoises, poking their
+heads out of the water.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[274]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Good!” said the Doctor. “Now just explain
+to them, will you please? that this is a very serious
+matter for all the living creatures in this land. And
+ask them if they will be so good as to go down to
+the far end of the island, put their noses against
+it and push it back near the coast of Southern
+Brazil.”</p>
+
+<p>The porpoises evidently succeeded in persuading
+the whales to do as the Doctor asked; for presently
+we saw them thrashing through the seas, going
+off towards the south end of the island.</p>
+
+<p>Then we lay down upon the beach and waited.</p>
+
+<p>After about an hour the Doctor got up and threw
+a stick into the water. For a while this floated
+motionless. But soon we saw it begin to move
+gently down the coast.</p>
+
+<p>“Ah!” said the Doctor, “see that?—The island
+is going North at last. Thank goodness!”</p>
+
+<p>Faster and faster we left the stick behind; and
+smaller and dimmer grew the icebergs on the skyline.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor took out his watch, threw more sticks
+into the water and made a rapid calculation.</p>
+
+<p>“Humph!—Fourteen and a half knots an hour,”
+he murmured—“A very nice speed. It should take
+us about five days to get back near Brazil. Well,
+that’s that—Quite a load off my mind. I declare
+I feel warmer already. Let’s go and get something
+to eat.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[275]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FIFTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>WAR!</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">ON our way back to the village the Doctor
+began discussing natural history with
+Long Arrow. But their most interesting
+talk, mainly about plants, had hardly
+begun when an Indian runner came dashing up to
+us with a message.</p>
+
+<p>Long Arrow listened gravely to the breathless,
+babbled words, then turned to the Doctor and said
+in eagle tongue,</p>
+
+<p>“Great White Man, an evil thing has befallen
+the Popsipetels. Our neighbors to the southward,
+the thievish Bag-jagderags, who for so long have
+cast envious eyes on our stores of ripe corn, have
+gone upon the war-path; and even now are advancing
+to attack us.”</p>
+
+<p>“Evil news indeed,” said the Doctor. “Yet let
+us not judge harshly. Perhaps it is that they are
+desperate for food, having their own crops frost-killed
+before harvest. For are they not even nearer
+the cold South than you?”</p>
+
+<p>“Make no excuses for any man of the tribe of the
+Bag-jagderags,” said Long Arrow shaking his head.
+“They are an idle shiftless race. They do but see<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[276]</a></span>
+a chance to get corn without the labor of husbandry.
+If it were not that they are a much bigger tribe
+and hope to defeat their neighbor by sheer force of
+numbers, they would not have dared to make open
+war upon the brave Popsipetels.”</p>
+
+<p>When we reached the village we found it in a
+great state of excitement. Everywhere men were
+seen putting their bows in order, sharpening spears,
+grinding battle-axes and making arrows by the hundred.
+Women were raising a high fence of bamboo
+poles all round the village. Scouts and messengers
+kept coming and going, bringing news of the movements
+of the enemy. While high up in the trees
+and hills about the village we could see look-outs
+watching the mountains to the southward.</p>
+
+<p>Long Arrow brought another Indian, short but
+enormously broad, and introduced him to the Doctor
+as Big Teeth, the chief warrior of the Popsipetels.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor volunteered to go and see the enemy
+and try to argue the matter out peacefully with
+them instead of fighting; for war, he said, was at
+best a stupid wasteful business. But the two shook
+their heads. Such a plan was hopeless, they said.
+In the last war when they had sent a messenger to
+do peaceful arguing, the enemy had merely hit him
+with an ax.</p>
+
+<p>While the Doctor was asking Big Teeth how he
+meant to defend the village against attack, a cry
+of alarm was raised by the look-outs.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[277]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“They’re coming!—The Bag-jagderags—swarming
+down the mountains in thousands!”</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” said the Doctor, “it’s all in the day’s
+work, I suppose. I don’t believe in war; but if the
+village is attacked we must help defend it.”</p>
+
+<p>And he picked up a club from the ground and
+tried the heft of it against a stone.</p>
+
+<p>“This,” he said, “seems like a pretty good tool
+to me.” And he walked to the bamboo fence and
+took his place among the other waiting fighters.</p>
+
+<p>Then we all got hold of some kind of weapon with
+which to help our friends, the gallant Popsipetels:
+I borrowed a bow and a quiver full of arrows; Jip
+was content to rely upon his old, but still strong
+teeth; Chee-Chee took a bag of rocks and climbed
+a palm where he could throw them down upon the
+enemies’ heads; and Bumpo marched after the
+Doctor to the fence armed with a young tree in
+one hand and a door-post in the other.</p>
+
+<p>When the enemy drew near enough to be seen
+from where we stood we all gasped with astonishment.
+The hillsides were actually covered with
+them—thousands upon thousands. They made our
+small army within the village look like a mere handful.</p>
+
+<p>“Saints alive!” muttered Polynesia, “our little
+lot will stand no chance against that swarm. This
+will never do. I’m going off to get some help.”</p>
+
+<p>Where she was going and what kind of help<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[278]</a></span>
+she meant to get, I had no idea. She just disappeared
+from my side. But Jip, who had heard her,
+poked his nose between the bamboo bars of
+the fence to get a better view of the enemy and
+said,</p>
+
+<p>“Likely enough she’s gone after the Black Parrots.
+Let’s hope she finds them in time. Just
+look at those ugly ruffians climbing down the rocks—millions
+of ’em! This fight’s going to keep us
+all hopping.”</p>
+
+<p>And Jip was right. Before a quarter of an
+hour had gone by our village was completely surrounded
+by one huge mob of yelling, raging Bag-jagderags.</p>
+
+<p>I now come again to a part in the story of our
+voyages where things happened so quickly, one upon
+the other, that looking backwards I see the picture
+only in a confused kind of way. I know that if it
+had not been for the Terrible Three—as they
+came afterwards to be fondly called in Popsipetel
+history—Long Arrow, Bumpo and the Doctor, the
+war would have been soon over and the whole island
+would have belonged to the worthless Bag-jagderags.
+But the Englishman, the African and the Indian
+were a regiment in themselves; and between them
+they made that village a dangerous place for any
+man to try to enter.</p>
+
+<p>The bamboo fencing which had been hastily set
+up around the town was not a very strong affair;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[279]</a><br /><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[280]</a></span>
+and right from the start it gave way in one place
+after another as the enemy thronged and crowded
+against it. Then the Doctor, Long Arrow and
+Bumpo would hurry to the weak spot, a terrific
+hand-to-hand fight would take place and the enemy
+be thrown out. But almost instantly a cry of
+alarm would come from some other part of the
+village-wall; and the Three would have to rush off
+and do the same thing all over again.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 580px;">
+<img src="images/i-299.jpg" width="580" height="307" alt="engraving" />
+<div class="caption">The Terrible Three<br />
+<i>From an Indian rock-engraving found on Hawks’-Head Mountain, Spidermonkey Island</i></div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Popsipetels were themselves no mean
+fighters; but the strength and weight of those three
+men of different lands and colors, standing close
+together, swinging their enormous war-clubs, was
+really a sight for the wonder and admiration of
+any one.</p>
+
+<p>Many weeks later when I was passing an Indian
+camp-fire at night I heard this song being sung.
+It has since become one of the traditional folksongs
+of the Popsipetels.</p>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="center">THE SONG OF THE TERRIBLE THREE</div>
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh hear ye the Song of the Terrible Three</span></div>
+<div class="verse">And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.</div>
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Down from the mountains, the rocks and the crags,</span></div>
+<div class="verse">Swarming like wasps, came the Bag-jagderags.</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Surrounding our village, our walls they broke down.</span></div>
+<div class="verse">Oh, sad was the plight of our men and our town!</div>
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">But Heaven determined our land to set free</span></div>
+<div class="verse"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[281]</a></span>And sent us the help of the Terrible Three.</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">One was a Black—he was dark as the night;</span></div>
+<div class="verse">One was a Red-skin, a mountain of height;</div>
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">But the chief was a White Man, round like a bee;</span></div>
+<div class="verse">And all in a row stood the Terrible Three.</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Shoulder to shoulder, they hammered and hit.</span></div>
+<div class="verse">Like demons of fury they kicked and they bit.</div>
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Like a wall of destruction they stood in a row,</span></div>
+<div class="verse">Flattening enemies, six at a blow.</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Oh, strong was the Red-skin fierce was the Black.</span></div>
+<div class="verse">Bag-jagderags trembled and tried to turn back.</div>
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">But ’twas of the White Man they shouted, “Beware!</span></div>
+<div class="verse">He throws men in handfuls, straight up in the air!”</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">Long shall they frighten bad children at night</span></div>
+<div class="verse">With tales of the Red and the Black and the White.</div>
+<div class="verse"><span style="margin-left: 1em;">And long shall we sing of the Terrible Three</span></div>
+<div class="verse">And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[282]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SIXTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>GENERAL POLYNESIA</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">BUT alas! even the Three, mighty though
+they were, could not last forever against
+an army which seemed to have no end.
+In one of the hottest scrimmages, when
+the enemy had broken a particularly wide hole
+through the fence, I saw Long Arrow’s great figure
+topple and come down with a spear sticking in his
+broad chest.</p>
+
+<p>For another half-hour Bumpo and the Doctor
+fought on side by side. How their strength held
+out so long I cannot tell, for never a second were
+they given to get their breath or rest their arms.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor—the quiet, kindly, peaceable, little
+Doctor!—well, you wouldn’t have known him if you
+had seen him that day dealing out whacks you could
+hear a mile off, walloping and swatting in all directions.</p>
+
+<p>As for Bumpo, with staring eye-balls and grim
+set teeth, he was a veritable demon. None dared
+come within yards of that wicked, wide-circling door-post.
+But a stone, skilfully thrown, struck him at
+last in the centre of the forehead. And down went<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[283]</a></span>
+the second of the Three. John Dolittle, the last
+of the Terribles, was left fighting alone.</p>
+
+<p>Jip and I rushed to his side and tried to take the
+places of the fallen ones. But, far too light and
+too small, we made but a poor exchange. Another
+length of the fence crashed down, and through the
+widened gap the Bag-jagderags poured in on us
+like a flood.</p>
+
+<p>“To the canoes!—To the sea!” shouted the Popsipetels.
+“Fly for your lives!—All is over!—The
+war is lost!”</p>
+
+<p>But the Doctor and I never got a chance to
+fly for our lives. We were swept off our feet and
+knocked down flat by the sheer weight of the mob.
+And once down, we were unable to get up again. I
+thought we would surely be trampled to death.</p>
+
+<p>But at that moment, above the din and racket of
+the battle, we heard the most terrifying noise that
+ever assaulted human ears: the sound of millions
+and millions of parrots all screeching with fury together.</p>
+
+<p>The army, which in the nick of time Polynesia
+had brought to our rescue, darkened the whole sky
+to the westward. I asked her afterwards, how
+many birds there were; and she said she didn’t
+know exactly but that they certainly numbered
+somewhere between sixty and seventy millions. In
+that extraordinarily short space of time she had
+brought them from the mainland of South America.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[284]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If you have ever heard a parrot screech with
+anger you will know that it makes a truly frightful
+sound; and if you have ever been bitten by one,
+you will know that its bite can be a nasty and a painful
+thing.</p>
+
+<p>The Black Parrots (coal-black all over, they were—except
+for a scarlet beak and a streak of red
+in wing and tail) on the word of command from
+Polynesia set to work upon the Bag-jagderags who
+were now pouring through the village looking for
+plunder.</p>
+
+<p>And the Black Parrots’ method of fighting was
+peculiar. This is what they did: on the head of
+each Bag-jagderag three or four parrots settled and
+took a good foot-hold in his hair with their claws;
+then they leant down over the sides of his head and
+began clipping snips out of his ears, for all the
+world as though they were punching tickets. That
+is all they did. They never bit them anywhere else
+except the ears. But it won the war for us.</p>
+
+<p>With howls pitiful to hear, the Bag-jagderags
+fell over one another in their haste to get out of
+that accursed village. It was no use their trying
+to pull the parrots off their heads; because for each
+head there were always four more parrots waiting
+impatiently to get on.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the enemy were lucky; and with only
+a snip or two managed to get outside the fence—where
+the parrots immediately left them alone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[285]</a></span>
+But with most, before the black birds had done
+with them, the ears presented a very singular
+appearance—like the edge of a postage-stamp.
+This treatment, very painful at the time, did not
+however do them any permanent harm beyond the
+change in looks. And it later got to be the tribal
+mark of the Bag-jagderags. No really smart young
+lady of this tribe would be seen walking with a man
+who did not have scalloped ears—for such was a
+proof that he had been in the Great War. And
+that (though it is not generally known to scientists)
+is how this people came to be called by the other
+Indian nations, the <i>Ragged-Eared Bag-jagderags</i>.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the village was cleared of the enemy
+the Doctor turned his attention to the wounded.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of the length and fierceness of the struggle,
+there were surprisingly few serious injuries.
+Poor Long Arrow was the worst off. However,
+after the Doctor had washed his wound and got him
+to bed, he opened his eyes and said he already felt
+better. Bumpo was only badly stunned.</p>
+
+<p>With this part of the business over, the Doctor
+called to Polynesia to have the Black Parrots drive
+the enemy right back into their own country and to
+wait there, guarding them all night.</p>
+
+<p>Polynesia gave the short word of command; and
+like one bird those millions of parrots opened their
+red beaks and let out once more their terrifying
+battle-scream.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[286]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Bag-jagderags didn’t wait to be bitten a
+second time, but fled helter-skelter over the mountains
+from which they had come; whilst Polynesia
+and her victorious army followed watchfully behind
+like a great, threatening, black cloud.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor picked up his high hat which had
+been knocked off in the fight, dusted it carefully and
+put it on.</p>
+
+<p>“To-morrow,” he said, shaking his fist towards
+the hills, “we will arrange the terms of peace—and
+we will arrange them—in the City of Bag-jagderag!”</p>
+
+<p>His words were greeted with cheers of triumph
+from the admiring Popsipetels. The war was over.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[287]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SEVENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">THE next day we set out for the far end
+of the island, and reaching it in canoes
+(for we went by sea) after a journey
+of twenty-five hours, we remained no
+longer than was necessary in the City of Bag-jagderag.</p>
+
+<p>When he threw himself into that fight at Popsipetel,
+I saw the Doctor really angry for the first
+time in my life. But his anger, once aroused, was
+slow to die. All the way down the coast of the
+island he never ceased to rail against this cowardly
+people who had attacked his friends, the Popsipetels,
+for no other reason but to rob them of their
+corn, because they were too idle to till the land
+themselves. And he was still angry when he
+reached the City of Bag-jagderag.</p>
+
+<p>Long Arrow had not come with us for he was
+as yet too weak from his wound. But the Doctor—always
+clever at languages—was already getting
+familiar with the Indian tongue. Besides, among
+the half-dozen Popsipetels who accompanied us to
+paddle the canoes, was one boy to whom we had
+taught a little English. He and the Doctor between<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[288]</a></span>
+them managed to make themselves understood
+to the Bag-jagderags. This people, with
+the terrible parrots still blackening the hills about
+their stone town, waiting for the word to descend
+and attack, were, we found, in a very humble mood.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving our canoes we passed up the main street
+to the palace of the chief. Bumpo and I couldn’t
+help smiling with satisfaction as we saw how the
+waiting crowds which lined the roadway bowed
+their heads to the ground, as the little, round, angry
+figure of the Doctor strutted ahead of us with his
+chin in the air.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the palace-steps the chief and all
+the more important personages of the tribe were
+waiting to meet him, smiling humbly and holding
+out their hands in friendliness. The Doctor took
+not the slightest notice. He marched right by them,
+up the steps to the door of the palace. There he
+turned around and at once began to address the
+people in a firm voice.</p>
+
+<p>I never heard such a speech in my life—and I am
+quite sure that they never did either. First he
+called them a long string of names: cowards, loafers,
+thieves, vagabonds, good-for-nothings, bullies
+and what not. Then he said he was still seriously
+thinking of allowing the parrots to drive them on
+into the sea, in order that this pleasant land might
+be rid, once for all, of their worthless carcases.</p>
+
+<p>At this a great cry for mercy went up, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[289]</a></span>
+chief and all of them fell on their knees, calling out
+that they would submit to any conditions of peace
+he wished.</p>
+
+<p>Then the Doctor called for one of their scribes—that
+is, a man who did picture-writing. And on the
+stone walls of the palace of Bag-jagderag he bade
+him write down the terms of the peace as he dictated
+it. This peace is known as <i>The Peace of The
+Parrots</i>, and—unlike most peaces—was, and is,
+strictly kept—even to this day.</p>
+
+<p>It was quite long in words. The half of the
+palace-front was covered with picture-writing, and
+fifty pots of paint were used, before the weary scribe
+had done. But the main part of it all was that
+there should be no more fighting; and that the two
+tribes should give solemn promise to help one
+another whenever there was corn-famine or other
+distress in the lands belonging to either.</p>
+
+<p>This greatly surprised the Bag-jagderags. They
+had expected from the Doctor’s angry face that he
+would at least chop a couple of hundred heads off—and
+probably make the rest of them slaves for life.</p>
+
+<p>But when they saw that he only meant kindly by
+them, their great fear of him changed to a tremendous
+admiration. And as he ended his long speech
+and walked briskly down the steps again on his way
+back to the canoes, the group of chieftains threw
+themselves at his feet and cried,</p>
+
+<p>“Do but stay with us, Great Lord, and all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[290]</a></span>
+riches of Bag-jagderag shall be poured into
+your lap. Gold-mines we know of in the mountains
+and pearl-beds beneath the sea. Only stay
+with us, that your all-powerful wisdom may lead our
+Council and our people in prosperity and peace.”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor held up his hand for silence.</p>
+
+<p>“No man,” said he, “would wish to be the guest
+of the Bag-jagderags till they had proved by their
+deeds that they are an honest race. Be true to the
+terms of the Peace and from yourselves shall come
+good government and prosperity—Farewell!”</p>
+
+<p>Then he turned and followed by Bumpo, the
+Popsipetels and myself, walked rapidly down to the
+canoes.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[291]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE EIGHTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE HANGING STONE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">BUT the change of heart in the Bag-jagderags
+was really sincere. The Doctor
+had made a great impression on them—a
+deeper one than even he himself realized
+at the time. In fact I sometimes think that
+that speech of his from the palace-steps had more
+effect upon the Indians of Spidermonkey Island than
+had any of his great deeds which, great though they
+were, were always magnified and exaggerated when
+the news of them was passed from mouth to mouth.</p>
+
+<p>A sick girl was brought to him as he reached the
+place where the boats lay. She turned out to have
+some quite simple ailment which he quickly gave the
+remedy for. But this increased his popularity still
+more. And when he stepped into his canoe, the
+people all around us actually burst into tears. It
+seems (I learned this afterwards) that they thought
+he was going away across the sea, for good, to the
+mysterious foreign lands from which he had come.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the chieftains spoke to the Popsipetels as
+we pushed off. What they said I did not understand;
+but we noticed that several canoes filled with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[292]</a></span>
+Bag-jagderags followed us at a respectful distance
+all the way back to Popsipetel.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor had determined to return by the
+other shore, so that we should be thus able to make
+a complete trip round the island’s shores.</p>
+
+<p>Shortly after we started, while still off the lower
+end of the island, we sighted a steep point on the
+coast where the sea was in a great state of turmoil,
+white with soapy froth. On going nearer, we
+found that this was caused by our friendly whales
+who were still faithfully working away with their
+noses against the end of the island, driving us northward.
+We had been kept so busy with the war that
+we had forgotten all about them. But as we
+paused and watched their mighty tails lashing and
+churning the sea, we suddenly realized that we had
+not felt cold in quite a long while. Speeding up our
+boat lest the island be carried away from us altogether,
+we passed on up the coast; and here and
+there we noticed that the trees on the shore already
+looked greener and more healthy. Spidermonkey
+Island was getting back into her home climates.</p>
+
+<p>About halfway to Popsipetel we went ashore and
+spent two or three days exploring the central part
+of the island. Our Indian paddlers took us up into
+the mountains, very steep and high in this region,
+overhanging the sea. And they showed us what
+they called the Whispering Rocks.</p>
+
+<p>This was a very peculiar and striking piece of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[293]</a><br /><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[294]</a></span>
+scenery. It was like a great vast basin, or circus,
+in the mountains, and out of the centre of it there
+rose a table of rock with an ivory chair upon it.
+All around this the mountains went up like stairs,
+or theatre-seats, to a great height—except at one
+narrow end which was open to a view of the sea.
+You could imagine it a council-place or concert-hall
+for giants, and the rock table in the centre the stage
+for performers or the stand for the speaker.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 423px;">
+<img src="images/i-313.jpg" width="423" height="550" alt="pusing the island" />
+<div class="caption">“Working away with their noses against the end of the
+island”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>We asked our guides why it was called the Whispering
+Rocks; and they said, “Go down into it and
+we will show you.”</p>
+
+<p>The great bowl was miles deep and miles wide.
+We scrambled down the rocks and they showed us
+how, even when you stood far, far apart from one
+another, you merely had to whisper in that great
+place and every one in the theatre could hear you.
+This was, the Doctor said, on account of the echoes
+which played backwards and forwards between the
+high walls of rock.</p>
+
+<p>Our guides told us that it was here, in days long
+gone by when the Popsipetels owned the whole of
+Spidermonkey Island, that the kings were crowned.
+The ivory chair upon the table was the throne in
+which they sat. And so great was the big theatre
+that all the Indians in the island were able to get
+seats in it to see the ceremony.</p>
+
+<p>They showed us also an enormous hanging stone
+perched on the edge of a volcano’s crater—the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[295]</a><br /><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[296]</a></span>
+highest summit in the whole island. Although it
+was very far below us, we could see it quite plainly;
+and it looked wobbly enough to be pushed off its
+perch with the hand. There was a legend among
+the people, they said, that when the greatest of all
+Popsipetel kings should be crowned in the ivory
+chair, this hanging stone would tumble into the
+volcano’s mouth and go straight down to the centre
+of the earth.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 434px;">
+<img src="images/i-315.jpg" width="434" height="480" alt="rock amphitheater with balancing rock in distance" />
+<div class="caption">“The Whispering Rocks”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Doctor said he would like to go and examine
+it closer.</p>
+
+<p>And when we were come to the lip of the volcano
+(it took us half a day to get up to it) we found the
+stone was unbelievably large—big as a cathedral.
+Underneath it we could look right down into a
+black hole which seemed to have no bottom. The
+Doctor explained to us that volcanoes sometimes
+spurted up fire from these holes in their tops; but
+that those on floating islands were always cold and
+dead.</p>
+
+<p>“Stubbins,” he said, looking up at the great stone
+towering above us, “do you know what would most
+likely happen if that boulder should fall in?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said I, “what?”</p>
+
+<p>“You remember the air-chamber which the porpoises
+told us lies under the centre of the island?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, this stone is heavy enough, if it fell into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[297]</a></span>
+the volcano, to break through into that air-chamber
+from above. And once it did, the air would escape
+and the floating island would float no more. It
+would sink.”</p>
+
+<p>“But then everybody on it would be drowned,
+wouldn’t they?” said Bumpo.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh no, not necessarily. That would depend on
+the depth of the sea where the sinking took place.
+The island might touch bottom when it had only
+gone down, say, a hundred feet. But there would
+be lots of it still sticking up above the water then,
+wouldn’t there?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said Bumpo, “I suppose there would.
+Well, let us hope that the ponderous fragment does
+<i>not</i> lose its equilibriosity, for I don’t believe it
+would stop at the centre of the earth—more likely
+it would fall right through the world and come out
+the other side.”</p>
+
+<p>Many other wonders there were which these men
+showed us in the central regions of their island.
+But I have not time or space to tell you of them
+now.</p>
+
+<p>Descending towards the shore again, we noticed
+that we were still being watched, even here among
+the highlands, by the Bag-jagderags who had followed
+us. And when we put to sea once more a
+boatload of them proceeded to go ahead of us
+in the direction of Popsipetel. Having lighter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[298]</a></span>
+canoes, they traveled faster than our party; and we
+judged that they should reach the village—if that
+was where they were going—many hours before we
+could.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor was now becoming anxious to see
+how Long Arrow was getting on, so we all took
+turns at the paddles and went on traveling by moonlight
+through the whole night.</p>
+
+<p>We reached Popsipetel just as the dawn was
+breaking.</p>
+
+<p>To our great surprise we found that not only we,
+but the whole village also, had been up all night.
+A great crowd was gathered about the dead chief’s
+house. And as we landed our canoes upon the
+beach we saw a large number of old men, the seniors
+of the tribe, coming out at the main door.</p>
+
+<p>We inquired what was the meaning of all this;
+and were told that the election of a new chief had
+been going on all through the whole night. Bumpo
+asked the name of the new chief; but this, it seemed,
+had not yet been given out. It would be announced
+at mid-day.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the Doctor had paid a visit to Long
+Arrow and seen that he was doing nicely, we
+proceeded to our own house at the far end of the
+village. Here we ate some breakfast and then lay
+down to take a good rest.</p>
+
+<p>Rest, indeed, we needed; for life had been strenuous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[299]</a></span>
+and busy for us ever since we had landed on
+the island. And it wasn’t many minutes after our
+weary heads struck the pillows that the whole crew
+of us were sound asleep.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[300]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE NINTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE ELECTION</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WE were awakened by music. The glaring
+noonday sunlight was streaming
+in at our door, outside of which some
+kind of a band appeared to be playing.
+We got up and looked out. Our house was surrounded
+by the whole population of Popsipetel.
+We were used to having quite a number of curious
+and admiring Indians waiting at our door at all
+hours; but this was quite different. The vast
+crowd was dressed in its best clothes. Bright
+beads, gawdy feathers and gay blankets gave cheerful
+color to the scene. Every one seemed in very
+good humor, singing or playing on musical instruments—mostly
+painted wooden whistles or
+drums made from skins.</p>
+
+<p>We found Polynesia—who while we slept had
+arrived back from Bag-jagderag—sitting on our
+door-post watching the show. We asked her what
+all the holiday-making was about.</p>
+
+<p>“The result of the election has just been announced,”
+said she. “The name of the new chief
+was given out at noon.”</p>
+
+<p>“And who is the new chief?” asked the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[301]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“You are,” said Polynesia quietly.</p>
+
+<p>“<i>I!</i>” gasped the Doctor—“Well, of all things!”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” said she. “You’re the one—And what’s
+more, they’ve changed your surname for you. They
+didn’t think that Dolittle was a proper or respectful
+name for a man who had done so much. So you are
+now to be known as Jong Thinkalot. How do you
+like it?”</p>
+
+<p>“But I don’t <i>want</i> to be a chief,” said the Doctor
+in an irritable voice.</p>
+
+<p>“I’m afraid you’ll have hard work to get out of it
+now,” said she—“unless you’re willing to put to sea
+again in one of their rickety canoes. You see you’ve
+been elected not merely the Chief of the Popsipetels;
+you’re to be a king—the King of the whole of Spidermonkey
+Island. The Bag-jagderags, who were so
+anxious to have you govern them, sent spies and
+messengers ahead of you; and when they found that
+you had been elected Chief of the Popsipetels overnight
+they were bitterly disappointed. However,
+rather than lose you altogether, the Bag-jagderags
+were willing to give up their independence, and insisted
+that they and their lands be united to the Popsipetels
+in order that you could be made king of
+both. So now you’re in for it.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh Lord!” groaned the Doctor, “I do wish
+they wouldn’t be so enthusiastic! Bother it, I
+don’t <i>want</i> to be a king!”</p>
+
+<p>“I should think, Doctor,” said I, “you’d feel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[302]</a></span>
+rather proud and glad. I wish <i>I</i> had a chance to
+be a king.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh I know it sounds grand,” said he, pulling on
+his boots miserably. “But the trouble is, you can’t
+take up responsibilities and then just drop them again
+when you feel like it. I have my own work
+to do. Scarcely one moment have I had to give to
+natural history since I landed on this island. I’ve
+been doing some one else’s business all the time.
+And now they want me to go on doing it! Why,
+once I’m made King of the Popsipetels, that’s the
+end of me as a useful naturalist. I’d be too busy
+for anything. All I’d be then is just a er—er—just
+a king.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, that’s something!” said Bumpo. “My
+father is a king and has a hundred and twenty
+wives.”</p>
+
+<p>“That would make it worse,” said the Doctor—“a
+hundred and twenty times worse. I have my
+work to do. I don’t want to be a king.”</p>
+
+<p>“Look,” said Polynesia, “here come the head men
+to announce your election. Hurry up and get your
+boots laced.”</p>
+
+<p>The throng before our door had suddenly parted
+asunder, making a long lane; and down this we now
+saw a group of personages coming towards us.
+The man in front, a handsome old Indian with a
+wrinkled face, carried in his hands a wooden crown—a
+truly beautiful and gorgeous crown, even though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[303]</a></span>
+of wood. Wonderfully carved and painted, it had
+two lovely blue feathers springing from the front
+of it. Behind the old man came eight strong
+Indians bearing a litter, a sort of chair with long
+handles underneath to carry it by.</p>
+
+<p>Kneeling down on one knee, bending his head
+almost to the ground, the old man addressed the
+Doctor who now stood in the doorway putting on
+his collar and tie.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, Mighty One,” said he, “we bring you word
+from the Popsipetel people. Great are your deeds
+beyond belief, kind is your heart and your wisdom,
+deeper than the sea. Our chief is dead. The
+people clamor for a worthy leader. Our old
+enemies, the Bag-jagderags are become, through you,
+our brothers and good friends. They too desire
+to bask beneath the sunshine of your smile. Behold
+then, I bring to you the Sacred Crown of Popsipetel
+which, since ancient days when this island and its
+peoples were one, beneath one monarch, has rested
+on no kingly brow. Oh Kindly One, we are bidden
+by the united voices of the peoples of this
+land to carry you to the Whispering Rocks, that
+there, with all respect and majesty, you may be
+crowned our king—King of all the Moving
+Land.”</p>
+
+<p>The good Indians did not seem to have even considered
+the possibility of John Dolittle’s refusing.
+As for the poor Doctor, I never saw him so upset<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[304]</a></span>
+by anything. It was in fact the only time I have
+known him to get thoroughly fussed.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh dear!” I heard him murmur, looking around
+wildly for some escape. “What <i>shall</i> I do?—Did
+any of you see where I laid that stud of mine?—How
+on earth can I get this collar on without a stud?
+What a day this is, to be sure!—Maybe it rolled
+under the bed, Bumpo—I do think they might have
+given me a day or so to think it over in. Who ever
+heard of waking a man right out of his sleep, and
+telling him he’s got to be a king, before he has
+even washed his face? Can’t any of you find it?
+Maybe you’re standing on it, Bumpo. Move your
+feet.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh don’t bother about your stud,” said Polynesia.
+“You will have to be crowned without a collar.
+They won’t know the difference.”</p>
+
+<p>“I tell you I’m not going to be crowned,” cried
+the Doctor—“not if I can help it. I’ll make them
+a speech. Perhaps that will satisfy them.”</p>
+
+<p>He turned back to the Indians at the door.</p>
+
+<p>“My friends,” he said, “I am not worthy of this
+great honor you would do me. Little or no skill
+have I in the arts of kingcraft. Assuredly among
+your own brave men you will find many better fitted
+to lead you. For this compliment, this confidence
+and trust, I thank you. But, I pray you, do not
+think of me for such high duties which I could not
+possibly fulfil.”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[305]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The old man repeated his words to the people
+behind him in a louder voice. Stolidly they shook
+their heads, moving not an inch. The old man
+turned back to the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“You are the chosen one,” said he. “They will
+have none but you.”</p>
+
+<p>Into the Doctor’s perplexed face suddenly there
+came a flash of hope.</p>
+
+<p>“I’ll go and see Long Arrow,” he whispered to
+me. “Perhaps he will know of some way to get
+me out of this.”</p>
+
+<p>And asking the personages to excuse him a moment,
+he left them there, standing at his door, and
+hurried off in the direction of Long Arrow’s house.
+I followed him.</p>
+
+<p>We found our big friend lying on a grass bed
+outside his home, where he had been moved that he
+might witness the holiday-making.</p>
+
+<p>“Long Arrow,” said the Doctor speaking quickly
+in eagle tongue so that the bystanders should not
+overhear, “in dire peril I come to you for help.
+These men would make me their king. If such a
+thing befall me, all the great work I hoped to do
+must go undone, for who is there unfreer than a
+king? I pray you speak with them and persuade
+their kind well-meaning hearts that what they plan
+to do would be unwise.”</p>
+
+<p>Long Arrow raised himself upon his elbow.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh Kindly One,” said he (this seemed now to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[306]</a></span>
+have become the usual manner of address when
+speaking to the Doctor), “sorely it grieves me that
+the first wish you ask of me I should be unable to
+grant. Alas! I can do nothing. These people
+have so set their hearts on keeping you for king that
+if I tried to interfere they would drive me from their
+land and likely crown you in the end in any case.
+A king you must be, if only for a while. We must
+so arrange the business of governing that you may
+have time to give to Nature’s secrets. Later we
+may be able to hit upon some plan to relieve you of
+the burden of the crown. But for now you must
+be king. These people are a headstrong tribe and
+they will have their way. There is no other course.”</p>
+
+<p>Sadly the Doctor turned away from the bed and
+faced about. And there behind him stood the old
+man again, the crown still held in his wrinkled
+hands and the royal litter waiting at his elbow. With
+a deep reverence the bearers motioned towards
+the seat of the chair, inviting the white man to get in.</p>
+
+<p>Once more the poor Doctor looked wildly, hopelessly
+about him for some means of escape. For a
+moment I thought he was going to take to his heels
+and run for it. But the crowd around us was far
+too thick and densely packed for anyone to break
+through it. A band of whistles and drums near by
+suddenly started the music of a solemn processional
+march. He turned back pleadingly again to Long
+Arrow in a last appeal for help. But the big<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[307]</a></span>
+Indian merely shook his head and pointed, like the
+bearers, to the waiting chair.</p>
+
+<p>At last, almost in tears, John Dolittle stepped
+slowly into the litter and sat down. As he was
+hoisted on to the broad shoulders of the bearers
+I heard him still feebly muttering beneath his breath,</p>
+
+<p>“Botheration take it!—I don’t <i>want</i> to be a
+king!”</p>
+
+<p>“Farewell!” called Long Arrow from his bed,
+“and may good fortune ever stand within the
+shadow of your throne!”</p>
+
+<p>“He comes!—He comes!” murmured the crowd.
+“Away! Away!—To the Whispering Rocks!”</p>
+
+<p>And as the procession formed up to leave the village,
+the crowd about us began hurrying off in the
+direction of the mountains to make sure of good
+seats in the giant theatre where the crowning ceremony
+would take place.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[308]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE TENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE CORONATION OF KING JONG</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">IN my long lifetime I have seen many grand
+and inspiring things, but never anything that
+impressed me half as much as the sight of the
+Whispering Rocks as they looked on the day
+King Jong was crowned. As Bumpo, Chee-Chee,
+Polynesia, Jip and I finally reached the dizzy edge
+of the great bowl and looked down inside it, it
+was like gazing over a never-ending ocean of copper-colored
+faces; for every seat in the theatre was
+filled, every man, woman and child in the island—including
+Long Arrow who had been carried up on
+his sick bed—was there to see the show.</p>
+
+<p>Yet not a sound, not a pin-drop, disturbed the
+solemn silence of the Whispering Rocks. It was
+quite creepy and sent chills running up and down
+your spine. Bumpo told me afterwards that it took
+his breath away too much for him to speak, but
+that he hadn’t known before that there were that
+many people in the world.</p>
+
+<p>Away down by the Table of the Throne stood a
+brand-new, brightly colored totem-pole. All the
+Indian families had totem-poles and kept them set<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[309]</a></span>
+up before the doors of their houses. The idea of
+a totem-pole is something like a door-plate or a
+visiting card. It represents in its carvings the
+deeds and qualities of the family to which it belongs.
+This one, beautifully decorated and much higher
+than any other, was the Dolittle or, as it was to be
+henceforth called, the Royal Thinkalot totem. It
+had nothing but animals on it, to signify the Doctor’s
+great knowledge of creatures. And the animals
+chosen to be shown were those which to the
+Indians were supposed to represent good qualities
+of character, such as, the deer for speed; the ox
+for perseverance; the fish for discretion, and so on.
+But at the top of the totem is always placed the sign
+or animal by which the family is most proud to be
+known. This, on the Thinkalot pole, was an enormous
+parrot, in memory of the famous Peace of the
+Parrots.</p>
+
+<p>The Ivory Throne had been all polished with
+scented oil and it glistened whitely in the strong
+sunlight. At the foot of it there had been strewn
+great quantities of branches of flowering trees,
+which with the new warmth of milder climates were
+now blossoming in the valleys of the island.</p>
+
+<p>Soon we saw the royal litter, with the Doctor
+seated in it, slowly ascending the winding steps of
+the Table. Reaching the flat top at last, it halted
+and the Doctor stepped out upon the flowery carpet.
+So still and perfect was the silence that even at that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[310]</a></span>
+distance above I distinctly heard a twig snap beneath
+his tread.</p>
+
+<p>Walking to the throne accompanied by the old
+man, the Doctor got up upon the stand and sat
+down. How tiny his little round figure looked when
+seen from that tremendous height! The throne had
+been made for longer-legged kings; and when he
+was seated, his feet did not reach the ground but
+dangled six inches from the top step.</p>
+
+<p>Then the old man turned round and looking up
+at the people began to speak in a quiet even voice;
+but every word he said was easily heard in the
+furthest corner of the Whispering Rocks.</p>
+
+<p>First he recited the names of all the great Popsipetel
+kings who in days long ago had been crowned
+in this ivory chair. He spoke of the greatness of
+the Popsipetel people, of their triumphs, of their
+hardships. Then waving his hand towards the Doctor
+he began recounting the things which this king-to-be
+had done. And I am bound to say that they
+easily outmatched the deeds of those who had gone
+before him.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as he started to speak of what the Doctor
+had achieved for the tribe, the people, still strictly
+silent, all began waving their right hands towards
+the throne. This gave to the vast theatre a very
+singular appearance: acres and acres of something
+moving—with never a sound.</p>
+
+<p>At last the old man finished his speech and stepping<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[311]</a></span>
+up to the chair, very respectfully removed the
+Doctor’s battered high hat. He was about to
+put it upon the ground; but the Doctor took it from
+him hastily and kept it on his lap. Then taking up
+the Sacred Crown he placed it upon John Dolittle’s
+head. It did not fit very well (for it had been
+made for smaller-headed kings), and when the wind
+blew in freshly from the sunlit sea the Doctor had
+some difficulty in keeping it on. But it looked very
+splendid.</p>
+
+<p>Turning once more to the people, the old man
+said,</p>
+
+<p>“Men of Popsipetel, behold your elected king!—Are
+you content?”</p>
+
+<p>And then at last the voice of the people broke
+loose.</p>
+
+<p>“<span class="smcap">Jong!</span> <span class="smcap">Jong!</span>” they shouted, “<span class="smcap">Long Live
+King Jong!</span>”</p>
+
+<p>The sound burst upon the solemn silence with the
+crash of a hundred cannon. There, where even
+a whisper carried miles, the shock of it was like a
+blow in the face. Back and forth the mountains
+threw it to one another. I thought the echoes of it
+would never die away as it passed rumbling through
+the whole island, jangling among the lower valleys,
+booming in the distant sea-caves.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly I saw the old man point upward, to the
+highest mountain in the island; and looking over
+my shoulder, I was just in time to see the Hanging<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[312]</a></span>
+Stone topple slowly out of sight—down into the
+heart of the volcano.</p>
+
+<p>“See ye, Men of the Moving Land!” the old man
+cried: “The stone has fallen and our legend has
+come true: the King of Kings is crowned this day!”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor too had seen the stone fall and he was
+now standing up looking at the sea expectantly.</p>
+
+<p>“He’s thinking of the air-chamber,” said Bumpo
+in my ear. “Let us hope that the sea isn’t very deep
+in these parts.”</p>
+
+<p>After a full minute (so long did it take the stone
+to fall that depth) we heard a muffled, distant,
+crunching thud—and then immediately after, a
+great hissing of escaping air. The Doctor, his face
+tense with anxiety, sat down in the throne again
+still watching the blue water of the ocean with staring
+eyes.</p>
+
+<p>Soon we felt the island slowly sinking beneath
+us. We saw the sea creep inland over the beaches
+as the shores went down—one foot, three feet, ten
+feet, twenty, fifty, a hundred. And then, thank
+goodness, gently as a butterfly alighting on a rose,
+it stopped! Spidermonkey Island had come to rest
+on the sandy bottom of the Atlantic, and earth was
+joined to earth once more.</p>
+
+<p>Of course many of the houses near the shores
+were now under water. Popsipetel Village itself
+had entirely disappeared. But it didn’t matter.
+No one was drowned; for every soul in the island<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[313]</a></span>
+was high up in the hills watching the coronation of
+King Jong.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians themselves did not realize at the
+time what was taking place, though of course they
+had felt the land sinking beneath them. The Doctor
+told us afterwards that it must have been the
+shock of that tremendous shout, coming from a
+million throats at once, which had toppled the
+Hanging Stone off its perch. But in Popsipetel
+history the story was handed down (and it is firmly
+believed to this day) that when King Jong sat upon
+the throne, so great was his mighty weight, that
+the very island itself sank down to do him honor
+and never moved again.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 177px;">
+<img src="images/decoration.jpg" width="177" height="21" alt="decoration" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[314]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2>PART SIX</h2>
+
+
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+<h2><i>THE FIRST CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>NEW POPSIPETEL</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">JONG THINKALOT had not ruled over his
+new kingdom for more than a couple of days
+before my notions about kings and the kind
+of lives they led changed very considerably.
+I had thought that all that kings had to do was to
+sit on a throne and have people bow down before
+them several times a day. I now saw that a king
+can be the hardest-working man in the world—if
+he attends properly to his business.</p>
+
+<p>From the moment that he got up, early in the
+morning, till the time he went to bed, late at night—seven
+days in the week—John Dolittle was busy,
+busy, busy. First of all there was the new town
+to be built. The village of Popsipetel had disappeared:
+the City of New Popsipetel must be
+made. With great care a place was chosen for it—and
+a very beautiful position it was, at the mouth
+of a large river. The shores of the island at this
+point formed a lovely wide bay where canoes—and
+ships too, if they should ever come—could lie peacefully
+at anchor without danger from storms.</p>
+
+<p>In building this town the Doctor gave the Indians<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[315]</a></span>
+a lot of new ideas. He showed them what town-sewers
+were, and how garbage should be collected
+each day and burnt. High up in the hills he made
+a large lake by damming a stream. This was the
+water-supply for the town. None of these things
+had the Indians ever seen; and many of the sicknesses
+which they had suffered from before were
+now entirely prevented by proper drainage and pure
+drinking-water.</p>
+
+<p>Peoples who don’t use fire do not of course have
+metals either; because without fire it is almost impossible
+to shape iron and steel. One of the first
+things that John Dolittle did was to search the
+mountains till he found iron and copper mines.
+Then he set to work to teach the Indians how these
+metals could be melted and made into knives and
+plows and water-pipes and all manner of things.</p>
+
+<p>In his kingdom the Doctor tried his hardest to
+do away with most of the old-fashioned pomp and
+grandeur of a royal court. As he said to Bumpo
+and me, if he must be a king he meant to be a
+thoroughly democratic one, that is a king who is
+chummy and friendly with his subjects and doesn’t
+put on airs. And when he drew up the plans for
+the City of New Popsipetel he had no palace shown
+of any kind. A little cottage in a back street was
+all that he had provided for himself.</p>
+
+<p>But this the Indians would not permit on any
+account. They had been used to having their kings<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[316]</a></span>
+rule in a truly grand and kingly manner; and they
+insisted that he have built for himself the most
+magnificent palace ever seen. In all else they let
+him have his own way absolutely; but they wouldn’t
+allow him to wriggle out of any of the ceremony or
+show that goes with being a king. A thousand servants
+he had to keep in his palace, night and day, to
+wait on him. The Royal Canoe had to be kept up—a
+gorgeous, polished mahogany boat, seventy feet
+long, inlaid with mother-o’-pearl and paddled by
+the hundred strongest men in the island. The
+palace-gardens covered a square mile and employed
+a hundred and sixty gardeners.</p>
+
+<p>Even in his dress the poor man was compelled
+always to be grand and elegant and uncomfortable.
+The beloved and battered high hat was put away in
+a closet and only looked at secretly. State robes
+had to be worn on all occasions. And when the
+Doctor did once in a while manage to sneak off for
+a short, natural-history expedition he never dared
+to wear his old clothes, but had to chase his butterflies
+with a crown upon his head and a scarlet cloak
+flying behind him in the wind.</p>
+
+<p>There was no end to the kinds of duties the Doctor
+had to perform and the questions he had to
+decide upon—everything, from settling disputes
+about lands and boundaries, to making peace between
+husband and wife who had been throwing
+shoes at one another. In the east wing of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[317]</a><br /><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[318]</a></span>
+Royal Palace was the Hall of Justice. And here
+King Jong sat every morning from nine to eleven
+passing judgment on all cases that were brought before
+him.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 398px;">
+<img src="images/i-337.jpg" width="398" height="550" alt="crowned doctor catching butterflies" />
+<div class="caption">“Had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his head”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Then in the afternoon he taught school. The
+sort of things he taught were not always those you
+find in ordinary schools. Grown-ups as well as
+children came to learn. You see, these Indians
+were ignorant of many of the things that quite small
+white children know—though it is also true that
+they knew a lot that white grown-ups never dreamed
+of.</p>
+
+<p>Bumpo and I helped with the teaching as far as
+we could—simple arithmetic, and easy things like
+that. But the classes in astronomy, farming science,
+the proper care of babies, with a host of other
+subjects, the Doctor had to teach himself. The
+Indians were tremendously keen about the schooling
+and they came in droves and crowds; so that even
+with the open-air classes (a school-house was impossible
+of course) the Doctor had to take them in
+relays and batches of five or six thousand at a time
+and used a big megaphone or trumpet to make himself
+heard.</p>
+
+<p>The rest of his day was more than filled with
+road-making, building water-mills, attending the
+sick and a million other things.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of his being so unwilling to become a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[319]</a></span>
+king, John Dolittle made a very good one—once he
+got started. He may not have been as dignified as
+many kings in history who were always running off
+to war and getting themselves into romantic situations;
+but since I have grown up and seen something
+of foreign lands and governments I have often
+thought that Popsipetel under the reign of Jong
+Thinkalot was perhaps the best ruled state in the
+history of the world.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor’s birthday came round after we had
+been on the island six months and a half. The
+people made a great public holiday of it and there
+was much feasting, dancing, fireworks, speechmaking
+and jollification.</p>
+
+<p>Towards the close of the day the chief men of the
+two tribes formed a procession and passed through
+the streets of the town, carrying a very gorgeously
+painted tablet of ebony wood, ten feet high. This
+was a picture-history, such as they preserved for
+each of the ancient kings of Popsipetel to record
+their deeds.</p>
+
+<p>With great and solemn ceremony it was set up
+over the door of the new palace: and everybody
+then clustered round to look at it. It had six pictures
+on it commemorating the six great events in
+the life of King Jong and beneath were written the
+verses that explained them. They were composed
+by the Court Poet; and this is a translation:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[320]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+  <div class="poetry">
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="center">I</div>
+<div class="center">(<i>His Landing on The Island</i>)</div>
+<div class="verse">Heaven-sent,</div>
+<div class="verse">In his dolphin-drawn canoe</div>
+<div class="verse">From worlds unknown</div>
+<div class="verse">He landed on our shores.</div>
+<div class="verse">The very palms</div>
+<div class="verse">Bowed down their heads</div>
+<div class="verse">In welcome to the coming King.</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="center">II</div>
+<div class="center">(<i>His Meeting With The Beetle</i>)</div>
+<div class="verse">By moonlight in the mountains</div>
+<div class="verse">He communed with beasts.</div>
+<div class="verse">The shy Jabizri brings him picture-words</div>
+<div class="verse">Of great distress.</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="center">III</div>
+<div class="center">(<i>He liberates The Lost Families</i>)</div>
+<div class="verse">Big was his heart with pity;</div>
+<div class="verse">Big were his hands with strength.</div>
+<div class="verse">See how he tears the mountain like a yam!</div>
+<div class="verse">See how the lost ones</div>
+<div class="verse">Dance forth to greet the day!</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="center">IV</div>
+<div class="center">(<i>He Makes Fire</i>)</div>
+<div class="verse">Our land was cold and dying.</div>
+<div class="verse">He waved his hand and lo!</div>
+<div class="verse">Lightning leapt from cloudless skies;</div>
+<div class="verse"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[321]</a></span>The sun leant down;</div>
+<div class="verse">And Fire was born!</div>
+<div class="verse">Then while we crowded round</div>
+<div class="verse">The grateful glow, pushed he</div>
+<div class="verse">Our wayward, floating land</div>
+<div class="verse">Back to peaceful anchorage</div>
+<div class="verse">In sunny seas.</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="center">V</div>
+<div class="center">(<i>He Leads The People To Victory in War</i>)</div>
+<div class="verse">Once only</div>
+<div class="verse">Was his kindly countenance</div>
+<div class="verse">Darkened by a deadly frown.</div>
+<div class="verse">Woe to the wicked enemy</div>
+<div class="verse">That dares attack</div>
+<div class="verse">The tribe with Thinkalot for Chief!</div>
+    </div>
+    <div class="stanza">
+<div class="center">VI</div>
+<div class="center">(<i>He Is Crowned King</i>)</div>
+<div class="verse">The birds of the air rejoiced;</div>
+<div class="verse">The Sea laughed and gambolled with her shores;</div>
+<div class="verse">All Red-skins wept for joy</div>
+<div class="verse">The day we crowned him King.</div>
+<div class="verse">He is the Builder, the Healer, the Teacher and the Prince;</div>
+<div class="verse">He is the greatest of them all.</div>
+<div class="verse">May he live a thousand thousand years,</div>
+<div class="verse">Happy in his heart,</div>
+<div class="verse">To bless our land with Peace.</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[322]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SECOND CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THOUGHTS OF HOME</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">IN the Royal Palace Bumpo and I had a beautiful
+suite of rooms of our very own—which
+Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee shared with us.
+Officially Bumpo was Minister of the Interior;
+while I was First Lord of the Treasury. Long
+Arrow also had quarters there; but at present he
+was absent, traveling abroad.</p>
+
+<p>One night after supper when the Doctor was away
+in the town somewhere visiting a new-born baby,
+we were all sitting round the big table in Bumpo’s
+reception-room. This we did every evening, to talk
+over the plans for the following day and various
+affairs of state. It was a kind of Cabinet Meeting.</p>
+
+<p>To-night however we were talking about England—and
+also about things to eat. We had got a little
+tired of Indian food. You see, none of the natives
+knew how to cook; and we had the most discouraging
+time training a chef for the Royal Kitchen. Most
+of them were champions at spoiling good food.
+Often we got so hungry that the Doctor would sneak
+downstairs with us into the palace basement, after
+all the cooks were safe in bed, and fry pancakes
+secretly over the dying embers of the fire. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[323]</a></span>
+Doctor himself was the finest cook that ever lived.
+But he used to make a terrible mess of the kitchen;
+and of course we had to be awfully careful that we
+didn’t get caught.</p>
+
+<p>Well, as I was saying, to-night food was the subject
+of discussion at the Cabinet Meeting; and I had
+just been reminding Bumpo of the nice dishes we had
+had at the bed-maker’s house in Monteverde.</p>
+
+<p>“I tell you what I would like now,” said Bumpo:
+“a large cup of cocoa with whipped cream on the
+top of it. In Oxford we used to be able to get the
+most wonderful cocoa. It is really too bad they
+haven’t any cocoa-trees in this island, or cows to give
+cream.”</p>
+
+<p>“When do you suppose,” asked Jip, “the Doctor
+intends to move on from here?”</p>
+
+<p>“I was talking to him about that only yesterday,”
+said Polynesia. “But I couldn’t get any satisfactory
+answer out of him. He didn’t seem to want to
+speak about it.”</p>
+
+<p>There was a pause in the conversation.</p>
+
+<p>“Do you know what I believe?” she added presently.
+“I believe the Doctor has given up even
+thinking of going home.”</p>
+
+<p>“Good Lord!” cried Bumpo. “You don’t say!”</p>
+
+<p>“Sh!” said Polynesia. “What’s that noise?”</p>
+
+<p>We listened; and away off in the distant corridors
+of the palace we heard the sentries crying,</p>
+
+<p>“The King!—Make way!—The King!”</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[324]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“It’s he—at last,” whispered Polynesia—“late,
+as usual. Poor man, how he does work!—Chee-Chee,
+get the pipe and tobacco out of the cupboard
+and lay the dressing-gown ready on his chair.”</p>
+
+<p>When the Doctor came into the room he looked
+serious and thoughtful. Wearily he took off his
+crown and hung it on a peg behind the door. Then
+he exchanged the royal cloak for the dressing-gown,
+dropped into his chair at the head of the table with
+a deep sigh and started to fill his pipe.</p>
+
+<p>“Well,” asked Polynesia quietly, “how did you
+find the baby?”</p>
+
+<p>“The baby?” he murmured—his thoughts still
+seemed to be very far away—“Ah yes. The baby
+was much better, thank you—It has cut its second
+tooth.”</p>
+
+<p>Then he was silent again, staring dreamily at the
+ceiling through a cloud of tobacco-smoke; while we
+all sat round quite still, waiting.</p>
+
+<p>“We were wondering, Doctor,” said I at last,—“just
+before you came in—when you would be starting
+home again. We will have been on this island
+seven months to-morrow.”</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor sat forward in his chair looking rather
+uncomfortable.</p>
+
+<p>“Well, as a matter of fact,” said he after a moment,
+“I meant to speak to you myself this evening
+on that very subject. But it’s—er—a little hard<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[325]</a></span>
+to make any one exactly understand the situation.
+I am afraid that it would be impossible for me to
+leave the work I am now engaged on.... You
+remember, when they first insisted on making me
+king, I told you it was not easy to shake off responsibilities,
+once you had taken them up. These people
+have come to rely on me for a great number of
+things. We found them ignorant of much that
+white people enjoy. And we have, one might say,
+changed the current of their lives considerably.
+Now it is a very ticklish business, to change the lives
+of other people. And whether the changes we have
+made will be, in the end, for good or for bad, is our
+lookout.”</p>
+
+<p>He thought a moment—then went on in a quieter,
+sadder voice:</p>
+
+<p>“I would like to continue my voyages and my
+natural history work; and I would like to go back
+to Puddleby—as much as any of you. This is
+March, and the crocuses will be showing in the lawn....
+But that which I feared has come true: I cannot
+close my eyes to what might happen if I should
+leave these people and run away. They would probably
+go back to their old habits and customs: wars,
+superstitions, devil-worship and what not; and many
+of the new things we have taught them might be put
+to improper use and make their condition, then,
+worse by far than that in which we found them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[326]</a></span>...
+They like me; they trust me; they have come to
+look to me for help in all their problems and troubles.
+And no man wants to do unfair things to
+them who trust him.... And then again, <i>I</i> like
+<i>them</i>. They are, as it were, my children—I never
+had any children of my own—and I am terribly
+interested in how they will grow up. Don’t you
+see what I mean?—How can I possibly run away
+and leave them in the lurch?... No. I have
+thought it over a good deal and tried to decide
+what was best. And I am afraid that the work
+I took up when I assumed the crown I must stick
+to. I’m afraid—I’ve got to stay.”</p>
+
+<p>“For good—for your whole life?” asked Bumpo
+in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>For some moments the Doctor, frowning, made
+no answer.</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t know,” he said at last—“Anyhow for the
+present there is certainly no hope of my leaving.
+It wouldn’t be right.”</p>
+
+<p>The sad silence that followed was broken finally
+by a knock upon the door.</p>
+
+<p>With a patient sigh the Doctor got up and put
+on his crown and cloak again.</p>
+
+<p>“Come in,” he called, sitting down in his chair
+once more.</p>
+
+<p>The door opened and a footman—one of the
+hundred and forty-three who were always on night
+duty—stood bowing in the entrance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[327]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Oh, Kindly One,” said he, “there is a traveler
+at the palace-gate who would have speech with
+Your Majesty.”</p>
+
+<p>“Another baby’s been born, I’ll bet a shilling,”
+muttered Polynesia.</p>
+
+<p>“Did you ask the traveler’s name?” enquired the
+Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, Your Majesty,” said the footman. “It
+is Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[328]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE THIRD CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE RED MAN’S SCIENCE</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">“LONG ARROW!” cried the Doctor.
+“How splendid! Show him in—show
+him in at once.”</p>
+
+<p>“I’m so glad,” he continued, turning
+to us as soon as the footman had gone. “I’ve
+missed Long Arrow terribly. He’s an awfully good
+man to have around—even if he doesn’t talk much.
+Let me see: it’s five months now since he went off
+to Brazil. I’m so glad he’s back safe. He does
+take such tremendous chances with that canoe of
+his—clever as he is. It’s no joke, crossing a hundred
+miles of open sea in a twelve-foot canoe. I
+wouldn’t care to try it.”</p>
+
+<p>Another knock; and when the door swung open
+in answer to the Doctor’s call, there stood our big
+friend on the threshold, a smile upon his strong,
+bronzed face. Behind him appeared two porters
+carrying loads done up in Indian palm-matting.
+These, when the first salutations were over, Long
+Arrow ordered to lay their burdens down.</p>
+
+<p>“Behold, oh Kindly One,” said he, “I bring you,
+as I promised, my collection of plants which I had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[329]</a></span>
+hidden in a cave in the Andes. These treasures
+represent the labors of my life.”</p>
+
+<p>The packages were opened; and inside were many
+smaller packages and bundles. Carefully they were
+laid out in rows upon the table.</p>
+
+<p>It appeared at first a large but disappointing display.
+There were plants, flowers, fruits, leaves,
+roots, nuts, beans, honeys, gums, bark, seeds, bees
+and a few kinds of insects.</p>
+
+<p>The study of plants—or botany, as it is called—was
+a kind of natural history which had never
+interested me very much. I had considered it, compared
+with the study of animals, a dull science. But
+as Long Arrow began taking up the various things
+in his collection and explaining their qualities to us,
+I became more and more fascinated. And before
+he had done I was completely absorbed by the wonders
+of the Vegetable Kingdom which he had
+brought so far.</p>
+
+<p>“These,” said he, taking up a little packet of
+big seeds, “are what I have called laughing-beans.’”</p>
+
+<p>“What are they for?” asked Bumpo.</p>
+
+<p>“To cause mirth,” said the Indian.</p>
+
+<p>Bumpo, while Long Arrow’s back was turned,
+took three of the beans and swallowed them.</p>
+
+<p>“Alas!” said the Indian when he discovered what
+Bumpo had done. “If he wished to try the powers
+of these seeds he should have eaten no more than a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[330]</a></span>
+quarter of a one. Let us hope that he does not die
+of laughter.”</p>
+
+<p>The beans’ effect upon Bumpo was most extraordinary.
+First he broke into a broad smile;
+then he began to giggle; finally he burst into such
+prolonged roars of hearty laughter that we had to
+carry him into the next room and put him to bed.
+The Doctor said afterwards that he probably would
+have died laughing if he had not had such a strong
+constitution. All through the night he gurgled
+happily in his sleep. And even when we woke him
+up the next morning he rolled out of bed still chuckling.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the Reception Room, we were shown
+some red roots which Long Arrow told us had the
+property, when made into a soup with sugar and
+salt, of causing people to dance with extraordinary
+speed and endurance. He asked us to try them;
+but we refused, thanking him. After Bumpo’s exhibition
+we were a little afraid of any more experiments
+for the present.</p>
+
+<p>There was no end to the curious and useful things
+that Long Arrow had collected: an oil from a vine
+which would make hair grow in one night; an orange
+as big as a pumpkin which he had raised in his own
+mountain-garden in Peru; a black honey (he had
+brought the bees that made it too and the seeds of
+the flowers they fed on) which would put you to
+sleep, just with a teaspoonful, and make you wake<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[331]</a></span>
+up fresh in the morning; a nut that made the voice
+beautiful for singing; a water-weed that stopped
+cuts from bleeding; a moss that cured snake-bite;
+a lichen that prevented sea-sickness.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor of course was tremendously interested.
+Well into the early hours of the morning he
+was busy going over the articles on the table one
+by one, listing their names and writing their properties
+and descriptions into a note-book as Long Arrow
+dictated.</p>
+
+<p>“There are things here, Stubbins,” he said as he
+ended, “which in the hands of skilled druggists will
+make a vast difference to the medicine and chemistry
+of the world. I suspect that this sleeping-honey by
+itself will take the place of half the bad drugs we
+have had to use so far. Long Arrow has discovered
+a pharmacopæia of his own. Miranda was right:
+he is a great naturalist. His name deserves to be
+placed beside Linnæus. Some day I must get all
+these things to England—But when,” he added
+sadly—“Yes, that’s the problem: when?”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[332]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FOURTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE SEA-SERPENT</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">FOR a long time after that Cabinet Meeting
+of which I have just told you we did not
+ask the Doctor anything further about
+going home. Life in Spidermonkey Island
+went forward, month in month out, busily and
+pleasantly. The Winter, with Christmas celebrations,
+came and went, and Summer was with us once
+again before we knew it.</p>
+
+<p>As time passed the Doctor became more and more
+taken up with the care of his big family; and the
+hours he could spare for his natural history work
+grew fewer and fewer. I knew that he often still
+thought of his house and garden in Puddleby and
+of his old plans and ambitions; because once in a
+while we would notice his face grow thoughtful and
+a little sad, when something reminded him of England
+or his old life. But he never spoke of these
+things. And I truly believe he would have spent the
+remainder of his days on Spidermonkey Island if
+it hadn’t been for an accident—and for Polynesia.</p>
+
+<p>The old parrot had grown very tired of the Indians
+and she made no secret of it.</p>
+
+<p>“The very idea,” she said to me one day as we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[333]</a></span>
+were walking on the seashore—“the idea of the
+famous John Dolittle spending his valuable life
+waiting on these greasy natives!—Why, it’s preposterous!”</p>
+
+<p>All that morning we had been watching the Doctor
+superintend the building of the new theatre in
+Popsipetel—there was already an opera-house and
+a concert-hall; and finally she had got so grouchy
+and annoyed at the sight that I had suggested her
+taking a walk with me.</p>
+
+<p>“Do you really think,” I asked as we sat down
+on the sands, “that he will never go back to Puddleby
+again?”</p>
+
+<p>“I don’t know,” said she. “At one time I felt
+sure that the thought of the pets he had left behind
+at the house would take him home soon. But
+since Miranda brought him word last August that
+everything was all right there, that hope’s gone.
+For months and months I’ve been racking my brains
+to think up a plan. If we could only hit upon something
+that would turn his thoughts back to natural
+history again—I mean something big enough to get
+him really excited—we might manage it. But
+how?”—she shrugged her shoulders in disgust—“How?—when
+all he thinks of now is paving
+streets and teaching papooses that twice one are
+two!”</p>
+
+<p>It was a perfect Popsipetel day, bright and hot,
+blue and yellow. Drowsily I looked out to sea<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[334]</a></span>
+thinking of my mother and father. I wondered if
+they were getting anxious over my long absence.
+Beside me old Polynesia went on grumbling away
+in low steady tones; and her words began to mingle
+and mix with the gentle lapping of the waves upon
+the shore. It may have been the even murmur of
+her voice, helped by the soft and balmy air, that
+lulled me to sleep. I don’t know. Anyhow I presently
+dreamed that the island had moved again—not
+floatingly as before, but suddenly, jerkily, as
+though something enormously powerful had heaved
+it up from its bed just once and let it down.</p>
+
+<p>How long I slept after that I have no idea. I
+was awakened by a gentle pecking on the nose.</p>
+
+<p>“Tommy!—Tommy!” (it was Polynesia’s voice)
+“Wake up!—Gosh, what a boy, to sleep through an
+earthquake and never notice it!—Tommy, listen:
+here’s our chance now. Wake <i>up</i>, for goodness’
+sake!”</p>
+
+<p>“What’s the matter?” I asked sitting up with a
+yawn.</p>
+
+<p>“Sh!—Look!” whispered Polynesia pointing out
+to sea.</p>
+
+<p>Still only half awake, I stared before me with
+bleary, sleep-laden eyes. And in the shallow water,
+not more than thirty yards from shore I saw an
+enormous pale pink shell. Dome-shaped, it towered
+up in a graceful rainbow curve to a tremendous
+height; and round its base the surf broke gently in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[335]</a></span>
+little waves of white. It could have belonged to
+the wildest dream.</p>
+
+<p>“What in the world is it?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“That,” whispered Polynesia, “is what sailors
+for hundreds of years have called the <i>Sea-serpent</i>.
+I’ve seen it myself more than once from the decks
+of ships, at long range, curving in and out of the
+water. But now that I see it close and still, I
+very strongly suspect that the Sea-serpent of history
+is no other than the Great Glass Sea-snail that the
+fidgit told us of. If that isn’t the only fish of its
+kind in the seven seas, call me a carrion-crow—Tommy,
+we’re in luck. Our job is to get the Doctor
+down here to look at that prize specimen before
+it moves off to the Deep Hole. If we can, then
+trust me, we may leave this blessed island yet. You
+stay here and keep an eye on it while I go after
+the Doctor. Don’t move or speak—don’t even
+breathe heavy: he might get scared—awful timid
+things, snails. Just watch him; and I’ll be back in
+two shakes.”</p>
+
+<p>Stealthily creeping up the sands till she could get
+behind the cover of some bushes before she took
+to her wings, Polynesia went off in the direction of
+the town; while I remained alone upon the shore
+fascinatedly watching this unbelievable monster wallowing
+in the shallow sea.</p>
+
+<p>It moved very little. From time to time it lifted
+its head out of the water showing its enormously<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[336]</a></span>
+long neck and horns. Occasionally it would try and
+draw itself up, the way a snail does when he goes
+to move, but almost at once it would sink down
+again as if exhausted. It seemed to me to act as
+though it were hurt underneath; but the lower part
+of it, which was below the level of the water, I could
+not see.</p>
+
+<p>I was still absorbed in watching the great beast
+when Polynesia returned with the Doctor. They
+approached so silently and so cautiously that I
+neither saw nor heard them coming till I found
+them crouching beside me on the sand.</p>
+
+<p>One sight of the snail changed the Doctor completely.
+His eyes just sparkled with delight. I
+had not seen him so thrilled and happy since the
+time we caught the Jabizri beetle when we first
+landed on the island.</p>
+
+<p>“It is he!” he whispered—“the Great Glass Sea-snail
+himself—not a doubt of it. Polynesia, go
+down the shore away and see if you can find any of
+the porpoises for me. Perhaps they can tell us
+what the snail is doing here—It’s very unusual for
+him to be in shallow water like this. And Stubbins,
+you go over to the harbor and bring me a small
+canoe. But be most careful how you paddle it
+round into this bay. If the snail should take fright
+and go out into the deeper water, we may never get
+a chance to see him again.”</p>
+
+<p>“And don’t tell any of the Indians,” Polynesia<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[337]</a></span>
+added in a whisper as I moved to go. “We must
+keep this a secret or we’ll have a crowd of sightseers
+round here in five minutes. It’s mighty lucky
+we found the snail in a quiet bay.”</p>
+
+<p>Reaching the harbor, I picked out a small light
+canoe from among the number that were lying there
+and without telling any one what I wanted it for,
+got in and started off to paddle it down the shore.</p>
+
+<p>I was mortally afraid that the snail might have
+left before I got back. And you can imagine how
+delighted I was, when I rounded a rocky cape and
+came in sight of the bay, to find he was still there.</p>
+
+<p>Polynesia, I saw, had got her errand done and
+returned ahead of me, bringing with her a pair of
+porpoises. These were already conversing in low
+tones with John Dolittle. I beached the canoe and
+went up to listen.</p>
+
+<p>“What I want to know,” the Doctor was saying,
+“is how the snail comes to be here. I was given to
+understand that he usually stayed in the Deep Hole;
+and that when he did come to the surface it was
+always in mid-ocean.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, didn’t you know?—Haven’t you heard?” the
+porpoises replied: “you covered up the Deep Hole
+when you sank the island. Why yes: you let it down
+right on top of the mouth of the Hole—sort of
+put the lid on, as it were. The fishes that were in
+it at the time have been trying to get out ever since.
+The Great Snail had the worst luck of all: the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[338]</a></span>
+island nipped him by the tail just as he was leaving
+the Hole for a quiet evening stroll. And he was
+held there for six months trying to wriggle himself
+free. Finally he had to heave the whole island up
+at one end to get his tail loose. Didn’t you feel
+a sort of an earthquake shock about an hour ago?”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes I did,” said the Doctor, “it shook down
+part of the theatre I was building.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, that was the snail heaving up the island
+to get out of the Hole,” they said. “All the other
+fishes saw their chance and escaped when he raised
+the lid. It was lucky for them he’s so big and strong.
+But the strain of that terrific heave told on him:
+he sprained a muscle in his tail and it started swelling
+rather badly. He wanted some quiet place to rest
+up; and seeing this soft beach handy he crawled
+in here.”</p>
+
+<p>“Dear me!” said the Doctor. “I’m terribly
+sorry. I suppose I should have given some sort of
+notice that the island was going to be let down.
+But, to tell the truth, we didn’t know it ourselves;
+it happened by a kind of an accident. Do you
+imagine the poor fellow is hurt very badly?”</p>
+
+<p>“We’re not sure,” said the porpoises; “because
+none of us can speak his language. But we swam
+right around him on our way in here, and he did
+not seem to be really seriously injured.”</p>
+
+<p>“Can’t any of your people speak shellfish?” the
+Doctor asked.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[339]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Not a word,” said they. “It’s a most frightfully
+difficult language.”</p>
+
+<p>“Do you think that you might be able to find me
+some kind of a fish that could?”</p>
+
+<p>“We don’t know,” said the porpoises. “We
+might try.”</p>
+
+<p>“I should be extremely grateful to you if you
+would,” said the Doctor. “There are many important
+questions I want to ask this snail—And
+besides, I would like to do my best to cure his tail
+for him. It’s the least I can do. After all, it was
+my fault, indirectly, that he got hurt.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, if you wait here,” said the porpoises,
+“we’ll see what can be done.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[340]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE FIFTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED AT LAST</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">SO Doctor Dolittle with a crown on his head
+sat down upon the shore like King Knut,
+and waited. And for a whole hour the
+porpoises kept going and coming, bringing
+up different kinds of sea-beasts from the deep to see
+if they could help him.</p>
+
+<p>Many and curious were the creatures they produced.
+It would seem however that there were very
+few things that spoke shellfish except the shellfish
+themselves. Still, the porpoises grew a little more
+hopeful when they discovered a very old sea-urchin
+(a funny, ball-like, little fellow with long whiskers
+all over him) who said he could not speak pure
+shellfish, but he used to understand starfish—enough
+to get along—when he was young. This was coming
+nearer, even if it wasn’t anything to go crazy
+about. Leaving the urchin with us, the porpoises
+went off once more to hunt up a starfish.</p>
+
+<p>They were not long getting one, for they were
+quite common in those parts. Then, using the
+sea-urchin as an interpreter, they questioned the
+starfish. He was a rather stupid sort of creature;
+but he tried his best to be helpful. And after a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[341]</a></span>
+little patient examination we found to our delight
+that he could speak shellfish moderately well.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling quite encouraged, the Doctor and I now
+got into the canoe; and, with the porpoises, the urchin
+and the starfish swimming alongside, we paddled
+very gently out till we were close under the towering
+shell of the Great Snail.</p>
+
+<p>And then began the most curious conversation I
+have ever witnessed. First the starfish would ask
+the snail something; and whatever answer the snail
+gave, the starfish would tell it to the sea-urchin, the
+urchin would tell it to the porpoises and the porpoises
+would tell it to the Doctor.</p>
+
+<p>In this way we obtained considerable information,
+mostly about the very ancient history of the Animal
+Kingdom; but we missed a good many of the
+finer points in the snail’s longer speeches on account
+of the stupidity of the starfish and all this translating
+from one language to another.</p>
+
+<p>While the snail was speaking, the Doctor and I
+put our ears against the wall of his shell and found
+that we could in this way hear the sound of his
+voice quite plainly. It was, as the fidgit had described,
+deep and bell-like. But of course we could
+not understand a single word he said. However the
+Doctor was by this time terrifically excited about
+getting near to learning the language he had sought
+so long. And presently by making the other fishes
+repeat over and over again short phrases which the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[342]</a></span>
+snail used, he began to put words together for himself.
+You see, he was already familiar with one or
+two fish languages; and that helped him quite a little.
+After he had practised for a while like this he leant
+over the side of the canoe and putting his face below
+the water, tried speaking to the snail direct.</p>
+
+<p>It was hard and difficult work; and hours went by
+before he got any results. But presently I could tell
+by the happy look on his face that little by little he
+was succeeding.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was low in the West and the cool evening
+breeze was beginning to rustle softly through the
+bamboo-groves when the Doctor finally turned from
+his work and said to me,</p>
+
+<p>“Stubbins, I have persuaded the snail to come
+in on to the dry part of the beach and let me examine
+his tail. Will you please go back to the
+town and tell the workmen to stop working on the
+theatre for to-day? Then go on to the palace and
+get my medicine-bag. I think I left it under the
+throne in the Audience Chamber.”</p>
+
+<p>“And remember,” Polynesia whispered as I
+turned away, “not a word to a soul. If you get
+asked questions, keep your mouth shut. Pretend
+you have a toothache or something.”</p>
+
+<p>This time when I got back to the shore—with the
+medicine-bag—I found the snail high and dry on
+the beach. Seeing him in his full length like this,
+it was easy to understand how old-time, superstitious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[343]</a></span>
+sailors had called him the Sea-serpent. He certainly
+was a most gigantic, and in his way, a graceful,
+beautiful creature. John Dolittle was examining
+a swelling on his tail.</p>
+
+<p>From the bag which I had brought the Doctor
+took a large bottle of embrocation and began rubbing
+the sprain. Next he took all the bandages he
+had in the bag and fastened them end to end. But
+even like that, they were not long enough to go more
+than halfway round the enormous tail. The Doctor
+insisted that he must get the swelling strapped
+tight somehow. So he sent me off to the palace
+once more to get all the sheets from the Royal
+Linen-closet. These Polynesia and I tore into bandages
+for him. And at last, after terrific exertions,
+we got the sprain strapped to his satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>The snail really seemed to be quite pleased with
+the attention he had received; and he stretched
+himself in lazy comfort when the Doctor was done.
+In this position, when the shell on his back was
+empty, you could look right through it and see the
+palm-trees on the other side.</p>
+
+<p>“I think one of us had better sit up with him all
+night,” said the Doctor. “We might put Bumpo
+on that duty; he’s been napping all day, I know—in
+the summer-house. It’s a pretty bad sprain, that;
+and if the snail shouldn’t be able to sleep, he’ll be
+happier with some one with him for company. He’ll
+get all right though—in a few days I should judge.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[344]</a></span>
+If I wasn’t so confoundedly busy I’d sit up with him
+myself. I wish I could, because I still have a lot
+of things to talk over with him.”</p>
+
+<p>“But Doctor,” said Polynesia as we prepared to
+go back to the town, “you ought to take a holiday.
+All Kings take holidays once in the while—every
+one of them. King Charles, for instance—of
+course Charles was before your time—but he!—why,
+he was <i>always</i> holiday-making. Not that he
+was ever what you would call a model king. But
+just the same, he was frightfully popular. Everybody
+liked him—even the golden-carp in the fish-pond
+at Hampton Court. As a king, the only thing
+I had against him was his inventing those stupid,
+little, snappy dogs they call King Charles Spaniels.
+There are lots of stories told about poor Charles;
+but that, in my opinion, is the worst thing he did.
+However, all this is beside the point. As I was
+saying, kings have to take holidays the same as
+anybody else. And you haven’t taken one since
+you were crowned, have you now?”</p>
+
+<p>“No,” said the Doctor, “I suppose that’s true.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well now I tell you what you do,” said she:
+“as soon as you get back to the palace you publish a
+royal proclamation that you are going away for a
+week into the country for your health. And you’re
+going <i>without any servants</i>, you understand—just
+like a plain person. It’s called traveling incognito,
+when kings go off like that. They all do it—It’s<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[345]</a></span>
+the only way they can ever have a good time. Then
+the week you’re away you can spend lolling on the
+beach back there with the snail. How’s that?”</p>
+
+<p>“I’d like to,” said the Doctor. “It sounds most
+attractive. But there’s that new theatre to be
+built; none of our carpenters would know how to
+get those rafters on without me to show them—And
+then there are the babies: these native mothers
+are so frightfully ignorant.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh bother the theatre—and the babies too,”
+snapped Polynesia. “The theatre can wait a week.
+And as for babies, they never have anything more
+than colic. How do you suppose babies got along
+before you came here, for heaven’s sake?—Take a
+holiday.... You need it.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[346]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SIXTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE LAST CABINET MEETING</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">FROM the way Polynesia talked, I guessed
+that this idea of a holiday was part of her
+plan.</p>
+
+<p>The Doctor made no reply; and we
+walked on silently towards the town. I could see,
+nevertheless that her words had made an impression
+on him.</p>
+
+<p>After supper he disappeared from the palace
+without saying where he was going—a thing he had
+never done before. Of course we all knew where
+he had gone: back to the beach to sit up with the
+snail. We were sure of it because he had said
+nothing to Bumpo about attending to the matter.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the doors were closed upon the Cabinet
+Meeting that night, Polynesia addressed the
+Ministry:</p>
+
+<p>“Look here, you fellows,” said she: “we’ve simply
+got to get the Doctor to take this holiday somehow—unless
+we’re willing to stay in this blessed
+island for the rest of our lives.”</p>
+
+<p>“But what difference,” Bumpo asked, “is his taking
+a holiday going to make?”</p>
+
+<p>Impatiently Polynesia turned upon the Minister of
+the Interior.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[347]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Don’t you see? If he has a clear week to get
+thoroughly interested in his natural history again—marine
+stuff, his dream of seeing the floor of the
+ocean and all that—there may be some chance of his
+consenting to leave this pesky place. But while he
+is here on duty as king he never gets a moment to
+think of anything outside of the business of government.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, that’s true. He’s far too consententious,”
+Bumpo agreed.</p>
+
+<p>“And besides,” Polynesia went on, “his only hope
+of ever getting away from here would be to escape
+secretly. He’s got to leave while he is holiday-making,
+incognito—when no one knows where he is
+or what he’s doing, but us. If he built a ship big
+enough to cross the sea in, all the Indians would see
+it, and hear it, being built; and they’d ask what it
+was for. They would interfere. They’d sooner
+have anything happen than lose the Doctor. Why,
+I believe if they thought he had any idea of escaping
+they would put chains on him.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes, I really think they would,” I agreed. “Yet
+without a ship of some kind I don’t see how the
+Doctor is going to get away, even secretly.”</p>
+
+<p>“Well, I’ll tell you,” said Polynesia. “If we do
+succeed in making him take this holiday, our next
+step will be to get the sea-snail to promise to take
+us all in his shell and carry us to the mouth of
+Puddleby River. If we can once get the snail willing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[348]</a></span>
+the temptation will be too much for John Dolittle
+and he’ll come, I know—especially as he’ll
+be able to take those new plants and drugs of Long
+Arrow’s to the English doctors, as well as see the
+floor of the ocean on the way.”</p>
+
+<p>“How thrilling!” I cried. “Do you mean the
+snail could take us under the sea all the way back
+to Puddleby?”</p>
+
+<p>“Certainly,” said Polynesia, “a little trip like
+that is nothing to him. He would crawl along the
+floor of the ocean and the Doctor could see all the
+sights. Perfectly simple. Oh, John Dolittle will
+come all right, if we can only get him to take that
+holiday—<i>and</i> if the snail will consent to give us the
+ride.”</p>
+
+<p>“Golly, I hope he does!” sighed Jip. “I’m sick of
+these beastly tropics—they make you feel so lazy
+and good-for-nothing. And there are no rats or
+anything here—not that a fellow would have the
+energy to chase ’em even if there were. My,
+wouldn’t I be glad to see old Puddleby and the
+garden again! And won’t Dab-Dab be glad to
+have us back!”</p>
+
+<p>“By the end of next month,” said I, “it will be
+two whole years since we left England—since we
+pulled up the anchor at Kingsbridge and bumped our
+way out into the river.”</p>
+
+<p>“And got stuck on the mud-bank,” added Chee-Chee
+in a dreamy, far-away voice.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[349]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“Do you remember how all the people waved
+to us from the river-wall?” I asked.</p>
+
+<p>“Yes. And I suppose they’ve often talked about
+us in the town since,” said Jip—“wondering whether
+we’re dead or alive.”</p>
+
+<p>“Cease,” said Bumpo, “I feel I am about to weep
+from sediment.”</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+<div class="chapter"></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[350]</a></span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<h2><i>THE SEVENTH CHAPTER</i><br />
+
+<small>THE DOCTOR’S DECISION</small></h2>
+
+
+<p class="drop-cap">WELL, you can guess how glad we were
+when next morning the Doctor, after
+his all-night conversation with the
+snail, told us that he had made up his
+mind to take the holiday. A proclamation was published
+right away by the Town Crier that His Majesty
+was going into the country for a seven-day rest,
+but that during his absence the palace and the government
+offices would be kept open as usual.</p>
+
+<p>Polynesia was immensely pleased. She at once
+set quietly to work making arrangements for our
+departure—taking good care the while that no one
+should get an inkling of where we were going, what
+we were taking with us, the hour of our leaving or
+which of the palace-gates we would go out by.</p>
+
+<p>Cunning old schemer that she was, she forgot
+nothing. And not even we, who were of the Doctor’s
+party, could imagine what reasons she had
+for some of her preparations. She took me inside
+and told me that the one thing I must remember
+to bring with me was <i>all</i> of the Doctor’s note-books.
+Long Arrow, who was the only Indian let into the secret
+of our destination, said he would like to come<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[351]</a></span>
+with us as far as the beach to see the Great Snail;
+and him Polynesia told to be sure and bring his
+collection of plants. Bumpo she ordered to carry
+the Doctor’s high hat—carefully hidden under his
+coat. She sent off nearly all the footmen who were
+on night duty to do errands in the town, so that there
+should be as few servants as possible to see us leave.
+And midnight, the hour when most of the townspeople
+would be asleep, she finally chose for our
+departure.</p>
+
+<p>We had to take a week’s food-supply with us for
+the royal holiday. So, with our other packages,
+we were heavy laden when on the stroke of twelve
+we opened the west door of the palace and stepped
+cautiously and quietly into the moonlit garden.</p>
+
+<p>“Tiptoe incognito,” whispered Bumpo as we
+gently closed the heavy doors behind us.</p>
+
+<p>No one had seen us leave.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the stone steps leading from the
+Peacock Terrace to the Sunken Rosary, something
+made me pause and look back at the magnificent
+palace which we had built in this strange, far-off
+land where no white men but ourselves had ever
+come. Somehow I felt it in my bones that we were
+leaving it to-night never to return again. And I
+wondered what other kings and ministers would
+dwell in its splendid halls when we were gone. The
+air was hot; and everything was deadly still but for
+the gentle splashing of the tame flamingoes paddling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[352]</a></span>
+in the lily-pond. Suddenly the twinkling lantern
+of a night watchman appeared round the corner of
+a cypress hedge. Polynesia plucked at my stocking
+and, in an impatient whisper, bade me hurry before
+our flight be discovered.</p>
+
+<p>On our arrival at the beach we found the snail
+already feeling much better and now able to move
+his tail without pain.</p>
+
+<p>The porpoises (who are by nature inquisitive
+creatures) were still hanging about in the offing to
+see if anything of interest was going to happen.
+Polynesia, the plotter, while the Doctor was occupied
+with his new patient, signaled to them and
+drew them aside for a little private chat.</p>
+
+<p>“Now see here, my friends,” said she speaking
+low: “you know how much John Dolittle has done
+for the animals—given his whole life up to them,
+one might say. Well, here is your chance to do
+something for him. Listen: he got made king of
+this island against his will, see? And now that he
+has taken the job on, he feels that he can’t leave
+it—thinks the Indians won’t be able to get along
+without him and all that—which is nonsense, as you
+and I very well know. All right. Then here’s the
+point: if this snail were only willing to take him and
+us—and a little baggage—not very much, thirty or
+forty pieces, say—inside his shell and carry us to
+England, we feel sure that the Doctor would go;
+because he’s just crazy to mess about on the floor of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[353]</a><br /><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[354]</a></span>
+the ocean. What’s more this would be his one and
+only chance of escape from the island. Now it is
+highly important that the Doctor return to his own
+country to carry on his proper work which means
+such a lot to the animals of the world. So what
+we want you to do is to tell the sea-urchin to tell
+the starfish to tell the snail to take us in his shell
+and carry us to Puddleby River. Is that plain?”</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 393px;">
+<img src="images/i-373.jpg" width="393" height="580" alt="sneaking away" />
+<div class="caption">“‘Tiptoe incognito,’ whispered Bumpo”</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>“Quite, quite,” said the porpoises. “And we
+will willingly do our very best to persuade him—for
+it is, as you say, a perfect shame for the great
+man to be wasting his time here when he is so much
+needed by the animals.”</p>
+
+<p>“And don’t let the Doctor know what you’re
+about,” said Polynesia as they started to move off.
+“He might balk if he thought we had any hand in
+it. Get the snail to offer on his own account to take
+us. See?”</p>
+
+<p>John Dolittle, unaware of anything save the work
+he was engaged on, was standing knee-deep in the
+shallow water, helping the snail try out his mended
+tail to see if it were well enough to travel on. Bumpo
+and Long Arrow, with Chee-Chee and Jip, were
+lolling at the foot of a palm a little way up the
+beach. Polynesia and I now went and joined them.</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour passed.</p>
+
+<p>What success the porpoises had met with, we did
+not know, till suddenly the Doctor left the snail’s
+side and came splashing out to us, quite breathless.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[355]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>“What <i>do</i> you think?” he cried, “while I was
+talking to the snail just now he offered, of his own
+accord, to take us all back to England inside his
+shell. He says he has got to go on a voyage of
+discovery anyway, to hunt up a new home, now that
+the Deep Hole is closed. Said it wouldn’t be much
+out of his way to drop us at Puddleby River, if we
+cared to come along—Goodness, what a chance!
+I’d love to go. To examine the floor of the ocean
+all the way from Brazil to Europe! No man ever
+did it before. What a glorious trip!—Oh that I
+had never allowed myself to be made king! Now
+I must see the chance of a lifetime slip by.”</p>
+
+<p>He turned from us and moved down the sands
+again to the middle beach, gazing wistfully, longingly
+out at the snail. There was something peculiarly
+sad and forlorn about him as he stood there
+on the lonely, moonlit shore, the crown upon his
+head, his figure showing sharply black against the
+glittering sea behind.</p>
+
+<p>Out of the darkness at my elbow Polynesia rose
+and quietly moved down to his side.</p>
+
+<p>“Now Doctor,” said she in a soft persuasive voice
+as though she were talking to a wayward child,
+“you know this king business is not your real work
+in life. These natives will be able to get along
+without you—not so well as they do with you of
+course—but they’ll manage—the same as they did
+before you came. Nobody can say you haven’t<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[356]</a></span>
+done your duty by them. It was their fault: they
+made you king. Why not accept the snail’s offer;
+and just drop everything now, and go? The work
+you’ll do, the information you’ll carry home, will
+be of far more value than what you’re doing here.”</p>
+
+<p>“Good friend,” said the Doctor turning to her
+sadly, “I cannot. They would go back to their old
+unsanitary ways: bad water, uncooked fish, no drainage,
+enteric fever and the rest.... No. I must
+think of their health, their welfare. I began life
+as a people’s doctor: I seem to have come back to it
+in the end. I cannot desert them. Later perhaps
+something will turn up. But I cannot leave them
+now.”</p>
+
+<p>“That’s where you’re wrong, Doctor,” said she.
+“Now is when you should go. Nothing will ‘turn
+up.’ The longer you stay, the harder it will be to
+leave—Go now. Go to-night.”</p>
+
+<p>“What, steal away without even saying good-bye
+to them! Why, Polynesia, what a thing to
+suggest!”</p>
+
+<p>“A fat chance they would give you to say good-bye!”
+snorted Polynesia growing impatient at last.
+“I tell you, Doctor, if you go back to that palace
+tonight, for goodbys or anything else, you will
+stay there. Now—this moment—is the time for
+you to go.”</p>
+
+<p>The truth of the old parrot’s words seemed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[357]</a></span>
+be striking home; for the Doctor stood silent a minute,
+thinking.</p>
+
+<p>“But there are the note-books,” he said presently:
+“I would have to go back to fetch them.”</p>
+
+<p>“I have them here, Doctor,” said I, speaking up—“all
+of them.”</p>
+
+<p>Again he pondered.</p>
+
+<p>“And Long Arrow’s collection,” he said. “I
+would have to take that also with me.”</p>
+
+<p>“It is here, Oh Kindly One,” came the Indian’s
+deep voice from the shadow beneath the palm.</p>
+
+<p>“But what about provisions,” asked the Doctor—“food
+for the journey?”</p>
+
+<p>“We have a week’s supply with us, for our holiday,”
+said Polynesia—“that’s more than we will
+need.”</p>
+
+<p>For a third time the Doctor was silent and
+thoughtful.</p>
+
+<p>“And then there’s my hat,” he said fretfully at
+last. “That settles it: I’ll <i>have</i> to go back to the
+palace. I can’t leave without my hat. How could
+I appear in Puddleby with this crown on my head?”</p>
+
+<p>“Here it is, Doctor,” said Bumpo producing the
+hat, old, battered and beloved, from under his coat.</p>
+
+<p>Polynesia had indeed thought of everything.</p>
+
+<p>Yet even now we could see the Doctor was still
+trying to think up further excuses.</p>
+
+<p>“Oh Kindly One,” said Long Arrow, “why tempt<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[358]</a></span>
+ill fortune? Your way is clear. Your future and
+your work beckon you back to your foreign home
+beyond the sea. With you will go also what lore
+I too have gathered for mankind—to lands where
+it will be of wider use than it can ever here. I see
+the glimmerings of dawn in the eastern heaven.
+Day is at hand. Go before your subjects are
+abroad. Go before your project is discovered.
+For truly I believe that if you go not now you will
+linger the remainder of your days a captive king in
+Popsipetel.”</p>
+
+<p>Great decisions often take no more than a moment
+in the making. Against the now paling sky
+I saw the Doctor’s figure suddenly stiffen. Slowly
+he lifted the Sacred Crown from off his head and
+laid it on the sands.</p>
+
+<p>And when he spoke his voice was choked with
+tears.</p>
+
+<p>“They will find it here,” he murmured, “when
+they come to search for me. And they will know
+that I have gone.... My children, my poor children!—I
+wonder will they ever understand why it
+was I left them.... I wonder will they ever understand—and
+forgive.”</p>
+
+<p>He took his old hat from Bumpo; then facing
+Long Arrow, gripped his outstretched hand in
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>“You decide aright, oh Kindly One,” said the
+Indian—“though none will miss and mourn you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[359]</a></span>
+more than Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow—Farewell,
+and may good fortune ever lead you by
+the hand!”</p>
+
+<p>It was the first and only time I ever saw the Doctor
+weep. Without a word to any of us, he turned
+and moved down the beach into the shallow water
+of the sea.</p>
+
+<p>The snail humped up its back and made an
+opening between its shoulders and the edge of its
+shell. The Doctor clambered up and passed
+within. We followed him, after handing up the
+baggage. The opening shut tight with a whistling
+suction noise.</p>
+
+<p>Then turning in the direction of the East, the
+great creature began moving smoothly forward,
+down the slope into the deeper waters.</p>
+
+<p>Just as the swirling dark green surf was closing
+in above our heads, the big morning sun popped his
+rim up over the edge of the ocean. And through
+our transparent walls of pearl we saw the watery
+world about us suddenly light up with that most
+wondrously colorful of visions, a daybreak beneath
+the sea.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb" />
+
+<p>The rest of the story of our homeward voyage
+is soon told.</p>
+
+<p>Our new quarters we found very satisfactory.
+Inside the spacious shell, the snail’s wide back was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[360]</a></span>
+extremely comfortable to sit and lounge on—better
+than a sofa, when you once got accustomed to the
+damp and clammy feeling of it. He asked us,
+shortly after we started, if we wouldn’t mind taking
+off our boots, as the hobnails in them hurt his back
+as we ran excitedly from one side to another to see
+the different sights.</p>
+
+<p>The motion was not unpleasant, very smooth and
+even; in fact, but for the landscape passing outside,
+you would not know, on the level going, that you
+were moving at all.</p>
+
+<p>I had always thought for some reason or other
+that the bottom of the sea was flat. I found that
+it was just as irregular and changeful as the surface
+of the dry land. We climbed over great mountain-ranges,
+with peaks towering above peaks. We
+threaded our way through dense forests of tall
+sea-plants. We crossed wide empty stretches of
+sandy mud, like deserts—so vast that you went on
+for a whole day with nothing ahead of you but
+a dim horizon. Sometimes the scene was moss-covered,
+rolling country, green and restful to the
+eye like rich pastures; so that you almost looked to
+see sheep cropping on these underwater downs.
+And sometimes the snail would roll us forward
+inside him like peas, when he suddenly dipped downward
+to descend into some deep secluded valley
+with steeply sloping sides.</p>
+
+<p>In these lower levels we often came upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[361]</a></span>
+shadowy shapes of dead ships, wrecked and sunk
+Heaven only knows how many years ago; and
+passing them we would speak in hushed whispers
+like children seeing monuments in churches.</p>
+
+<p>Here too, in the deeper, darker waters, monstrous
+fishes, feeding quietly in caves and hollows
+would suddenly spring up, alarmed at our approach,
+and flash away into the gloom with the speed of an
+arrow. While other bolder ones, all sorts of unearthly
+shapes and colors, would come right up and
+peer in at us through the shell.</p>
+
+<p>“I suppose they think we are a sort of sanaquarium,”
+said Bumpo—“I’d hate to be a fish.”</p>
+
+<p>It was a thrilling and ever-changing show. The
+Doctor wrote or sketched incessantly. Before long
+we had filled all the blank note-books we had
+left. Then we searched our pockets for any odd
+scraps of paper on which to jot down still more observations.
+We even went through the used books
+a second time, writing in between the lines, scribbling
+all over the covers, back and front.</p>
+
+<p>Our greatest difficulty was getting enough light
+to see by. In the lower waters it was very dim.
+On the third day we passed a band of fire-eels, a sort
+of large, marine glow-worm; and the Doctor asked
+the snail to get them to come with us for a way.
+This they did, swimming alongside; and their light
+was very helpful, though not brilliant.</p>
+
+<p>How our giant shellfish found his way across<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[362]</a></span>
+that vast and gloomy world was a great puzzle to
+us. John Dolittle asked him by what means he
+navigated—how he knew he was on the right road
+to Puddleby River. And what the snail said in
+reply got the Doctor so excited, that having no
+paper left, he tore out the lining of his precious
+hat and covered it with notes.</p>
+
+<p>By night of course it was impossible to see anything;
+and during the hours of darkness the snail
+used to swim instead of crawl. When he did so he
+could travel at a terrific speed, just by waggling
+that long tail of his. This was the reason why we
+completed the trip in so short a time—five and a
+half days.</p>
+
+<p>The air of our chamber, not having a change in
+the whole voyage, got very close and stuffy; and
+for the first two days we all had headaches. But
+after that we got used to it and didn’t mind it in
+the least.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the afternoon of the sixth day, we noticed
+we were climbing a long gentle slope. As we
+went upward it grew lighter. Finally we saw that
+the snail had crawled right out of the water altogether
+and had now come to a dead stop on a
+long strip of gray sand.</p>
+
+<p>Behind us we saw the surface of the sea rippled
+by the wind. On our left was the mouth of a river
+with the tide running out. While in front, the low
+flat land stretched away into the mist—which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[363]</a></span>
+prevented one from seeing very far in any direction.
+A pair of wild ducks with craning necks and whirring
+wings passed over us and disappeared like
+shadows, seaward.</p>
+
+<p>As a landscape, it was a great change from the
+hot brilliant sunshine of Popsipetel.</p>
+
+<p>With the same whistling suction sound, the snail
+made the opening for us to crawl out by. As we
+stepped down upon the marshy land we noticed that
+a fine, drizzling autumn rain was falling.</p>
+
+<p>“Can this be Merrie England?” asked Bumpo,
+peering into the fog—“doesn’t look like any place
+in particular. Maybe the snail hasn’t brought us
+right after all.”</p>
+
+<p>“Yes,” sighed Polynesia, shaking the rain off her
+feathers, “this is England all right—You can tell
+it by the beastly climate.”</p>
+
+<p>“Oh, but fellows,” cried Jip, as he sniffed up the
+air in great gulps, “it has a <i>smell</i>—a good and glorious
+smell!—Excuse me a minute: I see a water-rat.”</p>
+
+<p>“Sh!—Listen!” said Chee-Chee through teeth
+that chattered with the cold. “There’s Puddleby
+church-clock striking four. Why don’t we divide
+up the baggage and get moving. We’ve got a long
+way to foot it home across the marshes.”</p>
+
+<p>“Let’s hope,” I put in, “that Dab-Dab has a nice
+fire burning in the kitchen.”</p>
+
+<p>“I’m sure she will,” said the Doctor as he picked<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[364]</a></span>
+out his old handbag from among the bundles—“With
+this wind from the East she’ll need it to
+keep the animals in the house warm. Come on.
+Let’s hug the river-bank so we don’t miss our way
+in the fog. You know, there’s something rather
+attractive in the bad weather of England—when
+you’ve got a kitchen-fire to look forward to....
+Four o’clock! Come along—we’ll just be in nice
+time for tea.”</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 446px;">
+<img src="images/i-384.jpg" width="446" height="193" alt="The End" />
+</div>
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/endpapers.jpg" width="600" height="470" alt="Endpapers" />
+</div>
+
+<hr class="full" />
+<div class="tnote"><div class="center">
+<b>Transcriber’s Notes:</b></div>
+
+<p>Varied hyphenation retained. Obvious punctuation errors repaired.</p>
+
+<p>Page 20, “he” changed to “be” (Don’t be alarmed)</p>
+
+<p>Page 135, “shellflsh” changed to “shellfish” (of the shellfish)</p>
+
+<p>Page 137, “way” changed to “may” (come what may)</p>
+
+<p>Page 188, Part Four, <i>THE FIRST CHAPTER</i> made italic to
+match rest of usage.</p>
+
+<p>Page 218, “is” changed to “it” (where it is)</p>
+
+<p>Page 249, “musn’t” changed to “mustn’t” (that he musn’t give)</p>
+
+<p>Page 324, “Polnesia” changed to “Polynesia” (whispered Polynesia)</p>
+
+<p>Page 347, “thoroughy” changed to “thoroughly” (thoroughly interested in)</p>
+
+<p>Page 357, “Poynesia” changed to “Polynesia” (said Polynesia—“that’s more)</p>
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
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+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en">
+  <head>
+    <title>
+      The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
+    </title>
+    <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve">
+    
+    body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify}
+    P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; }
+    H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; }
+    hr  { width: 50%; text-align: center;}
+    .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; }
+    blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;}
+    .mynote    {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;}
+    .toc       { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;}
+    .toc2      { margin-left: 20%;}
+    div.fig    { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; }
+    div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; }
+    .figleft   {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;}
+    .figright  {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;}
+    .pagenum   {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal;
+               margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%;
+               text-align: right;}
+    pre        { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;}
+    
+</style>
+  </head>
+  <body>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+Project Gutenberg's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
+
+Author: Hugh Lofting
+
+Release Date: September 17, 2008 [EBook #1154]
+Last Updated: February 4, 2013
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller, and David Widger
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br />
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE
+    </h1>
+    <h2>
+      By Hugh Lofting <br /> <br /> To<br /> Colin<br /> and<br /> Elizabeth
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <blockquote>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0001"> <b>THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_PROL"> PROLOGUE </a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_PART1"> <b>PART I</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE COBBLER'S SON </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> THE SECOND CHAPTER. I HEAR OF THE GREAT
+        NATURALIST </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> THE THIRD CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S HOME </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> THE FOURTH CHAPTER. THE WIFF-WAFF </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0008"> THE FIFTH CHAPTER. POLYNESIA </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0009"> THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0010"> THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. SHELLFISH TALK </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0011"> THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0012"> THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE GARDEN OF DREAMS </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0013"> THE TENTH CHAPTER. THE PRIVATE ZOO </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0014"> THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER. MY SCHOOLMASTER,
+        POLYNESIA </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0015"> THE TWELFTH CHAPTER. MY GREAT IDEA </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0016"> THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER. A TRAVELER ARRIVES
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0017"> THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER. CHEE-CHEE'S VOYAGE
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0018"> THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER. I BECOME A DOCTOR'S
+        ASSISTANT </a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_PART2"> <b>PART TWO</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0020"> THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE CREW OF "THE CURLEW"
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0021"> THE SECOND CHAPTER. LUKE THE HERMIT </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0022"> THE THIRD CHAPTER. JIP AND THE SECRET </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0023"> THE FOURTH CHAPTER. BOB </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0024"> THE FIFTH CHAPTER. MENDOZA </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0025"> THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE JUDGE'S DOG </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0026"> THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE END OF THE MYSTERY
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0027"> THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THREE CHEERS </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0028"> THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0029"> THE TENTH CHAPTER. LONG ARROW, THE SON OF
+        GOLDEN ARROW </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0030"> THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER. BLIND TRAVEL </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0031"> THE TWELFTH CHAPTER. DESTINY AND DESTINATION
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_PART3"> <b>PART THREE</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0033"> THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE THIRD MAN </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0034"> THE SECOND CHAPTER. GOOD-BYE! </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0035"> THE THIRD CHAPTER. OUR TROUBLES BEGIN </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0036"> THE FOURTH CHAPTER. OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0037"> THE FIFTH CHAPTER. POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0038"> THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0039"> THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S WAGER </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0040"> THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THE GREAT BULLFIGHT </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0041"> THE NINTH CHAPTER. WE DEPART IN A HURRY </a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_PART4"> <b>PART FOUR</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0043"> THE FIRST CHAPTER. SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0044"> THE SECOND CHAPTER. THE FIDGIT'S STORY </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0045"> THE THIRD CHAPTER. BAD WEATHER </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0046"> THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WRECKED! </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0047"> THE FIFTH CHAPTER. LAND! </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0048"> THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE JABIZRI </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0049"> THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. HAWK'S-HEAD MOUNTAIN </a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_PART5"> <b>PART FIVE</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0051"> THE FIRST CHAPTER. A GREAT MOMENT </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0052"> THE SECOND CHAPTER. "THE MEN OF THE MOVING
+        LAND" </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0053"> THE THIRD CHAPTER. FIRE </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0054"> THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0055"> THE FIFTH CHAPTER. WAR! </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0056"> THE SIXTH CHAPTER. GENERAL POLYNESIA </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0057"> THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0058"> THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THE HANGING STONE </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0059"> THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE ELECTION </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0060"> THE TENTH CHAPTER. THE CORONATION OF KING JONG
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p>
+        <br />
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_PART6"> <b>PART SIX</b> </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0062"> THE FIRST CHAPTER. NEW POPSIPETEL </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0063"> THE SECOND CHAPTER. THOUGHTS OF HOME </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0064"> THE THIRD CHAPTER. THE RED MAN'S SCIENCE </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0065"> THE FOURTH CHAPTER. THE SEA-SERPENT </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0066"> THE FIFTH CHAPTER. THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED
+        AT LAST </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0067"> THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE LAST CABINET MEETING
+        </a>
+      </p>
+      <p class="toc">
+        <a href="#link2H_4_0068"> THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S DECISION
+        </a>
+      </p>
+    </blockquote>
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br />
+    </p>
+    <hr />
+    <p>
+      <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <h1>
+      THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE
+    </h1>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PROL" id="link2H_PROL">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PROLOGUE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      ALL that I have written so far about Doctor Dolittle I heard long after it
+      happened from those who had known him&mdash;indeed a great deal of it took
+      place before I was born. But I now come to set down that part of the great
+      man's life which I myself saw and took part in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many years ago the Doctor gave me permission to do this. But we were both
+      of us so busy then voyaging around the world, having adventures and
+      filling note-books full of natural history that I never seemed to get time
+      to sit down and write of our doings.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now of course, when I am quite an old man, my memory isn't so good any
+      more. But whenever I am in doubt and have to hesitate and think, I always
+      ask Polynesia, the parrot.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      That wonderful bird (she is now nearly two hundred and fifty years old)
+      sits on the top of my desk, usually humming sailor songs to herself, while
+      I write this book. And, as every one who ever met her knows, Polynesia's
+      memory is the most marvelous memory in the world. If there is any
+      happening I am not quite sure of, she is always able to put me right, to
+      tell me exactly how it took place, who was there and everything about it.
+      In fact sometimes I almost think I ought to say that this book was written
+      by Polynesia instead of me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Very well then, I will begin. And first of all I must tell you something
+      about myself and how I came to meet the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PART1" id="link2H_PART1">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PART I
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE COBBLER'S SON
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      MY name was Tommy Stubbins, son of Jacob Stubbins, the cobbler of
+      Puddleby-on-the-Marsh; and I was nine and a half years old. At that time
+      Puddleby was only quite a small town. A river ran through the middle of
+      it; and over this river there was a very old stone bridge, called
+      Kingsbridge, which led you from the market-place on one side to the
+      churchyard on the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sailing-ships came up this river from the sea and anchored near the
+      bridge. I used to go down and watch the sailors unloading the ships upon
+      the river-wall. The sailors sang strange songs as they pulled upon the
+      ropes; and I learned these songs by heart. And I would sit on the
+      river-wall with my feet dangling over the water and sing with the men,
+      pretending to myself that I too was a sailor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For I longed always to sail away with those brave ships when they turned
+      their backs on Puddleby Church and went creeping down the river again,
+      across the wide lonely marshes to the sea. I longed to go with them out
+      into the world to seek my fortune in foreign lands&mdash;Africa, India,
+      China and Peru! When they got round the bend in the river and the water
+      was hidden from view, you could still see their huge brown sails towering
+      over the roofs of the town, moving onward slowly&mdash;like some gentle
+      giants that walked among the houses without noise. What strange things
+      would they have seen, I wondered, when next they came back to anchor at
+      Kingsbridge! And, dreaming of the lands I had never seen, I'd sit on
+      there, watching till they were out of sight.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Three great friends I had in Puddleby in those days. One was Joe, the
+      mussel-man, who lived in a tiny hut by the edge of the water under the
+      bridge. This old man was simply marvelous at making things. I never saw a
+      man so clever with his hands. He used to mend my toy ships for me which I
+      sailed upon the river; he built windmills out of packing-cases and
+      barrel-staves; and he could make the most wonderful kites from old
+      umbrellas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joe would sometimes take me in his mussel-boat, and when the tide was
+      running out we would paddle down the river as far as the edge of the sea
+      to get mussels and lobsters to sell. And out there on the cold lonely
+      marshes we would see wild geese flying, and curlews and redshanks and many
+      other kinds of seabirds that live among the samfire and the long grass of
+      the great salt fen. And as we crept up the river in the evening, when the
+      tide had turned, we would see the lights on Kingsbridge twinkle in the
+      dusk, reminding us of tea-time and warm fires.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another friend I had was Matthew Mugg, the cat's-meat-man. He was a funny
+      old person with a bad squint. He looked rather awful but he was really
+      quite nice to talk to. He knew everybody in Puddleby; and he knew all the
+      dogs and all the cats. In those times being a cat's-meat-man was a regular
+      business. And you could see one nearly any day going through the streets
+      with a wooden tray full of pieces of meat stuck on skewers crying, "Meat!
+      M-E-A-T!" People paid him to give this meat to their cats and dogs instead
+      of feeding them on dog-biscuits or the scraps from the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I enjoyed going round with old Matthew and seeing the cats and dogs come
+      running to the garden-gates whenever they heard his call. Sometimes he let
+      me give the meat to the animals myself; and I thought this was great fun.
+      He knew a lot about dogs and he would tell me the names of the different
+      kinds as we went through the town. He had several dogs of his own; one, a
+      whippet, was a very fast runner, and Matthew used to win prizes with her
+      at the Saturday coursing races; another, a terrier, was a fine ratter. The
+      cat's-meat-man used to make a business of rat-catching for the millers and
+      farmers as well as his other trade of selling cat's-meat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My third great friend was Luke the Hermit. But of him I will tell you more
+      later on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I did not go to school; because my father was not rich enough to send me.
+      But I was extremely fond of animals. So I used to spend my time collecting
+      birds' eggs and butterflies, fishing in the river, rambling through the
+      countryside after blackberries and mushrooms and helping the mussel-man
+      mend his nets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yes, it was a very pleasant life I lived in those days long ago&mdash;though
+      of course I did not think so then. I was nine and a half years old; and,
+      like all boys, I wanted to grow up&mdash;not knowing how well off I was
+      with no cares and nothing to worry me. Always I longed for the time when I
+      should be allowed to leave my father's house, to take passage in one of
+      those brave ships, to sail down the river through the misty marshes to the
+      sea&mdash;out into the world to seek my fortune.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SECOND CHAPTER. I HEAR OF THE GREAT NATURALIST
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      ONE early morning in the Springtime, when I was wandering among the hills
+      at the back of the town, I happened to come upon a hawk with a squirrel in
+      its claws. It was standing on a rock and the squirrel was fighting very
+      hard for its life. The hawk was so frightened when I came upon it suddenly
+      like this, that it dropped the poor creature and flew away. I picked the
+      squirrel up and found that two of its legs were badly hurt. So I carried
+      it in my arms back to the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I came to the bridge I went into the musselman's hut and asked him if
+      he could do anything for it. Joe put on his spectacles and examined it
+      carefully. Then he shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yon crittur's got a broken leg," he said&mdash;"and another badly cut an'
+      all. I can mend you your boats, Tom, but I haven't the tools nor the
+      learning to make a broken squirrel seaworthy. This is a job for a surgeon&mdash;and
+      for a right smart one an' all. There be only one man I know who could save
+      yon crittur's life. And that's John Dolittle."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Who is John Dolittle?" I asked. "Is he a vet?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said the mussel-man. "He's no vet. Doctor Dolittle is a
+      nacheralist."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's a nacheralist?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A nacheralist," said Joe, putting away his glasses and starting to fill
+      his pipe, "is a man who knows all about animals and butterflies and plants
+      and rocks an' all. John Dolittle is a very great nacheralist. I'm
+      surprised you never heard of him&mdash;and you daft over animals. He knows
+      a whole lot about shellfish&mdash;that I know from my own knowledge. He's
+      a quiet man and don't talk much; but there's folks who do say he's the
+      greatest nacheralist in the world."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Where does he live?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Over on the Oxenthorpe Road, t'other side the town. Don't know just which
+      house it is, but 'most anyone 'cross there could tell you, I reckon. Go
+      and see him. He's a great man."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So I thanked the mussel-man, took up my squirrel again and started oft
+      towards the Oxenthorpe Road.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The first thing I heard as I came into the marketplace was some one
+      calling "Meat! M-E-A-T!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's Matthew Mugg," I said to myself. "He'll know where this Doctor
+      lives. Matthew knows everyone."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So I hurried across the market-place and caught him up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Matthew," I said, "do you know Doctor Dolittle?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do I know John Dolittle!" said he. "Well, I should think I do! I know him
+      as well as I know my own wife&mdash;better, I sometimes think. He's a
+      great man&mdash;a very great man."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Can you show me where he lives?" I asked. "I want to take this squirrel
+      to him. It has a broken leg."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly," said the cat's-meat-man. "I'll be going right by his house
+      directly. Come along and I'll show you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So off we went together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, I've known John Dolittle for years and years," said Matthew as we
+      made our way out of the market-place. "But I'm pretty sure he ain't home
+      just now. He's away on a voyage. But he's liable to be back any day. I'll
+      show you his house and then you'll know where to find him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All the way down the Oxenthorpe Road Matthew hardly stopped talking about
+      his great friend, Doctor John Dolittle&mdash;"M. D." He talked so much
+      that he forgot all about calling out "Meat!" until we both suddenly
+      noticed that we had a whole procession of dogs following us patiently.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Where did the Doctor go to on this voyage?" I asked as Matthew handed
+      round the meat to them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I couldn't tell you," he answered. "Nobody never knows where he goes, nor
+      when he's going, nor when he's coming back. He lives all alone except for
+      his pets. He's made some great voyages and some wonderful discoveries.
+      Last time he came back he told me he'd found a tribe of Red Indians in the
+      Pacific Ocean&mdash;lived on two islands, they did. The husbands lived on
+      one island and the wives lived on the other. Sensible people, some of them
+      savages. They only met once a year, when the husbands came over to visit
+      the wives for a great feast&mdash;Christmas-time, most likely. Yes, he's a
+      wonderful man is the Doctor. And as for animals, well, there ain't no one
+      knows as much about 'em as what he does."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How did he get to know so much about animals?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The cat's-meat-man stopped and leant down to whisper in my ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "HE TALKS THEIR LANGUAGE," he said in a hoarse, mysterious voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The animals' language?" I cried.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why certainly," said Matthew. "All animals have some kind of a language.
+      Some sorts talk more than others; some only speak in sign-language, like
+      deaf-and-dumb. But the Doctor, he understands them all&mdash;birds as well
+      as animals. We keep it a secret though, him and me, because folks only
+      laugh at you when you speak of it. Why, he can even write animal-language.
+      He reads aloud to his pets. He's wrote history-books in monkey-talk,
+      poetry in canary language and comic songs for magpies to sing. It's a
+      fact. He's now busy learning the language of the shellfish. But he says
+      it's hard work&mdash;and he has caught some terrible colds, holding his
+      head under water so much. He's a great man."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He certainly must be," I said. "I do wish he were home so I could meet
+      him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, there's his house, look," said the cat's, meat-man&mdash;"that
+      little one at the bend in the road there&mdash;the one high up&mdash;like
+      it was sitting on the wall above the street."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were now come beyond the edge of the town. And the house that Matthew
+      pointed out was quite a small one standing by itself. There seemed to be a
+      big garden around it; and this garden was much higher than the road, so
+      you had to go up a flight of steps in the wall before you reached the
+      front gate at the top. I could see that there were many fine fruit trees
+      in the garden, for their branches hung down over the wall in places. But
+      the wall was so high I could not see anything else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we reached the house Matthew went up the steps to the front gate and
+      I followed him. I thought he was going to go into the garden; but the gate
+      was locked. A dog came running down from the house; and he took several
+      pieces of meat which the cat's-meat-man pushed through the bars of the
+      gate, and some paper bags full of corn and bran, I noticed that this dog
+      did not stop to eat the meat, as any ordinary dog would have done, but he
+      took all the things back to the house and disappeared. He had a curious
+      wide collar round his neck which looked as though it were made of brass or
+      something. Then we came away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The Doctor isn't back yet," said Matthew, "or the gate wouldn't be
+      locked."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What were all those things in paper-bags you gave the dog?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, those were provisions," said Matthew&mdash;"things for the animals to
+      eat. The Doctor's house is simply full of pets. I give the things to the
+      dog, while the Doctor's away, and the dog gives them to the other
+      animals."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And what was that curious collar he was wearing round his neck?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's a solid gold dog-collar," said Matthew. "It was given to him when
+      he was with the Doctor on one of his voyages long ago. He saved a man's
+      life."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How long has the Doctor had him?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, a long time. Jip's getting pretty old now. That's why the Doctor
+      doesn't take him on his voyages any more. He leaves him behind to take
+      care of the house. Every Monday and Thursday I bring the food to the gate
+      here and give it him through the bars. He never lets any one come inside
+      the garden while the Doctor's away&mdash;not even me, though he knows me
+      well. But you'll always be able to tell if the Doctor's back or not&mdash;because
+      if he is, the gate will surely be open."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So I went off home to my father's house and put my squirrel to bed in an
+      old wooden box full of straw. And there I nursed him myself and took care
+      of him as best I could till the time should come when the Doctor would
+      return. And every day I went to the little house with the big garden on
+      the edge of the town and tried the gate to see if it were locked.
+      Sometimes the dog, Jip, would come down to the gate to meet me. But though
+      he always wagged his tail and seemed glad to see me, he never let me come
+      inside the garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE THIRD CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S HOME
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      ONE Monday afternoon towards the end of April my father asked me to take
+      some shoes which he had mended to a house on the other side of the town.
+      They were for a Colonel Bellowes who was very particular.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I found the house and rang the bell at the front door. The Colonel opened
+      it, stuck out a very red face and said, "Go round to the tradesmen's
+      entrance&mdash;go to the back door." Then he slammed the door shut.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I felt inclined to throw the shoes into the middle of his flower-bed. But
+      I thought my father might be angry, so I didn't. I went round to the back
+      door, and there the Colonel's wife met me and took the shoes from me. She
+      looked a timid little woman and had her hands all over flour as though she
+      were making bread. She seemed to be terribly afraid of her husband whom I
+      could still hear stumping round the house somewhere, grunting indignantly
+      because I had come to the front door. Then she asked me in a whisper if I
+      would have a bun and a glass of milk. And I said, "Yes, please." After I
+      had eaten the bun and milk, I thanked the Colonel's wife and came away.
+      Then I thought that before I went home I would go and see if the Doctor
+      had come back yet. I had been to his house once already that morning. But
+      I thought I'd just like to go and take another look. My squirrel wasn't
+      getting any better and I was beginning to be worried about him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So I turned into the Oxenthorpe Road and started off towards the Doctor's
+      house. On the way I noticed that the sky was clouding over and that it
+      looked as though it might rain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I reached the gate and found it still locked. I felt very discouraged. I
+      had been coming here every day for a week now. The dog, Jip, came to the
+      gate and wagged his tail as usual, and then sat down and watched me
+      closely to see that I didn't get in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I began to fear that my squirrel would die before the Doctor came back. I
+      turned away sadly, went down the steps on to the road and turned towards
+      home again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I wondered if it were supper-time yet. Of course I had no watch of my own,
+      but I noticed a gentleman coming towards me down the road; and when he got
+      nearer I saw it was the Colonel out for a walk. He was all wrapped up in
+      smart overcoats and mufflers and bright-colored gloves. It was not a very
+      cold day but he had so many clothes on he looked like a pillow inside a
+      roll of blankets. I asked him if he would please tell me the time.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He stopped, grunted and glared down at me&mdash;his red face growing
+      redder still; and when he spoke it sounded like the cork coming out of a
+      gingerbeer-bottle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you imagine for one moment," he spluttered, "that I am going to get
+      myself all unbuttoned just to tell a little boy like you THE TIME!" And he
+      went stumping down the street, grunting harder than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I stood still a moment looking after him and wondering how old I would
+      have to be, to have him go to the trouble of getting his watch out. And
+      then, all of a sudden, the rain came down in torrents.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I have never seen it rain so hard. It got dark, almost like night. The
+      wind began to blow; the thunder rolled; the lightning flashed, and in a
+      moment the gutters of the road were flowing like a river. There was no
+      place handy to take shelter, so I put my head down against the driving
+      wind and started to run towards home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I hadn't gone very far when my head bumped into something soft and I sat
+      down suddenly on the pavement. I looked up to see whom I had run into. And
+      there in front of me, sitting on the wet pavement like myself, was a
+      little round man with a very kind face. He wore a shabby high hat and in
+      his hand he had a small black bag.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm very sorry," I said. "I had my head down and I didn't see you
+      coming."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To my great surprise, instead of getting angry at being knocked down, the
+      little man began to laugh.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You know this reminds me," he said, "of a time once when I was in India.
+      I ran full tilt into a woman in a thunderstorm. But she was carrying a
+      pitcher of molasses on her head and I had treacle in my hair for weeks
+      afterwards&mdash;the flies followed me everywhere. I didn't hurt you, did
+      I?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," I said. "I'm all right."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It was just as much my fault as it was yours, you know," said the little
+      man. "I had my head down too&mdash;but look here, we mustn't sit talking
+      like this. You must be soaked. I know I am. How far have you got to go?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My home is on the other side of the town," I said, as we picked ourselves
+      up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My Goodness, but that was a wet pavement!" said he. "And I declare it's
+      coming down worse than ever. Come along to my house and get dried. A storm
+      like this can't last."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took hold of my hand and we started running back down the road
+      together. As we ran I began to wonder who this funny little man could be,
+      and where he lived. I was a perfect stranger to him, and yet he was taking
+      me to his own home to get dried. Such a change, after the old red-faced
+      Colonel who had refused even to tell me the time! Presently we stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here we are," he said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked up to see where we were and found myself back at the foot of the
+      steps leading to the little house with the big garden! My new friend was
+      already running up the steps and opening the gate with some keys he took
+      from his pocket.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Surely," I thought, "this cannot be the great Doctor Dolittle himself!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I suppose after hearing so much about him I had expected some one very
+      tall and strong and marvelous. It was hard to believe that this funny
+      little man with the kind smiling face could be really he. Yet here he was,
+      sure enough, running up the steps and opening the very gate which I had
+      been watching for so many days!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The dog, Jip, came rushing out and started jumping up on him and barking
+      with happiness. The rain was splashing down heavier than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Are you Doctor Dolittle?" I shouted as we sped up the short garden-path
+      to the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, I'm Doctor Dolittle," said he, opening the front door with the same
+      bunch of keys. "Get in! Don't bother about wiping your feet. Never mind
+      the mud. Take it in with you. Get in out of the rain!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I popped in, he and Jip following. Then he slammed the door to behind us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The storm had made it dark enough outside; but inside the house, with the
+      door closed, it was as black as night. Then began the most extraordinary
+      noise that I have ever heard. It sounded like all sorts and kinds of
+      animals and birds calling and squeaking and screeching at the same time. I
+      could hear things trundling down the stairs and hurrying along passages.
+      Somewhere in the dark a duck was quacking, a cock was crowing, a dove was
+      cooing, an owl was hooting, a lamb was bleating and Jip was barking. I
+      felt birds' wings fluttering and fanning near my face. Things kept bumping
+      into my legs and nearly upsetting me. The whole front hall seemed to be
+      filling up with animals. The noise, together with the roaring of the rain,
+      was tremendous; and I was beginning to grow a little bit scared when I
+      felt the Doctor take hold of my arm and shout into my ear.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't be alarmed. Don't be frightened. These are just some of my pets.
+      I've been away three months and they are glad to see me home again. Stand
+      still where you are till I strike a light. My Gracious, what a storm!&mdash;Just
+      listen to that thunder!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So there I stood in the pitch-black dark, while all kinds of animals which
+      I couldn't see chattered and jostled around me. It was a curious and a
+      funny feeling. I had often wondered, when I had looked in from the front
+      gate, what Doctor Dolittle would be like and what the funny little house
+      would have inside it. But I never imagined it would be anything like this.
+      Yet somehow after I had felt the Doctor's hand upon my arm I was not
+      frightened, only confused. It all seemed like some queer dream; and I was
+      beginning to wonder if I was really awake, when I heard the Doctor
+      speaking again:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My blessed matches are all wet. They won't strike. Have you got any?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, I'm afraid I haven't," I called back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Never mind," said he. "Perhaps Dab-Dab can raise us a light somewhere."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Doctor made some funny clicking noises with his tongue and I
+      heard some one trundle up the stairs again and start moving about in the
+      rooms above.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we waited quite a while without anything happening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Will the light be long in coming?" I asked. "Some animal is sitting on my
+      foot and my toes are going to sleep."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, only a minute," said the Doctor. "She'll be back in a minute."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And just then I saw the first glimmerings of a light around the landing
+      above. At once all the animals kept quiet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I thought you lived alone," I said to the Doctor. "So I do," said he. "It
+      is Dab-Dab who is bringing the light."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked up the stairs trying to make out who was coming. I could not see
+      around the landing but I heard the most curious footstep on the upper
+      flight. It sounded like some one hopping down from one step to the other,
+      as though he were using only one leg.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the light came lower, it grew brighter and began to throw strange
+      jumping shadows on the walls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah-at last!" said the Doctor. "Good old Dab-Dab!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then I thought I REALLY must be dreaming. For there, craning her neck
+      round the bend of the landing, hopping down the stairs on one leg, came a
+      spotless white duck. And in her right foot she carried a lighted candle!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FOURTH CHAPTER. THE WIFF-WAFF
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WHEN at last I could look around me I found that the hall was indeed
+      simply full of animals. It seemed to me that almost every kind of creature
+      from the countryside must be there: a pigeon, a white rat, an owl, a
+      badger, a jackdaw&mdash;there was even a small pig, just in from the rainy
+      garden, carefully wiping his feet on the mat while the light from the
+      candle glistened on his wet pink back.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor took the candlestick from the duck and turned to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look here," he said: "you must get those wet clothes off&mdash;by the
+      way, what is your name?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Tommy Stubbins," I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, are you the son of Jacob Stubbins, the shoemaker?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Excellent bootmaker, your father," said the Doctor. "You see these?" and
+      he held up his right foot to show me the enormous boots he was wearing.
+      "Your father made me those boots four years ago, and I've been wearing
+      them ever since&mdash;perfectly wonderful boots&mdash;Well now, look here,
+      Stubbins. You 've got to change those wet things and quick. Wait a moment
+      till I get some more candles lit, and then we'll go upstairs and find some
+      dry clothes. You'll have to wear an old suit of mine till we can get yours
+      dry again by the kitchen-fire."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So presently when more candles had been lighted round different parts of
+      the house, we went upstairs; and when we had come into a bedroom the
+      Doctor opened a big wardrobe and took out two suits of old clothes. These
+      we put on. Then we carried our wet ones down to the kitchen and started a
+      fire in the big chimney. The coat of the Doctor's which I was wearing was
+      so large for me that I kept treading on my own coat-tails while I was
+      helping to fetch the wood up from the cellar. But very soon we had a huge
+      big fire blazing up the chimney and we hung our wet clothes around on
+      chairs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now let's cook some supper," said the Doctor.&mdash;"You'll stay and have
+      supper with me, Stubbins, of course?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Already I was beginning to be very fond of this funny little man who
+      called me "Stubbins," instead of "Tommy" or "little lad" (I did so hate to
+      be called "little lad"!) This man seemed to begin right away treating me
+      as though I were a grown-up friend of his. And when he asked me to stop
+      and have supper with him I felt terribly proud and happy. But I suddenly
+      remembered that I had not told my mother that I would be out late. So very
+      sadly I answered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thank you very much. I would like to stay, but I am afraid that my mother
+      will begin to worry and wonder where I am if I don't get back."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, but my dear Stubbins," said the Doctor, throwing another log of wood
+      on the fire, "your clothes aren't dry yet. You'll have to wait for them,
+      won't you? By the time they are ready to put on we will have supper cooked
+      and eaten&mdash;Did you see where I put my bag?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think it is still in the hall," I said. "I'll go and see."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I found the bag near the front door. It was made of black leather and
+      looked very, very old. One of its latches was broken and it was tied up
+      round the middle with a piece of string.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thank you," said the Doctor when I brought it to him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Was that bag all the luggage you had for your voyage?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said the Doctor, as he undid the piece of string. "I don't believe
+      in a lot of baggage. It's such a nuisance. Life's too short to fuss with
+      it. And it isn't really necessary, you know&mdash;Where DID I put those
+      sausages?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor was feeling about inside the bag. First he brought out a loaf
+      of new bread. Next came a glass jar with a curious metal top to it. He
+      held this up to the light very carefully before he set it down upon the
+      table; and I could see that there was some strange little water-creature
+      swimming about inside. At last the Doctor brought out a pound of sausages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now," he said, "all we want is a frying-pan."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We went into the scullery and there we found some pots and pans hanging
+      against the wall. The Doctor took down the frying-pan. It was quite rusty
+      on the inside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dear me, just look at that!" said he. "That's the worst of being away so
+      long. The animals are very good and keep the house wonderfully clean as
+      far as they can. Dab-Dab is a perfect marvel as a housekeeper. But some
+      things of course they can't manage. Never mind, we'll soon clean it up.
+      You'll find some silver-sand down there, under the sink, Stubbins. Just
+      hand it up to me, will you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a few moments we had the pan all shiny and bright and the sausages were
+      put over the kitchen-fire and a beautiful frying smell went all through
+      the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While the Doctor was busy at the cooking I went and took another look at
+      the funny little creature swimming about in the glass jar.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What is this animal?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh that," said the Doctor, turning round&mdash;"that's a Wiff-Waff. Its
+      full name is hippocampus Pippitopitus. But the natives just call it a
+      Wiff-Waff&mdash;on account of the way it waves its tail, swimming, I
+      imagine. That's what I went on this last voyage for, to get that. You see
+      I'm very busy just now trying to learn the language of the shellfish. They
+      HAVE languages, of that I feel sure. I can talk a little shark language
+      and porpoise dialect myself. But what I particularly want to learn now is
+      shellfish."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, you see, some of the shellfish are the oldest kind of animals in
+      the world that we know of. We find their shells in the rocks&mdash;turned
+      to stone&mdash;thousands of years old. So I feel quite sure that if I
+      could only get to talk their language, I should be able to learn a whole
+      lot about what the world was like ages and ages and ages ago. You see?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But couldn't some of the other animals tell you as well?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't think so," said the Doctor, prodding the sausages with a fork.
+      "To be sure, the monkeys I knew in Africa some time ago were very helpful
+      in telling me about bygone days; but they only went back a thousand years
+      or so. No, I am certain that the oldest history in the world is to be had
+      from the shellfish&mdash;and from them only. You see most of the other
+      animals that were alive in those very ancient times have now become
+      extinct."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Have you learned any shellfish language yet?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No. I've only just begun. I wanted this particular kind of a pipe-fish
+      because he is half a shellfish and half an ordinary fish. I went all the
+      way to the Eastern Mediterranean after him. But I'm very much afraid he
+      isn't going to be a great deal of help to me. To tell you the truth, I'm
+      rather disappointed in his appearance. He doesn't LOOK very intelligent,
+      does he?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, he doesn't," I agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah," said the Doctor. "The sausages are done to a turn. Come along&mdash;hold
+      your plate near and let me give you some."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we sat down at the kitchen-table and started a hearty meal.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a wonderful kitchen, that. I had many meals there afterwards and I
+      found it a better place to eat in than the grandest dining-room in the
+      world. It was so cozy and home-like and warm. It was so handy for the food
+      too. You took it right off the fire, hot, and put it on the table and ate
+      it. And you could watch your toast toasting at the fender and see it
+      didn't burn while you drank your soup. And if you had forgotten to put the
+      salt on the table, you didn't have to get up and go into another room to
+      fetch it; you just reached round and took the big wooden box off the
+      dresser behind you. Then the fireplace&mdash;the biggest fireplace you
+      ever saw&mdash;was like a room in itself. You could get right inside it
+      even when the logs were burning and sit on the wide seats either side and
+      roast chestnuts after the meal was over&mdash;or listen to the kettle
+      singing, or tell stories, or look at picture-books by the light of the
+      fire. It was a marvelous kitchen. It was like the Doctor, comfortable,
+      sensible, friendly and solid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While we were gobbling away, the door suddenly opened and in marched the
+      duck, Dab-Dab, and the dog, Jip, dragging sheets and pillow-cases behind
+      them over the clean tiled floor. The Doctor, seeing how surprised I was,
+      explained:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They're just going to air the bedding for me in front of the fire.
+      Dab-Dab is a perfect treasure of a housekeeper; she never forgets
+      anything. I had a sister once who used to keep house for me (poor, dear
+      Sarah! I wonder how she's getting on&mdash;I haven't seen her in many
+      years). But she wasn't nearly as good as Dab-Dab. Have another sausage?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor turned and said a few words to the dog and duck in some strange
+      talk and signs. They seemed to understand him perfectly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Can you talk in squirrel language?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh yes. That's quite an easy language," said the Doctor. "You could learn
+      that yourself without a great deal of trouble. But why do you ask?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Because I have a sick squirrel at home," I said. "I took it away from a
+      hawk. But two of its legs are badly hurt and I wanted very much to have
+      you see it, if you would. Shall I bring it to-morrow?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, if its leg is badly broken I think I had better see it to-night. It
+      may be too late to do much; but I'll come home with you and take a look at
+      it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So presently we felt the clothes by the fire and mine were found to be
+      quite dry. I took them upstairs to the bedroom and changed, and when I
+      came down the Doctor was all ready waiting for me with his little black
+      bag full of medicines and bandages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come along," he said. "The rain has stopped now."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside it had grown bright again and the evening sky was all red with the
+      setting sun; and thrushes were singing in the garden as we opened the gate
+      to go down on to the road.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0008" id="link2H_4_0008">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIFTH CHAPTER. POLYNESIA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      "I THINK your house is the most interesting house I was ever in," I said
+      as we set off in the direction of the town. "May I come and see you again
+      to-morrow?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly," said the Doctor. "Come any day you like. To-morrow I'll show
+      you the garden and my private zoo."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, have you a zoo?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said he. "The larger animals are too big for the house, so I keep
+      them in a zoo in the garden. It is not a very big collection but it is
+      interesting in its way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It must be splendid," I said, "to be able to talk all the languages of
+      the different animals. Do you think I could ever learn to do it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh surely," said the Doctor&mdash;"with practise. You have to be very
+      patient, you know. You really ought to have Polynesia to start you. It was
+      she who gave me my first lessons."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Who is Polynesia?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Polynesia was a West African parrot I had. She isn't with me any more
+      now," said the Doctor sadly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why&mdash;is she dead?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh no," said the Doctor. "She is still living, I hope. But when we
+      reached Africa she seemed so glad to get back to her own country. She wept
+      for joy. And when the time came for me to come back here I had not the
+      heart to take her away from that sunny land&mdash;although, it is true,
+      she did offer to come. I left her in Africa&mdash;Ah well! I have missed
+      her terribly. She wept again when we left. But I think I did the right
+      thing. She was one of the best friends I ever had. It was she who first
+      gave me the idea of learning the animal languages and becoming an animal
+      doctor. I often wonder if she remained happy in Africa, and whether I
+      shall ever see her funny, old, solemn face again&mdash;Good old Polynesia!&mdash;A
+      most extraordinary bird&mdash;Well, well!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just at that moment we heard the noise of some one running behind us; and
+      turning round we saw Jip the dog rushing down the road after us, as fast
+      as his legs could bring him. He seemed very excited about something, and
+      as soon as he came up to us, he started barking and whining to the Doctor
+      in a peculiar way. Then the Doctor too seemed to get all worked up and
+      began talking and making queer signs to the dog. At length he turned to
+      me, his face shining with happiness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Polynesia has come back!" he cried. "Imagine it. Jip says she has just
+      arrived at the house. My! And it's five years since I saw her&mdash;Excuse
+      me a minute."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned as if to go back home. But the parrot, Polynesia, was already
+      flying towards us. The Doctor clapped his hands like a child getting a new
+      toy; while the swarm of sparrows in the roadway fluttered, gossiping, up
+      on to the fences, highly scandalized to see a gray and scarlet parrot
+      skimming down an English lane.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On she came, straight on to the Doctor's shoulder, where she immediately
+      began talking a steady stream in a language I could not understand. She
+      seemed to have a terrible lot to say. And very soon the Doctor had
+      forgotten all about me and my squirrel and Jip and everything else; till
+      at length the bird clearly asked him something about me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh excuse me, Stubbins!" said the Doctor. "I was so interested listening
+      to my old friend here. We must get on and see this squirrel of yours&mdash;Polynesia,
+      this is Thomas Stubbins."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The parrot, on the Doctor's shoulder, nodded gravely towards me and then,
+      to my great surprise, said quite plainly in English,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How do you do? I remember the night you were born. It was a terribly cold
+      winter. You were a very ugly baby."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Stubbins is anxious to learn animal language," said the Doctor. "I was
+      just telling him about you and the lessons you gave me when Jip ran up and
+      told us you had arrived."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said the parrot, turning to me, "I may have started the Doctor
+      learning but I never could have done even that, if he hadn't first taught
+      me to understand what I was saying when I spoke English. You see, many
+      parrots can talk like a person, but very few of them understand what they
+      are saying. They just say it because&mdash;well, because they fancy it is
+      smart or, because they know they will get crackers given them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By this time we had turned and were going towards my home with Jip running
+      in front and Polynesia still perched on the Doctor's shoulder. The bird
+      chattered incessantly, mostly about Africa; but now she spoke in English,
+      out of politeness to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How is Prince Bumpo getting on?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, I'm glad you asked me," said Polynesia. "I almost forgot to tell you.
+      What do you think?&mdash;BUMPO IS IN ENGLAND!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "In England!&mdash;You don't say!" cried the Doctor. "What on earth is he
+      doing here?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "His father, the king, sent him here to a place called&mdash;er&mdash;Bullford,
+      I think it was&mdash;to study lessons."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Bullford!&mdash;Bullford!" muttered the Doctor. "I never heard of the
+      place&mdash;Oh, you mean Oxford."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, that's the place&mdash;Oxford," said Polynesia "I knew it had cattle
+      in it somewhere. Oxford&mdash;that's the place he's gone to."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, well," murmured the Doctor. "Fancy Bumpo studying at Oxford&mdash;Well,
+      well!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There were great doings in Jolliginki when he left. He was scared to
+      death to come. He was the first man from that country to go abroad. He
+      thought he was going to be eaten by white cannibals or something. You know
+      what those niggers are&mdash;that ignorant! Well!&mdash;But his father
+      made him come. He said that all the black kings were sending their sons to
+      Oxford now. It was the fashion, and he would have to go. Bumpo wanted to
+      bring his six wives with him. But the king wouldn't let him do that
+      either. Poor Bumpo went off in tears&mdash;and everybody in the palace was
+      crying too. You never heard such a hullabaloo."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you know if he ever went back in search of The Sleeping Beauty?" asked
+      the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh yes," said Polynesia&mdash;"the day after you left. And a good thing
+      for him he did: the king got to know about his helping you to escape; and
+      he was dreadfully wild about it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And The Sleeping Beauty?&mdash;did he ever find her?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, he brought back something which he SAID was The Sleeping Beauty.
+      Myself, I think it was an albino niggeress. She had red hair and the
+      biggest feet you ever saw. But Bumpo was no end pleased with her and
+      finally married her amid great rejoicings. The feastings lasted seven
+      days. She became his chief wife and is now known out there as the
+      Crown-Princess BumPAH&mdash;you accent the last syllable."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And tell me, did he remain white?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Only for about three months," said the parrot. "After that his face
+      slowly returned to its natural color. It was just as well. He was so
+      conspicuous in his bathing-suit the way he was, with his face white and
+      the rest of him black."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And how is Chee-Chee getting on?&mdash;Chee-Chee," added the Doctor in
+      explanation to me, "was a pet monkey I had years ago. I left him too in
+      Africa when I came away."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said Polynesia frowning,&mdash;"Chee-Chee is not entirely happy. I
+      saw a good deal of him the last few years. He got dreadfully homesick for
+      you and the house and the garden. It's funny, but I was just the same way
+      myself. You remember how crazy I was to get back to the dear old land? And
+      Africa IS a wonderful country&mdash;I don't care what anybody says. Well,
+      I thought I was going to have a perfectly grand time. But somehow&mdash;I
+      don't know&mdash;after a few weeks it seemed to get tiresome. I just
+      couldn't seem to settle down. Well, to make a long story short, one night
+      I made up my mind that I'd come back here and find you. So I hunted up old
+      Chee-Chee and told him about it. He said he didn't blame me a bit&mdash;felt
+      exactly the same way himself. Africa was so deadly quiet after the life we
+      had led with you. He missed the stories you used to tell us out of your
+      animal books&mdash;and the chats we used to have sitting round the
+      kitchen-fire on winter nights. The animals out there were very nice to us
+      and all that. But somehow the dear kind creatures seemed a bit stupid.
+      Chee-Chee said he had noticed it too. But I suppose it wasn't they who had
+      changed; it was we who were different. When I left, poor old Chee-Chee
+      broke down and cried. He said he felt as though his only friend were
+      leaving him&mdash;though, as you know, he has simply millions of relatives
+      there. He said it didn't seem fair that I should have wings to fly over
+      here any time I liked, and him with no way to follow me. But mark my
+      words, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he found a way to come&mdash;some
+      day. He's a smart lad, is Chee-Chee."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this point we arrived at my home. My father's shop was closed and the
+      shutters were up; but my mother was standing at the door looking down the
+      street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good evening, Mrs. Stubbins," said the Doctor. "It is my fault your son
+      is so late. I made him stay to supper while his clothes were drying. He
+      was soaked to the skin; and so was I. We ran into one another in the storm
+      and I insisted on his coming into my house for shelter."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was beginning to get worried about him," said my mother. "I am thankful
+      to you, Sir, for looking after him so well and bringing him home."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't mention it&mdash;don't mention it," said the Doctor. "We have had a
+      very interesting chat."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Who might it be that I have the honor of addressing?" asked my mother
+      staring at the gray parrot perched on the Doctor's shoulder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, I'm John Dolittle. I dare say your husband will remember me. He made
+      me some very excellent boots about four years ago. They really are
+      splendid," added the Doctor, gazing down at his feet with great
+      satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The Doctor has come to cure my squirrel, Mother," said I. "He knows all
+      about animals."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, no," said the Doctor, "not all, Stubbins, not all about them by any
+      means."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It is very kind of you to come so far to look after his pet," said my
+      mother. "Tom is always bringing home strange creatures from the woods and
+      the fields."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Is he?" said the Doctor. "Perhaps he will grow up to be a naturalist some
+      day. Who knows?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Won't you come in?" asked my mother. "The place is a little untidy
+      because I haven't finished the spring cleaning yet. But there's a nice
+      fire burning in the parlor."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thank you!" said the Doctor. "What a charming home you have!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And after wiping his enormous boots very, very carefully on the mat, the
+      great man passed into the house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0009" id="link2H_4_0009">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      INSIDE we found my father busy practising on the flute beside the fire.
+      This he always did, every evening, after his work was over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor immediately began talking to him about flutes and piccolos and
+      bassoons; and presently my father said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Perhaps you perform upon the flute yourself, Sir. Won't you play us a
+      tune?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said the Doctor, "it is a long time since I touched the
+      instrument. But I would like to try. May I?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Doctor took the flute from my father and played and played and
+      played. It was wonderful. My mother and father sat as still as statues,
+      staring up at the ceiling as though they were in church; and even I, who
+      didn't bother much about music except on the mouth-organ&mdash;even I felt
+      all sad and cold and creepy and wished I had been a better boy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh I think that was just beautiful!" sighed my mother when at length the
+      Doctor stopped.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You are a great musician, Sir," said my father, "a very great musician.
+      Won't you please play us something else?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why certainly," said the Doctor&mdash;"Oh, but look here, I've forgotten
+      all about the squirrel."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'll show him to you," I said. "He is upstairs in my room."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So I led the Doctor to my bedroom at the top of the house and showed him
+      the squirrel in the packing-case filled with straw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The animal, who had always seemed very much afraid of me&mdash;though I
+      had tried hard to make him feel at home, sat up at once when the Doctor
+      came into the room and started to chatter. The Doctor chattered back in
+      the same way and the squirrel when he was lifted up to have his leg
+      examined, appeared to be rather pleased than frightened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I held a candle while the Doctor tied the leg up in what he called
+      "splints," which he made out of match-sticks with his pen-knife.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think you will find that his leg will get better now in a very short
+      time," said the Doctor closing up his bag. "Don't let him run about for at
+      least two weeks yet, but keep him in the open air and cover him up with
+      dry leaves if the nights get cool. He tells me he is rather lonely here,
+      all by himself, and is wondering how his wife and children are getting on.
+      I have assured him you are a man to be trusted; and I will send a squirrel
+      who lives in my garden to find out how his family are and to bring him
+      news of them. He must be kept cheerful at all costs. Squirrels are
+      naturally a very cheerful, active race. It is very hard for them to lie
+      still doing nothing. But you needn't worry about him. He will be all
+      right."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we went back again to the parlor and my mother and father kept him
+      playing the flute till after ten o'clock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although my parents both liked the Doctor tremendously from the first
+      moment that they saw him, and were very proud to have him come and play to
+      us (for we were really terribly poor) they did not realize then what a
+      truly great man he was one day to become. Of course now, when almost
+      everybody in the whole world has heard about Doctor Dolittle and his
+      books, if you were to go to that little house in Puddleby where my father
+      had his cobbler's shop you would see, set in the wall over the
+      old-fashioned door, a stone with writing on it which says: "JOHN DOLITTLE,
+      THE FAMOUS NATURALIST, PLAYED THE FLUTE IN THIS HOUSE IN THE YEAR 1839."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I often look back upon that night long, long ago. And if I close my eyes
+      and think hard I can see that parlor just as it was then: a funny little
+      man in coat-tails, with a round kind face, playing away on the flute in
+      front of the fire; my mother on one side of him and my father on the
+      other, holding their breath and listening with their eyes shut; myself,
+      with Jip, squatting on the carpet at his feet, staring into the coals; and
+      Polynesia perched on the mantlepiece beside his shabby high hat, gravely
+      swinging her head from side to side in time to the music. I see it all,
+      just as though it were before me now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then I remember how, after we had seen the Doctor out at the front
+      door, we all came back into the parlor and talked about him till it was
+      still later; and even after I did go to bed (I had never stayed up so late
+      in my life before) I dreamed about him and a band of strange clever
+      animals that played flutes and fiddles and drums the whole night through.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0010" id="link2H_4_0010">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. SHELLFISH TALK
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THE next morning, although I had gone to bed so late the night before, I
+      was up frightfully early. The first sparrows were just beginning to chirp
+      sleepily on the slates outside my attic window when I jumped out of bed
+      and scrambled into my clothes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I could hardly wait to get back to the little house with the big garden&mdash;to
+      see the Doctor and his private zoo. For the first time in my life I forgot
+      all about breakfast; and creeping down the stairs on tip-toe, so as not to
+      wake my mother and father, I opened the front door and popped out into the
+      empty, silent street.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I got to the Doctor's gate I suddenly thought that perhaps it was too
+      early to call on any one: and I began to wonder if the Doctor would be up
+      yet. I looked into the garden. No one seemed to be about. So I opened the
+      gate quietly and went inside.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As I turned to the left to go down a path between some hedges, I heard a
+      voice quite close to me say,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good morning. How early you are!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned around, and there, sitting on the top of a privet hedge, was the
+      gray parrot, Polynesia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good morning," I said. "I suppose I am rather early. Is the Doctor still
+      in bed?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh no," said Polynesia. "He has been up an hour and a half. You'll find
+      him in the house somewhere. The front door is open. Just push it and go
+      in, He is sure to be in the kitchen cooking breakfast&mdash;or working in
+      his study. Walk right in. I am waiting to see the sun rise. But upon my
+      word I believe it's forgotten to rise. It is an awful climate, this. Now
+      if we were in Africa the world would be blazing with sunlight at this hour
+      of the morning. Just see that mist rolling over those cabbages. It is
+      enough to give you rheumatism to look at it. Beastly climate&mdash;Beastly!
+      Really I don't know why anything but frogs ever stay in England&mdash;Well,
+      don't let me keep you. Run along and see the Doctor."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thank you," I said. "I'll go and look for him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I opened the front door I could smell bacon frying, so I made my way
+      to the kitchen. There I discovered a large kettle boiling away over the
+      fire and some bacon and eggs in a dish upon the hearth. It seemed to me
+      that the bacon was getting all dried up with the heat. So I pulled the
+      dish a little further away from the fire and went on through the house
+      looking for the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I found him at last in the Study. I did not know then that it was called
+      the Study. It was certainly a very interesting room, with telescopes and
+      microscopes and all sorts of other strange things which I did not
+      understand about but wished I did. Hanging on the walls were pictures of
+      animals and fishes and strange plants and collections of birds' eggs and
+      sea-shells in glass cases.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor was standing at the main table in his dressing-gown. At first I
+      thought he was washing his face. He had a square glass box before him full
+      of water. He was holding one ear under the water while he covered the
+      other with his left hand. As I came in he stood up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good morning, Stubbins," said he. "Going to be a nice day, don't you
+      think? I've just been listening to the Wiff-Waff. But he is very
+      disappointing&mdash;very."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why?" I said. "Didn't you find that he has any language at all?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh yes," said the Doctor, "he has a language. But it is such a poor
+      language&mdash;only a few words, like 'yes' and 'no'&mdash;'hot' and
+      'cold.' That's all he can say. It's very disappointing. You see he really
+      belongs to two different families of fishes. I thought he was going to be
+      tremendously helpful&mdash;Well, well!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I suppose," said I, "that means he hasn't very much sense if his language
+      is only two or three words?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, I suppose it does. Possibly it is the kind of life he leads. You
+      see, they are very rare now, these Wiff-Waffs&mdash;very rare and very
+      solitary. They swim around in the deepest parts of the ocean entirely by
+      themselves&mdash;always alone. So I presume they really don't need to talk
+      much."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Perhaps some kind of a bigger shellfish would talk more," I said. "After
+      all, he is very small, isn't he?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said the Doctor, "that's true. Oh I have no doubt that there are
+      shellfish who are good talkers&mdash;not the least doubt. But the big
+      shellfish&mdash;the biggest of them, are so hard to catch. They are only
+      to be found in the deep parts of the sea; and as they don't swim very
+      much, but just crawl along the floor of the ocean most of the time, they
+      are very seldom taken in nets. I do wish I could find some way of going
+      down to the bottom of the sea. I could learn a lot if I could only do
+      that. But we are forgetting all about breakfast&mdash;Have you had,
+      breakfast yet, Stubbins?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I told the Doctor that I had forgotten all about it and he at once led the
+      way into the kitchen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," he said, as he poured the hot water from the kettle into the
+      tea-pot, "if a man could only manage to get right down to the bottom of
+      the sea, and live there a while, he would discover some wonderful things&mdash;things
+      that people have never dreamed of."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But men do go down, don't they?" I asked&mdash;"divers and people like
+      that?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh yes, to be sure," said the Doctor. "Divers go down. I've been down
+      myself in a diving-suit, for that matter. But my!&mdash;they only go where
+      the sea is shallow. Divers can't go down where it is really deep. What I
+      would like to do is to go down to the great depths&mdash;where it is miles
+      deep&mdash;Well, well, I dare say I shall manage it some day. Let me give
+      you another cup of tea."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0011" id="link2H_4_0011">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      JUST at that moment Polynesia came into the room and said something to the
+      Doctor in bird language. Of course I did not understand what it was. But
+      the Doctor at once put down his knife and fork and left the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You know it is an awful shame," said the parrot as soon as the Doctor had
+      closed the door. "Directly he comes back home, all the animals over the
+      whole countryside get to hear of it and every sick cat and mangy rabbit
+      for miles around comes to see him and ask his advice. Now there's a big
+      fat hare outside at the back door with a squawking baby. Can she see the
+      Doctor, please!&mdash;Thinks it's going to have convulsions. Stupid little
+      thing's been eating Deadly Nightshade again, I suppose. The animals are SO
+      inconsiderate at times&mdash;especially the mothers. They come round and
+      call the Doctor away from his meals and wake him out of his bed at all
+      hours of the night. I don't know how he stands it&mdash;really I don't.
+      Why, the poor man never gets any peace at all! I've told him time and
+      again to have special hours for the animals to come. But he is so
+      frightfully kind and considerate. He never refuses to see them if there is
+      anything really wrong with them. He says the urgent cases must be seen at
+      once."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why don't some of the animals go and see the other doctors?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh Good Gracious!" exclaimed the parrot, tossing her head scornfully.
+      "Why, there aren't any other animal-doctors&mdash;not real doctors. Oh of
+      course there ARE those vet persons, to be sure. But, bless you, they're no
+      good. You see, they can't understand the animals' language; so how can you
+      expect them to be any use? Imagine yourself, or your father, going to see
+      a doctor who could not understand a word you say&mdash;nor even tell you
+      in your own language what you must do to get well! Poof!&mdash;those vets!
+      They're that stupid, you've no idea!&mdash;Put the Doctor's bacon down by
+      the fire, will you?&mdash;to keep hot till he comes back."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you think I would ever be able to learn the language of the animals?"
+      I asked, laying the plate upon the hearth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, it all depends," said Polynesia. "Are you clever at lessons?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't know," I answered, feeling rather ashamed. "You see, I've never
+      been to school. My father is too poor to send me."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said the parrot, "I don't suppose you have really missed much&mdash;to
+      judge from what I have seen of school-boys. But listen: are you a good
+      noticer?&mdash;Do you notice things well? I mean, for instance, supposing
+      you saw two cock-starlings on an apple-tree, and you only took one good
+      look at them&mdash;would you be able to tell one from the other if you saw
+      them again the next day?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't know," I said. "I've never tried."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well that," said Polynesia, brushing some crumbs off the corner of the
+      table with her left foot&mdash;"that is what you call powers of
+      observation&mdash;noticing the small things about birds and animals: the
+      way they walk and move their heads and flip their wings; the way they
+      sniff the air and twitch their whiskers and wiggle their tails. You have
+      to notice all those little things if you want to learn animal language.
+      For you see, lots of the animals hardly talk at all with their tongues;
+      they use their breath or their tails or their feet instead. That is
+      because many of them, in the olden days when lions and tigers were more
+      plentiful, were afraid to make a noise for fear the savage creatures heard
+      them. Birds, of course, didn't care; for they always had wings to fly away
+      with. But that is the first thing to remember: being a good noticer is
+      terribly important in learning animal language."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It sounds pretty hard," I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You'll have to be very patient," said Polynesia. "It takes a long time to
+      say even a few words properly. But if you come here often I'll give you a
+      few lessons myself. And once you get started you'll be surprised how fast
+      you get on. It would indeed be a good thing if you could learn. Because
+      then you could do some of the work for the Doctor&mdash;I mean the easier
+      work, like bandaging and giving pills. Yes, yes, that's a good idea of
+      mine. 'Twould be a great thing if the poor man could get some help&mdash;and
+      some rest. It is a scandal the way he works. I see no reason why you
+      shouldn't be able to help him a great deal&mdash;That is, if you are
+      really interested in animals."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, I'd love that!" I cried. "Do you think the Doctor would let me?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly," said Polynesia&mdash;"as soon as you have learned something
+      about doctoring. I'll speak of it to him myself&mdash;Sh! I hear him
+      coming. Quick&mdash;bring his bacon back on to the table."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0012" id="link2H_4_0012">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WHEN breakfast was over the Doctor took me out to show me the garden.
+      Well, if the house had been interesting, the garden was a hundred times
+      more so. Of all the gardens I have ever seen that was the most delightful,
+      the most fascinating. At first you did not realize how big it was. You
+      never seemed to come to the end of it. When at last you were quite sure
+      that you had seen it all, you would peer over a hedge, or turn a corner,
+      or look up some steps, and there was a whole new part you never expected
+      to find.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It had everything&mdash;everything a garden can have, or ever has had.
+      There were wide, wide lawns with carved stone seats, green with moss. Over
+      the lawns hung weeping-willows, and their feathery bough-tips brushed the
+      velvet grass when they swung with the wind. The old flagged paths had
+      high, clipped, yew hedges either side of them, so that they looked like
+      the narrow streets of some old town; and through the hedges, doorways had
+      been made; and over the doorways were shapes like vases and peacocks and
+      half-moons all trimmed out of the living trees. There was a lovely marble
+      fish-pond with golden carp and blue water-lilies in it and big green
+      frogs. A high brick wall alongside the kitchen garden was all covered with
+      pink and yellow peaches ripening in the sun. There was a wonderful great
+      oak, hollow in the trunk, big enough for four men to hide inside. Many
+      summer-houses there were, too&mdash;some of wood and some of stone; and
+      one of them was full of books to read. In a corner, among some rocks and
+      ferns, was an outdoor fire-place, where the Doctor used to fry liver and
+      bacon when he had a notion to take his meals in the open air. There was a
+      couch as well on which he used to sleep, it seems, on warm summer nights
+      when the nightingales were singing at their best; it had wheels on it so
+      it could be moved about under any tree they sang in. But the thing that
+      fascinated me most of all was a tiny little tree-house, high up in the top
+      branches of a great elm, with a long rope ladder leading to it. The Doctor
+      told me he used it for looking at the moon and the stars through a
+      telescope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the kind of a garden where you could wander and explore for days
+      and days&mdash;always coming upon something new, always glad to find the
+      old spots over again. That first time that I saw the Doctor's garden I was
+      so charmed by it that I felt I would like to live in it&mdash;always and
+      always&mdash;and never go outside of it again. For it had everything
+      within its walls to give happiness, to make living pleasant&mdash;to keep
+      the heart at peace. It was the Garden of Dreams.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One peculiar thing I noticed immediately I came into it; and that was what
+      a lot of birds there were about. Every tree seemed to have two or three
+      nests in it. And heaps of other wild creatures appeared to be making
+      themselves at home there, too. Stoats and tortoises and dormice seemed to
+      be quite common, and not in the least shy. Toads of different colors and
+      sizes hopped about the lawn as though it belonged to them. Green lizards
+      (which were very rare in Puddleby) sat up on the stones in the sunlight
+      and blinked at us. Even snakes were to be seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You need not be afraid of them," said the Doctor, noticing that I started
+      somewhat when a large black snake wiggled across the path right in front
+      of us. "These fellows are not poisonous. They do a great deal of good in
+      keeping down many kinds of garden-pests. I play the flute to them
+      sometimes in the evening. They love it. Stand right up on their tails and
+      carry on no end. Funny thing, their taste for music."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why do all these animals come and live here?" I asked. "I never saw a
+      garden with so many creatures in it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, I suppose it's because they get the kind of food they like; and
+      nobody worries or disturbs them. And then, of course, they know me. And if
+      they or their children get sick I presume they find it handy to be living
+      in a doctor's garden&mdash;Look! You see that sparrow on the sundial,
+      swearing at the blackbird down below? Well, he has been coming here every
+      summer for years. He comes from London. The country sparrows round about
+      here are always laughing at him. They say he chirps with such a Cockney
+      accent. He is a most amusing bird&mdash;very brave but very cheeky. He
+      loves nothing better than an argument, but he always ends it by getting
+      rude. He is a real city bird. In London he lives around St. Paul's
+      Cathedral. 'Cheapside,' we call him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Are all these birds from the country round here?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Most of them," said the Doctor. "But a few rare ones visit me every year
+      who ordinarily never come near England at all. For instance, that handsome
+      little fellow hovering over the snapdragon there, he's a Ruby-throated
+      Humming-bird. Comes from America. Strictly speaking, he has no business in
+      this climate at all. It is too cool. I make him sleep in the kitchen at
+      night. Then every August, about the last week of the month, I have a
+      Purple Bird-of-Paradise come all the way from Brazil to see me. She is a
+      very great swell. Hasn't arrived yet of course. And there are a few
+      others, foreign birds from the tropics mostly, who drop in on me in the
+      course of the summer months. But come, I must show you the zoo."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0013" id="link2H_4_0013">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE TENTH CHAPTER. THE PRIVATE ZOO
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      I DID not think there could be anything left in that garden which we had
+      not seen. But the Doctor took me by the arm and started off down a little
+      narrow path and after many windings and twistings and turnings we found
+      ourselves before a small door in a high stone wall. The Doctor pushed it
+      open.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inside was still another garden. I had expected to find cages with animals
+      inside them. But there were none to be seen. Instead there were little
+      stone houses here and there all over the garden; and each house had a
+      window and a door. As we walked in, many of these doors opened and animals
+      came running out to us evidently expecting food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Haven't the doors any locks on them?" I asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh yes," he said, "every door has a lock. But in my zoo the doors open
+      from the inside, not from the out. The locks are only there so the animals
+      can go and shut themselves in any time they want to get away from the
+      annoyance of other animals or from people who might come here. Every
+      animal in this zoo stays here because he likes it, not because he is made
+      to."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They all look very happy and clean," I said. "Would you mind telling me
+      the names of some of them?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly. Well now: that funny-looking thing with plates on his back,
+      nosing under the brick over there, is a South American armadillo. The
+      little chap talking to him is a Canadian woodchuck. They both live in
+      those holes you see at the foot of the wall. The two little beasts doing
+      antics in the pond are a pair of Russian minks&mdash;and that reminds me:
+      I must go and get them some herrings from the town before noon&mdash;it is
+      early-closing to-day. That animal just stepping out of his house is an
+      antelope, one of the smaller South African kinds. Now let us move to the
+      other side of those bushes there and I will show you some more."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Are those deer over there?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "DEER!" said the Doctor. "Where do you mean?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Over there," I said, pointing&mdash;"nibbling the grass border of the
+      bed. There are two of them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, that," said the Doctor with a smile. "That isn't two animals: that's
+      one animal with two heads&mdash;the only two-headed animal in the world.
+      It's called the 'pushmi-pullyu.' I brought him from Africa. He's very tame&mdash;acts
+      as a kind of night-watchman for my zoo. He only sleeps with one head at a
+      time, you see very handy&mdash;the other head stays awake all night."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Have you any lions or tigers?" I asked as we moved on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said the Doctor. "It wouldn't be possible to keep them here&mdash;and
+      I wouldn't keep them even if I could. If I had my way, Stubbins, there
+      wouldn't be a single lion or tiger in captivity anywhere in the world.
+      They never take to it. They're never happy. They never settle down. They
+      are always thinking of the big countries they have left behind. You can
+      see it in their eyes, dreaming&mdash;dreaming always of the great open
+      spaces where they were born; dreaming of the deep, dark jungles where
+      their mothers first taught them how to scent and track the deer. And what
+      are they given in exchange for all this?" asked the Doctor, stopping in
+      his walk and growing all red and angry&mdash;"What are they given in
+      exchange for the glory of an African sunrise, for the twilight breeze
+      whispering through the palms, for the green shade of the matted, tangled
+      vines, for the cool, big-starred nights of the desert, for the patter of
+      the waterfall after a hard day's hunt? What, I ask you, are they given in
+      exchange for THESE? Why, a bare cage with iron bars; an ugly piece of dead
+      meat thrust in to them once a day; and a crowd of fools to come and stare
+      at them with open mouths!&mdash;No, Stubbins. Lions and tigers, the Big
+      Hunters, should never, never be seen in zoos."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor seemed to have grown terribly serious&mdash;almost sad. But
+      suddenly his manner changed again and he took me by the arm with his same
+      old cheerful smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But we haven't seen the butterfly-houses yet&mdash;nor the aquariums.
+      Come along. I am very proud of my butterfly-houses."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Off we went again and came presently into a hedged enclosure. Here I saw
+      several big huts made of fine wire netting, like cages. Inside the netting
+      all sorts of beautiful flowers were growing in the sun, with butterflies
+      skimming over them. The Doctor pointed to the end of one of the huts where
+      little boxes with holes in them stood in a row.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Those are the hatching-boxes," said he. "There I put the different kinds
+      of caterpillars. And as soon as they turn into butterflies and moths they
+      come out into these flower-gardens to feed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do butterflies have a language?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh I fancy they have," said the Doctor&mdash;"and the beetles too. But so
+      far I haven't succeeded in learning much about insect languages. I have
+      been too busy lately trying to master the shellfish-talk. I mean to take
+      it up though."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment Polynesia joined us and said, "Doctor, there are two
+      guinea-pigs at the back door. They say they have run away from the boy who
+      kept them because they didn't get the right stuff to eat. They want to
+      know if you will take them in."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right," said the Doctor. "Show them the way to the zoo. Give them the
+      house on the left, near the gate&mdash;the one the black fox had. Tell
+      them what the rules are and give them a square meal&mdash;Now, Stubbins,
+      we will go on to the aquariums. And first of all I must show you my big,
+      glass, sea-water tank where I keep the shellfish."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0014" id="link2H_4_0014">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER. MY SCHOOLMASTER, POLYNESIA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WELL, there were not many days after that, you may be sure, when I did not
+      come to see my new friend. Indeed I was at his house practically all day
+      and every day. So that one evening my mother asked me jokingly why I did
+      not take my bed over there and live at the Doctor's house altogether.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a while I think I got to be quite useful to the Doctor, feeding his
+      pets for him; helping to make new houses and fences for the zoo; assisting
+      with the sick animals that came; doing all manner of odd jobs about the
+      place. So that although I enjoyed it all very much (it was indeed like
+      living in a new world) I really think the Doctor would have missed me if I
+      had not come so often.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And all this time Polynesia came with me wherever I went, teaching me bird
+      language and showing me how to understand the talking signs of the
+      animals. At first I thought I would never be able to learn at all&mdash;it
+      seemed so difficult. But the old parrot was wonderfully patient with me&mdash;though
+      I could see that occasionally she had hard work to keep her temper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon I began to pick up the strange chatter of the birds and to understand
+      the funny talking antics of the dogs. I used to practise listening to the
+      mice behind the wainscot after I went to bed, and watching the cats on the
+      roofs and pigeons in the market-square of Puddleby.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And the days passed very quickly&mdash;as they always do when life is
+      pleasant; and the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months; and soon
+      the roses in the Doctor's garden were losing their petals and yellow
+      leaves lay upon the wide green lawn. For the summer was nearly gone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One day Polynesia and I were talking in the library. This was a fine long
+      room with a grand mantlepiece and the walls were covered from the ceiling
+      to the floor with shelves full of books: books of stories, books on
+      gardening, books about medicine, books of travel; these I loved&mdash;and
+      especially the Doctor's great atlas with all its maps of the different
+      countries of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This afternoon Polynesia was showing me the books about animals which John
+      Dolittle had written himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My!" I said, "what a lot of books the Doctor has&mdash;all the way around
+      the room! Goodness! I wish I could read! It must be tremendously
+      interesting. Can you read, Polynesia?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Only a little," said she. "Be careful how you turn those pages&mdash;don't
+      tear them. No, I really don't get time enough for reading&mdash;much. That
+      letter there is a K and this is a B."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What does this word under the picture mean?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let me see," she said, and started spelling it out. "B-A-B-O-O-N&mdash;that's
+      MONKEY. Reading isn't nearly as hard as it looks, once you know the
+      letters."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Polynesia," I said, "I want to ask you something very important."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What is it, my boy?" said she, smoothing down the feathers of her right
+      wing. Polynesia often spoke to me in a very patronizing way. But I did not
+      mind it from her. After all, she was nearly two hundred years old; and I
+      was only ten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Listen," I said, "my mother doesn't think it is right that I come here
+      for so many meals. And I was going to ask you: supposing I did a whole lot
+      more work for the Doctor&mdash;why couldn't I come and live here
+      altogether? You see, instead of being paid like a regular gardener or
+      workman, I would get my bed and meals in exchange for the work I did. What
+      do you think?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You mean you want to be a proper assistant to the Doctor, is that it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes. I suppose that's what you call it," I answered. "You know you said
+      yourself that you thought I could be very useful to him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well"&mdash;she thought a moment&mdash;"I really don't see why not. But
+      is this what you want to be when you grow up, a naturalist?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," I said, "I have made up my mind. I would sooner be a naturalist
+      than anything else in the world."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Humph!&mdash;Let's go and speak to the Doctor about it," said Polynesia.
+      "He's in the next room&mdash;in the study. Open the door very gently&mdash;he
+      may be working and not want to be disturbed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I opened the door quietly and peeped in. The first thing I saw was an
+      enormous black retriever dog sitting in the middle of the hearth-rug with
+      his ears cocked up, listening to the Doctor who was reading aloud to him
+      from a letter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What is the Doctor doing?" I asked Polynesia in a whisper.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, the dog has had a letter from his mistress and he has brought it to
+      the Doctor to read for him. That's all. He belongs to a funny little girl
+      called Minnie Dooley, who lives on the other side of the town. She has
+      pigtails down her back. She and her brother have gone away to the seaside
+      for the Summer; and the old retriever is heart-broken while the children
+      are gone. So they write letters to him&mdash;in English of course. And as
+      the old dog doesn't understand them, he brings them here, and the Doctor
+      turns them into dog language for him. I think Minnie must have written
+      that she is coming back&mdash;to judge from the dog's excitement. Just
+      look at him carrying on!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed the retriever seemed to be suddenly overcome with joy. As the
+      Doctor finished the letter the old dog started barking at the top of his
+      voice, wagging his tail wildly and jumping about the study. He took the
+      letter in his mouth and ran out of the room snorting hard and mumbling to
+      himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He's going down to meet the coach," whispered Polynesia. "That dog's
+      devotion to those children is more than I can understand. You should see
+      Minnie! She's the most conceited little minx that ever walked. She squints
+      too."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0015" id="link2H_4_0015">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE TWELFTH CHAPTER. MY GREAT IDEA
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      PRESENTLY the Doctor looked up and saw us at the door.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      "Oh&mdash;come in, Stubbins," said he, "did you wish to speak to me? Come
+      in and take a chair."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Doctor," I said, "I want to be a naturalist&mdash;like you&mdash;when I
+      grow up."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh you do, do you?" murmured the Doctor. "Humph!&mdash;Well!&mdash;Dear
+      me!&mdash;You don't say!&mdash;Well, well! Have, you er&mdash;have you
+      spoken to your mother and father about it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, not yet," I said. "I want you to speak to them for me. You would do
+      it better. I want to be your helper&mdash;your assistant, if you'll have
+      me. Last night my mother was saying that she didn't consider it right for
+      me to come here so often for meals. And I've been thinking about it a good
+      deal since. Couldn't we make some arrangement&mdash;couldn't I work for my
+      meals and sleep here?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But my dear Stubbins," said the Doctor, laughing, "you are quite welcome
+      to come here for three meals a day all the year round. I'm only too glad
+      to have you. Besides, you do do a lot of work, as it is. I've often felt
+      that I ought to pay you for what you do&mdash;But what arrangement was it
+      that you thought of?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, I thought," said I, "that perhaps you would come and see my mother
+      and father and tell them that if they let me live here with you and work
+      hard, that you will teach me to read and write. You see my mother is
+      awfully anxious to have me learn reading and writing. And besides, I
+      couldn't be a proper naturalist without, could I?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, I don't know so much about that," said the Doctor. "It is nice, I
+      admit, to be able to read and write. But naturalists are not all alike,
+      you know. For example: this young fellow Charles Darwin that people are
+      talking about so much now&mdash;he's a Cambridge graduate&mdash;reads and
+      writes very well. And then Cuvier&mdash;he used to be a tutor. But listen,
+      the greatest naturalist of them all doesn't even know how to write his own
+      name nor to read the A B C."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Who is he?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He is a mysterious person," said the Doctor&mdash;"a very mysterious
+      person. His name is Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow. He is a Red
+      Indian."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Have you ever seen him?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said the Doctor, "I've never seen him. No white man has ever met
+      him. I fancy Mr. Darwin doesn't even know that he exists. He lives almost
+      entirely with the animals and with the different tribes of Indians&mdash;usually
+      somewhere among the mountains of Peru. Never stays long in one place. Goes
+      from tribe to tribe, like a sort of Indian tramp."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How do you know so much about him?" I asked&mdash;"if you've never even
+      seen him?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The Purple Bird-of-Paradise," said the Doctor&mdash;"she told me all
+      about him. She says he is a perfectly marvelous naturalist. I got her to
+      take a message to him for me last time she was here. I am expecting her
+      back any day now. I can hardly wait to see what answer she has brought
+      from him. It is already almost the last week of August. I do hope nothing
+      has happened to her on the way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But why do the animals and birds come to you when they are sick?" I said&mdash;"Why
+      don't they go to him, if he is so very wonderful?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It seems that my methods are more up to date," said the Doctor. "But from
+      what the Purple Bird-of-Paradise tells me, Long Arrow's knowledge of
+      natural history must be positively tremendous. His specialty is botany&mdash;plants
+      and all that sort of thing. But he knows a lot about birds and animals
+      too. He's very good on bees and beetles&mdash;But now tell me, Stubbins,
+      are you quite sure that you really want to be a naturalist?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said I, "my mind is made up."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well you know, it isn't a very good profession for making money. Not at
+      all, it isn't. Most of the good naturalists don't make any money whatever.
+      All they do is SPEND money, buying butterfly-nets and cases for birds'
+      eggs and things. It is only now, after I have been a naturalist for many
+      years, that I am beginning to make a little money from the books I write."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't care about money," I said. "I want to be a naturalist. Won't you
+      please come and have dinner with my mother and father next Thursday&mdash;I
+      told them I was going to ask you&mdash;and then you can talk to them about
+      it. You see, there's another thing: if I'm living with you, and sort of
+      belong to your house and business, I shall be able to come with you next
+      time you go on a voyage."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, I see," said he, smiling. "So you want to come on a voyage with me,
+      do you?&mdash;Ah hah!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I want to go on all your voyages with you. It would be much easier for
+      you if you had someone to carry the butterfly-nets and note-books.
+      Wouldn't it now?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a long time the Doctor sat thinking, drumming on the desk with his
+      fingers, while I waited, terribly impatiently, to see what he was going to
+      say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last he shrugged his shoulders and stood up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Stubbins," said he, "I'll come and talk it over with you and your
+      parents next Thursday. And&mdash;well, we'll see. We'll see. Give your
+      mother and father my compliments and thank them for their invitation, will
+      you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I tore home like the wind to tell my mother that the Doctor had
+      promised to come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0016" id="link2H_4_0016">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER. A TRAVELER ARRIVES
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THE next day I was sitting on the wall of the Doctor's garden after tea,
+      talking to Dab-Dab. I had now learned so much from Polynesia that I could
+      talk to most birds and some animals without a great deal of difficulty. I
+      found Dab-Dab a very nice, old, motherly bird&mdash;though not nearly so
+      clever and interesting as Polynesia. She had been housekeeper for the
+      Doctor many years now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, as I was saying, the old duck and I were sitting on the flat top of
+      the garden-wall that evening, looking down into the Oxenthorpe Road below.
+      We were watching some sheep being driven to market in Puddleby; and
+      Dab-Dab had just been telling me about the Doctor's adventures in Africa.
+      For she had gone on a voyage with him to that country long ago.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly I heard a curious distant noise down the road, towards the town.
+      It sounded like a lot of people cheering. I stood up on the wall to see if
+      I could make out what was coming. Presently there appeared round a bend a
+      great crowd of school-children following a very ragged, curious-looking
+      woman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What in the world can it be?" cried Dab-Dab.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The children were all laughing and shouting. And certainly the woman they
+      were following was most extraordinary. She had very long arms and the most
+      stooping shoulders I have ever seen. She wore a straw hat on the side of
+      her head with poppies on it; and her skirt was so long for her it dragged
+      on the ground like a ball-gown's train. I could not see anything of her
+      face because of the wide hat pulled over her eyes. But as she got nearer
+      to us and the laughing of the children grew louder, I noticed that her
+      hands were very dark in color, and hairy, like a witch's.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then all of a sudden Dab-Dab at my side startled me by crying out in a
+      loud voice,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, it's Chee-Chee!&mdash;Chee-Chee come back at last! How dare those
+      children tease him! I'll give the little imps something to laugh at!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And she flew right off the wall down into the road and made straight for
+      the children, squawking away in a most terrifying fashion and pecking at
+      their feet and legs. The children made off down the street back to the
+      town as hard as they could run.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The strange-looking figure in the straw hat stood gazing after them a
+      moment and then came wearily up to the gate. It didn't bother to undo the
+      latch but just climbed right over the gate as though it were something in
+      the way. And then I noticed that it took hold of the bars with its feet,
+      so that it really had four hands to climb with. But it was only when I at
+      last got a glimpse of the face under the hat that I could be really sure
+      it was a monkey.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Chee-Chee&mdash;for it was he&mdash;frowned at me suspiciously from the
+      top of the gate, as though he thought I was going to laugh at him like the
+      other boys and girls. Then he dropped into the garden on the inside and
+      immediately started taking off his clothes. He tore the straw hat in two
+      and threw it down into the road. Then he took off his bodice and skirt,
+      jumped on them savagely and began kicking them round the front garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently I heard a screech from the house, and out flew Polynesia,
+      followed by the Doctor and Jip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Chee-Chee!&mdash;Chee-Chee!" shouted the parrot. "You've come at last! I
+      always told the Doctor you'd find a way. How ever did you do it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They all gathered round him shaking him by his four hands, laughing and
+      asking him a million questions at once. Then they all started back for the
+      house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Run up to my bedroom, Stubbins," said the Doctor, turning to me. "You'll
+      find a bag of peanuts in the small left-hand drawer of the bureau. I have
+      always kept them there in case he might come back unexpectedly some day.
+      And wait a minute&mdash;see if Dab-Dab has any bananas in the pan-try.
+      Chee-Chee hasn't had a banana, he tells me, in two months."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I came down again to the kitchen I found everybody listening
+      attentively to the monkey who was telling the story of his journey from
+      Africa.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0017" id="link2H_4_0017">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER. CHEE-CHEE'S VOYAGE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IT seems that after Polynesia had left, Chee-Chee had grown more homesick
+      than ever for the Doctor and the little house in Puddleby. At last he had
+      made up his mind that by hook or crook he would follow her. And one day,
+      going down to the seashore, he saw a lot of people, black and white,
+      getting on to a ship that was coming to England. He tried to get on too.
+      But they turned him back and drove him away. And presently he noticed a
+      whole big family of funny people passing on to the ship. And one of the
+      children in this family reminded Chee-Chee of a cousin of his with whom he
+      had once been in love. So he said to himself, "That girl looks just as
+      much like a monkey as I look like a girl. If I could only get some clothes
+      to wear I might easily slip on to the ship amongst these families, and
+      people would take me for a girl. Good idea!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So he went off to a town that was quite close, and hopping in through an
+      open window he found a skirt and bodice lying on a chair. They belonged to
+      a fashionable black lady who was taking a bath. Chee-Chee put them on.
+      Next he went back to the seashore, mingled with the crowd there and at
+      last sneaked safely on to the big ship. Then he thought he had better
+      hide, for fear people might look at him too closely. And he stayed hidden
+      all the time the ship was sailing to England&mdash;only coming out at
+      night, when everybody was asleep, to find food.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he reached England and tried to get off the ship, the sailors saw at
+      last that he was only a monkey dressed up in girl's clothes; and they
+      wanted to keep him for a pet. But he managed to give them the slip; and
+      once he was on shore, he dived into the crowd and got away. But he was
+      still a long distance from Puddleby and had to come right across the whole
+      breadth of England.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He had a terrible time of it. Whenever he passed through a town all the
+      children ran after him in a crowd, laughing; and often silly people caught
+      hold of him and tried to stop him, so that he had to run up lamp-posts and
+      climb to chimney-pots to escape from them. At night he used to sleep in
+      ditches or barns or anywhere he could hide; and he lived on the berries he
+      picked from the hedges and the cob-nuts that grew in the copses. At
+      length, after many adventures and narrow squeaks, he saw the tower of
+      Puddleby Church and he knew that at last he was near his old home. When
+      Chee-Chee had finished his story he ate six bananas without stopping and
+      drank a whole bowlful of milk.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My!" he said, "why wasn't I born with wings, like Polynesia, so I could
+      fly here? You've no idea how I grew to hate that hat and skirt. I've never
+      been so uncomfortable in my life. All the way from Bristol here, if the
+      wretched hat wasn't falling off my head or catching in the trees, those
+      beastly skirts were tripping me up and getting wound round everything.
+      What on earth do women wear those things for? Goodness, I was glad to see
+      old Puddleby this morning when I climbed over the hill by Bellaby's farm!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your bed on top of the plate-rack in the scullery is all ready for you,"
+      said the Doctor. "We never had it disturbed in case you might come back."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said Dab-Dab, "and you can have the old smoking-jacket of the
+      Doctor's which you used to use as a blanket, in case it is cold in the
+      night."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thanks," said Chee-Chee. "It's good to be back in the old house again.
+      Everything's just the same as when I left&mdash;except the clean
+      roller-towel on the back of the door there&mdash;that's new&mdash;Well, I
+      think I'll go to bed now. I need sleep."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we all went out of the kitchen into the scullery and watched
+      Chee-Chee climb the plate-rack like a sailor going up a mast. On the top,
+      he curled himself up, pulled the old smoking-jacket over him, and in a
+      minute he was snoring peacefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good old Chee-Chee!" whispered the Doctor. "I'm glad he's back."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes&mdash;good old Chee-Chee!" echoed Dab-Dab and Polynesia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we all tip-toed out of the scullery and closed the door very gently
+      behind us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0018" id="link2H_4_0018">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER. I BECOME A DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WHEN Thursday evening came there was great excitement at our house, My
+      mother had asked me what were the Doctor's favorite dishes, and I had told
+      her: spare ribs, sliced beet-root, fried bread, shrimps and treacle-tart.
+      To-night she had them all on the table waiting for him; and she was now
+      fussing round the house to see if everything was tidy and in readiness for
+      his coming.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last we heard a knock upon the door, and of course it was I who got
+      there first to let him in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor had brought his own flute with him this time. And after supper
+      was over (which he enjoyed very much) the table was cleared away and the
+      washing-up left in the kitchen-sink till the next day. Then the Doctor and
+      my father started playing duets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They got so interested in this that I began to be afraid that they would
+      never come to talking over my business. But at last the Doctor said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your son tells me that he is anxious to become a naturalist."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then began a long talk which lasted far into the night. At first both
+      my mother and father were rather against the idea&mdash;as they had been
+      from the beginning. They said it was only a boyish whim, and that I would
+      get tired of it very soon. But after the matter had been talked over from
+      every side, the Doctor turned to my father and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well now, supposing, Mr. Stubbins, that your son came to me for two years&mdash;that
+      is, until he is twelve years old. During those two years he will have time
+      to see if he is going to grow tired of it or not. Also during that time, I
+      will promise to teach him reading and writing and perhaps a little
+      arithmetic as well. What do you say to that?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't know," said my father, shaking his head. "You are very kind and
+      it is a handsome offer you make, Doctor. But I feel that Tommy ought to be
+      learning some trade by which he can earn his living later on."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then my mother spoke up. Although she was nearly in tears at the prospect
+      of my leaving her house while I was still so young, she pointed out to my
+      father that this was a grand chance for me to get learning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now Jacob," she said, "you know that many lads in the town have been to
+      the Grammar School till they were fourteen or fifteen years old. Tommy can
+      easily spare these two years for his education; and if he learns no more
+      than to read and write, the time will not be lost. Though goodness knows,"
+      she added, getting out her handkerchief to cry, "the house will seem
+      terribly empty when he's gone."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I will take care that he comes to see you, Mrs. Stubbins," said the
+      Doctor&mdash;"every day, if you like. After all, he will not be very far
+      away."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, at length my father gave in; and it was agreed that I was to live
+      with the Doctor and work for him for two years in exchange for learning to
+      read and write and for my board and lodging.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course," added the Doctor, "while I have money I will keep Tommy in
+      clothes as well. But money is a very irregular thing with me; sometimes I
+      have some, and then sometimes I haven't."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You are very good, Doctor," said my mother, drying her tears. "It seems
+      to me that Tommy is a very fortunate boy."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then, thoughtless, selfish little imp that I was, I leaned over and
+      whispered in the Doctor's ear,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Please don't forget to say something about the voyages."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, by the way," said John Dolittle, "of course occasionally my work
+      requires me to travel. You will have no objection, I take it, to your
+      son's coming with me?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      My poor mother looked up sharply, more unhappy and anxious than ever at
+      this new turn; while I stood behind the Doctor's chair, my heart thumping
+      with excitement, waiting for my father's answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," he said slowly after a while. "If we agree to the other arrangement
+      I don't see that we've the right to make any objection to that."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, there surely was never a happier boy in the world than I was at that
+      moment. My head was in the clouds. I trod on air. I could scarcely keep
+      from dancing round the parlor. At last the dream of my life was to come
+      true! At last I was to be given a chance to seek my fortune, to have
+      adventures! For I knew perfectly well that it was now almost time for the
+      Doctor to start upon another voyage. Polynesia had told me that he hardly
+      ever stayed at home for more than six months at a stretch. Therefore he
+      would be surely going again within a fortnight. And I&mdash;I, Tommy
+      Stubbins, would go with him! Just to think of it!&mdash;to cross the Sea,
+      to walk on foreign shores, to roam the World!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PART2" id="link2H_PART2">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PART TWO
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0020" id="link2H_4_0020">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE CREW OF "THE CURLEW"
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      FROM that time on of course my position in the town was very different. I
+      was no longer a poor cobbler's son. I carried my nose in the air as I went
+      down the High Street with Jip in his gold collar at my side; and snobbish
+      little boys who had despised me before because I was not rich enough to go
+      to school now pointed me out to their friends and whispered, "You see him?
+      He's a doctor's assistant&mdash;and only ten years old!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But their eyes would have opened still wider with wonder if they had but
+      known that I and the dog that was with me could talk to one another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Two days after the Doctor had been to our house to dinner he told me very
+      sadly that he was afraid that he would have to give up trying to learn the
+      language of the shellfish&mdash;at all events for the present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm very discouraged, Stubbins, very. I've tried the mussels and the
+      clams, the oysters and the whelks, cockles and scallops; seven different
+      kinds of crabs and all the lobster family. I think I'll leave it for the
+      present and go at it again later on."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What will you turn to now?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, I rather thought of going on a voyage, Stubbins. It's quite a time
+      now since I've been away. And there is a great deal of work waiting for me
+      abroad."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "When shall we start?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, first I shall have to wait till the Purple Bird-of-Paradise gets
+      here. I must see if she has any message for me from Long Arrow. She's
+      late. She should have been here ten days ago. I hope to goodness she's all
+      right."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, hadn't we better be seeing about getting a boat?" I said. "She is
+      sure to be here in a day or so; and there will be lots of things to do to
+      get ready in the mean time, won't there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, indeed," said the Doctor. "Suppose we go down and see your friend
+      Joe, the mussel-man. He will know about boats."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'd like to come too," said Jip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right, come along," said the Doctor, and off we went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Joe said yes, he had a boat&mdash;one he had just bought&mdash;but it
+      needed three people to sail her. We told him we would like to see it
+      anyway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So the mussel-man took us off a little way down the river and showed us
+      the neatest, prettiest, little vessel that ever was built. She was called
+      The Curlew. Joe said he would sell her to us cheap. But the trouble was
+      that the boat needed three people, while we were only two.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course I shall be taking Chee-Chee," said the Doctor. "But although he
+      is very quick and clever, he is not as strong as a man. We really ought to
+      have another person to sail a boat as big as that."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I know of a good sailor, Doctor," said Joe&mdash;"a first-class seaman
+      who would be glad of the job."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, thank you, Joe," said Doctor Dolittle. "I don't want any seamen. I
+      couldn't afford to hire them. And then they hamper me so, seamen do, when
+      I'm at sea. They're always wanting to do things the proper way; and I like
+      to do them my way&mdash;Now let me see: who could we take with us?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There's Matthew Mugg, the cat's-meat-man," I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, he wouldn't do. Matthew's a very nice fellow, but he talks too much&mdash;mostly
+      about his rheumatism. You have to be frightfully particular whom you take
+      with you on long voyages."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How about Luke the Hermit?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's a good idea&mdash;splendid&mdash;if he'll come. Let's go and ask
+      him right away."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0021" id="link2H_4_0021">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SECOND CHAPTER. LUKE THE HERMIT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THE Hermit was an old friend of ours, as I have already told you. He was a
+      very peculiar person. Far out on the marshes he lived in a little bit of a
+      shack&mdash;all alone except for his brindle bulldog. No one knew where he
+      came from&mdash;not even his name, just "Luke the Hermit" folks called
+      him. He never came into the town; never seemed to want to see or talk to
+      people. His dog, Bob, drove them away if they came near his hut. When you
+      asked anyone in Puddleby who he was or why he lived out in that lonely
+      place by himself, the only answer you got was, "Oh, Luke the Hermit? Well,
+      there's some mystery about him. Nobody knows what it is. But there's a
+      mystery. Don't go near him. He'll set the dog on you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Nevertheless there were two people who often went out to that little shack
+      on the fens: the Doctor and myself. And Bob, the bulldog, never barked
+      when he heard us coming. For we liked Luke; and Luke liked us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This afternoon, crossing the marshes we faced a cold wind blowing from the
+      East. As we approached the hut Jip put up his ears and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's funny!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's funny?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That Bob hasn't come out to meet us. He should have heard us long ago&mdash;or
+      smelt us. What's that queer noise?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sounds to me like a gate creaking," said the Doctor. "Maybe it's Luke's
+      door, only we can't see the door from here; it's on the far side of the
+      shack."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I hope Bob isn't sick," said Jip; and he let out a bark to see if that
+      would call him. But the only answer he got was the wailing of the wind
+      across the wide, salt fen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We hurried forward, all three of us thinking hard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we reached the front of the shack we found the door open, swinging
+      and creaking dismally in the wind. We looked inside. There was no one
+      there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Isn't Luke at home then?" said I. "Perhaps he's out for a walk."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He is ALWAYS at home," said the Doctor frowning in a peculiar sort of
+      way. "And even if he were out for a. walk he wouldn't leave his door
+      banging in the wind behind him. There is something queer about this&mdash;What
+      are you doing in there, Jip?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Nothing much&mdash;nothing worth speaking of," said Jip examining the
+      floor of the hut extremely carefully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come here, Jip," said the Doctor in a stern voice. "You are hiding
+      something from me. You see signs and you know something&mdash;or you guess
+      it. What has happened? Tell me. Where is the Hermit?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't know," said Jip looking very guilty and uncomfortable. "I don't
+      know where he is."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, you know something. I can tell it from the look in your eye. What
+      is it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Jip didn't answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For ten minutes the Doctor kept questioning him. But not a word would the
+      dog say.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said the Doctor at last, "it is no use our standing around here in
+      the cold. The Hermit's gone. That's all. We might as well go home to
+      luncheon."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we buttoned up our coats and started back across the marsh, Jip ran
+      ahead pretending he was looking for water-rats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He knows something all right," whispered the Doctor. "And I think he
+      knows what has happened too. It's funny, his not wanting to tell me. He
+      has never done that before&mdash;not in eleven years. He has always told
+      me everything&mdash;Strange&mdash;very strange!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you mean you think he knows all about the Hermit, the big mystery
+      about him which folks hint at and all that?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I shouldn't wonder if he did," the Doctor answered slowly. "I noticed
+      something in his expression the moment we found that door open and the hut
+      empty. And the way he sniffed the floor too&mdash;it told him something,
+      that floor did. He saw signs we couldn't see&mdash;I wonder why he won't
+      tell me. I'll try him again. Here, Jip! Jip!&mdash;Where is the dog? I
+      thought he went on in front."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "So did I," I said. "He was there a moment ago. I saw him as large as
+      life. Jip&mdash;Jip&mdash;Jip&mdash;JIP!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But he was gone. We called and called. We even walked back to the hut. But
+      Jip had disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh well," I said, "most likely he has just run home ahead of us. He often
+      does that, you know. We'll find him there when we get back to the house."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Doctor just closed his coat-collar tighter against the wind and
+      strode on muttering, "Odd&mdash;very odd!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0022" id="link2H_4_0022">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE THIRD CHAPTER. JIP AND THE SECRET
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WHEN we reached the house the first question the Doctor asked of Dab-Dab
+      in the hall was,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Is Jip home yet?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said Dab-Dab, "I haven't seen him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let me know the moment he comes in, will you, please?" said the Doctor,
+      hanging up his hat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly I will," said Dab-Dab. "Don't be long over washing your hands;
+      the lunch is on the table."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as we were sitting down to luncheon in the kitchen we heard a great
+      racket at the front door. I ran and opened it. In bounded Jip.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Doctor!" he cried, "come into the library quick. I've got something to
+      tell you&mdash;No, Dab-Dab, the luncheon must wait. Please hurry, Doctor.
+      There's not a moment to be lost. Don't let any of the animals come&mdash;just
+      you and Tommy."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now," he said, when we were inside the library and the door was closed,
+      "turn the key in the lock and make sure there's no one listening under the
+      windows."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's all right," said the Doctor. "Nobody can hear you here. Now what is
+      it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Doctor," said Jip (he was badly out of breath from running), "I
+      know all about the Hermit&mdash;I have known for years. But I couldn't
+      tell you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Because I'd promised not to tell any one. It was Bob, his dog, that told
+      me. And I swore to him that I would keep the secret."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, and are you going to tell me now?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said Jip, "we've got to save him. I followed Bob's scent just now
+      when I left you out there on the marshes. And I found him. And I said to
+      him, 'Is it all right,' I said, 'for me to tell the Doctor now? Maybe he
+      can do something.' And Bob says to me, 'Yes,' says he, 'it's all right
+      because&mdash;'"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, for Heaven's sake, go on, go on!" cried the Doctor. "Tell us what the
+      mystery is&mdash;not what you said to Bob and what Bob said to you. What
+      has happened? Where IS the Hermit?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He's in Puddleby Jail," said Jip. "He's in prison."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "In prison!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What for?&mdash;What's he done?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jip went over to the door and smelt at the bottom of it to see if any one
+      were listening outside. Then he came back to the Doctor on tiptoe and
+      whispered,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "HE KILLED A MAN!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Lord preserve us!" cried the Doctor, sitting down heavily in a chair and
+      mopping his forehead with a handkerchief. "When did he do it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fifteen years ago&mdash;in a Mexican gold-mine. That's why he has been a
+      hermit ever since. He shaved off his beard and kept away from people out
+      there on the marshes so he wouldn't be recognized. But last week, it seems
+      these new-fangled policemen came to Town; and they heard there was a
+      strange man who kept to himself all alone in a shack on the fen. And they
+      got suspicious. For a long time people had been hunting all over the world
+      for the man that did that killing in the Mexican gold-mine fifteen years
+      ago. So these policemen went out to the shack, and they recognized Luke by
+      a mole on his arm. And they took him to prison."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, well!" murmured the Doctor. "Who would have thought it?&mdash;Luke,
+      the philosopher!&mdash;Killed a man!&mdash;I can hardly believe it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's true enough&mdash;unfortunately," said Jip. "Luke did it. But it
+      wasn't his fault. Bob says so. And he was there and saw it all. He was
+      scarcely more than a puppy at the time. Bob says Luke couldn't help it. He
+      HAD to do it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Where is Bob now?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Down at the prison. I wanted him to come with me here to see you; but he
+      won't leave the prison while Luke is there. He just sits outside the door
+      of the prison-cell and won't move. He doesn't even eat the food they give
+      him. Won't you please come down there, Doctor, and see if there is
+      anything you can do? The trial is to be this afternoon at two o'clock.
+      What time is it now?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's ten minutes past one."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Bob says he thinks they are going to kill Luke for a punishment if they
+      can prove that he did it&mdash;or certainly keep him in prison for the
+      rest of his life. Won't you please come? Perhaps if you spoke to the judge
+      and told him what a good man Luke really is they'd let him off."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course I'll come," said the Doctor getting up and moving to go. "But
+      I'm very much afraid that I shan't be of any real help." He turned at the
+      door and hesitated thoughtfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And yet&mdash;I wonder&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he opened the door and passed out with Jip and me close at his heels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0023" id="link2H_4_0023">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FOURTH CHAPTER. BOB
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      DAB-DAB was terribly upset when she found we were going away again without
+      luncheon; and she made us take some cold pork-pies in our pockets to eat
+      on the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we got to Puddleby Court-house (it was next door to the prison), we
+      found a great crowd gathered around the building.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was the week of the Assizes&mdash;a business which happened every
+      three months, when many pick-pockets and other bad characters were tried
+      by a very grand judge who came all the way from London. And anybody in
+      Puddleby who had nothing special to do used to come to the Court-house to
+      hear the trials.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to-day it was different. The crowd was not made up of just a few idle
+      people. It was enormous. The news had run through the countryside that
+      Luke the Hermit was to be tried for killing a man and that the great
+      mystery which had hung over him so long was to be cleared up at last. The
+      butcher and the baker had closed their shops and taken a holiday. All the
+      farmers from round about, and all the townsfolk, were there with their
+      Sunday clothes on, trying to get seats in the Court-house or gossipping
+      outside in low whispers. The High Street was so crowded you could hardly
+      move along it. I had never seen the quiet old town in such a state of
+      excitement before. For Puddleby had not had such an Assizes since 1799,
+      when Ferdinand Phipps, the Rector's oldest son, had robbed the bank.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If I hadn't had the Doctor with me I am sure I would never have been able
+      to make my way through the mob packed around the Court-house door. But I
+      just followed behind him, hanging on to his coat-tails; and at last we got
+      safely into the jail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I want to see Luke," said the Doctor to a very grand person in a blue
+      coat with brass buttons standing at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ask at the Superintendent's office," said the man. "Third door on the
+      left down the corridor."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Who is that person you spoke to, Doctor?" I asked as we went along the
+      passage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He is a policeman."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And what are policemen?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Policemen? They are to keep people in order. They've just been invented&mdash;by
+      Sir Robert Peel. That's why they are also called 'peelers' sometimes. It
+      is a wonderful age we live in. They're always thinking of something new&mdash;This
+      will be the Superintendent's office, I suppose."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From there another policeman was sent with us to show us the way.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside the door of Luke's cell we found Bob, the bulldog, who wagged his
+      tail sadly when he saw us. The man who was guiding us took a large bunch
+      of keys from his pocket and opened the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had never been inside a real prison-cell before; and I felt quite a
+      thrill when the policeman went out and locked the door after him, leaving
+      us shut in the dimly-lighted, little, stone room. Before he went, he said
+      that as soon as we had done talking with our friend we should knock upon
+      the door and he would come and let us out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At first I could hardly see anything, it was so dim inside. But after a
+      little I made out a low bed against the wall, under a small barred window.
+      On the bed, staring down at the floor between his feet, sat the Hermit,
+      his head resting in his hands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, Luke," said the Doctor in a kindly voice, "they don't give you much
+      light in here, do they?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Very slowly the Hermit looked up from the floor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hulloa, John Dolittle. What brings you here?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I've come to see you. I would have been here sooner, only I didn't hear
+      about all this till a few minutes ago. I went to your hut to ask you if
+      you would join me on a voyage; and when I found it empty I had no idea
+      where you could be. I am dreadfully sorry to hear about your bad luck.
+      I've come to see if there is anything I can do."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Luke shook his head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, I don't imagine there is anything can be done. They've caught me at
+      last. That's the end of it, I suppose."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He got up stiffly and started walking up and down the little room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "In a way I'm glad it's over," said he. "I never got any peace, always
+      thinking they were after me&mdash;afraid to speak to anyone. They were
+      bound to get me in the end&mdash;Yes, I'm glad it's over."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Doctor talked to Luke for more than half an hour, trying to cheer
+      him up; while I sat around wondering what I ought to say and wishing I
+      could do something.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last the Doctor said he wanted to see Bob; and we knocked upon the door
+      and were let out by the policeman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Bob," said the Doctor to the big bulldog in the passage, "come out with
+      me into the porch. I want to ask you something."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How is he, Doctor?" asked Bob as we walked down the corridor into the
+      Court-house porch.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, Luke's all right. Very miserable of course, but he's all right. Now
+      tell me, Bob: you saw this business happen, didn't you? You were there
+      when the man was killed, eh?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was, Doctor," said Bob, "and I tell you&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right," the Doctor interrupted, "that's all I want to know for the
+      present. There isn't time to tell me more now. The trial is just going to
+      begin. There are the judge and the lawyers coming up the steps. Now
+      listen, Bob: I want you to stay with me when I go into the court-room. And
+      whatever I tell you to do, do it. Do you understand? Don't make any
+      scenes. Don't bite anybody, no matter what they may say about Luke. Just
+      behave perfectly quietly and answer any question I may ask you&mdash;truthfully.
+      Do you understand?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very well. But do you think you will be able to get him off, Doctor?"
+      asked Bob. "He's a good man, Doctor. He really is. There never was a
+      better."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'll see, we'll see, Bob. It's a new thing I'm going to try. I'm not
+      sure the judge will allow it. But&mdash;well, we'll see. It's time to go
+      into the court-room now. Don't forget what I told you. Remember: for
+      Heaven's sake don't start biting any one or you'll get us all put out and
+      spoil everything."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0024" id="link2H_4_0024">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIFTH CHAPTER. MENDOZA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      INSIDE the court-room everything was very solemn and wonderful. It was a
+      high, big room. Raised above the floor, against the wall was the judge's
+      desk; and here the judge was already sitting&mdash;an old, handsome man in
+      a marvelous big wig of gray hair and a gown of black. Below him was
+      another wide, long desk at which lawyers in white wigs sat. The whole
+      thing reminded me of a mixture between a church and a school.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Those twelve men at the side," whispered the Doctor&mdash;"those in pews
+      like a choir, they are what is called the jury. It is they who decide
+      whether Luke is guilty&mdash;whether he did it or not."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And look!" I said, "there's Luke himself in a sort of pulpit-thing with
+      policemen each side of him. And there's another pulpit, the same kind, the
+      other side of the room, see&mdash;only that one's empty."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That one is called the witness-box," said the Doctor. "Now I'm going down
+      to speak to one of those men in white wigs; and I want you to wait here
+      and keep these two seats for us. Bob will stay with you. Keep an eye on
+      him&mdash;better hold on to his collar. I shan't be more than a minute or
+      so."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With that the Doctor disappeared into the crowd which filled the main part
+      of the room.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I saw the judge take up a funny little wooden hammer and knock on his
+      desk with it. This, it seemed, was to make people keep quiet, for
+      immediately every one stopped buzzing and talking and began to listen very
+      respectfully. Then another man in a black gown stood up and began reading
+      from a paper in his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He mumbled away exactly as though he were saying his prayers and didn't
+      want any one to understand what language they were in. But I managed to
+      catch a few words:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;otherwise known as Luke
+      the Hermit, of&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;for killing
+      his partner with&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;otherwise known as
+      Bluebeard Bill on the night of the&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;in
+      the biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;of Mexico. Therefore Her Majesty's&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;biz&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this moment I felt some one take hold of my arm from the back, and
+      turning round I found the Doctor had returned with one of the men in white
+      wigs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Stubbins, this is Mr. Percy Jenkyns," said the Doctor. "He is Luke's
+      lawyer. It is his business to get Luke off&mdash;if he can."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Mr. Jenkyns seemed to be an extremely young man with a round smooth face
+      like a boy. He shook hands with me and then immediately turned and went on
+      talking with the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, I think it is a perfectly precious idea," he was saying. "Of COURSE
+      the dog must be admitted as a witness; he was the only one who saw the
+      thing take place. I'm awfully glad you came. I wouldn't have missed this
+      for anything. My hat! Won't it make the old court sit up? They're always
+      frightfully dull, these Assizes. But this will stir things. A bulldog
+      witness for the defense! I do hope there are plenty of reporters present&mdash;Yes,
+      there's one making a sketch of the prisoner. I shall become known after
+      this&mdash;And won't Conkey be pleased? My hat!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He put his hand over his mouth to smother a laugh and his eyes fairly
+      sparkled with mischief. "Who is Conkey?" I asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sh! He is speaking of the judge up there, the Honorable Eustace Beauchamp
+      Conckley."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now," said Mr. Jenkyns, bringing out a notebook, "tell me a little more
+      about yourself, Doctor. You took your degree as Doctor of Medicine at
+      Durham, I think you said. And the name of your last book was?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I could not hear any more for they talked in whispers; and I fell to
+      looking round the court again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course I could not understand everything that was going on, though it
+      was all very interesting. People kept getting up in the place the Doctor
+      called the witness-box, and the lawyers at the long table asked them
+      questions about "the night of the 29th." Then the people would get down
+      again and somebody else would get up and be questioned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One of the lawyers (who, the Doctor told me afterwards, was called the
+      Prosecutor) seemed to be doing his best to get the Hermit into trouble by
+      asking questions which made it look as though he had always been a very
+      bad man. He was a nasty lawyer, this Prosecutor, with a long nose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Most of the time I could hardly keep my eyes off poor Luke, who sat there
+      between his two policemen, staring at the floor as though he weren't
+      interested. The only time I saw him take any notice at all was when a
+      small dark man with wicked, little, watery eyes got up into the
+      witness-box. I heard Bob snarl under my chair as this person came into the
+      court-room and Luke's eyes just blazed with anger and contempt.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This man said his name was Mendoza and that he was the one who had guided
+      the Mexican police to the mine after Bluebeard Bill had been killed. And
+      at every word he said I could hear Bob down below me muttering between his
+      teeth,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's a lie! It's a lie! I'll chew his face. It's a lie!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And both the Doctor and I had hard work keeping the dog under the seat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then I noticed that our Mr. Jenkyns had disappeared from the Doctor's
+      side. But presently I saw him stand up at the long table to speak to the
+      judge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your Honor," said he, "I wish to introduce a new witness for the defense,
+      Doctor John Dolittle, the naturalist. Will you please step into the
+      witness-stand, Doctor?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a buzz of excitement as the Doctor made his way across the
+      crowded room; and I noticed the nasty lawyer with the long nose lean down
+      and whisper something to a friend, smiling in an ugly way which made me
+      want to pinch him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Mr. Jenkyns asked the Doctor a whole lot of questions about himself
+      and made him answer in a loud voice so the whole court could hear. He
+      finished up by saying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And you are prepared to swear, Doctor Dolittle, that you understand the
+      language of dogs and can make them understand you. Is that so?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said the Doctor, "that is so."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And what, might I ask," put in the judge in a very quiet, dignified
+      voice, "has all this to do with the killing of er&mdash;er&mdash;Bluebeard
+      Bill?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This, Your Honor," said Mr. Jenkyns, talking in a very grand manner as
+      though he were on a stage in a theatre: "there is in this court-room at
+      the present moment a bulldog, who was the only living thing that saw the
+      man killed. With the Court's permission I propose to put that dog in the
+      witness-stand and have him questioned before you by the eminent scientist,
+      Doctor John Dolittle."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0025" id="link2H_4_0025">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE JUDGE'S DOG
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      AT first there was a dead silence in the Court. Then everybody began
+      whispering or giggling at the same time, till the whole room sounded like
+      a great hive of bees. Many people seemed to be shocked; most of them were
+      amused; and a few were angry.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently up sprang the nasty lawyer with the long nose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I protest, Your Honor," he cried, waving his arms wildly to the judge. "I
+      object. The dignity of this court is in peril. I protest."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I am the one to take care of the dignity of this court," said the judge.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then Mr. Jenkyns got up again. (If it hadn't been such a serious matter,
+      it was almost like a Punch-and-Judy show: somebody was always popping down
+      and somebody else popping up).
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "If there is any doubt on the score of our being able to do as we say,
+      Your Honor will have no objection, I trust, to the Doctor's giving the
+      Court a demonstration of his powers&mdash;of showing that he actually can
+      understand the speech of animals?" I thought I saw a twinkle of amusement
+      come into the old judge's eyes as he sat considering a moment before he
+      answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," he said at last, "I don't think so." Then he turned to the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Are you quite sure you can do this?" he asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Quite, Your Honor," said the Doctor&mdash;"quite sure."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very well then," said the judge. "If you can satisfy us that you really
+      are able to understand canine testimony, the dog shall be admitted as a
+      witness. I do not see, in that case, how I could object to his being
+      heard. But I warn you that if you are trying to make a laughing-stock of
+      this Court it will go hard with you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I protest, I protest!" yelled the long-nosed Prosecutor. "This is a
+      scandal, an outrage to the Bar!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sit down!" said the judge in a very stern voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What animal does Your Honor wish me to talk with?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I would like you to talk to my own dog," said the judge. "He is outside
+      in the cloak-room. I will have him brought in; and then we shall see what
+      you can do."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then someone went out and fetched the judge's dog, a lovely great Russian
+      wolf-hound with slender legs and a shaggy coat. He was a proud and
+      beautiful creature.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Doctor," said the judge, "did you ever see this dog before?&mdash;Remember
+      you are in the witness-stand and under oath."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, Your Honor, I never saw him before."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very well then, will you please ask him to tell you what I had for supper
+      last night? He was with me and watched me while I ate."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Doctor and the dog started talking to one another in signs and
+      sounds; and they kept at it for quite a long time. And the Doctor began to
+      giggle and get so interested that he seemed to forget all about the Court
+      and the judge and everything else.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What a time he takes!" I heard a fat woman in front of me whispering.
+      "He's only pretending. Of course he can't do it! Who ever heard of talking
+      to a dog? He must think we're children."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Haven't you finished yet?" the judge asked the Doctor. "It shouldn't take
+      that long just to ask what I had for supper."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh no, Your Honor," said the Doctor. "The dog told me that long ago. But
+      then he went on to tell me what you did after supper."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Never mind that," said the judge. "Tell me what answer he gave you to my
+      question."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He says you had a mutton-chop, two baked potatoes, a pickled walnut and a
+      glass of ale."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Honorable Eustace Beauchamp Conckley went white to the lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sounds like witchcraft," he muttered. "I never dreamed&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And after your supper," the Doctor went on, "he says you went to see a
+      prize-fight and then sat up playing cards for money till twelve o'clock
+      and came home singing, 'We wont get&mdash;'"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That will do," the judge interrupted, "I am satisfied you can do as you
+      say. The prisoner's dog shall be admitted as a witness."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I protest, I object!" screamed the Prosecutor. "Your Honor, this is&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sit down!" roared the judge. "I say the dog shall be heard. That ends the
+      matter. Put the witness in the stand."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then for the first time in the solemn history of England a dog was put
+      in the witness-stand of Her Majesty's Court of Assizes. And it was I,
+      Tommy Stubbins (when the Doctor made a sign to me across the room) who
+      proudly led Bob up the aisle, through the astonished crowd, past the
+      frowning, spluttering, long-nosed Prosecutor, and made him comfortable on
+      a high chair in the witness-box; from where the old bulldog sat scowling
+      down over the rail upon the amazed and gaping jury.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0026" id="link2H_4_0026">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE END OF THE MYSTERY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THE trial went swiftly forward after that. Mr. Jenkyns told the Doctor to
+      ask Bob what he saw on the "night of the 29th;" and when Bob had told all
+      he knew and the Doctor had turned it into English for the judge and the
+      jury, this was what he had to say:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "On the night of the 29th of November, 1824, I was with my master, Luke
+      Fitzjohn (otherwise known as Luke the Hermit) and his two partners, Manuel
+      Mendoza and William Boggs (otherwise known as Bluebeard Bill) on their
+      gold-mine in Mexico. For a long time these three men had been hunting for
+      gold; and they had dug a deep hole in the ground. On the morning of the
+      29th gold was discovered, lots of it, at the bottom of this hole. And all
+      three, my master and his two partners, were very happy about it because
+      now they would be rich. But Manuel Mendoza asked Bluebeard Bill to go for
+      a walk with him. These two men I had always suspected of being bad. So
+      when I noticed that they left my master behind, I followed them secretly
+      to see what they were up to. And in a deep cave in the mountains I heard
+      them arrange together to kill Luke the Hermit so that they should get all
+      the gold and he have none."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this point the judge asked, "Where is the witness Mendoza? Constable,
+      see that he does not leave the court."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the wicked little man with the watery eyes had already sneaked out
+      when no one was looking and he was never seen in Puddleby again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Then," Bob's statement went on, "I went to my master and tried very hard
+      to make him understand that his partners were dangerous men. But it was no
+      use. He did not understand dog language. So I did the next best thing: I
+      never let him out of my sight but stayed with him every moment of the day
+      and night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now the hole that they had made was so deep that to get down and up it
+      you had to go in a big bucket tied on the end of a rope; and the three men
+      used to haul one another up and let one another down the mine in this way.
+      That was how the gold was brought up too&mdash;in the bucket. Well, about
+      seven o'clock in the evening my master was standing at the top of the
+      mine, hauling up Bluebeard Bill who was in the bucket. Just as he had got
+      Bill halfway up I saw Mendoza come out of the hut where we all lived.
+      Mendoza thought that Bill was away buying groceries. But he wasn't: he was
+      in the bucket. And when Mendoza saw Luke hauling and straining on the rope
+      he thought he was pulling up a bucketful of gold. So he drew a pistol from
+      his pocket and came sneaking up behind Luke to shoot him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I barked and barked to warn my master of the danger he was in; but he was
+      so busy hauling up Bill (who was a heavy fat man) that he took no notice
+      of me. I saw that if I didn't do something quick he would surely be shot.
+      So I did a thing I've never done before: suddenly and savagely I bit my
+      master in the leg from behind. Luke was so hurt and startled that he did
+      just what I wanted him to do: he let go the rope with both hands at once
+      and turned round. And then, CRASH! down went Bill in his bucket to the
+      bottom of the mine and he was killed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "While my master was busy scolding me Mendoza put his pistol in his
+      pocket, came up with a smile on his face and looked down the mine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Why, Good Gracious'!" said he to Luke, 'You've killed Bluebeard Bill. I
+      must go and tell the police'&mdash;hoping, you see, to get the whole mine
+      to himself when Luke should be put in prison. Then he jumped on his horse
+      and galloped away."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And soon my master grew afraid; for he saw that if Mendoza only told
+      enough lies to the police, it WOULD look as though he had killed Bill on
+      purpose. So while Mendoza was gone he and I stole away together secretly
+      and came to England. Here he shaved off his beard and became a hermit. And
+      ever since, for fifteen years, we've remained in hiding. This is all I
+      have to say. And I swear it is the truth, every word."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the Doctor finished reading Bob's long speech the excitement among
+      the twelve men of the jury was positively terrific. One, a very old man
+      with white hair, began to weep in a loud voice at the thought of poor Luke
+      hiding on the fen for fifteen years for something he couldn't help. And
+      all the others set to whispering and nodding their heads to one another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the middle of all this up got that horrible Prosecutor again, waving
+      his arms more wildly than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your Honor," he cried, "I must object to this evidence as biased. Of
+      course the dog would not tell the truth against his own master. I object.
+      I protest."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very well," said the judge, "you are at liberty to cross-examine. It is
+      your duty as Prosecutor to prove his evidence untrue. There is the dog:
+      question him, if you do not believe what he says."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought the long-nosed lawyer would have a fit. He looked first at the
+      dog, then at the Doctor, then at the judge, then back at the dog scowling
+      from the witness-box. He opened his mouth to say something; but no words
+      came. He waved his arms some more. His face got redder and redder. At
+      last, clutching his forehead, he sank weakly into his seat and had to be
+      helped out of the court-room by two friends. As he was half carried
+      through the door he was still feebly murmuring, "I protest&mdash;I object&mdash;I
+      protest!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0027" id="link2H_4_0027">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THREE CHEERS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      NEXT the judge made a very long speech to the jury; and when it was over
+      all the twelve jurymen got up and went out into the next room. And at that
+      point the Doctor came back, leading Bob, to the seat beside me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What have the jurymen gone out for?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They always do that at the end of a trial&mdash;to make up their minds
+      whether the prisoner did it or not."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Couldn't you and Bob go in with them and help them make up their minds
+      the right way?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, that's not allowed. They have to talk it over in secret. Sometimes it
+      takes&mdash;My Gracious, look, they're coming back already! They didn't
+      spend long over it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Everybody kept quite still while the twelve men came tramping back into
+      their places in the pews. Then one of them, the leader&mdash;a little man&mdash;stood
+      up and turned to the judge. Every one was holding his breath, especially
+      the Doctor and myself, to see what he was going to say. You could have
+      heard a pin drop while the whole court-room, the whole of Puddleby in
+      fact, waited with craning necks and straining ears to hear the weighty
+      words.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Your Honor," said the little man, "the jury returns a verdict of NOT
+      GUILTY."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's that mean?" I asked, turning to the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But I found Doctor John Dolittle, the famous naturalist, standing on top
+      of a chair, dancing about on one leg like a schoolboy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It means he's free!" he cried, "Luke is free!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Then he'll be able to come on the voyage with us, won't he?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But I could not hear his answer; for the whole court-room seemed to be
+      jumping up on chairs like the Doctor. The crowd had suddenly gone crazy.
+      All the people were laughing and calling and waving to Luke to show him
+      how glad they were that he was free. The noise was deafening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then it stopped. All was quiet again; and the people stood up respectfully
+      while the judge left the Court. For the trial of Luke the Hermit, that
+      famous trial which to this day they are still talking of in Puddleby, was
+      over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the hush while the judge was leaving, a sudden shriek rang out, and
+      there, in the doorway stood a woman, her arms out-stretched to the Hermit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Luke!" she cried, "I've found you at last!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's his wife," the fat woman in front of me whispered. "She ain't seen
+      'im in fifteen years, poor dear! What a lovely re-union. I'm glad I came.
+      I wouldn't have missed this for anything!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the judge had gone the noise broke out again; and now the folks
+      gathered round Luke and his wife and shook them by the hand and
+      congratulated them and laughed over them and cried over them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come along, Stubbins," said the Doctor, taking me by the arm, "let's get
+      out of this while we can."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But aren't you going to speak to Luke?" I said&mdash;"to ask him if he'll
+      come on the voyage?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It wouldn't be a bit of use," said the Doctor. "His wife's come for him.
+      No man stands any chance of going on a voyage when his wife hasn't seen
+      him in fifteen years. Come along. Let's get home to tea. We didn't have
+      any lunch, remember. And we've earned something to eat. We'll have one of
+      those mixed meals, lunch and tea combined&mdash;with watercress and ham.
+      Nice change. Come along."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as we were going to step out at a side door I heard the crowd
+      shouting,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The Doctor! The Doctor! Where's the Doctor? The Hermit would have hanged
+      if it hadn't been for the Doctor. Speech! Speech!&mdash;The Doctor!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And a man came running up to us and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The people are calling for you, Sir."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm very sorry," said the Doctor, "but I'm in a hurry."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The crowd won't be denied, Sir," said the man. "They want you to make a
+      speech in the marketplace."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Beg them to excuse me," said the Doctor&mdash;"with my compliments. I
+      have an appointment at my house&mdash;a very important one which I may not
+      break. Tell Luke to make a speech. Come along, Stubbins, this way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh Lord!" he muttered as we got out into the open air and found another
+      crowd waiting for him at the side door. "Let's go up that alleyway&mdash;to
+      the left. Quick!&mdash;Run!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We took to our heels, darted through a couple of side streets and just
+      managed to get away from the crowd.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was not till we had gained the Oxenthorpe Road that we dared to slow
+      down to a walk and take our breath. And even when we reached the Doctor's
+      gate and turned to look backwards towards the town, the faint murmur of
+      many voices still reached us on the evening wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They're still clamoring for you," I said. "Listen!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The murmur suddenly swelled up into a low distant roar; and although it
+      was a mile and half away you could distinctly hear the words,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Three cheers for Luke the Hermit: Hooray!&mdash;Three cheers for his dog:
+      Hooray!&mdash;Three cheers for his wife: Hooray!&mdash;Three cheers for
+      the Doctor: Hooray! Hooray! HOO-R-A-Y!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0028" id="link2H_4_0028">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      POLYNESIA was waiting for us in the front porch. She looked full of some
+      important news.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Doctor," said she, "the Purple Bird-of-Paradise has arrived!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "At last!" said the Doctor. "I had begun to fear some accident had
+      befallen her. And how is Miranda?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the excited way in which the Doctor fumbled his key into the lock I
+      guessed that we were not going to get our tea right away, even now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, she seemed all right when she arrived," said Polynesia&mdash;"tired
+      from her long journey of course but otherwise all right. But what DO you
+      think? That mischief-making sparrow, Cheapside, insulted her as soon as
+      she came into the garden. When I arrived on the scene she was in tears and
+      was all for turning round and going straight back to Brazil to-night. I
+      had the hardest work persuading her to wait till you came. She's in the
+      study. I shut Cheapside in one of your book-cases and told him I'd tell
+      you exactly what had happened the moment you got home."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor frowned, then walked silently and quickly to the study.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here we found the candles lit; for the daylight was nearly gone. Dab-Dab
+      was standing on the floor mounting guard over one of the glass-fronted
+      book-cases in which Cheapside had been imprisoned. The noisy little
+      sparrow was still fluttering angrily behind the glass when we came in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the centre of the big table, perched on the ink-stand, stood the most
+      beautiful bird I have ever seen. She had a deep violet-colored breast,
+      scarlet wings and a long, long sweeping tail of gold. She was unimaginably
+      beautiful but looked dreadfully tired. Already she had her head under her
+      wing; and she swayed gently from side to side on top of the ink-stand like
+      a bird that has flown long and far.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sh!" said Dab-Dab. "Miranda is asleep. I've got this little imp Cheapside
+      in here. Listen, Doctor: for Heaven's sake send that sparrow away before
+      he does any more mischief. He's nothing but a vulgar little nuisance.
+      We've had a perfectly awful time trying to get Miranda to stay. Shall I
+      serve your tea in here, or will you come into the kitchen when you're
+      ready?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'll come into the kitchen, Dab-Dab," said the Doctor. "Let Cheapside
+      out before you go, please."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Dab-Dab opened the bookcase-door and Cheapside strutted out trying hard
+      not to look guilty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Cheapside," said the Doctor sternly, "what did you say to Miranda when
+      she arrived?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I didn't say nothing, Doc, straight I didn't. That is, nothing much. I
+      was picking up crumbs off the gravel path when she comes swanking into the
+      garden, turning up her nose in all directions, as though she owned the
+      earth&mdash;just because she's got a lot of colored plumage. A London
+      sparrow's as good as her any day. I don't hold by these gawdy bedizened
+      foreigners nohow. Why don't they stay in their own country?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But what did you say to her that got her so offended?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All I said was, 'You don't belong in an English garden; you ought to be
+      in a milliner's window. That's all."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Cheapside. Don't you realize that
+      this bird has come thousands of miles to see me&mdash;only to be insulted
+      by your impertinent tongue as soon as she reaches my garden? What do you
+      mean by it?&mdash;If she had gone away again before I got back to-night I
+      would never have forgiven you&mdash;Leave the room."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sheepishly, but still trying to look as though he didn't care, Cheapside
+      hopped out into the passage and Dab-Dab closed the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor went up to the beautiful bird on the ink-stand and gently
+      stroked its back. Instantly its head popped out from under its wing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0029" id="link2H_4_0029">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE TENTH CHAPTER. LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      "WELL, Miranda," said the Doctor. "I'm terribly sorry this has happened.
+      But you mustn't mind Cheapside; he doesn't know any better. He's a city
+      bird; and all his life he has had to squabble for a living. You must make
+      allowances. He doesn't know any better."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Miranda stretched her gorgeous wings wearily. Now that I saw her awake and
+      moving I noticed what a superior, well-bred manner she had. There were
+      tears in her eyes and her beak was trembling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I wouldn't have minded so much," she said in a high silvery voice, "if I
+      hadn't been so dreadfully worn out&mdash;That and something else," she
+      added beneath her breath.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Did you have a hard time getting here?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The worst passage I ever made," said Miranda. "The weather&mdash;Well
+      there. What's the use? I'm here anyway."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Tell me," said the Doctor as though he had been impatiently waiting to
+      say something for a long time: "what did Long Arrow say when you gave him
+      my message?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Purple Bird-of-Paradise hung her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's the worst part of it," she said. "I might almost as well have not
+      come at all. I wasn't able to deliver your message. I couldn't find him.
+      LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW, HAS DISAPPEARED!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Disappeared!" cried the Doctor. "Why, what's become of him?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Nobody knows," Miranda answered. "He had often disappeared before, as I
+      have told you&mdash;so that the Indians didn't know where he was. But it's
+      a mighty hard thing to hide away from the birds. I had always been able to
+      find some owl or martin who could tell me where he was&mdash;if I wanted
+      to know. But not this time. That's why I'm nearly a fortnight late in
+      coming to you: I kept hunting and hunting, asking everywhere. I went over
+      the whole length and breadth of South America. But there wasn't a living
+      thing could tell me where he was."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a sad silence in the room after she had finished; the Doctor was
+      frowning in a peculiar sort of way and Polynesia scratched her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Did you ask the black parrots?" asked Polynesia. "They usually know
+      everything."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly I did," said Miranda. "And I was so upset at not being able to
+      find out anything, that I forgot all about observing the weather-signs
+      before I started my flight here. I didn't even bother to break my journey
+      at the Azores, but cut right across, making for the Straits of Gibraltar&mdash;as
+      though it were June or July. And of course I ran into a perfectly
+      frightful storm in mid-Atlantic. I really thought I'd never come through
+      it. Luckily I found a piece of a wrecked vessel floating in the sea after
+      the storm had partly died down; and I roosted on it and took some sleep.
+      If I hadn't been able to take that rest I wouldn't be here to tell the
+      tale."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Poor Miranda! What a time you must have had!" said the Doctor. "But tell
+      me, were you able to find out whereabouts Long Arrow was last seen?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes. A young albatross told me he had seen him on Spidermonkey Island?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Spidermonkey Island? That's somewhere off the coast of Brazil, isn't it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, that's it. Of course I flew there right away and asked every bird on
+      the island&mdash;and it is a big island, a hundred miles long. It seems
+      that Long Arrow was visiting some peculiar Indians that live there; and
+      that when last seen he was going up into the mountains looking for rare
+      medicine-plants. I got that from a tame hawk, a pet, which the Chief of
+      the Indians keeps for hunting partridges with. I nearly got caught and put
+      in a cage for my pains too. That's the worst of having beautiful feathers:
+      it's as much as your life is worth to go near most humans&mdash;They say,
+      'oh how pretty!' and shoot an arrow or a bullet into you. You and Long
+      Arrow were the only two men that I would ever trust myself near&mdash;out
+      of all the people in the world."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But was he never known to have returned from the mountains?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No. That was the last that was seen or heard of him. I questioned the
+      sea-birds around the shores to find out if he had left the island in a
+      canoe. But they could tell me nothing."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you think that some accident has happened to him?" asked the Doctor in
+      a fearful voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm afraid it must have," said Miranda shaking her head.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said John Dolittle slowly, "if I could never meet Long Arrow face
+      to face it would be the greatest disappointment in my whole life. Not only
+      that, but it would be a great loss to the knowledge of the human race.
+      For, from what you have told me of him, he knew more natural science than
+      all the rest of us put together; and if he has gone without any one to
+      write it down for him, so the world may be the better for it, it would be
+      a terrible thing. But you don't really think that he is dead, do you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What else can I think?" asked Miranda, bursting into tears, "when for six
+      whole months he has not been seen by flesh, fish or fowl."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0030" id="link2H_4_0030">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER. BLIND TRAVEL
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THIS news about Long Arrow made us all very sad. And I could see from the
+      silent dreamy way the Doctor took his tea that he was dreadfully upset.
+      Every once in a while he would stop eating altogether and sit staring at
+      the spots on the kitchen table-cloth as though his thoughts were far away;
+      till Dab-Dab, who was watching to see that he got a good meal, would cough
+      or rattle the pots in the sink.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I did my best to cheer him up by reminding him of all he had done for Luke
+      and his wife that afternoon. And when that didn't seem to work, I went on
+      talking about our preparations for the voyage.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But you see, Stubbins," said he as we rose from the table and Dab-Dab and
+      Chee-Chee began to clear away, "I don't know where to go now. I feel sort
+      of lost since Miranda brought me this news. On this voyage I had planned
+      going to see Long Arrow. I had been looking forward to it for a whole
+      year. I felt he might help me in learning the language of the shellfish&mdash;and
+      perhaps in finding some way of getting to the bottom of the sea. But now?&mdash;He's
+      gone! And all his great knowledge has gone with him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he seemed to fall a-dreaming again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Just to think of it!" he murmured. "Long Arrow and I, two students&mdash;Although
+      I'd never met him, I felt as though I knew him quite well. For, in his way&mdash;without
+      any schooling&mdash;he has, all his life, been trying to do the very
+      things which I have tried to do in mine&mdash;And now he's gone!&mdash;A
+      whole world lay between us&mdash;And only a bird knew us both!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We went back into the study, where Jip brought the Doctor his slippers and
+      his pipe. And after the pipe was lit and the smoke began to fill the room
+      the old man seemed to cheer up a little.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But you will go on some voyage, Doctor, won't you?" I asked&mdash;"even
+      if you can't go to find Long Arrow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He looked up sharply into my face; and I suppose he saw how anxious I was.
+      Because he suddenly smiled his old, boyish smile and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, Stubbins. Don't worry. We'll go. We mustn't stop working and
+      learning, even if poor Long Arrow has disappeared&mdash;But where to go:
+      that's the question. Where shall we go?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There were so many places that I wanted to go that I couldn't make up my
+      mind right away. And while I was still thinking, the Doctor sat up in his
+      chair and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I tell you what we'll do, Stubbins: it's a game I used to play when I was
+      young&mdash;before Sarah came to live with me. I used to call it Blind
+      Travel. Whenever I wanted to go on a voyage, and I couldn't make up my
+      mind where to go, I would take the atlas and open it with my eyes shut.
+      Next, I'd wave a pencil, still without looking, and stick it down on
+      whatever page had fallen open. Then I'd open my eyes and look. It's a very
+      exciting game, is Blind Travel. Because you have to swear, before you
+      begin, that you will go to the place the pencil touches, come what way.
+      Shall we play it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, let's!" I almost yelled. "How thrilling! I hope it's China&mdash;or
+      Borneo&mdash;or Bagdad."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And in a moment I had scrambled up the bookcase, dragged the big atlas
+      from the top shelf and laid it on the table before the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I knew every page in that atlas by heart. How many days and nights I had
+      lingered over its old faded maps, following the blue rivers from the
+      mountains to the sea; wondering what the little towns really looked like,
+      and how wide were the sprawling lakes! I had had a lot of fun with that
+      atlas, traveling, in my mind, all over the world. I can see it now: the
+      first page had no map; it just told you that it was printed in Edinburgh
+      in 1808, and a whole lot more about the book. The next page was the Solar
+      System, showing the sun and planets, the stars and the moon. The third
+      page was the chart of the North and South Poles. Then came the
+      hemispheres, the oceans, the continents and the countries.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Doctor began sharpening his pencil a thought came to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What if the pencil falls upon the North Pole," I asked, "will we have to
+      go there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No. The rules of the game say you don't have to go any place you've been
+      to before. You are allowed another try. I've been to the North Pole," he
+      ended quietly, "so we shan't have to go there." I could hardly speak with
+      astonishment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "YOU'VE BEEN TO THE NORTH POLE!" I managed to gasp out at last. "But I
+      thought it was still undiscovered. The map shows all the places explorers
+      have reached to, TRYING to get there. Why isn't your name down if you
+      discovered it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I promised to keep it a secret. And you must promise me never to tell any
+      one. Yes, I discovered the North Pole in April, 1809. But shortly after I
+      got there the polar bears came to me in a body and told me there was a
+      great deal of coal there, buried beneath the snow. They knew, they said,
+      that human beings would do anything, and go anywhere, to get coal. So
+      would I please keep it a secret. Because once people began coming up there
+      to start coal-mines, their beautiful white country would be spoiled&mdash;and
+      there was nowhere else in the world cold enough for polar bears to be
+      comfortable. So of course I had to promise them I would. Ah, well, it will
+      be discovered again some day, by somebody else. But I want the polar bears
+      to have their play-ground to themselves as long as possible. And I daresay
+      it will be a good while yet&mdash;for it certainly is a fiendish place to
+      get to&mdash;Well now, are we ready?&mdash;Good! Take the pencil and stand
+      here close to the table. When the book falls open, wave the pencil round
+      three times and jab it down. Ready?&mdash;All right. Shut your eyes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a tense and fearful moment&mdash;but very thrilling. We both had
+      our eyes shut tight. I heard the atlas fall open with a bang. I wondered
+      what page it was: England or Asia. If it should be the map of Asia, so
+      much would depend on where that pencil would land. I waved three times in
+      a circle. I began to lower my hand. The pencil-point touched the page.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right," I called out, "it's done."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0031" id="link2H_4_0031">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE TWELFTH CHAPTER. DESTINY AND DESTINATION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WE both opened our eyes; then bumped our heads together with a crack in
+      our eagerness to lean over and see where we were to go.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The atlas lay open at a map called, Chart of the South Atlantic Ocean. My
+      pencil-point was resting right in the center of a tiny island. The name of
+      it was printed so small that the Doctor had to get out his strong
+      spectacles to read it. I was trembling with excitement.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Spidermonkey Island," he read out slowly. Then he whistled softly beneath
+      his breath. "Of all the extraordinary things! You've hit upon the very
+      island where Long Arrow was last seen on earth&mdash;I wonder&mdash;Well,
+      well! How very singular!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We'll go there, Doctor, won't we?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course we will. The rules of the game say we've got to."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm so glad it wasn't Oxenthorpe or Bristol," I said. "It'll be a grand
+      voyage, this. Look at all the sea we've got to cross. Will it take us
+      long?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, no," said the Doctor&mdash;"not very. With a good boat and a good
+      wind we should make it easily in four weeks. But isn't it extraordinary?
+      Of all the places in the world you picked out that one with your eyes
+      shut. Spidermonkey Island after all!&mdash;Well, there's one good thing
+      about it: I shall be able to get some Jabizri beetles."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What are Jabizri beetles?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They are a very rare kind of beetles with peculiar habits. I want to
+      study them. There are only three countries in the world where they are to
+      be found. Spidermonkey Island is one of them. But even there they are very
+      scarce."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What is this little question-mark after the name of the island for?" I
+      asked, pointing to the map.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That means that the island's position in the ocean is not known very
+      exactly&mdash;that it is somewhere ABOUT there. Ships have probably seen
+      it in that neighborhood, that is all, most likely. It is quite possible we
+      shall be the first white men to land there. But I daresay we shall have
+      some difficulty in finding it first."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How like a dream it all sounded! The two of us sitting there at the big
+      study-table; the candles lit; the smoke curling towards the dim ceiling
+      from the Doctor's pipe&mdash;the two of us sitting there, talking about
+      finding an island in the ocean and being the first white men to land upon
+      it!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'll bet it will be a great voyage," I said. "It looks a lovely island on
+      the map. Will there be black men there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No. A peculiar tribe of Red Indians lives on it, Miranda tells me."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this point the poor Bird-of-Paradise stirred and woke up. In our
+      excitement we had forgotten to speak low.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We are going to Spidermonkey Island, Miranda," said the Doctor. "You know
+      where it is, do you not?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I know where it was the last time I saw it," said the bird. "But whether
+      it will be there still, I can't say."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What do you mean?" asked the Doctor. "It is always in the same place
+      surely?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Not by any means," said Miranda. "Why, didn't you know?&mdash;Spidermonkey
+      Island is a FLOATING island. It moves around all over the place&mdash;usually
+      somewhere near southern South America. But of course I could surely find
+      it for you if you want to go there."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this fresh piece of news I could contain myself no longer. I was
+      bursting to tell some one. I ran dancing and singing from the room to find
+      Chee-Chee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the door I tripped over Dab-Dab, who was just coming in with her wings
+      full of plates, and fell headlong on my nose,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Has the boy gone crazy?" cried the duck. "Where do you think you're
+      going, ninny?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "To Spidermonkey Island!" I shouted, picking myself up and doing
+      cart-wheels down the hall&mdash;"Spidermonkey Island! Hooray!&mdash;And
+      it's a FLOATING island!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You're going to Bedlam, I should say," snorted the housekeeper. "Look
+      what you've done to my best china!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But I was far too happy to listen to her scolding; and I ran on, singing,
+      into the kitchen to find Chee-Chee.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PART3" id="link2H_PART3">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PART THREE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0033" id="link2H_4_0033">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE THIRD MAN
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      THAT same week we began our preparations for the voyage.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      Joe, the mussel-man, had the Curlew moved down the river and tied it up
+      along the river-wall, so it would be more handy for loading. And for three
+      whole days we carried provisions down to our beautiful new boat and stowed
+      them away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was surprised to find how roomy and big she was inside. There were three
+      little cabins, a saloon (or dining-room) and underneath all this, a big
+      place called the hold where the food and extra sails and other things were
+      kept.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I think Joe must have told everybody in the town about our coming voyage,
+      because there was always a regular crowd watching us when we brought the
+      things down to put aboard. And of course sooner or later old Matthew Mugg
+      was bound to turn up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My Goodness, Tommy," said he, as he watched me carrying on some sacks of
+      flour, "but that's a pretty boat! Where might the Doctor be going to this
+      voyage?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We're going to Spidermonkey Island," I said proudly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And be you the only one the Doctor's taking along?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, he has spoken of wanting to take another man," I said; "but so far
+      he hasn't made up his mind."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Matthew grunted; then squinted up at the graceful masts of the Curlew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You know, Tommy," said he, "if it wasn't for my rheumatism I've half a
+      mind to come with the Doctor myself. There's something about a boat
+      standing ready to sail that always did make me feel venturesome and
+      travelish-like. What's that stuff in the cans you're taking on?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is treacle," I said&mdash;"twenty pounds of treacle."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My Goodness," he sighed, turning away sadly. "That makes me feel more
+      like going with you than ever&mdash;But my rheumatism is that bad I can't
+      hardly&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I didn't hear any more for Matthew had moved off, still mumbling, into the
+      crowd that stood about the wharf. The clock in Puddleby Church struck noon
+      and I turned back, feeling very busy and important, to the task of
+      loading.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it wasn't very long before some one else came along and interrupted my
+      work. This was a huge, big, burly man with a red beard and tattoo-marks
+      all over his arms. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, spat
+      twice on to the river-wall and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Boy, where's the skipper?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The SKIPPER!&mdash;Who do you mean?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The captain&mdash;Where's the captain, of this craft?" he said, pointing
+      to the Curlew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, you mean the Doctor," said I. "Well, he isn't here at present."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment the Doctor arrived with his arms full of note-books and
+      butterfly-nets and glass cases and other natural history things. The big
+      man went up to him, respectfully touching his cap.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good morning, Captain," said he. "I heard you was in need of hands for a
+      voyage. My name's Ben Butcher, able seaman."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I am very glad to know you," said the Doctor. "But I'm afraid I shan't be
+      able to take on any more crew."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, but Captain," said the able seaman, "you surely ain't going to face
+      deep-sea weather with nothing more than this bit of a lad to help you&mdash;and
+      with a cutter that big!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor assured him that he was; but the man didn't go away. He hung
+      around and argued. He told us he had known of many ships being sunk
+      through "undermanning." He got out what he called his stiffikit&mdash;a
+      paper which said what a good sailor he was&mdash;and implored us, if we
+      valued our lives, to take him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Doctor was quite firm-polite but determined&mdash;and finally the
+      man walked sorrowfully away, telling us he never expected to see us alive
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Callers of one sort and another kept us quite busy that morning. The
+      Doctor had no sooner gone below to stow away his note-books than another
+      visitor appeared upon the gang-plank. This was a most
+      extraordinary-looking black man. The only other negroes I had seen had
+      been in circuses, where they wore feathers and bone necklaces and things
+      like that. But this one was dressed in a fashionable frock coat with an
+      enormous bright red cravat. On his head was a straw hat with a gay band;
+      and over this he held a large green umbrella. He was very smart in every
+      respect except his feet. He wore no shoes or socks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Pardon me," said he, bowing elegantly, "but is this the ship of the
+      physician Dolittle?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," I said, "did you wish to see him?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I did&mdash;if it will not be discommodious," he answered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Who shall I say it is?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I am Bumpo Kahbooboo, Crown Prince of Jolliginki."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I ran downstairs at once and told the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How fortunate!" cried John Dolittle. "My old friend Bumpo! Well, well!&mdash;He's
+      studying at Oxford, you know. How good of him to come all this way to call
+      on me!" And he tumbled up the ladder to greet his visitor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The strange black man seemed to be overcome with joy when the Doctor
+      appeared and shook him warmly by the hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "News reached me," he said, "that you were about to sail upon a voyage. I
+      hastened to see you before your departure. I am sublimely ecstasied that I
+      did not miss you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You very nearly did miss us," said the Doctor. "As it happened, we were
+      delayed somewhat in getting the necessary number of men to sail our boat.
+      If it hadn't been for that, we would have been gone three days ago."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How many men does your ship's company yet require?" asked Bumpo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Only one," said the Doctor&mdash;"But it is so hard to find the right
+      one."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Methinks I detect something of the finger of Destination in this," said
+      Bumpo. "How would I do?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Splendidly," said the Doctor. "But what about your studies? You can't
+      very well just go off and leave your university career to take care of
+      itself, you know."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I need a holiday," said Bumpo. "Even had I not gone with you, I intended
+      at the end of this term to take a three-months' absconsion&mdash;But
+      besides, I shall not be neglecting my edification if I accompany you.
+      Before I left Jolliginki my august father, the King, told me to be sure
+      and travel plenty. You are a man of great studiosity. To see the world in
+      your company is an opportunity not to be sneezed upon. No, no, indeed."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How did you like the life at Oxford?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, passably, passably," said Bumpo. "I liked it all except the algebra
+      and the shoes. The algebra hurt my head and the shoes hurt my feet. I
+      threw the shoes over a wall as soon as I got out of the college
+      quadrilateral this morning; and the algebra I am happily forgetting very
+      fast&mdash;I liked Cicero&mdash;Yes, I think Cicero's fine&mdash;so
+      simultaneous. By the way, they tell me his son is rowing for our college
+      next year&mdash;charming fellow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor looked down at the black man's huge bare feet thoughtfully a
+      moment.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," he said slowly, "there is something in what you say, Bumpo, about
+      getting education from the world as well as from the college. And if you
+      are really sure that you want to come, we shall be delighted to have you.
+      Because, to tell you the truth, I think you are exactly the man we need."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0034" id="link2H_4_0034">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SECOND CHAPTER. GOOD-BYE!
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      TWO days after that we had all in readiness for our departure.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      On this voyage Jip begged so hard to be taken that the Doctor finally gave
+      in and said he could come. Polynesia and Chee-Chee were the only other
+      animals to go with us. Dab-Dab was left in charge of the house and the
+      animal family we were to leave behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course, as is always the way, at the last moment we kept remembering
+      things we had forgotten; and when we finally closed the house up and went
+      down the steps to the road, we were all burdened with armfuls of odd
+      packages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Halfway to the river, the Doctor suddenly remembered that he had left the
+      stock-pot boiling on the kitchen-fire. However, we saw a blackbird flying
+      by who nested in our garden, and the Doctor asked her to go back for us
+      and tell Dab-Dab about it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Down at the river-wall we found a great crowd waiting to see us off.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Standing right near the gang-plank were my mother and father. I hoped that
+      they would not make a scene, or burst into tears or anything like that.
+      But as a matter of fact they behaved quite well&mdash;for parents. My
+      mother said something about being sure not to get my feet wet; and my
+      father just smiled a crooked sort of smile, patted me on the back and
+      wished me luck. Good-byes are awfully uncomfortable things and I was glad
+      when it was over and we passed on to the ship.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were a little surprised not to see Matthew Mugg among the crowd. We had
+      felt sure that he would be there; and the Doctor had intended to give him
+      some extra instructions about the food for the animals we had left at the
+      house.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last, after much pulling and tugging, we got the anchor up and undid a
+      lot of mooring-ropes. Then the Curlew began to move gently down the river
+      with the out-running tide, while the people on the wall cheered and waved
+      their handkerchiefs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We bumped into one or two other boats getting out into the stream; and at
+      one sharp bend in the river we got stuck on a mud bank for a few minutes.
+      But though the people on the shore seemed to get very excited at these
+      things, the Doctor did not appear to be disturbed by them in the least.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "These little accidents will happen in the most carefully regulated
+      voyages," he said as he leaned over the side and fished for his boots
+      which had got stuck in the mud while we were pushing off. "Sailing is much
+      easier when you get out into the open sea. There aren't so many silly
+      things to bump into."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For me indeed it was a great and wonderful feeling, that getting out into
+      the open sea, when at length we passed the little lighthouse at the mouth
+      of the river and found ourselves free of the land. It was all so new and
+      different: just the sky above you and sea below. This ship, which was to
+      be our house and our street, our home and our garden, for so many days to
+      come, seemed so tiny in all this wide water&mdash;so tiny and yet so snug,
+      sufficient, safe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I looked around me and took in a deep breath. The Doctor was at the wheel
+      steering the boat which was now leaping and plunging gently through the
+      waves. (I had expected to feel seasick at first but was delighted to find
+      that I didn't.) Bumpo had been told off to go downstairs and prepare
+      dinner for us. Chee-Chee was coiling up ropes in the stern and laying them
+      in neat piles. My work was fastening down the things on the deck so that
+      nothing could roll about if the weather should grow rough when we got
+      further from the land. Jip was up in the peak of the boat with ears cocked
+      and nose stuck out&mdash;like a statue, so still&mdash;his keen old eyes
+      keeping a sharp look-out for floating wrecks, sand-bars, and other
+      dangers. Each one of us had some special job to do, part of the proper
+      running of a ship. Even old Polynesia was taking the sea's temperature
+      with the Doctor's bath-ther-mometer tied on the end of a string, to make
+      sure there were no icebergs near us. As I listened to her swearing softly
+      to herself because she couldn't read the pesky figures in the fading
+      light, I realized that the voyage had begun in earnest and that very soon
+      it would be night&mdash;my first night at sea!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0035" id="link2H_4_0035">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE THIRD CHAPTER. OUR TROUBLES BEGIN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      JUST before supper-time Bumpo appeared from downstairs and went to the
+      Doctor at the wheel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A stowaway in the hold, Sir," said he in a very business-like seafaring
+      voice. "I just discovered him, behind the flour-bags."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dear me!" said the Doctor. "What a nuisance! Stubbins, go down with Bumpo
+      and bring the man up. I can't leave the wheel just now."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Bumpo and I went down into the hold; and there, behind the flour-bags,
+      plastered in flour from head to foot, we found a man. After we had swept
+      most of the flour off him with a broom, we discovered that it was Matthew
+      Mugg. We hauled him upstairs sneezing and took him before the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why Matthew!" said John Dolittle. "What on earth are you doing here?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The temptation was too much for me, Doctor," said the cat's-meat-man.
+      "You know I've often asked you to take me on voyages with you and you
+      never would. Well, this time, knowing that you needed an extra man, I
+      thought if I stayed hid till the ship was well at sea you would find I
+      came in handy like and keep me. But I had to lie so doubled up, for hours,
+      behind them flour-bags, that my rheumatism came on something awful. I just
+      had to change my position; and of course just as I stretched out my legs
+      along comes this here African cook of yours and sees my feet sticking out&mdash;Don't
+      this ship roll something awful! How long has this storm been going on? I
+      reckon this damp sea air wouldn't be very good for my rheumatics."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, Matthew it really isn't. You ought not to have come. You are not in
+      any way suited to this kind of a life. I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy a long
+      voyage a bit. We'll stop in at Penzance and put you ashore. Bumpo, please
+      go downstairs to my bunk; and listen: in the pocket of my dressing-gown
+      you'll find some maps. Bring me the small one&mdash;with blue pencil-marks
+      at the top. I know Penzance is over here on our left somewhere. But I must
+      find out what light-houses there are before I change the ship's course and
+      sail inshore."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very good, Sir," said Bumpo, turning round smartly and making for the
+      stairway.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now Matthew," said the Doctor, "you can take the coach from Penzance to
+      Bristol. And from there it is not very far to Puddleby, as you know. Don't
+      forget to take the usual provisions to the house every Thursday, and be
+      particularly careful to remember the extra supply of herrings for the baby
+      minks."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While we were waiting for the maps Chee-Chee and I set about lighting the
+      lamps: a green one on the right side of the ship, a red one on the left
+      and a white one on the mast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last we heard some one trundling on the stairs again and the Doctor
+      said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah, here's Bumpo with the maps at last!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But to our great astonishment it was not Bumpo alone that appeared but
+      THREE people.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good Lord deliver us! Who are these?" cried John Dolittle.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Two more stowaways, Sir," said Bumpo stepping forward briskly. "I found
+      them in your cabin hiding under the bunk. One woman and one man, Sir. Here
+      are the maps."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is too much," said the Doctor feebly. "Who are they? I can't see
+      their faces in this dim light. Strike a match, Bumpo."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You could never guess who it was. It was Luke and his wife. Mrs. Luke
+      appeared to be very miserable and seasick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They explained to the Doctor that after they had settled down to live
+      together in the little shack out on the fens, so many people came to visit
+      them (having heard about the great trial) that life became impossible; and
+      they had decided to escape from Puddleby in this manner&mdash;for they had
+      no money to leave any other way&mdash;and try to find some new place to
+      live where they and their story wouldn't be so well known. But as soon as
+      the ship had begun to roll Mrs. Luke had got most dreadfully unwell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Poor Luke apologized many times for being such a nuisance and said that
+      the whole thing had been his wife's idea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor, after he had sent below for his medicine-bag and had given
+      Mrs. Luke some sal volatile and smelling-salts, said he thought the best
+      thing to do would be for him to lend them some money and put them ashore
+      at Penzance with Matthew. He also wrote a letter for Luke to take with him
+      to a friend the Doctor had in the town of Penzance who, it was hoped,
+      would be able to find Luke work to do there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Doctor opened his purse and took out some gold coins I heard
+      Polynesia, who was sitting on my shoulder watching the whole affair,
+      mutter beneath her breath,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There he goes&mdash;lending his last blessed penny&mdash;three pounds ten&mdash;all
+      the money we had for the whole trip! Now we haven't the price of a
+      postage-stamp aboard if we should lose an anchor or have to buy a pint of
+      tar&mdash;Well, let's, pray we don't run out of food&mdash;Why doesn't he
+      give them the ship and walk home?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently with the help of the map the course of the boat was changed and,
+      to Mrs. Luke's great relief, we made for Penzance and dry land.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was tremendously interested to see how a ship could be steered into a
+      port at night with nothing but light-houses and a compass to guide you. It
+      seemed to me that the Doctor missed all the rocks and sand-bars very
+      cleverly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We got into that funny little Cornish harbor about eleven o'clock that
+      night. The Doctor took his stowaways on shore in our small row-boat which
+      we kept on the deck of the Curlew and found them rooms at the hotel there.
+      When he got back he told us that Mrs. Luke had gone straight to bed and
+      was feeling much better.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was now after midnight; so we decided to stay in the harbor and wait
+      till morning before setting out again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was glad to get to bed, although I felt that staying up so tremendously
+      late was great fun. As I climbed into the bunk over the Doctor's and
+      pulled the blankets snugly round me, I found I could look out of the
+      port-hole at my elbow, and, without raising my head from the pillow, could
+      see the lights of Penzance swinging gently up and down with the motion of
+      the ship at anchor. It was like being rocked to sleep with a little show
+      going on to amuse you. I was just deciding that I liked the life of the
+      sea very much when I fell fast asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0036" id="link2H_4_0036">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FOURTH CHAPTER. OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THE next morning when we were eating a very excellent breakfast of kidneys
+      and bacon, prepared by our good cook Bumpo, the Doctor said to me,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was just wondering, Stubbins, whether I should stop at the Capa Blanca
+      Islands or run right across for the coast of Brazil. Miranda said we could
+      expect a spell of excellent weather now&mdash;for four and a half weeks at
+      least."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," I said, spooning out the sugar at the bottom of my cocoa-cup, "I
+      should think it would be best to make straight across while we are sure of
+      good weather. And besides the Purple Bird-of-Paradise is going to keep a
+      lookout for us, isn't she? She'll be wondering what's happened to us if we
+      don't get there in about a month."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "True, quite true, Stubbins. On the other hand, the Capa Blancas make a
+      very convenient stopping place on our way across. If we should need
+      supplies or repairs it would be very handy to put in there."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How long will it take us from here to the Capa Blancas?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "About six days," said the Doctor&mdash;"Well, we can decide later. For
+      the next two days at any rate our direction would be the same practically
+      in either case. If you have finished breakfast let's go and get under
+      way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Upstairs I found our vessel surrounded by white and gray seagulls who
+      flashed and circled about in the sunny morning air, looking for
+      food-scraps thrown out by the ships into the harbor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By about half past seven we had the anchor up and the sails set to a nice
+      steady breeze; and this time we got out into the open sea without bumping
+      into a single thing. We met the Penzance fishing fleet coming in from the
+      night's fishing, and very trim and neat they looked, in a line like
+      soldiers, with their red-brown sails all leaning over the same way and the
+      white water dancing before their bows.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For the next three or four days everything went smoothly and nothing
+      unusual happened. During this time we all got settled down into our
+      regular jobs; and in spare moments the Doctor showed each of us how to
+      take our turns at the wheel, the proper manner of keeping a ship on her
+      right course, and what to do if the wind changed suddenly. We divided the
+      twenty-four hours of the day into three spells; and we took it in turns to
+      sleep our eight hours and be awake sixteen. So the ship was well looked
+      after, with two of us always on duty.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Besides that, Polynesia, who was an older sailor than any of us, and
+      really knew a lot about running ships, seemed to be always awake&mdash;except
+      when she took her couple of winks in the sun, standing on one leg beside
+      the wheel. You may be sure that no one ever got a chance to stay abed more
+      than his eight hours while Polynesia was around. She used to watch the
+      ship's clock; and if you overslept a half-minute, she would come down to
+      the cabin and peck you gently on the nose till you got up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I very soon grew to be quite fond of our funny black friend Bumpo, with
+      his grand way of speaking and his enormous feet which some one was always
+      stepping on or falling over. Although he was much older than I was and had
+      been to college, he never tried to lord it over me. He seemed to be
+      forever smiling and kept all of us in good humor. It wasn't long before I
+      began to see the Doctor's good sense in bringing him&mdash;in spite of the
+      fact that he knew nothing whatever about sailing or travel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the morning of the fifth day out, just as I was taking the wheel over
+      from the Doctor, Bumpo appeared and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The salt beef is nearly all gone, Sir."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The salt beef!" cried the Doctor. "Why, we brought a hundred and twenty
+      pounds with us. We couldn't have eaten that in five days. What can have
+      become of it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't know, Sir, I'm sure. Every time I go down to the stores I find
+      another hunk missing. If it is rats that are eating it, then they are
+      certainly colossal rodents."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Polynesia who was walking up and down a stay-rope taking her morning
+      exercise, put in,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We must search the hold. If this is allowed to go on we will all be
+      starving before a week is out. Come downstairs with me, Tommy, and we will
+      look into this matter."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So we went downstairs into the store-room and Polynesia told us to keep
+      quite still and listen. This we did. And presently we heard from a dark
+      corner of the hold the distinct sound of someone snoring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah, I thought so," said Polynesia. "It's a man&mdash;and a big one. Climb
+      in there, both of you, and haul him out. It sounds as though he were
+      behind that barrel&mdash;Gosh! We seem to have brought half of Puddleby
+      with us. Anyone would think we were a penny ferry-boat. Such cheek! Haul
+      him out."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So Bumpo and I lit a lantern and climbed over the stores. And there,
+      behind the barrel, sure enough, we found an enormous bearded man fast
+      asleep with a well-fed look on his face. We woke him up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Washamarrer?" he said sleepily.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was Ben Butcher, the able seaman.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Polynesia spluttered like an angry fire-cracker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is the last straw," said she. "The one man in the world we least
+      wanted. Shiver my timbers, what cheek!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Would it not be advisable," suggested Bumpo, "while the varlet is still
+      sleepy, to strike him on the head with some heavy object and push him
+      through a port-hole into the sea?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No. We'd get into trouble," said Polynesia. "We're not in Jolliginki now,
+      you know&mdash;worse luck!&mdash;Besides, there never was a port-hole big
+      enough to push that man through. Bring him upstairs to the Doctor."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So we led the man to the wheel where he respectfully touched his cap to
+      the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Another stowaway, Sir," said Bumpo smartly. I thought the poor Doctor
+      would have a fit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good morning, Captain," said the man. "Ben Butcher, able seaman, at your
+      service. I knew you'd need me, so I took the liberty of stowing away&mdash;much
+      against my conscience. But I just couldn't bear to see you poor landsmen
+      set out on this voyage without a single real seaman to help you. You'd
+      never have got home alive if I hadn't come&mdash;Why look at your
+      mainsail, Sir&mdash;all loose at the throat. First gust of wind come
+      along, and away goes your canvas overboard&mdash;Well, it's all right now
+      I'm here. We'll soon get things in shipshape."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, it isn't all right," said the Doctor, "it's all wrong. And I'm not at
+      all glad to see you. I told you in Puddleby I didn't want you. You had no
+      right to come."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But Captain," said the able seaman, "you can't sail this ship without me.
+      You don't understand navigation. Why, look at the compass now: you've let
+      her swing a point and a half off her course. It's madness for you to try
+      to do this trip alone&mdash;if you'll pardon my saying so, Sir. Why&mdash;why,
+      you'll lose the ship!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look here," said the Doctor, a sudden stern look coming into his eyes,
+      "losing a ship is nothing to me. I've lost ships before and it doesn't
+      bother me in the least. When I set out to go to a place, I get there. Do
+      you understand? I may know nothing whatever about sailing and navigation,
+      but I get there just the same. Now you may be the best seaman in the
+      world, but on this ship you're just a plain ordinary nuisance&mdash;very
+      plain and very ordinary. And I am now going to call at the nearest port
+      and put you ashore."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, and think yourself lucky," Polynesia put in, "that you are not
+      locked up for stowing away and eating all our salt beef."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't know what the mischief we're going to do now," I heard her
+      whisper to Bumpo. "We've no money to buy any more; and that salt beef was
+      the most important part of the stores."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Would it not be good political economy," Bumpo whispered back, "if we
+      salted the able seaman and ate him instead? I should judge that he would
+      weigh more than a hundred and twenty pounds."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How often must I tell you that we are not in Jolliginki," snapped
+      Polynesia. "Those things are not done on white men's ships&mdash;Still,"
+      she murmured after a moment's thought, "it's an awfully bright idea. I
+      don't suppose anybody saw him come on to the ship&mdash;Oh, but Heavens!
+      we haven't got enough salt. Besides, he'd be sure to taste of tobacco."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0037" id="link2H_4_0037">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIFTH CHAPTER. POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THEN the Doctor told me to take the wheel while he made a little
+      calculation with his map and worked out what new course we should take.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I shall have to run for the Capa Blancas after all," he told me when the
+      seaman's back was turned. "Dreadful nuisance! But I'd sooner swim back to
+      Puddleby than have to listen to that fellow's talk all the way to Brazil."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed he was a terrible person, this Ben Butcher. You'd think that any
+      one after being told he wasn't wanted would have had the decency to keep
+      quiet. But not Ben Butcher. He kept going round the deck pointing out all
+      the things we had wrong. According to him there wasn't a thing right on
+      the whole ship. The anchor was hitched up wrong; the hatches weren't
+      fastened down properly; the sails were put on back to front; all our knots
+      were the wrong kind of knots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last the Doctor told him to stop talking and go downstairs. He refused&mdash;said
+      he wasn't going to be sunk by landlubbers while he was still able to stay
+      on deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This made us feel a little uneasy. He was such an enormous man there was
+      no knowing what he might do if he got really obstreperous.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bumpo and I were talking about this downstairs in the dining-saloon when
+      Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee came and joined us. And, as usual, Polynesia
+      had a plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Listen," she said, "I am certain this Ben Butcher is a smuggler and a bad
+      man. I am a very good judge of seamen, remember, and I don't like the cut
+      of this man's jib. I&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you really think," I interrupted, "that it is safe for the Doctor to
+      cross the Atlantic without any regular seamen on his ship?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You see it had upset me quite a good deal to find that all the things we
+      had been doing were wrong; and I was beginning to wonder what might happen
+      if we ran into a storm&mdash;particularly as Miranda had only said the
+      weather would be good for a certain time; and we seemed to be having so
+      many delays. But Polynesia merely tossed her head scornfully.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, bless you, my boy," said she, "you're always safe with John Dolittle.
+      Remember that. Don't take any notice of that stupid old salt. Of course it
+      is perfectly true the Doctor does do everything wrong. But with him it
+      doesn't matter. Mark my words, if you travel with John Dolittle you always
+      get there, as you heard him say. I've been with him lots of times and I
+      know. Sometimes the ship is upside down when you get there, and sometimes
+      it's right way up. But you get there just the same. And then of course
+      there's another thing about the Doctor," she added thoughtfully: "he
+      always has extraordinary good luck. He may have his troubles; but with him
+      things seem to have a habit of turning out all right in the end. I
+      remember once when we were going through the Straits of Magellan the wind
+      was so strong&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But what are we going to do about Ben Butcher?" Jip put in. "You had some
+      plan Polynesia, hadn't you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes. What I'm afraid of is that he may hit the Doctor on the head when
+      he's not looking and make himself captain of the Curlew. Bad sailors do
+      that sometimes. Then they run the ship their own way and take it where
+      they want. That's what you call a mutiny."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said Jip, "and we ought to do something pretty quick. We can't
+      reach the Capa Blancas before the day after to-morrow at best. I don't
+      like to leave the Doctor alone with him for a minute. He smells like a
+      very bad man to me."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, I've got it all worked out," said Polynesia. "Listen: is there a
+      key in that door?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We looked outside the dining-room and found that there was.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right," said Polynesia. "Now Bumpo lays the table for lunch and we
+      all go and hide. Then at twelve o'clock Bumpo rings the dinner-bell down
+      here. As soon as Ben hears it he'll come down expecting more salt beef.
+      Bumpo must hide behind the door outside. The moment that Ben is seated at
+      the dining-table Bumpo slams the door and locks it. Then we've got him.
+      See?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How stratagenious!" Bumpo chuckled. "As Cicero said, parrots cum
+      parishioners facilime congregation. I'll lay the table at once."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes and take that Worcestershire sauce off the dresser with you when you
+      go out," said Polynesia. "Don't leave any loose eatables around. That
+      fellow has had enough to last any man for three days. Besides, he won't be
+      so inclined to start a fight when we put him ashore at the Capa Blancas if
+      we thin him down a bit before we let him out."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So we all went and hid ourselves in the passage where we could watch what
+      happened. And presently Bumpo came to the foot of the stairs and rang the
+      dinner-bell like mad. Then he hopped behind the dining-room door and we
+      all kept still and listened.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Almost immediately, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, down the stairs tramped Ben
+      Butcher, the able seaman. He walked into the dining-saloon, sat himself
+      down at the head of the table in the Doctor's place, tucked a napkin under
+      his fat chin and heaved a sigh of expectation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then, BANG! Bumpo slammed the door and locked it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That settles HIM for a while," said Polynesia coming out from her
+      hiding-place. "Now let him teach navigation to the side-board. Gosh, the
+      cheek of the man! I've forgotten more about the sea than that lumbering
+      lout will ever know. Let's go upstairs and tell the Doctor. Bumpo, you
+      will have to serve the meals in the cabin for the next couple of days."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And bursting into a rollicking Norwegian sea-song, she climbed up to my
+      shoulder and we went on deck.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0038" id="link2H_4_0038">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE
+    </h2>
+    <h3>
+      WE remained three days in the Capa Blanca Islands.
+    </h3>
+    <p>
+      There were two reasons why we stayed there so long when we were really in
+      such a hurry to get away. One was the shortage in our provisions caused by
+      the able seaman's enormous appetite. When we came to go over the stores
+      and make a list, we found that he had eaten a whole lot of other things
+      besides the beef. And having no money, we were sorely puzzled how to buy
+      more. The Doctor went through his trunk to see if there was anything he
+      could sell. But the only thing he could find was an old watch with the
+      hands broken and the back dented in; and we decided this would not bring
+      us in enough money to buy much more than a pound of tea. Bumpo suggested
+      that he sing comic songs in the streets which he had learned in
+      Jolliginki. But the Doctor said he did not think that the islanders would
+      care for African music.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The other thing that kept us was the bullfight. In these islands, which
+      belonged to Spain, they had bullfights every Sunday. It was on a Friday
+      that we arrived there; and after we had got rid of the able seaman we took
+      a walk through the town.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a very funny little town, quite different from any that I had ever
+      seen. The streets were all twisty and winding and so narrow that a wagon
+      could only just pass along them. The houses overhung at the top and came
+      so close together that people in the attics could lean out of the windows
+      and shake hands with their neighbors on the opposite side of the street.
+      The Doctor told us the town was very, very old. It was called Monteverde.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we had no money of course we did not go to a hotel or anything like
+      that. But on the second evening when we were passing by a bed-maker's shop
+      we noticed several beds, which the man had made, standing on the pavement
+      outside. The Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the bed-maker who was
+      sitting at his door whistling to a parrot in a cage. The Doctor and the
+      bed-maker got very friendly talking about birds and things. And as it grew
+      near to supper-time the man asked us to stop and sup with him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This of course we were very glad to do. And after the meal was over (very
+      nice dishes they were, mostly cooked in olive-oil&mdash;I particularly
+      liked the fried bananas) we sat outside on the pavement again and went on
+      talking far into the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last when we got up, to go back to our ship, this very nice shopkeeper
+      wouldn't hear of our going away on any account. He said the streets down
+      by the harbor were very badly lighted and there was no moon. We would
+      surely get lost. He invited us to spend the night with him and go back to
+      our ship in the morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, we finally agreed; and as our good friend had no spare bedrooms, the
+      three of us, the Doctor, Bumpo and I, slept on the beds set out for sale
+      on the pavement before the shop. The night was so hot we needed no
+      coverings. It was great fun to fall asleep out of doors like this,
+      watching the people walking to and fro and the gay life of the streets. It
+      seemed to me that Spanish people never went to bed at all. Late as it was,
+      all the little restaurants and cafes around us were wide open, with
+      customers drinking coffee and chatting merrily at the small tables
+      outside. The sound of a guitar strumming softly in the distance mingled
+      with the clatter of chinaware and the babble of voices.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Somehow it made me think of my mother and father far away in Puddleby,
+      with their regular habits, the evening practise on the flute and the rest&mdash;doing
+      the same thing every day. I felt sort of sorry for them in a way, because
+      they missed the fun of this traveling life, where we were doing something
+      new all the time&mdash;even sleeping differently. But I suppose if they
+      had been invited to go to bed on a pavement in front of a shop they
+      wouldn't have cared for the idea at all. It is funny how some people are.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0039" id="link2H_4_0039">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S WAGER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      NEXT morning we were awakened by a great racket. There was a procession
+      coming down the street, a number of men in very gay clothes followed by a
+      large crowd of admiring ladies and cheering children. I asked the Doctor
+      who they were.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They are the bullfighters," he said. "There is to be a bullfight
+      to-morrow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What is a bullfight?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To my great surprise the Doctor got red in the face with anger. It
+      reminded me of the time when he had spoken of the lions and tigers in his
+      private zoo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A bullfight is a stupid, cruel, disgusting business," said he. "These
+      Spanish people are most lovable and hospitable folk. How they can enjoy
+      these wretched bullfights is a thing I could never understand."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Doctor went on to explain to me how a bull was first made very
+      angry by teasing and then allowed to run into a circus where men came out
+      with red cloaks, waved them at him, and ran away. Next the bull was
+      allowed to tire himself out by tossing and killing a lot of poor, old,
+      broken-down horses who couldn't defend themselves. Then, when the bull was
+      thoroughly out of breath and wearied by this, a man came out with a sword
+      and killed the bull.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Every Sunday," said the Doctor, "in almost every big town in Spain there
+      are six bulls killed like that and as many horses."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But aren't the men ever killed by the bull?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Unfortunately very seldom," said he. "A bull is not nearly as dangerous
+      as he looks, even when he's angry, if you are only quick on your feet and
+      don't lose your head. These bullfighters are very clever and nimble. And
+      the people, especially the Spanish ladies, think no end of them. A famous
+      bullfighter (or matador, as they call them) is a more important man in
+      Spain than a king&mdash;Here comes another crowd of them round the corner,
+      look. See the girls throwing kisses to them. Ridiculous business!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment our friend the bed-maker came out to see the procession go
+      past. And while he was wishing us good morning and enquiring how we had
+      slept, a friend of his walked up and joined us. The bed-maker introduced
+      this friend to us as Don Enrique Cardenas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Don Enrique when he heard where we were from, spoke to us in English. He
+      appeared to be a well-educated, gentlemanly sort of person.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And you go to see the bullfight to-morrow, yes?" he asked the Doctor
+      pleasantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly not," said John Dolittle firmly. "I don't like bullfights&mdash;cruel,
+      cowardly shows."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Don Enrique nearly exploded. I never saw a man get so excited. He told the
+      Doctor that he didn't know what he was talking about. He said bullfighting
+      was a noble sport and that the matadors were the bravest men in the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, rubbish!" said the Doctor. "You never give the poor bull a chance. It
+      is only when he is all tired and dazed that your precious matadors dare to
+      try and kill him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I thought the Spaniard was going to strike the Doctor he got so angry.
+      While he was still spluttering to find words, the bed-maker came between
+      them and took the Doctor aside. He explained to John Dolittle in a whisper
+      that this Don Enrique Cardenas was a very important person; that he it was
+      who supplied the bulls&mdash;a special, strong black kind&mdash;from his
+      own farm for all the bullfights in the Capa Blancas. He was a very rich
+      man, the bed-maker said, a most important personage. He mustn't be allowed
+      to take offense on any account.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I watched the Doctor's face as the bed-maker finished, and I saw a flash
+      of boyish mischief come into his eyes as though an idea had struck him. He
+      turned to the angry Spaniard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don Enrique," he said, "you tell me your bullfighters are very brave men
+      and skilful. It seems I have offended you by saying that bullfighting is a
+      poor sport. What is the name of the best matador you have for to-morrow's
+      show?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Pepito de Malaga," said Don Enrique, "one of the greatest names, one of
+      the bravest men, in all Spain."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very well," said the Doctor, "I have a proposal to make to you. I have
+      never fought a bull in my life. Now supposing I were to go into the ring
+      to-morrow with Pepito de Malaga and any other matadors you choose; and if
+      I can do more tricks with a bull than they can, would you promise to do
+      something for me?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Don Enrique threw back his head and laughed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Man," he said, "you must be mad! You would be killed at once. One has to
+      be trained for years to become a proper bullfighter."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Supposing I were willing to take the risk of that&mdash;You are not
+      afraid, I take it, to accept my offer?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spaniard frowned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Afraid!" he cried, "Sir, if you can beat Pepito de Malaga in the
+      bull-ring I'll promise you anything it is possible for me to grant."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very good," said the Doctor, "now I understand that you are quite a
+      powerful man in these islands. If you wished to stop all bullfighting here
+      after to-morrow, you could do it, couldn't you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said Don Enrique proudly&mdash;"I could."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well that is what I ask of you&mdash;if I win my wager," said John
+      Dolittle. "If I can do more with angry bulls than can Pepito de Malaga,
+      you are to promise me that there shall never be another bullfight in the
+      Capa Blancas so long as you are alive to stop it. Is it a bargain?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Spaniard held out his hand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It is a bargain," he said&mdash;"I promise. But I must warn you that you
+      are merely throwing your life away, for you will certainly be killed.
+      However, that is no more than you deserve for saying that bullfighting is
+      an unworthy sport. I will meet you here to-morrow morning if you should
+      wish to arrange any particulars. Good day, Sir."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As the Spaniard turned and walked into the shop with the bed-maker,
+      Polynesia, who had been listening as usual, flew up on to my shoulder and
+      whispered in my ear,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I, have a plan. Get hold of Bumpo and come some place where the Doctor
+      can't hear us. I want to talk to you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I nudged Bumpo's elbow and we crossed the street and pretended to look
+      into a jeweler's window; while the Doctor sat down upon his bed to lace up
+      his boots, the only part of his clothing he had taken off for the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Listen," said Polynesia, "I've been breaking my head trying to think up
+      some way we can get money to buy those stores with; and at last I've got
+      it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The money?" said Bumpo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No, stupid. The idea&mdash;to make the money with. Listen: the Doctor is
+      simply bound to win this game to-morrow, sure as you're alive. Now all we
+      have to do is to make a side bet with these Spaniards&mdash;they're great
+      on gambling&mdash;and the trick's done."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's a side bet?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh I know what that is," said Bumpo proudly. "We used to have lots of
+      them at Oxford when boat-racing was on. I go to Don Enrique and say, 'I
+      bet you a hundred pounds the Doctor wins.' Then if he does win, Don
+      Enrique pays me a hundred pounds; and if he doesn't, I have to pay Don
+      Enrique."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's the idea," said Polynesia. "Only don't say a hundred pounds: say
+      two-thousand five-hundred pesetas. Now come and find old Don Ricky-ticky
+      and try to look rich."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So we crossed the street again and slipped into the bed-maker's shop while
+      the Doctor was still busy with his boots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don Enrique," said Bumpo, "allow me to introduce myself. I am the Crown
+      Prince of Jolliginki. Would you care to have a small bet with me on
+      to-morrow's bullfight?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Don Enrique bowed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why certainly," he said, "I shall be delighted. But I must warn you that
+      you are bound to lose. How much?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh a mere truffle," said Bumpo&mdash;"just for the fun of the thing, you
+      know. What do you say to three-thousand pesetas?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I agree," said the Spaniard bowing once more. "I will meet you after the
+      bullfight to-morrow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "So that's all right," said Polynesia as we came out to join the Doctor.
+      "I feel as though quite a load had been taken off my mind."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0040" id="link2H_4_0040">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THE GREAT BULLFIGHT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THE next day was a great day in Monteverde. All the streets were hung with
+      flags; and everywhere gaily dressed crowds were to be seen flocking
+      towards the bull-ring, as the big circus was called where the fights took
+      place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The news of the Doctor's challenge had gone round the town and, it seemed,
+      had caused much amusement to the islanders. The very idea of a mere
+      foreigner daring to match himself against the great Pepito de Malaga!&mdash;Serve
+      him right if he got killed!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor had borrowed a bullfighter's suit from Don Enrique; and very
+      gay and wonderful he looked in it, though Bumpo and I had hard work
+      getting the waistcoat to close in front and even then the buttons kept
+      bursting off it in all directions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we set out from the harbor to walk to the bull-ring, crowds of small
+      boys ran after us making fun of the Doctor's fatness, calling out, "Juan
+      Hagapoco, el grueso matador!" which is the Spanish for, "John Dolittle,
+      the fat bullfighter." As soon as we arrived the Doctor said he would like
+      to take a look at the bulls before the fight began; and we were at once
+      led to the bull pen where, behind a high railing, six enormous black bulls
+      were tramping around wildly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a few hurried words and signs the Doctor told the bulls what he was
+      going to do and gave them careful instructions for their part of the show.
+      The poor creatures were tremendously glad when they heard that there was a
+      chance of bullfighting being stopped; and they promised to do exactly as
+      they were told.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course the man who took us in there didn't understand what we were
+      doing. He merely thought the fat Englishman was crazy when he saw the
+      Doctor making signs and talking in ox tongue.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From there the Doctor went to the matadors' dressing-rooms while Bumpo and
+      I with Polynesia made our way into the bull-ring and took our seats in the
+      great open-air theatre.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a very gay sight. Thousands of ladies and gentlemen were there, all
+      dressed in their smartest clothes; and everybody seemed very happy and
+      cheerful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Right at the beginning Don Enrique got up and explained to the people that
+      the first item on the program was to be a match between the English Doctor
+      and Pepito de Malaga. He told them what he had promised if the Doctor
+      should win. But the people did not seem to think there was much chance of
+      that. A roar of laughter went up at the very mention of such a thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Pepito came into the ring everybody cheered, the ladies blew kisses
+      and the men clapped and waved their hats.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a large door on the other side of the ring was rolled back and
+      in galloped one of the bulls; then the door was closed again. At once the
+      matador became very much on the alert. He waved his red cloak and the bull
+      rushed at him. Pepito stepped nimbly aside and the people cheered again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This game was repeated several times. But I noticed that whenever Pepito
+      got into a tight place and seemed to be in real danger from the bull, an
+      assistant of his, who always hung around somewhere near, drew the bull's
+      attention upon himself by waving another red cloak. Then the bull would
+      chase the assistant and Pepito was left in safety. Most often, as soon as
+      he had drawn the bull off, this assistant ran for the high fence and
+      vaulted out of the ring to save himself. They evidently had it all
+      arranged, these matadors; and it didn't seem to me that they were in any
+      very great danger from the poor clumsy bull so long as they didn't slip
+      and fall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After about ten minutes of this kind of thing the small door into the
+      matadors' dressing-room opened and the Doctor strolled into the ring. As
+      soon as his fat figure, dressed In sky-blue velvet, appeared, the crowd
+      rocked in their seats with laughter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Juan Hagapoco, as they had called him, walked out into the centre of the
+      ring and bowed ceremoniously to the ladies in the boxes. Then he bowed to
+      the bull. Then he bowed to Pepito. While he was bowing to Pepito's
+      assistant the bull started to rush at him from behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look out! Look out!&mdash;The bull! You will be killed!" yelled the
+      crowd.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Doctor calmly finished his bow. Then turning round he folded his
+      arms, fixed the on-rushing bull with his eye and frowned a terrible frown.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a curious thing happened: the bull's speed got slower and
+      slower. It almost looked as though he were afraid of that frown. Soon he
+      stopped altogether. The Doctor shook his finger at him. He began to
+      tremble. At last, tucking his tail between his legs, the bull turned round
+      and ran away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The crowd gasped. The Doctor ran after him. Round and round the ring they
+      went, both of them puffing and blowing like grampuses. Excited whispers
+      began to break out among the people. This was something new in
+      bullfighting, to have the bull running away from the man, instead of the
+      man away from the bull. At last in the tenth lap, with a final burst of
+      speed, Juan Hagapoco, the English matador, caught the poor bull by the
+      tail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then leading the now timid creature into the middle of the ring, the
+      Doctor made him do all manner of tricks: standing on the hind legs,
+      standing on the front legs, dancing, hopping, rolling over. He finished up
+      by making the bull kneel down; then he got on to his back and did
+      handsprings and other acrobatics on the beast's horns.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pepito and his assistant had their noses sadly out of joint. The crowd had
+      forgotten them entirely. They were standing together by the fence not far
+      from where I sat, muttering to one another and slowly growing green with
+      jealousy.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Finally the Doctor turned towards Don Enrique's seat and bowing said in a
+      loud voice, "This bull is no good any more. He's terrified and out of
+      breath. Take him away, please."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Does the caballero wish for a fresh bull?" asked Don Enrique.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said the Doctor, "I want five fresh bulls. And I would like them all
+      in the ring at once, please."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At this a cry of horror burst from the people. They had been used to
+      seeing matadors escaping from one bull at a time. But FIVE!&mdash;That
+      must mean certain death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Pepito sprang forward and called to Don Enrique not to allow it, saying it
+      was against all the rules of bullfighting. ("Ha!" Polynesia chuckled into
+      my ear. "It's like the Doctor's navigation: he breaks all the rules; but
+      he gets there. If they'll only let him, he'll give them the best show for
+      their money they ever saw.") A great argument began. Half the people
+      seemed to be on Pepito's side and half on the Doctor's side. At last the
+      Doctor turned to Pepito and made another very grand bow which burst the
+      last button off his waistcoat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, of course if the caballero is afraid&mdash;" he began with a bland
+      smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Afraid!" screamed Pepito. "I am afraid of nothing on earth. I am the
+      greatest matador in Spain. With this right hand I have killed nine hundred
+      and fifty-seven bulls."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right then," said the Doctor, "let us see if you can kill five more.
+      Let the bulls in!" he shouted. "Pepito de Malaga is not afraid."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A dreadful silence hung over the great theatre as the heavy door into the
+      bull pen was rolled back. Then with a roar the five big bulls bounded into
+      the ring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look fierce," I heard the Doctor call to them in cattle language. "Don't
+      scatter. Keep close. Get ready for a rush. Take Pepito, the one in purple,
+      first. But for Heaven's sake don't kill him. Just chase him out of the
+      ring&mdash;Now then, all together, go for him!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bulls put down their heads and all in line, like a squadron of
+      cavalry, charged across the ring straight for poor Pepito.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For one moment the Spaniard tried his hardest to look brave. But the sight
+      of the five pairs of horns coming at him at full gallop was too much. He
+      turned white to the lips, ran for the fence, vaulted it and disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now the other one," the Doctor hissed. And in two seconds the gallant
+      assistant was nowhere to be seen. Juan Hagapoco, the fat matador, was left
+      alone in the ring with five rampaging bulls.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rest of the show was really well worth seeing. First, all five bulls
+      went raging round the ring, butting at the fence with their horns, pawing
+      up the sand, hunting for something to kill. Then each one in turn would
+      pretend to catch sight of the Doctor for the first time and giving a
+      bellow of rage, would lower his wicked looking horns and shoot like an
+      arrow across the ring as though he meant to toss him to the sky.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was really frightfully exciting. And even I who knew it was all
+      arranged beforehand, held my breath in terror for the Doctor's life when I
+      saw how near they came to sticking him. But just at the last moment, when
+      the horns' points were two inches from the sky-blue waistcoat, the Doctor
+      would spring nimbly to one side and the great brutes would go thundering
+      harmlessly by, missing him by no more than a hair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then all five of them went for him together, completely surrounding him,
+      slashing at him with their horns and bellowing with fury. How he escaped
+      alive I don't know. For several minutes his round figure could hardly be
+      seen at all in that scrimmage of tossing heads, stamping hoofs and waving
+      tails.&mdash;It was, as Polynesia had prophesied, the greatest bullfight
+      ever seen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One woman in the crowd got quite hysterical and screamed up to Don
+      Enrique,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Stop the fight! Stop the fight! He is too brave a man to be killed. This
+      is the most wonderful matador in the world. Let him live! Stop the fight!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But presently the Doctor was seen to break loose from the mob of animals
+      that surrounded him. Then catching each of them by the horns, one after
+      another, he would give their heads a sudden twist and throw them down flat
+      on the sand. The great fellows acted their parts extremely well. I have
+      never seen trained animals in a circus do better. They lay there panting
+      on the ground where the Doctor threw them as if they were exhausted and
+      completely beaten.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then with a final bow to the ladies John Dolittle took a cigar from his
+      pocket, lit it and strolled out of the ring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0041" id="link2H_4_0041">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE NINTH CHAPTER. WE DEPART IN A HURRY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      AS soon as the door closed behind the Doctor the most tremendous noise I
+      have ever heard broke loose. Some of the men appeared to be angry (friends
+      of Pepito's, I suppose); but the ladies called and called to have the
+      Doctor come back into the ring.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When at length he did so, the women seemed to go entirely mad over him.
+      They blew kisses to him. They called him a darling. Then they started
+      taking off their flowers, their rings, their necklaces, and their brooches
+      and threw them down at his feet. You never saw anything like it&mdash;a
+      perfect shower of jewelry and roses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Doctor just smiled up at them, bowed once more and backed out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now, Bumpo," said Polynesia, "this is where you go down and gather up all
+      those trinkets and we'll sell 'em. That's what the big matadors do: leave
+      the jewelry on the ground and their assistants collect it for them. We
+      might as well lay in a good supply of money while we've got the chance&mdash;you
+      never know when you may need it when you're traveling with the Doctor.
+      Never mind the roses&mdash;you can leave them&mdash;but don't leave any
+      rings. And when you've finished go and get your three-thousand pesetas out
+      of Don Ricky-ticky. Tommy and I will meet you outside and we'll pawn the
+      gew-gaws at that Jew's shop opposite the bed-maker's. Run along&mdash;and
+      not a word to the Doctor, remember."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Outside the bull-ring we found the crowd still in a great state of
+      excitement. Violent arguments were going on everywhere. Bumpo joined us
+      with his pockets bulging in all directions; and we made our way slowly
+      through the dense crowd to that side of the building where the matadors'
+      dressing-room was. The Doctor was waiting at the door for us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good work, Doctor!" said Polynesia, flying on to his shoulder&mdash;"Great
+      work!&mdash;But listen: I smell danger. I think you had better get back to
+      the ship now as quick and as quietly as you can. Put your overcoat on over
+      that giddy suit. I don't like the looks of this crowd. More than half of
+      them are furious because you've won. Don Ricky-ticky must now stop the
+      bullfighting&mdash;and you know how they love it. What I'm afraid of is
+      that some of these matadors who are just mad with jealousy may start some
+      dirty work. I think this would be a good time for us to get away."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I dare say you're right, Polynesia," said the Doctor&mdash;"You usually
+      are. The crowd does seem to be a bit restless. I'll slip down to the ship
+      alone&mdash;so I shan't be so noticeable; and I'll wait for you there. You
+      come by some different way. But don't be long about it. Hurry!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the Doctor had departed Bumpo sought out Don Enrique and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Honorable Sir, you owe me three-thousand pesetas."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Without a word, but looking cross-eyed with annoyance, Don Enrique paid
+      his bet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We next set out to buy the provisions; and on the way we hired a cab and
+      took it along with us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Not very far away we found a big grocer's shop which seemed to sell
+      everything to eat. We went in and bought up the finest lot of food you
+      ever saw in your life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a matter of fact, Polynesia had been right about the danger we were in.
+      The news of our victory must have spread like lightning through the whole
+      town. For as we came out of the shop and loaded the cab up with our
+      stores, we saw various little knots of angry men hunting round the
+      streets, waving sticks and shouting,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The Englishmen! Where are those accursed Englishmen who stopped the
+      bullfighting?&mdash;Hang them to a lamp-post!&mdash;Throw them in the sea!
+      The Englishmen!&mdash;We want the Englishmen!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After that we didn't waste any time, you may be sure. Bumpo grabbed the
+      Spanish cab-driver and explained to him in signs that if he didn't drive
+      down to the harbor as fast as he knew how and keep his mouth shut the
+      whole way, he would choke the life out of him. Then we jumped into the cab
+      on top of the food, slammed the door, pulled down the blinds and away we
+      went.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We won't get a chance to pawn the jewelry now," said Polynesia, as we
+      bumped over the cobbly streets. "But never mind&mdash;it may come in handy
+      later on. And anyway we've got two-thousand five-hundred pesetas left out
+      of the bet. Don't give the cabby more than two pesetas fifty, Bumpo.
+      That's the right fare, I know."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, we reached the harbor all right and we were mighty glad to find that
+      the Doctor had sent Chee-Chee back with the row-boat to wait for us at the
+      landing-wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Unfortunately while we were in the middle of loading the supplies from the
+      cab into the boat, the angry mob arrived upon the wharf and made a rush
+      for us. Bumpo snatched up a big beam of wood that lay near and swung it
+      round and round his head, letting out dreadful African battle-yells the
+      while. This kept the crowd off while Chee-Chee and I hustled the last of
+      the stores into the boat and clambered in ourselves. Bumpo threw his beam
+      of wood into the thick of the Spaniards and leapt in after us. Then we
+      pushed off and rowed like mad for the Curlew.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The mob upon the wall howled with rage, shook their fists and hurled
+      stones and all manner of things after us. Poor old Bumpo got hit on the
+      head with a bottle. But as he had a very strong head it only raised a
+      small bump while the bottle smashed into a thousand pieces.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we reached the ship's side the Doctor had the anchor drawn up and the
+      sails set and everything in readiness to get away. Looking back we saw
+      boats coming out from the harbor-wall after us, filled with angry,
+      shouting men. So we didn't bother to unload our rowboat but just tied it
+      on to the ship's stern with a rope and jumped aboard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It only took a moment more to swing the Curlew round into the wind; and
+      soon we were speeding out of the harbor on our way to Brazil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ha!" sighed Polynesia, as we all flopped down on the deck to take a rest
+      and get our breath. "That wasn't a bad adventure&mdash;quite reminds me of
+      my old seafaring days when I sailed with the smugglers&mdash;Golly, that
+      was the life!&mdash;Never mind your head, Bumpo. It will be all right when
+      the Doctor puts a little arnica on it. Think what we got out of the scrap:
+      a boat-load of ship's stores, pockets full of jewelry and thousands of
+      pesetas. Not bad, you know&mdash;not bad."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PART4" id="link2H_PART4">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PART FOUR
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0043" id="link2H_4_0043">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIRST CHAPTER. SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      MIRANDA, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise had prophesied rightly when she had
+      foretold a good spell of weather. For three weeks the good ship Curlew
+      plowed her way through smiling seas before a steady powerful wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I suppose most real sailors would have found this part of the voyage dull.
+      But not I. As we got further South and further West the face of the sea
+      seemed different every day. And all the little things of a voyage which an
+      old hand would have hardly bothered to notice were matters of great
+      interest for my eager eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We did not pass many ships. When we did see one, the Doctor would get out
+      his telescope and we would all take a look at it. Sometimes he would
+      signal to it, asking for news, by hauling up little colored flags upon the
+      mast; and the ship would signal back to us in the same way. The meaning of
+      all the signals was printed in a book which the Doctor kept in the cabin.
+      He told me it was the language of the sea and that all ships could
+      understand it whether they be English, Dutch, or French.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our greatest happening during those first weeks was passing an iceberg.
+      When the sun shone on it it burst into a hundred colors, sparkling like a
+      jeweled palace in a fairy-story. Through the telescope we saw a mother
+      polar bear with a cub sitting on it, watching us. The Doctor recognized
+      her as one of the bears who had spoken to him when he was discovering the
+      North Pole. So he sailed the ship up close and offered to take her and her
+      baby on to the Curlew if she wished it. But she only shook her head,
+      thanking him; she said it would be far too hot for the cub on the deck of
+      our ship, with no ice to keep his feet cool. It had been indeed a very hot
+      day; but the nearness of that great mountain of ice made us all turn up
+      our coat-collars and shiver with the cold.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      During those quiet peaceful days I improved my reading and writing a great
+      deal with the Doctor's help. I got on so well that he let me keep the
+      ship's log. This is a big book kept on every ship, a kind of diary, in
+      which the number of miles run, the direction of your course and everything
+      else that happens is written down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor too, in what spare time he had, was nearly always writing&mdash;in
+      his note-books. I used to peep into these sometimes, now that I could
+      read, but I found it hard work to make out the Doctor's handwriting. Many
+      of these note-books seemed to be about sea things. There were six thick
+      ones filled full with notes and sketches of different seaweeds; and there
+      were others on sea birds; others on sea worms; others on seashells. They
+      were all some day to be re-written, printed and bound like regular books.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One afternoon we saw, floating around us, great quantities of stuff that
+      looked like dead grass. The Doctor told me this was gulf-weed. A little
+      further on it became so thick that it covered all the water as far as the
+      eye could reach; it made the Curlew look as though she were moving across
+      a meadow instead of sailing the Atlantic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Crawling about upon this weed, many crabs were to be seen. And the sight
+      of them reminded the Doctor of his dream of learning the language of the
+      shellfish. He fished several of these crabs up with a net and put them in
+      his listening-tank to see if he could understand them. Among the crabs he
+      also caught a strange-looking, chubby, little fish which he told me was
+      called a Silver Fidgit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After he had listened to the crabs for a while with no success, he put the
+      fidgit into the tank and began to listen to that. I had to leave him at
+      this moment to go and attend to some duties on the deck. But presently I
+      heard him below shouting for me to come down again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Stubbins," he cried as soon as he saw me&mdash;"a most extraordinary
+      thing&mdash;Quite unbelievable&mdash;I'm not sure whether I'm dreaming&mdash;Can't
+      believe my own senses. I&mdash;I&mdash;I&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, Doctor," I said, "what is it?&mdash;What's the matter?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The fidgit," he whispered, pointing with a trembling finger to the
+      listening-tank in which the little round fish was still swimming quietly,
+      "he talks English! And&mdash;and&mdash;and HE WHISTLES TUNES&mdash;English
+      tunes!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Talks English!" I cried&mdash;"Whistles!&mdash;Why, it's impossible."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's a fact," said the Doctor, white in the face with excitement. "It's
+      only a few words, scattered, with no particular sense to them&mdash;all
+      mixed up with his own language which I can't make out yet. But they're
+      English words, unless there's something very wrong with my hearing&mdash;And
+      the tune he whistles, it's as plain as anything&mdash;always, the same
+      tune. Now you listen and tell me what you make of it. Tell me everything
+      you hear. Don't miss a word."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I went to the glass tank upon the table while the Doctor grabbed a
+      note-book and a pencil. Undoing my collar I stood upon the empty
+      packing-case he had been using for a stand and put my right ear down under
+      the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For some moments I detected nothing at all&mdash;except, with my dry ear,
+      the heavy breathing of the Doctor as he waited, all stiff and anxious, for
+      me to say something. At last from within the water, sounding like a child
+      singing miles and miles away, I heard an unbelievably thin, small voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah!" I said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What is it?" asked the Doctor in a hoarse, trembly whisper. "What does he
+      say?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I can't quite make it out," I said. "It's mostly in some strange fish
+      language&mdash;Oh, but wait a minute!&mdash;Yes, now I get it&mdash;'No
+      smoking'.... 'My, here's a queer one!' 'Popcorn and picture postcards
+      here.... This way out.... Don't spit'&mdash;What funny things to say,
+      Doctor!&mdash;Oh, but wait!&mdash;Now he's whistling the tune."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What tune is it?" gasped the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "John Peel."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah hah," cried the Doctor, "that's what I made it out to be." And he
+      wrote furiously in his note-book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I went on listening.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is most extraordinary," the Doctor kept muttering to himself as his
+      pencil went wiggling over the page&mdash;"Most extraordinary&mdash;but
+      frightfully thrilling. I wonder where he&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here's some more," I cried&mdash;"some more English.... 'THE BIG TANK
+      NEEDS CLEANING'.... That's all. Now he's talking fish-talk again."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The big tank!" the Doctor murmured frowning in a puzzled kind of way. "I
+      wonder where on earth he learned&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he bounded up out of his chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have it," he yelled, "this fish has escaped from an aquarium. Why, of
+      course! Look at the kind of things he has learned: 'Picture postcards'&mdash;they
+      always sell them in aquariums; 'Don't spit'; 'No smoking'; 'This way out'&mdash;the
+      things the attendants say. And then, 'My, here's a queer one!' That's the
+      kind of thing that people exclaim when they look into the tanks. It all
+      fits. There's no doubt about it, Stubbins: we have here a fish who has
+      escaped from captivity. And it's quite possible&mdash;not certain, by any
+      means, but quite possible&mdash;that I may now, through him, be able to
+      establish communication with the shellfish. This is a great piece of
+      luck."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0044" id="link2H_4_0044">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SECOND CHAPTER. THE FIDGIT'S STORY
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WELL, now that he was started once more upon his old hobby of the
+      shellfish languages, there was no stopping the Doctor. He worked right
+      through the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A little after midnight I fell asleep in a chair; about two in the morning
+      Bumpo fell asleep at the wheel; and for five hours the Curlew was allowed
+      to drift where she liked. But still John Dolittle worked on, trying his
+      hardest to understand the fidgit's language, struggling to make the fidgit
+      understand him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When I woke up it was broad daylight again. The Doctor was still standing
+      at the listening-tank, looking as tired as an owl and dreadfully wet. But
+      on his face there was a proud and happy smile.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Stubbins," he said as soon as he saw me stir, "I've done it. I've got the
+      key to the fidgit's language. It's a frightfully difficult language&mdash;quite
+      different from anything I ever heard. The only thing it reminds me of&mdash;slightly&mdash;is
+      ancient Hebrew. It isn't shellfish; but it's a big step towards it. Now,
+      the next thing, I want you to take a pencil and a fresh notebook and write
+      down everything I say. The fidgit has promised to tell me the story of his
+      life. I will translate it into English and you put it down in the book.
+      Are you ready?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more the Doctor lowered his ear beneath the level of the water; and
+      as he began to speak, I started to write. And this is the story that the
+      fidgit told us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THIRTEEN MONTHS IN AN AQUARIUM
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was born in the Pacific Ocean, close to the coast of Chile. I was one
+      of a family of two-thousand five-hundred and ten. Soon after our mother
+      and father left us, we youngsters got scattered. The family was broken up&mdash;by
+      a herd of whales who chased us. I and my sister, Clippa (she was my
+      favorite sister) had a very narrow escape for our lives. As a rule, whales
+      are not very hard to get away from if you are good at dodging&mdash;if
+      you've only got a quick swerve. But this one that came after Clippa and
+      myself was a very mean whale, Every time he lost us under a stone or
+      something he'd come back and hunt and hunt till he routed us out into the
+      open again. I never saw such a nasty, persevering brute.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, we shook him at last&mdash;though not before he had worried us for
+      hundreds of miles northward, up the west coast of South America. But luck
+      was against us that day. While we were resting and trying to get our
+      breath, another family of fidgits came rushing by, shouting, 'Come on!
+      Swim for your lives! The dog-fish are coming!'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now dog-fish are particularly fond of fidgits. We are, you might say,
+      their favorite food&mdash;and for that reason we always keep away from
+      deep, muddy waters. What's more, dog-fish are not easy to escape from;
+      they are terribly fast and clever hunters. So up we had to jump and on
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "After we had gone a few more hundred miles we looked back and saw that
+      the dog-fish were gaining on us. So we turned into a harbor. It happened
+      to be one on the west coast of the United States. Here we guessed, and
+      hoped, the dog-fish would not be likely to follow us. As it happened, they
+      didn't even see us turn in, but dashed on northward and we never saw them
+      again. I hope they froze to death in the Arctic Seas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But, as I said, luck was against us that day. While I and my sister were
+      cruising gently round the ships anchored in the harbor looking for
+      orange-peels, a great delicacy with us&mdash;-SWOOP! BANG!&mdash;we were
+      caught in a net.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We struggled for all we were worth; but it was no use. The net was
+      small-meshed and strongly made. Kicking and flipping we were hauled up the
+      side of the ship and dumped down on the deck, high and dry in a blazing
+      noon-day sun.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here a couple of old men in whiskers and spectacles leant over us, making
+      strange sounds. Some codling had got caught in the net the same time as we
+      were. These the old men threw back into the sea; but us they seemed to
+      think very precious. They put us carefully into a large jar and after they
+      had taken us on shore they went to a big house and changed us from the jar
+      into glass boxes full of water. This house was on the edge of the harbor;
+      and a small stream of sea-water was made to flow through the glass tank so
+      we could breathe properly. Of course we had never lived inside glass walls
+      before; and at first we kept on trying to swim through them and got our
+      noses awfully sore bumping the glass at full speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Then followed weeks and weeks of weary idleness. They treated us well, so
+      far as they knew how. The old fellows in spectacles came and looked at us
+      proudly twice a day and saw that we had the proper food to eat, the right
+      amount of light and that the water was not too hot or too cold. But oh,
+      the dullness of that life! It seemed we were a kind of a show. At a
+      certain hour every morning the big doors of the house were thrown open and
+      everybody in the city who had nothing special to do came in and looked at
+      us. There were other tanks filled with different kinds of fishes all round
+      the walls of the big room. And the crowds would go from tank to tank,
+      looking in at us through the glass&mdash;with their mouths open, like
+      half-witted flounders. We got so sick of it that we used to open our
+      mouths back at them; and this they seemed to think highly comical.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "One day my sister said to me, 'Think you, Brother, that these strange
+      creatures who have captured us can talk?'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Surely,' said I, 'have you not noticed that some talk with the lips
+      only, some with the whole face, and yet others discourse with the hands?
+      When they come quite close to the glass you can hear them. Listen!'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "At that moment a female, larger than the rest, pressed her nose up
+      against the glass, pointed at me and said to her young behind her, 'Oh,
+      look, here's a queer one!'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And then we noticed that they nearly always said this when they looked
+      in. And for a long time we thought that such was the whole extent of the
+      language, this being a people of but few ideas. To help pass away the
+      weary hours we learned it by heart, 'Oh, look, here's a queer one!' But we
+      never got to know what it meant. Other phrases, however, we did get the
+      meaning of; and we even learned to read a little in man-talk. Many big
+      signs there were, set up upon the walls; and when we saw that the keepers
+      stopped the people from spitting and smoking, pointed to these signs
+      angrily and read them out loud, we knew then that these writings
+      signified, 'No Smoking and Don't Spit.' Then in the evenings, after the
+      crowd had gone, the same aged male with one leg of wood, swept up the
+      peanut-shells with a broom every night. And while he was so doing he
+      always whistled the same tune to himself. This melody we rather liked; and
+      we learned that too by heart&mdash;thinking it was part of the language.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thus a whole year went by in this dismal place. Some days new fishes were
+      brought in to the other tanks; and other days old fishes were taken out.
+      At first we had hoped we would only be kept here for a while, and that
+      after we had been looked at sufficiently we would be returned to freedom
+      and the sea. But as month after month went by, and we were left
+      undisturbed, our hearts grew heavy within our prison-walls of glass and we
+      spoke to one another less and less.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "One day, when the crowd was thickest in the big room, a woman with a red
+      face fainted from the heat. I watched through the glass and saw that the
+      rest of the people got highly excited&mdash;though to me it did not seem
+      to be a matter of very great importance. They threw cold water on her and
+      carried her out into the open air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This made me think mightily; and presently a great idea burst upon me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Sister,' I said, turning to poor Clippa who was sulking at the bottom of
+      our prison trying to hide behind a stone from the stupid gaze of the
+      children who thronged about our tank, 'supposing that we pretended we were
+      sick: do you think they would take us also from this stuffy house?'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Brother,' said she wearily, 'that they might do. But most likely they
+      would throw us on a rubbish-heap, where we would die in the hot sun.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'But,' said I, 'why should they go abroad to seek a rubbish-heap, when
+      the harbor is so close? While we were being brought here I saw men
+      throwing their rubbish into the water. If they would only throw us also
+      there, we could quickly reach the sea.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'The Sea!' murmured poor Clippa with a faraway look in her eyes (she had
+      fine eyes, had my sister, Clippa). 'How like a dream it sounds&mdash;the
+      Sea! Oh brother, will we ever swim in it again, think you? Every night as
+      I lie awake on the floor of this evil-smelling dungeon I hear its hearty
+      voice ringing in my ears. How I have longed for it! Just to feel it once
+      again, the nice, big, wholesome homeliness of it all! To jump, just to
+      jump from the crest of an Atlantic wave, laughing in the trade wind's
+      spindrift, down into the blue-green swirling trough! To chase the shrimps
+      on a summer evening, when the sky is red and the light's all pink within
+      the foam! To lie on the top, in the doldrums' noonday calm, and warm your
+      tummy in the tropic sun! To wander hand in hand once more through the
+      giant seaweed forests of the Indian Ocean, seeking the delicious eggs of
+      the pop-pop! To play hide-and-seek among the castles of the coral towns
+      with their pearl and jasper windows spangling the floor of the Spanish
+      Main! To picnic in the anemone-meadows, dim blue and lilac-gray, that lie
+      in the lowlands beyond the South Sea Garden! To throw somersaults on the
+      springy sponge-beds of the Mexican Gulf! To poke about among the dead
+      ships and see what wonders and adventures lie inside!&mdash;And then, on
+      winter nights when the Northeaster whips the water into froth, to swoop
+      down and down to get away from the cold, down to where the water's warm
+      and dark, down and still down, till we spy the twinkle of the fire-eels
+      far below where our friends and cousins sit chatting round the Council
+      Grotto&mdash;chatting, Brother, over the news and gossip of THE SEA!... Oh&mdash;'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And then she broke down completely, sniffling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Stop it!' I said. 'You make me homesick. Look here: let's pretend we're
+      sick&mdash;or better still, let's pretend we're dead; and see what
+      happens. If they throw us on a rubbish-heap and we fry in the sun, we'll
+      not be much worse off than we are here in this smelly prison. What do you
+      say? Will you risk it?'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'I will,' she said&mdash;'and gladly.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "So next morning two fidgits were found by the keeper floating on the top
+      of the water in their tank, stiff and dead. We gave a mighty good
+      imitation of dead fish&mdash;although I say it myself. The keeper ran and
+      got the old gentlemen with spectacles and whiskers. They threw up their
+      hands in horror when they saw us. Lifting us carefully out of the water
+      they laid us on wet cloths. That was the hardest part of all. If you're a
+      fish and get taken out of the water you have to keep opening and shutting
+      your mouth to breathe at all&mdash;and even that you can't keep up for
+      long. And all this time we had to stay stiff as sticks and breathe
+      silently through half-closed lips.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, the old fellows poked us and felt us and pinched us till I thought
+      they'd never be done. Then, when their backs were turned a moment, a
+      wretched cat got up on the table and nearly ate us. Luckily the old men
+      turned round in time and shooed her away. You may be sure though that we
+      took a couple of good gulps of air while they weren't looking; and that
+      was the only thing that saved us from choking. I wanted to whisper to
+      Clippa to be brave and stick it out. But I couldn't even do that; because,
+      as you know, most kinds of fish-talk cannot be heard&mdash;not even a
+      shout&mdash;unless you're under water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Then, just as we were about to give it up and let on that we were alive,
+      one of the old men shook his head sadly, lifted us up and carried us out
+      of the building.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "'Now for it!' I thought to myself. 'We'll soon know our fate: liberty or
+      the garbage-can.'
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Outside, to our unspeakable horror, he made straight for a large
+      ash-barrel which stood against the wall on the other side of a yard. Most
+      happily for us, however, while he was crossing this yard a very dirty man
+      with a wagon and horses drove up and took the ash-barrel away. I suppose
+      it was his property.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Then the old man looked around for some other place to throw us. He
+      seemed about to cast us upon the ground. But he evidently thought that
+      this would make the yard untidy and he desisted. The suspense was
+      terrible. He moved outside the yard-gate and my heart sank once more as I
+      saw that he now intended to throw us in the gutter of the roadway. But
+      (fortune was indeed with us that day), a large man in, blue clothes and
+      silver buttons stopped him in the nick of time. Evidently, from the way
+      the large man lectured and waved a short thick stick, it was against the
+      rules of the town to throw dead fish in the streets.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "At last, to our unutterable joy, the old man turned and moved off with us
+      towards the harbor. He walked so slowly, muttering to himself all the way
+      and watching the man in blue out of the corner of his eye, that I wanted
+      to bite his finger to make him hurry up. Both Clippa and I were actually
+      at our last gasp.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Finally he reached the sea-wall and giving us one last sad look he
+      dropped us into the waters of the harbor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Never had we realized anything like the thrill of that moment, as we felt
+      the salt wetness close over our heads. With one flick of our tails we came
+      to life again. The old man was so surprised that he fell right into the
+      water, almost on top of us. From this he was rescued by a sailor with a
+      boat-hook; and the last we saw of him, the man in blue was dragging him
+      away by the coat-collar, lecturing him again. Apparently it was also
+      against the rules of the town to throw dead fish into the harbor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But we?&mdash;What time or thought had we for his troubles? WE WERE FREE!
+      In lightning leaps, in curving spurts, in crazy zig-zags&mdash;whooping,
+      shrieking with delight, we sped for home and the open sea!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That is all of my story and I will now, as I promised last night, try to
+      answer any questions you may ask about the sea, on condition that I am set
+      at liberty as soon as you have done."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "Is there any part of the sea deeper than that known as the
+      Nero Deep&mdash;I mean the one near the Island of Guam?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "Why, certainly. There's one much deeper than that near the
+      mouth of the Amazon River. But it's small and hard to find. We call it
+      'The Deep Hole.' And there's another in the Antarctic Sea."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "Can you talk any shellfish language yourself?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "No, not a word. We regular fishes don't have anything to do
+      with the shellfish. We consider them a low class."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "But when you're near them, can you hear the sound they make
+      talking&mdash;I mean without necessarily understanding what they say?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "Only with the very largest ones. Shellfish have such weak
+      small voices it is almost impossible for any but their own kind to hear
+      them. But with the bigger ones it is different. They make a sad, booming
+      noise, rather like an iron pipe being knocked with a stone&mdash;only not
+      nearly so loud of course."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "I am most anxious to get down to the bottom of the sea&mdash;to
+      study many things. But we land animals, as you no doubt know, are unable
+      to breathe under water. Have you any ideas that might help me?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "I think that for both your difficulties the best thing for
+      you to do would be to try and get hold of the Great Glass Sea Snail."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "Er&mdash;who, or what, is the Great Glass Sea Snail?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "He is an enormous salt-water snail, one of the winkle family,
+      but as large as a big house. He talks quite loudly&mdash;when he speaks,
+      but this is not often. He can go to any part of the ocean, at all depths
+      because he doesn't have to be afraid of any creature in the sea. His shell
+      is made of transparent mother-o'-pearl so that you can see through it; but
+      it's thick and strong. When he is out of his shell and he carries it empty
+      on his back, there is room in it for a wagon and a pair of horses. He has
+      been seen carrying his food in it when traveling."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "I feel that that is just the creature I have been looking
+      for. He could take me and my assistant inside his shell and we could
+      explore the deepest depths in safety. Do you think you could get him for
+      me?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "Alas! no. I would willingly if I could; but he is hardly ever
+      seen by ordinary fish. He lives at the bottom of the Deep Hole, and seldom
+      comes out&mdash;And into the Deep Hole, the lower waters of which are
+      muddy, fishes such as we are afraid to go."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "Dear me! That's a terrible disappointment. Are there many of
+      this kind of snail in the sea?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "Oh no. He is the only one in existence, since his second wife
+      died long, long ago. He is the last of the Giant Shellfish. He belongs to
+      past ages when the whales were land-animals and all that. They say he is
+      over seventy thousand years old."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "Good Gracious, what wonderful things he could tell me! I do
+      wish I could meet him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "Were there any more questions you wished to ask me? This
+      water in your tank is getting quite warm and sickly. I'd like to be put
+      back into the sea as soon as you can spare me."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "Just one more thing: when Christopher Columbus crossed the
+      Atlantic in 1492, he threw overboard two copies of his diary sealed up in
+      barrels. One of them was never found. It must have sunk. I would like to
+      get it for my library. Do you happen to know where it is?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "Yes, I do. That too is in the Deep Hole. When the barrel sank
+      the currents drifted it northwards down what we call the Orinoco Slope,
+      till it finally disappeared into the Deep Hole. If it was any other part
+      of the sea I'd try and get it for you; but not there."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "Well, that is all, I think. I hate to put you back into the
+      sea, because I know that as soon as I do, I'll think of a hundred other
+      questions I wanted to ask you. But I must keep my promise. Would you care
+      for anything before you go?&mdash;it seems a cold day&mdash;some
+      cracker-crumbs or something?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "No, I won't stop. All I want just at present is fresh
+      sea-water."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor: "I cannot thank you enough for all the information you have
+      given me. You have been very helpful and patient."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Fidgit: "Pray do not mention it. It has been a real pleasure to be of
+      assistance to the great John Dolittle. You are, as of course you know,
+      already quite famous among the better class of fishes. Goodbye!&mdash;and
+      good luck to you, to your ship and to all your plans!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor carried the listening-tank to a porthole, opened it and emptied
+      the tank into the sea. "Good-bye!" he murmured as a faint splash reached
+      us from without.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I dropped my pencil on the table and leaned back with a sigh. My fingers
+      were so stiff with writers' cramp that I felt as though I should never be
+      able to open my hand again. But I, at least, had had a night's sleep. As
+      for the poor Doctor, he was so weary that he had hardly put the tank back
+      upon the table and dropped into a chair, when his eyes closed and he began
+      to snore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the passage outside Polynesia scratched angrily at the door. I rose and
+      let her in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A nice state of affairs!" she stormed. "What sort of a ship is this?
+      There's that colored man upstairs asleep under the wheel; the Doctor
+      asleep down here; and you making pot-hooks in a copy-book with a pencil!
+      Expect the ship to steer herself to Brazil? We're just drifting around the
+      sea like an empty bottle&mdash;and a week behind time as it is. What's
+      happened to you all?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      She was so angry that her voice rose to a scream. But it would have taken
+      more than that to wake the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I put the note-book carefully in a drawer and went on deck to take the
+      wheel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0045" id="link2H_4_0045">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE THIRD CHAPTER. BAD WEATHER
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      AS soon as I had the Curlew swung round upon her course again I noticed
+      something peculiar: we were not going as fast as we had been. Our
+      favorable wind had almost entirely disappeared.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This, at first, we did not worry about, thinking that at any moment it
+      might spring up again. But the whole day went by; then two days; then a
+      week,&mdash;ten days, and the wind grew no stronger. The Curlew just
+      dawdled along at the speed of a toddling babe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I now saw that the Doctor was becoming uneasy. He kept getting out his
+      sextant (an instrument which tells you what part of the ocean you are in)
+      and making calculations. He was forever looking at his maps and measuring
+      distances on them. The far edge of the sea, all around us, he examined
+      with his telescope a hundred times a day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But Doctor," I said when I found him one afternoon mumbling to himself
+      about the misty appearance of the sky, "it wouldn't matter so much would
+      it, if we did take a little longer over the trip? We've got plenty to eat
+      on board now; and the Purple Bird-of-Paradise will know that we have been
+      delayed by something that we couldn't help."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, I suppose so," he said thoughtfully. "But I hate to keep her
+      waiting. At this season of the year she generally goes to the Peruvian
+      mountains&mdash;for her health. And besides, the good weather she
+      prophesied is likely to end any day now and delay us still further. If we
+      could only keep moving at even a fair speed, I wouldn't mind. It's this
+      hanging around, almost dead still, that gets me restless&mdash;Ah, here
+      comes a wind&mdash;Not very strong&mdash;but maybe it'll grow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A gentle breeze from the Northeast came singing through the ropes; and we
+      smiled up hopefully at the Curlew's leaning masts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We've only got another hundred and fifty miles to make, to sight the
+      coast of Brazil," said the Doctor. "If that wind would just stay with us,
+      steady, for a full day we'd see land."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But suddenly the wind changed, swung to the East, then back to the
+      Northeast&mdash;then to the North. It came in fitful gusts, as though it
+      hadn't made up its mind which way to blow; and I was kept busy at the
+      wheel, swinging the Curlew this way and that to keep the right side of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently we heard Polynesia, who was in the rigging keeping a look-out
+      for land or passing ships, screech down to us,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Bad weather coming. That jumpy wind is an ugly sign. And look!&mdash;over
+      there in the East&mdash;see that black line, low down? If that isn't a
+      storm I'm a land-lubber. The gales round here are fierce, when they do
+      blow&mdash;tear your canvas out like paper. You take the wheel, Doctor:
+      it'll need a strong arm if it's a real storm. I'll go wake Bumpo and
+      Chee-Chee. This looks bad to me. We'd best get all the sail down right
+      away, till we see how strong she's going to blow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed the whole sky was now beginning to take on a very threatening look.
+      The black line to the eastward grew blacker as it came nearer and nearer.
+      A low, rumbly, whispering noise went moaning over the sea. The water which
+      had been so blue and smiling turned to a ruffled ugly gray. And across the
+      darkening sky, shreds of cloud swept like tattered witches flying from the
+      storm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I must confess I was frightened. You see I had only so far seen the sea in
+      friendly moods: sometimes quiet and lazy; sometimes laughing, venturesome
+      and reckless; sometimes brooding and poetic, when moonbeams turned her
+      ripples into silver threads and dreaming snowy night-clouds piled up
+      fairy-castles in the sky. But as yet I had not known, or even guessed at,
+      the terrible strength of the Sea's wild anger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When that storm finally struck us we leaned right over flatly on our side,
+      as though some in-visible giant had slapped the poor Curlew on the cheek.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After that things happened so thick and so fast that what with the wind
+      that stopped your breath, the driving, blinding water, the deafening noise
+      and the rest, I haven't a very clear idea of how our shipwreck came about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I remember seeing the sails, which we were now trying to roll up upon the
+      deck, torn out of our hands by the wind and go overboard like a penny
+      balloon&mdash;very nearly carrying Chee-Chee with them. And I have a dim
+      recollection of Polynesia screeching somewhere for one of us to go
+      downstairs and close the port-holes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of our masts being bare of sail we were now scudding along to the
+      southward at a great pace. But every once in a while huge gray-black waves
+      would arise from under the ship's side like nightmare monsters, swell and
+      climb, then crash down upon us, pressing us into the sea; and the poor
+      Curlew would come to a standstill, half under water, like a gasping,
+      drowning pig.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While I was clambering along towards the wheel to see the Doctor, clinging
+      like a leech with hands and legs to the rails lest I be blown overboard,
+      one of these tremendous seas tore loose my hold, filled my throat with
+      water and swept me like a cork the full length of the deck. My head struck
+      a door with an awful bang. And then I fainted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0046" id="link2H_4_0046">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WRECKED!
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WHEN I awoke I was very hazy in my head. The sky was blue and the sea was
+      calm. At first I thought that I must have fallen asleep in the sun on the
+      deck of the Curlew. And thinking that I would be late for my turn at the
+      wheel, I tried to rise to my feet. I found I couldn't; my arms were tied
+      to something behind me with a piece of rope. By twisting my neck around I
+      found this to be a mast, broken off short. Then I realized that I wasn't
+      sitting on a ship at all; I was only sitting on a piece of one. I began to
+      feel uncomfortably scared. Screwing up my eyes, I searched the rim of the
+      sea North, East, South and West: no land: no ships; nothing was in sight.
+      I was alone in the ocean!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last, little by little, my bruised head began to remember what had
+      happened: first, the coming of the storm; the sails going overboard; then
+      the big wave which had banged me against the door. But what had become of
+      the Doctor and the others? What day was this, to-morrow or the day after?&mdash;And
+      why was I sitting on only part of a ship?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Working my hand into my pocket, I found my penknife and cut the rope that
+      tied me. This reminded me of a shipwreck story which Joe had once told me,
+      of a captain who had tied his son to a mast in order that he shouldn't be
+      washed overboard by the gale. So of course it must have been the Doctor
+      who had done the same to me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But where was he?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The awful thought came to me that the Doctor and the rest of them must be
+      drowned, since there was no other wreckage to be seen upon the waters. I
+      got to my feet and stared around the sea again&mdash;Nothing&mdash;nothing
+      but water and sky!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently a long way off I saw the small dark shape of a bird skimming low
+      down over the swell. When it came quite close I saw it was a Stormy
+      Petrel. I tried to talk to it, to see if it could give me news. But
+      unluckily I hadn't learned much sea-bird language and I couldn't even
+      attract its attention, much less make it understand what I wanted.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Twice it circled round my raft, lazily, with hardly a flip of the wing.
+      And I could not help wondering, in spite of the distress I was in, where
+      it had spent last night&mdash;how it, or any other living thing, had
+      weathered such a smashing storm. It made me realize the great big
+      difference between different creatures; and that size and strength are not
+      everything. To this petrel, a frail little thing of feathers, much smaller
+      and weaker than I, the Sea could do anything she liked, it seemed; and his
+      only answer was a lazy, saucy flip of the wing! HE was the one who should
+      be called the ABLE SEAMAN. For, come raging gale, come sunlit calm, this
+      wilderness of water was his home.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After swooping over the sea around me (just looking for food, I supposed)
+      he went off in the direction from which he had come. And I was alone once
+      more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I found I was somewhat hungry&mdash;and a little thirsty too. I began to
+      think all sorts of miserable thoughts, the way one does when he is
+      lonesome and has missed breakfast. What was going to become of me now, if
+      the Doctor and the rest were drowned? I would starve to death or die of
+      thirst. Then the sun went behind some clouds and I felt cold. How many
+      hundreds or thousands of miles was I from any land? What if another storm
+      should come and smash up even this poor raft on which I stood?
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I went on like this for a while, growing gloomier and gloomier, when
+      suddenly I thought of Polynesia. "You're always safe with the Doctor," she
+      had said. "He gets there. Remember that."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I'm sure I wouldn't have minded so much if he had been here with me. It
+      was this being all alone that made me want to weep. And yet the petrel was
+      alone!&mdash;What a baby I was, I told myself, to be scared to the verge
+      of tears just by loneliness! I was quite safe where I was&mdash;for the
+      present anyhow. John Dolittle wouldn't get scared by a little thing like
+      this. He only got excited when he made a discovery, found a new bug or
+      something. And if what Polynesia had said was true, he couldn't be drowned
+      and things would come out all right in the end somehow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I threw out my chest, buttoned up my collar and began walking up and down
+      the short raft to keep warm. I would be like John Dolittle. I wouldn't cry&mdash;And
+      I wouldn't get excited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How long I paced back and forth I don't know. But it was a long time&mdash;for
+      I had nothing else to do.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last I got tired and lay down to rest. And in spite of all my troubles,
+      I soon fell fast asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This time when I woke up, stars were staring down at me out of a cloudless
+      sky. The sea was still calm; and my strange craft was rocking gently under
+      me on an easy swell. All my fine courage left me as I gazed up into the
+      big silent night and felt the pains of hunger and thirst set to work in my
+      stomach harder than ever.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Are you awake?" said a high silvery voice at my elbow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I sprang up as though some one had stuck a pin in me. And there, perched
+      at the very end of my raft, her beautiful golden tail glowing dimly in the
+      starlight, sat Miranda, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Never have I been so glad to see any one in my life. I almost f ell into
+      the water as I leapt to hug her.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I didn't want to wake you," said she. "I guessed you must be tired after
+      all you've been through&mdash;Don't squash the life out of me, boy: I'm
+      not a stuffed duck, you know."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, Miranda, you dear old thing," said I, "I'm so glad to see you. Tell
+      me, where is the Doctor? Is he alive?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Of course he's alive&mdash;and it's my firm belief he always will be.
+      He's over there, about forty miles to the westward."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's he doing there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He's sitting on the other half of the Curlew shaving himself&mdash;or he
+      was, when I left him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, thank Heaven he's alive!" said I&mdash;"And Bumpo&mdash;and the
+      animals, are they all right?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, they're with him. Your ship broke in half in the storm. The Doctor
+      had tied you down when he found you stunned. And the part you were on got
+      separated and floated away. Golly, it was a storm! One has to be a gull or
+      an albatross to stand that sort of weather. I had been watching for the
+      Doctor for three weeks, from a cliff-top; but last night I had to take
+      refuge in a cave to keep my tail-feathers from blowing out. As soon as I
+      found the Doctor, he sent me off with some porpoises to look for you. A
+      Stormy Petrel volunteered to help us in our search. There had been quite a
+      gathering of sea-birds waiting to greet the Doctor; but the rough weather
+      sort of broke up the arrangements that had been made to welcome him
+      properly. It was the petrel that first gave us the tip where you were."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, but how can I get to the Doctor, Miranda?&mdash;I haven't any
+      oars."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Get to him!&mdash;Why, you're going to him now. Look behind you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I turned around. The moon was just rising on the sea's edge. And I now saw
+      that my raft was moving through the water, but so gently that I had not
+      noticed it before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's moving us?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The porpoises," said Miranda.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I went to the back of the raft and looked down into the water. And just
+      below the surface I could see the dim forms of four big porpoises, their
+      sleek skins glinting in the moonlight, pushing at the raft with their
+      noses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They're old friends of the Doctor's," said Miranda. "They'd do anything
+      for John Dolittle. We should see his party soon now. We're pretty near the
+      place I left them&mdash;Yes, there they are! See that dark shape?&mdash;No,
+      more to the right of where you're looking. Can't you make out the figure
+      of the black man standing against the sky?&mdash;Now Chee-Chee spies us&mdash;he's
+      waving. Don't you see them?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I didn't&mdash;for my eyes were not as sharp as Miranda's. But presently
+      from somewhere in the murky dusk I heard Bumpo singing his African comic
+      songs with the full force of his enormous voice. And in a little, by
+      peering and peering in the direction of the sound, I at last made out a
+      dim mass of tattered, splintered wreckage&mdash;all that remained of the
+      poor Curlew&mdash;floating low down upon the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A hulloa came through the night. And I answered it. We kept it up, calling
+      to one another back and forth across the calm night sea. And a few minutes
+      later the two halves of our brave little ruined ship bumped gently
+      together again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Now that I was nearer and the moon was higher I could see more plainly.
+      Their half of the ship was much bigger than mine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It lay partly upon its side; and most of them were perched upon the top
+      munching ship's biscuit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But close down to the edge of the water, using the sea's calm surface for
+      a mirror and a piece of broken bottle for a razor, John Dolittle was
+      shaving his face by the light of the moon.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0047" id="link2H_4_0047">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIFTH CHAPTER. LAND!
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THEY all gave me a great greeting as I clambered off my half of the ship
+      on to theirs. Bumpo brought me a wonderful drink of fresh water which he
+      drew from a barrel; and Chee-Chee and Polynesia stood around me feeding me
+      ship's biscuit.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But it was the sight of the Doctor's smiling face&mdash;just knowing that
+      I was with him once again&mdash;that cheered me more than anything else.
+      As I watched him carefully wipe his glass razor and put it away for future
+      use, I could not help comparing him in my mind with the Stormy Petrel.
+      Indeed the vast strange knowledge which he had gained from his speech and
+      friendship with animals had brought him the power to do things which no
+      other human being would dare to try. Like the petrel, he could apparently
+      play with the sea in all her moods. It was no wonder that many of the
+      ignorant savage peoples among whom he passed in his voyages made statues
+      of him showing him as half a fish, half a bird, and half a man. And
+      ridiculous though it was, I could quite understand what Miranda meant when
+      she said she firmly believed that he could never die. Just to be with him
+      gave you a wonderful feeling of comfort and safety.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Except for his appearance (his clothes were crumpled and damp and his
+      battered high hat was stained with salt water) that storm which had so
+      terrified me had disturbed him no more than getting stuck on the mud-bank
+      in Puddleby River.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Politely thanking Miranda for getting me so quickly, he asked her if she
+      would now go ahead of us and show us the way to Spidermonkey Island. Next,
+      he gave orders to the porpoises to leave my old piece of the ship and push
+      the bigger half wherever the Bird-of-Paradise should lead us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How much he had lost in the wreck besides his razor I did not know&mdash;everything,
+      most likely, together with all the money he had saved up to buy the ship
+      with. And still he was smiling as though he wanted for nothing in the
+      world. The only things he had saved, as far as I could see&mdash;beyond
+      the barrel of water and bag of biscuit&mdash;were his precious note-books.
+      These, I saw when he stood up, he had strapped around his waist with yards
+      and yards of twine. He was, as old Matthew Mugg used to say, a great man.
+      He was unbelievable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And now for three days we continued our journey slowly but steadily&mdash;southward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The only inconvenience we suffered from was the cold. This seemed to
+      increase as we went forward. The Doctor said that the island, disturbed
+      from its usual paths by the great gale, had evidently drifted further
+      South than it had ever been before.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the third night poor Miranda came back to us nearly frozen. She told
+      the Doctor that in the morning we would find the island quite close to us,
+      though we couldn't see it now as it was a misty dark night. She said that
+      she must hurry back at once to a warmer climate; and that she would visit
+      the Doctor in Puddleby next August as usual.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't forget, Miranda," said John Dolittle, "if you should hear anything
+      of what happened to Long Arrow, to get word to me."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Bird-of-Paradise assured him she would. And after the Doctor had
+      thanked her again and again for all that she had done for us, she wished
+      us good luck and disappeared into the night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were all awake early in the morning, long before it was light, waiting
+      for our first glimpse of the country we had come so far to see. And as the
+      rising sun turned the eastern sky to gray, of course it was old Polynesia
+      who first shouted that she could see palm-trees and mountain tops.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the growing light it became plain to all of us: a long island with
+      high rocky mountains in the middle&mdash;and so near to us that you could
+      almost throw your hat upon the shore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The porpoises gave us one last push and our strange-looking craft bumped
+      gently on a low beach. Then, thanking our lucky stars for a chance to
+      stretch our cramped legs, we all bundled off on to the land&mdash;the
+      first land, even though it was floating land, that we had trodden for six
+      weeks. What a thrill I felt as I realized that Spidermonkey Island, the
+      little spot in the atlas which my pencil had touched, lay at last beneath
+      my feet!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the light increased still further we noticed that the palms and
+      grasses of the island seemed withered and almost dead. The Doctor said
+      that it must be on account of the cold that the island was now suffering
+      from in its new climate. These trees and grasses, he told us, were the
+      kind that belonged to warm, tropical weather.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The porpoises asked if we wanted them any further. And the Doctor said
+      that he didn't think so, not for the present&mdash;nor the raft either, he
+      added; for it was already beginning to fall to pieces and could not float
+      much longer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we were preparing to go inland and explore the island, we suddenly
+      noticed a whole band of Red Indians watching us with great curiosity from
+      among the trees. The Doctor went forward to talk to them. But he could not
+      make them understand. He tried by signs to show them that he had come on a
+      friendly visit. The Indians didn't seem to like us however. They had bows
+      and arrows and long hunting spears, with stone points, in their hands; and
+      they made signs back to the Doctor to tell him that if he came a step
+      nearer they would kill us all. They evidently wanted us to leave the
+      island at once. It was a very uncomfortable situation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last the Doctor made them understand that he only wanted to see the
+      island all over and that then he would go away&mdash;though how he meant
+      to do it, with no boat to sail in, was more than I could imagine.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While they were talking among themselves another Indian arrived&mdash;apparently
+      with a message that they were wanted in some other part of the island.
+      Because presently, shaking their spears threateningly at us, they went off
+      with the newcomer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What discourteous pagans!" said Bumpo. "Did you ever see such
+      inhospitability?&mdash;Never even asked us if we'd had breakfast, the
+      benighted bounders!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sh! They're going off to their village," said Polynesia. "I'll bet
+      there's a village on the other side of those mountains. If you take my
+      advice, Doctor, you'll get away from this beach while their backs are
+      turned. Let us go up into the higher land for the present&mdash;some place
+      where they won't know where we are. They may grow friendlier when they see
+      we mean no harm. They have honest, open faces and look like a decent crowd
+      to me. They're just ignorant&mdash;probably never saw white folks before."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      So, feeling a little bit discouraged by our first reception, we moved off
+      towards the mountains in the centre of the island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0048" id="link2H_4_0048">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE JABIZRI
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WE found the woods at the feet of the hills thick and tangly and somewhat
+      hard to get through. On Polynesia's advice, we kept away from all paths
+      and trails, feeling it best to avoid meeting any Indians for the present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But she and Chee-Chee were good guides and splendid jungle-hunters; and
+      the two of them set to work at once looking for food for us. In a very
+      short space of time they had found quite a number of different fruits and
+      nuts which made excellent eating, though none of us knew the names of any
+      of them. We discovered a nice clean stream of good water which came down
+      from the mountains; so we were supplied with something to drink as well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We followed the stream up towards the heights. And presently we came to
+      parts where the woods were thinner and the ground rocky and steep. Here we
+      could get glimpses of wonderful views all over the island, with the blue
+      sea beyond. While we were admiring one of these the Doctor suddenly said,
+      "Sh!&mdash;A Jabizri!&mdash;Don't you hear it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We listened and heard, somewhere in the air about us, an extraordinarily
+      musical hum-like a bee, but not just one note. This hum rose and fell, up
+      and down&mdash;almost like some one singing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No other insect but the Jabizri beetle hums like that," said the Doctor.
+      "I wonder where he is&mdash;quite near, by the sound&mdash;flying among
+      the trees probably. Oh, if I only had my butterfly-net! Why didn't I think
+      to strap that around my waist too. Confound the storm: I may miss the
+      chance of a lifetime now of getting the rarest beetle in the world&mdash;Oh
+      look! There he goes!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A huge beetle, easily three inches long I should say, suddenly flew by our
+      noses. The Doctor got frightfully excited. He took off his hat to use as a
+      net, swooped at the beetle and caught it. He nearly fell down a precipice
+      on to the rocks below in his wild hurry, but that didn't bother him in the
+      least. He knelt down, chortling, upon the ground with the Jabizri safe
+      under his hat. From his pocket he brought out a glass-topped box, and into
+      this he very skillfully made the beetle walk from under the rim of the
+      hat. Then he rose up, happy as a child, to examine his new treasure
+      through the glass lid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It certainly was a most beautiful insect. It was pale blue underneath; but
+      its back was glossy black with huge red spots on it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There isn't an entymologist in the whole world who wouldn't give all he
+      has to be in my shoes to-day," said the Doctor&mdash;"Hulloa! This
+      Jabizri's got something on his leg&mdash;Doesn't look like mud. I wonder
+      what it is."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took the beetle carefully out of the box and held it by its back in his
+      fingers, where it waved its six legs slowly in the air. We all crowded
+      about him peering at it. Rolled around the middle section of its right
+      foreleg was something that looked like a thin dried leaf. It was bound on
+      very neatly with strong spider-web.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was marvelous to see how John Dolittle with his fat heavy fingers undid
+      that cobweb cord and unrolled the leaf, whole, without tearing it or
+      hurting the precious beetle. The Jabizri he put back into the box. Then he
+      spread the leaf out flat and examined it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      You can imagine our surprise when we found that the inside of the leaf was
+      covered with signs and pictures, drawn so tiny that you almost needed a
+      magnifying-glass to tell what they were. Some of the signs we couldn't
+      make out at all; but nearly all of the pictures were quite plain, figures
+      of men and mountains mostly. The whole was done in a curious sort of brown
+      ink.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For several moments there was a dead silence while we all stared at the
+      leaf, fascinated and mystified.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think this is written in blood," said the Doctor at last. "It turns
+      that color when it's dry. Somebody pricked his finger to make these
+      pictures. It's an old dodge when you're short of ink&mdash;but highly
+      unsanitary&mdash;What an extraordinary thing to find tied to a beetle's
+      leg! I wish I could talk beetle language, and find out where the Jabizri
+      got it from."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But what is it?" I asked&mdash;"Rows of little pictures and signs. What
+      do you make of it, Doctor?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's a letter," he said&mdash;"a picture letter. All these little things
+      put together mean a message&mdash;But why give a message to a beetle to
+      carry&mdash;and to a Jabizri, the rarest beetle in the world?&mdash;What
+      an extraordinary thing!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he fell to muttering over the pictures.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I wonder what it means: men walking up a mountain; men walking into a
+      hole in a mountain; a mountain falling down&mdash;it's a good drawing,
+      that; men pointing to their open mouths; bars&mdash;prison-bars, perhaps;
+      men praying; men lying down&mdash;they look as though they might be sick;
+      and last of all, just a mountain&mdash;a peculiar-shaped mountain."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All of a sudden the Doctor looked up sharply at me, a wonderful smile of
+      delighted understanding spreading over his face.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "LONG ARROW!" he cried, "don't you see, Stubbins?&mdash;Why, of course!
+      Only a naturalist would think of doing a thing like this: giving his
+      letter to a beetle&mdash;not to a common beetle, but to the rarest of all,
+      one that other naturalists would try to catch&mdash;Well, well! Long
+      Arrow!&mdash;A picture-letter from Long Arrow. For pictures are the only
+      writing that he knows."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, but who is the letter to?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's to me very likely. Miranda had told him, I know, years ago, that
+      some day I meant to come here. But if not for me, then it's for any one
+      who caught the beetle and read it. It's a letter to the world."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, but what does it say? It doesn't seem to me that it's much good to
+      you now you've got it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, it is," he said, "because, look, I can read it now. First picture:
+      men walking up a mountain&mdash;that's Long Arrow and his party; men going
+      into a hole in a mountain&mdash;they enter a cave looking for
+      medicine-plants or mosses; a mountain falling down&mdash;some hanging
+      rocks must have slipped and trapped them, imprisoned them in the cave. And
+      this was the only living creature that could carry a message for them to
+      the outside world&mdash;a beetle, who could BURROW his way into the open
+      air. Of course it was only a slim chance that the beetle would be ever
+      caught and the letter read. But it was a chance; and when men are in great
+      danger they grab at any straw of hope.... All right. Now look at the next
+      picture: men pointing to their open mouths&mdash;they are hungry; men
+      praying&mdash;begging any one who finds this letter to come to their
+      assistance; men lying down&mdash;they are sick, or starving. This letter,
+      Stubbins, is their last cry for help."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He sprang to his feet as he ended, snatched out a note-book and put the
+      letter between the leaves. His hands were trembling with haste and
+      agitation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come on!" he cried&mdash;"up the mountain&mdash;all of you. There's not a
+      moment to lose. Bumpo, bring the water and nuts with you. Heaven only
+      knows how long they've been pining underground. Let's hope and pray we're
+      not too late!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But where are you going to look?" I asked. "Miranda said the island was a
+      hundred miles long and the mountains seem to run all the way down the
+      centre of it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Didn't you see the last picture?" he said, grabbing up his hat from the
+      ground and cramming it on his head. "It was an oddly shaped mountain&mdash;looked
+      like a hawk's head. Well, there's where he is if he's still alive. First
+      thing for us to do, is to get up on a high peak and look around the island
+      for a mountain shaped like a hawks' head&mdash;just to think of it!
+      There's a chance of my meeting Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow, after
+      all!&mdash;Come on! Hurry! To delay may mean death to the greatest
+      naturalist ever born!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0049" id="link2H_4_0049">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. HAWK'S-HEAD MOUNTAIN
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WE all agreed afterwards that none of us had ever worked so hard in our
+      lives before as we did that day. For my part, I know I was often on the
+      point of dropping exhausted with fatigue; but I just kept on going&mdash;like
+      a machine&mdash;determined that, whatever happened, I would not be the
+      first to give up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we had scrambled to the top of a high peak, almost instantly we saw
+      the strange mountain pictured in the letter. In shape it was the perfect
+      image of a hawk's head, and was, as far as we could see, the second
+      highest summit in the island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Although we were all out of breath from our climb, the Doctor didn't let
+      us rest a second as soon as he had sighted it. With one look at the sun
+      for direction, down he dashed again, breaking through thickets, splashing
+      over brooks, taking all the short cuts. For a fat man, he was certainly
+      the swiftest cross-country runner I ever saw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We floundered after him as fast as we could. When I say WE, I mean Bumpo
+      and myself; for the animals, Jip, Chee-Chee and Polynesia, were a long way
+      ahead&mdash;even beyond the Doctor&mdash;enjoying the hunt like a
+      paper-chase.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At length we arrived at the foot of the mountain we were making for; and
+      we found its sides very steep. Said the Doctor,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now we will separate and search for caves. This spot where we now are,
+      will be our meeting-place. If anyone finds anything like a cave or a hole
+      where the earth and rocks have fallen in, he must shout and hulloa to the
+      rest of us. If we find nothing we will all gather here in about an hour's
+      time&mdash;Everybody understand?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we all went off our different ways.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Each of us, you may be sure, was anxious to be the one to make a
+      discovery. And never was a mountain searched so thoroughly. But alas!
+      nothing could we find that looked in the least like a fallen-in cave.
+      There were plenty of places where rocks had tumbled down to the foot of
+      the slopes; but none of these appeared as though caves or passages could
+      possibly lie behind them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One by one, tired and disappointed, we straggled back to the
+      meeting-place. The Doctor seemed gloomy and impatient but by no means
+      inclined to give up.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Jip," he said, "couldn't you SMELL anything like an Indian anywhere?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said Jip. "I sniffed at every crack on the mountainside. But I am
+      afraid my nose will be of no use to you here, Doctor. The trouble is, the
+      whole air is so saturated with the smell of spider-monkeys that it drowns
+      every other scent&mdash;And besides, it's too cold and dry for good
+      smelling."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It is certainly that," said the Doctor&mdash;"and getting colder all the
+      time. I'm afraid the island is still drifting to the southward. Let's hope
+      it stops before long, or we won't be able to get even nuts and fruit to
+      eat&mdash;everything in the island will perish&mdash;Chee-Chee, what luck
+      did you have?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "None, Doctor. I climbed to every peak and pinnacle I could see. I
+      searched every hollow and cleft. But not one place could I find where men
+      might be hidden."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And Polynesia," asked the Doctor, "did you see nothing that might put us
+      on the right track?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Not a thing, Doctor&mdash;But I have a plan."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh good!" cried John Dolittle, full of hope renewed. "What is it? Let's
+      hear it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You still have that beetle with you," she asked&mdash;"the Biz-biz, or
+      whatever it is you call the wretched insect?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said the Doctor, producing the glass-topped box from his pocket,
+      "here it is."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right. Now listen," said she. "If what you have supposed is true&mdash;that
+      is, that Long Arrow had been trapped inside the mountain by falling rock,
+      he probably found that beetle inside the cave&mdash;perhaps many other
+      different beetles too, eh? He wouldn't have been likely to take the
+      Biz-biz in with him, would he?&mdash;He was hunting plants, you say, not
+      beetles. Isn't that right?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said the Doctor, "that's probably so."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Very well. It is fair to suppose then that the beetle's home, or his
+      hole, is in that place&mdash;the part of the mountain where Long Arrow and
+      his party are imprisoned, isn't it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Quite, quite."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "All right. Then the thing to do is to let the beetle go&mdash;and watch
+      him; and sooner or later he'll return to his home in Long Arrow's cave.
+      And there we will follow him&mdash;Or at all events," she added smoothing
+      down her wing-feathers with a very superior air, "we will follow him till
+      the miserable bug starts nosing under the earth. But at least he will show
+      us what part of the mountain Long Arrow is hidden in."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But he may fly, if I let him out," said the Doctor. "Then we shall just
+      lose him and be no better off than we were before."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "LET him fly," snorted Polynesia scornfully. "A parrot can wing it as fast
+      as a Biz-biz, I fancy. If he takes to the air, I'll guarantee not to let
+      the little devil out of my sight. And if he just crawls along the ground
+      you can follow him yourself."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Splendid!" cried the Doctor. "Polynesia, you have a great brain. I'll set
+      him to work at once and see what happens."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again we all clustered round the Doctor as he carefully lifted off the
+      glass lid and let the big beetle climb out upon his finger.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!" crooned Bumpo. "Your house is on fire
+      and your chil&mdash;"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, be quiet!" snapped Polynesia crossly. "Stop insulting him! Don't you
+      suppose he has wits enough to go home without your telling him?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I thought perchance he might be of a philandering disposition," said
+      Bumpo humbly. "It could be that he is tired of his home and needs to be
+      encouraged. Shall I sing him 'Home Sweet Home,' think you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No. Then he'd never go back. Your voice needs a rest. Don't sing to him:
+      just watch him&mdash;Oh, and Doctor, why not tie another message to the
+      creature's leg, telling Long Arrow that we're doing our best to reach him
+      and that he mustn't give up hope?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I will," said the Doctor. And in a minute he had pulled a dry leaf from a
+      bush near by and was covering it with little pictures in pencil.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last, neatly fixed up with his new mail-bag, Mr. Jabizri crawled off
+      the Doctor's finger to the ground and looked about him. He stretched his
+      legs, polished his nose with his front feet and then moved off leisurely
+      to the westward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had expected him to walk UP the mountain; instead, he walked AROUND it.
+      Do you know how long it takes a beetle to walk round a mountain? Well, I
+      assure you it takes an unbelievably long time. As the hours dragged by, we
+      hoped and hoped that he would get up and fly the rest, and let Polynesia
+      carry on the work of following him. But he never opened his wings once. I
+      had not realized before how hard it is for a human being to walk slowly
+      enough to keep up with a beetle. It was the most tedious thing I have ever
+      gone through. And as we dawdled along behind, watching him like hawks lest
+      we lose him under a leaf or something, we all got so cross and
+      ill-tempered we were ready to bite one another's heads off. And when he
+      stopped to look at the scenery or polish his nose some more, I could hear
+      Polynesia behind me letting out the most dreadful seafaring swear-words
+      you ever heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After he had led us the whole way round the mountain he brought us to the
+      exact spot where we started from and there he came to a dead stop.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said Bumpo to Polynesia, "what do you think of the beetle's sense
+      now? You see he DOESN'T know enough to go home."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, be still, you Hottentot!" snapped Polynesia. "Wouldn't YOU want to
+      stretch your legs for exercise if you'd been shut up in a box all day.
+      Probably his home is near here, and that's why he's come back."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But why," I asked, "did he go the whole way round the mountain first?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the three of us got into a violent argument. But in the middle of it
+      all the Doctor suddenly called out,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look, look!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We turned and found that he was pointing to the Jabizri, who was now
+      walking UP the mountain at a much faster and more business-like gait.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said Bumpo sitting down wearily; "if he is going to walk OVER the
+      mountain and back, for more exercise, I'll wait for him here. Chee-Chee
+      and Polynesia can follow him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed it would have taken a monkey or a bird to climb the place which the
+      beetle was now walking up. It was a smooth, flat part of the mountain's
+      side, steep as a wall.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But presently, when the Jabizri was no more than ten feet above our heads,
+      we all cried out together. For, even while we watched him, he had
+      disappeared into the face of the rock like a raindrop soaking into sand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He's gone," cried Polynesia. "There must be a hole up there." And in a
+      twinkling she had fluttered up the rock and was clinging to the face of it
+      with her claws.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," she shouted down, "we've run him to earth at last. His hole is
+      right here, behind a patch of lichen&mdash;big enough to get two fingers
+      in."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah," cried the Doctor, "this great slab of rock then must have slid down
+      from the summit and shut off the mouth of the cave like a door. Poor
+      fellows! What a dreadful time they must have spent in there!&mdash;Oh, if
+      we only had some picks and shovels now!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Picks and shovels wouldn't do much good," said Polynesia. "Look at the
+      size of the slab: a hundred feet high and as many broad. You would need an
+      army for a week to make any impression on it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I wonder how thick it is," said the Doctor; and he picked up a big stone
+      and banged it with all his might against the face of the rock. It made a
+      hollow booming sound, like a giant drum. We all stood still listening
+      while the echo of it died slowly away.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then a cold shiver ran down my spine. For, from within the mountain,
+      back came three answering knocks: BOOM!... BOOM!. .. BOOM!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Wide-eyed we looked at one another as though the earth itself had spoken.
+      And the solemn little silence that followed was broken by the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thank Heaven," he said in a hushed reverent voice, "some of them at least
+      are alive!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PART5" id="link2H_PART5">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PART FIVE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0051" id="link2H_4_0051">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIRST CHAPTER. A GREAT MOMENT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THE next part of our problem was the hardest of all: how to roll aside,
+      pull down or break open, that gigantic slab. As we gazed up at it towering
+      above our heads, it looked indeed a hopeless task for our tiny strength.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the sounds of life from inside the mountain had put new heart in us.
+      And in a moment we were all scrambling around trying to find any opening
+      or crevice which would give us something to work on. Chee-Chee scaled up
+      the sheer wall of the slab and examined the top of it where it leaned
+      against the mountain's side; I uprooted bushes and stripped off hanging
+      creepers that might conceal a weak place; the Doctor got more leaves and
+      composed new picture-letters for the Jabizri to take in if he should turn
+      up again; whilst Polynesia carried up a handful of nuts and pushed them
+      into the beetle's hole, one by one, for the prisoners inside to eat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Nuts are so nourishing," she said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But Jip it was who, scratching at the foot of the slab like a good ratter,
+      made the discovery which led to our final success.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Doctor," he cried, running up to John Dolittle with his nose all covered
+      with black mud, "this slab is resting on nothing but a bed of soft earth.
+      You never saw such easy digging. I guess the cave behind must be just too
+      high up for the Indians to reach the earth with their hands, or they could
+      have scraped a way out long ago. If we can only scratch the earth-bed away
+      from under, the slab might drop a little. Then maybe the Indians can climb
+      out over the top."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor hurried to examine the place where Jip had dug.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, yes," he said, "if we can get the earth away from under this front
+      edge, the slab is standing up so straight, we might even make it fall
+      right down in this direction. It's well worth trying. Let's get at it,
+      quick."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had no tools but the sticks and slivers of stone which we could find
+      around. A strange sight we must have looked, the whole crew of us
+      squatting down on our heels, scratching and burrowing at the foot of the
+      mountain, like six badgers in a row.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After about an hour, during which in spite of the cold the sweat fell from
+      our foreheads in all directions, the Doctor said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Be ready to jump from under, clear out of the way, if she shows signs of
+      moving. If this slab falls on anybody, it will squash him flatter than a
+      pancake."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently there was a grating, grinding sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look out!" yelled John Dolittle, "here she comes!&mdash;Scatter!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We ran for our lives, outwards, toward the sides. The big rock slid gently
+      down, about a foot, into the trough which we had made beneath it. For a
+      moment I was disappointed, for like that, it was as hopeless as before&mdash;no
+      signs of a cave-mouth showing above it. But as I looked upward, I saw the
+      top coming very slowly away from the mountainside. We had unbalanced it
+      below. As it moved apart from the face of the mountain, sounds of human
+      voices, crying gladly in a strange tongue, issued from behind. Faster and
+      faster the top swung forward, downward. Then, with a roaring crash which
+      shook the whole mountain-range beneath our feet, it struck the earth and
+      cracked in halves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How can I describe to any one that first meeting between the two greatest
+      naturalists the world ever knew, Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow and
+      John Dolittle, M.D., of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh? The scene rises before me
+      now, plain and clear in every detail, though it took place so many, many
+      years ago. But when I come to write of it, words seem such poor things
+      with which to tell you of that great occasion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I know that the Doctor, whose life was surely full enough of big
+      happenings, always counted the setting free of the Indian scientist as the
+      greatest thing he ever did. For my part, knowing how much this meeting
+      must mean to him, I was on pins and needles of expectation and curiosity
+      as the great stone finally thundered down at our feet and we gazed across
+      it to see what lay behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The gloomy black mouth of a tunnel, full twenty feet high, was revealed.
+      In the centre of this opening stood an enormous red Indian, seven feet
+      tall, handsome, muscular, slim and naked&mdash;but for a beaded cloth
+      about his middle and an eagle's feather in his hair. He held one hand
+      across his face to shield his eyes from the blinding sun which he had not
+      seen in many days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It is he!" I heard the Doctor whisper at my elbow. "I know him by his
+      great height and the scar upon his chin."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he stepped forward slowly across the fallen stone with his hand
+      outstretched to the red man.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently the Indian uncovered his eyes. And I saw that they had a curious
+      piercing gleam in them&mdash;like the eyes of an eagle, but kinder and
+      more gentle. He slowly raised his right arm, the rest of him still and
+      motionless like a statue, and took the Doctor's hand in his. It was a
+      great moment. Polynesia nodded to me in a knowing, satisfied kind of way.
+      And I heard old Bumpo sniffle sentimentally. Then the Doctor tried to
+      speak to Long Arrow. But the Indian knew no English of course, and the
+      Doctor knew no Indian. Presently, to my surprise, I heard the Doctor
+      trying him in different animal languages.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How do you do?" he said in dog-talk; "I am glad to see you," in
+      horse-signs; "How long have you been buried?" in deer-language. Still the
+      Indian made no move but stood there, straight and stiff, understanding not
+      a word.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor tried again, in several other animal dialects. But with no
+      result.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Till at last he came to the language of eagles.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Great Red-Skin," he said in the fierce screams and short grunts that the
+      big birds use, "never have I been so glad in all my life as I am to-day to
+      find you still alive."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a flash Long Arrow's stony face lit up with a smile of understanding;
+      and back came the answer in eagle-tongue,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Mighty White Man, I owe my life to you. For the remainder of my days I am
+      your servant to command."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Afterwards Long Arrow told us that this was the only bird or animal
+      language that he had ever been able to learn. But that he had not spoken
+      it in a long time, for no eagles ever came to this island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Doctor signaled to Bumpo who came forward with the nuts and
+      water. But Long Arrow neither ate nor drank. Taking the supplies with a
+      nod of thanks, he turned and carried them into the inner dimness of the
+      cave. We followed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inside we found nine other Indians, men, women and boys, lying on the rock
+      floor in a dreadful state of thinness and exhaustion.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some had their eyes closed, as if dead. Quickly the Doctor went round them
+      all and listened to their hearts. They were all alive; but one woman was
+      too weak even to stand upon her feet.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At a word from the Doctor, Chee-Chee and Polynesia sped off into the
+      jungles after more fruit and water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While Long Arrow was handing round what food we had to his starving
+      friends, we suddenly heard a sound outside the cave. Turning about we saw,
+      clustered at the entrance, the band of Indians who had met us so
+      inhospitably at the beach.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They peered into the dark cave cautiously at first. But as soon as they
+      saw Long Arrow and the other Indians with us, they came rushing in,
+      laughing, clapping their hands with joy and jabbering away at a tremendous
+      rate.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Arrow explained to the Doctor that the nine Indians we had found in
+      the cave with him were two families who had accompanied him into the
+      mountains to help him gather medicine-plants. And while they had been
+      searching for a kind of moss&mdash;good for indigestion&mdash;which grows
+      only inside of damp caves, the great rock slab had slid down and shut them
+      in. Then for two weeks they had lived on the medicine-moss and such fresh
+      water as could be found dripping from the damp walls of the cave. The
+      other Indians on the island had given them up for lost and mourned them as
+      dead; and they were now very surprised and happy to find their relatives
+      alive.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When Long Arrow turned to the newcomers and told them in their own
+      language that it was the white man who had found and freed their
+      relatives, they gathered round John Dolittle, all talking at once and
+      beating their breasts.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Arrow said they were apologizing and trying to tell the Doctor how
+      sorry they were that they had seemed unfriendly to him at the beach. They
+      had never seen a white man before and had really been afraid of him&mdash;especially
+      when they saw him conversing with the porpoises. They had thought he was
+      the Devil, they said.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then they went outside and looked at the great stone we had thrown down,
+      big as a meadow; and they walked round and round it, pointing to the break
+      running through the middle and wondering how the trick of felling it was
+      done.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Travelers who have since visited Spidermonkey Island tell me that that
+      huge stone slab is now one of the regular sights of the island. And that
+      the Indian guides, when showing it to visitors, always tell THEIR story of
+      how it came there. They say that when the Doctor found that the rocks had
+      entrapped his friend, Long Arrow, he was so angry that he ripped the
+      mountain in halves with his bare hands and let him out.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0052" id="link2H_4_0052">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SECOND CHAPTER. "THE MEN OF THE MOVING LAND"
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      FROM that time on the Indians' treatment of us was very different. We were
+      invited to their village for a feast to celebrate the recovery of the lost
+      families. And after we had made a litter from saplings to carry the sick
+      woman in, we all started off down the mountain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On the way the Indians told Long Arrow something which appeared to be sad
+      news, for on hearing it, his face grew very grave. The Doctor asked him
+      what was wrong. And Long Arrow said he had just been informed that the
+      chief of the tribe, an old man of eighty, had died early that morning.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That," Polynesia whispered in my ear, "must have been what they went back
+      to the village for, when the messenger fetched them from the beach.&mdash;Remember?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What did he die of?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He died of cold," said Long Arrow.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Indeed, now that the sun was setting, we were all shivering ourselves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This is a serious thing," said the Doctor to me. "The island is still in
+      the grip of that wretched current flowing southward. We will have to look
+      into this to-morrow. If nothing can be done about it, the Indians had
+      better take to canoes and leave the island. The chance of being wrecked
+      will be better than getting frozen to death in the ice-floes of the
+      Antarctic."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Presently we came over a saddle in the hills, and looking downward on the
+      far side of the island, we saw the village&mdash;a large cluster of grass
+      huts and gaily colored totem-poles close by the edge of the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How artistic!" said the Doctor&mdash;"Delightfully situated. What is the
+      name of the village?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Popsipetel," said Long Arrow. "That is the name also of the tribe. The
+      word signifies in Indian tongue, The Men of The Moving Land. There are two
+      tribes of Indians on the island: the Popsipetels at this end and the
+      Bag-jagderags at the other."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Which is the larger of the two peoples?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The Bag-jagderags, by far. Their city covers two square leagues. But,"
+      added Long Arrow a slight frown darkening his handsome face, "for me, I
+      would rather have one Popsipetel than a hundred Bag-jagderags."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The news of the rescue we had made had evidently gone ahead of us. For as
+      we drew nearer to the village we saw crowds of Indians streaming out to
+      greet the friends and relatives whom they had never thought to see again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      These good people, when they too were told how the rescue had been the
+      work of the strange white visitor to their shores, all gathered round the
+      Doctor, shook him by the hands, patted him and hugged him. Then they
+      lifted him up upon their strong shoulders and carried him down the hill
+      into the village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There the welcome we received was even more wonderful. In spite of the
+      cold air of the coming night, the villagers, who had all been shivering
+      within their houses, threw open their doors and came out in hundreds. I
+      had no idea that the little village could hold so many. They thronged
+      about us, smiling and nodding and waving their hands; and as the details
+      of what we had done were recited by Long Arrow they kept shouting strange
+      singing noises, which we supposed were words of gratitude or praise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We were next escorted to a brand-new grass house, clean and sweet-smelling
+      within, and informed that it was ours. Six strong Indian boys were told
+      off to be our servants.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On our way through the village we noticed a house, larger than the rest,
+      standing at the end of the main street. Long Arrow pointed to it and told
+      us it was the Chief's house, but that it was now empty&mdash;no new chief
+      having yet been elected to take the place of the old one who had died.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Inside our new home a feast of fish and fruit had been prepared. Most of
+      the more important men of the tribe were already seating themselves at the
+      long dining-table when we got there. Long Arrow invited us to sit down and
+      eat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This we were glad enough to do, as we were all hungry. But we were both
+      surprised and disappointed when we found that the fish had not been
+      cooked. The Indians did not seem to think this extraordinary in the least,
+      but went ahead gobbling the fish with much relish the way it was, raw.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With many apologies, the Doctor explained to Long Arrow that if they had
+      no objection we would prefer our fish cooked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Imagine our astonishment when we found that the great Long Arrow, so
+      learned in the natural sciences, did not know what the word COOKED meant!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Polynesia who was sitting on the bench between John Dolittle and myself
+      pulled the Doctor by the sleeve.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'll tell you what's wrong, Doctor," she whispered as he leant down to
+      listen to her: "THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO FIRES! They don't know how to make a
+      fire. Look outside: It's almost dark, and there isn't a light showing ii
+      the whole village. This is a fireless people."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0053" id="link2H_4_0053">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE THIRD CHAPTER. FIRE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THEN the Doctor asked Long Arrow if he knew what fire was, explaining it
+      to him by pictures drawn on the buckskin table-cloth. Long Arrow said he
+      had seen such a thing&mdash;coming out of the tops of volcanoes; but that
+      neither he nor any of the Popsipetels knew how it was made.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Poor perishing heathens!" muttered Bumpo. "No wonder the old chief died
+      of cold!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At that moment we heard a crying sound at the door. And turning round, we
+      saw a weeping Indian mother with a baby in her arms. She said something to
+      the Indians which we could not understand; and Long Arrow told us the baby
+      was sick and she wanted the white doctor to try and cure it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh Lord!" groaned Polynesia in my ear&mdash;"Just like Puddleby: patients
+      arriving in the middle of dinner. Well, one thing: the food's raw, so
+      nothing can get cold anyway."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor examined the baby and found at once that it was thoroughly
+      chilled.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Fire&mdash;FIRE! That's what it needs," he said turning to Long Arrow&mdash;"That's
+      what you all need. This child will have pneumonia if it isn't kept warm."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Aye, truly. But how to make a fire," said Long Arrow&mdash;"where to get
+      it: that is the difficulty. All the volcanoes in this land are dead."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we fell to hunting through our pockets to see if any matches had
+      survived the shipwreck. The best we could muster were two whole ones and a
+      half&mdash;all with the heads soaked off them by salt water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Hark, Long Arrow," said the Doctor: "divers ways there be of making fire
+      without the aid of matches. One: with a strong glass and the rays of the
+      sun. That however, since the sun has set, we cannot now employ. Another is
+      by grinding a hard stick into a soft log&mdash;Is the daylight gone
+      without?&mdash;Alas yes. Then I fear we must await the morrow; for besides
+      the different woods, we need an old squirrel's nest for fuel&mdash;And
+      that without lamps you could not find in your forests at this hour."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Great are your cunning and your skill, oh White Man," Long Arrow replied.
+      "But in this you do us an injustice. Know you not that all fireless
+      peoples can see in the dark? Having no lamps we are forced to train
+      ourselves to travel through the blackest night, lightless. I will despatch
+      a messenger and you shall have your squirrel's nest within the hour."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He gave an order to two of our boy-servants who promptly disappeared
+      running. And sure enough, in a very short space of time a squirrel's nest,
+      together with hard and soft woods, was brought to our door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The moon had not yet risen and within the house it was practically
+      pitch-black. I could feel and hear, however, that the Indians were moving
+      about comfortably as though it were daylight. The task of making fire the
+      Doctor had to perform almost entirely by the sense of touch, asking Long
+      Arrow and the Indians to hand him his tools when he mislaid them in the
+      dark. And then I made a curious discovery: now that I had to, I found that
+      I was beginning to see a little in the dark myself. And for the first time
+      I realized that of course there is no such thing as pitch-dark, so long as
+      you have a door open or a sky above you.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Calling for the loan of a bow, the Doctor loosened the string, put the
+      hard stick into a loop and began grinding this stick into the soft wood of
+      the log. Soon I smelt that the log was smoking. Then he kept feeding the
+      part that was smoking with the inside lining of the squirrel's nest, and
+      he asked me to blow upon it with my breath. He made the stick drill faster
+      and faster. More smoke filled the room. And at last the darkness about us
+      was suddenly lit up. The squirrel's nest had burst into flame.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indians murmured and grunted with astonishment. At first they were all
+      for falling on their knees and worshiping the fire. Then they wanted to
+      pick it up with their bare hands and play with it. We had to teach them
+      how it was to be used; and they were quite fascinated when we laid our
+      fish across it on sticks and cooked it. They sniffed the air with relish
+      as, for the first time in history, the smell of fried fish passed through
+      the village of Popsipetel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we got them to bring us piles and stacks of dry wood; and we made an
+      enormous bonfire in the middle of the main street. Round this, when they
+      felt its warmth, the whole tribe gathered and smiled and wondered. It was
+      a striking sight, one of the pictures from our voyages that I most
+      frequently remember: that roaring jolly blaze beneath the black night sky,
+      and all about it a vast ring of Indians, the firelight gleaming on bronze
+      cheeks, white teeth and flashing eyes&mdash;a whole town trying to get
+      warm, giggling and pushing like school-children.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In a little, when we had got them more used to the handling of fire, the
+      Doctor showed them how it could be taken into their houses if a hole were
+      only made in the roof to let the smoke out. And before we turned in after
+      that long, long, tiring day, we had fires going in every hut in the
+      village.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The poor people were so glad to get really warm again that we thought
+      they'd never go to bed. Well on into the early hours of the morning the
+      little town fairly buzzed with a great low murmur: the Popsipetels sitting
+      up talking of their wonderful pale-faced visitor and this strange good
+      thing he had brought with him&mdash;FIRE!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0054" id="link2H_4_0054">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      VERY early in our experience of Popsipetel kindness we saw that if we were
+      to get anything done at all, we would almost always have to do it
+      secretly. The Doctor was so popular and loved by all that as soon as he
+      showed his face at his door in the morning crowds of admirers, waiting
+      patiently outside, flocked about him and followed him wherever he went.
+      After his fire-making feat, this childlike people expected him, I think,
+      to be continually doing magic; and they were determined not to miss a
+      trick.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was only with great difficulty that we escaped from the crowd the first
+      morning and set out with Long Arrow to explore the island at our leisure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In the interior we found that not only the plants and trees were suffering
+      from the cold: the animal life was in even worse straits. Everywhere
+      shivering birds were to be seen, their feathers all fluffed out, gathering
+      together for flight to summer lands. And many lay dead upon the ground.
+      Going down to the shore, we watched land-crabs in large numbers taking to
+      the sea to find some better home. While away to the Southeast we could see
+      many icebergs floating&mdash;a sign that we were now not far from the
+      terrible region of the Antarctic.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As we were looking out to sea, we noticed our friends the porpoises
+      jumping through the waves. The Doctor hailed them and they came inshore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He asked them how far we were from the South Polar Continent.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About a hundred miles, they told him. And then they asked why he wanted to
+      know.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Because this floating island we are on," said he, "is drifting southward
+      all the time in a current. It's an island that ordinarily belongs
+      somewhere in the tropic zone&mdash;real sultry weather, sunstrokes and all
+      that. If it doesn't stop going southward pretty soon everything on it is
+      going to perish."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said the porpoises, "then the thing to do is to get it back into a
+      warmer climate, isn't it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, but how?" said the Doctor. "We can't ROW it back."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said they, "but whales could push it&mdash;if you only got enough of
+      them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What a splendid idea!&mdash;Whales, the very thing!" said the Doctor. "Do
+      you think you could get me some?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Why, certainly," said the porpoises, "we passed one herd of them out
+      there, sporting about among the icebergs. We'll ask them to come over. And
+      if they aren't enough, we'll try and hunt up some more. Better have
+      plenty."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Thank you," said the Doctor. "You are very kind&mdash;By the way, do you
+      happen to know how this island came to be a floating island? At least half
+      of it, I notice, is made of stone. It is very odd that it floats at all,
+      isn't it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It is unusual," they said. "But the explanation is quite simple. It used
+      to be a mountainous part of South America&mdash;an overhanging part&mdash;sort
+      of an awkward corner, you might say. Way back in the glacial days,
+      thousands of years ago, it broke off from the mainland; and by some
+      curious accident the inside of it, which is hollow, got filled with air as
+      it fell into the ocean. You can only see less than half of the island: the
+      bigger half is under water. And in the middle of it, underneath, is a huge
+      rock air-chamber, running right up inside the mountains. And that's what
+      keeps it floating."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What a pecurious phenometer!" said Bumpo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It is indeed," said the Doctor. "I must make a note of that." And out
+      came the everlasting note-book.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The porpoises went bounding off towards the icebergs. And not long after,
+      we saw the sea heaving and frothing as a big herd of whales came towards
+      us at full speed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They certainly were enormous creatures; and there must have been a good
+      two hundred of them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here they are," said the porpoises, poking their heads out of the water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good!" said the Doctor. "Now just explain to them, will you please? that
+      this is a very serious matter for all the living creatures in this land.
+      And ask them if they will be so good as to go down to the far end of the
+      island, put their noses against it and push it back near the coast of
+      Southern Brazil."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The porpoises evidently succeeded in persuading the whales to do as the
+      Doctor asked; for presently we saw them thrashing through the seas, going
+      off towards the south end of the island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we lay down upon the beach and waited.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After about an hour the Doctor got up and threw a stick into the water.
+      For a while this floated motionless. But soon we saw it begin to move
+      gently down the coast.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Ah!" said the Doctor, "see that?&mdash;The island is going North at last.
+      Thank goodness!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Faster and faster we left the stick behind; and smaller and dimmer grew
+      the icebergs on the skyline.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor took out his watch, threw more sticks into the water and made a
+      rapid calculation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Humph!&mdash;Fourteen and a half knots an hour," he murmured&mdash;"A
+      very nice speed. It should take us about five days to get back near
+      Brazil. Well, that's that&mdash;Quite a load off my mind. I declare I feel
+      warmer already. Let's go and get something to eat."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0055" id="link2H_4_0055">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIFTH CHAPTER. WAR!
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      ON our way back to the village the Doctor began discussing natural history
+      with Long Arrow. But their most interesting talk, mainly about plants, had
+      hardly begun when an Indian runner came dashing up to us with a message.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Arrow listened gravely to the breathless, babbled words, then turned
+      to the Doctor and said in eagle tongue,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Great White Man, an evil thing has befallen the Popsipetels. Our
+      neighbors to the southward, the thievish Bag-jagderags, who for so long
+      have cast envious eyes on our stores of ripe corn, have gone upon the
+      war-path; and even now are advancing to attack us."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Evil news indeed," said the Doctor. "Yet let us not judge harshly.
+      Perhaps it is that they are desperate for food, having their own crops
+      frost-killed before harvest. For are they not even nearer the cold South
+      than you?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Make no excuses for any man of the tribe of the Bag-jagderags," said Long
+      Arrow shaking his head. "They are an idle shiftless race. They do but see
+      a chance to get corn without the labor of husbandry. If it were not that
+      they are a much bigger tribe and hope to defeat their neighbor by sheer
+      force of numbers, they would not have dared to make open war upon the
+      brave Popsipetels."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When we reached the village we found it in a great state of excitement.
+      Everywhere men were seen putting their bows in order, sharpening spears,
+      grinding battle-axes and making arrows by the hundred. Women were raising
+      a high fence of bamboo poles all round the village. Scouts and messengers
+      kept coming and going, bringing news of the movements of the enemy. While
+      high up in the trees and hills about the village we could see look-outs
+      watching the mountains to the southward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Arrow brought another Indian, short but enormously broad, and
+      introduced him to the Doctor as Big Teeth, the chief warrior of the
+      Popsipetels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor volunteered to go and see the enemy and try to argue the matter
+      out peacefully with them instead of fighting; for war, he said, was at
+      best a stupid wasteful business. But the two shook their heads. Such a
+      plan was hopeless, they said. In the last war when they had sent a
+      messenger to do peaceful arguing, the enemy had merely hit him with an ax.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While the Doctor was asking Big Teeth how he meant to defend the village
+      against attack, a cry of alarm was raised by the look-outs.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They're coming!&mdash;The Bag-jagderags-swarming down the mountains in
+      thousands!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," said the Doctor, "it's all in the day's work, I suppose. I don't
+      believe in war; but if the village is attacked we must help defend it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And he picked up a club from the ground and tried the heft of it against a
+      stone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "This," he said, "seems like a pretty good tool to me." And he walked to
+      the bamboo fence and took his place among the other waiting fighters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then we all got hold of some kind of weapon with which to help our
+      friends, the gallant Popsipetels: I borrowed a bow and a quiver full of
+      arrows; Jip was content to rely upon his old, but still strong teeth;
+      Chee-Chee took a bag of rocks and climbed a palm where he could throw them
+      down upon the enemies' heads; and Bumpo marched after the Doctor to the
+      fence armed with a young tree in one hand and a door-post in the other.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the enemy drew near enough to be seen from where we stood we all
+      gasped with astonishment. The hillsides were actually covered with them&mdash;thousands
+      upon thousands. They made our small army within the village look like a
+      mere handful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Saints alive!" muttered Polynesia, "our little lot will stand no chance
+      against that swarm. This will never do. I'm going off to get some help."
+      Where she was going and what kind of help she meant to get, I had no idea.
+      She just disappeared from my side. But Jip, who had heard her, poked his
+      nose between the bamboo bars of the fence to get a better view of the
+      enemy and said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Likely enough she's gone after the Black Parrots. Let's hope she finds
+      them in time. Just look at those ugly ruffians climbing down the rocks&mdash;millions
+      of 'em! This fight's going to keep us all hopping."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And Jip was right. Before a quarter of an hour had gone by our village was
+      completely surrounded by one huge mob of yelling, raging Bag-jagderags.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I now come again to a part in the story of our voyages where things
+      happened so quickly, one upon the other, that looking backwards I see the
+      picture only in a confused kind of way. I know that if it had not been for
+      the Terrible Three&mdash;as they came afterwards to be fondly called in
+      Popsipetel history&mdash;Long Arrow, Bumpo and the Doctor, the war would
+      have been soon over and the whole island would have belonged to the
+      worthless Bag-jagderags. But the Englishman, the African and the Indian
+      were a regiment in themselves; and between them they made that village a
+      dangerous place for any man to try to enter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The bamboo fencing which had been hastily set up around the town was not a
+      very strong affair; and right from the start it gave way in one place
+      after another as the enemy thronged and crowded against it. Then the
+      Doctor, Long Arrow and Bumpo would hurry to the weak spot, a terrific
+      hand-to-hand fight would take place and the enemy be thrown out. But
+      almost instantly a cry of alarm would come from some other part of the
+      village-wall; and the Three would have to rush off and do the same thing
+      all over again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Popsipetels were themselves no mean fighters; but the strength and
+      weight of those three men of different lands and colors, standing close
+      together, swinging their enormous war-clubs, was really a sight for the
+      wonder and admiration of any one,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many weeks later when I was passing an Indian camp-fire at night I heard
+      this song being sung. It has since become one of the traditional folksongs
+      of the Popsipetels.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      THE SONG OF THE TERRIBLE THREE
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+     Oh hear ye the Song of the Terrible Three
+ And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
+     Down from the mountains, the rocks and the crags,
+ Swarming like wasps, came the Bag-jagderags.
+
+     Surrounding our village, our walls they broke down.
+ Oh, sad was the plight of our men and our town!
+     But Heaven determined our land to set free
+ And sent us the help of the Terrible Three.
+     One was a Black&mdash;he was dark as the night;
+ One was a Red-skin, a mountain of height;
+     But the chief was a White Man, round like a bee;
+ And all in a row stood the Terrible Three.
+
+     Shoulder to shoulder, they hammered and hit.
+ Like demons of fury they kicked and they bit.
+     Like a wall of destruction they stood in a row,
+ Flattening enemies, six at a blow.
+
+     Oh, strong was the Red-skin fierce was the Black.
+ Bag-jagderags trembled and tried to turn back.
+     But 'twas of the White Man they shouted, "Beware!
+ He throws men in handfuls, straight up in the air!"
+
+     Long shall they frighten bad children at night
+ With tales of the Red and the Black and the White.
+     And long shall we sing of the Terrible Three
+ And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
+</pre>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0056" id="link2H_4_0056">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SIXTH CHAPTER. GENERAL POLYNESIA
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      BUT alas! even the Three, mighty though they were, could not last forever
+      against an army which seemed to have no end. In one of the hottest
+      scrimmages, when the enemy had broken a particularly wide hole through the
+      fence, I saw Long Arrow's great figure topple and come down with a spear
+      sticking in his broad chest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For another half-hour Bumpo and the Doctor fought on side by side. How
+      their strength held out so long I cannot tell, for never a second were
+      they given to get their breath or rest their arms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor&mdash;the quiet, kindly, peaceable, little Doctor!&mdash;well,
+      you wouldn't have known him if you had seen him that day dealing out
+      whacks you could hear a mile off, walloping and swatting in all
+      directions.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As for Bumpo, with staring eye-balls and grim set teeth, he was a
+      veritable demon. None dared come within yards of that wicked,
+      wide-circling door-post. But a stone, skilfully thrown, struck him at last
+      in the centre of the forehead. And down went the second of the Three. John
+      Dolittle, the last of the Terribles, was left fighting alone.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Jip and I rushed to his side and tried to take the places of the fallen
+      ones. But, far too light and too small, we made but a poor exchange.
+      Another length of the fence crashed down, and through the widened gap the
+      Bag-jagderags poured in on us like a flood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "To the canoes!&mdash;To the sea!" shouted the Popsipetels. "Fly for your
+      lives!&mdash;All is over!&mdash;The war is lost!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But the Doctor and I never got a chance to fly for our lives. We were
+      swept off our feet and knocked down flat by the sheer weight of the mob.
+      And once down, we were unable to get up again. I thought we would surely
+      be trampled to death.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But at that moment, above the din and racket of the battle, we heard the
+      most terrifying noise that ever assaulted human ears: the sound of
+      millions and millions of parrots all screeching with fury together.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The army, which in the nick of time Polynesia had brought to our rescue,
+      darkened the whole sky to the westward. I asked her afterwards, how many
+      birds there were; and she said she didn't know exactly but that they
+      certainly numbered somewhere between sixty and seventy millions. In that
+      extraordinarily short space of time she had brought them from the mainland
+      of South America.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      If you have ever heard a parrot screech with anger you will know that it
+      makes a truly frightful sound; and if you have ever been bitten by one,
+      you will know that its bite can be a nasty and a painful thing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Black Parrots (coal-black all over, they were&mdash;except for a
+      scarlet beak and a streak of red in wing and tail) on the word of command
+      from Polynesia set to work upon the Bag-jagderags who were now pouring
+      through the village looking for plunder.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And the Black Parrots' method of fighting was peculiar. This is what they
+      did: on the head of each Bag-jagderag three or four parrots settled and
+      took a good foot-hold in his hair with their claws; then they leant down
+      over the sides of his head and began clipping snips out of his ears, for
+      all the world as though they were punching tickets. That is all they did.
+      They never bit them anywhere else except the ears. But it won the war for
+      us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With howls pitiful to hear, the Bag-jagderags fell over one another in
+      their haste to get out of that accursed village. It was no use their
+      trying to pull the parrots off their heads; because for each head there
+      were always four more parrots waiting impatiently to get on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the enemy were lucky; and with only a snip or two managed to get
+      outside the fence&mdash;where the parrots immediately left them alone. But
+      with most, before the black birds had done with them, the ears presented a
+      very singular appearance&mdash;like the edge of a postage-stamp. This
+      treatment, very painful at the time, did not however do them any permanent
+      harm beyond the change in looks. And it later got to be the tribal mark of
+      the Bag-jagderags. No really smart young lady of this tribe would be seen
+      walking with a man who did not have scalloped ears&mdash;for such was a
+      proof that he had been in the Great War. And that (though it is not
+      generally known to scientists) is how this people came to be called by the
+      other Indian nations, the Ragged-Eared Bag-jagderags.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the village was cleared of the enemy the Doctor turned his
+      attention to the wounded.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of the length and fierceness of the struggle, there were
+      surprisingly few serious injuries. Poor Long Arrow was the worst off.
+      However, after the Doctor had washed his wound and got him to bed, he
+      opened his eyes and said he already felt better. Bumpo was only badly
+      stunned.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With this part of the business over, the Doctor called to Polynesia to
+      have the Black Parrots drive the enemy right back into their own country
+      and to wait there, guarding them all night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Polynesia gave the short word of command; and like one bird those millions
+      of parrots opened their red beaks and let out once more their terrifying
+      battle-scream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Bag-jagderags didn't wait to be bitten a second time, but fled
+      helter-skelter over the mountains from which they had come; whilst
+      Polynesia and her victorious army followed watchfully behind like a great,
+      threatening, black cloud.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor picked up his high hat which had been knocked off in the fight,
+      dusted it carefully and put it on.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "To-morrow," he said, shaking his fist towards the hills, "we will arrange
+      the terms of peace&mdash;and we will arrange them&mdash;in the City of
+      Bag-jagderag."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      His words were greeted with cheers of triumph from the admiring
+      Popsipetels. The war was over.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0057" id="link2H_4_0057">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      THE next day we set out for the far end of the island, and reaching it in
+      canoes (for we went by sea) after a journey of twenty-five hours, we
+      remained no longer than was necessary in the City of Bag-jagderag.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When he threw himself into that fight at Popsipetel, I saw the Doctor
+      really angry for the first time in my life. But his anger, once aroused,
+      was slow to die. All the way down the coast of the island he never ceased
+      to rail against this cowardly people who had attacked his friends, the
+      Popsipetels, for no other reason but to rob them of their corn, because
+      they were too idle to till the land themselves. And he was still angry
+      when he reached the City of Bag-jagderag.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Arrow had not come with us for he was as yet too weak from his wound.
+      But the Doctor&mdash;always clever at languages&mdash;was already getting
+      familiar with the Indian tongue. Besides, among the half-dozen Popsipetels
+      who accompanied us to paddle the canoes, was one boy to whom we had taught
+      a little English. He and the Doctor between them managed to make
+      themselves understood to the Bag-jagderags. This people, with the terrible
+      parrots still blackening the hills about their stone town, waiting for the
+      word to descend and attack, were, we found, in a very humble mood.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Leaving our canoes we passed up the main street to the palace of the
+      chief. Bumpo and I couldn't help smiling with satisfaction as we saw how
+      the waiting crowds which lined the roadway bowed their heads to the
+      ground, as the little, round, angry figure of the Doctor strutted ahead of
+      us with his chin in the air.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the foot of the palace-steps the chief and all the more important
+      personages of the tribe were waiting to meet him, smiling humbly and
+      holding out their hands in friendliness. The Doctor took not the slightest
+      notice. He marched right by them, up the steps to the door of the palace.
+      There he turned around and at once began to address the people in a firm
+      voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I never heard such a speech in my life&mdash;and I am quite sure that they
+      never did either. First he called them a long string of names: cowards,
+      loafers, thieves, vagabonds, good-for-nothings, bullies and what not. Then
+      he said he was still seriously thinking of allowing the parrots to drive
+      them on into the sea, in order that this pleasant land might be rid, once
+      for all, of their worthless carcases. At this a great cry for mercy went
+      up, and the chief and all of them fell on their knees, calling out that
+      they would submit to any conditions of peace he wished.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the Doctor called for one of their scribes&mdash;that is, a man who
+      did picture-writing. And on the stone walls of the palace of Bag-jagderag
+      he bade him write down the terms of the peace as he dictated it. This
+      peace is known as The Peace of The Parrots, and&mdash;unlike most peaces&mdash;was,
+      and is, strictly kept&mdash;even to this day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was quite long in words. The half of the palace-front was covered with
+      picture-writing, and fifty pots of paint were used, before the weary
+      scribe had done. But the main part of it all was that there should be no
+      more fighting; and that the two tribes should give solemn promise to help
+      one another whenever there was corn-famine or other distress in the lands
+      belonging to either.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This greatly surprised the Bag-jagderags. They had expected from the
+      Doctor's angry face that he would at least chop a couple of hundred heads
+      off&mdash;and probably make the rest of them slaves for life.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But when they saw that he only meant kindly by them, their great fear of
+      him changed to a tremendous admiration. And as he ended his long speech
+      and walked briskly down the steps again on his way back to the canoes, the
+      group of chieftains threw themselves at his feet and cried, "Do but stay
+      with us. Great Lord, and all the riches of Bag-jagderag shall be poured
+      into your lap. Gold-mines we know of in the mountains and pearl-beds
+      beneath the sea. Only stay with us, that your all-powerful wisdom may lead
+      our Council and our people in prosperity and peace." The Doctor held up
+      his hand for silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No man," said he, "would wish to be the guest of the Bag-jagderags till
+      they had proved by their deeds that they are an honest race. Be true to
+      the terms of the Peace and from yourselves shall come good government and
+      prosperity&mdash;Farewell!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he turned and followed by Bumpo, the Popsipetels and myself, walked
+      rapidly down to the canoes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0058" id="link2H_4_0058">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THE HANGING STONE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      BUT the change of heart in the Bag-jagderags was really sincere. The
+      Doctor had made a great impression on them&mdash;a deeper one than even he
+      himself realized at the time. In fact I sometimes think that that speech
+      of his from the palace-steps had more effect upon the Indians of
+      Spidermonkey Island than had any of his great deeds which, great though
+      they were, were always magnified and exaggerated when the news of them was
+      passed from mouth to mouth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      A sick girl was brought to him as he reached the place where the boats
+      lay. She turned out to have some quite simple ailment which he quickly
+      gave the remedy for. But this increased his popularity still more. And
+      when he stepped into his canoe, the people all around us actually burst
+      into tears. It seems (I learned this afterwards) that they thought he was
+      going away across the sea, for good, to the mysterious foreign lands from
+      which he had come.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Some of the chieftains spoke to the Popsipetels as we pushed off. What
+      they said I did not understand; but we noticed that several canoes filled
+      with Bag-jagderags followed us at a respectful distance all the way back
+      to Popsipetel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor had determined to return by the other shore, so that we should
+      be thus able to make a complete trip round the island's shores.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Shortly after we started, while still off the lower end of the island, we
+      sighted a steep point on the coast where the sea was in a great state of
+      turmoil, white with soapy froth. On going nearer, we found that this was
+      caused by our friendly whales who were still faithfully working away with
+      their noses against the end of the island, driving us northward. We had
+      been kept so busy with the war that we had forgotten all about them. But
+      as we paused and watched their mighty tails lashing and churning the sea,
+      we suddenly realized that we had not felt cold in quite along while.
+      Speeding up our boat lest the island be carried away from us altogether,
+      we passed on up the coast; and here and there we noticed that the trees on
+      the shore already looked greener and more healthy. Spidermonkey Island was
+      getting back into her home climates.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      About halfway to Popsipetel we went ashore and spent two or three days
+      exploring the central part of the island. Our Indian paddlers took us up
+      into the mountains, very steep and high in this region, overhanging the
+      sea. And they showed us what they called the Whispering Rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This was a very peculiar and striking piece of scenery. It was like a
+      great vast basin, or circus, in the mountains, and out of the centre of it
+      there rose a table of rock with an ivory chair upon it. All around this
+      the mountains went up like stairs, or theatre-seats, to a great height&mdash;except
+      at one narrow end which was open to a view of the sea. You could imagine
+      it a council-place or concert-hall for giants, and the rock table in the
+      centre the stage for performers or the stand for the speaker.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We asked our guides why it was called the Whispering Rocks; and they said,
+      "Go down into it and we will show you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The great bowl was miles deep and miles wide. We scrambled down the rocks
+      and they showed us how, even when you stood far, far apart from one
+      another, you merely had to whisper in that great place and every one in
+      the theatre could hear you. This was, the Doctor said, on account of the
+      echoes which played backwards and forwards between the high walls of rock.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our guides told us that it was here, in days long gone by when the
+      Popsipetels owned the whole of Spidermonkey Island, that the kings were
+      crowned. The ivory chair upon the table was the throne in which they sat.
+      And so great was the big theatre that all the Indians in the island were
+      able to get seats in it to see the ceremony.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They showed us also an enormous hanging stone perched on the edge of a
+      volcano's crater&mdash;the highest summit in the whole island. Although it
+      was very far below us, we could see it quite plainly, and it looked wobbly
+      enough to be pushed off its perch with the hand. There was a legend among
+      the people, they said, that when the greatest of all Popsipetel kings
+      should be crowned in the ivory chair, this hanging stone would tumble into
+      the volcano's mouth and go straight down to the centre of the earth.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor said he would like to go and examine it closer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And when we were come to the lip of the volcano (it took us half a day to
+      get up to it) we found the stone was unbelievably large&mdash;big as a
+      cathedral. Underneath it we could look right down into a black hole which
+      seemed to have no bottom. The Doctor explained to us that volcanoes
+      sometimes spurted up fire from these holes in their tops; but that those
+      on floating islands were always cold and dead.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Stubbins," he said, looking up at the great stone towering above us, "do
+      you know what would most likely happen if that boulder should fall in?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said I, "what?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You remember the air-chamber which the porpoises told us lies under the
+      centre of the island?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, this stone is heavy enough, if it fell into the volcano, to break
+      through into that air-chamber from above. And once it did, the air would
+      escape and the floating island would float no more. It would sink."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But then everybody on it would be drowned, wouldn't they?" said Bumpo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh no, not necessarily. That would depend on the depth of the sea where
+      the sinking took place. The island might touch bottom when it had only
+      gone down, say, a hundred feet. But there would be lots of it still
+      sticking up above the water then, wouldn't there?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said Bumpo, "I suppose there would. Well, let us hope that the
+      ponderous fragment does not lose its equilibriosity, for I don't believe
+      it would stop at the centre of the earth&mdash;more likely it would fall
+      right through the world and come out the other side."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many other wonders there were which these men showed us in the central
+      regions of their island. But I have not time or space to tell you of them
+      now.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Descending towards the shore again, we noticed that we were still being
+      watched, even here among the highlands, by the Bag-jagderags who had
+      followed us. And when we put to sea once more a boatload of them proceeded
+      to go ahead of us in the direction of Popsipetel. Having lighter canoes,
+      they traveled faster than our party; and we judged that they should reach
+      the village&mdash;if that was where they were going&mdash;many hours
+      before we could.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor was now becoming anxious to see how Long Arrow was getting on,
+      so we all took turns at the paddles and went on traveling by moonlight
+      through the whole night.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We reached Popsipetel just as the dawn was breaking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To our great surprise we found that not only we, but the whole village
+      also, had been up all night. A great crowd was gathered about the dead
+      chief's house. And as we landed our canoes upon the beach we saw a large
+      number of old men, the seniors of the tribe, coming out at the main door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We inquired what was the meaning of all this; and were told that the
+      election of a new chief had been going on all through the whole night.
+      Bumpo asked the name of the new chief; but this, it seemed, had not yet
+      been given out. It would be announced at mid-day.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the Doctor had paid a visit to Long Arrow and seen that he was
+      doing nicely, we proceeded to our own house at the far end of the village.
+      Here we ate some breakfast and then lay down to take a good rest.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Rest, indeed, we needed; for life had been strenuous and busy for us ever
+      since we had landed on the island. And it wasn't many minutes after our
+      weary heads struck the pillows that the whole crew of us were sound
+      asleep.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0059" id="link2H_4_0059">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE ELECTION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WE were awakened by music. The glaring noonday sunlight was streaming in
+      at our door, outside of which some kind of a band appeared to be playing.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We got up and looked out. Our house was surrounded by the whole population
+      of Popsipetel. We were used to having quite a number of curious and
+      admiring Indians waiting at our door at all hours; but this was quite
+      different. The vast crowd was dressed in its best clothes. Bright beads,
+      gawdy feathers and gay blankets gave cheerful color to the scene. Every
+      one seemed in very good humor, singing or playing on musical instruments&mdash;mostly
+      painted wooden whistles or drums made from skins.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We found Polynesia&mdash;who while we slept had arrived back from
+      Bag-jagderag&mdash;sitting on our door-post watching the show. We asked
+      her what all the holiday-making was about.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The result of the election has just been announced," said she. "The name
+      of the new chief was given out at noon."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And who is the new chief?" asked the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You are," said Polynesia quietly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I!" gasped the Doctor&mdash;"Well, of all things!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," said she. "You're the one&mdash;And what's more, they've changed
+      your surname for you. They didn't think that Dolittle was a proper or
+      respectful name for a man who had done so much. So you are now to be known
+      as Jong Thinkalot. How do you like it?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But I don't WANT to be a chief," said the Doctor in an irritable voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm afraid you'll have hard work to get out of it now," said she&mdash;"unless
+      you're willing to put to sea again in one of their rickety canoes. You see
+      you've been elected not merely the Chief of the Popsipetels; you're to be
+      a king&mdash;the King of the whole of Spidermonkey Island. The
+      Bag-jagderags, who were so anxious to have you govern them, sent spies and
+      messengers ahead of you; and when they found that you had been elected
+      Chief of the Popsipetels overnight they were bitterly disappointed.
+      However, rather than lose you altogether, the Bag-jagderags were willing
+      to give up their independence, and insisted that they and their lands be
+      united to the Popsipetels in order that you could be made king of both. So
+      now you're in for it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh Lord!" groaned the Doctor, "I do wish they wouldn't be so
+      enthusiastic! Bother it, I don't WANT to be a king!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I should think, Doctor," said I, "you'd feel rather proud and glad. I
+      wish I had a chance to be a king."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh I know it sounds grand," said he, pulling on his boots miserably. "But
+      the trouble is, you can't take up responsibilities and then just drop them
+      again when you feel like it. I have my own work to do. Scarcely one moment
+      have I had to give to natural history since I landed on this island. I've
+      been doing some one else's business all the time. And now they want me to
+      go on doing it! Why, once I'm made King of the Popsipetels, that's the end
+      of me as a useful naturalist. I'd be too busy for anything. All I'd be
+      then is just a er&mdash;er just a king."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, that's something!" said Bumpo. "My father is a king and has a
+      hundred and twenty wives."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That would make it worse," said the Doctor&mdash;"a hundred and twenty
+      times worse. I have my work to do. I don't want to be a king."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look," said Polynesia, "here come the head men to announce your election.
+      Hurry up and get your boots laced."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The throng before our door had suddenly parted asunder, making a long
+      lane; and down this we now saw a group of personages coming towards us.
+      The man in front, a handsome old Indian with a wrinkled face, carried in
+      his hands a wooden crown&mdash;a truly beautiful and gorgeous crown, even
+      though of wood. Wonderfully carved and painted, it had two lovely blue
+      feathers springing from the front of it. Behind the old man came eight
+      strong Indians bearing a litter, a sort of chair with long handles
+      underneath to carry it by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Kneeling down on one knee, bending his head almost to the ground, the old
+      man addressed the Doctor who now stood in the doorway putting on his
+      collar and tie.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, Mighty One," said he, "we bring you word from the Popsipetel people.
+      Great are your deeds beyond belief, kind is your heart and your wisdom,
+      deeper than the sea. Our chief is dead. The people clamor for a worthy
+      leader. Our old enemies, the Bag-jagderags are become, through you, our
+      brothers and good friends. They too desire to bask beneath the sunshine of
+      your smile. Behold then, I bring to you the Sacred Crown of Popsipetel
+      which, since ancient days when this island and its peoples were one,
+      beneath one monarch, has rested on no kingly brow. Oh Kindly One, we are
+      bidden by the united voices of the peoples of this land to carry you to
+      the Whispering Rocks, that there, with all respect and majesty, you may be
+      crowned our king&mdash;King of all the Moving Land."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The good Indians did not seem to have even considered the possibility of
+      John Dolittle's refusing. As for the poor Doctor, I never saw him so upset
+      by anything. It was in fact the only time I have known him to get
+      thoroughly fussed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh dear!" I heard him murmur, looking around wildly for some escape.
+      "What SHALL I do?&mdash;Did any of you see where I laid that stud of mine?&mdash;How
+      on earth can I get this collar on without a stud? What a day this is, to
+      be sure I&mdash;Maybe it rolled under the bed, Bumpo&mdash;I do think they
+      might have given me a day or so to think it over in. Who ever heard of
+      waking a man right out of his sleep, and telling him he's got to be a
+      king, before he has even washed his face? Can't any of you find it? Maybe
+      you're standing on it, Bumpo. Move your feet."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh don't bother about your stud," said Polynesia. "You will have to be
+      crowned without a collar. They won't know the difference."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I tell you I'm not going to be crowned," cried the Doctor&mdash;"not if I
+      can help it. I'll make them a speech. Perhaps that will satisfy them." He
+      turned back to the Indians at the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "My friends," he said, "I am not worthy of this great honor you would do
+      me. Little or no skill have I in the arts of kingcraft. Assuredly among
+      your own brave men you will find many better fitted to lead you. For this
+      compliment, this confidence and trust, I thank you. But, I pray you, do
+      not think of me for such high duties which I could not possibly fulfil."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old man repeated his words to the people behind him in a louder voice.
+      Stolidly they shook their heads, moving not an inch. The old man turned
+      back to the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You are the chosen one," said he. "They will have none but you."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Into the Doctor's perplexed face suddenly there came a flash of hope.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'll go and see Long Arrow," he whispered to me. "Perhaps he will know of
+      some way to get me out of this."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And asking the personages to excuse him a moment, he left them there,
+      standing at his door, and hurried off in the direction of Long Arrow's
+      house. I followed him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We found our big friend lying on a grass bed outside his home, where he
+      had been moved that he might witness the holiday-making.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Long Arrow," said the Doctor speaking quickly in eagle tongue so that the
+      bystanders should not overhear, "in dire peril I come to you for help.
+      These men would make me their king. If such a thing befall me, all the
+      great work I hoped to do must go undone, for who is there unfreer than a
+      king? I pray you speak with them and persuade their kind well-meaning
+      hearts that what they plan to do would be unwise."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Long Arrow raised himself upon his elbow. "Oh Kindly One," said he (this
+      seemed now to have become the usual manner of address when speaking to the
+      Doctor), "sorely it grieves me that the first wish you ask of me I should
+      be unable to grant. Alas! I can do nothing. These people have so set their
+      hearts on keeping you for king that if I tried to interfere they would
+      drive me from their land and likely crown you in the end in any case. A
+      king you must be, if only for a while. We must so arrange the business of
+      governing that you may have time to give to Nature's secrets. Later we may
+      be able to hit upon some plan to relieve you of the burden of the crown.
+      But for now you must be king. These people are a headstrong tribe and they
+      will have their way. There is no other course."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Sadly the Doctor turned away from the bed and faced about. And there
+      behind him stood the old man again, the crown still held in his wrinkled
+      hands and the royal litter waiting at his elbow. With a deep reverence the
+      bearers motioned towards the seat of the chair, inviting the white man to
+      get in.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Once more the poor Doctor looked wildly, hopelessly about him for some
+      means of escape. For a moment I thought he was going to take to his heels
+      and run for it. But the crowd around us was far too thick and densely
+      packed for anyone to break through it. A band of whistles and drums near
+      by suddenly started the music of a solemn processional march. He turned
+      back pleadingly again to Long Arrow in a last appeal for help. But the big
+      Indian merely shook his head and pointed, like the bearers, to the waiting
+      chair.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last, almost in tears, John Dolittle stepped slowly into the litter and
+      sat down. As he was hoisted on to the broad shoulders of the bearers I
+      heard him still feebly muttering beneath his breath,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Botheration take it!&mdash;I don't WANT to be a king!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Farewell!" called Long Arrow from his bed, "and may good fortune ever
+      stand within the shadow of your throne!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He comes!&mdash;He comes!" murmured the crowd. "Away! Away!&mdash;To the
+      Whispering Rocks!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And as the procession formed up to leave the village, the crowd about us
+      began hurrying off in the direction of the mountains to make sure of good
+      seats in the giant theatre where the crowning ceremony would take place.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0060" id="link2H_4_0060">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE TENTH CHAPTER. THE CORONATION OF KING JONG
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IN my long lifetime I have seen many grand and inspiring things, but never
+      anything that impressed me half as much as the sight of the Whispering
+      Rocks as they looked on the day King Jong was crowned. As Bumpo,
+      Chee-Chee, Polynesia, Jip and I finally reached the dizzy edge of the
+      great bowl and looked down inside it, it was like gazing over a
+      never-ending ocean of copper-colored faces; for every seat in the theatre
+      was filled, every man, woman and child in the island&mdash;including Long
+      Arrow who had been carried up on his sick bed&mdash;was there to see the
+      show.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet not a sound, not a pin-drop, disturbed the solemn silence of the
+      Whispering Rocks. It was quite creepy and sent chills running up and down
+      your spine. Bumpo told me afterwards that it took his breath away too much
+      for him to speak, but that he hadn't known before that there were that
+      many people in the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Away down by the Table of the Throne stood a brand-new, brightly colored
+      totem-pole. All the Indian families had totem-poles and kept them set up
+      before the doors of their houses. The idea of a totem-pole is something
+      like a door-plate or a visiting card. It represents in its carvings the
+      deeds and qualities of the family to which it belongs. This one,
+      beautifully decorated and much higher than any other, was the Dolittle or,
+      as it was to be henceforth called, the Royal Thinkalot totem. It had
+      nothing but animals on it, to signify the Doctor's great knowledge of
+      creatures. And the animals chosen to be shown were those which to the
+      Indians were supposed to represent good qualities of character, such as,
+      the deer for speed; the ox for perseverance; the fish for discretion, and
+      so on. But at the top of the totem is always placed the sign or animal by
+      which the family is most proud to be known. This, on the Thinkalot pole,
+      was an enormous parrot, in memory of the famous Peace of the Parrots.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Ivory Throne had been all polished with scented oil and it glistened
+      whitely in the strong sunlight. At the foot of it there had been strewn
+      great quantities of branches of flowering trees, which with the new warmth
+      of milder climates were now blossoming in the valleys of the island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon we saw the royal litter, with the Doctor seated in it, slowly
+      ascending the winding steps of the Table. Reaching the flat top at last,
+      it halted and the Doctor stepped out upon the flowery carpet. So still and
+      perfect was the silence that even at that distance above I distinctly
+      heard a twig snap beneath his tread.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Walking to the throne accompanied by the old man, the Doctor got up upon
+      the stand and sat down. How tiny his little round figure looked when seen
+      from that tremendous height! The throne had been made for longer-legged
+      kings; and when he was seated, his feet did not reach the ground but
+      dangled six inches from the top step.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then the old man turned round and looking up at the people began to speak
+      in a quiet even voice; but every word he said was easily heard in the
+      furthest corner of the Whispering Rocks.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      First he recited the names of all the great Popsipetel kings who in days
+      long ago had been crowned in this ivory chair. He spoke of the greatness
+      of the Popsipetel people, of their triumphs, of their hardships. Then
+      waving his hand towards the Doctor he began recounting the things which
+      this king-to-be had done. And I am bound to say that they easily
+      outmatched the deeds of those who had gone before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as he started to speak of what the Doctor had achieved for the
+      tribe, the people, still strictly silent, all began waving their right
+      hands towards the throne. This gave to the vast theatre a very singular
+      appearance: acres and acres of something moving&mdash;with never a sound.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At last the old man finished his speech and stepping up to the chair, very
+      respectfully removed the Doctor's battered high hat. He was about to put
+      it upon the ground; but the Doctor took it from him hastily and kept it on
+      his lap. Then taking up the Sacred Crown he placed it upon John Dolittle's
+      head. It did not fit very well (for it had been made for smaller-headed
+      kings), and when the wind blew in freshly from the sunlit sea the Doctor
+      had some difficulty in keeping it on. But it looked very splendid.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Turning once more to the people, the old man said,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Men of Popsipetel, behold your elected king!&mdash;Are you content?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then at last the voice of the people broke loose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "JONG! JONG!" they shouted, "LONG LIVE KING JONG!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sound burst upon the solemn silence with the crash of a hundred
+      cannon. There, where even a whisper carried miles, the shock of it was
+      like a blow in the face. Back and forth the mountains threw it to one
+      another. I thought the echoes of it would never die away as it passed
+      rumbling through the whole island, jangling among the lower valleys,
+      booming in the distant sea-caves.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Suddenly I saw the old man point upward, to the highest mountain in the
+      island; and looking over my shoulder, I was just in time to see the
+      Hanging Stone topple slowly out of sight&mdash;down into the heart of the
+      volcano.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "See ye, Men of the Moving Land!" the old man cried: "The stone has fallen
+      and our legend has come true: the King of Kings is crowned this day!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor too had seen the stone fall and he was now standing up looking
+      at the sea expectantly.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "He's thinking of the air-chamber," said Bumpo in my ear. "Let us hope
+      that the sea isn't very deep in these parts."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After a full minute (so long did it take the stone to fall that depth) we
+      heard a muffled, distant, crunching thud&mdash;and then immediately after,
+      a great hissing of escaping air. The Doctor, his face tense with anxiety,
+      sat down in the throne again still watching the blue water of the ocean
+      with staring eyes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Soon we felt the island slowly sinking beneath us. We saw the sea creep
+      inland over the beaches as the shores went down&mdash;one foot, three
+      feet, ten feet, twenty, fifty, a hundred. And then, thank goodness, gently
+      as a butterfly alighting on a rose, it stopped! Spidermonkey Island had
+      come to rest on the sandy bottom of the Atlantic, and earth was joined to
+      earth once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Of course many of the houses near the shores were now under water.
+      Popsipetel Village itself had entirely disappeared. But it didn't matter.
+      No one was drowned; for every soul in the island was high up in the hills
+      watching the coronation of King Jong.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Indians themselves did not realize at the time what was taking place,
+      though of course they had felt the land sinking beneath them. The Doctor
+      told us afterwards that it must have been the shock of that tremendous
+      shout, coming from a million throats at once, which had toppled the
+      Hanging Stone off its perch. But in Popsipetel history the story was
+      handed down (and it is firmly believed to this day) that when King Jong
+      sat upon the throne, so great was his mighty weight, that the very island
+      itself sank down to do him honor and never moved again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_PART6" id="link2H_PART6">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      PART SIX
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0062" id="link2H_4_0062">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIRST CHAPTER. NEW POPSIPETEL
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      JONG THINKALOT had not ruled over his new kingdom for more than a couple
+      of days before my notions about kings and the kind of lives they led
+      changed very considerably. I had thought that all that kings had to do was
+      to sit on a throne and have people bow down before them several times a
+      day. I now saw that a king can be the hardest-working man in the world&mdash;if
+      he attends properly to his business.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the moment that he got up, early in the morning, till the time he
+      went to bed, late at night&mdash;seven days in the week&mdash;John
+      Dolittle was busy, busy, busy. First of all there was the new town to be
+      built. The village of Popsipetel had disappeared: the City of New
+      Popsipetel must be made. With great care a place was chosen for it&mdash;and
+      a very beautiful position it was, at the mouth of a large river. The
+      shores of the island at this point formed a lovely wide bay where canoes&mdash;and
+      ships too, if they should ever come&mdash;could lie peacefully at anchor
+      without danger from storms.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In building this town the Doctor gave the Indians a lot of new ideas. He
+      showed them what town-sewers were, and how garbage should be collected
+      each day and burnt. High up in the hills he made a large lake by damming a
+      stream. This was the water-supply for the town. None of these things had
+      the Indians ever seen; and many of the sicknesses which they had suffered
+      from before were now entirely prevented by proper drainage and pure
+      drinking-water.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Peoples who don't use fire do not of course have metals either; because
+      without fire it is almost impossible to shape iron and steel. One of the
+      first things that John Dolittle did was to search the mountains till he
+      found iron and copper mines. Then he set to work to teach the Indians how
+      these metals could be melted and made into knives and plows and
+      water-pipes and all manner of things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In his kingdom the Doctor tried his hardest to do away with most of the
+      old-fashioned pomp and grandeur of a royal court. As he said to Bumpo and
+      me, if he must be a king he meant to be a thoroughly democratic one, that
+      is a king who is chummy and friendly with his subjects and doesn't put on
+      airs. And when he drew up the plans for the City of New Popsipetel he had
+      no palace shown of any kind. A little cottage in a back street was all
+      that he had provided for himself.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      But this the Indians would not permit on any account. They had been used
+      to having their kings rule in a truly grand and kingly manner; and they
+      insisted that he have built for himself the most magnificent palace ever
+      seen. In all else they let him have his own way absolutely; but they
+      wouldn't allow him to wriggle out of any of the ceremony or show that goes
+      with being a king. A thousand servants he had to keep in his palace, night
+      and day, to wait on him. The Royal Canoe had to be kept up&mdash;a
+      gorgeous, polished mahogany boat, seventy feet long, inlaid with
+      mother-o'-pearl and paddled by the hundred strongest men in the island.
+      The palace-gardens covered a square mile and employed a hundred and sixty
+      gardeners.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Even in his dress the poor man was compelled always to be grand and
+      elegant and uncomfortable. The beloved and battered high hat was put away
+      in a closet and only looked at secretly. State robes had to be worn on all
+      occasions. And when the Doctor did once in a while manage to sneak off for
+      a short, natural-history expedition he never dared to wear his old
+      clothes, but had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his head and a
+      scarlet cloak flying behind him in the wind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no end to the kinds of duties the Doctor had to perform and the
+      questions he had to decide upon&mdash;everything, from settling disputes
+      about lands and boundaries, to making peace between husband and wife who
+      had been throwing shoes at one another. In the east wing of the Royal
+      Palace was the Hall of Justice. And here King Jong sat every morning from
+      nine to eleven passing judgment on all cases that were brought before him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then in the afternoon he taught school. The sort of things he taught were
+      not always those you find in ordinary schools. Grown-ups as well as
+      children came to learn. You see, these Indians were ignorant of many of
+      the things that quite small white children know&mdash;though it is also
+      true that they knew a lot that white grown-ups never dreamed of.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bumpo and I helped with the teaching as far as we could&mdash;simple
+      arithmetic, and easy things like that. But the classes in astronomy,
+      farming science, the proper care of babies, with a host of other subjects,
+      the Doctor had to teach himself. The Indians were tremendously keen about
+      the schooling and they came in droves and crowds; so that even with the
+      open-air classes (a school-house was impossible of course) the Doctor had
+      to take them in relays and batches of five or six thousand at a time and
+      used a big megaphone or trumpet to make himself heard.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rest of his day was more than filled with road-making, building
+      water-mills, attending the sick and a million other things.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In spite of his being so unwilling to become a king, John Dolittle made a
+      very good one&mdash;once he got started. He may not have been as dignified
+      as many kings in history who were always running off to war and getting
+      themselves into romantic situations; but since I have grown up and seen
+      something of foreign lands and governments I have often thought that
+      Popsipetel under the reign of Jong Thinkalot was perhaps the best ruled
+      state in the history of the world.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor's birthday came round after we had been on the island six
+      months and a half. The people made a great public holiday of it and there
+      was much feasting, dancing, fireworks, speech-making and jollification.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Towards the close of the day the chief men of the two tribes formed a
+      procession and passed through the streets of the town, carrying a very
+      gorgeously painted tablet of ebony wood, ten feet high. This was a
+      picture-history, such as they preserved for each of the ancient kings of
+      Popsipetel to record their deeds.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With great and solemn ceremony it was set up over the door of the new
+      palace: and everybody then clustered round to look at it. It had six
+      pictures on it commemorating the six great events in the life of King Jong
+      and beneath were written the verses that explained them. They were
+      composed by the Court Poet; and this is a translation:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (His Landing on The Island) Heaven-sent, In his dolphin-drawn canoe From
+      worlds unknown He landed on our shores. The very palms Bowed down their
+      heads In welcome to the coming King.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      II
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (His Meeting With The Beetle) By moonlight in the mountains He communed
+      with beasts. The shy Jabizri brings him picture-words Of great distress.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (He liberates The Lost Families) Big was his heart with pity; Big were his
+      hands with strength. See how he tears the mountain like a yam! See how the
+      lost ones Dance forth to greet the day!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      IV
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (He Makes Fire) Our land was cold and dying. He waved his hand and lo!
+      Lightning leapt from cloudless skies; The sun leant down; And Fire was
+      born! Then while we crowded round The grateful glow, pushed he Our
+      wayward, floating land Back to peaceful anchorage In sunny seas.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      V
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (He Leads The People To Victory in War) Once only Was his kindly
+      countenance Darkened by a deadly frown. Woe to the wicked enemy That dares
+      attack The tribe with Thinkalot for Chief!
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      VI
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      (He Is Crowned King) The birds of the air rejoiced; The Sea laughed and
+      gambolled with her shores; All Red-skins wept for joy The day we crowned
+      him King. He is the Builder, the Healer, the Teacher and the Prince; He is
+      the greatest of them all. May he live a thousand thousand years, Happy in
+      his heart, To bless our land with Peace.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0063" id="link2H_4_0063">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SECOND CHAPTER. THOUGHTS OF HOME
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      IN the Royal Palace Bumpo and I had a beautiful suite of rooms of our very
+      own&mdash;which Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee shared with us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Officially Bumpo was Minister of the Interior; while I was First Lord of
+      the Treasury. Long Arrow also had quarters there; but at present he was
+      absent, traveling abroad.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One night after supper when the Doctor was away in the town somewhere
+      visiting a new-born baby, we were all sitting round the big table in
+      Bumpo's reception-room. This we did every evening, to talk over the plans
+      for the following day and various affairs of state. It was a kind of
+      Cabinet Meeting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      To-night however we were talking about England&mdash;and also about things
+      to eat. We had got a little tired of Indian food. You see, none of the
+      natives knew how to cook; and we had the most discouraging time training a
+      chef for the Royal Kitchen. Most of them were champions at spoiling good
+      food. Often we got so hungry that the Doctor would sneak downstairs with
+      us into the palace basement, after all the cooks were safe in bed, and fry
+      pancakes secretly over the dying embers of the fire. The Doctor himself
+      was the finest cook that ever lived. But he used to make a terrible mess
+      of the kitchen; and of course we had to be awfully careful that we didn't
+      get caught.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Well, as I was saying, to-night food was the subject of discussion at the
+      Cabinet Meeting; and I had just been reminding Bumpo of the nice dishes we
+      had had at the bed-maker's house in Monteverde.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I tell you what I would like now," said Bumpo: "a large cup of cocoa with
+      whipped cream on the top of it. In Oxford we used to be able to get the
+      most wonderful cocoa. It is really too bad they haven't any cocoa-trees in
+      this island, or cows to give cream."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "When do you suppose," asked Jip, "the Doctor intends to move on from
+      here?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I was talking to him about that only yesterday," said Polynesia. "But I
+      couldn't get any satisfactory answer out of him. He didn't seem to want to
+      speak about it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was a pause in the conversation.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you know what I believe?" she added presently. "I believe the Doctor
+      has given up even thinking of going home."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good Lord!" cried Bumpo. "You don't say!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sh!" said Polynesia. "What's that noise?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We listened; and away off in the distant corridors of the palace we heard
+      the sentries crying,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The King!&mdash;Make way!&mdash;The King!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It's he&mdash;at last," whispered Polynesia&mdash;"late, as usual. Poor
+      man, how he does work!&mdash;Chee-Chee, get the pipe and tobacco out of
+      the cupboard and lay the dressing-gown ready on his chair."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      When the Doctor came into the room he looked serious and thoughtful.
+      Wearily he took off his crown and hung it on a peg behind the door. Then
+      he exchanged the royal cloak for the dressing-gown, dropped into his chair
+      at the head of the table with a deep sigh and started to fill his pipe.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well," asked Polynesia quietly, "how did you find the baby?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The baby?" he murmured&mdash;his thoughts still seemed to be very far
+      away&mdash;"Ah yes. The baby was much better, thank you&mdash;It has cut
+      its second tooth."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then he was silent again, staring dreamily at the ceiling through a cloud
+      of tobacco-smoke; while we all sat round quite still, waiting.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We were wondering, Doctor," said I at last,&mdash;"just before you came
+      in&mdash;when you would be starting home again. We will have been on this
+      island seven months to-morrow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor sat forward in his chair looking rather uncomfortable.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, as a matter of fact," said he after a moment, "I meant to speak to
+      you myself this evening on that very subject. But it's&mdash;er&mdash;a
+      little hard to make any one exactly understand the situation. I am afraid
+      that it would be impossible for me to leave the work I am now engaged
+      on.... You remember, when they first insisted on making me king, I told
+      you it was not easy to shake off responsibilities, once you had taken them
+      up. These people have come to rely on me for a great number of things. We
+      found them ignorant of much that white people enjoy. And we have, one
+      might say, changed the current of their lives considerably. Now it is a very
+      ticklish business, to change the lives of other people. And whether the
+      changes we have made will be, in the end, for good or for bad, is our
+      lookout."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He thought a moment&mdash;then went on in a quieter, sadder voice:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I would like to continue my voyages and my natural history work; and I
+      would like to go back to Puddleby&mdash;as much as any of you. This is
+      March, and the crocuses will be showing in the lawn... . But that which I
+      feared has come true: I cannot close my eyes to what might happen if I
+      should leave these people and run away. They would probably go back to
+      their old habits and customs: wars, superstitions, devil-worship and what
+      not; and many of the new things we have taught them might be put to
+      improper use and make their condition, then, worse by far than that in
+      which we found them.... They like me; they trust me; they have come to
+      look to me for help in all their problems and troubles. And no man wants
+      to do unfair things to them who trust him.... And then again, I like THEM.
+      They are, as it were, my children&mdash;I never had any children of my own&mdash;and
+      I am terribly interested in how they will grow up. Don't you see what I
+      mean?&mdash;How can I possibly run away and leave them in the lurch?...
+      No. I have thought it over a good deal and tried to decide what was best.
+      And I am afraid that the work I took up when I assumed the crown I must
+      stick to. I'm afraid&mdash;I've got to stay."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "For good&mdash;for your whole life?" asked Bumpo in a low voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For some moments the Doctor, frowning, made no answer.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't know," he said at last&mdash;"Anyhow for the present there is
+      certainly no hope of my leaving. It wouldn't be right."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sad silence that followed was broken finally by a knock upon the door.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With a patient sigh the Doctor got up and put on his crown and cloak
+      again.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Come in," he called, sitting down in his chair once more.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The door opened and a footman&mdash;one of the hundred and forty-three who
+      were always on night duty&mdash;stood bowing in the entrance.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, Kindly One," said he, "there is a traveler at the palace-gate who
+      would have speech with Your Majesty."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Another baby's been born, I'll bet a shilling," muttered Polynesia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Did you ask the traveler's name?" enquired the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, Your Majesty," said the footman. "It is Long Arrow, the son of
+      Golden Arrow."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0064" id="link2H_4_0064">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE THIRD CHAPTER. THE RED MAN'S SCIENCE
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      "LONG ARROW!" cried the Doctor. "How splendid! Show him in&mdash;show him
+      in at once."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm so glad," he continued, turning to us as soon as the footman had
+      gone. "I've missed Long Arrow terribly. He's an awfully good man to have
+      around&mdash;even if he doesn't talk much. Let me see: it's five months
+      now since he went off to Brazil. I'm so glad he's back safe. He does take
+      such tremendous chances with that canoe of his&mdash;clever as he is. It's
+      no joke, crossing a hundred miles of open sea in a twelve-foot canoe. I
+      wouldn't care to try it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Another knock; and when the door swung open in answer to the Doctor's
+      call, there stood our big friend on the threshold, a smile upon his
+      strong, bronzed face. Behind him appeared two porters carrying loads done
+      up in Indian palm-matting. These, when the first salutations were over,
+      Long Arrow ordered to lay their burdens down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Behold, oh Kindly One," said he, "I bring you, as I promised, my
+      collection of plants which I had hidden in a cave in the Andes. These
+      treasures represent the labors of my life."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The packages were opened; and inside were many smaller packages and
+      bundles. Carefully they were laid out in rows upon the table.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It appeared at first a large but disappointing display. There were plants,
+      flowers, fruits, leaves, roots, nuts, beans, honeys, gums, bark, seeds,
+      bees and a few kinds of insects.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The study of plants&mdash;or botany, as it is called&mdash;was a kind of
+      natural history which had never interested me very much. I had considered
+      it, compared with the study of animals, a dull science. But as Long Arrow
+      began taking up the various things in his collection and explaining their
+      qualities to us, I became more and more fascinated. And before he had done
+      I was completely absorbed by the wonders of the Vegetable Kingdom which he
+      had brought so far.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "These," said he, taking up a little packet of big seeds, "are what I have
+      called 'laughing-beans.'"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What are they for?" asked Bumpo.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "To cause mirth," said the Indian.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Bumpo, while Long Arrow's back was turned, took three of the beans and
+      swallowed them.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Alas!" said the Indian when he discovered what Bumpo had done. "If he
+      wished to try the powers of these seeds he should have eaten no more than
+      a quarter of a one. Let us hope that he does not die of laughter."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The beans' effect upon Bumpo was most extraordinary. First he broke into a
+      broad smile; then he began to giggle; finally he burst into such prolonged
+      roars of hearty laughter that we had to carry him into the next room and
+      put him to bed. The Doctor said afterwards that he probably would have
+      died laughing if he had not had such a strong constitution. All through
+      the night he gurgled happily in his sleep. And even when we woke him up
+      the next morning he rolled out of bed still chuckling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Returning to the Reception Room, we were shown some red roots which Long
+      Arrow told us had the property, when made into a soup with sugar and salt,
+      of causing people to dance with extraordinary speed and endurance. He
+      asked us to try them; but we refused, thanking him. After Bumpo's
+      exhibition we were a little afraid of any more experiments for the
+      present.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      There was no end to the curious and useful things that Long Arrow had
+      collected: an oil from a vine which would make hair grow in one night; an
+      orange as big as a pumpkin which he had raised in his own mountain-garden
+      in Peru; a black honey (he had brought the bees that made it too and the
+      seeds of the flowers they fed on) which would put you to sleep, just with
+      a teaspoonful, and make you wake up fresh in the morning; a nut that made
+      the voice beautiful for singing; a water-weed that stopped cuts from
+      bleeding; a moss that cured snake-bite; a lichen that prevented
+      sea-sickness.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor of course was tremendously interested. Well into the early
+      hours of the morning he was busy going over the articles on the table one
+      by one, listing their names and writing their properties and descriptions
+      into a note-book as Long Arrow dictated.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "There are things here, Stubbins," he said as he ended, "which in the
+      hands of skilled druggists will make a vast difference to the medicine and
+      chemistry of the world. I suspect that this sleeping-honey by itself will
+      take the place of half the bad drugs we have had to use so far. Long Arrow
+      has discovered a pharmacopaeia of his own. Miranda was right: he is a
+      great naturalist. His name deserves to be placed beside Linnaeus. Some day
+      I must get all these things to England&mdash;But when," he added sadly&mdash;"Yes,
+      that's the problem: when?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0065" id="link2H_4_0065">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FOURTH CHAPTER. THE SEA-SERPENT
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      FOR a long time after that Cabinet Meeting of which I have just told you
+      we did not ask the Doctor anything further about going home. Life in
+      Spidermonkey Island went forward, month in month out, busily and
+      pleasantly. The Winter, with Christmas celebrations, came and went, and
+      Summer was with us once again before we knew it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As time passed the Doctor became more and more taken up with the care of
+      his big family; and the hours he could spare for his natural history work
+      grew fewer and fewer. I knew that he often still thought of his house and
+      garden in Puddleby and of his old plans and ambitions; because once in a
+      while we would notice his face grow thoughtful and a little sad, when
+      something reminded him of England or his old life. But he never spoke of
+      these things. And I truly believe he would have spent the remainder of his
+      days on Spidermonkey Island if it hadn't been for an accident&mdash;and
+      for Polynesia.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The old parrot had grown very tired of the Indians and she made no secret
+      of it.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "The very idea," she said to me one day as we were walking on the seashore&mdash;"the
+      idea of the famous John Dolittle spending his valuable life waiting on
+      these greasy natives!&mdash;Why, it's preposterous!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      All that morning we had been watching the Doctor superintend the building
+      of the new theatre in Popsipetel&mdash;there was already an opera-house
+      and a concert-hall; and finally she had got so grouchy and annoyed at the
+      sight that I had suggested her taking a walk with me.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you really think," I asked as we sat down on the sands, "that he will
+      never go back to Puddleby again?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I don't know," said she. "At one time I felt sure that the thought of the
+      pets he had left behind at the house would take him home soon. But since
+      Miranda brought him word last August that everything was all right there,
+      that hope's gone. For months and months I've been racking my brains to
+      think up a plan. If we could only hit upon something that would turn his
+      thoughts back to natural history again&mdash;I mean something big enough
+      to get him really excited&mdash;we might manage it. But how?"&mdash;she
+      shrugged her shoulders in disgust&mdash;"How?&mdash;when all he thinks of
+      now is paving streets and teaching papooses that twice one are two!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a perfect Popsipetel day, bright and hot, blue and yellow. Drowsily
+      I looked out to sea thinking of my mother and father. I wondered if they
+      were getting anxious over my long absence. Beside me old Polynesia went on
+      grumbling away in low steady tones; and her words began to mingle and mix
+      with the gentle lapping of the waves upon the shore. It may have been the
+      even murmur of her voice, helped by the soft and balmy air, that lulled me
+      to sleep. I don't know. Anyhow I presently dreamed that the island had
+      moved again&mdash;not floatingly as before, but suddenly, jerkily, as
+      though something enormously powerful had heaved it up from its bed just
+      once and let it down.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How long I slept after that I have no idea. I was awakened by a gentle
+      pecking on the nose.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Tommy!&mdash;Tommy!" (it was Polynesia's voice) "Wake up!&mdash;Gosh,
+      what a boy, to sleep through an earthquake and never notice it!&mdash;Tommy,
+      listen: here's our chance now. Wake up, for goodness' sake!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What's the matter?" I asked sitting up with a yawn.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sh!&mdash;Look!" whispered Polynesia pointing out to sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Still only half awake, I stared before me with bleary, sleep-laden eyes.
+      And in the shallow water, not more than thirty yards from shore I saw an
+      enormous pale pink shell. Dome-shaped, it towered up in a graceful rainbow
+      curve to a tremendous height; and round its base the surf broke gently in
+      little waves of white. It could have belonged to the wildest dream.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What in the world is it?" I asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That," whispered Polynesia, "is what sailors for hundreds of years have
+      called the Sea-serpent. I've seen it myself more than once from the decks
+      of ships, at long range, curving in and out of the water. But now that I
+      see it close and still, I very strongly suspect that the Sea-serpent of
+      history is no other than the Great Glass Sea-snail that the fidgit told us
+      of. If that isn't the only fish of its kind in the seven seas, call me a
+      carrion-crow&mdash;Tommy, we're in luck. Our job is to get the Doctor down
+      here to look at that prize specimen before it moves off to the Deep Hole.
+      If we can, then trust me, we may leave this blessed island yet. You stay
+      here and keep an eye on it while I go after the Doctor. Don't move or
+      speak&mdash;don't even breathe heavy: he might get scared&mdash;awful
+      timid things, snails. Just watch him; and I'll be back in two shakes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Stealthily creeping up the sands till she could get behind the cover of
+      some bushes before she took to her wings, Polynesia went off in the
+      direction of the town; while I remained alone upon the shore fascinatedly
+      watching this unbelievable monster wallowing in the shallow sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It moved very little. From time to time it lifted its head out of the
+      water showing its enormously long neck and horns. Occasionally it would
+      try and draw itself up, the way a snail does when he goes to move, but
+      almost at once it would sink down again as if exhausted. It seemed to me
+      to act as though it were hurt underneath; but the lower part of it, which
+      was below the level of the water, I could not see.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was still absorbed in watching the great beast when Polynesia returned
+      with the Doctor. They approached so silently and so cautiously that I
+      neither saw nor heard them coming till I found them crouching beside me on
+      the sand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      One sight of the snail changed the Doctor completely. His eyes just
+      sparkled with delight. I had not seen him so thrilled and happy since the
+      time we caught the Jabizri beetle when we first landed on the island.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It is he!" he whispered&mdash;"the Great Glass Sea-snail himself&mdash;not
+      a doubt of it. Polynesia, go down the shore a way and see if you can find
+      any of the porpoises for me. Perhaps they can tell us what the snail is
+      doing here&mdash;It's very unusual for him to be in shallow water like
+      this. And Stubbins, you go over to the harbor and bring me a small canoe.
+      But be most careful how you paddle it round into this bay. If the snail
+      should take fright and go out into the deeper water, we may never get a
+      chance to see him again."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And don't tell any of the Indians," Polynesia added in a whisper as I
+      moved to go. "We must keep this a secret or we'll have a crowd of
+      sightseers round here in five minutes. It's mighty lucky we found the
+      snail in a quiet bay."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Reaching the harbor, I picked out a small light canoe from among the
+      number that were lying there and without telling any one what I wanted it
+      for, got in and started off to paddle it down the shore.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I was mortally afraid that the snail might have left before I got back.
+      And you can imagine how delighted I was, when I rounded a rocky cape and
+      came in sight of the bay, to find he was still there.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Polynesia, I saw, had got her errand done and returned ahead of me,
+      bringing with her a pair of porpoises. These were already conversing in
+      low tones with John Dolittle. I beached the canoe and went up to listen.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What I want to know," the Doctor was saying, "is how the snail comes to
+      be here. I was given to understand that he usually stayed in the Deep
+      Hole; and that when he did come to the surface it was always in
+      mid-ocean."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, didn't you know?&mdash;Haven't you heard?" the porpoises replied:
+      "you covered up the Deep Hole when you sank the island. Why yes: you let
+      it down right on top of the mouth of the Hole&mdash;sort of put the lid
+      on, as it were. The fishes that were in it at the time have been trying to
+      get out ever since. The Great Snail had the worst luck of all: the island
+      nipped him by the tail just as he was leaving the Hole for a quiet evening
+      stroll. And he was held there for six months trying to wriggle himself
+      free. Finally he had to heave the whole island up at one end to get his
+      tail loose. Didn't you feel a sort of an earthquake shock about an hour
+      ago?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes I did," said the Doctor, "it shook down part of the theatre I was
+      building."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, that was the snail heaving up the island to get out of the Hole,"
+      they said. "All the other fishes saw their chance and escaped when he
+      raised the lid. It was lucky for them he's so big and strong. But the
+      strain of that terrific heave told on him: he sprained a muscle in his
+      tail and it started swelling rather badly. He wanted some quiet place to
+      rest up; and seeing this soft beach handy he crawled in here."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Dear me!" said the Doctor. "I'm terribly sorry. I suppose I should have
+      given some sort of notice that the island was going to be let down. But,
+      to tell the truth, we didn't know it ourselves; it happened by a kind of
+      an accident. Do you imagine the poor fellow is hurt very badly?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We're not sure," said the porpoises; "because none of us can speak his
+      language. But we swam right around him on our way in here, and he did not
+      seem to be really seriously injured."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Can't any of your people speak shellfish?" the Doctor asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Not a word," said they. "It's a most frightfully difficult language."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you think that you might be able to find me some kind of a fish that
+      could?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We don't know," said the porpoises. "We might try."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I should be extremely grateful to you if you would," said the Doctor.
+      "There are many important questions I want to ask this snail&mdash;And
+      besides, I would like to do my best to cure his tail for him. It's the
+      least I can do. After all, it was my fault, indirectly, that he got hurt."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, if you wait here," said the porpoises, "we'll see what can be
+      done."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0066" id="link2H_4_0066">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE FIFTH CHAPTER. THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED AT LAST
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      SO Doctor Dolittle with a crown on his head sat down upon the shore like
+      King Knut, and waited. And for a whole hour the porpoises kept going and
+      coming, bringing up different kinds of sea-beasts from the deep to see if
+      they could help him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Many and curious were the creatures they produced. It would seem however
+      that there were very few things that spoke shellfish except the shellfish
+      themselves. Still, the porpoises grew a little more hopeful when they
+      discovered a very old sea-urchin (a funny, ball-like, little fellow with
+      long whiskers all over him) who said he could not speak pure shellfish,
+      but he used to understand starfish&mdash;enough to get along&mdash;when he
+      was young. This was coming nearer, even if it wasn't anything to go crazy
+      about. Leaving the urchin with us, the porpoises went off once more to
+      hunt up a starfish.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      They were not long getting one, for they were quite common in those parts.
+      Then, using the sea-urchin as an interpreter, they questioned the
+      starfish. He was a rather stupid sort of creature; but he tried his best
+      to be helpful. And after a little patient examination we found to our
+      delight that he could speak shellfish moderately well.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Feeling quite encouraged, the Doctor and I now got into the canoe; and,
+      with the porpoises, the urchin and the starfish swimming alongside, we
+      paddled very gently out till we were close under the towering shell of the
+      Great Snail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And then began the most curious conversation I have ever witnessed. First
+      the starfish would ask the snail something; and whatever answer the snail
+      gave, the starfish would tell it to the sea-urchin, the urchin would tell
+      it to the porpoises and the porpoises would tell it to the Doctor.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In this way we obtained considerable information, mostly about the very
+      ancient history of the Animal Kingdom; but we missed a good many of the
+      finer points in the snail's longer speeches on account of the stupidity of
+      the starfish and all this translating from one language to another.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      While the snail was speaking, the Doctor and I put our ears against the
+      wall of his shell and found that we could in this way hear the sound of
+      his voice quite plainly. It was, as the fidgit had described, deep and
+      bell-like. But of course we could not understand a single word he said.
+      However the Doctor was by this time terrifically excited about getting
+      near to learning the language he had sought so long. And presently by
+      making the other fishes repeat over and over again short phrases which the
+      snail used, he began to put words together for himself. You see, he was
+      already familiar with one or two fish languages; and that helped him quite
+      a little. After he had practised for a while like this he leant over the
+      side of the canoe and putting his face below the water, tried speaking to
+      the snail direct.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was hard and difficult work; and hours went by before he got any
+      results. But presently I could tell by the happy look on his face, that
+      little by little he was succeeding.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The sun was low in the West and the cool evening breeze was beginning to
+      rustle softly through the bamboo-groves when the Doctor finally turned
+      from his work and said to me,
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Stubbins, I have persuaded the snail to come in on to the dry part of the
+      beach and let me examine his tail. Will you please go back to the town and
+      tell the workmen to stop working on the theatre for to-day? Then go on to
+      the palace and get my medicine-bag. I think I left it under the throne in
+      the Audience Chamber."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And remember," Polynesia whispered as I turned away, "not a word to a
+      soul. If you get asked questions, keep your mouth shut. Pretend you have a
+      toothache or something."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      This time when I got back to the shore&mdash;with the medicine-bag&mdash;I
+      found the snail high and dry on the beach. Seeing him in his full length
+      like this, it was easy to understand how old-time, superstitious sailors
+      had called him the Sea-serpent. He certainly was a most gigantic, and in
+      his way, a graceful, beautiful creature. John Dolittle was examining a
+      swelling on his tail.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      From the bag which I had brought the Doctor took a large bottle of
+      embrocation and began rubbing the sprain. Next he took all the bandages he
+      had in the bag and fastened them end to end. But even like that, they were
+      not long enough to go more than halfway round the enormous tail. The
+      Doctor insisted that he must get the swelling strapped tight somehow. So
+      he sent me off to the palace once more to get all the sheets from the
+      Royal Linen-closet. These Polynesia and I tore into bandages for him. And
+      at last, after terrific exertions, we got the sprain strapped to his
+      satisfaction.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The snail really seemed to be quite pleased with the attention he had
+      received; and he stretched himself in lazy comfort when the Doctor was
+      done. In this position, when the shell on his back was empty, you could
+      look right through it and see the palm-trees on the other side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I think one of us had better sit up with him all night," said the Doctor.
+      "We might put Bumpo on that duty; he's been napping all day, I know&mdash;in
+      the summer-house. It's a pretty bad sprain, that; and if the snail
+      shouldn't be able to sleep, he'll be happier with some one with him for
+      company. He'll get all right though&mdash;in a few days I should judge. If
+      I wasn't so confoundedly busy I'd sit up with him myself. I wish I could,
+      because I still have a lot of things to talk over with him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But Doctor," said Polynesia as we prepared to go back to the town, "you
+      ought to take a holiday. All Kings take holidays once in the while&mdash;every
+      one of them. King Charles, for instance&mdash;of course Charles was before
+      your time&mdash;but he!&mdash;why, he was ALWAYS holiday-making. Not that
+      he was ever what you would call a model king. But just the same, he was
+      frightfully popular. Everybody liked him&mdash;even the golden-carp in the
+      fish-pond at Hampton Court. As a king, the only thing I had against him
+      was his inventing those stupid, little, snappy dogs they call King Charles
+      Spaniels. There are lots of stories told about poor Charles; but that, in
+      my opinion, is the worst thing he did. However, all this is beside the
+      point. As I was saying, kings have to take holidays the same as anybody
+      else. And you haven't taken one since you were crowned, have you now?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "No," said the Doctor, "I suppose that's true."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well now I tell you what you do," said she: "as soon as you get back to
+      the palace you publish a royal proclamation that you are going away for a
+      week into the country for your health. And you're going WITHOUT ANY
+      SERVANTS, you understand&mdash;just like a plain person. It's called
+      traveling incognito, when kings go off like that. They all do it&mdash;It's
+      the only way they can ever have a good time. Then the week you're away you
+      can spend lolling on the beach back there with the snail. How's that?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'd like to," said the Doctor. "It sounds most attractive. But there's
+      that new theatre to be built; none of our carpenters would know how to get
+      those rafters on without me to show them&mdash;And then there are the
+      babies: these native mothers are so frightfully ignorant."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh bother the theatre&mdash;and the babies too," snapped Polynesia. "The
+      theatre can wait a week. And as for babies, they never have anything more
+      than colic. How do you suppose babies got along before you came here, for
+      heaven's sake?&mdash;Take a holiday.... You need it."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0067" id="link2H_4_0067">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE LAST CABINET MEETING
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      FROM the way Polynesia talked, I guessed that this idea of a holiday was
+      part of her plan.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The Doctor made no reply; and we walked on silently towards the town. I
+      could see, nevertheless that her words had made an impression on him.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      After supper he disappeared from the palace without saying where he was
+      going&mdash;a thing he had never done before. Of course we all knew where
+      he had gone: back to the beach to sit up with the snail. We were sure of
+      it because he had said nothing to Bumpo about attending to the matter.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As soon as the doors were closed upon the Cabinet Meeting that night,
+      Polynesia addressed the Ministry:
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Look here, you fellows," said she: "we've simply got to get the Doctor to
+      take this holiday somehow&mdash;unless we're willing to stay in this
+      blessed island for the rest of our lives."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But what difference," Bumpo asked, "is his taking a holiday going to
+      make?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Impatiently Polynesia turned upon the Minister of the Interior.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Don't you see? If he has a clear week to get thoroughly interested in his
+      natural history again&mdash;marine stuff, his dream of seeing the floor of
+      the ocean and all that&mdash;there may be some chance of his consenting to
+      leave this pesky place. But while he is here on duty as king he never gets
+      a moment to think of anything outside of the business of government."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, that's true. He's far too consententious Bumpo agreed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And besides," Polynesia went on, "his only hope of ever getting away from
+      here would be to escape secretly. He's got to leave while he is
+      holiday-making, incognito&mdash;when no one knows where he is or what he's
+      doing, but us. If he built a ship big enough to cross the sea in, all the
+      Indians would see it, and hear it, being built; and they'd ask what it was
+      for. They would interfere. They'd sooner have anything happen than lose
+      the Doctor. Why, I believe if they thought he had any idea of escaping
+      they would put chains on him."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes, I really think they would," I agreed. "Yet without a ship of some
+      kind I don't see how the Doctor is going to get away, even secretly."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Well, I'll tell you," said Polynesia. "If we do succeed in making him
+      take this holiday, our next step will be to get the sea-snail to promise
+      to take us all in his shell and carry us to the mouth of Puddleby River.
+      If we can once get the snail willing, the temptation will be too much for
+      John Dolittle and he'll come, I know&mdash;especially as he'll be able to
+      take those new plants and drugs of Long Arrow's to the English doctors, as
+      well as see the floor of the ocean on the way."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "How thrilling!" I cried. "Do you mean the snail could take us under the
+      sea all the way back to Puddleby?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Certainly," said Polynesia, "a little trip like that is nothing to him.
+      He would crawl along the floor of the ocean and the Doctor could see all
+      the sights. Perfectly simple. Oh, John Dolittle will come all right, if we
+      can only get him to take that holiday&mdash;AND if the snail will consent
+      to give us the ride."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Golly, I hope he does!" sighed Jip. "I'm sick of these beastly tropics&mdash;they
+      make you feel so lazy and good-for-nothing. And there are no rats or
+      anything here&mdash;not that a fellow would have the energy to chase 'em
+      even if there were. My, wouldn't I be glad to see old Puddleby and the
+      garden again! And won't Dab-Dab be glad to have us back!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "By the end of next month," said I, "it will be two whole years since we
+      left England&mdash;since we pulled up the anchor at Kingsbridge and bumped
+      our way out into the river."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And got stuck on the mud-bank," added Chee-Chee in a dreamy, far-away
+      voice.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Do you remember how all the people waved to us from the river-wall?" I
+      asked.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes. And I suppose they've often talked about us in the town since," said
+      Jip&mdash;"wondering whether we're dead or alive."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Cease," said Bumpo, "I feel I am about to weep from sediment."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <a name="link2H_4_0068" id="link2H_4_0068">
+      <!--  H2 anchor --> </a>
+    </p>
+    <div style="height: 4em;">
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </div>
+    <h2>
+      THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S DECISION
+    </h2>
+    <p>
+      WELL, you can guess how glad we were when next morning the Doctor, after
+      his all-night conversation with the snail, told us that he had made up his
+      mind to take the holiday. A proclamation was published right away by the
+      Town Crier that His Majesty was going into the country for a seven-day
+      rest, but that during his absence the palace and the government offices
+      would be kept open as usual.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Polynesia was immensely pleased. She at once set quietly to work making
+      arrangements for our departure&mdash;taking good care the while that no
+      one should get an inkling of where we were going, what we were taking with
+      us, the hour of our leaving or which of the palace-gates we would go out
+      by.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Cunning old schemer that she was, she forgot nothing. And not even we, who
+      were of the Doctor's party, could imagine what reasons she had for some of
+      her preparations. She took me inside and told me that the one thing I must
+      remember to bring with me was ALL of the Doctor's note-books. Long Arrow,
+      who was the only Indian let into the secret of our destination, said he
+      would like to come with us as far as the beach to see the Great Snail; and
+      him Polynesia told to be sure and bring his collection of plants. Bumpo
+      she ordered to carry the Doctor's high hat&mdash;carefully hidden under
+      his coat. She sent off nearly all the footmen who were on night duty to do
+      errands in the town, so that there should be as few servants as possible
+      to see us leave. And midnight, the hour when most of the towns-people
+      would be asleep, she finally chose for our departure.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      We had to take a week's food-supply with us for the royal holiday. So,
+      with our other packages, we were heavy laden when on the stroke of twelve
+      we opened the west door of the palace and stepped cautiously and quietly
+      into the moonlit garden.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Tiptoe incognito," whispered Bumpo as we gently closed the heavy doors
+      behind us.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      No one had seen us leave.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      At the foot of the stone steps leading from the Peacock Terrace to the
+      Sunken Rosary, something made me pause and look back at the magnificent
+      palace which we had built in this strange, far-off land where no white men
+      but ourselves had ever come. Somehow I felt it in my bones that we were
+      leaving it to-night never to return again. And I wondered what other kings
+      and ministers would dwell in its splendid halls when we were gone. The air
+      was hot; and everything was deadly still but for the gentle splashing of
+      the tame flamingoes paddling in the lily-pond. Suddenly the twinkling
+      lantern of a night watchman appeared round the corner of a cypress hedge.
+      Polynesia plucked at my stocking and, in an impatient whisper, bade me
+      hurry before our flight be discovered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      On our arrival at the beach we found the snail already feeling much better
+      and now able to move his tail without pain.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The porpoises (who are by nature inquisitive creatures) were still hanging
+      about in the offing to see if anything of interest was going to happen.
+      Polynesia, the plotter, while the Doctor was occupied with his new
+      patient, signaled to them and drew them aside for a little private chat.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now see here, my friends," said she speaking low: "you know how much John
+      Dolittle has done for the animals&mdash;given his whole life up to them,
+      one might say. Well, here is your chance to do something for him. Listen:
+      he got made king of this island against his will, see? And now that he has
+      taken the job on, he feels that he can't leave it&mdash;thinks the Indians
+      won't be able to get along without him and all that&mdash;which is
+      nonsense, as you and I very well know. All right. Then here's the point:
+      if this snail were only willing to take him and us&mdash;and a little
+      baggage&mdash;not very much, thirty or forty pieces, say&mdash;inside his
+      shell and carry us to England, we feel sure that the Doctor would go;
+      because he's just crazy to mess about on the floor of the ocean. What's
+      more this would be his one and only chance of escape from the island. Now
+      it is highly important that the Doctor return to his own country to carry
+      on his proper work which means such a lot to the animals of the world. So
+      what we want you to do is to tell the sea-urchin to tell the starfish to
+      tell the snail to take us in his shell and carry us to Puddleby River. Is
+      that plain?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Quite, quite," said the porpoises. "And we will willingly do our very
+      best to persuade him&mdash;for it is, as you say, a perfect shame for the
+      great man to be wasting his time here when he is so much needed by the
+      animals."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And don't let the Doctor know what you're about," said Polynesia as they
+      started to move off. "He might balk if he thought we had any hand in it.
+      Get the snail to offer on his own account to take us. See?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      John Dolittle, unaware of anything save the work he was engaged on, was
+      standing knee-deep in the shallow water, helping the snail try out his
+      mended tail to see if it were well enough to travel on. Bumpo and Long
+      Arrow, with Chee-Chee and Jip, were lolling at the foot of a palm a little
+      way up the beach. Polynesia and I now went and joined them. Half an hour
+      passed.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      What success the porpoises had met with, we did not know, till suddenly
+      the Doctor left the snail's side and came splashing out to us, quite
+      breathless.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What do you think?" he cried, "while I was talking to the snail just now
+      he offered, of his own accord, to take us all back to England inside his
+      shell. He says he has got to go on a voyage of discovery anyway, to hunt
+      up a new home, now that the Deep Hole is closed. Said it wouldn't be much
+      out of his way to drop us at Puddleby River, if we cared to come along&mdash;Goodness,
+      what a chance! I'd love to go. To examine the floor of the ocean all the
+      way from Brazil to Europe! No man ever did it before. What a glorious
+      trip!&mdash;Oh that I had never allowed myself to be made king! Now I must
+      see the chance of a lifetime slip by."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He turned from us and moved down the sands again to the middle beach,
+      gazing wistfully, longingly out at the snail. There was something
+      peculiarly sad and forlorn about him as he stood there on the lonely,
+      moonlit shore, the crown upon his head, his figure showing sharply black
+      against the glittering sea behind.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Out of the darkness at my elbow Polynesia rose and quietly moved down to
+      his side.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Now Doctor," said she in a soft persuasive voice as though she were
+      talking to a wayward child, "you know this king business is not your real
+      work in life. These natives will be able to get along without you&mdash;not
+      so well as they do with you of course&mdash;but they'll manage&mdash;the
+      same as they did before you came. Nobody can say you haven't done your
+      duty by them. It was their fault: they made you king. Why not accept the
+      snail's offer; and just drop everything now, and go? The work you'll do,
+      the information you'll carry home, will be of far more value than what
+      you're doing here."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Good friend," said the Doctor turning to her sadly, "I cannot. They would
+      go back to their old unsanitary ways: bad water, uncooked fish, no
+      drainage, enteric fever and the rest.... No. I must think of their health,
+      their welfare. I began life as a people's doctor: I seem to have come back
+      to it in the end. I cannot desert them. Later perhaps something will turn
+      up. But I cannot leave them now."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "That's where you're wrong, Doctor," said she. "Now is when you should go.
+      Nothing will 'turn up.' The longer you stay, the harder it will be to
+      leave&mdash;Go now. Go to-night."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "What, steal away without even saying good-bye to them! Why, Polynesia,
+      what a thing to suggest!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "A fat chance they would give you to say good-bye!" snorted Polynesia
+      growing impatient at last. "I tell you, Doctor, if you go back to that
+      palace tonight, for goodbys or anything else, you will stay there. Now&mdash;this
+      moment&mdash;is the time for you to go."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The truth of the old parrot's words seemed to be striking home; for the
+      Doctor stood silent a minute, thinking.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But there are the note-books," he said presently: "I would have to go
+      back to fetch them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I have them here, Doctor," said I, speaking up&mdash;"all of them."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Again he pondered.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And Long Arrow's collection," he said. "I would have to take that also
+      with me."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "It is here, Oh Kindly One," came the Indian's deep voice from the shadow
+      beneath the palm.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "But what about provisions," asked the Doctor&mdash;"food for the
+      journey?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "We have a week's supply with us, for our holiday," said Polynesia&mdash;"that's
+      more than we will need."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      For a third time the Doctor was silent and thoughtful.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "And then there's my hat," he said fretfully at last. "That settles it:
+      I'll HAVE to go back to the palace. I can't leave without my hat. How
+      could I appear in Puddleby with this crown on my head?"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Here it is, Doctor," said Bumpo producing the hat, old, battered and
+      beloved, from under his coat. Polynesia had indeed thought of everything.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Yet even now we could see the Doctor was still trying to think up further
+      excuses.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh Kindly One," said Long Arrow, "why tempt ill fortune? Your way is
+      clear. Your future and your work beckon you back to your foreign home
+      beyond the sea. With you will go also what lore I too have gathered for
+      mankind&mdash;to lands where it will be of wider use than it can ever
+      here. I see the glimmerings of dawn in the eastern heaven. Day is at hand.
+      Go before your subjects are abroad. Go before your project is discovered.
+      For truly I believe that if you go not now you will linger the remainder
+      of your days a captive king in Popsipetel."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Great decisions often take no more than a moment in the making. Against
+      the now paling sky I saw the Doctor's figure suddenly stiffen. Slowly he
+      lifted the Sacred Crown from off his head and laid it on the sands.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      And when he spoke his voice was choked with tears.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "They will find it here," he murmured, "when they come to search for me.
+      And they will know that I have gone.... My children, my poor children!&mdash;I
+      wonder will they ever understand why it was I left them.... I wonder will
+      they ever understand&mdash;and forgive."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      He took his old hat from Bumpo; then facing Long Arrow, gripped his
+      outstretched hand in silence.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "You decide aright, oh Kindly One," said the Indian&mdash;"though none
+      will miss and mourn you more than Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow&mdash;Farewell,
+      and may good fortune ever lead you by the hand!"
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was the first and only time I ever saw the Doctor weep. Without a word
+      to any of us, he turned and moved down the beach into the shallow water of
+      the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The snail humped up its back and made an opening between its shoulders and
+      the edge of its shell. The Doctor clambered up and passed within. We
+      followed him, after handing up the baggage. The opening shut tight with a
+      whistling suction noise.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Then turning in the direction of the East, the great creature began moving
+      smoothly forward, down the slope into the deeper waters.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Just as the swirling dark green surf was closing in above our heads, the
+      big morning sun popped his rim up over the edge of the ocean. And through
+      our transparent walls of pearl we saw the watery world about us suddenly
+      light up with that most wondrously colorful of visions, a daybreak beneath
+      the sea.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The rest of the story of our homeward voyage is soon told.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our new quarters we found very satisfactory. Inside the spacious shell,
+      the snail's wide back was extremely comfortable to sit and lounge on&mdash;better
+      than a sofa, when you once got accustomed to the damp and clammy feeling
+      of it. He asked us, shortly after we started, if we wouldn't mind taking
+      off our boots, as the hobnails in them hurt his back as we ran excitedly
+      from one side to another to see the different sights.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The motion was not unpleasant, very smooth and even; in fact, but for the
+      landscape passing outside, you would not know, on the level going, that
+      you were moving at all.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      I had always thought for some reason or other that the bottom of the sea
+      was flat. I found that it was just as irregular and changeful as the
+      surface of the dry land. We climbed over great mountain-ranges, with peaks
+      towering above peaks. We threaded our way through dense forests of tall
+      sea-plants. We crossed wide empty stretches of sandy mud, like deserts&mdash;so
+      vast that you went on for a whole day with nothing ahead of you but a dim
+      horizon. Sometimes the scene was moss-covered, rolling country, green and
+      restful to the eye like rich pastures; so that you almost looked to see
+      sheep cropping on these underwater downs. And sometimes the snail would
+      roll us forward inside him like peas, when he suddenly dipped downward to
+      descend into some deep secluded valley with steeply sloping sides.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      In these lower levels we often came upon the shadowy shapes of dead ships,
+      wrecked and sunk Heaven only knows how many years ago; and passing them we
+      would speak in hushed whispers like children seeing monuments in churches.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Here too, in the deeper, darker waters, monstrous fishes, feeding quietly
+      in caves and hollows would suddenly spring up, alarmed at our approach,
+      and flash away into the gloom with the speed of an arrow. While other
+      bolder ones, all sorts of unearthly shapes and colors, would come right up
+      and peer in at us through the shell.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I suppose they think we are a sort of sanaquarium," said Bumpo&mdash;"I'd
+      hate to be a fish."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      It was a thrilling and ever-changing show. The Doctor wrote or sketched
+      incessantly. Before long we had filled all the blank note-books we had
+      left. Then we searched our pockets for any odd scraps of paper on which to
+      jot down still more observations. We even went through the used books a
+      second time, writing in between the lines, scribbling all over the covers,
+      back and front.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Our greatest difficulty was getting enough light to see by. In the lower
+      waters it was very dim. On the third day we passed a band of fire-eels, a
+      sort of large, marine glow-worm; and the Doctor asked the snail to get
+      them to come with us for a way. This they did, swimming alongside; and
+      their light was very helpful, though not brilliant.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      How our giant shellfish found his way across that vast and gloomy world
+      was a great puzzle to us. John Dolittle asked him by what means he
+      navigated&mdash;how he knew he was on the right road to Puddleby River.
+      And what the snail said in reply got the Doctor so excited, that having no
+      paper left, he tore out the lining of his precious hat and covered it with
+      notes.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      By night of course it was impossible to see anything; and during the hours
+      of darkness the snail used to swim instead of crawl. When he did so he
+      could travel at a terrific speed, just by waggling that long tail of his.
+      This was the reason why we completed the trip in so short a time five and
+      a half days.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      The air of our chamber, not having a change in the whole voyage, got very
+      close and stuffy; and for the first two days we all had headaches. But
+      after that we got used to it and didn't mind it in the least.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Early in the afternoon of the sixth day, we noticed we were climbing a
+      long gentle slope. As we went upward it grew lighter. Finally we saw that
+      the snail had crawled right out of the water altogether and had now come
+      to a dead stop on a long strip of gray sand.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      Behind us we saw the surface of the sea rippled by the wind. On our left
+      was the mouth of a river with the tide running out. While in front, the
+      low flat land stretched away into the mist&mdash;which prevented one from
+      seeing very far in any direction. A pair of wild ducks with craning necks
+      and whirring wings passed over us and disappeared like shadows, seaward.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      As a landscape, it was a great change from the hot brilliant sunshine of
+      Popsipetel.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      With the same whistling suction sound, the snail made the opening for us
+      to crawl out by. As we stepped down upon the marshy land we noticed that a
+      fine, drizzling autumn rain was falling.
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Can this be Merrie England?" asked Bumpo, peering into the fog&mdash;"doesn't
+      look like any place in particular. Maybe the snail hasn't brought us right
+      after all."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Yes," sighed Polynesia, shaking the rain oft her feathers, "this is
+      England all right&mdash;You can tell it by the beastly climate."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Oh, but fellows," cried Jip, as he sniffed up the air in great gulps, "it
+      has a SMELL&mdash;a good and glorious smell!&mdash;Excuse me a minute: I
+      see a water-rat."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Sh!&mdash;Listen!" said Chee-Chee through teeth that chattered with the
+      cold. "There's Puddleby church-clock striking four. Why don't we divide up
+      the baggage and get moving. We've got a long way to foot it home across
+      the marshes."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "Let's hope," I put in, "that Dab-Dab has a nice fire burning in the
+      kitchen."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      "I'm sure she will," said the Doctor as he picked out his old handbag from
+      among the bundles&mdash;"With this wind from the East she'll need it to
+      keep the animals in the house warm. Come on. Let's hug the river-bank so
+      we don't miss our way in the fog. You know, there's something rather
+      attractive in the bad weather of England&mdash;when you've got a
+      kitchen-fire to look forward to.... Four o'clock! Come along&mdash;we'll
+      just be in nice time for tea."
+    </p>
+    <p>
+      <br /><br /><br /><br />
+    </p>
+<pre xml:space="preserve">
+
+
+
+
+
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+</pre>
+  </body>
+</html>
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+Project Gutenberg's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
+
+Author: Hugh Lofting
+
+Posting Date: September 17, 2008 [EBook #1154]
+Release Date: January, 1998
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Charles Keller for Tina
+
+
+
+
+
+THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE
+
+By Hugh Lofting
+
+
+
+                            To
+                             Colin
+                              and
+                               Elizabeth
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+     PART ONE
+          PROLOGUE
+     I    THE COBBLER'S SON
+     II   I HEAR OF THE GREAT NATURALIST
+     III  THE DOCTOR'S HOME
+     IV   THE WIFF-WAFF
+     V    POLYNESIA
+     VI   THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL
+     VII  SHELLFISH TALK
+     VIII ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?
+     IX   THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
+     X    THE PRIVATE ZOO
+     XI   MY SCHOOLMASTER, POLYNESIA
+     XII  MY GREAT IDEA
+     XIII A TRAVELER ARRIVES
+     XIV  CHEE-CHEE'S VOYAGE
+     XV   I BECOME A DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT
+
+     PART TWO
+     I    THE CREW OF "THE CURLEW"
+     II   LUKE THE HERMIT
+     III  JIP AND THE SECRET
+     IV   BOB
+     V    MENDOZA
+     VI   THE JUDGE'S DOG
+     VII  THE END OF THE MYSTERY
+     VIII THREE CHEERS
+     IX   THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE
+     X    LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW
+     XI   BLIND TRAVEL
+     XII  DESTINY AND DESTINATION
+
+     PART THREE
+     I    THE THIRD MAN
+     II   GOOD-BYE!
+     III  OUR TROUBLES BEGIN
+     IV   OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE
+     V    POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN
+     VI   THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE
+     VII  THE DOCTOR'S WAGER
+     VIII THE GREAT BULLFIGHT
+     IX   WE DEPART IN A HURRY
+
+     PART FOUR
+     I    SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN
+     II   THE FIDGIT'S STORY
+     III  BAD WEATHER
+     IV   WRECKED!
+     V    LAND!
+     VI   THE JABIZRI
+     VII  HAWK'S-HEAD MOUNTAIN
+
+     PART FIVE
+     I    A GREAT MOMENT
+     II   "THE MEN OF THE MOVING, LAND"
+     III  FIRE
+     IV   WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT
+     V    WAR!
+     VI   GENERAL POLYNESIA
+     VII  THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS
+     VIII THE HANGING STONE
+     IX   THE ELECTION
+     X   THE CORONATION OF KING JONG
+
+     PART SIX
+     I    NEW POPSIPETEL
+     II   THOUGHTS OF HOME
+     III  THE RED MAN'S SCIENCE
+     IV   THE SEA-SERPENT
+     V    THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED AT LAST
+     VI   THE LAST CABINET MEETING
+     VII  THE DOCTOR'S DECISION
+
+
+
+
+THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE
+
+
+
+
+PROLOGUE
+
+
+ALL that I have written so far about Doctor Dolittle I heard long after
+it happened from those who had known him--indeed a great deal of it took
+place before I was born. But I now come to set down that part of the
+great man's life which I myself saw and took part in.
+
+Many years ago the Doctor gave me permission to do this. But we were
+both of us so busy then voyaging around the world, having adventures and
+filling note-books full of natural history that I never seemed to get
+time to sit down and write of our doings.
+
+Now of course, when I am quite an old man, my memory isn't so good
+any more. But whenever I am in doubt and have to hesitate and think, I
+always ask Polynesia, the parrot.
+
+That wonderful bird (she is now nearly two hundred and fifty years old)
+sits on the top of my desk, usually humming sailor songs to herself,
+while I write this book. And, as every one who ever met her knows,
+Polynesia's memory is the most marvelous memory in the world. If there
+is any happening I am not quite sure of, she is always able to put
+me right, to tell me exactly how it took place, who was there and
+everything about it. In fact sometimes I almost think I ought to say
+that this book was written by Polynesia instead of me.
+
+Very well then, I will begin. And first of all I must tell you something
+about myself and how I came to meet the Doctor.
+
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE COBBLER'S SON
+
+MY name was Tommy Stubbins, son of Jacob Stubbins, the cobbler of
+Puddleby-on-the-Marsh; and I was nine and a half years old. At that time
+Puddleby was only quite a small town. A river ran through the middle
+of it; and over this river there was a very old stone bridge, called
+Kingsbridge, which led you from the market-place on one side to the
+churchyard on the other.
+
+Sailing-ships came up this river from the sea and anchored near the
+bridge. I used to go down and watch the sailors unloading the ships upon
+the river-wall. The sailors sang strange songs as they pulled upon
+the ropes; and I learned these songs by heart. And I would sit on the
+river-wall with my feet dangling over the water and sing with the men,
+pretending to myself that I too was a sailor.
+
+For I longed always to sail away with those brave ships when they turned
+their backs on Puddleby Church and went creeping down the river again,
+across the wide lonely marshes to the sea. I longed to go with them out
+into the world to seek my fortune in foreign lands--Africa, India, China
+and Peru! When they got round the bend in the river and the water was
+hidden from view, you could still see their huge brown sails towering
+over the roofs of the town, moving onward slowly--like some gentle
+giants that walked among the houses without noise. What strange things
+would they have seen, I wondered, when next they came back to anchor
+at Kingsbridge! And, dreaming of the lands I had never seen, I'd sit on
+there, watching till they were out of sight.
+
+Three great friends I had in Puddleby in those days. One was Joe, the
+mussel-man, who lived in a tiny hut by the edge of the water under the
+bridge. This old man was simply marvelous at making things. I never
+saw a man so clever with his hands. He used to mend my toy ships for me
+which I sailed upon the river; he built windmills out of packing-cases
+and barrel-staves; and he could make the most wonderful kites from old
+umbrellas.
+
+Joe would sometimes take me in his mussel-boat, and when the tide was
+running out we would paddle down the river as far as the edge of the sea
+to get mussels and lobsters to sell. And out there on the cold lonely
+marshes we would see wild geese flying, and curlews and redshanks and
+many other kinds of seabirds that live among the samfire and the
+long grass of the great salt fen. And as we crept up the river in
+the evening, when the tide had turned, we would see the lights on
+Kingsbridge twinkle in the dusk, reminding us of tea-time and warm
+fires.
+
+Another friend I had was Matthew Mugg, the cat's-meat-man. He was a
+funny old person with a bad squint. He looked rather awful but he was
+really quite nice to talk to. He knew everybody in Puddleby; and he knew
+all the dogs and all the cats. In those times being a cat's-meat-man was
+a regular business. And you could see one nearly any day going through
+the streets with a wooden tray full of pieces of meat stuck on skewers
+crying, "Meat! M-E-A-T!" People paid him to give this meat to their cats
+and dogs instead of feeding them on dog-biscuits or the scraps from the
+table.
+
+I enjoyed going round with old Matthew and seeing the cats and dogs come
+running to the garden-gates whenever they heard his call. Sometimes he
+let me give the meat to the animals myself; and I thought this was great
+fun. He knew a lot about dogs and he would tell me the names of the
+different kinds as we went through the town. He had several dogs of his
+own; one, a whippet, was a very fast runner, and Matthew used to win
+prizes with her at the Saturday coursing races; another, a terrier,
+was a fine ratter. The cat's-meat-man used to make a business of
+rat-catching for the millers and farmers as well as his other trade of
+selling cat's-meat.
+
+My third great friend was Luke the Hermit. But of him I will tell you
+more later on.
+
+I did not go to school; because my father was not rich enough to send
+me. But I was extremely fond of animals. So I used to spend my time
+collecting birds' eggs and butterflies, fishing in the river, rambling
+through the countryside after blackberries and mushrooms and helping the
+mussel-man mend his nets.
+
+Yes, it was a very pleasant life I lived in those days long ago--though
+of course I did not think so then. I was nine and a half years old; and,
+like all boys, I wanted to grow up--not knowing how well off I was with
+no cares and nothing to worry me. Always I longed for the time when I
+should be allowed to leave my father's house, to take passage in one of
+those brave ships, to sail down the river through the misty marshes to
+the sea--out into the world to seek my fortune.
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER. I HEAR OF THE GREAT NATURALIST
+
+ONE early morning in the Springtime, when I was wandering among the
+hills at the back of the town, I happened to come upon a hawk with a
+squirrel in its claws. It was standing on a rock and the squirrel was
+fighting very hard for its life. The hawk was so frightened when I came
+upon it suddenly like this, that it dropped the poor creature and flew
+away. I picked the squirrel up and found that two of its legs were badly
+hurt. So I carried it in my arms back to the town.
+
+When I came to the bridge I went into the musselman's hut and asked him
+if he could do anything for it. Joe put on his spectacles and examined
+it carefully. Then he shook his head.
+
+"Yon crittur's got a broken leg," he said--"and another badly cut an'
+all. I can mend you your boats, Tom, but I haven't the tools nor the
+learning to make a broken squirrel seaworthy. This is a job for a
+surgeon--and for a right smart one an' all. There be only one man I know
+who could save yon crittur's life. And that's John Dolittle."
+
+"Who is John Dolittle?" I asked. "Is he a vet?"
+
+"No," said the mussel-man. "He's no vet. Doctor Dolittle is a
+nacheralist."
+
+"What's a nacheralist?"
+
+"A nacheralist," said Joe, putting away his glasses and starting to
+fill his pipe, "is a man who knows all about animals and butterflies and
+plants and rocks an' all. John Dolittle is a very great nacheralist. I'm
+surprised you never heard of him--and you daft over animals. He knows
+a whole lot about shellfish--that I know from my own knowledge. He's
+a quiet man and don't talk much; but there's folks who do say he's the
+greatest nacheralist in the world."
+
+"Where does he live?" I asked.
+
+"Over on the Oxenthorpe Road, t'other side the town. Don't know just
+which house it is, but 'most anyone 'cross there could tell you, I
+reckon. Go and see him. He's a great man."
+
+So I thanked the mussel-man, took up my squirrel again and started oft
+towards the Oxenthorpe Road.
+
+The first thing I heard as I came into the marketplace was some one
+calling "Meat! M-E-A-T!"
+
+"There's Matthew Mugg," I said to myself. "He'll know where this Doctor
+lives. Matthew knows everyone."
+
+So I hurried across the market-place and caught him up.
+
+"Matthew," I said, "do you know Doctor Dolittle?"
+
+"Do I know John Dolittle!" said he. "Well, I should think I do! I know
+him as well as I know my own wife--better, I sometimes think. He's a
+great man--a very great man."
+
+"Can you show me where he lives?" I asked. "I want to take this squirrel
+to him. It has a broken leg."
+
+"Certainly," said the cat's-meat-man. "I'll be going right by his house
+directly. Come along and I'll show you."
+
+So off we went together.
+
+"Oh, I've known John Dolittle for years and years," said Matthew as we
+made our way out of the market-place. "But I'm pretty sure he ain't home
+just now. He's away on a voyage. But he's liable to be back any day.
+I'll show you his house and then you'll know where to find him."
+
+All the way down the Oxenthorpe Road Matthew hardly stopped talking
+about his great friend, Doctor John Dolittle--"M. D." He talked so much
+that he forgot all about calling out "Meat!" until we both suddenly
+noticed that we had a whole procession of dogs following us patiently.
+
+"Where did the Doctor go to on this voyage?" I asked as Matthew handed
+round the meat to them.
+
+"I couldn't tell you," he answered. "Nobody never knows where he goes,
+nor when he's going, nor when he's coming back. He lives all alone
+except for his pets. He's made some great voyages and some wonderful
+discoveries. Last time he came back he told me he'd found a tribe of
+Red Indians in the Pacific Ocean--lived on two islands, they did. The
+husbands lived on one island and the wives lived on the other. Sensible
+people, some of them savages. They only met once a year, when the
+husbands came over to visit the wives for a great feast--Christmas-time,
+most likely. Yes, he's a wonderful man is the Doctor. And as for
+animals, well, there ain't no one knows as much about 'em as what he
+does."
+
+"How did he get to know so much about animals?" I asked.
+
+The cat's-meat-man stopped and leant down to whisper in my ear.
+
+"HE TALKS THEIR LANGUAGE," he said in a hoarse, mysterious voice.
+
+"The animals' language?" I cried.
+
+"Why certainly," said Matthew. "All animals have some kind of a
+language. Some sorts talk more than others; some only speak in
+sign-language, like deaf-and-dumb. But the Doctor, he understands them
+all--birds as well as animals. We keep it a secret though, him and me,
+because folks only laugh at you when you speak of it. Why, he can
+even write animal-language. He reads aloud to his pets. He's wrote
+history-books in monkey-talk, poetry in canary language and comic songs
+for magpies to sing. It's a fact. He's now busy learning the language
+of the shellfish. But he says it's hard work--and he has caught some
+terrible colds, holding his head under water so much. He's a great man."
+
+"He certainly must be," I said. "I do wish he were home so I could meet
+him."
+
+"Well, there's his house, look," said the cat's, meat-man--"that little
+one at the bend in the road there--the one high up--like it was sitting
+on the wall above the street."
+
+We were now come beyond the edge of the town. And the house that Matthew
+pointed out was quite a small one standing by itself. There seemed to be
+a big garden around it; and this garden was much higher than the road,
+so you had to go up a flight of steps in the wall before you reached the
+front gate at the top. I could see that there were many fine fruit trees
+in the garden, for their branches hung down over the wall in places. But
+the wall was so high I could not see anything else.
+
+When we reached the house Matthew went up the steps to the front gate
+and I followed him. I thought he was going to go into the garden; but
+the gate was locked. A dog came running down from the house; and he took
+several pieces of meat which the cat's-meat-man pushed through the bars
+of the gate, and some paper bags full of corn and bran, I noticed that
+this dog did not stop to eat the meat, as any ordinary dog would have
+done, but he took all the things back to the house and disappeared. He
+had a curious wide collar round his neck which looked as though it were
+made of brass or something. Then we came away.
+
+"The Doctor isn't back yet," said Matthew, "or the gate wouldn't be
+locked."
+
+"What were all those things in paper-bags you gave the dog?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, those were provisions," said Matthew--"things for the animals to
+eat. The Doctor's house is simply full of pets. I give the things to
+the dog, while the Doctor's away, and the dog gives them to the other
+animals."
+
+"And what was that curious collar he was wearing round his neck?"
+
+"That's a solid gold dog-collar," said Matthew. "It was given to him
+when he was with the Doctor on one of his voyages long ago. He saved a
+man's life."
+
+"How long has the Doctor had him?" I asked.
+
+"Oh, a long time. Jip's getting pretty old now. That's why the Doctor
+doesn't take him on his voyages any more. He leaves him behind to take
+care of the house. Every Monday and Thursday I bring the food to the
+gate here and give it him through the bars. He never lets any one come
+inside the garden while the Doctor's away--not even me, though he knows
+me well. But you'll always be able to tell if the Doctor's back or
+not--because if he is, the gate will surely be open."
+
+So I went off home to my father's house and put my squirrel to bed in
+an old wooden box full of straw. And there I nursed him myself and took
+care of him as best I could till the time should come when the Doctor
+would return. And every day I went to the little house with the big
+garden on the edge of the town and tried the gate to see if it were
+locked. Sometimes the dog, Jip, would come down to the gate to meet me.
+But though he always wagged his tail and seemed glad to see me, he never
+let me come inside the garden.
+
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S HOME
+
+ONE Monday afternoon towards the end of April my father asked me to take
+some shoes which he had mended to a house on the other side of the town.
+They were for a Colonel Bellowes who was very particular.
+
+I found the house and rang the bell at the front door. The Colonel
+opened it, stuck out a very red face and said, "Go round to the
+tradesmen's entrance--go to the back door." Then he slammed the door
+shut.
+
+I felt inclined to throw the shoes into the middle of his flower-bed.
+But I thought my father might be angry, so I didn't. I went round to the
+back door, and there the Colonel's wife met me and took the shoes from
+me. She looked a timid little woman and had her hands all over flour as
+though she were making bread. She seemed to be terribly afraid of her
+husband whom I could still hear stumping round the house somewhere,
+grunting indignantly because I had come to the front door. Then she
+asked me in a whisper if I would have a bun and a glass of milk. And I
+said, "Yes, please." After I had eaten the bun and milk, I thanked the
+Colonel's wife and came away. Then I thought that before I went home
+I would go and see if the Doctor had come back yet. I had been to his
+house once already that morning. But I thought I'd just like to go
+and take another look. My squirrel wasn't getting any better and I was
+beginning to be worried about him.
+
+So I turned into the Oxenthorpe Road and started off towards the
+Doctor's house. On the way I noticed that the sky was clouding over and
+that it looked as though it might rain.
+
+I reached the gate and found it still locked. I felt very discouraged. I
+had been coming here every day for a week now. The dog, Jip, came to
+the gate and wagged his tail as usual, and then sat down and watched me
+closely to see that I didn't get in.
+
+I began to fear that my squirrel would die before the Doctor came back.
+I turned away sadly, went down the steps on to the road and turned
+towards home again.
+
+I wondered if it were supper-time yet. Of course I had no watch of my
+own, but I noticed a gentleman coming towards me down the road; and
+when he got nearer I saw it was the Colonel out for a walk. He was all
+wrapped up in smart overcoats and mufflers and bright-colored gloves. It
+was not a very cold day but he had so many clothes on he looked like a
+pillow inside a roll of blankets. I asked him if he would please tell me
+the time.
+
+He stopped, grunted and glared down at me--his red face growing redder
+still; and when he spoke it sounded like the cork coming out of a
+gingerbeer-bottle.
+
+"Do you imagine for one moment," he spluttered, "that I am going to get
+myself all unbuttoned just to tell a little boy like you THE TIME!" And
+he went stumping down the street, grunting harder than ever.
+
+I stood still a moment looking after him and wondering how old I would
+have to be, to have him go to the trouble of getting his watch out. And
+then, all of a sudden, the rain came down in torrents.
+
+I have never seen it rain so hard. It got dark, almost like night. The
+wind began to blow; the thunder rolled; the lightning flashed, and in a
+moment the gutters of the road were flowing like a river. There was no
+place handy to take shelter, so I put my head down against the driving
+wind and started to run towards home.
+
+I hadn't gone very far when my head bumped into something soft and I sat
+down suddenly on the pavement. I looked up to see whom I had run into.
+And there in front of me, sitting on the wet pavement like myself, was a
+little round man with a very kind face. He wore a shabby high hat and in
+his hand he had a small black bag.
+
+"I'm very sorry," I said. "I had my head down and I didn't see you
+coming."
+
+To my great surprise, instead of getting angry at being knocked down,
+the little man began to laugh.
+
+"You know this reminds me," he said, "of a time once when I was in
+India. I ran full tilt into a woman in a thunderstorm. But she was
+carrying a pitcher of molasses on her head and I had treacle in my hair
+for weeks afterwards--the flies followed me everywhere. I didn't hurt
+you, did I?"
+
+"No," I said. "I'm all right."
+
+"It was just as much my fault as it was yours, you know," said the
+little man. "I had my head down too--but look here, we mustn't sit
+talking like this. You must be soaked. I know I am. How far have you got
+to go?"
+
+"My home is on the other side of the town," I said, as we picked
+ourselves up.
+
+"My Goodness, but that was a wet pavement!" said he. "And I declare it's
+coming down worse than ever. Come along to my house and get dried. A
+storm like this can't last."
+
+He took hold of my hand and we started running back down the road
+together. As we ran I began to wonder who this funny little man could
+be, and where he lived. I was a perfect stranger to him, and yet he was
+taking me to his own home to get dried. Such a change, after the old
+red-faced Colonel who had refused even to tell me the time! Presently we
+stopped.
+
+"Here we are," he said.
+
+I looked up to see where we were and found myself back at the foot of
+the steps leading to the little house with the big garden! My new friend
+was already running up the steps and opening the gate with some keys he
+took from his pocket.
+
+"Surely," I thought, "this cannot be the great Doctor Dolittle himself!"
+
+I suppose after hearing so much about him I had expected some one very
+tall and strong and marvelous. It was hard to believe that this funny
+little man with the kind smiling face could be really he. Yet here he
+was, sure enough, running up the steps and opening the very gate which I
+had been watching for so many days!
+
+The dog, Jip, came rushing out and started jumping up on him and barking
+with happiness. The rain was splashing down heavier than ever.
+
+"Are you Doctor Dolittle?" I shouted as we sped up the short garden-path
+to the house.
+
+"Yes, I'm Doctor Dolittle," said he, opening the front door with the
+same bunch of keys. "Get in! Don't bother about wiping your feet. Never
+mind the mud. Take it in with you. Get in out of the rain!"
+
+I popped in, he and Jip following. Then he slammed the door to behind
+us.
+
+The storm had made it dark enough outside; but inside the house,
+with the door closed, it was as black as night. Then began the most
+extraordinary noise that I have ever heard. It sounded like all sorts
+and kinds of animals and birds calling and squeaking and screeching
+at the same time. I could hear things trundling down the stairs and
+hurrying along passages. Somewhere in the dark a duck was quacking,
+a cock was crowing, a dove was cooing, an owl was hooting, a lamb was
+bleating and Jip was barking. I felt birds' wings fluttering and fanning
+near my face. Things kept bumping into my legs and nearly upsetting me.
+The whole front hall seemed to be filling up with animals. The noise,
+together with the roaring of the rain, was tremendous; and I was
+beginning to grow a little bit scared when I felt the Doctor take hold
+of my arm and shout into my ear.
+
+"Don't be alarmed. Don't be frightened. These are just some of my pets.
+I've been away three months and they are glad to see me home again.
+Stand still where you are till I strike a light. My Gracious, what a
+storm!--Just listen to that thunder!"
+
+So there I stood in the pitch-black dark, while all kinds of animals
+which I couldn't see chattered and jostled around me. It was a curious
+and a funny feeling. I had often wondered, when I had looked in from the
+front gate, what Doctor Dolittle would be like and what the funny little
+house would have inside it. But I never imagined it would be anything
+like this. Yet somehow after I had felt the Doctor's hand upon my arm I
+was not frightened, only confused. It all seemed like some queer dream;
+and I was beginning to wonder if I was really awake, when I heard the
+Doctor speaking again:
+
+"My blessed matches are all wet. They won't strike. Have you got any?"
+
+"No, I'm afraid I haven't," I called back.
+
+"Never mind," said he. "Perhaps Dab-Dab can raise us a light somewhere."
+
+Then the Doctor made some funny clicking noises with his tongue and I
+heard some one trundle up the stairs again and start moving about in the
+rooms above.
+
+Then we waited quite a while without anything happening.
+
+"Will the light be long in coming?" I asked. "Some animal is sitting on
+my foot and my toes are going to sleep."
+
+"No, only a minute," said the Doctor. "She'll be back in a minute."
+
+And just then I saw the first glimmerings of a light around the landing
+above. At once all the animals kept quiet.
+
+"I thought you lived alone," I said to the Doctor. "So I do," said he.
+"It is Dab-Dab who is bringing the light."
+
+I looked up the stairs trying to make out who was coming. I could not
+see around the landing but I heard the most curious footstep on the
+upper flight. It sounded like some one hopping down from one step to the
+other, as though he were using only one leg.
+
+As the light came lower, it grew brighter and began to throw strange
+jumping shadows on the walls.
+
+"Ah-at last!" said the Doctor. "Good old Dab-Dab!"
+
+And then I thought I REALLY must be dreaming. For there, craning her
+neck round the bend of the landing, hopping down the stairs on one leg,
+came a spotless white duck. And in her right foot she carried a lighted
+candle!
+
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER. THE WIFF-WAFF
+
+WHEN at last I could look around me I found that the hall was indeed
+simply full of animals. It seemed to me that almost every kind of
+creature from the countryside must be there: a pigeon, a white rat, an
+owl, a badger, a jackdaw--there was even a small pig, just in from the
+rainy garden, carefully wiping his feet on the mat while the light from
+the candle glistened on his wet pink back.
+
+The Doctor took the candlestick from the duck and turned to me.
+
+"Look here," he said: "you must get those wet clothes off--by the way,
+what is your name?"
+
+"Tommy Stubbins," I said.
+
+"Oh, are you the son of Jacob Stubbins, the shoemaker?"
+
+"Yes," I said.
+
+"Excellent bootmaker, your father," said the Doctor. "You see these?"
+and he held up his right foot to show me the enormous boots he was
+wearing. "Your father made me those boots four years ago, and I've been
+wearing them ever since--perfectly wonderful boots--Well now, look
+here, Stubbins. You 've got to change those wet things and quick. Wait a
+moment till I get some more candles lit, and then we'll go upstairs and
+find some dry clothes. You'll have to wear an old suit of mine till we
+can get yours dry again by the kitchen-fire."
+
+So presently when more candles had been lighted round different parts
+of the house, we went upstairs; and when we had come into a bedroom
+the Doctor opened a big wardrobe and took out two suits of old clothes.
+These we put on. Then we carried our wet ones down to the kitchen and
+started a fire in the big chimney. The coat of the Doctor's which I was
+wearing was so large for me that I kept treading on my own coat-tails
+while I was helping to fetch the wood up from the cellar. But very
+soon we had a huge big fire blazing up the chimney and we hung our wet
+clothes around on chairs.
+
+"Now let's cook some supper," said the Doctor.--"You'll stay and have
+supper with me, Stubbins, of course?"
+
+Already I was beginning to be very fond of this funny little man who
+called me "Stubbins," instead of "Tommy" or "little lad" (I did so hate
+to be called "little lad"!) This man seemed to begin right away treating
+me as though I were a grown-up friend of his. And when he asked me to
+stop and have supper with him I felt terribly proud and happy. But I
+suddenly remembered that I had not told my mother that I would be out
+late. So very sadly I answered,
+
+"Thank you very much. I would like to stay, but I am afraid that my
+mother will begin to worry and wonder where I am if I don't get back."
+
+"Oh, but my dear Stubbins," said the Doctor, throwing another log of
+wood on the fire, "your clothes aren't dry yet. You'll have to wait
+for them, won't you? By the time they are ready to put on we will have
+supper cooked and eaten--Did you see where I put my bag?"
+
+"I think it is still in the hall," I said. "I'll go and see."
+
+I found the bag near the front door. It was made of black leather and
+looked very, very old. One of its latches was broken and it was tied up
+round the middle with a piece of string.
+
+"Thank you," said the Doctor when I brought it to him.
+
+"Was that bag all the luggage you had for your voyage?" I asked.
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, as he undid the piece of string. "I don't
+believe in a lot of baggage. It's such a nuisance. Life's too short to
+fuss with it. And it isn't really necessary, you know--Where DID I put
+those sausages?"
+
+The Doctor was feeling about inside the bag. First he brought out a loaf
+of new bread. Next came a glass jar with a curious metal top to it. He
+held this up to the light very carefully before he set it down upon the
+table; and I could see that there was some strange little water-creature
+swimming about inside. At last the Doctor brought out a pound of
+sausages.
+
+"Now," he said, "all we want is a frying-pan."
+
+We went into the scullery and there we found some pots and pans hanging
+against the wall. The Doctor took down the frying-pan. It was quite
+rusty on the inside.
+
+"Dear me, just look at that!" said he. "That's the worst of being away
+so long. The animals are very good and keep the house wonderfully clean
+as far as they can. Dab-Dab is a perfect marvel as a housekeeper. But
+some things of course they can't manage. Never mind, we'll soon clean it
+up. You'll find some silver-sand down there, under the sink, Stubbins.
+Just hand it up to me, will you?"
+
+In a few moments we had the pan all shiny and bright and the sausages
+were put over the kitchen-fire and a beautiful frying smell went all
+through the house.
+
+While the Doctor was busy at the cooking I went and took another look at
+the funny little creature swimming about in the glass jar.
+
+"What is this animal?" I asked.
+
+"Oh that," said the Doctor, turning round--"that's a Wiff-Waff. Its
+full name is hippocampus Pippitopitus. But the natives just call it a
+Wiff-Waff--on account of the way it waves its tail, swimming, I imagine.
+That's what I went on this last voyage for, to get that. You see I'm
+very busy just now trying to learn the language of the shellfish. They
+HAVE languages, of that I feel sure. I can talk a little shark language
+and porpoise dialect myself. But what I particularly want to learn now
+is shellfish."
+
+"Why?" I asked.
+
+"Well, you see, some of the shellfish are the oldest kind of animals in
+the world that we know of. We find their shells in the rocks--turned to
+stone--thousands of years old. So I feel quite sure that if I could only
+get to talk their language, I should be able to learn a whole lot about
+what the world was like ages and ages and ages ago. You see?"
+
+"But couldn't some of the other animals tell you as well?"
+
+"I don't think so," said the Doctor, prodding the sausages with a
+fork. "To be sure, the monkeys I knew in Africa some time ago were
+very helpful in telling me about bygone days; but they only went back
+a thousand years or so. No, I am certain that the oldest history in the
+world is to be had from the shellfish--and from them only. You see most
+of the other animals that were alive in those very ancient times have
+now become extinct."
+
+"Have you learned any shellfish language yet?" I asked.
+
+"No. I've only just begun. I wanted this particular kind of a pipe-fish
+because he is half a shellfish and half an ordinary fish. I went all the
+way to the Eastern Mediterranean after him. But I'm very much afraid he
+isn't going to be a great deal of help to me. To tell you the truth, I'm
+rather disappointed in his appearance. He doesn't LOOK very intelligent,
+does he?"
+
+"No, he doesn't," I agreed.
+
+"Ah," said the Doctor. "The sausages are done to a turn. Come
+along--hold your plate near and let me give you some."
+
+Then we sat down at the kitchen-table and started a hearty meal.
+
+It was a wonderful kitchen, that. I had many meals there afterwards and
+I found it a better place to eat in than the grandest dining-room in the
+world. It was so cozy and home-like and warm. It was so handy for the
+food too. You took it right off the fire, hot, and put it on the table
+and ate it. And you could watch your toast toasting at the fender and
+see it didn't burn while you drank your soup. And if you had forgotten
+to put the salt on the table, you didn't have to get up and go into
+another room to fetch it; you just reached round and took the big
+wooden box off the dresser behind you. Then the fireplace--the biggest
+fireplace you ever saw--was like a room in itself. You could get right
+inside it even when the logs were burning and sit on the wide seats
+either side and roast chestnuts after the meal was over--or listen to
+the kettle singing, or tell stories, or look at picture-books by the
+light of the fire. It was a marvelous kitchen. It was like the Doctor,
+comfortable, sensible, friendly and solid.
+
+While we were gobbling away, the door suddenly opened and in marched the
+duck, Dab-Dab, and the dog, Jip, dragging sheets and pillow-cases behind
+them over the clean tiled floor. The Doctor, seeing how surprised I was,
+explained:
+
+"They're just going to air the bedding for me in front of the fire.
+Dab-Dab is a perfect treasure of a housekeeper; she never forgets
+anything. I had a sister once who used to keep house for me (poor, dear
+Sarah! I wonder how she's getting on--I haven't seen her in many years).
+But she wasn't nearly as good as Dab-Dab. Have another sausage?"
+
+The Doctor turned and said a few words to the dog and duck in some
+strange talk and signs. They seemed to understand him perfectly.
+
+"Can you talk in squirrel language?" I asked.
+
+"Oh yes. That's quite an easy language," said the Doctor. "You could
+learn that yourself without a great deal of trouble. But why do you
+ask?"
+
+"Because I have a sick squirrel at home," I said. "I took it away from a
+hawk. But two of its legs are badly hurt and I wanted very much to have
+you see it, if you would. Shall I bring it to-morrow?"
+
+"Well, if its leg is badly broken I think I had better see it to-night.
+It may be too late to do much; but I'll come home with you and take a
+look at it."
+
+So presently we felt the clothes by the fire and mine were found to be
+quite dry. I took them upstairs to the bedroom and changed, and when I
+came down the Doctor was all ready waiting for me with his little black
+bag full of medicines and bandages.
+
+"Come along," he said. "The rain has stopped now."
+
+Outside it had grown bright again and the evening sky was all red with
+the setting sun; and thrushes were singing in the garden as we opened
+the gate to go down on to the road.
+
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER. POLYNESIA
+
+"I THINK your house is the most interesting house I was ever in," I
+said as we set off in the direction of the town. "May I come and see you
+again to-morrow?"
+
+"Certainly," said the Doctor. "Come any day you like. To-morrow I'll
+show you the garden and my private zoo."
+
+"Oh, have you a zoo?" I asked.
+
+"Yes," said he. "The larger animals are too big for the house, so I keep
+them in a zoo in the garden. It is not a very big collection but it is
+interesting in its way."
+
+"It must be splendid," I said, "to be able to talk all the languages of
+the different animals. Do you think I could ever learn to do it?"
+
+"Oh surely," said the Doctor--"with practise. You have to be very
+patient, you know. You really ought to have Polynesia to start you. It
+was she who gave me my first lessons."
+
+"Who is Polynesia?" I asked.
+
+"Polynesia was a West African parrot I had. She isn't with me any more
+now," said the Doctor sadly.
+
+"Why--is she dead?"
+
+"Oh no," said the Doctor. "She is still living, I hope. But when we
+reached Africa she seemed so glad to get back to her own country. She
+wept for joy. And when the time came for me to come back here I had not
+the heart to take her away from that sunny land--although, it is true,
+she did offer to come. I left her in Africa--Ah well! I have missed
+her terribly. She wept again when we left. But I think I did the right
+thing. She was one of the best friends I ever had. It was she who first
+gave me the idea of learning the animal languages and becoming an animal
+doctor. I often wonder if she remained happy in Africa, and whether I
+shall ever see her funny, old, solemn face again--Good old Polynesia!--A
+most extraordinary bird--Well, well!"
+
+Just at that moment we heard the noise of some one running behind us;
+and turning round we saw Jip the dog rushing down the road after us,
+as fast as his legs could bring him. He seemed very excited about
+something, and as soon as he came up to us, he started barking and
+whining to the Doctor in a peculiar way. Then the Doctor too seemed to
+get all worked up and began talking and making queer signs to the dog.
+At length he turned to me, his face shining with happiness.
+
+"Polynesia has come back!" he cried. "Imagine it. Jip says she has just
+arrived at the house. My! And it's five years since I saw her--Excuse me
+a minute."
+
+He turned as if to go back home. But the parrot, Polynesia, was already
+flying towards us. The Doctor clapped his hands like a child getting
+a new toy; while the swarm of sparrows in the roadway fluttered,
+gossiping, up on to the fences, highly scandalized to see a gray and
+scarlet parrot skimming down an English lane.
+
+On she came, straight on to the Doctor's shoulder, where she immediately
+began talking a steady stream in a language I could not understand.
+She seemed to have a terrible lot to say. And very soon the Doctor had
+forgotten all about me and my squirrel and Jip and everything else; till
+at length the bird clearly asked him something about me.
+
+"Oh excuse me, Stubbins!" said the Doctor. "I was so interested
+listening to my old friend here. We must get on and see this squirrel of
+yours--Polynesia, this is Thomas Stubbins."
+
+The parrot, on the Doctor's shoulder, nodded gravely towards me and
+then, to my great surprise, said quite plainly in English,
+
+"How do you do? I remember the night you were born. It was a terribly
+cold winter. You were a very ugly baby."
+
+"Stubbins is anxious to learn animal language," said the Doctor. "I was
+just telling him about you and the lessons you gave me when Jip ran up
+and told us you had arrived."
+
+"Well," said the parrot, turning to me, "I may have started the Doctor
+learning but I never could have done even that, if he hadn't first
+taught me to understand what I was saying when I spoke English. You see,
+many parrots can talk like a person, but very few of them understand
+what they are saying. They just say it because--well, because they fancy
+it is smart or, because they know they will get crackers given them."
+
+By this time we had turned and were going towards my home with Jip
+running in front and Polynesia still perched on the Doctor's shoulder.
+The bird chattered incessantly, mostly about Africa; but now she spoke
+in English, out of politeness to me.
+
+"How is Prince Bumpo getting on?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Oh, I'm glad you asked me," said Polynesia. "I almost forgot to tell
+you. What do you think?--BUMPO IS IN ENGLAND!"
+
+"In England!--You don't say!" cried the Doctor. "What on earth is he
+doing here?"
+
+"His father, the king, sent him here to a place called--er--Bullford, I
+think it was--to study lessons."
+
+"Bullford!--Bullford!" muttered the Doctor. "I never heard of the
+place--Oh, you mean Oxford."
+
+"Yes, that's the place--Oxford," said Polynesia "I knew it had cattle in
+it somewhere. Oxford--that's the place he's gone to."
+
+"Well, well," murmured the Doctor. "Fancy Bumpo studying at
+Oxford--Well, well!"
+
+"There were great doings in Jolliginki when he left. He was scared to
+death to come. He was the first man from that country to go abroad. He
+thought he was going to be eaten by white cannibals or something. You
+know what those niggers are--that ignorant! Well!--But his father made
+him come. He said that all the black kings were sending their sons to
+Oxford now. It was the fashion, and he would have to go. Bumpo wanted
+to bring his six wives with him. But the king wouldn't let him do that
+either. Poor Bumpo went off in tears--and everybody in the palace was
+crying too. You never heard such a hullabaloo."
+
+"Do you know if he ever went back in search of The Sleeping Beauty?"
+asked the Doctor.
+
+"Oh yes," said Polynesia--"the day after you left. And a good thing for
+him he did: the king got to know about his helping you to escape; and he
+was dreadfully wild about it."
+
+"And The Sleeping Beauty?--did he ever find her?"
+
+"Well, he brought back something which he SAID was The Sleeping Beauty.
+Myself, I think it was an albino niggeress. She had red hair and the
+biggest feet you ever saw. But Bumpo was no end pleased with her and
+finally married her amid great rejoicings. The feastings lasted seven
+days. She became his chief wife and is now known out there as the
+Crown-Princess BumPAH--you accent the last syllable."
+
+"And tell me, did he remain white?"
+
+"Only for about three months," said the parrot. "After that his face
+slowly returned to its natural color. It was just as well. He was so
+conspicuous in his bathing-suit the way he was, with his face white and
+the rest of him black."
+
+"And how is Chee-Chee getting on?--Chee-Chee," added the Doctor in
+explanation to me, "was a pet monkey I had years ago. I left him too in
+Africa when I came away."
+
+"Well," said Polynesia frowning,--"Chee-Chee is not entirely happy. I
+saw a good deal of him the last few years. He got dreadfully homesick
+for you and the house and the garden. It's funny, but I was just the
+same way myself. You remember how crazy I was to get back to the dear
+old land? And Africa IS a wonderful country--I don't care what anybody
+says. Well, I thought I was going to have a perfectly grand time. But
+somehow--I don't know--after a few weeks it seemed to get tiresome. I
+just couldn't seem to settle down. Well, to make a long story short,
+one night I made up my mind that I'd come back here and find you. So I
+hunted up old Chee-Chee and told him about it. He said he didn't blame
+me a bit--felt exactly the same way himself. Africa was so deadly quiet
+after the life we had led with you. He missed the stories you used to
+tell us out of your animal books--and the chats we used to have sitting
+round the kitchen-fire on winter nights. The animals out there were very
+nice to us and all that. But somehow the dear kind creatures seemed
+a bit stupid. Chee-Chee said he had noticed it too. But I suppose it
+wasn't they who had changed; it was we who were different. When I left,
+poor old Chee-Chee broke down and cried. He said he felt as though
+his only friend were leaving him--though, as you know, he has simply
+millions of relatives there. He said it didn't seem fair that I should
+have wings to fly over here any time I liked, and him with no way to
+follow me. But mark my words, I wouldn't be a bit surprised if he found
+a way to come--some day. He's a smart lad, is Chee-Chee."
+
+At this point we arrived at my home. My father's shop was closed and the
+shutters were up; but my mother was standing at the door looking down
+the street.
+
+"Good evening, Mrs. Stubbins," said the Doctor. "It is my fault your son
+is so late. I made him stay to supper while his clothes were drying.
+He was soaked to the skin; and so was I. We ran into one another in the
+storm and I insisted on his coming into my house for shelter."
+
+"I was beginning to get worried about him," said my mother. "I am
+thankful to you, Sir, for looking after him so well and bringing him
+home."
+
+"Don't mention it--don't mention it," said the Doctor. "We have had a
+very interesting chat."
+
+"Who might it be that I have the honor of addressing?" asked my mother
+staring at the gray parrot perched on the Doctor's shoulder.
+
+"Oh, I'm John Dolittle. I dare say your husband will remember me. He
+made me some very excellent boots about four years ago. They really
+are splendid," added the Doctor, gazing down at his feet with great
+satisfaction.
+
+"The Doctor has come to cure my squirrel, Mother," said I. "He knows all
+about animals."
+
+"Oh, no," said the Doctor, "not all, Stubbins, not all about them by any
+means."
+
+"It is very kind of you to come so far to look after his pet," said my
+mother. "Tom is always bringing home strange creatures from the woods
+and the fields."
+
+"Is he?" said the Doctor. "Perhaps he will grow up to be a naturalist
+some day. Who knows?"
+
+"Won't you come in?" asked my mother. "The place is a little untidy
+because I haven't finished the spring cleaning yet. But there's a nice
+fire burning in the parlor."
+
+"Thank you!" said the Doctor. "What a charming home you have!"
+
+And after wiping his enormous boots very, very carefully on the mat, the
+great man passed into the house.
+
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL
+
+INSIDE we found my father busy practising on the flute beside the fire.
+This he always did, every evening, after his work was over.
+
+The Doctor immediately began talking to him about flutes and piccolos
+and bassoons; and presently my father said,
+
+"Perhaps you perform upon the flute yourself, Sir. Won't you play us a
+tune?"
+
+"Well," said the Doctor, "it is a long time since I touched the
+instrument. But I would like to try. May I?"
+
+Then the Doctor took the flute from my father and played and played and
+played. It was wonderful. My mother and father sat as still as statues,
+staring up at the ceiling as though they were in church; and even I, who
+didn't bother much about music except on the mouth-organ--even I felt
+all sad and cold and creepy and wished I had been a better boy.
+
+"Oh I think that was just beautiful!" sighed my mother when at length
+the Doctor stopped.
+
+"You are a great musician, Sir," said my father, "a very great musician.
+Won't you please play us something else?"
+
+"Why certainly," said the Doctor--"Oh, but look here, I've forgotten all
+about the squirrel."
+
+"I'll show him to you," I said. "He is upstairs in my room."
+
+So I led the Doctor to my bedroom at the top of the house and showed him
+the squirrel in the packing-case filled with straw.
+
+The animal, who had always seemed very much afraid of me--though I had
+tried hard to make him feel at home, sat up at once when the Doctor came
+into the room and started to chatter. The Doctor chattered back in
+the same way and the squirrel when he was lifted up to have his leg
+examined, appeared to be rather pleased than frightened.
+
+I held a candle while the Doctor tied the leg up in what he called
+"splints," which he made out of match-sticks with his pen-knife.
+
+"I think you will find that his leg will get better now in a very short
+time," said the Doctor closing up his bag. "Don't let him run about for
+at least two weeks yet, but keep him in the open air and cover him up
+with dry leaves if the nights get cool. He tells me he is rather lonely
+here, all by himself, and is wondering how his wife and children are
+getting on. I have assured him you are a man to be trusted; and I will
+send a squirrel who lives in my garden to find out how his family are
+and to bring him news of them. He must be kept cheerful at all costs.
+Squirrels are naturally a very cheerful, active race. It is very hard
+for them to lie still doing nothing. But you needn't worry about him. He
+will be all right."
+
+Then we went back again to the parlor and my mother and father kept him
+playing the flute till after ten o'clock.
+
+Although my parents both liked the Doctor tremendously from the first
+moment that they saw him, and were very proud to have him come and play
+to us (for we were really terribly poor) they did not realize then what
+a truly great man he was one day to become. Of course now, when almost
+everybody in the whole world has heard about Doctor Dolittle and his
+books, if you were to go to that little house in Puddleby where my
+father had his cobbler's shop you would see, set in the wall over
+the old-fashioned door, a stone with writing on it which says: "JOHN
+DOLITTLE, THE FAMOUS NATURALIST, PLAYED THE FLUTE IN THIS HOUSE IN THE
+YEAR 1839."
+
+I often look back upon that night long, long ago. And if I close my eyes
+and think hard I can see that parlor just as it was then: a funny little
+man in coat-tails, with a round kind face, playing away on the flute
+in front of the fire; my mother on one side of him and my father on the
+other, holding their breath and listening with their eyes shut; myself,
+with Jip, squatting on the carpet at his feet, staring into the coals;
+and Polynesia perched on the mantlepiece beside his shabby high hat,
+gravely swinging her head from side to side in time to the music. I see
+it all, just as though it were before me now.
+
+And then I remember how, after we had seen the Doctor out at the front
+door, we all came back into the parlor and talked about him till it was
+still later; and even after I did go to bed (I had never stayed up so
+late in my life before) I dreamed about him and a band of strange
+clever animals that played flutes and fiddles and drums the whole night
+through.
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. SHELLFISH TALK
+
+THE next morning, although I had gone to bed so late the night before,
+I was up frightfully early. The first sparrows were just beginning to
+chirp sleepily on the slates outside my attic window when I jumped out
+of bed and scrambled into my clothes.
+
+I could hardly wait to get back to the little house with the big
+garden--to see the Doctor and his private zoo. For the first time in
+my life I forgot all about breakfast; and creeping down the stairs on
+tip-toe, so as not to wake my mother and father, I opened the front door
+and popped out into the empty, silent street.
+
+When I got to the Doctor's gate I suddenly thought that perhaps it was
+too early to call on any one: and I began to wonder if the Doctor would
+be up yet. I looked into the garden. No one seemed to be about. So I
+opened the gate quietly and went inside.
+
+As I turned to the left to go down a path between some hedges, I heard a
+voice quite close to me say,
+
+"Good morning. How early you are!"
+
+I turned around, and there, sitting on the top of a privet hedge, was
+the gray parrot, Polynesia.
+
+"Good morning," I said. "I suppose I am rather early. Is the Doctor
+still in bed?"
+
+"Oh no," said Polynesia. "He has been up an hour and a half. You'll find
+him in the house somewhere. The front door is open. Just push it and go
+in, He is sure to be in the kitchen cooking breakfast--or working in his
+study. Walk right in. I am waiting to see the sun rise. But upon my word
+I believe it's forgotten to rise. It is an awful climate, this. Now if
+we were in Africa the world would be blazing with sunlight at this hour
+of the morning. Just see that mist rolling over those cabbages. It is
+enough to give you rheumatism to look at it. Beastly climate--Beastly!
+Really I don't know why anything but frogs ever stay in England--Well,
+don't let me keep you. Run along and see the Doctor."
+
+"Thank you," I said. "I'll go and look for him."
+
+When I opened the front door I could smell bacon frying, so I made my
+way to the kitchen. There I discovered a large kettle boiling away over
+the fire and some bacon and eggs in a dish upon the hearth. It seemed
+to me that the bacon was getting all dried up with the heat. So I pulled
+the dish a little further away from the fire and went on through the
+house looking for the Doctor.
+
+I found him at last in the Study. I did not know then that it was called
+the Study. It was certainly a very interesting room, with telescopes
+and microscopes and all sorts of other strange things which I did not
+understand about but wished I did. Hanging on the walls were pictures of
+animals and fishes and strange plants and collections of birds' eggs and
+sea-shells in glass cases.
+
+The Doctor was standing at the main table in his dressing-gown. At first
+I thought he was washing his face. He had a square glass box before him
+full of water. He was holding one ear under the water while he covered
+the other with his left hand. As I came in he stood up.
+
+"Good morning, Stubbins," said he. "Going to be a nice day, don't
+you think? I've just been listening to the Wiff-Waff. But he is very
+disappointing--very."
+
+"Why?" I said. "Didn't you find that he has any language at all?"
+
+"Oh yes," said the Doctor, "he has a language. But it is such a poor
+language--only a few words, like 'yes' and 'no'--'hot' and 'cold.'
+That's all he can say. It's very disappointing. You see he really
+belongs to two different families of fishes. I thought he was going to
+be tremendously helpful--Well, well!"
+
+"I suppose," said I, "that means he hasn't very much sense if his
+language is only two or three words?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose it does. Possibly it is the kind of life he leads.
+You see, they are very rare now, these Wiff-Waffs--very rare and very
+solitary. They swim around in the deepest parts of the ocean entirely
+by themselves--always alone. So I presume they really don't need to talk
+much."
+
+"Perhaps some kind of a bigger shellfish would talk more," I said.
+"After all, he is very small, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, "that's true. Oh I have no doubt that there
+are shellfish who are good talkers--not the least doubt. But the big
+shellfish--the biggest of them, are so hard to catch. They are only to
+be found in the deep parts of the sea; and as they don't swim very much,
+but just crawl along the floor of the ocean most of the time, they are
+very seldom taken in nets. I do wish I could find some way of going down
+to the bottom of the sea. I could learn a lot if I could only do that.
+But we are forgetting all about breakfast--Have you had, breakfast yet,
+Stubbins?"
+
+I told the Doctor that I had forgotten all about it and he at once led
+the way into the kitchen.
+
+"Yes," he said, as he poured the hot water from the kettle into the
+tea-pot, "if a man could only manage to get right down to the bottom
+of the sea, and live there a while, he would discover some wonderful
+things--things that people have never dreamed of."
+
+"But men do go down, don't they?" I asked--"divers and people like
+that?"
+
+"Oh yes, to be sure," said the Doctor. "Divers go down. I've been down
+myself in a diving-suit, for that matter. But my!--they only go where
+the sea is shallow. Divers can't go down where it is really deep. What
+I would like to do is to go down to the great depths--where it is miles
+deep--Well, well, I dare say I shall manage it some day. Let me give you
+another cup of tea."
+
+
+
+
+THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?
+
+JUST at that moment Polynesia came into the room and said something to
+the Doctor in bird language. Of course I did not understand what it was.
+But the Doctor at once put down his knife and fork and left the room.
+
+"You know it is an awful shame," said the parrot as soon as the Doctor
+had closed the door. "Directly he comes back home, all the animals over
+the whole countryside get to hear of it and every sick cat and mangy
+rabbit for miles around comes to see him and ask his advice. Now there's
+a big fat hare outside at the back door with a squawking baby. Can she
+see the Doctor, please!--Thinks it's going to have convulsions. Stupid
+little thing's been eating Deadly Nightshade again, I suppose. The
+animals are SO inconsiderate at times--especially the mothers. They come
+round and call the Doctor away from his meals and wake him out of his
+bed at all hours of the night. I don't know how he stands it--really I
+don't. Why, the poor man never gets any peace at all! I've told him time
+and again to have special hours for the animals to come. But he is so
+frightfully kind and considerate. He never refuses to see them if there
+is anything really wrong with them. He says the urgent cases must be
+seen at once."
+
+"Why don't some of the animals go and see the other doctors?" I asked.
+
+"Oh Good Gracious!" exclaimed the parrot, tossing her head scornfully.
+"Why, there aren't any other animal-doctors--not real doctors. Oh of
+course there ARE those vet persons, to be sure. But, bless you, they're
+no good. You see, they can't understand the animals' language; so how
+can you expect them to be any use? Imagine yourself, or your father,
+going to see a doctor who could not understand a word you say--nor even
+tell you in your own language what you must do to get well! Poof!--those
+vets! They're that stupid, you've no idea!--Put the Doctor's bacon down
+by the fire, will you?--to keep hot till he comes back."
+
+"Do you think I would ever be able to learn the language of the
+animals?" I asked, laying the plate upon the hearth.
+
+"Well, it all depends," said Polynesia. "Are you clever at lessons?"
+
+"I don't know," I answered, feeling rather ashamed. "You see, I've never
+been to school. My father is too poor to send me."
+
+"Well," said the parrot, "I don't suppose you have really missed
+much--to judge from what I have seen of school-boys. But listen: are
+you a good noticer?--Do you notice things well? I mean, for instance,
+supposing you saw two cock-starlings on an apple-tree, and you only took
+one good look at them--would you be able to tell one from the other if
+you saw them again the next day?"
+
+"I don't know," I said. "I've never tried."
+
+"Well that," said Polynesia, brushing some crumbs off the corner of
+the table with her left foot--"that is what you call powers of
+observation--noticing the small things about birds and animals: the way
+they walk and move their heads and flip their wings; the way they sniff
+the air and twitch their whiskers and wiggle their tails. You have to
+notice all those little things if you want to learn animal language. For
+you see, lots of the animals hardly talk at all with their tongues; they
+use their breath or their tails or their feet instead. That is because
+many of them, in the olden days when lions and tigers were more
+plentiful, were afraid to make a noise for fear the savage creatures
+heard them. Birds, of course, didn't care; for they always had wings
+to fly away with. But that is the first thing to remember: being a good
+noticer is terribly important in learning animal language."
+
+"It sounds pretty hard," I said.
+
+"You'll have to be very patient," said Polynesia. "It takes a long time
+to say even a few words properly. But if you come here often I'll give
+you a few lessons myself. And once you get started you'll be surprised
+how fast you get on. It would indeed be a good thing if you could learn.
+Because then you could do some of the work for the Doctor--I mean the
+easier work, like bandaging and giving pills. Yes, yes, that's a good
+idea of mine. 'Twould be a great thing if the poor man could get some
+help--and some rest. It is a scandal the way he works. I see no reason
+why you shouldn't be able to help him a great deal--That is, if you are
+really interested in animals."
+
+"Oh, I'd love that!" I cried. "Do you think the Doctor would let me?"
+
+"Certainly," said Polynesia--"as soon as you have learned something
+about doctoring. I'll speak of it to him myself--Sh! I hear him coming.
+Quick--bring his bacon back on to the table."
+
+
+
+
+THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
+
+WHEN breakfast was over the Doctor took me out to show me the garden.
+Well, if the house had been interesting, the garden was a hundred
+times more so. Of all the gardens I have ever seen that was the most
+delightful, the most fascinating. At first you did not realize how big
+it was. You never seemed to come to the end of it. When at last you were
+quite sure that you had seen it all, you would peer over a hedge, or
+turn a corner, or look up some steps, and there was a whole new part you
+never expected to find.
+
+It had everything--everything a garden can have, or ever has had. There
+were wide, wide lawns with carved stone seats, green with moss. Over the
+lawns hung weeping-willows, and their feathery bough-tips brushed the
+velvet grass when they swung with the wind. The old flagged paths had
+high, clipped, yew hedges either side of them, so that they looked like
+the narrow streets of some old town; and through the hedges, doorways
+had been made; and over the doorways were shapes like vases and peacocks
+and half-moons all trimmed out of the living trees. There was a lovely
+marble fish-pond with golden carp and blue water-lilies in it and big
+green frogs. A high brick wall alongside the kitchen garden was all
+covered with pink and yellow peaches ripening in the sun. There was a
+wonderful great oak, hollow in the trunk, big enough for four men to
+hide inside. Many summer-houses there were, too--some of wood and some
+of stone; and one of them was full of books to read. In a corner, among
+some rocks and ferns, was an outdoor fire-place, where the Doctor used
+to fry liver and bacon when he had a notion to take his meals in the
+open air. There was a couch as well on which he used to sleep, it seems,
+on warm summer nights when the nightingales were singing at their best;
+it had wheels on it so it could be moved about under any tree they
+sang in. But the thing that fascinated me most of all was a tiny little
+tree-house, high up in the top branches of a great elm, with a long rope
+ladder leading to it. The Doctor told me he used it for looking at the
+moon and the stars through a telescope.
+
+It was the kind of a garden where you could wander and explore for days
+and days--always coming upon something new, always glad to find the old
+spots over again. That first time that I saw the Doctor's garden I was
+so charmed by it that I felt I would like to live in it--always and
+always--and never go outside of it again. For it had everything within
+its walls to give happiness, to make living pleasant--to keep the heart
+at peace. It was the Garden of Dreams.
+
+One peculiar thing I noticed immediately I came into it; and that was
+what a lot of birds there were about. Every tree seemed to have two
+or three nests in it. And heaps of other wild creatures appeared to be
+making themselves at home there, too. Stoats and tortoises and dormice
+seemed to be quite common, and not in the least shy. Toads of different
+colors and sizes hopped about the lawn as though it belonged to them.
+Green lizards (which were very rare in Puddleby) sat up on the stones in
+the sunlight and blinked at us. Even snakes were to be seen.
+
+"You need not be afraid of them," said the Doctor, noticing that I
+started somewhat when a large black snake wiggled across the path right
+in front of us. "These fellows are not poisonous. They do a great deal
+of good in keeping down many kinds of garden-pests. I play the flute
+to them sometimes in the evening. They love it. Stand right up on their
+tails and carry on no end. Funny thing, their taste for music."
+
+"Why do all these animals come and live here?" I asked. "I never saw a
+garden with so many creatures in it."
+
+"Well, I suppose it's because they get the kind of food they like; and
+nobody worries or disturbs them. And then, of course, they know me. And
+if they or their children get sick I presume they find it handy to be
+living in a doctor's garden--Look! You see that sparrow on the sundial,
+swearing at the blackbird down below? Well, he has been coming here
+every summer for years. He comes from London. The country sparrows round
+about here are always laughing at him. They say he chirps with such a
+Cockney accent. He is a most amusing bird--very brave but very cheeky.
+He loves nothing better than an argument, but he always ends it by
+getting rude. He is a real city bird. In London he lives around St.
+Paul's Cathedral. 'Cheapside,' we call him."
+
+"Are all these birds from the country round here?" I asked.
+
+"Most of them," said the Doctor. "But a few rare ones visit me every
+year who ordinarily never come near England at all. For instance,
+that handsome little fellow hovering over the snapdragon there, he's a
+Ruby-throated Humming-bird. Comes from America. Strictly speaking, he
+has no business in this climate at all. It is too cool. I make him sleep
+in the kitchen at night. Then every August, about the last week of the
+month, I have a Purple Bird-of-Paradise come all the way from Brazil
+to see me. She is a very great swell. Hasn't arrived yet of course. And
+there are a few others, foreign birds from the tropics mostly, who drop
+in on me in the course of the summer months. But come, I must show you
+the zoo."
+
+
+
+
+THE TENTH CHAPTER. THE PRIVATE ZOO
+
+I DID not think there could be anything left in that garden which we
+had not seen. But the Doctor took me by the arm and started off down a
+little narrow path and after many windings and twistings and turnings
+we found ourselves before a small door in a high stone wall. The Doctor
+pushed it open.
+
+Inside was still another garden. I had expected to find cages with
+animals inside them. But there were none to be seen. Instead there were
+little stone houses here and there all over the garden; and each house
+had a window and a door. As we walked in, many of these doors opened and
+animals came running out to us evidently expecting food.
+
+"Haven't the doors any locks on them?" I asked the Doctor.
+
+"Oh yes," he said, "every door has a lock. But in my zoo the doors
+open from the inside, not from the out. The locks are only there so the
+animals can go and shut themselves in any time they want to get away
+from the annoyance of other animals or from people who might come here.
+Every animal in this zoo stays here because he likes it, not because he
+is made to."
+
+"They all look very happy and clean," I said. "Would you mind telling me
+the names of some of them?"
+
+"Certainly. Well now: that funny-looking thing with plates on his back,
+nosing under the brick over there, is a South American armadillo. The
+little chap talking to him is a Canadian woodchuck. They both live in
+those holes you see at the foot of the wall. The two little beasts doing
+antics in the pond are a pair of Russian minks--and that reminds me:
+I must go and get them some herrings from the town before noon--it is
+early-closing to-day. That animal just stepping out of his house is an
+antelope, one of the smaller South African kinds. Now let us move to the
+other side of those bushes there and I will show you some more."
+
+"Are those deer over there?" I asked.
+
+"DEER!" said the Doctor. "Where do you mean?"
+
+"Over there," I said, pointing--"nibbling the grass border of the bed.
+There are two of them."
+
+"Oh, that," said the Doctor with a smile. "That isn't two animals:
+that's one animal with two heads--the only two-headed animal in the
+world. It's called the 'pushmi-pullyu.' I brought him from Africa. He's
+very tame--acts as a kind of night-watchman for my zoo. He only sleeps
+with one head at a time, you see very handy--the other head stays awake
+all night."
+
+"Have you any lions or tigers?" I asked as we moved on.
+
+"No," said the Doctor. "It wouldn't be possible to keep them here--and
+I wouldn't keep them even if I could. If I had my way, Stubbins, there
+wouldn't be a single lion or tiger in captivity anywhere in the world.
+They never take to it. They're never happy. They never settle down. They
+are always thinking of the big countries they have left behind. You can
+see it in their eyes, dreaming--dreaming always of the great open spaces
+where they were born; dreaming of the deep, dark jungles where their
+mothers first taught them how to scent and track the deer. And what are
+they given in exchange for all this?" asked the Doctor, stopping in his
+walk and growing all red and angry--"What are they given in exchange
+for the glory of an African sunrise, for the twilight breeze whispering
+through the palms, for the green shade of the matted, tangled vines,
+for the cool, big-starred nights of the desert, for the patter of the
+waterfall after a hard day's hunt? What, I ask you, are they given in
+exchange for THESE? Why, a bare cage with iron bars; an ugly piece of
+dead meat thrust in to them once a day; and a crowd of fools to come and
+stare at them with open mouths!--No, Stubbins. Lions and tigers, the Big
+Hunters, should never, never be seen in zoos."
+
+The Doctor seemed to have grown terribly serious--almost sad. But
+suddenly his manner changed again and he took me by the arm with his
+same old cheerful smile.
+
+"But we haven't seen the butterfly-houses yet--nor the aquariums. Come
+along. I am very proud of my butterfly-houses."
+
+Off we went again and came presently into a hedged enclosure. Here I
+saw several big huts made of fine wire netting, like cages. Inside the
+netting all sorts of beautiful flowers were growing in the sun, with
+butterflies skimming over them. The Doctor pointed to the end of one of
+the huts where little boxes with holes in them stood in a row.
+
+"Those are the hatching-boxes," said he. "There I put the different
+kinds of caterpillars. And as soon as they turn into butterflies and
+moths they come out into these flower-gardens to feed."
+
+"Do butterflies have a language?" I asked.
+
+"Oh I fancy they have," said the Doctor--"and the beetles too. But so
+far I haven't succeeded in learning much about insect languages. I have
+been too busy lately trying to master the shellfish-talk. I mean to take
+it up though."
+
+At that moment Polynesia joined us and said, "Doctor, there are two
+guinea-pigs at the back door. They say they have run away from the boy
+who kept them because they didn't get the right stuff to eat. They want
+to know if you will take them in."
+
+"All right," said the Doctor. "Show them the way to the zoo. Give them
+the house on the left, near the gate--the one the black fox had. Tell
+them what the rules are and give them a square meal--Now, Stubbins, we
+will go on to the aquariums. And first of all I must show you my big,
+glass, sea-water tank where I keep the shellfish."
+
+
+
+
+THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER. MY SCHOOLMASTER, POLYNESIA
+
+WELL, there were not many days after that, you may be sure, when I did
+not come to see my new friend. Indeed I was at his house practically all
+day and every day. So that one evening my mother asked me jokingly why
+I did not take my bed over there and live at the Doctor's house
+altogether.
+
+After a while I think I got to be quite useful to the Doctor, feeding
+his pets for him; helping to make new houses and fences for the zoo;
+assisting with the sick animals that came; doing all manner of odd jobs
+about the place. So that although I enjoyed it all very much (it was
+indeed like living in a new world) I really think the Doctor would have
+missed me if I had not come so often.
+
+And all this time Polynesia came with me wherever I went, teaching me
+bird language and showing me how to understand the talking signs of the
+animals. At first I thought I would never be able to learn at all--it
+seemed so difficult. But the old parrot was wonderfully patient with
+me--though I could see that occasionally she had hard work to keep her
+temper.
+
+Soon I began to pick up the strange chatter of the birds and to
+understand the funny talking antics of the dogs. I used to practise
+listening to the mice behind the wainscot after I went to bed, and
+watching the cats on the roofs and pigeons in the market-square of
+Puddleby.
+
+And the days passed very quickly--as they always do when life is
+pleasant; and the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months; and
+soon the roses in the Doctor's garden were losing their petals and
+yellow leaves lay upon the wide green lawn. For the summer was nearly
+gone.
+
+One day Polynesia and I were talking in the library. This was a fine
+long room with a grand mantlepiece and the walls were covered from the
+ceiling to the floor with shelves full of books: books of stories, books
+on gardening, books about medicine, books of travel; these I loved--and
+especially the Doctor's great atlas with all its maps of the different
+countries of the world.
+
+This afternoon Polynesia was showing me the books about animals which
+John Dolittle had written himself.
+
+"My!" I said, "what a lot of books the Doctor has--all the way around
+the room! Goodness! I wish I could read! It must be tremendously
+interesting. Can you read, Polynesia?"
+
+"Only a little," said she. "Be careful how you turn those pages--don't
+tear them. No, I really don't get time enough for reading--much. That
+letter there is a K and this is a B."
+
+"What does this word under the picture mean?" I asked.
+
+"Let me see," she said, and started spelling it out.
+"B-A-B-O-O-N--that's MONKEY. Reading isn't nearly as hard as it looks,
+once you know the letters."
+
+"Polynesia," I said, "I want to ask you something very important."
+
+"What is it, my boy?" said she, smoothing down the feathers of her right
+wing. Polynesia often spoke to me in a very patronizing way. But I did
+not mind it from her. After all, she was nearly two hundred years old;
+and I was only ten.
+
+"Listen," I said, "my mother doesn't think it is right that I come here
+for so many meals. And I was going to ask you: supposing I did a
+whole lot more work for the Doctor--why couldn't I come and live here
+altogether? You see, instead of being paid like a regular gardener or
+workman, I would get my bed and meals in exchange for the work I did.
+What do you think?"
+
+"You mean you want to be a proper assistant to the Doctor, is that it?"
+
+"Yes. I suppose that's what you call it," I answered. "You know you said
+yourself that you thought I could be very useful to him."
+
+"Well"--she thought a moment--"I really don't see why not. But is this
+what you want to be when you grow up, a naturalist?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "I have made up my mind. I would sooner be a naturalist
+than anything else in the world."
+
+"Humph!--Let's go and speak to the Doctor about it," said Polynesia.
+"He's in the next room--in the study. Open the door very gently--he may
+be working and not want to be disturbed."
+
+I opened the door quietly and peeped in. The first thing I saw was an
+enormous black retriever dog sitting in the middle of the hearth-rug
+with his ears cocked up, listening to the Doctor who was reading aloud
+to him from a letter.
+
+"What is the Doctor doing?" I asked Polynesia in a whisper.
+
+"Oh, the dog has had a letter from his mistress and he has brought it
+to the Doctor to read for him. That's all. He belongs to a funny little
+girl called Minnie Dooley, who lives on the other side of the town. She
+has pigtails down her back. She and her brother have gone away to the
+seaside for the Summer; and the old retriever is heart-broken while the
+children are gone. So they write letters to him--in English of course.
+And as the old dog doesn't understand them, he brings them here, and the
+Doctor turns them into dog language for him. I think Minnie must have
+written that she is coming back--to judge from the dog's excitement.
+Just look at him carrying on!"
+
+Indeed the retriever seemed to be suddenly overcome with joy. As the
+Doctor finished the letter the old dog started barking at the top of his
+voice, wagging his tail wildly and jumping about the study. He took the
+letter in his mouth and ran out of the room snorting hard and mumbling
+to himself.
+
+"He's going down to meet the coach," whispered Polynesia. "That dog's
+devotion to those children is more than I can understand. You should
+see Minnie! She's the most conceited little minx that ever walked. She
+squints too."
+
+
+
+
+THE TWELFTH CHAPTER. MY GREAT IDEA
+
+PRESENTLY the Doctor looked up and saw us at the door.
+
+"Oh--come in, Stubbins," said he, "did you wish to speak to me? Come in
+and take a chair."
+
+"Doctor," I said, "I want to be a naturalist--like you--when I grow up."
+
+"Oh you do, do you?" murmured the Doctor. "Humph!--Well!--Dear me!--You
+don't say!--Well, well! Have, you er--have you spoken to your mother and
+father about it?"
+
+"No, not yet," I said. "I want you to speak to them for me. You would do
+it better. I want to be your helper--your assistant, if you'll have me.
+Last night my mother was saying that she didn't consider it right for me
+to come here so often for meals. And I've been thinking about it a good
+deal since. Couldn't we make some arrangement--couldn't I work for my
+meals and sleep here?"
+
+"But my dear Stubbins," said the Doctor, laughing, "you are quite
+welcome to come here for three meals a day all the year round. I'm only
+too glad to have you. Besides, you do do a lot of work, as it is. I've
+often felt that I ought to pay you for what you do--But what arrangement
+was it that you thought of?"
+
+"Well, I thought," said I, "that perhaps you would come and see my
+mother and father and tell them that if they let me live here with you
+and work hard, that you will teach me to read and write. You see my
+mother is awfully anxious to have me learn reading and writing. And
+besides, I couldn't be a proper naturalist without, could I?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know so much about that," said the Doctor. "It is nice, I
+admit, to be able to read and write. But naturalists are not all alike,
+you know. For example: this young fellow Charles Darwin that people are
+talking about so much now--he's a Cambridge graduate--reads and writes
+very well. And then Cuvier--he used to be a tutor. But listen, the
+greatest naturalist of them all doesn't even know how to write his own
+name nor to read the A B C."
+
+"Who is he?" I asked.
+
+"He is a mysterious person," said the Doctor--"a very mysterious person.
+His name is Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow. He is a Red Indian."
+
+"Have you ever seen him?" I asked.
+
+"No," said the Doctor, "I've never seen him. No white man has ever
+met him. I fancy Mr. Darwin doesn't even know that he exists. He lives
+almost entirely with the animals and with the different tribes of
+Indians--usually somewhere among the mountains of Peru. Never stays long
+in one place. Goes from tribe to tribe, like a sort of Indian tramp."
+
+"How do you know so much about him?" I asked--"if you've never even seen
+him?"
+
+"The Purple Bird-of-Paradise," said the Doctor--"she told me all about
+him. She says he is a perfectly marvelous naturalist. I got her to take
+a message to him for me last time she was here. I am expecting her back
+any day now. I can hardly wait to see what answer she has brought from
+him. It is already almost the last week of August. I do hope nothing has
+happened to her on the way."
+
+"But why do the animals and birds come to you when they are sick?" I
+said--"Why don't they go to him, if he is so very wonderful?"
+
+"It seems that my methods are more up to date," said the Doctor. "But
+from what the Purple Bird-of-Paradise tells me, Long Arrow's knowledge
+of natural history must be positively tremendous. His specialty is
+botany--plants and all that sort of thing. But he knows a lot about
+birds and animals too. He's very good on bees and beetles--But now
+tell me, Stubbins, are you quite sure that you really want to be a
+naturalist?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "my mind is made up."
+
+"Well you know, it isn't a very good profession for making money. Not
+at all, it isn't. Most of the good naturalists don't make any money
+whatever. All they do is SPEND money, buying butterfly-nets and
+cases for birds' eggs and things. It is only now, after I have been a
+naturalist for many years, that I am beginning to make a little money
+from the books I write."
+
+"I don't care about money," I said. "I want to be a naturalist.
+Won't you please come and have dinner with my mother and father next
+Thursday--I told them I was going to ask you--and then you can talk to
+them about it. You see, there's another thing: if I'm living with you,
+and sort of belong to your house and business, I shall be able to come
+with you next time you go on a voyage."
+
+"Oh, I see," said he, smiling. "So you want to come on a voyage with me,
+do you?--Ah hah!"
+
+"I want to go on all your voyages with you. It would be much easier
+for you if you had someone to carry the butterfly-nets and note-books.
+Wouldn't it now?"
+
+For a long time the Doctor sat thinking, drumming on the desk with his
+fingers, while I waited, terribly impatiently, to see what he was going
+to say.
+
+At last he shrugged his shoulders and stood up.
+
+"Well, Stubbins," said he, "I'll come and talk it over with you and your
+parents next Thursday. And--well, we'll see. We'll see. Give your mother
+and father my compliments and thank them for their invitation, will
+you?"
+
+Then I tore home like the wind to tell my mother that the Doctor had
+promised to come.
+
+
+
+
+THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER. A TRAVELER ARRIVES
+
+THE next day I was sitting on the wall of the Doctor's garden after
+tea, talking to Dab-Dab. I had now learned so much from Polynesia that
+I could talk to most birds and some animals without a great deal of
+difficulty. I found Dab-Dab a very nice, old, motherly bird--though not
+nearly so clever and interesting as Polynesia. She had been housekeeper
+for the Doctor many years now.
+
+Well, as I was saying, the old duck and I were sitting on the flat top
+of the garden-wall that evening, looking down into the Oxenthorpe Road
+below. We were watching some sheep being driven to market in Puddleby;
+and Dab-Dab had just been telling me about the Doctor's adventures in
+Africa. For she had gone on a voyage with him to that country long ago.
+
+Suddenly I heard a curious distant noise down the road, towards the
+town. It sounded like a lot of people cheering. I stood up on the wall
+to see if I could make out what was coming. Presently there appeared
+round a bend a great crowd of school-children following a very ragged,
+curious-looking woman.
+
+"What in the world can it be?" cried Dab-Dab.
+
+The children were all laughing and shouting. And certainly the woman
+they were following was most extraordinary. She had very long arms and
+the most stooping shoulders I have ever seen. She wore a straw hat on
+the side of her head with poppies on it; and her skirt was so long for
+her it dragged on the ground like a ball-gown's train. I could not see
+anything of her face because of the wide hat pulled over her eyes. But
+as she got nearer to us and the laughing of the children grew louder,
+I noticed that her hands were very dark in color, and hairy, like a
+witch's.
+
+Then all of a sudden Dab-Dab at my side startled me by crying out in a
+loud voice,
+
+"Why, it's Chee-Chee!--Chee-Chee come back at last! How dare those
+children tease him! I'll give the little imps something to laugh at!"
+
+And she flew right off the wall down into the road and made straight for
+the children, squawking away in a most terrifying fashion and pecking at
+their feet and legs. The children made off down the street back to the
+town as hard as they could run.
+
+The strange-looking figure in the straw hat stood gazing after them a
+moment and then came wearily up to the gate. It didn't bother to
+undo the latch but just climbed right over the gate as though it were
+something in the way. And then I noticed that it took hold of the bars
+with its feet, so that it really had four hands to climb with. But it
+was only when I at last got a glimpse of the face under the hat that I
+could be really sure it was a monkey.
+
+Chee-Chee--for it was he--frowned at me suspiciously from the top of the
+gate, as though he thought I was going to laugh at him like the other
+boys and girls. Then he dropped into the garden on the inside and
+immediately started taking off his clothes. He tore the straw hat in two
+and threw it down into the road. Then he took off his bodice and skirt,
+jumped on them savagely and began kicking them round the front garden.
+
+Presently I heard a screech from the house, and out flew Polynesia,
+followed by the Doctor and Jip.
+
+"Chee-Chee!--Chee-Chee!" shouted the parrot. "You've come at last! I
+always told the Doctor you'd find a way. How ever did you do it?"
+
+They all gathered round him shaking him by his four hands, laughing and
+asking him a million questions at once. Then they all started back for
+the house.
+
+"Run up to my bedroom, Stubbins," said the Doctor, turning to me.
+"You'll find a bag of peanuts in the small left-hand drawer of the
+bureau. I have always kept them there in case he might come back
+unexpectedly some day. And wait a minute--see if Dab-Dab has any bananas
+in the pan-try. Chee-Chee hasn't had a banana, he tells me, in two
+months."
+
+When I came down again to the kitchen I found everybody listening
+attentively to the monkey who was telling the story of his journey from
+Africa.
+
+
+
+
+THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER. CHEE-CHEE'S VOYAGE
+
+IT seems that after Polynesia had left, Chee-Chee had grown more
+homesick than ever for the Doctor and the little house in Puddleby. At
+last he had made up his mind that by hook or crook he would follow her.
+And one day, going down to the seashore, he saw a lot of people, black
+and white, getting on to a ship that was coming to England. He tried to
+get on too. But they turned him back and drove him away. And presently
+he noticed a whole big family of funny people passing on to the ship.
+And one of the children in this family reminded Chee-Chee of a cousin
+of his with whom he had once been in love. So he said to himself, "That
+girl looks just as much like a monkey as I look like a girl. If I could
+only get some clothes to wear I might easily slip on to the ship amongst
+these families, and people would take me for a girl. Good idea!"
+
+So he went off to a town that was quite close, and hopping in through an
+open window he found a skirt and bodice lying on a chair. They belonged
+to a fashionable black lady who was taking a bath. Chee-Chee put them
+on. Next he went back to the seashore, mingled with the crowd there and
+at last sneaked safely on to the big ship. Then he thought he had better
+hide, for fear people might look at him too closely. And he stayed
+hidden all the time the ship was sailing to England--only coming out at
+night, when everybody was asleep, to find food.
+
+When he reached England and tried to get off the ship, the sailors saw
+at last that he was only a monkey dressed up in girl's clothes; and they
+wanted to keep him for a pet. But he managed to give them the slip; and
+once he was on shore, he dived into the crowd and got away. But he was
+still a long distance from Puddleby and had to come right across the
+whole breadth of England.
+
+He had a terrible time of it. Whenever he passed through a town all
+the children ran after him in a crowd, laughing; and often silly people
+caught hold of him and tried to stop him, so that he had to run up
+lamp-posts and climb to chimney-pots to escape from them. At night he
+used to sleep in ditches or barns or anywhere he could hide; and he
+lived on the berries he picked from the hedges and the cob-nuts that
+grew in the copses. At length, after many adventures and narrow squeaks,
+he saw the tower of Puddleby Church and he knew that at last he was near
+his old home. When Chee-Chee had finished his story he ate six bananas
+without stopping and drank a whole bowlful of milk.
+
+"My!" he said, "why wasn't I born with wings, like Polynesia, so I could
+fly here? You've no idea how I grew to hate that hat and skirt. I've
+never been so uncomfortable in my life. All the way from Bristol here,
+if the wretched hat wasn't falling off my head or catching in the
+trees, those beastly skirts were tripping me up and getting wound round
+everything. What on earth do women wear those things for? Goodness, I
+was glad to see old Puddleby this morning when I climbed over the hill
+by Bellaby's farm!"
+
+"Your bed on top of the plate-rack in the scullery is all ready for
+you," said the Doctor. "We never had it disturbed in case you might come
+back."
+
+"Yes," said Dab-Dab, "and you can have the old smoking-jacket of the
+Doctor's which you used to use as a blanket, in case it is cold in the
+night."
+
+"Thanks," said Chee-Chee. "It's good to be back in the old house again.
+Everything's just the same as when I left--except the clean roller-towel
+on the back of the door there--that's new--Well, I think I'll go to bed
+now. I need sleep."
+
+Then we all went out of the kitchen into the scullery and watched
+Chee-Chee climb the plate-rack like a sailor going up a mast. On the
+top, he curled himself up, pulled the old smoking-jacket over him, and
+in a minute he was snoring peacefully.
+
+"Good old Chee-Chee!" whispered the Doctor. "I'm glad he's back."
+
+"Yes--good old Chee-Chee!" echoed Dab-Dab and Polynesia.
+
+Then we all tip-toed out of the scullery and closed the door very gently
+behind us.
+
+
+
+
+THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER. I BECOME A DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT
+
+WHEN Thursday evening came there was great excitement at our house, My
+mother had asked me what were the Doctor's favorite dishes, and I
+had told her: spare ribs, sliced beet-root, fried bread, shrimps and
+treacle-tart. To-night she had them all on the table waiting for him;
+and she was now fussing round the house to see if everything was tidy
+and in readiness for his coming.
+
+At last we heard a knock upon the door, and of course it was I who got
+there first to let him in.
+
+The Doctor had brought his own flute with him this time. And after
+supper was over (which he enjoyed very much) the table was cleared away
+and the washing-up left in the kitchen-sink till the next day. Then the
+Doctor and my father started playing duets.
+
+They got so interested in this that I began to be afraid that they would
+never come to talking over my business. But at last the Doctor said,
+
+"Your son tells me that he is anxious to become a naturalist."
+
+And then began a long talk which lasted far into the night. At first
+both my mother and father were rather against the idea--as they had
+been from the beginning. They said it was only a boyish whim, and that
+I would get tired of it very soon. But after the matter had been talked
+over from every side, the Doctor turned to my father and said,
+
+"Well now, supposing, Mr. Stubbins, that your son came to me for two
+years--that is, until he is twelve years old. During those two years he
+will have time to see if he is going to grow tired of it or not. Also
+during that time, I will promise to teach him reading and writing and
+perhaps a little arithmetic as well. What do you say to that?"
+
+"I don't know," said my father, shaking his head. "You are very kind and
+it is a handsome offer you make, Doctor. But I feel that Tommy ought to
+be learning some trade by which he can earn his living later on."
+
+Then my mother spoke up. Although she was nearly in tears at the
+prospect of my leaving her house while I was still so young, she pointed
+out to my father that this was a grand chance for me to get learning.
+
+"Now Jacob," she said, "you know that many lads in the town have been to
+the Grammar School till they were fourteen or fifteen years old. Tommy
+can easily spare these two years for his education; and if he learns no
+more than to read and write, the time will not be lost. Though goodness
+knows," she added, getting out her handkerchief to cry, "the house will
+seem terribly empty when he's gone."
+
+"I will take care that he comes to see you, Mrs. Stubbins," said the
+Doctor--"every day, if you like. After all, he will not be very far
+away."
+
+Well, at length my father gave in; and it was agreed that I was to live
+with the Doctor and work for him for two years in exchange for learning
+to read and write and for my board and lodging.
+
+"Of course," added the Doctor, "while I have money I will keep Tommy in
+clothes as well. But money is a very irregular thing with me; sometimes
+I have some, and then sometimes I haven't."
+
+"You are very good, Doctor," said my mother, drying her tears. "It seems
+to me that Tommy is a very fortunate boy."
+
+And then, thoughtless, selfish little imp that I was, I leaned over and
+whispered in the Doctor's ear,
+
+"Please don't forget to say something about the voyages."
+
+"Oh, by the way," said John Dolittle, "of course occasionally my work
+requires me to travel. You will have no objection, I take it, to your
+son's coming with me?"
+
+My poor mother looked up sharply, more unhappy and anxious than ever
+at this new turn; while I stood behind the Doctor's chair, my heart
+thumping with excitement, waiting for my father's answer.
+
+"No," he said slowly after a while. "If we agree to the other
+arrangement I don't see that we've the right to make any objection to
+that."
+
+Well, there surely was never a happier boy in the world than I was at
+that moment. My head was in the clouds. I trod on air. I could scarcely
+keep from dancing round the parlor. At last the dream of my life was
+to come true! At last I was to be given a chance to seek my fortune, to
+have adventures! For I knew perfectly well that it was now almost time
+for the Doctor to start upon another voyage. Polynesia had told me that
+he hardly ever stayed at home for more than six months at a stretch.
+Therefore he would be surely going again within a fortnight. And I--I,
+Tommy Stubbins, would go with him! Just to think of it!--to cross the
+Sea, to walk on foreign shores, to roam the World!
+
+
+
+
+PART TWO
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE CREW OF "THE CURLEW"
+
+FROM that time on of course my position in the town was very different.
+I was no longer a poor cobbler's son. I carried my nose in the air as
+I went down the High Street with Jip in his gold collar at my side; and
+snobbish little boys who had despised me before because I was not
+rich enough to go to school now pointed me out to their friends and
+whispered, "You see him? He's a doctor's assistant--and only ten years
+old!"
+
+But their eyes would have opened still wider with wonder if they had but
+known that I and the dog that was with me could talk to one another.
+
+Two days after the Doctor had been to our house to dinner he told me
+very sadly that he was afraid that he would have to give up trying to
+learn the language of the shellfish--at all events for the present.
+
+"I'm very discouraged, Stubbins, very. I've tried the mussels and the
+clams, the oysters and the whelks, cockles and scallops; seven different
+kinds of crabs and all the lobster family. I think I'll leave it for the
+present and go at it again later on."
+
+"What will you turn to now?" I asked.
+
+"Well, I rather thought of going on a voyage, Stubbins. It's quite a
+time now since I've been away. And there is a great deal of work waiting
+for me abroad."
+
+"When shall we start?" I asked.
+
+"Well, first I shall have to wait till the Purple Bird-of-Paradise gets
+here. I must see if she has any message for me from Long Arrow. She's
+late. She should have been here ten days ago. I hope to goodness she's
+all right."
+
+"Well, hadn't we better be seeing about getting a boat?" I said. "She is
+sure to be here in a day or so; and there will be lots of things to do
+to get ready in the mean time, won't there?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," said the Doctor. "Suppose we go down and see your friend
+Joe, the mussel-man. He will know about boats."
+
+"I'd like to come too," said Jip.
+
+"All right, come along," said the Doctor, and off we went.
+
+Joe said yes, he had a boat--one he had just bought--but it needed three
+people to sail her. We told him we would like to see it anyway.
+
+So the mussel-man took us off a little way down the river and showed
+us the neatest, prettiest, little vessel that ever was built. She was
+called The Curlew. Joe said he would sell her to us cheap. But the
+trouble was that the boat needed three people, while we were only two.
+
+"Of course I shall be taking Chee-Chee," said the Doctor. "But although
+he is very quick and clever, he is not as strong as a man. We really
+ought to have another person to sail a boat as big as that."
+
+"I know of a good sailor, Doctor," said Joe--"a first-class seaman who
+would be glad of the job."
+
+"No, thank you, Joe," said Doctor Dolittle. "I don't want any seamen.
+I couldn't afford to hire them. And then they hamper me so, seamen do,
+when I'm at sea. They're always wanting to do things the proper way; and
+I like to do them my way--Now let me see: who could we take with us?"
+
+"There's Matthew Mugg, the cat's-meat-man," I said.
+
+"No, he wouldn't do. Matthew's a very nice fellow, but he talks too
+much--mostly about his rheumatism. You have to be frightfully particular
+whom you take with you on long voyages."
+
+"How about Luke the Hermit?" I asked.
+
+"That's a good idea--splendid--if he'll come. Let's go and ask him right
+away."
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER. LUKE THE HERMIT
+
+THE Hermit was an old friend of ours, as I have already told you. He was
+a very peculiar person. Far out on the marshes he lived in a little bit
+of a shack--all alone except for his brindle bulldog. No one knew where
+he came from--not even his name, just "Luke the Hermit" folks called
+him. He never came into the town; never seemed to want to see or talk
+to people. His dog, Bob, drove them away if they came near his hut.
+When you asked anyone in Puddleby who he was or why he lived out in
+that lonely place by himself, the only answer you got was, "Oh, Luke the
+Hermit? Well, there's some mystery about him. Nobody knows what it is.
+But there's a mystery. Don't go near him. He'll set the dog on you."
+
+Nevertheless there were two people who often went out to that little
+shack on the fens: the Doctor and myself. And Bob, the bulldog, never
+barked when he heard us coming. For we liked Luke; and Luke liked us.
+
+This afternoon, crossing the marshes we faced a cold wind blowing from
+the East. As we approached the hut Jip put up his ears and said,
+
+"That's funny!"
+
+"What's funny?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"That Bob hasn't come out to meet us. He should have heard us long
+ago--or smelt us. What's that queer noise?"
+
+"Sounds to me like a gate creaking," said the Doctor. "Maybe it's Luke's
+door, only we can't see the door from here; it's on the far side of the
+shack."
+
+"I hope Bob isn't sick," said Jip; and he let out a bark to see if that
+would call him. But the only answer he got was the wailing of the wind
+across the wide, salt fen.
+
+We hurried forward, all three of us thinking hard.
+
+When we reached the front of the shack we found the door open, swinging
+and creaking dismally in the wind. We looked inside. There was no one
+there.
+
+"Isn't Luke at home then?" said I. "Perhaps he's out for a walk."
+
+"He is ALWAYS at home," said the Doctor frowning in a peculiar sort of
+way. "And even if he were out for a. walk he wouldn't leave his
+door banging in the wind behind him. There is something queer about
+this--What are you doing in there, Jip?"
+
+"Nothing much--nothing worth speaking of," said Jip examining the floor
+of the hut extremely carefully.
+
+"Come here, Jip," said the Doctor in a stern voice. "You are hiding
+something from me. You see signs and you know something--or you guess
+it. What has happened? Tell me. Where is the Hermit?"
+
+"I don't know," said Jip looking very guilty and uncomfortable. "I don't
+know where he is."
+
+"Well, you know something. I can tell it from the look in your eye. What
+is it?"
+
+But Jip didn't answer.
+
+For ten minutes the Doctor kept questioning him. But not a word would
+the dog say.
+
+"Well," said the Doctor at last, "it is no use our standing around here
+in the cold. The Hermit's gone. That's all. We might as well go home to
+luncheon."
+
+As we buttoned up our coats and started back across the marsh, Jip ran
+ahead pretending he was looking for water-rats.
+
+"He knows something all right," whispered the Doctor. "And I think he
+knows what has happened too. It's funny, his not wanting to tell me. He
+has never done that before--not in eleven years. He has always told me
+everything--Strange--very strange!"
+
+"Do you mean you think he knows all about the Hermit, the big mystery
+about him which folks hint at and all that?"
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if he did," the Doctor answered slowly. "I noticed
+something in his expression the moment we found that door open and the
+hut empty. And the way he sniffed the floor too--it told him something,
+that floor did. He saw signs we couldn't see--I wonder why he won't tell
+me. I'll try him again. Here, Jip! Jip!--Where is the dog? I thought he
+went on in front."
+
+"So did I," I said. "He was there a moment ago. I saw him as large as
+life. Jip--Jip--Jip--JIP!"
+
+But he was gone. We called and called. We even walked back to the hut.
+But Jip had disappeared.
+
+"Oh well," I said, "most likely he has just run home ahead of us. He
+often does that, you know. We'll find him there when we get back to the
+house."
+
+But the Doctor just closed his coat-collar tighter against the wind and
+strode on muttering, "Odd--very odd!"
+
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER. JIP AND THE SECRET
+
+WHEN we reached the house the first question the Doctor asked of Dab-Dab
+in the hall was,
+
+"Is Jip home yet?"
+
+"No," said Dab-Dab, "I haven't seen him."
+
+"Let me know the moment he comes in, will you, please?" said the Doctor,
+hanging up his hat.
+
+"Certainly I will," said Dab-Dab. "Don't be long over washing your
+hands; the lunch is on the table."
+
+Just as we were sitting down to luncheon in the kitchen we heard a great
+racket at the front door. I ran and opened it. In bounded Jip.
+
+"Doctor!" he cried, "come into the library quick. I've got something
+to tell you--No, Dab-Dab, the luncheon must wait. Please hurry, Doctor.
+There's not a moment to be lost. Don't let any of the animals come--just
+you and Tommy."
+
+"Now," he said, when we were inside the library and the door was closed,
+"turn the key in the lock and make sure there's no one listening under
+the windows."
+
+"It's all right," said the Doctor. "Nobody can hear you here. Now what
+is it?"
+
+"Well, Doctor," said Jip (he was badly out of breath from running), "I
+know all about the Hermit--I have known for years. But I couldn't tell
+you."
+
+"Why?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Because I'd promised not to tell any one. It was Bob, his dog, that
+told me. And I swore to him that I would keep the secret."
+
+"Well, and are you going to tell me now?"
+
+"Yes," said Jip, "we've got to save him. I followed Bob's scent just now
+when I left you out there on the marshes. And I found him. And I said to
+him, 'Is it all right,' I said, 'for me to tell the Doctor now? Maybe he
+can do something.' And Bob says to me, 'Yes,' says he, 'it's all right
+because--'"
+
+"Oh, for Heaven's sake, go on, go on!" cried the Doctor. "Tell us what
+the mystery is--not what you said to Bob and what Bob said to you. What
+has happened? Where IS the Hermit?"
+
+"He's in Puddleby Jail," said Jip. "He's in prison."
+
+"In prison!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What for?--What's he done?"
+
+Jip went over to the door and smelt at the bottom of it to see if any
+one were listening outside. Then he came back to the Doctor on tiptoe
+and whispered,
+
+"HE KILLED A MAN!"
+
+"Lord preserve us!" cried the Doctor, sitting down heavily in a chair
+and mopping his forehead with a handkerchief. "When did he do it?"
+
+"Fifteen years ago--in a Mexican gold-mine. That's why he has been a
+hermit ever since. He shaved off his beard and kept away from people
+out there on the marshes so he wouldn't be recognized. But last week, it
+seems these new-fangled policemen came to Town; and they heard there was
+a strange man who kept to himself all alone in a shack on the fen. And
+they got suspicious. For a long time people had been hunting all over
+the world for the man that did that killing in the Mexican gold-mine
+fifteen years ago. So these policemen went out to the shack, and they
+recognized Luke by a mole on his arm. And they took him to prison."
+
+"Well, well!" murmured the Doctor. "Who would have thought it?--Luke,
+the philosopher!--Killed a man!--I can hardly believe it."
+
+"It's true enough--unfortunately," said Jip. "Luke did it. But it wasn't
+his fault. Bob says so. And he was there and saw it all. He was scarcely
+more than a puppy at the time. Bob says Luke couldn't help it. He HAD to
+do it."
+
+"Where is Bob now?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Down at the prison. I wanted him to come with me here to see you; but
+he won't leave the prison while Luke is there. He just sits outside the
+door of the prison-cell and won't move. He doesn't even eat the food
+they give him. Won't you please come down there, Doctor, and see if
+there is anything you can do? The trial is to be this afternoon at two
+o'clock. What time is it now?"
+
+"It's ten minutes past one."
+
+"Bob says he thinks they are going to kill Luke for a punishment if they
+can prove that he did it--or certainly keep him in prison for the rest
+of his life. Won't you please come? Perhaps if you spoke to the judge
+and told him what a good man Luke really is they'd let him off."
+
+"Of course I'll come," said the Doctor getting up and moving to go. "But
+I'm very much afraid that I shan't be of any real help." He turned at
+the door and hesitated thoughtfully.
+
+"And yet--I wonder--"
+
+Then he opened the door and passed out with Jip and me close at his
+heels.
+
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER. BOB
+
+DAB-DAB was terribly upset when she found we were going away again
+without luncheon; and she made us take some cold pork-pies in our
+pockets to eat on the way.
+
+When we got to Puddleby Court-house (it was next door to the prison), we
+found a great crowd gathered around the building.
+
+This was the week of the Assizes--a business which happened every three
+months, when many pick-pockets and other bad characters were tried by
+a very grand judge who came all the way from London. And anybody in
+Puddleby who had nothing special to do used to come to the Court-house
+to hear the trials.
+
+But to-day it was different. The crowd was not made up of just a few
+idle people. It was enormous. The news had run through the countryside
+that Luke the Hermit was to be tried for killing a man and that the
+great mystery which had hung over him so long was to be cleared up
+at last. The butcher and the baker had closed their shops and taken a
+holiday. All the farmers from round about, and all the townsfolk,
+were there with their Sunday clothes on, trying to get seats in the
+Court-house or gossipping outside in low whispers. The High Street was
+so crowded you could hardly move along it. I had never seen the quiet
+old town in such a state of excitement before. For Puddleby had not had
+such an Assizes since 1799, when Ferdinand Phipps, the Rector's oldest
+son, had robbed the bank.
+
+If I hadn't had the Doctor with me I am sure I would never have been
+able to make my way through the mob packed around the Court-house door.
+But I just followed behind him, hanging on to his coat-tails; and at
+last we got safely into the jail.
+
+"I want to see Luke," said the Doctor to a very grand person in a blue
+coat with brass buttons standing at the door.
+
+"Ask at the Superintendent's office," said the man. "Third door on the
+left down the corridor."
+
+"Who is that person you spoke to, Doctor?" I asked as we went along the
+passage.
+
+"He is a policeman."
+
+"And what are policemen?"
+
+"Policemen? They are to keep people in order. They've just been
+invented--by Sir Robert Peel. That's why they are also called 'peelers'
+sometimes. It is a wonderful age we live in. They're always thinking of
+something new--This will be the Superintendent's office, I suppose."
+
+From there another policeman was sent with us to show us the way.
+
+Outside the door of Luke's cell we found Bob, the bulldog, who wagged
+his tail sadly when he saw us. The man who was guiding us took a large
+bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the door.
+
+I had never been inside a real prison-cell before; and I felt quite
+a thrill when the policeman went out and locked the door after him,
+leaving us shut in the dimly-lighted, little, stone room. Before he
+went, he said that as soon as we had done talking with our friend we
+should knock upon the door and he would come and let us out.
+
+At first I could hardly see anything, it was so dim inside. But after
+a little I made out a low bed against the wall, under a small barred
+window. On the bed, staring down at the floor between his feet, sat the
+Hermit, his head resting in his hands.
+
+"Well, Luke," said the Doctor in a kindly voice, "they don't give you
+much light in here, do they?"
+
+Very slowly the Hermit looked up from the floor.
+
+"Hulloa, John Dolittle. What brings you here?"
+
+"I've come to see you. I would have been here sooner, only I didn't hear
+about all this till a few minutes ago. I went to your hut to ask you if
+you would join me on a voyage; and when I found it empty I had no idea
+where you could be. I am dreadfully sorry to hear about your bad luck.
+I've come to see if there is anything I can do."
+
+Luke shook his head.
+
+"No, I don't imagine there is anything can be done. They've caught me at
+last. That's the end of it, I suppose."
+
+He got up stiffly and started walking up and down the little room.
+
+"In a way I'm glad it's over," said he. "I never got any peace, always
+thinking they were after me--afraid to speak to anyone. They were bound
+to get me in the end--Yes, I'm glad it's over."
+
+Then the Doctor talked to Luke for more than half an hour, trying to
+cheer him up; while I sat around wondering what I ought to say and
+wishing I could do something.
+
+At last the Doctor said he wanted to see Bob; and we knocked upon the
+door and were let out by the policeman.
+
+"Bob," said the Doctor to the big bulldog in the passage, "come out with
+me into the porch. I want to ask you something."
+
+"How is he, Doctor?" asked Bob as we walked down the corridor into the
+Court-house porch.
+
+"Oh, Luke's all right. Very miserable of course, but he's all right. Now
+tell me, Bob: you saw this business happen, didn't you? You were there
+when the man was killed, eh?"
+
+"I was, Doctor," said Bob, "and I tell you--"
+
+"All right," the Doctor interrupted, "that's all I want to know for the
+present. There isn't time to tell me more now. The trial is just going
+to begin. There are the judge and the lawyers coming up the steps. Now
+listen, Bob: I want you to stay with me when I go into the court-room.
+And whatever I tell you to do, do it. Do you understand? Don't make any
+scenes. Don't bite anybody, no matter what they may say about Luke.
+Just behave perfectly quietly and answer any question I may ask
+you--truthfully. Do you understand?"
+
+"Very well. But do you think you will be able to get him off, Doctor?"
+asked Bob. "He's a good man, Doctor. He really is. There never was a
+better."
+
+"We'll see, we'll see, Bob. It's a new thing I'm going to try. I'm not
+sure the judge will allow it. But--well, we'll see. It's time to go into
+the court-room now. Don't forget what I told you. Remember: for Heaven's
+sake don't start biting any one or you'll get us all put out and spoil
+everything."
+
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER. MENDOZA
+
+INSIDE the court-room everything was very solemn and wonderful. It was a
+high, big room. Raised above the floor, against the wall was the judge's
+desk; and here the judge was already sitting--an old, handsome man in
+a marvelous big wig of gray hair and a gown of black. Below him was
+another wide, long desk at which lawyers in white wigs sat. The whole
+thing reminded me of a mixture between a church and a school.
+
+"Those twelve men at the side," whispered the Doctor--"those in pews
+like a choir, they are what is called the jury. It is they who decide
+whether Luke is guilty--whether he did it or not."
+
+"And look!" I said, "there's Luke himself in a sort of pulpit-thing with
+policemen each side of him. And there's another pulpit, the same kind,
+the other side of the room, see--only that one's empty."
+
+"That one is called the witness-box," said the Doctor. "Now I'm going
+down to speak to one of those men in white wigs; and I want you to wait
+here and keep these two seats for us. Bob will stay with you. Keep an
+eye on him--better hold on to his collar. I shan't be more than a minute
+or so."
+
+With that the Doctor disappeared into the crowd which filled the main
+part of the room.
+
+Then I saw the judge take up a funny little wooden hammer and knock on
+his desk with it. This, it seemed, was to make people keep quiet, for
+immediately every one stopped buzzing and talking and began to listen
+very respectfully. Then another man in a black gown stood up and began
+reading from a paper in his hand.
+
+He mumbled away exactly as though he were saying his prayers and didn't
+want any one to understand what language they were in. But I managed to
+catch a few words:
+
+"Biz--biz--biz--biz--biz--otherwise known as Luke the
+Hermit, of--biz--biz--biz--biz--for killing his partner
+with--biz--biz--biz--otherwise known as Bluebeard Bill on the night
+of the--biz--biz--biz--in the biz--biz--biz--of Mexico. Therefore Her
+Majesty's--biz--biz--biz--"
+
+At this moment I felt some one take hold of my arm from the back, and
+turning round I found the Doctor had returned with one of the men in
+white wigs.
+
+"Stubbins, this is Mr. Percy Jenkyns," said the Doctor. "He is Luke's
+lawyer. It is his business to get Luke off--if he can."
+
+Mr. Jenkyns seemed to be an extremely young man with a round smooth face
+like a boy. He shook hands with me and then immediately turned and went
+on talking with the Doctor.
+
+"Oh, I think it is a perfectly precious idea," he was saying. "Of COURSE
+the dog must be admitted as a witness; he was the only one who saw the
+thing take place. I'm awfully glad you came. I wouldn't have missed this
+for anything. My hat! Won't it make the old court sit up? They're always
+frightfully dull, these Assizes. But this will stir things. A bulldog
+witness for the defense! I do hope there are plenty of reporters
+present--Yes, there's one making a sketch of the prisoner. I shall
+become known after this--And won't Conkey be pleased? My hat!"
+
+He put his hand over his mouth to smother a laugh and his eyes fairly
+sparkled with mischief. "Who is Conkey?" I asked the Doctor.
+
+"Sh! He is speaking of the judge up there, the Honorable Eustace
+Beauchamp Conckley."
+
+"Now," said Mr. Jenkyns, bringing out a notebook, "tell me a little more
+about yourself, Doctor. You took your degree as Doctor of Medicine at
+Durham, I think you said. And the name of your last book was?"
+
+I could not hear any more for they talked in whispers; and I fell to
+looking round the court again.
+
+Of course I could not understand everything that was going on, though it
+was all very interesting. People kept getting up in the place the Doctor
+called the witness-box, and the lawyers at the long table asked them
+questions about "the night of the 29th." Then the people would get down
+again and somebody else would get up and be questioned.
+
+One of the lawyers (who, the Doctor told me afterwards, was called the
+Prosecutor) seemed to be doing his best to get the Hermit into trouble
+by asking questions which made it look as though he had always been a
+very bad man. He was a nasty lawyer, this Prosecutor, with a long nose.
+
+Most of the time I could hardly keep my eyes off poor Luke, who sat
+there between his two policemen, staring at the floor as though he
+weren't interested. The only time I saw him take any notice at all was
+when a small dark man with wicked, little, watery eyes got up into the
+witness-box. I heard Bob snarl under my chair as this person came into
+the court-room and Luke's eyes just blazed with anger and contempt.
+
+This man said his name was Mendoza and that he was the one who had
+guided the Mexican police to the mine after Bluebeard Bill had been
+killed. And at every word he said I could hear Bob down below me
+muttering between his teeth,
+
+"It's a lie! It's a lie! I'll chew his face. It's a lie!"
+
+And both the Doctor and I had hard work keeping the dog under the seat.
+
+Then I noticed that our Mr. Jenkyns had disappeared from the Doctor's
+side. But presently I saw him stand up at the long table to speak to the
+judge.
+
+"Your Honor," said he, "I wish to introduce a new witness for the
+defense, Doctor John Dolittle, the naturalist. Will you please step into
+the witness-stand, Doctor?"
+
+There was a buzz of excitement as the Doctor made his way across the
+crowded room; and I noticed the nasty lawyer with the long nose lean
+down and whisper something to a friend, smiling in an ugly way which
+made me want to pinch him.
+
+Then Mr. Jenkyns asked the Doctor a whole lot of questions about himself
+and made him answer in a loud voice so the whole court could hear. He
+finished up by saying,
+
+"And you are prepared to swear, Doctor Dolittle, that you understand the
+language of dogs and can make them understand you. Is that so?"
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, "that is so."
+
+"And what, might I ask," put in the judge in a very quiet, dignified
+voice, "has all this to do with the killing of er--er--Bluebeard Bill?"
+
+"This, Your Honor," said Mr. Jenkyns, talking in a very grand manner as
+though he were on a stage in a theatre: "there is in this court-room at
+the present moment a bulldog, who was the only living thing that saw the
+man killed. With the Court's permission I propose to put that dog in
+the witness-stand and have him questioned before you by the eminent
+scientist, Doctor John Dolittle."
+
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE JUDGE'S DOG
+
+AT first there was a dead silence in the Court. Then everybody began
+whispering or giggling at the same time, till the whole room sounded
+like a great hive of bees. Many people seemed to be shocked; most of
+them were amused; and a few were angry.
+
+Presently up sprang the nasty lawyer with the long nose.
+
+"I protest, Your Honor," he cried, waving his arms wildly to the judge.
+"I object. The dignity of this court is in peril. I protest."
+
+"I am the one to take care of the dignity of this court," said the
+judge.
+
+Then Mr. Jenkyns got up again. (If it hadn't been such a serious matter,
+it was almost like a Punch-and-Judy show: somebody was always popping
+down and somebody else popping up).
+
+"If there is any doubt on the score of our being able to do as we say,
+Your Honor will have no objection, I trust, to the Doctor's giving the
+Court a demonstration of his powers--of showing that he actually
+can understand the speech of animals?" I thought I saw a twinkle of
+amusement come into the old judge's eyes as he sat considering a moment
+before he answered.
+
+"No," he said at last, "I don't think so." Then he turned to the Doctor.
+
+"Are you quite sure you can do this?" he asked.
+
+"Quite, Your Honor," said the Doctor--"quite sure."
+
+"Very well then," said the judge. "If you can satisfy us that you really
+are able to understand canine testimony, the dog shall be admitted as
+a witness. I do not see, in that case, how I could object to his being
+heard. But I warn you that if you are trying to make a laughing-stock of
+this Court it will go hard with you."
+
+"I protest, I protest!" yelled the long-nosed Prosecutor. "This is a
+scandal, an outrage to the Bar!"
+
+"Sit down!" said the judge in a very stern voice.
+
+"What animal does Your Honor wish me to talk with?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"I would like you to talk to my own dog," said the judge. "He is outside
+in the cloak-room. I will have him brought in; and then we shall see
+what you can do."
+
+Then someone went out and fetched the judge's dog, a lovely great
+Russian wolf-hound with slender legs and a shaggy coat. He was a proud
+and beautiful creature.
+
+"Now, Doctor," said the judge, "did you ever see this dog
+before?--Remember you are in the witness-stand and under oath."
+
+"No, Your Honor, I never saw him before."
+
+"Very well then, will you please ask him to tell you what I had for
+supper last night? He was with me and watched me while I ate."
+
+Then the Doctor and the dog started talking to one another in signs and
+sounds; and they kept at it for quite a long time. And the Doctor began
+to giggle and get so interested that he seemed to forget all about the
+Court and the judge and everything else.
+
+"What a time he takes!" I heard a fat woman in front of me whispering.
+"He's only pretending. Of course he can't do it! Who ever heard of
+talking to a dog? He must think we're children."
+
+"Haven't you finished yet?" the judge asked the Doctor. "It shouldn't
+take that long just to ask what I had for supper."
+
+"Oh no, Your Honor," said the Doctor. "The dog told me that long ago.
+But then he went on to tell me what you did after supper."
+
+"Never mind that," said the judge. "Tell me what answer he gave you to
+my question."
+
+"He says you had a mutton-chop, two baked potatoes, a pickled walnut and
+a glass of ale."
+
+The Honorable Eustace Beauchamp Conckley went white to the lips.
+
+"Sounds like witchcraft," he muttered. "I never dreamed--"
+
+"And after your supper," the Doctor went on, "he says you went to see a
+prize-fight and then sat up playing cards for money till twelve o'clock
+and came home singing, 'We wont get--'"
+
+"That will do," the judge interrupted, "I am satisfied you can do as you
+say. The prisoner's dog shall be admitted as a witness."
+
+"I protest, I object!" screamed the Prosecutor. "Your Honor, this is--"
+
+"Sit down!" roared the judge. "I say the dog shall be heard. That ends
+the matter. Put the witness in the stand."
+
+And then for the first time in the solemn history of England a dog was
+put in the witness-stand of Her Majesty's Court of Assizes. And it was
+I, Tommy Stubbins (when the Doctor made a sign to me across the room)
+who proudly led Bob up the aisle, through the astonished crowd, past the
+frowning, spluttering, long-nosed Prosecutor, and made him comfortable
+on a high chair in the witness-box; from where the old bulldog sat
+scowling down over the rail upon the amazed and gaping jury.
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE END OF THE MYSTERY
+
+THE trial went swiftly forward after that. Mr. Jenkyns told the Doctor
+to ask Bob what he saw on the "night of the 29th;" and when Bob had told
+all he knew and the Doctor had turned it into English for the judge and
+the jury, this was what he had to say:
+
+"On the night of the 29th of November, 1824, I was with my master, Luke
+Fitzjohn (otherwise known as Luke the Hermit) and his two partners,
+Manuel Mendoza and William Boggs (otherwise known as Bluebeard Bill)
+on their gold-mine in Mexico. For a long time these three men had been
+hunting for gold; and they had dug a deep hole in the ground. On the
+morning of the 29th gold was discovered, lots of it, at the bottom of
+this hole. And all three, my master and his two partners, were very
+happy about it because now they would be rich. But Manuel Mendoza asked
+Bluebeard Bill to go for a walk with him. These two men I had always
+suspected of being bad. So when I noticed that they left my master
+behind, I followed them secretly to see what they were up to. And in a
+deep cave in the mountains I heard them arrange together to kill Luke
+the Hermit so that they should get all the gold and he have none."
+
+At this point the judge asked, "Where is the witness Mendoza? Constable,
+see that he does not leave the court."
+
+But the wicked little man with the watery eyes had already sneaked out
+when no one was looking and he was never seen in Puddleby again.
+
+"Then," Bob's statement went on, "I went to my master and tried very
+hard to make him understand that his partners were dangerous men. But it
+was no use. He did not understand dog language. So I did the next best
+thing: I never let him out of my sight but stayed with him every moment
+of the day and night.
+
+"Now the hole that they had made was so deep that to get down and up it
+you had to go in a big bucket tied on the end of a rope; and the three
+men used to haul one another up and let one another down the mine in
+this way. That was how the gold was brought up too--in the bucket. Well,
+about seven o'clock in the evening my master was standing at the top of
+the mine, hauling up Bluebeard Bill who was in the bucket. Just as he
+had got Bill halfway up I saw Mendoza come out of the hut where we
+all lived. Mendoza thought that Bill was away buying groceries. But
+he wasn't: he was in the bucket. And when Mendoza saw Luke hauling and
+straining on the rope he thought he was pulling up a bucketful of gold.
+So he drew a pistol from his pocket and came sneaking up behind Luke to
+shoot him.
+
+"I barked and barked to warn my master of the danger he was in; but he
+was so busy hauling up Bill (who was a heavy fat man) that he took no
+notice of me. I saw that if I didn't do something quick he would surely
+be shot. So I did a thing I've never done before: suddenly and savagely
+I bit my master in the leg from behind. Luke was so hurt and startled
+that he did just what I wanted him to do: he let go the rope with both
+hands at once and turned round. And then, CRASH! down went Bill in his
+bucket to the bottom of the mine and he was killed.
+
+"While my master was busy scolding me Mendoza put his pistol in his
+pocket, came up with a smile on his face and looked down the mine.
+
+"'Why, Good Gracious'!" said he to Luke, 'You've killed Bluebeard Bill.
+I must go and tell the police'--hoping, you see, to get the whole mine
+to himself when Luke should be put in prison. Then he jumped on his
+horse and galloped away."
+
+"And soon my master grew afraid; for he saw that if Mendoza only told
+enough lies to the police, it WOULD look as though he had killed Bill on
+purpose. So while Mendoza was gone he and I stole away together secretly
+and came to England. Here he shaved off his beard and became a hermit.
+And ever since, for fifteen years, we've remained in hiding. This is all
+I have to say. And I swear it is the truth, every word."
+
+When the Doctor finished reading Bob's long speech the excitement among
+the twelve men of the jury was positively terrific. One, a very old man
+with white hair, began to weep in a loud voice at the thought of poor
+Luke hiding on the fen for fifteen years for something he couldn't help.
+And all the others set to whispering and nodding their heads to one
+another.
+
+In the middle of all this up got that horrible Prosecutor again, waving
+his arms more wildly than ever.
+
+"Your Honor," he cried, "I must object to this evidence as biased.
+Of course the dog would not tell the truth against his own master. I
+object. I protest."
+
+"Very well," said the judge, "you are at liberty to cross-examine. It is
+your duty as Prosecutor to prove his evidence untrue. There is the dog:
+question him, if you do not believe what he says."
+
+I thought the long-nosed lawyer would have a fit. He looked first at
+the dog, then at the Doctor, then at the judge, then back at the dog
+scowling from the witness-box. He opened his mouth to say something;
+but no words came. He waved his arms some more. His face got redder and
+redder. At last, clutching his forehead, he sank weakly into his seat
+and had to be helped out of the court-room by two friends. As he
+was half carried through the door he was still feebly murmuring, "I
+protest--I object--I protest!"
+
+
+
+
+THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THREE CHEERS
+
+NEXT the judge made a very long speech to the jury; and when it was over
+all the twelve jurymen got up and went out into the next room. And at
+that point the Doctor came back, leading Bob, to the seat beside me.
+
+"What have the jurymen gone out for?" I asked.
+
+"They always do that at the end of a trial--to make up their minds
+whether the prisoner did it or not."
+
+"Couldn't you and Bob go in with them and help them make up their minds
+the right way?" I asked.
+
+"No, that's not allowed. They have to talk it over in secret. Sometimes
+it takes--My Gracious, look, they're coming back already! They didn't
+spend long over it."
+
+Everybody kept quite still while the twelve men came tramping back
+into their places in the pews. Then one of them, the leader--a little
+man--stood up and turned to the judge. Every one was holding his breath,
+especially the Doctor and myself, to see what he was going to say. You
+could have heard a pin drop while the whole court-room, the whole of
+Puddleby in fact, waited with craning necks and straining ears to hear
+the weighty words.
+
+"Your Honor," said the little man, "the jury returns a verdict of NOT
+GUILTY."
+
+"What's that mean?" I asked, turning to the Doctor.
+
+But I found Doctor John Dolittle, the famous naturalist, standing on top
+of a chair, dancing about on one leg like a schoolboy.
+
+"It means he's free!" he cried, "Luke is free!"
+
+"Then he'll be able to come on the voyage with us, won't he?"
+
+But I could not hear his answer; for the whole court-room seemed to be
+jumping up on chairs like the Doctor. The crowd had suddenly gone crazy.
+All the people were laughing and calling and waving to Luke to show him
+how glad they were that he was free. The noise was deafening.
+
+Then it stopped. All was quiet again; and the people stood up
+respectfully while the judge left the Court. For the trial of Luke the
+Hermit, that famous trial which to this day they are still talking of in
+Puddleby, was over.
+
+In the hush while the judge was leaving, a sudden shriek rang out,
+and there, in the doorway stood a woman, her arms out-stretched to the
+Hermit.
+
+"Luke!" she cried, "I've found you at last!"
+
+"It's his wife," the fat woman in front of me whispered. "She ain't
+seen 'im in fifteen years, poor dear! What a lovely re-union. I'm glad I
+came. I wouldn't have missed this for anything!"
+
+As soon as the judge had gone the noise broke out again; and now the
+folks gathered round Luke and his wife and shook them by the hand and
+congratulated them and laughed over them and cried over them.
+
+"Come along, Stubbins," said the Doctor, taking me by the arm, "let's
+get out of this while we can."
+
+"But aren't you going to speak to Luke?" I said--"to ask him if he'll
+come on the voyage?"
+
+"It wouldn't be a bit of use," said the Doctor. "His wife's come for
+him. No man stands any chance of going on a voyage when his wife hasn't
+seen him in fifteen years. Come along. Let's get home to tea. We didn't
+have any lunch, remember. And we've earned something to eat. We'll have
+one of those mixed meals, lunch and tea combined--with watercress and
+ham. Nice change. Come along."
+
+Just as we were going to step out at a side door I heard the crowd
+shouting,
+
+"The Doctor! The Doctor! Where's the Doctor? The Hermit would have
+hanged if it hadn't been for the Doctor. Speech! Speech!--The Doctor!"
+
+And a man came running up to us and said,
+
+"The people are calling for you, Sir."
+
+"I'm very sorry," said the Doctor, "but I'm in a hurry."
+
+"The crowd won't be denied, Sir," said the man. "They want you to make a
+speech in the marketplace."
+
+"Beg them to excuse me," said the Doctor--"with my compliments. I have
+an appointment at my house--a very important one which I may not break.
+Tell Luke to make a speech. Come along, Stubbins, this way."
+
+"Oh Lord!" he muttered as we got out into the open air and found another
+crowd waiting for him at the side door. "Let's go up that alleyway--to
+the left. Quick!--Run!"
+
+We took to our heels, darted through a couple of side streets and just
+managed to get away from the crowd.
+
+It was not till we had gained the Oxenthorpe Road that we dared to
+slow down to a walk and take our breath. And even when we reached the
+Doctor's gate and turned to look backwards towards the town, the faint
+murmur of many voices still reached us on the evening wind.
+
+"They're still clamoring for you," I said. "Listen!"
+
+The murmur suddenly swelled up into a low distant roar; and although it
+was a mile and half away you could distinctly hear the words,
+
+"Three cheers for Luke the Hermit: Hooray!--Three cheers for his dog:
+Hooray!--Three cheers for his wife: Hooray!--Three cheers for the
+Doctor: Hooray! Hooray! HOO-R-A-Y!"
+
+
+
+
+THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE
+
+POLYNESIA was waiting for us in the front porch. She looked full of some
+important news.
+
+"Doctor," said she, "the Purple Bird-of-Paradise has arrived!"
+
+"At last!" said the Doctor. "I had begun to fear some accident had
+befallen her. And how is Miranda?"
+
+From the excited way in which the Doctor fumbled his key into the lock I
+guessed that we were not going to get our tea right away, even now.
+
+"Oh, she seemed all right when she arrived," said Polynesia--"tired
+from her long journey of course but otherwise all right. But what DO you
+think? That mischief-making sparrow, Cheapside, insulted her as soon as
+she came into the garden. When I arrived on the scene she was in
+tears and was all for turning round and going straight back to Brazil
+to-night. I had the hardest work persuading her to wait till you came.
+She's in the study. I shut Cheapside in one of your book-cases and told
+him I'd tell you exactly what had happened the moment you got home."
+
+The Doctor frowned, then walked silently and quickly to the study.
+
+Here we found the candles lit; for the daylight was nearly gone. Dab-Dab
+was standing on the floor mounting guard over one of the glass-fronted
+book-cases in which Cheapside had been imprisoned. The noisy little
+sparrow was still fluttering angrily behind the glass when we came in.
+
+In the centre of the big table, perched on the ink-stand, stood the most
+beautiful bird I have ever seen. She had a deep violet-colored
+breast, scarlet wings and a long, long sweeping tail of gold. She was
+unimaginably beautiful but looked dreadfully tired. Already she had her
+head under her wing; and she swayed gently from side to side on top of
+the ink-stand like a bird that has flown long and far.
+
+"Sh!" said Dab-Dab. "Miranda is asleep. I've got this little imp
+Cheapside in here. Listen, Doctor: for Heaven's sake send that sparrow
+away before he does any more mischief. He's nothing but a vulgar little
+nuisance. We've had a perfectly awful time trying to get Miranda to
+stay. Shall I serve your tea in here, or will you come into the kitchen
+when you're ready?"
+
+"We'll come into the kitchen, Dab-Dab," said the Doctor. "Let Cheapside
+out before you go, please."
+
+Dab-Dab opened the bookcase-door and Cheapside strutted out trying hard
+not to look guilty.
+
+"Cheapside," said the Doctor sternly, "what did you say to Miranda when
+she arrived?"
+
+"I didn't say nothing, Doc, straight I didn't. That is, nothing much. I
+was picking up crumbs off the gravel path when she comes swanking into
+the garden, turning up her nose in all directions, as though she owned
+the earth--just because she's got a lot of colored plumage. A London
+sparrow's as good as her any day. I don't hold by these gawdy bedizened
+foreigners nohow. Why don't they stay in their own country?"
+
+"But what did you say to her that got her so offended?"
+
+"All I said was, 'You don't belong in an English garden; you ought to be
+in a milliner's window. That's all."
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Cheapside. Don't you realize that
+this bird has come thousands of miles to see me--only to be insulted by
+your impertinent tongue as soon as she reaches my garden? What do you
+mean by it?--If she had gone away again before I got back to-night I
+would never have forgiven you--Leave the room."
+
+Sheepishly, but still trying to look as though he didn't care, Cheapside
+hopped out into the passage and Dab-Dab closed the door.
+
+The Doctor went up to the beautiful bird on the ink-stand and gently
+stroked its back. Instantly its head popped out from under its wing.
+
+
+
+
+THE TENTH CHAPTER. LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW
+
+"WELL, Miranda," said the Doctor. "I'm terribly sorry this has happened.
+But you mustn't mind Cheapside; he doesn't know any better. He's a city
+bird; and all his life he has had to squabble for a living. You must
+make allowances. He doesn't know any better."
+
+Miranda stretched her gorgeous wings wearily. Now that I saw her awake
+and moving I noticed what a superior, well-bred manner she had. There
+were tears in her eyes and her beak was trembling.
+
+"I wouldn't have minded so much," she said in a high silvery voice,
+"if I hadn't been so dreadfully worn out--That and something else," she
+added beneath her breath.
+
+"Did you have a hard time getting here?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"The worst passage I ever made," said Miranda. "The weather--Well there.
+What's the use? I'm here anyway."
+
+"Tell me," said the Doctor as though he had been impatiently waiting to
+say something for a long time: "what did Long Arrow say when you gave
+him my message?"
+
+The Purple Bird-of-Paradise hung her head.
+
+"That's the worst part of it," she said. "I might almost as well have
+not come at all. I wasn't able to deliver your message. I couldn't find
+him. LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW, HAS DISAPPEARED!"
+
+"Disappeared!" cried the Doctor. "Why, what's become of him?"
+
+"Nobody knows," Miranda answered. "He had often disappeared before, as I
+have told you--so that the Indians didn't know where he was. But it's a
+mighty hard thing to hide away from the birds. I had always been able to
+find some owl or martin who could tell me where he was--if I wanted
+to know. But not this time. That's why I'm nearly a fortnight late in
+coming to you: I kept hunting and hunting, asking everywhere. I went
+over the whole length and breadth of South America. But there wasn't a
+living thing could tell me where he was."
+
+There was a sad silence in the room after she had finished; the Doctor
+was frowning in a peculiar sort of way and Polynesia scratched her head.
+
+"Did you ask the black parrots?" asked Polynesia. "They usually know
+everything."
+
+"Certainly I did," said Miranda. "And I was so upset at not being
+able to find out anything, that I forgot all about observing the
+weather-signs before I started my flight here. I didn't even bother to
+break my journey at the Azores, but cut right across, making for the
+Straits of Gibraltar--as though it were June or July. And of course I
+ran into a perfectly frightful storm in mid-Atlantic. I really thought
+I'd never come through it. Luckily I found a piece of a wrecked vessel
+floating in the sea after the storm had partly died down; and I roosted
+on it and took some sleep. If I hadn't been able to take that rest I
+wouldn't be here to tell the tale."
+
+"Poor Miranda! What a time you must have had!" said the Doctor. "But
+tell me, were you able to find out whereabouts Long Arrow was last
+seen?"
+
+"Yes. A young albatross told me he had seen him on Spidermonkey Island?"
+
+"Spidermonkey Island? That's somewhere off the coast of Brazil, isn't
+it?"
+
+"Yes, that's it. Of course I flew there right away and asked every bird
+on the island--and it is a big island, a hundred miles long. It seems
+that Long Arrow was visiting some peculiar Indians that live there; and
+that when last seen he was going up into the mountains looking for rare
+medicine-plants. I got that from a tame hawk, a pet, which the Chief of
+the Indians keeps for hunting partridges with. I nearly got caught and
+put in a cage for my pains too. That's the worst of having beautiful
+feathers: it's as much as your life is worth to go near most
+humans--They say, 'oh how pretty!' and shoot an arrow or a bullet into
+you. You and Long Arrow were the only two men that I would ever trust
+myself near--out of all the people in the world."
+
+"But was he never known to have returned from the mountains?"
+
+"No. That was the last that was seen or heard of him. I questioned the
+sea-birds around the shores to find out if he had left the island in a
+canoe. But they could tell me nothing."
+
+"Do you think that some accident has happened to him?" asked the Doctor
+in a fearful voice.
+
+"I'm afraid it must have," said Miranda shaking her head.
+
+"Well," said John Dolittle slowly, "if I could never meet Long Arrow
+face to face it would be the greatest disappointment in my whole life.
+Not only that, but it would be a great loss to the knowledge of the
+human race. For, from what you have told me of him, he knew more natural
+science than all the rest of us put together; and if he has gone without
+any one to write it down for him, so the world may be the better for
+it, it would be a terrible thing. But you don't really think that he is
+dead, do you?"
+
+"What else can I think?" asked Miranda, bursting into tears, "when for
+six whole months he has not been seen by flesh, fish or fowl."
+
+
+
+
+THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER. BLIND TRAVEL
+
+THIS news about Long Arrow made us all very sad. And I could see from
+the silent dreamy way the Doctor took his tea that he was dreadfully
+upset. Every once in a while he would stop eating altogether and sit
+staring at the spots on the kitchen table-cloth as though his thoughts
+were far away; till Dab-Dab, who was watching to see that he got a good
+meal, would cough or rattle the pots in the sink.
+
+I did my best to cheer him up by reminding him of all he had done for
+Luke and his wife that afternoon. And when that didn't seem to work, I
+went on talking about our preparations for the voyage.
+
+"But you see, Stubbins," said he as we rose from the table and Dab-Dab
+and Chee-Chee began to clear away, "I don't know where to go now. I feel
+sort of lost since Miranda brought me this news. On this voyage I had
+planned going to see Long Arrow. I had been looking forward to it for
+a whole year. I felt he might help me in learning the language of the
+shellfish--and perhaps in finding some way of getting to the bottom of
+the sea. But now?--He's gone! And all his great knowledge has gone with
+him."
+
+Then he seemed to fall a-dreaming again.
+
+"Just to think of it!" he murmured. "Long Arrow and I, two
+students--Although I'd never met him, I felt as though I knew him quite
+well. For, in his way--without any schooling--he has, all his life, been
+trying to do the very things which I have tried to do in mine--And now
+he's gone!--A whole world lay between us--And only a bird knew us both!"
+
+We went back into the study, where Jip brought the Doctor his slippers
+and his pipe. And after the pipe was lit and the smoke began to fill the
+room the old man seemed to cheer up a little.
+
+"But you will go on some voyage, Doctor, won't you?" I asked--"even if
+you can't go to find Long Arrow."
+
+He looked up sharply into my face; and I suppose he saw how anxious I
+was. Because he suddenly smiled his old, boyish smile and said,
+
+"Yes, Stubbins. Don't worry. We'll go. We mustn't stop working and
+learning, even if poor Long Arrow has disappeared--But where to go:
+that's the question. Where shall we go?"
+
+There were so many places that I wanted to go that I couldn't make up
+my mind right away. And while I was still thinking, the Doctor sat up in
+his chair and said,
+
+"I tell you what we'll do, Stubbins: it's a game I used to play when I
+was young--before Sarah came to live with me. I used to call it Blind
+Travel. Whenever I wanted to go on a voyage, and I couldn't make up my
+mind where to go, I would take the atlas and open it with my eyes shut.
+Next, I'd wave a pencil, still without looking, and stick it down on
+whatever page had fallen open. Then I'd open my eyes and look. It's a
+very exciting game, is Blind Travel. Because you have to swear, before
+you begin, that you will go to the place the pencil touches, come what
+way. Shall we play it?"
+
+"Oh, let's!" I almost yelled. "How thrilling! I hope it's China--or
+Borneo--or Bagdad."
+
+And in a moment I had scrambled up the bookcase, dragged the big atlas
+from the top shelf and laid it on the table before the Doctor.
+
+I knew every page in that atlas by heart. How many days and nights I
+had lingered over its old faded maps, following the blue rivers from
+the mountains to the sea; wondering what the little towns really looked
+like, and how wide were the sprawling lakes! I had had a lot of fun with
+that atlas, traveling, in my mind, all over the world. I can see it
+now: the first page had no map; it just told you that it was printed in
+Edinburgh in 1808, and a whole lot more about the book. The next page
+was the Solar System, showing the sun and planets, the stars and the
+moon. The third page was the chart of the North and South Poles. Then
+came the hemispheres, the oceans, the continents and the countries.
+
+As the Doctor began sharpening his pencil a thought came to me.
+
+"What if the pencil falls upon the North Pole," I asked, "will we have
+to go there?"
+
+"No. The rules of the game say you don't have to go any place you've
+been to before. You are allowed another try. I've been to the North
+Pole," he ended quietly, "so we shan't have to go there." I could hardly
+speak with astonishment.
+
+"YOU'VE BEEN TO THE NORTH POLE!" I managed to gasp out at last. "But
+I thought it was still undiscovered. The map shows all the places
+explorers have reached to, TRYING to get there. Why isn't your name down
+if you discovered it?"
+
+"I promised to keep it a secret. And you must promise me never to tell
+any one. Yes, I discovered the North Pole in April, 1809. But shortly
+after I got there the polar bears came to me in a body and told me there
+was a great deal of coal there, buried beneath the snow. They knew, they
+said, that human beings would do anything, and go anywhere, to get coal.
+So would I please keep it a secret. Because once people began coming
+up there to start coal-mines, their beautiful white country would be
+spoiled--and there was nowhere else in the world cold enough for polar
+bears to be comfortable. So of course I had to promise them I would. Ah,
+well, it will be discovered again some day, by somebody else. But I
+want the polar bears to have their play-ground to themselves as long as
+possible. And I daresay it will be a good while yet--for it certainly
+is a fiendish place to get to--Well now, are we ready?--Good! Take the
+pencil and stand here close to the table. When the book falls open, wave
+the pencil round three times and jab it down. Ready?--All right. Shut
+your eyes."
+
+It was a tense and fearful moment--but very thrilling. We both had our
+eyes shut tight. I heard the atlas fall open with a bang. I wondered
+what page it was: England or Asia. If it should be the map of Asia, so
+much would depend on where that pencil would land. I waved three times
+in a circle. I began to lower my hand. The pencil-point touched the
+page.
+
+"All right," I called out, "it's done."
+
+
+
+
+THE TWELFTH CHAPTER. DESTINY AND DESTINATION
+
+WE both opened our eyes; then bumped our heads together with a crack in
+our eagerness to lean over and see where we were to go.
+
+The atlas lay open at a map called, Chart of the South Atlantic Ocean.
+My pencil-point was resting right in the center of a tiny island. The
+name of it was printed so small that the Doctor had to get out his
+strong spectacles to read it. I was trembling with excitement.
+
+"Spidermonkey Island," he read out slowly. Then he whistled softly
+beneath his breath. "Of all the extraordinary things! You've hit upon
+the very island where Long Arrow was last seen on earth--I wonder--Well,
+well! How very singular!"
+
+"We'll go there, Doctor, won't we?" I asked.
+
+"Of course we will. The rules of the game say we've got to."
+
+"I'm so glad it wasn't Oxenthorpe or Bristol," I said. "It'll be a grand
+voyage, this. Look at all the sea we've got to cross. Will it take us
+long?"
+
+"Oh, no," said the Doctor--"not very. With a good boat and a good wind
+we should make it easily in four weeks. But isn't it extraordinary? Of
+all the places in the world you picked out that one with your eyes shut.
+Spidermonkey Island after all!--Well, there's one good thing about it: I
+shall be able to get some Jabizri beetles."
+
+"What are Jabizri beetles?"
+
+"They are a very rare kind of beetles with peculiar habits. I want to
+study them. There are only three countries in the world where they are
+to be found. Spidermonkey Island is one of them. But even there they are
+very scarce."
+
+"What is this little question-mark after the name of the island for?" I
+asked, pointing to the map.
+
+"That means that the island's position in the ocean is not known very
+exactly--that it is somewhere ABOUT there. Ships have probably seen it
+in that neighborhood, that is all, most likely. It is quite possible we
+shall be the first white men to land there. But I daresay we shall have
+some difficulty in finding it first."
+
+How like a dream it all sounded! The two of us sitting there at the big
+study-table; the candles lit; the smoke curling towards the dim ceiling
+from the Doctor's pipe--the two of us sitting there, talking about
+finding an island in the ocean and being the first white men to land
+upon it!
+
+"I'll bet it will be a great voyage," I said. "It looks a lovely island
+on the map. Will there be black men there?"
+
+"No. A peculiar tribe of Red Indians lives on it, Miranda tells me."
+
+At this point the poor Bird-of-Paradise stirred and woke up. In our
+excitement we had forgotten to speak low.
+
+"We are going to Spidermonkey Island, Miranda," said the Doctor. "You
+know where it is, do you not?"
+
+"I know where it was the last time I saw it," said the bird. "But
+whether it will be there still, I can't say."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the Doctor. "It is always in the same place
+surely?"
+
+"Not by any means," said Miranda. "Why, didn't you know?--Spidermonkey
+Island is a FLOATING island. It moves around all over the place--usually
+somewhere near southern South America. But of course I could surely find
+it for you if you want to go there."
+
+At this fresh piece of news I could contain myself no longer. I was
+bursting to tell some one. I ran dancing and singing from the room to
+find Chee-Chee.
+
+At the door I tripped over Dab-Dab, who was just coming in with her
+wings full of plates, and fell headlong on my nose,
+
+"Has the boy gone crazy?" cried the duck. "Where do you think you're
+going, ninny?"
+
+"To Spidermonkey Island!" I shouted, picking myself up and doing
+cart-wheels down the hall--"Spidermonkey Island! Hooray!--And it's a
+FLOATING island!"
+
+"You're going to Bedlam, I should say," snorted the housekeeper. "Look
+what you've done to my best china!"
+
+But I was far too happy to listen to her scolding; and I ran on,
+singing, into the kitchen to find Chee-Chee.
+
+
+
+
+PART THREE
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER. THE THIRD MAN
+
+THAT same week we began our preparations for the voyage.
+
+Joe, the mussel-man, had the Curlew moved down the river and tied it
+up along the river-wall, so it would be more handy for loading. And for
+three whole days we carried provisions down to our beautiful new boat
+and stowed them away.
+
+I was surprised to find how roomy and big she was inside. There were
+three little cabins, a saloon (or dining-room) and underneath all this,
+a big place called the hold where the food and extra sails and other
+things were kept.
+
+I think Joe must have told everybody in the town about our coming
+voyage, because there was always a regular crowd watching us when we
+brought the things down to put aboard. And of course sooner or later old
+Matthew Mugg was bound to turn up.
+
+"My Goodness, Tommy," said he, as he watched me carrying on some sacks
+of flour, "but that's a pretty boat! Where might the Doctor be going to
+this voyage?"
+
+"We're going to Spidermonkey Island," I said proudly.
+
+"And be you the only one the Doctor's taking along?"
+
+"Well, he has spoken of wanting to take another man," I said; "but so
+far he hasn't made up his mind."
+
+Matthew grunted; then squinted up at the graceful masts of the Curlew.
+
+"You know, Tommy," said he, "if it wasn't for my rheumatism I've half
+a mind to come with the Doctor myself. There's something about a boat
+standing ready to sail that always did make me feel venturesome and
+travelish-like. What's that stuff in the cans you're taking on?"
+
+"This is treacle," I said--"twenty pounds of treacle."
+
+"My Goodness," he sighed, turning away sadly. "That makes me feel more
+like going with you than ever--But my rheumatism is that bad I can't
+hardly--"
+
+I didn't hear any more for Matthew had moved off, still mumbling, into
+the crowd that stood about the wharf. The clock in Puddleby Church
+struck noon and I turned back, feeling very busy and important, to the
+task of loading.
+
+But it wasn't very long before some one else came along and interrupted
+my work. This was a huge, big, burly man with a red beard and
+tattoo-marks all over his arms. He wiped his mouth with the back of his
+hand, spat twice on to the river-wall and said,
+
+"Boy, where's the skipper?"
+
+"The SKIPPER!--Who do you mean?" I asked.
+
+"The captain--Where's the captain, of this craft?" he said, pointing to
+the Curlew.
+
+"Oh, you mean the Doctor," said I. "Well, he isn't here at present."
+
+At that moment the Doctor arrived with his arms full of note-books and
+butterfly-nets and glass cases and other natural history things. The big
+man went up to him, respectfully touching his cap.
+
+"Good morning, Captain," said he. "I heard you was in need of hands for
+a voyage. My name's Ben Butcher, able seaman."
+
+"I am very glad to know you," said the Doctor. "But I'm afraid I shan't
+be able to take on any more crew."
+
+"Why, but Captain," said the able seaman, "you surely ain't going to
+face deep-sea weather with nothing more than this bit of a lad to help
+you--and with a cutter that big!"
+
+The Doctor assured him that he was; but the man didn't go away. He hung
+around and argued. He told us he had known of many ships being sunk
+through "undermanning." He got out what he called his stiffikit--a paper
+which said what a good sailor he was--and implored us, if we valued our
+lives, to take him.
+
+But the Doctor was quite firm-polite but determined--and finally the man
+walked sorrowfully away, telling us he never expected to see us alive
+again.
+
+Callers of one sort and another kept us quite busy that morning. The
+Doctor had no sooner gone below to stow away his note-books than
+another visitor appeared upon the gang-plank. This was a most
+extraordinary-looking black man. The only other negroes I had seen had
+been in circuses, where they wore feathers and bone necklaces and things
+like that. But this one was dressed in a fashionable frock coat with an
+enormous bright red cravat. On his head was a straw hat with a gay band;
+and over this he held a large green umbrella. He was very smart in every
+respect except his feet. He wore no shoes or socks.
+
+"Pardon me," said he, bowing elegantly, "but is this the ship of the
+physician Dolittle?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "did you wish to see him?"
+
+"I did--if it will not be discommodious," he answered.
+
+"Who shall I say it is?"
+
+"I am Bumpo Kahbooboo, Crown Prince of Jolliginki."
+
+I ran downstairs at once and told the Doctor.
+
+"How fortunate!" cried John Dolittle. "My old friend Bumpo! Well,
+well!--He's studying at Oxford, you know. How good of him to come all
+this way to call on me!" And he tumbled up the ladder to greet his
+visitor.
+
+The strange black man seemed to be overcome with joy when the Doctor
+appeared and shook him warmly by the hand.
+
+"News reached me," he said, "that you were about to sail upon a voyage.
+I hastened to see you before your departure. I am sublimely ecstasied
+that I did not miss you."
+
+"You very nearly did miss us," said the Doctor. "As it happened, we
+were delayed somewhat in getting the necessary number of men to sail
+our boat. If it hadn't been for that, we would have been gone three days
+ago."
+
+"How many men does your ship's company yet require?" asked Bumpo.
+
+"Only one," said the Doctor--"But it is so hard to find the right one."
+
+"Methinks I detect something of the finger of Destination in this," said
+Bumpo. "How would I do?"
+
+"Splendidly," said the Doctor. "But what about your studies? You can't
+very well just go off and leave your university career to take care of
+itself, you know."
+
+"I need a holiday," said Bumpo. "Even had I not gone with you, I
+intended at the end of this term to take a three-months' absconsion--But
+besides, I shall not be neglecting my edification if I accompany you.
+Before I left Jolliginki my august father, the King, told me to be sure
+and travel plenty. You are a man of great studiosity. To see the world
+in your company is an opportunity not to be sneezed upon. No, no,
+indeed."
+
+"How did you like the life at Oxford?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Oh, passably, passably," said Bumpo. "I liked it all except the algebra
+and the shoes. The algebra hurt my head and the shoes hurt my feet.
+I threw the shoes over a wall as soon as I got out of the college
+quadrilateral this morning; and the algebra I am happily forgetting very
+fast--I liked Cicero--Yes, I think Cicero's fine--so simultaneous.
+By the way, they tell me his son is rowing for our college next
+year--charming fellow."
+
+The Doctor looked down at the black man's huge bare feet thoughtfully a
+moment.
+
+"Well," he said slowly, "there is something in what you say, Bumpo,
+about getting education from the world as well as from the college. And
+if you are really sure that you want to come, we shall be delighted to
+have you. Because, to tell you the truth, I think you are exactly the
+man we need."
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER. GOOD-BYE!
+
+TWO days after that we had all in readiness for our departure.
+
+On this voyage Jip begged so hard to be taken that the Doctor finally
+gave in and said he could come. Polynesia and Chee-Chee were the only
+other animals to go with us. Dab-Dab was left in charge of the house and
+the animal family we were to leave behind.
+
+Of course, as is always the way, at the last moment we kept remembering
+things we had forgotten; and when we finally closed the house up and
+went down the steps to the road, we were all burdened with armfuls of
+odd packages.
+
+Halfway to the river, the Doctor suddenly remembered that he had left
+the stock-pot boiling on the kitchen-fire. However, we saw a blackbird
+flying by who nested in our garden, and the Doctor asked her to go back
+for us and tell Dab-Dab about it.
+
+Down at the river-wall we found a great crowd waiting to see us off.
+
+Standing right near the gang-plank were my mother and father. I hoped
+that they would not make a scene, or burst into tears or anything like
+that. But as a matter of fact they behaved quite well--for parents. My
+mother said something about being sure not to get my feet wet; and my
+father just smiled a crooked sort of smile, patted me on the back and
+wished me luck. Good-byes are awfully uncomfortable things and I was
+glad when it was over and we passed on to the ship.
+
+We were a little surprised not to see Matthew Mugg among the crowd. We
+had felt sure that he would be there; and the Doctor had intended to
+give him some extra instructions about the food for the animals we had
+left at the house.
+
+At last, after much pulling and tugging, we got the anchor up and undid
+a lot of mooring-ropes. Then the Curlew began to move gently down the
+river with the out-running tide, while the people on the wall cheered
+and waved their handkerchiefs.
+
+We bumped into one or two other boats getting out into the stream; and
+at one sharp bend in the river we got stuck on a mud bank for a few
+minutes. But though the people on the shore seemed to get very excited
+at these things, the Doctor did not appear to be disturbed by them in
+the least.
+
+"These little accidents will happen in the most carefully regulated
+voyages," he said as he leaned over the side and fished for his boots
+which had got stuck in the mud while we were pushing off. "Sailing is
+much easier when you get out into the open sea. There aren't so many
+silly things to bump into."
+
+For me indeed it was a great and wonderful feeling, that getting out
+into the open sea, when at length we passed the little lighthouse at the
+mouth of the river and found ourselves free of the land. It was all
+so new and different: just the sky above you and sea below. This ship,
+which was to be our house and our street, our home and our garden, for
+so many days to come, seemed so tiny in all this wide water--so tiny and
+yet so snug, sufficient, safe.
+
+I looked around me and took in a deep breath. The Doctor was at the
+wheel steering the boat which was now leaping and plunging gently
+through the waves. (I had expected to feel seasick at first but
+was delighted to find that I didn't.) Bumpo had been told off to go
+downstairs and prepare dinner for us. Chee-Chee was coiling up ropes in
+the stern and laying them in neat piles. My work was fastening down
+the things on the deck so that nothing could roll about if the weather
+should grow rough when we got further from the land. Jip was up in the
+peak of the boat with ears cocked and nose stuck out--like a statue, so
+still--his keen old eyes keeping a sharp look-out for floating wrecks,
+sand-bars, and other dangers. Each one of us had some special job to do,
+part of the proper running of a ship. Even old Polynesia was taking the
+sea's temperature with the Doctor's bath-ther-mometer tied on the end of
+a string, to make sure there were no icebergs near us. As I listened
+to her swearing softly to herself because she couldn't read the pesky
+figures in the fading light, I realized that the voyage had begun in
+earnest and that very soon it would be night--my first night at sea!
+
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER. OUR TROUBLES BEGIN
+
+JUST before supper-time Bumpo appeared from downstairs and went to the
+Doctor at the wheel.
+
+"A stowaway in the hold, Sir," said he in a very business-like seafaring
+voice. "I just discovered him, behind the flour-bags."
+
+"Dear me!" said the Doctor. "What a nuisance! Stubbins, go down with
+Bumpo and bring the man up. I can't leave the wheel just now."
+
+So Bumpo and I went down into the hold; and there, behind the
+flour-bags, plastered in flour from head to foot, we found a man. After
+we had swept most of the flour off him with a broom, we discovered that
+it was Matthew Mugg. We hauled him upstairs sneezing and took him before
+the Doctor.
+
+"Why Matthew!" said John Dolittle. "What on earth are you doing here?"
+
+"The temptation was too much for me, Doctor," said the cat's-meat-man.
+"You know I've often asked you to take me on voyages with you and you
+never would. Well, this time, knowing that you needed an extra man, I
+thought if I stayed hid till the ship was well at sea you would find
+I came in handy like and keep me. But I had to lie so doubled up, for
+hours, behind them flour-bags, that my rheumatism came on something
+awful. I just had to change my position; and of course just as I
+stretched out my legs along comes this here African cook of yours and
+sees my feet sticking out--Don't this ship roll something awful! How
+long has this storm been going on? I reckon this damp sea air wouldn't
+be very good for my rheumatics."
+
+"No, Matthew it really isn't. You ought not to have come. You are not
+in any way suited to this kind of a life. I'm sure you wouldn't enjoy a
+long voyage a bit. We'll stop in at Penzance and put you ashore.
+Bumpo, please go downstairs to my bunk; and listen: in the pocket of my
+dressing-gown you'll find some maps. Bring me the small one--with
+blue pencil-marks at the top. I know Penzance is over here on our left
+somewhere. But I must find out what light-houses there are before I
+change the ship's course and sail inshore."
+
+"Very good, Sir," said Bumpo, turning round smartly and making for the
+stairway.
+
+"Now Matthew," said the Doctor, "you can take the coach from Penzance
+to Bristol. And from there it is not very far to Puddleby, as you know.
+Don't forget to take the usual provisions to the house every Thursday,
+and be particularly careful to remember the extra supply of herrings for
+the baby minks."
+
+While we were waiting for the maps Chee-Chee and I set about lighting
+the lamps: a green one on the right side of the ship, a red one on the
+left and a white one on the mast.
+
+At last we heard some one trundling on the stairs again and the Doctor
+said,
+
+"Ah, here's Bumpo with the maps at last!"
+
+But to our great astonishment it was not Bumpo alone that appeared but
+THREE people.
+
+"Good Lord deliver us! Who are these?" cried John Dolittle.
+
+"Two more stowaways, Sir," said Bumpo stepping forward briskly. "I found
+them in your cabin hiding under the bunk. One woman and one man, Sir.
+Here are the maps."
+
+"This is too much," said the Doctor feebly. "Who are they? I can't see
+their faces in this dim light. Strike a match, Bumpo."
+
+You could never guess who it was. It was Luke and his wife. Mrs. Luke
+appeared to be very miserable and seasick.
+
+They explained to the Doctor that after they had settled down to live
+together in the little shack out on the fens, so many people came
+to visit them (having heard about the great trial) that life became
+impossible; and they had decided to escape from Puddleby in this
+manner--for they had no money to leave any other way--and try to find
+some new place to live where they and their story wouldn't be so well
+known. But as soon as the ship had begun to roll Mrs. Luke had got most
+dreadfully unwell.
+
+Poor Luke apologized many times for being such a nuisance and said that
+the whole thing had been his wife's idea.
+
+The Doctor, after he had sent below for his medicine-bag and had given
+Mrs. Luke some sal volatile and smelling-salts, said he thought the best
+thing to do would be for him to lend them some money and put them ashore
+at Penzance with Matthew. He also wrote a letter for Luke to take with
+him to a friend the Doctor had in the town of Penzance who, it was
+hoped, would be able to find Luke work to do there.
+
+As the Doctor opened his purse and took out some gold coins I heard
+Polynesia, who was sitting on my shoulder watching the whole affair,
+mutter beneath her breath,
+
+"There he goes--lending his last blessed penny--three pounds ten--all
+the money we had for the whole trip! Now we haven't the price of a
+postage-stamp aboard if we should lose an anchor or have to buy a pint
+of tar--Well, let's, pray we don't run out of food--Why doesn't he give
+them the ship and walk home?"
+
+Presently with the help of the map the course of the boat was changed
+and, to Mrs. Luke's great relief, we made for Penzance and dry land.
+
+I was tremendously interested to see how a ship could be steered into a
+port at night with nothing but light-houses and a compass to guide you.
+It seemed to me that the Doctor missed all the rocks and sand-bars very
+cleverly.
+
+We got into that funny little Cornish harbor about eleven o'clock that
+night. The Doctor took his stowaways on shore in our small row-boat
+which we kept on the deck of the Curlew and found them rooms at the
+hotel there. When he got back he told us that Mrs. Luke had gone
+straight to bed and was feeling much better.
+
+It was now after midnight; so we decided to stay in the harbor and wait
+till morning before setting out again.
+
+I was glad to get to bed, although I felt that staying up so
+tremendously late was great fun. As I climbed into the bunk over the
+Doctor's and pulled the blankets snugly round me, I found I could look
+out of the port-hole at my elbow, and, without raising my head from the
+pillow, could see the lights of Penzance swinging gently up and down
+with the motion of the ship at anchor. It was like being rocked to sleep
+with a little show going on to amuse you. I was just deciding that I
+liked the life of the sea very much when I fell fast asleep.
+
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER. OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE
+
+THE next morning when we were eating a very excellent breakfast of
+kidneys and bacon, prepared by our good cook Bumpo, the Doctor said to
+me,
+
+"I was just wondering, Stubbins, whether I should stop at the Capa
+Blanca Islands or run right across for the coast of Brazil. Miranda said
+we could expect a spell of excellent weather now--for four and a half
+weeks at least."
+
+"Well," I said, spooning out the sugar at the bottom of my cocoa-cup, "I
+should think it would be best to make straight across while we are sure
+of good weather. And besides the Purple Bird-of-Paradise is going to
+keep a lookout for us, isn't she? She'll be wondering what's happened to
+us if we don't get there in about a month."
+
+"True, quite true, Stubbins. On the other hand, the Capa Blancas make
+a very convenient stopping place on our way across. If we should need
+supplies or repairs it would be very handy to put in there."
+
+"How long will it take us from here to the Capa Blancas?" I asked.
+
+"About six days," said the Doctor--"Well, we can decide later. For the
+next two days at any rate our direction would be the same practically in
+either case. If you have finished breakfast let's go and get under way."
+
+Upstairs I found our vessel surrounded by white and gray seagulls
+who flashed and circled about in the sunny morning air, looking for
+food-scraps thrown out by the ships into the harbor.
+
+By about half past seven we had the anchor up and the sails set to a
+nice steady breeze; and this time we got out into the open sea without
+bumping into a single thing. We met the Penzance fishing fleet coming in
+from the night's fishing, and very trim and neat they looked, in a line
+like soldiers, with their red-brown sails all leaning over the same way
+and the white water dancing before their bows.
+
+For the next three or four days everything went smoothly and nothing
+unusual happened. During this time we all got settled down into our
+regular jobs; and in spare moments the Doctor showed each of us how to
+take our turns at the wheel, the proper manner of keeping a ship on her
+right course, and what to do if the wind changed suddenly. We divided
+the twenty-four hours of the day into three spells; and we took it in
+turns to sleep our eight hours and be awake sixteen. So the ship was
+well looked after, with two of us always on duty.
+
+Besides that, Polynesia, who was an older sailor than any of us, and
+really knew a lot about running ships, seemed to be always awake--except
+when she took her couple of winks in the sun, standing on one leg beside
+the wheel. You may be sure that no one ever got a chance to stay abed
+more than his eight hours while Polynesia was around. She used to watch
+the ship's clock; and if you overslept a half-minute, she would come
+down to the cabin and peck you gently on the nose till you got up.
+
+I very soon grew to be quite fond of our funny black friend Bumpo,
+with his grand way of speaking and his enormous feet which some one was
+always stepping on or falling over. Although he was much older than
+I was and had been to college, he never tried to lord it over me. He
+seemed to be forever smiling and kept all of us in good humor. It wasn't
+long before I began to see the Doctor's good sense in bringing him--in
+spite of the fact that he knew nothing whatever about sailing or travel.
+
+On the morning of the fifth day out, just as I was taking the wheel over
+from the Doctor, Bumpo appeared and said,
+
+"The salt beef is nearly all gone, Sir."
+
+"The salt beef!" cried the Doctor. "Why, we brought a hundred and twenty
+pounds with us. We couldn't have eaten that in five days. What can have
+become of it?"
+
+"I don't know, Sir, I'm sure. Every time I go down to the stores I find
+another hunk missing. If it is rats that are eating it, then they are
+certainly colossal rodents."
+
+Polynesia who was walking up and down a stay-rope taking her morning
+exercise, put in,
+
+"We must search the hold. If this is allowed to go on we will all be
+starving before a week is out. Come downstairs with me, Tommy, and we
+will look into this matter."
+
+So we went downstairs into the store-room and Polynesia told us to keep
+quite still and listen. This we did. And presently we heard from a dark
+corner of the hold the distinct sound of someone snoring.
+
+"Ah, I thought so," said Polynesia. "It's a man--and a big one. Climb in
+there, both of you, and haul him out. It sounds as though he were behind
+that barrel--Gosh! We seem to have brought half of Puddleby with us.
+Anyone would think we were a penny ferry-boat. Such cheek! Haul him
+out."
+
+So Bumpo and I lit a lantern and climbed over the stores. And there,
+behind the barrel, sure enough, we found an enormous bearded man fast
+asleep with a well-fed look on his face. We woke him up.
+
+"Washamarrer?" he said sleepily.
+
+It was Ben Butcher, the able seaman.
+
+Polynesia spluttered like an angry fire-cracker.
+
+"This is the last straw," said she. "The one man in the world we least
+wanted. Shiver my timbers, what cheek!"
+
+"Would it not be advisable," suggested Bumpo, "while the varlet is still
+sleepy, to strike him on the head with some heavy object and push him
+through a port-hole into the sea?"
+
+"No. We'd get into trouble," said Polynesia. "We're not in Jolliginki
+now, you know--worse luck!--Besides, there never was a port-hole big
+enough to push that man through. Bring him upstairs to the Doctor."
+
+So we led the man to the wheel where he respectfully touched his cap to
+the Doctor.
+
+"Another stowaway, Sir," said Bumpo smartly. I thought the poor Doctor
+would have a fit.
+
+"Good morning, Captain," said the man. "Ben Butcher, able seaman, at
+your service. I knew you'd need me, so I took the liberty of stowing
+away--much against my conscience. But I just couldn't bear to see you
+poor landsmen set out on this voyage without a single real seaman to
+help you. You'd never have got home alive if I hadn't come--Why look
+at your mainsail, Sir--all loose at the throat. First gust of wind come
+along, and away goes your canvas overboard--Well, it's all right now I'm
+here. We'll soon get things in shipshape."
+
+"No, it isn't all right," said the Doctor, "it's all wrong. And I'm not
+at all glad to see you. I told you in Puddleby I didn't want you. You
+had no right to come."
+
+"But Captain," said the able seaman, "you can't sail this ship without
+me. You don't understand navigation. Why, look at the compass now:
+you've let her swing a point and a half off her course. It's madness for
+you to try to do this trip alone--if you'll pardon my saying so, Sir.
+Why--why, you'll lose the ship!"
+
+"Look here," said the Doctor, a sudden stern look coming into his eyes,
+"losing a ship is nothing to me. I've lost ships before and it doesn't
+bother me in the least. When I set out to go to a place, I get there.
+Do you understand? I may know nothing whatever about sailing and
+navigation, but I get there just the same. Now you may be the best
+seaman in the world, but on this ship you're just a plain ordinary
+nuisance--very plain and very ordinary. And I am now going to call at
+the nearest port and put you ashore."
+
+"Yes, and think yourself lucky," Polynesia put in, "that you are not
+locked up for stowing away and eating all our salt beef."
+
+"I don't know what the mischief we're going to do now," I heard her
+whisper to Bumpo. "We've no money to buy any more; and that salt beef
+was the most important part of the stores."
+
+"Would it not be good political economy," Bumpo whispered back, "if we
+salted the able seaman and ate him instead? I should judge that he would
+weigh more than a hundred and twenty pounds."
+
+"How often must I tell you that we are not in Jolliginki," snapped
+Polynesia. "Those things are not done on white men's ships--Still," she
+murmured after a moment's thought, "it's an awfully bright idea. I don't
+suppose anybody saw him come on to the ship--Oh, but Heavens! we haven't
+got enough salt. Besides, he'd be sure to taste of tobacco."
+
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER. POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN
+
+THEN the Doctor told me to take the wheel while he made a little
+calculation with his map and worked out what new course we should take.
+
+"I shall have to run for the Capa Blancas after all," he told me when
+the seaman's back was turned. "Dreadful nuisance! But I'd sooner swim
+back to Puddleby than have to listen to that fellow's talk all the way
+to Brazil."
+
+Indeed he was a terrible person, this Ben Butcher. You'd think that any
+one after being told he wasn't wanted would have had the decency to keep
+quiet. But not Ben Butcher. He kept going round the deck pointing out
+all the things we had wrong. According to him there wasn't a thing right
+on the whole ship. The anchor was hitched up wrong; the hatches weren't
+fastened down properly; the sails were put on back to front; all our
+knots were the wrong kind of knots.
+
+At last the Doctor told him to stop talking and go downstairs. He
+refused--said he wasn't going to be sunk by landlubbers while he was
+still able to stay on deck.
+
+This made us feel a little uneasy. He was such an enormous man there was
+no knowing what he might do if he got really obstreperous.
+
+Bumpo and I were talking about this downstairs in the dining-saloon
+when Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee came and joined us. And, as usual,
+Polynesia had a plan.
+
+"Listen," she said, "I am certain this Ben Butcher is a smuggler and a
+bad man. I am a very good judge of seamen, remember, and I don't like
+the cut of this man's jib. I--"
+
+"Do you really think," I interrupted, "that it is safe for the Doctor to
+cross the Atlantic without any regular seamen on his ship?"
+
+You see it had upset me quite a good deal to find that all the things
+we had been doing were wrong; and I was beginning to wonder what might
+happen if we ran into a storm--particularly as Miranda had only said the
+weather would be good for a certain time; and we seemed to be having so
+many delays. But Polynesia merely tossed her head scornfully.
+
+"Oh, bless you, my boy," said she, "you're always safe with John
+Dolittle. Remember that. Don't take any notice of that stupid old salt.
+Of course it is perfectly true the Doctor does do everything wrong.
+But with him it doesn't matter. Mark my words, if you travel with John
+Dolittle you always get there, as you heard him say. I've been with him
+lots of times and I know. Sometimes the ship is upside down when you get
+there, and sometimes it's right way up. But you get there just the same.
+And then of course there's another thing about the Doctor," she added
+thoughtfully: "he always has extraordinary good luck. He may have his
+troubles; but with him things seem to have a habit of turning out all
+right in the end. I remember once when we were going through the Straits
+of Magellan the wind was so strong--"
+
+"But what are we going to do about Ben Butcher?" Jip put in. "You had
+some plan Polynesia, hadn't you?"
+
+"Yes. What I'm afraid of is that he may hit the Doctor on the head when
+he's not looking and make himself captain of the Curlew. Bad sailors do
+that sometimes. Then they run the ship their own way and take it where
+they want. That's what you call a mutiny."
+
+"Yes," said Jip, "and we ought to do something pretty quick. We can't
+reach the Capa Blancas before the day after to-morrow at best. I don't
+like to leave the Doctor alone with him for a minute. He smells like a
+very bad man to me."
+
+"Well, I've got it all worked out," said Polynesia. "Listen: is there a
+key in that door?"
+
+We looked outside the dining-room and found that there was.
+
+"All right," said Polynesia. "Now Bumpo lays the table for lunch and we
+all go and hide. Then at twelve o'clock Bumpo rings the dinner-bell down
+here. As soon as Ben hears it he'll come down expecting more salt beef.
+Bumpo must hide behind the door outside. The moment that Ben is seated
+at the dining-table Bumpo slams the door and locks it. Then we've got
+him. See?"
+
+"How stratagenious!" Bumpo chuckled. "As Cicero said, parrots cum
+parishioners facilime congregation. I'll lay the table at once."
+
+"Yes and take that Worcestershire sauce off the dresser with you when
+you go out," said Polynesia. "Don't leave any loose eatables around.
+That fellow has had enough to last any man for three days. Besides, he
+won't be so inclined to start a fight when we put him ashore at the Capa
+Blancas if we thin him down a bit before we let him out."
+
+So we all went and hid ourselves in the passage where we could watch
+what happened. And presently Bumpo came to the foot of the stairs and
+rang the dinner-bell like mad. Then he hopped behind the dining-room
+door and we all kept still and listened.
+
+Almost immediately, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, down the stairs tramped Ben
+Butcher, the able seaman. He walked into the dining-saloon, sat himself
+down at the head of the table in the Doctor's place, tucked a napkin
+under his fat chin and heaved a sigh of expectation.
+
+Then, BANG! Bumpo slammed the door and locked it.
+
+"That settles HIM for a while," said Polynesia coming out from her
+hiding-place. "Now let him teach navigation to the side-board. Gosh, the
+cheek of the man! I've forgotten more about the sea than that lumbering
+lout will ever know. Let's go upstairs and tell the Doctor. Bumpo, you
+will have to serve the meals in the cabin for the next couple of days."
+
+And bursting into a rollicking Norwegian sea-song, she climbed up to my
+shoulder and we went on deck.
+
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE
+
+WE remained three days in the Capa Blanca Islands.
+
+There were two reasons why we stayed there so long when we were really
+in such a hurry to get away. One was the shortage in our provisions
+caused by the able seaman's enormous appetite. When we came to go over
+the stores and make a list, we found that he had eaten a whole lot
+of other things besides the beef. And having no money, we were sorely
+puzzled how to buy more. The Doctor went through his trunk to see if
+there was anything he could sell. But the only thing he could find
+was an old watch with the hands broken and the back dented in; and we
+decided this would not bring us in enough money to buy much more than
+a pound of tea. Bumpo suggested that he sing comic songs in the streets
+which he had learned in Jolliginki. But the Doctor said he did not think
+that the islanders would care for African music.
+
+The other thing that kept us was the bullfight. In these islands, which
+belonged to Spain, they had bullfights every Sunday. It was on a Friday
+that we arrived there; and after we had got rid of the able seaman we
+took a walk through the town.
+
+It was a very funny little town, quite different from any that I had
+ever seen. The streets were all twisty and winding and so narrow that
+a wagon could only just pass along them. The houses overhung at the top
+and came so close together that people in the attics could lean out of
+the windows and shake hands with their neighbors on the opposite side
+of the street. The Doctor told us the town was very, very old. It was
+called Monteverde.
+
+As we had no money of course we did not go to a hotel or anything like
+that. But on the second evening when we were passing by a bed-maker's
+shop we noticed several beds, which the man had made, standing on
+the pavement outside. The Doctor started chatting in Spanish to the
+bed-maker who was sitting at his door whistling to a parrot in a cage.
+The Doctor and the bed-maker got very friendly talking about birds and
+things. And as it grew near to supper-time the man asked us to stop and
+sup with him.
+
+This of course we were very glad to do. And after the meal was over
+(very nice dishes they were, mostly cooked in olive-oil--I particularly
+liked the fried bananas) we sat outside on the pavement again and went
+on talking far into the night.
+
+At last when we got up, to go back to our ship, this very nice
+shopkeeper wouldn't hear of our going away on any account. He said the
+streets down by the harbor were very badly lighted and there was no
+moon. We would surely get lost. He invited us to spend the night with
+him and go back to our ship in the morning.
+
+Well, we finally agreed; and as our good friend had no spare bedrooms,
+the three of us, the Doctor, Bumpo and I, slept on the beds set out for
+sale on the pavement before the shop. The night was so hot we needed
+no coverings. It was great fun to fall asleep out of doors like this,
+watching the people walking to and fro and the gay life of the streets.
+It seemed to me that Spanish people never went to bed at all. Late as it
+was, all the little restaurants and cafes around us were wide open,
+with customers drinking coffee and chatting merrily at the small tables
+outside. The sound of a guitar strumming softly in the distance mingled
+with the clatter of chinaware and the babble of voices.
+
+Somehow it made me think of my mother and father far away in Puddleby,
+with their regular habits, the evening practise on the flute and the
+rest--doing the same thing every day. I felt sort of sorry for them in
+a way, because they missed the fun of this traveling life, where we
+were doing something new all the time--even sleeping differently. But I
+suppose if they had been invited to go to bed on a pavement in front
+of a shop they wouldn't have cared for the idea at all. It is funny how
+some people are.
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S WAGER
+
+NEXT morning we were awakened by a great racket. There was a procession
+coming down the street, a number of men in very gay clothes followed
+by a large crowd of admiring ladies and cheering children. I asked the
+Doctor who they were.
+
+"They are the bullfighters," he said. "There is to be a bullfight
+to-morrow."
+
+"What is a bullfight?" I asked.
+
+To my great surprise the Doctor got red in the face with anger. It
+reminded me of the time when he had spoken of the lions and tigers in
+his private zoo.
+
+"A bullfight is a stupid, cruel, disgusting business," said he. "These
+Spanish people are most lovable and hospitable folk. How they can enjoy
+these wretched bullfights is a thing I could never understand."
+
+Then the Doctor went on to explain to me how a bull was first made very
+angry by teasing and then allowed to run into a circus where men came
+out with red cloaks, waved them at him, and ran away. Next the bull was
+allowed to tire himself out by tossing and killing a lot of poor, old,
+broken-down horses who couldn't defend themselves. Then, when the bull
+was thoroughly out of breath and wearied by this, a man came out with a
+sword and killed the bull.
+
+"Every Sunday," said the Doctor, "in almost every big town in Spain
+there are six bulls killed like that and as many horses."
+
+"But aren't the men ever killed by the bull?" I asked.
+
+"Unfortunately very seldom," said he. "A bull is not nearly as dangerous
+as he looks, even when he's angry, if you are only quick on your feet
+and don't lose your head. These bullfighters are very clever and nimble.
+And the people, especially the Spanish ladies, think no end of them. A
+famous bullfighter (or matador, as they call them) is a more important
+man in Spain than a king--Here comes another crowd of them round
+the corner, look. See the girls throwing kisses to them. Ridiculous
+business!"
+
+At that moment our friend the bed-maker came out to see the procession
+go past. And while he was wishing us good morning and enquiring how
+we had slept, a friend of his walked up and joined us. The bed-maker
+introduced this friend to us as Don Enrique Cardenas.
+
+Don Enrique when he heard where we were from, spoke to us in English. He
+appeared to be a well-educated, gentlemanly sort of person.
+
+"And you go to see the bullfight to-morrow, yes?" he asked the Doctor
+pleasantly.
+
+"Certainly not," said John Dolittle firmly. "I don't like
+bullfights--cruel, cowardly shows."
+
+Don Enrique nearly exploded. I never saw a man get so excited. He
+told the Doctor that he didn't know what he was talking about. He said
+bullfighting was a noble sport and that the matadors were the bravest
+men in the world.
+
+"Oh, rubbish!" said the Doctor. "You never give the poor bull a chance.
+It is only when he is all tired and dazed that your precious matadors
+dare to try and kill him."
+
+I thought the Spaniard was going to strike the Doctor he got so angry.
+While he was still spluttering to find words, the bed-maker came between
+them and took the Doctor aside. He explained to John Dolittle in a
+whisper that this Don Enrique Cardenas was a very important person; that
+he it was who supplied the bulls--a special, strong black kind--from his
+own farm for all the bullfights in the Capa Blancas. He was a very
+rich man, the bed-maker said, a most important personage. He mustn't be
+allowed to take offense on any account.
+
+I watched the Doctor's face as the bed-maker finished, and I saw a flash
+of boyish mischief come into his eyes as though an idea had struck him.
+He turned to the angry Spaniard.
+
+"Don Enrique," he said, "you tell me your bullfighters are very
+brave men and skilful. It seems I have offended you by saying that
+bullfighting is a poor sport. What is the name of the best matador you
+have for to-morrow's show?"
+
+"Pepito de Malaga," said Don Enrique, "one of the greatest names, one of
+the bravest men, in all Spain."
+
+"Very well," said the Doctor, "I have a proposal to make to you. I have
+never fought a bull in my life. Now supposing I were to go into the ring
+to-morrow with Pepito de Malaga and any other matadors you choose; and
+if I can do more tricks with a bull than they can, would you promise to
+do something for me?"
+
+Don Enrique threw back his head and laughed.
+
+"Man," he said, "you must be mad! You would be killed at once. One has
+to be trained for years to become a proper bullfighter."
+
+"Supposing I were willing to take the risk of that--You are not afraid,
+I take it, to accept my offer?"
+
+The Spaniard frowned.
+
+"Afraid!" he cried, "Sir, if you can beat Pepito de Malaga in the
+bull-ring I'll promise you anything it is possible for me to grant."
+
+"Very good," said the Doctor, "now I understand that you are quite a
+powerful man in these islands. If you wished to stop all bullfighting
+here after to-morrow, you could do it, couldn't you?"
+
+"Yes," said Don Enrique proudly--"I could."
+
+"Well that is what I ask of you--if I win my wager," said John Dolittle.
+"If I can do more with angry bulls than can Pepito de Malaga, you are
+to promise me that there shall never be another bullfight in the Capa
+Blancas so long as you are alive to stop it. Is it a bargain?"
+
+The Spaniard held out his hand.
+
+"It is a bargain," he said--"I promise. But I must warn you that you
+are merely throwing your life away, for you will certainly be killed.
+However, that is no more than you deserve for saying that bullfighting
+is an unworthy sport. I will meet you here to-morrow morning if you
+should wish to arrange any particulars. Good day, Sir."
+
+As the Spaniard turned and walked into the shop with the bed-maker,
+Polynesia, who had been listening as usual, flew up on to my shoulder
+and whispered in my ear,
+
+"I, have a plan. Get hold of Bumpo and come some place where the Doctor
+can't hear us. I want to talk to you."
+
+I nudged Bumpo's elbow and we crossed the street and pretended to look
+into a jeweler's window; while the Doctor sat down upon his bed to lace
+up his boots, the only part of his clothing he had taken off for the
+night.
+
+"Listen," said Polynesia, "I've been breaking my head trying to think up
+some way we can get money to buy those stores with; and at last I've got
+it."
+
+"The money?" said Bumpo.
+
+"No, stupid. The idea--to make the money with. Listen: the Doctor is
+simply bound to win this game to-morrow, sure as you're alive. Now all
+we have to do is to make a side bet with these Spaniards--they're great
+on gambling--and the trick's done."
+
+"What's a side bet?" I asked.
+
+"Oh I know what that is," said Bumpo proudly. "We used to have lots of
+them at Oxford when boat-racing was on. I go to Don Enrique and say,
+'I bet you a hundred pounds the Doctor wins.' Then if he does win, Don
+Enrique pays me a hundred pounds; and if he doesn't, I have to pay Don
+Enrique."
+
+"That's the idea," said Polynesia. "Only don't say a hundred pounds: say
+two-thousand five-hundred pesetas. Now come and find old Don Ricky-ticky
+and try to look rich."
+
+So we crossed the street again and slipped into the bed-maker's shop
+while the Doctor was still busy with his boots.
+
+"Don Enrique," said Bumpo, "allow me to introduce myself. I am the Crown
+Prince of Jolliginki. Would you care to have a small bet with me on
+to-morrow's bullfight?"
+
+Don Enrique bowed.
+
+"Why certainly," he said, "I shall be delighted. But I must warn you
+that you are bound to lose. How much?"
+
+"Oh a mere truffle," said Bumpo--"just for the fun of the thing, you
+know. What do you say to three-thousand pesetas?"
+
+"I agree," said the Spaniard bowing once more. "I will meet you after
+the bullfight to-morrow."
+
+"So that's all right," said Polynesia as we came out to join the Doctor.
+"I feel as though quite a load had been taken off my mind."
+
+
+
+
+THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THE GREAT BULLFIGHT
+
+THE next day was a great day in Monteverde. All the streets were hung
+with flags; and everywhere gaily dressed crowds were to be seen flocking
+towards the bull-ring, as the big circus was called where the fights
+took place.
+
+The news of the Doctor's challenge had gone round the town and, it
+seemed, had caused much amusement to the islanders. The very idea of
+a mere foreigner daring to match himself against the great Pepito de
+Malaga!--Serve him right if he got killed!
+
+The Doctor had borrowed a bullfighter's suit from Don Enrique; and very
+gay and wonderful he looked in it, though Bumpo and I had hard work
+getting the waistcoat to close in front and even then the buttons kept
+bursting off it in all directions.
+
+When we set out from the harbor to walk to the bull-ring, crowds of
+small boys ran after us making fun of the Doctor's fatness, calling
+out, "Juan Hagapoco, el grueso matador!" which is the Spanish for, "John
+Dolittle, the fat bullfighter." As soon as we arrived the Doctor said
+he would like to take a look at the bulls before the fight began; and
+we were at once led to the bull pen where, behind a high railing, six
+enormous black bulls were tramping around wildly.
+
+In a few hurried words and signs the Doctor told the bulls what he was
+going to do and gave them careful instructions for their part of the
+show. The poor creatures were tremendously glad when they heard that
+there was a chance of bullfighting being stopped; and they promised to
+do exactly as they were told.
+
+Of course the man who took us in there didn't understand what we were
+doing. He merely thought the fat Englishman was crazy when he saw the
+Doctor making signs and talking in ox tongue.
+
+From there the Doctor went to the matadors' dressing-rooms while Bumpo
+and I with Polynesia made our way into the bull-ring and took our seats
+in the great open-air theatre.
+
+It was a very gay sight. Thousands of ladies and gentlemen were there,
+all dressed in their smartest clothes; and everybody seemed very happy
+and cheerful.
+
+Right at the beginning Don Enrique got up and explained to the people
+that the first item on the program was to be a match between the English
+Doctor and Pepito de Malaga. He told them what he had promised if the
+Doctor should win. But the people did not seem to think there was much
+chance of that. A roar of laughter went up at the very mention of such a
+thing.
+
+When Pepito came into the ring everybody cheered, the ladies blew kisses
+and the men clapped and waved their hats.
+
+Presently a large door on the other side of the ring was rolled back and
+in galloped one of the bulls; then the door was closed again. At once
+the matador became very much on the alert. He waved his red cloak and
+the bull rushed at him. Pepito stepped nimbly aside and the people
+cheered again.
+
+This game was repeated several times. But I noticed that whenever Pepito
+got into a tight place and seemed to be in real danger from the bull, an
+assistant of his, who always hung around somewhere near, drew the bull's
+attention upon himself by waving another red cloak. Then the bull would
+chase the assistant and Pepito was left in safety. Most often, as soon
+as he had drawn the bull off, this assistant ran for the high fence
+and vaulted out of the ring to save himself. They evidently had it all
+arranged, these matadors; and it didn't seem to me that they were in any
+very great danger from the poor clumsy bull so long as they didn't slip
+and fall.
+
+After about ten minutes of this kind of thing the small door into the
+matadors' dressing-room opened and the Doctor strolled into the ring. As
+soon as his fat figure, dressed In sky-blue velvet, appeared, the crowd
+rocked in their seats with laughter.
+
+Juan Hagapoco, as they had called him, walked out into the centre of the
+ring and bowed ceremoniously to the ladies in the boxes. Then he bowed
+to the bull. Then he bowed to Pepito. While he was bowing to Pepito's
+assistant the bull started to rush at him from behind.
+
+"Look out! Look out!--The bull! You will be killed!" yelled the crowd.
+
+But the Doctor calmly finished his bow. Then turning round he folded
+his arms, fixed the on-rushing bull with his eye and frowned a terrible
+frown.
+
+Presently a curious thing happened: the bull's speed got slower and
+slower. It almost looked as though he were afraid of that frown. Soon
+he stopped altogether. The Doctor shook his finger at him. He began to
+tremble. At last, tucking his tail between his legs, the bull turned
+round and ran away.
+
+The crowd gasped. The Doctor ran after him. Round and round the ring
+they went, both of them puffing and blowing like grampuses. Excited
+whispers began to break out among the people. This was something new in
+bullfighting, to have the bull running away from the man, instead of the
+man away from the bull. At last in the tenth lap, with a final burst of
+speed, Juan Hagapoco, the English matador, caught the poor bull by the
+tail.
+
+Then leading the now timid creature into the middle of the ring, the
+Doctor made him do all manner of tricks: standing on the hind legs,
+standing on the front legs, dancing, hopping, rolling over. He finished
+up by making the bull kneel down; then he got on to his back and did
+handsprings and other acrobatics on the beast's horns.
+
+Pepito and his assistant had their noses sadly out of joint. The crowd
+had forgotten them entirely. They were standing together by the fence
+not far from where I sat, muttering to one another and slowly growing
+green with jealousy.
+
+Finally the Doctor turned towards Don Enrique's seat and bowing said in
+a loud voice, "This bull is no good any more. He's terrified and out of
+breath. Take him away, please."
+
+"Does the caballero wish for a fresh bull?" asked Don Enrique.
+
+"No," said the Doctor, "I want five fresh bulls. And I would like them
+all in the ring at once, please."
+
+At this a cry of horror burst from the people. They had been used to
+seeing matadors escaping from one bull at a time. But FIVE!--That must
+mean certain death.
+
+Pepito sprang forward and called to Don Enrique not to allow it, saying
+it was against all the rules of bullfighting. ("Ha!" Polynesia chuckled
+into my ear. "It's like the Doctor's navigation: he breaks all the
+rules; but he gets there. If they'll only let him, he'll give them the
+best show for their money they ever saw.") A great argument began. Half
+the people seemed to be on Pepito's side and half on the Doctor's side.
+At last the Doctor turned to Pepito and made another very grand bow
+which burst the last button off his waistcoat.
+
+"Well, of course if the caballero is afraid--" he began with a bland
+smile.
+
+"Afraid!" screamed Pepito. "I am afraid of nothing on earth. I am the
+greatest matador in Spain. With this right hand I have killed nine
+hundred and fifty-seven bulls."
+
+"All right then," said the Doctor, "let us see if you can kill five
+more. Let the bulls in!" he shouted. "Pepito de Malaga is not afraid."
+
+A dreadful silence hung over the great theatre as the heavy door into
+the bull pen was rolled back. Then with a roar the five big bulls
+bounded into the ring.
+
+"Look fierce," I heard the Doctor call to them in cattle language.
+"Don't scatter. Keep close. Get ready for a rush. Take Pepito, the one
+in purple, first. But for Heaven's sake don't kill him. Just chase him
+out of the ring--Now then, all together, go for him!"
+
+The bulls put down their heads and all in line, like a squadron of
+cavalry, charged across the ring straight for poor Pepito.
+
+For one moment the Spaniard tried his hardest to look brave. But the
+sight of the five pairs of horns coming at him at full gallop was too
+much. He turned white to the lips, ran for the fence, vaulted it and
+disappeared.
+
+"Now the other one," the Doctor hissed. And in two seconds the gallant
+assistant was nowhere to be seen. Juan Hagapoco, the fat matador, was
+left alone in the ring with five rampaging bulls.
+
+The rest of the show was really well worth seeing. First, all five
+bulls went raging round the ring, butting at the fence with their horns,
+pawing up the sand, hunting for something to kill. Then each one in turn
+would pretend to catch sight of the Doctor for the first time and giving
+a bellow of rage, would lower his wicked looking horns and shoot like an
+arrow across the ring as though he meant to toss him to the sky.
+
+It was really frightfully exciting. And even I who knew it was all
+arranged beforehand, held my breath in terror for the Doctor's life when
+I saw how near they came to sticking him. But just at the last moment,
+when the horns' points were two inches from the sky-blue waistcoat, the
+Doctor would spring nimbly to one side and the great brutes would go
+thundering harmlessly by, missing him by no more than a hair.
+
+Then all five of them went for him together, completely surrounding him,
+slashing at him with their horns and bellowing with fury. How he escaped
+alive I don't know. For several minutes his round figure could hardly
+be seen at all in that scrimmage of tossing heads, stamping hoofs
+and waving tails.--It was, as Polynesia had prophesied, the greatest
+bullfight ever seen.
+
+One woman in the crowd got quite hysterical and screamed up to Don
+Enrique,
+
+"Stop the fight! Stop the fight! He is too brave a man to be killed.
+This is the most wonderful matador in the world. Let him live! Stop the
+fight!"
+
+But presently the Doctor was seen to break loose from the mob of animals
+that surrounded him. Then catching each of them by the horns, one after
+another, he would give their heads a sudden twist and throw them down
+flat on the sand. The great fellows acted their parts extremely well.
+I have never seen trained animals in a circus do better. They lay
+there panting on the ground where the Doctor threw them as if they were
+exhausted and completely beaten.
+
+Then with a final bow to the ladies John Dolittle took a cigar from his
+pocket, lit it and strolled out of the ring.
+
+
+
+
+THE NINTH CHAPTER. WE DEPART IN A HURRY
+
+AS soon as the door closed behind the Doctor the most tremendous noise
+I have ever heard broke loose. Some of the men appeared to be angry
+(friends of Pepito's, I suppose); but the ladies called and called to
+have the Doctor come back into the ring.
+
+When at length he did so, the women seemed to go entirely mad over him.
+They blew kisses to him. They called him a darling. Then they started
+taking off their flowers, their rings, their necklaces, and their
+brooches and threw them down at his feet. You never saw anything like
+it--a perfect shower of jewelry and roses.
+
+But the Doctor just smiled up at them, bowed once more and backed out.
+
+"Now, Bumpo," said Polynesia, "this is where you go down and gather up
+all those trinkets and we'll sell 'em. That's what the big matadors
+do: leave the jewelry on the ground and their assistants collect it for
+them. We might as well lay in a good supply of money while we've got the
+chance--you never know when you may need it when you're traveling with
+the Doctor. Never mind the roses--you can leave them--but don't leave
+any rings. And when you've finished go and get your three-thousand
+pesetas out of Don Ricky-ticky. Tommy and I will meet you outside and
+we'll pawn the gew-gaws at that Jew's shop opposite the bed-maker's. Run
+along--and not a word to the Doctor, remember."
+
+Outside the bull-ring we found the crowd still in a great state of
+excitement. Violent arguments were going on everywhere. Bumpo joined us
+with his pockets bulging in all directions; and we made our way slowly
+through the dense crowd to that side of the building where the matadors'
+dressing-room was. The Doctor was waiting at the door for us.
+
+"Good work, Doctor!" said Polynesia, flying on to his shoulder--"Great
+work!--But listen: I smell danger. I think you had better get back to
+the ship now as quick and as quietly as you can. Put your overcoat on
+over that giddy suit. I don't like the looks of this crowd. More than
+half of them are furious because you've won. Don Ricky-ticky must now
+stop the bullfighting--and you know how they love it. What I'm afraid of
+is that some of these matadors who are just mad with jealousy may start
+some dirty work. I think this would be a good time for us to get away."
+
+"I dare say you're right, Polynesia," said the Doctor--"You usually are.
+The crowd does seem to be a bit restless. I'll slip down to the ship
+alone--so I shan't be so noticeable; and I'll wait for you there. You
+come by some different way. But don't be long about it. Hurry!"
+
+As soon as the Doctor had departed Bumpo sought out Don Enrique and
+said,
+
+"Honorable Sir, you owe me three-thousand pesetas."
+
+Without a word, but looking cross-eyed with annoyance, Don Enrique paid
+his bet.
+
+We next set out to buy the provisions; and on the way we hired a cab and
+took it along with us.
+
+Not very far away we found a big grocer's shop which seemed to sell
+everything to eat. We went in and bought up the finest lot of food you
+ever saw in your life.
+
+As a matter of fact, Polynesia had been right about the danger we were
+in. The news of our victory must have spread like lightning through the
+whole town. For as we came out of the shop and loaded the cab up with
+our stores, we saw various little knots of angry men hunting round the
+streets, waving sticks and shouting,
+
+"The Englishmen! Where are those accursed Englishmen who stopped the
+bullfighting?--Hang them to a lamp-post!--Throw them in the sea! The
+Englishmen!--We want the Englishmen!"
+
+After that we didn't waste any time, you may be sure. Bumpo grabbed the
+Spanish cab-driver and explained to him in signs that if he didn't drive
+down to the harbor as fast as he knew how and keep his mouth shut the
+whole way, he would choke the life out of him. Then we jumped into the
+cab on top of the food, slammed the door, pulled down the blinds and
+away we went.
+
+"We won't get a chance to pawn the jewelry now," said Polynesia, as we
+bumped over the cobbly streets. "But never mind--it may come in handy
+later on. And anyway we've got two-thousand five-hundred pesetas left
+out of the bet. Don't give the cabby more than two pesetas fifty, Bumpo.
+That's the right fare, I know."
+
+Well, we reached the harbor all right and we were mighty glad to find
+that the Doctor had sent Chee-Chee back with the row-boat to wait for us
+at the landing-wall.
+
+Unfortunately while we were in the middle of loading the supplies from
+the cab into the boat, the angry mob arrived upon the wharf and made
+a rush for us. Bumpo snatched up a big beam of wood that lay near
+and swung it round and round his head, letting out dreadful African
+battle-yells the while. This kept the crowd off while Chee-Chee and I
+hustled the last of the stores into the boat and clambered in ourselves.
+Bumpo threw his beam of wood into the thick of the Spaniards and leapt
+in after us. Then we pushed off and rowed like mad for the Curlew.
+
+The mob upon the wall howled with rage, shook their fists and hurled
+stones and all manner of things after us. Poor old Bumpo got hit on the
+head with a bottle. But as he had a very strong head it only raised a
+small bump while the bottle smashed into a thousand pieces.
+
+When we reached the ship's side the Doctor had the anchor drawn up and
+the sails set and everything in readiness to get away. Looking back we
+saw boats coming out from the harbor-wall after us, filled with angry,
+shouting men. So we didn't bother to unload our rowboat but just tied it
+on to the ship's stern with a rope and jumped aboard.
+
+It only took a moment more to swing the Curlew round into the wind; and
+soon we were speeding out of the harbor on our way to Brazil.
+
+"Ha!" sighed Polynesia, as we all flopped down on the deck to take a
+rest and get our breath. "That wasn't a bad adventure--quite reminds me
+of my old seafaring days when I sailed with the smugglers--Golly, that
+was the life!--Never mind your head, Bumpo. It will be all right when
+the Doctor puts a little arnica on it. Think what we got out of the
+scrap: a boat-load of ship's stores, pockets full of jewelry and
+thousands of pesetas. Not bad, you know--not bad."
+
+
+
+
+PART FOUR
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER. SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN
+
+MIRANDA, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise had prophesied rightly when she had
+foretold a good spell of weather. For three weeks the good ship Curlew
+plowed her way through smiling seas before a steady powerful wind.
+
+I suppose most real sailors would have found this part of the voyage
+dull. But not I. As we got further South and further West the face
+of the sea seemed different every day. And all the little things of
+a voyage which an old hand would have hardly bothered to notice were
+matters of great interest for my eager eyes.
+
+We did not pass many ships. When we did see one, the Doctor would get
+out his telescope and we would all take a look at it. Sometimes he would
+signal to it, asking for news, by hauling up little colored flags upon
+the mast; and the ship would signal back to us in the same way. The
+meaning of all the signals was printed in a book which the Doctor kept
+in the cabin. He told me it was the language of the sea and that all
+ships could understand it whether they be English, Dutch, or French.
+
+Our greatest happening during those first weeks was passing an iceberg.
+When the sun shone on it it burst into a hundred colors, sparkling like
+a jeweled palace in a fairy-story. Through the telescope we saw a mother
+polar bear with a cub sitting on it, watching us. The Doctor recognized
+her as one of the bears who had spoken to him when he was discovering
+the North Pole. So he sailed the ship up close and offered to take her
+and her baby on to the Curlew if she wished it. But she only shook her
+head, thanking him; she said it would be far too hot for the cub on the
+deck of our ship, with no ice to keep his feet cool. It had been indeed
+a very hot day; but the nearness of that great mountain of ice made us
+all turn up our coat-collars and shiver with the cold.
+
+During those quiet peaceful days I improved my reading and writing a
+great deal with the Doctor's help. I got on so well that he let me keep
+the ship's log. This is a big book kept on every ship, a kind of diary,
+in which the number of miles run, the direction of your course and
+everything else that happens is written down.
+
+The Doctor too, in what spare time he had, was nearly always writing--in
+his note-books. I used to peep into these sometimes, now that I could
+read, but I found it hard work to make out the Doctor's handwriting.
+Many of these note-books seemed to be about sea things. There were six
+thick ones filled full with notes and sketches of different seaweeds;
+and there were others on sea birds; others on sea worms; others on
+seashells. They were all some day to be re-written, printed and bound
+like regular books.
+
+One afternoon we saw, floating around us, great quantities of stuff that
+looked like dead grass. The Doctor told me this was gulf-weed. A little
+further on it became so thick that it covered all the water as far as
+the eye could reach; it made the Curlew look as though she were moving
+across a meadow instead of sailing the Atlantic.
+
+Crawling about upon this weed, many crabs were to be seen. And the sight
+of them reminded the Doctor of his dream of learning the language of the
+shellfish. He fished several of these crabs up with a net and put them
+in his listening-tank to see if he could understand them. Among the
+crabs he also caught a strange-looking, chubby, little fish which he
+told me was called a Silver Fidgit.
+
+After he had listened to the crabs for a while with no success, he put
+the fidgit into the tank and began to listen to that. I had to leave
+him at this moment to go and attend to some duties on the deck. But
+presently I heard him below shouting for me to come down again.
+
+"Stubbins," he cried as soon as he saw me--"a most extraordinary
+thing--Quite unbelievable--I'm not sure whether I'm dreaming--Can't
+believe my own senses. I--I--I--"
+
+"Why, Doctor," I said, "what is it?--What's the matter?"
+
+"The fidgit," he whispered, pointing with a trembling finger to the
+listening-tank in which the little round fish was still swimming
+quietly, "he talks English! And--and--and HE WHISTLES TUNES--English
+tunes!"
+
+"Talks English!" I cried--"Whistles!--Why, it's impossible."
+
+"It's a fact," said the Doctor, white in the face with excitement. "It's
+only a few words, scattered, with no particular sense to them--all mixed
+up with his own language which I can't make out yet. But they're English
+words, unless there's something very wrong with my hearing--And the tune
+he whistles, it's as plain as anything--always, the same tune. Now you
+listen and tell me what you make of it. Tell me everything you hear.
+Don't miss a word."
+
+I went to the glass tank upon the table while the Doctor grabbed
+a note-book and a pencil. Undoing my collar I stood upon the empty
+packing-case he had been using for a stand and put my right ear down
+under the water.
+
+For some moments I detected nothing at all--except, with my dry ear, the
+heavy breathing of the Doctor as he waited, all stiff and anxious, for
+me to say something. At last from within the water, sounding like a
+child singing miles and miles away, I heard an unbelievably thin, small
+voice.
+
+"Ah!" I said.
+
+"What is it?" asked the Doctor in a hoarse, trembly whisper. "What does
+he say?"
+
+"I can't quite make it out," I said. "It's mostly in some strange fish
+language--Oh, but wait a minute!--Yes, now I get it--'No smoking'....
+'My, here's a queer one!' 'Popcorn and picture postcards here.... This
+way out.... Don't spit'--What funny things to say, Doctor!--Oh, but
+wait!--Now he's whistling the tune."
+
+"What tune is it?" gasped the Doctor.
+
+"John Peel."
+
+"Ah hah," cried the Doctor, "that's what I made it out to be." And he
+wrote furiously in his note-book.
+
+I went on listening.
+
+"This is most extraordinary," the Doctor kept muttering to himself
+as his pencil went wiggling over the page--"Most extraordinary--but
+frightfully thrilling. I wonder where he--"
+
+"Here's some more," I cried--"some more English.... 'THE BIG TANK NEEDS
+CLEANING'.... That's all. Now he's talking fish-talk again."
+
+"The big tank!" the Doctor murmured frowning in a puzzled kind of way.
+"I wonder where on earth he learned--"
+
+Then he bounded up out of his chair.
+
+"I have it," he yelled, "this fish has escaped from an aquarium. Why,
+of course! Look at the kind of things he has learned: 'Picture
+postcards'--they always sell them in aquariums; 'Don't spit'; 'No
+smoking'; 'This way out'--the things the attendants say. And then, 'My,
+here's a queer one!' That's the kind of thing that people exclaim
+when they look into the tanks. It all fits. There's no doubt about it,
+Stubbins: we have here a fish who has escaped from captivity. And it's
+quite possible--not certain, by any means, but quite possible--that
+I may now, through him, be able to establish communication with the
+shellfish. This is a great piece of luck."
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER. THE FIDGIT'S STORY
+
+WELL, now that he was started once more upon his old hobby of the
+shellfish languages, there was no stopping the Doctor. He worked right
+through the night.
+
+A little after midnight I fell asleep in a chair; about two in the
+morning Bumpo fell asleep at the wheel; and for five hours the Curlew
+was allowed to drift where she liked. But still John Dolittle worked on,
+trying his hardest to understand the fidgit's language, struggling to
+make the fidgit understand him.
+
+When I woke up it was broad daylight again. The Doctor was still
+standing at the listening-tank, looking as tired as an owl and
+dreadfully wet. But on his face there was a proud and happy smile.
+
+"Stubbins," he said as soon as he saw me stir, "I've done it. I've
+got the key to the fidgit's language. It's a frightfully difficult
+language--quite different from anything I ever heard. The only thing it
+reminds me of--slightly--is ancient Hebrew. It isn't shellfish; but it's
+a big step towards it. Now, the next thing, I want you to take a pencil
+and a fresh notebook and write down everything I say. The fidgit has
+promised to tell me the story of his life. I will translate it into
+English and you put it down in the book. Are you ready?"
+
+Once more the Doctor lowered his ear beneath the level of the water; and
+as he began to speak, I started to write. And this is the story that the
+fidgit told us.
+
+
+THIRTEEN MONTHS IN AN AQUARIUM
+
+
+"I was born in the Pacific Ocean, close to the coast of Chile. I was one
+of a family of two-thousand five-hundred and ten. Soon after our mother
+and father left us, we youngsters got scattered. The family was broken
+up--by a herd of whales who chased us. I and my sister, Clippa (she was
+my favorite sister) had a very narrow escape for our lives. As a rule,
+whales are not very hard to get away from if you are good at dodging--if
+you've only got a quick swerve. But this one that came after Clippa and
+myself was a very mean whale, Every time he lost us under a stone or
+something he'd come back and hunt and hunt till he routed us out into
+the open again. I never saw such a nasty, persevering brute.
+
+"Well, we shook him at last--though not before he had worried us for
+hundreds of miles northward, up the west coast of South America. But
+luck was against us that day. While we were resting and trying to get
+our breath, another family of fidgits came rushing by, shouting, 'Come
+on! Swim for your lives! The dog-fish are coming!'
+
+"Now dog-fish are particularly fond of fidgits. We are, you might say,
+their favorite food--and for that reason we always keep away from deep,
+muddy waters. What's more, dog-fish are not easy to escape from; they
+are terribly fast and clever hunters. So up we had to jump and on again.
+
+"After we had gone a few more hundred miles we looked back and saw that
+the dog-fish were gaining on us. So we turned into a harbor. It happened
+to be one on the west coast of the United States. Here we guessed, and
+hoped, the dog-fish would not be likely to follow us. As it happened,
+they didn't even see us turn in, but dashed on northward and we never
+saw them again. I hope they froze to death in the Arctic Seas.
+
+"But, as I said, luck was against us that day. While I and my sister
+were cruising gently round the ships anchored in the harbor looking for
+orange-peels, a great delicacy with us---SWOOP! BANG!--we were caught in
+a net.
+
+"We struggled for all we were worth; but it was no use. The net was
+small-meshed and strongly made. Kicking and flipping we were hauled
+up the side of the ship and dumped down on the deck, high and dry in a
+blazing noon-day sun.
+
+"Here a couple of old men in whiskers and spectacles leant over us,
+making strange sounds. Some codling had got caught in the net the same
+time as we were. These the old men threw back into the sea; but us they
+seemed to think very precious. They put us carefully into a large
+jar and after they had taken us on shore they went to a big house and
+changed us from the jar into glass boxes full of water. This house was
+on the edge of the harbor; and a small stream of sea-water was made to
+flow through the glass tank so we could breathe properly. Of course
+we had never lived inside glass walls before; and at first we kept on
+trying to swim through them and got our noses awfully sore bumping the
+glass at full speed.
+
+"Then followed weeks and weeks of weary idleness. They treated us well,
+so far as they knew how. The old fellows in spectacles came and looked
+at us proudly twice a day and saw that we had the proper food to eat,
+the right amount of light and that the water was not too hot or too
+cold. But oh, the dullness of that life! It seemed we were a kind of a
+show. At a certain hour every morning the big doors of the house were
+thrown open and everybody in the city who had nothing special to do came
+in and looked at us. There were other tanks filled with different kinds
+of fishes all round the walls of the big room. And the crowds would go
+from tank to tank, looking in at us through the glass--with their mouths
+open, like half-witted flounders. We got so sick of it that we used
+to open our mouths back at them; and this they seemed to think highly
+comical.
+
+"One day my sister said to me, 'Think you, Brother, that these strange
+creatures who have captured us can talk?'
+
+"'Surely,' said I, 'have you not noticed that some talk with the lips
+only, some with the whole face, and yet others discourse with the hands?
+When they come quite close to the glass you can hear them. Listen!'
+
+"At that moment a female, larger than the rest, pressed her nose up
+against the glass, pointed at me and said to her young behind her, 'Oh,
+look, here's a queer one!'
+
+"And then we noticed that they nearly always said this when they looked
+in. And for a long time we thought that such was the whole extent of the
+language, this being a people of but few ideas. To help pass away the
+weary hours we learned it by heart, 'Oh, look, here's a queer one!' But
+we never got to know what it meant. Other phrases, however, we did get
+the meaning of; and we even learned to read a little in man-talk. Many
+big signs there were, set up upon the walls; and when we saw that the
+keepers stopped the people from spitting and smoking, pointed to these
+signs angrily and read them out loud, we knew then that these writings
+signified, 'No Smoking and Don't Spit.' Then in the evenings, after the
+crowd had gone, the same aged male with one leg of wood, swept up the
+peanut-shells with a broom every night. And while he was so doing he
+always whistled the same tune to himself. This melody we rather liked;
+and we learned that too by heart--thinking it was part of the language.
+
+"Thus a whole year went by in this dismal place. Some days new fishes
+were brought in to the other tanks; and other days old fishes were taken
+out. At first we had hoped we would only be kept here for a while, and
+that after we had been looked at sufficiently we would be returned to
+freedom and the sea. But as month after month went by, and we were left
+undisturbed, our hearts grew heavy within our prison-walls of glass and
+we spoke to one another less and less.
+
+"One day, when the crowd was thickest in the big room, a woman with a
+red face fainted from the heat. I watched through the glass and saw that
+the rest of the people got highly excited--though to me it did not seem
+to be a matter of very great importance. They threw cold water on her
+and carried her out into the open air.
+
+"This made me think mightily; and presently a great idea burst upon me.
+
+"'Sister,' I said, turning to poor Clippa who was sulking at the bottom
+of our prison trying to hide behind a stone from the stupid gaze of the
+children who thronged about our tank, 'supposing that we pretended we
+were sick: do you think they would take us also from this stuffy house?'
+
+"'Brother,' said she wearily, 'that they might do. But most likely they
+would throw us on a rubbish-heap, where we would die in the hot sun.'
+
+"'But,' said I, 'why should they go abroad to seek a rubbish-heap,
+when the harbor is so close? While we were being brought here I saw men
+throwing their rubbish into the water. If they would only throw us also
+there, we could quickly reach the sea.'
+
+"'The Sea!' murmured poor Clippa with a faraway look in her eyes (she
+had fine eyes, had my sister, Clippa). 'How like a dream it sounds--the
+Sea! Oh brother, will we ever swim in it again, think you? Every night
+as I lie awake on the floor of this evil-smelling dungeon I hear its
+hearty voice ringing in my ears. How I have longed for it! Just to feel
+it once again, the nice, big, wholesome homeliness of it all! To jump,
+just to jump from the crest of an Atlantic wave, laughing in the trade
+wind's spindrift, down into the blue-green swirling trough! To chase
+the shrimps on a summer evening, when the sky is red and the light's all
+pink within the foam! To lie on the top, in the doldrums' noonday calm,
+and warm your tummy in the tropic sun! To wander hand in hand once
+more through the giant seaweed forests of the Indian Ocean, seeking the
+delicious eggs of the pop-pop! To play hide-and-seek among the castles
+of the coral towns with their pearl and jasper windows spangling the
+floor of the Spanish Main! To picnic in the anemone-meadows, dim blue
+and lilac-gray, that lie in the lowlands beyond the South Sea Garden!
+To throw somersaults on the springy sponge-beds of the Mexican Gulf! To
+poke about among the dead ships and see what wonders and adventures lie
+inside!--And then, on winter nights when the Northeaster whips the water
+into froth, to swoop down and down to get away from the cold, down to
+where the water's warm and dark, down and still down, till we spy the
+twinkle of the fire-eels far below where our friends and cousins sit
+chatting round the Council Grotto--chatting, Brother, over the news and
+gossip of THE SEA!... Oh--'
+
+"And then she broke down completely, sniffling.
+
+"'Stop it!' I said. 'You make me homesick. Look here: let's pretend
+we're sick--or better still, let's pretend we're dead; and see what
+happens. If they throw us on a rubbish-heap and we fry in the sun, we'll
+not be much worse off than we are here in this smelly prison. What do
+you say? Will you risk it?'
+
+"'I will,' she said--'and gladly.'
+
+"So next morning two fidgits were found by the keeper floating on the
+top of the water in their tank, stiff and dead. We gave a mighty good
+imitation of dead fish--although I say it myself. The keeper ran and
+got the old gentlemen with spectacles and whiskers. They threw up their
+hands in horror when they saw us. Lifting us carefully out of the water
+they laid us on wet cloths. That was the hardest part of all. If you're
+a fish and get taken out of the water you have to keep opening and
+shutting your mouth to breathe at all--and even that you can't keep up
+for long. And all this time we had to stay stiff as sticks and breathe
+silently through half-closed lips.
+
+"Well, the old fellows poked us and felt us and pinched us till I
+thought they'd never be done. Then, when their backs were turned a
+moment, a wretched cat got up on the table and nearly ate us. Luckily
+the old men turned round in time and shooed her away. You may be sure
+though that we took a couple of good gulps of air while they weren't
+looking; and that was the only thing that saved us from choking. I
+wanted to whisper to Clippa to be brave and stick it out. But I couldn't
+even do that; because, as you know, most kinds of fish-talk cannot be
+heard--not even a shout--unless you're under water.
+
+"Then, just as we were about to give it up and let on that we were
+alive, one of the old men shook his head sadly, lifted us up and carried
+us out of the building.
+
+"'Now for it!' I thought to myself. 'We'll soon know our fate: liberty
+or the garbage-can.'
+
+"Outside, to our unspeakable horror, he made straight for a large
+ash-barrel which stood against the wall on the other side of a yard.
+Most happily for us, however, while he was crossing this yard a very
+dirty man with a wagon and horses drove up and took the ash-barrel away.
+I suppose it was his property.
+
+"Then the old man looked around for some other place to throw us. He
+seemed about to cast us upon the ground. But he evidently thought
+that this would make the yard untidy and he desisted. The suspense was
+terrible. He moved outside the yard-gate and my heart sank once more as
+I saw that he now intended to throw us in the gutter of the roadway. But
+(fortune was indeed with us that day), a large man in, blue clothes and
+silver buttons stopped him in the nick of time. Evidently, from the way
+the large man lectured and waved a short thick stick, it was against the
+rules of the town to throw dead fish in the streets.
+
+"At last, to our unutterable joy, the old man turned and moved off with
+us towards the harbor. He walked so slowly, muttering to himself all the
+way and watching the man in blue out of the corner of his eye, that I
+wanted to bite his finger to make him hurry up. Both Clippa and I were
+actually at our last gasp.
+
+"Finally he reached the sea-wall and giving us one last sad look he
+dropped us into the waters of the harbor.
+
+"Never had we realized anything like the thrill of that moment, as we
+felt the salt wetness close over our heads. With one flick of our tails
+we came to life again. The old man was so surprised that he fell right
+into the water, almost on top of us. From this he was rescued by a
+sailor with a boat-hook; and the last we saw of him, the man in blue was
+dragging him away by the coat-collar, lecturing him again. Apparently
+it was also against the rules of the town to throw dead fish into the
+harbor.
+
+"But we?--What time or thought had we for his troubles? WE WERE FREE!
+In lightning leaps, in curving spurts, in crazy zig-zags--whooping,
+shrieking with delight, we sped for home and the open sea!
+
+"That is all of my story and I will now, as I promised last night, try
+to answer any questions you may ask about the sea, on condition that I
+am set at liberty as soon as you have done."
+
+
+The Doctor: "Is there any part of the sea deeper than that known as the
+Nero Deep--I mean the one near the Island of Guam?"
+
+The Fidgit: "Why, certainly. There's one much deeper than that near the
+mouth of the Amazon River. But it's small and hard to find. We call it
+'The Deep Hole.' And there's another in the Antarctic Sea."
+
+The Doctor: "Can you talk any shellfish language yourself?"
+
+The Fidgit: "No, not a word. We regular fishes don't have anything to do
+with the shellfish. We consider them a low class."
+
+The Doctor: "But when you're near them, can you hear the sound they make
+talking--I mean without necessarily understanding what they say?"
+
+The Fidgit: "Only with the very largest ones. Shellfish have such weak
+small voices it is almost impossible for any but their own kind to hear
+them. But with the bigger ones it is different. They make a sad, booming
+noise, rather like an iron pipe being knocked with a stone--only not
+nearly so loud of course."
+
+The Doctor: "I am most anxious to get down to the bottom of the sea--to
+study many things. But we land animals, as you no doubt know, are unable
+to breathe under water. Have you any ideas that might help me?"
+
+The Fidgit: "I think that for both your difficulties the best thing for
+you to do would be to try and get hold of the Great Glass Sea Snail."
+
+The Doctor: "Er--who, or what, is the Great Glass Sea Snail?"
+
+The Fidgit: "He is an enormous salt-water snail, one of the winkle
+family, but as large as a big house. He talks quite loudly--when he
+speaks, but this is not often. He can go to any part of the ocean, at
+all depths because he doesn't have to be afraid of any creature in the
+sea. His shell is made of transparent mother-o'-pearl so that you can
+see through it; but it's thick and strong. When he is out of his shell
+and he carries it empty on his back, there is room in it for a wagon
+and a pair of horses. He has been seen carrying his food in it when
+traveling."
+
+The Doctor: "I feel that that is just the creature I have been looking
+for. He could take me and my assistant inside his shell and we could
+explore the deepest depths in safety. Do you think you could get him for
+me?"
+
+The Fidgit: "Alas! no. I would willingly if I could; but he is hardly
+ever seen by ordinary fish. He lives at the bottom of the Deep Hole, and
+seldom comes out--And into the Deep Hole, the lower waters of which are
+muddy, fishes such as we are afraid to go."
+
+The Doctor: "Dear me! That's a terrible disappointment. Are there many
+of this kind of snail in the sea?"
+
+The Fidgit: "Oh no. He is the only one in existence, since his second
+wife died long, long ago. He is the last of the Giant Shellfish. He
+belongs to past ages when the whales were land-animals and all that.
+They say he is over seventy thousand years old."
+
+The Doctor: "Good Gracious, what wonderful things he could tell me! I do
+wish I could meet him."
+
+The Fidgit: "Were there any more questions you wished to ask me? This
+water in your tank is getting quite warm and sickly. I'd like to be put
+back into the sea as soon as you can spare me."
+
+The Doctor: "Just one more thing: when Christopher Columbus crossed the
+Atlantic in 1492, he threw overboard two copies of his diary sealed up
+in barrels. One of them was never found. It must have sunk. I would like
+to get it for my library. Do you happen to know where it is?"
+
+The Fidgit: "Yes, I do. That too is in the Deep Hole. When the barrel
+sank the currents drifted it northwards down what we call the Orinoco
+Slope, till it finally disappeared into the Deep Hole. If it was any
+other part of the sea I'd try and get it for you; but not there."
+
+The Doctor: "Well, that is all, I think. I hate to put you back into the
+sea, because I know that as soon as I do, I'll think of a hundred other
+questions I wanted to ask you. But I must keep my promise. Would
+you care for anything before you go?--it seems a cold day--some
+cracker-crumbs or something?"
+
+The Fidgit: "No, I won't stop. All I want just at present is fresh
+sea-water."
+
+The Doctor: "I cannot thank you enough for all the information you have
+given me. You have been very helpful and patient."
+
+The Fidgit: "Pray do not mention it. It has been a real pleasure to
+be of assistance to the great John Dolittle. You are, as of course
+you know, already quite famous among the better class of fishes.
+Goodbye!--and good luck to you, to your ship and to all your plans!"
+
+
+The Doctor carried the listening-tank to a porthole, opened it and
+emptied the tank into the sea. "Good-bye!" he murmured as a faint splash
+reached us from without.
+
+I dropped my pencil on the table and leaned back with a sigh. My fingers
+were so stiff with writers' cramp that I felt as though I should never
+be able to open my hand again. But I, at least, had had a night's sleep.
+As for the poor Doctor, he was so weary that he had hardly put the tank
+back upon the table and dropped into a chair, when his eyes closed and
+he began to snore.
+
+In the passage outside Polynesia scratched angrily at the door. I rose
+and let her in.
+
+"A nice state of affairs!" she stormed. "What sort of a ship is this?
+There's that colored man upstairs asleep under the wheel; the Doctor
+asleep down here; and you making pot-hooks in a copy-book with a pencil!
+Expect the ship to steer herself to Brazil? We're just drifting around
+the sea like an empty bottle--and a week behind time as it is. What's
+happened to you all?"
+
+She was so angry that her voice rose to a scream. But it would have
+taken more than that to wake the Doctor.
+
+I put the note-book carefully in a drawer and went on deck to take the
+wheel.
+
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER. BAD WEATHER
+
+AS soon as I had the Curlew swung round upon her course again I noticed
+something peculiar: we were not going as fast as we had been. Our
+favorable wind had almost entirely disappeared.
+
+This, at first, we did not worry about, thinking that at any moment it
+might spring up again. But the whole day went by; then two days; then a
+week,--ten days, and the wind grew no stronger. The Curlew just dawdled
+along at the speed of a toddling babe.
+
+I now saw that the Doctor was becoming uneasy. He kept getting out his
+sextant (an instrument which tells you what part of the ocean you are
+in) and making calculations. He was forever looking at his maps and
+measuring distances on them. The far edge of the sea, all around us, he
+examined with his telescope a hundred times a day.
+
+"But Doctor," I said when I found him one afternoon mumbling to himself
+about the misty appearance of the sky, "it wouldn't matter so much would
+it, if we did take a little longer over the trip? We've got plenty to
+eat on board now; and the Purple Bird-of-Paradise will know that we have
+been delayed by something that we couldn't help."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," he said thoughtfully. "But I hate to keep her
+waiting. At this season of the year she generally goes to the Peruvian
+mountains--for her health. And besides, the good weather she prophesied
+is likely to end any day now and delay us still further. If we could
+only keep moving at even a fair speed, I wouldn't mind. It's this
+hanging around, almost dead still, that gets me restless--Ah, here comes
+a wind--Not very strong--but maybe it'll grow."
+
+A gentle breeze from the Northeast came singing through the ropes; and
+we smiled up hopefully at the Curlew's leaning masts.
+
+"We've only got another hundred and fifty miles to make, to sight the
+coast of Brazil," said the Doctor. "If that wind would just stay with
+us, steady, for a full day we'd see land."
+
+But suddenly the wind changed, swung to the East, then back to the
+Northeast--then to the North. It came in fitful gusts, as though it
+hadn't made up its mind which way to blow; and I was kept busy at the
+wheel, swinging the Curlew this way and that to keep the right side of
+it.
+
+Presently we heard Polynesia, who was in the rigging keeping a look-out
+for land or passing ships, screech down to us,
+
+"Bad weather coming. That jumpy wind is an ugly sign. And look!--over
+there in the East--see that black line, low down? If that isn't a
+storm I'm a land-lubber. The gales round here are fierce, when they do
+blow--tear your canvas out like paper. You take the wheel, Doctor:
+it'll need a strong arm if it's a real storm. I'll go wake Bumpo and
+Chee-Chee. This looks bad to me. We'd best get all the sail down right
+away, till we see how strong she's going to blow."
+
+Indeed the whole sky was now beginning to take on a very threatening
+look. The black line to the eastward grew blacker as it came nearer and
+nearer. A low, rumbly, whispering noise went moaning over the sea. The
+water which had been so blue and smiling turned to a ruffled ugly
+gray. And across the darkening sky, shreds of cloud swept like tattered
+witches flying from the storm.
+
+I must confess I was frightened. You see I had only so far seen the
+sea in friendly moods: sometimes quiet and lazy; sometimes laughing,
+venturesome and reckless; sometimes brooding and poetic, when moonbeams
+turned her ripples into silver threads and dreaming snowy night-clouds
+piled up fairy-castles in the sky. But as yet I had not known, or even
+guessed at, the terrible strength of the Sea's wild anger.
+
+When that storm finally struck us we leaned right over flatly on our
+side, as though some in-visible giant had slapped the poor Curlew on the
+cheek.
+
+After that things happened so thick and so fast that what with the wind
+that stopped your breath, the driving, blinding water, the deafening
+noise and the rest, I haven't a very clear idea of how our shipwreck
+came about.
+
+I remember seeing the sails, which we were now trying to roll up upon
+the deck, torn out of our hands by the wind and go overboard like a
+penny balloon--very nearly carrying Chee-Chee with them. And I have a
+dim recollection of Polynesia screeching somewhere for one of us to go
+downstairs and close the port-holes.
+
+In spite of our masts being bare of sail we were now scudding along to
+the southward at a great pace. But every once in a while huge gray-black
+waves would arise from under the ship's side like nightmare monsters,
+swell and climb, then crash down upon us, pressing us into the sea; and
+the poor Curlew would come to a standstill, half under water, like a
+gasping, drowning pig.
+
+While I was clambering along towards the wheel to see the Doctor,
+clinging like a leech with hands and legs to the rails lest I be blown
+overboard, one of these tremendous seas tore loose my hold, filled my
+throat with water and swept me like a cork the full length of the deck.
+My head struck a door with an awful bang. And then I fainted.
+
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WRECKED!
+
+WHEN I awoke I was very hazy in my head. The sky was blue and the sea
+was calm. At first I thought that I must have fallen asleep in the sun
+on the deck of the Curlew. And thinking that I would be late for my turn
+at the wheel, I tried to rise to my feet. I found I couldn't; my arms
+were tied to something behind me with a piece of rope. By twisting my
+neck around I found this to be a mast, broken off short. Then I realized
+that I wasn't sitting on a ship at all; I was only sitting on a piece
+of one. I began to feel uncomfortably scared. Screwing up my eyes, I
+searched the rim of the sea North, East, South and West: no land: no
+ships; nothing was in sight. I was alone in the ocean!
+
+At last, little by little, my bruised head began to remember what had
+happened: first, the coming of the storm; the sails going overboard;
+then the big wave which had banged me against the door. But what had
+become of the Doctor and the others? What day was this, to-morrow or the
+day after?--And why was I sitting on only part of a ship?
+
+Working my hand into my pocket, I found my penknife and cut the rope
+that tied me. This reminded me of a shipwreck story which Joe had once
+told me, of a captain who had tied his son to a mast in order that he
+shouldn't be washed overboard by the gale. So of course it must have
+been the Doctor who had done the same to me.
+
+But where was he?
+
+The awful thought came to me that the Doctor and the rest of them
+must be drowned, since there was no other wreckage to be seen
+upon the waters. I got to my feet and stared around the sea
+again--Nothing--nothing but water and sky!
+
+Presently a long way off I saw the small dark shape of a bird skimming
+low down over the swell. When it came quite close I saw it was a Stormy
+Petrel. I tried to talk to it, to see if it could give me news. But
+unluckily I hadn't learned much sea-bird language and I couldn't even
+attract its attention, much less make it understand what I wanted.
+
+Twice it circled round my raft, lazily, with hardly a flip of the wing.
+And I could not help wondering, in spite of the distress I was in,
+where it had spent last night--how it, or any other living thing,
+had weathered such a smashing storm. It made me realize the great big
+difference between different creatures; and that size and strength are
+not everything. To this petrel, a frail little thing of feathers, much
+smaller and weaker than I, the Sea could do anything she liked, it
+seemed; and his only answer was a lazy, saucy flip of the wing! HE was
+the one who should be called the ABLE SEAMAN. For, come raging gale,
+come sunlit calm, this wilderness of water was his home.
+
+After swooping over the sea around me (just looking for food, I
+supposed) he went off in the direction from which he had come. And I was
+alone once more.
+
+I found I was somewhat hungry--and a little thirsty too. I began to
+think all sorts of miserable thoughts, the way one does when he is
+lonesome and has missed breakfast. What was going to become of me now,
+if the Doctor and the rest were drowned? I would starve to death or die
+of thirst. Then the sun went behind some clouds and I felt cold. How
+many hundreds or thousands of miles was I from any land? What if another
+storm should come and smash up even this poor raft on which I stood?
+
+I went on like this for a while, growing gloomier and gloomier, when
+suddenly I thought of Polynesia. "You're always safe with the Doctor,"
+she had said. "He gets there. Remember that."
+
+I'm sure I wouldn't have minded so much if he had been here with me. It
+was this being all alone that made me want to weep. And yet the petrel
+was alone!--What a baby I was, I told myself, to be scared to the verge
+of tears just by loneliness! I was quite safe where I was--for the
+present anyhow. John Dolittle wouldn't get scared by a little thing like
+this. He only got excited when he made a discovery, found a new bug
+or something. And if what Polynesia had said was true, he couldn't be
+drowned and things would come out all right in the end somehow.
+
+I threw out my chest, buttoned up my collar and began walking up and
+down the short raft to keep warm. I would be like John Dolittle. I
+wouldn't cry--And I wouldn't get excited.
+
+How long I paced back and forth I don't know. But it was a long
+time--for I had nothing else to do.
+
+At last I got tired and lay down to rest. And in spite of all my
+troubles, I soon fell fast asleep.
+
+This time when I woke up, stars were staring down at me out of a
+cloudless sky. The sea was still calm; and my strange craft was rocking
+gently under me on an easy swell. All my fine courage left me as I gazed
+up into the big silent night and felt the pains of hunger and thirst set
+to work in my stomach harder than ever.
+
+"Are you awake?" said a high silvery voice at my elbow.
+
+I sprang up as though some one had stuck a pin in me. And there, perched
+at the very end of my raft, her beautiful golden tail glowing dimly in
+the starlight, sat Miranda, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise!
+
+Never have I been so glad to see any one in my life. I almost f ell into
+the water as I leapt to hug her.
+
+"I didn't want to wake you," said she. "I guessed you must be tired
+after all you've been through--Don't squash the life out of me, boy: I'm
+not a stuffed duck, you know."
+
+"Oh, Miranda, you dear old thing," said I, "I'm so glad to see you. Tell
+me, where is the Doctor? Is he alive?"
+
+"Of course he's alive--and it's my firm belief he always will be. He's
+over there, about forty miles to the westward."
+
+"What's he doing there?"
+
+"He's sitting on the other half of the Curlew shaving himself--or he
+was, when I left him."
+
+"Well, thank Heaven he's alive!" said I--"And Bumpo--and the animals,
+are they all right?"
+
+"Yes, they're with him. Your ship broke in half in the storm. The Doctor
+had tied you down when he found you stunned. And the part you were on
+got separated and floated away. Golly, it was a storm! One has to be a
+gull or an albatross to stand that sort of weather. I had been watching
+for the Doctor for three weeks, from a cliff-top; but last night I had
+to take refuge in a cave to keep my tail-feathers from blowing out. As
+soon as I found the Doctor, he sent me off with some porpoises to look
+for you. A Stormy Petrel volunteered to help us in our search. There had
+been quite a gathering of sea-birds waiting to greet the Doctor; but the
+rough weather sort of broke up the arrangements that had been made to
+welcome him properly. It was the petrel that first gave us the tip where
+you were."
+
+"Well, but how can I get to the Doctor, Miranda?--I haven't any oars."
+
+"Get to him!--Why, you're going to him now. Look behind you."
+
+I turned around. The moon was just rising on the sea's edge. And I now
+saw that my raft was moving through the water, but so gently that I had
+not noticed it before.
+
+"What's moving us?" I asked.
+
+"The porpoises," said Miranda.
+
+I went to the back of the raft and looked down into the water. And just
+below the surface I could see the dim forms of four big porpoises, their
+sleek skins glinting in the moonlight, pushing at the raft with their
+noses.
+
+"They're old friends of the Doctor's," said Miranda. "They'd do anything
+for John Dolittle. We should see his party soon now. We're pretty near
+the place I left them--Yes, there they are! See that dark shape?--No,
+more to the right of where you're looking. Can't you make out the figure
+of the black man standing against the sky?--Now Chee-Chee spies us--he's
+waving. Don't you see them?"
+
+I didn't--for my eyes were not as sharp as Miranda's. But presently
+from somewhere in the murky dusk I heard Bumpo singing his African comic
+songs with the full force of his enormous voice. And in a little, by
+peering and peering in the direction of the sound, I at last made out a
+dim mass of tattered, splintered wreckage--all that remained of the poor
+Curlew--floating low down upon the water.
+
+A hulloa came through the night. And I answered it. We kept it up,
+calling to one another back and forth across the calm night sea. And a
+few minutes later the two halves of our brave little ruined ship bumped
+gently together again.
+
+Now that I was nearer and the moon was higher I could see more plainly.
+Their half of the ship was much bigger than mine.
+
+It lay partly upon its side; and most of them were perched upon the top
+munching ship's biscuit.
+
+But close down to the edge of the water, using the sea's calm surface
+for a mirror and a piece of broken bottle for a razor, John Dolittle was
+shaving his face by the light of the moon.
+
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER. LAND!
+
+THEY all gave me a great greeting as I clambered off my half of the ship
+on to theirs. Bumpo brought me a wonderful drink of fresh water which he
+drew from a barrel; and Chee-Chee and Polynesia stood around me feeding
+me ship's biscuit.
+
+But it was the sight of the Doctor's smiling face--just knowing that I
+was with him once again--that cheered me more than anything else. As I
+watched him carefully wipe his glass razor and put it away for future
+use, I could not help comparing him in my mind with the Stormy Petrel.
+Indeed the vast strange knowledge which he had gained from his speech
+and friendship with animals had brought him the power to do things
+which no other human being would dare to try. Like the petrel, he could
+apparently play with the sea in all her moods. It was no wonder that
+many of the ignorant savage peoples among whom he passed in his voyages
+made statues of him showing him as half a fish, half a bird, and half a
+man. And ridiculous though it was, I could quite understand what Miranda
+meant when she said she firmly believed that he could never die. Just to
+be with him gave you a wonderful feeling of comfort and safety.
+
+Except for his appearance (his clothes were crumpled and damp and his
+battered high hat was stained with salt water) that storm which had
+so terrified me had disturbed him no more than getting stuck on the
+mud-bank in Puddleby River.
+
+Politely thanking Miranda for getting me so quickly, he asked her if
+she would now go ahead of us and show us the way to Spidermonkey Island.
+Next, he gave orders to the porpoises to leave my old piece of the ship
+and push the bigger half wherever the Bird-of-Paradise should lead us.
+
+How much he had lost in the wreck besides his razor I did not
+know--everything, most likely, together with all the money he had saved
+up to buy the ship with. And still he was smiling as though he wanted
+for nothing in the world. The only things he had saved, as far as I
+could see--beyond the barrel of water and bag of biscuit--were his
+precious note-books. These, I saw when he stood up, he had strapped
+around his waist with yards and yards of twine. He was, as old Matthew
+Mugg used to say, a great man. He was unbelievable.
+
+And now for three days we continued our journey slowly but
+steadily--southward.
+
+The only inconvenience we suffered from was the cold. This seemed to
+increase as we went forward. The Doctor said that the island, disturbed
+from its usual paths by the great gale, had evidently drifted further
+South than it had ever been before.
+
+On the third night poor Miranda came back to us nearly frozen. She told
+the Doctor that in the morning we would find the island quite close to
+us, though we couldn't see it now as it was a misty dark night. She said
+that she must hurry back at once to a warmer climate; and that she would
+visit the Doctor in Puddleby next August as usual.
+
+"Don't forget, Miranda," said John Dolittle, "if you should hear
+anything of what happened to Long Arrow, to get word to me."
+
+The Bird-of-Paradise assured him she would. And after the Doctor had
+thanked her again and again for all that she had done for us, she wished
+us good luck and disappeared into the night.
+
+We were all awake early in the morning, long before it was light,
+waiting for our first glimpse of the country we had come so far to see.
+And as the rising sun turned the eastern sky to gray, of course it
+was old Polynesia who first shouted that she could see palm-trees and
+mountain tops.
+
+With the growing light it became plain to all of us: a long island with
+high rocky mountains in the middle--and so near to us that you could
+almost throw your hat upon the shore.
+
+The porpoises gave us one last push and our strange-looking craft bumped
+gently on a low beach. Then, thanking our lucky stars for a chance to
+stretch our cramped legs, we all bundled off on to the land--the first
+land, even though it was floating land, that we had trodden for six
+weeks. What a thrill I felt as I realized that Spidermonkey Island,
+the little spot in the atlas which my pencil had touched, lay at last
+beneath my feet!
+
+When the light increased still further we noticed that the palms and
+grasses of the island seemed withered and almost dead. The Doctor said
+that it must be on account of the cold that the island was now suffering
+from in its new climate. These trees and grasses, he told us, were the
+kind that belonged to warm, tropical weather.
+
+The porpoises asked if we wanted them any further. And the Doctor said
+that he didn't think so, not for the present--nor the raft either, he
+added; for it was already beginning to fall to pieces and could not
+float much longer.
+
+As we were preparing to go inland and explore the island, we suddenly
+noticed a whole band of Red Indians watching us with great curiosity
+from among the trees. The Doctor went forward to talk to them. But he
+could not make them understand. He tried by signs to show them that
+he had come on a friendly visit. The Indians didn't seem to like us
+however. They had bows and arrows and long hunting spears, with stone
+points, in their hands; and they made signs back to the Doctor to tell
+him that if he came a step nearer they would kill us all. They evidently
+wanted us to leave the island at once. It was a very uncomfortable
+situation.
+
+At last the Doctor made them understand that he only wanted to see the
+island all over and that then he would go away--though how he meant to
+do it, with no boat to sail in, was more than I could imagine.
+
+While they were talking among themselves another Indian
+arrived--apparently with a message that they were wanted in some
+other part of the island. Because presently, shaking their spears
+threateningly at us, they went off with the newcomer.
+
+"What discourteous pagans!" said Bumpo. "Did you ever see such
+inhospitability?--Never even asked us if we'd had breakfast, the
+benighted bounders!"
+
+"Sh! They're going off to their village," said Polynesia. "I'll bet
+there's a village on the other side of those mountains. If you take my
+advice, Doctor, you'll get away from this beach while their backs are
+turned. Let us go up into the higher land for the present--some place
+where they won't know where we are. They may grow friendlier when they
+see we mean no harm. They have honest, open faces and look like a decent
+crowd to me. They're just ignorant--probably never saw white folks
+before."
+
+So, feeling a little bit discouraged by our first reception, we moved
+off towards the mountains in the centre of the island.
+
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE JABIZRI
+
+WE found the woods at the feet of the hills thick and tangly and
+somewhat hard to get through. On Polynesia's advice, we kept away from
+all paths and trails, feeling it best to avoid meeting any Indians for
+the present.
+
+But she and Chee-Chee were good guides and splendid jungle-hunters; and
+the two of them set to work at once looking for food for us. In a very
+short space of time they had found quite a number of different fruits
+and nuts which made excellent eating, though none of us knew the names
+of any of them. We discovered a nice clean stream of good water which
+came down from the mountains; so we were supplied with something to
+drink as well.
+
+We followed the stream up towards the heights. And presently we came to
+parts where the woods were thinner and the ground rocky and steep. Here
+we could get glimpses of wonderful views all over the island, with the
+blue sea beyond. While we were admiring one of these the Doctor suddenly
+said, "Sh!--A Jabizri!--Don't you hear it?"
+
+We listened and heard, somewhere in the air about us, an extraordinarily
+musical hum-like a bee, but not just one note. This hum rose and fell,
+up and down--almost like some one singing.
+
+"No other insect but the Jabizri beetle hums like that," said the
+Doctor. "I wonder where he is--quite near, by the sound--flying among
+the trees probably. Oh, if I only had my butterfly-net! Why didn't I
+think to strap that around my waist too. Confound the storm: I may
+miss the chance of a lifetime now of getting the rarest beetle in the
+world--Oh look! There he goes!"
+
+A huge beetle, easily three inches long I should say, suddenly flew by
+our noses. The Doctor got frightfully excited. He took off his hat to
+use as a net, swooped at the beetle and caught it. He nearly fell down
+a precipice on to the rocks below in his wild hurry, but that didn't
+bother him in the least. He knelt down, chortling, upon the ground
+with the Jabizri safe under his hat. From his pocket he brought out a
+glass-topped box, and into this he very skillfully made the beetle walk
+from under the rim of the hat. Then he rose up, happy as a child, to
+examine his new treasure through the glass lid.
+
+It certainly was a most beautiful insect. It was pale blue underneath;
+but its back was glossy black with huge red spots on it.
+
+"There isn't an entymologist in the whole world who wouldn't give all he
+has to be in my shoes to-day," said the Doctor--"Hulloa! This Jabizri's
+got something on his leg--Doesn't look like mud. I wonder what it is."
+
+He took the beetle carefully out of the box and held it by its back
+in his fingers, where it waved its six legs slowly in the air. We all
+crowded about him peering at it. Rolled around the middle section of its
+right foreleg was something that looked like a thin dried leaf. It was
+bound on very neatly with strong spider-web.
+
+It was marvelous to see how John Dolittle with his fat heavy fingers
+undid that cobweb cord and unrolled the leaf, whole, without tearing it
+or hurting the precious beetle. The Jabizri he put back into the box.
+Then he spread the leaf out flat and examined it.
+
+You can imagine our surprise when we found that the inside of the leaf
+was covered with signs and pictures, drawn so tiny that you almost
+needed a magnifying-glass to tell what they were. Some of the signs
+we couldn't make out at all; but nearly all of the pictures were quite
+plain, figures of men and mountains mostly. The whole was done in a
+curious sort of brown ink.
+
+For several moments there was a dead silence while we all stared at the
+leaf, fascinated and mystified.
+
+"I think this is written in blood," said the Doctor at last. "It turns
+that color when it's dry. Somebody pricked his finger to make these
+pictures. It's an old dodge when you're short of ink--but highly
+unsanitary--What an extraordinary thing to find tied to a beetle's leg!
+I wish I could talk beetle language, and find out where the Jabizri got
+it from."
+
+"But what is it?" I asked--"Rows of little pictures and signs. What do
+you make of it, Doctor?"
+
+"It's a letter," he said--"a picture letter. All these little things
+put together mean a message--But why give a message to a beetle to
+carry--and to a Jabizri, the rarest beetle in the world?--What an
+extraordinary thing!"
+
+Then he fell to muttering over the pictures.
+
+"I wonder what it means: men walking up a mountain; men walking into a
+hole in a mountain; a mountain falling down--it's a good drawing, that;
+men pointing to their open mouths; bars--prison-bars, perhaps; men
+praying; men lying down--they look as though they might be sick; and
+last of all, just a mountain--a peculiar-shaped mountain."
+
+All of a sudden the Doctor looked up sharply at me, a wonderful smile of
+delighted understanding spreading over his face.
+
+"LONG ARROW!" he cried, "don't you see, Stubbins?--Why, of course! Only
+a naturalist would think of doing a thing like this: giving his letter
+to a beetle--not to a common beetle, but to the rarest of all, one
+that other naturalists would try to catch--Well, well! Long Arrow!--A
+picture-letter from Long Arrow. For pictures are the only writing that
+he knows."
+
+"Yes, but who is the letter to?" I asked.
+
+"It's to me very likely. Miranda had told him, I know, years ago, that
+some day I meant to come here. But if not for me, then it's for any one
+who caught the beetle and read it. It's a letter to the world."
+
+"Well, but what does it say? It doesn't seem to me that it's much good
+to you now you've got it."
+
+"Yes, it is," he said, "because, look, I can read it now. First picture:
+men walking up a mountain--that's Long Arrow and his party; men going
+into a hole in a mountain--they enter a cave looking for medicine-plants
+or mosses; a mountain falling down--some hanging rocks must have slipped
+and trapped them, imprisoned them in the cave. And this was the only
+living creature that could carry a message for them to the outside
+world--a beetle, who could BURROW his way into the open air. Of course
+it was only a slim chance that the beetle would be ever caught and the
+letter read. But it was a chance; and when men are in great danger they
+grab at any straw of hope.... All right. Now look at the next picture:
+men pointing to their open mouths--they are hungry; men praying--begging
+any one who finds this letter to come to their assistance; men lying
+down--they are sick, or starving. This letter, Stubbins, is their last
+cry for help."
+
+He sprang to his feet as he ended, snatched out a note-book and put
+the letter between the leaves. His hands were trembling with haste and
+agitation.
+
+"Come on!" he cried--"up the mountain--all of you. There's not a moment
+to lose. Bumpo, bring the water and nuts with you. Heaven only knows how
+long they've been pining underground. Let's hope and pray we're not too
+late!"
+
+"But where are you going to look?" I asked. "Miranda said the island was
+a hundred miles long and the mountains seem to run all the way down the
+centre of it."
+
+"Didn't you see the last picture?" he said, grabbing up his hat from
+the ground and cramming it on his head. "It was an oddly shaped
+mountain--looked like a hawk's head. Well, there's where he is if he's
+still alive. First thing for us to do, is to get up on a high peak and
+look around the island for a mountain shaped like a hawks' head--just
+to think of it! There's a chance of my meeting Long Arrow, the son of
+Golden Arrow, after all!--Come on! Hurry! To delay may mean death to the
+greatest naturalist ever born!"
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. HAWK'S-HEAD MOUNTAIN
+
+WE all agreed afterwards that none of us had ever worked so hard in our
+lives before as we did that day. For my part, I know I was often on the
+point of dropping exhausted with fatigue; but I just kept on going--like
+a machine--determined that, whatever happened, I would not be the first
+to give up.
+
+When we had scrambled to the top of a high peak, almost instantly we saw
+the strange mountain pictured in the letter. In shape it was the perfect
+image of a hawk's head, and was, as far as we could see, the second
+highest summit in the island.
+
+Although we were all out of breath from our climb, the Doctor didn't let
+us rest a second as soon as he had sighted it. With one look at the
+sun for direction, down he dashed again, breaking through thickets,
+splashing over brooks, taking all the short cuts. For a fat man, he was
+certainly the swiftest cross-country runner I ever saw.
+
+We floundered after him as fast as we could. When I say WE, I mean Bumpo
+and myself; for the animals, Jip, Chee-Chee and Polynesia, were a long
+way ahead--even beyond the Doctor--enjoying the hunt like a paper-chase.
+
+At length we arrived at the foot of the mountain we were making for; and
+we found its sides very steep. Said the Doctor,
+
+"Now we will separate and search for caves. This spot where we now are,
+will be our meeting-place. If anyone finds anything like a cave or a
+hole where the earth and rocks have fallen in, he must shout and hulloa
+to the rest of us. If we find nothing we will all gather here in about
+an hour's time--Everybody understand?"
+
+Then we all went off our different ways.
+
+Each of us, you may be sure, was anxious to be the one to make a
+discovery. And never was a mountain searched so thoroughly. But alas!
+nothing could we find that looked in the least like a fallen-in cave.
+There were plenty of places where rocks had tumbled down to the foot of
+the slopes; but none of these appeared as though caves or passages could
+possibly lie behind them.
+
+One by one, tired and disappointed, we straggled back to the
+meeting-place. The Doctor seemed gloomy and impatient but by no means
+inclined to give up.
+
+"Jip," he said, "couldn't you SMELL anything like an Indian anywhere?"
+
+"No," said Jip. "I sniffed at every crack on the mountainside. But I am
+afraid my nose will be of no use to you here, Doctor. The trouble is,
+the whole air is so saturated with the smell of spider-monkeys that it
+drowns every other scent--And besides, it's too cold and dry for good
+smelling."
+
+"It is certainly that," said the Doctor--"and getting colder all the
+time. I'm afraid the island is still drifting to the southward. Let's
+hope it stops before long, or we won't be able to get even nuts and
+fruit to eat--everything in the island will perish--Chee-Chee, what luck
+did you have?"
+
+"None, Doctor. I climbed to every peak and pinnacle I could see. I
+searched every hollow and cleft. But not one place could I find where
+men might be hidden."
+
+"And Polynesia," asked the Doctor, "did you see nothing that might put
+us on the right track?"
+
+"Not a thing, Doctor--But I have a plan."
+
+"Oh good!" cried John Dolittle, full of hope renewed. "What is it? Let's
+hear it."
+
+"You still have that beetle with you," she asked--"the Biz-biz, or
+whatever it is you call the wretched insect?"
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, producing the glass-topped box from his pocket,
+"here it is."
+
+"All right. Now listen," said she. "If what you have supposed is
+true--that is, that Long Arrow had been trapped inside the mountain by
+falling rock, he probably found that beetle inside the cave--perhaps
+many other different beetles too, eh? He wouldn't have been likely to
+take the Biz-biz in with him, would he?--He was hunting plants, you say,
+not beetles. Isn't that right?"
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, "that's probably so."
+
+"Very well. It is fair to suppose then that the beetle's home, or his
+hole, is in that place--the part of the mountain where Long Arrow and
+his party are imprisoned, isn't it?"
+
+"Quite, quite."
+
+"All right. Then the thing to do is to let the beetle go--and watch him;
+and sooner or later he'll return to his home in Long Arrow's cave. And
+there we will follow him--Or at all events," she added smoothing down
+her wing-feathers with a very superior air, "we will follow him till the
+miserable bug starts nosing under the earth. But at least he will show
+us what part of the mountain Long Arrow is hidden in."
+
+"But he may fly, if I let him out," said the Doctor. "Then we shall just
+lose him and be no better off than we were before."
+
+"LET him fly," snorted Polynesia scornfully. "A parrot can wing it as
+fast as a Biz-biz, I fancy. If he takes to the air, I'll guarantee not
+to let the little devil out of my sight. And if he just crawls along the
+ground you can follow him yourself."
+
+"Splendid!" cried the Doctor. "Polynesia, you have a great brain. I'll
+set him to work at once and see what happens."
+
+Again we all clustered round the Doctor as he carefully lifted off the
+glass lid and let the big beetle climb out upon his finger.
+
+"Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!" crooned Bumpo. "Your house is on fire
+and your chil--"
+
+"Oh, be quiet!" snapped Polynesia crossly. "Stop insulting him! Don't
+you suppose he has wits enough to go home without your telling him?"
+
+"I thought perchance he might be of a philandering disposition," said
+Bumpo humbly. "It could be that he is tired of his home and needs to be
+encouraged. Shall I sing him 'Home Sweet Home,' think you?"
+
+"No. Then he'd never go back. Your voice needs a rest. Don't sing to
+him: just watch him--Oh, and Doctor, why not tie another message to the
+creature's leg, telling Long Arrow that we're doing our best to reach
+him and that he mustn't give up hope?"
+
+"I will," said the Doctor. And in a minute he had pulled a dry leaf from
+a bush near by and was covering it with little pictures in pencil.
+
+At last, neatly fixed up with his new mail-bag, Mr. Jabizri crawled off
+the Doctor's finger to the ground and looked about him. He stretched his
+legs, polished his nose with his front feet and then moved off leisurely
+to the westward.
+
+We had expected him to walk UP the mountain; instead, he walked AROUND
+it. Do you know how long it takes a beetle to walk round a mountain?
+Well, I assure you it takes an unbelievably long time. As the hours
+dragged by, we hoped and hoped that he would get up and fly the rest,
+and let Polynesia carry on the work of following him. But he never
+opened his wings once. I had not realized before how hard it is for a
+human being to walk slowly enough to keep up with a beetle. It was the
+most tedious thing I have ever gone through. And as we dawdled along
+behind, watching him like hawks lest we lose him under a leaf or
+something, we all got so cross and ill-tempered we were ready to bite
+one another's heads off. And when he stopped to look at the scenery or
+polish his nose some more, I could hear Polynesia behind me letting out
+the most dreadful seafaring swear-words you ever heard.
+
+After he had led us the whole way round the mountain he brought us to
+the exact spot where we started from and there he came to a dead stop.
+
+"Well," said Bumpo to Polynesia, "what do you think of the beetle's
+sense now? You see he DOESN'T know enough to go home."
+
+"Oh, be still, you Hottentot!" snapped Polynesia. "Wouldn't YOU want to
+stretch your legs for exercise if you'd been shut up in a box all day.
+Probably his home is near here, and that's why he's come back."
+
+"But why," I asked, "did he go the whole way round the mountain first?"
+
+Then the three of us got into a violent argument. But in the middle of
+it all the Doctor suddenly called out,
+
+"Look, look!"
+
+We turned and found that he was pointing to the Jabizri, who was now
+walking UP the mountain at a much faster and more business-like gait.
+
+"Well," said Bumpo sitting down wearily; "if he is going to walk OVER
+the mountain and back, for more exercise, I'll wait for him here.
+Chee-Chee and Polynesia can follow him."
+
+Indeed it would have taken a monkey or a bird to climb the place
+which the beetle was now walking up. It was a smooth, flat part of the
+mountain's side, steep as a wall.
+
+But presently, when the Jabizri was no more than ten feet above our
+heads, we all cried out together. For, even while we watched him, he had
+disappeared into the face of the rock like a raindrop soaking into sand.
+
+"He's gone," cried Polynesia. "There must be a hole up there." And in a
+twinkling she had fluttered up the rock and was clinging to the face of
+it with her claws.
+
+"Yes," she shouted down, "we've run him to earth at last. His hole is
+right here, behind a patch of lichen--big enough to get two fingers in."
+
+"Ah," cried the Doctor, "this great slab of rock then must have slid
+down from the summit and shut off the mouth of the cave like a door.
+Poor fellows! What a dreadful time they must have spent in there!--Oh,
+if we only had some picks and shovels now!"
+
+"Picks and shovels wouldn't do much good," said Polynesia. "Look at the
+size of the slab: a hundred feet high and as many broad. You would need
+an army for a week to make any impression on it."
+
+"I wonder how thick it is," said the Doctor; and he picked up a big
+stone and banged it with all his might against the face of the rock.
+It made a hollow booming sound, like a giant drum. We all stood still
+listening while the echo of it died slowly away.
+
+And then a cold shiver ran down my spine. For, from within the mountain,
+back came three answering knocks: BOOM!... BOOM!. .. BOOM!
+
+Wide-eyed we looked at one another as though the earth itself had
+spoken. And the solemn little silence that followed was broken by the
+Doctor.
+
+"Thank Heaven," he said in a hushed reverent voice, "some of them at
+least are alive!"
+
+
+
+
+PART FIVE
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER. A GREAT MOMENT
+
+THE next part of our problem was the hardest of all: how to roll aside,
+pull down or break open, that gigantic slab. As we gazed up at it
+towering above our heads, it looked indeed a hopeless task for our tiny
+strength.
+
+But the sounds of life from inside the mountain had put new heart in us.
+And in a moment we were all scrambling around trying to find any opening
+or crevice which would give us something to work on. Chee-Chee scaled
+up the sheer wall of the slab and examined the top of it where it leaned
+against the mountain's side; I uprooted bushes and stripped off hanging
+creepers that might conceal a weak place; the Doctor got more leaves
+and composed new picture-letters for the Jabizri to take in if he should
+turn up again; whilst Polynesia carried up a handful of nuts and pushed
+them into the beetle's hole, one by one, for the prisoners inside to
+eat.
+
+"Nuts are so nourishing," she said.
+
+But Jip it was who, scratching at the foot of the slab like a good
+ratter, made the discovery which led to our final success.
+
+"Doctor," he cried, running up to John Dolittle with his nose all
+covered with black mud, "this slab is resting on nothing but a bed of
+soft earth. You never saw such easy digging. I guess the cave behind
+must be just too high up for the Indians to reach the earth with their
+hands, or they could have scraped a way out long ago. If we can only
+scratch the earth-bed away from under, the slab might drop a little.
+Then maybe the Indians can climb out over the top."
+
+The Doctor hurried to examine the place where Jip had dug.
+
+"Why, yes," he said, "if we can get the earth away from under this front
+edge, the slab is standing up so straight, we might even make it fall
+right down in this direction. It's well worth trying. Let's get at it,
+quick."
+
+We had no tools but the sticks and slivers of stone which we could
+find around. A strange sight we must have looked, the whole crew of us
+squatting down on our heels, scratching and burrowing at the foot of the
+mountain, like six badgers in a row.
+
+After about an hour, during which in spite of the cold the sweat fell
+from our foreheads in all directions, the Doctor said,
+
+"Be ready to jump from under, clear out of the way, if she shows signs
+of moving. If this slab falls on anybody, it will squash him flatter
+than a pancake."
+
+Presently there was a grating, grinding sound.
+
+"Look out!" yelled John Dolittle, "here she comes!--Scatter!"
+
+We ran for our lives, outwards, toward the sides. The big rock slid
+gently down, about a foot, into the trough which we had made beneath it.
+For a moment I was disappointed, for like that, it was as hopeless
+as before--no signs of a cave-mouth showing above it. But as I looked
+upward, I saw the top coming very slowly away from the mountainside.
+We had unbalanced it below. As it moved apart from the face of the
+mountain, sounds of human voices, crying gladly in a strange tongue,
+issued from behind. Faster and faster the top swung forward, downward.
+Then, with a roaring crash which shook the whole mountain-range beneath
+our feet, it struck the earth and cracked in halves.
+
+How can I describe to any one that first meeting between the two
+greatest naturalists the world ever knew, Long Arrow, the son of Golden
+Arrow and John Dolittle, M.D., of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh? The scene rises
+before me now, plain and clear in every detail, though it took place so
+many, many years ago. But when I come to write of it, words seem such
+poor things with which to tell you of that great occasion.
+
+I know that the Doctor, whose life was surely full enough of big
+happenings, always counted the setting free of the Indian scientist
+as the greatest thing he ever did. For my part, knowing how much this
+meeting must mean to him, I was on pins and needles of expectation and
+curiosity as the great stone finally thundered down at our feet and we
+gazed across it to see what lay behind.
+
+The gloomy black mouth of a tunnel, full twenty feet high, was revealed.
+In the centre of this opening stood an enormous red Indian, seven feet
+tall, handsome, muscular, slim and naked--but for a beaded cloth about
+his middle and an eagle's feather in his hair. He held one hand across
+his face to shield his eyes from the blinding sun which he had not seen
+in many days.
+
+"It is he!" I heard the Doctor whisper at my elbow. "I know him by his
+great height and the scar upon his chin."
+
+And he stepped forward slowly across the fallen stone with his hand
+outstretched to the red man.
+
+Presently the Indian uncovered his eyes. And I saw that they had a
+curious piercing gleam in them--like the eyes of an eagle, but kinder
+and more gentle. He slowly raised his right arm, the rest of him still
+and motionless like a statue, and took the Doctor's hand in his. It was
+a great moment. Polynesia nodded to me in a knowing, satisfied kind of
+way. And I heard old Bumpo sniffle sentimentally. Then the Doctor tried
+to speak to Long Arrow. But the Indian knew no English of course, and
+the Doctor knew no Indian. Presently, to my surprise, I heard the Doctor
+trying him in different animal languages.
+
+"How do you do?" he said in dog-talk; "I am glad to see you," in
+horse-signs; "How long have you been buried?" in deer-language.
+Still the Indian made no move but stood there, straight and stiff,
+understanding not a word.
+
+The Doctor tried again, in several other animal dialects. But with no
+result.
+
+Till at last he came to the language of eagles.
+
+"Great Red-Skin," he said in the fierce screams and short grunts that
+the big birds use, "never have I been so glad in all my life as I am
+to-day to find you still alive."
+
+In a flash Long Arrow's stony face lit up with a smile of understanding;
+and back came the answer in eagle-tongue,
+
+"Mighty White Man, I owe my life to you. For the remainder of my days I
+am your servant to command."
+
+Afterwards Long Arrow told us that this was the only bird or animal
+language that he had ever been able to learn. But that he had not spoken
+it in a long time, for no eagles ever came to this island.
+
+Then the Doctor signaled to Bumpo who came forward with the nuts and
+water. But Long Arrow neither ate nor drank. Taking the supplies with a
+nod of thanks, he turned and carried them into the inner dimness of the
+cave. We followed him.
+
+Inside we found nine other Indians, men, women and boys, lying on the
+rock floor in a dreadful state of thinness and exhaustion.
+
+Some had their eyes closed, as if dead. Quickly the Doctor went round
+them all and listened to their hearts. They were all alive; but one
+woman was too weak even to stand upon her feet.
+
+At a word from the Doctor, Chee-Chee and Polynesia sped off into the
+jungles after more fruit and water.
+
+While Long Arrow was handing round what food we had to his starving
+friends, we suddenly heard a sound outside the cave. Turning about we
+saw, clustered at the entrance, the band of Indians who had met us so
+inhospitably at the beach.
+
+They peered into the dark cave cautiously at first. But as soon as they
+saw Long Arrow and the other Indians with us, they came rushing
+in, laughing, clapping their hands with joy and jabbering away at a
+tremendous rate.
+
+Long Arrow explained to the Doctor that the nine Indians we had found
+in the cave with him were two families who had accompanied him into the
+mountains to help him gather medicine-plants. And while they had been
+searching for a kind of moss--good for indigestion--which grows only
+inside of damp caves, the great rock slab had slid down and shut them
+in. Then for two weeks they had lived on the medicine-moss and such
+fresh water as could be found dripping from the damp walls of the cave.
+The other Indians on the island had given them up for lost and mourned
+them as dead; and they were now very surprised and happy to find their
+relatives alive.
+
+When Long Arrow turned to the newcomers and told them in their own
+language that it was the white man who had found and freed their
+relatives, they gathered round John Dolittle, all talking at once and
+beating their breasts.
+
+Long Arrow said they were apologizing and trying to tell the Doctor how
+sorry they were that they had seemed unfriendly to him at the beach.
+They had never seen a white man before and had really been afraid of
+him--especially when they saw him conversing with the porpoises. They
+had thought he was the Devil, they said.
+
+Then they went outside and looked at the great stone we had thrown down,
+big as a meadow; and they walked round and round it, pointing to the
+break running through the middle and wondering how the trick of felling
+it was done.
+
+Travelers who have since visited Spidermonkey Island tell me that that
+huge stone slab is now one of the regular sights of the island. And that
+the Indian guides, when showing it to visitors, always tell THEIR story
+of how it came there. They say that when the Doctor found that the rocks
+had entrapped his friend, Long Arrow, he was so angry that he ripped the
+mountain in halves with his bare hands and let him out.
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER. "THE MEN OF THE MOVING LAND"
+
+FROM that time on the Indians' treatment of us was very different. We
+were invited to their village for a feast to celebrate the recovery of
+the lost families. And after we had made a litter from saplings to carry
+the sick woman in, we all started off down the mountain.
+
+On the way the Indians told Long Arrow something which appeared to be
+sad news, for on hearing it, his face grew very grave. The Doctor asked
+him what was wrong. And Long Arrow said he had just been informed
+that the chief of the tribe, an old man of eighty, had died early that
+morning.
+
+"That," Polynesia whispered in my ear, "must have been what they went
+back to the village for, when the messenger fetched them from the
+beach.--Remember?"
+
+"What did he die of?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"He died of cold," said Long Arrow.
+
+Indeed, now that the sun was setting, we were all shivering ourselves.
+
+"This is a serious thing," said the Doctor to me. "The island is still
+in the grip of that wretched current flowing southward. We will have to
+look into this to-morrow. If nothing can be done about it, the Indians
+had better take to canoes and leave the island. The chance of being
+wrecked will be better than getting frozen to death in the ice-floes of
+the Antarctic."
+
+Presently we came over a saddle in the hills, and looking downward on
+the far side of the island, we saw the village--a large cluster of grass
+huts and gaily colored totem-poles close by the edge of the sea.
+
+"How artistic!" said the Doctor--"Delightfully situated. What is the
+name of the village?"
+
+"Popsipetel," said Long Arrow. "That is the name also of the tribe. The
+word signifies in Indian tongue, The Men of The Moving Land. There are
+two tribes of Indians on the island: the Popsipetels at this end and the
+Bag-jagderags at the other."
+
+"Which is the larger of the two peoples?"
+
+"The Bag-jagderags, by far. Their city covers two square leagues. But,"
+added Long Arrow a slight frown darkening his handsome face, "for me, I
+would rather have one Popsipetel than a hundred Bag-jagderags."
+
+The news of the rescue we had made had evidently gone ahead of us. For
+as we drew nearer to the village we saw crowds of Indians streaming out
+to greet the friends and relatives whom they had never thought to see
+again.
+
+These good people, when they too were told how the rescue had been the
+work of the strange white visitor to their shores, all gathered round
+the Doctor, shook him by the hands, patted him and hugged him. Then they
+lifted him up upon their strong shoulders and carried him down the hill
+into the village.
+
+There the welcome we received was even more wonderful. In spite of the
+cold air of the coming night, the villagers, who had all been shivering
+within their houses, threw open their doors and came out in hundreds.
+I had no idea that the little village could hold so many. They thronged
+about us, smiling and nodding and waving their hands; and as the details
+of what we had done were recited by Long Arrow they kept shouting
+strange singing noises, which we supposed were words of gratitude or
+praise.
+
+We were next escorted to a brand-new grass house, clean and
+sweet-smelling within, and informed that it was ours. Six strong Indian
+boys were told off to be our servants.
+
+On our way through the village we noticed a house, larger than the rest,
+standing at the end of the main street. Long Arrow pointed to it and
+told us it was the Chief's house, but that it was now empty--no new
+chief having yet been elected to take the place of the old one who had
+died.
+
+Inside our new home a feast of fish and fruit had been prepared. Most of
+the more important men of the tribe were already seating themselves at
+the long dining-table when we got there. Long Arrow invited us to sit
+down and eat.
+
+This we were glad enough to do, as we were all hungry. But we were both
+surprised and disappointed when we found that the fish had not been
+cooked. The Indians did not seem to think this extraordinary in the
+least, but went ahead gobbling the fish with much relish the way it was,
+raw.
+
+With many apologies, the Doctor explained to Long Arrow that if they had
+no objection we would prefer our fish cooked.
+
+Imagine our astonishment when we found that the great Long Arrow, so
+learned in the natural sciences, did not know what the word COOKED
+meant!
+
+Polynesia who was sitting on the bench between John Dolittle and myself
+pulled the Doctor by the sleeve.
+
+"I'll tell you what's wrong, Doctor," she whispered as he leant down to
+listen to her: "THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO FIRES! They don't know how to make
+a fire. Look outside: It's almost dark, and there isn't a light showing
+ii the whole village. This is a fireless people."
+
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER. FIRE
+
+THEN the Doctor asked Long Arrow if he knew what fire was, explaining it
+to him by pictures drawn on the buckskin table-cloth. Long Arrow said
+he had seen such a thing--coming out of the tops of volcanoes; but that
+neither he nor any of the Popsipetels knew how it was made.
+
+"Poor perishing heathens!" muttered Bumpo. "No wonder the old chief died
+of cold!"
+
+At that moment we heard a crying sound at the door. And turning round,
+we saw a weeping Indian mother with a baby in her arms. She said
+something to the Indians which we could not understand; and Long Arrow
+told us the baby was sick and she wanted the white doctor to try and
+cure it.
+
+"Oh Lord!" groaned Polynesia in my ear--"Just like Puddleby: patients
+arriving in the middle of dinner. Well, one thing: the food's raw, so
+nothing can get cold anyway."
+
+The Doctor examined the baby and found at once that it was thoroughly
+chilled.
+
+"Fire--FIRE! That's what it needs," he said turning to Long
+Arrow--"That's what you all need. This child will have pneumonia if it
+isn't kept warm."
+
+"Aye, truly. But how to make a fire," said Long Arrow--"where to get it:
+that is the difficulty. All the volcanoes in this land are dead."
+
+Then we fell to hunting through our pockets to see if any matches had
+survived the shipwreck. The best we could muster were two whole ones and
+a half--all with the heads soaked off them by salt water.
+
+"Hark, Long Arrow," said the Doctor: "divers ways there be of making
+fire without the aid of matches. One: with a strong glass and the rays
+of the sun. That however, since the sun has set, we cannot now employ.
+Another is by grinding a hard stick into a soft log--Is the daylight
+gone without?--Alas yes. Then I fear we must await the morrow; for
+besides the different woods, we need an old squirrel's nest for
+fuel--And that without lamps you could not find in your forests at this
+hour."
+
+"Great are your cunning and your skill, oh White Man," Long Arrow
+replied. "But in this you do us an injustice. Know you not that all
+fireless peoples can see in the dark? Having no lamps we are forced to
+train ourselves to travel through the blackest night, lightless. I will
+despatch a messenger and you shall have your squirrel's nest within the
+hour."
+
+He gave an order to two of our boy-servants who promptly disappeared
+running. And sure enough, in a very short space of time a squirrel's
+nest, together with hard and soft woods, was brought to our door.
+
+The moon had not yet risen and within the house it was practically
+pitch-black. I could feel and hear, however, that the Indians were
+moving about comfortably as though it were daylight. The task of making
+fire the Doctor had to perform almost entirely by the sense of touch,
+asking Long Arrow and the Indians to hand him his tools when he mislaid
+them in the dark. And then I made a curious discovery: now that I had
+to, I found that I was beginning to see a little in the dark myself. And
+for the first time I realized that of course there is no such thing as
+pitch-dark, so long as you have a door open or a sky above you.
+
+Calling for the loan of a bow, the Doctor loosened the string, put the
+hard stick into a loop and began grinding this stick into the soft wood
+of the log. Soon I smelt that the log was smoking. Then he kept feeding
+the part that was smoking with the inside lining of the squirrel's nest,
+and he asked me to blow upon it with my breath. He made the stick drill
+faster and faster. More smoke filled the room. And at last the darkness
+about us was suddenly lit up. The squirrel's nest had burst into flame.
+
+The Indians murmured and grunted with astonishment. At first they were
+all for falling on their knees and worshiping the fire. Then they wanted
+to pick it up with their bare hands and play with it. We had to teach
+them how it was to be used; and they were quite fascinated when we laid
+our fish across it on sticks and cooked it. They sniffed the air with
+relish as, for the first time in history, the smell of fried fish passed
+through the village of Popsipetel.
+
+Then we got them to bring us piles and stacks of dry wood; and we made
+an enormous bonfire in the middle of the main street. Round this, when
+they felt its warmth, the whole tribe gathered and smiled and wondered.
+It was a striking sight, one of the pictures from our voyages that I
+most frequently remember: that roaring jolly blaze beneath the black
+night sky, and all about it a vast ring of Indians, the firelight
+gleaming on bronze cheeks, white teeth and flashing eyes--a whole town
+trying to get warm, giggling and pushing like school-children.
+
+
+In a little, when we had got them more used to the handling of fire,
+the Doctor showed them how it could be taken into their houses if a hole
+were only made in the roof to let the smoke out. And before we turned
+in after that long, long, tiring day, we had fires going in every hut in
+the village.
+
+The poor people were so glad to get really warm again that we thought
+they'd never go to bed. Well on into the early hours of the morning
+the little town fairly buzzed with a great low murmur: the Popsipetels
+sitting up talking of their wonderful pale-faced visitor and this
+strange good thing he had brought with him--FIRE!
+
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER. WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT
+
+VERY early in our experience of Popsipetel kindness we saw that if we
+were to get anything done at all, we would almost always have to do it
+secretly. The Doctor was so popular and loved by all that as soon as he
+showed his face at his door in the morning crowds of admirers, waiting
+patiently outside, flocked about him and followed him wherever he went.
+After his fire-making feat, this childlike people expected him, I think,
+to be continually doing magic; and they were determined not to miss a
+trick.
+
+It was only with great difficulty that we escaped from the crowd the
+first morning and set out with Long Arrow to explore the island at our
+leisure.
+
+In the interior we found that not only the plants and trees were
+suffering from the cold: the animal life was in even worse straits.
+Everywhere shivering birds were to be seen, their feathers all fluffed
+out, gathering together for flight to summer lands. And many lay dead
+upon the ground. Going down to the shore, we watched land-crabs in large
+numbers taking to the sea to find some better home. While away to the
+Southeast we could see many icebergs floating--a sign that we were now
+not far from the terrible region of the Antarctic.
+
+As we were looking out to sea, we noticed our friends the porpoises
+jumping through the waves. The Doctor hailed them and they came inshore.
+
+He asked them how far we were from the South Polar Continent.
+
+About a hundred miles, they told him. And then they asked why he wanted
+to know.
+
+"Because this floating island we are on," said he, "is drifting
+southward all the time in a current. It's an island that ordinarily
+belongs somewhere in the tropic zone--real sultry weather, sunstrokes
+and all that. If it doesn't stop going southward pretty soon everything
+on it is going to perish."
+
+"Well," said the porpoises, "then the thing to do is to get it back into
+a warmer climate, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, but how?" said the Doctor. "We can't ROW it back."
+
+"No," said they, "but whales could push it--if you only got enough of
+them."
+
+"What a splendid idea!--Whales, the very thing!" said the Doctor. "Do
+you think you could get me some?"
+
+"Why, certainly," said the porpoises, "we passed one herd of them out
+there, sporting about among the icebergs. We'll ask them to come over.
+And if they aren't enough, we'll try and hunt up some more. Better have
+plenty."
+
+"Thank you," said the Doctor. "You are very kind--By the way, do you
+happen to know how this island came to be a floating island? At least
+half of it, I notice, is made of stone. It is very odd that it floats at
+all, isn't it?"
+
+"It is unusual," they said. "But the explanation is quite simple.
+It used to be a mountainous part of South America--an overhanging
+part--sort of an awkward corner, you might say. Way back in the glacial
+days, thousands of years ago, it broke off from the mainland; and by
+some curious accident the inside of it, which is hollow, got filled with
+air as it fell into the ocean. You can only see less than half of
+the island: the bigger half is under water. And in the middle of it,
+underneath, is a huge rock air-chamber, running right up inside the
+mountains. And that's what keeps it floating."
+
+"What a pecurious phenometer!" said Bumpo.
+
+"It is indeed," said the Doctor. "I must make a note of that." And out
+came the everlasting note-book.
+
+The porpoises went bounding off towards the icebergs. And not long
+after, we saw the sea heaving and frothing as a big herd of whales came
+towards us at full speed.
+
+They certainly were enormous creatures; and there must have been a good
+two hundred of them.
+
+"Here they are," said the porpoises, poking their heads out of the
+water.
+
+"Good!" said the Doctor. "Now just explain to them, will you please?
+that this is a very serious matter for all the living creatures in this
+land. And ask them if they will be so good as to go down to the far
+end of the island, put their noses against it and push it back near the
+coast of Southern Brazil."
+
+The porpoises evidently succeeded in persuading the whales to do as
+the Doctor asked; for presently we saw them thrashing through the seas,
+going off towards the south end of the island.
+
+Then we lay down upon the beach and waited.
+
+After about an hour the Doctor got up and threw a stick into the water.
+For a while this floated motionless. But soon we saw it begin to move
+gently down the coast.
+
+"Ah!" said the Doctor, "see that?--The island is going North at last.
+Thank goodness!"
+
+Faster and faster we left the stick behind; and smaller and dimmer grew
+the icebergs on the skyline.
+
+The Doctor took out his watch, threw more sticks into the water and made
+a rapid calculation.
+
+"Humph!--Fourteen and a half knots an hour," he murmured--"A very nice
+speed. It should take us about five days to get back near Brazil. Well,
+that's that--Quite a load off my mind. I declare I feel warmer already.
+Let's go and get something to eat."
+
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER. WAR!
+
+ON our way back to the village the Doctor began discussing natural
+history with Long Arrow. But their most interesting talk, mainly about
+plants, had hardly begun when an Indian runner came dashing up to us
+with a message.
+
+Long Arrow listened gravely to the breathless, babbled words, then
+turned to the Doctor and said in eagle tongue,
+
+"Great White Man, an evil thing has befallen the Popsipetels. Our
+neighbors to the southward, the thievish Bag-jagderags, who for so long
+have cast envious eyes on our stores of ripe corn, have gone upon the
+war-path; and even now are advancing to attack us."
+
+"Evil news indeed," said the Doctor. "Yet let us not judge harshly.
+Perhaps it is that they are desperate for food, having their own crops
+frost-killed before harvest. For are they not even nearer the cold South
+than you?"
+
+"Make no excuses for any man of the tribe of the Bag-jagderags," said
+Long Arrow shaking his head. "They are an idle shiftless race. They do
+but see a chance to get corn without the labor of husbandry. If it were
+not that they are a much bigger tribe and hope to defeat their neighbor
+by sheer force of numbers, they would not have dared to make open war
+upon the brave Popsipetels."
+
+When we reached the village we found it in a great state of excitement.
+Everywhere men were seen putting their bows in order, sharpening spears,
+grinding battle-axes and making arrows by the hundred. Women were
+raising a high fence of bamboo poles all round the village. Scouts and
+messengers kept coming and going, bringing news of the movements of the
+enemy. While high up in the trees and hills about the village we could
+see look-outs watching the mountains to the southward.
+
+Long Arrow brought another Indian, short but enormously broad, and
+introduced him to the Doctor as Big Teeth, the chief warrior of the
+Popsipetels.
+
+The Doctor volunteered to go and see the enemy and try to argue the
+matter out peacefully with them instead of fighting; for war, he said,
+was at best a stupid wasteful business. But the two shook their heads.
+Such a plan was hopeless, they said. In the last war when they had sent
+a messenger to do peaceful arguing, the enemy had merely hit him with an
+ax.
+
+While the Doctor was asking Big Teeth how he meant to defend the village
+against attack, a cry of alarm was raised by the look-outs.
+
+"They're coming!--The Bag-jagderags-swarming down the mountains in
+thousands!"
+
+"Well," said the Doctor, "it's all in the day's work, I suppose. I don't
+believe in war; but if the village is attacked we must help defend it."
+
+And he picked up a club from the ground and tried the heft of it against
+a stone.
+
+"This," he said, "seems like a pretty good tool to me." And he walked to
+the bamboo fence and took his place among the other waiting fighters.
+
+Then we all got hold of some kind of weapon with which to help our
+friends, the gallant Popsipetels: I borrowed a bow and a quiver full of
+arrows; Jip was content to rely upon his old, but still strong teeth;
+Chee-Chee took a bag of rocks and climbed a palm where he could throw
+them down upon the enemies' heads; and Bumpo marched after the Doctor
+to the fence armed with a young tree in one hand and a door-post in the
+other.
+
+When the enemy drew near enough to be seen from where we stood we all
+gasped with astonishment. The hillsides were actually covered with
+them--thousands upon thousands. They made our small army within the
+village look like a mere handful.
+
+"Saints alive!" muttered Polynesia, "our little lot will stand no chance
+against that swarm. This will never do. I'm going off to get some help."
+Where she was going and what kind of help she meant to get, I had no
+idea. She just disappeared from my side. But Jip, who had heard her,
+poked his nose between the bamboo bars of the fence to get a better view
+of the enemy and said,
+
+"Likely enough she's gone after the Black Parrots. Let's hope she
+finds them in time. Just look at those ugly ruffians climbing down the
+rocks--millions of 'em! This fight's going to keep us all hopping."
+
+And Jip was right. Before a quarter of an hour had gone by our
+village was completely surrounded by one huge mob of yelling, raging
+Bag-jagderags.
+
+I now come again to a part in the story of our voyages where things
+happened so quickly, one upon the other, that looking backwards I see
+the picture only in a confused kind of way. I know that if it had not
+been for the Terrible Three--as they came afterwards to be fondly called
+in Popsipetel history--Long Arrow, Bumpo and the Doctor, the war would
+have been soon over and the whole island would have belonged to the
+worthless Bag-jagderags. But the Englishman, the African and the Indian
+were a regiment in themselves; and between them they made that village a
+dangerous place for any man to try to enter.
+
+The bamboo fencing which had been hastily set up around the town was not
+a very strong affair; and right from the start it gave way in one place
+after another as the enemy thronged and crowded against it. Then the
+Doctor, Long Arrow and Bumpo would hurry to the weak spot, a terrific
+hand-to-hand fight would take place and the enemy be thrown out. But
+almost instantly a cry of alarm would come from some other part of the
+village-wall; and the Three would have to rush off and do the same thing
+all over again.
+
+The Popsipetels were themselves no mean fighters; but the strength and
+weight of those three men of different lands and colors, standing close
+together, swinging their enormous war-clubs, was really a sight for the
+wonder and admiration of any one,
+
+Many weeks later when I was passing an Indian camp-fire at night I
+heard this song being sung. It has since become one of the traditional
+folksongs of the Popsipetels.
+
+
+THE SONG OF THE TERRIBLE THREE
+
+     Oh hear ye the Song of the Terrible Three
+ And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
+     Down from the mountains, the rocks and the crags,
+ Swarming like wasps, came the Bag-jagderags.
+
+     Surrounding our village, our walls they broke down.
+ Oh, sad was the plight of our men and our town!
+     But Heaven determined our land to set free
+ And sent us the help of the Terrible Three.
+     One was a Black--he was dark as the night;
+ One was a Red-skin, a mountain of height;
+     But the chief was a White Man, round like a bee;
+ And all in a row stood the Terrible Three.
+
+     Shoulder to shoulder, they hammered and hit.
+ Like demons of fury they kicked and they bit.
+     Like a wall of destruction they stood in a row,
+ Flattening enemies, six at a blow.
+
+     Oh, strong was the Red-skin fierce was the Black.
+ Bag-jagderags trembled and tried to turn back.
+     But 'twas of the White Man they shouted, "Beware!
+ He throws men in handfuls, straight up in the air!"
+
+     Long shall they frighten bad children at night
+ With tales of the Red and the Black and the White.
+     And long shall we sing of the Terrible Three
+ And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
+
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER. GENERAL POLYNESIA
+
+BUT alas! even the Three, mighty though they were, could not last
+forever against an army which seemed to have no end. In one of the
+hottest scrimmages, when the enemy had broken a particularly wide hole
+through the fence, I saw Long Arrow's great figure topple and come down
+with a spear sticking in his broad chest.
+
+For another half-hour Bumpo and the Doctor fought on side by side. How
+their strength held out so long I cannot tell, for never a second were
+they given to get their breath or rest their arms.
+
+The Doctor--the quiet, kindly, peaceable, little Doctor!--well, you
+wouldn't have known him if you had seen him that day dealing out whacks
+you could hear a mile off, walloping and swatting in all directions.
+
+As for Bumpo, with staring eye-balls and grim set teeth, he was
+a veritable demon. None dared come within yards of that wicked,
+wide-circling door-post. But a stone, skilfully thrown, struck him at
+last in the centre of the forehead. And down went the second of the
+Three. John Dolittle, the last of the Terribles, was left fighting
+alone.
+
+Jip and I rushed to his side and tried to take the places of the fallen
+ones. But, far too light and too small, we made but a poor exchange.
+Another length of the fence crashed down, and through the widened gap
+the Bag-jagderags poured in on us like a flood.
+
+"To the canoes!--To the sea!" shouted the Popsipetels. "Fly for your
+lives!--All is over!--The war is lost!"
+
+But the Doctor and I never got a chance to fly for our lives. We were
+swept off our feet and knocked down flat by the sheer weight of the mob.
+And once down, we were unable to get up again. I thought we would surely
+be trampled to death.
+
+But at that moment, above the din and racket of the battle, we heard
+the most terrifying noise that ever assaulted human ears: the sound of
+millions and millions of parrots all screeching with fury together.
+
+The army, which in the nick of time Polynesia had brought to our rescue,
+darkened the whole sky to the westward. I asked her afterwards, how many
+birds there were; and she said she didn't know exactly but that they
+certainly numbered somewhere between sixty and seventy millions. In
+that extraordinarily short space of time she had brought them from the
+mainland of South America.
+
+If you have ever heard a parrot screech with anger you will know that it
+makes a truly frightful sound; and if you have ever been bitten by one,
+you will know that its bite can be a nasty and a painful thing.
+
+The Black Parrots (coal-black all over, they were--except for a scarlet
+beak and a streak of red in wing and tail) on the word of command
+from Polynesia set to work upon the Bag-jagderags who were now pouring
+through the village looking for plunder.
+
+And the Black Parrots' method of fighting was peculiar. This is what
+they did: on the head of each Bag-jagderag three or four parrots settled
+and took a good foot-hold in his hair with their claws; then they leant
+down over the sides of his head and began clipping snips out of his
+ears, for all the world as though they were punching tickets. That is
+all they did. They never bit them anywhere else except the ears. But it
+won the war for us.
+
+With howls pitiful to hear, the Bag-jagderags fell over one another in
+their haste to get out of that accursed village. It was no use their
+trying to pull the parrots off their heads; because for each head there
+were always four more parrots waiting impatiently to get on.
+
+Some of the enemy were lucky; and with only a snip or two managed to get
+outside the fence--where the parrots immediately left them alone. But
+with most, before the black birds had done with them, the ears presented
+a very singular appearance--like the edge of a postage-stamp. This
+treatment, very painful at the time, did not however do them any
+permanent harm beyond the change in looks. And it later got to be the
+tribal mark of the Bag-jagderags. No really smart young lady of this
+tribe would be seen walking with a man who did not have scalloped
+ears--for such was a proof that he had been in the Great War. And that
+(though it is not generally known to scientists) is how this people
+came to be called by the other Indian nations, the Ragged-Eared
+Bag-jagderags.
+
+As soon as the village was cleared of the enemy the Doctor turned his
+attention to the wounded.
+
+In spite of the length and fierceness of the struggle, there were
+surprisingly few serious injuries. Poor Long Arrow was the worst off.
+However, after the Doctor had washed his wound and got him to bed, he
+opened his eyes and said he already felt better. Bumpo was only badly
+stunned.
+
+With this part of the business over, the Doctor called to Polynesia to
+have the Black Parrots drive the enemy right back into their own country
+and to wait there, guarding them all night.
+
+Polynesia gave the short word of command; and like one bird those
+millions of parrots opened their red beaks and let out once more their
+terrifying battle-scream.
+
+The Bag-jagderags didn't wait to be bitten a second time, but fled
+helter-skelter over the mountains from which they had come; whilst
+Polynesia and her victorious army followed watchfully behind like a
+great, threatening, black cloud.
+
+The Doctor picked up his high hat which had been knocked off in the
+fight, dusted it carefully and put it on.
+
+"To-morrow," he said, shaking his fist towards the hills, "we will
+arrange the terms of peace--and we will arrange them--in the City of
+Bag-jagderag."
+
+His words were greeted with cheers of triumph from the admiring
+Popsipetels. The war was over.
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS
+
+THE next day we set out for the far end of the island, and reaching it
+in canoes (for we went by sea) after a journey of twenty-five hours, we
+remained no longer than was necessary in the City of Bag-jagderag.
+
+When he threw himself into that fight at Popsipetel, I saw the Doctor
+really angry for the first time in my life. But his anger, once aroused,
+was slow to die. All the way down the coast of the island he never
+ceased to rail against this cowardly people who had attacked his
+friends, the Popsipetels, for no other reason but to rob them of their
+corn, because they were too idle to till the land themselves. And he was
+still angry when he reached the City of Bag-jagderag.
+
+Long Arrow had not come with us for he was as yet too weak from his
+wound. But the Doctor--always clever at languages--was already
+getting familiar with the Indian tongue. Besides, among the half-dozen
+Popsipetels who accompanied us to paddle the canoes, was one boy to whom
+we had taught a little English. He and the Doctor between them managed
+to make themselves understood to the Bag-jagderags. This people, with
+the terrible parrots still blackening the hills about their stone town,
+waiting for the word to descend and attack, were, we found, in a very
+humble mood.
+
+Leaving our canoes we passed up the main street to the palace of the
+chief. Bumpo and I couldn't help smiling with satisfaction as we saw
+how the waiting crowds which lined the roadway bowed their heads to the
+ground, as the little, round, angry figure of the Doctor strutted ahead
+of us with his chin in the air.
+
+At the foot of the palace-steps the chief and all the more important
+personages of the tribe were waiting to meet him, smiling humbly
+and holding out their hands in friendliness. The Doctor took not the
+slightest notice. He marched right by them, up the steps to the door
+of the palace. There he turned around and at once began to address the
+people in a firm voice.
+
+I never heard such a speech in my life--and I am quite sure that they
+never did either. First he called them a long string of names: cowards,
+loafers, thieves, vagabonds, good-for-nothings, bullies and what not.
+Then he said he was still seriously thinking of allowing the parrots to
+drive them on into the sea, in order that this pleasant land might be
+rid, once for all, of their worthless carcases. At this a great cry
+for mercy went up, and the chief and all of them fell on their knees,
+calling out that they would submit to any conditions of peace he wished.
+
+Then the Doctor called for one of their scribes--that is, a man who did
+picture-writing. And on the stone walls of the palace of Bag-jagderag he
+bade him write down the terms of the peace as he dictated it. This peace
+is known as The Peace of The Parrots, and--unlike most peaces--was, and
+is, strictly kept--even to this day.
+
+It was quite long in words. The half of the palace-front was covered
+with picture-writing, and fifty pots of paint were used, before the
+weary scribe had done. But the main part of it all was that there should
+be no more fighting; and that the two tribes should give solemn promise
+to help one another whenever there was corn-famine or other distress in
+the lands belonging to either.
+
+This greatly surprised the Bag-jagderags. They had expected from the
+Doctor's angry face that he would at least chop a couple of hundred
+heads off--and probably make the rest of them slaves for life.
+
+But when they saw that he only meant kindly by them, their great fear of
+him changed to a tremendous admiration. And as he ended his long speech
+and walked briskly down the steps again on his way back to the canoes,
+the group of chieftains threw themselves at his feet and cried, "Do but
+stay with us. Great Lord, and all the riches of Bag-jagderag shall
+be poured into your lap. Gold-mines we know of in the mountains and
+pearl-beds beneath the sea. Only stay with us, that your all-powerful
+wisdom may lead our Council and our people in prosperity and peace." The
+Doctor held up his hand for silence.
+
+"No man," said he, "would wish to be the guest of the Bag-jagderags till
+they had proved by their deeds that they are an honest race. Be true to
+the terms of the Peace and from yourselves shall come good government
+and prosperity--Farewell!"
+
+Then he turned and followed by Bumpo, the Popsipetels and myself, walked
+rapidly down to the canoes.
+
+
+
+
+THE EIGHTH CHAPTER. THE HANGING STONE
+
+BUT the change of heart in the Bag-jagderags was really sincere. The
+Doctor had made a great impression on them--a deeper one than even he
+himself realized at the time. In fact I sometimes think that that
+speech of his from the palace-steps had more effect upon the Indians of
+Spidermonkey Island than had any of his great deeds which, great though
+they were, were always magnified and exaggerated when the news of them
+was passed from mouth to mouth.
+
+A sick girl was brought to him as he reached the place where the boats
+lay. She turned out to have some quite simple ailment which he quickly
+gave the remedy for. But this increased his popularity still more. And
+when he stepped into his canoe, the people all around us actually burst
+into tears. It seems (I learned this afterwards) that they thought he
+was going away across the sea, for good, to the mysterious foreign lands
+from which he had come.
+
+Some of the chieftains spoke to the Popsipetels as we pushed off. What
+they said I did not understand; but we noticed that several canoes
+filled with Bag-jagderags followed us at a respectful distance all the
+way back to Popsipetel.
+
+The Doctor had determined to return by the other shore, so that we
+should be thus able to make a complete trip round the island's shores.
+
+Shortly after we started, while still off the lower end of the island,
+we sighted a steep point on the coast where the sea was in a great state
+of turmoil, white with soapy froth. On going nearer, we found that this
+was caused by our friendly whales who were still faithfully working away
+with their noses against the end of the island, driving us northward. We
+had been kept so busy with the war that we had forgotten all about them.
+But as we paused and watched their mighty tails lashing and churning
+the sea, we suddenly realized that we had not felt cold in quite along
+while. Speeding up our boat lest the island be carried away from us
+altogether, we passed on up the coast; and here and there we noticed
+that the trees on the shore already looked greener and more healthy.
+Spidermonkey Island was getting back into her home climates.
+
+About halfway to Popsipetel we went ashore and spent two or three days
+exploring the central part of the island. Our Indian paddlers took us up
+into the mountains, very steep and high in this region, overhanging the
+sea. And they showed us what they called the Whispering Rocks.
+
+This was a very peculiar and striking piece of scenery. It was like a
+great vast basin, or circus, in the mountains, and out of the centre of
+it there rose a table of rock with an ivory chair upon it. All around
+this the mountains went up like stairs, or theatre-seats, to a great
+height--except at one narrow end which was open to a view of the sea.
+You could imagine it a council-place or concert-hall for giants, and the
+rock table in the centre the stage for performers or the stand for the
+speaker.
+
+We asked our guides why it was called the Whispering Rocks; and they
+said, "Go down into it and we will show you."
+
+The great bowl was miles deep and miles wide. We scrambled down the
+rocks and they showed us how, even when you stood far, far apart from
+one another, you merely had to whisper in that great place and every one
+in the theatre could hear you. This was, the Doctor said, on account of
+the echoes which played backwards and forwards between the high walls of
+rock.
+
+Our guides told us that it was here, in days long gone by when the
+Popsipetels owned the whole of Spidermonkey Island, that the kings were
+crowned. The ivory chair upon the table was the throne in which they
+sat. And so great was the big theatre that all the Indians in the island
+were able to get seats in it to see the ceremony.
+
+They showed us also an enormous hanging stone perched on the edge of a
+volcano's crater--the highest summit in the whole island. Although it
+was very far below us, we could see it quite plainly, and it looked
+wobbly enough to be pushed off its perch with the hand. There was
+a legend among the people, they said, that when the greatest of all
+Popsipetel kings should be crowned in the ivory chair, this hanging
+stone would tumble into the volcano's mouth and go straight down to the
+centre of the earth.
+
+The Doctor said he would like to go and examine it closer.
+
+And when we were come to the lip of the volcano (it took us half a day
+to get up to it) we found the stone was unbelievably large--big as a
+cathedral. Underneath it we could look right down into a black hole
+which seemed to have no bottom. The Doctor explained to us that
+volcanoes sometimes spurted up fire from these holes in their tops; but
+that those on floating islands were always cold and dead.
+
+"Stubbins," he said, looking up at the great stone towering above us,
+"do you know what would most likely happen if that boulder should fall
+in?"
+
+"No," said I, "what?"
+
+"You remember the air-chamber which the porpoises told us lies under the
+centre of the island?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, this stone is heavy enough, if it fell into the volcano, to break
+through into that air-chamber from above. And once it did, the air would
+escape and the floating island would float no more. It would sink."
+
+"But then everybody on it would be drowned, wouldn't they?" said Bumpo.
+
+"Oh no, not necessarily. That would depend on the depth of the sea where
+the sinking took place. The island might touch bottom when it had only
+gone down, say, a hundred feet. But there would be lots of it still
+sticking up above the water then, wouldn't there?"
+
+"Yes," said Bumpo, "I suppose there would. Well, let us hope that the
+ponderous fragment does not lose its equilibriosity, for I don't believe
+it would stop at the centre of the earth--more likely it would fall
+right through the world and come out the other side."
+
+Many other wonders there were which these men showed us in the central
+regions of their island. But I have not time or space to tell you of
+them now.
+
+Descending towards the shore again, we noticed that we were still being
+watched, even here among the highlands, by the Bag-jagderags who
+had followed us. And when we put to sea once more a boatload of them
+proceeded to go ahead of us in the direction of Popsipetel. Having
+lighter canoes, they traveled faster than our party; and we judged that
+they should reach the village--if that was where they were going--many
+hours before we could.
+
+The Doctor was now becoming anxious to see how Long Arrow was getting
+on, so we all took turns at the paddles and went on traveling by
+moonlight through the whole night.
+
+We reached Popsipetel just as the dawn was breaking.
+
+To our great surprise we found that not only we, but the whole village
+also, had been up all night. A great crowd was gathered about the dead
+chief's house. And as we landed our canoes upon the beach we saw a large
+number of old men, the seniors of the tribe, coming out at the main
+door.
+
+We inquired what was the meaning of all this; and were told that the
+election of a new chief had been going on all through the whole night.
+Bumpo asked the name of the new chief; but this, it seemed, had not yet
+been given out. It would be announced at mid-day.
+
+As soon as the Doctor had paid a visit to Long Arrow and seen that he
+was doing nicely, we proceeded to our own house at the far end of the
+village. Here we ate some breakfast and then lay down to take a good
+rest.
+
+Rest, indeed, we needed; for life had been strenuous and busy for us
+ever since we had landed on the island. And it wasn't many minutes after
+our weary heads struck the pillows that the whole crew of us were sound
+asleep.
+
+
+
+
+THE NINTH CHAPTER. THE ELECTION
+
+WE were awakened by music. The glaring noonday sunlight was streaming
+in at our door, outside of which some kind of a band appeared to be
+playing.
+
+We got up and looked out. Our house was surrounded by the whole
+population of Popsipetel. We were used to having quite a number of
+curious and admiring Indians waiting at our door at all hours; but this
+was quite different. The vast crowd was dressed in its best clothes.
+Bright beads, gawdy feathers and gay blankets gave cheerful color to
+the scene. Every one seemed in very good humor, singing or playing on
+musical instruments--mostly painted wooden whistles or drums made from
+skins.
+
+We found Polynesia--who while we slept had arrived back from
+Bag-jagderag--sitting on our door-post watching the show. We asked her
+what all the holiday-making was about.
+
+"The result of the election has just been announced," said she. "The
+name of the new chief was given out at noon."
+
+"And who is the new chief?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"You are," said Polynesia quietly.
+
+"I!" gasped the Doctor--"Well, of all things!"
+
+"Yes," said she. "You're the one--And what's more, they've changed
+your surname for you. They didn't think that Dolittle was a proper or
+respectful name for a man who had done so much. So you are now to be
+known as Jong Thinkalot. How do you like it?"
+
+"But I don't WANT to be a chief," said the Doctor in an irritable voice.
+
+"I'm afraid you'll have hard work to get out of it now," said
+she--"unless you're willing to put to sea again in one of their
+rickety canoes. You see you've been elected not merely the Chief of the
+Popsipetels; you're to be a king--the King of the whole of Spidermonkey
+Island. The Bag-jagderags, who were so anxious to have you govern them,
+sent spies and messengers ahead of you; and when they found that you
+had been elected Chief of the Popsipetels overnight they were
+bitterly disappointed. However, rather than lose you altogether, the
+Bag-jagderags were willing to give up their independence, and insisted
+that they and their lands be united to the Popsipetels in order that you
+could be made king of both. So now you're in for it."
+
+"Oh Lord!" groaned the Doctor, "I do wish they wouldn't be so
+enthusiastic! Bother it, I don't WANT to be a king!"
+
+"I should think, Doctor," said I, "you'd feel rather proud and glad. I
+wish I had a chance to be a king."
+
+"Oh I know it sounds grand," said he, pulling on his boots miserably.
+"But the trouble is, you can't take up responsibilities and then
+just drop them again when you feel like it. I have my own work to do.
+Scarcely one moment have I had to give to natural history since I landed
+on this island. I've been doing some one else's business all the time.
+And now they want me to go on doing it! Why, once I'm made King of the
+Popsipetels, that's the end of me as a useful naturalist. I'd be too
+busy for anything. All I'd be then is just a er--er just a king."
+
+"Well, that's something!" said Bumpo. "My father is a king and has a
+hundred and twenty wives."
+
+"That would make it worse," said the Doctor--"a hundred and twenty times
+worse. I have my work to do. I don't want to be a king."
+
+"Look," said Polynesia, "here come the head men to announce your
+election. Hurry up and get your boots laced."
+
+The throng before our door had suddenly parted asunder, making a long
+lane; and down this we now saw a group of personages coming towards us.
+The man in front, a handsome old Indian with a wrinkled face, carried
+in his hands a wooden crown--a truly beautiful and gorgeous crown, even
+though of wood. Wonderfully carved and painted, it had two lovely blue
+feathers springing from the front of it. Behind the old man came eight
+strong Indians bearing a litter, a sort of chair with long handles
+underneath to carry it by.
+
+Kneeling down on one knee, bending his head almost to the ground, the
+old man addressed the Doctor who now stood in the doorway putting on his
+collar and tie.
+
+"Oh, Mighty One," said he, "we bring you word from the Popsipetel
+people. Great are your deeds beyond belief, kind is your heart and your
+wisdom, deeper than the sea. Our chief is dead. The people clamor for
+a worthy leader. Our old enemies, the Bag-jagderags are become, through
+you, our brothers and good friends. They too desire to bask beneath the
+sunshine of your smile. Behold then, I bring to you the Sacred Crown of
+Popsipetel which, since ancient days when this island and its peoples
+were one, beneath one monarch, has rested on no kingly brow. Oh Kindly
+One, we are bidden by the united voices of the peoples of this land
+to carry you to the Whispering Rocks, that there, with all respect and
+majesty, you may be crowned our king--King of all the Moving Land."
+
+The good Indians did not seem to have even considered the possibility
+of John Dolittle's refusing. As for the poor Doctor, I never saw him so
+upset by anything. It was in fact the only time I have known him to get
+thoroughly fussed.
+
+"Oh dear!" I heard him murmur, looking around wildly for some escape.
+"What SHALL I do?--Did any of you see where I laid that stud of
+mine?--How on earth can I get this collar on without a stud? What a day
+this is, to be sure I--Maybe it rolled under the bed, Bumpo--I do think
+they might have given me a day or so to think it over in. Who ever heard
+of waking a man right out of his sleep, and telling him he's got to be
+a king, before he has even washed his face? Can't any of you find it?
+Maybe you're standing on it, Bumpo. Move your feet."
+
+"Oh don't bother about your stud," said Polynesia. "You will have to be
+crowned without a collar. They won't know the difference."
+
+"I tell you I'm not going to be crowned," cried the Doctor--"not if I
+can help it. I'll make them a speech. Perhaps that will satisfy them."
+He turned back to the Indians at the door.
+
+"My friends," he said, "I am not worthy of this great honor you would do
+me. Little or no skill have I in the arts of kingcraft. Assuredly among
+your own brave men you will find many better fitted to lead you. For
+this compliment, this confidence and trust, I thank you. But, I pray
+you, do not think of me for such high duties which I could not possibly
+fulfil."
+
+The old man repeated his words to the people behind him in a louder
+voice. Stolidly they shook their heads, moving not an inch. The old man
+turned back to the Doctor.
+
+"You are the chosen one," said he. "They will have none but you."
+
+Into the Doctor's perplexed face suddenly there came a flash of hope.
+
+"I'll go and see Long Arrow," he whispered to me. "Perhaps he will know
+of some way to get me out of this."
+
+And asking the personages to excuse him a moment, he left them there,
+standing at his door, and hurried off in the direction of Long Arrow's
+house. I followed him.
+
+We found our big friend lying on a grass bed outside his home, where he
+had been moved that he might witness the holiday-making.
+
+"Long Arrow," said the Doctor speaking quickly in eagle tongue so that
+the bystanders should not overhear, "in dire peril I come to you for
+help. These men would make me their king. If such a thing befall me, all
+the great work I hoped to do must go undone, for who is there unfreer
+than a king? I pray you speak with them and persuade their kind
+well-meaning hearts that what they plan to do would be unwise."
+
+Long Arrow raised himself upon his elbow. "Oh Kindly One," said he (this
+seemed now to have become the usual manner of address when speaking to
+the Doctor), "sorely it grieves me that the first wish you ask of me I
+should be unable to grant. Alas! I can do nothing. These people have so
+set their hearts on keeping you for king that if I tried to interfere
+they would drive me from their land and likely crown you in the end in
+any case. A king you must be, if only for a while. We must so arrange
+the business of governing that you may have time to give to Nature's
+secrets. Later we may be able to hit upon some plan to relieve you of
+the burden of the crown. But for now you must be king. These people
+are a headstrong tribe and they will have their way. There is no other
+course."
+
+Sadly the Doctor turned away from the bed and faced about. And there
+behind him stood the old man again, the crown still held in his wrinkled
+hands and the royal litter waiting at his elbow. With a deep reverence
+the bearers motioned towards the seat of the chair, inviting the white
+man to get in.
+
+Once more the poor Doctor looked wildly, hopelessly about him for some
+means of escape. For a moment I thought he was going to take to his
+heels and run for it. But the crowd around us was far too thick and
+densely packed for anyone to break through it. A band of whistles and
+drums near by suddenly started the music of a solemn processional march.
+He turned back pleadingly again to Long Arrow in a last appeal for help.
+But the big Indian merely shook his head and pointed, like the bearers,
+to the waiting chair.
+
+At last, almost in tears, John Dolittle stepped slowly into the litter
+and sat down. As he was hoisted on to the broad shoulders of the bearers
+I heard him still feebly muttering beneath his breath,
+
+"Botheration take it!--I don't WANT to be a king!"
+
+"Farewell!" called Long Arrow from his bed, "and may good fortune ever
+stand within the shadow of your throne!"
+
+"He comes!--He comes!" murmured the crowd. "Away! Away!--To the
+Whispering Rocks!"
+
+And as the procession formed up to leave the village, the crowd about
+us began hurrying off in the direction of the mountains to make sure of
+good seats in the giant theatre where the crowning ceremony would take
+place.
+
+
+
+
+THE TENTH CHAPTER. THE CORONATION OF KING JONG
+
+IN my long lifetime I have seen many grand and inspiring things, but
+never anything that impressed me half as much as the sight of the
+Whispering Rocks as they looked on the day King Jong was crowned. As
+Bumpo, Chee-Chee, Polynesia, Jip and I finally reached the dizzy edge
+of the great bowl and looked down inside it, it was like gazing over
+a never-ending ocean of copper-colored faces; for every seat in the
+theatre was filled, every man, woman and child in the island--including
+Long Arrow who had been carried up on his sick bed--was there to see the
+show.
+
+Yet not a sound, not a pin-drop, disturbed the solemn silence of the
+Whispering Rocks. It was quite creepy and sent chills running up and
+down your spine. Bumpo told me afterwards that it took his breath away
+too much for him to speak, but that he hadn't known before that there
+were that many people in the world.
+
+Away down by the Table of the Throne stood a brand-new, brightly colored
+totem-pole. All the Indian families had totem-poles and kept them set up
+before the doors of their houses. The idea of a totem-pole is something
+like a door-plate or a visiting card. It represents in its carvings
+the deeds and qualities of the family to which it belongs. This one,
+beautifully decorated and much higher than any other, was the Dolittle
+or, as it was to be henceforth called, the Royal Thinkalot totem. It had
+nothing but animals on it, to signify the Doctor's great knowledge of
+creatures. And the animals chosen to be shown were those which to the
+Indians were supposed to represent good qualities of character, such as,
+the deer for speed; the ox for perseverance; the fish for discretion,
+and so on. But at the top of the totem is always placed the sign or
+animal by which the family is most proud to be known. This, on the
+Thinkalot pole, was an enormous parrot, in memory of the famous Peace of
+the Parrots.
+
+The Ivory Throne had been all polished with scented oil and it glistened
+whitely in the strong sunlight. At the foot of it there had been strewn
+great quantities of branches of flowering trees, which with the new
+warmth of milder climates were now blossoming in the valleys of the
+island.
+
+Soon we saw the royal litter, with the Doctor seated in it, slowly
+ascending the winding steps of the Table. Reaching the flat top at last,
+it halted and the Doctor stepped out upon the flowery carpet. So
+still and perfect was the silence that even at that distance above I
+distinctly heard a twig snap beneath his tread.
+
+Walking to the throne accompanied by the old man, the Doctor got up upon
+the stand and sat down. How tiny his little round figure looked
+when seen from that tremendous height! The throne had been made for
+longer-legged kings; and when he was seated, his feet did not reach the
+ground but dangled six inches from the top step.
+
+Then the old man turned round and looking up at the people began to
+speak in a quiet even voice; but every word he said was easily heard in
+the furthest corner of the Whispering Rocks.
+
+First he recited the names of all the great Popsipetel kings who in days
+long ago had been crowned in this ivory chair. He spoke of the greatness
+of the Popsipetel people, of their triumphs, of their hardships. Then
+waving his hand towards the Doctor he began recounting the things
+which this king-to-be had done. And I am bound to say that they easily
+outmatched the deeds of those who had gone before him.
+
+As soon as he started to speak of what the Doctor had achieved for the
+tribe, the people, still strictly silent, all began waving their right
+hands towards the throne. This gave to the vast theatre a very singular
+appearance: acres and acres of something moving--with never a sound.
+
+At last the old man finished his speech and stepping up to the chair,
+very respectfully removed the Doctor's battered high hat. He was about
+to put it upon the ground; but the Doctor took it from him hastily and
+kept it on his lap. Then taking up the Sacred Crown he placed it upon
+John Dolittle's head. It did not fit very well (for it had been made for
+smaller-headed kings), and when the wind blew in freshly from the sunlit
+sea the Doctor had some difficulty in keeping it on. But it looked very
+splendid.
+
+Turning once more to the people, the old man said,
+
+"Men of Popsipetel, behold your elected king!--Are you content?"
+
+And then at last the voice of the people broke loose.
+
+"JONG! JONG!" they shouted, "LONG LIVE KING JONG!"
+
+The sound burst upon the solemn silence with the crash of a hundred
+cannon. There, where even a whisper carried miles, the shock of it was
+like a blow in the face. Back and forth the mountains threw it to one
+another. I thought the echoes of it would never die away as it passed
+rumbling through the whole island, jangling among the lower valleys,
+booming in the distant sea-caves.
+
+Suddenly I saw the old man point upward, to the highest mountain in
+the island; and looking over my shoulder, I was just in time to see the
+Hanging Stone topple slowly out of sight--down into the heart of the
+volcano.
+
+"See ye, Men of the Moving Land!" the old man cried: "The stone has
+fallen and our legend has come true: the King of Kings is crowned this
+day!"
+
+The Doctor too had seen the stone fall and he was now standing up
+looking at the sea expectantly.
+
+"He's thinking of the air-chamber," said Bumpo in my ear. "Let us hope
+that the sea isn't very deep in these parts."
+
+After a full minute (so long did it take the stone to fall that depth)
+we heard a muffled, distant, crunching thud--and then immediately
+after, a great hissing of escaping air. The Doctor, his face tense with
+anxiety, sat down in the throne again still watching the blue water of
+the ocean with staring eyes.
+
+Soon we felt the island slowly sinking beneath us. We saw the sea creep
+inland over the beaches as the shores went down--one foot, three feet,
+ten feet, twenty, fifty, a hundred. And then, thank goodness, gently
+as a butterfly alighting on a rose, it stopped! Spidermonkey Island had
+come to rest on the sandy bottom of the Atlantic, and earth was joined
+to earth once more.
+
+Of course many of the houses near the shores were now under water.
+Popsipetel Village itself had entirely disappeared. But it didn't
+matter. No one was drowned; for every soul in the island was high up in
+the hills watching the coronation of King Jong.
+
+The Indians themselves did not realize at the time what was taking
+place, though of course they had felt the land sinking beneath them.
+The Doctor told us afterwards that it must have been the shock of that
+tremendous shout, coming from a million throats at once, which had
+toppled the Hanging Stone off its perch. But in Popsipetel history the
+story was handed down (and it is firmly believed to this day) that when
+King Jong sat upon the throne, so great was his mighty weight, that the
+very island itself sank down to do him honor and never moved again.
+
+
+
+
+PART SIX
+
+
+
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER. NEW POPSIPETEL
+
+JONG THINKALOT had not ruled over his new kingdom for more than a couple
+of days before my notions about kings and the kind of lives they led
+changed very considerably. I had thought that all that kings had to
+do was to sit on a throne and have people bow down before them several
+times a day. I now saw that a king can be the hardest-working man in the
+world--if he attends properly to his business.
+
+From the moment that he got up, early in the morning, till the time he
+went to bed, late at night--seven days in the week--John Dolittle was
+busy, busy, busy. First of all there was the new town to be built. The
+village of Popsipetel had disappeared: the City of New Popsipetel must
+be made. With great care a place was chosen for it--and a very beautiful
+position it was, at the mouth of a large river. The shores of the island
+at this point formed a lovely wide bay where canoes--and ships too, if
+they should ever come--could lie peacefully at anchor without danger
+from storms.
+
+In building this town the Doctor gave the Indians a lot of new ideas. He
+showed them what town-sewers were, and how garbage should be collected
+each day and burnt. High up in the hills he made a large lake by damming
+a stream. This was the water-supply for the town. None of these things
+had the Indians ever seen; and many of the sicknesses which they had
+suffered from before were now entirely prevented by proper drainage and
+pure drinking-water.
+
+Peoples who don't use fire do not of course have metals either; because
+without fire it is almost impossible to shape iron and steel. One of the
+first things that John Dolittle did was to search the mountains till he
+found iron and copper mines. Then he set to work to teach the Indians
+how these metals could be melted and made into knives and plows and
+water-pipes and all manner of things.
+
+In his kingdom the Doctor tried his hardest to do away with most of the
+old-fashioned pomp and grandeur of a royal court. As he said to Bumpo
+and me, if he must be a king he meant to be a thoroughly democratic one,
+that is a king who is chummy and friendly with his subjects and
+doesn't put on airs. And when he drew up the plans for the City of New
+Popsipetel he had no palace shown of any kind. A little cottage in a
+back street was all that he had provided for himself.
+
+But this the Indians would not permit on any account. They had been used
+to having their kings rule in a truly grand and kingly manner; and they
+insisted that he have built for himself the most magnificent palace ever
+seen. In all else they let him have his own way absolutely; but they
+wouldn't allow him to wriggle out of any of the ceremony or show that
+goes with being a king. A thousand servants he had to keep in his
+palace, night and day, to wait on him. The Royal Canoe had to be kept
+up--a gorgeous, polished mahogany boat, seventy feet long, inlaid with
+mother-o'-pearl and paddled by the hundred strongest men in the island.
+The palace-gardens covered a square mile and employed a hundred and
+sixty gardeners.
+
+Even in his dress the poor man was compelled always to be grand and
+elegant and uncomfortable. The beloved and battered high hat was put
+away in a closet and only looked at secretly. State robes had to be
+worn on all occasions. And when the Doctor did once in a while manage to
+sneak off for a short, natural-history expedition he never dared to wear
+his old clothes, but had to chase his butterflies with a crown upon his
+head and a scarlet cloak flying behind him in the wind.
+
+There was no end to the kinds of duties the Doctor had to perform and
+the questions he had to decide upon--everything, from settling disputes
+about lands and boundaries, to making peace between husband and wife who
+had been throwing shoes at one another. In the east wing of the Royal
+Palace was the Hall of Justice. And here King Jong sat every morning
+from nine to eleven passing judgment on all cases that were brought
+before him.
+
+Then in the afternoon he taught school. The sort of things he taught
+were not always those you find in ordinary schools. Grown-ups as well as
+children came to learn. You see, these Indians were ignorant of many of
+the things that quite small white children know--though it is also true
+that they knew a lot that white grown-ups never dreamed of.
+
+Bumpo and I helped with the teaching as far as we could--simple
+arithmetic, and easy things like that. But the classes in astronomy,
+farming science, the proper care of babies, with a host of other
+subjects, the Doctor had to teach himself. The Indians were tremendously
+keen about the schooling and they came in droves and crowds; so that
+even with the open-air classes (a school-house was impossible of
+course) the Doctor had to take them in relays and batches of five or six
+thousand at a time and used a big megaphone or trumpet to make himself
+heard.
+
+The rest of his day was more than filled with road-making, building
+water-mills, attending the sick and a million other things.
+
+In spite of his being so unwilling to become a king, John Dolittle made
+a very good one--once he got started. He may not have been as dignified
+as many kings in history who were always running off to war and getting
+themselves into romantic situations; but since I have grown up and seen
+something of foreign lands and governments I have often thought that
+Popsipetel under the reign of Jong Thinkalot was perhaps the best ruled
+state in the history of the world.
+
+The Doctor's birthday came round after we had been on the island six
+months and a half. The people made a great public holiday of it
+and there was much feasting, dancing, fireworks, speech-making and
+jollification.
+
+Towards the close of the day the chief men of the two tribes formed a
+procession and passed through the streets of the town, carrying a very
+gorgeously painted tablet of ebony wood, ten feet high. This was a
+picture-history, such as they preserved for each of the ancient kings of
+Popsipetel to record their deeds.
+
+With great and solemn ceremony it was set up over the door of the new
+palace: and everybody then clustered round to look at it. It had six
+pictures on it commemorating the six great events in the life of King
+Jong and beneath were written the verses that explained them. They were
+composed by the Court Poet; and this is a translation:
+
+I
+
+(His Landing on The Island) Heaven-sent, In his dolphin-drawn canoe From
+worlds unknown He landed on our shores. The very palms Bowed down their
+heads In welcome to the coming King.
+
+II
+
+(His Meeting With The Beetle) By moonlight in the mountains He communed
+with beasts. The shy Jabizri brings him picture-words Of great distress.
+
+(He liberates The Lost Families) Big was his heart with pity; Big were
+his hands with strength. See how he tears the mountain like a yam! See
+how the lost ones Dance forth to greet the day!
+
+IV
+
+(He Makes Fire) Our land was cold and dying. He waved his hand and lo!
+Lightning leapt from cloudless skies; The sun leant down; And Fire
+was born! Then while we crowded round The grateful glow, pushed he Our
+wayward, floating land Back to peaceful anchorage In sunny seas.
+
+V
+
+
+(He Leads The People To Victory in War) Once only Was his kindly
+countenance Darkened by a deadly frown. Woe to the wicked enemy That
+dares attack The tribe with Thinkalot for Chief!
+
+VI
+
+(He Is Crowned King) The birds of the air rejoiced; The Sea laughed and
+gambolled with her shores; All Red-skins wept for joy The day we crowned
+him King. He is the Builder, the Healer, the Teacher and the Prince;
+He is the greatest of them all. May he live a thousand thousand years,
+Happy in his heart, To bless our land with Peace.
+
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER. THOUGHTS OF HOME
+
+IN the Royal Palace Bumpo and I had a beautiful suite of rooms of our
+very own--which Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee shared with us.
+
+Officially Bumpo was Minister of the Interior; while I was First Lord of
+the Treasury. Long Arrow also had quarters there; but at present he was
+absent, traveling abroad.
+
+One night after supper when the Doctor was away in the town somewhere
+visiting a new-born baby, we were all sitting round the big table in
+Bumpo's reception-room. This we did every evening, to talk over the
+plans for the following day and various affairs of state. It was a kind
+of Cabinet Meeting.
+
+To-night however we were talking about England--and also about things
+to eat. We had got a little tired of Indian food. You see, none of the
+natives knew how to cook; and we had the most discouraging time training
+a chef for the Royal Kitchen. Most of them were champions at spoiling
+good food. Often we got so hungry that the Doctor would sneak downstairs
+with us into the palace basement, after all the cooks were safe in bed,
+and fry pancakes secretly over the dying embers of the fire. The Doctor
+himself was the finest cook that ever lived. But he used to make a
+terrible mess of the kitchen; and of course we had to be awfully careful
+that we didn't get caught.
+
+Well, as I was saying, to-night food was the subject of discussion at
+the Cabinet Meeting; and I had just been reminding Bumpo of the nice
+dishes we had had at the bed-maker's house in Monteverde.
+
+"I tell you what I would like now," said Bumpo: "a large cup of cocoa
+with whipped cream on the top of it. In Oxford we used to be able to
+get the most wonderful cocoa. It is really too bad they haven't any
+cocoa-trees in this island, or cows to give cream."
+
+"When do you suppose," asked Jip, "the Doctor intends to move on from
+here?"
+
+"I was talking to him about that only yesterday," said Polynesia. "But I
+couldn't get any satisfactory answer out of him. He didn't seem to want
+to speak about it."
+
+There was a pause in the conversation.
+
+"Do you know what I believe?" she added presently. "I believe the Doctor
+has given up even thinking of going home."
+
+"Good Lord!" cried Bumpo. "You don't say!"
+
+"Sh!" said Polynesia. "What's that noise?"
+
+We listened; and away off in the distant corridors of the palace we
+heard the sentries crying,
+
+"The King!--Make way!--The King!"
+
+"It's he--at last," whispered Polynesia--"late, as usual. Poor man, how
+he does work!--Chee-Chee, get the pipe and tobacco out of the cupboard
+and lay the dressing-gown ready on his chair."
+
+When the Doctor came into the room he looked serious and thoughtful.
+Wearily he took off his crown and hung it on a peg behind the door. Then
+he exchanged the royal cloak for the dressing-gown, dropped into his
+chair at the head of the table with a deep sigh and started to fill his
+pipe.
+
+"Well," asked Polynesia quietly, "how did you find the baby?"
+
+"The baby?" he murmured--his thoughts still seemed to be very far
+away--"Ah yes. The baby was much better, thank you--It has cut its
+second tooth."
+
+Then he was silent again, staring dreamily at the ceiling through a
+cloud of tobacco-smoke; while we all sat round quite still, waiting.
+
+"We were wondering, Doctor," said I at last,--"just before you came
+in--when you would be starting home again. We will have been on this
+island seven months to-morrow."
+
+The Doctor sat forward in his chair looking rather uncomfortable.
+
+"Well, as a matter of fact," said he after a moment, "I meant to speak
+to you myself this evening on that very subject. But it's--er--a little
+hard to make any one exactly understand the situation. I am afraid that
+it would be impossible for me to leave the work I am now engaged on....
+You remember, when they first insisted on making me king, I told you it
+was not easy to shake off responsibilities, once you had taken them up.
+These people have come to rely on me for a great number of things. We
+found them ignorant of much that white people enjoy. And we have, one
+might say, changed the current of their lives considerably. Now it is a
+very ticklish business, to change the lives of other people. And whether
+the changes we have made will be, in the end, for good or for bad, is
+our lookout."
+
+He thought a moment--then went on in a quieter, sadder voice:
+
+"I would like to continue my voyages and my natural history work; and I
+would like to go back to Puddleby--as much as any of you. This is March,
+and the crocuses will be showing in the lawn... . But that which I
+feared has come true: I cannot close my eyes to what might happen if I
+should leave these people and run away. They would probably go back to
+their old habits and customs: wars, superstitions, devil-worship and
+what not; and many of the new things we have taught them might be put to
+improper use and make their condition, then, worse by far than that in
+which we found them.... They like me; they trust me; they have come to
+look to me for help in all their problems and troubles. And no man wants
+to do unfair things to them who trust him.... And then again, I like
+THEM. They are, as it were, my children--I never had any children of my
+own--and I am terribly interested in how they will grow up. Don't you
+see what I mean?--How can I possibly run away and leave them in the
+lurch?... No. I have thought it over a good deal and tried to decide
+what was best. And I am afraid that the work I took up when I assumed
+the crown I must stick to. I'm afraid--I've got to stay."
+
+"For good--for your whole life?" asked Bumpo in a low voice.
+
+For some moments the Doctor, frowning, made no answer.
+
+"I don't know," he said at last--"Anyhow for the present there is
+certainly no hope of my leaving. It wouldn't be right."
+
+The sad silence that followed was broken finally by a knock upon the
+door.
+
+With a patient sigh the Doctor got up and put on his crown and cloak
+again.
+
+"Come in," he called, sitting down in his chair once more.
+
+The door opened and a footman--one of the hundred and forty-three who
+were always on night duty--stood bowing in the entrance.
+
+"Oh, Kindly One," said he, "there is a traveler at the palace-gate who
+would have speech with Your Majesty."
+
+"Another baby's been born, I'll bet a shilling," muttered Polynesia.
+
+"Did you ask the traveler's name?" enquired the Doctor.
+
+"Yes, Your Majesty," said the footman. "It is Long Arrow, the son of
+Golden Arrow."
+
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER. THE RED MAN'S SCIENCE
+
+"LONG ARROW!" cried the Doctor. "How splendid! Show him in--show him in
+at once."
+
+"I'm so glad," he continued, turning to us as soon as the footman had
+gone. "I've missed Long Arrow terribly. He's an awfully good man to have
+around--even if he doesn't talk much. Let me see: it's five months now
+since he went off to Brazil. I'm so glad he's back safe. He does take
+such tremendous chances with that canoe of his--clever as he is. It's
+no joke, crossing a hundred miles of open sea in a twelve-foot canoe. I
+wouldn't care to try it."
+
+Another knock; and when the door swung open in answer to the Doctor's
+call, there stood our big friend on the threshold, a smile upon his
+strong, bronzed face. Behind him appeared two porters carrying loads
+done up in Indian palm-matting. These, when the first salutations were
+over, Long Arrow ordered to lay their burdens down.
+
+"Behold, oh Kindly One," said he, "I bring you, as I promised, my
+collection of plants which I had hidden in a cave in the Andes. These
+treasures represent the labors of my life."
+
+The packages were opened; and inside were many smaller packages and
+bundles. Carefully they were laid out in rows upon the table.
+
+It appeared at first a large but disappointing display. There were
+plants, flowers, fruits, leaves, roots, nuts, beans, honeys, gums, bark,
+seeds, bees and a few kinds of insects.
+
+The study of plants--or botany, as it is called--was a kind of natural
+history which had never interested me very much. I had considered it,
+compared with the study of animals, a dull science. But as Long Arrow
+began taking up the various things in his collection and explaining
+their qualities to us, I became more and more fascinated. And before
+he had done I was completely absorbed by the wonders of the Vegetable
+Kingdom which he had brought so far.
+
+"These," said he, taking up a little packet of big seeds, "are what I
+have called 'laughing-beans.'"
+
+"What are they for?" asked Bumpo.
+
+"To cause mirth," said the Indian.
+
+Bumpo, while Long Arrow's back was turned, took three of the beans and
+swallowed them.
+
+"Alas!" said the Indian when he discovered what Bumpo had done. "If he
+wished to try the powers of these seeds he should have eaten no more
+than a quarter of a one. Let us hope that he does not die of laughter."
+
+The beans' effect upon Bumpo was most extraordinary. First he broke
+into a broad smile; then he began to giggle; finally he burst into such
+prolonged roars of hearty laughter that we had to carry him into
+the next room and put him to bed. The Doctor said afterwards that
+he probably would have died laughing if he had not had such a strong
+constitution. All through the night he gurgled happily in his sleep.
+And even when we woke him up the next morning he rolled out of bed still
+chuckling.
+
+Returning to the Reception Room, we were shown some red roots which Long
+Arrow told us had the property, when made into a soup with sugar and
+salt, of causing people to dance with extraordinary speed and endurance.
+He asked us to try them; but we refused, thanking him. After Bumpo's
+exhibition we were a little afraid of any more experiments for the
+present.
+
+There was no end to the curious and useful things that Long Arrow had
+collected: an oil from a vine which would make hair grow in one
+night; an orange as big as a pumpkin which he had raised in his own
+mountain-garden in Peru; a black honey (he had brought the bees that
+made it too and the seeds of the flowers they fed on) which would put
+you to sleep, just with a teaspoonful, and make you wake up fresh in the
+morning; a nut that made the voice beautiful for singing; a water-weed
+that stopped cuts from bleeding; a moss that cured snake-bite; a lichen
+that prevented sea-sickness.
+
+The Doctor of course was tremendously interested. Well into the early
+hours of the morning he was busy going over the articles on the table
+one by one, listing their names and writing their properties and
+descriptions into a note-book as Long Arrow dictated.
+
+"There are things here, Stubbins," he said as he ended, "which in the
+hands of skilled druggists will make a vast difference to the medicine
+and chemistry of the world. I suspect that this sleeping-honey by itself
+will take the place of half the bad drugs we have had to use so far.
+Long Arrow has discovered a pharmacopaeia of his own. Miranda was
+right: he is a great naturalist. His name deserves to be placed beside
+Linnaeus. Some day I must get all these things to England--But when," he
+added sadly--"Yes, that's the problem: when?"
+
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER. THE SEA-SERPENT
+
+FOR a long time after that Cabinet Meeting of which I have just told
+you we did not ask the Doctor anything further about going home. Life
+in Spidermonkey Island went forward, month in month out, busily and
+pleasantly. The Winter, with Christmas celebrations, came and went, and
+Summer was with us once again before we knew it.
+
+As time passed the Doctor became more and more taken up with the care
+of his big family; and the hours he could spare for his natural history
+work grew fewer and fewer. I knew that he often still thought of his
+house and garden in Puddleby and of his old plans and ambitions; because
+once in a while we would notice his face grow thoughtful and a little
+sad, when something reminded him of England or his old life. But he
+never spoke of these things. And I truly believe he would have spent the
+remainder of his days on Spidermonkey Island if it hadn't been for an
+accident--and for Polynesia.
+
+The old parrot had grown very tired of the Indians and she made no
+secret of it.
+
+"The very idea," she said to me one day as we were walking on the
+seashore--"the idea of the famous John Dolittle spending his valuable
+life waiting on these greasy natives!--Why, it's preposterous!"
+
+All that morning we had been watching the Doctor superintend the
+building of the new theatre in Popsipetel--there was already an
+opera-house and a concert-hall; and finally she had got so grouchy and
+annoyed at the sight that I had suggested her taking a walk with me.
+
+"Do you really think," I asked as we sat down on the sands, "that he
+will never go back to Puddleby again?"
+
+"I don't know," said she. "At one time I felt sure that the thought of
+the pets he had left behind at the house would take him home soon. But
+since Miranda brought him word last August that everything was all right
+there, that hope's gone. For months and months I've been racking my
+brains to think up a plan. If we could only hit upon something that
+would turn his thoughts back to natural history again--I mean something
+big enough to get him really excited--we might manage it. But how?"--she
+shrugged her shoulders in disgust--"How?--when all he thinks of now is
+paving streets and teaching papooses that twice one are two!"
+
+It was a perfect Popsipetel day, bright and hot, blue and yellow.
+Drowsily I looked out to sea thinking of my mother and father. I
+wondered if they were getting anxious over my long absence. Beside me
+old Polynesia went on grumbling away in low steady tones; and her words
+began to mingle and mix with the gentle lapping of the waves upon the
+shore. It may have been the even murmur of her voice, helped by the soft
+and balmy air, that lulled me to sleep. I don't know. Anyhow I presently
+dreamed that the island had moved again--not floatingly as before, but
+suddenly, jerkily, as though something enormously powerful had heaved it
+up from its bed just once and let it down.
+
+How long I slept after that I have no idea. I was awakened by a gentle
+pecking on the nose.
+
+"Tommy!--Tommy!" (it was Polynesia's voice) "Wake up!--Gosh, what a
+boy, to sleep through an earthquake and never notice it!--Tommy, listen:
+here's our chance now. Wake up, for goodness' sake!"
+
+"What's the matter?" I asked sitting up with a yawn.
+
+"Sh!--Look!" whispered Polynesia pointing out to sea.
+
+Still only half awake, I stared before me with bleary, sleep-laden eyes.
+And in the shallow water, not more than thirty yards from shore I saw
+an enormous pale pink shell. Dome-shaped, it towered up in a graceful
+rainbow curve to a tremendous height; and round its base the surf broke
+gently in little waves of white. It could have belonged to the wildest
+dream.
+
+"What in the world is it?" I asked.
+
+"That," whispered Polynesia, "is what sailors for hundreds of years
+have called the Sea-serpent. I've seen it myself more than once from the
+decks of ships, at long range, curving in and out of the water. But
+now that I see it close and still, I very strongly suspect that the
+Sea-serpent of history is no other than the Great Glass Sea-snail that
+the fidgit told us of. If that isn't the only fish of its kind in the
+seven seas, call me a carrion-crow--Tommy, we're in luck. Our job is to
+get the Doctor down here to look at that prize specimen before it
+moves off to the Deep Hole. If we can, then trust me, we may leave this
+blessed island yet. You stay here and keep an eye on it while I go after
+the Doctor. Don't move or speak--don't even breathe heavy: he might get
+scared--awful timid things, snails. Just watch him; and I'll be back in
+two shakes."
+
+Stealthily creeping up the sands till she could get behind the cover
+of some bushes before she took to her wings, Polynesia went off in
+the direction of the town; while I remained alone upon the shore
+fascinatedly watching this unbelievable monster wallowing in the shallow
+sea.
+
+It moved very little. From time to time it lifted its head out of the
+water showing its enormously long neck and horns. Occasionally it would
+try and draw itself up, the way a snail does when he goes to move, but
+almost at once it would sink down again as if exhausted. It seemed to
+me to act as though it were hurt underneath; but the lower part of it,
+which was below the level of the water, I could not see.
+
+I was still absorbed in watching the great beast when Polynesia returned
+with the Doctor. They approached so silently and so cautiously that I
+neither saw nor heard them coming till I found them crouching beside me
+on the sand.
+
+One sight of the snail changed the Doctor completely. His eyes just
+sparkled with delight. I had not seen him so thrilled and happy since
+the time we caught the Jabizri beetle when we first landed on the
+island.
+
+"It is he!" he whispered--"the Great Glass Sea-snail himself--not a
+doubt of it. Polynesia, go down the shore a way and see if you can find
+any of the porpoises for me. Perhaps they can tell us what the snail is
+doing here--It's very unusual for him to be in shallow water like this.
+And Stubbins, you go over to the harbor and bring me a small canoe.
+But be most careful how you paddle it round into this bay. If the snail
+should take fright and go out into the deeper water, we may never get a
+chance to see him again."
+
+"And don't tell any of the Indians," Polynesia added in a whisper as
+I moved to go. "We must keep this a secret or we'll have a crowd of
+sightseers round here in five minutes. It's mighty lucky we found the
+snail in a quiet bay."
+
+Reaching the harbor, I picked out a small light canoe from among the
+number that were lying there and without telling any one what I wanted
+it for, got in and started off to paddle it down the shore.
+
+I was mortally afraid that the snail might have left before I got back.
+And you can imagine how delighted I was, when I rounded a rocky cape and
+came in sight of the bay, to find he was still there.
+
+Polynesia, I saw, had got her errand done and returned ahead of me,
+bringing with her a pair of porpoises. These were already conversing in
+low tones with John Dolittle. I beached the canoe and went up to listen.
+
+"What I want to know," the Doctor was saying, "is how the snail comes
+to be here. I was given to understand that he usually stayed in the
+Deep Hole; and that when he did come to the surface it was always in
+mid-ocean."
+
+"Oh, didn't you know?--Haven't you heard?" the porpoises replied: "you
+covered up the Deep Hole when you sank the island. Why yes: you let it
+down right on top of the mouth of the Hole--sort of put the lid on, as
+it were. The fishes that were in it at the time have been trying to get
+out ever since. The Great Snail had the worst luck of all: the island
+nipped him by the tail just as he was leaving the Hole for a quiet
+evening stroll. And he was held there for six months trying to wriggle
+himself free. Finally he had to heave the whole island up at one end to
+get his tail loose. Didn't you feel a sort of an earthquake shock about
+an hour ago?"
+
+"Yes I did," said the Doctor, "it shook down part of the theatre I was
+building."
+
+"Well, that was the snail heaving up the island to get out of the Hole,"
+they said. "All the other fishes saw their chance and escaped when he
+raised the lid. It was lucky for them he's so big and strong. But the
+strain of that terrific heave told on him: he sprained a muscle in his
+tail and it started swelling rather badly. He wanted some quiet place to
+rest up; and seeing this soft beach handy he crawled in here."
+
+"Dear me!" said the Doctor. "I'm terribly sorry. I suppose I should have
+given some sort of notice that the island was going to be let down. But,
+to tell the truth, we didn't know it ourselves; it happened by a kind of
+an accident. Do you imagine the poor fellow is hurt very badly?"
+
+"We're not sure," said the porpoises; "because none of us can speak his
+language. But we swam right around him on our way in here, and he did
+not seem to be really seriously injured."
+
+"Can't any of your people speak shellfish?" the Doctor asked.
+
+"Not a word," said they. "It's a most frightfully difficult language."
+
+"Do you think that you might be able to find me some kind of a fish that
+could?"
+
+"We don't know," said the porpoises. "We might try."
+
+"I should be extremely grateful to you if you would," said the Doctor.
+"There are many important questions I want to ask this snail--And
+besides, I would like to do my best to cure his tail for him. It's the
+least I can do. After all, it was my fault, indirectly, that he got
+hurt."
+
+"Well, if you wait here," said the porpoises, "we'll see what can be
+done."
+
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER. THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED AT LAST
+
+SO Doctor Dolittle with a crown on his head sat down upon the shore like
+King Knut, and waited. And for a whole hour the porpoises kept going and
+coming, bringing up different kinds of sea-beasts from the deep to see
+if they could help him.
+
+Many and curious were the creatures they produced. It would seem
+however that there were very few things that spoke shellfish except the
+shellfish themselves. Still, the porpoises grew a little more hopeful
+when they discovered a very old sea-urchin (a funny, ball-like, little
+fellow with long whiskers all over him) who said he could not speak pure
+shellfish, but he used to understand starfish--enough to get along--when
+he was young. This was coming nearer, even if it wasn't anything to go
+crazy about. Leaving the urchin with us, the porpoises went off once
+more to hunt up a starfish.
+
+They were not long getting one, for they were quite common in those
+parts. Then, using the sea-urchin as an interpreter, they questioned the
+starfish. He was a rather stupid sort of creature; but he tried his best
+to be helpful. And after a little patient examination we found to our
+delight that he could speak shellfish moderately well.
+
+Feeling quite encouraged, the Doctor and I now got into the canoe; and,
+with the porpoises, the urchin and the starfish swimming alongside, we
+paddled very gently out till we were close under the towering shell of
+the Great Snail.
+
+And then began the most curious conversation I have ever witnessed.
+First the starfish would ask the snail something; and whatever answer
+the snail gave, the starfish would tell it to the sea-urchin, the urchin
+would tell it to the porpoises and the porpoises would tell it to the
+Doctor.
+
+In this way we obtained considerable information, mostly about the very
+ancient history of the Animal Kingdom; but we missed a good many of the
+finer points in the snail's longer speeches on account of the stupidity
+of the starfish and all this translating from one language to another.
+
+While the snail was speaking, the Doctor and I put our ears against the
+wall of his shell and found that we could in this way hear the sound of
+his voice quite plainly. It was, as the fidgit had described, deep and
+bell-like. But of course we could not understand a single word he said.
+However the Doctor was by this time terrifically excited about getting
+near to learning the language he had sought so long. And presently by
+making the other fishes repeat over and over again short phrases which
+the snail used, he began to put words together for himself. You see, he
+was already familiar with one or two fish languages; and that helped him
+quite a little. After he had practised for a while like this he leant
+over the side of the canoe and putting his face below the water, tried
+speaking to the snail direct.
+
+It was hard and difficult work; and hours went by before he got any
+results. But presently I could tell by the happy look on his face, that
+little by little he was succeeding.
+
+The sun was low in the West and the cool evening breeze was beginning to
+rustle softly through the bamboo-groves when the Doctor finally turned
+from his work and said to me,
+
+"Stubbins, I have persuaded the snail to come in on to the dry part of
+the beach and let me examine his tail. Will you please go back to the
+town and tell the workmen to stop working on the theatre for to-day?
+Then go on to the palace and get my medicine-bag. I think I left it
+under the throne in the Audience Chamber."
+
+"And remember," Polynesia whispered as I turned away, "not a word to a
+soul. If you get asked questions, keep your mouth shut. Pretend you have
+a toothache or something."
+
+This time when I got back to the shore--with the medicine-bag--I found
+the snail high and dry on the beach. Seeing him in his full length like
+this, it was easy to understand how old-time, superstitious sailors had
+called him the Sea-serpent. He certainly was a most gigantic, and in
+his way, a graceful, beautiful creature. John Dolittle was examining a
+swelling on his tail.
+
+From the bag which I had brought the Doctor took a large bottle of
+embrocation and began rubbing the sprain. Next he took all the bandages
+he had in the bag and fastened them end to end. But even like that, they
+were not long enough to go more than halfway round the enormous tail.
+The Doctor insisted that he must get the swelling strapped tight
+somehow. So he sent me off to the palace once more to get all the sheets
+from the Royal Linen-closet. These Polynesia and I tore into bandages
+for him. And at last, after terrific exertions, we got the sprain
+strapped to his satisfaction.
+
+The snail really seemed to be quite pleased with the attention he had
+received; and he stretched himself in lazy comfort when the Doctor was
+done. In this position, when the shell on his back was empty, you could
+look right through it and see the palm-trees on the other side.
+
+"I think one of us had better sit up with him all night," said the
+Doctor. "We might put Bumpo on that duty; he's been napping all day, I
+know--in the summer-house. It's a pretty bad sprain, that; and if the
+snail shouldn't be able to sleep, he'll be happier with some one with
+him for company. He'll get all right though--in a few days I should
+judge. If I wasn't so confoundedly busy I'd sit up with him myself. I
+wish I could, because I still have a lot of things to talk over with
+him."
+
+"But Doctor," said Polynesia as we prepared to go back to the town,
+"you ought to take a holiday. All Kings take holidays once in the
+while--every one of them. King Charles, for instance--of course Charles
+was before your time--but he!--why, he was ALWAYS holiday-making. Not
+that he was ever what you would call a model king. But just the same,
+he was frightfully popular. Everybody liked him--even the golden-carp in
+the fish-pond at Hampton Court. As a king, the only thing I had against
+him was his inventing those stupid, little, snappy dogs they call King
+Charles Spaniels. There are lots of stories told about poor Charles;
+but that, in my opinion, is the worst thing he did. However, all this is
+beside the point. As I was saying, kings have to take holidays the same
+as anybody else. And you haven't taken one since you were crowned, have
+you now?"
+
+"No," said the Doctor, "I suppose that's true."
+
+"Well now I tell you what you do," said she: "as soon as you get back to
+the palace you publish a royal proclamation that you are going away for
+a week into the country for your health. And you're going WITHOUT
+ANY SERVANTS, you understand--just like a plain person. It's called
+traveling incognito, when kings go off like that. They all do it--It's
+the only way they can ever have a good time. Then the week you're away
+you can spend lolling on the beach back there with the snail. How's
+that?"
+
+"I'd like to," said the Doctor. "It sounds most attractive. But there's
+that new theatre to be built; none of our carpenters would know how to
+get those rafters on without me to show them--And then there are the
+babies: these native mothers are so frightfully ignorant."
+
+"Oh bother the theatre--and the babies too," snapped Polynesia. "The
+theatre can wait a week. And as for babies, they never have anything
+more than colic. How do you suppose babies got along before you came
+here, for heaven's sake?--Take a holiday.... You need it."
+
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER. THE LAST CABINET MEETING
+
+FROM the way Polynesia talked, I guessed that this idea of a holiday was
+part of her plan.
+
+The Doctor made no reply; and we walked on silently towards the town. I
+could see, nevertheless that her words had made an impression on him.
+
+After supper he disappeared from the palace without saying where he was
+going--a thing he had never done before. Of course we all knew where he
+had gone: back to the beach to sit up with the snail. We were sure of it
+because he had said nothing to Bumpo about attending to the matter.
+
+As soon as the doors were closed upon the Cabinet Meeting that night,
+Polynesia addressed the Ministry:
+
+"Look here, you fellows," said she: "we've simply got to get the Doctor
+to take this holiday somehow--unless we're willing to stay in this
+blessed island for the rest of our lives."
+
+"But what difference," Bumpo asked, "is his taking a holiday going to
+make?"
+
+Impatiently Polynesia turned upon the Minister of the Interior.
+
+"Don't you see? If he has a clear week to get thoroughly interested in
+his natural history again--marine stuff, his dream of seeing the floor
+of the ocean and all that--there may be some chance of his consenting
+to leave this pesky place. But while he is here on duty as king he
+never gets a moment to think of anything outside of the business of
+government."
+
+"Yes, that's true. He's far too consententious Bumpo agreed.
+
+"And besides," Polynesia went on, "his only hope of ever getting away
+from here would be to escape secretly. He's got to leave while he is
+holiday-making, incognito--when no one knows where he is or what he's
+doing, but us. If he built a ship big enough to cross the sea in, all
+the Indians would see it, and hear it, being built; and they'd ask what
+it was for. They would interfere. They'd sooner have anything happen
+than lose the Doctor. Why, I believe if they thought he had any idea of
+escaping they would put chains on him."
+
+"Yes, I really think they would," I agreed. "Yet without a ship of some
+kind I don't see how the Doctor is going to get away, even secretly."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you," said Polynesia. "If we do succeed in making him
+take this holiday, our next step will be to get the sea-snail to promise
+to take us all in his shell and carry us to the mouth of Puddleby River.
+If we can once get the snail willing, the temptation will be too much
+for John Dolittle and he'll come, I know--especially as he'll be able to
+take those new plants and drugs of Long Arrow's to the English doctors,
+as well as see the floor of the ocean on the way."
+
+"How thrilling!" I cried. "Do you mean the snail could take us under the
+sea all the way back to Puddleby?"
+
+"Certainly," said Polynesia, "a little trip like that is nothing to him.
+He would crawl along the floor of the ocean and the Doctor could see all
+the sights. Perfectly simple. Oh, John Dolittle will come all right, if
+we can only get him to take that holiday--AND if the snail will consent
+to give us the ride."
+
+"Golly, I hope he does!" sighed Jip. "I'm sick of these beastly
+tropics--they make you feel so lazy and good-for-nothing. And there are
+no rats or anything here--not that a fellow would have the energy to
+chase 'em even if there were. My, wouldn't I be glad to see old Puddleby
+and the garden again! And won't Dab-Dab be glad to have us back!"
+
+"By the end of next month," said I, "it will be two whole years since
+we left England--since we pulled up the anchor at Kingsbridge and bumped
+our way out into the river."
+
+"And got stuck on the mud-bank," added Chee-Chee in a dreamy, far-away
+voice.
+
+"Do you remember how all the people waved to us from the river-wall?" I
+asked.
+
+"Yes. And I suppose they've often talked about us in the town since,"
+said Jip--"wondering whether we're dead or alive."
+
+"Cease," said Bumpo, "I feel I am about to weep from sediment."
+
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER. THE DOCTOR'S DECISION
+
+WELL, you can guess how glad we were when next morning the Doctor, after
+his all-night conversation with the snail, told us that he had made up
+his mind to take the holiday. A proclamation was published right away
+by the Town Crier that His Majesty was going into the country for
+a seven-day rest, but that during his absence the palace and the
+government offices would be kept open as usual.
+
+Polynesia was immensely pleased. She at once set quietly to work making
+arrangements for our departure--taking good care the while that no one
+should get an inkling of where we were going, what we were taking with
+us, the hour of our leaving or which of the palace-gates we would go out
+by.
+
+Cunning old schemer that she was, she forgot nothing. And not even we,
+who were of the Doctor's party, could imagine what reasons she had for
+some of her preparations. She took me inside and told me that the
+one thing I must remember to bring with me was ALL of the Doctor's
+note-books. Long Arrow, who was the only Indian let into the secret of
+our destination, said he would like to come with us as far as the beach
+to see the Great Snail; and him Polynesia told to be sure and bring
+his collection of plants. Bumpo she ordered to carry the Doctor's
+high hat--carefully hidden under his coat. She sent off nearly all the
+footmen who were on night duty to do errands in the town, so that there
+should be as few servants as possible to see us leave. And midnight, the
+hour when most of the towns-people would be asleep, she finally chose
+for our departure.
+
+We had to take a week's food-supply with us for the royal holiday.
+So, with our other packages, we were heavy laden when on the stroke of
+twelve we opened the west door of the palace and stepped cautiously and
+quietly into the moonlit garden.
+
+"Tiptoe incognito," whispered Bumpo as we gently closed the heavy doors
+behind us.
+
+No one had seen us leave.
+
+At the foot of the stone steps leading from the Peacock Terrace to the
+Sunken Rosary, something made me pause and look back at the magnificent
+palace which we had built in this strange, far-off land where no white
+men but ourselves had ever come. Somehow I felt it in my bones that
+we were leaving it to-night never to return again. And I wondered what
+other kings and ministers would dwell in its splendid halls when we
+were gone. The air was hot; and everything was deadly still but for
+the gentle splashing of the tame flamingoes paddling in the lily-pond.
+Suddenly the twinkling lantern of a night watchman appeared round the
+corner of a cypress hedge. Polynesia plucked at my stocking and, in an
+impatient whisper, bade me hurry before our flight be discovered.
+
+On our arrival at the beach we found the snail already feeling much
+better and now able to move his tail without pain.
+
+The porpoises (who are by nature inquisitive creatures) were still
+hanging about in the offing to see if anything of interest was going to
+happen. Polynesia, the plotter, while the Doctor was occupied with his
+new patient, signaled to them and drew them aside for a little private
+chat.
+
+"Now see here, my friends," said she speaking low: "you know how much
+John Dolittle has done for the animals--given his whole life up to
+them, one might say. Well, here is your chance to do something for him.
+Listen: he got made king of this island against his will, see? And now
+that he has taken the job on, he feels that he can't leave it--thinks
+the Indians won't be able to get along without him and all that--which
+is nonsense, as you and I very well know. All right. Then here's the
+point: if this snail were only willing to take him and us--and a little
+baggage--not very much, thirty or forty pieces, say--inside his shell
+and carry us to England, we feel sure that the Doctor would go; because
+he's just crazy to mess about on the floor of the ocean. What's more
+this would be his one and only chance of escape from the island. Now it
+is highly important that the Doctor return to his own country to carry
+on his proper work which means such a lot to the animals of the world.
+So what we want you to do is to tell the sea-urchin to tell the starfish
+to tell the snail to take us in his shell and carry us to Puddleby
+River. Is that plain?"
+
+"Quite, quite," said the porpoises. "And we will willingly do our very
+best to persuade him--for it is, as you say, a perfect shame for the
+great man to be wasting his time here when he is so much needed by the
+animals."
+
+"And don't let the Doctor know what you're about," said Polynesia as
+they started to move off. "He might balk if he thought we had any hand
+in it. Get the snail to offer on his own account to take us. See?"
+
+John Dolittle, unaware of anything save the work he was engaged on, was
+standing knee-deep in the shallow water, helping the snail try out his
+mended tail to see if it were well enough to travel on. Bumpo and Long
+Arrow, with Chee-Chee and Jip, were lolling at the foot of a palm a
+little way up the beach. Polynesia and I now went and joined them. Half
+an hour passed.
+
+What success the porpoises had met with, we did not know, till suddenly
+the Doctor left the snail's side and came splashing out to us, quite
+breathless.
+
+"What do you think?" he cried, "while I was talking to the snail just
+now he offered, of his own accord, to take us all back to England inside
+his shell. He says he has got to go on a voyage of discovery anyway, to
+hunt up a new home, now that the Deep Hole is closed. Said it wouldn't
+be much out of his way to drop us at Puddleby River, if we cared to come
+along--Goodness, what a chance! I'd love to go. To examine the floor of
+the ocean all the way from Brazil to Europe! No man ever did it before.
+What a glorious trip!--Oh that I had never allowed myself to be made
+king! Now I must see the chance of a lifetime slip by."
+
+He turned from us and moved down the sands again to the middle beach,
+gazing wistfully, longingly out at the snail. There was something
+peculiarly sad and forlorn about him as he stood there on the lonely,
+moonlit shore, the crown upon his head, his figure showing sharply black
+against the glittering sea behind.
+
+Out of the darkness at my elbow Polynesia rose and quietly moved down to
+his side.
+
+"Now Doctor," said she in a soft persuasive voice as though she were
+talking to a wayward child, "you know this king business is not your
+real work in life. These natives will be able to get along without
+you--not so well as they do with you of course--but they'll manage--the
+same as they did before you came. Nobody can say you haven't done your
+duty by them. It was their fault: they made you king. Why not accept the
+snail's offer; and just drop everything now, and go? The work you'll do,
+the information you'll carry home, will be of far more value than what
+you're doing here."
+
+"Good friend," said the Doctor turning to her sadly, "I cannot. They
+would go back to their old unsanitary ways: bad water, uncooked fish,
+no drainage, enteric fever and the rest.... No. I must think of their
+health, their welfare. I began life as a people's doctor: I seem to
+have come back to it in the end. I cannot desert them. Later perhaps
+something will turn up. But I cannot leave them now."
+
+"That's where you're wrong, Doctor," said she. "Now is when you should
+go. Nothing will 'turn up.' The longer you stay, the harder it will be
+to leave--Go now. Go to-night."
+
+"What, steal away without even saying good-bye to them! Why, Polynesia,
+what a thing to suggest!"
+
+"A fat chance they would give you to say good-bye!" snorted Polynesia
+growing impatient at last. "I tell you, Doctor, if you go back to that
+palace tonight, for goodbys or anything else, you will stay there.
+Now--this moment--is the time for you to go."
+
+The truth of the old parrot's words seemed to be striking home; for the
+Doctor stood silent a minute, thinking.
+
+"But there are the note-books," he said presently: "I would have to go
+back to fetch them."
+
+"I have them here, Doctor," said I, speaking up--"all of them."
+
+Again he pondered.
+
+"And Long Arrow's collection," he said. "I would have to take that also
+with me."
+
+"It is here, Oh Kindly One," came the Indian's deep voice from the
+shadow beneath the palm.
+
+"But what about provisions," asked the Doctor--"food for the journey?"
+
+"We have a week's supply with us, for our holiday," said
+Polynesia--"that's more than we will need."
+
+For a third time the Doctor was silent and thoughtful.
+
+"And then there's my hat," he said fretfully at last. "That settles it:
+I'll HAVE to go back to the palace. I can't leave without my hat. How
+could I appear in Puddleby with this crown on my head?"
+
+"Here it is, Doctor," said Bumpo producing the hat, old, battered
+and beloved, from under his coat. Polynesia had indeed thought of
+everything.
+
+Yet even now we could see the Doctor was still trying to think up
+further excuses.
+
+"Oh Kindly One," said Long Arrow, "why tempt ill fortune? Your way is
+clear. Your future and your work beckon you back to your foreign home
+beyond the sea. With you will go also what lore I too have gathered for
+mankind--to lands where it will be of wider use than it can ever here.
+I see the glimmerings of dawn in the eastern heaven. Day is at hand. Go
+before your subjects are abroad. Go before your project is discovered.
+For truly I believe that if you go not now you will linger the remainder
+of your days a captive king in Popsipetel."
+
+Great decisions often take no more than a moment in the making. Against
+the now paling sky I saw the Doctor's figure suddenly stiffen. Slowly he
+lifted the Sacred Crown from off his head and laid it on the sands.
+
+And when he spoke his voice was choked with tears.
+
+"They will find it here," he murmured, "when they come to search for
+me. And they will know that I have gone.... My children, my poor
+children!--I wonder will they ever understand why it was I left them....
+I wonder will they ever understand--and forgive."
+
+He took his old hat from Bumpo; then facing Long Arrow, gripped his
+outstretched hand in silence.
+
+"You decide aright, oh Kindly One," said the Indian--"though none
+will miss and mourn you more than Long Arrow, the son of Golden
+Arrow--Farewell, and may good fortune ever lead you by the hand!"
+
+It was the first and only time I ever saw the Doctor weep. Without a
+word to any of us, he turned and moved down the beach into the shallow
+water of the sea.
+
+The snail humped up its back and made an opening between its shoulders
+and the edge of its shell. The Doctor clambered up and passed within. We
+followed him, after handing up the baggage. The opening shut tight with
+a whistling suction noise.
+
+Then turning in the direction of the East, the great creature began
+moving smoothly forward, down the slope into the deeper waters.
+
+Just as the swirling dark green surf was closing in above our heads,
+the big morning sun popped his rim up over the edge of the ocean. And
+through our transparent walls of pearl we saw the watery world about
+us suddenly light up with that most wondrously colorful of visions, a
+daybreak beneath the sea.
+
+
+The rest of the story of our homeward voyage is soon told.
+
+Our new quarters we found very satisfactory. Inside the spacious shell,
+the snail's wide back was extremely comfortable to sit and lounge
+on--better than a sofa, when you once got accustomed to the damp and
+clammy feeling of it. He asked us, shortly after we started, if we
+wouldn't mind taking off our boots, as the hobnails in them hurt his
+back as we ran excitedly from one side to another to see the different
+sights.
+
+The motion was not unpleasant, very smooth and even; in fact, but for
+the landscape passing outside, you would not know, on the level going,
+that you were moving at all.
+
+I had always thought for some reason or other that the bottom of the
+sea was flat. I found that it was just as irregular and changeful as
+the surface of the dry land. We climbed over great mountain-ranges, with
+peaks towering above peaks. We threaded our way through dense forests
+of tall sea-plants. We crossed wide empty stretches of sandy mud, like
+deserts--so vast that you went on for a whole day with nothing ahead
+of you but a dim horizon. Sometimes the scene was moss-covered, rolling
+country, green and restful to the eye like rich pastures; so that you
+almost looked to see sheep cropping on these underwater downs. And
+sometimes the snail would roll us forward inside him like peas, when he
+suddenly dipped downward to descend into some deep secluded valley with
+steeply sloping sides.
+
+In these lower levels we often came upon the shadowy shapes of dead
+ships, wrecked and sunk Heaven only knows how many years ago; and
+passing them we would speak in hushed whispers like children seeing
+monuments in churches.
+
+Here too, in the deeper, darker waters, monstrous fishes, feeding
+quietly in caves and hollows would suddenly spring up, alarmed at our
+approach, and flash away into the gloom with the speed of an arrow.
+While other bolder ones, all sorts of unearthly shapes and colors, would
+come right up and peer in at us through the shell.
+
+"I suppose they think we are a sort of sanaquarium," said Bumpo--"I'd
+hate to be a fish."
+
+It was a thrilling and ever-changing show. The Doctor wrote or sketched
+incessantly. Before long we had filled all the blank note-books we had
+left. Then we searched our pockets for any odd scraps of paper on which
+to jot down still more observations. We even went through the used books
+a second time, writing in between the lines, scribbling all over the
+covers, back and front.
+
+Our greatest difficulty was getting enough light to see by. In the lower
+waters it was very dim. On the third day we passed a band of fire-eels,
+a sort of large, marine glow-worm; and the Doctor asked the snail to get
+them to come with us for a way. This they did, swimming alongside; and
+their light was very helpful, though not brilliant.
+
+How our giant shellfish found his way across that vast and gloomy world
+was a great puzzle to us. John Dolittle asked him by what means he
+navigated--how he knew he was on the right road to Puddleby River. And
+what the snail said in reply got the Doctor so excited, that having no
+paper left, he tore out the lining of his precious hat and covered it
+with notes.
+
+By night of course it was impossible to see anything; and during the
+hours of darkness the snail used to swim instead of crawl. When he did
+so he could travel at a terrific speed, just by waggling that long tail
+of his. This was the reason why we completed the trip in so short a time
+five and a half days.
+
+The air of our chamber, not having a change in the whole voyage, got
+very close and stuffy; and for the first two days we all had headaches.
+But after that we got used to it and didn't mind it in the least.
+
+Early in the afternoon of the sixth day, we noticed we were climbing
+a long gentle slope. As we went upward it grew lighter. Finally we saw
+that the snail had crawled right out of the water altogether and had now
+come to a dead stop on a long strip of gray sand.
+
+Behind us we saw the surface of the sea rippled by the wind. On our left
+was the mouth of a river with the tide running out. While in front, the
+low flat land stretched away into the mist--which prevented one from
+seeing very far in any direction. A pair of wild ducks with craning
+necks and whirring wings passed over us and disappeared like shadows,
+seaward.
+
+As a landscape, it was a great change from the hot brilliant sunshine of
+Popsipetel.
+
+With the same whistling suction sound, the snail made the opening for us
+to crawl out by. As we stepped down upon the marshy land we noticed that
+a fine, drizzling autumn rain was falling.
+
+"Can this be Merrie England?" asked Bumpo, peering into the
+fog--"doesn't look like any place in particular. Maybe the snail hasn't
+brought us right after all."
+
+"Yes," sighed Polynesia, shaking the rain oft her feathers, "this is
+England all right--You can tell it by the beastly climate."
+
+"Oh, but fellows," cried Jip, as he sniffed up the air in great gulps,
+"it has a SMELL--a good and glorious smell!--Excuse me a minute: I see a
+water-rat."
+
+
+"Sh!--Listen!" said Chee-Chee through teeth that chattered with the
+cold. "There's Puddleby church-clock striking four. Why don't we divide
+up the baggage and get moving. We've got a long way to foot it home
+across the marshes."
+
+"Let's hope," I put in, "that Dab-Dab has a nice fire burning in the
+kitchen."
+
+"I'm sure she will," said the Doctor as he picked out his old handbag
+from among the bundles--"With this wind from the East she'll need it to
+keep the animals in the house warm. Come on. Let's hug the river-bank
+so we don't miss our way in the fog. You know, there's something rather
+attractive in the bad weather of England--when you've got a kitchen-fire
+to look forward to.... Four o'clock! Come along--we'll just be in nice
+time for tea."
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting
+
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+
+Project Gutenberg Etext of Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Lofting
+#2 in our series by Hugh Lofting
+
+
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+The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
+
+by Hugh Lofting
+
+January, 1998  [Etext #1154]
+[Date last updated: July 1, 2006]
+
+
+Project Gutenberg Etext of Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Lofting
+*******This file should be named vdrdl10.txt or vdrdl10.zip******
+
+Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, vdrdl11.txt.
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+*END*THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END*
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE
+
+BY HUGH LOFTING
+
+
+
+To
+ Colin
+  and
+   Elizabeth
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+PART ONE
+     PROLOGUE
+I    THE COBBLER'S SON
+II   I HEAR OF THE GREAT NATURALIST
+III  THE DOCTOR'S HOME
+IV   THE WIFF-WAFF
+V    POLYNESIA
+VI   THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL
+VII  SHELLFISH TALK
+VIII ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?
+IX   THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
+X    THE PRIVATE ZOO
+XI   MY SCHOOLMASTER, POLYNESIA
+XII  MY GREAT IDEA
+XIII A TRAVELER ARRIVES
+XIV  CHEE-CHEE'S VOYAGE
+XV   I BECOME A DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT
+
+PART TWO
+I    THE CREW OF "THE CURLEW"
+II   LUKE THE HERMIT
+III  JIP AND THE SECRET
+IV   BOB
+V    MENDOZA
+VI   THE JUDGE'S DOG
+VII  THE END OF THE MYSTERY
+VIII THREE CHEERS
+IX   THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE
+X    LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW
+XI   BLIND TRAVEL
+XII  DESTINY AND DESTINATION
+
+PART THREE
+I    THE THIRD MAN
+II   GOOD-BYE!
+III  OUR TROUBLES BEGIN
+IV   OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE
+V    POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN
+VI   THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE
+VII  THE DOCTOR'S WAGER
+VIII THE GREAT BULLFIGHT
+IX   WE DEPART IN A HURRY
+
+PART FOUR
+I    SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN
+II   THE FIDGIT'S STORY
+III  BAD WEATHER
+IV   WRECKED!
+V    LAND!
+VI   THE JABIZRI
+VII  HAWK'S-HEAD MOUNTAIN
+
+PART FIVE
+I    A GREAT MOMENT
+II   "THE MEN OF THE MOVING, LAND"
+III  FIRE
+IV   WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT
+V    WAR! 
+VI   GENERAL POLYNESIA
+VII  THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS
+VIII THE HANGING STONE
+IX   THE ELECTION
+X   THE CORONATION OF KING JONG
+
+PART SIX
+I    NEW POPSIPETEL
+II   THOUGHTS OF HOME
+III  THE RED MAN'S SCIENCE
+IV   THE SEA-SERPENT
+V    THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED AT LAST
+VI   THE LAST CABINET MEETING
+VII  THE DOCTOR'S DECISION
+
+
+
+THE VOYAGES OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE
+
+PROLOGUE
+ ALL that I have written so far about Doctor Dolittle I heard
+long after it happened from those who had known him--indeed a
+great deal of it took place before I was born. But I now come to
+set down that part of the great man's life which I myself saw and
+took part in.
+
+Many years ago the Doctor gave me permission to do this. But we
+were both of us so busy then voyaging around the world, having
+adventures and filling note-books full of natural history that I
+never seemed to get time to sit down and write of our doings.
+
+Now of course, when I am quite an old man, my memory isn't so
+good any more. But whenever I am in doubt and have to hesitate
+and think, I always ask Polynesia, the parrot.
+
+That wonderful bird (she is now nearly two hundred and fifty
+years old) sits on the top of my desk, usually humming sailor
+songs to herself, while I write this book.  And, as every one who
+ever met her knows, Polynesia's memory is the most marvelous
+memory in the world. If there is any happening I am not quite
+sure of, she is always able to put me right, to tell me exactly
+how it took place, who was there and everything about it.  In
+fact sometimes I almost think I ought to say that this book was
+written by Polynesia instead of me.
+
+Very well then, I will begin.  And first of all I must tell you
+something about myself and how I came to meet the Doctor.
+
+
+
+PART I
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER
+
+THE COBBLER'S SON
+
+MY name was Tommy Stubbins, son of Jacob Stubbins, the cobbler of
+Puddleby-on-the-Marsh; and I was nine and a half years old. At
+that time Puddleby was only quite a small town. A river ran
+through the middle of it; and over this river there was a very
+old stone bridge, called Kingsbridge, which led you from the
+market-place on one side to the churchyard on the other.
+
+Sailing-ships came up this river from the sea and anchored near
+the bridge.  I used to go down and watch the sailors unloading
+the ships upon the river-wall. The sailors sang strange songs as
+they pulled upon the ropes; and I learned these songs by heart.
+And I would sit on the river-wall with my feet dangling over the
+water and sing with the men, pretending to myself that I too was
+a sailor.
+
+For I longed always to sail away with those brave ships when they
+turned their backs on Puddleby Church and went creeping down the
+river again, across the wide lonely marshes to the sea. I longed
+to go with them out into the world to seek my fortune in foreign
+lands--Africa, India, China and Peru!  When they got round the
+bend in the river and the water was hidden from view, you could
+still see their huge brown sails towering over the roofs of the
+town, moving onward slowly--like some gentle giants that walked
+among the houses without noise.  What strange things would they
+have seen, I wondered, when next they came back to anchor at
+Kingsbridge!  And, dreaming of the lands I had never seen, I'd
+sit on there, watching till they were out of sight.
+
+Three great friends I had in Puddleby in those days. One was Joe,
+the mussel-man, who lived in a tiny hut by the edge of the water
+under the bridge.  This old man was simply marvelous at making
+things.  I never saw a man so clever with his hands. He used to
+mend my toy ships for me which I sailed upon the river; he built
+windmills out of packing-cases and barrel-staves; and he could
+make the most wonderful kites from old umbrellas.
+
+Joe would sometimes take me in his mussel-boat, and when the tide
+was running out we would paddle down the river as far as the edge
+of the sea to get mussels and lobsters to sell. And out there on
+the cold lonely marshes we would see wild geese flying, and
+curlews and redshanks and many other kinds of seabirds that live
+among the samfire and the long grass of the great salt fen. And
+as we crept up the river in the evening, when the tide had
+turned, we would see the lights on Kingsbridge twinkle in the
+dusk, reminding us of tea-time and warm fires.
+
+Another friend I had was Matthew Mugg, the cat's-meat-man. He was
+a funny old person with a bad squint.  He looked rather awful but
+he was really quite nice to talk to.  He knew everybody in
+Puddleby; and he knew all the dogs and all the cats. In those
+times being a cat's-meat-man was a regular business. And you
+could see one nearly any day going through the streets with a
+wooden tray full of pieces of meat stuck on skewers crying,
+"Meat!  M-E-A-T!" People paid him to give this meat to their cats
+and dogs instead of feeding them on dog-biscuits or the scraps
+from the table.
+
+I enjoyed going round with old Matthew and seeing the cats and
+dogs come running to the garden-gates whenever they heard his
+call. Sometimes he let me give the meat to the animals myself;
+and I thought this was great fun.  He knew a lot about dogs and
+he would tell me the names of the different kinds as we went
+through the town. He had several dogs of his own; one, a whippet,
+was a very fast runner, and Matthew used to win prizes with her
+at the Saturday coursing races; another, a terrier, was a fine
+ratter.  The cat's-meat-man used to make a business of
+rat-catching for the millers and farmers as well as his other
+trade of selling cat's-meat.
+
+My third great friend was Luke the Hermit.  But of him I will
+tell you more later on.
+
+I did not go to school; because my father was not rich enough to
+send me. But I was extremely fond of animals.  So I used to spend
+my time collecting birds' eggs and butterflies, fishing in the
+river, rambling through the countryside after blackberries and
+mushrooms and helping the mussel-man mend his nets.
+
+Yes, it was a very pleasant life I lived in those days long ago--
+though of course I did not think so then.  I was nine and a half
+years old; and, like all boys, I wanted to grow up--not knowing
+how well off I was with no cares and nothing to worry me. Always
+I longed for the time when I should be allowed to leave my
+father's house, to take passage in one of those brave ships, to
+sail down the river through the misty marshes to the sea--out
+into the world to seek my fortune.
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER
+
+I HEAR OF THE GREAT NATURALIST
+
+ONE early morning in the Springtime, when I was wandering among
+the hills at the back of the town, I happened to come upon a hawk
+with a squirrel in its claws.  It was standing on a rock and the
+squirrel was fighting very hard for its life.  The hawk was so
+frightened when I came upon it suddenly like this, that it
+dropped the poor creature and flew away. I picked the squirrel up
+and found that two of its legs were badly hurt. So I carried it
+in my arms back to the town.
+
+When I came to the bridge I went into the musselman's hut and
+asked him if he could do anything for it. Joe put on his
+spectacles and examined it carefully. Then he shook his head.
+
+"Yon crittur's got a broken leg," he said--"and another badly cut
+an' all.  I can mend you your boats, Tom, but I haven't the tools
+nor the learning to make a broken squirrel seaworthy. This is a
+job for a surgeon--and for a right smart one an' all. There be
+only one man I know who could save yon crittur's life. And that's
+John Dolittle."
+
+"Who is John Dolittle?"  I asked.  "Is he a vet?"
+
+"No," said the mussel-man. "He's no vet.  Doctor Dolittle is a
+nacheralist."
+
+"What's a nacheralist?"
+
+"A nacheralist," said Joe, putting away his glasses and starting
+to fill his pipe, "is a man who knows all about animals and
+butterflies and plants and rocks an' all.  John Dolittle is a
+very great nacheralist. I'm surprised you never heard of him--and
+you daft over animals. He knows a whole lot about shellfish--that
+I know from my own knowledge. He's a quiet man and don't talk
+much; but there's folks who do say he's the greatest nacheralist
+in the world."
+
+"Where does he live?"  I asked.
+
+"Over on the Oxenthorpe Road, t'other side the town.  Don't know
+just which house it is, but 'most anyone 'cross there could tell
+you, I reckon. Go and see him.  He's a great man."
+
+So I thanked the mussel-man, took up my squirrel again and
+started oft towards the Oxenthorpe Road.
+
+The first thing I heard as I came into the marketplace was some
+one calling "Meat!  M-E-A-T!"
+
+"There's Matthew Mugg," I said to myself.  "He'll know where this
+Doctor lives.  Matthew knows everyone."
+
+So I hurried across the market-place and caught him up.
+
+"Matthew," I said, "do you know Doctor Dolittle?"
+
+"Do I know John Dolittle!" said he.  "Well, I should think I do!
+I know him as well as I know my own wife--better, I sometimes
+think. He's a great man--a very great man."
+
+"Can you show me where he lives?"  I asked.  "I want to take this
+squirrel to him.  It has a broken leg."
+
+"Certainly," said the cat's-meat-man. "I'll be going right by his
+house directly.  Come along and I'll show you."
+
+So off we went together.
+
+"Oh, I've known John Dolittle for years and years," said Matthew
+as we made our way out of the market-place. "But I'm pretty sure
+he ain't home just now.  He's away on a voyage.  But he's liable
+to be back any day. I'll show you his house and then you'll know
+where to find him."
+
+All the way down the Oxenthorpe Road Matthew hardly stopped
+talking about his great friend, Doctor John Dolittle--"M. D." He
+talked so much that he forgot all about calling out "Meat!" until
+we both suddenly noticed that we had a whole procession of dogs
+following us patiently.
+
+"Where did the Doctor go to on this voyage?"  I asked as Matthew
+handed round the meat to them.
+
+"I couldn't tell you," he answered.  "Nobody never knows where he
+goes, nor when he's going, nor when he's coming back.  He lives
+all alone except for his pets. He's made some great voyages and
+some wonderful discoveries. Last time he came back he told me
+he'd found a tribe of Red Indians in the Pacific Ocean--lived on
+two islands, they did. The husbands lived on one island and the
+wives lived on the other. Sensible people, some of them savages. 
+They only met once a year, when the husbands came over to visit
+the wives for a great feast--Christmas-time, most likely.  Yes,
+he's a wonderful man is the Doctor.  And as for animals, well,
+there ain't no one knows as much about 'em as what he does."
+
+"How did he get to know so much about animals?"  I asked.
+
+The cat's-meat-man stopped and leant down to whisper in my ear.
+
+"HE TALKS THEIR LANGUAGE," he said in a hoarse, mysterious voice.
+
+"The animals' language?"  I cried.
+
+"Why certainly," said Matthew.  "All animals have some kind of a
+language.  Some sorts talk more than others; some only speak in
+sign-language, like deaf-and-dumb. But the Doctor, he understands
+them all--birds as well as animals.  We keep it a secret though,
+him and me, because folks only laugh at you when you speak of it.
+Why, he can even write animal-language. He reads aloud to his
+pets. He's wrote history-books in monkey-talk, poetry in canary
+language and comic songs for magpies to sing.  It's a fact. He's
+now busy learning the language of the shellfish. But he says it's
+hard work--and he has caught some terrible colds, holding his
+head under water so much.  He's a great man."
+
+"He certainly must be," I said.  "I do wish he were home so I
+could meet him."
+
+"Well, there's his house, look," said the cat's, meat-man--"that
+little one at the bend in the road there--the one high up--like
+it was sitting on the wall above the street."
+
+We were now come beyond the edge of the town.  And the house that
+Matthew pointed out was quite a small one standing by itself.
+There seemed to be a big garden around it; and this garden was
+much higher than the road, so you had to go up a flight of steps
+in the wall before you reached the front gate at the top. I could
+see that there were many fine fruit trees in the garden, for
+their branches hung down over the wall in places. But the wall
+was so high I could not see anything else.
+
+When we reached the house Matthew went up the steps to the front
+gate and I followed him.  I thought he was going to go into the
+garden; but the gate was locked.  A dog came running down from
+the house; and he took several pieces of meat which the
+cat's-meat-man pushed through the bars of the gate, and some
+paper bags full of corn and bran, I noticed that this dog did not
+stop to eat the meat, as any ordinary dog would have done, but he
+took all the things back to the house and disappeared.  He had a
+curious wide collar round his neck which looked as though it were
+made of brass or something. Then we came away.
+
+"The Doctor isn't back yet," said Matthew, "or the gate wouldn't
+be locked."
+
+"What were all those things in paper-bags you gave the dog?" I
+asked.
+
+"Oh, those were provisions," said Matthew--"things for the
+animals to eat. The Doctor's house is simply full of pets.  I
+give the things to the dog, while the Doctor's away, and the dog
+gives them to the other animals."
+
+"And what was that curious collar he was wearing round his neck?"
+
+"That's a solid gold dog-collar," said Matthew.  "It was given to
+him when he was with the Doctor on one of his voyages long ago.
+He saved a man's life."
+
+"How long has the Doctor had him?"  I asked.
+
+"Oh, a long time.  Jip's getting pretty old now. That's why the
+Doctor doesn't take him on his voyages any more. He leaves him
+behind to take care of the house.  Every Monday and Thursday I
+bring the food to the gate here and give it him through the bars. 
+He never lets any one come inside the garden while the Doctor's
+away--not even me, though he knows me well. But you'll always be
+able to tell if the Doctor's back or not--because if he is, the
+gate will surely be open."
+
+So I went off home to my father's house and put my squirrel to
+bed in an old wooden box full of straw. And there I nursed him
+myself and took care of him as best I could till the time should
+come when the Doctor would return. And every day I went to the
+little house with the big garden on the edge of the town and
+tried the gate to see if it were locked. Sometimes the dog, Jip,
+would come down to the gate to meet me. But though he always
+wagged his tail and seemed glad to see me, he never let me come
+inside the garden.
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER
+
+THE DOCTOR'S HOME
+
+ONE Monday afternoon towards the end of April my father asked me
+to take some shoes which he had mended to a house on the other
+side of the town. They were for a Colonel Bellowes who was very
+particular.
+
+I found the house and rang the bell at the front door. The
+Colonel opened it, stuck out a very red face and said, "Go round
+to the tradesmen's entrance--go to the back door." Then he
+slammed the door shut.
+
+I felt inclined to throw the shoes into the middle of his
+flower-bed. But I thought my father might be angry, so I didn't.
+I went round to the back door, and there the Colonel's wife met
+me and took the shoes from me.  She looked a timid little woman
+and had her hands all over flour as though she were making bread.
+She seemed to be terribly afraid of her husband whom I could
+still hear stumping round the house somewhere, grunting
+indignantly because I had come to the front door.  Then she asked
+me in a whisper if I would have a bun and a glass of milk. And I
+said, "Yes, please."  After I had eaten the bun and milk, I
+thanked the Colonel's wife and came away.  Then I thought that
+before I went home I would go and see if the Doctor had come back
+yet.  I had been to his house once already that morning. But I
+thought I'd just like to go and take another look. My squirrel
+wasn't getting any better and I was beginning to be worried about
+him.
+
+So I turned into the Oxenthorpe Road and started off towards the
+Doctor's house.  On the way I noticed that the sky was clouding
+over and that it looked as though it might rain.
+
+I reached the gate and found it still locked.  I felt very
+discouraged. I had been coming here every day for a week now. 
+The dog, Jip, came to the gate and wagged his tail as usual, and
+then sat down and watched me closely to see that I didn't get in.
+
+I began to fear that my squirrel would die before the Doctor came
+back. I turned away sadly, went down the steps on to the road and
+turned towards home again.
+
+I wondered if it were supper-time yet.  Of course I had no watch
+of my own, but I noticed a gentleman coming towards me down the
+road; and when he got nearer I saw it was the Colonel out for a
+walk. He was all wrapped up in smart overcoats and mufflers and
+bright-colored gloves.  It was not a very cold day but he had so
+many clothes on he looked like a pillow inside a roll of
+blankets. I asked him if he would please tell me the time.
+
+He stopped, grunted and glared down at me--his red face growing
+redder still; and when he spoke it sounded like the cork coming
+out of a gingerbeer-bottle.
+
+"Do you imagine for one moment," he spluttered, "that I am going
+to get myself all unbuttoned just to tell a little boy like you
+THE TIME!"  And he went stumping down the street, grunting harder
+than ever.
+
+I stood still a moment looking after him and wondering how old I
+would have to be, to have him go to the trouble of getting his
+watch out. And then, all of a sudden, the rain came down in
+torrents.
+
+I have never seen it rain so hard.  It got dark, almost like
+night. The wind began to blow; the thunder rolled; the lightning
+flashed, and in a moment the gutters of the road were flowing
+like a river. There was no place handy to take shelter, so I put
+my head down against the driving wind and started to run towards
+home.
+
+I hadn't gone very far when my head bumped into something soft
+and I sat down suddenly on the pavement.  I looked up to see whom
+I had run into. And there in front of me, sitting on the wet
+pavement like myself, was a little round man with a very kind
+face.  He wore a shabby high hat and in his hand he had a small
+black bag.
+
+"I'm very sorry," I said.  "I had my head down and I didn't see
+you coming."
+
+To my great surprise, instead of getting angry at being knocked
+down, the little man began to laugh.
+
+"You know this reminds me," he said, "of a time once when I was
+in India.  I ran full tilt into a woman in a thunderstorm. But
+she was carrying a pitcher of molasses on her head and I had
+treacle in my hair for weeks afterwards--the flies followed me
+everywhere. I didn't hurt you, did I?"
+
+"No," I said.  "I'm all right."
+
+"It was just as much my fault as it was yours, you know," said
+the little man.  "I had my head down too--but look here, we
+mustn't sit talking like this.  You must be soaked. I know I am. 
+How far have you got to go?"
+
+"My home is on the other side of the town," I said, as we picked
+ourselves up.
+
+"My Goodness, but that was a wet pavement!" said he.  "And I
+declare it's coming down worse than ever.  Come along to my house
+and get dried. A storm like this can't last."
+
+He took hold of my hand and we started running back down the road
+together. As we ran I began to wonder who this funny little man
+could be, and where he lived.  I was a perfect stranger to him,
+and yet he was taking me to his own home to get dried.  Such a
+change, after the old red-faced Colonel who had refused even to
+tell me the time! Presently we stopped.
+
+"Here we are," he said.
+
+I looked up to see where we were and found myself back at the
+foot of the steps leading to the little house with the big
+garden! My new friend was already running up the steps and
+opening the gate with some keys he took from his pocket.
+
+"Surely," I thought, "this cannot be the great Doctor Dolittle
+himself!"
+
+I suppose after hearing so much about him I had expected some one
+very tall and strong and marvelous.  It was hard to believe that
+this funny little man with the kind smiling face could be really
+he. Yet here he was, sure enough, running up the steps and
+opening the very gate which I had been watching for so many days!
+
+The dog, Jip, came rushing out and started jumping up on him and
+barking with happiness.  The rain was splashing down heavier than
+ever.
+
+"Are you Doctor Dolittle?"  I shouted as we sped up the short
+garden-path to the house.
+
+"Yes, I'm Doctor Dolittle," said he, opening the front door with
+the same bunch of keys.  "Get in!  Don't bother about wiping your
+feet.  Never mind the mud.  Take it in with you. Get in out of
+the rain!"
+
+I popped in, he and Jip following.  Then he slammed the door to
+behind us.
+
+The storm had made it dark enough outside; but inside the house,
+with the door closed, it was as black as night. Then began the
+most extraordinary noise that I have ever heard. It sounded like
+all sorts and kinds of animals and birds calling and squeaking
+and screeching at the same time.  I could hear things trundling
+down the stairs and hurrying along passages. Somewhere in the
+dark a duck was quacking, a cock was crowing, a dove was cooing,
+an owl was hooting, a lamb was bleating and Jip was barking.  I
+felt birds' wings fluttering and fanning near my face. Things
+kept bumping into my legs and nearly upsetting me. The whole
+front hall seemed to be filling up with animals. The noise,
+together with the roaring of the rain, was tremendous; and I was
+beginning to grow a little bit scared when I felt the Doctor take
+hold of my arm and shout into my ear.
+
+"Don't be alarmed.  Don't be frightened.  These are just some of
+my pets.  I've been away three months and they are glad to see me
+home again. Stand still where you are till I strike a light.  My
+Gracious, what a storm!--Just listen to that thunder!"
+
+So there I stood in the pitch-black dark, while all kinds of
+animals which I couldn't see chattered and jostled around me. It
+was a curious and a funny feeling.  I had often wondered, when I
+had looked in from the front gate, what Doctor Dolittle would be
+like and what the funny little house would have inside it. But I
+never imagined it would be anything like this. Yet somehow after
+I had felt the Doctor's hand upon my arm I was not frightened,
+only confused.  It all seemed like some queer dream; and I was
+beginning to wonder if I was really awake, when I heard the
+Doctor speaking again:
+
+"My blessed matches are all wet.  They won't strike. Have you got
+any?"
+
+"No, I'm afraid I haven't," I called back.
+
+"Never mind," said he.  "Perhaps Dab-Dab can raise us a light
+somewhere."
+
+Then the Doctor made some funny clicking noises with his tongue
+and I heard some one trundle up the stairs again and start moving
+about in the rooms above.
+
+Then we waited quite a while without anything happening.
+
+"Will the light be long in coming?"  I asked.  "Some animal is
+sitting on my foot and my toes are going to sleep."
+
+"No, only a minute," said the Doctor.  "She'll be back in a
+minute."
+
+And just then I saw the first glimmerings of a light around the
+landing above.  At once all the animals kept quiet.
+
+"I thought you lived alone," I said to the Doctor.  "So I do,"
+said he. "It is Dab-Dab who is bringing the light."
+
+I looked up the stairs trying to make out who was coming.  I
+could not see around the landing but I heard the most curious
+footstep on the upper flight. It sounded like some one hopping
+down from one step to the other, as though he were using only one
+leg.
+
+As the light came lower, it grew brighter and began to throw
+strange jumping shadows on the walls.
+
+"Ah-at last!" said the Doctor.  "Good old Dab-Dab!"
+
+And then I thought I REALLY must be dreaming. For there, craning
+her neck round the bend of the landing, hopping down the stairs
+on one leg, came a spotless white duck. And in her right foot she
+carried a lighted candle!
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER
+
+THE WIFF-WAFF
+
+WHEN at last I could look around me I found that the hall was
+indeed simply full of animals.  It seemed to me that almost every
+kind of creature from the countryside must be there: a pigeon, a
+white rat, an owl, a badger, a jackdaw--there was even a small
+pig, just in from the rainy garden, carefully wiping his feet on
+the mat while the light from the candle glistened on his wet pink
+back.
+
+The Doctor took the candlestick from the duck and turned to me.
+
+"Look here," he said:  "you must get those wet clothes off--by
+the way, what is your name?"
+
+"Tommy Stubbins," I said.
+
+"Oh, are you the son of Jacob Stubbins, the shoemaker?"
+
+"Yes," I said.
+
+"Excellent bootmaker, your father," said the Doctor.  "You see
+these?" and he held up his right foot to show me the enormous
+boots he was wearing. "Your father made me those boots four years
+ago, and I've been wearing them ever since--perfectly wonderful
+boots--Well now, look here, Stubbins.  You 've got to change
+those wet things and quick.  Wait a moment till I get some more
+candles lit, and then we'll go upstairs and find some dry
+clothes. You'll have to wear an old suit of mine till we can get
+yours dry again by the kitchen-fire."
+
+So presently when more candles had been lighted round different
+parts of the house, we went upstairs; and when we had come into a
+bedroom the Doctor opened a big wardrobe and took out two suits
+of old clothes. These we put on.  Then we carried our wet ones
+down to the kitchen and started a fire in the big chimney.  The
+coat of the Doctor's which I was wearing was so large for me that
+I kept treading on my own coat-tails while I was helping to fetch
+the wood up from the cellar. But very soon we had a huge big fire
+blazing up the chimney and we hung our wet clothes around on
+chairs.
+
+"Now let's cook some supper," said the Doctor.--"You'll stay and
+have supper with me, Stubbins, of course?"
+
+Already I was beginning to be very fond of this funny little man
+who called me "Stubbins," instead of "Tommy" or "little lad" (I
+did so hate to be called "little lad"!) This man seemed to begin
+right away treating me as though I were a grown-up friend of his.
+And when he asked me to stop and have supper with him I felt
+terribly proud and happy.  But I suddenly remembered that I had
+not told my mother that I would be out late. So very sadly I
+answered,
+
+"Thank you very much.  I would like to stay, but I am afraid that
+my mother will begin to worry and wonder where I am if I don't
+get back."
+
+"Oh, but my dear Stubbins," said the Doctor, throwing another log
+of wood on the fire, "your clothes aren't dry yet. You'll have to
+wait for them, won't you?  By the time they are ready to put on
+we will have supper cooked and eaten--Did you see where I put my
+bag?"
+
+"I think it is still in the hall," I said.  "I'll go and see."
+
+I found the bag near the front door.  It was made of black
+leather and looked very, very old.  One of its latches was broken
+and it was tied up round the middle with a piece of string.
+
+"Thank you," said the Doctor when I brought it to him.
+
+"Was that bag all the luggage you had for your voyage?"  I asked.
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, as he undid the piece of string. "I don't
+believe in a lot of baggage.  It's such a nuisance. Life's too
+short to fuss with it.  And it isn't really necessary, you
+know--Where DID I put those sausages?"
+
+The Doctor was feeling about inside the bag.  First he brought
+out a loaf of new bread.  Next came a glass jar with a curious
+metal top to it.  He held this up to the light very carefully
+before he set it down upon the table; and I could see that there
+was some strange little water-creature swimming about inside. At
+last the Doctor brought out a pound of sausages.
+
+"Now," he said, "all we want is a frying-pan."
+
+We went into the scullery and there we found some pots and pans
+hanging against the wall.  The Doctor took down the frying-pan.
+It was quite rusty on the inside.
+
+"Dear me, just look at that!" said he.  "That's the worst of
+being away so long.  The animals are very good and keep the house
+wonderfully clean as far as they can.  Dab-Dab is a perfect
+marvel as a housekeeper.  But some things of course they can't
+manage.  Never mind, we'll soon clean it up. You'll find some
+silver-sand down there, under the sink, Stubbins.  Just hand it
+up to me, will you?"
+
+In a few moments we had the pan all shiny and bright and the
+sausages were put over the kitchen-fire and a beautiful frying
+smell went all through the house.
+
+While the Doctor was busy at the cooking I went and took another
+look at the funny little creature swimming about in the glass
+jar.
+
+"What is this animal?"  I asked.
+
+"Oh that," said the Doctor, turning round--"that's a Wiff-Waff.
+Its full name is hippocampus Pippitopitus.  But the natives just
+call it a Wiff-Waff--on account of the way it waves its tail,
+swimming, I imagine. That's what I went on this last voyage for,
+to get that. You see I'm very busy just now trying to learn the
+language of the shellfish.  They HAVE languages, of that I feel
+sure. I can talk a little shark language and porpoise dialect
+myself. But what I particularly want to learn now is shellfish."
+
+"Why?"  I asked.
+
+"Well, you see, some of the shellfish are the oldest kind of
+animals in the world that we know of.  We find their shells in
+the rocks--turned to stone--thousands of years old. So I feel
+quite sure that if I could only get to talk their language, I
+should be able to learn a whole lot about what the world was like
+ages and ages and ages ago.  You see?"
+
+"But couldn't some of the other animals tell you as well?"
+
+"I don't think so," said the Doctor, prodding the sausages with a
+fork. "To be sure, the monkeys I knew in Africa some time ago
+were very helpful in telling me about bygone days; but they only
+went back a thousand years or so.  No, I am certain that the
+oldest history in the world is to be had from the shellfish--and
+from them only. You see most of the other animals that were alive
+in those very ancient times have now become extinct."
+
+"Have you learned any shellfish language yet?"  I asked.
+
+"No. I've only just begun.  I wanted this particular kind of a
+pipe-fish because he is half a shellfish and half an ordinary
+fish. I went all the way to the Eastern Mediterranean after him.
+But I'm very much afraid he isn't going to be a great deal of
+help to me. To tell you the truth, I'm rather disappointed in his
+appearance. He doesn't LOOK very intelligent, does he?"
+
+"No, he doesn't," I agreed.
+
+"Ah," said the Doctor.  "The sausages are done to a turn. Come
+along--hold your plate near and let me give you some."
+
+Then we sat down at the kitchen-table and started a hearty meal.
+
+It was a wonderful kitchen, that.  I had many meals there
+afterwards and I found it a better place to eat in than the
+grandest dining-room in the world. It was so cozy and home-like
+and warm.  It was so handy for the food too. You took it right
+off the fire, hot, and put it on the table and ate it. And you
+could watch your toast toasting at the fender and see it didn't
+burn while you drank your soup.  And if you had forgotten to put
+the salt on the table, you didn't have to get up and go into
+another room to fetch it; you just reached round and took the big
+wooden box off the dresser behind you.  Then the fireplace--the
+biggest fireplace you ever saw--was like a room in itself.  You
+could get right inside it even when the logs were burning and sit
+on the wide seats either side and roast chestnuts after the meal
+was over--or listen to the kettle singing, or tell stories, or
+look at picture-books by the light of the fire.  It was a
+marvelous kitchen. It was like the Doctor, comfortable, sensible,
+friendly and solid.
+
+While we were gobbling away, the door suddenly opened and in
+marched the duck, Dab-Dab, and the dog, Jip, dragging sheets and
+pillow-cases behind them over the clean tiled floor. The Doctor,
+seeing how surprised I was, explained:
+
+"They're just going to air the bedding for me in front of the
+fire. Dab-Dab is a perfect treasure of a housekeeper; she never
+forgets anything. I had a sister once who used to keep house for
+me (poor, dear Sarah!  I wonder how she's getting on--I haven't
+seen her in many years). But she wasn't nearly as good as
+Dab-Dab. Have another sausage?"
+
+The Doctor turned and said a few words to the dog and duck in
+some strange talk and signs.  They seemed to understand him
+perfectly.
+
+"Can you talk in squirrel language?"  I asked.
+
+"Oh yes.  That's quite an easy language," said the Doctor.  "You
+could learn that yourself without a great deal of trouble. But
+why do you ask?"
+
+"Because I have a sick squirrel at home," I said. "I took it away
+from a hawk.  But two of its legs are badly hurt and I wanted
+very much to have you see it, if you would. Shall I bring it
+to-morrow?"
+
+"Well, if its leg is badly broken I think I had better see it
+to-night. It may be too late to do much; but I'll come home with
+you and take a look at it."
+
+So presently we felt the clothes by the fire and mine were found
+to be quite dry.  I took them upstairs to the bedroom and
+changed, and when I came down the Doctor was all ready waiting
+for me with his little black bag full of medicines and bandages.
+
+"Come along," he said.  "The rain has stopped now."
+
+Outside it had grown bright again and the evening sky was all red
+with the setting sun; and thrushes were singing in the garden as
+we opened the gate to go down on to the road.
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER
+
+POLYNESIA
+
+"I THINK your house is the most interesting house I was ever in,"
+I said as we set off in the direction of the town. "May I come and
+see you again to-morrow?"
+
+"Certainly," said the Doctor.  "Come any day you like. To-morrow
+I'll show you the garden and my private zoo."
+
+"Oh, have you a zoo?"  I asked.
+
+"Yes," said he.  "The larger animals are too big for the house,
+so I keep them in a zoo in the garden.  It is not a very big
+collection but it is interesting in its way."
+
+"It must be splendid," I said, "to be able to talk all the
+languages of the different animals.  Do you think I could ever
+learn to do it?"
+
+"Oh surely," said the Doctor--"with practise.  You have to be
+very patient, you know.  You really ought to have Polynesia to
+start you. It was she who gave me my first lessons."
+
+"Who is Polynesia?"  I asked.
+
+"Polynesia was a West African parrot I had.  She isn't with me
+any more now," said the Doctor sadly.
+
+"Why--is she dead?"
+
+"Oh no," said the Doctor.  "She is still living, I hope. But when
+we reached Africa she seemed so glad to get back to her own
+country.  She wept for joy.  And when the time came for me to
+come back here I had not the heart to take her away from that
+sunny land--although, it is true, she did offer to come. I left
+her in Africa--Ah well!  I have missed her terribly. She wept
+again when we left.  But I think I did the right thing. She was
+one of the best friends I ever had.  It was she who first gave me
+the idea of learning the animal languages and becoming an animal
+doctor.  I often wonder if she remained happy in Africa, and
+whether I shall ever see her funny, old, solemn face again--Good
+old Polynesia!--A most extraordinary bird--Well, well!"
+
+Just at that moment we heard the noise of some one running behind
+us; and turning round we saw Jip the dog rushing down the road
+after us, as fast as his legs could bring him.  He seemed very
+excited about something, and as soon as he came up to us, he
+started barking and whining to the Doctor in a peculiar way. Then
+the Doctor too seemed to get all worked up and began talking and
+making queer signs to the dog.  At length he turned to me, his
+face shining with happiness.
+
+"Polynesia has come back!" he cried.  "Imagine it.  Jip says she
+has just arrived at the house.  My!  And it's five years since I
+saw her--Excuse me a minute."
+
+He turned as if to go back home.  But the parrot, Polynesia, was
+already flying towards us.  The Doctor clapped his hands like a
+child getting a new toy; while the swarm of sparrows in the
+roadway fluttered, gossiping, up on to the fences, highly
+scandalized to see a gray and scarlet parrot skimming down an
+English lane.
+
+On she came, straight on to the Doctor's shoulder, where she
+immediately began talking a steady stream in a language I could
+not understand. She seemed to have a terrible lot to say.  And
+very soon the Doctor had forgotten all about me and my squirrel
+and Jip and everything else; till at length the bird clearly
+asked him something about me.
+
+"Oh excuse me, Stubbins!" said the Doctor.  "I was so interested
+listening to my old friend here.  We must get on and see this
+squirrel of yours--Polynesia, this is Thomas Stubbins."
+
+The parrot, on the Doctor's shoulder, nodded gravely towards me
+and then, to my great surprise, said quite plainly in English,
+
+"How do you do?  I remember the night you were born. It was a
+terribly cold winter.  You were a very ugly baby."
+
+"Stubbins is anxious to learn animal language," said the Doctor. 
+"I was just telling him about you and the lessons you gave me
+when Jip ran up and told us you had arrived."
+
+"Well," said the parrot, turning to me, "I may have started the
+Doctor learning but I never could have done even that, if he
+hadn't first taught me to understand what I was saying when I
+spoke English.  You see, many parrots can talk like a person, but
+very few of them understand what they are saying. They just say
+it because--well, because they fancy it is smart or, because they
+know they will get crackers given them."
+
+By this time we had turned and were going towards my home with
+Jip running in front and Polynesia still perched on the Doctor's
+shoulder. The bird chattered incessantly, mostly about Africa;
+but now she spoke in English, out of politeness to me.
+
+"How is Prince Bumpo getting on?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Oh, I'm glad you asked me," said Polynesia.  "I almost forgot to
+tell you. What do you think?--BUMPO IS IN ENGLAND!"
+
+"In England!--You don't say!" cried the Doctor.  "What on earth
+is he doing here?"
+
+"His father, the king, sent him here to a place
+called--er--Bullford, I think it was--to study lessons."
+
+"Bullford!--Bullford!" muttered the Doctor.  "I never heard of
+the place--Oh, you mean Oxford."
+
+"Yes, that's the place--Oxford," said Polynesia "I knew it had
+cattle in it somewhere.  Oxford--that's the place he's gone to."
+
+"Well, well," murmured the Doctor.  "Fancy Bumpo studying at
+Oxford--Well, well!"
+
+"There were great doings in Jolliginki when he left.  He was
+scared to death to come.  He was the first man from that country
+to go abroad. He thought he was going to be eaten by white
+cannibals or something.  You know what those niggers are--that
+ignorant!  Well!--But his father made him come. He said that all
+the black kings were sending their sons to Oxford now. It was the
+fashion, and he would have to go.  Bumpo wanted to bring his six
+wives with him.  But the king wouldn't let him do that either.
+Poor Bumpo went off in tears--and everybody in the palace was
+crying too. You never heard such a hullabaloo."
+
+"Do you know if he ever went back in search of The Sleeping
+Beauty?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Oh yes," said Polynesia--"the day after you left.  And a good
+thing for him he did:  the king got to know about his helping you
+to escape; and he was dreadfully wild about it."
+
+"And The Sleeping Beauty?--did he ever find her?"
+
+"Well, he brought back something which he SAID was The Sleeping
+Beauty.  Myself, I think it was an albino niggeress. She had red
+hair and the biggest feet you ever saw. But Bumpo was no end
+pleased with her and finally married her amid great rejoicings. 
+The feastings lasted seven days. She became his chief wife and is
+now known out there as the Crown-Princess BumPAH--you accent the
+last syllable."
+
+"And tell me, did he remain white?"
+
+"Only for about three months," said the parrot.  "After that his
+face slowly returned to its natural color.  It was just as well.
+He was so conspicuous in his bathing-suit the way he was, with
+his face white and the rest of him black."
+
+"And how is Chee-Chee getting on?--Chee-Chee," added the Doctor
+in explanation to me, "was a pet monkey I had years ago. I left
+him too in Africa when I came away."
+
+"Well," said Polynesia frowning,--"Chee-Chee is not entirely
+happy.  I saw a good deal of him the last few years. He got
+dreadfully homesick for you and the house and the garden. It's
+funny, but I was just the same way myself. You remember how crazy
+I was to get back to the dear old land? And Africa IS a wonderful
+country--I don't care what anybody says. Well, I thought I was
+going to have a perfectly grand time. But somehow--I don't
+know--after a few weeks it seemed to get tiresome. I just
+couldn't seem to settle down.  Well, to make a long story short,
+one night I made up my mind that I'd come back here and find you.
+So I hunted up old Chee-Chee and told him about it. He said he
+didn't blame me a bit--felt exactly the same way himself. Africa
+was so deadly quiet after the life we had led with you. He missed
+the stories you used to tell us out of your animal books--and
+the chats we used to have sitting round the kitchen-fire on
+winter nights.  The animals out there were very nice to us and
+all that.  But somehow the dear kind creatures seemed a bit
+stupid. Chee-Chee said he had noticed it too.  But I suppose it
+wasn't they who had changed; it was we who were different. When I
+left, poor old Chee-Chee broke down and cried. He said he felt as
+though his only friend were leaving him--though, as you know, he
+has simply millions of relatives there. He said it didn't seem
+fair that I should have wings to fly over here any time I liked,
+and him with no way to follow me. But mark my words, I wouldn't
+be a bit surprised if he found a way to come--some day.  He's a
+smart lad, is Chee-Chee."
+
+At this point we arrived at my home.  My father's shop was closed
+and the shutters were up; but my mother was standing at the door
+looking down the street.
+
+"Good evening, Mrs. Stubbins," said the Doctor.  "It is my fault
+your son is so late.  I made him stay to supper while his clothes
+were drying. He was soaked to the skin; and so was I. We ran into
+one another in the storm and I insisted on his coming into my
+house for shelter."
+
+"I was beginning to get worried about him," said my mother. "I am
+thankful to you, Sir, for looking after him so well and bringing
+him home."
+
+"Don't mention it--don't mention it," said the Doctor.  "We have
+had a very interesting chat."
+
+"Who might it be that I have the honor of addressing?" asked my
+mother staring at the gray parrot perched on the Doctor's
+shoulder.
+
+"Oh, I'm John Dolittle.  I dare say your husband will remember
+me. He made me some very excellent boots about four years ago.
+They really are splendid," added the Doctor, gazing down at his
+feet with great satisfaction.
+
+"The Doctor has come to cure my squirrel, Mother," said I. "He
+knows all about animals."
+
+"Oh, no," said the Doctor, "not all, Stubbins, not all about them
+by any means."
+
+"It is very kind of you to come so far to look after his pet,"
+said my mother.  "Tom is always bringing home strange creatures
+from the woods and the fields."
+
+"Is he?" said the Doctor.  "Perhaps he will grow up to be a
+naturalist some day.  Who knows?"
+
+"Won't you come in?" asked my mother.  "The place is a little
+untidy because I haven't finished the spring cleaning yet. But
+there's a nice fire burning in the parlor."
+
+"Thank you!" said the Doctor.  "What a charming home you have!"
+
+And after wiping his enormous boots very, very carefully on the
+mat, the great man passed into the house.
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER
+
+THE WOUNDED SQUIRREL
+
+INSIDE we found my father busy practising on the flute beside the
+fire. This he always did, every evening, after his work was over.
+
+The Doctor immediately began talking to him about flutes and
+piccolos and bassoons; and presently my father said,
+
+"Perhaps you perform upon the flute yourself, Sir.  Won't you
+play us a tune?"
+
+"Well," said the Doctor, "it is a long time since I touched the
+instrument. But I would like to try.  May I?"
+
+Then the Doctor took the flute from my father and played and
+played and played.  It was wonderful.  My mother and father sat
+as still as statues, staring up at the ceiling as though they
+were in church; and even I, who didn't bother much about music
+except on the mouth-organ--even I felt all sad and cold and
+creepy and wished I had been a better boy.
+
+"Oh I think that was just beautiful!" sighed my mother when at
+length the Doctor stopped.
+
+"You are a great musician, Sir," said my father, "a very great
+musician. Won't you please play us something else?"
+
+"Why certainly," said the Doctor--"Oh, but look here, I've
+forgotten all about the squirrel."
+
+"I'll show him to you," I said.  "He is upstairs in my room."
+
+So I led the Doctor to my bedroom at the top of the house and
+showed him the squirrel in the packing-case filled with straw.
+
+The animal, who had always seemed very much afraid of me--though
+I had tried hard to make him feel at home, sat up at once when
+the Doctor came into the room and started to chatter. The Doctor
+chattered back in the same way and the squirrel when he was
+lifted up to have his leg examined, appeared to be rather pleased
+than frightened.
+
+I held a candle while the Doctor tied the leg up in what he
+called "splints," which he made out of match-sticks with his
+pen-knife.
+
+"I think you will find that his leg will get better now in a very
+short time," said the Doctor closing up his bag. "Don't let him
+run about for at least two weeks yet, but keep him in the open
+air and cover him up with dry leaves if the nights get cool.  He
+tells me he is rather lonely here, all by himself, and is
+wondering how his wife and children are getting on. I have
+assured him you are a man to be trusted; and I will send a
+squirrel who lives in my garden to find out how his family are
+and to bring him news of them.  He must be kept cheerful at all
+costs. Squirrels are naturally a very cheerful, active race. It
+is very hard for them to lie still doing nothing. But you needn't
+worry about him.  He will be all right."
+
+Then we went back again to the parlor and my mother and father
+kept him playing the flute till after ten o'clock.
+
+Although my parents both liked the Doctor tremendously from the
+first moment that they saw him, and were very proud to have him
+come and play to us (for we were really terribly poor) they did
+not realize then what a truly great man he was one day to become. 
+Of course now, when almost everybody in the whole world has heard
+about Doctor Dolittle and his books, if you were to go to that
+little house in Puddleby where my father had his cobbler's shop
+you would see, set in the wall over the old-fashioned door, a
+stone with writing on it which says: "JOHN DOLITTLE, THE FAMOUS
+NATURALIST, PLAYED THE FLUTE IN THIS HOUSE IN THE YEAR 1839."
+
+I often look back upon that night long, long ago.  And if I close
+my eyes and think hard I can see that parlor just as it was then:
+a funny little man in coat-tails, with a round kind face, playing
+away on the flute in front of the fire; my mother on one side of
+him and my father on the other, holding their breath and
+listening with their eyes shut; myself, with Jip, squatting on
+the carpet at his feet, staring into the coals; and Polynesia
+perched on the mantlepiece beside his shabby high hat, gravely
+swinging her head from side to side in time to the music. I see
+it all, just as though it were before me now.
+
+And then I remember how, after we had seen the Doctor out at the
+front door, we all came back into the parlor and talked about him
+till it was still later; and even after I did go to bed (I had
+never stayed up so late in my life before) I dreamed about him
+and a band of strange clever animals that played flutes and
+fiddles and drums the whole night through.
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER
+
+SHELLFISH TALK
+
+THE next morning, although I had gone to bed so late the night
+before, I was up frightfully early.  The first sparrows were just
+beginning to chirp sleepily on the slates outside my attic window
+when I jumped out of bed and scrambled into my clothes.
+
+I could hardly wait to get back to the little house with the big
+garden--to see the Doctor and his private zoo. For the first time
+in my life I forgot all about breakfast; and creeping down the
+stairs on tip-toe, so as not to wake my mother and father, I
+opened the front door and popped out into the empty, silent
+street.
+
+When I got to the Doctor's gate I suddenly thought that perhaps
+it was too early to call on any one:  and I began to wonder if
+the Doctor would be up yet.  I looked into the garden.  No one
+seemed to be about. So I opened the gate quietly and went inside.
+
+As I turned to the left to go down a path between some hedges, I
+heard a voice quite close to me say,
+
+"Good morning.  How early you are!"
+
+I turned around, and there, sitting on the top of a privet hedge,
+was the gray parrot, Polynesia.
+
+"Good morning," I said.  "I suppose I am rather early. Is the
+Doctor still in bed?"
+
+"Oh no," said Polynesia.  "He has been up an hour and a half.
+You'll find him in the house somewhere.  The front door is open.
+Just push it and go in, He is sure to be in the kitchen cooking
+breakfast--or working in his study.  Walk right in. I am waiting
+to see the sun rise.  But upon my word I believe it's forgotten
+to rise.  It is an awful climate, this.  Now if we were in Africa
+the world would be blazing with sunlight at this hour of the
+morning.  Just see that mist rolling over those cabbages. It is
+enough to give you rheumatism to look at it. Beastly
+climate--Beastly!  Really I don't know why anything but frogs
+ever stay in England--Well, don't let me keep you. Run along and
+see the Doctor."
+
+"Thank you," I said.  "I'll go and look for him."
+
+When I opened the front door I could smell bacon frying, so I
+made my way to the kitchen.  There I discovered a large kettle
+boiling away over the fire and some bacon and eggs in a dish upon
+the hearth. It seemed to me that the bacon was getting all dried
+up with the heat. So I pulled the dish a little further away from
+the fire and went on through the house looking for the Doctor.
+
+I found him at last in the Study.  I did not know then that it
+was called the Study.  It was certainly a very interesting room,
+with telescopes and microscopes and all sorts of other strange
+things which I did not understand about but wished I did. Hanging
+on the walls were pictures of animals and fishes and strange
+plants and collections of birds' eggs and sea-shells in glass
+cases.
+
+The Doctor was standing at the main table in his dressing-gown.
+At first I thought he was washing his face.  He had a square
+glass box before him full of water.  He was holding one ear under
+the water while he covered the other with his left hand. As I
+came in he stood up.
+
+"Good morning, Stubbins," said he.  "Going to be a nice day,
+don't you think?  I've just been listening to the Wiff-Waff. But
+he is very disappointing--very."
+
+"Why?"  I said.  "Didn't you find that he has any language at
+all?"
+
+"Oh yes," said the Doctor, "he has a language.  But it is such a
+poor language--only a few words, like 'yes' and 'no'--'hot' and
+'cold.' That's all he can say.  It's very disappointing. You see
+he really belongs to two different families of fishes. I thought
+he was going to be tremendously helpful--Well, well!"
+
+"I suppose," said I, "that means he hasn't very much sense if his
+language is only two or three words?"
+
+"Yes, I suppose it does.  Possibly it is the kind of life he
+leads.  You see, they are very rare now, these Wiff-Waffs--very
+rare and very solitary. They swim around in the deepest parts of
+the ocean entirely by themselves--always alone.  So I presume
+they really don't need to talk much."
+
+"Perhaps some kind of a bigger shellfish would talk more," I
+said. "After all, he is very small, isn't he?"
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, "that's true.  Oh I have no doubt that
+there are shellfish who are good talkers--not the least doubt.
+But the big shellfish--the biggest of them, are so hard to catch.
+They are only to be found in the deep parts of the sea; and as
+they don't swim very much, but just crawl along the floor of the
+ocean most of the time, they are very seldom taken in nets. I do
+wish I could find some way of going down to the bottom of the
+sea.  I could learn a lot if I could only do that. But we are
+forgetting all about breakfast--Have you had, breakfast yet,
+Stubbins?"
+
+I told the Doctor that I had forgotten all about it and he at
+once led the way into the kitchen.
+
+"Yes," he said, as he poured the hot water from the kettle into
+the tea-pot, "if a man could only manage to get right down to the
+bottom of the sea, and live there a while, he would discover some
+wonderful things--things that people have never dreamed of."
+
+"But men do go down, don't they?"  I asked--"divers and people
+like that?"
+
+"Oh yes, to be sure," said the Doctor.  "Divers go down. I've
+been down myself in a diving-suit, for that matter. But my!--they
+only go where the sea is shallow. Divers can't go down where it
+is really deep.  What I would like to do is to go down to the
+great depths--where it is miles deep--Well, well, I dare say I
+shall manage it some day. Let me give you another cup of tea."
+
+
+
+THE EIGHTH CHAPTER
+
+ARE YOU A GOOD NOTICER?
+
+JUST at that moment Polynesia came into the room and said
+something to the Doctor in bird language.  Of course I did not
+understand what it was. But the Doctor at once put down his knife
+and fork and left the room.
+
+"You know it is an awful shame," said the parrot as soon as the
+Doctor had closed the door.  "Directly he comes back home, all
+the animals over the whole countryside get to hear of it and
+every sick cat and mangy rabbit for miles around comes to see him
+and ask his advice. Now there's a big fat hare outside at the
+back door with a squawking baby. Can she see the Doctor,
+please!--Thinks it's going to have convulsions. Stupid little
+thing's been eating Deadly Nightshade again, I suppose. The
+animals are SO inconsiderate at times--especially the mothers.
+They come round and call the Doctor away from his meals and wake
+him out of his bed at all hours of the night.  I don't know how
+he stands it--really I don't. Why, the poor man never gets any
+peace at all! I've told him time and again to have special hours
+for the animals to come.  But he is so frightfully kind and
+considerate. He never refuses to see them if there is anything
+really wrong with them. He says the urgent cases must be seen at
+once."
+
+"Why don't some of the animals go and see the other doctors?"  I
+asked.
+
+"Oh Good Gracious!" exclaimed the parrot, tossing her head
+scornfully. "Why, there aren't any other animal-doctors--not real
+doctors. Oh of course there ARE those vet persons, to be sure.
+But, bless you, they're no good.  You see, they can't understand
+the animals' language; so how can you expect them to be any use?
+Imagine yourself, or your father, going to see a doctor who could
+not understand a word you say--nor even tell you in your own
+language what you must do to get well!  Poof!--those vets!
+They're that stupid, you've no idea!--Put the Doctor's bacon down
+by the fire, will you?--to keep hot till he comes back."
+
+"Do you think I would ever be able to learn the language of the
+animals?" I asked, laying the plate upon the hearth.
+
+"Well, it all depends," said Polynesia.  "Are you clever at
+lessons?"
+
+"I don't know," I answered, feeling rather ashamed. "You see,
+I've never been to school.  My father is too poor to send me."
+
+"Well," said the parrot, "I don't suppose you have really missed
+much--to judge from what I have seen of school-boys. But listen:
+are you a good noticer?--Do you notice things well? I mean, for
+instance, supposing you saw two cock-starlings on an apple-tree,
+and you only took one good look at them--would you be able to
+tell one from the other if you saw them again the next day?"
+
+"I don't know," I said.  "I've never tried."
+
+"Well that," said Polynesia, brushing some crumbs off the corner
+of the table with her left foot--"that is what you call powers of
+observation--noticing the small things about birds and animals:
+the way they walk and move their heads and flip their wings; the
+way they sniff the air and twitch their whiskers and wiggle their
+tails.  You have to notice all those little things if you want to
+learn animal language.  For you see, lots of the animals hardly
+talk at all with their tongues; they use their breath or their
+tails or their feet instead. That is because many of them, in the
+olden days when lions and tigers were more plentiful, were afraid
+to make a noise for fear the savage creatures heard them.  Birds,
+of course, didn't care; for they always had wings to fly away
+with. But that is the first thing to remember:  being a good
+noticer is terribly important in learning animal language."
+
+"It sounds pretty hard," I said.
+
+"You'll have to be very patient," said Polynesia.  "It takes a
+long time to say even a few words properly. But if you come here
+often I'll give you a few lessons myself. And once you get
+started you'll be surprised how fast you get on. It would indeed
+be a good thing if you could learn.  Because then you could do
+some of the work for the Doctor--I mean the easier work, like
+bandaging and giving pills.  Yes, yes, that's a good idea of
+mine.  'Twould be a great thing if the poor man could get some
+help--and some rest.  It is a scandal the way he works. I see no
+reason why you shouldn't be able to help him a great deal--That
+is, if you are really interested in animals."
+
+"Oh, I'd love that!"  I cried.  "Do you think the Doctor would
+let me?"
+
+"Certainly," said Polynesia--"as soon as you have learned
+something about doctoring.  I'll speak of it to him myself--Sh! 
+I hear him coming.  Quick--bring his bacon back on to the table."
+
+
+
+THE NINTH CHAPTER
+
+THE GARDEN OF DREAMS
+
+WHEN breakfast was over the Doctor took me out to show me the
+garden. Well, if the house had been interesting, the garden was a
+hundred times more so.  Of all the gardens I have ever seen that
+was the most delightful, the most fascinating.  At first you did
+not realize how big it was. You never seemed to come to the end
+of it.  When at last you were quite sure that you had seen it
+all, you would peer over a hedge, or turn a corner, or look up
+some steps, and there was a whole new part you never expected to
+find.
+
+It had everything--everything a garden can have, or ever has had.
+There were wide, wide lawns with carved stone seats, green with
+moss. Over the lawns hung weeping-willows, and their feathery
+bough-tips brushed the velvet grass when they swung with the
+wind. The old flagged paths had high, clipped, yew hedges either
+side of them, so that they looked like the narrow streets of some
+old town; and through the hedges, doorways had been made; and
+over the doorways were shapes like vases and peacocks and
+half-moons all trimmed out of the living trees.  There was a
+lovely marble fish-pond with golden carp and blue water-lilies in
+it and big green frogs. A high brick wall alongside the kitchen
+garden was all covered with pink and yellow peaches ripening in
+the sun.  There was a wonderful great oak, hollow in the trunk,
+big enough for four men to hide inside. Many summer-houses there
+were, too--some of wood and some of stone; and one of them was
+full of books to read.  In a corner, among some rocks and ferns,
+was an outdoor fire-place, where the Doctor used to fry liver and
+bacon when he had a notion to take his meals in the open air.
+There was a couch as well on which he used to sleep, it seems, on
+warm summer nights when the nightingales were singing at their
+best; it had wheels on it so it could be moved about under any
+tree they sang in. But the thing that fascinated me most of all
+was a tiny little tree-house, high up in the top branches of a
+great elm, with a long rope ladder leading to it.  The Doctor
+told me he used it for looking at the moon and the stars through
+a telescope.
+
+It was the kind of a garden where you could wander and explore
+for days and days--always coming upon something new, always glad
+to find the old spots over again.  That first time that I saw the
+Doctor's garden I was so charmed by it that I felt I would like
+to live in it--always and always--and never go outside of it
+again.  For it had everything within its walls to give happiness,
+to make living pleasant--to keep the heart at peace. It was the
+Garden of Dreams.
+
+One peculiar thing I noticed immediately I came into it; and that
+was what a lot of birds there were about. Every tree seemed to
+have two or three nests in it. And heaps of other wild creatures
+appeared to be making themselves at home there, too.  Stoats and
+tortoises and dormice seemed to be quite common, and not in the
+least shy.  Toads of different colors and sizes hopped about the
+lawn as though it belonged to them.  Green lizards (which were
+very rare in Puddleby) sat up on the stones in the sunlight and
+blinked at us. Even snakes were to be seen.
+
+"You need not be afraid of them," said the Doctor, noticing that
+I started somewhat when a large black snake wiggled across the
+path right in front of us.  "These fellows are not poisonous.
+They do a great deal of good in keeping down many kinds of
+garden-pests. I play the flute to them sometimes in the evening.
+They love it.  Stand right up on their tails and carry on no end.
+Funny thing, their taste for music."
+
+"Why do all these animals come and live here?"  I asked. "I never
+saw a garden with so many creatures in it."
+
+"Well, I suppose it's because they get the kind of food they
+like; and nobody worries or disturbs them.  And then, of course,
+they know me. And if they or their children get sick I presume
+they find it handy to be living in a doctor's garden--Look!  You
+see that sparrow on the sundial, swearing at the blackbird down
+below? Well, he has been coming here every summer for years. He
+comes from London.  The country sparrows round about here are
+always laughing at him.  They say he chirps with such a Cockney
+accent. He is a most amusing bird--very brave but very cheeky. He
+loves nothing better than an argument, but he always ends it by
+getting rude.  He is a real city bird.  In London he lives around
+St. Paul's Cathedral.  'Cheapside,' we call him."
+
+"Are all these birds from the country round here?"  I asked.
+
+"Most of them," said the Doctor.  "But a few rare ones visit me
+every year who ordinarily never come near England at all. For
+instance, that handsome little fellow hovering over the
+snapdragon there, he's a Ruby-throated Humming-bird. Comes from
+America.  Strictly speaking, he has no business in this climate
+at all.  It is too cool.  I make him sleep in the kitchen at
+night. Then every August, about the last week of the month, I
+have a Purple Bird-of-Paradise come all the way from Brazil to
+see me. She is a very great swell.  Hasn't arrived yet of course.
+And there are a few others, foreign birds from the tropics
+mostly, who drop in on me in the course of the summer months. But
+come, I must show you the zoo."
+
+
+
+THE TENTH CHAPTER
+
+THE PRIVATE ZOO
+
+I DID not think there could be anything left in that garden which
+we had not seen.  But the Doctor took me by the arm and started
+off down a little narrow path and after many windings and
+twistings and turnings we found ourselves before a small door in
+a high stone wall. The Doctor pushed it open.
+
+Inside was still another garden.  I had expected to find cages
+with animals inside them.  But there were none to be seen.
+Instead there were little stone houses here and there all over
+the garden; and each house had a window and a door. As we walked
+in, many of these doors opened and animals came running out to us
+evidently expecting food.
+
+"Haven't the doors any locks on them?"  I asked the Doctor.
+
+"Oh yes," he said, "every door has a lock.  But in my zoo the
+doors open from the inside, not from the out. The locks are only
+there so the animals can go and shut themselves in any time they
+want to get away from the annoyance of other animals or from
+people who might come here. Every animal in this zoo stays here
+because he likes it, not because he is made to."
+
+"They all look very happy and clean," I said.  "Would you mind
+telling me the names of some of them?"
+
+"Certainly.  Well now:  that funny-looking thing with plates on
+his back, nosing under the brick over there, is a South American
+armadillo. The little chap talking to him is a Canadian
+woodchuck. They both live in those holes you see at the foot of
+the wall. The two little beasts doing antics in the pond are a
+pair of Russian minks--and that reminds me:  I must go and get
+them some herrings from the town before noon--it is early-closing
+to-day. That animal just stepping out of his house is an
+antelope, one of the smaller South African kinds. Now let us move
+to the other side of those bushes there and I will show you some
+more."
+
+"Are those deer over there?"  I asked.
+
+"DEER!" said the Doctor.  "Where do you mean?"
+
+"Over there," I said, pointing--"nibbling the grass border of the
+bed. There are two of them."
+
+"Oh, that," said the Doctor with a smile.  "That isn't two
+animals: that's one animal with two heads--the only two-headed
+animal in the world. It's called the 'pushmi-pullyu.' I brought
+him from Africa.  He's very tame--acts as a kind of
+night-watchman for my zoo.  He only sleeps with one head at a
+time, you see very handy--the other head stays awake all night."
+
+"Have you any lions or tigers?"  I asked as we moved on.
+
+"No," said the Doctor.  "It wouldn't be possible to keep them
+here--and I wouldn't keep them even if I could.  If I had my
+way, Stubbins, there wouldn't be a single lion or tiger in
+captivity anywhere in the world. They never take to it.  They're
+never happy.  They never settle down. They are always thinking of
+the big countries they have left behind. You can see it in their
+eyes, dreaming--dreaming always of the great open spaces where
+they were born; dreaming of the deep, dark jungles where their
+mothers first taught them how to scent and track the deer. And
+what are they given in exchange for all this?" asked the Doctor,
+stopping in his walk and growing all red and angry--"What are
+they given in exchange for the glory of an African sunrise, for
+the twilight breeze whispering through the palms, for the green
+shade of the matted, tangled vines, for the cool, big-starred
+nights of the desert, for the patter of the waterfall after a
+hard day's hunt?  What, I ask you, are they given in exchange for
+THESE?  Why, a bare cage with iron bars; an ugly piece of dead
+meat thrust in to them once a day; and a crowd of fools to come
+and stare at them with open mouths!--No, Stubbins.  Lions and
+tigers, the Big Hunters, should never, never be seen in zoos."
+
+The Doctor seemed to have grown terribly serious--almost sad. But
+suddenly his manner changed again and he took me by the arm with
+his same old cheerful smile.
+
+"But we haven't seen the butterfly-houses yet--nor the aquariums.
+Come along.  I am very proud of my butterfly-houses."
+
+Off we went again and came presently into a hedged enclosure.
+Here I saw several big huts made of fine wire netting, like
+cages. Inside the netting all sorts of beautiful flowers were
+growing in the sun, with butterflies skimming over them. The
+Doctor pointed to the end of one of the huts where little boxes
+with holes in them stood in a row.
+
+"Those are the hatching-boxes," said he.  "There I put the
+different kinds of caterpillars.  And as soon as they turn into
+butterflies and moths they come out into these flower-gardens to
+feed."
+
+"Do butterflies have a language?"  I asked.
+
+"Oh I fancy they have," said the Doctor--"and the beetles too.
+But so far I haven't succeeded in learning much about insect
+languages. I have been too busy lately trying to master the
+shellfish-talk. I mean to take it up though."
+
+At that moment Polynesia joined us and said, "Doctor, there are
+two guinea-pigs at the back door.  They say they have run away
+from the boy who kept them because they didn't get the right
+stuff to eat. They want to know if you will take them in."
+
+"All right," said the Doctor.  "Show them the way to the zoo.
+Give them the house on the left, near the gate--the one the black
+fox had.  Tell them what the rules are and give them a square
+meal--Now, Stubbins, we will go on to the aquariums. And first of
+all I must show you my big, glass, sea-water tank where I keep
+the shellfish."
+
+
+
+THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER
+
+MY SCHOOLMASTER, POLYNESIA
+
+WELL, there were not many days after that, you may be sure, when
+I did not come to see my new friend. Indeed I was at his house
+practically all day and every day. So that one evening my mother
+asked me jokingly why I did not take my bed over there and live
+at the Doctor's house altogether.
+
+After a while I think I got to be quite useful to the Doctor,
+feeding his pets for him; helping to make new houses and fences
+for the zoo; assisting with the sick animals that came; doing all
+manner of odd jobs about the place.  So that although I enjoyed
+it all very much (it was indeed like living in a new world) I
+really think the Doctor would have missed me if I had not come so
+often.
+
+And all this time Polynesia came with me wherever I went,
+teaching me bird language and showing me how to understand the
+talking signs of the animals. At first I thought I would never be
+able to learn at all--it seemed so difficult.  But the old parrot
+was wonderfully patient with me--though I could see that
+occasionally she had hard work to keep her temper.
+
+Soon I began to pick up the strange chatter of the birds and to
+understand the funny talking antics of the dogs. I used to
+practise listening to the mice behind the wainscot after I went
+to bed, and watching the cats on the roofs and pigeons in the
+market-square of Puddleby.
+
+And the days passed very quickly--as they always do when life is
+pleasant; and the days turned into weeks, and weeks into months;
+and soon the roses in the Doctor's garden were losing their
+petals and yellow leaves lay upon the wide green lawn. For the
+summer was nearly gone.
+
+One day Polynesia and I were talking in the library. This was a
+fine long room with a grand mantlepiece and the walls were
+covered from the ceiling to the floor with shelves full of books:
+books of stories, books on gardening, books about medicine, books
+of travel; these I loved--and especially the Doctor's great atlas
+with all its maps of the different countries of the world.
+
+This afternoon Polynesia was showing me the books about animals
+which John Dolittle had written himself.
+
+"My!"  I said, "what a lot of books the Doctor has--all the way
+around the room!  Goodness!  I wish I could read! It must be
+tremendously interesting.  Can you read, Polynesia?"
+
+"Only a little," said she.  "Be careful how you turn those
+pages--don't tear them.  No, I really don't get time enough for
+reading--much. That letter there is a K and this is a B."
+
+"What does this word under the picture mean?"  I asked.
+
+"Let me see," she said, and started spelling it out.
+"B-A-B-O-O-N--that's MONKEY.  Reading isn't nearly as hard as it
+looks, once you know the letters."
+
+"Polynesia," I said, "I want to ask you something very
+important."
+
+"What is it, my boy?" said she, smoothing down the feathers of
+her right wing.  Polynesia often spoke to me in a very
+patronizing way. But I did not mind it from her.  After all, she
+was nearly two hundred years old; and I was only ten.
+
+"Listen," I said, "my mother doesn't think it is right that I
+come here for so many meals.  And I was going to ask you:
+supposing I did a whole lot more work for the Doctor--why
+couldn't I come and live here altogether?  You see, instead of
+being paid like a regular gardener or workman, I would get my bed
+and meals in exchange for the work I did. What do you think?"
+
+"You mean you want to be a proper assistant to the Doctor, is
+that it?"
+
+"Yes.  I suppose that's what you call it," I answered. "You know
+you said yourself that you thought I could be very useful to
+him."
+
+"Well"--she thought a moment--"I really don't see why not. But is
+this what you want to be when you grow up, a naturalist?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "I have made up my mind.  I would sooner be a
+naturalist than anything else in the world."
+
+"Humph!--Let's go and speak to the Doctor about it," said
+Polynesia.  "He's in the next room--in the study. Open the door
+very gently--he may be working and not want to be disturbed."
+
+I opened the door quietly and peeped in.  The first thing I saw
+was an enormous black retriever dog sitting in the middle of the
+hearth-rug with his ears cocked up, listening to the Doctor who
+was reading aloud to him from a letter.
+
+"What is the Doctor doing?"  I asked Polynesia in a whisper.
+
+"Oh, the dog has had a letter from his mistress and he has
+brought it to the Doctor to read for him.  That's all. He belongs
+to a funny little girl called Minnie Dooley, who lives on the
+other side of the town.  She has pigtails down her back. She and
+her brother have gone away to the seaside for the Summer; and the
+old retriever is heart-broken while the children are gone. So
+they write letters to him--in English of course. And as the old
+dog doesn't understand them, he brings them here, and the Doctor
+turns them into dog language for him. I think Minnie must have
+written that she is coming back--to judge from the dog's
+excitement.  Just look at him carrying on!"
+
+Indeed the retriever seemed to be suddenly overcome with joy. As
+the Doctor finished the letter the old dog started barking at the
+top of his voice, wagging his tail wildly and jumping about the
+study. He took the letter in his mouth and ran out of the room
+snorting hard and mumbling to himself.
+
+"He's going down to meet the coach," whispered Polynesia.  "That
+dog's devotion to those children is more than I can understand. 
+You should see Minnie!  She's the most conceited little minx that
+ever walked. She squints too."
+
+
+
+THE TWELFTH CHAPTER
+
+MY GREAT IDEA
+
+PRESENTLY the Doctor looked up and saw us at the door.
+
+"Oh--come in, Stubbins," said he, "did you wish to speak to me?
+Come in and take a chair."
+
+"Doctor," I said, "I want to be a naturalist--like you--when I
+grow up."
+
+"Oh you do, do you?" murmured the Doctor.  "Humph!--Well!--Dear
+me!--You don't say!--Well, well!  Have, you er--have you spoken
+to your mother and father about it?"
+
+"No, not yet," I said.  "I want you to speak to them for me. You
+would do it better.  I want to be your helper--your assistant, if
+you'll have me.  Last night my mother was saying that she didn't
+consider it right for me to come here so often for meals. And
+I've been thinking about it a good deal since. Couldn't we make
+some arrangement--couldn't I work for my meals and sleep here?"
+
+"But my dear Stubbins," said the Doctor, laughing, "you are quite
+welcome to come here for three meals a day all the year round.
+I'm only too glad to have you.  Besides, you do do a lot of work,
+as it is.  I've often felt that I ought to pay you for what you
+do--But what arrangement was it that you thought of?"
+
+"Well, I thought," said I, "that perhaps you would come and see
+my mother and father and tell them that if they let me live here
+with you and work hard, that you will teach me to read and write.
+You see my mother is awfully anxious to have me learn reading and
+writing. And besides, I couldn't be a proper naturalist without,
+could I?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know so much about that," said the Doctor.  "It is
+nice, I admit, to be able to read and write.  But naturalists are
+not all alike, you know. For example:  this young fellow Charles
+Darwin that people are talking about so much now--he's a
+Cambridge graduate--reads and writes very well. And then
+Cuvier--he used to be a tutor.  But listen, the greatest
+naturalist of them all doesn't even know how to write his own
+name nor to read the A B C."
+
+"Who is he?"  I asked.
+
+"He is a mysterious person," said the Doctor--"a very mysterious
+person. His name is Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow.  He is a
+Red Indian."
+
+"Have you ever seen him?"  I asked.
+
+"No," said the Doctor, "I've never seen him.  No white man has
+ever met him. I fancy Mr. Darwin doesn't even know that he
+exists.  He lives almost entirely with the animals and with the
+different tribes of Indians--usually somewhere among the
+mountains of Peru.  Never stays long in one place.  Goes from
+tribe to tribe, like a sort of Indian tramp."
+
+"How do you know so much about him?"  I asked--"if you've never
+even seen him?"
+
+"The Purple Bird-of-Paradise," said the Doctor--" she told me all
+about him. She says he is a perfectly marvelous naturalist.  I
+got her to take a message to him for me last time she was here. 
+I am expecting her back any day now. I can hardly wait to see
+what answer she has brought from him. It is already almost the
+last week of August.  I do hope nothing has happened to her on
+the way."
+
+"But why do the animals and birds come to you when they are
+sick?" I said--"Why don't they go to him, if he is so very
+wonderful?"
+
+"It seems that my methods are more up to date," said the Doctor.
+"But from what the Purple Bird-of-Paradise tells me, Long Arrow's
+knowledge of natural history must be positively tremendous. His
+specialty is botany--plants and all that sort of thing. But he
+knows a lot about birds and animals too.  He's very good on bees
+and beetles--But now tell me, Stubbins, are you quite sure that
+you really want to be a naturalist?"
+
+"Yes," said I, "my mind is made up."
+
+"Well you know, it isn't a very good profession for making money.
+Not at all, it isn't. Most of the good naturalists don't make any
+money whatever.  All they do is SPEND money, buying
+butterfly-nets and cases for birds' eggs and things. It is only
+now, after I have been a naturalist for many years, that I am
+beginning to make a little money from the books I write."
+
+"I don't care about money," I said.  "I want to be a naturalist.
+Won't you please come and have dinner with my mother and father
+next Thursday--I told them I was going to ask you--and then you
+can talk to them about it.  You see, there's another thing: if
+I'm living with you, and sort of belong to your house and
+business, I shall be able to come with you next time you go on a
+voyage."
+
+"Oh, I see," said he, smiling.  "So you want to come on a voyage
+with me, do you?--Ah hah!"
+
+"I want to go on all your voyages with you.  It would be much
+easier for you if you had someone to carry the butterfly-nets and
+note-books. Wouldn't it now?"
+
+For a long time the Doctor sat thinking, drumming on the desk
+with his fingers, while I waited, terribly impatiently, to see
+what he was going to say.
+
+At last he shrugged his shoulders and stood up.
+
+"Well, Stubbins," said he, "I'll come and talk it over with you
+and your parents next Thursday.  And--well, we'll see. We'll see. 
+Give your mother and father my compliments and thank them for
+their invitation, will you?"
+
+Then I tore home like the wind to tell my mother that the Doctor
+had promised to come.
+
+
+
+THE THIRTEENTH CHAPTER
+
+A TRAVELER ARRIVES
+
+THE next day I was sitting on the wall of the Doctor's garden
+after tea, talking to Dab-Dab. I had now learned so much from
+Polynesia that I could talk to most birds and some animals
+without a great deal of difficulty. I found Dab-Dab a very nice,
+old, motherly bird--though not nearly so clever and interesting
+as Polynesia.  She had been housekeeper for the Doctor many years
+now.
+
+Well, as I was saying, the old duck and I were sitting on the
+flat top of the garden-wall that evening, looking down into the
+Oxenthorpe Road below. We were watching some sheep being driven
+to market in Puddleby; and Dab-Dab had just been telling me about
+the Doctor's adventures in Africa.  For she had gone on a voyage
+with him to that country long ago.
+
+Suddenly I heard a curious distant noise down the road, towards
+the town.  It sounded like a lot of people cheering. I stood up
+on the wall to see if I could make out what was coming. Presently
+there appeared round a bend a great crowd of school-children
+following a very ragged, curious-looking woman.
+
+"What in the world can it be?" cried Dab-Dab.
+
+The children were all laughing and shouting.  And certainly the
+woman they were following was most extraordinary.  She had very
+long arms and the most stooping shoulders I have ever seen. She
+wore a straw hat on the side of her head with poppies on it; and
+her skirt was so long for her it dragged on the ground like a
+ball-gown's train.  I could not see anything of her face because
+of the wide hat pulled over her eyes. But as she got nearer to us
+and the laughing of the children grew louder, I noticed that her
+hands were very dark in color, and hairy, like a witch's.
+
+Then all of a sudden Dab-Dab at my side startled me by crying out
+in a loud voice,
+
+"Why, it's Chee-Chee!--Chee-Chee come back at last! How dare
+those children tease him!  I'll give the little imps something to
+laugh at!"
+
+And she flew right off the wall down into the road and made
+straight for the children, squawking away in a most terrifying
+fashion and pecking at their feet and legs. The children made off
+down the street back to the town as hard as they could run.
+
+The strange-looking figure in the straw hat stood gazing after
+them a moment and then came wearily up to the gate. It didn't
+bother to undo the latch but just climbed right over the gate as
+though it were something in the way. And then I noticed that it
+took hold of the bars with its feet, so that it really had four
+hands to climb with. But it was only when I at last got a glimpse
+of the face under the hat that I could be really sure it was a
+monkey.
+
+Chee-Chee--for it was he--frowned at me suspiciously from the top
+of the gate, as though he thought I was going to laugh at him
+like the other boys and girls.  Then he dropped into the garden
+on the inside and immediately started taking off his clothes. He
+tore the straw hat in two and threw it down into the road. Then
+he took off his bodice and skirt, jumped on them savagely and
+began kicking them round the front garden.
+
+Presently I heard a screech from the house, and out flew
+Polynesia, followed by the Doctor and Jip.
+
+"Chee-Chee!--Chee-Chee!" shouted the parrot.  "You've come at
+last! I always told the Doctor you'd find a way.  How ever did
+you do it?"
+
+They all gathered round him shaking him by his four hands,
+laughing and asking him a million questions at once. Then they
+all started back for the house.
+
+"Run up to my bedroom, Stubbins," said the Doctor, turning to me.
+"You'll find a bag of peanuts in the small left-hand drawer of
+the bureau. I have always kept them there in case he might come
+back unexpectedly some day.  And wait a minute--see if Dab-Dab
+has any bananas in the pan-try. Chee-Chee hasn't had a banana, he
+tells me, in two months."
+
+When I came down again to the kitchen I found everybody listening
+attentively to the monkey who was telling the story of his
+journey from Africa.
+
+
+
+THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER
+
+CHEE-CHEE'S VOYAGE
+
+IT seems that after Polynesia had left, Chee-Chee had grown more
+homesick than ever for the Doctor and the little house in
+Puddleby.  At last he had made up his mind that by hook or crook
+he would follow her. And one day, going down to the seashore, he
+saw a lot of people, black and white, getting on to a ship that
+was coming to England.  He tried to get on too.  But they turned
+him back and drove him away.  And presently he noticed a whole
+big family of funny people passing on to the ship. And one of the
+children in this family reminded Chee-Chee of a cousin of his
+with whom he had once been in love.  So he said to himself, "That
+girl looks just as much like a monkey as I look like a girl. If I
+could only get some clothes to wear I might easily slip on to the
+ship amongst these families, and people would take me for a girl.
+Good idea!"
+
+So he went off to a town that was quite close, and hopping in
+through an open window he found a skirt and bodice lying on a
+chair. They belonged to a fashionable black lady who was taking a
+bath. Chee-Chee put them on.  Next he went back to the seashore,
+mingled with the crowd there and at last sneaked safely on to the
+big ship. Then he thought he had better hide, for fear people
+might look at him too closely.  And he stayed hidden all the time
+the ship was sailing to England--only coming out at night, when
+everybody was asleep, to find food.
+
+When he reached England and tried to get off the ship, the
+sailors saw at last that he was only a monkey dressed up in
+girl's clothes; and they wanted to keep him for a pet.  But he
+managed to give them the slip; and once he was on shore, he dived
+into the crowd and got away. But he was still a long distance
+from Puddleby and had to come right across the whole breadth of
+England.
+
+He had a terrible time of it.  Whenever he passed through a town
+all the children ran after him in a crowd, laughing; and often
+silly people caught hold of him and tried to stop him, so that he
+had to run up lamp-posts and climb to chimney-pots to escape from
+them.  At night he used to sleep in ditches or barns or anywhere
+he could hide; and he lived on the berries he picked from the
+hedges and the cob-nuts that grew in the copses. At length, after
+many adventures and narrow squeaks, he saw the tower of Puddleby
+Church and he knew that at last he was near his old home. When
+Chee-Chee had finished his story he ate six bananas without
+stopping and drank a whole bowlful of milk.
+
+"My!" he said, "why wasn't I born with wings, like Polynesia, so
+I could fly here?  You've no idea how I grew to hate that hat and
+skirt. I've never been so uncomfortable in my life.  All the way
+from Bristol here, if the wretched hat wasn't falling off my head
+or catching in the trees, those beastly skirts were tripping me
+up and getting wound round everything. What on earth do women
+wear those things for?  Goodness, I was glad to see old Puddleby
+this morning when I climbed over the hill by Bellaby's farm!"
+
+"Your bed on top of the plate-rack in the scullery is all ready
+for you," said the Doctor.  "We never had it disturbed in case
+you might come back."
+
+"Yes," said Dab-Dab, "and you can have the old smoking-jacket of
+the Doctor's which you used to use as a blanket, in case it is
+cold in the night."
+
+"Thanks," said Chee-Chee. "It's good to be back in the old house
+again. Everything's just the same as when I left--except the
+clean roller-towel on the back of the door there--that's
+new--Well, I think I'll go to bed now. I need sleep."
+
+Then we all went out of the kitchen into the scullery and watched
+Chee-Chee climb the plate-rack like a sailor going up a mast. On
+the top, he curled himself up, pulled the old smoking-jacket over
+him, and in a minute he was snoring peacefully.
+
+"Good old Chee-Chee!" whispered the Doctor.  "I'm glad he's
+back."
+
+"Yes--good old Chee-Chee!" echoed Dab-Dab and Polynesia.
+
+Then we all tip-toed out of the scullery and closed the door very
+gently behind us.
+
+
+
+THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER
+
+I BECOME A DOCTOR'S ASSISTANT
+
+WHEN Thursday evening came there was great excitement at our
+house, My mother had asked me what were the Doctor's favorite
+dishes, and I had told her: spare ribs, sliced beet-root, fried
+bread, shrimps and treacle-tart. To-night she had them all on the
+table waiting for him; and she was now fussing round the house to
+see if everything was tidy and in readiness for his coming.
+
+At last we heard a knock upon the door, and of course it was I
+who got there first to let him in.
+
+The Doctor had brought his own flute with him this time.  And
+after supper was over (which he enjoyed very much) the table was
+cleared away and the washing-up left in the kitchen-sink till the
+next day. Then the Doctor and my father started playing duets.
+
+They got so interested in this that I began to be afraid that
+they would never come to talking over my business. But at last
+the Doctor said,
+
+"Your son tells me that he is anxious to become a naturalist."
+
+And then began a long talk which lasted far into the night. At
+first both my mother and father were rather against the idea--as
+they had been from the beginning.  They said it was only a boyish
+whim, and that I would get tired of it very soon. But after the
+matter had been talked over from every side, the Doctor turned to
+my father and said,
+
+"Well now, supposing, Mr. Stubbins, that your son came to me for
+two years--that is, until he is twelve years old. During those
+two years he will have time to see if he is going to grow tired
+of it or not.  Also during that time, I will promise to teach him
+reading and writing and perhaps a little arithmetic as well. What
+do you say to that?"
+
+"I don't know," said my father, shaking his head.  "You are very
+kind and it is a handsome offer you make, Doctor.  But I feel
+that Tommy ought to be learning some trade by which he can earn
+his living later on."
+
+Then my mother spoke up.  Although she was nearly in tears at the
+prospect of my leaving her house while I was still so young, she
+pointed out to my father that this was a grand chance for me to
+get learning.
+
+"Now Jacob," she said, "you know that many lads in the town have
+been to the Grammar School till they were fourteen or fifteen
+years old. Tommy can easily spare these two years for his
+education; and if he learns no more than to read and write, the
+time will not be lost. Though goodness knows," she added, getting
+out her handkerchief to cry, "the house will seem terribly empty
+when he's gone."
+
+"I will take care that he comes to see you, Mrs. Stubbins," said
+the Doctor--"every day, if you like.  After all, he will not be
+very far away."
+
+Well, at length my father gave in; and it was agreed that I was
+to live with the Doctor and work for him for two years in
+exchange for learning to read and write and for my board and
+lodging.
+
+"Of course," added the Doctor, "while I have money I will keep
+Tommy in clothes as well.  But money is a very irregular thing
+with me; sometimes I have some, and then sometimes I haven't."
+
+"You are very good, Doctor," said my mother, drying her tears.
+"It seems to me that Tommy is a very fortunate boy."
+
+And then, thoughtless, selfish little imp that I was, I leaned
+over and whispered in the Doctor's ear,
+
+"Please don't forget to say something about the voyages."
+
+"Oh, by the way," said John Dolittle, "of course occasionally my
+work requires me to travel.  You will have no objection, I take
+it, to your son's coming with me?"
+
+My poor mother looked up sharply, more unhappy and anxious than
+ever at this new turn; while I stood behind the Doctor's chair,
+my heart thumping with excitement, waiting for my father's
+answer.
+
+"No," he said slowly after a while.  "If we agree to the other
+arrangement I don't see that we've the right to make any
+objection to that."
+
+Well, there surely was never a happier boy in the world than I
+was at that moment.  My head was in the clouds.  I trod on air. I
+could scarcely keep from dancing round the parlor. At last the
+dream of my life was to come true!  At last I was to be given a
+chance to seek my fortune, to have adventures! For I knew
+perfectly well that it was now almost time for the Doctor to
+start upon another voyage.  Polynesia had told me that he hardly
+ever stayed at home for more than six months at a stretch.
+Therefore he would be surely going again within a fortnight. And
+I--I, Tommy Stubbins, would go with him!  Just to think of it!--
+to cross the Sea, to walk on foreign shores, to roam the World!
+
+
+
+PART TWO
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER
+
+THE CREW OF "THE CURLEW"
+
+FROM that time on of course my position in the town was very
+different. I was no longer a poor cobbler's son.  I carried my
+nose in the air as I went down the High Street with Jip in his
+gold collar at my side; and snobbish little boys who had despised
+me before because I was not rich enough to go to school now
+pointed me out to their friends and whispered, "You see him? He's
+a doctor's assistant--and only ten years old!"
+
+But their eyes would have opened still wider with wonder if they
+had but known that I and the dog that was with me could talk to
+one another.
+
+Two days after the Doctor had been to our house to dinner he told
+me very sadly that he was afraid that he would have to give up
+trying to learn the language of the shellfish--at all events for
+the present.
+
+"I'm very discouraged, Stubbins, very.  I've tried the mussels
+and the clams, the oysters and the whelks, cockles and scallops;
+seven different kinds of crabs and all the lobster family. I
+think I'll leave it for the present and go at it again later on."
+
+"What will you turn to now?"  I asked.
+
+"Well, I rather thought of going on a voyage, Stubbins.  It's
+quite a time now since I've been away.  And there is a great deal
+of work waiting for me abroad."
+
+"When shall we start?"  I asked.
+
+"Well, first I shall have to wait till the Purple
+Bird-of-Paradise gets here. I must see if she has any message for
+me from Long Arrow.  She's late. She should have been here ten
+days ago.  I hope to goodness she's all right."
+
+"Well, hadn't we better be seeing about getting a boat?"  I said.
+"She is sure to be here in a day or so; and there will be lots of
+things to do to get ready in the mean time, won't there?"
+
+"Yes, indeed," said the Doctor.  "Suppose we go down and see your
+friend Joe, the mussel-man. He will know about boats."
+
+"I'd like to come too," said Jip.
+
+"All right, come along," said the Doctor, and off we went.
+
+Joe said yes, he had a boat--one he had just bought--but it
+needed three people to sail her.  We told him we would like to
+see it anyway.
+
+So the mussel-man took us off a little way down the river and
+showed us the neatest, prettiest, little vessel that ever was
+built. She was called The Curlew.  Joe said he would sell her to
+us cheap. But the trouble was that the boat needed three people,
+while we were only two.
+
+"Of course I shall be taking Chee-Chee," said the Doctor.  "But
+although he is very quick and clever, he is not as strong as a
+man. We really ought to have another person to sail a boat as big
+as that."
+
+"I know of a good sailor, Doctor," said Joe--"a first-class
+seaman who would be glad of the job."
+
+"No, thank you, Joe," said Doctor Dolittle.  "I don't want any
+seamen. I couldn't afford to hire them.  And then they hamper me
+so, seamen do, when I'm at sea.  They're always wanting to do
+things the proper way; and I like to do them my way--Now let me
+see: who could we take with us?"
+
+"There's Matthew Mugg, the cat's-meat-man," I said.
+
+"No, he wouldn't do.  Matthew's a very nice fellow, but he talks
+too much--mostly about his rheumatism.  You have to be
+frightfully particular whom you take with you on long voyages."
+
+"How about Luke the Hermit?"  I asked.
+
+"That's a good idea--splendid--if he'll come.  Let's go and ask
+him right away."
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER
+
+LUKE THE HERMIT
+
+THE Hermit was an old friend of ours, as I have already told you.
+He was a very peculiar person.  Far out on the marshes he lived
+in a little bit of a shack--all alone except for his brindle
+bulldog. No one knew where he came from--not even his name, just
+"Luke the Hermit" folks called him.  He never came into the town;
+never seemed to want to see or talk to people. His dog, Bob,
+drove them away if they came near his hut. When you asked anyone
+in Puddleby who he was or why he lived out in that lonely place
+by himself, the only answer you got was, "Oh, Luke the Hermit? 
+Well, there's some mystery about him. Nobody knows what it is. 
+But there's a mystery.  Don't go near him. He'll set the dog on
+you."
+
+Nevertheless there were two people who often went out to that
+little shack on the fens:  the Doctor and myself. And Bob, the
+bulldog, never barked when he heard us coming. For we liked Luke;
+and Luke liked us.
+
+This afternoon, crossing the marshes we faced a cold wind blowing
+from the East.  As we approached the hut Jip put up his ears and
+said,
+
+"That's funny!"
+
+"What's funny?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"That Bob hasn't come out to meet us.  He should have heard us
+long ago--or smelt us.  What's that queer noise?"
+
+"Sounds to me like a gate creaking," said the Doctor.  "Maybe
+it's Luke's door, only we can't see the door from here; it's on
+the far side of the shack."
+
+"I hope Bob isn't sick," said Jip; and he let out a bark to see
+if that would call him.  But the only answer he got was the
+wailing of the wind across the wide, salt fen.
+
+We hurried forward, all three of us thinking hard.
+
+When we reached the front of the shack we found the door open,
+swinging and creaking dismally in the wind.  We looked inside.
+There was no one there.
+
+"Isn't Luke at home then?" said I. "Perhaps he's out for a walk."
+
+"He is ALWAYS at home," said the Doctor frowning in a peculiar
+sort of way. "And even if he were out for a.  walk he wouldn't
+leave his door banging in the wind behind him.  There is
+something queer about this--What are you doing in there, Jip?"
+
+"Nothing much--nothing worth speaking of," said Jip examining the
+floor of the hut extremely carefully.
+
+"Come here, Jip," said the Doctor in a stern voice. "You are
+hiding something from me.  You see signs and you know
+something--or you guess it.  What has happened?  Tell me. Where
+is the Hermit?"
+
+"I don't know," said Jip looking very guilty and uncomfortable.
+"I don't know where he is."
+
+"Well, you know something.  I can tell it from the look in your
+eye. What is it?"
+
+But Jip didn't answer.
+
+For ten minutes the Doctor kept questioning him. But not a word
+would the dog say.
+
+"Well," said the Doctor at last, "it is no use our standing
+around here in the cold.  The Hermit's gone.  That's all. We
+might as well go home to luncheon."
+
+As we buttoned up our coats and started back across the marsh,
+Jip ran ahead pretending he was looking for water-rats.
+
+"He knows something all right," whispered the Doctor.  "And I
+think he knows what has happened too.  It's funny, his not
+wanting to tell me.  He has never done that before--not in eleven
+years. He has always told me everything--Strange--very strange!"
+
+"Do you mean you think he knows all about the Hermit, the big
+mystery about him which folks hint at and all that?"
+
+"I shouldn't wonder if he did," the Doctor answered slowly. "I
+noticed something in his expression the moment we found that door
+open and the hut empty.  And the way he sniffed the floor too--it
+told him something, that floor did. He saw signs we couldn't
+see--I wonder why he won't tell me. I'll try him again.  Here,
+Jip!  Jip!--Where is the dog? I thought he went on in front."
+
+"So did I," I said.  "He was there a moment ago. I saw him as
+large as life.  Jip--Jip--Jip--JIP!"
+
+But he was gone.  We called and called.  We even walked back to
+the hut. But Jip had disappeared.
+
+"Oh well," I said, "most likely he has just run home ahead of us.
+He often does that, you know.  We'll find him there when we get
+back to the house."
+
+But the Doctor just closed his coat-collar tighter against the
+wind and strode on muttering, "Odd--very odd!"
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER
+
+JIP AND THE SECRET
+
+WHEN we reached the house the first question the Doctor asked of
+Dab-Dab in the hall was,
+
+"Is Jip home yet?"
+
+"No," said Dab-Dab, "I haven't seen him."
+
+"Let me know the moment he comes in, will you, please?" said the
+Doctor, hanging up his hat.
+
+"Certainly I will," said Dab-Dab. "Don't be long over washing
+your hands; the lunch is on the table."
+
+Just as we were sitting down to luncheon in the kitchen we heard
+a great racket at the front door.  I ran and opened it. In
+bounded Jip.
+
+"Doctor!" he cried, "come into the library quick.  I've got
+something to tell you--No, Dab-Dab, the luncheon must wait.
+Please hurry, Doctor.  There's not a moment to be lost. Don't let
+any of the animals come--just you and Tommy."
+
+"Now," he said, when we were inside the library and the door was
+closed, "turn the key in the lock and make sure there's no one
+listening under the windows."
+
+"It's all right," said the Doctor.  "Nobody can hear you here.
+Now what is it?"
+
+"Well, Doctor," said Jip (he was badly out of breath from
+running), "I know all about the Hermit--I have known for years.
+But I couldn't tell you."
+
+"Why?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Because I'd promised not to tell any one.  It was Bob, his dog,
+that told me.  And I swore to him that I would keep the secret."
+
+"Well, and are you going to tell me now?"
+
+"Yes," said Jip, "we've got to save him.  I followed Bob's scent
+just now when I left you out there on the marshes. And I found
+him.  And I said to him, 'Is it all right,' I said, 'for me to
+tell the Doctor now?  Maybe he can do something.' And Bob says to
+me, 'Yes,' says he, 'it's all right because--' "
+
+"Oh, for Heaven's sake, go on, go on!" cried the Doctor.  "Tell
+us what the mystery is--not what you said to Bob and what Bob
+said to you. What has happened?  Where IS the Hermit?"
+
+"He's in Puddleby Jail," said Jip.  "He's in prison."
+
+"In prison!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"What for?--What's he done?"
+
+Jip went over to the door and smelt at the bottom of it to see if
+any one were listening outside.  Then he came back to the Doctor
+on tiptoe and whispered,
+
+"HE KILLED A MAN!"
+
+"Lord preserve us!" cried the Doctor, sitting down heavily in a
+chair and mopping his forehead with a handkerchief. "When did he
+do it?"
+
+"Fifteen years ago--in a Mexican gold-mine. That's why he has
+been a hermit ever since.  He shaved off his beard and kept away
+from people out there on the marshes so he wouldn't be
+recognized. But last week, it seems these new-fangled policemen
+came to Town; and they heard there was a strange man who kept to
+himself all alone in a shack on the fen.  And they got
+suspicious. For a long time people had been hunting all over the
+world for the man that did that killing in the Mexican gold-mine
+fifteen years ago. So these policemen went out to the shack, and
+they recognized Luke by a mole on his arm.  And they took him to
+prison."
+
+"Well, well!" murmured the Doctor.  "Who would have thought it?--
+Luke, the philosopher!--Killed a man!--I can hardly believe it."
+
+"It's true enough--unfortunately," said Jip.  "Luke did it. But
+it wasn't his fault.  Bob says so.  And he was there and saw it
+all.  He was scarcely more than a puppy at the time. Bob says
+Luke couldn't help it.  He HAD to do it."
+
+"Where is Bob now?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Down at the prison.  I wanted him to come with me here to see
+you; but he won't leave the prison while Luke is there. He just
+sits outside the door of the prison-cell and won't move. He
+doesn't even eat the food they give him.  Won't you please come
+down there, Doctor, and see if there is anything you can do? The
+trial is to be this afternoon at two o'clock. What time is it
+now?"
+
+"It's ten minutes past one."
+
+"Bob says he thinks they are going to kill Luke for a punishment
+if they can prove that he did it--or certainly keep him in prison
+for the rest of his life.  Won't you please come? Perhaps if you
+spoke to the judge and told him what a good man Luke really is
+they'd let him off."
+
+"Of course I'll come," said the Doctor getting up and moving to
+go. "But I'm very much afraid that I shan't be of any real help."
+He turned at the door and hesitated thoughtfully.
+
+"And yet--I wonder--"
+
+Then he opened the door and passed out with Jip and me close at
+his heels.
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER
+
+BOB
+
+DAB-DAB was terribly upset when she found we were going away
+again without luncheon; and she made us take some cold pork-pies
+in our pockets to eat on the way.
+
+When we got to Puddleby Court-house (it was next door to the
+prison), we found a great crowd gathered around the building.
+
+This was the week of the Assizes--a business which happened every
+three months, when many pick-pockets and other bad characters
+were tried by a very grand judge who came all the way from
+London.  And anybody in Puddleby who had nothing special to do
+used to come to the Court-house to hear the trials.
+
+But to-day it was different.  The crowd was not made up of just a
+few idle people.  It was enormous.  The news had run through the
+countryside that Luke the Hermit was to be tried for killing a
+man and that the great mystery which had hung over him so long
+was to be cleared up at last. The butcher and the baker had
+closed their shops and taken a holiday. All the farmers from
+round about, and all the townsfolk, were there with their Sunday
+clothes on, trying to get seats in the Court-house or
+gossipping outside in low whispers. The High Street was so
+crowded you could hardly move along it. I had never seen the
+quiet old town in such a state of excitement before. For Puddleby
+had not had such an Assizes since 1799, when Ferdinand Phipps,
+the Rector's oldest son, had robbed the bank.
+
+If I hadn't had the Doctor with me I am sure I would never have
+been able to make my way through the mob packed around the
+Court-house door. But I just followed behind him, hanging on to
+his coat-tails; and at last we got safely into the jail.
+
+"I want to see Luke," said the Doctor to a very grand person in a
+blue coat with brass buttons standing at the door.
+
+"Ask at the Superintendent's office," said the man. "Third door
+on the left down the corridor."
+
+"Who is that person you spoke to, Doctor?"  I asked as we went
+along the passage.
+
+"He is a policeman."
+
+"And what are policemen?"
+
+"Policemen?  They are to keep people in order.  They've just been
+invented--by Sir Robert Peel.  That's why they are also called
+'peelers' sometimes. It is a wonderful age we live in.  They're
+always thinking of something new--This will be the
+Superintendent's office, I suppose."
+
+From there another policeman was sent with us to show us the way.
+
+Outside the door of Luke's cell we found Bob, the bulldog, who
+wagged his tail sadly when he saw us.  The man who was guiding us
+took a large bunch of keys from his pocket and opened the door.
+
+I had never been inside a real prison-cell before; and I felt
+quite a thrill when the policeman went out and locked the door
+after him, leaving us shut in the dimly-lighted, little, stone
+room. Before he went, he said that as soon as we had done talking
+with our friend we should knock upon the door and he would come
+and let us out.
+
+At first I could hardly see anything, it was so dim inside.  But
+after a little I made out a low bed against the wall, under a
+small barred window. On the bed, staring down at the floor
+between his feet, sat the Hermit, his head resting in his hands.
+
+"Well, Luke," said the Doctor in a kindly voice, "they don't give
+you much light in here, do they?"
+
+Very slowly the Hermit looked up from the floor.
+
+"Hulloa, John Dolittle.  What brings you here?"
+
+"I've come to see you.  I would have been here sooner, only I
+didn't hear about all this till a few minutes ago. I went to your
+hut to ask you if you would join me on a voyage; and when I found
+it empty I had no idea where you could be. I am dreadfully sorry
+to hear about your bad luck. I've come to see if there is
+anything I can do."
+
+Luke shook his head.
+
+"No, I don't imagine there is anything can be done. They've
+caught me at last.  That's the end of it, I suppose."
+
+He got up stiffly and started walking up and down the little
+room.
+
+"In a way I'm glad it's over," said he.  "I never got any peace,
+always thinking they were after me--afraid to speak to anyone.
+They were bound to get me in the end--Yes, I'm glad it's over."
+
+Then the Doctor talked to Luke for more than half an hour, trying
+to cheer him up; while I sat around wondering what I ought to say
+and wishing I could do something.
+
+At last the Doctor said he wanted to see Bob; and we knocked upon
+the door and were let out by the policeman.
+
+"Bob," said the Doctor to the big bulldog in the passage, "come
+out with me into the porch.  I want to ask you something."
+
+"How is he, Doctor?" asked Bob as we walked down the corridor
+into the Court-house porch.
+
+"Oh, Luke's all right.  Very miserable of course, but he's all
+right. Now tell me, Bob:  you saw this business happen, didn't
+you? You were there when the man was killed, eh?"
+
+"I was, Doctor," said Bob, "and I tell you--"
+
+"All right," the Doctor interrupted, "that's all I want to know
+for the present.  There isn't time to tell me more now. The trial
+is just going to begin.  There are the judge and the lawyers
+coming up the steps.  Now listen, Bob:  I want you to stay with
+me when I go into the court-room. And whatever I tell you to do,
+do it. Do you understand?  Don't make any scenes.  Don't bite
+anybody, no matter what they may say about Luke.  Just behave
+perfectly quietly and answer any question I may ask
+you--truthfully. Do you understand?"
+
+"Very well.  But do you think you will be able to get him off,
+Doctor?" asked Bob.  "He's a good man, Doctor.  He really is.
+There never was a better."
+
+"We'll see, we'll see, Bob.  It's a new thing I'm going to try.
+I'm not sure the judge will allow it.  But--well, we'll see. It's
+time to go into the court-room now.  Don't forget what I told
+you.  Remember:  for Heaven's sake don't start biting any one or
+you'll get us all put out and spoil everything."
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER
+
+MENDOZA
+
+INSIDE the court-room everything was very solemn and wonderful.
+It was a high, big room.  Raised above the floor, against the
+wall was the judge's desk; and here the judge was already
+sitting--an old, handsome man in a marvelous big wig of gray hair
+and a gown of black. Below him was another wide, long desk at
+which lawyers in white wigs sat. The whole thing reminded me of a
+mixture between a church and a school.
+
+"Those twelve men at the side," whispered the Doctor--"those in
+pews like a choir, they are what is called the jury. It is they
+who decide whether Luke is guilty--whether he did it or not."
+
+"And look!"  I said, "there's Luke himself in a sort of
+pulpit-thing with policemen each side of him.  And there's
+another pulpit, the same kind, the other side of the room,
+see--only that one's empty."
+
+"That one is called the witness-box," said the Doctor.  "Now I'm
+going down to speak to one of those men in white wigs; and I want
+you to wait here and keep these two seats for us. Bob will stay
+with you.  Keep an eye on him--better hold on to his collar.  I
+shan't be more than a minute or so."
+
+With that the Doctor disappeared into the crowd which filled the
+main part of the room.
+
+Then I saw the judge take up a funny little wooden hammer and
+knock on his desk with it.  This, it seemed, was to make people
+keep quiet, for immediately every one stopped buzzing and talking
+and began to listen very respectfully. Then another man in a
+black gown stood up and began reading from a paper in his hand.
+
+He mumbled away exactly as though he were saying his prayers and
+didn't want any one to understand what language they were in. But
+I managed to catch a few words:
+
+"Biz--biz--biz--biz--biz--otherwise known as Luke the Hermit,
+of--biz--biz--biz--biz--for killing his partner
+with--biz--biz--biz--otherwise known as Bluebeard Bill on the
+night of the--biz--biz--biz--in the biz--biz--biz--of Mexico. 
+Therefore Her Majesty's--biz--biz--biz--"
+
+At this moment I felt some one take hold of my arm from the back,
+and turning round I found the Doctor had returned with one of the
+men in white wigs.
+
+"Stubbins, this is Mr. Percy Jenkyns," said the Doctor.  "He is
+Luke's lawyer.  It is his business to get Luke off--if he can."
+
+Mr. Jenkyns seemed to be an extremely young man with a round
+smooth face like a boy.  He shook hands with me and then
+immediately turned and went on talking with the Doctor.
+
+"Oh, I think it is a perfectly precious idea," he was saying. "Of
+COURSE the dog must be admitted as a witness; he was the only one
+who saw the thing take place.  I'm awfully glad you came.  I
+wouldn't have missed this for anything. My hat!  Won't it make
+the old court sit up?  They're always frightfully dull, these
+Assizes.  But this will stir things. A bulldog witness for the
+defense!  I do hope there are plenty of reporters present--Yes,
+there's one making a sketch of the prisoner. I shall become known
+after this--And won't Conkey be pleased? My hat!"
+
+He put his hand over his mouth to smother a laugh and his eyes
+fairly sparkled with mischief.  "Who is Conkey?"  I asked the
+Doctor.
+
+"Sh!  He is speaking of the judge up there, the Honorable Eustace
+Beauchamp Conckley."
+
+"Now," said Mr. Jenkyns, bringing out a notebook, "tell me a
+little more about yourself, Doctor.  You took your degree as
+Doctor of Medicine at Durham, I think you said. And the name of
+your last book was?"
+
+I could not hear any more for they talked in whispers; and I fell
+to looking round the court again.
+
+Of course I could not understand everything that was going on,
+though it was all very interesting.  People kept getting up in
+the place the Doctor called the witness-box, and the lawyers at
+the long table asked them questions about "the night of the
+29th." Then the people would get down again and somebody else
+would get up and be questioned.
+
+One of the lawyers (who, the Doctor told me afterwards, was
+called the Prosecutor) seemed to be doing his best to get the
+Hermit into trouble by asking questions which made it look as
+though he had always been a very bad man. He was a nasty lawyer,
+this Prosecutor, with a long nose.
+
+Most of the time I could hardly keep my eyes off poor Luke, who
+sat there between his two policemen, staring at the floor as
+though he weren't interested.  The only time I saw him take any
+notice at all was when a small dark man with wicked, little,
+watery eyes got up into the witness-box. I heard Bob snarl under
+my chair as this person came into the court-room and Luke's eyes
+just blazed with anger and contempt.
+
+This man said his name was Mendoza and that he was the one who
+had guided the Mexican police to the mine after Bluebeard Bill
+had been killed. And at every word he said I could hear Bob down
+below me muttering between his teeth,
+
+"It's a lie!  It's a lie!  I'll chew his face.  It's a lie!"
+
+And both the Doctor and I had hard work keeping the dog under the
+seat.
+
+Then I noticed that our Mr. Jenkyns had disappeared from the
+Doctor's side. But presently I saw him stand up at the long table
+to speak to the judge.
+
+"Your Honor," said he, "I wish to introduce a new witness for the
+defense, Doctor John Dolittle, the naturalist. Will you please
+step into the witness-stand, Doctor?"
+
+There was a buzz of excitement as the Doctor made his way across
+the crowded room; and I noticed the nasty lawyer with the long
+nose lean down and whisper something to a friend, smiling in an
+ugly way which made me want to pinch him.
+
+Then Mr. Jenkyns asked the Doctor a whole lot of questions about
+himself and made him answer in a loud voice so the whole court
+could hear. He finished up by saying,
+
+"And you are prepared to swear, Doctor Dolittle, that you
+understand the language of dogs and can make them understand you.
+Is that so?"
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, "that is so."
+
+"And what, might I ask," put in the judge in a very quiet,
+dignified voice, "has all this to do with the killing of
+er--er--Bluebeard Bill?"
+
+"This, Your Honor," said Mr. Jenkyns, talking in a very grand
+manner as though he were on a stage in a theatre: "there is in
+this court-room at the present moment a bulldog, who was the only
+living thing that saw the man killed. With the Court's permission
+I propose to put that dog in the witness-stand and have him
+questioned before you by the eminent scientist, Doctor John
+Dolittle."
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER
+
+THE JUDGE'S DOG
+
+AT first there was a dead silence in the Court.  Then everybody
+began whispering or giggling at the same time, till the whole
+room sounded like a great hive of bees.  Many people seemed to be
+shocked; most of them were amused; and a few were angry.
+
+Presently up sprang the nasty lawyer with the long nose.
+
+"I protest, Your Honor," he cried, waving his arms wildly to the
+judge. "I object.  The dignity of this court is in peril.  I
+protest."
+
+"I am the one to take care of the dignity of this court," said
+the judge.
+
+Then Mr. Jenkyns got up again.  (If it hadn't been such a serious
+matter, it was almost like a Punch-and-Judy show: somebody was
+always popping down and somebody else popping up).
+
+"If there is any doubt on the score of our being able to do as we
+say, Your Honor will have no objection, I trust, to the Doctor's
+giving the Court a demonstration of his powers--of showing that
+he actually can understand the speech of animals?" I thought I
+saw a twinkle of amusement come into the old judge's eyes as he
+sat considering a moment before he answered.
+
+"No," he said at last, "I don't think so."  Then he turned to the
+Doctor.
+
+"Are you quite sure you can do this?" he asked.
+
+"Quite, Your Honor," said the Doctor--"quite sure."
+
+"Very well then," said the judge.  "If you can satisfy us that
+you really are able to understand canine testimony, the dog shall
+be admitted as a witness. I do not see, in that case, how I could
+object to his being heard. But I warn you that if you are trying
+to make a laughing-stock of this Court it will go hard with you."
+
+"I protest, I protest!" yelled the long-nosed Prosecutor.  "This
+is a scandal, an outrage to the Bar!"
+
+"Sit down!" said the judge in a very stern voice.
+
+"What animal does Your Honor wish me to talk with?" asked the
+Doctor.
+
+"I would like you to talk to my own dog," said the judge. "He is
+outside in the cloak-room. I will have him brought in; and then
+we shall see what you can do."
+
+Then someone went out and fetched the judge's dog, a lovely great
+Russian wolf-hound with slender legs and a shaggy coat. He was a
+proud and beautiful creature.
+
+"Now, Doctor," said the judge, "did you ever see this dog
+before?--Remember you are in the witness-stand and under oath."
+
+"No, Your Honor, I never saw him before."
+
+"Very well then, will you please ask him to tell you what I had
+for supper last night?  He was with me and watched me while I
+ate."
+
+Then the Doctor and the dog started talking to one another in
+signs and sounds; and they kept at it for quite a long time. And
+the Doctor began to giggle and get so interested that he seemed
+to forget all about the Court and the judge and everything else.
+
+"What a time he takes!"  I heard a fat woman in front of me
+whispering. "He's only pretending.  Of course he can't do it! 
+Who ever heard of talking to a dog?  He must think we're
+children."
+
+"Haven't you finished yet?" the judge asked the Doctor.  "It
+shouldn't take that long just to ask what I had for supper."
+
+"Oh no, Your Honor," said the Doctor.  "The dog told me that long
+ago. But then he went on to tell me what you did after supper."
+
+"Never mind that," said the judge.  "Tell me what answer he gave
+you to my question."
+
+"He says you had a mutton-chop, two baked potatoes, a pickled
+walnut and a glass of ale."
+
+The Honorable Eustace Beauchamp Conckley went white to the lips.
+
+"Sounds like witchcraft," he muttered.  "I never dreamed--"
+
+"And after your supper," the Doctor went on, "he says you went to
+see a prize-fight and then sat up playing cards for money till
+twelve o'clock and came home singing, 'We wont get--' "
+
+"That will do," the judge interrupted, "I am satisfied you can do
+as you say. The prisoner's dog shall be admitted as a witness."
+
+"I protest, I object!" screamed the Prosecutor.  "Your Honor,
+this is--"
+
+"Sit down!" roared the judge.  "I say the dog shall be heard.
+That ends the matter.  Put the witness in the stand."
+
+And then for the first time in the solemn history of England a
+dog was put in the witness-stand of Her Majesty's Court of
+Assizes.  And it was I, Tommy Stubbins (when the Doctor made a
+sign to me across the room) who proudly led Bob up the aisle,
+through the astonished crowd, past the frowning, spluttering,
+long-nosed Prosecutor, and made him comfortable on a high chair
+in the witness-box; from where the old bulldog sat scowling down
+over the rail upon the amazed and gaping jury.
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER
+
+THE END OF THE MYSTERY
+
+THE trial went swiftly forward after that.  Mr. Jenkyns told the
+Doctor to ask Bob what he saw on the "night of the 29th;" and
+when Bob had told all he knew and the Doctor had turned it into
+English for the judge and the jury, this was what he had to say:
+
+"On the night of the 29th of November, 1824, I was with my
+master, Luke Fitzjohn (otherwise known as Luke the Hermit) and
+his two partners, Manuel Mendoza and William Boggs (otherwise
+known as Bluebeard Bill) on their gold-mine in Mexico.  For a
+long time these three men had been hunting for gold; and they had
+dug a deep hole in the ground. On the morning of the 29th gold
+was discovered, lots of it, at the bottom of this hole.  And all
+three, my master and his two partners, were very happy about it
+because now they would be rich. But Manuel Mendoza asked
+Bluebeard Bill to go for a walk with him. These two men I had
+always suspected of being bad.  So when I noticed that they left
+my master behind, I followed them secretly to see what they were
+up to.  And in a deep cave in the mountains I heard them arrange
+together to kill Luke the Hermit so that they should get all the
+gold and he have none."
+
+At this point the judge asked, "Where is the witness Mendoza? 
+Constable, see that he does not leave the court."
+
+But the wicked little man with the watery eyes had already
+sneaked out when no one was looking and he was never seen in
+Puddleby again.
+
+"Then," Bob's statement went on, "I went to my master and tried
+very hard to make him understand that his partners were dangerous
+men. But it was no use.  He did not understand dog language. So I
+did the next best thing:  I never let him out of my sight but
+stayed with him every moment of the day and night.
+
+"Now the hole that they had made was so deep that to get down and
+up it you had to go in a big bucket tied on the end of a rope;
+and the three men used to haul one another up and let one another
+down the mine in this way. That was how the gold was brought up
+too--in the bucket.  Well, about seven o'clock in the evening my
+master was standing at the top of the mine, hauling up Bluebeard
+Bill who was in the bucket.  Just as he had got Bill halfway up I
+saw Mendoza come out of the hut where we all lived. Mendoza
+thought that Bill was away buying groceries.  But he wasn't: he
+was in the bucket.  And when Mendoza saw Luke hauling and
+straining on the rope he thought he was pulling up a bucketful
+of gold. So he drew a pistol from his pocket and came sneaking up
+behind Luke to shoot him.
+
+"I barked and barked to warn my master of the danger he was in;
+but he was so busy hauling up Bill (who was a heavy fat man) that
+he took no notice of me.  I saw that if I didn't do something
+quick he would surely be shot.  So I did a thing I've never done
+before: suddenly and savagely I bit my master in the leg from
+behind. Luke was so hurt and startled that he did just what I
+wanted him to do: he let go the rope with both hands at once and
+turned round. And then, CRASH! down went Bill in his bucket to
+the bottom of the mine and he was killed.
+
+"While my master was busy scolding me Mendoza put his pistol in
+his pocket, came up with a smile on his face and looked down the
+mine.
+
+" 'Why, Good Gracious'!" said he to Luke, 'You've killed
+Bluebeard Bill.  I must go and tell the police'--hoping, you see,
+to get the whole mine to himself when Luke should be put in
+prison. Then he jumped on his horse and galloped away."
+
+"And soon my master grew afraid; for he saw that if Mendoza only
+told enough lies to the police, it WOULD look as though he had
+killed Bill on purpose. So while Mendoza was gone he and I stole
+away together secretly and came to England.  Here he shaved off
+his beard and became a hermit. And ever since, for fifteen years,
+we've remained in hiding. This is all I have to say.  And I swear
+it is the truth, every word."
+
+When the Doctor finished reading Bob's long speech the excitement
+among the twelve men of the jury was positively terrific.  One, a
+very old man with white hair, began to weep in a loud voice at
+the thought of poor Luke hiding on the fen for fifteen years for
+something he couldn't help. And all the others set to whispering
+and nodding their heads to one another.
+
+In the middle of all this up got that horrible Prosecutor again,
+waving his arms more wildly than ever.
+
+"Your Honor," he cried, "I must object to this evidence as
+biased. Of course the dog would not tell the truth against his
+own master. I object.  I protest."
+
+"Very well," said the judge, "you are at liberty to
+cross-examine. It is your duty as Prosecutor to prove his
+evidence untrue.  There is the dog: question him, if you do not
+believe what he says."
+
+I thought the long-nosed lawyer would have a fit. He looked first
+at the dog, then at the Doctor, then at the judge, then back at
+the dog scowling from the witness-box. He opened his mouth to say
+something; but no words came. He waved his arms some more.  His
+face got redder and redder. At last, clutching his forehead, he
+sank weakly into his seat and had to be helped out of the
+court-room by two friends. As he was half carried through the
+door he was still feebly murmuring, "I protest--I object--I
+protest!"
+
+
+
+THE EIGHTH CHAPTER
+
+THREE CHEERS
+
+NEXT the judge made a very long speech to the jury; and when it
+was over all the twelve jurymen got up and went out into the next
+room. And at that point the Doctor came back, leading Bob, to the
+seat beside me.
+
+"What have the jurymen gone out for?"  I asked.
+
+"They always do that at the end of a trial--to make up their
+minds whether the prisoner did it or not."
+
+"Couldn't you and Bob go in with them and help them make up their
+minds the right way?"  I asked.
+
+"No, that's not allowed.  They have to talk it over in secret.
+Sometimes it takes--My Gracious, look, they're coming back
+already! They didn't spend long over it."
+
+Everybody kept quite still while the twelve men came tramping
+back into their places in the pews.  Then one of them, the
+leader--a little man--stood up and turned to the judge.  Every
+one was holding his breath, especially the Doctor and myself, to
+see what he was going to say. You could have heard a pin drop
+while the whole court-room, the whole of Puddleby in fact, waited
+with craning necks and straining ears to hear the weighty words.
+
+"Your Honor," said the little man, "the jury returns a verdict of
+NOT GUILTY."
+
+"What's that mean?"  I asked, turning to the Doctor.
+
+But I found Doctor John Dolittle, the famous naturalist, standing
+on top of a chair, dancing about on one leg like a schoolboy.
+
+"It means he's free!" he cried, "Luke is free!"
+
+"Then he'll be able to come on the voyage with us, won't he?"
+
+But I could not hear his answer; for the whole court-room seemed
+to be jumping up on chairs like the Doctor.  The crowd had
+suddenly gone crazy. All the people were laughing and calling and
+waving to Luke to show him how glad they were that he was free. 
+The noise was deafening.
+
+Then it stopped.  All was quiet again; and the people stood up
+respectfully while the judge left the Court.  For the trial of
+Luke the Hermit, that famous trial which to this day they are
+still talking of in Puddleby, was over.
+
+In the hush while the judge was leaving, a sudden shriek rang
+out, and there, in the doorway stood a woman, her arms
+out-stretched to the Hermit.
+
+"Luke!" she cried, "I've found you at last!"
+
+"It's his wife," the fat woman in front of me whispered.  "She
+ain't seen 'im in fifteen years, poor dear!  What a lovely
+re-union. I'm glad I came. I wouldn't have missed this for
+anything!"
+
+As soon as the judge had gone the noise broke out again; and now
+the folks gathered round Luke and his wife and shook them by the
+hand and congratulated them and laughed over them and cried over
+them.
+
+"Come along, Stubbins," said the Doctor, taking me by the arm,
+"let's get out of this while we can."
+
+"But aren't you going to speak to Luke?"  I said--"to ask him if
+he'll come on the voyage?"
+
+"It wouldn't be a bit of use," said the Doctor.  "His wife's come
+for him. No man stands any chance of going on a voyage when his
+wife hasn't seen him in fifteen years.  Come along.  Let's get
+home to tea. We didn't have any lunch, remember.  And we've
+earned something to eat. We'll have one of those mixed meals,
+lunch and tea combined--with watercress and ham.  Nice change. 
+Come along."
+
+Just as we were going to step out at a side door I heard the
+crowd shouting,
+
+"The Doctor!  The Doctor!  Where's the Doctor?  The Hermit would
+have hanged if it hadn't been for the Doctor.  Speech! 
+Speech!--The Doctor!"
+
+And a man came running up to us and said,
+
+"The people are calling for you, Sir."
+
+"I'm very sorry," said the Doctor, "but I'm in a hurry."
+
+"The crowd won't be denied, Sir," said the man.  "They want you
+to make a speech in the marketplace."
+
+"Beg them to excuse me," said the Doctor--"with my compliments. I
+have an appointment at my house--a very important one which I may
+not break.  Tell Luke to make a speech. Come along, Stubbins,
+this way."
+
+"Oh Lord!" he muttered as we got out into the open air and found
+another crowd waiting for him at the side door. "Let's go up that
+alleyway--to the left.  Quick!--Run!"
+
+We took to our heels, darted through a couple of side streets and
+just managed to get away from the crowd.
+
+It was not till we had gained the Oxenthorpe Road that we dared
+to slow down to a walk and take our breath. And even when we
+reached the Doctor's gate and turned to look backwards towards
+the town, the faint murmur of many voices still reached us on the
+evening wind.
+
+"They're still clamoring for you," I said.  "Listen!"
+
+The murmur suddenly swelled up into a low distant roar; and
+although it was a mile and half away you could distinctly hear
+the words,
+
+"Three cheers for Luke the Hermit:  Hooray!--Three cheers for his
+dog:  Hooray!--Three cheers for his wife:  Hooray!--Three cheers
+for the Doctor:  Hooray!  Hooray!  HOO-R-A-Y!"
+
+
+
+THE NINTH CHAPTER
+
+THE PURPLE BIRD-OF-PARADISE
+
+POLYNESIA was waiting for us in the front porch. She looked full
+of some important news.
+
+"Doctor," said she, "the Purple Bird-of-Paradise has arrived!"
+
+"At last!" said the Doctor.  "I had begun to fear some accident
+had befallen her.  And how is Miranda?"
+
+From the excited way in which the Doctor fumbled his key into the
+lock I guessed that we were not going to get our tea right away,
+even now.
+
+"Oh, she seemed all right when she arrived," said
+Polynesia--"tired from her long journey of course but otherwise
+all right. But what DO you think?  That mischief-making sparrow,
+Cheapside, insulted her as soon as she came into the garden. When
+I arrived on the scene she was in tears and was all for turning
+round and going straight back to Brazil to-night. I had the
+hardest work persuading her to wait till you came. She's in the
+study.  I shut Cheapside in one of your book-cases and told him
+I'd tell you exactly what had happened the moment you got home."
+
+The Doctor frowned, then walked silently and quickly to the
+study.
+
+Here we found the candles lit; for the daylight was nearly gone.
+Dab-Dab was standing on the floor mounting guard over one of the
+glass-fronted book-cases in which Cheapside had been imprisoned.
+The noisy little sparrow was still fluttering angrily behind the
+glass when we came in.
+
+In the centre of the big table, perched on the ink-stand, stood
+the most beautiful bird I have ever seen.  She had a deep
+violet-colored breast, scarlet wings and a long, long sweeping
+tail of gold. She was unimaginably beautiful but looked
+dreadfully tired. Already she had her head under her wing; and
+she swayed gently from side to side on top of the ink-stand like
+a bird that has flown long and far.
+
+"Sh!" said Dab-Dab. "Miranda is asleep.  I've got this little imp
+Cheapside in here.  Listen, Doctor:  for Heaven's sake send that
+sparrow away before he does any more mischief.  He's nothing but
+a vulgar little nuisance. We've had a perfectly awful time trying
+to get Miranda to stay. Shall I serve your tea in here, or will
+you come into the kitchen when you're ready?"
+
+"We'll come into the kitchen, Dab-Dab," said the Doctor.  "Let
+Cheapside out before you go, please."
+
+Dab-Dab opened the bookcase-door and Cheapside strutted out
+trying hard not to look guilty.
+
+"Cheapside," said the Doctor sternly, "what did you say to
+Miranda when she arrived?"
+
+"I didn't say nothing, Doc, straight I didn't. That is, nothing
+much. I was picking up crumbs off the gravel path when she comes
+swanking into the garden, turning up her nose in all directions,
+as though she owned the earth--just because she's got a lot of
+colored plumage.  A London sparrow's as good as her any day. I
+don't hold by these gawdy bedizened foreigners nohow. Why don't
+they stay in their own country?"
+
+"But what did you say to her that got her so offended?"
+
+"All I said was, 'You don't belong in an English garden; you
+ought to be in a milliner's window.  That's all."
+
+"You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Cheapside.  Don't you
+realize that this bird has come thousands of miles to see me--
+only to be insulted by your impertinent tongue as soon as she
+reaches my garden?  What do you mean by it?--If she had gone away
+again before I got back to-night I would never have forgiven
+you--Leave the room."
+
+Sheepishly, but still trying to look as though he didn't care,
+Cheapside hopped out into the passage and Dab-Dab closed the
+door.
+
+The Doctor went up to the beautiful bird on the ink-stand and
+gently stroked its back.  Instantly its head popped out from
+under its wing.
+
+
+
+THE TENTH CHAPTER
+
+LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW
+
+"WELL, Miranda," said the Doctor.  "I'm terribly sorry this has
+happened. But you mustn't mind Cheapside; he doesn't know any
+better. He's a city bird; and all his life he has had to squabble
+for a living. You must make allowances.  He doesn't know any
+better."
+
+Miranda stretched her gorgeous wings wearily.  Now that I saw her
+awake and moving I noticed what a superior, well-bred manner she
+had. There were tears in her eyes and her beak was trembling.
+
+"I wouldn't have minded so much," she said in a high silvery
+voice, "if I hadn't been so dreadfully worn out--That and
+something else," she added beneath her breath.
+
+"Did you have a hard time getting here?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"The worst passage I ever made," said Miranda.  "The
+weather--Well there. What's the use?  I'm here anyway."
+
+"Tell me," said the Doctor as though he had been impatiently
+waiting to say something for a long time:  "what did Long Arrow
+say when you gave him my message?"
+
+The Purple Bird-of-Paradise hung her head.
+
+"That's the worst part of it," she said.  "I might almost as well
+have not come at all.  I wasn't able to deliver your message.  I
+couldn't find him. LONG ARROW, THE SON OF GOLDEN ARROW, HAS
+DISAPPEARED!"
+
+"Disappeared!" cried the Doctor.  "Why, what's become of him?"
+
+"Nobody knows," Miranda answered.  "He had often disappeared
+before, as I have told you--so that the Indians didn't know where
+he was. But it's a mighty hard thing to hide away from the birds.
+I had always been able to find some owl or martin who could tell
+me where he was--if I wanted to know.  But not this time. That's
+why I'm nearly a fortnight late in coming to you: I kept hunting
+and hunting, asking everywhere.  I went over the whole length and
+breadth of South America.  But there wasn't a living thing could
+tell me where he was."
+
+There was a sad silence in the room after she had finished; the
+Doctor was frowning in a peculiar sort of way and Polynesia
+scratched her head.
+
+"Did you ask the black parrots?" asked Polynesia.  "They usually
+know everything."
+
+"Certainly I did," said Miranda.  "And I was so upset at not
+being able to find out anything, that I forgot all about
+observing the weather-signs before I started my flight here.  I
+didn't even bother to break my journey at the Azores, but cut
+right across, making for the Straits of Gibraltar--as though it
+were June or July.  And of course I ran into a perfectly
+frightful storm in mid-Atlantic. I really thought I'd never come
+through it. Luckily I found a piece of a wrecked vessel floating
+in the sea after the storm had partly died down; and I roosted on
+it and took some sleep. If I hadn't been able to take that rest I
+wouldn't be here to tell the tale."
+
+"Poor Miranda!  What a time you must have had!" said the Doctor. 
+"But tell me, were you able to find out whereabouts Long Arrow
+was last seen?"
+
+"Yes.  A young albatross told me he had seen him on Spidermonkey
+Island?"
+
+"Spidermonkey Island?  That's somewhere off the coast of Brazil,
+isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, that's it.  Of course I flew there right away and asked
+every bird on the island--and it is a big island, a hundred miles
+long. It seems that Long Arrow was visiting some peculiar Indians
+that live there; and that when last seen he was going up into the
+mountains looking for rare medicine-plants. I got that from a
+tame hawk, a pet, which the Chief of the Indians keeps for
+hunting partridges with. I nearly got caught and put in a cage
+for my pains too. That's the worst of having beautiful feathers: 
+it's as much as your life is worth to go near most humans--They
+say, 'oh how pretty!' and shoot an arrow or a bullet into you.
+You and Long Arrow were the only two men that I would ever trust
+myself near--out of all the people in the world."
+
+"But was he never known to have returned from the mountains?"
+
+"No. That was the last that was seen or heard of him.  I
+questioned the sea-birds around the shores to find out if he had
+left the island in a canoe. But they could tell me nothing."
+
+"Do you think that some accident has happened to him?" asked the
+Doctor in a fearful voice.
+
+"I'm afraid it must have," said Miranda shaking her head.
+
+"Well," said John Dolittle slowly, "if I could never meet Long
+Arrow face to face it would be the greatest disappointment in my
+whole life. Not only that, but it would be a great loss to the
+knowledge of the human race.  For, from what you have told me of
+him, he knew more natural science than all the rest of us put
+together; and if he has gone without any one to write it down for
+him, so the world may be the better for it, it would be a
+terrible thing. But you don't really think that he is dead, do
+you?"
+
+"What else can I think?" asked Miranda, bursting into tears,
+"when for six whole months he has not been seen by flesh, fish or
+fowl."
+
+
+
+THE ELEVENTH CHAPTER
+
+BLIND TRAVEL
+
+THIS news about Long Arrow made us all very sad.  And I could see
+from the silent dreamy way the Doctor took his tea that he was
+dreadfully upset. Every once in a while he would stop eating
+altogether and sit staring at the spots on the kitchen
+table-cloth as though his thoughts were far away; till Dab-Dab,
+who was watching to see that he got a good meal, would cough or
+rattle the pots in the sink.
+
+I did my best to cheer him up by reminding him of all he had done
+for Luke and his wife that afternoon.  And when that didn't seem
+to work, I went on talking about our preparations for the voyage.
+
+"But you see, Stubbins," said he as we rose from the table and
+Dab-Dab and Chee-Chee began to clear away, "I don't know where to
+go now. I feel sort of lost since Miranda brought me this news.
+On this voyage I had planned going to see Long Arrow.  I had been
+looking forward to it for a whole year.  I felt he might help me
+in learning the language of the shellfish--and perhaps in finding
+some way of getting to the bottom of the sea.  But now?--He's
+gone! And all his great knowledge has gone with him."
+
+Then he seemed to fall a-dreaming again.
+
+"Just to think of it!" he murmured.  "Long Arrow and I, two
+students--Although I'd never met him, I felt as though I knew
+him quite well. For, in his way--without any schooling--he has,
+all his life, been trying to do the very things which I have
+tried to do in mine--And now he's gone!--A whole world lay
+between us--And only a bird knew us both!"
+
+We went back into the study, where Jip brought the Doctor his
+slippers and his pipe.  And after the pipe was lit and the smoke
+began to fill the room the old man seemed to cheer up a little.
+
+"But you will go on some voyage, Doctor, won't you?" I
+asked--"even if you can't go to find Long Arrow."
+
+He looked up sharply into my face; and I suppose he saw how
+anxious I was. Because he suddenly smiled his old, boyish smile
+and said,
+
+"Yes, Stubbins.  Don't worry.  We'll go.  We mustn't stop working
+and learning, even if poor Long Arrow has disappeared--But where
+to go: that's the question.  Where shall we go?"
+
+There were so many places that I wanted to go that I couldn't
+make up my mind right away.  And while I was still thinking, the
+Doctor sat up in his chair and said,
+
+"I tell you what we'll do, Stubbins:  it's a game I used to play
+when I was young--before Sarah came to live with me. I used to
+call it Blind Travel.  Whenever I wanted to go on a voyage, and I
+couldn't make up my mind where to go, I would take the atlas and
+open it with my eyes shut.  Next, I'd wave a pencil, still
+without looking, and stick it down on whatever page had fallen
+open. Then I'd open my eyes and look.  It's a very exciting game,
+is Blind Travel.  Because you have to swear, before you begin,
+that you will go to the place the pencil touches, come what way.
+Shall we play it?"
+
+"Oh, let's!" I almost yelled.  "How thrilling!  I hope it's
+China--or Borneo--or Bagdad."
+
+And in a moment I had scrambled up the bookcase, dragged the big
+atlas from the top shelf and laid it on the table before the
+Doctor.
+
+I knew every page in that atlas by heart.  How many days and
+nights I had lingered over its old faded maps, following the blue
+rivers from the mountains to the sea; wondering what the little
+towns really looked like, and how wide were the sprawling lakes! 
+I had had a lot of fun with that atlas, traveling, in my mind,
+all over the world. I can see it now:  the first page had no map;
+it just told you that it was printed in Edinburgh in 1808, and a
+whole lot more about the book. The next page was the Solar
+System, showing the sun and planets, the stars and the moon.  The
+third page was the chart of the North and South Poles.  Then came
+the hemispheres, the oceans, the continents and the countries.
+
+As the Doctor began sharpening his pencil a thought came to me.
+
+"What if the pencil falls upon the North Pole," I asked, "will we
+have to go there?"
+
+"No. The rules of the game say you don't have to go any place
+you've been to before.  You are allowed another try. I've been to
+the North Pole," he ended quietly, "so we shan't have to go
+there."  I could hardly speak with astonishment.
+
+"YOU'VE BEEN TO THE NORTH POLE!" I managed to gasp out at last.
+"But I thought it was still undiscovered.  The map shows all the
+places explorers have reached to, TRYING to get there. Why isn't
+your name down if you discovered it?"
+
+"I promised to keep it a secret.  And you must promise me never
+to tell any one.  Yes, I discovered the North Pole in April,
+1809. But shortly after I got there the polar bears came to me in
+a body and told me there was a great deal of coal there, buried
+beneath the snow. They knew, they said, that human beings would
+do anything, and go anywhere, to get coal.  So would I please
+keep it a secret. Because once people began coming up there to
+start coal-mines, their beautiful white country would be
+spoiled--and there was nowhere else in the world cold enough for
+polar bears to be comfortable. So of course I had to promise them
+I would.  Ah, well, it will be discovered again some day, by
+somebody else.  But I want the polar bears to have their
+play-ground to themselves as long as possible. And I daresay it
+will be a good while yet--for it certainly is a fiendish place to
+get to--Well now, are we ready?--Good!  Take the pencil and stand
+here close to the table.  When the book falls open, wave the
+pencil round three times and jab it down.  Ready?--All right.
+Shut your eyes."
+
+It was a tense and fearful moment--but very thrilling.  We both
+had our eyes shut tight.  I heard the atlas fall open with a
+bang. I wondered what page it was:  England or Asia.  If it
+should be the map of Asia, so much would depend on where that
+pencil would land. I waved three times in a circle.  I began to
+lower my hand. The pencil-point touched the page.
+
+"All right," I called out, "it's done."
+
+
+
+THE TWELFTH CHAPTER
+
+DESTINY AND DESTINATION
+
+WE both opened our eyes; then bumped our heads together with a
+crack in our eagerness to lean over and see where we were to go.
+
+The atlas lay open at a map called, Chart of the South Atlantic
+Ocean. My pencil-point was resting right in the center of a tiny
+island. The name of it was printed so small that the Doctor had
+to get out his strong spectacles to read it.  I was trembling
+with excitement.
+
+"Spidermonkey Island," he read out slowly.  Then he whistled
+softly beneath his breath.  "Of all the extraordinary things!
+You've hit upon the very island where Long Arrow was last seen on
+earth--I wonder--Well, well!  How very singular!"
+
+"We'll go there, Doctor, won't we?"  I asked.
+
+"Of course we will.  The rules of the game say we've got to."
+
+"I'm so glad it wasn't Oxenthorpe or Bristol," I said. "It'll be
+a grand voyage, this.  Look at all the sea we've got to cross.
+Will it take us long?"
+
+"Oh, no," said the Doctor--"not very.  With a good boat and a
+good wind we should make it easily in four weeks.  But isn't it
+extraordinary? Of all the places in the world you picked out that
+one with your eyes shut. Spidermonkey Island after all!--Well,
+there's one good thing about it: I shall be able to get some
+Jabizri beetles."  
+
+"What are Jabizri beetles?"
+
+"They are a very rare kind of beetles with peculiar habits. I
+want to study them.  There are only three countries in the world
+where they are to be found.  Spidermonkey Island is one of them.
+But even there they are very scarce."
+
+"What is this little question-mark after the name of the island
+for?" I asked, pointing to the map.
+
+"That means that the island's position in the ocean is not known
+very exactly--that it is somewhere ABOUT there.  Ships have
+probably seen it in that neighborhood, that is all, most likely.
+It is quite possible we shall be the first white men to land
+there. But I daresay we shall have some difficulty in finding it
+first."
+
+How like a dream it all sounded!  The two of us sitting there at
+the big study-table; the candles lit; the smoke curling towards
+the dim ceiling from the Doctor's pipe--the two of us sitting
+there, talking about finding an island in the ocean and being the
+first white men to land upon it!
+
+"I'll bet it will be a great voyage," I said.  "It looks a lovely
+island on the map.  Will there be black men there?"
+
+"No. A peculiar tribe of Red Indians lives on it, Miranda tells
+me."
+
+At this point the poor Bird-of-Paradise stirred and woke up. In
+our excitement we had forgotten to speak low.
+
+"We are going to Spidermonkey Island, Miranda," said the Doctor. 
+"You know where it is, do you not?"
+
+"I know where it was the last time I saw it," said the bird. "But
+whether it will be there still, I can't say."
+
+"What do you mean?" asked the Doctor.  "It is always in the same
+place surely?"
+
+"Not by any means," said Miranda.  "Why, didn't you
+know?--Spidermonkey Island is a FLOATING island.  It moves around
+all over the place--usually somewhere near southern South
+America.  But of course I could surely find it for you if you
+want to go there."
+
+At this fresh piece of news I could contain myself no longer. I
+was bursting to tell some one.  I ran dancing and singing from
+the room to find Chee-Chee.
+
+At the door I tripped over Dab-Dab, who was just coming in with
+her wings full of plates, and fell headlong on my nose,
+
+"Has the boy gone crazy?" cried the duck.  "Where do you think
+you're going, ninny?"
+
+"To Spidermonkey Island!"  I shouted, picking myself up and doing
+cart-wheels down the hall--"Spidermonkey Island!  Hooray!--And
+it's a FLOATING island!"
+
+"You're going to Bedlam, I should say," snorted the housekeeper.
+"Look what you've done to my best china!"
+
+But I was far too happy to listen to her scolding; and I ran on,
+singing, into the kitchen to find Chee-Chee.
+
+
+
+PART THREE
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER
+
+THE THIRD MAN
+
+THAT same week we began our preparations for the voyage.
+
+Joe, the mussel-man, had the Curlew moved down the river and tied
+it up along the river-wall, so it would be more handy for
+loading. And for three whole days we carried provisions down to
+our beautiful new boat and stowed them away.
+
+I was surprised to find how roomy and big she was inside. There
+were three little cabins, a saloon (or dining-room) and
+underneath all this, a big place called the hold where the food
+and extra sails and other things were kept.
+
+I think Joe must have told everybody in the town about our coming
+voyage, because there was always a regular crowd watching us when
+we brought the things down to put aboard. And of course sooner or
+later old Matthew Mugg was bound to turn up.
+
+"My Goodness, Tommy," said he, as he watched me carrying on some
+sacks of flour, "but that's a pretty boat! Where might the Doctor
+be going to this voyage?"
+
+"We're going to Spidermonkey Island," I said proudly.
+
+"And be you the only one the Doctor's taking along?"
+
+"Well, he has spoken of wanting to take another man," I said;
+"but so far he hasn't made up his mind."
+
+Matthew grunted; then squinted up at the graceful masts of the
+Curlew.
+
+"You know, Tommy," said he, "if it wasn't for my rheumatism I've
+half a mind to come with the Doctor myself.  There's something
+about a boat standing ready to sail that always did make me feel
+venturesome and travelish-like. What's that stuff in the cans
+you're taking on?"
+
+"This is treacle," I said--"twenty pounds of treacle."
+
+"My Goodness," he sighed, turning away sadly.  "That makes me
+feel more like going with you than ever--But my rheumatism is
+that bad I can't hardly--"
+
+I didn't hear any more for Matthew had moved off, still mumbling,
+into the crowd that stood about the wharf. The clock in Puddleby
+Church struck noon and I turned back, feeling very busy and
+important, to the task of loading.
+
+But it wasn't very long before some one else came along and
+interrupted my work.  This was a huge, big, burly man with a red
+beard and tattoo-marks all over his arms. He wiped his mouth with
+the back of his hand, spat twice on to the river-wall and said,
+
+"Boy, where's the skipper?"
+
+"The SKIPPER!--Who do you mean?"  I asked.
+
+"The captain--Where's the captain, of this craft?" he said,
+pointing to the Curlew.
+
+"Oh, you mean the Doctor," said I. "Well, he isn't here at
+present."
+
+At that moment the Doctor arrived with his arms full of
+note-books and butterfly-nets and glass cases and other natural
+history things. The big man went up to him, respectfully touching
+his cap.
+
+"Good morning, Captain," said he.  "I heard you was in need of
+hands for a voyage.  My name's Ben Butcher, able seaman."
+
+"I am very glad to know you," said the Doctor.  "But I'm afraid I
+shan't be able to take on any more crew."
+
+"Why, but Captain," said the able seaman, "you surely ain't going
+to face deep-sea weather with nothing more than this bit of a lad
+to help you--and with a cutter that big!"
+
+The Doctor assured him that he was; but the man didn't go away.
+He hung around and argued.  He told us he had known of many ships
+being sunk through "undermanning."  He got out what he called his
+stiffikit--a paper which said what a good sailor he was--and
+implored us, if we valued our lives, to take him.
+
+But the Doctor was quite firm-polite but determined--and finally
+the man walked sorrowfully away, telling us he never expected to
+see us alive again.
+
+Callers of one sort and another kept us quite busy that morning.
+The Doctor had no sooner gone below to stow away his note-books
+than another visitor appeared upon the gang-plank. This was a
+most extraordinary-looking black man. The only other negroes I
+had seen had been in circuses, where they wore feathers and bone
+necklaces and things like that. But this one was dressed in a
+fashionable frock coat with an enormous bright red cravat.  On
+his head was a straw hat with a gay band; and over this he held a
+large green umbrella. He was very smart in every respect except
+his feet. He wore no shoes or socks.
+
+"Pardon me," said he, bowing elegantly, "but is this the ship of
+the physician Dolittle?"
+
+"Yes," I said, "did you wish to see him?"
+
+"I did--if it will not be discommodious," he answered.
+
+"Who shall I say it is?"
+
+"I am Bumpo Kahbooboo, Crown Prince of Jolliginki."
+
+I ran downstairs at once and told the Doctor.
+
+"How fortunate!" cried John Dolittle.  "My old friend Bumpo! 
+Well, well!--He's studying at Oxford, you know. How good of him
+to come all this way to call on me!" And he tumbled up the ladder
+to greet his visitor.
+
+The strange black man seemed to be overcome with joy when the
+Doctor appeared and shook him warmly by the hand.
+
+"News reached me," he said, "that you were about to sail upon a
+voyage. I hastened to see you before your departure.  I am
+sublimely ecstasied that I did not miss you."
+
+"You very nearly did miss us," said the Doctor.  "As it happened,
+we were delayed somewhat in getting the necessary number of men
+to sail our boat. If it hadn't been for that, we would have been
+gone three days ago."
+
+"How many men does your ship's company yet require?" asked Bumpo.
+
+"Only one," said the Doctor--"But it is so hard to find the right
+one."
+
+"Methinks I detect something of the finger of Destination in
+this," said Bumpo.  "How would I do?"
+
+"Splendidly," said the Doctor.  "But what about your studies? You
+can't very well just go off and leave your university career to
+take care of itself, you know."
+
+"I need a holiday," said Bumpo.  "Even had I not gone with you, I
+intended at the end of this term to take a three-months'
+absconsion--But besides, I shall not be neglecting my edification
+if I accompany you. Before I left Jolliginki my august father,
+the King, told me to be sure and travel plenty.  You are a man of
+great studiosity. To see the world in your company is an
+opportunity not to be sneezed upon. No, no, indeed."
+
+"How did you like the life at Oxford?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"Oh, passably, passably," said Bumpo.  "I liked it all except the
+algebra and the shoes.  The algebra hurt my head and the shoes
+hurt my feet. I threw the shoes over a wall as soon as I got out
+of the college quadrilateral this morning; and the algebra I am
+happily forgetting very fast--I liked Cicero--Yes, I think
+Cicero's fine--so simultaneous. By the way, they tell me his son
+is rowing for our college next year--charming fellow."
+
+The Doctor looked down at the black man's huge bare feet
+thoughtfully a moment.
+
+"Well," he said slowly, "there is something in what you say,
+Bumpo, about getting education from the world as well as from the
+college. And if you are really sure that you want to come, we
+shall be delighted to have you.  Because, to tell you the truth,
+I think you are exactly the man we need."
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER
+
+GOOD-BYE!
+
+TWO days after that we had all in readiness for our departure.
+
+On this voyage Jip begged so hard to be taken that the Doctor
+finally gave in and said he could come. Polynesia and Chee-Chee
+were the only other animals to go with us. Dab-Dab was left in
+charge of the house and the animal family we were to leave
+behind.
+
+Of course, as is always the way, at the last moment we kept
+remembering things we had forgotten; and when we finally closed
+the house up and went down the steps to the road, we were all
+burdened with armfuls of odd packages.
+
+Halfway to the river, the Doctor suddenly remembered that he had
+left the stock-pot boiling on the kitchen-fire. However, we saw a
+blackbird flying by who nested in our garden, and the Doctor
+asked her to go back for us and tell Dab-Dab about it.
+
+Down at the river-wall we found a great crowd waiting to see us
+off.
+
+Standing right near the gang-plank were my mother and father. I
+hoped that they would not make a scene, or burst into tears or
+anything like that.  But as a matter of fact they behaved quite
+well--for parents. My mother said something about being sure not
+to get my feet wet; and my father just smiled a crooked sort of
+smile, patted me on the back and wished me luck.  Good-byes are
+awfully uncomfortable things and I was glad when it was over and
+we passed on to the ship.
+
+We were a little surprised not to see Matthew Mugg among the
+crowd. We had felt sure that he would be there; and the Doctor
+had intended to give him some extra instructions about the food
+for the animals we had left at the house.
+
+At last, after much pulling and tugging, we got the anchor up and
+undid a lot of mooring-ropes. Then the Curlew began to move
+gently down the river with the out-running tide, while the people
+on the wall cheered and waved their handkerchiefs.
+
+We bumped into one or two other boats getting out into the
+stream; and at one sharp bend in the river we got stuck on a mud
+bank for a few minutes. But though the people on the shore seemed
+to get very excited at these things, the Doctor did not appear to
+be disturbed by them in the least.
+
+"These little accidents will happen in the most carefully
+regulated voyages," he said as he leaned over the side and fished
+for his boots which had got stuck in the mud while we were
+pushing off. "Sailing is much easier when you get out into the
+open sea. There aren't so many silly things to bump into."
+
+For me indeed it was a great and wonderful feeling, that getting
+out into the open sea, when at length we passed the little
+lighthouse at the mouth of the river and found ourselves free of
+the land. It was all so new and different:  just the sky above
+you and sea below. This ship, which was to be our house and our
+street, our home and our garden, for so many days to come, seemed
+so tiny in all this wide water--so tiny and yet so snug,
+sufficient, safe.
+
+I looked around me and took in a deep breath.  The Doctor was at
+the wheel steering the boat which was now leaping and plunging
+gently through the waves.  (I had expected to feel seasick at
+first but was delighted to find that I didn't.) Bumpo had been
+told off to go downstairs and prepare dinner for us. Chee-Chee
+was coiling up ropes in the stern and laying them in neat piles. 
+My work was fastening down the things on the deck so that nothing
+could roll about if the weather should grow rough when we got
+further from the land.  Jip was up in the peak of the boat with
+ears cocked and nose stuck out--like a statue, so still--his
+keen old eyes keeping a sharp look-out for floating wrecks,
+sand-bars, and other dangers. Each one of us had some special job
+to do, part of the proper running of a ship.  Even old Polynesia
+was taking the sea's temperature with the Doctor's
+bath-ther-mometer tied on the end of a string, to make sure there
+were no icebergs near us. As I listened to her swearing softly to
+herself because she couldn't read the pesky figures in the fading
+light, I realized that the voyage had begun in earnest and that
+very soon it would be night--my first night at sea!
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER
+
+OUR TROUBLES BEGIN
+
+JUST before supper-time Bumpo appeared from downstairs and went
+to the Doctor at the wheel.
+
+"A stowaway in the hold, Sir," said he in a very business-like
+seafaring voice.  "I just discovered him, behind the flour-bags."
+
+"Dear me!" said the Doctor.  "What a nuisance!  Stubbins, go down
+with Bumpo and bring the man up.  I can't leave the wheel just
+now."
+
+So Bumpo and I went down into the hold; and there, behind the
+flour-bags, plastered in flour from head to foot, we found a man.
+After we had swept most of the flour off him with a broom, we
+discovered that it was Matthew Mugg.  We hauled him upstairs
+sneezing and took him before the Doctor.
+
+"Why Matthew!" said John Dolittle.  "What on earth are you doing
+here?"
+
+"The temptation was too much for me, Doctor," said the
+cat's-meat-man. "You know I've often asked you to take me on
+voyages with you and you never would.  Well, this time, knowing
+that you needed an extra man, I thought if I stayed hid till the
+ship was well at sea you would find I came in handy like and keep
+me.  But I had to lie so doubled up, for hours, behind them
+flour-bags, that my rheumatism came on something awful. I just
+had to change my position; and of course just as I stretched out
+my legs along comes this here African cook of yours and sees my
+feet sticking out--Don't this ship roll something awful! How long
+has this storm been going on?  I reckon this damp sea air
+wouldn't be very good for my rheumatics."
+
+"No, Matthew it really isn't. You ought not to have come. You are
+not in any way suited to this kind of a life.  I'm sure you
+wouldn't enjoy a long voyage a bit.  We'll stop in at Penzance
+and put you ashore.  Bumpo, please go downstairs to my bunk; and
+listen: in the pocket of my dressing-gown you'll find some maps.
+Bring me the small one--with blue pencil-marks at the top. I know
+Penzance is over here on our left somewhere. But I must find out
+what light-houses there are before I change the ship's course and
+sail inshore."
+
+"Very good, Sir," said Bumpo, turning round smartly and making
+for the stairway.
+
+"Now Matthew," said the Doctor, "you can take the coach from
+Penzance to Bristol.  And from there it is not very far to
+Puddleby, as you know. Don't forget to take the usual provisions
+to the house every Thursday, and be particularly careful to
+remember the extra supply of herrings for the baby minks."
+
+While we were waiting for the maps Chee-Chee and I set about
+lighting the lamps:  a green one on the right side of the ship, a
+red one on the left and a white one on the mast.
+
+At last we heard some one trundling on the stairs again and the
+Doctor said,
+
+"Ah, here's Bumpo with the maps at last!"
+
+But to our great astonishment it was not Bumpo alone that
+appeared but THREE people.
+
+"Good Lord deliver us!  Who are these?" cried John Dolittle.
+
+"Two more stowaways, Sir," said Bumpo stepping forward briskly.
+"I found them in your cabin hiding under the bunk. One woman and
+one man, Sir.  Here are the maps."
+
+"This is too much," said the Doctor feebly.  "Who are they? I
+can't see their faces in this dim light.  Strike a match, Bumpo."
+
+You could never guess who it was.  It was Luke and his wife. Mrs.
+Luke appeared to be very miserable and seasick.
+
+They explained to the Doctor that after they had settled down to
+live together in the little shack out on the fens, so many people
+came to visit them (having heard about the great trial) that life
+became impossible; and they had decided to escape from Puddleby
+in this manner--for they had no money to leave any other
+way--and try to find some new place to live where they and their
+story wouldn't be so well known. But as soon as the ship had
+begun to roll Mrs. Luke had got most dreadfully unwell.
+
+Poor Luke apologized many times for being such a nuisance and
+said that the whole thing had been his wife's idea.
+
+The Doctor, after he had sent below for his medicine-bag and had
+given Mrs. Luke some sal volatile and smelling-salts, said he
+thought the best thing to do would be for him to lend them some
+money and put them ashore at Penzance with Matthew.  He also
+wrote a letter for Luke to take with him to a friend the Doctor
+had in the town of Penzance who, it was hoped, would be able to
+find Luke work to do there.
+
+As the Doctor opened his purse and took out some gold coins I
+heard Polynesia, who was sitting on my shoulder watching the
+whole affair, mutter beneath her breath,
+
+"There he goes--lending his last blessed penny--three pounds
+ten--all the money we had for the whole trip!  Now we haven't
+the price of a postage-stamp aboard if we should lose an anchor
+or have to buy a pint of tar--Well, let's, pray we don't run out
+of food--Why doesn't he give them the ship and walk home?"
+
+Presently with the help of the map the course of the boat was
+changed and, to Mrs. Luke's great relief, we made for Penzance
+and dry land.
+
+I was tremendously interested to see how a ship could be steered
+into a port at night with nothing but light-houses and a compass
+to guide you.  It seemed to me that the Doctor missed all the
+rocks and sand-bars very cleverly.
+
+We got into that funny little Cornish harbor about eleven o'clock
+that night. The Doctor took his stowaways on shore in our small
+row-boat which we kept on the deck of the Curlew and found them
+rooms at the hotel there. When he got back he told us that Mrs.
+Luke had gone straight to bed and was feeling much better.
+
+It was now after midnight; so we decided to stay in the harbor
+and wait till morning before setting out again.
+
+I was glad to get to bed, although I felt that staying up so
+tremendously late was great fun.  As I climbed into the bunk over
+the Doctor's and pulled the blankets snugly round me, I found I
+could look out of the port-hole at my elbow, and, without raising
+my head from the pillow, could see the lights of Penzance
+swinging gently up and down with the motion of the ship at
+anchor. It was like being rocked to sleep with a little show
+going on to amuse you. I was just deciding that I liked the life
+of the sea very much when I fell fast asleep.
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER
+
+OUR TROUBLES CONTINUE
+
+THE next morning when we were eating a very excellent breakfast
+of kidneys and bacon, prepared by our good cook Bumpo, the Doctor
+said to me,
+
+"I was just wondering, Stubbins, whether I should stop at the
+Capa Blanca Islands or run right across for the coast of Brazil. 
+Miranda said we could expect a spell of excellent weather
+now--for four and a half weeks at least."
+
+"Well," I said, spooning out the sugar at the bottom of my
+cocoa-cup, "I should think it would be best to make straight
+across while we are sure of good weather.  And besides the Purple
+Bird-of-Paradise is going to keep a lookout for us, isn't she? 
+She'll be wondering what's happened to us if we don't get there
+in about a month."
+
+"True, quite true, Stubbins.  On the other hand, the Capa Blancas
+make a very convenient stopping place on our way across. If we
+should need supplies or repairs it would be very handy to put in
+there."
+
+"How long will it take us from here to the Capa Blancas?"  I
+asked.
+
+"About six days," said the Doctor--"Well, we can decide later.
+For the next two days at any rate our direction would be the same
+practically in either case.  If you have finished breakfast let's
+go and get under way."
+
+Upstairs I found our vessel surrounded by white and gray seagulls
+who flashed and circled about in the sunny morning air, looking
+for food-scraps thrown out by the ships into the harbor.
+
+By about half past seven we had the anchor up and the sails set
+to a nice steady breeze; and this time we got out into the open
+sea without bumping into a single thing. We met the Penzance
+fishing fleet coming in from the night's fishing, and very trim
+and neat they looked, in a line like soldiers, with their
+red-brown sails all leaning over the same way and the white water
+dancing before their bows.
+
+For the next three or four days everything went smoothly and
+nothing unusual happened.  During this time we all got settled
+down into our regular jobs; and in spare moments the Doctor
+showed each of us how to take our turns at the wheel, the proper
+manner of keeping a ship on her right course, and what to do if
+the wind changed suddenly. We divided the twenty-four hours of
+the day into three spells; and we took it in turns to sleep our
+eight hours and be awake sixteen. So the ship was well looked
+after, with two of us always on duty.
+
+Besides that, Polynesia, who was an older sailor than any of us,
+and really knew a lot about running ships, seemed to be always
+awake--except when she took her couple of winks in the sun,
+standing on one leg beside the wheel.  You may be sure that no
+one ever got a chance to stay abed more than his eight hours
+while Polynesia was around. She used to watch the ship's clock;
+and if you overslept a half-minute, she would come down to the
+cabin and peck you gently on the nose till you got up.
+
+I very soon grew to be quite fond of our funny black friend
+Bumpo, with his grand way of speaking and his enormous feet which
+some one was always stepping on or falling over.  Although he was
+much older than I was and had been to college, he never tried to
+lord it over me. He seemed to be forever smiling and kept all of
+us in good humor. It wasn't long before I began to see the
+Doctor's good sense in bringing him--in spite of the fact that he
+knew nothing whatever about sailing or travel.
+
+On the morning of the fifth day out, just as I was taking the
+wheel over from the Doctor, Bumpo appeared and said,
+
+"The salt beef is nearly all gone, Sir."
+
+"The salt beef!" cried the Doctor.  "Why, we brought a hundred
+and twenty pounds with us.  We couldn't have eaten that in five
+days. What can have become of it?"
+
+"I don't know, Sir, I'm sure.  Every time I go down to the stores
+I find another hunk missing.  If it is rats that are eating it,
+then they are certainly colossal rodents."
+
+Polynesia who was walking up and down a stay-rope taking her
+morning exercise, put in,
+
+"We must search the hold.  If this is allowed to go on we will
+all be starving before a week is out.  Come downstairs with me,
+Tommy, and we will look into this matter."
+
+So we went downstairs into the store-room and Polynesia told us
+to keep quite still and listen.  This we did. And presently we
+heard from a dark corner of the hold the distinct sound of
+someone snoring.
+
+"Ah, I thought so," said Polynesia.  "It's a man--and a big one.
+Climb in there, both of you, and haul him out.  It sounds as
+though he were behind that barrel--Gosh!  We seem to have brought
+half of Puddleby with us.  Anyone would think we were a penny
+ferry-boat. Such cheek! Haul him out."
+
+So Bumpo and I lit a lantern and climbed over the stores. And
+there, behind the barrel, sure enough, we found an enormous
+bearded man fast asleep with a well-fed look on his face. We woke
+him up.
+
+"Washamarrer?" he said sleepily.
+
+It was Ben Butcher, the able seaman.
+
+Polynesia spluttered like an angry fire-cracker.
+
+"This is the last straw," said she.  "The one man in the world we
+least wanted.  Shiver my timbers, what cheek!"
+
+"Would it not be advisable," suggested Bumpo, "while the varlet
+is still sleepy, to strike him on the head with some heavy object
+and push him through a port-hole into the sea?"
+
+"No. We'd get into trouble," said Polynesia.  "We're not in
+Jolliginki now, you know--worse luck!--Besides, there never was a
+port-hole big enough to push that man through.  Bring him
+upstairs to the Doctor."
+
+So we led the man to the wheel where he respectfully touched his
+cap to the Doctor.
+
+"Another stowaway, Sir," said Bumpo smartly.  I thought the poor
+Doctor would have a fit.
+
+"Good morning, Captain," said the man.  "Ben Butcher, able
+seaman, at your service.  I knew you'd need me, so I took the
+liberty of stowing away--much against my conscience.  But I just
+couldn't bear to see you poor landsmen set out on this voyage
+without a single real seaman to help you. You'd never have got
+home alive if I hadn't come--Why look at your mainsail, Sir--all
+loose at the throat.  First gust of wind come along, and away
+goes your canvas overboard--Well, it's all right now I'm here.
+We'll soon get things in shipshape."
+
+"No, it isn't all right," said the Doctor, "it's all wrong. And
+I'm not at all glad to see you.  I told you in Puddleby I didn't
+want you.  You had no right to come."
+
+"But Captain," said the able seaman, "you can't sail this ship
+without me. You don't understand navigation.  Why, look at the
+compass now: you've let her swing a point and a half off her
+course. It's madness for you to try to do this trip alone--if
+you'll pardon my saying so, Sir.  Why--why, you'll lose the
+ship!"
+
+"Look here," said the Doctor, a sudden stern look coming into his
+eyes, "losing a ship is nothing to me.  I've lost ships before
+and it doesn't bother me in the least.  When I set out to go to a
+place, I get there.  Do you understand?  I may know nothing
+whatever about sailing and navigation, but I get there just the
+same. Now you may be the best seaman in the world, but on this
+ship you're just a plain ordinary nuisance--very plain and very
+ordinary. And I am now going to call at the nearest port and put
+you ashore."
+
+"Yes, and think yourself lucky," Polynesia put in, "that you are
+not locked up for stowing away and eating all our salt beef."
+
+"I don't know what the mischief we're going to do now," I heard
+her whisper to Bumpo.  "We've no money to buy any more; and that
+salt beef was the most important part of the stores."
+
+"Would it not be good political economy," Bumpo whispered back,
+"if we salted the able seaman and ate him instead? I should judge
+that he would weigh more than a hundred and twenty pounds."
+
+"How often must I tell you that we are not in Jolliginki,"
+snapped Polynesia.  "Those things are not done on white men's
+ships--Still," she murmured after a moment's thought, "it's an
+awfully bright idea.  I don't suppose anybody saw him come on to
+the ship--Oh, but Heavens! we haven't got enough salt. Besides,
+he'd be sure to taste of tobacco."
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER
+
+POLYNESIA HAS A PLAN
+
+THEN the Doctor told me to take the wheel while he made a little
+calculation with his map and worked out what new course we should
+take.
+
+"I shall have to run for the Capa Blancas after all," he told me
+when the seaman's back was turned.  "Dreadful nuisance! But I'd
+sooner swim back to Puddleby than have to listen to that fellow's
+talk all the way to Brazil."
+
+Indeed he was a terrible person, this Ben Butcher.  You'd think
+that any one after being told he wasn't wanted would have had the
+decency to keep quiet.  But not Ben Butcher.  He kept going round
+the deck pointing out all the things we had wrong. According to
+him there wasn't a thing right on the whole ship. The anchor was
+hitched up wrong; the hatches weren't fastened down properly; the
+sails were put on back to front; all our knots were the wrong
+kind of knots.
+
+At last the Doctor told him to stop talking and go downstairs. He
+refused--said he wasn't going to be sunk by landlubbers while he
+was still able to stay on deck.
+
+This made us feel a little uneasy.  He was such an enormous man
+there was no knowing what he might do if he got really
+obstreperous.
+
+Bumpo and I were talking about this downstairs in the
+dining-saloon when Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee came and joined
+us.  And, as usual, Polynesia had a plan.
+
+"Listen," she said, "I am certain this Ben Butcher is a smuggler
+and a bad man.  I am a very good judge of seamen, remember, and I
+don't like the cut of this man's jib.  I--"
+
+"Do you really think," I interrupted, "that it is safe for the
+Doctor to cross the Atlantic without any regular seamen on his
+ship?"
+
+You see it had upset me quite a good deal to find that all the
+things we had been doing were wrong; and I was beginning to
+wonder what might happen if we ran into a storm--particularly as
+Miranda had only said the weather would be good for a certain
+time; and we seemed to be having so many delays. But Polynesia
+merely tossed her head scornfully.
+
+"Oh, bless you, my boy," said she, "you're always safe with John
+Dolittle.  Remember that.  Don't take any notice of that stupid
+old salt.  Of course it is perfectly true the Doctor does do
+everything wrong.  But with him it doesn't matter. Mark my words,
+if you travel with John Dolittle you always get there, as you
+heard him say.  I've been with him lots of times and I know.
+Sometimes the ship is upside down when you get there, and
+sometimes it's right way up.  But you get there just the same.
+And then of course there's another thing about the Doctor," she
+added thoughtfully:  "he always has extraordinary good luck. He
+may have his troubles; but with him things seem to have a habit
+of turning out all right in the end.  I remember once when we
+were going through the Straits of Magellan the wind was so
+strong--"
+
+"But what are we going to do about Ben Butcher?"  Jip put in.
+"You had some plan Polynesia, hadn't you?"
+
+"Yes.  What I'm afraid of is that he may hit the Doctor on the
+head when he's not looking and make himself captain of the
+Curlew.  Bad sailors do that sometimes. Then they run the ship
+their own way and take it where they want. That's what you call a
+mutiny."
+
+"Yes," said Jip, "and we ought to do something pretty quick. We
+can't reach the Capa Blancas before the day after to-morrow at
+best. I don't like to leave the Doctor alone with him for a
+minute. He smells like a very bad man to me."
+
+"Well, I've got it all worked out," said Polynesia.  "Listen:  is
+there a key in that door?"
+
+We looked outside the dining-room and found that there was.
+
+"All right," said Polynesia.  "Now Bumpo lays the table for lunch
+and we all go and hide.  Then at twelve o'clock Bumpo rings the
+dinner-bell down here. As soon as Ben hears it he'll come down
+expecting more salt beef. Bumpo must hide behind the door
+outside.  The moment that Ben is seated at the dining-table Bumpo
+slams the door and locks it. Then we've got him.  See?"
+
+"How stratagenious!"  Bumpo chuckled.  "As Cicero said, parrots
+cum parishioners facilime congregation. I'll lay the table at
+once."
+
+"Yes and take that Worcestershire sauce off the dresser with you
+when you go out," said Polynesia.  "Don't leave any loose
+eatables around. That fellow has had enough to last any man for
+three days. Besides, he won't be so inclined to start a fight
+when we put him ashore at the Capa Blancas if we thin him down a
+bit before we let him out."
+
+So we all went and hid ourselves in the passage where we could
+watch what happened.  And presently Bumpo came to the foot of the
+stairs and rang the dinner-bell like mad. Then he hopped behind
+the dining-room door and we all kept still and listened.
+
+Almost immediately, THUMP, THUMP, THUMP, down the stairs tramped
+Ben Butcher, the able seaman.  He walked into the dining-saloon,
+sat himself down at the head of the table in the Doctor's place,
+tucked a napkin under his fat chin and heaved a sigh of
+expectation.
+
+Then, BANG!  Bumpo slammed the door and locked it.
+
+"That settles HIM for a while," said Polynesia coming out from
+her hiding-place. "Now let him teach navigation to the
+side-board. Gosh, the cheek of the man!  I've forgotten more
+about the sea than that lumbering lout will ever know. Let's go
+upstairs and tell the Doctor.  Bumpo, you will have to serve the
+meals in the cabin for the next couple of days."
+
+And bursting into a rollicking Norwegian sea-song, she climbed up
+to my shoulder and we went on deck.
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER
+
+THE BED-MAKER OF MONTEVERDE
+
+WE remained three days in the Capa Blanca Islands.
+
+There were two reasons why we stayed there so long when we were
+really in such a hurry to get away.  One was the shortage in our
+provisions caused by the able seaman's enormous appetite. When we
+came to go over the stores and make a list, we found that he had
+eaten a whole lot of other things besides the beef. And having no
+money, we were sorely puzzled how to buy more. The Doctor went
+through his trunk to see if there was anything he could sell. 
+But the only thing he could find was an old watch with the hands
+broken and the back dented in; and we decided this would not
+bring us in enough money to buy much more than a pound of tea.
+Bumpo suggested that he sing comic songs in the streets which he
+had learned in Jolliginki.  But the Doctor said he did not think
+that the islanders would care for African music.
+
+The other thing that kept us was the bullfight.  In these
+islands, which belonged to Spain, they had bullfights every
+Sunday.  It was on a Friday that we arrived there; and after we
+had got rid of the able seaman we took a walk through the town.
+
+It was a very funny little town, quite different from any that I
+had ever seen.  The streets were all twisty and winding and so
+narrow that a wagon could only just pass along them. The houses
+overhung at the top and came so close together that people in the
+attics could lean out of the windows and shake hands with their
+neighbors on the opposite side of the street. The Doctor told us
+the town was very, very old. It was called Monteverde.
+
+As we had no money of course we did not go to a hotel or anything
+like that.  But on the second evening when we were passing by a
+bed-maker's shop we noticed several beds, which the man had made,
+standing on the pavement outside. The Doctor started chatting in
+Spanish to the bed-maker who was sitting at his door whistling to
+a parrot in a cage. The Doctor and the bed-maker got very
+friendly talking about birds and things.  And as it grew near to
+supper-time the man asked us to stop and sup with him.
+
+This of course we were very glad to do.  And after the meal was
+over (very nice dishes they were, mostly cooked in olive-oil--I
+particularly liked the fried bananas) we sat outside on the
+pavement again and went on talking far into the night.
+
+At last when we got up, to go back to our ship, this very nice
+shopkeeper wouldn't hear of our going away on any account. He
+said the streets down by the harbor were very badly lighted and
+there was no moon.  We would surely get lost. He invited us to
+spend the night with him and go back to our ship in the morning.
+
+Well, we finally agreed; and as our good friend had no spare
+bedrooms, the three of us, the Doctor, Bumpo and I, slept on the
+beds set out for sale on the pavement before the shop. The night
+was so hot we needed no coverings.  It was great fun to fall
+asleep out of doors like this, watching the people walking to and
+fro and the gay life of the streets. It seemed to me that Spanish
+people never went to bed at all. Late as it was, all the little
+restaurants and cafes around us were wide open, with customers
+drinking coffee and chatting merrily at the small tables outside. 
+The sound of a guitar strumming softly in the distance mingled
+with the clatter of chinaware and the babble of voices.
+
+Somehow it made me think of my mother and father far away in
+Puddleby, with their regular habits, the evening practise on the
+flute and the rest--doing the same thing every day. I felt sort
+of sorry for them in a way, because they missed the fun of this
+traveling life, where we were doing something new all the
+time--even sleeping differently. But I suppose if they had been
+invited to go to bed on a pavement in front of a shop they
+wouldn't have cared for the idea at all. It is funny how some
+people are.
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER
+
+THE DOCTOR'S WAGER
+
+NEXT morning we were awakened by a great racket.  There was a
+procession coming down the street, a number of men in very gay
+clothes followed by a large crowd of admiring ladies and cheering
+children. I asked the Doctor who they were.
+
+"They are the bullfighters," he said.  "There is to be a
+bullfight to-morrow."
+
+"What is a bullfight?"  I asked.
+
+To my great surprise the Doctor got red in the face with anger.
+It reminded me of the time when he had spoken of the lions and
+tigers in his private zoo.
+
+"A bullfight is a stupid, cruel, disgusting business," said he.
+"These Spanish people are most lovable and hospitable folk. How
+they can enjoy these wretched bullfights is a thing I could never
+understand."
+
+Then the Doctor went on to explain to me how a bull was first
+made very angry by teasing and then allowed to run into a circus
+where men came out with red cloaks, waved them at him, and ran
+away. Next the bull was allowed to tire himself out by tossing
+and killing a lot of poor, old, broken-down horses who couldn't
+defend themselves. Then, when the bull was thoroughly out of
+breath and wearied by this, a man came out with a sword and
+killed the bull.
+
+"Every Sunday," said the Doctor, "in almost every big town in
+Spain there are six bulls killed like that and as many horses."
+
+"But aren't the men ever killed by the bull?"  I asked.
+
+"Unfortunately very seldom," said he.  "A bull is not nearly as
+dangerous as he looks, even when he's angry, if you are only
+quick on your feet and don't lose your head. These bullfighters
+are very clever and nimble.  And the people, especially the
+Spanish ladies, think no end of them. A famous bullfighter (or
+matador, as they call them) is a more important man in Spain than
+a king--Here comes another crowd of them round the corner, look. 
+See the girls throwing kisses to them.  Ridiculous business!"
+
+At that moment our friend the bed-maker came out to see the
+procession go past.  And while he was wishing us good morning and
+enquiring how we had slept, a friend of his walked up and joined
+us. The bed-maker introduced this friend to us as Don Enrique
+Cardenas.
+
+Don Enrique when he heard where we were from, spoke to us in
+English.  He appeared to be a well-educated, gentlemanly sort of
+person.
+
+"And you go to see the bullfight to-morrow, yes?" he asked the
+Doctor pleasantly.
+
+"Certainly not," said John Dolittle firmly.  "I don't like
+bullfights--cruel, cowardly shows."
+
+Don Enrique nearly exploded.  I never saw a man get so excited.
+He told the Doctor that he didn't know what he was talking about.
+He said bullfighting was a noble sport and that the matadors were
+the bravest men in the world.
+
+"Oh, rubbish!" said the Doctor.  "You never give the poor bull a
+chance. It is only when he is all tired and dazed that your
+precious matadors dare to try and kill him."
+
+I thought the Spaniard was going to strike the Doctor he got so
+angry. While he was still spluttering to find words, the
+bed-maker came between them and took the Doctor aside.  He
+explained to John Dolittle in a whisper that this Don Enrique
+Cardenas was a very important person; that he it was who supplied
+the bulls--a special, strong black kind--from his own farm for
+all the bullfights in the Capa Blancas.  He was a very rich man,
+the bed-maker said, a most important personage. He mustn't be
+allowed to take offense on any account.
+
+I watched the Doctor's face as the bed-maker finished, and I saw
+a flash of boyish mischief come into his eyes as though an idea
+had struck him. He turned to the angry Spaniard.
+
+"Don Enrique," he said, "you tell me your bullfighters are very
+brave men and skilful.  It seems I have offended you by saying
+that bullfighting is a poor sport.  What is the name of the best
+matador you have for to-morrow's show?"
+
+"Pepito de Malaga," said Don Enrique, "one of the greatest names,
+one of the bravest men, in all Spain."
+
+"Very well," said the Doctor, "I have a proposal to make to you.
+I have never fought a bull in my life.  Now supposing I were to
+go into the ring to-morrow with Pepito de Malaga and any other
+matadors you choose; and if I can do more tricks with a bull than
+they can, would you promise to do something for me?"
+
+Don Enrique threw back his head and laughed.
+
+"Man," he said, "you must be mad!  You would be killed at once.
+One has to be trained for years to become a proper bullfighter."
+
+"Supposing I were willing to take the risk of that--You are not
+afraid, I take it, to accept my offer?"
+
+The Spaniard frowned.
+
+"Afraid!" he cried, "Sir, if you can beat Pepito de Malaga in the
+bull-ring I'll promise you anything it is possible for me to
+grant."
+
+"Very good," said the Doctor, "now I understand that you are
+quite a powerful man in these islands.  If you wished to stop all
+bullfighting here after to-morrow, you could do it, couldn't
+you?"
+
+"Yes," said Don Enrique proudly--"I could."
+
+"Well that is what I ask of you--if I win my wager," said John
+Dolittle.  "If I can do more with angry bulls than can Pepito de
+Malaga, you are to promise me that there shall never be another
+bullfight in the Capa Blancas so long as you are alive to stop
+it. Is it a bargain?"
+
+The Spaniard held out his hand.
+
+"It is a bargain," he said--"I promise.  But I must warn you that
+you are merely throwing your life away, for you will certainly be
+killed.  However, that is no more than you deserve for saying
+that bullfighting is an unworthy sport.  I will meet you here
+to-morrow morning if you should wish to arrange any particulars.
+Good day, Sir."
+
+As the Spaniard turned and walked into the shop with the
+bed-maker, Polynesia, who had been listening as usual, flew up on
+to my shoulder and whispered in my ear,
+
+"I, have a plan.  Get hold of Bumpo and come some place where the
+Doctor can't hear us.  I want to talk to you."
+
+I nudged Bumpo's elbow and we crossed the street and pretended to
+look into a jeweler's window; while the Doctor sat down upon his
+bed to lace up his boots, the only part of his clothing he had
+taken off for the night.
+
+"Listen," said Polynesia, "I've been breaking my head trying to
+think up some way we can get money to buy those stores with; and
+at last I've got it."
+
+"The money?" said Bumpo.
+
+"No, stupid.  The idea--to make the money with.  Listen:  the
+Doctor is simply bound to win this game to-morrow, sure as you're
+alive. Now all we have to do is to make a side bet with these
+Spaniards--they're great on gambling--and the trick's done."
+
+"What's a side bet?"  I asked.
+
+"Oh I know what that is," said Bumpo proudly.  "We used to have
+lots of them at Oxford when boat-racing was on.  I go to Don
+Enrique and say, 'I bet you a hundred pounds the Doctor wins.'
+Then if he does win, Don Enrique pays me a hundred pounds; and if
+he doesn't, I have to pay Don Enrique."
+
+"That's the idea," said Polynesia.  "Only don't say a hundred
+pounds: say two-thousand five-hundred pesetas.  Now come and find
+old Don Ricky-ticky and try to look rich."
+
+So we crossed the street again and slipped into the bed-maker's
+shop while the Doctor was still busy with his boots.
+
+"Don Enrique," said Bumpo, "allow me to introduce myself. I am
+the Crown Prince of Jolliginki.  Would you care to have a small
+bet with me on to-morrow's bullfight?"
+
+Don Enrique bowed.
+
+"Why certainly," he said, "I shall be delighted. But I must warn
+you that you are bound to lose.  How much?"
+
+"Oh a mere truffle," said Bumpo--"just for the fun of the thing,
+you know. What do you say to three-thousand pesetas?"
+
+"I agree," said the Spaniard bowing once more.  "I will meet you
+after the bullfight to-morrow."
+
+"So that's all right," said Polynesia as we came out to join the
+Doctor.  "I feel as though quite a load had been taken off my
+mind."
+
+
+
+THE EIGHTH CHAPTER
+
+THE GREAT BULLFIGHT
+
+THE next day was a great day in Monteverde.  All the streets were
+hung with flags; and everywhere gaily dressed crowds were to be
+seen flocking towards the bull-ring, as the big circus was called
+where the fights took place.
+
+The news of the Doctor's challenge had gone round the town and,
+it seemed, had caused much amusement to the islanders. The very
+idea of a mere foreigner daring to match himself against the
+great Pepito de Malaga!--Serve him right if he got killed!
+
+The Doctor had borrowed a bullfighter's suit from Don Enrique;
+and very gay and wonderful he looked in it, though Bumpo and I
+had hard work getting the waistcoat to close in front and even
+then the buttons kept bursting off it in all directions.
+
+When we set out from the harbor to walk to the bull-ring, crowds
+of small boys ran after us making fun of the Doctor's fatness,
+calling out, "Juan Hagapoco, el grueso matador!" which is the
+Spanish for, "John Dolittle, the fat bullfighter."  As soon as we
+arrived the Doctor said he would like to take a look at the bulls
+before the fight began; and we were at once led to the bull pen
+where, behind a high railing, six enormous black bulls were
+tramping around wildly.
+
+In a few hurried words and signs the Doctor told the bulls what
+he was going to do and gave them careful instructions for their
+part of the show. The poor creatures were tremendously glad when
+they heard that there was a chance of bullfighting being stopped;
+and they promised to do exactly as they were told.
+
+Of course the man who took us in there didn't understand what we
+were doing. He merely thought the fat Englishman was crazy when
+he saw the Doctor making signs and talking in ox tongue.
+
+From there the Doctor went to the matadors' dressing-rooms while
+Bumpo and I with Polynesia made our way into the bull-ring and
+took our seats in the great open-air theatre.
+
+It was a very gay sight.  Thousands of ladies and gentlemen were
+there, all dressed in their smartest clothes; and everybody
+seemed very happy and cheerful.
+
+Right at the beginning Don Enrique got up and explained to the
+people that the first item on the program was to be a match
+between the English Doctor and Pepito de Malaga.  He told them
+what he had promised if the Doctor should win. But the people did
+not seem to think there was much chance of that. A roar of
+laughter went up at the very mention of such a thing.
+
+When Pepito came into the ring everybody cheered, the ladies blew
+kisses and the men clapped and waved their hats.
+
+Presently a large door on the other side of the ring was rolled
+back and in galloped one of the bulls; then the door was closed
+again. At once the matador became very much on the alert. He
+waved his red cloak and the bull rushed at him. Pepito stepped
+nimbly aside and the people cheered again.
+
+This game was repeated several times.  But I noticed that
+whenever Pepito got into a tight place and seemed to be in real
+danger from the bull, an assistant of his, who always hung around
+somewhere near, drew the bull's attention upon himself by waving
+another red cloak. Then the bull would chase the assistant and
+Pepito was left in safety. Most often, as soon as he had drawn
+the bull off, this assistant ran for the high fence and vaulted
+out of the ring to save himself. They evidently had it all
+arranged, these matadors; and it didn't seem to me that they were
+in any very great danger from the poor clumsy bull so long as
+they didn't slip and fall.
+
+After about ten minutes of this kind of thing the small door into
+the matadors' dressing-room opened and the Doctor strolled into
+the ring. As soon as his fat figure, dressed In sky-blue velvet,
+appeared, the crowd rocked in their seats with laughter.
+
+Juan Hagapoco, as they had called him, walked out into the centre
+of the ring and bowed ceremoniously to the ladies in the boxes.
+Then he bowed to the bull.  Then he bowed to Pepito.  While he
+was bowing to Pepito's assistant the bull started to rush at him
+from behind.
+
+"Look out!  Look out!--The bull!  You will be killed!" yelled the
+crowd.
+
+But the Doctor calmly finished his bow.  Then turning round he
+folded his arms, fixed the on-rushing bull with his eye and
+frowned a terrible frown.
+
+Presently a curious thing happened:  the bull's speed got slower
+and slower.  It almost looked as though he were afraid of that
+frown. Soon he stopped altogether.  The Doctor shook his finger
+at him. He began to tremble.  At last, tucking his tail between
+his legs, the bull turned round and ran away.
+
+The crowd gasped.  The Doctor ran after him.  Round and round the
+ring they went, both of them puffing and blowing like grampuses.
+Excited whispers began to break out among the people. This was
+something new in bullfighting, to have the bull running away from
+the man, instead of the man away from the bull. At last in the
+tenth lap, with a final burst of speed, Juan Hagapoco, the
+English matador, caught the poor bull by the tail.
+
+Then leading the now timid creature into the middle of the ring,
+the Doctor made him do all manner of tricks:  standing on the
+hind legs, standing on the front legs, dancing, hopping, rolling
+over. He finished up by making the bull kneel down; then he got
+on to his back and did handsprings and other acrobatics on the
+beast's horns.
+
+Pepito and his assistant had their noses sadly out of joint. The
+crowd had forgotten them entirely.  They were standing together
+by the fence not far from where I sat, muttering to one another
+and slowly growing green with jealousy.
+
+Finally the Doctor turned towards Don Enrique's seat and bowing
+said in a loud voice, "This bull is no good any more. He's
+terrified and out of breath.  Take him away, please."
+
+"Does the caballero wish for a fresh bull?" asked Don Enrique.
+
+"No," said the Doctor, "I want five fresh bulls. And I would like
+them all in the ring at once, please."
+
+At this a cry of horror burst from the people.  They had been
+used to seeing matadors escaping from one bull at a time. But
+FIVE!--That must mean certain death.
+
+Pepito sprang forward and called to Don Enrique not to allow it,
+saying it was against all the rules of bullfighting. ("Ha!"
+Polynesia chuckled into my ear.  "It's like the Doctor's
+navigation:  he breaks all the rules; but he gets there. If
+they'll only let him, he'll give them the best show for their
+money they ever saw.") A great argument began.  Half the people
+seemed to be on Pepito's side and half on the Doctor's side. At
+last the Doctor turned to Pepito and made another very grand bow
+which burst the last button off his waistcoat.
+
+"Well, of course if the caballero is afraid--" he began with a
+bland smile.
+
+"Afraid!" screamed Pepito.  "I am afraid of nothing on earth. I
+am the greatest matador in Spain.  With this right hand I have
+killed nine hundred and fifty-seven bulls."
+
+"All right then," said the Doctor, "let us see if you can kill
+five more. Let the bulls in!" he shouted.  "Pepito de Malaga is
+not afraid."
+
+A dreadful silence hung over the great theatre as the heavy door
+into the bull pen was rolled back.  Then with a roar the five big
+bulls bounded into the ring.
+
+"Look fierce," I heard the Doctor call to them in cattle
+language. "Don't scatter.  Keep close.  Get ready for a rush. 
+Take Pepito, the one in purple, first.  But for Heaven's sake
+don't kill him. Just chase him out of the ring--Now then, all
+together, go for him!"
+
+The bulls put down their heads and all in line, like a squadron
+of cavalry, charged across the ring straight for poor Pepito.
+
+For one moment the Spaniard tried his hardest to look brave. But
+the sight of the five pairs of horns coming at him at full gallop
+was too much.  He turned white to the lips, ran for the fence,
+vaulted it and disappeared.
+
+"Now the other one," the Doctor hissed.  And in two seconds the
+gallant assistant was nowhere to be seen.  Juan Hagapoco, the fat
+matador, was left alone in the ring with five rampaging bulls.
+
+The rest of the show was really well worth seeing.  First, all
+five bulls went raging round the ring, butting at the fence with
+their horns, pawing up the sand, hunting for something to kill.
+Then each one in turn would pretend to catch sight of the Doctor
+for the first time and giving a bellow of rage, would lower his
+wicked looking horns and shoot like an arrow across the ring as
+though he meant to toss him to the sky.
+
+It was really frightfully exciting.  And even I who knew it was
+all arranged beforehand, held my breath in terror for the
+Doctor's life when I saw how near they came to sticking him. But
+just at the last moment, when the horns' points were two inches
+from the sky-blue waistcoat, the Doctor would spring nimbly to
+one side and the great brutes would go thundering harmlessly by,
+missing him by no more than a hair.
+
+Then all five of them went for him together, completely
+surrounding him, slashing at him with their horns and bellowing
+with fury. How he escaped alive I don't know.  For several
+minutes his round figure could hardly be seen at all in that
+scrimmage of tossing heads, stamping hoofs and waving tails.--It
+was, as Polynesia had prophesied, the greatest bullfight ever
+seen.
+
+One woman in the crowd got quite hysterical and screamed up to
+Don Enrique,
+
+"Stop the fight!  Stop the fight!  He is too brave a man to be
+killed. This is the most wonderful matador in the world.  Let him
+live! Stop the fight!"
+
+But presently the Doctor was seen to break loose from the mob of
+animals that surrounded him.  Then catching each of them by the
+horns, one after another, he would give their heads a sudden
+twist and throw them down flat on the sand. The great fellows
+acted their parts extremely well. I have never seen trained
+animals in a circus do better. They lay there panting on the
+ground where the Doctor threw them as if they were exhausted and
+completely beaten.
+
+Then with a final bow to the ladies John Dolittle took a cigar
+from his pocket, lit it and strolled out of the ring.
+
+
+
+THE NINTH CHAPTER
+
+WE DEPART IN A HURRY
+
+AS soon as the door closed behind the Doctor the most tremendous
+noise I have ever heard broke loose.  Some of the men appeared to
+be angry (friends of Pepito's, I suppose); but the ladies called
+and called to have the Doctor come back into the ring.
+
+When at length he did so, the women seemed to go entirely mad
+over him.  They blew kisses to him.  They called him a darling.
+Then they started taking off their flowers, their rings, their
+necklaces, and their brooches and threw them down at his feet.
+You never saw anything like it--a perfect shower of jewelry and
+roses.
+
+But the Doctor just smiled up at them, bowed once more and backed
+out.
+
+"Now, Bumpo," said Polynesia, "this is where you go down and
+gather up all those trinkets and we'll sell 'em.  That's what the
+big matadors do: leave the jewelry on the ground and their
+assistants collect it for them. We might as well lay in a good
+supply of money while we've got the chance--you never know when
+you may need it when you're traveling with the Doctor. Never mind
+the roses--you can leave them--but don't leave any rings. And
+when you've finished go and get your three-thousand pesetas out
+of Don Ricky-ticky. Tommy and I will meet you outside and we'll
+pawn the gew-gaws at that Jew's shop opposite the bed-maker's.
+Run along--and not a word to the Doctor, remember."
+
+Outside the bull-ring we found the crowd still in a great state
+of excitement.  Violent arguments were going on everywhere. Bumpo
+joined us with his pockets bulging in all directions; and we made
+our way slowly through the dense crowd to that side of the
+building where the matadors' dressing-room was. The Doctor was
+waiting at the door for us.
+
+"Good work, Doctor!" said Polynesia, flying on to his
+shoulder--"Great work!--But listen:  I smell danger. I think you
+had better get back to the ship now as quick and as quietly as
+you can.  Put your overcoat on over that giddy suit.  I don't
+like the looks of this crowd. More than half of them are furious
+because you've won. Don Ricky-ticky must now stop the
+bullfighting--and you know how they love it.  What I'm afraid of
+is that some of these matadors who are just mad with jealousy may
+start some dirty work. I think this would be a good time for us
+to get away."
+
+"I dare say you're right, Polynesia," said the Doctor--"You
+usually are.  The crowd does seem to be a bit restless. I'll slip
+down to the ship alone--so I shan't be so noticeable; and I'll
+wait for you there.  You come by some different way. But don't be
+long about it.  Hurry!"
+
+As soon as the Doctor had departed Bumpo sought out Don Enrique
+and said,
+
+"Honorable Sir, you owe me three-thousand pesetas."
+
+Without a word, but looking cross-eyed with annoyance, Don
+Enrique paid his bet.
+
+We next set out to buy the provisions; and on the way we hired a
+cab and took it along with us.
+
+Not very far away we found a big grocer's shop which seemed to
+sell everything to eat.  We went in and bought up the finest lot
+of food you ever saw in your life.
+
+As a matter of fact, Polynesia had been right about the danger we
+were in. The news of our victory must have spread like lightning
+through the whole town.  For as we came out of the shop and
+loaded the cab up with our stores, we saw various little knots of
+angry men hunting round the streets, waving sticks and shouting,
+
+"The Englishmen!  Where are those accursed Englishmen who stopped
+the bullfighting?--Hang them to a lamp-post!--Throw them in the
+sea! The Englishmen!--We want the Englishmen!"
+
+After that we didn't waste any time, you may be sure. Bumpo
+grabbed the Spanish cab-driver and explained to him in signs that
+if he didn't drive down to the harbor as fast as he knew how and
+keep his mouth shut the whole way, he would choke the life out of
+him. Then we jumped into the cab on top of the food, slammed the
+door, pulled down the blinds and away we went.
+
+"We won't get a chance to pawn the jewelry now," said Polynesia,
+as we bumped over the cobbly streets.  "But never mind--it may
+come in handy later on. And anyway we've got two-thousand
+five-hundred pesetas left out of the bet. Don't give the cabby
+more than two pesetas fifty, Bumpo.  That's the right fare, I
+know."
+
+Well, we reached the harbor all right and we were mighty glad to
+find that the Doctor had sent Chee-Chee back with the row-boat to
+wait for us at the landing-wall.
+
+Unfortunately while we were in the middle of loading the supplies
+from the cab into the boat, the angry mob arrived upon the wharf
+and made a rush for us. Bumpo snatched up a big beam of wood that
+lay near and swung it round and round his head, letting out
+dreadful African battle-yells the while. This kept the crowd off
+while Chee-Chee and I hustled the last of the stores into the
+boat and clambered in ourselves.  Bumpo threw his beam of wood
+into the thick of the Spaniards and leapt in after us. Then we
+pushed off and rowed like mad for the Curlew.
+
+The mob upon the wall howled with rage, shook their fists and
+hurled stones and all manner of things after us. Poor old Bumpo
+got hit on the head with a bottle. But as he had a very strong
+head it only raised a small bump while the bottle smashed into a
+thousand pieces.
+
+When we reached the ship's side the Doctor had the anchor drawn
+up and the sails set and everything in readiness to get away.
+Looking back we saw boats coming out from the harbor-wall after
+us, filled with angry, shouting men.  So we didn't bother to
+unload our rowboat but just tied it on to the ship's stern with a
+rope and jumped aboard.
+
+It only took a moment more to swing the Curlew round into the
+wind; and soon we were speeding out of the harbor on our way to
+Brazil.
+
+"Ha!" sighed Polynesia, as we all flopped down on the deck to
+take a rest and get our breath.  "That wasn't a bad
+adventure--quite reminds me of my old seafaring days when I
+sailed with the smugglers--Golly, that was the life!--Never mind
+your head, Bumpo.  It will be all right when the Doctor puts a
+little arnica on it.  Think what we got out of the scrap:  a
+boat-load of ship's stores, pockets full of jewelry and thousands
+of pesetas. Not bad, you know--not bad."
+
+
+
+PART FOUR
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER
+
+SHELLFISH LANGUAGES AGAIN
+
+MIRANDA, the Purple Bird-of-Paradise had prophesied rightly when
+she had foretold a good spell of weather. For three weeks the
+good ship Curlew plowed her way through smiling seas before a
+steady powerful wind.
+
+I suppose most real sailors would have found this part of the
+voyage dull. But not I. As we got further South and further West
+the face of the sea seemed different every day.  And all the
+little things of a voyage which an old hand would have hardly
+bothered to notice were matters of great interest for my eager
+eyes.
+
+We did not pass many ships.  When we did see one, the Doctor
+would get out his telescope and we would all take a look at it.
+Sometimes he would signal to it, asking for news, by hauling up
+little colored flags upon the mast; and the ship would signal
+back to us in the same way.  The meaning of all the signals was
+printed in a book which the Doctor kept in the cabin. He told me
+it was the language of the sea and that all ships could
+understand it whether they be English, Dutch, or French.
+
+Our greatest happening during those first weeks was passing an
+iceberg. When the sun shone on it it burst into a hundred colors,
+sparkling like a jeweled palace in a fairy-story. Through the
+telescope we saw a mother polar bear with a cub sitting on it,
+watching us. The Doctor recognized her as one of the bears who
+had spoken to him when he was discovering the North Pole.  So he
+sailed the ship up close and offered to take her and her baby on
+to the Curlew if she wished it. But she only shook her head,
+thanking him; she said it would be far too hot for the cub on the
+deck of our ship, with no ice to keep his feet cool. It had been
+indeed a very hot day; but the nearness of that great mountain of
+ice made us all turn up our coat-collars and shiver with the
+cold.
+
+During those quiet peaceful days I improved my reading and
+writing a great deal with the Doctor's help. I got on so well
+that he let me keep the ship's log. This is a big book kept on
+every ship, a kind of diary, in which the number of miles run,
+the direction of your course and everything else that happens is
+written down.
+
+The Doctor too, in what spare time he had, was nearly always
+writing--in his note-books. I used to peep into these sometimes,
+now that I could read, but I found it hard work to make out the
+Doctor's handwriting. Many of these note-books seemed to be about
+sea things.  There were six thick ones filled full with notes and
+sketches of different seaweeds; and there were others on sea
+birds; others on sea worms; others on seashells. They were all
+some day to be re-written, printed and bound like regular books.
+
+One afternoon we saw, floating around us, great quantities of
+stuff that looked like dead grass.  The Doctor told me this was
+gulf-weed. A little further on it became so thick that it covered
+all the water as far as the eye could reach; it made the Curlew
+look as though she were moving across a meadow instead of sailing
+the Atlantic.
+
+Crawling about upon this weed, many crabs were to be seen. And
+the sight of them reminded the Doctor of his dream of learning
+the language of the shellfish. He fished several of these crabs
+up with a net and put them in his listening-tank to see if he
+could understand them. Among the crabs he also caught a
+strange-looking, chubby, little fish which he told me was called
+a Silver Fidgit.
+
+After he had listened to the crabs for a while with no success,
+he put the fidgit into the tank and began to listen to that. I
+had to leave him at this moment to go and attend to some duties
+on the deck.  But presently I heard him below shouting for me to
+come down again.
+
+"Stubbins," he cried as soon as he saw me--"a most extraordinary
+thing--Quite unbelievable--I'm not sure whether I'm
+dreaming--Can't believe my own senses.  I--I--I--"
+
+"Why, Doctor," I said, "what is it?--What's the matter?"
+
+"The fidgit," he whispered, pointing with a trembling finger to
+the listening-tank in which the little round fish was still
+swimming quietly, "he talks English!  And--and--and HE WHISTLES
+TUNES--English tunes!"
+
+"Talks English!"  I cried--"Whistles!--Why, it's impossible."
+
+"It's a fact," said the Doctor, white in the face with
+excitement. "It's only a few words, scattered, with no particular
+sense to them--all mixed up with his own language which I can't
+make out yet.  But they're English words, unless there's
+something very wrong with my hearing--And the tune he whistles,
+it's as plain as anything--always, the same tune. Now you listen
+and tell me what you make of it.  Tell me everything you hear.
+Don't miss a word."
+
+I went to the glass tank upon the table while the Doctor grabbed
+a note-book and a pencil.  Undoing my collar I stood upon the
+empty packing-case he had been using for a stand and put my right
+ear down under the water.
+
+For some moments I detected nothing at all--except, with my dry
+ear, the heavy breathing of the Doctor as he waited, all stiff
+and anxious, for me to say something.  At last from within the
+water, sounding like a child singing miles and miles away, I
+heard an unbelievably thin, small voice.
+
+"Ah!"  I said.
+
+"What is it?" asked the Doctor in a hoarse, trembly whisper.
+"What does he say?"
+
+"I can't quite make it out," I said.  "It's mostly in some
+strange fish language--Oh, but wait a minute!--Yes, now I get
+it--'No smoking'. . . . 'My, here's a queer one!' 'Popcorn and
+picture postcards here .. . . . . This way out .. . . . . Don't
+spit'--What funny things to say, Doctor!--Oh, but wait!--Now
+he's whistling the tune."
+
+"What tune is it?" gasped the Doctor.
+
+"John Peel."
+
+"Ah hah," cried the Doctor, "that's what I made it out to be."
+And he wrote furiously in his note-book.
+
+I went on listening.
+
+"This is most extraordinary," the Doctor kept muttering to
+himself as his pencil went wiggling over the page--"Most
+extraordinary--but frightfully thrilling.  I wonder where he--"
+
+"Here's some more," I cried--"some more English. . . . 'THE BIG
+TANK NEEDS CLEANING'.... That's all.  Now he's talking fish-talk
+again."
+
+"The big tank!" the Doctor murmured frowning in a puzzled kind of
+way. "I wonder where on earth he learned--"
+
+Then he bounded up out of his chair.
+
+"I have it," he yelled, "this fish has escaped from an aquarium.
+Why, of course!  Look at the kind of things he has learned:
+'Picture postcards'--they always sell them in aquariums; 'Don't
+spit'; 'No smoking'; 'This way out'--the things the attendants
+say. And then, 'My, here's a queer one!'  That's the kind of
+thing that people exclaim when they look into the tanks.  It all
+fits. There's no doubt about it, Stubbins:  we have here a fish
+who has escaped from captivity.  And it's quite possible--not
+certain, by any means, but quite possible--that I may now,
+through him, be able to establish communication with the
+shellfish. This is a great piece of luck."
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER
+
+THE FIDGIT'S STORY
+
+WELL, now that he was started once more upon his old hobby of the
+shellfish languages, there was no stopping the Doctor.  He worked
+right through the night.
+
+A little after midnight I fell asleep in a chair; about two in
+the morning Bumpo fell asleep at the wheel; and for five hours
+the Curlew was allowed to drift where she liked. But still John
+Dolittle worked on, trying his hardest to understand the fidgit's
+language, struggling to make the fidgit understand him.
+
+When I woke up it was broad daylight again.  The Doctor was still
+standing at the listening-tank, looking as tired as an owl and
+dreadfully wet. But on his face there was a proud and happy
+smile.
+
+"Stubbins," he said as soon as he saw me stir, "I've done it.
+I've got the key to the fidgit's language.  It's a frightfully
+difficult language--quite different from anything I ever heard. 
+The only thing it reminds me of--slightly--is ancient Hebrew.  It
+isn't shellfish; but it's a big step towards it.  Now, the next
+thing, I want you to take a pencil and a fresh notebook and write
+down everything I say. The fidgit has promised to tell me the
+story of his life. I will translate it into English and you put
+it down in the book. Are you ready?"
+
+Once more the Doctor lowered his ear beneath the level of the
+water; and as he began to speak, I started to write. And this is
+the story that the fidgit told us.
+
+
+THIRTEEN MONTHS IN AN AQUARIUM
+
+
+"I was born in the Pacific Ocean, close to the coast of Chile.  I
+was one of a family of two-thousand five-hundred and ten. Soon
+after our mother and father left us, we youngsters got scattered.
+The family was broken up--by a herd of whales who chased us. I
+and my sister, Clippa (she was my favorite sister) had a very
+narrow escape for our lives.  As a rule, whales are not very hard
+to get away from if you are good at dodging--if you've only got a
+quick swerve. But this one that came after Clippa and myself was
+a very mean whale, Every time he lost us under a stone or
+something he'd come back and hunt and hunt till he routed us out
+into the open again. I never saw such a nasty, persevering brute.
+
+"Well, we shook him at last--though not before he had worried us
+for hundreds of miles northward, up the west coast of South
+America.  But luck was against us that day. While we were resting
+and trying to get our breath, another family of fidgits came
+rushing by, shouting, 'Come on! Swim for your lives!  The
+dog-fish are coming!'
+
+"Now dog-fish are particularly fond of fidgits.  We are, you
+might say, their favorite food--and for that reason we always
+keep away from deep, muddy waters.  What's more, dog-fish are not
+easy to escape from; they are terribly fast and clever hunters.
+So up we had to jump and on again.
+
+"After we had gone a few more hundred miles we looked back and
+saw that the dog-fish were gaining on us.  So we turned into a
+harbor. It happened to be one on the west coast of the United
+States.  Here we guessed, and hoped, the dog-fish would not be
+likely to follow us. As it happened, they didn't even see us turn
+in, but dashed on northward and we never saw them again.  I hope
+they froze to death in the Arctic Seas.
+
+"But, as I said, luck was against us that day.  While I and my
+sister were cruising gently round the ships anchored in the
+harbor looking for orange-peels, a great delicacy with
+us---SWOOP! BANG!--we were caught in a net.
+
+"We struggled for all we were worth; but it was no use. The net
+was small-meshed and strongly made.  Kicking and flipping we were
+hauled up the side of the ship and dumped down on the deck, high
+and dry in a blazing noon-day sun.
+
+"Here a couple of old men in whiskers and spectacles leant over
+us, making strange sounds.  Some codling had got caught in the
+net the same time as we were.  These the old men threw back into
+the sea; but us they seemed to think very precious.  They put us
+carefully into a large jar and after they had taken us on shore
+they went to a big house and changed us from the jar into glass
+boxes full of water. This house was on the edge of the harbor;
+and a small stream of sea-water was made to flow through the
+glass tank so we could breathe properly. Of course we had never
+lived inside glass walls before; and at first we kept on trying
+to swim through them and got our noses awfully sore bumping the
+glass at full speed.
+
+"Then followed weeks and weeks of weary idleness.  They treated
+us well, so far as they knew how.  The old fellows in spectacles
+came and looked at us proudly twice a day and saw that we had the
+proper food to eat, the right amount of light and that the water
+was not too hot or too cold. But oh, the dullness of that life! 
+It seemed we were a kind of a show. At a certain hour every
+morning the big doors of the house were thrown open and everybody
+in the city who had nothing special to do came in and looked at
+us.  There were other tanks filled with different kinds of fishes
+all round the walls of the big room. And the crowds would go from
+tank to tank, looking in at us through the glass--with their
+mouths open, like half-witted flounders. We got so sick of it
+that we used to open our mouths back at them; and this they
+seemed to think highly comical.
+
+"One day my sister said to me, 'Think you, Brother, that these
+strange creatures who have captured us can talk?'
+
+" 'Surely,' said I, 'have you not noticed that some talk with the
+lips only, some with the whole face, and yet others discourse
+with the hands? When they come quite close to the glass you can
+hear them.  Listen!'
+
+"At that moment a female, larger than the rest, pressed her nose
+up against the glass, pointed at me and said to her young behind
+her, 'Oh, look, here's a queer one!'
+
+"And then we noticed that they nearly always said this when they
+looked in.  And for a long time we thought that such was the
+whole extent of the language, this being a people of but few
+ideas. To help pass away the weary hours we learned it by heart,
+'Oh, look, here's a queer one!'  But we never got to know what it
+meant. Other phrases, however, we did get the meaning of; and we
+even learned to read a little in man-talk. Many big signs there
+were, set up upon the walls; and when we saw that the keepers
+stopped the people from spitting and smoking, pointed to these
+signs angrily and read them out loud, we knew then that these
+writings signified, No Smoking and Don't Spit.  "Then in the
+evenings, after the crowd had gone, the same aged male with one
+leg of wood, swept up the peanut-shells with a broom every night.
+And while he was so doing he always whistled the same tune to
+himself. This melody we rather liked; and we learned that too by
+heart--thinking it was part of the language.
+
+"Thus a whole year went by in this dismal place.  Some days new
+fishes were brought in to the other tanks; and other days old
+fishes were taken out.  At first we had hoped we would only be
+kept here for a while, and that after we had been looked at
+sufficiently we would be returned to freedom and the sea. But as
+month after month went by, and we were left undisturbed, our
+hearts grew heavy within our prison-walls of glass and we spoke
+to one another less and less.
+
+"One day, when the crowd was thickest in the big room, a woman
+with a red face fainted from the heat.  I watched through the
+glass and saw that the rest of the people got highly excited--
+though to me it did not seem to be a matter of very great
+importance. They threw cold water on her and carried her out into
+the open air.
+
+"This made me think mightily; and presently a great idea burst
+upon me.
+
+" 'Sister,' I said, turning to poor Clippa who was sulking at the
+bottom of our prison trying to hide behind a stone from the
+stupid gaze of the children who thronged about our tank,
+'supposing that we pretended we were sick: do you think they
+would take us also from this stuffy house?'
+
+" 'Brother,' said she wearily, 'that they might do. But most
+likely they would throw us on a rubbish-heap, where we would die
+in the hot sun.'
+
+" 'But,' said I, 'why should they go abroad to seek a
+rubbish-heap, when the harbor is so close?  While we were being
+brought here I saw men throwing their rubbish into the water. If
+they would only throw us also there, we could quickly reach the
+sea.'
+
+" 'The Sea!' murmured poor Clippa with a faraway look in her eyes
+(she had fine eyes, had my sister, Clippa). 'How like a dream it
+sounds--the Sea!  Oh brother, will we ever swim in it again,
+think you? Every night as I lie awake on the floor of this
+evil-smelling dungeon I hear its hearty voice ringing in my ears. 
+How I have longed for it! Just to feel it once again, the nice,
+big, wholesome homeliness of it all! To jump, just to jump from
+the crest of an Atlantic wave, laughing in the trade wind's
+spindrift, down into the blue-green swirling trough! To chase the
+shrimps on a summer evening, when the sky is red and the light's
+all pink within the foam!  To lie on the top, in the doldrums'
+noonday calm, and warm your tummy in the tropic sun! To wander
+hand in hand once more through the giant seaweed forests of the
+Indian Ocean, seeking the delicious eggs of the pop-pop! To play
+hide-and-seek among the castles of the coral towns with their
+pearl and jasper windows spangling the floor of the Spanish Main! 
+To picnic in the anemone-meadows, dim blue and lilac-gray, that
+lie in the lowlands beyond the South Sea Garden!  To throw
+somersaults on the springy sponge-beds of the Mexican Gulf!  To
+poke about among the dead ships and see what wonders and
+adventures lie inside!--And then, on winter nights when the
+Northeaster whips the water into froth, to swoop down and down to
+get away from the cold, down to where the water's warm and dark,
+down and still down, till we spy the twinkle of the fire-eels far
+below where our friends and cousins sit chatting round the
+Council Grotto--chatting, Brother, over the news and gossip of
+THE SEA! . . . Oh--'
+
+"And then she broke down completely, sniffling.
+
+" 'Stop it!'  I said.  'You make me homesick.  Look here:  let's
+pretend we're sick--or better still, let's pretend we're dead;
+and see what happens. If they throw us on a rubbish-heap and we
+fry in the sun, we'll not be much worse off than we are here in
+this smelly prison.  What do you say? Will you risk it?'
+
+" 'I will,' she said--'and gladly.'
+
+"So next morning two fidgits were found by the keeper floating on
+the top of the water in their tank, stiff and dead. We gave a
+mighty good imitation of dead fish--although I say it myself. The
+keeper ran and got the old gentlemen with spectacles and
+whiskers. They threw up their hands in horror when they saw us.
+Lifting us carefully out of the water they laid us on wet cloths.
+That was the hardest part of all.  If you're a fish and get taken
+out of the water you have to keep opening and shutting your mouth
+to breathe at all--and even that you can't keep up for long. And
+all this time we had to stay stiff as sticks and breathe silently
+through half-closed lips.
+
+"Well, the old fellows poked us and felt us and pinched us till I
+thought they'd never be done.  Then, when their backs were turned
+a moment, a wretched cat got up on the table and nearly ate us.
+Luckily the old men turned round in time and shooed her away. You
+may be sure though that we took a couple of good gulps of air
+while they weren't looking; and that was the only thing that
+saved us from choking. I wanted to whisper to Clippa to be brave
+and stick it out. But I couldn't even do that; because, as you
+know, most kinds of fish-talk cannot be heard--not even a
+shout--unless you're under water.
+
+"Then, just as we were about to give it up and let on that we
+were alive, one of the old men shook his head sadly, lifted us up
+and carried us out of the building.
+
+" 'Now for it!'  I thought to myself.  'We'll soon know our fate:
+liberty or the garbage-can.'
+
+"Outside, to our unspeakable horror, he made straight for a large
+ash-barrel which stood against the wall on the other side of a
+yard. Most happily for us, however, while he was crossing this
+yard a very dirty man with a wagon and horses drove up and took
+the ash-barrel away. I suppose it was his property.
+
+"Then the old man looked around for some other place to throw us.
+He seemed about to cast us upon the ground.  But he evidently
+thought that this would make the yard untidy and he desisted. The
+suspense was terrible.  He moved outside the yard-gate and my
+heart sank once more as I saw that he now intended to throw us in
+the gutter of the roadway.  But (fortune was indeed with us that
+day), a large man in, blue clothes and silver buttons stopped him
+in the nick of time.  Evidently, from the way the large man
+lectured and waved a short thick stick, it was against the rules
+of the town to throw dead fish in the streets.
+
+"At last, to our unutterable joy, the old man turned and moved
+off with us towards the harbor.  He walked so slowly, muttering
+to himself all the way and watching the man in blue out of the
+corner of his eye, that I wanted to bite his finger to make him
+hurry up. Both Clippa and I were actually at our last gasp.
+
+"Finally he reached the sea-wall and giving us one last sad look
+he dropped us into the waters of the harbor.
+
+"Never had we realized anything like the thrill of that moment,
+as we felt the salt wetness close over our heads. With one flick
+of our tails we came to life again. The old man was so surprised
+that he fell right into the water, almost on top of us.  From
+this he was rescued by a sailor with a boat-hook; and the last we
+saw of him, the man in blue was dragging him away by the
+coat-collar, lecturing him again. Apparently it was also against
+the rules of the town to throw dead fish into the harbor.
+
+"But we?--What time or thought had we for his troubles? WE WERE
+FREE!  In lightning leaps, in curving spurts, in crazy
+zig-zags--whooping, shrieking with delight, we sped for home and
+the open sea!
+
+"That is all of my story and I will now, as I promised last
+night, try to answer any questions you may ask about the sea, on
+condition that I am set at liberty as soon as you have done."
+
+
+The Doctor:  "Is there any part of the sea deeper than that known
+as the Nero Deep--I mean the one near the Island of Guam?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "Why, certainly.  There's one much deeper than that
+near the mouth of the Amazon River.  But it's small and hard to
+find. We call it 'The Deep Hole.'  And there's another in the
+Antarctic Sea."
+
+The Doctor:  "Can you talk any shellfish language yourself?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "No, not a word.  We regular fishes don't have
+anything to do with the shellfish.  We consider them a low class."
+
+The Doctor:  "But when you're near them, can you hear the sound
+they make talking--I mean without necessarily understanding what
+they say?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "Only with the very largest ones.  Shellfish have
+such weak small voices it is almost impossible for any but their
+own kind to hear them. But with the bigger ones it is different. 
+They make a sad, booming noise, rather like an iron pipe being
+knocked with a stone--only not nearly so loud of course."
+
+The Doctor:  "I am most anxious to get down to the bottom of the
+sea--to study many things.  But we land animals, as you no doubt
+know, are unable to breathe under water. Have you any ideas that
+might help me?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "I think that for both your difficulties the best
+thing for you to do would be to try and get hold of the Great
+Glass Sea Snail."
+
+The Doctor:  "Er--who, or what, is the Great Glass Sea Snail?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "He is an enormous salt-water snail, one of the
+winkle family, but as large as a big house. He talks quite
+loudly--when he speaks, but this is not often. He can go to any
+part of the ocean, at all depths because he doesn't have to be
+afraid of any creature in the sea. His shell is made of
+transparent mother-o'-pearl so that you can see through it; but
+it's thick and strong. When he is out of his shell and he carries
+it empty on his back, there is room in it for a wagon and a pair
+of horses. He has been seen carrying his food in it when
+traveling."
+
+The Doctor:  "I feel that that is just the creature I have been
+looking for.  He could take me and my assistant inside his shell
+and we could explore the deepest depths in safety. Do you think
+you could get him for me?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "Alas! no.  I would willingly if I could; but he is
+hardly ever seen by ordinary fish. He lives at the bottom of the
+Deep Hole, and seldom comes out--And into the Deep Hole, the
+lower waters of which are muddy, fishes such as we are afraid to
+go."
+
+The Doctor:  "Dear me!  That's a terrible disappointment. Are
+there many of this kind of snail in the sea?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "Oh no.  He is the only one in existence, since his
+second wife died long, long ago.  He is the last of the Giant
+Shellfish.  He belongs to past ages when the whales were
+land-animals and all that. They say he is over seventy thousand
+years old."
+
+The Doctor:  "Good Gracious, what wonderful things he could tell
+me! I do wish I could meet him."
+
+The Fidgit:  "Were there any more questions you wished to ask me?
+This water in your tank is getting quite warm and sickly. I'd
+like to be put back into the sea as soon as you can spare me."
+
+The Doctor:  "Just one more thing:  when Christopher Columbus
+crossed the Atlantic in 1492, he threw overboard two copies of
+his diary sealed up in barrels.  One of them was never found. It
+must have sunk.  I would like to get it for my library. Do you
+happen to know where it is?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "Yes, I do.  That too is in the Deep Hole.  When the
+barrel sank the currents drifted it northwards down what we call
+the Orinoco Slope, till it finally disappeared into the Deep
+Hole.  If it was any other part of the sea I'd try and get it for
+you; but not there."
+
+The Doctor:  "Well, that is all, I think.  I hate to put you back
+into the sea, because I know that as soon as I do, I'll think of
+a hundred other questions I wanted to ask you.  But I must keep
+my promise. Would you care for anything before you go?--it seems
+a cold day--some cracker-crumbs or something?"
+
+The Fidgit:  "No, I won't stop. All I want just at present is
+fresh sea-water."
+
+The Doctor:  "I cannot thank you enough for all the information
+you have given me.  You have been very helpful and patient."
+
+The Fidgit:  "Pray do not mention it.  It has been a real
+pleasure to be of assistance to the great John Dolittle.  You
+are, as of course you know, already quite famous among the better
+class of fishes.  Goodbye!--and good luck to you, to your ship
+and to all your plans!"
+
+
+The Doctor carried the listening-tank to a porthole, opened it
+and emptied the tank into the sea.  "Good-bye!" he murmured as a
+faint splash reached us from without.
+
+I dropped my pencil on the table and leaned back with a sigh. My
+fingers were so stiff with writers' cramp that I felt as though I
+should never be able to open my hand again. But I, at least, had
+had a night's sleep.  As for the poor Doctor, he was so weary
+that he had hardly put the tank back upon the table and dropped
+into a chair, when his eyes closed and he began to snore.
+
+In the passage outside Polynesia scratched angrily at the door. I
+rose and let her in.
+
+"A nice state of affairs!" she stormed.  "What sort of a ship is
+this? There's that colored man upstairs asleep under the wheel;
+the Doctor asleep down here; and you making pot-hooks in a
+copy-book with a pencil! Expect the ship to steer herself to
+Brazil?  We're just drifting around the sea like an empty
+bottle--and a week behind time as it is. What's happened to you
+all?"
+
+She was so angry that her voice rose to a scream. But it would
+have taken more than that to wake the Doctor.
+
+I put the note-book carefully in a drawer and went on deck to
+take the wheel.
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER
+
+BAD WEATHER
+
+AS soon as I had the Curlew swung round upon her course again I
+noticed something peculiar:  we were not going as fast as we had
+been. Our favorable wind had almost entirely disappeared.
+
+This, at first, we did not worry about, thinking that at any
+moment it might spring up again.  But the whole day went by; then
+two days; then a week,--ten days, and the wind grew no stronger.
+The Curlew just dawdled along at the speed of a toddling babe.
+
+I now saw that the Doctor was becoming uneasy. He kept getting
+out his sextant (an instrument which tells you what part of the
+ocean you are in) and making calculations. He was forever looking
+at his maps and measuring distances on them. The far edge of the
+sea, all around us, he examined with his telescope a hundred
+times a day.
+
+"But Doctor," I said when I found him one afternoon mumbling to
+himself about the misty appearance of the sky, "it wouldn't
+matter so much would it, if we did take a little longer over the
+trip? We've got plenty to eat on board now; and the Purple
+Bird-of-Paradise will know that we have been delayed by something
+that we couldn't help."
+
+"Yes, I suppose so," he said thoughtfully.  "But I hate to keep
+her waiting. At this season of the year she generally goes to the
+Peruvian mountains--for her health.  And besides, the good
+weather she prophesied is likely to end any day now and delay us
+still further.  If we could only keep moving at even a fair
+speed, I wouldn't mind.  It's this hanging around, almost dead
+still, that gets me restless--Ah, here comes a wind--Not very
+strong--but maybe it'll grow."
+
+A gentle breeze from the Northeast came singing through the
+ropes; and we smiled up hopefully at the Curlew's leaning masts.
+
+"We've only got another hundred and fifty miles to make, to sight
+the coast of Brazil," said the Doctor.  "If that wind would just
+stay with us, steady, for a full day we'd see land."
+
+But suddenly the wind changed, swung to the East, then back to
+the Northeast--then to the North.  It came in fitful gusts, as
+though it hadn't made up its mind which way to blow; and I was
+kept busy at the wheel, swinging the Curlew this way and that to
+keep the right side of it.
+
+Presently we heard Polynesia, who was in the rigging keeping a
+look-out for land or passing ships, screech down to us,
+
+"Bad weather coming.  That jumpy wind is an ugly sign. And
+look!--over there in the East--see that black line, low down? If
+that isn't a storm I'm a land-lubber. The gales round here are
+fierce, when they do blow--tear your canvas out like paper. You
+take the wheel, Doctor:  it'll need a strong arm if it's a real
+storm. I'll go wake Bumpo and Chee-Chee. This looks bad to me.
+We'd best get all the sail down right away, till we see how
+strong she's going to blow."
+
+Indeed the whole sky was now beginning to take on a very
+threatening look. The black line to the eastward grew blacker as
+it came nearer and nearer. A low, rumbly, whispering noise went
+moaning over the sea. The water which had been so blue and
+smiling turned to a ruffled ugly gray. And across the darkening
+sky, shreds of cloud swept like tattered witches flying from the
+storm.
+
+I must confess I was frightened.  You see I had only so far seen
+the sea in friendly moods:  sometimes quiet and lazy; sometimes
+laughing, venturesome and reckless; sometimes brooding and
+poetic, when moonbeams turned her ripples into silver threads and
+dreaming snowy night-clouds piled up fairy-castles in the sky.
+But as yet I had not known, or even guessed at, the terrible
+strength of the Sea's wild anger.
+
+When that storm finally struck us we leaned right over flatly on
+our side, as though some in-visible giant had slapped the poor
+Curlew on the cheek.
+
+After that things happened so thick and so fast that what with
+the wind that stopped your breath, the driving, blinding water,
+the deafening noise and the rest, I haven't a very clear idea of
+how our shipwreck came about.
+
+I remember seeing the sails, which we were now trying to roll up
+upon the deck, torn out of our hands by the wind and go overboard
+like a penny balloon--very nearly carrying Chee-Chee with them.
+And I have a dim recollection of Polynesia screeching somewhere
+for one of us to go downstairs and close the port-holes.
+
+In spite of our masts being bare of sail we were now scudding
+along to the southward at a great pace.  But every once in a
+while huge gray-black waves would arise from under the ship's
+side like nightmare monsters, swell and climb, then crash down
+upon us, pressing us into the sea; and the poor Curlew would come
+to a standstill, half under water, like a gasping, drowning pig.
+
+While I was clambering along towards the wheel to see the Doctor,
+clinging like a leech with hands and legs to the rails lest I be
+blown overboard, one of these tremendous seas tore loose my hold,
+filled my throat with water and swept me like a cork the full
+length of the deck.  My head struck a door with an awful bang.
+And then I fainted.
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER
+
+WRECKED!
+
+WHEN I awoke I was very hazy in my head.  The sky was blue and
+the sea was calm.  At first I thought that I must have fallen
+asleep in the sun on the deck of the Curlew.  And thinking that I
+would be late for my turn at the wheel, I tried to rise to my
+feet.  I found I couldn't; my arms were tied to something behind
+me with a piece of rope. By twisting my neck around I found this
+to be a mast, broken off short. Then I realized that I wasn't
+sitting on a ship at all; I was only sitting on a piece of one. 
+I began to feel uncomfortably scared.  Screwing up my eyes, I
+searched the rim of the sea North, East, South and West: no land: 
+no ships; nothing was in sight.  I was alone in the ocean!
+
+At last, little by little, my bruised head began to remember what
+had happened:  first, the coming of the storm; the sails going
+overboard; then the big wave which had banged me against the
+door.  But what had become of the Doctor and the others? What day
+was this, to-morrow or the day after?--And why was I sitting on
+only part of a ship?
+
+Working my hand into my pocket, I found my penknife and cut the
+rope that tied me.  This reminded me of a shipwreck story which
+Joe had once told me, of a captain who had tied his son to a mast
+in order that he shouldn't be washed overboard by the gale. So of
+course it must have been the Doctor who had done the same to me.
+
+But where was he?
+
+The awful thought came to me that the Doctor and the rest of them
+must be drowned, since there was no other wreckage to be seen
+upon the waters. I got to my feet and stared around the sea
+again--Nothing--nothing but water and sky!
+
+Presently a long way off I saw the small dark shape of a bird
+skimming low down over the swell.  When it came quite close I saw
+it was a Stormy Petrel.  I tried to talk to it, to see if it
+could give me news. But unluckily I hadn't learned much sea-bird
+language and I couldn't even attract its attention, much less
+make it understand what I wanted.
+
+Twice it circled round my raft, lazily, with hardly a flip of the
+wing. And I could not help wondering, in spite of the distress I
+was in, where it had spent last night--how it, or any other
+living thing, had weathered such a smashing storm.  It made me
+realize the great big difference between different creatures; and
+that size and strength are not everything.  To this petrel, a
+frail little thing of feathers, much smaller and weaker than I,
+the Sea could do anything she liked, it seemed; and his only
+answer was a lazy, saucy flip of the wing! HE was the one who
+should be called the ABLE SEAMAN.  For, come raging gale, come
+sunlit calm, this wilderness of water was his home.
+
+After swooping over the sea around me (just looking for food, I
+supposed) he went off in the direction from which he had come.
+And I was alone once more.
+
+I found I was somewhat hungry--and a little thirsty too. I began
+to think all sorts of miserable thoughts, the way one does when
+he is lonesome and has missed breakfast. What was going to become
+of me now, if the Doctor and the rest were drowned?  I would
+starve to death or die of thirst. Then the sun went behind some
+clouds and I felt cold. How many hundreds or thousands of miles
+was I from any land? What if another storm should come and smash
+up even this poor raft on which I stood?
+
+I went on like this for a while, growing gloomier and gloomier,
+when suddenly I thought of Polynesia.  "You're always safe with
+the Doctor," she had said. "He gets there.  Remember that."
+
+I'm sure I wouldn't have minded so much if he had been here with
+me. It was this being all alone that made me want to weep. And
+yet the petrel was alone!--What a baby I was, I told myself, to
+be scared to the verge of tears just by loneliness! I was quite
+safe where I was--for the present anyhow. John Dolittle wouldn't
+get scared by a little thing like this. He only got excited when
+he made a discovery, found a new bug or something.  And if what
+Polynesia had said was true, he couldn't be drowned and things
+would come out all right in the end somehow.
+
+I threw out my chest, buttoned up my collar and began walking up
+and down the short raft to keep warm.  I would be like John
+Dolittle.  I wouldn't cry--And I wouldn't get excited.
+
+How long I paced back and forth I don't know.  But it was a long
+time--for I had nothing else to do.
+
+At last I got tired and lay down to rest.  And in spite of all my
+troubles, I soon fell fast asleep.
+
+This time when I woke up, stars were staring down at me out of a
+cloudless sky.  The sea was still calm; and my strange craft was
+rocking gently under me on an easy swell. All my fine courage
+left me as I gazed up into the big silent night and felt the
+pains of hunger and thirst set to work in my stomach harder than
+ever.
+
+"Are you awake?" said a high silvery voice at my elbow.
+
+I sprang up as though some one had stuck a pin in me. And there,
+perched at the very end of my raft, her beautiful golden tail
+glowing dimly in the starlight, sat Miranda, the Purple
+Bird-of-Paradise!
+
+Never have I been so glad to see any one in my life. I almost f
+ell into the water as I leapt to hug her.
+
+"I didn't want to wake you," said she.  "I guessed you must be
+tired after all you've been through--Don't squash the life out of
+me, boy: I'm not a stuffed duck, you know."
+
+"Oh, Miranda, you dear old thing," said I, "I'm so glad to see
+you. Tell me, where is the Doctor?  Is he alive?"
+
+"Of course he's alive--and it's my firm belief he always will be.
+He's over there, about forty miles to the westward."
+
+"What's he doing there?"
+
+"He's sitting on the other half of the Curlew shaving himself--
+or he was, when I left him."
+
+"Well, thank Heaven he's alive!" said I--"And Bumpo--and the
+animals, are they all right?"
+
+"Yes, they're with him.  Your ship broke in half in the storm.
+The Doctor had tied you down when he found you stunned.  And the
+part you were on got separated and floated away.  Golly, it was a
+storm! One has to be a gull or an albatross to stand that sort of
+weather. I had been watching for the Doctor for three weeks, from
+a cliff-top; but last night I had to take refuge in a cave to
+keep my tail-feathers from blowing out.  As soon as I found the
+Doctor, he sent me off with some porpoises to look for you.  A
+Stormy Petrel volunteered to help us in our search.  There had
+been quite a gathering of sea-birds waiting to greet the Doctor;
+but the rough weather sort of broke up the arrangements that had
+been made to welcome him properly. It was the petrel that first
+gave us the tip where you were."
+
+"Well, but how can I get to the Doctor, Miranda?--I haven't any
+oars."
+
+"Get to him!--Why, you're going to him now.  Look behind you."
+
+I turned around.  The moon was just rising on the sea's edge. And
+I now saw that my raft was moving through the water, but so
+gently that I had not noticed it before.
+
+"What's moving us?"  I asked.
+
+"The porpoises," said Miranda.
+
+I went to the back of the raft and looked down into the water.
+And just below the surface I could see the dim forms of four big
+porpoises, their sleek skins glinting in the moonlight, pushing
+at the raft with their noses.
+
+"They're old friends of the Doctor's," said Miranda.  "They'd do
+anything for John Dolittle.  We should see his party soon now.
+We're pretty near the place I left them--Yes, there they are! See
+that dark shape?--No, more to the right of where you're looking.
+Can't you make out the figure of the black man standing against
+the sky?--Now Chee-Chee spies us--he's waving. Don't you see
+them?"
+
+I didn't--for my eyes were not as sharp as Miranda's. But
+presently from somewhere in the murky dusk I heard Bumpo singing
+his African comic songs with the full force of his enormous
+voice. And in a little, by peering and peering in the direction
+of the sound, I at last made out a dim mass of tattered,
+splintered wreckage--all that remained of the poor Curlew--
+floating low down upon the water.
+
+A hulloa came through the night.  And I answered it. We kept it
+up, calling to one another back and forth across the calm night
+sea. And a few minutes later the two halves of our brave little
+ruined ship bumped gently together again.
+
+Now that I was nearer and the moon was higher I could see more
+plainly. Their half of the ship was much bigger than mine.
+
+It lay partly upon its side; and most of them were perched upon
+the top munching ship's biscuit.
+
+But close down to the edge of the water, using the sea's calm
+surface for a mirror and a piece of broken bottle for a razor,
+John Dolittle was shaving his face by the light of the moon.
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER
+
+LAND!
+
+THEY all gave me a great greeting as I clambered off my half of
+the ship on to theirs.  Bumpo brought me a wonderful drink of
+fresh water which he drew from a barrel; and Chee-Chee and
+Polynesia stood around me feeding me ship's biscuit.
+
+But it was the sight of the Doctor's smiling face--just knowing
+that I was with him once again--that cheered me more than
+anything else. As I watched him carefully wipe his glass razor
+and put it away for future use, I could not help comparing him in
+my mind with the Stormy Petrel.  Indeed the vast strange
+knowledge which he had gained from his speech and friendship with
+animals had brought him the power to do things which no other
+human being would dare to try. Like the petrel, he could
+apparently play with the sea in all her moods.  It was no wonder
+that many of the ignorant savage peoples among whom he passed in
+his voyages made statues of him showing him as half a fish, half
+a bird, and half a man. And ridiculous though it was, I could
+quite understand what Miranda meant when she said she firmly
+believed that he could never die. Just to be with him gave you a
+wonderful feeling of comfort and safety.
+
+Except for his appearance (his clothes were crumpled and damp and
+his battered high hat was stained with salt water) that storm
+which had so terrified me had disturbed him no more than getting
+stuck on the mud-bank in Puddleby River.
+
+Politely thanking Miranda for getting me so quickly, he asked her
+if she would now go ahead of us and show us the way to
+Spidermonkey Island.  Next, he gave orders to the porpoises to
+leave my old piece of the ship and push the bigger half wherever
+the Bird-of-Paradise should lead us.
+
+How much he had lost in the wreck besides his razor I did not
+know--everything, most likely, together with all the money he
+had saved up to buy the ship with.  And still he was smiling as
+though he wanted for nothing in the world.  The only things he
+had saved, as far as I could see--beyond the barrel of water and
+bag of biscuit--were his precious note-books. These, I saw when
+he stood up, he had strapped around his waist with yards and
+yards of twine. He was, as old Matthew Mugg used to say, a great
+man. He was unbelievable.
+
+And now for three days we continued our journey slowly but
+steadily--southward.
+
+The only inconvenience we suffered from was the cold. This seemed
+to increase as we went forward.  The Doctor said that the island,
+disturbed from its usual paths by the great gale, had evidently
+drifted further South than it had ever been before.
+
+On the third night poor Miranda came back to us nearly frozen.
+She told the Doctor that in the morning we would find the island
+quite close to us, though we couldn't see it now as it was a
+misty dark night. She said that she must hurry back at once to a
+warmer climate; and that she would visit the Doctor in Puddleby
+next August as usual.
+
+"Don't forget, Miranda," said John Dolittle, "if you should hear
+anything of what happened to Long Arrow, to get word to me."
+
+The Bird-of-Paradise assured him she would.  And after the Doctor
+had thanked her again and again for all that she had done for us,
+she wished us good luck and disappeared into the night.
+
+We were all awake early in the morning, long before it was light,
+waiting for our first glimpse of the country we had come so far
+to see. And as the rising sun turned the eastern sky to gray, of
+course it was old Polynesia who first shouted that she could see
+palm-trees and mountain tops.
+
+With the growing light it became plain to all of us: a long
+island with high rocky mountains in the middle--and so near to
+us that you could almost throw your hat upon the shore.
+
+The porpoises gave us one last push and our strange-looking craft
+bumped gently on a low beach.  Then, thanking our lucky stars for
+a chance to stretch our cramped legs, we all bundled off on to
+the land--the first land, even though it was floating land, that
+we had trodden for six weeks. What a thrill I felt as I realized
+that Spidermonkey Island, the little spot in the atlas which my
+pencil had touched, lay at last beneath my feet!
+
+When the light increased still further we noticed that the palms
+and grasses of the island seemed withered and almost dead. The
+Doctor said that it must be on account of the cold that the
+island was now suffering from in its new climate. These trees and
+grasses, he told us, were the kind that belonged to warm,
+tropical weather.
+
+The porpoises asked if we wanted them any further. And the Doctor
+said that he didn't think so, not for the present--nor the raft
+either, he added; for it was already beginning to fall to pieces
+and could not float much longer.
+
+As we were preparing to go inland and explore the island, we
+suddenly noticed a whole band of Red Indians watching us with
+great curiosity from among the trees.  The Doctor went forward to
+talk to them.  But he could not make them understand. He tried by
+signs to show them that he had come on a friendly visit. The
+Indians didn't seem to like us however.  They had bows and arrows
+and long hunting spears, with stone points, in their hands; and
+they made signs back to the Doctor to tell him that if he came a
+step nearer they would kill us all. They evidently wanted us to
+leave the island at once. It was a very uncomfortable situation.
+
+At last the Doctor made them understand that he only wanted to
+see the island all over and that then he would go away--though
+how he meant to do it, with no boat to sail in, was more than I
+could imagine.
+
+While they were talking among themselves another Indian arrived--
+apparently with a message that they were wanted in some other
+part of the island.  Because presently, shaking their spears
+threateningly at us, they went off with the newcomer.
+
+"What discourteous pagans!" said Bumpo.  "Did you ever see such
+inhospitability?--Never even asked us if we'd had breakfast, the
+benighted bounders!"
+
+"Sh!  They're going off to their village," said Polynesia.  "I'll
+bet there's a village on the other side of those mountains. If
+you take my advice, Doctor, you'll get away from this beach while
+their backs are turned.  Let us go up into the higher land for
+the present--some place where they won't know where we are. They
+may grow friendlier when they see we mean no harm. They have
+honest, open faces and look like a decent crowd to me. They're
+just ignorant--probably never saw white folks before."
+
+So, feeling a little bit discouraged by our first reception, we
+moved off towards the mountains in the centre of the island.
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER
+
+THE JABIZRI
+
+WE found the woods at the feet of the hills thick and tangly and
+somewhat hard to get through.  On Polynesia's advice, we kept
+away from all paths and trails, feeling it best to avoid meeting
+any Indians for the present.
+
+But she and Chee-Chee were good guides and splendid
+jungle-hunters; and the two of them set to work at once looking
+for food for us. In a very short space of time they had found
+quite a number of different fruits and nuts which made excellent
+eating, though none of us knew the names of any of them.  We
+discovered a nice clean stream of good water which came down from
+the mountains; so we were supplied with something to drink as
+well.
+
+We followed the stream up towards the heights.  And presently we
+came to parts where the woods were thinner and the ground rocky
+and steep. Here we could get glimpses of wonderful views all over
+the island, with the blue sea beyond.  While we were admiring one
+of these the Doctor suddenly said, "Sh!--A Jabizri!--Don't you
+hear it?"
+
+We listened and heard, somewhere in the air about us, an
+extraordinarily musical hum-like a bee, but not just one note.
+This hum rose and fell, up and down--almost like some one
+singing.
+
+"No other insect but the Jabizri beetle hums like that," said the
+Doctor.  "I wonder where he is--quite near, by the sound--flying
+among the trees probably.  Oh, if I only had my butterfly-net!
+Why didn't I think to strap that around my waist too. Confound
+the storm:  I may miss the chance of a lifetime now of getting
+the rarest beetle in the world--Oh look! There he goes!"
+
+A huge beetle, easily three inches long I should say, suddenly
+flew by our noses.  The Doctor got frightfully excited. He took
+off his hat to use as a net, swooped at the beetle and caught it. 
+He nearly fell down a precipice on to the rocks below in his wild
+hurry, but that didn't bother him in the least. He knelt down,
+chortling, upon the ground with the Jabizri safe under his hat. 
+From his pocket he brought out a glass-topped box, and into this
+he very skillfully made the beetle walk from under the rim of the
+hat.  Then he rose up, happy as a child, to examine his new
+treasure through the glass lid.
+
+It certainly was a most beautiful insect.  It was pale blue
+underneath; but its back was glossy black with huge red spots on
+it.
+
+"There isn't an entymologist in the whole world who wouldn't give
+all he has to be in my shoes to-day," said the Doctor--"Hulloa!
+This Jabizri's got something on his leg--Doesn't look like mud. 
+I wonder what it is."
+
+He took the beetle carefully out of the box and held it by its
+back in his fingers, where it waved its six legs slowly in the
+air. We all crowded about him peering at it.  Rolled around the
+middle section of its right foreleg was something that looked
+like a thin dried leaf. It was bound on very neatly with strong
+spider-web.
+
+It was marvelous to see how John Dolittle with his fat heavy
+fingers undid that cobweb cord and unrolled the leaf, whole,
+without tearing it or hurting the precious beetle.  The Jabizri
+he put back into the box. Then he spread the leaf out flat and
+examined it.
+
+You can imagine our surprise when we found that the inside of the
+leaf was covered with signs and pictures, drawn so tiny that you
+almost needed a magnifying-glass to tell what they were. Some of
+the signs we couldn't make out at all; but nearly all of the
+pictures were quite plain, figures of men and mountains mostly.
+The whole was done in a curious sort of brown ink.
+
+For several moments there was a dead silence while we all stared
+at the leaf, fascinated and mystified.
+
+"I think this is written in blood," said the Doctor at last. "It
+turns that color when it's dry.  Somebody pricked his finger to
+make these pictures.  It's an old dodge when you're short of
+ink--but highly unsanitary--What an extraordinary thing to find
+tied to a beetle's leg!  I wish I could talk beetle language, and
+find out where the Jabizri got it from."
+
+"But what is it?"  I asked--"Rows of little pictures and signs.
+What do you make of it, Doctor?"
+
+"It's a letter," he said--"a picture letter.  All these little
+things put together mean a message--But why give a message to a
+beetle to carry--and to a Jabizri, the rarest beetle in the
+world?--What an extraordinary thing!"
+
+Then he fell to muttering over the pictures.
+
+"I wonder what it means:  men walking up a mountain; men walking
+into a hole in a mountain; a mountain falling down--it's a good
+drawing, that; men pointing to their open mouths;
+bars--prison-bars, perhaps; men praying; men lying down--they
+look as though they might be sick; and last of all, just a
+mountain--a peculiar-shaped mountain."
+
+All of a sudden the Doctor looked up sharply at me, a wonderful
+smile of delighted understanding spreading over his face.
+
+"LONG ARROW!" he cried, "don't you see, Stubbins?--Why, of
+course! Only a naturalist would think of doing a thing like this:
+giving his letter to a beetle--not to a common beetle, but to the
+rarest of all, one that other naturalists would try to
+catch--Well, well! Long Arrow!--A picture-letter from Long Arrow. 
+For pictures are the only writing that he knows."
+
+"Yes, but who is the letter to?"  I asked.
+
+"It's to me very likely.  Miranda had told him, I know, years
+ago, that some day I meant to come here.  But if not for me, then
+it's for any one who caught the beetle and read it. It's a letter
+to the world."
+
+"Well, but what does it say?  It doesn't seem to me that it's
+much good to you now you've got it."
+
+"Yes, it is," he said, "because, look, I can read it now.  First
+picture: men walking up a mountain--that's Long Arrow and his
+party; men going into a hole in a mountain--they enter a cave
+looking for medicine-plants or mosses; a mountain falling
+down--some hanging rocks must have slipped and trapped them,
+imprisoned them in the cave. And this was the only living
+creature that could carry a message for them to the outside
+world--a beetle, who could BURROW his way into the open air. Of
+course it was only a slim chance that the beetle would be ever
+caught and the letter read.  But it was a chance; and when men
+are in great danger they grab at any straw of hope. . . . All
+right. Now look at the next picture:  men pointing to their open
+mouths--they are hungry; men praying--begging any one who finds
+this letter to come to their assistance; men lying down--they are
+sick, or starving. This letter, Stubbins, is their last cry for
+help."
+
+He sprang to his feet as he ended, snatched out a note-book and
+put the letter between the leaves.  His hands were trembling with
+haste and agitation.
+
+"Come on!" he cried--"up the mountain--all of you.  There's not a
+moment to lose.  Bumpo, bring the water and nuts with you. Heaven
+only knows how long they've been pining underground. Let's hope
+and pray we're not too late!"
+
+"But where are you going to look?"  I asked.  "Miranda said the
+island was a hundred miles long and the mountains seem to run all
+the way down the centre of it."
+
+"Didn't you see the last picture?" he said, grabbing up his hat
+from the ground and cramming it on his head.  "It was an oddly
+shaped mountain--looked like a hawk's head.  Well, there's where
+he is if he's still alive. First thing for us to do, is to get up
+on a high peak and look around the island for a mountain shaped
+like a hawks' head--just to think of it! There's a chance of my
+meeting Long Arrow, the son of Golden Arrow, after all!--Come on! 
+Hurry!  To delay may mean death to the greatest naturalist ever
+born!"
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER
+
+HAWK'S-HEAD MOUNTAIN
+
+WE all agreed afterwards that none of us had ever worked so hard
+in our lives before as we did that day.  For my part, I know I
+was often on the point of dropping exhausted with fatigue; but I
+just kept on going--like a machine--determined that, whatever
+happened, I would not be the first to give up.
+
+When we had scrambled to the top of a high peak, almost instantly
+we saw the strange mountain pictured in the letter. In shape it
+was the perfect image of a hawk's head, and was, as far as we
+could see, the second highest summit in the island.
+
+Although we were all out of breath from our climb, the Doctor
+didn't let us rest a second as soon as he had sighted it. With
+one look at the sun for direction, down he dashed again, breaking
+through thickets, splashing over brooks, taking all the short
+cuts.  For a fat man, he was certainly the swiftest cross-country
+runner I ever saw.
+
+We floundered after him as fast as we could.  When I say WE, I
+mean Bumpo and myself; for the animals, Jip, Chee-Chee and
+Polynesia, were a long way ahead--even beyond the
+Doctor--enjoying the hunt like a paper-chase.
+
+At length we arrived at the foot of the mountain we were making
+for; and we found its sides very steep.  Said the Doctor,
+
+"Now we will separate and search for caves.  This spot where we
+now are, will be our meeting-place. If anyone finds anything like
+a cave or a hole where the earth and rocks have fallen in, he
+must shout and hulloa to the rest of us.  If we find nothing we
+will all gather here in about an hour's time--Everybody
+understand?"
+
+Then we all went off our different ways.
+
+Each of us, you may be sure, was anxious to be the one to make a
+discovery. And never was a mountain searched so thoroughly.  But
+alas! nothing could we find that looked in the least like a
+fallen-in cave. There were plenty of places where rocks had
+tumbled down to the foot of the slopes; but none of these
+appeared as though caves or passages could possibly lie behind
+them.
+
+One by one, tired and disappointed, we straggled back to the
+meeting-place. The Doctor seemed gloomy and impatient but by no
+means inclined to give up.
+
+"Jip," he said, "couldn't you SMELL anything like an Indian
+anywhere?"
+
+"No," said Jip.  "I sniffed at every crack on the mountainside. 
+But I am afraid my nose will be of no use to you here, Doctor. 
+The trouble is, the whole air is so saturated with the smell of
+spider-monkeys that it drowns every other scent--And besides,
+it's too cold and dry for good smelling."
+
+"It is certainly that," said the Doctor--"and getting colder all
+the time. I'm afraid the island is still drifting to the
+southward.  Let's hope it stops before long, or we won't be able
+to get even nuts and fruit to eat--everything in the island will
+perish--Chee-Chee, what luck did you have?"
+
+"None, Doctor.  I climbed to every peak and pinnacle I could see.
+I searched every hollow and cleft.  But not one place could I
+find where men might be hidden."
+
+"And Polynesia," asked the Doctor, "did you see nothing that
+might put us on the right track?"
+
+"Not a thing, Doctor--But I have a plan."
+
+"Oh good!" cried John Dolittle, full of hope renewed.  "What is
+it? Let's hear it."
+
+"You still have that beetle with you," she asked--"the Biz-biz,
+or whatever it is you call the wretched insect?"
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, producing the glass-topped box from his
+pocket, "here it is."
+
+"All right.  Now listen," said she.  "If what you have supposed
+is true--that is, that Long Arrow had been trapped inside the
+mountain by falling rock, he probably found that beetle inside
+the cave--perhaps many other different beetles too, eh? He
+wouldn't have been likely to take the Biz-biz in with him, would
+he?--He was hunting plants, you say, not beetles. Isn't that
+right?"
+
+"Yes," said the Doctor, "that's probably so."
+
+"Very well.  It is fair to suppose then that the beetle's home,
+or his hole, is in that place--the part of the mountain where
+Long Arrow and his party are imprisoned, isn't it?"
+
+"Quite, quite."
+
+"All right.  Then the thing to do is to let the beetle go--and
+watch him; and sooner or later he'll return to his home in Long
+Arrow's cave. And there we will follow him--Or at all events,"
+she added smoothing down her wing-feathers with a very superior
+air, "we will follow him till the miserable bug starts nosing
+under the earth. But at least he will show us what part of the
+mountain Long Arrow is hidden in."
+
+"But he may fly, if I let him out," said the Doctor.  "Then we
+shall just lose him and be no better off than we were before."
+
+"LET him fly," snorted Polynesia scornfully.  "A parrot can wing
+it as fast as a Biz-biz, I fancy.  If he takes to the air, I'll
+guarantee not to let the little devil out of my sight. And if he
+just crawls along the ground you can follow him yourself."
+
+"Splendid!" cried the Doctor.  "Polynesia, you have a great
+brain. I'll set him to work at once and see what happens."
+
+Again we all clustered round the Doctor as he carefully lifted
+off the glass lid and let the big beetle climb out upon his
+finger.
+
+"Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!" crooned Bumpo.  "Your house is
+on fire and your chil--"
+
+"Oh, be quiet!" snapped Polynesia crossly.  "Stop insulting him!
+Don't you suppose he has wits enough to go home without your
+telling him?"
+
+"I thought perchance he might be of a philandering disposition,"
+said Bumpo humbly.  "It could be that he is tired of his home and
+needs to be encouraged.  Shall I sing him 'Home Sweet Home,'
+think you?"
+
+"No. Then he'd never go back.  Your voice needs a rest. Don't
+sing to him:  just watch him--Oh, and Doctor, why not tie another
+message to the creature's leg, telling Long Arrow that we're
+doing our best to reach him and that he mustn't  give up hope?"
+
+"I will," said the Doctor.  And in a minute he had pulled a dry
+leaf from a bush near by and was covering it with little pictures
+in pencil.
+
+At last, neatly fixed up with his new mail-bag, Mr. Jabizri
+crawled off the Doctor's finger to the ground and looked about
+him. He stretched his legs, polished his nose with his front feet
+and then moved off leisurely to the westward.
+
+We had expected him to walk UP the mountain; instead, he walked
+AROUND it. Do you know how long it takes a beetle to walk round a
+mountain? Well, I assure you it takes an unbelievably long time.
+As the hours dragged by, we hoped and hoped that he would get up
+and fly the rest, and let Polynesia carry on the work of
+following him. But he never opened his wings once.  I had not
+realized before how hard it is for a human being to walk slowly
+enough to keep up with a beetle. It was the most tedious thing I
+have ever gone through. And as we dawdled along behind, watching
+him like hawks lest we lose him under a leaf or something, we all
+got so cross and ill-tempered we were ready to bite one another's
+heads off. And when he stopped to look at the scenery or polish
+his nose some more, I could hear Polynesia behind me letting out
+the most dreadful seafaring swear-words you ever heard.
+
+After he had led us the whole way round the mountain he brought
+us to the exact spot where we started from and there he came to a
+dead stop.
+
+"Well," said Bumpo to Polynesia, "what do you think of the
+beetle's sense now?  You see he DOESN'T know enough to go home."
+
+"Oh, be still, you Hottentot!" snapped Polynesia.  "Wouldn't YOU
+want to stretch your legs for exercise if you'd been shut up in a
+box all day. Probably his home is near here, and that's why he's
+come back."
+
+"But why," I asked, "did he go the whole way round the mountain
+first?"
+
+Then the three of us got into a violent argument. But in the
+middle of it all the Doctor suddenly called out,
+
+"Look, look!"
+
+We turned and found that he was pointing to the Jabizri, who was
+now walking UP the mountain at a much faster and more
+business-like gait.
+
+"Well," said Bumpo sitting down wearily; "if he is going to walk
+OVER the mountain and back, for more exercise, I'll wait for him
+here. Chee-Chee and Polynesia can follow him."
+
+Indeed it would have taken a monkey or a bird to climb the place
+which the beetle was now walking up.  It was a smooth, flat part
+of the mountain's side, steep as a wall.
+
+But presently, when the Jabizri was no more than ten feet above
+our heads, we all cried out together.  For, even while we watched
+him, he had disappeared into the face of the rock like a raindrop
+soaking into sand.
+
+"He's gone," cried Polynesia.  "There must be a hole up there."
+And in a twinkling she had fluttered up the rock and was clinging
+to the face of it with her claws.
+
+"Yes," she shouted down, "we've run him to earth at last.  His
+hole is right here, behind a patch of lichen--big enough to get
+two fingers in." 
+
+"Ah," cried the Doctor, "this great slab of rock then must have 
+slid down from the summit and shut off the mouth of the cave like
+a door. Poor fellows!  What a dreadful time they must have spent
+in there!--Oh, if we only had some picks and shovels now!"
+
+"Picks and shovels wouldn't do much good," said Polynesia.  "Look
+at the size of the slab:  a hundred feet high and as many broad.
+You would need an army for a week to make any impression on it."
+
+"I wonder how thick it is," said the Doctor; and he picked up a
+big stone and banged it with all his might against the face of
+the rock. It made a hollow booming sound, like a giant drum.  We
+all stood still listening while the echo of it died slowly away.
+
+And then a cold shiver ran down my spine.  For, from within the
+mountain, back came three answering knocks:  BOOM! . . . BOOM! .
+. . BOOM!
+
+Wide-eyed we looked at one another as though the earth itself had
+spoken. And the solemn little silence that followed was broken by
+the Doctor.
+
+"Thank Heaven," he said in a hushed reverent voice, "some of them
+at least are alive!"
+
+
+
+PART FIVE
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER
+
+A GREAT MOMENT
+
+THE next part of our problem was the hardest of all: how to roll
+aside, pull down or break open, that gigantic slab. As we gazed
+up at it towering above our heads, it looked indeed a hopeless
+task for our tiny strength.
+
+But the sounds of life from inside the mountain had put new heart
+in us. And in a moment we were all scrambling around trying to
+find any opening or crevice which would give us something to work
+on. Chee-Chee scaled up the sheer wall of the slab and examined
+the top of it where it leaned against the mountain's side; I
+uprooted bushes and stripped off hanging creepers that might
+conceal a weak place; the Doctor got more leaves and composed new
+picture-letters for the Jabizri to take in if he should turn up
+again; whilst Polynesia carried up a handful of nuts and pushed
+them into the beetle's hole, one by one, for the prisoners inside
+to eat.
+
+"Nuts are so nourishing," she said.
+
+But Jip it was who, scratching at the foot of the slab like a
+good ratter, made the discovery which led to our final success.
+
+"Doctor," he cried, running up to John Dolittle with his nose all
+covered with black mud, "this slab is resting on nothing but a
+bed of soft earth. You never saw such easy digging.  I guess the
+cave behind must be just too high up for the Indians to reach the
+earth with their hands, or they could have scraped a way out long
+ago.  If we can only scratch the earth-bed away from under, the
+slab might drop a little. Then maybe the Indians can climb out
+over the top."
+
+The Doctor hurried to examine the place where Jip had dug.
+
+"Why, yes," he said, "if we can get the earth away from under
+this front edge, the slab is standing up so straight, we might
+even make it fall right down in this direction.  It's well worth
+trying. Let's get at it, quick."
+
+We had no tools but the sticks and slivers of stone which we
+could find around.  A strange sight we must have looked, the
+whole crew of us squatting down on our heels, scratching and
+burrowing at the foot of the mountain, like six badgers in a row.
+
+After about an hour, during which in spite of the cold the sweat
+fell from our foreheads in all directions, the Doctor said,
+
+"Be ready to jump from under, clear out of the way, if she shows
+signs of moving.  If this slab falls on anybody, it will squash
+him flatter than a pancake."
+
+Presently there was a grating, grinding sound.
+
+"Look out!" yelled John Dolittle, "here she comes!--Scatter!"
+
+We ran for our lives, outwards, toward the sides.  The big rock
+slid gently down, about a foot, into the trough which we had made
+beneath it. For a moment I was disappointed, for like that, it
+was as hopeless as before--no signs of a cave-mouth showing
+above it.  But as I looked upward, I saw the top coming very
+slowly away from the mountainside.  We had unbalanced it below. 
+As it moved apart from the face of the mountain, sounds of human
+voices, crying gladly in a strange tongue, issued from behind.
+Faster and faster the top swung forward, downward.  Then, with a
+roaring crash which shook the whole mountain-range beneath our
+feet, it struck the earth and cracked in halves.
+
+How can I describe to any one that first meeting between the two
+greatest naturalists the world ever knew, Long Arrow, the son of
+Golden Arrow and John Dolittle, M.D., of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh?
+The scene rises before me now, plain and clear in every detail,
+though it took place so many, many years ago.  But when I come to
+write of it, words seem such poor things with which to tell you
+of that great occasion.
+
+I know that the Doctor, whose life was surely full enough of big
+happenings, always counted the setting free of the Indian
+scientist as the greatest thing he ever did. For my part, knowing
+how much this meeting must mean to him, I was on pins and needles
+of expectation and curiosity as the great stone finally thundered
+down at our feet and we gazed across it to see what lay behind.
+
+The gloomy black mouth of a tunnel, full twenty feet high, was
+revealed. In the centre of this opening stood an enormous red
+Indian, seven feet tall, handsome, muscular, slim and naked--but
+for a beaded cloth about his middle and an eagle's feather in his
+hair. He held one hand across his face to shield his eyes from
+the blinding sun which he had not seen in many days.
+
+"It is he!"  I heard the Doctor whisper at my elbow. "I know him
+by his great height and the scar upon his chin."
+
+And he stepped forward slowly across the fallen stone with his
+hand outstretched to the red man.
+
+Presently the Indian uncovered his eyes.  And I saw that they had
+a curious piercing gleam in them--like the eyes of an eagle, but
+kinder and more gentle.  He slowly raised his right arm, the rest
+of him still and motionless like a statue, and took the Doctor's
+hand in his.  It was a great moment. Polynesia nodded to me in a
+knowing, satisfied kind of way. And I heard old Bumpo sniffle
+sentimentally.  Then the Doctor tried to speak to Long Arrow. 
+But the Indian knew no English of course, and the Doctor knew no
+Indian.  Presently, to my surprise, I heard the Doctor trying him
+in different animal languages.
+
+"How do you do?" he said in dog-talk; "I am glad to see you," in
+horse-signs; "How long have you been buried?" in deer-language.
+Still the Indian made no move but stood there, straight and
+stiff, understanding not a word.
+
+The Doctor tried again, in several other animal dialects. But
+with no result.
+
+Till at last he came to the language of eagles.
+
+"Great Red-Skin," he said in the fierce screams and short grunts
+that the big birds use, "never have I been so glad in all my life
+as I am to-day to find you still alive."
+
+In a flash Long Arrow's stony face lit up with a smile of
+understanding; and back came the answer in eagle-tongue,
+
+"Mighty White Man, I owe my life to you.  For the remainder of my
+days I am your servant to command."
+
+Afterwards Long Arrow told us that this was the only bird or
+animal language that he had ever been able to learn. But that he
+had not spoken it in a long time, for no eagles ever came to this
+island.
+
+Then the Doctor signaled to Bumpo who came forward with the nuts
+and water. But Long Arrow neither ate nor drank.  Taking the
+supplies with a nod of thanks, he turned and carried them into
+the inner dimness of the cave. We followed him.
+
+Inside we found nine other Indians, men, women and boys, lying on
+the rock floor in a dreadful state of thinness and exhaustion.
+
+Some had their eyes closed, as if dead.  Quickly the Doctor went
+round them all and listened to their hearts.  They were all
+alive; but one woman was too weak even to stand upon her feet.
+
+At a word from the Doctor, Chee-Chee and Polynesia sped off into
+the jungles after more fruit and water.
+
+While Long Arrow was handing round what food we had to his
+starving friends, we suddenly heard a sound outside the cave.
+Turning about we saw, clustered at the entrance, the band of
+Indians who had met us so inhospitably at the beach.
+
+They peered into the dark cave cautiously at first. But as soon
+as they saw Long Arrow and the other Indians with us, they came
+rushing in, laughing, clapping their hands with joy and jabbering
+away at a tremendous rate.
+
+Long Arrow explained to the Doctor that the nine Indians we had
+found in the cave with him were two families who had accompanied
+him into the mountains to help him gather medicine-plants. And
+while they had been searching for a kind of moss--good for
+indigestion--which grows only inside of damp caves, the great
+rock slab had slid down and shut them in. Then for two weeks they
+had lived on the medicine-moss and such fresh water as could be
+found dripping from the damp walls of the cave. The other Indians
+on the island had given them up for lost and mourned them as
+dead; and they were now very surprised and happy to find their
+relatives alive.
+
+When Long Arrow turned to the newcomers and told them in their
+own language that it was the white man who had found and freed
+their relatives, they gathered round John Dolittle, all talking
+at once and beating their breasts.
+
+Long Arrow said they were apologizing and trying to tell the
+Doctor how sorry they were that they had seemed unfriendly to him
+at the beach. They had never seen a white man before and had
+really been afraid of him--especially when they saw him
+conversing with the porpoises. They had thought he was the Devil,
+they said.
+
+Then they went outside and looked at the great stone we had
+thrown down, big as a meadow; and they walked round and round it,
+pointing to the break running through the middle and wondering
+how the trick of felling it was done.
+
+Travelers who have since visited Spidermonkey Island tell me that
+that huge stone slab is now one of the regular sights of the
+island.  And that the Indian guides, when showing it to visitors,
+always tell THEIR story of how it came there. They say that when
+the Doctor found that the rocks had entrapped his friend, Long
+Arrow, he was so angry that he ripped the mountain in halves with
+his bare hands and let him out.
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER
+
+"THE MEN OF THE MOVING LAND"
+
+FROM that time on the Indians' treatment of us was very
+different. We were invited to their village for a feast to
+celebrate the recovery of the lost families.  And after we had
+made a litter from saplings to carry the sick woman in, we all
+started off down the mountain.
+
+On the way the Indians told Long Arrow something which appeared
+to be sad news, for on hearing it, his face grew very grave. The
+Doctor asked him what was wrong.  And Long Arrow said he had just
+been informed that the chief of the tribe, an old man of eighty,
+had died early that morning.
+
+"That," Polynesia whispered in my ear, "must have been what they
+went back to the village for, when the messenger fetched them
+from the beach.--Remember?"
+
+"What did he die of?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"He died of cold," said Long Arrow.
+
+Indeed, now that the sun was setting, we were all shivering
+ourselves.
+
+"This is a serious thing," said the Doctor to me.  "The island is
+still in the grip of that wretched current flowing southward. We
+will have to look into this to-morrow. If nothing can be done
+about it, the Indians had better take to canoes and leave the
+island. The chance of being wrecked will be better than getting
+frozen to death in the ice-floes of the Antarctic."
+
+Presently we came over a saddle in the hills, and looking
+downward on the far side of the island, we saw the village--a
+large cluster of grass huts and gaily colored totem-poles close
+by the edge of the sea.
+
+"How artistic!" said the Doctor--"Delightfully situated. What is
+the name of the village?"
+
+"Popsipetel," said Long Arrow.  "That is the name also of the
+tribe. The word signifies in Indian tongue, The Men of The Moving
+Land.  There are two tribes of Indians on the island:  the
+Popsipetels at this end and the Bag-jagderags at the other."
+
+"Which is the larger of the two peoples?"
+
+"The Bag-jagderags, by far.  Their city covers two square
+leagues. But," added Long Arrow a slight frown darkening his
+handsome face, "for me, I would rather have one Popsipetel than a
+hundred Bag-jagderags."
+
+The news of the rescue we had made had evidently gone ahead of
+us. For as we drew nearer to the village we saw crowds of Indians
+streaming out to greet the friends and relatives whom they had
+never thought to see again.
+
+These good people, when they too were told how the rescue had
+been the work of the strange white visitor to their shores, all
+gathered round the Doctor, shook him by the hands, patted him and
+hugged him. Then they lifted him up upon their strong shoulders
+and carried him down the hill into the village.
+
+There the welcome we received was even more wonderful.  In spite
+of the cold air of the coming night, the villagers, who had all
+been shivering within their houses, threw open their doors and
+came out in hundreds. I had no idea that the little village could
+hold so many. They thronged about us, smiling and nodding and
+waving their hands; and as the details of what we had done were
+recited by Long Arrow they kept shouting strange singing noises,
+which we supposed were words of gratitude or praise.
+
+We were next escorted to a brand-new grass house, clean and
+sweet-smelling within, and informed that it was ours. Six strong
+Indian boys were told off to be our servants.
+
+On our way through the village we noticed a house, larger than
+the rest, standing at the end of the main street. Long Arrow
+pointed to it and told us it was the Chief's house, but that it
+was now empty--no new chief having yet been elected to take the
+place of the old one who had died.
+
+Inside our new home a feast of fish and fruit had been prepared.
+Most of the more important men of the tribe were already seating
+themselves at the long dining-table when we got there. Long Arrow
+invited us to sit down and eat.
+
+This we were glad enough to do, as we were all hungry.  But we
+were both surprised and disappointed when we found that the fish
+had not been cooked. The Indians did not seem to think this
+extraordinary in the least, but went ahead gobbling the fish with
+much relish the way it was, raw.
+
+With many apologies, the Doctor explained to Long Arrow that if
+they had no objection we would prefer our fish cooked.
+
+Imagine our astonishment when we found that the great Long Arrow,
+so learned in the natural sciences, did not know what the word
+COOKED meant!
+
+Polynesia who was sitting on the bench between John Dolittle and
+myself pulled the Doctor by the sleeve.
+
+"I'll tell you what's wrong, Doctor," she whispered as he leant
+down to listen to her:  "THESE PEOPLE HAVE NO FIRES! They don't
+know how to make a fire.  Look outside:  It's almost dark, and
+there isn't a light showing ii the whole village. This is a
+fireless people."
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER
+
+FIRE
+
+THEN the Doctor asked Long Arrow if he knew what fire was,
+explaining it to him by pictures drawn on the buckskin
+table-cloth. Long Arrow said he had seen such a thing--coming out
+of the tops of volcanoes; but that neither he nor any of the
+Popsipetels knew how it was made.
+
+"Poor perishing heathens!" muttered Bumpo.  "No wonder the old
+chief died of cold!"
+
+At that moment we heard a crying sound at the door.  And turning
+round, we saw a weeping Indian mother with a baby in her arms.
+She said something to the Indians which we could not understand;
+and Long Arrow told us the baby was sick and she wanted the white
+doctor to try and cure it.
+
+"Oh Lord!" groaned Polynesia in my ear--"Just like Puddleby:
+patients arriving in the middle of dinner.  Well, one thing: the
+food's raw, so nothing can get cold anyway."
+
+The Doctor examined the baby and found at once that it was
+thoroughly chilled.
+
+"Fire--FIRE!  That's what it needs," he said turning to Long
+Arrow--"That's what you all need.  This child will have pneumonia
+if it isn't kept warm."
+
+"Aye, truly.  But how to make a fire," said Long Arrow--"where to
+get it: that is the difficulty.  All the volcanoes in this land
+are dead."
+
+Then we fell to hunting through our pockets to see if any matches
+had survived the shipwreck.  The best we could muster were two
+whole ones and a half--all with the heads soaked off them by
+salt water.
+
+"Hark, Long Arrow," said the Doctor:  "divers ways there be of
+making fire without the aid of matches.  One:  with a strong
+glass and the rays of the sun.  That however, since the sun has
+set, we cannot now employ. Another is by grinding a hard stick
+into a soft log--Is the daylight gone without?--Alas yes.  Then I
+fear we must await the morrow; for besides the different woods,
+we need an old squirrel's nest for fuel--And that without lamps
+you could not find in your forests at this hour."
+
+"Great are your cunning and your skill, oh White Man," Long Arrow
+replied. "But in this you do us an injustice.  Know you not that
+all fireless peoples can see in the dark?  Having no lamps we are
+forced to train ourselves to travel through the blackest night,
+lightless.  I will despatch a messenger and you shall have your
+squirrel's nest within the hour."
+
+He gave an order to two of our boy-servants who promptly
+disappeared running. And sure enough, in a very short space of
+time a squirrel's nest, together with hard and soft woods, was
+brought to our door.
+
+The moon had not yet risen and within the house it was
+practically pitch-black. I could feel and hear, however, that the
+Indians were moving about comfortably as though it were daylight.
+The task of making fire the Doctor had to perform almost entirely
+by the sense of touch, asking Long Arrow and the Indians to hand
+him his tools when he mislaid them in the dark. And then I made a
+curious discovery:  now that I had to, I found that I was
+beginning to see a little in the dark myself. And for the first
+time I realized that of course there is no such thing as
+pitch-dark, so long as you have a door open or a sky above you.
+
+Calling for the loan of a bow, the Doctor loosened the string,
+put the hard stick into a loop and began grinding this stick into
+the soft wood of the log.  Soon I smelt that the log was smoking.
+Then he kept feeding the part that was smoking with the inside
+lining of the squirrel's nest, and he asked me to blow upon it
+with my breath. He made the stick drill faster and faster.  More
+smoke filled the room. And at last the darkness about us was
+suddenly lit up. The squirrel's nest had burst into flame.
+
+The Indians murmured and grunted with astonishment.  At first
+they were all for falling on their knees and worshiping the fire.
+Then they wanted to pick it up with their bare hands and play
+with it. We had to teach them how it was to be used; and they
+were quite fascinated when we laid our fish across it on sticks
+and cooked it. They sniffed the air with relish as, for the first
+time in history, the smell of fried fish passed through the
+village of Popsipetel.
+
+Then we got them to bring us piles and stacks of dry wood; and we
+made an enormous bonfire in the middle of the main street. Round
+this, when they felt its warmth, the whole tribe gathered and
+smiled and wondered.  It was a striking sight, one of the
+pictures from our voyages that I most frequently remember: that
+roaring jolly blaze beneath the black night sky, and all about it
+a vast ring of Indians, the firelight gleaming on bronze cheeks,
+white teeth and flashing eyes--a whole town trying to get warm,
+giggling and pushing like school-children.
+
+
+In a little, when we had got them more used to the handling of
+fire, the Doctor showed them how it could be taken into their
+houses if a hole were only made in the roof to let the smoke out.
+And before we turned in after that long, long, tiring day, we had
+fires going in every hut in the village.
+
+The poor people were so glad to get really warm again that we
+thought they'd never go to bed.  Well on into the early hours of
+the morning the little town fairly buzzed with a great low
+murmur: the Popsipetels sitting up talking of their wonderful
+pale-faced visitor and this strange good thing he had brought
+with him--FIRE!
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER
+
+WHAT MAKES AN ISLAND FLOAT
+
+VERY early in our experience of Popsipetel kindness we saw that
+if we were to get anything done at all, we would almost always
+have to do it secretly.  The Doctor was so popular and loved by
+all that as soon as he showed his face at his door in the morning
+crowds of admirers, waiting patiently outside, flocked about him
+and followed him wherever he went. After his fire-making feat,
+this childlike people expected him, I think, to be continually
+doing magic; and they were determined not to miss a trick.
+
+It was only with great difficulty that we escaped from the crowd
+the first morning and set out with Long Arrow to explore the
+island at our leisure.
+
+In the interior we found that not only the plants and trees were
+suffering from the cold:  the animal life was in even worse
+straits. Everywhere shivering birds were to be seen, their
+feathers all fluffed out, gathering together for flight to summer
+lands. And many lay dead upon the ground.  Going down to the
+shore, we watched land-crabs in large numbers taking to the sea
+to find some better home. While away to the Southeast we could
+see many icebergs floating--a sign that we were now not far from
+the terrible region of the Antarctic.
+
+As we were looking out to sea, we noticed our friends the
+porpoises jumping through the waves.  The Doctor hailed them and
+they came inshore.
+
+He asked them how far we were from the South Polar Continent.
+
+About a hundred miles, they told him.  And then they asked why he
+wanted to know.
+
+"Because this floating island we are on," said he, "is drifting
+southward all the time in a current.  It's an island that
+ordinarily belongs somewhere in the tropic zone--real sultry
+weather, sunstrokes and all that. If it doesn't stop going
+southward pretty soon everything on it is going to perish."
+
+"Well," said the porpoises, "then the thing to do is to get it
+back into a warmer climate, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes, but how?" said the Doctor.  "We can't ROW it back."
+
+"No," said they, "but whales could push it--if you only got
+enough of them."
+
+"What a splendid idea!--Whales, the very thing!" said the Doctor. 
+"Do you think you could get me some?"
+
+"Why, certainly," said the porpoises, "we passed one herd of them
+out there, sporting about among the icebergs.  We'll ask them to
+come over. And if they aren't enough, we'll try and hunt up some
+more. Better have plenty."
+
+"Thank you," said the Doctor.  "You are very kind--By the way, do
+you happen to know how this island came to be a floating island?
+At least half of it, I notice, is made of stone.  It is very odd
+that it floats at all, isn't it?"
+
+"It is unusual," they said.  "But the explanation is quite
+simple. It used to be a mountainous part of South America--an
+overhanging part--sort of an awkward corner, you might say. Way
+back in the glacial days, thousands of years ago, it broke off
+from the mainland; and by some curious accident the inside of it,
+which is hollow, got filled with air as it fell into the ocean.
+You can only see less than half of the island:  the bigger half
+is under water.  And in the middle of it, underneath, is a huge
+rock air-chamber, running right up inside the mountains. And
+that's what keeps it floating."
+
+"What a pecurious phenometer!" said Bumpo.
+
+"It is indeed," said the Doctor.  "I must make a note of that."
+And out came the everlasting note-book.
+
+The porpoises went bounding off towards the icebergs. And not
+long after, we saw the sea heaving and frothing as a big herd of
+whales came towards us at full speed.
+
+They certainly were enormous creatures; and there must have been
+a good two hundred of them.
+
+"Here they are," said the porpoises, poking their heads out of
+the water.
+
+"Good!" said the Doctor.  "Now just explain to them, will you
+please? that this is a very serious matter for all the living
+creatures in this land. And ask them if they will be so good as
+to go down to the far end of the island, put their noses against
+it and push it back near the coast of Southern Brazil."
+
+The porpoises evidently succeeded in persuading the whales to do
+as the Doctor asked; for presently we saw them thrashing through
+the seas, going off towards the south end of the island.
+
+Then we lay down upon the beach and waited.
+
+After about an hour the Doctor got up and threw a stick into the
+water. For a while this floated motionless.  But soon we saw it
+begin to move gently down the coast.
+
+"Ah!" said the Doctor, "see that?--The island is going North at
+last.  Thank goodness!"
+
+Faster and faster we left the stick behind; and smaller and
+dimmer grew the icebergs on the skyline.
+
+The Doctor took out his watch, threw more sticks into the water
+and made a rapid calculation.
+
+"Humph!--Fourteen and a half knots an hour," he murmured--"A very
+nice speed. It should take us about five days to get back near
+Brazil.  Well, that's that--Quite a load off my mind.  I declare
+I feel warmer already.  Let's go and get something to eat."
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER
+
+WAR!
+
+ON our way back to the village the Doctor began discussing
+natural history with Long Arrow.  But their most interesting
+talk, mainly about plants, had hardly begun when an Indian runner
+came dashing up to us with a message.
+
+Long Arrow listened gravely to the breathless, babbled words,
+then turned to the Doctor and said in eagle tongue,
+
+"Great White Man, an evil thing has befallen the Popsipetels. 
+Our neighbors to the southward, the thievish Bag-jagderags, who
+for so long have cast envious eyes on our stores of ripe corn,
+have gone upon the war-path; and even now are advancing to attack
+us."
+
+"Evil news indeed," said the Doctor.  "Yet let us not judge
+harshly. Perhaps it is that they are desperate for food, having
+their own crops frost-killed before harvest.  For are they not
+even nearer the cold South than you?"
+
+"Make no excuses for any man of the tribe of the Bag-jagderags,"
+said Long Arrow shaking his head.  "They are an idle shiftless
+race. They do but see a chance to get corn without the labor of
+husbandry. If it were not that they are a much bigger tribe and
+hope to defeat their neighbor by sheer force of numbers, they
+would not have dared to make open war upon the brave
+Popsipetels."
+
+When we reached the village we found it in a great state of
+excitement. Everywhere men were seen putting their bows in order,
+sharpening spears, grinding battle-axes and making arrows by the
+hundred.  Women were raising a high fence of bamboo poles all
+round the village.  Scouts and messengers kept coming and going,
+bringing news of the movements of the enemy. While high up in the
+trees and hills about the village we could see look-outs watching
+the mountains to the southward.
+
+Long Arrow brought another Indian, short but enormously broad,
+and introduced him to the Doctor as Big Teeth, the chief warrior
+of the Popsipetels.
+
+The Doctor volunteered to go and see the enemy and try to argue
+the matter out peacefully with them instead of fighting; for war,
+he said, was at best a stupid wasteful business. But the two
+shook their heads.  Such a plan was hopeless, they said. In the
+last war when they had sent a messenger to do peaceful arguing,
+the enemy had merely hit him with an ax.
+
+While the Doctor was asking Big Teeth how he meant to defend the
+village against attack, a cry of alarm was raised by the
+look-outs.
+
+"They're coming!--The Bag-jagderags-swarming down the mountains
+in thousands!"
+
+"Well," said the Doctor, "it's all in the day's work, I suppose.
+I don't believe in war; but if the village is attacked we must
+help defend it."
+
+And he picked up a club from the ground and tried the heft of it
+against a stone.
+
+"This," he said, "seems like a pretty good tool to me." And he
+walked to the bamboo fence and took his place among the other
+waiting fighters.
+
+Then we all got hold of some kind of weapon with which to help
+our friends, the gallant Popsipetels:  I borrowed a bow and a
+quiver full of arrows; Jip was content to rely upon his old, but
+still strong teeth; Chee-Chee took a bag of rocks and climbed a
+palm where he could throw them down upon the enemies' heads; and
+Bumpo marched after the Doctor to the fence armed with a young
+tree in one hand and a door-post in the other.
+
+When the enemy drew near enough to be seen from where we stood we
+all gasped with astonishment.  The hillsides were actually
+covered with them--thousands upon thousands.  They made our
+small army within the village look like a mere handful.
+
+"Saints alive!" muttered Polynesia, "our little lot will stand no
+chance against that swarm.  This will never do.  I'm going off to
+get some help." Where she was going and what kind of help she
+meant to get, I had no idea. She just disappeared from my side. 
+But Jip, who had heard her, poked his nose between the bamboo
+bars of the fence to get a better view of the enemy and said,
+
+"Likely enough she's gone after the Black Parrots.  Let's hope
+she finds them in time.  Just look at those ugly ruffians
+climbing down the rocks--millions of 'em!  This fight's going to
+keep us all hopping."
+
+And Jip was right.  Before a quarter of an hour had gone by our
+village was completely surrounded by one huge mob of yelling,
+raging Bag-jagderags.
+
+I now come again to a part in the story of our voyages where
+things happened so quickly, one upon the other, that looking
+backwards I see the picture only in a confused kind of way. I
+know that if it had not been for the Terrible Three--as they
+came afterwards to be fondly called in Popsipetel history--Long
+Arrow, Bumpo and the Doctor, the war would have been soon over
+and the whole island would have belonged to the worthless
+Bag-jagderags. But the Englishman, the African and the Indian
+were a regiment in themselves; and between them they made that
+village a dangerous place for any man to try to enter.
+
+The bamboo fencing which had been hastily set up around the town
+was not a very strong affair; and right from the start it gave
+way in one place after another as the enemy thronged and crowded
+against it. Then the Doctor, Long Arrow and Bumpo would hurry to
+the weak spot, a terrific hand-to-hand fight would take place and
+the enemy be thrown out. But almost instantly a cry of alarm
+would come from some other part of the village-wall; and the
+Three would have to rush off and do the same thing all over
+again.
+
+The Popsipetels were themselves no mean fighters; but the
+strength and weight of those three men of different lands and
+colors, standing close together, swinging their enormous
+war-clubs, was really a sight for the wonder and admiration of
+any one,
+
+Many weeks later when I was passing an Indian camp-fire at night
+I heard this song being sung.  It has since become one of the
+traditional folksongs of the Popsipetels.
+
+
+THE SONG OF THE TERRIBLE THREE
+
+     Oh hear ye the Song of the Terrible Three
+ And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
+     Down from the mountains, the rocks and the crags,
+ Swarming like wasps, came the Bag-jagderags.
+
+     Surrounding our village, our walls they broke down.
+ Oh, sad was the plight of our men and our town!
+     But Heaven determined our land to set free
+ And sent us the help of the Terrible Three.
+     One was a Black--he was dark as the night;
+ One was a Red-skin, a mountain of height;
+     But the chief was a White Man, round like a bee;
+ And all in a row stood the Terrible Three.
+
+     Shoulder to shoulder, they hammered and hit.
+ Like demons of fury they kicked and they bit.
+     Like a wall of destruction they stood in a row,
+ Flattening enemies, six at a blow.
+
+     Oh, strong was the Red-skin fierce was the Black.
+ Bag-jagderags trembled and tried to turn back.
+     But 'twas of the White Man they shouted, "Beware!
+ He throws men in handfuls, straight up in the air!"
+
+     Long shall they frighten bad children at night
+ With tales of the Red and the Black and the White.
+     And long shall we sing of the Terrible Three
+ And the fight that they fought by the edge of the sea.
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER
+
+GENERAL POLYNESIA
+
+BUT alas! even the Three, mighty though they were, could not last
+forever against an army which seemed to have no end. In one of
+the hottest scrimmages, when the enemy had broken a particularly
+wide hole through the fence, I saw Long Arrow's great figure
+topple and come down with a spear sticking in his broad chest.
+
+For another half-hour Bumpo and the Doctor fought on side by
+side. How their strength held out so long I cannot tell, for
+never a second were they given to get their breath or rest their
+arms.
+
+The Doctor--the quiet, kindly, peaceable, little Doctor!--well,
+you wouldn't have known him if you had seen him that day dealing
+out whacks you could hear a mile off, walloping and swatting in
+all directions.
+
+As for Bumpo, with staring eye-balls and grim set teeth, he was a
+veritable demon.  None dared come within yards of that wicked,
+wide-circling door-post. But a stone, skilfully thrown, struck
+him at last in the centre of the forehead. And down went the
+second of the Three.  John Dolittle, the last of the Terribles,
+was left fighting alone.
+
+Jip and I rushed to his side and tried to take the places of the
+fallen ones. But, far too light and too small, we made but a poor
+exchange. Another length of the fence crashed down, and through
+the widened gap the Bag-jagderags poured in on us like a flood.
+
+"To the canoes!--To the sea!" shouted the Popsipetels.  "Fly for
+your lives!--All is over!--The war is lost!"
+
+But the Doctor and I never got a chance to fly for our lives. We
+were swept off our feet and knocked down flat by the sheer weight
+of the mob.  And once down, we were unable to get up again. I
+thought we would surely be trampled to death.
+
+But at that moment, above the din and racket of the battle, we
+heard the most terrifying noise that ever assaulted human ears:
+the sound of millions and millions of parrots all screeching with
+fury together.
+
+The army, which in the nick of time Polynesia had brought to our
+rescue, darkened the whole sky to the westward. I asked her
+afterwards, how many birds there were; and she said she didn't
+know exactly but that they certainly numbered somewhere between
+sixty and seventy millions. In that extraordinarily short space
+of time she had brought them from the mainland of South America.
+
+If you have ever heard a parrot screech with anger you will know
+that it makes a truly frightful sound; and if you have ever been
+bitten by one, you will know that its bite can be a nasty and a
+painful thing.
+
+The Black Parrots (coal-black all over, they were--except for a
+scarlet beak and a streak of red in wing and tail) on the word of
+command from Polynesia set to work upon the Bag-jagderags who
+were now pouring through the village looking for plunder.
+
+And the Black Parrots' method of fighting was peculiar. This is
+what they did:  on the head of each Bag-jagderag three or four
+parrots settled and took a good foot-hold in his hair with their
+claws; then they leant down over the sides of his head and began
+clipping snips out of his ears, for all the world as though they
+were punching tickets. That is all they did.  They never bit them
+anywhere else except the ears. But it won the war for us.
+
+With howls pitiful to hear, the Bag-jagderags fell over one
+another in their haste to get out of that accursed village. It
+was no use their trying to pull the parrots off their heads;
+because for each head there were always four more parrots waiting
+impatiently to get on.
+
+Some of the enemy were lucky; and with only a snip or two managed
+to get outside the fence--where the parrots immediately left them
+alone. But with most, before the black birds had done with them,
+the ears presented a very singular appearance--like the edge of a
+postage-stamp. This treatment, very painful at the time, did not
+however do them any permanent harm beyond the change in looks.
+And it later got to be the tribal mark of the Bag-jagderags. No
+really smart young lady of this tribe would be seen walking with
+a man who did not have scalloped ears--for such was a proof that
+he had been in the Great War.  And that (though it is not
+generally known to scientists) is how this people came to be
+called by the other Indian nations, the Ragged-Eared
+Bag-jagderags.
+
+As soon as the village was cleared of the enemy the Doctor turned
+his attention to the wounded.
+
+In spite of the length and fierceness of the struggle, there were
+surprisingly few serious injuries.  Poor Long Arrow was the worst
+off. However, after the Doctor had washed his wound and got him
+to bed, he opened his eyes and said he already felt better. Bumpo
+was only badly stunned.
+
+With this part of the business over, the Doctor called to
+Polynesia to have the Black Parrots drive the enemy right back
+into their own country and to wait there, guarding them all
+night.
+
+Polynesia gave the short word of command; and like one bird those
+millions of parrots opened their red beaks and let out once more
+their terrifying battle-scream.
+
+The Bag-jagderags didn't wait to be bitten a second time, but
+fled helter-skelter over the mountains from which they had come;
+whilst Polynesia and her victorious army followed watchfully
+behind like a great, threatening, black cloud.
+
+The Doctor picked up his high hat which had been knocked off in
+the fight, dusted it carefully and put it on.
+
+"To-morrow," he said, shaking his fist towards the hills, "we
+will arrange the terms of peace--and we will arrange them--in
+the City of Bag-jagderag."
+
+His words were greeted with cheers of triumph from the admiring
+Popsipetels.  The war was over.
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER
+
+THE PEACE OF THE PARROTS
+
+THE next day we set out for the far end of the island, and
+reaching it in canoes (for we went by sea) after a journey of
+twenty-five hours, we remained no longer than was necessary in
+the City of Bag-jagderag.
+
+When he threw himself into that fight at Popsipetel, I saw the
+Doctor really angry for the first time in my life. But his anger,
+once aroused, was slow to die. All the way down the coast of the
+island he never ceased to rail against this cowardly people who
+had attacked his friends, the Popsipetels, for no other reason
+but to rob them of their corn, because they were too idle to till
+the land themselves. And he was still angry when he reached the
+City of Bag-jagderag.
+
+Long Arrow had not come with us for he was as yet too weak from
+his wound. But the Doctor--always clever at languages--was
+already getting familiar with the Indian tongue.  Besides, among
+the half-dozen Popsipetels who accompanied us to paddle the
+canoes, was one boy to whom we had taught a little English.  He
+and the Doctor between them managed to make themselves understood
+to the Bag-jagderags. This people, with the terrible parrots
+still blackening the hills about their stone town, waiting for
+the word to descend and attack, were, we found, in a very humble
+mood.
+
+Leaving our canoes we passed up the main street to the palace of
+the chief. Bumpo and I couldn't help smiling with satisfaction as
+we saw how the waiting crowds which lined the roadway bowed their
+heads to the ground, as the little, round, angry figure of the
+Doctor strutted ahead of us with his chin in the air.
+
+At the foot of the palace-steps the chief and all the more
+important personages of the tribe were waiting to meet him,
+smiling humbly and holding out their hands in friendliness. The
+Doctor took not the slightest notice.  He marched right by them,
+up the steps to the door of the palace. There he turned around
+and at once began to address the people in a firm voice.
+
+I never heard such a speech in my life--and I am quite sure that
+they never did either.  First he called them a long string of
+names: cowards, loafers, thieves, vagabonds, good-for-nothings,
+bullies and what not.  Then he said he was still seriously
+thinking of allowing the parrots to drive them on into the sea,
+in order that this pleasant land might be rid, once for all, of
+their worthless carcases. At this a great cry for mercy went up,
+and the chief and all of them fell on their knees, calling out
+that they would submit to any conditions of peace he wished.
+
+Then the Doctor called for one of their scribes--that is, a man
+who did picture-writing. And on the stone walls of the palace of
+Bag-jagderag he bade him write down the terms of the peace as he
+dictated it. This peace is known as The Peace of The Parrots,
+and--unlike most peaces--was, and is, strictly kept--even to
+this day.
+
+It was quite long in words.  The half of the palace-front was
+covered with picture-writing, and fifty pots of paint were used,
+before the weary scribe had done.  But the main part of it all
+was that there should be no more fighting; and that the two
+tribes should give solemn promise to help one another whenever
+there was corn-famine or other distress in the lands belonging to
+either.
+
+This greatly surprised the Bag-jagderags. They had expected from
+the Doctor's angry face that he would at least chop a couple of
+hundred heads off--and probably make the rest of them slaves for
+life.
+
+But when they saw that he only meant kindly by them, their great
+fear of him changed to a tremendous admiration.  And as he ended
+his long speech and walked briskly down the steps again on his
+way back to the canoes, the group of chieftains threw themselves
+at his feet and cried, "Do but stay with us. Great Lord, and all
+the riches of Bag-jagderag shall be poured into your lap.
+Gold-mines we know of in the mountains and pearl-beds beneath the
+sea. Only stay with us, that your all-powerful wisdom may lead
+our Council and our people in prosperity and peace."  The Doctor
+held up his hand for silence.
+
+"No man," said he, "would wish to be the guest of the
+Bag-jagderags till they had proved by their deeds that they are
+an honest race. Be true to the terms of the Peace and from
+yourselves shall come good government and prosperity--Farewell!"
+
+Then he turned and followed by Bumpo, the Popsipetels and myself,
+walked rapidly down to the canoes.
+
+
+
+THE EIGHTH CHAPTER
+
+THE HANGING STONE
+
+BUT the change of heart in the Bag-jagderags was really sincere.
+The Doctor had made a great impression on them--a deeper one than
+even he himself realized at the time.  In fact I sometimes think
+that that speech of his from the palace-steps had more effect
+upon the Indians of Spidermonkey Island than had any of his great
+deeds which, great though they were, were always magnified and
+exaggerated when the news of them was passed from mouth to mouth.
+
+A sick girl was brought to him as he reached the place where the
+boats lay. She turned out to have some quite simple ailment which
+he quickly gave the remedy for.  But this increased his
+popularity still more. And when he stepped into his canoe, the
+people all around us actually burst into tears.  It seems (I
+learned this afterwards) that they thought he was going away
+across the sea, for good, to the mysterious foreign lands from
+which he had come.
+
+Some of the chieftains spoke to the Popsipetels as we pushed off.
+What they said I did not understand; but we noticed that several
+canoes filled with Bag-jagderags followed us at a respectful
+distance all the way back to Popsipetel.
+
+The Doctor had determined to return by the other shore, so that
+we should be thus able to make a complete trip round the island's
+shores.
+
+Shortly after we started, while still off the lower end of the
+island, we sighted a steep point on the coast where the sea was
+in a great state of turmoil, white with soapy froth.  On going
+nearer, we found that this was caused by our friendly whales who
+were still faithfully working away with their noses against the
+end of the island, driving us northward. We had been kept so busy
+with the war that we had forgotten all about them. But as we
+paused and watched their mighty tails lashing and churning the
+sea, we suddenly realized that we had not felt cold in quite
+along while. Speeding up our boat lest the island be carried away
+from us altogether, we passed on up the coast; and here and there
+we noticed that the trees on the shore already looked greener and
+more healthy.  Spidermonkey Island was getting back into her home
+climates.
+
+About halfway to Popsipetel we went ashore and spent two or three
+days exploring the central part of the island. Our Indian
+paddlers took us up into the mountains, very steep and high in
+this region, overhanging the sea. And they showed us what they
+called the Whispering Rocks.
+
+This was a very peculiar and striking piece of scenery. It was
+like a great vast basin, or circus, in the mountains, and out of
+the centre of it there rose a table of rock with an ivory chair
+upon it.  All around this the mountains went up like stairs, or
+theatre-seats, to a great height--except at one narrow end which
+was open to a view of the sea. You could imagine it a
+council-place or concert-hall for giants, and the rock table in
+the centre the stage for performers or the stand for the speaker.
+
+We asked our guides why it was called the Whispering Rocks; and
+they said, "Go down into it and we will show you."
+
+The great bowl was miles deep and miles wide.  We scrambled down
+the rocks and they showed us how, even when you stood far, far
+apart from one another, you merely had to whisper in that great
+place and every one in the theatre could hear you. This was, the
+Doctor said, on account of the echoes which played backwards and
+forwards between the high walls of rock.
+
+Our guides told us that it was here, in days long gone by when
+the Popsipetels owned the whole of Spidermonkey Island, that the
+kings were crowned. The ivory chair upon the table was the throne
+in which they sat. And so great was the big theatre that all the
+Indians in the island were able to get seats in it to see the
+ceremony.
+
+They showed us also an enormous hanging stone perched on the edge
+of a volcano's crater--the highest summit in the whole island.
+Although it was very far below us, we could see it quite plainly.
+and it looked wobbly enough to be pushed off its perch with the
+hand. There was a legend among the people, they said, that when
+the greatest of all Popsipetel kings should be crowned in the
+ivory chair, this hanging stone would tumble into the volcano's
+mouth and go straight down to the centre of the earth.
+
+The Doctor said he would like to go and examine it closer.
+
+And when we were come to the lip of the volcano (it took us half
+a day to get up to it) we found the stone was unbelievably
+large--big as a cathedral. Underneath it we could look right down
+into a black hole which seemed to have no bottom.  The Doctor
+explained to us that volcanoes sometimes spurted up fire from
+these holes in their tops; but that those on floating islands
+were always cold and dead.
+
+"Stubbins," he said, looking up at the great stone towering above
+us, "do you know what would most likely happen if that boulder
+should fall in?"
+
+"No," said I, "what?"
+
+"You remember the air-chamber which the porpoises told us lies
+under the centre of the island?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, this stone is heavy enough, if it fell into the volcano,
+to break through into that air-chamber from above.  And once it
+did, the air would escape and the floating island would float no
+more. It would sink."
+
+"But then everybody on it would be drowned, wouldn't they?" said
+Bumpo.
+
+"Oh no, not necessarily.  That would depend on the depth of the
+sea where the sinking took place.  The island might touch bottom
+when it had only gone down, say, a hundred feet. But there would
+be lots of it still sticking up above the water then, wouldn't
+there?"
+
+"Yes," said Bumpo, "I suppose there would.  Well, let us hope
+that the ponderous fragment does not lose its equilibriosity, for
+I don't believe it would stop at the centre of the earth--more
+likely it would fall right through the world and come out the
+other side."
+
+Many other wonders there were which these men showed us in the
+central regions of their island.  But I have not time or space to
+tell you of them now.
+
+Descending towards the shore again, we noticed that we were still
+being watched, even here among the highlands, by the
+Bag-jagderags who had followed us.  And when we put to sea once
+more a boatload of them proceeded to go ahead of us in the
+direction of Popsipetel.  Having lighter canoes, they traveled
+faster than our party; and we judged that they should reach the
+village--if that was where they were going--many hours before we
+could.
+
+The Doctor was now becoming anxious to see how Long Arrow was
+getting on, so we all took turns at the paddles and went on
+traveling by moonlight through the whole night.
+
+We reached Popsipetel just as the dawn was breaking.
+
+To our great surprise we found that not only we, but the whole
+village also, had been up all night. A great crowd was gathered
+about the dead chief's house. And as we landed our canoes upon
+the beach we saw a large number of old men, the seniors of the
+tribe, coming out at the main door.
+
+We inquired what was the meaning of all this; and were told that
+the election of a new chief had been going on all through the
+whole night.  Bumpo asked the name of the new chief; but this, it
+seemed, had not yet been given out. It would be announced at
+mid-day.
+
+As soon as the Doctor had paid a visit to Long Arrow and seen
+that he was doing nicely, we proceeded to our own house at the
+far end of the village. Here we ate some breakfast and then lay
+down to take a good rest.
+
+Rest, indeed, we needed; for life had been strenuous and busy
+for us ever since we had landed on the island. And it wasn't many
+minutes after our weary heads struck the pillows that the whole
+crew of us were sound asleep.
+
+
+
+THE NINTH CHAPTER
+
+THE ELECTION
+
+WE were awakened by music.  The glaring noonday sunlight was
+streaming in at our door, outside of which some kind of a band
+appeared to be playing.
+
+We got up and looked out.  Our house was surrounded by the whole
+population of Popsipetel.  We were used to having quite a number
+of curious and admiring Indians waiting at our door at all hours;
+but this was quite different. The vast crowd was dressed in its
+best clothes.  Bright beads, gawdy feathers and gay blankets gave
+cheerful color to the scene. Every one seemed in very good humor,
+singing or playing on musical instruments--mostly painted wooden
+whistles or drums made from skins.
+
+We found Polynesia--who while we slept had arrived back from
+Bag-jagderag--sitting on our door-post watching the show. We
+asked her what all the holiday-making was about.
+
+"The result of the election has just been announced," said she.
+"The name of the new chief was given out at noon."
+
+"And who is the new chief?" asked the Doctor.
+
+"You are," said Polynesia quietly.
+
+"I!" gasped the Doctor--"Well, of all things!"
+
+"Yes," said she.  "You're the one--And what's more, they've
+changed your surname for you.  They didn't think that Dolittle
+was a proper or respectful name for a man who had done so much.
+So you are now to be known as Jong Thinkalot.  How do you like
+it?"
+
+"But I don't WANT to be a chief," said the Doctor in an irritable
+voice.
+
+"I'm afraid you'll have hard work to get out of it now," said
+she--"unless you're willing to put to sea again in one of their
+rickety canoes. You see you've been elected not merely the Chief
+of the Popsipetels; you're to be a king--the King of the whole of
+Spidermonkey Island. The Bag-jagderags, who were so anxious to
+have you govern them, sent spies and messengers ahead of you; and
+when they found that you had been elected Chief of the
+Popsipetels overnight they were bitterly disappointed. However,
+rather than lose you altogether, the Bag-jagderags were willing
+to give up their independence, and insisted that they and their
+lands be united to the Popsipetels in order that you could be
+made king of both. So now you're in for it."
+
+"Oh Lord!" groaned the Doctor, "I do wish they wouldn't be so
+enthusiastic! Bother it, I don't WANT to be a king!"
+
+"I should think, Doctor," said I, "you'd feel rather proud and
+glad. I wish I had a chance to be a king."
+
+"Oh I know it sounds grand, said he, pulling on his boots
+miserably. "But the trouble is, you can t take up
+responsibilities and then just drop them again when you feel like
+it. I have my own work to do.  Scarcely one moment have I had to
+give to natural history since I landed on this island. I've been
+doing some one else's business all the time. And now they want me
+to go on doing it!  Why, once I'm made King of the Popsipetels,
+that's the end of me as a useful naturalist. I'd be too busy for
+anything.  All I'd be then is just a er--er just a king."
+
+"Well, that's something!" said Bumpo.  "My father is a king and
+has a hundred and twenty wives."
+
+"That would make it worse," said the Doctor--"a hundred and
+twenty times worse.  I have my work to do.  I don't want to be a
+king."
+
+"Look," said Polynesia, "here come the head men to announce your
+election. Hurry up and get your boots laced."
+
+The throng before our door had suddenly parted asunder, making a
+long lane; and down this we now saw a group of personages coming
+towards us. The man in front, a handsome old Indian with a
+wrinkled face, carried in his hands a wooden crown--a truly
+beautiful and gorgeous crown, even though of wood.  Wonderfully
+carved and painted, it had two lovely blue feathers springing
+from the front of it. Behind the old man came eight strong
+Indians bearing a litter, a sort of chair with long handles
+underneath to carry it by.
+
+Kneeling down on one knee, bending his head almost to the ground,
+the old man addressed the Doctor who now stood in the doorway
+putting on his collar and tie.
+
+"Oh, Mighty One," said he, "we bring you word from the Popsipetel
+people. Great are your deeds beyond belief, kind is your heart
+and your wisdom, deeper than the sea.  Our chief is dead.  The
+people clamor for a worthy leader. Our old enemies, the
+Bag-jagderags are become, through you, our brothers and good
+friends.  They too desire to bask beneath the sunshine of your
+smile. Behold then, I bring to you the Sacred Crown of Popsipetel
+which, since ancient days when this island and its peoples were
+one, beneath one monarch, has rested on no kingly brow.  Oh
+Kindly One, we are bidden by the united voices of the peoples of
+this land to carry you to the Whispering Rocks, that there, with
+all respect and majesty, you may be crowned our king--King of
+all the Moving Land."
+
+The good Indians did not seem to have even considered the
+possibility of John Dolittle's refusing.  As for the poor Doctor,
+I never saw him so upset by anything.  It was in fact the only
+time I have known him to get thoroughly fussed.
+
+"Oh dear!"  I heard him murmur, looking around wildly for some
+escape. "What SHALL I do?--Did any of you see where I laid that
+stud of mine?--How on earth can I get this collar on without a
+stud?  What a day this is, to be sure I--Maybe it rolled under
+the bed, Bumpo--I do think they might have given me a day or so
+to think it over in.  Who ever heard of waking a man right out of
+his sleep, and telling him he's got to be a king, before he has
+even washed his face?  Can't any of you find it? Maybe you're
+standing on it, Bumpo.  Move your feet."
+
+"Oh don't bother about your stud," said Polynesia.  "You will
+have to be crowned without a collar.  They won't know the
+difference."
+
+"I tell you I'm not going to be crowned," cried the Doctor--"not
+if I can help it.  I'll make them a speech.  Perhaps that will
+satisfy them." He turned back to the Indians at the door.
+
+"My friends," he said, "I am not worthy of this great honor you
+would do me. Little or no skill have I in the arts of kingcraft. 
+Assuredly among your own brave men you will find many better
+fitted to lead you. For this compliment, this confidence and
+trust, I thank you. But, I pray you, do not think of me for such
+high duties which I could not possibly fulfil."
+
+The old man repeated his words to the people behind him in a
+louder voice. Stolidly they shook their heads, moving not an
+inch.  The old man turned back to the Doctor.
+
+"You are the chosen one," said he.  "They will have none but
+you."
+
+Into the Doctor's perplexed face suddenly there came a flash of
+hope.
+
+"I'll go and see Long Arrow," he whispered to me. "Perhaps he
+will know of some way to get me out of this."
+
+And asking the personages to excuse him a moment, he left them
+there, standing at his door, and hurried off in the direction of
+Long Arrow's house. I followed him.
+
+We found our big friend lying on a grass bed outside his home,
+where he had been moved that he might witness the holiday-making.
+
+"Long Arrow," said the Doctor speaking quickly in eagle tongue so
+that the bystanders should not overhear, "in dire peril I come to
+you for help.  These men would make me their king. If such a
+thing befall me, all the great work I hoped to do must go undone,
+for who is there unfreer than a king? I pray you speak with them
+and persuade their kind well-meaning hearts that what they plan
+to do would be unwise."
+
+Long Arrow raised himself upon his elbow.  "Oh Kindly One," said
+he (this seemed now to have become the usual manner of address
+when speaking to the Doctor), "sorely it grieves me that the
+first wish you ask of me I should be unable to grant.  Alas!  I
+can do nothing. These people have so set their hearts on keeping
+you for king that if I tried to interfere they would drive me
+from their land and likely crown you in the end in any case.  A
+king you must be, if only for a while. We must so arrange the
+business of governing that you may have time to give to Nature's
+secrets.  Later we may be able to hit upon some plan to relieve
+you of the burden of the crown.  But for now you must be king.
+These people are a headstrong tribe and they will have their way.
+There is no other course."
+
+Sadly the Doctor turned away from the bed and faced about. And
+there behind him stood the old man again, the crown still held in
+his wrinkled hands and the royal litter waiting at his elbow.
+With a deep reverence the bearers motioned towards the seat of
+the chair, inviting the white man to get in.
+
+Once more the poor Doctor looked wildly, hopelessly about him for
+some means of escape.  For a moment I thought he was going to
+take to his heels and run for it.  But the crowd around us was
+far too thick and densely packed for anyone to break through it. 
+A band of whistles and drums near by suddenly started the music
+of a solemn processional march. He turned back pleadingly again
+to Long Arrow in a last appeal for help. But the big Indian
+merely shook his head and pointed, like the bearers, to the
+waiting chair.
+
+At last, almost in tears, John Dolittle stepped slowly into the
+litter and sat down.  As he was hoisted on to the broad shoulders
+of the bearers I heard him still feebly muttering beneath his
+breath,
+
+"Botheration take it!--I don't WANT to be a king!"
+
+"Farewell!" called Long Arrow from his bed, "and may good fortune
+ever stand within the shadow of your throne!"
+
+"He comes!--He comes!" murmured the crowd.  "Away!  Away!--To the
+Whispering Rocks!"
+
+And as the procession formed up to leave the village, the crowd
+about us began hurrying off in the direction of the mountains to
+make sure of good seats in the giant theatre where the crowning
+ceremony would take place.
+
+
+
+THE TENTH CHAPTER
+
+THE CORONATION OF KING JONG
+
+IN my long lifetime I have seen many grand and inspiring things,
+but never anything that impressed me half as much as the sight of
+the Whispering Rocks as they looked on the day King Jong was
+crowned. As Bumpo, Chee-Chee, Polynesia, Jip and I finally
+reached the dizzy edge of the great bowl and looked down inside
+it, it was like gazing over a never-ending ocean of
+copper-colored faces; for every seat in the theatre was filled,
+every man, woman and child in the island--including Long Arrow
+who had been carried up on his sick bed--was there to see the
+show.
+
+Yet not a sound, not a pin-drop, disturbed the solemn silence of
+the Whispering Rocks.  It was quite creepy and sent chills
+running up and down your spine.  Bumpo told me afterwards that it
+took his breath away too much for him to speak, but that he
+hadn't known before that there were that many people in the
+world.
+
+Away down by the Table of the Throne stood a brand-new, brightly
+colored totem-pole. All the Indian families had totem-poles and
+kept them set up before the doors of their houses. The idea of a
+totem-pole is something like a door-plate or a visiting card.  It
+represents in its carvings the deeds and qualities of the family
+to which it belongs. This one, beautifully decorated and much
+higher than any other, was the Dolittle or, as it was to be
+henceforth called, the Royal Thinkalot totem.  It had nothing but
+animals on it, to signify the Doctor's great knowledge of
+creatures. And the animals chosen to be shown were those which to
+the Indians were supposed to represent good qualities of
+character, such as, the deer for speed; the ox for perseverance;
+the fish for discretion, and so on.  But at the top of the totem
+is always placed the sign or animal by which the family is most
+proud to be known. This, on the Thinkalot pole, was an enormous
+parrot, in memory of the famous Peace of the Parrots.
+
+The Ivory Throne had been all polished with scented oil and it
+glistened whitely in the strong sunlight.  At the foot of it
+there had been strewn great quantities of branches of flowering
+trees, which with the new warmth of milder climates were now
+blossoming in the valleys of the island.
+
+Soon we saw the royal litter, with the Doctor seated in it,
+slowly ascending the winding steps of the Table.  Reaching the
+flat top at last, it halted and the Doctor stepped out upon the
+flowery carpet. So still and perfect was the silence that even at
+that distance above I distinctly heard a twig snap beneath his
+tread.
+
+Walking to the throne accompanied by the old man, the Doctor got
+up upon the stand and sat down.  How tiny his little round figure
+looked when seen from that tremendous height! The throne had been
+made for longer-legged kings; and when he was seated, his feet
+did not reach the ground but dangled six inches from the top
+step.
+
+Then the old man turned round and looking up at the people began
+to speak in a quiet even voice; but every word he said was easily
+heard in the furthest corner of the Whispering Rocks.
+
+First he recited the names of all the great Popsipetel kings who
+in days long ago had been crowned in this ivory chair. He spoke
+of the greatness of the Popsipetel people, of their triumphs, of
+their hardships.  Then waving his hand towards the Doctor he
+began recounting the things which this king-to-be had done. And I
+am bound to say that they easily outmatched the deeds of those
+who had gone before him.
+
+As soon as he started to speak of what the Doctor had achieved
+for the tribe, the people, still strictly silent, all began
+waving their right hands towards the throne. This gave to the
+vast theatre a very singular appearance: acres and acres of
+something moving--with never a sound.
+
+At last the old man finished his speech and stepping up to the
+chair, very respectfully removed the Doctor's battered high hat.
+He was about to put it upon the ground; but the Doctor took it
+from him hastily and kept it on his lap.  Then taking up the
+Sacred Crown he placed it upon John Dolittle's head. It did not
+fit very well (for it had been made for smaller-headed kings),
+and when the wind blew in freshly from the sunlit sea the Doctor
+had some difficulty in keeping it on. But it looked very
+splendid.
+
+Turning once more to the people, the old man said,
+
+"Men of Popsipetel, behold your elected king!--Are you content?"
+
+And then at last the voice of the people broke loose.
+
+"JONG!  JONG!" they shouted, "LONG LIVE KING JONG!"
+
+The sound burst upon the solemn silence with the crash of a
+hundred cannon. There, where even a whisper carried miles, the
+shock of it was like a blow in the face.  Back and forth the
+mountains threw it to one another. I thought the echoes of it
+would never die away as it passed rumbling through the whole
+island, jangling among the lower valleys, booming in the distant
+sea-caves.
+
+Suddenly I saw the old man point upward, to the highest mountain
+in the island; and looking over my shoulder, I was just in time
+to see the Hanging Stone topple slowly out of sight--down into
+the heart of the volcano.
+
+"See ye, Men of the Moving Land!" the old man cried: "The stone
+has fallen and our legend has come true: the King of Kings is
+crowned this day!"
+
+The Doctor too had seen the stone fall and he was now standing up
+looking at the sea expectantly.
+
+"He's thinking of the air-chamber," said Bumpo in my ear. "Let us
+hope that the sea isn't very deep in these parts."
+
+After a full minute (so long did it take the stone to fall that
+depth) we heard a muffled, distant, crunching thud--and then
+immediately after, a great hissing of escaping air.  The Doctor,
+his face tense with anxiety, sat down in the throne again still
+watching the blue water of the ocean with staring eyes.
+
+Soon we felt the island slowly sinking beneath us.  We saw the
+sea creep inland over the beaches as the shores went down--one
+foot, three feet, ten feet, twenty, fifty, a hundred. And then,
+thank goodness, gently as a butterfly alighting on a rose, it
+stopped!  Spidermonkey Island had come to rest on the sandy
+bottom of the Atlantic, and earth was joined to earth once more.
+
+Of course many of the houses near the shores were now under
+water. Popsipetel Village itself had entirely disappeared.  But
+it didn't matter. No one was drowned; for every soul in the
+island was high up in the hills watching the coronation of King
+Jong.
+
+The Indians themselves did not realize at the time what was
+taking place, though of course they had felt the land sinking
+beneath them. The Doctor told us afterwards that it must have
+been the shock of that tremendous shout, coming from a million
+throats at once, which had toppled the Hanging Stone off its
+perch. But in Popsipetel history the story was handed down (and
+it is firmly believed to this day) that when King Jong sat upon
+the throne, so great was his mighty weight, that the very island
+itself sank down to do him honor and never moved again.
+
+
+
+PART SIX
+
+THE FIRST CHAPTER
+
+NEW POPSIPETEL
+
+JONG THINKALOT had not ruled over his new kingdom for more than a
+couple of days before my notions about kings and the kind of
+lives they led changed very considerably. I had thought that all
+that kings had to do was to sit on a throne and have people bow
+down before them several times a day. I now saw that a king can
+be the hardest-working man in the world--if he attends properly
+to his business.
+
+From the moment that he got up, early in the morning, till the
+time he went to bed, late at night--seven days in the week--John
+Dolittle was busy, busy, busy.  First of all there was the new
+town to be built. The village of Popsipetel had disappeared:  the
+City of New Popsipetel must be made.  With great care a place was
+chosen for it--and a very beautiful position it was, at the
+mouth of a large river. The shores of the island at this point
+formed a lovely wide bay where canoes--and ships too, if they
+should ever come--could lie peacefully at anchor without danger
+from storms.
+
+In building this town the Doctor gave the Indians a lot of new
+ideas. He showed them what town-sewers were, and how garbage
+should be collected each day and burnt.  High up in the hills he
+made a large lake by damming a stream.  This was the water-supply
+for the town. None of these things had the Indians ever seen; and
+many of the sicknesses which they had suffered from before were
+now entirely prevented by proper drainage and pure
+drinking-water.
+
+Peoples who don't use fire do not of course have metals either;
+because without fire it is almost impossible to shape iron and
+steel.  One of the first things that John Dolittle did was to
+search the mountains till he found iron and copper mines. Then he
+set to work to teach the Indians how these metals could be melted
+and made into knives and plows and water-pipes and all manner of
+things.
+
+In his kingdom the Doctor tried his hardest to do away with most
+of the old-fashioned pomp and grandeur of a royal court. As he
+said to Bumpo and me, if he must be a king he meant to be a
+thoroughly democratic one, that is a king who is chummy and
+friendly with his subjects and doesn't put on airs. And when he
+drew up the plans for the City of New Popsipetel he had no palace
+shown of any kind.  A little cottage in a back street was all
+that he had provided for himself.
+
+But this the Indians would not permit on any account. They had
+been used to having their kings rule in a truly grand and kingly
+manner; and they insisted that he have built for himself the most
+magnificent palace ever seen.  In all else they let him have his
+own way absolutely; but they wouldn't allow him to wriggle out of
+any of the ceremony or show that goes with being a king. A
+thousand servants he had to keep in his palace, night and day, to
+wait on him.  The Royal Canoe had to be kept up--a gorgeous,
+polished mahogany boat, seventy feet long, inlaid with
+mother-o'-pearl and paddled by the hundred strongest men in the
+island. The palace-gardens covered a square mile and employed a
+hundred and sixty gardeners.
+
+Even in his dress the poor man was compelled always to be grand
+and elegant and uncomfortable.  The beloved and battered high hat
+was put away in a closet and only looked at secretly.  State
+robes had to be worn on all occasions. And when the Doctor did
+once in a while manage to sneak off for a short, natural-history
+expedition he never dared to wear his old clothes, but had to
+chase his butterflies with a crown upon his head and a scarlet
+cloak flying behind him in the wind.
+
+There was no end to the kinds of duties the Doctor had to perform
+and the questions he had to decide upon--everything, from
+settling disputes about lands and boundaries, to making peace
+between husband and wife who had been throwing shoes at one
+another. In the east wing of the Royal Palace was the Hall of
+Justice.  And here King Jong sat every morning from nine to
+eleven passing judgment on all cases that were brought before
+him.
+
+Then in the afternoon he taught school.  The sort of things he
+taught were not always those you find in ordinary schools.
+Grown-ups as well as children came to learn.  You see, these
+Indians were ignorant of many of the things that quite small
+white children know--though it is also true that they knew a lot
+that white grown-ups never dreamed of.
+
+Bumpo and I helped with the teaching as far as we could--simple
+arithmetic, and easy things like that.  But the classes in
+astronomy, farming science, the proper care of babies, with a
+host of other subjects, the Doctor had to teach himself. The
+Indians were tremendously keen about the schooling and they came
+in droves and crowds; so that even with the open-air classes (a
+school-house was impossible of course) the Doctor had to take
+them in relays and batches of five or six thousand at a time and
+used a big megaphone or trumpet to make himself heard.
+
+The rest of his day was more than filled with road-making,
+building water-mills, attending the sick and a million other
+things.
+
+In spite of his being so unwilling to become a king, John
+Dolittle made a very good one--once he got started. He may not
+have been as dignified as many kings in history who were always
+running off to war and getting themselves into romantic
+situations; but since I have grown up and seen something of
+foreign lands and governments I have often thought that
+Popsipetel under the reign of Jong Thinkalot was perhaps the best
+ruled state in the history of the world.
+
+The Doctor's birthday came round after we had been on the island
+six months and a half.  The people made a great public holiday of
+it and there was much feasting, dancing, fireworks, speech-making
+and jollification.
+
+Towards the close of the day the chief men of the two tribes
+formed a procession and passed through the streets of the town,
+carrying a very gorgeously painted tablet of ebony wood, ten feet
+high. This was a picture-history, such as they preserved for each
+of the ancient kings of Popsipetel to record their deeds.
+
+With great and solemn ceremony it was set up over the door of the
+new palace:  and everybody then clustered round to look at it. It
+had six pictures on it commemorating the six great events in the
+life of King Jong and beneath were written the verses that
+explained them. They were composed by the Court Poet; and this is
+a translation:
+
+I
+
+(His Landing on The Island) Heaven-sent, In his dolphin-drawn
+canoe From worlds unknown He landed on our shores.  The very
+palms Bowed down their heads In welcome to the coming King.
+
+II
+
+(His Meeting With The Beetle) By moonlight in the mountains He
+communed with beasts.  The shy Jabizri brings him picture-words
+Of great distress.
+
+(He liberates The Lost Families) Big was his heart with pity; Big
+were his hands with strength.  See how he tears the mountain like
+a yam! See how the lost ones Dance forth to greet the day!
+
+IV
+
+(He Makes Fire) Our land was cold and dying.  He waved his hand
+and lo! Lightning leapt from cloudless skies; The sun leant down;
+And Fire was born! Then while we crowded round The grateful glow,
+pushed he Our wayward, floating land Back to peaceful anchorage
+In sunny seas.
+
+V
+
+
+(He Leads The People To Victory in War) Once only Was his kindly
+countenance Darkened by a deadly frown.  Woe to the wicked enemy
+That dares attack The tribe with Thinkalot for Chief!
+
+VI
+
+(He Is Crowned King) The birds of the air rejoiced; The Sea
+laughed and gambolled with her shores; All Red-skins wept for joy
+The day we crowned him King.  He is the Builder, the Healer, the
+Teacher and the Prince; He is the greatest of them all. May he
+live a thousand thousand years, Happy in his heart, To bless our
+land with Peace.
+
+
+
+THE SECOND CHAPTER
+
+THOUGHTS OF HOME
+
+IN the Royal Palace Bumpo and I had a beautiful suite of rooms of
+our very own--which Polynesia, Jip and Chee-Chee shared with us.
+
+Officially Bumpo was Minister of the Interior; while I was First
+Lord of the Treasury.  Long Arrow also had quarters there; but at
+present he was absent, traveling abroad.
+
+One night after supper when the Doctor was away in the town
+somewhere visiting a new-born baby, we were all sitting round the
+big table in Bumpo's reception-room. This we did every evening,
+to talk over the plans for the following day and various affairs
+of state. It was a kind of Cabinet Meeting.
+
+To-night however we were talking about England--and also about
+things to eat. We had got a little tired of Indian food.  You
+see, none of the natives knew how to cook; and we had the most
+discouraging time training a chef for the Royal Kitchen.  Most of
+them were champions at spoiling good food. Often we got so hungry
+that the Doctor would sneak downstairs with us into the palace
+basement, after all the cooks were safe in bed, and fry pancakes
+secretly over the dying embers of the fire.  The Doctor himself
+was the finest cook that ever lived.  But he used to make a
+terrible mess of the kitchen; and of course we had to be awfully
+careful that we didn't get caught.
+
+Well, as I was saying, to-night food was the subject of
+discussion at the Cabinet Meeting; and I had just been reminding
+Bumpo of the nice dishes we had had at the bed-maker's house in
+Monteverde.
+
+"I tell you what I would like now," said Bumpo: "a large cup of
+cocoa with whipped cream on the top of it. In Oxford we used to
+be able to get the most wonderful cocoa. It is really too bad
+they haven't any cocoa-trees in this island, or cows to give
+cream."
+
+"When do you suppose," asked Jip, "the Doctor intends to move on
+from here?"
+
+"I was talking to him about that only yesterday," said Polynesia. 
+"But I couldn't get any satisfactory answer out of him.  He
+didn't seem to want to speak about it."
+
+There was a pause in the conversation.
+
+"Do you know what I believe?" she added presently. "I believe the
+Doctor has given up even thinking of going home."
+
+"Good Lord!" cried Bumpo.  "You don't say!"
+
+"Sh!" said Polynesia.  "What's that noise?"
+
+We listened; and away off in the distant corridors of the palace
+we heard the sentries crying,
+
+"The King!--Make way!--The King!"
+
+"It's he--at last," whispered Polynesia--"late, as usual. Poor
+man, how he does work!--Chee-Chee, get the pipe and tobacco out
+of the cupboard and lay the dressing-gown ready on his chair."
+
+When the Doctor came into the room he looked serious and
+thoughtful. Wearily he took off his crown and hung it on a peg
+behind the door. Then he exchanged the royal cloak for the
+dressing-gown, dropped into his chair at the head of the table
+with a deep sigh and started to fill his pipe.
+
+"Well," asked Polynesia quietly, "how did you find the baby?"
+
+"The baby?" he murmured--his thoughts still seemed to be very far
+away--"Ah yes.  The baby was much better, thank you--It has cut
+its second tooth."
+
+Then he was silent again, staring dreamily at the ceiling through
+a cloud of tobacco-smoke; while we all sat round quite still,
+waiting.
+
+"We were wondering, Doctor," said I at last,--"just before you
+came in--when you would be starting home again.  We will have
+been on this island seven months to-morrow."
+
+The Doctor sat forward in his chair looking rather uncomfortable.
+
+"Well, as a matter of fact," said he after a moment, "I meant to
+speak to you myself this evening on that very subject. But
+it's--er--a little hard to make any one exactly understand the
+situation.  I am afraid that it would be impossible for me to
+leave the work I am now engaged on. . . . You remember, when they
+first insisted on making me king, I told you it was not easy to
+shake off responsibilities, once you had taken them up. These
+people have come to rely on me for a great number of things. We
+found them ignorant of much that white people enjoy.  And we
+have, one might say, changed the current of their lives
+considerably. Now it is a very ticklish business, to change the
+lives of other people. And whether the changes we have made will
+be, in the end, for good or for bad, is our lookout."
+
+He thought a moment--then went on in a quieter, sadder voice:
+
+"I would like to continue my voyages and my natural history work;
+and I would like to go back to Puddleby--as much as any of you.
+This is March, and the crocuses will be showing in the lawn. . .
+. But that which I feared has come true:  I cannot close my eyes
+to what might happen if I should leave these people and run away.
+They would probably go back to their old habits and customs:
+wars, superstitions, devil-worship and what not; and many of the
+new things we have taught them might be put to improper use and
+make their condition, then, worse by far than that in which we
+found them. . . . They like me; they trust me; they have come to
+look to me for help in all their problems and troubles.  And no
+man wants to do unfair things to them who trust him. . . . And
+then again, I like THEM.  They are, as it were, my children--I
+never had any children of my own--and I am terribly interested in
+how they will grow up. Don't you see what I mean?--How can I
+possibly run away and leave them in the lurch? . . . No. I have
+thought it over a good deal and tried to decide what was best. 
+And I am afraid that the work I took up when I assumed the crown
+I must stick to.  I'm afraid--I've got to stay."
+
+"For good--for your whole life?" asked Bumpo in a low voice.
+
+For some moments the Doctor, frowning, made no answer.
+
+"I don't know," he said at last--"Anyhow for the present there is
+certainly no hope of my leaving.  It wouldn't be right."
+
+The sad silence that followed was broken finally by a knock upon
+the door.
+
+With a patient sigh the Doctor got up and put on his crown and
+cloak again.
+
+"Come in," he called, sitting down in his chair once more.
+
+The door opened and a footman--one of the hundred and forty-three
+who were always on night duty--stood bowing in the entrance.
+
+"Oh, Kindly One," said he, "there is a traveler at the
+palace-gate who would have speech with Your Majesty."
+
+"Another baby's been born, I'll bet a shilling," muttered
+Polynesia.
+
+"Did you ask the traveler's name?" enquired the Doctor.
+
+"Yes, Your Majesty," said the footman.  "It is Long Arrow, the
+son of Golden Arrow."
+
+
+
+THE THIRD CHAPTER
+
+THE RED MAN'S SCIENCE
+
+LONG ARROW!" cried the Doctor.  "How splendid!  Show him in--
+show him in at once."
+
+"I'm so glad," he continued, turning to us as soon as the footman
+had gone. "I've missed Long Arrow terribly.  He's an awfully good
+man to have around--even if he doesn't talk much.  Let me see: 
+it's five months now since he went off to Brazil.  I'm so glad
+he's back safe.  He does take such tremendous chances with that
+canoe of his--clever as he is. It's no joke, crossing a hundred
+miles of open sea in a twelve-foot canoe. I wouldn't care to try
+it."
+
+Another knock; and when the door swung open in answer to the
+Doctor's call, there stood our big friend on the threshold, a
+smile upon his strong, bronzed face.  Behind him appeared two
+porters carrying loads done up in Indian palm-matting. These,
+when the first salutations were over, Long Arrow ordered to lay
+their burdens down.
+
+"Behold, oh Kindly One," said he, "I bring you, as I promised, my
+collection of plants which I had hidden in a cave in the Andes. 
+These treasures represent the labors of my life."
+
+The packages were opened; and inside were many smaller packages
+and bundles. Carefully they were laid out in rows upon the table.
+
+It appeared at first a large but disappointing display. There
+were plants, flowers, fruits, leaves, roots, nuts, beans, honeys,
+gums, bark, seeds, bees and a few kinds of insects.
+
+The study of plants--or botany, as it is called--was a kind of
+natural history which had never interested me very much. I had
+considered it, compared with the study of animals, a dull
+science. But as Long Arrow began taking up the various things in
+his collection and explaining their qualities to us, I became
+more and more fascinated. And before he had done I was completely
+absorbed by the wonders of the Vegetable Kingdom which he had
+brought so far.
+
+"These," said he, taking up a little packet of big seeds, "are
+what I have called 'laughing-beans.' "
+
+"What are they for?" asked Bumpo.
+
+"To cause mirth," said the Indian.
+
+Bumpo, while Long Arrow's back was turned, took three of the
+beans and swallowed them.
+
+"Alas!" said the Indian when he discovered what Bumpo had done.
+"If he wished to try the powers of these seeds he should have
+eaten no more than a quarter of a one.  Let us hope that he does
+not die of laughter."
+
+The beans' effect upon Bumpo was most extraordinary. First he
+broke into a broad smile; then he began to giggle; finally he
+burst into such prolonged roars of hearty laughter that we had to
+carry him into the next room and put him to bed. The Doctor said
+afterwards that he probably would have died laughing if he had
+not had such a strong constitution. All through the night he
+gurgled happily in his sleep. And even when we woke him up the
+next morning he rolled out of bed still chuckling.
+
+Returning to the Reception Room, we were shown some red roots
+which Long Arrow told us had the property, when made into a soup
+with sugar and salt, of causing people to dance with
+extraordinary speed and endurance. He asked us to try them; but
+we refused, thanking him.  After Bumpo's exhibition we were a
+little afraid of any more experiments for the present.
+
+There was no end to the curious and useful things that Long Arrow
+had collected:  an oil from a vine which would make hair grow in
+one night; an orange as big as a pumpkin which he had raised in
+his own mountain-garden in Peru; a black honey (he had brought
+the bees that made it too and the seeds of the flowers they fed
+on) which would put you to sleep, just with a teaspoonful, and
+make you wake up fresh in the morning; a nut that made the voice
+beautiful for singing; a water-weed that stopped cuts from
+bleeding; a moss that cured snake-bite; a lichen that prevented
+sea-sickness.
+
+The Doctor of course was tremendously interested. Well into the
+early hours of the morning he was busy going over the articles on
+the table one by one, listing their names and writing their
+properties and descriptions into a note-book as Long Arrow
+dictated.
+
+"There are things here, Stubbins," he said as he ended, "which in
+the hands of skilled druggists will make a vast difference to the
+medicine and chemistry of the world. I suspect that this
+sleeping-honey by itself will take the place of half the bad
+drugs we have had to use so far. Long Arrow has discovered a
+pharmacopaeia of his own. Miranda was right:  he is a great
+naturalist.  His name deserves to be placed beside Linnaeus. 
+Some day I must get all these things to England--But when," he
+added sadly--"Yes, that's the problem:  when?"
+
+
+
+THE FOURTH CHAPTER
+
+THE SEA-SERPENT
+
+FOR a long time after that Cabinet Meeting of which I have just
+told you we did not ask the Doctor anything further about going
+home. Life in Spidermonkey Island went forward, month in month
+out, busily and pleasantly.  The Winter, with Christmas
+celebrations, came and went, and Summer was with us once again
+before we knew it.
+
+As time passed the Doctor became more and more taken up with the
+care of his big family; and the hours he could spare for his
+natural history work grew fewer and fewer.  I knew that he often
+still thought of his house and garden in Puddleby and of his old
+plans and ambitions; because once in a while we would notice his
+face grow thoughtful and a little sad, when something reminded
+him of England or his old life.  But he never spoke of these
+things. And I truly believe he would have spent the remainder of
+his days on Spidermonkey Island if it hadn't been for an
+accident--and for Polynesia.
+
+The old parrot had grown very tired of the Indians and she made
+no secret of it.
+
+"The very idea," she said to me one day as we were walking on the
+seashore--"the idea of the famous John Dolittle spending his
+valuable life waiting on these greasy natives!--Why, it's
+preposterous!"
+
+All that morning we had been watching the Doctor superintend the
+building of the new theatre in Popsipetel--there was already an
+opera-house and a concert-hall; and finally she had got so
+grouchy and annoyed at the sight that I had suggested her taking
+a walk with me.
+
+"Do you really think," I asked as we sat down on the sands, "that
+he will never go back to Puddleby again?"
+
+"I don't know," said she.  "At one time I felt sure that the
+thought of the pets he had left behind at the house would take
+him home soon. But since Miranda brought him word last August
+that everything was all right there, that hope's gone.  For
+months and months I've been racking my brains to think up a plan. 
+If we could only hit upon something that would turn his thoughts
+back to natural history again--I mean something big enough to
+get him really excited--we might manage it. But how?"--she
+shrugged her shoulders in disgust--"How?--when all he thinks of
+now is paving streets and teaching papooses that twice one are
+two!"
+
+It was a perfect Popsipetel day, bright and hot, blue and yellow.
+Drowsily I looked out to sea thinking of my mother and father. I
+wondered if they were getting anxious over my long absence.
+Beside me old Polynesia went on grumbling away in low steady
+tones; and her words began to mingle and mix with the gentle
+lapping of the waves upon the shore.  It may have been the even
+murmur of her voice, helped by the soft and balmy air, that
+lulled me to sleep. I don't know.  Anyhow I presently dreamed
+that the island had moved again--not floatingly as before, but
+suddenly, jerkily, as though something enormously powerful had
+heaved it up from its bed just once and let it down.
+
+How long I slept after that I have no idea.  I was awakened by a
+gentle pecking on the nose.
+
+"Tommy!--Tommy!" (it was Polynesia's voice) "Wake up!--Gosh, what
+a boy, to sleep through an earthquake and never notice
+it!--Tommy, listen: here's our chance now.  Wake up, for
+goodness' sake!"
+
+"What's the matter?"  I asked sitting up with a yawn.
+
+"Sh!--Look!" whispered Polynesia pointing out to sea.
+
+Still only half awake, I stared before me with bleary,
+sleep-laden eyes. And in the shallow water, not more than thirty
+yards from shore I saw an enormous pale pink shell.  Dome-shaped,
+it towered up in a graceful rainbow curve to a tremendous height;
+and round its base the surf broke gently in little waves of
+white. It could have belonged to the wildest dream.
+
+"What in the world is it?"  I asked.
+
+"That," whispered Polynesia, "is what sailors for hundreds of
+years have called the Sea-serpent. I've seen it myself more than
+once from the decks of ships, at long range, curving in and out
+of the water. But now that I see it close and still, I very
+strongly suspect that the Sea-serpent of history is no other than
+the Great Glass Sea-snail that the fidgit told us of.  If that
+isn't the only fish of its kind in the seven seas, call me a
+carrion-crow--Tommy, we're in luck. Our job is to get the Doctor
+down here to look at that prize specimen before it moves off to
+the Deep Hole.  If we can, then trust me, we may leave this
+blessed island yet.  You stay here and keep an eye on it while I
+go after the Doctor.  Don't move or speak--don't even breathe
+heavy: he might get scared--awful timid things, snails.  Just
+watch him; and I'll be back in two shakes."
+
+Stealthily creeping up the sands till she could get behind the
+cover of some bushes before she took to her wings, Polynesia went
+off in the direction of the town; while I remained alone upon the
+shore fascinatedly watching this unbelievable monster wallowing
+in the shallow sea.
+
+It moved very little.  From time to time it lifted its head out
+of the water showing its enormously long neck and horns. 
+Occasionally it would try and draw itself up, the way a snail
+does when he goes to move, but almost at once it would sink down
+again as if exhausted. It seemed to me to act as though it were
+hurt underneath; but the lower part of it, which was below the
+level of the water, I could not see.
+
+I was still absorbed in watching the great beast when Polynesia
+returned with the Doctor.  They approached so silently and so
+cautiously that I neither saw nor heard them coming till I found
+them crouching beside me on the sand.
+
+One sight of the snail changed the Doctor completely. His eyes
+just sparkled with delight.  I had not seen him so thrilled and
+happy since the time we caught the Jabizri beetle when we first
+landed on the island.
+
+"It is he!" he whispered--"the Great Glass Sea-snail himself--
+not a doubt of it.  Polynesia, go down the shore a way and see if
+you can find any of the porpoises for me. Perhaps they can tell
+us what the snail is doing here--It's very unusual for him to be
+in shallow water like this. And Stubbins, you go over to the
+harbor and bring me a small canoe. But be most careful how you
+paddle it round into this bay. If the snail should take fright
+and go out into the deeper water, we may never get a chance to
+see him again."
+
+"And don't tell any of the Indians," Polynesia added in a whisper
+as I moved to go.  "We must keep this a secret or we'll have a
+crowd of sightseers round here in five minutes. It's mighty lucky
+we found the snail in a quiet bay."
+
+Reaching the harbor, I picked out a small light canoe from among
+the number that were lying there and without telling any one what
+I wanted it for, got in and started off to paddle it down the
+shore.
+
+I was mortally afraid that the snail might have left before I got
+back. And you can imagine how delighted I was, when I rounded a
+rocky cape and came in sight of the bay, to find he was still
+there.
+
+Polynesia, I saw, had got her errand done and returned ahead of
+me, bringing with her a pair of porpoises.  These were already
+conversing in low tones with John Dolittle.  I beached the canoe
+and went up to listen.
+
+"What I want to know," the Doctor was saying, "is how the snail
+comes to be here.  I was given to understand that he usually
+stayed in the Deep Hole; and that when he did come to the surface
+it was always in mid-ocean."
+
+"Oh, didn't you know?--Haven't you heard?" the porpoises replied:
+"you covered up the Deep Hole when you sank the island.  Why yes:
+you let it down right on top of the mouth of the Hole--sort of
+put the lid on, as it were.  The fishes that were in it at the
+time have been trying to get out ever since.  The Great Snail had
+the worst luck of all:  the island nipped him by the tail just as
+he was leaving the Hole for a quiet evening stroll. And he was
+held there for six months trying to wriggle himself free. Finally
+he had to heave the whole island up at one end to get his tail
+loose. Didn't you feel a sort of an earthquake shock about an
+hour ago?"
+
+"Yes I did," said the Doctor, "it shook down part of the theatre
+I was building."
+
+"Well, that was the snail heaving up the island to get out of the
+Hole," they said.  "All the other fishes saw their chance and
+escaped when he raised the lid.  It was lucky for them he's so
+big and strong. But the strain of that terrific heave told on
+him:  he sprained a muscle in his tail and it started swelling
+rather badly. He wanted some quiet place to rest up; and seeing
+this soft beach handy he crawled in here."
+
+"Dear me!" said the Doctor.  "I'm terribly sorry. I suppose I
+should have given some sort of notice that the island was going
+to be let down.  But, to tell the truth, we didn't know it
+ourselves; it happened by a kind of an accident. Do you imagine
+the poor fellow is hurt very badly?"
+
+"We're not sure," said the porpoises; "because none of us can
+speak his language.  But we swam right around him on our way in
+here, and he did not seem to be really seriously injured."
+
+"Can't any of your people speak shellfish?" the Doctor asked.
+
+"Not a word," said they.  "It's a most frightfully difficult
+language."
+
+"Do you think that you might be able to find me some kind of a
+fish that could?"
+
+"We don't know," said the porpoises.  "We might try."
+
+"I should be extremely grateful to you if you would," said the
+Doctor.  "There are many important questions I want to ask this
+snail--And besides, I would like to do my best to cure his tail
+for him.  It's the least I can do. After all, it was my fault,
+indirectly, that he got hurt."
+
+"Well, if you wait here," said the porpoises, "we'll see what can
+be done."
+
+
+
+THE FIFTH CHAPTER
+
+THE SHELLFISH RIDDLE SOLVED AT LAST
+
+SO Doctor Dolittle with a crown on his head sat down upon the
+shore like King Knut, and waited.  And for a whole hour the
+porpoises kept going and coming, bringing up different kinds of
+sea-beasts from the deep to see if they could help him.
+
+Many and curious were the creatures they produced.  It would seem
+however that there were very few things that spoke shellfish
+except the shellfish themselves.  Still, the porpoises grew a
+little more hopeful when they discovered a very old sea-urchin (a
+funny, ball-like, little fellow with long whiskers all over him)
+who said he could not speak pure shellfish, but he used to
+understand starfish--enough to get along--when he was young. This
+was coming nearer, even if it wasn't anything to go crazy about.
+Leaving the urchin with us, the porpoises went off once more to
+hunt up a starfish.
+
+They were not long getting one, for they were quite common in
+those parts. Then, using the sea-urchin as an interpreter, they
+questioned the starfish. He was a rather stupid sort of creature;
+but he tried his best to be helpful. And after a little patient
+examination we found to our delight that he could speak shellfish
+moderately well.
+
+Feeling quite encouraged, the Doctor and I now got into the
+canoe; and, with the porpoises, the urchin and the starfish
+swimming alongside, we paddled very gently out till we were close
+under the towering shell of the Great Snail.
+
+And then began the most curious conversation I have ever
+witnessed. First the starfish would ask the snail something; and
+whatever answer the snail gave, the starfish would tell it to the
+sea-urchin, the urchin would tell it to the porpoises and the
+porpoises would tell it to the Doctor.
+
+In this way we obtained considerable information, mostly about
+the very ancient history of the Animal Kingdom; but we missed a
+good many of the finer points in the snail's longer speeches on
+account of the stupidity of the starfish and all this translating
+from one language to another.
+
+While the snail was speaking, the Doctor and I put our ears
+against the wall of his shell and found that we could in this way
+hear the sound of his voice quite plainly. It was, as the fidgit
+had described, deep and bell-like. But of course we could not
+understand a single word he said. However the Doctor was by this
+time terrifically excited about getting near to learning the
+language he had sought so long. And presently by making the other
+fishes repeat over and over again short phrases which the snail
+used, he began to put words together for himself.  You see, he
+was already familiar with one or two fish languages; and that
+helped him quite a little. After he had practised for a while
+like this he leant over the side of the canoe and putting his
+face below the water, tried speaking to the snail direct.
+
+It was hard and difficult work; and hours went by before he got
+any results. But presently I could tell by the happy look on his
+face, that little by little he was succeeding.
+
+The sun was low in the West and the cool evening breeze was
+beginning to rustle softly through the bamboo-groves when the
+Doctor finally turned from his work and said to me,
+
+"Stubbins, I have persuaded the snail to come in on to the dry
+part of the beach and let me examine his tail. Will you please go
+back to the town and tell the workmen to stop working on the
+theatre for to-day? Then go on to the palace and get my
+medicine-bag. I think I left it under the throne in the Audience
+Chamber."
+
+"And remember," Polynesia whispered as I turned away, "not a word
+to a soul.  If you get asked questions, keep your mouth shut.
+Pretend you have a toothache or something."
+
+This time when I got back to the shore--with the medicine-bag--I
+found the snail high and dry on the beach.  Seeing him in his
+full length like this, it was easy to understand how old-time,
+superstitious sailors had called him the Sea-serpent. He
+certainly was a most gigantic, and in his way, a graceful,
+beautiful creature. John Dolittle was examining a swelling on his
+tail.
+
+From the bag which I had brought the Doctor took a large bottle
+of embrocation and began rubbing the sprain.  Next he took all
+the bandages he had in the bag and fastened them end to end.  But
+even like that, they were not long enough to go more than halfway
+round the enormous tail. The Doctor insisted that he must get the
+swelling strapped tight somehow. So he sent me off to the palace
+once more to get all the sheets from the Royal Linen-closet.
+These Polynesia and I tore into bandages for him. And at last,
+after terrific exertions, we got the sprain strapped to his
+satisfaction.
+
+The snail really seemed to be quite pleased with the attention he
+had received; and he stretched himself in lazy comfort when the
+Doctor was done.  In this position, when the shell on his back
+was empty, you could look right through it and see the palm-trees
+on the other side.
+
+"I think one of us had better sit up with him all night," said
+the Doctor.  "We might put Bumpo on that duty; he's been napping
+all day, I know--in the summer-house. It's a pretty bad sprain,
+that; and if the snail shouldn't be able to sleep, he'll be
+happier with some one with him for company. He'll get all right
+though--in a few days I should judge. If I wasn't so confoundedly
+busy I'd sit up with him myself. I wish I could, because I still
+have a lot of things to talk over with him."
+
+"But Doctor," said Polynesia as we prepared to go back to the
+town, "you ought to take a holiday.  All Kings take holidays once
+in the while--every one of them.  King Charles, for instance--of
+course Charles was before your time--but he!--why, he was ALWAYS
+holiday-making. Not that he was ever what you would call a model
+king. But just the same, he was frightfully popular.  Everybody
+liked him--even the golden-carp in the fish-pond at Hampton
+Court.  As a king, the only thing I had against him was his
+inventing those stupid, little, snappy dogs they call King
+Charles Spaniels.  There are lots of stories told about poor
+Charles; but that, in my opinion, is the worst thing he did. 
+However, all this is beside the point. As I was saying, kings
+have to take holidays the same as anybody else. And you haven't
+taken one since you were crowned, have you now?"
+
+"No," said the Doctor, "I suppose that's true."
+
+"Well now I tell you what you do," said she:  "as soon as you get
+back to the palace you publish a royal proclamation that you are
+going away for a week into the country for your health.  And
+you're going WITHOUT ANY SERVANTS, you understand--just like a
+plain person. It's called traveling incognito, when kings go off
+like that. They all do it--It's the only way they can ever have a
+good time. Then the week you're away you can spend lolling on the
+beach back there with the snail.  How's that?"
+
+"I'd like to," said the Doctor.  "It sounds most attractive. But
+there's that new theatre to be built; none of our carpenters
+would know how to get those rafters on without me to show them--
+And then there are the babies:  these native mothers are so
+frightfully ignorant."
+
+"Oh bother the theatre--and the babies too," snapped Polynesia. 
+"The theatre can wait a week. And as for babies, they never have
+anything more than colic. How do you suppose babies got along
+before you came here, for heaven's sake?--Take a holiday. . . .
+You need it."
+
+
+
+THE SIXTH CHAPTER
+
+THE LAST CABINET MEETING
+
+FROM the way Polynesia talked, I guessed that this idea of a
+holiday was part of her plan.
+
+The Doctor made no reply; and we walked on silently towards the
+town. I could see, nevertheless that her words had made an
+impression on him.
+
+After supper he disappeared from the palace without saying where
+he was going--a thing he had never done before.  Of course we
+all knew where he had gone: back to the beach to sit up with the
+snail.  We were sure of it because he had said nothing to Bumpo
+about attending to the matter.
+
+As soon as the doors were closed upon the Cabinet Meeting that
+night, Polynesia addressed the Ministry:
+
+"Look here, you fellows," said she:  "we've simply got to get the
+Doctor to take this holiday somehow--unless we're willing to stay
+in this blessed island for the rest of our lives."
+
+"But what difference," Bumpo asked, "is his taking a holiday
+going to make?"
+
+Impatiently Polynesia turned upon the Minister of the Interior.
+
+"Don't you see?  If he has a clear week to get thoroughly
+interested in his natural history again--marine stuff, his dream
+of seeing the floor of the ocean and all that--there may be some
+chance of his consenting to leave this pesky place. But while he
+is here on duty as king he never gets a moment to think of
+anything outside of the business of government."
+
+"Yes, that's true.  He's far too consententious Bumpo agreed.
+
+"And besides," Polynesia went on, "his only hope of ever getting
+away from here would be to escape secretly. He's got to leave
+while he is holiday-making, incognito--when no one knows where
+he is or what he's doing, but us. If he built a ship big enough
+to cross the sea in, all the Indians would see it, and hear it,
+being built; and they'd ask what it was for.  They would
+interfere. They'd sooner have anything happen than lose the
+Doctor.  Why, I believe if they thought he had any idea of
+escaping they would put chains on him."
+
+"Yes, I really think they would," I agreed.  "Yet without a ship
+of some kind I don't see how the Doctor is going to get away,
+even secretly."
+
+"Well, I'll tell you," said Polynesia.  "If we do succeed in
+making him take this holiday, our next step will be to get the
+sea-snail to promise to take us all in his shell and carry us to
+the mouth of Puddleby River.  If we can once get the snail
+willing, the temptation will be too much for John Dolittle and
+he'll come, I know--especially as he'll be able to take those new
+plants and drugs of Long Arrow's to the English doctors, as well
+as see the floor of the ocean on the way."
+
+"How thrilling!"  I cried.  "Do you mean the snail could take us
+under the sea all the way back to Puddleby?"
+
+"Certainly," said Polynesia, "a little trip like that is nothing
+to him. He would crawl along the floor of the ocean and the
+Doctor could see all the sights.  Perfectly simple.  Oh, John
+Dolittle will come all right, if we can only get him to take that
+holiday--AND if the snail will consent to give us the ride."
+
+"Golly, I hope he does!" sighed Jip.  "I'm sick of these beastly
+tropics--they make you feel so lazy and good-for-nothing. And
+there are no rats or anything here--not that a fellow would have
+the energy to chase 'em even if there were.  My, wouldn't I be
+glad to see old Puddleby and the garden again! And won't Dab-Dab
+be glad to have us back!"
+
+"By the end of next month," said I, "it will be two whole years
+since we left England--since we pulled up the anchor at
+Kingsbridge and bumped our way out into the river."
+
+"And got stuck on the mud-bank," added Chee-Chee in a dreamy,
+far-away voice.
+
+"Do you remember how all the people waved to us from the
+river-wall?" I asked.
+
+"Yes.  And I suppose they've often talked about us in the town
+since," said Jip--"wondering whether we're dead or alive."
+
+"Cease," said Bumpo, "I feel I am about to weep from sediment."
+
+
+
+THE SEVENTH CHAPTER
+
+THE DOCTOR'S DECISION
+
+WELL, you can guess how glad we were when next morning the
+Doctor, after his all-night conversation with the snail, told us
+that he had made up his mind to take the holiday. A proclamation
+was published right away by the Town Crier that His Majesty was
+going into the country for a seven-day rest, but that during his
+absence the palace and the government offices would be kept open
+as usual.
+
+Polynesia was immensely pleased.  She at once set quietly to work
+making arrangements for our departure--taking good care the while
+that no one should get an inkling of where we were going, what we
+were taking with us, the hour of our leaving or which of the
+palace-gates we would go out by.
+
+Cunning old schemer that she was, she forgot nothing. And not
+even we, who were of the Doctor's party, could imagine what
+reasons she had for some of her preparations. She took me inside
+and told me that the one thing I must remember to bring with me
+was ALL of the Doctor's note-books. Long Arrow, who was the only
+Indian let into the secret of our destination, said he would like
+to come with us as far as the beach to see the Great Snail; and
+him Polynesia told to be sure and bring his collection of plants. 
+Bumpo she ordered to carry the Doctor's high hat--carefully
+hidden under his coat.  She sent off nearly all the footmen who
+were on night duty to do errands in the town, so that there
+should be as few servants as possible to see us leave. And
+midnight, the hour when most of the towns-people would be asleep,
+she finally chose for our departure.
+
+We had to take a week's food-supply with us for the royal
+holiday. So, with our other packages, we were heavy laden when on
+the stroke of twelve we opened the west door of the palace and
+stepped cautiously and quietly into the moonlit garden.
+
+"Tiptoe incognito," whispered Bumpo as we gently closed the heavy
+doors behind us.
+
+No one had seen us leave.
+
+At the foot of the stone steps leading from the Peacock Terrace
+to the Sunken Rosary, something made me pause and look back at
+the magnificent palace which we had built in this strange,
+far-off land where no white men but ourselves had ever come.
+Somehow I felt it in my bones that we were leaving it to-night
+never to return again.  And I wondered what other kings and
+ministers would dwell in its splendid halls when we were gone.
+The air was hot; and everything was deadly still but for the
+gentle splashing of the tame flamingoes paddling in the
+lily-pond. Suddenly the twinkling lantern of a night watchman
+appeared round the corner of a cypress hedge. Polynesia plucked
+at my stocking and, in an impatient whisper, bade me hurry before
+our flight be discovered.
+
+On our arrival at the beach we found the snail already feeling
+much better and now able to move his tail without pain.
+
+The porpoises (who are by nature inquisitive creatures) were
+still hanging about in the offing to see if anything of interest
+was going to happen. Polynesia, the plotter, while the Doctor was
+occupied with his new patient, signaled to them and drew them
+aside for a little private chat.
+
+"Now see here, my friends," said she speaking low:  "you know how
+much John Dolittle has done for the animals--given his whole life
+up to them, one might say.  Well, here is your chance to do
+something for him.  Listen:  he got made king of this island
+against his will, see? And now that he has taken the job on, he
+feels that he can't leave it--thinks the Indians won't be able
+to get along without him and all that--which is nonsense, as you
+and I very well know.  All right. Then here's the point:  if this
+snail were only willing to take him and us--and a little
+baggage--not very much, thirty or forty pieces, say--inside his
+shell and carry us to England, we feel sure that the Doctor would
+go; because he's just crazy to mess about on the floor of the
+ocean. What's more this would be his one and only chance of
+escape from the island. Now it is highly important that the
+Doctor return to his own country to carry on his proper work
+which means such a lot to the animals of the world. So what we
+want you to do is to tell the sea-urchin to tell the starfish to
+tell the snail to take us in his shell and carry us to Puddleby
+River.  Is that plain?"
+
+"Quite, quite," said the porpoises.  "And we will willingly do
+our very best to persuade him--for it is, as you say, a perfect
+shame for the great man to be wasting his time here when he is so
+much needed by the animals."
+
+"And don't let the Doctor know what you're about," said Polynesia
+as they started to move off.  "He might balk if he thought we had
+any hand in it. Get the snail to offer on his own account to take
+us.  See?"
+
+John Dolittle, unaware of anything save the work he was engaged
+on, was standing knee-deep in the shallow water, helping the
+snail try out his mended tail to see if it were well enough to
+travel on. Bumpo and Long Arrow, with Chee-Chee and Jip, were
+lolling at the foot of a palm a little way up the beach. 
+Polynesia and I now went and joined them. Half an hour passed.
+
+What success the porpoises had met with, we did not know, till
+suddenly the Doctor left the snail's side and came splashing out
+to us, quite breathless.
+
+"What do you think?" he cried, "while I was talking to the snail
+just now he offered, of his own accord, to take us all back to
+England inside his shell. He says he has got to go on a voyage of
+discovery anyway, to hunt up a new home, now that the Deep Hole
+is closed. Said it wouldn't be much out of his way to drop us at
+Puddleby River, if we cared to come along--Goodness, what a
+chance!  I'd love to go. To examine the floor of the ocean all
+the way from Brazil to Europe!  No man ever did it before.  What
+a glorious trip!--Oh that I had never allowed myself to be made
+king! Now I must see the chance of a lifetime slip by."
+
+He turned from us and moved down the sands again to the middle
+beach, gazing wistfully, longingly out at the snail.  There was
+something peculiarly sad and forlorn about him as he stood there
+on the lonely, moonlit shore, the crown upon his head, his figure
+showing sharply black against the glittering sea behind.
+
+Out of the darkness at my elbow Polynesia rose and quietly moved
+down to his side.
+
+"Now Doctor," said she in a soft persuasive voice as though she
+were talking to a wayward child, "you know this king business is
+not your real work in life.  These natives will be able to get
+along without you--not so well as they do with you of course--
+but they'll manage--the same as they did before you came. Nobody
+can say you haven't done your duty by them. It was their fault: 
+they made you king.  Why not accept the snail's offer; and just
+drop everything now, and go? The work you'll do, the information
+you'll carry home, will be of far more value than what you're
+doing here."
+
+"Good friend," said the Doctor turning to her sadly, "I cannot.
+They would go back to their old unsanitary ways:  bad water,
+uncooked fish, no drainage, enteric fever and the rest. . . . No.
+I must think of their health, their welfare.  I began life as a
+people's doctor:  I seem to have come back to it in the end. I
+cannot desert them.  Later perhaps something will turn up. But I
+cannot leave them now."
+
+"That's where you're wrong, Doctor," said she.  "Now is when you
+should go. Nothing will 'turn up.'  The longer you stay, the
+harder it will be to leave--Go now.  Go to-night."
+
+"What, steal away without even saying good-bye to them! Why,
+Polynesia, what a thing to suggest!"
+
+"A fat chance they would give you to say good-bye!" snorted
+Polynesia growing impatient at last.  "I tell you, Doctor, if you
+go back to that palace tonight, for goodbys or anything else, you
+will stay there.  Now--this moment--is the time for you to go."
+
+The truth of the old parrot's words seemed to be striking home;
+for the Doctor stood silent a minute, thinking.
+
+"But there are the note-books," he said presently: "I would have
+to go back to fetch them."
+
+"I have them here, Doctor," said I, speaking up--"all of them."
+
+Again he pondered.
+
+"And Long Arrow's collection," he said.  "I would have to take
+that also with me."
+
+"It is here, Oh Kindly One," came the Indian's deep voice from
+the shadow beneath the palm.
+
+"But what about provisions," asked the Doctor--"food for the
+journey?"
+
+"We have a week's supply with us, for our holiday," said
+Polynesia--"that's more than we will need."
+
+For a third time the Doctor was silent and thoughtful.
+
+"And then there's my hat," he said fretfully at last.  "That
+settles it: I'll HAVE to go back to the palace.  I can't leave
+without my hat. How could I appear in Puddleby with this crown on
+my head?"
+
+"Here it is, Doctor," said Bumpo producing the hat, old, battered
+and beloved, from under his coat.  Polynesia had indeed thought
+of everything.
+
+Yet even now we could see the Doctor was still trying to think up
+further excuses.
+
+"Oh Kindly One," said Long Arrow, "why tempt ill fortune?  Your
+way is clear. Your future and your work beckon you back to your
+foreign home beyond the sea.  With you will go also what lore I
+too have gathered for mankind--to lands where it will be of
+wider use than it can ever here. I see the glimmerings of dawn in
+the eastern heaven.  Day is at hand. Go before your subjects are
+abroad.  Go before your project is discovered. For truly I
+believe that if you go not now you will linger the remainder of
+your days a captive king in Popsipetel."
+
+Great decisions often take no more than a moment in the making.
+Against the now paling sky I saw the Doctor's figure suddenly
+stiffen. Slowly he lifted the Sacred Crown from off his head and
+laid it on the sands.
+
+And when he spoke his voice was choked with tears.
+
+"They will find it here," he murmured, "when they come to search
+for me. And they will know that I have gone. . . . My children,
+my poor children!--I wonder will they ever understand why it was
+I left them. . . . I wonder will they ever understand--and
+forgive."
+
+He took his old hat from Bumpo; then facing Long Arrow, gripped
+his outstretched hand in silence.
+
+"You decide aright, oh Kindly One," said the Indian--"though none
+will miss and mourn you more than Long Arrow, the son of Golden
+Arrow--Farewell, and may good fortune ever lead you by the hand!"
+
+It was the first and only time I ever saw the Doctor weep.
+Without a word to any of us, he turned and moved down the beach
+into the shallow water of the sea.
+
+The snail humped up its back and made an opening between its
+shoulders and the edge of its shell.  The Doctor clambered up and
+passed within. We followed him, after handing up the baggage. 
+The opening shut tight with a whistling suction noise.
+
+Then turning in the direction of the East, the great creature
+began moving smoothly forward, down the slope into the deeper
+waters.
+
+Just as the swirling dark green surf was closing in above our
+heads, the big morning sun popped his rim up over the edge of the
+ocean. And through our transparent walls of pearl we saw the
+watery world about us suddenly light up with that most wondrously
+colorful of visions, a daybreak beneath the sea.
+
+
+The rest of the story of our homeward voyage is soon told.
+
+Our new quarters we found very satisfactory.  Inside the spacious
+shell, the snail's wide back was extremely comfortable to sit and
+lounge on--better than a sofa, when you once got accustomed to
+the damp and clammy feeling of it.  He asked us, shortly after we
+started, if we wouldn't mind taking off our boots, as the
+hobnails in them hurt his back as we ran excitedly from one side
+to another to see the different sights.
+
+The motion was not unpleasant, very smooth and even; in fact, but
+for the landscape passing outside, you would not know, on the
+level going, that you were moving at all.
+
+I had always thought for some reason or other that the bottom of
+the sea was flat.  I found that it was just as irregular and
+changeful as the surface of the dry land.  We climbed over great
+mountain-ranges, with peaks towering above peaks. We threaded our
+way through dense forests of tall sea-plants. We crossed wide
+empty stretches of sandy mud, like deserts--so vast that you went
+on for a whole day with nothing ahead of you but a dim horizon.
+Sometimes the scene was moss-covered, rolling country, green and
+restful to the eye like rich pastures; so that you almost looked
+to see sheep cropping on these underwater downs. And sometimes
+the snail would roll us forward inside him like peas, when he
+suddenly dipped downward to descend into some deep secluded
+valley with steeply sloping sides.
+
+In these lower levels we often came upon the shadowy shapes of
+dead ships, wrecked and sunk Heaven only knows how many years
+ago; and passing them we would speak in hushed whispers like
+children seeing monuments in churches.
+
+Here too, in the deeper, darker waters, monstrous fishes, feeding
+quietly in caves and hollows would suddenly spring up, alarmed at
+our approach, and flash away into the gloom with the speed of an
+arrow. While other bolder ones, all sorts of unearthly shapes and
+colors, would come right up and peer in at us through the shell.
+
+"I suppose they think we are a sort of sanaquarium," said
+Bumpo--"I'd hate to be a fish."
+
+It was a thrilling and ever-changing show.  The Doctor wrote or
+sketched incessantly.  Before long we had filled all the blank
+note-books we had left.  Then we searched our pockets for any odd
+scraps of paper on which to jot down still more observations. We
+even went through the used books a second time, writing in
+between the lines, scribbling all over the covers, back and
+front.
+
+Our greatest difficulty was getting enough light to see by. In
+the lower waters it was very dim.  On the third day we passed a
+band of fire-eels, a sort of large, marine glow-worm; and the
+Doctor asked the snail to get them to come with us for a way.
+This they did, swimming alongside; and their light was very
+helpful, though not brilliant.
+
+How our giant shellfish found his way across that vast and gloomy
+world was a great puzzle to us.  John Dolittle asked him by what
+means he navigated--how he knew he was on the right road to
+Puddleby River.  And what the snail said in reply got the Doctor
+so excited, that having no paper left, he tore out the lining of
+his precious hat and covered it with notes.
+
+By night of course it was impossible to see anything; and during
+the hours of darkness the snail used to swim instead of crawl.
+When he did so he could travel at a terrific speed, just by
+waggling that long tail of his.  This was the reason why we
+completed the trip in so short a time five and a half days.
+
+The air of our chamber, not having a change in the whole voyage,
+got very close and stuffy; and for the first two days we all had
+headaches. But after that we got used to it and didn't mind it in
+the least.
+
+Early in the afternoon of the sixth day, we noticed we were
+climbing a long gentle slope.  As we went upward it grew lighter.
+Finally we saw that the snail had crawled right out of the water
+altogether and had now come to a dead stop on a long strip of
+gray sand.
+
+Behind us we saw the surface of the sea rippled by the wind. On
+our left was the mouth of a river with the tide running out.
+While in front, the low flat land stretched away into the mist--
+which prevented one from seeing very far in any direction. A pair
+of wild ducks with craning necks and whirring wings passed over
+us and disappeared like shadows, seaward.
+
+As a landscape, it was a great change from the hot brilliant
+sunshine of Popsipetel.
+
+With the same whistling suction sound, the snail made the opening
+for us to crawl out by.  As we stepped down upon the marshy land
+we noticed that a fine, drizzling autumn rain was falling.
+
+"Can this be Merrie England?" asked Bumpo, peering into the
+fog--"doesn't look like any place in particular. Maybe the snail
+hasn't brought us right after all."
+
+"Yes," sighed Polynesia, shaking the rain oft her feathers, "this
+is England all right--You can tell it by the beastly climate."
+
+"Oh, but fellows," cried Jip, as he sniffed up the air in great
+gulps, "it has a SMELL--a good and glorious smell!--Excuse me a
+minute: I see a water-rat."
+
+
+"Sh!--Listen!" said Chee-Chee through teeth that chattered with
+the cold.  "There's Puddleby church-clock striking four. Why
+don't we divide up the baggage and get moving. We've got a long
+way to foot it home across the marshes."
+
+"Let's hope," I put in, "that Dab-Dab has a nice fire burning in
+the kitchen."
+
+"I'm sure she will," said the Doctor as he picked out his old
+handbag from among the bundles--"With this wind from the East
+she'll need it to keep the animals in the house warm.  Come on.
+Let's hug the river-bank so we don't miss our way in the fog. You
+know, there's something rather attractive in the bad weather of
+England--when you've got a kitchen-fire to look forward to. . . .
+Four o'clock! Come along--we'll just be in nice time for tea."
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg Etext of Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Lofting
+
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