DRAGGING a ship through the sea is hard work. And after two or three
hours the swallows began to get tired in the wings and short of breath.
Then they sent a message down to the Doctor to say that they would
have to take a rest soon; and that they would pull the boat over to an
island not far off, and hide it in a deep bay till they had got breath
enough to go on.
And presently the Doctor saw the island they had spoken of. It had a
very beautiful, high, green mountain in the middle of it.
When the ship had sailed safely into the bay where it could not be seen
from the open sea, the Doctor said he would get off on to the island to
look for water—because there was none left to drink on his ship. And
he told all the animals to get out too and romp on the grass to stretch
their legs.
Now as they were getting off, the Doctor noticed that a whole lot of
rats were coming up from downstairs and leaving the ship as well. Jip
started to run after them, because chasing rats had always been his
favorite game. But the Doctor told him to stop.
And one big black rat, who seemed to want to say something to the
Doctor, now crept forward timidly along the rail, watching the dog out
of the corner of his eye. And after he had coughed nervously two or
three times, and cleaned his whiskers and wiped his mouth, he said,
“Ahem—er—you know of course that all ships have rats in them, Doctor,
do you not?”
And the Doctor said, “Yes.”
“And you have heard that rats always leave a sinking ship?”
“Yes,” said the Doctor—“so I’ve been told.”
“People,” said the rat, “always speak of it with a sneer—as though it
were something disgraceful. But you can’t blame us, can you? After
all, who _would_ stay on a sinking ship, if he could get off it?”
[Illustration: “‘And you have heard that rats always leave a sinking
ship?’”]
“It’s very natural,” said the Doctor—“very natural. I quite
understand.... Was there—Was there anything else you wished to say?”
“Yes,” said the rat. “I’ve come to tell you that we are leaving this
one. But we wanted to warn you before we go. This is a bad ship you
have here. It isn’t safe. The sides aren’t strong enough. Its boards
are rotten. Before to-morrow night it will sink to the bottom of the
sea.”
“But how do you know?” asked the Doctor.
“We always know,” answered the rat. “The tips of our tails get that
tingly feeling—like when your foot’s asleep. This morning, at six
o’clock, while I was getting breakfast, my tail suddenly began to
tingle. At first I thought it was my rheumatism coming back. So I went
and asked my aunt how she felt—you remember her?—the long, piebald
rat, rather skinny, who came to see you in Puddleby last Spring with
jaundice? Well—and she said _her_ tail was tingling like everything!
Then we knew, for sure, that this boat was going to sink in less than
two days; and we all made up our minds to leave it as soon as we got
near enough to any land. It’s a bad ship, Doctor. Don’t sail in it any
more, or you’ll be surely drowned.... Good-by! We are now going to
look for a good place to live on this island.”
“Good-by!” said the Doctor. “And thank you very much for coming to
tell me. Very considerate of you—very! Give my regards to your aunt. I
remember her perfectly.... Leave that rat alone, Jip! Come here! Lie
down!”
So then the Doctor and all his animals went off, carrying pails and
saucepans, to look for water on the island, while the swallows took
their rest.
“I wonder what is the name of this island,” said the Doctor, as he was
climbing up the mountainside. “It seems a pleasant place. What a lot of
birds there are!”
“Why, these are the Canary Islands,” said Dab-Dab. “Don’t you hear the
canaries singing?”
The Doctor stopped and listened.
“Why, to be sure—of course!” he said. “How stupid of me! I wonder if
they can tell us where to find water.”
And presently the canaries, who had heard all about Doctor Dolittle
from birds of passage, came and led him to a beautiful spring of cool,
clear water where the canaries used to take their bath; and they showed
him lovely meadows where the bird-seed grew and all the other sights of
their island.
And the pushmi-pullyu was glad they had come; because he liked the
green grass so much better than the dried apples he had been eating on
the ship. And Gub-Gub squeaked for joy when he found a whole valley
full of wild sugar-cane.
A little later, when they had all had plenty to eat and drink, and
were lying on their backs while the canaries sang for them, two of the
swallows came hurrying up, very flustered and excited.
“Doctor!” they cried, “the pirates have come into the bay; and they’ve
all got on to your ship. They are downstairs looking for things to
steal. They have left their own ship with nobody on it. If you hurry
and come down to the shore, you can get on to their ship—which is very
fast—and escape. But you’ll have to hurry.”
“That’s a good idea,” said the Doctor—“splendid!”
And he called his animals together at once, said Good-by to the
canaries and ran down to the beach.
When they reached the shore they saw the pirate-ship, with the three
red sails, standing in the water; and—just as the swallows had
said—there was nobody on it; all the pirates were downstairs in the
Doctor’s ship, looking for things to steal.
So John Dolittle told his animals to walk very softly and they all
crept on to the pirate-ship.
_THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER_