PART I

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_DOCTOR DOLITTLE'S POST OFFICE_

WRITTEN AND ILLUSTRATED BY HUGH LOFTING

PUBLISHED BY R A STOKES CO. AT

442 FOURTH AV.

NEW YORK

_Copyright, 1923, by_

FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY

_All rights reserved, including that of

translation into foreign languages_

_Printed in the United States of America_

[Illustration: "It was mournful scenery"]

_CONTENTS_

PROLOGUE

PART I

I ZUZANA

II THE DOCTOR'S RECEPTION ON THE WARSHIP

III A GREAT GUNNER

IV THE ROYAL MAILS OF FANTIPPO

V THE VOYAGE DELAYED

VI NO-MAN'S-LAND

VII THE ANIMALS' PARADISE

VIII THE SWIFTEST MAIL IN THE WORLD

PART II

I A MOST UNUSUAL POST OFFICE

II CHEAPSIDE

III THE BIRDS THAT HELPED COLUMBUS

IV CAPE STEPHEN LIGHT

V GULLS AND SHIPS

VI WEATHER BUREAUS

VII TEACHING BY MAIL

PART III

I THE ANIMALS' MAGAZINE

II THE DOCTOR'S STORY

III GUB-GUB'S STORY

IV DAB-DAB'S STORY

V THE WHITE MOUSE'S STORY

VI JIP'S STORY

VII TOO-TOO'S STORY

VIII THE PUSHMI-PULLYU'S STORY

PART IV

I PARCEL POST

II THE GREAT MAIL ROBBERY

III PEARLS AND BRUSSELS SPROUTS

IV PEARL DIVERS

V OBOMBO'S REBELLION

VI THE DOCTOR'S RELEASE

VII A MYSTERIOUS LETTER

VIII THE LAND OF THE MANGROVE SWAMPS

IX THE SECRET LAKE

X THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL'S LAST ORDER

XI GOOD-BYE TO FANTIPPO

_ILLUSTRATIONS_

"It was mournful scenery" _Frontispiece_

"John Dolittle talked to the woman"

"Looking into all the bays"

"'Where have you been?'"

"The birds spread themselves out along the coast"

"'_Fire!_' said Speedy"

"The bluejackets crowded to the rail"

"A rare Fantippo stamp"

"The Doctor gave the king a cup of China tea"

"'Good morning! What can I do for you?'"

"They found the Doctor shaving"

"Thousands of swallows built their nests in her rigging"

"'Turn back, Jip!' gasped the Doctor"

"'All we eat is bananas'"

"He was pulling out a loose tooth"

"They sat down in the shade of a palm tree"

"He began his great inauguration speech"

"He put his large face in at the information window"

"The houseboat post office of No-Man's-Land"

"Jip hung up the sign"

"He held scribbling classes for the animals"

"Cheapside, the London sparrow"

"The double letter boxes of Fantippo"

"The royal peacock complained that Cheapside had made faces at him"

"'Great heavens, Doctor, I've gained an ounce!'"

"The sailors were ready to kill their admiral"

"There were many rocks and shallows near the end of Cape Stephen"

"The gulls dashed themselves into the wheelman's face"

"The Doctor lit the candle"

"The Doctor and Dab-Dab cooked his breakfast for him"

"The gull caught the tomato skin with a lightning lunge"

"The gull took a fresh piece of toast"

"The Doctor took an armchair beside the kitchen stove"

"John Dolittle saw him snooping around the post office"

"The Doctor experimented on Jip"

"It was certainly a wonderful collection of objects"

"It was Sir Timothy Quisby, our most expensive patient"

"He had fallen into the soup"

"She made a regular pet of him"

"'We'll keep the black and white one, Liza'"

"The old rat laughed a quavering laugh"

"Upstairs where the dye vats stood"

"The Doctor cut off all my fur"

"His pictures are just awful"

"A retriever came up with a gold watch and chain"

"'Come over here by the trough'"

"The Doctor span the penny"

"'What was that?'"

"They'd run off with it and swallow it"

"I jabbed the watchman"

"I leapt as I have never leapt before"

"Putting the King's bicycle together"

"Dab-Dab looked over his shoulder"

"They reminded him of old broken down cab horses"

"I put the parcel down"

"Wilkins levelled a pistol at the Doctor's head"

"'_Pst!_' I whispered to the wife"

"The rout of the Amazons"

"'Oh, I think this is an awful place!'"

"The young ones were with her"

"Gub-Gub dives for pearls"

"The Doctor patted him on the shoulder"

"In the jungle Obombo made speeches"

"'How dare you speak to me like that?'"

"The white mouse would roll them down the hole"

"'Do you realize what that pearl means to us?'"

"The King saw the Doctor's canoe arriving"

"In popped the head of an enormous snake"

"The canoe was yanked from under them"

"The Doctor saw the shape of an enormous turtle"

"The trees bent down with his weight"

"The Doctor was washing his face in the lake"

"Dab-Dab, the economical housekeeper, blew out the candle"

"Mixing the turtle's medicine"

"A never-ending stream of big birds"

"Dab-Dab prepared a meal"

"A wooden statue still stands to his memory"

DOCTOR DOLITTLE'S POST OFFICE

PROLOGUE

Nearly all of the history of Doctor Dolittle's post office took place

when he was returning from a voyage to West Africa. Therefore I will

begin (as soon as I have told you a little about how he came to take

the journey) from where he turned his ship towards home again and set

sail for Puddleby-on-the-Marsh.

Some time before this the pushmi-pullyu, after a long stay in

England, had grown a little homesick for Africa. And although he

was tremendously fond of the Doctor and never wanted to leave

him altogether, he asked him one winter day when the weather was

particularly cold and disagreeable if he would mind running down to

Africa for a holiday--just for a week or two.

The Doctor readily agreed because he hadn't been on a voyage in a long

while and he felt he too needed a change from the chilly December days

of England.

So he started off. Besides the pushmi-pullyu he took Dab-Dab the duck,

Jip the dog, Gub-Gub the pig, Too-Too the owl, and the white mouse--the

same good company he had had with him on his adventurous return from

the Land of the Monkeys. For this trip the Doctor bought a little

sailing boat--very old and battered and worn, but a good sound craft

for bad weather.

They sailed away down to the south coast of the Bight of Benin. There

they visited many African kingdoms and strange tribes. And while they

were ashore the pushmi-pullyu had a chance to wander freely through his

old grazing grounds. And he enjoyed his holiday thoroughly.

One morning the Doctor was delighted to see his old friends the

swallows gathering once more about his ship at anchor for their yearly

flight to England. They asked him whether he too was returning; because

if so, they said, they would accompany him, the same as they had done

when he was escaping from the Kingdom of Jolliginki.

As the pushmi-pullyu was now quite ready to leave, the Doctor thanked

the swallows and told them he would be delighted to have their company.

Then for the remainder of that day all was hustle and hurry and bustle,

getting the ship provisioned and making preparations for the long trip

back to England.

By the following morning everything was in readiness to put to sea.

The anchor was drawn up and with all sail set the Doctor's ship moved

northward before a favorable wind. And it is from this point that my

story begins.

PART I

_CHAPTER I_

ZUZANA

One morning in the first week of the return voyage when John Dolittle

and his animals were all sitting at breakfast round the big table in

the cabin, one of the swallows came down and said that he wanted to

speak to the Doctor.

John Dolittle at once left the table and went out into the passage

where he found the swallow-leader himself, a very neat, trim,

little bird with long, long wings and sharp, snappy, black eyes.

Speedy-the-Skimmer he was called--a name truly famous throughout the

whole of the feathered world. He was the champion flycatcher and aerial

acrobat of Europe, Africa, Asia, and America. For years every summer he

had won all the flying races, having broken his own record only last

year by crossing the Atlantic in eleven and a half hours--at a speed of

over two hundred miles an hour.

"Well, Speedy," said John Dolittle. "What is it?"

"Doctor," said the little bird in a mysterious whisper, "we have

sighted a canoe about a mile ahead of the ship and a little to the

eastward, with only a black woman in it. She is weeping bitterly and

isn't paddling the canoe at all. She is several miles from land--ten,

at least, I should say--because at the moment we are crossing the Bay

of Fantippo and can only just see the shore of Africa. She is really

in dangerous straits, with such a little bit of a boat that far out at

sea. But she doesn't seem to care. She's just sitting in the bottom of

the canoe, crying as if she didn't mind what happens to her. I wish you

would come and speak to her, for we fear she is in great trouble."

"All right," said the Doctor. "Fly slowly on to where the canoe is and

I will steer the ship to follow you."

So John Dolittle went up on deck and by steering the boat after the

guiding swallows he presently saw a small, dark canoe rising and

falling on the waves. It looked so tiny on the wide face of the waters

that it could be taken for a log or a stick--or, indeed, missed

altogether, unless you were close enough to see it. In the canoe sat a

woman with her head bowed down upon her knees.

"What's the matter?" shouted the Doctor, as soon as he was near enough

to make the woman hear. "Why have you come so far from the land? Don't

you know that you are in great danger if a storm should come up?"

Slowly the woman raised her head.

"Go away," said she, "and leave me to my sorrow. Haven't you white men

done me enough harm?"

John Dolittle steered the boat up closer still and continued to talk to

the woman in a kindly way. But she seemed for a long time to mistrust

him because he was a white man. Little by little, however, the Doctor

won her confidence and at last, still weeping bitterly, she told him

her story.

[Illustration: "John Dolittle talked to the woman"]

These were the days, you must understand, when slavery was being done

away with. To capture, to buy or to sell slaves had, in fact, been

strictly forbidden by most governments. But certain bad men still came

down to the west coast of Africa and captured or bought slaves secretly

and took them away in ships to other lands to work on cotton and

tobacco plantations. Some African kings sold prisoners they had taken

in war to these men and made a great deal of money that way.

Well, this woman in the canoe belonged to a tribe which had been at war

with the king of Fantippo--an African kingdom situated on the coast

near which the swallows had seen the canoe.

And in this war the King of Fantippo had taken many prisoners, among

whom was the woman's husband. Shortly after the war was over some white

men in a ship had called at the Kingdom of Fantippo to see if they

could buy slaves for tobacco plantations. And when the king heard how

much money they were willing to give for black slaves he thought he

would sell them the prisoners he had taken in the war.

This woman's name was Zuzana and her husband was a very strong and

fine-looking man. The King of Fantippo would have kept Zuzana's husband

for this reason, because he liked to have strong men at his court.

But the slave traders also wanted strong men, for they could do a lot

of work on the plantations. And they offered the King of Fantippo a

specially high price for Zuzana's husband. And the king had sold him.

Zuzana described to the Doctor how she had followed the white man's

ship a long way out in a canoe, imploring them to give her back her

husband. But they had only laughed at her and gone on their way. And

their ship had soon passed out of sight.

That was why, she said, she hated all white men and had not wanted to

speak to the Doctor when he had hailed her canoe.

The Doctor was dreadfully angry when he had heard the story. And he

asked Zuzana how long ago was it that the slaver's ship bearing her

husband had left.

She told him it was half an hour ago. Without her husband, she said,

life meant nothing to her, and when the ship had passed from view,

going northward along the coast, she had burst into tears and just let

the canoe drift, not even having the heart to paddle back to land.

The Doctor told the woman that no matter what it cost he was going to

help her. And he was all for speeding up his ship and going in chase

of the slave boat right away. But Dab-Dab the duck warned him that

his boat was very slow and that its sails could be easily seen by the

slavers, who would never allow it to come near them.

So the Doctor put down his anchor and, leaving the ship where it was,

got into the woman's canoe. Then, calling to the swallows to help him

as guides, he set off northward along the coast, looking into all the

bays and behind all the islands for the slave ship which had taken

Zuzana's husband.

[Illustration: "Looking into all the bays"]

But after many hours of fruitless search night began to come on and the

swallows who were acting as guides could no longer see big distances,

for there was no moon.

Poor Zuzana began weeping some more when the Doctor said he would have

to give up for the night.

"By morning," said she, "the ship of the wicked slave dealers will be

many miles away and I shall never get my husband back. Alas! Alas!"

The Doctor comforted her as best he could, saying that if he failed he

would get her another husband, just as good. But she didn't seem to

care for that idea and went on wailing, "Alas! Alas!"

She made such a noise that the Doctor couldn't get to sleep on the

bottom of the canoe--which wasn't very comfortable, anyway. So he had

to sit up and listen. Some of the swallows were still with him, sitting

on the edge of the canoe. And the famous Skimmer, the leader, was also

there. They and the Doctor were talking over what they could do, when

suddenly the Skimmer said, "Sh! Look!" and pointed out to the westward

over the dark, heaving sea.

Even Zuzana stopped her wailing and turned to look. And there, away out

on the dim, black edge of the ocean, they could see a tiny light.

"A ship!" cried the Doctor.

"Yes," said Speedy, "that's a ship, sure enough. I wonder if it's

another slave ship."

"Well, if it's a slave ship, it's not the one we're looking for," said

the Doctor, "because it's in the wrong direction. The one we're after

went northward."

"Listen, Doctor," said Speedy-the-Skimmer, "suppose I fly over to it

and see what kind of a ship it is and come back and tell you. Who

knows? It might be able to help us."

"All right, Speedy. Thank you," said the Doctor.

So the Skimmer sped off into the darkness toward the tiny light far

out to sea, while the Doctor fell to wondering how his own ship was

getting on which he had left at anchor some miles down the coast to the

southward.

After twenty minutes had gone by John Dolittle began to get worried,

because the Skimmer, with his tremendous speed, should have had time to

get there and back long ago.

But soon with a flirt of the wings the famous leader made a neat circle

in the darkness overhead and dropped, light as a feather, on to the

Doctor's knee.

"Well," said John Dolittle, "what kind of a ship was it?"

"It's a big ship," panted the Skimmer, "with tall, high masts and, I

should judge, a fast one. But it is coming this way and it is sailing

with great care, afraid, I imagine, of shallows and sandbars. It is a

very neat ship, smart and new-looking all over. And there are great big

guns--cannons--looking out of little doors in her sides. The men on

her, too, are all well dressed in smart blue clothes--not like ordinary

seamen at all. And on the ship's hull was painted some lettering--her

name, I suppose. Of course, I couldn't read it. But I remember what it

looked like. Give me your hand and I'll show you."

Then the Skimmer, with one of his claws, began tracing out some letters

on the Doctor's palm. Before he had got very far John Dolittle sprang

up, nearly overturning the canoe.

"H. M. S.!" he cried. "That means Her Majesty's Ship. It's a

man-o'-war--a navy vessel. The very thing we want to deal with slave

traders!"

_CHAPTER II_

THE DOCTOR'S RECEPTION ON THE WARSHIP

Then the Doctor and Zuzana started to paddle their canoe for all they

were worth in the direction of the light. The night was calm, but the

long swell of the ocean swung the little canoe up and down like a

seesaw and it needed all Zuzana's skill to keep it in a straight line.

After about an hour had gone by the Doctor noticed that the ship they

were trying to reach was no longer coming toward them, but seemed to

have stopped. And when he finally came up beneath its towering shape

in the darkness he saw the reason why--the man-o'-war had run into his

own ship, which he had left at anchor with no lights. However, the navy

vessel had fortunately been going so carefully that no serious damage,

it seemed, had been done to either ship.

Finding a rope ladder hanging on the side of the man-o'-war, John

Dolittle climbed up it, with Zuzana, and went aboard to see the Captain.

He found the Captain strutting the quarterdeck, mumbling to himself.

"Good evening," said the Doctor politely. "Nice weather we're having."

The Captain came up to him and shook his fist in his face.

"Are you the owner of that Noah's Ark down there?" he stormed, pointing

to the other ship alongside.

"Er--yes--temporarily," said the Doctor. "Why?"

"Well, will you be so good," snarled the Captain, his face all out of

shape with rage, "as to tell me what in thunder you mean by leaving

your old junk at anchor on a dark night without any lights? What

kind of a sailor are you? Here I bring Her Majesty's latest cruiser

after Jimmie Bones, the slave trader--been hunting him for weeks, I

have--and, as though the beastly coast wasn't difficult enough as it

is, I bump into a craft riding at anchor with no lights. Luckily, I

was going slow, taking soundings, or we might have gone down with all

hands. I hallooed to your ship and got no answer. So I go aboard her,

with pistols ready, thinking maybe she's a slaver, trying to play

tricks on me. I creep all over the ship, but not a soul do I meet. At

last in the cabin I find a pig--_asleep in an armchair_! Do you usually

leave your craft in the charge of a pig, with orders to go to sleep? If

you own the ship, why aren't you on her? Where have you been?"

[Illustration: "'Where have you been?'"]

"I was out canoeing with a lady," said the Doctor, and he smiled

comfortingly at Zuzana, who was beginning to weep again.

"_Canoeing with a lady!_" spluttered the Captain. "Well, I'll be----"

"Yes," said the Doctor. "Let me introduce you. This is Zuzana,

Captain--er----"

But the Captain interrupted him by calling for a sailor, who stood near.

"I'll teach you to leave Noah's arks at anchor on the high seas for the

navy to bump into, my fine deep-sea philanderer! Think the shipping

laws are made for a joke? Here," he turned to the sailor, who had come

in answer to his call, "Master-at-arms, put this man under arrest."

"Aye, aye, sir," said the master-at-arms. And before the Doctor knew it

he had handcuffs fastened firmly on his wrists.

"But this lady was in distress," said the Doctor. "I was in such a

hurry I forgot all about lighting the ship. In fact, it wasn't dark yet

when I left."

"Take him below!" roared the Captain. "Take him below before I kill

him."

And the poor Doctor was dragged away by the Master-at-arms toward a

stair leading to the lower decks. But at the head of the stairs he

caught hold of the handrail and hung on long enough to shout back to

the Captain:

"I could tell you where Jimmie Bones is, if I wanted to."

"What's that?" snorted the Captain. "Here, bring him back! What was

that you said?"

"I said," murmured the Doctor, getting his handkerchief out and blowing

his nose with his handcuffed hands, "that I could tell you where Jimmie

Bones is--if I wanted to."

"Jimmie Bones, the slaver?" cried the Captain. "That's the man the

government has sent me after. Where is he?"

"My memory doesn't work very well while my hands are tied," said the

Doctor quietly, nodding toward the handcuffs. "Possibly if you took

these things off I might remember."

"Oh, excuse me," said the Captain, his manner changing at once.

"Master-at-arms, release the prisoner."

"Aye, aye, sir," said the sailor, removing the handcuffs from the

Doctor's wrists and turning to go.

"Oh, and by the way," the Captain called after him, "bring a chair up

on deck. Perhaps our visitor is tired."

Then John Dolittle told the Captain the whole story of Zuzana and her

troubles. And all the other officers on the ship gathered around to

listen.

"And I have no doubt," the Doctor ended, "that this slaver who took

away the woman's husband was no other than Jimmie Bones, the man you

are after."

"Quite so," said the Captain. "I know he is somewhere around the coast.

But where is he now? He's a difficult fish to catch."

"He has gone northward," said the Doctor. "But your ship is fast and

should be able to overtake him. If he hides in some of these bays and

creeks I have several birds here with me who can, as soon as it is

light, seek him out for us and tell us where he is."

The Captain looked with astonishment into the faces of his listening

officers, who all smiled unbelievingly.

"What do you mean--birds?" the Captain asked. "Pigeons--trained

canaries, or something?"

"No," said the Doctor, "I mean the swallows who are going back to

England for the summer. They very kindly offered to guide my ship home.

They're friends of mine, you see."

This time the officers all burst out laughing and tapped their

foreheads knowingly, to show they thought the Doctor was crazy. And the

Captain, thinking he was being made a fool of, flew into a rage once

more and was all for having the Doctor arrested again.

But the officer who was second in command whispered in the Captain's

ear:

"Why not take the old fellow along and let him try, Sir? Our course was

northward, anyway. I seem to remember hearing something, when I was

attached to the Home Fleet, about an old chap in the west counties who

had some strange powers with beasts and birds. I have no doubt this is

he. Dolittle, he was called. He seems harmless enough. There's just a

chance he may be of some assistance to us. The natives evidently trust

him or the woman wouldn't have come with him--you know how scared they

are of putting to sea with a white man."

After a moment's thought the Captain turned to the Doctor again.

"You sound clean crazy to me, my good man. But if you can put me in

the way of capturing Jimmie Bones the slaver I don't care what means

you use to do it. As soon as the day breaks we will get under way. But

if you are just amusing yourself at the expense of Her Majesty's Navy

I warn you it will be the worst day's work for yourself you ever did.

Now go and put riding lights on that ark of yours and tell the pig that

if he lets them go out he shall be made into rashers of bacon for the

officers' mess."

There was much laughter and joking as the Doctor climbed over the side

and went back to his own ship to get his lights lit. But the next

morning when he came back to the man-o'-war--and about a thousand

swallows came with him--the officers of Her Majesty's Navy were not

nearly so inclined to make fun of him.

The sun was just rising over the distant coast of Africa and it was as

beautiful a morning as you could wish to see.

Speedy-the-Skimmer had arranged plans with the Doctor overnight. And

long before the great warship pulled up her anchor and swung around

upon her course the famous swallow leader was miles ahead, with a band

of picked hunters, exploring up creeks and examining all the hollows of

the coast where the slave trader might be hiding.

Speedy had agreed with the Doctor upon a sort of overhead telegraph

system to be carried on by the swallows. And as soon as the millions of

little birds had spread themselves out in a line along the coast, so

that the sky was speckled with them as far as the eye could reach, they

began passing messages, by whistling to one another, all the way from

the scouts in front back to the Doctor on the warship, to give news of

how the hunt was progressing.

[Illustration: "The birds spread themselves out along the coast"]

And somewhere about noon word came through that Bones's slave ship

had been sighted behind a long, high cape. Great care must be taken,

the message said, because the slave ship was in all readiness to sail

at a moment's notice. The slavers had only stopped to get water and

look-outs were posted to warn them to return at once, if necessary.

When the Doctor told this to the Captain the man-o'-war changed her

course still closer inshore, to keep behind the cover of the long cape.

All the sailors were warned to keep very quiet, so the navy ship could

sneak up on the slaver unawares.

Now, the Captain, expecting the slavers to put up a fight, also gave

orders to get the guns ready. And just as they were about to round the

long cape one of the silly gunners let a gun off by accident.

"_Boom!_" ... The shot went rolling and echoing over the silent sea

like angry thunder.

Instantly back came word over the swallows' telegraph line that the

slavers were warned and were escaping. And, sure enough, when the

warship rounded the cape at last, there was the slave ship putting out

to sea, with all sail set and a good ten-mile start on the man-o'-war.

_CHAPTER III_

A GREAT GUNNER

And then began a most exciting sea race. It was now two o'clock in the

afternoon and there were not many hours of daylight left.

The Captain (after he had done swearing at the stupid gunner who had

let off the gun by accident) realized that if he did not catch up to

the slaver before dark came on he would probably lose him altogether.

For this Jim Bones was a very sly and clever rascal and he knew the

West Coast of Africa (it is sometimes called to this day _The Slave

Coast_) very well. After dark by running without lights he would easily

find some nook or corner to hide in--or double back on his course and

be miles away before morning came.

So the Captain gave orders that all possible speed was to be made.

These were the days when steam was first used on ships. But at the

beginning it was only used together with the sails, to help the power

of the wind. Of this vessel, H. M. S. _Violet_, the Captain was very

proud. And he was most anxious that the _Violet_ should have the honor

of catching Bones the slaver, who for so long had been defying the

navy by carrying on slave trade after it had been forbidden. So the

_Violet's_ steam engines were put to work their hardest. And thick,

black smoke rolled out of her funnels and darkened the blue sea and

smudged up her lovely white sails humming tight in the breeze.

Then the engine boy, also anxious that his ship should have the honor

of capturing Bones, tied down the safety valve on the steam engine,

to make her go faster, and then went up on deck to see the show. And

soon, of course, one of the _Violet's_ brand new boilers burst with a

terrific bang and made an awful mess of the engine room.

But, being a full-rigged man-o'-war, the _Violet_ was still a pretty

speedy sailer. And on she went, furiously plowing the waves and slowly

gaining on the slave ship.

However, the crafty Bones, with so big a start, was not easy to

overtake. And soon the sun began to set and the Captain frowned and

stamped his feet. For with darkness he knew his enemy would be safe.

Down below among the crew, the man who had fired the gun by accident

was having a terrible time. All his companions were setting on him and

mobbing him for being such a duffer as to warn Bones--who would now

almost certainly escape. The distance from the slaver was still too

great to use the kind of guns they had in those days. But when the

Captain saw darkness creeping over the sea and his enemy escaping, he

gave orders to man the guns, anyway--although he hadn't the least hope

that his shots would hit the slaver at that distance.

Now, Speedy-the-Skimmer, as soon as the race had begun, had come on to

the warship to take a rest. And he happened to be talking to the Doctor

when the order to man the guns came down from the Captain. So the

Doctor and Speedy went below to watch the guns being fired.

They found an air of quiet but great excitement there. Each gunner

was leaning on his gun, aiming it, watching the enemy's ship in the

distance and waiting for the order to fire. The poor man who had been

mobbed by his fellows was still almost in tears at his own stupid

mistake.

Suddenly an officer shouted "_Fire!_" And with a crash that shook the

ship from stem to stern eight big cannon balls went whistling out

across the water.

But not one hit the slave ship. _Splash! Splash! Splash!_ They fell

harmlessly into the water.

"The light's too bad," grumbled the gunners. "Who could hit anything

two miles away in this rotten light?"

Then Speedy whispered in the Doctor's ear:

"Ask them to let me fire a gun. My sight is better than theirs for bad

light."

But just at that moment the order came from the Captain, "_Cease

firing!_" And the men left their places.

As soon as their backs were turned Speedy jumped on top of one of the

guns and, straddling his short, white legs apart, he cast his beady

little black eyes along the aiming sights. Then with his wings he

signaled to the Doctor behind him to swing the gun this way and that,

so as to aim it the way he wanted.

"_Fire!_" said Speedy. And the Doctor fired.

[Illustration: "'_Fire!_' said Speedy"]

"What in thunder's this?" roared the Captain from the quarterdeck as

the shot rang out. "Didn't I give the order to cease firing?"

But the second in command plucked him by the sleeve and pointed across

the water. Speedy's cannon ball had cut the slaver's mainmast clean in

two and brought the sails down in a heap upon the deck!

"Holy smoke!" cried the Captain. "We've hit him! Look, Bones is flying

the signal of surrender!"

Then the Captain, who a moment before was all for punishing the man who

had fired without orders, wanted to know who it was that aimed that

marvelous shot which brought the slaver to a standstill. And the Doctor

was going to tell him it was Speedy. But the Skimmer whispered in his

ear:

"Don't bother, Doctor. He would never believe you, anyway. It was the

gun of the man that made the mistake before that we used. Let him

take the credit. They'll likely give him a medal, and then he'll feel

better."

And now all was excitement aboard the _Violet_ as they approached the

slave boat lying crippled in the sea. Bones, the captain, with his

crew of eleven other ruffians, was taken prisoner and put down in the

cells of the warship. Then the Doctor, with Zuzana, some sailors and an

officer, went on to the slave ship. Entering the hold, they found the

place packed with slaves with chains on them. And Zuzana immediately

recognized her husband and wept all over him with joy.

The black men were at once freed from their chains and brought on to

the man-o'-war. Then the slave ship was taken in tow by the _Violet_.

And that was the end of Mr. Bones's slave trading.

Then there was much rejoicing and hand-shaking and congratulation on

board the warship. And a grand dinner was prepared for the slaves on

the main deck. But John Dolittle, Zuzana and her husband were invited

to the officers' mess, where their health was drunk in port wine and

speeches were made by the Captain and the Doctor.

The next day, as soon as it was light, the warship went cruising

down the coast again, putting the black people ashore in their own

particular countries.

This took considerable time, because Bones, it seemed, had collected

slaves from a great many different tribes. And it was after noon

before the Doctor, with Zuzana and her husband, were returned to John

Dolittle's ship, who still had her lights faithfully burning in the

middle of the day.

Then the Captain shook hands with the Doctor and thanked him for the

great assistance he had given Her Majesty's Navy. And he asked him

for his address in England, because he said he was going to tell the

government about him and the Queen would most likely want to make him a

knight or give him a medal or something. But the Doctor said he would

rather have a pound of tea instead. He hadn't tasted tea in several

months and the kind they had in the officers' mess was very good.

So the Captain gave him five pounds of the best China tea and thanked

him again in the name of the Queen and the government.

Then the _Violet_ swung her great bow around to the north once more and

sailed away for England, while the bluejackets crowded the rail and

sent three hearty cheers for the Doctor ringing across the sea.

[Illustration: "The bluejackets crowded to the rail"]

And now Jip, Dab-Dab, Gub-Gub, Too-Too and the rest of them gathered

around John Dolittle and wanted to hear all about his adventures. And

it was tea time before he had done telling them. So the Doctor asked

Zuzana and her husband to take tea with him before they went ashore.

This they were glad to do. And the Doctor made the tea himself and it

was very excellent. Over the tea Zuzana and her husband (whose name was

Begwe) were conversing about the Kingdom of Fantippo.

"I don't think we ought to go back there," said Begwe. "I don't mind

being a soldier in the Fantippo army, but suppose some other slaver

comes along. Maybe the king would sell me again. Did you send that

letter to our cousin?"

"Yes," said Zuzana. "But I don't think he ever got it. Because no

answer came."

The Doctor asked Zuzana how she had sent the letter. And then she

explained to him that when Bones had offered a big price for Begwe

and the king had been tempted to sell him she had told the king she

would get twelve oxen and thirty goats from a rich cousin in their

own country if he would only wait till she had written to him. Now,

the King of Fantippo was very fond of oxen and goats--cattle being

considered as good as money in his land. And he promised Zuzana that if

she got the twelve oxen and thirty goats in two days' time her husband

should be a free man, instead of being sold to the slavers.

So Zuzana had hurried to a professional letter writer (the common

people of those tribes couldn't write for themselves, you see) and had

a letter written, begging their cousin to send the goats and oxen to

the king without delay. Then she had taken the letter to the Fantippo

post office and sent it off.

But the two days went by and no answer came--and no cattle. Then poor

Begwe had been sold to Bones's men.

_CHAPTER IV_

THE ROYAL MAILS OF FANTIPPO

Now, this Fantippo post office of which Zuzana had spoken to the Doctor

was rather peculiar. For one thing, it was, of course, quite unusual

to find a post office or regular mails of any kind in a savage African

kingdom. And the way such a thing had come about was this:

A few years before this voyage of the Doctor's there had been a great

deal of talk in most civilized parts of the world about mails and how

much it should cost for a letter to go from one country to another.

And in England a man called Rowland Hill had started what was called

"The Penny Postage," and it had been agreed that a penny a letter

should be the regular rate charge for mails from one part of the

British Isles to another. Of course, for specially heavy letters you

had to pay more. Then stamps were made, penny stamps, twopenny stamps,

twopence-halfpenny stamps, sixpenny stamps and shilling stamps. And

each was a different color and they were beautifully engraved and most

of them had a picture of the Queen on them--some with her crown on her

head and some without.

And France and the United States and all the other countries started

doing the same thing--only their stamps were counted in their own

money, of course, and had different kings or queens or presidents on

them.

Very well, then. Now, it happened one day that a ship called at the

coast of West Africa, and delivered a letter for Koko, the King of

Fantippo. King Koko had never seen a stamp before and, sending for a

white merchant who lived in his town, he asked him what queen's face

was this on the stamp which the letter bore.

Then the white merchant explained to him the whole idea of penny

postage and government mails. And he told him that in England all you

had to do when you wanted to send a letter to any part of the world was

to put a stamp on the envelope with the queen's head on it and place it

in a letter-box on the street corner, and it would be carried to the

place to which you addressed it.

"Ah, hah!" said the King. "A new kind of magic. I understand. Very

good. The High Kingdom of Fantippo shall have a post office of its own.

And _my_ serene and beautiful face shall be on all the stamps and _my_

letters shall travel by faster magic than any of them."

[Illustration: "A rare Fantippo stamp"]

Then King Koko of Fantippo, being a very vain man, had a fine lot of

stamps made with his pictures on them, some with his crown on and some

without; some smiling, some frowning; some with himself on horseback,

some with himself on a bicycle. But the stamp which he was most proud

of was the tenpenny stamp which bore a picture of himself playing

golf--a game which he had just recently learned from some Scotchmen who

were mining for gold in his kingdom.

And he had letter-boxes made, just the way the white trader had told

him they had in England, and he set them up at the corners of the

streets and told his people that all they had to do was to put one of

his stamps on their letters, poke them into these boxes and they would

travel to any corner of the earth they wished.

But presently the people began complaining that they had been robbed.

They had paid good money for the stamps, they said, trusting in their

magic power, and they had put their letters in the boxes at the corners

of the streets as they had been told. But one day a cow had rubbed her

neck against one of the letter boxes and burst it open, and inside

there were all the people's letters, which had not traveled one inch

from where they put them!

Then the king was very angry and, calling for the white trader, he said:

"You have been fooling My Majesty. These stamps you speak of have no

magic power at all. Explain!"

Then the trader told him that it was not through magic in the stamps

or boxes that letters traveled by mail. But proper post offices had

mail-men, or postmen, who collected the letters out of these boxes. And

he went on to explain to the King all the other duties of a post office

and the things that made letters go.

So then the King, who was a persevering man, said that Fantippo should

have its post office, anyway. And he sent to England for hundreds of

postmen's uniforms and caps. And when these arrived he dressed a lot of

black men up in them and set them to work as postmen.

But the black men found the heavy uniforms dreadfully hot for Fantippo

weather, where they wear only a string of beads. And they left off the

uniforms and wore only the caps. That is how the Fantippo postman's

uniform came to be a smart cap, a string of beads and a mail bag.

Then when King Koko had got his mail-men, the Royal Fantippo post

office began really working. Letters were collected from the boxes at

street corners and sent off when ships called; and incoming mail was

delivered at the doors of the houses in Fantippo three times a day. The

post office became the busiest place in town.

Now, the peoples of West Africa have curious tastes in dress. They love

bright things. And some Fantippo dandy started the idea of using up old

stamps off letters by making suits of clothes out of them. They looked

very showy and smart and a suit of this kind made of stamps became a

valuable possession among the natives.

About this time, too, in the civilized parts of the world one of the

things that arose out of all this penny-postage business was the craze

or hobby for collecting stamps. In England and America and other

countries people began buying stamp albums and pasting stamps in them.

A rare stamp became quite valuable.

And it happened that one day two men, whose hobby was collecting

stamps, came to Fantippo in a ship. The one stamp they were both most

anxious to get for their collections was the "twopenny-halfpenny

Fantippo red," a stamp which the King had given up printing--for the

reason that the picture of himself on it wasn't handsome enough. And

because he had given up printing it, it became very rare.

As soon as these two men stepped ashore at Fantippo a porter came up to

them to carry their bags. And right in the middle of the porter's chest

the collectors spied the twopenny-halfpenny Fantippo red! Then both of

the stamp collectors offered to buy the stamp. And as each was anxious

to have it for his collection, before long they were offering high

prices for it, bidding against one another.

King Koko got to hear of this and he called up one of these stamp

collectors and asked him why men should offer high prices for one old

used stamp. And the white man explained to him this new craze for stamp

collecting that was sweeping over the civilized world.

So King Koko, although he thought that the civilized world must

be crazy, decided it would be a good idea if _he_ sold stamps for

collections--much better business than selling them at his post office

for letters. And after that whenever a ship came into the harbor of

Fantippo he sent his Postmaster-General--a very grand man, who wore

_two_ strings of beads, a postman's cap and no mail bag--out to the

ship with stamps to sell for collections.

Such a roaring trade was done in this way that the King set the stamp

printing presses to work more busily than ever, so that a whole new set

of Fantippo stamps should be ready for sale by the time the same ship

called again on her way home to England.

But with this new trade in selling stamps for stamp collections,

and not for proper mailing purposes, the Fantippo mail service was

neglected and became very bad.

Now, Doctor Dolittle, while Zuzana was talking over the tea about

her letter which she had sent to her cousin--and to which no answer

had ever come--suddenly remembered something. On one of his earlier

voyages the passenger ship by which he had been traveling had stopped

outside this same harbor of Fantippo, although no passengers had gone

ashore. And a postman had come aboard to sell a most elegant lot of new

green and violet stamps. The Doctor, being at the time a great stamp

collector, had bought three whole sets.

And he realized now, as he listened to Zuzana, what was wrong with the

Fantippo post office and why she had never got an answer to the letter

which would have saved her husband from slavery.

As Zuzana and Begwe rose to go, for it was beginning to get dark, the

Doctor noticed a canoe setting out toward his ship from the shore. And

in it, when it got near, he saw King Koko himself, coming to the white

man's boat with stamps to sell.

So the Doctor got talking to the King and he told him in plain language

that he ought to be ashamed of his post office. Then, giving him a cup

of China tea, he explained to him how Zuzana's letter had probably

never been delivered to her cousin.

[Illustration: "The Doctor gave the king a cup of China tea"]

The King listened attentively and understood how his post office had

been at fault. And he invited the Doctor to come ashore with Zuzana and

Begwe and arrange the post office for him and put it in order so it

would work properly.

_CHAPTER V_

THE VOYAGE DELAYED

After some persuasion the Doctor consented to this proposal feeling

that perhaps he could do some good. Little did he realize what great

labors and strange adventures he was taking upon himself as he got into

the canoe with the King, Begwe and Zuzana to be paddled to the town of

Fantippo.

This place he found very different from any of the African villages or

settlements he had ever visited. It was quite large, almost a city. It

was bright and cheerful to look at and the people, like their King, all

seemed very kind and jolly.

The Doctor was introduced to all the chief men of the Fantippo nation

and later he was taken to see the post office.

This he found in a terrible state. There were letters everywhere--on

the floors, in old drawers, knocking about on desks, even lying on the

pavement outside the post office door. The Doctor explained to the

King that this would never do, that in properly-run post offices the

letters that had stamps on were treated with respect and care. It was

no wonder, he said, that Zuzana's letter had never been delivered to

her cousin if this was the way they took care of the mails.

Then King Koko again begged him to take charge of the post office and

try to get it running in proper order. And the Doctor said he would see

what he could do. And, going into the post office, he took off his coat

and set to work.

But after many hours of terrific labor, trying to get letters sorted

and the place in order, John Dolittle saw that such a tremendous job as

setting the Fantippo post office to rights would not be a matter of a

day or two. It would take weeks at least. So he told this to the King.

Then the Doctor's ship was brought into the harbor and put safely at

anchor and the animals were all taken ashore. And a nice, new house on

the main street was given over to the Doctor for himself and his pets

to live in while the work of straightening out the Fantippo mails was

going on.

Well, after ten days John Dolittle got what is called the _Domestic

Mails_ in pretty good shape. Domestic mails are those that carry

letters from one part of a country to another part of the same country,

or from one part of a city to another. The mails that carry letters

outside the country to foreign lands are called _Foreign Mails_. To

have a regular and good service of foreign mails in the Fantippo post

office the Doctor found a hard problem, because the mail ships which

could carry letters abroad did not come very often to this port.

Fantippo, although King Koko was most proud of it, was not considered a

very important country among the regular civilized nations and two or

three ships a year were all that ever called there.

Now, one day, very early in the morning, when the Doctor was lying

in bed, wondering what he could do about the Foreign Mail Service,

Dab-Dab and Jip brought him in his breakfast on a tray and told him

there was a swallow outside who wanted to give him a message from

Speedy-the-Skimmer. John Dolittle had the swallow brought in and the

little bird sat on the foot of his bed while he ate his breakfast.

"Good morning," said the Doctor, cracking open the top of a hard-boiled

egg. "What can I do for you?"

[Illustration: "'Good morning! What can I do for you?'"]

"Speedy would like to know," said the swallow, "how long you expect to

stay in this country. He doesn't want to complain, you understand--nor

do any of us--but this journey of yours is taking longer than we

thought it would. You see, there was the delay while we hunted out

Bones the slaver, and now it seems likely you will be busy with this

post office for some weeks yet. Ordinarily we would have been in

England long before this, getting the nests ready for the new season's

families. We cannot put off the nesting season, you know. Of course,

you understand we are not complaining, don't you? But this delay is

making things rather awkward for us."

"Oh, quite, quite. I understand perfectly," said the Doctor, poking

salt into his egg with a bone egg-spoon. "I am dreadfully sorry. But

why didn't Speedy bring the message himself?"

"I suppose he didn't like to," said the swallow. "Thought you'd be

offended, perhaps."

"Oh, not in the least," said the Doctor. "You birds have been most

helpful to me. Tell Speedy I'll come to see him as soon as I've got my

trousers on and we'll talk it over. Something can be arranged, I have

no doubt."

"Very good, Doctor," said the swallow, turning to go. "I'll tell the

Skimmer what you say."

"By the way," said John Dolittle, "I've been trying to think where I've

seen your face before. Did you ever build your nest in my stable in

Puddleby?"

"No," said the bird. "But I am the swallow that brought you the message

from the monkeys that time they were sick."

"Oh, to be sure--of course," cried the Doctor. "I knew I had seen you

somewhere. I never forget faces. You had a pretty hard time coming to

England in the winter, didn't you--snow on the ground and all that sort

of thing. Very plucky of you to undertake it."

"Yes, it was a hard trip," said the swallow. "I came near freezing to

death more than once. Flying into the teeth of that frosty wind was

just awful. But something had to be done. The monkeys would most likely

have been wiped right out if we hadn't got you."

"How was it that you were the one chosen to bring the message?" asked

the Doctor.

"Well," said the swallow, "Speedy did want to do it himself. He's

frightfully brave, you know--and fast as lightning. But the other

swallows wouldn't let him. They said he was too valuable as a leader.

It was a risky job. And if he had lost his life from the frost we'd

never be able to get another leader like him. Because, besides being

brave and fast, he's the cleverest leader we ever had. Whenever the

swallows are in trouble he always thinks of a way out. He's a born

leader. He flies quick and he thinks quick."

"Humph!" murmured the Doctor, as he thoughtfully brushed the toast

crumbs off the bed clothes. "But why did they pick you to bring the

message?"

"They didn't," said the swallow. "We nearly all of us volunteered

for the job, so as not to have Speedy risk his life. But the Skimmer

said the only fair way was to draw lots. So we got a number of small

leaves and we took the stalks off all of them except one. And we put

the leaves in an old cocoanut shell and shook them up. Then, with our

eyes shut, we began picking them out. The swallow who picked the leaf

with the stalk on it was to carry the message to England--and I picked

the leaf with the stalk on. Before I started off on the trip I kissed

my wife good-bye, because I really never expected to get back alive.

Still, I'm kind of glad the lot fell to me."

"Why?" asked the Doctor, pushing the breakfast tray off his knees and

punching the pillows into shape.

"Well, you see," said the swallow, lifting his right leg and showing a

tiny red ribbon made of corn silk tied about his ankle, "I got this for

it."

"What's that?" asked the Doctor.

"That's to show I've done something brave--and special," said the

swallow modestly.

"Oh, I see," said the Doctor. "Like a medal, eh?"

"Yes. My name is Quip. It used to be just plain Quip. Now I'm called

_Quip the Carrier_," said the small bird proudly gazing down at his

little, stubby white leg.

"Splendid, Quip," said the Doctor. "I congratulate you. Now I must be

getting up. I've a frightful lot of work to do. Don't forget to tell

Speedy I'll meet him on the ship at ten. Good-bye! Oh, and would you

mind asking Dab-Dab, as you go out, to clear away the breakfast things?

I'm glad you came. You've given me an idea. Good-bye!"

[Illustration: "They found the Doctor shaving"]

And when Dab-Dab and Jip came to take away the tray they found the

Doctor shaving. He was peering into a looking glass, holding the end of

his nose and muttering to himself:

"_That's_ the idea for the Fantippo Foreign Mail service--I wonder why

I never thought of it before. I'll have the fastest overseas mail the

world ever saw. Why, of course! That's the idea--_The Swallow Mail_!"

_CHAPTER VI_

NO-MAN'S-LAND

As soon as he was dressed and shaved the Doctor went down to his ship

and met the Skimmer.

"I am terribly sorry, Speedy," said he, "to hear what a lot of trouble

I have been giving you birds by my delay here. But I really feel that

the business of the post office ought to be attended to, you know. It's

in a shocking state--honestly, it is."

"I know," said Speedy. "And if we could we would have nested right here

in this country to oblige you, and not bothered about going to England

this year. It wouldn't have mattered terribly much to miss one summer

in the North. But, you see, we swallows can't nest very well in trees.

We like houses and barns and buildings to nest in."

"Couldn't you use the houses of Fantippo?" asked the Doctor.

"Not very well," said Speedy. "They're so small and noisy--with the

native children playing around them all day. The eggs and young ones

wouldn't be safe for a minute. And, then, they're not built right for

us--mostly made of grass, the roofs sloping wrong, the eaves too near

the ground, and all that. What we like are solid English buildings,

where the people don't shriek and whoop and play drums all day--quiet

buildings, like old barns and stables, where, if people come at all,

they come in a proper, dignified manner, arriving and leaving at

regular hours. We like people, you understand--in their right place.

But nesting mother birds must have quiet."

"Humph! I see," said the Doctor. "Of course, myself, I rather enjoy

the jolliness of these Fantippos. But I can quite see your point. By

the way, how would my old ship do? This ought to be quiet enough for

you here. There's nobody living on it now. And, look, it has heaps of

cracks and holes and corners in it where you could build your nests.

What do you think?"

"That would be splendid," said Speedy--"if you think you won't be

needing the boat for some weeks. Of course, it would never do if, after

we had the nests built and the eggs laid, you were to pull up the

anchor and sail away--the young ones would get seasick."

"No, of course not," said the Doctor. "But there will be no fear of my

leaving for some time yet. You could have the whole ship to yourselves

and nobody will disturb you."

"All right," said Speedy. "Then I'll tell the swallows to get on with

the nest building right away. But, of course, we'll go on to England

with you when you are ready, to show you the way--and also to teach the

young birds how to get there, too. You see, each year's new birds make

their first trip back from England to Africa with us grown ones. They

have to make the first journey under our guidance."

"Very good," said the Doctor. "Then that settles that. Now I must get

back to the post office. The ship is yours. But as soon as the nesting

is over come and let me know, because I have a very special idea I want

to tell you about."

So the Doctor's boat was now turned into a nesting ship for the

swallows. Calmly she stood at anchor in the quiet waters of Fantippo

harbor, while thousands and thousands of swallows built their nests in

her rigging, in her ventilators, in her portholes and in every crack

and corner of her.

[Illustration: "Thousands of swallows built their nests in her rigging"]

No one went near her and the swallows had her to themselves. And they

agreed afterward that they found her the best place for nesting they

had ever used.

In a very short time the ship presented a curious and extraordinary

sight, with the mud nests stuck all over her and birds flying in

thousands round her masts, coming and going, building homes and feeding

young ones.

And the farmers in England that year said the coming winter would be a

hard one because the swallows had done their nesting abroad before they

arrived and only spent a few weeks of the autumn in the North.

And later, after the nesting was all over, there were more than twice

as many birds as there were before, of course. And you simply couldn't

get on to the ship for the tons and tons of mud on her.

But the parent birds, as soon as the young ones were able to fly, set

their children to work clearing up the mess. And all that mud was taken

off and dropped into the harbor, piece by piece. And the Doctor's ship

was left in a cleaner state than it had ever been before in its whole

life.

Now, it happened one day that the Doctor came to the post office, as

usual, at nine o'clock in the morning. (He had to get there at that

time, because if he didn't the postmen didn't start working.) And

outside the post office he found Jip, gnawing a bone on the pavement.

Something curious about the bone struck the Doctor, who was, of course,

being a naturalist, quite a specialist in bones. He asked Jip to let

him look at it.

"Why, this is extraordinary!" said the Doctor, examining the bone with

great care. "I did not know that this class of animals were still to be

found in Africa. Where did you get this bone, Jip?"

"Over in No-Man's-Land," said Jip. "There are lots of bones there."

"And where might No-Man's-Land be?" said John Dolittle.

"No-Man's-Land is that round island just outside the harbor," said

Jip--"you know, the one that looks like a plum pudding."

"Oh, yes," said the Doctor. "I know the island you mean. It's only a

short distance from the mainland. But I hadn't heard that that was the

name of it. Humph! If you'll lend me this bone a while, Jip, I think

I'll go to see the King about it."

So, taking the bone, John Dolittle went off to call on King Koko, and

Jip asked if he might come along. They found the King sitting at the

palace door, sucking a lollipop--for he, like all the Fantippos, was

very fond of sweetmeats.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," said the Doctor. "Do you happen to know

what kind of animal this bone belongs to?"

The King examined it, then shook his head. He didn't know much about

bones.

"Maybe it's a cow's bone," said he.

"Oh, certainly not," said John Dolittle. "No cow ever had a bone like

that. That's a jaw--but not a cow's jaw. Listen, Your Majesty, would

you mind lending me a canoe and some paddlers? I want to go over to

visit No-Man's-Land."

To the Doctor's astonishment the King choked on his lollipop and nearly

fell over his chair backwards. Then he ran inside the palace and shut

the door.

"How extraordinary!" said John Dolittle, entirely bewildered. "What

ails the man?"

"Oh, it's some humbug or other," growled Jip. "They're a superstitious

lot, these natives. Let's go down to the harbor, Doctor, and try to

hire a canoe to take us."

So they went down to the water's edge and asked several of the

canoesmen to take them over to No-Man's-Land. But every one they asked

got dreadfully frightened and refused to talk when the Doctor told them

where he wanted to go. They wouldn't even let him borrow their canoes

to go there by himself.

At last they found one very old boatman who loved chatting so much

that, although he got terribly scared when John Dolittle mentioned

No-Man's-Land, he finally told the Doctor the reason for all this

extraordinary behavior.

"That island," said he--"we don't even mention its name unless we have

to--is the land of Evil Magic. It is called (the old man whispered it

so low the Doctor could scarcely hear him) No-Man's-Land, because no

man lives there. No man ever even goes there."

"But why?" asked the Doctor.

"_Dragons live there!_" said the old boatman, his eyes wide and

staring.--"Enormous horned dragons, that spit fire and eat men. If you

value your life never go near that dreadful island."

"But how do you know all this," asked the Doctor, "if nobody has ever

been there to see if it's true or not?"

"A thousand years ago," said the old man, "when King Kakaboochi ruled

over this land, he put his mother-in-law upon that island to live,

because she talked too much and he couldn't bear her around the palace.

It was arranged that food should be taken to her every week. But the

first week that the men went there in canoes they could find no trace

of her. While they were seeking her about the island a dragon suddenly

roared out from the bushes and attacked them. They only just escaped

with their lives and got back to Fantippo and told King Kakaboochi. A

famous wizard was consulted, and he said it must have been the King's

mother-in-law herself who had been changed into a dragon by some magic

spell. Since then she has had many children and the island is peopled

with dragons--_whose food is men_! For whenever a canoe approaches, the

dragons come down to the shores, breathing flame and destruction. But

for many hundreds of years now no man has set foot upon it. That is why

it is called--well, you know."

After he had told this story the old man turned away and busied himself

with his canoe, as though he were afraid that the Doctor might again

ask him to paddle him to the island.

"Look here, Jip," said John Dolittle, "you said you got this bone from

No-Man's-Land. Did you see any dragons there?"

"No," said Jip. "I swam out there--just to get cool. It was a hot day

yesterday. And then I didn't go far inland on the island. I found many

bones on the beach. And as this one smelled good to me, I picked it up

and swam back here with it. I was more interested in the bone and the

swim than I was in the island, to tell you the truth."

"It's most extraordinary," murmured the Doctor--"this legend about

the island. It makes me more anxious than ever to go there. That bone

interests me, too, immensely. I've seen only one other like it--and

that was in a natural history museum. Do you mind if I keep it, Jip?

I'd like to put it in my own museum when I get back to Puddleby."

"Not at all," said Jip. "Look here, Doctor, if we can't raise a canoe,

let's you and I swim out to the island. It's not over a mile and a half

and we're both good swimmers."

"That's not a bad idea, Jip," said the Doctor. "We'll go down the shore

a way till we're opposite the island, then we won't have so far to

swim."

So off they went. And when they had come to the best place on the

shore the Doctor took off his clothes and, tying them up in a bundle,

he fastened them on his head, with the precious high hat on the top

of all. Then he waded into the surf and, with Jip beside him, started

swimming for the island.

Now this particular stretch of water they were trying to cross happened

to be a bad place for swimming. And after about a quarter of an hour

Jip and the Doctor felt themselves being carried out to sea in the grip

of a powerful current. They tried their hardest to get to the island.

But without any success.

"Let yourself drift, Doctor," panted Jip. "Don't waste your strength

fighting the current. Let yourself drift. Even if we're carried past

the island out to sea we can land on the mainland further down the

coast, where the current isn't so strong."

But the Doctor didn't answer. And Jip could see from his face that his

strength and breath were nearly gone.

Then Jip barked his loudest, hoping that possibly Dab-Dab might hear

him on the mainland and fly out and bring help. But, of course, they

were much too far from the town for anyone to hear.

"Turn back, Jip," gasped the Doctor. "Don't bother about me. I'll be

all right. Turn back and try and make the shore."

[Illustration: "'Turn back, Jip!' gasped the Doctor"]

But Jip had no intention of turning back and leaving the Doctor to

drown--though he saw no possible chance of rescue.

Presently John Dolittle's mouth filled with water and he began to

splutter and gurgle and Jip was really frightened. But just as the

Doctor's eyes were closing and he seemed too weak to swim another

stroke a curious thing happened. Jip felt something come up under the

water, right beneath his feet, and lift him and the Doctor slowly out

of the sea, like the rising deck of a submarine. Up and up they were

lifted, now entirely out of the water. And, gasping and sprawling side

by side, they gazed at one another in utter astonishment.

"What is it, Doctor?" said Jip, staring down at the strange thing,

which had now stopped rising and was carrying them like a ship, right

across the strong course of the current, in the direction of the island.

"I haven't the--hah--remotest--hah--idea," panted John Dolittle. "Can

it be a whale? No, because the skin isn't a whale's. This is fur," he

said, plucking at the stuff he was sitting on.

"Well, it's an animal of some kind, isn't it?" said Jip. "But where's

its head?" and he gazed down the long sloping back that stretched in a

flat curve in front of them for a good thirty yards.

"Its head is under water," said the Doctor. "But there's its tail,

look, behind us."

And turning around Jip saw the longest tail that mortal beast ever had,

thrashing the water and driving them toward the island.

"I know!" cried Jip. "It's the dragon! This is King Kakaboochi's

mother-in-law we're sitting on!"

"Well anyway thank goodness she rose in time!" said the Doctor, shaking

the water out of his ears. "I was never so near drowning in my life.

I suppose I'd better make myself a little more presentable before she

gets her head out of water."

And, taking down his clothes off his own head, the Doctor smartened

up his high hat and dressed himself, while the strange thing that

had saved their lives carried them steadily and firmly toward the

mysterious island.

_CHAPTER VII_

THE ANIMALS' PARADISE

At length the extraordinary creature that had come to their rescue

reached the island; and with Jip and the Doctor still clinging to his

wide back, he crawled out of the water on to the beach.

And then John Dolittle, seeing its head for the first time, cried out

in great excitement:

"Jip, it's a Quiffenodochus, as sure as I'm alive!"

"A Quiffeno-what-us?" asked Jip.

"A Quiffenodochus," said the Doctor--"a prehistoric beast. Naturalists

thought they were extinct--that there weren't any more live ones

anywhere in the world. This is a great day, Jip. I'm awfully glad I

came here."

The tremendous animal which the Fantippans had called a dragon had now

climbed right up the beach and was standing fully revealed in all his

strangeness. At first he looked like some curious mixture between a

crocodile and a giraffe. He had short, spreading legs, but enormously

long tail and neck. On his head were two stubby little horns.

As soon as the Doctor and Jip had climbed down off his back he swung

his head around on the end of that enormous neck and said to the Doctor:

"Do you feel all right now?"

"Yes, thanks," said John Dolittle.

"I was afraid," said the creature, "that I wouldn't be in time to save

your life. It was my brother who first saw you. We thought it was a

native and we were getting ready to give him our usual terrifying

reception. But while we watched from behind the trees my brother

suddenly cried: 'Great heavens! That's Doctor Dolittle--and he's

drowning. See, how he waves his arms! He must be saved at any cost.

There isn't one man like that born in a thousand years! Let's go after

him, quick!' Then word was passed around the island that John Dolittle,

the great doctor, was drowning out in the straits. Of course, we had

all heard of you. And, rushing down to a secret cove which we have on

the far side of the island, we dashed into the sea and swam out to you

under water. I was the best swimmer and got to you first. I'm awfully

glad I was in time. You're sure you feel all right?"

"Oh, quite," said the Doctor, "thank you. But why did you swim under

water?"

"We didn't want the natives to see us," said the strange beast. "They

think we are dragons--and we let them go on thinking it. Because then

they don't come near the island and we have our country to ourselves."

The creature stretched his long neck still longer and whispered in the

Doctor's ear:

"They think we live on men and breathe fire! But all we ever really

eat is bananas. And when anyone tries to come here we go down to a

hollow in the middle of the island and suck up the mist, the fog, that

always hangs around there. Then we come back to the beach and roar and

rampage. And we breathe the fog out through our nostrils and they think

it's smoke. That's the way we've kept this island to ourselves for a

thousand years. And this is the only part of the world where we are

left--where we can live in peace."

[Illustration: "'All we eat is bananas'"]

"How very interesting!" said the Doctor. "Naturalists have thought your

kind of animals are no longer living, you know. You are Quiffenodochi,

are you not?"

"Oh, no," said the beast. "The Quiffenodochus has gone long ago. We

are the Piffilosaurus. We have six toes on the back feet, while the

Quiffenodochi, our cousins, have only five. They died out about two

thousand years ago."

"But where are the rest of your people?" asked the Doctor. "I thought

you said that many of you had swum out to rescue us."

"They did," said the Piffilosaurus. "But they kept hidden under the

water, lest the natives on the shore should see and get to know that

the old story about the dragon's mother-in-law wasn't true. While I

was bringing you here they were swimming all around you under the

water, ready to help if I needed them. They have gone around to the

secret cove so they may come ashore unseen. We had better be going on

ourselves now. Whatever happens, we mustn't be seen from the shore and

have the natives coming here. It would be the end of us if that should

ever happen, because, between ourselves, although they think us so

terrible, we are really more harmless than sheep."

"Do any other animals live here?" asked the Doctor.

"Oh, yes, indeed," said the Piffilosaurus. "This island is entirely

peopled by harmless, vegetable-feeding creatures. If we had the others,

of course, we wouldn't last long. But come, I will show you around the

island. Let us go quietly up that valley there, so we shan't be seen

till we reach the cover of the woods."

Then John Dolittle and Jip were taken by the Piffilosaurus all over the

island of No-Man's-Land.

The Doctor said afterward that he had never had a more enjoyable or

more instructive day. The shores of the island all around were high

and steep, which gave it the appearance Jim had spoken of--like a plum

pudding. But in the centre, on top, there was a deep and pleasant

hollow, invisible from the sea and sheltered from the winds. In this

great bowl, a good thirty miles across, the piffilosauruses had lived

at peace for a thousand years, eating ripe bananas and frolicking in

the sun.

Down by the banks of the streams the Doctor was shown great herds of

hippopotami, feeding on the luscious reeds that grew at the water's

edge. In the wide fields of high grass there were elephants and

rhinoceri browsing. On the slopes where the forests were sparse he

spied long-necked giraffes, nibbling from the trees. Monkeys and

deer of all kinds were plentiful. And birds swarmed everywhere. In

fact, every kind of creature that does not eat meat was there, living

peaceably and happily with the others in this land where vegetable food

abounded and the disturbing tread of Man was never heard.

Standing on the top of the hill with Jip and the piffilosaurus at his

side, the Doctor gazed down over the wide bowl full of contented animal

life and heaved a sigh.

"This beautiful land could also have been called the 'Animals'

Paradise,'" he murmured. "Long may they enjoy it to themselves! May

this, indeed, be _No-Man's-Land_ forever!"

"You, Doctor," said the deep voice of the piffilosaurus at his elbow,

"are the first human in a thousand years that has set foot here. The

last one was King Kakaboochi's mother-in-law."

"By the way, what really became of her?" asked the Doctor. "The natives

believe she was turned into a dragon, you know."

"We married her off," said the great creature, nibbling idly at a lily

stalk. "We couldn't stand her here, any more than the King could. You

never heard anybody talk so in all your life. Yes, we carried her one

dark night by sea far down the coast of Africa and left her at the

palace door of a deaf king, who ruled over a small country south of the

Congo River. He married her. Of course, being deaf, he didn't mind her

everlasting chatter in the least."

And now for several days the Doctor forgot all about his post office

work and King Koko and his ship at anchor, and everything else. For he

was kept busy from morning to night with all the animals who wanted to

consult him about different things.

Many of the giraffes were suffering from sore hoofs and he showed them

where to find a special root that could be put into a foot bath and

would bring immediate relief. The rhinoceroses' horns were growing too

long and John Dolittle explained to them how by grinding them against

a certain kind of stone and by eating less grass and more berries

they could keep the growth down. A special sort of nut tree that the

deer were fond of had grown scarce and almost died out from constant

nibbling. And the Doctor showed the chief stags how, by taking a few

nuts and poking them down into the soft earth with their hoofs before

the rainy season set in, they could make new trees grow and so increase

the supply.

[Illustration: "He was pulling out a loose tooth"]

One day when he was pulling out a loose tooth for a baby hippopotamus

with his watch-chain, Speedy-the-Skimmer turned up, looking rather

annoyed.

"Well," said the neat little bird, settling down on the ground at his

feet, "I've found you at last, Doctor. I've been hunting all over

creation for you."

"Oh, hulloa, Speedy," said the Doctor. "Glad to see you. Did you want

me for something?"

"Why, of course, I did," said Speedy. "We finished the nesting season

two days ago, and you had said you wanted to see me about some special

business as soon as it was over. I went to your house, but Dab-Dab had

no idea where you could be. Then I hunted all over. At last I heard

some gossiping boatmen down at the harbor say that you came to this

island five days ago and had never returned. All the Fantippans have

given you up for lost. They say you have surely been eaten by the

dragons that live here. I got an awful fright--though, of course, I

didn't quite believe the dragon story. Still, you had been gone so long

I didn't know what to make of it. The post office, as you can imagine,

is in a worse mess than ever."

"Humph!" said the Doctor, who had now got the loose tooth out and was

showing the baby hippo how to rinse his mouth in the river. "I'm sorry.

I suppose I should have sent you a message. But I've been so awfully

busy. Let's go up under the shade of those palms and sit down. It was

about the post office that I wanted to talk to you."

_CHAPTER VIII_

THE SWIFTEST MAIL IN THE WORLD

So the Doctor and Jip and Speedy-the-Skimmer sat down in the shade of

the palm trees and for the first time plans for that great service

which was to be known as the Swallow Mail were discussed.

[Illustration: "They sat down in the shade of a palm tree"]

"Now, my idea, Speedy, is this," said the Doctor. "Regular foreign

mails are difficult for the Fantippo post office because so few boats

ever call there to bring or take the mails. Now, how would it be if you

swallows did the letter carrying?"

"Well," said Speedy, "that would be possible. But, of course, we could

only do it during certain months of the year when we were in Africa.

And then we could only take letters to the mild and warm countries. We

should get frozen if we had to carry mail where severe winters were

going on."

"Oh, of course," said the Doctor. "I wouldn't expect you to do that.

But I had thought we might get the other birds to help--cold-climate

birds, hot-climate ones and temperate. And if some of the trips were

too far or disagreeable for one kind of birds to make, we could deliver

the mail in relays. I mean, for instance, a letter going from here to

the North Pole could be carried by the swallows as far as the north end

of Africa. From there it would be taken by thrushes up to the top of

Scotland. There seagulls would take it from the thrushes and carry it

as far as Greenland. And from there penguins would take it to the North

Pole. What do you think?"

"I think it might be all right," said Speedy, "if we can get the other

birds to go in with us on the idea."

"Well, you see," said John Dolittle, "I think we might, because we

could use the mail service for the birds themselves, and the animals,

too, to send their letters by, as well as the Fantippans."

"But, Doctor, birds and animals don't send letters," said Speedy.

"No," said the Doctor. "But there's no reason why they shouldn't begin.

Neither did people write nor send letters once upon a time. But as soon

as they began they found it very useful and convenient. So would the

birds and animals. We could have the head office here in this beautiful

island--in this Animals' Paradise. You see, my idea is, firstly, a post

office system for the education and betterment of the Animal Kingdom,

and, secondly, a good foreign mail for the Fantippans. Do you think we

could ever find some way by which birds could write letters?"

"Oh, yes, I think so," said Speedy. "We swallows, for instance, always

leave marks on houses where we have nested which are messages for those

who may come after us. Look"--Speedy scratched some crosses and signs

in the sand at the Doctor's feet--"that means '_Don't build your nest

in this house. They have a cat here!_' And this"--the Skimmer made four

more signs in the sand--"this means '_Good house. Flies plentiful.

Folks quiet. Building mud can be found behind the stable._'"

"Splendid," cried the Doctor. "It's a kind of short-hand. You say a

whole sentence in four signs."

"And, then," Speedy went on, "nearly all other kinds of birds have a

sign language of their own. For example, the kingfishers have a way of

marking the trees along the river to show where good fishing is to be

found. And thrushes have signs, too; one I've often seen on stones,

which means '_Crack your snail shells here_.' That's so the thrushes

won't go throwing their snail shells all over the place and scare the

live snails into keeping out of sight."

"There you are," said the Doctor. "I always thought you birds had at

least the beginnings of a written language--otherwise you couldn't

be so clever. Now all we have to do is to build up on these signs a

regular and proper system of bird-writing. And I have no doubt whatever

that with the animals we can do the same thing. Then we'll get the

Swallow Mail going and we'll have animals and birds writing letters to

one another all over the world--and to people, too, if they want to."

"I suspect," said Speedy, "that you'll find most of the letters will be

written to you, Doctor. I've met birds all over creation who wanted to

know what you looked like, what you ate for breakfast and all sorts of

silly things about you."

"Well," said the Doctor. "I won't mind that. But my idea is firstly an

educational one. With a good post office system of their own, I feel

that the condition of the birds and animals will be greatly bettered.

Only to-day, for example, some deer on this very island asked me what

they should do about their nut trees which were nearly eaten up. I

showed them at once how they could plant seeds and grow more trees.

Heaven knows how long they had been going on short rations. But if

they'd only been able to write to me, I could have told them long

ago--by Swallow Mail."

Then the Doctor and Jip went back to Fantippo, carried by the

piffilosaurus, who landed them on the shore under cover of night, so no

one would see them. And in the morning John Dolittle called upon the

King again.

"Your Majesty," said the Doctor, "I have now a plan to provide your

country with an excellent service of foreign mails if you will agree to

what I suggest."

"Good," said the King. "My Majesty is listening. Proceed. Let me offer

you a lollipop."

The Doctor took one--a green one--from the box the King held out to

him. King Koko was very proud of the quality of his lollipops--made in

the Royal Candy Kitchen. He was never without one himself, and always

wore it hung around his neck on a ribbon. And when he wasn't sucking it

he used to hold it up to his eye and peer through it at his courtiers.

He had seen white men using quizzing glasses, and he had his lollipops

made thin and transparent, so he could use them in this elegant manner.

But constant lollipops had ruined his figure and made him dreadfully

stout. However, as fatness was considered a sign of greatness in

Fantippo, he didn't mind that.

"My plan," said the Doctor, "is this: The domestic mails of Fantippo,

after I have instructed the postmen a little more, can be carried by

your own people. But the handling of foreign mails as well as the

domestic ones is too much for them. And, besides, you have so few boats

calling at your port. So I propose to build a floating post office

for the foreign mails which shall be anchored close to the island

called"--(the Doctor only just stopped himself in time from speaking

the dreaded name)--"er--er--close to the island I spoke of to you the

other day."

"I don't like that," said the King, frowning.

"Your Majesty need have no fear," the Doctor put in hurriedly. "It will

never be necessary for any of your people to land upon the island.

The Foreign Mail post office will be a houseboat, anchored a little

way out from the shore. And I will not need any Fantippan postmen to

run it at all. On the contrary, I make it a special condition on your

part that--er--the island we are speaking of shall continue to be left

undisturbed for all time. I am going to run the Foreign Mails Office in

my own way--with special postmen of my own. When the Fantippans wish

to send out letters to foreign lands they must come by canoe and bring

them to the houseboat post office. But incoming letters addressed to

the people in Fantippo shall be delivered at the doors of the houses in

the regular way. What do you say to that?"

"I agree," said the King. "But the stamps must all have my beautiful

face upon them, and no other."

"Very good," said the Doctor. "That can be arranged. But it must be

clearly understood that from now on the foreign mails shall be handled

by my own postman--in _my_ way. And after I have got the Domestic

post office running properly in Fantippo you must see to it that it

continues to work in order. If you will do that in a few weeks' time

I think I can promise that your kingdom shall have the finest mail

service in the world."

Then the Doctor asked Speedy to send off messages through the

birds to every corner of the earth. And to ask all the leaders of

seagulls, tomtits, magpies, thrushes, stormy petrels, finches,

penguins, vultures, snow buntings, wild geese and the rest to come to

No-Man's-Land, because John Dolittle wanted to speak to them.

And in the meantime he went back and continued the work of getting

the domestic mail service in good running order at the post office at

Fantippo.

So the good Speedy sent off messengers; and all around the world and

back again word was passed from bird to bird that John Dolittle, the

famous animal doctor, wished to see all the leaders of all kinds of

birds, great and small.

And presently in the big hollow in the centre of No-Man's-Land they

began to arrive. After three days Speedy came to the Doctor and said:

"All right, Doctor, they are ready for you now."

A good strong canoe had by this time been put at the Doctor's service

by the King, who was also having the post office houseboat built at the

Doctor's orders.

So John Dolittle got into his canoe and came at length to the same hill

where he had before gazed out over the pleasant hollow of the Animals'

Paradise. And with the Skimmer on his shoulder he looked down into a

great sea of bird faces--leaders all--every kind, from a hummingbird to

an albatross. And taking a palm leaf and twisting it into a trumpet,

so that he could make himself heard, he began his great inauguration

speech to the leaders which was to set working the famous Swallow Mail

Service.

[Illustration: "He began his great inauguration speech"]

After the Doctor had finished his speech and told the leaders what it

was he meant to do, the birds of the world applauded by whistling and

screeching and flapping their wings, so that the noise was terrible.

And in the streets of Fantippo the natives whispered it about that the

dragons were fighting one another in No-Man's-Land.

Then the Doctor passed down among the birds and, taking a notebook,

he spoke to each leader in turn, asking him questions about the signs

and sign language that his particular kind of bird was in the habit

of using. And the Doctor wrote it all down in the notebook and took

it home with him and worked over it all night--promising to meet the

leaders again the following day.

And on the morrow, crossing once again to the island, he went on with

the discussion and planning and arrangement. It was agreed that the

Swallow Mail Service should have its head office here in No-Man's-Land.

And that there should be branch offices at Cape Horn, Greenland, in

Christmas Island, Tahiti, Kashmir, Thibet and Puddleby-on-the-Marsh.

Most of the mails were arranged so that those birds who migrated or

went to other lands in the winter and back again in summer should carry

the letters on their regular yearly journeys. And as there are some

kinds of birds crossing from one land to another in almost every week

of the year, this took care of much of the mails without difficulty.

Then, of course, there were all those birds who don't leave their home

lands in winter, but stay in one country all the time. The leaders of

these had come under special guidance of other birds to oblige the

Doctor by being present at the great meeting. They promised to have

their people all the year round take care of letters that were brought

to their particular countries to be delivered. So between one thing and

another, much of the planning and arrangement of the service was got

through in these first two meetings.

Then the Doctor and the leaders agreed upon a regular kind of simple,

easy writing for all birds to use, so that the addresses on the

envelopes could be understood and read by the post birds. And at last

John Dolittle sent them off home again, to instruct their relatives in

this new writing and reading and explain to all the birds of all the

world how the post office was going to work and how much good he hoped

it would do for the education and betterment of the Animal Kingdom.

Then he went home and had a good sleep.

The next morning he found that King Koko had got his post office

houseboat ready and finished--and very smart it looked. It was paddled

out and anchored close to the shore of the island. Then Dab-Dab, Jip,

Too-Too, Gub-Gub, the pushmi-pullyu and the white mouse were brought

over, and the Doctor gave up his house on the main street of Fantippo

and settled down to live at the Foreign Mails post office for the

remainder of his stay.

And now John Dolittle and his animals got tremendously busy arranging

the post office, its furniture, the stamp drawers, the postcard

drawers, the weighing scales, the sorting bags and all the rest of the

paraphernalia. Dab-Dab, of course, was housekeeper, as usual, and she

saw to it that the post office was swept properly every morning. Jip

was the watchman and had charge of locking up at night and opening in

the morning. Too-Too, with his head for mathematics, was given the

bookkeeping, and he kept account of how many stamps were sold and how

much money was taken in. The Doctor ran the information window and

answered the hundred and one questions that people are always asking

at post offices. And the good and trusty Speedy was here, there and

everywhere.

And this was how the first letter was sent off by the Swallow Mail:

King Koko himself came one morning and, putting his large face in at

the information window, asked:

"What is the fastest foreign mail delivery ever made by any post office

anywhere in the world?"

[Illustration: "He put his large face in at the information window"]

"The British post office is now boasting," said the Doctor, "that it

can get a letter from London to Canada in fourteen days."

"All right," said the King. "Here's a letter to a friend of mine who

runs a shoe-shine parlor in Alabama. Let me see how quickly you can get

me an answer to it."

Now, the Doctor really had not got everything ready yet to work the

foreign mails properly and he was about to explain to the King. But

Speedy hopped up on the desk and whispered:

"Give me that letter, Doctor. We'll show him."

Then going outside, he called for Quip the Carrier.

"Quip," said Speedy, "take this letter to the Azores as fast as you

can. There you'll just catch the White Tailed Carolina Warblers about

to make their summer crossing to the United States. Give it to them and

tell them to get the answer back here, as quick as they know how."

In a flash Quip was gone, seaward.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon when the King brought that letter

to the Doctor. And when His Majesty woke up in the morning and came

down to breakfast there was the answer to it lying beside his plate!