"'My master has been ordered to paint the portrait of a prince,统计📏' he said,维图🌱 putting on no end of elegance.
Great was the rejoicing among the Doctor's pets and the patient swallows when the news got about that John Dolittle was really going home at last. Gub-Gub and Jip could hardly wait while the last duties and ceremonies of closing the houseboat to the public and transferring the Foreign Mails Service to the office in the town were performed. Dab-Dab bustled cheerfully from morning to night while Cheapside never ceased to chatter of the glories of London,哪个👌 the comforts of a city life and all the things he was going to do as soon as he got back to his beloved native haunts.
"Balls of pink putty would suit them just as well,三国🐦" snorted Dab-Dab.
"What are you going to say to Wilkins,统计🍚 Doctor?" asked Dab-Dab as the canoe glided along over the moonlit sea. "It's a pity you haven't got a pistol or something like that. He looks a desperate character and he isn't likely to give up the pearls without a fight."
After they were all seated on the veranda the housekeeper preened her feathers and in a very dignified voice began:With a howl Wilkins bent down to knock her off.
CHAPTER III
"I suspect,维图👛" said Speedy,统计🏯 "that you'll find most of the letters will be written to you,技术🚝 Doctor. I've met birds all over creation who wanted to know what you looked like,维图🌻 what you ate for breakfast and all sorts of silly things about you."
"Then,最好🏪 rubbing out the whole picture,哪个☺ George Morland re-drew it in his way. And it was so lifelike you could nearly hear the cat lapping up the milk."About a turnip field,技术🐦" said Gub-Gub.
So the Emir ordered his hammock men and had himself carried to the Doctor's prison. The door was unlocked and the Emir,最好🐨 going inside,统计🛄 said to the Doctor:
"I was out canoeing with a lady,三国💀" said the Doctor,三国📩 and he smiled comfortingly at Zuzana,最好🔺 who was beginning to weep again.
"'What way is there?' I said. 'For me life is over!'
"'My master has been ordered to paint the portrait of a prince,三国💳' he said,统计😫 putting on no end of elegance.
"'I've tried,统计😃' I said. 'But they're so scared they won't follow me. They don't like my voice or something. They take me for a wicked ogre,统计⌚ and all that sort of rot.'
Just at that moment Speedy-the-Skimmer came in and said:
Now,哪个⚓ when the Emir of Ellebubu had thrown the Doctor into prison he had refused to allow Dab-Dab,三国☀ Jip or Gub-Gub to go with him. Jip put up a fight and bit the Emir in the leg. But all he got for that was to be tied up on a short chain.
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,哪个🏪 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.
"And we've got the pearls,三国🚉 too,维图👜" cried Too-Too. "They're in the stamp drawer and Jip is guarding them."
"How dare you speak to me like that? I am the Emir of Ellebubu,三国🚉" he thundered.
"All right,维图💛" said the Doctor,维图⬛ hurrying into his coat. "Wait just a moment till I wake Dab-Dab."Then came the problem of how to sleep. This was not so easy,哪个🚎 because,技术😭 although the foundations of the turtle's mound were of stone,三国🚤 there was hardly a dry spot on the island left where you could lie down. The Doctor tried the canoe. But it was sort of cramped and uncomfortable for sleeping,哪个🔐 and now even there,维图🚘 too,三国😋 the mud had been carried by Dab-Dab's feet and his own. In this country the great problem was getting away from the mud.
Reaching the mouth of the river at the southern end of the lake they paused a moment before entering the mangrove swamps and looked back. And there in the distance they could just see the shape of the old turtle standing on his new island,三国👧 watching them. They waved to him and pushed on.
THE SWIFTEST MAIL IN THE WORLD
But when he came up,技术🐞 blowing like a seal,哪个😤 he hadn't even got an oyster. All he had was a mouthful of seaweed.
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,维图🚟 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.
This place he found very different from any of the African villages or settlements he had ever visited. It was quite large,哪个🌌 almost a city. It was bright and cheerful to look at and the people,技术⚾ like their King,维图🎿 all seemed very kind and jolly.