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.
And then John Dolittle,欢乐🍇 seeing its head for the first time,季第一📙 cried out in great excitement:
"I suspect,季第一🐑" said Speedy,合唱团👄 "that you'll find most of the letters will be written to you,合唱团🍋 Doctor. I've met birds all over creation who wanted to know what you looked like,欢乐💎 what you ate for breakfast and all sorts of silly things about you."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,欢乐🌜 spreading legs,合唱团❔ but enormously long tail and neck. On his head were two stubby little horns.
Poor Zuzana began weeping some more when the Doctor said he would have to give up for the night.
Now,合唱团🚕 when the Emir of Ellebubu had thrown the Doctor into prison he had refused to allow Dab-Dab,欢乐⚪ 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.
"Well,季第一♈" said the Jay,季第一🚴 "the story was handed down to me by my mother,欢乐🐖 who heard it from my grandmother,合唱团❎ who got it from my great-grandmother,合唱团⚠ and so on,合唱团🚕 way back to an ancestor of ours who lived in America in the fifteenth century. Our kind of birds in those days did not come across to this side of the Atlantic,季第一📑 neither summer nor winter. We used to spend from March to September in the Bermudas and the rest of the year in Venezuela. And when we made the autumn journey south we used to stop at the Bahama Islands to rest on the way.
Then the Skimmer,欢乐🚟 with one of his claws,欢乐🌼 began tracing out some letters on the Doctor's palm. Before he had got very far John Dolittle sprang up,季第一♈ nearly overturning the canoe.
Now,季第一😰 one evening not long after the Golden Jays had gone west,季第一🚈 the Doctor was writing letters in the post office by the light of a candle. It was late and all the animals were fast asleep long ago. Presently while he wrote he heard a sound a long way off,欢乐🚝 coming through the open window at his elbow. He put down his pen and listened.But when he came up,欢乐💅 blowing like a seal,合唱团📷 he hadn't even got an oyster. All he had was a mouthful of seaweed.
"No,季第一🐜 the lighthouse on Cape Stephen,欢乐🌿" said the Doctor. "A gull just came and told me. The shipping's in danger. Wrecks,欢乐🙆 you know,欢乐🔭 and all that. Wake up and look sensible,季第一🔒 for pity's sake!"
OBOMBO'S REBELLION
"I think it might be all right,季第一🙎" said Speedy,季第一🔍 "if we can get the other birds to go in with us on the idea."
The helmsman,季第一➗ battling with the birds,欢乐🉐 set up a yell for help,欢乐🈹 saying he couldn't see to steer the boat. Then the officers and sailors rushed up to his assistance and tried to beat the birds off.
"'Why,季第一🉐 it's an owl!' cries the little girl.The Doctor was introduced to all the chief men of the Fantippo nation and later he was taken to see the post office.
"I'll see what I can do for you,季第一☎ Doc,季第一🚲" said the Sparrow,合唱团🐟 "after I've taken a look around this 'eathen town of yours. But first I want a bath. I'm all heat up from flying under a broiling sun. Ain't you got no puddles round here for a bird to take a bath in?"
And he had printed forms made,合唱团♒ called "Things a Young Rabbit Should Know,合唱团📧" "The Care of Feet in Frosty Weather,欢乐😜" etc.,合唱团🔍 etc. These he sent out by mail in thousands.
"Those must have been some other stolen pearls,季第一🚥 Doctor,欢乐🚈" said Dab-Dab. "Let's take a look at the ones Jip has."Then came a cry from the look-out,欢乐🚄 shouted orders from the captain,季第一🏡 much blowing of whistles and ringing of bells. And just in time to save herself from a watery grave,季第一👲 the big ship swung her nose out to sea and sailed safely past upon her way.
One day Gub-Gub came to the Doctor and said:
And then there was a solemn silence in the lighthouse while the Doctor above and Dab-Dab below thought gloomily of that big ship sailing onward to her wreck because they had no matches.And the Doctor wrote back:
"The royal peacock complained that Cheapside had made faces at him"