"'It is,百度😷' says he,传奇🏩 'only it's not dark enough. What were you making all that racket over there for just now? Waking a fellow out of his sleep before it's got properly dark!'
"Humph!" said the Doctor,金箍棒💇 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."
"Well,传奇👄" said Speedy,百度✈ "that would be possible. But,百度🗽 of course,金箍棒📷 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."
"The old rat gazed at me thoughtfully a moment and I knew that he was going to say something particularly wise.
The candles were lighted again and after the carvings had been cleaned the Doctor examined them with great care and even made sketches of some of them in his notebook.
"A rare Fantippo stamp"Poor Mudface awoke with an acute attack of gout. He had not been bothered by this ailment since the Doctor's arrival. But now he could scarcely move at all without great pain. And Dab-Dab brought his breakfast to him where he lay.
"Dear me,金箍棒📈" said he while he was sitting miserably on the floor in the darkness,百度😪 wondering what on earth he was going to do without any of his animals to help him,传奇📆 "what a poor holiday I am spending,传奇✋ to be sure!"
"More food!" murmured Too-Too. "What did I tell you?"
Somewhat puzzled,百度🔫 the Doctor first read the letter,传奇🚓 while Dab-Dab,百度🙌 who was still badgering him about taking a holiday,金箍棒♈ looked over his shoulder. The letter said:
"Splendid!" cried the Doctor. And he snatched a piece of paper off the desk and started to write.THE BIRDS THAT HELPED COLUMBUS
CHAPTER I
"You,金箍棒🔏 Doctor,金箍棒📛" said the deep voice of the piffilosaurus at his elbow,金箍棒🚱 "are the first human in a thousand years that has set foot here. The last one was King Kakaboochi's mother-in-law."
"How extraordinary!" said John Dolittle,百度🚔 entirely bewildered. "What ails the man?"
Of course such an entirely new thing as this required a great deal of learning and working out before it could be made to run smoothly. Something new,传奇🙅 some fresh problem,百度💚 cropped up every day. But although the Doctor,百度📗 at all times a busy man,传奇🌝 was positively worked to death,百度🎪 he found it all so interesting that he didn't mind. But the motherly Dab-Dab was dreadfully worried about him; for indeed at the beginning he seemed never to sleep at all.The Doctor said afterward that he had never seen a bird who reminded him so much of a sailor. He had the rolling,传奇❗ straddling walk of a seafaring man; he smelt strongly of fish; and whenever he spoke of the weather he had an odd trick of squinting up at the sky with his one eye,传奇🚞 the way old sailors often do.
"'That's a good notion,百度💰' said he. 'Let's start to-morrow.'"
"'Who is your master?' I said. 'Anybody would think you were going to paint the portrait yourself.'
Well,百度🍈 that was how still another department,金箍棒👿 the Parcel Post,百度🌽 was added to the Foreign Mails Office of Fantippo. Gub-Gub's sprouts arrived (tons of them,传奇👥 because this was a very big flight of birds),传奇❣ and after that many kinds of animals came to the Doctor and asked him to send for foreign foods for them when their own ran short. In this way,金箍棒🏮 too,传奇😔 bringing seeds and plants from other lands by birds,百度💬 the Doctor tried quite a number of experiments in planting,金箍棒✳ and what is called acclimatizing,百度📅 fruits and vegetables and even flowers.
"Why,传奇🎸 Cheapside!" cried John Dolittle. "At last you've come. My,金箍棒🐝 but it's good to see you! Did you have a pleasant journey?"
"Now's your chance,金箍棒🎉 Doctor!" yelled the duck."Well,百度🌿 the fourth week after the enemy came the food in the castle was all gone and the king gave orders that the pigs must be eaten. The queen raised a great outcry and begged that her pet should be spared. But the king was very firm.
"No,传奇🚠 the lighthouse on Cape Stephen,金箍棒🚓" said the Doctor. "A gull just came and told me. The shipping's in danger. Wrecks,金箍棒💪 you know,百度🔅 and all that. Wake up and look sensible,传奇🎢 for pity's sake!"