Free The Story of Doctor Dolittle: Being the History of His Peculiar Life at Home and Astonishing Adventures in Foreign Parts Never Before Printed by Hugh Lofting Page B

Chapter
— The Ocean Gossips
*
    RIGHT away an axe was found. And the Doctor soon chopped a
hole in the door big enough to clamber through.
    At first he could see nothing at all, it was so dark inside.
So he struck a match.
    The room was quite small; no window; the
ceiling, low. For furniture there was only one
little stool. All round the room big barrels
stood against the walls, fastened at the bottom
so they wouldn't tumble with the rolling of the
ship; and above the barrels, pewter jugs of all
sizes hung from wooden pegs. There was a
strong, winey smell. And in the middle of the
floor sat a little boy, about eight years old,
crying bitterly.
    "I declare, it is the pirates' rum-room!"
said Jip in a whisper.
    "Yes. Very rum!" said Gub-Gub.
"The smell makes me giddy."
    The little boy seemed rather frightened to
find a man standing there before him and all
those animals staring in through the hole in the
broken door. But as soon as he saw John
Dolittle's face by the light of the match, he stopped
crying and got up.
    "You aren't one of the pirates, are you?" he asked.
    And when the Doctor threw back his head
and laughed long and loud, the little boy smiled
too and came and took his hand.
    "You laugh like a friend," he said—"not
like a pirate. Could you tell me where my
uncle is?"
    "I am afraid I can't," said the Doctor.
"When did you see him last?"
    "It was the day before yesterday," said the
boy. "I and my uncle were out fishing in our
little boat, when the pirates came and caught
us. They sunk our fishing-boat and brought us
both on to this ship. They told my uncle that
they wanted him to be a pirate like them—for
he was clever at sailing a ship in all weathers.
But he said he didn't want to be a pirate,
because killing people and stealing was no work
for a good fisherman to do. Then the leader,
Ben Ali, got very angry and gnashed his teeth,
and said they would throw my uncle into the
sea if he didn't do as they said. They sent me
downstairs; and I heard the noise of a fight
going on above. And when they let me come up
again next day, my uncle was nowhere to be
seen. I asked the pirates where he was; but
they wouldn't tell me. I am very much afraid
they threw him into the sea and drowned him."
    And the little boy began to cry again.
    "Well now—wait a minute," said the Doctor.
"Don't cry. Let's go and have tea in the dining-
room, and we'll talk it over. Maybe your
uncle is quite safe all the time. You don't KNOW
that he was drowned, do you? And that's
something. Perhaps we can find him for you. First
we'll go and have tea—with strawberry-jam;
and then we will see what can be done."
    All the animals had been standing around
listening with great curiosity. And when they
had gone into the ship's dining-room and were
having tea, Dab-Dab came up behind the
Doctor's chair and whispered.
    "Ask the porpoises if the boy's uncle was
drowned—they'll know."
    "All right," said the Doctor, taking a second
piece of bread-and-jam.
    "What are those funny, clicking noises you
are making with your tongue?" asked the boy.
    "Oh, I just said a couple of words in duck-
language," the Doctor answered. "This is
Dab-Dab, one of my pets."
    "I didn't even know that ducks had a
language," said the boy. "Are all these other
animals your pets, too? What is that strange-
looking thing with two heads?"
    "Sh!" the Doctor whispered. "That is the
pushmi-pullyu. Don't let him see we're talking
about him—he gets so dreadfully embarrassed....
Tell me, how did you come to be
locked up in that little room?"
    "The pirates shut me in there when they
were going off to steal things from another ship.
When I heard some one chopping on the door,
I didn't know who it could be. I was very
glad to find it was you. Do you think you will
be able to find my uncle for me?"
    "Well, we are going to try very hard," said
the Doctor. "Now what was your uncle like to
look at?"
    "He had red hair," the boy answered—"very
red hair, and the picture of an anchor tattooed
on