The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (3 page)

"My blessed matches are all wet. They won't strike. Have you got any?"

"No, I'm afraid I haven't," I called back.

"Never mind," said he. "Perhaps Dab-Dab can raise us a light somewhere."

Then the Doctor made some funny clicking noises with his tongue and I
heard some one trundle up the stairs again and start moving about in the
rooms above.

Then we waited quite a while without anything happening.

"Will the light be long in coming?" I asked. "Some animal is sitting on
my foot and my toes are going to sleep."

"No, only a minute," said the Doctor. "She'll be back in a minute."

And just then I saw the first glimmerings of a light around the landing
above. At once all the animals kept quiet.

"I thought you lived alone," I said to the Doctor. "So I do," said he.
"It is Dab-Dab who is bringing the light."

I looked up the stairs trying to make out who was coming. I could not
see around the landing but I heard the most curious footstep on the
upper flight. It sounded like some one hopping down from one step to the
other, as though he were using only one leg.

As the light came lower, it grew brighter and began to throw strange
jumping shadows on the walls.

"Ah-at last!" said the Doctor. "Good old Dab-Dab!"

And then I thought I REALLY must be dreaming. For there, craning her
neck round the bend of the landing, hopping down the stairs on one leg,
came a spotless white duck. And in her right foot she carried a lighted
candle!

WHEN at last I could look around me I found that the hall was indeed
simply full of animals. It seemed to me that almost every kind of
creature from the countryside must be there: a pigeon, a white rat, an
owl, a badger, a jackdaw—there was even a small pig, just in from the
rainy garden, carefully wiping his feet on the mat while the light from
the candle glistened on his wet pink back.

The Doctor took the candlestick from the duck and turned to me.

"Look here," he said: "you must get those wet clothes off—by the way,
what is your name?"

"Tommy Stubbins," I said.

"Oh, are you the son of Jacob Stubbins, the shoemaker?"

"Yes," I said.

"Excellent bootmaker, your father," said the Doctor. "You see these?"
and he held up his right foot to show me the enormous boots he was
wearing. "Your father made me those boots four years ago, and I've been
wearing them ever since—perfectly wonderful boots—Well now, look
here, Stubbins. You 've got to change those wet things and quick. Wait a
moment till I get some more candles lit, and then we'll go upstairs and
find some dry clothes. You'll have to wear an old suit of mine till we
can get yours dry again by the kitchen-fire."

So presently when more candles had been lighted round different parts
of the house, we went upstairs; and when we had come into a bedroom
the Doctor opened a big wardrobe and took out two suits of old clothes.
These we put on. Then we carried our wet ones down to the kitchen and
started a fire in the big chimney. The coat of the Doctor's which I was
wearing was so large for me that I kept treading on my own coat-tails
while I was helping to fetch the wood up from the cellar. But very
soon we had a huge big fire blazing up the chimney and we hung our wet
clothes around on chairs.

"Now let's cook some supper," said the Doctor.—"You'll stay and have
supper with me, Stubbins, of course?"

Already I was beginning to be very fond of this funny little man who
called me "Stubbins," instead of "Tommy" or "little lad" (I did so hate
to be called "little lad"!) This man seemed to begin right away treating
me as though I were a grown-up friend of his. And when he asked me to
stop and have supper with him I felt terribly proud and happy. But I
suddenly remembered that I had not told my mother that I would be out
late. So very sadly I answered,

"Thank you very much. I would like to stay, but I am afraid that my
mother will begin to worry and wonder where I am if I don't get back."

"Oh, but my dear Stubbins," said the Doctor, throwing another log of
wood on the fire, "your clothes aren't dry yet. You'll have to wait
for them, won't you? By the time they are ready to put on we will have
supper cooked and eaten—Did you see where I put my bag?"

"I think it is still in the hall," I said. "I'll go and see."

I found the bag near the front door. It was made of black leather and
looked very, very old. One of its latches was broken and it was tied up
round the middle with a piece of string.

"Thank you," said the Doctor when I brought it to him.

"Was that bag all the luggage you had for your voyage?" I asked.

"Yes," said the Doctor, as he undid the piece of string. "I don't
believe in a lot of baggage. It's such a nuisance. Life's too short to
fuss with it. And it isn't really necessary, you know—Where DID I put
those sausages?"

The Doctor was feeling about inside the bag. First he brought out a loaf
of new bread. Next came a glass jar with a curious metal top to it. He
held this up to the light very carefully before he set it down upon the
table; and I could see that there was some strange little water-creature
swimming about inside. At last the Doctor brought out a pound of
sausages.

"Now," he said, "all we want is a frying-pan."

We went into the scullery and there we found some pots and pans hanging
against the wall. The Doctor took down the frying-pan. It was quite
rusty on the inside.

"Dear me, just look at that!" said he. "That's the worst of being away
so long. The animals are very good and keep the house wonderfully clean
as far as they can. Dab-Dab is a perfect marvel as a housekeeper. But
some things of course they can't manage. Never mind, we'll soon clean it
up. You'll find some silver-sand down there, under the sink, Stubbins.
Just hand it up to me, will you?"

In a few moments we had the pan all shiny and bright and the sausages
were put over the kitchen-fire and a beautiful frying smell went all
through the house.

While the Doctor was busy at the cooking I went and took another look at
the funny little creature swimming about in the glass jar.

"What is this animal?" I asked.

"Oh that," said the Doctor, turning round—"that's a Wiff-Waff. Its
full name is hippocampus Pippitopitus. But the natives just call it a
Wiff-Waff—on account of the way it waves its tail, swimming, I imagine.
That's what I went on this last voyage for, to get that. You see I'm
very busy just now trying to learn the language of the shellfish. They
HAVE languages, of that I feel sure. I can talk a little shark language
and porpoise dialect myself. But what I particularly want to learn now
is shellfish."

"Why?" I asked.

"Well, you see, some of the shellfish are the oldest kind of animals in
the world that we know of. We find their shells in the rocks—turned to
stone—thousands of years old. So I feel quite sure that if I could only
get to talk their language, I should be able to learn a whole lot about
what the world was like ages and ages and ages ago. You see?"

"But couldn't some of the other animals tell you as well?"

"I don't think so," said the Doctor, prodding the sausages with a
fork. "To be sure, the monkeys I knew in Africa some time ago were
very helpful in telling me about bygone days; but they only went back
a thousand years or so. No, I am certain that the oldest history in the
world is to be had from the shellfish—and from them only. You see most
of the other animals that were alive in those very ancient times have
now become extinct."

"Have you learned any shellfish language yet?" I asked.

"No. I've only just begun. I wanted this particular kind of a pipe-fish
because he is half a shellfish and half an ordinary fish. I went all the
way to the Eastern Mediterranean after him. But I'm very much afraid he
isn't going to be a great deal of help to me. To tell you the truth, I'm
rather disappointed in his appearance. He doesn't LOOK very intelligent,
does he?"

"No, he doesn't," I agreed.

"Ah," said the Doctor. "The sausages are done to a turn. Come
along—hold your plate near and let me give you some."

Then we sat down at the kitchen-table and started a hearty meal.

It was a wonderful kitchen, that. I had many meals there afterwards and
I found it a better place to eat in than the grandest dining-room in the
world. It was so cozy and home-like and warm. It was so handy for the
food too. You took it right off the fire, hot, and put it on the table
and ate it. And you could watch your toast toasting at the fender and
see it didn't burn while you drank your soup. And if you had forgotten
to put the salt on the table, you didn't have to get up and go into
another room to fetch it; you just reached round and took the big
wooden box off the dresser behind you. Then the fireplace—the biggest
fireplace you ever saw—was like a room in itself. You could get right
inside it even when the logs were burning and sit on the wide seats
either side and roast chestnuts after the meal was over—or listen to
the kettle singing, or tell stories, or look at picture-books by the
light of the fire. It was a marvelous kitchen. It was like the Doctor,
comfortable, sensible, friendly and solid.

While we were gobbling away, the door suddenly opened and in marched the
duck, Dab-Dab, and the dog, Jip, dragging sheets and pillow-cases behind
them over the clean tiled floor. The Doctor, seeing how surprised I was,
explained:

"They're just going to air the bedding for me in front of the fire.
Dab-Dab is a perfect treasure of a housekeeper; she never forgets
anything. I had a sister once who used to keep house for me (poor, dear
Sarah! I wonder how she's getting on—I haven't seen her in many years).
But she wasn't nearly as good as Dab-Dab. Have another sausage?"

The Doctor turned and said a few words to the dog and duck in some
strange talk and signs. They seemed to understand him perfectly.

"Can you talk in squirrel language?" I asked.

"Oh yes. That's quite an easy language," said the Doctor. "You could
learn that yourself without a great deal of trouble. But why do you
ask?"

"Because I have a sick squirrel at home," I said. "I took it away from a
hawk. But two of its legs are badly hurt and I wanted very much to have
you see it, if you would. Shall I bring it to-morrow?"

"Well, if its leg is badly broken I think I had better see it to-night.
It may be too late to do much; but I'll come home with you and take a
look at it."

So presently we felt the clothes by the fire and mine were found to be
quite dry. I took them upstairs to the bedroom and changed, and when I
came down the Doctor was all ready waiting for me with his little black
bag full of medicines and bandages.

"Come along," he said. "The rain has stopped now."

Outside it had grown bright again and the evening sky was all red with
the setting sun; and thrushes were singing in the garden as we opened
the gate to go down on to the road.

"I THINK your house is the most interesting house I was ever in," I
said as we set off in the direction of the town. "May I come and see you
again to-morrow?"

"Certainly," said the Doctor. "Come any day you like. To-morrow I'll
show you the garden and my private zoo."

"Oh, have you a zoo?" I asked.

"Yes," said he. "The larger animals are too big for the house, so I keep
them in a zoo in the garden. It is not a very big collection but it is
interesting in its way."

"It must be splendid," I said, "to be able to talk all the languages of
the different animals. Do you think I could ever learn to do it?"

"Oh surely," said the Doctor—"with practise. You have to be very
patient, you know. You really ought to have Polynesia to start you. It
was she who gave me my first lessons."

"Who is Polynesia?" I asked.

"Polynesia was a West African parrot I had. She isn't with me any more
now," said the Doctor sadly.

"Why—is she dead?"

"Oh no," said the Doctor. "She is still living, I hope. But when we
reached Africa she seemed so glad to get back to her own country. She
wept for joy. And when the time came for me to come back here I had not
the heart to take her away from that sunny land—although, it is true,
she did offer to come. I left her in Africa—Ah well! I have missed
her terribly. She wept again when we left. But I think I did the right
thing. She was one of the best friends I ever had. It was she who first
gave me the idea of learning the animal languages and becoming an animal
doctor. I often wonder if she remained happy in Africa, and whether I
shall ever see her funny, old, solemn face again—Good old Polynesia!—A
most extraordinary bird—Well, well!"

Just at that moment we heard the noise of some one running behind us;
and turning round we saw Jip the dog rushing down the road after us,
as fast as his legs could bring him. He seemed very excited about
something, and as soon as he came up to us, he started barking and
whining to the Doctor in a peculiar way. Then the Doctor too seemed to
get all worked up and began talking and making queer signs to the dog.
At length he turned to me, his face shining with happiness.

"Polynesia has come back!" he cried. "Imagine it. Jip says she has just
arrived at the house. My! And it's five years since I saw her—Excuse me
a minute."

He turned as if to go back home. But the parrot, Polynesia, was already
flying towards us. The Doctor clapped his hands like a child getting
a new toy; while the swarm of sparrows in the roadway fluttered,
gossiping, up on to the fences, highly scandalized to see a gray and
scarlet parrot skimming down an English lane.

On she came, straight on to the Doctor's shoulder, where she immediately
began talking a steady stream in a language I could not understand.
She seemed to have a terrible lot to say. And very soon the Doctor had
forgotten all about me and my squirrel and Jip and everything else; till
at length the bird clearly asked him something about me.