The Story of Doctor Dolittle

_THE FOURTEENTH CHAPTER_

THE RATS’ WARNING

DRAGGING a ship through the sea is hard work. And after two or threehours the swallows began to get tired in the wings and short of breath.Then they sent a message down to the Doctor to say that they wouldhave to take a rest soon; and that they would pull the boat over to anisland not far off, and hide it in a deep bay till they had got breathenough to go on.

And presently the Doctor saw the island they had spoken of. It had avery beautiful, high, green mountain in the middle of it.

When the ship had sailed safely into the bay where it could not be seenfrom the open sea, the Doctor said he would get off on to the island tolook for water—because there was none left to drink on his ship. Andhe told all the animals to get out too and romp on the grass to stretchtheir legs.

Now as they were getting off, the Doctor noticed that a whole lot ofrats were coming up from downstairs and leaving the ship as well. Jipstarted to run after them, because chasing rats had always been hisfavorite game. But the Doctor told him to stop.

And one big black rat, who seemed to want to say something to theDoctor, now crept forward timidly along the rail, watching the dog outof the corner of his eye. And after he had coughed nervously two orthree times, and cleaned his whiskers and wiped his mouth, he said,

“Ahem—er—you know of course that all ships have rats in them, Doctor,do you not?”

And the Doctor said, “Yes.”

“And you have heard that rats always leave a sinking ship?”

“Yes,” said the Doctor—“so I’ve been told.”

“People,” said the rat, “always speak of it with a sneer—as though itwere something disgraceful. But you can’t blame us, can you? Afterall, who _would_ stay on a sinking ship, if he could get off it?”

“‘And you have heard that rats always leave a sinkingship?’”]

“It’s very natural,” said the Doctor—“very natural. I quiteunderstand.... Was there—Was there anything else you wished to say?”

“Yes,” said the rat. “I’ve come to tell you that we are leaving thisone. But we wanted to warn you before we go. This is a bad ship youhave here. It isn’t safe. The sides aren’t strong enough. Its boardsare rotten. Before to-morrow night it will sink to the bottom of thesea.”

“But how do you know?” asked the Doctor.

“We always know,” answered the rat. “The tips of our tails get thattingly feeling—like when your foot’s asleep. This morning, at sixo’clock, while I was getting breakfast, my tail suddenly began totingle. At first I thought it was my rheumatism coming back. So I wentand asked my aunt how she felt—you remember her?—the long, piebaldrat, rather skinny, who came to see you in Puddleby last Spring withjaundice? Well—and she said _her_ tail was tingling like everything!Then we knew, for sure, that this boat was going to sink in less thantwo days; and we all made up our minds to leave it as soon as we gotnear enough to any land. It’s a bad ship, Doctor. Don’t sail in it anymore, or you’ll be surely drowned.... Good-by! We are now going tolook for a good place to live on this island.”

“Good-by!” said the Doctor. “And thank you very much for coming totell me. Very considerate of you—very! Give my regards to your aunt. Iremember her perfectly.... Leave that rat alone, Jip! Come here! Liedown!”

So then the Doctor and all his animals went off, carrying pails andsaucepans, to look for water on the island, while the swallows tooktheir rest.

“I wonder what is the name of this island,” said the Doctor, as he wasclimbing up the mountainside. “It seems a pleasant place. What a lot ofbirds there are!”

“Why, these are the Canary Islands,” said Dab-Dab. “Don’t you hear thecanaries singing?”

The Doctor stopped and listened.

“Why, to be sure—of course!” he said. “How stupid of me! I wonder ifthey can tell us where to find water.”

And presently the canaries, who had heard all about Doctor Dolittlefrom birds of passage, came and led him to a beautiful spring of cool,clear water where the canaries used to take their bath; and they showedhim lovely meadows where the bird-seed grew and all the other sights oftheir island.

And the pushmi-pullyu was glad they had come; because he liked thegreen grass so much better than the dried apples he had been eating onthe ship. And Gub-Gub squeaked for joy when he found a whole valleyfull of wild sugar-cane.

A little later, when they had all had plenty to eat and drink, andwere lying on their backs while the canaries sang for them, two of theswallows came hurrying up, very flustered and excited.

“Doctor!” they cried, “the pirates have come into the bay; and they’veall got on to your ship. They are downstairs looking for things tosteal. They have left their own ship with nobody on it. If you hurryand come down to the shore, you can get on to their ship—which is veryfast—and escape. But you’ll have to hurry.”

“That’s a good idea,” said the Doctor—“splendid!”

And he called his animals together at once, said Good-by to thecanaries and ran down to the beach.

When they reached the shore they saw the pirate-ship, with the threered sails, standing in the water; and—just as the swallows hadsaid—there was nobody on it; all the pirates were downstairs in theDoctor’s ship, looking for things to steal.

So John Dolittle told his animals to walk very softly and they allcrept on to the pirate-ship.