The Story of Doctor Dolittle

_THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER_

THE BARBARY DRAGON

EVERYTHING would have gone all right if the pig had not caught a coldin his head while eating the damp sugar-cane on the island. This iswhat happened:

After they had pulled up the anchor without a sound, and were movingthe ship very, very carefully out of the bay, Gub-Gub suddenly sneezedso loud that the pirates on the other ship came rushing upstairs to seewhat the noise was.

As soon as they saw that the Doctor was escaping, they sailed the otherboat right across the entrance to the bay so that the Doctor could notget out into the open sea.

Then the leader of these bad men (who called himself “Ben Ali, TheDragon”) shook his fist at the Doctor and shouted across the water,

“Ha! Ha! You are caught, my fine friend! You were going to run off inmy ship, eh? But you are not a good enough sailor to beat Ben Ali, theBarbary Dragon. I want that duck you’ve got—and the pig too. We’ll havepork-chops and roast duck for supper to-night. And before I let you gohome, you must make your friends send me a trunk-full of gold.”

Poor Gub-Gub began to weep; and Dab-Dab made ready to fly to save herlife. But the owl, Too-Too, whispered to the Doctor,

“Keep him talking, Doctor. Be pleasant to him. Our old ship is boundto sink soon—the rats said it would be at the bottom of the sea beforeto-morrow-night—and the rats are never wrong. Be pleasant, till theship sinks under him. Keep him talking.”

“What, until to-morrow night!” said the Doctor. “Well, I’ll do mybest.... Let me see—What shall I talk about?”

“Oh, let them come on,” said Jip. “We can fight the dirty rascals.There are only six of them. Let them come on. I’d love to tell thatcollie next door, when we get home, that I had bitten a real pirate.Let ’em come. We can fight them.”

“‘Look here, Ben Ali—’”]

“But they have pistols and swords,” said the Doctor. “No, that wouldnever do. I must talk to him.... Look here, Ben Ali—”

But before the Doctor could say any more, the pirates began to sail theship nearer, laughing with glee, and saying one to another, “Who shallbe the first to catch the pig?”

Poor Gub-Gub was dreadfully frightened; and the pushmi-pullyu began tosharpen his horns for a fight by rubbing them on the mast of the ship;while Jip kept springing into the air and barking and calling Ben Alibad names in dog-language.

But presently something seemed to go wrong with the pirates; theystopped laughing and cracking jokes; they looked puzzled; something wasmaking them uneasy.

Then Ben Ali, staring down at his feet, suddenly bellowed out,

“Thunder and Lightning!—Men, _the boat’s leaking_!”

And then the other pirates peered over the side and they saw that theboat was indeed getting lower and lower in the water. And one of themsaid to Ben Ali,

“But surely if this old boat were sinking we should see the ratsleaving it.”

And Jip shouted across from the other ship,

“You great duffers, there are no rats there to leave! They left twohours ago! ‘Ha, ha,’ to you, ‘my fine friends!’”

But of course the men did not understand him.

Soon the front end of the ship began to go down and down, faster andfaster—till the boat looked almost as though it were standing on itshead; and the pirates had to cling to the rails and the masts andthe ropes and anything to keep from sliding off. Then the sea rushedroaring in through all the windows and the doors. And at last the shipplunged right down to the bottom of the sea, making a dreadful gurglingsound; and the six bad men were left bobbing about in the deep water ofthe bay.

Some of them started to swim for the shores of the island; while otherscame and tried to get on to the boat where the Doctor was. But Jip keptsnapping at their noses, so they were afraid to climb up the side ofthe ship.

Then suddenly they all cried out in great fear,

“_The sharks!_ The sharks are coming! Let us get on to the ship beforethey eat us! Help, help!—The sharks! The sharks!”

And now the Doctor could see, all over the bay, the backs of big fishesswimming swiftly through the water.

And one great shark came near to the ship, and poking his nose out ofthe water he said to the Doctor,

“Are you John Dolittle, the famous animal-doctor?”

“Yes,” said Doctor Dolittle. “That is my name.”

“Well,” said the shark, “we know these pirates to be a badlot—especially Ben Ali. If they are annoying you, we will gladly eatthem up for you—and then you won’t be troubled any more.”

“Thank you,” said the Doctor. “This is really most attentive. But Idon’t think it will be necessary to eat them. Don’t let any of themreach the shore until I tell you—just keep them swimming about, willyou? And please make Ben Ali swim over here that I may talk to him.”

So the shark went off and chased Ben Ali over to the Doctor.

“Listen, Ben Ali,” said John Dolittle, leaning over the side. “Youhave been a very bad man; and I understand that you have killed manypeople. These good sharks here have just offered to eat you up forme—and ’twould indeed be a good thing if the seas were rid of you. Butif you will promise to do as I tell you, I will let you go in safety.”

“What must I do?” asked the pirate, looking down sideways at the bigshark who was smelling his leg under the water.

“You must kill no more people,” said the Doctor; “you must stopstealing; you must never sink another ship; you must give up being apirate altogether.”

“But what shall I do then?” asked Ben Ali. “How shall I live?”

“You and all your men must go on to this island and bebird-seed-farmers,” the Doctor answered. “You must grow bird-seed forthe canaries.”

The Barbary Dragon turned pale with anger, “_Grow bird-seed!_” hegroaned in disgust. “Can’t I be a sailor?”

“No,” said the Doctor, “you cannot. You have been a sailor longenough—and sent many stout ships and good men to the bottom of thesea. For the rest of your life you must be a peaceful farmer. The sharkis waiting. Do not waste any more of his time. Make up your mind.”

“Thunder and Lightning!” Ben Ali muttered—“_Bird-seed!_” Then he lookeddown into the water again and saw the great fish smelling his other leg.

“Very well,” he said sadly. “We’ll be farmers.”

“And remember,” said the Doctor, “that if you do not keep yourpromise—if you start killing and stealing again, I shall hear of it,because the canaries will come and tell me. And be very sure that Iwill find a way to punish you. For though I may not be able to sail aship as well as you, so long as the birds and the beasts and the fishesare my friends, I do not have to be afraid of a pirate chief—eventhough he call himself ‘The Dragon of Barbary.’ Now go and be a goodfarmer and live in peace.”

Then the Doctor turned to the big shark, and waving his hand he said,

“All right. Let them swim safely to the land.”