The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle

by Hugh Lofting

  When we had scrambled to the top of a high peak, almost instantly wesaw the strange mountain pictured in the letter. In shape it was theperfect image of a hawk’s head, and was, as far as we could see, thesecond highest summit in the island.

  Although we were all out of breath from our climb, the Doctor didn’tlet us rest a second as soon as he had sighted it. With one look at thesun for direction, down he dashed again, breaking through thickets,splashing over brooks, taking all the short cuts. For a fat man, he wascertainly the swiftest cross-country runner I ever saw.

  We floundered after him as fast as we could. When I say _we_, I meanBumpo and myself; for the animals, Jip, Chee-Chee and Polynesia, werea long way ahead—even beyond the Doctor—enjoying the hunt like apaper-chase.

  At length we arrived at the foot of the mountain we were making for;and we found its sides very steep. Said the Doctor,

  “Now we will separate and search for caves. This spot where we now are,will be our meeting-place. If anyone finds anything like a cave or ahole where the earth and rocks have fallen in, he must shout and hulloato the rest of us. If we find nothing we will all gather here in aboutan hour’s time—Everybody understand?”

  Then we all went off our different ways.

  Each of us, you may be sure, was anxious to be the one to make adiscovery. And never was a mountain searched so thoroughly. But alas!nothing could we find that looked in the least like a fallen-in cave.There were plenty of places where rocks had tumbled down to the footof the slopes; but none of these appeared as though caves or passagescould possibly lie behind them.

  One by one, tired and disappointed, we straggled back to themeeting-place. The Doctor seemed gloomy and impatient but by no meansinclined to give up.

  “Jip,” he said, “couldn’t you _smell_ anything like an Indian anywhere?”

  “No,” said Jip. “I sniffed at every crack on the mountainside. But I amafraid my nose will be of no use to you here, Doctor. The trouble is,the whole air is so saturated with the smell of spider-monkeys that itdrowns every other scent—And besides, it’s too cold and dry for goodsmelling.”

  “It is certainly that,” said the Doctor—“and getting colder all thetime. I’m afraid the island is still drifting to the southward. Let’shope it stops before long, or we won’t be able to get even nuts andfruit to eat—everything in the island will perish—Chee-Chee, what luckdid you have?”

  “None, Doctor. I climbed to every peak and pinnacle I could see. Isearched every hollow and cleft. But not one place could I find wheremen might be hidden.”

  “And Polynesia,” asked the Doctor, “did you see nothing that might putus on the right track?”

  “Not a thing, Doctor—But I have a plan.”

  “Oh good!” cried John Dolittle, full of hope renewed. “What is it?Let’s hear it.”

  “You still have that beetle with you,” she asked—“the Biz-biz, orwhatever it is you call the wretched insect?”

  “Yes,” said the Doctor, producing the glass-topped box from his pocket,“here it is.”

  “All right. Now listen,” said she. “If what you have supposed istrue—that is, that Long Arrow had been trapped inside the mountain byfalling rock, he probably found that beetle inside the cave—perhapsmany other different beetles too, eh? He wouldn’t have been likely totake the Biz-biz in with him, would he?—He was hunting plants, you say,not beetles. Isn’t that right?”

  “Yes,” said the Doctor, “that’s probably so.”

  “Very well. It is fair to suppose then that the beetle’s home, or hishole, is in that place—the part of the mountain where Long Arrow andhis party are imprisoned, isn’t it?”

  “Quite, quite.”

  “All right. Then the thing to do is to let the beetle go—and watch him;and sooner or later he’ll return to his home in Long Arrow’s cave. Andthere we will follow him—Or at all events,” she added smoothing downher wing-feathers with a very superior air, “we will follow him tillthe miserable bug starts nosing under the earth. But at least he willshow us what part of the mountain Long Arrow is hidden in.”

  “But he may fly, if I let him out,” said the Doctor. “Then we shalljust lose him and be no better off than we were before.”

  “_Let_ him fly,” snorted Polynesia scornfully. “A parrot can wing it asfast as a Biz-biz, I fancy. If he takes to the air, I’ll guarantee notto let the little devil out of my sight. And if he just crawls alongthe ground you can follow him yourself.”

  “Splendid!” cried the Doctor. “Polynesia, you have a great brain. I’llset him to work at once and see what happens.”

  Again we all clustered round the Doctor as he carefully lifted off theglass lid and let the big beetle climb out upon his finger.

  “Ladybug, Ladybug, fly away home!” crooned Bumpo. “Your house is onfire and your chil—”

  “Oh, be quiet!” snapped Polynesia crossly. “Stop insulting him! Don’tyou suppose he has wits enough to go home without your telling him?”

  “I thought perchance he might be of a philandering disposition,” saidBumpo humbly. “It could be that he is tired of his home and needs to beencouraged. Shall I sing him ‘Home Sweet Home,’ think you?”

  “No. Then he’d never go back. Your voice needs a rest. Don’t sing tohim: just watch him—Oh, and Doctor, why not tie another message to thecreature’s leg, telling Long Arrow that we’re doing our best to reachhim and that he mustn’t give up hope?”

  “I will,” said the Doctor. And in a minute he had pulled a dry leaffrom a bush near by and was covering it with little pictures in pencil.

  At last, neatly fixed up with his new mail-bag, Mr. Jabizri crawled offthe Doctor’s finger to the ground and looked about him. He stretchedhis legs, polished his nose with his front feet and then moved offleisurely to the westward.

  We had expected him to walk _up_ the mountain; instead, he walked_around_ it. Do you know how long it takes a beetle to walk round amountain? Well, I assure you it takes an unbelievably long time. Asthe hours dragged by, we hoped and hoped that he would get up and flythe rest, and let Polynesia carry on the work of following him. But henever opened his wings once. I had not realized before how hard it isfor a human being to walk slowly enough to keep up with a beetle. Itwas the most tedious thing I have ever gone through. And as we dawdledalong behind, watching him like hawks lest we lose him under a leaf orsomething, we all got so cross and ill-tempered we were ready to biteone another’s heads off. And when he stopped to look at the scenery orpolish his nose some more, I could hear Polynesia behind me letting outthe most dreadful seafaring swear-words you ever heard.

  After he had led us the whole way round the mountain he brought us tothe exact spot where we started from and there he came to a dead stop.

  “Well,” said Bumpo to Polynesia, “what do you think of the beetle’ssense now? You see he _doesn’t_ know enough to go home.”

  “Oh, be still, you Hottentot!” snapped Polynesia. “Wouldn’t _you_ wantto stretch your legs for exercise if you’d been shut up in a box allday. Probably his home is near here, and that’s why he’s come back.”

  “But why,” I asked, “did he go the whole way round the mountain first?”

  Then the three of us got into a violent argument. But in the middle ofit all the Doctor suddenly called out,

  “Look, look!”

  We turned and found that he was pointing to the Jabizri, who was nowwalking _up_ the mountain at a much faster and more business-like gait.

  “Well,” said Bumpo sitting down wearily; “if he is going to walk _over_the mountain and back, for more exercise, I’ll wait for him here.Chee-Chee and Polynesia can follow him.”

  Indeed it would have taken a monkey or a bird to climb the place whichthe beetle was now walking up. It was a smooth, flat part of themountain’s side, steep as a wall.

  But presently, when the Jabizri was no more than ten feet above ourheads, we all cried out together. For, even while we watched him, hehad disappeared into the face o
f the rock like a raindrop soaking intosand.

  “He’s gone,” cried Polynesia. “There must be a hole up there.” And in atwinkling she had fluttered up the rock and was clinging to the face ofit with her claws.

  “Yes,” she shouted down, “we’ve run him to earth at last. His hole isright here, behind a patch of lichen—big enough to get two fingers in.”

  “Ah,” cried the Doctor, “this great slab of rock then must have sliddown from the summit and shut off the mouth of the cave like a door.Poor fellows! What a dreadful time they must have spent in there!—Oh,if we only had some picks and shovels now!”

  “Picks and shovels wouldn’t do much good,” said Polynesia. “Look at thesize of the slab: a hundred feet high and as many broad. You would needan army for a week to make any impression on it.”

  “I wonder how thick it is,” said the Doctor; and he picked up a bigstone and banged it with all his might against the face of the rock.It made a hollow booming sound, like a giant drum. We all stood stilllistening while the echo of it died slowly away.

  And then a cold shiver ran down my spine. For, from within themountain, back came three answering knocks: _Boom!... Boom!... Boom!_

  Wide-eyed we looked at one another as though the earth itself hadspoken. And the solemn little silence that followed was broken by theDoctor.

  “Thank Heaven,” he said in a hushed reverent voice, “some of them atleast are alive!”

  PART FIVE

  _THE FIRST CHAPTER_

  A GREAT MOMENT

  THE next part of our problem was the hardest of all: how to roll aside,pull down or break open, that gigantic slab. As we gazed up at ittowering above our heads, it looked indeed a hopeless task for our tinystrength.

  But the sounds of life from inside the mountain had put new heart inus. And in a moment we were all scrambling around trying to find anyopening or crevice which would give us something to work on. Chee-Cheescaled up the sheer wall of the slab and examined the top of it whereit leaned against the mountain’s side; I uprooted bushes and strippedoff hanging creepers that might conceal a weak place; the Doctor gotmore leaves and composed new picture-letters for the Jabizri to takein if he should turn up again; whilst Polynesia carried up a handfulof nuts and pushed them into the beetle’s hole, one by one, for theprisoners inside to eat.

  “Nuts are so nourishing,” she said.

  But Jip it was who, scratching at the foot of the slab like a goodratter, made the discovery which led to our final success.

  “Doctor,” he cried, running up to John Dolittle with his nose allcovered with black mud, “this slab is resting on nothing but a bed ofsoft earth. You never saw such easy digging. I guess the cave behindmust be just too high up for the Indians to reach the earth with theirhands, or they could have scraped a way out long ago. If we can onlyscratch the earth-bed away from under, the slab might drop a little.Then maybe the Indians can climb out over the top.”

  The Doctor hurried to examine the place where Jip had dug.

  “Why, yes,” he said, “if we can get the earth away from under thisfront edge, the slab is standing up so straight, we might even make itfall right down in this direction. It’s well worth trying. Let’s get atit, quick.”

  We had no tools but the sticks and slivers of stone which we couldfind around. A strange sight we must have looked, the whole crew of ussquatting down on our heels, scratching and burrowing at the foot ofthe mountain, like six badgers in a row.

  After about an hour, during which in spite of the cold the sweat fellfrom our foreheads in all directions, the Doctor said,

  “Be ready to jump from under, clear out of the way, if she shows signsof moving. If this slab falls on anybody, it will squash him flatterthan a pancake.”

  Presently there was a grating, grinding sound.

  “Look out!” yelled John Dolittle, “here she comes!—Scatter!”

  We ran for our lives, outwards, toward the sides. The big rock slidgently down, about a foot, into the trough which we had made beneathit. For a moment I was disappointed, for like that, it was as hopelessas before—no signs of a cave-mouth showing above it. But as I lookedupward, I saw the top coming very slowly away from the mountainside.We had unbalanced it below. As it moved apart from the face of themountain, sounds of human voices, crying gladly in a strange tongue,issued from behind. Faster and faster the top swung forward, downward.Then, with a roaring crash which shook the whole mountain-range beneathour feet, it struck the earth and cracked in halves.

  How can I describe to any one that first meeting between the twogreatest naturalists the world ever knew, Long Arrow, the son of GoldenArrow and John Dolittle, M.D., of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh? The scenerises before me now, plain and clear in every detail, though it tookplace so many, many years ago. But when I come to write of it, wordsseem such poor things with which to tell you of that great occasion.

  I know that the Doctor, whose life was surely full enough of bighappenings, always counted the setting free of the Indian scientistas the greatest thing he ever did. For my part, knowing how much thismeeting must mean to him, I was on pins and needles of expectation andcuriosity as the great stone finally thundered down at our feet and wegazed across it to see what lay behind.

  The gloomy black mouth of a tunnel, full twenty feet high, wasrevealed. In the centre of this opening stood an enormous red Indian,seven feet tall, handsome, muscular, slim and naked—but for a beadedcloth about his middle and an eagle’s feather in his hair. He held onehand across his face to shield his eyes from the blinding sun which hehad not seen in many days.

  “It is he!” I heard the Doctor whisper at my elbow. “I know him by hisgreat height and the scar upon his chin.”

  And he stepped forward slowly across the fallen stone with his handoutstretched to the red man.

  Presently the Indian uncovered his eyes. And I saw that they had acurious piercing gleam in them—like the eyes of an eagle, but kinderand more gentle. He slowly raised his right arm, the rest of him stilland motionless like a statue, and took the Doctor’s hand in his. It wasa great moment. Polynesia nodded to me in a knowing, satisfied kind ofway. And I heard old Bumpo sniffle sentimentally.

  Then the Doctor tried to speak to Long Arrow. But the Indian knewno English of course, and the Doctor knew no Indian. Presently, to mysurprise, I heard the Doctor trying him in different animal languages.

  “It was a great moment”]

  “How do you do?” he said in dog-talk; “I am glad to see you,” inhorse-signs; “How long have you been buried?” in deer-language.Still the Indian made no move but stood there, straight and stiff,understanding not a word.

  The Doctor tried again, in several other animal dialects. But with noresult.

  Till at last he came to the language of eagles.

  “Great Red-Skin,” he said in the fierce screams and short grunts thatthe big birds use, “never have I been so glad in all my life as I amto-day to find you still alive.”

  In a flash Long Arrow’s stony face lit up with a smile ofunderstanding; and back came the answer in eagle-tongue,

  “Mighty White Man, I owe my life to you. For the remainder of my days Iam your servant to command.”

  Afterwards Long Arrow told us that this was the only bird or animallanguage that he had ever been able to learn. But that he had notspoken it in a long time, for no eagles ever came to this island.

  Then the Doctor signaled to Bumpo who came forward with the nuts andwater. But Long Arrow neither ate nor drank. Taking the supplies witha nod of thanks, he turned and carried them into the inner dimness ofthe cave. We followed him.

  Inside we found nine other Indians, men, women and boys, lying on therock floor in a dreadful state of thinness and exhaustion.

  Some had their eyes closed, as if dead. Quickly the Doctor went roundthem all and listened to their hearts. They were all alive; but onewoman was too weak even to stand upon her feet.

  At a word from the Doctor, Chee-Chee and Polynesia sped off into thejungles aft
er more fruit and water.

  While Long Arrow was handing round what food we had to his starvingfriends, we suddenly heard a sound outside the cave. Turning about wesaw, clustered at the entrance, the band of Indians who had met us soinhospitably at the beach.

  They peered into the dark cave cautiously at first. But as soon asthey saw Long Arrow and the other Indians with us, they came rushingin, laughing, clapping their hands with joy and jabbering away at atremendous rate.

  Long Arrow explained to the Doctor that the nine Indians we had foundin the cave with him were two families who had accompanied him intothe mountains to help him gather medicine-plants. And while they hadbeen searching for a kind of moss—good for indigestion—which grows onlyinside of damp caves, the great rock slab had slid down and shut themin. Then for two weeks they had lived on the medicine-moss and suchfresh water as could be found dripping from the damp walls of the cave.The other Indians on the island had given them up for lost and mournedthem as dead; and they were now very surprised and happy to find theirrelatives alive.

  When Long Arrow turned to the newcomers and told them in their ownlanguage that it was the white man who had found and freed theirrelatives, they gathered round John Dolittle, all talking at once andbeating their breasts.

  Long Arrow said they were apologizing and trying to tell the Doctor howsorry they were that they had seemed unfriendly to him at the beach.They had never seen a white man before and had really been afraid ofhim—especially when they saw him conversing with the porpoises. Theyhad thought he was the Devil, they said.