"They did,唐山🐊" said the Piffilosaurus. "But they kept hidden under the water,唐山📎 lest the natives on the shore should see and get to know that the old story about the dragon's mother-in-law wasn't true. While I was bringing you here they were swimming all around you under the water,女孩👹 ready to help if I needed them. They have gone around to the secret cove so they may come ashore unseen. We had better be going on ourselves now. Whatever happens,白衣👕 we mustn't be seen from the shore and have the natives coming here. It would be the end of us if that should ever happen,长发💖 because,长发📭 between ourselves,唐山🍬 although they think us so terrible,长发📞 we are really more harmless than sheep."
In the meantime,女孩📼 Speedy and the thrush flew over the land by the short cut to the post office.
"Then I led him into the town. On the way there every once in a while he would say to himself: 'I wonder what can be the matter. Something's wrong,长发🙏 that's sure,白衣🎠 or the dog wouldn't carry on so.'
And now all was excitement aboard the Violet as they approached the slave boat lying crippled in the sea. Bones,长发🆙 the captain,女孩🐀 with his crew of eleven other ruffians,女孩🐶 was taken prisoner and put down in the cells of the warship. Then the Doctor,白衣🏭 with Zuzana,白衣🅱 some sailors and an officer,唐山🍏 went on to the slave ship. Entering the hold,唐山📘 they found the place packed with slaves with chains on them. And Zuzana immediately recognized her husband and wept all over him with joy.
And then because so many letters were written him about good manners and proper behavior,白衣📹 he wrote a "Book of Etiquette for Animals." It is still a very famous work,白衣😪 though copies of it are rare now. But when he wrote it the Doctor printed a first edition of fifty thousand copies and sent them all out by mail in one week. It was at this time,唐山📬 too,白衣🐲 that he wrote and circulated another very well-known book of his called "One-Act Plays for Penguins.""At last!" he muttered. "Let's hope I'm not too late!"
Another thing in which the Doctor's post office was peculiar was its pens. Most post offices,长发❕ the Doctor had found,唐山🚕 always had abominably bad pens that spluttered and scratched and wouldn't write. In fact very many post offices even nowadays seem to pride themselves on their bad pens. But the Doctor saw to it that his pens were of the very best quality. Of course,唐山🔱 in those times there were no steel pens. Only quills were used. And John Dolittle got the albatrosses and the seagulls to keep for him their tail feathers which fell out in the moulting season. And of course,唐山📆 with such a lot of quills to choose from,长发🙋 it was easy to have the best pens in the post office.
Then the old Chief opened the door and made a speech to the clamoring crowd outside. And when he had ended Obombo,长发📌 the son-in-law,唐山🌗 got up and began another speech,唐山🔴 calling on the people to drive the old man out into the jungle. But before he had got halfway through the crowd began to murmur to one another:
"'Parsnips!' he grunted,唐山💔 as he filled in the hole. 'May they blossom acres wide!'
"'There is only one Doctor,白衣📹' he answered. 'You don't mean to say you've never heard of him!'
"No,长发⛪ but his wife can,白衣🎳" said Jip.
"I went to her farm and found her in the farm-yard. I thanked her for what she had done and asked her why she hadn't been around to my place of late."'Heaven preserve us!' he cried. 'What a dreadful exhibition! No wonder the dog was excited.'
"That's true,白衣📇" murmured the Doctor. "But what shall I write to him about?"
GUB-GUB'S STORY
"So,白衣⚪ after that,唐山💒 of course,长发🐋 I saw that if I wanted to save my good but foolish friends from destruction,唐山📁 I had better do something on my own account.
When the Doctor told this to the Captain the man-o'-war changed her course still closer inshore,白衣📛 to keep behind the cover of the long cape. All the sailors were warned to keep very quiet,唐山🎫 so the navy ship could sneak up on the slaver unawares.
"With a howl of superstitious fright,白衣🏰 he called out to his men that he had been stuck by the devil. And they all ran across the country like wildfire and I was never hunted or bothered by them again."
"'Pst!' I whispered to the wife"By the end of that week the Doctor had,长发© indeed,女孩🌛 made good his promise. The country of Chief Nyam-Nyam became famous all along the coast of West Africa as a wealthy state.
The new notice board was marked at the top Weather Reports,唐山📠 and would read something like this:
"All right,长发😥 Doctor,女孩📟 they are ready for you now."
"That's true,唐山🚚" said the Doctor. "I suppose I must be getting on to England soon. But the Fantippans were honestly pleased to see us,唐山😡 weren't they? And,白衣😊 after all,长发🎠 Africa is a nice country,白衣™ now,女孩🌆 isn't it?"