n780
2023-03-23 20:12:52 作者：
"They're such a nice,n780◼ wholesome,n780🐻 Christian change,n780🌾" he said,n780🔗 "after these 'ere 'eathen hidolaters. And you should just hear Fred sing 'See That My Grave's Kept Green.'"
"All right,n780🚸" said Dab-Dab. "But it may take me a little time. There are several islands and quite a number of spoonbills. I shall have to make inquiries and find out which one sent you the pearls."
Well,n780👚 when four days had passed the Emir of Ellebubu sent a messenger to the prison to inquire if the Doctor was now willing to do as he was told. The guards after talking to John Dolittle brought word to the Emir that the white man was as obstinate as ever and had no intention of giving in.
"Well,n780🎨 after you had set off in the canoe,n780🐲" said the Skimmer,n780🏰 "I and the thrush stopped on our way back here at the tree where he had lost the package. It was too dark then to hunt for it,n780🛅 so we roosted in the tree all night,n780📌 intending to look in the morning. Just as dawn was breaking we saw this wretched squirrel here flirting about in the branches with an enormous pink pearl in his mouth. I at once pounced on him and held him down,n780🔷 while the thrush took the pearl away from him. Then we made him tell us where he had hidden the other two. And after we had got all three of them we put the squirrel under arrest and brought him here."
"So,n780🐲 after that,n780📥 of course,n780🍂 I saw that if I wanted to save my good but foolish friends from destruction,n780🚜 I had better do something on my own account.
So Zuzana had hurried to a professional letter writer (the common people of those tribes couldn't write for themselves,n780📌 you see) and had a letter written,n780✒ begging their cousin to send the goats and oxen to the king without delay. Then she had taken the letter to the Fantippo post office and sent it off.
"Where are they bound for,n780🔓 Speedy?" asked the Doctor. "My notebook's in the safe."
Then the Emir himself began to get panicky. And he gave orders that the Doctor should be released right away.
"The bluejackets crowded to the rail"
GUB-GUB'S STORY
"Then,n780😦" said he,n780💕 "I went a little further off,n780👑 still taking great care that I shouldn't be seen,n780🏢 and I meowed again.
"A retriever came up with a gold watch and chain"
The birds,n780🐲 who at first followed the Doctor in droves around the main island wherever he went,n780📧 presently returned to their ordinary doings when the newness of his arrival had worn off. And after Dab-Dab had come back from her hunt and told him the spoonbill lived on one of the smaller islands,n780🍄 he got back into his canoe and paddled over to the rock she pointed out.
"Great heavens,n780🔣 Gub-Gub!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Don't you think I'm busy enough already? What do you want a parcel post for?"
"'My master has been ordered to paint the portrait of a prince,n780📇' he said,n780🌆 putting on no end of elegance.
"I see,n780〽" said the Doctor. "But the storms,n780🎊 what do you do in them to keep yourselves safe?"
"They're not your pearl fisheries,n780💺 you black-faced ruffian,n780▫" said the Doctor. "You stole them from poor old Nyam-Nyam. The pearls were fished for by diving birds. But the birds are honest and will work only for honest people. Why don't you have windows in your prisons? You ought to be ashamed of yourself."
"A speaking tube!" the white mouse interrupted. "How was it used? I don't understand."
"But I've mostly led such a quiet life,n780🍻 you see,n780🚴" said the pushmi-pullyu. "Our people have always kept very much to themselves. We mind our own business and don't like getting mixed up in scandals and rows and adventures."
Then the Emir was puzzled and angry. If Nyam-Nyam could get pearls on the Harmattan Rocks,n780😔 why couldn't he? And one of his generals said that probably the white man had something to do with it,n780🔕 since it was he who had discovered and started the fisheries.
"Dear me,n780®" said John Dolittle. "Robbing the mails; that's a serious thing. I wonder who could have done it?"
"'It is,n780🏯' says he,n780🏥 'only it's not dark enough. What were you making all that racket over there for just now? Waking a fellow out of his sleep before it's got properly dark!'
"After some months I began to grow weary of the silly life I was leading. And then,n780🏫 too,n780🌾 the wild mice were so mean to me. They used to come around at night and point at me through the wire of my cage,n780📈 saying:
PROLOGUE
"Oh,n780😆 don't let him tell one,n780♊ Doctor,n780🌍" said Jip. "It's sure to be stupid."
A little while after that,n780🗼 by using the larger birds to carry packages,n780🌀 a regular parcel post every two months was put at the service of the Fantippans; and alarm clocks and all sorts of things from England were sent for.
"It came in handy for them,n780📩 too. That part of the country got flooded one springtime in the middle of the night and there wasn't a dry match or a light to be had anywhere. Then those children,n780🚀 who had traveled all that country scores of times in the dark with me,n780🔥 saved a great many lives. They acted as guides,n780👼 you understand,n780🔑 and took the people to safety,n780📟 because they knew how to use their eyes,n780🎏 and the others didn't."
"Doctor,n780🌟" cried the gull,n780🚧 "we held off the ship as long as we could. But the stupid sailors,n780🎒 not knowing we were trying to save them,n780🎫 turned hoses on us and we had to give up. The ship is terribly near now."
And he turned to the letter again.
