Then the Doctor missed his hat. So Dab-Dab went out to look for it. And she saw it, in the distance, floating on the water like a toy-boat. When she flew down to get it, she found one of the white mice, very frightened, sitting inside it.
“What are you doing here?” asked the duck. “You were told to stay behind in Puddleby.”
“I didn’t want to stay there,” said the mouse. “I wanted to see what Africa was like – I have relatives there. So I hid in the baggage and was brought onto the ship.”
So the duck took the hat with the mouse in it and brought it to the Doctor on the shore.
When they were looking for a place in the trunk where the white mouse could travel comfortably, the monkey, Chee-Chee, suddenly said, “Sh! I hear footsteps in the jungle! “They all stopped talking and listened. And soon a black man came down out of the woods and asked them who they were.
“My name is John Dolittle – M. D.,” said the Doctor. “I have come to Africa to cure the monkeys who are sick.”
“You must all come before the King,” said the black man.
“What king?” asked the Doctor, who didn’t want to waste any time.
“The King of the Jolliginki,” the man answered. “All these lands belong to him; and all strangers must be brought before him. Follow me.”
So they gathered up their baggage and followed the man through the jungle.
The Sixth Chapter
Polynesia and The King
When they had gone a little way through the thick forest, they saw the King’s palace which was made of mud. The King lived there with his Queen, Ermintrude, and their son, Prince Bumpo. The Prince went fishing. But the King and Queen were under an umbrella before the palace door. And Queen Ermintrude was asleep.
When the Doctor came up to the palace, he told the King why he had come to Africa.
“You may not travel through my lands,” said the King. “Many years ago a white man came to these shores; and I was very kind to him. But he dug holes in the ground to get the gold, and killed all the elephants to get their ivory tusks. Then he went away secretly in his ship and he didn’t say ‘Thank you.’ So I will not let a white man travel through the lands of Jolliginki.” Then the King turned to some of the black men and said, “Take away this medicine-man – with all his animals, and lock them up in my prison.”
So the black men shut up the Doctor and all his pets in a stone prison. The prison had only one little window, high up in the wall, with bars in it. Then they all became very sad.
“Now listen,” said Polynesia, “tonight, as soon as it gets dark, I am going to creep through the bars of that window and fly to the palace. And then – you’ll see – I’ll soon find a way to make the King let us all out of prison.”
“Oh, what can YOU do?” said Gub-Gub, “You’re only a bird!”
“Quite true,” said the parrot. “But do not forget that although I am only a bird, I CAN TALK LIKE A MAN – and I know these people.”
So that night the parrot flew to the palace. She came to the King’s bedroom, opened the door quietly and peeped in. The Queen was away at a dance that night at her cousin’s; but the King was in bed fast asleep. Polynesia crept in, very softly, and got under the bed. Then she coughed. The King opened his eyes and said sleepily, “Is that you, Ermintrude?” Then the parrot coughed again – loudly, like a man. And the King sat up, wide awake, and said,
“Who’s that?”
“I am Doctor Dolittle,” said the parrot in the Doctor’s voice.[8]
“What are you doing in my bedroom?” cried the King. “Where are you? – I can’t see you.”
But the parrot just laughed.
“Stop laughing and come here at once. I want to see you,” said the King.
“Foolish King!” answered Polynesia. “Have you forgotten that you are talking to John Dolittle, M.D. – the most wonderful man on earth? Of course you cannot see me. I am invisible now. There is nothing I cannot do.[9] And if you don’t let me and my animals travel through your kingdom, I will make you and all your people sick like the monkeys. Send your soldiers at once to open the prison door, or you will have mumps.”
Then the King began to tremble and was very much afraid. “Doctor,” he cried, “I will do as you say!” And he jumped out of bed and ran to tell the soldiers to open the prison door.
As soon as he went away, Polynesia left the palace by the window. But the Queen, who returned from the dance, saw the parrot getting out through the window. And when the King came back to bed she told him about it. Then the King understood everything, and he was very angry. The parrot tricked him! So he ran back to the prison at once. But he was too late. The door stood open. The prison was empty. The Doctor and all his animals were gone.
The Seventh Chapter
The Bridge of Apes
Queen Ermintrude was shocked because her husband behaved so terrible. He called everybody a fool. He threw his tooth-brush at the palace cat. He rushed round in his night-shirt and woke up all his army and sent them into the jungle to catch the Doctor. Then all his servants, his cooks, his gardeners, his barber and even the Queen went to help the soldiers in their search.
The Doctor and his animals ran through the forest to the Land of the Monkeys as fast as they could go. The King of the Jolliginki thought that his army could easily find them, because the Doctor was in a strange land and did not know his way. But he was wrong; because the monkey, Chee-Chee, knew all the paths through the jungle. And he led the Doctor and his pets to the thickest part of the forest and hid them all in a big hollow tree between high rocks.
“We will wait here,” said Chee-Chee, “until the soldiers go back to bed. Then we can go on into the Land of the Monkeys.” So there they stayed the whole night through. At last, when daylight began to come through the thick leaves overhead, they heard Queen Ermintrude. She said in a very tired voice, “We can’t find them! Let’s go back and get some sleep.”
And then Chee-Chee brought the Doctor and his animals out of the hiding-place and they went to the Land of the Monkeys. It was a long, long way; and they often got very tired. They always had plenty to eat and drink because Chee-Chee and Polynesia knew all the different kinds of fruits and vegetables that grow in the jungle, and where to find them. They made their lemonade out of the juice of wild oranges, sweetened with honey which they got from the bees’ nests. At night they slept in tents made of palm leaves, on thick, soft beds of dried grass.
When the night came and they stopped for their resting-time, the Doctor made a little fire of sticks; and they sat round it in a ring. Polynesia started singing songs about the sea, and then Chee-Chee told stories of the jungle.
Now when the King’s army told the King that they couldn’t find the Doctor, the King sent them out again and told them they must stay in the jungle until they caught him. So all this time, while the Doctor and his animals were on the way to the Land of the Monkeys, the King’s men were after them.
One day Chee-Chee climbed up a high rock and looked out over the tree-tops. And when he came down he said they were now quite close to the Land of the Monkeys. And that evening they saw Chee-Chee’s cousin and a lot of other monkeys who were in the trees by a swamp, looking and waiting for them. And when they saw the famous doctor, these monkeys felt happy, made a tremendous noise and started waving leaves to greet him.