<p><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2><i>THE TWENTIETH CHAPTER</i><br/> <small>THE FISHERMAN’S TOWN</small></h2>
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<ANTIMG class="drop-cap" src="images/i-185.jpg" width-obs="144" height-obs="143" alt="G" /></div>
<p class="drop-capi">GENTLY then—very gently, the
Doctor woke the man up.</p>
<p>But just at that moment the
match went out again. And
the man thought it was Ben Ali
coming back, and he began to
punch the Doctor in the dark.</p>
<p>But when John Dolittle told him who it was,
and that he had his little nephew safe on his
ship, the man was tremendously glad, and said
he was sorry he had fought the Doctor. He had
not hurt him much though—because it was too
dark to punch properly. Then he gave the
Doctor a pinch of snuff.</p>
<p>And the man told how the Barbary Dragon
had put him on to this rock and left him there,
when he wouldn’t promise to become a pirate;
and how he used to sleep down in this hole because<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</SPAN></span>
there was no house on the rock to keep
him warm.</p>
<p>And then he said,</p>
<p>“For four days I have had nothing to eat or
drink. I have lived on snuff.”</p>
<p>“There you are!” said Jip. “What did I tell
you?”</p>
<p>So they struck some more matches and made
their way out through the passage into the daylight;
and the Doctor hurried the man down to
the boat to get some soup.</p>
<p>When the animals and the little boy saw the
Doctor and Jip coming back to the ship with
a red-headed man, they began to cheer and yell
and dance about the boat. And the swallows
up above started whistling at the top of their
voices—thousands and millions of them—to
show that they too were glad that the boy’s brave
uncle had been found. The noise they made
was so great that sailors far out at sea thought
that a terrible storm was coming. “Hark to
that gale howling in the East!” they said.</p>
<p>And Jip was awfully proud of himself—though<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</SPAN></span>
he tried hard not to look conceited.
When Dab-Dab came to him and said, “Jip, I
had no idea you were so clever!” he just tossed
his head and answered,</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s nothing special. But it takes a
dog to find a man, you know. Birds are no good
for a game like that.”</p>
<p>Then the Doctor asked the red-haired fisherman
where his home was. And when he had
told him, the Doctor asked the swallows to guide
the ship there first.</p>
<p>And when they had come to the land which
the man had spoken of, they saw a little fishing-town
at the foot of a rocky mountain; and the
man pointed out the house where he lived.</p>
<p>And while they were letting down the anchor,
the little boy’s mother (who was also the man’s
sister) came running down to the shore to meet
them, laughing and crying at the same time.
She had been sitting on a hill for twenty days,
watching the sea and waiting for them to return.</p>
<p>And she kissed the Doctor many times, so that<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</SPAN></span>
he giggled and blushed like a school-girl. And
she tried to kiss Jip too; but he ran away and
hid inside the ship.</p>
<p>“It’s a silly business, this kissing,” he said.
“I don’t hold by it. Let her go and kiss Gub-Gub—if
she <i>must</i> kiss something.”</p>
<div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/i-188.jpg" width-obs="382" height-obs="225" alt="boys mother running to kiss doctor" />
<div class="caption">“And she kissed the Doctor many times”</div>
</div>
<p>The fisherman and his sister didn’t want the
Doctor to go away again in a hurry. They
begged him to spend a few days with them. So
John Dolittle and his animals had to stay at
their house a whole Saturday and Sunday and
half of Monday.</p>
<p>And all the little boys of the fishing-village
went down to the beach and pointed at the great<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</SPAN></span>
ship anchored there, and said to one another in
whispers,</p>
<p>“Look! That was a pirate-ship—Ben Ali’s—the
most terrible pirate that ever sailed the
Seven Seas! That old gentleman with the high
hat, who’s staying up at Mrs. Trevelyan’s, <i>he</i>
took the ship away from The Barbary Dragon—and
made him into a farmer. Who’d have
thought it of him—him so gentle-like and all!...
Look at the great red sails! Ain’t she the
wicked-looking ship—and fast?—My!”</p>
<p>All those two days and a half that the Doctor
stayed at the little fishing-town the people kept
asking him out to teas and luncheons and dinners
and parties; all the ladies sent him boxes
of flowers and candies; and the village-band
played tunes under his window every night.</p>
<p>At last the Doctor said,</p>
<p>“Good people, I must go home now. You
have really been most kind. I shall always remember
it. But I must go home—for I have
things to do.”</p>
<p>Then, just as the Doctor was about to leave,
the Mayor of the town came down the street<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</SPAN></span>
and a lot of other people in grand clothes with
him. And the Mayor stopped before the house
where the Doctor was living; and everybody in
the village gathered round to see what was going
to happen.</p>
<p>After six page-boys had blown on shining
trumpets to make the people stop talking, the
Doctor came out on to the steps and the Mayor
spoke.</p>
<p>“Doctor John Dolittle,” said he: “It is a
great pleasure for me to present to the man who
rid the seas of the Dragon of Barbary this little
token from the grateful people of our worthy
Town.”</p>
<p>And the Mayor took from his pocket a little
tissue-paper packet, and opening it, he handed
to the Doctor a perfectly beautiful watch with
real diamonds in the back.</p>
<p>Then the Mayor pulled out of his pocket a
still larger parcel and said,</p>
<p>“Where is the dog?”</p>
<p>Then everybody started to hunt for Jip. And
at last Dab-Dab found him on the other side
of the village in a stable-yard, where all the<span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</SPAN></span>
dogs of the country-side were standing round
him speechless with admiration and respect.</p>
<p>When Jip was brought to the Doctor’s side,
the Mayor opened the larger parcel; and inside
was a dog-collar made of solid gold! And a
great murmur of wonder went up from the village-folk
as the Mayor bent down and fastened
it round the dog’s neck with his own hands.</p>
<p>For written on the collar in big letters were
these words: “JIP—<i>The Cleverest Dog in the
World.</i>”</p>
<p>Then the whole crowd moved down to the
beach to see them off. And after the red-haired
fisherman and his sister and the little boy had
thanked the Doctor and his dog over and over
and over again, the great, swift ship with the
red sails was turned once more towards Puddleby
and they sailed out to sea, while the village-band
played music on the shore.</p>
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