14 The Rat’s Warning

CHAPTER 14 The Rat's Warning Dragging a ship through the sea is hard work. So after two or three hours, the swallows began

to get tired. Their wings were sore, and they were out of breath. They sent a message down to Doctor Dolittle that they needed to rest. They said they would pull the boat to a nearby island. They could hide it in a bay while they rested. When they were safely in the bay, Doctor Dolittle told the animals that they could go on land. He knew that they would want to stretch their legs. "I'll go look for some water," he said. As they were leaving the ship, Doctor Dolittle noticed hundreds of rats coming up from downstairs. They were leaving the ship as well. A large black rat crept over to the doctor. He coughed a few times, paused to clean his whiskers, and then he spoke. "Excuse me. You must know, Doctor, that all ships have rats on them," he said shyly. "Yes," the doctor said. "I've heard that before." "You must have also heard that rats leave a sinking ship," the rat added.

"Yes," the doctor said. "I've heard that, too." "I just wanted you to know that we are leaving this ship. But first I wanted to tell you," the rat said, "that this is not a safe ship. The sides aren't strong enough. Its boards are rotten. This ship will not last another day." "But how do you know?" asked the doctor. "We always know," answered the rat. "We get a tingly feeling in the ends of our tails. The same feeling you get when your foot falls asleep. And we all got the feeling this morning. At first I thought it was my arthritis coming back. I told my brother and he said he felt the same. Anyway, we all agreed that the problem was the ship. You shouldn't sail on it anymore. Now I must be going. We must look for a good place to live on the island. Good-bye!" Doctor Dolittle waved to the rat as he ran off the ship. "Thank you for telling us," he called. So the doctor and his animals left the boat. They carried pots to fill with water. They walked

quickly along the beach so as not to disturb the resting swallows. "I wonder what this island is called," the doctor wondered. "There are certainly a lot of birds here." "These are the Canary Islands," Dab-Dab said. "Don't you hear the canaries singing?" "Why, yes!" the doctor cried. "How silly of me! I wonder if they can tell us where to find water." So Doctor Dolittle called to the canaries. They were happy to help. They had heard all about Doctor Dolittle from other birds. They showed him around the island, taking him and the animals to waterfalls and green fields. They took them to a fresh spring where they filled their buckets with water. Everyone was quite happy. The pushmi-pullyu liked the green grass much more than the dried apples he had been eating on the boat. Gub-Gub could dig in the ground for tasty roots. They all liked the valley of wild

sugarcane they found near the fresh spring. Suddenly two swallows flew over to them. They were excited. "Doctor!" they said. "The pirates have arrived in the bay. They are all on your boat right now." "All the pirates are on our boat?" Doctor Dolittle asked. "Yes," the swallows said. "They are stealing everything! We saw them all go downstairs." "If they are all on our boat," Dab-Dab said, "that means their boat is empty!" "You have a good point," said Doctor Dolittle. "That's a splendid idea!" "Idea?" Gub-Gub said. "I didn't hear anyone mention an idea. What are you talking about?" "I'm sorry, Gub-Gub," Doctor Dolittle said. "There's no time to explain everything. We must hurry!" He called all the animals together. They said a quick good-bye to the canaries then ran down the beach.

They saw the pirate ship with its red sail standing in the water. Just as the swallows had told them, there was no one on board. So Doctor Dolittle told his animals to walk softly. They all crept to the pirate ship.