15 The Barbary Dragon

CHAPTER 15 The Barbary Dragon Everything would have been fine if the pig had not caught a cold.

They had pulled the anchor up in perfect silence. The ship started to move quietly out of the bay. Then, just as they were almost away, Gub-Gub sneezed. He sneezed so loudly that the pirates on the other ship rushed back upstairs. They looked back at their ship and saw it moving out to sea. The pirates pulled anchor and started after the doctor. They were expert sailors. In only a matter of moments they had moved the boat to the mouth of the bay. They were blocking Doctor Dolittle. He had no way to get back to the open sea. The pirate leader shook his fist at the doctor. "Aha! You are mine now!" he said. "You thought you could take off in my ship, did you? You are not a good enough sailor to escape me. That is why they call me the Barbary Dragon! No one is stronger than me." The pirate leader looked at all the animals with Doctor Dolittle. "I want that duck! And the pig! We will have a fine supper tonight." All the

other pirates laughed. Poor Gub-Gub started to cry. Dab-Dab started to think about an escape plan. Too-Too the owl leaned in to whisper in Doctor Dolittle's ear. "Keep him talking," he said. "Try to be nice so he doesn't become angry. If the rats were correct, our ship will sink very soon. And rats are never wrong. So be calm and keep him talking until the ship sinks." "But the rats said it would sink by tomorrow morning," Doctor Dolittle whispered. "You expect me to keep him talking until then? Well, I suppose we don't have much choice, do we? I wonder what I should talk about..." When Doctor Dolittle looked back at the pirates, he saw that their boat was closer still. The pirates were laughing. "I wonder which of us will catch the pig!" one of them yelled. They laughed some more. Poor Gub-Gub was scared. The pushmipullyu prepared for a fight. Although they were shy and

quiet creatures, pushmi-pullyus defend their friends. And Jip stood between the pig and the pirates, ready to protect Gub-Gub if necessary. Then the pirates stopped laughing. They became very serious. Something was upsetting them. They looked around them puzzled. Something was making them uneasy. "Thunder and lightning!" the Barbary Dragon called. "Men, the boat's leaking!" The pirates looked over the side. They were sinking! The boat was going lower and lower into the water. The front end went down first. It sank so low that the back end stuck straight up in the air. The pirates had to hold on to the rails. The sea rushed and roared in through all the windows and doors. At last the ship plunged right down to the bottom of the sea. The six bad men were left bobbing in the water. Some of them started to swim to shore. Others tried to get aboard the ship with Doctor Dolittle.

Jip kept close guard by the rails, though. He nipped and barked as any of them tried to climb up. The pirates started to panic. Then one of them noticed something swimming near them in the water. "Sharks!" one of them yelled. "Please. Let us aboard. The sharks will eat us!" Doctor Dolittle looked in the water by the pirates. He saw the large gray fish swimming in the deep. He had to agree that this looked like a very bad situation. One of the sharks popped his head out of the water. "Are you Doctor Dolittle?"

"Yes," the doctor said. "You've heard of me?" "There's no creature on land or in water who hasn't heard of you," the shark said. "Are these men bothering you? We know all about these pirates, too. If you like, we could eat them for you." "Oh, well," Doctor Dolittle said, "that's kind of you to offer, but I don't think it's necessary. You could do us another favor, though. Would you mind keeping all the pirates in the bay until