So Dab-Dab went out with the spoonbill and started pearl fishing.
CHAPTER V
"And then,宠物🍳 they've got no letter boxes in the doors,3.1⭐" said Cheapside. "There ought to be slots made to poke the letters in. The only place these bloomin' 'eathens have for a postman to put a letter is down the chimney."
THE ANIMALS' PARADISE
After that,3.1⌛ of course,在线🔓 letters began to arrive at the houseboat for the Doctor's pets. And one morning,3.1🌘 when the mail was sorted,在线📭 there was a letter for Dab-Dab from her sister; one for the white mouse written by a cousin from the Doctor's bureau drawer; one for Jip from the collie who lived next door in Puddleby and one for Too-Too,3.1🌽 telling him he had a new family of six young ones in the rafters of the stable. But there was nothing for Gub-Gub. The poor pig was nearly in tears at being left out. And when the Doctor went into town that afternoon Gub-Gub asked could he come along.With trembling fingers the Doctor lit the candle. Then,宠物🚦 shielding the flame with his hand,宠物🐁 he bounded out of the room and up the stairs.
Now,宠物👈 the peoples of West Africa have curious tastes in dress. They love bright things. And some Fantippo dandy started the idea of using up old stamps off letters by making suits of clothes out of them. They looked very showy and smart and a suit of this kind made of stamps became a valuable possession among the natives.
Then the man left the post office and the Doctor watched him go."Well,连连看🎊 after you had set off in the canoe,小游戏⛳" said the Skimmer,3.1🚇 "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,宠物💒 so we roosted in the tree all night,4399🏡 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,在线🐍 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."
"Humph!" said the Doctor. "That's too bad. Let me think a minute. Oh,连连看👫 I know I'll send for Cheapside."
As Zuzana and Begwe rose to go,小游戏🔭 for it was beginning to get dark,在线🎐 the Doctor noticed a canoe setting out toward his ship from the shore. And in it,小游戏📅 when it got near,连连看📦 he saw King Koko himself,连连看🏦 coming to the white man's boat with stamps to sell.
"Maybe it's a cow's bone,3.1🔻" said he.
"Pardon me,小游戏🔋 but is there much more of you outside still?" asked the Doctor.
Overhead the thick jungle arched and hung like a tunnel of green. This was a good thing by day-time,连连看📀 as it kept the sun off better than a parasol. And in the dry stretches of river bed,小游戏📡 where the Doctor had to carry or drag the canoe on home-made runners,小游戏📜 the work was hard and shade something to be grateful for.
All the animals had now told a story except Too-Too,在线😐 the owl,3.1🚶 and the pushmi-pullyu. And the following night,小游戏💰 a Friday,宠物😂 it was agreed that they should toss a coin (the Doctor's penny that had a hole through it) to see which of these two should tell a tale. If the penny came down heads it was to be the pushmi-pullyu,3.1🔳 and if it came down tails it was to be Too-Too's turn.
The Captain looked with astonishment into the faces of his listening officers,连连看📛 who all smiled unbelievingly.
"Move an inch and you're a dead man!" he snarled.
Then King Koko again begged him to take charge of the post office and try to get it running in proper order. And the Doctor said he would see what he could do. And,连连看🚧 going into the post office,小游戏➿ he took off his coat and set to work.
"What is that tune you are humming?" asked the Doctor.
While he was talking to the Chief (who seemed to be a kindly old man) Speedy swept into the Chief's hut in a great state of excitement."All right,连连看🚩" said the Doctor,4399🔱 "I'll attend to that,连连看🍀 too."
Everybody had now told a tale and the Arctic Monthly's Prize Story Competition was declared closed. The first number of the first animals' magazine ever printed was,小游戏🎡 shortly after that,4399🎩 issued and circulated by Swallow Mail to the inhabitants of the frozen North. It was a great success. Letters of thanks and votes on the competition began pouring in from seals and sea-lions and caribou and all manner of polar creatures. Too-Too,在线🏯 the mathematician,3.1🌱 became editor; Dab-Dab ran the Mothers' and Babies' Page,在线😻 while Gub-Gub wrote the Gardening Notes and the Pure Foods Column. And the Arctic Monthly continued to bring happiness to homes and dens and icebergs as long as the Doctor's Post office existed.
"About a turnip field,3.1🔲" said Gub-Gub.
And he realized now,连连看👶 as he listened to Zuzana,4399🚣 what was wrong with the Fantippo post office and why she had never got an answer to the letter which would have saved her husband from slavery.
The following day the pearls were wrapped up again the way they had arrived,小游戏💷 and after a letter had been written by the Doctor explaining to the spoonbill what the "pebbles" really were,宠物💦 they were sent off by registered parcel post to the Harmattan Rocks.