were performing at Hatley-on-Sea, and I and my keeper – Higgins is his name – stayed there two weeks while the circus went on without us. Now, there’s a zoo at Hatley – only a small one – near the esplanade. They have artificial ponds there with seals and otters in them. Well, Higgins got talking to the keeper of these seals one day, and told him about my being sick. And they decided I needed company. So they put me in the pond with the other seals till I should recover. Among them there was an older one who came from the same part of the Behring Straits as I did. He gave me some very bad news about my husband. It seems that ever since I was captured he has been unhappy and refused to eat. He used to be leader of the herd. But after I was taken away he had worried and grown thin and finally another seal was elected leader in his place. Now he wasn’t expected to live.” (Quietly Sophie began to weep again.) “I can quite understand it. We were devoted to one another. And although he was so big and strong and no other seal in the herd ever dared to argue with him, without me, well, he was just lost, you know – a mere baby. He relied on me for everything. And now – I don’t know what’s happening to him. It’s just terrible – terrible!”
“Well, wait a minute,” said the Doctor. “Don’t cry. What do you think ought to be done?”
“I ought to go to him”
“I ought to go to him,” said Sophie, raising herself in the water and spreading out her flippers. “I ought to be by his side. He is the proper leader of the herd and he needs me. I hoped I might escape at Hatley, but not a chance did I get.”
“Humph!” muttered the Doctor. “It’s an awful long way to the Behring Straits. How on earth would you get there?”
“That’s just what I wanted to see you about,” said Sophie. “Overland, of course, my rate of travel is very slow. If I could only have got away at Hatley I’d have been all right. Because, of course,” she added with a powerful swish of her tail that slopped half the water out of the tank, “once I reached the sea I’d be up to Alaska in no time.”
“Ah, yes,” the Doctor agreed, as he shook the water out of his boots. “I see you are a powerful swimmer. How far are we from the coast here?”
“About a hundred miles,” said Sophie. “Oh dear! Poor Slushy! My poor, poor Slushy!”
“Poor who?” asked the Doctor.
“Slushy,” said the seal. “That’s my husband’s name. He relied on me in everything, poor, simple Slushy. What shall I do? What shall I do?”
“Well, now listen,” said John Dolittle. “This is no easy matter, to smuggle you to the sea. I don’t say it’s impossible. But it needs thinking out. Perhaps I can get you free some other way – openly. In the meantime I’ll send word up to your husband by bird messenger and tell him to stop worrying, because you are all right. And the same messenger can bring us back news of how he is getting on. Now, cheer up. Here come some people to see you perform.”
A school mistress with a band of children entered, accompanied by Higgins, the keeper. As they came in a little fat man went out, smiling to himself. Soon the children were laughing with delight at the antics of the big animal in the tank. And Higgins decided that Sophie must now be feeling entirely recovered, for he had never seen her so sprightly or so full of good spirits before.
Chapter 7
The Messenger from the North
Late that night the Doctor took Too-Too with him and went to visit the seal again. “Now, Sophie,” said he when they had reached the side of the tank, “this owl is a friend of mine, and I want you to describe to him just where in Alaska your husband can be found. Then we’ll send him off to the seashore, and he will hand on your message to the gulls who are going northwestward. Let me introduce you: Sophie, this is Too-Too, one of the cleverest birds I know. He is particularly good at mathematics.”
The owl sat on the rail while Sophie told him exactly how Slushy could be reached and reeled off a long and loving message for her husband. When she had ended he said:
“I think I’ll make for Bristol, Doctor. It is about the nearest coast town. There are always plenty of gulls to be found in the harbour. I’ll get one to take this and pass it on to its destination.”
“Very good, Too-Too,” said the Doctor. “But we want to hurry it all we can. If you can find some sea-bird who is willing to take it the whole way as a special favour to me, it would be better.”
“All right,” said Too-Too, preparing to depart. “Leave the window of the caravan open, so I can get in. I don’t suppose I shall be back much before two in the morning. So long!”
Then the Doctor returned to his wagon and rewrote the last part of his new book, which was called Animal Natation. Sophie had given him a lot of helpful hints on good swimming style which made it necessary for him to add three more chapters.
He got so interested in this he did not notice how the time was passing; till, somewhere between two and three in the morning he suddenly found Too-Too, the night bird, standing on the table before him.
“Doctor,” said he, speaking low so he would not wake the animals. “You could never guess whom I met. You remember the gull who brought you the warning about Cape Stephen Light? Well, I ran into him in Bristol Harbour. I hadn’t seen him since the good old house-boat days. But I recognized him at once. I told him I was hunting for someone to take a message up to Alaska; and when he heard it was you who sent me, he said he would attend to it himself with pleasure. He doesn’t expect to be back under five days, though – at best.”
“Splendid, Too-Too, splendid!” said the Doctor.
“I am returning to Bristol Friday,” said the owl, “and if he isn’t back then, I’ll wait till he comes.”
The following morning John Dolittle told Sophie that her message had been sent on; and she was very pleased. For the present there was nothing further to be done but to wait for the gull’s return.
On Thursday (a day before the time Too-Too had planned to return to Bristol) the Doctor’s whole party were seated round the table in the caravan listening to a story from Toby, the Punch-and-Judy dog. Just as Toby paused breathless at the most exciting parts, there came a gentle tapping on the window.
“Booh!” said Gub-Gub – “How spookish!” And he crawled under the bed.
He crawled under the bed
John Dolittle rose, drew back the curtains and opened the window. On the sill stood the gull who months before had brought him another message by night when he lived in the houseboat post office. Now, weather-beaten and weary, he looked more dead than alive. Gently the Doctor lifted him from the window-sill, and set him down on the table. Then they all drew near, staring at him in silence, waiting for the exhausted bird to speak.
“John Dolittle,” said the gull at last, “I didn’t wait for Too-Too to meet me in Bristol, because I thought you ought to know at once. The seal herd to which Sophie and her husband belonged are in a bad way – very bad. And it has all come about because Sophie was taken away and her husband Slushy lost the leadership. Winter has set in up there early this year – and my, such a winter! Blizzards, mountainous snowdrifts, the seas frozen months ahead of the usual time. I nearly died of the cold myself – and you know we gulls can stand awful low temperatures. Well, leadership for the seal herds is tremendously important in bad weather. They’re not much different from sheep – same as all animals that travel and live in packs. And without a big, strong boss to lead them to the open fishing and the protected wintering places, they’re just lost, that’s all – helpless.