Part II Chapter 4 Doctor Dolittle's Circus by Hugh Lofting
THE LEADER OF THE BLOODHOUNDS
Jip, after his last conversation with the Doctor over the garden wall, returned to the caravan and his friends, feeling comfortably sure that now everything would go all right.
He and Too-Too were chatting under the table while Dab-Dab was dusting the furniture, when suddenly in rushed Toby, all out of breath.
"Jip," he cried. "The worst has happened! They've got bloodhounds. That's what Blossom and Higgins went off for. There's a man who raises them, it seems, in the next village. They're bringing 'em here in a wagon--six of 'em. I spotted them just as they entered the town over the toll-bridge. I ran behind and tried to speak to the dogs. But with the rattle of the wagon-wheels they couldn't hear me. If they put those hounds on Sophie's trail she's as good as caught already."
"Confound them!" muttered Jip. "Where are they now, Toby?"
"I don't know. When I left them they were crossing the market place, on their way here at the trot. I raced ahead to let you know as quick as I could."
"All right," said Jip, springing up. "Come with me."
And he dashed out into the night.
"They'll try and pick up the trail from the seal's stand," said Jip as the two dogs ran on together across the enclosure. "Perhaps we can meet them there."
But at the stand there were no bloodhounds.
Jip put his nose to the ground and sniffed just once.
"Drat the luck!" he whispered. "They've been here already and gone off on the trail. Listen, there they are, baying now. Come on! Let's race for the passage. We may be in time yet."
And away he sped like a white arrow toward the gate, while poor little Toby, left far behind, with his flappy ears trailing in the wind, put on his best speed to keep up.
Dashing into the passage, Jip found it simply full of men and dogs and lanterns. Blossom was there, and Higgins and the man who owned the hounds. While the men talked and waved the lamps, the hounds, six great, droopy-jowled beasts, with long ears and bloodshot eyes, sniffed the ground and ran hither and thither about the alley, trying to find where the trail led out. Every once in a while they would lift their noses, open their big mouses and send a deep-voiced howl rolling toward the moon.
By this time other dogs in the neighborhood were answering their back from every backyard. Jip ran into the crowded passage, pretending to join in the hunt for scent. Picking out the biggest bloodhound, who, he guessed, was the leader, he got alongside of him. Then, still keeping his eyes and nose to the ground, he whispered in dog language:
"Get your duffers out of here. This is the Doctor's business--John Dolittle's."
The bloodhound paused and eyed Jip haughtily.
"Who are you, mongrel?" he said. "We've been set to run down a seal. Stop trying to fool us. John Dolittle is away on a voyage."
"He's nothing of the kind," muttered Jip. "He's on the other side of that wall--not six feet away from us. He is trying to get this seal down to the sea, so she can escape these men with the lanterns--if you idiots will only get out of the way."
"I don't believe you," said the leader. "The last I heard of the Doctor he was traveling in Africa. We must do our duty."
"Duffer! Numbskull!" growled Jip, losing his temper entirely. "I'm telling you the truth. For two pins I'd pull your long ears. You must have been asleep in your kennel the last two years. The Doctor's been back in England over a month. He's traveling with the circus now."
But the leader of the bloodhounds, like many highly trained specialists, was (in everything outside his own profession) very obstinate and a bit stupid. He just simply would not believe that the Doctor wasn't still abroad. In all his famous record as a tracker he had never failed to run down his quarry, once he took up a scent. He had a big reputation, and was proud of it. He wasn't going to be misled by every whipper-snapper of a dog who came along with an idle tale--no, not he.
Poor Jip was in despair. He saw that the hounds were now sniffing at the wall over which Sophie had climbed. He knew that these great beasts would never leave this neighborhood while the seal was near and her fishy scent so strong all about. It was only a matter of time before Blossom and Higgins would guess that she was in hiding beyond the wall and would have the old house and garden searched.
While he was still arguing an idea came to Jip. He left the knot of bloodhounds and nosed his way carelessly down to the bottom of the passage. The air was now simply full of barks and yelps from dogs of any kind. Jip threw back his head and pretended to join in the chorus. But the message he shouted was directed over the wall to the Doctor:
"These idiots won't believe me. For heaven's sake tell 'em you're here--Woof! Woof! WOO--!"
And then still another doggish voice, coming from the garden, added to the general noise of the night. And this is what it barked:
"It is I, John Dolittle. Won't you please go away? Wow! Woof! Wow-ow!"
At the sound of that voice--to Blossom and Higgins no different from any of the other yelps that filled the air--the noses of all six bloodhounds left the ground and twelve long ears cocked up, motionless and listening.
"By ginger!" muttered the leader. "It is he! It's the great man himself."
"What did I tell you?" whispered Jip, shuffling toward him. "Now lead these men off toward the south--out of the town, quick--and don't stop running till morning."
Then the dog trainer saw his prize leader suddenly double round and head out of the passage. To his delight, the others followed his example.
"All right, Mr. Blossom," he yelled, waving his lantern. "They've got the scent again. Come on, follow 'em, follow 'em! They're going fast. Stick to 'em!--Run!"
Tumbling over one another to keep up, the three men hurried after the hounds; and Jip, to help the excitement in the right direction, joined the chase, barking for all he was worth.
"They've turned down the street to the south," shouted the owner. "We'll get your seal now, never fear. Ah, they're good dogs! Once they take the scent they never go wrong. Come on, Mr. Blossom. Don't let 'em get too far away."
And in a flash the little dark passage, which a moment before was full and crowded, was left empty in the moonlight.
Poor Sophie, weeping hysterically on the lawn, with the Doctor trying to comfort her, suddenly saw the figure of an owl pop up onto the garden wall.
"Doctor! Doctor!"
"Yes, Too-Too. What is it?"
"Now's your chance! The whole town's joined the hunt. Get your ladder. Hurry!"
And two minutes later, while the hounds, in full cry, led Blossom and Higgins on a grand steeple-chase over hill and dale to the southward, the Doctor led Sophie quietly out of Ashby by the Dunwich Road, toward the westward and the sea.
Long afterwards, when Sophie's mysterious escape from her circus career had become ancient history, John Dolittle often told his pets that if he had only known at the beginning what kind of a job it was to move a seal secretly over a hundred miles of dry land he doubted very much if he would have had the courage to undertake it.
The second half of his adventures with Sophie, in which none of his own animals took part, came, indeed, to be a favorite tale with the Dolittle fireside circle for many, many years--particularly one chapter. And whenever the animals were feeding in need of a cheerful yarn they always pestered the Doctor to re-tell them the part of his elopement with the seal which Gub-Gub called "the Grantchester Coach." But we are going ahead of our story.
When Sophie and John Dolittle had traveled down the Dunwich Road as far as where the houses of Ashby ended and the fields of the country began, they both heaved a sigh of relief. What they had been most afraid of while still in the streets was being met by a policeman. The Doctor guessed that Higgins had probably applied to the police station and offered a reward for the return of his lost property. If he had, of course, all the town constables would be very much on the look-out for stray seals.
As they now plodded along the road between hedge-rows, the Doctor could tell from Sophie's heavy breathing and very slow pace that even this bit of land travel had already wearied the poor beast. Yet he dared not halt upon the highway.
Spying a copse over in some lonely farming lands to his left, he decided that it would make a good, snug place in which to take a rest. He therefore turned off the road, found a hole in the hedge for Sophie to crawl through and led her along a ditch that ran up toward the copse.
Arriving at the little clump of trees and brambles, they found it excellent cover and crawled in. It was the kind of place where no one would be likely to come in month of Sundays--except perhaps stray sportsmen after rabbits, or children berry-picking.
"Well," said the Doctor, as Sophie flopped down, panting within the protection of dense hawthorns and furze, "so far, so good."
"My!" said Sophie, "but I'm winded. Seals weren't meant for this kind of thing, Doctor. How far do you reckon we've come?"
"About a mile and a half, I should say."
"Good Lord! Is that all? And it's nearly a hundred to the sea! I tell you what I think we ought to do, Doctor; let's make for a river. Rivers always flow to the sea. I can travel in water as fast as a horse can run. But much more of this highroad walking will wear holes in the sole of my stomach. A river's the thing we've got to make for."
"Yes, I think you're right, Sophie. But where to find one? That's the point. If we were anywhere near Puddleby now I could tell you at once. But I don't know a thing about the geography of these parts. I ought to have remembered to bring a map with me. I don't want to be asking people--not yet, anyway. Because I'm still supposed to be miles away from here, attending to business."
"Well, ask some animal, then," said Sophie.
"Of course!" cried the Doctor. "Why didn't I think of that before? Now, what kind of a beast could best give us the information we want?"
"Oh, any sort of water creature will do."
"I know; we'll ask an otter. Otters are about your nearest relatives in England, Sophie. They travel and hunt in fresh water very much the way you do in salt. Now you stay here and take a good rest and I'll go off and find one."
It was about one o'clock in the morning when the Doctor returned to the copse. The noise he made entering woke Sophie out of a sound sleep.
With him he had brought a rather unusual animal. In odd, curving, graceful leaps this creature kept bounding up out of the high bracken that carpeted the copse to get a good look at Sophie. He seemed somewhat afraid of her, but very interested.
"Isn't she large, Doctor!" he whispered. "Did you say she was related to us?"
"In a way, yes. Though, strictly speaking, she is a pinniped, while your people are musteloids."
"Oh, well, I'm glad of it. She is so clumsy. And look, she hasn't any hind legs--just sort of stubby things. Are you sure she won't bite?"
Finally, the otter was persuaded that Sophie was harmless, and, drawing close, he talked pleasantly with this other furred fisherman from foreign parts.
"Now," said the Doctor, "as I have told you, we are anxious to get down to the sea by the quickest and quietest way possible. And Sophie thinks that the best thing is make for some stream."
"Humph!" said the otter. "She's quite right, of course. But you've come to a pretty poor place for waterways. The only reason I stay in this neighborhood is because there are no otter hounds here. I live and do my fishing in a few ponds. They're not much good, but at least I'm not hunted by the packs. There are no decent rivers in these parts--certainly none that she could swim in to the sea."
"Well, where do you recommend us to go, then?" asked the Doctor.
"I really don't know," said the otter. "You see, I travel so little myself. I was born in this district. And my mother always told me that this was the only safe place left in England for otters to live. And so I've stayed here--my whole life."
"Well, could you get us some fish, then?" asked Sophie. "I'm famished."
"Oh, surely," said the otter. "Do you eat carp?"
"I'd eat anything just now," said Sophie.
"All right. Wait a minute till I go down to my pond," said the otter, and he turned around and bounded out of the copse.
In less than ten minutes he was back again with a huge brown carp in his mouth. This Sophie disposed of in a couple of gulps.
"Why don't you ask the wild ducks, Doctor?" said the otter. "They travel no end, following the waterways up and down to the sea, feeding. And they always go by the quietest streams, where they won't meet people. They could tell you."
"Yes, I think you're right," said John Dolittle. "But where can I get hold of any?"
"Oh, that's easy. They're always flying by night. Just go up on a hill some place and listen. When you hear them passing overhead, call 'em."
So, leaving Sophie and her fresh-water cousin chatting quietly in the copse, the Doctor climbed up a ridge till he came to a high field, from where he could see the moonlit sky all around him. And after a minute or two he heard, a long way off, a faint quacking and honking--wild ducks on the wing. Presently, high above his head, he could make out a V-shaped cluster of little dots, heading seaward.
Putting his two hands to his mouth, like a trumpet, he sent a call hurtling upward. The cluster paused, broke up and started flying round in circles, coming downward--cautiously--all the time.
Presently in the copse Sophie and the otter stopped chatting and listened tensely to the sound of approaching footsteps.
Then the figure of John Dolittle stepped into the hiding place, with a lovely green and blue duck tucked comfortably under each arm.
"Well," said the ducks, after the Doctor had explained the situation to them and asked their advice, "the nearest river, big enough to be of any use to a seal, is the Kippet. Unfortunately, there are no brooks or anything leading into it from here. To reach the valley of Kippet River you'll have to cross about forty miles of land."
"Humph!" said the Doctor. "That sounds bad."
"Very bad," sighed Sophie, wearily. "Poor Slushy! Such a time I'm taking to get to him. What kind of land is this which we've got to cross?"
"It varies a good deal," said the ducks. "Some of it's hilly; some of it's flat; part of it standing crops; part of it heath. It's very mixed traveling."
"Dear me!" groaned Sophie.
"Yes," said the ducks, "it would be easier, as far as the river, if you went by road."
"But don't you see," said the Doctor, "I'm afraid of being met and stopped? That's why we left the Dunwich Road. There are too many people who've heard of our escape around these parts."
"But," said the ducks, "you wouldn't have to go back onto the Dunwich Road. Listen; if you follow that hedge on westward, it will lead you down onto another road, the old Roman road from Igglesby to Grantchester. Coaches use it, going north and south. You're not likely to meet Ashby folks on that. Well, if you go along that road for about forty miles north you'll come to the Kippet River. The highway crosses it at Talbot's Bridge--just before you enter the town of Grantchester."
"It sounds simple for a good walker," said the Doctor. "But for Sophie it's another matter. Still, I suppose it's the best. Follow the Grantchester Road north as far as Talbot's Bridge, and there take to the river, the Kippet--is that it?"
"That's right," said the ducks. "You can't go wrong, once you reach the road. After you take to the stream you'd better make some more inquiries of other water fowl, because, although the Kippet will lead you to the sea, there are places on it where you must be careful."
"Very good," said the Doctor. "You have been most kind. I thank you."
Then the ducks flew off about their business and John Dolittle looked at his watch.
"It's now two o'clock in the morning," said he. "We have three hours more before daylight comes. Would you prefer, Sophie, to stay here and rest till to-morrow evening, or shall we push on and get as far as we can before dawn?"
"Oh, let's push on," said Sophie.
"All right," said the Doctor, "come along."
While they were making their way along the hedge toward the road, the little otter went off and got Sophie a large meal of fresh fish, to help strengthen her for her hard trip. About a mile below, at the end of a long field, he showed them a hole through another hedge, told them the road was just the other side of it, and bade them farewell.
Crawling through, they came out upon a fine highway that stretched away into the night on either hand, wide and well paved.
With a sigh of resignation from Sophie, they turned to the right and set off northward.