Part 10

And then suddenly a strange silence fell over them all when they saw that I had returned alone. Surrounded by them I entered the house and went to the kitchen. And there by the fireside, where the great man himself has so often sat and told us tales, I related the whole story of our visit to the Moon.

At the end they were nearly all in tears, Gub-Gub howling out loud.

“We’ll never see him again!” he wailed. “They’ll never let him go. Oh, Tommy, how _could_ you have left him?”

“Oh, be quiet!” snapped Jip. “He couldn’t help it. He was kidnapped. Didn’t he tell you? Don’t worry. We’ll watch for the smoke signal. John Dolittle will come back to us, never fear. Remember he has Polynesia with him.”

“Aye!” squeaked the white mouse. “She’ll find a way.”

“_I_ am not worried,” sniffed Dab-Dab, brushing away her tears with one wing, and swatting some flies off the bread-board with the other. “But it’s sort of lonely here without him.”

“Tut-tut!” grunted Too-Too. “Of course he’ll come back!”

There was a tapping at the window.

“Cheapside,” said Dab-Dab. “Let him in, Tommy.”

I lifted the sash and the cockney sparrow fluttered in and took his place upon the kitchen table where he fell to picking up what bread crumbs had been left after the house-keeper’s careful “clearing away.” Too-Too told him the situation in a couple of sentences.

“Why, bless my heart!” said the sparrow. “Why all these long faces? John Dolittle stuck in the Moon!—Preposterous notion!—_Pre_-posterous, I tell you. You couldn’t get that man stuck nowhere. My word, Dab-Dab! When you clear away you don’t leave much fodder behind, do you? Any mice what live in your ‘ouse shouldn’t ‘ave no difficulty keepin’ their figures.”

Well, it was done. And I was glad to be back in the old house. I knew it was only a question of time before I would regain a normal size on a normal diet. Meanwhile here I would not have to see anyone I did not want to.

And so I settled down to pruning the fruit trees, caring for the comfort of the old horse in the stable and generally trying to take the Doctor’s place as best I could. And night after night as the year wore on Jip, Too-Too and I would sit out, two at a time, while the Moon was visible to watch for the smoke signal. Often when we returned to the house with the daylight, discouraged and unhappy, Jip would rub his head against my leg and say:

“Don’t worry, Tommy. He’ll come back. Remember he has Polynesia with him. Between them they will find a way.”

THE END [Illustration]

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been employed.

Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors occur.

Book name and author have been added to the original book cover. The resulting cover is placed in the public domain.