we are now come to an unusual event in the history of the doctor's post office, to the one which was, perhaps, the greatest of all the curious things that came about through the institution of the swallow mail.
on arriving back at the houseboat from his short and very busy holiday the doctor was greeted joyfully by the pushmi-pullyu, too-too, cheapside and speedy the skimmer. king koko also came out to greet his friend when he saw the arrival of the doctor's canoe through a pair of opera glasses (price ten shillings and sixpence) which he had recently got from london by parcel post. and the prominent fantippans, who had missed their afternoon tea and social gossip terribly during the postmaster's absence, got into their canoes and followed the king out to the foreign mails office.
so for three hours after his arrival—in fact, until it was dark—the doctor did not get a chance to do a thing besides shake hands and answer questions about how he had enjoyed his holiday, where he had been and what he had done. the welcome he received on his return and the sight of the comfortable houseboat, gay with flowering window boxes, made the doctor, as he afterward said to dab-dab, feel as though he were really coming home.
"yes," said the housekeeper, "but don't forget that you have another home, a real one, in puddleby."
"that's true," said the doctor. "i suppose i must be getting on to england soon. but the fantippans were honestly pleased to see us, weren't they? and, after all, africa is a nice country, now, isn't it?"
"yes," said dab-dab, "a nice enough country for short holidays—and long drinks."
after supper had been served and eaten and the doctor had been made to tell the story of the pearl fisheries all over again for the benefit of his own family circle, he at last turned to the enormous pile of letters which were waiting for him. they came, as usual, from all parts of the world, from every conceivable kind of animal and bird. for hours he waded patiently through them, answering them as they came. speedy acted as his secretary and took down in bird and animal scribble the answers that the doctor reeled off by the dozen. often john dolittle dictated so fast that the poor skimmer had to get too-too (who had a wonderful memory) to come and help listen, so nothing should be missed through not writing it down quick enough.
toward the end of the pile the doctor came across a very peculiar thick envelope, all over mud. for a long time none of them could make out a single word of the letter inside, nor even who it was from. the doctor got all his notebooks out of the safe, compared and peered and pored over the writing for hours. mud had been used for ink. the signs were made so clumsily they might almost be anything.
but at last, after a tremendous lot of work, copying out afresh, guessing and discussing, the meaning of the extraordinary letter was pieced together, and this is what it said:
"dear doctor dolittle: i have heard of your post office and am writing this as best i can—the first letter i ever wrote. i hear you have a weather bureau in connection with your post office and that a one-eyed albatross is your chief weather prophet. i am writing to tell you that i am the oldest weather prophet in the world. i prophesied the flood, and it came true to the day and the hour i said it would. i am a very slow walker or i would come and see you and perhaps you could do something for my gout, which in the last few hundred years has bothered me a good deal. but if you will come to see me i will teach you a lot about weather. and i will tell you the story of the flood, which i saw with my own eyes from the deck of noah's ark.
"yours very truly,
"mudface."
p. s.—i am a turtle."
at last, on reading the muddy message through, the doctor's excitement and enthusiasm knew no bounds. he began at once to make arrangements to leave the following day for a visit to the turtle.
but, alas! when he turned again to the letter to see where the turtle lived, he could find nothing to give a clue to his whereabouts! the mysterious writer who had seen the flood, noah and the ark had forgotten to give his address!
"look here, speedy," said john dolittle, "we must try and trace this. let us leave no stone unturned to find where this valuable document came from. first, we will question everyone in the post office to find out who it was delivered it."
well, everyone in turn, the pushmi-pullyu, cheapside, too-too, quip-the-carrier, all the swallows, any stray birds who were living in the neighborhood, even a pair of rats who had taken up their residence in the houseboat, were cross-examined by the doctor or speedy.
but no one had seen the letter arrive; no one could tell what day or hour it had come; no one could guess how it got into the pile of the doctor's mails; no one knew anything about it. it was one of those little post office mysteries that are always cropping up even in the best-run mail systems.
the doctor was positively heartbroken. often in his natural history meditations he had wondered about all sorts of different matters connected with the ark; and he had decided that noah, after his memorable voyage was over, must have been a great naturalist. now had come most unexpectedly a chance to hear the great story from an eye-witness—from someone who had actually known and sailed with noah—and just because of a silly little slip like leaving out an address the great chance was to be lost!
all attempts to trace the writer having failed, the doctor, after two days, gave it up and went back to his regular work. this kept him so busy for the next week that he finally forgot all about the turtle and his mysterious letter.
but one night, when he was working late to catch up with the business which had multiplied during his absence, he heard a gentle tapping on the houseboat window. he left his desk and went and opened it. instantly in popped the head of an enormous snake, with a letter in its mouth—a thick, muddy letter.
"great heavens!" cried the doctor. "what a start you gave me! come in, come in, and make yourself at home."
slowly and smoothly the snake slid in over the window sill and down on to the floor of the houseboat. yards and yards and more yards long he came, coiling himself up neatly at john dolittle's feet like a mooring rope on a ship's deck.
"pardon me, but is there much more of you outside still?" asked the doctor.
"yes," said the snake, "only half of me is in yet."
"then i'll open the door," said the doctor, "so you can coil part of yourself in the passage. this room is a bit small."
when at last the great serpent was all in, his thick coils entirely covered the floor of the doctor's office and a good part of him overflowed into the passage outside.
"now," said the doctor, closing the window, "what can i do for you?"
"i've brought you this letter," said the snake. "it's from the turtle. he is wondering why he got no answer to his first."
"but he gave me no address," said john dolittle, taking the muddy envelope from the serpent. "i've been trying my hardest ever since to find out where he lived."
"oh, was that it?" said the snake. "well, old mudface isn't much of a letter-writer. i suppose he didn't know he had to give his address."
"i'm awfully glad to hear from him again," said the doctor. "i had given up all hope of ever seeing him. you can show me how to get to him?"
"why, certainly," said the big serpent. "i live in the same lake as he does, lake junganyika."
"you're a water snake, then, i take it," said the doctor.
"yes."
"you look rather worn out from your journey. is there anything i can get you?"
"i'd like a saucer of milk," said the snake.
"i only have wild goats' milk," said john dolittle. "but it's quite fresh."
and he went out into the kitchen and woke up the housekeeper.
"what do you think, dab-dab," he said breathless with excitement, "i've got a second letter from the turtle and the messenger is going to take us to see him!"
when dab-dab entered the postmaster's office with the milk she found john dolittle reading the letter. looking at the floor, she gave a squawk of disgust.
"it's a good thing for you sarah isn't here," she cried. "just look at the state of your office—it's full of snake!"
