remember it. But I must go home--for I have

things to do."
Then, just as the Doctor was about to leave,

the Mayor of the town came down the street
and a lot of other people in grand clothes with

him. And the Mayor stopped before the house
where the Doctor was living; and everybody in

the village gathered round to see what was going
to happen.

After six page-boys had blown on shining
trumpets to make the people stop talking, the

Doctor came out on to the steps and the Mayor
spoke.

"Doctor John Dolittle," said he: "It is a
great pleasure for me to present to the man who

rid the seas of the Dragon of Barbary this little
token from the grateful people of our worthy

Town."
And the Mayor took from his pocket a little

tissue-paper packet, and opening it, he handed
to the Doctor a perfectly beautiful watch with

real diamonds in the back.
Then the Mayor pulled out of his pocket a

still larger parcel and said,
"Where is the dog?"

Then everybody started to hunt for Jip. And
at last Dab-Dab found him on the other side

of the village in a stable-yard, where all the
dogs of the country-side were standing round

him speechless with admiration and respect.
When Jip was brought to the Doctor's side,

the Mayor opened the larger parcel; and inside
was a dog-collar made of solid gold! And a

great murmur of wonder went up from the village-
folk as the Mayor bent down and fastened

it round the dog's neck with his own hands.
For written on the collar in big letters were

these words: "JIP-THE CLEVEREST DOG IN THE WORLD."
Then the whole crowd moved down to the

beach to see them off. And after the red-haired
fisherman and his sister and the little boy had

thanked the Doctor and his dog over and over
and over again, the great, swift ship with the

red sails was turned once more towards Puddleby
and they sailed out to sea, while the village-

band played music on the shore.
THE LAST CHAPTER

HOME AGAIN
MARCH winds had come and gone; April's showers were

over; May's buds had opened into flower; and the June sun
was shining on the pleasant fields, when John Dolittle at

last got back to his own country.
But he did not yet go home to Puddleby.

First he went traveling through the land with
the pushmi-pullyu in a gipsy-wagon, stopping at

all the country-fairs. And there, with the acrobats
on one side of them and the Punch-and-

Judy show on the other, they would hang out
a big sign which read, "COME AND SEE THE

MARVELOUS TWO-HEADED ANIMAL FROM THE
JUNGLES OF AFRICA. Admission SIXPENCE."

And the pushmi-pullyu would stay inside the
wagon, while the other animals would lie about

underneath. The Doctor sat in a chair in front
taking the sixpences and smiling on the people

as they went in; and Dab-Dab was kept busy
all the time scolding him because he would

let the children in for nothing when she wasn't
looking.

And menagerie-keepers and circus-men came
and asked the Doctor to sell them the strange

creature, saying they would pay a tremendous
lot of money for him. But the Doctor always

shook his head and said.
"No. The pushmi-pullyu shall never be shut

up in a cage. He shall be free always to come
and go, like you and me."

Many curious sights and happenings they saw
in this wandering life; but they all seemed quite

ordinary after the great things they had seen
and done in foreign lands. It was very interesting

at first, being sort of part of a circus;
but after a few weeks they all got dreadfully

tired of it and the Doctor and all of them were
longing to go home.

But so many people came flocking to the
little wagon and paid the sixpence to go inside and

see the pushmi-pullyu that very soon the Doctor
was able to give up being a showman.

And one fine day, when the hollyhocks were
in full bloom, he came back to Puddleby a rich

man, to live in the little house with the big
garden.

And the old lame horse in the stable was glad
to see him; and so were the swallows who had

already built their nests under the eaves of his
roof and had young ones. And Dab-Dab was

glad, too, to get back to the house she knew so
well--although there was a terrible lot of dusting

to be done, with cobwebs everywhere.
And after Jip had gone and shown his golden

collar to the conceitedcollie next-door, he came
back and began running round the garden like

a crazy thing, looking for the bones he had
buried long ago, and chasing the rats out of the

tool-shed; while Gub-Gub dug up the horseradish
which had grown three feet high in the

corner by the garden-wall.
And the Doctor went and saw the sailor who

had lent him the boat, and he bought two new
ships for him and a rubber-doll for his baby;

and he paid the grocer for the food he had lent
him for the journey to Africa. And he bought

another piano and put the white mice back in
it--because they said the bureau-drawer was

drafty.
Even when the Doctor had filled the old

money-box on the dresser-shelf, he still had a
lot of money left; and he had to get three more

money-boxes, just as big, to put the rest in.
"Money," he said, "is a terrible nuisance.

But it's nice not to have to worry."
"Yes," said Dab-Dab, who was toasting

muffins for his tea, "it is indeed!"
And when the Winter came again, and the

snow flew against the kitchen-window, the Doctor
and his animals would sit round the big,

warm fire after supper; and he would read aloud
to them out of his books.

But far away in Africa, where the monkeys
chattered in the palm-trees before they went to

bed under the big yellow moon, they would say
to one another,

"I wonder what The Good Man's doing now
--over there, in the Land of the White Men!

Do you think he ever will come back?"
And Polynesia would squeak out from the vines,

"I think he will--I guess he will--I hope he will!"
And then the crocodile would grunt up at

them from the black mud of the river,
"I'm SURE he will--Go to sleep!"

End

• dragon [´drægən] n.龙 (初中英语单词)
• grateful [´greitful] a.感谢的；令人愉快的 (初中英语单词)
• opening [´əupəniŋ] n.开放；开端 a.开始的 (初中英语单词)
• parcel [´pɑ:sl] n.包裹；一批 vt.区分 (初中英语单词)
• standing [´stændiŋ] n.持续 a.直立的 (初中英语单词)
• admiration [,ædmə´reiʃən] n.赞赏，钦佩 (初中英语单词)
• collar [´kɔlə] n.衣领；(狗等的)项圈 (初中英语单词)
• admission [əd´miʃən] n.接纳；承认 (初中英语单词)
• stable [´steibəl] n.马棚 a.稳固的 (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ] a.奔跑的；流动的 (初中英语单词)
• perfectly [´pə:fiktli] ad.理想地；完美地 (高中英语单词)
• saying [´seiŋ, ´sei-iŋ] n.言语；言论；格言 (高中英语单词)
• grocer [´grəusə] n.食品商，杂货商 (高中英语单词)
• squeak [skwi:k] n.&vi.(发)尖叫(声) (高中英语单词)
• packet [´pækit] n.盒 vt....打成小包 (英语四级单词)
• speechless [´spi:tʃləs] a.说不出话的 (英语四级单词)
• sixpence [´sikspəns] n.六便士(硬币) (英语四级单词)
• conceited [kən´si:tid] a.自负的；自夸的 (英语六级单词)
• collie [´kɔli] n.柯利牧羊犬 (英语六级单词)
• crocodile [´krɔkədail] n.鳄鱼；假慈悲的人 (英语六级单词)