But presently
from somewhere in the murky dusk I heard Bumpo singing his African comic
songs with the full force of his enormous voice. And in a little, by
peering and peering in the direction of the sound, I at last made out a
dim mass of tattered, splintered wreckage--all that remained of the poor
Curlew--floating low down upon the water.

A hulloa came through the night. And I answered it. We kept it up,
calling to one another back and forth across the calm night sea. And a
few minutes later the two halves of our brave little ruined ship bumped
gently together again.

Now that I was nearer and the moon was higher I could see more plainly.
Their half of the ship was much bigger than mine.

It lay partly upon its side; and most of them were perched upon the top
munching ship's biscuit.

But close down to the edge of the water, using the sea's calm surface
for a mirror and a piece of broken bottle for a razor, John Dolittle was
shaving his face by the light of the moon.

THE FIFTH CHAPTER. LAND!

THEY all gave me a great greeting as I clambered off my half of the ship
on to theirs. Bumpo brought me a wonderful drink of fresh water which he
drew from a barrel; and Chee-Chee and Polynesia stood around me feeding
me ship's biscuit.

But it was the sight of the Doctor's smiling face--just knowing that I
was with him once again--that cheered me more than anything else. As I
watched him carefully wipe his glass razor and put it away for future
use, I could not help comparing him in my mind with the Stormy Petrel.
Indeed the vast strange knowledge which he had gained from his speech
and friendship with animals had brought him the power to do things
which no other human being would dare to try. Like the petrel, he could
apparently play with the sea in all her moods. It was no wonder that
many of the ignorant savage peoples among whom he passed in his voyages
made statues of him showing him as half a fish, half a bird, and half a
man. And ridiculous though it was, I could quite understand what Miranda
meant when she said she firmly believed that he could never die. Just to
be with him gave you a wonderful feeling of comfort and safety.

Except for his appearance (his clothes were crumpled and damp and his
battered high hat was stained with salt water) that storm which had
so terrified me had disturbed him no more than getting stuck on the
mud-bank in Puddleby River.

Politely thanking Miranda for getting me so