s round here in five minutes. It's mighty lucky we found the
snail in a quiet bay."

Reaching the harbor, I picked out a small light canoe from among the
number that were lying there and without telling any one what I wanted
it for, got in and started off to paddle it down the shore.

I was mortally afraid that the snail might have left before I got back.
And you can imagine how delighted I was, when I rounded a rocky cape and
came in sight of the bay, to find he was still there.

Polynesia, I saw, had got her errand done and returned ahead of me,
bringing with her a pair of porpoises. These were already conversing in
low tones with John Dolittle. I beached the canoe and went up to listen.

"What I want to know," the Doctor was saying, "is how the snail comes
to be here. I was given to understand that he usually stayed in the
Deep Hole; and that when he did come to the surface it was always in
mid-ocean."

"Oh, didn't you know?--Haven't you heard?" the porpoises replied: "you
covered up the Deep Hole when you sank the island. Why yes: you let it
down right on top of the mouth of the Hole--sort of put the lid on, as
it were. The fishes that were in it at the time have been trying to get
out ever since. The Great Snail had the worst luck of all: the island
nipped him by the tail just as he was leaving the Hole for a quiet
evening stroll. And he was held there for six months trying to wriggle
himself free. Finally he had to heave the whole island up at one end to
get his tail loose. Didn't you feel a sort of an earthquake shock about
an hour ago?"

"Yes I did," said the Doctor, "it shook down part of the theatre I was
building."

"Well, that was the snail heaving up the island to get out of the Hole,"
they said. "All the other fishes saw their chance and escaped when he
raised the lid. It was lucky for them he's so big and strong. But the
strain of that terrific heave told on him: he sprained a muscle in his
tail and it started swelling rather badly. He wanted some quiet place to
rest up; and seeing this soft beach handy he crawled in here."

"Dear me!" said the Doctor. "I'm terribly sorry. I suppose I should have
given some sort of notice that the island was going to be let down. But,
to tell the truth, we didn't know it ourselves; it happened by a kind of
an accident. Do you imagine the poor fellow is hurt very badly?"

"We're not sure," said the porpoises; "because none of us can speak his
language. But we swa