-room and were
having tea, Dab-Dab came up behind the Doctor's chair and whispered.

"Ask the porpoises if the boy's uncle was drowned--they'll know."

"All right," said the Doctor, taking a second piece of bread-and-jam.

"What are those funny, clicking noises you are making with your
tongue?" asked the boy.

"Oh, I just said a couple of words in duck-language," the Doctor
answered. "This is Dab-Dab, one of my pets."

"I didn't even know that ducks had a language," said the boy. "Are all
these other animals your pets, too? What is that strange-looking thing
with two heads?"

"Sh!" the Doctor whispered. "That is the pushmi-pullyu. Don't let him
see we're talking about him--he gets so dreadfully embarrassed.... Tell
me, how did you come to be locked up in that little room?"

"The pirates shut me in there when they were going off to steal things
from another ship. When I heard some one chopping on the door, I didn't
know who it could be. I was very glad to find it was you. Do you
think you will be able to find my uncle for me?"

"Well, we are going to try very hard," said the Doctor. "Now what was
your uncle like to look at?"

"He had red hair," the boy answered--"very red hair, and the picture of
an anchor tattooed on his arm. He was a strong man, a kind uncle and
the best sailor in the South Atlantic. His fishing-boat was called The
Saucy Sally--a cutter-rigged sloop."

"What's 'cutterigsloop'?" whispered Gub-Gub, turning to Jip.

"Sh!--That's the kind of a ship the man had," said Jip. "Keep still,
can't you?"

"Oh," said the pig, "is that all? I thought it was something to drink."

So the Doctor left the boy to play with the animals in the dining-room,
and went upstairs to look for passing porpoises.

And soon a whole school came dancing and jumping through the water, on
their way to Brazil.

When they saw the Doctor leaning on the rail of his ship, they came
over to see how he was getting on.

And the Doctor asked them if they had seen anything of a man with red
hair and an anchor tattooed on his arm.

"Do you mean the master of The Saucy Sally?" asked the porpoises.

"Yes," said the Doctor. "That's the man. Has he been drowned?"

"His fishing-sloop was sunk," said the porpoises--"for we saw it lying
on the bottom of the sea. But there was nobody inside it, because we
went and looked."

"His little nephew is on the ship with me here," said the Doctor. "And
he is terribly afraid