at that moment, the old man's hat came floating
by; and I got into it because I did not want to be drowned."

So the duck took up the hat with the mouse in it and brought it to the
Doctor on the shore. And they all gathered round to have a look.

"That's what you call a 'stowaway,'" said the parrot.

Presently, when they were looking for a place in the trunk where the
white mouse could travel comfortably, the monkey, Chee-Chee, suddenly
said,

"Sh! I hear footsteps in the jungle!"

They all stopped talking and listened. And soon a black man came down
out of the woods and asked them what they were doing there.

"My name is John Dolittle--M. D.," said the Doctor. "I have been asked
to come to Africa to cure the monkeys who are sick."

"You must all come before the King," said the black man.

"What king?" asked the Doctor, who didn't want to waste any time.

"The King of the Jolliginki," the man answered. "All these lands
belong to him; and all strangers must be brought before him. Follow
me."

So they gathered up their baggage and went off, following the man
through the jungle.

THE SIXTH CHAPTER

POLYNESIA AND THE KING

WHEN they had gone a little way through the thick forest they came to a
wide, clear space; and they saw the King's palace which was made of mud.

This was where the King lived with his Queen, Ermintrude, and their
son, Prince Bumpo. The Prince was away fishing for salmon in the
river. But the King and Queen were sitting under an umbrella before
the palace door. And Queen Ermintrude was asleep.

When the Doctor had come up to the palace the King asked him his
business; and the Doctor told him why he had come to Africa.

"You may not travel through my lands," said the King. "Many years ago
a white man came to these shores; and I was very kind to him. But after
he had dug holes in the ground to get the gold, and killed all the
elephants to get their ivory tusks, he went away secretly in his
ship--without so much as saying 'Thank you.' Never again shall a white
man travel through the lands of Jolliginki."

Then the King turned to some of the black men who were standing near
and said, "Take away this medicine-man--with all his animals, and lock
them up in my strongest prison."

So six of the black men led the Doctor and all his pets away and shut
them up in a stone dungeon. The dungeon had only one little window,
high up in the wall, with bars in it; and the door was strong