ng back.

The Prehistoric Doctor--for so the children found he was called--was
dressed in a coarse coat made of bear's skin, under which was a spotless
shirt-front and collar; an old-fashioned pair of horn-rimmed spectacles
completed his costume, while some dangerous-looking surgical instruments
projected from a rough pocket tacked on to the side of his coat.

[Illustration: "'Tut, tut, this is serious,' said the Doctor."]

"Ah!--h'm! and _how_ are we feeling this morning?" he said, kindly,
going up to the Dodo.

The bird turned up his eyes pathetically and gave a sigh.

"Like a dying duck in a thunderstorm," whispered Dick, and Marjorie had
to hold her handkerchief to her mouth to keep from giggling out loud.

"Ah! How is the pulse?" continued the Doctor, in a soothing voice.

The Dodo gravely extended the pinion with the glove on it.

This seemed to puzzle the Doctor a little at first, but after looking at
it for a moment through his spectacles, he fished an enormous silver
watch out of another pocket in his skin coat, and carefully pinching the
glove between his finger and thumb, regarding his timepiece anxiously.

This operation over, he shook his head gravely, and demanded to see the
Dodo's tongue.

"Oh! I couldn't!" simpered the bird; "I really couldn't; it's so rude to
put out one's tongue, you know."

A little persuasion, however, on the part of the Doctor prevailed upon
him to open his enormous beak, and the examination was proceeded with.

[Illustration: "They hurried to the station."]

"Tut! tut! this is serious!" exclaimed the Doctor, regarding the Dodo's
tongue critically. "We must have a change of air immediately, and
thorough rest. I will go and make you up a little prescription, and I
would advise you to start at once. The air at--er--the Crystal Palace
would suit you admirably. There is an excursion starting to-day. I
should certainly go by that if I were you."

"The Crystal Palace! Why, that's near London!" cried Marjorie,
excitedly. "Can't we go by the excursion, too?"

"Of course you can," chimed in the Palaeotherium; "we'll all go, and make
up a nice little family party."

So, without further ado--the Doctor having made up his prescription,
consisting of a large bottle of "bull's eyes," one to be taken every
quarter of an hour--they hurried to the station, at the door of which a
most energetic porter was ringing a huge bell.

CHAPTER XVII.

WAITING FOR THE TRAIN.

They