Hugh Lofting - Doctor Dolittle's Circus

"I hope so," said the Doctor. "As soon as it's dark I'll go out into the garden and see if I hear anything. I know how anxious you are to be getting along on your trip. But try and be patient."

About half an hour later the Doctor took the ladder, and mounting near the top of the garden wall, he listened long and carefully.

When he came back to Sophie in the tool shed he was shaking his head.

"There are still an awful lot of people moving about in the streets," he said. "But whether they are circus men hunting you, or just ordinary townsfolk walking abroad, I can't make out. We'd better wait a while longer, I think."

"Oh, dear!" sighed Sophie. "Are we never going to get further than this garden? Poor Slushy! I'm so worried."

And she began to weep softly in the darkness of the shed.

After another hour had gone by the Doctor went out again. This time, just as he was about to climb the ladder, he heard Jip was whispering to him on the other side of the wall.

"Doctor, are you there?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Listen! Higgins and the boss have gone off somewhere with a wagon. Blossom just came and told Matthew to take on some extra jobs with the circus because he wouldn't back for a while. Too–Too thinks it's a grand chance for you to make a dash for it and get out of the town. Start in an hour, when the circus is in full swing and the men are all busy. Have you got that?"

"Yes, I heard you. Thank you, Jip. All right. We'll leave in an hour." And the Doctor looked at his watch. "Which way did Blossom go?"

"East—toward Grimbledon. Swizzle followed them out a ways and came back and told us. You make for the West. Turn to the left at the end of this passage and then double to the left again at the next corner. It's a dark by–street and it leads you out onto the Dunwich Road. Once you reach that you'll be all right. There aren't many houses on it and you'll be in the open country in no time. I'm leaving some more sandwiches here in the passage for you. Pick them up on your way out. Can you hear me?"

"Yes, I understand," whispered the Doctor. Then he ran back to the shed with the good news.

Poor Sophie, when she heard they were to leave that night, stood up on her tail and clapped her flippers with joy.

"Now, listen," said the Doctor: "if we meet any one on the street— and we are pretty sure to—you lie down by the wall and pretend you're a sack I'm carrying—that I'm taking a rest, you see. Try and look as much like a sack as you can. Understand?"

"All right," said Sophie, "I'm frightfully excited. See how my flippers are fluttering."

"Well, the Doctor kept an eye on his watch; and long before the hour had passed he and Sophie were waiting at the foot of the ladder ready and impatient.

Finally, after looking at the time once more, the Doctor whispered:

"All right, I think we can start now. Let me go first, so I can steady the ladder for you, the way I did before."

But, alas, for poor Sophie's hopes! Just as the Doctor was half way up, the noise of distant barking, deep–voiced and angry, broke out.

John Dolittle paused on the ladder, frowning. The barking, many dogs baying together, drew nearer.

"What's that?" said Sophie in a tremulous whisper from below. "That's not Jip or any of our dogs."

"No," said the Doctor, climbing down slowly. "There's no mistaking that sound. Sophie, something's gone wrong. That's the baying of bloodhounds—bloodhounds on a scent. And they're coming— this way!"

"John Dolittle paused"

Jip, after his last conversation with the Doctor over the garden wall, returned to the caravan and his friends, feeling comfortably sure that now everything would go all right.

He and Too–Too were chatting under the table while Dab–Dab was dusting the furniture, when suddenly in rushed Toby, all out of breath.

"Jip," he cried. "The worst has happened! They've got bloodhounds. That's what Blossom and Higgins went off for. There's a man who raises them, it seems, in the next village. They're bringing 'em here in a wagon—six of 'em. I spotted them just as they entered the town over the toll–bridge. I ran behind and tried to speak to the dogs. But with the rattle of the wagon–wheels they couldn't hear me. If they put those hounds on Sophie's trail she's as good as caught already."

"Confound them!" muttered Jip. "Where are they now, Toby?"

"I don't know. When I left them they were crossing the market place, on their way here at the trot. I raced ahead to let you know as quick as I could."

"All right," said Jip, springing up. "Come with me."

And he dashed out into the night.

"They'll try and pick up the trail from the seal's stand," said Jip as the two dogs ran on together across the enclosure. "Perhaps we can meet them there."

But at the stand there were no bloodhounds.

Jip put his nose to the ground and sniffed just once.

"Drat the luck!" he whispered. "They've been here already and gone off on the trail. Listen, there they are, baying now. Come on! Let's race for the passage. We may be in time yet."

And away he sped like a white arrow toward the gate, while poor little Toby, left far behind, with his flappy ears trailing in the wind, put on his best speed to keep up.

Dashing into the passage, Jip found it simply full of men and dogs and lanterns. Blossom was there, and Higgins and the man who owned the hounds. While the men talked and waved the lamps, the hounds, six great, droopy–jowled beasts, with long ears and bloodshot eyes, sniffed the ground and ran hither and thither about the alley, trying to find where the trail led out. Every once in a while they would lift their noses, open their big mouses and send a deep–voiced howl rolling toward the moon.

By this time other dogs in the neighborhood were answering their back from every backyard. Jip ran into the crowded passage, pretending to join in the hunt for scent. Picking out the biggest bloodhound, who, he guessed, was the leader, he got alongside of him. Then, still keeping his eyes and nose to the ground, he whispered in dog language:

"Get your duffers out of here. This is the Doctor's business —John Dolittle's."

The bloodhound paused and eyed Jip haughtily.

"Who are you, mongrel?" he said. "We've been set to run down a seal. Stop trying to fool us. John Dolittle is away on a voyage."

"He's nothing of the kind," muttered Jip. "He's on the other side of that wall—not six feet away from us. He is trying to get this seal down to the sea, so she can escape these men with the lanterns—if you idiots will only get out of the way."

"I don't believe you," said the leader. "The last I heard of the Doctor he was traveling in Africa. We must do our duty."

"Duffer! Numbskull!" growled Jip, losing his temper entirely. "I'm telling you the truth. For two pins I'd pull your long ears. You must have been asleep in your kennel the last two years. The Doctor's been back in England over a month. He's traveling with the circus now."

But the leader of the bloodhounds, like many highly trained specialists, was (in everything outside his own profession) very obstinate and a bit stupid. He just simply would not believe that the Doctor wasn't still abroad. In all his famous record as a tracker he had never failed to run down his quarry, once he took up a scent. He had a big reputation, and was proud of it. He wasn't going to be misled by every whipper–snapper of a dog who came along with an idle tale—no, not he.

Poor Jip was in despair. He saw that the hounds were now sniffing at the wall over which Sophie had climbed. He knew that these great beasts would never leave this neighborhood while the seal was near and her fishy scent so strong all about. It was only a matter of time before Blossom and Higgins would guess that she was in hiding beyond the wall and would have the old house and garden searched.