CHAPTER II CHEAPSIDE
It was a great day at the Doctor's post office when Cheapside, the London sparrow, arrived from Puddleby to look after the city deliveries for Fantippo.
 
The Doctor was eating his lunch of sandwiches at the information desk when the little bird popped his head through the window and said in his cheeky Cockney voice:
 
"'Ulloa, Doctor, 'ere we are again! What ho! The old firm! Who would 'ave thought you'd come to this?"
 
Cheapside was a character. Anyone on seeing him for the first time would probably guess that he spent his life in city streets. His whole expression was different from other birds. In Speedy's eyes, for instance—though nobody would dream of thinking him stupid—there was an almost noble look of country honesty. But in the eyes of Cheapside, the London Sparrow, there was a , dare-devil expression that seemed to say "Don't you think for one moment that you'll ever get the better of me. I'm a Cockney bird."
 
 
"Why, Cheapside!" cried John Dolittle. "At last you've come. My, but it's good to see you! Did you have a pleasant journey?"
 
"Not bad—not 'alf bad," said Cheapside, eyeing some from the Doctor's lunch which lay upon the desk. "No storms. Pretty decent travellin'. 'Ot? Well, I should say it was 'ot. 'Ot enough for an 'Ottentot!... place you 'ave 'ere—sort of a ?"
 
By this time all the animals had heard Cheapside arriving and they came rushing in to see the traveler and to hear the news of Puddleby and England.
 
"How is the old horse in the stable?" asked John Dolittle.
 
"Pretty spry," said Cheapside. "Course 'e ain't as young as 'e used to be. But 'e's lively enough for an old 'un. 'E asked me to bring you a bunch of ramblers—just bloomin' over the stable door, they was. But I says to 'im, I says, 'What d'yer take me for, an omnibus?' Fancy a feller at my time of life carrying a bunch of roses all the way down the Atlantic! Folks would think I was goin' to a weddin' at the South Pole."
 
"Gracious, Cheapside!" said the Doctor, laughing. "It makes me quite homesick for England to hear your Cockney ."
 
"And me, too," sighed Jip. "Were there many rats in the woodshed, Cheapside?"
 
"'Undreds of them," said the sparrow—"as big as rabbits. And that uppish you'd think they owned the place!"
 
"I'll soon settle them, when I get back," said Jip. "I hope we go soon."
 
"How does the garden look, Cheapside?" asked the Doctor.
 
"A1," said the sparrow. "Weeds in the paths, o' course. But the under the kitchen window looked something lovely, they did."
 
"Anything new in London?" asked the white mouse who was also city bred.
 
"Yes," said Cheapside. "There's always something doing in good old London. They've got a new kind of cab that goes on two wheels instead of four. A man called 'Ansom invented it. Much faster than the old 'ackneys they are. You see 'em everywhere. And there's a new greengrocer's shop near the Royal Exchange."
 
"I'm going to have a greengrocer's shop of my own when I grow up," murmured Gub-Gub, "—in England where they grow good vegetables—I'm tired of Africa—and then I'll watch the new vegetables coming into season all the year round."
 
"He's always talking about that," said Too-Too. "Such an ambition in life to have—to run a greengrocer's shop!"
 
"Ah, England!" cried Gub-Gub . "What is there more beautiful in life than the heart of a young in the Spring?"
 
"'Ark at 'im," said Cheapside, raising his . "Ain't 'e the porker? Why don't you write a bunch of to the Skunk-Kissed-Cabbages of Louisiana, Mr. Bacon?"
 
"Well, now, look here, Cheapside," said the Doctor. "We want you to get these city deliveries straightened out for us in the town of Fantippo. Our post birds are having great difficulty finding the right houses to take letters to. You're a city-bird, born and bred. Do you think you can help us?"
 
"I'll see what I can do for you, Doc," said the Sparrow, "after I've taken a look around this 'eathen town of yours. But first I want a bath. I'm all heat up from flying under a sun. Ain't you got no round here for a bird to take a bath in?"
 
"No, this isn't climate," said the Doctor. "You're not in England, you know. But I'll bring you my shaving mug and you can take a bath in that."
 
"Mind, you wash the soap out first, Doc," the Sparrow, "it gets into my eyes."
 
The next day after Cheapside had had a good sleep to rest up from his long journey the Doctor took the London sparrow to show him around the town of Fantippo.
 
"Well, Doc," said Cheapside after they had seen the sights, "as a town I don't think much of it—really, I don't. It's big. I'll say that for it. I 'ad no idea they 'ad towns as big as this in Africa. But the streets is so narrow! I can see why they don't 'ave no cabs 'ere—'ardly room for a goat to pass, let alone a four-wheeler. And as for the 'ouses, they seem to be made of the insides of old . The first thing we'll 'ave to do is to make old King Cocoanut tell 'is subjects to put door knockers on their doors. What is 'ome without a door knocker, I'd like to know? Of course, your postmen can't deliver the letters, when they've no knockers to knock with."
 
"I'll attend to that," said the Doctor. "I'll see the King about it this afternoon."
 
"And then, they've got no letter boxes in the doors," said Cheapside. "There ought to be slots made to the letters in. The only place these bloomin' 'eathens have for a postman to put a letter is down the chimney."
 
"Very well," said the Doctor. "I'll attend to that, too. Shall I have the letter boxes in the middle of the door, or would you like them on one side?"
 
"Put 'em on each side of the doors—two to every 'ouse," said Cheapside.
 
"What's that for?" asked the Doctor.
 
"That's a little idea of my own," said the Sparrow. "We'll 'ave one box for the bills and one for sure-enough letters. You see, people are so disappointed when they 'ear the postman's knock and come to the door, expecting to find a nice letter from a friend or news that money's been left them and all they get is a bill from the tailor. But if we............