"Great heavens!" cried the Doctor, springing up. "The pearls gone? And they were registered, too!"
 
"Yes," said Speedy, "here's the thrush himself. He'll tell you all about it."
 
And going to the door, he called in the bird who had carried the registered package.
 
"Doctor," said the thrush, who was also very upset and breathless, "it wasn't my fault. I never let those pearls out of my sight. I flew straight off for the Harmattan Rocks. But part of the trip I had to go over land, if I took the shortest cut. And on the way I saw a sister of mine whom I hadn't met in a long time, sitting in a tree in the jungle below me. And I thought it would be no harm if I went and talked to her a while. So I flew down and she was very glad to see me. I couldn't talk properly with the string of the package in my mouth, so I put the parcel down on the of the tree behind me—right near me, you understand—and went on talking to my sister. And when I turned around to pick it up again it was gone."
 
"Perhaps it slipped off the tree," said the Doctor, "and fell down into the underbrush."
 
"It couldn't have," said the thrush. "I put it into a little hollow in the bark of the bough. It just couldn't have slipped or rolled. Somebody must have taken it."
 
"Dear me," said John Dolittle. "Robbing the mails; that's a serious thing. I wonder who could have done it?"
 
"I'll bet it's Wilkins, the cross-eyed pearl fisherman," whispered Dab-Dab. "A man with a face like that would steal anything. And he was the only one, besides us and Speedy, who knew the pearls were going through the mails. It's Wilkins, sure as you're alive."
 
"I wonder," said the Doctor. "They do say he is a most unscrupulous customer. Well, there's nothing for it, I suppose, but that I should paddle back to Fantippo right away and try to find him. The post office is responsible for the loss of registered mail, and if Mr. Wilkins took those pearls I'm going to get them back again. But after this we will make it a post office rule that carriers of registered mail may not talk to their sisters or anyone else while on duty."
 
And in spite of the lateness of the hour, John Dolittle said a hasty farewell to Chief Nyam-Nyam and started off by moonlight for Fantippo Harbor.
 
In the meantime, Speedy and the thrush flew over the land by the short cut to the post office.
 
"What are you going to say to Wilkins, Doctor?" asked Dab-Dab as the canoe along over the moonlit sea. "It's a pity you haven't got a pistol or something like that. He looks a desperate character and he isn't likely to give up the pearls without a fight."
 
"I don't know what I'll say to him. I'll see when I get there," said John Dolittle. "But we must be very careful how we approach, so that he doesn't see us coming. If he should pull up his anchor and sail away we would never be able to overtake him by canoe."
 
"I tell you what, Doctor," said Dab-Dab, "let me fly ahead and do a little spying on the enemy. Then I'll come back and tell you anything I can find out. Maybe he isn't on his at all at present. And we ought to be hunting him somewhere else."
 
"All right," said the Doctor. "Do that. It will take me another four hours at least to reach Fantippo at this pace."
 
So Dab-Dab flew away over the sea and John Dolittle continued to paddle his canoe bravely forward.
 
After about an hour had passed he heard a gentle sort of whispered high overhead and he knew that his faithful was returning. Presently, with a swish of feathers, Dab-Dab settled down at his feet. And on her face was an expression which meant great news.
 
"He's there, Doctor—and he's got the pearls, all right!" said she. "I through the window and I saw him counting them out from one little box into another by the light of a candle."
 
"The !" the Doctor, putting on all the speed he could. "Let's hope he doesn't get away before we re............