"Not much chance of that, I'm afraid," said John Dolittle. "He will probably sell them the first chance he gets. That's all he wants them for—for the money they'll bring in. Whereas the young spoonbills appreciated their beauty. It's a shame they should lose them—and when they were in my care, too. Well—it's no use crying over spilt milk. They're gone. That's all."
As they were approaching the houseboat they noticed a large number of canoes collected about it. To-day was not one of the outgoing or incoming mail days and the Doctor wondered what the excitement could be.
Fastening up his own canoe, he went into the post office. And inside there was quite a crowd. He made his way through it with Dab-Dab and in the registered mail booth he found all the animals gathered around a small black squirrel. The little creature's legs were tied with post office red tape and he seemed very frightened and miserable. Speedy and Cheapside were mounting guard over him, one on each side.
"What's all this about?" asked the Doctor.
"We've caught the fellow who stole the pearls, Doctor," said Speedy.
"And we've got the pearls, too," cried Too-Too. "They're in the stamp drawer and Jip is guarding them."
"But I don't understand," said John Dolittle. "I thought Wilkins had made off with them."
"Those must have been some other stolen pearls, Doctor," said Dab-Dab. "Let's take a look at the ones Jip has."
The Doctor went and opened the stamp drawer. And there, inside, sure enough, were the three pink beauties he had sent by registered mail.
"How did you find them?" he asked, turning to Speedy.