"Very good, Doctor," said the swallow, turning to go. "I'll tell the Skimmer what you say."
"By the way," said John Dolittle, "I've been trying to think where I've seen your face before. Did you ever build your nest in my stable in Puddleby?"
"No," said the bird. "But I am the swallow that brought you the message from the monkeys that time they were sick."
"Oh, to be sure—of course," cried the Doctor. "I knew I had seen you somewhere. I never forget faces. You had a pretty hard time coming to England in the winter, didn't you—snow on the ground and all that sort of thing. Very plucky of you to undertake it."
"Yes, it was a hard trip," said the swallow. "I came near freezing to death more than once. Flying into the teeth of that frosty wind was just awful. But something had to be done. The monkeys would most likely have been wiped right out if we hadn't got you."
"How was it that you were the one chosen to bring the message?" asked the Doctor.
"Well," said the swallow, "Speedy did want to do it himself. He's frightfully brave, you know—and fast as lightning. But the other swallows wouldn't let him. They said he was too valuable as a leader. It was a risky job. And if he had lost his life from the frost we'd never be able to get another leader like him. Because, besides being brave and fast, he's the cleverest leader we ever had. Whenever the swallows are in trouble he always thinks of a way out. He's a born leader. He flies quick and he thinks quick."
"Humph!" murmured the Doctor, as he thoughtfully brushed the toast crumbs off the bed clothes. "But why did they pick you to bring the message?"
"They didn't," said the swallow. "We nearly all of us volunteered for the job, so as not to have Speedy risk his life. But the Skimmer said the only fair way was to draw lots. So we got a number of small leaves and we took the stalks off all of them except one. And we put the leaves in an old cocoanut shell and shook them up. Then, with our eyes shut, we began picking them out. The swallow who picked the leaf with the stalk on it was to carry the message to England—and I picked the leaf with the stalk on. Before I started off on the trip I kissed my wife good-bye, because I really never expected to get back alive. Still, I'm kind of glad the lot fell to me."
"Why?" asked the Doctor, pushing the breakfast tray off his knees and punching the pillows into shape.