Page:The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.djvu/388

 that vast and gloomy world was a great puzzle to us. John Dolittle asked him by what means he navigated—how he knew he was on the right re: to Puddleby River. And what the snail said in reply got the Doctor so excited that having no paper left, he tore out the lining of his precious hat and covered it with notes.

By night of course it was impossible to see anything: and during the hours of darkness the snail used to swim instead of crawl. When he did so he could travel at a terrific speed, just by waggling that long tail of his. This was the reason why we completed the trip in so short a time—five and a half days.

The air of our chamber, not having a change in the whole voyage, got very close and stuffy: and for the first two days we all had headaches. But after that we got used to it and didn't mind it in the least.

Early in the afternoon of the sixth day. we noticed we were climbing a long gentle slope. As we went upward it grew lighter. Finally we saw that the snail had crawled right out of the water altogether and had now come to a dead stop on a long strip of gray sand.

Behind us we saw the surface of the sea rippled by the wind. On our left was the mouth of a river with the tide running out. While in front, the low land stretched away into the mist—which