Dr. Dolittle and the animals missed Polynesia and Chee-Chee very much.
But they knew Polynesia and Chee-Chee were happier in Africa.
"Where are we now, Dr. Dolittle?" asked Dab-Dab.
"I'm not sure," Dr. Dolittle scratched his head.
"Dr. Dolittle! Dr. Dolittle!"
Voices were calling from the sky.
"Oh, hello!" the doctor waved to some birds.
"You're going the wrong way!" one shouted.
"These are Barbary waters!" another one said.
"Barbary? What's that?" asked the doctor.
"They're pirates," the other bird whispered.
Dab-Dab began to shake with fear.
"Pirates? Oh, no!" he quacked loudly.
"The Barbary pirates wait for boats," explained the bird.
"After they attack the boat, they steal everything in it."
"The pirates take people, too," said another bird.
"Sometimes, they throw people into the water!"
Dr. Dolittle did not want to meet any pirates.
"Go this way!
You'll be safe!" the birds cried out.
So the doctor sailed the boat away from the Barbary waters.
"Whew! That was close!"
Dr. Dolittle wiped his forehead.
The next day, Dr. Dolittle forgot all about the Barbary pirates.
"Mmmm . . . I smell roast beef . . . ," Jip was talking in his sleep.
Dr. Dolittle laughed.
"Apple pie . . . potatoes and . . . ," Jip mumbled.
"Yummy! I smell roast beef!" Gub-Gub said happily.
Dr. Dolittle sniffed the air.
"Jip smells roast beef, too."
"Maybe it's from that ship!" Gub-Gub pointed.
"Uh, Doctor," Dab-Dab's voice shook.
"Dogs have a good sense of smell.
Almost as good as pigs," Gub-Gub said.
"Dr. Dolittle . . . uh . . . ," Dab-Dab pointed but couldn't speak.
"What is it, Dab-Dab?" Dr. Dolittle asked.
Jip was still sleeping.
"Trouble, bad men.
I smell five, no, six men . . . grrrrrr," he growled.
Then he barked so loudly he woke up.
"I had a terrible dream.
I . . . Dr. Dolittle!" Jip suddenly jumped up.
A big ship with red sails was coming toward them.
"It's the Barbary pirates," whispered Dab-Dab.
Dr. Dolittle gave orders.
"We must put more sails on our boat," he shouted.
"Jip! Gub-Gub! Find all the sails.
Bring them to me!"
The pirate ship moved closer and closer.
Dr. Dolittle used every sail on the boat.
But the boat was still not fast enough.
"What do we do?" cried Gub-Gub.
"Too-Too! Find the birds!" Dr. Dolittle told the owl.
Too-Too came back with two birds.
"Only two birds?" barked Jip.
"The rest are coming!" one bird called down.
"Bring all the rope you have.
Quickly!" shouted the other one.
Dr. Dolittle brought the rope.
"Make the rope into a lot of thin strings," said one bird.
Soon they had hundreds of thin strings.
Dr. Dolittle tied the ends to the boat.
"Now what?" he asked the bird.
Suddenly the sky started to get dark.
There was a low rumbling sound.
"What's that noise?" Gub-Gub asked.
"I don't know," Jip replied.
He did not push the pig away this time.
"Look up there!" Too-Too shouted excitedly.
Above them hundreds of birds covered the sky.
Each bird took a piece of string.
"Okay, everyone! Hang on!" said a little bird.
Together, the birds pulled the strings.
Dr. Dolittle's boat nearly flew in the air.
It moved faster than the pirates' ship.
All the animals, except Dab-Dab, began to laugh.
"Yippee! This is fun!" shouted Jip.
"Look! I'm flying!" cried Gub-Gub.
Shortly, the red sails disappeared.