The voyage took six whole weeks. The swallow knew the way and flew ahead of the ship, while Chee-Chee, who had hands similar to Harry's, took up the helm to follow her. The trip would have been faster but the swallow could only fly by day and none of them had thought to bring a little lantern that she could carry in her mouth at night.
"It's fine," Captain Harry said when the problem became known on the very first night. He worried about all the ill monkeys having to wait but there was nothing he could do about it. "We all need our sleep, we can just put down anchor so we don't drift off course." He was learning a lot about sailing from the monkey because he took his responsibility as Captain seriously. He thought about it more and said, "We need to keep the lights on, maybe, so other ships don't bump into us."
"Ay-ay, Captain," everyone except the pig said.
"Oh, I can't sleep with a light on," Gub-Gub, who was growing into a nice large boar, complained. He was a teenager now and complained about most everything. The bunk beds specifically gave him a problem and he needed help to get on the lowest one. Luckily the poodle was patient, and Jib helped Gub-Gub by lying down and becoming a step.
But Harry had forgotten that not all of them liked to sleep at night. The owl offered to keep watch while they slept so they don't bump into anyone, and that way they could keep the light off. So that was what they did.
They sailed farther and farther south and found the weather was quite nice. It was supposed to be winter now in Africa but African winters were much milder than what they were used to. So they had a good time sunning themselves on the deck, basking, tummies up, especially Scrubs and Gub-Gub. Dab-Dab dove off every now and then to swim behind the ship and caught fish for their dinner to make the beef last longer. She and Jib also taught Harry how to swim. They offered to teach Gub-Gub too but the pig refused and they let him be, lest he started a sulk. At night they had nice family meals and they would sing and tell stories before bed.
SSLL did not like being on a ship at all as the motion of the ocean made him feel quite green and dizzy. He apologised to Harry who said it did not matter, don't be silly, and made him climb into his pocket. There he stayed until they reached land.
Harry kept up his studies. With so many different things about sailing and animal languages to learn he was constantly asking questions and writing things down. It went slower without SSLL's help but the others rallied around and did their best to teach him. In between, he studied the animal compendium and worried about the monkeys. Would he be able to help them? He was only five!
"A good five," SSLL said, poking his head out of the pocket. "I'm only one year old."
"You are?" Harry was surprised. SSLL talked like an adult.
"Yes, my birthday is in three days."
"Mine too!"
They knew this because Too-Too had packed a calendar—like many owls she was quite wise—and had been scratching out the days each evening after storytime.
That called for a party. All the animals came together and managed to bake a cake in the small galley out of the things Petunia bought. They had no icing, so they spread strawberry jam on top. It was a big hit. On July 31st they woke them up singing Happy Birthday, and They Are Jolly Good Fellows, and they had a very special day full of party games and fun. That night Harry went to sleep with a smile on his face.
Closer to the equator a group of flying fish met the ship; their blue scales flashed like jewels in the sunlight, and all the animals stood in awe. The flying fish asked Dab-Dab, who was swimming behind the ship, if Doctor Dolittle was on board. Dab-Dab flew up to show them how it was done and pointed proudly at Harry.
By now no one listened when Harry asked them not to call him Doctor Dolittle so he stepped up to the railing to hear what the flying fish wanted. Sadly he hadn't learned any fish languages yet and needed Dab-Dab to translate.
They said the monkeys in Africa were getting worried that he would never come. Harry apologised for being so slow and explained their issue at night. Hearing this, the flying fish after some thought found a bale of sea turtles who could take the night shift. After that Harry and Chee-Chee would throw some ropes down before they slept instead of the anchor, and the turtles were happy enough to pull the small ship if it meant the monkeys would get help faster.
As luck would have it, it was all smooth sailing until right at the end. One afternoon Harry thought he saw land, and said, "Give me the telescope, please, Chee-Chee. I think we might be there."
And sure enough, they could see mountains and a jungle in the distance. But the afternoon had steadily been turning dark with black clouds overhead and a flash of lightning chose that moment to split the air.
Chee-Chee shouted, "Batten the hatches! There's trouble ahead!"
It was a great big storm. Chee-Chee, who had sailed before, said sailors usually brought the sails in so that was what they did, but they had no idea what else to do because right after that was when the monkey had always been locked in a cabin for his own safety. Everyone wanted to be safe too and thought it a sensible idea, so they all trooped down and huddled together in the Captain's cabin.
And what a storm it was! The ship was thrown this way and that, tumbling them about in a tangle of arms, legs, and wings, and they couldn't hear anything from the terrific noise of the thunder and the rain. It was unsafe to light a candle, so they had to rely on the lightning flashes through the porthole to see anything. Mostly they saw waves larger than any they had ever seen, as the ship dipped in and out of them, which was scary, to say the least. They all closed their eyes.
For hours they were thrown about in the dark cabin, and all too soon everyone was bruised and as green as SSLL. Gub-Gub cried and cried. Harry tried to be brave and rally them to sing but no one heard him. It all came to head with the sound of a magnificent CRACK. The ship stopped and rolled to the side. Serendipitously the storm chose that moment to wear itself out.
"What was that noise?" Harry asked into the sudden quiet.
"I think we might be shipwrecked," said the owl wisely.
They sent Dab-Dab to swim under the ship and the duck came back to report they had struck some rocks and the ship had a big hole. But all was not lost, for every cloud had a silver lining, and she said she could also see the land quite near. They could swim for it.
"I'll have to sit on someone's head," the frog said. "I don't do well in saltwater."
"You can sit on mine," Harry decided. It was only right as the Captain that he should take responsibility for his crew.
The owl could fly and offered to carry SSLL who was still too green to do anything as vigorous as swimming. The sparrow had no problem flying over either and said she would fly ahead and lead the group around the rocks. Gub-Gub cried that he had never learned to swim, but Jib bit him on the ear to be quiet and said he would manage, pigs might not be able to fly but they floated quite nicely from all their belly fat. Scrubs said he would make sure the pig got to land, if Gub-Gub got tired, he said, he could sit in his mouth. He also offered to take their trunks on his back. He was a freshwater crocodile, he said, but didn't mind the salt this one time. That sorted everyone and everything, and in good time too, for the ship was fast filling with water and they had to go.
With the storm over, the waves were calm and the group reached the white beach without much trouble. There Harry looked around him in awe. The sun was setting behind some cliffs, a rainbow spanned over the jungle, and the air smelled muggy and green. Not at all like the air back home. He took a deep breath and grinned from ear to ear, glad to be alive. "This is Africa?"
"It sure is," the swallow chirped, and flew a happy circle overhead.
SSLL flopped out of Harry's pocket, onto the sand. "I'm never going on the water again," he said. "Never, ever." He would have loved to stay on the sand forever too but it was wet and cold and he lasted less than a minute before he gave up and curled himself around Harry's ankle.
"I'm home!" Rib croaked, and hopped off Harry's head. "Good old Africa! I'm home!"
The lizard was just as happy, even though he had been taken from Africa in an egg, and kissed the wet sand, not minding when he got some between his teeth. "I'm home! I'm going to have a family!"
Scrubs couldn't wait to get a good home-caught meal but since his diet basically consisted of a variety of small animals, the list of which included all his new friends, he kept quiet about that, and just tapped his tail that he was happy to be home.
Then the sparrow spied Harry's hat floating on the waves and called for the owl to fetch it.
"We can leave it," said Harry. "We don't have a ship anymore for me to captain."
"Best get it," the swallow chirped. "All the humans wear hats in the jungle, the sun is quite strong here."
"All right. Then if you don't mind, please, Too-Too?" Harry said.
Too-Too didn't mind at all, but when she flew over she found a very young, frightened mouse sitting inside it.
"What are you doing here?" asked the owl. "You were supposed to stay in Little Whinging with the others."
"I didn't want to be left behind," the little mouse who couldn't be more than seven weeks old squeaked. "I have grandparents in Africa so I hid behind the hard biscuits."
The owl took the hat and its occupant to Harry, and they all gathered around to have a look.
"This is what you call a stowaway," Chee-Chee informed them, importantly. "We should lock him up in the brig."
"We don't have a brig," Harry said once Chee-Chee had explained what it was. "Besides, it's not nice to be locked up and I should know. I'm sure he'll be no trouble. Let's find someplace to sleep."
They found a cave in the cliffs and made a nice big fire with the matches that had kept dry in the trunk, thanks to Scrub. Then they cuddled in one large, damp heap, and went to sleep, too tired for any stories. In the morning they went back to the beach to have a breakfast of clams before they started the next leg of their journey. It was nice and hot already, and they paused a moment to bask in the sun and air out their clothes, when Jib suddenly cocked his grey ears and said, "Sh! I hear footsteps!"