`Never lift your foot till you come to
the stile.'"
One day, while they were passing through
a very thick part of the forest, Chee-Chee went
ahead of them to look for cocoanuts. And
while he was away, the Doctor and the rest of
the animals, who did not know the jungle-paths
so well, got lost in the deep woods. They wandered
around and around but could not find
their way down to the seashore.
Chee-Chee, when he could not see them
anywhere, was terribly upset. He climbed high
trees and looked out from the top branches to
try and see the Doctor's high hat; he waved and
shouted; he called to all the animals by name.
But it was no use. They seemed to have
disappeared altogether.
Indeed they had lost their way very badly.
They had strayed a long way off the path, and
the jungle was so thick with bushes and
creepers and vines that sometimes they could hardly
move at all, and the Doctor had to take out
his pocket-knife and cut his way along. They
stumbled into wet, boggy places; they got all
tangled up in thick convolvulus-runners; they
scratched themselves on thorns, and twice they
nearly lost the medicine-bag in the under-brush.
There seemed no end to their troubles; and
nowhere could they come upon a path.
At last, after blundering about like this for
many days, getting their clothes torn and their
faces covered with mud, they walked right into
the King's back-garden by mistake. The King's
men came running up at once and caught them.
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