"They're just conceited. They
may have very good eyesight and all that; but
when you ask them to find a man for you, they
can't do it--and they have the cheek to come
back and say that nobody else could do it.
They're just conceited--like that collie in
Puddleby. And I don't think a whole lot of those
gossipy old porpoises either. All they could tell
us was that the man isn't in the sea. We don't
want to know where he ISN'T--we want to know
where he IS."
"Oh, don't talk so much," said Gub-Gub.
"It's easy to talk; but it isn't so easy to find a
man when you have got the whole world to hunt
him in. Maybe the fisherman's hair has turned
white, worrying about the boy; and that was
why the eagles didn't find him. You don't
know everything. You're just talking. You
are not doing anything to help. You couldn't
find the boy's uncle any more than the eagles
could--you couldn't do as well."
"Couldn't I?" said the dog. "That's all you
know, you stupid piece of warm bacon! I haven't
begun to try yet, have I? You wait and see!"
Then Jip went to the Doctor and said,
"Ask the boy if he has anything in his pockets
that belonged to his uncle, will you, please?"
So the Doctor asked him. And the boy
showed them a gold ring which he wore on a
piece of string around his neck because it was
too big for his finger. He said his uncle gave
it to him when they saw the pirates coming.
Jip smelt the ring and said,
"That's no good.
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