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When, in 1852, after his grandfather's death, The Boy first saw London, it was not the London of the Romans, the Saxons, or the Normans, or the London of the Plantagenets or the Tudors, but the London of the Micawbers and the Traddleses, the London of Murdstone and Grinby, the London of Dora's Aunt and of Jip.
I told her how I loved her. I told her I should die without her. I told her that I idolized and worshipped her. Jip barked madly all the time. When Dora hung her head and cried, and trembled, my eloquence increased so much the more. If she would like me to die for her, she had but to say the word, and I was ready. Life without Dora's love was not a thing to have on any terms.
But if you want a dog to race with, Little Blossom, he has lived too well for that, and I'll give you one. 'Thank you, aunt, said Dora, faintly. 'But don't, please! 'No? said my aunt, taking off her spectacles. 'I couldn't have any other dog but Jip, said Dora. 'It would be so unkind to Jip!
Then Dora was in her glory. The preparations she made for this great work, the aprons she put on, the bibs she borrowed from the kitchen to keep off the ink, the time she took, the innumerable stoppages she made to have a laugh with Jip as if he understood it all, her conviction that her work was incomplete unless she signed her name at the end, and the way in which she would bring it to me, like a school-copy, and then, when I praised it, clasp me round the neck, are touching recollections to me, simple as they might appear to other men.
"In a minute every one was awake and up, for Jack fired his pistol before he was half out of bed, and roared 'Fire! so loud it roused the house. Mother sprung her rattle, aunt rang her bell, Jip barked like mad, and we all screamed, while from below came up a regular Irish howl.
Can't blame her for getting scared! I wonder who he'll go and kiss this time. Silly business!" Then the pushmi-pullyu, the white mouse, Gub-Gub, Dab-Dab, Jip and the owl, Too-Too, went on to the ship with the Doctor. But Chee-Chee, Polynesia and the crocodile stayed behind, because Africa was their proper home, the land where they were born.
"Hullo, Jip, what have you got?" asked the young man as the little dog jumped up on the carriage seat and laid his load on his master's knee, panting and wagging his tail as if he had done something to be praised for. "Dolls, I declare! What can a bachelor do with the poor things? Wonder who Maria Plum is?
Dora told me, shortly afterwards, that she was going to be a wonderful housekeeper. But the figures had the old obstinate propensity they WOULD NOT add up. When she had entered two or three laborious items in the account-book, Jip would walk over the page, wagging his tail, and smear them all out.
"Any parsnips?" asked Gub-Gub. "No," said Jip. "You always think of things to eat. No parsnips whatever. And no snuff plenty of pipes and cigarettes, and a few cigars. But no snuff. We must wait till the wind changes to the South." "Yes, it's a poor wind, that," said Gub-Gub. "I think you're a fake, Jip. Who ever heard of finding a man in the middle of the ocean just by smell!
When I say WE, I mean Bumpo and myself; for the animals, Jip, Chee-Chee and Polynesia, were a long way ahead even beyond the Doctor enjoying the hunt like a paper-chase. At length we arrived at the foot of the mountain we were making for; and we found its sides very steep. Said the Doctor, "Now we will separate and search for caves. This spot where we now are, will be our meeting-place.
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