Joe said yes, he had a boat--one he had just bought--but it
needed three people to sail her. We told him we would like to
see it anyway.

So the mussel-man took us off a little way down the river and
showed us the neatest, prettiest, little vessel that ever was
built. She was called The Curlew. Joe said he would sell her to
us cheap. But the trouble was that the boat needed three people,
while we were only two.

"Of course I shall be taking Chee-Chee," said the Doctor. "But
although he is very quick and clever, he is not as strong as a
man. We really ought to have another person to sail a boat as big
as that."

"I know of a good sailor, Doctor," said Joe--"a first-class
seaman who would be glad of the job."

"No, thank you, Joe," said Doctor Dolittle. "I don't want any
seamen. I couldn't afford to hire them. And then they hamper me
so, seamen do, when I'm at sea. They're always wanting to do
things the proper way; and I like to do them my way--Now let me
see: who could we take with us?"

"There's Matthew Mugg, the cat's-meat-man," I said.

"No, he wouldn't do. Matthew's a very nice fellow, but he talks
too much--mostly about his rheumatism. You have to be
frightfully particular whom you take with you on long voyages."