Sixteen
And now the peach had broken out of the garden and was over the edge of the hill, rolling andbouncing down the steep slope at a terrific pace. Faster and faster and faster it went, and the crowds ofpeople who were climbing up the hill suddenly caught sight of this terrible monster plunging¹ downupon them and they screamed and scattered² to right and left as it went hurtling by.
At the bottom of the hill it charged across the road, knocking over a telegraph pole and flattening³ twoparked cars as it went by.
Then it rushed madly across about twenty fields, breaking down all the fences and hedges in its path.
It went right through the middle of a herd⁴ of fine Jersey⁵ cows, and then through a flock of sheep, andthen through a paddock full of horses, and then through a yard full of pigs, and soon the wholecountryside was a seething⁶ mass of panic-stricken animals stampeding in all directions.
The peach was still going at a tremendous speed with no sign of slowing down, and about a milefarther on it came to a village.
Down the main street of the village it rolled, with people leaping frantically⁷ out of its path right andleft, and at the end of the street it went crashing right through the wall of an enormous building and outthe other side, leaving two gaping⁸ round holes in the brickwork.
This building happened to be a famous factory where they made chocolate, and almost at once agreat river of warm melted chocolate came pouring out of the holes in the factory wall. A minute later,this brown sticky mess was flowing through every street in the village, oozing⁹ under the doors ofhouses and into people’s shops and gardens. Children were

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