Twenty
‘There is something that I believe we might try,’ James Henry Trotter said slowly. ‘I‘m not saying it’llwork…’
‘Tell us!’ cried the Earthworm. ‘Tell us quick!’
‘We’ll try anything you say!’ said the Centipede. ‘But hurry, hurry, hurry!’
‘Be quiet and let the boy speak!’ said the Ladybird. ‘Go on, James.’
They all moved a little closer to him. There was a longish pause.
‘Go on!’ they cried frantically¹. ‘Go on!’
And all the time while they were waiting they could hear the sharks threshing around in the waterbelow them. It was enough to make anyone frantic².
‘Come on, James,’ the Ladybird said, coaxing³ him.
I… I… I‘m afraid it’s no good after all,’ James murmured, shaking his head. ‘I‘m terribly sorry. Iforgot. We don’t have any string. We’d need hundreds of yards of string to make this work.’
‘What sort of string?’ asked the Old-Green-Grasshopper sharply.
‘Any sort, just so long as it’s strong.’
‘But my dear boy, that’s exactly what we do have! We‘ve got all you want!’
‘How? Where?’
‘The Silkworm!’ cried the Old-Green-Grasshopper. ‘Didn’t you ever notice the Silkworm? She’s stilldownstairs! She never moves! She just lies there sleeping all day long, but we can easily wake her upand make her spin!’
‘And what about me, may I ask?’ said Miss Spider. ‘I can spin just as well as any Silkworm. What’smore, I can spin patterns.’
‘Can you make enough between you?’ asked James.
‘As much as you want.’
‘And quickly?’
‘Of course! Of course!’
‘And would it be strong?’
‘The strongest there is! It’s as thick as your finger! But why? What are you going to do?’
‘I‘m going to lift this peach clear out of the water!’ James announced firmly.
‘You’re mad!’ cried the Earthworm.
‘It’s our only chance.’
‘The boy’s crazy.’
‘He’s joking.’
‘Go on, James,’ the Ladybird said gently. ‘How are you going to do it?’
‘Skyhooks, I suppose,’

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