Twenty-three
In a flash, everybody was up on top.
‘Oh, isn’t it beautiful!’ they cried.
‘What a marvellous feeling!’
‘Good-bye, sharks!’
‘Oh, boy, this is the way to travel!’
Miss Spider, who was literally¹ squealing² with excitement, grabbed the Centipede by the waist andthe two of them started dancing round and round the peach stem together. The Earthworm stood up onhis tail and did a sort of wriggle³ of joy all by himself. The Old-Green-Grasshopper⁴ kept hopping⁵ higherand higher in the air. The Ladybird rushed over and shook James warmly by the hand. The Glow-worm, who at the best of times was a very shy and silent creature, sat glowing with pleasure near thetunnel entrance. Even the Silkworm, looking white and thin and completely exhausted⁶, came creepingout of the tunnel to watch this miraculous⁷ ascent⁸.
Up and up they went, and soon they were as high as the top of a church steeple above the ocean.
‘I‘m a bit worried about the peach,’ James said to the others as soon as all the dancing and theshouting had stopped. ‘I wonder how much damage those sharks have done to it underneath⁹. It’s quiteimpossible to tell from up here.’
‘Why don’t I go over the side and make an inspection¹⁰?’ Miss Spider said. ‘It’ll be no trouble at all, Iassure you.’ And without waiting for an answer, she quickly produced a length of silk thread andattached the end of it to the peach stem. ‘I’ll be back in a jiffy,’ she said, and then she walked calmlyover to the edge of the peach and jumped off, paying out the thread behind her as she fell.

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