18 Eighteen

Eighteen A minute later, they were out in the open, standing on the very top of the peach, near the stem, blinking their eyes in the strong sunlight and peering nervously around. 'What happened?' 'Where are we?' 'But this is impossible!' 'Unbelievable!' 'Terrible!' 'I told you we were bobbing up and down,' the Ladybird said. 'We're in the middle of the sea!' cried James. And indeed they were. A strong current and a high wind had carried the peach so quickly away from the shore that already the land was out of sight. All around them lay the vast black ocean,

deep and hungry. Little waves were bibbling against the sides of the peach. 'But how did it happen?' they cried. 'Where are the fields? Where are the woods? Where is England?' Nobody, not even James, could understand how in the world a thing like this could have come about. 'Ladies and gentlemen,' the Old-Green-Grasshopper said, trying very hard to keep the fear and disappointment out of his voice, 'I am afraid that we find ourselves in a rather awkward situation.' 'Awkward!' cried the Earthworm. 'My dear Old Grasshopper, we are finished! Every one of us is about to perish! I may be blind, you know, but that much I can see quite clearly.' 'Off with my boots!' shouted the Centipede. 'I cannot swim with my boots on!' 'I can't swim at all!' cried the Ladybird. 'Nor can I,' wailed the Glow-worm. 'Nor I!' said Miss Spider. 'None of us three girls can swim a single stroke.'

'But you won't have to swim,' said James calmly. 'We are floating beautifully. And sooner or later a ship is bound to come along and pick us up.' They all stared at him in amazement. 'Are you quite sure that we are not sinking?' the Ladybird asked. 'Of course I'm sure,' answered James. 'Go and look for yourselves.' They all ran over to the side of the peach and peered down at the water below. 'The boy is quite right,' the Old-Green-Grasshopper said. 'We are floating beautifully. Now we must all sit down and keep perfectly calm. Everything will be all right in the end.' 'What absolute nonsense!' cried the Earthworm. 'Nothing is ever all right in the end, and well you know it!' 'Poor Earthworm,' the Ladybird said, whispering in James's ear. 'He loves to make everything into a disaster. He hates to be happy. He is only happy when he is gloomy. Now isn't

that odd? But then, I suppose just being an Earthworm is enough to make a person pretty gloomy, don't you agree?' 'If this peach is not going to sink,' the Earthworm was saying, 'and if we are not going to be drowned, then every one of us is going to starve to death instead. Do you realize that we haven't had a thing to eat since yesterday morning?' 'By golly, he's right!' cried the Centipede. 'For once, Earthworm is right!' 'Of course I'm right,' the Earthworm said. 'And we're not likely to find anything around here either. We shall get thinner and thinner and thirstier and thirstier, and we shall all die a slow and grisly death from starvation. I am dying already. I am slowly shrivelling up for want of food. Personally, I would rather drown.' 'But good heavens, you must be blind!' said James. 'You know very well I'm blind,' snapped the Earthworm. 'There's no need to rub it in.'

'I didn't mean that,' said James quickly. 'I'm sorry. But can't you see that – ' 'See?' shouted the poor Earthworm. 'How can I see if I am blind?' James took a deep, slow breath. 'Can't you realize,' he said patiently, 'that we have enough food here to last us for weeks and weeks?' 'Where?' they said. 'Where?' 'Why, the peach of course! Our whole ship is made of food!' 'Jumping Jehoshophat!' they cried. 'We never thought of that!' 'My dear James,' said the Old-Green-Grasshopper, laying a front leg affectionately on James's shoulder, 'I don't know what we'd do without you.

You are so clever. Ladies and gentlemen – we are saved again!' 'We are most certainly not!' said the Earthworm. 'You must be crazy! You can't eat the ship! It's the only thing that is keeping us up!' 'We shall starve if we don't!' said the Centipede. 'And we shall drown if we do!' cried the Earthworm. 'Oh dear, oh dear,' said the Old-Green-Grasshopper. 'Now we're worse off than before!'