five

the next moment, james was running back towards the house as fast as he could go. he would do it allin the kitchen, he told himself – if only he could get in there without aunt sponge and aunt spikerseeing him. he was terribly excited. he flew through the long grass and the stinging-nettles, not caringwhether he got stung or not on his bare knees, and in the distance he could see aunt sponge and auntspiker sitting in their chairs with their backs towards him. he swerved away from them so as to goround the other side of the house, but then suddenly, just as he was passing underneath the old peachtree that stood in the middle of the garden, his foot slipped and he fell flat on his face in the grass. thepaper bag burst open as it hit the ground and the thousands of tiny green things were scattered in alldirections.

james immediately picked himself up on to his hands and knees and started searching around for hisprecious treasures. but what was this? they were all sinking into the soil! he could actually see themwriggling and twisting as they burrowed their way downward into the hard earth, and at once hereached out a hand to pick some of them up before it was too late, but they disappeared right under hisfingers. he went after some others, and the same thing happened! he began scrabbling aroundfrantically in an effort to catch hold of those that were left, but they were too quick for him. each timethe tips of his fingers were just about to touch them, they vanished into the earth! and soon, in thespace of only a few seconds, every single one of them had gone!

james felt like crying. he would never get them back now – they were lost, lost, lost for ever.

but where had they gone to? and why in the world had they been so eager to push down into theearth like that? what were they after? there was nothing down there. nothing except the roots of theold peach tree… and a whole lot of earthworms and centipedes and insects living in the soil.

but what was it that the old man had said? whoever they meet first, be it bug, insect, animal, or tree,that will be the one who gets the full power of their magic!

good heavens, thought james. what is going to happen in that case if they do meet an earthworm?

or a centipede? or a spider? and what if they do go into the roots of the peach tree?

‘get up at once, you lazy little beast!’ a voice was suddenly shouting in james’s ear. james glancedup and saw aunt spiker standing over him, grim and tall and bony, glaring at him through her steel-rimmed spectacles. ‘get back over there immediately and finish chopping up those logs!’ she ordered.

aunt sponge, fat and pulpy as a jellyfish, came waddling up behind her sister to see what was goingon. ‘why don’t we just lower the boy down the well in a bucket and leave him there for the night?’ shesuggested. ‘that ought to teach him not to laze around like this the whole day long.’

‘that’s a very good wheeze, my dear sponge. but let’s make him finish chopping up the wood first.

be off with you at once, you hideous brat, and do some work!’

slowly, sadly, poor james got up off the ground and went back to the woodpile. oh, if only he hadn’tslipped and fallen and dropped that precious bag. all hope of a happier life had gone completely now.

today and tomorrow and the next day and all the other days as well would be nothing but punishmentand pain, unhappiness and despair.

he picked up the chopper and was just about to start chopping away again when he heard a shoutbehind him that made him stop and turn.

五

转眼之间，詹姆斯便使出全身力气，朝房子跑去。心里一边想着：要想不让海绵团姨妈和大头钉姨妈看见，这一切都得到厨房里去干才好。他非常兴奋，飞也似的跑过高高的野草，跑过刺人的荨麻，连扎没扎着裸露的膝盖也不放在心上。他望见，远处海绵团姨妈和大头钉姨妈正背冲着他坐在椅子上。于是，他兜了个圈子，绕开她们，好从另一边到房子里去。可是，刚跑到园子中间那棵老桃树底下，突然，他脚下一滑，在草地上摔了个仰面朝天。纸袋子在着地的一刹那被划破了，那成百上千的绿色小东西撒得到处都是。

詹姆斯立刻爬起来，匍匐着到处寻找那些宝贝。可这是怎么回事儿？那些宝贝正往土里钻哪！老天作证，他眼睁睁地见到，那些小东西正扭曲着身子，使劲地往坚硬的泥土里钻。

说时迟那时快，他立即伸出一只手，想抓住一些，然而，它们都从手底下逃走了。他又去抓别的，可还是没有什么两样！他于是疯了似的到处乱抓起来，想把那些剩下的逮住，可是，它们钻得太快了，逮也逮不住。每当手指头刚刚碰到它们，它们便钻到土里不见了。不一会儿，也就是几秒钟的工夫吧，一个都不见了！

詹姆斯真想哭鼻子。他再也弄不回那些小东西了。它们给弄丢了，弄丢了，永远弄丢了。

可是，它们到哪儿去了呢？见鬼，它们干吗那样着急地往土里钻呢？它们寻找什么呢？

底下，除了老桃树的根须，除了蚯蚓、蜈蚣，还有住在泥土里的虫子以外，什么也没有呀。

然而，那老头儿说什么来着？不论谁先碰到，臭虫也好，昆虫也好，兽儿也好，树儿也好，都会得到它们的法力！

老天哪！詹姆斯心里想：要是碰到蚯蚓、蜈蚣，或者蜘蛛什么的，会怎么样呢？要是它们钻到老桃树树根里去，又会怎么样呢？

“给我站起来，你这个小懒虫！”一个声音突然在詹姆斯耳朵旁边喊起来。他抬头瞧了瞧，只见大头钉姨妈站在那儿。她又高又瘦，皮包着骨头，透过金丝边眼镜盯着詹姆斯。“马上给我回去，把木头劈完！”她发布了命令。

这时，水母般肥肥胖胖的海绵团姨妈，也摇摇摆摆走到妹妹身后，来看光景。“用筐子把他送到井底下，让他在那里待上一夜，不是挺好吗？”她出着主意说，“那就能教训他一顿，叫他不敢成天偷懒耍滑啦。”

“太妙了，亲爱的海绵团。不过，先得叫他把木头劈完才行。马上滚开，给我干活去，你这个可恶的东西！”

可怜的小詹姆斯，悲悲切切，从地上慢慢站起来，朝柴堆走过去。哦，要是自己没有滑倒，没有丢那个宝贝袋子，该有多好啊！现在，过幸福生活的希望全都一去不复返了。今天、明天、后天，还有以后所有的日子，等待着他的，就只有折磨和痛苦、不幸和绝望了。

詹姆斯拿起斧子正想劈的时候，就听得身后一声呐喊，于是，他停下手，转过身去。