twenty-two
in a few minutes everything was ready.
it was very quiet now on the top of the peach. there was nobody in sight – nobody except theearthworm.
one half of the earthworm, looking like a great, thick, juicy, pink sausage, lay innocently in the sunfor all the seagulls to see.
the other half of him was dangling down the tunnel.
james was crouching close beside the earthworm in the tunnel entrance, just below the surface,waiting for the first seagull. he had a loop of silk string in his hands.
the old-green-grasshopper and the ladybird were further down the tunnel, holding on to theearthworm’s tail, ready to pull him quickly in out of danger as soon as james gave the word.
and far below, in the great stone of the peach, the glow-worm was lighting up the room so that thetwo spinners, the silkworm and miss spider, could see what they were doing. the centipede was downthere too, exhorting them both frantically to greater efforts, and every now and again james could hearhis voice coming up faintly from the depths, shouting, ‘spin, silkworm, spin, you great fat lazy brute!
faster, faster, or we’ll throw you to the sharks!’
‘here comes the first seagull!’ whispered james. ‘keep still now, earthworm. keep still. the rest ofyou get ready to pull.’
‘please don’t let it spike me,’ begged the earthworm.
‘i won‘t, i won‘t. ssshh…’
out of the corner of one eye, james watched the seagull as it came swooping down towards theearthworm. and then suddenly it was so close that he could see its small black eyes and its curvedbeak, and the beak was open, ready to grab a nice piece of flesh out of the earthworm’s back.
‘pull!’ shouted james.’
the old-green-grasshopper and the ladybird gave the earthworm’s tail an enormous tug, and likemagic the earthworm disappeared into the tunnel. at the same time, up went james’s hand and theseagull flew right into the loop of silk that he was holding out. the loop, which had been cleverly made,tightened just the right amount (but not too much) around its neck, and the seagull was captured.
‘hooray!’ shouted the old-green-grasshopper, peering out of the tunnel. ‘well done, james!’
up flew the seagull with james paying out the silk string as it went. he gave it about fifty yards andthen tied the string to the stem of the peach.
‘next one!’ he shouted, jumping back into the tunnel. ‘up you get again, earthworm! bring up somemore silk, centipede!’
‘oh, i don’t like this at all,’ wailed the earthworm. ‘it only just missed me! i even felt the wind onmy back as it went swishing past!’
‘ssshh!’ whispered james. ‘keep still! here comes another one!’
so they did it again.
and again, and again, and again.
and the seagulls kept coming, and james caught them one after the other and tethered them to thepeach stem.
‘one hundred seagulls!’ he shouted, wiping the sweat from his face.
‘keep going!’ they cried. ‘keep going, james!’
‘two hundred seagulls!’
‘three hundred seagulls!’
‘four hundred seagulls!’
the sharks, as though sensing that they were in danger of losing their prey, were hurling themselvesat the peach more furiously than ever, and the peach was sinking lower and lower still in the water.
‘five hundred seagulls!’ james shouted.
‘silkworm says she’s running out of silk!’ yelled the centipede from below. ‘she says she can’t keepit up much longer. nor can miss spider!’
‘tell them they‘ve got to!’ james answered. ‘they can’t stop now!’
‘we’re lifting!’ somebody shouted.
‘no, we’re not!’
‘i felt it!’
‘put on another seagull, quick!’
‘quiet, everybody! quiet! here’s one coming now!’
this was the five hundred and first seagull, and the moment that james caught it and tethered it to thestem with all the others, the whole enormous peach suddenly started rising up slowly out of the water.
‘look out! here we go! hold on, boys!’
but then it stopped.
and there it hung.
it hovered and swayed, but it went no higher.
the bottom of it was just touching the water. it was like a delicately balanced scale that needed onlythe tiniest push to tip it one way or the other.
‘one more will do it!’ shouted the old-green-grasshopper, looking out of the tunnel. ‘we’re almostthere!’
and now came the big moment. quickly, the five hundred and second seagull was caught andharnessed to the peach-stem…
and then suddenly…
but slowly…
majestically…
like some fabulous golden balloon…
with all the seagulls straining at the strings above…the giant peach rose up dripping out of the water and began climbing towards the heavens.
二十二
几分钟以后，一切就绪。
这会儿，仙桃顶上鸦雀无声，见不到一个人影—除了蚯蚓以外，谁也见不到。
阳光下，蚯蚓的一半身子，仿佛一根肉汁鲜美的又粗又红的大香肠，老老实实地躺在那里，叫海鸥来看。
另外一半，耷拉在通道里。
通道入口处，詹姆斯手里攥着一个绳套，在桃皮的下面，紧紧地蹲在蚯蚓旁边。
绿色老蚱蜢和瓢虫抓着蚯蚓的尾巴，待在通道的更下面，准备一听到詹姆斯发话，就赶快把蚯蚓拉进来，好让他脱离危险。
再往下去，在仙桃的桃核里，萤火虫照得屋子通明，好叫蚕儿和蜘蛛小姐这两个吐丝的，看得见自己所干的活儿。蜈蚣也在那里，拼命督促她们两个吐丝。时不时的，詹姆斯听得见他的声音从深处依稀传上来，只听他喊道：“吐丝啊，蚕儿！吐丝呀，你这个又肥又懒的大家伙！快一点，再快一点，要不，我们就把你喂鲨鱼！”
“头一只海鸥飞过来了！”詹姆斯悄声说，“别动，蚯蚓，别动。你其余的身子要准备好往后撤。”
“可别叫海鸥啄我呀。”蚯蚓乞求地说。
“不会，我不会的，嘘……”
海鸥朝蚯蚓俯冲下来的一刹那，詹姆斯用眼角望着海鸥。接着，突然之间，海鸥飞得很近，詹姆斯瞥见了那黑色的小眼睛，还有那弯曲的鸟喙。鸟喙已经张开，打算从蚯蚓脊背上啄一块新鲜的肉吃。
“拉！”詹姆斯叫了起来。
绿色老蚱蜢和瓢虫狠劲拽了一下蚯蚓的尾巴，就像施了魔法一样，蚯蚓躲进了通道。就在这个节骨眼儿上，只见詹姆斯一扬手，一只海鸥便不偏不倚，落进了他手里抛出去的绳套中。套在海鸥脖子上的套子，结得不紧不松，很是巧妙，于是就套住了一只海鸥。
“好啊！”绿色老蚱蜢瞧着通道外面，欢呼起来，“干得好，詹姆斯！”
海鸥扑棱棱朝天上飞去，詹姆斯也随着海鸥的飞翔放松了绳子，松开了大约五十码的样子，便拴在了桃把上。
“套下一个！”他说着，跳回了通道，“你再上去，蚯蚓！你再拿些丝绳来，蜈蚣！”
“唉，我压根儿不愿意这样的。”蚯蚓哭哭啼啼地说，“差一点啄着我！海鸥嗖嗖地飞过来，脊背上都觉得有风！”
“嘘！”詹姆斯小声说，“别动！又飞来了一只！”
于是，他们又套住了一只。
接着，套了一只，又一只；套了一只，又一只。
然而，海鸥还是不断地飞过来。詹姆斯陆续把他们套住，拴在了桃把上面。
“一百只啦！”他一边擦着脸上的汗水，一边说。
“接着套呀！”他们大喊道，“接着套呀！”
“二百只啦！”
“四百只啦！”
鲨鱼仿佛觉察出了自己有失掉猎物的危险，于是，便比以前更加疯狂地朝仙桃冲了过来。而且，仙桃也在海水中越来越下沉了。
“五百只啦！”詹姆斯大喊起来。
“蚕儿说她已经没有丝可吐啦！”下面的蜈蚣叫喊着说，“她说自己坚持不了多久了。蜘蛛小姐也坚持不了啦！”
“跟她们说，坚持不了也得坚持！”詹姆斯回答，“这会儿不能停下来！”
“我们升起来啦！”有人喊道。
“没有，这不是上升！”
“我都觉出来啦！”
“再套上一只！快！”
“静一下，大伙都静一下！喏，又飞来了一只！”
这是第五百零一只海鸥。就在詹姆斯套住他，拴在桃把上的当儿，突然之间，整个硕大的桃子便开始上升，缓缓地离开了水面。
“当心！我们上升了！可要站稳了，伙计们！”
然而，接着仙桃又停了下来。
而且，悬在了那里。
仙桃飘荡摇动着，可就是不再升高。
仙桃底下刚好擦着海水，就仿佛巧妙平衡着的天平，稍一用力，就会朝这边或者那边倾斜。
“再有一只就好了！”绿色老蚱蜢从通道里朝外望着，喊，“怎么呢，几乎就要成功了呀！”
于是，伟大的一刻来到了。詹姆斯很快套住了第五百零二只海鸥，给拴到桃把上去……接着，突然之间……
虽然是不紧不慢地……
但却是辉煌壮观地……
仿佛什么不可思议的金黄色气球似的……
由于所有海鸥在天空拉紧了丝绳……
硕大的仙桃滴答着海水，朝天堂攀升。