thirty

they all raised their heads, listening.

‘ssshh! there it is again!’

but the voice was too far away for them to hear what it was saying.

‘it’s a cloud-man!’ miss spider cried. ‘i just know it’s a cloud-man! they’re after us again!’

‘it came from above!’ the earthworm said, and automatically everybody looked upward, everybodyexcept the centipede, who couldn’t move.

‘ouch!’ they said. ‘help! mercy! we’re going to catch it this time!’ for what they now saw, swirlingand twisting directly over their heads, was an immense black cloud, a terrible, dangerous, thundery-looking thing that began to rumble and roar even as they were staring at it. and then, from high up onthe top of the cloud, the faraway voice came down to them once again, this time very loud and clear.

‘on with the faucets!’ it shouted. ‘on with the faucets! on with the faucets!’

three seconds later, the whole underneath of the cloud seemed to split and burst open like a paperbag, and then – out came the water! they saw it coming. it was quite easy to see because it wasn’t justraindrops. it wasn’t raindrops at all. it was a great solid mass of water that might have been a lake or awhole ocean dropping out of the sky on top of them, and down it came, down and down and down,crashing first on to the seagulls and then on to the peach itself, while the poor travellers shrieked withfear and groped around frantically for something to catch hold of – the peach stem, the silk strings,anything they could find – and all the time the water came pouring and roaring down upon them,bouncing and smashing and sloshing and slashing and swashing and swirling and surging and whirlingand gurgling and gushing and rushing and rushing, and it was like being pinned down underneath thebiggest waterfall in the world and not being able to get out. they couldn’t speak. they couldn’t see.

they couldn’t breathe. and james henry trotter, holding on madly to one of the silk strings above thepeach stem, told himself that this must surely be the end of everything at last. but then, just as suddenlyas it had started, the deluge stopped. they were out of it and it was all over. the wonderful seagulls hadflown right through it and had come out safely on the other side. once again the giant peach was sailingpeacefully through the mysterious moonlit sky.

‘i am drowned!’ gasped the old-green-grasshopper, spitting out water by the pint.

‘it’s gone right through my skin!’ the earthworm groaned. ‘i always thought my skin was waterproofbut it isn’t and now i‘m full of rain!’

‘look at me, look at me!’ shouted the centipede excitedly. ‘it’s washed me clean! the paint’s allgone! i can move again!’

‘that’s the worst news i‘ve had in a long time,’ the earthworm said.

the centipede was dancing around the deck and turning somersaults in the air and singing at the topof his voice:

‘oh, hooray for the storm and the rain!

i can move! i don’t feel any pain!

and now i‘m a pest,

i‘m the biggest and best,

the most marvellous pest once again!’

‘oh, do shut up,’ the old-green-grasshopper said.

‘look at me!’ cried the centipede.

‘look at me! i am freed! i am freed!

not a scratch nor a bruise nor a bleed!

to his grave this fine gent

they all thought they had sent

and i very near went!

oh, i very near went!

but they cent quite the wrong sentipede!’

三十

于是，他们都抬起头来，倾听着。

“嘘！又有了声音！”

然而，声音离他们很远，听不清楚说的是什么。

“是云彩人！”蜘蛛小姐哭叫起来，“我就知道是云彩人嘛！他们又追赶我们来啦！”

“是从上面传来的。”蚯蚓说。于是，大家都不约而同地仰起脑袋来，朝上望着。只有不能动弹的蜈蚣例外。

“噢嗬，”他们说，“救命啊！可怜可怜我们吧！这回可没有法子躲了！”他们这样说着，只见头顶正上方，有一大片腾挪跌宕的乌云，看起来可怕而险恶，仿佛就要发出霹雳来一样，就在他们望的时候，轰轰隆隆，怒吼声大作。接着，从高高的乌云顶上，一个渺远的声音又传了过来。这一次，声音不但很高，而且非常清晰。

“拧开水龙头！”那声音喊道，“拧开水龙头！拧开水龙头！”

三秒钟以后，整个乌云下面，仿佛纸袋一样撕裂开了。雨水随着倾泻下来！他们看见了雨水。这很容易看见，因为不是雨点，根本不是雨点，而好像是湖泊或者整个海洋似的茫茫洪水，从天空泼下来。雨水倾泻着，倾泻着，倾泻着，先是泼在海鸥身上，接着又泼在仙桃上面。就在这当儿，那些可怜的游客们，被吓得嚎叫不止，疯狂地在四周摸索着，想抓住什么东西，桃把啦，丝绳啦，能找到的什么东西都行。而同时，那雨水却咆哮般地浇在他们身上，蹦跳着，击打着，泼溅着，撞击着，盘旋着，雨声哗哗，雨水汩汩。他们仿佛给钉在了世界上最大的瀑布底下，出也出不来，看也看不见，话也说不出，气也不能喘。詹姆斯·亨利·特洛特拼命抓住桃把上的丝绳，自言自语地说：“想必一切都要完蛋了。”然而，暴风雨来得很快，去得也突然。他们走出了暴风雨，一切都成为过去了。那些了不起的海鸥，穿过了暴风雨，来到了安全的一边。月色照亮的神秘天空中，仙桃又一次安详地飘荡着。

“我快给淹死了！”绿色老蚱蜢喘了一口气说，一边大口大口地往外吐着雨水。

“都穿透了我的皮肤！”蚯蚓呻吟起来，“我一向认为，自己的皮肤防水，原来不防水。我肚子里灌满了水！”

“瞧瞧我，瞧瞧我呀！”蜈蚣欢喜雀跃地叫着，“我身上给冲干净啦！油漆都没有啦！我又能动弹啦！”

“这是长时期以来，我所听到的最坏的消息。”蚯蚓说。

蜈蚣在甲板上跳着舞，翻着筋斗，一边高声唱道：

哦好呀，狂雨和暴风！

我能动了，根本不觉得疼！

现在，我是个大害虫，

我又是最大的，最好的，

最了不起的大害虫！

“哦，闭嘴！”绿色老蚱蜢说。

“瞧瞧我呀！”蜈蚣大嚷道：

瞧瞧我！我有了自由！

青肿都没有，血也没有流。

都以为我会把命送，

进入坟茔，进入坟茔！

哦，自己也真的进入坟茔！

可他们错看了我这个大蜈蚣！