Читать книгу Harry the Poisonous Centipede - Lynne Reid Banks - Страница 9
ОглавлениеShe led him through their usual tunnels, and then turned off, along one she had often told him never to go down. It sloped downward, deep into the earth, and they followed it until they found themselves in a big kind of cave.
It felt very damp here – extra damp. There was a gleam down below – a pool! Harry got excited.
“Ooh, Mama! Look at that water! Is it like the sea? Can I play Sea-Centipedes?”
Harry had heard many stories about his cousins, who long ago had moved from earth-tunnels to homes by the ocean.
But Belinda shook her head. “No, Hxzltl! This is no place to play! It’s very, very dangerous. Now, come over here, and look up.”
Harry could now see that there was a faint light in the cave. It was coming from a tunnel above their heads that seemed to go straight up.
“What a funny tunnel!” he said. “It’s so straight! And its walls are as shiny as your cuticle, Mama!”
“Yes. No centipede burrowed this one! You can see it’s not made of earth like our regular tunnels. It’s made of some hard shiny stuff. It’s not easy to get a grip on with your feet. But just the same it’s possible to climb it. I know because—” She stopped suddenly. “Only you mustn’t, Hxzltl. Do you hear me? You must not go Up the Up-Pipe.”
“Why not?”
“Because it leads into the Place of Hoo-Mins,” she said in that same hushed voice she had used before, the one that made Harry’s cuticle go cold.
“How do you know, Mama?”
“I would rather not say.”
“Have you been Up the Up-Pipe? Was it the second time you just escaped from a Hoo-Min?”
Belinda turned her head away. A long shudder ran along her back.
“Yes. When I was young and knew nothing of danger. I had no mama to guide me. But you have, pride-of-my basket. So listen: Never, ever, ever, go Up the Up-Pipe. Because if you do, you may never come down again.”
