Harry the Poisonous Centipede Read Online Free PDF Page A

ran back down the tunnel to his home-nest. Belinda was there, of course, fast asleep.
    â€œMama! Wake up!” crackled Harry.
    Belinda shot out from under her leaf.
    â€œWhat? What is it? Is it a belly-crawler?”
    â€œNo, Mama! It’s a Hoo-Min!”
    If centipedes could turn pale, Belinda would have become a white centipede.
    Her front feelers waved so wildly they bumped into each other and twisted together. It was like a person wringing their hands.

    â€œWhere?” she breathed at last.
    â€œOn – on the no-top world, Mama.”
    Belinda untwisted her feelers and seized Harry with her pincers.
    â€œWhat are you frightening me for? Where else would a Hoo-Min be? We’re quite safe down here! Hx, if this is your idea of a joke—”
    â€œBut Mama – Grndd is up there too!”
    Belinda let Harry go.
    Grnddjl – Grndd for short – George – had no mother. It was his own fault for leaving her, but the fact was, he hadno one to look after him. No one but Belinda.
    She didn’t waste time asking any more questions.
    â€œCome on,” she said, and began racing up the nearest up-tunnel.
    Harry raced after her.
    Halfway along it, she stopped dead and Harry ran into her rear segment.
    Without a crackle, she turned round, ran back, ran along another tunnel, stopped, listened and turned again.
    All the time Harry was trying to follow her, bumping into her, having her run over him as she turned, and then running after her again. He couldn’t make out what she was doing. But suddenly he heard the thumping overhead again, and he understood.
    Belinda was trying to find out exactly where the Hoo-Min was, above them.
    Now she ran into another tunnel. Belinda knew the network of tunnels very well. She knew how to get to the surface in the right place – nearest the Hoo-Min.
    They poked their heads out of the tunnel. The brightness fell on them. It hurt their eyes. But they put up their feelers and scented the air with them.
    Harry sensed the Hoo-Min at once. It had a very strong smell and it put out a lot of heat. Even in the hot sunshine he could feel it in his sensitive feeler-tips. The Hoo-Min was very close to them. So close its shadow fell on them.
    â€œCan you sense Grndd?” Belinda asked.
    They were both waving their feelers desperately in all directions.
    â€œYes! He’s over there!” said Harry, pointing both feelers.
    â€œI sense him. I’m going to fetch him.”
    â€œNo, Mama! Don’t! The Hoo-Min—”
    â€œStay here! Don’t you dare come out till I get back!”

17. The Hoo-Min Strikes
    Belinda dashed out of the hole.
    She headed straight for George, who was hiding under a bit of stick. He’d followed the Hoo-Min for quite a long way and was now watching it, fascinated.
    He didn’t see what the Hoo-Min was doing. But Belinda did.
    The Hoo-Min was bending and straightening. It was lifting things.
    It was lifting sticks.
    Its big feeler was reaching out. It was reaching for the stick that George was hiding under.
    Belinda ran, signalling frantically for George to come to her, but George wasn’t noticing anything except the Hoo-Min. It was so big and so close that George couldn’t make out what it was doing – until the stick that was covering him was suddenly lifted away.
    George was out in the open! The Hoo-Min could see him!
    The Hoo-Min straightened up. Its shadow covered everything as it raised its top leg with the stick in its feeler.
    The stick it had just picked up came down again. Very hard.

    WHACK! Right on the ground where George was. If centipedes could shriek, Belinda would have shrieked. But after all,the stick didn’t land where George was, but where George had been half a second before.
    He shot out of the way just as the stick came down.
    The stick came down again.

    And again.

    It beat the earth.
    Whack! Whack! Whack!
    George ran frantically here and there,dodging the stick.