Desert Disaster Read Free Page A

chainsaw and a bucket of quick-drying concrete.”
    Sir Rupert looked at Horace with a slight smile on his face. He had every reason to be angry – Horace was being quite rude now, his loud voice blocking out anyone else’s questions. But Sir Rupert just leaned back and smiled.
    “Enough discussion, I think. Time for a little practical demonstration.”
    He picked up his rucksack from under the desk. It looked heavy and worn, and Jimmy could imagine that it had been on every expedition the old man had ever taken part in. Sir Rupert placed it on the desk and opened the top.
    “I’ve something in here which I think will interest you greatly,” he said.
    “Boring!” said Horace, leaning back in his chair, swinging precariously. “What is it, some old rocks? A branch to chew on when you get lost in your back garden?”
    “Master Pelly, perhaps you would care to come up and help me out. The rest of you gather around,” Sir Rupert continued.
    Horace leaped up from his seat, keen to take any opportunity to show off. The rest of the racers approached carefully. They stood slightly back from the desk as the teacher rummaged in his bag.
    “When I say I want you to respect the land around you, I—”
    “Oh, let’s get on with it!” said Horace. He barged forward and picked up the rucksack, turning it out onto the desk. The contents fell out, books and clothes scattering everywhere.
    Sir Rupert tried to grab the rucksack, but Horace had it out of reach. Jimmy saw the alarm on the old man’s face as a glass box tumbled out of the bag and onto the floor. It smashed into tiny pieces and Jimmy saw something crawl out of the shards of glass. It had eight black legs and two sharp claws. At the back of its hard body was a tail that curved above it, with a sharp sting at the end. Jimmy quickly realized what Horace had just released into their classroom.
    A scorpion!

Chapter 3 - Scorpion Surprise!
    Kako gave off a high-pitched scream as the scorpion scuttled under the classroom tables.
    Chip jumped on his chair and started tucking his trousers into his socks.“Where’d it go? Where’d it go?” he asked anxiously.
    “It’s in the corner!” said Jimmy, who could see it heading for the door. “Actually, I think that it’s more afraid of us than we are of it.”
    “I don’t think so!” Horace shouted.
    Sir Rupert sighed, and tried to continue with his lesson. “Come on, now, settle down,” he said. No one paid him any attention. “Let’s get back to the matter in hand, shall we?”
    The scorpion scurried a different way, and the students all shrieked.
    “ Stand still! ” said Sir Rupert with such force that everyone stopped panicking and stood to attention. “That’s better,” he continued in a quieter voice. “Now, if you’ll all kindly take your seats, we shall continue.”
    They did exactly as they were told. They climbed down slowly from their chairs and sat down, except for Horace, who refused to budge from on top of his chair, his face red with fear. “Sting is a deathstalker scorpion,” said Sir Rupert, ignoring Horace. “They usually live in the Sahara desert, where they feed on insects. The tail ends in a sharp spike, which contains a poison.”
    “You brought a deadly scorpion into our classroom? Are you mad?” squealed Horace.
    “Now then, he’s hardly deadly. A sting from this little fellow would not be enough to kill a full-grown adult,” said Sir Rupert with his thin smile. He thought for a moment and the smile dropped. “Hmm. A child might be another matter, however...”
    Horace moaned to himself and scrambled up on top of his desk.
    Sir Rupert carried on as if nothing had happened. “A fascinating area, the Sahara. Did you know that it gets less than twenty-five centimetres of rain each year?” he repeated himself. “You’d think that it is so dry that nothing can live there, but many animals do, such as scorpions, camels and goats. There is even a type of antelope that can go for