The Wombles Go round the World Read Free Page B

difficulties, no matter how scaring, will be overcome in the end.
    â€˜A TTENTION please,’ said Miss Adelaide, tapping the map with her stick. ‘Now as you can see, I have divided the world into two parts – with this black line down the middle – so that you will have half each. Understood?’
    The four young Wombles nodded speechlessly. It sounded so grand to be given ‘half the world’ to cover.
    â€˜Bungo and Orinoco, you will go west to America . . .’
    â€˜Oh good, that means seeing Cousin Yellowstone again,’ said Bungo, who had always got on very well with his American cousin.
    â€˜Good sort of Womble,’ agreed Orinoco. ‘I remember when I kind of met him outside the back door of Fortune and Bason and . . .’
    â€˜We all remember it,’ said Miss Adelaide. ‘We can also recall why you happened to be there in the first place. Shall I proceed, or would you prefer to take over this lesson?’
    There was absolute stillness and silence in the Womblegarten.
    â€˜Thank you so much,’ said Miss Adelaide with the quiet politeness which had been known to make even Great Uncle Bulgaria stop talking. ‘After you have finished working with our American cousins, you will travel even further west to Japan. If, Wellington, you were about to point out that Japan is normally considered to be to the east, I would remind you that Japan is to the west of America. When your work is finished there you will proceed home to Wimbledon. Any questions?’
    â€˜Please, yes, sorry, but how are we travelling?’ asked Wellington anxiously.
    â€˜We’re not walking, are we?’ Orinoco said in a horrified voice. ‘I mean America’s even further away than Scotland . . . I think.’
    â€˜I sometimes wonder,’ said Miss Adelaide, ‘if you ever paid any attention at all during your time in the Womblegarten. Unless you had webbed paws like our Water-Womble cousin, Nessie of Loch Ness, you would find it extremely difficult to walk to America. Please look at the map.’
    â€˜Oh yes,’ said Orinoco after a pause, ‘there’s all that sea to cross.’
    â€˜The Irish Channel and the Atlantic Ocean to be precise. No, I do not, as yet, know how you will travel. That is Tobermory’s department, not mine. He is now, I understand, T.O.W.’ And Miss Adelaide gave a slight cough behind one silky grey paw.
    â€˜I didn’t think you spelt Tobermory like that,’ said Tomsk, who was getting more puzzled by the minute.
    â€˜You don’t. T.O.W. stands for Transport Officer Womble. You, Tomsk, together with Wellington will travel eastwards, calling in on various Womble burrows in Europe before proceeding still further to Australia and New Zealand. Any questions?’
    The four young Wombles stared silently at Miss Adelaide. All their four sets of eyes had a glazed look and all four mouths were open, and for one pin, let alone two, they would have liked very much to stop being volunteers and to go straight back to nice, ordinary tidying-up work.
    â€˜ Tsk, tsk, tsk ,’ said Miss Adelaide bracingly, ‘you are now old enough to go out in the world and to have proper exciting adventures. Why, Cousin Yellowstone was only young when he ran away to sea – on his own – and worked his way rightround the globe. And look at Cousin Botany: he went to seatoo, * although I must admit that he did it by mistake – and that was in a sailing ship as a stowaway. Then there was the Great MacWomble Chieftain who helped Bonnie Prince Charlie and Flora Macdonald to escape from the soldiers. And there are many, many more Wombles who have performed all kinds of brave acts. Don’t you want to be like them, or would you prefer to stay here just being snug and comfortable?’
    â€˜Yes,’ said Wellington honestly, ‘I would, because I’m not a brave sort of Womble myself. But well . . . all right,