Adventures Four
The Wumps awoke to a rather murky miserable morning. A bird of prey was circling overhead watching them very carefully.
The bird must have thought what a good breakfast a Wump would make
and he hovered, ready for diving down to pluck one of the Wumps off their log.
As he made his dive, a cabin cruiser was passing the place where the Wumps were moored, the wash from the boat caused the log to roll on its side and both Wumps fell into the water just as the bird made his strike.
The bird missed both Wumps, so he flew back into the air and the the Wumps were safe again for the moment.
This was the luckiest escape the Wumps had had in all their adventures so far, but their troubles were not yet over. They had lost the log and found themselves in the fast current of the river floating towards Reading and one of the busiest parts of the river with the giant cabin cruisers and rowers with their big flappy oars. It was a small miracle that saved them.
The log had stopped on a mud bank and the Wumps managed to get back onto it. The same wash from the boat also got them off the mud.
The Wumps did not like it here, (as in the famous book Three Men in a Boat,) they thought Reading was not a place in which to spend time. Fortunately the river was flowing quite fast and so they soon found themselves heading towards Caversham and Sonning, they thought it rather too open to prying eyes here as rather a lot of people and dogs were walking the Thames path towards Henley.
The river was fortunately flowing faster than most nosy parkers were walking. They soon went through Shiplake and on to Henley where the rowing regatta was in full flow.
As they approached, they could see lots of very merry goings on, drinking and singing etc. and they felt like joining in, but had great problems finding somewhere to get out of the river. They did eventually find a small quieter spot and managed to climb out onto the bank.
One of the Wumps thought they were out of place by not wearing a striped blazer and straw boater, still I very much doubt that they could have found one to fit.
Barrel Organ
