Noah Wild and the Floating Zoo by Alexander McCall Smith

Author:Alexander McCall Smith [Smith, Alexander McCall]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526605528
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2020-07-13T00:00:00+00:00

~ 4 ~

The voyage from South America to Australia is a long one, across mile upon mile of wide and empty ocean. The Ark, though, was a strong boat, and Uncle Loafy was a good sailor. He knew exactly the right way to climb up a high wave and then slide down the other side, without any water getting over the side of the boat. He also knew how to work out where he was by looking up at the stars. There are no signposts in the sea, nor are there any hills or valleys to help you work out where you are. There are, of course, satellites that will give you your position, but Uncle Loafy was an old-fashioned sailor and he had not yet heard of satellites. “Nothing wrong with the stars,” he was fond of saying. “That’s why they’re there, you know – to help us find our way.”

They went through several storms on this voyage. The wind howled and the waves piled up like mountains, and at times everybody on board, except Uncle Loafy, rather wished they had never left dry land. Uncle Loafy did not think that. He seemed to enjoy a good storm, and stood on deck, steering the boat with a smile on his face, not at all worried about the soaking he was getting from the lashing rain, nor the blasts of wind that came at him from every direction.

“Check up on the animals, Noah,” Uncle Loafy shouted in one such storm. “See that they’re not getting too wet.”

Noah made his way gingerly to the animals’ cages towards the bow of the boat. They all looked miserable, and even Ram, who liked to bare his teeth and roar, seemed cowed by the heavy weather. Mrs Roo was not very happy either, and Monkey Robertson simply stared at Noah with a miserable look on his face.

“Don’t worry,” Noah shouted above the noise of the storm. “Storms don’t last forever.”

He was right, of course, and a few hours later the clouds cleared, the sun came out and there, to everybody’s delight, was the coast of Australia. It was still only a blue smudge on the horizon, but it was definitely Australia. That cheered everybody up, including the animals, who could smell land even before they could see it.

To celebrate the end of the storm and the sighting of land, Aunt Smiley made everybody a cup of hot chocolate, which Noah and Hatty drank while standing at the prow of the boat, looking out towards Australia. In not much more than an hour, Noah thought, I shall be standing on Australian soil for the first time. It was a very exciting thought for him, as he had always longed to visit Australia.

And so had Monkey Robertson, it seemed. He had much less patience than Noah and Hatty, though, and as the boat came closer to land, he decided that he would be the first one on the beach. Looking about him to make sure that

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