They climbed up a straight place that had wrinkles on it which made it easy to climb. It was the sole of a foot, but they didn’t know that.
When they got to the top, they slipped between two knobbly things. These were toes. But they didn’t know that.
They ran down a gentle slope, dodging between the stiff hairs, and came to a long thing like a branch, except that it was hairy too. Here, the roof of the warm tunnel lay right on top of them and they had to push through. But they were used to burrowing, and this was easier than that.
At the other end of the branch – which was a long way – they came to a smoother part. It was like a big flat warm meaty floor. No hairs here.
“Stop a minute,” said Harry.
“What?” panted George.
“Why is it going up and down?”
“I don’t know!”
“I do,” said Harry. “It’s breathing.”
That stopped George, but only for a moment.
“Let’s go on!”
“Grndd,” said Harry.
“Oh, what?” said George crossly. He sensed that Harry was going to say something he didn’t want to hear.
“I think – I think – we may be climbing on a Hoo-Min,” said Harry quietly.
At these dreadful words, they both crouched down in terror. But after a while, George stood up again.
“Well, it’s not doing us any harm,” he said. “Maybe it’s dead.”
“I sometimes think you’re stupid,” said Harry. “It’s not dead. It’s warm and it’s breathing. If you ask me, it’s asleep.”
That made George brave again.
“Listen,” he said. “What’s the most important thing for us right now?”
“No,” said George. “That’s second-most-important.”
“To get damp,” said Harry.
“Right,” said George. “And I smell water.”
Harry moved his feelers around. He could smell it too, now. It was rather a long way off, but he knew it was ahead of them, not behind.
Harry knew they were doing the thing Belinda had warned him never to do. He was sure they were in terrible danger. But when a centipede feels itself drying out, nothing else seems to matter except getting damp.
“All right,” he said at last. “Let’s head for it. When we’re damp, we’ll be able to think better.”
They began to run across the flat meaty floor towards the moist smell.