But most delicious of all was a dish which had been made by Mr Gopal’s aunt. She had not wasted her time while the others were away being chased by tigers. She had been learning recipes from her new friends and, with a little help, she had cooked the most wonderful bubblegum pudding anybody had ever tasted. It was an extraordinary dish – a pudding you could chew on for as long as you liked and then blow into great big bubbles before you swallowed. The Bubblegummie children were used to this sort of thing, of course, but for Billy and Nicola it was quite unlike anything they had ever eaten before, and twice as nice.
After the feast there were competitions, including a most exciting game of tree hide-and-seek. This was far more thrilling – and dangerous – than an ordinary game of hide-and-seek, as you had to hide in the branches, which was not always easy. There was also a bungee jumping competition – which Nicola won – and, finally, a bubblegum-blowing contest. Billy entered this, and did quite well, but not as well as Mr Gopal himself, who blew a bubble so large that even the Bubblegummies were impressed.
“We are so very grateful to you,” said Mr Bhalla, as the party came to an end. “It would have been a tragedy if those men had destroyed our bubblegum trees. Now, thanks to you, the trees will survive. And of course we shall be able to send Mr Gopal his supplies again.”
“It was no trouble at all,” said Billy. “I’m glad to have helped.”
He knew, of course, that it could all have turned out quite differently. The snake could have bitten Nicola. The men could have guessed that the tigers weren’t real. The real tiger could have eaten Mr Bhalla. But none of these things had happened, and so there was no point in worrying about it.
They left the following morning. Mr Bhalla helped them into the flying boat, and then he and just about everybody from the village stood at the edge of the river and waved as the ancient plane taxied out to start its take-off.
“Goodbye!” shouted Mr Bhalla, as the plane began to skim over the water. “Come back and see us soon!”
“We shall!” cried Billy, waving from his window.
Then the plane was in the air, and the river and the jungle fell away beneath them. They had a long flight ahead of them, but Mr Bhalla had given them plenty of bubblegum for the trip. So that would keep them busy enough.
As the plane gained height, Billy craned his neck to get a last glimpse of the ground below them. There was the village, with its walkways and swinging bridges; there was Mr Bhalla’s house in its tall tree. And there, of course, were the bubblegum trees themselves, towering higher than all the other trees, and safe now – Billy hoped – for at least another hundred years.
Also by Alexander McCall Smith
Akimbo and the Baboons
Akimbo and the Snakes
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, Oxford, New York, New Delhi and Sydney
The Popcorn Pirates first published in Great Britain in 1999 by Scholastic Ltd
The Bubblegum Tree first published in Great Britain in 1996 by Scholastic Ltd
This edition published in September 2015 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
50 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3DP
This electronic edition published in 2015 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trademark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Text copyright © Alexander McCall Smith 1996, 1999
Illustrations copyright © Kate Hindley 2015
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
eISBN 978 1 4088 6587 3
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Explosive Adventures Page 8