chater eight the hue f harfang (第4/6頁)

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“I’m worse,”said Puddleglum. “I did see，or nearly. I thought it looked uncommonly like a ruined city.”

“You’re the only one who isn’t to blame,”said Scrubb. “You did try to make us stop.”

“Didn’t try hard enough，though,”said the Marsh-wiggle. “And I’d no call to be trying. I ought to have done it. As if I couldn’t have stopped you two with one hand each ！”

“The truth is,”said Scrubb，“we were so jolly keen on getting to this place that we weren’t bothering about anything else. At least I know I was. Ever since we met that woman with the knight who didn’t talk，we’ve been thinking of nothing else. We’d nearly forgotten about Prince Rilian.”

“I shouldn’t wonder,”said Puddleglum，“if that wasn’t exactly what she intended.”

“What I don’t quite understand,”said Jill，“is how we didn’t see the lettering ？ Or could it have come there since last night. Could he—Aslan—have put it there in the night ？ I had such a queer dream.”And she told them all about it.

“Why，you chump ！”said Scrubb. “We did see it. We got into the lettering. Don’t you see ？ We got into the letter E in ME. That was your sunk lane. We walked along the bottom stroke of the E，due north—turned to our right along the upright—came to another turn to the right—that’s the middle stroke-and then went on to the top left-hand corner，or（if you like）the north-eastern corner of the letter，and came back. Like the bally idiots we are.”He kicked the window seat savagely，and went on，“So it’s no good，Pole. I know what you were thinking because I was thinking the same. You were thinking how nice it would have been if Aslan hadn’t put the instructions on the stones of the ruined city till after we’d passed it. And then it would have been his fault，not ours. So likely，isn’t it ？ No. We must just own up. We’ve only four signs to go by，and we’ve muffed the first three.”

“You mean I have,”said Jill. “It’s quite true. I’ve spoiled everything ever since you brought me here. All the same— I’m frightfully sorry and all that—all the same，what are the instructions ？ UNDER ME doesn’t seem to make much sense.”

“Yes it does，though,”said Puddleglum. “It means we’ve got to look for the Prince under that city.”

“But how can we ？”asked Jill.