chater ten travel withut the un (第2/6頁)

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There was nothing else to be done. The three travellers scrambled to their feet and joined hands. One wanted the touch of a friend’s hand at a moment like that. And the Earthmen came all round them，padding on large，soft feet，on which some had ten toes，some twelve，and others none.

“March,”said the Warden：and march they did.

The cold light came from a large ball on the top of a long pole，and the tallest of the gnomes carried this at the head of the procession. By its cheerless rays they could see that they were in a natural cavern；the walls and roof were knobbed，twisted，and gashed into a thousand fantastic shapes，and the stony floor sloped downward as they proceeded. It was worse for Jill than for the others，because she hated dark，underground places. And when， as they went on，the cave got lower and narrower，and when， at last，the light-bearer stood aside，and the gnomes，one by one， stooped down（all except the very smallest ones）and stepped into a little dark crack and disappeared，she felt she could bear it no longer.

“I can’t go in there，I can’t ！ I can’t ！ I won’t,”she panted. The Earthmen said nothing but they all lowered their spears and pointed them at her.

“Steady，Pole,”said Puddleglum. “Those big fellows wouldn’t be crawling in there if it didn’t get wider later on. And there’s one thing about this underground work，we shan’t get any rain.”

“Oh，you don’t understand. I can’t,”wailed Jill.

“Think how 1 felt on that cliff，Pole,”said Scrubb. “You go first，Puddleglum，and I’ll come after her.”

“That’s right,”said the Marsh-wiggle，getting down on his hands and knees. “You keep a grip of my heels，Pole，and Scrubb will hold on to yours. Then we’ll all be comfortable.”

“Comfortable ！ ”said Jill. But she got down and they crawled in on their elbows. It was a nasty place. You had to go flat on your face for what seemed like half an hour，though it may really have been only five minutes. It was hot. Jill felt she was being smothered. But at last a dim light showed ahead，the tunnel grew wider and higher，and they came out，hot，dirty，and shaken， into a cave so large that it scarcely seemed like a cave at all.