chater fifteen the diaearance f jill (第3/4页)

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The Narnians，who had not even noticed the little hole in the hillside，were of course very surprised，and looked about in several wrong directions before they found out where the voice was coming from. But when they caught sight of Jill they all came running towards her，and as many as could scrambled up the bank，and a dozen or more hands were stretched up to help her. And Jill caught hold of them and thus got out of the hole and came slithering down the bank head first，and then picked herself up and said：“Oh， do go and dig the others out. There are three others，besides the horses. And one of them is Prince Rilian.”

She was already in the middle of a crowd when she said this，for besides the dancers all sorts of people who had been watching the dance，and whom she had not seen at first，came running up. Squirrels came out of the trees in showers，and so did Owls. Hedgehogs came waddling as fast as their short legs would carry them. Bears and Badgers followed at a slower pace. A great Panther， twitching its tail in excitement，was the last to join the party.

But as soon as they understood what Jill was saying，they all became active. “Pick and shovel，boys，pick and shovel. Off for our tools ！ ”said the Dwarfs，and dashed away into the woods at top speed. “Wake up some Moles，they’re the chaps for digging. They’re quite as good as Dwarfs,”said a voice. “What was that she said about Prince Rilian ？”said another. “Hush ！”said the Panther. “The poor child’s crazed，and no wonder after being lost inside the hill. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”“That’s right,”said an old Bear. “Why，she said Prince Rilian was a horse ！”—“No， she didn’t,”said a Squirrel，very pert. “Yes，she did,”said another Squirrel，even perter.

“It’s quite t-t-t-true. D-d-don’t be so silly,”said Jill. She spoke like that because her teeth were now chattering with the cold.

Immediately one of the Dryads flung round her a furry cloak which some Dwarf had dropped when he rushed to fetch his mining tools，and an obliging Faun trotted off among the trees to a place where Jill could see firelight in the mouth of a cave，to get her a hot drink. But before it came，all the Dwarfs reappeared with spades and pick-axes and charged at the hillside. Then Jill heard cries of “Hi ！ What are you doing ？ Put that sword down,”and“Now，young’un：none of that,”and，“He’s a vicious one，now，isn’t he ？”Jill hurried to the spot and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she saw Eustace’s face，very pale and dirty， projecting from the blackness of the hole，and Eustace’s right hand brandishing a sword with which he made lunges at anyone who came near him.

For of course Eustace had been having a very different time from Jill during the last few minutes. He had heard Jill cry out and seen her disappear into the unknown. Like the Prince and Puddleglum，he thought that some enemies had caught her. And from down below he didn’t see that the pale，blueish light was moonlight. He thought the hole would lead only into some other cave，lit by some ghostly phosphorescence and filled with goodness-knows-what evil creatures of the Underworld. So that when he had persuaded Puddleglum to give him a back，and drawn his sword，and poked out his head，he had really been doing a very brave thing. The others would have done it first if they could，but the hole was too small for them to climb through. Eustace was a little bigger，and a lot clumsier，than Jill，so that when he looked out he bumped his head against the top of the hole and brought a small avalanche of snow down on his face. And so， when he could see again，and saw dozens of figures coming at him as hard as they could run，it is not surprising that he tried to ward them off.

“Stop，Eustace，stop,”cried Jill. “They’re all friends. Can’t you see ？ We’ve come up in Narnia. Everything’s all right.”

Then Eustace did see，and apologized to the Dwarfs（and the Dwarfs said not to mention it），and dozens of thick，hairy， dwarfish hands helped him out just as they had helped Jill out a few minutes before. Then Jill scrambled up the bank and put her head in at the dark opening and shouted the good news in to the prisoners. As she turned away she heard Puddleglum mutter. “Ah，poor Pole. It’s been too much for her，this last bit. Turned her head，I shouldn’t wonder. She’s beginning to see things.”

Jill rejoined Eustace and they shook one another by both hands and took in great deep breaths of the free midnight air. And a warm cloak was brought for Eustace and hot drinks，for both. While they were sipping it，the Dwarfs had already got all the snow and all the sods off a large strip of the hillside round the original hole，and the pickaxes and spades were now going as merrily as the feet of Fauns and Dryads had been going in the dance ten minutes before. Only ten minutes ！ Yet already it felt to Jill and Eustace as if all their dangers in the dark and heat and general smotheriness of the earth must have been only a dream. Out here，in the cold，with the moon and the huge stars overhead（Narnian stars are nearer than stars in our world）and with kind，merry faces all round them， one couldn’t quite believe in Underland.

Before they had finished their hot drinks，a dozen or so Moles，newly waked and still very sleepy，and not well pleased， had arrived. But as soon as they understood what it was all about， they joined in with a will. Even the Fauns made themselves useful by carting away the earth in little barrows，and the Squirrels danced and leaped to and fro in great excitement，though Jill never found out exactly what they thought they were doing. The Bears and Owls contented themselves with giving advice，and kept on asking the children if they wouldn’t like to come into the cave（that was where Jill had seen the firelight）and get warm and have supper. But the children couldn’t bear to go without seeing their friends set free.