CHAPTER TWO JILL IS GIVEN A TASK（第3/4页）

The voice had been growing softer towards the end of this speech and now it faded away altogether. Jill looked behind her. To her astonishment she saw the cliff already more than a hundred yards behind her，and the Lion himself a speck of bright gold on the edge of it. She had been setting her teeth and clenching her fists for a terrible blast of lion’s breath；but the breath had really been so gentle that she had not even noticed the moment at which she left the earth. And now，there was nothing but air for thousands upon thousands of feet below her.

She felt frightened only for a second. For one thing，the world beneath her was so very far away that it seemed to have nothing to do with her. For another，floating on the breath of the Lion was so extremely comfortable. She found she could lie on her back or on her face and twist any way she pleased，just as you can in water（if you’ve learned to float really well）. And because she was moving at the same pace as the breath，there was no wind，and the air seemed beautifully warm. It was not in the least like being in an aeroplane，because there was no noise and no vibration. If Jill had ever been in a balloon she might have thought it more like that； only better.

When she looked back now she could take in for the first time the real size of the mountain she was leaving. She wondered why a mountain so huge as that was not covered with snow and ice—“but I suppose all that sort of thing is different in this world,”thought Jill. Then she looked below her；but she was so high that she couldn’t make out whether she was floating over land or sea，nor what speed she was going at.

“By Jove ！ The signs ！”said Jill suddenly. “I’d better repeat them.”She was in a panic for a second or two，but she found she could still say them all correctly. “So that’s all right,”she said，and lay back on the air as if it was a sofa，with a sigh of contentment.

“Well，I do declare,”said Jill to herself some hours later，“I’ve been asleep. Fancy sleeping on air. I wonder if anyone’s done it before. I don’t suppose they have. Oh bother—Scrubb probably has ！ On this same journey，a little bit before me. Let’s see what it looks like down below.”

What it looked like was an enormous，very dark blue plain. There were no hills to be seen；but there were biggish white things moving slowly across it. “Those must be clouds,”she thought. “But far bigger than the ones we saw from the cliff. I suppose they’re bigger because they’re nearer. I must be getting lower. Bother this sun.”

The sun which had been high overhead when she began her journey was now getting into her eyes. This meant that it was getting lower，ahead of her. Scrubb was quite right in saying that Jill（I don’t know about girls in general）didn’t think much about points of the compass. Otherwise she would have known，when the sun began getting in her eyes，that she was travelling pretty nearly due west.

Staring at the blue plain below her，she presently noticed that there were little dots of brighter，paler colour in it here and there. “It’s the sea ！”thought Jill. “I do believe those are islands.”And so they were. She might have felt rather jealous if she had known that some of them were islands which Scrubb had seen from a ship’s deck and even landed on；but she didn’t know this. Then，later on，she began to see that there were little wrinkles on the blue flatness：little wrinkles which must be quite big ocean waves if you were down among them. And now，all along the horizon there was a thick dark line which grew thicker and darker so quickly that you could see it growing. That was the first sign she had had of the great speed at which she was travelling. And she knew that the thickening line must be land.

Suddenly from her left（for the wind was in the south）a great white cloud came rushing towards her，this time on the same level as herself. And before she knew where she was，she had shot right into the middle of its cold，wet fogginess. That took her breath away，but she was in it only for a moment. She came out blinking in the sunlight and found her clothes wet. （She had on a blazer and sweater and shorts and stockings and pretty thick shoes；it had been a muddy sort of day in England.）She came out lower than she had gone in；and as soon as she did so she noticed something which，I suppose，she ought to have been expecting， but which came as a surprise and a shock. It was Noises. Up till then she had travelled in total silence. Now，for the first time， she heard the noise of waves and the crying of seagulls. And now， too，she smelled the smell of the sea. There was no mistake about her speed now. She saw two waves meet with a smack and a spout of foam go up between them；but she had hardly seen it before it was a hundred yards behind her. The land was getting nearer at a great pace. She could see mountains far inland，and other nearer mountains on her left. She could see bays and headlands，woods and fields，stretches of sandy beach. The sound of waves breaking on the shore was growing louder every second and drowning the other sea noises.