CHAPTER NINE HOW THEY DISCOVERED SOMETHING WORTH KNOWING（第3/4页）

“Steady，steady,”said Puddleglum. “Don’t look back. Don’t walk too quickly. Whatever you do，don’t run. Look as if we were just taking a stroll，and then，if anyone sees us，he might， just possibly，not bother. The moment we look like people running away，we’re done.”

The distance to the City Ruinous seemed longer than Jill would have believed possible. But bit by bit they were covering it. Then came a noise. The other two gasped. Jill，who didn’t know what it was，said，“What’s that ？”

“Hunting horn,”whispered Scrubb.

“But don’t run even now,”said Puddleglum. “Not until I give the word.”

This time Jill couldn’t help glancing over her shoulder. There，about half a mile away，was the hunt returning from behind them on the left.

They walked on. Suddenly a great clamour of giant voices arose：then shouts and hollas.

“They’ve seen us. Run,”said Puddleglum.

Jill gathered up her long skirts—horrible things for running in—and ran. There was no mistaking the danger now. She could hear the music of the hounds. She could hear the King’s voice roaring out，“After them，after them，or we’ll have no man-pies tomorrow.”

She was last of the three now，cumbered with her dress， slipping on loose stones，her hair getting in her mouth，running-pains across her chest. The hounds were much nearer. Now she had to run uphill，up the stony slope which led to the lowest step of the giant stairway. She had no idea what they would do when they got there，or how they would be any better off even if they reached the top. But she didn’t think about that. She was like a hunted animal now；as long as the pack was after her，she must run till she dropped.

The Marsh-wiggle was ahead. As he came to the lowest step he stopped，looked a little to his right，and all of a sudden darted into a little hole or crevice at the bottom of it. His long legs， disappearing into it，looked very like those of a spider. Scrubb hesitated and then vanished after him. Jill，breathless and reeling， came to the place about a minute later. It was an unattractive hole— a crack between the earth and the stone about three feet long and hardly more than a foot high. You had to fling yourself flat on your face and crawl in. You couldn’t do it so very quickly either. She felt sure that a dog’s teeth would close on her heel before she had got inside.

“Quick，quick. Stones. Fill up the opening,”came Puddleglum’s voice in the darkness beside her. It was pitch black in there，except for the grey light in the opening by which they had crawled in. The other two were working hard. She could see Scrubb’s small hands and the Marsh-wiggle’s big，frog-like hands black against the light，working desperately to pile up stones. Then she realized how important this was and began groping for large stones herself， and handing them to the others. Before the dogs were baying and yelping at the cave mouth，they had it pretty well filled；and now，of course，there was no light at all.

“Farther in，quick,”said Puddleglum’s voice.

“Let’s all hold hands,”said Jill.

“Good idea,”said Scrubb. But it took them quite a long time to find one another’s hands in the darkness. The dogs were sniffing at the other side of the barrier now.

“Try if we can stand up,”suggested Scrubb. They did and found that they could. Then，Puddleglum holding out a hand behind him to Scrubb，and Scrubb holding a hand out behind him to Jill（who wished very much that she was the middle one of the party and not the last），they began groping with their feet and stumbling forwards into the blackness. It was all loose stones underfoot. Then Puddleglum came up to a wall of rock. They turned a little to their right and went on. There were a good many more twists and turns. Jill had now no sense of direction at all，and no idea where the mouth of the cave lay.

“The question is,”came Puddleglum’s voice out of the darkness ahead，“whether，taking one thing with another，it wouldn’t be better to go back（if we can）and give the giants a treat at that feast of theirs，instead of losing our way in the guts of a hill where，ten to one，there’s dragons and deep holes and gases and water and— Ow ！ Let go ！ Save yourselves. I’m—”

After that all happened quickly. There was a wild cry，a swishing，dusty，gravelly noise，a rattle of stones，and Jill found herself sliding，sliding，hopelessly sliding，and sliding quicker every moment down a slope that grew steeper every moment. It was not a smooth，firm slope，but a slope of small stones and rubbish. Even if you could have stood up，it would have been no use. Any bit of that slope you had put your foot on would have slid away from under you and carried you down with it. But Jill was more lying than standing. And the farther they all slid，the more they disturbed all the stones and earth，so that the general downward rush of everything（including themselves）got faster and louder and dustier and dirtier. From the sharp cries and swearing of the other two，Jill got the idea that many of the stones which she was dislodging were hitting Scrubb and Puddleglum pretty hard. And now she was going at a furious rate and felt sure she would be broken to bits at the bottom.