CHAPTER ONE BEHIND THE GYM（第3/5页）

“Whose island ？”

“I’ll tell you about that another time. And he might like us to face the east. Let’s see，where is the east ？”

“I don’t know,”said Jill.

“It’s an extraordinary thing about girls that they never know the points of the compass,”said Eustace.

“You don’t know either,”said Jill indignantly.

“Yes I do，if only you didn’t keep on interrupting. I’ve got it now. That’s the east，facing up into the laurels. Now，will you say the words after me ？”

“What words ？ ”asked Jill.

“The words I’m going to say，of course,”answered Eustace. “Now—”

And he began，“Aslan，Aslan，Aslan ！”

“Aslan，Aslan，Aslan,”repeated Jill.

“Please let us two go into—”

At that moment a voice from the other side of the gym was heard shouting out，“Pole ？ Yes. I know where she is. She’s blubbing behind the gym. Shall I fetch her out ？ ”

Jill and Eustace gave one glance at each other，dived under the laurels，and began scrambling up the steep，earthy slope of the shrubbery at a speed which did them great credit. （Owing to the curious methods of teaching at Experiment House，one did not learn much French or Maths or Latin or things of that sort；but one did learn a lot about getting away quickly and quietly when they were looking for one. ）

After about a minute’s scramble they stopped to listen，and knew by the noises they heard that they were being followed.

“If only the door was open again ！”said Scrubb as they went on，and Jill nodded. For at the top of the shrubbery was a high stone wall and in that wall a door by which you could get out on to open moor. This door was nearly always locked. But there had been times when people had found it open；or perhaps there had been only one time. But you may imagine how the memory of even one time kept people hoping，and trying the door；for if it should happen to be unlocked it would be a splendid way of getting outside the school grounds without being seen.

Jill and Eustace，now both very hot and very grubby from going along bent almost double under the laurels，panted up to the wall. And there was the door，shut as usual.

“It’s sure to be no good,”said Eustace with his hand on the handle；and then，“O-o-oh. By Gum ！！”For the handle turned and the door opened.

A moment before，both of them had meant to get through that doorway in double quick time，if by any chance the door was not locked. But when the door actually opened，they both stood stock still. For what they saw was quite different from what they had expected.

They had expected to see the grey，heathery slope of the moor going up and up to join the dull autumn sky. Instead，a blaze of sunshine met them. It poured through the doorway as the light of a June day pours into a garage when you open the door. It made the drops of water on the grass glitter like beads and showed up the dirtiness of Jill’s tear-stained face. And the sunlight was coming from what certainly did look like a different world—what they could see of it. They saw smooth turf，smoother and brighter than Jill had ever seen before，and blue sky，and，darting to and fro， things so bright that they might have been jewels or huge butterflies.

Although she had been longing for something like this，Jill felt frightened. She looked at Scrubb’s face and saw that he was frightened too.

“Come on，Pole,”he said in a breathless voice.

“Can we get back ？ Is it safe ？”asked Jill.

At that moment a voice shouted from behind，a mean， spiteful little voice. “Now then，Pole,”it squeaked. “Everyone knows you’re there. Down you come.”It was the voice of Edith Jackle，not one of Them herself but one of their hangers-on and tale-bearers.

“Quick ！”said Scrubb. “Here. Hold hands. We mustn’t get separated.”And before she quite knew what was happening，he had grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door，out of the school grounds，out of England，out of our whole world into That Place.