CHAPTER EIGHT THE HOUSE OF HARFANG（第3/5页）

“Hullo ！ Good morning,”said Jill. “Isn’t this fun ？ I’ve slept about fifteen hours，I believe. I do feel better，don’t you ？”

“1 do,”said Scrubb，“but Puddleglum says he has a headache. Hullo ！—your window has a window seat. If we got up on that， we could see out.”And at once they all did so：and at the first glance Jill said，“Oh，how perfectly dreadful ！”

The sun was shining and，except for a few drifts，the snow had been almost completely washed away by the rain. Down below them，spread out like a map，lay the flat hill-top which they had struggled over yesterday afternoon；seen from the castle，it could not be mistaken for anything but the ruins of a gigantic city. It had been flat，as Jill now saw，because it was still，on the whole， paved，though in places the pavement was broken. The criss-cross banks were what was left of the walls of huge buildings which might once have been giants’ palaces and temples. One bit of wall，about five hundred feet high，was still standing；it was that which she had thought was a cliff. The things that had looked like factory chimneys were enormous pillars，broken off at unequal heights； their fragments lay at their bases like felled trees of monstrous stone. The ledges which they had climbed down on the north side of the hill—and also，no doubt the other ledges which they had climbed up on the south side—were the remaining steps of giant stairs. To crown all，in large，dark lettering across the centre of the pavement，ran the words UNDER ME.

The three travellers looked at each other in dismay，and，after a short whistle，Scrubb said what they were all thinking，“The second and third signs muffed.”And at that moment Jill’s dream rushed back into her mind.

“It’s my fault,”she said in despairing tones. “I—I’d given up repeating the signs every night. If I’d been thinking about them I could have seen it was the city，even in all that snow.”

“I’m worse,”said Puddleglum. “I did see，or nearly. I thought it looked uncommonly like a ruined city.”

“You’re the only one who isn’t to blame,”said Scrubb. “You did try to make us stop.”

“Didn’t try hard enough，though,”said the Marsh-wiggle. “And I’d no call to be trying. I ought to have done it. As if I couldn’t have stopped you two with one hand each ！”

“The truth is,”said Scrubb，“we were so jolly keen on getting to this place that we weren’t bothering about anything else. At least I know I was. Ever since we met that woman with the knight who didn’t talk，we’ve been thinking of nothing else. We’d nearly forgotten about Prince Rilian.”

“I shouldn’t wonder,”said Puddleglum，“if that wasn’t exactly what she intended.”

“What I don’t quite understand,”said Jill，“is how we didn’t see the lettering ？ Or could it have come there since last night. Could he—Aslan—have put it there in the night ？ I had such a queer dream.”And she told them all about it.

“Why，you chump ！”said Scrubb. “We did see it. We got into the lettering. Don’t you see ？ We got into the letter E in ME. That was your sunk lane. We walked along the bottom stroke of the E，due north—turned to our right along the upright—came to another turn to the right—that’s the middle stroke-and then went on to the top left-hand corner，or（if you like）the north-eastern corner of the letter，and came back. Like the bally idiots we are.”He kicked the window seat savagely，and went on，“So it’s no good，Pole. I know what you were thinking because I was thinking the same. You were thinking how nice it would have been if Aslan hadn’t put the instructions on the stones of the ruined city till after we’d passed it. And then it would have been his fault，not ours. So likely，isn’t it ？ No. We must just own up. We’ve only four signs to go by，and we’ve muffed the first three.”

“You mean I have,”said Jill. “It’s quite true. I’ve spoiled everything ever since you brought me here. All the same— I’m frightfully sorry and all that—all the same，what are the instructions ？ UNDER ME doesn’t seem to make much sense.”