CHAPTER EIGHT THE HOUSE OF HARFANG（第4/5页）

“Yes it does，though,”said Puddleglum. “It means we’ve got to look for the Prince under that city.”

“But how can we ？”asked Jill.

“That’s the question,”said Puddleglum，rubbing his big， frog-like hands together. “How can we now ？ No doubt，if we’d had our minds on our job when we were at the Ruinous City， we’d have been shown how—found a little door，or a cave，or a tunnel，met someone to help us. Might have been（you never know）Aslan himself. We’d have got down under those paving-stones somehow or other. Aslan’s instructions always work：there are no exceptions. But how to do it now—that’s another matter.”

“Well，we shall just have to go back，I suppose,”said Jill.

“Easy，isn’t it ？”said Puddleglum. “We might try opening that door to begin with.”And they all looked at the door and saw that none of them could reach the handle，and that almost certainly no one could turn it if they did.

“Do you think they won’t let us out if we ask ？”said Jill. And nobody said，but everyone thought，“Supposing they don’t.”

It was not a pleasant idea. Puddleglum was dead against any idea of telling the giants their real business and simply asking to be let out；and of course the children couldn’t tell without his permission，because they had promised. And all three felt pretty sure that there would be no chance of escaping from the castle by night. Once they were in their rooms with the doors shut，they would be prisoners till morning. They might，of course，ask to have their doors left open，but that would rouse suspicions.

“Our only chance,”said Scrubb，“is to try to sneak away by daylight. Mightn’t there be an hour in the afternoon when most of the giants are asleep ？ —and if we could steal down into the kitchen，mightn’t there be a back door open ？”

“It’s hardly what I call a Chance,”said the Marsh-wiggle. “But it’s all the chance we’re likely to get.”As a matter of fact， Scrubb’s plan was not quite so hopeless as you might think. If you want to get out of a house without being seen，the middle of the afternoon is in some ways a better time to try it than the middle of the night. Doors and windows are more likely to be open；and if you are caught，you can always pretend you weren’t meaning to go far and had no particular plans. （It is very hard to make either giants or grown-ups believe this if you’re found climbing out of a bedroom window at one o’clock in the morning.）

“We must put them off their guard，though,”said Scrubb. “We must pretend we love being here and are longing for this Autumn Feast.”

“That’s tomorrow night,”said Puddleglum. “I heard one of them say so.”

“I see,”said Jill. “We must pretend to be awfully excited about it，and keep on asking questions. They think we’re absolute infants anyway，which will make it easier.”

“Gay,”said Puddleglum with a deep sigh. “That’s what we’ve got to be. Gay. As if we hadn’t a care in the world. Frolicsome. You two youngsters haven’t always got very high spirits，I’ve noticed. You must watch me，and do as I do. I’ll be gay. Like this”—and he assumed a ghastly grin. “And frolicsome”—here he cut a most mournful caper. “You’ll soon get into it，if you keep your eyes on me. They think I’m a funny fellow already，you see. I dare say you two thought I was a trifle tipsy last night，but I do assure you it was—well，most of it was—put on. I had an idea it would come in useful，somehow.”

The children，when they talked over their adventures afterwards，could never feel sure whether this last statement was quite strictly true；but they were sure that Puddleglum thought it was true when he made it.

“All right. Gay’s the word,”said Scrubb. “Now，if we could only get someone to open this door. While we’re fooling about and being gay，we’ve got to find out all we can about this castle.”