CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JILL（第2/4页）

All this takes a long time to tell，but of course it took a very short time to see. Jill turned almost at once to shout down to the others，“I say ！ It’s all right. We’re out，and we’re home.”But the reason she never got further than“I say”was this. Circling round and round the dancers was a ring of Dwarfs，all dressed in their finest clothes；mostly scarlet with fur-lined hoods and golden tassels and big furry top-boots. As they circled round they were all diligently throwing snowballs. （Those were the white things that Jill had seen flying through the air.）They weren’t throwing them at the dancers as silly boys might have been doing in England. They were throwing them through the dance in such perfect time with the music and with such perfect aim that if all the dancers were in exactly the right places at exactly the right moments，no one would be hit. This is called the Great Snow Dance and it is done every year in Narnia on the first moonlit night when there is snow on the ground. Of course it is a kind of game as well as a dance，because every now and then some dancer will be the least little bit wrong and get a snowball in the face，and then everyone laughs. But a good team of dancers，Dwarfs，and musicians will keep it up for hours without a single hit. On fine nights when the cold and the drum-taps，and the hooting of the owls，and the moonlight，have got into their wild，woodland blood and made it even wilder，they will dance till daybreak. I wish you could see it for yourselves.

What had stopped Jill when she got as far as the say of“I say”was of course simply a fine big snowball that came sailing through the dance from a Dwarf on the far side and got her fair and square in the mouth. She didn’t in the least mind；twenty snowballs would not have damped her spirits at that moment. But however happy you are feeling，you can’t talk with your mouth full of snow. And when，after considerable spluttering，she could speak again，she quite forgot in her excitement that the others， down in the dark，behind her，still didn’t know the good news. She simply leaned as far out of the hole as she could，and yelled to the dancers.

“Help ！ Help ！ We’re buried in the hill. Come and dig us out.”

The Narnians，who had not even noticed the little hole in the hillside，were of course very surprised，and looked about in several wrong directions before they found out where the voice was coming from. But when they caught sight of Jill they all came running towards her，and as many as could scrambled up the bank，and a dozen or more hands were stretched up to help her. And Jill caught hold of them and thus got out of the hole and came slithering down the bank head first，and then picked herself up and said：“Oh， do go and dig the others out. There are three others，besides the horses. And one of them is Prince Rilian.”

She was already in the middle of a crowd when she said this，for besides the dancers all sorts of people who had been watching the dance，and whom she had not seen at first，came running up. Squirrels came out of the trees in showers，and so did Owls. Hedgehogs came waddling as fast as their short legs would carry them. Bears and Badgers followed at a slower pace. A great Panther， twitching its tail in excitement，was the last to join the party.

But as soon as they understood what Jill was saying，they all became active. “Pick and shovel，boys，pick and shovel. Off for our tools ！ ”said the Dwarfs，and dashed away into the woods at top speed. “Wake up some Moles，they’re the chaps for digging. They’re quite as good as Dwarfs,”said a voice. “What was that she said about Prince Rilian ？”said another. “Hush ！”said the Panther. “The poor child’s crazed，and no wonder after being lost inside the hill. She doesn’t know what she’s saying.”“That’s right,”said an old Bear. “Why，she said Prince Rilian was a horse ！”—“No， she didn’t,”said a Squirrel，very pert. “Yes，she did,”said another Squirrel，even perter.