CHAPTER EIGHT THE HOUSE OF HARFANG（第3/4页）

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.”

“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 ？”