CHAPTER SEVEN THE HILL OF THE STRANGE TRENCHES

THERE is no denying it was a beast of a day. Overhead was a sunless sky，muffled in clouds that were heavy with snow； underfoot，a black frost；blowing over it，a wind that felt as if it would take your skin off. When they got down into the plain they found that this part of the ancient road was much more ruinous than any they had yet seen. They had to pick their way over great broken stones and between boulders and across rubble：hard going for sore feet. And，however tired they got，it was far too cold for a halt.

At about ten o’clock the first tiny snow flakes came loitering down and settled on Jill’s arm. Ten minutes later they were falling quite thickly. In twenty minutes the ground was noticeably white. And by the end of half an hour a good steady snowstorm，which looked as if it meant to last all day，was driving in their faces so that they could hardly see.

In order to understand what followed，you must keep on remembering how little they could see. As they drew near the low hill which separated them from the place where the lighted windows had appeared，they had no general view of it at all. It was a question of seeing the next few paces ahead，and，even for that， you had to screw up your eyes. Needless to say，they were not talking.

When they reached the foot of the hill they caught a glimpse of what might be rocks on each side—squarish rocks，if you looked at them carefully，but no one did. All were more concerned with the ledge right in front of them which barred their way. It was about four feet high. The Marsh-wiggle，with his long legs，had no difficulty in jumping onto the top of it，and he then helped the others up. It was a nasty wet business for them，though not for him，because the snow now lay quite deep on the ledge. They then had a stiff climb—Jill fell once—up very rough ground for about a hundred yards，and came to a second ledge. There were four of these ledges altogether，at quite irregular intervals.

As they struggled on to the fourth ledge，there was no mistaking the fact that they were now at the top of the flat hill. Up till now the slope had given them some shelter；here，they got the full fury of the wind. For the hill，oddly enough，was quite as flat on top as it had looked from a distance：a great level tableland which the storm tore across without resistance. In most places the snow was still hardly lying at all，for the wind kept catching it up off the ground in sheets and clouds，and hurling it in their faces. And round their feet little eddies of snow ran about as you sometimes see them doing over ice. And，indeed，in many places，the surface was almost as smooth as ice. But to make matters worse it was crossed and crisscrossed with curious banks or dykes，which sometimes divided it up into squares and oblongs. All these of course had to be climbed；they varied from two to five feet in height and were about a couple of yards thick. On the north side of each bank the snow already lay in deep drifts；and after each climb you came down into a drift and got wet.

Fighting her way forward with hood up and head down and numb hands inside her cloak，Jill had glimpses of other odd things on that horrible tableland—things on her right that looked vaguely like factory chimneys，and，on her left，a huge cliff，straighter than any cliff ought to be. But she wasn’t at all interested and didn’t give them a thought. The only things she thought about were her cold hands（and nose and chin and ears）and hot baths and beds at Harfang.

Suddenly she skidded，slid about five feet，and found herself to her horror sliding down into a dark，narrow chasm which seemed that moment to have appeared in front of her. Half a second later she had reached the bottom. She appeared to be in a kind of trench or groove，only about three feet wide. And though she was shaken by the fall，almost the first thing she noticed was the relief of being out of the wind；for the walls of the trench rose high above her. The next thing she noticed was，naturally，the anxious faces of Scrubb and Puddleglum looking down at her from the edge.