CHAPTER TEN TRAVELS WITHOUT THE SUN

“WHO’s there ？ ”shouted the three travellers.

“I am the Warden of the Marches of Underland，and with me stand a hundred Earthmen in arms,”came the reply. “Tell me quickly who you are and what is your errand in the Deep Realm ？”

“We fell down by accident,”said Puddleglum，truthfully enough.

“Many fall down，and few return to the sunlit lands,”said the voice. “Make ready now to come with me to the Queen of the Deep Realm.”

“What does she want with us ？”asked Scrubb cautiously.

“I do not know,”said the voice. “Her will is not to be questioned but obeyed.”

While he said these words there was a noise like a soft explosion and immediately a cold light，grey with a little blue in it，flooded the cavern. All hope that the speaker had been idly boasting when he spoke of his hundred armed followers died at once. Jill found herself blinking and staring at a dense crowd. They were of all sizes，from little gnomes barely a foot high to stately figures taller than men. All carried three-pronged spears in their hands，and all were dreadfully pale，and all stood as still as statues. Apart from that，they were very different；some had tails and others not，some wore great beards and others had very round，smooth faces，big as pumpkins. There were long，pointed noses，and long，soft noses like small trunks，and great blobby noses. Several had single horns in the middle of their foreheads. But in one respect they were all alike：every face in the whole hundred was as sad as a face could be. They were so sad that，after the first glance，Jill almost forgot to be afraid of them. She felt she would like to cheer them up.

“Well ！ ”said Puddleglum，rubbing his hands. “This is just what I needed. If these chaps don’t teach me to take a serious view of life，I don’t know what will. Look at that fellow with the walrus moustache—or that one with the—”

“Get up,”said the leader of the Earthmen.

There was nothing else to be done. The three travellers scrambled to their feet and joined hands. One wanted the touch of a friend’s hand at a moment like that. And the Earthmen came all round them，padding on large，soft feet，on which some had ten toes，some twelve，and others none.

“March,”said the Warden：and march they did.

The cold light came from a large ball on the top of a long pole，and the tallest of the gnomes carried this at the head of the procession. By its cheerless rays they could see that they were in a natural cavern；the walls and roof were knobbed，twisted，and gashed into a thousand fantastic shapes，and the stony floor sloped downward as they proceeded. It was worse for Jill than for the others，because she hated dark，underground places. And when， as they went on，the cave got lower and narrower，and when， at last，the light-bearer stood aside，and the gnomes，one by one， stooped down（all except the very smallest ones）and stepped into a little dark crack and disappeared，she felt she could bear it no longer.

“I can’t go in there，I can’t ！ I can’t ！ I won’t,”she panted. The Earthmen said nothing but they all lowered their spears and pointed them at her.

“Steady，Pole,”said Puddleglum. “Those big fellows wouldn’t be crawling in there if it didn’t get wider later on. And there’s one thing about this underground work，we shan’t get any rain.”

“Oh，you don’t understand. I can’t,”wailed Jill.

“Think how 1 felt on that cliff，Pole,”said Scrubb. “You go first，Puddleglum，and I’ll come after her.”

“That’s right,”said the Marsh-wiggle，getting down on his hands and knees. “You keep a grip of my heels，Pole，and Scrubb will hold on to yours. Then we’ll all be comfortable.”

“Comfortable ！ ”said Jill. But she got down and they crawled in on their elbows. It was a nasty place. You had to go flat on your face for what seemed like half an hour，though it may really have been only five minutes. It was hot. Jill felt she was being smothered. But at last a dim light showed ahead，the tunnel grew wider and higher，and they came out，hot，dirty，and shaken， into a cave so large that it scarcely seemed like a cave at all.