CHAPTER SIX A GOOD NIGHT’S WORK（第3/4页）

“I have done thee some discourtesy，soldier，”said Tirian.“But such was my need. If we meet again I may happen to do thee a better turn. Now，Jewel，let us go softly.”

He put his left arm round the beast’s neck and bent and kissed its nose and both had great joy. They went back as quietly as possible to the place where he had left the children. It was darker in there under the trees and he nearly ran into Eustace before he saw him．

“All’s well，”whispered Tirian.“A good night’s work. Now for home.”

They turned and had gone a few paces when Eustace said， “Where are you，Pole ？ ”There was no answer.“Is Jill on the other side of you，Sire ？ ”he asked．

“What ？”said Tirian.“Is she not on the other side of your”

It was a terrible moment. They dared not shout but they whispered her name in the loudest whisper they could manage. There was no reply．

“Did she go from you while I was away ？”asked Tirian．

“I didn’t see or hear her go，”said Eustace.“But she could have gone without my knowing. She can be as quiet as a cat; you’ve seen for yourself.”

At that moment a far off drum beat was heard. Jewel moved his ears forward.“Dwarfs，”he said．

“And treacherous Dwarfs，enemies，as likely as not，”muttered Tirian．

“And here comes something on hoofs，much nearer，”said Jewel．

The two humans and the Unicorn stood dead still. There were now so many different things to worry about that they didn’t know what to do. The noise of hoofs came steadily nearer. And then， quite close to them，a voice whispered：

“Hallo! Are you all there ？”

Thank heaven，it was Jill’s．

“Where the devil have you been to ？”said Eustace in a furious whisper，for he had been very frightened．

“In the stable，”gasped Jill，but it was the sort of gasp you give when you’re struggling with suppressed laughter．

“Oh，”growled Eustace，“you think it funny，do you ？ Well all I can say is-”

“Have you got Jewel，Sire ？”asked Jill．

“Yes. Here he is. What is that beast with you ？”

“That’s him，”said Jill.“But let’s be off home before anyone wakes up.”And again there came little explosions of laughter．

The others obeyed at once for they had already lingered long enough in that dangerous place and the Dwarf drums seemed to have come a little nearer. It was only after they had been walking Southward for several minutes that Eustace said：

“Got him ？ What do you mean ？”

“The false Aslan，”said Jill．

“What ？”said Tirian.“Where have you been ？ What have you done ？”

“Well，Sire，”said Jill. “As soon as I saw that you’d got the sentry out of the way I thought hadn’t I better have a look inside the stable and see what really is there ？ So I crawled along. It was as easy as anything to draw the bolt．Of course it was pitch black inside and smelled like any other stable. Then I struck a light and-would you believe it ？-there was nothing at all there but this old donkey with a bundle of lion-skin tied on to his back. So I drew my knife and told him he’d have to come along with me. As a matter of fact I needn’t have threatened him with the knife at all. He was very fed up with the stable and quite ready to come-weren’t you， Puzzle dear ？”

“Great Scott!”said Eustace.“Well I’m-jiggered. I was jolly angry with you a moment ago，and I still think it was mean of you to sneak off without the rest of us：but I must admit-well，I mean to say-well it was a perfectly gorgeous thing to do. If she was a boy she’d have to be knighted，wouldn’t she，Sire ？”

“If she was a boy，”said Tirian，“she’d be whipped for disobeying orders.”And in the dark no one could see whether he said this with a frown or a smile. Next minute there was a sound of rasping metal．

“What are you doing，Sire ？”asked Jewel sharply．