and I don't know how many the little
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess would like me to
answer. She told me that Lootie didn't know anything about her
coming to get me out of the mountain. I am certain she would have
prevented her somehow if she had known it. But I may have a chance
before long, and
meantime I must try to do something for her. I
think, father, I have got on the track at last.'
'Have you, indeed, my boy?' said Peter. 'I am sure you deserve
some success; you have worked very hard for it. What have you
found out?'
'It's difficult, you know, father, inside the mountain, especially
in the dark, and not
knowing what turns you have taken, to tell the
lie of things outside.'
'Impossible, my boy, without a chart, or at least a compass,'
returned his father.
'Well, I think I have nearly discovered in what direction the cobs
are
mining. If I am right, I know something else that I can put to
it, and then one and one will make three.'
'They very often do, Curdie, as we miners ought to be very well
aware. Now tell us, my boy, what the two things are, and see
whether we can guess at the same third as you.'
'I don't see what that has to do with the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess,' interposed his
mother.
'I will soon let you see that, mother. Perhaps you may think me
foolish, but until I am sure there, is nothing in my present fancy,
I am more determined than ever to go on with my observations. just
as we came to the
channel by which we got out, I heard the miners
at work somewhere near - I think down below us. Now since I began
to watch them, they have mined a good half-mile, in a straight
line; and so far as I am aware, they are
working in no other part
of the mountain. But I never could tell in what direction they
were going. When we came out in the king's garden, however, I
thought at once whether it was possible they were
working towards
the king's house; and what I want to do tonight is to make sure
whether they are or not. I will take a light with me -'
'Oh, Curdie,' cried his mother, 'then they will see you.'
'I'm no more afraid of them now than I was before,' rejoined
Curdie, 'now that I've got this precious shoe. They can't make
another such in a hurry, and one bare foot will do for my purpose.
Woman as she may be, I won't spare her next time. But I shall be
careful with my light, for I don't want them to see me. I won't
stick it in my hat.'
'Go on, then, and tell us what you mean to do.'
'I mean to take a bit of paper with me and a pencil, and go in at
the mouth of the
stream by which we came out. I shall mark on the
paper as near as I can the angle of every turning I take until I
find the cobs at work, and so get a good idea in what direction
they are going. If it should prove to be nearly
parallel with the
stream, I shall know it is towards the king's house they are
working.'
'And what if you should? How much wiser will you be then?'
'Wait a minute, mother dear. I told you that when I came upon the
royal family in the cave, they were talking of their
prince -
Harelip, they called him - marrying a sun-woman - that means one of
us - one with toes to her feet. Now in the speech one of them made
that night at their great
gathering, of which I heard only a part,
he said that peace would be secured for a
generation at least by
the
pledge the
prince would hold for the good behaviour of her
relatives: that's what he said, and he must have meant the
sun-woman the
prince was to marry. I am quite sure the king is
much too proud to wish his son to marry any but a
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, and
much too
knowing to fancy that his having a
peasant woman for a
wife would be of any great
advantage to them.'
'I see what you are driving at now,' said his mother.
'But,' said his father, 'our king would dig the mountain to the
plain before he would have his
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess the wife of a cob, if he
were ten times a
prince.'
'Yes; but they think so much of themselves!' said his mother.
'Small creatures always do. The bantam is the proudest cock in my
little yard.'
'And I fancy,' said Curdie, 'if they once got her, they would tell
the king they would kill her except he consented to the marriage.'
'They might say so,' said his father, 'but they wouldn't kill her;
they would keep her alive for the sake of the hold it gave them
over our king. Whatever he did to them, they would
threaten to do
the same to the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess.'
'And they are bad enough to
torment her just for their own
amusement - I know that,' said his mother.
'Anyhow, I will keep a watch on them, and see what they are up to,'
said Curdie. 'It's too
horrible to think of. I daren't let myself
do it. But they shan't have her - at least if I can help it. So,
mother dear - my clue is all right - will you get me a bit of paper
and a pencil and a lump of pease
pudding, and I will set out at
once. I saw a place where I can climb over the wall of the garden
quite easily.'
'You must mind and keep out of the way of the men on the watch,'
said his mother.
'That I will. I don't want them to know anything about it. They
would spoil it all. The cobs would only try some other plan - they
are such
obstinate creatures! I shall take good care, mother.
They won't kill and eat me either, if they should come upon me. So
you needn't mind them.'
His mother got him what he had asked for, and Curdie set out.
Close beside the door by which the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess left the garden for the
mountain stood a great rock, and by climbing it Curdie got over the
wall. He tied his clue to a stone just inside the
channel of the
stream, and took his pickaxe with him. He had not gone far before
he encountered a
horrid creature coming towards the mouth. The
spot was too narrow for two of almost any size or shape, and
besides Curdie had no wish to let the creature pass. Not being
able to use his pickaxe, however, he had a
severe struggle with
him, and it was only after receiving many bites, some of them bad,
that he succeeded in killing him with his pocket-knife. Having
dragged him out, he made haste to get in again before another
should stop up the way.
I need not follow him farther in this night's adventures. He
returned to his breakfast, satisfied that the
goblins were
miningin the direction of the palace - on so low a level that their
intention must, he thought, be to
burrow under the walls of the
king's house, and rise up inside it - in order, he fully believed,
to lay hands on the little
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, and carry her off for a wife
to their
horrid Harelip.
CHAPTER 24
Irene Behaves Like a Princess
When the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess awoke from the sweetest of sleeps, she found her
nurse bending over her, the
housekeeper looking over the nurse's
shoulder, and the laundry- maid looking over the
housekeeper's.
The room was full of women-servants; and the gentlemen-at-arms,
with a long
column of servants behind them, were peeping, or trying
to peep in at the door of the nursery.
'Are those
horrid creatures gone?' asked the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, remembering
first what had terrified her in the morning.
'You
naughty,
naughty little
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess!' cried Lootie.
Her face was very pale, with red streaks in it, and she looked as
if she were going to shake her; but Irene said nothing - only
waited to hear what should come next.
'How could you get under the clothes like that, and make us all
fancy you were lost! And keep it up all day too! You are the most
obstinate child! It's anything but fun to us, I can tell you!'
It was the only way the nurse could
account for her disappearance.
'I didn't do that, Lootie,' said Irene, very quietly.
'Don't tell stories!' cried her nurse quite rudely.
'I shall tell you nothing at all,' said Irene.
'That's just as bad,' said the nurse.
'Just as bad to say nothing at all as to tell stories?' exclaimed
the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess. 'I will ask my papa about that. He won't say so.
And I don't think he will like you to say so.'
'Tell me directly what you mean by it!' screamed the nurse, half
wild with anger at the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess and
fright at the possible
consequences to herself.
'When I tell you the truth, Lootie,' said the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, who somehow
did not feel at all angry, 'you say to me "Don't tell stories": it
seems I must tell stories before you will believe me.'
'You are very rude,
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess,' said the nurse.
'You are so rude, Lootie, that I will not speak to you again till
you are sorry. Why should I, when I know you will not believe me?'
returned the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess. For she did know
perfectly well that if she
were to tell Lootie what she had been about, the more she went on
to tell her, the less would she believe her.
'You are the most provoking child!' cried her nurse. 'You deserve
to be well punished for your
wicked behaviour.'
'Please, Mrs Housekeeper,' said the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, 'will you take me to
your room, and keep me till my king-papa comes? I will ask him to
come as soon as he can.'
Every one stared at these words. Up to this moment they had all
regarded her as little more than a baby.
But the
housekeeper was afraid of the nurse, and sought to patch
matters up, saying:
'I am sure,
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, nursie did not mean to be rude to you.'
'I do not think my papa would wish me to have a nurse who spoke to
me as Lootie does. If she thinks I tell lies, she had better
either say so to my papa, or go away. Sir Walter, will you take
charge of me?'
'With the greatest of pleasure,
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess,' answered the captain of
the gentlemen-at-arms, walking with his great
stride into the room.
The crowd of servants made eager way for him, and he bowed low
before the little
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess's bed. 'I shall send my servant at
once, on the fastest horse in the
stable, to tell your king-papa
that Your Royal Highness desires his presence. When you have
chosen one of these under-servants to wait upon you, I shall order
the room to be cleared.'
'Thank you very much, Sir Walter,' said the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, and her eye
glanced towards a rosy-cheeked girl who had
lately come to the
house as a scullery-maid.
But when Lootie saw the eyes of her dear
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess going in search
of another instead of her, she fell upon her knees by the bedside,
and burst into a great cry of distress.
'I think, Sir Walter,' said the
princess" target="_blank" title="n.公主;王妃;亲王夫人">
princess, 'I will keep Lootie. But
I put myself under your care; and you need not trouble my king-papa
until I speak to you again. Will you all please to go away? I am
quite safe and well, and I did not hide myself for the sake either
of
amusing myself, or of troubling my people. Lootie, will you
please to dress me.'
CHAPTER 25
Curdie Comes to Grief
Everything was for some time quiet above ground. The king was
still away in a distant part of his dominions. The men-at-arms
kept watching about the house. They had been considerably
astonished by
finding at the foot of the rock in the garden the
hideous body of the
goblin creature killed by Curdie; but they came
to the
conclusion that it had been slain in the mines, and had
crept out there to die; and except an
occasionalglimpse of a live
one they saw nothing to cause alarm. Curdie kept watching in the
mountain, and the
goblins kept
burrowing deeper into the earth. As
long as they went deeper there was, Curdie judged, no immediate
danger.
To Irene the summer was as full of pleasure as ever, and for a long
time, although she often thought of her
grandmother during the day,
and often dreamed about her at night, she did not see her. The
kids and the flowers were as much her delight as ever, and she made
as much friendship with the miners' children she met on the
mountain as Lootie would permit; but Lootie had very foolish