the bottom of the world

"my name is golg," said the gnome. "and i'll tell your honours all i know. about an hour ago we were all going about our work - her work, i should say - sad and silent, same as we've done any other day for years and years. then there came a great crash and bang. as soon as they heard it, everyone says to himself, i haven't had a song or a dance or let off a squib for a long time; why's that? and everyone thinks to himself, why, i must have been enchanted. and then everyone says to himself, i'm blessed if i know why i'm carrying this load, and i'm not going to carry it any farther: that's that. and down we all throw our sacks and bundles and tools. then everyone turns and sees the great red glow over yonder. and everyone says to himself, what's that? and everyone answers himself and says, there's a crack or chasm split open and a nice warm glow coming up through it from the really deep land, a thousand fathom under us."

"great scott," exclaimed eustace, "are there other lands still lower down?"

"oh yes, your honour," said golg. "lovely places; what we call the land of bism. this country where we are now, the witch's country, is what we call the shallow lands. it's a good deal too near the surface to suit us. ugh! you might almost as well be living outside, on the surface itself. you see, we're all poor gnomes from bism whom the witch has called up here by magic to work for her. but we'd forgotten all about it till that crash came and the spell broke. we didn't know who we were or where we belonged. we couldn't do anything, or think anything, except what she put into our heads. and it was glum and gloomy things she put there all those years. i've nearly forgotten how to make a joke or dance a jig. but the moment the bang came and the chasm opened and the sea began rising, it all came back. and of course we all set off as quick as we could to get down the crack and home to our own place. and you can see them over there all letting off rockets and standing on their heads for joy. and i'll be very obliged to your honours if you'll soon let me go and join in."

"i think this is simply splendid," said jill. "i'm so glad we freed the gnomes as well as ourselves when we cut off the witch's head! and i'm so glad they aren't really horrid and gloomy any more than the prince really was well, what he seemed like."

"that's all very well, pole," said puddleglum cautiously. "but those gnomes didn't look to me like chaps who were just running away. it looked more like military formations, if you ask me. do you look me in the face, mr golg, and tell me you weren't preparing for battle?"

"of course we were, your honour," said golg. "you see, we didn't know the witch was dead. we thought she'd be watching from the castle. we were trying to slip away without being seen. and then when you three came out with swords and horses, of course everyone says to himself, here it comes: not knowing that his honour wasn't on the witch's side. and we were determined to fight like anything rather than give up the hope of going back to bism."

"i'll be sworn 'tis an honest gnome," said the prince. "let go of it, friend puddleglum. as for me, good golg, i have been enchanted like you and your fellows, and have but newly remembered myself. and now, one question more. do you know the way to those new diggings, by which the sorceress meant to lead out an army against overland?"

"ee-ee-ee!" squeaked golg. "yes, i know that terrible road. i will show you where it begins. but it is no manner of use your honour asking me to go with you on it. i'll die rather."

"why?" asked eustace anxiously. "what's so dreadful about it?"

"too near the top, the outside," said golg, shuddering. "that was the worst thing the witch did to us. we were going to be led out into the open - on to the outside of the world. they say there's no roof at all there; only a horrible great emptiness called the sky. and the diggings have gone so far that a few strokes of the pick would bring you out to it. i wouldn't dare go near them."

"hurrah! now you're talking!" cried eustace, and jill said, "but it's not horrid at all up there. we like it. we live there."

"i know you overlanders live there," said golg. "but i thought it was because you couldn't find your way down inside. you can't really like it - crawling about like flies on the top of the world!"

"what about showing us the road at once?" said puddleglum.

"in a good hour," cried the prince. the whole party set out. the prince remounted his charger, puddleglum climbed up behind jill, and golg led the way. as he went, he kept shouting out the good news that the witch was dead and that the four overlanders were not dangerous. and those who heard him shouted it on to others, so that in a few minutes the whole of underland was ringing with shouts and cheers, and gnomes by hundreds and thousands, leaping, turning cart-wheels, standing on their heads, playing leap-frog, and letting off huge crackers, came pressing round coalblack and snowflake. and the prince had to tell the story of his own enchantment and deliverance at least ten times.

in this way they came to the edge of the chasm. it was about a thousand feet long and perhaps two hundred wide. they dismounted from their horses and came to the edge, and looked down into it. a strong heat smote up into their faces, mixed with a smell which was quite unlike any they had ever smelled. it was rich, sharp, exciting, and made you sneeze. the depth of the chasm was so bright that at first it dazzled their eyes and they could see nothing. when they got used to it they thought they could make out a river of fire, and, on the banks of that river, what seemed to be fields and groves of an unbearable, hot brilliance - though they were dim compared with the river. there were blues, reds, greens, and whites all jumbled together: a very good stained-glass window with the tropical sun staring straight through it at midday might have something the same effect. down the rugged sides of the chasm, looking black like flies against all that fiery light, hundreds of earthmen were climbing.

"your honours," said golg (and when they turned to look at him they could see nothing but blackness for a few minutes, their eyes were so dazzled). "your honours, why don't you come down to bism? you'd be happier there than in that cold, unprotected, naked country out on top. or at least come down for a short visit."

jill took it for granted that none of the others would listen to such an idea for a moment. to her horror she heard the prince saying:

"truly, friend golg, i have half a mind to come down with you. for this is a marvellous adventure, and it may be no mortal man has ever looked into bism before or will ever have the chance again. and i know not how, as the years pass, i shall bear to remember that it was once in my power to have probed the uttermost pit of earth and that i forbore. but could a man live there? you do not swim in the fire-river itself?"

"oh no, your honour. not we. it's only salamanders live in the fire itself."

"what kind of beast is your salamander?" asked the prince.

"it is hard to tell their kind, your honour," said golg. "for they are too white-hot to look at. but they are most like small dragons. they speak to us out of the fire. they are wonderfully clever with their tongues: very witty and eloquent."

jill glanced hastily at eustace. she had felt sure that he would like the idea of sliding down that chasm even less than she did. her heart sank as she saw that his face was quite changed. he looked much more like the prince than like the old scrubb at experiment house. for all his adventures, and the days when he had sailed with king caspian, were coming back to him.

"your highness," he said. "if my old friend reepicheep the mouse were here, he would say we could not now refuse the adventures of bism without a great impeachment to our honour."

"down there," said golg, "i could show you real gold, real silver, real diamonds."

"bosh!" said jill rudely. "as if we didn't know that we're below the deepest mines even here."

"yes," said golg. "i have heard of those little scratches in the crust that you topdwellers call mines. but that's where you get dead gold, dead silver, dead gems. down in bism we have them alive and growing. there i'll pick you bunches of rubies that you can eat and squeeze you a cup full of diamond-juice. you won't care much about fingering the cold, dead treasures of your shallow mines after you have tasted the live ones of bism."

"my father went to the world's end," said rilian thoughtfully. "it would be a marvellous thing if his son went to the bottom of the world."

"if your highness wants to see your father while he's still alive, which i think he'd prefer," said puddleglum, "it's about time we were getting on to that road to the diggings."

"and i won't go down that hole, whatever anyone says," added jill.

"why, if your honours are really set to go back to overworld," said golg, "there is one bit of the road that's rather lower than this. and perhaps, if that flood's still rising -"

"oh, do, do, do come on!" begged jill.

"i fear it must be so," said the prince with a deep sigh. "but i have left half of my heart in the land of bism."

"please!" begged jill.

"where is the road?" asked puddleglum.

"there are lamps all the way," said golg. "your honour can see the beginning of the road on the far side of the chasm."

"how long will the lamps burn for?" asked puddleglum.

at that moment a hissing, scorching voice like the voice of fire itself (they wondered afterwards if it could have been a salamander's) came whistling up out of the very depths of bism.

"quick! quick! quick! to the cliffs, to the cliffs, to the cliffs!" it said. "the rift closes. it closes. it closes. quick! quick!" and at the same time, with ear-shattering cracks and creaks, the rocks moved. already, while they looked, the chasm was narrower. from every side belated gnomes were rushing into it. they would not wait to climb down the rocks. they flung themselves headlong and, either because so strong a blast of hot air was beating up from the bottom, or for some other reason, they could be seen floating downwards like leaves. thicker and thicker they floated, till their blackness almost blotted out the fiery river and the groves of live gems. "good-bye to your honours. i'm off," shouted golg, and dived. only a few were left to follow him. the chasm was now no broader than a stream. now it was narrow as the slit in a pillarbox. now it was only an intensely bright thread. then, with a shock like a thousand goods trains crashing into a thousand pairs of buffers, the lips of rock closed. the hot, maddening smell vanished. the travellers were alone in an underworld which now looked far blacker than before. pale, dim, and dreary, the lamps marked the direction of the road.

"now," said puddleglum, "it's ten to one we've already stayed too long, but we may as well make a try. those lamps will give out in five minutes, i shouldn't wonder."

they urged the horses to a canter and thundered along the dusky road in fine style. but almost at once it began going downhill. they would have thought golg had sent them the wrong way if they had not seen, on the other side of the valley, the lamps going on and upwards as far as the eye could reach. but at the bottom of the valley the lamps shone on moving water.

"haste," cried the prince. they galloped down the slope. it would have been nasty enough at the bottom even five minutes later for the tide was running up the valley like a mill-race, and if it had come to swimming, the horses could hardly have won over. but it was still only a foot or two deep, and though it swished terribly round the horses' legs, they reached the far side in safety.

then began the slow, weary march uphill with nothing ahead to look at but the pale lamps which went up and up as far as the eye could reach. when they looked back they could see the water spreading. all the hills of underland were now islands, and it was only on those islands that the lamps remained. every moment some distant light vanished. soon there would be total darkness everywhere except on the road they were following; and even on the lower part of it behind them, though no lamps had yet gone out, the lamplight shone on water.

although they had good reason for hurrying, the horses could not go on for ever without a rest. they halted: and in silence they could hear the lapping of water.

"i wonder is what's his name - father time - flooded out now," said jill. "and all those queer sleeping animals."

"i don't think we're as high as that," said eustace. "don't you remember how we had to go downhill to reach the sunless sea? i shouldn't think the water has reached father time's cave yet."

"that's as may be," said puddleglum. "i'm more interested in the lamps on this road. look a bit sickly, don't they?"

"they always did," said jill.

"aye," said puddleglum. "but they're greener now."

"you don't mean to say you think they're going out?" cried eustace.

"well, however they work, you can't expect them to last for ever, you know," replied the marsh-wiggle. "but don't let your spirits down, scrubb. i've got my eye on the water too, and i don't think it's rising so fast as it did."

"small comfort, friend," said the prince. "if we cannot find our way out. i cry you mercy, all. i am to blame for my pride and fantasy which delayed us by the mouth of the land of bism. now, let us ride on."

during the hour or so that followed jill sometimes thought that puddleglum was right about the lamps, and sometimes thought it was only her imagination. meanwhile the land was changing. the roof of underland was so near that even by that dull light they could now see it quite distinctly. and the great, rugged walls of underland could be seen drawing closer on each side. the road, in fact, was leading them up into a steep tunnel. they began to pass picks and shovels and barrows and other signs that the diggers had recently been at work. if only one could be sure of getting out, all this was very cheering. but the thought of going on into a hole that would get narrower and narrower, and harder to turn back in, was very unpleasant.

at last the roof was so low that puddleglum and the prince knocked their heads against it. the party dismounted and led the horses. the road was uneven here and one had to pick one's steps with some care. that was how jill noticed the growing darkness. there was no doubt about it now. the faces of the others looked strange and ghastly in the green glow. then all at once (she couldn't help it) jill gave a little scream. one light, the next one ahead, went out altogether. the one behind them did the same. then they were in absolute darkness.

"courage, friends," came prince rilian's voice. "whether we live or die aslan will be our good lord."

"that's right, sir," said puddleglum's voice. "and you must always remember there's one good thing about being trapped down here: it'll save funeral expenses."

jill held her tongue. (if you don't want other people to know how frightened you are, this is always a wise thing to do; it's your voice that gives you away.)

"we might as well go on as stand here," said eustace; and when she heard the tremble in his voice, jill knew how wise she'd been not to trust her own.

puddleglum and eustace went first with their arms stretched out in front of them, for fear of blundering into anything; jill and the prince followed, leading the horses.

"i say," came eustace's voice much later, "are my eyes going queer or is there a patch of light up there?"

before anyone could answer him, puddleglum called out: "stop. i'm up against a dead end. and it's earth, not rock. what were you saying, scrubb?"

"by the lion," said the prince, "eustace is right. there is a sort of -"

"but it's not daylight," said jill. "it's only a cold blue sort of light."

"better than nothing, though," said eustace. "can we get up to it?"

"it's not right overhead," said puddleglum. "it's above us, but it's in this wall that i've run into. how would it be, pole, if you got on my shoulders and saw whether you could get up to it?"

14、世界底层

“我名叫戈尔格，”小精灵说，“我要把我所知道的全告诉各位大人。大约一小时以前，我们都在干着自己的活——我该说是她的活——大家又伤心又沉默，跟我们多少年来其他任何一天干活一模一样。接着传来了轰隆隆一声巨响。他们一听见这个声音，每个人都对自己说我已经很久没唱一支歌，没跳一支舞，没放一只爆竹了；那是为什么呢?每个人心里都在想，咦，我一定是被魔法迷住了。接着每个人还对自己说，要是我知道自己为什么要搬这么重的东西就好了，我就再也不打算搬下去了。就那么回事。于是我们把口袋、包裹和工具都扔下。随后大家就转身去看那边一大片红光。每个人都对自己说，那是什么啊?大家都自问自答说，原来有条裂缝或缺口豁开了，从几千英寻以下，真正的深层地底照上来一股好暖和的光哟。”

“老天爷，”尤斯塔斯惊叫道，“还有另外的地方比这儿更低吗?”

“哦，有的，大人，”戈尔格说。“可爱的地方。我们管它叫比斯姆国。我们现在所在的国家是女巫的国家，我们管它叫浅地。对我们来说，这儿离地面太近，不适合我们居住。呃!你还不如住在外面，住到地面上去呢。你瞧，我们都是从比斯姆国来的可怜的小精灵，是女巫用魔法把我们招到这儿来为她干活的。可是我们把这些事全忘了，直到传来轰隆一响，魔法破了才想起来。我们不知道自己是什么人，从哪儿来。我们除了她灌到我们头脑里的东西，什么也不能干，什么也不能想。这么多年来她灌到我们头脑里全是些阴郁、愁闷的东西。我几乎已经忘掉了怎么说笑话，怎么跳快步舞了。不料轰隆一响，裂缝豁开了，海水开始涨起来了，一切才又想了起来。当然，我们大家都赶快出发，从裂缝下去，回到我们自己的地方去。而且你们能看见他们在那边放焰火，竖蜻蜒，闹着玩儿。要是你们能马上让我走，跟大家一道回去，我将十分感激各位大人。”

“我认为这简直太好了，”吉尔说，“我真高兴我们砍下女巫的头既解救了自己也解救了小精灵!而且我也很高兴他们其实并不那么可怕和忧郁，正如王子其实也并不是——嗯，看上去这副模样。”

“这固然很好，波尔，”普德格伦谨慎地说，“但那些小精灵在我看来并不像只是在逃跑。依我说呀，它们更像一些军事队形。看着我的脸，戈尔格先生，告诉我，你们不是在准备打仗吗?”

“我们当然准备打仗，大人，”戈尔格说，“不瞒你说，我们并不知道女巫死了。我们还以为她会从城堡里看着。我们正想法溜掉，不让她看见呢。后来你们四个出来了，拿着剑，骑着马，大家当然不免都在暗自说，这下可来了。我们不知道大人不是女巫一边的。我们决定宁可拼命战斗，也决不放弃回比斯姆的希望。”

“我敢说它是个诚实的小精灵，”王子说，“放开它，普德格伦朋友。至于我，好戈尔格，我也像你和你的同胞一样被魔法迷住过，也是刚刚想起我自己的本来面目。现在我再问一个问题。你知道那条到新挖坑道的路吗?就是女巫要领一支军队去打上面世界的那条地道?”-

“咦——咦——咦，”戈尔格尖叫道，“是啊，我知道那条可怕的路。我可以指给你们看那条路从哪儿开头。但大人要叫我陪你们上那儿去，那可绝对不行，我情愿死。”

“为什么?”尤斯塔斯急切地问，“那儿有什么可怕的?”

“离上面、外面太近了，”戈尔格哆哆嗦嗦地说，“这是女巫对我们下的最毒的一手。我们就要被带出去——带到世界外面。听说，那儿根本没有顶层，只有可怕的一大块空白叫做天空。坑道已经挖得很远，只要再挖几锹就可以到外面去了。我可不敢走近那儿。”

“好哇，你这才谈得有点儿门了。”尤斯塔斯喊着说。吉尔说：“不过上面并不那么恐怖。我们喜欢那儿。我们就住在那儿。”

“我知道你们上面世界的人住在那儿，”戈尔格说，“但我认为这是因为你们找不到往地底下的路。你们不会真正喜欢那儿——像苍蝇似的在世界项上爬来爬去。”

“你马上给我们指指路好吗?”普德格伦说。

“赶得早不如赶得巧。”王子叫道。他们这一伙就此出发。王子重新骑上了马，普德格伦爬到吉尔后面，戈尔格在前头带路。它一面走一面叫喊好消息，说女巫已经死了，这四个上面世界的人并不危险。听见它喊叫的，又把消息传给另外的小精灵，所以一会儿工夫，整个地下世界都响起了欢呼声。成千上万的小精灵跳啊，翻筋斗啊，竖蜻蜒啊，玩跳背游戏啊，放大爆竹啊，还过来围着黑炭和雪花。王子只好把他自己中了魔法以及解脱苦难的经历讲了又讲，少说也讲了十遍。

他们就这样来到了缺口的边缘。这条缺口大约有一千英尺长，两百英尺宽。他们下了马，来到缺口边缘往下看。一股强烈的热浪扑面而来，还夹杂着一种他们从来没闻到过的气味。这气味又浓又辣，又刺激，使人要打喷嚏。缺口深处很亮，开头他们的眼睛都发花了，什么也看不见。等他们习惯了这么亮的光，才觉得自己能分辨出一条火河，河的两岸似乎是田野和一种发出难以忍受、热辣辣的光的小树林——可是比起那条河来就黯然失色了。那儿五颜六色，蓝的、红的、绿的和白的全都混在一起；一面优美的彩色玻璃窗在正午时分热带阳光直射下，效果可能跟这儿差不多。在那火红的光照下，成千的地下人看上去就像黑压压一片苍蝇正顺着凹凸不平的裂缝边往下爬去。

“各位大人，”戈尔格说，(他们回头看它时，一时只见一片漆黑，什么都看不见，他们的眼睛都发花了。)“各位大人，你们干吗不到比斯姆去呢?你们在那儿要比在上面那个冷冰冰、光秃秃、没遮没盖的国家快活多了。要不至少下去作一次短期访问也行呀。”

吉尔理所当然地认为决不会有谁听从这么个馊主意，谁知大吃一惊的是竞听到王子在说：

“说真的，戈尔格朋友，我也很想跟你一起下去。因为这是一次极好的探险，也许凡人从来还没有看到过比斯姆，今后也不会再有这种机会。而一年一年过去，将来怎堪回首当年自己一度有能力去探索地球最深的深渊却避而不去啊?但一个人能在那儿生活吗?你们不在那条火河里游泳吧?”

“哦，不，大人。我们不游。只有火蛇才生活在火里。”

“你说的火蛇是什么样的动物?”王子问。

“很难说它是哪一种，大人。”戈尔格说，“因为它们太热太热了，看也看不得。不过它们大多像小龙。在火焰外跟我们说话。它们的口才特别好，能说会道，滔滔不绝。”

吉尔匆匆看了尤斯塔斯一眼。她原来深信他对爬下裂缝的主意甚至比她还要不喜欢。当她看见他的脸色已经大不相同，心里不禁一沉。看上去他更像王子而不像实验学校里过去那个斯克罗布了。因为他正回想起自己的一切奇遇，和跟凯斯宾国王一起航海的日子。

“殿下，”他说，“要是我的老朋友老鼠雷佩契普在这儿，他就会说眼下我们要是不去比斯姆冒险，我们的荣誉就免不了要大受指责。”

“在下面，”戈尔格说，

“我可以让你们看看真正的金子、银子和钻石。”

“胡说八道，”吉尔粗鲁地说，“难道我们不知道我们即使在这儿，就已经在最深的矿下面?”

“是啊，”戈尔格说，“我听说过地壳上那些小小的擦痕，你们上界居民管它叫做矿。那就是你们得到死的金银珠宝的地方。在比斯姆，我们的金银珠宝都是活的，而且还在生长。在那儿我可以给你摘一束束能吃的红宝石，给你挤满满一杯钻石汁。你尝过比斯姆这种活的金银珠宝，就不屑于抚摸浅矿里那些冷冰冰的、死的金银珠宝了。”

“我父亲到世界尽头去了，”瑞廉沉思地说，“要是他的儿子到世界底层去，倒是一件妙事。”

“要是殿下想趁你父亲活着的时候见他，我想他可是求之不得呢，”普德格伦说，“现在我们该上路去坑道了。”

“说什么我也不愿到那个洞里去。”吉尔又说。

“哎呀，要是各位大人真的要动身回上面世界去，”戈尔格说，“有一段路比这还低呢，说不定，要是洪水还在涨的话……”

“哦，快来吧，请你们千万快来吧!”吉尔恳求道。

“恐怕必须走了，”王子深深叹了口气，“不过我的半颗心都留在比斯姆了。”

“求求你了。”吉尔恳求着。

“路在哪儿?”普德格伦问道。

“那儿一路上都有灯，”戈尔格说，“大人在裂缝尽头就看得见路的起点。”

“那些灯能点多少时间?”普德格伦问。

正在这时，从比斯姆最深处一种嘶嘶响、火辣辣的声音呼啸而起。(事后他们真想知道那是不是火蛇的声音。

“快，快，快，到悬崖去，到悬崖去，到悬崖去!”它说，“裂缝关了。关了。关了。快!快!快!”与此同时，岩石在震耳欲聋的哗啦啦响声中移动了。等他们看时，裂缝已经变窄了。掉队的小精灵纷纷从两边朝里面冲去。他们来不及爬下岩石，就倒栽葱似的跳下去，要么是由于底层冒上来的那股热浪太强，要么是什么其他原因，只见他们都像树叶一样朝下飘。飘浮的小精灵变得越来越密，直到黑压压的一片几乎把那条火红的河和活宝石的小树林都遮暗了。“各位大人再见。我走了。”戈尔格大声嚷着，跳了进去，只有少数几个留下的跟着它跳进去。裂缝一会儿就没有一条小溪那么宽了，一会儿就像邮筒的投信口那么窄，一会儿只剩下一条极亮的线了。随后，砰的一声，就像千百节货车撞上了千百对缓冲器，岩石两边合拢了。那股灼热，让人发疯的气味也消失了。他们四个孤零零地待在地下世界里，这儿现在看上去比以前更黑。只有那些苍白、暗淡、阴森森的灯标志着路的方向。

“好了，”普德格伦说，“十有八九我们已经待得太久了。不过我们还不妨试一下。那些灯不到五分钟就要灭了，这我不会奇怪的。”

他们催着马一溜小跑，神气十足地在昏暗的路上蹄声隆隆而去。但几乎立刻就开始走下坡路了，要不是他们看见山谷的另一边还有灯，而且放眼望去，灯都是往上面方向的，他们原来还以为戈尔格指错了路呢。不过到了谷底，灯光照到的就是流水了。

“赶快!”王子叫道。他们沿着斜坡飞驰而下。再晚五分钟，情况就够严重的了，因为潮水正像水车沟里的水似的滚滚流入山谷，要是弄得要游过去的话，两匹马恐怕就不大行了。不过这时潮水还只有一两英尺深，尽管在马腿边发出可怕的哗哗声，他们还是安全地到了对面山坡。

接着就开始又慢又累地爬山，前面除了通向上面那一眼望不到头的苍白灯光，什么都看不见。他们回头望望，看得出潮水已经蔓延开了。所有地下世界的山头这时都变成了岛屿，只有那些岛上的灯还亮着。每时每刻远处都有一盏盏灯灭了。不久除了他们走的这条路，到处都会变得一片漆黑，即使是他们身后的较低的那一段路，虽然灯还没灭，灯光却照在水面上。

尽管他们有充分理由得赶路，马却不能没有休息而一直走下去。他们就停下了，沉默中只听见水的拍打声。

“我真想知道那个叫什么名字的——时间老人——现在是不是被大水冲出来了?”吉尔说，“还有那么多奇怪的睡着的动物?”

“我认为我们还没到那么高，”尤斯塔斯说，“难道你不记得我们怎么下山到那个暗无天日海的吗?我认为大水还没涌到时间老人那个洞呢。”

“那也可能，”普德格伦说，“我更感兴趣的是这条路上的灯。看上去有点暗淡吧?”

“这些灯一直很暗淡。”吉尔说。

“啊，”普德格伦说，“不过这会儿灯更暗得发绿了。”

“你意思不是说你认为灯要灭了吧?”尤斯塔斯叫道。

“嗯，不管这些灯是怎么亮的，要知道，你总不能希望灯永远亮下去啊，”沼泽怪回答说，“不过你也别垂头丧气，斯克罗布。我也留意着水呢，我认为水没有刚才涨得那么快了。”

“小小的安慰，朋友，”王子说，“要是我们找不到出路，我要请大家原谅。都怪我自尊心强和异想天开，害得大家在比斯姆国入口耽搁了。好了，我们继续前进吧。”

此后的一个多小时里，吉尔有时觉得普德格伦关于灯的看法是对的，有时觉得这只是她的想像。同时地上也起了变化。地下世界的顶层已经很近了，即使在暗淡的灯光下，他们也能看得清清楚楚。还有地下世界两边大片凹凸不平的岩壁也看得出正在靠拢。事实上，这条路正把他们引进一条陡峭的地道。他们走过的路上开始出现铁镐、铁锹和手推车，以及其他等等，说明挖坑道的刚刚还在干活。只要你肯定出得去，这一切倒是非常令人鼓舞的。但想到自己正走进一个变得越来越窄的洞，而且窄得难以转身，这却是非常不愉快的。

最后，顶层变得很低，普德格伦和王子脑袋都撞在顶上了。他们都下来牵着马走。这儿的路面高低不平，走路也要小心翼翼。吉尔就是这样才注意到周围越来越黑了。这点目前已经毫无疑问。其他人的脸在绿荧荧的光下看上去又古怪又可怕。随后，突然吉尔情不自禁地尖叫了一声。一盏灯，就是前面的那盏完全灭了。接着他们后面的一盏也灭了。于是他们就完全在黑暗中了。

“鼓起勇气，朋友们，”传来了瑞廉王子的声音，“不论我们是死是活，阿斯兰都是我们的好主宰。”

“说得对，殿下，”普德格伦的声音说，“而且你必须始终记住掉在这儿的陷阱里还有一个好处：丧葬费也省下了。”

吉尔不吭声。(要是你不想让别人知道你有多惊慌，这一向是个聪明办法；否则一出声就露馅了。

“我们站在这儿还不如向前走的好。”尤斯塔斯说。当她听见他嗓音在颤抖，吉尔就知道她不敢吭声有多聪明了。

普德格伦和尤斯塔斯生怕碰上什么东西，伸出两手，走在头里。吉尔和王子拉着马跟着。

“嗨，”过了好一会儿，尤斯塔斯的声音说，“是我的眼睛作怪，还是那上面有片光?”

大家还来不及回答，普德格伦就叫了起来。“停下，我走到头了。而且这是泥土，不是岩石。你说什么来着，斯克罗布?”

“狮王在上，”王子说，“尤斯塔斯是对的。是有一种……”

“话说回来，有光总比没光好，”尤斯塔斯说，“我们能上去吗?”

“那光并不在我们头顶上，”普德格伦说，“是在我们上面，不过就在我撞进来的这堵墙里。波尔，你爬到我肩膀上，看看能不能爬到那儿，怎么样?”