CHAPTER SIX THE WILD WASTE LANDS OF THE NORTH（第3/3页）

“Oh rot ！”said Scrubb. “I thought she was simply super. And think of hot meals and warm rooms. I do hope Harfang isn’t a long way off.”

“Same here,”said Jill. “And hadn’t she a scrumptious dress. And the horse ！”

“All the same,”said Puddleglum，“I wish we knew a bit more about her.”

“I was going to ask her all about herself,”said Jill. “But how could I when you wouldn’t tell her anything about us ？”

“Yes,”said Scrubb. “And why were you so stiff and unpleasant. Didn’t you like them ？”

“Them ？ ”said the wiggle.“Who’s them ？ I only saw one.”

“Didn’t you see the Knight ？”asked Jill.

“I saw a suit of armour,”said Puddleglum. “Why didn’t he speak ？”

“I expect he was shy,”said Jill. “Or perhaps he just wants to look at her and listen to her lovely voice. I’m sure I would if I was him.”

“I was wondering,”remarked Puddleglum，“what you’d really see if you lifted up the visor of that helmet and looked inside.”

“Hang it all,”said Scrubb. “Think of the shape of the armour ！ What could be inside it except a man ？”

“How about a skeleton ？”asked the Marsh-wiggle with ghastly cheerfulness. “Or perhaps,”he added as an afterthought，“nothing at all. I mean，nothing you could see. Someone invisible.”

“Really，Puddleglum,”said Jill with a shudder，“you do have the most horrible ideas. How do you think of them all ？”

“Oh，bother his ideas ！”said Scrubb. “He’s always expecting the worst，and he’s always wrong. Let’s think about those Gentle Giants and get on to Harfang as quickly as we can. I wish I knew how far it is.”

And now they nearly had the first of those quarrels which Puddleglum had foretold：not that Jill and Scrubb hadn’t been sparring and snapping at each other a good deal before，but this was the first really serious disagreement. Puddleglum didn’t want them to go to Harfang at all. He said that he didn’t know what a giant’s idea of being“gentle”might be，and that，anyway， Aslan’s signs had said nothing about staying with giants，gentle or otherwise. The children，on the other hand，who were sick of wind and rain，and skinny fowl roasted over campfires，and hard，cold earth to sleep on，were absolutely dead set to visit the Gentle Giants. In the end，Puddleglum agreed to do so，but only on one condition. The others must give an absolute promise that， unless he gave them leave，they would not tell the Gentle Giants that they came from Narnia or that they were looking for Prince Rilian. And they gave him this promise，and went on.

After that talk with the Lady things got worse in two different ways. In the first place the country was much harder. The road led through endless，narrow valleys down which a cruel north wind was always blowing in their faces. There was nothing that could be used for firewood，and there were no nice little hollows to camp in，as there had been on the moor. And the ground was all stony， and made your feet sore by day and every bit of you sore by night.

In the second place，whatever the Lady had intended by telling them about Harfang，the actual effect on the children was a bad one. They could think about nothing but beds and baths and hot meals and how lovely it would be to get indoors. They never talked about Aslan，or even about the lost prince，now. And Jill gave up her habit of repeating the signs over to herself every night and morning. She said to herself，at first，that she was too tired，but she soon forgot all about it. And though you might have expected that the idea of having a good time at Harfang would have made them more cheerful，it really made them more sorry for themselves and more grumpy and snappy with each other and with Puddleglum.

At last they came one afternoon to a place where the gorge in which they were travelling widened out and dark fir woods rose on either side. They looked ahead and saw that they had come through the mountains. Before them lay a desolate，rocky plain：beyond it，further mountains capped with snow. But between them and those further mountains rose a low hill with an irregular flattish top.

“Look ！ Look ！”cried Jill，and pointed across the plain； and there，through the gathering dusk，from beyond the flat hill， everyone saw lights. Lights ！ Not moonlight，nor fires，but a homely cheering row of lighted windows. If you have never been in the wild wilderness，day and night，for weeks，you will hardly understand how they felt.

“Harfang ！”cried Scrubb and Jill in glad，excited voices； and“Harfang,”repeated Puddleglum in a dull，gloomy voice. But he added，“Hullo ！ Wild geese ！”and had the bow off his shoulder in a second. He brought down a good fat goose. It was far too late to think of reaching Harfang that day. But they had a hot meal and a fire，and started the night warmer than they had been for over a week. After the fire had gone out，the night grew bitterly cold，and when they woke next morning，their blankets were stiff with frost.

“Never mind ！”said Jill，stamping her feet. “Hot baths tonight ！ ”