CHAPTER ONE BEHIND THE GYM（第3/4页）

Jill and Eustace，now both very hot and very grubby from going along bent almost double under the laurels，panted up to the wall. And there was the door，shut as usual.

“It’s sure to be no good,”said Eustace with his hand on the handle；and then，“O-o-oh. By Gum ！！”For the handle turned and the door opened.

A moment before，both of them had meant to get through that doorway in double quick time，if by any chance the door was not locked. But when the door actually opened，they both stood stock still. For what they saw was quite different from what they had expected.

They had expected to see the grey，heathery slope of the moor going up and up to join the dull autumn sky. Instead，a blaze of sunshine met them. It poured through the doorway as the light of a June day pours into a garage when you open the door. It made the drops of water on the grass glitter like beads and showed up the dirtiness of Jill’s tear-stained face. And the sunlight was coming from what certainly did look like a different world—what they could see of it. They saw smooth turf，smoother and brighter than Jill had ever seen before，and blue sky，and，darting to and fro， things so bright that they might have been jewels or huge butterflies.

Although she had been longing for something like this，Jill felt frightened. She looked at Scrubb’s face and saw that he was frightened too.

“Come on，Pole,”he said in a breathless voice.

“Can we get back ？ Is it safe ？”asked Jill.

At that moment a voice shouted from behind，a mean， spiteful little voice. “Now then，Pole,”it squeaked. “Everyone knows you’re there. Down you come.”It was the voice of Edith Jackle，not one of Them herself but one of their hangers-on and tale-bearers.

“Quick ！”said Scrubb. “Here. Hold hands. We mustn’t get separated.”And before she quite knew what was happening，he had grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door，out of the school grounds，out of England，out of our whole world into That Place.

The sound of Edith Jackle’s voice stopped as suddenly as the voice on the radio when it is switched off. Instantly there was a quite different sound all about them. It came from those bright things overhead，which now turned out to be birds. They were making a riotous noise，but it was much more like music—rather advanced music which you don’t quite take in at the first hearing— than birds’ songs ever are in our world. Yet，in spite of the singing，there was a sort of background of immense silence. That silence，combined with the freshness of the air，made Jill think they must be on the top of a very high mountain.

Scrubb still had her by the hand and they were walking forward，staring about them on every side. Jill saw that huge trees，rather like cedars but bigger，grew in every direction.

But as they did not grow close together，and as there was no undergrowth，this did not prevent one from seeing a long way into the forest to left and right. And as far as Jill’s eye could reach， it was all the same—level turf，darting birds with yellow， or dragonfly blue，or rainbow plumage，blue shadows，and emptiness. There was not a breath of wind in that cool，bright air. It was a very lonely forest.

Right ahead there were no trees：only blue sky. They went straight on without speaking till suddenly Jill heard Scrubb say， “Look out ！ ”and felt herself jerked back. They were at the very edge of a cliff.

Jill was one of those lucky people who have a good head for heights. She didn’t mind in the least standing on the edge of a precipice. She was rather annoyed with Scrubb for pulling her back—“just as if I was a kid”，she said—and she wrenched her hand out of his. When she saw how very white he had turned，she despised him.

“What’s the matter ？”she said. And to show that she was not afraid，she stood very near the edge indeed；in fact，a good deal nearer than even she liked. Then she looked down.

She now realized that Scrubb had some excuse for looking white，for no cliff in our world is to be compared with this. Imagine yourself at the top of the very highest cliff you know. And imagine yourself looking down to the very bottom. And then imagine that the precipice goes on below that，as far again，ten times as far，twenty times as far. And when you’ve looked down all that distance imagine little white things that might，at first glance，be mistaken for sheep，but presently you realize that they are clouds—not little wreaths of mist but the enormous white， puffy clouds which are themselves as big as most mountains. And at last，in between those clouds，you get your first glimpse of the real bottom，so far away that you can’t make out whether it’s field or wood，or land or water：farther below those clouds than you are above them.

Jill stared at it. Then she thought that perhaps，after all，she would step back a foot or so from the edge；but she didn’t like to for fear of what Scrubb would think. Then she suddenly decided that she didn’t care what he thought，and that she would jolly well get away from that horrible edge and never laugh at anyone for not liking heights again. But when she tried to move，she found she couldn’t. Her legs seemed to have turned into putty. Everything was swimming before her eyes.