HOW HELP CAME TO THE KING Bur his misery did not last long. Almost at ohere came a bump, and then a sed bump, and two children were standing before him. The wood in front of him had been quite empty a sed before and he khey had not e from behind his tree, for he would have heard them. They had in fact simply appeared from nowhere. He saw at a glahat they were wearing the same queer, dingy sort of clothes as the people in his
dream; and he saw, at a sed glahat they were the you boy and girl out of that party of seven.
"Gosh!" said the boy, "that took ones breath away! I thought -」
"Hurry up a him untied," said the girl. "We talk, afterwards." Then she added, turning to Tirian, "Im sorry weve been so long. We came the moment we could.」
While she eaking the Boy produced a knife from his pocket and was quickly cutting the Kings bonds: too quickly, in fact, for the King was so stiff and numb that when the last cord was cut he fell forward on his hands and knees. He could up again till he had brought some life bato his legs by a good rubbing.
"I say," said the girl. "It was you, wasnt it, eared to us that night when we were all at supper? Nearly a week ago.」
"A week, fair maid?" said Tirian. "My dream led me into your world scarce ten minutes since.」
"Its the usual muddle about times, Pole," said the Boy.
"I remember now," said Tirian. "That too es in all the old tales. The time of your strange land is different from ours. But if we speak of Time, tis time to be gone from here: for my enemies are close at hand. Will you e with me?」
"Of course," said the girl. "Its you weve e to help.」
Tirian got to his feet ahem rapidly down hill, Southward and away from the stable. He knew where he meant to go but his first aim was to get to rocky places where they would leave no trail, and his sed to cross some water so that they would leave no st. This took them about an hours scrambling and wading and while that was going on nobody had any breath to talk. But even so, Tiria on stealing gla his panions. The wonder of walking beside the creatures from another world made him feel a little dizzy: but it also made all the old stories seem far more real than they had ever seemed before . . . anything might happen now.
"Now," said Tirian as they came to the head of a little valley which ran down before them among young birch trees, "we are out of danger of those villains for a spad may walk more easily." The sun had risen, dew-drops were twinkling on every branch, and birds were singing.
"What about some grub? - I mean for you, Sir, we two have had our breakfast," said the Boy.
Tirian wondered very much what he meant by "grub", but when the Boy opened a bulgy satchel which he was carrying and pulled out a rather greasy and squashy packet, he uood. He was ravenously hungry, though he hadnt thought about it till that moment. There were two hard-boiled egg sandwiches, and two cheese sandwiches, and two with some kind of paste in them. If he hadnt been so hungry he wouldnt have thought much of the paste, for that is a sort of food nobody eats in Narnia. By the time he had eaten all six sandwiches they had e to the bottom of the valley and there they found a mossy cliff with a little fountain bubbling out of it. All three stopped and drank and splashed their hot faces.
"And now," said the girl as she tossed her wet hair back from her forehead,