SORCERY AND SUDDEN VENGEANCE MEANWHILE Trumpkin and the two boys arrived at the dark little stone archway which led into the inside of the Mound, and two sentinel badgers (the white patches on their cheeks were all Edmund could see of them) leaped up with bared teeth and asked them in snarling voices, "Who goes there?」
"Trumpkin," said the Dwarf. "Bringing the High King of Narnia out of the far past.」
The badgers the boys hands. "At last," they said. "At last.」
"Give us a light, friends," said Trumpkin.
The badgers found a torch just ihe ard Peter lit it and handed it to Trumpkin.
"The D.L.F. had better lead," he said. "We dont know our way about this place.」
Trumpkin took the tord went ahead into the dark tunnel. It was a cold, black, musty place, with an occasional bat fluttering iorchlight, and plenty of cobwebs. The boys, who had been mostly in the open air sihat m at the railway statio as if they were going into a trap or a prison.
"I say, Peter," whispered Edmund. "Look at those carvings on the walls. Dont they look old? A were older than that. When we were last here, they hadnt been made.」
"Yes," said Peter. "That makes ohink.」
The Dwarf went on ahead and then turo the right, and then to the left, and then down some steps, and then to the left again. Then at last they saw a light ahead - light from under a door. And now for the first time they heard voices, for they had e to the door
of the tral chamber. The voices inside were angry ones. Someone was talking so loudly that the approach of the boys and the Dwarf had not been heard.
"Dont like the sound of that," whispered Trumpkin to Peter. "Lets listen for a moment.」
All three stood perfectly still oside of the door.
"You know well enough," said a voice ("Thats the King," whispered Trumpkin), "why the Horn was not blown at suhis m. Have you fotten that Miraz fell upon us almost before Trumpkin had gone, and we were fighting for our lives for the space of three hours and more? I blew it when first I had a breathing space.」
"Im not likely tet it," came the angry voice, "when my Dwarfs bore the brunt of the attad one in five of them fell." ("Thats Nikabrik," whispered Trumpkin.)
"For shame, Dwarf," came a thick voice ("Trufflehunters," said Trumpkin). "We all did as much as the Dwarfs and none more than the King.」
"Tell that tale your own way for all I care," answered Nikabrik. "But whether it was that the Horn was blown too late, or whether there was no magi it, no help has e. You, you great clerk, you master magi, you know-all; are you still asking us to hang our hopes on Aslan and Kier and all the rest of it?」
"I must fess - I ot deny it - that I am deeply disappointed in the result of the operation," came the answer. ("Thatll be Doctor elius," said Trumpkin.)
"To speak plainly," said Nikabrik, "your wallets empty, ys addled, your fish uncaught, your promises broken. Stand aside then ahers work. And that is why -」
"The help will e," said Trufflehunter. "I stand by Aslan. Have patience, like us beasts. The help will e. It may be even now at the door.」
"Pah!" snarled Nikabrik. "You badgers would have us wait till the sky falls and we all catch larks. I tell you we t wait. Food is running short; we lose more than we afford at every enter; our followers are slipping away.」
"And why?" asked Trufflehunter. "Ill tell you wh