“WHO's there? ” shouted the three travellers.
“I am the Warden of the Marches of Underland, and with me stand a hundred Earthmen in arms, ” came the reply. “Tell me quickly who you are and what is your errand in the Deep Realm? ”
“We fell down by accident, ” said Puddleglum, truthfully enough.
“Many fall down, and few return to the sunlit lands, ” said the voice.“Make ready now to come with me to the Queen of the Deep Realm.”
“What does she want with us? ” asked Scrubb cautiously.
“I do not know, ” said the voice. “Her will is not to be questioned but obeyed.”
While he said these words there was a noise like a soft explosion and immediately a cold light, gray with a little blue in it, flooded the cavern. All hope that the speaker had been idly boasting when he spoke of his hundred armed followers died at once. Jill found herself blinking and staring at a dense crowd. They were of all sizes, from little gnomes barely a foot high to stately figures taller than men. All carried three-pronged spears in their hands, and all were dreadfully pale, and all stood as still as statues. Apart from that, they were very different; some had tails and others not, some wore great beards and others had very round, smooth faces, big as pumpkins. There were long, pointed noses, and long, soft noses like small trunks, and great blobby noses. Several had single horns in the middle of their foreheads. But in one respect they were all alike: every face in the whole hundred was as sad as a face could be. They were so sad that, after the first glance, Jill almost forgot to be afraid of them. She felt she would like to cheer them up.
“Well! ” said Puddleglum, rubbing his hands. “This is just what I needed. If these chaps don't teach me to take a serious view of life, I don't know what will. Look at that fellow with the walrus moustache—or that one with the—”
“Get up, ” said the leader of the Earthmen.