“By Jove！ The signs！” said Jill suddenly. “I’d better repeat them.” She was in a panic for a second or two， but she found she could still say them all correctly. “So that‘s all right，” she said， and lay back on the air as if it was a sofa， with a sigh of contentment.
“Well， I do declare，” said Jill to herself some hours later， “I’ve been asleep. Fancy sleeping on air. I wonder if anyone‘s done it before. I don’t suppose they have. Oh bother-Scrubb probably has！ On this same journey， a little bit before me. Let‘s see what it looks like down below.”
What it looked like was an enormous， very dark blue plain. There were no hills to be seen， but there were biggish white things moving slowly across it. “Those must be clouds，” she thought. “But far bigger than the ones we saw from the cliff. I suppose they’re bigger because they‘re nearer. I must be getting lower. Bother this sun.”
The sun which had been high overhead when she began her journey was now getting in her eyes. This meant that it was getting lower， ahead of her. Scrubb was quite right in saying that Jill （I don’t know about girls in general） didn‘t think much about points of the compass. Otherwise she would have known， when the sun began getting in her eyes， that she was travelling pretty nearly due west.
Staring at the blue plain below her， she presently noticed that there were little dots of brighter， paler colour in it here and there. “It’s the sea！” thought Jill. “I do believe those are islands.” And so they were. She might have felt rather jealous if she had known that some of them were islands which Scrubb had seen from a ship‘s deck and even landed on； but she didn’t know this. Then， later on， she began tosee that there were little wrinkles on the blue flatness； little wrinkles which must be quite big ocean waves if you were down among them. And now， all along the horizon there was a thick dark line which grew thicker and darker so quickly that you could see it growing. That was the first sign she had had of the great speed at which she was travelling. And she knew that the thickening line must be land.
Suddenly from her left （for the wind was in the south） a great white cloud came rushing towards her， this time on the same level as herself. And before she knew where she was， she had shot right into the middle of its cold， wet fogginess. That took her breath away， but she was in it only for a moment. She came out blinking in the sunlight and found her clothes wet. （She had on a blazer and sweater and shorts and stockings and pretty thick shoes； it had been a muddy sort of day in England.） She came out lower than she had gone in； and as soon as she did so she noticed something which， I suppose， she ought to have been expecting， but which came as a surprise and a shock. It was Noises. Up till then she had travelled in total silence. Now， for the first time， she heard the noise of waves and the crying of seagulls. And now， too， she smelled the smell of the sea. There was no mistake about her speed now. She saw two waves meet with a smack and a spout of foam go up between them； but she had hardly seen it before it was a hundred yards behind her.
The land was getting nearer at a great pace. She could see mountains far inland， and other nearer mountains on her left. She could see bays and headlands， woods and fields， stretches of sandy beach. The sound of waves breaking on the shore was growing louder every second and drowning the other sea noises.
Suddenly the land opened right ahead of her. She was coming to the mouth of a river. She was very low now， only a few feet above the water. A wave-top came against her toe and a great splash of foam spurted up， drenching her nearly to the waist. Now she was losing speed. Instead of being carried up the river she was gliding in to theriver bank on her left. There were so many things to notice that she could hardly take them all in； a smooth， green lawn， a ship so brightly
coloured that it looked like an enormous piece of jewellery， towers and battlements， banners fluttering in the air， a crowd， gay clothes， armour， gold， swords， a sound of music. But this was all jumbled. The first thing that she knew clearly was that she had alighted and was standing under a thicket of trees close by the river side， and there， only a few feet away from her， was Scrubb.
The first thing she thought was how very grubby and untidy and generally unimpressive he looked. And the second was “How wet I am！”
中文阅读
狮子站起身来，看也没看吉尔一眼，又吹了最后一口气。看来，它对自己的工作似乎很满意，接着转过身去，昂首阔步慢慢地走开，回到了森林中间。
“这一定是一场梦，一定是的，一定是这样，”吉尔自言自语道，“我马上就会醒来。”但那并不是梦，她也无法从梦中醒来。
“我真希望，我们没有来这个恐怖的地方，”吉尔说，“我认为，斯克拉布对这里并不比我知道得更多。即便知道，他也没有权利把我带到这儿，事先也不警告我这是个什么地方。他跌下了悬崖，那不是我的错。如果他不来干涉我，我们两个都会平安无事的。”这时，她又一次想起了斯克拉布摔下时的那声惨叫，便放声大哭起来。
哭泣的时候可以不顾一切。可是早晚你总要停止哭泣，到那时你仍然需要决定应该怎么办。等吉尔哭够了，她发现自己口干得厉害。她原本脸朝下趴在那里，这会儿坐了起来。鸟儿的歌唱已经停歇，四周一片沉寂，只有很远的地方传来一个细微的、持续不断的声音。她侧耳静听，几乎可以确定那是潺潺流水的声音。
吉尔站起身来，小心地向四周打量了一番。看不到狮子的踪迹，但周围有那么多的树木，它可以轻而易举地躲在附近，而不被她觉察。说不定有好几头狮子呢。可是她实在渴得难受，只好鼓起勇气，前去寻找那条溪水。她蹑足前行，小心翼翼地从一棵树走到另一棵树，每走一步都停下来四处张望。
树林里静悄悄的，很容易辨别溪水的位置。每时每刻，流水声都变得更加清晰。远比她预料的要快，没用多长时间，她就来到了一个开阔的林中空地，看见了那条溪流。那条溪流像玻璃一样明亮，在不远的草地上流淌着。看到了水，她感到自己的干渴比先前增加了十倍。可是，她非但没有冲上前去畅饮一通，反而一动不动地站在那里，大张着嘴巴，好像变成了一块石头。她这个样子实在情有可原，原来那头狮子就卧在溪水边。
狮子卧在那里，昂着脑袋，两只前爪伸在前面，就像特拉法尔加广场上的狮子雕像。她一下子就明白，狮子看见她了，因为有那么一小会儿，狮子的两眼一眨不眨地正视着她的眼睛，然后就把目光移开了--似乎跟她非常熟悉，对她毫不在意。
“我如果跑开，它马上就会在后面追来，”吉尔心想，“假如我继续往前走，就把自己直接送进了它的口中。”不管怎样，就算她想要逃跑，她也挪不动脚步。她完全无法从狮子身上移开自己的目光。她无法确定，这种状态持续了多久，她感觉仿佛过去了好几个小时。而口渴是那么的痛苦，她几乎觉得，只要能够先喝上一口水，即使被被狮子吃掉也没有多大关系。
