The cold light came from a large ball on the top of a ng pole， and the tallest of the gnomes carried this at he head of the procession. By its cheerless rays they ould see that they were in a natural cavern； the walls and oof were knobbed， twisted， and gashed into a thousand ntastic shapes， and the stony floor sloped downward as hey proceeded. It was worse for Jill than for the others， ecause she hated dark， underground places. And when， as hey went on， the cave got lower and narrower， and when， t last， the light.bearer stood aside， and the gnomes， one by ne， stooped down （all except the very smallest ones） and epped into a little dark crack and disappeared， she felt she ould bear it no longer.
“I can‘t go in there， I can’t！ I can‘t！ I won’t！” she panted. he Earthmen said nothing but they all lowered their pears and pointed them at her.
“Steady， Pole，” said Puddleglum. “Those big fellows ouldn‘t be crawling in there if it didn’t get wider later on. nd there‘s one thing about this underground work， we han’t get any rain.”
“Oh， you don‘t understand. I can’t，” wailed Jill.
“Think how I felt on that cliff， Pole，” said Scrubb. “You go rst， Puddleglum， and I‘ll come after her.”