Curdie. "It's too horrible to think of. I daren't let myself do it. But
they sha'n't have her--at least if I can help it. So, mother dear--my
clue is all right--will you get me a bit of paper and a pencil and a
lump of pease-pudding, and I will set out at once. I saw a place where I
can climb over the wall of the garden quite easily."
"You must mind and keep out of the way of the men on the watch,"
said
his mother.
"That I will. I don't want them to know anything about it. They would
spoil it all. The cobs would only try some other plan--they are such
obstinate creatures! I shall take good care, mother. They won't kill and
eat me either, if they should come upon me. So you needn't mind
them."
His mother got him what he asked for, and Curdie set out. Close beside
the door by which the princess left the garden for the mountain, stood
a
great rock, and by climbing it Curdie got over the wall. He tied his
clue to a stone just inside the channel of the stream, and took his
pickaxe with him. He had not gone far before he encountered a horrid
Madhuri Noah
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