17
　　Philip again
　　‘It’s peculiar¹ there’s nobody about at all,’ said Jack², staring round at the silent hall. ‘Not a soul tobe seen! I wonder where everyone is. All those wheels and wires and things whirring away busilyby themselves, with nobody to see to them – and now this great empty place, with its throne andgorgeous hangings!’
　　‘Jack!’ said Dinah, pulling at his sleeve. ‘Can’t we find Philip now and rescue him? We’ve onlygot to go back through those long passages and down the rope-ladder! Snowy will take us toPhilip, and we can take him safely to the entrance of the mountain.’
　　‘Yes. That’s a good idea,’ said Jack. He stroked the little white kid by his side. ‘Where’sPhilip?’ he whispered, and gave Snowy a push. ‘You show us, Snowy.’
　　Snowy butted³ Jack gently. He didn’t seem to know what the boy meant. Jack gave it up after abit. ‘We’ll wait and see if Snowy goes off by himself,’ he said. ‘If he does, we’ll follow him.’
　　So they waited. Snowy soon became restive⁴ and set off down the big hall past the great throne.
　　The children followed cautiously, keeping by the walls, as far in the shadows as possible. Snowydisappeared through some deep red curtains. The children peeped through them. On the other sidewas what looked like a small library. Books lined the walls. The children looked at the titlescuriously. They could not understand what any of them meant. Most of them were in foreignlanguages, and all of them looked very learned and difficult.
　　‘Scientific books,’ said Jack. ‘Come on. Snowy has gone through that opening.’
　　They followed him. He saw that they were coming and waited for them. They hoped he wastaking them to Philip!
　　He was! He led them upwards⁶ through a curiously⁵ rounded tunnel-like passage, lit at intervalsby the same kind of dim lamps they had seen in the first passages. It was

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