hurried on to the last.

  How it happened, Alice never knew, but exactly as she came to the
last peg, she was gone.  Whether she vanished into the air, or
whether she ran quickly into the wood (`and she CAN run very fast!'
thought Alice), there was no way of guessing, but she was gone, and
Alice began to remember that she was a Pawn, and that it would soon
be time for her to move.

                           CHAPTER III

                      Looking-Glass Insects

  Of course the first thing to do was to make a grand survey of the
country she was going to travel through.  `It's something very like
learning geography,' thought Alice, as she stood on tiptoe in hopes
of being able to see a little further. `Principal rivers -- there ARE
none.  Principal mountains -- I'm on the only one, but I don't think
it's got any name.  Principal towns -- why, what ARE those creatures,
making honey down there? They can't be bees -- nobody ever saw bees a
mile off, you know - - ' and for some time she stood silent, watching
one of them that was bustling about among the flowers, poking its
proboscis into them, `just as if it was a regular bee,' thought
Alice.

  However, this was anything but a regular bee: in fact it was an
elephant -- as Alice soon found out, though the idea quite took her
breath away at first.  `And what enormous flowers they must be!' was
her next idea.  `Something like cottages with the roofs taken off,
and stalks put to them -- and what quantities of honey they must
make!  I think I'll go down and -- no, I won't JUST yet, ' she went
on, checking herself just as she was beginning to run down the hill,
and trying to find some excuse for turning shy so suddenly.  `It'll
never do to go down among them without a good long branch to brush
them away -- and what fun it'll be when they ask me how I like my
walk.  I shall say -- "Oh, I like it well enough -- "' (here came the
favourite little toss of the head), `"only it was so dusty and hot,
and the elephants did tease so!"'

  `I think I'll go down the other way,' she said after a pause: `and
perhaps I may visit the elephants later on.  Besides, I do so want to
get into the Third Square!'

  So with this excuse she ran down the hill and jumped over the first
of the six little brooks.

  `Tickets, please!' said the Guard, putting his head in at the
window.  In a moment everybody was holding out a ticket: they were
about the same size as the people, and quite seemed to fill the
carriage.

  `Now then!  Show your ticket, child!' the Guard went on, looking
angrily at Alice.  And a great many voices all said together (`like
the chorus of a song,' thought Alice), `Don't keep him waiting,
child!  Why, his time is worth a thousand pounds a minute!'

  `I'm afraid I haven't got one,' Alice said in a frightened tone:
`there wasn't a ticket-office where I came from."  And again the
chorus of voices went on.  `There wasn't room for one where she came
from.  The land there is worth a thousand pounds an inch!'

  `Don't make excuses,' said the Guard: `you should have bought one
from the engine-driver.'  And once more the chorus of voices went on
with `The man that drives the engine.  Why, the smoke alone is worth
a thousand pounds a puff!'

  Alice thought to herself, `Then there's no use in speaking." The
voices didn't join in this time, as she hadn't spoken, but to her
great surprise, they all THOUGHT in chorus (I hope you understand
what THINKING IN CHORUS means -- for I must confess that _I_ don't),
`Better say nothing at all.  Language is worth a thousand pounds a
word!'

  `I shall dream about a thousand pounds tonight, I know I shall!'
thought Alice.

  All this time the Guard was looking at her, first through a
telescope, then through a microscope, and then through an opera-
glass.  At last he said, `You're travelling the wrong way,' and shut
up the window and went away.

  `So young a child,' said the gentleman sitting opposite to her (he
was dressed in white paper), `ought to know which way she's going,
even if she doesn't know her own name!'

  A Goat, that was sitting next to the gentleman in white, shut his
eyes and said in a loud voice, `She ought to know her way to the
ticket-office, even if she doesn't know her alphabet!'

  There was a Beetle sitting next to the Goat (it was a very queer
carriage-full of passengers altogether), and, as the rule seemed to
be that they should all speak in turn, HE went on with `She'll have
to go back from here as luggage!'

  Alice couldn't see who was sitting beyond the Beetle, but a hoarse
voice spoke next.  `Change engines -- ' it said, and was obliged to
leave off.

  `It sounds like a horse,' Alice thought to herself.  And an
extremely small voice, close to her ear, said, `You might make a joke