'We must set out at once,' said the king. 'But how to get at the
horses!'
'Shall I see if we can manage that?' said Curdie.
'Do,' said the king.
Curdie gathered the men-at-arms, and took them over the garden
wall, and so to the stables. They found their horses in terror;
the water was rising fast around them, and it was quite time they
were got out. But there was no way to get them out, except by
riding them through the stream, which was now pouring from the
lower windows as well as the door. As one horse was quite enough
for any man to manage through such a torrent, Curdie got on the
king's white charger and, leading the way, brought them all in
safety to the rising ground.
'Look, look, Curdie!' cried Irene, the moment that, having
dismounted, he led the horse up to the king.
Curdie did look, and saw, high in the air, somewhere about the top
of the king's house, a great globe of light shining like the purest
silver.
'Oh!' he cried in some consternation, 'that is your grandmother's
lamp! We must get her out. I will go an find her. The house may
fall, you know.
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