CHAPTER VIII.
It s my own Invention
After a while the noise seemed gradually to die away, till all was dead
silence, and Alice lifted up her head in some alarm. There was no one
to be seen, and her first thought was that she must have been dreaming
about the Lion and the Unicorn and those queer Anglo-Saxon Messengers.
However, there was the great dish still lying at her feet, on which she
had tried to cut the plum-cake, So I wasn t dreaming, after all, she
said to herself, unless unless we re all part of the same dream. Only
I do hope it s _my_ dream, and not the Red King s! I don t like
belonging to another person s dream, she went on in a rather
complaining tone: I ve a great mind to go and wake him, and see what
happens!
At this moment her thoughts were interrupted by a loud shouting of
Ahoy! Ahoy! Check! and a Knight dressed in crimson armour came
galloping down upon her, brandishing a great club. Just as he reached
her, the horse stopped suddenly: You re my prisoner! the Knight
cried, as he tumbled off his horse.
Startled as she was, Alice was more frightened for him than for herself
at the moment, and watched him with some anxiety as he mounted again.
As soon as he was comfortably in the saddle, he began once more You re
my but here another voice broke in Ahoy! Ahoy! Check! and Alice
looked round in some surprise for the new enemy.
This time it was a White Knight. He drew up at Alice s side, and
tumbled off his horse just as the Red Knight had done: then he got on
again, and the two Knights sat and looked at each other for some time
without speaking. Alice looked from one to the other in some
bewilderment.
She s _my_ prisoner, you know! the Red Knight said at last.
Yes, but then _I_ came and rescued her! the White Knight replied.
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