“Well, can’t we escape from this place before they carry us down to the Gnomes?” asked Harry.
Wamby shook his head dolefully. “No,” he replied; “they’ve taken away the pin with which I opened doors, and we can’t get out any other way.”
“Here is the pin you gave me,” said Harry. “Won’t that do just as well?”
Wamby eagerly took the pin, but his countenance soon fell again. “I’m afraid it’s no use for us to try,” he said; “come over here and look. Don’t speak a word.”
Going across to the opposite side of the room, he waited till Harry was close beside him, and then sticking the pin in a hole in the wall, he pressed upon it thrice, and whispered:
“Pin, pin,
Trusty and stout,
I am within,
And want to look out.”
The door opened a crack, and Wamby stepped aside and motioned Harry to take a peep. Harry did so, and saw that the passageway was fairly filled with elves of the largest size, each one armed with a long spear. He counted them, and found there were fifty keeping careful guard. Then the door closed quietly.