The White Rabbit drew himself up, looking ruffled¹, and led her down the hall without another word. Alice followed him through winding² passages and down cold stone staircases lined with musty tapestries³. Finally, he pushed open a creaking wooden door and led her out into a wide courtyard. He stopped outside the stables and pointed⁴ with one trembling white paw.

"The sword's hidden inside. Be careful, Alice," he said.

Alice bent⁵ down to push the door open. A horrible stench hit her nostrils⁶, and both she and the White Rabbit covered their faces, trying not to gag.

"I know that smell," Alice said in a muffled⁷ voice suffused⁸ with horror.

Sure enough, when she'd worked up the courage to look inside, she spotted⁹ the Bandersnatch lying in its stall with its huge ugly bulldog head on its paws. It moaned, clawing at the blood-soaked straw underneath¹⁰ it. Even in the dim light, Alice could see the empty socket¹¹ oozing¹² blood and goop where the eye had been.

"I'm not going in there!" Alice cried. "Look what that thing did to my arm!" She held out her scratched arm and noticed that the wound had gotten much worse. It was larger and very swollen¹³, with angry red welts rising around the scratches.

The White Rabbit gasped¹⁴ and clapped his paws to his face in horror. "Dear, oh, dear!" he fretted¹⁵. "Why haven't you mentioned this?"

Alice studied her arm, tilting¹⁶ it back and forth¹⁷ in the moonlight. "It wasn't this bad before," she pointed out.

The Rabbit's breath was coming in fast pants. He flapped his paws as if trying to revive himself, but in the end he failed and fell over in a dead faint.

Well, that's useful, Alice thought wryly¹⁸, looking down at the collapsed¹⁹ rabbit. She looked back at the castle, considering her next move.

It took some searching, but eventually she found Mallymkun. The Dormouse was standing²⁰ in an upstairs hall, looking into a room; then she shut the door. "Hatter, where are you? Hatter?" she called out in a whisper.

"Mallymkun!" Alice called, hurrying up. "Do you still have the Bandersnatch eye?"

"Right here," said the Dormouse, hitching²¹ up her maid's skirt to reveal that she was wearing her breeches underneath. The Bandersnatch eye still hung at her waist.

"I need it," Alice said.

"Come and get it!" Mallymkun replied.

Alice quickly and easily grabbed the eye from the Dormouse.

"Hey! Give it back," the Dormouse said, drawing her hatpin sword and brandishing²² it dangerously.

But Alice missed the Dormouse's threat; she was running pell-mell down the long staircases, hoping she remembered the right way to the stables.

Alice sensed someone behind her, practically breathing down her neck. She tried to move away, but he grabbed the arm that had been scratched by the Bandersnatch. Alice let out a yelp²³ of pain. Ignoring her cry, the man pushed her against the wall. It was Stayne, the Knave²⁴.

"I like you, Um," he murmured. "I like largeness."

He leaned in for a kiss as Lady Long Ears went past.

"Get away from me!" Alice cried, kicking Stayne as hard as she could. She didn't look back as she ran away, but she could feel the heat of his glare all the way down the hall.

Finally, Alice found a familiar-looking door and stumbled out into the paved courtyard. The White Rabbit still lay prone²⁵ on the cobblestones. Alice hurried past him and held her breath as she entered the stable.

The Bandersnatch saw her coming and growled²⁶ fiercely. Even wounded, it was terrifying. Its sharklike teeth gnashed as if it were daring her to come closer and get eaten.

"I have your eye," said Alice, holding it aloft.

The monster's demeanor²⁷ changed instantly. Its tail lashed²⁸ along the floor and it whined²⁹, leaning toward the eye with a piteous expression. Alice slowly lifted the bar of the stall door and eased inside. She held out the eye and he whined again, scrabbling toward it across the straw. Alice carefully put it near him on the floor, and he started sniffing³¹ it frantically³². With another whine³⁰, he pulled the eye closer with his paws to examine it more closely.

While he was distracted, Alice squeezed past him to the back of the stall, where she found a low rectangular object covered by a tarp. When she pulled the tarp back, it revealed an ornate metal chest—exactly the sort of thing one might keep a Vorpal Sword in.

Unfortunately, it was secured with a large lock … exactly what one might use to keep Vorpal Sword– stealers out. Sweating and shivering, poisoned by her wound, she tugged³³ at the lock.

Disheartened and feverish³⁴, Alice slumped³⁵ to the ground. She'd been running on adrenaline, but the pain in her arm was starting to catch up with her. She felt feverish and woozy. She could barely muster³⁶ the strength to pull back her sleeve and look at the swollen, infected wound again. Carefully, she tried touching³⁷ it, but pulled back quickly with a stifled³⁸ cry of pain.

The Bandersnatch was still busy fussing over his eye, but that couldn't last all night. Sweating and shivering, Alice pulled at the lock, then halfheartedly kicked it with frustration³⁹. Her vision was starting to dim. She blinked, shaking her head.

And the world went black.

 

白兔子挺直身板儿，看起来有些心烦意乱，他默默地领着爱丽丝走向大厅的尽头。爱丽丝跟着他穿过蜿蜒的走廊，走下冰冷的铺着发霉地毯的石楼梯。终于，他推开一扇摇摇欲坠的木门，把她领进了一个宽敞的院子。白兔子在马厩外面停住了脚步，伸出一只白色的爪子颤抖着指了指。

“屠龙剑就藏在里面。小心点，爱丽丝。”他说。

爱丽丝弯腰推开门，一阵恶臭迎面袭来，她和白兔子立即用手捂住嘴巴，强忍着不让自己吐出来。

“我闻过这个气味。”爱丽丝用低沉的声音说道，语气中充满了恐惧。

果不其然，爱丽丝鼓起勇气向里面望去，一眼就看到了躺在马厩里的大毛兽。大毛兽斗牛犬般又大又丑的脑袋枕在它的前掌上。它挠着身下浸满血水的稻草，痛苦地呻吟着。即使光线昏暗，爱丽丝仍然能看到它那个缺了眼珠的眼窝往外渗着血水和黏糊糊的东西。

“我才不进去！”爱丽丝嚷着。“看看它都对我的胳膊做了什么！”她随即伸出那条被抓伤的胳膊，这才发现伤口变得更严重了。伤口的面积更大了，肿得也更厉害了，被抓破的皮肤周围布满了发炎的红色伤痕。

白兔子顿时屏住呼吸，啪地用爪子捂住自己的脸。“天啊，噢，天啊！你怎么不早说呢？” 他担忧地问。

爱丽丝仔细检查受伤的胳膊，在月光下左看看右看看，然后说：“之前没这么严重。”

白兔子的呼吸越来越急促，他胡乱地拍打着爪子似乎想要让自己振作起来，但最终还是没扛住，一动不动地倒在地上。

好吧，这招太管用了！爱丽丝低头看着昏倒在地的白兔子，心里忍不住嘲讽道。她回头看看城堡，思考着下一步的行动。

找了好久，爱丽丝终于找到睡鼠了。她正站在楼上的一个大厅中朝一个房间里看，然后走进去关上了门。“疯帽子，你在哪儿？疯帽子？”她小声喊道。

“睡鼠！”爱丽丝赶紧叫道，“你还带着大毛兽的眼珠子吗？”

“在这儿呢。”睡鼠边说边撩起身上穿的女仆裙，露出下面的马裤。大毛兽的眼珠就挂在她的腰间。

“我需要它。”爱丽丝说。

“那就来抢啊！”睡鼠挑衅地说。

爱丽丝轻而易举地就从睡鼠那里夺过了眼珠子。

“嘿！还给我！”睡鼠一边叫嚣一边拔出她的帽针剑凶猛地挥舞着。

但爱丽丝压根就没看到。她抓起眼珠子就匆忙地跑下了迷宫般的长楼梯，只希望自己还记得通往马厩的那条路。

爱丽丝觉察到身后有人紧紧地盯着她。她试图逃走，但是那人抓住了她那只被大毛兽抓伤的胳膊。爱丽丝痛得尖叫起来。那人不顾爱丽丝的叫喊，把她推到了墙边。这个人就是黑骑士，斯塔亚尼。

“我喜欢你，嗯，”他轻声说，“我喜欢大个子。”

他凑上前想要亲吻爱丽丝时，长耳朵夫人从旁边经过。

“离我远点！”爱丽丝尖叫着，使劲地踢了斯塔亚尼一脚。她头也不回地跑开了，但直到跑到大厅的尽头她依然能感受到斯塔亚尼愤怒的目光。

爱丽丝终于找到了那扇看起来很熟悉的门，跌跌撞撞地走进了铺着地砖的院子。白兔子依然趴在铺着鹅卵石的地上。爱丽丝走进马厩，从他身边匆匆经过，就屏住了呼吸。

大毛兽看到爱丽丝来了，凶猛地咆哮着。即使受了伤，它依然令人毛骨悚然。它龇着鲨鱼般锋利的牙齿，似乎在向爱丽丝示威——只要她胆敢靠近，它就会吃掉她。

“你的眼珠子在这。”爱丽丝说完，便将眼珠子高高举起。

大毛兽立马转变了态度。它的尾巴在地上急速地甩动，嘴里发出呜呜的哀鸣，探着身子可怜巴巴地看着那颗眼珠子。爱丽丝慢慢地抬起马厩的门闩，从容地走了进去。爱丽丝举起眼珠子，大毛兽又发出阵阵哀鸣，胡乱地扒着脚底的稻草要去够那颗眼珠子。爱丽丝小心翼翼地把眼珠子放在它附近的地板上，大毛兽立马发狂般地嗅着。又是一声哀鸣，它用爪子把眼珠子扒近了点，更加仔细地检查起来。

趁它不注意的时候，爱丽丝从大毛兽身边挤过去来到马厩最里面。在那里她发现了一个矩形的物体，上面盖着一块油布。掀起油布，里面露出一个漂亮的金属箱子——用这种箱子装屠龙剑再合适不过了。

不幸的是，盒子上面拴着一把大锁……用这种锁防止屠龙剑被盗走再合适不过了。此时爱丽丝的伤口感染发炎，她汗如雨下，浑身发抖，但仍然使劲地拽着大锁。

爱丽丝心灰意冷，又发着烧，重重地倒在地上。慢慢地她恢复了意识，但受伤的胳膊也开始疼起来。她的身子一阵发热，头晕眼花。这时爱丽丝几乎连挽起衣袖的气力都没有，她又看了看那肿胀发炎的伤口，然后小心翼翼地伸出手想去摸一摸，但令人窒息的疼痛让她大叫一声立刻把手缩了回来。

大毛兽依然忙活着那颗眼珠子，但这可无法分散它一整个晚上的注意力。汗继续往下淌，身子依然在发抖，爱丽丝用力拉着那把大锁，绝望地用脚胡乱地踢着它。她的视线渐渐变得模糊，爱丽丝眨了眨眼睛，又摇了摇头。

接着，眼前一片漆黑。

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