And the
Queen seemed to guess her thoughts, for she cried, `Faster! Don't
try to talk!'
Not that Alice had any idea of doing THAT. She felt as if she
would never be able to talk again, she was getting so much out of
breath: and still the Queen cried `Faster! Faster!' and dragged her
along. `Are we nearly there?' Alice managed to pant out at last.
`Nearly there!' the Queen repeated. `Why, we passed it ten minutes
ago! Faster! And they ran on for a time in silence, with the wind
whistling in Alice's ears, and almost blowing her hair off her head,
she fancied.
`Now! Now!' cried the Queen. `Faster! Faster!' And they went so
fast that at last they seemed to skim through the air, hardly
touching the ground with their feet, till suddenly, just as Alice was
getting quite exhausted, they stopped, and she found herself sitting
on the ground, breathless and giddy.
The Queen propped her up against a tree, and said kindly, `You may
rest a little now.'
Alice looked round her in great surprise. `Why, I do believe we've
been under this tree the whole time! Everything's just as it was!'
`Of course it is,' said the Queen, `what would you have it?'
`Well, in OUR country,' said Alice, still panting a little, `you'd
generally get to somewhere else -- if you ran very fast for a long
time, as we've been doing.
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