When she quivered to some woodland sound, he told her what it was and eased her mind.
She was not strong enough in spite of her exercises and the active games with Wiggins, to make the whole of the journey over that rough ground at a stretch; and twice when he felt her flagging they sat down and rested.

The princess was no longer frightened; she still thrilled to the eeriness of the woods, but she felt quite safe with the Terror.
When they rested she snuggled up against him, stared before her into the dark, and thought of all the heroes wandering through the forests of Grimm, with the sense of adventure very strong on her.

She was almost sorry when they came at last to the foot of the knoll and saw its top red in the glow of the fire Erebus was keeping bright.
[Illustration: She was almost sorry when they came at last to the foot of the knoll.] Also Erebus had hot cocoa ready for them; and after her tiring journey the princess found it grateful indeed.

They sat for a while in a row before the glowing fire, talking of the Hartz Mountains, which the princess had visited.

But soon the yawns which she could not repress showed her hosts how sleepy she was, and the Terror suggested that she should go to bed.
With true courtesy, the Twins had given her the best sleeping-cave to herself, but she displayed such a terrified reluctance to sleep in it alone, that her couch of bracken and her blankets were moved into the cave of Erebus.