The soldiers were silent, and looked at Alice, as the question

was evidently meant for her.

`Yes!' shouted Alice.

`Come on, then!' roared the Queen, and Alice joined the

procession, wondering very much what would happen next.

`It's--it's a very fine day!' said a timid voice at her side.

She was walking by the White Rabbit, who was peeping anxiously

into her face.

`Very,' said Alice: `--where's the Duchess?'

`Hush! Hush!' said the Rabbit in a low, hurried tone. He

looked anxiously over his shoulder as he spoke, and then raised

himself upon tiptoe, put his mouth close to her ear, and

whispered `She's under sentence of execution.'

`What for?' said Alice.

`Did you say "What a pity!"?' the Rabbit asked.

`No, I didn't,' said Alice: `I don't think it's at all a pity.

I said "What for?"'

`She boxed the Queen's ears--' the Rabbit began. Alice gave a

little scream of laughter. `Oh, hush!' the Rabbit whispered in a

frightened tone. `The Queen will hear you! You see, she came

rather late, and the Queen said--'

`Get to your places!' shouted the Queen in a voice of thunder,

and people began running about in all directions, tumbling up

against each other; however, they got settled down in a minute or

two, and the game began. Alice thought she had never seen such a

curious croquet-ground in her life; it was all ridges and

furrows; the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live

flamingoes, and the soldiers had to double themselves up and to

stand on their hands and feet, to make the arches.

The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her

flamingo: she succeeded in getting its body tucked away,

comfortably enough, under her arm, with its legs hanging down,