shouted the prince . Then , from a narrow chink at the bottom of the smooth , black hill , -- a chink no deeper than that under a door , but a mile wide , -- stole out a hideous head ! It was as flat as the head of a skate-fish , it was deathly pale , and two chill-blue eyes , dead-coloured like stones , looked out of it . Then there came a whisper , like the breath of the bitter east wind on a winter day : `` Where are you , and how can I come to you ? '' `` Here I am ! '' said the prince from the top of the hill . Then the flat , white head set itself against the edge of the chink from which it had peeped , and slowly , like the movement of a sheet of ice , it slipped upwards and curled upwards , and up , and up ! There seemed no end to it at all ; and it moved horribly , without feet , holding on by its own frost to the slippery side of the frozen hill . Now all the lower part of the black hill was covered with the horrid white thing coiled about it in smooth , flat , shiny coils ; and still the head was higher than the rest ; and still the icy cold came nearer and nearer , like Death . The prince almost fainted : everything seemed to swim ; and in one moment more he would have fallen stiff on the mountain-top , and the white head would have crawled over him , and the cold coils would have slipped over him and turned him to stone . And still the thing slipped up , from the chink under the mountain . But the prince made a great effort ; he moved , and in two steps he was far away , down in the valley where it was not so very cold . `` Hi ! '' he shouted , as soon as his tongue could move within his chattering teeth . There came a clear , hissing answer , like frozen words dropping round him : `` Wait till I come down . What do you want ? '' Then the white folds began to slide , like melting ice , from the black hill . Prince Prigio felt the air getting warmer behind him , and colder in front of him . He looked round , and there were the trees beginning to blacken in the heat , and the grass looking like a sea of fire along the plains ; for the Firedrake was coming ! The prince just took time to shout , `` The Firedrake is going to pay you a visit ! ''
and then he soared to the top of a neighbouring hill , and XXXXX on at what followed .
am covered looked made move moved said seemed shouted stole