Those women got outside, yet dared not raise a cry.

They get out, and then they cannot even scream. 那 is pointing nà.

The night was deep, and they dared not disturb the sovereign.

驚駕 is to alarm the imperial presence — an offence in itself. Their terror is trapped inside protocol.

All huddled beneath the eaves of a low wall, trembling — but of that no more.

都, "all," is dōu; 那 is pointing nà. 不題, "no more of this," is the storyteller's formula for putting a thread down and picking up another.

Now the monster, seated above, poured and drank alone.

卻說 swings the narrative back to the hall. 那 is pointing nà.

He would drain a cup, drag the corpse over, and gnaw at it, dripping blood, two mouthfuls at a time.

Drink, drag, gnaw; drink, drag, gnaw. The rhythm of the sentence is the rhythm of the meal, and the novel makes no comment whatever.

While within he took his fill, outside the whole company passed the word: "The Tang monk is a tiger-spirit."

And this is the chapter's leak theme reaching its cruellest turn. 盡傳, "all spread the word," takes 盡 as jìn. Something does get out of that hall and run through the palace. It is the demon's lie.

The rumor spread and clamored abroad, until the clamor reached the Golden-Pavilion Hostel.

金亭館驛 is the Golden-Pavilion Hostel, the government post-house where travellers were lodged and their animals stabled.

At that hour the hostel was empty of men; only the white horse stood at the trough, eating its grass and fodder.

The camera narrows to one witness, and he is standing at a feed trough eating his dinner. The rescue is going to come from here.

He was in truth the little Dragon-King of the Western Sea, who, for breaking the law of Heaven, had had his horns sawn off and his scales stripped away, and was made a white horse to bear Tripitaka westward on the scripture-quest.

The horse is not a horse. He is the third prince of the Western Sea, sentenced for a capital offence — 犯天條, breaking the law of Heaven — and remade as a mount: 鋸角退鱗, horns sawn off, scales stripped away. He is the 意馬, the Horse of the Will, of the chapter title.

Suddenly hearing men say the Tang monk was a tiger-spirit, he too thought within himself: "My master is plainly a good man; surely some demon has changed him into a tiger-spirit and done him harm.

心中 takes 中 as zhōng; 分明, "plainly," takes 分 as fēn. A palace full of officials has just been comprehensively fooled. The horse, alone, reasons straight from the rumour back to the fact.

What's to be done? What's to be done? The Eldest Brother has been gone this long while, and of Bajie and Sha Wujing there is no word."

大師兄, "eldest disciple-brother," is Sun Wukong, banished several chapters back; 去得久 takes 得 as de. He runs through the roll of who might help and reaches the end of it.