第9章 矮人(1)

The Dwarf

The worst of sleeping out of doors is that you wake up so dreadfully early.And when you wake you have to get up because the ground is so hard that you are uncomfortable.And it makes matters worse if there is nothing but apples for breakfast and you have had nothing but apples for supper the night before.When Lucy had said-truly enough-that it was a glorious morning,there did not seem to be anything else nice to be said.Edmund said what everyone was feeling,"We've simply got to get off this island."

When they had drunk from the well and splashed their faces they all went down the stream again to the shore and stared at the channel which divided them from the mainland.

"We'll have to swim,"said Edmund.

"It would be all right for Su,"said Peter (Susan had won prizes for swimming at school)."But I don't know about the rest of us."By "the rest of us"he really meant Edmund who couldn't yet do two lengths at the school baths,and Lucy,who could hardly swim at all.

"Anyway,"said Susan,"there may be currents.Father says it's never wise to bathe in a place you don't know."

"But,Peter,"said Lucy,"look here.I know I can't swim for nuts at home-in England,I mean.But couldn't we all swim long ago-if it was long ago-when we were Kings and Queens in Narnia?We could ride then too,and do all sorts of things.Don't you think-?"

"Ah,but we were sort of grown-up then,"said Peter.

"We reigned for years and years and learned to do things.Aren't we just back at our proper ages again now?"

"Oh!"said Edmund in a voice which made everyone stop talking and listen to him.

"I've just seen it all,"he said."Seen what?"asked Peter.

"Why,the whole thing,"said Edmund."You know what we were puzzling about last night,that it was only a year ago since we left Narnia but everything looks as if no one had lived in Cair Paravel for hundreds of years?Well,don't you see?You know that,however long we seemed to have lived in Narnia,when we got back through the wardrobe it seemed to have taken no time at all?"

"Go on,"said Susan."I think I'm beginning to understand."

"And that means,"continued Edmund,"that,once you're out of Narnia,you have no idea how Narnian time is going.Why shouldn't hundreds of years have gone past in Narnia while only one year has passed for us in England?"

"By Jove,Ed,"said Peter."I believe you've got it.In that sense it really was hundreds of years ago that we lived in Cair Paravel.And now we're coming back to Narnia just as if we were Crusaders or Anglo-Saxons or Ancient Britons or someone coming back to modern England?"

"How excited they'll be to see us-"began Lucy,but at the same moment everyone else said,"Hush!"or "Look!"For now something was happening.

There was a wooded point on the mainland a little to their right,and they all felt sure that just beyond that point must be the mouth of the river.And now,round that point there came into sight a boat.When it had cleared the point,it turned and began coming along the channel towards them.There were two people on board:one rowing,the other sitting in the stern and holding a bundle that twitched and moved as if it were alive.Both these people seemed to be soldiers.They had steel caps on their heads and light shirts of chain-mail.Their faces were bearded and hard.The children drew back from the beach into the wood and watched without moving a finger.

"This'll do,"said the soldier in the stern when the boat had come about opposite to them.

"What about tying a stone to his feet,Corporal?"said the other,resting on his oars.

"Garn!"growled the other."We don't need that,and we haven't brought one.He'll drown sure enough without a stone,as long as we've tied the cords right."With these words he rose and lifted his bundle.Peter now saw that it was really alive and was in fact a Dwarf,bound hand and foot but struggling as hard as he could.Next moment he heard a twang just beside his ear,and all at once the soldier threw up his arms,dropping the Dwarf into the bottom of the boat,and fell over into the water.He floundered away to the far bank and Peter knew that Susan's arrow had struck his helmet.He turned and saw that she was very pale but was already fitting a second arrow to the string.But it was never used.As soon as he saw his companion fall,the other soldier,with a loud cry,jumped out of the boat on the far side,and he also floundered through the water (which was apparently just in his depth)and disappeared into the woods of the mainland.

"Quick!Before she drifts!"shouted Peter.He and Susan,fully dressed as they were,plunged in,and before the water was up to their shoulders their hands were on the side of the boat.In a few seconds they had hauled her to the bank and lifted the Dwarf out,and Edmund was busily engaged in cutting his bonds with the pocket knife.(Peter's sword would have been sharper,but a sword is very inconvenient for this sort of work because you can't hold it anywhere lower than the hilt.)When at last the Dwarf was free,he sat up,rubbed his arms and legs,and exclaimed:

"Well,whatever they say,you don't feel like ghosts."

Like most Dwarfs he was very stocky and deep-chested.He would have been about three feet high if he had been standing up,and an immense beard and whiskers of coarse red hair left little of his face to be seen except a beak-like nose and twinkling black eyes.

"Anyway,"he continued,"ghosts or not,you've saved my life and I'm extremely obliged to you."

"But why should we be ghosts?"asked Lucy.

"I've been told all my life,"said the Dwarf,"that these woods along the shore were as full of ghosts as they were of trees.That's what the story is.And that's why,when they want to get rid of anyone,they usually bring him down here (like they were doing with me)and say they'll leave him to the ghosts.But I always wondered if they didn't really drown 'em or cut their throats.I never quite believed in the ghosts.But those two cowards you've just shot believed all right.They were more frightened of taking me to my death than I was of going!"

"Oh,"said Susan."So that's why they both ran away.""Eh?What's that?"said the Dwarf.

"They got away,"said Edmund."To the mainland."

"I wasn't shooting to kill,you know,"said Susan.She would not have liked anyone to think she could miss at such a short range.

"Hm,"said the Dwarf."That's not so good.That may mean trouble later on.Unless they hold their tongues for their own sake."