CHAPTER SEVENTEEN THE HUNTING OF THE WHITE STAG（第3/3頁）

“Madam，”said King Peter，“therein I pray thee to have me excused．For never since we four were Kings and Queens in Narnia have we set our hands to any high matter，as battles，quests，feats of arms，acts of justice，and the like，and then given over；but always what we have taken in hand，the same we have achieved．”

“Sister，”said Queen Lucy，“my royal brother speaks rightly. And it seems to me we should be shamed if for any fearing or foreboding we turned back from following so noble a beast as now we have in chase．”

“And so say I，”said King Edmund．“And I have such desire to find the signification of this thing that I would not by my good will turn back for the richest jewel in all Narnia and all the islands．”

“Then in the name of Aslan，”said Queen Susan，“if ye will all have it so，let us go on and take the adventure that shall fall to us．”

So these Kings and Queens entered the thicket，and before they had gone a score of paces they all remembered that the thing they had seen was called a lamppost，and before they had gone twenty more they noticed that they were．making their way not through branches but through coats．And next moment they all came tumbling out of a wardrobe door into the empty room，and They were no longer Kings and Queens in their hunting array but just Peter，Susan，Edmund and Lucy in their old clothes．It was the same day and the same hour of the day on which they had all gone into the wardrobe to hide．Mrs. Macready and the visitors were still talking in the passage；but luckily they never came into the empty room and so the children weren’t caught．

And that would have been the very end of the story if it hadn’t been that they felt they really must explain to the Professor why four of the coats out of his wardrobe were missing．And the Professor， who was a very remarkable man，didn’t tell them not to be silly or not to tell lies，but believed the whole story．“No，”he said， I don’t think it will be any good trying to go back through the wardrobe door to get the coats．You won’t get into Narnia again by that route．Nor would the coats be much use by now if you did ！ Eh ？ What’s that ？ Yes，of course you’ll get back to Narnia again some day．Once a King in Narnia，always a King in Narnia. But don’t go trying to use the same route twice．Indeed，don’t try to get there at all．It’ll happen when you’re not looking for it. And don’t talk too much about it even among yourselves．And don’t mention it to anyone else unless you find that they’ve had adventures of the same sort themselves．What’s that ？ How will you know ？ Oh，you’ll know all right．Odd things they say-even their looks-will let the secret out．Keep your eyes open．Bless me，what do they teach them at these schools ？”

And that is the very end of the adventure of the wardrobe.But if the Professor was right it was only the beginning of the adventures of Narnia.