CHAPTER ONE THE ISLAND（第3/3頁）

“What sort of roots？”asked Susan．

“I always thought it meant roots of trees，”said Lucy．

“Come on，”said Peter，“Ed is right．And we must try to do something．And it’ll be better than going out into the glare and the sun again．”

So they all got up and began to follow the stream．It was very hard work．They had to stoop under branches and climb over branches，and they blundered through great masses of stuff like rhododendrons and tore their clothes and got their feet wet in the stream; and still there was no noise at all except the noise of the stream and the noises they were making themselves．They were beginning to get very tired of it when they noticed a delicious smell，and then a flash of bright colour high above them at the top of the right bank．

“I say！”exclaimed Lucy．“I do believe that’s an apple tree．”

It was．They panted up the steep bank，forced their way through some brambles，and found themselves standing round an old tree that was heavy with large yellowish-golden apples as firm and juicy as you could wish to see．

“And this is not the only tree，”said Edmund with his mouth full of apple．“Look there-and there．”

“Why，there are dozens of them，”said Susan，throwing away the core of her first apple and picking her second．“This must have been an orchard—long，long ago，before the place went wild and the wood grew up．”

“Then this was once an inhabited island，”said Peter．

“And what’s that？”said Lucy，pointing ahead．

“By Jove，it’s a wall，”said Peter．“An old stone wall．”

Pressing their way between the laden branches they reached the wall．It was very old，and broken down in places，with moss and wallflowers growing on it，but it was higher than all but the tallest trees．And when they came quite close to it they found a great arch which must once have had a gate in it but was now almost filled up with the largest of all the apple trees．They had to break some of the branches to get past，and when they had done so they all blinked because the daylight became suddenly much brighter．They found themselves in a wide open place with walls all round it．In here there were no trees，only level grass and daisies，and ivy，and grey walls．It was a bright，secret，quiet place，and rather sad; and all four stepped out into the middle of it，glad to be able to straighten their backs and move their limbs freely．