CHAPTER FIVE THE STORM AND WHAT CAME OF IT（第4/4頁）

This soon brought him out of the wood．The ground began sloping steeply up in front of him．The grass was dry and slippery　but manageable if he used his hands as well as his feet，and though he panted and mopped his forehead a good deal，he plugged away steadily．This showed，by the way，that his new life，little as he suspected it，had already done him some good；the old Eustace， Harold and Alberta’s Eustace，would have given up the climb after about ten minutes．

Slowly，and with several rests，he reached the ridge．Here he had expected to have a view into the heart of the island，but the clouds had now come lower and nearer and a sea of fog was rolling to meet him．He sat down and looked back．He was now so high that the bay looked small beneath him and miles of sea were visible． Then the fog from the mountains closed in all round him，thick but not cold，and he lay down and turned this way and that to find the most comfortable position to enjoy himself．

But he didn’t enjoy himself，or not for very long．He began，almost for the first time in his life，to feel lonely．At first this feeling grew very gradually．And then he began to worry about the time．There was not the slightest sound．Suddenly it occurred to him that he might have been lying there for hours．Perhaps the others had gone ！Perhaps they had let him wander away on purpose simply in order to leave him behind ！He leaped up in a panic and began the descent．

At first he tried to do it too quickly，slipped on the steep grass，and slid for several feet．Then he thought this had carried him too far to the left—and as he came up he had seen precipices on that side．So he clambered up again，as near as he could guess to the place he had started from，and began the descent afresh， bearing to his right．After that things seemed to be going better． He went very cautiously，for he could not see more than a yard ahead，and there was still perfect silence all around him．It is very unpleasant to have to go cautiously when there is a voice inside you saying all the time，“Hurry，hurry，hurry．”For every moment the terrible idea of being left behind grew stronger．If he had understood Caspian and the Pevensies at all he would have known， of course，that there was not the least chance of their doing any such thing．But he had persuaded himself that they were all fiends in human form．

“At last ！”said Eustace，as he came slithering down a slide of loose stones(scree，they call it)and found himself on the level． “And now，where are those trees ？There is something dark ahead ．Why，I do believe the fog is clearing．”

It was．The light increased every moment and made him blink．The fog lifted．He was in an utterly unknown valley and the sea was nowhere in sight．