CHAPTER EIGHT TWO NARROW ESCAPES（第3/5頁）

“As your Majesty pleases，”said Drinian a little shortly．He had had an anxious day with the weather yesterday，and he didn’t like advice from landsmen．But he altered course；and it turned out afterwards that it was a good thing he did．

By the time they had finished watering，the rain was over and Caspian，with Eustace，the Pevensies，and Reepicheep，decided to walk up to the top of the hill and see what could be seen．It was a stiffish climb through coarse grass and heather and they saw neither man nor beast，except seagulls．When they reached the top they saw that it was a very small island，not more than twenty acres； and from this height the sea looked larger and more desolate than it did from the deck，or even the fighting—top，of the Dawn Treader．

“Crazy，you know，”said Eustace to Lucy in a low voice， looking at the eastern horizon．“Sailing on and on into that with no idea what we may get to．”But he only said it out of habit，not really nastily as he would have done at one time．

It was too cold to stay long on the ridge for the wind still blew freshly from the north．

“Don’t let’s go back the same way，”said Lucy as they turned；“let’s go along a bit and come down by the other stream， the one Drinian wanted to go to．”

Everyone agreed to this and after about fifteen minutes they were at the source of the second river．It was a more interesting place than they had expected；a deep little mountain lake， surrounded by cliffs except for a narrow channel on the seaward side out of which the water flowed．Here at last they were out of the wind，and all sat down in the heather above the cliff for a rest．

All sat down，but one(it was Edmund)jumped up again very quickly．

“They go in for sharp stones on this island，”he said，groping about in the heather．“Where is the wretched thing ？ ... Ah，now I’ve got it... Hullo ！ It wasn’t a stone at all，it’s a sword-hilt．No，by jove，it’s a whole sword；what the rust has left of it．It must have lain here for ages．”

“Narnian，too，by the look of it，”said Caspian，as they all crowded round．

“I’m sitting on something too，”said Lucy．“Something hard．”It turned out to be the remains of a mail shirt．By this time everyone was on hands and knees，feeling in the thick heather in every direction．Their search revealed，one by one，a helmet， a dagger，and a few coins；not Calormen crescents but genuine Narnian“Lions”and“Trees”such as you might see any day in the market-place of Beaversdam or Beruna．

“Looks as if this might be all that’s left of one of our seven lords，”said Edmund．

“Just what I was thinking，”said Caspian．“I wonder which it was．There’s nothing on the dagger to show．And I wonder how he died．”

“And how we are to avenge him，”added Reepicheep．

Edmund，the only one of the party who had read several detective stories，had meanwhile been thinking．

“Look here，”he said，“there’s something very fishy about this. He can’t have been killed in a fight．”

“Why not？”asked Caspian．

“No bones，”said Edmund．“An enemy might take the armour and leave the body．But who ever heard of a chap who’d won a fight carrying away the body and leaving the armour ？”

“Perhaps he was killed by a wild animal，”Lucy suggested．

“It’d be a clever animal，”said Edmund，“that would take a man’s mail shirt off．”

“Perhaps a dragon ？”said Caspian．

“Nothing doing，”said Eustace．“A dragon couldn’t do it．I ought to know．”

“Well，let’s get away from the place，anyway，”said Lucy． She had not felt like sitting down again since Edmund had raised the question of bones．

“If you like，”said Caspian，getting up．“I don’t think any of this stuff is worth taking away．”

They came down and round to the little opening where the stream came out of the lake，and stood looking at the deep water within the circle of cliffs．If it had been a hot day，no doubt some would have been tempted to bathe and everyone would have had a drink．Indeed，even as it was，Eustace was on the very point of stooping down and scooping up some water in his hands when Reepicheep and Lucy both at the same moment cried，“Look，”so he forgot about his drink and looked into the water．

The bottom of the pool was made of large greyish-blue stones and the water was perfectly clear，and on the bottom lay a life-size figure of a man，made apparently of gold．It lay face downwards with its arms stretched out above its head．And it so happened that as they looked at it，the clouds parted and the sun shone out．The golden shape was lit up from end to end．Lucy thought it was the most beautiful statue she had ever seen．

“Well ！”whistled Caspian．“That was worth coming to see ！ I wonder，can we get it out ？”