CHAPTER TWO:

ON BOARD THE DAWN TREADER

“AH, there you are, Lucy,” said Caspian. “We were just waiting for you. This is my captain, the Lord Drinian.”

A dark-haired man went down on one knee and kissed her hand. The only others present were Reepicheep and Edmund.

“Where is Eustace?” asked Lucy.

“In bed,” said Edmund, “and I don’t think we can do anything for him. It only makes him worse if you try to be nice to him.”

“Meanwhile,” said Caspian, “we want to talk.”

“By Jove, we do,” said Edmund. “And first, about time. It’s a year ago by our time since we left you just before your coronation. How long has it been in Narnia?”

“Exactly three years,” said Caspian.

“All going well?” asked Edmund.

“You don’t suppose I’d have left my kingdom and put to sea unless all was well,” answered the King. “It couldn’t be better. There’s no trouble at all now between Telmarines, Dwarfs, Talking Beasts, Fauns and the rest. And we gave those troublesome giants on the frontier such a good beating last summer that they pay us tribute now. And I had an excellent person to leave as Regent while I’m away—Trumpkin, the Dwarf. You remember him?”

“Dear Trumpkin,” said Lucy, “of course I do. You couldn’t have made a better choice.”

“Loyal as a badger, Ma’am, and valiant as—as a Mouse,” said Drinian. He had been going to say “as a lion” but had noticed Reepicheep’s eyes fixed on him.

“And where are we heading for?” asked Edmund.

“Well,” said Caspian, “that’s rather a long story. Perhaps you remember that when I was a child my usurping uncle Miraz got rid of seven friends of my father’s（who might have taken my part）by sending them off to explore the unknown Eastern Seas beyond the Lone Islands.”

“Yes,” said Lucy, “and none of them ever came back.”

“Right. Well, on, my coronation day, with Aslan’s approval, I swore an oath that, if once I established peace in Narnia, I would sail east myself for a year and a day to find my father’s friends or to learn of their deaths and avenge them if I could. These were their names: the Lord Revilian, the Lord Bern, the Lord Argoz, the Lord Mavramorn, the Lord Octesian, the Lord Restimar, and—oh, that other one who’s so hard to remember.”

“The Lord Rhoop, Sire,” said Drinian.

“Rhoop, Rhoop, of course,” said Caspian. “That is my main intention. But Reepicheep here has an even higher hope.” Everyone’s eyes turned to the Mouse.

“As high as my spirit,” it said. “Though perhaps as small as my stature. Why should we not come to the very eastern end of the world? And what might we find there? I expect to find Aslan’s own country. It is always from the east, across the sea, that the great Lion comes to us.”

“I say, that is an idea,” said Edmund in an awed voice.

“But do you think,” said Lucy, “Aslan’s country would be that sort of country—I mean, the sort you could ever sail to?”

“I do not know, Madam,” said Reepicheep. “But there is this. When I was in my cradle a wood woman, a Dryad, spoke this verse over me:

“Where sky and water meet,

Where the waves grow sweet,

Doubt not, Reepicheep,

To find all you seek,

There is the utter East.”

“I do not know what it means. But the spell of it has been on me all my life.”

After a short silence Lucy asked, “And where are we now, Caspian?”

“The Captain can tell you better than I,” said Caspian, so Drinian got out his chart and spread it on the table.

“That’s our position,” he said, laying his finger on it. “Or was at noon today. We had a fair wind from Cair Paravel and stood a little north for Galma, which we made on the next day. We were in port for a week, for the Duke of Galma made a great tournament for His Majesty and there he unhorsed many knights—”

“And got a few nasty falls myself, Drinian. Some of the bruises are there still,” put in Caspian.

“—And unhorsed many knights,” repeated Drinian with a grin. “We thought the Duke would have been pleased if the King’s Majesty would have married his daughter, but nothing came of that—”

“Squints, and has freckles,” said Caspian.

“Oh, poor girl,” said Lucy.

“And we sailed from Galma,” continued Drinian, “and ran into a calm for the best part of two days and had to row, and then had wind again and did not make Terebinthia till the fourth day from Galma. And there their King sent out a warning not to land for there was sickness in Terebinthia, but we doubled the cape and put in at a little creek far from the city and watered. Then we had to lie off for three days before we got a southeast wind and stood out for Seven Isles. The third day out a pirate（Terebinthian by her rig）overhauled us, but when she saw us well armed she stood off after some shooting of arrows on either part—”

“And we ought to have given her chase and boarded her and hanged every mother’s son of them,” said Reepicheep.

“—And in five days more we were in sight of Muil, which, as you know, is the westernmost of the Seven Isles. Then we rowed through the straits and came about sundown into Redhaven on the isle of Brenn, where we were very lovingly feasted and had victuals and water at will. We left Redhaven six days ago and have made marvellously good speed, so that I hope to see the Lone Islands the day after tomorrow. The sum is, we are now nearly thirty days at sea and have sailed more than four hundred leagues from Narnia.”

“And after the Lone Islands?” said Lucy.

“No one knows, your Majesty,” answered Drinian. “Unless the Lone Islanders themselves can tell us.”

“They couldn’t in our days,” said Edmund.

“Then,” said Reepicheep, “it is after the Lone Islands that the adventure really begins.”

Caspian now suggested that they might like to be shown over the ship before supper, but Lucy’s conscience smote her and she said, “I think I really must go and see Eustace. Seasickness is horrid, you know. If I had my old cordial with me I could cure him.”

“But you have,” said Caspian. “I’d quite forgotten about it. As you left it behind I thought it might be regarded as one of the royal treasures and so I brought it—if you think it ought to be wasted on a thing like seasickness.”

“It’ll only take a drop,” said Lucy.

Caspian opened one of the lockers beneath the bench and brought out the beautiful little diamond flask which Lucy remembered so well. “Take back your own, Queen,” he said. They then left the cabin and went out into the sunshine.

In the deck there were two large, long hatches, fore and aft of the mast, and both open, as they always were in fair weather, to let light and air into the belly of the ship. Caspian led them down a ladder into the after hatch. Here they found themselves in a place where benches for rowing ran from side to side and the light came in through the oarholes and danced on the roof. Of course Caspian’s ship was not that horrible thing, a galley rowed by slaves. Oars were used only when wind failed or for getting in and out of harbour and everyone（except Reepicheep whose legs were too short）had often taken a turn. At each side of the ship the space under the benches was left clear for the rowers’ feet, but all down the centre there was a kind of pit which went down to the very keel and this was filled with all kinds of things—sacks of flour, casks of water and beer, barrels of pork, jars of honey, skin bottles of wine, apples, nuts, cheeses, biscuits, turnips, sides of bacon. From the roof—that is, from the under side of the deck—hung hams and strings of onions, and also the men of the watch off-duty in their hammocks. Caspian led them aft, stepping from bench to bench; at least, it was stepping for him, and something between a step and a jump for Lucy, and a real long jump for Reepicheep. In this way they came to a partition with a door in it. Caspian opened the door and led them into a cabin which filled the stern underneath the deck cabins in the poop. It was of course not so nice. It was very low and the sides sloped together as they went down so that there was hardly any floor; and though it had windows of thick glass, they were not made to open because they were under water. In fact at this very moment, as the ship pitched they were alternately golden with sunlight and dim green with the sea.

“You and I must lodge here, Edmund,” said Caspian. “We’ll leave your kinsman the bunk and sling hammocks for ourselves.”

“I beseech your Majesty—” said Drinian.

“No, no shipmate,” said Caspian, “we have argued all that out already. You and Rhince,”（Rhince was the mate）“are sailing the ship and will have cares and labours many a night when we are singing catches or telling stories, so you and he must have the port cabin above. King Edmund and I can lie very snug here below. But how is the stranger?”

Eustace, very green in the face, scowled and asked whether there was any sign of the storm getting less. But Caspian said, “What storm?” and Drinian burst out laughing.

“Storm, young master!” he roared. “This is as fair weather as a man could ask for.”

“Who’s that?” said Eustace irritably. “Send him away. His voice goes through my head.”

“I’ve brought you something that will make you feel better, Eustace,” said Lucy.

“Oh, go away and leave me alone,” growled Eustace. But he took a drop from her flask, and though he said it was beastly stuff（the smell in the cabin when she opened it was delicious）it is certain that his face came the right colour a few moments after he had swallowed it, and he must have felt better because, instead of wailing about the storm and his head,he began demanding to be put ashore and said that at the first port he would “lodge a disposition” against them all with the British Consul. But when Reepicheep asked what a disposition was and how you lodged it（Reepicheep thought it was some new way of arranging a single combat）Eustace could only reply, “Fancy not knowing that.” In the end they succeeded in convincing Eustace that they were already sailing as fast as they could towards the nearest land they knew, and that they had no more power of sending him back to Cambridge—which was where Uncle Harold lived—than of sending him to the moon. After that he sulkily agreed to put on the fresh clothes which had been put out for him and come on deck.

Caspian now showed them over the ship, though indeed they had seen most of it already. They went up on the forecastle and saw the lookout man standing on a little shelf inside the gilded dragon’s neck and peering through its open mouth. Inside the forecastle was the galley（or ship’s kitchen）and quarters for such people as the boatswain, the carpenter, the cook and the master-archer. If you think it odd to have the galley in the bows and imagine the smoke from its chimney streaming back over the ship, that is because you are thinking of steamships where there is always a headwind. On a sailing ship the wind is coming from behind, and anything smelly is put as far forward as possible. They were taken up to the fighting-top, and at first it was rather alarming to rock to and fro there and see the deck looking small and far away beneath. You realized that if you fell there was no particular reason why you should fall on board rather than in the sea. Then they were taken to the poop, where Rhince was on duty with another man at the great tiller, and behind that the dragon’s tail rose up, covered with gilding, and round inside it ran a little bench. The name of the ship was Dawn Treader. She was only a little bit of a thing compared with one of our ships, or even with the cogs, dromonds, carracks and galleons which Narnia had owned when Lucy and Edmund had reigned there under Peter as the High King, for nearly all navigation had died out in the reigns of Caspian’s ancestors. When his uncle, Miraz the usurper, had sent the seven lords to sea, they had had to buy a Galmian ship and man it with hired Galmian sailors. But now Caspian had begun to teach the Narnians to be sea-faring folk once more, and the Dawn Treader was the finest ship he had built yet. She was so small that, forward of the mast, there was hardly any deck room between the central hatch and the ship’s boat on one side and the hen-coop（Lucy fed the hens）on the other. But she was a beauty of her kind, a “lady” as sailors say, her lines perfect, her colours pure, and every spar and rope and pin lovingly made. Eustace of course would be pleased with nothing, and kept on boasting about liners and motorboats and aeroplanes and submarines（“As if he knew anything about them,” muttered Edmund）, but the other two were delighted with the Dawn Treader, and when they returned aft to the cabin and supper, and saw the whole western sky lit up with an immense crimson sunset, and felt the quiver of the ship, and tasted the salt on their lips, and thought of unlands on the Eastern rim of the world, Lucy felt that she was almost too happy to speak.

What Eustace thought had best be told in his own words, for when they all got their clothes back, dried, next morning, he at once got out a little black notebook and a pencil and started to keep a diary. He always had this notebook with him and kept a record of his marks in it, for though he didn’t care much about any subject for its own sake, he cared a great deal about marks and would even go to people and say, “I got so much. What did you get?” But as he didn’t seem likely to get many marks on the Dawn Treader he now started a diary. This was the first entry.

“August 7th. Have now been twenty-four hours on this ghastly boat if it isn’t a dream. All the time a frightful storm has been raging（it’s a good thing I’m not seasick）. Huge waves keep coming in over the front and I have seen the boat nearly go under any number of times. All the others pretend to take no notice of this, either from swank or because Harold says one of the most cowardly things ordinary people do is to shut their eyes to Facts. It’s madness to come out into the sea in a rotten little thing like this. Not much bigger than a lifeboat. And, of course, absolutely primitive indoors. No proper saloon, no radio, no bathrooms, no deckchairs. I was dragged all over it yesterday evening and it would make anyone sick to hear Caspian showing off his funny little toy boat as if it was the Queen Mary. I tried to tell him what real ships are like, but he’s too dense. E. and L., of course, didn’t back me up. I suppose a kid like L. doesn’t realize the danger and E. is buttering up C. as everyone does here. They call him a King. I said I was a Republican but he had to ask me what that meant! He doesn’t seem to know anything at all. Needless to say I’ve been put in the worst cabin of the boat, a perfect dungeon, and Lucy has been given a whole room on deck to herself, almost a nice room compared with the rest of this place. C. says that’s because she’s a girl. I tried to make him see what Alberta says, that all that sort of thing is really lowering girls but he was too dense. Still, he might see that I shall be ill if I’m kept in that hole any longer. E. says we mustn’t grumble because C. is sharing it with us himself to make room for L. .As if that didn’t make it more crowded and far worse. Nearly forgot to say that there is also a kind of Mouse thing that gives everyone the most frightful cheek. The others can put up with it if they like but I shall twist his tail pretty soon if he tries it on me. The food is frightful too.”

The trouble between Eustace and Reepicheep arrived even sooner than might have been expected. Before dinner next day, when the others were sitting round the table waiting（being at sea gives one a magnificent appetite）, Eustace came rushing in, wringing his hand and shouting out:

“That little brute has half killed me. I insist on it being kept under control. I could bring an action against you, Caspian. I could order you to have it destroyed.”

At the same moment Reepicheep appeared. His sword was drawn and his whiskers looked very fierce but he was as polite as ever.

“I ask your pardons all,” he said, “and especially her Majesty’s. If I had known that he would take refuge here I would have awaited a more reasonable time for his correction.”

“What on earth’s up?” asked Edmund.

What had really happened was this. Reepicheep, who never felt that the ship was getting on fast enough, loved to sit on the bulwarks far forward just beside the dragon’s head, gazing out at the eastern horizon and singing softly in his little chirruping voice the song the Dryad had made for him. He never held on to anything, however the ship pitched, and kept his balance with perfect ease; perhaps his long tail, hanging down to the deck inside the bulwarks, made this easier. Everyone on board was familiar with this habit, and the sailors liked it because when one was on look-out duty it gave one somebody to talk to. Why exactly Eustace had slipped and reeled and stumbled all the way forward to the forecastle（he had not yet got his sea-legs）I never heard. Perhaps he hoped he would see land, or perhaps he wanted to hang about the galley and scrounge something. Anyway, as soon as he saw that long tail hanging down—and perhaps it was rather tempting—he thought it would be delightful to catch hold of it, swing Reepicheep round by it once or twice upside-down,then run away and laugh. At first the plan seemed to work beautifully. The Mouse was not much heavier than a very large cat. Eustace had him off the rail in a trice and very silly he looked（thought Eustace）with his little limbs all splayed out and his mouth open. But unfortunately Reepicheep, who had fought for his life many a time, never lost his head even for a moment. Nor his skill. It is not very easy to draw one’s sword when one is swinging round in the air by one’s tail, but he did. And the next thing Eustace knew was two agonizing jabs in his hand which made him let go of the tail; and the next thing after that was that the Mouse had picked itself up again as if it were a ball bouncing off the deck, and there it was facing him, and a horrid long, bright, sharp thing like a skewer was waving to and fro within an inch of his stomach.（This doesn’t count as below the belt for mice in Narnia because they can hardly be expected to reach higher.）

“Stop it,” spluttered Eustace, “go away. Put that thing away. It’s not safe. Stop it, I say. I’ll tell Caspian. I’ll have you muzzled and tied up.”

“Why do you not draw your own sword, poltroon!” cheeped the Mouse. “Draw and fight or I’ll beat you black and blue with the flat.”

“I haven’t got one,” said Eustace. “I’m a pacifist. I don’t believe in fighting.”

“Do I understand,” said Reepicheep, withdrawing his sword for a moment and speaking very sternly, “that you do not intend to give me satisfaction?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Eustace, nursing his hand. “If you don’t know how to take a joke I shan’t bother my head about you.”

“Then take that,” said Reepicheep, “and that—to teach you manners—and the respect due to a knight—and a Mouse—and a Mouse’s tail—” and at each word he gave Eustace a blow with the side of his rapier, which was thin, fine dwarf-tempered steel and as supple and effective as a birch rod. Eustace（of course）was at a school where they didn’t have corporal punishment, so the sensation was quite new to him. That was why, in spite of having no sea-legs, it took him less than a minute to get off that forecastle and cover the whole length of the deck and burst in at the cabin door—still hotly pursued by Reepicheep. Indeed it seemed to Eustace that the rapier as well as the pursuit was hot. It might have been red-hot by the feel.

There was not much difficulty in settling the matter once Eustace realized that everyone took the idea of a duel seriously and heard Caspian offering to lend him a sword, and Drinian and Edmund discussing whether he ought to be handicapped in some way to make up for his being so much bigger than Reepicheep. He apologized sulkily and went off with Lucy to have his hand bathed and bandaged and then went to his bunk. He was careful to lie on his side.

第二章 黎明踏浪号

“啊，露西，你可来了，”凯斯宾说，“我们正等着你呢。这是船长，德里宁大人。”

一个深色头发的男人单膝跪下，亲吻了她的手。另外在场的人只有雷佩契普和艾德蒙。

“尤斯塔斯在哪里？”露西问。

“他在床上呢，”艾德蒙说，“我觉得我们帮不上他什么忙，你对他好一点儿，只能让他觉得更不舒服。”

“还有，”凯斯宾说，“我们得说说话。”

“天哪，我们真得好好说说话，”艾德蒙说，“先说说时间。按照我们那里的时间来算，自从我们在你加冕礼前离开纳尼亚，已经过去一年了。在纳尼亚过去了多少时间？”

“正好三年。”凯斯宾说。

“一切都好吗？”艾德蒙问。

“你想，要不是一切都好，我还能离开我的王国在这里航海吗？”凯斯宾国王说，“好得不得了。台尔马人、矮人、说话的走兽、半人马还有其他人都不惹事了。我们去年夏天在前线把那些滋事的巨人打得落花流水，现在他们对我们俯首称臣。我不在的时候，有一个厉害的人当摄政王，就是矮人杜鲁普金，你记得他吗？”

“亲爱的杜鲁普金，”露西说，“我当然记得。再没有比他更好的人选了。”

“女王陛下，他忠诚得像獾，又英勇得像……老鼠一样。”德里宁说。他原本想说“像狮子一样”，但是看到雷佩契普的眼睛牢牢地盯着他，就立马改了口。

“这艘船正在往哪儿开？”艾德蒙问。

“嗯……”凯斯宾说，“这说来就话长了。也许你们还记得我小时候，我那个篡权夺位的叔叔米拉兹想要除掉我父亲的七位朋友（他们原本应该会支持我的），把他们派到孤独群岛以外的东部海域，探索那里的未知之境。”

“我记得，”露西说，“他们再也没有回来。”

“是的。在我的加冕礼的当日，经过阿斯兰的允许，我发誓，一旦纳尼亚全境和平，我就亲自向东出海航行一年零一天来寻找我父亲的朋友们。若是知道了他们的死讯，我会尽我所能为他们报仇。他们是雷维廉勋爵、伯恩勋爵、阿尔格兹勋爵、马夫拉蒙勋爵、奥克特西安勋爵、雷斯蒂玛勋爵，还有——哎呀，还有一个我记不住名字了。”

“陛下，是罗普勋爵。”德里宁说。

“对对对，就是罗普勋爵。”凯斯宾说，“这就是我此行的主要目的，但是雷佩契普有着更远大的理想。”所有人都看向了那只老鼠。

“我理想远大，”他说，“虽然我身材矮小。为什么我们不能去东方的世界尽头？我们会在那里发现什么？我希望能找到阿斯兰的国度。伟大的狮王总是从东方来，远渡重洋到我们这里。”

“我觉得，这倒是一个好主意。”艾德蒙充满敬意地说。

“但是你觉得，”露西说，“阿斯兰的国度是那种国家吗——我的意思是说，那种能坐船到达的国家？”

“女王陛下，我也不知道，”雷佩契普说，“但是我还在摇篮里的时候，一位树神对我唱过这样一首诗：

在水天相接的地方，

在海水香甜的地方，

雷佩契普不要彷徨，

大胆追寻你心所想，

那就是世界的东方。

“我不知道那是什么意思，但是我一生都始终铭记着这首诗。”

短暂的沉默后，露西问道：“凯斯宾，我们现在到哪儿了？”

“船长知道得比我清楚。”凯斯宾说。于是德里宁把航海图拿出来铺在桌子上。

“我们在这里，”他指着一个地方说，“也就是我们今天中午所在的位置。我们从凯尔帕拉维尔出发，稍稍偏北顺风航行，第二天就到了加尔马。我们在一个港口待了一周，因为加尔马的公爵为陛下举行了一场盛大的比赛，陛下把许多骑士都打下马来——”

“德里宁，我自己也摔得够惨，现在身上还有瘀青呢。”凯斯宾插嘴道。

“——还把许多骑士都打下马来，”德里宁咧嘴笑着又重复了一遍，“我们以为，如果陛下娶了公爵的女儿，公爵大人会很高兴，但是这件事最后不了了之了。”

“她是斜视眼，脸上还有雀斑。”凯斯宾说。

“哦，可怜的姑娘。”露西说道。

“然后我们从加尔马出发，”德里宁继续说，“接下来的两天，大部分时候海上都是风平浪静的，我们只能划桨。后来终于又起风了，我们在离开加尔马的第四天到达了泰瑞宾西亚。那里的国王警告我们不要登陆，因为泰瑞宾西亚爆发了瘟疫。我们快速绕过了那里的海角，在一个远离城市的小海湾停下来，补给了些水。我们又停歇了三天，直到来了一阵东南风，我们才出发前往七岛。接下来的第三天，我们被一伙海盗追上（看船上的装备是泰瑞宾西亚人），但是看到我们全副武装，那船上的人朝两边射了几箭之后就离开了……”

“我们当时就应该追上他们，登上他们的船，把那些龟孙子全都绞死。”雷佩契普说。

“五天以后，我们看见了缪尔岛，你们知道，这是七岛中最西边的一座岛。我们划过海峡，在黄昏时分到达了布伦岛的红湾港。我们在那儿受到了盛情的宴请，尽情地享用了食物和水。六天前我们离开了红湾港，之后一路疾行，所以我估计，我们差不多后天就能到孤独群岛了。算起来，我们总共已经出海快三十天了，从纳尼亚出发在海上航行了四百多里格[1]。”

“我们到了孤独群岛之后呢？”露西问。

“陛下，没有人知道，”德里宁答道，“除非孤独群岛上的人能告诉我们。”

“当年他们可没法告诉我们。”艾德蒙说。

“看来，”雷佩契普说，“真正的冒险在到了孤独群岛之后才开始呢。”

这时，凯斯宾提议晚饭前带着他们在船上四处参观一下，但是露西良心上过不去，说：“我觉得我真得去看看尤斯塔斯了，你们也知道，晕船很难受的。如果有我的那个药瓶，兴许还能治好他。”

“还真的有，”凯斯宾说，“我都忘了。当时你把它留下了，我想这应该算是王室的宝物，就把它带来了——如果你觉得它值得被浪费在晕船这种事上的话，我就拿来。”

“只要一滴就够了。”露西说。

凯斯宾打开了长凳下面的一个储物柜，拿出了一个美丽的钻石小药瓶，露西清楚地记得这个药瓶。“女王陛下，你把这药瓶收回去吧。”他说。接着他们走出船舱，来到了阳光下。

甲板上桅杆前后靠近船头和船尾的地方有两个又大又长的舱口。两个舱口都敞开着，天气好的时候它们都会被打开，好让阳光和空气进入船舱。凯斯宾带领他们走下楼梯，进入后面的舱口，他们进了舱里才发现，原来这地方左右两边都有划桨用的长凳，光线从桨孔透进来，在舱顶雀跃地舞蹈。当然，凯斯宾的船可不像那种靠奴隶划桨的船一样可怕。只有在没风的天气，或是进出海港时，船桨才用得上，而且每个人都会轮流来划桨（雷佩契普除外，因为他的腿太短了）。船两边的长凳下，空间都空出来给桨手放脚。但是中间那块地方却像个地窖，一直深到船的龙骨，里面塞满了各种各样的东西——一袋袋面粉、一桶桶水和啤酒、一桶桶猪肉、一罐罐蜂蜜、一瓶瓶的酒、苹果、坚果、奶酪、饼干、萝卜、培根。舱顶——也就是甲板下面——挂着火腿和一串串洋葱，还有那些不用值班躺在自己的吊床里休息的哨兵。凯斯宾带他们跨过一条条长凳来到船尾。虽然对他来说是跨，对露西来说就是连跨带跳，对雷佩契普来说就是跳远了。他们就这样来到了一面有门的隔墙。凯斯宾打开门，带他们进入了一间船舱，这间船舱就在甲板舱下方的船尾部分。这间舱室当然算不上好，舱顶很低，墙壁像漏斗似的向内倾斜，所以地面的面积很小。虽然有一扇厚玻璃窗，但是没法打开，因为窗户在水下。就在这时，随着船身的颠簸，窗户一会儿在阳光的照射下透射着金光，一会儿在海水的映衬下氤氲着绿意。

“艾德蒙，你得和我在这儿住了，”凯斯宾说，“我们睡吊床，把床位留给你的亲戚吧。”

“陛下，我请求您——”德里宁说。

“不，不，同船船员，”凯斯宾说，“我们已经商量好了。你和莱斯（莱斯是大副）要开船，要费心劳累很多个晚上，我们却只是在那儿唱歌讲故事，所以你和莱斯得住上面左舷的船舱。艾德蒙国王和我在这下面躺着就够舒服了。这个陌生人怎么样了？”

尤斯塔斯面色发青，满脸愁容，问他们风暴是否有减弱的迹象。但是凯斯宾说：“什么风暴？”德里宁不禁大笑起来。

“小殿下，哪有什么风暴？”他叫起来，“这是再好不过的天气了。”

“他是谁？”尤斯塔斯生气地说，“让他走。他的声音让我的头都快炸了。”

“尤斯塔斯，我给你带了点儿东西，会让你好受些。”露西说。

“哎呀，走开，别烦我。”尤斯塔斯咆哮道。但是他还是从她的药瓶里取了一滴药。虽然他说这东西很恶心（她一打开瓶子，船舱里就弥漫着好闻的味道），但是他吞下去之后脸色明显变好了。而且他一定觉得好一些了，因为他不再为了所谓的风暴和头疼哭号，而是开始要求上岸，还说，一到港口他就要向大英领事馆提请“对他们进行裁决”。雷佩契普问他裁决是怎么回事，怎么提请（他还以为这是什么发起决斗的新方式）。尤斯塔斯只能说：“真新鲜，这都不懂。”最后，他们终于成功地让尤斯塔斯相信，他们已经在尽快地赶往他们知道的最近的陆地了，而且他们没法把他送回剑桥了——就是哈罗德叔叔住的地方——这和把他送到月球上去一样难。接着，他满不情愿地答应换上早已为他准备好的干净衣服，来到了甲板上。

凯斯宾现在带他们在船上四处参观，尽管大部分地方他们都已经看过了。他们来到了船头的船楼，看到一位瞭望员站在镀金龙脖子里面的一个小架子上，从张开的龙口向外注视着。船楼里就是船上的厨房和水手长、木匠、厨师、弓箭手头头的住处。如果你觉得厨房在船头很古怪，而且以为烟囱里冒出的炊烟是往后飘的，那你心里想的一定是一艘顶风行驶的轮船。而帆船却是靠后面来的风推动的，所以什么臭味都尽往前面吹。他们被带到了桅顶的观测台上，一开始，人在上面来回晃动，往下看甲板又远又小，让人觉得十分惊恐。站在那里你会知道，如果你掉下去，不一定会掉到甲板上，说不定还会掉进海里。接着他们被带到了船尾，莱斯正在和另一个人一起值班掌舵，舵后的龙尾扬起，镀满金粉，里面半围着一圈小长凳。这艘船的名字叫“黎明踏浪号”，和我们这里的船比起来，真是小巫见大巫，甚至比不上彼得当至尊王，露西和艾德蒙统治纳尼亚时的那些方帆帆船、快速大帆船、宽身帆船和西班牙大帆船。到了凯斯宾祖先统治时期，几乎所有的航海事业都绝迹了。凯斯宾的叔叔，也就是篡位者米拉兹送七勋爵出航时，只能买了一艘加尔马的船，还专门雇了加尔马的水手来操纵。现在，凯斯宾又开始教纳尼亚人航海。黎明踏浪号是他迄今为止造出的最好的船，她太小了，桅杆前面的一边是船载救生艇，另一边是鸡笼（露西负责喂鸡），这两边和中央舱口之间留给甲板的空隙就没有多少了。但是她是同类船中的美女，水手们她说是一位“小姐”，她的线条优美，颜色纯正，每一处梁柱、缆绳、钉子都精美无比。当然，尤斯塔斯对这些毫无兴趣，只顾着吹嘘那些客轮、汽艇、飞机和潜艇（艾德蒙低声咕哝道：“说得好像他真的懂这些一样。”）。露西和艾德蒙对黎明踏浪号很是满意。他们回到船尾的室舱享用晚餐时，看着夕阳染红了西边的整片天空，感受着船身的晃动，品尝着唇齿间的咸味，想象着东方的未知之境，露西高兴得都快说不出话了。

尤斯塔斯心里的想法最好用他自己的话来说，因为第二天早上他们全取回自己的干衣服后，他拿出了一本小小的黑色笔记本和一支铅笔，开始写日记。他一直随身带着这本笔记本，里面记录着他的分数。尽管他不在乎任何课程本身，他对分数倒是在意得很，甚至还会跑去跟人家说：“我得了这么高的分，你得了几分？”但是在黎明踏浪号上，他似乎不太可能得到多少分数，所以他就开始写日记了。这是他的第一篇日记。

八月七日

如果这不是梦的话，我已经在这艘可怕的船上待满二十四小时了。骇人的风暴一直很猖獗（还好我没晕船）。巨浪不停地迎面打过来，有无数次我看见船都快沉下去了。其他人对此都装作毫不在意，要么是他们在虚张声势，要么就像哈罗德所说的，普通人做的最懦弱的事之一就是对事实视而不见。他们用这样的破船出海真是疯了。这船比救生艇大不了多少。当然，船内的装潢十分原始。没有像样的酒吧，没有无线电，没有卫生间，也没有躺椅。我昨天晚上被硬拖着走遍了这艘船，凯斯宾卖弄他这艘可笑的玩具小船的样子真叫人厌恶，好像这是“玛丽皇后号”邮轮似的。我试图告诉他真正的船该是什么样，但是他太愚钝了。艾德蒙和露西当然也不会支持我。我觉得像露西这样的小孩子意识不到危险，艾德蒙就是在拍凯斯宾的马屁，跟这里的其他人一样使劲巴结他。他们都叫他国王。我说我是一个共和主义者，但是他竟然问我那是什么意思！他看起来什么都不懂。更别说我还被安排到了这艘船上最差的一个船舱，完全就是个地牢。露西倒是被安排到甲板上单独住一整间，跟这艘船的其他地方比起来，那个房间算是最好的了。凯斯宾说，那是因为她是女孩子。我试着让他明白艾伯塔所说的，这样做完全是在贬低女孩子，但是他太愚钝了。然而，他应该知道，如果我再继续住在那个洞里，我会生病的。艾德蒙说我们不能抱怨，因为凯斯宾自己也跟我们合住，把房间让出来给露西。好像这样一来不是更挤、更糟了似的。差点儿忘了说，这里有一种鼠类的东西，十分放肆无礼。别人要是喜欢，大可以容忍，但是如果他这样对我，我会立马拧断他的尾巴。这里的食物也很可怕。

尤斯塔斯和雷佩契普之间的冲突比预料中来得更早。第二天晚饭前，其他人都围坐在桌前等着（人们在海上时，胃口总是格外好），尤斯塔斯冲进来，紧搓着手大喊大叫：

“那小畜生差点儿要了我的命，我坚持一定要对他严加看管。凯斯宾，我可以起诉你。我可以命令你把它消灭掉。”

这时，雷佩契普来了。他的剑已经拔了出来，胡须直起来，凶神恶煞的样子，但是他仍旧保持着礼貌。

“各位，抱歉，”他说，“特别请女王陛下原谅我。如果我知道他要在这里避难，我就应该再多等段时间让他改正。”

“到底怎么了？”艾德蒙问。

事情是这样的：雷佩契普永远觉得船开得不够快，总爱远远坐在前面龙头旁边的舷墙上。他爱在那里望着东方，用他尖锐的声音温柔地唱着那首树神给他编的歌。他从来不紧紧抓着什么，无论船身怎样倾斜，他都能轻松地保持平衡，可能是他把长尾巴拖在舷墙里侧的甲板上才能坐稳吧。船上的所有人都熟悉了他的这个习惯，而且水手们都喜欢他这个习惯，因为大家值班巡视的时候一个人负责瞭望，另一个能有个人说说话。我也不知道尤斯塔斯究竟为什么溜出来，一路步履维艰、磕磕绊绊地走到船头（他还在晕船呢）。也许他期待能看到陆地，又或许他想在厨房转悠转悠，讨点儿东西吃。不管怎样，他一看见拖在地上的长尾巴——可能是因为太诱人了——他马上就想，要是能抓住那条尾巴，把雷佩契普转个一两圈，然后跑开大笑，该有多开心啊。一开始计划进行得很顺利。这只老鼠不比一只大猫重多少，尤斯塔斯一下就把他从栏杆上拽了下来。他四肢张开、嘴巴张大的样子看起来蠢极了（尤斯塔斯心想）。不幸的是，雷佩契普一生战斗无数，从来不会不知所措，也不会忘记自己的本领。被拽住尾巴在空中打转，要拔出剑来可真不太容易，但是他做到了。还没来得及反应，尤斯塔斯的手就被猛戳了两下，痛得他松开了尾巴。那老鼠立马像球似的在甲板上弹开，站稳了身子面对着他，一支又长又尖、亮晃晃的、像烤肉叉子似的可怕家伙，就在他的肚子边来回挥动。（在纳尼亚，这对于老鼠来说可不算是攻击别人腰带以下部位的犯规行为，因为他最高也只能够到这儿了。）

“住手，”尤斯塔斯气急败坏地说，“走开，放下那把东西，太不安全了。我让你住手。我要告诉凯斯宾，我要封住你的嘴，把你捆起来。”

“胆小鬼！你干吗不拔出你自己的剑！”老鼠吱吱地叫，“拔出剑来和我决斗，否则我就用剑面把你打得青一块紫一块。”

“我没有剑，”尤斯塔斯说，“我爱好和平，我不信仰斗争。”

“你的意思是不是，”雷佩契普抽回自己的剑，严肃地说，“你不打算答应和我决斗？”

“我不知道你是什么意思，”尤斯塔斯护着自己的手说，“如果你开不起玩笑的话，我也懒得为你伤脑筋。”

“那你就受我这一剑吧，”雷佩契普说，“还有这一剑——好让你懂点儿礼貌——知道该怎么样尊重一位骑士——和一只老鼠——以及老鼠的尾巴——”他每说一句，就用剑面打一下尤斯塔斯。他的剑是用矮人炼出来的精炼钢薄片制造的，又像桦条一样灵活有力。尤斯塔斯当然没在学校受过体罚，这是他第一次遭受这样的对待，所以尽管还在晕船，他还是一溜烟逃离了船头，穿过甲板，撞开了船尾的舱门——雷佩契普还在后面紧追不舍。对尤斯塔斯来说，那把剑和雷佩契普的追赶一样让他热得发烫，说不定他心里的那股感觉也是热得发烫哩。

结果他俩之间的问题很快就解决了。因为尤斯塔斯很快就意识到了，所有人都把决斗这件事情认真对待，凯斯宾要主动借给他一把剑，德里宁和艾德蒙在讨论是不是该给他增加点儿限制条件，因为他的个头比雷佩契普大太多了。他悻悻地道了个歉就和露西一起走开了。给手清洗包扎后，他就回到了自己的铺位，小心翼翼地侧身躺下了。

注解

[1]　里格：一种长度单位，是陆地及海洋的古老的测量单位，约等于三海里。