CHAPTER EIGHT:

TWO NARROW ESCAPES

EVERYONE was cheerful as the Dawn Treader sailed from Dragon Island. They had fair winds as soon as they were out of the bay and came early next morning to the unknown land which some of them had seen when flying over the mountains while Eustace was still a dragon. It was a low green island inhabited by nothing but rabbits and a few goats, but from the ruins of stone huts, and from blackened places where fires had been, they judged that it had been peopled not long before. There were also some bones and broken weapons.

“Pirates’ work,” said Caspian.

“Or the dragon’s,” said Edmund.

The only other thing they found there was a little skin boat, or coracle, on the sands. It was made of hide stretched over a wicker framework. It was a tiny boat, barely four feet long, and the paddle which still lay in it was in proportion. They thought that either it had been made for a child or else that the people of that country had been Dwarfs. Reepicheep decided to keep it, as it was just the right size for him; so it was taken on board. They called that land Burnt Island, and sailed away before noon.

For some five days they ran before a south-southeast wind, out of sight of all lands and seeing neither fish nor gull. Then they had a day that rained hard till the afternoon. Eustace lost two games of chess to Reepicheep and began to get like his old and disagreeable self again, and Edmund said he wished they could have gone to America with Susan. Then Lucy looked out of the stern windows and said:

“Hello! I do believe it’s stopping. And what’s that?”

They all tumbled up to the poop at this and found that the rain had stopped and that Drinian, who was on watch, was also staring hard at something astern. Or rather, at several things. They looked a little like smooth rounded rocks, a whole line of them with intervals of about forty feet in between.

“But they can’t be rocks,” Drinian was saying, “because they weren’t there five minutes ago.”

“And one’s just disappeared,” said Lucy.

“Yes, and there’s another one coming up,” said Edmund.

“And nearer,” said Eustace.

“Hang it!” said Caspian. “The whole thing is moving this way.”

“And moving a great deal quicker than we can sail, Sire,” said Drinian. “It’ll be up with us in a minute.”

They all held their breath, for it is not at all nice to be pursued by an unknown something either on land or sea. But what it turned out to be was far worse than anyone had suspected. Suddenly, only about the length of a cricket pitch from their port side, an appalling head reared itself out of the sea. It was all greens and vermilions with purple blotches—except where shellfish clung to it—and shaped rather like a horse’s, though without ears. It had enormous eyes, eyes made for staring through the dark depths of the ocean, and a gaping mouth filled with double rows of sharp fish-like teeth. It came up on what they first took to be a huge neck, but as more and more of it emerged everyone knew that this was not its neck but its body and that at last they were seeing what so many people have foolishly wanted to see—the great Sea Serpent. The folds of its gigantic tail could be seen far away, rising at intervals from the surface. And now its head was towering up higher than the mast.

Every man rushed to his weapon, but there was nothing to be done, the monster was out of reach. “Shoot! Shoot!” cried the Master Bowman, and several obeyed, but the arrows glanced off the Sea Serpent’s hide as if it was iron-plated. Then, for a dreadful minute, everyone was still, staring up at its eyes and mouth and wondering where it would pounce.

But it didn’t pounce. It shot its head forward across the ship on a level with the yard of the mast. Now its head was just beside the fighting top. Still it stretched and stretched till its head was over the starboard bulwark. Then down it began to come—not onto the crowded deck but into the water, so that the whole ship was under an arch of serpent. And almost at once that arch began to get smaller: indeed on the starboard the Sea Serpent was now almost touching the Dawn Treader’s side.

Eustace（who had really been trying very hard to behave well, till the rain and the chess put him back）now did the first brave thing he had ever done. He was wearing a sword that Caspian had lent him. As soon as the serpent’s body was near enough on the starboard side he jumped on to the bulwark and began hacking at it with all his might. It is true that he accomplished nothing beyond breaking Caspian’s second-best sword into bits, but it was a fine thing for a beginner to have done.

Others would have joined him if at that moment Reepicheep had not called out, “Don’t fight! Push!” It was so unusual for the Mouse to advise anyone not to fight that, even in that terrible moment, every eye turned to him. And when he jumped up on to the bulwark, forward of the snake,and set his little furry back against its huge scaly, slimy back, and began pushing as hard as he could, quite a number of people saw what he meant and rushed to both sides of the ship to do the same. And when, a moment later, the Sea Serpent’s head appeared again, this time on the port side, and this time with its back to them, then everyone understood.

The brute had made a loop of itself round the Dawn Treader and was beginning to draw the loop tight. When it got quite tight—snap!—there would be floating matchwood where the ship had been and it could pick them out of the water one by one. Their only chance was to push the loop backward till it slid over the stern; or else（to put the same thing another way）to push the ship forward out of the loop.

Reepicheep alone had, of course, no more chance of doing this than of lifting up a cathedral, but he had nearly killed himself with trying before others shoved him aside. Very soon the whole ship’s company except Lucy and the Mouse（which was fainting）was in two long lines along the two bulwarks, each man’s chest to the back of the man in front, so that the weight of the whole line was in the last man, pushing for their lives. For a few sickening seconds（which seemed like hours）nothing appeared to happen. Joints cracked, sweat dropped, breath came in grunts and gasps. Then they felt that the ship was moving. They saw that the snake-loop was further from the mast than it had been. But they also saw that it was smaller. And now the real danger was at hand. Could they get it over the poop, or was it already too tight? Yes. It would just fit. It was resting on the poop rails. A dozen or more sprang up on the poop. This was far better. The Sea Serpent’s body was so low now that they could make a line across the poop and push side by side. Hope rose high till everyone remembered the high carved stern, the dragon tail, of the Dawn Treader. It would be quite impossible to get the brute over that.

“An axe,” cried Caspian hoarsely, “and still shove.” Lucy, who knew where everything was, heard him where she was standing on the main deck staring up at the poop. In a few seconds she had been below, got the axe, and was rushing up the ladder to the poop. But just as she reached the top there came a great crashing noise like a tree coming down and the ship rocked and darted forward. For at that very moment, whether because the Sea Serpent was being pushed so hard, or because it foolishly decided to draw the noose tight, the whole of the carved stern broke off and the ship was free.

The others were too exhausted to see what Lucy saw. There, a few yards behind them, the loop of Sea Serpent’s body got rapidly smaller and disappeared into a splash. Lucy always said（but of course she was very excited at the moment, and it may have been only imagination）that she saw a look of idiotic satisfaction on the creature’s face. What is certain is that it was a very stupid animal, for instead of pursuing the ship it turned its head round and began nosing all along its own body as if it expected to find the wreckage of the Dawn Treader there. But the Dawn Treader was already well away, running before a fresh breeze, and the men lay and sat panting and groaning all about the deck, till presently they were able to talk about it, and then to laugh about it. And when some rum had been served out they even raised a cheer; and everyone praised the valour of Eustace（though it hadn’t done any good）and of Reepicheep.

After this they sailed for three days more and saw nothing but sea and sky. On the fourth day the wind changed to the north and the seas began to rise; by the afternoon it had nearly become a gale. But at the same time they sighted land on their port bow.

“By your leave, Sire,” said Drinian, “we will try to get under the lee of that country by rowing and lie in harbour, maybe till this is over.”Caspian agreed, but a long row against the gale did not bring them to the land before evening. By the last light of that day they steered into a natural harbour and anchored, but no one went ashore that night. In the morning they found themselves in the green bay of a rugged, lonely-looking country which sloped up to a rocky summit. From the windy north beyond that summit clouds came streaming rapidly. They lowered the boat and loaded her with any of the water casks which were now empty.

“Which stream shall we water at, Drinian?” said Caspian as he took his seat in the stern-sheets of the boat. “There seem to be two coming down into the bay.”

“It makes little odds, Sire,” said Drinian. “But I think it’s a shorter pull to that on the starboard—the eastern one.”

“Here comes the rain,” said Lucy.

“I should think it does!” said Edmund, for it was already pelting hard. “I say, let’s go to the other stream. There are trees there and we’ll have some shelter.”

“Yes, let’s,” said Eustace. “No point in getting wetter than we need.”

But all the time Drinian was steadily steering to the starboard, like tiresome people in cars who continue at forty miles an hour while you are explaining to them that they are on the wrong road.

“They’re right, Drinian,” said Caspian. “Why don’t you bring her head round and make for the western stream?”

“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?”

“We can dive for it, Sire,” said Reepicheep.

“No good at all,” said Edmund. “At least, if it’s really gold—solid gold—it’ll be far too heavy to bring up. And that pool’s twelve or fifteen feet deep if it’s an inch. Half a moment, though. It’s a good thing I’ve brought a hunting spear with me. Let’s see what the depth is like. Hold on to my hand, Caspian, while I lean out over the water a bit.” Caspian took his hand and Edmund, leaning forward, began to lower his spear into the water.

Before it was half-way in Lucy said, “I don’t believe the statue is gold at all. It’s only the light. Your spear looks just the same colour.”

“What’s wrong?” asked several voices at once; for Edmund had suddenly let go of the spear.

“I couldn’t hold it,” gasped Edmund, “it seemed so heavy.”

“And there it is on the bottom now,” said Caspian, “and Lucy is right. It looks just the same colour as the statue.”

But Edmund, who appeared to be having some trouble with his boots—at least he was bending down and looking at them—straightened himself all at once and shouted out in the sharp voice which people hardly ever disobey:

“Get back! Back from the water. All of you. At once!!”

They all did and stared at him.

“Look,” said Edmund, “look at the toes of my boots.”“They look a bit yellow,” began Eustace.

“They’re gold, solid gold,” interrupted Edmund. “Look at them. Feel them. The leather’s pulled away from it already. And they’re as heavy as lead.”

“By Aslan!” said Caspian. “You don’t mean to say—?”

“Yes, I do,” said Edmund. “That water turns things into gold. It turned the spear into gold, that’s why it got so heavy. And it was just lapping against my feet（it’s a good thing I wasn’t barefoot）and it turned the toe-caps into gold. And that poor fellow on the bottom—well, you see.”

“So it isn’t a statue at all,” said Lucy in a low voice.

“No. The whole thing is plain now. He was here on a hot day. He undressed on top of the cliff—where we were sitting. The clothes have rotted away or been taken by birds to line nests with; the armour’s still there. Then he dived and—”

“Don’t,” said Lucy. “What a horrible thing.”

“And what a narrow shave we’ve had,” said Edmund.

“Narrow indeed,” said Reepicheep. “Anyone’s finger, anyone’s foot, anyone’s whisker, or anyone’s tail, might have slipped into the water at any moment.”

“All the same,” said Caspian, “we may as well test it.” He stooped down and wrenched up a spray of heather. Then, very cautiously, he knelt beside the pool and dipped it in. It was heather that he dipped; what he drew out was a perfect model of heather made of the purest gold, heavy and soft as lead.

“The King who owned this island,” said Caspian slowly, and his face flushed as he spoke, “would soon be the richest of all Kings of the world. I claim this land forever as a Narnian possession. It shall be called Goldwater Island. And I bind all of you to secrecy. No one must know of this. Not even Drinian—on pain of death, do you hear?”

“Who are you talking to?” said Edmund. “I’m no subject of yours. If anything it’s the other way round. I am one of the four ancient sovereigns of Narnia and you are under allegiance to the High King my brother.”

“So it has come to that, King Edmund, has it?” said Caspian, laying his hand on his sword-hilt.

“Oh, stop it, both of you,” said Lucy. “That’s the worst of doing anything with boys. You’re all such swaggering, bullying idiots—oooh!—” Her voice died away into a gasp. And everyone else saw what she had seen.

Across the grey hillside above them—grey, for the heather was not yet in bloom—without noise, and without looking at them, and shining as if he were in bright sunlight though the sun had in fact gone in, passed with slow pace the hugest lion that human eyes have ever seen. In describing the scene Lucy said afterwards, “He was the size of an elephant,” though at another time she only said, “The size of a cart-horse.”But it was not the size that mattered. Nobody dared to ask what it was. They knew it was Aslan.

And nobody ever saw how or where he went. They looked at one another like people waking from sleep.

“What were we talking about?” said Caspian. “Have I been making rather an ass of myself?”

“Sire,” said Reepicheep, “this is a place with a curse on it. Let us get back on board at once. And if I might have the honour of naming this island, I should call it Deathwater.”

“That strikes me as a very good name, Reep,” said Caspian, “though now that I come to think of it, I don’t know why. But the weather seems to be settling and I dare say Drinian would like to be off. What a lot we shall have to tell him.”

But in fact they had not much to tell for the memory of the last hour had all become confused.

“Their Majesties all seemed a bit bewitched when they came aboard,” said Drinian to Rhince some hours later when the Dawn Treader was once more under sail and Deathwater Island already below the horizon. “Something happened to them in that place. The only thing I could get clear was that they think they’ve found the body of one of these lords we’re looking for.”

“You don’t say so, Captain,” answered Rhince. “Well, that’s three. Only four more. At this rate we might be home soon after the New Year. And a good thing too. My baccy’s running a bit low. Good night, Sir.”

第八章 两次脱险

从龙岛起航时，黎明踏浪号上的每个人都意气风发。他们一离开海湾，就遇上了顺风，第二天一早就到了那片不知名的陆地上。在尤斯塔斯还是条龙时，有些人骑在他身上飞过山头的时候看到过这里。这座低矮的绿岛无人居住，只有兔子和几只山羊。但是根据岛上石屋的废墟和火烧过发黑的地方来看，他们推测这里不久之前还有人。岛上还有一些骨头和损坏的武器。

“这准是海盗干的。”凯斯宾说。

“也有可能是龙。”艾德蒙说。

他们还在沙滩上找到了一艘皮艇，或者说皮筏子，除此之外就没有其他发现了。这艘皮艇用枝条搭框架，外面包着兽皮。船很小，只有四英尺长，里面的船桨和船的大小相称。他们觉得，这艘船要么是给小孩子做的，要么那个地方的人是矮人。雷佩契普决定留着这艘船，因为对他来说大小正好，于是这艘皮艇就被送上了大船。他们把这片陆地叫作焦岛，还没到中午就开船离开了。

之后的五天，他们都顺着东南偏南的风前进，看不见陆地，也看不见鱼，连海鸥都没有。一天，一场大雨一直下到了下午。尤斯塔斯和雷佩契普下棋，因为输了两局，又摆起了臭脾气。艾德蒙说，要是他们当时能和苏珊一起去美国就好了。露西在船尾向窗外望去，说：“嘿！我觉得雨停了。不过那是什么？”

他们听到立马站起来爬上了船尾楼，发现雨已经停了，而正在值班的德里宁也正向后紧紧盯着什么。准确一点儿说，他盯着好几个东西。那些东西看起来有点儿像光滑的圆石头，排成一条线，每个石头之间都隔了约莫四十英尺。

“那不可能是石头，”德里宁说，“五分钟前还没有那些东西呢。”

“刚刚有一个消失了。”露西说。

“是啊，现在又有一个新的出现了。”艾德蒙说。

“还在靠近我们。”尤斯塔斯说。

“该死！”凯斯宾说，“那东西整个都往这边来了。”

“陛下，那东西的速度比我们快得多，”德里宁说，“不消一分钟，它就追上我们了。”

他们都屏住了呼吸，不管是在陆地上还是在海上，被一个不知道是什么的东西追赶总归不是好事。但是，那东西一露头，竟比大家的猜想还要糟糕得多。突然，在离他们左舷一个板球场长度的地方，一个骇人的脑袋钻出了海面。那颗脑袋上一块绿一块红，布满了紫色的疹子——除了贝类附着的地方——脑袋上面没长耳朵，形状则像一个马头。它巨大的眼睛可以观察黑暗的海底，张开的嘴巴里长着两排鱼一样尖利的牙齿。他们本以为脑袋下面是一根巨大的脖子，但是看着那脖子没完没了地伸出海面，所有人都知道了那不是脖子，而是它的身体。最后他们终于看出来了，那是一条巨大的海蛇。在这之前，他们中的许多人都想着，要是能瞧一瞧海蛇就好了，多么愚蠢荒唐啊！它巨大的尾巴时不时地伸出海面，从远处就能清清楚楚地看见上面的褶皱。现在，它的头已经远远地高出了船桅。

大家连忙拿起武器，可是什么也做不了，因为那怪物远在他们的攻击范围之外。“射击！射击！”弓箭手头领喊道。有一些人遵照命令做了，但是海蛇的皮像钢板似的，箭只是轻轻地擦过去了。好一会儿，大家一动不动，提心吊胆，盯着它的眼睛和嘴巴，不知道它会往哪里猛扑过来。

但是它没有扑过来，而是把脑袋沿着桅杆的帆桁探过船身。这会儿它的头就在桅顶观测台的边上，它不停地往前伸，把头伸到了右舷墙的上方。接着，又开始往下伸——不是伸向站满了人的甲板上，而是伸向了海里。这下，整条船都在蛇身的弧圈里了。紧接着，这个弧圈开始收紧。原本在右舷一侧的蛇身都快碰到黎明踏浪号的舷侧了。

这时，尤斯塔斯（之前一直努力好好表现，不过后来的那场雨和棋又把他打回了原形）生平第一次做出了一件勇敢的事。此时，他正佩带着一把凯斯宾借给他的剑。正当蛇身快接近右舷舷侧时，他一跃而起跳上了舷墙，用尽全力砍向它。结果，他什么都没做成，只是让凯斯宾那把第二好的剑粉身碎骨，不过这对一个新手来说无可厚非。

要不是那时雷佩契普大声喊道：“别打！推！”别人早就跟他一起动手了。雷佩契普居然劝人不要打，这真是太不寻常了。眼下明明情况危急，大家还是被引得转过身去看他。他一下就跳上舷墙，挡在前面，把他毛茸茸的后背倚在海蛇长满鳞片又黏糊糊的巨大身躯上，开始使劲往外推。很多人一下明白过来他想干吗，也冲向船的两边这样做。不一会儿，那海蛇的头又露了出来，不过这次是从左舷侧露出来的，背对着他们，这下大家都明白是怎么回事了。

那畜生竟然把身子绕成一个圈箍在了黎明破浪号上，还把圈越收越紧。等到它缠得够紧——啪的一声——船就会变成一摊碎片浮在海面上，它就能在水里把他们一个一个地收拾了。他们要想活命，只能想办法把这个圈往后推，让它从船尾滑出去，要不然就（换种办法）把船往前推，脱出这个圈。

雷佩契普独自去推当然没什么用，简直无异于他想举起一座大教堂，其他人把他推到一边的时候，他已经竭尽全力了。一时间，除了露西和雷佩契普（他已经晕过去了），全船的伙计们已经沿着两侧的舷墙排成了两列，相互之间前胸贴着后背，让所有人的重量都落到了最后那个人的身上，拼了命地推。他们熬了几秒钟（痛苦得像过了几个小时），可是什么变化也没有。他们的关节咯咯作响，汗如雨下，累得气喘吁吁。接着他们感觉船开始动了。他们看见蛇绕成的圈离桅杆远了一点儿，但是与此同时，那个圈也缩小了许多。不料，危险已经近在眼前。他们不知能不能让船尾楼顺利地从这个圈里脱出，这个圈是不是已经太紧了。是啊，这个圈刚好套进来。海蛇靠在船尾楼的栏杆上休息。船尾楼上一下子蹿出许多人，这下就好多了。海蛇的身体太低了，他们可以在船尾楼上站成一列一起用力推。他们满心以为离胜利不远了，可是，大家突然想起来了，黎明踏浪号高耸的雕花船尾，那个龙尾，要把蛇身从那里推出去是绝对不可能的。

“拿把斧头来，”凯斯宾嘶吼道，“继续用力推！”露西知道每样东西摆在哪儿，她正站在甲板上抬头观察着船尾楼上的状况，听到凯斯宾的话，她立马下去拿上了斧头，急匆匆地爬上了船尾楼的楼梯。结果她刚到上面，就听见一声轰然巨响，像是大树倒下来的声音。接着，船开始摇晃，往前急冲了出去。原来就在那一刻，海蛇把圈一下子收紧了，也许是因为它被推得太猛了，也可能是它一时犯蠢，整个雕花船尾都被折断了。这下，船终于逃脱了它的束缚。

其他人都筋疲力尽，只有露西看见他们身后几码远的地方，海蛇的身体弯成的圈一下子缩小了，扑通一下淹没在了水中。露西一直说，她看见那条海蛇的脸上露出了白痴般的满足表情（当然，她那时非常激动，那也许只是她的想象罢了）。毋庸置疑的是，这条海蛇太蠢了，它没来追船，反而把头转过去开始嗅探自己的身体，以为在那里能找到船的残骸似的。但是，黎明踏浪号已经乘着清风逃之夭夭了，大家在甲板上坐的坐，躺的躺，喘着气呻吟着。过了一会儿，他们才开始谈论这件事，嘲笑起这条蛇来。甜酒端上来时，他们热烈欢呼，大家都称赞尤斯塔斯和雷佩契普很英勇（虽然没帮上什么忙）。

接着他们又在海上航行了三天，放眼望去，只看得到无边无际的天和海，其他什么也没有。第四天，刮起了北风，海面开始升高，到中午的时候，狂风大作。就在那时，他们看见左舷船头方向有一块陆地。

“陛下，请您恩准，”德里宁说，“让我们划桨过去，把船停在海湾里，去那儿避避风，等到风停了再说。”凯斯宾答应了。不过顶着大风划桨，他们晚上才终于到达了那片陆地。他们驶入了一个天然的港湾，刚一抛锚，天色就暗了下来。但是当天晚上没有人上岸。第二天早上，他们发现自己身处一个绿色的港湾中，那里凹凸不平，看起来冷冷清清的，斜坡通向一个岩石山峰。山峰的北侧，大风呼啸，云朵被挟卷着滚滚而来。他们把小船放到水面上，把空水桶全部装在船上。

“德里宁，我们到哪条河里打水？”凯斯宾一边在船尾座板坐下，一边说，“看起来有两条河汇入这个海湾。”

“陛下，哪条都行，”德里宁说，“不过我觉得去右舷那边的那条河会更近一点儿——就是东边那条。”

“要下雨了。”露西说。

“真的下雨了！”艾德蒙说，这时雨滴已经砸下来了，“我说，我们去另一条河打水吧。那里有树，我们能躲躲雨。”

“是啊，我们去那边吧，”尤斯塔斯说，“我们没必要淋雨。”

但是德里宁一直稳稳地往右舷划船，就像那些讨厌的人开车一样，尽管旁边有人跟他们说开错了路，他们还是以每小时四十英里的速度一股脑往前开。

“德里宁，他们说的是对的，”凯斯宾说，“你怎么不掉头去西边那条河呢？”

“陛下您说了算。”德里宁有点儿不快地说。他昨天为天气担心了一整天，也不喜欢没什么出海经验的人给他提意见。但是他还是改变了航向，事后证明了他这么做是对的。

他们打完水，雨也停了。凯斯宾、尤斯塔斯、佩文西家的孩子和雷佩契普决定走上山顶，从那上面四处看看。山坡上到处都是粗草和欧石南，他们艰难地往上爬，一路上既没看见人，也没看见野兽，只看到了海鸥。他们到达山顶时，发现这是一个很小的岛屿，面积不过二十英亩。从这个高度俯瞰，海面比从黎明踏浪号的甲板，甚至桅顶观测台上看去都要显得更宽阔、更荒凉。

“喂，真是疯了，”尤斯塔斯看着东方的地平线对露西低声说道，“我们根本不知道会到哪里去，却这么一直往前航行。”但是他说这些只是出于习惯，并不是像以前那样故意惹人讨厌。

冷飕飕的风还在不断地从北面吹过来，山上太冷了，根本待不住。

“我们回去别走原来那条路了，”他们往回走时露西说，“我们往前走一点儿，沿着另一条河下山，就是德里宁想去的那条河。”

大家都同意这么做，大约十五分钟后，他们已经到了另一条河的源头。这里比他们预想的还要有趣。一个深深的山间小湖，四周都是悬崖，只在靠海的一边留下一个窄窄的口子，水就从这里流向大海。到了这里，风终于吹不到他们了，大家都在悬崖上的欧石南丛中坐下休息。

所有人都坐下来了，但是其中一个人却又很快跳了起来，原来是艾德蒙。

“这岛上尽是些尖利的石头，”他在欧石南丛里摸索着说，“那可恶的东西在哪儿？……啊，我找到了……啊呀！这根本不是石头，是剑柄。不，天哪，这是一把完整的剑，这上面的铁锈怎么这么厚啊。一定落在这儿好多年了。”

“看它的样子，这也是把纳尼亚的剑。”凯斯宾说。这时大家都围拢过来看。

“我也坐在了什么东西上，”露西说，“硬硬的。”大家过去一看，原来是一副盔甲的残片。这时，大家都趴在地上，在欧石南丛中到处摸索。他们一个接一个地搜出了头盔、匕首还有几枚硬币。不是卡罗门的新月，而是真正的纳尼亚的“狮子”和“树”。你在海狸大坝或者柏卢纳的市场上随处都可以见到这样的货币。

“看样子，这可能是我们要寻找的七勋爵之一留下的全部东西了。”艾德蒙说。

“我也是这么想的，”凯斯宾说，“我在想这是哪一位勋爵。从匕首上看不出来他的身份。我还想知道他是怎么死的。”

“还有，我们怎么为他报仇。”雷佩契普补充道。

艾德蒙是这群人里面唯一一个读过几个侦探故事的人，他一直在思考。

“看这里，”他说，“这件事非常蹊跷。他不可能是在打斗中丧命的。”

“为什么？”凯斯宾问。

“这里没有骨头，”艾德蒙说，“如果是敌人，就会带走盔甲，留下尸体。但谁听说过有人打赢了之后却带走尸体留下盔甲的？”

“也许他是被野兽吃掉了。”露西提出。

“这野兽也太聪明了，”艾德蒙说，“还会把人的盔甲脱下来。”

“也许是一条龙？”凯斯宾说。

“不可能，”尤斯塔斯说，“龙可办不到。我是知道的。”

“好吧，无论如何，我们还是先离开这里吧。”露西说。艾德蒙提出骨头的问题后，她再也不想坐下来了。

“听你的，”凯斯宾边起身边说，“我觉得这些东西一件也不值得带走。”

他们下山来到湖边，绕到了水往外流的小口子那里，站在那儿望着深深的湖水，周围都是悬崖。要是天很热的话，肯定会有一些人忍不住下水洗个澡，而且大家都会喝水喝个痛快。其实，即便只是这样不热的天气，尤斯塔斯已经准备弯腰用手舀水喝了，不过雷佩契普和露西不约而同地大叫了一声：“看！”他顿时忘了喝水，往他们指的地方看去。

水池底是灰蓝色的大石块砌成的，湖水清澈透明。池底分明躺着一个真人大小的人像，而且是金子做的。它的脸朝下，手臂高举过头顶。正当他们看着它时，云层散开了，阳光照耀下来。金色的人像从头到脚被照得金光闪闪。露西觉得这是她见过的最美丽的雕像了。

“好！”凯斯宾吹了一声口哨说，“这倒值得一看！不知道我们能不能把它捞上来？”

“陛下，我们可以潜水下去打捞。”雷佩契普说。

“没用的，”艾德蒙说，“不管怎么说，要是这是真的纯金的话就太重了，根本捞不上来。而且，这水池估计有十二到十五英尺那么深。不过，稍微等一下。幸亏我还带着一支矛。我们来看看这水池到底有多深。凯斯宾，我身子探向水面的时候，抓住我的手。”于是凯斯宾拉着他的手，艾德蒙则往前斜身子，开始把他的矛往水里伸。

矛伸进水里还不到一半，露西就说：“我根本不相信这雕像是金子做的。只是因为光线的缘故。你的矛看起来也是金色的。”

艾德蒙突然松开了他的矛，几个人立马异口同声地问道：“怎么了？”

“我拿不住了，”艾德蒙喘着气说，“好像太沉了。”

“它现在沉到底了，”凯斯宾说，“露西是对的。它看起来和雕像的颜色一样。”

但艾德蒙觉得自己的靴子好像有些不对劲，他正弯下身子看，却一下子又绷直了身体，用尖锐的声音大叫：“后退！离水面远点儿！你们都后退！马上！！”

他的声音让人不敢不依他的话。他们都后退了，眼睛都盯着艾德蒙。

“看，”艾德蒙说，“看我的靴尖。”

“它们看起来有点儿发黄。”尤斯塔斯开口说道。

“它们变成金子了，纯金的，”艾德蒙立马打断了他，“看看，摸一摸，皮革已经从靴子上脱离了，像铅一样重。”

“阿斯兰在上！”凯斯宾说，“你的意思该不会是……”

“是的，我就是这个意思，”艾德蒙说，“这水会把东西变成金子。它把矛变成了金子，所以矛才会变得那么沉。而且我的靴尖只是稍微沾到了点儿水，就变成了金子，还好我没光着脚。底下那个可怜的家伙——唉，你们知道是怎么回事了吧？”

“所以那根本不是一座雕像。”露西低声说道。

“对，现在整件事情真相大白了。他在一个大热天来到了这里。他在悬崖上脱掉了衣服，就是我们刚刚坐着的地方。他的衣服要么腐烂掉了，要么被鸟儿叼去铺在窝里了。但是盔甲还留在那里。然后他就潜进了水里，结果……”

“别说了，”露西说，“太可怕了。”

艾德蒙说：“好险啊。”

“确实好险啊，”雷佩契普说，“任何人的手指、脚、胡须或者尾巴，都随时可能滑进水里。”

“虽然如此，”凯斯宾说，“我们还是试验一下吧。”他弯下腰，折下一根欧石南的花枝。接着，他小心翼翼地跪在水池旁边，拿着花枝在水中轻轻蘸了一下。他放进去时是欧石南，拿出来时却是个一模一样的纯金欧石南模型，轻重软硬都像铅一般。

“拥有这个岛的国王，”凯斯宾缓慢地说，他说话时激动得脸都涨红了，“马上就会成为世界上最富有的国王。我宣布，这片土地永远归纳尼亚所有。以后，这里就叫作金水岛。并且，我要求你们所有人对此保密。不能让别人知道这件事。连德里宁也不能告诉——泄密者处死，听见了吗？”

“你在跟谁说话？”艾德蒙说，“我可不是你的下属。要反过来才对。我是纳尼亚旧时的四位君主之一，你应该效忠于我哥哥至尊王。”

“所以呢，艾德蒙国王？”凯斯宾把手放在他的剑柄上说道。

“哎呀，你们俩，都别再吵了，”露西说，“跟男孩子一起，就是这点最讨厌了。你们都是喜欢虚张声势、恃强凌弱的白痴——唉！……”她突然不出声了，而是倒吸了一口气。接着，其他人都看到了她所看到的东西。

他们上方的灰色山坡上——因为欧石南还没开花，所以看上去是灰色的——一头巨大的狮子缓缓走过，人们从来没见过这么大的狮子。它没有发出声音，也没有看向他们。太阳这时分明被云层挡住了，可是它浑身闪着金光，就像在阳光的照耀下似的。事后，露西形容这个场景：“它的个头有大象那么大。”但是另一回她又说：“它的个头跟拉货车的马一样大。”但是它的个头大小不重要。没人敢问这是什么。他们都知道这就是阿斯兰。

没有人看到他去了什么地方，也不知道他是怎么去的。他们面面相觑，就像刚刚从睡梦中醒来。

“我们刚刚在说什么？”凯斯宾问道，“我是不是表现得像个浑蛋？”

“陛下，”雷佩契普说，“这是一个被诅咒的地方。我们快点儿回船上吧。如果我有荣幸为这个岛屿命名的话，我会叫它死水岛。”

“雷佩契普，这倒是个好名字，”凯斯宾说，“但是我现在才想起来，我也不知道为什么。不过天气似乎好转了，我想德里宁大概愿意起航了。我们有太多的事要跟他说了。”

但实际上他们没有多少要说的，因为过去那一个小时的记忆已经变得模模糊糊的了。

“几位殿下上船时好像都着了魔似的。”几个小时后德里宁对莱斯这样说。那时，黎明踏浪号正在海上航行，而死水岛已经落到地平线之下，看不见了。“他们在那里遇上什么事了。我只知道一件事，他们觉得找到了我们正在寻找的七勋爵之一的尸体。”

“真的吗，船长？”莱斯说道，“那这下已经找到三个了。还剩四个。以这样的速度，我们可能过了新年就可以马上回家了。这倒也是一件好事。我的烟快抽完了。晚安，船长。”