CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE WONDERS OF THE LAST SEA（第3/4页）

“It’ll never do for the sailors to see all that，”said Drinian．“We’ll have men falling in love with a sea—woman，or falling in love with the under-sea country itself，and jumping overboard．I’ve heard of that kind of thing happening before in strange seas．It’s always unlucky to see these people．”

“But we used to know them，”said Lucy．“In the old days at Cair Paravel when my brother Peter was High King．They came to the surface and sang at our coronation．”

“I think that must have been a different kind，Lu，”said Edmund．“They could live in the air as well as under water．I rather think these can’t．By the look of them they’d have surfaced and started attacking us long ago if they could．They seem very fierce．”

“At any rate，”said Drinian，but at that moment two sounds were heard．One was a plop．The other was a voice from the fighting—top shouting，“Man overboard ！”Then everyone was busy．Some of the sailors hurried aloft to take in the sail；others hurried below to get to the oars；and Rhince，who was on duty on the poop，began to put the helm hard over so as to come round and back to the man who had gone overboard．But by now everyone knew that it wasn’t strictly a man．It was Reepicheep．

“Drat that mouse ！”said Drinian．“It’s more trouble than all the rest of the ship’s company put together．If there is any scrape to be got into，in it will get ！It ought to be put in irons—keel-hauled—marooned—have its whiskers cut off．Can anyone see the little blighter ？”

All this didn’t mean that Drinian really disliked Reepicheep．On the contrary he liked him very much and was therefore frightened about him，and being frightened put him in a bad temper—just as your mother is much angrier with you for running out into the road in front of a car than a stranger would be．No one，of course， was afraid of Reepicheep’s drowning，for he was an excellent swimmer；but the three who knew what was going on below the water were afraid of those long，cruel spears in the hands of the Sea People．

In a few minutes the Dawn Treader had come round and everyone could see the black blob in the water which was Reepicheep．He was chattering with the greatest excitement but as his mouth kept on getting filled with water nobody could understand what he was saying．

“He’ll blurt the whole thing out if we don’t shut him up，”cried Drinian．To prevent this he rushed to the side and lowered a rope himself，shouting to the sailors，“All right，all right．Back to your places．I hope I can heave a mouse up without help．”And as Reepicheep began climbing up the rope—not very nimbly because his wet fur made him heavy—Drinian leaned over and whispered to him，

“Don’t tell．Not a word．”

But when the dripping Mouse had reached the deck it turned out not to be at all interested in the Sea People．

“Sweet ！”he cheeped．“Sweet，sweet ！”

“What are you talking about ？”asked Drinian crossly．“And you needn’t shake yourself all over me，either．”

“I tell you the water’s sweet，”said the Mouse．“Sweet，fresh. It isn’t salt．”

For a moment no one quite took in the importance of this．But then Reepicheep once more repeated the old prophecy：

“Where the waves grow sweet，Doubt not，Reepicheep，There is the utter East ．”

Then at last everyone understood．

“Let me have a bucket，Rynelf，”said Drinian．

It was handed him and he lowered it and up it came again．The water shone in it like glass．

“Perhaps your Majesty would like to taste it first，”said Drinian to Caspian．

The King took the bucket in both hands，raised it to his lips， sipped，then drank deeply and raised his head．His face was changed. Not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter．

“Yes，”he said，“it is sweet．That’s real water，that．I’m not sure that it isn’t going to kill me．But it is the death I would have chosen—if I’d known about it till now．”

“What do you mean ？”asked Edmund．

“It—it’s like light more than anything else，”said Caspian．

“That is what it is，”said Reepicheep．“Drinkable light．We must be very near the end of the world now．”

There was a moment’s silence and then Lucy knelt down on the deck and drank from the bucket．

“It’s the loveliest thing I have ever tasted，”she said with a kind of gasp．“But oh—it’s strong．We shan’t need to eat anything now．”