chater eight what new the eagle brught (第3/6页)

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“Oh leave poor old Puzzle alone，”she said.“It was all a mistake; wasn’t it，Puzzle dear ？”And she kissed him on the nose．

Though rather shaken by what they had seen，the whole party now sat down again and went on with their talk．

Jewel had little to tell them. While he was a prisoner he had spent nearly all his time tied up at the back of the stable，and had of course heard none of the enemies’ plans. He had been kicked he’d done some kicking back too and beaten and threatened with death unless he would say that he believed it was Aslan who was brought out and shown to them by firelight every night. In fact he was going to be executed this very morning if he had not been rescued. He didn’t know what had happened to the Lamb．

The question they had to decide was whether they would go to Stable Hill again that night，show Puzzle to the Narnians and try to make them see how they had been tricked，or whether they should steal away Eastward to meet the help which Roonwit the Centaur was bringing up from Cair Paravel and return against the Ape and his Calormenes in force. Tirian would very much like to have followed the first plan：he hated the idea of leaving the Ape to bully his people one moment longer than need be. On the other hand，the way the Dwarfs had behaved last night was a warning. Apparently one couldn’t be sure how people would take it even if he showed them Puzzle. And there were the Calormene soldiers to be reckoned with. Poggin thought there were about thirty of them. Tirian felt sure that if the Narnians all rallied to his side，he and Jewel and the children and Poggin Puzzle didn’t count for much would have a good chance of beating them. But how if half the Narnians-including all the Dwarfs-just sat and looked on ？ or even fought against him ？ The risk was too great. And there was，too， the cloudy shape of Tash. What might it do ？

And then，as Poggin pointed out，there was no harm in leaving the Ape to deal with his own difficulties for a day or two. He would have no Puzzle to bring out and show now. It wasn’t easy to see what story he-or Ginger-could make up to explain that. If the Beasts asked night after night to see Aslan，and no Aslan was brought out，surely even the simplest of them would get suspicious．

In the end they all agreed that the best thing was to go off and try to meet Roonwit．

As soon as they had decided this，it was wonderful how much more cheerful everyone became. I don’t honestly think that this was because any of them was afraid of a fight except perhaps Jill and Eustace. But I daresay that each of them，deep down inside， was very glad not to go any nearer-or not yet-to that horrible bird-headed thing which，visible or invisible，was now probably haunting Stable Hill. Anyway，one always feels better when one has made up one’s mind．

Tirian said they had better remove their disguises，as they didn’t want to be mistaken for Calormenes and perhaps attacked by any loyal Narnians they might meet. The Dwarf made up a horrid-looking mess of ashes from the hearth and grease out of the jar of grease which was kept for rubbing on swords and spear-heads. Then they took off their Calormene armour and went down to the stream. The nasty mixture made a lather just like soft soap：it was a pleasant，homely sight to see Tirian and the two children kneeling beside the water and scrubbing the backs of their necks or puffing and blowing as they splashed the lather off. Then they went back to the Tower with red，shiny faces，like people who have been given an extra good wash before a party. They re-armed themselves in true Narnian style，with straight swords and three-cornered shields.“Body of me，”said Tirian.“That is better. I feel a true man again.”

Puzzle begged very hard to have the lion-skin taken off him.

He said it was too hot and the way it was rucked up on his back was uncomfortable：also，it made him look so silly. But they told him he would have to wear it a bit longer，for they still wanted to show him in that get-up to the other Beasts，even though they were now going to meet Roonwit first．