chater ix the adventure f eutace (第4/8页)
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Two dragons，one on each side，mimicking whatever he did ！ His nerve broke and he simply made a bolt for it．
There was such a clatter and rasping，and clinking of gold， and grinding of stones，as he rushed out of the cave that he thought they were both following him．He daren’t look back．He rushed to the pool．The twisted shape of the dead dragon lying in the moonlight would have been enough to frighten anyone but now he hardly noticed it．His idea was to get into the water．
But just as he reached the edge of the pool two things happened． First of all，it came over him like a thunder-clap that he had been running on all fours—and why on earth had he been doing that ？ And secondly，as he bent towards the water，he thought for a second that yet another dragon was staring up at him out of the pool． But in an instant he realized the truth．The dragon face in the pool was his own reflection．There was no doubt of it．It moved as he moved：it opened and shut its mouth as he opened and shut his．
He had turned into a dragon while he was asleep．Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy，dragonish thoughts in his heart，he had become a dragon himself．
That explained everything．There had been no two dragons beside him in the cave．The claws to right and left had been his own right and left claw．The two columns of smoke had been coming from his own nostrils．As for the pain in his left armor what had been his left armhe could now see what had happened by squinting with his left eye．The bracelet which had fitted very nicely on the upper arm of a boy was far too small for the thick， stumpy foreleg of a dragon．It had sunk deeply into his scaly flesh and there was a throbbing bulge on each side of it．He tore at the place with his dragon’s teeth but could not get it off．
In spite of the pain，his first feeling was one of relief．There was nothing to be afraid of any more．He was a terror himself now and nothing in the world but a knightand not all of thosewould dare to attack him．He could get even with Caspian and Edmund now—
But the moment he thought this he realized that he didn’t want to．He wanted to be friends．He wanted to get back among humans and talk and laugh and share things．He realized that he was a monster cut off from the whole human race．An appalling loneliness came over him．He began to see that the others had not really been fiends at all．He began to wonder if he himself had been such a nice person as he had always supposed．He longed for their voices．He would have been grateful for a kind word even from Reepicheep．
When he thought of this the poor dragon that had been Eustace lifted up its voice and wept．A powerful dragon crying its eyes out under the moon in a deserted valley is a sight and a sound hardly to be imagined．
At last he decided he would try to find his way back to the shore．He realized now that Caspian would never have sailed away and left him．And he felt sure that somehow or other he would be able to make people understand who he was．
