chater fur what caian did there (第3/6页)
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At this Gumpas began to pay real attention．“Oh，that’s quite out of the question，”he said．“It is an economic impossibility— er—your Majesty must be joking．”
Inside，he was wondering if there were any way of getting rid of these unwelcome visitors．Had he known that Caspian had only one ship and one ship’s company with him，he would have spoken soft words for the moment，and hoped to have them all surrounded and killed during the night．But he had seen a ship of war sail down the straits yesterday and seen it signalling，as he supposed， to its consorts．He had not then known it was the King’s ship for there was not wind enough to spread the flag out and make the golden lion visible，so he had waited further developments． Now he imagined that Caspian had a whole fleet at Bernstead．It would never have occurred to Gumpas that anyone would walk into Narrowhaven to take the islands with less than fifty men；it was certainly not at all the kind of thing he could imagine doing himself．
“Secondly，”said Caspian，“I want to know why you have permitted this abominable and unnatural traffic in slaves to grow up here，contrary to the ancient custom and usage of our dominions．”
“Necessary，unavoidable，”said his Sufficiency．“An essential part of the economic development of the islands，I assure you．Our present burst of prosperity depends on it．”
“What need have you of slaves ？”
“For export，your Majesty．Sell’em to Calormen mostly； and we have other markets．We are a great center of the trade．”
“In other words，”said Caspian，“you don’t need them．Tell me what purpose they serve except to put money into the pockets of such as Pug ？”
“Your Majesty’s tender years，”said Gumpas，with what was meant to be a fatherly smile，“hardly make it possible that you should understand the economic problem involved．I have statistics，I have graphs，I have—”
“Tender as my years may be，”said Caspian，“I believe I understand the slave trade from within quite as well as your Sufficiency．And I do not see that it brings into the islands meat or bread or beer or wine or timber or cabbages or books or instruments of music or horses or armour or anything else worth having．But whether it does or not，it must be stopped．”
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