chater eight hw they left the ind (第3/9页)
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“Well，then—no offence，”said Trumpkin．“But，you know，the King and Trufflehunter and Doctor Cornelius were expecting—well，if you see what I mean，help．To put it in another way，I think they’d been imagining you as great warriors．As it is—we’re awfully fond of children and all that，but just at the moment，in the middle of a war—but I’m sure you understand．”
“You mean you think we’re no good，”said Edmund，getting red in the face．
“Now pray don’t be offended，”interrupted the Dwarf．“I assure you，my dear little friends—”
“Little from you is really a bit too much，”said Edmund，jumping up．“I suppose you don’t believe we won the Battle of Beruna？ Well，you can say what you like about me because I know—”
“There’s no good losing our tempers，”said Peter．“Let’s fit him out with fresh armour and fit ourselves out from the treasure chamber，and have a talk after that．”
“I don’t quite see the point—”began Edmund，but Lucy whispered in his ear，“Hadn’t we better do what Peter says？ He is the High King，you know．And I think he has an idea．”So Edmund agreed and by the aid of his torch they all，including Trumpkin，went down the steps again into the dark coldness and dusty splendour of the treasure house．
The Dwarf’s eyes glistened as he saw the wealth that lay on the shelves though he had to stand on tiptoes to do so and he muttered to himself，“It would never do to let Nikabrik see this; never．”They found easily enough a mail shirt for him，a sword，a helmet，a shield，a bow and quiverful of arrows，all of dwarfish size．The helmet was of copper，set with rubies，and there was gold on the hilt of the sword: Trumpkin had never seen，much less carried，so much wealth in all his life．The children also put on mail shirts and helmets; a sword and shield were found for Edmund and a bow for Lucy—Peter and Susan were of course already carrying their gifts．As they came back up the stairway，jingling in their mail，and already looking and feeling more like Narnians and less like schoolchildren，the two boys were behind，apparently making some plan．Lucy heard Edmund say，“No，let me do it．It will be more of a sucks for him if I win，and less of a let-down for us all if I fail．”
“All right，Ed，”said Peter．
When they came out into the daylight Edmund turned to the Dwarf very politely and said，“I’ve got something to ask you．Kids like us don’t often have the chance of meeting a great warrior like you．Would you have a little fencing match with me？ It would be frightfully decent．”
