CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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THE WONDERS OF THE LAST SEA VERY soon after they had left Ramandus try they began to feel that they had already sailed beyond the world. All was different. For ohing they all found that they were needing less sleep. One did not want to go to bed. nor to eat much, nor even to talk except in low voices. Ahing was the light. There was too much of it. The su came up each m looked twice, if not; three times, its usual size. And every m (which gave Lucy the stra feeling of all) the huge white birds, singing their song with human voices in a language no one knew, streamed overhead and vanished astern on their way to their breakfast at Aslans Table. A little later they came flying bad vanished into the east."How beautifully clear the water is!" said Lucy to herself, as she leaned over the port side early iernoon of the sed day.
And it was. The first thing that she noticed was a little black object, about the size of a shoe, travelling along at the same speed as the ship. For a moment she thought it was something floating on the surface. But then there came floating past a bit of stale bread which the cook had just thrown out of the galley. And the bit of bread looked as if it were going to collide with the black thing, but it didnt. It passed above it, and Luow saw that the black thing could not be on the surface. Then the black thing suddenly got very much bigger and flicked back to normal size a moment later.
Now Luew she had seen something just like that happen somewhere else - if only she could remember where. She held her hand to her head and screwed up her fad put out her tongue in the effort to remember. At last she did. Of course! It was like what you saw from a train on a bright sunny day. You saw the black shadow of your own coach running along the fields at the same pace as the train. Then you went into a cutting; and immediately the same shadow flicked close up to you and got big, rag :long the grass of the cutting-bank. Then you came out of the cutting and - Pick! - once more the black shadow had gone back to its normal size and was running along the fields.
"Its our shadow! - the shadow of the Dawn Treader," said Lucy. "Our shadow running along otom of the sea. That time when it got bigger it went over a hill. But in that case the water must be clearer than I thought! Good gracious, I must he seeing the bottom of the sea; fathoms and fathoms down.”
As soon as she had said this she realized that the great silvery expanse which she had been seeing (without notig) for some time was really the sand on the sea-bed and that ail sorts of darker hter patches were not lights and shadows on the surface but real things otom. At present, for instahey were passing over a mass of soft purply green with a broad, winding strip of pale grey in the middle of it But now that she k was otom she saw it much better. She could see that bits of the dark stuff were much higher than other bits and were wavily. "Just like trees in a wind," said Lucy. "And do believe thats what they are. Its a submarine forest.”
They passed on above it and presently the pale streak was joined by another pale streak.
"If I was down there," thought Lucy, "that streak would be just like a road through the wood. And that place where it joins the other Would be a crossroads. Oh, I do wish I was.
Hallo! the forest is ing to an end. And I do believe the streak really was a road! I still see it going on across the open sand. Its a different colour. And its marked out with something at the edges - dotted lines. Perhaps they are stones. And now its getting wider.”
But it was not really getting wider, it was getting nearer. She realized this because of the way in which the shadow of the ship came rushing up towards her. And the road she felt sure it was a road now - began to go in zigzags. Obviously it was climbing up a steep hill.
And when she held her head sideways and looked back, what she saw was very like what you see when you look down a winding road from the top of a hill. She could evehe shafts of sunlight falling through the deep water on to the wooded valley - and, in the
extreme distance, everythiing away into a dim greenness. But some places - the sunny ones, she thought - were ultramarine blue.
She could not, however, spend much time looking back; what was ing into view in the forward dire was too exg. The road had apparently now reached the top of the hill and ran straight forward. Little specks were moving to and fro on it. And now something most wonderful, fortunately in full sunlight - or as full as it be when it falls through fathoms of water - flashed into sight. It was knobbly and jagged and of a pearly, or perhaps an ivory, colour. She was so nearly straight above it that at first she could hardly make out what it was. But everything became plain when she noticed its shadow. The sunlight was falling across Lucys shoulders, so the shadow of the thing lay stretched out on the sand behind it. And by its shape she saw clearly that it was a shadow of towers and pinnacles, mis and domes.
"Why! - its a city or a huge castle," said Lucy to herself "But I wonder why theyve built it on top of a high m<var>?９9lｉb?</var>ountain?”
Long afterwards when she was ba England and tal<big>９９ｌｉb?</big>ked all these adventures over with Edmund, they thought of a reason and I am pretty sure it is the true one. In the sea, the deeper you go, the darker and colder it gets, and it is down there, in the dark and cold, that dangerous things live - the squid and the Sea Serpent and the Kraken. The valleys are the wild, unfriendly places. The sea-people feel about their valleys as we do about mountains, and feel about their mountains as we feel about valleys. It is on the heights (or, as we would say, "in the shallows") that there is warmth and peace. The reckless hunters and brave knights of the sea go down into the depths os and adventures, but return home to the heights for rest and peace, courtesy and cil, the sports, the dances and the songs.
They had passed the city and the sea-bed was still rising. It was only a few hundred feet below the ship now. The road had disappeared. They were sailing above an open park-like try, dotted with little groves htlycoloured vegetation. And then - Luearly squealed aloud with excitement-she had seen People.
There were between fifteen and twenty of them, and all mounted on sea- horses - not the tiny little sea-horses whiay have seen in museums but horses rather bigger than themselves. They must be noble and lordly people, Lucy thought, for she could catch the gleam of gold on some of their foreheads and streamers of emerald- or e-coloured stuff fluttered from their shoulders in the current. Then: "Oh, bother these fish!" said Lucy, for a whole shoal of small fat fish, swimming quite close to the surface, had e between her and the Sea People. But though this spoiled her view it led to the most iing thing of all.
Suddenly a fierce little fish of a kind she had never seen before came darting up from below, snapped, grabbed, and sank rapidly with one of the fat fish in its mouth. And all the Sea People were sitting on their horses staring up at what had happehey seemed
to be talking and laughing. And before the hunting fish had got back to them with its prey, another of the same kind came up from the Sea People. And Lucy was almost certain that one big Sea Man who sat on his sea-horse in the middle of the party had sent it or released it; as if he had been holdng it back till then in his hand or on his wrist.
"Why, I do declare," said Lucy, "its a hunting party. Or more like a hawking party. Yes, thats it. They ride out with these little fierce fish on their wrists just as we used to ride out with fals on our wrists when we were Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel long ago.
And then they fly them - or I suppose I should say swim them - at the others.”
She stopped suddenly because the se was ging. The Sea People had noticed the Dawn Treader. The shoal of fish hard scattered in every dire: the People themselves were ing up to find out the meaning of this big, black thing which had e between them and the sun. And now they were so close to the surface that if they had been in air, instead of water, Lucy could have spoken to them. There were men and women both. All wore ets of some kind and many had s of pearls. They wore no other clothes.
Their bodies were the colour of old ivory, their hair dark purple. The King in the tre (no one could mistake him for anything but the King) looked proudly and fiercely into Lucys fad shook a spear in his hand. His knights did the same. The faces of the ladies were filled with astonishment. Lucy felt sure they had never seen a ship or a human before - and how should they, in seas beyond the worlds end where no ship ever came?
"What are you staring at, Lu?" said a voice close beside her.
Lucy had been so absorbed in what she was seeing that she started at the sound, and wheurned she found that her arm had gone "dead" from leaning so long on the rail in one position. Drinian and Edmund were be<q>99lｉｂ.</q>side her.
"Look," she said.
They both looked, but almost at once Drinian said in a low voice: "Turn round at once, your Majesties - thats right, with our backs to the sea. And dont look as if we were talking about anything important.”
"Why, whats the matter?" said Lucy as she obeyed.
"Itll never do for the sailors to see all that," said Drinian. "Well have men falling in love with a seawoman, or falling in love with the under-sea try itself, and jumping overboard. Ive heard of that kind of thing happening before in strange seas. Its 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 surfad sang at our ation.”
"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 t. By the look of them theyd have surfaced and started attag us long ago if they could. They seem very fierce.”
"At any rate," said Drinian, but at that moment two sounds were heard. One lop.
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 e round and back to the man who had gone overboard. But by now everyone khat it wasnt strictly a man. It was Reepicheep.
"Drat that mouse!" said Drinian. "Its more trouble than all the rest of the ships pany 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. anyohe little blighter?”
All this didhat Drinian really disliked Reepicheep. On the trary he liked him very mud was therefore frightened about him, and being frightened put him in a bad temper - just as your mother is mugrier 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 Reepicheeps 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 mihe Dawn Treader had e round and everyone could see the black blob ier which was Reepicheep. He was chattering with the greatest excitement but as his mouth kept oing filled with water nobody could uand what he was saying.
"Hell blurt the whole thing out if we dont 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 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, "Dont tell. Not a word.”
But when the dripping Mouse had reached the deck it turned out not to be at all ied in the Sea People.
"Sweet!" he cheeped. "Sweet, sweet!”
"What are you talking about?" asked Drinian crossly. "And you shake yourself all over me, either.”
"I tell you the waters sweet," said the Mouse. "Sweet, fresh. It isnt 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 uood.
"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 ged. Not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter.
"Yes," he said, "it is sweet. Thats real water, that. Im not sure that it isnt going to kill me. But it is the death I would have chosen - if Id known about it till now.”
"What do you mean?" asked Edmund.
"It - its like light more than anything else," said Caspian.
"That is what it is," said Reepicheep. "Drinkable light. We must be very he end of the world now.”
There was a moments sile<tt></tt>nd then Luelt down on the ded drank from the bucket.
"Its the loveliest thing I have ever tasted," she said with a kind of gasp. "But oh - its strong. We shao eat anything now.”
And one by one everybody on board drank. And for a long time they were all silent. They felt almost too well and strong to bear it; and presently they began to notiother result. As I have said before, there had been too much light ever sihey left the island of Ramandu - the sun toe (though not too hot), the sea tht, the air too shining. Now, the light grew no less - if anything, it increased - but they could bear it.
They could look straight up at the sun without blinking. They could see more light than they had ever seen before. And the ded the sail and their own faces and bodies became brighter and brighter and every rope shone. A m, when the sun rose, now five or six times its old size, they stared hard into it and could see the very feathers of the birds that came flying from it.
Hardly a word oken on board all that day, till about diime (no one wanted any dihe water was enough for them) Drinian said: "I t uand this. There is not a breath of wind. The sail hangs dead. The sea is as flat as a pond. A we drive on as fast as if there were a gale behind us.”
"Ive been thinking that, too," said Caspian. "We must be caught in some strong current.”
"Hm," said Edmund. "Thats not so nice if the World really has an edge and were getting near it.”
"You mean," said Caspian, "that we might be just well, poured over it?”
"Yes, yes," cried Reepicheep, clapping his paws together. "Thats how Ive always imagi - the World like a great round table and the waters of all the os endlessly p over the edge. The ship will tip up stand on her head - for one moment we shall see over the edge - and then, down, down, the rush, the speed -”
"And what do you think will be waiting for us at the bottom, eh?" said Drinian.
"Aslans try perhaps," said the Mouse, its eyes shining. "Or perhaps there isnt any bottom. Perhaps it goes down for ever and ever. But whatever it is, wont it be worth anything just to have looked for one moment beyond the edge of the world.”
"But look -here," said Eustace, "this is all rot. The worlds round - I mean, round like a ball, not like a table.”
"Our world is," said Edmund. "But is this?”
"Do you mean to say," asked Caspian, "that you three e from a round world (round like a ball) and youve old me! Its really too bad of you. Because we have fairy-tales in which there are round worlds and I always loved them. I never believed there were any real ones. But Ive always wished there were and Ive always loo live in one. Oh, Id give anything - I wonder why you get into our world and we never get into yours? If only I had the ce! It must be exg to live on a thing like a ball.
Have you ever been to the parts where people walk about upside-down?”
Edmund shook his head. "And it isnt like that," he added. "Theres nothing particularly exg about a round world when youre there.
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