“Byheaven,youmakememad,”saidTirian。“WhichofussaidthatwasAslan?ThatistheApe’simitationoftherealAslan。Can’tyouunderstand?”
“Andyou’vegotabetterimitation,Isuppose!”saidGriffle。“Nothanks。We’vebeenfooledonceandwe’renotgoingtobefooledagain。”
“Ihavenot,”saidTirianangrily,“IservetherealAslan。”
“Where’she?Who’she?Showhimtous!”saidseveralDwarfs.
“DoyouthinkIkeephiminmywallet,fools?”saidTirian。“WhoamIthatIcouldmakeAslanappearatmybidding?He’snotatamelion。”
Themomentthosewordswereoutofhismouthherealizedthathehadmadeafalsemove。TheDwarfsatoncebeganrepeating“notatamelion,notatamelion,”inajeeringsing-song。“That’swhattheotherlotkeptontellingus,”saidone.
“Doyoumeanyoudon’tbelieveintherealAslan?”saidJill。“ButI’veseenhim。Andhehassentustwohereoutofadifferentworld。”
“Ah,”saidGrifflewithabroadsmile。“Soyousay。They’vetaughtyouyourstuffallright。Sayingyourlessons,ain’tyou?”
“Churl,”criedTirian,“willyougivealadythelietoherveryface?”
“Youkeepaciviltongueinyourhead,Mister,”repliedtheDwarf。“Idon’tthinkwewantanymoreKings-ifyouareTirian,whichyoudon’tlooklikehim-nomorethanwewantanyAslans。We’regoingtolookafterourselvesfromnowonandtouchourcapstonobody。See?”
“That’sright,”saidtheotherDwarfs。“We’reonourownnow。
NomoreAslan,nomoreKings,nomoresillystoriesaboutotherworlds。TheDwarfsarefortheDwarfs。”Andtheybegantofallintotheirplacesandtogetreadyformarchingbacktowherevertheyhadcomefrom.
“Littlebeasts!”saidEustace。“Aren’tyouevengoingtosaythankyouforbeingsavedfromthesalt-mines?”
“Oh,weknowallaboutthat,”saidGriffleoverhisshoulder。“Youwantedtomakeuseofus,that’swhyyourescuedus。You’replayingsomegameofyourown。Comeonyouchaps。”
AndtheDwarfsstruckupthequeerlittlemarchingsongwhichgoeswiththedrum-beat,andofftheytrampedintothedarkness.
Tirianandhisfriendsstaredafterthem。Thenhesaidthesingleword“Come,”andtheycontinuedtheirjourney.
Theywereasilentparty。Puzzlefelthimselftobestillindisgrace,andalsohedidn’treallyquiteunderstandwhathadhappened。Jill,besidesbeingdisgustedwiththeDwarfs,wasveryimpressedwithEustace’svictoryovertheCalormeneandfeltalmostshy。AsforEustace,hisheartwasstillbeatingratherquickly。TirianandJewelwalkedsadlytogetherintherear。TheKinghadhisarmontheUnicorn’sshoulderandsometimestheUnicornnuzzledtheKing’scheekwithhissoftnose。Theydidnottrytocomfortoneanotherwithwords。Itwasn’tveryeasytothinkofanythingtosaythatwouldbecomforting。TirianhadneverdreamedthatoneoftheresultsofanApe’ssettingupasafalseAslanwouldbetostoppeoplefrombelievingintherealone。HehadfeltquitesurethattheDwarfswouldrallytohissidethemomentheshowedthemhowtheyhadbeendeceived。AndthennextnighthewouldhaveledthemtoStableHillandshownPuzzletoallthecreaturesandeveryonewouldhaveturnedagainsttheApeand,perhapsafterascufflewiththeCalormenes,thewholethingwouldhavebeenover。Butnow,itseemed,hecouldcountonnothing。HowmanyotherNarniansmightturnthesamewayastheDwarfs?
“Somebody’scomingafterus,Ithink,”saidPuzzlesuddenly.
Theystoppedandlistened。Sureenough,therewasathump-thumpofsmallfeetbehindthem.
“Whogoesthere!”shoutedtheKing.
“Onlyme,Sire,”cameavoice。“Me,PoggintheDwarf。I’veonlyjustmanagedtogetawayfromtheothers。I’monyourside,Sire:andonAslan’s。IfyoucanputaDwarfishswordinmyfist,I’dgladlystrikeablowontherightsidebeforeall’sdone。”
Everyonecrowdedroundhimandwelcomedhimandpraisedhimandslappedhimontheback。OfcourseonesingleDwarfcouldnotmakeaverygreatdifference,butitwassomehowverycheeringtohaveevenone。Thewholepartybrightenedup。ButJillandEustacedidn’tstaybrightforverylong,fortheywerenowyawningtheirheadsoffandtootiredtothinkaboutanythingbutbed.
Itwasatthecoldesthourofthenight,justbeforedawn,thattheygotbacktotheTower。Iftherehadbeenamealreadyforthemtheywouldhavebeengladenoughtoeat,butthebotheranddelayofgettingonewasnottobethoughtof。Theydrankfromastream,splashedtheirfaceswithwater,andtumbledintotheirbunks,exceptforPuzzleandJewelwhosaidthey’dbemorecomfortableoutside。Thisperhapswasjustaswell,foraUnicornandafat,full-grownDonkeyindoorsalwaysmakearoomfeelrathercrowded.
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