纳尼亚传奇：凯斯宾王子(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：C.S.路易斯

出版社：天津人民出版社

格式: AZW3, DOCX, EPUB, MOBI, PDF, TXT

纳尼亚传奇：凯斯宾王子试读：

第02页：彼得、苏珊、埃德蒙和露西坐在火车站的长椅上，身边堆放着行李和用品箱，他们即将回到学校。

第32页：四个孩子进入了凯尔·帕拉维尔城堡里那间古老的宝库，彼得取下了他的礼物——镶着红色巨狮的盾牌和那柄神圣的宝剑。宝剑轻轻一拔便出了鞘，在黑暗中发出一道寒光。

第38页：彼得他们发现从树林后面划出一条小船，顺着海峡朝他们所在的方向驶来。

第60页：爬到塔顶时，凯斯宾已是气喘吁吁。但他觉得再累也值得。向右边极目远眺，依稀可见远处的西山；左边则有一条蜿蜒的大河。分辨那两颗他们想看的星星似乎并非难事，它们低低地挂在南方的天空上，明亮得就像小小的月亮，而且相距非常近。

第83页：骇人的闪电伴随着轰鸣的雷声，似乎要将天空撕裂一般。戴思特里尔开始拼命地奔跑。黑暗中，一棵接一棵的大树向凯斯宾迎面扑来，从身边一闪而过。

第102页：这是凯斯宾平生所见最高贵的动物了——伟大的人马格兰斯托姆，后面还跟着他的三个儿子。

第123页：吃了败仗后，巨人韦伯韦德坐在树下伤心地流着眼泪。

第140页：埃德蒙和小矮人杜鲁普金比试剑术。埃德蒙使了一个花剑招数，把小矮人的剑“叮”的一声打飞了。只见杜鲁普金望着那只空空的右手，不知所措地眨着眼睛。

第154页：露西信步走到了树木稀疏的地方。恬静的月光洒在大地上，与树木的阴影交织在一起，使人辨不清周围的景物。这时，那只夜莺终于找准了调子，开始引吭高歌起来。

第187页：露西激动万分，觉得心脏就要从胸腔里跳出来了。她记得自己用双臂紧紧地搂住阿斯兰的脖子，不停地亲吻它，并且把自己的脸埋进它那美丽而有光泽、像缎子般柔软光滑的鬃毛里面。

第206页：孩子们看到阿斯兰停下脚步，转过身来，默默地望着他们。那目光仿佛有种强大的魔力，使他们既高兴，又有些害怕。

第251页：大胖熊想做决斗的公证人，可杜鲁普金认为它会当着敌人的面舔爪子，让大家丢脸。

第272页：纳尼亚解放了，狂欢的人们看见一个男人正在打一个小男孩。突然，男人手里的棍子变成了一束花。他想扔掉，却发现花紧紧地黏在他的手上——他的胳膊变成树枝，身体变成树干，双脚变成树根。小男孩破涕为笑，一蹦一跳地加入了他们。

第280页：露西用神奇药水让老鼠将军雷佩契普恢复了健康，可是它发现自己的尾巴没有了。CHAPTER ONE　THE ISLAND

Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy, and it has been told in another book called The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe how they had a remarkable adventure. They had opened the door of a magic wardrobe and found themselves in a quite different world from ours, and in that different world they had become Kings and Queens in a country called Narnia.While they were in Narnia they seemed to reign for years and years；but when they came back through the door and found themselves in England again, it all seemed to have taken no time at all.At any rate, no one noticed that they had ever been away, and they never told anyone except one very wise grown-up.

That had all happened a year ago, and now all four of them were sitting on a seat at a railway station with trunks and playboxes piled up round them. They were, in fact, on their way back to school.They had travelled together as far as this station, which was a junction；and here, in a few minutes, one train would arrive and take the girls away to one school, and in about half an hour another train would arrive and the boys would go off to another school.

The first part of the journey, when they were all together, always seemed to be part of the holidays；but now when they would be saying good-bye and going different ways so soon, everyone felt that the holidays were really over and everyone felt their term-time feelings beginning again, and they were all rather gloomy and no one could think of anything to say. Lucy was going to boarding school for the first time.

It was an empty, sleepy, country station and there was hardly anyone on the platform except themselves. Suddenly Lucy gave a sharp little cry, like someone who has been stung by a wasp.

“What's up, Lu?”said Edmund and then suddenly broke off and made a noise like“Ow！”

“What on earth-”，began Peter, and then he too suddenly changed what he had been going to say. Instead, he said，“Susan, let go！What are you doing?Where are you dragging me to?”

“I'm not touching you，”said Susan.“Someone is pulling me. Oh oh-oh-stop it！”

Everyone noticed that all the others'faces had gone very white.

“I felt just the same，”said Edmund in a breathless voice.“As if I were being dragged along. A most frightful pulling-ugh！it's beginning again.”

“Me too，”said Lucy.“Oh, I can't bear it.”

“Look sharp！”shouted Edmund.“All catch hands and keep together. This is magic I can tell by the feeling.Quick！”

“Yes，”said Susan.“Hold hands. Oh, I do wish it would stop-oh！”

Next moment the luggage, the seat, the platform, and the station had completely vanished. The four children, holding hands and panting, found themselves standing in a woody place such a woody place that branches were sticking into them and there was hardly room to move.They all rubbed their eyes and took a deep breath.

“Oh, Peter！”exclaimed Lucy.“Do you think we can possibly have got back to Narnia?”

“It might be anywhere，”said Peter.“I can't see a yard in all these trees. Let's try to get into the open if there is any open.”

With some difficulty, and with some stings from nettles and pricks from thorns, they struggled out of the thicket. Then they had another surprise.Everything became much brighter, and after a few steps they found themselves at the edge of the wood, looking down on a sandy beach.A few yards away a very calm sea was falling on the sand with such tiny ripples that it made hardly any sound. There was no land in sight and no clouds in the sky.The sun was about where it ought to be at ten o'clock in the morning, and the sea was a dazzling blue.They stood sniffing in the sea-smell.

“By Jove！”said Peter.“This is good enough.”

Five minutes later everyone was barefooted and wading in the cool clear water.

“This is better than being in a stuffy train on the way back to Latin and French and Algebra！”said Edmund. And then for quite a long time there was no more talking, only splashing and looking for shrimps and crabs.

“All the same，”said Susan presently，“I suppose we'll have to make some plans. We shall want something to eat before long.”

“We've got the sandwiches Mother gave us for the journey，”said Edmund.“At least I've got mine.”

“Not me，”said Lucy.“Mine were in my little bag.”

“So were mine，”said Susan.

“Mine are in my coat-pocket, there on the beach，”said Peter.“That'll be two lunches among four. This isn't going to be such fun.”

“At present，”said Lucy，“I want something to drink more than something to eat.”

Everyone else now felt thirsty, as one usually is after wading in salt water under a hot sun.

“It's like being shipwrecked，”remarked Edmund.“In the books they always find springs of clear, fresh water on the island. We'd better go and look for them.”

“Does that mean we have to go back into all that thick wood?”said Susan.

“Not a bit of it，”said Peter.“If there are streams they're bound to come down to the sea, and if we walk along the beach we're bound to come to them.”

They all now waded back and went first across the smooth, wet sand and then up to the dry, crumbly sand that sticks to one's toes, and began putting on their shoes and socks. Edmund and Lucy wanted to leave them behind and do their exploring with bare feet, but Susan said this would be a mad thing to do.“We might never find them again”she pointed out，“and we shall want them if we're still here when night comes and it begins to be cold.”

When they were dressed again they set out along the shore with the sea on their left hand and the wood on their right. Except for an occasional seagull it was a very quiet place.The wood was so thick and tangled that they could hardly see into it at all；and nothing in it moved not a bird, not even an insect.

Shells and seaweed and anemones, or tiny crabs in rockpools, are all very well, but you soon get tired of them if you are thirsty. The children's feet, after the change from the cool water, felt hot and heavy. Susan and Lucy had raincoats to carry.Edmund had put down his coat on the station seat just before the magic overtook them, and he and Peter took it in turns to carry Peter's great-coat.

Presently the shore began to curve round to the right. About quarter of an hour later, after they had crossed a rocky ridge which ran out into a point, it made quite a sharp turn.Their backs were now to the part of the sea which had met them when they first came out of the wood, and now, looking ahead, they could see across the water another shore, thickly wooded like the one they were exploring.

“I wonder, is that an island or do we join on to it presently?”said Lucy.

“Don't know，”said Peter and they all plodded on in silence.

The shore that they were walking on drew nearer and nearer to the opposite shore, and as they came round each promontory the children expected to find the place where the two joined. But in this they were disappointed.They came to some rocks which they had to climb and from the top they could see a fairway ahead and“Oh bother！”said Edmund，“it's no good.We shan't be able to get to those other woods at all.We're on an island！”

It was true. At this point the channel between them and the opposite coast was only about thirty or forty yards wide；but they could now see that this was its narrowest place.After that, their own coast bent round to the right again and they could see open sea between it and the mainland.It was obvious that they had already come much more than halfway round the island.

“Look！”said Lucy suddenly.“What's that?”She pointed to a long, silvery, snake-like thing that lay across the beach.

“A stream！A stream！”shouted the others, and, tired as they were, they lost no time in clattering down the rocks and racing to the fresh water. They knew that the stream would be better to drink farther up, away from the beach, so they went at once to the spot where it came out of the wood. The trees were as thick as ever, but the stream had made itself a deep course between high mossy banks so that by stooping you could follow it up in a sort of tunnel of leaves.They dropped on their knees by the first brown, dimply pool and drank and drank, and dipped their faces in the water, and then dipped their arms in up to the elbow.

“Now，”said Edmund，“what about those sandwiches?”

“Oh, hadn't we better have them?”said Susan.“We may need them far worse later on.”

“I do wish，”said Lucy，“now that we're not thirsty, we could go on feeling as not-hungry as we did when we were thirsty.”

“But what about those sandwiches?”repeated Edmund.“There's no good saving them till they go bad. You've got to remember it's a good deal hotter here than in England and we've been carrying them about in pockets for hours.”So they got out the two packets and divided them into four portions, and nobody had quite enough, but it was a great deal better than nothing. Then they talked about their plans for the next meal.

Lucy wanted to go back to the sea and catch shrimps, until someone pointed out that they had no nets. Edmund said they must gather gulls'eggs from the rocks, but when they came to think of it they couldn't remember having seen any gulls'eggs and wouldn't be able to cook them if they found any.Peter thought to himself that unless they had some stroke of luck they would soon be glad to eat eggs raw, but he didn't see any point in saying this out loud.Susan said it was a pity they had eaten the sandwiches so soon.One or two tempers very nearly got lost at this stage.

Finally Edmund said：“Look here. There's only one thing to be done.We must explore the wood.Hermits and knights-errant and people like that always manage to live somehow if they're in a forest.They find roots and berries and things.”

“What sort of roots?”asked Susan.

“I always thought it meant roots of trees，”said Lucy.

“Come on，”said Peter，“Ed is right. And we must try to do something.And it'll be better than going out into the glare and the sun again.”

So they all got up and began to follow the stream. It was very hard work.They had to stoop under branches and climb over branches, and they blundered through great masses of stuff like rhododendrons and tore their clothes and got their feet wet in the stream；and still there was no noise at all except the noise of the stream and the noises they were making themselves.They were beginning to get very tired of it when they noticed a delicious smell, and then a flash of bright colour high above them at the top of the right bank.

“I say！”exclaimed Lucy.“I do believe that's an apple tree.”

It was. They panted up the steep bank, forced their way through some brambles, and found themselves standing round an old tree that was heavy with large golden apples as firm and juicy as you could wish to see.

“And this is not the only tree，”said Edmund with his mouth full of apple.“Look there-and there.”

“Why, there are dozens of them，”said Susan, throwing away the core of her first apple and picking her second.“This must have been an orchard long, long ago, before the place went wild and the wood grew up.”

“Then this was once an inhabited island，”said Peter.

“And what's that?”said Lucy, pointing ahead.

“By Jove, it's a wall，”said Peter.“An old stone wall.”

Pressing their way between the laden branches they reached the wall. It was very old, and broken down in places, with moss and wallflowers growing on it, but it was higher than all but the tallest trees. And when they came quite close to it they found a great arch which must once have had a gate in it but was now almost filled up with the largest of all the apple trees.They had to break some of the branches to get past, and when they had done so they all blinked because the daylight became suddenly much brighter.They found themselves in a wide open place with walls all round it.In here there were no trees, only level grass and daisies, and ivy, and grey walls.It was a bright, secret, quiet place, and rather sad；and all four stepped out into the middle of it, glad to be able to straighten their backs and move their limbs freely.第一章　小岛

从前，有四个孩子，他们分别是彼得、苏珊、埃德蒙和露西。在另一本叫作《狮子女巫和魔衣橱》的书里，四个孩子经历了一场有趣的历险。他们无意间打开了一个魔法衣橱的门，来到与我们完全不同的世界——纳尼亚。在那里，他们经历重重磨难，最终成为纳尼亚的国王和女王，并统治了那里好多年。最终当他们通过魔法衣橱重新回到英格兰时，时间却完全没有变化——至少没有人发现他们不见了，而孩子们也没有和任何人提起过这件事，除了一名睿智的老教授。

那已经是一年前发生的事了。现在，孩子们坐在火车站的长椅上，身边堆放着行李和用品箱，他们即将回到学校。这里是铁路的交汇处，几分钟后，女孩儿们将登上进站的火车去往学校；男孩儿们则会在半小时后登上另一辆火车去往他们的学校。

这一路上，孩子们叽叽喳喳地嬉闹不休，好像假期还没有结束。可现在马上就要分手告别了，每个人才意识到，假期已经彻底结束，天天上课的日子又要开始了。大家心情郁闷，谁也不想说话。顺便提一句，这是露西第一次上寄宿学校。

空荡寂静的小镇车站，除了四个孩子，站台上没有别人。突然，露西轻声尖叫了一声，仿佛被马蜂蜇了一下似的。“怎么了？露？”埃德蒙问。话音未落，他也“哎哟”地叫了一声。“这究竟——”彼得话刚说一半，突然改变了原来想说的话，转头冲着苏珊喊道，“苏珊，放手！你干什么呀？你要拉我去哪儿啊？”“我没碰你，”苏珊说，“有人在拉我。哎！哎！住手呀！”孩子们脸色煞白。“我也感觉到了，”埃德蒙上气不接下气地说，“好像有人想把我拉去什么地方，力气大得吓人。啊！又开始了！”“我也是！”露西说，“哎呀，我快支持不住了！”“快！”埃德蒙大喊，“大家手拉手，千万别松开。这绝对是魔法，我能感觉得到！快拉手！”“对，”苏珊说，“大家拉着手，这一时半会儿停不下来——啊！”

一阵天旋地转，那些行李、椅子、月台、车站统统消失了。孩子们紧拉着手，喘着粗气，发现他们站在一片树林当中。树枝紧紧地围绕着他们，都没有空间可以转身。大家揉了揉眼睛，深吸了一口气。“天哪！彼得！”露西大叫道，“咱们不会是又回到纳尼亚了吧？”“可能是任何地方，”彼得说，“树林太密了，什么都看不清。大家来想想办法，看能不能打开一个缺口，或者找个缺口出去。”

大家费了九牛二虎之力，身上多处被树枝划破，才走出了那片密林。外面的光线很强，孩子们往前走了几步，惊讶地发现他们已经来到了树林的边缘，下面是一片沙滩。不远处，温柔的海水轻轻地涌上滩头，激起层层细浪，几乎一点声音都没有。目光所及之处，看不到边，天空万里无云，只有一片蔚蓝的大海。看太阳的位置，现在应该是上午十点钟左右。孩子们沐浴在海洋的气息中，呆愣愣地不知所措。“哇！”彼得突然叫道，“这儿简直太好了！”

五分钟之后，大家都脱掉鞋子走进那清凉透澈的海水之中。“这可比坐在闷热的火车里，回去学拉丁语、法语和代数强多了。”埃德蒙说。之后好长的一段时间里，默不作声的孩子们只是踩着水寻找虾和螃蟹。“虽然如此，”苏珊说，“咱们最好做个计划，不然待会儿就该饿肚子了。”“咱们有妈妈给的三明治。”埃德蒙说，“至少我有自己的这份。”“我没有，”露西说，“我的那份在那个小包里。”“我的也是。”苏珊说。“我的在外套里，喏——就在沙滩上。”彼得说，“可是我们四个人只有两份午餐，不够吃啊。”“而且现在，”露西说，“比起吃饭，我更想喝水。”

灼热的太阳下，孩子们在咸咸的海水里玩了那么久，当然感觉到渴了。“咱们现在好像荒岛求生似的，”埃德蒙说，“一般在书里，落难的人都会在岛上找到清澈的泉水。咱们最好也去找找。”“这么说，咱们还得回到那片密林？”苏珊问。“没必要，”彼得回答，“如果树林中有小溪，最后肯定会汇入大海。咱们只要沿着沙滩去找小溪，应该就能找到清水。”

于是，他们蹚着水往回走，从柔软潮湿的沙滩走到干燥疏松的沙滩。沙子全粘在了脚上，大家将鞋袜穿上。埃德蒙和露西本想把鞋袜扔下，光着小脚丫去玩耍，可苏珊说这么做简直是疯了。“你们可能永远都找不回来了，”苏珊说，“如果晚上咱们要在这里过夜的话，肯定需要穿鞋袜。晚上会很冷的。”

大家穿好后，沿着海边继续往前走。左手边是大海，右手边是树林。除了偶尔飞过的海鸥，四处静悄悄的。树林十分茂密，枝叶缠结在一起，完全看不到里面的样子，而且林中一片寂静，连鸟和昆虫的叫声都没有。

贝壳、海草、海葵和岩石里的小螃蟹是很好玩。可当你口渴难忍的时候，这些好玩的东西也就提不起你的兴趣了。孩子们的双脚刚刚一直泡在冰凉的海水里，现在觉得又热又沉重。苏珊和露西的手里拿着雨衣，而埃德蒙在魔法出现之前把他的大衣放在车站的椅子上了，现在，他和彼得轮流拿着彼得的大衣。

海岸线开始向右延伸。大约一刻钟之后，他们绕过了一个岩石的山脊。转过山脊处的一个急转弯，方才经过的那片大海便被抛在了身后。前方望去，海峡对面也有一片茂密的树林，和这里的树林非常像。“那边是个小岛吗？还是和我们所在的地方连在一起的？”露西问。“不知道。”彼得说。大家迈着沉重的步子，沉默地往前走着。

他们走啊走啊，眼看着两边的海岸越来越近，每绕过一个海岬，孩子们就期待着可以看见两处海岸连接起来。可是一直没有看到。在一处岩石交错的地带，孩子们爬上了一块岩石，远远望去，一条水路延伸出去。“我的天！这下可糟了，”埃德蒙说，“我们完全没办法到达另一片树林，我们被困在一个小岛上了。”

他说得没错。这里是两个海岸离得最近的地方，大概有30到40[1]英尺。再往前，脚下的海岸线继续向右延伸，前面是开阔的海面。实际上，他们已经绕着小岛走了大半圈了。“快看！”露西突然说，“那是什么？”顺着她手指的方向，可以看见沙滩上有一条银色的、长蛇一般的东西。“小溪！是一条小溪！”所有人大喊道。虽然大家都很累，可他们还是毫不犹豫地跳下岩石，朝着那条清澈的小溪跑去。他们知道，远离沙滩，上游的溪水最好喝，所以他们往上游走去。虽然树林很茂密，但是经过长年累月的冲刷，小溪冲出了一条水道。四人弯下腰，在枝叶搭成的隧道中，一直沿着水路往上走。当他们到达第一个小水潭的时候，孩子们便迫不及待地跪在水边喝了个够，甚至把脸和胳膊都浸在了水里，让溪水一直没过了手肘。“现在，来点三明治怎么样？”埃德蒙说。“咱们要不要留着以后再吃？”苏珊说，“没准之后咱们更需要。”“咱们现在已经不渴了，”露西说，“我真希望可以像刚才口渴时那样一点儿都不觉得饿。”“可是三明治怎么办？”埃德蒙仍然不甘心，“也不能为了省着吃，把它们放坏了。大家要知道，这里可比英格兰热多了。咱们已经把三明治放在兜里好久了。”于是，他们把那两包三明治拿出来，分成了四份，虽然大家都没吃饱，可是总比什么都没吃要强。接着，他们开始讨论下顿饭要怎么办。

露西建议回到海边抓点虾来吃，可有人提出，他们没有渔网；埃德蒙说他们可以去偷岩石上的海鸥蛋，但是随即想起来，一路上也没看见有海鸥蛋，即便找到了，也没办法做熟；彼得心想，用不了多久，能有生鸟蛋吃就不错了，可他并没有把这句话说出来；苏珊后悔他们这么早就把三明治都吃了。渐渐地，大家有些沉不住气了。

最后，埃德蒙说：“各位，咱们只能去树林里碰碰运气了。那些隐士和游侠骑士们总能想到办法在森林里生存下去。他们会吃根茎、果子和任何可以充饥的东西。”“什么根茎？”苏珊问。“我一直以为是树根。”露西说。“好吧，”彼得说，“埃德蒙说得没错。我们必须得试一下，总比傻站在阳光下要强。”

于是，大家起身，沿着河水继续走。前行之路十分艰难，树林如此茂密，他们不得不弯腰前行，或者从枝干上爬过去，他们跌跌撞撞地穿过杜鹃花的灌木丛，衣服全被划破了，鞋袜也被溪水打湿了。除了潺潺的溪水声，以及他们自己发出的响动声之外，四周一片寂静。就在他们累得快要走不动路的时候，一阵香气吸引了他们的注意力，只见右上方的河岸处有一片鲜艳的颜色。“我就知道！”露西高兴地叫道，“我就知道这里一定有苹果树！”

她说得没错。大家气喘吁吁地爬上陡峭的堤岸，穿过一片野蔷薇，来到了这棵老树下。树上长满了金黄色的苹果，看上去汁水饱满。“这里不止一棵苹果树，”埃德蒙嘴巴里塞满了苹果，边吃边说，“你们看那儿，那里都是。”“这里好多果树，”苏珊吃完了一个苹果，把果核扔掉，又摘了一个，“这里很久以前应该就是个果园，只是现在荒废了。”“这么说的话，这里以前应该有人居住喽。”彼得说。“那是什么？”露西指着前方问。“我的天哪，是一面墙！”彼得说，“是一面老旧的石墙。”

孩子们拨开果实累累的果树枝，朝那面墙走去。这里非常古老，破壁残垣，墙头长满了苔藓和野花。即便墙壁破败，可还是比大部分的树高出许多。走近之后，他们发现了一处高高的拱门。这里原来肯定是一扇大门，可现在被一棵非常大的苹果树给堵住了。他们折断了好些枝叶才爬进去。里面是被高墙围出来的一片空地，没有树，只有平坦的草坪，雏菊遍地盛开。四周都是灰色的围墙，上面覆盖着常春藤，显得明亮、安静而又私密。孩子们走到空地中间，终于可以伸直腰板，伸伸胳膊伸伸腿了。CHAPTER TWO　THE ANCIENT TREASURE HOUSE

“This wasn't a garden，”said Susan presently.“It was a castle and this must have been the courtyard.”

“I see what you mean，”said Peter.“Yes. That is the remains of a tower.And there is what used to be a flight of steps going up to the top of the walls.And look at those other steps the broad, shallow ones going up to that doorway.It must have been the door into the great hall.”

“Ages ago, by the look of it，”said Edmund.

“Yes, ages ago，”said Peter.“I wish we could find out who the people were that lived in this castle；and how long ago.”

“It gives me a queer feeling，”said Lucy.

“Does it, Lu?”said Peter, turning and looking hard at her.

“Because it does the same to me. It is the queerest thing that has happened this queer day.I wonder where we are and what it all means?”

While they were talking they had crossed the courtyard and gone through the other doorway into what had once been the hall. This was now very like the courtyard, for the roof had long since disappeared and it was merely another space of grass and daisies, except that it was shorter and narrower and the walls were higher.Across the far end there was a kind of terrace about three feet higher than the rest.

“I wonder, was it really the hall?”said Susan.“What is that terrace kind of thing?”

“Why, you silly，”said Peter（who had become strangely excited），“don't you see?That was the dais where the High Table was, where the King and the great lords sat. Anyone would think you had forgotten that we ourselves were once Kings and Queens and sat on a dais just like that, in our great hall.”

“In our castle of Cair Paravel，”continued Susan in a dreamy and rather sing-song voice，“at the mouth of the great river of Narnia. How could I forget?”

“How it all comes back！”said Lucy.“We could pretend we were in Cair Paravel now. This hall must have been very like the great hall we feasted in.”

“But unfortunately without the feast，”said Edmund.“It's getting late, you know. Look how long the shadows are.And have you noticed that it isn't so hot?”

“We shall need a camp-fire if we've got to spend the night here，”said Peter.“I've got matches. Let's go and see if we can collect some dry wood.”

Everyone saw the sense of this, and for the next halfhour they were busy. The orchard through which they had first come into the ruins turned out not to be a good place for firewood.

They tried the other side of the castle, passing out of the hall by a little side door into a maze of stony humps and hollows which must once have been passages and smaller rooms but was now all nettles and wild roses. Beyond this they found a wide gap in the castle wall and stepped through it into a wood of darker and bigger trees where they found dead branches and rotten wood and sticks and dry leaves and fir-cones in plenty.They went to and fro with bundles until they had a good pile on the dais.At the fifth journey they found the well, just outside the hall, hidden in weeds, but clean and fresh and deep when they had cleared these away.

The remains of a stone pavement ran half-way round it. Then the girls went out to pick some more apples and the boys built the fire, on the dais and fairly close to the corner between two walls, which they thought would be the snuggest and warmest place.They had great difficulty in lighting it and used a lot of matches, but they succeeded in the end. Finally, all four sat down with their backs to the wall and their faces to the fire.

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