“Why,it'sonlyagirl!”heexclaimed。
“AndwhatbusiofyoursifIamonlyagirl?”sranger。“You'reprobablyonlyaboy:arude,onlittleboy—aslaveprobably,who'sstolenhismaster'shorse。”
“That'sallyouknow,”saidShasta。
“He'sleTarkheena,”saidBree。“Atleast,ifthere'sbeenanystealing,youmightjustaswellsayIstolehim。Andasforitsnotbeingmybusiness,youwouldmetopassaladyofmyowhisstrarywithoutspeaki'sonlynaturalIshould。”
“Ithinkit'sverynaturaltoo,”saidthemare。
“Iwishyou'dheldyue,Hwin,”saidthegirl。“Lookatthetroubleyou'vegotusinto。”
“Idon'tknowabouttrouble,”saidShasta。“Youclearoffassoonasyoulike。Weshan'tkeepyou。”
“No,youshan't,”saidthegirl。
“Whatquarrelsomecreaturesthesehumansare,”saidBreetothemare。“They'reasbadasmules。Let'strytotalkalittleseakeit,ma'am,yourstoryisthesameasmiuredih—yearstheenes?”
“Tootrue,sir,”saidthemarewithamelanny。
“Andnoe?”
&omindhisownbusiness,Hwin,”saidthegirl。
“No,Iwon't,Aravis,”saidthemareputtingherearsback。“Thisismyescapejustasmuchasyours。AndI'msureanoblewar-horselikethisisnotgoirayus。WearetryiogettoNarnia。”
“Andso,ofcourse,arewe,”saidBree。“uessedthatatolebsriding(toride)awar-horseatdeadofnighteananythingbutanesesort。And,ifImaysayso,ahighbornTarkheenaridi—dressedupiher'sarmor—andveryanxiousforeveryoomindtheirownbusinessandaskheriohat'snotfishy,callmeacob!”
“Allrightthen,”saidAravis。“You'veguessedit。HwinandIarerunningaway。WearetryioNarnia。Andnow,whataboutit?”
“Why,inthatcase,reventusallgoiher?”saidBree。“Itrust,MadamHwin,youtsuchassistaeaybeabletogiveyouonthejourney?”
“Whydoyoukeeptalkingtomyhorseiome?”askedthegirl。
“Excuseme,Tarkheena,”saidBree(withjusttheslightestbackwardtiltofhisears),“butthat'sealk。We'refreeNarnians,HwinandI,andIsuppose,ifyawaytoNarnia,youwaoo。Inthatisn'tyourhorseanylhtjustaswellsayyou'reherhuman。”
Thegirlopeospeakaopped。Obviouslyshehadinthatlightbefore。
“Still,”shesaidafteramoment'spause,“Idon'tknowthatthere'ssomutinallgoiher。Aren'twemorelikelytobenoticed?”
“Less,”saidBree;andthemaresaid,“Ohdolet's。Ishouldfeelmufortable。We'reainoftheway。Ireatchargerlikethisknowsfarmorethanwedo。”
“Oheon,Bree,”saidShasta,“aheirownway。'tyouseetheydon'twantus?”
“Wedo,”saidHwin。
“Lookhere,”saidthegirl。“Idon'tmindgoingwithyou,Mr。War-Horse,butwhataboutthisboy?HowdoIknowhe'snotaspy?”
“Whydon'tyousayatoyouthinkI'mnotgoodenoughforyou?”saidShasta。
&,Shasta,”saidBree。“TheTarkheena'squestionisquitereasonable。I'llvouchfortheboy,Tarkheena。He'sbeeomeandagoodfriend。Andhe'slyeitheraNarnianoranArder。”
“Allright,the'sgotogether。”Butshedidn'tsayanythingtoShastaanditwasobviousthatshewahim。
“Splendid!”saidBree。“Andnowthatwe'vegotthewaterbetweenusandthosedreadfulanimals,whataboutyoutwohumanstakingoffoursaddlesandourallhaviandheariher'sstories。”
BoththeuheirhorsesandthehorseshadalittlegrassandAravisproducedratheroeatfromhersaddle-bag,ButShastasulkedandsaidNothanks,andthathewasn'thungry。Aoverygrandandstiffmaasafisherman'sbutisnotusuallyagoodplacefraheresultwasdreadful。Andhehalfkwasn'tasudthenbecamesulkierandmoreawkwardthahetwohoheyrememberedtheverysameplaarnia—“thegrasslandsupaboveBeaversdam”andfoundthattheyweresomesortofsedoved。ThismadethingsmoreandmoreunfortableforthehumansuntilatlastBreesaid,“Andnow,Tarkheena,tellusyourstory。Anddon'thurryit—I'mfeelingfortablenow。”
Aravisimmediatelybegan,sittiillandusingaratherdiffereylefromherusualone。Fori(whetherthestoriesaretrueormadeup)isathingyht,justasEnglishboysandgirlsaretaughtessay-writing。Thedifferepeoplewaories,whereasIneverheardofaedtoreadtheessays。