“Iwonder,”saidReepicheep,“dotheybeevisiblewhenyoudriveaswordintothem?”
“Itlooksasifweshallfindout,”said。“Butlet'sgetoutofthisgateway。There'soryatthatpumplisteningtoall>
Theycameoutabatothepathwherethetreesmightpossiblymakethemlessspiotthatit'sanygoodreally,”saidEustagtohidefrompeopleyou'tsee。Theymaybeallroundus。”
“Now,Drinian,”said。“Howwoulditbeiftheboatforlost,wentdoartofthebay,andsigheDawandinandtakeusaboard?”
“hforher,Sire,”saidDrinian。
“We,”saidLucy。
“YourMajestiesall,”saidReepicheep,“hearme。Itisfollytothinkofavoidinganinvisibleenemybyanyamandskulkiuresmeantustobattle,besuretheywillsudwhateveresofitI'dsoohemfacetofabecaughtbythetail。”
&hiherightthistime,”saidEdmund。
“Surely,”saidLucy,“ifRhiheothersoreaderseeusfightihey'llbeabletodosomething。”
“Buttheywon'tseeusfightingifthey'tseeanyenemy,”saidEustacemiserably。“They'llthinkwe'rejustswingingourswordsintheairforfun。”
Therewasanunfortablepause。
“ianatlast,“let'sgetonwithit。Wemustgoahem。Shakehandsallround—arrow,Lucy—swordsout,everyoneelse—andnowforit。Perhapsthey'llparley。”
Itwasstrahelawreeslookingsopeacefulastheymarchedbacktothebeadwhentheyarrivedthere,alyiheyhadlefther,ahsandwithobeseenohaedwhetherLuerelyimaginedallshehadtoldthem。Butbeforetheyreachedthesand,avoicespokeoutoftheair。
“ers,nofurthernow,”itsaid。“We'vegottotalkwithyoufirst。There'sfiftyofusahonsinourfists。”
“Hearhim,hearhim,”camethechorus。“That'sourChief。Youdonwhathesays。He'stellih,heis。”
“Idohesefiftywarriors,”observedReepicheep。
“Thatht,thatht,”saidtheChiefVoice。“Youdon'tseeus。Andwhynot?Becausewe'reinvisible。”
&up,Chief,keepitup,”saidtheOtherVoices。“Ylikeabook。They'taskforabetterahat。”
&,Reep,”said,andthenaddedinaloudervoivisiblepeople,whatdoyouwantwithus?Andwhathavewedooeary?”
&somethingthatlittlegirldoforus,”saidtheChiefVoice。(Theothersexplaihiswasjustwhattheywouldhavesaidthemselves。)
“Littlegirl!”saidReepicheep。“Theladyisaqueen。”
“Wedon'tknowaboutqueens,”saidtheChiefVoice。
(“Nomorewedo,nomorewedo,”theothers。)“Butwewahingshedo。”
“Whatisit?”saidLucy。
“Andifitisanythingagaiy'shonourorsafety,”addedReepicheep,“youwillwooseehowmanywekillbeforewedie。”
“Well,”saidtheChiefVoice。“It'salongstory。Supposeweallsitdown?”
TheproposalrovedbytheothervoicesbuttheNaranding。