CHAPTER SIX THE ADVENTURES OF EUSTACE（第2/3页）

By the time he was sound asleep and snoring the others had finished dinner and became seriously alarmed about him．They shouted，“Eustace ！Eustace ！Coo-ee ！”till they were hoarse and Caspian blew his horn．

“He’s nowhere near or he’d have heard that，”said Lucy with a white face．

“Confound the fellow，”said Edmund．“What on earth did he want to slink away like this for ？”

“But we must do something，”said Lucy．“He may have got lost，or fallen into a hole，or been captured by savages．”

“Or killed by wild beasts，”said Drinian．

“And a good riddance if he has，I say，”muttered Rhince．

“Master Rhince，”said Reepicheep，“you never spoke a word that became you less．The creature is no friend of mine but he is of the Queen’s blood，and while he is one of our fellowship it concerns our honour to find him and to avenge him if he is dead．”

“Of course we’ve got to find him(if we can)，”said Caspian wearily．“That’s the nuisance of it．It means a search party and endless trouble．Bother Eustace．”

Meanwhile Eustace slept and slept—and slept．What woke him was a pain in his arm．The moon was shining in at the mouth of the cave，and the bed of treasures seemed to have grown much more comfortable：in fact he could hardly feel it at all．He was puzzled by the pain in his arm at first，but presently it occurred to him that the bracelet which he had shoved up above his elbow had become strangely tight．His arm must have swollen while he was asleep(it was his left arm)．

He moved his right arm in order to feel his left，but stopped before he had moved it an inch and bit his lip in terror．For just in front of him，and a little on his right，where the moonlight fell clear on the floor of the cave，he saw a hideous shape moving．

He knew that shape：it was a dragon’s claw．It had moved as he moved his hand and became still when he stopped moving his hand．

“Oh，what a fool I’ve been，”thought Eustace．“Of course， the brute had a mate and it’s lying beside me．”

For several minutes he did not dare to move a muscle．He saw two thin columns of smoke going up before his eyes，black against the moonlight；just as there had been smoke coming from the other dragon’s nose before it died．This was so alarming that he held his breath．The two columns of smoke vanished．When he could hold his breath no longer he let it out stealthily；instantly two jets of smoke appeared again．But even yet he had no idea of the truth．

Presently he decided that he would edge very cautiously to his left and try to creep out of the cave．Perhaps the creature was asleep—and anyway it was his only chance．But of course before he edged to the left he looked to the left．Oh horror ！ There was a dragon’s claw on that side too．

No one will blame Eustace if at this moment he shed tears．He was surprised at the size of his own tears as he saw them splashing on to the treasure in front of him．They also seemed strangely hot；steam went up from them．

But there was no good crying．He must try to crawl out from between the two dragons．He began extending his right arm．The dragon’s fore—leg and claw on his right went through exactly the same motion．Then he thought he would try his left．The dragon limb on that side moved too．

Two dragons，one on each side，mimicking whatever he did ！ His nerve broke and he simply made a bolt for it．

There was such a clatter and rasping，and clinking of gold， and grinding of stones，as he rushed out of the cave that he thought they were both following him．He daren’t look back．He rushed to the pool．The twisted shape of the dead dragon lying in the moonlight would have been enough to frighten anyone but now he hardly noticed it．His idea was to get into the water．

But just as he reached the edge of the pool two things happened． First of all，it came over him like a thunder-clap that he had been running on all fours—and why on earth had he been doing that ？ And secondly，as he bent towards the water，he thought for a second that yet another dragon was staring up at him out of the pool． But in an instant he realized the truth．The dragon face in the pool was his own reflection．There was no doubt of it．It moved as he moved：it opened and shut its mouth as he opened and shut his．

He had turned into a dragon while he was asleep．Sleeping on a dragon’s hoard with greedy，dragonish thoughts in his heart，he had become a dragon himself．

That explained everything．There had been no two dragons beside him in the cave．The claws to right and left had been his own right and left claw．The two columns of smoke had been coming from his own nostrils．As for the pain in his left arm(or what had been his left arm)he could now see what had happened by squinting with his left eye．The bracelet which had fitted very nicely on the upper arm of a boy was far too small for the thick， stumpy foreleg of a dragon．It had sunk deeply into his scaly flesh　and there was a throbbing bulge on each side of it．He tore at the place with his dragon’s teeth but could not get it off．

In spite of the pain，his first feeling was one of relief．There was nothing to be afraid of any more．He was a terror himself now and nothing in the world but a knight(and not all of those)would dare to attack him．He could get even with Caspian and Edmund now—

But the moment he thought this he realized that he didn’t want to．He wanted to be friends．He wanted to get back among humans and talk and laugh and share things．He realized that he was a monster cut off from the whole human race．An appalling loneliness came over him．He began to see that the others had not really been fiends at all．He began to wonder if he himself had been such a nice person as he had always supposed．He longed for their voices．He would have been grateful for a kind word even from Reepicheep．

When he thought of this the poor dragon that had been Eustace lifted up its voice and wept．A powerful dragon crying its eyes out under the moon in a deserted valley is a sight and a sound hardly to be imagined．

At last he decided he would try to find his way back to the shore．He realized now that Caspian would never have sailed away and left him．And he felt sure that somehow or other he would be able to make people understand who he was．

He took a long drink and then(I know this sounds shocking， but it isn’t if you think it over)he ate nearly all the dead dragon．He was half-way through it before he realized what he was doing； for，you see，though his mind was the mind of Eustace，his tastes and his digestion were dragonish．And there is nothing a dragon likes so well as fresh dragon．That is why you so seldom find more than one dragon in the same country．

Then he turned to climb out of the valley．He began the climb with a jump and as soon as he jumped he found that he was flying． He had quite forgotten about his wings and it was a great surprise to him—the first pleasant surprise he had had for a long time．He rose high into the air and saw innumerable mountain-tops spread out beneath him in the moonlight．He could see the bay like a silver slab and the Dawn Treader lying at anchor and camp fires twinkling in the woods beside the beach．From a great height he launched himself down towards them in a single glide．