CHAPTER TWELVE THE DARK ISLAND（第3/3页）

In a few moments the darkness turned into a greyness ahead， and then，almost before they dared to begin hoping，they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm，blue world again．And all at once everybody realized that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been．They blinked their eyes and looked about them．The brightness of the ship herself astonished them：they had half expected to find that the darkness would cling to the white and the green and the gold in the form of some grime or scum．And then first one，and then another，began laughing．

“I reckon we’ve made pretty good fools of ourselves，”said Rynelf．

Lucy lost no time in coming down to the deck，where she found the others all gathered round the newcomer．For a long time he was too happy to speak，and could only gaze at the sea and the sun and feel the bulwarks and the ropes，as if to make sure he was really awake，while tears rolled down his cheeks．

“Thank you，”he said at last．“You have saved me from... but I won’t talk of that．And now let me know who you are．I am a Telmarine of Narnia，and when I was worth anything men called me the Lord Rhoop．”

“And I，”said Caspian，“am Caspian，King of Narnia，and I sail to find you and your companions who were my father’s friends．”

Lord Rhoop fell on his knees and kissed the King’s hand． “Sire，”he said，“you are the man in all the world I most wished to see．Grant me a boon．”

“What is it ？”asked Caspian．

“Never to bring me back there，”he said．He pointed astern． They all looked．But they saw only bright blue sea and bright blue sky．The Dark Island and the darkness had vanished for ever．

“Why ！”cried Lord Rhoop．“You have destroyed it ！”

“I don’t think it was us，”said Lucy．

“Sire，”said Drinian，“this wind is fair for the southeast．Shall I have our poor fellows up and set sail ？ And after that，every man who can be spared，to his hammock．”

“Yes，”said Caspian，“and let there be grog all round．Heigh-ho，I feel I could sleep the clock round myself．”

So all afternoon with great joy they sailed south-east with a fair wind．But nobody noticed when the albatross had disappeared.