CHAPTER THREE AT THE GATES OF TASHBAAN（第3/3页）

"My dear Hwin !" said Aravis rather scornfully. "As if anyone could mistake Bree for anything but a warhors however you disguised him !"

"I should think not, indeed," said Bree, snorting an letting his ears go ever so little back.

"I know it's not a very good plan," said Hwin."But I think it' s our only chance. And we haven' t been groomed for ages and we' re not looking quite ourselves (at least, I' m sure I' m not). I do think if we get well plastered with mud and go along with our heads down as if we' re tired and lazy-and don' t lift our hooves hardly at all-we might not be noticed. And our tails ought to be cut shorter: not neatly, you know, but all ragged. "

"My dear Madam," said Bree. "Have you pictured to yourself how very disagreeable it would be to arrive in Narnia in that condition ?"

"Well/said Hwin humbly (she was a very sensible mare), "the main thing is to get there."

Though nobody much liked it, it was Hwin' s plan which had to be adopted in the end. It was a troublesome one and involved a certain amount of what Shasta called stealing, and Bree called,raiding". One farm lost a few sacks that evening and another lost a coil of rope the next: but some tattered old boy' s clothes for Aravis to wear had to be fairly bought and paid for in a village. Shasta returned with them in triumph just as evening was closing in. The others were waiting for him among the trees at the foot of a low range of wooded hills which lay right across their path.Everyone was feeling excited because this was the last hill; when they reached the ridge at the top they would be looking down on Tashbaan.,I do wish we were safely past it,"muttered Shasta to Hwin.,Oh I do, I do,"said Hwin fervently.

That night they wound their way through the woods up to the ridge by a wood—cutter' s track.And when they came out of the woods at the top they could see thousands of lights in the valley down below them. Shasta had had no notion of what a great city would be like and it frightened him. They had their supper and the children got some sleep. But the horses woke them very early in the morning.

The stars were still out and the grass was terribly cold and wet, but daybreak was just beginning, far to their right across the sea. Aravis went a few steps away into the wood and came back looking odd in her new, ragged clothes and carrying her real ones in a bundle. These, and her armour and shield and scimitar and the two saddles and the rest of the horses' fine furnishings were put into the sacks. Bree and Hwin had already got themselves as dirty and bedraggled as they could and it remained to shorten their tails. As the only tool for doing this was Aravis' s scimitar, one of the packs had to be undone again in order to get it out. It was a longish job and rather hurt the horses.

"My word !"said Bree,,if I wasn' t a Talking Horse what a lovely kick in the face I could give you !I thought you were going to cut it, not pull it out.That' s what it feels like."

But in spite of semi—darkness and cold fingers all was done in the end, the big packs bound on the horses, the rope halters (which they were now wearing instead of bridles and reins) in the children' s hands, and the journey began.

"Remember," said Bree. "Keep together if we possibly can. If not, meet at the Tombs of the Ancient Kings, and whoever gets there first must wait for the others."

"And remember,"said Shasta.,Don' t you two horses forget yourselves and start talking, whatever happens."