SHASTA AMONG THE TOMBS
SHASTA ran lightly along the roof on tiptoes. It felt hot to his bare feet. He was only a few seconds scrambling1 up the wall at the far end and when he got to the corner he found himself looking down into a narrow, smelly street, and there was a rubbish heap against the outside of the wall just as Corin had told him. Before jumping down he took a rapid glance round him to get his bearings. Apparently2 he had now come over the crown of the island-hill on which Tashbaan is built. Everything sloped away before him, flat roofs below flat roofs, down to the towers and battlements of the city's Northern wall. Beyond that was the river and beyond the river a short slope covered with gardens. But beyond that again there was something he had never seen the like of - a great yellowish-grey thing, flat as a calm sea, and stretching for miles. On the far side of it were huge blue things, lumpy but with jagged edges, and some of them with white tops. "The desert! the mountains!" thought Shasta.
He jumped down on to the rubbish and began trotting3 along downhill as fast as he could in the narrow lane, which soon brought him into a wider street where there were more people. No one bothered to look at a little ragged4 boy running along on bare feet. Still, he was anxious and uneasy till he turned a corner and there saw the city gate in front of him. Here he was pressed and jostled a bit, for a good many other people were also going out; and on the bridge beyond the gate the crowd became quite a slow procession, more like a queue than a crowd. Out there, with clear running water on each side, it was deliciously fresh after the smell and heat and noise of Tashbaan.
When once Shasta had reached the far end of the bridge he found the crowd melting away; everyone seemed to be going either to the left or right along the river bank. He went straight ahead up a road that did not appear to be much used, between gardens. In a few paces he was alone, and a few more brought him to the top of the slope. There he stood and stared. It was like coming to the end of the world for all the grass stopped quite suddenly a few feet before him and the sand began: endless level sand like on a sea shore but a bit rougher because it was never wet. The mountains, which now looked further off than before, loomed5 ahead. Greatly to his relief he saw, about five minutes' walk away on his left, what must certainly be the Tombs, just as Bree had described them; great masses of mouldering6 stone shaped like gigantic bee-hive, but a little narrower. They looked very black and grim, for the sun was now setting right behind them.
He turned his face West and trotted7 towards the Tombs. He could not help looking out very hard for any sign of his friends, though the setting sun shone in his face so that he could see hardly anything. "And anyway," he thought, "of course they'll be round on the far side of the farthest Tomb, not this side where anyone might see them from the city."
There were about twelve Tombs, each with a low arched doorway8 that opened into absolute blackness. They were dotted about in no kind of order, so that it took a long time, going round this one and going round that one, before you could be sure that you had looked round every side of every tomb. This was what Shasta had to do. There was nobody there.
It was very quiet here out on the edge of the desert; and now the sun had really set.
Suddenly from somewhere behind him there came a terrible sound. Shasta's heart gave a great jump and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from screaming. Next moment he realized what it was: the horns of Tashbaan blowing for the closing of the gates. "Don't be a silly little coward," said Shasta to himself. "Why, it's only the same noise you heard this morning." But there is a great difference between a noise heard letting you in with your friends in the morning, and a noise heard alone at nightfall, shutting you out. And now that the gates were shut he knew there was no chance of the others joining him that evening. "Either they're shut up in Tashbaan for the night," thought Shasta, "or else they've gone on without me. It's just the sort of thing that Aravis would do. But Bree wouldn't. Oh, he wouldn't. - now, would he?"
In this idea about Aravis Shasta was once more quite wrong. She was proud and could be hard enough but she was as true as steel and would never have deserted9 a companion, whether she liked him or not.
Now that Shasta knew he would have to spend the night alone (it was getting darker every minute) he began to like the look of the place less and less. There was something very uncomfortable about those great, silent shapes of stone. He had been trying his hardest for a long time not to think of ghouls: but he couldn't keep it up any longer.
"Ow! Ow! Help!" he shouted suddenly, for at that very moment he felt something touch his leg. I don't think anyone can be blamed for shouting if something comes up from behind and touches him; not in such a place and at such a time, when he is frightened already. Shasta at any rate was too frightened to run. Anything would be better than being chased round and round the burial places of the Ancient Kings with something he dared not look at behind him. Instead, he did what was really the most sensible thing he could do. He looked round; and his heart almost burst with relief. What had touched him was only a cat.
The light was too bad now for Shasta to see much of the cat except that it was big and very solemn. It looked as if it might have lived for long, long years among the Tombs, alone. Its eyes made you think it knew secrets it would not tell.
"Puss, puss," said Shasta. "I suppose you're not a talking cat."
The cat stared at him harder than ever. Then it started walking away, and of course Shasta followed it. It led him right through the tombs and out on the desert side of them. There it sat down bolt upright with its tail curled round its feet and its face set towards the desert and towards Narnia and the North, as still as if it were watching for some enemy. Shasta lay down beside it with his back against the cat and his face towards the Tombs, because if one is nervous there's nothing like having your face towards the danger and having something warm and solid at your back. The sand wouldn't have seemed very comfortable to you, but Shasta had been sleeping on the ground for weeks and hardly noticed it. Very soon he fell asleep, though even in his dreams he went on wondering what had happened to Bree and Aravis and Hwin.
He was wakened suddenly by a noise he had never heard before. "Perhaps it was only a nightmare," said Shasta to himself. At the same moment he noticed that the cat had gone from his back, and he wished it hadn't. But he lay quite still without even opening his eyes because he felt sure he would be more frightened if he sat up and looked round at the Tombs and the loneliness: just as you or I might lie still with the clothes over our heads. But then the noise came again - a harsh, piercing cry from behind him out of the desert. Then of course he had to open his eyes and sit up.
The moon was shining brightly. The Tombs - far bigger and nearer than he had thought they would be - looked grey in the moonlight. In fact, they looked horribly like huge people, draped in grey robes that covered their heads and faces. They were not at all nice things to have near you when spending a night alone in a strange place. But the noise had come from the opposite side, from the desert. Shasta had to turn his back on the Tombs (he didn't like that much) and stare out across the level sand. The wild cry rang out again.
"I hope it's not more lions," thought Shasta. It was in fact not very like the lion's roars he had heard on the night when they met Hwin and Aravis, and was really the cry of a jackal. But of course Shasta did not know this. Even if he had known, he would not have wanted very much to meet a jackal.
The cries rang out again and again. "There's more than one of them, whatever they are," thought Shasta. "And they're coming nearer."
I suppose that if he had been an entirely10 sensible boy he would have gone back through the Tombs nearer to the river where there were houses, and wild beasts would be less likely to come. But then there were (or he thought there were) the ghouls. To go back through the Tombs would mean going past those dark openings in the Tombs; and what might come out of them? It may have been silly, but Shasta felt he would rather risk the wild beasts. Then, as the cries came nearer and nearer, he began to change his mind.
He was just going to run for it when suddenly, between him and the desert, a huge animal bounded into view. As the moon was behind it, it looked quite black, and Shasta did not know what it was, except that it had a very big, shaggy head and went on four legs. It did not seem to have noticed Shasta, for it suddenly stopped, turned its head towards the desert and let out a roar which re-echoed through the Tombs and seemed to shake the sand under Shasta's feet. The cries of the other creatures suddenly stoppd and he thought he could hear feet scampering11 away. Then the great beast turned to examine Shasta.
"It's a lion, I know it's a lion," thought Shasta. "I'm done. I wonder will it hurt much. I wish it was over. I wonder does anything happen to people after they're dead. O-o-oh! Here it comes!" And he shut his eyes and his teeth tight.
But instead of teeth and claws he only felt something warm lying down at his feet. And when he opened his eyes he said, "Why, it's not nearly as big as I thought! It's only half the size. No, it isn't even quarter the size. I do declare it's only the cat!! I must have dreamed all that about its being as big as a horse."
And whether he really had been dreaming or not, what was now lying at his feet, and staring him out of countenance12 with its big, green, unwinking eyes, was the cat; though certainly one of the largest cats he had ever seen.
"Oh, Puss," gasped13 Shasta. "I am so glad to see you again. I've been having such horrible dreams." And he at once lay down again, back to back with the cat as they had been at the beginning of the night. The warmth from it spread all over him.
"I'll never do anything nasty to a cat again as long as I live," said Shasta, half to the cat and half to himself. "I did once, you know. I threw stones at a half-starved mangy old stray. Hey! Stop that." For the cat had turned round and given him a scratch. "None of that," said Shasta. "It isn't as if you could understand what I'm saying." Then he dozed14 off.
Next morning when he woke, the cat was gone, the sun was already up, and the sand hot. Shasta, very thirsty, sat up and rubbed his eyes. The desert was blindingly white and, though there was a murmur15 of noises from the city behind him, where he sat everything was perfectly16 still. When he looked a little left and west, so that the sun was not in his eyes, he could see the mountains on the far side of the desert, so sharp and clear that they looked only a stone's throw away. He particularly noticed one blue height that divided into two peaks at the top and decided17 that it must be Mount Pire. "That's our direction, judging by what the Raven18 said," he thought, "so I'll just make sure of it, so as not to waste any time when the others turn up." So he made a good, deep straight furrow19 with his foot pointing exactly to Mount Pire.
The next job, clearly, was to get something to eat and drink. Shasta trotted back through the Tombs - they looked quite ordinary now and he wondered how he could ever have been afraid of them - and down into the cultivated land by the river's side. There were a few people about but not very many, for the city gates had been open several hours and the early morning crowds had already gone in. So he had no diffculty in doing a little "raiding" (as Bree called it). It involved a climb over a garden wall and the results were three oranges, a melon, a fig20 or two, and a pomegranate. After that, he went down to the river bank, but not too near the bridge, and had a drink. The water was so nice that he took off his hot, dirty clothes and had a dip; for of course Shasta, having lived on the shore all his life, had learned to swim almost as soon as he had learned to walk. When he came out he lay on the grass looking across the water at Tashbaan - all the splendour and strength and glory of it. But that made him remember the dangers of it too. He suddenly realized that the others might have reached the Tombs while he was bathing ("and gone on without me, as likely as not"), so he dressed in a fright and tore back at such a speed that he was all hot and thirsty when he arrived and so the good of his bathe was gone.
Like most days when you are alone and waiting for something this day seemed about a hundred hours long. He had plenty to think of, of course, but sitting alone, just thinking, is pretty slow. He thought a good deal about the Narnians and especially about Corin. He wondered what had happened when they discovered that the boy who had been lying on the sofa and hearing all their secret plans wasn't really Corin at all. It was very unpleasant to think of all those nice people imagining him a traitor21.
But as the sun slowly, slowly climbed up to the top of the sky and then slowly, slowly began going downwards22 to the West, and no one came and nothing at all happened, he began to get more and more anxious. And of course he now realized that when they arranged to wait for one another at the Tombs no one had said anything about How Long. He couldn't wait here for the rest of his life! And soon it would be dark again, and he would have another night just like last night. A dozen different plans went through his head, all wretched ones, and at last he fixed23 on the worst plan of all. He decided to wait till it was dark and then go back to the river and steal as many melons as he could carry and set out for Mount Pire alone, trusting for his direction to the line he had drawn24 that morning in the sand. It was a crazy idea and if he had read as many books as you have about journeys over deserts he would never have dreamed of it. But Shasta had read no books at all.
Before the sun set something did happen. Shasta was sitting in the shadow of one of the Tombs when he looked up and saw two horses coming towards him. Then his heart gave a great leap, for he recognized them as Bree and Hwin. But the next moment his heart went down into his toes again. There was no sign of Aravis. The Horses were being led by a strange man, an armed man pretty handsomely dressed like an upper slave in a great family. Bree and Hwin were no longer got up like pack-horses, but saddled and bridled25. And what could it all mean? "It's a trap," thought Shasta. "Somebody has caught Aravis and perhaps they've tortured her and she's given the whole thing away. They want me to jump out and run up and speak to Bree and then I'll be caught too! And yet if I don't, I may be losing my only chance to meet the others. Oh I do wish I knew what had happened." And he skulked26 behind the Tomb, looking out every few minutes, and wondering which was the least dangerous thing to do.
六、沙斯塔在坟场里
沙斯塔踮起脚尖沿着屋顶轻轻地跑去，觉得他的光脚丫子发烫。不到几秒钟他就爬到了墙垣的另一头，他到了墙角，俯瞰一条狭窄、发臭的小街，正如科林告诉他的，墙外有个垃圾堆。跳下去之前，他先向周围迅速地扫了一眼，以便认清方位。显而易见，他已经来到塔什班岛城的山顶上了。一切都在他面前迤逦而下，平坦屋顶下方又有平坦屋顶，一直接连到北城城墙及其塔楼和维蝶。城墙外是河流，河流外是一个遍布花园的短坡。再过去便是他从来没看见过有什么跟它类似的景象——灰黄色，平坦得像个平静的海，绵亘好多英里。它的遥远边缘上是大块大块蓝色，凹凹凸凸，参差不齐，有些顶上是雪白的。”大沙漠！大山大岭！！”沙斯塔心里想道。
他往下跳到了垃圾堆上。他开始在小巷里尽可能快地跑下山去小巷不久便把他带到了更加宽阔的街道上，那儿的行人就更多了。没有人留意一个衣衫谧楼的孩子光着脚丫子跑过，但他仍旧焦急不安，直至他在一个角落上转弯过去，看到了他面前的城门。城门口就有点儿推推操操的，因为好多人也在出城去；城门外大桥上的人群变成了一个慢慢前进的行列，与其说它是人群，倒更像是支队伍。经历了塔什班城的臭味、炎热和喧闹，来到城外，桥的两边清澈的流水奔腾，就觉得空气新鲜宜人了。
沙斯塔走到大桥桥堍，发觉人群分流疏散了；仿佛大家下了桥，不是向左便是向右，分别沿着河岸走去。他笔直地向前走上了一条大路，大路介于花园之间，看来不大有人马走过。他走了几步便只剩下他一个人了，再走几步便到了山坡的顶上。他站在坡顶上凝望。他仿佛来到了世界的尽头，因为所有的萋萋芳草突然在前面几步路的地方消失了，大片黄沙开始了，无穷无尽的平坦的黄沙，就像海滨沙滩一样，只是比较粗糙一些，因为它可是永远干燥的。大山大岭隐约出现在前方，现在看起来反而比先前更远了。使他大为宽慰的是:他看到左边儿，大约走上五分钟的路程，必定就是布里描绘过的那个古代国王的坟场。大块大块正在风化的石头，建成巨大蜂房似的形状，不过稍为狭了一点儿。看上去黑暗而冷森，因为太阳现在已经在坟墓后面落下去了。
沙斯塔把脸转向西方，朝坟场快步走去。他禁不住费力地东张西望，看看可有他的朋友们的踪迹，夕阳照在他的脸上，他什么也看不清楚。”无论如何，”他心中想道，”他们总会绕到坟场那一边去等候的，决不会在城里任何人都看得到他们的这一边等。”
坟场共计十二个墓，每个墓前有个低矮拱廊通向绝对的黑暗。坟墓星罗棋布，却不是井然有序，所以得花费很长时间，这儿绕一圈，那儿绕一圈，才能使你心中确信，你已经把每个墓的每一边都找遍了。这就是沙斯塔要办的事。坟场里一个人也没有。
这儿位于大沙漠的边缘，十分安静，现在太阳确实已经落山了。
突然从他的背后传来一个可怕的声音。沙斯塔的心猛烈地一跳，他咬住舌头才没有叫出声来。一会儿以后他明白这是什么声音了。这是塔什班城宣告关闭城门的号角声。
“别做一个愚蠢的小懦夫，”沙斯塔跟他自己说，”这不过是你今儿早晨听到过的同样的号角声啊。”但在早晨听到的、放你和你的朋友进城的号角声，跟在傍晚独自听到的、把你关在城外的号角声，是截然不同的。如今城门已经关闭，他知道今晚他们和他会合的机会是没有了。”或者是他们给关在塔什班城里过夜了，”沙斯塔想，”要不就是他们丢下我走掉了。这样的事情阿拉维斯是做得出来的，但布里是不会干的。啊，它不会干——哦，它会干吗？”
沙斯塔关于阿拉维斯的这个推想，又一次错了。她是骄傲的，也够厉害的，但她像钢铁一样忠诚，从不抛弃伙伴，不论她是否喜欢他。
沙斯塔既然知道他不得不独自过夜了(天色愈来愈黑)，他也就愈来愈不喜欢坟场的气氛。在那些缄默无声的各种形状的巨大石头里自有一种令人不舒畅的东西。他一直在竭尽全力不去想食尸鬼，但他没法儿再坚持下去。
“啊啃！啊啃！救命！”他突然叫喊了起来，因为就在这个时刻，他感觉有个东西碰了碰他的腿。随便什么人，如果有个东西从背后过来碰碰他，他因而叫喊了起来，我想谁也不会责备他的，特别是在这样的地方，在这样的时间里，在他本来已经很害怕的时候。沙斯塔无论如何是吓得不敢跑动了。被背后一个他不敢回头看的什么东西追逐着，绕着古代国王的坟墓兜圈子，那可是最糟糕的事情了。他没跑，他作出了确实是他能作出的最理智的举动。他向四周打量；他的心几乎宽慰得要跳出来了。原来碰他腿的不过是一只猫。
光线太糟，沙斯塔没看清楚那只猫，只看到它又大又严肃。看起来那猫独自在坟场里已经生活了好多好多年。它的眼睛使你觉得它知道许多秘密，可不愿告诉你。
“猫咪，猫咪，”沙斯塔说，”我猜你是一只说人话的猫。”
猫只是越发盯住他直瞧。接着，猫开始走动了，沙斯塔当然跟着它走。猫带着他穿过坟场，把他带到了坟场外大沙漠一边。猫在那儿笔挺地坐了下来，尾巴绕在脚上，脸向着大沙漠，向着纳尼亚和北方，身体一动也不动，仿佛在守望着什么敌人似的。沙斯塔在猫的身边躺下，他的背靠着猫，他的脸朝着坟场，因为如果心里紧张不安，最好还是脸朝着危险，背靠着温暖而结实的东西。你会觉得沙土不舒服，但沙斯塔在地上睡过好几个星期，对沙土没有在意。他不久就睡熟了，尽管他在睡梦中还在继续想着布里、阿拉维斯、赫温碰到了什么事情。
他突然被一个他从未听到过的声音吵醒了。”也许只是梦魔罢了。”沙斯塔跟自己说。就在这个时候，他发现猫已经从他背后走掉了，他但愿猫不曾走掉。但他仍旧十分安静地躺在那儿，连眼睛也不肯睁开，因为他深信，如果他坐起来，环顾坟场和孤寂，他就会更加害怕；他的情况，就像你或我宁可用衣服蒙着脑袋一动也不动地躺在那儿一样。然而，这时又传来了声音——从他背后的大沙漠里传来了粗糙刺耳的叫声。当然啦，他这就不得不睁开眼睛坐起来了。
明月雪亮地照耀着。坟墓——远比他想像中的还要大还要近——在月光中呈苍白色口事实上，坟墓看上去极为可怕，像是穿着遮住脑袋和脸蛋的苍白长袍的巨人。当你在一个奇怪的地方过夜时，它们近在你身边，压根儿不是什么好事。但叫声来自对面，来自大沙漠。沙斯塔不得不转过身子背朝着坟场(他可不大喜欢这样)，瞪着眼睛，越过平坦的沙漠望去。粗野的叫声重新响起来了。
“我希望不是又碰到狮子了。”沙斯塔想道。这叫声倒不大像遇到赫温和阿拉维斯那一夜听到的狮吼，实际上，这是一头胡狼的叫声。但沙斯塔当然不知道。即使他知道了，他也不情愿碰到一头胡狼。
叫声一阵阵地传来。”不论是什么野兽，可不止一头哩。”沙斯塔想，”野兽在逼近了。”
我想，如果沙斯塔是个完全有头脑的孩子，就会穿过坟场回到靠近河流的地方，那儿有房屋，野兽就不大可能来了。不过，那个地方会有(或者是他认为会有)食尸鬼。穿过坟场回去，就意味着要经过坟墓那些漆黑的洞穴，洞穴里说不定会冒出什么鬼怪来呢?这也许是愚蠢可笑的，但沙斯塔觉得他宁可冒野兽的风险。接下来，由于叫声愈来愈逼近，他才开始改变主意了。8
他正要逃跑时，突然，在他和沙漠之间，有一头巨兽跳进了视野。月光照在巨兽的后面，使它看上去浑身漆黑，沙斯塔不认得它是什么野兽，只见它长着一个毛发蓬松的很大的脑袋，用四条腿走路。它似乎没注意到沙斯塔，因为它突然停下步来，回头朝向大沙漠，发出一声怒吼，吼声在坟场里回荡，仿佛把沙斯塔脚下的沙地都震动了。其他动物的叫声随之突然停止，沙斯塔觉得他听见了惊惶奔跑的脚步声。然后，那巨兽转过身来仔细打量着沙斯塔。
“这是一头狮子，我知道这是一头狮子，”沙斯塔，心中想道，”我没命了。不知道是不是会痛得厉害。我但愿赶快完蛋。我不知道人死了以后还会发生什么事情?啊呀呀！它扑上来了！”于是他闭上眼睛咬紧牙齿。
然而，却没有牙齿和脚爪的抓咬，只觉得有个温暖的东西躺在他脚边。他睁开眼睛时说道”咦，它并不是同我所想的那般大！只不过一半儿大。不，甚至连四分之一还不到。我敢说它不过是只猫！什么它跟马儿一般大小，都是我做梦想出来的。”
不论沙斯塔是否确实做过梦，现在躺在他脚边，用它那大大的、绿绿的、毫不眨巴的眼睛，瞧得他局促不安的，是一只猫，尽管是他所见过的最大的猫。
“猫咪啊，”沙斯塔上气不接下气地说道，”重新看见你，我真是高兴。我一直在做着可怕的梦。”他立刻重新躺下，跟猫咪背靠背，就像黑夜初临时那样。猫身上的温暖传遍了他的全身。
“只要我活着，我今后决不再对猫儿做什么促狭的事情了。”沙斯塔一半儿对猫咪一半儿对自己说道，”我干过一次，你知道吗。我用石子掷过一只走失的、半饥半饱的、生病疮的老猫。嗨，住手。”因为那猫转过身来抓了他一下。”别来这一手，”沙斯塔说，”这就不像是你听得懂我说的话了。”接着他就打起瞌睡来了。
第二天早晨沙斯塔醒来时，猫走了，太阳已经出来了，沙土发烫了。沙斯塔十分口渴，坐起来擦擦眼睛。大沙漠白得令人目眩，虽然他背后传来隐隐约约的人声喧哗，但他所坐的地方，却是寂静无声的。当他稍稍向左向西看时，阳光并不直射他的眼睛，他便看得见大沙漠远处边缘上的大山大岭，轮廓分明，形象清晰，看上去似乎相距不过一箭之遥。他特别注意到一个蓝色高国，顶上分为两个山峰，便断定它必是皮尔峰无疑。”根据渡鸦所说的话看来，这就是我们要走的方向，”他心中想道，”所以我一定要把它搞个确实，以便别人来时就不必浪费时间了。”所以他用双脚在地上挖了一条笔直的深沟，确切地指向皮尔峰。
十分清楚，第二桩事情就是要搞点吃的喝的东西。沙斯塔小步穿过坟场跑回去——现在坟墓看上去平平常常，他想想、自己竟害怕它们也觉得奇怪——跑到河边的耕地里。附近有一些人，但不多，因为城门已经开了好几个钟头，大清早拥挤的人群已经进城去了。所以沙斯塔搞点儿(布里所说的)”袭击”毫无困难。这次”袭击”包括爬过一道墙头，收获是三只椅子、一个西瓜、一两个无花果和一只石榴。然后他走到河岸上，在离大桥不太近的地方，喝了点儿河水。水好极了，他脱掉又热又脏的衣服，下去洗了个澡；当然，因为沙斯塔一直住在水边，几乎在他刚学习走路时就学会了游泳。从河里出来，他躺在青草上，眼睛越过河流，眺望着塔什班城_城里的一切壮观、力量和光荣。但眺望也使他记起塔什班城的危险。他突然认识到，说不定正在他洗澡的时候，其他的人马已经到达坟场(“很可能不等我就走掉了”)，所以他惊惶地穿好衣服，用极大的速度赶回去，他到达坟场时又热又渴，洗澡后的凉快感觉完全没有了。
就像大部分独自等待什么事物的日子一样，这一天仿佛有百个钟头那么长。当然啦，他有许多事情要想，但独自坐在那儿，只是一个劲儿地想着，时间是过得够慢的。他想得很多的是纳尼亚人，特别是科林。他很想知道，当他们发现那躺在沙发上听到他们全部秘密计划的孩子压根儿不是科林时，会发生什么事情。想到这些个好人会把他当做奸细，心里十分不愉快。'
但当太阳慢慢地慢慢地升上中天，然后又慢慢地慢慢地向西方沉落下去的时候，沙斯塔心里愈来愈焦急不安了。当然，他现在明白了，当初他们互相约定在坟场等待，可谁也没说要等待多久。他可不能在那儿等待一辈子！不久天又要黑了，他又要像昨夜那样过一夜了！十多个不同的计划在他头脑里翻腾，全都是微不足道的计划，而他最后确定的，却是个最糟糕的计划。他决定等到天黑时跑到河边去偷西瓜，拿得了多少就偷多少，然后独自出发，凭着他早晨在沙上所挖的深沟的指示，向皮尔峰而去。这是个疯狂的主意，如果他像你一样读过沙漠旅行的书，决不会做这种梦想的。但沙斯塔压根儿没读过书。
可是，太阳落山之前，有件事情发生了。沙斯塔正坐在一个坟墓的阴影里，他抬起头来，看到两匹马正向他跑来。随后他的心猛地一跳，因为他认出这两匹马儿正是布里和赫温。但接下来的刹那间他的心又沉到脚指头上去了。没有阿拉维斯的踪影。马儿是由一个陌生人率领着的，一个衣服头当漂亮的军人，好像是一个高贵家庭里的一个高级奴隶。布里和赫温不再装扮得像是运货的驮马了，却配上了鞍座辔头，意味着什么呢?”这是个圈套，”沙斯塔心里想道，”有人逮住了阿拉维斯，也许他们折磨过她，她把整个儿事情都放弃了。他们要我跳出来，跑过去同布里说话，这就把我逮住！不过，如果我不跳出去，也许我就丧失了同其他人马聚首的惟一机会了。啊，我真希望我能知道已经发生了什么事情。”他偷偷地藏在坟墓背后，时时刻刻向外张望，心中琢磨着采取哪种行动危险最少。
收听单词发音 |
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scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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trotting
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| 小跑，急走( trot的现在分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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ragged
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| adj.衣衫褴褛的，粗糙的，刺耳的 | |
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loomed
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| v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的过去式和过去分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近 | |
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mouldering
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| v.腐朽( moulder的现在分词 )；腐烂，崩塌 | |
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trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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scampering
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| v.蹦蹦跳跳地跑，惊惶奔跑( scamper的现在分词 ) | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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dozed
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| v.打盹儿，打瞌睡( doze的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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raven
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| n.渡鸟，乌鸦；adj.乌亮的 | |
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furrow
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| n.沟；垄沟；轨迹；车辙；皱纹 | |
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fig
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| n.无花果(树) | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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downwards
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| adj./adv.向下的（地），下行的（地） | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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bridled
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| 给…套龙头( bridle的过去式和过去分词 )； 控制； 昂首表示轻蔑（或怨忿等）； 动怒，生气 | |
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skulked
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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