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About a minute later, however, he broke into a gallop again, and no wonder. For the roar broke out again, this time on their left from the direction of the forest.
"Two of them," moaned Bree. When they had galloped for several minutes without any further noise from the lions Shasta said,"I say !That other horse is galloping beside us now.Only a stone s throw away."
"All the b-better," panted Bree."Tarkaan on it-will have a sword-protect us all."
"But,Bree !" said Shasta. "We might just as well be killed by lions as caught. Or I might. They'll hang me for horse-stealing."He was feeling less frightened of lions than Bree because he had never met a lion;Bree had.
Bree only snorted in answer but he did sheer away to his right. Oddly enough the other horse seemed also to be sheering away to the left, so that in a few seconds the space between them had widened a good deal. But as soon as it did so there came two more lions roars, immediately after one another, one on the right and the other on the left, the horses began drawing nearer together. So, apparently, did the lions. The roaring of the brutes on each side was horribly close and they seemed to be keeping up with the galloping horses quite easily. Then the cloud rolled away. The moonlight, astonishingly bright, showed up everything almost as if it were broad day. The two horses and two riders were galloping neck to neck and knee to knee just as if they were in a race. Indeed Bree said (afterwards) that a finer race had never been seen in Calormen.
Shasta now gave himself up for lost and began to wonder whether lions killed you quickly or played with you as a cat plays with a mouse and how much it would hurt. At the same time (one sometimes does this at the most frightful moments) he noticed everything. He saw that the other rider was a very small, slender person, mail-clad (the moon shone on the mail) and riding magnificently.He had no beard.
Something flat and shining was spread out before them. Before Shasta had time even to guess what it great splash and he found his mouth half full of salt water. The shining thing had been a long inlet of the sea. Both horses were swimming and the water was up to Shasta' s knees. There was an angry roaring behind them and looking back Shasta saw a great, shaggy, and terrible shape crouched on the water' s edge;but only one."We must have shaken off the other lion," he thought.
The lion apparently did not think its prey worth a wetting;at any rate it made no attempt to take the water in pursuit. The two horses, side by side, were now well out into the middle of the creek and the opposite shore could be clearly seen. The Tarkaan had not yet spoken a word."But he will," thought Shasta.
"As soon as we have landed. What am I to say ? I must begin thinking out a story."
Then,suddenly, two voices spoke at his side.
"Oh,I am so tired," said the one."Hold your tongue, Hwin, and don' t be a fool,"said the other.
"I'm dreaming/' thought Shasta."I could have sworn that other horse spoke."
Soon the horses were no longer swimming but walking and soon with a great sound of water running off their sides and tails and with a great crunching of pebbles under eight hoofs, they came out on the farther beach of the inlet. The Tarkaan, to Shasta' s surprise, showed no wish to ask questions. He did not even look at Shasta but seemed anxious to urge his horse straight on. Bree, however,at once shouldered himself in the other horse' s way.
"Broo-hoo-hah !" he snorted."Steady there !I heard you, I did.There' s no good pretending, Ma' am.I heard you. You' re a Talking Horse, a Narnian horse just like me."
"What's it got to do with you if she is ?" said the strange rider fiercely, laying hand on sword-hilt. But the voice in which the words were spoken had already told Shasta something.
"Why, it's only a girl !" he exclaimed.
"And what business is it of yours if I am only a girl ?" snapped the stranger. "You're probably only a boy: a rude, common little boy-a slave probably,who' s stolen his master' s horse."
"That's all you know," said Shasta.
"He's not a thief, little Tarkheena," said Bree. "At least, if there' s been any stealing, you might just as well say I stole him. And as for its not being my business,you wouldn' t expect me to pass a lady of my own race in this strange country without speaking to her ? It' s only natural I should."
"I think it's very natural too," said the mare.
"I wish you'd held your tongue, Hwin, "said the girl. "Look at the trouble you' ve got us into."
"I don't know about trouble," said Shasta. "You can clear off as soon as you like.We shan' t keep you."
"No, you shan't," said the girl.
"What quarrelsome creatures these humans are," said Bree to the mare. "They're as bad as mules.Let's try to talk a little sense. I take it,ma' am,your story is the same as mine ? Captured in early youth—years of slavery among the Calormenes ?"
"Too true,sir," said the mare with a melancholy whinny. "And now, perhaps-escape ?"
"Tell him to mind his own business,Hwin," said the girl.
"No, I won't, Aravis," said the mare putting her ears back. "This is my escape just as much as yours. And I'm sure a noble warhorse like this is not going to betray us. We are trying to escape, to get to Narnia."
"And so, of course, are we," said Bree. "Of course you guessed that at once. A little boy in rags riding (or trying to ride) a warhorse at dead of night couldn t mean anything but an escape of some sort. And, if I may say so, a high-born Tarkheena riding alone at night-dressed up in her brother s armour-and very anxious for everyone to mind their own business and ask her no questions-well, if that s not fishy, call me a cob !"
"All right then," said Aravis."You've guessed it. Hwin and I are running away. We are trying to get to Narnia. And now, what about it ?"
"Why, in that case, what is to prevent us all going together ?" said Bree."I trust, Madam Hwin, you will accept such assistance and protection as I may be able to give you on the journey ?"
"Why do you keep talking to my horse instead of to me ?"asked the girl.
"Excuse me, Tarkheena," said Bree (with just the slightest backward tilt of his ears), "but that' s Calormene talk. We 're free Narnians,Hwin and I,and I suppose,if you re running away to Narnia, you want to be one too. In that case Hwin isn t your horse any longer.One might just as well say you re her human."
The girl opened her mouth to speak and then stopped. Obviously she had not quite seen it in that light before.
"Still," she said after a moment's pause,"I don't know that there s so much point in all going together. Aren t we more likely to be noticed ?"
"Less," said Bree;and the mare said,"Oh do let's. I should feel much more comfortable. We re not even certain of the way.I m sure a great charger like this knows far more than we do."
"Oh come on, Bree," said Shasta, "and let them go their own way.Can t you see they don t want us ?"
"We do," said Hwin.”
"Look here," said the girl. "I don't mind going with you, Mr.War-Horse,but what about this boy ?How do I know he s not a spy ?"
"Why don't you say at once that you think I'm not good enough for you ?"said Shasta.
"Be quiet, Shasta," said Bree. "The Tarkheena's question is quite reasonable. I ll vouch for the boy, Tarkheena. He s been true to me and a good friend. And he s certainly either a Narnian or an Archenlander."
"All right, then. Let's go together. " But she didn't say anything to Shasta and it was obvious that she wanted Bree, not him.
"Splendid !" said Bree. "And now that we've got the water between us and those dreadful animals, what about you two humans taking off our saddles and our all having a rest and hearing one another' s stories."
Both the children unsaddled their horses and the horses had a little grass and Aravis produced rather nice things to eat from her saddle-bag ? But Shasta sulked and said No thanks, and that he wasn' t hungry. And he tried to put on what he thought very grand and stiff manners, but as a fisherman' s but is not usually a good place for learning grand manners, the result was dreadful. And he half knew that it wasn' t a success and then became sulkier and more awkward than ever. Meanwhile the two horses were getting on splendidly. They remembered the very same places in Narnia-"the grasslands up above Beaversdam"and found that they were some sort of second cousins once removed. This made things more and more uncomfortable for the humans until at last Bree said, "And now, Tarkheena, tell us your story. And don' t hurry it-I' m feeling comfortable now."
Aravis immediately began,sitting quite still and using a rather different tone and style from her usual one.For in Calormen,story-telling (whether the stories are true or made up) is a thing you're taught,just as English boys and girls are taught essay-writing.The difference is that people want to hear the stories,whereas I never heard of anyone who wanted to read the essays.
