CHAPTER SIX A GOOD NIGHT’S WORK（第2/3页）
“B-behind the stable，O My Master，”stammered the unfortunate man．
“Good. Rise up and lead me to him.”
As the man got up the point of the dagger never left his neck. It only travelled round (cold and rather ticklish) as Tirian got behind him and settled it at a convenient place under his ear. Trembling he went round to the back of the stable．
Though it was dark Tirian could see the white shape of Jewel at once．
“Hush!”he said.“No，do not neigh. Yes，Jewel，it is I. How have they tied thee ？”
“Hobbled by all four legs and tied with a bridle to a ring in the stable wall，”came Jewel’s voice．
“Stand here，sentry，with your back to the wall. So. Now， Jewel：set the point of your horn against this Calormene’s breast.”
“With a good will，Sire，”said Jewel．
“If he moves，rive him to the heart.”Then in a few seconds Tirian cut the ropes. With the remains of them he bound the sentry hand and foot. Finally he made him open his mouth，stuffed it full of grass and tied him up from scalp to chin so that he could make no noise，lowered the man into a sitting position and set him against the wall．
“I have done thee some discourtesy，soldier，”said Tirian.“But such was my need. If we meet again I may happen to do thee a better turn. Now，Jewel，let us go softly.”
He put his left arm round the beast’s neck and bent and kissed its nose and both had great joy. They went back as quietly as possible to the place where he had left the children. It was darker in there under the trees and he nearly ran into Eustace before he saw him．
“All’s well，”whispered Tirian.“A good night’s work. Now for home.”
They turned and had gone a few paces when Eustace said， “Where are you，Pole ？ ”There was no answer.“Is Jill on the other side of you，Sire ？ ”he asked．
“What ？”said Tirian.“Is she not on the other side of your”
It was a terrible moment. They dared not shout but they whispered her name in the loudest whisper they could manage. There was no reply．
“Did she go from you while I was away ？”asked Tirian．
“I didn’t see or hear her go，”said Eustace.“But she could have gone without my knowing. She can be as quiet as a cat; you’ve seen for yourself.”
At that moment a far off drum beat was heard. Jewel moved his ears forward.“Dwarfs，”he said．
“And treacherous Dwarfs，enemies，as likely as not，”muttered Tirian．
“And here comes something on hoofs，much nearer，”said Jewel．
The two humans and the Unicorn stood dead still. There were now so many different things to worry about that they didn’t know what to do. The noise of hoofs came steadily nearer. And then， quite close to them，a voice whispered：
“Hallo! Are you all there ？”
Thank heaven，it was Jill’s．
“Where the devil have you been to ？”said Eustace in a furious whisper，for he had been very frightened．
“In the stable，”gasped Jill，but it was the sort of gasp you give when you’re struggling with suppressed laughter．
“Oh，”growled Eustace，“you think it funny，do you ？ Well all I can say is-”
“Have you got Jewel，Sire ？”asked Jill．
“Yes. Here he is. What is that beast with you ？”
“That’s him，”said Jill.“But let’s be off home before anyone wakes up.”And again there came little explosions of laughter．
The others obeyed at once for they had already lingered long enough in that dangerous place and the Dwarf drums seemed to have come a little nearer. It was only after they had been walking Southward for several minutes that Eustace said：
“Got him ？ What do you mean ？”
“The false Aslan，”said Jill．
“What ？”said Tirian.“Where have you been ？ What have you done ？”
“Well，Sire，”said Jill. “As soon as I saw that you’d got the sentry out of the way I thought hadn’t I better have a look inside the stable and see what really is there ？ So I crawled along. It was as easy as anything to draw the bolt．Of course it was pitch black inside and smelled like any other stable. Then I struck a light and-would you believe it ？-there was nothing at all there but this old donkey with a bundle of lion-skin tied on to his back. So I drew my knife and told him he’d have to come along with me. As a matter of fact I needn’t have threatened him with the knife at all. He was very fed up with the stable and quite ready to come-weren’t you， Puzzle dear ？”
“Great Scott!”said Eustace.“Well I’m-jiggered. I was jolly angry with you a moment ago，and I still think it was mean of you to sneak off without the rest of us：but I must admit-well，I mean to say-well it was a perfectly gorgeous thing to do. If she was a boy she’d have to be knighted，wouldn’t she，Sire ？”
“If she was a boy，”said Tirian，“she’d be whipped for disobeying orders.”And in the dark no one could see whether he said this with a frown or a smile. Next minute there was a sound of rasping metal．
“What are you doing，Sire ？”asked Jewel sharply．
“Drawing my sword to smite off the head of the accursed Ass，”said Tirian in a terrible voice.“Stand clear，girl.”
“Oh don’t，please don’t，”said Jill.“Really，you mustn’t. It wasn’t his fault. It was all the Ape. He didn’t know any better. And he’ svery sorry. he’s a nice Donkey. His name’s Puzzle. And I’ve got my arms round his neck.”
“Jill，”said Tirian，“you are the bravest and most woodwise of all my subjects，but also the most malapert and disobedient. Well：let the Ass live. What have you to say for yourself，Ass ？”
“Me，Sire ？”came the Donkey’s voice.“I’m sure I’m very sorry if I’ve done wrong. The Ape said Aslan wanted me to dress up like that. And I thought he’d know. I’m not clever like him. I only did what I was told. It wasn’t any fun for me living in that stable. I don’t even know what’s been going on outside. He never let me out except for a minute or two at night. Some days they forgot to give me any water too.”
“Sire，”said Jewel.“Those Dwarfs are coming nearer and nearer. Do we want to meet them ？”
Tirian thought for a moment and then suddenly gave a great laugh out loud. Then he spoke，not this time in a whisper.“By the Lion，”he said，“I am growing slow witted! Meet them ？Certainly we will meet them. We will meet anyone now. We have this Ass to show them. Let them see the thing they have feared and bowed to. We can show them the truth of the Ape’s vile plot. His secret’s out. The tide’s turned. Tomorrow we shall hang that Ape on the highest tree in Narnia. No more whispering and skulking and disguises. Where are these honest Dwarfs ？We have good news for them.”
When you have been whispering for hours the mere sound of anyone talking out loud has a wonderfully stirring effect. The whole party began talking and laughing：even Puzzle lifted up his head and gave a grand Haw-hee-haw-hee-hee; a thing the Ape hadn’t allowed him to do for days. Then they set off in the direction of the drumming. It grew steadily louder and soon they could see torchlight as well. They came out on one of those rough roads (we should hardly call them roads at all in England) which ran through Lantern Waste. And there，marching sturdily along，were about thirty Dwarfs，all with their little spades and mattocks over their shoulders. Two armed Calormenes led the column and two more brought up the rear．