《黎明踏浪號》第12章:黑暗島
AFTER this adventure they sailed on south and a little east for twelve days with a gentle wind, the skies being Mostly clear and the air warm, and saw no bird or fish, except that once there were whales spouting a long way to starboard. Lucy and Reepicheep played a good deal of chess at this time. Then on the thirteenth day, Edmund, from the fighting top, sighted what looked like a great dark mountain rising out of the sea on their port bow.
They altered course and made for this land, mostly by oar, for the wind would not serve them to sail north-east. When evening fell they were still a long way from it and rowed all night. Next morning the weather was fair but a flat calm. The dark mass lay ahead, much nearer and larger, but still very dim, so that some thought it was still a long way off and others thought they were running into a mist.
About nine that morning, very suddenly, it was so close that they could see that it was not land at all, nor even, in an ordinary sense, a mist. It was a Darkness. It is rather hard to describe, but you will see what it was like if you imagine yourself looking into the mouth of a railway tunnel - a tunnel either so long or so twisty that you cannot see the light at the far end. And you know what it would be like. For a few feet you would see the rails and sleepers and gravel in broad daylight; then there would come a place where they were in twilight; and then, pretty suddenly, but of course without a sharp dividing line, they would vanish altogether into smooth, solid blackness. It was just so here. For a few feet in front of their bows they could see the swell of the bright greenish-blue water. Beyond that, they could see the water looking pale and grey as it would look late in the evening. But beyond that again, utter blackness as if they had come to the edge of moonless and starless night.
Caspian shouted to the boatswain to keep her back, and all except the rowers rushed forward and gazed from the bows. But there was nothing to be seen by gazing. Behind them was the sea and the sun, before them the Darkness.
"Do we go into this?" asked Caspian at length.
"Not by my advice," said Drinian.
"The Captain's right," said several sailors.
"I almost think he is," said Edmund.
Lucy and Eustace didn't speak but they felt very glad inside at the turn things seemed to be taking. But all at once the clear voice of Reepicheep broke in upon the silence.
"And why not?" he said. "Will someone explain to me why not."
No one was anxious to explain, so Reepicheep continued:
"If I were addressing peasants or slaves," he said, "I might suppose that this suggestion proceeded from cowardice. But I hope it will never be told in Narnia that a company of noble and royal persons in the flower of their age turned tail because they were afraid of the dark."
"But what manner of use would it be ploughing through that blackness?" asked Drinian.
"Use?" replied Reepicheep. "Use, Captain? If by use you mean filling our bellies or our purses, I confess it will be no use at all. So far as I know we did not set sail to look for things useful but to seek honour and adventure. And here is as great an adventure as ever I heard of, and here, if we turn back, no tittle impeachment of all our honours."
Several of the sailors said things under their breath that sounded like "Honour be blowed", but Caspian said:
"Oh, bother you, Reepicheep. I almost wish we'd left you at home. All right! If you put it that way, I suppose we shall have to go on. Unless Lucy would rather not?"
Lucy felt that she would very much rather not, but what she said out loud was, "I'm game."
"Your Majesty will at least order lights?" said Drinian.
"By all means," said Caspian. "See to it, Captain."
So the three lanterns, at the stern, and the prow and the masthead, were all lit, and Drinian ordered two torches amidships. Pale and feeble they looked in the sunshine. Then all the men except some who were left below at the oars were ordered on deck and fully armed and posted in their battle stations with swords drawn. Lucy and two archers were posted on the fighting top with bows bent and arrows on the string. Rynelf was in the bows with his line ready to take soundings. Reepicheep, Edmund, Eustace and Caspian, glittering in mail, were with him. Drinian took the tiller.
"And now, in Aslan's name, forward!" cried Caspian. "A slow, steady stroke. And let every man be silent and keep his ears open for orders."
With a creak and a groan the Dawn Treader started to creep forward as the men began to row. Lucy, up in the fighting top, had a wonderful view of the exact moment at which they entered the darkness. The bows had already disappeared before the sunlight had left the stern. She saw it go. At one minute the gilded stern, the blue sea, and the sky, were all in broad daylight: next minute the sea and sky had vanished, the stern lantern - which had been hardly noticeable before - was the only thing to show where the ship ended. In front of the lantern she could see the black shape of Drinian crouching at the tiller. Down below her the two torches made visible two small patches of deck and gleamed on swords and helmets, and forward there was another island of light on the forecastle. Apart from that, the fighting top, lit by the masthead light which was only just above her, seemed to be a little lighted world of its own floating in lonely darkness. And the lights themselves, as always happens with lights when you have to have them at the wrong time of day, looked lurid and unnatural. She also noticed that she was very cold.
How long this voyage into the darkness lasted, nobody knew. Except for the creak of the rowlocks and the splash of the oars there was nothing to show that they were moving at all. Edmund, peering from the bows, could see nothing except the reflection of the lantern in the water before him. It looked a greasy sort of reflection, and the ripple made by their advancing prow appeared to be heavy, small, and lifeless. As time went on everyone except the rowers began to shiver with cold.
Suddenly, from somewhere - no one's sense of direction was very clear by now - there came a cry, either of some inhuman voice or else a voice of one in such extremity of terror that he had almost lost his humanity.
Caspian was still trying to speak - his mouth was too dry - when the shrill voice of Reepicheep, which sounded louder than usual in that silence, was heard.
"Who calls?" it piped. "If you are a foe we do not fear you, and if you are a friend your enemies shall be taught the fear of us."
"Mercy!" cried the voice. "Mercy! Even if you are only one more dream, have merry. Take me on board. Take me, even if you strike me dead. But in the name of all mercies do not fade away and leave me in this horrible land."
"Where are you?" shouted Caspian. "Come aboard and welcome."
There came another cry, whether of joy or terror, and then they knew that someone was swimming towards them.
"Stand by to heave him up, men," said Caspian.
"Aye, aye, your Majesty," said the sailors. Several crowded to the port bulwark with ropes and one, leaning far out over the side, held the torch. A wild, white face appeared in the blackness of the water, and then, after some scrambling and pulling, a dozen friendly hands had heaved the stranger on board.
Edmund thought he had never seen a wilder-looking man. Though he did not otherwise look very old, his hair was an untidy mop of white, his face was thin and drawn, and, for clothing, only a few wet rags hung about him. But what one mainly noticed were his eyes, which were so widely opened that he seemed to have no eyelids at all, and stared as if in an agony of pure fear. The moment his feet reached the deck he said:
"Fly! Fly! About with your ship and fly! Row, row, row for your lives away from this accursed shore."
"Compose yourself," said Reepicheep, "and tell us what the danger is. We are not used to flying."
The stranger started horribly at the voice of the Mouse, which he had not noticed before.
"Nevertheless you will fly from here," he gasped. "This is the Island where Dreams come true."
"That's the island I've been looking for this long time," said one of the sailors. "I reckoned I'd find I was married to Nancy if we landed here."
"And I'd find Tom alive again," said another.
"Fools!" said the man, stamping his foot with rage. "That is the sort of talk that brought me here, and I'd better have been drowned or never born. Do you hear what I say? This is where dreams -dreams, do you understand, come to life, come real. Not daydreams: dreams."
There was about half a minute's silence and then, with a great clatter of armour, the whole crew were tumbling down the main hatch as quick as they could and flinging themselves on the oars to row as they had never rowed before; and Drinian was swinging round the tiller, and the boatswain was giving out the quickest stroke that had ever been heard at sea. For it had taken everyone just that halfminute to remember certain dreams they had had - dreams that make you afraid of going to sleep again - and to realize what it would mean to land on a country where dreams come true.
Only Reepicheep remained unmoved.
"Your Majesty, your Majesty," he said, "are you going to tolerate this mutiny, this poltroonery? This is a panic, this is a rout."
"Row, row," bellowed Caspian. "Pull for all our lives. Is her head right, Drinian? You can say what you like, Reepicheep. There are some things no man can face."
"It is, then, my good fortune not to be a man," replied Reepicheep with a very stiff bow.
Lucy from up aloft had heard it all. In an instant that one of her own dreams which she had tried hardest to forget came back to her as vividly as if she had only just woken from it. So that was what was behind them, on the island, in the darkness! For a second she wanted to go down to the deck and be with Edmund and Caspian. But what was the use? If dreams began coming true, Edmund and Caspian themselves might turn into something horrible just as she reached them. She gripped the rail of the fighting top and tried to steady herself. They were rowing back to the light as hard as they could: it would be all right in a few seconds. But oh, if only it could be all right now!
Though the rowing made a good deal of noise it did not quite conceal the total silence which surrounded the ship.
Everyone knew it would be better not to listen, not to strain his ears for any sound from the darkness. But no one could help listening. And soon everyone was hearing things. Each one heard something different.
"Do you hear a noise like . . . like a huge pair of scissors opening and shutting .. . over there?" Eustace asked Rynelf.
"Hush!" said Rynelf. "I can hear them crawling up the sides of the ship."
"It's just going to settle on the mast," said Caspian.
"Ugh!" said a sailor. "There are the gongs beginning. I knew they would."
Caspian, trying not to look at anything (especially not to keep looking behind him), went aft to Drinian.
"Drinian," he said in a very low voice. "How long did we take rowing in? - I mean rowing to where we picked up . the stranger."
"Five minutes, perhaps," whispered Drinian. "Why?"
"Because we've been more than that already trying to get out."
Drinian's hand shook on the tiller and a line of cold sweat ran down his face. The same idea was occurring to everyone on board. "We shall never get out, never get' out," moaned the rowers. "He's steering us wrong. We're going round and round in circles. We shall never get out." The stranger, who had been lying in a huddled heap on the deck, sat up and burst out into a horrible screaming laugh.
"Never get out!" he yelled. "That's it. Of course. We shall never get out. What a fool I was to have thought they would let me go as easily as that. No, no, we shall never get out."
Lucy leant her head on the edge of the fighting top and whispered, "Aslan, Aslan, if ever you loved us at all, send us help now." The darkness did not grow any less, but she began to feel a little - a very, very little - better. "After all, nothing has really happened to us yet," she thought.
"Look!" cried Rynelf's voice hoarsely from the bows. There was a tiny speck of light ahead, and while they watched a broad beam of light fell from it upon the ship. It did not alter the surrounding darkness, but the whole ship was lit up as if by searchlight. Caspian blinked, stared round, saw the faces of his companions all with wild, fixed expressions. Everyone was staring in the same direction: behind everyone lay his black, sharply-edged shadow.
Lucy looked along the beam and presently saw something in it. At first it looked like a cross, then it looked like an aeroplane, then it looked like a kite, and at last with a whirring of wings it was right overhead and was an albatross. It circled three times round the mast and then perched for an instant on the crest of the gilded dragon at the prow. It called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them. After that it spread its wings, rose, and began to fly slowly ahead, bearing a little to starboard. Drinian steered after it not doubting that it offered good guidance. But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her, "Courage, dear heart," and the voice, she felt sure, was Aslan's, and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face.
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.
他們改變航向，開向這片陸地，主要是靠划槳，因爲風力不足，不能向東北行駛。夜幕降臨時，他們同那裏還隔着老遠一段，足足劃了一整夜。第二天早晨，天氣很好，只是海面上風平浪靜。那座黑乎乎的龐然大物就橫亙在他們前面，雖然近得多，大得多，不過還是非常模糊，有些人看了還以爲它還離得老遠呢，另一些人則以爲他們闖進一團迷霧中了。
那天早晨九點光景，突然一下子，他們隔得很近纔看出這根本不是陸地，甚至也不是通常意義上所說的迷霧。原來是一片黑暗。這種情況挺難描寫，如果你能設想自己朝一條鐵路隧道的入口望進去——一條很長很長或彎彎曲曲，望不到遠處盡頭光線的隧道——那就會明白是什麼樣子了。
你知道過隧道是怎麼回事。先是在幾英尺外看見大白天下的鐵軌、枕木和碎石；然後就來到一個幽暗的地方；再後來，突然一下子，當然也沒有一個明顯的分界線，一切就都在渾然一體的黑暗中無影無蹤。這裏的情況正是如此。在船頭前幾英尺外，他們看得見碧綠的海水滔滔。再往外，只見海水變成灰濛濛的，像在傍晚時分看上去那樣。可是再往遠看，就只見一片烏漆墨黑，彷彿他們快來到無星無月的黑夜裏。
凱斯賓大聲對水手長下令把船往後劃，船上人員除了划槳的之外，都奔上前來，從船頭處往外眺望。可是看來看去看不出什麼東西。他們後面是大海和太陽，前面是一片黑暗。
“我們開進去嗎?”凱斯賓終於問道。
“依我之見還是不進去爲妙。”德里寧說。
“船長說得對。”好幾個水手說。
“我幾乎認爲他說得很對。”愛德蒙說。
露茜和尤斯塔斯雖然沒說話，可是在事情似乎快定下來的關鍵時刻，他們心裏都很高興，不料雷佩契普清楚的嗓音馬上打破沉默。
“爲什麼不進去?”它說，“有什麼人願意對我解釋一下爲什麼嗎?”
沒人急於解釋，所以雷佩契普又說下去：
“假如我是在對莊稼人或奴隸講話，”它說，“我可能認爲這個建議是出於怯懦才提出的。可是我希望今後納尼亞決不要有人傳說一行高貴的王室人員，年富力強的，卻因爲怕黑暗而掉轉屁股逃跑。”
“可是辛辛苦苦開進那片黑暗裏到底有什麼用處呢?”德里寧問。
“用處?”雷佩契普答，“用處嗎，船長?如果你所說的用處是指填飽我們的肚子或腰包，我承認一點用處也沒有。據我所知，我們揚帆遠航並不是去找尋有用的東西，而是尋求榮譽和奇遇。眼看就有一場我聞所未聞的了不起的奇遇，如果我們往回走，那我們的榮譽就要受到不少指責。”
好幾個水手壓低嗓子說話，聽上去像說：“屁個榮譽。”可是凱斯賓說：“啊呀，你真討厭，雷佩契普。我真希望當初把你留在國內。得了!如果你那樣說的話，那我看我們只好往前走了。除非露茜不願意去吧?”
露茜原來感到很不願意去，可是嘴裏卻大聲說道：“我願意去。”
“陛下至少要下令點燈吧?”德里寧說。
“那還用說，”凱斯賓說，“千萬要點上，船長。”
於是，船尾、船頭、桅頂三處的燈都點亮了，德里寧還下令在船的中部點上兩個火把。這些燈火在陽光下看上去暗淡無光。於是所有人員，除了幾個在下面划槳的人之外，都奉命到甲板上去，全副武裝，刀劍出鞘，守在戰鬥崗位上。露茜和兩個弓箭手都奉派到桅頂觀測臺上，弓拉滿，箭上弦。水手賴尼夫在船頭，拿着測繩準備探測水深。雷佩契普、愛德蒙、尤斯塔斯和凱斯賓都披甲掛胄，身上亮閃閃的，陪着他。德里寧掌大舵。
“好了，以阿斯蘭的名義，前進，”凱斯賓喊道，“槳要劃得慢而穩。大家都別出聲，靜心聽候命令。”
隨着船員開始划槳，黎明踏浪號發出吱吱嘎嘎，嗯嗯啊啊的聲音，悄悄前進了。就在這船開進那片黑暗中那會兒工夫，露茜在桅頂觀測臺上看到了那片刻的奇觀。陽光還照着船尾，船頭已經看不見影兒了。她看着它不見的。這會兒鍍金的船尾，碧藍的大海和天空，還都在光天化日之下，過一會兒海天都消失了，剛纔還簡直一點也看不出的船尾燈，竟成了船尾的惟一標記。她能看出燈前德里寧彎着腰在掌舵的黑影。她下面，那兩支火把在甲板上照出兩小塊亮處，火光在刀劍和頭盔上閃爍，往前看，船首樓上也有一塊地方亮着。除此之外，恰好在她腦袋上方點着那盞桅頂燈照亮的觀測臺，似乎自成一個發亮的小天地，漂浮在沉寂的黑暗中。正如你在白天不該點燈的時間只好點燈一樣，燈光看上去總是陰森森，不自然的，這些燈光就是這樣。她還注意到自己很冷。
這次到黑暗中去的航程要持續多久誰也不知道。除了槳架吱吱嘎嘎，槳板嘩啦嘩啦的聲音之外，一點也看不出船身在行動。愛德蒙從船頭上往外張望，除了身前水面上燈光的倒影之外，其他什麼也看不見。這倒影看上去有點黏糊糊，船頭前進時激起的漣漪看上去凝重、細小、沒有生氣。時間一分鐘一分鐘地過去，除了划槳的人之外，人人都凍得渾身哆嗦起來。
眼下誰也辨不大清方向，忽然間，不知從哪兒傳來一聲喊叫，聽上去不是人類的聲音，要不就是哪個嚇破了膽，差點弄得不像人的傢伙的聲音。
凱斯賓的嘴巴太乾了，但他還是拼命想開口說話，這時只聽見雷佩契普那尖厲的嗓音，在那片寂靜中，這聲音聽上去格外響亮。
“誰在叫?”他尖聲說，“假如你是敵人，我們可不怕你，假如你是朋友，你的仇敵就將領教我們的厲害。”
“行行好吧，”那聲音叫道，“行行好吧!即使你們只不過又是一個夢，也請行行好吧。讓我上船。收留我吧，哪怕你們把我打死也罷。可是，千萬行行好，不要再消失，把我扔在這個可怕的鬼地方。”
“你在哪兒?”凱斯賓大聲叫道，“上船吧，歡迎!”
又聽得一聲喊叫，不知這聲叫是出於喜還是出於怕，於是他們知道有人正向他們游來。
“夥計們，站在船邊把他拉上來。”凱斯賓說。
“是，是，陛下。”水手們說。幾個人拿着纜繩，擠到左舷舷牆，一個人舉着火把，身子遠遠探出舷側外面。只見一張瘋狂的白臉從漆黑的水裏冒出來，經過一番攀登和拉扯，十幾只友好的手總算把這陌生人拉上了船。
愛德蒙覺得自己從沒見過長相這麼狂亂的人。雖然他看上去年紀並不很老，頭髮卻亂蓬蓬，一團雪白，他的臉龐瘦削，緊緊繃着，身上衣着嘛，只有一些溼淋淋的破布條掛着。不過人家主要還是注意他的眼睛，張得很大，看來根本沒有眼皮，死死盯着，嚇得沒命似的。他兩腳剛踏上甲板就說：
“飛啊!飛啊!連船帶人快飛啊!劃啊，劃啊，拼命劃啊，趕快離開這個倒黴的海岸。”
“鎮靜一下，”雷佩契普說，“告訴我們有什麼危險，我們一向不飛的。”
陌生人聽到老鼠的嗓音嚇壞了，他剛纔沒注意老鼠在那兒。
“儘管如此，你們一定要從這裏飛走，”他氣喘吁吁說，“這裏是夢假成真的島。”
“這個島正是我多年一直在尋求的。”一個水手說。
“我想，如果我們在這裏上岸，我就可以發現自己跟南茜結婚了。”
“我就可以發現湯姆又活着了。”另一個水手說。
“笨蛋!”那人怒氣衝衝地頓腳說，“我正是聽信這一派胡言纔到這島上來的，我真恨不得淹死，或是沒出世的好。你們聽見我說的話嗎?這裏是夢——你們明白嗎，是夢——變成真的，變成現實的地方。不是白日夢，而是夢。”
大家沉默了半分鐘，於是只聽得盔甲一片鏗鏗鏘鏘，全體船員趕快滾下主艙口，急急忙忙拿起槳就劃，就像從沒劃過槳似的：德里寧把舵柄來個大轉彎，水手長使出航海史上空前快速的劃法。因爲就在那半分鐘裏，人人都想起了自己做過的夢——使你嚇得不敢再入睡的夢——明白一踏上那片夢假成真的地方有什麼惡果。
只有雷佩契普依然一動不動。
“陛下，陛下，”它說，“你打算容忍這種造反，這種臨陣脫逃行爲嗎?這是驚慌失措，是潰不成軍。”
“劃啊，劃啊，”凱斯賓大吼道，“拼命劃啊。船頭方向對嗎，德里寧?你愛怎麼說就怎麼說，雷佩契普。有些事情是沒人對付得了的。”
“那麼說來，幸虧我不是一個人了。”雷佩契普僵硬地鞠了一躬說。
露茜在桅杆高處聽到了這一切對話。她自己竭盡全力想法忘掉的一個夢，頓時栩栩如生，重現在眼前，彷彿剛從那個夢中醒來似的。原來在他們後面，那島上，黑暗中是那麼回事!霎時間她想要下去，到甲板上跟愛德蒙和凱斯賓在一起。可是有什麼用處呢?如果夢假成真的話，等她走到他們面前，他們自己也可能變成可怕的怪物的。她抓住觀測臺的欄杆，想法穩住身子。他們正竭盡全力，倒劃到亮處：再過一小會兒就沒事了。啊呀，只要現在沒事就好了!
雖然划槳發出很大的聲音，可是掩飾不了包圍船身那片死寂。人人都知道最好別聽，最好別豎起耳朵傾聽黑暗中的任何動靜：可是誰都情不自禁地聽着。不久大家就聽到動靜了，每個人聽見的都不一樣。
“你聽到那兒有種聲音像……像把大剪刀在喀嚓喀嚓響嗎?”尤斯塔斯問賴因斯。
“噓!”賴因斯說，“我聽得見他們爬上船身舷側了。”
“就要歇落在桅杆上了。”凱斯賓說。
“嘿!”一個水手說，“開始鳴鑼了。我知道會鳴鑼的。”
凱斯賓竭力目不旁視，尤其是不回頭看，徑自朝船尾德里寧那兒走去。
“德里寧，”他把嗓音壓得很低說，“我們剛纔進去時劃了多久——我意思是劃到救起陌生人的地方。”
“也許，五分鐘吧，”德里寧悄聲說，“幹嗎?”
“因爲我們想法出來已經不止五分鐘了。”
德里寧掌舵那隻手哆嗦了，一行冷汗從臉上流下。船上的人個個都冒出同樣的念頭。“我們出不去了，我們出不去了，”划槳的人悲嘆道，“他把我們領錯航線了。我們盡在繞圈子呢。我們永遠出不去了。”那陌生人本來一直蜷成一團躺在甲板上，現在坐起身，尖聲怪氣地發出一陣恐怖的大笑。
“出不去了!”他大聲喊道，“一點不錯。當然啦。我們永遠出不去了。我多蠢啊，竟然以爲他們會那樣輕易地讓我走掉。不，不，我們永遠出不去了。”
露茜把腦袋靠在觀測臺邊上，悄聲說：“阿斯蘭啊，阿斯蘭，如果你當真愛我們，馬上來救救我們吧。”那片黑暗雖然並未減少絲毫，可是她開始感到有一點兒——很小很小的一點兒——好轉了。“說到頭來，我們還沒真正出過什麼事呢。”她暗暗想道。
“瞧!”賴尼夫從船頭那兒嘶啞地喊道。前頭有一小點光，他們仔細看着，那一點光竟發出一大束光來照在船身上。雖然並沒改變周圍一片漆黑的環境，可是整條船就像給探照燈照亮似的。凱斯賓眨眨眼，朝四下盯着看，只見夥伴們臉上個個都帶着狂熱而專注的神情。大家都目不轉晴地望着同一方向：每個人的身後都橫着輪廓分明的黑影。"
露茜順着光束看去，不一會兒就看見光束裏有什麼東西。開頭看上去像個十字架，後來看上去像架飛機，再後來看上去像個風箏，最後翅膀呼呼地旋轉，就飛到頭頂上空，原來是隻信天翁。信天翁繞着桅杆飛了三圈，接着在船頭金龍的頸脊上歇了片刻。它發出一串有力的悅耳聲音，似乎在說什麼，可沒人聽得懂。之後它就張開雙翅飛了起來，開頭在前面飛得很慢，稍微偏向右舷。德里寧對它的導航深信不疑，就跟着它駕駛。可是除了露茜，誰也不知道它繞着桅杆飛時悄悄對她說過：“放勇敢些，心肝兒。”她相信這是阿斯蘭的聲音，話音未落，還有一股美妙的香味散發到她臉上。
一會兒工夫，前面那片黑暗就變成一片灰暗，接着，他們心裏幾乎還不敢開始抱有希望，這條船就穿進陽光中，重新投入溫暖的藍色天地。正如有些時候，你光是躺在牀上，看見日光瀉進窗戶，聽到窗下早班郵差和送奶人的歡笑聲，醒悟到這原來只不過是個夢，這不是真的，這種時刻真是妙不可言，爲了體會到醒來的樂趣，做了噩夢也幾乎非常值得。當他們衝出黑暗時，大家就都有這份體會。船身的鮮豔明亮使他們大爲驚訝，他們原來還以爲黑暗會纏住不放，在雪白、碧綠、金黃的船身上留下污垢和殘渣呢。
露茜趕緊下來，走到甲板上，只見大家都圍着那個陌生人。他高興得久久說不出話來，只會眼望着大海和太陽，摸着舷牆和纜繩，彷彿要使自己相信他的確醒着，臉上淚水滾滾直流。
“謝謝你們，”他終於說，“你們把我救出了……可是我不願談那事。現在我向你們說說自己是什麼人吧。我是納尼亞的一個臺爾馬人，當年我還有些身價時，人稱羅普爵爺。”
“我就是納尼亞國國王凱斯賓，”凱斯賓說，“我出海遠航就是來找你和你的夥伴們，你們都是我父親的朋友。”
羅普爵爺當即跪下，吻着國王的手。“陛下，”他說，“您是世上我最希望見到的人。請陛下開恩。”
“什麼事?”凱斯賓問。
“千萬別問我，也別讓任何人問我這些年來在黑暗島上的所見所聞。”
“這容易，爵爺，”凱斯賓答，又打了個寒噤道，“我認爲不該問你。我願意拿出全部財寶，也決不願聽到這種事。”
“陛下，”德里寧說，“這會兒朝東南去正是順風。要不要我叫我們可憐的夥伴起來準備開船?開船後，每一個抽得出身的都去吊牀睡覺。”
“不錯，”凱斯賓說，“讓大家痛飲一頓。嗨嗬，我覺得自己能整整睡上一天一夜呢。”
於是整個下午大家歡天喜地，順風向東南行駛，船後那一團漆黑越來越小，越來越小。不過誰也沒注意那信天翁幾時不見的。
