Chapter 12 Chapter 12 Dark Island

After this adventure was over, they sailed south and slightly easterly for twelve days with a moderate wind, the sky was mostly clear and the air was warm, and neither bird nor fish was seen except once, far off starboard. The whale is spouting.During this time Lucy and Reepicheep played many rounds of chess.On the thirteenth day, from the masthead observation deck, Edmund saw a dark mass rising out of the sea on the port bow, which looked like a great mountain. They changed course and sailed towards this land, chiefly by oars, because there was not enough wind to go northeast.When night fell, they were still far away from there, and they rowed all night.The next morning, the weather was fine, except that the sea was calm.Ahead of them lay the huge, dark mass, so much nearer and larger, but still so dim that some thought it was far away, and others thought they had broken into something. It was a fog.

About nine o'clock that morning, all of a sudden, they saw so close together that this was not land at all, nor even fog in the usual sense.It turned out to be dark.It's kind of hard to describe, but if you can imagine yourself looking into the entrance of a railway tunnel - a very long or winding tunnel with no light at the far end - you'll get an idea of ​​what it's like up. You know what it's like to go through a tunnel.First a few feet away you see rails, sleepers, and rubble in broad daylight; then you come to a dark place; without a trace.That's exactly the case here.A few feet in front of the bow, they could see the turquoise water crashing in.Further outside, the sea water turned gray, as it looked in the evening.But looking further away, all they could see was pitch black, as if they were about to enter a starless, moonless night.

Caspian shouted to the bosun to pull the boat astern, and all but the oars rushed forward and looked out from the bow.But I can't seem to see anything.Behind them was the sea and the sun, and in front of them was darkness. "Shall we go in?" asked Caspian at last. "In my opinion it is better not to go in," said Drinian. "The captain is right," said several sailors. "I almost think he's quite right," said Edmund. Lucy and Eustace were silent, but at the critical moment when the matter seemed to be settled, they were both very happy, when the clear voice of Reepicheep broke the silence.

"Why don't you go in?" it said. "Would someone explain to me why?" No one was eager to explain, so Reepicheep went on: "If I were addressing farmers or slaves," it said, "I might think the suggestion was made of cowardice. But I hope that there will never be a story in Narnia of a line of noble royals, in the prime of life, who Fearing the dark, I turned my butt and ran away." "But what's the use of driving into that darkness anyway?" asked Drinian. "Useful?" replied Reepicheep. "Useful, Captain? If by usefulness you mean to fill our bellies or pockets, I admit it is not useful at all. As far as I know, we do not set sail to Seek what is useful, but honor and adventure. There is a great adventure that I have never heard of, and if we go back, our honor will have much to blame."

Several of the sailors spoke under their breath, and it sounded as if they were saying, "Bastard honour." But Caspian said, "Oh, you're a nuisance, Reepicheep. I wish I'd kept you at home. Come on! If you In that, then I think we'll have to go on. Unless Lucy won't go?" Lucy felt very reluctant to go, but said loudly, "I will." "Your Majesty will at least order the lamps to be lit?" said Drinian. "It goes without saying," said Caspian, "that it must be done, Captain." Then the lights at the stern, at the bow, and at the top of the mast were all lit, and Drinian ordered two torches to be lit amidships.The lights looked dim in the sunlight.All the men, save a few oars below, were then ordered to go on deck, fully armed, with drawn swords, at their fighting posts.Lucy and the two archers were sent to the masthead observatory, bows drawn and arrows strung.Sailor Rainif was at the bow, holding a measuring line, ready to measure the depth of the water.Reepicheep, Edmund, Eustace, and Caspian, all gleaming in armor, accompanied him.Drinian was at the helm.

"Now, in Aslan's name, go forward," cried Caspian, "with slow and steady oars. Be quiet, all, and wait for orders." As the crew began to paddle, the Dawn Treader creaked, hummed, and crept forward.Just as the ship sailed into that darkness, Lucy beheld the momentary spectacle from the masthead observatory.The sun was still shining on the stern, but the bow was no longer visible.She looked at it and it was gone.At this moment, the gilded stern, the blue sea and sky were still in broad daylight, but after a while the sea and sky disappeared, and the stern light, which was barely visible just now, became the only sign of the stern.She could see the dark shadow of Drinian bending over the helm before the lamp.Below her, the two torches made two small spots of light on the deck, and the flames flickered on swords and helmets, and looking ahead, there was also a spot on the forecastle.Besides, the observatory, lit by the masthead light just above her head, seemed to be a little luminous world of its own, floating in the silent darkness.Just as you have to turn on lights at times of the day when they shouldn't be, lights always look eerie and unnatural, and these lights are just that.She also noticed that she was cold.

How long this voyage into the darkness will last no one knows.Except for the creaking of the oarlocks and the rattling of the oars, there was no visible movement of the hull.Edmund, looking out from the bow, could see nothing but the reflection of the lights on the water before him.The reflection looked slimy, and the ripples the bow made as it advanced looked heavy, small, and lifeless.The minutes passed, and everyone except the oarsmen was shivering with cold. No one could tell the direction right now. Suddenly, there was a shout from nowhere. It didn't sound like a human voice, or it was the voice of some guy who was so frightened that he almost didn't look human.

Caspian's mouth was so dry, but he was trying desperately to speak, when the shrill voice of Reepicheep was heard, and it sounded remarkably loud in the silence. "Who's calling?" he screamed. "If you're an enemy, we won't be afraid of you. If you're a friend, your enemies will learn from us." "Please, please," cried the voice, "please please! Please please, even if you are only another dream. Let me aboard. Take me, even if you kill me .But please be kind and don’t disappear again and leave me in this horrible ghost place.” "Where are you?" cried Caspian. "Aboard, welcome!"

They heard another cry, and they didn't know whether it was out of joy or fear, so they knew that someone was swimming towards them. "Stand over the side, boys, and pull him up," said Caspian. "Yes, yes, sire," said the sailors.Several people held the cables and squeezed to the port bulwark, and one person held a torch and leaned far out of the bulwark.A crazy white face emerged from the dark water, and after some climbing and pulling, a dozen friendly hands finally pulled the stranger into the boat. Edmund thought he had never seen such a wild-looking man.Although he didn't look very old, his hair was disheveled and snow-white, his face was thin and tense, and his clothes were only hung with some wet rags.But people mainly pay attention to his eyes, which are wide open, and it seems that there are no eyelids at all, staring at him intently, as if he was scared to death.As soon as his feet were on deck he said:

"Fly! Fly! Fly with the boat and people! Row, row, row hard, get away from this unlucky coast as soon as possible." "Calm down," said Reepicheep, "tell us what the danger is, we never fly." The stranger was terrified at the rat's voice, and he hadn't noticed the rat was there just now. "Nevertheless, you must fly away from here," he said out of breath, "this is the island where dreams come true." "This island is exactly what I have been seeking for many years," said a sailor. "I thought if we landed here I could find myself married to Nancy."

"I'll find out Tom's alive again," said another sailor. "Fool!" said the man, stamping his foot in anger. "I came to this island on the basis of this nonsense, and wished I were drowned, or never born. Do you hear what I say? Here is Dreams—do you understand, where dreams—come true, become reality. Not daydreams, but dreams.” Everyone was silent for half a minute, then only the clanging of armor was heard, and the whole crew hurriedly rolled down the main hatch, and hurriedly picked up the oars and rowed, as if they had never rowed oars: Drinian put the tiller Turning sharply, the boatswain made the fastest stroke ever seen in the history of navigation.Because for that half minute, everyone remembered the dreams they'd had—dreams that scared you so much that you couldn't go back to sleep—and knew what it was to set foot in that place where dreams come true. Only Reepicheep remained motionless. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty," it said, "are you going to put up with this rebellion, this desertion? It's panic, it's a rout." "Row, row," yelled Caspian, "row hard. Is the bow in the right direction, Drinian? Say what you like, Reepicheep. There are some things no one can handle." .” "Then it's a good thing I'm not alone," said Reepicheep, bowing stiffly. Lucy heard all this conversation from high on the mast.A dream that she had tried her best to forget suddenly came back to life, as if she had just woken up from that dream.So what was going on behind them, on the island, in the darkness! For a moment she wanted to go down and be on deck with Edmund and Caspian.But what was the use? If the dream had come true, they might themselves have been transformed into monstrous monsters when she came before them.She grabbed onto the railing of the observation deck, trying to steady herself.They're doing their best, back rowing to the light: it'll be all right in a little while.Ah, as long as it's okay now! Although the oars made a loud noise, it couldn't hide the dead silence surrounding the hull.Everyone knows it's better not to listen, better not to prick up your ears for any movement in the dark: but one can't help listening.Soon everyone heard the movement, and everyone heard it differently. "Do you hear something like... like a pair of scissors snapping?" Eustace asked Reines. "Shh!" Reines said, "I can hear them climbing up the side of the ship." "It's about to land on the mast," said Caspian. "Hey!" said one of the sailors, "the gong is starting to sound. I knew it was going to sound." Caspian made an effort not to look away, and especially not to look back, as he walked aft towards Drinian. "Drinian," he said in a low voice, "how long did we row when we got in--I mean to the point where the stranger was rescued." "Five minutes, perhaps," Drinian whispered, "for what?" "Because it's been more than five minutes since we came up with the idea." Drinian's steering hand trembled, and a line of cold sweat ran down his face.Everyone on board had the same thought. "We can't get out, we can't get out," lamented the oarsman, "he's leading us on the wrong course. We're all going in circles. We'll never get out." The stranger had been curled up Lying in a heap on the deck, he sat up now, and let out a shrill, horrible laugh. "No way!" he cried. "Exactly. Of course. We'll never get out. What a fool I was to think they'd let me go that easily. No, no, we'll never get out." not going." Lucy leaned her head against the edge of the observatory and whispered, "Aslan, Aslan, if you really love us, come and save us." The darkness didn't abate a bit, but she began to Feeling a little—a tiny, tiny—better. "After all, nothing really happened to us," she thought to herself. "Look!" cried Lainif hoarsely from the bow.There was a small spot of light ahead, and they looked carefully, and that spot of light sent out a large beam of light to shine on the hull of the ship.Although it didn't change the darkness around it, the whole ship seemed to be illuminated by a searchlight.Caspian blinked, and looked about him, seeing the wild and intent expressions on the faces of his companions.Everyone stared in the same direction intently: behind each of them was a black figure with a clear outline. " Lucy looked along the beam, and after a while saw something in the beam.At first it looked like a cross, then it looked like an airplane, then it looked like a kite, and finally it whirled its wings and flew overhead, and it turned out to be an albatross.The albatross flew three times around the mast, and then rested for a while on the neck of the golden dragon in the bow.It made a series of powerful and pleasant sounds, which seemed to be saying something, but no one could understand it.Then she spread her wings and took off, flying very slowly ahead at first, leaning a little to starboard.Drinian was so confident in its navigation that he followed it.But no one but Lucy knew that it whispered to her as it flew round the mast, "Be brave, sweetheart." She believed it to be Aslan's voice, and there was a sweet scent before it was finished spread over her face. In a moment the darkness ahead turned to grayness, and then, scarcely daring to begin to hope in their hearts, the boat was thrust out into the sunlight and out again into the warm blue world.Just as there are times when you just lie in bed and see the sunlight pouring through the window and hear the morning postman and the milkman laughing beneath the window and realize it was just a dream and it wasn't real. It's wonderful, and the nightmare is almost worth it for the joy of waking up.When they burst out of the darkness, everyone felt this way.They were amazed by the vividness of the hull, who had expected the darkness to linger and leave dirt and debris on the white and green and gold of the hull. Lucy hurried down and went to the deck, and saw everyone gathered around the stranger.He was so happy that he couldn't speak for a long time. He could only look at the sea and the sun, feel the bulwarks and the cables, as if to convince himself that he was indeed awake, and the tears rolled down his face. "Thank you," he said at last, "you got me out...but I don't want to talk about that. Now I will tell you who I am. I am a Telmarine from Narnia, When I was still worth something, I was called Lord Rope." "I am Caspian King of Narnia," said Caspian, "and I have come on this voyage to find you and your companions, who are my father's friends." Lord Roop immediately knelt down and kissed the king's hand. "Your Majesty," he said, "you are the most desirable person in the world. Please Your Majesty." "What is it?" asked Caspian. "Don't ask me, and don't let anyone ask me what I've seen and heard on Dark Island over the years." "That's easy, my lord," answered Caspian, and shuddered again. "I don't think it right to ask you. I'd give all my treasure to hear of it." "Your Majesty," said Drinian, "there is a fair wind to the south-east. Shall I call our poor companions to get up and get ready to sail? After sailing, everyone who can spare will sleep in a hammock." "That's right," said Caspian, "let's have a good drink. Hey, I think I'll sleep a whole day and a night." So the whole afternoon everyone was happy, sailing southeast with the wind, and the blackness behind the boat became smaller and smaller, smaller and smaller.But no one noticed when the albatross disappeared.