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chater ne behd the gy（第2页）

“Theonlywayyoucan—byMagic，”saidEustacealmostinawhisper。“Iwaswithtwocousinsofmine。Wewerejust—whiskedaway。They’dbeentherebefore。”

NowthattheyweretalkinginwhispersJillsomehowfeltiteasiertobelieve。Thensuddenlyahorriblesuspicioncameoverherandshesaid（sofiercelythatforthemomentshelookedlikeatigress）：

“IfIfindyou’vebeenpullingmylegI’llneverspeaktoyouagain；never，never，never。”

“I’mnot，”saidEustace。“IswearI’mnot。Iswearby—byeverything。”

（WhenIwasatschoolonewouldhavesaid，“IswearbytheBible。”ButBibleswerenotencouragedatExperimentHouse。）

“Allright，”saidJill，“I’llbelieveyou。”

“Andtellnobody？”

“Whatdoyoutakemefor？”

Theywereveryexcitedastheysaidthis。ButwhentheyhadsaiditandJilllookedroundandsawthedullautumnskyandheardthedripofftheleavesandthoughtofallthehopelessnessofExperimentHouse（itwasathirteen-weektermandtherewerestillelevenweekstocome）shesaid：

“Butafterall，what’sthegood？We’renotthere：we’rehere。Andwejollywellcan’tgetthere。Orcanwe？”

“That’swhatI’vebeenwondering，”saidEustace。“WhenwecamebackfromThatPlace，SomeonesaidthatthetwoPevensiekids（that’smytwocousins）couldnevergothereagain。Itwastheirthirdtime，yousee。Isupposethey’vehadtheirshare。ButheneversaidIcouldn’t。Surelyhewouldhavesaidso，unlesshemeantthatIwastogetback？AndIcan’thelpwondering，can

we—couldwe—？”

“Doyoumean，dosomethingtomakeithappen？”

Eustacenodded。

“Youmeanwemightdrawacircleontheground—andwriteinqueerlettersinit—andstandinsideit—andrecitecharmsandspells？”

“Well，”saidEustaceafterhehadthoughthardforabit。“IbelievethatwasthesortofthingIwasthinkingof，thoughIneverdidit。Butnowthatitcomestothepoint，I’veanideathatallthosecirclesandthingsareratherrot。Idon’tthinkhe’dlikethem。Itwouldlookasifwethoughtwecouldmakehimdothings。Butreally，wecanonlyaskhim。”

“Whoisthispersonyoukeepontalkingabout？”

“TheycallhimAslaninThatPlace，”saidEustace。

“Whatacuriousname！”

“Nothalfsocuriousashimself，”saidEustacesolemnly。“Butlet’sgeton。Itcan’tdoanyharm，justasking。Let’sstandsidebyside，likethis。Andwe’llholdoutourarmsinfrontofuswiththepalmsdown：liketheydidinRamandu’sisland—”

“Whoseisland？”

“I’lltellyouaboutthatanothertime。Andhemightlikeustofacetheeast。Let’ssee，whereistheeast？”

“Idon’tknow，”saidJill。

“It’sanextraordinarythingaboutgirlsthattheyneverknowthepointsofthecompass，”saidEustace。

“Youdon’tknoweither，”saidJillindignantly。

“YesIdo，ifonlyyoudidn’tkeeponinterrupting。I’vegotitnow。That’stheeast，facingupintothelaurels。Now，willyousaythewordsafterme？”

“Whatwords？”askedJill。

“ThewordsI’mgoingtosay，ofcourse，”answeredEustace。“Now—”

Andhebegan，“Aslan，Aslan，Aslan！”

“Aslan，Aslan，Aslan，”repeatedJill。

“Pleaseletustwogointo—”

Atthatmomentavoicefromtheothersideofthegymwasheardshoutingout，“Pole？Yes。Iknowwheresheis。She’sblubbingbehindthegym。ShallIfetchherout？”

JillandEustacegaveoneglanceateachother，divedunderthelaurels，andbeganscramblingupthesteep，earthyslopeoftheshrubberyataspeedwhichdidthemgreatcredit。（OwingtothecuriousmethodsofteachingatExperimentHouse，onedidnotlearnmuchFrenchorMathsorLatinorthingsofthatsort；butonedidlearnalotaboutgettingawayquicklyandquietlywhentheywerelookingforone。）

Afteraboutaminute’sscrambletheystoppedtolisten，andknewbythenoisestheyheardthattheywerebeingfollowed。

“Ifonlythedoorwasopenagain！”saidScrubbastheywenton，andJillnodded。Foratthetopoftheshrubberywasahighstonewallandinthatwalladoorbywhichyoucouldgetoutontoopenmoor。Thisdoorwasnearlyalwayslocked。Buttherehadbeentimeswhenpeoplehadfounditopen；orperhapstherehadbeenonlyonetime。Butyoumayimaginehowthememoryofevenonetimekeptpeoplehoping，andtryingthedoor；forifitshouldhappentobeunlockeditwouldbeasplendidwayofgettingoutsidetheschoolgroundswithoutbeingseen。

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