CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE WONDERS OF THE LAST SEA

Very soon after they had left Ramandu’s country they began to feel that they had already sailed beyond the world. All was different. For one thing they all found that they were needing less sleep. One did not want to go to bed nor to eat much, nor even to talk except in low voices. Another thing was the light. There was too much of it. The sun when it came up each morning looked twice, if not three times, its usual size. And every morning（which gave Lucy the strangest feeling of all）the huge white birds, singing their song with human voices in a language no one knew, streamed overhead and vanished astern on their way to their breakfast at Aslan’s Table. A little later they came flying back and vanished into the east.

“How beautifully clear the water is！” said Lucy to herself, as she leaned over the port side early in the afternoon of the second day.

And it was. The first thing that she noticed was a little black object, about the size of a shoe, traveling along at the same speed as the ship. For a moment she thought it was something floating on the surface. But then there came floating past a bit of stale bread which the cook had just thrown out of the galley. And the bit of bread looked as if it were going to collide with the black thing, but it didn’t. It passed above it, and Lucy now saw that the black thing could not be on the surface. Then the black thing suddenly got very much bigger and flicked back to normal size a moment later.

Now Lucy knew she had seen something just like that happen somewhere else—if only she could remember where. She held her hand to her head and screwed up her face and put out her tongue in the effort to remember. At last she did. Of course！It was like what you saw from a train on a bright sunny day. You saw the black shadow of your own coach running along the fields at the same pace as the train. Then you went into a cutting; and immediately the same shadow flicked close up to you and got big, racing along the grass of the cutting-bank. Then you came out of the cutting and—flick！—once more the black shadow had gone back to its normal size and was running along the fields.

“It’s our shadow！-the shadow of the Dawn Treader,” said Lucy. “Our shadow running along on the bottom of the sea. That time when it got bigger it went over a hill. But in that case the water must be clearer than I thought！Good gracious, I must be seeing the bottom of the sea; fathoms and fathoms down.”

As soon as she had said this she realized that the great silvery expanse which she had been seeing（without noticing）for some time was really the sand on the sea-bed and that ail sorts of darker or brighter patches were not lights and shadows on the surface but real things on the bottom. At present, for instance, they were passing over a mass of soft purply green with a broad, winding strip of pale gray in the middle of it. But now that she knew it was on the bottom she saw it much better. She could see that bits of the dark stuff were much higher than other bits and were waving gently. “Just like trees in a wind,” said Lucy. “And do believe that’s what they are. It’s a submarine forest.”

They passed on above it and presently the pale streak was joined by another pale streak. “If I was down there,” thought Lucy, “that streak would be just like a road through the wood. And that place where it joins the other would be a crossroads. Oh, I do wish I was. Hallo！the forest is coming to an end. And I do believe the streak really was a road！I can still see it going on across the open sand. It’s a different color. And it’s marked out with something at the edges—dotted lines. Perhaps they are stones. And now it’s getting wider.”

But it was not really getting wider, it was getting nearer. She realized this because of the way in which the shadow of the ship came rushing up toward her. And the road—she felt sure it was a road now—began to go in zigzags. Obviously it was climbing up a steep hill. And when she held her head sideways and looked back, what she saw was very like what you see when you look down a winding road from the top of a hill. She could even see the shafts of sunlight falling through the deep water onto the wooded valley—and, in the extreme distance, everything melting away into a dim greenness. But some places—the sunny ones, she thought—were ultramarine blue.

She could not, however, spend much time looking back; what was coming into view in the forward direction was too exciting. The road had apparently now reached the top of the hill and ran straight forward. Little specks were moving to and fro on it. And now something most wonderful, fortunately in full sunlight—or as full as it can be when it falls through fathoms of water—flashed into sight. It was knobbly and jagged and of a pearly, or perhaps an ivory, color. She was so nearly straight above it that at first she could hardly make out what it was. But everything became plain when she noticed its shadow. The sunlight was falling across Lucy’s shoulders, so the shadow of the thing lay stretched out on the sand behind it. And by its shape she saw clearly that it was a shadow of towers and pinnacles, minarets and domes.

“Why！—it’s a city or a huge castle,” said Lucy to herself. “But I wonder why they’ve built it on top of a high mountain?”

Long afterward when she was back in England and talked all these adventures over with Edmund, they thought of a reason and I am pretty sure it is the true one. In the sea, the deeper you go, the darker and colder it gets, and it is down there, in the dark and cold, that dangerous things live—the squid and the Sea Serpent and the Kraken. The valleys are the wild, unfriendly places. The sea-people feel about their valleys as we do about mountains, and feel about their mountains as we feel about valleys. It is on the heights（or, as we would say, “in the shallows”）that there is warmth and peace. The reckless hunters and brave knights of the sea go down into the depths on quests and adventures, but return home to the heights for rest and peace, courtesy and council, the sports, the dances and the songs.

They had passed the city and the sea-bed was still rising. It was only a few hundred feet below the ship now. The road had disappeared. They were sailing above an open park-like country, dotted with little groves of brightly-colored vegetation. And then—Lucy nearly squealed aloud with excitement—she had seen People.

There were between fifteen and twenty of them, and all mounted on sea-horses—not the tiny little sea-horses which you may have seen in museums but horses rather bigger than themselves. They must be noble and lordly people, Lucy thought, for she could catch the gleam of gold on some of their foreheads and streamers of emerald or orange-colored stuff fluttered from their shoulders in the current. Then：

“Oh, bother these fish！” said Lucy, for a whole shoal of small fat fish, swimming quite close to the surface, had come between her and the Sea People. But though this spoiled her view it led to the most interesting thing of all. Suddenly a fierce little fish of a kind she had never seen before came darting up from below, snapped, grabbed, and sank rapidly with one of the fat fish in its mouth. And all the Sea People were sitting on their horses staring up at what had happened. They seemed to be talking and laughing. And before the hunting fish had got back to them with its prey, another of the same kind came up from the Sea People. And Lucy was almost certain that one big Sea Man who sat on his sea-horse in the middle of the party had sent it or released it; as if he had been holdng it back till then in his hand or on his wrist.

“Why, I do declare,” said Lucy, “it’s a hunting party. Or more like a hawking party. Yes, that’s it. They ride out with these little fierce fish on their wrists just as we used to ride out with falcons on our wrists when we were Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel long ago. And then they fly them—or I suppose I should say swim them—at the others. How—”

She stopped suddenly because the scene was changing. The Sea People had noticed the Dawn Treader. The shoal of fish hard scattered in every direction：the People themselves were coming up to find out the meaning of this big, black thing which had come between them and the sun. And now they were so close to the surface that if they had been in air, instead of water, Lucy could have spoken to them. There were men and women both. All wore coronets of some kind and many had chains of pearls. They wore no other clothes. Their bodies were the color of old ivory, their hair dark purple. The King in the center（no one could mistake him for anything but the King）looked proudly and fiercely into Lucy’s face and shook a spear in his hand. His knights did the same. The faces of the ladies were filled with astonishment. Lucy felt sure they had never seen a ship or a human before—and how should they, in seas beyond the world’s end where no ship ever came?

“What are you staring at, Lu?” said a voice close beside her.

Lucy had been so absorbed in what she was seeing that she started at the sound, and when she turned she found that her arm had gone “dead” from leaning so long on the rail in one position. Drinian and Edmund were beside her.

“Look,” she said.

They both looked, but almost at once Drinian said in a low voice：

“Turn round at once, your Majesties—that’s right, with our backs to the sea. And don’t look as if we were talking about anything important.”

“Why, what’s the matter?” said Lucy as she obeyed.

“It’ll never do for the sailors to see all that,” said Drinian. “We’ll have men falling in love with a sea-woman, or falling in love with the under-sea country itself, and jumping overboard. I’ve heard of that kind of thing happening before in strange seas. It’s always unlucky to see these people.”

“But we used to know them,” said Lucy. “In the old days at Cair Paravel when my brother Peter was High King. They came to the surface and sang at our coronation.”

“I think that must have been a different kind, Lu,” said Edmund. “They could live in the air as well as under water. I rather think these can’t. By the look of them they’d have surfaced and started attacking us long ago if they could. They seem very fierce.”

“At any rate,” said Drinian, but at that moment two sounds were heard. One was a plop. The other was a voice from the fighting-top shouting, “Man overboard！” Then everyone was busy. Some of the sailors hurried aloft to take in the sail; others hurried below to get to the oars; and Rhince, who was on duty on the poop, began to put the helm hard over so as to come round and back to the man who had gone overboard. But by now everyone knew that it wasn’t strictly a man. It was Reepicheep.

“Drat that mouse！” said Drinian. “It’s more trouble than all the rest of the ship’s company put together. If there is any scrape to be got into, in it will get！It ought to be put in irons—keel-hauled—marooned—have its whiskers cut off. Can anyone see the little blighter?”

All this didn’t mean that Drinian really disliked Reepicheep. On the contrary he liked him very much and was therefore frightened about him, and being frightened put him in a bad temper—just as your mother is much angrier with you for running out into the road in front of a car than a stranger would be. No one, of course, was afraid of Reepicheep’s drowning, for he was an excellent swimmer; but the three who knew what was going on below the water were afraid of those long, cruel spears in the hands of the Sea People.

In a few minutes the Dawn Treader had come round and everyone could see the black blob in the water which was Reepicheep. He was chattering with the greatest excitement but as his mouth kept on getting filled with water nobody could understand what he was saying.

“He’ll blurt the whole thing out if we don’t shut him up,” cried Drinian. To prevent this he rushed to the side and lowered a rope himself, shouting to the sailors, “All right, all right. Back to your places. I hope I can heave a mouse up without help.” And as Reepicheep began climbing up the rope—not very nimbly because his wet fur made him heavy—Drinian leaned over and whispered to him,

“Don’t tell. Not a word.”

But when the dripping Mouse had reached the deck it turned out not to be at all interested in the Sea People.

“Sweet！” he cheeped. “Sweet, sweet！”

“What are you talking about?” asked Drinian crossly. “And you needn’t shake yourself all over me, either.”

“I tell you the water’s sweet,” said the Mouse. “Sweet, fresh. It isn’t salt.”

For a moment no one quite took in the importance of this. But then Reepicheep once more repeated the old prophecy：

“Where the waves grow sweet,

Doubt not, Reepicheep,

There is the utter East.”

Then at last everyone understood.

“Let me have a bucket, Rynelf,” said Drinian.

It was handed him and he lowered it and up it came again. The water shone in it like glass.

“Perhaps your Majesty would like to taste it first,” said Drinian to Caspian.

The King took the bucket in both hands, raised it to his lips, sipped, then drank deeply and raised his head. His face was changed. Not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter.

“Yes,” he said, “it is sweet. That’s real water, that. I’m not sure that it isn’t going to kill me. But it is the death I would have chosen—if I’d known about it till now.”

“What do you mean?” asked Edmund.

“It—it’s like light more than anything else,” said Caspian.

“That is what it is,” said Reepicheep. “Drinkable light. We must be very near the end of the world now.”

There was a moment’s silence and then Lucy knelt down on the deck and drank from the bucket.

“It’s the loveliest thing I have ever tasted,” she said with a kind of gasp. “But oh—it’s strong. We shan’t need to eat anything now.”

And one by one everybody on board drank. And for a long time they were all silent. They felt almost too well and strong to bear it; and presently they began to notice another result. As I have said before, there had been too much light ever since they left the island of Ramandu—the sun too large（though not too hot）, the sea too bright, the air too shining. Now, the light grew no less—if anything, it increased—but they could bear it. They could look straight up at the sun without blinking. They could see more light than they had ever seen before. And the deck and the sail and their own faces and bodies became brighter and brighter and every rope shone. And next morning, when the sun rose, now five or six times its old size, they stared hard into it and could see the very feathers of the birds that came flying from it.

Hardly a word was spoken on board all that day, till about dinner-time（no one wanted any dinner, the water was enough for them）Drinian said：

“I can’t understand this. There is not a breath of wind. The sail hangs dead. The sea is as flat as a pond. And yet we drive on as fast as if there were a gale behind us.”

“I’ve been thinking that, too,” said Caspian. “We must be caught in some strong current.”

“H’m,” said Edmund. “That’s not so nice if the World really has an edge and we’re getting near it.”

“You mean,” said Caspian, “that we might be just—well, poured over it?”

“Yes, yes,” cried Reepicheep, clapping his paws together. “That’s how I’ve always imagined it—the World like a great round table and the waters of all the oceans endlessly pouring over the edge. The ship will tip up—stand on her head—for one moment we shall see over the edge—and then, down, down, the rush, the speed—”

“And what do you think will be waiting for us at the bottom, eh?” said Drinian.

“Aslan’s country perhaps,” said the Mouse, its eyes shining. “Or perhaps there isn’t any bottom. Perhaps it goes down for ever and ever. But whatever it is, won’t it be worth anything just to have looked for one moment beyond the edge of the world.”

“But look here,” said Eustace, “this is all rot. The world’s round—I mean, round like a ball, not like a table.”

“Our world is,” said Edmund. “But is this?”

“Do you mean to say,” asked Caspian, “that you three come from a round world（round like a ball）and you’ve never told me！It’s really too bad of you. Because we have fairytales in which there are round worlds and I always loved them. I never believed there were any real ones. But I’ve always wished there were and I’ve always longed to live in one. Oh, I’d give anything—I wonder why you can get into our world and we never get into yours? If only I had the chance！It must be exciting to live on a thing like a ball. Have you ever been to the parts where people walk about upside-down?”

Edmund shook his head. “And it isn’t like that,” he added. “There’s nothing particularly exciting about a round world when you’re there.

第十五章 末海奇遇記

他們駛離拉曼度的島嶼之後不久，便開始感覺自己已經駛出了世界之外。一切看上去都不同了。首先，他們都發現自己所需要的睡眠越來越少了。他們不想上床睡覺，吃得也不多，甚至連話也不願多說，即使說也是輕聲低語。另一個不尋常的地方就是光，實在是太亮了。太陽在每天早晨升起時，看上去像是平常的兩倍，甚至三倍大小。而每天早晨（露西對一點感覺最奇怪），成百上千只大白鳥飛過他們的頭頂，用人類的聲音唱著他們聽不懂的歌謠，消失在船後，前往阿斯蘭之桌赴早宴。過了一會兒它們又飛了回來，最後消失在東邊的天際。

第二天下午早些時候，露西倚著左舷探出身子。“這海水多麼清澈，多麼美麗啊！”她自言自語道。

的確如此。突然，一個小小的黑色物體吸引了她的注意力，那個物體大概和一隻鞋子大小相當，向前移動著，和船行速度一樣。有那麼一會兒，她以為那是什麼東西漂浮在海面上。可是過了一會兒又漂來一小塊變了質的麵包，那是廚師剛剛從廚房裡扔出來的。那一小塊麵包看上去就快要和這個黑色的東西撞上了，可是並沒有，而是從上面漂了過去。於是露西現在知道這個黑色的東西不可能是漂浮在海面上的。突然這個黑色的東西一下子變得很大，過了一會兒又縮回了原來的大小。

露西知道自己以前一定在哪裡見過這種現象——可她一時想不起是在哪裡見到的了。她抬手揉著自己的臉，吐著舌頭，努力回想。最後她終於想起來了。沒錯！那就像是在一個陽光明媚的大晴天，你坐在火車裡看到的情景。你看見自己車廂的黑色影子在田野中穿梭，速度和火車一樣快。接著火車駛進了一處路塹，那影子便立刻躍至你的眼前，變得很大，沿著路塹堤上的草地朝前奔著。然後火車駛出了路塹——看啊！只見那黑色影子又變回了原來大小，又繼續沿著田野穿梭了。

“那是我們的影子！——是‘黎明踏浪’號的影子！”露西驚呼道，“我們的影子正在海底往前航行。剛才影子變大的時候，它正好從海底一處山丘上經過。但如果真是這樣的話，海水一定比我想象得還要清澈！老天哪，我現在一定是看到了海底，深不可測的海底。”

她一說出這話來，便立刻意識到自己有段時間一直看到（不過沒怎麼注意到）的一大片銀色，其實是海床上的白沙，而上面各種或明或暗的斑塊並非海面上的光影，而是真實存在於海底的各種東西。比如說，現在他們的下方是一片柔軟的紫綠色，中間有一道彎彎曲曲的淺灰色寬條紋。不過現在她已經知道這是海底的真實影象，她就看得更仔細了。她能看見上面深色的部分比其他部分要高出許多，而且還在微微擺動著。“就像風中的樹一樣。”露西說道，“我覺得那就是樹。那是海底的森林。

他們從那片森林上方駛過，現在又有另一道淺色條紋加入了剛才那道淺色條紋。“要是我在下面的海底，”露西心想，“那道條紋就會像一條穿過樹林的馬路一樣。而兩道條紋相接的地方就會是一個十字路口。噢，我真希望自己能在海底。嘿！森林要到頭了。我真的覺得那道條紋就是一條路！我還能看見那條路穿過了開闊的沙灘。就是顏色有些不同，而且邊緣好像有什麼標記出了邊線——是條虛線。也許是石頭組成的。現在路又變寬了。”

不過其實路並沒有變寬，只是離得近了。她意識到這一點是因為，她注意到船的影子看起來似乎朝她衝上來了。而這條路——現在她能肯定那是條路了——開始變得蜿蜒曲折起來。顯然這條路開始攀上一座陡峭的山丘。她把頭偏過去回看剛才的海底，所見的畫面很像你從山頂俯瞰蜿蜒公路的情景。她甚至能看見道道陽光照進深深的海水，落在海底森林覆蓋的谷底——從那麼遙遠的高處看去，一切都消融在那一片幽綠中。不過有些地方——應該是陽光照耀的地方，她想——則是碧藍碧藍的顏色。

不過她沒有花很多時間回看之前的海底，因為前方映入眼簾的畫面更為激動人心。顯然那條路現在已經延伸到了山頂，又筆直往前，上面還有小小的斑點在來回移動。此時她的眼前出現了一幅極其壯麗的景象——有幸陽光十分充足，或者說那已經是數千英尋海水之下最為充足的光線了，她才能看得這樣真切。那是一個凹凸不平、稜角有致的東西，呈珍珠白，或者說是象牙白色。她幾乎是在這個東西的正上方，所以起初她都沒能辨認出那是什麼。不過當她注意到這個東西的影子時，心裡便了然了。此時陽光正從露西肩後落下來，因此這個東西的影子長長地拖在其後的沙灘上。露西看得很清楚，那影子的形狀是一簇高塔尖峰、圓頂瓊樓。

“哎呀！那是一座城，或者是一幢大城堡。”露西自言自語道，“不過我不明白，他們為什麼要把它造在這麼高的山頂上呢？”

很久以後，當她回到英國和愛德蒙討論起這些冒險經歷的時候，他們想出了一個可以解釋這個問題的理由，我很肯定這個理由應該是正確的。在大海里，越是深的地方，越是黑暗寒冷，而危險的生物恰恰是生活在海底又黑又冷的地方——比如大魷魚怪、海蛇怪和克拉肯海怪之類的。山谷裡十分荒涼，也不適宜居住。生活在海里的人們看待山谷就好比我們看待野外深山一樣，而他們看待高山就好比我們看待山谷。只有在高處（或者，像我們通常所說的，“在淺一些的地方”）才比較溫暖安全。海中不畏艱險的獵手和英武的騎士會到海底深處去探險尋寶，不過他們的家都建在高處，人們在那裡安居樂業，處理行政事務，進行體育運動，載歌載舞。

“黎明踏浪”號已經駛離了海底城市，而海床依然在上升，現在海底離船僅有幾百英尺了。那條路已經不見了，此刻他們正在一個空曠的公園上航行——像是在村野郊外，四下佈滿了一小叢一小叢顏色鮮豔的植被。接著——露西幾乎要激動地大叫出聲了——她看見了海里的人！

那兒大概有十五到二十個人，都騎在海馬上——並非你可能在博物館裡看到的那些極小的海馬，而是比人還要大一些的馬。他們一定是高貴的王公貴族，露西心想，因為她可以看到他們當中有些人的額頭上金光閃閃，他們肩上佩戴著翡翠色或是橘黃色的裝飾，在水流中飄蕩著。接著：

“噢！這些魚真煩人！”露西說道，因為此時有一大群肥肥胖胖的小魚從海面下的較淺處遊過，擋在了她和海族人中間。不過儘管這些魚遮住了她的視線，卻因此發生了一件十分有趣的事。突然一條不知是什麼種類的、十分兇猛的小魚從下方直衝上來，搖頭甩尾，扯拉撕咬著，咬住了一條小胖魚，很快又遊了下去。與此同時，所有的海族人都坐在馬上看著這一幕。他們似乎還在談笑風生。還沒等這條叼著獵物的捕獵魚回到他們那裡去，海族人又放出來一條一模一樣的魚。露西幾乎能肯定，這條魚是這群人中央坐在馬上的那個高大男人放出來的，就好像這魚之前一直停在他的手裡或者腕上一樣。

“啊，我敢說這是一場狩獵行動，”露西說道，“或者更像是一場鷹獵行動。對的，沒錯了。他們騎馬出行，腕上停著這些兇猛的小魚，就好像很多年以前，我們還是凱爾帕拉維爾的國王和女王那會兒，常常騎著馬，腕上停著隼，外出捕獵。然後他們讓這些魚飛過去——我想我應該說讓這些魚游過去——抓住獵物。怎麼——”

她突然停下了，因為眼前的情形又出現了變化。這些海族人已經注意到了“黎明踏浪”號。那群小胖魚四處遊開，而現在海族人親自游上來了，打算看看這個擋在他們和太陽之間的巨大的黑色東西到底是什麼。此時他們已經離海面很近了，要不是他們在水中，現在露西都已經可以和他們說話了。他們中有男人也有女人，所有人頭頂都戴著皇冠一樣的頭飾，還有許多人戴著珍珠項鍊，除此之外他們身上不著一物。他們全身的面板是舊象牙色，頭髮則是深紫色。人群中間的國王（他一看便是國王，旁人決不會認錯）看著露西的臉，眼神傲慢而又兇狠，一邊還晃了晃手中的長矛。他身後的騎士們也跟著晃了晃手中的長矛。而那些女人的臉上則滿是驚訝之情，露西敢肯定她們此前從未見到過船隻或是人類——說的也是，在世界盡頭之外的海域，從沒有船隻到達這裡，她們怎麼可能見到呢？

“你在看什麼呢，露西？”突然近旁有人出聲道。

露西看得太專心了，聽到聲音嚇了一跳。她轉過身子去，這才發現自己一直以同一個姿勢靠在欄杆上太久了，手臂都麻了。德里寧和愛德蒙正在她身邊。

“你們看！”她說。

他們倆朝海里看了看，可是德里寧立刻壓低了聲音說：

“哎，這是怎麼回事呢？”露西一邊照做了，一邊不解地問道。

“水手們絕不能看到這些。”德里寧嚴肅地說道，“他們可能會愛上裡面的海女，或者喜歡上那個海底王國，然後受了蠱惑跳下水去。我以前聽說過在陌生的海域曾有這樣的事情發生。見到這些海族人是件不吉利的事。”

“但是我們過去和他們是朋友呀，”露西說道，“以前在凱爾帕拉維爾，我哥哥彼得還是至尊國王的時候，他們還游出海面，在我們的加冕典禮上唱歌呢。”

“我想那應該是另一種海族，露西。”愛德蒙說道，“他們既可以生活在海上，也能生活在海下。但我覺得這些海族人可能不行。看他們這架勢，要是可以的話，他們早就跳出水面來攻擊我們了。他們看上去很兇殘。”

“不管怎麼說，”德里寧剛開口，這時卻傳來了兩個聲音。首先是“撲通”一聲，接著是有人從戰鬥桅樓上喊道：“有人落水啦！”隨後人人都忙活開了，有的水手匆匆忙忙爬上桅杆去收起船帆；其他人急忙跑下甲板去划槳；萊恩斯在尾樓上當值，此時也開始用力扳轉船舵，轉到方才有人落水的地方。不過這時候大家都知道了，原來剛才落水的嚴格意義上來說不算人——落水的是雷佩契普！

“這隻老鼠真是見鬼！”德里寧說道，“它惹出的麻煩比船上所有人的都要多。但凡是有闖禍的機會，它總不會放過的！它就該被關進鐵籠裡，鎖在船底，哪兒都去不了！還要把它的鬍子都給剪了！有誰看見那個討嫌的小傢伙了嗎？”

德里寧說這番話並不意味著他不喜歡雷佩契普。恰好相反，他很欣賞雷佩契普，因此很擔心它會出事，而這份擔驚受怕使他的脾氣變得很暴躁——就好像每次你在馬路上亂跑，跑到車前面差點出事的時候，你媽媽會比陌生人對你更生氣，是一個道理。當然了，沒人擔心雷佩契普會溺水，因為它是一個出色的游泳健將；不過露西、愛德蒙和德里寧三人知道，水下的海族人手中正持著又長又鋒利的矛槍，因此他們很擔心雷佩契普會有危險。

沒過幾分鐘，“黎明踏浪”號已經轉了向，大家都看到有一小團黑色漂浮在海面上，那正是雷佩契普。它正異常激動地喋喋不休著，不過它的嘴裡灌滿了水，所以沒人能聽清它在說什麼。

“要是不阻止它，它會把一切都說出來的！”德里寧叫道。為了防止雷佩契普走漏了海族人的事，德里寧一個箭步衝到了船邊，一邊放下一根繩子，一邊沖水手們喊道：“好了好了，你們都回到自己的位子上去吧。我憑一己之力拉起一隻老鼠還是綽綽有餘的。”於是雷佩契普順著繩子往上爬，它身上的毛全溼透了，因而身子怪沉的，動作也不那麼靈便，這時德里寧前傾著身子悄聲對它說：

“別告訴他們，一個字也不準說。”

不過等到這隻渾身溼答答滴著水的老鼠爬到甲板上時，德里寧發現它對海族人壓根兒一點興趣都沒有。

“甜的！”它“吱吱”叫喚著說，“甜的！是甜的！”

“你在說些什麼呀？”德里寧惱火地說，“還有，你抖毛也用不著甩得我一身都是水吧！”

“我告訴你們，海水是甜的！”雷佩契普興奮地說，“又甜又清涼。不是鹹的。”

一時半會兒，沒人完全理解這件事有什麼重要性。不過隨後雷佩契普又重複了一遍那個古老的預言：

“在浪水變甘之地，

不必懷疑，雷佩契普，

那兒便是東方盡頭。”

最後大家終於明白了。

“給我一個水桶，萊納爾夫。”德里寧說道。

他接過了遞來的水桶，放下去舀滿了水，又提了上來。裡面的水如同玻璃一樣閃著光。

“陛下，您想先嚐嘗嗎？”德里寧對凱斯賓說。

只見凱斯賓雙手接過了水桶，舉到嘴邊抿了一小口，接著猛灌下去一大口，抬起了頭。人們頓時發現他的臉變得不一樣了。不僅僅眼睛亮得發光，渾身上下都容光煥發。

“沒錯，”他宣佈道，“水是甜的。真的是甜的水，沒錯。我不敢確定這水會不會要了我的命，不過就算是這麼死去了我也心甘情願——要是我早點了解這水就好了。”

“你這是什麼意思呀？”愛德蒙問。

“這水就像，就像是光一樣。”凱斯賓思索著答道。

“正是如此，”雷佩契普說道，“可以喝的光。我們現在一定離世界盡頭非常近了。”

人群中有片刻的安靜，接著露西跪坐到甲板上，也喝了口桶裡的水。

“我從沒喝過這麼好喝的東西！”她喘了口氣說道，“哦喲——不過這水勁頭挺大的。我們現在什麼都不用吃了。”

隨後，船上的人一個接一個地都喝了水。喝完了水以後，他們許久沒有說話。他們覺得這水實在太甘甜了，勁頭也大，幾乎叫人無法承受。此時他們開始察覺到了另一個變化。正如我之前所說，自從他們離開了拉曼度星島之後，光線便異常充足起來——太陽變得異常大（不過倒也不是太熱），大海變得異常明亮，天空也異常耀眼。而現在，光非但沒有減弱，反而增強了，不過人們卻能夠承受了。他們可以一眼不眨地直視太陽，可以看見比以前更多的光。甲板、船帆，還有他們的臉和身子，都變得越來越亮，就連船上的每一根繩子都在閃著光芒。而第二天一早太陽昇起時——那太陽已經是原來大小的五六倍了——他們深深凝望著太陽，可以看清從那裡飛出的鳥兒身上純白無瑕的羽毛。

那一整天，船上都沒人說話，直到大約晚飯時間（不過沒人想要吃晚飯，因為飲水已經足夠了），德里寧說道：

“我不能理解。明明海上一絲風都沒有，帆也只是靜靜垂著紋絲不動，海面就和池塘一樣平靜，可是船行駛得就好像後面颳著大風一樣快。”

“我也在思考這個問題。”凱斯賓說道，“我們肯定是遇到了一股很洶湧的水流。”

“嗯，”愛德蒙說道，“要是世界真的有邊緣，而我們正在朝那兒駛去的話，那可不太妙啊。”

“你的意思是說，”凱斯賓說道，“我們有可能會和大海一起傾瀉而下？”

“沒錯，沒錯！”雷佩契普拍著爪子叫道，“在我的想象中也總是這樣的——世界就好像一個大圓桌，而所有海洋的水一直在不停歇地從邊緣傾瀉而下。到了盡頭的時候，船會頭朝下翹起來——有那麼一刻我們會看到世界的邊緣——接著就往下落去，一直往下，往下，和水一起衝下去，速度——”

“那你覺得底下會有什麼等著我們呢，嗯？”德里寧說。

“也許是阿斯蘭的國度，”雷佩契普兩眼閃著光說道，“又或者壓根兒就沒有底。或許我們會永遠往下落呀，落呀。不過無論結局如何，能夠看上一眼世界的邊緣，一切都是值得的。”

“可是，聽著，”尤斯塔斯忍不住開口道，“這些都是胡扯。世界是圓的——我是說像一顆球一樣圓，而不是像一張桌子。”

“我們的世界確實如此，”愛德蒙說，“可這個世界是嗎？”

“你的意思是說，”凱斯賓問道，“你們三個人是從一個圓（就和球一樣圓）的世界來的嗎？你們從沒告訴過我！真是太不夠意思了。因為我們這兒的童話故事裡有提到過圓的世界，我一直很喜歡。雖然我從不相信那樣的世界真的存在，可我心裡總希望那是真的，我一直渴望能在那裡生活。噢，要是能去那兒，我願意付出一切——我就是不明白，為什麼你們可以進入我們的世界，而我們卻從來不能到你們的世界去呢？要是我能去該有多好呀！居住在一顆球上一定很刺激。你們有沒有去過人們都是頭朝下走路的地方呢？”

愛德蒙搖了搖頭。“不是那麼回事。”他又補充道，“等你真正到了那裡，你就會發現其實圓的世界也沒有什麼特別激動人心的。”