chater ixteen what haened abut the tatue (第4/4页)

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“Our day’s work is not yet over，”he said，“and if the Witch is to be finally defeated before bed-time we must find the battle at once．”

“And join in，I hope，sir ！”added the largest of the Centaurs.

“Of course，”said Aslan．“And now ！ Those who can’t keep up-that is，children，dwarfs，and small animals-must ride on the backs of those who can-that is，lions，centaurs，unicorns， horses，giants and eagles．Those who are good with their noses must come in front with us lions to smell out where the battle is．

Look lively and sort yourselves．”

And with a great deal of bustle and cheering they did．The most pleased of the lot was the other lion who kept running about everywhere pretending to be very busy but really in order to say to everyone he met．“Did you hear what he said ？ Us Lions．That means him and me．Us Lions．That’s what I like about Aslan． No side，no stand-off-ishness．Us Lions．That meant him and me．”At least he went on saying this till Aslan had loaded him up with three dwarfs，one dryad，two rabbits，and a hedgehog． That steadied him a bit．

When all were ready（it was a big sheep-dog who actually helped Aslan most in getting them sorted into their proper order） they set out through the gap in the castle wall．At first the lions and dogs went nosing about in all directions．But then suddenly one great hound picked up the scent and gave a bay．There was no time lost after that．Soon all the dogs and lions and wolves and other hunting animals were going at full speed with their noses to the ground，and all the others，streaked out for about half a mile behind them，were following as fast as they could．The noise was like an English fox-hunt only better because every now and then with the music of the hounds was mixed the roar of the other lion and sometimes the far deeper and more awful roar of Aslan himself．Faster and faster they went as the scent became easier and easier to follow．And then，just as they came to the last curve in a narrow，winding valley，Lucy heard above all these noises another noise-a different one，which gave her a queer feeling inside．It was a noise of shouts and shrieks and of the clashing of metal against metal．

Then they came out of the narrow valley and at once she saw the reason．There stood Peter and Edmund and all the rest of Aslan’s army fighting desperately against the crowd of horrible creatures whom she had seen last night；only now，in the daylight，they looked even stranger and more evil and more deformed．There also seemed to be far more of them．Peter’s army-which had their backs to her——looked terribly few．And there werestatues dotted all over the battlefield，so apparently the Witch had been using her wand．But she did not seem to be using it now.She was fighting with her stone knife．It was Peter she was fightin-both of them going at it so hard that Lucy could hardly make out what was happening；she only saw the stone knife and Peter’s sword flashing so quickly that they looked like three knives and three swords．That pair were in the centre．On each side the line stretched out．Horrible things were happening wherever she looked.

“Off my back，children，”shouted Aslan．And they both tumbled off．Then with a roar that shook all Narnia from the western lamp-post to the shores of the eastern sea the great beast flung himself upon the White Witch．Lucy saw her face lifted towards him for one second with an expression of terror and amazement．Then Lion and Witch had rolled over together but with the Witch underneath；and at the same moment all war-like creatures whom Aslan had led from the Witch’s house rushed madly on the enemy lines，dwarfs with their battleaxes，dogs with teeth，the Giant with his club（and his feet also crushed dozens of the foe），unicorns with their horns，centaurs with swords and hoofs．And Peter’s tired army cheered，and the newcomers roared，and the enemy squealed and gibbered till the wood re-echoed with the din of that onset．