chater five uddleg (第4/7頁)

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“Why，it’s not in reason that you should like our sort of victuals，though I’ve no doubt you’ll put a bold face on it. All the same，while I am a catching of them，if you two could try to light the fire—no harm trying—！The wood’s behind the wigwam. It may be wet. You could light it inside the wigwam，and then we’d get all the smoke in our eyes. Or you could light it outside，and then the rain would come and put it out. Here’s my tinder-box. You wouldn’t know how to use it，I expect.”

But Scrubb had learned that sort of thing on his last adventure. The children ran back together to the wigwam，found the wood （which was perfectly dry）and succeeded in lighting a fire with rather less than the usual difficulty. Then Scrubb sat and took care of it while Jill went and had some sort of wash—not a very nice one—in the nearest channel. After that she saw to the fire and he had a wash. Both felt a good deal fresher，but very hungry.

Presently the Marsh-wiggle joined them. In spite of his expectation of catching no eels，he had a dozen or so，which he had already skinned and cleaned. He put a big pot on，mended the fire，and lit his pipe. Marsh-wiggles smoke a very strange，heavy sort of tobacco（some people say they mix it with mud）and the children noticed the smoke from Puddleglum’s pipe hardly rose in the air at all. It trickled out of the bowl and downwards and drifted along the ground like a mist. It was very black and set Scrubb coughing.

“Now,”said Puddleglum. “Those eels will take a mortal long time to cook，and either of you might faint with hunger before they’re done. I knew a little girl-but I’d better not tell you that story. It might lower your spirits，and that’s a thing I never do. So，to keep your minds off your hunger，we may as well talk about our plans.”

“Yes，do let’s,”said Jill. “Can you help us to find Prince Rilian ？”

The Marsh-wiggle sucked in his cheeks till they were hollower than you would have thought possible. “Well，I don’t know that you’d call it help,”he said. “I don’t know that anyone can exactly help. It stands to reason we’re not likely to get very far on a journey to the North，not at this time of the year，with the winter coming on soon and all. And an early winter too，by the look of things. But you mustn’t let that make you down-hearted. Very likely， what with enemies，and mountains，and rivers to cross，and losing our way，and next to nothing to eat，and sore feet，we’ll hardly notice the weather. And if we don’t get far enough to do any good，we may get far enough not to get back in a hurry.”

Both children noticed that he said“we”，not“you”，and both exclaimed at the same moment. “Are you coming with us ？”

“Oh yes，I’m coming of course. Might as well，you see. I don’t suppose we shall ever see the King back in Narnia，now that he’s once set off for foreign parts；and he had a nasty cough when he left. Then there’s Trumpkin. He’s failing fast. And you’ll find there’ll have been a bad harvest after this terrible dry summer. And I shouldn’t wonder if some enemy attacked us. Mark my words.”

“And how shall we start ？”said Scrubb.

“Well,”said the Marsh-wiggle very slowly，“all the others who ever went looking for Prince Rilian started from that same fountain where Lord Drinian saw the lady. They went north， mostly. And as none of them ever came back，we can’t exactly say how they got on.”