CHAPTER TWO THE ANCIENT TREASURE HOUSE（第2/4页）

Shortly after the last apple had been eaten，Susan went out to the well to get another drink．When she came back she was carrying something in her hand．

“Look，”she said in a rather choking kind of voice．“I found it by the well．”She handed it to Peter and sat down．The others thought she looked and sounded as if she might be going to cry．Edmund and Lucy eagerly bent forward to see what was in Peter’s hand—a little，bright thing that gleamed in the firelight．

“Well，I’m—I’m jiggered，”said Peter，and his voice also sounded queer．Then he handed it to the others．

All now saw what it was—a little chess-knight，ordinary in size but extraordinarily heavy because it was made of pure gold; and the eyes in the horse’s head were two tiny little rubies-or rather one was，for the other had been knocked out．

“Why！”said Lucy，“it’s exactly like one of the golden chessmen we used to play with when we were Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel．”

“Cheer up，Su，”said Peter to his other sister．

“I can’t help it，”said Susan．“It brought back—oh，such lovely times．And I remembered playing chess with fauns and good giants，and the mer-people singing in the sea，and my beautiful horse—and—and—”

“Now，”said Peter in a quite different voice，“it’s about time we four started using our brains．”

“What about？”asked Edmund．

“Have none of you guessed where we are？”said Peter．

“Go on，go on，”said Lucy．“I’ve felt for hours that there was some wonderful mystery hanging over this place．”

“Fire ahead，Peter，”said Edmund．“We’re all listening．”

“We are in the ruins of Cair Paravel itself，”said Peter．

“But，I say，”replied Edmund．“I mean，how do you make that out？ This place has been ruined for ages．Look at all those big trees growing right up to the gates．Look at the very stones．Anyone can see that nobody has lived here for hundreds of years．”

“I know，”said Peter．“That is the difficulty．But let’s leave that out for the moment．I want to take the points one by one．First point: this hall is exactly the same shape and size as the hall at Cair Paravel．Just picture a roof on this，and a coloured pavement instead of grass，and tapestries on the walls，and you get our royal banqueting hall．”

No one said anything．

“Second point，”continued Peter．“The castle well is exactly where our well was，a little to the south of the great hall; and it is exactly the same size and shape．”

Again there was no reply．

“Third point: Susan has just found one of our old chessmen—or something as like one of them as two peas．”

Still nobody answered．

“Fourth point．Don’t you remember—it was the very day before the ambassadors came from the King of Calormen—don’t you remember planting the orchard outside the north gate of Cair Paravel？ The greatest of all the wood-people，Pomona herself，came to put good spells on it．It was those very decent little chaps the moles who did the actual digging．Can you have forgotten that funny old Lilygloves，the chief mole，leaning on his spade and saying，Believe me，your Majesty，you’ll be glad of these fruit trees one day． And by Jove he was right．”

“I do！ I do！”said Lucy，and clapped her hands．

“But look here，Peter，”said Edmund．“This must be all rot．To begin with，we didn’t plant the orchard slap up against the gate．We wouldn’t have been such fools．”

“No，of course not，”said Peter．“But it has grown up to the gate since．”

“And for another thing，”said Edmund，“Cair Paravel wasn’t on an island．”

“Yes，I’ve been wondering about that．But it was a what-do-you-call-it，a peninsula．Jolly nearly an island．Couldn’t it have been made an island since our time？ Somebody has dug a channel．”