CHAPTER EIGHT HOW THEY LEFT THE ISLAND（第4/5页）
The children all said it was quite all right and not to mention it．
“And now，”said Peter，“if you’ve really decided to believe in us—”
“I have，”said the Dwarf．
“It’s quite clear what we have to do．We must join King Caspian at once．”
“The sooner the better，”said Trumpkin．“My being such a fool has already wasted about an hour．”
“It’s about two days’journey，the way you came，”said Peter．“For us，I mean．We can’t walk all day and night like you Dwarfs．”Then he turned to the others．“What Trumpkin calls Aslan’s How is obviously the Stone Table itself．You remember it was about half a day’s march，or a little less，from there down to the Fords of Beruna-”
“Beruna’s Bridge，we call it，”said Trumpkin．
“There was no bridge in our time，”said Peter．“And then from Beruna down to here was another day and a bit．We used to get home about teatime on the second day，going easily．Going hard，we could do the whole thing in a day and a half perhaps．”
“But remember it’s all woods now，”said Trumpkin，“and there are enemies to dodge．”
“Look here，”said Edmund，“need we go by the same way that Our Dear Little Friend came？”
“No more of that，your Majesty，if you love me，”said the Dwarf．
“Very well，”said Edmund．“May I say our D．L．F．？”
“Oh，Edmund，”said Susan．“Don’t keep on at him like that．”
“That’s all right，lass—I mean your Majesty，”said Trumpkin with a chuckle．“A jibe won’t raise a blister．”(And after that they often called him the D．L．F．till they’d almost forgotten what it meant．)
“As I was saying，”continued Edmund，“we needn’t go that way．Why shouldn’t we row a little south till we come to Glasswater Creek and row up it？ That brings us up behind the Hill of the Stone Table，and we’ll be safe while we’re at sea．If we start at once，we can be at the head of Glasswater before dark，get a few hours’ sleep，and be with Caspian pretty early tomorrow．”
“What a thing it is to know the coast，”said Trumpkin．“None of us know anything about Glasswater．”
“What about food？”asked Susan．
“Oh，we’ll have to do with apples，”said Lucy．“Do let’s get on．We’ve done nothing yet，and we’ve been here nearly two days．”
“And anyway，no one’s going to have my hat for a fish-basket again，”said Edmund．
They used one of the raincoats as a kind of bag and put a good many apples in it．Then they all had a good long drink at the well (for they would meet no more fresh water till they landed at the head of the Creek) and went down to the boat．The children were sorry to leave Cair Paravel，which，even in ruins，had begun to feel like home again．
“The D．L．F．had better steer，”said Peter，“and Ed and I will take an oar each．Half a moment，though．We’d better take off our mail: we’re going to be pretty warm before we’re done．The girls had better be in the bows and shout directions to the D．L．F．because he doesn’t know the way．You’d better get us a fair way out to sea till we’ve passed the island．”
And soon the green，wooded coast of the island was falling away behind them，and its little bays and headlands were beginning to look flatter，and the boat was rising and falling in the gentle swell．The sea began to grow bigger around them and，in the distance，bluer，but close round the boat it was green and bubbly．Everything smelled salt and there was no noise except the swishing of water and the clop-clop of water against the sides and the splash of the oars and the jolting noise of the rowlocks．The sun grew hot．
It was delightful for Lucy and Susan in the bows，bending over the edge and trying to get their hands in the sea which they could never quite reach．The bottom，mostly pure，pale sand but with occasional patches of purple seaweed，could be seen beneath them．