CHAPTER ELEVEN THE LION ROARS

WHEN the whole party was finally awake Lucy had to tell her story for the fourth time．The blank silence which followed it was as discouraging as anything could be．

“I can’t see anything，”said Peter after he had stared his eyes sore．“Can you，Susan？”

“No，of course I can’t，”snapped Susan．“Because there isn’t anything to see．She’s been dreaming．Do lie down and go to sleep，Lucy．”

“And I do hope，”said Lucy in a tremulous voice，“that you will all come with me．Because—because I’ll have to go with him whether anyone else does or not．”

“Don’t talk nonsense，Lucy，”said Susan．“Of course you can’t go off on your own．Don’t let her，Peter．She’s being downright naughty．”

“I’ll go with her，if she must go，”said Edmund．“She’s been right before．”

Caspian

“I know she has，”said Peter．“And she may have been right this morning．We certainly had no luck going down the gorge．Still-at this hour of the night．And why should Aslan be invisible to us？ He never used to be．It’s not like him．What does the D．L．F．say？”

“Oh，I say nothing at all，”answered the Dwarf．“If you all go，of course，I’ll go with you; and if your party splits up，I’ll go with the High King．That’smy duty to him and King Caspian．But，if you ask my private opinion，I’m a plain dwarf who doesn’t think there’s much chance of finding a road by night where you couldn’t find one by day．And I have no use for magic lions which are talking lions and don’t talk，and friendly lions though they don’t do us any good，and whopping big lions though nobody can see them．It’s all bilge and beanstalks as far as I can see．”

“He’s beating his paw on the ground for us to hurry，”said Lucy．“We must go now．At least I must．”

“You’ve no right to try to force the rest of us like that．It’s four to one and you’re the youngest，”said Susan．

“Oh，come on，”growled Edmund．“We’ve got to go．There’ll be no peace till we do．”He fully intended to back Lucy up，but he was annoyed at losing his night’s sleep and was making up for it by doing everything as sulkily as possible．

“On the march，then，”said Peter，wearily fitting his arm into his shield-strap and putting his helmet on．At any other time he would have said something nice to Lucy，who was his favourite sister，for he knew how wretched she must be feeling，and he knew that，whatever had happened，it was not her fault．But he couldn’t help being a little annoyed with her all the same．

Susan was the worst．“Supposing I started behaving like Lucy，”she said．“I might threaten to stay here whether the rest of you went on or not．I jolly well think I shall．”

“Obey the High King，your Majesty，”said Trumpkin，“and let’s be off．If I’m not to be allowed to sleep，I’d as soon march as stand here talking．”

And so at last they got on the move．Lucy went first，biting her lip and trying not to say all the things she thought of saying to Susan．But she forgot them when she fixed her eyes on Aslan．He turned and walked at a slow pace about thirty yards ahead of them．The others had only Lucy’s directions to guide them，for Aslan was not only invisible to them but silent as well．His big cat-like paws made no noise on the grass．

He led them to the right of the dancing trees—whether they were still dancing nobody knew，for Lucy had her eyes on the Lion and the rest had their eyes on Lucy—and nearer the edge of the gorge．“Cobbles and kettledrums！”thought Trumpkin．“I hope this madness isn’t going to end in a moonlight climb and broken necks．”

For a long way Aslan went along the top of the precipices．Then they came to a place where some little trees grew right on the edge．He turned and disappeared among them．Lucy held her breath，for it looked as if he had plunged over the cliff; but she was too busy keeping him in sight to stop and think about this．She quickened her pace and was soon among the trees herself．Looking down，she could see a steep and narrow path going slantwise down into the gorge between rocks，and Aslan descending it．He turned and looked at her with his happy eyes．Lucy clapped her hands and began to scramble down after him．From behind her she heard the voices of the others shouting，“Hi！ Lucy！ Look out，for goodness’ sake．You’re right on the edge of the gorge．Come back—”and then，a moment later，Edmund’s voice saying，“No，she’s right．There is a way down．”