CHAPTER TWELVE THE DARK ISLAND（第4/4页）
Lucy leant her head on the edge of the fighting top and whispered，“Aslan，Aslan，if ever you loved us at all，send us help now．”The darkness did not grow any less，but she began to feel a little-a very，very little-better．“After all，nothing has really happened to us yet，”she thought．
“Look ！”cried Rynelf’s voice hoarsely from the bows． There was a tiny speck of light ahead，and while they watched a broad beam of light fell from it upon the ship．It did not alter the surrounding darkness，but the whole ship was lit up as if by searchlight．Caspian blinked，stared round，saw the faces of his companions all with wild，fixed expressions．Everyone was staring in the same direction：behind everyone lay his black， sharply-edged shadow．
Lucy looked along the beam and presently saw something in it． At first it looked like a cross，then it looked like an aeroplane， then it looked like a kite，and at last with a whirring of wings it was right overhead and was an albatross．It circled three times round the mast and then perched for an instant on the crest of the gilded dragon at the prow．It called out in a strong sweet voice what seemed to be words though no one understood them．After that it spread its wings，rose，and began to fly slowly ahead， bearing a little to starboard．Drinian steered after it not doubting that it offered good guidance．But no one except Lucy knew that as it circled the mast it had whispered to her，“Courage，dear heart，”and the voice，she felt sure，was Aslan’s，and with the voice a delicious smell breathed in her face．
In a few moments the darkness turned into a greyness ahead， and then，almost before they dared to begin hoping，they had shot out into the sunlight and were in the warm，blue world again．And all at once everybody realized that there was nothing to be afraid of and never had been．They blinked their eyes and looked about them．The brightness of the ship herself astonished them：they had half expected to find that the darkness would cling to the white and the green and the gold in the form of some grime or scum．And then first one，and then another，began laughing．
“I reckon we’ve made pretty good fools of ourselves，”said Rynelf．
Lucy lost no time in coming down to the deck，where she found the others all gathered round the newcomer．For a long time he was too happy to speak，and could only gaze at the sea and the sun and feel the bulwarks and the ropes，as if to make sure he was really awake，while tears rolled down his cheeks．
“Thank you，”he said at last．“You have saved me from... but I won’t talk of that．And now let me know who you are．I am a Telmarine of Narnia，and when I was worth anything men called me the Lord Rhoop．”
“And I，”said Caspian，“am Caspian，King of Narnia，and I sail to find you and your companions who were my father’s friends．”
Lord Rhoop fell on his knees and kissed the King’s hand． “Sire，”he said，“you are the man in all the world I most wished to see．Grant me a boon．”
“What is it ？”asked Caspian．
“Never to bring me back there，”he said．He pointed astern． They all looked．But they saw only bright blue sea and bright blue sky．The Dark Island and the darkness had vanished for ever．
“Why ！”cried Lord Rhoop．“You have destroyed it ！”
“I don’t think it was us，”said Lucy．
“Sire，”said Drinian，“this wind is fair for the southeast．Shall I have our poor fellows up and set sail ？ And after that，every man who can be spared，to his hammock．”
“Yes，”said Caspian，“and let there be grog all round．Heigh-ho，I feel I could sleep the clock round myself．”
So all afternoon with great joy they sailed south-east with a fair wind．But nobody noticed when the albatross had disappeared.