CHAPTER ELEVEN THE PACE QUICKENS（第2/4页）

“Forward，”he said.“Take all of them alive if you can and hurl them into the stable or drive them into it. When they are all in we will put fire to it and make them an offering to the great god Tash.”

“Ha!”said Farsight to himself.“So that is how he hopes to win Tash’s pardon for his unbelief.”

The enemy line-about half of Rishda’s force-was now moving forward，and Tirian had barely time to give his orders．

“Out on the left，Jill，and try to shoot all you may before they reach us. Boar and Bear next to her. Poggin on my left，Eustace on my right. Hold the right wing，Jewel. Stand by him，Puzzle，and use your hoofs. Hover and strike，Farsight. You Dogs，just behind us. Go in among them after the sword-play has begun. Aslan to our aid!”

Eustace stood with his heart beating terribly，hoping and hoping that he would be brave. He had never seen anything (though he had seen both a dragon and a seaserpent) that made his blood run so cold as that line of dark-faced bright-eyed men. There were fifteen Calormenes，a Talking Bull of Narnia，Slinkey the Fox， and Wraggle the Satyr. Then he heard twang-and-zipp on his left and one Calormene fell：then twang-andzipp again and the Satyr was down.“Oh，well done，daughter!”came Tirian’s voice; and then the enemy were upon them．

Eustace could never remember what happened in the next two minutes. It was all like a dream (the sort you have when your temperature is over 100) until he heard Rishda Tarkaan’s voice calling out from the distance：

“Retire. Back hither and re-form.”

Then Eustace came to his senses and saw the Calormenes scampering back to their friends. But not all of them. Two lay dead，pierced by Jewel’s horn，one by Tirian’s sword. The Fox lay dead at his own feet，and he wondered if it was he who had killed it. The Bull also was down，shot through the eye by an arrow from Jill and gashed in his side by the Boar’s tusk. But our side had its losses too. Three dogs were killed and a fourth was hobbling behind the line on three legs and whimpering. The Bear lay on the ground，moving feebly. Then it mumbled in its throaty voice， bewildered to the last，“I-I don’t understand，”laid its big head down on the grass as quietly as a child going to sleep，and never moved again．

In fact，the first attack had failed. Eustace didn’t seem able to be glad about it：he was so terribly thirsty and his arm ached so．

As the defeated Calormenes went back to their commander， the Dwarfs began jeering at them．

“Had enough，Darkies ？”they yelled.“Don’t you like it ？ Why doesn’t your great Tarkaan go and fight himself instead of sending you to be killed ？Poor Darkies!”

“Dwarfs，”cried Tirian.“Come here and use your swords，not your tongues. There is still time. Dwarfs of Narnia! You can fight well，I know. Come back to your allegiance.”

“Yah!”sneered the Dwarfs.“Not likely. You’re just as big humbugs as the other lot. We don’t want any Kings. The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs. Boo!”

Then the Drum began：not a Dwarf drum this time，but a big bull’s hide Calormene drum. The children from the very first hated the sound. Boom-boom-ba-ba-boom it went. But they would have hated it far worse if they had known what it meant. Tirian did. It meant that there were other Calormene troops somewhere near and that Rishda Tarkaan was calling them to his aid. Tirian and Jewel looked at one another sadly. They had just begun to hope that they might win that night：but it would be all over with them if new enemies appeared．

Tirian gazed despairingly round. Several Narnians were standing with the Calormenes，whether through treachery or in honest fear of“Tashlan”. Others were sitting still，staring，not likely to join either side. But there were fewer animals now：the crowd was much smaller. Clearly，several of them had just crept quietly away during the fighting．

Boom-boom-ba-ba-boom went the horrible drum. Then another sound began to mix with it.“Listen!”said Jewel：and then“Look!”said Farsight. A moment later there was no doubt what it was. With a thunder of hoofs，with tossing heads，widened nostrils，and waving manes，over a score of Talking Horses of Narnia came charging up the hill. The gnawers and nibblers had done their work．