为什么自己不受欢迎 《能言马与男孩》第62期:不受欢迎的同路人(3)

《能言马与男孩》第62期:不受欢迎的同路人(3)  

The only result was that the horse broke into a kind of pretence of a trot for five or six paces and then subsided into a walk again. And now it was quite dark and they seemed to have given up blowing that horn. The only sound was a steady drip-drip from the branches of the trees.
"Well
I suppose even a walk will get us somewhere sometime
" said Shasta to himself. "I only hope I shan't run into Rabadash and his people."
He went on for what seemed a long time
always at a walking pace. He began to hate that horse
and he was also beginning to feel very hungry.
他继续走了仿佛很长的时间，走的始终是那种慢步。他开始憎恨那马儿，也开始感觉十分饥饿。
Presently he came to a place where the road divided into o. He was just wondering which led to Anvard when he was startled by a noise from behind him. It was the noise of trotting horses. "Rabadash!" thought Shasta. He had no way of guessing which road Rabadash would take. "But if I take one
" said Shasta to himself
"he may take the other: and if I stay at the cross-roads I'm sure to be caught." He dismounted and led his horse as quickly as he could along the right-hand road.
The sound of the cavalry grew rapidly nearer and in a minute or o Shasta realized that they were at the crossroads. He held his breath
waiting to see which way they would take.
There came a low word of mand "Halt!" then a moment of horsey noises - nostrils blowing
hoofs pawing
bits being champed
necks being patted. Then a voice spoke.
"Attend
all of you
" it said. "We are now within a furlong of the castle. Remember your orders. Once we are in Narnia
as we should be by sunrise
you are to kill as little as possible. On this venture you are to regard every drop of Narnian blood as more precious than a gallon of your own. On this venture
I say. The gods will send us a happier hour and then you must leave nothing alive beeen Cair Paravel and the Western Waste. But we are not yet in Narnia. Here in Archenland it is another thing. In the assault on this castle of King Lune's
nothing matters but speed. Show your mettle. It must be mine within an hour. And if it is
I give it all to you. I reserve no booty for myself. Kill me every barbarian male within its walls
down to the child that was born yesterday
and everything else is yours to divide as you please - the women
the gold
the jewels
the weapons
and the wine. The man that I see hanging back when we e to the gates shall be burned alive. In the name of Tash the irresistible
theinexorable forward!"
With a great cloppitty-clop the column began to move
and Shasta breathed again. They had taken the other road.
Shasta thought they took a long time going past
for though he had been talking and thinking about "o hundred horse" all day
he had not realized how many they really were. But at last the sound died away and once more he was alone amid the drip-drip from the trees.
He now knew the way to Anvard but of course he could not now go there: that would only mean running into the arms of Rabadash's troopers. "What on earth am I to do?" said Shasta to himself. But he remounted his horse and continued along the road he had chosen
in the faint hope of finding some cottage where he might ask for shelter and a meal. He had thought
of course
of going back to Aravis and Bree and Hwin at the hermitage
but he couldn't because by now he had not the least idea of the direction.