CHAPTER FIFTEEN THE WONDERS OF THE LAST SEA（第4/5页）

“Where the waves grow sweet，Doubt not，Reepicheep，There is the utter East ．”

Then at last everyone understood．

“Let me have a bucket，Rynelf，”said Drinian．

It was handed him and he lowered it and up it came again．The water shone in it like glass．

“Perhaps your Majesty would like to taste it first，”said Drinian to Caspian．

The King took the bucket in both hands，raised it to his lips， sipped，then drank deeply and raised his head．His face was changed. Not only his eyes but everything about him seemed to be brighter．

“Yes，”he said，“it is sweet．That’s real water，that．I’m not sure that it isn’t going to kill me．But it is the death I would have chosen—if I’d known about it till now．”

“What do you mean ？”asked Edmund．

“It—it’s like light more than anything else，”said Caspian．

“That is what it is，”said Reepicheep．“Drinkable light．We must be very near the end of the world now．”

There was a moment’s silence and then Lucy knelt down on the deck and drank from the bucket．

“It’s the loveliest thing I have ever tasted，”she said with a kind of gasp．“But oh—it’s strong．We shan’t need to eat anything now．”

And one by one everybody on board drank．And for a long time they were all silent．They felt almost too well and strong to bear it；and presently they began to notice another result．As I have said before，there had been too much light ever since they left the island of Ramandu—the sun too large(though not too hot)，the sea too bright，the air too shining．Now，the light grew no less— if anything，it increased—but they could bear it．They could look straight up at the sun without blinking．They could see more light than they had ever seen before．And the deck and the sail and their own faces and bodies became brighter and brighter and every rope shone．And next morning，when the sun rose，now five or six times its old size，they stared hard into it and could see the very feathers of the birds that came flying from it．

Hardly a word was spoken on board all that day，till about dinner-time(no one wanted any dinner，the water was enough for them)Drinian said：

“I can’t understand this．There is not a breath of wind．The sail hangs dead．The sea is as flat as a pond．And yet we drive on as fast as if there were a gale behind us．”

“I’ve been thinking that，too，”said Caspian．“We must be caught in some strong current．”

“H’m，”said Edmund．“That’s not so nice if the World really has an edge and we’re getting near it．”

“You mean，”said Caspian，“that we might be just—well， poured over it ？”

“Yes，yes，”cried Reepicheep，clapping his paws together． “That’s how I’ve always imagined it—the World like a great round table and the waters of all the oceans endlessly pouring over the edge．The ship will tip up—stand on her head—for one moment we shall see over the edge—and then，down，down，the rush， the speed—”

“And what do you think will be waiting for us at the bottom， eh ？”said Drinian．

“Aslan’s country perhaps，”said the Mouse，its eyes shining．“Or perhaps there isn’t any bottom．Perhaps it goes down for ever and ever．But whatever it is，won’t it be worth anything just to have looked for one moment beyond the edge of the world．”

“But look here，”said Eustace，“this is all rot．The world’s round—I mean，round like a ball，not like a table．”

“Our world is，”said Edmund．“But is this ？”

“Do you mean to say，”asked Caspian，“that you three come from a round world(round like a ball)and you’ve never told me ！ It’s really too bad of you．Because we have fairy-tales in which there are round worlds and I always loved them．I never believed there were any real ones．But I’ve always wished there were and I’ve always longed to live in one．Oh，I’d give anything—I wonder why you can get into our world and we never get into yours ？ If only I had the chance ！ It must be exciting to live on a thing like a ball．Have you ever been to the parts where people walk about upside—down ？”