CHAPTER NINE ACROSS THE DESERT（第3/4页）

At last there was something different-a mass of rock sticking up out of the sand about fifty yards long and thirty feet high. It did not cast much shadow, for the sun was now very high, but it cast a little. Into that shade they crowded. There they ate some food and drank a little water. It is not easy giving a horse a drink out of a skin bottle, but Bree and Hwin were clever with their lips. No one had anything like enough. No one spoke. The Horses were flecked with foam and their breathing was noisy. The children were pale.

After a very short rest they went on again. Same noises, same smells, same glare, till at last their shadows began to fall on their right, and then got longer and longer till they seemed to stretch out to the Eastern end of the world. Very slowly the sun drew nearer to the Western horizon. And now at last he was down and,thank goodness,the merciless glare was gone, though the heat coming up from the sand was still as bad as ever. Four pairs of eyes were looking out eagerly for any sign of the valley that Sallowpad the Raven had spoken about. But, mile after mile, there was nothing but level sand. And now the day was quite definitely done, and most of the stars were out, and still the Horses thundered on and the children rose and sank in their saddles, miserable with thirst and weariness. Not till the moon had risen did Shasta-in the strange, barking voice of someone whose mouth is perfectly dry-shout out: "There it is !"

There was no mistaking it now. Ahead, and a little to their right, there was at last a slope: a slope downward and hummocks of rock on each side. The Horses were far too tired to speak but they swung round towards it and in a minute or two they were entering the gully. At first it was worse in there than it had been out in the open desert, for there was a breathless stuffiness between the rocky walls and less moonlight. The slope continued steeply downwards and the rocks on either hand rose to the height of cliffs. Then they began to meet vegetation-prickly cactus-like plants and coarse grass of the kind that would prick your fingers. Soon the horse-hoofs were falling on pebbles and stones instead of sand. Round every bend of the valley-and it had many bends-they looked eagerly for water. The Horses were nearly at the end of their strength now, and Hwin,stumbling and panting,was lagging behind Bree. They were almost in despair before at last they came to a little muddiness and a tiny trickle of water through softer and better grass. And the trickle became a brook, and the brook became a stream with bushes on each side, and the stream became a river and there came (after more disappointments than I could possibly describe) a moment when Shasta, who had been in a kind of doze, suddenly realized that Bree had stopped and found himself slipping off. Before them a little cataract of water poured into a broad pool: and both the Horses were already in the pool with their heads down,drinking,drinking,drinking. "O-o-oh," said Shasta and plunged in-it was about up to his knees—and stooped his head right into the cataract. It was perhaps the loveliest moment in his life.

It was about ten minutes later when all four of them (the two children wet nearly all over) came out and began to notice their surroundings. The moon was now high enough to peep down into the valley. There was soft grass on both sides of the river, and beyond the grass, trees and bushes sloped up to the bases of the cliffs. There must have been some wonderful flowering shrubs hidden in that shadowy undergrowth for the whole glade was full of the coolest and most delicious smells. And out of the darkest recess among the trees there came a sound Shasta had never heard beforea nightingale.

Everyone was much too tired to speak or to eat. The Horses, without waiting to be unsaddled,lay down at once.So did Aravis and Shasta.

About ten minutes later the careful Hwin said, "But we mustn't go to sleep.We've got to keep ahead of that Rabadash. "

"No," said Bree very slowly. "Mustn't go sleep. Just a little rest."

Shasta knew (for a moment) that they would all go to sleep if he didn' t get up and do something about it, and felt that he ought to. In fact he decided that he would get up and persuade them to go on.But presently;not yet: not just yet"

Very soon the moon shone and the nightingale sang over two horses and two human children,all fast asleep.

It was Aravis who awoke first. The sun was already high in the heavens and the cool morning hours were already wasted. "It's my fault,"she said to herself furiously as she jumped up and began rousing the others. "One wouldn't expect Horses to keep awake after a day' s work like that, even if they can talk. And of course that Boy wouldn' t;he' s had no decent training. But I ought to have known better."

The others were dazed and stupid with the heaviness of their sleep.

"Neigh-ho-broo-hoo," said Bree. "Been sleeping in my saddle, eh ? I' ll never do that again.Most uncomfortable—"