HOW THE ADVENTURE ENDED
"LOOK at what?" said Edmund.
"Look at the devi the gold," said Caspian.
"A little hammer with a diamond above it like a star," said Drinian. "Why, Ive seen that before.」
"Seen it!" said Caspian. "Why, of course you have. It is the sign of a great Narnian house.
This is the Lord Octesians arm-ring.」
"Villain," said Reepicheep to the dragon, "have you devoured a Narnian lord?" But the dragon shook his head violently.
"Or perhaps," said Lucy, "this is the Lord Octesian, turned into a dragon - under an entment, you know.」
"It be either," said Edmund. "All dragons collect gold. But I think its a safe guess that Octesian got no further than this island.」
"Are you the Lord Octesian?" said Lucy to the dragon, and then, when it sadly shook its head, "Are you someone ented - someone human, I mean?」
It nodded violently.
And then someone said - people disputed afterwards whether Lucy or Edmund said it first - "Youre not - ace by any ce?」
Aaodded his terrible dragon head and thumped his tail in the sea and everyone skipped back (some of the sailors with ejaculations I will not put down in writing) to avoid the enormous and boiling tears which flowed from his eyes.
Lucy tried hard to sole him and even screwed up her ce to kiss the scaly face, and nearly everyone said "Hard luck" and several assured Eustace that they would all stand by him and many said there was sure to be some way of disenting him and theyd have him as right as rain in a day or two. And of course they were all very anxious to hear his story, but he couldnt speak. More than on the days that followed he attempted to write it for them on the sand. But, this never succeeded. In the first place Eustaever havihe right books) had no idea how to tell a story straight. And for ahing, the muscles and nerves of the dragon-claws that he had to use had never learo write and were not built for writing anyway. As a result he never got nearly to the end before the tide came in and washed away all the writing except the bits he had already trodden on or actaly swished out with his tail. And all that anyone had seen would be something like this - the dots are for the bits he had smudged out I WO SL EE . . . RGOS AGRONS I MEAN DRANGONS
CAVE CAUSE IT-WAS DEAD AND AWING SO HAR . . . WOKE UP AND COU . . .
GET OFFF MI ARM OH BOTHER . . .
It was, however, clear to everyohat Eustaces character had been rather improved by being a dragon. He was anxious to help. He flew over the whole island and found it was all mountainous and inhabited only by wild goats and droves of wild swine. Of these he brought back many carcasses as provisions for the ship. He was a very humane killer too, for he could dispatch a beast with one blow of his tail so that it didnt knoresumably still doesnt know) it had been killed. He ate a few himself, of course, but always alone, for now that he was a dragon he liked his food raw but he could never bear to let others see him at his messy meals. And one day, flying slowly and wearily but iriumph, he bore bap a great tall piree which he had torn up by the roots in a distant valley and which could be made into a capital mast. And in the evening if it turned chilly, as it sometimes did after the heavy rains, he was a fort to everyone, for the whole party would e and sit with their backs against his hot sides a well warmed and d