THE DARK ISLAND AFTER this advehey sailed on south and a little east for twelve days with a gentle wind, the skies being mostly clear and the air warm, and saw no bird or fish, except that ohere were whales spouting a long way to starboard. Lud Reepicheep played a good deal of chess at this time. Then ohirteenth day, Edmund, from the fighting top, sighted what looked like a great dark mountain rising out of the sea on their port bow.
They altered course and made for this land, mostly by oar, for the wind would not serve them to sail north-east. When evenihey were still a long way from it and rowed all night. m the weather was fair but a flat calm. The dark mass lay ahead, muearer and larger, but still very dim, so that some thought it was still a long way off and others thought they were running into a mist.
About hat m, very suddenly, it was so close that they could see that it was not land at all, nor even, in an ordinary sense, a mist. It was a Darkness. It is rather hard to
describe, but you will see what it was like if you imagine yourself looking into the mouth of a railway tunnel - a tunher so long or so twisty that you ot see the light at the far end. And you know what it would be like. For a few feet you would see the rails and sleepers and gravel in broad daylight; then there would e a place where they were in twilight; and then, pretty suddenly, but of course without a sharp dividing lihey would vanish altogether into smooth, solid blaess. It was just so here. For a few feet in front of their bows they could see the swell of the bright greenish-blue water.
Beyond that, they could see the water looking pale and grey as it would look late in the evening. But beyond that again, utter blaess as if they had e to the edge of moonless and starless night.
Caspian shouted to the boatswain to keep her back, and all except the rowers rushed forward and gazed from the bows. But there was nothing to be seen by gazing. Behind them was the sea and the sun, before them the Darkness.
"Do we go into this?" asked Caspian at length.
"Not by my advice," said Drinian.
"The Captains right," said several sailors.
"I almost think he is," said Edmund.
Lud Eustace didnt speak but they felt very glad i the turn things seemed to be taking. But all at ohe clear voice of Reepicheep broke in upon the silence.
"And why not?" he said. "Will someone explain to me why not.」
No one was anxious to explain, so Reepicheep tinued: "If I were addressing peasants or slaves," he said, "I might suppose that this suggestion proceeded from cowardice. But I hope it will never be told in Narnia that a pany of noble and royal persons in the flower of their age turail because they were afraid of the dark.」
"But what manner of use would it be ploughing through that blaess?" asked Drinian.
"Use?" replied Reepicheep. "Use, Captain? If by use you mean filling our bellies or our purses, I fess it will be no use at all. So far as I know we did not set sail to look for things useful but to seek honour and adventure. And here is as great an adventure as ever I heard of, and here, if we turn bao tittle impeat of all our honours.」
Several of the sailors said things uheir breath that sounded like "Honour be blowed", but Caspian said:
"Oh, bother you, Reepicheep. I almost wish wed left you at home. All right! If you put it that way, I suppose we shall h