and nicer the nearer it came to being done—the King found a complete Dwarfish outfit for Poggin: mail shirt, helmet, shield, sword, belt, and dagger. Then he inspected Eustace's sword and found that Eustace had put it back in the sheath all messy from killing the Calormene. He was scolded for that and made to clean and polish it.
All this while Jill went to and fro, sometimes stirring the pot and sometimes looking out enviously at the Donkey and the Unicorn who were contentedly grazing. How many times that morning she wished she could eat grass!
But when the meal came everyone felt it had been worth waiting for, and there were second helpings all round. When everyone had eaten as much as he could, the three humans and the Dwarf came and sat on the doorstep, the four-footed ones lay down facing them, the Dwarf (with permission both from Jill and from Tirian) lit his pipe, and the King said:
“Now, friend Poggin, you have more news of the enemy, belike, than we. Tell us all you know. And first, what tale do they tell of my escape?”
“As cunning a tale, Sire, as ever was devised,” said Poggin. “It was the Cat, Ginger, who told it, and most likely made it up too. This Ginger, Sire—oh, he's a slyboots if ever a cat was—said he was walking past the tree to which those villains bound your Majesty. And he said (saving your reverence) that you were howling and swearing and cursing Aslan: `language I wouldn't like to repeat' were the words he used, looking ever so prim and proper you know the way a Cat can when it pleases. And then, says Ginger, Aslan himself suddenly appeared in a flash of lightning and swallowed your Majesty up at one mouthful. All the Beasts trembled at this story and some fainted right away. And of course the Ape followed it up. There, he says, see what Aslan does to those who don't respect him. Let that be a warning to you all. And the poor creatures wailed and whined and said, it will, it will. So that in the upshot your Majesty's escape has not set them thinking whether you still have loyal friends to aid you, but only made them more afraid and more obedient to the Ape.”
“What devilish policy!” said Tirian. “This Ginger, then, is close in the Ape's counsels.”
“It's more a question by now, Sire, if the Ape is in his counsels,” replied the Dwarf. “The Ape has taken to drinking, you see. My belief is that the plot is now mostly carried on by Ginger or Rishda—that's the Calormene captain. And I think some words that Ginger has scattered among the Dwarfs are chiefly to blame for the scurvy return they made you. And I'll tell you why. One of those dreadful midnight meetings had just broken up the night before last and I'd gone a bit of the way home when I found I'd left my pipe behind. It was a real good 'un, an old favourite, so I went back to look for it. But before I got to the place where I'd been sitting (it was black as pitch there) I heard a cat's voice say Mew and a Calormene voice say `here... speak softly,' so I just stood as still as if I was frozen. And these two were Ginger and Rishda Tarkaan as they call him. `Noble Tarkaan,' said the Cat in that silky voice of his, `I just wanted to know exactly what we both meant today about Aslan meaning no more than Tash.' `Doubtless, most sagacious of cats,' says the other, `you have perceived my meaning.' `You mean,' says Ginger, `that there's no such person as either.” “All who are enlightened know that,' said the Tarkaan. `Then we can understand one another,' purrs the Cat. `Do you, like me, grow a little weary of the Ape?' `A stupid, greedy brute,' says the other, `but we must use him for the present. Thou and I must provide for all things in secret and make the Ape do our will.' `And it would be better, wouldn't it,' said Ginger, `to let some of the more enlightened Narnians into our counsels: one by one as we find them apt. For the Beasts who really believe in Aslan may turn at any moment: and will, if the Ape's folly betrays his secret. But those who care neither for Tash nor Aslan but have only an eye to their own profit and such reward as The Tisroc may give them when Narnia is a Calormene province, will be firm.' `Excellent Cat,' said the Captain. `But choose which ones carefully.''
While the Dwarf had been speaking the day seemed to have changed. It had been sunny when they sat down. Now Puzzle shivered. Jewel shifted his head uneasily. Jill looked up.
“It's clouding over,” she said.
“And it's so cold,” said Puzzle.
“Cold enough, by the Lion!” said Tirian, blowing on his hands. “And faugh! What foul smell is this?”
“Phew!” gasped Eustace. “It's like something dead. Is there a dead bird somewhere about? And why didn't we notice it before?”
With a great upheaval Jewel scrambled to his feet and pointed with his horn.
“Look!” he cried. “Look at it! Look, look!”
Then all six of them saw; and over all their faces there came an expression of uttermost dismay.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
WHAT NEWS THE EAGLE BROUGHT
IN the shadow of the trees on the far side of the clearing something was moving. It was gliding very slowly Northward. At a first glance you might have mistaken it for smoke, for it was grey and you could see things through it. But the deathly smell was not the smell of smoke. Also, this thing kept its shape instead of billowing and curling as smoke would have done. It was roughly the shape of a man but it had the head of a bird; some bird of prey with a cruel, curved beak. It had four arms which it held high above its head, stretching them out Northward as if it wanted to snatch all Narnia in its grip; and its fingers—all twenty of them—were curved like its beak and had long, pointed, bird-like claws instead of nails. It floated on the grass instead of walking, and the grass seemed to wither beneath it.
After one look at it Puzzle gave a screaming bray and darted into the Tower. And Jill (who was no coward, as you know) hid her face in her hands to shut out the sight of it. The others watched it for perhaps a minute, until it streamed away into the thicker trees on their right and disappeared. Then the sun came out again, and the birds once more began to sing.
Everyone started breathing properly again and moved. They had all been still as statues while it was in sight.
“What was it?” said Eustace in a whisper.
“I have seen it once before,” said Tirian. “But that time it was carved in stone and overlaid with gold and had solid diamonds for eyes. It was when I was no older than thou, and had gone as a guest to The Tisroc's court in Tashbaan.
He took me into the great temple of Tash. There I saw it, carved above the altar.”
“Then that—that thing—was Tash?” said Eustace.
But instead of answering him Tirian slipped his arm behind Jill's shoulders and said, “How is it with you, Lady?”
“A-all right,” said Jill, taking her hands away from her pale face and trying to smile. “I'm all right. It only made me feel a little sick for a moment.”
“It seems, then,” said the Unicorn, “that there is a real Tash, after all.”
“Yes,” said the Dwarf. “And this fool of an Ape, who didn't believe in Tash, will get more than he bargained for! He called for Tash: Tash has come.”
“Where has it—he—the Thing—gone to?” said Jill.
“North into the heart of Narnia,” said Tirian. “It has come to dwell among us. They have called it and it has come.”
“Ho, ho, ho!” chuckled the Dwarf, rubbing his hairy hands together. “It will be a surprise for the Ape. People shouldn't call for demons unless they really mean what they say.”
“Who knows if Tash will be visible to the Ape?” said Jewel.
“Where has Puzzle got to?” said Eustace.
They all shouted out Puzzle's name and Jill went round to the other side of the Tower to see if he had gone there.
They were quite tired of looking for him when at last his large grey head peered cautiously out of the doorway and he said, “Has it gone away?” And when at last they got him to come out, he was shivering the way a dog shivers before a thunderstorm.
“I see now,” said Puzzle, “that I really have been a very bad donkey. I ought never to have listened to Shift. I never thought things like this would begin to happen.”
“If you'd spent less time saying you weren't clever and more time trying to be as clever as you could—”
