CHAPTER TWO THE ANCIENT TREASURE HOUSE（第2/4頁）

“Why！”said Lucy，“it’s exactly like one of the golden chessmen we used to play with when we were Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel．”

“Cheer up，Su，”said Peter to his other sister．

“I can’t help it，”said Susan．“It brought back—oh，such lovely times．And I remembered playing chess with fauns and good giants，and the mer-people singing in the sea，and my beautiful horse—and—and—”

“Now，”said Peter in a quite different voice，“it’s about time we four started using our brains．”

“What about？”asked Edmund．

“Have none of you guessed where we are？”said Peter．

“Go on，go on，”said Lucy．“I’ve felt for hours that there was some wonderful mystery hanging over this place．”

“Fire ahead，Peter，”said Edmund．“We’re all listening．”

“We are in the ruins of Cair Paravel itself，”said Peter．

“But，I say，”replied Edmund．“I mean，how do you make that out？ This place has been ruined for ages．Look at all those big trees growing right up to the gates．Look at the very stones．Anyone can see that nobody has lived here for hundreds of years．”

“I know，”said Peter．“That is the difficulty．But let’s leave that out for the moment．I want to take the points one by one．First point: this hall is exactly the same shape and size as the hall at Cair Paravel．Just picture a roof on this，and a coloured pavement instead of grass，and tapestries on the walls，and you get our royal banqueting hall．”

No one said anything．

“Second point，”continued Peter．“The castle well is exactly where our well was，a little to the south of the great hall; and it is exactly the same size and shape．”

Again there was no reply．

“Third point: Susan has just found one of our old chessmen—or something as like one of them as two peas．”

Still nobody answered．

“Fourth point．Don’t you remember—it was the very day before the ambassadors came from the King of Calormen—don’t you remember planting the orchard outside the north gate of Cair Paravel？ The greatest of all the wood-people，Pomona herself，came to put good spells on it．It was those very decent little chaps the moles who did the actual digging．Can you have forgotten that funny old Lilygloves，the chief mole，leaning on his spade and saying，Believe me，your Majesty，you’ll be glad of these fruit trees one day． And by Jove he was right．”

“I do！ I do！”said Lucy，and clapped her hands．

“But look here，Peter，”said Edmund．“This must be all rot．To begin with，we didn’t plant the orchard slap up against the gate．We wouldn’t have been such fools．”

“No，of course not，”said Peter．“But it has grown up to the gate since．”

“And for another thing，”said Edmund，“Cair Paravel wasn’t on an island．”

“Yes，I’ve been wondering about that．But it was a what-do-you-call-it，a peninsula．Jolly nearly an island．Couldn’t it have been made an island since our time？ Somebody has dug a channel．”

“But half a moment！”said Edmund．“You keep on saying since our time．But it’s only a year ago since we came back from Narnia．And you want to make out that in one year castles have fallen down，and great forests have grown up，and little trees we saw planted ourselves have turned into a big old orchard，and goodness knows what else．It’s all impossible．”

“There’s one thing，”said Lucy．“If this is Cair Paravel there ought to be a door at this end of the dais．In fact we ought to be sitting with our backs against it at this moment．You know—he door that led down to the treasure chamber．”

“I suppose there isn’t a door，”said Peter，getting up．

The wall behind them was a mass of ivy．

“We can soon find out，”said Edmund，taking up one of the sticks that they had laid ready for putting on the fire．He began beating the ivied wall．Tap-tap went the stick against the stone; and again，tap-tap; and then，all at once，boom-boom，with a quite different sound，a hollow，wooden sound．

“Great Scott！”said Edmund．

“We must clear this ivy away，”said Peter．

“Oh，do let’s leave it alone，”said Susan．“We can try it in the morning．If we’ve got to spend the night here I don’t want an open door at my back and a great big black hole that anything might come out of，besides the draught and the damp．And it’ll soon be dark．”

“Susan！ How can you？”said Lucy with a reproachful glance．But both the boys were too much excited to take any notice of Susan’s advice．They worked at the ivy with their hands and with Peter’s pocket-knife till the knife broke．After that they used Edmund’s.Soon the whole place where they had been sitting was covered with ivy; and at last they had the door cleared．