《能言馬與男孩》第32期:沙斯塔在墳場裏(2)

Suddenly from somewhere behind him there came a terrible sound. Shasta's heart gave a great jump and he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from screaming. Next moment he realized what it was: the horns of Tashbaan blowing for the closing of the gates.

"Don't be a silly little coward," said Shasta to himself. "Why, it's only the same noise you heard this morning." But there is a great difference between a noise heard letting you in with your friends in the morning, and a noise heard alone at nightfall, shutting you out. And now that the gates were shut he knew there was no chance of the others joining him that evening. "Either they're shut up in Tashbaan for the night," thought Shasta, "or else they've gone on without me. It's just the sort of thing that Aravis would do. But Bree wouldn't. Oh, he wouldn't. - now, would he?"

In this idea about Aravis Shasta was once more quite wrong. She was proud and could be hard enough but she was as true as steel and would never have deserted a companion, whether she liked him or not.

Now that Shasta knew he would have to spend the night alone (it was getting darker every minute) he began to like the look of the place less and less. There was something very uncomfortable about those great, silent shapes of stone. He had been trying his hardest for a long time not to think of ghouls: but he couldn't keep it up any longer.

"Ow! Ow! Help!" he shouted suddenly, for at that very moment he felt something touch his leg. I don't think anyone can be blamed for shouting if something comes up from behind and touches him; not in such a place and at such a time, when he is frightened already. Shasta at any rate was too frightened to run. Anything would be better than being chased round and round the burial places of the Ancient Kings with something he dared not look at behind him. Instead, he did what was really the most sensible thing he could do. He looked round; and his heart almost burst with relief. What had touched him was only a cat.

The light was too bad now for Shasta to see much of the cat except that it was big and very solemn. It looked as if it might have lived for long, long years among the Tombs, alone. Its eyes made you think it knew secrets it would not tell.

"Puss, puss," said Shasta. "I suppose you're not a talking cat."

The cat stared at him harder than ever. Then it started walking away, and of course Shasta followed it. It led him right through the tombs and out on the desert side of them. There it sat down bolt upright with its tail curled round its feet and its face set towards the desert and towards Narnia and the North, as still as if it were watching for some enemy. Shasta lay down beside it with his back against the cat and his face towards the Tombs, because if one is nervous there's nothing like having your face towards the danger and having something warm and solid at your back. The sand wouldn't have seemed very comfortable to you, but Shasta had been sleeping on the ground for weeks and hardly noticed it. Very soon he fell asleep, though even in his dreams he went on wondering what had happened to Bree and Aravis and Hwin.

He was wakened suddenly by a noise he had never heard before. "Perhaps it was only a nightmare," said Shasta to himself. At the same moment he noticed that the cat had gone from his back, and he wished it hadn't. But he lay quite still without even opening his eyes because he felt sure he would be more frightened if he sat up and looked round at the Tombs and the loneliness: just as you or I might lie still with the clothes over our heads. But then the noise came again - a harsh, piercing cry from behind him out of the desert. Then of course he had to open his eyes and sit up.

突然從他的背後傳來一個可怕的聲音。沙斯塔的心猛烈地一跳，他咬住舌頭纔沒有叫出聲來。一會兒以後他明白這是什麼聲音了。這是塔什班城宣告關閉城門的號角聲。

“別做一個愚蠢的小懦夫，”沙斯塔跟他自己說，”這不過是你今兒早晨聽到過的同樣的號角聲啊。”但在早晨聽到的、放你和你的朋友進城的號角聲，跟在傍晚獨自聽到的、把你關在城外的號角聲，是截然不同的。如今城門已經關閉，他知道今晚他們和他會合的機會是沒有了。”或者是他們給關在塔什班城裏過夜了，”沙斯塔想，”要不就是他們丟下我走掉了。這樣的事情阿拉維斯是做得出來的，但布里是不會幹的。啊，它不會幹——哦，它會幹嗎？”

沙斯塔關於阿拉維斯的這個推想，又一次錯了。她是驕傲的，也夠厲害的，但她像鋼鐵一樣忠誠，從不拋棄夥伴，不論她是否喜歡他。

沙斯塔既然知道他不得不獨自過夜了(天色愈來愈黑)，他也就愈來愈不喜歡墳場的氣氛。在那些緘默無聲的各種形狀的巨大石頭裏自有一種令人不舒暢的東西。他一直在竭盡全力不去想食屍鬼，但他沒法兒再堅持下去。

“啊啃！啊啃！救命！”他突然叫喊了起來，因爲就在這個時刻，他感覺有個東西碰了碰他的腿。隨便什麼人，如果有個東西從背後過來碰碰他，他因而叫喊了起來，我想誰也不會責備他的，特別是在這樣的地方，在這樣的時間裏，在他本來已經很害怕的時候。沙斯塔無論如何是嚇得不敢跑動了。被背後一個他不敢回頭看的什麼東西追逐着，繞着古代國王的墳墓兜圈子，那可是最糟糕的事情了。他沒跑，他作出了確實是他能作出的最理智的舉動。他向四周打量；他的心幾乎寬慰得要跳出來了。原來碰他腿的不過是一隻貓。

光線太糟，沙斯塔沒看清楚那隻貓，只看到它又大又嚴肅。看起來那貓獨自在墳場裏已經生活了好多好多年。它的眼睛使你覺得它知道許多祕密，可不願告訴你。

“貓咪，貓咪，”沙斯塔說，”我猜你是一隻說人話的貓。”

貓只是越發盯住他直瞧。接着，貓開始走動了，沙斯塔當然跟着它走。貓帶着他穿過墳場，把他帶到了墳場外大沙漠一邊。貓在那兒筆挺地坐了下來，尾巴繞在腳上，臉向着大沙漠，向着納尼亞和北方，身體一動也不動，彷彿在守望着什麼敵人似的。沙斯塔在貓的身邊躺下，他的背靠着貓，他的臉朝着墳場，因爲如果心裏緊張不安，最好還是臉朝着危險，背靠着溫暖而結實的東西。你會覺得沙土不舒服，但沙斯塔在地上睡過好幾個星期，對沙土沒有在意。他不久就睡熟了，儘管他在睡夢中還在繼續想着布里、阿拉維斯、赫溫碰到了什麼事情。

他突然被一個他從未聽到過的聲音吵醒了。”也許只是夢魔罷了。”沙斯塔跟自己說。就在這個時候，他發現貓已經從他背後走掉了，他但願貓不曾走掉。但他仍舊十分安靜地躺在那兒，連眼睛也不肯睜開，因爲他深信，如果他坐起來，環顧墳場和孤寂，他就會更加害怕；他的情況，就像你或我寧可用衣服蒙着腦袋一動也不動地躺在那兒一樣。然而，這時又傳來了聲音——從他背後的大沙漠裏傳來了粗糙刺耳的叫聲。當然啦，他這就不得不睜開眼睛坐起來了。