凱斯賓王子

Chapter Two ?The Ancient Treasure House

第二章 塵封的寶庫(kù)

“THIS wasnt a garden，” said Susan presently. “It was a castle and this must have been the courtyard.”

“I see what you mean，” said Peter. “Yes. That is the remains of a tower. And there is what used to be a flight of steps going up to the top of the walls. And look at those other steps—the broad， shallow ones—going up to that doorway. It must have been the door into the great hall.”

“Ages ago， by the look of it，” said Edmund.

“Yes， ages ago，” said Peter. “I wish we could find out who the people were that lived in this castle; and how long ago.”

“It gives me a queer feeling，” said Lucy.

“Does it， Lu？” said Peter， turning and looking hard at her. “Because it does the same to me. It is the queerest thing that has happened this queer day. I wonder where we are and what it all means？”

While they were talking they had crossed the courtyard and gone through the other doorway into what had once been the hall. This was now very like the courtyard， for the roof had long since disappeared and it was merely another space of grass and daisies， except that it was shorter and narrower and the walls were higher. Across the far end there was a kind of terrace about three feet higher than the rest.

“I wonder， was it really the hall？” said Susan. “What is that terrace kind of thing？”

“Why， you silly，” said Peter （who had become strangely excited）， “dont you see？ That was the dais where the High Table was， where the King and the great lords sat. Anyone would think you had forgotten that we ourselves were once Kings and Queens and sat on a dais just like that， in our great hall.”

“In our castle of Cair Paravel，” continued Susan in a dreamy and rather sing-song voice， “at the mouth of the great river of Narnia. How could I forget？”

“How it all comes back！” said Lucy. “We could pretend we were in Cair Paravel now. This hall must have been very like the great hall we feasted in.”

“這不像是個(gè)花園?！碧K珊想了想說(shuō)，“這更像是個(gè)城堡，如果沒(méi)錯(cuò)的話(huà)，我們現(xiàn)在所在的位置應(yīng)該是城堡的某個(gè)院落?！?/p>

“還真別說(shuō)，是有那么點(diǎn)像?！北说谜f(shuō)，“看，那是殘存的塔樓，可是只剩下一小段樓梯了，本來(lái)沿著那樓梯可以直接通往塔頂?shù)摹Ｄ銈冊(cè)倏茨切┯謱捰制骄彽呐_(tái)階，一直通往門(mén)廊，那門(mén)準(zhǔn)是通往大廳去的。”

“看上去可真有些年頭了?！睈?ài)德蒙感慨道。

“是啊，這是很久以前的城堡?！北说媒又f(shuō)，“真希望我們能弄明白當(dāng)年是什么人住在這里，這地方到底是多久以前留下來(lái)的?！?/p>

“可是我總覺(jué)得這里怪怪的。”露茜說(shuō)。

“是嗎，露茜？”彼得轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身來(lái)，眼睛瞪得老大，“我也有種奇怪的感覺(jué)，我真的覺(jué)得這是今天這個(gè)奇怪的日子里發(fā)生的最奇怪的事情。我們至少得弄明白我們自己在哪里，到底發(fā)生了什么事。”

就在大家你一言、我一語(yǔ)地表達(dá)著自己的感覺(jué)的時(shí)候，他們已經(jīng)穿過(guò)院子，走進(jìn)另一道門(mén)廊。門(mén)里邊應(yīng)該是一個(gè)大廳，可是就目前看來(lái)與外面的院子沒(méi)什么兩樣，因?yàn)槲蓓斣缇拖У脽o(wú)影無(wú)蹤，只見(jiàn)一片荒草和雛菊叢生的荒地。不過(guò)此處與外面的院子相比，寬度比較窄，縱深比較短，四周的墻也明顯要高出許多。橫穿過(guò)整個(gè)大廳后，有一個(gè)平臺(tái)。這平臺(tái)比其他地方高出了約一米。

“我簡(jiǎn)直不敢相信這里會(huì)是一個(gè)大廳，”蘇珊說(shuō)，“誰(shuí)會(huì)在大廳里筑一個(gè)那么奇怪的平臺(tái)呢？”

“哎，你這傻瓜?！北说猛蝗伙@得莫名地興奮起來(lái)，“你還沒(méi)看出來(lái)嗎？那平臺(tái)是王公貴族的寶座?！?br>