第137章 The Magician‘s Nephew(137)

But though Digory could no longer hear the Lion， he could see it. It was so big and so bright that he could not take his eyes off it. The other animals did not appear to be afraid of it. Indeed， at that very moment， Digory heard the sound of hoofs from behind； a second later the old cab. horse trotted past him and joined the other beasts. （The air had apparently suited him as well as it had suited Uncle Andrew. He no longer looked like the poor old slave he had been in London； he was picking up his feet and holding his head erect.） And now， for the first time， the Lion was quite silent. He was going to and fro among the animals. And every now and then he would go up to two of them （always two at a time） and touch their noses with his. He would touch two beavers among all the beavers， two leopards among all the leopards， one stag and one deer among all the deer， and leave the rest. Some sorts of animal he passed overaltogether. But the pairs which he had touched instantly left their own kinds and followed him. At last he stood still and all the creatures whom he had touched came and stood in a wide circle around him. The others whom he had not touched began to wander away. Their noises faded gradually into the distance. The chosen beasts who remained were now utterly silent， all with their eyes fixed intently upon the Lion. The cat.like ones gave an occasional twitch of the tail but otherwise all were still. For the first time that day there was complete silence， except for the noise of running water. Digory’s heart beat wildly； he knew something very solemn was going to be done. He had not forgotten about his Mother， but he knew jolly well that， even for her， he couldn‘t interrupt a thing like this.