第949章 The Voyage of the Dawn Treader(74)

The first day for ages when I have been able to write. We had been driven before a hurricane for thirteen days and nights. I know that because I kept a careful count， though the others all say it was only twelve. Pleasant to be embarked on a dangerous voyage with people who can‘t even count right！ I have had a ghastly time， up and down enormous waves hour after hour， usually wet to the skin， and not even an attempt at giving us proper meals. Needless to say there’s no wireless or even a rocket， so no chance of signalling anyone for help. It all proves what I keep on telling them， the madness of setting out in a rotten little tub like this. It would be bad enough even if one was with decent people instead of fiends in human form. Caspian and Edmund are simply brutal to me. The night we lost our mast （there‘s only a stump left now）， though I was not at allwell， they forced me to come on deck and work like a slave. Lucy shoved her oar in by saying that Reepicheep was longing to go only he was too small. I wonder she doesn’t see that everything that little beast does is all for the sake of showing off. Even at her age she ought to have that amount of sense. Today the beastly boat is level at last and the sun‘s out and we have all been jawing about what to do. We have food enough， pretty beastly stuff most of it， to last for sixteen days. （The poultry were all washed overboard. Even if they hadn’t been， the storm would have stopped them laying.） The real trouble is water. Two casks seem to have got a leak knocked in them and are empty. （Narnian efficiency again.） On short rations， half a pint a day each， we‘ve got enough for twelve days. （There’s still lots of rum and wine but even they realize that would only make them thirstier.）“If we could， of course， the sensible thing would be to turn west at once and make for the Lone Islands. But it took us eighteen days to get where we are， running like mad with a gale behind us. Even if we got an east wind it might take us far longer to get back. And at present there‘s no sign of an east wind.in fact there’s no wind at all. As for rowing back， it would take far too long and Caspian says the men couldn‘t row on half a pint of water a day. I’m pretty sure this is wrong. I tried to explain that perspiration really cools people down， so the men would need less water if they were working. He didn‘t take any notice of this， which is always his way when he can’t think of an answer. The others all voted for going on in the hope of finding land. I felt it my duty to point out that we didn‘t know there was any land ahead and tried to get them to see the dangers of wishful thinking. Instead of producing a better plan they had the cheek to ask me what I proposed. So I just explained coolly and quietly that I had been kidnapped and brought away on this idiotic voyage without my consent， and it was hardly my business to get them out of their scrape.