“Why，it'sonlyagirl!”heexclaimed。
“AndwhatbusiofyoursifIamonlyagirl?”sranger。“You'reprobablyonlyaboy:arude，onlittleboy—aslaveprobably，who'sstolenhismaster'shorse。”
“That'sallyouknow，”saidShasta。
“He'sleTarkheena，”saidBree。“Atleast，ifthere'sbeenanystealing，youmightjustaswellsayIstolehim。Andasforitsnotbeingmybusiness，youwouldmetopassaladyofmyowhisstrarywithoutspeaki'sonlynaturalIshould。”
“Ithinkit'sverynaturaltoo，”saidthemare。
“Iwishyou'dheldyue，Hwin，”saidthegirl。“Lookatthetroubleyou'vegotusinto。”
“Idon'tknowabouttrouble，”saidShasta。“Youclearoffassoonasyoulike。Weshan'tkeepyou。”
“No，youshan't，”saidthegirl。
“Whatquarrelsomecreaturesthesehumansare，”saidBreetothemare。“They'reasbadasmules。Let'strytotalkalittleseakeit，ma'am，yourstoryisthesameasmiuredih—yearstheenes?”
“Tootrue，sir，”saidthemarewithamelanny。
“Andnoe?”
&omindhisownbusiness，Hwin，”saidthegirl。
“No，Iwon't，Aravis，”saidthemareputtingherearsback。“Thisismyescapejustasmuchasyours。AndI'msureanoblewar-horselikethisisnotgoirayus。WearetryiogettoNarnia。”
“Andso，ofcourse，arewe，”saidBree。“uessedthatatolebsriding（toride）awar-horseatdeadofnighteananythingbutanesesort。And，ifImaysayso，ahighbornTarkheenaridi—dressedupiher'sarmor—andveryanxiousforeveryoomindtheirownbusinessandaskheriohat'snotfishy，callmeacob!”
“Allrightthen，”saidAravis。“You'veguessedit。HwinandIarerunningaway。WearetryioNarnia。Andnow，whataboutit?”
“Why，inthatcase，reventusallgoiher?”saidBree。“Itrust，MadamHwin，youtsuchassistaeaybeabletogiveyouonthejourney?”
“Whydoyoukeeptalkingtomyhorseiome?”askedthegirl。
“Excuseme，Tarkheena，”saidBree（withjusttheslightestbackwardtiltofhisears），“butthat'sealk。We'refreeNarnians，HwinandI，andIsuppose，ifyawaytoNarnia，youwaoo。Inthatisn'tyourhorseanylhtjustaswellsayyou'reherhuman。”
Thegirlopeospeakaopped。Obviouslyshehadinthatlightbefore。
“Still，”shesaidafteramoment'spause，“Idon'tknowthatthere'ssomutinallgoiher。Aren'twemorelikelytobenoticed?”
“Less，”saidBree;andthemaresaid，“Ohdolet's。Ishouldfeelmufortable。We'reainoftheway。I&#reatchargerlikethisknowsfarmorethanwedo。”
“Oheon，Bree，”saidShasta，“aheirownway。'tyouseetheydon'twantus?”
“Wedo，”saidHwin。
“Lookhere，”saidthegirl。“Idon'tmindgoingwithyou，Mr。War-Horse，butwhataboutthisboy?HowdoIknowhe'snotaspy?”
“Whydon'tyousayatoyouthinkI'mnotgoodenoughforyou?”saidShasta。
&，Shasta，”saidBree。“TheTarkheena'squestionisquitereasonable。I'llvouchfortheboy，Tarkheena。He'sbeeomeandagoodfriend。Andhe'slyeitheraNarnianoranArder。”
“Allright，the'sgotogether。”Butshedidn'tsayanythingtoShastaanditwasobviousthatshewahim。
“Splendid!”saidBree。“Andnowthatwe'vegotthewaterbetweenusandthosedreadfulanimals，whataboutyoutwohumanstakingoffoursaddlesandourallhaviandheariher'sstories。”
BoththeuheirhorsesandthehorseshadalittlegrassandAravisproducedratheroeatfromhersaddle-bag，ButShastasulkedandsaidNothanks，andthathewasn'thungry。Aoverygrandandstiffmaasafisherman'sbutisnotusuallyagoodplacefraheresultwasdreadful。Andhehalfkwasn'tasudthenbecamesulkierandmoreawkwardthahetwohoheyrememberedtheverysameplaarnia—“thegrasslandsupaboveBeaversdam”andfoundthattheyweresomesortofsedoved。ThismadethingsmoreandmoreunfortableforthehumansuntilatlastBreesaid，“Andnow，Tarkheena，tellusyourstory。Anddon'thurryit—I'mfeelingfortablenow。”
Aravisimmediatelybegan，sittiillandusingaratherdiffereylefromherusualone。Fori（whetherthestoriesaretrueormadeup）isathingyht，justasEnglishboysandgirlsaretaughtessay-writing。Thedifferepeoplewaories，whereasIneverheardofaedtoreadtheessays。