And so it was. Half a dozen splendid tree.trunks， all ewly cut and newly lopped of their branches， had been shed together to make a raft， and were gliding swiftly own the river. On the front of the raft there was a water t with a pole to steer it.
“Hey！ Water Rat！ What are you about？” cried the King. “Taking logs down to sell to the Calormenes， Sire，” said he Rat， touching his ear as he might have touched his cap he had had one.
“Calormenes！” thundered Tirian. “What do you mean？ ho gave order for these trees to be felled？”
The River flows so swiftly at that time of the year that he raft had already glided past the King and Jewel. But the ater Rat looked back over its shoulder and shouted out： “The Lion‘s orders， Sire. Aslan himself.” He addedomething more but they couldn’t hear it.
The King and the Unicorn stared at one another and oth looked more frightened than they had ever been in ny battle.
“Aslan，” said the King at last， in a very low voice. “Aslan. ould it be true？ Could he be felling the holy trees and urdering the Dryads？”
“Unless the Dryads have all done something dreadfully wrong.” murmured Jewel.
“But selling them to Calormenes！” said the King. “Is it possible？”