Lucy was sleeping very soundly for she had sat up till the eturn of the search party in the hope of good news about ustace. It had been led by Caspian and had come back te and weary. Their news was disquieting. They had found o trace of Eustace but had seen a dead dragon in a valley. hey tried to make the best of it and everyone assured veryone else that there were not likely to he more dragons bout， and that one which was dead at about three o‘clock hat afternoon （which was when they had seen it） would ardly have been killing people a very few hours before. “Unless it ate the little brat and died of him： he’d poison nything，” said Rhince. But he said this under his breath nd no one heard it.
But later in the night Lucy was wakened， very softly， and ound the whole company gathered close together and lking in whispers.
“What is it？” said Lucy.
“We must all show great constancy，” Caspian was saying. “A dragon has just flown over the tree.tops and lighted on the beach. Yes， I am afraid it is between us and the ship. And arrows are no use against dragons. And they‘re not at all afraid of fire.”
“With your Majesty’s leave.” began Reepicheep.