The_Complete_Chronicles_of_Narnia_(volumes_1-7,_in_order_of_publication)

shone like dark green glass. To look at, this last sea was very like the Arctic; and if their
eyes had not by now grown as strong as eagles' the sun on all that whiteness - especially
at early morning when the sun was hugest would have been unbearable. And every
evening the same whiteness made the daylight last longer. There seemed no end to the
lilies. Day after day from all those miles and leagues of flowers there rose a smell which
Lucy found it very hard to describe; sweet - yes, but not at all sleepy or overpowering, a
fresh, wild, lonely smell that seemed to get into your brain and make you feel that you
could go up mountains at a run or wrestle with an elephant. She and Caspian said to one
another, "I feel that I can't stand much more of this, yet I don't want it to stop."
They took soundings very often but it was only several days later that the water became
shallower. After that it went on getting shallower. There came a day when they had to
row out of the current and feel their way forward at a snail's pace, rowing. And soon it
was clear that the Dawn Treader could sail no further east. Indeed it was only by very
clever handling that they saved her from grounding.
"Lower the boat," cried Caspian, "and then call the men aft. I must speak to them."
"What's he going to do?" whispered Eustace to Edmund. "There's a queer look in his
eyes."
"I think we probably all look the same," said Edmund.
They joined Caspian on the poop and soon all the men were crowded together at the foot
of the ladder to hear the King's speech. "Friends," said Caspian, "we have now fulfilled
the quest on which you embarked. The seven lords are all accounted for and as Sir
Reepicheep has sworn never to return, when you reach Ramandu's Land you will
doubtless find the Lords Revilian and Argoz and Mavramorn awake. To you, my Lord
Drinian, I entrust this ship, bidding you sail to Narnia with all the speed you may, and
above all not to land on the Island of Deathwater. And instruct my regent, the Dwarf
Trumpkin, to give to all these, my shipmates, the rewards I promised them. They have
been earned well. And if I come not again it is my will that the Regent, and Master
Cornelius, and Trufflehunter the Badger, and the Lord Drinian choose a King of Narnia
with the consent-"
"But, Sire," interrupted Drinian, "are you abdicating?"
"I am going with Reepicheep to see the World's End," said Caspian.
A low murmur of dismay ran through the sailors.
"We will take the boat," said Caspian. "You will have no need of it in these gentle seas
and you must build a new one in Ramandu's island. And now-"
"Caspian," said Edmund suddenly and sternly, "you can't do this."