The Chronicles of Narnia Complete 7-Book Collection with Bonus Book

by C. S. Lewis

  But in a few terms, he found a new source of trouble. Frederic and his set were friendly indeed to John, but they were not fit to bear scrutiny with the powerful moral telescope which the frog fixed upon all his acquaintances. As he became more and more closely connected with his friend’s set he learnt of many evil practices which disgusted him: how wines and spirits were smuggled into the studies to be drunk at midnight in clandestine meetings: how Frederic and his set escaped from the school by night to visit loose women in the town: how it was their favorite amusement to poach for partridges on the neighbouring estates of Lord Twinklebury.

  Two courses lay before John. One was to renounce his immoral friends and become again an unpopular but industrious worker: the other was to join himself more closely to his friends and share their pleasures. Weakly but naturally he decided for the later course, and plunged into the vices of his set. Lord Robert wondered why no more prizes came home and Lady Jane was troubled by the unhealthy appearance of her son.

  For over a year John lived in this fashion, the excesses of the set becoming daily more daring & dangerous. Such a state of things could not have continued for long without John’s health – which was rather delicate – breaking down, and it was really fortunate that they were at length discovered by a master, at a nocturnal drinking-party. Among the culprits were, Frederic, John and Hillory Smith-Gore, a bulldog, the son of a southern squire.

  For a time the boys were in danger of being expelled, but in order to save so many ancient families from disgrace, they escaped with a thrashing. The event could not, of course, help reaching the ears of Lord Robert, who sternly admonished John to cease his folly. But his words were unnecessary: the boys were too frightened by their narrow escape to attempt such deeds again. John returned to his studies, and Quicksteppe, his natural cleverness making up for his lack of steady diligence, rapidly climbed to the top of the School. Both were in the top form and had, to a large extent, effaced their conduct, before they left Danphabel in the year 1874, at the respective ages of 18 and 17.

  CHAPTER III

  * * * * * * *

  We have seen in the last chapter that John Big’s school career had not been so brilliant as had been hoped by himself and his parents, and he was fully conscious of the fact. He returned home penitent and much impressed by a sense of his own shortcomings, and gave himself up to moral despair, believing that he was a total wreck and could never be any use again in the world: this making morbid and injurious a remorse which in a brighter nature would have been just and wholesome. While he was in this position his father adressed him in the following words:

  ‘John, you have left school, your education in finished and it is time you decided upon a profession. Think it over, and tell me when you have made up your mind.’

  It was not only necessary that Lord Robert should put such a question to his son, but it was also highly politic that he should chose such a time to do it, when the young frog’s mind was distraught by grief & was in need of some important problem to grapple with, and which might lift its thoughts from its own discrepancies. True to his vigorous and powerful character, John was not slow to chose a career, and he told his father in a few weeks that he wished to be a lawyer. In order that he might be called to the bar in accordance with all the customs of Boxen it was desirable that he should pass through an university, and Lord Robert accordingly made arrangements for his becoming an undergraduate at Great Eglington.

  Having been warned by his excellent parent to lead a purer and more industrious life at college than he had done at school, in the year 1876 and how twenty years old, John set out for the capital once more.

  Here he met his old friend Frederic Quicksteppe while waiting for the Eglington coach, and found that the latter had bought a commission in the 2nd Dragoons. It would have been curious indeed if, gazing at the splendid uniform and military bearing of his old schoolfellow, the young frog had not felt a desire to join the same haughty service and be united to his former companion. But he had chosen the bar as his calling and not without many regrets he continued his journey to Eglington.

  One rather pathetic fragment of his feelings has come down to us in a letter written to his mother from Murry, which runs thus: –

  ‘I have met here our mutual friend, Frederic, who is now a dragoon, and looks well as such: it is a good trade, that of a soldier. Were it not that I was pledged to the law, I would stand by his side.’

  John had been educated at a school of great antiquity and established reputation and his university was equal to it in every way. It had sheltered through preceding centuries the grey forms of monks, the black-gowned philosophers and the chattering students: but John did not dare to stop on its threshold and indulge in that feeling of pardonable pride which had swelled his breast as he entered Danphabel.

  Such mental sensations were connected in his mind with shameful exploits and broken resolves: he looked with suspicion on the most genial of his fellow students, fearing he might once again be led into an evil set. He cared no longer for popularity and athletics, sternly renounced the pleasures of the bottle and devoted himself wholly to work. He did not pause to take exercise nor to eat proper meals, but passed his days and a large part of his nights in poring over his law books.

  Frederic, who came down once to visit his old friend was horrified by his gaunt cheeks, and bloodshot eyes surrounded by dark rings. During the vacations his father advised him to take a rest, but the young frog, bent upon passing and passing well through the examination which would admit him to the bar, would listen to no advice.

  On the 1st of January 1879, at the age twenty-three, he journeyed to Murry to take the examination: too nervous to eat a breakfast, he presented himself at the appointed place long before the stated time, entered as soon as he was allowed, wrote furiously for an hour and a half and fell fainting over his papers. He was carried to his room in the Goose Inn, where he was staying at the time, and recovered to hear with joy that he was first on the list.

  Among those who came to congratulate him were Frederic Quicksteppe and Hillory Smith-Gore who had also become a dragoon; these old friends persuaded him to stay in Murry for a few weeks and to enjoy a well merited rest and round of pleasure. It was natural that the frog, whose character was prone to violent rëactions, and who had led an existance of the hardest toil and cruellest privations should eagerly agree to such a tempting proposal.

  Writing to Lord Robert that he was going to start practice in Murry, he recieved from the latter an allowance of £650 a year until he should be sufficiently well-known and established to support himself, out of which he bought himself a small town house.

  Hither came Frederic and Smith Gore and indeed many old friends of both sexes, until it was evident that the Hon. John Big was, to a certain extent, returning to his old mode of life, and the old Lord Robert heard that he was a more familiar figure in the theatres and night-clubs and in the houses of women whose characters and relations with their guests will not bear investigation than in the Courts of Assize.

  A less prudent father than Lord Robert would have wasted his time in vain regrets and expostulations, but he knew only too well that the character of a hot-headed young man in not altered by any amount of moral discource, and he therefore determined to put a stop to his son’s indolence in a surer way. Accordingly, on the 1st May 1881, on his son’s twenty fifth birthday he journeyed to Murry and visited John at his town house.

  The young frog was not altogether pleased to see his father but he greeted him affectionately and accepted his good wishes

  ‘Here is a birthday present for you, John’ said Lord Robert, handing him a flat envelope.

  ‘Thank you very much, father,’ said John, thinking it was a cheque.

  He was, therefore, not a little surprised to find that the envelope contained a cornet’s commission in the Guards, a regiment which, though quite as aristocratic as the Dragoons, did not allow so much freedom to its members.

  CHAPTER IV


  * * * * * * *

  John Big, or, as we must now call him, Cornet Big, although extremely sorry to give up his life of easy immorality, soon settled down to military life in the Bloom Street Barrack where the Guards were stationed, and hence forward lived a life which was neither darkened by the insane privation of Eglington University nor disgraced the debauches of Danphabel and his recent town life. The society of healthy aristocrats of his own age cheered his spirits, while his body, broken and enfeebled by a long round of dissipation and excess, derived new strength from the regular life and drill of the Barrack.

  Here he first met Cornet Chutney who soon became his fast friend: this remarkable young man was John’s senior by two years, and exercized some influence over the newcomer: he was a good rider, wrote and painted tolerably, was devoted to his duty and was a popular character in Murry society.

  Here also John met another soldier with whom he was afterwards connected, although not in such a friendly manner as with Chutney, namely Lieutenant Sir Marmaduke Powle, a white bear of singularly cool temprament with whom John was never on good terms.

  In the few moments of leisure which he could snatch, he kept up his old acquaintance with Frederic and Smith-Gore, neither endeavouring to exercise a control over their conduct nor yet sharing in their excesses, which, in truth, were not so desparate as formerly: for Frederic had been promoted to the rank of lieutenant and had become more dignified than before, while the bulldog had been saddened by the death of his father.

  The only blot upon this stage of John’s life is his excessive indulgence in the practice of duelling, which was then much in vogue: he had a naturally hot temper and, as his recent life had left many not unfounded suspicions on his character, he was jealous of any chance word which might be construed in to an insult. He was an expert fencer and a deadly shot, and, had it not been for his natural kind heartedness and moderation he would have become a bullying swashbuckler.

  He was not however always victorious: his most disgraceful and ignominious defeat was by Sir Marmaduke Powle. Quarreling with this bear over a supposed dishonesty at whist, he challenged him, and the combatants met with sabres on the Pip-Castle Road, in the early morning. John began the duel by charging his opponent with terrible vigour, but his sword was knocked out of his hand and the bear said insolently, ‘Pick up your weapon my little frog.’ Wild with rage and confusion the young John rushed once again upon his adversary: the same result: the same command. This was repeated three times, and on the fourth, Sir Marmaduke, a bear of great strength, siezed the young frog by his collar and kicked him aside. Painful and ridiculous as the event was, it was doubtless good for him; it acted as a useful check upon his pride and taught him not to seek for a quarrel so eagerly.

  In the Spring of the year 1883, a great trial befell Cornet Big. Lord Robert, who for a long time had not enjoyed good health, fell ill of some internal complaint and died. John, although headstrong and passionate & impatient of command was much attached to his parent and grieved at his loss. But, fortunately for him, there were many other affairs to employ his mind: promotion was at that time very difficult for a young cornet to gain, for the army was overcrowded with worthless young cadets of famous housholds who had merely bought a commission a few years earlier than John and his friends and yet enjoyed seniority. Nevertheless, John set his heart upon climbing to the very highest posts attainable, and strained every effort to gain favour with his superiors.

  In the next year, 1884, when he was twenty-eight years old, some formidible riots broke out in Murry among the shopkeepers who were dissatisfied at a recent law passed against any shop being open after a certain hour. The trouble threatened to become serious and a body of Guardsmen were sent into the South part of the city to quell the disturbance, commanded by Major Browne, a bird of great discretion.

  There was a short skirmish on the Southern shore of the river after which the rioters fled Northwards, and the Major despatched John by a circuitous root to the Pip Castle Road, where he might cut off the enemies’ retreat. Here he held the road with a small body against the infuriated civilians, displaying great personal courage and strategic ingenuity; for this service he was promoted to the rank of a Ist Lieutenant, thus skipping out the 2nd Lieutenancy through which he must otherwise have passed.

  In the following year, 1835, a series of events occured in Pongee which had a considerable effect upon the life of John and many other Boxonians. Railways, which had now been brought to a state of tolerable efficiancy in Boxen, were as yet a rarity on the continent. The Pongeein government, however, had laid down some fifty miles of metal, running from Omar-Raam, the capital, to the city of Phestar, and were naturally not a little proud of a contrivance which seemed to raise their standard of civilization above that of the neighbouring states.

  A few months after this line had been opened, a Boxonian named Orring, out of personal pique against Choribund the Imperial agent whose duty it was to look after the railway, maliciously wrecked one of the trains. The fury of Mahhrin, the emperor, and Choribund, the agent, was unbounded: not only had the lives of many Pongeeins been lost and the product of much toil and scheming been spoilt in a few moments but also that highly civilized institution which had been so dear to their hearts had been held up to the ridicule of all the surrounding nations.

  Orring was siezed, imprisoned and tortured with true Pongeein skill, and is said to have suffered the most horrible refinements of agony. Escaping, however, he fled to Boxen and appealed to his country on the ground that the International Treaty, which demands that all prisoners be given up to their sovereigns, had been broken.

  Lord Herbert Vant, The Pig, who was at that time Little-Master, being of a fiery temper and jealous of any insult to his country, advocated war, but the country was not enthusiastic and it is probable that peace would have continued, had not the Emperor Mahhrin further strained relations with Boxen by massacring all the Boxonian travellers in his dominions on whom he could lay hands. Then indeed, the spirit of the country was roused, and on the 19th January 1886, in the thirtieth year of John Big’s life, war was declared.

  CHAPTER V

  * * * * * * *

  Before proceeding with a description of the great Pongeein War, it will be necessary to take a breif survey of the Boxonian ministers in whose hands the business lay, and of the condition of politics.

  It is doubtless quite needless for me to explain to my reader the main principles of Boxonian politics: how of the two great parties, The Walterians stand by old customs and the Dinipians are in favour of reform: and how a clique or cabinet governed by a Little-Master presides over the Double House: and how, although the two countries of Boxen, Animalland and India, are joined in one Parliament, yet they still retain their individual sovereigns.

  At the time of which we are thinking, as we have seen, Lord Vant was Little-Master while the Head of the Admiralty was Sir Peter Mouse: John’s old enemy, Sir Marmaduke Powle had climbed to the post of Second Head of the War Office, with old Viscount Quicksteppe above him. Such were the people in whose hands lay the management of the war, and we shall see as we go along how they performed their duty.

  Less than a month after war had been declared, John was delighted to hear his own regiment, the Guards, were to accompany the expedition: and it was probable that he was no less pleased to hear that the 1st & 2nd Dragoons were also coming, which would ensure him the society of his friends Frederic and Hillory Smith-Gore. The other regiments ordered to the front were The Mouselanders, The Baynoteers – an infantry regiment, now known as the Chutneys – The Camel Corps and the Bearland Artillery: the whole comprising a force of about thirty thousand men.

  John, although by no means given to pessimistic despondancy, fully realized the inadequacy of such a troop to cope with the vast hoards which Mahhrin could put into the field, and he expressed his misgivings in a letter written to Frederic on the eve of his departure:

  ‘We are going’ – he wrote ‘to success, as I hope, to failure, as
I fear. We are but thirty thousand strong while the yellow skinned Pongeeins cluster like so many ants: we will, however, die hard.’

  On the third of March in the same year, the regiments set sail, not for Pongee, but for Turkey; for Viscount Quicksteppe intended to sail up the Bosphorus to Fortressa and use that town as a base from which to fling his troops into the interior of Pongee.

  The voyague to the mouth of the Bosphorus was uneventful, and John has left no account of his experiences: but henceforward the journey was slow, tedious and fraught with danger. The flat shores of the great river were covered with impenetrable forests which effectually concealed masses of Turks, who, although their sovereign had promised to help the Boxonian troopers, were really in favor of Pongee. Living as they did on the ill-defined frontiers these tribes thought more of and cared more for the Emperor of Pongee than the Sultan of Turkey.

  Thus John’s life was for the next week by no means enviable, for a constant fire was kept up by the brigades on shore, and by night the numerous insects pestered the unfortunate soldiers. Once or twice, parties were sent ashore to attack the Turkish bands and on these occasions the frog so distinguished himself that he was raised to the rank of Major.

  After a journey whose discomforts can be better imagined than described, John and his comrades reached the town of Fortressa which they were allowed to enter peacably by the Governor, Abu-Ben-Adam who was attached to the Sultan and therefore friendly to the interlopers. While they were here engaged in preparing for a great march up country towards Omar-Raam, the Pongeein tribes under the command of the agent Choribund swarmed over the border, and, making common cause with the disafected Turks laid seige to the town.