"Why, it's only a girl!" he exclaimed.
    
    "And what business is it of yours if I am only a girl?" snapped the stranger. "You're 
probably only a boy: a rude, common little boy-a slave probably, who's stolen his 
master's horse."
    
    "That's all you know," said Shasta.
    
    "He's not a thief, little Tarkheena," said Bree. "At least, if there's been any 
stealing, you might just as well say I stole him. And as for its not being my business, 
you wouldn't expect me to pass a lady of my own race in this strange country without 
speaking to her? It's only natural I should."
    
    "I think it's very natural too," said the mare.
    
    "I wish you'd held your tongue, Hwin," said the girl. "Look at the trouble you've got 
us into."
    
    "I don't know about trouble," said Shasta. "You can clear off as soon as you like. We 
shan't keep you."
    
    "No, you shan't," said the girl.
    
    "What quarrelsome creatures these humans are," said Bree to the mare. "They're as bad 
as mules. Let's try to talk a little sense. I take it, ma'am, your story is the same as 
mine? Captured in early youth-years of slavery among the Calormenes?"
    
    "Too true, sir," said the mare with a melancholy whinny.
    
    "And now, perhaps-escape?"
    
    "Tell him to mind his own business, Hwin," said the girl.
    
    "No, I won't, Aravis," said the mare putting her ears back. "This is my escape just 
as much as yours. And I'm sure a noble war-horse like this is not going to betray us. We 
are trying to escape, to get to Narnia."
    
    "And so, of course, are we," said Bree. "Of course you guessed that at once. A little 
boy in rags riding (or trying to ride) a war-horse at dead of night couldn't mean 
anything but an escape of some sort. And, if I may say so, a highborn Tarkheena riding 
alone at night-dressed up in her brother's armour-and very anxious for everyone to mind 
their own business and ask her no questions-well, if that's not fishy, call me a cob!"
    
    "All right then," said Aravis. "You've guessed it. Hwin and I are running away. We 
are trying to get to Narnia. And now, what about it?"
    
    "Why, in that case, what is to prevent us all going together?" said Bree. "I trust, 
Madam Hwin, you will accept such assistance and protection as I may be able to give you 
on the journey?"
    
    "Why do you keep talking to my horse instead of to me?" asked the girl.
    
    "Excuse me, Tarkheena," said Bree (with just the slightest backward tilt of his 
ears), "but that's Calormene talk. We're free Narnians, Hwin and I, and I suppose, if 
you're running away to Narnia, you want to be one too. In that case Hwin isn't your horse 
any longer. One might just as well say you're her human."
    
    The girl opened her mouth to speak and then stopped. Obviously she had not quite seen 
it in that light before.
    
    "Still," she said after a moment's pause, "I don't know that there's so much point in 
all going together. Aren't we more likely to be noticed?"
    
    "Less," said Bree; and the mare said, "Oh do let's. I should feel much more 
comfortable. We're not even certain of the way. I'm sure a great charger like this knows 
far more than we do."
    
    "Oh come on, Bree," said Shasta, "and let them go their own way. Can't you see they 
don't want us?"
    
    "We do," said Hwin.
    
    "Look here," said the girl. "I don't mind going with you, Mr War-Horse, but what 
about this boy? How do I know he's not a spy?"
    
    "Why don't you say at once that you think I'm not good enough for you?" said Shasta.
    
    "Be quiet, Shasta," said Bree. "The Tarkheena's question is quite reasonable. I'll 
vouch for the boy, Tarkheena. He's been true to me and a good friend. And he's certainly 
either a Narnian or an Archenlander."
    
    "All right, then. Let's go together." But she didn't say anything to Shasta and it 
was obvious that she wanted Bree, not him.
    
    "Splendid!" said Bree. "And now that we've got the water between us and those 
dreadful animals, what about you two humans taking off our saddles and our all having a 
rest and hearing one another's stories."
    
    Both the children unsaddled their horses and the horses had a little grass and Aravis 
produced rather nice things to eat from her saddle-bag" But Shasta sulked and said No 
thanks, and that he wasn't hungry. And he tried to put on what he thought very grand and 
stiff manners, but as a fisherman's but is not usually a good place for learning grand 
manners, the result was dreadful. And he half knew that it wasn't a success and then 
became sulkier and more awkward than ever. Meanwhile the two horses were getting on 
splendidly. They remembered the very same places in Narnia-"the grasslands up above 
Beaversdam" and found that they were some sort of second cousins once removed. This made 
things more and more uncomfortable for the humans until at last Bree said, "And now, 
Tarkheena, tell us your story. And don't hurry it-I'm feeling comfortable now."
    
    Aravis immediately began, sitting quite still and using a rather different tone and