“I know that desert well，” said the Raven. “For I have flown above it far and wide in my younger days，” （you may be sure that Shasta pricked up his ears at this point）. “And this is certain； that if the Tisroc goes by the great oasis he can never lead a great army across it into Archenland. For though they could reach the oasis by the end of their first day‘s march， yet the springs there would be too little for the thirst of all those soldiers and their beasts. But there is another way.”
Shasta listened more attentively still.
“He that would find that way，” said the Raven， “must start from the Tombs of the Ancient Kings and ride northwest so that the double peak of Mount Pire is always straight ahead of him. And so， in a day’s riding or a little more， he shall come to the head of a stony valley， which is so narrow that a man might be within a furlong of it a thousand timesand never know that it was there. And looking down this valley he will see neither grass nor water nor anything else good. But if he rides on down it he will come to a river and can ride by the water all the way into Archenland.”
“And do the Calormenes know of this Western way？” asked the Queen.
