enix again and again.

'Oh, I just went and got a wish from your friend the Psammead.'

'But how DID you know where to find it?'

'I found that out from the carpet; these wishing creatures always know
all about each other--they're so clannish; like the Scots, you know--all
related.'

'But, the carpet can't talk, can it?'

'No.'

'Then how--'

'How did I get the Psammead's address? I tell you I got it from the
carpet.'

'DID it speak then?'

'No,' said the Phoenix, thoughtfully, 'it didn't speak, but I gathered
my information from something in its manner. I was always a singularly
observant bird.'

It was not till after the cold mutton and the jam tart, as well as the
tea and bread-and-butter, that any one found time to regret the golden
treasure which had been left scattered on the floor of the underground
passage, and which, indeed, no one had thought of till now, since the
moment when Cyril burnt his fingers at the flame of the last match.

'What owls and goats we were!' said Robert. 'Look how we've always
wanted treasure--and now--'

'Never mind,' said Anthea, trying as usual to make the best of it.
'We'll go back again and get it all, and then we'll give everybody
presents.'

More than a quarter of an hour passed most agreeably in arranging what
presents should be given to whom, and, when the claims of generosity had
been satisfied, the talk ran for fifty minutes on what they would buy
for themselves.

It was Cyril who broke in on Robert's almost too technical account of
the motor-car on which he meant to go to and from school--

'There!' he said. 'Dry up. It's no good. We can't ever go back. We don't
know where it is.'

'Don't YOU know?' Jane asked the Phoenix, wistfully.

'Not in the least,' the Phoenix replied, in a tone of amiable regret.

'Then we've lost the treasure,' said Cyril. And they had.

'But we've got the carpet and the Phoenix,' said Anthea.

'Excuse me,' said the bird, with an air of wounded dignity, 'I do SO
HATE to seem to interfere, but surely you MUST mean the Phoenix and the
carpet?'

CHAPTER 3. THE QUEEN COOK

It was on a Saturday that the children made their first glorious journey
on the wishing carpet. Unless you are too young to read at all, you will
know that the next day must have been Sunday.

Sunday at 18, Camden Terrace, Camden Town, was always a very pretty
day. Father always brought home flowers on Saturday, so that the
breakfast-table was extra