Ark of the
Mysteries, and chided my impatience, and waited till I had given it my
reverential kiss, and then he called aloud, and another old man came
out of the opening which is in the top of the Ark, and climbed painfully
down by the battens which are fixed on its sides. He was a man I had
never seen before, hoary, frail, and emaciated, and he and Zaemon were
then the only two remaining Priests who had been raised to the highest
degree known to our Clan, and who alone had knowledge of the highest
secrets and powers and mysteries.

"Look!" cried Zaemon, in his shrill old voice, and swept a trembling
finger over the shattered city, and the great spread of sea and country
which lay in view of us below. I followed his pointing and looked, and a
chill began to crawl through me. All was plainly shown. Our Lord the Sun
burned high overhead in a sky of cloudless blue, and day shimmered in
His heat. All below seemed from that distance peaceful and warm and
still, save only that the mountains smoked more than ordinary, and some
spouted fires, and that the sea boiled with some strange disorder.

But it was the significance of the sea that troubled me most. Far out on
the distant coast it surged against the rocks in enormous rolls of surf;
and up the great estuary, at the head of which the city of Atlantis
stands, it gushed in successive waves of enormous height which never
returned. Already the lower lands on either side were blotted out
beneath tumultuous waters, the harbour walls were drowned out of sight,
and the flood was creeping up into the lower wards of the great city
itself.

"You have seen?" asked Zaemon.

"I have seen."

"You understand?"

"In part."

"Then let me tell you all. This is the beginning, and the end will
follow swiftly. The most High Gods, that sit behind the stars, have a
limit to even Their sublime patience; and that has been passed. The city
of Atlantis, the great continent that is beyond, and all that are in
them are doomed to unutterable destruction. Of old it was foreseen that
this great wiping-out would happen through the sins of men, and to this
end the Ark of the Mysteries was built under the direction of the Gods.
No mortal implements can so much as scratch its surface, no waves or
rocks wreck it. Inside is stored on sheets of the ancient writing all
that is known in the world of learning that is not shared by the
common people, also there is grain in a store, and sweet water in tanks