d her, and began
to come towards her through the crowd. They could see from the balcony
the sea-captain edging his way out from among the people. And his face
was dead white, like paper.

'To the hills!' he cried in a loud and terrible voice. And above his
voice came another voice, louder, more terrible--the voice of the sea.

The girls looked seaward.

Across the smooth distance of the sea something huge and black rolled
towards the town. It was a wave, but a wave a hundred feet in height, a
wave that looked like a mountain--a wave rising higher and higher till
suddenly it seemed to break in two--one half of it rushed out to sea
again; the other--

'Oh!' cried Anthea, 'the town--the poor people!'

'It's all thousands of years ago, really,' said Robert but his voice
trembled. They hid their eyes for a moment. They could not bear to look
down, for the wave had broken on the face of the town, sweeping over
the quays and docks, overwhelming the great storehouses and factories,
tearing gigantic stones from forts and bridges, and using them as
battering rams against the temples. Great ships were swept over the
roofs of the houses and dashed down halfway up the hill among ruined
gardens and broken buildings. The water ground brown fishing-boats to
powder on the golden roofs of Palaces.

Then the wave swept back towards the sea.

'I want to go home,' cried the Psammead fiercely.

'Oh, yes, yes!' said Jane, and the boys were ready--but the learned
gentleman had not come.

Then suddenly they heard him dash up to the inner gallery, crying--

'I MUST see the end of the dream.' He rushed up the higher flight.

The others followed him. They found themselves in a sort of
turret--roofed, but open to the air at the sides.

The learned gentleman was leaning on the parapet, and as they
rejoined him the vast wave rushed back on the town. This time it rose
higher--destroyed more.

'Come home,' cried the Psammead; 'THAT'S the LAST, I know it is! That's
the last--over there.' It pointed with a claw that trembled.

'Oh, come!' cried Jane, holding up the Amulet.

'I WILL SEE the end of the dream,' cried the learned gentleman.

'You'll never see anything else if you do,' said Cyril. 'Oh, JIMMY!'
appealed Anthea. 'I'll NEVER bring you out again!'

'You'll never have the chance if you don't go soon,' said the Psammead.

'I WILL see the end of the dream,' said the learned gentleman
obstinately.

The hills around were black