e I know it's a dream,' said the learned gentleman feverishly,
'but, oh, ye gods! what a dream! By jove!...'

'Call not upon the gods,' said the Priest, 'lest ye raise greater ones
than ye can control. Already,' he explained to the children, 'he and I
are as brothers, and his welfare is dear to me as my own.'

'He has told me,' the learned gentleman began, but Robert interrupted.
This was no moment for manners.

'Have you told him,' he asked the Priest, 'all about the Amulet?'

'No,' said Rekh-mara.

'Then tell him now. He is very learned. Perhaps he can tell us what to
do.'

Rekh-mara hesitated, then told--and, oddly enough, none of the children
ever could remember afterwards what it was that he did tell. Perhaps he
used some magic to prevent their remembering.

When he had done the learned gentleman was silent, leaning his elbow on
the table and his head on his hand.

'Dear Jimmy,' said Anthea gently, 'don't worry about it. We are sure to
find it today, somehow.'

'Yes,' said Rekh-mara, 'and perhaps, with it, Death.'

'It's to bring us our hearts' desire,' said Robert.

'Who knows,' said the Priest, 'what things undreamed-of and infinitely
desirable lie beyond the dark gates?'

'Oh, DON'T,' said Jane, almost whimpering.

The learned gentleman raised his head suddenly.

'Why not,' he suggested, 'go back into the Past? At a moment when the
Amulet is unwatched. Wish to be with it, and that it shall be under your
hand.'

It was the simplest thing in the world! And yet none of them had ever
thought of it.

'Come,' cried Rekh-mara, leaping up. 'Come NOW!'

'May--may I come?' the learned gentleman timidly asked. 'It's only a
dream, you know.'

'Come, and welcome, oh brother,' Rekh-mara was beginning, but Cyril and
Robert with one voice cried, 'NO.'

'You weren't with us in Atlantis,' Robert added, 'or you'd know better
than to let him come.'

'Dear Jimmy,' said Anthea, 'please don't ask to come. We'll go and be
back again before you have time to know that we're gone.'

'And he, too?'

'We must keep together,' said Rekh-mara, 'since there is but one perfect
Amulet to which I and these children have equal claims.'

Jane held up the Amulet--Rekh-mara went first--and they all passed
through the great arch into which the Amulet grew at the Name of Power.

The learned gentleman saw through the arch a darkness lighted by smoky
gleams. He rubbed his eyes. And he only rubbed them for ten seconds.

T