by E. Nesbit
CHAPTER 9. ATLANTIS
You will understand that the adventure of the Babylonian queen in Londonwas the only one that had occupied any time at all. But the children'stime was very fully taken up by talking over all the wonderful thingsseen and done in the Past, where, by the power of the Amulet, theyseemed to spend hours and hours, only to find when they got back toLondon that the whole thing had been briefer than a lightning flash.
They talked of the Past at their meals, in their walks, in thedining-room, in the first-floor drawing-room, but most of all on thestairs. It was an old house; it had once been a fashionable one, and wasa fine one still. The banister rails of the stairs were excellent forsliding down, and in the corners of the landings were big alcoves thathad once held graceful statues, and now quite often held the gracefulforms of Cyril, Robert, Anthea, and Jane.
One day Cyril and Robert in tight white underclothing had spent apleasant hour in reproducing the attitudes of statues seen either in theBritish Museum, or in Father's big photograph book. But the show endedabruptly because Robert wanted to be the Venus of Milo, and for thispurpose pulled at the sheet which served for drapery at the very momentwhen Cyril, looking really quite like the Discobolos--with a gold andwhite saucer for the disc--was standing on one foot, and under that onefoot was the sheet.
Of course the Discobolos and his disc and the would-be Venus came downtogether, and everyone was a good deal hurt, especially the saucer,which would never be the same again, however neatly one might join itsuneven bits with Seccotine or the white of an egg.
'I hope you're satisfied,' said Cyril, holding his head where a largelump was rising.
'Quite, thanks,' said Robert bitterly. His thumb had caught in thebanisters and bent itself back almost to breaking point.
'I AM so sorry, poor, dear Squirrel,' said Anthea; 'and you were lookingso lovely. I'll get a wet rag. Bobs, go and hold your hand under thehot-water tap. It's what ballet girls do with their legs when they hurtthem. I saw it in a book.'
'What book?' said Robert disagreeably. But he went.
When he came back Cyril's head had been bandaged by his sisters, and hehad been brought to the state of mind where he was able reluctantly toadmit that he supposed Robert hadn't done it on purpose.
Robert replying with equal suavity, Anthea hastened to lead the talkaway from the accident.
'I suppose you don't feel like going anywhere through the Amulet,' shesaid.
'Egypt!' said Jane promptly. 'I want to see the pussy cats.'
'Not me--too hot,' said Cyril. 'It's about as much as I can standhere--let alone Egypt.' It was indeed, hot, even on the second landing,which was the coolest place in the house. 'Let's go to the North Pole.'
'I don't suppose the Amulet was ever there--and we might get our fingersfrost-bitten so that we could never hold it up to get home again. Nothanks,' said Robert.
'I say,' said Jane, 'let's get the Psammead and ask its advice. It willlike us asking, even if we don't take it.'
The Psammead was brought up in its green silk embroidered bag, butbefore it could be asked anything the door of the learned gentleman'sroom opened and the voice of the visitor who had been lunching with himwas heard on the stairs. He seemed to be speaking with the door handlein his hand.
'You see a doctor, old boy,' he said; 'all that aboutthought-transference is just simply twaddle. You've been over-working.Take a holiday. Go to Dieppe.'
'I'd rather go to Babylon,' said the learned gentleman.
'I wish you'd go to Atlantis some time, while we're about it, so as togive me some tips for my Nineteenth Century article when you come home.'
'I wish I could,' said the voice of the learned gentleman. 'Goodbye.Take care of yourself.'
The door was banged, and the visitor came smiling down the stairs--astout, prosperous, big man. The children had to get up to let him pass.
'Hullo, Kiddies,' he said, glancing at the bandages on the head of Cyriland the hand of Robert, 'been in the wars?'
'It's all right,' said Cyril. 'I say, what was that Atlantic place youwanted him to go to? We couldn't help hearing you talk.'
'You talk so VERY loud, you see,' said Jane soothingly.
'Atlantis,' said the visitor, 'the lost Atlantis, garden of theHesperides. Great continent--disappeared in the sea. You can read aboutit in Plato.'
'Thank you,' said Cyril doubtfully.
'Were there any Amulets there?' asked Anthea, made anxious by a suddenthought.
'Hundreds, I should think. So HE'S been talking to you?'
'Yes, often. He's very kind to us. We like him awfully.'
'Well, what he wants is a holiday; you persuade him to take one. Whathe wants is a change of scene. You see, his head is crusted so thicklyinside with knowledge about Egypt and Assyria and things that you can'thammer anything into it unless you keep hard at it all day long for daysand days. And I haven't time. But you live in the house. You can hammeralmost incessantly. Just try your hands, will you? Right. So long!'
He went down the stairs three at a time, and Jane remarked that he was anice man, and she thought he had little girls of his own.
'I should like to have them to play with,' she added pensively.
The three elder ones exchanged glances. Cyril nodded.
'All right. LET'S go to Atlantis,' he said.
'Let's go to Atlantis and take the learned gentleman with us,' saidAnthea; 'he'll think it's a dream, afterwards, but it'll certainly be achange of scene.'
'Why not take him to nice Egypt?' asked Jane.
'Too hot,' said Cyril shortly.
'Or Babylon, where he wants to go?'
'I've had enough of Babylon,' said Robert, 'at least for the present.And so have the others. I don't know why,' he added, forestalling thequestion on Jane's lips, 'but somehow we have. Squirrel, let's takeoff these beastly bandages and get into flannels. We can't go in ourunders.'
'He WISHED to go to Atlantis, so he's got to go some time; and he mightas well go with us,' said Anthea.
This was how it was that the learned gentleman, permitting himself a fewmoments of relaxation in his chair, after the fatigue of listening toopinions (about Atlantis and many other things) with which he did notat all agree, opened his eyes to find his four young friends standing infront of him in a row.
'Will you come,' said Anthea, 'to Atlantis with us?'
'To know that you are dreaming shows that the dream is nearly at anend,' he told himself; 'or perhaps it's only a game, like "How manymiles to Babylon?".' So he said aloud: 'Thank you very much, but I haveonly a quarter of an hour to spare.'
'It doesn't take any time,' said Cyril; 'time is only a mode of thought,you know, and you've got to go some time, so why not with us?'
'Very well,' said the learned gentleman, now quite certain that he wasdreaming.
Anthea held out her soft, pink hand. He took it. She pulled him gentlyto his feet. Jane held up the Amulet.
'To just outside Atlantis,' said Cyril, and Jane said the Name of Power.
'You owl!' said Robert, 'it's an island. Outside an island's all water.'
'I won't go. I WON'T,' said the Psammead, kicking and struggling in itsbag.
But already the Amulet had grown to a great arch. Cyril pushed thelearned gentleman, as undoubtedly the first-born, through the arch--notinto water, but on to a wooden floor, out of doors. The others followed.The Amulet grew smaller again, and there they all were, standing on thedeck of a ship whose sailors were busy making her fast with chains torings on a white quay-side. The rings and the chains were of a metalthat shone red-yellow like gold.
Everyone on the ship seemed too busy at first to notice the group ofnewcomers from Fitzroy Street. Those who seemed to be officers wereshouting orders to the men.
They stood and looked across the wide quay to the town that rose beyondit. What they saw was the most beautiful sight any of them had everseen--or ever dreamed of.
The blue sea sparkled in soft sunlight; little white-capped waves brokeso
ftly against the marble breakwaters that guarded the shipping of agreat city from the wilderness of winter winds and seas. The quay was ofmarble, white and sparkling with a veining bright as gold. The citywas of marble, red and white. The greater buildings that seemed to betemples and palaces were roofed with what looked like gold and silver,but most of the roofs were of copper that glowed golden-red on thehouses on the hills among which the city stood, and shaded intomarvellous tints of green and blue and purple where they had beentouched by the salt sea spray and the fumes of the dyeing and smeltingworks of the lower town.
Broad and magnificent flights of marble stairs led up from the quay to asort of terrace that seemed to run along for miles, and beyond rose thetown built on a hill.
The learned gentleman drew a long breath. 'Wonderful!' he said,'wonderful!'
'I say, Mr--what's your name,' said Robert. 'He means,' said Anthea,with gentle politeness, 'that we never can remember your name. I knowit's Mr De Something.'
'When I was your age I was called Jimmy,' he said timidly. 'Would youmind? I should feel more at home in a dream like this if I--Anythingthat made me seem more like one of you.'
'Thank you--Jimmy,' said Anthea with an effort. It seemed such a cheekto be saying Jimmy to a grown-up man. 'Jimmy, DEAR,' she added, with noeffort at all. Jimmy smiled and looked pleased.
But now the ship was made fast, and the Captain had time to notice otherthings. He came towards them, and he was dressed in the best of allpossible dresses for the seafaring life.
'What are you doing here?' he asked rather fiercely. 'Do you come tobless or to curse?'
'To bless, of course,' said Cyril. 'I'm sorry if it annoys you, butwe're here by magic. We come from the land of the sun-rising,' he wenton explanatorily.
'I see,' said the Captain; no one had expected that he would. 'I didn'tnotice at first, but of course I hope you're a good omen. It's needed.And this,' he pointed to the learned gentleman, 'your slave, I presume?'
'Not at all,' said Anthea; 'he's a very great man. A sage, don't theycall it? And we want to see all your beautiful city, and your templesand things, and then we shall go back, and he will tell his friend, andhis friend will write a book about it.'
'What,' asked the Captain, fingering a rope, 'is a book?'
'A record--something written, or,' she added hastily, remembering theBabylonian writing, 'or engraved.'
Some sudden impulse of confidence made Jane pluck the Amulet from theneck of her frock.
'Like this,' she said.
The Captain looked at it curiously, but, the other three were relievedto notice, without any of that overwhelming interest which the mere nameof it had roused in Egypt and Babylon.
'The stone is of our country,' he said; 'and that which is engraved onit, it is like our writing, but I cannot read it. What is the name ofyour sage?'
'Ji-jimmy,' said Anthea hesitatingly.
The Captain repeated, 'Ji-jimmy. Will you land?' he added. 'And shall Ilead you to the Kings?'
'Look here,' said Robert, 'does your King hate strangers?'
'Our Kings are ten,' said the Captain, 'and the Royal line, unbrokenfrom Poseidon, the father of us all, has the noble tradition to dohonour to strangers if they come in peace.'
'Then lead on, please,' said Robert, 'though I SHOULD like to see allover your beautiful ship, and sail about in her.'
'That shall be later,' said the Captain; 'just now we're afraid of astorm--do you notice that odd rumbling?'
'That's nothing, master,' said an old sailor who stood near; 'it's thepilchards coming in, that's all.'
'Too loud,' said the Captain.
There was a rather anxious pause; then the Captain stepped on to thequay, and the others followed him.
'Do talk to him--Jimmy,' said Anthea as they went; 'you can find out allsorts of things for your friend's book.'
'Please excuse me,' he said earnestly. 'If I talk I shall wake up; andbesides, I can't understand what he says.'
No one else could think of anything to say, so that it was in completesilence that they followed the Captain up the marble steps and throughthe streets of the town. There were streets and shops and houses andmarkets.
'It's just like Babylon,' whispered Jane, 'only everything's perfectlydifferent.'
'It's a great comfort the ten Kings have been properly brought up--to bekind to strangers,' Anthea whispered to Cyril.
'Yes,' he said, 'no deepest dungeons here.'
There were no horses or chariots in the street, but there were handcartsand low trolleys running on thick log-wheels, and porters carryingpackets on their heads, and a good many of the people were riding onwhat looked like elephants, only the great beasts were hairy, and theyhad not that mild expression we are accustomed to meet on the faces ofthe elephants at the Zoo.
'Mammoths!' murmured the learned gentleman, and stumbled over a loosestone.
The people in the streets kept crowding round them as they went along,but the Captain always dispersed the crowd before it grew uncomfortablythick by saying--
'Children of the Sun God and their High Priest--come to bless the City.'
And then the people would draw back with a low murmur that sounded likea suppressed cheer.
Many of the buildings were covered with gold, but the gold on the biggerbuildings was of a different colour, and they had sorts of steeples ofburnished silver rising above them.
'Are all these houses real gold?' asked Jane.
'The temples are covered with gold, of course,' answered the Captain,'but the houses are only oricalchum. It's not quite so expensive.'
The learned gentleman, now very pale, stumbled along in a dazed way,repeating:
'Oricalchum--oricalchum.'
'Don't be frightened,' said Anthea; 'we can get home in a minute, justby holding up the charm. Would you rather go back now? We could easilycome some other day without you.'
'Oh, no, no,' he pleaded fervently; 'let the dream go on. Please, pleasedo.'
'The High Ji-jimmy is perhaps weary with his magic journey,' said theCaptain, noticing the blundering walk of the learned gentleman; 'andwe are yet very far from the Great Temple, where today the Kings makesacrifice.'
He stopped at the gate of a great enclosure. It seemed to be a sort ofpark, for trees showed high above its brazen wall.
The party waited, and almost at once the Captain came back with one ofthe hairy elephants and begged them to mount.
This they did.
It was a glorious ride. The elephant at the Zoo--to ride on him is alsoglorious, but he goes such a very little way, and then he goes backagain, which is always dull. But this great hairy beast went on and onand on along streets and through squares and gardens. It was a gloriouscity; almost everything was built of marble, red, or white, or black.Every now and then the party crossed a bridge.
It was not till they had climbed to the hill which is the centre of thetown that they saw that the whole city was divided into twenty circles,alternately land and water, and over each of the water circles were thebridges by which they had come.
And now they were in a great square. A vast building filled up one sideof it; it was overlaid with gold, and had a dome of silver. The rest ofthe buildings round the square were of oricalchum. And it looked moresplendid than you can possibly imagine, standing up bold and shining inthe sunlight.
'You would like a bath,' said the Captain, as the hairy elephant wentclumsily down on his knees. 'It's customary, you know, before enteringthe Presence. We have baths for men, women, horses, and cattle. The HighClass Baths are here. Our Father Poseidon gave us a spring of hot waterand one of cold.'
The children had never before bathed in baths of gold.
'It feels very splendid,' said Cyril, splashing.
'At least, of course, it's not gold; it's or--what's its name,' saidRobert. 'Hand over that towel.'
The bathing hall had several great pools sunk below the level of thefloor; one went down to them by steps.
'Jimmy,' said Ant
hea timidly, when, very clean and boiled-looking, theyall met in the flowery courtyard of the Public, 'don't you think allthis seems much more like NOW than Babylon or Egypt--? Oh, I forgot,you've never been there.'
'I know a little of those nations, however,' said he, 'and I quite agreewith you. A most discerning remark--my dear,' he added awkwardly; 'thiscity certainly seems to indicate a far higher level of civilization thanthe Egyptian or Babylonish, and--'
'Follow me,' said the Captain. 'Now, boys, get out of the way.' Hepushed through a little crowd of boys who were playing with driedchestnuts fastened to a string.
'Ginger!' remarked Robert, 'they're playing conkers, just like the kidsin Kentish Town Road!'
They could see now that three walls surrounded the island on which theywere. The outermost wall was of brass, the Captain told them; the next,which looked like silver, was covered with tin; and the innermost onewas of oricalchum.
And right in the middle was a wall of gold, with golden towers andgates.
'Behold the Temples of Poseidon,' said the Captain. 'It is not lawfulfor me to enter. I will await your return here.'
He told them what they ought to say, and the five people from FitzroyStreet took hands and went forward. The golden gates slowly opened.
'We are the children of the Sun,' said Cyril, as he had been told, 'andour High Priest, at least that's what the Captain calls him. We have adifferent name for him at home.' 'What is his name?' asked a white-robedman who stood in the doorway with his arms extended.
'Ji-jimmy,' replied Cyril, and he hesitated as Anthea had done.It really did seem to be taking a great liberty with so learned agentleman. 'And we have come to speak with your Kings in the Temple ofPoseidon--does that word sound right?' he whispered anxiously.
'Quite,' said the learned gentleman. 'It's very odd I can understandwhat you say to them, but not what they say to you.'
'The Queen of Babylon found that too,' said Cyril; 'it's part of themagic.'
'Oh, what a dream!' said the learned gentleman.
The white-robed priest had been joined by others, and all were bowinglow.
'Enter,' he said, 'enter, Children of the Sun, with your High Ji-jimmy.'
In an inner courtyard stood the Temple--all of silver, with goldpinnacles and doors, and twenty enormous statues in bright gold of menand women. Also an immense pillar of the other precious yellow metal.
They went through the doors, and the priest led them up a stair into agallery from which they could look down on to the glorious place.
'The ten Kings are even now choosing the bull. It is not lawful for meto behold,' said the priest, and fell face downward on the floor outsidethe gallery. The children looked down.
The roof was of ivory adorned with the three precious metals, and thewalls were lined with the favourite oricalchum.
At the far end of the Temple was a statue group, the like of which noone living has ever seen.
It was of gold, and the head of the chief figure reached to the roof.That figure was Poseidon, the Father of the City. He stood in a greatchariot drawn by six enormous horses, and round about it were a hundredmermaids riding on dolphins.
Ten men, splendidly dressed and armed only with sticks and ropes, weretrying to capture one of some fifteen bulls who ran this way and thatabout the floor of the Temple. The children held their breath, for thebulls looked dangerous, and the great horned heads were swinging moreand more wildly.
Anthea did not like looking at the bulls. She looked about the gallery,and noticed that another staircase led up from it to a still higherstorey; also that a door led out into the open air, where there seemedto be a balcony.
So that when a shout went up and Robert whispered, 'Got him,' and shelooked down and saw the herd of bulls being driven out of the Temple bywhips, and the ten Kings following, one of them spurring with hisstick a black bull that writhed and fought in the grip of a lasso, sheanswered the boy's agitated, 'Now we shan't see anything more,' with--
'Yes we can, there's an outside balcony.'
So they crowded out.
But very soon the girls crept back.
'I don't like sacrifices,' Jane said. So she and Anthea went and talkedto the priest, who was no longer lying on his face, but sitting on thetop step mopping his forehead with his robe, for it was a hot day.
'It's a special sacrifice,' he said; 'usually it's only done on thejustice days every five years and six years alternately. And then theydrink the cup of wine with some of the bull's blood in it, and swearto judge truly. And they wear the sacred blue robe, and put out all theTemple fires. But this today is because the City's so upset by the oddnoises from the sea, and the god inside the big mountain speaking withhis thunder-voice. But all that's happened so often before. If anythingcould make ME uneasy it wouldn't be THAT.'
'What would it be?' asked Jane kindly.
'It would be the Lemmings.'
'Who are they--enemies?'
'They're a sort of rat; and every year they come swimming over from thecountry that no man knows, and stay here awhile, and then swim away.This year they haven't come. You know rats won't stay on a ship that'sgoing to be wrecked. If anything horrible were going to happen to us,it's my belief those Lemmings would know; and that may be why they'vefought shy of us.'
'What do you call this country?' asked the Psammead, suddenly puttingits head out of its bag.
'Atlantis,' said the priest.
'Then I advise you to get on to the highest ground you can find. Iremember hearing something about a flood here. Look here, you'--itturned to Anthea; 'let's get home. The prospect's too wet for mywhiskers.' The girls obediently went to find their brothers, who wereleaning on the balcony railings.
'Where's the learned gentleman?' asked Anthea.
'There he is--below,' said the priest, who had come with them. 'YourHigh Ji-jimmy is with the Kings.'
The ten Kings were no longer alone. The learned gentleman--no one hadnoticed how he got there--stood with them on the steps of an altar, onwhich lay the dead body of the black bull. All the rest of the courtyardwas thick with people, seemingly of all classes, and all were shouting,'The sea--the sea!'
'Be calm,' said the most kingly of the Kings, he who had lassoed thebull. 'Our town is strong against the thunders of the sea and of thesky!'
'I want to go home,' whined the Psammead.
'We can't go without HIM,' said Anthea firmly.
'Jimmy,' she called, 'Jimmy!' and waved to him. He heard her, and beganto come towards her through the crowd. They could see from the balconythe sea-captain edging his way out from among the people. And his facewas dead white, like paper.
'To the hills!' he cried in a loud and terrible voice. And above hisvoice 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 rolledtowards the town. It was a wave, but a wave a hundred feet in height, awave that looked like a mountain--a wave rising higher and higher tillsuddenly it seemed to break in two--one half of it rushed out to seaagain; the other--
'Oh!' cried Anthea, 'the town--the poor people!'
'It's all thousands of years ago, really,' said Robert but his voicetrembled. They hid their eyes for a moment. They could not bear to lookdown, for the wave had broken on the face of the town, sweeping overthe quays and docks, overwhelming the great storehouses and factories,tearing gigantic stones from forts and bridges, and using them asbattering rams against the temples. Great ships were swept over theroofs of the houses and dashed down halfway up the hill among ruinedgardens and broken buildings. The water ground brown fishing-boats topowder 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 learnedgentleman 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 ofturret--roofed, but open to the air at the sides.
The learned gentleman was leaning on the parapet, and as theyrejoined him the vast wave rushed back on the town. This time it rosehigher--destroyed more.
'Come home,' cried the Psammead; 'THAT'S the LAST, I know it is! That'sthe 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 gentlemanobstinately.
The hills around were black with people fleeing from the villages to themountains. And even as they fled thin smoke broke from the great whitepeak, and then a faint flash of flame. Then the volcano began to throwup its mysterious fiery inside parts. The earth trembled; ashes andsulphur showered down; a rain of fine pumice-stone fell like snow on allthe dry land. The elephants from the forest rushed up towards the peaks;great lizards thirty yards long broke from the mountain pools andrushed down towards the sea. The snows melted and rushed down, first inavalanches, then in roaring torrents. Great rocks cast up by the volcanofell splashing in the sea miles away.
'Oh, this is horrible!' cried Anthea. 'Come home, come home!'
'The end of the dream,' gasped the learned gentleman.
'Hold up the Amulet,' cried the Psammead suddenly. The place where theystood was now crowded with men and women, and the children were strainedtight against the parapet. The turret rocked and swayed; the wave hadreached the golden wall.
Jane held up the Amulet.
'Now,' cried the Psammead, 'say the word!'
And as Jane said it the Psammead leaped from its bag and bit the hand ofthe learned gentleman.
At the same moment the boys pushed him through the arch and all followedhim.
He turned to look back, and through the arch he saw nothing but a wasteof waters, with above it the peak of the terrible mountain with fireraging from it.
He staggered back to his chair.
'What a ghastly dream!' he gasped. 'Oh, you're here, my--er--dears. CanI do anything for you?'
'You've hurt your hand,' said Anthea gently; 'let me bind it up.'
The hand was indeed bleeding rather badly.
The Psammead had crept back to its bag. All the children were verywhite.
'Never again,' said the Psammead later on, 'will I go into the Past witha grown-up person! I will say for you four, you do do as you're told.'
'We didn't even find the Amulet,' said Anthea later still.
'Of course you didn't; it wasn't there. Only the stone it was made ofwas there. It fell on to a ship miles away that managed to escape andgot to Egypt. _I_ could have told you that.'
'I wish you had,' said Anthea, and her voice was still rather shaky.'Why didn't you?'
'You never asked me,' said the Psammead very sulkily. 'I'm not the sortof chap to go shoving my oar in where it's not wanted.'
'Mr Ji-jimmy's friend will have something worth having to put in hisarticle now,' said Cyril very much later indeed.
'Not he,' said Robert sleepily. 'The learned Ji-jimmy will think it's adream, and it's ten to one he never tells the other chap a word about itat all.'
Robert was quite right on both points. The learned gentleman did. And henever did.