Panthea. ’Tis something sadder, sweeter far than all.
Prometheus Unbound.
‘It’s all very well for you two to play at being trees,’ the voice of Joan was heard to object, ‘but I should like to know what part I——’
‘Hush! Hush! I hear them coming,’ Nixie said quickly with a new excitement.
She had apparently floated up higher into the ilex to the place vacated by Jonah. Her voice had a ring of the sky in it.
‘Come up to where I am, and we can all see. They’re rising already——’
‘Who—what’s rising?’ called Joan from below; ‘I’m not!’
‘There’s something up, I expect,’ said Paul quickly. ‘I’ll help you.’ He knew by the child’s voice there was aventure afoot. ‘Give me your hand, Joan. And put your feet where I tell you. We’re all in the Crack, remember, so everything’s possible.’
‘Undoubtedly something’s up, but it’s not me, I’m afraid,’ she laughed.
‘Hush! Hush! Hush!’ Nixie’s voice reached them from the higher branches. ‘Talk in whispers, please, or you’ll frighten them. And be quick. They’re rising everywhere. Any minute now they may be off and you’ll miss them——’