And the crew seemed too busy to notice the children. They were fastening rush baskets to a long rope with a great piece of cork at the end, and in each basket they put mussels or little frogs. Then they cast out the rope, the baskets sank, but the cork floated. And all about on the blue water were other boats and all the crews of all the boats were busy with ropes and baskets and frogs and mussels.
“Whatever are you doing?” Jane suddenly asked a man who had rather more clothes than the others, and seemed to be a sort of captain or overseer. He started and stared at her, but he had seen too many strange lands to be very much surprised at these queerly-dressed stowaways.
“Setting lines for the dye shell-fish,” he said shortly. “How did you get here?”
“A sort of magic,” said Robert carelessly. The Captain fingered an Amulet that hung round his neck.
“What is this place?” asked Cyril.
“Tyre, of course,” said the man. Then he drew back and spoke in a low voice to one of the sailors.
“Now we shall know about your precious cream-jug fish,” said Cyril.
“But we never said come to Tyre,” said Jane.
“The Amulet heard us talking, I expect. I think it’s most obliging of it,” said Anthea.
“And the Amulet’s here too,” said Robert. “We ought to be able to find it in a little ship like this. I wonder which of them’s got it.”