"Enough! Enough!" roared Time, in a huge voice, shaking his big keys and his terrible scythe, "Enough! The anchor's weighed...."
Then the Children climbed into the gold galley, with the beautiful white silk sails. They waved their hands again to the little friends whom they were leaving behind them; but, on seeing the earth in the distance, they cried out, gladly:
"Earth! Earth!... I can see it!..."
"How bright it is!..."
"How big it is!..."
And, at the same time, as though coming from the abyss, a song rose, a distant song of gladness and expectation.
Light, who was listening with a smile, saw the look of astonishment on Tyltyl's face and bent over him:
"It is the song of the mothers coming out to meet them," she said.
At that moment, Time, who had shut the doors, saw our friends and rushed at them angrily, shaking his scythe at them.
"Hurry!" said Light. "Hurry! Take the Blue Bird, Tyltyl, and go in front of me with Mytyl."