When they had gone some distance, the child turned up a great stone, and took something like an egg from under it. He next drew a long curved line in the sand with his finger, and laid the egg in it. He then spoke something Tangle could not understand. The egg broke, a small snake came out, and, lying in the line in the sand, grew and grew till he filled it. The moment he was thus full-grown, he began to glide away, undulating like a sea-wave.
“Follow that serpent,” said the child. “He will lead you the right way.”
Tangle followed the serpent. But she could not go far without looking back at the marvellous child. He stood alone in the midst of the glowing desert, beside a fountain of red flame that had burst forth at his feet, his naked whiteness glimmering a pale rosy red in the torrid fire. There he stood, looking after her, till, from the lengthening distance, she could see him no more. The serpent went straight on, turning neither to the right nor left.
Meantime Mossy had got out of the Lake of Shadows, and, following his mournful, lonely way, had reached the seashore. It was a dark, stormy evening. The sun had set. The wind was blowing from the sea. The waves had surrounded the rock within which lay the old man’s house. A deep water rolled between it and the shore, upon which a majestic figure was walking alone.
Mossy went up to him and said—
“Will you tell me where to find the Old Man of the Sea?”
“I am the Old Man of the Sea,” the figure answered.
“I see a strong kingly man of middle age,” returned Mossy.
Then the old man looked at him more intently, and said—