And above his voice 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 rolled towards the town.

It was a wave, but a wave a hundred feet in height, a wave that looked like a mountain--a wave rising higher and higher till suddenly it seemed to break in two--one half of it rushed out to sea again; the other-- 'Oh!' cried Anthea, 'the town--the poor people!' 'It's all thousands of years ago, really,' said Robert but his voice trembled.

They hid their eyes for a moment.

They could not bear to look down, for the wave had broken on the face of the town, sweeping over the quays and docks, overwhelming the great storehouses and factories, tearing gigantic stones from forts and bridges, and using them as battering rams against the temples.

Great ships were swept over the roofs of the houses and dashed down halfway up the hill among ruined gardens and broken buildings.