The damp, cool air soon cleared their heads, and they began to feel more cheerful as they followed each other round and round the narrow platform in single file like, as Sam jokingly said, a bunch of convicts.
Once a sudden 'quake nearly threw them off their balance-but they halted in their tracks, and, flattening themselves against the curving sides of the sphere, hung on by its lifelines until the tremor was over.
Hemmingway was leading the little procession, and it was just five o'clock when, having circled the Ark a dozen times-he passed round its eastern side, and again reached its northern flank. The second he could see round the curve to westward he gave a shout of dismay.
'Run! Run!' he cried. 'Get back inside!' And plunging f°r' ward himself, he dashed towards the door. It was about for£> feet away, in the section of the Ark that was facing south-south-west, and, although he was by no means a coward, as he ran his scalp began to prickle with sheer horror. Some of the others followed him, the rest turned and headed back the other way; but a moment later all of them were goggling at the terrifying thing that he had been the first to see.
To westward, over the burnt-out mansion, something that looked like a solid black cloud was advancing rapidly. It had first appeared as a long, low line over the distant trees, but with extraordinary speed its dead flat edge, straight as a ruler, seemed to leap up into the sky. It was denser than any cloud, and at the second glance they realised that it was a huge wall of water; a vast tidal wave, hundreds of feet in height, approaching at the speed of a racing aeroplane and engulfing hills, trees, gardens, as it rushed upon them.
A mighty wind, caused by the air displaced by the oncoming terror, moaned through the trees, its note increasing to a scream. Trees were snapped off short or torn up by the roots and carried high into the air. From a dull, sullen murmur the voice of the rushing waters leapt in a moment to a thunderous roar. The whole earth shook, winced, and writhed, and tormented nature screamed aloud in a hundred tongues as, tumbling over each other, the six humans fell into the Ark, and Sam, who was last in, slammed its door.
Scrambling to their feet, they staggered to the port-holes, and Hemmingway was just in time to see the ruined house crumble to pieces as the giant wave crashed against it and roared on.
Next second it had blacked out the whole landscape, and towered above them to the skies.
'Hold on!' yelled Gervaise; and, as they gripped the nearest fixtures, the Ark shot forward like a bullet from a gun, carried away deep in the roaring waters.
For minutes on end they were too terrified even to attempt to think. It was as though some gigantic foot had kicked the hall and sent it spinning. They were flung from side to side atld from floor to ceiling like a handful of peas in a tin that is ser>t rolling down a hillside. Screaming, groaning, their muscles drenched, their senses reeling, they clung with the strength of desperation to any fixed object they could get a grip on until another twist of the sphere dragged them from it.
At last, the engines and stores in the lower portion of the Ark steadied it and brought the deck almost horizontal again.
Panting, groaning, sobbing, they picked themselves up. As they did so, the Ark began to rise.
The lights had gone out, which added to the confusion, and the port-holes showed only as faint, grey patches in the blackness. But as the sphere wobbled upwards they lightened, and it seemed as though a mass of turgid green water was rushing downwards past them with here and there a dark object glimpsed for a second, which might have been a tree trunk or a body.
With unexpected suddenness daylight flashed into the room again. The air the Ark contained had brought it rushing to the surface; its speed had increased as it rose, so that it popped up like a cork, almost leapt clear of the water, splashed back, and settled to a heavy roll.
To add to the discomfort of the shaken and bewildered party, the floor was now awash with nearly a foot of water which had spurted in through the ventilators, Gervaise having had no time to close them. Slowly and painfully they began to pull themselves together.
All of them were bruised, giddy, half-fainting. With the water splashing about them, and the Ark still lurching from side to side, they dragged themselves to sitting positions, and began to examine their injuries. Hemmingway lay still, under the table. At first they feared that he was dead, but Sam crawled over to him, and, raising his head, found that he had only been knocked unconscious. Oliver was moaning with a broken arm, Margery was being violently sick. Lavina, chalk-faced and gasping, was wishing she could die where she lay, her back propped up against a bookcase.
Gervaise had suffered least. He had managed to throw hinv self down in the small hallway where the other cabins opened into the living-room and, bracing himself with his shoulders against one door and his feet against another, had succeeded in preventing himself from being flung about like the rest.
Standing up, he went over to help Sam with Hemmingway-As they lifted him into a chair Sam groaned from the pain of a wrenched ankle. Lavina pulled Margery to her feet and, half leading, half carrying her, pushed her into another chair; then she flung herself, sobbing, into Sam's arms. He nearly fell. She was heavier than she looked, but he managed to support her and, staggering to the settee which ran round two sides of the dining-table, collapsed upon it, drawing her down beside him.
Gervaise helped his brother to a seat, and, looking round, saw that for the moment no more could be done for any of the shattered party. The first thing was to get the sphere clear of water. Wading through it, he fetched a broom from the kitchen; then, sloshing back across the living-room, he exerted all his strength and wrenched open the door of the Ark.
So far, he had had no time to think or to realise the full significance of what had happened to them; that they had been spared once again and were all alive seemed the only matter of importance. But, as he opened the door and the water gushed out round his knees, he drew a sharp breath. Using the broom to steady himself, he began to stagger slowly round the platform, gripping the handholds on the sphere's surface with his free hand as he went to prevent himself from being washed overboard.
Far away to the east there was a faint line of whiteness; the foaming crest of the colossal wave as it raced over the country devouring everything before it. He watched it for a few minutes until it had disappeared, fading into the grey of the horizon. Lurching on, he made the full circuit of the sphere.
When he reached the door again he remained there for a Moment motionless. They were at sea. The houses, trees, and fields of England lay hundreds of feet below them. On every side, as far as he could see into the grey distance, there lay only the gently heaving waters. They were utterly alone on a huge and desolate ocean.
The Great Waters
After Gervaise had come back into the Ark and swept it clear of water, his next job was to attend to the casualties. Witt Lavina's help he carried the unconscious Hemmingway fat: the men's cabin, but directly they entered it their attention was drawn to Derek by low groans issuing from his bunk.
Having hardly recovered their own wits after their fright ful tossing, they had not yet had a chance to think of him: but when the Ark had been overwhelmed by the flood he, like themselves, had been thrown up and down like a pea in a box, and the bumping of his head on the upper bunk had brought him back to consciousness.