Then Curdie, who at the first word of the king had slipped from his seat, and laid his ear to the ground, rose up quickly, and approaching the king said, speaking very fast:
'Please, Your Majesty, I think I know what it is.I have no time to explain, for that might make it too late for some of us.Will Your Majesty give orders that everybody leave the house as quickly as possible and get up the mountain?'
The king, who was the wisest man in the kingdom, knew well there was a time when things must be done and questions left till afterwards.He had faith in Curdie, and rose instantly, with Irene in his arms.'Every man and woman follow me,' he said, and strode out into the darkness.
Before he had reached the gate, the noise had grown to a great thundering roar, and the ground trembled beneath their feet, and before the last of them had crossed the court, out after them from the great hall door came a huge rush of turbid water, and almost swept them away.But they got safe out of the gate and up the mountain, while the torrent went roaring down the road into the valley beneath.
Curdie had left the king and the princess to look after his mother, whom he and his father, one on each side, caught up when the stream overtook them and carried safe and dry.
When the king had got out of the way of the water, a little up the mountain, he stood with the princess in his arms, looking back with amazement on the issuing torrent, which glimmered fierce and foamy through the night.There Curdie rejoined them.