The magic carpet was gone, AND SO WAS THE LAMB!
There was a horrible silence. The Lamb--the baby, all alone--had
been wafted away on that untrustworthy carpet, so full of holes and
magic. And no one could know where he was. And no one could
follow him because there was now no carpet to follow on.
Jane burst into tears, but Anthea, though pale and frantic, was
dry-eyed.
'It MUST be a dream,' she said.
'That's what the clergyman said,' remarked Robert forlornly; 'but
it wasn't, and it isn't.'
'But the Lamb never wished,' said Cyril; 'he was only talking
Bosh.'
'The carpet understands all speech,' said the Phoenix, 'even Bosh.
I know not this Boshland, but be assured that its tongue is not
unknown to the carpet.'
'Do you mean, then,' said Anthea, in white terror, 'that when he
was saying "Agglety dag," or whatever it was, that he meant
something by it?'
'All speech has meaning,' said the Phoenix.
'There I think you're wrong,' said Cyril; 'even people who talk
English sometimes say things that don't mean anything in
particular.'
'Oh, never mind that now,' moaned Anthea; 'you think "Aggety dag"
meant something to him and the carpet?'
'Beyond doubt it held the same meaning to the carpet as to the
luckless infant,' the Phoenix said calmly.
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