"Confoundation!" raged Didjabo as the page with frightened stutters turned and ran out of the Hall of Justice. "This ruins everything. Who are these meddling foreigners? And why do they have to arrive now of all times? NOW! Lotho! Teebo! Call out the camel corps and the white elephant guard. Have them drawn up in war formation on the chalk cliffs. You others!" impatiently Didjabo waved his arms at the six remaining Ozamandarins, "See to the defense of the palace! If these meddlers set foot upon our territory they are to be trampled upon, trampled upon--do you understand?" Nodding with fierce and cruel determination, the eight tall Keepers of the White City set about carrying out Didjabo's orders. Didjabo, hurrying up to the highest tower in the castle, looked through his telescope to see what manner of ship had come sailing out of the west to spoil or postpone his well-laid plans. CHAPTER 18 A New Country Driven by the pitiless wind, pounded by the merciless sea, the _Crescent Moon_ rode before the gale, coming, toward morning, into quiet waters at last. The sky, now pale grey instead of black, showed a small single star in the east, and with a huge sigh of weariness and relief Samuel let go the anchor and bade his crew turn in all standing. This they were only too glad to do, sleeping heavily and thankfully in their clothes, Nikobo still wrapped in her sail snoring like a whole band of music beneath the mizzenmast. Tandy, to whom the storm had been a thrilling adventure, was the first to waken. Still stiff and bruised from the pounding he had taken as the _Crescent Moon_ tossed and pitched in the terrible seas, he sprang eagerly out of his bunk, curious to know where the storm had carried them. The morning mists, lifting like a shimmering veil or the curtain of a stage on some new and strange scene, showed a long white line of chalk cliffs to the east, and beyond the cliffs the dim outline of a great and splendid city. With joy and lively expectations Tandy had run out on deck, but now, after a long look over the port rail, he crept silently and soberly back to his cabin, closing the door softly behind him. Later, as the sun rose higher, and his shipmates awoke, the excited screams of Nikobo and Roger and the eager voices of Samuel and Ato told him that they too had seen the bright land beyond the cliffs. Already Samuel was clewing up his sail and above the rattle in the rigging Tandy could hear the rasp of the anchor cable as it came winding over the side. But he only bent lower over the fat book in his lap, and when the Read Bird, loudly calling his name, came hurtling through the port-hole, he did not even look up.