"It is impossible to describe it. It was the secret of old Egypt revealed at last--at the end of the world!" "But what was it like?" "Like a glimpse into the remotest corridors of time," interposed Cosmo Versál, with a curious look in his eyes. "Some of you may have heard that long ago holes were driven through the Sphinx in the hope of discovering something hidden inside, but they missed the secret. The old god kept it well until his form fell apart. We were pinned so close to it that we could not help seeing it, even in the excitement of our situation. "It had always been supposed that the Sphinx was the symbol of something--it _was_, and more than a symbol! The explorers away back in the nineteenth century who thought that they had found something mysterious in the Great Pyramid went wide of the mark when they neglected the Sphinx." "But what did you see?" _"We saw the prophecy of the Second Deluge,"_ said Cosmo, rising to his feet, his piercing eyes aflame. "In the heart of the huge mass, approachable, no doubt, by some concealed passage in the rock beneath, known only to the priests, stood a gigantic idol, carved out of black marble. "It had enormous eyes of some gem that blazed in the electric beam from the searchlight, with huge golden ears and beard, and on its breast was a representation of a drowning world, with a great nebula sweeping over it." "It might have been a history instead of a prophecy," suggested one of the listening savants. "Perhaps it only told what had once happened." "No," replied Cosmo, shaking his big head. "It was a prophecy. Under it, in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, which I recognized, was an inscription which could only be translated by the words, 'I come again--at the end of time!'" There was a quality in Cosmo Versál's voice which made the hearers shudder with horror. "Yes," he added. "It comes again! The prophecy was hidden, but science had its means of revelation, too, if the world would but have listened to its voice. Even without the prophecy I have saved the flower of mankind." CHAPTER XXII THE TERRIBLE NUCLEUS ARRIVES When the company in the Ark had recovered from the astonishment produced by the narratives of De Beauxchamps and Cosmo Versál, and particularly the vivid description given by the latter of the strange idol concealed in the breast of the "Father of Horror," and the inferences which he drew concerning its prophetic character, the question again arose as to their future course. Captain Arms was still for undertaking to follow the trough of the Red Sea, but Cosmo declared that this course would be doubly dangerous now that the water had lowered and that they no longer had the _Jules Verne_ to act as a submarine scout, warning them of hidden perils.