'What I mean to say is this.' There was a long pause.
'Well,' said Robert at last, 'WHAT is it that you mean to say ?' 'It's like this,' said Cyril, and again stopped short.
'Like WHAT ?' asked Jane.
'How can I tell you if you will all keep on interrupting ?' said Cyril sharply.
So no one said any more, and with wrinkled frowns he arranged his ideas.
'Look here,' he said, 'what I really mean is--we can remember now what we did when we went to look for the Amulet.

And if we'd found it we should remember that too.' 'Rather!' said Robert.

'Only, you see we haven't.' 'But in the future we shall have.' 'Shall we, though ?' said Jane.
'Yes--unless we've been made fools of by the Psammead.

So then, where we want to go to is where we shall remember about where we did find it.' 'I see,' said Robert, but he didn't.
'_I_ don't,' said Anthea, who did, very nearly.

'Say it again, Squirrel, and very slowly.' 'If,' said Cyril, very slowly indeed, 'we go into the future--after we've found the Amulet--' 'But we've got to find it first,' said Jane.
'Hush!' said Anthea.
'There will be a future,' said Cyril, driven to greater clearness by the blank faces of the other three, 'there will be a time AFTER we've found it.