Then the sound of it became not quite so loud, and grew less and less.

But still Cheditafa and his companions were so frightened and so startled by this awful thing, happening so suddenly, as if it had been magic, that it was some time--he did not know how long--before they lifted their faces from the rocks against which they were pressing them.
Then Cheditafa crept forward and looked out.

The great waves and the roaring water were gone.

There was no water to be seen, except the brook which always ran at the bottom of the ravine, and which now seemed not very much bigger than it had been that morning.
But the little brook was all there was in the ravine, except the bare rocks, wet and glistening.

There were no huts, no Rackbirds, nothing.
Even the vines and bushes which had been growing up the sides of the stream were all gone.