Meanwhile the children ran round to the front of the statue and gazed up
at the breastplate of the Goddess, upon which Phidias had carved the
Gorgon's head. There it was with its staring eyes and twisting locks,
looking right down at them.

"Ugh! I don't like it a bit better than I thought I should," said Daphne,
covering her eyes. "It's worse than eels."

"I'd rather see the man swallowing swords any day," answered Dion. "Let's
go and see if we can't find him again," and off they went toward a crowd
of people gathered about a little booth beyond the Erechtheum.

It was not until they had seen him swallow swords twice and eat fire
once, and the conjurer had begun to pack his things to go away that the
Twins thought at all about time. When at last they woke up to the fact
that the sun was setting behind the purple hills, and looked about them,
there were very few people left on the Acropolis, and their Father was
nowhere to be seen. The two children ran as fast as they could go to the
place where the Parthenon was building, but there was no one there. Even
the workmen had gone. Then they ran back and looked down the long incline
up which the procession had come in the morning, but Melas was not to be
seen. The Twins returned to the statue of Athena, but no one awaited them
there. The Gorgon's head looked down at them with its dreadful staring
eyes, and Daphne thought she saw one of the snaky locks move.

"Oh, let's run," she cried.

"Where?" asked Dion.