Miss Brenda put one hand on the steering-wheel and the other on the first speed lever, and the car slid away, as though it had been running on ice, towards the great arched entrance.
As they turned to the left on their way westward, a shabbily dressed man and woman stepped back from the roadway on to the pavement.

For a moment they stared at the car in mute astonishment; then the man gripped the woman tightly by the arm and led her away out of the ever-passing throng, whispering to her in Coptic: "Did'st thou see her, Neb-Anat--the Queen--the Queen in the living flesh sitting there in the self-mover, the devil-machine?
To what unholy things has she come--she, the daughter of the great Rameses! But it may be that she is held in bondage under the spell of the evil powers that created these devil-chariots which pant like souls in agony and breathe with the breath of Hell.

She must be rescued, Neb-Anat." "Rescued ?" echoed the woman, in a tone that was half scorn and half fear.

"Is it so long ago that thou hast forgotten how we tried to rescue her mummy from the hands of these infidels?
Now, behold, she is alive again, living in the midst of this vast, foul city of the infidels, clothed after the fashion of their women, and yet still beautiful and smiling.

Pent-Ah, didst thou not even see her laugh as she rode past us?
Alas! I tell thee that our Queen is laid under some awful spell, doubtless because she has in some way incurred the displeasure of the High Gods, and if that is so, not even the Master himself could rescue her.