_Nectoris._ I will cast out trembling from my heart in this hour, and take the strong soul which no passion can shake; that I may enter into the shrine and win the Golden One for my people and the throne of Egypt for myself and my daughters. _The Ka._ Egypt is great and skilled in august mysteries; and to reign over her and to follow her wisdom is to become equal with the gods; and when the last mysteries are won, even greater than they. Kneel with me, that we may together call the powers forth from their hidingplace, for the great Heru is not without us. We shall find him in ourselves. (_They kneel._) O thou whose wings cover the earth! cover the body of thy servant, that she may find the living flame within herself, and enter without fear before thee! O Hawk of the North, whose secret places are paved with fire which consumeth time and the substance thereof! bless the feet of thy servant that she may pass unscathed to thy throne. O Heru, whose eye pierces the earth and the heavens, bless the eyes of thy servant that she may look upon thee and live. O Heru, on whose brow lies the weight of wisdom, bless the brow of thy servant, that she may bind upon it the triple crown of glory; and that she may win the wisdom of the Golden Hawk, and give it to her people. (_Nectoris rises and enters the shrine. The Ka looks after her._) _The Ka._ The bolts are lifted and the doors turn in their sockets. She kneels, and fear wraps her round as a grey garment. O sister, let the light of Heru pierce you. She rises, and her fear is rent upon her as lightning rends the flesh. She is clothed in the cold fires of the Northern Star. She flings her arms to the air, and a wild joy is in her heart. The spirit and the flesh wrestle for victory, for she has yet some part in what is mortal. She cannot breathe—she speaks at last! _Nectoris_ (_within_). Let my feet move now in triumph to the music of the worlds beyond space, where thy mighty heart beats out the rhythm, making the worlds to fall and rise in their order, and the stars to follow in their courses! I am drunk with conquest, and I shake the sistrum and dance with my naked feet unscathed upon thy golden floor! And the measures I dance are to me as the movement of a great army which has scaled the awful walls of thy majesty, and taken the fortress of thy wisdom!