She stood up on her throne and stretched her arms out, crying an invocation to the winged thing.
She heeded not the buzzing of the aeroplane as it approached. To her it was a great white bird and she only awakened from her trance when the machine had actually landed on her plateau.
The humming had stopped and it glided along the grass, kept closely cropped by Josephus, as this was his grazing ground when he was not busy pulling the cart. Nan stood as though petrified, a graceful little figure in her camp-fire girls’ dress. Her arms were still outstretched as when she cried her invocation to the great white bird.
The machine came to a standstill quite close to her altar and a young man in aviator’s costume sprang from it. Taking off his helmet and goggles, he made a low bow to Nan.
“Oh, mountain nymph, may a traveler land in your domain?”
“Welcome, stranger!”
“And may I ask what is this enchanted land?”
“This is Helicon—and you—who are you?”
“I am Bellerophon and yonder winged steed is Pegasus. Maid, will you fly with me?”