At a reception given by Arthur Hilton at his Sussex home the conversation turns to the subject of danger, with Hilton recalling a case in which he was involved as a Natal police commissioner. In it there were three guilty persons, but only one of them was hanged; the other two were sentenced to long terms, vowing vengeance on Hilton. Unknown to him, the same two men are now among his guests, and are determined to have their revenge.
Mr. Blackwell discovers a relic that informs him about Blythe (as Ayesha, or "She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed"), who loved his father and others in the ancestral line. Blackwell accompanies pal Heinrich George and handyman Tom Reynolds to Arabia.
