tle lamp down. But it was too high up, and the noise that he made in
his efforts to reach it brought Barclay to his door.

When he heard of Dermot's difficulty he said:

"I'm not sleepy yet, Major, so I'll bring my lamp along to your room and
smoke a cheroot while you undress. Then I'll go off with it as soon as
you've turned in."

Dermot thanked him, and the young policeman went with him, carrying the
lamp, which had a double wick and gave a good light. Putting it down on the
dressing-table he lit a cheroot and proceeded to seat himself in a chair
beside the bed. Like the room itself and the rest of the furniture, it was
covered with dust.

"By George, what dirty quarters they've given you, sir," he exclaimed.
"Just look at the floor. I'll bet it's never been swept since the Palace
was built. The dust is an inch deep near the bed." He polished the seat of
the chair carefully before he sat down.

The heat in the room was stifling, and the police officer, even in his
white mess uniform, felt it acutely.

"By Jove, it's steamy tonight," he remarked, wiping his face.

"Yes, I hate October," replied Dermot. "It's the worst month in the year, I
think. Its damp heat, when the rain is drying up out of the ground, is more
trying than the worst scorching we get in May and June."

"Well, you don't seem to find it too hot, Major," said the other laughing.
"It looks as if you'd got a hot-water bottle in the foot of your bed."

"Hot-water bottle? What do you mean?" asked Dermot in surprise, throwing
the collar that he had just taken off on to the dressing-table and turning
round.

"Why, don't you see? Under the clothes at the foot," said his companion,
pointing with the Major's cane to a bulge in the thin blanket and sheet
covering the bed. He got up and strode across to it. "What on earth have
you got there? It does look--Oh, good heavens, keep back!" he cried
suddenly.

Dermot was already bending over the bed, but the police officer pushed him
forcibly back and snatched up the cane which he had laid down. Then,
cautiously seizing the top of the blanket and sheet near the pillow, he
whisked them off with a sudden vigorous jerk. At the spot where the bulge
had betrayed it a black cobra, one of the deadliest snakes in India, lifted
its head and a foot of its length from its shining coils. The forked tongue
darted and quivered incessantly, and the unwinking eyes glistened as with a
loud hiss it raised itself higher and poi