THE SHADOW OF A COWL

      The Golden Scorpion

      Author: Sax Rohmer

      Keppel Stuart, M.D., F. R. S., awoke with a start and discovered

      himself to be bathed in cold perspiration. The moonlight shone in at

      his window, but did not touch the bed, therefore his awakening could

      not be due to this cause. He lay for some time listening for any

      unfamiliar noise which might account for the sudden disturbance of

      his usually sound slumbers. In the house below nothing stirred. His

      windows were widely open and he could detect that vague drumming

      which is characteristic of midnight London; sometimes, too, the

      clashing of buffers upon some siding of the Brighton railway where

      shunting was in progress and occasional siren notes from the Thames.

      Otherwise--nothing.

      He glanced at the luminous disk of his watch. The hour was half-past

      two. Dawn was not far off. The night seemed to have become almost

      intolerably hot, and to this heat Stuart felt disposed to ascribe

      both his awakening and also a feeling of uncomfortable tension of

      which he now became aware. He continued to listen, and, listening

      and hearing nothing, recognized with anger that he was frightened.

      A sense of some presence oppressed him. Someone or something evil

      was near him--perhaps in the room, veiled by the shadows. This

      uncanny sensation grew more and more marked.

      Stuart sat up in bed, slowly and cautiously, looking all about him.

      He remembered to have awakened once thus in India--and to have found

      a great cobra coiled at his feet. His inspection revealed the

      presence of nothing unfamiliar, and he stepped out on to the floor.

      A faint clicking sound reached his ears. He stood quite still. The

      clicking was repeated.

      "There is someone downstairs in my