“Barricade the door, Major,” whispered Barclay.  “Are the shutters closed?  Yes; that’s all right.”

“What have you got in that mysterious basket?” his companion asked.

“You’ll see presently.”

He set it down on the floor and raised the lid.  A small, sharp-muzzled head with fierce pink eyes popped up and looked about suspiciously.  Then its owner climbed cautiously out on to the floor.  It was a slim, long-bodied little animal like a ferret, with a long, furry tail.

“Hullo!  A mongoose?  You think they’ll try the same trick again?” asked Dermot.

He glanced at the bed and picked up his cane.

“Just stand still, Major, and watch.  If there’s anything in the snake line about our young friend here will attend to it.”

The mongoose trotted forward for a few steps, then sat down and scratched itself.  It rose, yawned, stretched its legs, and looked up at the two men, betraying no fear of them.  Then it lifted its sharp nose into the air, sniffed, and pattered about the room, stopping to smell the legs of the dressing-table and a cap of Dermot’s lying on the floor.  It investigated several rat-holes at the bottom of the walls and approached the bed.  Under it a pair of the soldier’s slippers were lying.  The mongoose, passing by them, turned to smell them.  Suddenly it sprang back, leaping a couple of feet into the air.  When it touched the floor it crouched with bared teeth, the hair on its back bristling and its tail fluffed out until it was bigger than the body of the fierce little animal.

“By Jove, it has found something!” exclaimed Barclay.

The two men leant forward and watched intently.  The mongoose approached the slippers again in a series of bounds, jumped around them, crouched, and then sprang into the air again.

Suddenly there was a rush and a scurry.  The mongoose had pounced on one slipper and was shaking it savagely, beating it on the floor, rolling over and over and leaping into the air with it.  Its movements were so rapid that for a few moments the watchers could distinguish nothing in the miniature cyclone of slipper and ball of fluffy hair inextricably mingled.  Then there was a pause.  The mongoose stood still, then backed away with stiffened legs, its sharp teeth fixed in the neck of a small snake about ten inches long, which it was trying to drag out of the slipper.

“Good heavens!  This is worse than last night,” cried Barclay.  “It’s a karait.”

This reptile is almost more poisonous than a cobra, and, as it is thin and rarely exceeds twelve inches in length, it can hide anywhere and is an even deadlier menace in a house.

The mongoose backed across the room, dragging the snake and with it the slipper.

“Why the deuce doesn’t it pull the karait out?” said Dermot, bending down to look more closely, as the mongoose paused.  “By George!  Look at this, Barclay.  The snake’s fastened to the inside of the slipper by a loop and a bit of thin wire.”