n to
a ring in the floor!

He was lying upon a deep _diwan,_ which was covered with leopard-skins
and which occupied one corner of the most extraordinary room he had
ever seen or ever could have imagined. He sat up, but was immediately
overcome with faintness which he conquered with difficulty.

The apartment, then, was one of extraordinary Oriental elegance,
having two entrances closed with lacquer sliding doors. Chinese lamps
swung from the ceiling, illuminated it warmly, and a great number of
large and bright silk cushions were strewn about the floor. There
were tapestries in black and gold, rich carpets and couches, several
handsome cabinets and a number of tall cases of Oriental workmanship
containing large and strangely bound books, scientific paraphernalia,
curios and ornaments.

At the further end of the room was a deep tiled hearth in which stood
a kind of chemical furnace which hissed constantly. Upon ornate small
tables and pedestals were vases and cases--one of the latter
containing a number or orchids, in flower.

Preserved lizards, snakes, and other creatures were in a row of jars
upon a shelf, together with small skeletons of animals in frames.
There was also a perfect human skeleton. Near the centre of the room
was a canopied chair, of grotesque Chinese design, upon a dais, a big
bronze bell hanging from it; and near to the _diwan_ upon which Stuart
was lying stood a large, very finely carved table upon which were some
open faded volumes and a litter of scientific implements. Near the
table stood a very large bowl of what looked like platinum, upon a
tripod, and several volumes lay scattered near it upon the carpet.
From a silver incense-burner arose a pencilling of blue smoke.

One of the lacquer doors slid noiselessly open and a man entered,
Stuart inhaled sibilantly and clenched his fists.

The new-comer wore a cowled garment of some dark blue material which
enveloped him from head to feet. It possessed oval eye-holes, and
through these apertures gleamed two eyes which looked scarcely like
the eyes of a human being. They were of that brilliant yellow color
sometimes seen in the eyes of tigers, and their most marked and awful
peculiarity was their unblinking regard. They seemed always to be open
to their fullest extent, and Stuart realized with anger that it was
impossible to sustain for long the piercing gaze of Fo-Hi ... for he
knew that he was in the presence of "The Scorpion"!

Walking wit