Read "The Sign of Silence" by William le Queux online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Yes, there was no doubt about it. Terror and horror had driven me mad.
And surely the deadly peril in which I found myself was in itself sufficient to cause the cheek of the bravest man to pale, for from that box there slowly issued forth a large, hideous cobra, which, coiling with sinuous slowness in front of my face held its hooded head erect, ready to strike.