The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 7 — page 363: what you’re looking at

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850 his feet, yet half afraid to dip them into the still water for fear lest some monster should thrust up its huge head to seize upon his limbs. Paeched with thirst, he drank and drank again; and yet the water refreshed him not; for it was fepid--it was warm to sickliness. Profoundly unhappy seemed that man; and yot his was a countenar.e that could scarcely oxpress anything beyond the ferocity and devilish wicked- ness which belunged,to hie character. His par- ments, of an European fashion, were travel-soiled ; and as the man sat by that pool, he ever and anon looked around him, as if in utter consternation and dismay when the sense smot: him of tly stupen- dous loneliness and utter ‘elplessness of his position. Presently that denso silent » was breken by the sounG of something rustling in the brake on the opposite side of the pool ; and the object, whatever it were, plunged into the water, which ripplod sluz- gishly, and became still and smooth againg With what awful terror did that man spring up to his feet !—how literally did his hairs. ud on end !— what intense anguish, what exerus ting susponse, what ineffable dread wero depicted ;.on his counte- nance! An observer—if there had been one~—might hava forgotten his abhorrent uglincts in tho sonse of compassion which would hate been felt for a being who evidently suffered such dire horror. Axd no wonder that he should eo saffer !—for when that sound broke thus suddenly upon his startled ear, a thousand crucifying apprehensions swept through his brain. Was it a huge serpont about to fling out its hideous length at him and encircle him in its slimy, horrible, deadly folds P— or was it @ tiger springing at bim P—or was it some other monster belonging to that sceno in the midet of which he found himself thus lonely, thus friendlies, thus uoprotected and forlurg? The scene iteclf was in Indja: the place was a jubgle;—end that man was the Burker. He had e@vaped from Inderabad: but now how bitterly did hb éurse himself for having taken that step} AG least a hundred, milcs lay betwixt hi and the capital of Queen Indora’é kingdom: he might possibly retrace his way—he might go back to his fortresa: but he dared not; for in order to effect his flight he had clain the stntipel who guarded the passage from which this veil opSned : eand he could not entertain the hope that Queed Indora or hek royal husband would so far overlook the cricre as to leave him in possession.of his life. ¥et, on the other hand, of what value was that lifo umidet the horrote of thisjungleP To know not where to placo himself in order to be in safety. Tf he set beneath the shade of a tre8, the hideous iden would creep over him that a huge suake 7 at any instant dats down with its tre- mendous length and wind’ its¢ loathsome coils arotind him. If he sought the groves, he dreaded lest the eilencgahould suddenly be broken by the howl of a@ wild boapt dnd’ its claws ahould be strack deep. inte; his palpitating flesh. If he made his nine h the undbrweed, be fult every instant eit i aily cobra were winding around dis a Tf he rested himeclf upon the grase by the side of a stream or pool, his blood still curdled with the apprehension that some insidious reptile “wee gliding through the rank luxuriance of that ————_ ee ee Tee ee Gamer Ly, trey eames Op. Gag see en eee ewes 8 THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. herbage towards him. This man lived an cutire ego of horrors in every passing minate. At an carly hour in the morning of that day he had passed through a little village, where some bullock-drivers, cooking their rice in the public khan, had from charity given him a portion of their food. Thence journeying onward, he had insensibly plunged deeper and deeper into this wild scene of fearful beauty, whach, when too late to retreat, he diseovered to de a jungle swarming with the brute aud reptile enemies of man. It were vain fur the Burker to ask himeelf whaé he should dos his imagination could suggest no- thing —unloss now and then ho roflected that it were better to attempt to maké his way back to Inderabad, and dare whatever fate might attend him they than wander about in this abject wretchedhess of mind to perish by the venom of « serpent, in the woils of a snake, or by the fangs and claws of a wild beast. And this reflection again occurred to the Burker after that gtartling iggident which had filled him with such horrible apprehension by the side‘of tho stafnant pool. Xga—his r€aolve was vow taken; and he began to retrace his way, as well as he cuuld recollect it, towards the direction from which he had come. He thought that if he could only regain the vil. lage where he had rocoived the alms of rice in the morning, he might thenco frace his ruad back (o Indorabad. But pathway in the jungle there was none; aad in a very little time tho Burker found that he was completely at fault ooncerning the direction which he ought to pursuc. There cere tuinly was a group of trees which ho did not remember to have noticed before: there was a pool by which ho assuredly had not passed; and there again was the ruin of some ancient temple that scomed to indicate a spot unmarked by him before. Again he sat down in a place which he fancicd to be the most scoure from any eddden attack on the part of reptile or wild bem®t; and avain did hoe abandon himself to blauk despair. It was a small open spot, denuded of verdure—with underwood at a litle distance, and a clump of trees rising in the mids about forty yards off. « Ifis eyes wore riveted upon those trees, because be now sat wutionless, and the gaze of one in such a state of, mind ww wont to fix itsylf upon something. Yes—utjerly motionless he sat, his elbows upon his kéces, bis bands supporting hia countenante. Slowly through his miud rulled all the incidents of his life~g hideous phantasmagoria—a horrible panorais; and the wretch was appalled by the scenes that memory thus in suctescion conjured up. What would he give ¢o be onabled to live his entire life over again! And yet it was nat precisely remorse—-but only regret which the man felt: not remorse for the crimes thensselves, bat regret that he should havo committed them, inas- much as his present position was one of their consequonces. He cursed himself as a fool, rather than luathed himself as a criminal. His gaze was fixed upon the clump of trees, at first vacantly—until at length something began to attract his attention. It seemed as if one lony stem was in motion while the othors were sla- tionary. He strained his regards. No—it must be an illusion !—all those atema were ubterly still ; for how could they possibly be agitated when there was not a broath of ais to raffle the smallest of @ © en eee eee —— = - 2 SS SS —————— ee — oe eee ee ee a EE ——_ we = ae ES wee ES i ee ae eee ee 2 ee 3 ON eww 2 Oe yee eeeeineteeyestigeas iret © tee ny rere COMIC OOO© SS (CO)