The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 7 — page 369: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

85¢ huge avimal, a strange and terrific sound denoting {te mortal vyony ; while the victorious rhinoceros, a a a a a a u drawing back-for an instant, rushed forward and inflicted another hideous ripping wound. The Barker meanwhile had been gasing with indescribable feelings of mingled awe and horror: but he now tarried to behqid no more; for he dreaded lest the conquering brute should seek him as avother victim. He plunged farther and far- ther into the jungle;his brain dissy with the idea of all the horrors thet surrounded him, and lost in an appalling wonderment as to what new apectacle might suddenly burst upon his view. He drew near a forest which stretched far a® the eye could reach upon his right hand; and if he had been skilled in the vegetable history of Hindo- stan, he would have known that it was en immense assemblage of those superb teak-trees which rival the British oak in the building of ships. Avoid- ing the forest as much as possible, on account of the double perils of boa constrictors and Stranglers, the Burker turned away to the left; and anasher hour’s journey brought him to a new scene of verdure. Here towering palm-trees were laden with their fruit—that frait which he could not reach: but he beheld countless monkeys running up the stems and playing amongst the branches. Mangoes were there growing if wild abundance: but the Burker dared not eat of them, for he was afraid of being poisoned. Pepper-vines and car- damom-plants were richly interspersed around: the plantain and the jack were likewise flourishing The beams of the vertical sun were now fraught with so intense a ealtriness that the Barker would have given worlds to be enabled to seek some grateful shade: but for the reasons above set forth, he dared not, He was athirst; for gince he had ‘eft his cavern be had found no pool nor strean | with whose waters he might, moisten his feverish ' lips. He dragged himself painfw:y along: but in U ef 7] vi, of ttle “abi alten eenein e t ‘one 4 another half-hour he reached a- broad stream. Here he sat dbwn to slake his thirst and bathe hi feet: but scarcely had he taken off his shoes, when a long terrific head was thrast up &bove the sur- face of the water at a little distance; and the gaping jews showed frightful rangea of teeth. With a cry—a perfect yell of agony, which re- sounded through those wilds—the Burker started, up to his feet, snatched up his shoes, and darted away. On glancing back, he beheld a treméndous alligator emerge from the river ; and more quickly eped the affrighted wretoh, his mind suffering ex- cruciations as terrific as if he were actually in the jaws of the stupendous reptile. Bat when he again looked round, he perceived that he was safe purenit; and he sank exhausted and in de- upon some masses of granite rock. Tears way down the face of the unheppy who hed never khowds what compane- when about to perpetrate a crime-—he even done murder’s work withont' re- wy, wept at the fearfal position in which . Whichever way he turned, E horror or of danger—indeed, of both ifeonted themecives, The grass under : gees above his head—the brakes on hand thickets on the other—the very with whose waters he sought to slake his ,, aes, were all teoming with living beings threaten: THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. ing him with a horrible death. Little had the mue- creant ever thought of a future state or of punish- ments in a world to come: but now i seemed to him as if there were veritably a hell upon earth, affording a frightful foretaste of the one that was to be experienced hereafter lt The Burker put on his shoes; and wiping away the tears whiok had flowed down bis cheeks, he applied himself to the contentseef the gourd in order to acquire the reckless courage of despera- tion. He now looked about him to ascertain the nature of the spot where he had sunk down ex- hausted. We have already said that he had thrown himeelf upon some granite blocktg and a closer inspection showed him that they belonged to the ruins of an edifice. These ruins ocoupied about a quarter .of au acre; and the wanderer walked slowly around them. Whatever the edifice might have been,*"it had almost completely yielded to the effects of time or else to some convulsion of nature; for it had fallen into a destruction that wal nigh rendered it a heap of shapeless, mean- ingless ruins. But presently the BurRer discovered the mmnaut df a gateway, the upright pillars of which still remained. He looked in; and the burning beams of the vertical sun fell fully upon a figure of hideous appearang and colossal dimen- sions, which appeared to be seated upon an eleva- tion such as a throne or au altar. Despite the potent alchohol which he had imbibed from the gourd, the wanderer’s mind was still ao attenuated as to be keenly susceptible of the most startling impressions; and his first idea was that a country which teemed with such monsters of the brute creation, might likewise possess human beings of a giant shape. But it was only an effigy of black marble on which the Burker was gazing--« Hindoo deity that had survived, so to speak, the ruin of the temple which enshrined it. The Burker soon saw that i¢ was only an image: he gathered courage—and he penetrated a little way farther, taking a positiom where the overhanging masses of a once shapely masonry protected him from the beams of the eun. “hero he sat down; and open- idg¢his knapsack, partook of his provisions. An- other application to the gourd strengthened his mind in the sense of a reckless desperation: and presently sleep stole upon his eyes. For shout a couple of hours the wearied wan- derer ‘thus slept; and as he slowly awoke, it was to encounter the aspect of the colossal effigy oft black marble. For a few moments he gazed with an appalled consternation : for during the interval of slumber he had forgotten where he was and what object he had last seen. By degrees however the jotion came back to his mind; and it wae also by degrees that he grew aware of some life- like motion on the durface of the black marble effigy. He looked with ivcreasing horror in his gase end in bis mind; and his hair stood on end as he gradually comprehended the hideous truth. Numerous enakes, of small dimensions, were creep- ing over the Hindoo deity,—some twining around its brow—others dragging their slimy folds over its face —some twisting around its arms — some winding about ite legs— others as they trailed théir lengths upon its body, The Burker discerned likewise that these re were hooded like the cobra, though they were of a diferent colour. They were indeed the manilla soakes— & — LL LLL LLL LLL A i ll ECOMRniclacae A SS (CO)