The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 7 — page 372: what you’re looking at

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

iteelf, did is strive to drag the reptile down fram the tree, The bos constrictor seemed to clongate like a tigh cable when a ship is pulling hard at its mooringt: but in a few mamente the wane drous elaeticity of the serpent was displayed ; for, apparently without an effort, it shortened ite lerfgth, as it were, and drew the tiger completely in towards the root of the tree, Then, the Burker, with heir standing on end, end the fegh creeping coldly, heard the orashieg of the hones of the agovising wild beast: for the coila of the make ware giving the last fatal syidenoa of their. con- strieting pawer, Slawly edvanced the enake’s head, farther and farther over the bady of the tiger » tighter and tightee became the coils ; more contiauous, but hkewiae more and more lasguid, grew the convulsions and the writhings of the perishing wild beast. At lengfl? the tiger cay motionless—but not this time tu yeeover from its exhaustion and gather strength for a new effart to shake off its enemy. The tiger was dead. Again thare was an interval of silence ;,and the Burker might shave fancied that the exake wis dead likewise, were it not that ite oges contigo’ to gleam with that horrible reptile light, and that its length between the brauch sustaining its tail and the commencement of ite cuils aroynd the tiger, dangled Jasily €6 and fro, like a partially loosened cable agitated by the wind. But not long was this interval of silence: for soon did the bones egain begin to crash; and now all along the supple length of the serpent there were the avidences of the strong muscular motion, the vibrations and the tenaiona, by whieh the constricting process was ‘arried on against the last impediments. The tiger lay with its mouth open, its tongue lolling out and dabbled with blood. Its green eyes were fixed in a glassy stare; and the constricting power of the reptile gave a continuous oscillating motion to the form of the wild beast itself Gradually the snake wound ite coila eompletely about tha tiger, which thue kept on elongatipg in the power. ful gripe of each iron fold. The bos proceeded de- hberately with the work that %& was secomplish- sing : it had to break the bones in every part of the brute’s body ; and thus at length its neck encir- cling the hinder legs, drew them tight up against the belly of the wild beast. Ribs, legs, backbone all were thus successively erushbed ; so thaf at the expiration of a time tho tiger presented wo the wew only ‘one long shapeless mass. Liver and anon the enake desisted for awhile, as if to rest —or af if te gloat over its tziumph and its in- tended meal. <Andall this while the Barker re- mained in the tree, a spectator of the hideous seene | Two mortal hours thus passed from thé moment when tbo snake first Bung iteseoils about the form of the tiger, until the peint which our description has just reaghed. Two mostal houre!-~they secmed two centuries to the misesable mans No- thing coukt be moze hossible than the sensation produced upon him by the breaking, crashing, and evushing of those bones. He felt as. if the anake were coiled asowitd hineself, and os if they were his own hones whieh wore thus frightfully yielding te the infermal pressure. Indeod, the world has no language possessing teyme strong enough convey an ides of all the wrote experienced during those ¢wa mortal howw. Nethings he had prervie & eee, aes ‘tree. | ously known of the borrore of the jungle, could he copopared tq this qrewning one, His sompulaory. Vicinage fo that monsizous reptile, measuring af leaes forty feet “~ length, waa in itvelf 9, stupan- douse borsay: byt whan be heged the boues crash ~~ and, ignorant of tha prediae. babits af the snake, trembled lest is should sack ‘vistim—be fols oy + were about to yall forth in the.wild apg a rmanine. a But the reptile hed ether work toda, ¢ ally Iqosening ite, goils from qronmd the tiger, it hegen ta caver the carsase with a slime which = hi Jaws A onal Fenty ite lambent tongue pigying the.while, and ita eyes gledwing in a maannen that gdded freah details ta the unspeake able hideguenesa of the entire soqna. As the same time a moat sickly and revolting afflavium began to aircle about the Burker, as be ast up in the it grew more and more intense: the whole atmosphere around bim seemed poisoned, He thought that the strongest life could not remsin proof againgt. that disgusting odour; again did species of vertigo seize upon him; and again did he cluteh the branches with all his power in order to aave himgelf from failing. Arowed by that effort, more mechanical thas voluntary at. the time,--he“agein looked down to behold the doings of the enake. Ip was propating to enjoy the fruits of ite triumph-“to banquet after ite ows fashion upon its victija—ta partake of its horrid meal. The Rurker could soarcaly believe the evidence: of his own senses when he perceived that the make was propariug to swallow the lubricated and e Gespase of the tiger. The réeptile’s head was of » emallness and its neck of a narpownem in eomparison with the bulk of its body at tha thickes$ part, that it seemed im- possible for evem an, object a quaster as great as the dead willl beast to be swallowed in such o tm&nner. How great therafare was the Burker’s amssement—-how bredthless his horrar—bow fear- ful the intevest which be experienced, when he perceived the jaws of the suake openstoa an extent Which readily allowed them to suek in as it were. the head of the tiger. With its tail still retain- ing @ firm held of the branch of the treo, as if on this support depended tho entire muscular power whicd the reptile possessed,—it proceeded slowlp—and it even appeared, paiofully—~to suck if the remainder. Ehie appalling process lasted, for unegrily half-an-hour: then slowly did the boa disgngege ite tail from the branch; and as much of its length as bad remained suspended to the tree, dropped heavily to the ground. The aneake now lay cowplotely tills ite head was buried somewhere amidst ite eoils—-so that the vibrating eyes wore ao longer lecking up at the Burker. He ceuld perseive where, in the thickest part of ite body, the massof the swallye ep lay: for there waa 6 tremendous bulging-out\ef the rep- tile’a forms, defining the gomplcte con ion. of thet degluted mess state in which, réptilen yemain. for & long whilg after having. pastaken of a Baill be dared, tyos ls desognd sironges and ahsquger gre thet the aerpenk was now 4 SS (CO) LOAO© A