The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 7 — page 386: what you’re looking at

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

as <« | THE MYSTSRINS OF THE COURT. was partaken of. Afterwards the two (josscor ascended the hillock; and both looked,siqently in the same direction from which they tentative respectively come,—~—aes if they eee? awaiting another errival. The Burker t ear that if the company of Gossoons were Senedd, he might be abandoned by them, as ke Was by those who » had taken away the dead Body with them ;—and painful misgivings agitated in the wretched man’s soul. That day passed like the preceding ong,— the Goescon# sleeping for hours together— the Burker watching at the mouth of the cavern—and having to collect the firewood in thé evening. No other Gossoon made his appearance: there was no fresh arrival of any,sind; and another night was | slep in the cavern. Again, in the morning, when the meal had been -partaken of—and which meal completely emptied the bag,—the two Gossoon? ascended the hillock, the Burker following them. Mo new-comer was to be seen; afd there the ns sat, Watching in silence for a couple of hours until the heat of the sun became intolerable with its syltriness. Then the dervishes gave yent to ejaculations of ‘ningled rage, astonishment, and disappointment: and the Burker hed no diffloulty in compreh8nding the osuse. They evidently expected some person or persons, who however came not. They descended into the cavern, And stretched theméelves to slum- ber,—the Burker taking his accustomed post juct within the entrance, so as to shade himself against the piercing rays of the aun. It was evening when the Gossoons awoke; and then they both hastened with avidity to inspect the niche under the loop- hole: but there were no provisions there. They made impatient signs to the Burker to inquire whether any one had been?—and on his signal- ing a negative, they looked as if they were very much inclined to wreak their rage upon himeelf. It was indeed with a sort of menacing peremp- toriness that they pointed to the thicket as ‘an intimation that he should pather the firewood; and he hastened to obey~-for he was now more than ever afraid of these men. His fears in that respect so operated upon his mind as to enh.nce the poignancy of the epprehensions with which he eet foot in the thicket—the lurking place of the reptile, and which had likewise recently proved the ambush of the tiger. While treading amidet the long grass, be fancied that cobfgs were coiling up his legs; and the ioe-chill of tertor struck to the very marrow of his bones. Upon those bones too did the flesh appear to creep, as he approached the trees from which he had to tear away the branches——those trees whence the fatal coils of the boa constrictor might possibly unwind to fling down its huge slimy length and envelope his form. But his task was achieved withous the oocurrence of any of these terribly casualties; and he set to work to pile up the wood in front of the cavern. Whether it were that he was not quick enough fm his movements to please the elder Gossoon—or that this individual required some object on whom to wreak the vindictive spite with which hunger filled him—we cannot say: dut certain it is that with an ejaculation of rage, he snatehed up a stout branch and deslt the Burker a savage blow upon the head. In a moment the Englishman flew like a tiger at the Hindoo;: but the latter, suddenly akipping aside, caught the Burker round the waist, 9 J 9 ust as the other had done, and hurled m to e distance with as much case as if he were had | merely thus tossing away from him an infent child, Again was the Burker compelled to put up with the rough treatment 60 sustained; and he had « wevere experience that the strength of the elder Gossoon, emaciated a-:wreteh though he were, was in no way inferior to that of his younger com- panion. Both ‘were his masters, and seemed re- solved to prove #0. In a mood of i ‘end dogged. submission, did the Burker continue his task ; ‘when i¢ was com- pleted, he and the two stretched them- selves eupperiess to repose. The itinerants speedily t: but the cravings of hunger kept the Burker awake for the greater part of the night. At length sleep visited his eyes also; and if his dreame were less horrible than usual, it was por- haps because he had all the less to tax or trouble his digestive organs. In the morning the Gossoons again ascended to the top of the bill—again too followed by the Burker, who was as much interested as themselves in the arrival of any one bearing a supply of pro- visions. But no approaching form was to be seen. Crashing through the jungle at a little distance, was that phenomenon, a white elepbant—calied an albino : but it was speedily lost to the view—and the ning eyes of the two Gossocns and the Burker were again riveted in the direction whence the former evidently expected en arrival. And now, the Burker’s ideas changing, he began to hope that no one would come after all; for in this case he saw the necessity of the Gossoons leaving the cavern and betaking themselves to the nearest inbabited spot where provisions might be procured, — in h case he was resolved to accompany or to dog them, unlese overpowered by their supe- rior brute force. All df a sudden, however, ejaculations of joy burst from the lips of the Gossoons; for they, with eyes mord accustomed te mark the move- ments of human beings inetheir own native land, than the Burker’s could pasably be, beheld some one advaacing. In a short time the Burker bim- self digserned the form which came hestening along with light step; for the expected individual wes quite young. He likewise was a o— not above two or three and twenty years of age ; ahd he was as remarkable for his personal beauty as those whom he came to join were for their ugli- poss. He was of the medium stature —slender and well made—with eo faultless aquiline profile, dnd superb eyes. He was attired with somewhat more nestness than the other Gossoons—but still ion a poor style; and his person displayed more cleanly habits. He had at his back a wallet, or knapsack, of considerable size: he advanced ra- pidly, and soon joined the Goseoous and the Burker, who descended from the top of the hil lock. e ° When the new-comer cast a look of wondering inquiry upon the Burker, the Gossoon who had first of all arrived at the cavern, gave a few hasty words of explanation—as the object of the remarks could 3 while the cldest Gossoon, with hands of greedy impatience and ravenous luoks, began to take off the knapsack from the new- eomer’s shoulders. On being opened, it was found to contain a quantity of provisions of a better ECOMRniclacae SS (CO)