The Mysteries of the Court of London Vol. 7 — page 387: what you’re looking at

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

a mY 304 THE MYSTERIES’ OF THE COURT. a cance eee eee sort than any the Burker had ae yot sean in the | his onse to bo when it admitted of auch horrible jungle. There were mt only rico and fruits, but | consolations |! ; cakes of bread and pieces of cold meat; and the} For about two hours had he advanced, steadily Goasoons quickly sat down to the welcome meal. | pursuing the direction from which the Gossoone Tho Burker ‘was liberally treated in respect to the | had come--when on emerging upon a eward of food on the present occasion; and when the flask { short sweet grass, he beheld a dark object lying at which the young Gossoun produced, had passed | a little distance. On approaching it, he found to round from his own lips to those of his friends, { his surprise that it was the Wallet which the the Burker was not forgotton. Wie found it to | youngest Gossoon had brought with him in the contain the aamo sort of potent spirit av that morping. On opening it, the Burker found that which the gourd of tho assassinated travellers had | it contained a considerable quantity®of the pro- furnished him; and encourdéged by the apparent | vender with which it Was crammed when first friendliness of the Gossoons, he imbibéd a deep | produced; and his wonder wae now succeeded | draught. by joy. But surprise was soon uppermost again ; | Tho meal being ovor, the Gossoons proceeded, to | and this becamd blended with terror likewise—for stretch thomaelves to sleop in the cavern,—the | how could the wallet be there, ugless somethiffg handsome young now comer following in this re- | had happoned to the young Gossoon himself? And epect the cxample of bis ugly elder comrades. The | if he had become a prey to a wild heast, might not Burker experienced the soporific effect of* the | that same ferocious animal be still lurking in the ! potent alchohol: and yielding to drowsiness, he | neighbourhood ? Tho Burker now discerned upon hkewise laid himsolf down 1n the cave. Slum- | the grass the tracca of “footsteps ; aril, Oh! with | ber soon stole upon his eyes; and when he awoke | what curdling of the blood did hbo likewise distin. the sun was considerably past the meridian. But | guish the spots whero the paws of a wild beast — the Gossoona—where wero they? Thoy were not | most provably a tiger—had becn } to be seen | Some minutes elapsed before ho cquid sufll- | | Half wild with despair, the Burken ascended | ciently confpose himself to appropriato the wallet to tho top of tho racky hill: but no— not a] and strap it over his shoulders, Ho then con- glimpse of them could he obtains Thoy had evi-| tinued his way—looking around him with cold dently abacdoned him to bis fate in that horrible ! shuddering apprehension—when his foot kicked wildornesa! Ho cried aloud in his anguish : he | against something ; and recoiling from tho contact, mingled lamentations with imprecations: he beat; he perceived that 1¢ wasa human bone. Several his breast—tore hie hair—and dashed his clenched | other bones lay scattered about; and there was a fists violontly against bie brow. At length his; dark stain upon the ground which ‘confirmed all rage began to moderate, even if his distress of | the dreadful tale. It was a horrible apectacie |— | mind were not alleviated. Ie saw that it was use- | horrible would it have been even for one surveying | Jess to trust to travelling Gussoons as guides from | it with a consciousness of perfect security—but in- the depthe of that jungle; and despite all dangers, | finitely more horrible for one who felt that at any he would make one more desperate effort to issue | instant he might sharo the fate of his predecessor thence, or dio in the attempt. He bethought him- | on that spot! Close by, too, there were the frop- self that all three of the Goasoons had como from | ments of apparel ;: and now the Burker know, bee precisely the samo directior ; and it was altogether ' yord the possibility of doubt, that it was the young in an opposite direction that his qvn former at~ | Gossoon who had been devoured by u wild beast. tempts had been made fo ieyie from the jungle.| He rushed os, almust maddened with horrde, Surely those men must have journcyed fom a vil- | from the sput. Ife forgot the Strangler—the boa. lago or hamlct at #6 great distance? At all events ! congfrictor—the cobra—the pauther —the elephant be was determined to push forwand in that direc- | —and the alligator: he thought of potbing but the tion: for sooner than endure the prolonged hor-' tiger. But when another hour had elapsed, and rore of the jungle, he would dare all its gbastlicst, he had continued his way without any fresh alarm, frightfulest perile! t ‘his spite began to revive somewbat, That the Having slaked his thirst at the crystal spring-¢ | two elder Gossapns bad fled from the spot where and armod with his stout bludgeon—the Burker , their moro jusnile comrade met so hideous a fate eet oubapon bis journey. He strove to call to; was tolerably evident. Might he nut theretoro | his aid all bis most stubborn courage and dogged, overtake them P—and if so, might ho not induce | resolution, When floundering through the long,! them to serve as bis géidesP or in any case mighs | grass where reptiles might lurk, ho said to himself he not follow them from a distance ? | that it was better to die by the bite of the cobra; Whilo he was looking straight befor hit, with than to endure the long agony of terror, with the. straining eyes to see if he could discern any prospect of famine in the cave he had just loft. ! human forme moving in the distance,—he fancied When forced by the circumstances of his route to | that his ear caught the sounds of plaintive moans paas near a tree, he strove to persuade himselfthat ‘in his immediate vivinag®. Ile stopped and 1¢ were better to render up existence in the crush- | listened. Yes—it was assuredly so; and they ap- ing folds of the boa constrictur, thah tofingor out peared to emanate from the foot of a tree about that life in the awful solitude of the cavern. Or twenty yards off. This tree was completely again, when passing near a stroam, he thought it withered: there was not a single leaf upon it; were preferable to risk being’ devoured by the and thus the eye of the Burker could easily scan <awe of an alligator, than to continud\s be whirled | all its skeleton branches. No boa constrictor was onward by « hurricane of agomziog Yiarms and a! coiled there; and a horrible fveling of ouriosity, sense of excruciating perils. It was in this manner, surmounting his alarms, led bim to draw nearer the wandering outcast endeavoured to sustan his; and nearer by slow degrees towards tho fuut of . spirits; but, oh! how desperate must ho havo felt | that ‘blasted tree. Wor the moans still continued Se \ ® e 6 ® 6 ee ee a eee eo ele reels a ee Se at. ECOMMICOOOKS.EO