The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 381: what you’re looking at

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870 rushing out of the cavern, when a horrible hissing smote his ears; and within a yard of his foot the monstrous cobra raised iteelf up to dart at him. He sprang back,—at the same instant hurling he club at the reptile. The blow was well 1 struck down the éobra, which hey writ the bed of granite im Mout of the entern. we @ stone, hastily snatched wy, Gee Davin deuputched his enemy. | It was no viel, thes, which hed Beer during his slamber!—it wae @ tessifis veal and he head dept with @ cobse wpew his | The men’s fem kept covtulsing aad im with nervous horror at the hue ties. many minutes elapsed eré he could . cient self-possession for deliberate the Thea the reflection began to esecg tata his miad that the cobra he had just destroyed mvest be qus of those that he had seen with the make-charmes, and that his notion of the m Cus curnect : namely, that ite fangs had boos withdnrwa if thie were not the case, hog could he have escaped. wits hie life? Bus the ime made the 3 aeate of one thing—-whic that his mat of grasite fragments in front | E a ° f of jaws of a tiger. | tion sufficient fos the formation of his bevrivads ; and when the task was ascomplished, in the deepest dejection, in the davhnese of his abiding-place. ” The night passed witheu$ facktent worthy of notice; and when thé Bevkes teseod frou the cave in the mogning, he sepeuded the Hétle emi. | op, nence, as was his wont, to sedervtein if he could descry any human form in the seigbboushesd. He | had not been stationed there many minuted, cro he beheld some one advancing through the jungle; and as the person drew nearer, the Burker per. ceived that he was a Gcesoon. Tho man’s heart leapt for joy as be thought that now at last do- liverance from thet dreadful wilderness was at hand ; for he resolved that if the dervish, imitat- ing the example of his predecessors, should rofuse him his guidanese, he would compel him by vio- leneo to succour him in that sense, or else would pertinaciously dog his fuoteteps and thus be led from the jungle. As thé Gossoon drew nearer still, the Barker diseerned that he was one of the lowest of the sect of religious itinerante—in fact a wandering begger, dependent on the alms of charity. These facts his garb and general appear- ance announced; while his looke were of the most forbidding cheracter. He was about fifty yoars of age: his hair and beard were grizsled ; and he had a strosg cast in one eyo, which added to his emister aspect. Goseoon seemed surprised for a few moments *¢ an European thete > but the Burkes, it he o06 dows | ZHE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. deeming it the most prudent course to assume a demeanour of entreaty, descended from the top of the hillock and made signs to implore the Gosscon ‘te lead him forth from the jungle. Phe itinerant s F0 | wols Jang st ence wade some sign of impatience in reply, to the cave. J Hs Ps o : i f e E. z i ; that horrible juagle would be at hand. Howes 3 etill’ the Gossoon slept on; and eR the Barker sat at the ontrance of the cavern, anxiously awaiting the moment when the Hindoo should arouse himself. All the rice was gone from the knapsack; for the Gossoon had made light work of the provision which it contained. This was however acaroely a source of uneasiness to the Burker for the present; for he felt assured that his strange companion must have thé conscious- ness of being speedily enabled to procare another supply. And while thus reflecting, the Barker buoyed himself up with the hope that probably they were not so far from the extremity of the jungle as he bad previously imagined—or that the Gossoon was acquainted with some outlet that would speedily take them to an inhabited spot. But time passed on—the day was wearing away —and still the Goasoon slept. The Burker might have supposed that the man was dead, were it not for the unmistakable indications of life which the nasal sounds cf his slumber gave forth. Though looking te that dervish as the means by which he hoped te escape from the jungle, the Burker never- theless hated him—not so much for his uncouth a] COMME OOO SS} (CO