The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 385: what you’re looking at

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

B74 THE 374 YOTERTES OP THB COURT OF THE COURT. his case to be when it sort than any the Burker had as yet seen fn the | bis case tobe when it admitted of ewe horrible of sues horrible consolations ! For about two hours had be advanced, eteadile pursuing the direction from which the Gosveons had come—when on emerging upen a sward short sweet grass, he beheld a dark object lyin a little distance. On approaching it, he f sort than any the Burker had as yet seen fn the jungle. There were not only rice and fraite, but cakes of bread and pieces of oclf meat ; and the Goesoons quickly sat down to the welcome meal. The Burker was liberatly treated in respect to the food on the present occasion; and when the Hask which the young Gossoon produced, had peseed round from bis own lips to those of his friends, | his surprise that i¢ was the wallet which the the Burker was not forgotten. He found “ # youngest Gossoon had brought with him in the contain the same sort of potent spirit as Aat| morning. On opening it, the Barker found that which the gourd of the assassinated traveliem had | it contained a considerable quantity of the pro- furnished him; an@® encouraged by the apparent | vender with which 4% was crammed when Gest friendliness of the Gossoons, he im>ibed a deep | produced ; and his wonder was now euccestied draught. The meal being over, the Gdssoons proceeded to stretch themselves to elcep in the cavern,—the handsome young new-comer following in this re- spect the example of his ugly elder comrades. The Burker experienced the soporific effect of the potent alchohol: and yielding te drowsiness, he likewise inid himeelf down in the cave. Slum- ber soon stele upon his eyes; eud when he awoke the sun was considerably past the meridian. Bat the Gossoons--where were they? They were not to be seen ! Half wild with despair, the Burker ascended to the top of the rveeky ‘hill: but no—not a slimpee of them could he obtain! They hai eri- Gently abandoned him to his fate in that porritle wilderness! He cricd aloud in his anguish « mingled lamentations with imprecations: be beat his breast—tore his hair—and dashed tis elenghed Bete violently against &te brow. At length his rage began to moderate, eton if tis Dietress of mind were not alleviated. Hoe saw that i¢ was use- less to trust to travelling Goesoons as guides from the depths of that jungle; and doepite ail dangers, he would make one-more dosperate effort to issue thence, or die in the attempt. Hoe bethought him- self that all three of the Gossoons had come from preeisely the same directions and it was altogether in an Opposite direction that his own former at- tempts bad been mado to issue from the jangle. Surely those men mast have journeyed from a vil- lage or hamlet at no great distance P At all events be wes determined to push forward in thet diree- tion: for sooner than endare the prolonged hor- rors of the jungle, he would daro all its guastliest, frightfulest periis ! Having slaked his thirst at the erpstel epring— end armed with his stout bludgeen=the Barker eet ont upon bis journey. Ho strove to call to his aid all hie meet stubborn courage and dogged resolution. Whea floundering threagh the long | gress where reptiles might lark, he eaid to himself that i¢ was better t0 die by the bite of the cobra than to endure the long agony of terror, with the prospeat of famine in the cave he had just left. When feroed by the eircumstances of his route to that his ear aaught the sounds of a vtanped oor pass mear a trec, he strove to persuade bimeclftbat in his immediate vivinage. He sto it were better to render up existence in the crush- | listened. Yes—it was assuredly so; 2 ing folds of the boa constrictor, than to linger ont peared to emanate from the foot of a tree ony fn that life in the awful solitude of the cavern, Or | twenty yards of. This tree was completely again, when passing near a stream, 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 ecem jewe of an alligator, than to continug to be whirled | all its skeleton branches. No boa constrictor was enward by « hurricane of agonizing alarms and 8 | coiled there; and a horrible feeling of cariosity, senecof exeruciating perils. It wad in this manner | aurmounting ‘his alarms, led him to draw nearer the wandering outeast endeavoured to sustain bis | and nearer by slow degrees towards the foot o , pists ¢ but, oh| how desperate must he bave felt | that blasted trae. For the moans still contioued by joy. But scarprise was coon wppormoet egsias and this became blended with terrer likewise~—for how could the wallet be there unless something had happened to the young Gessoon bimeelf? And if he had become a prey to a wild beast, might net that eame ferocious animal be etili lurking in the neighbourhood ? The Burker now discerned apon the grass the traces of footeteps; and, Oh | with what eurdling of the blood did he likewise distin guish the spots where the paws of a wild beast— most probably a tiger—~had been | Some minates dapeed Sefore he could anffi- chently compose bimeelf to appropriate the sralict and strap it over bis shoulders. Me @en eu tinued hic way—locking around him with cold shuddering apprehension--when his foot kicked he | egelnet comething ; and recoiling from she eontest, ved that it waea humen done. Several tne bones Jay seattered about; and there was 4 Gerk stain upon the ground which conficmed all the dreadful tale. It was a horrible spectasic | horrible would it have been even for ons enrveying it avith a consciousness of perfect senmstig=—bus in- finitely more hotrible for one who felt that ef any instant he might share the fate of his predecssser on that spot! Close by, teo, shoes wees Sh feng ments of apparel : and now ¢he Burker knew, be- yond the possibility of doubt, that 4 wes the young Gossoon who had been devoured by a wild beast. He rushed on, almost meddened with horrar, from the spot. Ho forgot the Strangler~+the bea- constrictor—the cobra—the panther—the elephant and the alligator: he thought of notbing but the tiger. But when another hour had clapsed, and he had continued his way without any fresh alarm, his apirits begen to revive somewhst. That the two elder Gossoons bad fletl from the spot where their. mone jacenile copmade met ao hideous a fale was tolerstiiy evilent. Aight he not therefore overtake them ?—and if a0, might he not induce them to aerge as his guides? or ia any ease mighd ho not fcllew them fram e distance ? While he wae looking straight before 2 hin, with siteining eyes to seo if he could discera an humen forme moving in the distance,—he fas SS TED TE Pc a ey Sy Doe a ie tag st egg pen enemy Gut (CO G OOO SS} (CO