The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 362: what you’re looking at

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

~ THE MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. the leaves that belonged to their crowning-foliage ? And yet the Burker felt as if his gaze were irre- sistibly retained there by some unknown fascina- tion. Ah! again the stem of that tree appeared to move. Yos!—and now the branches them- selves were shaken! The next instant all was still. The Burker sat stupified by a vague sense of terror,—bis eyes riveted upon that stem. Though the arden¢ sun wes bathing him as it were in ite molten effulgenee, .yot was he now shuddering with a glacial chill; while the big drops burat out cold end elammy upon him. Oh, what a convulsing horror shook him with the strongest spasm as he suddenly beheld that seem- ing etem draw itself up from the ground and dis- appear amidet the foliage! Then among the branches and leaves of all those trees there was a rapid rushing—a vivid playing hither and thither—a continuous succession of bounds and leaps and springs, which shook tree after tree ;— end the Burker now knew it wae the hideous ftolicking of a snake amidst that foliage | He started up to his feet: he endeavoured to move—but overpowering horror riveted him to the spot. His lower limbs seemed turned into stone: they were as heavy as lead—just as they often appear to the dreamer in the midst of a terrific nightmare. Colder and more clammy still stood the perspiration upon him: he was literally bathed in his own agony. All of a sudden something darted forth from the canopy of verdure: it was the terrible bos constrictor flinging ite immense supple length out from amongst the interlacing branches and masses of foliage that had just proved the scene of ites fearful gambollings. It was seen by the Burker but,fur a moment :—it disappeared amongst the underwood ; and then there was a rushing noite to- wards the spot where he stood like an effigy of marble, but with all the keenest sensibility of a man. Yet for not more than another instant did he stand thus as if petrified ;—down he fell, as if terror itself had become suddenly personified in some huge giant-shape, and with an invisible foot crushed him to the earth. The wretch writhed upon the soil as if already encircled by the fulds of the monstrous snake of which he had caught a glimpee as it flung itself from amidst the trees. Indeed so strong wes his imagination that bis contortions and convulsions were as agonising and his throes as horrible as if the serpent had verily and positively got him ia ite folds. Though all thie endured but for a few instants, it wae a perfect century of excruciations ; and yet no cry escaped his lips~the power of utterance was paralysed—and hie agony was perhaps all the greater because he eould nat give vent to it in one long, loud, pealing cry. But it was merely in imagination that he was thus suffering. On came the hideous rush that made his blood curdle within bim and a glacial chill sweep down his very backbone. But the rush swept past him at a little distance—still amidst the underwood; and then there was 4 heary splash in some water that had remained eoncesled from bis eyes, He sprang up to his feet: he rushed hway frum the spot: but on a little eminence he for a moment reverted his gaze as if . by an irresistible fascination, Thence he caught a glimpee of tlie pool into which the monstrous rep- LL ‘ 851 tile had plunged ; and he beheld its whole length darting through the water, just underneath the sur- face, and with its head above it. Away sped the Burker :—for a long time he ran, experiencing the awful horror which the speotacile had left upon his mind, as well as the dread that the reptile would yet pursue him and make him its prey. When thoroughly oxhausted—and now with a burning perspiration upon him—he threw himself upon some grass. A loud hissing immediately fell upon bis ear; he sprang up as if galvanised; and he caught a glimpse of a cobra gliding away at a little distance. Away he started again; the wretch’s brain was almost turned with inde. ecribable horror. At length he beheld what ap- peared like a rucky elevation, not more than thirty feet high at its greatest altitude; and thither he bent his steps. It proved to be what it appeared ; and the Burker found that it contained a cave, without any herbage in ite immediate vicinity ; so that he walked with a mind relieved from the dread of having hie ankle suddenly eneireled by some venomous reptile. Yet he was cautious in entering the cave, for fear leat it should be the lair of a wild beast. _ It did not penetrate far into the rock ; and thus the Burker wassoon satisfied that no brute enemy was to be encountered there. There was a sort of loophole fashioned on one side of the cave to admit the light to ite innermost depth; and to his min- gied joy and surprise he found a mass of cold boiled rice and some fruits placed in a niche ua- derneath the loophole. It naturally struck him that chanee had brought him to the habitation of eome anchorite-dweller in that jungle; and he sat down in the cave to await the return of ite eup- posed proprietor. But an hour passed—and no one made his appearance. Then the Burker, feele ing the pressure of hunger, began to make free with the provisions—to which indeed he was truly welcome ; for according to a custom prevalent in India, they had been left by some benevolent Gos- soon, or wandering Dervish, for the benefit of the next wayfarer through that wild uninhabited re. gion. But this fact the Burker did not know, and could not then surmise; and thus hour after hour did he wait in the hepe of seeing a human form make its appearance; for be eraved any coms: panionship in the awful solitude of that jungle. No one however came; and night was now ap: proaching. There was an ample supply of food for the morrow; for the Burker had eaten spar- ingly, for fear of giving offence to the supposed ‘anchorite owner of the cavern. The cave wae cool during the daytime, in comparison with the in: tense sultrinees that prevailed where he was ex- posed to the rays of the burning sun; and 16 seemed to afford a secure resting-place for the night. But haunted by the dread of reptiles and wild beasts, the Burker looked about for the means of rendering it as safe as possible. He blocked up the loophole with stones and fragments of rovx ; and carrying other fragmente into the cave, he furmed a barricade suffiviently high at the entrance to protect himself against the intrusion of the enemies he eo mueh dreaded. Then he stretchod himeelf upon the ground to sleep; and thoroughly exhansted, he soon fell into slumber. But his re- pose was rendered uneasy and agitated by territic dreams, in which the adventures with the huge COMIC DOG (CO