The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 377: what you’re looking at

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

= | umeaemom | 3A6 THE MYSTERIES OF THE sermon | ——_——— COS OoOowm—vOOl lOO itself through the aperture. And sure enough, this was the intention of bis enemy: for presently the aperture was completely darkened, and the form began to penetrate. Likea snake ready to dart from its coil, was the Burker prepared to spring: but whether it were that he made some slight movement, or that he suddenly held his 1 @ way to convince the foe that he was r asleep, we cannot say. Certain however at the enemy’s form was all in a moment », noiselessly though rapidly; and the ubbing his eyes, fancied that it must be a he stones were restored to their setting, 1e bad originally placed them ; the aper- filled up; and only the feeble glimmer- rvugh the interstices met his view. All was done with no more noise than a pin ake in falling: nor from the slightest ud he judge at what moment his enemy om the vicinity of the cave. The Burker elept no more for the remainder of that seize upon any form that might seek to as | pidity, away flew the Strangler: out came the morping came, he removed his barrier, and atiously from the cavern. He was miser- onding and low-spirited. His worst fears irmed—the Strangler waa resolved to have And now, might not that mortal enemy the idea of carrying on his warfare unas- might he not invoke the succour of the wbom he had with him at the time the llers were murdered ?—and might they not y and openly together upon the Burker eday-timeP Resolved in such a case to ‘eo as dearly as possible, the man procured strong, knotted cudgel, with which he t he could do desperate execution. But elt as if frightful perils hung over his i how anxiously—ob! how anxiously he hing for the appearance of eome Gossoon raveller who might be inclined to show a pirit towards him. hours passed: the sun was at its meri- ‘bt, pouring down its vertical Barker, sitting in the shade of the en- his cavern, thought that he heard a sort ng noise in the direction of the epring of ater that gushed out behind the rock. : up his club, he issued forth — passed 1 round the rock—and found himeelf face th the Strangler. The Hindoo bed most slipped down while endeavouring to elimb of the rock in order to reconnoitre pre- D attack. wild beast did the Burker fly at the at whom he levelled a terrific blow with yon: but the Hindoo dexterously caught m with bis hsnd; and once again did the ‘lose in the struggie. For several minutes tintained with desperate energy and on os: but all in a moment, just as the fer a forcefully administered kick with boot upon the bare shin of his opponent, & to follow up the advantage gai ad harl him to the ground, the Strangler ‘is sharp-pointed teeth upon the English- . Through ocoat-sleeve and shirt pene- ose sherk-like teeth: deep into the flesh they plunged; and the wretch th the pain. Then, with lightning ra- laneo ; and it whistled through the air. But with equal rapidity did the Barker, maddened by the pain of his wound, rush in towards his foe: the nooee of the lasso fell beyond him: the Strangler was stepping backward with marvellous agility, gathering in his cord at the same time to burl it again—when hoe $ripped over something and fell backward. The Burker was instantaneously upon bim: but we should observe that the bludgeon bad been cropped upon the epot where they first clused in the struggle. Ill fared it now with the Strangler: for the Burker’s knee was upon his chest, and a series of tremendous blows dealt by his stout fist, half stunned the Hindoo, The Burker seized the cord, and slipped the noose over thd head of his enemy; it tightened round the Strangler’s neck, startling him up into fullest life. But the Burker pulled and pulled with ferocious vigour and deter. mination ; and diminishing the length of th> laseo, he applied his foot to the Strangler’s back in order to attain a purchase to pull the cord more tightly still. Terrific were the writhings, the convulsions, and the contortions of the miserable Hindoo: be seemed as if he possessed a marvellous tenacity for life; and several minutes elapeed ere death put an end to his agonies. But at length he lay 8 corpee at the feet of the Barker. Bcarcely was the tragedy completed, when a wild and mournful cry thrilled through the torrid stag. nant air; andas the Burker tarned quickly round, terribly startled by that cry, he caught a transient glimpee of a haman form plunging into the midst of a maze of trees at a distance. Evanescent though that glimpee were, yet did the Burker be- hold enough to convince him that it was (he Strangler’s friend whom be hed just seen, and from whose lips that raeful lamentation pealed forth. Now therefore, scarcely had the Burker gotten rid of one enemy when he experienced tbe consciousness of being exposed to the inudious proceedings of another; and thus, in the first flush of the signal victory he bad obtained, was a dawp thrown upon his spirits, and he felt the necessity of being as much as ever upon his guard. Retaining. possession of the lasso with which be had achieved bis conquest, the Burker dragged the dead body into the midst of some long grass at 8 distance ;—and there he left it. Returning to his cave, he sat down to deliberate whether he should continue to abide there until the arrival of som: friendly-disposed pereon to guide him out of the jungle—or whether he should make one more desperate effort, unassisted and alone, to fiod an issue from that wilderness of horrors. That the surviving Strangler would haunt him with a roet- lees pertinecity, and watch every opportunity to avenge the death of his comrade, the Burker had no doubt. Whether, therofore, he should remain where he was to dare that danger — or whether he should once more encounter the hideous perils of the pathless jungle, — theee were the alternatives which he now seriously pondered. But when he thought of all the horrors he bad experienced during his wander- ings—when he shudderingly remembered huw the boa constrictor had flung iteelf down from the tree upon the tiger, and bow he bad beard the bones of the animal crashing and crushing in the enor- comicibooks.conm