The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 390: what you’re looking at

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THH MYSTERIES OF THE COURT. shop which they had previously passed ; and there he purchased an ample supply of provender. At another shop he procured a quantity of spirite; and thence he conducted the Burker to the khan, or accommodation-house, where they had paseed the night. Here several other Gossoons were already assembled, ——some devouring the food which they had procured with their morning’s mendicity,—others engaged in boiling theie rice preparatory for their own meal. It did not how- ever appear that any of them had achieved so much success as the equinting Gossoon and the Burker, judging by the nature and quantity of the provisions that were displayed. While these two were eating and drinking, the other Gossoons laughed and chatted amongst themselves; and the Burker’s companion, presently joining in the dis- course, soon made all the other Gossoons burst into uproarious peals of laughter. At first the Burker was at a loss to comprelrend the cause of this merriment; but when his companion pointed to the man’s wounded arm, the latter became ter- ribly irritated; and he bent a diabolically vindio- tive look on his comrade. The dervish thereupon jumped up from his seat, pointed to the doorway, and made signs to intimate that the Burker was uite at liberty to shift for himself if he thought t. The Englishman gave a savage grow!; and resigning himeelf to his destiny, went on eating and drinking without taking any further notice of his comrade or the other Gossoons. CHAPTER CLIX. TORTUBES. Tew days elapsed, during which the Burker re- mained in the companionship of the squinting Gossoon ; and they wandered from one town to an- other. They were tolerably successful in their ap- peals to public charity; and during this interval it was not again found necessary to have recourse to the knives in order to awaken sympathy. The Burker ate and drank of the best: a couple of| hours each day were generally sufficient to pro- cure the requisite coin for the purchase of this food; and the houses of public accommodation afforded the wanderers a resting-place for the night. The Burker began to learn a fow of tho commorest words in the native language of his companion ; and he thought that his present kind of life was not so very disagreeable after all. He soon perceived the motive by which the Gos- goon was influenced in making him his companion. It was tolerably evident that public sympathy was pretty well exhausted in respect to the tribe of mendicant dervishes: buat the spectacle of an European in apparent distress gave an impulse to flagging charity. The Burker thus comprehended that it was more on his own account than for the Gossoon’s sake, that alms poured in upon them: but the dervish himself endeavoured by all kinds of manquvrings and stratagems to prevent this impression from taking a hold on the English- man’s mind. The Burker was however too shrewd not to fathom the truth ; and he accordingly be- gan to think that it would be better for his own interests if he were to dissolve the partnership of for the captives doubtless ad punishment would be meted—or rather mitigated, $79 His resolution to thid effect was taken; and he now only awaited an opportunity to carry it out. One morning—at the expiration of that inter- val we have noticed at the beginning of this chapter—-the Gossoon and the Burker reached « town of larger dimensions than any of those which they had as yet visited in company ; and the der. vish gavé his comrade to understand that they would here reap a considerable harvest. Scaroely however had they entered the suburbs, when they were seized upon by half-a-dézen Peons, or native policemen, who seemed disposed to handle them roughly. The Gossoon, setting up a hideous howl. ing, drew fotth his knife, and was preparing to attack his captors, when he was knocked down by a severé blow ; and the weapon was wrested from him. The Burker was then searched; and his knife waa likewise taken away: but he escaped any particular itt-treatment on account of offering no resistance. The two prisoners were thea con- ducted hurriedly along the streets ; and they were thus led to a large gioomy-looking building, which the Burker fancied to be a prison. It however proved to be no house of permanent detention at all: for the building contained one large room— and though not a gaol, i¢ was novertheless a scene of terrific horrors. There were about twenty ne seated upon 4 long bench against one of the walls of this room, the door of which was guarded by several Poons. The Burker and the Gossoon were conducted to the bench; and there they dat down amidet the other captives. With the exception of the Burker himself, all these prisoners were natives, belonging to different castes; and there were sevoral females amongst them. These were weeping bitterly, while several of the men were howling, yelling, and wail- mendicity with the Cossoon. } ing, all as if in anticipation of some terrible chas- tisement which they would shortly have to endure. There were however three or four men, evidently of a somewhat superior class, who maintained a dignified silence, and who had the air of innocent victims courageously resigning themeelves to the pressure of some atrong tyranny against which there was no appeal. Upon a table in the middle of the room lay seve. ral articles of a miscellaneous character. There were whips and sticke, necklaces made of bones, hammers and nails, several brickbats, small iron rods with wooden handles, coils of rope, coooa-nut sholis, and little boxes the contents of which the Burker could not conjecture. As he glanced along the line of captives upon thé bench, he per- ceived that many of them kept flinging frighted and shuddering glances towards thie table; so that at length the idea stole into the man’s mind that the punishment to be expected was associated with the objects so ominously spread upon that board. Presently a superior officer of the Peons entered the room; and he made an imperious sign for the howlings, the lamentations, and the wailings to be hashed. To a certain extent he was obeyed : thought ¢hat their according to the degree of eubmissivencss they displayed. Some of the women however continued to weep with a bitterness which they were evi- dently unable to rostrain. (CO COMIC DOG