The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 318: what you’re looking at

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

CHAPTER XXIII THE STRANGLER THE Burker was seated upon the grass, partaking of the rice and fruits which his knapsack contained, as well as of the alcoholic beverage from the gourd, when, in his endeavour to put away from his thoughts the late hideous scene of which he had been a beholder, he began to reflect on the tragedy in which the shark-teethed Stranglers had played so direful a part. He recalled to mind the insidious manner in which they had from the maze of verdure first ascertained the precise position in which their victims were reclining ere they threw out their deadly lassoes. The Burker reflected how much it behoved him to be continuously on his guard against such stealthy, creeping, catlike mis- creants, and he began revolving in his mind what he should do if circumstances happened to make him aware that such monsters in human shape were at any time menacing him- self with danger. Anxious to divert his thoughts from the more recent incident of horror, he kept them steadfastly fixed on this other topic, and he weighed a dozen different plans of dealing with the Stranglers should he happen to fall in with them. But chiefly he perceived the necessity of keeping entirely on his guard, and not for an instant losing his presence of mind if the emergency should arise. It was while thus meditating that he beheld something which put all his resolution to the test. We should remark that amongst the various remains of a superior civilization which formerly characterized that Hindu population whom British misrule and tyranny have thrown back and de- graded, there are numerous tanks and wells in different parts of the Indian peninsula. These are sometimes to be found in the jungles themselves, for where those jungles 289 GOmiicdoc SS) (E(0)