The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 319: what you’re looking at

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

290 REYNOLDS’ WORKS now serve as dwelling-places for reptiles and wild beasts, a consummate agriculture once flourished. It was by one of these wells that the Burker had seated himself, and, as we have already stated, the mouth was surrounded by large blocks of stone, forming a circular wall to the height of about two feet and a half. This wall was overgrown with bushes and long grass, constituting as it were a brake or thicket that nearly covered the entrance of the well, whose diameter was upwards of four feet. All in a moment, just as the Burker was looking toward the well, wondering how deep it could be, and whether he could by any possible means obtain some water thence to cool the lips and tongue that were parched by the alcohol as well as by the intense sultriness of the sun, he distinctly caught sight of a human eye gleaming at him betwixt an opening in the stones and through the thicket. A shudder swept over him, but it was imperceptible; and inasmuch as he had only an instant before made up his mind how to act in case of a particular emergency arising, he was not thrown off his guard. For- tunate for him was it that the very subject which now exacted all his self-possession should have so recently occu- pied his thoughts. In a word, he was fully prepared for that which now occurred. He did not appear to take any notice of the circumstance itself, but laying himself flat down on the grass, he shaded his eyes with his hand as if to keep off the beams of the sun. He was nevertheless gazing sideways in the direction of the spot where he had seen the human eye, for that it was a man’s eye he felt convinced, and equally certain was he that it belonged to one of the murderers of the two travellers, or else to some one who pursued similar avoca- tions. He reflected what course he should pursue. He had the horrible conviction that if he were to rise up and attempt to seek safety in flight, the deadly lasso would in a moment be around his neck. It was to avoid this peril that he had thrown himself flat upon his back. He failed not to remem- ber that the Stranglers had taken possession of the firearms of their recent victims, but he thought to himself that if the individual concealed in the well were really one of those Stranglers, if he still retained the firearms, and if he had purposed to use such a weapon on the present occasion, he would not have waited all this while, for it was so easy to CONNIE NOOLKS (E(©)