The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 355: what you’re looking at

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

326 REYNOLDS’ WORKS neighbourhood? The Burker now discerned upon the grass the traces of footsteps, and, oh, with what curdling of the blood did he likewise distinguish the spots where the paws of a wild beast, most probably a tiger, had been! Some minutes elapsed before he could sufficiently com- pose himself to appropriate the wallet and strap it over his shoulders. He then continued his way, looking around him with cold, shuddering apprehension, when his foot kicked against something, and recoiling from the contact, he perceived that it was a human bone. Several other bones lay scattered about, and there was a dark stain upon the ground which confirmed all the dreadful tale. It was a hor- rible spectacle. Horrible would it have been even for one surveying it with a consciousness of perfect security, but infinitely more horrible for one who felt that at any instant he might share the fate of his predecessor on that spot. Close by, too, there were the fragments of apparel; and now the Burker knew, beyond the possibility of doubt, that it was the young gossoon who had been devoured by a wild beast. He rushed on, almost maddened with horror, from the spot. He forgot the Strangler, the boa-constrictor, the cobra, the panther, the elephant, and the alligator; he thought of nothing but the tiger. But when another hour had elapsed, and he had continued his way without any fresh alarm, his spirits began to revive somewhat. That the two elder gossoons had fled from the spot where their more juvenile comrade met so hideous a fate was tolerably evident. Might he not therefore overtake them, and if so, might he not induce them to serve as his guides, or, in any case, might he not follow them from a distance? | While he was looking straight before him, with straining eyes, to see if he could discern any human forms moving in the distance, he fancied that his ear caught the sounds of plaintive moans in his immediate vicinage. He stopped and listened. Yes, it was assuredly so, and they appeared to emanate from the foot of a tree about twenty yards off. This tree was completely withered; there was not a single leaf upon it, and thus the eye of the Burker could easily scan all its skeleton branches. No boa-constrictor was coiled there, and a horrible feeling of curiosity, surmounting his alarms, led him to draw nearer and nearer by slow degrees Gomilcboo <S co