The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 397: what you’re looking at

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

368 REYNOLDS’ WORKS in their aspect, and the native himself went on conversing with the newcomers in a friendly manner. The peons pro- ceeded to stable their horses, while the mahout glanced anxiously at the Burker and then at his elephant, so that he was evidently uneasy in respect to the secret of the treasure. One of the peons, while attending to his horse, happened to knock his elbow with some degree of severity against the sack that was nearest, — the burden having remained upon the elephant’s baek, for the mahout had feared that if he and the Burker removed it, its exceeding weight would have excited the suspicions of the inhabitants of the farmhouse. The peon, evidently astonished at the hardness of the contents of that sack, proceeded, with a curiosity that was natural enough, to feel the bag with his hand, and he soon discovered that it was filled with coin. An ejaculation made known this discovery to his companions, and, abandoning their horses, they hastened to the spot. The mahout flung upon the Burker a glance which was as much as to imply that all their presence of mind would now be needed, and then, with a remarkable self-possession on his own part, he hastened to give the peons some explana- tion. What this was, the Burker could not understand, but it evidently required to be backed by some corroborative testimony, for the mahout, producing his passport, or what- ever the official document were, displayed it to the peons. They looked at each other, and shook their heads dubiously. The Burker felt that a storm was about to burst, and he was taught another moral, to the effect that the possession of riches does not always ensure the contentment, happiness, and safety of their owner. Indeed this moral was very ener- getically illustrated when the peons seized upon himself and the elephant driver. The mahout protested vehemently against this proceeding, and with so much appearance of truthfulness on his side that the Burker could scarcely believe he had told a tissue of falsehoods to account for the bags being filled with coin, though he had indeed done so. The peons were, however, incredulous, and while some of them retained the Burker and the mahout in their custody, the others proceeded to examine the sacks. When they found that these contained such a vast quantity of treasure, and that the coins them- selves were blackened with age, they were more remote than CORIIEOOOKS (E()