CHAPTER XXVI.
A DIRTY JOB.
Time dragged slowly, Senator Hamblin being ill at ease.
Beholding his daughter's sorrow, and knowing she could not become thewife of Walter Mannis, he began looking about for some other method toavert the financial disaster threatening him.
Scarcely a moment passed that he did not reproach himself for the greatwrong he had done. Overwhelmed with horror, and fully realizing thatambition and selfishness had made him a criminal, he little realizedthat he was dealing with men deeper and more desperate than himself.
One night a man left the village of Cleverdale and passed into thecountry. He wore a slouched hat pulled well down over his forehead,while his coat-collar was turned up about his neck. The night was darkand cloudy, so the pedestrian was scarcely observed by any one; butwhen he met an acquaintance, he pulled his hat further over his brow,and passed unrecognized. Under his left arm he carried a large bundle,his right hand holding fast a heavy cane, which he used to pick out hispathway.
It was not long before, passing beyond the corporate limits of thevillage, his feet were treading the highway leading toward Havelock. Ashe kept on his way he heard the noise of an approaching carriage. Thedense clouds overhead made the night so dark that teams were compelledto move slowly, and as the mysterious pedestrian neared the carriage hecoughed three times; a low whistle assured him his signal was heard.The single individual in the vehicle cried out, "Whoa!" the man on footapproached and jumped in. The team turned and headed toward Havelock,and the horses were driven faster than was compatible with safety.
One hour later the vehicle entered a piece of dense woods. The driver,dismounting, seized the horses by the head and led them on, through anarrow roadway or lane, for a distance of at least a quarter of a mile.When he stopped the man in the carriage jumped to the ground, and thetwo stood side by side. The driver then reached beneath the seat of thecarriage, and drew forth a dark lantern, a pickaxe, two shovels, a hoe,a coil of rope, and two long queer-looking hooks with wooden handles. Ashe passed his hand under the seat, a noise was heard similar to the wailof a cat.
Both men were disguised, and as they continued their work conversed inlow tones. Gathering up their tools and moving along at a rapid pacefor about five hundred feet, they stopped at the edge of the forestand scaled a high picket fence. White slabs of marble, tall columns ofthe same material, and large granite monuments rose before them likespectres, grim and lonely.
A ghost-like stillness pervaded the scene, for the two men were in acity of the dead, surrounded on all sides by its silent habitations.
"Follow me--it is only a short distance away. Come," said the taller ofthe two, who led on, his companion following.
The two men paused at the side of a newly made mound, and laying downtheir tools, pulled off their overcoats and prepared for work. As theythrew aside their disguises the reader would at once have recognized thetwo men as Hon. Walter Mannis and Sargent, the teller.
"Here is the grave," said Mannis. "And we must commence our workat once. This man was buried last Sunday, and in size and personalappearance looks much like Alden. Let us hurry up and snake himout--come, take that pick and loosen the earth. Eh? what's that?S--h--h--h! Pshaw! it's only a twig which broke beneath your feet."
"This is rather serious business, Mannis. Give me a pull from thatbottle. There--that tastes good, and it will nerve a fellow up."
"Yes, we need a little backbone--be careful and do not make much noise,for we are within a quarter mile of the road, and there is danger ofbeing discovered. Here--hand me that spade. The earth is not very solid,for I can easily run this spade down a foot or two."
"This pick goes in as easy," said Sargent, "as if it were cuttingcheese. Wonder where Alden is now? Ha! ha! wouldn't he make Rome howlif he knew what we were doing? But, d--n him! he always looked upon meas if I was a scoundrel; now I'll be even with him. There, how is that?Hand me that other spade."
Mannis, doing as requested, said:
"Be careful, Sargent, and throw the dirt where the grave-digger pitchedit. So the old man weakened, eh?--if he knew that you pocketed hisletter he would be apt to send you adrift. His pretty daughter is hispride, his very life--Ah, Sargent, she is a darling, and I feel rathersorry for her, for she will cry her pretty eyes out upon learning GeorgeAlden will never return. Careful, Sargent; the earth is falling backinto the grave. Here, take another drink; egad! a little good spirits isrequired to keep the evil spirits away. I don't just like this job; butvirtue will have its reward, and such patterns as you and I will not beforgotten, eh?"--and both men laughed, as the devil also must have doneif he was present, as probably he was.
For a full half-hour they toiled on, until they stood at least threefeet deep in the grave. Slowly the mound of earth rose about them andthe scene became animated. In the distance was heard the rumbling ofthunder, the dark clouds overhead becoming blacker and more dense,while the men, unaccustomed to manual labor, paused at intervals torest. Nearer and nearer they came to the box and its occupant, until atlast Sargent's spade struck the wood, sending back a dull, hollow thud,startling both men.
"Gracious, Sargent! that frightened me, it came so sudden; but it willnot be long before we shall have this ugly business finished."
"It startled me too. This is a pretty tough job, Mannis."
"That's so; but remember it will make you cashier of the bank."
"Yes, that will pay--but see here, Mannis, it's mighty slippery businessafter all."
"We have no time to discuss the matter now--come, let's to work; tenminutes of lively shovelling will have the box clean as a whistle."
Both men resumed their labor, shovelful after shovelful of dirt wasthrown up on top of the mound already formed, until they stood upon thecover of the box.
"Lay the shovels outside, Sargent, and take another drink. There, thatwill set you up. Here's at you!" and he turned the bottle and drank deepfrom its throat.
Taking a screw-driver from his pocket, and turning the rays of hisdark lantern into the grave, Mannis began removing the screws from thecover. It was but the work of a few moments, when, the cover carefullylaid outside the grave, the screw-driver began its work on the lid ofthe coffin. As the corpse was exposed to view, Mannis touched its cold,clammy face. A thrill of horror went through his frame, causing him tostart and step heavily upon Sargent's toes, their owner standing behindhim on the lower part of the coffin-lid.
Both men expressed their abhorrence of the scene, and an outsiderlooking upon the body-snatchers would have beheld three death-likecountenances instead of one.
"Here, Sargent, stick that hook into the clothing. Now wait a momentuntil I get the other hook into this side; there--steady now! Can youtake hold of both hooks? There, don't drop him, and I will fasten thisrope about his breast. Now if you can hold on a moment, I will get outand hang to him with the rope."
Nimble as a cat, Mannis sprang from the grave.
"Now pull out the hooks, and come and help me."
Sargent did not wait for a second summons, for his hair already stood onend at the thought of being alone in the grave with the dead man, and hewas at the side of Mannis in an instant. The two men worked hard, andsoon had their horrid prey out on the grass. The coffin-lid was laidback and the outside cover placed in position, the body-snatchers notwaiting to replace the screws. Quickly they plied their spades, onlystopping to tread down the loose dirt. In twenty minutes the grave wasrefilled, the mound rebuilt and the ground cleared up, as it was found.
"Sargent, we have a burden to tug. First, let us take the tools to thewagon and then return for the cold corpus."
Gathering up their tools and soon placing them beneath thecarriage-seat, the men returned, and taking up the corpse, preparedto leave the cemetery. When approaching the fence, a sudden flash oflightning caused them to drop their burden, and the body rolled overinto a hole near by.
"Egad! Mannis, I am sick of this. U-u-g-h! when that flash struck theface of
the corpse it sent a thrill of horror all through me. I wish thebody was in its coffin again."
"You think it rather unpleasant work, eh, Sargent? Well, that's becauseyou've never been in politics. But we have got over the worst of it.Let us kick off a picket and push the fellow through the fence."
Suiting the action to the words, he gave a vigorous blow with hisfoot, and two pickets flew off. The body was then lifted up andcrowded through the aperture, and ten minutes later the men and theirdisagreeable burden reached the carriage.
"It is one o'clock, Sargent," said Mannis, turning the light of hisdark lantern on his watch. "We must hurry up. Get that suit of clothes,there; spread them out. Now help me strip this fellow. It was mightylucky Alden left these clothes in the bank; very kind of him, and I ammuch obliged for his thoughtfulness. No one will examine them criticallyto see if they are old clothes or not."
"Old clothes! They are not old clothes, it is a suit he wore last yearwhen he slept in the bank, and he never took them away. This fellowlooks pretty fine in borrowed clothes, eh, Mannis?"
The body was soon dressed; the hardest work experienced was that ofencasing the feet in boots, although the task, after much effort, wassuccessfully accomplished.
The two men had labored faithfully and their work was soon finished. Theclothes taken from the dead man were buried, the form lifted into thecarriage, the men following, when Mannis turned the horses' heads towardCleverdale.
The clouds began discharging flashes of lightning, loud peals of thunderadding their unpleasantness to the scene, and amid almost impenetrabledarkness the team could not be driven faster than a walk. Presentlygreat drops of rain spattered into the carriage, striking the occupantsfull in the face. After a long, gloomy ride, which neither Mannis norSargent enjoyed, the street lamps of Cleverdale were faintly seen in thedistance.
"Where are we, Sargent? Oh, I see now--that flash showed up the country.There is the road--let us turn in and plant this chap."
The horses' heads were again turned, and approaching a clump of foresttrees the two men jumped out. The body was taken from the vehicle anddropped over the fence. Both men then followed, and carrying the bodyback some distance, placed it beneath a tree.
"Where is the pistol, Sargent? All right--now I'll put a ball into hisbrain."
A sharp report followed, and Mannis had fired through the sightlesseyes, the pistol being held so near as to tear and disfigure the facepast recognition.
"There!" said he. "I guess this will be a good enough Alden until Imarry the girl."
The pistol laid beside the body, the two men hastily left the place.
One hour later, Sargent was in his bed, and as daylight began to dawn,as naturally as if nothing unusual had happened, Mannis was on his waytoward Havelock.
The Cleverdale Mystery; or, The Machine and Its Wheels: A Story of American Life Page 28