e--he'd have somebody to take care of him. But he'd got kinder
attached to the old place, seein' he was born there, and never lived
anywhere else, and go he wouldn't.

"Everybody expected he was near his end, and nobody'd have been
surprised to hear of his death at any minute. But it's strange how some
folks are determined to live on, as I said before. So Keziah, though he
looked so old when I was a boy that it didn't seem as if he could look
any older, kept on livin,' and livin', and arter I got married to Betsy
Sprague, he was livin' still.

"One day, I remember I was passin' by the old man's shanty, when I heard
a dreadful groanin', and thinks I to myself, 'I shouldn't wonder if the
old man was on his last legs.' So in I bolted. There he was, to be sure,
a lyin', on the bed, all curled up into a heap, breathin' dreadful hard,
and lookin' as white and pale as any ghost. I didn't know exactly
what to do, so I went and got some water, but he motioned it away, and
wouldn't drink it, but kept on groanin'.

"'He mustn't be left here to die without any assistance,' thinks I, so I
ran off as fast I could to find the doctor.

"I found him eatin' dinner----

"Come quick," says I, "to old Keziah Onthank's. He's dyin', as sure as
my name is Jehoshaphat."

"Well," said the doctor, "die or no die, I can't come till I've eaten my
dinner."

"But he's dyin', doctor."

"Oh, nonsense. Talk of old Keziah Onthank's dyin'. He'll live longer
than I shall."

"I recollect I thought the doctor very unfeelin' to talk so of a fellow
creetur, just stepping into eternity, as a body may say. However, it's
no use drivin' a horse that's made up his mind he won't go, so although
I did think the doctor dreadful deliberate about eatin' his dinner (he
always would take half an hour for it), I didn't dare to say a word
for fear he wouldn't come at all. You see the doctor was dreadful
independent, and was bent on havin' his own way, pretty much, though for
that matter I think it's the case with most folks. However, to come back
to my story, I didn't feel particularly comfortable while I was waitin'
his motions.

"After a long while the doctor got ready. I was in such a hurry that I
actilly pulled him along, he walked so slow; but he only laughed, and
I couldn't help thinkin' that doctorin' had a hardinin' effect on the
heart. I was determined if ever I fell sick I wouldn't send for him.

"At last we got there. I went in all of a tremble, and