m-clock on the mantle piece: I wound it;
set the alarum for half-past twelve; muffled it so that it should not
disturb the people in the adjoining room; and went to bed, where I
slept soundly for an hour and a quarter. Then the alarum roused me,
and I sprang up before I was thoroughly awake. Had I hesitated, the
desire to relapse into perfect sleep would have overpowered me.
Although the muscles of my neck were painfully stiff, and my hands
unsteady from my nervous disturbance, produced by the interruption of
my first slumber, I dressed myself resolutely, and, after taking a
draught of cold water, stole out of the house. It was exceedingly
dark; and I had some difficulty in finding the cow-house, whence I
borrowed a spade, and a truck with wheels, ordinarily used for moving
sacks of potatoes. These I carried in my hands until I was beyond
earshot of the house, when I put the spade on the truck, and wheeled
it along the road to the cemetery. When I approached the water,
knowing that no one would dare come thereabout at such an hour I made
greater haste, no longer concerning myself about the rattling of the
wheels. Looking across to the opposite bank, I could see a
phosophorescent glow, marking the lonely grave of Brimstone Billy.
This helped me to find the ferry station, where, after wandering a
little and stumbling often, I found the boat, and embarked with my
implements. Guided by the rope, I crossed the water without
difficulty; landed; made fast the boat; dragged the truck up the bank;
and sat down to rest on the cairn at the grave. For nearly a quarter
of an hour I sat watching the patches of jack-o-lantern fire, and
collecting my strength for the work before me. Then the distant bell
of the chapel clock tolled one. I arose; took the spade; and in about
ten minutes uncovered the coffin, which smelt horribly. Keeping to
windward of it, and using the spade as a lever, I contrived with great
labor to place it on the truck. I wheeled it without accident to the
landing place, where, by placing the shafts of the truck upon the
stern of the boat and lifting the foot by main strength, I succeeded
in embarking my load after twenty minutes' toil, during which I got
covered with clay and perspiration, and several times all but upset
the boat. At the southern bank I had less difficulty in getting the
coffin ashore, dragging it up to the graveyard.

It was now past two o'clock, and the dawn had begun; so that I had no
further t