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Up until the an to saddle a second horse for Matthew, this one a lean gray stallion far ht this so-called errand was another of Greathouse&039;s rather irritating jokes But as Matthew soon came to realize, the joke was on him; with shovels bound up and tied to the saddle of Greathouse&039;s own horse, they were on their way to exhume a corpse

The sun ar, and the insects awhirr in the gilded shafts of light spilling through the boughs Matthew struggled to keep his horse in control The beast wasto veer off the road "What&039;s this creature&039;s namei" Matthew asked toward Greathouse&039;s back

"Buck," came the reply "He&039;s a fine aniht"

"He wants to leave the road!"

"No, he wants to pick up his pace You&039;re holding hied his et there before tomorrow!"

Matthew just had to press Buck&039;s sides with his knees to cause the horse to nearly leap forward, an action for which Mattheas totally unprepared and al on, resisted the urge to pull the horse back to a more comfortable speed-and somewhat doubted Buck would heed hi neck-to-neck with Greathouse&039;s horse instead of nose to tail

They followed the road through a wilderness of thick-trunked trees that Matthew thought could never be felled by a hundred axeh branches and a fox skittered across the road as the horses approached after a while, Greathouse settled his horse back into an easy trot and Matthew did the sa the left side of the road, and knowing the Ormond farm must be within a mile or so, Matthew said, "What&039;s this abouti We&039;re not really going to dig up a grave, are wei"

"We didn&039;t bring shovels to knock apples out of the trees"

"But whyi What&039;s so urgent about this particular corpsei" He got no answer, so he tried another tack "I told you everything Mr McCaggers toldmore to see anyway, I don&039;t think it&039;s proper to disturb the dead"

"I won&039;t tell if you won&039;t There&039;s the turn ahead"

Greathouse took the next road to the left and Matthew kept up with hiun to suspect Buck had been trained to follow Greathouse no uided the reins "Listen," Matthew persisted, "I&039; I meanwhat&039;s the point of iti"

Greathouse abruptly drew his horse up, causing Buck to stop alht," Greathouse rumbled, with a nod "I&039;ll tell you why The way you described theI can&039;t tell you what that is Not yet and I&039; of this to Mrs Herrald, either Just help ht a note in the man&039;s voice that he&039;d not heard before It was not exactly fear, though there was indeed an element of that, as it was more abhorrence Of whati Mattheondered The corpsei Surely not just that, for it was likely Greathouse had seen-and created-his share of the that went deep, and was yet to be revealed

Greathouse continued on, and so Buck folloith Matthew along for the ride In another few ain to the left and this was the route they took to the Or s of corn, turnips, beans, and a fes of tobacco as the two riders approached a farmhouse of brown stones that sat beside a barn and animal corral, chickens squawked and fluttered for shelter and a half-dozen hogs looked up inquisitively fro a wide-briray trousers with patches on the knees acco, he came out to meet his visitors as a wide-hipped woman opened the farmhouse&039;s door and two small children peered around her skirts

"Mr Ormond!" Greathouse called as he reined his horse "It&039;s Hudson Greathouse"

"Yes sir, I recall ye" The far dark beard and eyebrows as thick as wooly caterpillars He eyed the shovels "Plannin&039; to dig up your own turnipsi"

"Not exactly This is my associate Matthew Corbett May we step downi"

"Come ahead"

That civility done, Greathouse waited until the dog had cal at everyone&039;s shoes before he continued "It&039;s been brought to my attention," he said, "that a body was discovered on your property"

Orround and pressed a stone with the toe of his boot He said in a slow, thick voice, "True enough"

"and it was buried beside the riveri"

"Where it coain "Oh, Mr Greathouse! I wouldn&039;t want to be doin&039; what you&039;ve got a&039; ht call constables, in the strictest sense," Greathouse explained, "but we are representatives of the law I feel it&039;s my duty-our duty-to exaht The sun seeht

"Not much left," said Ormond

"We&039;d still like to look"

Or breath and let it slowly leak out between his teeth "I&039;d best put the dog in the house Come on, Nero! Come on, boy!"

Greathouse unbound the shovels froave one to Mattheho took it as if it were a veno was put away and the wife and children also behind the closed door, Greathouse and Matthealked with Oron track that led across the orchard

"Nero found hiht he&039;d treed a bobcat Thank the Lord o runnin&039; down there I went to town that very afternoon, walked right into City Hall and asked for the biggest constable they&039;ve got"

Matthew ht have made an inner comment about this stateun to see beyond the trees

"They said they couldn&039;t handle him Gettin&039; him from here to town, I mean," Ormond went on "So I said just bury hi slave put him under He&039;s over this way here"

They ca blue expanse of the river winding between the forested banks Ormond led them about forty yards farther to a mound of dirt with a headstone of three ash-colored rocks "Washed up there, he was" Ormond stood on a flat boulder and pointed down the hillside to a dead tree that had uprooted and fallen into the water "Hung in those branches"

"Who has the next property upriveri" Greathouse was already at workaside the rocks

"Farh fella, keeps to hi"

"and the next property after thati"

"another far I spoke to him once, on the road to town Older man, in his sixties He can hardly speak anythin&039; but Dutch after that, I guess there are soet to the ferry crossin&039; and you&039;re alht have been carried across the river," Matthew said as Greathouse got his shovel ready for the first blow against earth He looked out upon what seegers said the young man died from a fall Shattered his skull and broke his neck That would suggest ahillside"

"We&039;ll see" Greathouse struck hard with the shovel and removed the first scoop of dirt He worked so methodically, his head lowered to the task and his eyes fixed on the grave, that Matthew felt sha there Matthew realized the body was co up whether he liked it or not, so he stepped forward, clenched his teeth, and started digging

"Gents," said Ormond uneasily, after a moment or two, "I&039;ve had my say over this fella, whoever he was, and I wish hio back to worki"

"Go ahead We&039;ll put him back doe&039;re done" Greathouse had spoken without a pause in his shoveling

"Thank you kindly" Ormond hesitated a whiff of decay had soured the air "You want to wash afterward, I&039;ll get you some soap and a bucket of water," he said, and then he turned and walked quickly back toward the orchard

Within another few thrusts of the shovel, Mattheished he&039;d brought a handkerchief and a bottle of vinegar The s from the earth Matthew had to walk away and breathe fresh air if there was any to be found He felt sickened and in fear of showing his lunch, but damned if he&039;d do that in front of Greathouse He realized he was er by his determination not to appear weak before the man

Matthew heard the noise of Greathouse&039;s shovel sliding into sohtily to steel his insides If anything flooded up, he&039;d be ruined for corn soup and ha time to come

"You can stay there if you like," Greathouse said, not unkindly "I can finish it alone"

and I&039;ll never hear the end of it if I stand here, Matthew thought He said, "No, sir," and he walked back to the hole and what lay within

It appeared to be si of bedsheets, without huured Death and the river would have stolen the young ht It came to him that the smell of rot was not unlike that of ancient mud at the river&039;s bottom, a heavy dark layer of accu all secrets with slime He cursed the day he&039;d walked up those stairs to McCaggers&039; realht" Greathouse put his shovel aside "Wasn&039;t buried very deeply, but I suppose he didn&039;t care You readyi"

"I aht

Greathouse took the knife fro the cloth away froht the head h his face felt burned by the reek of decay Shadows passed over hi

as Greathouse worked with his knife, Matthew noticed so-sheet In it were perhaps a dozen or es as if h

One layer was cut away, and then another at this depth the sheet took on a yellowish-green stain River stain, Matthew thought That&039;s what it was, of course

Greathouse kept cutting, and then he took hold of the sheet and gave a slow but steady pull a section of mottled cloth ripped and fell away, and there exposed to the sun was the dead asp, or a sickened statement on the cruelty of men

Matthew&039;s throat seemed to close up and his heart stuttered, but he forced himself to look and not turn away

There was no possibility of ascertaining what thisto the bone of chin and cheeks, yes, but it was not enough to form a face The forehead was smashed inward, the nose caved, the eyes pale sockets with some kind of dried yellow ht brown hair as a final mockery of the life that had been, a cowlick stuck up stiff and dry at the back of the head Thebroken teeth and the interior flesh and tongue that was a bloodless and terrible hite, and it was this sight, this last gasp that had pulled in river and o cold beneath the burning sun and turn his face toward the wilderness