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"Will Henry!" the doctor called

No , and i hand I lit the torch and trotted back to the doctor, his lecture on panic and fear brought fully ho my wits had blinded me to the obvious

He took the torch fro, "Who is our enemy, Will Henry?"

He did not wait for an answer, but turned upon his heel abruptly and repeated his circuit around the grave site

"The stakes, Will Henry!" he called "And stay close!"

With the bundle of stakes in hand, I followed hiht upon the ground He would stop, call for a stake, reaching behind him with outstretched hand, into which I would press a piece of wood He stabbed it into the earth and then continued, until five were thus planted, one on either side of the headstone and three hly two feet frorave I could not tell why he was round left unmarked looked identical to that which received a stake After two rave, he stopped, holding the torch high and surveying his handiwork

"Most curious," he o and press the stakes"

"Press the stakes, sir?"

"Try to push theround"

I could push none more than half an inch farther into the rocky soil When I rejoined hi his head in consternation

"Mr Gray!" he called

The oldin the crook of his arht danced upon the codger’s weathered features, casting deep shadows into the crevices cutting his cheeks and brow

"How did you find the grave?" the doctor asked

"Oh, I knehere the Bunton plot was, all right, Doctor," replied the grave-robber

"No I mean, was it disturbed at all? Did you note any evidence of digging?"

Erasmus shook his head "Wouldn’t have bothered with it in that case, Doctor"

"And why is that?"

"I would take it to mean so had beaten him to the "prize," of course, which was the whole point of the doctor’s inquiry

"So you noted nothing out of the ordinary last night?"

"Only when I opened up the casket," the old man said dryly

"No holes or mounds of dirt nearby?"

Eras like that"

"No unusual odors?"

"Odors?"

"Did you s odd, similar to rotten fruit?"

"Only when I popped open the casket But the smell of death is not so odd toout of the ordinary? A snorting or hissing sound?"

"Hissing?"