e.

Hunter placed the pair of tressels he had been carrying against the
wall, and the other two put the empty coffin on the floor by the side
of the bed. The old woman stood the candlestick on the mantelpiece,
and withdrew, remarking that they would not need her assistance. The
three men then removed their overcoats and laid them on the end of the
bed, and from the pocket of his Crass took out two large screwdrivers,
one of which he handed to Hunter. Sawkins held the candle while they
unscrewed and took off the lid of the coffin they had brought with
them: it was not quite empty, for they had brought a bag of tools
inside it.

'I think we shall be able to work better if we takes the other one orf
the trussels and puts it on the floor,' remarked Crass.

'Yes, I think so, too,' replied Hunter.

Crass took off the sheet and threw it on the bed, revealing the other
coffin, which was very similar in appearance to the one they had
brought with them, being of elms with the usual imitation brass
furniture. Hunter took hold of the head and Crass the foot and they
lifted it off the tressels on to the floor.

''E's not very 'eavy; that's one good thing,' observed Hunter.

''E always was a very thin chap,' replied Crass.

The screws that held down the lid had been covered over with
large-headed brass nails which had to be wrenched off before they could
get at the screws, of which there were eight altogether. It was
evident from the appearance of the beads of these screws that they were
old ones that had been used for some purpose before: they were rusty
and of different sizes, some being rather larger or smaller, than they
should have been. They were screwed in so firmly that by the time they
had drawn half of them out the two men were streaming with
perspiration. After a while Hunter took the candle from Sawkins and
the latter had a try at the screws.

'Anyone would think the dam' things had been there for a 'undred
years,' remarked Hunter, savagely, as he wiped the sweat from his face
and neck with his handkerchief.

Kneeling on the lid of the coffin and panting and grunting with the
exertion, the other two continued to struggle with their task. Suddenly
Crass uttered an obscene curse; he had broken off one side of the head
of the screw he was trying to turn and almost at the same instant a
similar misfortune happened to Sawkins.

After this, Hunter again took a screwdriver himself, and when they got
all the s