ld show that
they had not been so very long underground, and yet the wood was quite
decayed and rotten. And granting that such were in the earth, and so
might more easily perish, yet when the top was taken off old Guy's brick
grave to put his widow beside him, Master Ratsey gave me a peep in, and
old Guy's coffin had cracks and warps in it, and looked as if a sound
blow would send it to pieces. Yet here were the Mohune coffins that had
been put away for generations, and must be rotten as tinder, tapping
against each other with a sound like a drum, as if they were still sound
and air-tight. Still, Mr. Glennie must be right; for if it was not the
coffins, what should it be that made the noise?

So on the next day after we heard the sounds in church, being the
Monday, as soon as morning school was over, off I ran down street and
across meadows to the churchyard, meaning to listen outside the church
if the Mohunes were still moving. I say outside the church, for I knew
Ratsey would not lend me the key to go in after what he had said about
boys prying into things that did not concern them; and besides that, I
do not know that I should care to have ventured inside alone, even if I
had the key.

When I reached the church, not a little out of breath, I listened first
on the side nearest the village, that is the north side; putting my ear
against the wall, and afterwards lying down on the ground, though the
grass was long and wet, so that I might the better catch any sound that
came. But I could hear nothing, and so concluded that the Mohunes had
come to rest again, yet thought I would walk round the church and listen
too on the south or sea side, for that their worships might have drifted
over to that side, and be there rubbing shoulders with one another. So I
went round, and was glad to get out of the cold shade into the sun on the
south. But here was a surprise; for when I came round a great buttress
which juts out from the wall, what should I see but two men, and these
two were Ratsey and Elzevir Block. I came upon them unawares, and, lo and
behold, there was Master Ratsey lying also on the ground with his ear to
the wall, while Elzevir sat back against the inside of the buttress with
a spy-glass in his hand, smoking and looking out to sea.

Now, I had as much right to be in the churchyard as Ratsey or Elzevir,
and yet I felt a sudden shame as if I had been caught in some bad act,
and knew the blood was running to my cheek