The cry was now for ropes, with which to raise the cumbrous mass; but these were not to be had, no one thought of providing himself with such appliances, so that by main strength, only, could the coffin be raised to the brink.

The difficulty of doing this was immense, for there was nothing tangible to stand upon; and even when the mould from the sides was sufficiently cleared away, that the handles of the coffin could be laid hold of, they came away immediately in the grasp of those who did so.

But the more trouble that presented itself to the accomplishment of the designs of the mob, the more intent that body seemed upon carrying out to the full extent their original designs.

Finding it quite impossible by bodily strength to raise the coffin of the butcher from the position in which it had got imbedded by excessive rains, a boy was hastily despatched to the village for ropes, and never did boy run with such speed before, for all his own curiosity was excited in the issue of an adventure, that to his young imagination was appallingly interesting.

As impatient as mobs usually are, they had not time, in this case, for the exercise of that quality of mind before the boy came back with the necessary means of exerting quite a different species of power against the butcher’s coffin.

Strong ropes were slid under the inert mass, and twenty hands at once plied the task of raising that receptacle of the dead from what had been presumed to be its last resting-place.  The ropes strained and creaked, and many thought that they would burst asunder sooner than raise the heavy coffin of the defunct butcher.

It is singular what reasons people find for backing their opinion.

“You may depend he’s a vampyre,” said one, “or it wouldn’t be so difficult to get him out of the grave.”

“Oh, there can be no mistake about that,” said one; “when did a natural Christian’s coffin stick in the mud in that way?”

“Ah, to be sure,” said another; “I knew no good would come of his goings on; he never was a decent sort of man like his neighbours, and many queer things have been said of him that I have no doubt are true enough, if we did but know the rights of them.”

“Ah, but,” said a young lad, thrusting his head between the two who were talking, “if he is a vampyre, how does he get out of his coffin of a night with all that weight of mould a top of him?”

One of the men considered for a moment, and then finding no rational answer occur to him, he gave the boy a box on the ear, saying,—­

“I should like to know what business that is of yours?  Boys, now-a-days, ain’t like the boys in my time; they think nothing now of putting their spokes in grown-up people’s wheels, just as if their opinions were of any consequence.”

Now, by a vigorous effort, those who were tugging at the ropes succeeded in moving the coffin a little, and that first step was all the difficulty, for it was loosened from the adhesive soil in which it lay, and now came up with considerable facility.