I shuddered, and turned my head to see if there were any lying near, for I didn’t consider that the subject was a very proper one to talk about at that time of night, and under the circumstances I should have prepared a more agreeable topic.

“The gentleman needn’t be afeard,” muttered the fellow, with a sneer; “corpses won’t hurt a feller, ’cos I’ve tried ’em.”

He had seen me flinch at the word, and improved his opportunity to show his hardihood.

“In fact, as I growed older,” Day continued, “I was quite useful in my way, and got trusted by master with some important jobs.  I could lay out a poor covey, who hadn’t any money, with as much despatch as any ’prentice in London, and when you come to the mourning part I was really terrible.  I could groan more unearthly and oftener than any mute that master employed.”

“Did you not give us a specimen to-night?” I asked.

“Well, yes, I think that I did pretty well to-night, but I was too anxious to frighten you off to pay particular attention to my business.  I’ll show you what I can do, if you’ll just listen.”

But I declined to hear him, and the undertaker’s ex-apprentice continued his story: 

“I used sometimes to be borrowed by rival undertakers just ’cos I could groan so beautiful, and had I been contented to have worked my way up in the world, until I got the position of head mute, I shouldn’t be here, surrounded by this d——­d cloud of mosquitoes, and not a particle of tobacco to put in my pipe, and no friend to offer me a bit.”

The hint was so strong that I could not refuse to gratify our new acquaintance with a small piece of the weed, which was received with a grunt, expressive of gratitude.

“As I was saying,” continued Day, filling his pipe while talking, “I was always an ambitious cuss, and used to like plenty of money to spend on dress and cheap jewelry, but I couldn’t always get it; one day my fellow ’prentice made a proposal, which he stated would fill our pockets and enable us to sport ’round nights in great style.  I was ready to listen to any thing that he had to offer, and then I learned that a doctor that lived next street wanted us to supply him with subjects, for which we were to receive two pounds each.

“Well, we used to go out nights with a cart, drive up to some burying ground, where we had planted a feller the day before, whip him out of his coffin, and be off in less than fifteen minutes.  In that way we used to make a pretty good thing of it, and we had so much money that we could keep drunk about two thirds of the time.  At length some meddling old fool suspected us, and one night we were caught by the police, with a body in our charge.  We tried to shake the bloody swabs off, but it was no go.  We were jugged, and the first thing I knowed my companion, who had put me up to the work, peached, and saved his precious carcass from being transported.”

“How long was you sent for, Day?” asked Mr. Brown.