登陆注册
15450100000009

第9章 CHAPTER II. In Which Morris takes Action (3)

To and fro the brothers hurried, staring in the faces of the wounded, or turning the dead upon their backs. They must have thus examined forty people, and still there was no word of Uncle Joseph. But now the course of their search brought them near the centre of the collision, where the boilers were still blowing off steam with a deafening clamour. It was a part of the field not yet gleaned by the rescuing party. The ground, especially on the margin of the wood, was full of inequalities--here a pit, there a hillock surmounted with a bush of furze. It was a place where many bodies might lie concealed, and they beat it like pointers after game. Suddenly Morris, who was leading, paused and reached forth his index with a tragic gesture. John followed the direction of his brother's hand.

In the bottom of a sandy hole lay something that had once been human. The face had suffered severely, and it was unrecognizable; but that was not required. The snowy hair, the coat of marten, the ventilating cloth, the hygienic flannel--everything down to the health boots from Messrs Dail and Crumbie's, identified the body as that of Uncle Joseph. Only the forage cap must have been lost in the convulsion, for the dead man was bareheaded.

'The poor old beggar!' said John, with a touch of natural feeling; 'I would give ten pounds if we hadn't chivvied him in the train!'

But there was no sentiment in the face of Morris as he gazed upon the dead. Gnawing his nails, with introverted eyes, his brow marked with the stamp of tragic indignation and tragic intellectual effort, he stood there silent. Here was a last injustice; he had been robbed while he was an orphan at school, he had been lashed to a decadent leather business, he had been saddled with Miss Hazeltine, his cousin had been defrauding him of the tontine, and he had borne all this, we might almost say, with dignity, and now they had gone and killed his uncle!

'Here!' he said suddenly, 'take his heels, we must get him into the woods. I'm not going to have anybody find this.'

'O, fudge!' said John, 'where's the use?'

'Do what I tell you,' spirted Morris, as he took the corpse by the shoulders. 'Am I to carry him myself?'

They were close upon the borders of the wood; in ten or twelve paces they were under cover; and a little further back, in a sandy clearing of the trees, they laid their burthen down, and stood and looked at it with loathing.

'What do you mean to do?' whispered John.

'Bury him, to be sure,' responded Morris, and he opened his pocket-knife and began feverishly to dig.

'You'll never make a hand of it with that,' objected the other.

'If you won't help me, you cowardly shirk,' screamed Morris, 'you can go to the devil!'

'It's the childishest folly,' said John; 'but no man shall call me a coward,' and he began to help his brother grudgingly.

The soil was sandy and light, but matted with the roots of the surrounding firs. Gorse tore their hands; and as they baled the sand from the grave, it was often discoloured with their blood.

An hour passed of unremitting energy upon the part of Morris, of lukewarm help on that of John; and still the trench was barely nine inches in depth. Into this the body was rudely flung: sand was piled upon it, and then more sand must be dug, and gorse had to be cut to pile on that; and still from one end of the sordid mound a pair of feet projected and caught the light upon their patent-leather toes. But by this time the nerves of both were shaken; even Morris had enough of his grisly task; and they skulked off like animals into the thickest of the neighbouring covert.

'It's the best that we can do,' said Morris, sitting down.

'And now,' said John, 'perhaps you'll have the politeness to tell me what it's all about.'

'Upon my word,' cried Morris, 'if you do not understand for yourself, I almost despair of telling you.'

'O, of course it's some rot about the tontine,' returned the other. 'But it's the merest nonsense. We've lost it, and there's an end.'

'I tell you,' said Morris, 'Uncle Masterman is dead. I know it, there's a voice that tells me so.'

'Well, and so is Uncle Joseph,' said John.

'He's not dead, unless I choose,' returned Morris.

'And come to that,' cried John, 'if you're right, and Uncle Masterman's been dead ever so long, all we have to do is to tell the truth and expose Michael.'

'You seem to think Michael is a fool,' sneered Morris. 'Can't you understand he's been preparing this fraud for years? He has the whole thing ready: the nurse, the doctor, the undertaker, all bought, the certificate all ready but the date! Let him get wind of this business, and you mark my words, Uncle Masterman will die in two days and be buried in a week. But see here, Johnny; what Michael can do, I can do. If he plays a game of bluff, so can I.

If his father is to live for ever, by God, so shall my uncle!'

'It's illegal, ain't it?' said John.

'A man must have SOME moral courage,' replied Morris with dignity.

'And then suppose you're wrong? Suppose Uncle Masterman's alive and kicking?'

'Well, even then,' responded the plotter, 'we are no worse off than we were before; in fact, we're better. Uncle Masterman must die some day; as long as Uncle Joseph was alive, he might have died any day; but we're out of all that trouble now: there's no sort of limit to the game that I propose--it can be kept up till Kingdom Come.'

'If I could only see how you meant to set about it' sighed John.

'But you know, Morris, you always were such a bungler.'

'I'd like to know what I ever bungled,' cried Morris; 'I have the best collection of signet rings in London.'

'Well, you know, there's the leather business,' suggested the other. 'That's considered rather a hash.'

It was a mark of singular self-control in Morris that he suffered this to pass unchallenged, and even unresented.

'About the business in hand,' said he, 'once we can get him up to Bloomsbury, there's no sort of trouble. We bury him in the cellar, which seems made for it; and then all I have to do is to start out and find a venal doctor.'

'Why can't we leave him where he is?' asked John.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 爱,不忘记

    爱,不忘记

    爱过的人能够忘记吗?即使记忆失去,你仍然留着我心里。
  • 娇妻别走,带着宝贝来追你

    娇妻别走,带着宝贝来追你

    秦夏夏喜欢顾墨爵,但是顾墨爵不喜欢秦夏夏,他们会发生怎样的故事呢
  • 身为学生的我喝的忧郁咖啡

    身为学生的我喝的忧郁咖啡

    一个名为东里玄采的奇异少年,天生一张比女生还要漂亮的面容,理所当然的时不时会被误会,而不仅仅如此。自身的怪异是他一出生就有自身年龄不符合的常识与知识,和负面的情绪,严重孤我的性格,使他与众不同,可以说是达到了登峰造极的孤僻境界,但与一个怪异相遇后,他开始渴望某种事物,促使发生了往后的故事。
  • exo之深爱

    exo之深爱

    本小说只要讲述了女主为了逃避家庭联姻独自一人来到韩国留学而遇到男主,所发生的以系列爆笑爱情故事。
  • 魂灵之旅

    魂灵之旅

    她因出车祸,去冥界转了转,顺手带了一个生死薄回来。什么烂学校?什么紫箫小组?我们六人才不会在这种地方待下去呢!随着谜团的解开,紫箫成员不屑在这种学校待下去,全体成员跟着她住在了紫箫别墅,他们开始正式成为修灵人,开启他们的职业生涯……
  • 健美

    健美

    健美健身锻炼是修塑体格最有效的手段之一,通过科学健美健身锻炼,可获得理想体格。本书用简洁明了,通俗易懂的语言来阐述健美健身运动知识方法,使锻炼者易于了解掌握健美健身运动发展过程、项目特点、运动技术、训练理论、裁判方法等,内容丰富,资料翔实。本书主要针对大学生群体进行编写,引导科学健身理念,注重通过健美健身运动锻炼,达到健身的效果。同时,收集了最新的健美健身资料信息和重要的生理解剖等理论知识,使得具有较高文化水准的群体,理论联系实际,指导具体锻炼,知其然,知其所以然。
  • 不一样的花木兰

    不一样的花木兰

    一个想当花木兰的女生,意外魂穿成花木兰在架空的时代,她以为只是上场杀敌而已,却不曾想惹上一身桃花运。诶诶诶,沈云之前的冷美人挺好的把嘴凑上来是怎么回事矜持啊还有小正太,柔然将军。。。你们是闹哪样啊!
  • 逆光·浅草

    逆光·浅草

    总有一些事,怎么说怎么做,都无法去澄清。总有一些人,不用说不用做,都愿意去相信。我希望在你心中,有着足够的分量,值得你抛开一切的误会,无条件地信任我。无论天崩地裂还是丢人现眼,都会牵着我的手说:“只相信你说的!”习惯性拖稿成病的慕夏,吐血完成诗一般优美的《我愿为你唱这首小情歌》,动人的旋律一直延续到青春后期很久很久。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 夫妻育儿调养集

    夫妻育儿调养集

    育儿,是一代的延续,不是随便的播种!育儿不理,何必害人。本书,只是个人的一点小小的整理意见。