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Show DICK TURPIN. 289 quickly on their way to the cemetery. The grave was found, situated on the extreme edge of the bluff, within a foot or two of a steep declivity stretching down almost into Santa Fe avenue. Picks and shovels were vigorously plied by willing hands, and the tools soon sounded upon the coffin lid. The lid was raised at one end; the officious Rawle dropped into the grave, and placing a foot upon each side of the coffin, caught the late lamented Turpin under the arms, and drew him from his pine overcoat. The grave was shallow, and Rawle, having partially drawn the body out, clambered to the surface of the ground at the head of the grave, embraced the corpse around the chest, and standing with his back to the edge of the bluff, pulled with all his might. Probably owing to the rum he had consumed, Rawle exerted more strength than was necessary, and, losing his balance, fell over the cliff and rolled down the declivity with the corpse clasped in his arms. Away they went, first Rawle on top, and then Turpin, half way down the hill, almost into Santa Fe avenue, amid a cloud of dust and a storm of flying gravel. Rawle held gallantly on to his unconscious companion, until the strange pair were brought to a halt in a shallow arroyo. It is a wonder that the shrieks of laughter which came from the party in the cemetery did not arouse the whole town, but, somehow, nobody but the resurrectionists heard the noise, and Rawle and his bosom friend were soon rescued. The examination was made and the demand of science satisfied. The disemboweled corpse was afterward stolen from the improvised dissecting room, and one of the body-snatchers, who slept on the ground-floor, was surprised one morning to see Dick Tur- 19 |
