“No, he is not about. Wait a minute while I go and get the double doors open, then I will help you myself,” she said brusquely, feeling more angry than ever with Joey Trip, for having gone off in such a careless fashion, leaving her in charge.
The coffin must be taken into the big shed, she knew, so she entered, groped her way to the double doors, slid out the bar, and pushed them open. It was not dark yet, but the moon was already coming up, and there was a luminous brightness in the sky left from a glorious sunset, which made things stand out in a particularly vivid manner.
Nell was helping with her vigorous young strength to drag the coffin from the cart to the raised floor of the shed, when she noticed to her surprise that there were round holes here and there along the side, under the raised beading which ornamented the lid.
Instantly it flashed into her mind that these were air-holes, and as instantly it occurred to her that dead men did not require air-holes, although live ones might do.
By a great effort she kept the sudden terror which leaped into her heart from showing in her face, while she pushed and pulled with great fuss and much apparent effort, as if the work were beyond her strength.
“Are there a couple of blocks anywhere that we could lift the coffin on, miss?” the man asked a little anxiously, as he peered about the dusky interior of the big shed.
Nell seized upon two square blocks of wood, upsetting as she did so a long length of light but very strong steel chain, which had come up on the cars that evening, consigned to the company running the smelter. The chain put an idea in her head, that came like an inspiration of hope.
“Will these do?” she asked, dragging the blocks forward for his inspection.
“Just the right sort of thing, thank you. Would you mind shoving the blocks under while I tilt the concern up? You see, it’s polished underneath, and Li Hung would never get over it if he thought I’d left it so that the bottom would get scratched or spoiled. Terrible particular about their coffins these Chinkies are. It is the first thing they buy when they are able to save money a bit, and they’ll spend no end of time in polishing and rubbing to keep them bright and shining.”
“Ugh! How horrible! I’m so afraid of things of that sort,” cried Nell, glad to relieve her feelings by a violent shudder.