“‘I came to dig a grave Sir,’ stammered Gabriel Grub.
Gabriel started up, and stood rooted to the spot with astonishment and terror.
“‘What man wanders among graves and church-yards on such a night as this?’ said the goblin.
“‘Gabriel Grub! Gabriel Grub!’ screamed a wild chorus of voices that seemed to fill the church-yard. Gabriel looked fearfully round—nothing was to be seen.
“‘What have you got in that bottle?’ said the goblin.
“‘Hollands, Sir,’ replied the sexton, trembling more than ever; for he had bought it of the smugglers, and he thought that perhaps his questioner might be in the excise department of the goblins.
“‘Who drinks Hollands alone, and in a church-yard, on such a night as this?’ said the goblin.
“‘Gabriel Grub! Gabriel Grub!’ exclaimed the wild voices again.
“The goblin leered maliciously at the terrified sexton, and then raising his voice, exclaimed—