Free Sci Fiction Classics Volume 4 by Tristram Rolph Page A

were long. Thick, too.
     The skull at the head of the coffin was like a big gourd, with caves of
     eyeholes and two rows of big, lean teeth. Hallcott banged the lid shut and
     hooked it again.
    "That there's enough of a look to last youins all day and all night," he
     growled round at the others.
    "Brothers," said Preacher Melick, a-opening his book, "we're here to bury
     the remains of a poor lost creature. We don't even know his name. Yet I've
     searched out what I hope is the right text for this burying."
    He put his knobby finger to the page. "Book of Ezekiel," he said.
     "Thirty-seventh chapter, third verse. 'And he said unto me, Son of man,
     can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest.'"
    He closed his book. "The Lord God knoweth all things. We're taught that
     after death will come the life we deserve. Let us pray."
    We bowed our heads down. Preacher Melick said, "In the midst of life we
     are in death," and so on. When he finished, I said, "Amen," and so did
     Hallcott and two-three others.
    "Now lower the coffin," said Preacher Melick.
    We took hold and set it in the grave. It fitted right snug, its lid was
     just inches below surface. Preacher Melick sprinkled a handful of dirt.
     "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust," he repeated, and then we all said the
     Lord's Prayer together. Finally the preacher man smiled 'round at us. The
     service was over.
    Three men shoveled in the earth. It took just minutes to fill the grave
     up.
    Hallcott offered some crumpled money bills to Preacher Melick, who waved
     them away.
    "You took it on yourselves to make the stranger a coffin and bring him
     here to rest," he said. "The least duty I can do is speak comfortable
     words without expectation of pay. John, to judge from the gear you
     brought, you're a-looking for lodging for the night. Will you be my
     guest?"
    "Thanks, maybe later," I said. "I reckon I'll wait here a spell."
    "If you come later on, it's half a mile up the trail the far side of the
     church."
    He walked away with his book. The coffin-makers headed the other
     direction. The sun was a-dropping red to the edge of the western heights.
    One of the shovels had been fetched to lean under a fair-sized walnut
     tree. I put down my stuff next to the roots and sat with my back against
     the trunk. On the silver strings of my guitar I made a few chords to
     whisper. The air got gloomy.
    "It's kindly creepy a night," said a voice at my elbow. That quick I was
     up on my feet. Embro Hallcott stood there, his crinkly face a-smiling.
    "For a man your height, you move quick as a cat, John," he said. "I done
     heard you tell Preacher Melick you'd stay 'round, so I decided myself to
     stay too, for whatever's up."
    "What do you reckon's up?" I inquired him.
    "If you don't know how to answer that, neither do I."
    I sat down under the tree again, and Hallcott hunkered down beside me. He
     dragged out a twist of home-cured tobacco and bit off a chunk the size of
     half a dollar.
    "I was right interested by Preacher Melick's text from Ezekiel," I said.
     "All that about could these bones live."
    "Ezekiel," Hallcott repeated me, a-folding his ridgy hands on the knees of
     his overalls. "I done read in that, some time back. Strange doings in
     Ezekiel—the wheels in the wheels. Some folks reckon that means what
     they call UFOs."
    "They were unknown and they flew, so they were UFOs all right," I nodded
     him. "And all those prophecies about nation after nation, and the brass
     man a-walking round to measure Jerusalem. And I've heard it explained that
     the four faces of the living creatures meant the Four Gospels. But the
     strangest of all the things is the Valley of Dry Bones, where the bones
     join together and come to life."
    A moon rose up and shone down on the burial ground. Hallcott moved to pull
     together some pieces of wood and light them with a match. I went to the
     stream and dipped water in my canteen cup and set it on a rock where it
     could heat. "I