Page:Post--Dwellers in the hills.djvu/140

124 "It 's like this," said he. "One time there was an' old miser, an' when he was a-dyin' the devil come, an' set down by the bed, an' the devil said, 'You 've done a good deal of work for me, an' I reckon I ought to give you a lift if you need it. Now, then, if there 's any little thing you want done, I 'll look after it for you.' The miser said he 'd like to have an iron fence round his grave, if the devil thought he could see to it without puttin' himself out any. The devil said it would n't be any trouble, an' then he counted off on his fingers the minutes the miser had to live, an' lit out.

"They buried the miser in a poor corner of the graveyard where there was nothin' but sinkfield an' sand briars, an' that night the devil went down to the blacksmith an' told him he wanted an iron fence put around the old feller's grave, an' to git it done before midnight. The blacksmith throwed his coat an' went to work like a whitehead, an' when twelve o'clock come he had the iron fence done an' a settin' around the miser's grave.

"Just as the clock struck, the devil come along, an' he said to the blacksmith, standin'