They had cleared away the snow from the foot of the rock and dug a deep pit, which was designed to serve the purpose of a grave.
Around this they now stood, and lowered into it something wrapped in a naval cloak, which Brown instantly concluded to be the dead body of the man he had seen expire.

They then stood silent for half a minute, as if under some touch of feeling for the loss of their companion.

But if they experienced such, they did not long remain under its influence, for all hands went presently to work to fill up the grave; and Brown, perceiving that the task would be soon ended, thought it best to take the gipsy woman's hint and walk as fast as possible until he should gain the shelter of the plantation.
Having arrived under cover of the trees, his first thought was of the gipsy's purse.

He had accepted it without hesitation, though with something like a feeling of degradation, arising from the character of the person by whom he was thus accommodated.

But it relieved him from a serious though temporary embarrassment.