Heaven knows what possessed him to do it, for 'twas
no work of his, but that was the sort of man he was. It was not thawed
deep enough yet, and they could not get as far as they wanted by a
long way, but it was something done, at any rate. It was Isak's old
idea to drain the bogs at Storborg and till the land there properly;
the bit of a store was only to be an extra, a convenience, to save
folk going all the way down to the village for a reel of thread.
So Sivert and Andresen stood there digging, and talking now and again
when they stopped for a rest. Andresen had also somehow or other
managed to get hold of a gold piece, a twenty-_Krone_ piece, and
Sivert would gladly have had the bright thing himself; but Andresen
would not part with it--kept it wrapped up in tissue paper in his
chest. Sivert proposed a wrestling match for the money--see who could
throw the other; but Andresen would not risk it. Sivert offered to
stake twenty _Kroner_ in notes against the gold piece, and do all the
digging himself into the bargain if he won; but Andresen took offence
at that.
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