He dug again and tried once more, but no. Back to the
house for a spade then, and clear the earth away, then digging
again, trying again--no. A mighty heavy beast to shift, thought Isak
patiently enough. He dug away now for a steady while, but the stone
seemed reaching ever deeper and deeper down, there was no getting a
purchase on it. A nuisance it would be if he had to blast it, after
all. The boring would make such a noise, and call up every one on the
place. He dug. Off again to fetch a levering pole and tried that--no.
He dug again. Isak was beginning to be annoyed with this stone; he
frowned, and looked at the thing, as if he had just come along to make
a general inspection of the stones in that neighbourhood, and
found this one particularly stupid. He criticized it; ay, it was a
round-faced, idiotic stone, no getting hold of it any way--he was
almost inclined to say it was deformed. Blasting? The thing wasn't
worth a charge of powder. And was he to give it up, was he to consider
the possibility of being beaten by a stone?
He dug.
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