conditions for
comfortable work. Four Necrophori, three males and a female, are there
with the body. They remain invisible, hidden beneath the carcase,
which from time to time seems to return to life, shaken from end to
end by the backs of the workers. An observer not in the secret would
be somewhat astonished to see the dead creature move. From time to
time, one of the sextons, almost always a male, comes out and walks
round the animal, which he explores, probing its velvet coat. He
hurriedly returns, appears again, once more investigates and creeps
back under the corpse.

The tremors become more pronounced; the carcase oscillates, while a
cushion of sand, pushed out from below, grows up all around it. The
Mole, by reason of his own weight and the efforts of the
grave-diggers, who are labouring at their task underneath, gradually
sinks, for lack of support, into the undermined soil.

Presently the sand which has been pushed out quivers under the thrust
of the invisible miners, slips into the pit and covers the interred
Mole. It is a clandestine burial. The body seems to disappear of
itself, as though engulfed by a fluid medium. For a long time yet,
until the depth is regarded as sufficient, the body will continue to
descend.

It is, on the whole, a very simple operation. As the diggers below
deepen the cavity into which the corpse, shaken and tugged above,
sinks without the direct intervention of the sextons, the grave fills
of itself by the mere slipping of the soil. Stout shovels at the tips
of their claws, powerful backs, capable of creating a little
earthquake: the diggers need nothing more for the practice of their
profession. Let us add--for this is an essential point--the art of
continually jerking the body, so as to pack it into a lesser volume
and make it glide through difficult passages. We shall soon see that
this art plays a leading part in the industry of the Necrophori.

Although he has disappeared, the Mole is still far from having reached
his destination. Let us leave the undertakers to finish their job.
What they are now doing below ground is a continuation of what they
did on the surface and would teach us nothing new. We will wait for
two or three days.

The moment has come. Let us inform ourselves of what is happening down
there. Let us visit the place of corruption. I shall never invite
anybody to the exhumation. Of those about me, only little Paul has the
courage to assist me.

The Mole