hole so deep that it became difficult to throw up
the gravel from the bottom, I suggested that they should dig at some
other place. But to this they objected, declaring that the gravel was
getting better and better, and it would be well to go on down as long as
the quality continued to be so good. So, at last, they put a ladder into
the pit, one man carrying the gravel up in a hod, while the other
dug it; and when they had gone down so deep that this was no longer
practicable, they rigged up a derrick and windlass and drew up the
gravel in a bucket.

Had I been of a more practical turn of mind I might have perceived that
this method of working made the job a very long and, consequently, to
the laborers, a profitable one; but no such idea entered into my head,
and not noticing whether they were bringing up sand or gravel I allowed
them to proceed.

One morning I went out to the spot where the excavation was being made
and found that the men had built a fire on the ground near the opening
of the pit, and that one of them was bending over it warming himself.
As the month was July this naturally surprised me, and I inquired the
reason for so strange a performance.

"Upon my soul," said the man, who was rubbing his hands over the blaze,
"I do not wonder you are surprised, but it's so cold down at the bottom
of that pit that me fingers is almost frosted; and we haven't struck any
wather neither, which couldn't be expected, of course, a-diggin' down
into the hill like this."

I looked into the hole and found it was very deep. "I think it would be
better to stop digging here," said I, "and try some other place."

"I wouldn't do that just now," said the other man, who was preparing to
go down in the bucket; "to be sure, it's a good deal more like a well
than a gravel-pit, but it's bigger at the top than at the bottom, and
there's no danger of its cavin' in, and now that we've got everything
rigged up all right, it would be a pity to make a change yet awhile."

So I let them go on; but the next day when I went out again I found that
they had come to the conclusion that it was time to give up digging in
that hole. They both declared that it almost froze their feet to stand
on the ground where they worked at the bottom of the excavation. The
slow business of drawing up the gravel by means of a bucket and windlass
was, therefore, reluctantly given up. The men now went to work to dig
outward from this pit toward the edge of the