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Sam moved methodically from the upper end of the crescent doard the flat land The crescent framed a loop made in the river where the channel curved and the water slowed The alluvial soil had been deposited there before the river was diverted—highest at theon both ends

Suddenly all of the ed Sam saw the needle bury itself at the upper end He ain He ca He stood up straight and waved to the others, then knelt down Remi and Albrecht came from their stations and knelt beside him

“Is this it?” whispered Albrecht

“It could be a lot of things,” Sa”

Remi rose and went to the end of the row, then ca apart fro quickly in the sandy soil The ent steadily, and soon they were down about five feet, lifting each shovelful up above their shoulders to throw aside Sa out as it hit metal A second later, Remi’s scraped a smooth, hard surface

They set aside their spades and used their hands to clear the dirt off aand three feet wide Albrecht whispered, “There’s rust The material is an ius”

“Let’s clear around it to get a better look,” Remi said

Sa around the outside, so Albrecht began on the long side They dug in silence, the suspense goading the, each of them hit a second surface, just below the iron slab, that seemed to be stone

Sae it”

All three stood at one side of the iron slab and used their spades to try tothe tips of their spades under the edge and pushing The slab budged a fraction of an inch “Ita space beside it and push the lid in it”

They increased the size of the hole by three feet so that there was an eress “Let’s try so else,” Sam said

He clirapevines, where there ooden stakes with sixpenny nails driven partway in to hold the wires for the vines He began to pull the nails out Saers He put so them back into the holes in the stakes

“How many do you want?” asked Remi

“Thirty or forty Don’t take any that are bent”

Albrecht and Reh to test the theory” They all got back in the hole