"Let"s make sure there"s n.o.body below."
"Oh! There"s n.o.body," cried Bob; though he joined me in looking carefully down into the gorge; but there was nothing visible but a bird or two below, and a great hawk circling round and round high above us in the sunny air, as if watching to see what we were about.
"Oh! There"s no one below, and not likely to be," cried Bob. "Now, then, my jolly sailor boys, heave ho. One--two--three, and over she goes."
No she didn"t.
We pressed down at the lever, and Bigley heaved and grunted like an old pig grubbing up roots, but the grey ma.s.s of stone did not even move.
"Oh! You are a fellow, Big!" cried Bob, stopping to wipe his forehead.
"You didn"t half shove."
"That I did!" cried Bigley, rising up and straightening himself. "I heaved up till something went crack, and I don"t know whether it"s b.u.t.tons, or st.i.tches, or braces. Braces," he added, after feeling himself about. "Oh! Here"s a bother, it"s torn the buckle right off!"
"Never mind the buckle, lad. Let"s send this stone over. I want to see it go; don"t you, Sep?"
"Of course I do," I said. "Now, then, all together once more. Shove the bar in here, Bob."
"Oh, it"s of no use to shove it there," he replied. "No; here"s the place. Ah! Now we"ve got it."
"Shall I come there and help with the bar?" cried Bigley.
"No, you sha"n"t come there and help with the bar," sneered Bob. "There ain"t hardly room for us two to work, and you"d want a great bar half a mile long all to yourself. Only wish I was as strong as you, an" I"d just pop that stone over in half a minute."
"Would you?" said Big, staring at him sadly. "I can"t."
"No, because you don"t half try."
"Oh, don"t I? Now you both heave again, and this time we"ll do it."
"All right," cried Bob excitedly. "Now, then, all together, heave ho, my lads, heave ho! And this does it. One--two--three--and--"
"Oh, look at that!" cried Bigley, straightening himself again. "There now, did you ever see such a chap?" cried Bob, stamping with rage; "just as she was going over, and it only wanted about half a pound to do it, he leaves off."
"Well, how would you like your other brace buckle to get torn up by the roots?" said Bigley reproachfully.
"Brace buckles! Why, your brace buckles are always coming off," said Bob. "I wouldn"t be such a great lumbering chap as you are for all Devonshire and part o" Wales."
"I can"t help it," said Bigley sadly, as he tried to repair damages, and failing that, secured his clothing by tying his braces tightly round his waist. "I didn"t want to grow so big all at once. Everybody laughs at me for it."
"n.o.body minds your being big," cried Bob, "if you would only be useful.
Your braces are always breaking."
"I"m very sorry, Bob, old chap."
"What"s the good of being sorry now?" replied Bob. "You"ve spoiled all the fun. It"s no use stopping if you chaps won"t help."
"Why, we did help, Bob," I said, "and the stone didn"t move a bit. It"s too heavy."
"It did move, I tell you. If you want to quarrel you"d better say so, and I"ll be off home. I don"t want to fight."
"More do I, Bob," I replied; "but it didn"t really move. Did it, Big?"
"If you say it didn"t, Big, I"ll give you a crack right in the eye,"
cried Bob fiercely, as he doubled his fist.
Bigley"s mouth was opened to speak, but Bob was so energetic and fierce that it remained like a round O, and the great fellow looked so comical that I burst out into a fit of laughter which set Bob laughing too, and this made Big stare at us both in a puzzled way; but by degrees he caught the mood of the moment and laughed too, and the cloud that overhung our expedition drifted away.
"Well," said Bob at last in a disappointed tone, "I s"pose we may as well go down on the beach crabbing, for we can"t move that stone."
"I know how we could move it," cried Bigley suddenly.
"Tchah! How?" I said.
"Same as my father moved the great rock out there in the cove. There was a big lump there that was always dangerous for the lugger when she was coming in."
"Well, what then?" said Bob contemptuously.
"Why," continued Big eagerly, "he waited till the spring tides and the water was terribly low, and then he put a lot of gunpowder in a hole under it and laid a train, and smeared a piece of rag with powder, and nicked the flint and steel till the rag caught fire, and then he ran away."
"Well?" I said.
"Well, then the rag sparked and spit fire till the train began to run, and then the train set light to the powder, and there was a big _bom boom_."
"A big what?" we both cried.
"A big _bom boom_," said Bigley.
"Why, you didn"t say anything about a big _bom boom_ being there before," cried Bob. "I don"t believe there is such a thing."
"Now, how you do go on!" cried Bigley. "You know what I mean--a big bang when the powder went off."
"Then why don"t you call things by their right name?" said Bob. "A bang"s a bang and nothing else."
"Well, the powder went bang and knocked the big rock right off the place where it stood."
"What! Up in the air?" I said.
"Up in the air? No; over into the deep water, where it sank to the bottom."
"Well, you don"t suppose we"re such old stupids as to think it floated, do you?" cried Bob.
"No, of course not, but that"s what it did."
"I don"t believe it," said Bob stubbornly.
"You don"t believe it?" I said, while poor Bigley stood staring at the last speaker.