"As I shall answer," says Hobbie, "yonder's the creature creeping about
yet!--But it's daylight, and you have your gun, and I brought out my bit
whinger--I think we may venture on him."
"By all manner of means," said Earnscliff; "but, in the name of wonder,
what can he be doing there?"
"Biggin a dry-stane dyke, I think, wi' the grey geese, as they ca' thae
great loose stanes--Odd, that passes a' thing I e'er heard tell of!"
As they approached nearer, Earnscliff could not help agreeing with his
companion. The figure they had seen the night before seemed slowly and
toilsomely labouring to pile the large stones one upon another, as if
to form a small enclosure. Materials lay around him in great plenty, but
the labour of carrying on the work was immense, from the size of most of
the stones; and it seemed astonishing that he should have succeeded in
moving several which he had already arranged for the foundation of his
edifice. He was struggling to move a fragment of great size when the two
young men came up, and was so intent upon executing his purpose, that
he did not perceive them till they were close upon him.
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