“That's close to where the water's collecting.”
The boy nodded eagerly.
“Exactly.”
The father leaned closer.
He examined the old drawing again.
Then looked toward the field.
For the first time, he noticed that the line appeared to follow a subtle depression in the ground.
The contractor considered that.
“Could be an old drainage channel.”
The boy nodded.
“Or the old inlet.”
The blue-cap farmer laughed.
“There he goes again.”
The operator smiled.
Then looked toward the father.
“It's your property. We can inspect that area if you want.”
The farmer hesitated.
He knew the boy wanted to prove something.
But the location also made practical sense for the drainage investigation.
Finally, he nodded.
“Start there.”
The boy smiled.
And less than two hours later, the excavator bucket struck something that changed the entire morning.
A heavy metallic sound.
The operator stopped.
He repositioned the machine and removed loose soil cautiously from a different angle.
Then a curved section of rusted iron emerged.
The father thought it was a damaged pipe.
The neighboring farmers agreed.
The boy didn't.
And when the machine was shut down so the exposed object could be inspected safely, he took a shovel and began clearing the loose surface soil near the rim of the excavation.
That was when the anchor appeared.
Then the chain.
Then the cliffs began to move.
The father was the first to move.
“Everybody back!”
His voice was so sharp that even the man in the blue cap obeyed immediately.
The boy stepped away from the excavation.
The contractor switched off the excavator, lowered its equipment to a secure position, and climbed down after the machine had come to rest.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
They stared toward the distant cliff.
The rumbling had stopped.
But a thin column of dust continued rising from the exposed slope.
Through the trees, dark timbers formed an enormous curved pattern.
The boy could see a vertical post, part of an angled beam, and several thick ribs arranged at regular intervals.
He'd studied enough old ship drawings to recognize the resemblance.
But he also understood that resemblance wasn't proof.
He turned toward his father.
“We have to go see.”
The farmer shook his head immediately.
“Not while the hillside's moving.”
The boy opened his mouth.
His father raised one hand.
“I'm serious.”
The child stopped.
The farmer looked toward the excavator operator.