THE heavy boom of a dynamite blast rolled across
the flat to the hills that flung it back in a tardy
echo like a spent ball of sound. A blob of blue
smoke curled out of a hole the size of a hogshead
in a steep bank overhung with alders. Outside, the
wind caught the smoke and carried streamers of it
away to play with. A startled bluejay, on a limb
high up on the bank, lifted his slaty crest and
teetered forward, clinging with his toe nails to the
branch while he scolded down at the men who had
scared him so. A rattle of clods and small rocks
fell from their high flight into the sweet air of a
mountain sunset.

"Good execution, that was," Cash remarked,
craning his neck toward the hole. "If you're a mind
to go on ahead and cook supper, I'll stay and see
if we opened up anything. Or you can stay, just
as you please."

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