I perceived that in a moment everyone upon this side of the hill would be moving. I found him in his bar, quite unaware of what was going on behind his house. A man stood with his back to me.
I began walking, therefore, in a big curve, seeking some point of vantage and continually looking at the sand.
Then, with the maul, after repeatedly smiting the upper end of this iron rod, he placed the blunted needle endwise on the top of it.
Whether indispensable to the magnetizing of the steel, or merely intended to augment the awe of the crew, is uncertain.
