Soon they heard a dull sound high up on the top of a cliff. Thump! Thump! Thud! it went, like someone striking iron against stone.
"I wonder why anyone is breaking stones up there," said Jack.
"Yes, of course you wonder," growled Paul; "you are always wondering."
"It is nothing but a woodpecker tapping on a hollow tree," said Peter. "Come along, and mind your own business."
"Business or no business," said Jack, "I mean to see what is going on up there."
With these words he began to climb up the side of the cliff. But Peter and Paul stood still and laughed at him, and cried, "Good-bye, Mr Why-and-How!"
And what do you think Jack found far up on the great rock?
He found a bright steel pickaxe working all alone. It was so hard and sharp that when it struck a rock it went into it a foot or more.
"Good-morning, Mr Pickaxe," he said. "Are you not tired digging here all by yourself?"
"Ah, my master," answered the pickaxe, "I have been waiting for you a long time."