It was a kind of a trough; and a stick like a broom-handle stuck down from the middle of it.
And the man filled this hod with mortar, and he turned around and put the hod across one shoulder with the bottom of the trough resting on his shoulder.
And he took hold of the stick, and he walked off, down a ladder into the cellar.
And he dumped the mortar out of the hod on to a board near the men who were building the wall. Then he came up again.
The little boy watched him until he had come up out of the cellar. And he asked the man whether he would want any more sand, but the man said that he wouldn't for some time.
So the little boy went and played in the sand-pile for a long time, and, while he was playing, his cat came and rubbed against him. Then the little boy got up.
"I've got to go now," he said to the mortar man. "Good-bye."
"Good-bye," said the man. "Come again."
"Yes," said the little boy, "I will."
And he put his shovel and his hoe into his cart, and he took hold of the handle of the cart, and he walked off, with his shovel and his hoe rattling behind him.